I missed the first four shows when this was on television so I deliberately held out until it came out on DVD. I'm glad I did because it sucks waiting for a week for these serial cliff hanger shows like this and 24.

This is one holy mother humper of a great show. The writing, the acting, the cinematography are top notch. You've got to hand it to Fox because in a world where HBO no rules applied television is kicking the shit out of the major networks' ridiculous sit-coms and boring criminal investigation shows; Fox continues to raise the bar on high-intensity dramas that have novel subject matter and clear voices behind the execution.

Everything about this show is cool. The main characer, Michael Scofield is an obsessive-compulsive do gooder who has to bust his brother out of prison where he's being contained until his death by electrocution for murdering the brother of the female Vice President. It turns out his brother was framed as part of a huge conspiracy involving an X-Files type elite group of people in suits who secretly run the world behind the veneer of democracy.

But that part is cliche. We've heard that story before and luckily, it's just the periphery.

The real draw of this show is why Michael Scofield, a structural engineer whose firm helped redesign the very prison his brother is incarcerated in, decides to tattoo the blueprints of the prison and the details of his plans to break out with his brother all over his chest, back and arms.


From the first minute of the first episode, the tension in this show ratchets up, releases a little, then ratchets up even more. It is fascinating how Michael draws the right people around and alternates his plan to fit changing circumstances, avoiding detection, avoiding being murdered by other inmates, takes pills to lower his insulin so he can gain access to the infirmay as a diabetic patient to receive daily insulin injections in order to further the plan for his brother's escape, all the while the conspiracy which put his brother there in the first place rages out of control in the highest corridors of power in the nation.

People, this is top-notch entertainment and I salute the creators, writers, directors, and especially the actors who, while hardened criminals, convince us that there is still the heart of human beings inside child murderers, rapists, thieves, and the conspiratorially framed.

I can't wait until Season 2 starts this coming Monday and I highly recommend you purchase the first series. You won't be sorry.