Tag: William Fitchner (Page 3 of 3)

Prison Break 4.11: “Quiet Riot”

November 18, 2008 /

With the news last week that “Prison Break” was having its filming schedule extended by two episodes, the Hollywood Reporter speculated that these episodes could be used to give the series an appropriate ending. I’ve been saying for the past two seasons that it was probably time to wrap the show up, and if this speculation is true, it’s good to hear that Fox is allowing the creators to end the series on their terms, instead of having the rug pulled out from underneath them.

After all, based on tonight’s episode, the writers still have a few tricks up their sleeves. The scene where Michael, Lincoln, Mahone and Sucre had to break into the Scylla vault without making a sound was pressure-packed throughout, and I especially enjoyed Michael’s MacGyver-esque decision to build a suspended ladder to get past the room’s security system. This was easily the best part of the episode and it really took the show back to its Fox River roots.

“What? Oh, the wall looks great, fellas. I’m just going to get back to my game of ‘World of Warcraft.’ I’m about to level up.”

Prior to the break-in, we were treated to a scene where Gretchen was mysteriously dressed up as a Catholic schoolgirl. If I were the General, and I received that picture on my phone, my first question would have been – who the F took the picture? Clearly, someone (T-Bag) was in the room to take the picture, which means Gretchen is probably up to no good. Instead, the General went to the room, amping up the creepiness of the relationship to a completely different level. It turns out that the General is the father of Gretchen’s daughter, and that’s why he let her go. Woo-hoo.

Meanwhile, T-Bag keeps trying to get Trish Ann to take off her jacket. You’d think that a FBI agent might read into his intentions a little more and maybe it would occur to her that he might be on to her, but apparently Trish Ann isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. She and Don walk into an obvious trap sprung by Feng, and given his demeanor, they are (seemingly) a long shot to see another day.

The episode ends with Michael (unknowingly?) setting off a Scylla alarm and the General racing down to the vault to stop him. So we’ve got Michael in the Scylla room, Don and Trish Ann tied up in an abandoned house, T-Bag and Gretchen waiting to ambush the gang once they do get Scylla and $125 million loaded up into a truck. I wonder how this is all going to end.

External Entertainment, External TV, Prison Break, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Prison Break 4.10: “The Legend”

November 11, 2008 /

We knew this was coming. Once Michael started having nosebleeds, it was obvious that his illness was going to play out at some point this season. I thought it might be some company-inflicted disorder that would lead to a season-ending cliffhanger, but it’s just an old (and rare) genetic disease that he inherited from his mother. And this little disease has horrible timing.

I mean, really, what are the odds that he would need surgery just as he and the gang are about to crack Scylla?

“Even though I’m with Sara and have everything to live for, I’m going to stubbornly put off getting treatment for the brain disease that killed my mother.”

In many ways, this was just a filler episode with one big twist. First, Sucre steps on a land mine and it takes twenty or thirty minutes of screen time to save him. And seemingly every character spends a few moments reminiscing about Brad Bellick, who was a total asshole in Season One, for those that don’t remember. Bellick’s death got to Sucre so much that he started yelling at everyone in Spanish.

However, we did learn a juicy little tidbit about everyone’s favorite receptionist, Trish Ann – she’s a FBI agent working for Don. As soon as she let it slip about Whistler, the cat was out of the proverbial bag. Now T-Bag knows her secret, so it will be interesting to see how the two play each other as the season wears on.

Another plus with Michael sidelined (and Morpheus presumably dead) is that Mahone gets to shine. At this point, he’s probably the show’s most interesting character, so it’s nice to see him on the front lines in the planning and execution stages. His scene posing as a Company man trying to extract info from David Baker was pretty sharp.

“Prison Break” strikes me as a show that would be a lot tighter if it were limited to a 13-episode run like “The Shield” and “Rescue Me” on FX. The creators of those shows don’t have time to mess around will filler episodes and, as a result, every week there is something compelling going on. The good news is that the gang has an impossible task to complete in the next day or so and their leader has to undergo emergency brain surgery. It’s ridiculous, but hey, it’s “Prison Break.”

External Entertainment, External TV, Prison Break, TV Action, TV Dramas

Prison Break 4.9: “Greatness Achieved”

November 4, 2008 /

This episode felt a little like Season One, with Michael and the gang wandering around the guts of a building, trying to engineer their way to Scylla. Michael had his MacGyver moment when digging under the water pipe turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. “Maybe we can go through it,” he says gruffly.

“You and the fellas head down the hole and I’ll stay up here and use my Southern wiles to keep the po-po off our tail.”

It’s not often that one of my predictions comes true, so I feel compelled to point it out when one does. Three episodes ago, I wrote the following:

I’m giving 2 to 1 to any brave bettors that his [Don’s] wife is dead and that he listens to that voicemail every so often to remember her.

Don’s wife is indeed dead. She and her unborn baby died during child birth. This is important because Don talks Mahone down off the edge of the cliff with regard to Morpheus. Mahone’s quest for vengeance has been one of the best things about this season of “Prison Break” and it came to fruition tonight. I loved the abruptness of Morpheus’ little speech at the end. Mahone didn’t want to hear it so he just pushed him in the bay. It sort of reminded me of the way villains would always try to kill James Bond. Instead of just putting a bullet in his head, they come up with some elaborate way of murdering him. For Mahone’s sake, hopefully Morpheus is gone for good.

Boy, there was some serious creepiness between the General and Gretchen in his office? What was with all the “my girl” talk and the open-mouth kiss? Yuk.

I’m guessing that Gretchen’s actions in the office were just a part of her overall plan to take down the General and his Company and make a crapload of money in the process. I’m not sure why she’d buy his line of reasoning after he was the one that sentenced her to death a month or so ago. Suddenly, she’s his “girl” again. Come on.

Lastly, we bid farewell to Bellick tonight. I could tell something was up when he had a couple of little moments with Lincoln. First, there was the line about how Linc should be more respectful of Roland’s death and then there was the bit where Bellick asked Linc about what it was like to be away from LJ. Bellick has been a survivor for the entire series run, so I find it hard to believe that he would sacrifice himself for the greater good like he did in this episode. Oh well… rest in peace, Brad.

External Entertainment, External TV, Prison Break, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Prison Break 4.8: “The Price”

October 21, 2008 /

This episode started with a flashback, and for a minute I thought that we were in for some great revelation about Lincoln’s past. Instead, the purpose of the flasback was to 1) demonstrate a smash and grab operation and 2) to show that Lincoln wasn’t that bad of a guy because it was his “last job.” Right.

Meanwhile, Gretchen is up to no good. She managed to broker a deal with T-Bag’s new pimp, and it looks like she’s in for a massive payday if she can deliver Scylla. T-Bag’s cut is $25 million, so we were rewarded with a story about how he killed six people for stealing his sixer of Schlitz. He and Trish Ann seem to be cozy again, and it’s going to be interesting to see if they’re able to pull over anything on Gretchen.

We spent a lot of time flashing back with Sara once she found out that Gretchen was still alive. Sara apparently doesn’t hold a grudge over the scars that G left on her back, but she is pissed off about G’s decision to kill the guard that gave her a key that ultimately led to her escape. Part of me was hoping that Sara would go nutty in the hotel room and slit G’s throat, but that’s probably a little harsh for the good doctor. Gretchen is a good foil for the gang, and while it was enjoyable to watch Don talk some serious shit to her in T-Bag’s office, methinks it’s going to be a while before she truly gets what’s coming to her.

“One day we’re going to look back and laugh about this. You know, the whole kidnapping and torture thing.”

The gang only has one card left, and it belongs to the General. Everything would have gone smoothly if that “douche bag” (Linc’s words, not mine) Roland hadn’t lost his “electronic black hole” device because he just can’t say no to gambling. This led to Roland being ostracized by the gang, which of course led to Roland reaching out to Morpheus for a possible payday.

If Roland had been able to watch Morpheus work like we have for the past few weeks, he could have predicted how his story would eventually end (like we did). Is it any shock that “Prison Break” killed off a suddenly useless cast member? The gang better hope that they don’t need to do anymore hacking, because Roland is no longer. The upside is that the character was pretty annoying, though I will miss how easily he was able to tweak Lincoln.

The gang has Morpheus and Mahone wants to kill him. He wants to kill him so bad he’s having conversations with his son’s photo. This could get ugly.

By the way, how cool is it when Michael simply says, “Alex,” and Mahone knows exactly what to do?

External Entertainment, External TV, Prison Break, TV Action, TV Dramas

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