9.13.2007

Agent Kim

William "Bill" Kim is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. He is played by Reggie Lee. The character was introduced to the series as a Secret Service agent assigned to President Caroline Reynolds; however, he appears to be a fairly high-ranking employee of "The Company". Kim was apparently the man in charge of eliminating any and all threats to the Company, such as the Fox River Eight and Aldo Burrows and his network of followers.

He acts as an intermediary agent between the President and Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein), which causes ill feelings between them. Shortly after the Fox River Eight escape, Kim becomes Kellerman's new supervisor. Kellerman is dismayed by this, as he has directly reported to Reynolds for 15 years. Kim explains that this is due to Reynolds's being increasingly busy with other matters, as well as to further insulate her from any potential allegations of wrongdoing.

Appearances

Kim was introduced in the second season's fifth episode, "Map 1213" as Kellerman's supervisor and has appeared in almost every episode thereafter.

Season 2

Kim is critical of Kellerman's decision to shadow Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) until she leads him to Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), as opposed to actively intervening in the manhunt. Kim later agrees to let Kellerman continue to shadow Dr. Tancredi, but reiterates that Kellerman will be reporting to him and not the President.

Kim later learns that Dr. Tancredi's father, Illinois Governor Frank Tancredi (John Heard), is wise to Kellerman, and possibly the conspiracy. He arranges for the murder of the elder Tancredi, and plots to kill Sara as well.

The character continually plots the deaths of various characters in order to silence them or force others to work for him. In "Bolshoi Booze", Kim orders an agent under him to eliminate Lincoln Burrows, L. J. Burrows (Marshall Allman) and Lincoln's father Aldo Burrows (Anthony Denison), who had reunited at Aldo's safehouse. To Kim's dismay, the agent fails. After this, Kim orders Kellerman to kill Sara, who has already been tortured by Kellerman in order to learn the location of her father's evidence. However, Sara escapes. Tired of Kellerman's failures, Kim has him cut off, disavowing any records relating him to President Reynolds.

In the episode "The Killing Box", Kellerman calls Kim with a plan to eliminate the recently recaptured Lincoln and Michael. Kim agrees but then instructs Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) to kill Kellerman. Kim's own superior (referred to as the "Pad Man" in the episode credits), who communicates only through terse hand-written notes, is also introduced in this episode. In the following episode, "John Doe", Kim learns of Kellerman's betrayal and orders that Terrance Steadman be moved to secondary site, only to find out from the Secret Service that Kellerman had already arrived and had grabbed Steadman. He orders them to kill everybody, including Steadman, but Kellerman takes out the agents first.

His character further breaks down in "The Message" when a videotape made by Michael and Lincoln started broadcasting, implicating "The Company" and President Reynolds and all of their crimes. Wanting to outsmart Kellerman, Kim uses a female agent and voice alteration equipment to call Kellerman posing as President Reynolds in the next episode, "Chicago". However, Kellerman eventually sees through Kim's trick. In the meantime, Kim sends Mahone after Charles "Haywire" Patoshik and to eliminate him.

After learning Sara's sudden appearance at a private cigar club, where her father was a member, Kim attempts and fails to recover a USB drive which contains evidence that could damage "The Company" and the President. In the following episode, "Wash", Kim orders a man to pose as Cooper Green, who was already under surveillance. He again tries to retrieve the USB drive but fails when Michael figures out that the man is an impostor. Since the captured fugitive, Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin, was no longer of use, Kim tells Mahone to kill him.

After Michael got himself arrested by the Secret Service in an attempt to blackmail the President, Kim proceeds to torture Michael for information on his brother's location. However, Reynolds intervenes and, to Kim's shock, says she will give a full pardon to Lincoln and Michael. Just before the press conference, Kim reminds her that The Company can expose Reynolds' secrets (namely, the incestuous affair she carried on with her brother Terrence Steadman) just as easily as Michael, and Reynolds announces instead that a malignant form of cancer will cause her to resign the presidency.

After finding out Michael and Lincoln were in Panama, Kim then proceeded to attempt to use the captured Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell to try and capture the brothers. However, this plot fails when Michael corners the two Company agents supervising Bagwell.

In the season finale, despite Kellerman's testimony exonerating Lincoln and Sara and exposing the conspiracy, Kim is instructed by Pad Man to kill Lincoln and take Michael to Sona. However, he fails in his mission and was shot by Sara Tancredi just in time before he could kill Lincoln.

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