After a season of being on the run, some fans of the show complained that they missed the overwhelming claustrophobia of the first season. Well, to put it succinctly, it looks like the old “Prison Break” is back.
When last we left them, Michael, Mahone, T-Bag and Bellick were all sent to Sona, which is Panama’s toughest and most ruthless prison (of course). I had to laugh when that cat at the American embassy painted an overly bleak picture for Linc. He said that Sona was “the worst of the worst,” that “the guards had pulled out” and are now just “keeping a perimeter.” Good grief.
With Lincoln exonerated, I was curious to see how the show would be able to reinvent itself, and it looks like Michael’s new mission will be to break a very important person (Whistler?) out of Sona. He only has a week to do it, so assuming one episode per day, this new storyline might only eat up a third of the season. Whistler is probably the guy that Bellick spoke to in the basement. Speaking of Brad, how disturbing was it to watch him walk around in those tighty whities?
Mahone wants to help Michael, if only to get Michael to testify on his behalf once the two are out of prison. Since Mahone killed his pops, Michael isn’t too keen on the idea, but he might not have much of a choice given how badly the cards are stacked against him. T-Bag seems to have already wormed his way into the good graces of Luchero, a Panamanian drug kingpin who runs the prison. By the way, Luchero is played by Robert Wisdom, who was terrific as Major Howard “Bunny” Colvin on “The Wire.” It will be fun to watch him play such a cartoon-ish character.
It looks as if the roles of LJ and Sara will once again be to coerce the brothers into working for the unseen powers that be. I get the feeling that Michael and Sara won’t be able to truly be together until the series finally comes to an end, whenever that is.
It also appears that two or three new women will have major roles this season. There’s the woman that Linc met at the bar, the prostitute that dressed up as a nun, and the woman outside the prison who was looking for the notes from the guy in the basement. (They’re all brunettes, by the way.)
And there’s still the question of all that money which, if I remember correctly, is sitting in a lagoon under a few feet of water.
So we’re off. Do you like the new direction of the show or do you wish they had wrapped everything up at the end of last season? I’m not sure how I’d answer that question, but so far, so good.
