Prison Break recap of episode 308: Bang and Burn
by guest contributor Masheka Wood
Previously on Prison Break: Michael finally finds out Sarah’s dead, starts a chicken-foot fight against Whistler for a distraction, and watches his first Sona escape attempt go completely F.U.B.A.R. Lechero (a.k.a. Norman the Milkman) gets stripped of power, a newly released Mahone gets squirrelly without his vein-candy, and we discover Susan B. Anthony (a.k.a. Gretchen) is in cahoots with Whistler.
And now for the recap of the fall season finale, in which …
‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ (a great Spanish version) plays over a montage of various prisoners doing prison-y stuff like weight-lifting, drug-smoking and corpse-covering. Ahh, life in Penitenciaría Federal de Sona!
During visitation, Linc informs Michael that Company operative Susan has given them four more days to bust out—and that Susan plans to kill them as soon as they’re free. Michael doesn’t care; he’s still pissed that Lincoln waited so long to tell him about Sara’s beheading. As far as Michael is concerned, Linc used Michael like the Company used them both. Damn, that’s cold! And kind of weird because, as many fans have noted, Michael constantly uses others for his gain. Guess it hurts more when your bro does it. As Michael leaves the outdoor visitation area, a welder installs reinforced steel bars to prevent any other window escapes.
Meanwhile, General ‘Pad Man’ (so-called because his fear of listening devices often leads him prefer writing pads to speech), the Company boss from season 2, pays Susan a visit at her hotel. He orders a “bang or burn” operation ASAP. If the mission fails, he’ll make her past rape and torture as a prisoner of war “look like a massage.” Shaken, Susan visits Whistler and notifies him of the new plan. She also tells him to kill Michael—at which prospect Whistler has the decency to look sick.
Back in Sona, Lechero sneaks over to talk clandestinely to Michael through the bars. Michael needs him to persuade the colonel to delay reinforcing the prison windows, or the new escape plan is useless. Lechero reminds him that he no longer has the influence he once had but has another idea.
Later, Sammy, Lechero’s right-hand man, speaks with Lechero and says that they need more allies to maintain rule over Sona. but Lechero doesn’t trust anyone, especially now.
On side note, Lechero (as played by Robert Wisdom) is a very interesting significant character, a black man who holds a position of great power while under incarceration for avenging his mother’s rape by her wealthy employer.
Cut to the apartment of Whistler’s girlfriend, Sofia. She gets a call from the owner of an apartment building that Whistler rented. The landlord needs clearance to fix a broken pipe in the apartment. Sofia is suspicious yet unaware that her phone is being monitored by a Company operative.
Whistler inspects his bird watching book which has notes on Mahone. He burns the page. Michael checks in on Whistler, and Whistler nervously eyes his watch – ninety minutes until the operation. Michael notices Whistler’s nervousness and asks him about the woman who visited him earlier. Unbeknownst to Michael she’s the same Susan who beheaded Sara, but Whistler just says she’s Company. Company, Company, Company. How many shows have a shadowy government conspiracy group called the Company? Prison Break has one. So does Heroes. Come to think of it, I don’t completely trust the Dunder-Mifflin Company from The Office.
Meanwhile, Mahone is in full withdrawal in the hotel room he’s holed up in. His former FBI colleague Lang comes to visit. Mahone recounts how he killed Shales (the serial killer he trailed before Michael), popped pills to control the subsequent hallucinations, was incarcerated sans medication, and forced to resort to heroin. He begs Lang to get him drugs so he can be ‘well’ enough to testify.
Michael and Whistler make small talk. Everyone’s favorite white supremacist child molester T-Bag comes by with info from Lechero: a map of Lechero’s quarters with the time of 4pm. It might seem strange that a hardcore racist like T-Bag would work for Lechero, a black man—but T-Bag’s need to brownnose outweighs his hatred of brown people, at least for now.
Whistler surreptitiously eyes his newly acquired shank and follows Michael.
Sofia goes to Whistler’s apartment and discovers shredded documents and a passport with his photo and the alias “Gary Miller”. Suddenly Susan (!) enters and orders Sofia to stop snooping around. Sexual tension abounds as Susan gets this close to Sofia and takes the passport. Does she like women?
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