Selfless

Season 4, Episode 12, Aired
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Episode Summary

Sara takes a hostage in a bid to secure Scylla. Michael and Lincoln finally meet the General while one of their members switches allegiance.
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9.5
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Fan Episode Reviews (31)

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  • I don't think Prison Break should be in the "Action/Adventure" or "Drama" categories anymore. It should be on "Comedy" category.

    3.0
    "Bad"
    By d-phrag, Jan 17, 2012 Report Abuse
    Every single minute of this episode was pure crap (oxymoron, anyone?) I haven't seen such bad writing in any of the previous 3 seasons, nor in another TV series I ever watched. All the tough guys acted so stupid, as if they aren't trained pros. You're best damn paid agent and you just take the backpack, without checking what's inside? And you're so naive and surprised to see a book instead of Scylla with all the "convicts" journey through the streets of LA? All the nasty Asian killers were so easy to gun down? And Gretchen is so damn bad with the M5? With all her training? And she was afraid of the FBI agent armed with a hand gun, so she left the building? I will stop here. Writers should return the wages they earned for this particular episode.

    But hey, maybe not - I enjoyed this comedy allot. Now they may have to take Michael to "Scrubs" for a brain surgery?moreless

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    11 41

  • There is no doubt, this was by far, the best episode that this season could deliver, it had everything that was necessary to create a superb episode, almost perfect. This episode only sin was not to end it all.moreless

    9.9
    "Superb"
    By Dante_Edy, Dec 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    Finally, after so many setups and wasting time with filler, the payoff gained form. All the scenes in this episode were almost perfect. Lets begin with T-bag and his bad luck. What Gretchen did was interesting, holding everyone in Gate has hostage, than the way the situation solved was nice. I liked the fact that she was trying to get rid of T-bag, wasnt expecting that T-bag would be arrested. But then, T-bag finds himself in a worse situation, it feels like so many happened.

    Speaking of Michael, the beginning was excellent, the way he handled the General, even the dialogues were perfect. Than the twist was nice too, because the General we finally learn where the other General daughter was, Sara really played an important role here. The situation was so impossible that this Michael plan worked perfectly. This connects with Self scenes, where in the beginning he didnt want to kill the Scylla buyer, which was strange, but not enough to suspect anything. The situation in the airport was another great scenes, where Michael proved that he anticipated all, really nice stuff.

    Then, Self is with Scylla, T-bag is arrested, the General dont know what to do, and Michael and Co received the papers they needed to officially release then from charges and everything seemed nice and was perfect to end it that way, but unfortunately, the twist was big and not the plot will go to another direction.

    In my opinion, this episode was perfect to end it all.

    It is not necessary to say that was impossible to find any filler, the progress made was great and there werent any plot holes that can be easily noticed. The tension was the best of this season, the drama played nice, the twist was big and this is way the end was one of the best. From the beginning to the end, a almost perfect episode, the only thing I didnt like here is that was a perfect opportunity to end Prison Break.

    Presentation Phase - (10/10),
    Complication Phase - (10/10),
    Climax Phase - (10/10),
    Ending - (10/10),
    Details/Progress (To point A to B) - (10/10),
    Time and Scene Management - (10/10),
    Plot Details/Holes- (10/10),
    Suspense/Tension - (10/10),
    Drama - (9/10),
    Surprises/Shocks/Twists - (10/10).

    There is no doubt, this was by far, the best episode that this season could deliver, it had everything that was necessary to create a superb episode, almost perfect. This episode only sin was not to end it all.moreless

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    1 0

  • Don Self screws the team over and takes off with Scylla.

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By pk20220, Aug 08, 2010 Report Abuse
    The episodes have been good up to this point, until this one. Don Self is a leader of a team of guys who help to take down a company and retrieve a vital piece of hardware. Self turned out to be just another bad guy. I always had a fishy feeling about Don Self. Here was a man that was suddenly introduced at the season beginning with little to no character development. I was never too sure of him and really never got to know him. Don's betrayal was anything but surprising. But the worst part of the whole thing was that a person like Michael and the rest of the team could fall for something like this. Each individual of this team has been on the run since S1. You'd think they would have learned to trust no-one. Michael, in particular, is supposed to be a person of high intelligence and someone who least trusts anybody. He's able to successfully engineer two prison escapes, yet this same guy doesn't even bother looking inside the envelop? This is unlike S2, when Mike & Linc waited for the presidential pardon that never came. The producers did that one much better. I fell for it myself.moreless

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    2 13

  • And it was all going so well, too…

    7.5
    "Good"
    By screenagedkicks, May 17, 2009 Report Abuse
    And it was all going so well, too Kalinda Vazquez's 'Selfless' is, for the most part, a thoroughly enjoyable episode. The decision to parallel Michael's apprehension of the General with Sara's bathroom abduction of his daughter works sublimely on both a character level, demonstrating just how far from their original personas the two have come, and a dramatic one, as the two strands feed off one another and therefore intensify the already substantially heightened level of tension. There's some absolutely cracking dialogue here too; when presented with the opportunity to have the two heavyweights locked in a room together, the writing staff truly do not disappoint. And how about the look on the General's face when Michael pulls out all the Scylla cards, eh? Marvellous. It's just a damn shame they had to go and ruin it all with that last, truly, truly awful minute and a half. Look, I realise that a reboot was needed if the season was to continue. But did Self really have to swerve? Yet another freaking corrupted government agent? In my review of the season opener, in which the character actually states that "not everyone in the government is corrupt, some of us actually want to get the bad guys" (or words to that effect), I said that if they turned him, that'd be the last straw, the end of my association with the show. And while that really was my inner drama queen bounding straight out of the closet, I reserve the right to be thoroughly miserable about it for the rest of the season. I mean God, I liked Don Self. His character was refreshing in his straightforward, no frills drive to actually, you know, do good. That little thing that cops are supposed to do. Having yet another law enforcement representative switch sides is just tiresome and reeks of what it is: a bunch of writers having written themselves into a corner, desperately hunting for something to get them out and hitting upon the first convenient thing, rather than, you know, actually thinking about it for a bit and coming up with something creative. Meh. Spoiled the whole episode for me, that did and I'm sure it's going to ruin the rest of the season unless they do him off in the next couple of weeks. Excellent 'til 39:47, hugely disappointing after that. Two full points off the score.moreless

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    0 0

  • Againsh the general

    10
    "Perfect"
    By argi15, Dec 28, 2008 Report Abuse
    It was the greatest episode of the fourth season until episode 16. The Scenes where:Sara was with Lisa and she threatend her. When we found out that Lisa is General's daughter. When Lincoln got nervous when General refered his mother's and father's names. And especially when Self killed off Trishanne.Poor girl...She's an agent at all.It was really adventurous episode. It reminded me Season 2 episodes when the escapes were running for their lives. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .moreless

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    6 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • It's revealed that Trishanne's real name Miriam Holtz. Edit
    • For the first time, we see a new tattoo that Lincoln has on his left arm: 08.12.99 01.30.01 07.07.03 07.07.03 They are the dates Dominic Purcell's children were born. Edit
    • Gretchen: You're gonna walk down the street with an MP5? The rifle Bagwell is carrying is not an H&K MP5, it's an H&K G36c. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Original International Air Dates: UK: November 25, 2008 on Sky One AUS: December 23, 2008 on Channel 7/Prime Norway: January 1, 2009 on TV3 Sweden: January 12, 2009 on TV3 Spain: March 23, 2009 on FOX TV Spain Germany: June 25, 2009 on RTL Poland: November 22, 2009 on Polsat Finland: February 9, 2010 on MTV3 Slovakia: August 10, 2010 on JOJ Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Michael: (hands Scylla to Self) So if you drop this, does that mean we all go back to prison? Edit
    • T-Bag: There's no way this is going to end well. We should get out of here. Gretchen: Don't you think it's worth it to wait ten minutes for one hundred and twenty five million? Suck it up! Edit
    • Sara: (to Lisa) I don't know what it looks like up in your ivory tower, but down on the ground, men and women are dying and lives are being ruined. So I'm prepared to do anything in order to stop you people. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The book that is exchanged for Scylla in the backpack is "All's Well that Ends Well," one of the comedies by William Shakespeare. It is based on the old proverb which states that no matter all the problems, everything is okay as long as the general outcome is positive. Edit

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