Prison Break Season 3

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Helen M Jerome reviews

Prison Break Season 3
Distributed by
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Cover Prison Break Series 3:
Prison Break Series 1-3:

  • Cert:
  • Cat.no: 3810601000
  • Running time: 546 minutes
  • Year: 2008
  • Pressing: 2008
  • Region(s): 2, PAL
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Languages: English
  • Subtitles: English Hard of Hearing
  • Widescreen: 1.78:1
  • 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: Yes
  • Disc Format: 4 * DVD 9
  • Price: £39.99
  • Extras: Breakout episode; Making of episode 1 “Orientación”; 13 Director’s takes; Between takes
  • Vote and comment on this DVD:

    Directors:

      Kevin Hooks, Greg Yaitanes, Michael Switzer

Writers:

    Paul Scheuring, Matt Olmstead, Zack Estrin, Nick Santora, Karyn Usher, Seth Hoffman

Executive Producers:

    Matt Olmstead, Paul Scheuring, Kevin Hooks, Marty Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal Moritz, Brett Ratner

Cast:

    Michael Scofield: Wentworth Miller
    Lincoln Burrows: Dominic Purcell
    Alex Mahone: William Fichtner
    Brad Bellick: Wade Williams
    Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell: Robert Knepper
    Sara Tancredi: Sarah Wayne Callies
    Fernando Sucre: Amaury Nolasco
    LJ: Marshall Allman
    James Whistler: Chris Vance
    Lechero: Robert Wisdom
    Susan B Anthony: Jodi Lyn O’Keefe
    Sofia: Danay Garcia

Shaking up the formula and racking up the tension once again, Prison Break Season 3 may be shorter – thanks to the writers’ strike – but is it sweeter? For the viewer, perhaps. For the incarcerated characters, absolutely not.

Season 1 had our protagonists surviving and planning their break out from Fox River State Penitentiary. Season 2 had the boys on the run while being pursued. Only the strongest and wiliest survived. Now for the third season they’re in a prison that makes Fox River look like luxury.

Welcome to the hell that is Sona Federal Penitentiary in Panama. This is a place with no guards inside – they just man the perimeter and it’s kill-or-be-killed in a Lord of the Flies set-up on the inside. Gladiatorial fights inside mean the only prisoners who ever leave Sona are dead prisoners.

Based on the notorious Brazilian prison, Carandiru, where this guard-free institution actually existed, Sona is the place of nightmares. Only this time the roles are reversed and it’s Michael who must break out, with his brother Linc trying to help him from the outside.

Familiar faces alongside Michael in Sona include smooth-tongued Southern Man T-Bag, plus a beaten-down Bellick and sleep-deprived Mahone. Not a trio you would pick as daily companions. But they are as desperate as Michael, and each has their own knack of getting by, from flattery to servitude to plotting.

The new characters inside are troubled Aussie James Whistler (Chris Vance), and self-styled Sona kingpin, the powerful Lechero, brilliantly played by Robert Wisdom, all flashing teeth and threatening stance. Outside we get glimpses of old favourites Sucre (dontcha just love him?), Michael’s love interest Sara, and Linc’s troublesome son LJ. But they pale into insignificance compared to newbies Sofia (Whistler’s indefatigable girl) and the deadly Susan B Anthony, who will stop at nothing to get her way.

Layers of intrigue are soon revealed, as the brothers have their arms twisted (and their loved ones threatened) to make them get Whistler out of Sona. And the mysterious organisation that forces them to do this is called “The Company”.

Forced into an unlikely alliance with his fellow inmates, Michael is determined to break out to save himself and those held hostage.

With only thirteen episodes, rather than the usual 22, the action feels more condensed, and the prison definitely more claustrophobic and threatening. It’s hot, humid, and all the rules the inmates know have been thrown away and they constantly live on the edge. Which makes it impossible to relax while watching.

Miller and Purcell are as intense as ever… only dropping their guard on the boxset’s extras. Purcell is seen bonding with fans, and talks of some 140 million Chinese who download the latest episode every Wednesday without fail. Nolasco talks of evolving a backstory for his character, while showing us that he relaxes by bopping along to his iPod (mainly Journey and Latin music). Vance simply picks up his guitar and heads wisely for the one air-conditioned room between takes.

One warning, however: don’t watch the director’s takes before the episodes as they give away the plot!

Does Prison Break still cut the mustard? Does it still surprise? I guess the answer lies in the fact that it’s still hard to look away. The characters continue to evolve, so the narrative can suddenly veer in an unexpected direction. And while characters like Sucre, Linc and Michael and the compelling Lechero exist to draw us into the plot and make our hearts beat faster, then long may Prison Break will continue…

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Review copyright © Helen M Jerome 2008.

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