TVSquad

(S03E03) "I think I've heard that one before." - Michael

So... what's in the box? It's a simple question, used time and time again. The film Se7en pops into my mind. We've known for a while that Sarah Wayne Callies wouldn't be reprising her role on Prison Break and we finally saw her body double in this episode. Maybe it's too early to kill her off but it wouldn't surprise me if "what's in the box" offers the producers and writers behind this show an easy out.

That being said, my gut tells me it'll probably just be a finger wrapped up in some tissue paper. If they do kill Sara off, there goes the biggest incentive Michael has to get Whistler out of Sona. Sure, The Company would still have LJ and we know family is big deal with Michael... but it's still not the same, you know?

It's too bad that despite her pregnancy, Callies couldn't find it in herself to come back for a few episodes and give her character a proper send-off with the face viewers recognize. Mandy Patinkin is going that route on Criminal Minds. Just feels like the right thing to do when you know you have all those fans out there.

Oh well... on to the rest of the episode. Most of it focused on Michael's search for a cell phone. Obviously, Lechero is the only person in Sona who has access to something like that. So it created quite the conundrum and T-Bag eventually helped Michael make his call.

I point that out because T-Bag is the only one from the supplementary ensemble that's really getting involved. Mahone has no real point right now. He's crashing and going through withdrawal without those little white pills he loves so much. It's boring, just watching him wander around, hallucinating and sweating. The only good part with Mahone was when he laid out why Michael was in Sona in the first place.

Bellick is even harder to watch. He spent the whole episode looking for a shoe. Yawn. If you think about it, this whole hour would have been just as good and made just as much sense if any scenes with those two were dropped. I'm not saying they won't contribute to the escape plan later in the season once Michael finally has a strategy in place, but for now they're both dead weight. The same goes for Sucre. He's just sort of there. Oh and drunk. Don't forget drunk.

So as I mentioned earlier, what's actually in the box will play a huge role. At this point, we don't really know how serious The Company is about getting Whistler out. The contents of the box will definitely help get that message across if it contains what I think it might. Beyond that, why is Whistler so valuable? Sure, maybe he is a fisherman and maybe he does charter boats, but what about that one location (the place where that naturalist took some water samples) is so valuable? Why do Susan B. and her cohorts need that location so bad?

Other thoughts...

• I don't really buy Lincoln doing all this detective work on his own. During season two, when Michael was right there in on it, it worked. Lincoln digging up dirt, trailing people, and figuring out secret codes on his own is almost too much for me. The whole series, he's been painted as the bumbling guy with no self-confidence who can't help but get himself into bad situations. Now he's like some sort of stellar sleuth. Although, if you think about it, it's all fallen into his lap. Sara throwing the shoe out the window is a prime example.
• What happens when Lechero realizes that T-Bag is full of it?
• I love how everyone else is always clean shaven, buzz cuts and all. Three episodes in and Mahone already has the Ted Kaczynski beard in full effect.
• I don't think Whistler fully understands what he knows, but I also think he's not being 100% truthful with Michael... yet. I believe him when he says that Sofia knows squat though. I bet she does know something though and just doesn't realize it.

Other than the box, the next big question is how to get out. We saw Michael's brain clicking a few times in this episode as he scoped out the guard towers, the perimeter fencing, and where the bodies are buried. He's definitely thinking. But what?