Prison Break Season Three Preview

Prison Break wasn’t supposed to be here, and we all know it. It was supposed to be a one-off, one season gimmick show…but then it blew up. People started watching, ratings and ad buys went up, and Wentworth Miller was known as ‘Pretty’ to many more people than just T-Bag.

So, we got a 2^nd season that was radically different from the first, that seemed to come in a lot of main chunks of stories, with an overarching one that seemed to come in a bit late.

We had the race for the money, then the aftermath, with everyone splitting up, the failed escape from the country, which segued nicely into the political/conspiracy part, then another escape from the country that went surprisingly smoothly, a courtroom drama, then everyone gathered inexplicably in Panama of all places for the coup de gras.

I just hope there’s more of a bigger picture type of story this time around, as Season One was, with a clear endpoint in sight that we slowly and agonizingly build towards. Not that I think the writers were making it up as they went with S2 or anything, just needed a more fluid story that didn’t jump around so much…but I guess when you cover that many miles with that many characters, the jumpiness is bound to happen.

Now that coup, of the de gras variety I was talking about before, was absolutely beautiful. It was ironic, poetic, however you want to put it, but really, everyone kind of got what they deserved.

And it set an unbelievable stage for Season Three.

The whole Sona prison concept sounds dynamite, with no guards, prisoners running everything…and just how the prison itself looks. That final scene where Michael walks down the hallway and sees what he really has gotten himself into was one of the more chilling and absolutely wicked scenes of TV I’ve seen in a long time.

Also, one of my favorite parts of Season 1, the prison politics, are back, and this time, they’re a lot deadlier.

I’ve read a few spoilers, which I of course, won’t just go into out of nowhere, wouldn’t do that to you non-spoilery people, wouldn’t want to muck up those squeaky clean minds, but it seems as though there is a few really well-rounded stories right off the bat that involve everyone in a good way.

I hope we can get more into the Company, and the whole conspiracy portion of the show, but I feel like that's coming. Hell, they may just be waiting for Paul Adelstein to come back from the pretty-sure-to-fail Private Practice and seek his revenge (you do have to admit, his death was a tad ambiguous last year, no?)

I for one, cannot wait, as Prison Break will be one of the few shows I really look forward to during the week, on that Lost/Heroes level, and I know it will be an absolute rollercoaster…of one kind or another…

Heroes Season Two Preview

Heroes was easily my favorite new show from last season, and burrowed its way deep into my cold, dark, heart, right alongside Lost, 24, and Prison Break as pure TV gold…Gold Jerry, GOLD! (Sorry I’ve been watching Seinfeld repeats all weekend)

Although the finale of Season 1 of Heroes did leave quite the bitter, unsatisfied taste in my mouth, I’m expecting big things this time around. I do have some concerns about the tightness of the story, with so many added characters, and the semi-cop out of jumping three months ahead, but I have faith in Tim Kring to pull it all together, even if he did fail spectacularly at doing so with the end of the first year. (The bitterness will fade ppl, just give it time).

There is set to be some big changes. A new, scarier Sylar-type character, a quick death, a resurrection, and some Petrelli amnesia tossed into the mix, all in the first ep… not to mention our Japanese friend that has tumbled backwards in time to feudal Japan…going to be a quite the ride…

But, lets go back to something I touched on above, the slew of newer characters. Heroes last year already had a large cast, and we found ourselves going large blocks of eps without seeing some people (Isaac Mendez and Matt Parkman come to mind) and I just don’t want to see that kind of thing happen even more this year.

I was never a big Veronica Mars fan, but I know Kristen Bell and her snappy, witty talents will be well-appreciated here (Still wish she had gone to Lost though…)

Anyways, onto my other main concern, the jump-ahead gimmick.

This is basically just something that buys time, as you have to go through and piece things together from the point of the jump to where you’re at now, then go forward from there, prolonging the main story. As an author I’ll admit freely I’ve done this, because it can be beneficial to if a story has stalled, it lets you refresh everything and tweak people a bit. You have sort of a blank slate instead of one coherent, expanding story.

I only complain about this technique because I have come to believe it is nothing more than what I referred to it as above, a cop out, and I have actually stopped using it, because of that very problem. A good story should unfold in one long strand, getting more complex and layered as it goes, and I’m fearing with Heroes, it might not be as deep as I first thought, as I know Tim Kring talked about renewing the show in this sort of way every year. Just shows that the Heroes story isn’t as tight as it should be, or I guess, as much as I wish it would be.

All in all, I know Heroes is going to be good this year, spectacular even, and I know it will draw me in like it did before, because Tim Kring is a good storyteller, but the real question I’ll be looking to answer this year will be if Heroes is going to become something deeper, something fantastically unique, something to pore over, study and somewhat obsess about (Lost, you guessed it ) or is it going to be just brain candy like everything else…?

The Fall Season

Ahhh, a new Fall TV season beckons…time to shutter the windows and jettison the humans, because its time for some good action/drama/comedy/dramedy…whatever your flavour.

In light of this great time of year, I’ll be going over a few shows I’m looking forward to that are coming back in the near future. (I’ll keep Lost out of it for now, as it still is months away, and if I think about the length of time too much, I may just cry...)

I won’t be able to do any reviews the first few weeks due to a craptacular work schedule that is going to force me to miss the premiere’s of Heroes, Prison Break and Survivor: China, but I’ll do what I can to at least post some thoughts on those fine programs.

For now, the Red Star Review slips into Preview mode...enjoy...