Review of Prison Break: The Final Break (2009) by Evette M — 07 Aug 2013

Spoiler Rant: OK so here's what I gather from the show: smart, brave, moral, noble guy lives a crappy abusive childhood, defies odds and gets into college, devotes himself and earns a respectable degree, success culminates to a swanky loft office job.

No time to bask in lime light because he spends the remainder of his short life getting physically, emotionally, and mentally tormented, and all for the purpose of helping others. Yet his selflessness does not exonerate him from imaginary sins.

We're told that he is the proximate cause which precipitated the deaths of innocents. The producer of the show in interviews I've read rationalizes Scofield's death with the explanation that he had to answer for all the victims, that it wouldn't be right for his character to walk off into the sunset happily ever after.

Lincoln's bad judgement which led to his arrest is surely more proximate and more culpable. Yet Burrows survives and Scofield has to die? The one character who is burdened with the task of continually figuring out how to save everyone does not get one final respite, for even his death reminds us that he alone can't enjoy the fruits of his own efforts.

It's even more illogical to suggest that Scofield was really happy when he died because death freed him or whatever the mantra is. The man wanted to be around for his son. He was doomed to a fatherless childhood, and doubly doomed to die without meeting his son.

How is this in anyway just? This is stupid, not poetic. I enjoyed this show because it was fun to watch, and I wasn't expecting a thought-provoking masterpiece. It wasn't until after I finished watching it in its entirety that I had time to reflect on why it was so disturbing to me in the end.

Unintentionally disturbing. The writers did not succeed in crafting a harrowing or thoughtful story, yet I am nonetheless left upset by the message. I guess something about the 'unsung hero' resonates with me.

Very very sad.