Prison Break Season 5: Raw Breakdown 6

5.06. “Phaeacia”

These breakdowns are getting longer and longer, so that I have to divide and headline them now. It’s not my fault the season is so good. 

KEFFYEHS AND WINDBREAKERS

The episode’s tagline for me was less words—more action. Or “the one where they’re wearing jackets on their heads”. 

Seriously, my fave memory snapshot from “Phaeacia” may be this moment of Michael, staring at Lincoln with his suddenly azure eyes, a faded blue windbreaker wrapped around his head like a veil. Incongruous but beautiful. 

Or, as Ja sums it up, “We are desperate, desperate men”. The clever Korean has the best lines in this episode (“I was alive before cell phones” is another favourite of mine). 

IMPLAUSIBILITY
  
I watched that 2008 interview and now am counting instances of “implausibility” in this episode. How do they run so fast so that they dodge all the bullets and cars that are sent their way? How does Whip cause an explosion of a gasoline tank truck with a single shot? How do all their persecutors end up dead after that explosion? How do C-Note, Sheba and her extended family cross the border freely and land in Jordan? How do Lincoln and his runaway companions find Omar so quickly and at all, and are not caught in the process? How do these surveillance drones discover them in no time? How does Van Gogh recruit assassins from the Yemeni militants with just a single phone call? How do these guys, who are on the run, take an extra hour to bury their deceased guide, Omar, in the desert? (Too bad they didn’t have the time and facilities to give the same honour to Sid.) How is Michael showered with car window glass splinters and there’s not a scratch on him? What if Cyclops refused to swallow the bait and drove after the car going to Phaeacia and not after Michael’s car luring him into the desert? Why didn’t that screwdriver reach Cyclops’ brain and kill him right away? That’s… a lot of implausibility. But I’m not bothered by it. To quote Dominic Purcell’s recent interview, “Dramatic license it’s called”. 

   

WHIP AND MICHAEL AND FATHER FIGURES

Now that Sid is gone, Whip has been relegated to a “kid” status. In “The Odyssey” there was a strong focus on the father-son theme. I don’t think that the chatty guy is such a kid. His age is never mentioned in the show, but Augustus Prew, who plays Whip, is 29, so, compared to Michael, who’s in his early 40s, he might be a kid just not as much as Barry Allen is. 

“It’s complicated”. Urban Dictionary says it’s a Facebook phrase to describe an ambiguous relationship status that verges on the cusp between friendship and a more intimate relationship, or, alternatively, indicates dissatisfaction with the existing relationship. Both definitions apply. Lincoln says Whip’s short temper may harm Michael eventually, as Whip got it into his head that Michael had “betrayed him somehow”. I spy a Bizarre Brotherhood Triangle. Though Lincoln has earned Whip’s acceptance – he calls him “Linc” already.

Whip might be disillusioned with Michael, but he remains a fervent supporter (just look at him worrying about leaving Michael to deal with Cyclops alone. Over the years, the two have developed a shorthand understanding – Whip guesses Michael’s plan the first (“make two sets of tracks”). 

And, to be fair, it’s not only him who takes orders from Michael. Lincoln also does (“Because he said, that’s why”), though he’s not a “kid”.  

Whip is like a wild car – unpredictable, with anger management issues, explosive, reactive. He seems funny but there’s a thuggishness in him waiting to be triggered. In fact, in “Phaeacia” both Michael and him show their reckless/hotshot/badass/nasty side. 

Ja, on the other hand, seems to be the most cool-headed of them. It’s him who prevents Michael and Whip from beating up the bad guys in a frenzy. 

Ja says to Whip: “Don’t give me the pill talk. I won’t give you the poor little orphan talk. How your friend here isn’t the father figure you thought he was gonna be”. The only time Michael has been a father figure/mentor of sorts was to that basketball aficionado teen, Luis, in Season 3. In any other cases, according to Wentworth Miller, Michael himself was finding father figures in older men like Charles Westmoreland and warden Henry Pope. Michael practically grew up without a mother or a father, and with wrong ideas about them. He thought his Mum was nothing short of a saint in flesh – she turned out to be a monster. He thought his Dad deserved resentment – of the two parents, he turned out to be the one who cared about his children more and died trying to help them. Michael could’ve easily ended up a nervous wreck, but his smart mind and his caring big brother kept him away from harm.

In many ways, Michael is a tragic figure. The way Wentworth Miller played him in Seasons 1-4, there was always a degree of desperation and insecurity about him. There was nothing superheroic or superinvincible about Michael. It’s like he had no choice but to act bold, appear cool and be defiant to survive. He fought, but it wasn’t because he craved blood or was a natural-born warrior, rather, he had to become one to save his brother, himself and other people he came to care about.

I don’t know if he was looking for mother figures as well, but he found one in Sara. There’s always been a strong maternal undercurrent in her attitude to Michael (in Season 4 especially). That might be the reason why I don’t see their relationship as fully “romantic”. 

THE SCENERY 

I get it now why the story takes place in Yemen, at the tail end of the Arabian Peninsula – the writers needed an easy access to the sea to put the characters on a ship and send them home, come next week. 

Locations are extremely important on “Prison Break”, they are like supporting characters, in this season especially. At first, Team Ogygia 6 were limited by the close confinement of their prison cell and yard, then they were forced to play hide-and-seek in the mazes of Sana’a's narrow streets, now they’re escaping to the vast emptiness of the desert. Soon they will be sailing across the blue sea. Episode by episode, the visual and narrative scope is getting bigger, the borders are expanding. 

The sandy, yellow, beige, ochre, brown, red and white colours of Yemen are effectively contrasted with the green, blue, grey, steely and cold tones of New York State, underlining the visual and temperature difference between the two worlds. Even the characters residing in the USA wear darker clothes than the ones in Yemen. (A&W is a Snow Queen archetype.) 

AGENTS 21 VOID

That Japanese guy (Agent Kishida) who took Kellerman’s office, now that Kellerman is dead, is definitely not what he seems/is involved with Void 21?/is not necessarily Poseidon but surely knows him. 

Unexpectedly, we learn A&W’s backstory and learn the personal reasons for what she’s doing now. Turns out, A&W (real name Emily) is yet another LGBTQ character, along with “Tricia” (or is it “Trisha”?). Tricia outs Emily to her male partner, but the best thing she does is cutting short Van Gogh and A&W’s assassination-by-distance mission.   

We also learn that A&W doesn’t like to question her boss’ orders and her and Van Gogh’s goal is to kill Michael who they still think is Kaniel Outis. They obviously realized it was no use locating him through Sara as he wouldn’t contact her again (it’s probably for the better for Sara.) 

“Some of us have a more enlightened view. Abu Ramal was a great visionary. As a sign of good faith we’ll tell you exactly where [his murderes] are”. It may be a far too simplistic representation of real world politics, but Van Gogh’s talk to that bearded militant guy with a machine gun illustrates the the reasons for government’s “black work” clearly. 

A&W mentions she had worked for “Team Eye in the Sky” at the National Security Agency and tells Tricia she and her partner want to “put eyes on him” (Outis) through aerial surveillance. BUT HE’S GOT EYES ON HIM ALREADY – ON HIS PALMS! So, when Michael tells his ChatYa contact Blue Hawaii to take a screen capture of his tattooed palms, is it an accusation written on his hands? Do the eyes on his hands point towards this governmental body and its role in horrible crimes? NSA may be Season 5’s equivalent to the Company, then. There must be a very important code and mystery hidden in these henna ornaments. I love it that “Prison Break” works on a complex level, consistently supplying the viewers with intellectual puzzles to rack their brains over.

“Blue Hawaii” seems to be an Elvis Presley impersonator. What’s up with these pop music references? First, it’s Queen, now it’s the King of Rock’n’Roll? I do hope it’s got to be a riddle as well, some sort of an undercover identity. 

BEAUTY 

I love that scene where Michael is chatting with “Blue Hawaii”. The man is as pretty as a picture. Not to mention that here he looks like a teen surfing for illegal online stuff while his parents are away. 

 

Or probably there’s another reason why I like this snapshot. Though the actor’s small quota of Oriental blood can be seen in the elongated shape of his eyes and the long dark eyelashes, windbreakers wrapped around the heads of otherwise European-looking men inevitably resemble bath towels, and that, you know, triggers implicitly sexual thoughts in me as an audience and touches the sensitive spots in my brain that respond to human beauty.  

And that elegant wrist… in one scene he’s got these spirit fingers and mehndi art on his hands, in another scene he’s beating up the wrong guy with these same hands. That’s just amazing.  

THE SLY OMAR 

Anyone would be scared and try to run away if they saw the “radioactive” Mr. Lincoln Burrows’ bulky frame, coolly chewing his gum, approach them from the far end of the street with a few more guys in tow. Especially if you’re the guy who had screwed with them a few days before. In other words, Omar is lucky they need his help.

Omar was a double-faced character, sure, and deserved some punishment. But probably not death. I really enjoyed his cunning manner of speaking.   

That situation – the map inside someone’s head – reminded me of T-Bag swallowing the map to the place where Westmoreland’s money stash was hidden in Season 2.

“THE ODYSSEY” AND PHAEACIA

OMG. I started reading “The Odyssey” because of “Prison Break”. A few years ago I read “Paradise Lost” because of “Supernatural”. I don’t know if I’ll finish all the 300 pages of it. But I do know that I studied languages and literature at the university, and both books were required reading, but, like many other students, I spent very little quality time with those dusty volumes because I felt little emotional connection with those stories. But I feel a deep emotional connection with the characters on these “implausible” American TV shows, and want to understand them better, so I up and go to the library and pick up these books and read them like I was a little diligent schoolgirl. That’s one of the most noble effects of popular culture – it will make you research serious stuff. (Though I fully believe the elitist/popular divide in culture has long lost its credibility. Ask any culture studies scholar.) 

Phaeacia, lifted straight from Homer’s “Odyssey”, is a utopic place, a paradise of peace amidst the humanitarian disaster. The ancient Greek mythology is beautifully given a new lease of life and seamlessly blends with today’s reality. The utopia has a sinister downside, though – no access to medical help. 

According to the Greek myths, the Phaecians were Poseidon’s (the god, not “frustrated policy wonk”) favourite folks, benevolent and hospitable to Odysseus and his mates. Omar describes them as “beautiful, generous”. Even Ja, in all his antisociality, relaxes and appreciates their kindness, unexpectedly getting along with the local kids. The Argonauts also found shelter here with their Golden Fleece. (Nope, Michael and his team have nothing glittering on them apart from a bag of fireworks.)

Odysseus’s raft crashed near the land of the Phaecians and Odysseus had to reach the island by swimming, in a storm, nearly dying in the process. Michael’s trip across the sand waves, first in a damaged car, then on foot, wounded, was equally epic. 

On a funny side note, the Phaecians’ ships were products of an absolutely cutting edge technology – they were steered by thought. 

RED ROCK, WHITE ROCK

That ritual game of red rock/white rock Michael urges his mates to play to decide who’s going to distract Cyclops, was just a semblance of fairness. All the rocks in his hand were red. Michael had already decided he would be that guy. It’s just that they’re all blessed with a sense of chivalry that had to be soothed before he could drive away into danger, alone. Seriously, why couldn’t he take his “Whip hand” with him? Or his Linc hand, for that matter? Even Odysseus himself took four of his men to help him blind Cyclops. 

Probably because he has to make it up as he goes, though he doesn’t enjoy it. “Now how the hell am I gonna get out of here”. But whether he likes it or not, “contingency” and “improvising” seem to be a substitute for “plans” in Michael’s new life. And whatever he thinks of it, he’s good at it. “When Michael takes on the world, the world always loses”. Lincoln is so right. 

CYCLOPS AND THE FIGHT 

Cyclops is that quasi-comical character who alternates between successfully trying to be badass and evil and losing miserably, so you don’t know whether to resent him or to pity him. 

To his only credit, he leaves the guys no choice – to return or to move forward. For that, they should be hatefully grateful. 

Forgetting to take spare weapons from the militants (as some commenters complained) probably boils down to their “no kill” policy. Also, they want to escape, not to carry around a load of heavy ammunition and kill random people with it. 

About to chase after Michael’s car, Cyclops mutters, “You want to play, you son of a bitch?” The idea of games runs through this season. The previous episode was full of card games slang, here Michael plays this red rock-white rock game, then he and Cyclops play cat and mouse in the desert. 

I don’t remember Michael initiating fights, apart from that one with Lincoln at the end of Season 2. The fight with Cyclops reminded me of the confrontation between Michael and T-Bag. T-Bag teased Michael, saying he wouldn’t have the guts to hurt a fly a sadistic paedophilic murderer like him, so Michael made a Solomon’s decision and pinned T-Bag’s hand to the ground as if he were some Christ on a cross, leaving his nasty foe temporarily incapacitated but alive. Cyclops suffered a similar – though permanent and obviously fatal – damage at Michael’s hands. Technically, Michael didn’t kill him, but left him in a state worse than death. Abandoned to a gruesome demise by thirst and starvation. Michael will surely feel guilty because of that.  

Michael was giving Cyclops a chance to go their separate ways, no damage done. I’m sure he wouldn’t have hurt Cyclops if he hadn’t been forced to. He would just steal the villain’s car and drive off into the heat, leaving him in the desert. But Cyclops chose the bloody way. Pride, fall, goes before. 

Michael’s defence was also a revenge for Sid’s death. Eye for an eye. 

DESERT AND RESCUE

Taken out of context, the sight of Michael stumbling along the desert’s rocks and sands looks funny, but it’s not. We know he’s in a very dramatic, if not tragic, epic situation. It’s not without reason the image of him falling and rising while walking across the sands is used as the background for “Prison Break” logo in the title sequence. 

Fans would no doubt enjoy toying with the crossover idea of Captain Cold finding himself in a desert. If he had a cold gun with him, he’d just turn this wretched place into iiiiiiiccccce. Or call Barry Allen to get him outta here. Too bad TV shows don’t work as flexibly as fanfiction does, yet.  

I may be wrong here, but when Michael is being worried about Lincoln, he wouldn’t let it show. When Lincoln is being worried if Michael makes it out of the dusky desert alive, we see it loudly and clearly. It’s such truthful acting by Dominic Purcell. These brothers are both stoic men and when they do show emotion, it’s always a gift. 

The symbolism of fireworks is double-edged. Fireworks are celebratory in nature, they hail the strangers’ arrival to Phaeacia, like on the Independence Day. But their meaning here is that of despair – they are a call out into the darkness. 

There’s a clever twist here – in any other show, family flashback scenes would refresh the character’s spirits. He would then heroically get up to his feet and stagger on. But Michael, he just closes his eyes and his weary palms and lies there. It’s not until he hears and sees these fireworks that he wakes up to reality again. 

Antifreeze poisoning couldn’t have been very severe in Michael’s case – that blade could only transfer a small amount of ethylene glycol into his blood flow. Yet it potentially means kidney and heart failure and death. There must be some shaman or healer or a sorceress in Phaeacia to treat him. 

Of course, we know that the prospect of him dying is not real but we agree to suspend our disbeliefs and play the game along with the writers and the characters and the crew and the epic story they’re unveiling before our eyes. It was easily the most dramatic and desperate cliffhanger of the current season so far. 

RANDOM NOTA BENES

Michael should always trust Lincoln with driving.  

Sand is an allegory of time. 

When they find a living GPS in gulls, it’s the show’s trademark bird symbolism again. Gulls are associated with freedom. 

Whip to Michael about the hose, “What you gonna do with that, flog him?” Always with the double entendres. 

I’m a big fan of Wentworth Miller’s voice and the way he uses it. It’s actually deep and manly and what not, but… that tiny gasp of pain after Michael’s been wounded by Cyclops… that battle cry when he’s pushing the one-eyed villain to the ground. It’s very versatile.

“Linc, where are your tracks? Tracks, tracks”. Sounds like a chant. Michael is also seen talking to himself which we haven’t noticed before (“Come on, Mike, come on”). 

"Poseidon" is the name of a military maritime aircraft. Wouldn’t want a monster like this attack them in the next episode.