TV Review: Prison Break - "Blow Out" Saved by William Fichtner's Acting

Prison Break returned this week with the episode “Blow Out,” which proved to be another fun-filled episode to watch. What it lacked in sensibility in terms of plot, especially in an elaborate but thoroughly unnecessary starting sequence, this episode made up for in terms of the enjoyment factor. That has always been the saving grace for Prison Break.

Part of the reason for incorporating such intricate but pointless plot sequences is probably to keep the audience interested in the program, which in this case was served well. However, one gets the impression that another reason for the use of such complex set-ups in the pre-credit scene is also to occupy some of the regular cast who are at this point rather redundant to the story and serve no purpose in being in the narrative any longer.

For example, Sucre’s (Amaury Nolasco) only role in the starting sequence was to run and tell Security that a ruckus was forming in the lobby, a task that surely Lincoln or Scofield could’ve easily mastered. In the courtroom we see Sucre again in another purposeless role as he simply does a countdown on his cellular to Scofield. Bellick (Wade Williams) and Glenn (the Asian hacker played by James Liao) don’t even have any significant part to play in this court room scene, and Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) seems to be doing nothing indispensable other than reminding us that she’s Scofield’s new love and is capable of womanly charms if needed (it was needed for the first time only in this episode). Her whole purpose seems to be to serve Scofield emotionally, and nothing much thereafter. Some of the regular characters are dead weight to the series, superfluous, and easily expendable in fact. Perhaps it’s about time Prison Break streamlined its regular cast, in order to give more presence and substance to the ones remaining, thereby strengthening and tightening the entire program.

In this episode, Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and his gang obtain their next Scylla card copy within the first five minutes of the start of the show. The rest of the episode rests on the gang getting Mahone (William Fichtner) out of jail, while Gretchen’s (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) past is revealed to us. Meanwhile, T-Bag (Robert Knepper) gets his employers suspicious and begins his run from them.

This episode, albeit an enjoyable one, served to showcase one of the more blaring downfalls of this series — the mediocre acting. The only one who manages to put on a superior acting exercise every time he’s in front of the camera is William Fichtner, who plays Alex Mahone. Fichtner doesn’t just embody his character when he has lines that need to be delivered, but he becomes this character even when he’s in the background contemplating or listening to the other characters engage. That is a true mark of a thespian of high caliber. Fichtner also has the ability to emote and show expressively what his character is feeling with the right amount of nuance and color. Sadly, having Fichtner in scenes with the other actors, notably Wentworth Miller, only makes it glaringly obvious that Miller doesn’t really have the talent to stand up to Fichtner’s remarkable acting prowess in their scenes together.

Article Author: Sharmila

Sharmila is a university professor who teaches Communications and Journalism at various universities, and is currently in the midst of completing her Phd in English. Sharmila started writing professionally at 12, becoming a full fledged reporter at …

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