I finally got around to watching Prison Break from last week and although a decent episode, it
exemplified one of my biggest pet peeves about story telling-- stupid retcons. For those that don't know what a
"retcon" is, it stands for retroactive continuity, and my abbreviated definition would go something like this: "adding onto
or changing something or someone's history from what we already knew." I don't mind changes to a character's back
story, but they have to be done right, not just for the "shock value" that was all the rage during this
episode. It seemed as if the writers took every character and just made them the opposite of what they currently were, as if they were trying to make them redeemable. There's the problem though: they're criminals, they're not really supposed to be likable or upstanding citizens. That's why it's so much fun wondering what's going to happen once Michael and company make it outside Fox River's walls. Is Michael going to be able live with himself knowing he unleashed T-Bag on society again just for the sake of rescuing his brother? If C-Note or Abruzzi killed someone once free, would that innocent life have been worth Lincoln's freedom?
I didn't need to know that Michael and Lincoln didn't really get along
beforehand; that was implied and should have been picked up upon by everyone watching the show. It was stupid to see
that Sara used to be a heroin addict; now it seems like her being at the prison is more of a self-punishment than her
rebelling against her father and wanting to make a difference. C-Note goes from being an upstanding soldier to your
stereotypical "angry black man?" No thanks. Did we learn a single new thing from the Vice-President's
flashbacks? Not really -- the reason her brother's dental records matched the corpse's is because he apparently had his
teeth removed. Whoopee.
T-Bag's story was fine; I liked parts and disliked others. I didn't like how he said
he was actually trying to change. I did, however, like his quick and psychotic snap back to the T-Bag we love to hate,
when he threatened to track down the woman that he was seeing, and her children. The only history that really seemed
"in character" to me was Fernando's. Although he did commit crimes, they were always slightly playful and all
for the love of Marisol, who is the whole reason he's even attempting the escape. Why oh why didn't we get even a scene
of Westmoreland's history? His is arguably the most mysterious -- is he or is he not DB Cooper? They could have played
with that for the entire episode, and is much more a part of the team then Sara is. Yet we learned nothing.
A friend of mine just said the other day that there are two shows on Fox's Monday night that he loves to watch. One
is so good it's hard imagining TV without it, the other is just so bad it's good. I think I have to agree with him,
because while I'll still tune in every week, I don't think Prison Break is
going to be winning any Emmy's this year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2006 @ 5:23PM
kyle said...
24 is the one that's so bad it's good, right?
i agree with you about this episode, it would have been better if it never happened, but on the whole, i think prison break is one of the better shows on tv
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4-10-2006 @ 5:58PM
Batmanuel said...
I totally agree and said as much last week on this blog...and was flamed qutie a bit for saying so.
I think they are treating the audience like chumps for aleviating the moral dilemas of releasing these prisoners by making them all nice guys with a bad break. It is a mistake to credit the show with 'fleshing out the characters' they are actually making them less complex and making it 'easier' to accept them being released.
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4-10-2006 @ 6:02PM
vanlandw said...
being a fan prison break i agree pretty much fully with what you said. this show was totally not important to the grand scheme of things.
the shield did a similar episode doing a flashback episode that really served no purpose and runined a few continuity issues for fans that really read into the show.
i also dislike how tv shows sometimes want to tie everybody together. like having Lincoln run right past fernando and having the main guard at the same meeting as Sara.
I had a lot of problems with that episode....my least favorite so far without question.
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4-10-2006 @ 6:08PM
Bryce said...
This show is actually starting to bore me. We all know Lincoln's going to get out of prison by breaking out, if he didin't get out, or got out for legal reasons, they'd be ripping off the fans. What I like most about the show is the planning and the actual drama of how he's going to get out, and the obstacles that stand in his way. Hopefully tonights should be a good one, with Michael needing to explain his burns, Michael meeting up with Haywire to get the blueprints of his missing portion of his tattoo, Michael being thrown in solitary.
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4-10-2006 @ 7:55PM
Douglin said...
Uhh...we learnt that the vice president's brother wasn't dead, that's pretty major! Why was Licoln framed for a murder that didn't even happen?
I liked the episode (it's wasn't retconning it's just revealing backstory, reconning would be saying t-bag is brothers with Lincoln too and they all knew all along)
You do realise the whole season before this still counts, these are what the characters were like before prison next week they'll still act the same they did in the last 'present day' episode.
This episode was really a test for next season, seeing if they can still make the show without the prison setting, if you didn't like it your probably not gonna like next year either
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4-10-2006 @ 10:28PM
tracy said...
i enjoyed the "i put my blood into this" chant michael had going. putting his blood into prison (indirectly) and putting his blood into getting him out. i'm glad the cuckoo routine was just to get him into the asylum. his eyes are creepy when they're all bugged out. and his head on sara's knee. can't wait for the roof to blow off that one.
oh, that tweeny kid is a joke. what? they have hair product in prison? and putting him that cell is hilarious.
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4-11-2006 @ 8:16AM
Mo said...
I too was disappointed that they decided to rewrite the characters' bios from what was on the PB official site to match last week's episode. I think they tried to make the characters more sympathetic.
However, I am still a huge fan of the show and don't miss a second of it.
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4-17-2006 @ 3:52PM
Jason said...
This is one of the "better" sitcoms ...Look at all those stupid reality shows. They suck! Look at 'some" of those stupid game shows, talk shows ..
Good shows are need more on T.V., like In Justice ..where is it now? Friday nights - 9 p.m. - Channel 7 ..where is it???
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4-20-2006 @ 3:04PM
Hilary said...
You people have no idea what you are missing. This show is better than what's out there today. Do you see anyone boozing their brains out or standing on a corner somewhere waiting to be killed??? NO! If anything, Prison Break is what just what the good doctor ordered for this county and kudos to the writers and the actors for all their hard work and for such and amazing show!!! Good job Prison Break!!!
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4-26-2006 @ 8:12AM
Ansen Yoo said...
What hate is that the playwrighter treats us as some of idiots. Like the playwrighter is the cat, and we audiences are the mice. I mean, come on. This is about a guy named Burrow who's going to be executed in a couple of days. And the playwrighter seems to plot every complication that prevends Scofield from prison breaking. It seems that the impossibility of the escaping triggers as the plot goes on. Then how could they succeed before Burrow is executed? It seems the breaking proceed can last forever, which means there are season 1, 2, 3, ... if the play gets popular. However, the execution doesn't seem to last that long. I mean in season 1, they failed; season 2, failed again; season 3, failed aaagain!... When will this escaping trash get to succeed? We don't have that much patience. We want to witness the crime is being justified and the criminals get punishment that they deserve. We grow more and more rage if there is no any physical breakthrough.
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7-28-2006 @ 4:51AM
Najmi said...
I just want to add something.
In the flashback episode, again Michael is shown confronting his captured brother for the 'first time'. This has happened in the first episode, where Michael in his tears asked Lincoln to swear on him that he didn't commit the murder. Lincoln swore, and Michael believed him.
But in the flashback episode, this first meeting is ret-conned = Michael is actually convinced that his brother did it. "The brother of the vice president? What do you think they're gonna do to you for this?". Again, Lincoln played out his lines, "...the evidence was cooked".
This first meeting couldn't have happened twice, could it?
I hate ret-cons.
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