TV-Reviewed

Prison Break used to be one of my favorite shows on network television. During the first season, I was really sucked into the show. Watching Michael get his brother and a few allies out of prison was both fascinating and entertaining. But over the past few years, the show has lost me as a regular viewer. I didn’t watch the third season until it was all over.

Now that the fourth season is here, I figured I’d give the show another chance. It’s hard to get over the fact that Michael, Lincoln, Mahone, etc all seemed to come together under circumstances which seemed all too easy. It was just too convenient the way everything went down. The fact that the prisoners rioted and SONA burned to the ground was just lazy on the part of the writers. Given the military presence there, there’s little to no chance such a thing would have happened.

Michael Rapaport as Donald Self

Anyway, in order to avoid jail time, Scofield and company are recruited by Michael Rapaport, who joins the series as a fed who’s been fighting to bring down The Company. I have to admit that it’s nice to see some fresh blood on the show, but Rapaport’s character is too similar to the other characters in his intensity. I don’t blame Rapaport so much as I do the writers for coming up with another cookie cutter character.

During the off-season, it was revealed that Dr. Sara Tancredi was coming back this season. She was supposedly killed last year, but the writers managed to come up with a half-baked explanation for why she was alive. I don’t oppose such a move, admittedly because Sara’s played by the beautiful Sarah Wayne Callies.

Despite all of the hype about the reunion of Michael and Sara, when it came down to the two setting eyes on one another, I was very disappointed. All Michael could think of during his time in SONA was Sara, and that reunion was perhaps the lamest one I’ve seen. There was practically no emotion whatsoever.

Sarah Wayne Callies as Dr. Sara Tancredi

The Company is threatening and intimidating to everyone who gets in their way, but they’re now cleaning up the mess left when Whistler made a copy of Scylla, a program containing the names of The Company’s agents. The man doing the cleanup is Cress Williams. Standing 6′5″, Williams is an imposing figure. Despite his large stature, I don’t see him as a hitman. I still have memories of Williams playing Inspector Antwon Babcock on Nash Bridges, so he’ll never be THAT intimidating, nowhere near Alex Mahone (William Fichtner) was when he was introduced to the show.

As far as two-hour season premieres, this one was filled with storylines. The show didn’t just focus on the main characters. We also saw Sucre get setup and T-Bag prove just how crazy he can be. I can’t say that I like the T-Bag character, but he’s one of the more entertaining of the bunch. He’s clever, quick-witted, and very dangerous. Still, I never would have thought cannibalism would have entered Prison Break’s story.

Despite my gripes about how the show isn’t what it used to be, the season got off to a fairly nice start. Sure it all seems far-fetched and more like an impossible mission, but nothing on this show is impossible at this point.

Rating: 6.7