SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

Recap by Mack the Spoon

You know, this is a really good episode. It's not as good as “Pusher”, of course, but let's face it – few episodes, period, could be. But there's great continuity, great character stuff, and the climactic scene is almost as pulse-pounding as the Russian roulette scene. Tim Minear, who rules in general, did a good job here along with Vince Gilligan. It has its issues, though, and never fear, I will point out those that stand out to me.

Anyway, we open at Lorton Penitentiary, which my sister informs me (having researched it for a fic) is where they kept John Lee Roche. Totally great place to be, in other words. We're in the hospital ward, watching someone do physical therapy. And I think it would be more of a mystery who it was if the DVD menu for the episode didn't have a big picture of our good friend Robert Patrick Modell on it. Heh. So yeah, pushing a big plastic wheel across the floor. The therapist lady says to this 'mysterious' person, “Come on, keep pushing. I want five more steps and then you're done.” Did you hear that, with the Pushing? Do you think it's a Clue?

As the man strains to finish the task, we see two prison guards/orderlies in the background, watching alertly. The younger one also played the prison guard that Mystique pumped full of liquid iron so Magneto could use it to escape from his plastic jail in X-Men 2. That's a great movie. But you're here for this episode, and so am I. Ahem.

So. Once the man finishes his task, the orderlies move forward with a wheelchair so he can sit in it. The therapist congratulates “Bobby” on having done so well, and the older orderly tells younger to back off and keep his finger on the pepper spray, as he straps the man into the chair's restraints. Younger Orderly looks resentful but does as he's told.

Meanwhile, the therapist asks the older guy, Mr. Piero, if it's all really necessary. Mr. Piero quite firmly says that it is. The next scene is the two of them pushing (heh, that word comes up a lot) the wheelchair down the hall of the hospital ward. The younger guard wants to know “this guy's story”, and Piero explains that he's a “cop killer, regular people killer” and “general all-around waste of skin.”

Contemptuously, Chuck (that's the younger guy's name) asks what Piero's so afraid of, then. “Guy's a freaking vegetable, I mean, what's he going to do ... run over you with his big plastic wheel?”

Piero, annoyed and very serious, responds that if Chuck wants to last here at this job, he needs to never underestimate this man, and never let his guard down around him. “Capisce?” he asks, to which Chuck replies, “Comprendo.” This show sure is educational and stuff. Chuck looks thoughtful and perhaps unconvinced as the door buzzes. When the door opens, we see (gasp!) that it is indeed Pusher, staring straight ahead and not responding to what's been said around him.