Spoilers. A rip-roaring climax to the various plot-strands of Prison Break's fourth year; featuring long-awaited confrontations and a plot that keeps the audience in the dark for as long as possible. This series is a smorgasbord of stupidity, silliness, machismo, fun, cliché and discordant twists, but it's always made for a deliriously entertaining weekly fix...Having broken into The Company's secret underground chamber to lay their hands on Scylla, Michael (Wentworth Miller) has tripped the alarms and caused the arrival of The General (Leon Russom) and his two bodyguards. Fortunately, even this apparent misstep was part of Michael's plan, as The General and his men are quickly disarmed by Linc (Dominic Purcell), Mahone (William Fichtner) and Sucre (Amaury Nolasco). The General then watches incredulously as Michael takes his Scylla card and manages to activate the host unit with the other copies -- revealing a small device inside: Scylla.
"Selfless" is enjoyable because it appears, not for the first time, that the writers have written themselves into a tight corner. The gang's escape from the locked-down Company HQ, even with The General as a prize hostage, isn't going to be easy, and it's difficult to see how they're going to do it. We're just as confused as The General about where this is all heading, until Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) comes into play and holds Lisa (Stacy Haiduk) at gunpoint in a restaurant across town. Okay, so the sudden reveal that Lisa's The General's daughter was probably added to provide Michael with leverage, but it's a twist that actually makes sense -- as The General's rapport with Lisa always seemed deeper than any other Company head.
Elsewhere, T-Bag (Robert Knepper) and Gretchen (Jodi Lynn O'Keefe) are waiting patiently in GATE for Michael to return with Scylla, but face their own problems when it finally dawns on gullible CEO Mr. White (Michael Bryan French) that "Cole Pfeiffer" has ulterior motives -- but even then it takes seeing a huge gun under Cole's desk for him to finally twig that the one-handed slimeball isn't a high-flying salesman after all. Their cover blown, Gretchen and T-Bag have no choice but to break out their weapons and hold the GATE employees hostage -- crowding them into Mr. White's office.
Meanwhile, Agent Self (Michael Rapaport) and Trishanne (Shannon Lucio) have been caught by Mr. Feng, who had agreed to help Gretchen take the Homeland Security agents out of the equation. Fortunately, they both manage to escape, with Don rushing back to his office to hear word about the Scylla operation, as Trishanne arrives back at GATE and attempts to help her co-workers escape. Oddly, nobody thinks to call the police using one of the office phones, as T-Bag and Gretchen discuss matters in a separate area. Inevitably, the situation descends into chaos when Mr. White tries to flee and Trishanne (cute as a button, but the world's most implausible Fed) starts shooting...
For fans, "Selfless" gives us the first shared scene between Michael and The General -- which didn't deliver the expected chills, but was nevertheless good fun. Russom was particularly strong, finally given an interesting situation to play, intead of just sit behind a desk looking authoritative and make threatening phone calls. Seeing his confidence slowly crumble, ultimately leading to his total defeat and inability to think up a countermove, was very satisfying. Indeed, the whole escape from Company HQ and avoidance of Company agents at an airport, was tense, fun, unpredictable and plausible.
The overriding feeling throughout this episode was anxiety, as we awaited the unavoidable twist to keep the series going, as events drew closer and closer to an impossibly neat, tidy ending. There's always been a degree of schadenfreude to savour in Prison Break's characters, and the rug-pulling climax managed to surprise -- when, after succeeding in their mission, it becomes clear that Agent Self has never had any intention of using Scylla to takedown The Company, and welches on his promise to free Michael's team as their reward. The rotter.
Now, whether or not it's always been the writers' intention to unmask Don as a traitor is up for debate (it wouldn't be the first time they've changed a character's loyalty for an easy surprise), but it worked well. In hindsight, I suppose Michael's team did place too much faith that Don was on the level.
So, does this mean Don has a Mr. Feng-style buyer lined up for Scylla and intends to pocket the $125 million? Michael and the gang will apparently have to go rogue to get Scylla back from Don, while avoiding The Company's attempts to steal it back from them. Is there enough material there for Act II of this season? How will T-Bag factor into things, now he's been caught by Don? It's hard to see why Don wouldn't just kill him to tie-up a loose-end. Incidentally, is T-Bag's character on the precipice of reform? He seemed genuinely upset to see his cushy GATE job come to an end, and obviously saw his alter-ego Cole Pfeiffer as a legitimate new start in life.
Overall, there were still some rough patches and a few unintentionally funny/stupid moments sprinkled throughout this episode, but "Selfless" was undeniably entertaining and gripping a good 90% of the time.
25 November 2008
Sky1, 10pm
Writer: Kalinda Vazquez
Director: Michael Switzer
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Michael Rapaport (Don), William Fichtner (Mahone), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Gretchen), Ron Yuan (Feng), Michael Bryan French (Gregory White), Stacy Haiduk (Lisa Tabak), Shannon Lucio (Trishanne), Leon Russom (General Krantz), Kevin Sizemore (Harlan), Graham McTavish (Ferguson), Kevin O'Neill (Herb Stanton) & Jamison Haase (Damani)
