Prison Break Recap: Panama

Title: “Panama”
Original Airdate: March 19, 2007
GMMR Recapper: Michelle
And the big moral lesson to be take from tonight’s episode of “Prison Break”: if you’re a prostitute, don’t assume that the John you picked up won’t ask you to dress up and pretend to be Susan Hollander or that he won’t kill you and leave you in a hotel bathroom when he’s done with you. He will likely do both of these things.

Yep, that’s what T-Bag does shortly after paying a dude to pick up his bag of money at the lost baggage claim at the airport. After he gets his cash, Bellick and Sucre, who are working together only so Bellick can get his hands on the cash and Sucre can get his beloved Maricruz back from Bellick’s holding place for her, spot him in the airport. A chase ensues, but T-Bag escapes. He picks up said hooker and when she refuses to continue their role-playing, he kills her and leaves her body to be found in the tub by the hotel maid. T-Bag escapes through the front door and is recognized by authorities only on his way out. He’s not captured, but now they know where he is.

C-Note and Mahone:

C-Note is refusing to talk to Wheeler and the other federal investigator about Mahone’s dirty deeds until they can give him a deal in writing. They give him one better: total freedom AND a spot in the witness protection program so he and his family won’t have to live the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders for Mahone. As soon as the papers are drawn up (these guys are quick, I tell you…and that’s what she said), C-Note is on his way with his family, and we see him walk out of jail (C-Note has never been my favorite character, but his crimes are relatively minor compared to those of other characters on here, and I can’t help but think that this must be the happiest day of his life thus far. He’s free and he has his family, which is all he wants). Mahone doesn’t believe it when Kim calls and tells him that C-Note is about to be released, because that would require approval from his office, which he didn’t give. As soon as he says it, he realizes that Agent Wheeler must have given the freen light to C-Note’s release, and he’s in on the plan with Internal Affairs to expose his dirty deeds. Mahone confronts Wheeler in a dimly-lit parking garage, which can only mean one thing…but nope, they avoid that cliché, and Wheeler and Mahone engage in a verbal showdown. Wheeler tells Mahone that he’s done, that the feds (I’ve always wanted to use that word) know about Shales being buried in his backyard, and the gig is up. Mahone says there’s only one way to end this, and at that point I’m sure he’s going to kill himself. But he doesn’t. Damn it! Mahone is the second-creepiest guy on this show (that crown will always be T-Bag’s, I think), and I wouldn’t mind seeing him eat his own gun.

Mahone goes home and packs up his things. Looks like he’s going to make a run for it, until Kim shows up at his doorstep. Kim just got back from a clandestine meeting with the Mute Man from previous episodes. Mute Man (who is no longer mute, but who still doesn’t reveal a lot of information, so he might as well be mute) and Kim met in a small rowboat, in the middle of a body of water – something about satellite signals and blind spots and not being able to have remote recordings of conversations that way – and Mute Man tells Kim that Kim needs to know MORE about the Big Plan (this is a creepy scene because it’s so surreal – two men in business suits in a tiny rowboat in open water. I’m almost positive Kim is about to get whacked and wear a pair of concrete shoes, which is a feeling I get fairly often while watching this show. But it’s not “The Sopranos,” and sometimes it surprises me. Like now). So Kim goes to Mahone, tells him that T-Bag has been spotted in Panama, and the change in plan entails bringing T-Bag back alive. Mahone, looking for one last chance to save his life as he knows it, makes plans to get to Panama. Last we see T-Bag, he is in Panama, walking the streets and looking a lot like Hannibal Lecter in his straw hat and billowy island shirt. It looks as though he picks up another hooker (is this man’s appetite for women NEVER satisfied?) while another man nods his approval from across the street. I don’t know who the other guy is, but I’m guessing their alliance is illegal rather than just kinky.

Michael, Lincoln and Sara

Sara is on her way to the shipyard to meet Michael, having just heard on the radio about the President’s resignation. Michael asks her to sail away into the sunset on a freighter. It’s a lot sweeter than it sounds. But as soon as she hangs up the phone, she realizes she’s being followed. When a concerned Michael calls back a few minutes later and asks where she is, instead of telling him what she’s about to do, lest he talk her out of it, she lies and tells him she’s already on the boat. Her last words to him are “Love you.” And then, rather than lead the authorities right to Michael, she give herself up, much to Mahone’s chagrin.

Lincoln and a despondent Michael sail away to Panama. Upon their arrival, they pick up an envelope from one Mrs. Vasquez. Michael tries to call Sara but is stopped by Lincoln, who knows she’s in custody and doesn’t want Mahone to track them. Mahone, up to this point, has spent a good deal of time trying to decipher yet another part of Michael’s tattoo, this piece a picture of a rose with Christ’s head in the middle of it. He and his team eventually realize it means CHRISTina Rose – Michael’s mother. But isn’t she dead? Yes, she is, and this is not one of those “very special episodes” where everything you believed to be true is not – but Christina Rose is the name of a boat Michael commissioned to be built as part of the post-escape plan. The brothers walk to the docked boat and along the way argue about things that have transpired since the break, with a guilt-ridden Michael unable to come to grips with the fact that crimes committed by T-Bag are blood on their hands, since were it not for them the murdering pedophile would still be in Fox River. Michael’s conscience is heavy. They arrive at the boat, and apparently the brothers will sail around the world in their new boat that comes equipped with a hefty supply of alcohol. But as they’re going to depart, Michael checks Europeangoldfinch.net, the site on which the cons leave one another messages, and discovers messages from Sucre, telling him about T-Bag’s arrival in Panama and asking for his help in tracking him. Guilt-ridden Michael obliges, leaving a bewildered Lincoln on the boat deck to ponder his brother’s whereabouts. But wait! The messages aren’t from Sucre…they’re from Mahone, masquerading as Sucre. Apparently Mahone is serious about putting this behind him once and for all, and he wants to find Scofiled before the two remaining episodes of the season (or, if you believe the rumors, the series). My money’s on Michael. But he better get Sara back first.

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.

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