S04E21

• Name: Rate of Exchange
• Air Date: May 15th, 2009
• Season: 4
• Number: 21
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Episode Outline

So here I am back from a family weekend gathering. I thought I was going to go insane without the internet. I couldn't even get a signal on my freaking BlackBerry. If I'm away from the internet for more than 3 days I start going crazy. I wonder what's going on out in the world. If Canada was bombed I probably wouldn't even know (provided that cottage country was far enough away from the blast site). Fortunately, I'm back in my condo now, sucking up precious bandwidth like it's going out of style. Cousin Joe and I managed to catch the last 45 minutes of the Prison Break finale on Friday night while up at our vacation site. More on our reactions later. We all know by now how this whole thing ended, though, don't we?

Previously on Prison Break, there was a prison breaking, there was running, there was a second prison break, there was a plan to take down the Company, there was a bitchy mother and there was a choice: would Michael save Sara or Lincoln (who's not his biological brother, by the way....)?

We open with Mahone and Michael walking on a pier. Michael insists that he will figure out what to do. Mahone rightly points out that Linc's in a more dire predicament than Sara.

Cut to said brother in said dire predicament. Linc believes that Michael won't give Christina what she wants, but Christina believes he will. She brings up the fact that Michael and Lincoln are test cases for the whole "nature versus nurture" study. They had the same parents and the same upbringing, but they're completely different. My sister and I are just like that to. Of course, it would make more sense if Christina rightly pointed out that perhaps Michael and Lincoln weren't raised exactly the same since she admitted that she never truly loved Lincoln.

Linc thinks he and Michael are so different because their mom is a psycho bitch. That doesn't make sense, but whatever. Michael calls and agrees to give her Scylla. He tells her to bring Linc and meet him on a dock in 45 minutes.

Cut to Sara, where Pad Man is trying to drive her insane by not shutting the hell up. He wonders what would have happened if she had just left that Fox River infirmary door locked. He concludes that she and Michael are just a pair of bleeding hearts and she fires back with the fact that that must be true, otherwise Michael would have just killed Pad Man when he stole Scylla from him. Pad Man gets all hissy and orders Sara out of his sight. T-Bag looks on creepily. He offers her his pocket. I laugh and laugh.

Inside an empty warehouse (where do these people find so many damn empty warehouses?!) Mahone is listening to a news report about Michael and Linc's involvement in the day's assassination. Again, is no one wondering how they managed to escape prison for a second time in order to assassinate that guy? Michael returns with some supplies to make a bomb. Mahone suggests they give Scylla to Christina in order to save everyone. Michael thinks Mahone's flip-flopping a little too much.

Mahone's rightly concerned about Pam and LJ and all the others that Pad Man is still threatening. He thinks that Christina might be able to protect everyone if they give her Scylla, but Michael isn't too keen on his mommy right now and doesn't like Mahone's plan.

Cut to Chicago (oh.....remember when this show was set in Chicago?), where Sucre is walking through the streets with some baby diapers. A cop car passes and he hides himself. This seems like a bad plan. Wouldn't it have been better if he and Maricruz moved to another city to hide out? Anyways, a suspicious car eventually corners him in an alley and a man gets out. "What the hell are you doing here?" Sucre asks, obviously recognizing him.

Self's in a hospital room. He tries to leave, but two FBI agents are paying him a visit. It's not a nice visit, because they didn't bring flowers. Plus, one of them is Tom Cruise's creepy cousin, who was also on Lost. They want to know where Michael and Lincoln are.

Mahone drops Michael off at the marina to meet with his mother. Mahone nicely tries to warn Michael not to stand too close to the bomb and Michael snipes back that Mahone better not drive off and leave him stranded. Uh....ok? I'm pretty sure these two have come far enough that they're going to see this through together, so what's up with the attitude, Mikey?

Christina arrives at the marina with Downey and Lincoln. She tells Downey to kill Linc when she gets Scylla. Of course, isn't this the opportune time for some nice law-abiding fisherman to call in to the tops with a tip that he's spotted the infamous Michael Scofield. At his dock! How exciting!

Michael and Christina face off as Mahone watches close by. Christina tells Michael that she just wanted Michael to understand and forgive her, but she gets why he doesn't want to give her either. Does she really? Christina signals Downey, who drives over with Lincoln. Linc's handcuffed in the backseat of an SUV. Michael starts walking backwards, leading Christina to Scylla. We see him step over a trigger wire for the bomb, but Christina quickly realizes that her son is a GENIUS and maybe he's got a plan. She stops short of the wire and tells him to bring Scylla to her. One of her henchmen (not Downey) joins her and Christina keeps shouting for Scylla as the police approach the dock by boat. The henchman ends up triggering the bomb, but Christina doesn't get hit. Instead, she jumps into the SUV, along with Lincoln. And she's very pissed off. Michael stares at Linc as Mahone shouts to him that they have to leave.

You know who Sucre met in the alley? C-Note! C-Note brings his old prison buddy up to speed on his deal with the government from season 2. But there's a hitch: when Mahone's charges basically fell through the government realized they didn't really like C-Note anymore and wanted to throw his ass back in Fox River. So C-Note asks Sucre where Michael and Linc are. Sucre gets up to leave, because no one tries to use him to take down his hetero life-partner Michael. No one! C-Note stops him from leaving the diner and says he has a way to get the boys out of trouble.

At the hospital, Tom Cruise's cousin (Agent Franco) is still trying to get answers out of Self. They summarize what they know (several DHS people connected to Self are dead and there was a strange warehouse in LA). They think that Self went rogue and is working with the brothers. Self denies any impropriety. Franco applies some pressure on Self's broken leg and Self says he can find out where the boys are.

Christina's arrived back at her hideout and is seriously considering not buying Michael a present for his birthday this year, because she's very disappointed in him. She tells Linc that it looks like he won't live long enough to be an uncle and then spills the beans that Sara is pregnant. Meanwhile, Nandu calls Downey to ask about Scylla and Christina sees her plans quickly unravelling.

Michael and Mahone arrive back at their new warehouse hideout as Pad Man calls. He wants Scylla in one hour. T-Bag starts bitching to Sara that Michael's little games are ruining his career prospects with the Company. Oh, I'm sorry....is Michael supposed to give a sh*t? Sara tells T-Bag that he's never going to work for the Company. She tells him that if he gets her out of this mess, she'll try to help him out.

Michael calls Christina again, who tells him once again that she's in his head because she's his mother and he should just stop trying to outsmart her. This weekend, when I was playing the card game Speed with Cousin Joe, I was totally in his head too. That's why he lost our little impromptu tournament. Christina puts Lincoln on the phone to talk with Michael. Michael tells Linc about Sara being captured and asks Linc to give him a signal about his location. Linc insists there's not enough time and tells Michael that Sara's pregnant. Lincoln heroically and unselfishly tells Michael to get to Sara and his kid and forget about him. Christina grabs the phone from him.

Inside the warehouse, Michael's contemplating becoming a father. Mahone wants to know what they're going to do about everyone else who's in danger (including Pam). Michael wants to give Scylla to Pad Man. He tells Mahone that maybe he should just be like him: back the winning horse when it's convenient for him. Mahone reminds Michael that his son was a casualty and Michael suggests that Mahone do whatever he needs to do to protect Pam. Mahone walks out.

Back at her hideout, Christina tells Lincoln that he's totally worthless to her now that he's told Michael to leave him behind. She says she warned Aldo that she never wanted to be a mother. She takes off her shoe and stabs Linc in his gunshot wound with the heel. Ouch. She tells Linc that she is most definitely not his mother and Michael already knows.

In his hospital room, Self and the agents are trying to work out a deal. Self wants his deal in writing before he helps them get Michael and Linc.

In Chicago, C-Note tells Sucre that he needs to call Michael and Linc and he'll explain everything to them. Sucre just wants to keep his head down, but C-Note tells him that life on the run isn't so hot. C-Note says "this guy" sought him out and this mystery man can help them all out if they can get him Scylla.

Christina is trying to assure Nandu that he'll have Scylla soon, but Mr. Prime Minister isn't interested in excuses. She gets very upset and goes to kill Lincoln, but gets interrupted by a phone call from Mahone. He tells her that Michael is going to give Scylla to Pad Man to save Sara. He wants Christina to protect his family in exchange for Scylla. Christina agrees to give Mahone Linc in exchange for Scylla. We see that Mahone purchased an identical case to the one Scylla is in. Looks like he's going to pull a little switcheroo on Michael.

Back at the condo, T-Bag's getting all creepy with Sara. Michael calls Pad Man, who tells him that he wants to pick the place for their meeting, since he and Michael aren't really in a circle of trust right now. Michael agrees to meet him anywhere. Pad Man suggests a parking lot in 20 minutes.

Back at the warehouse, we see Mahone with one of the cases. Michael thanks Mahone for having his back and takes the case.

T-Bag goes to unlock Sara, but Pad Man stops him. He says he has no intention of honoring his part of the deal and tells T-Bag to take care of Sara.

Mahone calls Christina to say he's on his way.

Downey tells Christina that some FBI agents are questioning Self at the hospital and the Attorney General just signed a deal with him. Worried he might open his big mouth, Christina tells Downey to do something about it.

As Michael's driving to meet Pad Man, Self calls Michael. Self says he wants revenge, but Michael says he's got the situation covered. Michael hangs up the phone and the agents are not pleased. They didn't have enough time to trace Michael and they're worried about Michael "handling the situation". They tell Self to get Michael on the phone again.

Sucre and C-Note are walking to meet C-Notes new mystery friend. C-Note says that Michael and Linc should recognize his guy. Mystery man also doesn't want Scylla to go to any one government. Who is mystery man? We don't see his face, but his name is Paul. As in Paul KELLERMAN. YEAH, BABY!

Pad Man and some of his goons leave to meet Michael. Michael, meanwhile, leaves the Scylla case at the meeting place.

Inside the condo, T-Bag progressively gets creepier with Sara. Sara tells T-Bag to let her go and in exchange she'll try to help him out with the cops and the courts. He proposes that he'll rape her instead. All the better to get back at Michael, by hurting the woman he loves. This is gross. T-Bag is creeping ME out now.

Pad Man and his goons arrive at the meeting point and find the Scylla container. Meanwhile, we see Michael standing outside of the condo with a whole lotta rope. The goon quickly realizes that the Scylla case is empty and Pad Man says they need to return to the loft. Why? Because Michael is literally scaling the side of the building. This makes me laugh and I'm not sure why. Maybe because Michael's never really be one for physical action.

Back in his hospital room, Self keeps leaving messages for Michael, who is most definitely not taking his calls. Franco is getting angry at their lack of progress, but Self says that Michael will call back. Meanwhile, Downey, dressed as a doctor, enters the room. He puts something (A chemical? A drug?) into Self's IV, which causes his heart to start beating erratically.

Michael's still climbing the side of the building as T-Bag continues to invade Sara's personal space. He chains her, spread-eagle, to some sliding doors. She notices that one of the door handles is loose and starts fiddling with it, trying to get her hand free. Michael's still outside, doing some extreme pull-ups with a balcony. Sara reveals that she knows a great deal about T-Bag's medical history from his records at Fox River. She reveals that he can't "get it up", which is probably a result of his own sexual molestation as a child. T-Bag is not pleased to be thought of as less than a man and Sara takes the distraction as an opportunity to pull free of the door handle. Her attempt to strike T-Bag fails. He starts to open his pants and Michael whacks him with a pipe. Yes! Right in the nick of time!

Michael goes to strike him again, but Sara begs him to stop. Uh....why? WHY?! She starts crying and he unchains her.

Now I'm eating some yummy strawberries as Mahone and Christina meet. Mahone shows her Scylla and she tells him to come inside to her little hideout.

Christina tells Mahone that she located Pam and she's prepared to keep her safe if Mahone hands over Scylla. Mahone hands it over.

Michael's brought Sara back to his little pad and shows her a piece of Scylla. She asks where the rest is. So did Michael and Mahone double-cross each other? I think we all know they're probably in cahoots.

Inside her hideout, Christina has Mahone locked up while she checks out Scylla. He gets put in with Linc. At the warehouse, Michael tells Sara that he couldn't choose between her and Linc, he had to save them both. Is that because Michael has a hero complex or because he truly loves them equally and could never choose? We flashback to an earlier scene with Michael and Mahone. It's revealed that Michael suggested Mahone deal with Christina, because Christina isn't in Mahone's head.

Michael reveals that he's put a bomb in the Scylla container Mahone gave to Christina. He also suggests to Sara that it's a big enough bomb to "start something new" between them. He never comes right out and says "uh....you ARE having my baby, aren't you?" and, Christ, these people really need to work on their communication skills. She happily agrees to build a life with him and they hug.

Inside Christina's hideout, Mahone preps Lincoln to split. In the other office, Downey tells Christina that he can't get a connection to Scylla, which is plugged into her computer. We zoom in to see a timer ticking down from 30 seconds.

Click here to read part 2 of the recap.

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