[PRB] Subdivision

TV Programme: Prison Break
Season: 2
Episode: 6
Date I watched this episode: 21/02/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 8 months, 5 days.

Great to get back into this show, and hopefully it will be a trend to come. I really need to hurry up with some of these longer-running shows - as I need to free up slots in my watching portfolio for the imminent new seasons of The Apprentice (UK) and Peep Show. Well, Prison Break is the highest rated show that I'm watching at present, and it won't be difficult to motivate myself to carry on watching it.

Not a lot happened in this episode, but it was still an exciting episode. I didn't really realise that the title "Subdivision" refers to a sort of land arrangement in America. Most of the episode was spent there digging a hole (brings back memories...) or in the car. The point of the episode seemed to be, throw all these guys into a small room and see what happens. Kind of like [TWW] "No Exit", but not quite as extreme.

I did think it was a bit of a coincidence that Sucre and C-Note would just meet...and they managed to find the garage with pretty much no outside help. Forgetting that though for a minute, it is good to see the lads reunited. The amount of different directions in which they can take the character interaction has increased exponentially because of that.

Haywire is also back (though he wasn't referred to as such at any point in the episode, only by his real name "Patoshik"). It's a testament to the writers on this show that they manage to make a guy who is essentially a psychopathic serial killer, seem actually quite comical. It's believable madness too, the guy doesn't seem to just be doing random things. That's pretty hard to write and also hard to direct.

Since this is my first review of a Prison Break episode I'd just like to comment on Alexander Mahone in general. William Fitchner is a great actor in Invasion, which is where I saw him first, but here he is just light years ahead. It would have been easy to make him just a standard FBI cop (like the awful characters in Damages) but he has so much depth and calm intellect to him. This way, the writers are able to cast the chase as a strategic battle of the minds; Scofield versus Mahone. Mahone is a worthy opponent, and the resulting atmosphere is far beyond what we had seen in the first season with thugs like Brad Bellick being the major antagonists. (Having said that I do prefer the first season to this one...) The intellectual element to this season is prevalent in every episoode. I think in particular here I liked Michael's idea about the sunlight not having got to the trees. It was a clever idea which I doubt many viewers considered - and that's what makes it so good.

The lady who owned the garage was a pretty major character in this episode and most of the "episode-wide" storylines revolved around her. I think she was a little naïve to expect T-Bag to comply with her "request" after she had led him on so much, this wasn't very believable for someone like her who seemed to have had a lot of experience. In general I didn't like her character because she was pretty two-dimensional. But she did serve a purpose - I must admit that the episode might have been a bit boring without her.

I did feel a bit sorry for Tweener, as I always do. Especially about the guy he had to hit with the spade - he didn't really have a choice, and got blamed for it. Tweener is one of my favourite characters, but now he has been apprehended by Mahone, I feel he is not long for this world. Abruzzi was one of my faves too so they are dropping like flies!

I didn't think Michael and T-Bag played off each other as effectively as normal in this episode; Especially Michael's out-of-character anger in the car. I suppose Michael's character is feeling it now - as back in Fox River he always had a plan but now he is really on his own. But I didn't think he would have reacted in this way, it's not his nature.

This episode ended with Kellerman being possibly discovered by Sara in an almost Ethan Rom-type scene. Kellerman is going to be getting desperate soon, taking risks to get back into the inner circle. We also saw the cops arriving at the house. But this isn't a major cliffhanger - they've done worse things than kill a few cops before now...

All in all this was a good character development episode and setup episode, and I look forward to seeing how this plays out over the next episode or two, since they are so close to the conclusion of this particular plan.