Back Behind Bars: A Review of "Prison Break"

The television show "Prison Break" was never meant to be one for cutting-edge realism. The entire plot is so convoluted and ridiculous that it could be nothing more than some kind of human cartoon. The entire plot revolved around a brother named Michael who was trying to spring his brother Lincoln from prison before Linc was executed for murdering the brother of the Vice President. To do this Michael got himself thrown into the same prison as his brother, but he had a whole-body tattoo that mapped out his entire plan.

Now, no one would really do such a thing. The knowledge Michael had of the prison was so detailed that it would be nearly impossible for one person to remember it all. Plus, the hours and days it would take just to tattoo his entire body would just not be endurable. Still, it was fun to watch.

Part of the fun was watching the people around him. This is the show that introduced one of the great television villains, a man named Teabag. Rarely has such a heartless killer been featured on television. He was a man who might, in his generosity, offer to kill you with an overdose of drugs or slit your throat. Actually letting you go, of course, would never happen.

All the while there was an elaborate plot against the main characters. The Vice President became the President. She was involved in trying to get Lincoln killed for reasons that, now, I cannot even remember. It was another example of a government wide conspiracy against a couple of guys for reasons that were best left not looked at too deeply.

Still, it was exciting. The bad guys were really bad and the good guys were sometimes bad and the tension was really rather high. Once they did get out, it was fun to see them run across the country and see who pursued them and how they would get away. Somehow Michael still always had the right answer.

Then, suddenly, at the end of last season, the key main characters all found themselves in Panama. Before too long, through various means, they all also ended up in this hellish Panamanian prison. Yes, they had broken out of a prison in Illinois, fled across the continent, only to end up back in prison in Panama.

With the start of the new season, I think my limits of credibility have finally been stretched to the breaking point with this show.

The prison is actually run by the prisoners. Exactly why they would then stay in prison is not entirely clear. There are guards in towers outside the prison, but who do they work for?

The prison is commanded by one man who rules it with an iron fist. Fights are settled, to the death naturally, in the courtyard in the middle of the prison. Of course Michael manages to piss off all of the wrong people for reasons that are not clear, and has to fight.

Meanwhile, it is now his brother Lincoln who is fighting to get him out. However, we soon find out there is ANOTHER great conspiracy moving against the two brothers. Of course, now, loved ones for both Linc and Michael are being held hostage unless Michael breaks some other guy out of jail.

I mean, really, people, how much more are we supposed to believe. My suspension of disbelief meter is already pegged to the right with "24." I don't think it can stand any more pegging with this show.

So, while I have been a fan of this show for two seasons, I can't help but feel the writers have run out of story to tell. I have heard others say this is a show that should have run for two seasons and then stopped. I am starting to think that I agree with that.