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Prison Break Fodder

Prison Break: Orientacion

orientacion.jpgAnother season, another blogger. I am extremely sad to see Jeff leave the TV Fodder family, but the show has gone on. Here's the recap on the season three kickoff, "Orientacion."

In case you have forgotten, Michael, T-Bag, Bellick, and Mahone have all landed themselves in Sona, a prison that appears to have been modeled after Hell's waiting room.

The show opens with a woman; a woman that I don't ever recall seeing before. Has it been that long since the show's been on? The woman is gone and we flash to fight club -- Michael is in the middle of a melee in his "new" and not-so-improved prison surroundings. He's not the one fighting; after all, he's a lover, remember?

So these other two guys are fighting, and one throws down the gauntlet -- or what appears to be a chicken foot.

Michael wakes up the next day to find Bellick in his underpants stumbling across what looks like a courtyard. He may be beaten, but he still has his sass, which he delivers promptly to another inmate. As a result, he gets the old mud-in-the-eye, but also makes a friend.

Mahone isn't much better off. He is still clothed, but is going through some kind of drug withdrawals, which includes flashbacks of the many good and evil things he has done in the previous season. Michael remembers some of those things, which includes the murder of his father. So the two have no alliance as of yet.

Meanwhile, Linc is in the middle of a role-reversal thing, trying to get Michael out. In the process, he finds out that Sona is where evil men go to die -- some sooner than others. There are no guards, no laws, but apparently, a lot of grooming.

Linc goes to visit Michael, and tells him he will be transferred out of Sona in one day. Of course, Michael is more concerned with what's happened to Sara. Unfortunately, no one knows where she is. Don't worry Michael; she's just on maternity leave. [Click the link if you want a MAJOR spoiler.]

As Linc leaves, he appears to fear for Michael's next 24 hours. He should since this is only the first episode of the season. Also, about two seconds later, someone grabs Michael and brings him into some type of inner lair, where drugs are flowing freely and the nuns are apparently prostitutes.

This is where we meet Lechero, who is the king of the crud inside Sona. He appears to have his eye on Michael, and not in a "prison rape" sort of way.

Back to Bellick for a minute: You have to feel sorry for this guy. I know he was a total turd at Fox River, but hasn't he been sufficiently paid back yet? Apparently, he should have attempted suicide when he had the chance. Now he is cleaning Hell's toilets, which look like they've been through Woodstocks 1 through 5.

Almost 30 minutes in, we finally see T-Bag! The man with the plastic hand is alive and well -- as well as he could be. He even finds a new friend in Lechero. Michael spots him too. Do I see a chicken foot incident in our near future?

Another new character: Elliot Pike. He seems to be egging Michael on to escape Sona. Why? Um, maybe because the show is called, "Prison Break." Maybe he works for Fox. To make Michael's day a little more hectic, someone has planted drugs in his bed -- someone else's drugs. Again, chicken foot.

Instead of waiting for the chicken foot to come to him, Michael picks up the foot first. However, it's not really by choice. It's Thunderdome, baby. Two men enter, one man leaves...

Mahone offers up some fighting strategies to Michael. On his way out to the playing field, Bellick slips a note into Michael's pocket. It's from the man living inside the basement wall. Yes -- you read that right. His name is James Whistler, and apparently he is important.

Michael enters the ring of fire. In a bizarre twist, Bellick also has a note for Michael's opponent. Michael calls out that he's not going to fight and then he sucker-kicks his opponent in the kneecap, just as Mahone instructed. This is followed by a series of facial blows, but the audience expects a fight to the death. Michael doesn't play that way -- but these are also new rules.

One of those rules is "no weapons." So when a knife is thrown into the middle of the fight, Mahone jumps in and introduces the guy to his maker. He's killed plenty, so what's another notch on his bedpost? It also might just put him in Michael's good graces, if that's even possible.

LJ made a brief appearance in this episode. Or at least his eyes and mouth did. We haven't seen Linc's kid in quite some time, and things are not looking good. He calls Linc out of the blue and says that not only is he in Panama, but he got Linc's number from Sara. Then he gives him directions to meet somewhere in the city, only his cell reception is bad. Can you here me now? No -- but I'm guessing it's not the last we’ll hear of you either.

Apparently, Linc made some sense of the message because he managed to show up at the right place, at the right time. This is where we see the woman -- the one from the very beginning of the episode. Her hotness and "cat"-scratch fever aren't enough to pique Linc's interest. However, the fact that she knows his name is very interesting indeed. Turns out that she is involved with Sara, LJ and basement man.

This brings us to another interesting, minor character in the episode. Throught, we saw a woman outside Sona shouting for them to "bring out your dead." Once they finally do, she does not throw herself on the dead husband as we had originally expected. Instead she goes through their pockets. However, she's not looking for money or even gum. She is looking for the note that Bellick had left behind. It reads: "Versailles 1989 V. Madrid." What does this mean? Is it another tattoo opportunity for Michael?

Linc comes back to let Michael know that there's going to be no transfer. There's going to be another prison break. Otherwise, Sara and LJ will get cut from the cast credits -- permanently.

Great kick-off to the third season. There was no Sucre (who appeared in next week's preview, so I guess he's not dead) and no Sara (whose back is in next week's preview), but plenty of action and questions. For those of you who thought it couldn't last... gather up the kids. We've got another "Prison Break!" -- Rachel Cericola


Photo: © 2007 Fox/Bill Matlock


Posted by Rachel Cericola on September 17, 2007 10:53 PM
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hilarious review - bravo!
no chicken foot for you

-- Posted by: Anonymous at September 18, 2007 11:26 AM

Good to see the PB Fodder is still alive and kickin'. Chicken foot and all.

I thought the episode was all over the place. But I guess it had to be in order to get all of the season 3 plot points in place.

-- Posted by: Jeff at September 18, 2007 1:06 PM

I think what was most annoying for me was to see Scofield in a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie jacket in the middle of the HOT MEXICAN DESERT. I can't tell you how much that irked me.

PB is kind of losing interest for me, it's getting a little old. Though I'm intrigued by the guy behind the wall - I'm assuming the wife yelling at the gates is his.

Poor Bellick. It was bad enough to see him clothed last season, but to see him in his skivvies this season? Get that boy some Levis!

-- Posted by: Connie at September 18, 2007 10:34 PM

I can't lose you now Connie... I just started working on this blog!

I hear you about the hoodie. Maybe Schofield didn't want to expose his tattoos to the sunlight. Don't you need to put extra lotion on those things?

No way is the gate babe wall-man's wife. He has something to do with the chick at the bar.

-- Posted by: Rachel at September 18, 2007 10:41 PM

We get it one week later in the UK, but thank you internet. PB is back - hurrah. I love the who's this and what's that debate...cheers to you Rachel for the synopsis.my fave bit of ep1 is the hole in the wall guy - pure PB at its best and the coded message -I love 'em.

-- Posted by: smainy at September 19, 2007 6:13 AM

I recall reading somewhere that chick-in-the-bar is a CIA agent.

-- Posted by: Connie at September 19, 2007 7:15 PM

Sarah Wayne Callies isn't coming back this season. It'll be body doubles all the way. Though it never said she wasn't going to be back next season...

-- Posted by: Connie at September 19, 2007 7:19 PM

OH! Thanks for the spoilers, Connie. That's why I hid that news behind a link...

:P

-- Posted by: Rachel at September 19, 2007 7:55 PM

Good opener for the season. The only annoying thing is that the background plot doesn't stand up. Elliot Pike makes it sound like Michael ended up in Sona because it was set up that way by Pike's people, yet right up to the very last episode of last season they were still trying to kill Michael.

It's just something that irks at the back of the mind while watching. Other than that I enjoyed it, with all the usual intrigue you expect from a good episode.

-- Posted by: JM at September 21, 2007 4:58 AM

They weren't trying to kill Michael all the way up to end of last season - the Sona plan was introduced in (I think) Episode 19. In Episode 20, we even hear Bill Kim say "We're going to need them alive now," not to mention Pad-Man's "Just one is needed" note. The Sona direction had clearly formed by the time Michael and Linc got to Panama.

-- Posted by: Matt at September 25, 2007 9:28 AM

Wasn't Kim about to shoot Michael and Linc before Sara came up behind him and killed him?
And even if he was going to keep them alive, how was he going to arrange for them to end up in Sona?
It just seems too coincidental to be plausible. I read somewhere that the series was supposed to end with Season 2, but it was so popular they decide to do a third season. Maybe in the rush to change the ending they didn't tie up all the plot lines very well.
It won't stop me watching though. I thought Season 1 was much better than Season 2, so with Michael back in prison maybe Season 3 will recapture that tension.

-- Posted by: JM at September 25, 2007 10:14 AM

Kim was only going to shoot Lincoln. He had already said that cop cars were on the way, he wanted to frame Michael for Linc's murder, thus putting him in Sona.

-- Posted by: Matt at September 27, 2007 8:31 AM

Anyone got any thoughts on how much time has really passed from the point at which michael is incarcerated in prison in the first series to now? I think that at the most 6 weeks has passed, but I think it is more likely about 4.

-- Posted by: smainy at October 1, 2007 8:22 AM

Well, he first entered Fox River with one month to break Lincoln out. That date came but it was pushed back by three weeks - Michael broke him out before that, meaning that Season 1 couldn't have spanned more than 7 weeks (I'd say 6).

Season 2 covers exactly 3 weeks though, no doubt about that.

-- Posted by: Matt at October 2, 2007 9:14 AM

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