Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Well, the first of the big hitters is back after the summer break. I'll be the first to admit was very dubious about the prospects of Prison Break going into its second season. I could be heard proclaiming loudly during the first run that there *couldn't* be a second season, as what's the point in "Prison Break" once they're outside the prison. Equally, if they'd not escaped at the end of season one, the whole thing would have got stale. However, looking at how things stand after last night's episode, I'm pleased to report there seems to be a fiar bit for season two to get stuck into.

A quick recap for the hard of remembering; Michael, Lincoln, Jon, C-Note, and Sucre are on the run, directly pursued by an enraged Belleck. T-bag is out on his own, having had his hand rudely amputated by Jon. Tweener and Haywire are also going their own ways. Veronica has located the supposedly dead Terrence Steadman, and confronted him in his remote hideaway. Meanwhile Dr. Tancredi clings to life after an apparent suicide attempt.

The action picks up exactly where season one left us, with Michael and company heading into the woods with a search party hot on their heels. Needless to say they manage to slip away by means of some classic hunter/hunted action that keeps the tension and pace at a reasonable level. The interesting stuff is happening elsewhere though. William Fichtner (Invasion, The West Wing, Pearl Harbour *snigger*) joins the cast as Buck Mahone, a super smart FBI bloodhound. He's convinced the ket to tracking Michael down is to get inside his head, which he begins to do by unravelling the secrets of Michaels tattoo. Obviously this puts him at loggerheads with the bullish Belleck, and no doubt there'll be more fireworks to come from that pairing. Infact, seeing as the introduction of an FBI agent indicates the man hunt will be going inter-state, and Belleck's jurisdiction ends at the state line, don't be surprised to find Belleck goes rogue, chasing Michael down over a personal vendetta.

Veronica's confrontation with Steadman promises to bring the whole affair to a premature conclusion by clearing Lincoln, and she advises him to hand himself in to the authorities. Yeah, that's smart love. He'll get off the murder charge, but escape carries something close to life so not much gain there really.

Also, the good doctor comes round from her drug-induced coma (thanks to dream-flash images of Michael. This is the only really cheesy and poor sequence in the episode) only to find herself under pressure from the FBI to give up info on the escapees.

Finally, we get to see T-Bag out on his own, which despite the reprehensible nature of his character is something every fan of the show has been wanting to see. The show being what it is things are predicatably stupid, and T-Bag forcing a vet at screwdriver-point to reatach his severed hand with no anasthetic is a Prison Break classic.

I won't spoil any more for you as I guess many of you reading this at work won't get a chance to see it until tonight, but safe to say it seems there's some life in the show yet. The format is familiar, ratcheting up the tension to a reasonable pitch before setting up the next episode with a clever final twist. The writing is as tight as ever, with hardly a line wasted. There's plenty been left in the tank for the rest of the run too. Lincoln's son LJ is bound to feature at some point, as are the two cons we've not caught up with yet. There must also be something major in store for the druggie doctor seeing as she's been saved the chop.

The only real gripe with PB is again the scheduling. Fox should really have looked at the figures from last year and given this great breakthrough show its very own slot. Instead, once again it has merely been "loaned" 24's Monday night slot, from which it will be rudely ejected as soon as the annual torture-a-thon kicks off in January. Sort it out Fox, you've a gem on your hands here.