WRITER: Paul T. Scheuring DIRECTOR: Kevin Hooks
CAST: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), William Fichtner (Agent Mahone), Paul Adelstein (Agent Kellerman), Sarah Wayne Callies (Dr Sara Tancredi), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Reggie Lee (Bill Kim), Wade Williams (Bellick), Callie Thorne (Pam Mahone), Leon Russom (Pad Man), Mark Harelick (Marty Gregg) & Wilbur Fitzgerald (Bruce Bennett)
WARNING! SPOILERS! WARNING! SPOILERS! WARNING! SPOILERS!
T-Bag and Bellick are jailed, Mahone plots to steal Michael's boat and Kellerman gives evidence at Sara's trial...The season finale has certainly sneaked up, perhaps because there have already been two episodes that involved more natural places to climax (The Killing Box's escape redux and Sweet Caroline's conspiracy game-change). But here it is, nevertheless, courtesy of series creator Paul T. Scheuring, who tends to reserve the best stuff for himself.
Sona is certainly one of the episode's strongest episodes in terms of pure incident, with every character facing comeuppence or salvation (with a cruel twist, of course.) As always when reviewing season finale's, the following will contain major spoilers, so you've been warned.
Agent Mahone, the wonderful William Fichtner (who has saved this season from burnout on many occassions), holds Lincoln hostage in a warehouse, to lure Michael out of hiding. Mahone has been a very interesting character to see develop this year, blessed with interesting motivations and backstory.
I rarely mention Dominic Purcell in Prison Break reviews, mainly because his performances as Lincoln never elicit much response in me. Purcell just doesn't have much acting range, but he's reliably gruff and stoic. Meanwhile, Wentworth Miller is undeniably charismatic as Michael, but he rarely gets much opportunity to do anything but smoulder. That he succeeds as a leading man speaks more of audience sympathy for his character's plight than any acting skills.
A problem Prison Break has always faced is ensuring its sprawling TV formay doesn't bleed its premise dry. The best examples of the genre are movies (Great Escape and Shawshank Redemption), but while the premise would have been best served as a mini-series, I have to admit the "manhunt" conceit of season 2 has been interesting. It hasn't been without problems (great characters like T-Bag are castrated by freedom) and it contained periods of frustration, but it's always been enjoyable.
The question on most people's lips is how can the show sustain itself for a third season? Surely that's pushing things too far? Well, against expectation, Paul T. Scheuring makes some brave choices that left me eager to see Prison Break return...
By the episode's end, the tired conspiracy plot is finally resolved and Lincoln is acquitted following Kellerman's speech at Sara's trial -- before he's apparently killed. Other loose ends are tied up, such as the $5 million swag, while characters all meet a variety of ends: devious Bill Kim is shot, T-Bag's deal is welched on, Sucre fails to find Maricruz, Bellick is shipped off to prison, Mahone is framed for drug-smuggling and Sara arrives in Panama live to live happily ever after with Michael... as if.
In the closing moments, a brief appetiser of what to expect in season 3 is offered: "Pad Man" is shown to be military General at a Research Facility (foreshadowing Michael is a government experiment?) and Michael himself is thrown into a foreign prison -- the titular Sona.
And what a vision Sona is. Populated by transexuals and brutish deviants, the place is a repugnant hellhole of terrible living conditions with no signs of authority. It makes Fox River look like the Ritz. One thing's for sure, the return to prison should be very interesting next year. In a sly reversal it looks like dumb Lincoln is going to have to get brainiac Michael out... and tattoo'd building plans are no longer an option!
