S01E15: 'By The Skin And The Teeth'

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: A face from the past haunts Lincoln on his execution day; Veronica raises the dead to prove Lincoln's innocence; Michael takes guard duty in formulating a new escape plan; and a mystery man sheds light on the conspiracy.
















































Full Summary: Lincoln is strapped into the electric chair with only minutes to go before his execution. He turns to the viewing room to see a tearful Michael and Veronica watching, and freezes as he spots another familiar face. Suddenly, the proceedings come to a halt and Michael, Veronica and Lincoln are unexpectedly reunited in the final visitation room. “Judge Kessler called,” Pope tells them. “The execution’s been delayed. Apparently, fresh evidence has come to light.” Could Lincoln’s conviction be overturned legally?

In the Vice President’s office, the conspirators are worried that could be the case. “Find the leak and plug it!” she demands furiously of her team of agents. But it’s too late, as a copy of Terence Steadman’s autopsy report and medical history are already in the judge’s hands. And the discrepancy is obvious: the former refers to Steadman’s appendix, and the latter clearly states that it was removed when he was 12. Against the Vice President’s wishes, Kessler orders the body to be exhumed to determine weather it is, in fact Steadman’s. If it’s not, Lincoln will be released – but what will the forensic exam reveal?

Meanwhile in Fox River, Lincoln remains haunted by the man from the viewing room. He is convinced it was his father, but Michael, Veronica and Sara all doubt this, attributing it to the extreme stress he was under. “This is a man who walked out 30 years ago,” Michael reminds him. “Why would he come back now?” Michael himself has more pressing concerns on his mind. Determined not to sit around and wait for the autopsy results, he is staunchly examining the blueprints on his back to find another way to reach the infirmary. After completing his scrutiny, he tells Sucre that they do have one last option. “There’s always been another way,” he says. “But it’s suicide...”

When he breaks the news to the other would-be escapees the following morning, they are horrified. Not only is the best way out via the psychiatric ward – “You’re telling me that to get to the infirmary, we’re gonna have to go through the whack-shack?” drawls an appalled T-Bag – but the pipe under the guards’ room will only get them halfway there. They’re going to have to cross the last 40 metres above ground – in full view of three towers surrounding the yard. “It’ll be like ducks on a shooting range, you feel me?” mutters C-Note. “Your plan sucks, Snowflake.”

With no other option, Michael decides to go into the walls to investigate their best route. Sucre leans on his cousin Manche in the laundry, who reluctantly hands over a parcel that Sucre takes jubilantly back to the cell. But even with Manche’s help, it’s not going be plain sailing. Michael explains to Sucre that there are three different networks of pipes under the psychiatric ward: “If I take a wrong turn down there tonight, I won’t make it back by count.” “But you won’t make a wrong turn, right?” asks Sucre, anxiously.

Once night has fallen, Michael takes the package and crawls through the hole behind the sink. He emerges a few minutes later through the drain in the yard wearing a guard’s uniform, and sets off nonchalantly towards the psychiatric ward. His disguise fools the armed men in the towers, but his investigation is cut short by a suspicious psychiatric orderly. With Sucre climbing the walls in the cell as the guard doing the head count works his way towards them, Michael heads back across the yard. But disaster strikes in the boiler room as he is almost caught. To keep from being spotted, he presses up against a scalding pipe, burning his back so badly that his tattoo is obliterated. Can he make it back to the cell without being caught? And will he be able to chart away through the pipes without the blueprints to guide him?