Prison Break 1.09: Scofield the Superhero

In this episode, we find out Scofield is actually a superhero!

This week’s episode was pretty enlightening. We find that the Secret Service are a bunch of tools to be used by a teenage boy, Teabag is one sick mother and that, yes, Scofield is actually a superhero. Overall it was a good show that essentially vilified the C.O.s and made the prisoners seem like heroes. The show is trying really hard to make us feel for the prisoners and at times it comes off as over handed and forced. There were many times when this theme came up in the show, most recently when the wise old prisoner’s cat was killed, but this show felt like it was packed to the brim with such instances. Perhaps the most irritating one was the whole theme between Scofield, Teabag and Tweener.

While I understand that Scofield is actually a good guy, in here to save his brother, I don’t understand why we have to be reminded of this at every turn. When the Doc visited Scofield’s old Doc, I knew something bad was going to happen to the show. And boy was I right. This meeting did so much wrong I don’t know where to start. Perhaps the most egregious was the fact that a real psychiatrist wouldn’t hand over patient information that quickly, immediately killing any sense of realism in the meeting. This sense of reality is what keeps the show ticking, from the plans in prison to the conspiracy theory. When it breaks, it kills the show. Shame on FOX for killing the suspense and reality!

Secondly, the whole bit about Scofield being an uber-human being. Wow, I’ve never heard of a more far-fetched explanation to substantiate Scofield’s ability to plan such an elaborate escape or to know just what to say and when to say it. Someone who is plagued by the ability to overanalyze things is pretty lame but when coupled with the fact that the psychiatrist goes out of his way to claim that Scofield is a genius and when coupled with this disease, makes him a super genius? Lordy. This news was made even worse with the cut to Scofield looking down at TeaBag and surveying the situation between him and Tweener. It reeked of a Marvel movie. I just hope they stop that crap. It’s killing me. We get it! Scofield is a good guy! You didn’t have to make him out to be a superhero. I hope they play down this aspect of his character.

The show was a decent show overall, advancing the plot a bit with the exclusion of Abruzzi from PI duty and the inclusion of the conflict between the mob bosses and Scofield. But what stuck out in my mind was the horrid direction the show is going with the benevolence of Scofield & Co. Hopefully they come back with an episode more on top of things and get the breaking out the prison back to being their top priority.