S01E13: 'End of the Tunnel'

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: With Lincoln’s execution scheduled for the following day, Veronica comes out of hiding to reach out to him and gains a newsworthy ally in the process. Kellerman makes the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the conspiracy. Michael must find a way to get Lincoln out of Solitary confinement in time for the escape that evening. The inmates risk everything as they attempt the escape.













































Full Summary: Michael and his band of aspiring escapees are truly up against it this time. Lincoln has managed to get himself sent to solitary, where he’ll be spending his last remaining hours, and Michael is refusing to go ahead with the escape plan if he can’t take his brother along. The rest of the group – aside from Abruzzi, on his way to hospital with a slashed throat courtesy of T-Bag – are not on board with this idea. “I’m through that hole, with or without you,” T-Bag informs Michael. “If it’s now or never...” agrees Westmoreland apologetically. C-Note tells Michael that they’ll do it without him if they have to, but Michael tells him he won’t let them go. “What you gonna do?” drawls T-Bag. “Blow the whistle on your own escape?”

Back in his cell, Michael seems to have hit upon a way to get Lincoln out and proceed with the escape. He asks Sucre for a razor blade, then shocks him by cutting into a design of a crucifix on his arm tattoo and retreiving a small black pellet from beneath the skin. Later, Michael is visited by the prison’s chaplain, Reverend Mailor, and asks him to give Lincoln a rosary for him. Perplexed at this surprise gift, Lincoln examines the crucifix on the rosary and discovers, hidden inside, the black pellet that Michael dug out of his arm – along with a tiny note reading “EAT 8.10”.

Meanwhile, the group have headed out for PI and are relieved that Michael is back on board. T-Bag expresses concern that the breakout is planned for 9pm, when PI normally ends at 5pm, but Michael gets the PI session extended by telling Bellick that a damp wall, the result of a strategicallly broken pipe, will grow mould if left unrepaired. “Stay all night,” Bellick snaps, labouring under the misapprehension that he’s holding the secretly delighted prisoners against their will.

Lincoln is also watching the clock, waiting for it to turn to 8.10 so he can take the pill. Almost immediately upon taking it, he goes into agonising convulsions and starts throwing up. “Michael, what have you done?” he groans, before being rushed to the infirmary. Sara tells him that he has food poisoning, and that he’ll have to stay there for a couple of hours.

With Lincoln safely ensconsed in the infirmary, Michael and the rest of the gang are steadying their nerves for the escape. “9.00, Fish,” says C-Note. “Showtime.” Michael jumps into the hole in the guards’ break room floor, with a “see you on the other side” to his fellow escapees, and begins to head down the tunnel. The gang all make it to the maintenance room beneath the infirmary – but there is a very large, very solid obstacle greeting them. “We’re not getting out of here,” gasps Michael. “Unfortunately, Pretty, that’s not an option,” replies T-Bag as he approaches Michael brandishing a home-made weapon...

Veronica, meanwhile, has decided to “go big” with the news that she has a source whose information will exonerate Lincoln. After giving the lowdown to a news station, she heads for the spot where she has arranged to meet her informant, and is greeted by Agent Hale. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, and not a lot of time to do it,” says Hale. “Your boyfriend can still be saved.” But his fellow agent Kellerman, by far the more evil of the pair, has realised what his former ally is up to and has tracked him down. Will Veronica get the information she so desperately needs?