Author: John Paulsen (Page 37 of 79)

Season finales of “Prison Break” are about heading off into a new direction. Now that Linc and LJ are safe, Michael is all about seeking vengeance on Gretchen. Part of me would like to see the brotheres retrieve that bag of money (that should still be sitting underwater in that Panama cove) and retire to some sleepy beach community. But then there wouldn’t be a show, would there?

Once next season starts, I’m guessing that Michael will catch wind that Sucre is in Sona, and will feel obligated to try to break him out. But if Whistler, Gretchen and Mahone (how about that threesome?) leave town, I’m curious to see how Michael finds out about Sucre. For his part, Sucre seems resigned to his fate, but inside Sona, he has to deal with T-Bag, who has turned himself into something of a communist Robin Hood after pulling a fast one on Luchero. T-Bag still has the bird book, which is apparently still important even though it doesn’t contain coordinates.

On that front, it turns out that Whistler and Gretchen are more closely linked than we first thought, though there was that mid-season meeting at Sona where it seemed to me that the two were working together. It was surprising to see Whistler and Mahone hook up and it looks like Mahone’s new job is to protect Whistler from Michael. This should reintroduce the Michael/Mahone chess match that was so compelling in season 2. However, the roles will be reversed – Mahone will be the one on the run, and Michael will be hot on his trail.

It was pretty laughable that Sofia just happened to get shot outside the museum – I mean, what are the odds? – which led to Michael overhearing LJ tell Linc about the case in Sofia’s apartment. This gives Michael the ammunition he needs to find Gretchen.

So that’s where season 3 ends. I wondered last season if the show would be better off wrapping it up, but in Gretchen they introduced a new foil for Michael, something to keep him going, and now that she has Mahone’s help, they should be a formidable team. Whether we like it or not, “Prison Break” will go on, so we might as well see where it takes us.

I still wonder about that money, though. Hopefully, the writers will reintroduce that storyline next season.

This week’s episode might have been the most ridiculous yet.

1. Michael led three other prisoners through a maze of active, alert guards and no one was seen.
2. In order to have a shot, he had to count on the fact that neither T-Bag nor Bellick would give him up quickly.
3. T-Bag happened to fall and find Whistler’s bird book.
4. McGrady’s papa “took a chance” and happened to find the gang clinging to a buoy in the middle of the ocean.

It was obvious something was up when Michael decided to let Luchero, T-Bag and Bellick get a head start on the escape. When he wasn’t moving, it became clear that he was using the trio as a distraction to make his real escape, and that point was punctuated when he said, “This is the plan.” In a series of maneuvers that would have made Solid Snake proud, Michael successfully navigated a crapload of random-walking Sona soldiers to get to the fence, where he punched through the hole and entered the jungle. For a guy that usually plans everything down to the last detail, this was quite the departure, but he had to improvise with this escape and he proved that he could.

Burying the cans of oxygen at the beach was a nice twist, though how they successfully ended up at the buoy remains a mystery. Dimwit Whistler is dumb enough to lose his bird book, the same book that holds the key to his freedom, but he’s smart enough to pull the ol’ fall-down-during-the-escape-and-pretend-to-twist-your-ankle trick on Michael.

At the beach, the guards didn’t bother to look for footprints (of course), but the dogs found the buried cooler and it looked for a moment that papa and the gang would eventually have a run in with the coast guard, but that encounter never happened.

Once T-Bag and Bellick got caught, I began to wonder how they would continue to be involved in the story if Brothers Scofield were free. That question was answered when T-Bag just happened to fall next to (and retrieve) Whistler’s aforementioned bird book. That’ll be the leverage he needs to stay involved. It doesn’t hurt that Sucre looks like he’ll soon be a resident of Sona as well.

Next week’s episode is the season finale, and it looks like next season may revolve around Michael trying to break Sucre and T-Bag (with the bird book) out of Sona. Michael will feel responsible for Sucre’s situation and he isn’t going to let him rot in prison. Plus, he’ll probably have more incentive if Susan still holds LJ and Sofia hostage. Bellick will probably make it, though it might be time for the writers to kill him off. I don’t know anyone who is clamoring for more Bellick right now. I’d like the show to push off into a new direction, but I don’t see how that’s possible. But “Prison Break” has surprised me before, so only time will tell.

As the escape grows closer, the natives are getting restless. The whole gang is on edge, from T-Bag and Bellick in Sona to Gretchen and Sucre on the outside. You know things are getting bad for Michael when Mahone appears to be his most loyal friend.

Not a lot happened in this episode. It was just a (long) buildup to the escape, which will presumably take place next week. Though one thing did occur to me – Gretchen/Susan is one badass mofo. From the choke job on Sucre in the bar to burning Sofia with cigars in the warehouse, she is one evil lady. (Of course, she already beheaded Sara, so these recent transgressions only add to the legend.) On a side note, I’m a little worried about the stopwatch that she gave Whistler. Obviously, we’re going to be subjected to several overly dramatic shots of the time ticking away as the gang tries to meet up with Gretchen. All we need is the countdown music from “24.”

Bellick whined and complained throughout much of the episode, asking Mahone to be his friend on the outside. “What’s a guy like me supposed to do?” he asked. This is a far cry from the complete asshole we saw in the first season. T-Bag also approached Mahone about teaming up once they escaped, mentioning that it would be sweet justice to turn Michael in. Mahone replied with the line of the night:

“Justice? If there was an ounce of it left in this world, you’d be lying face down in the same unmarked grave as the rest of your inbred family.”

Man, tell us how you really feel, Mahone.

In other news, Michael (unsurprisingly) has decided to let McGrady come along on the escape. At one point, Scofield told the boy, “Life in prison is better than life on the run.”

Huh?

The last few minutes of the episode were good as things started to ramp up for the escape. T-Bag and Luchero have formed an uneasy alliance and used it to their advantage to go through the hole first. Meanwhile, Linc had to figure out a way to knock the power out. That was kind of an odd scene – he drove up to the power pole, then looked and saw a bus stop sign. Then he hijacked the bus and drove it (for a long time) before running it into the pole. Was the bus stop by the pole or not?

In the end, it really doesn’t matter because the lights are out and the escape is on.