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Pilot is the first episode of Breakout Kings. It shows 2 Marshals who are trying to capture a fugitive who escaped out of prison. With the help of 3 convicts, they are trying to capture the fugitive. This time, it's August Tillman who escaped out prison.

Synopsis[]

When convicted murderer August Tillman escapes from prison, Veteran U.S. Marshals Charlie DuChamp and Ray Zancanelli decide to take an unorthodox approach to fugitive apprehension by forming a special task force comprised of the three most elusive fugitives they have ever captured. Convicts Lloyd Lowery, Philomena Rotchliffer and Sean Daniels agree to assist in the case in exchange for time off their sentences.

Story[]

Convicted murderer August Tillman is sweating while he grips the bars of his bed frame above, counting each second he holds on. After 225 seconds he drops to his mattress.

Later that day, Tillman’s at his prison job cutting license plates. Inconspicuously, he slices an edge off one of the plates he's cutting and shows the guard on duty the "defective" plate. Instead of properly dumping it in the recycling bin, Tillman slips the plate into a slit in the drywall behind the guard. It’s his stash spot. A month later, Tillman is outside the Prison Industries building emptying scrap metal into a dumpster. While he's outside, he notices a food service truck and three on-duty guards talking to the food service employees. Seeing that the guards are distracted, Tillman grabs a stack of metal from the garbage can and sprints for the truck. Safely hidden, he unfurls the stack of metal: 30 license plates hinged together, the bottom resembling the undercarriage of a vehicle. The services employees get back in the truck and head for the prison exit where a guard uses an extended mirror to inspect the truck's undercarriage. Tillman is parallel underneath, holding his breath. Tillman goes unnoticed and the truck leaves.

A few miles down the road, the employees hear a loud noise outside of the car while it's stopped. Before the driver can get out of the vehicle to inspect, a grease-covered Tillman smashes the driver's side window while the female passenger screams.

At the US Marshals Director's office, US Marshals Ray Zancanelli and Charlie DuChamp are shown the crime scene photos of the dead food service driver and wounded female passenger. Director Knox informs Ray that he's going to be working with and reporting to the recently transferred Charlie on the case. Knox then tells Ray that he has agreed to try out his "unorthodox proposal" and hands him a folder. Ray flips through the photos in the folder and slides four to Knox. He tells Knox to get him those four and Jules and he'll catch Tillman. Knox agrees. Ray leaves the room where Knox asks Charlie to sign a medical waiver before he officially joins the case.

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Sean Daniels introduced as "entrepeneur"

At Sing Sing Correctional Facility Shea Daniels, a convicted ex-gang banger is sitting across from a younger convict "conducting business." A guard walks in and alerts Shea he's being transferred.

At Rahway State Prison, Lloyd Lowery, a con and former child prodigy and behaviorist/psychiatric expert, is acting as a cabana boy for a table of older, tougher cons playing cards. A guard walks in and interrupts the card game to alert Lloyd he's being transferred.

At Coxsackie Correctional Facility, Fritz Gunderson is fighting with another inmate while the guards take bets. Gunderson knocks the other inmate out and receives a beer for his win. Right before he cracks it open, one of the guards calls his name.

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Lloyd is introduced

At Muncy Correctional Institution, Philomena "Philly" Rotchliffer is putting her few belongings into a pillowcase. The last item is a picture of her four-year-old daughter.

The next day, Ray and Charlie meet with the four cons, all cuffed and still in their prison blues. The two Marshals explain the plan to the cons: they're forming a special task force of "expert" cons, the toughest fugitives Ray ever caught, to apprehend Tillman. If Tillman is caught, their sentences will be reduced by six months and they'll be transferred to the minimum-security facility, Maybelle. If they try to run, they'll be sent back and their sentences will be doubled. All four cons take the deal.

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Philly introduced as con artist

The task force relocates to a warehouse in Brooklyn, where they're introduced to Julianne Simms, a civilian who will act as the "funnel" for the group—all information and tips go through her. A slightly neurotic Julianne informs the group that Tillman has killed again, this time his former high school buddy and partner in crime, Jon Phelps.

The team heads to Phelps' upscale loft space in Baltimore, where a squad of detectives is already at the crime scene. On the cabinet door, the words P. Vallarta are spelled out in blood. Fritz and Lloyd realize that the "tip" is "a misdirect" provided by Tillman himself, because anyone who had enough energy to spell out words in blood would have used the effort to dial 911 instead. They also discover that months prior to Tillman's incarceration, an unsolved bank robbery involving three men happened in the same area where Tillman got arrested for the bar fight where he killed a biker. Unbeknownst to the team, there's a cell phone taped underneath an end table. Tillman has been listening to everything and knows that they didn't fall for his shade.

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Fritz Gunderson, Philomena Rotchliffer, Sean Daniels and Lloyd Lowery agree during the exchange

Knowing that the robbery involved three high school buddies, Philly suggests they get a copy of their yearbook to help them find the third accomplice. Julianne contacts the high school to tell them she needs the class of '99 yearbook immediately. Instead of easily driving the 20 minutes to pick it up, a nervous Julianne asks the school to scan the pages and email them to her.


At a diner, the team is looking through Phelps' and Tillman's yearbook photos, attempting to find the third accomplice in the bank robbery. They finally land on a picture of the two together with James "Jimbo" Cantrell. Before rolling out, Charlie notices that a knife is missing from the table. Fritz confesses that he took it for "protection." But it's too late; he's cuffed and sent back to prison.

Meanwhile in Atlantic City, Tillman is standing over Cantrell, whose arms and legs have been tied to a chair. He questions Cantrell about his portion of the money, but Cantrell insists that he has no information. Tillman, clearly upset and not believing Cantrell, brutally nails him to the chair.

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The Breakout Kings are searching for August Tillman

Charlie and Ray arrive at Cantrell's house, but they're too late. Cantrell's dead and Tillman is nowhere to be found.

Julianne calls Ray and informs him that the bank robbery is bigger than they thought. There must have been others involved because a first time bank robber and his high school pals don't pull off a perfect, one-time heist for half a million dollars without some inside help.

A frustrated Ray then discovers a cell phone taped underneath the end table in the room. Tillman, again, has been listening, and now he knows that they know.

The team heads to Astoria, NY to question Carmen Menjavar—a bank teller who was working the day of the crime. After a brief car chase (she admits to fleeing because she's not a legal citizen), Charlie, Ray, and Lloyd question Carmen and based on her reaction to his questions, Lloyd is able to determine that she wasn't an accomplice. The team moves on to Kyle Ferro, a bank teller at the scene of the crime and suspected accomplice.

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Fritz confess he did it for his "protection"

Lloyd studies Kyle's bank ID photo, blown up on one of Julianne's monitors. An uncomfortable Julianne sits nearby. The printer spits out the last page of a document. Lloyd takes it, but stares at Julianne, beginning to analyze her behavior and actions. He diagnoses Julianne with social anxiety and panic disorder with a twist of depression. Julianne, slowly becoming more annoyed, tries her best to avoid the conversation. Still attempting to provide his professional opinion, Lloyd tells Julianne to get outside her comfort zone and interact with strangers - to sit on a park bench and ask a stranger for the time. Ray interrupts the awkward interaction and tells Lloyd to leave.

Tillman sits in living room, gun in hand, across from a petrified mother and daughter. It's Kyle Ferro's house.

Meanwhile, Philly and Lloyd go undercover at The Towne Lounge, a bar owned by Kyle and his brother, Frank. Philly seduces Frank after the bar is closed to get some information about Tillman and Kyle, but Frank eventually catches on and becomes confused, then enraged. Philly confesses she's a con working with the government and she's only trying to help Kyle. After receiving a "7" craps text from Lloyd, DuChamp and Zancanelli realize the duo is in trouble and rush in and, after a brief struggle, cuff Frank.

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Philly shares a moment with Frank

Kyle eventually gets home, and before he can react, Tillman knocks him out.

The team arrives at Kyle's house, but they're too late. Tillman is gone with Kyle and the young girl. While there, Charlie and Ray look over the hospital intake photo of Kyle after he was injured during the robbery. They notice that both he and Amy Flynn, the female service worker injured in Tillman's escape, suffered the same non-threatening head wound. After some more digging they realize Amy Flynn, real name Gwen, is working with and married to Tillman.

A silver Taurus pulls up to a gas pump in Stanstead, Vermont. Gwen's driving, Kyle's in front, and Tillman is in the back with the young girl.

Philly and Shea pull up behind the Taurus and pretend to be a couple in the midst of an argument. Philly "angrily" hits the gas and then rams into the Taurus, trying desperately to get Tillman out of the car. Shea offers to exchange insurance information and then money, and when that fails, he insults Gwen. This gets Tillman out, who spots Ray standing there with his gun drawn. Ray tells Philly to get both Kyle and the young girl out of the car. That's when Philly realizes there's a bomb strapped to the girl. The standoff seems over when Ray sees Tillman has the upper hand, follows Charlie's orders, and lowers his gun. Before Tillman can get back in the car, Charlie rips two shots and hits him in the right shoulder. Tillman falls, and reaches out for the detonator... until Ray steps on his wrist, stopping him from moving an inch more, and picks it up.

Julianne watches a stranger walking his dog approach the bench she's sitting alone on. She takes a deep breath, stands up and asks for the time. After the simple interaction, she sits back down and exhales.

Lloyd, back in his prison jumper but this time at Maybelle, is on the phone with his mother explaining how the task force has become a permanent arrangement. Still clearly upset with her son over his conviction, she hangs up.

Shea's alone in a decent-sized cell at Maybelle. He sits on the bed, contemplating the recent change in his life. He takes a piece of paper, a stubby pencil, and jots down "months earned: 6." He sticks it to the wall, next to a photo of him and his girlfriend, capturing a sweet moment.

Philly sits in the vocational room at Maybelle, clicking at a computer. After a few keystrokes, an ad for Costa Rica pops up. She looks at it longingly, and then punches a few more keys. The "Bank of Denmark" site appears. She enters her account number, and a screen pops up with her balance: $1,345,876.34. She leans back and smiles.

Ray and Charlie are in a car outside of Queens Row House. Charlie talks about his father, a former U.S. Marshal, who was put on desk duty because of his heart condition. Charlie didn't want to be subjected to that, even though he has the same condition.

Charlie then learns that Ray took a few grand from a crime scene in order to buy his daughter a car. Because of this, he was ordered to stay at a halfway house. Ray gets out of the car while Charlie watches him get patted down by the counselor standing outside. His phone rings: it's his wife. He tells her he's on his way home, and drives off.[1]

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Guest cast[]

Reception[]

The episode got good reviews,[2] fair reviews[3][4] and bad reviews.[5]

Trivia[]

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Charlie in a suit
  • This is the first episode of Breakout Kings.
  • The F-word is used by Charlie. It's censored.
    • Also, this is the first episode to use a bad word.
  • An alien-head can be seen behind Charlie. See behind the scenes
  • This is the only episode that shows our 4 convicts who are trying to capture a convict.
  • The part of the exchange in which Charlie says their sentence can be doubled if they don't co-operate appears in Fun with Chemistry in archive footage, 6 episode later.
  • The timeline is 1 month later of an unknown time.
  • Both Philly's and Shea's birthdate can be seen in this episode.
  • This episode showed the most prisons in one single episode with 5 prisons.
  • Although Philly had been a main cast member for this episode, www.aetv.com showed that Philly was a guest star.[6]
  • This episode is actually a bit the reverse of An Unjust Death;
    • August Tillman, the Breakout Kings main villain got shot by Charlie DuChamp, a US Marshall. August is left behind with bleeding by his co-conspirator. The co-conspirator is also captured off-screen, but didn't die.
    • In An Unjust Death, Charlie got shot by Damien Fontleroy, the Breakout Kings main villain and is left behind for a short time, until he died.

Behind the scenes[]

  • The three different prisons where Philly, Shea, and Lloyd are initially incarcerated were all shot at an abandoned glass factory in Toronto. The building, a massive warehouse-like structure, was completely empty before the Breakout Kings crew arrived. Not only did they manipulate the building to appear as three different prison locations, they shot all of the footage in a single day.
  • All of the barbed wire featured in the pilot is made of rubber to prevent injury in the event that an actor comes in contact with the material.
  • Jon Phelps' home, located in Baltimore in the episode, was actually shot at an old manufacturing building (circa1850), now converted to a photographer's studio, in Toronto's historic Liberty Village neighborhood, an epicenter for the Toronto art's community.
  • Director Gavin Hood fell in love with one of the paintings featured in Jon Phelps' home that features an alien's head. The Production Designer eventually purchased this painting and gave it to Gavin as a gift.

External links[]

Notes and references[]

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