One Final Prison Break

For four seasons on Fox, the cast of PRISON BREAK dodged the authorities, searched for D.B. Cooper’s buried treasure (!), got trapped in a Caribbean hellhole, encountered international intrigue, and even underwent a covert mission for Homeland Security. As the final season bore to an end, the producers decided they had one last story to tell. Since ratings had dropped precipitously in its final year, the two extra episodes were cut together and released directly to home video a few months after the last show aired.

To fully explain PRISON BREAK would entail more space than I have available (the show’s premise changed every season), but in a nutshell, brilliant engineer Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) had himself tossed into a Chicago penitentiary with the notion of helping his brother Lincoln Burrows (JOHN DOE's Dominic Purcell), on Death Row for the murder of the Vice-President’s brother (which he didn’t commit), escape. They did at the end of Season 1, along with Scofield’s cellmate Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), serial killer T-Bag (scene-stealing Robert Knepper), and several others. Prison doctor Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies), who helped Scofield’s breakout, tagged along, and William Fichtner (late of INVASION) eventually joined the cast and was consistently wonderful as drug-addicted FBI agent Alex Mahone.

Season 4, which is when THE FINAL BREAK takes place, found Scofield, Burrows, Sucre, T-Bag, and Sara involved in a conspiracy headed by a shady organization known as The Company, headed by the insidious bald General Krantz (flinty Leon Russom). The series ended with the good guys clearing their names and the bad guys behind bars, where they belong. But THE FINAL BREAK finds the brothers back together with Mahone and Sucre for—what else—another prison break. This time, it’s Sara (now Michael’s wife) in the joint for killing Michael’s mother (played by Kathleen Quinlan in the series), also a high-ranking member of The Company.

Since THE FINAL BREAK is a two-part episode and not really any kind of “movie,” its strengths and weaknesses coincide with those of the TV series. If you were a fan of PRISON BREAK, THE FINAL BREAK offers the same wacky plotting, slick production values, rocky performances, breakneck chases, and terse dialogue. By this time, you’ve either learned to give in to the production’s charms, which resemble a Republic serial on PCP, or give up altogether. The TV finale foreshadowed the bittersweet ending, but the actors, perhaps mirroring their own feelings about ending the show, still make it deliver a lump in the throat.

Final Episode of Prison Break TONIGHT

It's true--I absolutely love PRISON BREAK, which leaves the airwaves tonight after four seasons on Fox.

If you're curious to know more about the show and the truly bizarre path it took this season, in terms of completely revamping its premise, here's a month-old interview with producer Matt Olmstead (NYPD BLUE) that won't give away any spoilers.

P.S. The 23rd and 24th episodes Olmstead refers to are coming out this summer on DVD and Blu-ray as a direct-to-video "movie" awkwardly called PRISON BREAK: THE FINAL BREAK. Yes, I'll be Netflixing that ASAP.

Why I Love Prison Break

Seriously, this is fantastic stuff. I have no idea whether the creators are fans of Republic serials, but PRISON BREAK plays just like one. You think LOST is a little bit far-out? My suspension of disbelief is stretched farther than Mr. Fantastic's left arm watching this season of PRISON BREAK.

Forgetting the crazy-quilt plot and boneheaded continuity errors (done intentionally, I'm sure, to move the plot from point W to point X, which is as convoluted as it has become), this week's episode had a dune buggy chase, Scofield (Wentworth Miller) running and jumping and fighting a day or two after major surgery to remove a brain tumor, T-Bag (Robert Knepper) finding sympathy for a dying mother, another great Linc Smash! moment, our unlikely comrades (which include a female assassin in black leather, a former Death Row convict, a corrupt Homeland Security agent, a junkie ex-FBI agent, and a mass-murdering child molester) dressed like a GQ cover, another character resurrected from the dead, a kidnapping to cover a simple conversation that could have been handled over the phone, a stunt-driving drug-addicted physician, the threat of mountain lions, a MacGyvered bomb, and terrible acting.

PRISON BREAK probably has the worst acting of any dramatic series on network TV right now. I give the wonderful William Fichtner a lot of credit for not pretending he's slumming. I can only assume he's having a good time. Maybe even as good a time as I have laughing hysterically at the show. I wouldn't be surprised at this point to see Tal Chatali pop up in the final chapter, er, episode to reveal the Scorpion's identity.