So with only five more episodes left before the series finale, we finally had our first face to face encounter between Michael and his mother. And I have to admit, the ongoing game of mental cat and mouse was fun to watch. I quite enjoyed seeing both Michael and Christina attempting to one-up each other, wondering who would eventually get the upper hand. I do find it a bit curious, though, that they’re being so ambiguous about her role – is she a good guy? A bad guy? – considering there are so few episodes left. I like the complexity, but I am concerned that keeping things so unclear could backfire on them.
And, of course, we had that little bomb dropped that Lincoln is adopted, and that she never quite attached to him the way she did Michael, her biological son. While I believe that this tidbit of information is true, I didn’t quite care for the supporting “facts” she offered. Different eye color? Varying IQ? Opposing personalities? Geez, that describes most siblings I know. I was a bit disappointed that Michael bought into Christina’s bombshell so easily.
That being said, it does explain why Christina has been decidedly harsher towards Lincoln than she has Michael. Even though it was more or less explicitly stated at the end, it did seem to pain her when she had to take action against Michael. While she did, at times, seem reluctant, she seemed to pounce on Lincoln with far more ease. For that matter, Michael does seem to have fonder memories of her than Lincoln.
Case in point, she took the liberty of framing Lincoln and his cohorts for murder. This was one of my favorite scenes of the episode, and reminded me of the early days of Prison Break, where we would see the characters performing seemingly random and odd tasks, only for them to make sense of everything via flashbacks. Nicely done.
By the way, I really liked how Christina brought up all that Michael had sacrificed in order to save Lincoln. I mean, really, the man gave up his life and livelihood.
One thing I did have trouble buying, though, is T-Bag’s apparent conflicting emotions over killing Lincoln. I know that T-Bag’s hostility has always been directed more towards Michael, but wasn’t he swearing to knock both of them off as late as the beginning of this very season? And it’s not as if he’s bonded with Lincoln at all during this time. They’ve reluctantly worked with each other against the Company (where they were planning on turning on each other), and now they’re again being forced to co-exist for the Company – where T-Bag has betrayed him. And as far as T-Bag is concerned, Michael and Lincoln have repeatedly screwed him over. He doesn’t feel like he owes either of them anything. Instead of T-Bag looking conflicted, I would have preferred one of his slithering smirks, seemingly looking forward to the opportunity to get his vengeance.
And by the way, I usually don’t bother with episode titles, but this past week’s installment – appropriately titled “S.O.B.” – was absolutely brilliant. Bravo.
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.
