Prison Break Season 5: Raw Breakdown 4

5.04. “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

• Frankly, I couldn’t find what the dilemma was. But…

• This episode is when true blood starts to spill for real. Five notable supporting characters are killed off. Television Without Pity used to title each episode review of “Prison Break” in Season 2 with a “[Character name] – dead!” teaser. Now, here we have the bad officer Mustafa, the good officer Zakat, the government servant Paul Kellerman (or is he really dead?), the prison revolt’s chief for a day, Cross, and the head of the terrorists Abu Ramal himself – dead! In a standard 22-installment season an episode like this would stand for a mid-season finale. All of them are eliminated to make way for a new chapter of the journey. Now that Michael, his mates and Lincoln have finally escaped from their Season1-like confinement, they’re off to travel, Season2-style, across the open expanse of Yemen to fulfill the second part of their mission – to leave the country. Being chased by Ramal’s revenge seekers, no doubt. In other words, fasten your seatbelts.

• This episode manages to be both funny and brutal. People around Michael and his team die or nearly die, or get hurt, or kill each other. They risk losing their lives every second. Never know if they will pull through. Yet they keep on running and even joking in the process. Guess it’s their way of coping with the hell surrounding them and not going crazy.

• Just a few examples of such edgy, dark humour: “I need to get in” – I need to get out” between Lincoln and Zakat, the exchange between Mr. Tic Tac Lincoln and that boy with a scarf, T-Bag calling 911, Ramal throwing pebbles at his infidel companions in misfortune, Whip mimicking knife to a throat.

• Speaking of that boy with a scarf – if we keep on finding Greek literature parallels, isn’t that curly-haired “urchin” supposed to be something of an angel, a modern-day Cupid bringing good news or unsolicited help from Heavens?

• That Mustafa was coldly shot by the rebels is understandable on a story level, and probably gives the viewers a sense of gratification – like he deserved it for being indifferent and cruel to inmates, for leaving his fellow officers behind. But Zakat’s death at the hands of Cross I do feel sorry for. That is a man who retained his professional and personal integrity till the end. He went against this emotionally charged crowd of prisoners to protect Sid (again), and lost his life for that (he could’ve just stayed in that vault with weapons). The Army honour was in him, not in a guy like Cross.

• Speaking of Cross, to have a guy use Christian symbols and rhetoric to deceive and murder others is ironic. Shows how easily religion – any religion – can be turned into a manipulative tool. I’d bet one of the major reasons Cross was so eager to oppose the terrorists rather than flee from them was that Christian tattoo on his chest – not a good thing to show to Oriental religious fanatics.

• In Cross, Michael could’ve found a powerful, cunning ally but the man chose to keep himself to himself. For the better. Two leaders in one team wouldn’t make it.

• Now I get it why Whip is Whip. He’s hyperactive and very quick. Witness the scene where he steals Ramal’s knife and stabs him with it. In a way, Whip is like Mick Rory (“a loveable rogue”, as the actor put it in the pre-Season 5 documentary), minus the heat gun and the muscles. Same unpredictability, short temper, restlessness and dedication to his “partner in crime”.       

• It was gracious of Sheba’s father to thank Lincoln for having saved his daughter from the trouble the reckless American has gotten her into in the first place. Though he did supply them with the money to get the plane trickets. Favour for a favour.

• That federal judge, a fan of luxury vehicles, was mercenary and unscrupulous. But who knows, maybe that paper granting Michael parole signed by him will serve them well someday, for example, while crossing the border.  

• Lincoln’s devotion to Michael has never been as clear as here, when he decides to stay in a country swept by the chaos and war, about to be cut from the rest of the world, to head straight into the prison full of rioting inmates to find his brother.

• Of course, the news of Sara’s husband Jacob having ties to agents Van Gogh and A&W was a big revelation, though a surprising number of fans have intuited he was the “villain” the second they saw him. Now it’s clear who sent all these paper cranes into the sewer. Now that you think about it… yes, why would a man marry a woman, with a child, with a dark past, who doesn’t even love him with all her heart because she still can’t get over her short-lived relationship with her previous storm-like boyfriend? Out of his good heart only?

• It’s still not clear who Poseidon is and what role he played in Michael’s misfortunes but at least we know now he’s a very undercover, very rogue, very anonymous, hard-to-find former CIA agent with big plans of domination of his own.  

• Michael is normally cool, quiet and calm, but this episode was a real screamfest for him. And I loved it. It shows he’s experiencing “normal” human emotions too. And screaming at whom –a powerful anarchist leader who has threatened to kill him. He’s being desperate, Michael, and is brave, always. That extended scene when Michael is reasoning with Ramal through their cells windows was equally hilarious and creepy to watch.  

• It’s only in this episode that we fully appreciate the full scale of Ramal (played by Numan Acar)’s evilness. He is a “baroque” character, indeed, a typical eccentric, even comedic movie villain, though surely menacing.

• It’s not that Michael’s word, as opposed to that of Cross, is to be fully trusted – but we know by now that despite himself, reluctantly he is frequently forced by circumstances to keep it. Though he didn’t intend to get Ramal out of Ogygia, he eventually did.

• Watching the original seasons of “Prison Break”, some people complained that Wentworth Miller’s (as well as Dominic Purcell’s) acting lacked emotion or wasn’t varied enough. Sometimes I could see what they meant, though it never interfered with my enjoyment of the show. Reticence was Michael’s modus operandi, after all. He was constantly thinking, constantly on the alert. That didn’t allow for a lot of drama. But in Season 5 he is (they are) anything but emotionless. The range of feelings he is (they are) showing is disproving that earlier hypothesis completely.   

• Frankly, I don’t mind if every episode ends with a scene of Michael crying. No matter how much Whip rolls his eyes at such unmanly, touchy-feely behaviour.