By Frederic Germay
If it was the writers/producer’s decision to off Dr. Sara Tancreadi, then I must ask them what foul-smelling powder they were snorting. If it was Sarah Wayne Callies who made that executive decision, then I suppose she had an acceptable excuse (recently giving birth to a child), and I admire her desire to fully devote her time to the proper well-being of her new-born child. However, the “Prison Break” addict in me might add that her decision, while understandable, was a tad inconsiderate to all of us.
Now, a whole host of problems are presented, some of which probably will cause “Prison Break’s” popularity and plotlines to suffer in some way. First of all, I would like to point out that a grand portion of “Prison Break’s” audience tunes in for MiSa (Michael/Sara). These devoted viewers watch the show primarily for the Michael/Sara dynamic, and with that particular plot element out of the way, these romantics may lose interest in the show. Secondly, quite a few seasoned television viewers/critics, like me, might find the execution of Sara to be quite transparent, and an altogether cheap method to rid show of a highly captivating and relevant plot line that has been developing for the past two seasons.
Utterly cruel decisions aside, this season now has a few slightly interesting plotlines developing, especially in the wake of Sara’s demise. I’ve mentioned before how Lincoln might withhold the knowledge of Sara’s passing to Michael, but I believe that his motives are not entirely altruistic. Although I’m sure that he doesn’t want to devastate his little brother, I’m also quite sure that he doesn’t want to remove Michael’s primary motivation for providing Whistler’s escape. When Michael finds out about Sara’s death, he will probably still want to save LJ, but he may need time to recuperate from the tragedy. I wonder how long Lincoln will hold out on this info, and I believe that this will probably lead to some serious brother-to-brother confrontations.
I’ve mentioned before that I had strong convictions about Mahone nearing a psychological break with reality. All throughout this episode, that fact was strongly reinforced – thanks to the creepy sequences involving Haywire. Mahone is starting to get a bit of attention for his eccentric behavior, and T-Bag decided to come to the rescue with some different drugs. Mahone’s bursts in brilliance tend to come when he is grounded by this Veratril drug, and what T-Bag gave him seemed to lend a modicum of his former cunning to Mahone’s rescue. I was completely clueless to this at first, but now it seems obvious that Michael’s need for a felt-tip marker was solely to occupy Mahone’s busy eyes elsewhere.
T-Bag is evolving in an even more predictable way, and his character is becoming less and less interesting. However, there is something to be said about how murdered the member of Lechero’s team, and how he slyly came to Mahone’s rescue. His willingness to take out one of Lechero’s henchman lends credence to my assumption that he might end up killing Lechero and taking his place. On the other hand, Bellick’s character seems to be making the most stupid decisions imaginable. Greedy and sloppy, Bellick impulsively gallops to whatever possible conclusion that might profit him. Despite the arguable thought that he might want to keep a low profile after his punishment, Bellick probably will blunder again and lose his life as a consequence.
It seems that breaking out of Sona isn’t as impossible as it was thought to be. Sure, you have to get past vigilant armed guards and an electrical fence, but after that it should be a piece of cake. With Sucre’s inclusion on the gravedigger team and Michael’s discovery of the metal-corrosive fluid, this escape might just happen in time for LJ after all. I give this episode a 7/10.
