Sometimes this show is a victim of its own format.
We’re just past the midpoint of the season, so once the gang passed Scylla off to Don and started in with all the premature celebration, it was obvious that something was going to happen to Don and/or Scylla before it reached the FBI’s (or the Senator’s) hands.
Honestly, when I saw the title of this episode, I thought Don was going to die trying to keep Scylla out of Company hands. Considering the way that Don’s boss was acting, he looked like he might very well be a Company mole. But when the General threw up his hands after being asked what his orders were, it sure seemed like he was out of options, FBI moles included. As soon as Don rendezvoused with Trish Ann – she will always, always be Trish Ann to me – I finally figured out that he was going to go rogue and try to sell Scylla on his own. The writers deserve credit for keeping things fairly unclear that long.
“Did you have onions for lunch?”
Every so often this series has an episode that spins it off into a completely new direction. Sooooooo much happened this week that it’s hard to keep track of it all. And anytime the writers try to cram this many plot points into one hour, there is bound to be some oversights.
For example, why in the world would Gretchen insist that the she and T-Bag wait in his office for Michael and the gang to emerge from the basement with Scylla? T-Bag’s office has glass walls – wouldn’t it be a little conspicuous to try to force them to give up the hardware at gunpoint when everyone at Gate could see them? Why not just wait in the closet? I’ve said before on this blog that I hate it when (supposedly) smart characters do dumb things and this is a great example. These two probably have a combined IQ of 260 and their decision to wait in T-Bag’s office created the situation with his boss, which created the hostage standoff. That is “manufactured conflict” at its very best.
Next, it was Trish Ann’s decision to yell “drop your weapons!” after Gretchen had already killed T-Bag’s boss. Did Trish really think that Gretchen was going to lay her weapons down and surrender? By yelling out, she gave up the only advantage she had – surprise.
And then there was the moment in the garage where Gretchen pulled a gun on T-Bag. A real mercenary would just shoot the guy in the back of the head and run off. Gretchen is supposed to be a major hard ass; she wouldn’t stand there and explain why she’s about to shoot him, allowing for some external event to interrupt the little chat. What does it matter to Gretchen if T-Bag knows why he’s dead?
Of course, we know that “Prison Break” isn’t going to kill off one of its most beloved characters mid-season, so even when someone is holding him at gunpoint and is telling him that they’re going to shoot him, we know that T-Bag is going to escape somehow. (By the way, I wouldn’t consider Bellick to be “beloved” – not like Theodore Bagwell.)
I have to applaud much of the interaction between the General and the gang. The hatred that Michael and Co. had for the General was palpable and it was nice to see the General get his smugness thrown back in his face on several different occasions. The twist with his daughter was a strong plot point, and Sarah Wayne Callies pulled off another nice bit of acting as her character held the daughter at gunpoint.
But I don’t understand why the gang wouldn’t take the General with them as insurance as they went to deliver Scylla. That seems like a no-brainer.
Regular readers know that I have a love/hate relationship with the ol’ switcheroo, and “Prison Break” uses that plot device early and often. When Michael put Scylla into the backpack, I smelled this week’s switcheroo coming a mile away. He took a big risk by giving Scylla to Sucre. Why would the all-powerful company only have enough manpower to follow Michael and Linc? They sent four men to follow the two brothers, not even allowing for the possibility that Sucre or Mahone might have what they want. Don’t they read this blog?!?
“Hold on. I have to stare at this backpack for a while to set up the ol’ switcheroo that I’m going to pull on you later in the episode.”
Lastly, it was kind of goofy that Don’s number would be disconnected so quickly. Why wouldn’t he just toss the phone in the garbage and buy himself more time? Because we needed to have the scene where Michael and the gang realize that they’ve been duped, that’s why. I’d rather have seen Michael put two and two together when the call to Don went to voicemail.
So now Don has Scylla and he’s going to try to use T-Bag to find another buyer. The gang is still on the run and it’s not entirely clear whether or not they should go after Don (because isn’t he the one with all the FBI contacts?) or flee to Mexico. Then there’s the matter of the $125 million that was loaded up into Feng’s truck – what are the odds that we never hear about that again? And how about that million-plus that is sitting at the bottom of the bay in Panama?
The possibilities are endless. Hopefully, the series won’t be.
