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So what's in the box on 'Prison Break'?
Dear David Fincher, I hope that you don't mind that we decided to rip off the ending of your very fine movie Seven for the shocking cliffhanger to our frequently less-than-fine FOX series. Rest assured that we didn't steal it entirely. Gwyneth Paltrow's head is quite safe. Yours in thievery, The Producers of Prison Break.
[Spoilers coming.]
OK. When, at the end of Monday (Oct. 1) night's Prison Break, Susan B. Anthony (Jodi Lynn O'Keefe cornering Panama's pancake makeup market) told Linc that she'd left a surprise in the garage by the trash, how many of you yelled at your TV, "It's Gwyneth's head in a box!" Hands up?
Two-thirds of the class? Good.
Now obviously it isn't really going to be LJ or Sarah's head in that box, or probably any part of their anatomy, or at least any important part of their anatomy. The people who want James Whistler out of prison are smart enough to know that if they kill Linc's son, Linc the Sink will go crazy and wipe out more Panamanians than yellow fever and that if they kill Michael's girlfriend, he'll crawl into a corner and make that "I'm constipated and unhappy" face until everybody has wasted away (Michael gets pouty).
At least the dick-in-a-box conclusion -- now *that* would be unexpected -- gave fans something to talk about. The rest of the episode was, well, counter-productive. By the time the closing credits rolled, not only was Michael no closer to getting himself out of prison (though he did squint as he looked out the bars, suggesting he might just have an idea), but his major activity for the episode (securing a phone and somehow getting to talk to his honey-bunny) made everything worse.
Here's the thing: If you don't have Sarah Wayne Callies available, it behooves you to have as little of Dr. Tancredi's presence in an episode as possible. Instead, we had to put up with Sarah's weirdly complicated proof-of-life/distress signal picture (what would have happened if there hadn't been a story on the front page about Santa Rita?), the hollow disembodied voice at the other end of the phone (for a while I thought they'd sampled dialogue from previous episodes) and then we had to see the back of the body double's head (in the midst of a scene dominated by jarring fades). Finally, when Linc made his daring rescue attempt, Fake Sarah was nowhere to be seen. Stop forcing our attention to the fact that you don't have all of your actors!
Maybe that tackiness was meant as a distraction from the mechanics that got Michael the cell phone in the firs place. Did T-Bag use Lechero's 2:00 head-shaving appointment as his ruse? Did he really think that would take 30 minutes? Is swishy hairdresser Pistachio (I kid you not) really so chatty? Why did Lechero need a haircut so desperately anyway? That's the sort of thing where it should add to the plot, not just be arbitrary.
You want a sense of creative desperation? Bellick spent this entire episode wandering around for a matching shoe, going to far as to offer his rear in sexual congress to the prison queen (you'd have thought that getting out of his diaper would have helped restore his dignity for a while) just so that the former guard, thankfully now mostly clothed, could be nearby to hear Mahone loudly accost Michael with information that might possibly have been better whispered. In a corner. Rather than yelled. In the middle of a cellblock.
And what did we learn about the grand mystery involving Whistler? He seemed to have taken the wrong naturalist to the wrong part of the Pacific Northwest. The book of birds was just where he took the notes on his coordinate ("Day 9... Unnamed naturalist took water samples today. He seemed agitated. Must remember to go visit Sophia down in Panama."), meaning that it actually is just a silly coincidence that Michael used ornithology in last season's code.
Other thoughts on this week's episode:
I also continue to adore the way the producers are treating Panama and particularly Sona with its Jamaican/Haitian crime lord (Lechero's accent was far thicker this week than the past two weeks) and entirely English-fluent population of petty criminals. What was up with the Middle Eastern music in the scene where Mahone saw the inmate shooting up? Was that just to reinforce those Midnight Express comparisons? So, what do you think is in the box? And what'd you think of the episode?
Where were you at the beginning of season 2? Don't you remember how they killed off Veronica? Its Sara's head. And how about how Lincoln learned nothing from a whole season of running around with Michael! You can't just go busting in a place - you gotta plan your next three steps. How hard would it have been to find the van outside and slash the tires before running inside like a big hero?
mm | Oct 1, 2007 7:51:34 PM | #I'd like sara's head in a box
= )
it's either sara's head if she is done on the show, otherwise it has to be sofia's head
mike | Oct 2, 2007 12:48:01 AM | #There's no way it's Sofia's head. You don't add someone to the opening title sequence only to kill them in their 3rd ep on the show.
You'd think if one of the 2 hostages is expendable it would be LJ as Michael is the one they need to get Whistler out of Sona not Lincoln.
I think the producers/writers are setting themselves up for more backlash if they don't produce either a head or at least a hand.
Rishi | Oct 2, 2007 1:02:00 AM | #Lets be serious here for just a minute. If its L.J.'s head then we already know that Link will give up and that would be the end. Period. The only way its going to work is if its Sarahs head. Link won't tell Michael about what he saw. That way Michael will still get Whistler out and Link can recover L.J.. Also I heard a rumor that the brothers are going to have a small falling out later in the season. Gee now I wonder what ever could make that happen? Maybe not telling your brother about your gf's head in box?
Gravegirl | Oct 2, 2007 2:46:31 AM | #it coould be sara link wont tell mike because he wants lj out hench the conservercy that the pruducers said between the to brothers
sorry grave girl u r quicker than me in typing
Loved the show. The box seemed a little big for just a hand or something like that. I think it is a head but neither Sarah nor L.J. Just a random person. They want Link to know they are willing and able to kill.
Karen | Oct 2, 2007 5:36:58 AM | #it has to be sara any one can get a head from the morge i think it is sara link knows he cant tell mike or4 he will brake down and lj will die
andy | Oct 2, 2007 5:47:18 AM | #i think it's sara's foot...because she tries to break the window whith her shoe..and this is why the cut her foot as an warning...this is my opinion
luunatiq | Oct 2, 2007 6:08:40 AM | #A) It's not a random person, killed so that Lincoln knows they're willing and able--how many people has the 'Company' killed over the last two seasons(which by the way, we still know nothing about, making last season fairly useless)?
B) Have any of you watched either of the other two seasons, or are you just making random guesses? If there is one thing 'Prison Break' excels at, it is in the area of the red herring. Each and every single time they lead the viewers to believe something, they deliver something completely different. They're leading us to believe that it is definitely the head of either Sarah or LJ (Sarah if you ask me), and logic therefore dictates that it isn't either. My guess is that it's still a body part, or the head of someone we would never expect. But there's no way it's going to end up being Sarah's or LJ's.
Oh, brother - please tell me that Michael didn't have a dog.
TV Guide "confirmed" that Callies wasn't coming back and all Fox would say in reply was that the character was going to play a critical role in Season 3. And I don't know where they think they can go with her character if she survives. (Im not sure where this series is going anyway).
Other possibilities - C Note (am I thinking of the right character)? The Russian girl who helped Michael out? The Stacey Keach character? If its Sarah, Michael is motivated to get out and get revenge, but not necessarily getting Whistler out - if it isn't Sarah but someone else close to him, he will be more motivated to get Whistler out IMHO.
I'm not sure, I dont think it's either Sarah's or LJ's Head. It could be Paul Kellerman's? And also it was mentioned that Whistler took someone out to sea, could it possibly be that sattelite blind spot that Bill Kim and Pad-Man where in the boat and the company want to know who else knows about the place?
Abruzzi | Oct 2, 2007 7:59:00 AM | #It's sarah's head...
shes off the show and cutting her head off is how they decided to do it. sad, but true...
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Truth-Prison-Breaks/800021797
habashy | Oct 2, 2007 8:05:50 AM | #I think it could be Sarah's head in the box, but I really hope it isn't. Also, seeing Sucre drunk and passed out had me pondering if it could be his head?? I suppose it's possible.
Rachel | Oct 2, 2007 8:37:35 AM | #I think its Sara.
It gets better.
Don | Oct 2, 2007 9:10:06 AM | #Dang, I was hoping for one of Sarah's toes so she & Mike could have something in common. Maybe matching toe rings on prosthetic toes? For season 4 when Mike plans a wedding, seating chart tatooed on his leg. But that seemed like a lot of blood, so I'm thinking... a freshly made raccoon skin cap. That would scare me. Granted, I'm not a wizend ex-con. Voodoo chicken? Lechero has its foot anyway.
Then again, I'm always hearing stories about how you go to some Latin American country & wake up without kidneys, so... Sarah's right kidney & LJ's left.
Otherwise, Ensign Red Shirt would be my guess.
An-D | Oct 2, 2007 9:38:25 AM | #wat about kellerman's head?
ray | Oct 2, 2007 11:11:41 AM | #WHISTERS GIRLS HEADS IN THE BOX.
blahblah | Oct 2, 2007 12:10:57 PM | #. . .or the former president's head?
J | Oct 2, 2007 12:12:32 PM | #I hope it's not LJ's head or anything in the box but since Marshall Allman was only a "special guest star" that would be possible... :(
And I thought it was Sara who broke the window? Cuz we saw her taking her shoe off etc.
hjihh | Oct 2, 2007 12:44:13 PM | #you are too much influenced by the recent decapitations in Iraq and similar countries you see on TV news... so why the hell there shoud be someones head, it would be the easiest thing to put into it, and as we know, the scenarist of PB make everything complicated, so... no head for me....
STEPHEN | Oct 2, 2007 12:53:11 PM | #This is annoying. It was way too soon to chop off Sarah's head, I mean, come on!
leilamh | Oct 2, 2007 12:56:31 PM | #i think it's the head/hand of whistlers girlfriend!
so whistler will go crazy and messes michaels plan up!
how do they just leave a bloody box in a hotel garage? ohhh prison break...
elle | Oct 2, 2007 1:18:34 PM | #
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