S.O.B.

Tonight's Prison Break installment showed marginal improvement over the past few weeks, but that's damning it with faint praise to say the least. It had a few interesting scenes of verbal jousting between the characters, but remained almost stubbornly undramatic.

Christina's revelation that Lincoln and Michael aren't really brothers was essentially pointless. I suppose there's room for debate on this point, but I say family is who you're raised with. The fact that there's not any blood relation between the two gets a big "so what?" from me. As Michael said, Lincoln was like a brother to him in the ways that really matter.

And frankly, if the writers are actually asking us to have any other reaction to this reveal other than "so what," then I'm actually a little upset with them. If we're supposed to say take it that Linc is less worthy because he's not related by blood to Michael, then that's perilously close to saying that Michael should never have gone the extra mile for him. That is, the whole show should never have happened. And while I might feel that about the last two seasons or so, them's fightin' words about that exhilirating first year (and pretty good second year, overall).

It was not the only bit of stupidity to spew from the writers tonight, though. The T-Bag plot, as it pertained to the General, was just stupid. Specifically, it was making one or the other of them stupid.

Option one, the General is leading T-Bag on for his own jollies. He's never been that way before, and T-Bag has rarely been so stupid as to not see when he's being played. If this is true, it cheapens both characters here, as we arrive at the end.

Option two, the General really is trying to test and groom T-Bag to work for him. In that case, the General is a complete idiot for thinking that the things he has asked T-Bag to do are in any way difficult for him. "I want you to kill Lincoln when the time comes." "Take this gun and you shoot that guy." Has the General even been paying attention? T-Bag is a killer, and will do anything out of self-interest. I mean, at least the writers correctly had T-Bag take the gun without question and commit murder, but still, the already seriously de-fanged General is looking even more like the idiot in this scenario.

This final arc, with its major driving element to sell technological secrets to a foreign country/organization, is so far removed from the "assassination conspiracy" that began the series that things are unrecognizable at this point.

I have to say again, though I'm still sorry to be saying it, that I'm rather eagerly awaiting the end of the show now. And not in the good way.