Prison Break returns to TV for nine more episodes tonight, April 4, 9pm on Fox.
You can add faking death to the long list of skills Michael Scofield has mastered. This is revealed in what feels like familiar fashion. Michael has been off the grid for seven years, and out of nowhere sends Lincoln Burrows on a scavenger hunt to find his location. Sara Tancredi and Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell are forcibly reunited through a mysterious third-party. Sara has to avoid an assassination attempt in her home, resulting in her husband being wounded. All of this is in just the premiere! It was so thrilling, I felt as if the show had never taken a break.
All fans can recall the emotional train wreck that was the fourth season (and at the time, series) finale. Michael made the ultimate sacrifice to Sara and Lincoln. Scofield revealed he had a terminal illness that would kill him inevitably, and we all cried at the infamous ‘boat scene’ where a pre-recorded video from Michael was played.
Now, with the writers’ decision to resurrect Michael from the dead, prepare to go on an emotional roller coaster. When the crew finally finds Michael, disguised as Kaniel Outis, he denies knowing who Lincoln is, leaving my heart shattered.
One negative I found in this new season was the lack of character development to Michael’s cell mates in the new prison. In the first season, characters like John Abruzzi, Haywire, T-Bag, and others were fleshed out immensely, and were the focal points of the titular prison breaks. In this revival, those secondary players are irrelevant to the escape, and are poorly written in general.
In short, from the moment I began watching until the very end I was hooked on Prison Break again. I would highly recommend these nine episodes to anyone who has seen the original. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? All four original seasons are streaming on Netflix.
I give Prison Break‘s revival an A-.
TV and City 