PRISON BREAK
Synopsis
Prison
Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul
Scheuring,
that was broadcast on Fox for four seasons, from 2005 until
2009. The series revolves around two brothers. One brother has been sentenced
to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an elaborate plan
to help his brother escape prison and clear his name. The series was produced
by Adelstein-Parouse Productions, in association with Original Television
and 20th Century Fox Television. Along with
creator Paul Scheuring, the series is executive produced by Matt
Olmstead, Kevin
Hooks, Marty
Adelstein, Dawn Parouse, Neal
H. Moritz,
and Brett
Ratner who directed the pilot episode. The series' theme music,
composed by Ramin
Djawadi, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2006.
The series
was originally turned down by Fox in 2003, which was concerned about the
long-term prospects of such a series. Following the popularity of serialized
prime time television series Lost and 24,
Fox decided to back production in 2004. The first season received generally
positive reviews, and performed well in the ratings. The first season was
originally planned for a 13-episode run, but was extended to include an extra
nine episodes due to its popularity. Prison Break was
nominated for several industry awards, and won the 2006 People's Choice Award
for Favorite New TV Drama and was nominated for the 2005 Golden Globe Award for
Best Television Series Drama. In the United States, all four seasons have been
released on DVD, while the first and third seasons and The Final Break have
also been released on Blu-ray Disc. The series has been aired and all seasons
have been released on Blu-ray internationally.
The success
of the series has inspired short videos for mobile phones, several official
tie-ins in print and on the Internet, as well as a video game. A spin-off
series, Prison Break: Proof of Innocence, was produced
exclusively for mobile phones. The series has spawned an official magazine and
a tie-in novel. The fourth season of Prison Break returned
from its mid-season break in a new time slot on April 17, 2009 for the series'
last six episodes. Two additional episodes, titled "The Old Ball and
Chain" and "Free" were produced, and were later transformed into
a standalone feature, titled The Final Break. The events of
this feature take place before the last scene of the series finale, and are
intended to conclude unfinished plotlines. The feature was released on DVD and
Blu-ray July 21, 2009. In June 2015, it was announced that a limited series revival
was in development at Fox. In August 2015, it was announced that a
10-episode limited series was ordered, to debut on Fox in 2016.
· Season 1
The first season follows the rescue of Lincoln
Burrows (Dominic
Purcell), who
is accused of murdering Terrence
Steadman (John
Billingsley),
the brother of Vice President of the United States Caroline
Reynolds (Patricia
Wettig).
Lincoln is sentenced to death and is incarcerated in Fox River State Penitentiary where he awaits his execution.
Lincoln's brother, brilliant structural engineer Michael
Scofield (Wentworth
Miller),
is convinced of Lincoln's innocence and formulates an escape plan. In order to
gain access to Fox River, Michael commits an armed robbery which results in his
being sentenced to Fox River. In prison, Michael befriends the prison doctor Sara
Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) when he pretends to suffer from
Type 1 diabetes, in order to gain daily access to the prison's infirmary, when
he receives his daily insulin shots. The brothers' fight to ward off the
execution is aided by their lifelong friend Veronica Donovan (Robin
Tunney), who begins to investigate the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail.
However, they are hindered by covert agents, members of an organization known
as The Company. The Company was responsible for
framing Lincoln, and they did so because of Lincoln's father Aldo
Burrows (Anthony
Denison), and his former connections with the company. The brothers, along
with six other inmates, Fernando
Sucre (Amaury
Nolasco), Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (Robert
Knepper), Benjamin Miles
"C-Note" Franklin (Rockmond
Dunbar), David "Tweener" Apolskis (Lane
Garrison), John
Abruzzi (Peter
Stormare), and Charles "Haywire"
Patoshik (Silas Weir Mitchell), who come to be known as the Fox River Eight, escape
in the season finale, after using their prison industry privileges to dig an
escape tunnel underneath the prison.
· Season 2
The second season begins eight hours after the
escape, focusing mainly on the eight escapees. Series creator Paul Scheuring
describes the second season as "The Fugitivetimes eight" and
likens it to the "second half of The Great Escape." The fugitives split up and journey to
locations across the country with the authorities close behind them as they
each pursue their individual goals. Brad
Bellick (Wade
Williams) gets fired from the prison where he worked as the main guard and
chases after the inmates himself for the reward money. Several of the escapees
reunite in search of a large cache of money buried long ago by another Fox
River inmate, Charles Westmoreland (Muse
Watson). Federal agent Alexander
Mahone (William
Fichtner) is assigned to track down and capture the eight fugitives, but is
revealed to be working for The Company, which wants all eight men dead. When
Sara discovers her father, Governor Frank
Tancredi (John Heard), has been killed, she meets with
Michael, remaining with him as the brothers try to bring down now-President
Reynolds, a Company member. To ensure the brothers' safety, Sara allows herself
to be arrested and faces trial. During the trial, the testimony of former Secret Service agent Paul
Kellerman (Paul
Adelstein), who used to work for the Company-controlled President,
exonerates Lincoln and Sara. Half of the escapees are killed or recaptured, but
the brothers make it to Panama. Michael, T-Bag, Mahone, and Bellick are
arrested by the Panamanian authorities and imprisoned at the Penitenciaría Federal de Sona.
· Season 3
The third season follows both Michael inside Sona
and Lincoln on the outside in Panama. Sona is a prison that has been run by the
inmates and guarded only from the outside due to a riot the year before.
Burrows is quickly contacted by Gretchen
Morgan (Jodi
Lyn O'Keefe) (a Company operative who was in charge of operations
in Panama) who kidnapped his son LJ (Marshall
Allman) and Sara, the woman Michael loves. He is told that The Company
wants Scofield to break James Whistler (Chris Vance) out of Sona. The season follows
Michael and Whistler's trials in formulating an escape plan, as Michael has to
deal with extreme tension and as Lincoln deals with the Company's operative
Gretchen Morgan. Sucre gets a job at the prison to aid Michael in his escape
plan. When Lincoln attempts to rescue Sara and LJ following a clue provided by
Sara, Gretchen claims to have beheaded Sara and sends Lincoln a head in a box
as a warning. As the season ends, the pair manage to escape along with Mahone, and another inmate, Luis,
leaving behind several accomplices including T-Bag and Bellick. Sucre's
identity is discovered by a prison guard and he is thrown into Sona just after
the escape. LJ and Sofia (who was captured for a guarantee that Whistler would
go with her) are traded for Whistler, and Michael seeks revenge against
Gretchen for Sara's death.
· Season 4
The major storyline for the fourth season is about
a team recruited by Homeland Security agent Don Self (Michael
Rapaport) to obtain Scylla. Although the team initially believes it to be the Company's "black book,"
it is later revealed to contain information on an advanced renewable power
cell. Over the course of the first half of the season, the team obtains cards
to access Scylla and breaks into Company headquarters to steal it, Sara is
discovered to be alive, Bellick dies when he sacrifices himself, and Self is
revealed to be a double agent intent on selling Scylla to the highest bidder.
Reluctantly, Lincoln decides to join the Company to get it back, while Michael
suffers from a hypothalamic hamartoma.
He is treated and operated on by the Company. Michael later learns that his
mother, Christina (Kathleen
Quinlan) is still alive and was an agent of the Company, who is revealed to
acquire Scylla to sell to the highest bidder. Eventually, the series' main
storyline of the past 4 seasons ends in Miami, where Scylla is recovered by
Michael and the team, the General and the Company are taken down, and Sara
kills Christina.The last 2 episodes of the season represent the series finale.
In the penultimate episode, Sara is seen buying flowers in Panama with her toddler
son, Michael, before visiting Michael's grave with Lincoln, Sucre and Mahone.
The final episode and television movie Prison Break: The Final Break shows
what happened between the take down of the Company and Michael's death. This
story involves the incarceration of Sara in Miami-Dade county penitentiary for
Christina's murder. The General and T-Bag are in the adjacent men's facility.
The General wants Sara dead and has put a $100,000 bounty on her. Michael hears
of the bounty and devises a plan to break Sara out.
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