Robert Knepper

Robert Knepper, where have you been all my life? Like I mentioned in my William Fichtner blog, I recently watched the entire series of Prison Break....and Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell has to be one of the most outstanding and ridiculous characters ever.

He is, literally, an inbred hick. Not only that, he is also a murdered and a rapist and loses a hand in season two and calls out hero, Michael Scofield, "Pretty" like it's his name. Hehehehe....just thinking about all these elements of the character makes me giggle. Sure, T-Bag is horrible, and like any good prison instigator, he is the main reason the riot started mid-way through season one. Ah, prison life, if it were anything like it is on TV, well...it would still be pretty horrible. But how entertaining!

Now, aside from all of T-Bag's cartoonish villiany he could still be pretty scary. And, I credit this to Robert Knepper. He did have the Foghorn Leghorn (thank you, Ryan) accent, and yes, the weird little tongue flicker thing whenever he saw something he...liked. But, it was so consistent! You'd think by the end of season four a man from Ohio would either be sick of doing an exaggerated Southern accent and just forget the whole thing (see: Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood") or it would have become so over-the-top it would make you eyes roll, but not so much. Sure he pronounced "Miami" like "My-Ammy" and never did give up on the nicknames, but it never felt disingenuous (side note: that is the second time I used that word tonight, I used it earlier in an e-mail to a former co-worker about our old boss....funny.) He was consistent with T-Bag's twisty mustached-ness (T-Bag actually never had a mustache, Oh, wait, he did briefly) and he was downright scary sometimes. Now, if you have the ability to go from Snidely Whiplash to Patrick Bateman within a short span of time, that's talent.

Again, like all our favorite villains T-Bag, yes, even The Bag, had that small, very small, shimmer of good in him, and a delightfully tragic back story to explain away his horribleness.

Now, Knepper is keeping company on the once great Heroes as the new baddie. No more Southern accent, now it's all Carnies and eyeliner (fun fact: he was also on Carnivale!)

On film, Robert Knepper is doing what all great character actors do, making big-budget crap slightly more watchable. " The Transporter 3", huh? You could get one more storyline out of Jason Statham's furrowed brow?

Not only does Robert Knepper earn a place in my heart for his portrayal of T-Bag, but the man was on Star Trek: The Next Generation, for pete's sake. As a love interest for Deanna Troi! OMG! AND, not one, but two Law and Order appearances, one was Criminal Intent.

And the way Clancy Brown kept me tuning in to Carnivale, Robert Knepper will keep me tuning into Heroes. Him and Zachary Quinto, of course.