Disconnect (Prison Break)

Summary

C-Note, his wife Kacee, and their daughter Deedee are in an RV at a Harvey, North Dakota lakeside. Kacee is recognized by the pharmacist and arrested by the Harvey police, but before being taken she drops the medicine in a trash receptacle. In New Mexico, Sara Tancredi remains submerged in a motel bathtub while Agent Paul Kellerman unwraps a body bag and a hacksaw. After a motel attendant complains about noise, Kellerman returns to find the bathtub empty.

Sara surprises him, burns his chest with an iron, and jumps out a window, smashing into a car windshield. She later hides in a public restroom and stitches her own wounds. Kellerman lies about Sara's death, and Agent Kim has him erased from government records. When Kellerman calls Caroline Reynolds' office, he is told the administration does not know his name.

Kim orders his subordinate to make Kellerman a ghost. Brad Bellick is questioned by Detective Katherine Slattery about Roy Geary's death in a Tribune, Kansas police station.

Bellick evades questions but eventually says they were tracking Theodore Bagwell. Slattery receives a credit card receipt with Bellick's name and a death threat left on Geary's voice mail. She arrests Bellick for first-degree murder, despite his claim that T-Bag framed him.

Reception

On November 20, 2006, the episode drew an estimated 9.2 million viewers, one of the largest audiences since the second season premiere, and improved on the previous week's ratings. It achieved a 4.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic, its best since the season premiere in August, finishing second in its timeslot behind NBC's Deal or No Deal. Critics commented on the diverging plots of multiple characters. An Entertainment Weekly critic found the Kim and Kellerman storyline necessary but boring beyond words.

A TV Guide reviewer was not invested in C-Note's story, noting his character is cut off from other escapees and less compelling than T-Bag. The Arizona Daily Star commended the pre-credits sequence for shock value and tight storytelling; that sequence covered Michael's past and Sara's escape. IGN commented that the main turning point of Michael and Lincoln deciding to stop running changes the show's direction completely and should provide exciting dramatic possibilities.

The Arizona Daily Star disagreed, calling the brothers' decision to stay a dumb choice. The episode received a 9.8/10 from IGN and a B+ from The San Diego Union-Tribune, whose critic called it an eventful episode. It was nominated for two Golden Reel Awards: Best Sound Editing in Music for Television - Short Form and Best Sound Editing in Sound Effects and Foley for Television - Short Form.