Prison Break

I thought that this TV series was going to be another boring one. Intelligent TV series don't get any better than this. All those stupid reality series were just spreading on TV like a cancer that won't stop. There are only a few good reality series out there, but we're not here to talk about that.

Don't get me wrong, TV series like Lost are good, but somehow when mysteries drag on and on and on through 2 seasons with so many character developments and so many changes, they tend to wear you out. At the same time, watching a TV series with a continous plot week after week just makes you forget what happened in the earlier episodes, especially when something develops in the later episodes. Another example will be the TV series 24 (which I daresay didn't deserve to win the Emmy's this year!) which you have to watch in 24 hours, otherwise, it's just a waste of time trying to figure out what happened in episode 1 or 2 when you've reached episode 23 or 24.

Anyhow, Prison Break is just plain addictive! This series is about how Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) cooks up a really elaborate plan to get himself into prison to free his innocent brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), who is on death-row. The reason why he so confidently enters prison to break his brother out is because he got his hands on the original prison blue-prints and ultimately has the entire blue-prints and escape plan tattooed onto his body.

The cast of characters is unique to any prison environment. And one of my favourite characters is Theodore Bagwell aka T-Bag (played by Robert Knepper), who's a murderer, a sexual predator and a white supremacist. The actor who portrays him goes through many changes and is very skilled at portraying the mannerisms of his character to perfection. I won't spoil the series by revealing too much.

The character developments here are so much more straight-forward than Lost. And with all good TV drama series, like The X-Files, all you have to do is throw in a huge conspiracy with the government and it becomes a classic. My only quarrel with the show is that the character Michael Scofield gets to move about the prison a bit too liberally. Granted that it is possible, but if you watch the series, some of it is rather improbable, but it's entertaining nonetheless to see how they cover up for one another.

I purchased the DVD mainly because I wanted to do a marathon and didn't want to wait for it to be telecast here. It was suppose to have started in April 2006 here, however, they chose to telecast Lost Season 2 first instead and I couldn't wait. Now all my friends and colleagues are just getting their queue number to borrow this set from me. Heck, even my parents want to watch it!

I highly recommend this series to anyone who have previously enjoyed prison breaks along the lines of the movie The Shawshank Redemption. This series will leave you at the edge of your seats and wanting more! Breaking out of prison has never been so innovative, exciting and entertaining altogether!

9 out of 10 stars