A few weeks ago I noted how much I enjoyed a particular episode of Prison Break because of the fact that they broke the team up into two groups. I thought the closer – and in some cases unexpected – interactions really worked better than their roundtable discussions.
That perfectly sums up my feelings on this week’s episode.
This week saw Lincoln, Sara, Sucre, and Roland (there, I’ll stop calling him “computer geek”) heading to Las Vegas for the next key, while Michael, Bellick, and Mahone hunted for T-Bag. Once again, this was some interesting groupings. Despite each of them having a super close relationship with Michael, we rarely see Lincoln and Sara share any substantial scenes. We finally got there in this episode, as well as an explanation behind the nose bleeds. And while the tension between Sucre and Roland was a bit forced and got old pretty fast…. it was all worth it at the end after Sucre’s “it stays in Vegas” line. Awesome.
Actually, the Sucre twist at the end was a great way to cap off that arc. At first I feared that they painted themselves in a corner, but they ended up turning it around quite effectively. I actually chuckled at how the scene ultimately played out.
Joining the other half of the crew, it was actually quite nice seeing a softer side of Bellick, especially with his seemingly genuine concern over the well being of a total stranger. I know that doesn’t sound too significant, but for this character, it really is. Although I was hoping that his role would be a bit more substantial, particularly after he had pieced together that T-Bag was working with somebody.
As feared, T-Bag will now be joining Michael’s crew. And, again, I must ask: Why? Not only does it annoy me for the reasons I’ve been stating all season, but within the context of the show I have to wonder what exactly he contributes to the team at this point? I mean, as we learned at the conclusion of this episode, he knows LESS than Michael does, so why does Gretchen even need him? Michael has the book and the overall knowledge of what it means. Gretchen has the remaining pages. What exactly does T-Bag bring to the table, other than a whole lot of guaranteed collateral damage?
What also bothered me was that I actually thought that T-Bag’s involvement in the rest of the episode was handled fantastically. The hostility between him and Michael was wonderful and showed a great deal of continuity. By T-Bag’s perspective, Michael has repeatedly left him out in the cold, and he wants to get his revenge. For Michael, T-Bag is the bane of his post-prison existence. The genuinely evil people he had helped escape were either killed or captured. The others that remained free were, for the most part, good people who had just made bad decisions. But T-Bag is the one evil, dangerous person that is free because of him. And although I don’t think this is emphasized quite enough, you can tell that tears Michael up.
Nevertheless, I thought it was great how, at the last minute, Mahone came to the rescue, and Michael declared that he was going to lock T-Bag up and then have him returned to Fox River. In my eyes, as a viewer, it was a redeeming moment for Michael. But it was quickly made into a moot point, as by the end of the episode, his rescue was set into action.
Speaking of Mahone, I thought his portion of the episode was great. It was wonderful seeing him show his value to the team just an episode after he was nearly removed from it. Along with that, many fans may not remember that Mahone was the one person who could seemingly match wits with Michael’s “putting together the pieces of the puzzle” type intelligence (he figured out the tattoos upon first sight. The folks at Fox River spent a season staring at them and were completely oblivious). Therefore, I really enjoyed seeing him track down Michael and crew.
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.\
