Did we really think Linc was going to die? I know I didn't. This isn't 24, they don't kill off main characters. Abruzzi, he's not dead, he's just recovering. He'll be back in a few episodes, I guarantee it. So how does Houdini get out of this one? Read on...
The last we left our bald inmates, Linc was a dead man walking. The guards strap him to the chair and put water on his head for proper conductivity. Oh, do you remember that part in The Green Mile where they didn't put the water on the dude's head and he fried up like a turkey in oil? Oh that was nasty. We don't want that happening to Linc. At this point I'd be crapping in my pants, and he may be, he's wearing those adult diapers. Anyway, he's starting to freak out a bit.
Doesn't help him any when they open the curtain and Michael and Veronica are sitting there staring at him. Anytime now Michael. Do what you gotta do to get my outta here. Anytime you wanna stop this you go ahead and feel free. Um, I don't think he's stopping it. I was so sure the rat was just a decoy and he would stop it. Nope, doesn't look like it's going to happen. Linc's looking between Michael and Veronica when he notices a guy in the observation room with them. He recognizes him. Of course I heard a rumor who it might be but I'm not going to ruin it for you yet. It's his father. Linc's trying to get Michael's attention to look behind him, but since it's only his eyes he can move at this point, Michael doesn't get it. I would get it, but Michael's a bit distracted. Before Lincoln can get him to turn around, they put a hood over his face. Damn! Michael breaks down.
Before anything can happen, the damn phone rings. We know it's not the Governor calling, so who could it be? The President? Well we know it's not him. Suddenly the curtains are drawn and we don't know what the hell's going on. Who's on the damn phone? Are they not going to let the people in the observation room watch? COMMERCIAL! Damnit, I nearly peed myself.
When we come back Michael and Veronica are crying in the visitation room. It's a whole Izzie thing from Grey's Anatomy. Pope comes in and tells them how sorry he is for putting them through this. And in walks Lincoln. I knew he wasn't going to die but damn that was nerve racking. Lincoln sits down and he's still in shock. Pope explains that the judge called and said there's new evidence. Way to wait until the last damn minute. Michael wants to know when the new date will be, but of course, Pope doesn't know. Veronica runs out to find out what's going on with the case. Lincoln's finally able to come out of his shock long enough to ask Michael if he saw the guy in the observation room. He didn't, and Lincoln claims it was their dad. Michael's surprised as well. He actually doesn't believe him, since there were only a few people in the room, the two of them and some reporters. Lincoln insists that it was him and that Michael wouldn't have recognized him anyway, since he took off thirty years ago. How old is Michael? He can't be thirty. I mean maybe he is, but he doesn't look a day over 26. Even if it was him, Michael wants to know why the hell he would come back now. That's my question too Mike.
I'm thinking she and the Veep are gonna throw down. Yes!
That bitch, the Vice President isn't happy Lincoln's not dead. Kellerman is standing there and Michelle Forbes, who plays Agent Brinker, is sitting. Aren't you supposed to stand when you're talking to the Prez or VP? I know on West Wing they do. Anyway, she wants to know if maybe Hale's behind this. Since Kellerman shot him, he's fairly sure the guy's dead. And he ain't Jack Bauer. Brinker wants to know how Kellerman knows it wasn't Hale who gave Veronica the information, you know, besides the fact that he watched him die. Kellerman says that if Veronica had it, she wouldn't have waited until Lincoln was strapped to the chair to produce it. It would have been on the six o'clock news, that's for sure. Brinker thinks maybe Kellerman or someone from his team is responsible, and he thinks maybe it was from at her office, from the "company". What company? Is that lingo for the CIA? NSA? The Veep points out that they're all in this together, so they should stop arguing about it, just find out who did it. Kellerman leaves, but before Brinker does, the Veep reminds her that when she's addressing her, to stand the frak up. She may be a bitch but she's still the Vice President. Nice. I hate the bitch though.
In court the next day Judge Kessler tells Veronica and the prosecutor what exactly happened. Apparently someone slipped two reports under his door. The first was Terence Steadman's autopsy report, which showed he had an appendix. The second was a report that showed when Terence Steadman was a kid, he had his appendix removed. Ha, in your face prosecutor. He doesn't think the execution should have been stopped for this small piece of evidence. The judge, who hasn't been bought yet, says that this is too heavy a situation to not make sure everything's perfect. Veronica wants Lincoln's conviction overturned because of the new evidence. Hold on little lady, hold on. Since the hospital records don't go back into Terence Steadman's childhood, they can't verify that these documents are true. What they can do is dig a mofo up. The judge is giving them two weeks to find the evidence. Afterwards, Veronica calls Michael and gives him the lowdown of what happened. Later, Michael and Sucre are in the cell and Michael informs him that the plan to escape is back on, he doesn't want to take any chances and wait for the new evidence. I'm with you there.
Lincoln and Pope are talking and Pope's not really sure what's going on either. He tells Lincoln how lucky he is to have so many people helping him out. Before Pope leaves, Linc asks him about the guy in the baseball cap who was at the execution. Pope says it was Michael, Veronica, and three reporters. Lincoln's bummed, since he knows his dad isn't a reporter, at least the last time he saw him, THIRTY years ago.
Because Michael has the blueprints on his body, he and Sucre are holding mirrors, trying to find another way out. I really don't know what's going on because Michael has his shirt off and I'm distracted. Hot damn. Sucre wants to know why Michael didn't just memorize the plans, frakin' slacker. Michael thinks he found a way, but it'll be suicide. Then don't go. Why would you go if it was suicide?
God I'm glad it's cold in Illinois
Michael and the whole team are now working outside again. He tells them that the basic idea of the plan is still there, going through the hole in the guards' room, and then out the infirmary. Unfortunately, with that damn pipe, they can't go through that way. C-Note thinks they can just erode the pipe again, but Michael says that it's not a good idea, since they'll figure out that something's going on. Apparently, the only way to do this is to go through the psych ward, which shares an underground passage with the infirmary. The only problem is the underground passage doesn't go directly from the guards' room to the psych ward. For about forty yards of it they'll be cool, then they have to do the rest of the way there above ground. Say what!?! I get it, suicide meaning the guards in the watch towers will shoot you. They happen to be standing right where Michael says they'll emerge, through a manhole cover. Ha, I said manhole. Unfortunately, three guard towers can see them from this spot. I don't know how this is the only way, but Michael says it is. I agree with C-Note, this plan sucks.
Back in the cell, Michael tells Sucre that he has to go in the walls and go check out their way on his own, so there are no surprises. Sucre sees a laundry cart being wheeled by and has an idea. Yes, that was Sucre that had an idea, and it doesn't have anything to do with Maricruz, who I wonder if he remembers.
He was one short guy
As they're exhuming Steadman's grave, Nick mentions something about Steadman wanting to have a "green" funeral. He wanted it on St. Patrick's Day, with green beer and leprechauns. This also means that because the body wasn't preserved, it's going to be a big old mess. Let's give a round of applause to the writers who thought of a way to have the body still around and not be preserved.
A donkey?
The man with the plan, Sucre, meets up with his cousin in the laundry room. Damn, it's like a family reunion on this show. Anyway, the guy works there and Sucre blackmails him with telling his mother about that whole incidence in the shed with them when they were 12. Actually, it's better, Sucre threatens to tell everyone about "the donkey". I don't want to even begin to imagine what this means, because what I think it means is nasty.
Poor Lincoln is dreaming about his dad and when he was younger. His dad took him to baseball games, like every American dad did. They're having nice father/son moments, watching the players warm up. His dad wants him to take notice of one particular player, number eleven.
While Lincoln sleeps and dreams about Wrigley Field, Sucre's able to secure whatever it is his cousin got for him. The cousin warns that if he gets caught with this they'll kill him and that Sucre has to have it back to him by the next morning, or else his ass is grass. Sucre then gives it to Michael.
"Ah, yeah, we're not doin' anything. What?"
While the team is working in the guards' room, something falls out of C-Notes pocket. I wonder what it is, oh, a postcard from Iraq. Westmoreland sees this and picks it up. Then he reads it. Nosy mofo. C-Note see him and grabs it back. So, remember how they got rid of the dirt they were shoveling out of the hole? They put it into the walls. Well, seems like it wants to come out. In fact, it's slowly trickling out of the wall seam. At that moment, T-Bag gives them a warning knock to let them know Bellick's on his way in. Right as he opens the door C-Note puts his foot on the seam to stop the dirt from coming out. Bellick comes in and yells at the guys for working so slow, or not working is more like it. The other guys get to work, but C-Note doesn't move since he's plugging the hole. Bellick doesn't like this and tells him to hurry up and get to work. C-Note tries to play cool but Bellick keeps hammering him. Finally, Westmoreland pushes C-Note, under the guise of making him listen to Bellick. He puts his foot on the hole and berates C-Note a little more. Bellick likes it and when he's satisfied, he leaves. Just after the door closes, the whole wall comes tumbling down.
Unfortunately, the guys aren't out of the woods. At that moment two other COs are on their way past the room. T-Bag knocks on the door and the guys frantically try to clean up the mess that's just spilled out of the walls. The two COs are arguing about something sports related which I couldn't recall if you put a gun to my head. Okay, I could recall if you put a gun to my head, but you haven't so I don't. One of the guys asks T-Bag if he knows the answer and he doesn't. The guys overhear this and I haven't seen shoveling this fast since the pie eating scene in Stand By Me. The one thing T-Bag and I have in common, besides our parents being brother and sister, is that we don't know anything about sports. Since the CO has to get the answer to the question right now, he starts to go into the room. The guys stop what they're doing, no way getting it all into the hole in time. Right as the guy's about to open the door T-Bag comes up with the information the guy's looking for. The guy's satisfied and he and his friend walk away. Whew, that was close.
We get a quick few minutes of Linc talking to Sara. He's still weirded out that he saw his father at the execution. He asks Sara if maybe he was hallucinating. Sure, being strapped to a chair about to get cooked to death can have that affect on a guy. She says that he could have, hallucinate the thing he was thinking about most at that point. As she leaves he ponders this.
C-Note and Westmoreland are doing some spackling or something else I'll never do as long as I live and Westmoreland wants to talk about this whole, postcards from Iraq thing he's got going. He's impressed, he's seen some trashy crap people've tried to pull over on their loved one but this is the best. He wonders who Dee-Dee is and when C-Note gets all pissy, he realizes it's his daughter. Westmoreland doesn't think it's the best idea in the world, since as soon as he breaks out the coppers are going to his house. Can't really hide it anymore when the cops tell you your husband broke out of the prison he's been in in Illinois for the past few years and not in Iraq. They end the conversation with a little bonding over daughters and lying to them.
Since Linc has nothing else better to do he sleeps. He starts having flashbacks/dreams about his father and being at the stadium with him. They're still talking about number 11 and when he turns around we see the players name is Prall. Lincoln wakes up and we get a flashback of when Pope was in the cell earlier and read the names of the three reporters. Sure enough, one of them's name was Prall.
Michael and Sucre are looking at Mike's tats again. Seriously, that's what I'd be doing if I was with him. Michael's concerned that getting around underneath the psych ward is going to be difficult. Why you ask? And yes, Sucre did. Well, apparently Illinois is cheap, and instead of removing the pipes during retrofitting, they just kept them there. The lead pipes are on the first plan, then they put another layer of pipes, this time copper. Then, a few years before, industrial plastic, until finally, now, it's Adamantium. Who knows, there's just a lot of crap down there that they'll have to navigate. Of course all of this is very nail biting because if he gets lost while taking this sight seeing trip, he won't be back for count. Why the hell doesn't he go after count? Who knows.
Peek-a-boo!!
So Michael goes for it, going through their little tunnel and making it to the manhole. Still underground he opens the package Sucre's cousin got for him. Outside, we see the manhole start to open and up pops Michael's cute little head, in a CO's uniform. He gets out of the hole and just as he's walking towards the psych ward, one of the tower lights hits him. He waves to the guards and the light goes out. Phew. Finally he makes it to the psych ward and there's some oblivious guard sitting there. He comments that the COs never come to see him and Michael basically tells him that he didn't want to see him either, he just has to go to the bathroom and is too lazy to walk back to the guards' area. In with Sucre, the guard's coming around for count and he looks pretty damn close. Michael's made it down the basement and opens the door to the pipe system. Unfortunately the guard that was up front has come looking for him. Don't ask me how he buzzed himself in through the doors or how he's going to get back. Let's just suspend our disbelief here. Michael uses the tried and true, "I thought you said make a right". The guard's suspicious of him, but he leaves, not before the guard wonders why he hasn't gone to the bathroom yet.
"AAAHHHH"
Veronica and Nick are now with the coroner. He tells them that because the body was so decomposed, the only way they could match the body to Steadman was through dental records. And since dental records couldn't possibly be switched, it's proven that the body in the coffin is Steadman. Poor Nick and Veronica. To put salt on the wound, the Veep is waiting for them outside the room and wonders if Veronica is done digging up her family members. Man I want to punch this bitch. But since I think slapping the Vice President across the face is against some sort of law, Veronica just slinks away.
I'm sorry, this does NOT look good
Our dear sweet Mike has made it back to the manhole and crawled in. Ha. Sucre's freaking out because the guy is just about at their cell. I don't know how he's going to make it back for this. Michael's snaking his way through pipes when a guard comes into the area. Michael does his best to not move because the guy is standing with his back turned in front of him. The guy moves away and Michael backs up to a steaming pipe. Because he can' t make any noise he just stands there and gets burned. The guard's called off and takes a few swigs of his flask, finally walking away. Unfortunately, Michael doesn't make it back to the cell, but Sucre's arranged the pillows in the bed to look like he's already sleeping. The inept guard believes it's him and keeps walking. A few seconds later Michael knocks on the sink and comes in. Sucre sees that he's burned and Michael begs him to rip it off. Sucre doesn't want to because it's literally burned into his skin but Michael insists, not wanting to get caught in the uniform. Michael braces himself as Sucre rips it off and he screams.
Holy crap. I would not get tired of waking up to that every morning.
Luckily Michael wakes up in the infirmary and Sara tells him that she had to put him out for the procedure. I can only guess the procedure was cutting the burnt skin off. Sucre's in trouble because he was the only person in the cell when Michael got hurt. Bellick doesn't believe he didn't do it, although what could he have done it with? Sucre says that Michael had been acting weird ever since he came into the cell and that he found him like that. In with Michael, Sara asks if Sucre did it and he assures her that he didn't. When Michael leaves a nurse comes up and Sara confides in her that she found some fiber melted into Michael's skin, and it's not from an inmates uniform, but a guards.
Sucre takes the uniform back to his cousin who's pissed, since he'll get in trouble. The CO shows up for his shirt and is pissed that the laundry guy messed it up. Luckily, since getting a hole at the laundromat isn't that out of the ordinary, the guard's just pissed, and doesn't do anything to the poor guy.
When Veronica comes to visit, she doesn't tell Linc about the autopsy results just then. Give a guy a day or two to get over almost being electrocuted before you break it to him that it'll happen again. Linc finally confides in her that he saw his father at the execution. She doesn't think it's possible, because 30 years ago he told her he was against capital punishment. He knows what he saw, and is pretty damn sick and tired of people telling him he's crazy.
Brinker and the crew have just found surveillance footage in Judge Kessler's building. They have video of a man walking the corridors with something in his hand. They're impressed because he knows where the cameras are and hides his face. He ain' that good though, because when he gets to the judge's office and slips the paper under the door, you can see his reflection in the glass. Dumb! It's Lincoln and Michael's dad! And, Brinker thinks she knows who it is. The plot thickens.
Eww
Speaking of thickening, Michael and Sucre are back in the cell. Against doctor's orders he takes the bandage off. He's heartbroken when he sees the burn scar is covering the exact part of the map they need to get out of them. The irony.
