Prison Break: A series review
Prison Break: A series review
SPOILER WARNING- Beyond this point could be multiple spoilers, if you haven’t finished or plan to watch the series then do not read this review.
Firstly, I have to give credit to the lead star Wentworth Miller, who did a stellar job leading the show for 5 seasons, and equally to the creator of the show Paul Scheuring. Between the two of them, they managed to maintain a tense and intriguing series across 90 episodes.
It should always be a challenge to make something interesting that stays on the same set across most of the screen time in a season, but authenticity was always going to be just as paramount. The set in the first season was filmed in Chicago where a prison called Joliet Prison had closed down 3 years prior. Shooting in a real prison helped capture the realism they wanted, and also allowed for lots of different settings inside the prison with no worry about inconsistencies in continuity.
While all that was executed well, I’m much more interested in talking about what made the show so spectacular, and that’s the writing. It took me, as it probably took many people who have watched, a good half a season before I started trying to predict twists, I can tell you I fell short from the mark on basically every occasion. The intricacies and planning in the script that was expressed through main character Michael Schofield was stunning. Written into the show all through the seasons were just about as many antagonists as protagonists, and the writing may just have had more close shaves than Wentworth undergone himself, in order to maintain the rugged skinhead look.
In reality there is very little I need say about season one, as a standalone season it may hold the title for the most iconic of all time, it’s pleasing to see it get the credit it deserves.
It took 300+ words but it’s now necessary to shed light on who I believe to be the dark horse of the entire series, and that is Alex Mahone; played by William Fichtner. I can’t say I’ve witnessed better character development in a series since the lead duo of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad, a here’s to many more joining that list. Writing in a protagonist who every bit as adept at what he does as Michael Schofield is was brave from Scheuring. I enjoyed the war between Alex and Michael as much as I enjoyed the premiere season, and that is a high-grade complement.
Mahone then beginning to become likeable for me began from 3 separate scenes:
1. When he showed compassion for C-note’s ill child by pitting a teddy bear under her arm.
2. When he questioned his superior on whether Lincoln Burrows was innocent.
3. When he protected Michael in Sona Prison from the shank.
In perhaps the weakest season in a collection 5 strong ones overall, Mahone along with T-Bag stole the show. Fichtner’s acting throughout the season once his son died, as resigned but vengeful, was sold expertly. My only criticism would be that I thought his small betrayal in season 4 seemed off character but I understood to a degree. A very small criticism.
Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell is the character I would bet a sizable amount to be most peoples’ favourite character, and who could argue. It’s odd how writers can make you want a serial killer, rapist and all-round scumbag to last the show, but hey ho. T-Bag went from terrifying in the first season, to slippery in the second season, to a lapdog in the third season, to a new man in the fourth season and finally a good man in the final season. On the topic of the final season, (big spoilers incoming) August Prew as ‘Whip’ and Bagwell’s son was another favourite, especially so with his instant chemistry with Robbert Knepper (T-Bag). His departure in his father’s arms was certainly one of the most touching of the series.
The shortcomings in my opinion of the series arrive few and far between. I thought Brad Bellick’s character went through a strange rough patch in season 3, and uncharacteristically so. I thought Dominic Purcell’s character fell off a bit after season 3, (big spoiler incoming) perhaps to build up to the reveal about the ‘brothers’ being dissimilar because of the adoption. I thought the transition from street smart to brute was far too noticeable. On the topic of the story over the seasons, at times you could really tell that there was improvising in the creation of new seasons. I think starting from the end of season two, things started to happen to create a vacuum where new problems could come in and be part of new series’. Having said that it was only noticeable, it didn’t ruin anything for me really, and I couldn’t have done a better job of blending it all together.
Prison Break probably appears in my top 3 series’ of all I’ve watched, and I would award it:
8.8/10
