"Prison Break" Selfless (TV Episode 2008) Poster

(TV Series)

(2008)

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10/10
All's Well That Ends Well
claudio_carvalho27 November 2008
Please read only after watching the episode.

Gretchen and T-Bag are armed with MP-5 waiting for Michael and his group in the Gate's office. Meanwhile General Krantz arrives in the Scylla room with two bodyguards but Sucre, Lincoln and Mahone revert the situation. Michael tells Krantz that there was a missing piece in the puzzle and he has just brought for him. Michael activates Scylla with Krantz's card and uses the other five to get Scylla and the surprised Krantz questions how Michael got the other five cards. Self and Trishanne also revert the situation and they kill Feng and his men. Mr. White comes to T-Bag's office and sees the weapons below the desk; however Gretchen notes his reaction and confines the staffs and clerks in Mr. White's office. Michael asks Krantz to activate the elevator and they pass through The Company and bring the general to his office. He calls Sara while the building is locked down and Krantz's office is under siege of the armed Company's agents. Meanwhile Trishanne sees the situation in the Gate's office while Self meets with Herb that asks him to call Senator Dallow. Krantz tries to bride the group, but Michael replies that all he wants is to burn The Company to ground and see Krantz in prison. When Lisa is having lunch in the Eagles and Angels, the waiter accidentally drops grease on her skirt. She goes to the toilet where Sara abducts her with a pistol and forces Lisa to call her father, General Krantz, and she becomes the leverage of Michael and his group. Michael lists everybody that was killed for General Krantz to convince him that Sara could kill his daughter. Trishanne releases the employees but the coward Mr. White runs and Gretchen shoots and kills him. There is a shootout in the office, but Gretchen and T-Bag escape. She asks him to dump the MP-5s in the garbage container and then she draws a pistol to kill T-Bag; however Trishanne arrives and saves T-Bag. When she arrests T-Bag, she identifies herself as FBI Agent Miriam Holtz. General Krantz threatens Michael and the group and he tells that the Michael and Lincoln's father was not a data analyst but an executioner of The Company. They leave The Company in an armored truck, Michael calls Self and they head to the meeting point, chased by many cars. When they arrive in the airport, they are followed by The Company's agents but Michael lures the agents that are arrested by the security of the airport. Meanwhile the bodyguards break in the toilet and find Liza tied on a flush toilet; she is released and calls Krantz. Sucre and Mahone keep the Scylla and they deliver the aimed object to Self. The agent gives an envelope to Michael with the documents necessary to clear their records and he asks the group to wait for Agent Schmidt that would be coming with vans and an ambulance. After one hour, Michael calls Self and get no answer. When Michael opens the envelope, there are only blank sheets. Meanwhile Self shoots Miriam on the chest and T-Bag witnesses the crime.

"Selfless" is the best episode of the Fourth Season of "Prison Break" so far. The engaging story has many twists and revelations and a surprising betrayal. My guess in the last episode was right, with Michael bringing General Krantz to the Scylla room to get the sixth card. The relationship between Krantz and Liza was a great surprise for me. But the betrayal of Self was totally unexpected for me. I regret the fate of Trishanne, a.k.a. Miriam Holtz, since I liked her character. General Krantz losing his arrogance and self-confidence is another great moment of this show. The book Michael left in his backpack ("All's Well That Ends Well") is a play by William Shakespeare that comes from the proverb "All's well that ends well", which means that problems do not matter so long as the outcome is good. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): Not Available
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10/10
Intelligence almost all the way!
pranav290526 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Most Prison Break Episodes are gripping and have clever decisions involved. This one is perhaps one of the best episodes in terms of anticipation and the kind of masterminding Michael does.

The subtle underplay of dialogs where the General says, "Frustration must be killing you" and then Michael also returns the "Frustration must be killing you" ! "Leverage" on the phone call... and "they'll all see you coming." and then the "See you at the Rendezvous" comes in even in this season.

An amazing amazing episode! Totally blown by the execution.

Of course every episode of Prison Break tells you that the boys had one victory but are going to face another challenge and that is what happens towards the end of this episode as well, and you get the drift when you actually see that everything seems to easy, and you know something is going to give.

Also, Self had started to act a lil shaken, and if you consider that he was going to drive around the city so carelessly, you get the hint something is cooking.
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10/10
It might just be losing it's way...
shiva-neo25 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Well... i just loved the quiet riot episode was keenly looking forward to this one... but i must admit that it is somewhat a disappointment... am an ardent fan of prison break and despite it's loopholes, i still continued to love it because of it's twists and the unexpectedness... but i just feel it has lost it's way or rather it's losing it's way...

to start with... the General having found that Michael has got his hands on the Scylla, he asked for a team to come down to tat place... but strangely there were only 2 men... having heard of how shrewd Michael is, i guess the general missed the plot here... we have seen how shrewd the general himself could be... tat was not totally satisfactory... he gave up a bit too easily...

anyway... still it had it's share of thrill rides but not as good as how it used to be... and it was so predictable that there would be more chase by the way all of em were talking at the end of the episode...

to add to that another twist with Don Self... well... i guess he might join hands with T-Bag...

Now, the rest of the storyline is pretty easily have become predictable with only 4 more episodes to go...

I only hope the creators would give a grand ending to what could be considered as one of the finest TV series...

Looking forward to a better show next week...
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7/10
"Just don't tell me that everything's gonna be okay" should be one of the slogans of the show
guest_to_movieland4 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This episode in general is more exciting to watch and consistent than the previous one, that's why I rate it higher. But just like the previous one, this one is great at first glance but is starting to fall apart, if you look closely.

So, the good stuff. And that's a lot this time, which is definitely a nice surprise.

First of all, it is the whole Michael's plan on getting Scylla. That twist, where The General thought that he outsmarted Michael, while in reality he was the one trapped, was outstanding. Their word exchange was brilliant as well as The General's reaction. His tries to birbe each member of the team and their responses to him were made pretty well, too. We also have a hint that brothers' mother has some skeletons in the closet and it all will play its role later on.

Use Lisa as leverage was really smart as well. And I extremely liked Sara's scenes with her in this episode. I wanna count it as another strong side of the episode. She was so convincing and had that a bit of crazy look in her eyes. Girl's been through a lot, so it was really hard to say if she could've pulled this off if plan had gone wrong. I'm getting those terrifying vibes each time I see her with something that she can use to choke the person.

Atmosphere of the episode was great as well. Time flew by and I haven't even noticed how the episode ended. Unstoppable action almost to the end where everything is a part of plan is something I genuinely missed. It wasn't that great as it was in the first two seasons, but still.

I also really liked characters and their interaction. Linc and Alex settling things up, T-Bag being actually terrified realizing that he's lost his chance to try to change his identity in order to not be its prisoner, The General trying to convince everyone mentioning the ones guys care about the most, being lost and actually loving his daughter to the point to give the most valuable thing he possessed, The General with Lisa and Michael with Sara and Alex having different povs due to their personal experience, it all was written nicely.

But, as I said, flaws, sadly, didn't just pass by. Where do I even start? Okay, first of all, why didn't The General's agents just split up and follow both brothers and Sucre with Alex. I get it that Michael's back was top priority but by that time they've already should've figured out whom they've been dealing with. There's always plan. So it was only for the story to go on. No other reasons seem to be suitable. Secondly, why didn't Michael immediately open the envelope Self gave him? It doesn't sound like him at all. I can assume that he, for some reason, grew to trust that guy, but even so he should've opened it at the second he took it. Also I still can't believe he didn't take his time to find info on Self to make sure the guy could've been trusted in the first place. It's not like their lives and freedom depended on it. No, wait... The other bad thing might be just my quibble, but I'm so tired of all these prompous speeches and characters rejoicing ahead of time. It's too obvious each time that nothing's gonna be alright. Also I actually didn't like action scene with Gretchen, T-Bag and Miriam. I mean, the latter had far less powerful weapon, it wasn't suppose to be that hard for someone like Gretchen to kill that girl. But she needed to stay alive for that revelation, so we've got not the best execution of the action scene.

There're also some moments that I can't call particularly good or bad. And, firstly, I'm talking about twist with Self in the end, of course. It doesn't really make much of a sense and feels more like the writers just wanted to create that so-called shock effect. At the same time we haven't learned a lot about him during the first 12 episodes, so it can work. But the fact that none of the characters had learned something about him before is extremely dissapointing. Also Michael didn't even try to learn everything on Scylla first. Doesn't sound like him as well. Another aspect of that grey area is Michael's condition. On the one hand, in both episodes his seizures happened at the moments of the strongest stress. On the other, it seems like they happen only when the writers need them to, so it kinda rises mixed feelings.

All in all, I honestly don't know how to feel about the episode. Michael's plan on getting Scylla was great, main characters and atmosphere were good as well, but plot holes, that can't be ignored, just don't let me enjoy the show I used to once. 7 out of 10 but not even close as good as it used to be. I really miss those days of first 2 seasons. Now even more, as show is finally trying to hold my attention.
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5/10
exciting as well as embarrassing end
dariobyte27 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Good action episode but the final is so weak.. They have being left fooled worst than kids from kindergarten.

Just like "Give me all your money, then I'll put them in a bank! Trust me, you have my word!" This is too cheap for today!

Actually all 4th series is full of forced action with no reasonable grounds, far from previous suspense series where action was more realistic and calculated under Scofield style.

This episode blows everything and the final it's almost hilarious.

Maybe we'll see in next episodes the collaboration with the General now!
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7/10
All roads lead to this one
Abdulxoxo20 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This episode picks up from the previous episode's cliffhanger. We find out how the brilliant Scofield plans of getting them out of the company in one piece after taking their most prized possession. The whole set-up is laughably bad and Michael risks his team's life base on fluke! Yeah because there are countless ways that things could go wrong with all of them ending with a bullet in their heads. Since they don't have the sixth card, it makes sense that they made the General to bring it to them since they can't take it or steal it from him. On paper that's exciting and believable but Kranzt could simply send out his henchmen to neutralize them and then where would they get the last card? That's one way that it could go. Okay let's say he's come down to them, how the hell did Sucre, Linc, and Alex pass through the walls within the timeframe that the General comes Down to them? It's simply not possible. Although, I did enjoy the sequence and how heated it was and how the Kranzt could go from knowing he's totally screwed to thinking he's still got the upper hand and being super calm about it. He's becoming my favorite character in all of this. The team manages to leave the building by blackmailing Kranzt with Sarah holding Tabak at gun point where we learned at the last minute that she's the General's daughter. It was an unexpected twist that kinda makes sense as I've been wondering about the nature of their relationship. I didn't enjoy these sequences as I thought they were completely unrealistic. Michael and co were really ANNOYING. I didn't like how boastful they were, they toyed with their lives resting them on Sarah's hand, which as even said by Krantz - will never pull the trigger. But I did like how reasonable Krantz was and the guy gets all the good lines! I think he's the MVP of the episode.

While all the big showdown is happening, Gretchen and Bagwell are still waiting for the loot that's not coming. They take the Gate staff hostage and Agent Smith singlehandedly and heroically save them from those criminals. They escape but not without Gretchen cutting Bagwell loose, Smith arrests Bagwell. Agent Smith (Miriam) also shines in this episode, when the character was introduced, I didn't think she'd play a big role, she seemed like a random one-off character. But we get to learned that she's an undercover agent and turned out to be a likable and important character. Too bad Self killed her. Damn you Self!

After the team leaves the building, the general orders that they be chase down. Another silly sequence that's equally unrealistic and irritating like the previous face-off happens in the airport. The team just happens to trick company and left. At this point I'm just going to say my mind; I'm not rooting for the good guys. Is it weird that I want the company deal with Michael and his friends? Maybe just in this particular episode? No? Okay I won't really like that but they are just being left off so easily.

The team gives Scylla to Don. And they soon realize they've been friends with a wolf in sheep's clothing. And their happiness and sense of freedom is short-lived. It is reveal that Self played them in one of this show's biggest double-crossing yet. Self wanted Scylla all for himself, infact this is what he's been planning for from day one. No one saw it coming. It is a major reveal and a huge setback for the team. It's like starting from scratch again.

All in all, one of the most important episodes, a lot has happened in the span of 42 minutes. This episode could simply be a finale. The performance is top-notch. The plot is entertaining and keep you guessing. Lots of backstabbing, reveals and action.
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1/10
More like senseless
fahadkhan-8465222 October 2021
Smartest men of the show Michael and Alex and their team just happens to be so naive and vulnerable to fully trust one Mr. Self without any leverage or even a remote evidence of the deal they had made. Simply handed over the prized object and, mind you, didn't even bother to open that louzy envelope - until an hour and an unanswered phone call later - that supposedly had what they had been risking their lives all season long for and even lost Brad Bellick in the process.

Oh, and T-Bag is after Michael's life - the man who helped him escape in the first place BUT is sad and even cries upon hearing of Brad's death - the man who had brutally tortured him to pieces at his old girlfriend's house.

Overrated show with zero respect for logic.
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