Breakout Kings

I checked out the first episode of this new A&E series about cops who team up with cons in order to catch recently-escaped criminals. Cool premise for an interesting show, that has a lot of work to do it if wants to be great. But... I liked it.

I downloaded the first episode for free on the iTunes store. I always check the free shows since the often offer pilot episodes at no charge. This one caught my interest because it stars that guy who played Herc on the Wire. I love that guy, and he's basically playing the exact same character here that he did then. He's the same tough yet lovable cop who plays by his own rules. He's good at it, so I'm not complaining. In fact, had he not played a character that was just like Herc from the Wire, I would've been disappointed. That was why I downloaded this show in the first place. So this show gets points for having a central performance by an actor as likable and fun to watch as Domenick Lombardozzi.

The rest of the cast is great too. The real star is some guy named Laz Alonso, whom I've never really seen before, but he was very good and very effective as the series lead. The cast of cons was fun and likable, containing a funny black guy, a super hot white chick, and one of the McPoyle brothers from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They were all likable, even if they were a bit too quirky.

The only real problem with the show is that it made no sense. The premise of having former fugitives help cops track down current fugitives in order to decrease their prison sentences is very clever, but the writers didn't really do enough with it. The prisons didn't really offer that much expertise about breaking out of prison. They all had intellects like Sherlock Holmes, of course, but never gave any insight or discovered clues that wouldn't have been offered by an actual criminal investigator. The show simply failed to establish beyond my suspension of disbelief why this task force needed criminals instead of just really good cops.

But I liked it, because it was very clever, exciting, and well done. She show has a cool cast, good action sequences, and enough in depth procedural details that kept me enthralled the entire episode. I just failed to buy the main premise, and I doubt they'll manage to coast by for more than a season or so. But I liked it enough to check out episode two, if I can watch it online somewhere, that is. I don't get A&E.