Director: Kevin Hooks
"Quiet Riot" is the halfway mark of the 22-episode season, although there are strong rumours Prison Break may not be picked up for a full run after Christmas. As usual, the show likes to get tantalizingly close to its goal by mid-season (see: the aborted Fox River escape in season 1, or failed escape from Sona in season 3), so episode 11 finds the team finally setting their eyes on the miniature-monolith Scylla, like eager little chimps...There are less subplots this week, with the focus primarily on Michael (Wentworth Miller), Linc (Dominic Purcell), Mahone (William Fichtner) and Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) getting their hands on Scylla, by breaking through a thick concrete wall and negotiating their way to Scylla's protective glass box – without tripping the heat, noise and pressure sensitive alarms. Of course, for such a high-tech environment, it's strange nobody thought to install a simple motion-sensor, which would have foiled Michael's plan. Indeed, just a simple guard would have sufficed!
But, this is Prison Break – the problems its characters face are only as difficult as the writers need them to be, and the method of entry (involving a wire-suspended ladder, a canister of liquid nitrogen... and two umbrellas!) made for a creative, compelling, near-silent sequence. In fact, the break-in success was in stark contrast to nearly everything else – with Gretchen (Jodi Lynn O'Keefe) reduced to dressing up as a schoolgirl to entice General Krans (Leon Russom) to a hotel apartment, where she intended to seduce him and steal the last remaining Scylla data-card.
While I'm sure plenty of men will enjoy seeing Ms. O'Keefe in knee-high socks (although I personally thought she looked a bit too sleazy), it's a cheap moment that doesn't ring true. The General correctly guesses she's playing him, and yet he's unable to kill Gretchen because she's the mother of his estranged child. What, so she's not even worth torturing for information? His history with Gretchen didn't make that a problem earlier this season, and now you know she has valuable information to spill.
Slightly better is the situation at GATE, where T-Bag (Robert Knepper) amusingly turns down $50,0000 and a luxury holiday from his boss Mr. White (Michael Bryan French), who wants to say thank you for the successful pitch "Cole" gave. It's rather tragic to consider a murdering paedophile like T-Bag perhaps has aptitude as a salesman, isn't it? This episode also continues last week's surprise that T-Bag's secretary accomplice Trishanne (Shannon Lucio) is actually working undercover for Don Self (Michael Rappaport), with T-Bag and Gretchen setting them both up for capture with the help of Mr. Feng (Ron Yuan), the Chinese gangster who wants Scylla.
As usual, there's a jumble of ridiculous moments to try and ignore – not least why the team allow Michael to perform a critical role in the Scylla mission, knowing full well he's a liability because of his brain tumour. Even with the dampening effect of an injection given to people with epilepsy, it seems crazy to allow Michael to undertake the final, critical move in their plan. Also, after all this effort, nobody considered Scylla itself might have pressure sensitive alarms or a security camera positioned nearby? Was none of that on the architect's blueprints?
Overall, after ten weeks spent collecting Scylla cards, "Quiet Riot" was the resulting mini-climax with a tense, creative, and enjoyable break-in sequence. However, everything else wasn't terribly involving this week – particularly in respect of Gretchen's unclear motives. Why does she want to takedown The Company? If she just wants out, she could have vanished after her escape from Wyatt ages ago. Right now, she's involved in events seemingly because the writers just like her character and T-Bag needs someone to bounce off.
This wasn't a great episode, but the Scylla break-in was fun and the unexpected cliffhanger will definitely have you tuning in next week. Of course, as history has shown on Prison Break, it's now likely the direction of the season will shift focus. I assume Scylla will be moved elsewhere, Michael's team narrowly escape, GATE will have to be abandoned, Don and Trishanne rescued, and the Chinese element of the story will become more central to the plot.
8 November 2008
Sky1, 10pm
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Gretchen), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Michael Rapaport (Don), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), William Fichtner (Mahone), Michael Bryan French (Gregory White), Stacy Haiduk (Lisa), Leon Russom (General Krantz), Shannon Lucio (Trishanne) & Ron Yuan (Feng)
