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In a nutshell: A great show jumps the shark.
The first season of Prison Break told a tense, engrossing, and well
written story of a man who purposefully has himself incarcerated in a maximum
security prison in order to escape with his brother who is on death row.
A top-rated and critically acclaimed show, the writers did something gutsy
with the second season: they totally changed the program. The second year
had different objectives and cast members but the constant twists and turns
kept viewers hooked. The last ten minutes of season two, however, were trite,
contrived, and didn't make any sense, but after an entertaining season most
viewers were able to over look that. Unfortunately those closing shots were
an omen of things to come. The third season is basically a rehash of season one, except without the tension,
drama, or well written scripts. A perfect example of a show that has overstayed
its welcome, Prison Break Season Three is a big disappointment.
Warning: This review talks contains major spoilers for seasons one
and two. If you haven't seen those yet, skip down to the technical section.
Series recap:
Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is an engineer who is pretty much
alone in the world. Both of his parents are dead, and his only brother, Lincoln
Burrows (Dominic Purcell), is a no good low-life who's on death row for killing
the vice-president's brother. When Michael talks to his estranged brother
in jail however, Lincoln convinces him that he is innocent, the video tape
showing the murder be damned.
Scofield realizes that whoever set his brother up, a group eventually identified
as The Company, is too powerful to fight directly, so he comes up with a
plan. He makes extensive preparations, including getting a full body tattoo,
and then robs a bank. He's caught naturally; he doesn't even try to get away
and is sent to the same institution as his brother. Scofield's plan is to
break out of the prison with his brother before his execution, and the main
asset he has are a complete set of the prison's blueprints, hidden in the
tattoos that cover his skin.
After many twists and turns, Scofield, his brother, his cellmate Fernando
Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), murderer and pedophile Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell (Robert
Knepper), and four other convicts manage to escape from Fox River Penitentiary.
The second season shows them on the run. Through a deathbed confession, the
group learns the location of five million dollars in cash that has been hidden
for years. Evading the police, a prison guard who wants the reward money,
Brad Bellick (Wade Williams), and a crooked FBI agent, Alexander Mahone (William
Fichtner), who is in the employ of the same people who set up Lincoln in
the first place, they group goes their separate ways, travels the country
and some of them eventually end up in Panama with the money. Others end up
dead.
The second season wraps up the story that started the show quite nicely.
Lincoln is exonerated, Scofield and his girlfriend Sarah are together, and
the trio has nearly $5 million in cash and a boat with which to start a new
life. Then in the closing minutes of the last episode from season two, the
police swoop down on Michael and arrest him for a murder he not only didn't
commit, but one where there is no body or witnesses. Without a trial he's
thrown into Sona, a prison so horrible even the guards are afraid to enter.
Season Three:
As luck would have it, three other major characters from earlier seasons
end up in Sona with Scofield: T-Bag, Mahone, and Bellick. Michael soon learns
from his brother (who is free and on the outside) that The Company arranged
for him to be sent there. Somewhere inside Sona is a prisoner, James Whistler
(Chris Vance), and for unspecified reasons they need him out within a week.
Scofield has to find Whistler and remove him from the jail in that time his
girlfriend Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Link's son will both be killed.
The only contact Lincoln and Scofield have with The Company is a cold young
woman named Susan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) who as bright as she is ruthless.
There's a lot wrong with this season of the show, not the least of which
is that it's basically the first season done again in a different setting.
Sona is supposed to be a horrible place, but in many ways it's much more
civilized than Fox River. In Sona there are no rapes and violence between
the inmates is limited to sanctioned challenges. Granted these fights are
to the death, but no one has their toes or hands cut off or commits suicide
because of the horrid conditions as occurred in season one. There is a well
defined hierarchy, and as long as people stay in their place, they seem to
do fine. So the "worst prison in the world" label doesn't fit at all.
The writers also forgot that Michael hasn't studied this prison at all, though
he seems to know the most trivial information including where a blockage
in the water system is (and how to fit it without the use of any tools, and
where underground wires are buried. For the most part he seems to have free
reign of the prison, with everything he needs conveniently available, for
a price.
This season is also missing the strong points of the first two seasons: the
unexpected twists and a good villain. While there are roadblocks set in Michael's
way, they are not nearly as surprising or well thought out as had been previously
done. Every time something goes wrong, another unexpected opportunity crops
up. Most of these are terribly unbelievable such as a partially dug tunnel
that one inmate turns up. There really weren't any surprises in this season.
In season two, sympathetic characters were killed left and right, which really
kept viewers on the edge of there seats. In this season nothing so dramatic
or unexpected happens.
The other thing that really makes this season weak is the poor choice of
villains. As where Bellick and Mahone were cruel and vile, Susan, played
by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, seems like a puppy dog. She has very little screen presence
and her constant pleas of "I'm really on your side" takes away from what
little villainy she possessed. Never terrifying or even intimidating, it's
a wonder that Link didn't just kill her. (He kills her officers with no real
consequences after all.)
The characters, so carefully explored in the first two seasons change their
personalities at will for no reason in this season too. Sucre, who only had
a few months to go on his sentence but escaped to be with his pregnant girlfriend,
decides that he doesn't need to be with her after all and stays in Panama
to help Link. Except when he realizes that he needs to send her money, then
he takes off, only to come back again since he and Link are such good buddies
apparently. Mahone turns into a babbling fool, and Bellick, who was shown
to be a coward but wily in season two, turns out to be a sniveling fool in
this set of shows. Oh yeah and Lincoln holds back information from Michael
because he's not sure if he can trust him. How is that again?? Link isn't
sure he can trust the brother who purposefully got thrown in jail so he could
break them both out? Come on...I think Michael earned at least a little trust
with that stunt.
The DVDs:
The 13 episodes that constitute the third season come on four discs (four
episodes each on the first three discs with the sixth containing one episode
and the bonus items.)
Video:
The 1.78:1 widescreen image looks very good though the Blu-ray version is
more crisp and detailed. The picture is sharp, and the contrast and
black levels are all excellent. There are a lot of low light scenes, and
these all looked fine, though grain was more evident than in the exterior
shots. Details in the shadows are fine, though not outstanding. During the
exterior scenes, and shots located outside of the prison, the lighting is
much brighter. This creates a nice contrast to the drab lives of the convicts
and makes their situation seem all the more desperate. In these shots the
colors are more vivid and solid, especially the images of the Panamanian
jungle and the image has a good amount of visual pop.
Audio:
While the Blu-ray version boasted a DTS-HD 5.1 Master lossless soundtrack,
this DVD comes with a DD 5.1 track that sounds good, but isn't as intense
as the HD track. The show is mainly dialog driven, with an occasional
gun shot, but nothing more than that, but the soundtrack does a good job
of creating the sounds of a prison as well as the echoes of the tunnels and
pipes beneath the facility. The sound effects and incidental music come through
strong and clear and add a lot to the atmosphere that the show has. While
the audio doesn't have the same impact and richness as a theatrical feature,
it does suit the show well.
Extras:
With the poor quality of most of the episodes in this season, it's not too
surprising that there are not commentaries like the first season boasted.
There is a set of interviews with the actors , entitled Orientacion that
runs about 17 minutes, Break Out Episode, a behind the scenes featurette
that shows the filming of the main action scenes from one of the later episodes,
and Director's Takes, a look at a collection of 13 different scenes
where the director and actors discuss what they were trying to accomplish
with the sequence. Finally there's Between Takes where several actors
discuss what they do while waiting to film. All in all a pretty mediocre
set of bonus items.
Final Thoughts:
With plot holes you could drive a truck though, poorly written characters,
weak scripts and a total lack of tension that made the first two seasons
so engrossing, this third season of Prison Break is just not that good. If
you're a big fan of the show after watching seasons one and two and are really
looking forward to this season for more of the same, as I was, brace yourself.
It's pretty bad. There are a couple of good moments, but only a couple. With
almost no replay value, this should be rented, but only by people
who really want to see what happens and are ready to be disappointed.
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