WRITERS: Karyn Usher & Zack Estrin DIRECTOR: Bobby Roth
CAST: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), William Fichtner (Agent Mahone), Paul Adelstein (Agent Kellerman), Wade Williams (Bellick), Reggie Lee (Bill Kim), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Silas Weir Mitchell (Haywire), Jason Davis (Agent Wheeler) & Sarah Wayne Callies (Dr Sara Tancredi)
Michael and Lincoln broadcast a message to the national news, Mahone gets back to work for Mr Kim, Bellick is sent to the prison's infirmary, Haywire builds a raft and Sucre struggles to get transport across Mexico...I was wondering how long it would take the escapees to use the media. Michael and Linc finally communicate their dilemma to the nation after kidnapping a cameraman and it's great fun to see villain Mr Kim blow a gasket as a result, neatly puncturing his unflappable demeanour, while Mahone does his best to be dismissive of their claims he's a cold-blooded killer...
The Message is generally involving and should put a smile on fans' faces with its handling of the news broadcast and Bellick's situation inside Fox River prison. The rest of the episode is unfortunately pretty weak stuff, with Sucre's exodus across Mexico only mildy entertaining and suffering from a predictable twist.
Writers Karyn Usher and Zack Estrin also make a return visit to Haywire, the crazy escapee who's apparently off the FBI's radar, left to build a raft so he can sail to Holland! Haywire's storyline is meant as a comic break from the whirlwind drama, but it's becoming increasingly annoying and pointless. The Message has Haywire exacting revenge on a local teenaged girl's abusive father, but it's all inconsequential fluff. Someone arrest Haywire now, please!
The use of subliminal messages and body language "tells" in the broadcast footage is an intriguing facet to the show, proving an interesting variation on the mind-games Prison Break plays from time to time. When the opportunity arises, the show can be quite clever, and this episode provides some welcome brain workout.
However, the positives aren't enough to gloss over the negatives, keeping the episode resolutely average. Now that Terence Steadman's dead, it's uncertain how the convicts intend to expose the government conspiracy, but it's likely tied to the mysterious key Sara Tancredi was given by her father. But Prison Break will need something more exciting than finding a key to maintain my interest.
