When they announced Season 5 of Prison Break I couldn't help but wonder what they'd do.
Season 4 Spoilers ahead!
The main character and all around 'Prison Break Expert' Michael Scofield was dead and buried. Killed in the final conspiracy of the series, leaving his Brother, Wife and Child to fend for themselves.
How could they bring him back without going through the tired old trope of it all being a coverup? It turns out they couldn't. Michael staged his own death and had spent 5+ years living in The Middle East trapped in a hellish prison.
But what if he actually had died?
I always thought the perfect come back for Prison Break season 5 would've been for Scofield to wake up in the afterlife and find that he, and the other deceased characters are in hell. The crimes they committed, the blood on their hands, all of that needs to be absolved. Like everyone else who ever died and went to hell, Michael finds himself put to work in the worst conditions imaginable.
141 people died in seasons 1-4 of Prison Break, not including Scofield. Most of them hated him, or died trying to kill him. Most of them would be in hell with him, and you can bet they'd be wanting some revenge. At first he tries to crack on with it. Eternity can't be that long, right? Eventually the abuse becomes too much.
So what if Scofield makes a deal with The Devil? He will break himself and his 'acquaintances' out of hell itself, in return for their forgiveness. If he fails then Satan can have their souls entirely. As always his real intention would be to break out himself, and help those that he feels are reliable allies. Everyone else will be useful as and when they're required but ultimately he doesn't care whether they make it or fail as long as his nearest and dearest are free.
I wont go into a whole script, but to me it seemed like a great opportunity to bring back classic characters and have them react and reflect on their own deaths and their mistakes when they were alive. They'd have friction with one another over what happened and whether it was all worth it. I imagined Lincoln and Sarah having dreams and experiences of Michael reaching out to them using some kind of ghostly presence. They both think they're insane from the grief of losing Michael when it happens to them independently, but when they talk to each other about how much they miss him they realise that they've both experienced the exact same type of contact and perhaps there's more to this than meets the eye.
I imagined a great scene where Michael needs Lincoln or Sarah to help him with a critical part of the escape plan, creating a diversion at the entrance to the afterlife while Michael kicks off his escape. The problem? They have to be dead to do it - Lincoln and Sarah can just about believe that they're communicating with their dead family member, but are they in deep enough to end their lives and prove it?
Lincoln and Sarah have to decide who is going to do it, and whether they really should kill themselves in the hope that Michael can somehow bring them back to life when they help him. It's a huge and very implausible gamble, but they miss Michael so much, and maybe doing anything to get back someone you love is a good enough reason to risk everything?
Lincoln discovers that T-Bag is being let out of prison. Meeting him at the exit he offers a lift in return for a conversation. As they drive, he tries to convince T-Bag that this is a chance to redeem himself, get a clean bill of health, a cleaner conscience, and his missing hand back. T-Bag thinks he's crazy and has no interest in ending his life right when its just getting started again. Any attempt to prove it just makes Lincoln seem more delusional. T-Bag also feels as though he made amends for his crimes by serving his time in prison.
Seeing no other choice and accepting his answer. Lincoln takes matters into his own hands and drives the car over a cliff edge, killing them both. T-bag is is incredibly ticked off at the fact he has been murdered by the Lincoln, of all people. But when they get to the place Michael told them about, T-Bag starts to believe that Lincoln might just have been telling the truth, and despite believing he had made amends for his crimes in life, he still ended up in hell anyway, meaning his efforts were a waste of time. This makes him much more sinister and angry. He and Lincoln come to blows and things start to kick off.
Michael uses this opportunity to execute his plan and things are finally underway.
While heading for the final obstacles things start to look bad. Satan - seeing himself about to lose his bet, tries to cheat put things back in his favour. T-Bag decides to hold back and make the ultimate sacrifice to help Scofield and the gang escape, and in a moment of sheer irony, ends up with a place in heaven for his act of selflessness.
T-Bag the Pure and Innocent hero.
One or two others try to cheat the system and gain their own place with T-Bag, but end up annihilating themselves through selfishness. Michael keeps his eye on the prize and continues his escape.
The ending I can leave to your imagination. I wondered what the consequences of a breakout from Hell would be. Would Satan give chase in the real world? Would we be looking at a Season 2 style 'life on the run' gambit, or would they all live happily ever after having beaten Satan at his own game down in hell, with T-Bag looking over them from his seat in heaven?
What would you do - let me know in the comments!!