420: 'Cowboys and Indians'
Wr: Nick Santora
Dr: Milan Cheylov
Synopsis: Michael must make a choice as chaos reigns at the energy conference.
Review: Thankfully, Prison Break appears to be finding its feet again after a decidedly lacklustre start to its final run. 'Cowboys and Indians' returns some of the nail-biting tension of old by actually integrating a semblance of structure into its narrative. Where the past three weeks have essentially consisted of pointless runarounds, chasing one party interested in Scylla, then the next, then starting all over again, here, Nick Santora actually takes time out to construct a solid conflict for our central characters. Linc and Michael's struggle to escape from the hotel is just the kind of interesting scenario that has kept the show going for the past four years. Throwing a seemingly impossible problem at the brothers and watching as they unpack it and hopefully outwit the bad guys is a major part of the programme's appeal; in fact, it's what season one and earlier elements of this season were predicated upon. Sure, the dilemmas were ultimately part of a much larger sequence of problems that needed to be resolved in order to obtain an ultimate goal (escaping from Fox River in year one, obtaining Scylla prior to #413), and that's arguably what these last few episodes could do with in order to elevate them beyond mediocrity, but it is pleasing to see the strategy reintroduced in at least some small way nevertheless. It binds the viewer to the characters, investing us in their plight, and makes it seem like there is some sense of purpose to the whole thing.
It is also refreshing to see the scenario taking up a considerable proportion of the hour: not having Linc and Michael escape out of the back exit within two seconds of the opening credits is arguably akin to taking 'the road less travelled' these days and it is certainly far more believable than some of the great boulders of convenience that have come crashing down on all our heads in the past three weeks. Still, this particular plot element is not without its problems: while it is certainly good to see the cop realising that Michael and Linc aren't members of his squad, just how many times do we have to see people dressing up in the uniform of their hunters in order to 'beguile' the enemy and escape? For one, what are the odds that the clothes are going to fit AT ALL and for another, it takes quite a bit of time to undress a guy and slip his clothes on (assuming, of course, that you just put his gear on on top of yours and don't remove yours too). There certainly wasn't enough time between the realisation that an explosion had occurred and the movement of the remaining officers up to the 16th floor for the brothers to have achieved this. Oh and reverting back to a slightly earlier point in this strand, why oh why would you stand around in the spot that a gunman executed a leading politician from for what, five minutes, in full view of the masses of law enforcement? Get down! Get out of there! And I also have a hard time buying that there are no security cameras that could have caught the actual assailant in the act at any point, although I suppose it is arguable that this avenue simply wouldn't have been pursued yet in light of all the other evidence that points to the brothers' involvement.
While the hotel escapades are highly suspenseful, the same cannot be said of certain other developments. Christina's interest in engaging both sides in the potential war that will ensue between China and India (anyone else think the General's exposition scene, when he tells the sorry tale of the events in 1962 to Bagwell, was a little ham-fisted?) is delightfully twisted, sure, but did she really have to meet with the Indian Prime Minister less than thirty minutes after his son was executed? I'll accept that perhaps he was in the country anyway to support his son's endeavour, fine, but the boy's body isn't even in the morgue yet, for crying out loud! You'd think he'd be a little bit more concerned with grieving than plotting complex revenge schemes that involve the manipulation of the technology that his son was interested in procuring. This really should have been held back until the later stages of the episode, perhaps even one of the final scenes, in order for it to seem less abrupt and forced. That way, the story that unfolds after Michael and Linc escape from the hotel could have been fleshed out a little more and hence, become more engaging. As it is, yet again, we are faced with the never-ending game of one-upmanship, in which a player makes a move and then another player immediately counters it, so the original player is forced to regroup and reclaim, and so on and on and on. In this case, Christina is about to check the money and lo and behold, a scene or two later, Michael figures out her entire plan and intercepts it, acquiring Scylla in the process! It's all far too sudden and as a result, it deprives the plot of any gravitas. The acquiring of Scylla is supposed to be the big end-game, the moment that will change the shape of everything forever, but the device is constantly exchanging hands, passing from interested party to interested party, so it's difficult to buy into the supposed severity of the situation.
Mind, at episode's end, this problem is circumnavigated by the deliverance of one hell of a sucker-punch in Michael's choice of Sarah, Linc or Scylla: oh sure, it's completely artificial and thoroughly unbelievable, but what the hell, it's a superb cliffhanger. Let's just hope the writers don't take the easy way out and introduce a number of irritating deux et machinas to cleanly resolve everything; I'd like to see some difficult decisions being made and, heaven forfend, some palatable consequences. I'm not necessarily advocating Linc's death or anything, mind; in fact, I think his character has been done a great disservice in recent weeks as everyone and everything is preoccupied with demonstrating how supposedly knuckle headed he is. Christina actually remarks that he 'thinks like a cub' in this episode and without any sort of challenging retort from another character, it's just tiresome.
Generally, this is the most satisfying episode that we've been treated to since Prison Break returned. There are a number of genuinely intense dramatic sequences, from Linc and Michael's attempts to escape from the hotel to the wonderful execution of Self's wheelchair-bound wife, kept out of view to amplify the horror of the situation. It also ends on the best cliffhanger we've seen in a long time; one that looks likely to test every fibre of Michael's being in the next instalment and hence produce some very palatable dramatic conflict, providing the writers grab the bull by the horns and don't squander all the opportunity they've generated. There are still problems: once the brothers escape from the hotel, the story becomes a frustrating game of one-upmanship again, and certain minutiae suffer from a distinct absence of believability, but on the whole, this is solid, entertaining stuff. Let's just hope they can keep it up. 7.0
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