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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Prison Break season two preview

Moving into its second season, currently airing Mondays at 8 on FOX, "Prison Break" has evolved into a cross between "The Fugitive" (1993) and "Rat Race" (2001). With some of the prisoners having escaped Fox River, they are now on the run from the feds as well as trying to beat each other to Utah in order to find the millions of dollars left there by another inmate. All of the cast members return from season one, with one notable addition - William Fichtner as FBI Agent Alexander Mahone, head of the search for the escaped convicts. Fichtner, who was most recently in the dropped ABC show "Invasion," has been around as a popular character actor in movies (including both "Equilibrium" and "Armageddon" which also cast other "Prison Break" stars) and video games (the voice of Ken Rosenberg in the Grand Theft Auto games). While Fichtner failed to become a household name through "Invasion," he makes a big impression as the clever FBI agent who is always a half-step behind Scofield's plans. While Fichtner's FBI agent is the brains after the inmates, returning character Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) moves from prison guard to bounty hunter as he hunts down Scofield.

Each episode focuses mostly on Scofield and Lincoln, and then switches between them and the storylines involving the other inmates since they separated after breaking out of Fox River.

Although the setting and the basic plot have been altered, "Prison Break" still remains a tautly written and well-acted series. It is still as exciting to watch the prisoners escape from the FBI agents as it was to watch them plan their prison escape. Much like the earlier episodes which showed the life of the inmates before ending up in Fox River, having the action switch between the characters is interesting and keeps the pace of the show moving quickly as it able to move from action to action.

As of now, "Prison Break" is set to end its run at the end of this season, which has caused cries of happiness and anguish from its fans.