Writer: Nick Santora
Director: Kevin Hooks
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), William Fichtner (Alexander Mahone), Wade Williams (Brad Bellick), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Robert Wisdom (Lechero), Chris Vance (James Whistler), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Susan B. Anthony), Danay Garcia (Sofia), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Joseph Melendez (Rafael), Carlo Alban (McGrady), Marshall Allman (LJ Burrows), Gustavo Mellado (Alfonso Gallego), Julio Cedillo (General Mestas) & Marco Rodriguez
The escape from Sona gets underway, but not everyone makes it through the tunnel and across No Man's Land...
As I guessed last week, Prison Break wisely decides to divide its third season into a crossbreed of seasons 1 and 2, by setting in motion a narrative split...
The separation begins when Lechero (Robert Wisdom), Bellick (Wade Williams) and T-Bag (Robert Knepper) only make it a few steps across No Man's Land from their tunnel, before the backup generates fires up and armed guards shoot Lechero and capture the others. Michael (Wentworth Miller), Whistler (Chris Vance), McGrady (Carlo Alban) and Mahone (William Fichtner) wait behind in the tunnel, where Michael reveals this apparent spanner-in-the-works is all part of his plan...
Beyond the fence, Linc (Dominic Purcell) is anxiously awaiting news from Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), unaware he's being held by a Sona guard who suspects him of being an ex-con. Elsewhere, Susan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) waits patiently in a van with hostages LJ (Marshall Allman) and Sofia (Danay Garcia), listening to radio reports of a jailbreak from Sona...
Sona is being locked down by furious officials, who frogmarch Lechero, Bellick and T-Bag back inside, and line up all the prisoners for a roll-call. General Mestas (Julio Cedillo) has Bellick beaten up (oh, how the writers enjoy torturing Brad!), who quickly spills the beans about the escape tunnel underneath Lechero's quarters.
With their hiding place about to be discovered, Michael waits for guards to pass by their camouflaged hole, before creeping out with Whistler, McGrady and Mahone -- to hide under parked jeeps, until they make a sprint for the burned-through fence perimeter. Mestas' men arrive at the escape tunnel, finding it empty, and the General orders an immediate manhunt of the local area...
We're back in season 2 territory as Michael's group make a desperate run through the jungle, chased by armed guards and dogs -- even finding time for the cliché of someone spraining their ankle (Whistler, who else). Meanwhile, Sucre is stuck in the guard house, handcuffed to a filing cabinet as chaos reigns around him, unable to contact Linc and let him know his part in the plan is about to unravel...
At the beach, Linc meets the escapees and they unearth that mysterious box he buried in the sand episodes ago (forget about that, did you?), and takes out small oxygen tanks he'd stashed. It's now that injured Whistler notices he's dropped his bird book during the escape, which contains the coordinates the Company have been after all along. Couldn't you just slap him? Unable to consider the ramifications just yet, they all start to swim out to sea, as Sona guards arrive on the beach and can't find any trace of them...
Offshore, the escapees eventually arrive at a buoy and await the arrival of Sucre in his boat. Uh-oh. Sucre is pleading to be let go, given the tense situation around the prison, but doesn't have any luck. Elsewhere, McGrady's father Alfonso Gallego (Gustavo Mellado), notices that Sucre's boat hasn't left the marina yet, so saves the day by taking it out to the buoy – picking up the escapees just as they were beginning to get fatigued, and the Sona guards discover the escapees buried box (now containing their shoes), and orders in the help of the coast guard.
Back inside Sona, Bellick is being beaten to a pulp (seriously, does someone hate Wade Williams?) for information on the escape – but he doesn't have any to give. At a dead-end with him, they march T-Bag out to the guard house, and he stumbles to the ground on the way, noticing Whistler's bird book on the ground, and picks it up...
On dry land, the escapees get fresh clothes from a jeep and McGrady parts company with them, thanking Michael for his help. Heading off in their jeep, Linc makes contact with Susan to begin arrangements for the exchange (Whistler for LJ and Sofia). It turns out Susan is one-step ahead, having planted a homing beacon in the stop-watch she gave Whistler last week, and two Company cars arrive to stop them.
Linc manages to knock one car off the road, and they take refuge inside an old shack. A gunfight ensues between the escapees and some Company men, but Susan arrives and realizes it's been a trick – as gunshots from the shack are recordings Linc had set-up earlier. Remember that episode? Hey, they really did have a plan after all!
The escapee have driven off from the shack in a new vehicle, arriving at an abandoned factory, where Linc takes great pleasure in ordering Susan to follow his orders for a change – as final arrangements are made for the exchange -- on Linc's terms.
T-Bag is facing torture by electrocution to his genitals (crossed legs everywhere from male viewers), unless he reveals information about where the escapees are headed. Unable to provide answers, he catches sight of Sucre next door and names him as an accomplice.
Waiting in the factory, Linc reveals he's never forgiven Mahone for killing his father, and threatens him at gunpoint – with Michael doing his best to calm his brother down. Whistler uses the situation as a diversion and makes a run for freedom; likewise Mahone when Linc and Michael give chase. Whistler manages to commandeer a nearby truck (that ankle injury was faked) and drives off, leaving Michael and Linc with nobody to exchange for LJ's safety... and Susan is on the way...
Clearly a vital episode, Hell Or High Water delivers a blistering episode of entertainment – once again threatening to derail at times with daft moments (Michael's escape was very fluky), the odd cliché (sprained ankle; "go on without me"!), dumb plot-contrivances (Whistler lost the most important bird book on the planet!), and the total irrelevance of McGrady as a character this year. Did anyone get invested in McGrady's intended father/son rapportwith Michael? I didn't think so.
But the episode worked thanks to the pure adrenaline rush Prison Break delivers when it has its action head on, and provided welcome pay-offs to Linc's mysterious box burial and the gunshot recordings he made with Sucre. Season 3 is rumoured to be the last for the show, so it's wise that the writers have basically decided to make this last-hurrah a heady mix of both previous years.
Will the second half of season 3 involve Michael and Linc trying to find Whistler, with Susan on their tails, whilst perhaps having to break into Sona to retrieve T-Bag and/or the bird book? I'm not sure. And that's the great thing about Prison Break – it's so freewheeling and unpredictable, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of intelligence and plausibility.
Overall, this was a relentlessly thrilling episode that's unmissable if you've been following Prison Break this year, or since it began. It has its faults and silly moments (quite a few of them), but I doubt you'll want to turn away from the screen at any moment. And that's why you watch the show.
18 February 2008
Sky One, 10.00 pm
Director: Kevin Hooks
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), William Fichtner (Alexander Mahone), Wade Williams (Brad Bellick), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Robert Wisdom (Lechero), Chris Vance (James Whistler), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Susan B. Anthony), Danay Garcia (Sofia), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Joseph Melendez (Rafael), Carlo Alban (McGrady), Marshall Allman (LJ Burrows), Gustavo Mellado (Alfonso Gallego), Julio Cedillo (General Mestas) & Marco Rodriguez
The escape from Sona gets underway, but not everyone makes it through the tunnel and across No Man's Land..."Gotta commend you on that boom-box trick. Very
sophisticated. You steal that one from Home Alone?"
sophisticated. You steal that one from Home Alone?"
-- Susan B. Anthony (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe)
As I guessed last week, Prison Break wisely decides to divide its third season into a crossbreed of seasons 1 and 2, by setting in motion a narrative split...
The separation begins when Lechero (Robert Wisdom), Bellick (Wade Williams) and T-Bag (Robert Knepper) only make it a few steps across No Man's Land from their tunnel, before the backup generates fires up and armed guards shoot Lechero and capture the others. Michael (Wentworth Miller), Whistler (Chris Vance), McGrady (Carlo Alban) and Mahone (William Fichtner) wait behind in the tunnel, where Michael reveals this apparent spanner-in-the-works is all part of his plan...
Beyond the fence, Linc (Dominic Purcell) is anxiously awaiting news from Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), unaware he's being held by a Sona guard who suspects him of being an ex-con. Elsewhere, Susan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) waits patiently in a van with hostages LJ (Marshall Allman) and Sofia (Danay Garcia), listening to radio reports of a jailbreak from Sona...
Sona is being locked down by furious officials, who frogmarch Lechero, Bellick and T-Bag back inside, and line up all the prisoners for a roll-call. General Mestas (Julio Cedillo) has Bellick beaten up (oh, how the writers enjoy torturing Brad!), who quickly spills the beans about the escape tunnel underneath Lechero's quarters.
With their hiding place about to be discovered, Michael waits for guards to pass by their camouflaged hole, before creeping out with Whistler, McGrady and Mahone -- to hide under parked jeeps, until they make a sprint for the burned-through fence perimeter. Mestas' men arrive at the escape tunnel, finding it empty, and the General orders an immediate manhunt of the local area...
We're back in season 2 territory as Michael's group make a desperate run through the jungle, chased by armed guards and dogs -- even finding time for the cliché of someone spraining their ankle (Whistler, who else). Meanwhile, Sucre is stuck in the guard house, handcuffed to a filing cabinet as chaos reigns around him, unable to contact Linc and let him know his part in the plan is about to unravel...
At the beach, Linc meets the escapees and they unearth that mysterious box he buried in the sand episodes ago (forget about that, did you?), and takes out small oxygen tanks he'd stashed. It's now that injured Whistler notices he's dropped his bird book during the escape, which contains the coordinates the Company have been after all along. Couldn't you just slap him? Unable to consider the ramifications just yet, they all start to swim out to sea, as Sona guards arrive on the beach and can't find any trace of them...
Offshore, the escapees eventually arrive at a buoy and await the arrival of Sucre in his boat. Uh-oh. Sucre is pleading to be let go, given the tense situation around the prison, but doesn't have any luck. Elsewhere, McGrady's father Alfonso Gallego (Gustavo Mellado), notices that Sucre's boat hasn't left the marina yet, so saves the day by taking it out to the buoy – picking up the escapees just as they were beginning to get fatigued, and the Sona guards discover the escapees buried box (now containing their shoes), and orders in the help of the coast guard.
Back inside Sona, Bellick is being beaten to a pulp (seriously, does someone hate Wade Williams?) for information on the escape – but he doesn't have any to give. At a dead-end with him, they march T-Bag out to the guard house, and he stumbles to the ground on the way, noticing Whistler's bird book on the ground, and picks it up...
On dry land, the escapees get fresh clothes from a jeep and McGrady parts company with them, thanking Michael for his help. Heading off in their jeep, Linc makes contact with Susan to begin arrangements for the exchange (Whistler for LJ and Sofia). It turns out Susan is one-step ahead, having planted a homing beacon in the stop-watch she gave Whistler last week, and two Company cars arrive to stop them.
Linc manages to knock one car off the road, and they take refuge inside an old shack. A gunfight ensues between the escapees and some Company men, but Susan arrives and realizes it's been a trick – as gunshots from the shack are recordings Linc had set-up earlier. Remember that episode? Hey, they really did have a plan after all!
The escapee have driven off from the shack in a new vehicle, arriving at an abandoned factory, where Linc takes great pleasure in ordering Susan to follow his orders for a change – as final arrangements are made for the exchange -- on Linc's terms.
T-Bag is facing torture by electrocution to his genitals (crossed legs everywhere from male viewers), unless he reveals information about where the escapees are headed. Unable to provide answers, he catches sight of Sucre next door and names him as an accomplice.
Waiting in the factory, Linc reveals he's never forgiven Mahone for killing his father, and threatens him at gunpoint – with Michael doing his best to calm his brother down. Whistler uses the situation as a diversion and makes a run for freedom; likewise Mahone when Linc and Michael give chase. Whistler manages to commandeer a nearby truck (that ankle injury was faked) and drives off, leaving Michael and Linc with nobody to exchange for LJ's safety... and Susan is on the way...
Clearly a vital episode, Hell Or High Water delivers a blistering episode of entertainment – once again threatening to derail at times with daft moments (Michael's escape was very fluky), the odd cliché (sprained ankle; "go on without me"!), dumb plot-contrivances (Whistler lost the most important bird book on the planet!), and the total irrelevance of McGrady as a character this year. Did anyone get invested in McGrady's intended father/son rapportwith Michael? I didn't think so.
But the episode worked thanks to the pure adrenaline rush Prison Break delivers when it has its action head on, and provided welcome pay-offs to Linc's mysterious box burial and the gunshot recordings he made with Sucre. Season 3 is rumoured to be the last for the show, so it's wise that the writers have basically decided to make this last-hurrah a heady mix of both previous years.
Will the second half of season 3 involve Michael and Linc trying to find Whistler, with Susan on their tails, whilst perhaps having to break into Sona to retrieve T-Bag and/or the bird book? I'm not sure. And that's the great thing about Prison Break – it's so freewheeling and unpredictable, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of intelligence and plausibility.
Overall, this was a relentlessly thrilling episode that's unmissable if you've been following Prison Break this year, or since it began. It has its faults and silly moments (quite a few of them), but I doubt you'll want to turn away from the screen at any moment. And that's why you watch the show.
18 February 2008
Sky One, 10.00 pm
