S01E03: 'Cell Test'

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: Time is running out, and Michael must enlist the help of his cellmate, Sucre, to help execute his elaborate escape plan. Once Sucre realises what Michael is up to, however, he decides that he doesn't want any part of it and asks for a cell transfer. Michael's new cellmate, Haywire, is trouble like his name. Unable to continue with his plan, Michael fears the worst. Meanwhile, Veronica's suspicions are growing as she meets a woman who may be able to help stop Lincoln's execution.












































Full Summary:
Michael has only been in Fox River for a week, but he’s already managed to make himself some enemies. Among them is mobster John Abruzzi, who is desperate to get some crucial information out of Michael: the whereabouts of Fibonacci, the informant who sent Abruzzi down. After two of Michael’s toes fall victim to the mobster’s violent attempts at persuasion, Michael ends up in the infirmary. Dr Tancredi is also on a quest for information: who was responsible for this? But Michael refuses to squeal, knowing that if he does he’s a dead man.

Lincoln, however, is fully aware of who was behind the horrific assault on his brother – but Michael won’t let him do anything about it: “You kill him, you kill our express ticket out of here.” Michael explains that Abruzzi owns a company responsible for Top Flight Charters, who operate flights out of small airfields. One such airfield is ten miles from Fox River. “We get him on board, there’s gonna be a midnight flight waiting for us the night we get outside these walls,” says Michael. He goes on to reveal that there’s another person who’s a crucial part the plan: his cellmate Sucre. Lincoln warns Michael that the man can’t be trusted, but Michael reminds him that if Sucre’s not on board, there will be no digging going on in that cell.

Sucre, meawhile, is pining after his beloved fiancée Maricruz. A stint in solitary meant he couldn’t call her on her birthday, and now he fears that she’s being romanced by another suitor. So when he sees Michael furtively stashing a cell phone, he is extremely tempted. But when Lincoln spots Sucre boasting about the phone to other inmates, he puts Captain Bellick onto his case. Bellick threatens to take Sucre’s conjugal visits away from him if he doesn’t give up the phone’s whereabouts, but Sucre doesn’t cave. Back with Michael, he cannot believe it when his cellmate tells him that it was a ruse using a decoy phone – a test to see if Sucre could keep a secret. When Michael tells him he’s passed and can now be trusted with the details of the escape, Sucre hits the roof. “You dig in my cell when I’m there and I’m gonna split your wig,” he threatens, unprepared to risk his official release for what he considers a deranged plan. Rattled, Sucre requests a cell transfer and moves out, despite Michael’s protestations.

Michael is less than amused when Bellick informs him that his new cell mate has been brought down from the psych ward: “Don’t make eye contact with him,” warns Bellick. When Michael tells Lincoln that he’s had a change of cell-mate, who’ll have to be brought on board somehow, he’s alarmed. “How far behind are we?” he asks. “Three days,” replies Michael. “I thought you said the margin for error was zero days?” presses Lincoln. “I did,” is the reply. Is the plan doomed already?

Also this week, Abruzzi takes care of Michael’s TBag problem, in the hopes of winning him over. Michael offers a trade – the information for a plane. Will the malevolent mobster, under pressure himself from his gangster associates on the outside, take the deal?

Veronica’s digging has unforseen consequences when her fiancé calls the wedding off – and her sole lead disappears. Lincoln decides that he doesn’t want to leave the world staring at the faces of strangers, and asks his son LJ to be at the execution. And Michael makes a disturbing discovery about his new cell-mate.