[SPOILERS] And you thought it would just run and run? Truth is, Prison Break never really justified continuing beyond the post-escape manhunt of season 2, and its premise was always a one-season wonder at heart. But, here we are, at the tail-end of the fourth season, finally slamming the cell door shut after the cons have bolted...The finale's double-bill of "Rate Of Exchange" and "Killing Your Number" was more of the same, by and large. The show has become an exhausting farce, with characters running around trying to find macguffin Scylla (the high-tech doodad nobody really understands), only now we have two competing "forces": there's Michael's mother Christina (Kathleen Quinlan), who wants to sell Scylla into dangerous hands, make billions, but provoke global war; and there's General Krantz (Leon Russom), who wants Scylla back so his Company can sit on the technology for indeterminate reasons.
As of last week's episode, Christina has captured Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) and shot him in the lung, giving his brother Michael (Wentworth Miller) five hours to relinquish Scylla before his brother dies. Concurrently, the General is holding Michael's pregnant girlfriend Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) hostage, threatening to kill her unless Scylla is returned within the hour. This dilemma is at the heart of the finale, as Michael weighs up the situation with his only remaining compatriot, Mahone (William Fichtner). Can't he somehow rescue them both and keep hold of Scylla?
As Michael and Mahone devise ways to delay Christina and Krantz, we also catch up with Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) in Chicago, who essentially walked out on the situation mid-season. Clever guy. Here, Sucre's tracked down by a familiar face from his days behind bars -- C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar), one of the "Fox River Eight" that escaped to a normal life back in season 2. Turns out C-Note's knows a man with connections to the United Nations, who claims he can get everyone exonerated and destroy the Company if they get Scylla to him. But can he be trusted?To be honest, the events of this two-part finale blurred into one. There are lots of incidents, double-crosses, twists, deceptions, and blah-blah-blah. It's all become too repetitive to really surprise you, but with the promise of a definitive end the finale milked twice the tension of recent episodes. We at least knew there was going to be a point to all this. Prison Break has spent too long treading water, annually rewarded with renewal that just gave its writers headaches about how to keep a prison-set idea alive in the outside world.
There are some enjoyable moments that stood out, though: T-Bag (Robert Knepper) threatening Sara with rape, before realizing his former-doctor knows about he's "erectorially challenged"; Michael turning Scylla into a bomb for "traitor" Mahone to deliver to his mother and detonate; Michael scaling the General's building to rescue his girlfriend, and a few others. You could almost hear the writers squeezing every last drop of creativity from their dry sponges to keep things rolling for just two more episodes -- and they did a good enough job, all things considered.
The finale also worked as a treat for fans who have stuck with the series through thick and thin -- C-Note's sympathetic government contact turned out to be fan-favourite Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein), the former-Company agent who was a season 1 bogeyman, before redeeming himself by joining the brothers and helping Sara avoid prosecution in season 2's finale. He was last seen being assassinated by Company agents in a van, but it was filmed with enough ambiguity for his return to work -- well, just about. Fans have swallowed a beheaded Sara being written back into the show, so pretty much anything can happen and be accepted on Prison Break!One thing that the show has always had is a certain macho charisma, thanks to the sense of camaraderie between the mostly-male cast. Most aren't great actors, but there's a strong bond between them that helps sell quite a few moments.
Despite all that, it was a masterstroke to keep Dominic Purcell (by far the show's weak link, no pun intended) out of action with a punctured lung! Purcell's sidelining allowed Miller, Fichtner, Knepper and Callies to handle most of the drama, with support from Quinlan and Russom as the antagonists with endless contingency plans. And that worked fine. Everyone else floated around on the periphery until needed -- C-Note and Sucre in Chicago discussing their plan to end everyone's suffering, Don (Michael Rappaport) recovering from his gunshot injury in hospital and being pressured by the FBI into locating Michael, who's still wanted for assassinating the Indian PM's son.
To cut a long story short, after the Looney Tunes-style antics of exploding bombs, booby-traps, jammed handguns, and deceptions at every turn, Michael and Mahone finally succeed in rescuing Sara and Linc, keep hold of Scylla, shoot Christina dead, and prevent the General from killing Linc's girlfriend Sophia (Danay Garcia) on a live video-feed. And... finally.... they deliver Scylla to Kellerman and his UN buddies, who stay true to their word and facilitate their freedom in the eyes of the US government.
I have to admit that the scene with everyone sat around scribbling their signatures carried a surprising amount of weight for me, purely because these characters have struggled through a ridiculous amount of obstacles to reach their goal. Even as a viewer, it was quite cathartic to know they'd finally won! It would have been too cruel to give them a fifth season, don't you think?!However, what I especially liked about Prison Break's finale was the ten minute denouement. First we see Sara and Michael walking together on a beach, discussing their future as regular parents, but there's a tinge of sadness when Michael's nose starts to bleed again -- signifying his brain operation hasn't been a total success.
From there, we jump forward in time by four years and catch up with the main characters:
T-Bag is back inside Fox River penitentiary where he belongs (and where he has a modicum of the respect he craves), only to be enraged when he spots a con reading a GATE book; Mahone is posting a birthday card to his wife Pam, but has actually hooked up with Agent Lang (the black lady who regularly helped him through seasons 2-4); General Krantz is being wired up to the electric chair to fry for his crimes; Senator Kellerman is being cheered by a crowd as he gets into his limo, but one woman who knows about his past crimes spits in his face; dopey Don, the victim of a Company attack in hospital, is now mentally handicapped and wheelchair-bound (a harsh state of affairs that puts him in the position of his disabled late-wife); Sara has given birth to her son, four-year-old Michael (wryly getting a tattoo on his arm); and Linc is driving somewhere important. In fact, they're all converging on the same place: a beachside cemetery, where Michael Scofield's grave resides. He clearly didn't last very long from the resurgence of his tumour.
And you know what? Damn, that was raw stuff. Killing your hero. The man responsible for getting this group through a multitude of terrible situations (including two seemingly-impossible prison escapes.) Wentworth Miller isn't the best actor, but he played the character well enough and stoical Michael was always a likable and charismatic protagonist. Killing him in a coda didn't seem fair; but then again, death never does. Miller himself thought Michael should atone for the bad things his decision to spring Linc from jail set in motion -- as his intention to save his brother did ultimately cost dozens of people their lives, and created a lot of pain and suffering.It was a surprisingly tender and emotional end, actually, which was nice to see. I'll admit to feeling choked when Linc set that origami swan on his brother's headstone, too. I never thought Prison Break would touch me like that, but it did. Bravo.
Of course, Sky1 have the world premiere of "The Final Break" next week (a double-bill set between the end of this finale and the flashforward, which will undoubtedly fill some gaps.) Interestingly, the special is written by creator Paul Scheuring, who essentially washed his hands of Prison Break after season 2, and will involve Sara going to jail for killing Christina1 and the return of Gretchen (Jodi Lynn O'Keefe -- who was sadly absent in this finale, despite being credited, so I assume her scenes were cut.)
Overall, Prison Break will always be remembered as a show that grossly overstayed its welcome, but it gets my respect for choosing to embrace its silliness and ensuring it was mostly fun, fast and frenzied. This finale was a 3-star effort at heart, but the fact it resolved the storyline and provided a heartfelt denouement boosted it to 4-stars in my book.
Like the series as a whole, it was utter nonsense -- but at least it was nonsense done with conviction.
19 May 2009
Sky1, 10pm
Writers: Zack Estrin (4.21) / Matt Olmstead & Nicholas Wootton (4.22)
Directors: Bobby Roth (4.21) / Kevin Hooks (4.22)
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), Dominic Purcell (Linc), William Fichtner (Mahone), Leon Russom (General Krantz), Kathleen Quinlan (Christina), Paul Adelstein (Kellerman), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Michael Rappaport (Don), Danay Garcia (Sophia), Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note) & Amaury Nolasco (Sucre)
1. That does sound dumb, I have to say! So what, Kellerman couldn't stretch to exonerating Sarah, too? And will this special be set in a women's prison -- the proposed backdrop for a Prison Break spin-off a few years ago? I'm predicting Michael's death wasn't as simple as succumbing to ill health because of his tumour, either -- so it should be fun to see exactly what happened.
