Prison Break Recap: Bad Blood

Title: “Bad Blood”
Original Airdate: Feb. 19, 2007
GMMR Recapper: Michelle

This episode actually made me cry for T-Bag. Yep, T-Bag. And it made me feel incredibly bad for C-Note, who usually just bores me. This episode was that good.

When we last left Michael and Sara, they were making their way inside the cigar club to take a look inside her Dad’s humidor (you remember – Michael expressed himself so eloquently to her with his, “Me, too” comment on the way in). They try to reach the box, but a manager catches on and tries to get Sara to come with him. Michael and Sara wise up and escape out the back (Near Miss #1 of…oh, I’m not even going to count).

Meanwhile, Mahone talks to his son, Cameron, in this hospital in Minneapolis, and tells him that his “accident” was not his fault (duh! – he had psychotic government thugs after him AND his dad killed a guy and buried him in the backyard. Obviously the kid was not at fault here). C-Note and his sickly daughter are in the same city, looking for treatment for DeDe’s kidney ailment, PKU.
In other news, T-Bag and the Hollanders are still on their road trip from hell. I’m gonna tell the whole T-Bag part of the episode in one fell swoop, so maybe it will be easier to handle. T-Bag takes his new family to his childhood home, which is dilapidated and now in ruins. In flashbacks, we learn that T-Bag was a near-genius as a child and was often called upon to show off his book smarts for his Dad’s drinking buddies – that is, when his Dad wasn’t molesting him. Yes, turns out T-Bag is a casualty of the cycle of abuse. His Daddy promises him that he’ll be President someday (sorry, ‘fraid not). Now, T-Bag (who, we learn, thankfully, is sterile) is renouncing his bad bloodline and unsavory gene pool, and just wants to put down roots with his new family in his sacred childhood home. In a surprisingly heartfelt scene, he tells Susan he loves her and her kids and just wants a fresh start with them. “I am the laws of Karma all come down wrong…I am the sins of my father,” he tells Susan (we all carry family baggage, T-Bag. Check out the self-help section at Barnes & Noble and clean up your act, like the rest of us do). He looks so sincere that I really start crying. Even Susan looks moved, and I don’t think she’s pretending just because she’s being held at gunpoint and her kids are locked up in a dark room. Alas, her acting abilities can only take her so far, and she can’t pretend to love T-Bag and tells him as much. He gets upset, locks her up…and looks ominously at an ax. Is this the end of the line for her? Susan is locked up with her kids, but later on the three are rescued by police. Turns out someone called in news of a hostage situation there. Susan is amazed, as no one knew they were there, and we flash to a scene of T-Bag sitting by the side of the road, crying. Apparently he’s the one who made the call to rescue them. And now his dream is in ruins (did you ever think you could feel so bad for a child molester? I KNOW!).

What, you ask, is up with Michael, Sara and crew? Well, they go to Pope’s house. It’s the first we’ve seen of Pope all season, and he looks remarkably relaxed, what with his forced “retirement” from Fox River (not being around convicted felons day in and day out can only improve your health and outward appearance, I’d think). After much talking and protesting, Michael and Sara convince him, sorta, that the key to Lincoln’s innocence rests in the humidor at that cigar club…where, coincidentally, Pope is a member. He could access the information without raising eyebrows. The new quintet – Linc, Kellerman, Michael, Sara and Pope (I’m telling you, they add a new member every week; it’s like watching the Von Trapp family’s final performance in reverse) – head to the club. Pope easily accesses the humidor and pulls out what looks to be a USB device. He asks the “guard” there to use his computer. On the way out, he is confronted by none other than Mr. Kim, the President’s henchman, who has received word that Sara was there earlier in the day. He makes nice with Pope, then threatens him (nice strategy – butter them up, then kill them. Yummy). Then all hell breaks loose! MICHAEL RUNS DOWN KIM! KELLERMAN SHOOTS KIM’S DRIVER THUG! LINC BEATS UP KIM! MICHAEL GETS POPE INTO THE CAR. AND THEN THEY ALL TAKE OFF…LEAVING KELLERMAN BEHIND ON PURPOSE! Kellerman is gonna be pissed, but I can see how he was unnecessary (and potentially explosive) baggage at this point. They get to Pope’s house, and Michael announces that he’s made a deal with Pope: he’s going to turn himself in. But Pope won’t hear of it. He listened to the information on the computer device, and he tells Michael that there’s “something” there for them to work with. When we last see Michael, Sara and Linc, they’re getting ready to listen to the information for themselves (sidebar: isn’t Pope at all worried that Kim – or someone else from that team – will come to his house and finish the job? How does he sleep at night?).

Back in Mexico, Sucre’s car (bug! bug!) breaks down, and he hitches a ride to make sure he can meet Maricruz’s 4:00 flight. But, of course, he has bad luck, and he hitches a ride with a member of airport security. Then, of course, we remember that he leads a charmed life, and they make it all the way to the airport before the guy realizes that he has unknowingly been transporting a fugitive. By the time he engages in pursuit, Sucre and Maricruz have been reunited and are on their way away from the airport in a taxi. I really, really hope they’re riding off into the sunset, and not because I don’t like them. It’s just that Sucre has been underutilized all season, he and Maricruz are totally in love, and I want them to be happy. That’s all.

And I’ve left the best for last. Did you ever think you’d see me write those words in regard to C-Note? Well, we know C-Note’s wife is in jail now and their daughter is critically ill. C-Note tries to get treatment for her at a clinic; when they address him as if he’s a homeless man, he walks out (dude, this is no time for your pride to be getting in the way of common sense – your daughter may be dying!). As he’s leaving, he sees…MAHONE! Mahone chases him to a bus, gun drawn, but when DeDe won’t let go of her dad and Mahone doesn’t have a clear shot…Mahone lets them escape on the bus (what’s up with THIS? Is Mahone turning into a softie now? I thought he was going to shoot the girl, too. And if you go through the FBI Academy, aren’t you supposed to be a good shot, so you could take out C-Note’s knee without hitting the girl? C’mon…). C-Note seeks treatment for her at another clinic, but when it becomes apparent that her illness is very serious and she’ll require ongoing treatment, he has a heartbreaking choice to make. When we see him sitting in an alley crying with DeDe, we know he’s made his choice. He turns himself in to Mahone. Even though he’s crushed about leaving his daughter, he has a pretty sweet deal: his daughter will get treatment and his wife will be released from prison. In return, he has promised Mahone that he will give him Michael Scofield.

DUM DUM DUM…

Michelle is the frazzled mother of two very young kids. In lieu of taking a shower every day, she writes TV recaps for GMMR to keep the remaining shred of her sanity intact. This also helps her justify her insanely intense TV-watching habit, which was spawned in her early childhood because she was allowed to watch an unlimited number of”Sesame Street” episodes when she herself was a preschooler.

Find: