I haven’t been very interested in Prison Break this season, but I think the show took a turn for the better with last night’s episode. It was called “Bad Blood,” and here’s what happened.

Michael/Sara/Linc/Kellerman: Michael and Sara tried to go into the cigar club to see what Sara’s father kept locked away in his private humidor, but within seconds there were patrol cars outside the door. So they had to make a break for it without getting any more information.

Their next move is to go visit the WARDEN!! Apparently, he’s also a member of the club, so he’s now their only hope of finding out what Sara’s father was hiding. Of course, Pope is none too happy to see Michael and Sara, and isn’t willing to help them out. But Michael makes a bargain with him: if Pope gets them whatever’s in the humidor, Michael will turn himself in.

So Pope goes in and finds a flash drive in the humidor. He borrows some guy’s computer to listen to the audio files that are on the drive, but we don’t get to hear what that was all about. As Pope is walking out to rejoin Michael and Sara, who should intercept him but Kim? Just when it seems like Kim’s going to force Pope into his car, Michael comes tearing down the block and runs Kim over. Then, Linc and Kellerman join the fray, and Linc whales on Kim numerous times for good measure. Michael, Pope, Linc, and Sara drive off just as we hear sirens in the background. Meanwhile, they purposely leave Kellerman behind, so he’s forced to take off on foot.

Sucre: Sucre’s borrowed car breaks down when he’s 20 minutes away from the Ixtapa airport, which of course is his rendezvous point with Maricruz. But some guy pulls up just a minute later and gives Sucre a ride to the airport, so Sucre’s still on schedule. Unfortunately, the guy happens to be part of the airport security team, and he mentions that they’re looking for an American fugitive.

When they arrive at the airport, Sucre makes all kinds of excuses in order to get away from the security dude as soon as possible. He’s just in time, too, because a few seconds later another guard comes by and hands the first guard a photo of the suspect. He immediately recognizes Sucre, and the chase is on. Sucre manages to scoop up Maricruz, run to the exit, and hop in a cab before security can catch them.

C-Note: C-Note spent the whole episode trying to get medical help for Deedee. The first hospital he went to gave him a hard time about not having insurance or proper ID, so he left there and took his daughter to a free clinic. The place was a dump, and the doctor on duty was just sitting in his office smoking cigarettes while people coughed and hacked out in the waiting room.

Anyway, C-Note gets him to take a look at Deedee, and the doctor says that the girl is going into renal failure. He’s about to insert a catheter in her neck when C-Note intervenes. He doesn’t want to take any chances with his daughter’s help, so he calls Mahone and is willing to turn himself in on two conditions: 1) Deedee must get the medical treatment she needs; and 2) his wife must be set free so she can take care of the girl. Mahone doesn’t agree to this, but when C-Note sweetens the pot by offering up Michael as well, Mahone bites.

T-Bag: T-Bag takes the Hollander family to his childhood home. It’s been abandoned for years and is completely vandalized and unlivable. As T-Bag starts cleaning up, he recalls various happenings from his childhood. Of course the memories are bad, and he tells Susan that all he wants to do is start over. He’s not a bad guy, he says, and all he wants is for Susan to love him and make him part of her family. She refuses, which nearly sends him over the edge. He locks her and her two children in the cellar, and spends a long time contemplating an axe that’s just handily sitting around — not rusted or anything. But in the end, T-Bad calls the cops to go and rescue the family while he makes his escape.

My Reaction: I thought this was a pretty good episode. I liked how the various plots are finally moving forward: Sucre has finally hooked up with Maricruz; T-Bag has finally let the Hollanders go; Michael et al. have finally found out what the key was for; and Mahone has finally captured a fugitive instead of killing him.

I thought the return of Henry Pope was perhaps the highlight of the episode. He’s a great character, and I hope there’s reason for him to stick around for awhile longer. I also enjoyed Michael and Sara’s banter about dinner while they were waiting in the car. It was nice to see the writers bring up something that happened so long ago and make it work in the current context.

And how satisfying was it to see Michael run Kim down like a dog?? I don’t particularly care for the Linc character, but it was so awesome to see him beating the crap out of Kim there in the driveway!

Finally, I have to say that C-Note’s final scene with his daughter, while he’s holding her and crying because he knows what he has to do, was very well done. That was the first time I felt anything for the C-Note character; too bad he had to ruin it a few minutes later by agreeing to betray Scofield!

There were several things that bothered me, too. First, do we really need more instances of freakin’ incest on prime time television? CSI just had an incest storyline a couple weeks ago (not their first, BTW), and now here we are with T-Bag’s father putting the moves on him. That’s just sick and makes my stomach turn.

Another thing I didn’t like — which is actually a theme for the entire season and not just of this episode — is how the cops are always just two seconds behind the cons no matter where they go or what they’re doing. How did the cigar club owner even know to call the cops in that first scene? Sara and Michael weren’t even inside for more than a minute when the cops started swarming. How did that happen???

How did Mahone find C-Note’s clinic right away? He just landed at the airport and said some people were monitoring the hospitals. Next thing you know, he’s outside the right one?

How in the hell did Kim get to Chicago from Washington, D.C. in the same amount of time it took Pope to get to the club from his house?

Despite these flaws, I still thought this was a solid episode. I have no idea where we’re going from here, and don’t see how the writers can stretch this thing out to a third season, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough!