“My god, that’s your natural scent? Woman you smell like cake.” – Lloyd to Erica
It’s been a month — almost a year for us — since the Breakout Kings had a mission. Wait, you don’t know the Breakout Kings? They’re a group of convicted felons who use their expertise to catch other convicted felons, knocking time off of their own sentences in the process — like Tim Allen, but funnier, with transferable skills and more than cocaine at stake.
The trio of cons includes Dr. Lloyd Lowery (Jimmi Simpson), a behaviorist prodigy serving time for selling prescriptions to feed his gambling addiction; Shea Daniels (Malcolm Goodwin), who now uses his street-skills to catch gangs and criminals instead of helping them; and Erica Reed (Serinda Swan), a bodacious bounty hunter serving time for weapons charges because she hid her killed quarry so well.
Keeping the convicts under control are those in the U.S. Marshal’s office, sans Tommy Lee Jones, but with The Wire’s Herc (Domenick Lombardozzi). Dom plays Ray Zancanelli, a Marshal with as much experience in the moral shade as Herc did. He’s accompanied by Jules Simms (Brooke Nevin), an analyst with a history of academic excellence and psychological instability.
Despite all the felons the Kings have helped catch, they must have forgotten to catch the one that got them their most recent month off. Despite excelling in each of their respective fields, everyone gets a little rusty from inaction. Lloyd is particularly unnerved by their newest case, a duo of religiously deranged sociopaths that he dishonored and proceeded to lock up. When the serial killers regroup and start their spree again, they also take up taunting Lloyd.
Amidst all of the criminal developments, the Kings are facing change — potentially good, or potentially bad. Deputy Marshal Charlie Duchamp (Laz Alonso) has headed the taskforce responsible for the Kings since its inception, but he’s offered a promotion and a chance escape danger. He chooses to stay on with the Kings, but it ends up being his final mission.
The serial killers are trailed to a derelict farm by way of their newest victim’s watch, which sends run-times wirelessly to her computer. As Charlie and Ray are the only ones allowed to wield firearms, they lead the charge. A shootout splits up the suspects, but when Charlie catches and kills the one, the other does the same with Charlie, leaving him in a gravel pit as Ray and the Kings catch up, but unfortunately too late.
Charlie’s death is felt by the whole taskforce, but his final decision to stay on with them didn’t make its way up the ladder. His demands — that the taskforce stay together under a reinstated Ray’s direction — gets the rubber stamp. The dynamic will undoubtedly change with Ray in control; he’ll be forced to sacrifice his amicability for his authority, while revenge looms on everyone else’s mind as the second serial killer gets further from capture.
With Sundays always so well-stocked with staple programming, I’m remiss that Breakout Kings slipped through my radar in its freshman season. I’ve caught a bunch of episodes in no particular order, but it’s always proven to be a lot of fun for a procedural plot.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.