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Prison Break
S4.E24
All episodesAll
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Free

  • Episode aired May 24, 2009
  • 44m
IMDb RATING
8.5/10
4.6K
YOUR RATING
William Fichtner in Prison Break (2005)
ActionCrimeDramaMysteryThriller

In a continued 90 minute episode, Michael and Sara's newfound happiness is short-lived, as Sara soon finds herself in prison, and Michael must break her out before a vengeful Krantz has her ... Read allIn a continued 90 minute episode, Michael and Sara's newfound happiness is short-lived, as Sara soon finds herself in prison, and Michael must break her out before a vengeful Krantz has her killed.In a continued 90 minute episode, Michael and Sara's newfound happiness is short-lived, as Sara soon finds herself in prison, and Michael must break her out before a vengeful Krantz has her killed.

  • Director
    • Kevin Hooks
  • Writers
    • Paul T. Scheuring
    • Zack Estrin
    • Karyn Usher
  • Stars
    • Dominic Purcell
    • Wentworth Miller
    • Robert Knepper
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.5/10
    4.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Kevin Hooks
    • Writers
      • Paul T. Scheuring
      • Zack Estrin
      • Karyn Usher
    • Stars
      • Dominic Purcell
      • Wentworth Miller
      • Robert Knepper
    • 9User reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos20

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    Top cast27

    Edit
    Dominic Purcell
    Dominic Purcell
    • Lincoln 'Linc' Burrows
    Wentworth Miller
    Wentworth Miller
    • Michael Scofield
    Robert Knepper
    Robert Knepper
    • Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell
    Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
    Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
    • Gretchen Morgan
    Sarah Wayne Callies
    Sarah Wayne Callies
    • Sara Tancredi
    William Fichtner
    William Fichtner
    • Alexander Mahone
    Leon Russom
    Leon Russom
    • General Jonathan Krantz
    Chris Bruno
    Chris Bruno
    • Agent Todd Wheatley
    Aisha Hinds
    Aisha Hinds
    • Guard Cowler
    Lori Petty
    Lori Petty
    • Daddy
    Amy Aquino
    Amy Aquino
    • Warden Alice Simms
    Jeff Cahill
    Jeff Cahill
    • Snee
    Dendrie Taylor
    Dendrie Taylor
    • Blonde Guard
    Ian Patrick Williams
    Ian Patrick Williams
    • Bearded Man
    Rainbow Borden
    Rainbow Borden
    • Snags
    Livia Treviño
    Livia Treviño
    • Guard Hucks
    Alicia Lagano
    Alicia Lagano
    • Agatha Warren
    Dot-Marie Jones
    Dot-Marie Jones
    • Skittlez
    • (as Dot Marie Jones)
    • Director
      • Kevin Hooks
    • Writers
      • Paul T. Scheuring
      • Zack Estrin
      • Karyn Usher
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews9

    8.54.6K
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    Featured reviews

    10proud-22756

    This Should Have Been The Series Finale!

    The future episodes were good, but in my honest opinion, this should have been the final episode of the series. Although extremely sad, it wrapped up everything beautifully.
    5GoldenGooner04

    Money Money Money

    If you are watching this series on Netflix, they have this movie episode as the last one of the series, which it is not, so watch this one before the episode ball and chain. otherwise its pointless watching this as you know the ending before the start of it. but then that won't work anyway. This series should have ended after season 1. But it made loads of money so like many series that should have ended they kept on with it, and it gets lost up its own backside. The movie length episode confuses everything
    8pinkmanboy

    The Final Break That Broke Us

    This original final episode of "Prison Break" is the kind of thing that breaks you in silence. It's not the kind of pain that comes with screams, it's that tight knot in your throat, that weight in your chest, and that repeating thought of "it didn't have to end like this." Yeah. If the previous episode already felt like a knife in the back-that looming, inevitable death circling the characters, the constant danger, the raw desperation-this one is when the knife doesn't just go in... it twists. Watching everything unfold until Michael's death is just devastating. And the worst part: he knew. He planned everything already knowing that, in the end, he wouldn't make it. It's brutal. It's beautiful. But it's way too brutal.

    The way the episode's structured is clever, classic Scofield style. Every piece looks out of place at first, every move seems flawed-but in the end, it's all part of a bigger plan. The difference here is, this time, the plan ends in an unavoidable sacrifice. And still, he went through with it. The moment we find out that Mahone, even after "snitching" the parachute plan to Wheatley, was actually still on Michael's side-it gives us a quick sigh of relief. But the episode wastes no time showing us that trust, in this world, is a fragile thing. Michael, as always, is three steps ahead of everyone-even us watching. He knew T-Bag wouldn't cooperate, knew the parachute plan would fail, and still had a backup ready. Because the alternative was watching Sara die and his child be born without a father.

    The prison break scene is tense, gripping, and by the end, absolutely heartbreaking. Everything that happens inside-Gretchen's distraction, the chaos from the fight between Daddy and Skittlez, Sara sneaking into the chapel-it's all directed with this insane sense of urgency. Your heart races, you're rooting for them, you want it to work. And for a moment, it looks like it will. But then comes the gut-punch: the electronic door locked, the system reactivated, and Michael going another way. That silence as he walks away, and the camera doesn't show him anymore... it says it all. And when it does show him, it's already too late. He's gone. Just like that. Simple and brutal. Electrocuted by something he knew would kill him. And he still did it. Because, once again, he chose to save someone else. He chose his wife and his unborn kid over himself. Because that's who Michael Scofield is.

    That's when you feel the real tragedy of the series. From the very beginning, Michael was never driven by greed, revenge, or ego. What pushed him into this insane path was something pure: saving his brother. He faked a robbery, got himself thrown in prison, tattooed his whole body with the blueprint, pulled off escape after escape, dealt with corrupt governments, cartels, double agents, and all kinds of psychopaths. All for love. For family. And now, at the very end, he sacrifices his life for the same reason. And it hurts, because out of all of them, he was the one who deserved freedom the most. He was the one who deserved a quiet life. It's unfair-and the show knows it. The direction doesn't try to sugarcoat anything. His death isn't some epic, cinematic hero's moment-it's silent, quick, almost casual. And maybe that's what makes it hurt even more.

    Outside the prison, Lincoln, Sucre, and Mahone stick to the plan-but you feel his absence the second Sara shows up alone. That moment when Mahone hands her Michael's belongings, and later when she and Lincoln watch the video he recorded... man, it just wrecks you. Seeing Michael explain that the brain tumor came back, and that he already knew his time was running out, just makes his sacrifice even more noble. He didn't just die for Sara and the baby-he died to make sure they could have a life. So they could keep going. The way he speaks to Lincoln, asking him to take care of the baby, and then looks at the camera and asks Sara to take care of his brother-that wraps up this whole story of unconditional love that's always been the show's true core. More than ever, "Prison Break" makes it clear that it was always about family. About bonds that don't break-not even with death.

    And you can't not mention what Sucre does, handing over the hundred grand to Sara. It's such a small thing, but it means everything. He gets that it was the least he could do, after all they went through. And Mahone, too, when he hands over all the stuff Michael had prepared. They're not just following the plan-they're honoring the legacy. The episode does a great job tying those emotional threads together, showing how deeply Michael touched everyone's life-way beyond his smarts and all the schemes. He was the heart of the show. And the emptiness he leaves behind is impossible to ignore.

    And yeah, the show got another season years later, but this right here? This is the real ending. The emotional one. The one that crushes you. And in a way, it also sets you free. Because as sad as it is, there's something powerful about seeing a character that good, that honest, that committed to others until his very last second. Michael Scofield was a different kind of hero. He wasn't invincible. He wasn't unbreakable. But he was human. And he always chose love first. And that's why we cry when he's gone. Because he deserved the world. And in the end, all he got was the silence of a dark tunnel while life went on without him. Cruel, yeah. But also unforgettable.
    10CicadaLokmenWasHere

    The Goodbye We Didn't Know We Needed

    So this is where it all ends... for real. The Final Break gave us the missing piece. We already knew from Season 4's finale that Michael was gone, but this... this showed how, and why, and god - it hurt.

    Sara gets arrested on her wedding day - literally right after they get married - for killing Christina, Michael's twisted mother. And now she's locked up in a women's prison, while the shadow of The Company still lingers, with people inside trying to kill her. The government immunity deal didn't protect her after all.

    Michael doesn't waste a second. He gathers the crew - Lincoln, Sucre, Mahone - and puts together one last plan to break Sara out. Not just any plan - it's one of the most complicated and emotionally loaded escapes in the whole series. And all of it... knowing he's dying. The tumor is back. He doesn't have long. And he never tells anyone.

    Watching him plan everything, with full awareness that he won't survive it, was just soul-crushing. He gives Sara a message, pre-recorded, to play after everything is done. And when she finally watches it - oh my god.

    "This is your birthday present. It's your freedom."

    He designed the whole thing as a gift to her, knowing he'd never be by her side again. He chose her freedom over his life. Again.

    Sucre and Mahone are in it till the end. Lincoln, broken but brave, helps from the outside. But Michael? He goes in. Literally. And in that final moment - when the electrical door needs to be opened manually and he realizes he's the only one who can do it - he makes the call.

    He walks into that room, knowing it will kill him. And he does it without hesitation.

    That's who he was.

    And that's what makes The Final Break so painful and beautiful. It's not just a prison escape - it's Michael Scofield's final gift. His last blueprint. His goodbye.

    The last scene, when Sara watches the video, and Michael says:

    "Don't be sad... It was a good life."

    ...I completely broke.

    This wasn't just a send-off - it was a tribute. To a man who never stopped sacrificing.

    This is THE goodbye. No more questions. No more "what ifs." Just Michael Scofield, going out the way he lived: saving someone else.
    10dreamgirlsession

    Review of Free

    As you watch the season 4 episode ratings, most are very filler and low.

    Prison Break had a lot of potential but screwed by FOX to milk money out of it , rather than give quality story. You delete most of season 4 episodes, you have like 6 qualified episodes to end it , then comes the horrible thought out season 5.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Originally the series finale, until an additional season was announced and debuted eight years later.
    • Goofs
      During Season 4 Lincoln mentions that Michael was born in 1976. Yet, in the final scenes of this episode Michael's tombstone shows his year of birth as 1974.
    • Quotes

      Michael Scofield: We're free now... We're free...

    • Connections
      Edited from Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      Main Titles
      Composed by Ramin Djawadi

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 24, 2009 (Israel)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Instagram
    • Language
      • English
    • Production companies
      • Adelstein-Parouse Productions
      • Rat Entertainment
      • Original Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 44m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 16:9 HD

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