Pilot (Prison Break episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Pilot
Series = Prison Break


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Airdate = August 29 2005
Production = 1AKJ79
Writer = Paul Scheuring
Director = Brett Ratner
Guests =
Season list = Infobox Prison Break season 1 episode list
Episode list = List of "Prison Break" episodes
Prev = None
Next = AllenThe Pilot is the first episode of the American television series "Prison Break" which premiered on 29 August 2005 in the United States. It introduces the two main protagonists of the series, Michael Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic Purcell). The episode features the start of Michael's escape plan to save his brother from his death sentence.

The episode was directed by series producer Brett Ratner, noted director of such works as "Rush Hour" and "Red Dragon", and written by series creator and producer Paul Scheuring.

For this episode, Mark Helfrich was nominated for an Eddie Award in the category "Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television". His competitor, Stephen Semel, won the award for the American television series Lost.

ummary

Michael Scofield looks on as the tattoo artist finishes the final segment of his tattoo. As Michael pays her, she remarks on the fact that it's rare for anyone to get a full body tattoo in such a short time. Michael replies that he doesn't have much time left. He returns to his apartment and starts ripping all his notes from the windows of his apartment. The camera zooms in on the individual subjects depicted in the newspaper articles as he rips them off - Lincoln Burrows, John Abruzzi, Sara Tancredi and PUGNAc. Michael then proceeds to disconnect and throw his hard disk off his balcony.

Three gun shots are fired. Michael points his gun at the bank employee and demands the vault to be opened. He continues to discharge the pistol at the ceiling until the police arrive. After he is arrested, Veronica Donovan acts as the attorney in his trial. Michael calmly accepts the judge's punishment of a five-year incarceration and seems pleased about it. Both Veronica and the judge are perplexed by his submission to the five year sentence. Veronica immediately states that her client is confused and the judge tells Michael to heed his counselor's advice. Michael dismisses both of them and the judge eventually sentences him to jail for five years. Honoring his request for a prison close to his hometown, the judge places him at Fox River State Penitentiary, a maximum security prison. Veronica is alarmed by that but Michael dismisses her again. As he is being led back to his holding cell, Michael sees L.J., his nephew and says that he didn't want him to come.

Michael enters Fox River and is immediately disliked by Captain Brad Bellick. After meeting his cellmate, Fernando Sucre, Michael witnesses one of the violent atrocities of prison life as a man is stabbed in the back. Outside in the yard, Michael surveys the people and surroundings around him. Michael proceeds to ask for the location of fellow prisoner, Lincoln Burrows. When Sucre asks him why he is so interested in Lincoln, Michael replies that Burrows is his brother. At the chapel, Michael meets his brother and tells him that he is going to get him out. Lincoln promptly says it is impossible, to which Michael replies, "Not if you designed the place, it isn't." As Michael sits in his cell, he remembers telling his brother to swear to him that he didn't commit the crime. He is convinced that Lincoln was framed for the murder of the Vice President's brother.

Michael asks Sucre how to get into PI (Prison Industries), and is told it's controlled by Mafia boss, John Abruzzi. When Michael approaches Abruzzi, and is rejected, Michael calmly tells Abruzzi that he has something Abruzzi needs - and leaves an origami swan. Abruzzi later receives a phone call telling him that someone knows the identity of Fibonacci, the informant who put Abruzzi behind bars, and could put the other Mafia bosses away as well. The only identification this person left was an origami swan. Abruzzi realizes that Scofield knows of Fibonacci and allows him to join PI. One of Abruzzi's friends asks "Why'd you let him in?" Abruzzi replies "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer".

In the infirmary, Michael introduces himself to Dr. Sara Tancredi as she gives him his insulin shot. When he asks for her name, Sara tells him to call her "Dr. Tancredi" to which he swiftly replies, "Tancredi, like the governor?" She doesn't answer. Seeing her discomfort, Michael jokes that it's weird finding her working in the prison as a doctor when her father is "Frontier Justice Frank". Sara tells him that she wants to be part of the solution, not the problem. Michael tries to charm her. On Michael's second visit to the infirmary, Sara tells him she graduated college two years after he did. Though not from the same university as Michael's, it was near his. Michael again tries to flirt with her. Sara suddenly notices his abnormally low glucose level and tells him that he is reacting to the insulin as if he is not diabetic. She then says that on his next visit, she would like to run a test. Michael looks worried. In the yard, Michael approaches C-Note, the prison "pharmacist" and pays him in advance for Pugnac.

During PI, Lincoln asks Michael if he's seen the blueprints to the prison. Michael says, "Better than that -- I've got them on me." He reveals his mysterious body tattoo, which is a series of geometric patterns that disguise the blueprints to Fox River, on which Michael will base his escape plans throughout the series.

External links

* [http://www.fox.com/prisonbreak/recaps/recap_101.htm Official summary for Season 1 Episode 01 from Fox]