Prison Break was back with a serious bang last night with back-to-back episodes and if your suspension-of-belief skills are highly-tuned, then you had yourself one heck of a viewing!
Last time we saw Michael Scofield, he was hell-bent on revenge: squinting eyes, pedal to the metal in a Ford and every intention to deliver a Mortal Kombat style fatality to Gretchen. The season starts off in great fashion, with him delivering a monologue detailing the reasons behind his vendetta. Now in Los Angeles, he tracks down those he believes are responsible for the supposed death of his one true love Sarah - Gretchen, Whistler and Mahone.
But alas, that was not Dr. Tancredi’s head in the box Lincoln saw. Early on, we get to witness a pretty righteous reunion of the two improbable lovers (the picture above is of Michael first setting eyes on Sara). The great thing about Season 4 thus far is that the lackluster and slow paced story-telling of Season 3 seem to be behind us and now it’s back to a heightened sense of danger and fear. All facing serious jail time, Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, and Bellick are enlisted by the government to track down Scylla, a device from The Company that contains highly incriminating evidence. Joining the ride are Sarah, Mahone (who wants revenge for a certain unspeakable act to be mentioned below), agent Donald Self (played by cool Michael Rappaport) and computer hacker Roland Glenn.
Let me reiterate - this season is no Sona. Not since Season 1 (and parts of Season 2) has death felt like it was around the corner for the gang. And the writers seem intent on getting back to what works. I know I’m not the only one who cheered when Whistler’s head got in the way of a bullet. Good bye James, hardly knew ya’.
Cress Williams joins as the terribly one-sided villain Wyatt who has a penchant for head-shots and heartless killings. I have a feeling that I’m not going to like him very much. This guy has a harder time cracking a smile than Kubiac on Parker Lewis Can’t Lose (I can’t believe this is the same guy that played Queen Latifah’s boyfriend on “Living Single”). He’s been assigned the task of eliminating anyone that remotely knows anything about Scylla (and to kill their grandmother too). On that note, I think Fox is really bold for allowing the death of Mahone’s little boy (and wife), off-screen or not.
Am I forgetting anyone? Oh yes, T-Bag has escaped Sona as well (due to a certain fire that burned the entire place down). His mission? He has his own personal vendetta against Michael for leaving him in Sona. But it’s not his time to shine yet - for these two episodes, he was doomed to a lost in Mexico storyline in which he had to practice the art of cannibalism. Gross.
And, unfortunately, Gretchen is still alive - being held by The Company for failing to keep Whistler from copying Scylla. Looks like she’ll play a bigger role later in the season and hopefully we’re looking at some type of showdown between her and Sarah.
This season is looking extremely promising to loyal PB fans. Yeah, a lot of implausible things happened (Michael getting all his ink removed in one session, anyone?) but that is why we love it. But as much bang and burn as they can serve up the audience, the show’s writers really need to deliver on the deeper questions like What has all this death and destruction done to Michael, freedom or not? Can him and Sara really build a relationship predicated on such dire straits? Can any of these guys even think of living a normal life again?
Tune in next week for Episode 3, “Shut Down”.
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