The Art of the Deal

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Art of the Deal
Series = Prison Break


Caption = Michael and Lincoln preparing to swap Whistler while Gretchen prepares to swap L. J. with Sofia looking on
Season = 3
Episode = 13
Airdate = February 18, 2008
Production =
Writer = Matt Olmstead & Seth Hoffman
Director = Nelson McCormick
Season list = Infobox Prison Break season 3 episode list
Episode list = List of "Prison Break" episodes
Prev = Hell or High Water
Next = Scylla (Prison Break)

"The Art of the Deal" is the 57th episode of the American television series "Prison Break" and the thirteenth and final episode of its third season. It first aired on February 18 2008 in the United States on the Fox Network.

ummary

Michael and Lincoln chase Whistler down the streets of Panama. After appearing to lose them, Whistler phones Gretchen to come and pick him up. However, Lincoln finds him and subdues him, and Michael calls Gretchen about the exchange. Back at Sona, Sucre pays the price for the escape and gets horribly beaten up. When he still refuses to divulge any details, he is forced to dig his own grave and then lie in it while the guards start to bury him alive. The general tells them to stop it as they reach his head, but then Michael calls to Sucre's cell phone. Sucre proves his loyalty to Michael as he refuses to trick him over the phone to reveal his location, resulting in his own imprisonment in Sona.

Michael asks Gretchen to come to a public place for the exchange. She tries to persuade Michael to join the Company because of his ingenuity and the fact he is the first person to break out of Sona. A sniper on the roof is ready to shoot Lincoln. Michael coldly declines and reveals to Gretchen that the stunt is just to ensure that LJ and Sofia are alive and safe and Whistler is indeed in their custody. They quickly slip away from there and set up another exchange point. Before leaving, Michael tells her that after the exchange is over, they will be spending some "quality time", indirectly reminding her of the warning he had given her in Sona. The exchange place this time is in the first floor of a public museum. Gretchen has to get rid of her weapons in order to get past the metal detector. LJ snickers. When Gretchen asks what's funny, he confidently proclaims that Gretchen's definitely not smart enough to outwit his uncle Michael. The exchange happens and Sofia soon learns that she was being used when she gets Gretchen to admit to everyone that there are no coordinates to exchange, it was all a farce. Sofia is upset and tries to leave Whistler. Michael smashes the emergency seal on an exhibit and causes the alarms to go off, as he knows that The Company's men would have all the exits guarded (and tells Gretchen that he knows about that before switching on the alarm). Everyone walks out. At the exit when they are frisked, guards begin to doubt Whistler and Gretchen after they found an arrow tip that Michael minutes ago took from souvenir store and unnoticed put it into James' pocket before the exchange. One of Gretchen's men tries to shoot a guard, but another guard interjects and in the commotion Sofia is shot. Michael quickly heads to the car to retrieve a gun so that he can kill Gretchen. He almost shoots her but hesitates and is distracted by a guard who shoots aimlessly at Gretchen's van. Lincoln wants to help Sofia, but LJ tells him that he had better leave and says that he (LJ) will take care of Sofia himself.

McGrady and his dad are stopped by police 200 km west from Colombian border. Policeman becomes suspicious of the father's behaviour. He orders him out of the truck and look in the back, only to find fertilizer. McGrady escapes re-capture by hiding in a secret compartment behind his seat. Later, they reach home and McGrady is shocked to find his family waiting for him in Colombia.

Meanwhile, with Lechero dying, Sona is in anarchy. T-Bag enlists Bellick to save Lechero from the mob - but in fact T-Bag just uses Lechero, falsely promising that a guard told him that under the regime of the new general, if Lechero arranges for $50,000 to be brought to Sona for said guard, the guard will let them escape. After this has been arranged, Lechero learns the truth and as he's dying anyway, tells T-Bag to kill him quickly - to suffocate with pillow. T-Bag agrees. Sister Francis brings the money, and reminds T-Bag of her affection for him ever since he protected her several episodes earlier after T-Bag tells her that he will find her if she escapes with the money. T-Bag makes a speech in the yard denouncing Lechero's rule and distributes some of the money to the inmates to gain their trust, but keeps most of it for himself (in Sister Francis' trust). Sucre is then thrown into Sona just in time to see inmates cheering for T-Bag.

Mahone is sipping club soda in a bar opposite to a bank. He tells the barman that he is "between jobs" and that he hopes that something is "just around the corner", while looking at the time on the bank's clock. Later, Whistler walks in to meet Mahone and gives the barman $100, paying for Mahone and telling the barman to leave them alone. Mahone is impressed by the money, so Whistler says that she (pointing towards Gretchen who is talking on the cellphone outside) manages the money. Mahone warns Whistler that Gretchen is the "weak link" in the whole chain and that Michael will eventually hunt all of them down one by one, if Gretchen has indeed done what they believe she did to Sara. Whistler ignores this and asks Mahone if he's joining them or not. Even with Michael after them, Mahone agrees to work for the Company and they exit the bar.

While Michael and Linc wait outside the hospital for Sofia, LJ gives Michael the origami flower Sara had with her before she died, as we are reminded in a flashback. LJ tells them that Sofia had some information about Whistler in a briefcase in her apartment. Lincoln downplays this information, but it only serves to fuel Michael's desire for revenge. Michael and Lincoln break into Sofia's apartment and discover information on a Jason Lief, a person supposedly in connection with Whistler. Michael and Linc decide to part ways - Linc is seen with Sofia in the hospital as Michael sets out to get Gretchen.

The season closes as Michael drives along a highway in Panama, with the origami rose and Lincoln's gun beside him, seeking revenge against Gretchen for "murdering" Sara. The closing montage for the season features the song 'Llorando' ( 'Crying' ) sung by Rebekah Del Rio.

Goofs

As McGrady and his father arrive in Colombia, it says that they are in Acandi, but it is also impossible to reach Acandi by car. The scene seems to be taken in some Mexican town.

International broadcasts

Via Global TV's simulcast, the episode was broadcast on February 18 2008 in Canada. It aired in Ireland on RTÉ Two on February 26 2008 and in the UK on Sky One on February 25 2008. It was aired in Armenia on March 29 2008, on April 28 in Sweden's TV3 and on April 29 2008 on M-Net in South Africa.The episode screened in Australia on the Seven Network on the 30th July, 2008 and in Italy on Italia 1 on 29th August 2008

References