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Reviews
Prison Break: Pilot (2005)
So it begins...the road to redemption is a rocky path...
Prison Break is, in my opinion, the best show on television since 24 began. It's masterfully written and keeps you guessing and always leaves you desperate for more. I highly recommend this show to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, you will not be disappointed.
Michael Schofield is a successful, wealthy, very intellectual man with a good honest life and everything going right for him. Except for one thing... his brother Lincoln is imprisoned and set to be executed for the crime of murdering the Vice President's brother and Michael is convinced he is innocent.
After all appeals have been exhausted, Michael knows the only way to save his brother's life is to break into Fox River and then break out... The episode begins showing only briefly what he has been planning and the extent to which he has researched everything about the prison, some of the inmates, and his plan. It seems to me like this works exceptionally well because we can see how he has the plan mapped out to every detail for the escape, and how to stay on the outside after breaking out, even before we ever see him. But as he beings implementing it throughout the season - each stage of it is new, engages the audience and you appreciate the brilliance of this man Michael Scofield.
I don't want to rate the Pilot higher than 8 because I feel it goes into the plot too quickly, and Michael's incarceration feels rushed when it should have really being drawn out longer in the first episode. Nevertheless, it's still a very strong start for a very strong series.
Prison Break: Tweener (2005)
Just a regular tweener....
Episode 9 of what was now becoming an extremely popular TV series introduces another character to the season: David 'Tweener' Aploskis.
The part is played excellently by a very unknown actor, Lane Garrison. The 18 year old and clearly naive Apolskis enters Fox River putting on his 'prison face'. Oblivious to the racial tensions within Fox River and clearly having little knowledge about how he should behave in a prison. Apolskis' sharp attitude, and desire to integrate with the black inmates quickly fuel resentment towards him from both the black and white inmates.
Looking for fresh meat and a new boy to hold his pocket, T-Bag soon targets the confused and quickly isolated youngster giving him the nickname 'Tweener' and continues to pursue him with relentless sexual harassment. As Michael begins to feel a sense of responsibility to protect the boy from the ruthless T-Bag, he worries how to deal with him without risking him blowing the whistle on the escape plan. The part really is played wonderfully by Garrison as you see Tweener's confident and cocky exterior evident at the start of the episode broken down to the point where he's reduced to tears in his cell.
In the meantime: the other escapees continue ploughing through the hole in the guards break room but problems are inevitably set to ensue as Falzone begins to put pressure on Abruzzi for the location of Fibonacci; and Bellick is threatening to take away his P.I privileges altogether...
Prison Break: Brother's Keeper (2006)
Three years ago...
After the cliffhanger from the previous episode, 'By The Skin And Teeth' - in true Prison Break style, you'd have expected to tune into the latest episode eagerly hoping for a conclusion to the cliffhanger and how Michael and the rest of the escapees will battle on with the plan. That's not what you get with 'Brother's Keeper' - nevertheless, it doesn't disappoint and remains a personal favourite.
This episode is set entirely out of context of the rest of the season, it takes place three years before Michael was ever incarcerated in Fox River, with little reference to the prison itself. Amongst those stories of the two brother's been told, we also see what led to the incarceration of Fernando Sucre, Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell and Benjamin 'C-Note' Franklin and exactly what they want from the outside after the escape. We also get to see how Dr. Sara Tancredi has a slightly dark past of her own she's kept hidden, as well as a little more of an insight in Captain Bellick's character.
From this episode, we get see how Michael came to believe in his brother's innocence and give up everything to devise his brilliant plan to rescue him before execution. Also, watch out for designs for his tattoos and things Michael does that seem to have no apparent relevance in the escape from Fox River - these are foreboding moments for season 2 and shows how his tattoos also hold the key to staying on the outside.
Watching the story of the conspiracy unfold, and exactly how The Company and the Secret Service framed Lincoln and pushed for the death penalty is brilliant, and it answers a lot of questions you still may have about it. Danny McCarthy also gets the chance to reprise his role as Secret Service Agent Danny Hale and we see how he and Kellerman have been involved in the thing from the beginning.
The episode also includes a brief snippet from America's Most Wanted, which includes a special guest appearance from John Walsh.
Prison Break: Allen (2005)
All you gotta do is take this little pocket right here...
Freshly incarcerated in Fox River, Michael is soon beginning work on his escape plan by attempting to acquire the first integral instrument for it, before hitting his first integral problem: Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell.
Serving life imprisonment without ever been eligible for parole, Theodore Bagwell is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous inmates in Fox River who prays on younger men as sexual victims and makes Michael one of his targets by offering him his 'pocket' - in exchange for protection from other inmates. On top of this, escalating racial tensions in the prison, Abruzzi's impatience for the location of Fibonacci and Dr. Tancredi's queries about whether or not Michael does actually have diabetes all make sure Michael is going to be in for one hell of a ride every episode: even if he can find the time to continue with the escape plan!
But Robert Knepper is the real star of this episode and plays the part wonderfully, by opting to portray the character from a more charming, and even at times, comedic perspective rather than showing T-Bag's more sadistic and cruel nature all the time. He also successfully manages to bring in his own (what Knepper describes as) 'animalistic' qualities to the role to show T-Bag's more menacing side. Overall, he does a terrific job in making what should be a vile, hateful creature into a real fan-favourite who returns in a regular role to the series.
Prison Break: Fin del camino (2007)
The Bag still has the Bag...
Not only is this episode one of the best Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell episodes from Prison Break, in my opinion, it comes close to one of the best episodes from the whole series.
Things are getting really intense in the penultimate episode of season 2. The Company are using Mahone AND T-Bag to lay a trap in yet another effort to try and capture Michael and Lincoln, but the change in strategy and mysterious 'Sona' previously mentioned linger in the mind as to their true agenda. Michael, feeling guilty and burdened for ever putting T-Bag out on the streets in the first place feels it's his responsibility to make sure 'that bird is put back in the cage' and temporarily abandons his plan to take care of the unfinished business. What follows is 45 minutes of intense action, suspense, shocking moments and twists and not to mention one hell of a chase before a dramatic showdown between Michael and T-Bag. This episode really shows the extent and brutal lengths to which T-Bag will go to survive, stay on the outside and get what he wants - not caring who gets caught in the crossfire. It's wonderful acting on both parts as these two characters who have nothing but resentment for each other; finally bring their rivalry to a head...