INFORMATION:
PRISON BREAK – SEASON 03, EPISODE 01 – ORIENTACION.
BRIEF YOU-SHOULD-KNOW RECAP:
After escaping from Fox River, Scofield and gang find themselves on the run on foot after the plan to catch Abruzzi’s chartered flight fell apart. And to add to Scofield’s misery, a new FBI hotshot with top credentials and a mind to match Scofield’s was placed in charged of the manhunt. Drama, intrigue, betrayals and shocking revelations followed for a whole season. Just when it seemed Michael and Burrows got what they wanted and needed to disappear forever, several wild cards popped up. The result? Michael Scofield and his new arch-enemy find themselves thrown into a Panamanian prison that makes Fox River look like a resort. Lincoln Burrows now finds himself on the outside, and The Company — the evil-doers seemingly behind everything involving Lincoln and Michael — have found themselves a new project to work on.
WHAT WORKED:
* Where to begin? Well, first and foremost, Sona looks like an absolute hellhole and the situation that the prisoners have found themselves in gives the show a very gritty feeling, akin to a rowdier version of Fight Club. And that indubitably rocks.
* Mahone and Scofield, having danced the dance throughout the whole of the second season, now appear to have to rely on each other to survive. Brilliant.
* Alexander Mahone in general is just such a fascinating character, and the moment where he saved Michael’s ass is already one of the most iconic moments of the entire series for me.
* The premise of the third season being that Michael has to break out this Whistler guy even if the former doesn’t want to? Very cool. Nothing else is known about this plot at this moment, but just imagining what will happen in future episodes has me excited.
* Lechero as the new baddie has a lot of potential. I like him already.
* The return of T-Bag. One-armed killing machine, who just will not go away. Him being able to survive and get into Lechero’s good graces in such a short time speaks volume about the kind of human being T-Bag is.
* Bellick, on the other hand, is so screwed. But you have to feel a little bit of sympathy for him; that dichotomy is neat.
* Lincoln showing off his inventive side = funny and good.
WHAT BLEW:
* If I had to find one nitpick from what was a stellar opening, it was the de-emphasizing of what Lincoln has to do while he’s free, completely exonerated of his crimes and on the outside.
* Also, an update on Sucre would have been nice.
FINAL RATING:
8.8 OUT OF 10.
