'Prison Break': The best-laid plans of mice, men and Michael
Prison Break lives up to its name again, as a bunch of folks do, indeed, break out of prison. Of course, it wouldn't be our show if things didn't go horribly awry. Even Michael Scofield can't plan for everything.
The spoilers are heading this way!
Ah hah! I knew it! I knew Michael must have calculated that someone on the escape team would stab him in the back! Lechero, T-Bag and Bellick get caught when the generator kicks in well before the Terrible Trio gets to the fence. Lechero is shot, and Bellick and T-Bag spend much of the episode getting the crap kicked out of them. That's what happens when you cross Michael Scofield.
The other escapees wait for the guards to drag the Terrible Trio back to the yard, and then wriggle their way out while everyone is distracted. Then it's a run through the jungle, slightly impeded when Whistler falls and breaks his ankle. How horribly inconvenient for him. Whistler begs Michael to just leave him there, but that's not an option.
Everyone runs to the beach, where Linc greets them. He digs up that mysterious cooler he'd buried earlier, and we finally find out what it contains -- emergency breathing apparatus. The guys are going for a dip. Three problems: there are four oxygen tanks for five guys, Whistler lost the bird book back at Sona, and McGrady the last-minute addition, doesn't swim.
Despite that, everything seems to be going relatively well. The escapees swim out to a buoy and wait for their pick-up. And that's where the first hiccup comes in: Sucre, who is supposed to be piloting a rented boat out to their location, is currently handcuffed to a filing cabinet in Sona. I guess him getting busted wasn't part of the plan after all. Luckily, McGrady's dad was let in on part of the plan, and he guessed where the boys would be. (I'm not thinking about that too much.) Saved!
McGrady and Father split off from the group. Unfortunately, they didn't plan as far ahead as Michael, and are almost immediately confronted by a police roadblock. Doh! What will they do?
Back with our remaining quartet of jailbirds: They find themselves followed by Company stooges. Whistler (stupidly) kept the stopwatch Gretchen gave him, and there's a locator bug in it. While this is bad news for the guys, it's nice for the stunt drivers, as they get to enjoy a spiffy car-bashing chase scene. The guys ditch their car for an isolated shack, where Linc immediately starts firing at them. When Gretchen arrives, she wonders if Linc is really so bad a shot that after countless rounds fired, he'd only hit the car three times. Nope -- they used recorded gunfire to keep the bad guys at bay and slipped out the back.
Which leads us to Linc and Michael's preferred destination, a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Linc gets cocky on the phone with Gretchen -- we've got Whistler, we're calling the shots now! -- but gets a bit distracted when Mahone says he'll be heading out. Linc channels Inigo Montoya -- You killed my father, prepare to die! While that standoff is going on, Whistler takes the opportunity to escape. He was faking the injured ankle -- he can run, leap off roofs, and carjack a truck just fine. That's their bargaining chip gone. Now what?
Back at Sona, things fall apart some more. T-Bag finds the bird book and pockets it. (What are the odds?) Sucre finally gets out of the cuffs, but as he's getting ready to leave, T-Bag spots him and rats him out. Sucre claims ignorance, but the Powers That Be find a wanted poster with his real name. Busted!
Highlights, thoughts, and odds and ends
- I kind of love bad-ass Michael blithely sending people out to get caught -- or shot -- to act as a distraction for his and Whistler's escape. He was determined not to have guys like T-Bag rejoining society on his conscience again.
- Nice the way they tied in McGrady -- if they hadn't brought him along, the guys would be fish food.
- Speaking of fish food -- I can't decide whether I'm relieved of disappointed that they didn't throw circling sharks into the mix. It's an unprecedented show of restraint on the part of the writers.
- Four tanks -- and as far as we know, it was only Michael, Whistler and Linc who would be swimming. Who was the extra guy Michael was expecting to make it out with him? Or did he have a spare just in case?
- I love how Bellick cracks after about three seconds when threatened by the guards. He's just way out of his league.
- T-Bag holds out a lot longer -- until the guards break out the electrodes and threaten to "refry [his] beans." That was after he responded with the demand that he drop trou with "If I knew you boys partied in Sona like this I never would have tried to escape." I love T-Bag (as long as he's very far away from me.)
- Gretchen is spitting mad when she gets Linc on the phone after their escape from the cabin: "Gotta commend you on that boombox trick. Very sophisticated. You steal that one from Home Alone?" "You fell for it, bitch," Linc replies. Yeah, he's got a point there.
Next week: The season finale! Will LJ and Sofia survive? Will Sucre? Is Whistler Gretchen's colleague -- or boss? Will Mahone make it? (He better!) And what's T-Bag going to do with that bird book?
Love the Inigo Montoya comment. Totally cracked me up.
And just when I started to think Linc had half a brain after all, He goes and pulled that crap.
McGrady --not McGreevy
I just want to know if we're going to see Molly (i.e. the main character for the prison break spinoff). Should be interesting...
So... Michael's "plan" was to get the area in No Man's Land where his exit is at to be swarming with gaurds, then wait until they all suddenly turn their backs at the same time to climb out and roll under some perfectly placed vehicles... What a payoff to all this build-up. A better plan couldn't have been written by a 3rd grader.
Of course, the other part of the plan revolved around them getting ran off the road near that shack, so...
I was loving that "Home Alone" comment that Susan made last night. That made me laugh out loud!
T-Bag's comments after getting caught were legendary. I was cracking up. He has the best lines of the show.
How can you not love this show? Silly Sucre, if only he didn't stand around waiting for his boat rental receipt. I was really kind of surprised at the hostilities from Lincoln towards Mahone. I mean if Michael was ok getting him out, I'd think Linc would have chilled out a bit. Good episode though. Will be interesting to see what they do now that the writers strike is ending. They did say next weeks was the Season Finale, maybe they'll change their minds. Or maybe they'll do a 2 to 3 episode arc/pilot for the next Prison Break they were talking about.
They didn't say next weeks episode was the season finale, they said that it was the Winter Season Finale. Prison Break usually has a Fall, Winter and than an actual season finale.
Inconceivable!
How many loose ends are there? I can only ready myself to be disappointed by the season finale. Or prepare myself to be let down by next season's opener.
But this episode was indeed running on all cyilnders.
erica -- Doh! Thanks for the catch. Correction made.
Brandon -- Yeah, Michael's plans do depend on a large amount of brain-melting luck sometimes. I'm determined to just nod and smile my way through it until it gets incredibly egregious -- "and at that point, a meteor should flatten a nearby farm, causing everyone to look that way for exactly 10 seconds..."
realgenius -- Linc? Chill out? About anything? Now THAT'S inconceivable. Still, he does allow himself to get distracted, doesn't he?
Courtney -- I could swear that the promo monkeys said "Season Finale" when they were previewing next week's ep. Did I hear that wrong?