Made you look!
Our good friend mamabird commented a couple of weeks ago that this show was getting very Burn Noticey, and it totally is. I love Burn Notice because it's got that awesome breezy smirky 80s vibe going; Michael Weston is Magnum PI with McGyvery skills and a touch of Mr. Wizard ("Hey kids! Did you know you could use an upside down can of that keyboard cleaner air poofy stuff to freeze a metal lock so it's brittle enough to smash? Science!"). Michael Scofield, on the other hand, is McGyver with a hint of the morose Jack Bauer world-weariness that comes from a few seasons of personal tragedy incurred during repeated attempts to bring down international conspiracies. The point is, PB season 4 = Burn Notice + 24 - Magnum PI + Mission: Impossible + Shakespearean body count. Who can say no to that?
4.05 Safe and Sound. Sara's walking home from the bar. She seems to be much further from the Warehouse of Justice than I initially thought, so whew. She notices Bruce's credit card missing, and she also notices she's being followed, so she breaks out into a run, with Wyatt not far behind. She sprints across a busy highway - and in a Prison Break first, does not get hit by a car - and loses him. I love that she's so good at getting away, incidentally. I've always bought her as a kindred spirit for Michael for that reason: She's not bitchy or feisty or, god forbid, spunky. She's just smart when it counts. (Nice job, Sarah with an H.)
Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Self is kind of flabbergasted to realize he recognizes one of the other Scyllites from Michael's grainy cellphone stills. It's Griffin Orin from the Department of the Treasury [topical "economic clusterfuck" joke redacted due to insufficient funds], and he works in Self's building. Michael's all, well hey, there's a bit of good luck, here's a Data Sucker Upper for you, find an excuse to stand next to him for a couple of minutes and welcome to the team!
So this scene, with Mahone and his wife, holy crap. Every time I think William Fichtner has completely tapped out the "oh dear lord I am actually physically crippled with despair" thing, he proves me wrong, and Callie Thorne gets an A+ for holding her own here when she could easily have been overshadowed to the point of invisibility. They have a clandestine and heartbreaking meeting at a diner. She picks Wyatt out of a photo lineup with a very convincing wide-eyed gasp of visceral terror. He says he'll call her when it's done, then falls apart, and she makes it very clear that she does not blame him for this. Which is pretty nice, cause I probably would. She's pissed beyond all reason, but it's not at Mahone. She used to hate the way he obsessed over finding his man, but she's totally on board in this particular case. She slips him a poorly concealed handgun. The whole thing is brief and intense and, worst of all, believable. Anyone with dry eyes after this scene should see an old-school Exorcist-type priest, because clearly some malevolent entity has removed your soul.
So whose job is it at FOX to kill puppies in front of William Fichtner before he has to shoot a scene like this? I bet it's Sean Hannity.
T-Bag the batshit nuts murderer Cole Pfeiffer the greatest salesman ever is having a nice cup of tea with his bird book when his babysitter Andy stops by to check on him. The smarminess that was only hinted at last time is front and center this week, as Andy wonders aloud when Mr. Extra Best Salesman is going to do some actual sales-related work instead of sitting around practicing. Good question! After Andy leaves, T-Bag is all "Ouch!" and a drop of tea blops itself on to the open bird book, revealing some cool heat/water activated invisible ink. I sure wish Michaels Scofield and/or Weston were around to explain it to us! He wipes the whole page down to reveal a simple drawing of two horizontal lines joined by a ladder.
And speaking of T-Bag, some of the Superfriends are arguing about whether or not he's worth bothering with. Linc doesn't want anyone to risk being recognized, but Sucre thinks they'll need him and/or the book for the eventual break-in. Michael agrees and sends Bellick with Sucre to canvas the office park area where they encountered him earlier. Roland salivates at the very idea of his Data Sucker Upper being so close to the Treasury department computers, but Michael just wants the card, thanks.
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Comments (6)
Another frakktastic recap. Thanks for the shoutout, Loula! You made my day. And the Michaels and their McGyver tendencies combined with the fact that they are both "smoking hot genius superhero" types (heh!) makes for some entertaining television. And I totally regaled my co-workers with the keyboard cleaner breaking locks fun fact after I saw that. (how awesome was that, I mean really...)
I loved your take on Sara and thought Sarah with an H rocked that scene...and had good car ju ju to boot!
1 of 6 | Posted by mamabird | Posted on September 25, 2008 6:54 PM
Well...apparently I am long winded today. Part 2--
Mahone and his wife. That scene was brilliant. Her gasp when she saw the picture of Bailey's Husband...as a mom, that knocked the wind out of me for a second. Well done, Callie Thorne. Last two thoughts..."topical economic clusterfuck joke redacted due to insufficient funds"...HA!
And what was in the damn bucket! Ideas, anyone?
2 of 6 | Posted by mamabird | Posted on September 25, 2008 7:00 PM
I didn't see your comment until way after you posted it, but I was actually thinking that during the Burn Notice finale, that it was reminding me of Prison Break. Replace the wackiness with angst and they're pretty much the same show. Which is awesome.
I assume the bucket was a chum-like soup of terrible, terrible things. That's all I need to know about it.
And yeah, the timing of this economic meltdown arc is creepy, especially since they made it clear that Laos is just practice for the ultimate goal. It's the General's fault! Make him pony up the $700billion!
3 of 6 | Posted by loula | Posted on September 25, 2008 7:36 PM
Unrelated to the episode - Do you remember when Lincoln, actor Dominick Purcell, played the title character in the Fox show, John Doe? In that show, He was the one that knew everything there was to know and He was the one leading the charge against a mysterious group of people (the Phoenix Organization). Now he plays the brute brother of the genius.
John Doe was awesome.
4 of 6 | Posted by Hey Buddy | Posted on September 26, 2008 11:44 AM
First Self's story was about "bearer bonds", not "bear bonds".
And doesn't every office have tiled carpets now? The snarky secretary (apparently working through her lunch hour) might have wondered why they didn't just lift up a couple of tiles and replace them instead of spending an hour cleaning them in situ.
5 of 6 | Posted by AlanHK | Posted on October 1, 2008 6:45 PM
PS-- forgot to mention the wonderful "whatever technology" (as used on CSI and 24) photo enhancement that turned the fuzzy longshot of the general into a tasteful high-res studio-posed portrait.
6 of 6 | Posted by AlanHK | Posted on October 1, 2008 6:52 PM