Bank Robberies, conjugal visits, the mafia and tattoos. Prison Break has begun
Prison Break is finally underway and the first episode is all about setting the scene of things that are to come. We are introduced to key players and we get a sniff of what roles they will be playing.
ACT 1 SCENE 1 opens with Michael sitting in a tattoo parlor and all you can see is his shoulder and his arm and off course, some blood. I am curious to see his whole tattoo though because this is part of the hype that is Prison Break.
But as you know, these series are all about mystery (so very Wisteria Lane) and all we can gather thus far is that this is his first tattoo and it has taken a few months to complete it.
Next we see Michael tearing newspaper clippings, pics, maps, plans and what have you’s off the wall and destroying his hard drive (at least that’s what I presume it is) as he stares pensively out into the night at the cityscape.
I watched this episode twice – not because it was THAT good, but you know how it goes when watching something for the first time, you miss a lot. So the second time round I watch this scene, all those clippings make a lot of sense.
I see and recognize names that completely fly by you the first time around. Maybe they bring this into play later in the form of flashbacks, who knows, all I know is that I can see that Michael has been doing his homework.
Then we see how Michael manages to get himself arrested. He holds up a bank... Not actually holding it up with his arms, mind you, because it’s a real bank and quite heavy, but he is holding a teller at gunpoint demanding that she open the safe, which EVERYONE knows can’t happen nowadays because of time delays and the likes.
Considering that she has a gun pointed directly at her, the teller is surprisingly calm talking about sandwiches and even tells the robber that he has half a million in his bag and he should count himself lucky and go.
Does she not notice how smartly dressed he was? Please, that half a million would not cover his winter wardrobe, so he waits it out and when he poh-lice arrives, he hands himself over.
Enter Veronica, Michael’s lawyer and friend. We don’t know the extent of the friendship yet, and at first you assume that she and Michael had a thing going but then later we discover that she actually had a thing with his brother.
Veronica tries to persuade Michael to argue his case but he is adamant he’s pleading guilty, no contest, no appeal and all he wants is to be put in a correctional facility near his home town.
The judge finds him guilty and Michael Scofield is incarcerated to Fox River State Pen (now I don’t know whether or not there really is a Fox river Pen – but I do know that this is a FOX production…. Hmmmmmmm)
When you get to prison the first thing they usually do is strip you down, search you and give ridiculous prison clothes. We don’t get to see Michael stripped or searched (dammit) so we STILL don’t get to see his tattoo.
I am kept wondering as to how he managed to sneak in that huge tattoo that is supposed to have the blueprint on, past those guards.
Anyway, nothing exciting happens except we find out that Michael Scofield is a diabetic (or not) and that a warden has already warned him and that prison clothes are not so bad after all.
If you ask me, I’d say that some of those prisoners were looking mighty fine in all that denim… and their clothes are so CLEAN and BLUE all the time….
And talking about fine prisoners, is Fernando Sucre not one of the hottest things you have ever seen on the wrong side of Fox Pen? Fernando is Michael’s cell mate, he’s clearly of Latino decent (more plus points for Fernando) and he’s quite funny at times.
He is instrumental in showing Michael around the first few days and letting him know who’s who in the Fox Pen zoo, but like I told you before, Michael has done his homework; he knows exactly what he wants.
On his first night in Fox Pen, Michael witnesses a stabbing and I think it is the first time he realizes just what the hell he has gotten himself into.
Michael finds out that his brother, Lincoln Burrows, is locked up alone because he is probably the most dangerous man around. Not because he’s a murderer (which they think he is) but also because men on death row are desperate and they have absolutely nothing to lose.
Michael also discovers that the only way he can get to see Lincoln is by going to Chapel and by getting in to the PI (Prison Industry)
That’s where John Abruzzi comes into the picture.
He is in charge of PI and only a selected few get to work in the industry. Considering Michael has only been in prison one day, he has got to have balls of steel to ask Abruzzi (who I think is MAFIA) for a job.
Abruzzi off course thinks he is not serious and Michael gives him a paper duck, saying that when he needs him he should go come and find him. CRYPTIC MESSAGE AGAIN.
OK, now the next part I’m still trying to figure out.
Michael goes for insulin shots because he says he’s diabetic. Only he’s not.
So what is his interest in the good doctor, whose father is the Governor of something or the other?
He drops another paper duck into a vent in her office and we later see it reappearing in some drain – so I take it he wants to know which drain links which.
Whatever his interest, he’s done his homework on her too, and she best stop smiling like that at him, he’s a prisoner for goodness sakes and a patient of hers and we all know you’re not supposed to flirt with either.
In the meantime Abruzzi gets a call from the outside world and finds out that the guy that has put him in prison (Fibonacci – please forgive the spelling) has been found.
Not found as in FOUND, but apparently someone has taken photos of Fibonacci and sent it to Abruzzi’s friends on the outside. It doesn’t say who it’s from but there is a paper duck in the envelope so OFF COURSE the penny drops for Abruzzi.
Then we see the guys from Secret Service and they’re seriously worried about Lincoln Burrows upcoming death sentence.
Apparently there is on person who might be able to stop or prolong it and that is the godd Bishop. They ask him to reconsider his stance but he refuses and doesn’t buckle under their pressure. Off course he ends up dead later on, a bullet through his forehead.
When veronica hears about the Bishops death, she is convinced that what Michael told her about Lincoln being framed is true and she sets off to investigate.
Michael and Lincoln get to meet fort he first time just after Chapel. They speak for a few seconds but it’s long enough for Michael to tell his brother that he plans to get him out of there.
Next we meet the Pope. Warden Pope (in the form of Stacy Keach)
He knows that Michael was a structural engineer before and he wants Michael’s help to build a model of the Taj Mahal for his wife.
Michael refuses at first because it will take him away from the yard and all the wheeling and dealing that he is doing, but when he lands into a fight with Abruzzi, he needs to save his hide so he agrees to do the project.
The fight with Abruzzi all ended well though, because it got him his PI card.
He also keeps asking Abruzzi about his contacts in the outside world, and wants to know that IF they get out, does Abruzzi have the people in place to make him disappear.
A few more characters we get to meet are:
Charles Westmoreland who everyone thinks is the great DB Cooper. Don’t know what he did that made him so great, could be he stole the 1.5 million that he is reported to have.
LJ – who is Lincoln Burrows son
Lisa Rix – LJ’s mother and I don’t know whether they were married or not
Also, we get to meet someone who can provide Michael with meds that can block the insulin he is taking.
And off course Fernando’s fiancé (and I have just realized that I don’t know what her name is)
The episode ends with Michael and Lincoln talking about the escape.
They talk about needing contacts on the outside (and the camera picks up Abruzzi)
They say they will need money (and we see Charles Westmoreland flash onto our screens)
Michael says he worked with the engineer who designed Fox Pen and Lincoln’s eyes widen when he thinks that Michael has seen the blue prints.
His eyes practically fall out when he sees the blueprints tattooed onto his brother’s body.
Camera pans to Michael and I finally get to see his tattoo….
And now that the plot has been outlined i cannot wait to see how it unfolds...