Prison Break Fodder

Prison Break: Season Two Starts With A Bang

The Recap
And before we begin, let's meet our new cast members. First off, we have William Fichtner as FBI agent Alexander Mahone. He's the brooding, calculating type. Kind of like Scofield. Then there's Terrence Steadman's character being played this year by Jeff Perry instead of John Billingsley. You might recognize Mr. Perry from his recent work as Thatcher Grey on "Grey's Anatomy". Okay, with all of that cleared up, we can get on with the season two premiere of "Prison Break"

After a quick recap of the events of season one, we are shown a great shot of Fox River as dawn breaks. A hand is working out some kind of brain teaser. It is Mahone and he's asking his partner to run down the profiles of the escapees. Then we are dumped into the forest as one pissed off Bellick is hot on the trail of The Boys. They are just a few steps ahead of the guards as a train passes near-by. Bellick nearly pops Scofield as The Boys are able to get on the other side of the train, leaving the search party unable to pursue.

Mahone is given the word that the media is ready. He prepares as if he is nervous. He adjusts his coat and takes a deep breath. A pen is apprehensively picked up from the table. Mahone addresses the press and tells a story about John Wilkes Booth and how his journal talks about how he became increasingly paranoid during his time on the run.

The scene cuts to the forest where The Boys break into another fight. C-Note first lays into Abruzzi and his flighty friends. Then he confronts Scofield about Westmooreland's money in Utah. The rest of the group is taken aback you might say.

The Pope and Mahone talk about working together. Pope agrees, until Mahone asks about Dr. Tancredi. Who is seen lying in a hospital bed as a doctor and a man in a suit talk about her chances. We see flashes of scenes, presumably these are what is going through Tancredi's head while she's in the coma.

Next, we see a camp fire and a man rummaging through a cooler. It's T-Bag, and he's looking for a place to store his severed hand. The young couple who's campsite he's defiling confront him. A crazy look and a screwdriver keep the couple at bay while T-Bag finishes his work.

Mahone is given photos of Scofield's tattoos. He and his partner decide that the artist is someone they should speak with (ya think?). Bellick and Mahone have their first (of many I'm sure) confrontations about capturing The Boys.

Cut to Montana where Veronica pats down Steadman, who informs her that he's doped up on percocet. Veronica takes a picture for evidence. The fate of Linc is discussed, Steadman says that he's not the one that choose Linc. Steadman avoids the next, and obvious question, of who did make the choice. He says that he is just a prisoner, and that Veronica is too. The doors to the house only open from the outside, the glass is two inches thick, and bulletproof.

Linc and Scofield talk about turning their quintet into a duo while not allowing the others to be captured and therefore ruining the plan. Then, in true Scofield tradition, there's a Plan B. The jet was the preferred method of escape, but Mikey made sure they had a backup solution; Ripe Chance Woods. Mahone interviews the tattoo artist while examining Scofield's ink. This is where he makes the first connection; English, Fitz, and Percy. The Boys are confronted by a little girl. C-Note tries to get the little girl to go away. Her father, armed with a shotgun, finds the group and holds them at gunpoint. Abruzzi pulls his pistol and grabs the girl. A standoff ensues between Abruzzi and the father for the girl's life. The father eventually drops the gun and is reunited with his daughter. The Boys take the man's car keys and flee.

A quick jaunt back to the hospital for some stonewalling of the FBI by Tancredi. Then we're back on the road with T-Bag as he waits in front of a veterinarian's office. T-Bag goes inside and "asks" the doctor to assist him with his hand problem. Meanwhile, The Boys make their way to Oswego. C-Note and Abruzzi argue about what went down with the little girl. The Boys then argue about where they are going. C-Note and Sucre want to go see their ladies. Abruzzi and Scofield let them know that doing so is probably not the best plan.

Bellick gets a hold of Scofield's credit card records from before he went into Fox River. Those records show a ton of activity in the local area.

Mahone takes a look at Scofield's apartment. He runs his hands over the multitude of pin holes in the wall. Getting inside Scofield's head. He orders divers into the Chicago river to find the destroyed evidence. Back to Montana and Veronica trying to get a signal on her cell phone. Steadman threatens Veronica with a pistol he's been hiding.

Back on the trail, Bellick finds out that The Boys are headed to Oswego. Bellick finds the record of a storage unit there. The search party mounts up and heads off to make the collar. Back in town, a visitor arrives to see Tancredi. Her nurse has come to apologize for ratting her out to the guards. Tancredi assuages her guilt by taking it all on herself. All part of the twelve steps she says. She then concludes that Scofield was using her.

Back in the jeep, Scofield is rapt in guilt for using her; it would seem that he did have feelings for her. Then in Montana, under the threat of being shot, Veronica calls the police. Steadman lets her make the call. T-Bag further convinces the vet to reattach his hand against his better judgment.

Mahone and his partner make more connections from Scofield's ink. The Fox River team surrounds the storage unit in Oswego. Our heroes are inside a garage collecting supplies. Mahone and the Feds arrive just as Bellick makes his move. The tat of "Ripe Chance Woods" comes up blank during the FBI searches. The Boys gather shovels and head back out of their garage. Of course, the storage unit was a mis-direction. The Boys are in a graveyard. They stop in front of a headstone that reads "R.I.P. E. Chance Woods"; they start digging. Mahone makes another connection when he sees a guard go by with the name of Rivers. A quick search of county records leads them to the grave yard. Before they can arrive, though, The Boys have unearthed a trash bag full of clothes, ID, and money. Our heroes change into the clothes and prepare to get out of town. Scofield has a car waiting near-by. But before they can make their way, Mahone arrives. The Boys hide and watch Mahone walk right up to the grave. All but Scofield high-tail it out of there. Scofield stays behind and watches Mahone. Mahone's pen conceals a pill of some kind. The Boys head into town and try to blend in, with Mahone hot on their trail. He eventually loses them in the crowd.

Veronica promises Steadman that everything will be okay once he comes forward. Veronica's cell rings and it is Linc. Veronica tells him that she's got Steadman and he needs to turn himself in. The authorities arrive at the Montana house, Veronica lets them in. The man at the door asks Veronica to put her phone down at gunpoint. He then shoots. Linc hears the shots and is devastated. Scofield tries to comfort him. We then see Veronica laying on the floor, with two in the chest and one in the forehead. And in case you were worried that they might try and pull a stunt later on, TWO large duffel bags and a hard case are seen being taken out of the house. The goons confiscate Steadman's gun. Steadman watches the goons load the bags of Veroncia into their cars and pull away.

Tancredi goes through her purse, which the nurse brought over earlier, and finds one one of Scofield's origami swans. She unfolds it to find a message; "There's a plan to make all of this right", followed by a series of dots. Mahone sets to work on figuring out "everything that is in Scofield's head".

The Review
Holy crap! They killed Veronica. I sat, open mouthed, as that scene climaxed. I could not believe that they actually had the stones to go there. On the other hand, I kept trying to figure out just how the story of Veronica and Steadman in the house would be handled.

Scofield is visibly concerned that Mahone has him figured out. Having someone like Mahone on the trail; someone that can think like Scofield, I think will make for good drama. Let's face it, Scofield was smarter than everyone at Fox River. He had the place figured out from top to bottom. On the outside, things will be different. Fichtner turned in another brilliant performance.

Those dots on the note to Tancredi are not Morse code as near as I can tell (unless it is entirely made up of the letters E, H, I, and S). Nor are they Braille characters. For your decoding pleasure and transcription of the number of dots:
Line 1: 3,2,2,1,2,4,3,3,2,4
Line 2: 4,2,2,1,3,1,2,2,3,1
Line 3: 2,3,1,3,3,1,2,1

If you have any ideas on what kind of code this might be, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Overall, I'd say this is one of the better episodes of the series. Though I would be hesitant to say it was the best or even in the top five. But given that they needed to get new viewer caught up, introduce a new main character, and get the manhunt storyline underway I think they did a decent enough job.

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Posted by Jeff on August 22, 2006 6:10 AM
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