The biggest (but, if you've been reading all those spoilers, very obvious) storyline to the Prison Break finale was, of course, Michael Scofield's death.  Sure, I understand that it's not exactly a happy ending--especially if you've been waiting for the moment to see him just live a happy life with Sara and Linc and the rest--but, if you trust the show's executive producer Matt Olmstead, it is a happy ending.  Okay, start grappling with what they say and what you saw.

So, why did they have to kill him?  Olmstead says Wentworth Miller's partly to blame for it.  Or, at least, that's how it sounds to me.  "He brought up a good point: His character's hands are as dirty as anyone's," the producer said.  "When they rattled the cage of the company that was after them, the body count started to pile out.  And Michael was aware of this. And we've addressed his guilt throughout the show.  But at a certain point, it felt nobler to have the character die so that others could live. ... [Having him die] balanced the books for us."



Happy ending?  "For me, it is a happy ending," Olmstead explained.  "And at the end of the finale, when they're on the beach and talking about the baby that's coming, that's a huge victory in that they both stood their ground and, with the help of other people, brought down the ultimate antagonist.  So they have their moment."

The four-year jump between most of the events of the finale, and that last scene on the grave, will be addressed on the two-hour direct-to-DVD Prison Break feature, which hits shelves on July 28.  "The nose bleed that reared its ugly head at the end of [tonight's finale] was a factor in his ultimate demise in that he knew that he probably didn't have that long to live, but it wasn't the sole factor," he said.  "Sara is on the hook for [killing] Michael's mother and she gets locked up while pregnant.  The tables are turned... once a doctor in prison now imprisoned, and Michael's on the outside."

Now that it's over, does he have any regrets about the story?  Not much, it turns out.  "[Some] wrote that we left it all out on the field by the end of the series, and I feel the same way," he said.  "Every story was exhausted.  Every creative juice wrung out.  It was a completely worthwhile experience, and I know the other writers [agree].  It was a difficult show to pull off, and we did it."




-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Entertainment Weekly
(Image courtesy of Fox)