S01E01: 'Pilot'

Light summary | Full summary

Note: The light summary of this article provides only gentle teasers as to what happens in this episode, and is suitable for reading before viewing. The full summary serves as a more detailed recap of the episode.










Light Summary: Lincoln Burrows is currently on death row and scheduled to die in a few months for an assassination his younger brother Michael is convinced he did not commit. With no other options and time winding down, Michael takes drastic measures to get himself incarcerated alongside his brother in Fox River State Penitentiary. Once he's inside, Michael - a structural engineer with the blueprints for the prison - begins to execute an elaborate plan to break Lincoln out and prove him innocent. When Michael arrives at Fox River State Penitentiary, he meets the prison denizens who will, unknowingly, help in his escape plans - his cellmate, the lovelorn Sucre; beautiful prison doctor Dr. Sara Tancredi, who happens to be the governor's daughter; former mob boss John Abruzzi; and Warden Henry Pope.

Meanwhile, outside the prison walls, the brothers' childhood friend and Lincoln's lost love, attorney Veronica Donovan, works within the law to free them; Lincoln's teenage son LJ may be going down a path similar to his convicted father's; and Secret Service Agent Paul Kellerman's investigation into Lincoln's case proves that there may be a national conspiracy.


































Full Summary: Set in Chicago’s maximum security prison Fox River, Prison Break stars Golden Globe-nominated Wentworth Miller as structural engineer Michael Scofield, a man in a desperate situation. His brother, petty criminal Lincoln Burrows, has been sentenced to the electric chair for murdering the brother of the Vice President. But Michael believes Lincoln is innocent, and is determined to uncover the shadowy conspiracy that has framed him.

In the first episode, Michael stages a botched armed robbery and is promptly arrested. At his trial – against the advice of his lawyer and old friend Veronica – he refuses to defend himself and is sentenced to five years in prison, to the horror of his teenage nephew LJ. He is taken to Fox River, and watches from his cell as an inmate is stabbed on the floor below. “Welcome to Prisneyland, fish”, says cellmate Fernando Sucre, sagely.

The next morning, the prisoners are let out onto the prison yard and Sucre takes Michael under his wing, pointing out the cons the new boy should be aware of. But Michael is only interested in finding Lincoln. Sucre doesn’t understand why – ‘Linc the Sink’ has a violent reputation and since he’s on Death Row, he has nothing to lose. Michael lowers his voice and explains: “Because he’s my brother.” Although Sucre can point Lincoln out to Michael, there’s a catch: Death Row inmates are kept isolated from the other prisoners. The only way Michael can get to his brother is by joining the Prison Industries scheme where he works. To do that, he’ll need to get into the good books of Mob boss John Abruzzi. Michael introduces himself and asks to be signed up to PI, but Abruzzi says he has nothing to offer him in exchange. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” replies Michael, placing an origami swan in front of him. “Come find me when you want to talk.”

Abruzzi is initially nonplussed, but it later transpires that one of his goons on the outside has received an anonymous photo of Otto Fibonacci, a man in the witness protection programme who gave evidence against the mobster at his trial. When he tells his boss that the photo arrived with “a folded up bird,” Abruzzi puts two and two together. He gets his lackeys to beat Michael up, but the new prisoner refuses to talk. To everyone’s surprise, Abruzzi backs off and signs Michael up to PI.

Later, Michael reports to the infirmary to get his first insulin injection from Doctor Sara Tancredi. She notes that he is not like the other inmates and seems flustered by his gently flirtatious banter. After his injection, he returns to the yard and heads straight for prison ‘pharmacist’ C-Note, to ask him to get hold of a standard insulin blocker. Bizarrely, Michael is faking his diabetes. But why?

Despite managing to get a coveted PI spot so he can be with his brother, Michael’s first encounter with Lincoln is in the prison chapel. Lincoln wants to know what Michael is doing here – he had no idea his brother had even committed a crime. “I’m getting you out of here,” he replies. “Impossible,” states Lincoln. “Not if you designed the place it isn’t,” Michael says. He explains that the commission for the prison was secretly subcontracted to his firm and that he worked extensively on the project. As Linc realises that he must have seen the plans, Michael smiles. “Better than that,” he says. “I've got them on me.” He opens his shirt to reveal that his arms and torso are covered with tattoos. Hidden among the meaningless designs is everything they’ll need to escape, including the blueprints...

Also this week, a bishop campaigning against Lincoln’s execution is murdered in his sleep by a pair of shady government agents, prompting Veronica to believe in Michael’s conspiracy theory. She begins re-examining the evidence against her old flame Lincoln, hoping to prove his innocence. And LJ, shattered that his uncle has joined his father in jail, is arrested for possession of cannabis.