TV Guilty Pleasures # 13: 'Prison Break'

With a title like “Prison Break,“ you can’t help but wonder about the longevity of the series. Assuming they break out of prison at the end of the first season, what then? It’s called “Prison Break,” not “I’m Out of Jail and Obeying All Laws as to Stay Out of the Radar of Law Enforcement.” Or even if they prolonged the break out for several seasons, it won’t take long for audiences to get antsy waiting for this big moment. Fox had the same reservations when the show was initially pitched to them in 2003, but experienced a change in heart later when they decided to pick up the show and give it a chance. Surprisingly, they squeezed four seasons out of this short-term concept, and the incarceration drama grew to find an audience as well as numerous award nominations.

The initially simplistic premise slowly builds towards a maze of lies, betrayals, and other dramatic complications. Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) sits on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. His brother, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), attempts a bank robbery in the hopes of getting caught and thrown in the same prison as his brother (boy it’s a good thing they didn’t put him in a different prison). However, he isn’t looking for a family reunion before Lincoln bites the lethal bullet- he’s looking to bust out of the joint with big bro in tow.

The first season is legitimately good- not guilty good. Well, there are a few over the top moments that take some chewing before you can digest them, like the ease with which Mikey and the gang overcome many of the hurdles in their way. But what television show doesn’t have that occasionally? Some of the best parts of the first season come from watching Scofield work the prison politics in order to set up an escape. He’s a smarty pants architect who designed an intricate tattoo of the prison blueprints (which he had tattooed on himself) so that there’d be no question on how to get out. Once in prison, he starts the shmoozing, begins forming alliances with the right people, and making enemies with the wrong people, paving the way to intrigue, violence, and surprises.

“Prison Break” is reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption, with Scofield subjected to frequent beatings and bullying. He even witnesses a couple of murders- something no architect should have to endure- and his own life is always at risk of being taken with the slightest misstep from him, as is his… innocence, so to speak. He even endures medical treatment for a disease he doesn’t actually have as part of his escape plan, all to help his condemned brother escape death. So, can I get a clone of this guy? His willingness to go through all this crap and his ability to come up with a plan on the fly make him one hot tamale.

The subsequent seasons fall more and more into the guilty pleasure category. Things start getting overly complicated and eventually it doesn’t even feel like the same show as season 1. What began as a prison drama focused on the brothers transformed into to a typical action drama with more focus shifting to supporting characters and their web of lies. However, you can’t help but want to watch what happens to these characters. It’s too much fun to see what ridiculous predicament they’ll be in next and what convenient, outlandish way they get out of said predicament.

One thing “Prison Break” has no trouble accomplishing is presenting memorable characters. Aside from Scofield being a compelling genius himself, he’s forced to form alliances with different inmates for one reason or another, bringing in some very questionable people from the get-go. One of the most unforgettable inmates would be T-Bag (Robert Knepper). He’s the leader of the white supremacist group inside the prison. He’s creepy, nasty, and has not a single moral thread in his body. He preys on the noobies sexually and murders anyone who gets on his nerves. The saying “keep your enemies closer” definitely applies to T-Bag. Scofield is forced to team up with him lest he ruin his escape plan, but this is especially difficult given how much T-Bag likes to revel in being an evil D-Bag. It’s not like he’s crazy and doesn’t realize it. In one episode he says, “I am the last in the line of Bagwells- the tail end of the corrupted breed. The Earth, thank God, shall see no more of our generations.” He’s such a bad dude that even he is thankful there’ll be no more of his cursed family blighting the earth.

“The Walking Dead” fans will be tickled to see the same actress who plays the insufferable Lori, Sarah Wayne Callies. She fares a little better in “Prison Break’s” prison than she does in ‘TWD,’ though. Here she’s clean, she gets to change clothes and she gets to actually leave the prison. Filming ‘TWD’ probably made Callies long for the comparative paradise of filming “Prison Break.” Her character, Sara, doesn’t seem like she’ll be around for long, but she surprises everyone by going the whole nine yards. She grows a lot over the course of the show. And though she starts off a bit dry, by the end she’s caught up in just as much of a convoluted mess as everyone else.

There are four intense seasons of “Prison Break” and a made-for-TV movie that was cobbled together from two extra episodes. The film, The Final Break, reflects season one more, getting back to the prison drama and the all-consuming need to escape. All in all, season one is a great drama, and the rest of the seasons are a great guilty pleasure.