Rate of Exchange

Season 4, Episode 21, Aired
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Episode Summary

Familiar faces turn up as Michael tries to take down the Company.
9.1
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Fan Episode Reviews (8)

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  • Part 1 for the End!!!

    7.3
    "Good"
    By Dante_Edy, Aug 29, 2009 Report Abuse
    After the last ending, seeing Michael saving both Sara and Lincoln was a impossible mission, the writers created a hard complication, that they had no idea how to overcome their own idea, I mean, if you create something complicated, is because you already know what you will do to solve the complication, but in this case, the writers improvised.

    Michael first plan to get his brother back was poor, so poor that a person with a low QI would guess was he pretended to do. Because Sara and Lincoln had to have their dialogues, t-bag and Christina played their role to keep them talking. T-bag talking with Sara was an example, the same goes for Lincoln and Christina dialogues.

    As expected Sucre has his own scenes, and a well known old character is back to help Michael and himself.

    Didnt care for Self scenes, they could be more faster, instead, they played as a filler, since self could die when he was shoot, but since his character could by more time screen, he survived.

    Mahone extended conversation with Michael was not bad, but hiding details was not necessary, because you could predict what attitude Mahone would take. Michael gained powers, since he Is being since his friend Spiderman, because the way that Michael saved Sara, not only he have skill of a 007 agent, he have Spiderman powers, how he gained these skills, is a mystery from the writer's staff. Also Christina which is very clever, turned to be pretty dump, just because she doesnt know Mahone, doesnt mean that she can fully trust him, but ok, we will see how this will end.

    Presentation Phase - (7/10) good, just filling details and making setups,
    Complication Phase - (8/10)*2 Save Lincoln and Sara at the same time, seems hard,
    Ending - (6/10) nothing special,
    Details/Progress (To point A to B) - (8/10) fair progress,
    Time and Scene Management - (8/10) some fillers in the way like self and some dialogues,
    Plot Details/Holes- (7/10) Spiderman powers and dump intelligent, the rest was fine,
    Suspense/Tension - (7/10) two scenes played a nice tension,
    Drama - (7/10) light drama, the only thing provided by the dialogues,
    Surprises/Shocks/Twists - (7/10) an old character is back.moreless

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    0 0

  • Micheal is really really smart!!!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By altaleh, May 19, 2009 Report Abuse
    ooh Benjamin is back . now he want to clear the brothers and everyone's record , but who is behind him !!! mart way from Micheal to help his brother and Sara , i mean he fooled the general and his mother too !! awesome.
    what a way of ending the show by showing again how smart he is, even that the show was getting selly, but in the this episode some of the prison break mojo is back like when T-bag asked Sara to hold his pocket, and how Micheal think and the same for Mahon, good episode, the best one from a while.moreless

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    5 0

  • Time is running out

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By entil2001, May 18, 2009 Report Abuse
    This penultimate episode was all about moving the pieces into position for the final showdown over Scylla, and as one would expect from the end of the previous installment, it was focused on Michael's plan to save both Lincoln and Sara in the process.

    There was little doubt that Michael would choose not to choose at all, so to speak, but I wasn't expecting him to fail to rescue Lincoln. His plan wasn't particularly clever, but under the circumstances, that made sense. The point was to demonstrate how Michael's options are quickly running out, and how it puts him at a disadvantage when dealing with his mother.

    I was a bit worried about Mahone coming into the finale, but this episode was one of his shining moments. Not only did he keep pushing Michael, even if it was out of self-interest, but he risked his life to save Lincoln rather than abandon Michael entirely. Sure, it wasn't quite so cut and dry as that, but it was still the kind of moment that Mahone fans had wanted.

    This is especially true in contrast to T-Bag and Don Self. Self in particular was willing to sell out Michael and Lincoln in the name of saving himself, and as such, he gained exactly the kind of reward he deserved. T-Bag, in comparison, got away lucky. Michael had every reason to shoot him in the face and smile while doing it, and it was only Sara that held him back. That shows the kind of regard that Sara has for Michael's psychological well-being. She knows better than to think that killing T-Bag in cold blood would be easy for him to reconcile, after the fact.

    That said, Michael's rescue of Sara was far too easy, especially taking into account the kind of resources available to the Company in past seasons. If the Company is reduced to hiring guards that can't even think to look up, then how did they consolidate so much power going into the whole presidential gambit in earlier seasons? One might argue that the war between the General and Christina has slowly but surely driven the Company into foolish mistakes, since the General clearly cannot adjust to changes in fortune too well, but it's still a major plot convenience. (And I will admit that many others have pointed out the issues with the portrayal of the Company this season.)

    Similarly, while I think that it's a great idea to bring back the surviving members of the original Escape Squad for the final victory over the Company, it comes a bit out of nowhere, which takes away from the point of the exercise. The concept is simple: Michael needed those people to escape in the past, and he'll need them again now. But why not thread their part of the story into previous episodes, so it doesn't seem so convenient?moreless

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    3 5

  • Familiar faces turn up as Michael tries to take down the Company.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By cavanagh15, May 18, 2009 Report Abuse
    Familiar faces turn up as Michael tries to take down the Company. I thought the first half of the series finale was very good. Seeing Sucre and C-Note again was a welcome surprise as well as everything that went down in the first 42 minutes of the finale. I was surprised that Sarah was rescued so early, but it was good to see Mahone and Michael work together for one last time. I think that the relationship that they have had together could have been a lot better, but overall I think the two of them have the best "chemistry" as far as characters go on the show. The motives and what they want to come out of some situations aren't always the same, but in the end I think the finale was always remain a strong episode for the interaction between the two of them effectivly leading the first part of this finale. I look for Lincoln to get more involved in the second part and for a lot of the big players in the game to die. Sucre and C-Note interest me as well. I'm pretty sure "Paul", if I can remember correctly, is that agent in seasons 1 and 2 that used to chase them around. He supposed to be dead but - guess we will see how he came back to life.moreless

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    4 1

  • Michael must choose who to save

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By vman85, May 16, 2009 Report Abuse
    Whoa believe it or not, where almost there the final 2 hours of Prison Break. Michael must choose who to save when Christina captures Lincoln and The General has Sara both of them obviously wanting Scylla.

    Michael and Mahone make a plan in which Mike deals with The General and Mahone bargains with Christina. When the General goes to the drop-off, with The General leaving Bagwell to do what he likes to Sara. Michael leaves a dummy Scylla case and rescues Sara from the General's loft.

    Self gets questioned by 2 Agent Johnson's, seriously no lie. They want the brothers (Who doesn't) Self bargains with the agents, immunity for the brothers. He doesn't quite get there as one of Christina's men, dressed as a doctor, injects him with something and it fries his brain. It was nice seeing the cast back as Sucre and C-Note made an appearance. C-Note tells him that he's looking for the brothers who have Scylla; he tells that he knows a guy that can give them freedom (We've all heard that before)

    Mahone meets with Christina and gives her a Scylla lookalike that is actually a bomb. When the bomb fail to defuse Mahone needs think of something quick.moreless

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    5 2
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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  • Notes

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    • First appearance by Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note) since the season 2 episode "Panama". Edit
    • International Airdates: Latin America: June 30, 2009 on Canal FX Spain: July 3, 2009 on La Sexta Australia: July 8, 2009 on Channel 7 Germany: August 27, 2009 on RTL Norway: September 3, 2009 on TV3 Finland: April 13, 2010 on MTV3 Poland: May 2, 2010 on Polsat Slovakia: August 25, 2010 on JOJ Edit
    • Although credited, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe doesn't appear in this episode. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • T-Bag: (to Sara) How would you know what a man is like? Of the two of us, I bet I've been with more of them. Edit
    • Michael: Maybe it's time I take a page from your playbook, Alex. Hang out on the sidelines, survey the field, and when the time is right, back the winning horse. Edit
    • Michael: You'll have power, won't you? Christina: Yes, and you'll have Lincoln. Quite frankly, I think you're getting the short end of the stick. Edit

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