So on the down side we didn't get to see any of Michael's tattoo this week. On the up side, we did see our boys outside of the prison and Michael in a suit. It was nice to see how everything sorta came together and a bit more background on Lincoln and Michael's relationship and what creepy looks like talking to your children.
Hey, if he wore more than an undershirt under his jacket he'd be much warmer
On the outside it's three years before now. Michael walks up to his apartment and sees Lincoln crouched down in the doorway, cold and half awake. Michael's pissed, he hates stepping over bums. Lincoln admits that he's there to see him because he lost his keys and is locked out of his apartment. Silly Linc, Michael finds his keys a mere few feet away and doesn't get it that his brother really needs to talk to him. There's none of that dedicated brotherly love that we've come to know and love.
Later, when Linc gets home there are two men waiting for him. One of them is named Crab, not to be confused with Crabman from My Name Is Earl. Lincoln hastily tells him that he'll get him his ninety grand. Crab tells him that the other mystery man, Bo, already paid it for him. Lincoln promises to get the money to the new guy, but Bo insists that he'll never be able to pay it back, at least not monetarily. Hey, he's not in prison yet, get your mind out of the gutter.
Meanwhile, Michael's having drinks with a coworker. The Vice President is on the television and his friend asks him if he wants to hit that. Ewe, that's old and ugly. Michael's noncommittal, not unlike the actor who plays him. The two men are interrupted by Veronica, who it seems Michael hasn't seen for awhile. The friend excuses himself and Veronica asks how he is and the conversation invariably comes back to how Lincoln is. She wants to know if he's still as hot as she remembers. Michael doesn't comment.
Lincoln on the other hand is still trying to wrap his head around what Bo's just asked him to do. He wants him to kill someone, someone we don't know yet. I mean, we know who it is but the show's pretending we don't. Across the street the two men are being watched by a mystery man who's describing Lincoln's wardrobe to someone, "black leather jacket, way out of season. jeans with a hole in the side, hello 1987". Back in the apartment Bo gives Linc a piece of paper with an address on it, telling Lincoln it's a ninety thousand dollar bullet. Shoot, why doesn't he just sell the bullet?
That's the oldest trick in the book, I invented that trick
Over at Michael's, he and Veronica have just stumbled, drunk into his apartment. I really hope they're not taking it where it looks like he's going. She does the stereotypical, "oops, I slipped and accidentally fell into your arms" thing. This bitch is good. The two look like they're about to kiss when Michael's phone rings. It's Lincoln, wouldn't you know it, he's such a c*ck block. Veronica wonders if he's going to answer it, but Michael insists he'll just leave a message.
Sure enough, in the cold Chicago night, Lincoln's leaving Michael a message. He tells him that he needs his help, that he's in something real bad, and he needs Michael to call him back right away. Interrupted by Linc's call Michael realizes he can't do this. And thank goodness because I would have been pissed, they're icky together and Lincoln is her true love. Anyway, she agrees that they can't do it and he calls her a cab.
Linc can't wait any longer for Michael's call and runs into the parking structure he's in front of. He stops in front of a pillar and does a little Zen breathing. Hey, it's hard on the soul to kill a man. He then heads for Terrance Steadman's car and points his gun to fire. Unfortunately, as we all know by now, the man inside's dead already. Linc freaks out and runs away. Inside a van Agents Kellerman and Hale (RIP) are watching this unfold on the video. Hale wonders if they got it and Kellerman confirms that they got what they needed.
"Girl, I want to sop you up with a biscuit"
In the LOST moment of the night, as Lincoln's running away from the scene he runs through a group of men, one of which is Sucre. Sucre yells some obscenity in Spanish and then the guys laugh. Across the street Sucre locks eyes with Maricruz. They have a bit of eye flirting with Sucre's cousin, Hector, looking on. We know Hector's a dog and that he'll steal Maricruz away. I want to kick him already.
All those pills in the bottles and she chooses this?
We're now treated to some scenes with Dr. Tancredi, she looks, uh, like crap. She's walking through the halls of a hospital and a colleague walks by, telling her that people are waiting for them. She dismisses him and says she'll be right there. She goes into the medicine closet and takes out some morphine. Oh, she must be treating- ah man, she injects it into herself. Nice, Dr. Sara's a drug addict.
Over in war torn Iraq, we get our first glimpse of C-Note. Now we know how he's gotten all of those postcards. I mean, I still don't know, they must sell them at the 7-11 in town. C-Note's standing with his commanding officer as they bring in what looks like coffins. Inside aren't bodies, it's beer. C-Note's the guy to come to if you want some contraband. This time though, he's not trading money for it, he's trading a cushy prison guard job (har har) at a POW camp. This puts him out of harms way, apparently.
At Michael's office Veronica's shown up for a nooner. She wonders if he's been watching the news. Why should couldn't have called him is beyond me. She tells him that Lincoln's all over the news. Michael decides to have a talk with his older brother. He visits Linc in jail and he's looking pretty cute in the orange jumper. Not that many people can pull that off. I think it's his skin tone. Anyway, Michael's pissed that he killed the VP's brother. I mean, if you're going to kill someone, let it not be the Veep's bro. Even though Linc tells Michael that he's innocent, swears to it, Michael doesn't believe it. He says there's too much evidence against him, especially the fact that he owed someone money. Michael's pissed and tells Linc not to use that tired excuse that he's this way because their mother died, or their father left. He says that he didn't go frak his life up, that he used his half of their mother's life insurance to do good things, and that Lincoln could have done that but he chose not to. Ouch.
In the Vice President's office, Agent Brinker's coaching her on her upcoming speech about her brother's death. It's clear who wears the pants around this office and it ain't Mrs. Vice President. The Veep wonders if Governor Tancredi's going to be a problem and Brinker assures her that he won't. I wonder if they know about Sara's little drug problem. I'm sure they do.
I'm sorry, what was I talking about?
With Veronica, Michael's still wondering why the hell Linc owed someone ninety thousand, he's coming up with various seedy reasons. Finally Veronica tells him to be a little more compassionate, the guy is his brother. Veronica can't take it anymore and spills her guts. She tells Michael that the money he got from his mother's life insurance, wasn't actually from his mother, it was from Lincoln. He borrowed the money and gave it to him under the guise of it being from their mother, since he wouldn't have taken it otherwise. This is the money that paid for his schooling, where he lives now, and everything that's gotten him to where he is today is because of this money. Doesn't he feel like a tool now.
Michael goes to the jail, feeling like an ass and apologizes to Linc. He admits that Veronica's the one who told him and tells him how much she still cares for him. Linc doesn't want Michael to waste his time with him anymore, to move on with his life and forget about it. Of course he can't do that, since he blames himself for Lincoln being in there. They start to go through what happened and how everything can line up to him. Since he didn't do it, then someone's obviously making it look like he did. While they're talking we see a guy at a computer modifying the video of Lincoln. Since Lincoln points the gun at the guy, they use a little Photoshop to make it look like the gun's being fired. Kellerman watches, satisfied.
Meanwhile, Sucre's still pining over Maricruz. His a**hole cousin Hector thinks she's way out of his league, that she wants a guy who can pay her way to things, kinda like him, but he doesn't exactly come out and say that. Sucre doesn't think Maricruz thinks that way, and tells the guys he thinks she's the one. The one what I'm not sure, but one of them. Flash to a liquor store and Sucre's decides to rob it. He puts his hood up (what is it with Fox and hoodies???) and runs in, pointing a gun at the clerk. The clerk gets out the money from the register but Sucre just takes a one hundred dollar bill. I'm assuming this means he's only robbing him to take her out to dinner. Interesting. Later, when he and Maricruz are in bed, he mentions how cute the sweat pool in her bellybutton is. Ewe.
In Iraq, C-Note's living the high life being a prison guard. Unfortunately, he must be stationed at Abu Ghraib or something because as he's walking down the hallway he hears some moaning. When he gets close enough to see what's happening he notices an Iraqi prisoner being tortured with electric shock. C-Note looks disgusted.
Michael's in his office late at night, going over all of the evidence, trying to think of a way to get Lincoln out. He goes into one of his drawers and there's an origami crane, just like the one he was so fond of earlier in the season.
Dr. Sara's not doing too well. She meets up with her druggie boyfriend and gives him the drugs and syringes she snatched from the hospital. He's extremely appreciative, as anyone would be. Suddenly, in front of them, a boy is hit on a bike and doesn't look like he's doing too well. The crowd gathered around him is calling for help. One fo the people notices the hospital badge Sara has and urges her to help him. How'd they know she was a doctor? She could be a clerk, or an orderly, or she could sell medical supplies there and need a badge because she's there so much. Anyway, because she's in a drug haze she doesn't react and her friend pulls her away as she basically watches the kid die. Scandalous.
I'm beginning to like C-Note
C-Note's in his commanding officer's tent and tells him that the whiskey he ordered will be there soon. That's not why the officer wanted to see him though. He knows about the complaint he filed about prisoner abuse. The officer doesn't like the idea of people knowing what goes on there and C-Note assures him he's not going to the evening news with this, he just doesn't want it to happen again. Since it's clear C-Note's not backing down from the charges, the officer places him under arrest for selling the black market goods. That's just messed up.
It's the end of Lincoln's trial and if you haven't guessed it yet, he's found guilty. Veronica and Michael, who are in the back of the courtroom are clearly upset. When Linc passes them by Michael apologizes for not being able to stop this.
In Chicago, C-Note and his brother-in-law, Darius, talk about what a bad situation he's in. Not only is he jobless because no one will hire him because of the dishonorable discharge but he's lying to his wife who thinks he's just on leave. Darius says that he can get C-Note some work. C-Note knows what kind of work that is and if she's gonna be pissed about him being kicked out, she's bound to be pissed about this. Darius assures him that all it is is driving a truck from point A to point B. It's ever that simple, but let's go with it. Later, what we know is gonna happen happens. As C-Note is driving the truck for his brother-in-law the cops pull him over.
Michael's still pissed about the verdict and is going off to Lincoln about his defense team, that they never called Leticia Barris to the stand, or talked to the first cop on the scene since he changed his story. Lincoln thinks it's a lost cause and urges Michael to give it up. He can't. He thinks back to the time when he was younger, when it was just him and Lincoln in the house. He says that he used to have trouble sleeping because he never knew where Linc was. In the morning though there'd be an origami crane on his pillow next to him and it was comforting, knowing Linc would check on him each night. (sniff sniff) He says he looked up the meaning of a crane, and it means familial obligation. I doubt Linc knew that, but it's quite ironic. He says that now it's his turn to watch out for him. Lincoln's still defeated. He says that the next day they'll be moving him to the big boy's prison, a placed called, Fox River. Uh oh, Fox River you say? This causes a spark in Michael's eye. Later we see him at his office late at night, grabbing the Fox River architectural plans.
In the creepy moment of the night, we join T-Bag in his regularly scheduled molestation. Actually, he's the guest of a single mother and her two kids. This is the first time this poor woman is finding love after her divorce and she picks this guy. Not really a good judge of character but my thinking is she's a bit desperate to find her kids a daddy. He shows up to their house for a nice supper of liver with a side of fava beans and a nice glass of chianti.
With Sucre, he's still hanging around that good for nothing bastard cousin of his, Hector. He tells the guys that he's planning to propose to Maricruz. Hector, of course, doesn't think this is a good idea since he's a big douche. He says that he can't even afford a ring. Cue Sucre being desperate and going to that same liquor store from earlier. This time he doesn't take just a hundred, he takes the whole stack. Waiting for him outside are the cops, they were tipped off. Oh, I wonder who tipped- HECTOR. That lying sack of sh*t.
Kellerman's with the Vice President and she's talking about the Burrows' case. She wants to know if everything's working out like it was planned and he says yes. She doesn't remember the last time she was this nervous. I mean, it takes a lot out of a girl to set up someone for murder even though the person's alive and being Vice President. Damn. Kellerman has obviously been with her a long time because he comments that he saw her this nervous before she ordered Truman to bomb Japan. Kellerman shows her a house in a secluded part of the country.
We finally see Sara again, this time she's sober, looking much better than before. She's in a NA meeting, telling her story. Afterwards, she gets the complimentary coffee, hey, you have to switch one addiction with the other. While she's doing that, who should walk up? Bellick himself. He's not the hard ass bastard we've grown to know and love. He's still a bit creepy since he's obviously attracted to her. He tells her about a job opening he knows about at Fox River, where he works. She's happy to hear of a place that takes ex addicts and thanks him for the lead. That's not all he wants to give her, he invites her out for dinner. Since she doesn't usually date old ugly guys, she politely says no. He's crushed, since he's asked out every other addict he knows from the group and they've all said no. He needs to join SA. He's bound to find someone there that'll have sex with him.
At Michael's, he stares at a decreasingly blank wall. On it now is the case file from Lincoln's murder trail. Now that he has the blueprints, he starts putting them up as well. As we know, this wall will become and intricate and amazing piece of his plan to break Linc out. Later, as the wall fills up, it has countless flash cards on it. As he studies each piece of information he's furious he can't memorize it. He's smart, but he's not that smart. He gets frustrated and pulls some of the cards down in a rage. The doorbell rings and it's the pizza delivery girl. He goes to pay for his pizza and sees the crazy tattoos on the girl's body. Ding! Ding! Idea time!
T-Bag's having a great time. He's with the two young children and their naive mother. The little girl's having trouble in her math class so he offers to help. Isn't that so nice of him. She's excited to learn something and that excites the mother who (ewe) kisses T-Bag a thank you. As she finishes washing dishes in the kitchen she notices a familiar face on the America's Most Wanted episode that happens to be playing. It's none other then her nice boyfriend Theodore, wanted for murder and lots of other nasty things. She stands there in shock.
Yup, really likin' him now
C-Note's going home to face his wife and daughter, to finally admit what happened. When he goes to tell them he chickens out. He tells them that he's being shipped back to Iraq. The little girl doesn't want him to go and the wife is upset. Lord knows it's safer in Iraq then it is in our prison system. Hmph. Later, Darius tells C-Note that it's a mistake to lie to his wife, and he's pissed, seeing it's his sister. C-Note points out that him going to prison is his fault, and that if he knows what's good for him he'll keep this secret, since it'll kill his wife to know she married a thug after all. She can only take one thug in the family at a time.
Over with Michael, he's busy laying the blueprints down and copying them onto tracing paper. It's multi-layers and we get to see how the hell he reads that thing. One of the tattoos is "boLshoi booze" Later, he goes to the Mexican border and a man questions him about why he wants... something, they're very vague. The guy warns him not to tell anyone and we read the paper Michael has slipped him which reads "boLshoi booze". Obviously this is going to mean something at some point. In the "what the hell is he doing" moment of the night, Michael's at a cemetery and starts digging a grave. It's winter in Chicago so I can't imagine that's easy. Back at his house his wall is now filled with information, including new articles and research about his cohorts, including Abruzzi, and Warden Pope.
At Fox River, Susan, T-Bag's girlfriend, sits in the visitation room as T-Bag comes in and sits down across the glass. She says that her therapist told her it might be good to come and confront him. Probably not since he tells her that he was a good man after he met her, and that her love turned him straight. And by straight I mean he didn't kill anyone while knew her. But now that she's against him, if he ever gets out of there he's coming after her. Crap.
With the Vice President, she's making some sort of vegetable mush in a blender at that secluded home. She takes it into a man sitting in a chair with his back to us. She tells him that things are almost over, that Burrows will be dead soon. She knows how much he's been through and that the worst is over. As she walks away he takes some false teeth out of a jar and puts them in. He turns around and it's Terrance Steadman, like we didn't call that at the beginning of the scene. He insists that she has no idea what he's gone through. Yeah, like getting all your teeth knocked out of your head and put into another body so that they can identify you later with the dental records. Damn.
The one on the right! The one on the right!
Lately, we see Michael in his apartment dressed in the suit we may remember from the day he was arrested. He looks on his table and sees two guns which he picks up as he leaves the apartment.
