Prison Break: The Complete Third Season

What better way is there to prepare for another heart pounding, adrenaline filled, action packed season of the hit show Prison Break than to go back and re-live everything that was great about the previous season on DVD? I certainly can't think of any.

Thanks to Fox Home Entertainment's wonderful timing with the release of the complete third season on DVD on August 12th we all have that opportunity. We get to replay everything from the season that proved that this show, which was only supposed to last for one year, has legs to last at least four with fingers crossed for a fifth.

At the close of the marathon race that was season two, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) was finally exonerated in the murder of the Vice President's brother, Terrence Steadman. And just as we think we are seeing an end to the brothers troubles and incidentally the show itself, the all powerful twist is thrown in at the end that turns the show on it's ear and puts Lincoln's brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) in prison in Panama for a murder that he didn't commit. So now it's up to Lincoln who is more used to being the brawn than the brains in the operation to come up with a way to free Michael from one of the toughest jails in all the world; a prison so harsh that even the guards have pulled out and left the prisoners to govern themselves.

Of course there was a lot of skepticism surrounding the shows decision to return for a third year, after all the story they had set out to tell had been finished. And admittedly they will never be able to top the originality of the groundbreaking first season, but the characters that were created are so well drawn out and so well acted by the cast that I think audiences are willing to over look quite a bit to get to see them back in their living rooms again week after week.

The first thing to look past is the same thing that fans of the show 24 have had to deal with over the years which is how the hell can all this be happening to one guy? Yes it's silly – it should have ended on that beach in Panama with everyone going off into the sunset happily ever after, the same way Jack Bower should have retired after that first day, but it didn't! So the question is how exciting is what they come up with to extend this story? The answer is"¦ still pretty damn exciting. It kept me eagerly tuning back in every week.

There's of course a new group of characters filling in for all the ones that have died over the past two years, and the most notable are our newest villains. Taking over for

the meanest Asian man on the planet, Agent Bill Kim (Reggie Lee), is a far more attractive but just as deadly Susan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) serving as 'The Company's lead operative in Panama. Some of the greatest face-off moments of the season are between her and the brothers. The tension builds throughout the season as she stands toe-to-toe with Lincoln over and over again, taunting him and threatening his son L.J.'s life thinking that he is powerless to do anything to her. Then finally in one episode he gets to smack the shit out of her and I swear it's one of those 'stand on your feet and cheer moments.' I absolutely loved it.

(Without giving anything else away there's a similar moment between her and Scofield that literally sent chills down my spine. Definitely watch for that one!)

Also interesting this year is watching as the villains from seasons past become sympathetic partners, and in some cases victims, this year. William Fichtner's Agent Mahone, the man who spent the whole of season two chasing down the escapees and murdering them is now in prison right along side Scofield and circumstances force Michael to take him into his confidence and allow him to play a vital role in their escape plan. And as the season progresses we really start to question how bad of a guy he really is; he may just be a really violent victim of circumstance.

Speaking of empathy coming in really odd places, we have another fallen officer of the law back again in Brad Bellick (Wade Williams). How he has survived this long is probably the biggest mystery of the show, but some how he has. Now finally behind bars, ironically for a crime he didn't commit, he tries to join the crew to escape but along the way of course has shifting allegiances and is never fully trustworthy. At the beginning of the season he is a complete pee-on in the prison with no power, no respect and no friends. As he begs for clothing and scraps of food you can't help but feel bad for the guy. That is until you are reminded of what he was like when he was on the other side of the bars.

One returning crook that evokes no sympathy at all is the swarthy Theodore Bagwell a.k.a. 'T-Bag' brilliantly played by Robert Knepper. The sleazy charm this guy can throw around never gets old. He finds himself in a new situation and he immediately adjusts his tactics and finds a new way to stay alive by squirming his way into the right hand of the 'leader' of the prison "” a man named Lechero (Robert Wisdom) who is clearly someone who agreed with Machiavelli and chose to rule through fear not love.

And what would a season of this show be without new characters whose identities

and loyalties are completely unknown? Enter the mysterious James Whistler (Chris Vance) a British fisherman / spy whose escape from prison is the crux of the entire season. There's also Sofia Lugo (Danay Garcia), Whistler’s girlfriend and a complete innocent in the story"¦ or is she?

The ending of each hour long episode is a guaranteed cliff hanger that will have your eyes widening and your mouth watering for the next one. If you haven't been watching the show on TV and this is your first time, prepare to not eat or sleep for a full 13 hours because once you start on this train it's very, very difficult to get off.

Does the effect of the cliffhangers and the last-minute-unexpected-saves get a bit diluted after a while? Yes, they do. But a slightly less rousing showing on Prison Break is way more exciting than the best of what other shows have to offer. And when they hit on this show, they hit hard!

As I mentioned earlier the performances are always great and a huge part of what makes this formula work. A brilliant cliffhanger wouldn't mean anything to you if you didn't care about the characters. and the actors make you feel totally invested in them.

Wentworth Miller says more with his eyes in a glance than most actors do with an entire script of dialogue. As much as I enjoy him in this role (and believe me I really, really do) I'm anxious to see him play different parts and work with different people to see if that brooding, gorgeous intensity will translate to other situations.

Physically, this season presented a weird problem for Wentworth in that his character is covered in a full body tattoo because of the plot of season one that is now completely irrelevant to the story. So rather than paint this on him everyday they have him wearing a long sleeve shirt all season long in the blistering heat where everyone, including him, is sweating through their clothes. That gets a little distracting. Especially since you really just want to yell, 'take it off!' to him even under normal circumstances. In this setting it should be a given that he be shirtless as often as possible, but sadly no.

Dominic Purcell and Amaury Nolasco (returning as the love sick Fernando Sucre) on the other hand, have no problems showing off the guns in sweat drenched tank tops. The heat and the sweating really worked for them.

Something huge missing from this box set though is a previous seasons' story recap. How the hell are we supposed to remember all of the tiny 'in's and out's' of the first two seasons? So much happened, so many twists and turns that a recap of the highlights of the first two years really would have been nice, not to mention effective in reminding everyone of how amazing

those first two years were.

What they do have in the way of special features that is pretty useful is a featurette called Season 3: Orientacion which as you can probably guess is your orientation to the third season. Interviews with the cast establish where they are in the world and gives a little insight into their individual process acting-wise as well as some background on filming locations and the fan reaction to the series which apparently is enormous in China and France. Who would have guessed?

The Break Out Featurette is basically going along on a day of shooting the final episode of the season so if you haven't watched it yet don't skip ahead to this feature! These are always fun to watch but in some ways I think steals away a little too much of the magic behind the filming. It will never look like Panama to you again after you realize it's actually Florida.

The Director's Takes Featurttes destroys even more of the illusions by telling you more of the behind the scenes stuff with lots of interviews with the cast which are great and also some crew stuff as well. The Between Takes Featurette is the one you need to see because this is the cast talking about what they do with their time when the camera isn't rolling. It's them interacting with the extras on set, the crew and the fans of the show and it's really great to see how much they appreciate their success and to see how much people out there love them.

(Surprisingly missing from these between the takes featurette is my buddy Wentworth Miller I guess he's trying to keep his private life as low key and secretive as possible. Hmmmm"¦)

Given the obstacles facing the creative team behind Prison Break they did an admirable job of following up what began as one of televisions greatest serial shows, year three has it slowing down a little but not enough to keep me from counting the days til it's triumphant return!

Season Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: B

Overall Grade: B