Quote from: Its Game Time on Sep 12, 2007, 05:06:05 AM
I'm beggining to really love Prison Break
The first season was amazing. Halfway through the second season, the writing began to get worse and worse.
SPOILERS!
I hated the fact that they abandoned the "prison break" storyline to just attempt at having the main characters deal with the "company" sub-plot. For a while it felt like a different show, which I disliked because mid-season, I was really into the "prison break" plot. Then they just put it on hold for a subplot that, in my eyes, died with Veronica.
Kellerman was the only exception. I enjoyed him as a 2 dimensional villian in season 1, and i loved him as a 3 dimensional villian/good guy, in season 2, whose confused over the boundary of what is right and wrong, resulting in an attempted suicide. Brilliant!
Wade Williams = Amazing acting talent. One thing that was awesome in season 2, was the show case of how great of an actor Wade Williams can be. It wasn't until the second half of season 2 that his material was lacking. His character (Bellick) began doing the most unrealistic stuff for the sake of drama. Over the course of season 2 Bellick: tried to hunt down the fugitives using his position of captin prison guard, got fried from being a prison guard, tried to commit suicide, tried to hunt down the fugitives as a bounty hunter, torchured T-Bag (on of the fugitives), was sentenced to prison for murder (although he was set up), got his ass kicked in prison, tried to make a small stupid attempt at breaking out, was set free with the help of Mahone on the condition that Bellick try to pick off some small time fugitives (Haywire), and saw Haywire commit suicide right in front of his eyes. And that's not all. But just getting up to that point, I kept thinking that his character should just be let go. After having all of that crap happen to him, it looked silly and unrealistic that Bellick would continue on with the plot seemingly unphased by any of the past storylines. It would have made more sense if Bellick just said "the hell with it" and actually made a life for himself instead of chasing Michael, getting his ass kicked numerous times along the way. I like me some drama, but when the writers begin sacrificing character's common sense for the sake of drama, it gets too unrealistic and silly for me to care. Wade Williams is a fine actor, but everytime I see Bellick on screen I can't help but think "Why is this guy still here?"
Michael and Sara's relationship was handled terribly. Sara Wayne Callies did a better job playing the sexy nurse going through a difficult drug withdrawl, then a damsel on the run trying to reunite several times with her on and off "sorta" boyfriend, Michael. It seemed so unrealistic that Sara just decided to forgive Michael for using her to escape the prison, resulting in Sara facing a crap load of jail time, just because of the fact that she was threatened by the company, and Michael was the only one she could turn to, at the time.
I liked where Mahone was going, I hated where he ended up. Once we leared about his past details with Oscar Shales, I was believed to think that his character was truly a good person. He was just a good person who made one bad mistake that came back to haunt him emotionally, resulting in some grave mental problems. It wasn't until he was pushed off the edge of reason when the company physically harrased him with his secret, to force him into finding and killing all 7 fugitives. I always thought that towards the end of the season he would end up doing the right thing, as contrast to the terrible things that the company forced him to do all season, that made his life hell. Instead he ends up being the stereotypical bad guy who trys to overcome the protagonist (while also trying to beat a personal enemy within the Company) and failed miserably on both accounts. "wow Michael out witted Mahone again. That surly was a suprise".
*shakes head in disapointment*When I state my feelings on how the second season came to a close, it always ends with
"And now the show begins to stretch out tired ideas that stray far far away from the original plot of the show just because the raitings are high, for now." People always come back at me with a
"No! No! Michael is back in Prison (Pannama this time) so it still retians the basic elemtents of Prison Break" While I do agree that Michael being in a more violent prison enviroment will be a nice change of pace, and definitly intresting to watch, I was talking more along the lines of the company. I was always looking forward to the second season finale because I knew the Company subplot would finally get rapped up, and there would be more room for fresh ideas in season 3. How wrong I was. Instead of using one of the numerous plot points to finally end the friggin company subplot (and trust me, there were many) they drag it on into next season. Only this time the writers create even more questions about something that's been overly exagerated to the point where I don't really care what the answers to thoes questions are.
The second season finale would have been a great place to finally end the company subplot. Then just when you think the season will end of a friendly note, things resume as normal, Michael gets caught in Pannama, sentenced to prison, he finds out Pannama's prisons are much more violent then the one he broke out of in the US. Season 3 could be about Michael's desperate survival in prison, let alone breaking out.
As long as the company doesn't play as big a part in season 3, as it did the second half of season 2, I think I'll be ok. I definitly want some comparing and contrasting between Michael's stay in prison in Pannama, and the one he broke out of in the US. And did I mention, less company?
