A Return to Form

I tried to post this last night, but Blogger was hiding...

Last week’s Prison Break was pretty good, but not great... but tonight? Ah, there’s the Prison Break I became totally addicted to last season. The show was back in its best form. The heroes take two steps forward, only to be forced one step back. Those threatening to catch them nipping at their heels every step of the way. Outrageous plans to foil the pursuit. Excellent.

William Fichtner continues to be an awesome addition to an awesome show. Everything’s heating up now for “the Amazing Race” to Utah for the stashed loot. And, as was almost always the case last season, the episode ended on a “how in the world are they going to get out of this one?” moment.

Like I said, there’s the Prison Break I became totally addicted to last season.

Vanished, on the other hand... I’m totally out. I only made it to the opening credits of the second episode before deciding to bail on the show entirely.

First, there was the ridiculous music playing behind the “previously on” recap, a grandiose chorus of Latin-esque chanting that made it sound like maybe the senator’s wife had been abducted by Satan himself.

Then came a soap-opera-esque bit of writing backed up by soap-opera-esque acting. In ham-fisted exposition, we’re reintroduced to all the problems we were just re-re-introduced to in the recap, and we're treated to crap lines like “If you want to stop me, you’re gonna have to shoot me” and “The perp wants to see your pain; let him.”

As I continue to marvel that not one character in this show supposedly set in Atlanta has a southern accent, we’re taken to a ridiculously over-the-top sequence involving the “crime tip” hotline, where we zip through CG generated phone lines, zoom in and out with unnecessary speed ramps, and end on a preposterous wall display of tips that could have been generated by the Star Trek art department.

Without Crow or Tom Servo around to help me take the sting off, I promptly delete the show from my TiVo, never to watch another episode.

But I can’t wait for next week’s Prison Break.