Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Prison Break 5x04 Recap: “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” (The Sin of Deceit) [Guest Poster: Rebecca]


“The Prisoner’s Dilemma”
Original Airdate: April 25, 2017

Our hearts broke as we watched Michael surrender to Ogygia guards at the close of last week’s episode. The look of disappointment and defeat on his face was enough to make my gut do a total flip-flop; however, as Michael has told us so many times before, we just need to “have a little faith.” For the last forty-five minutes, we’ve watched our favorite prisoner put his meticulous planning and genius brainpower to work once again to craft a “Hail Mary,” as we see in this week’s episode.

“The Prisoner’s Dilemma” opens with Lincoln sitting beside Sheba in the hospital, who is still recovering from her injuries. C-Note shows up at the hospital and informs Lincoln the terrorists will shut down the airport soon. Lincoln realizes they are out of time and asks C-Note to get Sheba and her family on a plane ASAP; he will take care of getting Michael out.

Sheba tells Lincoln and C-Note her father went to grammar school with a federal judge, who may be able to get Michael out of Ogygia. Sheba’s father arranges a meeting between the judge and the group, and the judge offers Michael a full pardon in exchange for a car.

"I HAVE A HAIL MARY."


Michael, Ja, Whip, and Ramal have been sent to solitary and are growing worried as the bombs finally reach just outside the prison walls. Speaking to each other through their cell walls, Michael asks which one of them has an “S” carved into a brick in their cell. Much to the group’s dismay, Ramal’s cell has the “S,” meaning the escape has to start from his cell. At first, he doesn’t want to help, but Michael finally convinces him as the prison begins to enter a full-out riot. The guards, fearing for their lives, abandon the prison and leave the prisoners unattended; however, one prisoner, Mustapha, manages to snatch the keys to the prison gates from one guard and escape. He brushes past Lincoln on his way out.

When Lincoln arrives at the Ogygia gates, the prisoners tell him the only person with keys is Mustapha. While Lincoln runs back to the city to track down Mustapha, the prisoners band together and plan to get Ramal out of solitary to negotiate with the terrorists (remember, Ramal is the terrorists’ leader).

Lincoln finally locates Mustapha, and hides behind a wall as he watches Mustapha confront a group of terrorists. They ask him if he’s police, but don’t believe him when he says “no.” The terrorists shoot Mustapha, killing him instantly.

"I WANT TO SEE THE TRUE FACE OF WHO'S PULLING MY STRINGS ONCE AND FOR ALL."


In New York, T-Bag follows Kellerman, whom he is convinced is the mysterious Poseidon, from the Department of State to his house. T-Bag breaks in, much to Kellerman’s surprise. T-Bag berates Kellerman for not exonerating him when he did so for the other surviving members of The Fox River Eight before accusing him of hacking Sara’s phone and sending assassins after her and her family. Kellerman denies hacking the phones and tells T-Bag that Poseidon is a rogue CIA operative with loads and loads of power.

Back to Ogygia. Michael instructs Ramal to remove the brick with the “S” and he’ll find string and a metal spoon. Michael explains how to use the string and spoon to yank down the cell’s water pipe. As Ramal works, Michael hears the prisoners threatening to kill Sid if Michael doesn’t get Ramal out of solitary.

Ramal fishes the water pipe through the slot in his cell door and removes the pins on the hinges of Michael’s door, but only after making Michael promise to get him out. Michael grabs keys and quickly unlocks Ja and Whip, but pauses at Ramal’s cell. He tells Ramal he won’t release him unless he helps Michael and his cellmates get out of the country.

The gang makes their way to the infirmary and Michael tells Ramal to use the phone to secure cars to get them to the Yemen border. Ja considers stealing pills from the infirmary, but Whip talks him out of it — or so we think.

Outside of the prison, Lincoln is still waiting for terrorists to leave Mustapha’s body so he can grab the keys. Michael’s messenger, the kid who referred to him as “Bubble Gum Man,” runs into Lincoln and they work together to create a distraction so Lincoln can get ahold of the keys.

"THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND."


Kellerman tells T-Bag what he knows as the latter. Apparently, Poseidon was upset with U.S. foreign policy and went rogue; the state department has been looking for him since. Kellerman suspects Poseidon sent Michael to Yemen to break Ramal out of Ogygia. Suddenly, A&W and Van Gough (I know you were wondering when they’d show up!) shoot Kellerman and T-Bag through the kitchen window. T-Bag manages to escape out the basement window and call 911. Kellerman begs Van Gough just to tell him who Poseidon is, so he can die peacefully, but Van Gough shoots him, killing him. The duo leaves Kellerman’s house as sirens approach.

Meanwhile, the rioting prisoners have realized Michael and his crew have escaped and scour the prison for them. The crew hides under some cots in a cell and Michael solemnly asks Whip that if he dies, to find a Mike Scofield in Ithaca, New York and tell him that his father loves him. One of the prisoners finds the crew hiding in the cell, but Sid shows up and shanks him, allowing Michael, Whip, Ja, and Ramal to flee.

Finally, Lincoln makes it back to the prison, just in time to watch Michael climbing over the roof, making his escape. He yells out for his brother, but Michael doesn’t hear.

Michael, Ramal, Whip, and Sid run for the auto shop, leaving Ja behind once they realize he’s high and therefore a liability. Michael asks Ramal to have his men shoot Ja if he tries to follow.

"OUR WAY OUT IS UNDER THE WOOD BENCH."


The whole group of escapees, including Ja (who had stolen a map Michael had drawn of the auto shop), arrives at the rendezvous where they are met by a large group of rebels. Michael realizes Ramal has double-crossed him — Ramal even plans to slit Michael’s throat on camera.

Lincoln finally tracks down his brother and manages to get to a machine gun on one of the rebels’ cars. He threatens to kill Ramal if he doesn’t let Michael go, but Whip abruptly launches himself at Ramal and manages to turn the knife around on Ramal, killing him instantly. Lincoln kills the other rebels and the group flees. Once they get to a safe spot, Michael embraces his brother and promises to explain everything. They watch Ramal’s murder on television and learn the entire terrorist group has declared war on them.

T-Bag is driving when he notices A&W and Van Gough standing near a tree. T-Bag parks and hides at first, until he sees a third person has joined them. He takes out his phone to get a picture of the third person, and it is revealed that A&W and Van Gough were meeting Jacob, Sara’s husband.

THE VERDICT 


I’ve mentioned before that “gotcha” plot twists are Prison Break’s signature, and we’ve encountered multiple of these just in this past hour. There’s so much good stuff to unpack, but I’d really like to focus on Jacob, who went from “poor, immobilized husband” to “potentially evil power player” in the blink of an eye.

Here’s my prediction: Jacob is Poseidon. It seems far-fetched, but it’s exactly the kind of far-fetched tale Prison Break would weave. Us fans who have watched the previous four seasons have been through our share of crazy upside-downs and surprises; heck, we’ve even seen people come back from the dead to hold positions of crazy high power (Michael’s mother and Paul Kellerman [R.I.P. for real this time], for example). Characters we thought were meek and innocent turned out to be masterminds.

Even if he’s not the infamous Poseidon, Jacob is definitely in on this whole thing somehow. And it actually makes total sense; his involvement doesn’t come completely out of left field. I have wondered for weeks now why A&W shot him in the leg and didn’t just kill him, but if he is an ally, it makes sense why she’d want him alive. Additionally, we don’t really know that much about him. He’s a dark horse, an underdog, someone to whom we aren’t (or weren’t) paying attention. He would be the perfect character to be behind this whole scheme.

On a side note, I was kind of hoping Kellerman would stay alive, but I’m not that heartbroken. He needed to die in order for the pressure to be on T-Bag and Sara to find Poseidon. And I will end this review/recap with how I’ve ended the other ones: Sucre. Where. Are. You.

Honorable Events Worth Mentioning:
  • Kellerman tells T-Bag that Poseidon got his nickname because he is so untouchable that a nuclear submarine couldn’t even find him.
  • “It’s a freaking Mexican soap opera out here!” 
  • The reason Ramal needed to pry the hinges off of Michael’s cell door was because his side of the solitary chamber was old and hadn’t been remodeled, unlike Ramal’s side. The hinges on Michael’s cell were rusty and old.
  • T-Bag drinking the kale smoothie. The whole scene was just way too funny.

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