Fernando Sucre
| Fernando Sucre | |
|---|---|
| Prison Break character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Last appearance | "The Final Break" |
| Portrayed by | Amaury Nolasco |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Jorge Rivera; Mr. Miller |
| Occupation | Former Warehouse worker Sona Grave Digger (season 3) |
| Family |
Hector Avila (cousin), Manche Sanchez (cousin), Lila Maria Sucre (daughter) |
| Significant other(s) | Maricruz Delgado (wife) |
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 (played by Wentworth Miller).
Background
Of Puerto Rican descent, Sucre grew up in Chicago where he had several run-ins with the law. However, he later finds a steady job at a warehouse and his girlfriend, Maricruz Delgado. He ends up in prison after he attempts to rob a liquor store. In the flashback episode, "Brother's Keeper", it is revealed that the reason Sucre had held up the store was to get enough money to pay for an engagement ring for Maricruz. His cousin Hector then tips him off to the cops, as he was also infatuated with Maricruz. After his incarceration, Sucre has conjugal visits from Maricruz, but is occasionally worried about her seeming indecision about her future with him, as she is contemplating dating Hector.
Appearances
Fernando Sucre was first introduced as a main character in the series premiere. He appeared in every episode except ten: "First Down", "Unearthed", "John Doe", "Chicago", "Orientación", "The Sunshine State", "The Mother Lode", "VS", "S.O.B." and "Cowboys and Indians".
Season 1
Fernando Sucre is introduced to the show as the cellmate of the show’s protagonist, newly arrived inmate Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller). In the pilot episode, he mainly serves an exposition purpose, explaining various plot points to Michael and the viewers, as well as providing some light-hearted humour in some scenes. Sucre is at first oblivious of Michael’s intention to break out of prison. Instead, his first few episodes focus mostly on establishing his background and setting up his character arc. This includes revealing and building up Sucre’s devotion to his girlfriend Maricruz, which we see in the pilot episode when he asks her to marry him. In the next episode his treacherous cousin Hector, who wants to steal Maricruz from Sucre, is introduced. Upon learning of the escape in the episode "Cell Test", Sucre briefly serves as an obstacle to Michael’s plan by refusing to have any part in it and demands a cell transfer. A mentally unstable inmate called Haywire (Silas Weir Mitchell) replaces him. Sucre’s character motivation changes in the next episode, however, when he is visited by Hector, who informs him that Maricruz is now in a relationship with him. Desperate to get his girlfriend back, Sucre becomes eager to break out of prison and pleads with Michael to be allowed back into the breakout. After Michael engineers Haywire's removal as his cellmate, Sucre returns, this time anxious to have a role in the escape.
The following episodes focus on building a bond between Michael and Sucre as the two cellies work together to further the escape plan. In "English, Fitz or Percy", a nervous Sucre serves as a look-out while Michael is sneaking out to the roof. In "Riots, Drills and the Devil", Sucre suggest a lockdown to give Michael additional time to dig, and later helps him to drill through a critical cement wall. In these scenarios, Sucre often takes on the role of comic relief, while still showing loyalty to the protagonist. From "The Old Head" and onwards, Sucre also helps to dig a hole in the guard’s break room. His devotion to the escape increases in a later episode when he is visited by Maricruz who informs him that she is pregnant by his child, but is contemplating marrying Hector. Meanwhile, his friendship with Michael continues to strengthen; despite for some brief trust issues explored in "Odd Man Out", Sucre empathizes with Michael's situation and his anxiety for his brother, death row inmate Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), and ultimately supports him. Sucre is one of the six inmates that are part of the first failed escape attempt in "End of the Tunnel". Despite their failure, Sucre is shown as having no ill will towards Michael, which is shown in "The Rat", where he stands up for Michael when T-Bag (Robert Knepper) expresses his anger for the first failed escape attempt and tries to threaten Michael.
In the season’s later episodes, Sucre aids Michael's plan in numerous situations through his connections with other prisoners. Occasionally, he comes up with ideas that help to save Michael's plan, like in “By the Skin and the Teeth” where he urges his cousin Manche Sanchez, who works in the prison laundry room, to give Michael a guard uniform that enables him to sneak into the yard without being questioned. When Michael is later transferred to solitary confinement in the episode "J-Cat", Sucre is forced by the other breakout team members to use the hole behind his toilet to get out of his cell during the night to cover the hole in the guard's room. Knowing that he would most likely be caught once outside his cell at night, Sucre forces T-Bag to retrieve another inmate's underwear in order for Sucre to give a reasonable answer to Bellick for being outside his cell at night. Bellick is fooled by Sucre’s ruse, but still send him to the Solitary Housing Unit (SHU). He has only a minor role in the next episode. After Sucre is released from the (SHU) in "The Key", he rejoins the rest of the break-out team. Eventually in the penultimate episode "Go", Sucre escapes from Fox River State Penitentiary, with seven other prisoners. He is one of the five escapees, along with Michael, Lincoln, John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare) and C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar), left running for their lives when their plane takes off without them aboard and the police close behind them in the season finale.
Season 2
After parting ways with his fellow escapees, Sucre focuses his attention on reuniting with Maricruz. He learns that Hector and Maricruz are getting married in Las Vegas and attempts to stop the wedding but fails when is again betrayed by Hector, who calls the police, forcing Sucre to flee. Following this disappointment, Sucre decides to find the Westmoreland's hidden money in Utah, and eventually reunites with the other escapees. When the money is found and packed, Sucre holds the others at gunpoint, forcing them to hand over the money. In "Dead Fall", it is revealed this was a ruse planned by Sucre and Michael, but they have been fooled by T-Bag, who switched the money bag for a bag of magazines. As they run from the police, Sucre falls into a river and is pinned by a fallen tree. Michael refuses to abandon Sucre and eventually saves his life, which Sucre repays when he saves Michael from the coyote in "Bolshoi Booze", arriving at the meet to reunite with the brothers and flee to Mexico. Because the brothers decide to stay and solve the conspiracy, Sucre gets on the escape plane alone, having made plans to meet Maricruz, who left Hector at the altar in Vegas.
After being forced to eject from the plane, Sucre lands in the Mexican desert and struggles to reach Maricruz at the Ixtapa airport, just in time to flee from airport security. They arrive safely at Sucre's aunt's home in "Wash", but Sucre is soon captured by Bellick. Sucre offers Bellick a deal to lead him to T-Bag and the five million dollars, which Sucre has surmised is in the airport. While heading to Panama to look for T-Bag, Bellick tells Sucre that he has left Maricruz in a hole to die, and if she is to live Sucre must lead him to the money. Michael joins their hunt in the next episode, wanting to turn T-Bag in. Unfortunately, Bellick is shot in the leg by T-Bag and arrested. Michael and Sucre corner T-Bag with the intention of turning him in, but T-Bag stabs Sucre in the chest and flees. Sucre receives treatment for this injury but leaves the hospital AMA, to find Maricruz, whom he believes has been trapped by Bellick somewhere back in Mexico. He chases after Bellick, but collapses and blacks out, just as he finds Bellick. His fate is left open at the end of the Season.
Season 3
By the beginning of the third season, Sucre remained the only member of the Fox River Eight to be still at large. The second episode of the third season Fire/Water shows Sucre to be alive and he is seen purchasing a gun at a local store. He proceeds to confront Bellick at SONA prison and threatens to shoot him if he doesn't tell him where Maricruz is. He reveals he never really had her and that he chased her off by threatening to arrest them for accessory. Sucre eventually finds out that Maricruz is in Chicago and calls her and tearfully tells her that he must stay in Panama until he gets his life back together. In Call Waiting, Sucre asks Lincoln to split the money of Westmoreland. But Lincoln rebukes Sucre, saying they lost the money and chases Sucre away. Sucre later reappears, this time unconscious with a bottle of alcohol in the front steps of Lincoln's hotel room, after which Lincoln takes Sucre in. At first, Sucre is eager to move down to Colombia as a migrant worker to financially support Maricruz and his unborn child, and refuses to act as an interpreter to aid Lincon in setting up Michael's escape plan.
Upon hearing of the murder of Sara Tancredi, Sucre changes his mind and commits to preparing a route for the escape from SONA by taking over as gravedigger to secretly damage the electric fence protecting the prison. Lechero's cousin Augusto soon approaches Sucre, to smuggle a package into SONA a single time. Sucre is swayed by the large amount of money offered. Afterwards Augusto asks him to make another delivery. After initially resisting Sucre ultimately agrees. Sucre soon commits himself fully to the escape plan in Photo Finish and Vamonos and almost helps Lincoln free his son L.J. Burrows. He and Lincoln later devise a plan to fool Company operative Gretchen Morgan that Sucre has turned against the brothers.
Later Sucre finds out the alias he chose to get a job at Sona has an arrest warrant, and is locked up in Sona shortly after Michael and Co. escape when T-Bag recognizes him and reveals his true identity. As a result, Sucre became the sixth and final member of the Fox River Eight (as C-Note was placed into witness protection and dropped of all charges, and Lincoln was exonerated) to be taken down by the authorities, and the third member not to die upon interception.
In the third season there is a conversation between Sucre and Gretchen Morgan about the meaning of his family name: Sucre in Catalan language means sugar. That's why she began to call him "azucar" (sugar in Spanish).
At the end of Season 3 Sucre was incarcerated into Sona for refusing to reveal to the guards the whereabouts of Michael Scofield subsequent to his escape. T-Bag convinced them that Sucre was involved, and after being tortured for several hours he was thrown into prison Sona, just in time to see T-Bag take over as the new ruler of the Panamanian prison after the death of its former ruler, Lechero.
Season 4
In the three weeks between Season 3 and Season 4, Sona has burned down by a fire started by T-Bag allowing Bellick, T-Bag, and Sucre to escape. Later in the season 4 premiere, Sucre and Bellick are shown getting across the US border. As Sucre goes to visit his newborn daughter, the authorities are alerted by Maricruz's sister Theresa, and Sucre and Bellick are both arrested at the hospital. They are then recruited into Homeland Security agent Don Self's covert "A-Team" along with Lincoln, Michael, Sara, and Mahone. Their task is to steal Scylla from The Company in exchange for full exoneration. They are then joined by hacker/identity thief Roland Glenn who is assigned to the team by Self. Sucre's character is not featured as much in season 4 compared to earlier seasons, but appears in most episodes with a supporting role. He is shot in the stomach during an ambush attempt on the General in "The Price", but Sara rescues him by removing the bullet. Sucre is often teamed up with Bellick, as the two characters are said to have formed a strong friendship while together in Sona. Consequently, Sucre's character is shown to be heartbroken following Bellick's death in "Greatness Achieved".
It is revealed in "The Legend" that during the fire in Sona, the inmates started running to get out of the prison. During the bedlam, Sucre was knocked down and ran over. He was nearly crushed to death. Bellick picked him up and the two escaped. Sucre, very upset about the death of Bellick, refuses to continue to work until Bellick's body is returned home. Later on, Sucre called Bellick's mother to inform her of her son's death. Bellick previously wished this to happen in "The Price". In "Selfless", Sucre works with the rest of the team when they obtain Scylla from The Company, only to be betrayed by Self, who steals Scylla. Their hopes of freedom now gone, Sucre for a while continues to aid the brothers in their attempts to get Scylla back, but ultimately decides in the episode "Going Under" to leave and reunite with his family. Sucre's character is absent for the next five episodes, but returns for the final two episodes of the series, uniting with C-Note to locate the brothers and persuade them to hand Scylla over to the UN, after which he is finally given his immunity. In the epilogue set 4 years after the rest of the events of the show, Sucre is seen living happily in Chicago with his wife Maricruz and his daughter. He is last seen visiting Michael's grave along with the others, paying his respects to his best friend.
Characteristics
In the flashback episode of the first season, "Brother's Keeper", Fernando's first illegal act involved armed robbery with a revolver pointed right at the shopkeeper - only to take 100 dollars. He later repeated the act to earn the money for the engagement ring he intended to give to Maricruz, only to be turned in by his own cousin, Hector. During his time at Fox River Penitentiary he appeared to be in good terms with almost all correctional officers and other inmates prior to the prison break. He's easily one of only two members of the Fox River Eight whose loyalty towards Michael is unquestionable, (as seen in "The Art of the Deal" when at gunpoint, countless times, and while he made to dig up his own grave by the guards, he does not give up any info regarding the whereabouts of Michael) the other one being Lincoln Burrows. Fernando also has a knack for making unconventional and seemingly-mundane yet effective strategies from time to time, as seen when he managed to successfully cover up the hole that Scofield's PI crew dug up. Outside, he displayed being able to hot wire various vehicles in record time, which was a valuable asset for Michael and all the other cons that Scofield took with him on the night of the escape.
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