I thought this was a really good episode of Prison Break, perhaps the best of the season. There were quite a few things that I enjoyed: They cooled it with the Michael/Sara stuff (and by extension, Sara wasn’t so much Miss Doom and Gloom), Bellick wasn’t a useless background character that only appears to whine and complain, and they separated some of the characters, allowing them to maintain separate, individual story arcs.
This week, we had Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, and Bellick attempting to get information off of the next disk, while Mahone, Sara, and computer geek attempted to hunt the man who is hunting them. Like I said, I appreciated these combinations. Bellick did something constructive (although I was just waiting for him to complain about something when they were in the elevator), and he and Sucre had the opportunity to do some quick thinking themselves. I also quite liked how Michael overruled Lincoln on searching for T-Bag (ugh, more on him later). These two get along WAY too well for brothers, especially when you consider the highly volatile situation they constantly find themselves in.
And while I did find the stuff with Michael et al exhilarating (it really was), I think the highlight of the episode was the pairing of Mahone and Sara. If I’m not mistaken, this was really the first time we saw these two characters interact for a substantial amount of time. I truly believe that this season will excel because of the new relationships that will be developed. I especially look forward to next week, in which Michael is put in a scenario where he can basically leave Mahone out to pasture. It is my prediction that he won’t let that happen. That in and of itself is a huge leap from where they were when they first met.
I don’t know what’s going on with Michael’s bloody noses, but I did roll my eyes with his “I’m acclimating to the warm weather” excuse. I know that we were SUPPOSED to read right through it, but c’mon, that’s the best they could come up with? I mean, it’s not like he just spent weeks in the hot Panama sun, wearing long sleeves the entire time. And we’re to believe that LA is hotter than that?
T-Bag is still the thorn in my backside when it comes to this season. Everything about his character seems so tacked on and unnecessary. I mean, would the overall story really suffer in the least if his particular arc wasn’t included? At the moment, from a storytelling perspective, they don’t NEED him as a foil (they already have that with The Company and their assassin), and they don’t NEED him in order to act as an obstacle (in fact, he hasn’t really done anything to hinder their progression). Sure, this could all be leading to something – and I’m sure it is – but the point remains that it’s unnecessary, and it’s clear that the only reason this character is still on the show is because he’s so popular.
And that, my friends, drives me mad. Have some balls and kill him off.
That being said, I did enjoy the way the secretary was shown to be quite greedy and ambitious. When I saw the preview in which she turns away Bellick and Sucre, I thought they were going to go with the cliche that she had grown to care for T-Bag. I was pleasantly surprised when, instead, we learned that she just figured she could get MORE money out of him. T-Bag turning it around was equally enjoyable. However, the tease that she may turn him in, out of pure vindictiveness, was the real gem.
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, and Smallville. You can visit his blog at A Case of the Blog.
