Prison Break: Season Three

Back in the slammer
As the third season of Prison Break begins, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) finds himself back in prison, only this time it's a down and dirty prison in Panama ruled by the tyrannical Lechero (The Wire's Robert Wisdom). Also sharing space with Michael are T-Bag (Robert Knepper), Bellick (Wade Williams), and Mahone (William Fichtner); while Linc (Dominic Purcell) works on the outside to get his brother free at any cost, with the assistance of a mysterious associate (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) who has her own agenda. The third season of Prison Break manages to provide pretty much the same kinds of action, suspense, drama, and twists that fans of the series would come to expect by now; which adds up to this season being a success. However, falling victim to the writer's strike, the third season of Prison Break ends up feeling rushed and somewhat incomplete. At only 13 episodes, this is something to be expected, but it still comes off as noticeable nonetheless. Flaws aside, this is still...

Quite Possibly, the Best Half-Season Ever (no spoilers)
If you are into brutal action, seat-of-your-pants suspense, unexpected twists and turns every 5 or 10 minutes, get this set, block a couple of weekend nights and watch it. My wife and I couldn't stop watching. In fact, we gobbled up all 13 episodes over 2 nights and, when it was all over, we felt like we wanted more.

Michael is a different man in Season 3. Now, he is physically exhausted and emotionally drained, not sick but definitely tired. In Season 1, he generally knew what and whom he was facing; it was he who decided who were his friends, his allies, his enemies. He had studied their biographies and he was totally familiar with the environment and he knew exactly what to expect. He had a well-thought plan and he was implementing it. In 'Season 2' he was still following the plan but his control was slipping. By 'Season 3', he has to live with the consequences of his actions - people have died, people got hurt and more are dying and are getting hurt as the tale is told...

Prison Break - The Third Season
The third season of Prison Break was good television but lacked the key element that existed in seasons one and two and that was Michael's connection to the people around him. In season three Michael is again jailed but with characters that neither he, nor the viewer, really care about. In addition, some characters (not those killed off in the second year of the series)are gone due to the actors' contract disputes and/or accepting spots in other series. Finally, the writer's strike left the series with only half a year and although there is some resolution, overall, it felt weak because it was never intended to be the season finale. Will I buy it? Yes, because it builds hopefully to a better fourth season but as a stand-alone year the third season lacks the plotting quality of seasons one and two.

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