Michael, back in the cell, puts the toilet back together. Sucre is frantically telling him, “ This ain’t gonna fly, man. The Ricans, we got genetically higher blood pressure, you know that? ” Michael tells Sucre that he can make it to the roof, and the next part of the plan is “all about timing.”
Abruzzi checks his watch: 3:50 PM. His cellmate, Gus, expertly melts a plastic toothbrush with a book of matches, guiding the liquid plastic into the key mold imprinted on the bar of soap.
In an office crammed with computer equipment, monitors and electronic devices, Veronica and Nick consult with video analyst, Chaz Fink. Chaz marvels at the tape. “ The thing’s clean. No footprints. Usually, you peel the video back a few layers, anything bogus comes right off. Now you see it, now you don’t, right? But not this one. It’s laced. Ingrained.” Chaz plays the tape again. Something catches his interest and he replays the audio track. “The problem with your eyes is that they play tricks on you, but ears? Ears don’t lie. ” He focuses on the sound of the gunshot. As soon as it’s fired, the sound waves immediately die. “ Stripped down, those levels should dance. Room that size, would give you, BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM . One off of each wall, a split second after each other. On yours, the reverb’s bouncing at the same time.” What this means, he tells an anxious Veronica, is that the sound of the gunshot was not recorded in the parking garage. Veronica grows excited. If Chaz will testify to that fact, they’ll have enough to take to a judge. Chaz is leery. He won’t testify unless he can get his hands on the original tape.
Michael huddles over the model of the Taj Mahal. Pope questions Michael about his “allergies,” the ones he cited in his motion. Michael replies, “ Sinusitis, yeah. It’s actually not an allergy, it’s a bacterial infection. But the moist air from the river along the East Wall, it helps keeps me,” Michael takes a deep breath, “You know. Clear.” Pope has to admire Michael’s initiative. He’s been in Fox River so short a time, yet he’s already figured out how to work the system. Michael presses Pope to reveal why it was Pope wanted him transferred. But Pope brushes off his question, pointing out that it’s almost five o’clock and they should call it a day. Michael tells Pope that if he left now, the support beam he’s holding would give in and the whole model would collapse. Michael says he has to stay and hold it in place until the glue dries. Pope agrees that Michael can stay. When he’s done, he’s to check in with Pope’s assistant, Becky, and she’ll have a guard escort him back to his cell. The Pope thanks Michael for showing up to work on the model, in spite of the outstanding transfer request. Michael smirks, “You’re welcome.”
The minute Pope leaves, Michael releases his hold on the support structure. It doesn’t collapse at all . Michael moves to the door where he listens to make sure the coast is clear. Pope is gone, but C.O. Patterson remains behind, flirting with Becky. Michael smiles, then moves to the rear door of the Pope’s office. It’s still locked. He looks at the clock: 4:55 PM.
Abruzzi skates down a corridor, pushing a janitorial bin with mops and brooms hanging from the side.
Pope arrives home and walks into the kitchen to find his wife, Judy, pouring some iced tea. Pope goes to grab a glass, but Judy slaps his hand away. She tells him that the iced tea is for his guests who are waiting in the den. An apprehensive Pope walks into the den; Hale and Kellerman are waiting.
The clock in the warden’s office reads 5:05 PM. Michael hears the sound of a key unlocking the rear door. He quietly opens the door, removes the plastic key, and joins a line of inmates walking as they file through the hall outside Pope’s door.
Back in his den, Pope explains to Kellerman and Hale that there is nothing he can do to accelerate Michael’s transfer. He’s legally obligated to file Michael’s motion with the court, which could take up to two months to be processed. Kellerman, frustrated, paces the room. “ I was looking at the morgue photos of that boy back in Toledo, Will Clayton. Spitting image of his daddy. Apple fell real far away from the tree with that one, didn’t it? Fell off the tree and all over the pavement.” Pope is furious, but Kellerman continues to push. They know that Judy and Pope worked things out after his affair, but that Judy does not know about Will, Pope’s illegitimate child. The Pope demands they leave, but Kellerman faces him and demands that the warden lose Michael’s motion. Judy enters to ask the agents if they’re staying for dinner, but the agents instantly turn on the charm and politely excuse themselves. Kellerman thanks Judy for the iced tea and tells Pope, “You better do everything you can to hold onto this one.” Pope, beaten, nods his head.
As soon as Kellerman and Hale leave, Pope enters his personal study and shreds Michael’s motion to deny transfer.
A guard secures Lincoln’s wrist and ankle shackles are secured, then gives Sara the all-clear to enter. She’s non-plussed to be there to perform the ironic task of making sure Lincoln is healthy enough for the state to kill him. “This,” she says, “is not why I went to medical school.” As part of the physical, Sara asks about the medical history for Lincoln’s mother, father and siblings. Lincoln pauses. Sara asks, “Anyone besides Michael?” Lincoln turns to her, not sure what to answer. “ Fox River ’s like a small town, Mr. Burrows. People don’t have much to do here besides time and talk.” She asks curious about their relationship. “He’s been abandoned his whole life. Dad, mom, she died young. And now me.” Sara wonders aloud if that’s why Michael is here, to be near his brother before his death.
Pope sits alone in his study, going over the “ TOLEDO” file. He flips through pictures of Will. First, his elementary school pictures and then the police photos of his body sprawled on he pavement. Pope’s eyes well up with tears.
Michael files into gen pop with the other inmates and checks his tattoo: “ENGLISH,” “FITZ” “PERCY.” He then looks at his watch: 5:44PM. He enters his cell and the doors close behind him. “It’s time.” Sucre panics. “Count’s in fifteen minutes! What are you doing?” Michael says it’s better off if he keeps Sucre in the dark.
Pope prays in the empty prison chapel. The Reverend enters, “ Don’t normally find you here at this hour. Are you seeking His forgiveness, or advice?” Pope says he doesn’t know anymore and he opens up about Will. “He was a criminal, and an addict. But he was only eighteen years old. I should have kept him on the right path.” The Reverend is familiar with this bit of Pope’s past. He reminds Pope that the woman he had the affair with made her terms very clear. Pope could not be in his son’s life unless he would also be in the mother’s life. Pope knew that when he went back to Judy, it would mean he would never know his son. He ran away from his responsibility, but was grateful to be rid of it.
Veronica and Nick stand at the front desk of a records office. They urge a bitter clerk to let them see the original tape of the murder. She refuses. Veronica and Nick beg to see it, they’ll do whatever it takes to see that tape. The clerk furrows her brows and asks for the docket number. The clerk asks for the docket number from Veronica. The clerk sighs. “Come with me,” she says. They follow her to a small back room. The shelves and floor of the archive room are littered with soaked files, destroyed boxes and ruined papers. “Last night, pipe burst right upstairs. Flooded the place. Files from over a hundred cases, pretty much lost all of ‘em. Including yours.” Veronica finds it strange that the only room that flooded was that evidence room. The clerk responds that it was some kind of freak accident.
Sucre checks his watch, the doors slide open for the inmate count. Michael is not in the cell.
Michael works his way through the service corridors again and back up to the roof. He moves quickly up the side of the roof and barely avoids a roaming search light. He checks his watch. Count has started.
Bellick reads of the names on his check list. “Scofield, Sucre.” He walks up to the cell, and Sucre is standing alone. Bellick enters and briefly looks over the cell, but Michael is nowhere to be found. Bellick stares down Sucre, and then calls out to the floor, “We got a runner!”
The alarms sound and the flood lights lining the yard come to life. Guards swarm the cell block searching for Michael. Bellick presses Sucre for more information, to no avail. Patterson radios Bellick from Pope’s office, “ Call it off, Captain. I got Scofield right in here.” Bellick barks at Patterson to visually confirm Michael’s location. Patterson opens the door to Pope’s office, and finds the room empty. Patterson presses the button on the walkie-talke. “Captain, he’s gone.”
Michael crouches on the roof, watching the action unfold. Police squad cars race towards the prison. A line of cars race down both Percy Avenue and English Street. Then Michael turns around to face a third street. This street remains dark and quiet. Fitz Street. Michael smiles.
Pope rushes back into his office, demanding to know how an inmate vanished with a guard right outside. Bellick storms behind him. Michael’s head pokes out from behind the model of the Taj. “What’s going on?” Bellick charges Michael, grabbing him and throwing him against a wall. “What were you doing in here!?” Pope calls Bellick off, asking Michael, “You were in here the whole time?” Becky tells Pope she never Michael him leave and Patterson admits he must not have seen him behind the table. Bellick is furious at the notion that Michael may not be punished for missing count, but Pope wearily interjects that Michael is no longer Fox River’s problem. “ There was...an error in his paperwork. Looks like his transfer will be going through after all. ” Michael is crushed and tries to plead with the warden, but Bellick forces him out.
“Any chance you wanna write it off as a coincidence?” Nick asks Veronica as they walk back into her apartment building. Assuming someone was behind the sabotaging of the evidence tape, Veronica asks how anyone could have known they’d be coming for it even before they did. Nick figures it’s a good sign. When people start breaking the law, that means you’re on to something. They reach Veronica’s apartment and see the door is open. Nick enters slowly, Veronica right behind. Everything is intact, nothing appears to be stolen. Veronica notices the cabinet in the kitchen was left open and she frantically tears through a pile of towels and napkins. Their copy of the tape is gone. Someone stole it. Nick asks if she’s sure that’s where she left it. Veronica replies, “Yes. You were here…” She stops herself and gives Nick a suspicious glance.
The next day, cell doors open in gen pop for inmates to go to breakfast. Bellick swaggers up to Michael and Sucre’s cell, instructing Michael to wait in his cell until his ride comes. Sucre hops of his bunk, “It can’t end like this.” Bellick hollers for Sucre to clear out, but Sucre lingers. “Fitz. We were going take Fitz,” Michael says quietly. “And the cops? How long it takes them to respond? You got all the timing down?” Sucre asks. Michael nods. “Think we would’ve made it?” Sucre asks, but before he can answer, Bellick pulls him out. Michael the allen wrench. Before getting up to leave, he slips it under Sucre’s pillow and places an origami swan on his bunk.
Bellick walks a heavily shackled Michael down an outside corridor. Sara watches from the infirmary as he passes. Then they take a long walk past the yard, the eyes of all inmates following Michael’s departure. Westmoreland holds Marilyn. Sucre hangs on the fence. Abruzzi leans over and whispers to Gus, “ Call my wife. Tell her to get the kids. Tell her to get out of the country.” Bellick and Michael stop just long enough for Lincoln and Michael to hold a glance between them. Lincoln stands and Michael mouths, “I’m sorry,” to him. Pope watches from his office, he sits back in his chair as Michael shuffles out of the prison and out of his life.
Bellick hands Michael over to another C.O. who will escort Michael to the bus. As the gates of the prison sally port open, Pope barks out, “ What’s this prisoner doing out of his cell?” After the guard says he’s being transferred, Pope steps in. ”No, this must be some kind of a mistake. This prisoner filed a motion yesterday. He has a medical condition that precludes transfer. Sinusitis, isn’t it?” A quick but knowing look passes between Pope and Michael. Pope demands Michael be taken back and his recreational time taken away for missing prisoner count. Pope looks beyond the gates, Hale and Kellerman wait in their car.
When Pope returns home, he finds Judy waiting for him on their porch. Judy asks why he’s home early and if everything is okay. Pope sits down next to his wife and uncomfortably replies, “There’s someone I need to tell you about.”
Kellerman makes the unpleasant call to the Garlic Cutter. “The transfer didn’t go through. ” The Garlic Cutter has had it. She recommends a change of plans. Kellerman and Hale need to go after the cause of all of this, Lincoln. “After all,” she says, “the chair isn’t the only way to take a man’s life in prison.”
Prison Break
Episode 106 - "Riots, Drills and The Devil" Part 1 of 2
Airdate: 09/26/2005
The rides and attractions at Chicago’s Navy Pier glisten in the afternoon sun. An unassuming middle-aged man turns from a ticket booth to pass a handful of tickets to a group of eager kids. The man reaches out and kisses one of the boys with a fatherly smile, watching the kids run off. When he turns back, he freezes at the sight of Kellerman and Hale. Kellerman addresses the man as Diamond, whose face grows serious. He and the agents have a history. Diamond makes it clear that whatever the agents want, he wants no part of it. He’s been out of the life for years. Kellerman smirks as he takes a bite of ice cream. “ I know. Problem is, Diamond, no one’s gonna believe that after I take the heroin I have in my pocket and put it in the glove box of your reasonably priced minivan parked over there. I will cuff you and drag you right out of here, in front of everyone. ” Diamond relents, resentfully demanding to know what they need.
That night, alone in her apartment, Veronica reviews paperwork from Lincoln’s case. In the background, the President of the United States delivers a televised speech, discussing alternative fuels. “ What America needs is an environmentally friendly, logistically feasible, and economically responsible alternative fuel source.” Her phone rings, but she lets the answering machine get it. Wendy, her assistant, begins to leave a message that Nick Savrinn has been calling the office obsessively. Veronica picks up, instructing Wendy to tell him that she’s not there, should he come by the office.
Sucre perches on the top bunk acting as lookout over the cell block, while Michael grinds the other end of the bleacher bolt against the steel bunk frame. He holds the piece up to examine it; it’s a very crude drill bit. Michael then performs his routine of removing the toilet from the wall and makes his way into the catwalks behind the cells.
