| Steaks | |
| Season 1, Episode 08 | |
 | |
| Airdate: | April 24, 2011 |
| Writer(s): | Matt Olmstead, Nick Santera, Daniel Dratch |
| Director: | Phil Abraham |
| Previous: | Fun with Chemistry |
| Next: | One for the Money |
Steaks is the eighth episode of the first season of Breakout Kings, which aired April 24th, 2011. In this episode two cons use the coffin of a recently poisoned and rather large fellow inmate as a Trojan Horse to make their escape. While one escapee is only after his loot so he can live the life of Riley, the other is bent on revenge and when he brutally murders a prison guard, this causes friction between them and increases the urgency of the chase. As an incentive for the Kings, Ray promises a steak dinner to the member of the team who most proves their worth on the case.
Plot[]
At Cayuga Correctional Facility, Carl McCann, prisoner and kitchen server, is working the chow line, giving a scoopful of eggs to each prisoner. Slyly, McCann dumps a hidden baggie of poison onto the corner of the serving tray. McCann looks down at the chow line at the prisoners approaching when he spots Lumbar, a particularly large inmate. Lumbar slides his tray down the line and McCann scoops up two large piles of poisoned eggs onto his tray. At the table, Lumbar takes a seat and starts powering through his breakfast. Finally, the poison hits him. He clutches his chest and falls backward in his chair. Later, at the infirmary, a prison doctor stands over the Lumbar's lifeless body. An attending nurse pulls the sheet over the his head and the doctor turns to Oliver Day, a young prisoner who's mopping the floor, and tells him to call the prison burial service to request special accommodations for a large corpse. A pick-up truck with a plain, unfinished wooden casket and inmates in the back pulls up to Potter's Field, the prison cemetery. Ferris, one of the prison guards, gets out of the van, shotgun in hand, and instructs the prisoners to move the casket. Back in the infirmary, the prison doctor is inspecting another inmate's knee. The nurse walks over to the supply closet and attempts to open the sliding door, but it's stuck. The doctor walks over and is straining to unjam the closet door while the nurse looks on. He exhales, steadies himself, and pulls with all of his strength. Finally, the door gives way and out falls the lifeless body of the large inmate on top of the doctor. At Potter's Field, the four prisoners steady themselves before they try to pick up the heavy coffin. Before they could count to three and pick it up, the coffin door is pushed open from the inside and McCann and Day pop out. McCann jumps towards a flabbergasted Ferris. McCann grabs the gun barrel and punches Ferris in the face in one deft motion, knocking him to the ground. Ferris tries to get up, and McCann viciously kicks him a few times until Ferris curls up in a ball and holds his hands up in surrender. McCann turns to and trains the shotgun on the preacher, who was off to the side preparing to give the sermon, and the rest of the convicts. McCann points the gun at the preacher and tells him to give them the keys. The preacher quickly fishes for his keys in his pocket and throws them to Day, who hoists Ferris to his feet and shoves him in the car. McCann smiles at his now-former fellow convicts, jumps in the car, and peels away.
At the office, Charlie and Ray give the low-down on McCann and Day to the rest of the team. McCann was in for felony robbery. He used to pose as a traveling salesman, gain admission into a residence, and then rob the people at gunpoint. Day was more of a lightweight criminal. When he was 18, he stole a car on a dare, and the elderly man who Day yanked from the passenger's seat had a heart attack and died. He was sentenced to 25 years for felony murder. He has an older sister who lives in the city and works at a design firm. Shea, who's been looking down at a coupon for most of the time Charlie and Ray have been speaking, holds it up and informs the rest of the team a new steak restaurant has opened down the block and the coupon is for one free dinner. The cons all look at each other, determined to be the one who gets the free meal. Charlie tells them that it's not going to happen, takes the coupon from Shea and almost tears it up before Ray snags it out of his hand and tells him to use to for motivation. Whoever does the best job gets the free steak. Hearing this, Shea is up and out of his seat. He grabs Ray's jacket and heads to the elevator.
Ray and Shea arrive at Janice Day's office and approach her desk. Janice, a meticulously dressed woman, tells them to make an appointment with her assistant if they want to talk, she might have some free time next week. Ray and Shea share a look. She continues and says when she spoke to the detectives and prosecutors about how what her brother did when he was 18, to say that stealing a car didn't warrant 25 years, no one listened. And when she went to the warden about how he was having a hard time in prison, he didn't do a damned thing. Before she can pick up her phone to call security, Ray takes it from her hand and tells her she had better start talking or he could put her in cuffs for obstructing justice, in front of everybody she works with. Shea asks her if she knew Day had been sexually assaulted. Janice looks away and reluctantly replies that she knew something had happened to him. He wasn't the same person anymore.
Back at the office, the head guard from Cayuga prison is dropping off two big boxes, filled with Day's and McCann's possessions. Lloyd and Erica quickly begin sorting through the items and Charlie asks the head guard if he knew anything about Day being sexually assaulted. The guard shrugs and tells him when he first saw Day he knew his odds weren't good. Julianne, who's on her computer across the office, tells the team that Ferris' bankcard had a hit at a convenience store in Binghamton.
At an empty warehouse, Day stands over Ferris' dead and bloody body. McCann enters the warehouse and instantly sees Ferris. He grabs a semi--ranced Day and asked him what the hell happened. Day just tells McCann that he deserved it. McCann reaches for Day's face and Day instinctively flinches. McCann takes Day's face in both hands and tells him that they have to stay on track if they want to get to the $100,000 that's waiting for them. The team arrives at the warehouse and takes in the scene before them. Charlie inspects the guard, while the rest of them look on. Lloyd points out that Day was probably the one who did this since he, at this point, is capable of anything after going what he went through in prison. Charlie points out a "D" written in blood on Ferris' forearm. Shea tells the team that's how you mark your bitch in prison. Day sits on the bed in a small motel room while McCann adjusts a shirt and tie he got from a church donation box in the mirror. McCann tells Day that home invasion is a one-stop shop. They can get food, money, and wheels, and Day can get on a computer to track down Terry Miller, the person with the $100,000 they're after. McCann nods to an old vacuum by the wall and tells Day that's what they'll be selling. He then asks what he plans on doing with his half of the $100,000. Day tells him he plans on buying a fishing boat in Alaska. McCann tells Day that he's going to head to Tallahassee and catch a ball game, like he and his dad used to do. He then reaches for an old, worn postcard he has leaning against the mirror reading "Welcome to Tallahassee".
At the office, Julianne, Shea, and Lloyd are going through the escapees' personal items. Julianne holds up a copy of "Columbus", a novel about an international assassin that both Day and McCann checked out of the library. Julianne hands the book to Lloyd, suggesting that maybe he was using the book to find pointers on how to defend himself. Lloyd says there are easier ways to cover yourself in prison, like smearing tuna packets all over your body and not showering for three months, then talking to yourself at chow. Those two things combined, nobody messed with him. Lloyd begins flipping through the book and realizes they weren't passing messages through it; they were using code within the book. Charlie walks over and tells him to decipher it. Julianne, now at her desk, alerts the team that the preacher's car was found behind a motel in Poughkeepsie.
Erica and Ray are at the motel room, inspecting their surroundings. Erica picks up the trash can and removes the secondhand tie and two pull--ut cologne ads from magazines. Something clicks for Ray and he hustles out of the room, Erica on his heels. Ray heads over to a local cop at the scene and starts flipping through the cops' notes. He sees that the maid's closet was broken into and a vacuum was stolen. Ray turns to the cop and asks where the closest subdivision is. McCann stands outside of a house, the vacuum cleaner beside him. He knocks on the door and straightens himself. From inside, a voice asks who it is. McCann begins to sell, but the voice inside says he's not interested. McCann goes on until the man inside opens the door halfway. McCann kicks the door in and Day quickly emerges from a blind spot, shotgun in hand. The door closes while the man is heard screaming for help.
At the office, Lloyd stands in front of a blackboard. On one side are letters written in random order. On the other there's a code key. He writes "H = Z" on the key and throws the chalk down in frustration. The code is harder to break than he thought. Julianne tells him it was probably Day who was the mastermind behind the code. He was in all AP classes in high school and had academic scholarships to half a dozen schools. She continues and says that McCann's case is just as sad. He was a well-adjusted 13-year-old, whose parents got killed by a drunk driver and he got thrown into foster care. After a few years in prison, these guys seem completely different, Julianne adds. Lloyd walks over to the restaurant coupon and says that's why he wants to win the steak. Everything he experiences in the outside world is like a tiny taste of freedom.
Charlie, Shea, and Erica are at the subdivision. They approach a house with flower pots broken and a large footprint on the door. Charlie pulls out his gun and kicks in the door. He walks up the stairs towards the kitchen and looks down to see the old man who lived there, dead. In the living room, Ray is on the phone with Julianne, who put out an alarm on the car that was stolen. Shea emerges from the bedroom holding an empty handgun case. Ray and Charlie stare at him and Shea rolls his eyes, opens up his jacket, and pats himself down. Erica, who's over at the computer, notices that one of them did a search on the computer, but cleared the history. Charlie tells her to call Julianne to have her get in touch with Electronic Surveillance Unit who can find out what they searched for. Charlie looks down and picks up a framed photo, livid, realizing the old man who died was a Marine.
Meanwhile, McCann is driving the stolen car, which is almost out of gas, while Day is in the back, slumped over. McCann looks in the rear-view mirror to see Day sniffling in the back, tracing over a branded "S" on his arm. McCann yanks the car to the side of the road and screeches to a stop. He leans over the back seat, enraged. He tells Day to calm down. He wants to go back to the normal life he once knew and isn't planning on getting caught. He turns back around and tries to turn the car on, but the engine is shot. McCann, annoyed, turns to Day and tells him to get out of the car. McCann gets out, slams the door, and starts to walk. Back at the office, Lloyd slams a book down on the desk, hard, still trying to figure out the code. Julianne, at her desk, is on the phone with the Electronic Surveillance Unit, who's slowly attempting to find out what history was cleared on the computer. Suddenly, Lloyd stands up and screams "GOAL!" He cracked the code. He quickly rushes over to Julianne's desk and tells her that the code is referencing a house. He goes back to his desk to finish the deciphering the rest of the code while Julianne calls Charlie, telling him that she just got a hit on the car, which was found outside of a small town called Webster Grove.
Erica, Charlie, Ray, and Shea arrive at Webster Grove and split up, all of them going into different stores. Charlie enters a small pharmacy where a nervous-looking pharmacist is standing behind the counter. Charlie shows him the mug shots, asking if he's seen them. The pharmacist quickly dismisses the mug shots and tells Charlie he hasn't and that they're closing soon. Charlie, suspicious, looks around and his eyes land on the store mirror in the upper corner behind the counter and sees Day and McCann hiding in the back, weapons ready. Charlie grabs a pad of paper and a pen from the counter and scribbles "STAY CALM". He pushes the pad to the pharmacist and walks to the front door. Charlie opens the pharmacy door so the bells hanging in the door frame jingle. The door is open only for a second but Charlie sees Ray outside and locks eyes with him long enough for Ray to get the message: the runners are in the store. Charlie closes the pharmacy door, the chimes jingle again, as if he left, but he stays inside and quickly ducks behind a shelf. Ray, still outside, spins to Erica and Shea, telling them to cover the service entrance. Shea is reluctant, but Erica hops right to it, grabbing the car keys from Ray and moving the car to the back of the store. Ray runs off toward the door, ducks down outside, unseen, peeking inside through the glass windows. Inside, McCann and Day move from their hiding spot, their guns still pointed at the pharmacist. Charlie, very slowly, starts moving down the aisle, gun out. Before Charlie is close enough to get a good shot, he passes a motion-activated dancing Santa figurine. It goes off and McCann spins and unloads his shotgun at Charlie, who dives to the ground. Ray runs in, gun firing as the pharmacist ducks for cover. In the middle of the firefight, Charlie stumbles back a bit, grabs his chest, short of breath. It's his heart. He slumps down and Ray sees him through the shelves from the other side of the store. While on the ground, Day stands up from behind the counter and takes a clear shot at Charlie, hitting him in the thigh. Charlie screams in pain and the two escapees rush towards the back of the store. They try to open the back door, but it's being blocked by Erica in the SUV. McCann yanks the pharmacist into Erica's view, pressing the gun against his head and telling Erica to move. She sees that he's serious and backs up the car. With his gun still pointed at her, he tells her to give him the keys. She throws him the keys and McCann pushes the pharmacist towards his car. They pull him into his car and drive off just as Charlie and Ray burst out of the back.
At the office, Lloyd is on a roll cracking the code. He's figured out that they're going to a house to get money. Julianne, who's finally off the phone with the Marshals' geek squad, has found out that somebody did a search for a "Terry Miller" on the computer. Charlie is getting is leg attended to by medics outside of the pharmacy. Ray, sitting next to him, tells him that he needs to take care of himself. If the bullet was any further up he could have been seriously injured or dead. A stubborn Charlie dismisses Ray's worry and says he's fine. Ray's phone rings and Julianne tells him about Terry Miller. She did a search for the name and found a house only 15 minutes from where they are now.
The team pulls up to Terry Miller's house and Ray and Charlie knock on the front door. Inside, a stalling Terry asks them what they want. They knock on the door again and hair a slam from the back of the house. Erica and Shea take off towards the back of the house and Charlie and Ray kick down the door to the front. Inside stands Terry Miller, wide-eyed, his hand literally caught in a cookie jar. Ray and Charlie have their guns pointed at him while Terry's dog viciously barks at them. Outside, Erica is chasing the man who left through the back of the house. The man looks back and suddenly Shea is leaping off of a dumpster, tackling him to the ground and punches him in the face. Back inside, Charlie and Ray are still yelling at Terry to take his hand out of the jar. In the midst of this commotion, Ray's phone rings and it's Julianne admitting that she made a mistake. They're at the wrong house. Lloyd just finished the code and the cons are headed to Kellen Stackhouse's place, Day's former cellmate and a known sexual predator. Terry Miller is his prison pen pal-turned-fiance. Charlie and Ray awkwardly look at Terry, whose hand is still in the jar and quickly apologize. Terry finally takes his hand out of the jar to reveal a big bag of weed. Just then, the back door flies open and Shea walks in, proud, throwing the guy he tackled to the floor. Charlie and Ray just look at each other. They apologize to Terry, tell him to enjoy his marijuana, and turn to go.
Kellen Stackhouse enters a middle class home, nicer than he deserves, whistling pleasantly. He looks downs to see broken glass and sees that the back window is broken. Before he can react a gun butt cracks him across the face from, seemingly, out of nowhere. He looks up to see Day standing over him. Stackhouse is tied to a chair, having been knocked around. Day is at the stove, heating something up over an open gas flame, transfixed. He holds up a "D" he made from coat hangers and walks towards Stackhouse, who looks petrified. He tells him that it's his turn to feel that pain that he caused. McCann walks into the kitchen from the bedroom, desperate and sweaty, and tells Day he hasn't found any money. Stackhouse tells them he has a $1,000 stashed in his room, but no other money. McCann points his gun at Day, realizing he has been lied to. This wasn't about the money; it was about Day getting his revenge. McCann looks at Day a beat, but doesn't pull the trigger and storms back into the bedroom. Day turns back to Stackhouse, his eyes filled with pain and revenge, and brings the brand down on Stackhouse's arm. Stackhouse screams in pain. The team pulls up to the house outside and hears Stackhouse's agonizing screams. McCann, with the $1,000 in hand, storms out the front door, but is tackled by Charlie, who cuffs him. Erica and Shea begin to pick up the cash that flew out of his hands and McCann's eyes land on the Tallahassee postcard now lying in front of him on the ground. Charlie and Ray turn to find Day now on the porch, gun pointed at Stackhouse's head. Charlie tells him to put the gun down. Day insists that Stackhouse deserves to die, but Charlie says that's not his call to make. Day says, "My first night in prison he told me if I fought back, he'd make it worse. He traded me for smokes, for food, every day for five and a half years. If it's not my call, then whose is it? Now he gets to live happily ever after, after he's turned me into an animal?" Just then, a car pulls into the driveway and Terry Miller steps out. Shea and Erica keep her from getting any closer. Day looks at Terry, tears in his eyes, and tells her about Stackhouse and how he preyed on him. Day sobs. Ray is now right behind him and grabs Day's hand and pulls it down and away from Stackhouse, but Day doesn't even resist. Ray cuffs him silently behind his back as Stackhouse runs down the steps to Terry, who's both surprised and disgusted and takes a step back. The team returns to the office, where Erica is awarded the free steak dinner coupon for giving Ray immediate backup at the pharmacy with out any hesitation. Erica graciously accepts the award, turns to the team, and rips it up. She's a vegetarian who just likes to win. Shea and Lloyd just stare in shocked disbelief. Ray walks into Charlie's office. Charlie gets up from his chair, puts something on his bulletin board, and turns to Ray. "Day just wanted to be eighteen again, before any of this happened. The cons want to be able to sit in a restaurant and have a meal, like they used to. You don't say it, but you want your family back. I just want my heart to work the way it did when I was a kid. And McCann wanted to go back to when his parents were alive and life was good." A beat, then Ray responds, "But the truth is, once you're in the system, once you're in this life... ain't no going back." Charlie gets up and walks out the door while Ray watches him leave. He turns back around to see the Tallahassee postcard hanging on Charlie's bulletin board.
Cast[]
Main Cast
Laz Alonso as Charlie Duchamp
Domenick Lombardozzi as Ray Zancanelli
Brooke Nevin as Julianne Simms
Jimmi Simpson as Lloyd Lowery
Malcolm Goodwin as Shea Daniels
Serinda Swan as Erica Reed Guest Cast Matthew John Armstrong as Carl McCann Jonathan Keltz as Oliver Day Jesse Bond as Ferris Tricia Braun as Janice Day Andrew Jackson as Kellen Stackhouse Conrad Bergschneider as Pfeiffer
Production Notes[]
The scenes at the Potter’s Field Cemetery were filmed at a local cemetery on an extremely cold December morning. These scenes were completed way ahead of schedule due to the crew working so quickly in order to stay warm. The coffin Day and McCann escape from was modeled after the simple caskets used at the Hart Island Potter’s Field in New York. The lid was made of balsa wood so that it would splinter with ease for the actors when the time came for them to break out. Several wooden slipcovers were made by the Art Department to cover pre-existing tombstones at the cemetery, giving them the appearance that they were tombstones at a potter’s field. The “mound of dirt” resting beside Lumbar’s grave was actually chicken wire that had been molded into a mound-like shape and covered in a tarp. Small pockets of dirt were then added around the base for authenticity. The “poison” added to Lumbar’s eggs was actually quick-dissolve sugar. The vacuum that Day and McCann stole from the motel was a real motel vacuum that was rented for the day. The “dancing Santa” figurines featured at the pharmacy took Props Master Jim Murray over three full days to track down. It was originally scripted that a “dancing fish” figure be used, but this was not possible due to copyright issues, and the only other dancing figures available at the time were holiday themed. Given that this episode was shot in December. Murray was finally able to find these Santas at a tiny shop in Toronto’s Chinatown neighborhood.. The pharmacy in this episode was shot at a small, family-run pharmacy in Toronto’s east end. However, the Art and Set Decoration Departments had to fully stock over half the pharmacy with pharmaceutical products crafted specifically for these to avoid copyright infringement, as well as the fact that all products in Canada have French as well as English on the labels. To achieve this, over 200 man-hours were spent labeling and filling bottles with an array of small objects (including dried beans, gravel, and mints), to resemble prescription and vitamin bottles. For three days prior to the pharmacy shoot, the entire Breakout Kings Art Department office was converted into a mass assembly line with all hands on deck. The branding iron used by Day to brand Stackhouse was crafted using only items (including a real coat hanger), which could be found by Day within his motel room. This was a deliberate choice made in order to foster authenticity. Because the coat hanger had only a 3 second glow time, another iron had to be made from welding rods for the actual branding scene that could carry a glow time long enough for the scene to be captured.
Music Featured[]
Song: "Just Like That" Artist: Trump Album: As Heard On TV