It feels like just a few weeks ago our dear crew of murders, child molesters and thieves escaped from the worst protected prison ever, Fox River. Last we left them, all eight had escaped, a few of them hearing Westmoreland's dying words to Michael about where to find the five million dollars he hid so many years ago. Abruzzi chopped T-Bag's hand off, Tweener escaped by horse trailer, and Haywire was riding down the street on some little girl's bike.
This is going to be a more abbreviated recap since there have already been three episodes and really nothing's happened. What I find particularly curious in the first few moments of the show is that when we last saw the guys, the cops were a mere hundred yards from them, in cars. Now, when we rejoin them, the cops are far enough behind them that they can stop and rest. What the hell? A word of advice, I like this show, I really do, I care about Michael, and Lincoln, and Sucre, and C-Note, and I sorta care about Sara too, but some of the stories are just unbelievable and just don't work. But I find it fun to pick them apart and wonder if they think the audience is dumb.
Yeah, girl, we're right there with ya
Stupid Veronica's still at Terrance Steadman's house. In fact, it's now daylight and she's standing exactly where she was at the end of last season, in the middle of the night. I don't know what the continuity chick was doing when this scene was shot, but it obviously wasn't her job. I'll go through what happens with Veronica first, because she's the dumbest, most annoying character on the show. In fact, after she confronts Terrance, it's confirmed she's an idiot. He asks her why she thinks there weren't any guards out front. Oh, yeah, that's right. Apparently the doors and windows don't open from the inside, only the outside, she's locked in there with him. So she immediately calls the local police, because in this secluded area of Blackfoot, Montana, or wherever they are, the PRESIDENT won't have the local police on her payroll. Lincoln calls her just as the cops are showing up. She tells Linc that Steadman's alive. He doesn't understand and before she can explain, the cops she was so happy to see shoot her in the head.
Yes, Veronica's dead. Am I sad? Nope. She's the idiot that was trying to talk Steadman into turning himself in. Um, he's the President's brother you dumbass. She's the leader of the free world. She just has no sense. Kinda like last season when she called Nick's answering machine and basically told whoever was listening (and there was) what was going down. Bye bye Veronica. The sad thing is that Linc hears her die, and isn't too happy. Poor guy.
It's like a scene out of Deliverance
Onto better things, like crazy T-Bag. Yes, the Department of Corrections in the state of Illinois is really up on their game. In fact, the man who's leaving the best bloodhound blood trail in history, with a severed hand, escapes the dogs too. He's able to put his hand on ice (the next morning???) and goes to a vet to get it sewn back on. There are so many things wrong with this. First off, how is the vet knowledgeable about vascular surgery? How does he not pass out from the pain? I love T-Bag though. He's so awful he's good, and man the actor who plays him nails it. Of course T-Bag ends up killing the poor doctor who helped him and gets away in his car, headed, of course, to Utah, where Westmoreland's money is buried.
Also trying to get there is Tweener. Oh you remember cute little Tweener. Well, he was able to make it as far as Chicago. Yes, Chicago, probably less then tweny minutes from the prison. Through the first three episodes, the farthest someone gets is Ohio. Tweener picks a few pockets and tries to take a train to Utah, but he thinks someone has spotted him, since all the escapees faces are plastered all over the place. Since that doesn't work out, I think he makes one of the smartest moves of all of the escapees. He goes to a college campus. He blends in perfectly, and we all know they're probably not up to date on the escape, not like they should be anyway. He finds one of those ride share fliers and catches a ride with a decent looking girl, who of course jumps at the chance to ride cross country with this hottie, not really minding he doesn't have any bags, or change of clothes and probably smells like Avocado's ass.
Aw. Do you think that's Morse code at the bottom or do you think the dots are decorative?
You know who they kept alive? Sara Tancredi. She looked really freakin' dead last time we saw her, but she isn't. Unfortunately, they've figured out that she was on the one who unlocked the door. Her condition was touch and go for a bit, but she was having a dream with Michael in it and that was enough for her to pull through. Personally I would have stayed under a little longer to see where it went. She's told that it's not just Michael and Lincoln who got out, and is devastated she got played liked that, even though we know she really didn't, since he was into her too. In fact, she finds a little origami bird in her backpack that gives her a bit of hope. Her father, the Governor, soon to be Vice President, comes to see her, and basically says for her to keep her mouth shut. She admits to him that she did it, and he's appalled, basically leaving her there to rot. He's a bastard. Later, she's in a 12 step program meeting, and who's one of the guys in it? Agent Kellerman. That bastard. He must realize Michael and Lincoln are bound to come to her again.
Now to the main group of guys. After running from Bellick, they're faced with a new enemy, one Michael's the main target of, F.B.I. Agent Mahone, played by the magnificent, William Fichtner. What sets him apart from all the idiots at Fox River is he's smart. He starts putting two and two together when he's looking at a photo of Michael's tattoos and sees the street names, the ones he figured out their escape route with last season on the roof. This makes Mahone realize that not only is Michael smart, but he can figure it out just about as fast as Michael can.
Pope lets Mahone take over the investigation, with Bellick fuming over it. The guys have made it to a town close by, where the F.B.I. thinks Michael is keeping a storage locker. Come to find out, it's empty, and Michael actually buried the clothes and money he needs in a grave. Of course Mahone figures it out and arrives just as the guys, Abruzzi, C-Note, Sucre, Michael and Lincoln, are getting the last of the stuff out of the grave, and have changed into normal street clothes. They get away, but Michael realizes he has a formidable foe in Mahone.
The guys hang out in a garage while the heat dies down a little. What I don't get about this whole scenario, is you'd think Abruzzi would be able to call the guys back again to get him and the guys, getting Fibonacci's location from Michael, the whole reason he was in on this in the first place. We've also realized that the guys all know about the money, making it a race to Utah. Only a few know the actual location, but I guess we're supposed to forget that detail and think they all know where it is. I love Cannon Ball Run. Once the coast is clear, everybody runs off, by now Lincoln knowing that Veronica is dead, but not telling anybody.
Sucre goes off in search of Maricruz, who even though Sucre only had a year left on his sentence, couldn't wait to get married, because she's pregnant. In fact, Sucre calls a buddy who tells him about the wedding, happening, coincidentally, in a few days. Sucre races to the city, after stealing a car, only to get stopped by a cop, who almost catches him, but he escapes on a train. Once at his friend's house, the friend tells him that Maricruz and Hector are in Vegas getting married. Me, I would have given up. Or at least slept a few hours and eaten a meal at my friend's house. Instead, Sucre grabs the guy's motorcycle keys and runs off. We know the guy won't call the cops on his friend, but Sucre's driving around without a helmet on, sure to get pulled over, again. I mean, a helmet is the best disguise, you have an excuse for it. But no, he drives off without a helmet, recklessly into the night.
C-Note doesn't go far either. Besides Michael and Lincoln, he's the one I truly feel for. No, he shouldn't be lying to his wife about being in Iraq, but I get why he's doing it. I also get why he drove that van with illegal material in it to land him in jail in the first place. I'm not saying it was the brightest idea of his to escape, seeing his family will immediately be notified, and I'm not saying it's the brightest thing for him to hang around Chicago to get them, but hey, I like the guy. He calls his wife, who is pissed. He tells her something in code, about "The Rainbow Room" and the picture they took at the window, and that he'll meet her there in a week. Mahone and another woman agent are listening and she immediately thinks it's the Rainbow Room restaurant. Mahone tells her to go to the wife, talk to her sista to sista and try to get her to break and turn C-Note in. C-Note goes to his daughter's school and is able to talk to her briefly. It's a very cute scene and he's so sincere. He tells the little girl to tell her mother if she's with him, to turn on the porch light at 7pm. Later that night, after the girl is tucked in, we notice she has a rainbow on her wall, and there's a picture of C-Note and his family next to the window. Ah, so it wasn't the restaurant in New York after all. Good call C-Note. The wife is reluctant, but she puts the porch light on, just before C-Note gives up and leaves. Unfortunately, in the kitchen, drinking some tea is the woman agent. So is his wife turning him in? Will she break? I don't think so, but good drama. C-Note presumably is heading the Utah as well.
Poor Bellick. I really don't feel sorry for him. Wait, maybe I do a bit. After the escape, probably within a day or two, the review board reviews Pope and Bellick for their part in the escape. Since the warden gave Michael special privileges that resulted in him escaping, they want him reprimanded. And Bellick, they catch him big time. They find out that he let Abruzzi pay him to run the PI. How did they know? Geary told them. Remember Geary? He was the CO who was busted for taking money. Well now he's singing like a canary. They decide to fire Bellick, and since Pope is an upstanding guy, he quits. What the hell? I guess we really don't care because we're done seeing that prison anyway.
When Bellick, gets home from being fired, his mother, who he lives with, wonders why he's home so early. He lies to her, and goes into his room, takes out a gun and nearly kills himself. The only thing to stop him is the news story his mother yells into him. There's a $100,000 reward for each of the escapees. What a great twist to have Bellick after them now. Bellick eventually wanders into a convenience store, and sees Geary, who's the security guard. The two fight, but like normal men, they're back being friends after they get out that aggression. Geary suggests he help him find them. Bellick agrees.
"My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump"
So da boys. Michael and Lincoln have gotten about 15 or so miles away from Chicago. They find out that LJ is being arraigned. Oh right, Kellerman set him up for killing his mother and step-father. Linc wants to go get him. Yes, the man who everybody believes killed the now-President' brother, wants to go to the courthouse and break his son out. That just makes no sense at all. Getting him while he's in transport, yeah, I could see that, but at the courthouse? Of course he needs Michael's brains, although Michael thinks this is a bad idea. Since he gives Micheal the cute puppy dog eyes, he finally agrees to it. And really, who can resist those big beautiful eyes? I know I couldn't.
Linc calls LJ, pretending to be Nick. Oh yeah, Nick who Veronica got killed. Right, him. He gives him some mumbo jumbo, a clue to how they're gonna get him. The ever present Mahone, hears the conversation and questions LJ about it. He even tells him about how it couldn't possibly be Nick on the other end, since Nick's body was just found, probably stinking up high hell. As they're transporting LJ at the courthouse, Mahone puts two and two together and figures out the riddle, that he's going to be taken in the elevator. Michael and Linc, armed with a fake gun, show up to take LJ, but Mahone thwarts it, as Linc drops the gun and he realizes it's fake. Unfortunately, they don't get LJ out, and really, could they have? Michael and Mahone lock eyes though, realizing the chase is on.
Michael enlists the help of Nika, his wife. My Tivo bleeped out during this moment, but I think they showed up at her place. Michael left Lincoln there since his leg got hurt in the shoot out trying to rescue LJ. Michael goes to get his car that was towed. Unfortunately, some bum broke into it while it was on the street and in it was Michael's lucky bag. It had their passports, money, all they would need. This gets back to Mahone, who realizes it was towed. He calls the guy right as Michael's about to leave and tries to stall. He picks Linc up and thanks Nika, and they leave. He then makes a call to a voicemail he has set up and gives a time and place to meet whoever it is is going to pick up the voicemail. Unfortunately, Mahone and his group have picked it up and are on their way. Michael keeps the phone on and Mahone's able to track them.
At a bridge, Michael and Lincoln get out of their car and in the trunk are two big bags of blood. Ah, I get it. I was wondering why they were keeping this car. Michael has some sort of bomb rigged to go off, when after pushing search on the radio, it comes to a certain station. Mahone's now barreling down the road, with lights going, trying to catch up to Michael, who they've tracked through the phone and know has stopped. Michael pushes the radio to start the search and they push the car off of the bridge. It doesn't explode but Linc goes down and pushes the button and it explodes, with him safe. Mahone sees it explode and as the place is surrounded by cops, Linc and Michael get away. Linc doesn't think it's over, but Michael thinks it'll take at least a few days to realize they're not in the car, plus there are other people Mahone can chase. Nika's there to pick them up and as she pulls away, we see a car waiting for them, it's Bellick and Geary!
All in all, the episodes have been good, and I want to see where they're going. I guess with this many people to follow around we can't see them every episode, but it's a bit annoying we haven't seen the President, who orchestrated all of this. I'd also like to see the boys' father to come back out of the woodwork. He's lived for years on the run, he should be helping them. I also want Mahone, who's a good guy, to figure out there's a conspiracy so Michael and Lincoln will have someone working for them for a change, not their friend or lawyer, but someone else who thinks something's not right about the whole Burrows case.
