Prison Break (2005 - 2009): Review By justincase

While the series has the potential to get a little long in the tooth (I mean...how many times can you actually break out of prison?), the 4th season got kicked off to a decent start.

For the first 40 minutes or so, the acting is only passable and our suspension of disbelief gets a real workout.

Basically, it seems like the writers were trying to wrap up a bunch of character and story elements (fast) and set-up the 4th season. The actors are along for the ride, running hard to keep up while the story elements tick by at the rate of about 1 a minute.

This is the BIG reason that I give this low scores for story, acting and directing (which of course tanked this episodes overall score). The first part of this episode really has the potential to chase viewers away. I mean, if I hadn't recorded it to watch at my leisure (late, before falling asleep), I'd have just kept recording the episodes and not watched them until winter haitus.

After we roll into the back half of the first hour, we get into the meat of this season, whith Michael, Linc, Sucre, Bellick, Mahone and a recently 'resurrected' Sara (head firmly attached) along for the ride. The crew picks up a new 'handler' in Michael Rapaport, a Homeland Security agent that is taking them off the grid to go after the omnipotent "Company". We also have T-bag, wandering in from Panama to throw things off-kilter.

Basically, the crew is still on the run from the bad guys. We got a lot of dead cast from the previous season in the first 30 minutes or so...to ensure that all of the remaining characters are suitably motivated for the rest of the season.

Will there ever be a happy ending for this rag-tag bunch? I guess we'll get some semblance of an answer this season, although if the show proves to, again, draw viewers, they may find theselves stuck in the 'grind' for seasons to come.