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C-Note
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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 first season.
klin was a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army, stationed in Kuwait. While serving as a guard for a detention facility, he discovered illegal torture of several detainees and reported this to his commander.Origin of the nickname C-note in which C stand for 100 in roman numerals and note is the federal reserve note, so with the American president benjamin franklin on the 100 dollar note, C-note became a nickname of this sergeant.
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Encyclopedia
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 first season.
Background
Franklin was a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army, stationed in Kuwait. While serving as a guard for a detention facility, he discovered illegal torture of several detainees and reported this to his commander.Origin of the nickname C-note in which C stand for 100 in roman numerals and note is the federal reserve note, so with the American president benjamin franklin on the 100 dollar note, C-note became a nickname of this sergeant. C-Note's commander dishonorably discharged him for his involvement in black market activities after C-Note refused to agree to keep quiet about the incident. With the shame of dishonorable discharge hanging over him, C-Note had great difficulty finding other jobs to support his wife Kacee and daughter Dede, so he resorted to criminal means. His brother-in-law, Darius Morgan (Mike Jones) was a truck driver and suggested that he could help transport stolen goods. Eventually, C-Note was caught and because he would not give up the identities of his friends, he was sent to Fox River State Penitentiary. He told his wife and daughter that he was getting shipped back to Iraq (as he had not even told them of his discharge from the Army). He begged his brother in law not to let them know he was going to be imprisoned.
Appearances
C-Note's first appearance in the series was as a recurring character in the pilot episode. After the thirteenth episode of the first season, the character was promoted to a main character.
Season 1
C-Note eventually starts working in the prison kitchen and gains a reputation as the "prison pharmacist", being able to acquire any item or substance for other inmates for $100, or a "C-Note" (which, in conjunction with his namesake's appearance on the bill, spawns his nickname). He and Michael Scofield first crosses paths in the pilot episode when Michael asks him to obtain some PUGNAc to allow Michael to feign diabetes and thus gain access to the infirmary (a critical aspect of his escape plan). C-Note is curious to know Michael’s motives, but he refuses to tell C-Note. In "Allen", C-Note refuses to deal with Michael after seeing him associating with T-Bag, leader of a white supremacist group in the prison. He later reconsiders after seeing Michael apparently fighting one of T-Bag's men during a riot, though his curiosity is not diminished.
After an extended absence, C-Note finally returns to the show in the episode "Tweener", where he becomes suspicious of the PI crew when he realizes that they are discarding pieces of concrete across the prison yard, from the hole they are digging in the Break Room. After the PI head, John Abruzzi is briefly replaced by Gus Fiorello, C-Note bribes him to work in PI in "Sleight of Hand". He quickly discovers the hole that Michael and his crew had dug as part of the escape plan. When Abruzzi regained control of PI, C-Note threathens the crew to let him on board or he would tell the guards. He was initially a source of friction on the team, and in the episode "Odd Man Out" he attempts to conspire against Michael by turning his cellmate, Fernando Sucre, against him. C-Note is one of six inmates involved in the first failed escape attempt in "End of the Tunnel". In the same episode, it is revealed that the character has a wife and daughter on the outside, whom he has tricked into thinking that he is serving in the military overseas.
C-Note later becomes a respected member of the team in the season’s later episodes, helping the team out of several problems that nearly derails the escape plan. He also befriends fellow escapee Charles Westmoreland as they both shared the same need to see their family again. One consequence of his joining the escape team, however, is C-Note being ostracized by other black inmates in "Bluff", ironically for the same reason C-Note had initially refused to deal with Michael: consorting with T-Bag, who had also joined the escape team. C-Note has two violent encounters with his former associates and only the escape prevented him from being killed. After the "Fox River Eight's" escape from the prison, C-Note, Michael, Lincoln, Sucre and Abruzzi meet bigger problems as their escape plane takes off and leaves them stranded with numerous police on their trail, forcing them to run into the woods in a desperate attempt to evade their pursuers.
Season 2
In the second season, C-Note’s storyline alternates between his participation in the search for Westmoreland’s money, as well as a separate subplot in which the character seeks to reunite with his family. After parting ways with the other escapees in “Otis”, C-Note travels to Utah and eventually reunites with other members of the Fox River Eight in “Subdivision”. In these episodes, C-Note returns to his earlier role as the one who instigates tension amongst the escape team, especially between him and T-Bag. The fugitives spend several episodes digging for the money and ultimately finds it. However, C-Note and the others are apparently betrayed by Sucre, who double crosses them all and demands the money while holding them at gun point. Left empty-handed, C-Note returns to Chicago.
Made aware of his fugitive status in the episode "Scan", his wife Kacee is very upset to learn the truth and is initially uncertain if she should stay loyal to her husband. However, she later decides to stand by him. In the episode "Unearthed", C-Note meets up with his old friends and asks them for help with executing his plan to reunite his family. They are narrowly able to avoid capture by federal agents, and C-Note is reunited with his wife and daughter. After being absent for 2 episodes, C-Note and his family resurfaces in North Dakota, in the episode "Disconnect", having a good time until his daughter complains of stomach problems as they have left her medicin behind. Kacee attempts to purchase more medication at a nearby pharmacy, but is identified by the clerk and taken into police custody. C-Note, horrified, can only watch in shock from his hidding place as his wife is arrested and taken away.
C-Note and his daughter return in "John Doe". C-Note is guilt-ridden over his wife's arrest, and tries to see if Kacee will be allowed bail. He plans for her to skip bail and rejoin him, and for the family to move to Alaska. However, Kacee's bail is denied.
In the episode "Chicago" C-Note and Dede are in a Benson, Minnesota diner when Dede becomes sick due to her lack of medication. C-Note prepares to leave when suddenly, a man holds up the diner with a gun. After C-Note stops the man from holding up the diner, a female customer the robber was planning to kill lets him leave despite knowing his wanted status. Despite this, Agent Mahone receives a report that C-Note was spotted at the diner, and that his daughter was sick. Mahone arrives in Minnesota, but C-Note manages to evade him by boarding a train. After C-Note nearly resorts to painful means at a free clinic to help his daughter, he calls Mahone and offers to turn himself in so that Dede will receive proper treatment, asking also that his wife be released. Mahone agrees, and in return, C-Note must give him information on Michael – the website , which C-Note overheard Michael telling Sucre about in Utah. When C-Note could not find Michael's location, Mahone forces C-Note to hang himself, under orders from Agent Kim, in exchange for his wife and daughter's well-being. The episode ends just as C-Note jumps off his cell bed with the noose around his neck, but he is saved by a guard in the next episode. In the prison infirmary, he phones the FBI and demands to speak to Mahone, but Agent Wheeler (Jason Davis), who happens to be investigating Mahone, answers the call instead. Wheeler says he can keep C-Note safe if he tells him what Mahone asked him to do.
A week later, Wheeler has C-Note released from prison and placed in the Witness Protection Program with his family in exchange for testifying against Mahone. This would be C-Note's last appearance. To date, C-Note and Lincoln Burrows are the only two members of the Fox River Eight to successfully evade capture by the authorities.
Season 4
C-Note is set to return to Prison Break in the final episodes of season 4
Characteristics
As one of the Fox River Eight escapees, C-Note's main specialty revolves around being able to smuggle any random material in and out of any given territory. Apparently, this was also notified by his commanding officer right before he was dishonorably discharged. And being formerly from the Army, he is arguably the only member who has formal self-defense training. He also has an observant side about him, as he is the only one whom Scofield reluctantly recruited for the escape to have figured out what Abruzzi's PI crew were conducting on the break room on his own. While he genuinely respects Scofield as the man who broke them out of jail, C-Note, like any other father, cares more for his family and going even as far as handing Michael out to Mahone in exchange for his family's safety as well as attempting a suicide. When Roy Geary smugly stole an object of sentimental value from Westmoreland (whom C-Note forced into handing over to keep the plan safe), his immediate expression was anger. It is very apparent that his anger is based more on the fact that Geary took something of great value from Westmoreland (who happens to be a fellow father much like C-Note) rather than the deception itself.
Production details
C-Note reporting the abuse of prisoners of war in Kuwait was inspired by the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Interesting Notes
- - In the episode "Brother's Keeper" C-Note is seen during his time in the Army, however each member of the Army in the show is wearing Marine Corps style MARPAT uniforms with their respective nametapes where the U.S. MARINES tape would usually be displayed.
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