‘Prison Break’ can’t escape conspiracy theory

Despite the fact that “Prison Break” is built around that conspiracy, it's really no more than a MacGuffin, a device skillfully and most notably used by Hitchcock that's supposed to be utterly irrelevant yet highly motivating.

That's the role “Prison Break’s” conspiracies play, but Hitchcock did not turn his MacGuffins into fully formed characters and plots, because the audience would quickly see them for what they were: empty and meaningless.

Yet “Prison Break’s” MacGuffin is actually half the series, and every time the focus switches to it, the whole thing deflates.

The show pretty much fails when it comes to character development or overall logic.

For example, Susan/Gretchen kidnapped Lincoln's son LJ and Sara Tancredi, the Fox River Penitentiary physician who fell in love with Michael over two seasons. The point was to motivate Lincoln and Michael to free Whistler, and she did that by cutting off Sara's head and putting it in a box.

Sara's death wasn't really a surprise; an obvious body double and badly edited photos, never mind the news that the actress wasn't returning to the series, made her exit inevitable. But her death, besides being brutal (even for a series not exactly known for its positive treatment of strong female characters), was ultimately just a convenient way to get rid of the character.

Killing her was supposed to motivate Michael via Lincoln's concern for his son, but that was a leap of faith at best; as Michael even said in the most recent episode, he still feels obligated to his still-kidnapped nephew. Like so many other storylines, Sara's execution seemed motivated by external forces, not by internal logic.

Despite that, “Prison Break” still works minute-to-minute, and sometimes even scene-to-scene. The acting is strong, as the actors take their roles seriously, even if their dialogue is ridiculous; the set design is rich, complex and realistic; the music heightens the mood and compliments the action; and the action sequences are intense.

If only they could escape the prison of the show's writing and conspiracy MacGuffin, then “Prison Break” would really be free.

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