Breakout Kings Season 1 Episode 3

This is the kind of show which could be described as an upper middle class show when it comes to quality. Everything is quite nice about it but it never really hits a home run. There is just enough of good acting, just enough of a good story, just enough of humour, action, production values and so forth to keep it entertaining. But it never reaches the heights of celebrated quality, upper class, shows like Mad Men, Lost and Breaking Bad. On the other hand it is clearly better than many of the terribly bad shows which are doomed to wade through the mud of mediocrity.





What is good about a show like this is that it never really fails on you. Every week when you park your ass in front of the TV, you know you're going to be entertained, even though your mind is not going to be blown. But as an added bonus, sometimes an episode manages to surprise you. This week was one of those weeks.





In this episode all the parts of the show somehow just managed to click forming a great combo. The story was interesting and had a few surprising twists to it. The humour had been upped a notch, with a very funny reference to a previous prison related show. Guest star Robert Knepper made a great performance, he was like born for the role. What has surprised me during the last two episodes has been the performance of Serinda Swan as Erica. Based on the trailer for the show, and a few performances I've seen by her on Smallville, I didn't think her acting would be up to par. She seemed more like a pretty face (a very, very pretty face, that is), the kind which is hired for shows to attract male viewers, but not someone who could carry the role. So far though she has been believable in her role, not one who just smiles through her scenes. She has managed to bring intensity and presence into her performance. I guess I judged her too hastily.





Every know and then a show like this puts forward an episode which exceeds the expected average for the show. With only three episodes behind us, I'm prepared to say this is one of those moments. Therefore the score is a full 10. I sincerely hope the show will continue on this path, that this episode isn't just one bright supernova among a number of episodes collapsing in on themselves like black holes.

Yep. All those little things that made me like Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in Prison Break are there plus more juiced up cruelty. Indeed the prison time didn't do him well, cause it really is his unrightous path for vengeance, even meaner than what we saw on his last appearance.





This series is promising, from the guys who shared some thoughts on Prison Break (Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora). True, the pace seems a bit rushed, almost dazed at showing us the real urgency at catching the cons before they do more damage, and at times it takes a while to catch the scheme of things, but all in all, it's one slick joyride with good mixture of comedy (courtesy of Jimmy Simpson and Malcolm Goodwin), a mission-impossible-ish gathering of wits and a clever street-wise approach that can only beat the crap out of what NBC's "Chase" is/was trying to accomplish.





This episode marked a certain closure for Robert Knepper's T-Bag Character, one that I surely hope will not be the high note in which we see him, because I sense we will hear more from our friendly-neighborhood serial killer soon enough. Knepper was genuinely born for the part. And what started well on the first season of Prison Break should get here more that one mention (a story arc, anyone?).





Final note goes to the classy Tarantino\Guy Richie-like opening theme. Sure is stylish and adds some more points to this well-crafted new series.

I was never really into Prison Break, but I know that the fans loved this T-Bag character and I have to say that he was interesting here. This show is decent right now, but the problem is that it is doing very little to distinguish itself from the rest of the procedurals on TV right now. It just feels like an episode of Criminal Minds when I am watching it, and we don't need a third Criminal Minds on TV, now do we?





Good enough episode to maintain my interest in the series though. They need to explore the characters more in future episodes to keep viewership up though.