Finishing Up The Series: Prison Break

When Michael and the rest of the gang signed their immunity deals that finally left them free and clear of all their accused wrongdoings, I felt a tiny bit satisfied. But only seconds later, I realized that this exact same set of circumstances could have happened infinitely earlier. This is a show that had a surprisingly entertaining first season and an even more surprisingly decent second season. It stretched the boundaries of believability in its first year, but came back with one of the most thrilling and fantastic finishes I’ve ever seen. The second season started off with a bang, and the addition of William Fichtner’s Agent Mahone was a tremendously smart decision. Things sort of went downhill by the beginning of the second half of the season, and it became clear that things needed to be wrapped up. I was devastated when the completely odd group of Michael, Bellick, T-Bag, and Mahone all ended up back in prison at the conclusion of the second season. At that time, I thought the show could have ended perfectly with Mahone going on the run with the brothers and Sara, providing a fitting and appropriate end to the show.

Instead, the series has been incessantly awful since that moment. Looking back over my reviews, I’m shocked to discover that I was once optimistic about the show’s future and even gave it the benefit of the doubt. I’ve become much more pessimistic after this dismal fourth year. The first problem was, of course, that no one was in prison. The show was titled “Prison Break: On the Run” in Australia during its second year, and I think that’s commendable. The fourth season was all about the battle against the Company, the most poorly conceived fictional organization ever. Not one single thing that happened made sense, and the plethora of unintimidating villains, led by General Krantz and Christina Scofield, just added to the inanity. I never cared about what happened to the brothers or any of the other fugitives because I knew that it would go wrong instantly. This is the kind of show that was handicapped by its necessity to create problems for its characters and always end on a forced cliffhanger. This season epitomized that structure, and it was painful to experience. I found myself wishing that characters would get killed off because the show would be so much better without them. When Bellick was killed off, he wasn’t missed. The same goes for Gretchen (though she’s still alive, I suppose). Had two of the show’s most useless characters, Self and Sara, been dismissed, it would have made the show a lot stronger. The same is true for the series’ worst character, Lincoln Burrows. The show only ever needed Michael, Mahone, and T-Bag, and overstuffing the show’s final few episodes with dozens of new, pointless personalities alongside all the already obnoxious ones didn’t do the show’s legacy any favors.

The show does deserve credit for its persistence and ability to drag itself out. I was shocked to discover the characters (and more impressively, actors) who returned for the show’s series finale. I have no idea why Sucre, and especially C-Note, was needed or even desired for a return appearance, but it was cool and slightly satisfying to see them again. The pretense under which they returned was wholly foolish and stupid, but regardless, it is great to see two characters that really were pure good (and ended up in maximum security prison for preposterous reasons). The return of Kellerman was especially strange but served as a fun surprise. The fact that the government – that is, its few legitimate members, trust any one of these people, especially the duplicitous, murderous Kellerman, is astoundingly dumb. It’s a pity that the show couldn’t maintain the same level of entertainment value it possessed in its first two seasons to accompany all of this stellar ridiculousness. It’s not even worth discussing the actual events of the finale, since there’s no sensible reason any of them should have occurred. The resolution of the show, finding almost every character blissfully happy, was generally expected. The central character, however, is no more. After successfully breaking out of two different prisons and managing to evade authorities for months, Michael dies from a life-threatening disease he didn’t actually inherit from his mother. It’s not too terrible, I suppose, since the legacy of “Prison Break” is now finished, and it feels like an unkind tug on emotional heartstrings that wasn’t really called for or necessary. “Prison Break” was a decent show that had a good year or two in it, but after the show’s plot subsided, the show should have as well. This is a perfect example of dragging a show out well beyond its potential. I stuck with it in the hope that it would one day improve, but it looks like the first season and a half are really allthere was to this show. I suppose that’s something.

Series finale: F
Season grade: F
Season MVP: William Fichtner
Series grade: D (Season One: B+)
Series MVP: William Fichtner