Prison Break Episode 8: The Old Head

Michael’s escape plan runs into a major obstacle when he learns that the old storage room above the sewer pipes has been turned into the guards’ break room, making it inaccessible unless the inmates can get assigned to repair it. He, Sucre, and Abruzzi discuss how to regain access, and Michael realizes they need Charles Westmoreland’s help because he is the only inmate who can enter the room freely as a trustee.

Westmoreland initially refuses to get involved, not wanting to jeopardize his parole chances, but the situation around the prison pushes events in Michael’s favor. After the guards intensify their search for the inmate responsible for a guard’s death during the riot, Bellick pressures and humiliates prisoners during the investigation, and Westmoreland’s silence in the face of that pressure leads to further conflict inside the prison. Eventually, Westmoreland agrees to help Michael by setting the break room on fire, which causes the area to be assigned to inmate repair work and gives Michael’s team the opening they need to continue the escape plan.

T-Bag becomes entangled in the prison’s murder investigation as well, trying to avoid blame for the dead guard by shifting suspicion elsewhere. His actions do not resolve the situation cleanly, but they do keep the focus on the wider unrest among the inmates and guards.

Outside the prison, Veronica and Nick are targeted by an explosive attack at Veronica’s apartment and narrowly survive, then go into hiding after the attack makes Kellerman and Hale believe they have been killed. At the same time, LJ is threatened by the two men, and they murder his mother and stepfather before planting evidence to frame him for the killings. By the end of the episode, the identity of the mysterious woman Kellerman and Hale have been reporting to is revealed: she is Vice President Caroline Reynolds.