Prison Break

Prison Break - Season One
$59.98
I thought this show was one of the most gripping, maybe even the most tense thing I can remember watching on TV, perhaps ever. I am not going to elaborate too much on what happens, but it is very exciting, the actors do a great job in their roles and the writing is outstanding. Just a few negatives though. Fully realizing this is not reality but fiction, I really hope most prison guards are not this evil and conversely not that ignorant of such a big scale breakout(relatively speaking). There were many times when I rooted solely for the bad guys because the guards were so vile and mean(beatings, extortion, killing an inmates cat for no good reason). The warden was pretty fair, but those guards. Check this out, because the positives far outdistance the negatives here.

Prison Break: Season Four
$49.98
The Fox series Prison Break debuted in 2005 and had a first season that was intelligently written, intelligently executed, and endlessly exciting. The series miraculously had two more seasons (with season three being cut short due to the writer's strike) and Fox announced the fourth season would be the final season. I absolutely love this show, but the idea to end it was a good one. Prison Break was a one-season concept that made two seasons work but just got more and more ludicrous as it went on, while never failing to be entertaining. With that said, the fourth season is very entertaining. It's this season that the writer's throw all logic out the window. Character's who were dead return, character's who were forgotten come out of nowhere; the writer's of this season seem to have had one rule for writing; if it can go wrong (no matter how implausible), make sure it does.

We've followed these character's as they escaped from prison (season one), ran from the law (season 2), and had to escape from another prison (season 3). In season 4, they have to break in to a building. Sounds interesting, right?

Everyone has escaped from Sona, the prison in Panama that housed the characters for the third season. Now in Los Angeles, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), his brother Lincoln Burroughs (Dominic Purcell), girlfriend Sarah Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies), Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), Brad Bellick (Wade Williams), and former FBI-agent Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) are recruited by Homeland Security agent Don Self (Michael Rappaport) for a top-secret operation to help take down The Company for good. With an offer of immunity for everyone on the table, the group agrees to help Self retrieve Scylla, the Company's little black book.

All of the characters are back, including everybody's favorite villain T-Bag (Robert Knepper), who (as usual) has a different agenda than the rest of the group. Also, in a much larger role, is Leon Russom as General Jonathan Krantz, but more on that in a moment.

Season four will have you shaking your head several times throughout simply because of how completely ridiculous many of the plot twists are, but it ranks high on the excitement scale. As for how it ends...Well, those who have followed this show and these characters for years will be divided, but how else could they have ended it? The ending works, but could have been executed a little better.

Now, on another note...I'm not the first person to complain about the weak, anything goes-style of writing on Prison Break, but I wish to mention that the writer's never failed to write strong main characters. It's hard to deny this is a show with strong characterization that has a knack for establishing characters for us to care about and establishing characters for us to hate only to trick us into liking them later. But, I will not let the actors escape without credit.

Prison Break, during its run, was never honored for the actor's it had on its show. One doesn't have to even watch this show very long to see that this was a shame. Wentworth Miller, for example, is the only person I can see as Scofield. He's quietly menacing, committed, and charismatic...Not to say he doesn't overdo it sometimes, but he balances the tough and emotional in a way most actors would not. If one denies the range of Wade Williams as Bellick, watch all four seasons of this show and tell me how Bellick goes from one of the most unlikeable characters on the show to a very sympathetic one in such a short span of time. Even Purcell, who never had to do much in the series besides look tough and be intimidating when needed, embodies Burroughs. That description of his acting is pretty much all the character needs to do, so it all fits. Finally, we have Robert Knepper whose performance as T-Bag only got better with each season. If this had been a theatrical film as opposed to a TV series, Knepper would have received an Oscar nomination. If not for fan-reaction to Knepper's portrayal of the devious, depraved T-Bag he likely would've been killed off at the end of season one. Knepper takes a relatively simple character and just molds him into one of the most memorable characters I've ever seen on a television series. It's no easy task to take a character that frequently betrays and hurts the character's you care about and make him likeable and every moment Knepper is onscreen, he'll keep your attention focused there. Finally, Russom as the General has a very menacing look coupled with a deep, foreboding voice...He makes a great antagonist for Scofield's gang. All of the other actor's are great too, but this has already taken up a large majority of my review.

There's not much to write about the fourth season of a television show. If you're reading this, you've likely seen the previous three seasons or you've already seen all four. If you're a fan, this season is definitely worth checking out if only to see the last hurrah of these character's you've watched for so long. While Prison Break lost some IQ points along the way, it never lost its ability to keep your heart racing and keep your affection for its main set of characters. With that said, if you're a fan of the series...This is essential.

GRADE: B

Prison Break: Season Three
$49.98
The DVD arrived on time; however, the item is a bit messes up. I has trouble getting the DVD'S to start playing. The DVD is slightly damaged.

Prison Break: Seasons 1-4
$218.98
I'm sure by reading some of the reviews on certain seasons, some people will hate mine because I do agree, that Prison break should've ended at season 3.

For the past month I've watched all 4 seasons and I am on of the biggest fan's of the series. This was my second time watching it in it's entirety (Watched it when it aired, and just now on DVD). I love the series and am sad to see it all over.

There are 4 seasons to prison break, and a movie which is supposed to fill in all the gaps and loopholes the series left. In my opinion, season 1 was the absolute best, followed by season 3, then 2, and then 4. Season 4 was all over the place. It's hard to explain without spoiling anything, but in the last 6 or 7 episodes there was always a huge swerve that completly changed everything, and it just felt rushed upon us. The ending of the series happens way too fast as well. Season 4 in comparison to the others was a huge dissapointment.

The casting was great, almost perfect. Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller (They play the protagonists; Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows) did an amazing job, and really get you to believe them.

Season 1 has to go down in history in my opinion, as one of the best debut seasons of any show in the past decade.

I love the series, and the way season 3 ends, it could've definitly ended there and should've. Season 4 just made everything way too unrealistic, even by TV standards.

Anyway, I still say this is definitly a pick-up. Personally my favorite TV series I've ever had the pleasure of watching.