Prison Break - Season 1 - Complete [2005] [DVD]

Prison Break is anchored by tight, suspenseful writing clearly relished by the largely little-known cast. Standouts include Robert Knepper as the murderer/pedophile T-Bag, who somehow makes such a despicable character likeable. Stacey Keach of Mike Hammer fame plays the warden-with-a-heart-of-gold, who clashes with Captain Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) over whether to rehabilitate the inmates or makes their lives more miserable. Peter Stormare, famous for his skills with a wood chipper in Fargo, turns in a deliciously menacing performance as mob boss John Abruzzi, while Amaury Nolasco's winsome Fernando Sucre shares a cell and secrets with Miller's Scofield. Watching the show one gets a sense that this is the opening salvo of Wentworth Miller's career, which will doubtless include roles as assassins, detectives, super heroes, and perhaps the champion of staring contests. Midway through the season it's explained that Scofield is a genius with an heightened sensitivity to other peoples' suffering, which sums up what makes the show so great--the mind-bendingly intricate plot is a framework for moments when people make others suffer and cope with the burden of their own suffering.

The six-disc set includes 22 addictive episodes, audio commentary on selected episodes, three featurettes, and alternate and deleted scenes. As with most TV shows on DVD, the "previously on Prison Break" intros can get tiresome, but that's what the fast forward button is for. --Ryan Boudinot

Synopsis
Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) is an inmate on death-row for the killing of the brother of the Vice President of the United States, a murder he vows he did not commit but only his brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) believes him. Michael takes the extreme action of getting himself arrested. With the blueprints of the jail disguised in a tattoo that encompasses his body, Michael attempts to create a support network in prison that will allow his brother and himself to escape. Fellow prisoners looking to escape and willing to help Michael and his brother include ex-mob boss Abruzzi, C-Note, Sucre and T-Bag. Despite having bonded with prison governor Pope (Stacey Keach), Michael has attracted the suspicions of the menacing Captain Bellick (Wade Williams). Meanwhile, on the outside the brothers' childhood friend and lawyer Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney) works to uncover the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail. PRISON BREAK first aired in 2005 and quickly became hugely successful around the world thanks to the tension filled, beat-the-clock storyline and cunning plot twists, making it an intriguing combination of the prison drama OZ and the real-time secret service drama 24. Features all 22 episodes of the first season.

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