Spoilers. By rights, the mid-season finale should have been "Selfless", as Prison Break has awkwardly plodded on past that ideal twist-ending, trying to sculpt a half-baked reason to justify its existence. Cynics might say that's been the case since Michael Scofield scaled Fox River's wall back in season 1. "The Sunshine State" scores points for narrative momentum, now that it's decided on its new direction, but loses them entirely for concocting such a ridiculous, improbable gambit...Linc is now working for The General, having agreed to retrieve Scylla as payment for The Company's life-saving operation to remove his brother Michael's brain tumour, on the understanding they'll all be left alone when Scylla is back safe and sound. Yeah, he hasn't learned anything from past events, and thus proves he's as dumb as he looks...
Inexplicably, The General thinks that Linc should lead a team to track down Scylla's thief, Scott Carruth (Titus Welliver); a group that includes the two people who made the botched exchange in the first place (Gretchen and Don) and regular third-wheel T-Bag. All of them are liars with shaky morals and questionable ethics, so quite why they'd agree to help The Company is anyone's guess. Add to that the question: why would The General entrust Scylla's safe return to the people responsible for stealing, selling and losing it in the first place!
Elsewhere, Michael wakes up after his brain op, like Patrick McGoohan from The Prisoner, transported to the Prison Break version of The Village (a remote cabin, 60 miles from the nearest town). Here, he faces psychological turmoil from enigmatic shrink Dr. Roger Knowlton (John Getz), who has some surprising news for Michael regarding his long-dead mother and The Company's true motives.
Half the episode is taken up with Team Linc, trying to trace the mysterious Carruth before Scylla is lost to them forever. But it's very difficult to believe in this new set-up, particularly once a clean-shaven T-Bag reveals he's in cahoots with The General and is keeping him informed of developments. How this happened, why T-Bag decided to trust a villain he's never even met, or how he got The General's cell-phone number are questions you'll just have to answer yourself. Good luck. While you're at it, how did Mahone find Linc – and why, as an intelligent man, he forgets to mention how hopelessly ridiculous this scheme is, and blindly joins their team on the grounds of owing Linc a favour. Indeed, much of "The Sunshine State" contained developments and changes of allegiance that made me consider the possibility I'd missed an episode or two.
Another sizeable problem was the amount of double-crossing that happens in a typical episode of Prison Break; because they've now lost all sense of surprise. It's now unusual for a scene to end without someone changing their half-established loyalty. In particular, Gretchen pin-balls around the fidelity board in this episode – being relatively palsy with Don and T-Bag (who were threatening her daughter's life a few episodes ago), makes a sexual advance on Linc (whose life she ruined in season 3), sides with Carruth once she tracks him down single-handed, only to renege on that decision during the final confrontation – for which she's rewarded with a belly-full of lead. But don't worry, her survival is almost guaranteed, if only because Prison Break relies on "surprise returns" and will doubtless utilize Gretchen for one soon enough.
In the end, Sarah finds an unexpected ally in The General's estranged daughter Lisa (Stacy Haiduk), who gives her Michael's location, and helps him get away from his captors after he masterminds another McGuyver-like escape plan. The big twist as the mid-season finale is the reveal that Michael and Linc's mother Christine (Kathleen Quinlan) really is alive, and also Scylla's secret buyer. A predictable development and, historically, once a television series starts retconning their own history like this, it doesn't bode well.
In its favour, Prison Break has been jumping sharks for quite a few years now, and it's usually able to make you forget all the inconsistencies with sheer bravado and the charisma of its actors. The same might also be true here, but with rumours Prison Break is facing cancellation before its twenty-second episode, I just hope the writers find a way to bring this series to a half-decent finish if asked to do a premature finale. Or have they truly lost the plot and exhausted audience's goodwill, as seems to be the case?
29 December 2008
Sky1, 10pm
Writers: Matt Olmstead & Nicholas Wootton
Director: Kevin Hooks
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), William Fichtner (Mahone), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (Gretchen), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Amaury Nolasco (Sucre), Michael Rapaport (Don), Stacy Haiduk (Lisa), Leon Russom (General Krantz), Kathleen Quinlan (Christina Scofield), Crystal Allen (Tia Hayden), John Getz (Dr. Roger Knowlton), Titus Welliver (Scott Carruth) & Graham McTavish (Ferguson)
