The Legend

I wanted to like this week's Prison Break episode, but when you get down to it, I just didn't all that much.

What I wanted to like was the fact that the writers chose to deal with the death of Brad Bellick. They acknowledged him as a significant character from the very beginning, and didn't simply wash him away (pun intended) without giving the death some weight. They devoted a good amount of time this week to "wrapping things up" for the character.

But while I liked the impulse, I had a hard time with the execution. In short, I just didn't find the emotions expressed by the other characters to be convincing. To Linc and Michael, he was a nemesis most of the time they knew him. He went on to simply be a nuisance by the time of Michael's Panama imprisonment, and a bit of an oaf in their quest for Scylla. I just don't see where along the way they'd grow to like him all that much.

We're told that Sucre developed a good friendship with Bellick, and man did the writing (and his acting, for that matter) try to sell us on that. But the events that bonded the two characters all took place off screen. In the long gap of the writers' strike, between the abbreviated season three and the start of season four, Sucre and Bellick had a series of adventures we've heard about from time to time. But "telling, not showing" is a cardinal sin of writing. It didn't much matter when it was background, but thrust front and center this week, it just rang false.

And why the hell would T-Bag give a damn? The composer tried his best to score T-Bag's speech in the board room in an epic manner, and again, the acting was highly pitched to sell us on the idea of some relationship here. But I can't believe T-Bag would feel anything but joy at the death of Bellick.

Mahone? He used to call Bellick his "dog" back in season two. They've hardly had any interaction since then. Why does he suddenly care?

Basically, Sara's response I believe, because she and Bellick have a history going back prior to Fox River, at the recovery meetings. But then, her reaction was most muted of all, and less focus was given to it than all the other reactions.

So basically, it felt like a misfire all around, with characters behaving quite unlike themselves in the name of giving Bellick his sendoff.

Meanwhile, the plot treaded water this week without advancement. And my disappointment in the Bellick wrap-up spilled over into every other aspect of the episode, unfortunately. The ridiculous double-speak of the bad guys talking about all the goobledy-gook required to move Scylla seemed unusually onerous. The requisite "threatened by Agent Self / counter-threaten Agent Self" scene dragged. Even little details were getting to me.

Like, have you ever really looked at that white board in the warehouse, with all the photos of Scylla card holders attached to it? Card Holder #1's photo is clearly the real life actor's "head shot," and it looks absolutely silly, this supposed evil baddie smiling with a hand on his chin. Every time I saw it tonight, it jolted me completely out of the moment.

I'm hoping things will get back on track next week.