Prison Break: Season 4

I probably paid even less attention to this DVD set than the previous season of Prison Break - at least, until I got to the part where I stopped watching it last year. I've said it before, but let's recap really quickly: Season 1 was excellent, Season 2 was decent, and Season 3 was a collection of boring episodes in which Michael and the gang didn't really get anything accomplished. Facing an almost certain cancellation, the people behind Prison Break probably pulled an OC and said, "let's just revamp the show and make it good, fun, and entertaining again." And they did exactly that. The reason I stopped watching it was because of a lengthy hiatus. Of the 22 Season 4 episodes, 16 happened in the fall of '08. They even kept hyping the final few episodes in November and December as the last few. The pace seemed perfect and I even tolerated excessive amounts of Michael Rapaport. What was nice was seeing all the remaining principle characters working together (former feds, former guards, and former cons) in a united effort to bring down the omnipotent entity known simply as "The Company." The season essentially revolved around the pursuit of a deice known simply as "Scylla." It may have been a weapon or an alternative energy source, but the gist was that if it fell into the wrong hands the world would be fucked. At any rate, things were going great for those first 16 episodes and a climactic showdown seemed ready to happen somewhere around the fifteenth episode or so, when suddenly, a plan went haywire, a double cross occurred, and I realized Prison Break was nowhere near over. Instead, six additional episodes would air in April and May. That's when I tapped out. Well, that's not entirely true; I did attempt to watch the final run, but fell asleep during all three (or four?) of the episodes I tried watching. Anyway, this time around, I made it a point to actually pay attention during that final run of six episodes, and I can honestly call the series finale a satisfying one. It's always nice when a show is given the ability to go out on its own terms and does so with closure and completeness. And Prison Break did that. We're given one of those series finale montages that shows how all the main characters' lives turned out. This was especially satisfying as not every ending was a happy one and many characters got their just (or unjust) desserts. It made the show feel just a little more real. I'm satisfied with this ending, but I'm also wondering what's in store for me in Prison Break: The Final Break, a direct-to-DVD feature that's really nothing more than two epilogue episodes. Hey, I'm on board.