S01E06: 'Riots, Drills and the Devil'

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: Michael turns up the heat to break through to the other side (of his cell wall). Unbeknownst to Lincoln, outside forces plan to move up his execution day. Veronica and Nick track a lead to Washington, DC. A full scale riot in the prison threatens the lives of inmates and employees alike and gives T-Bag an opportunity to uncover a startling secret.













































Full Summary: Having narrowly avoided being transferred thanks to the intervention of the warden, Michael resumes work on his escape plan. He is struggling to drill through a wall that blocks off the prison’s sewer system without getting caught – but the guards’ constant cell checks are making this impossible. And unbeknownst to him, the plot against his brother is gathering force as the mysterious woman at its centre orders Hale and Kellerman to arrange for Lincoln to be murdered inside the prison.

After barely making it back to his cell in time for a head count one night, Michael asks Sucre how he can buy enough time to knock the wall down. “Only way to stop the count is a lockdown,” he replies reluctantly, adding that the best plan is to turn off the air conditioning: “You wanna rile up the meat in concrete, turn up the heat.” Using the blueprints on his chest to guide him, Michael makes his way through the crawlspace to the air conditioning unit, and sabotages it. This soon has the desired effect in the cells and the prisoners start sweltering. As the guards prepare to lead everyone out to the yard, T-Bag’s white-supremacist gang refuse to fall in line until the heat situation is rectified. To re-establish control, the guards order everyone back to the cells. Seizing the opportunity, Michael and Sucre hang a sheet over the front of their cell so they can get to work on pulling down the wall. Michael has traced his tattoo of the devil onto a piece of paper that pinpoints the precise places they need to drill to weaken its structural integrity. Sucre isn’t convinced this will work, especially when Michael reveals what will happen if he has made a mistake in his calculations: “You’ll drill one of a dozen gas lines behind the wall. There’ll be an explosion and we'll be burned alive.” “But you’re good at math, right?” replies Sucre, as he nervously gets to work.

Back on the prison floor, the lockdown is getting out of control. Very few inmates have returned to their cells, and Captain Bellick, rather than take the situation seriously, aggravates it by revealing to the baying crowd the shocking truth about T-Bag’s incestuous origins. “I’m gonna kill you!” the thug screams in reply, hurling himself at the gate separating the cells from the guards’ room. As his cronies follow suit it becomes clear to the retreating guard that a full-scale riot is in progress.

This is bad news for Veronica and Nick, whose meeting with Lincoln is curtailed just as Nick reveals that a phone call placing him at the murder scene was actually made in Washington. Lincoln begs Veronica to check it out – but can she trust Nick?

Doctor Sara is also in trouble, as the riot spreads to the infirmary. She locks herself in her office, but the inmates start smashing their way inside.

And Lincoln and rookie guard Bob are set upon by T-Bag and his murderous thugs. Lincoln tries to protect Bob, but is swiftly knocked out, and the battered guard is seized by a jubilant T-Bag. He drags him into Michael’s cell so they can “get acquainted” – but the sink falls off in the ensuing struggle, revealing the hole behind it to them both. Prompted by the ruckus to return to his cell,Michael finds T-Bag, Bob and a quick-thinking Abruzzi waiting for him. Although the mobster silenced him before he could tell his friends about the escape, T-Bag now wants in “or I'm gonna sing like Johnny Cash.” To Michael’s horror, he also suggests they kill Bob to keep the plan a secret. But before Michael can resolve the dilemma, he hears the news about Sara and rushes to help her.

And meanwhile, Lincoln sets out to find his brother – accompanied by the inmate hired to kill him...