Your Tardy Prison Break Update

My apologies to the Prison Break fans out there. The friend I try to watch each new episode with was sick yesterday, so we didn't get to this week's installment until tonight. Anyway, on with the show...

Recently, it has struck me that Prison Break has really reached a point where it has the storytelling format of a soap opera. I don't mean this in a bad way -- I'm just comparing the techniques. The typical daytime soap opera has about four or five plots running in any given episode, each featuring different characters, and all of them seldom (or never) interacting with one another. Each piece of the story is given about 10 minutes of screen time, each broken into a handful of 2- to 4-minute chunks, then shuffled together to create an episode.

Bellick, C-Note, Haywire, T-Bag, and Sucre all now seem nearly irrevocably disassociated from one another, and from Linc and Michael. They're each their own plotline in the "soap opera." In another show, all of these plots could be fairly interesting. But in this show, I find it harder and harder to stay invested in the stories other than Linc and Michael.

Well, sort of. T-Bag still commands my attention, and that has everything to do with the brilliant acting of Robert Knepper. But of course, he was taking a week off, presumably boarded up in the house with his former girlfriend and her children.

Perhaps surprisingly, I also find myself very interested in Haywire's story. Maybe it's because we're only seeing him sparingly. It's always been part of his backstory that he's not a killer in his blood -- it takes something to set him off. And I found it very interesting to see that play out on screen this week.

But I'm starting to lose interest in Bellick. He was interesting as an adversary for the heroes, but now they've built up Mahone to be that -- and a far more ruthless and cunning adversary than Bellick ever was. And I can't be at all sympathetic for Bellick's current plight. Perhaps their laying pipe for him to make his own attempt to escape from Fox River? If so, that could be entertaining, watching him try to follow in Michael's footsteps. But even still, I'm feeling like they need to bring his storyline to some sort of conclusion by the end of the season.

C-Note also took the week off, which leaves Sucre. I'm starting to lose interest in his storyline too, but in this case, I find myself really feeling bad about that. I liked him so much as Michael's friend and cellmate. I remember cheering out loud at the television back in season one during the episodes about two-thirds through the season where he had to jump in and take a really active role in the escape, crafting plans of his own. But now I feel like the writers are in the same dilemma as his character. For Sucre: "He was escaping to try to be with a girl? How did he think that was ever going to work out with people trying to chasing him down? Now what is he gonna do?" For the writers: "He's out, more or less free and clear, and away from the other characters. Now what are you gonna do with him?"

Even if I found a couple of the subplots this week a bit slow, the main thread delivered. I find it very interesting how badly Michael reacts to being "not in control" of a situation. In that respect, he and Linc really are brothers, and completely alike -- neither one can take feeling helpless without quickly trying to do something. Michael can achieve a cool focus and centeredness when he's working on one of his elaborate plans, but once Kellerman arrived on the scene and took control, Michael started doing crazy things just to get back in the driver's seat (such as calling the cops in Montana). As soon as he crafted his way of contacting Sara, he was right back in that cool and focused frame of mind. Interesting nuances in both the writing of the character and the portrayal of him there.

And finally, the President resurfaces in the plot. Only by way of a phone call, but hey -- it's something. There are entire episodes of Patricia Wettig's new show, Brothers & Sisters, that she's not even in. It's good to know they finally worked out a way to get some of her time for Prison Break.

In all, a mostly good episode. And we didn't have to see them attempt to fake a version of Denver that surely wasn't going to look anything like the real thing.