Prison Break Episode 16: Brother's Keeper

Michael’s plan to rescue Lincoln begins to take shape after a series of flashbacks show how several key people ended up at Fox River, and the episode ends with Michael deciding he must get himself inside the prison too.

Three years earlier, Michael and Lincoln have a strained conversation that makes clear Michael is angry and distant, while Lincoln is trying to reconnect with him. After Michael leaves, Lincoln is approached at his apartment by a man connected to a debt he owes, and he is told he must kill a man named Terrence Steadman to pay off the money. Lincoln is not initially told why this man matters, only that he has no choice. He tries to reach Michael for help, but Michael does not answer. Lincoln then goes to the car he was told about and finds a man already dead inside; moments later, he is arrested after agents have filmed him standing over the body with a gun, making it look like he committed the murder.

The episode then shows how Michael learned what happened to Lincoln and why he becomes determined to help him. He discovers that the debt tied to Lincoln was actually money Michael had been given for his education, and that Lincoln had lied about its source, saying it was their mother’s life insurance. When Lincoln is convicted and sentenced to death, Michael realizes Lincoln is being transferred to Fox River, and he begins thinking about how to reach him. After trying and failing to memorize the prison blueprints, Michael comes up with the idea of putting the blueprint information into a tattoo so he can carry the plan with him into prison.

The episode also flashes back to how Sucre, C-Note, T-Bag, and Sara each ended up at Fox River. Sucre meets Maricruz for the first time and quickly falls for her, but his need for money pushes him toward a robbery that leads to his arrest. C-Note is shown in Kuwait using his military connections to get alcohol for his commander in exchange for a better posting, then later facing the consequences that eventually leave him unemployed and arrested after trying to make money illegally. T-Bag’s backstory is shown through the events that lead to his arrest and imprisonment. Sara is shown as a morphine addict who hits a breaking point after a traumatic incident, goes to a rehabilitation meeting, and then learns about a doctor opening at Fox River, which is why she later ends up working there.