The Company (Prison Break)
Encyclopedia
The Company is a fiction
al covert organization featured in the American
television drama
/thriller series Prison Break
. It is a secret group of multinationals known almost exclusively by those who work for them (with the exception of those opposing them). Its influence and power over individuals stretches to the White House
, influencing every decision the country makes. Its main goal is to impose a New World Order
for maintain control over the country's economy. The Company has thus far also been described as a group of multinational corporate interests, and as a cabal of corporations influencing everything that goes on in the United States.
The Company has influence over many agencies of the United States government, especially the Secret Service. With Caroline Reynolds (Patricia Wettig
), the former Vice President of the United States
in their grasp, The Company held control over the government's sway on the energy bill and subsequently, the country's economy. However, The Company considers every individual who works for them a pawn to achieve their goals.
The Company and its operatives have on several occasions displayed their complete lack of regard to innocent people's lives. Its desperate need to attain control of the country's economy eventuated in illegal dealings through Caroline Reynolds' brother's company, Ecofield. When one of their employees leaked information about Ecofield into the public, The Company went to incredible lengths to capture him. This man was Aldo Burrows (Anthony Denison
). In order to bring him out into the open, The Company masterminded a conspiracy and used Caroline Reynolds' power as the Vice President to frame and convict his son, the innocent Lincoln Burrows
(Dominic Purcell), of Terrence Steadman's murder.
Through its economical assets, The Company has influence of countless individuals within - among other things - the Government, Congress, and various Federal Agencies. Politicians are especially important, as they are influenced by The Company to make decisions and pass laws that suits The Company's needs in return for being paid considerable amounts of money. Vice President Caroline Reynolds was among the more powerful associates aiding The Company in this way. The Company has people in place to monitor her or other collaborators, one example being Samantha Brinker who was assigned to handle relations with Reynolds.
and Daniel Hale represents the conspiracy. Overall, The Company is mostly kept in the background in the season 1 storyline, as a collaborative element to Reynolds and Kellerman. While they had chosen Burrows as the fall guy, they applied a surprisingly hands-off approach in regards to the conspiracy surrounding Steadman's death, preferring to stay out of it as much as possible and allowing Reynolds and her agents to handle things. Reynolds doesn't even notify them at first of the threat posed by Veronica Donovan. Only when her own men fail to do the job does she bring them up to speed. The Company is finally mentioned in the tenth episode of the first season, titled Sleight of Hand when The Company decides to take over the operation to maintain the conspiracy. This starts in Sleight of Hand, when the ruthless Company operative Quinn replaces Reynolds' own henchmen Kellerman and Hale in the pursuit of Veronica Donovan in order to silence her. Quinn fails in this task (with Kellerman, who disliked his taking over, leaving him for dead in the well Veronica and LJ left him in), and the nature of The Company is not explained at this point, although Kellerman makes comments to Reynolds that suggests that they are highly ruthless and determined.
In the episode "By the Skin and the Teeth", we learn that Samantha Brinker, The Company's intermediary to Reynolds, has taken a firm interest in the Burrows case, and that The Company has significant authority to tell the Vice President what to do, implying that The Company is more powerful than had been previously alluded to. In the episode "J-Cat", we learn that they had a hidden agenda regarding the framing of Lincoln Burrows: to draw Burrows' father, an ex Company employee, out of hiding in order to eliminate him. Kellerman is dismayed by this news. Thus, the organisation had become a bigger plot point, and in "The Key", The Company's true nature is revealed when Lincoln's father Aldo explains that they are a group of multi-national corporations that effectively controls politics in America.
Samantha Brinker continues to be the primary representative of Company authority in the first season, although executives with a higher standing are briefly seen in episodes "Tonight" and "Go", were they become increasingly worried about Caroline Reynolds chances at winning the presidential elections after her support starts to plummet in the polls. After Reynolds loses President Richard Mills' confidence and the support for a key energy bill in the episode "Tonight", The Company decides to cut her off and advises her to drop out of the race, or they will have to make her. They are greatly surprised when Reynolds has the President killed shortly thereafter (disguising it as a heart-attack) and was then sworn in as the next President of the United States. This happens in the season finale "Flight", and the future of the Reynolds-Company co-operation is left hanging at the end of the season.
The Company takes a direct role in the hunt for the Fox River Eight, and appoints Kim to lead those efforts. It is finally revealed in the episode "Dead Fall" that the leader of the FBI manhunt, Special Agent Alexander Mahone
is under blackmail from Kim, Kellerman and The Company to ensure the death of all the fugitives, fearing that they know too much about the conspiracy, even though during their time in Fox River none of the escapees had any knowledge of it besides Michael and Lincoln. It even seems that Kim, through his connections with President Reynolds, arranged for Mahone to be the one to spearhead the pursuit. There would only be three deaths: John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare
), David Apolskis (Lane Garrison
) and Charles Patoshik (Silas Weir Mitchell
). Mahone also attempts to coerce Benjamin Franklin
(Rockmond Dunbar
) into killing himself in the episode "Wash", but fails. His failure leads to Mahone being compromised as an Internal Affairs investigation offers C-Note exoneration from all charges for testifying against Mahone. Before he can be indicted, however, Kim arranges for Mahone to leave the country, as The Company still thinks he has value. The opposite is true for Kellerman, who continues to chafe under The Company thumb until Kim finally disavows him in "Disconnect" for repeated failures and suspicions of disloyalty. Pad Man then tells Kim to "retire" Kellerman because his loyalty to the conspiracy is all too uncertain. This plot backfires horribly when Kellerman, aware of the impending betrayal, shoots his would-be assassin and allies himself with Michael and Lincoln in hopes of bringing down The Company and the president.
After Kellerman switches sides, the conspiracy story arc becomes represented mainly by Kim and the reluctant Mahone. Kim pressures Mahone in the episodes "Chicago" and "Wash" to ensure the deaths of fugitives that he has in his custody in these episodes. However, Caroline Reynolds herself returns in the episode "Sweet Caroline", when Michael
successfully blackmails her into a Presidential pardon for him and his brother with a tape revealing her incestuous relationship with her brother. Kim tells her just before the press conference that The Company could expose her secrets just as easily as Michael. As a result, the President instead announces she has a malignant form of cancer which will cause her to resign the Presidency and drop out of the race. In addition to this, Pad Man himself begins to have a larger role in the season's later episodes and upon learning that Scofield and Burrows have fled to Panama, he orders Kim to ensure Scofield's incarceration at a Panamanian prison, Sona Federal Penitentiary
, where a former operative of The Company named James Whistler is. Initially it was never known who Whistler was and why the company wanted him out. [This will be explained in the next topic]. Kim also orders Mahone to travel to Panama to assist in the operation. Kim dies in the season finale and Mahone goes rogue, but Pad Man's agenda is secured and Michael arrives at Sona in the season's closing moments. At the same time, the viewers are shown that Pad Man is a General running a top secret research facility on Long Island, hinting at a new angle to the plotline.
At Sara Tancredi's trial in the episode "Sona", Paul Kellerman comes forward as a key witness. He reveals everything: the existence of The Company, the President's role in the framing of Lincoln Burrows, etc, and he has documents to prove it. It is not known how severely this affected The Company's operations.
and Burrows' son L.J. in exchange for Scofield helping Whistler to break out of Sona, due to the fact that before Whistler got incarcerated he somehow acquired access to a Scylla Card which he supposedly was going to sell but in the end it appeared he sold a copy to keep the original and bring down the company. To ensure this, Gretchen Morgan went to great lengths to seemingly get Sara killed, claiming to have personally decapitated her, thus showed the brothers that she, and the Company meant business. Just as Brinker represented The Company in season 1, and Kim represented it in season 2, Gretchen is the main Company authority in the third season. She is also the first Company character whose portrayer appears in the opening credits, another sign of how much The Company has begun to dominate the show's storyline. Gretchen functions as a liaison to the brothers throughout the season, using Lincoln Burrows as her contact. The relationship is very unstable, with both sides plotting against each other.
With Gretchen as the main Company element in the outside plotline (the General making only one brief appearance), much of Whistler's scenes in Sona are dedicated towards evaluating his possible connections to The Company. Although Whistler claims to be just an innocent fisherman, Michael is suspicious. In the episodes "Vamanos" and "Bang & Burn", Whistler is shown as being in league with Gretchen and that he is very important in the Company's eyes. Michael later arranges for the escape of himself, Mahone and Whistler from Sona, and exchanges him for the life of his nephew. In the final episode of the season, "The Art of the Deal", Whistler makes a deal with Mahone to seemingly work for The Company and they drive off in a car along with Gretchen.
Whistler and Mahone are later discovered to be working against the Company.
and Brad Bellick
. Scylla's secrets are shown as being stored on six data cards, each in the hands of one of the six most powerful members of The Company, called the Scylla Cardholders (including the general himself). Stealing the information on these cards, as well as finding the secret Company location where the information can be decrypted, forms the plot of the season's first 13 episodes.
The Company has a plan of their own that unfolds as the season progresses. Eventually, the viewers are informed that they are intentionally ruining the economy of Laos
by flooding their market with counterfeit money, allowing the organization to go in and offer to rebuild the country, thus profiting from the destruction and "rebuilding the country in their image". Ten thousand people are implied as having died as a result of the Company activities in Laos. In the episode "The Price", it is revealed that Laos was a guinea pig and that this operation was merely a first stage in a bigger scheme. The Company now intends to use the same method on the United States itself. In the same episode, General Krantz is made aware that Michael and Lincoln are after Scylla and orders it moved. The general is later tricked into thinking that Wyatt has killed the brothers, but nevertheless decides to go ahead with moving Scylla.
Scylla's true nature initially remains uncertain, though it is supposedly a "black book
" which contains all data of every operation executed by The Company, as well as the names of the agents and all information on The Company in general. Gretchen hints that there is much more to it than that, and Scylla is later revealed to also contain The Company's future operations. These include energy development plans for nuclear, solar and wind energy, and well as a new type codenamed "BARGAIN", which can supposedly harness the full potential of solar power, with the letters standing for the elements of the periodic table:
During a meeting Christina Scofield has with Naveen Banarjee, she mentions that Scylla also contains:
This technology grants The Company vast power. However, Michael and his team are successful in stealing Scylla from The Company in the episode "Selfless". Although he is killed in the season 4 premiere Whistler makes this possible, as clues in his bird book inform the team of how to gain access to The Company's secret headquarters. They hand it over to agent Self thinking that they are now free, but Self ends up betraying the team and sets out with Gretchen to find a new buyer for Scylla. Season 4's later episodes will focus on The Company's need to get Scylla back; after they help Michael by performing brain surgery to get rid of his tumor, Lincoln is told by the General that he can save Michael's life in exchange for the return of Scylla. After capturing Gretchen, Self and T-Bag, Lincoln is forced to work with them to reacquire Scylla for The Company. In the final episode, it's revealed that Paul Kellerman survived and joined the anti-company movement to destroy it. Michael hands Scylla over to Kellerman who gives it to a United Nations employee. Scylla boots up on his computer. General Krantz gets arrested as well as all the other employees and officials. The Company is finally shut down.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al covert organization featured in the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
/thriller series Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
. It is a secret group of multinationals known almost exclusively by those who work for them (with the exception of those opposing them). Its influence and power over individuals stretches to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, influencing every decision the country makes. Its main goal is to impose a New World Order
New World Order
New World Order, New world order or The New World Order may refer to:*New world order , any period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power...
for maintain control over the country's economy. The Company has thus far also been described as a group of multinational corporate interests, and as a cabal of corporations influencing everything that goes on in the United States.
The Company has influence over many agencies of the United States government, especially the Secret Service. With Caroline Reynolds (Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
), the former Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
in their grasp, The Company held control over the government's sway on the energy bill and subsequently, the country's economy. However, The Company considers every individual who works for them a pawn to achieve their goals.
The Company and its operatives have on several occasions displayed their complete lack of regard to innocent people's lives. Its desperate need to attain control of the country's economy eventuated in illegal dealings through Caroline Reynolds' brother's company, Ecofield. When one of their employees leaked information about Ecofield into the public, The Company went to incredible lengths to capture him. This man was Aldo Burrows (Anthony Denison
Anthony Denison
Anthony John Sarrero , also known by his stage name Anthony Denison, is an American actor. The eldest of three, he was born and raised in New York City's Harlem. Before acting he worked for John Hancock Insurance as a life insurance agent in Poughkeepsie, New York...
). In order to bring him out into the open, The Company masterminded a conspiracy and used Caroline Reynolds' power as the Vice President to frame and convict his son, the innocent Lincoln Burrows
Lincoln Burrows
Lincoln Burrows, played by Dominic Purcell, is one of the main protagonists of the American television series, Prison Break. The plot of Prison Break revolves around Lincoln Burrows' setup for the murder of the vice president's brother and his brother's plan to help him escape his death sentence....
(Dominic Purcell), of Terrence Steadman's murder.
Organization
The Company consists of a great number of corporations and organizations, putting all their resources together to form one large - but clandestine - superstructure. Its leader is General Jonathan Krantz, who has ties with the military industrial complex. Each leader of every separate organization within The Company answers directly to him. Among the most influential corporate leaders are the ones known as the Scylla Cardholders.Through its economical assets, The Company has influence of countless individuals within - among other things - the Government, Congress, and various Federal Agencies. Politicians are especially important, as they are influenced by The Company to make decisions and pass laws that suits The Company's needs in return for being paid considerable amounts of money. Vice President Caroline Reynolds was among the more powerful associates aiding The Company in this way. The Company has people in place to monitor her or other collaborators, one example being Samantha Brinker who was assigned to handle relations with Reynolds.
Scylla Cardholders
To protect its secrets, The Company stored all the information of their operations into a computer hard drive called Scylla. The information can only be accessed by using six separate cards that are in the hands of the cardholders. These are:- General Jonathan Krantz, portrayed by Leon RussomLeon RussomLeon Russom is an American Emmy-nominated actor.Russom has appeared in numerous television shows, particularly soap operas. He portrayed Admiral Toddman and the Starfleet Commander-in-Chief in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country...
- Stuart Tuxhorn, portrayed by Steve TomSteve TomSteve Tom is an American actor. He has guest-starred in a number of television series including Drake & Josh, ER, NYPD Blue, Sleeper Cell, Two and a Half Men, Prison Break, The West Wing and among other television series.He also appeared in the feature films First Daughter, Disney's The Kid,...
- Lisa Tabak, portrayed by Stacy HaidukStacy HaidukStacy Haiduk is an American actress. She is known for playing Lana Lang on Superboy from 1988 to 1992, Katherine Hitchcock on season 1 of seaQuest DSV from 1993 to 1994, Hannah Nichols on All My Children from 2007 to 2008, and the dual roles of Patty Williams and Dr...
- Griffin Oren, portrayed by Shaun Duke
- Nathaniel Edison, portrayed by John Sanderford
- Howard Scuderi, portrayed by Jude CiccolellaJude CiccolellaRichard Jude Ciccolella , better known as Jude Ciccolella, is an American character actor.-Biography:Ciccolella graduated from Brown University, class of 1969 where he acted in student productions. He studied at Temple University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre...
The Lincoln Burrows Operation
Season 1 revolves mainly around the Lincoln Burrows conspiracy. The root of the conspiracy is only gradually revealed to the viewer, and the existence of The Company is at first not mentioned or alluded to at all. In the initial episodes, only Vice President Caroline Reynolds (whose identity is not revealed until episode 8) and her henchmen Paul KellermanPaul Kellerman
Paul Kellerman, played by Paul Adelstein, is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. The character was introduced to the series as a Secret Service special agent in the series pilot but the actor was not listed as a regular cast member until the third episode...
and Daniel Hale represents the conspiracy. Overall, The Company is mostly kept in the background in the season 1 storyline, as a collaborative element to Reynolds and Kellerman. While they had chosen Burrows as the fall guy, they applied a surprisingly hands-off approach in regards to the conspiracy surrounding Steadman's death, preferring to stay out of it as much as possible and allowing Reynolds and her agents to handle things. Reynolds doesn't even notify them at first of the threat posed by Veronica Donovan. Only when her own men fail to do the job does she bring them up to speed. The Company is finally mentioned in the tenth episode of the first season, titled Sleight of Hand when The Company decides to take over the operation to maintain the conspiracy. This starts in Sleight of Hand, when the ruthless Company operative Quinn replaces Reynolds' own henchmen Kellerman and Hale in the pursuit of Veronica Donovan in order to silence her. Quinn fails in this task (with Kellerman, who disliked his taking over, leaving him for dead in the well Veronica and LJ left him in), and the nature of The Company is not explained at this point, although Kellerman makes comments to Reynolds that suggests that they are highly ruthless and determined.
In the episode "By the Skin and the Teeth", we learn that Samantha Brinker, The Company's intermediary to Reynolds, has taken a firm interest in the Burrows case, and that The Company has significant authority to tell the Vice President what to do, implying that The Company is more powerful than had been previously alluded to. In the episode "J-Cat", we learn that they had a hidden agenda regarding the framing of Lincoln Burrows: to draw Burrows' father, an ex Company employee, out of hiding in order to eliminate him. Kellerman is dismayed by this news. Thus, the organisation had become a bigger plot point, and in "The Key", The Company's true nature is revealed when Lincoln's father Aldo explains that they are a group of multi-national corporations that effectively controls politics in America.
Samantha Brinker continues to be the primary representative of Company authority in the first season, although executives with a higher standing are briefly seen in episodes "Tonight" and "Go", were they become increasingly worried about Caroline Reynolds chances at winning the presidential elections after her support starts to plummet in the polls. After Reynolds loses President Richard Mills' confidence and the support for a key energy bill in the episode "Tonight", The Company decides to cut her off and advises her to drop out of the race, or they will have to make her. They are greatly surprised when Reynolds has the President killed shortly thereafter (disguising it as a heart-attack) and was then sworn in as the next President of the United States. This happens in the season finale "Flight", and the future of the Reynolds-Company co-operation is left hanging at the end of the season.
The Fox River Eight Operation
In the second season, the conspiracy is at first only represented by Kellerman, but the fifth episode "Map 1213" introduces William Kim, a member of The Company. In part because of the absence of Patricia Wettig (the actress playing President Reynolds), Kim plays a major role throughout the season. Reynolds is clearly shown as still collaborating with The Company, and in the aftermatch of the Fox River Eight escape, The Company's nefarious operatives take charge completely and isolate her from the conspiracy operation and tell her to attend to other matters, as even her own men now report to The Company directly (thus explaining Wettig's absence for most of the season). This scheme was effectively in practice by the time of the episode "Map 1213", where Kellerman is told that he can no longer speak to Reynolds. Kellerman is frustrated by this, beginning his character arc that eventually leads him to abandon his cause. Kim and Kellerman form an antagonistic relationship that continues throughout the first half of the season, and The Company itself is a bigger plot point in the second season, with Kellerman and Kim sharing roughly equal screen time. Season 2 also introduces the most powerful man in the organization that the viewers have seen until this point. This is Kim's superior, the mysterious old man referred to as "Pad Man", first seen in the episode "The Killing Box". He is not a prominent character in the second season, however.The Company takes a direct role in the hunt for the Fox River Eight, and appoints Kim to lead those efforts. It is finally revealed in the episode "Dead Fall" that the leader of the FBI manhunt, Special Agent Alexander Mahone
Alexander Mahone
Alexander "Alex" Mahone is a fictional character portrayed by William Fichtner in the American television series Prison Break. The series revolves around two brothers: one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his younger sibling, a genius who devises an elaborate plan...
is under blackmail from Kim, Kellerman and The Company to ensure the death of all the fugitives, fearing that they know too much about the conspiracy, even though during their time in Fox River none of the escapees had any knowledge of it besides Michael and Lincoln. It even seems that Kim, through his connections with President Reynolds, arranged for Mahone to be the one to spearhead the pursuit. There would only be three deaths: John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare
Peter Stormare
is a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :...
), David Apolskis (Lane Garrison
Lane Garrison
Lane Edward Garrison is an American actor best known for the role of David "Tweener" Apolskis on the television series Prison Break.-Early life:Garrison was born in Dallas, Texas on May 23, 1980 and raised in Richardson, Texas...
) and Charles Patoshik (Silas Weir Mitchell
Silas Weir Mitchell
Silas Weir Mitchell was an American physician and writer.He was son of a physician, John Kearsley Mitchell , and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
). Mahone also attempts to coerce Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin
Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin, played by Rockmond Dunbar, is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. The character was introduced as a prisoner in the pilot episode. The actor was promoted from a recurring guest star to a regular cast member midway through the...
(Rockmond Dunbar
Rockmond Dunbar
Rockmond Dunbar is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Kenny Chadway on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food, and as Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin on the FOX television drama series Prison Break...
) into killing himself in the episode "Wash", but fails. His failure leads to Mahone being compromised as an Internal Affairs investigation offers C-Note exoneration from all charges for testifying against Mahone. Before he can be indicted, however, Kim arranges for Mahone to leave the country, as The Company still thinks he has value. The opposite is true for Kellerman, who continues to chafe under The Company thumb until Kim finally disavows him in "Disconnect" for repeated failures and suspicions of disloyalty. Pad Man then tells Kim to "retire" Kellerman because his loyalty to the conspiracy is all too uncertain. This plot backfires horribly when Kellerman, aware of the impending betrayal, shoots his would-be assassin and allies himself with Michael and Lincoln in hopes of bringing down The Company and the president.
After Kellerman switches sides, the conspiracy story arc becomes represented mainly by Kim and the reluctant Mahone. Kim pressures Mahone in the episodes "Chicago" and "Wash" to ensure the deaths of fugitives that he has in his custody in these episodes. However, Caroline Reynolds herself returns in the episode "Sweet Caroline", when Michael
Michael Scofield
Michael J. Scofield is the main protagonist in the American television series Prison Break. He is portrayed by Wentworth Miller. The character first appeared in the series pilot as a man who stages a bank robbery in order to get sent into the prison where his older brother, Lincoln Burrows , is...
successfully blackmails her into a Presidential pardon for him and his brother with a tape revealing her incestuous relationship with her brother. Kim tells her just before the press conference that The Company could expose her secrets just as easily as Michael. As a result, the President instead announces she has a malignant form of cancer which will cause her to resign the Presidency and drop out of the race. In addition to this, Pad Man himself begins to have a larger role in the season's later episodes and upon learning that Scofield and Burrows have fled to Panama, he orders Kim to ensure Scofield's incarceration at a Panamanian prison, Sona Federal Penitentiary
Penitenciaría Federal de Sona
Penitenciaría Federal de Sona is a fictional prison in the TV series Prison Break. The prison is set in Panama...
, where a former operative of The Company named James Whistler is. Initially it was never known who Whistler was and why the company wanted him out. [This will be explained in the next topic]. Kim also orders Mahone to travel to Panama to assist in the operation. Kim dies in the season finale and Mahone goes rogue, but Pad Man's agenda is secured and Michael arrives at Sona in the season's closing moments. At the same time, the viewers are shown that Pad Man is a General running a top secret research facility on Long Island, hinting at a new angle to the plotline.
At Sara Tancredi's trial in the episode "Sona", Paul Kellerman comes forward as a key witness. He reveals everything: the existence of The Company, the President's role in the framing of Lincoln Burrows, etc, and he has documents to prove it. It is not known how severely this affected The Company's operations.
The James Whistler Operation
With Kellerman's departure and possible assassination, The Company now completely dominates the conspiracy storyline of the show, and a new angle is presented: Michael Scofield's ability to break out of maximum-level penitentiaries seems to have garnered the interest of the organization. It is revealed that their intention behind his incarceration at Sona was to break out another inmate, which comprises the third season's main plot. They are extremely interested in a man named James Whistler and thus they appoint one of their operatives, Gretchen Morgan, to kidnap Sara TancrediSara Tancredi
Dr. Sara Tancredi is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. She is played by Sarah Wayne Callies. Her role in the first season of the series is a prison doctor.- Background :...
and Burrows' son L.J. in exchange for Scofield helping Whistler to break out of Sona, due to the fact that before Whistler got incarcerated he somehow acquired access to a Scylla Card which he supposedly was going to sell but in the end it appeared he sold a copy to keep the original and bring down the company. To ensure this, Gretchen Morgan went to great lengths to seemingly get Sara killed, claiming to have personally decapitated her, thus showed the brothers that she, and the Company meant business. Just as Brinker represented The Company in season 1, and Kim represented it in season 2, Gretchen is the main Company authority in the third season. She is also the first Company character whose portrayer appears in the opening credits, another sign of how much The Company has begun to dominate the show's storyline. Gretchen functions as a liaison to the brothers throughout the season, using Lincoln Burrows as her contact. The relationship is very unstable, with both sides plotting against each other.
With Gretchen as the main Company element in the outside plotline (the General making only one brief appearance), much of Whistler's scenes in Sona are dedicated towards evaluating his possible connections to The Company. Although Whistler claims to be just an innocent fisherman, Michael is suspicious. In the episodes "Vamanos" and "Bang & Burn", Whistler is shown as being in league with Gretchen and that he is very important in the Company's eyes. Michael later arranges for the escape of himself, Mahone and Whistler from Sona, and exchanges him for the life of his nephew. In the final episode of the season, "The Art of the Deal", Whistler makes a deal with Mahone to seemingly work for The Company and they drive off in a car along with Gretchen.
Whistler and Mahone are later discovered to be working against the Company.
The Scylla Operation
Season 4 focuses on the highest echelons of The Company, and some of the entities that make up the organization are presented in greater detail than in previous seasons. The General, whose name is now given as Jonathan Krantz, is revealed to be the leader of The Company. Gretchen Morgan is suspected in the season 4 premiere of having assisted Whistler's betrayal, and she is tortured until she escapes and turns against her former employers. Thus, General Krantz himself becomes the primary Company authority figure in the season, taking a far more active role and has a much bigger screen presence than in past seasons. He authorizes the Company assassin named Wyatt to kill Scofield, Burrows, Mahone and anyone else that might have dealt with Whistler. In "Scylla", Michael Scofield is told by Homeland Security agent Donald Self that Scylla is the name of The Company's little black book, and that it is the key to bringing them down. Scofield and Burrows are told that they will be exonerated of all charges if they help the government obtain Scylla. To do this they work with Mahone, as well as former associates Fernando SucreFernando Sucre
Fernando Sucre, played by Amaury Nolasco, is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. He is introduced to the series in the pilot episode as the prison cellmate of the series protagonist, Michael Scofield .-Background:Of Puerto Rican descent, Sucre grew up in Chicago...
and Brad Bellick
Brad Bellick
Bradley "Brad" Bellick is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. He is portrayed by Wade Williams. As one of the principal characters of Prison Break, he has been featured in all four seasons of the series...
. Scylla's secrets are shown as being stored on six data cards, each in the hands of one of the six most powerful members of The Company, called the Scylla Cardholders (including the general himself). Stealing the information on these cards, as well as finding the secret Company location where the information can be decrypted, forms the plot of the season's first 13 episodes.
The Company has a plan of their own that unfolds as the season progresses. Eventually, the viewers are informed that they are intentionally ruining the economy of Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
by flooding their market with counterfeit money, allowing the organization to go in and offer to rebuild the country, thus profiting from the destruction and "rebuilding the country in their image". Ten thousand people are implied as having died as a result of the Company activities in Laos. In the episode "The Price", it is revealed that Laos was a guinea pig and that this operation was merely a first stage in a bigger scheme. The Company now intends to use the same method on the United States itself. In the same episode, General Krantz is made aware that Michael and Lincoln are after Scylla and orders it moved. The general is later tricked into thinking that Wyatt has killed the brothers, but nevertheless decides to go ahead with moving Scylla.
Scylla's true nature initially remains uncertain, though it is supposedly a "black book
Black book
- History :* The Black Book, the list of people to be arrested by the Gestapo following a planned Nazi invasion of Britain in the Second World War* Black Book , a compilation of documentary reports about the actions of Nazis against Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust- Literature :* The...
" which contains all data of every operation executed by The Company, as well as the names of the agents and all information on The Company in general. Gretchen hints that there is much more to it than that, and Scylla is later revealed to also contain The Company's future operations. These include energy development plans for nuclear, solar and wind energy, and well as a new type codenamed "BARGAIN", which can supposedly harness the full potential of solar power, with the letters standing for the elements of the periodic table:
- B: BoronBoronBoron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
- AR: ArgonArgonArgon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
- GA: GalliumGalliumGallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies...
- IN: IndiumIndiumIndium is a chemical element with the symbol In and atomic number 49. This rare, very soft, malleable and easily fusible post-transition metal is chemically similar to gallium and thallium, and shows the intermediate properties between these two...
During a meeting Christina Scofield has with Naveen Banarjee, she mentions that Scylla also contains:
- A Solar Cell prototype
- A desalination technique that can yield potable water in seconds
- A way for bio-engineered crops to subsist in the harshest of climates
- Revolutionary vaccines
This technology grants The Company vast power. However, Michael and his team are successful in stealing Scylla from The Company in the episode "Selfless". Although he is killed in the season 4 premiere Whistler makes this possible, as clues in his bird book inform the team of how to gain access to The Company's secret headquarters. They hand it over to agent Self thinking that they are now free, but Self ends up betraying the team and sets out with Gretchen to find a new buyer for Scylla. Season 4's later episodes will focus on The Company's need to get Scylla back; after they help Michael by performing brain surgery to get rid of his tumor, Lincoln is told by the General that he can save Michael's life in exchange for the return of Scylla. After capturing Gretchen, Self and T-Bag, Lincoln is forced to work with them to reacquire Scylla for The Company. In the final episode, it's revealed that Paul Kellerman survived and joined the anti-company movement to destroy it. Michael hands Scylla over to Kellerman who gives it to a United Nations employee. Scylla boots up on his computer. General Krantz gets arrested as well as all the other employees and officials. The Company is finally shut down.
External links
- Prison Break's official site at Fox.com