Breakout Kings: Season 2 Premiere

Procedurals are always good for dozing off to, or losing yourself in a predictable mystery so you can shut your brain off for a bit and get a little adventure in. And after the first season or two you start to feel for the characters, so there’s that added good-time feeling of familiarity and friendship. Perhaps all the procedurals on the air right now amount to this century’s pulp fiction. Instead of men on the run and femme fatales, you get acronyms for titles and dedication to a by-the-book mentality.

Breakout Kings is a decent choice if you have exhausted your go-to procedural drama cache. I started watching this show a few months ago as I had already watched all of my usual options. It’s got an interesting premise: incarcerated cons (those that had been hardest to capture) are brought on to a special task force run by U.S. Marshals in order to expedite the capture of other cons who have broken out of jail. For every escapee these cons help catch, they get a month off their sentences. This is pretty cool. Most procedurals are all about the cop/criminal conflict; but Breakout Kings internalizes the conflict that is usually only an external force in procedural narrative, and places it within the main protagonists. Then that typical external conflict is superimposed on top of these character conflicts. Obviously, with this much flaw and conflict, the stories are going to be decent.

Breakout Kings does have flaws in that there is some hyper masculinity written into some of the characters and it comes off as cliché and boring. Also, there is the “angry, closed-off woman” character; and while she has good reason for being angry and closed-off, the character feels stale and cliché as well.

The show follows the enjoyable practice of establishing a motley crew. You’ve got Charlie Duchamp (Laz Alonso) the desk jockey Marshal with a heart problem who will do anything to get back out in the field, Ray Zancanelli (Domenick Lombardozzi) the expert convict-catcher who has been kicked out of the Marshals for a well-intentioned-yet-stupid petty theft, Julianne Simms (Brooke Nevin), the computer specialist with a whole host of phobias that prevents her from succeeding in a normal work environment. Then there are the cons—Shea Daniels (Malcom Goodwin), a top dog and dealmaker in his prison who just wants to get home to his girl, Erica Reed (Serinda Swan), an angry and violent tracker who wants desperately to be a part of her daughter’s life, and Lloyd Lowery (Jimmi Simpson), a former child prodigy and genius psychiatrist professor who gambles compulsively and has serious mommy issues. He misses his mother and the comforts of free living, but he also just enjoys working the cases so that he can stretch his clinical psychiatry muscles.

The best thing about this show is Lloyd Lowery, but I’ve always had a massive soft spot for damaged geniuses. I also enjoy the father/daughter dynamic in Ray Zancanelli’s plot arc, which should definitely be featured more. Additionally, Julianne Simms is a complex character and I like how the writers are taking it slow with her. I look forward to the continuing saga of Lloyd’s crush on Julianne. So far the awkwardness and compassion stemming from this sub-plot has been subtle and pleasant.

I suppose the main reason I am summarizing the series here instead of discussing the Season 2 premiere is that this premiere really was just another episode. There were a couple of differences that ramped things up and made it more intense, but it felt the same as all the other episodes for the most part.

**SPOILERS**

It is clear from this premiere that the Lloyd/Julianne relationship will deepen in this season. Also, there’s a dangerous con who wasn’t found, so he’ll be back with a vengeance; the writers have set him up as a nemesis for Lloyd so those future episodes are bound to be scintillating.

Now, despite the general decency of this new season premiere, a lot of time was spent on an annoying premise that should have been avoided. There was the attempt by the writers to worry the audience into thinking that the Breakout Kings might be disbanded because Charlie Duchamp was offered a promotion. This was a stupid thing. It’s the first episode of a new season. Anyone watching will realize that this plot point is a red herring, as the network has 12+ additional episodes to fill. Of course the Breakout Kings won’t be disbanded, because then there’d be nothing to show but dead air. This would have been more effective in a season finale episode.

And I will just vaguely mention that one of the show runners really likes axing characters at the start of new seasons. It happened without decent explanation last season when one of the original cons from the pilot episode was absent and then explained away with a sentence. I was willing to overlook this because sometimes schedule conflicts and casting issues happen. But again with this new season, an integral character is axed and it comes from out of nowhere. I must admit that the way in which the axing was written added beneficial dramatic tension, but it still seemed sudden, unnecessary, and strange. Then again, this character removal may actually address some of the flaws I had mentioned earlier, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

**END OF SPOILERS**

Breakout Kings is a decent show that I anticipate will continue to become more watchable as the character development progresses. It is certain that these characters’ adventures (especially Lloyd’s) will bemuse the masses that choose to tune in. I, for one, appreciate the light yet rough style that this show brings: Oz meets NCIS. Well done.