was also an inducement for Fichtner, who previously had to leave his family for filming. When Olmstead asked Fichtner to return for the fourth season, his only request was to make it challenging by making his character's journey difficult. Fichtner believes that in Mahone's journey, "All of a sudden the blinders went up... And little by little, he's trying to make his way back." He thinks that his character's journey should end with "something really out of the blue": "What if he totally loses it?" Reception Mahone is often referred to by critics as Michael's nemesis. 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." Jeff Comings of the Arizona Daily Star comments that "William Fichtner is going to be the best actor on any show this season. He's brooding, sexy, enigmatic and a little scary as the FBI man waiting for the clan to cross state lines and make this a federal case. Add in the reliance on those pills he's hiding in that pen and I think I smell Emmy!" Brian Zoromski of 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." Digital Spy's Ben Rawson-Jones praised the "wonderful" Fichtner, claiming he "quickly became more appealing than the brooding hero himself," however, he did not enjoy Mahone's storyline in the third season. Rawson-Jones felt that Mahone had turned into a "gibbering, sweating wreck most of the time", with only "occasional glimpses" of his brilliance. Robert Bianco of USA Today said that although Fichtner was a welcome addition to the cast, he could not compensate for the "harebrained absurdities that have swamped this show." Dehnart called Mahone the best new character of the second season, but remarked that his ability to move from various locations in a short amount of time made him seem to possess "the power of super fast transportation." References Prison Break characters Fictional United States Army personnel Police misconduct in fiction Fictional Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel Fictional murderers Fictional characters from Michigan Fictional characters from Detroit Television characters introduced in 2006 Fictional prison escapees Fictional vigilantes Fictional drug addicts Fictional prisoners and detainees in