"Prison Break" Five the Hard Way (2008)

Director:

Garry A. Brown

Writers:

Paul Scheuring (creator)
Christian W. Trokey (written by)

TV Series:

"Prison Break" (2005)

Original Air Date:

6 October 2008 (Season 4, Episode 7)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Gretchen tortures T-Bag and asks about the Bird's Guide and Scylla. Meanwhile, the Agrishow executive...

Plot Keywords:

Torture | Undressing | Swimming Pool | Gay Character | Bare Chested Male

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Dominic Purcell	...	Lincoln Burrows
Wentworth Miller	...	Michael Scofield
Michael Rapaport	...	Don Self
Amaury Nolasco	...	Fernando Sucre
Wade Williams	...	Brad Bellick
Robert Knepper	...	Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe	...	Gretchen Morgan
Sarah Wayne Callies	...	Dr. Sara Tancredi
William Fichtner	...	Alex Mahone
Cress Williams	...	Wyatt
Leon Russom	...	General Jonathan Krantz
James Hiroyuki Liao	...	Roland Glenn
Shannon Lucio	...	Trishanne
Jude Ciccolella	...	Howard Scuderi
Dameon Clarke	...	Andrew Blauner

Runtime:

Germany:42 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Hungary:16

Company:

Original Film

Movie Connections:

References "MacGyver" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Believe

This would be fantastic were it not for the fact that...

I was trying to decide what to choose for my 50th comment/review (the official term has changed back and forth around the time of writing), considering choosing one of my favorite movies. Then this episode came on and after having watched it I needed to vent my frustration.

Some may wonder why I torture myself watching episodes which I find bad. The answer is simple: I have a principle of finishing what I started and I also refuse to surrender to an episode / a movie by switching channel / walking out.

OK, this appears to be a fantastic episode because it's taut, full of good twists, action, suspense and laughs. Also, most of the actors bring their A game for their roles, the winner being Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Gretchen: her character seemed so bland and unimaginative in the third season, but given a chance to portray someone willing to resort to anything to stay alive, she truly *rules* (not coming up with a fancy term would do her performance justice).

So what's the problem? Prison Break had me from the first episode of season 1. The problem is the *fact* that the show was supposed to last only 13 episodes with a pre-planned ending, but when the initial ones proved a bigger success than anticipated, Fox decided to throw the ending away and expand Prison Break to a full season. And then renew it. And renew it. Kinda like The X Files - it was also a Fox show that was dragged on for longer that it had material to sustain the narrative (and that's just the "mythology" episodes - some of the stand-alone ones were recycled). In the case of both series the decisions came to money: why kill a cash cow when you can underestimate your audience's intelligence and throw all credibility out of the window?

The problem is that this is no longer Prison Break. All the plot lines in the initial episodes were dropped because they had nowhere to go (remember, 13 episodes?) and replaced with a vague, sub-standard conspiracy plot line that was clearly made up as the show went on, with no pre-planned ending whatsoever. And now we are in the death rattle of the show. Seasons 2 and 3 at least dealt with a prison break - here there is none. Why the hell is this show still called Prison Break?

To go into the inconsistencies, illogicalities and contradictions of the show would take more time than I am willing to spend. Because of those things, there is no reason to care about the characters or where the plot is going. There is no reason to invest emotionally or intellectually in the show. This show should have stayed its planned course. The viewers disappeared during the fourth season, proving that Fox underestimated their intelligence. Ha!