WRITER: Karyn Usher DIRECTOR: Dwight Little
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), Wade Williams (Bellick), Camille Guaty (Maricruz Delgado), Karl Makinen (Derek Sweeney), Kevin Dunn (Cooper Green), Barbara Eve Harris (Lang), Jason Davis (Agent Wheeler) & Patricia Wettig (President Reynolds)
Michael blackmails President Reynolds, Lincoln secures them an exit strategy, Bellick tracks Sucre, T-Bag loses his millions at the airport and Mahone finds Sara...After discovering the evidence against President Reynolds won't hold water in a court of law because the date of their voice recording can't be authenticated, Michael and Lincoln have other plans...
Sweet Caroline sees the belated return of Patricia Wettig as corrupt President Reynolds, who's marvellous here. Her face-to-face confrontation with Michael is one of those moments Prison Break fans have been waiting ages for... and it delivers. It's also great to see the deliciously smarmy Bill Kim (Reggie Lee) get his hands dirty for once during a violent interrogation of Michael.
As usual, the subplots struggle to be anywhere near as interesting as the brothers' titanic struggle. T-Bag is briefly seen, sweating over his $5 million swag going through an airport's baggage handling system. C-Note's suicide attempt last week is also continued, but not enough to really impinge on the episode. The main subplots involve Sucre's love nest being blown by Bellick, Lincoln using an old friend to get transport away from the U.S and Agent Mahone finding Sara in her hotel room.
The latter is particularly good, with the doctor picking up on Mahone's drug abuse. The pair enjoy some great scenes throughout the episode, with Mahone again proving himself a very complex and enjoyable character.
But the meat of the show rests on President Reynolds and Michael. Wentworth Miller is a strange lead actor in this show's second season, as he's usually little more than an engine to fuel various plots. There's rarely any real character-building going on, certainly not like last year when the intimate prison setting relied on character development. So it's great when Miller actually has something to do!
Viewers will relish a particular reveal about the President's relationship with her brother Terrence Steadman, which twists the controversy into a different area, while the entire episode has that "premature finale" feeling last seen with The Killing Box.
A strong episode that manages to keep Prison Break cruising along, although it's bewildering how it manages to keep going. As we near the end of season 2, I'm at a loss to where the direction will go in season 3. Another year of running? Another stretch in jail?
Of course, for quality's sake, I think Prison Break should reach a conclusion now before it stretches its thin concept to breaking point...
