u/Ahiru77

If you see in the show, what ultimately ended being the task of playing Alexander Mahone is so heavy….it seems so mentally draining.

So Fichtner being able to both knock it out of the park, but detach fast enough so that none of his colleagues have to basically experience that strain with him…..it’s mind blowing.

What I notice is that Fichtner holds this expression for so long and so every shot of the others talking where you can see Mahone behind them has his pained expression consistently.

It’s perfect.

Fichtner never told anyone in interviews that he went THIS far to monitor Mahone’s movement through the story.

He reduces his monitoring to “changing one single line” : https://youtu.be/4FGbS4I21u0?t=570 (9:30)

But him helping with story here is so great for both his character and Sarah’s……of course Karyn Usher proudly tells everyone about it.

It’s mind blowing how Fichtner insists on making himself come across as a regular passionate actor when in fact he’s a phenomenon.

Mahone’s rage moments are so intelligently placed in the story and make for such a perfect narrative contrast to Michael “doesn’t have a violent bone in his body” Scofield.

Cinematic contrasting of two personalities that drive the story. So I always assumed these moments are planned from the writers room. Like, really written out in the script.

So to hear that this personality trait was another decision by Fichtner himself…..it’s pure brilliance. He knows exactly when to and when not to. And even the degree of aggression, like the moment against the guy in the hospital is pure intimidation…

…but clearly the moment with Sara is pure entertainment. Fichtner even incorporated a piece of paper to tear up there.

Fichtner makes the “eat your vegetables”-parts of a story so freaking great to watch.

I think Karyn admitted this cause the first thing Scheuring said here is that he loves this scene. And it’s the one scene that she didn’t feel would work at all when she wrote it. Like, what are the odds of that happening?

When an actor genuinely “made something work” for a writer.

Script: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/prisonbreak/images/8/86/PB\_script.pdf/revision/latest?cb=20060626200726

It’s this moment where Bellick is being all combative. In the script, Mahone is just blandly watching Bellick walk off and looks at some photos.

Whereas in the episode, Fichtner has Mahone react to Bellick’s attitude with a little headshake. Like Mahone understands that Bellicks bad attitude is not personal, it’s just a harmless lashing out…out of sheer frustration. So Mahone dismisses Bellick “being silly” in a very classy mature way….with a little headshake.

Just a little move like this builds so much character, it means EVERYTHING. So Fichtner basically establishes that Mahone has a great level of understanding for others. Bellick isn’t genuinely angering Mahone here, Mahone now gets that Bellick is just going through it….let him be.

So I believe moves like this sets the foundation of who Mahone is as a person. So writers look at this empathetic way Mahone is able to react to others and I believe this could’ve inspired moments like in 2x18 where Mahone lets C-Note know that he sees him for who he really is.

First clip is a featurette uploaded by Kouheikun op Youtube: https://youtu.be/FBahN0h1Kpo

Second is the episode of Podcast Prison Breaking with Seth Hoffman: https://youtu.be/rGcdoteq0A8?t=1828 (30:28)