The BEST episodes of Prison Break
Every episode of Prison Break ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Prison Break!
Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison to break them both out from the inside.
#1 - Go
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/8/2006
The team start the escape from the hole in Scofield's cell.
#2 - Flight
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/15/2006
As the escape continues, lives are lost and Pope and Bellick do everything in their power to capture the convicts.
#3 - Riots, Drills and the Devil (1)
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 9/26/2005
Since Scofield's transfer was cancelled, the woman in Montana tells Kellerman to take care of Burrows quickly. He has an informant call an inmate in Fox River to kill Lincoln. The only form of identification of the inmate is an elastic bracelet. Veronica (Robin Tunney) avoids Nick Savrinn, until she realises that he is trying to help her all along, when he hears that the anonymous phone call to arrest Lincoln came from Washington D.C. Meanwhile, Michael (Wentworth Miller) realizes that to complete a digging job inside the walls to some pipes, he needs to spend a good block of time there, which has been proving difficult as he has to keep coming back to his cell to make count. After explaining this to Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), he is told that the only time count doesn't take place is during a lockdown. Michael manages to disable the prison's air conditioning. T-Bag (Robert Knepper) returns from the infirmary, where he is given a new cell mate, Seth. Since the A/C is off, the inmates suffer in the heat, leading T-Bag to start a fight with Geary, who then initiates a lockdown while some of the prisoners are out of their cells. The prisoners riot and break into the prison cell control room, in which T-Bag opens all the cells and then finds a set of keys, giving him and the rioters access to the entire prison. When news of the riot reaches the sick bay, the prisoners there also riot. After taking out the guard, they trap Dr. Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) in the adjacent room. Michael uses a tracing of a devil from his tattoo to provide the coordinates (calculated using Hooke's law, also referred in this episode as hooker's law) needed to collapse part of the wall. This is vital to his escape plan as the wall prevents the team from entering a pipe that will take them to the infirmary. Meanwhile, after Lincoln is ambushed by T-Bag and his men, he holds new CO Bob Hudson hostage, who tries to escape, but T-Bag takes him to Michael's cell, where he learns of the escape pla
#4 - Riots, Drills and the Devil (2)
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/3/2005
Turk misleads Lincoln, by sending him into a secluded area, where he attempts to kill him. However, after the two men struggle, Lincoln pushes Turk over the edge, where he soon dies. Back in Michael's and Sucre's cell, T-Bag is keeping an eye on CO Hudson, who knows of the escape plan. Abruzzi enters the hole and helps Sucre with breaking down the wall. Sucre, a devout Roman Catholic, struggles with drilling through a depiction of the devil. Also adding to the dilemma is the fact that gas pipes lie behind the wall, and that drilling in the wrong place may cause a fatal explosion. However, together they are eventually both able to drill strategically placed holes and manages to break it down to see the pipe on the other side. Sara is still trapped in the room, where the rioters almost break through, and try to set fire to it, where Michael manages to arrive through the vents and rescues her from them. However, the rioters follow her and Michael, who try to evade them. Sara asks how Michael knows about the pipes and he replies by saying that he has had PI duties to clean up toxic mold in the pipes. Soon, Michael is able to knock out one of the leading inmates and rush to an exit. However, when they arrive, a sniper, sent by Govorner Tancredi, who is adamant to do what it takes to rescue his daughter, aims at him. Michael quickly ducks as the pursuing inmates are fired at and Sara reunites with her father. Veronica and Nick arrive in Washington D. C. and receive the address from the placed phone call, a payphone. The payphone is next to the building of the company the Vice President uses. The phone rings and Veronica answers it. The caller tells them that they are dead. In a panic, Veronica and Nick run away from the payphone. Michael returns to gen-pop and reunites with Lincoln before heavily armed SORT teams invade the prison and force the inmates back to their cells. In Michael's cell, the team discuss what to do with Hudson. Michael, Lincoln and Sucre want to
#5 - Killing Your Number
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/15/2009
Michael makes one final attempt to get Scylla and destroy the Company.
#6 - The Rat
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/20/2006
With the pipe to the infirmary replaced and Lincoln's life hanging in the balance, Michael must rethink his plan to escape and save his brother's life. A fellow inmate may hold the key to preventing Lincoln's execution.
#7 - Sona
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/2/2007
Only back at the yacht, Michael notices Lincoln is gone and calls him- Alex Mahone tells him Linc is no cold-blooded killer, so he was overpowered and hand-cuffed, and the ransom is the yacht and the fortune he assumes to be in it, to be agreed in five minutes, now Mahone is even more wanted then the brothers. Kellerman's self-incriminating testimony and documents he brings get all charges against Sarah and Lincoln dropped, him arrested. Mahone calls Kim to fly over immediately. Alex calls his wife, to make her bring the kids for a holiday in her native Colombia, at Cartegena. Despite 30% blood-loss Fernado leaves hospital to report missing Bellick, who is already in jail and gets T-bag's company. Vendor Chaco gets Michael introduced to a local yacht owner to whom he suggests collecting the $100,000 reward on his head, then makes a better offer. Mahone called the police intending to frame the brothers for his intended murder on 'an Asian', but Michael refuses to hand over the money and Kim turns up early, with armed back-up; Mahone runs but is arrested. Kellerman knows the situation he is involved in, and expects to be assasined (unless we are towards a plot surprise,) so his transport to prison is arranged to get car trouble and a masked man shoots him. Chaco delivers to the brothers, who got away with the money and intended to run and never look back, a crummy boat with a priceless surprise: Sarah and the great news for Linc, with good hope for Michael. Just then Kim turns up, refuses the money, aims at Linc- and is shot by Sarah; the police arrives, chasing and trapping the trio- Michael takes the gun and pretends to take Sarah hostage, then lets himself be arrested and locked up in Sona. Malone calls his wife to forget he ever existed- from jail. T-bag expected to be released as agreed reward for baiting the brothers, but the man he hoped to bring him the good news says getting caught broke the deal.
#8 - Tonight
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/1/2006
Westmoreland uses Bellick to plug a hole in the escape plan, which forces Michael to move up the breakout timetable. A fearful Tweener pledges his loyalty to Michael and in return may get out of jail for free; Michael feels that he has no choice but to involve Sara in the plan and must betray his father figure; and Veronica finds her life in jeopardy from her closest ally, who has a surprising connection to a Fox River inmate.
#9 - Selfless
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/24/2008
Sara takes a hostage in a bid to secure Scylla. In the meantime, Michael and Lincoln finally meet the General while one of their members switches allegiance.
#10 - Behind The Eyes
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/30/2017
Dangerous threats keep Michael and Lincoln fighting to protect Sara and Mike. Meanwhile, Poseidon continues to try and outsmart Michael and the rest of the gang, which leads them to the ultimate showdown, and not everyone makes it out alive.
#11 - End of the Tunnel
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/28/2005
The escape is about to go through when the team hits a stainless steel snag, while Veronica is just a moment too late to get all the information she needs to prove Lincoln's innocence.
#12 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/29/2005
Michael Scofield is imprisoned in Fox River State Penitentiary. He finds his brother, Lincoln Burrows, who is a death row prisoner, and tells him that he is going to break them both out of the prison.
#13 - The Key
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/24/2006
After the crash, Kellerman tries to suffocate Lincoln, but he is saved in the last moment by a stranger. Sucre leaves the solitary confinement and Michael tells to his partners that he has completed the map, but he needs the key of the infirmary. Abruzzi is back to Fox River, apparently converted in a religious man. Warden Pope sends Captain Bellick to find Lincoln before notifying the authorities. Nick tries to convince Veronica that they are losing time checking the calls of Quinn's cell phone. Michael kisses Sara and asks her to wait for him. Tweener is in trouble with Avocado and he castrates the abuser. Lincoln sees that the stranger is actually his father, and he explains that he worked for the powerful Company, and Lincoln is a victim of a big plot against him. He had leaked information of EcoField and they used Lincoln to force him to show off. Michaels asks for help to Nika. Veronica finds many calls from Montana. The Vice-President tells her brother that he is alive just because of her, and he replies that he does not understand how they have not killed her yet. Abruzzi meets T-Bag and asks him to forget everything, and they seal truce. Nika seeks out Sara and tells her life and how Michael helped her, but she actually steals Sara's key. A guy sees the Mustang in a junkyard where Aldo and Lincoln are hidden, but Kellerman bugs the conversation and goes to the spot. However, the police arrive and Captain Bellick arrests Lincoln, saving him from Kellerman. Sara seeks her key and recalls her meeting with Nika Volek; she calls maintenance service to replace the lock. Nick works for Abruzzi. Michael invites David and he betrays the plan to Captain Bellick. Lincoln is back to Fox River under 24 hours surveillance.
#14 - English, Fitz or Percy
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/19/2005
Michael Scofield tells the team in his escape plan, now consisting of Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), Lincoln (Dominic Purcell), and John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare), that they have to take out either English, Fitz or Percy, the three names on his forearm from the tattoo. Meanwhile, Secret Service Agent Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) and Hale pay a visit to Warden Pope regarding Scofield's transfer. Pope denies the request, where the agents proceed in blackmailing him concerning the affair he had from Toledo, and threaten to tell his wife about this. Pope tells the agents that his wife already knows about the affair, but the agents know he did not tell her the whole truth. She knows nothing of the son he had there. Michael returns to his cell to find Pope, who tells him that some higher power wants him transferred out of Fox River. Michael plans to take the advice from Charles Westmoreland and get a transfer block letter, telling Pope he has sinusitis, to keep him in at least a month yet. However, Kellerman and Hale continue blackmailing him, and tells him to drop the paperwork, which he reluctantly does. Nick Savrinn and Veronica Donovan continue to try to find legal grounds to exonerate Lincoln. From the copy of the videotape of the murder, an expert believes that the gunshot sound was faked, but needs the original. However, they find it was destroyed in a "freak accident". When they return to Veronica's home, they find the copy has been stolen, and she suspects Nick may be involved. Michael tells Abruzzi to get him a key to the warden's office. Abruzzi does this by melting toothbrushes into a stolen mold. Towards the end of the day, Michael, while constructing the model of the Taj Mahal, tells Pope that the structure will collapse if he does not remain there to hold the piece as the glue sets. Warden Pope leaves for the day and Michael immediately uses the replica key to leave the office through the back door and reach the roof. However, during count, Bellick realises a miss
#15 - The Killing Box
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/27/2006
The Border Patrol arrests Michael and Lincoln, saving them from Mahone that claims that wants his life back. Sucre crosses the border and jumps in a parachute in the Sonora Desert in Mexico. T-Bag goes to a war veteran bar in Pratt, Kansas, and steals a prosthetic job from a veteran sergeant. Michael and Lincoln are apprehended in the Border Patrol Holding Facility, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, waiting for transportation to Fox River, but Bill Kim orders Mahone to kill them. T-Bag meets Denise, who works in the post office, and seduces her to get Susan Hollander's address. Bellick is sent to the District Court in Greeley County, Kansas, and has his bail denied. He makes a deal to be sent to Fox River expecting to have a good life. However the new warden decides to use him as an example of the new administration. Meanwhile Mahone tries to transport the prisoners, but the standard procedure does not allow it. Kellerman makes an arrangement to intercept the convoy in a blocked tunnel to kill the prisoners. However, Michael and Lincoln and helped by a surprising allied. T-Bag finds Susan.
#16 - By the Skin and the Teeth
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/27/2006
Michael's plan to escape has failed. While Lincoln is strapped to the electric chair, he sees an oddly familiar face in the crowd. Is there one last hope to save Lincoln's life, or has his journey reached an end?
#17 - The Old Head
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/24/2005
Michael finds out a storage room, fundamental to the escape because it is the only building directly over the pipes, has been converted into a break room for the guards, and the team must find a way to set it on fire so that Abruzzi can get them assigned to PI work there. They have to convince Westmoreland, who is a trustee (and thus has access to the break room freely), to help them burn it down. Michael approaches him with his cat (who ran away during the riots), but he refuses to help. Meanwhile, Bellick starts an investigation into Bob's death, and upon hearing rumors that he died outside of Westmoreland's cell, he goes to question him. Westmoreland doesn't say anything, afraid of being considered a "snitch". Bellick tells him that if he doesn't get an answer before he leaves the cell, their friendship is over. Westmoreland still doesn't cooperate, and Bellick pets Marilyn, saying "...nice cat." A while later, Westmoreland returns to his cell and finds Marilyn dead on his bunk, and spots Bellick looking down on his cell from the second level. The next day, when Westmoreland goes to deliver the coffee to the break room, he looks at a pack of Bellick's cigarettes and his lighter. Meanwhile, while Michael and Lincoln do PI work, a fire erupts in the break room. Michael approaches Westmoreland and thanks him, but Westmoreland responds with "I didn't do it for you." The group begins by breaking through a drain in the floor and enlarging the hole so that they can fit through it.
#18 - Odd Man Out
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/21/2005
C-Note overhears Michael and Lincoln discussing that there are too many fugitives for available time and they share the information with the group telling that one shall be left behind. T-Bag feels threatened and calls his cousin James Bagwell, disclosing the escape plan and asking James to call the Warden Pope in case T-Bag does not contact him later. Abruzzi asks his outside man to kidnap James, but things go wrong and the mobster kills James and his five years old son Jimmy. Abruzzi feels guilty for the death of the child and feels the need of God's forgiveness, but T-Bag betrays Abruzzi like Judas. Meanwhile Veronica and LJ bring Nick to the hospital and while in surgery, LJ escapes to see the funeral of his mother. Daniel Hale sees the teenager in the cemetery but he does not arrest him; later he tells his wife that they should move to West and gives an anonymous call to Veronica scheduling a meeting in the Highland Cafe. Maricruz tells Sucre that she is pregnant but she will marry Hector. Captain Bellick presses David to rat Michael telling everything he says. Michael tests the escape plan and informs the group that they are ready to go that night, but Lincoln was sent to solitary confinement protecting his brother.
#19 - Bluff
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/17/2006
Improvising a new plan, Michael seeks out an acquaintance who may hold the key to his escape plan. In gen pop, the other members of the P.I. crew learn that the guards are auctioning Michael's cell to the highest bidder. Lincoln and Sucre devise a scheme to get Michael returned to gen pop. Veronica informs Lincoln that L.J will be tried for his mother's murder, and Lincoln desires to see his son.
#20 - Allen
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/29/2005
Michael Scofield and Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) face a lockdown in order for the guards to search cells for contraband, where they're about to throw away a knife, but were stopped by Bellick (Wade Williams), who sends Sucre to SHU. Warden Pope (Stacy Keach) calls off the search for Michael's cell, but Bellick feels determined to, and sneaks into his cell when the prisoners are away, and finds the name "Allen Schweitzer". Bellick runs the name on the database, only to find no one matching it. Meanwhile, Sucre urges Stolte to let him call Maricruz (Camille Guaty), but is refused. Veronica (Robin Tunney) investigates who is framing Lincoln Burrows. She finds a tape, where she sees Lincoln shoot Terrence Steadman dead. Lincoln claims that he is being framed, stating the man was already dead and Lincoln never pulled the trigger. She attempts to talk to Crab Simmonds (Tab Baker), who didn't testify in his case, only to find out that he was killed of an apparent drug overdose. She is contacted by Leticia Barris (Adina Porter), Crab's girlfriend, but as they meet, she is spooked as Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) and Hale (Danny McCarthy) are watching. Back in Fox River, Michael attempts to get to a bolt from a bleacher belonging to T-Bag (Robert Knepper), but is stopped. He doesn't want Scofield on the bleacher unless he will join in the racist battle between the whites and blacks, but he declines. On his second attempt, T-Bag's gang take the bolt off him, so eventually, he decides to join in to get at the bolt. However, C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar) sees this, and when he confronts Scofield regarding the PUGNAc, he refuses to give the pills. Soon, everyone comes out of their cell for count, when the riot starts. Michael decides to get the bolt back from T-Bag's cellmate (Brian Hamman), and does so after a struggle. C-Note sees this and stabs the cellmate several times; the wounded man dies in Michael's arms. T-Bag believes Michael killed the cellmate, and plans to get ba
#21 - John Doe
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/22/2007
Michael and Lincoln escape with Kellerman, who crosses a road block using his badge, and they fly to Blackfoot, Montana, to meet Terrence Steadman. In Fox River, Bellick is having a hard time especially with Banks and his gang. In Ness City, Kansas, T-Bag meets Susan and her children; when she tries to kill him, he ties the whole family to chairs. In Mound City, Nebraska, Dede is missing her mother and C-Note is trying to contact her. Mahone is alive in a hospital in Albuquerque; when Mahone tells that he is out, Bill Kim hits his son with a car to intimidate him. Mahone leaves the hospital and calls him telling that he is back. Kellerman, Michael and Lincoln abduct Steadman and Kellerman kills the two bodyguards. However, they realize that Steadman is actually a John Doe, since his existence has been erased by the Company. Michael decides to call the press to turn himself in with tragic consequences.
#22 - Tweener
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/31/2005
Seth "Cherry" Hoffner approaches Michael for help but his request is cut short by T-Bag who interjects and subtly threatens Michael to stay out of his business. Fearing for his escape plan, Michael concedes. When Seth asks him for help the second time, Michael turns his back on him. The team continues to work on pounding the concrete floor in the storage room during PI. Sucre worries over how they are going to dispose of the concrete fragments. Michael tells them to hide the fragments one piece at a time. They take the pieces out, littering and hiding them all over the yard. After Michael walks off, C-Note picks up one of the concrete fragments half hidden in the yard. As Michael and Sucre walk back to their cells, Seth jumps off from the second tier and hangs himself. Michael looks horrified. Michael tells Lincoln of Seth's suicide and how he felt responsible for his death. Lincoln tells him that it's not his fault and that he had to keep the escape plan safe. Michael relays that their mother taught them better, "When a man is down, you give them your hand." Meanwhile, a new inmate, David "Tweener" Apolskis tries to fit in. However, neither the black nor white inmates want to associate with him. T-Bag uses this opportunity to intimidate Tweener and suggests that he could be his new "friend". Tweener tells T-Bag to stay away from him. T-Bag is annoyed by his noncompliance. Dr. Sara Tancredi inquires Michael's insurance company about the cost of his medical treatments at Fox River. She finds out that he had psychiatric insurance. Sara visits his psychiatrist who informs her of Michael's psychiatric condition. Michael has low latent inhibition and low self-worth. The psychiatrist tells her that Michael's condition coupled with his high I.Q., explains why he goes to such extraordinary lengths to help other people. After Sara learns this, she becomes more perplexed by who Michael is. Michael notices Tweener's distress and decides to intervene. He hits T-Bag
#23 - Sweet Caroline
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/5/2007
C-note has jumped with the noose around his neck, but is saved by jailers; he has Mahone told he'll still do it. At a Chicago hotel, president Caroline Reynolds is expected for a speech. Michael sends the real Cooper Green away and agrees a meeting point with Linc and Sarah. Mahone enters Sarah's room and only pretends to fail looking under the bed to trap her, she pretends the brothers left her. In Mexico, T-bag finds Bellick is waiting at the luggage conveyor and must get his from the service side, but the laborer he knocks down falls onto it, so he must run. Lincoln surprises his old mate Derrick Sweeney and calls a favor: three tickets on a freighter for Panama. Kellerman is in position to shoot the fiendish president, but when she's in his sight Michael gets arrested just after shaking her hand, and is interrogated by Kim who demands to be left alone with him, to ask where Linc is, then tries literally to beat it out of him; the president barges in and sends Kim out just when he was about to shoot Michael; he tells her the tape is a delicate conversation she had with her brother after his 'death', and he still has copies at twenty locations. Fernando sees on TV T-bag is in Mexico and was videotaped trying to steal, so he deduces the $5,000,000 must be around and tells Maricruz he'll be right back; at his return only Bellick is there, armed and cuffs Sucre, in order to collect the reward, so Fernando offers to share the $5,000,000 by finding T-bag. Sarah guesses right Mahone is on an addictive drug. Caroline calls Linc, who plays the tape which proves her brother was alive on the isle of Terrence and hated conspiring with her Linc's faked conviction; Michael tells her about his suicide and dares her to make a decision: let him walk and sign a pardon for both brothers the very day, on live TV; Kim fails to stop him being released and walking out. When the phone rings, Sarah surprises Mahone and escapes- actually he arranged this and has her followed. Kim talks to
#24 - Manhunt
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/21/2006
It is the morning after their escape from Fox River, and the inmates narrowly avoid being caught by Bellick as they jump onto a freight train. FBI Special Agent Alex Mahone has been assigned to their case and calls a press conference urging the public to turn in the "Fox River 8." Michael, Lincoln, Abruzzi, C-Note, and Sucre encounter a hunter and his daughter. He holds them at gunpoint until Abruzzi grabs the daughter and forces the hunter to give them his SUV and let them go. The escapees head for a location where Michael has things stored. Agent Mahone tracks Michael's credit card to a storage facility in Oswego, but quickly figures out that one of Michael's tattoos holds the real location. Michael's tattoo "Ripe Chance Woods" is a clue pointing to a cemetery where Michael has items buried in the grave of "E. Chance Woods." Just two steps behind, Agent Mahone arrives at the scene just as the inmates have gathered what they need. In the meantime, T-Bag discovers a veterinary clinic and forces the Vet to re-attach his severed hand. Dr. Sarah Tancredi recovers from her overdose. Inside her purse, she finds an origami swan left for her by Michael with a message, "There's a plan to make all of this right", and a code. The code is a series of numbers which reads 3221243324 for the first line, 4221312231 for the second, and 23133121 for the third. Veronica locates Terrance Steadman in Montana, and finds that the doors are locked from the outside, holding him hostage (albeit willingly). Veronica calls 911, and then talks to Lincoln and tells him what she has learned. Employees of The Company arrive and kill Veronica for having unraveled their plot and for having found Steadman. Lincoln hears Veronica's final words as she dies, and is consumed with grief. Mahone studies Michael's tattoos, and feels that they are the key to finding the escapees.
#25 - The Art of the Deal
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/18/2008
LJ and Whistler are exchanged, but more surprises abound. Meanwhile, T-Bag's scheming finally pays off.