#truthbomb
But we still have time for one more summer binge. This week, I talk Fox’s Prison Break.
In 2003, Paul Scheuring pitched the idea to Fox as a 10-part miniseries. Fox passed on the unconventional story, but then amended their decision based on the success of similarly serialized shows like ABC’s Lost and 24. It was purchased with a two-season commitment – more on that later – and premiered in 2005.
The story is simple. One brother is wrongly convicted and sent to death row. Another brother vows to break him out. Here’s what I love about the show.
Michael Scofield
Scofield, played by Wentworth Miller, is the epitome of any romantic lead. He’s a bad boy, who is really a good guy, who also happens to be compassionate and, oh yeah, an engineering genius. The lengths to which this character goes to help his brother, Lincoln, is extraordinary. He risks his career, his life and his sanity solely on his brother’s word – a tough sell since Lincoln was in fact a – reformed! – dead beat dad, low-life, drug user who was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because along Scofield’s route to freedom he builds genuine relationships with his cell mate, Sucre, and his love interest, Dr. Sara Tancredi. Season 1, Episode 19 “The Key” still has one of the best on-screen kisses I’ve ever seen. It’s soooo tortured and breathy.
https://youtu.be/r2cu46uOtpg
The Rest of the Cast
Not to be outdone by Michael, all of the characters on the show were extremely well written. Robert Knepper, who played a sociopathic pedophile with a penchant for comedic timing named T-Bag, and Peter Stormare, who played a Russian mafia boss named Abruzzi, were stand outs, but the whole ensemble was memorable. I now recognize most of these actors only by their Prison Break character names. When Paul Kellerman a.k.a. Paul Adelstein showed up on that Grey’s Anatomy spin-off and I immediately assumed he was still a blood-thirsty Secret Service assassin … that was awkward. I couldn’t get his previous wrong doings out of my head when watching his new character, an adorable pediatrician. In the end that is probably bad for the actors longterm career goals, but it’s a credit to Prison Break‘s writing.
The Plot
The gimmick of the show is this outrageous escape plan. Michael is a structural engineer who just happens to have access to the prison’s blueprints where his brother was incarcerated. Convenient, no? So he studies the plans and tattoos them on his body. Note: I once read that a replica of the tattoo would take 200 hours to complete and $20,000. It sounds ridiculous, but somehow it works.
Drugs to fake diabetes, blackmail information, corroded pipes, fake wives from the Czech republic, Hooke’s Law of Elasticity, acid foam made from toothpaste, phones made of soap… somehow all tattooed on Michael’s beautiful person.
One step of the plan is revealed to the audience per episode, often times via an early narrative between Michael, Lincoln and Sucre, so the kicker is … we know when things are starting to go to hell. Nothing goes perfectly, leaving our hot genius desperate to get things back on track. The whole effect had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails from anxiety, not at the end of every episode but before every freakin’ commercial break!
Sadly, this anxiety fueled story writing really only lasted two seasons. The plot became so convoluted with mass government conspiracies and a second prison break – set in Panama’s Sona prison – that even Wentworth Miller couldn’t keep my eye on the prize. I faded away from the show sometime during season 3 when it originally aired and having binged all four seasons recently on Netflix … my original assessment still holds. The first two seasons of Prison Break are fantastic TV, the subsequent two left much to be desired.
With the network set to air a 10-part “series event” in 2016, we’ll see if they can bring back the magic. I’ll be watching out of loyalty, even if I secretly wish the boys had made it safe and sound to sunny Puerto Vallarta at the end of season 2.
Did you watch Prison Break when it originally aired 10 years ago? Are you still crying in your cereal every morning that Wentworth Miller is officially off the market for us ladies? Or is that just me?
