Episode 5 - Safe and Sound
22 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Don Self recognises one of the card holders as a colleague from the treasury. He visits him and discovers that he keeps his Scylla card in his safe. Self sneaks the gang into the building and Michael and Lincoln break into the back of the safe while Sucre and Bellick pretend to clean outside. Sara escapes from Wyatt (who was following her) and helps Mahone track him down. Sucre and Bellick canvass the office complex where they saw T-Bag. Trishanne sends them away and blackmails T-Bag. The man who killed Xing comes to see T-Bag and says he will kill him if he doesn’t produce Scylla in three days. Gretchen escapes from captivity and the General learns that Don Self has been investigating him.
The Good: Prison Break is very consistent at the moment. There are things it does well and things which are a bit predictable.
The writers are building their confrontations carefully and with a purpose. Gretchen escapes the company’s clutches and is sure to want some kind of revenge. The cliff-hanger that the General now knows about Don Self should also be an interesting story and hopefully will help us get to know Self better.
T-Bag’s story remains the most intriguing as his position at GATE becomes more precarious. First we see the resentment of his “success” which his co-workers harbour, then he is blackmailed by the receptionist and finally his life is threatened. As usual his creepy yet smooth delivery is delightful to watch. He also gets to have the upper hand over Trishanne when he cuts a deal with her over his future sales, which of course he has no intention of making. T-Bag’s tea bag dripping onto Whistler’s book is a very natural way to showcase the hidden secrets the book holds and clearly the story is leading T-Bag toward a deal with Michael over the Scylla break in.
Mahone steals the show with his acting again. His tearful reunion with his wife is good solid character development and the writers have done an appropriate job driving home the pain of losing his son. His subsequent detective work in tracking down Wyatt is a really enjoyable development. Not only does it show Mahone being efficient and driven but it’s a welcome change in dynamic to see the good guys hunting a company agent rather than the other way round.
Sara confessing to Michael about her bar hopping again strengthens their bond with another and our belief that they are a couple worth caring about. Roland has a nice moment of characterisation when he tells Mahone that “we are who we are.” As a thief he tries to abdicate responsibility for his actions and tries to blame his life choices on DNA. It’s a suitable life philosophy for him and again a nice contrast to Mahone who could never live with himself if killers were on the loose.
The Bad: Prison Break’s consistency stretches to its bad side as well. The downside to the show remains the casual or easy nature of much of the break ins which go on.
Michael and company rock up to a government building and pull off their Scylla heist with no one suspecting a thing. The tension of whether they will pull it off or not is false because it seems so obvious that they will be successful at this stage of the season. While that can’t really be helped, the smoothness of the operation is annoying. Yes Michael is a genius engineer but how he constructs these air-tight plans in a matter of minutes for buildings he’s never been in is a mystery. Too much of a mystery to be convincing.
Lincoln brings up the fact that the gang are still known as wanted men in public. This is a problem for the show because there is obviously an inconsistent level of public recognition going on. T-Bag is very visible at GATE yet no one has yet remembered his mug shot which was all over the news during season two. Even if we can assume most of the public won’t recognise the gang on first glance it still feels like a plot device if they are going to be roaming around in public when they feel like it and then claiming they could be seen any second when it suits them. It would help if Don Self had given a speech about the likelihood of them being recognised and what to do if a policeman were to arrest them.
The Unknown: What caused the riots in Laos? What is the company up to there?
Best Moment: Mahone meeting his wife. She is initially cold to him as his responsibility for her son’s death is clearly on her mind. He gets her to identify Wyatt and then breaks down trying to hide his feelings. She forgives him and tells him he is a good man for hunting down killers. All the time he cries and covers his mouth. She holds him and tells him that his efforts to get revenge comfort her. She gives him a gun and they hold hands. Good acting from Mahone.
The Verdict: Consistent to the core. It’s easy to look past the convenience and enjoy the show. But it could be even more enjoyable with a little more effort on the details.
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