Prison Break

Reviewed by:
Gregg Braverman

At first glance, a TV series about an all-male prison has as much appeal as a porno about an all-male marching band. But Prison Break ignores the discomfiting recreation that prison jokes are made of, and instead focuses on the one thing that will make it a must-see show: escaping the big house. Like network-mate 24, Break casts time as a central character, counting down the impending execution of Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), convicted of murdering the brother of the vice president. Lincoln's brother, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), refuses to believe his sibling is capable of the crime and hatches a meticulous plot to bust him out. First on the agenda: Commit armed robbery and get sent to prison along with him. From there, Break blends the hopefulness of The Great Escape with the ingenuity of Ocean's Eleven to brew a potent hooch of weekly anticipation. Each episode finds Scofield and his actions becoming increasingly frantic, be it feigning diabetes or face-punching a mob boss all in the name of fleeing the freezer. Doesn't sound like much of a strategy, but trying to figure out how Scofield will pull off the impossible over the course of this season may prove as difficult as not tuning in each week.

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