Director: Jesse Bochco
Spoilers. As we approach the mid-season finale, Prison Break goes through its motions: cramming in lots of action and torture, with ridiculous solutions, reactions and awkward attempts to appear emotionally and morally complex. But it's not really; post-season 1, Prison Break's storylines have just been knotted balls of yarn the writers tease apart as best they can, before sometimes reaching for the scissors…"Greatness Achieved" splits the narrative three ways: Michael (Wentworth Miller), Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), Bellick (Wade Williams) and Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) arrive at the GATE offices to find the access point to Scylla, as T-Bag (Robert Knepper) tries to maintain their cover during work hours. Elsewhere, Gretchen (Jodi Lynn O'Keefe) holds General Krantz (Leon Russom) at gunpoint, forcing him to try and reason with her, and Don (Michael Rappaport) tries to extract information from the captured Wyatt (Cress Williams), before allowing Mahone (William Fichtner) to avenge the murder of his son.
It's a heady confection, that ultimately boils down to quite a few enjoyable but simple-minded moments. The mission to find Scylla remains patently absurd, as I can't fathom why the Company would keep a glorified data-reader in the bowels of a building. Last week, it was inferred Scylla is of a different nature than we've been led to believe, but in this episode The General mentions it holds information, so it's clearly not a bomb or suchlike. To be honest, the writers are so quick to retcon their own ideas that I've lost interest now -- just wake me up when they've settled on their story.
The whole situation at GATE strains credibility even more than usual, with T-Bag's bosses still believing he's super-salesman Cole Pfeiffer and appearing blind to anything that would arouse suspicion in the stupidest of people. It's actually quite comical that a one-handed, sweaty, goatee'd, slimeball paedophile can somehow blag his way around a high-flying office, with the inexplicable solidarity of receptionist Trishanne (Shannon Lucio).
Gretchen's subplot is rather trite, and annoyingly puts her character back on the Company payroll, which doesn't ring true and deletes the previous idea to have her retaliate against the Company. I suppose there's vague hope she's only pretending to be in league with The General again, but the distasteful intimation that The General and Gretchen have a sexual history was seemingly added as an emotional shortcut to have them patch things up by the episode's end. It's also true that The General is considerably less threatening now he's been given a voice, a name, and edges close to panic over Scylla's well-being. Some of his development has been necessary and unavoidable now he's a major character, but I hope the writers find a way to make him feel more intimidating again -- as his intensity has been diluted in season 4.
I'm also pretty sure the writers of Prison Break spend their leisure time researching horrible torture methods, as it's an easy way to get a reaction from an audience. Here, Wyatt is on the receiving end of pain, but doesn't look very likely to break. Oddly, a moment where he tries to convince Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) that her profession as a doctor means she can't possibly let him die, isn't taken anywhere. It's just brought up and left to hang.
Regardless, Mahone gets Wyatt to crack by inserting needles up his fingertips and shocking his heart with a defibrillator if his body begins to shut down from the pain. It's quite a gruesome torture that Jack Bauer might even wince over, and even my thirst to see Mahone avenge his son's death didn't make it any more palatable. In fact, beyond the last-minute shock that they actually chose to terminate Wyatt (the best new character, by far), this subplot's ugliness overshadowed the intended catharsis of Mahone meting out justice.
But Wyatt's not the only one to meet his maker this week. There's a creative, but rather silly plan to reach Scylla beneath T-Bag's office, which means Michael and his team have to tunnel through an enormous water-pipe. As Linc and Bellick head above ground to turn off the city's water, Michael and Sucre have to cut holes through the pipe and slot another pipe through, providing tunnel-like access. As luck would have it, they have the right equipment and ropes to achieve this unexpected task!
Putting aside the ridiculous nature of this story, this episode marks the first time Michael's brain illness impacts events -- as he becomes dizzy, uncoordinated and experiences double-vision. But the big news rests with Bellick, who sacrifices himself in the water-pipe to ensure the tunnel-pipe is positioned correctly. It didn't surprise me to see Bellick written out of the series (his character was redundant in season 3, and incongruous in season 4), but I'm glad he died in a noble fashion, which befits someone who's been with the show since day one.
Overall, "Greatness Achieved" (alluding to Bellick?) was a ludicrously enjoyable and frustrating as usual, but I'm growing impatient with the fuzziness over Scylla and the backtracking with Gretchen was disappointing. I'm glad Bellick was finally sent packing, but it seems a shame to kill Wyatt so soon. Surprising? Definitely. A good idea? Perhaps not. Still, half the fun with Prison Break is seeing the writers tie themselves in knots and watching to see if they can squirm free.
4 November 2008
Sky1, 10pm
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), Wade Williams (Brad), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Gretchen), William Fichtner (Mahone), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln), Shannon Lucio (Trishanne), Michael Rapaport (Don Self), Cress Williams (Wyatt), Leon Russom (General Krantz), Michael Bryan French (Gregory White), Stacy Haiduk (Lisa Tabak), Michael Wiseman (Detective Conor Mara) & Dan Sachoff (Aide)
