[SPOILERS!!!]
The 4th season series finale of Prison Break ended it’s dying ratings existence in its Friday night slot.
This final season trudged along while everybody was chasing Scylla. The General wanted it, Christina Scofield wanted it. China wanted it. India wanted. Hell, who didn’t want it? I wanted it so I can find some dirt to write about.
I tried to break this down in a chronological order, but my new novel adaptation of Fox’s Prison Break was getting way too long. The closing story became too convoluted with twists, turns and the reappearance of old characters that I felt that maybe I just needed to draw on my emotions about the finale and not try to detail out the episode. We all say it. Right?
There are some SPOILERS included in one way or another, so you have been warned.
The brothers Michael (Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) went through a lot through the entire show: from Michael allowing himself to be incarcerated to help free his brother Lincoln for a crime he didn’t commit, to the endless manipulations they were put through to achieve their one true goal: freedom.
General Jonathan Krantz (Leon Russom) was the man who was in control until Michael undermined his entire infrastructure by snagging different parts of Scylla from his control. The General’s only leverage on people was to have his operatives put everyone’s families and friends under the gun. Literally. In the end, his electrical reward was the perfect gift for all his deeds.
Christina Scofield (Kathleen Quinlan) was nasty. The mother of Lincoln Burroughs and Michael Scofield, she was the nasty nail in everything. She was a true “Company” operative that did what was necessary to get her job or goals done. She even gave up her kids to affect her end game. When all was said and done, her demise at the hands of Sara Tanchredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) was perfect.
Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell (Robert Knepper) was the tragic Shakespearean character in this show. Evil by impulse, he had gotten a taste of legitimate work and loved it. An honest job was one of the lures that the General used to manipulate him into doing his bidding.
Yet T-Bag had a keen analytical mind that was wasted on crime. In the end, the General’s biddings seemed to push T-Bag back to his core mode of murdering and “other” things. Knepper made T-Bag incredibly believable and I couldn’t decide to like, hate or feel sorry for him. In the end, his compulsive nature to take the easier path of crime landed him back where this all began, in a prison with some poor fool hanging on to his pocket linen.
Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) was a catalyst of action when he had sufficient inspiration. I really enjoyed Fichtner’s portrayal of the character. In fact I like most of what William Fichtner does. He proves that men with receding hairlines can get the job done! Though he was forced to become allies with Scofield, things were worked out in the end for him.
Donald Self (Michael Rapaport) was the fed who promised immunity and gave the escapees blank paper for their work. Who then found himself manipulated back into the fold to be part of this ragtag team of non-criminals (mostly) committing criminal deeds. In the end, he was getting what he deserved as he found himself in a hospital.
Rappaport made us believe that Self was there to help, until he turned on the brothers. Then we didn’t know what to think about his loyalties until I decided that Self was loyal to no one but his own end game. In the end when he was put in a corner so to speak, his written defiance to the feds showed his loyalties finally cemented in with the gang and I’m mixed on his ending. In some ways he deserved it for all his manipulations. Then again, who deserves that kind of vegetative state?
Honorable mention though she wasn’t in the finale:
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe as Gretchen Morgan. I can’t remember a time when a character was done so well. O’Keefe played Gretchen so well that A: I hated every scene she was in. B: Every scene she wasn’t in, I was hoping the scene was producing some end-game to Gretchen’s demise. Yea, it was that bad. A kudos to the actress for scarring me for life.
The Finale Of Twists
Everyone had either been kidnapped or had someone they knew kidnapped or was going to be kidnapped. The other angle that kept coming at me was that every 30 minutes or so, someone else had a gun to Michael’s head. And everyone was tricking everyone. At least Michael had dissected that damn Scylla.
All the on-the-sly maneuverings that went on allowed some old faces and other government entities to show up and finally get the upper hand.
There were a few fresh faces of old in the mix. Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) and Benjamin Miles “C-Note” Franklin (Rockmond Dunbar). Sucre and C-Note show up as C-Note has a way for everyone to get himself or herself out of this endless spiral of legal trouble they keep finding themselves in and they work their way toward finding Michael and Lincoln.
And suddenly there’s Paul Kellerman, (Paul Adelstein) offering a legal way out of this whole debacle, as it seems he’s backed by the United Nations. Man, everyone was in on this.
In the end, Kellerman had the power to exonerate everyone. Sucre keeps the pen he used to sign his freedom. Everyone bids farewell. Everyone’s loved ones are safe.
The End Let A Steam Out Of My Bag
As everyone is settling into normalcy, Michael’s nose starts to bleed again. You’ve got to be kidding me. Then we jump to four years later and Michael is dead.
It’s four years later and we watch Sara and Michael Jr. gather together with Sucre, Mahone and Lincoln to pay a remembrance visit to Michael’s grave. Lincoln leaves the ever-iconic origami crane on top of the tombstone.
My Quick Take
This finale had to pack a lot into two hours.
Quick nit: Did you notice the Verizon commercial showing off their streaming video in the first hour? They were showing scenes that weren’t going to happen for another 45 minutes? Just brilliant.
I think the show took a ton of extra turns and twists and steps to get where they were in the finale.
It felt like the writers never had an end game, but they let the writing take them wherever it did. That works for some, but then in the end, it feels like writers are scrambling to account for things they hadn’t fully explored or finalized.
Even though I enjoyed watching the finale, there were so many different twists and turns in it that it got old for me. At one point, we were just waiting for the close. It felt like an over-hyped James Bond action flick. Sometimes there’s so much action that it is no longer exciting to see yet one more explosion. Whoopee.
Michael’s death almost seemed to suck the emotion out of me. It distracted from the entire journey of these four years. It disappointed me that after all that work and effort, his only real reward was his own death. Does that mean he’s truly escaped and is free now? I don’t know.
I was hanging out on Twitter before and during the show and Twitter was aflame with frustration and anger toward the ending. It seemed anti-climatic after all was said and done.
For me, the image I can’t get out of my head, when all is said and done, is Lincoln putting the origami crane on Michael’s tombstone. For me, that sad and touching scene will probably be my memory of this whole series.
At least my emotions were invoked one last time and they managed to engage my imaginative depression one last time before closing credits.
I thought the first two years were fantastic.
After that, I know that Fox wanted to keep a ratings winner in their pocket, but the stretching of the feasibility started after the gang got manipulated into helping Self and then everyone else and their mother (literally) after that. If I stick to the first two years, I say fantastic. The third year, well, yea, OK, it was still good. But then this last season I was on-board solely out of sheer loyalty. Loyalty and the hope for a great end game kept me watching. I could not abandon Michael. I needed to see how he came out of all this.
How did you feel about the finale of Prison Break, the season as a whole or the entire 4-year run? Let us know.
‘Anchorman 2′ Trailers Tease the Return of Ron Burgundy’s News Team [Updated] 
Hugh Jackman Reveals Summer Start Date for ‘Wolverine 2′ 
Chris Hemsworth Talks ‘Thor 2′; Mads Mikkelsen Circling Villain Role [Updated] 
‘Walking Dead’ Season 3 Preview Reveals The Prison & Michonne [Updated] 
Loading ...
The Season finale of Prison Break was awesome..except that it made my mother cry alot..i am not a big fan of Prison Break..only watched the finale season..my mother is a big fan of it..speciallly a fan of the character Michael..so when she found out Michael died at the end..after all the suffering and trying to do the right thing..she got very upset..pissed and sad…even cried…maybe Michael shouldnt die..it was a different end..but it was to hursh to the fan..it should perhaps be a happier end.
I must say that I am disappointed at the ending of prison break. Micheal dead!! That’s harsh! After all they have been through, he could have been around to enjoy life as a free man. He didn’t even get to see his son…very sad!
Did you notice Michael’s death date on his tomb said 1974-2005? that means he was 31 when he died, but earlier in season 4 Linc and Sara commented that Michael had just turned 31, so if he died 4 years later, he should’ve been 35, so his death date should say 2009!!!! I cant believe a production as important as PB just let those kinds of mistakes happen.
Maria Med:
Nice catch… When I was a kid, some newspaper used to pay for finding TV bloopers like that.
@ Maria & Bruce
You miss a detail. The whole PB story lasts less than one year, 8 or 9 months actually. (From the time Michael robs the bank till the time he dies). It’s just the show that lasted 4 seasons/years -not the story.
Egads… time shifted existences… good point. Like 24 taking place in one day, across months for the viewers. I had lost track of that premise because PRISON BREAK felt like it went on and on sometimes, but you’re right.
Thanks for the corrective additive RED_DROP!
well don’t you guys watch the 23rd and 24th episode of this 4th season? a few weeks after the gang signed the paper with kellerman,right on mike and sara’s wedding,sara was caught by the police for the murder of mike and link’s mother(sara did killed her,remember?)..moving on,mike tried to get her out of the prison,but in order to success,he must sacrificed his own life..so,he did indeed died at his 31st(year 2005)
well don’t you guyz watch the 23rd and 24th episode of this 4th season? a few weeks after the gang signed the paper with kellerman,right on mike and sara’s wedding,sara was caught by the police for the murder of mike and link’s mogher(sara did killed her,remember?)..moving on,mike tried to get her out of the prison,but in order to success,he must sacrificed his own life..s0,he did indeed died at his 31st(year 2005);
I L.O.V.E.D Prision Break i was dissapointed at Fox thatthey cancelled the show. I just started to watch the show and i just falled in love with it. Television hasnt been the same. Prision Break was the best show on t.v and it still is today. I mean there are afew good shows out now but nothing compare to Prision Break. I wish that the show could be brought back i mean i just begin watching the show then i find out that the show was being cancelled. I then had to buy the dvd and see what i missed it just made me mad to see such a good show leave so soon off the network. I mean it was only in its 4th season. Prision Break will forever be remembered. PRISION BREAK FOREVER
Prison was my life 4 1 year since nov 2008 till now…I really loved this serial..its fantastic, outstandin wiz every1 performance…but really touched wiz the last part wen michael died…its the 1st time i cried so much for a serial..mike should nt have died he was the light of that serial..he’ve done a wonderful job…hats off to every1 espcially linc, sarah, sucre and mahone…u were amazing.. the best part was mike and sarah chemistry going on btw them…NEXT FILM IN HOLLYWOOD SHOULB BE ON SARAH AND WENTWORTH THEY ARE MADE FOR EACHOTHER…U GUYS HAVE WIN EVERYONE’S HEART…BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU N WE ARE STILL EXPECTING A 5TH SEASON WHERE MIKE COMES BACK N THIS TIME LINC SUCRE MAHONE WILL BREAK PRISON FOR HIM WHERE MIKE IS KEPT..ITS AN IDEA WE MY FRNDS AND I HAVE THOUGHT ASBT…
kindly let me know if the ‘FINAL BREAK” was the last of the prison break series?
regards,
marcus
Marcus, yes it was.
WELL After I saw ‘the final break’ I kept wondering for quite sometime as to why it was so essential rather a compulsion for Paul Scheuring to put Micheal Scofield in the grave after all that he has accomplished. Other than a vain attempt to create an ethos that belong more to a Greek or Shakespearian tragedy than a TV series of our time, Micheal ‘s death has done nothing but drained the whole image, theme and purpose of the series down the drain. I admit that a writer always knows best what to do with his characters, but at least it should not look like some kind of revenge on the viewers who had consciously or unconsciously waited for the story to wind up with a happy ending.
is prison break going to continue anytime soon or that was the realy end??
Prison Break should stop in season 2. If they want to continue this. They should make into a different tittle. Not as “Prison Break”.
Prison Break should stop in season 2. If they want to continue this. They should make into a different tittle. Not as “Prison Break”.
Prison Break should stop in season 2. If they want to continue this. They should make into a different tittle. Not as “Prison Break”.
the worst ending ever. I can not understand what creator of the show wanted to achieve . He ruined everything. I hope that he will never create another show again. A 12 year old kid would make it better. Everybody feels so disapointed meaning that all good was deleted with the wrong ending…..
I loved the whole show prison break except for the end. I almost couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Michael was a hero and the whole show was around his fight for freedom and happy ending with sarah and his soon to be born son. The ending not only crushed all of those goals but ripped your hopes out when michael is killed in front of sarah without even getting to say goodbye to his brother and freinds. They tried to make it seem like sarah was happy but after developing her character so far through the whole show I am lead to believe she would be crushed and have a very hard time coaping with the loss of her husband. All in all I give the ending two thumbs down but still find the rest of the show ingenious.
Well, I admit, I am guilty of everything:
I watched Prison Break ever after Season 1 only because I adored Wentworth Miller.
I continued watching even when I felt the twists got almost unbearable, so far from the original that the series lost its point.
And I even continued when I felt Miller wasn’t showing any inspired acting anymore.
Nevertheless, ever since I watched that finale two days ago, I feel devastated…
I was devastated after ‘Killing your number’ as well as after ‘the final break’ – and I still am…
I was totally prepared for him to do die – but I guess I counted on a somehow appropriate way of going out…
Which it wasn’t at all.
So, I agree: The ending achieved nothing – but significant doubts in the skills of the writers and producers. And significant doubts in my mental capacities – if I am not able to get over a stupid series finale!
I didn’t realise that michael was missing until linc put the crane on the grave stone, a little bit of me died, i couldn’t stop crying for like an hour. Still heartbroken he died…
i want to know the concluding part of prison break. thus finale season is gonna release.
Gboyega.
Just got in Prison Break and flew threw the seasons and finished the finale last night. Good conclusion..someone important had to die sooner or later for crying out loud!
I agree with the summary above – first two season – GREAT – third…I was hanging on and the fourth was out of loyalty to the characters and having to see how they came out of all this. Good show – favorite character: Mahone, Link and Micheal. T-Bag got ridiculous with the tongue movement! But he’s a good actor I thought! All in all, fun series to watch!
A fabulous series full of twists and turns. Have grown with the characters, and even grew to admire and like how some of them, including that of Alek Mahone, changed as the seasons ended, and begun. The actor who played T-Bag did a remarkable job, and I was hoping that he would come good in the end, but sadly, he didn’t.
Like everyone, I felt cheated by the Writers, Producers, Directors.. who did a fabulous job in creating and bringing the series to us. But I was disappointed that the character of Michael Scholfield was allowed to die, where he should have lived a fruitful and fulfilling life with Sara and their son. Guess that this was intentional.
I loved Prison Break, but the ending RUINED the entire series for me.
I used to watch all the episodes again on DVD before the beginning of new season… but after Michael died, there was no reason to ever watch it again. I gave away my DVDs and never bought Season 4. I also never watched the Final Break. I mean, what would be the point?
I HATE that in the end this show just tried so hard to be edgy it became cliche. A year latter I’m still BITTER.
I was about to buy the whole series boxset as over the years i loved this series soo much. After watching the last few episodes i never want to see it ever again. After all he and they went through over four arduous seasons, Scofield deserved the perfect ending. The writers should have concluded with an uplifting ending. The Shawshank Redemption was the perfect example of this. A great film you can always come back too as you know it will u;timatley lift your spirits. The end of prison break will leave you depressed sad and maybe scarred.
To often writers of great shows seem to want a show to end unpredictably (The Sopranos was a perfect example), stirring up contoversy and heated prolonged discussion. It’s had the opposite effect for me – i feel betrayed and will never watch a show i truly loved…ever again!!
so a friend of mine told me about this great series she was watching and since i got holidays right now i thought i´d check it out.
i fell in love with prison break immediatly! i just couldnt stop watching !XD
so pretty soon i was through with all seasons and the movie.
and now i NEVER EVER wanna watch this series again !!!
i cant believe that the writers would kill michael like that! i mean why not at least let him have a few years with his son before he dies due to his braintumor or sth else. they didnt grant him anything, i mean after all he and the others had been through his only “reward” was to get married just to loose his life soon aferwards?!
i was heartbroken as i watched link put the crane on the tombstone and realized mike was dead.for me it sucked the whole life out of the series. and even “the final break” couldnt reverse that, i mean this way of dying, without him saying goodbye to his loved ones and then sarah dealing so well with it?! considering the development of the series i would have thought she´d be totally crushed!
i was so dissapointed and sad after i finished watching, i immediatly backed me a chocloate cake to try to lift my spirits …not that it really was able to mend my broken heart ..
I was heart broken at the series finale of prison break. I loved it but I was so sad. Sometimes what you need is a twist that digs into people’s emotions. If it ended with a happy ending and they got the money, and everybody lived a happy life, happily ever after. THEN IT WOULD JUST BE ANOTHER DISNEY MOVIE. Movies that get oscars, that everybody raves about messes with your emotions. For example, Gran Torino, A beautiful Life, The doors, A beautiful mind, shawshank redemption, crash, etc. I thought the writer did a brilliant job. He left you wanting more, wishing that there could have been another way, showing you the goodness out of michaels heart, It was brilliant. As was another season finale ending of the show 24. When the writers write endings, they don’t want you to feel happily ever after endings unless it’s a kids movie or a comedy. They want to toy with your emotions and those are secretly the movies and shows we like. THey leave us stunned or heartbroken. If you are really so sad like I was after and you don’t like the feeling, just remember he is still alive and they were all acting and there were cameras behind them. Then watch another movie with him in it. HOPE THIS HELPED ANY OF YOU. Thanks
i love prison break and offcourse, i love Michael just like the lot of you do. And yes, i have to admit i was pretty disappointed with the ending. but after thinking it over, if you look at life the way it is, that kinda tends to happen alot. it goes with the saying “No good deed goes unpunished” or so. Making Michael die just makes the show seem more real..makes the events and characters seem more lifelike. i still beleive it should never have gone that way but then again its up to the authors. they felt it seemed best like this. i only wish Michael Jr got to know his awesome father some more. Kids these days need more fathers like that. xD
I love Michael’s character!! He is so smart! Lincoln is soo good looking!! I am sad to see the series end, however it had too!! The prison in Mexico was so disgusting that I stopped watching the series…But I took it up again when it was on repeats..What programs or films will have (Michael) Mr. Wentworth appearing???