Prison Break: Manhunt and Otis

[butterfly]

I have been terribly (wonderfully?) distracted by Prison Break recently. Because! New episodes plus dvds equals giddy joy.

One thing that I really love about Prison Break (Supernatural and Numb3rs take note) is that the brothers hug. More than once. Whenever their high-stress situation warrants, actually. It is the nicest thing in the world. I can kinda understand why the other shows don't -- not all families are huggy and not all brothers are (I practically have to bribe my brother to hug him -- actually, I just tell him that I'm going to hug him and there's nothing he can do about it, and he deals with it but acts very put upon, as brothers tend to do). But it's still really, really nice to see it happen on Prison Break.

The first two episodes of the second season made me very happy. Like many, I was totally surprised at how utterly gorgeous LJ's eyes were in that yellow jumpsuit. His eyes were nothing spectacular before, but yellow brings them out to an astonishing degree.

Oh, poor LJ. I really hope that Michael and Lincoln save him. Soon. Because that kid is pretty much completely innocent and he's being thrown into an adult prison. And he's gorgeous and this is a show that notices when the characters are pretty. I'm really worried for what might happen to him in prison.

I was impressed and surprised when they killed Veronica. This is a government conspiracy that one can really believe in -- the only people who've been able to thwart it are the Scofield/Burrows family and that is largely because of Michael's determination to save his brother no matter what. "If you think I'm leaving here without my brother, you have massively underestimated me." Michael is the unplanned variable, the one that's screwing up all the plans. Everything else... has worked out for the conspiracy, eventually. LJ went for the emotional attack on Kellerman and got captured and Veronica simply wasn't capable of bringing down the conspiracy -- which was a pretty consistent character trait. She's in this for personal reasons and just wasn't good at what needs to be done.

I'm going to do a quick run-down of my feelings on the characters, as they stand right now.

Michael Scofield -- best little brother, ever, yay! I love Michael. He's just... man with a plan, determined to save his brother, focused, and not at all perfect. Broken in a hundred tiny ways. I really do think that he broke in J-Cat, temporarily (because I don't think he'd have tried to map out pipes on a wall in his own blood if he'd been entirely sane -- he wouldn't want other people to see it) and we've seen him get so broken over the prospect of losing Lincoln which is... as it should be. An older brother is... if my brother needed me, I couldn't put a limit on what I'd do for him. I'm not sure where my line would end up being. Also, Michael has been adorable this season, with his disguise and his... just his cuteness.

Lincoln Burrows -- kinda hot, but also... not all that smart. Michael got the brains in the family, they're both right about that. But he really can be very sweet and he loves his son a whole, whole lot, which always makes me get wibbly over a guy (the son thing is what made me finally start to love Angel). But he sucks at planning and should never, ever get to make one. Because he really sucks at it.

LJ Burrows -- Has a bit of Lincoln's knee-jerk reactions to things, but also has some of Michael's brains. I've been really impressed, actually. I hope that his life doesn't continue to suck horribly, because he's had a hell of a time of it recently.

Doctor Sara Tancredi -- I really like Sara. She's clever, is aware of her own faults, and tries to live her morality. "It is possible to believe in something and still fail to live up to it." (Dr. James Wilson, House). I'm really interested in what happens next with Sara.

Fernando Sucre -- Sucre! He's adorable. Not the brightest guy ever, but so incredibly sweet and loyal. I really hope he makes it through the season.

Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell -- I also hope T-Bag survives, though for different reasons. T-Bag stands for the unexpected consequences of a decision as huge as the one that Michael was making. He's the price that Michael chose to pay in order to get his brother out (Abruzzi and Haywire may also be killers, but they aren't as... indiscrimate as T-Bag is). Also, Robert Knepper is a fucking amazing actor and I want him to stay on my screen.

Benjamin "C-Note" Franklin -- I have a lot of sympathy for C-Note, but, like, Sucre and Lincoln, he falls on the "not as bright as he could be" side of the scale. The one thing that I think he really did wrong was not tell his wife the truth. He lied to her and everything that happened to him after that stemmed from that lie (attempting to blow the whistle on the military, on the other hand, was totally the right thing to do -- he should have kept fighting against that once he was out... but I can understand why he might have felt too overwhelmed to keep fighting). If he'd been honest... I think she would have been more sympathetic that he thinks. The military was more in the wrong than he was, and I think she might have understood that, if he'd given her the chance.

I've been trying to think of what characters might be expendable -- whose storyline has played out. Abruzzi could still try to get to Michael. I really want Tweener to have some closure with Bellick (as the man did set Tweener up to be repeatedly raped). Haywire should get caught, I think -- he doesn't have an outside storyline of his own that we know about yet and he could tell Mahone more about Michael's 'path'. Sucre and C-Note could very well get caught if they do go to their respective loved ones.

I really want LJ to spend as little time as possible in prison. Poor, poor kid.

Comments

[annaalamode.livejournal.com]

YAY! Another Prison Break person on my flist.

For me the show is about Michael and is dedication to his brother. I must admit to not being interested in anything beyond that. This story is very much about family and loyalty and Michael hits so many of my buttons as a character. The way he reacts in 1x13 when he can't get to his brother and he's just a little bit broken? I just...I think he is awesome.

I'm not as tolerant of Sara as you are. She just has a tendency to annoy me. The character (besides Michael) that I like the most is Sucre. There is something so incongruous about Sucre as a criminal. Somehow you can see his goodness and his loyalty and his goofiness and it makes an interesting contrast with his criminal ways. I can't wait for the next episode.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Prison Break is a great show.

I definitely agree that the main draw is Michael and his commitment to Lincoln. Michael is... really wonderful. And Sucre is a whole heap of adorable.

I do like Sara quite a bit. Possibly because I understand what it's like to fuck your whole life up. Sara makes sense to me. I don't like her as much as I like some of the other characters, but I probably understand her best out of all of them.

[annaalamode.livejournal.com]

I've fighting this rearguard action to not over-indentify with Sara which is part of the reason that I am so hard on her.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah, I can understand that. I've given up on not over-identifying with characters. Too much work.