[PRB] Buried

TV Programme: Prison Break
Season: 2
Episode: 7
Date I watched this episode: 22/02/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 1 day.

This was once again a really good episode in terms of character development (Mahone in particular), action, suspense, and pretty much everything I love about this show. It started off well, which I hadn't quite predicted (in my last review I talked down the cliffhanger), with that really tight suspense scene with the "cop" walking up the stairs to find Sucre and Michael. The fact that it was her daughter was a good twist, and added an original element to this sequence, because it wasn't just a "burst in and storm the house" generic scene, she actually didn't know anything was wrong initially. I was wondering "why is she wiping her feet on the doormat?" Incidentally the actress who plays this character also played Jane Saunders, Stephen Saunders's daughter from the third season of 24, and she is quite hot on both occasions.

The whole Mahone/Tweener storyline was also very non-generic and added a real extra depth to Mahone's character. This is a very complex guy, at least as complex as Michael, and gives a lot of possibilities. The ending to this episode was amazing and was one of those endings (like [CNV] "The River" or [OTH] "The Show Must Go On") that just left me speechless, just taking in the enormity of what had just happened as the credits scrolled past. The "Oscar Shales" storyline has seemed a bit out of place this season but it all just slotted into place. I think this is a guy who you just assume will succeed, and he has failed in this episode, he hasn't got what he wanted from Tweener, just like he failed with Oscar Shales.

As for Tweener, well I was sorry to see him go although I did predict it. Only 6 of the Fox River Eight remain now, and my favourites out of those are Sucre and to a lesser extent C-Note, so I hope they stick around for a while. Tweener really went out kicking though. For him, this episode was about redemption, but not redemption with the justice system, more a kind of personal redemption for his disloyalty to the Eight in the first place. So this was an emotional ending. And the fact that he'd gone to see that girl again was completely unexpected and a cool twist.

The other members of the Eight (except for Haywire, who seemed a bit superfluous in this episode) are fracturing from all sides in this episode. They must know that they have to stick together to see this through, and that turning on each other is going to lessen their chances of getting out, but still here we had C-Note and T-Bag at each others throats, Lincoln's emotional and dramatic departure (we all know he'll be back but it was a pretty amazing goodbye - the parting of the ways), and Sucre's ultimate betrayal at the end (which incidentally was pretty stupid, he is so close to losing everything he's fought for).

Sometimes in this show, things happen which have no obvious explanation at the time, but come to light later on. In this episode a comparatively huge amount of screentime was spent watching Paul Kellerman take his watch off and putting it back on again. It's unclear if this has any significance but just wanted to note it down here so I can say "I told you so" if necessary...

I'm not sure why Michael let the lady's husband leave conscious and in-tact after he'd acted so suspiciously with him. This will come back to bite him I think - and is likely a side-effect of Michael being too nice for his own good. But then again that's one of the great moral messages of this show, that you don't have to go in all guns blazing (metaphorically - I mean, Michael didn't actually kill anyone at the bank robbery) in order to succeed in a very messy situation.

All in all this was a great episode and I look forward to watching the next one in the very near future.