Although not as thrilling as the past two episodes, tonight’s Prison Break installment titled Contingency, offered up an explanation to Michael’s (Wentworth Miller) disappearance.
Positives
A New Manhunt
What made Prison Break so much fun during season two was seeing our inmates on the run. Now what was touched on last week but expanded on more tonight, was ISIS putting a bounty on Michael and his friends from Ogygia. So now not only is the gang running from ISIS and Poseidon but also to anyone looking for some quick cash.
Michael’s Whereabouts Explained
Finally! Now we know what happened to Michael. What we learned tonight is that after Michael’s wedding with Sara, he was contacted by Poseidon, a former CIA operative. Poseidon stated that the exoneration of everyone could very well be reversed having everyone going back to prison. How that works I have no idea but its Prison Break so you roll with it. Michael soon doubts Poseidon who then places Sara in prison, alas mentioning the events of the Final Break. Michael with no other recourse, faked his death and went about breaking out anyone Poseidon wanted.
Though this information retcon’s some of the events that happened in season four. It does it well enough for me to buy into it. If anything I would love a spin off showing the various escapes Michael did for Poseidon.
Michael’s Evolution
One thing that has become incredibly apparent in this new iteration of Prison Break, it’s that Michael is indeed a changing man. In tonight’s episode with everyone trying to escape Yemen, we see the constant debate between Michael and Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) over which route to take. Should they board a train (Michael’s plan) with ISIS men all around or board a plane (Lincoln) at the airport where C-Note is waiting (Rockmond Dunbar).
Advertisement
Unlike before where Michael’s intuition was always correct, in tonight’s episode it was evident he should have listened to Lincoln. Michael’s become so singularly focused on his plan, that he has dismissed the opinions of others. In past seasons you would see Michael debate ideas with the likes of Mahone, Lincoln and Sucre. Now however, he only listens to himself which led to the death of his fellow inmate Sid (Kunal Sharma).
Sid’s Death
Unlike season two of Prison Break that saw some characters die unnecessarily. The death of Sid made a lot of sense. With Sid we have a character whose sole role in the escape was that his father could turn off the city lights allowing them to escape Aside from that the Sid character was used to talk about the societal problem of homosexuality in Arab countries. To the show’s credit it did a fine job not hitting us over the head with that message. Though the character did need to die because his purpose on the show was wearing thin.
Ja Discovers His Inner Mercury
Advertisement
Similar to how Whip (Augustus Prew) had his moment when killing Ramal, Ja (Rick Yune) had his moment tonight. As the gang was cornered in a medical facility by ISIS, we see Ja drinking his concerns away. Personally this was going to be a negative because I did not want to see the druggy character becoming the weak point for the group. Thankfully, my worries were for not as Ja saved the day. While singing Freddie Mercury’s We Are the Champions, Ja traps and burns two of ISIS’ men with the very alcohol he was drinking. It was simply a great badass moment for Ja, who is slowly becoming a favorite character of mines this season.
Negatives
Cyclops the Unworthy Adversary
Granted not so much a negative as it is my own personal preference, but the character Cyclops (Amin El Gamal) was a character I felt should have been left behind in episode two. Cyclops who we know to be infatuated with Sheba was beaten down by Lincoln a few episodes back. I thought that would be the end of that character. Instead he comes back and is a part of the manhunt looking for Michael. Sure enough he finds them and is the reason behind Sid’s death. But instead of having Michael, Lincoln, Ja or Whip kill the guy, they leave him handcuffed to Sid’s body on the floor. I personally would have loved to have seen Michael teeter on the edge by killing Cyclops over the death of Sid. Since Michael chose to go to the train station instead of the airport, the argument could be made that Sid’s death falls on Michael’s shoulders. Instead Cyclops gets to live another day.
Sara Gets Fooled
After Bagwell (Robert Knepper) shows Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) a picture of her hubby Jacob (Mark Feuerstein) fraternizing with the two hit men who attacked them, Sara then runs home to take her child away from Jacob. So far so good right? Everything makes sense; Sara is making some sound decisions here. Instead the show makes a very dumb decision with Jacob convincing Sara that he was simply trying to buy them off so they would go away and had the police monitoring the conversation. Which is why the hit men were “arrested” and put in a lineup for Sara to pick out. Sara then again believes Jacob is telling the truth which we all know is not the case.
Michael Misses his Flight
After so much back and forth deciding to go for the plane or the train, it sucked seeing Michael and everyone again missing their flight as C-Note and Sheba flew away to avoid ISIS. It was just too reminiscent of season one’s finale for my taste.
Conclusion
Though tonight’s episode is not as great as last week’s, I still have to say Contingency did indeed further the story without convoluting it.
Advertisement
