WRITERS: Paul Scheuring & Karyn Usher DIRECTOR: Nelson McCormick
CAST: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), William Fichtner (Agent Mahone), Paul Adelstein (Agent Kellerman), Sarah Wayne Callies (Dr Sara Tancredi), Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Reggie Lee (Bill Kim), Stacy Keach (Henry Pope), Michael Gohlke (Young Theodore), Joel Stoffer (OId Man Bagwell), Zachary Friedman (Cameron Mahone), Helena Klevorn (Dede Franklin), Rachel Lora (Theresa Hollander), Quinn Wermeling (Zack Hollander), Danielle Campbell (Gracey Hollander) & Camille Guaty (Maricruz Delgado)
Henry Pope's help is required to open a box with the mysterious Tancredi key, Sucre arrives at the airport for Maricruz, C-Note struggles to help his sick daughter and T-Bag goes home...There's a moment in Bad Blood when Danielle asks her psychotic ex-boyfriend T-Bag "where are we going?" It's a question on the tongue of every Prison Break fan right now, as the second season begins to crawl after its hectic first half.
I suspect even the writers aren't sure what's going to happen next. The demands of US television are rigorous and particularly cruel to serialized showed expected to maintain pace. For that reason I afford Prison Break some leeway whenever a dud episode surfaces, particularly as the semi-improv writing often creates enjoyable (if ludicrous) turns of events.
Bad Blood contains four straight-forward plots. First and foremost, Lincoln and Sara plead with ex-Fox River prison warden Henry Pope (Stacy Keach) to open Governor Tancredi's deposit box, who he has access to on account of his membership to a Cigar Club. Yep, it's as simple as opening a box...
Elsewhere, lovesick Sucre continues his quest to sweep sweetheart Maricruz off her feet, in a story that essentially boils down to him arriving at an airport and just running away with her.
At the moment actor Amaury Nolasco is the one burdened with the most inconsequential plot on the show. That said, Robert Knepper is running a close second as T-Bag. From the beginning of season 2 I predicted Knepper's wonderful portrayal would lose its bite in the outside world, and my prediction has come true. As creepy Theodore Bagwell, Knepper has the odd good moment, but he's less threatening and increasingly impotent outside of his jail cell.
The interminable story of T-Bag kidnapping his last victim's family reaches a crescendo when they arrive at T-Bag's family home; a rundown shack that affords us flashbacks to Theodore's childhood. It appears he was gifted and literate in childhood, but also abused by his father and unhappy at his "child prodigy" status. The flashbacks are nice scenes that offer an intriguing insight into T-Bag's past, but this storyline has stretched credibility and is quite rightly brought to an end.
C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar) is another con flapping around on the periphery to the main action, but atleast he has a more plausible situation to contend with. This episode is taken up with his attempt to find medical assistance for his sick daughter -- something that proves to be difficult even without being a fugitive (God bless the money-grabbing US health system, eh?) On the positive side, C-Note's storyline is resolved and a more interesting twist is made for his character.
But, as always, it's the conspiracy plot concerning Lincoln, Michael, Sara and Kellerman that you're most interested in. Bad Blood's plot might be overly simplistic, but it's great to see original co-star Stacy Keach back as Henry Pope and Bad Blood ends with a major piece of the jigsaw ready to be pushed into place.
Overall, Prison Break continues to falter after a surprisingly effective first half. It's great to see the writers terminating the tiresome T-Bag and C-Note sub-plots, but I'm yet to be convinced that the show can reach its finale on a highnote. I certainly can't imagine what form a third season would take...
