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 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. 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 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, 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 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. He has only a minor role in the next episode. After Sucre is
released from the 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 and C-Note, 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 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". 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, 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.