First of all, to justify the headline of this review, I gotta say that I think it's not a bad idea to change show's direction. Perhaps, it doesn't fit its name anymore, but it was inevitable - characters can't make prison breaks all the time. We've seen season 3, and even there escape seemed a bit repetitive, so it was just a matter of time, when they decide to move to something different. And I'm fine with that, as long as the show still has something to offer.
But this episode, though it has not a bad setup, just doesn't work. It's too rushed, filled with such a big amount of inconsistencies and questionable decisions, a total disaster, to be honest. And I guess that I still could've rated it higher, if it had been any other average show, but it's not. Since PB set such a high bar quality, I can't forgive it so many bad and messy things I've just witnessed.
I'm not the one who usually tries to learn more about off screen situation around the show so I'll stick with it here as well. Though I understand, that season 3 was cut off to only 13 episodes, it shouldn't justify the fact, that this episode is way too rushed. It raised too many questions. Since I'm sure that I'll never get answers for those, I'm gonna list all the things that were off when it comes to Scylla. If I'm wrong, I'll go back here and change my rating.
1) When you spend the whole last season in the prison, you do not just tell the viewer that there was a fire and riot. I get it, they didn't have access to that location, but I can't help but having questions. How did they manage to do it all? What was it like? Why did Sucre and Bellick decide to cooperate? How did they get away from that prison before meeting Brad's mother? And so on. It had to be shown. At least a small part of it when everything was on fire. It really could've been like one of the most interesting plot line. Well, so...
2) Sara's resurrection (and I can't call it any other way). I really like Sara and have always appreciated her as a character and pretty important part of the story. Not gonna lie, she's my third favorite (aside from Michael and Alex) character in the entire show. But it's wrong to bring her back for so many reasons. First, though the way it's been done (hello, Seven) was extremely poorly executed, characters had grieved over her, her death was impactful. We saw how devastated Michael was, how her death affected him, gave him a purpose to go against the Company and make them pay. It was great and it's been taken away too quickly. Terrible payoff for s3 finale, feels kinda disrespectful. She died pretty heroically for trying to help brothers to find her and LJ, risked so much. Second, Scylla provided us with absolutely nonsensical explanation of how it happened. It was dark in the garage? LJ wasn't watching? Seriously, show, that's all you've got? It's too lame. To fake someone's death, it takes time, even for the Company. Since Sara's escape definitely wasn't a part of their plan, it's just impossible to find a woman who looks so alike that fast. And I saw that episode with my own eyes, it wasn't that dark in there. Things with LJ doesn't fit in either. Apparently he and Sara had been together most of the time, including the moment she'd been 'killed' or, more importantly, the moment she managed to escape. Best version is that she ran away before and they killed another woman while LJ wasn't watching. It could've worked, I guess, but it's still very vague and cheap. Once again, it's hard to find woman who looks alike so fast, thus, I would've never believed LJ hadn't been watching all time. From what he said, it seemed like he wasn't watching only at the moment of killing, not a lot of time before that.
3) Whistler. He was such a huge part of the story last season and seemed so meaningful and mysterious, that it was just too strange from the writers to get rid of him so fast and reduce his role to one case, to one meeting. Lame and upsetting. Not much to add here, just a big disappointment. He seemed like such an intruiging character that had a great potential.
4) Why did they torture Sara in the first place? Seriously, what was the reason to do it? I mean, we've seen LJ, the boy was fine. I mean, of course, I can have my own theories, such as it happened due her tries to tell Michael and Linc where she was, but those are just theories, episode's answer was too terrible. You know, the Company, they always do stuff like that. And LJ is kinda a proof that they don't.
5) Tattoo that can be removed in 24 hours. I have nothing against some conventions the show may have, but it's just impossible to remove the whole thing that quickly
6) Dialogs and characters. Michael's speech at the beginning was the first sign. It was too pretentious and melodramatic. I know PB can do better than that. It also comes to characters' interaction. Actors still do a good job with the script they've been given, but there's just something that was off. For instance, I didn't feel an immediate menace when I saw T-Bag (though I've always done that before), or I didn't find that Glenn or his so-called funny interactions with others interesting because guy seemed too cliched (hope it'll change). Also the immediate brothers' consent after one killing attempt seems kinda weird, because it happened after Michael met Whistler, not before. If brothers had had nothing to do with all that but still tried to be murdered, I would've understood. But Michael had a meeting with Alex and Whistler. It still works, I guess, considering all the ties between brothers and the Company, but the show could've done much better.
I think, it's time to stop cause I can do it all day long. I wanna point out some good things. And there were ones.
1) Alex. It's great to have him and see how even more motivated he's gonna be due to what happened with his family.
2) Good intrigue. This show still manages to have good cliffhangers that I want to see getting their payoffs. It's more about Michael's nose bleeding than setup for the search of five cards, though, but still it counts.
3) Good potential for characters' interaction. It's nice to have all these characters back and now working together. It will be extremely interesting, unless the writers ruin it.
All in all, I'm extremely disappointed, the episode is a disaster. I wish they could've done it better. And because of the fact that I know, that they can do better, it all is even more upsetting. So yeah, what have I got myself into? It's pretty hard to quit when you came such a long way with the show and its characters.
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