PRISON BREAKIN' MY HEART

First and foremost, someone dies, and I have to say, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time wondering who it was going to be. I really do like this show, and it's not just because it's star is a crazy hottie. Okay, so maybe it is, but still, the story's pretty original and I find myself rooting for some really bad people.

Anyway, this show starts off with a flashback. Michael's at an office interviewing for his architecture job. We learn that he loves structure, design, and function. We then flash to present day as Michael's inside one of the underground tunnels. He sure makes a lot of noise when he's down there. With him he has the bag of belongings he stole last week. He takes out the black suit he had on when he came into prison. He goes down one tunnel and finds himself in a large underground room/silo type thing. He rips the suit open and there's a plastic bag and a rope. This mofo is McGyver I tell ya. Anyway, he puts the suit in the bag and ties the rope off. Then he stuffs it into a small hole on one end of the room. There's a pipe at one end with a valve on it and when he looks up there's a grate about thirty or so feet above his head. I'm really bad with measurements, so it may be more, it may be less, but it's way too high for him to climb up. But my man has a plan.

Upstairs in the yard T-Bag (what a great name) is on the phone with someone, asking about some kid. He sorta does have a heart. Abruzzi sees this and thinks something is up.

Meanwhile, Michael tells Linc about being able to access the infirmary and finding the tunnel. They also discuss the fact that they are one person too many for the escape. Unfortunately, newly added escapee, C-Note, overhears this and quickly informs everyone else that one of them has to go. Sucre doesn't want to keep digging if he doesn't have a chance to go, and Abruzzi scoffs that we know who should go. Cue, creepy T-Bag. He comes in and says they shouldn't even think about him. That he's called someone on the outside and if they don't hear from him five minutes before and twenty minutes after that they should call the warden. Okay, last week Michael said that they're gonna have 18 or so minutes. T-Bag's plan will out them anyway if the guy sticks to the twenty minutes thing. C-Note tells Sucre that he should watch his back with Michael because his head is on the chopping block to not go. Sucre trusts Michael but C-Note puts a little fear in him saying that Michael isn't telling him everything. Kinda makes sense because Westmoreland has the money, Abruzzi has the plane, and of course it's Michael's plan to get his brother out. The three people that should be concerned are T-Bag, C-Note, and Sucre. Seriously, where do they come up with those names. UPDATE: Totally forgot to mention this before. At some point during the show one of C-Notes boys walked up to him and handed him blank postcards from Iraq. Not sure what postcard store they got these from, but C-Note looked mighty happy to have them.

Later, Sucre gets a visit from Maricruz who tells him she's pregnant with his baby. He's extremely happy but she says that she might marry slimmy Hector so she'll have a father for the baby. If I remember correctly Sucre doesn't have much longer on his sentence, so not sure what she's thinking. He reassures her that he'll get out soon, but she points out that he always says that. I sorta want to slap the ho, but I'll hold back for now. Sucre continues to be paranoid about his standing in the group and realizes he needs to get out to stop Maricruz from marrying Hector.

Abruzzi tells Linc later not to worry about T-Bag because he's gonna have it taken care of. According to Abruzzi his outside team has found the man T-Bag was talking to and is going to keep him in a van for a few days until after the escape so he can't tell. Yeah, cause that's what the mob does before you testify, they keep you locked up a few days so you miss the court date. Sure. Later, Abruzzi's guys find T-Bag's cousin or brother or both who is outside in full mullet salute playing with a little kid, presumably the one T-Bag was asking about earlier. Unfortunately cousin mullet doesn't go quietly into that goodnight. In fact, Abruzzi guy tells him later that the guy pulled a gun and they had to kill him and oops, there was a kid with him and the guy used him as a shield and he got killed too. Damn, the mob sucks these days, can't take care of one cousin mullet.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Veronica, LJ and Nick make it to the hospital. Nick stops them from going in, saying that if they find a bullet in his arm, they're going to call the police. He insists they dig out the bullet, which Veronica does, lord knows doctors are stupid and won't realize a bullet did that. They successfully get him to the hospital and Nick goes into surgery. The doctor confronts Veronica about it, but doesn't push her. LJ sees a newspaper that has an announcement of his mother's funeral, so he disappears with the car. Of course, he arrives after the funeral is over and walks to the casket. Watching him do this is Hale, the good (better) of the evil agent type guys following Nick and Veronica. Kellerman tells him via phone to follow LJ. Hale watches in guilt as LJ cries over his mother's grave and then follows him back to the hospital where he's almost seen by Veronica who's happy to have LJ back.

Back in the joint Michael is in the infirmary. Remember when he kept shooting tubes of toothpaste with nasty stuff in it down a grate in the infirmary floor? Well, this time he sticks a mop handle down there and the floor breaks. I guess that stuff was acid or something. He hears Bellick come in looking for him and quickly goes to work mopping. Bellick informs him that he ran into his stripped wife the night before and knows about the credit card, that he just searched Michael's cell. Not very well I guess because Mike has a bunch of stuff hidden in there. Sara, the Doc, comes in and tells Bellick to scram, but not before Bellick mentions that Michael only married Nika to get her a green card. After Bellick leaves Michael tells Sara that Bellick's had it out for him since he got there. She ignores him, but I suspect she's jumping up and down pn the inside because she found out his wife is a green card wife. She says that he doesn't have to explain himself to her, and he says that he wants too. Can they please hook up already?

Abruzzi's going crazy in his room as he dreams about a dead little boy in a casket and wakes with a start. He also sees a water stain in the corner of his room and starts to think it's Jesus. His men confirm that they're going to take care of T-Bag in shed the next day. Later a priest comes in and tells Abruzzi that Jesus loves everyone.

As they're working in the yard, Michael sees a drainage valve and has Westmoreland cover him as he goes and turns it on. I was sure he was gonna get caught and have to make up some excuse. He didn't, and was able to fill the silo thing with water. I knew he was gonna do that!!! Later, he sneaks back into the tunnel and in the highlight moment of the show, Michael... takes...his... clothes...off to climb into the water filled silo. Not really sure what happened after that, my roommate had to splash cold water on me to wake me up. She told me that once under water Michael grabbed the rope he left in there and swam to the top where the grate was, tying the rope off. We find out that it empties into some sort of storage room right underneath the infirmary. Michael pulls the rope and the plastic bag that was stuffed into the hole at the bottom of the silo comes out and the water drains, not sure to where. By now I'm awake again and wondering how he's gonna get back to his clothes, not that I care, he can run around in his skivvies if he wants.

Back in the real world, Hale goes home to his pregnant wife and tries to convince her to move. She wonders what's brought this on and thinks maybe his job has something to do with it. Yeah, could be those blood stains you keep having to wash out of his suits. At the hospital Nick is out of surgery and Veronica gets a call from Hale, saying that he has information for her, and he knows that Lincoln was set up. Hale wants to meet with her and insists this isn't a trap. I believe him, I've known he was gonna turn for awhile.

In the clink Michael works his way (clothed to my disappointment) back to the hole in the guards room. He's about to come up with Linc warns the group that a guard is on his way. Westmoreland tells Linc to stall, and instead of talking to the guy about the weather, he just stands in his way with a 'I'm guilty' look on his face. When the guard insists on going in, Linc punches him and is quickly taken off, most likely to solitary confinement. Not as smart as his bro is he? When Michael gets into the room, I wonder if the guards will notice that he wasn't there before, he says that the plan is in place and that they're going TONIGHT. Then he realizes that his brother isn't there, and Westmoreland tells them that they have a problem. Speaking of problems...

Before going out to the yard Pope tells T-Bag about his cousin's murder, as well as the murdered little boy. He nearly falls down in anguish. His day isn't going any better later when Abruzzi's guys grab him and force him into the shed, tie him up, and beat him a bit. Can't say I'm all that unhappy with this, although T-Bag is one of the more interesting characters. Abruzzi comes in and I think, okay, he's just found Jesus, he can't kill the guy, right? RIGHT? This whole scene is up and down for me, I was definitely at the edge of my seat, wondering what's going to happen. Abruzzi threatens T-Bag as T begs for his life. Abruzzi holds a knife to his throat, and is ready to cut at any moment. Will he kill him because T-Bag is a bad guy and Abruzzi wants to get rid of him, or is Abruzzi done with killing, and is going to spare him. Abruzzi airs on the side of decency and spares T-Bag. He does make him promise to back out and to not tell anyone. T-Bag whimpers and agrees to this. Abruzzi turns to leave and T-Bag pulls a razor out of his mouth and KILLS Abruzzi!!!!!! Yes!! The scene ends with T-Bag smiling over a sliced neck Abruzzi!

Don't miss next week's episode, the last for awhile since 24 is taking over the time slot in January (!!!!). Next week the group finally escape! We'll see how far they get without a plane.