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Don Self begins his slide down the short and slippery slope toward caper-pulling criminal tonight as Michael and the rest of Team Scylla use his Federal-job connections to get close to cardholder #3, a treasury secretary. The government employee has the good sense to keep his card in a safe that can only be opened through a combination of animal sacrifice and necromancy (or the technological equivalent thereof), so Michael decides that it's easier to open up the back of the safe rather than the front. Unsurprisingly, the plan barely gets pulled off, what with the usual last-minute complications like innocent people asking dressed-as-janitors Sucre and Bellick where toilet paper is, the unbearable slowness of Scylla, and General Von Baldy showing up in his government stooge's office and demanding to see the card right this minute. But our team pulls through. Yay, they're halfway through step one!
When Bellick and Sucre aren't helping the Brothers McSullen pull off their latest caper, they're trying to hunt down T-Bag. They get close, offering Tricia the stacked receptionist a $10,000 finders' fee if she's seen T-Bag, but she lies about it, then coolly turns around and blackmails T-Bag for a cut of his commission. T-Bag obliquely lets her know he'd have no problem killing her, but the menace gets stuck somewhere around her décolletage, thereby bypassing any survival instincts that may be rattling around her head.
Gretchen, however, has proven that her survival instincts are nearly as impressive as Dr. Sara's, as she endures ordure and manages to overpower her captors using only her ankles and a single nail. She's now on the lam; I look forward to seeing where she ends up. General Von Baldy's betting she'll come back to the One World Conspiracy. Start placing your bets now.
Finally, Dr. Sara's narrow escape from Agent Blots Out the Sun provides fuel for the most affecting subplot of the night. When she returns to the Scylla HQ, she confirms for Mahone that indeed, his son's murderer is nearby. Mahone meets up with Pam, who passes him a gun and makes a wrenching little speech that boils down to "The only reason I'm not killing myself from the grief is because I'm counting on you to kill this depraved monster," and Mahone spends the rest of the episode drawing ever closer to the latest monster he must slay.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!This episode begins right where the other one left off, with Dr. Sara slouching toward the Team Scylla warehouse. She goes to pull back her hair, and as she digs in her capacious handbag for a hair tie -- and do not get me started this early in the season on her Magical Bag of Holding and its incredible disarray -- and notices her missing credit card. Then she looks up and notices Agent Blots Out the Sun attempting to hide behind a car. He has made the mistake of attempting to use a sedan for cover; what he needs is a Lincoln Navigator. At least.
Back at Scylla HQ, Michael is asking Don Self for a little federal help in sharpening the images on the other four keyholders. No, make that three -- Don Self recognizes one of the guys as Treasury Dept. bureau head Griffin Oren. Michael reasons, "If you know of him, you can get close to him." Don Self's all, "Let's not get too crazy here ..." but Michael's all, "Hey, sweetcheeks, you said you liked my style. My style is to stare at you until I've burrowed my way into your cerebral cortex, then compel you to do what I want." Or maybe he just tells Don to make something up about Al Qaeda using stolen bearer bonds to finance operations, and the rest of that is all subtextual.
And then we go to a diner. Mahone is in a corner booth, waiting for someone. Pam comes in the door; she looks completely empty. Mahone stands up as she comes by, and she gives him a pain-filled look as she passes him, careful not to touch him. This obviously stings. She sits down, and Mahone starts with, "Thanks for meeting me. I would have come up to see you, but I can't travel that far --" "I'm sorry. But you said that you had some pictures to show me," Pam says firmly and flatly. Mahone swallows back his desperate desire to connect to Pam and commences showing her pictures of assorted African-American guys. Pam silently nods no to each one until she sees Agent Blots Out the Sun; then, she reels back, choking back both her retching and her sobs. Well, they've got their guy. Pam is trying not to cry too loudly now. Mahone can't even look at her as he attempts to say levelly, "I'll get in touch with you, as soon as ... as soon as ..." He can't even finish; he's writhing as if trying to escape his very self. Pam looks at him, and says, "You didn't do this." As Mahone curls into himself in grief, she leans forward and says with composure, "In your heart, you are a really good man. That's why I married you. That's why I started a family with you." Now Mahone's sobbing, Pam's composure is gone, and I'm getting a little leaky. Pam gets up and slides over to sit to Mahone, wrapping her arms around him as she continues, "When you used to bring your files home and I would beg you to leave that stuff at work ... but when you have a monster in your sights, you can't focus until you get him. I used to hate that about you, but now it's the only thing that lets me sleep because I know that you're going to get him." She then slides over her purse and hands him a brown paper package. Mahone touches it, then brings up his hand to grab desperately at Pam's. The two sit in the diner, connected for a moment. And I curse the Emmy gods for recognizing only series writing and acting, because honestly, this show may be a live-action comic book, but both Callie Thorne and William Fichtner have brought their A-plus game to this scene and it gilds the whole season with a gravitas it otherwise doesn't deserve.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sara has commenced evasive measures now that Agent Blots Out the Sun is in open pursuit. She manages to dodge across a busy highway, barely managing not to get hit a few times. Agent Blots Out the Sun merely has to stop cars with his glare. But by the time he crosses the median, she's managed to elude him.
When we get back from the credits, T-Bag is discovering that in many ways, America's sales professionals are more ruthless and terrifying than America's prisoners. I would suggest that he spend an instructive evening watching Glengarry Glen Ross. But T-Bag has another new hobby -- the tea from his cup has leaked onto the bird book and revealed that Whistler has written secret plans in invisible ink. A little liquid soon reveals a primitive ladder schematic.
Back at Team HQ, Michael runs into Mahone, fresh from the diner. They establish that nobody's seen Dr. Sara, so Michael walks right into an argument between Sucre and Linc -- Linc is outraged that Sucre wants to look for T-Bag, but Sucre reasons, "We know he's got the bird book, we know the bird book's got the plan for the break-in, and we saw that snake right here today." Linc counterargues, "All I'm saying is it ain't safe for a member of the Fox River Eight to be looking for another member of the Fox River Eight." Michael concurs somewhat -- this is why Michael is going to send Bellick out. However, he'll have Sucre with him. Bellick protests, "There are, like, six big buildings there. He could be in any one of them." Michael's all, "So you better get started then?"
Michael then wanders over to see what Roland's up to. He's up to dreaming about using Charybdis to suck tons of info out of certain computers, so they could become billionaires. Roland is not up on his current events, is he? Michael reminds Roland that their scope is considerably narrower, and Roland rolls his eyes at Michael's lack of big-picture thinking.
We then cut to Don Self badly embarrassing himself at the Treasury Department. In an effort to preserve your dignity, mine and whatever might be left of Don's, I will just leave it at this: his attempt to get Charybdis to suck out the data fails, and we only confirm that the card is in a super-secure safe.
When Don's on the phone with Michael after his fiasco, Michael reasons that they simply have to access the safe. Don Self's like, "Yeaaah, no. !" Michael persists, "You can access the blueprints in the building, right?" Don Self protests, "I can't go up there!" Michael says with asperity, "No one's asking you to. We'll take care of that." Don Self natters some more, and Michael has to get a little stern with Don as he orders him to get the blueprints and get back to Scylla HQ. Don Self reveals a submissive streak as broad as his New York accent as he happily agrees to do so.
Dr. Sara comes in right then, and Michael is so relieved, he actually shows some emotion. She runs up the stairs to him and hastily explains that she's fine, but someone was following her. She shook him a mile back. Linc comes in and calmly asks, "What'd he look like?" Dr. Sara begins to compose a description: "Tall, black, he had a beard --" "Was this the guy?" Mahone asks, popping into everyone's face suddenly with his picture of Agent Blots Out the Sun. Dr. Sara confirms that it was. Linc asks who that is, and Mahone says, "That's the man who killed my son." Michael rather unnecessarily adds, "Now he's come to kill us."
Mahone has since taken Dr. Sara down on the dock to quiz her a little further about Agent Blots Out the Sun. First question: where was she when she first saw Agent Blots Out the Sun? Dr. Sara says she was walking home. Mahone points out, "He didn't just run into you on the street. Where were you before that?" She cops to the bar -- "you have a problem with that?' Mahone is a little disarmed: "N -- no. I just want to know how long you were there. Sara, I need to find this guy and I can't do it without your help. I don't care what you were doing there, I just want your help, I want to know how long --" "Okay! Okay," Dr. Sara says, probably because Mahone's desperation is hard to face. She explains that she was there for one long, drawn-out subplot from last week, and they quickly establish that Agent Blots Out the Sun must have traced her based on the credit card that's now gone.
Inside, Don Self has laid out the blueprints. He explained how everyone who's allowed in the building has a security card that lets them pass specific checkpoints. Forging the card would only take two weeks and access to the building mainframe. Michael points out that there are no security checkpoints on the tenth floor (which is presumably where they have to be), but Don Self replies, "No, just on the access points to the tenth floor. If you could magically appear in the middle of the hallway, you'd be fine except for all the government officials who would be swarming around." Michael asks, "If you could get us into the parking structure, would security check our van?" Don Self bleakly replies, "Sure. Transporting known felons? Why not?" Michael decides the parking structure is how he'll get in; Lincoln decides he'll need the details to the safe. Don Self replicates the insignia for the safe -- that'll be a start.
We cut to Agent Blots Out the Sun; he's heading into the dank torture dungeon. A flunkie tells him to stick some Vicks Vapo-Rub under his nose first. Oh, good -- we've moved beyond mere violence in our torture. When Agent Blots Out the Sun heads into Gretchen's cell, he yanks her head up and rips the duct tape off her mouth. Then he gossips about how he ran into Dr. Sara outside a bar. Gretchen replies, "Sara, huh? She's a slippery little bitch, isn't she?" Agent Blots Out the Sun is done with the girl talk: he wants to know what Michael and Linc are doing in Los Angeles. Gretchen can't help him out there. Agent Blots Out the Sun says, "Since you seem to be somewhat immune to physical coercion, we've decided to move on. The nose is an evolutionary marvel. Our brains has been constructed so that certain aromas -- coffee beans, blueberries -- that are helpful to our bodies, we perceive as pleasant. Other smells that signify death, disease ..." He waves a bucket of something under Gretchen's face and she begins coughing and retching. Agent Blots Out the Sun continues, "Initial symptoms include dizziness and nausea, burning eyes, all of which you are experiencing right now. Prolonged exposure will lead to faintness, rapid degredation of your mental faculties." So, wait ... he's leaving Gretchen in there with a bucket of ordure? Wouldn't it be cheaper and more interesting to drop this charade and just put her on diaper blowout duty at the local Kindercare? Gretchen continues working on the nail she's found in her stool. I mean, the thing she's sitting on, not whatever's in the bucket.
Back at Team Scylla, Michael shares the bad news: the safe is some super-scifi-biometric dealie that's cued only to open on Oren's fingerprints. Worse -- they've got to be still attached to his warm and living fingers, so lifting fingerprints off something isn't an option. Nobody thinks about, say, simply contriving to chop off one of the man's fingers. (Finally, three seasons later, an Abruzzi solution that would be appropriate!) The complications: the 12-digit key code, and a set of hinges that are wired to the alarm. Michael adds, "The bones of this thing are ¾-inch cobalt plate alloy. Drilling's not going to work. Not in our time frame." Don Self says, "So, basically, we have a way to get you into the garage which, in case you guys forgot, puts me on the hook for another four (federal) charges, but no way to get you up to the tenth floor. But let's say we do get you up to the tenth floor. Then we need to get you into Oren's office for an hour in the middle of the day. Then we need to hope that not one of Oren's coworkers is going to hear the extremely loud drill that you're going to be using to break into a safe that, I'm telling you, cannot be broken into. Do you understand? There are Homeland agents whose sole job is to design measures to make this structure impregnable." Michael reminds Don Self who his daddy is with, "Yeah. They had those guys at Fox River too."
Linc manages to hide his amusement and we soon get the seeds of the plan. DOJ employee Sam Middleton has the office right to Oren's, and as luck would have it, they share a common wall.
Then we cut to Mahone leaning over Roland's shoulder as Roland plays on his computer. Roland's got the credit card info -- used at the bar at 10:32 a.m. Dr. Sara first spotted Agent Blots Out the Sun at 11 a.m. Mahone's in full agent mode as he whips out a map and estimates the likely radius of Agent Blots Out the Sun's perambulations. Within a few seconds, Mahone's managed to deduce exactly where Agent Blots Out the Sun is staying -- within easy access to a freeway, at someplace where he can pay with cash and nobody asks questions, and where he can easily get to his car. For once, Roland has nothing mouthy to say; he just sets to searching for hotels within a nine-mile radius that fit those criteria.
T-Bag is still dicking around in his office -- I suppose a lifetime in prison means he wouldn't realize that a lot of sales requires being out of the office on calls -- and he tags the receptionist Tricia to bring him another cup of tea. She does not remind him that it's 2008, and so far as she knows, there is nothing wrong with his legs. Instead, she says she can't leave the desk because Sucre and Bellick happen to be there. We see T-Bag dive behind the lounge chair in his office.
Then Bellick's explaining to Tricia that he's with "Upper Valley Insurance" and T-Bag -- he flashes the guy's mug shot, which I certainly think would be familiar to Tricia as it's been all over the news for months -- why, T-Bag happens to have come into a hefty inheritance settlement. So if Tricia has any information about this man, why, she stands to make $10,000 in finders' fees off of it. Tricia bats her big blue eyes and "ummms" for a few minutes before saying, "I'm sorry -- I don't recognize him." In his office, T-Bag clutches the letter opener he was planning to use as a knife and watches his former Fox River buddies leave. Tricia looks back at T-Bag's office -- the fact that he's hiding with his letter-opener out like a blade is not lost on her.
We go back to Team Scylla HQ, mostly so we can get an overview of a table filled with power tools and schematics. Michael is busy explaining to Don Self that when you mix aluminum power with iron oxide (the latter commonly found in Etch-a-Sketches) and add a little heat -- well, we don't learn what happens because Don Self's mobile rings, and we find out that he's going to be hanging with Sam Middleton in a working lunch. That's how they'll get into the office to Oren's. Michael hands Don Self a little capped container of liquid and wishes him luck. Then he checks in with Sucre regarding the T-Bag hunt. Well, we all know how that went, so Michael's like, "Okay, time to go card-hunting." Then he plays with the shopvac he's got on the table.
And now it's caper time! We flash to the Federal building on Wilshire Blvd., then to Don Self driving a giant black van into the garage. The guard at the gate ribs Don for the Yankees losing (which, ha) and Don Self correctly points out, "At least our fans show up before the fifth inning, right?" I blame the parking situation at Dodger Stadium; it's a nightmare getting in or out of that place. When we lived in L.A., it was actually easier for us to go down to Anaheim for a game. Plus you got fireworks at night! (Also, this was before Vlad Guerrero began dropping body parts on the field, so it was a hell of a lot of fun to watch him play.) ANYWAY, I appear to have moved off-topic during caper time. I am sorry; I will try not to do it again. Don drives the van into the garage and disgorges the Team Scylla members who will be capering alongside him: Michael and Linc, both in suits, Bellick and Sucre, both in janitorial jumpsuits. Linc in a suit looks only slightly less wrong than Linc in a police uniform; the man is simply not built for anything that doesn't allow his slabs of muscle to move freely. Don wishes them well with "If you get busted, don't mention my name."
The first order of caper business is to monkey with the elevator control panel so the team can head upstairs without anyone else getting on. Second order of caper business: getting off at the ninth floor by way of escaping through the top of the elevator.
Because capers are better when they're intercut with other action, we switch back to T-Bag, who has not been having a very good day at work. Tricia enters the office without him noticing and blocks the door as she says casually, "So! A couple of scruffy guys walk in, tell me they're from the insurance company, and they offer me $10,000 if I know where you are." She leans over T-Bag's desk, but he's not exactly mesmerized by her abundant cleavage. He may be wondering if it conceals weapons. Tricia says, "Something tells me there's a better offer on the table." On the couch, Mr. Sobell says, "Something tells me Tricia will be dead in a few episodes." T-Bag is living in the now, however, so he produces some deep-fried Dixie bloviation: "Well, I'll be, Tricia Ann. You just caught yourself a leprechaun. And as the legend goes, you got yourself one wish -- anything in the world." Tricia does not immediately wish for a top that would not get her sent home from most offices where the employees dress like grownups and not contestants in Amateur Pole-Dancing Night. T-Bag continues, "I am bound to grant it." Tricia says, "Your commencement check's sitting on my desk, waiting to be signed. That's a pretty nice pot of gold." T-Bag is not cool with that. Thinking fast, he continues his southern-fried bullshit: "Now it's true, leprechauns cannot refuse their captors' demands. But if they deem her to be greedy or covetous, whatever he desires will be accompanied with disastrous tidings." His whispery-predatory schtick fails to frighten Tricia. She deals with salespeople. Anyone who deals with salespeople around the end of a financial quarter is made of stern stuff. So Tricia asks for three percent of T-Bag's commissions from here on out.
Caper time! The first order of business is to get Sam out of the office, as Don Self has just learned, to his horror, that Sam was planning on just eating at his desk as they worked. Thinking quickly, Don Self blurts that he's now a vegetarian, so please let him treat Sam to lunch. Not wanting to offend Don's culinary sensibilities, Sam agrees to abandon his burger, and they head out for lunch. On the way out, Don uncaps the bottle Michael gave him and squeezes a quart of ink onto the floor.
We cut to Sucre and Bellick dropping into a janitor's closet. Sucre hands the grate back up to Michael, who's shimmying it into place when a woman walks in and informs them that there's no more toilet paper in the ladies' room. Everyone breaks out in the flop sweat, as Michael's fingers are still visibly holding the grate in place. Worse, neither Bellick nor Sucre seem to be able to find the toilet paper. Worst of all, as the woman is berating Bellick and Sucre for not being better organized, Michael's nose begins bleeding and the blood drips all over the lady's shoulder. Fortunately, she doesn't notice. However, Linc is giving Michael a what the hell? look. Michael looks back at him guiltily.
Time to build tension again! So we switch to the outside of Scylla HQ. Mahone's looking at the water, and Roland comes over with a list of 53 hotels that fit Mahone's criteria. Roland begins chattering: "I read this article a little while ago, right? About the whole nature vs. nurture thing. And it turns out, it's all kind of a mish-mash because DNA trumps everything. And I believe it, because I grew up in the same house, went to the same school as my brother, who's a math professor. My sister's a pediatrician. And I'm a thief who blows his money on hookers and coke. So, like the same way Scofield's hard-wired to be a genius, and you're hard-wired to be a lawman, right? I mean, whoever this guy is, do you think he wanted to grow up to be a murderer? Probably not. " Mahone says shakily, "Be very careful choosing the words that come out of your mouth." Roland is visibly thinking -- probably that now is not the time to reveal that he and Agent Blots Out the Sun are college roomies, or something. He says instead, "I'm just saying: we are who we are."
Caper time! Sucre comes over and moans in mock consternation at the stain on the rug. He calls on his walkie-talkie for janitorial backup, and explains to the secretary that they have to clean the rug right now. She does not take this noisy diversion as a God-given cue to go out and run some errands. Instead, she lets Bellick plug in his vacuum in Sam's office. As Bellick does, the brothers McSullen drop in through the air vent and begin breaking through the wall to get to the safe, the noise from Sucre and Bellick's cleaning providing a perfect cover.
Michael and Linc also get a chance for a heart-to-heart, as Linc cuts off Michael's nattering about thermite to glare and gesture at his nose with, "How long has it been happening?" Michael dodges with, "It's not a big deal." "It was a big deal when you were thirteen," Linc points out. Michael doesn't want Dr. Sara to know; Linc correctly points out that, "Sara's a doctor. She can help you." Michael feebly protests, "I'm acclimating to the warmer climate, alright?'" Linc does not point out that Panama is hardly known as the Arctic of the Equator. They go back to drilling toward the safe from the back.
Speaking of the good doctor, there she is making conversation with Roland, who is dreamily speculating on the vast amount of filthy lucre the One World Conspiracy is playing with. Dr. Sara is unconcerned with petty pecuniary matters. She begins doing non-Google Internet searches to see why the One World Conspiracy is so into Laos all of a sudden.
Caper time! Michael is, I think, using thermite to help melt the metal so that he and Linc can easily cut through the metal back of the safe. We switch to the outside of Sam's office, where the secretary is still persisting in her attempts to work. More fool her.
Mahone has just found the dive where Dr. Sara was, and he's chatting up the bartender with a lie about how he's a private investigator working for Dr. Sara, and the reason he works for her is because he's trying to save her from a life of domestic violence courtesy of her ex, Agent Blots Out the Sun. The bartender actually buys this story -- or perhaps has enough personal experience with this sort of thing where she's loath to call anyone out on lies regarding domestic violence -- and she gives Mahone an ID on a gray rental-car sedan.
We flash to said sedan, and Agent Blots Out the Sun bribing his check-in clerk with $300 for "a small kindness." There's a phone number wrapped around that $300.
Caper time! The secretary's finally had enough, and when she switches off the vacuum cleaner, the boys have a brief moment of panic. Fortunately, Bellick and Sucre are sufficiently convincing as cleaning-obsessed idiot savants (or just plain idiots ...) and Sucre manages to get the mail from the desk for the irritable secretary, thereby freeing the boys to finish their job.
But now there is a new complication: General Von Baldy has decided to drop in and pay Griffen Oren a visit. When Michael hears the footsteps in the office, he has a brief moment of panic, as they're still a drilling revolution or two away from their goal. However, Linc argues (in a whisper) that they'll have to do it manually.
We then go to Mahone having tracked down the hotel where Agent Blots Out the Sun is staying, and we see him pull a gun out of the brown paper package that Pam handed him. (There's a little echo of Macbeth with those two, as she's urging him to kill someone to ease a moral outrage, little dreaming that it was his first righteous killing that actually brought them to this point. O, tragedy!) Mahone goes in, gun hidden, to make his inquiries. He confirms with the clerk that indeed Agent Blots Out the Sun was a guest of the hotel, but the clerk lies about Agent Blots Out the Sun having checked out. Mahone fishes for hints as to the agent's whereabouts -- paying $19 for a key to the room -- and on his way out, it hits him that something's amiss. He comes back in right as the clerk is saying on the phone, "You wanted to know if anyone came looking for you?" "Did they?" Agent Blots Out the Sun asks. Mahone's gun on the clerk's temple is enough to convince the clerk to say, "No. I was just calling to let you know my shift was ending and nobody showed up." This is how Mahone ends up with that phone number too. It was a fruitful day for him!
Caper time! We cut to Oren talking to General Von Baldy, and then Michael pondering the possibility of turning down the drill to its lowest setting. The guys go ahead as the Conspiracy honchos continue talking. Oren says, "I successfully negotiated policies with the IMF and the World Bank. I am pretty sure I can handle Laos." Von Baldy drawls that he's aware of Griffen's resume. He's also aware of the cacophony of whirring engines around him. In the other office, Michael's managed to get into the safe and he pulls out the card. As Roland begins copying, Dr. Sara listens to someone on Fox News talking about how the runaway inflation in Laos has led to food riots and 200 people dead thus far. She stops watching just before the anchor can blame this dire situation on the Democratic presidential campaign. Michael also takes pictures of several things -- they look like electronics (a handheld, a stylus, the data card, Charybdis).
We go back to General Von Baldy saying slowly that "this is an important day for us. I need to make sure that everyone knows his role." Oren asks irritably why General Von Baldy had to berate him in person. Because General Von Baldy's just that kind of hands-on evil stooge. Actually, he admits, "Things have happened in the past few days that have made me somewhat uneasy. Today we got confirmation that one of our targets is in Los Angeles." We cut to Michael, eyes widening as he realizes the One World Conspiracy knows their general whereabouts. That, plus Lisa Tabak's stooge being killed, has made General Von Baldy nervous. We viewers have a nervous moment where it looks like Charybdis has picked this moment to be a picky eater and the data uplink slows. Then the anxiety gets ratcheted up as General Von Baldy asks Griffen Oren to produce his data card immediately.
Michael's eyes go half-dollar-sized in panic as he hears this, and on the other end of the line, Roland says they're only 72% of the way done with the copying. Aighhh! The tension! It's winched up even more as General Von Baldy insists on seeing the card, and Oren begins to slowly open his safe, and Roland confirms that they're only at 86%, and Michael's hastily putting things back -- "Ninety-two percent," Roland says -- and Oren turns to General Von Baldy reproachfully to say, "Fifteen years of working together, you think you'd trust me." General Von Baldy replies, "Don't turn this into an opera. Just hand me the card." Roland says, "Ninety-six percent," and Oren's hand is reaching into the safe ...
And then, of course, the card is completely copied and Michael is holding the safe shut so that no hole in its back is perceived. Oren hands over the card, and General Von Baldy issues the edict that all card-holders must keep their cards on them at all times. Oh, this'll make the few card-related capers especially fun to execute. Anyway, the boys do a quick clean-up, passing Don Self right as he's being ribbed for eating tempeh, and then they're out to the van, quick as you please. Don Self peels out once the last guy's in the van. He doesn't even bother to check and see if anyone's buckled their seat belt. That's not very secure, Don!
Michael unwinds from the Treasury department visit by getting a little dockside quality time with his girlfriend. She's just filled him in on the dire situation in Laos. Dr. Sara explains, "Apparently, billions in counterfeit currency flooded the economy, which is what caused it all. What I don't understand is why? I mean, so far, all the cardholders have been experts in their field -- in energy, logistics, in finance ... it looks like they're just trying to tear the country down." "So they can profit by rebuilding it," Michael says. Why, that's crazy talk! You can't make money off of offering to fix something you broke -- oh. Dr. Sara figures this is just a prelude to something bigger and nastier. She then pauses and says, "I was at a bar earlier." That gets Michael's attention. She adds hastily, "Nothing happened. I didn't drink." Michael says, "If this is too much for you, say the word and we'll scrap the whole thing." Dr. Sara thinks that's a sweet offer, but really, she's fine: "It's not going to happen again. But really, it would be a lie not to tell you. I want you to know that I'll never lie to you." We cut to Michael processing this -- what, was he hoping for a "you can lie" clause in their relationship? -- and Dr. Sara finishes with an apology. Michael just kisses her.
T-Bag is still ruminating over the 14-runged ladder when Tricia interrupts him. "Someone's here for you," she says coolly. It would appear young Tricia loses respect for you the moment she realizes she can blackmail you. In walks our stabby Asian friend from the episode. T-Bag extends his hand as Cole Pfeiffer, but Mac the Knife leaves him hanging. We get a nice shot of the trepidation in T-Bag's eyes; I am amused that this guy can survive anything up to and including amputation, life on the lam, Sona, and whatever exotic viruses are currently coursing through his system courtesy of Sister Mary Hooker, but corporate America just might do him in. T-Bag asks, "Is your name Xing?" He pronounces it "Zing." Mac the Knife answers, "Mr. Xing stayed behind in New York." Heh. Also, he pronounces it with a more sibilant sound, almost "shzing." T-Bag invites Mac the Knife to sit down; he regrets extending the invite when Mac whips out his firearm. Mac the Knife gets to the point immediately: "You were supposed to deliver the item two days ago. Where is it?" If T-Bag was ruing his decision to impersonate Cole before, he's really regretting it now, especially when Mac the Knife continues, "My patience is wearing thin ... if you deliver [Scylla] to me by the end of the day, I will pay you the sum we agreed upon. Get it to me tomorrow, and you will receive 50% of your fee. Two days, 25%. Three days, I shoot you through the brain." T-Bag gulps, "No problem." He doesn't dare stand to see Mac the Knife out, probably because his pants need to be changed.
As Mac the Knife leaves, we cut to Tricia holding the slip of paper Bellick gave her, and obviously ruminating on something. I am ruminating on those awful red acrylic nails she glued onto her own claws. So tacky when they're so obviously fake.
Meanwhile, in a dank dungeon somewhere, Gretchen endures. Some anonymous stooge comes by with a rusty bucket, saying helpfully, "I thought that urine might be getting a little stale, so I brought you some more." As he goes to change buckets, Gretchen whips out a leg and manages to fell him. He goes down right by her bench, and she wraps her legs around him, rending him incapable of scooting away. It takes her all of a moment to rear back as far as her shackles will allow, and she drives the now-free rusty nail right into the guy's temple. He screams, but nobody comes running. Gretchen quickly unlocks her shackles, rips off the duct tape covering her mouth, and heads for the door with a wild look in her eye. It's going to be a race between her and Mahone to see who gets to Agent Blots Out the Sun first.
We cut to Don Self asking Michael if he got the enhanced image files. He sure did. Don explains that for the first two cardholders, they've got names and addresses, but the last cardholder -- the one that Roland is staring at intently on the screen -- is General Von Baldy. (Or, as the show has labeled him "General Jonathan Krantz.") Don Self says ruefully, "This guy's a ghost." Michael clicks off without saying goodbye. Dr. Sara looks a little woozy, and she walks away from Michael and Roland. When Michael strolls over to see if she's okay, Dr. Sara says, "Most of what happened to me in Panama is a total blank, but when I was being held, I could hear Gretchen talking on the phone in the room, and she was taking orders from the guy in charge, and she called him 'the General.'" We see Roland eavesdropping. Hands up, all of you who think that the One World Conspiracy came to him in prison and offered him a sweetheart deal along the lines of "work with these clowns and we'll let the rest of your family live." Anyway, the point to this scene is to establish that the final cardholder is the tippy-top of the One World Conspiracy, so getting his card data is not going to be easy.
Speaking of General Von Baldy, he's currently reminding himself that Agent Blots Out the Sun is too big to kill with his bare hands, as Agent Blots Out the Sun is currently skipping around Von Baldy's office and singing, "I told you so, I told you so!" General Von Baldy replies, "She'll come home. She always has." I'm thinking perhaps Gretchen has finally taken the words of Thomas Wolfe to heart and concluded that indeed, you can never go home again. Before Agent Blots Out the Sun can issue more reproachful bon mots regarding Gretchen and her irritating condition of non-deadness, a stooge comes in and shares the news that a Homeland Security Agent by the name of Don Self has been running enhanced image searches on General Von Baldy. Von Baldy is startled by this, and we see him exchange a long and meaningful glance with Agent Blots Out the Sun. It's sweet that these two are capable of non-verbal communication. Then again, when the message being sent is "Kill him" and it's being sent to such a virtuoso sadist, is it really that difficult to connect? We'll find out week.