||SPOILERS|| The versus of the title refers to two things: the fact brothers Linc (Dominic Purcell) and Michael (Wentworth Miller) are effectively working against each other in pursuit of Scylla, and initials found as part of another interminable puzzle -- one Vincent Sandinsky (Ivar Brogger), a scientist due at a Progressive Energies conference...
After the resolutely poor restart of season 4 last week, things aren't much better in "Vs.", although the episode contains more incident and one important reveal that made it worth the effort -- just. Michael and Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) are back in Miami trying to find Scylla using a coded message they found on a dead assailant (that indicates the arrival of the titular "V.S" at a Miami airport), while Linc's team are likewise chasing Scylla and follow its owner Christina (Kathleen Quinlan) to the Indian Embassy -- where she intends to sell it to an academic, and they intend to steal it.It's while in the Embassy that we finally discover what Scylla actually is. It's a database of advanced material concerning revolutionary technology that will enable genetically-modified crops that can grow in any climate. Yes, The Company have been sat on an end to world hunger, it seems.
There's really not much more to say. Prison Break's running on fumes these days, with writers Christian Trokey and Kalinda Vasquez leaning on familiar series tropes to eat up time: a coded message to decipher for Michael (ooh, initials and numbers you can input into Google Maps), and an extended Embassy break-in. Yawn. The latter provides the most fun, but the tension usually associated with the show's covert ops is beginning to run dry. And it's not helped by the silly sight of T-Bag (Robert Knepper) distracting Embassy guards by cuffing himself to their gate to protest Indian cruelty to elephants.
Essentially, it's become impossible to care about the fate of Scylla or The Company and, by turning Michael and Linc into opposing forces, well... the show's lost some of the camaraderie it once had, too. It's no fun seeing Michael and Sara as a loved-up double-act; while it's a little perplexing that Linc is leading his team, considering Mahone's a former-FBI agent who led teams of people for a living. The writing finally gets around to making Sara pregnant (nobody in TV-land practices safe sex, remember), but even the idea of Michael having an unborn baby to protect doesn't really engage me.No, Prison Break's sinking fast. The season has stretched itself too far and the storyline has become painfully thin, meaning recent episodes feel like exercises in keeping a ball rolling on a plateau. They can introduce competitive siblings, a long-lost mother, and a pregnancy, but none of it's really worth caring about.
28 April 2009
Sky1, 10pm
Writers: Christian Trokey & Kalinda Vasquez
Director: Dwight Little
Cast: Wentworth Miller (Michael), Dominic Purcell (Linc), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Michael Rappaport (Don), William Fichtner (Mahone), Steve Tom (Stuart Tuxhorn), Kathleen Quinlan (Christina), Leon Russom (Krantz), Anthony Azizi (Naveen Banerjee), Raphael Sbarge (Ralph Becker), Ted King (Downy) & Ivar Brogger (Vincent Sandinsky)
