Prison Break - Season 2
Season 2 consists of a total of 22 episodes and was first aired from August 21, 2006 to April 2, 2007. It directly follows the prison break from the first season. A new major character is introduced, who is FBI Special Agent Alexander Mahone, portrayed by William Fichtner. The first half of the season revolves around the escapees' journey to their family, Westmoreland's money and Michael's plan to escape the country. The second half of the season focuses on the conspiracy plot of the series. The season's plot spans approximately three weeks of the characters' lives.
Prison Break - Season 2
The story continues eight hours after the prison escape from Fox River State Penitentiary, focusing mainly on the escapees.The fugitives journey to locations across America with the authorities close behind them as they each pursue their individual goals. Meanwhile, the conspiracy plot develops as "The Company" continues their plan to locate and eliminate Lincoln Burrows and others who get in their way. Much of the storyline concerning the conspiracy concludes by the season finale.
The second season of Prison Break, an American serial drama television series, commenced airing in the United States on August 21, 2006, on Mondays at 8:00 pm (EST) on Fox. Prison Break is produced by Adelstein-Parouse Productions, in association with Rat Entertainment, Original Film and 20th Century Fox Television. The season contains 22 episodes, and concluded on April 2, 2007. Series creator Paul Scheuring describes the second season as "The Fugitive times eight," and likens it to the "second half of The Great Escape."[1]
Prison Break revolves around two brothers: one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his younger sibling, a genius who devises an elaborate plan to help him escape prison. The brothers, along with six other prisoners at Fox River State Penitentiary, manage to escape, and the second season follows a massive manhunt chasing the group.[2] Dubbed the Fox River Eight, the group splits and members go their individual way, occasionally meeting up to help each other. They struggle to escape from the police while avoiding a secret group of multinationals called The Company, that wants them all dead.
For the season, three characters are downgraded from series regular to recurring status, and a new character is introduced. Filming took place in Dallas, Texas, due to a close proximity of rural and urban settings. For the final three episodes, scenes were filmed in Pensacola, Florida, to represent Panama. Critical reviews of the season were generally positive, with the addition of William Fichtner to the cast receiving much praise. Fox Home Entertainment released the season in Region 1 on September 4, 2007.[3]
Filming began on June 15, 2006, in Dallas, Texas due to a close proximity of rural and urban settings.[26] Executive producer Matt Olmstead stated that the filming location was changed from Chicago in the first season to Dallas in the second season because the characters were on the run. Many locations were needed to represent various American towns, which Dallas provided, whereas locations within Chicago took several hours to travel between. Olmstead noted, "It really came down to a financial thing."[27] Other locations that were considered for filming were New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana. Dallas was chosen because of its "resourcefulness, cost effectiveness and variety with regard to activities available for the crew", which was considered to be a major component for the final decision.[1] Filming took place in Dallas for nine to ten months, where 20 of the 22 episodes were shot. The series was expected to bring $50 million into the city of Dallas.[1] For the final three episodes of the second season, filming took place in Pensacola, Florida to represent Panama.[28] Filming for each episode took place over eight days, which contributed approximately $1.4 million to the local economy.[29]
Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press commended the premiere for delivering "rocking good entertainment," and living up to the standard set by the first season. Duffy praised the "motley crew of cellblock characters" and the "taut, ingenious storytelling of series creator Paul T. Scheuring and his staff."[30] Robert Bianco of USA Today commented on the "harebrained absurdities that have swamped this show", and accused the writers of being "incredibly lazy" for the continuous use of the tattoo as an "all-purpose plot fix".[31] Ahsan Haque and Christopher Monfette of IGN credited the creators for not being afraid to take risks, which they felt "paid off for the most part". The reviewers found the biggest success factors to be "the constant swerves and twists" throughout the season, and "the development of the hero-villain relationship between Scofield and Mahone".[32]
The addition of Mahone was well received by critics, who often referred to him as Michael's nemesis.[33][34] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found Mahone to be "a far more worthy adversary for Michael than prison guard Brad Bellick... who's still after the convicts but seems like a cartoon compared to the Inspector Javert-like Mahone."[35] Brian Zoromski from IGN believes that the "strongest portions of 'Manhunt' deal with the introduction of a new character, an FBI Agent named Alexander Mahone, played by the great character actor William Fichtner."[36] Digital Spy's Ben Rawson-Jones praised the "wonderful" Fichtner, claiming he "quickly became more appealing than the brooding hero himself".[33] Robert Bianco of USA Today said that Fichtner was a welcome addition to the cast,[31] and Andy Dehnart from MSNBC called Mahone the best new character of the second season.[37]
It starred Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Robin Tunney, Peter Stormare, and Amaury Nolasco and told the story (multiple times) of a pair of brothers attempting to break out of a high-security prison.
In season 1, Sara looked the other way when it came to Michael's antics, even though she knew he was planning a prison break, and season 2 saw her completely desensitized to crime. And whether the show was so entertaining because Prison Break is a modern Homer's Odyssey or simply because of the thrilling escapes, Michael and Sara's will-they, won't-they relationship had huge appeal. As Sara was easily the most likable character on the show, her off-screen death caused a huge upset, and it didn't help that it was reportedly due to tension between Callies and the producers.
The show was leading to a happily-ever-after ending where Michael and Sara settle down together and put their sordid history behind them. However, that all ended when Sara was suddenly killed off-screen, which is revealed when Lincoln Burrows finds her head in a box in season 3, episode 4, "Good Fences." According to producer Matt Olmstead, it wasn't always the plan for Sara to die, but the network rejected the original pitch for season 3 (via TV Guide). In order to "really jolt the series", the next idea was for Sara to be killed off.
Prison Break's plans have changed many times over its run, as it was originally planned to be a limited miniseries, so it's hardly surprising that Sara's death was a result of Fox not being happy with a previous pitch. However, just because the producers had settled on the decision to kill Sara doesn't mean they didn't want Callies to return. Olmstead explained that they initially asked Callies to be in a handful of episodes instead of a full season. Callies was contracted to return, but only if it was for the entire 22 episodes, which meant that the producers and Callies would have to renegotiate.
Following the negative reception of Sara's absence in season 3, the producers realized that it'd be easy to bring her back because her death was off-screen. Callies never said much about being killed off the show or about the negotiations other than that she was "shocked," but luckily enough, neither the producers nor the actors burned their bridges. Olmstead put it best himself, noting, "She's a very smart lady, and we're all adults here. It was never personal. It was a business and creative decision, and we're absolutely moving on." (via TV Guide). And Callies was back as a main character in season 4.
Prison Break characters coming back from the dead became a common occurrence in the show. And in season 4, Sara returned with her head fully attached to her body. While the season 3 pitch saw the producers succumbing to pressure from the studio, season 4's approach ended up being the opposite, as it was reactionary and based on the negative reception from the audience. But while some suspension of disbelief is required, it was fairly easy to bring Sara back, as Lincoln never inspected Sara's "head" when he found it in the box in season 3.
Lincoln simply assumed the head was Sara because both the head and Sara shared the same hair color. The death was retconned when Gretchen, who supposedly killed Sara, explained to Michael that Sara escaped. Gretchen lied about killing Sara so she could keep leverage over Michael. Since the actual escape in Prison Break season 1, the show had gotten increasingly confusing. However, it was worth it, as bringing back Callies was the best decision the producers made. Ironically, it's lucky that Callies didn't return for season 3, because if the character had an on-screen death scene, it would have been impossible to bring her back.
The series has had two definitive endings, and the first would have been completely different if Callies never came back. Her return in Prison Break season 4 worked out great outside of a few timeline continuity errors. A major story arc in season 4 is all about the mystery of what actually happened to her and what she was doing during the season 3 timeline. She's even the lead character in the TV movie, Prison Break: The Final Break, which sees Sara performing a prison break of her own, and it fills in the gaps of season 4. 041b061a72