I just kind of realized that Michael's entire plan is to lure the general down to Scylla...so why even bother with the whole BE QUIET/FREEZE HEAT/CUT GLASS stuff?
Hmm, maybe. The way I took it was, they needed to be quiet and be unnoticed until the very end, when they were able to set up where lincoln and sucre and mahone would be, to surprise the general and be the people in control. If they blew it early on, it would have been difficult to be able to turn the tide the way they did.
Also, yeah, the episode rocked, but the plot twist did seem a bit totally outta no where. They'll need to have some strong justification for Self's backstab and maybe they can redeem the twist.