Michael Scofield: Wentworth Miller
Lincoln Burrows: Dominic Purcell
Alex Mahone: William Fichtner
Sofia Lugo: Danay Garcia
Sara Tancredi: Sarah Wayne Callies
Brad Bellick: Wade Williams
Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell: Robert Knepper
Don Self: Michael Rapaport
Wyatt: Cress Williams
Agent Felicia Lang: Barbara Eve Harris
Roland Glenn: James Hiroyuki Liao
Gretchen Morgan: Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
Fernando Sucre: Amaury Nolasco
LJ Burrows: Marshall Allman
Bruce Bennett: Wilbur Fitzgerald
Pad Man: Leon Russom
Pam Mahone: Callie Thorne
Beware spoilers.
Season 4's direction now looks fairly obvious: Michael (Wentworth Miller) and his team will spend the year trying to find
the remaining 5 Scylla data-cards to expose The Company for Agent Self (Michael Rapaport), while their existence as a covert
operation is occasionally threatened by Self's bureaucratic superiors. Surprisingly, the most intriguing aspect of "Shut
Down" is actually T-Bag (Robert Knepper), who's investigating Whistler's life by assuming one of his fake identities -- a
season 3 mystery the other characters no longer care about…
The title of the show doesn't carry any relevance now, as the best we get are break "ins" to buildings housing vital information. Here, the team need to gain access to a physical server in Anaheim, to steal an e-mail that mentions the location for an impo
rtant Company meeting at 4pm, so they can hopefully learn who has the remaining 5 Scylla data-cards. The exercise itself is quite fun with some engaging jeopardy -- like Michael and hacker Roland (James Hiroyuki Lia) becoming trapped in a server room wher
e the oxygen is being sucked out to protect the system from fire. It remains enjoyable seeing Prison Break's eclectic characters working together like this -- although Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) and especially Bellick (Wade Williams) are still superfluous.
The big turning point is when the team's handler, Don Self, has his operation closed down by his superiors -- who are curiously unimpressed that Michael has already stolen one of the Scylla cards. Glossing over that, half the episode becomes a rush for Te
am Michael to prove their worth to the Feds by snooping on the Company meeting and gaining valuable intel, while avoiding Self and his men after they arrive to pull the plug and thrown them in jail. But didn't Linc get a full pardon for his "crimes" when
the Company's presidential conspiracy was exposed in season 3?
T-Bag is once again flying solo in his own sub-plot, having used Whistler's fake ID to become "Cole Pfeiffer", a new employee for the mysterious Gate company in California. I'm pleased to see the importance of Whistler's bird book isn't being downplayed o
r ignored this season, and having T-Bag investigate gives him something more interesting to do than skulk around killing people. Actually, he's the only character involved in a storyline that has a bit of intrigue to it. Why did Whistler have a fake ID? W
hat are Gate? Are they connected to The Company somehow? Hopefully this storyline will continue to develop and prove the writers have some deep-rooted ideas about how to knit season 3 and 4 together.
Elsewhere, there's a protracted interrogation of Bruce Bennett (Wilbur Fitzgerald) by hitman Wyatt (Cress Williams) using chemical injections, in an effort to extract information about Michael, Linc and Sara's whereabouts. Wyatt's clearly assumed the Agen
t Adelstein role from season 1 and 2, minus any sympathetic side. Will he remain cold-blooded and ruthless for long? Even super-bitch Gretchen was eventually given a tragic back-story to help smooth over her heartless actions.
William Fichtner gives another excellent performance, as usual. Here, we learn his wife Pam survived Wyatt's hit and is in protective custody, although his young son is definitely dead. I suppose Pam's survival is to give Mahone the chance of a happy endi
ng with her, but it's difficult to imagine her accepting Alex back into her life after what's happened!
Fichtner totally commands the screen as his family tragedy hits home and he asks former-colleague Agent Lang (Barbara Eve Harris) to get him a file on his son's killer. We can assume Pam gave the cops a detailed description of Wyatt -- which does make sup
er-efficient Wyatt look pretty inept. Revenge is certainly foremost on Mahone's mind, and it was nice to see Linc (who spent last year preventing the same tragedy befalling his own son) comforting him -- as the two men rarely see eye-to-eye. A late scene
between Fichtner and Purcell is a refreshing oasis of acting in a show not known for its performances.
Overall, I still have doubts about the direction of season 4 and how it's keeping the story going (the whole Scylla thing still seems ridiculous), but T-Bag's investigation of Gate added a welcome tinge of mystery, and lead villain Pad Man's (Leon Russom)
mention of a top-secret project sounds promising. A bomb? A virus? They must be cooking up something pretty nasty; if only so the gang can ironically end the series as national heroes for stopping it!
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Season 1-3 Boxset:
