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Rating:
Of the four series commissioned by Fox, the third season of Prison Break was definitely the one that received the most criticism. Due to the reduced number of episodes (only 13) compared to the usual 22 of other productions, a cut caused by the writers' strike, or for other reasons.
In my opinion, it remains an excellent season, where involvement and adrenaline are not lacking, like well-defined signposts of the adventures of the two American brothers who escaped from the Illinois prison, with that dose of suspense and desire to see how it will end that seeps into the viewer's mind, although there are characteristics that separate this one from the previous and subsequent series.
In fact, to a deep connoisseur of the "product," it is evident that this third chapter almost has the traits of a spin-off, constituting a chapter of its own.
If the theme of detention was exploited excellently in season one and the theme of escape in season two, here the initial refrain that characterized the series from its beginnings is resumed, albeit in different settings.
That is the return behind bars of Michael Scofield along with an exceptional crew this time, featuring the former prison guard Brad Bellick, former FBI agent Alex Mahone, and the serial killer and pedophile Theodore Bagwell, accompanying him on this new adventure. While on the other side of the barricade, relatively free this time and ready to help his brother, there is always Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and the now trusted companion of a thousand adventures, Fernando Sucre.
This time, however, the prisoners find themselves not in the gray and crepuscular Fox River, but in a decidedly unique prison, that is Sona in Panama.
And the contrast with Fox River is immediately clear to the viewer's eyes, thanks also to the production, which did not simply copy and paste the theme of the initial season but changed several factors.
In Sona, a completely different air is breathed, whether because it is a prison self-managed by the inmates, or for the decidedly summer and folkloristic scenarios and settings of the prison and outside city, which at times make the atmosphere less dramatic, tempering the tension in some situations.
Visually, it is a decidedly "exotic" and innovative season, but in terms of plot, it is a season with few thrills, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. But the audience has been spoiled by the continuous revelations/truths that followed one another non-stop in the past.
The plot thus becomes more static, reserving fewer surprises and twists than in the past.
Especially due to Michael's new imprisonment, which reduces his scope of action.
It is a transitional season, after the fireworks of the last episodes of season two, which will nevertheless see the introduction of new characters to the cast: Norman Lechero, drug trafficker and leader of the inmates of Sona, and a mysterious, as well as controversial man named James Whistler, the true focal point around which the main plot will unfold.
If, in a general sense, there will not be major developments in the main plot and the brothers vs. system struggle (that is, the company conspiring against them), there is an interesting exchange of respective roles and prerogatives, with significant psychological changes from Michael's former enemies.
P.B. is also known for the numerous sudden exits of important cast characters, and here this is not disproven, with even more illustrious exits than in the past, including the departure of actress Sarah Wayne Callies, alias Sara Tancredi, the girl of Michael's heart.
From the frying pan to the fire, from victim to perpetrator, the step is short. And freedom is increasingly a distant mirage. This is the dirty, muddy, and unpredictable world portrayed and staged in Prison Break.
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