Prison Break – Season 3 – Review

Cult Spy offers you an alternative rundown of this year’s action in Sona prison… I have to admit that I agree with a good majority it! Especially the Best Moment, although I actually liked the acting when Michael learned that Sara was dead. We finally got to see some raw emotion out of him this season, instead of the MacGyver-like drive to get out of prison.

Anyway – here is their take on the rest of Season 3. Please share your best/worst moments below!

Most Endless Source of Morbid Fascination

Surely this has to go to Scofield’s sweat patch. Festooned upon his grey sweatshirt, the patch regularly fluctuates in size between scenes and has taken on a life of its own. Surely this soaking mass deserves its own agent and trade union? Perhaps it should join the writers and take strike action, given the lack of recognition it currently receives. Besides, if Lechero can smuggle phones and hookers into prison, can’t he manage one can of anti-perspirant deodorant for his new buddy?

Best New Character

Susan, without a shadow of a doubt. Possessing the power to make a man’s testes retract in fear, she’s a straight-talking mercenary who is not afraid to go through with her threats. She beheaded Sara Tancredi and was about to do the same to LJ before the young chump’s father called. Her back story is intriguing too, with flashbacks harking back to her time as a captive subjected to brutal rape and torture. It will be interesting to find out the true nature of her dealings with Whistler.

Best Moment

There’s a temptation here to give it to the moment Sara Tancredi’s head was discovered in a box. No, not because of the sheer dramatic impact of the moment, of which there was very little – particularly if you’ve seen a film called Se7en. Instead, it was because it finally drew a line under the character after the increasingly frustrating attempts to show us she was alive – using body doubles and stand ins. Sarah Wayne Callies wasn’t going to reprise the role, so the sooner Schofield’s love interest was dispatched the better, because she was dead wood.

However, the ending to episode six was such a jubilant moment when Schofield, learning of his loved one’s death, grabbed the crow’s foot and challenged Whistler to a fight to the death. A sudden twist and reversal of our expectations, it worked a treat – even though we knew there would be some contrived way out of it.

Worst Moment

Sofia pulling the gun on Lincoln Burrows on the beach. The twist had been so clearly signposted due to various shots of Sofia looking very devious and calculating in the scenes leading up to it. This killed any dramatic impact. Then, before you can scream “bring back John Abruzzi’, the pair were back on the same side again. What a pointless waste of time, just for a cheap thrill.

Most Redundant Plot Function

The character of Andrew Tyge entered Sona in the fifth episode, was given plenty of airtime and pointed out that he recognised Whistler under another guise. Then he was killed. Cheers for turning up dude. Bearing in mind that Whistler lived down a hole in the prison, communicated with his girlfriend via bird watching books and was wanted by The Company, we already had the impression that there might be more to him than meets the eye.

Most Underused Character

This is a three-way tie between Mahone, T-Bag and Brad Bellick. All three were so crucial to the enjoyment of the last season, with their own unique traits and pantomime villain status. But once ensconced within the walls of Sona, they all lost their potency and Prison Break failed to find any appealing supporting characters to rival them. Still, at least we could wallow in Bellick’s perpetual suffering.

The ‘Please, No More!’ Award

We’ve had enough shots of Michael Scofield brooding and/or sulking. It might have worked over the first two seasons, but it has become too tiresome now and seems to constitute about 27.4% of each episode. It seems that Wentworth Miller has gone down the Joey Tribbiani route of ‘sniff the fart’ acting.