The post Breakout Kings Renewed for Season 2 appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>The A&E drama, which earned record network ratings for its March premiere, will enter production again later this year and likely air its second season in the spring of 2012.
The drama features Laz Alonso and Domenick Lombardozzi as U.S. Marshals that work with former fugitives to form a unique task force that brings down escaped cons. Malcolm Goodwin, Jimmi Simpson and Serinda Swan also star.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Season Finale Review: “Where In The World Is Carmen Vega” appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>Vega started off as the grieving mother, but we quickly learned that not only did she use her son’s funeral to escape, she’s the one who ordered the hit. That won’t exactly win her mother of the year, but does make her worthy of running a Columbian drug cartel.
Shea waited an awfully long time before he told Charlie and Ray that Vega had his girlfriend Vanessa. He seemed to figure out early on that his contacts weren’t going to be able to help him. If capturing Carmen was his end game, why not enlist Charlie and Ray’s help?
Instead, he confided in his fellow cons and the fear just ran rampant. Erica was scared for her daughter’s safety and considered running, while poor Lloyd was terrified of the thought of being bounced back to maximum security.
The death of Carmen’s mole felt a little contrived. It would have had more impact if it was a character we’d already met before this episode. His words to Charlie were disconcerting. “It’s easy to justify Charlie because it happens slow. Bit by bit.” Could this be foreshadowing for next season?
There wasn’t as much humor or one-liners in this episode as we’ve seen in others, but I loved when they called out The Mayor for dropping the name Jose Rodriguez. “You throw a rock in Queens you’re going to hit a Jose Rodriguez,” Charlie quipped. He wasn’t kidding. I wondered if the 102,093 Jose Rodriguezes that Julianne found in the city was an accurate number? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
It was nice to see the cons confiding in one another a little more, even if it was based in fear. I could really feel Erica’s terror over her daughter being in danger and how trapped Lloyd must have felt being caught in the middle. However, my favorite was Julianne. For a character with such perceived weakness, she certainly found her inner strength when it counted.
The end scene with the team bonding over beers was perfect. Nerves were frayed but this team held it together, though just barely.
I’ve really enjoyed this season of Breakout Kings. It’s given us well-drawn characters, witty dialogue, and plenty of action. I have my fingers crossed for a season two.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Review: The Hits Keep Coming appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>“There Are Rules” started off with a group of cons who didn’t go over the wall – they went through it. The tractor-trailer that barreled that lent them an escaping hand was messy but effective.
The driver was shot and killed at the scene and the prison guard they took hostage took two bullets to the head off screen. What struck me about that was that the guard had begged for his life, telling them he had a four-year old waiting for him at home. It didn’t matter.
The home invasion was just brutal. I gasped when Chester slammed the resident in the head with a sledge hammer. The poor man suffered for quite some time before he died. There was no purpose to the killing. It was simply savage and showed that these cons were capable of anything.
The next con running into traffic and getting hit by a bus seemed almost tame in comparison.
Charlie was sure willing to play fast and loose with Shea’s life. Did he want to see Shea’s dead body to prove that he was in danger? Shea certainly proved to be a survivor. He may not be the biggest guy, but he makes up for it with sheer tenacity and will.
Meanwhile, the sleeping arrangements were hysterical. Erica complained about her tight underwear as Ray tried to ignore her attempts to get his attention.
How about Charlie and Lloyd sharing a bed? When Lloyd got his revenge by sleeping “unencumbered,” I laughed out loud at Charlie’s reaction. If I were Charlie I think I’d sleep on the floor, or at least order Lloyd to do so.
With the new Director breathing down Charlie’s neck for results, following the rules quickly turned into do whatever you’ve got to do. For Ray, that translated into shoving a lit lighter up a man’s nose. I’d guess that that clears out the sinuses.
I’m sure the everyone earned a newfound respect for Charlie as they overheard him standing up for his team, even willing to get bounced back down to desk duty.
Parts of “There Are Rules” were harsh but it drove home the point that anything can happen on this show. It made me wonder when one of our Breakout Kings team might find themselves on the wrong end of the violence.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Season 1 Episode 13 Recap: Where In The World Is Carmen Vega appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>-Vega is setting up her younger son, Cesar to take over her drug cartel.
-Shea finds a link to Carmen in a man known as the Mayor. He points them to Cesar’s father, Jose. Carmen kills Jose before they can get to him.
-The Mayor and two Marshals are shot and killed. Turns out Carmen has an inside man in the Marshals service who kills himself once he’s caught.
-Erica panics and thinks her daughter may be the next target. She considers running and tries to convince Lloyd to go with her.
-With the lead from some text messages, the team captures Carmen but she won’t give up Vanessa, even to help Cesar. Cesar hears her betrayal and turns on her.
-Julianne pleads with Erica and Lloyd not to run. Ray and Charlie place their families into protective custody. Charlie brings Vanessa back to Shea. Carmen is sentenced to a supermax prison in Colorado. The team shares some beers and enjoys their success.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Season 1 Episode 12 Recap: There Are Rules appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>-When the team finds a barn where the cons changed clothes they realize their was suppose to be a sixth man. Shea goes undercover in Attica to find out who that was.
-The team tracks and captures the cons one by one as the trail leads them further south. Barnes and Chester Rhodes are the only two left.
-Barnes and Rhodes commit a home invasion where they kill one of the residents before tearing open the floor to find Barnes’ stash. Barnes then kills Chester.
-Shea learns that Barnes was planning to flee by boat, not by plane as suspected.
-Lloyd realizes that Barnes is sending them on a wild goose chase. He intended the others to get caught to throw the Marshals off his trail.
-Barnes takes Lloyd hostage and tries to buy off Ray and Charlie in order to make his escape. When Barnes lowers his gun Ray shoots him with a flare gun from the boat.
-The new Director threatens to cut one of the team members, specifically Ray and put Charlie back on a desk if he doesn’t comply. Charlie tells him to get his desk ready because he won’t turn his back on one of his team.
-The Director backs down but tells Charlie if anything goes wrong, it’s on him. The entire team eaves drops on their conversation.
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A violent schizophrenic with the skills of an outdoor survivalist and a history of ritualistic killing, escapes and kidnaps his latest obsession.
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]]>Poor Debbie. One minute the woman was planning her wedding and the next some psycho was throwing a bag over her head and dragging her through the woods.
However, I do wish she would have grabbed the knife off of the front seat of the car before she screamed for the park ranger. The guy might have had a chance.
Bennett was one of the scariest escapees so far. Perhaps it’s because he was truly psychotic. Hearing voices, talking to people who weren’t there, then smiling eerily as Debbie sang her children’s song and looking so lost when she didn’t know his name. She was his obsession and she never had a clue.
Erica looked truly terrified as Bennett held that huge machete to her throat. He would have slit her from ear to ear if Charlie hadn’t put a bullet in his head.
It took me a little while to figure out what Erica’s flashbacks were about. Now that the men who killed her father were all dead, it looked like her conscience may finally have kicked in. We’ll have to see if that has further consequences for her.
How would Charlie feel if he knew what Julianne and Shea pulled on that attorney? I know he ordered them to get results, but how far did he expect them to go. Shea’s tactics certainly pushed passed the boundaries of the law, but what do you expect when you threaten a convict to get a lead?
Elsewhere, Ray played Sinatra in the car the whole ride up. Totally in his character, making Shea absolutely crazy. Very funny.
I didn’t really care about the return of Gunderson. I didn’t like the character in the pilot and was glad to see him gone. I didn’t doubt that if he had the opportunity to take out Charlie in the woods, he probably would have taken it.
At the end, I was pleased that Charlie came clean about the watch. Lying, as Ray had encouraged, just seemed out of character for Charlie. His admission wasn’t an apology, but for me it was enough.
If Breakout Kings keeps getting better, then I can’t wait to see what the next episode brings.
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A violent schizophrenic with the skills of an outdoor survivalist and a history of ritualistic killing, escapes and kidnaps his latest obsession.
The post Breakout Kings Season 1 Episode 11 Recap: Off The Beaten Path appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>-Bennett kidnaps Debbie, the host of a television show, drags her through the Adirondacks and kills a park ranger. He plans to marry her in the woods, then rape and kill her.
-Lloyd pinpoints an area in the woods from Bennett’s diary. While Ray is caught in an animal trap, Erica sets Debbie loose but is then captured by Bennett.
-Bennett is about to slit Erica’s throat when Charlie shoots him.
-Erica has flashbacks of killing one of the men responsible for her father’s death while in the same woods.
-Charlie accuses the cons of stealing his watch. Later, Ray finds the watch in the bathroom where Charlie left it but tells him not to tell the cons as he will lose credibility. Charlie tells them anyway.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Review: “Paid in Full” appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>“Paid in Full” gave us one of the most chilling escapees since T-Bag.
Virgil Downing was a a man of few words. A very scary man. Like any hitman, he performed his job with cold, steady dedication. But having bad information and then killing the wrong man shook him, if only that it showed a lack of professionalism.
Everyone who knew about Virgil Downing was most upset not by the amount of people he’d murdered but that he once took a job to kill a dog. In this jaded world of cops and cons, killing the dog was what got their attention.
The episode started off with Shea learning that Ray was no longer a Marshal. I’d say that with Shea’s paranoia, he was the most dangerous con to have that information and he couldn’t let it go.
He eventually confronted Ray, who had no choice but to come clean but not without immediately going on the defensive.
As Erica called him out for looking down his nose at them when he’s just another con himself, Ray quickly countered by rehashing all of their crimes. Ray seemed to feel that because he stole the money for his daughter, it somehow elevated him from the rest of the group. Honestly, I didn’t agree. I’ve always thought that stealing the money to buy his daughter a car was just plain dumb but his circumstances have given him power over the team just the same.
The second revelation of the night was when Ray divulged Lloyd’s crime. He sold prescriptions to pay off his gambling debts and an 18 year old girl committed suicide using his pills. Lloyd got 25 years for his crime.
I was impressed that Lloyd took responsibility for his actions and looked utterly ashamed when it was revealed. For all of Lloyd’s weaknesses and flaws, I considered his admission a moment of substance.
And finally, Charlie told everyone about his congenital heart defect, thus proving that every member needs this team to work. Everyone here wants a do over, albeit for different reasons.
A frightening killer, a compelling story, and lots of character background made this one of the best Breakout Kings of the season.
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A notorious contract killer escape prison to finish up some unfinished business. Rays' status with the U.S. Marshals is revealed.
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]]>-The team suspects Genevieve’s father, a prison guard of arranging the breakout but he denies it. Genevieve is arrested for hiring Virgil as leverage against her father.
-Genevieve believes Virgil is going to kill her ex-boyfriend Justin who abandoned her the night she was attacked. The team captures Virgil before he can kill Justin.
-Shea overhears that Ray isn’t a US Marshall. He confronts Ray and Ray admits his crime.
-Lloyd was convicted of selling prescriptions to pay his gambling debts. An 18 year old girl committed suicide by overdosing on his pills.
-Charlie reminds the team that they need to get over each other’s baggage to reap the benefits of their current arrangement. Then he admits he has a congenital heart defect which could be fatal.
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]]>The post Breakout Kings Review: Hot, Bothered, & Reckless appeared first on TV Fanatic.
]]>Andre Brennan inspired a lot of speculation about why he was such a successful ladies man. Was it his looks, his money, his confidence, or as Erica pondered, his physical endowment? The conversation had all three of our cons focusing on their isolation form the opposite sex.
Shea went so far as to ask Charlie for some alone time with his girlfriend. Charlie was having none of it. Shea was promised time off his sentence and nothing else. But Shea wasn’t taking no for an answer and he got creative.
When Julianne caught him coming out of the elevator with his fly down, she knew exactly what happened but she kept her mouth shut. Then in a show of new found courage, Julianne confronted Shea.
She won’t turn him in but she won’t risk herself either. Turns out after getting booted from the academy, Julianne didn’t leave the house for three years. That is until Ray came along and offered her this job. She won’t risk what she’s gained to cover for Shea.
Did Ray even realize that Erica was propositioning him? Was he too wrapped up in the chase to even notice or does Erica being a con take her completely off his radar? I just don’t get the appeal there, well except for the fact that she’s been in prison for a long time.
The talk of conjugal visits affected Lloyd as well. He couldn’t seem to put down Kate’s negligee. The sniffing was a bit much though. Later he practically made love to those cigars he was examining. Of course Charlie was quick to slap his hand when he attempted to steal one.
At least Lloyd only tried to steal a cigar. Shea actually stole a diamond. And I thought the elevator stint was reckless. One visit with his girlfriend and suddenly he loses sight of the bigger picture.
I can’t imagine that foolish act won’t come back to bite him. It’s just a matter of time. Charlie and Ray are not the forgiving types. Will this mean our Breakout Kings will be broken up? I hope not but I suppose anything is possible. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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