Prison Break was definitely a “high-concept” television series. Most people loved the first season of this show, but didn’t think it could last any longer, since the whole point of this show was “breaking out of prison”. But the excellent cast and production crew proved all the naysayers wrong, though, as the series went on for four seasons. Of course, the sub-par fourth season really put the final nail in the Prison Break coffin. But after the fourth season finale the series was not complete. For that we have Prison Break: The Final Break.
Prison Break: The Final Break picks up where the fourth season finale left off, if you don’t count the epilogue. It is actually two unaired episodes (“The Old Ball and Chain” and “Free”) combined into one full-length film. At the beginning, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is set to marry his long-time love, Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies). But then Sara is unfairly arrested for the murder of Michael’s mother Christina. Sara gets sent to the Miami-Dade Women’s Penitentiary due to an overcrowding of the jail while she awaits trial. Sara is unaware that a hit has been placed on her head by Michael’s sworn enemy Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), and she has no friends inside of prison. Once Michael learns of the impending danger to her life and the life of his unborn child, he and his brother Linc (Dominic Purcell) begin plotting a prison break for her requiring assistance from both men’s prison bigshot T-Bag (Robert Knepper) and disgraced former FBI agent Alex Mahone (William Fichtner). What Michael and Linc don’t know, though, is that Mahone is hoping to regain his FBI status by informing on the brothers’ activities to his bosses who have FBI Agent Todd Wheatley (Chris Bruno), who has been assigned to prevent the brothers from being able to do anything.
What made Prison Break such a great series in the first season was all of the intricate planning and the puzzles that would that lead character, Michael Scofield, had to unfold to execute his plan to rescue his wrongfully accused brother Lincoln from Fox River Penitentiary, from the inside. This lead to some dramatic storytelling for sure. The second and third seasons were less compelling than the first season, but they were still entertaining enough to keep fans hooked. The fourth season was a total bust as the show lost its focus. Thankfully, Prison Break: The Final Break returns to the roots of the series. All of the sensational prison breakout plans are back during these final two episodes, including all the scouting, planning, improvising, and conflict that arises from this. The main complaint with this is that the story goes by too quickly this time. You could argue that the focus of these final two episodes could have been stretched out for another full season. It would have certainly keep fans entertained, despite the fact that it seems like a carbon copy of the first season with all the characters playing different roles.
Besides the strong storytelling in the early seasons, the great cast was also another reason Prison Break lasted longer than expected. Sarah Wayne Callies gets plenty time to shine as the main character of these two episodes. But, of course, Wentworth Miller is back to being as good as he has been as Michael. In addition, Robert Knepper and William Fichtner are still strong members of the cast. Even the main newcomer to the cast, Lori Petty (who plays the women’s prison gang leader), brings something interesting to the table during these final two episodes. The only regular that doesn’t get nearly enough time to shine is Dominic Purcell. The biggest complaint goes back to the fast-paced nature of these two episodes again. You just don’t have enough time to dig in deep into some of these newer characters.
Overall Prison Break: The Final Break is a satisfying way to end this series. It definitely answers all the questions that were somewhat left open after the fourth season finale. At times, you almost wish that they had done a fifth season with this main storyline, at least for a couple of more episodes. The Final Break brings back all the strengths from the first couple of seasons and limits all the negatives from the final two seasons. So really it’s nice to see a series like Prison Break go out with a bang with The Final Break instead of the whimper that was season four.
The video is presented in 1080p/AVC at the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen color ratio, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs, of course. This transfer is great. The colors are mostly vibrant and bright throughout. No major problems at all, and probably a big step above the standard definition DVD, but that is hard to tell since FOX always sends out screener copies of those DVDs.
The audio included is available in either English Dolby 5.1 DTS-HD Surround sound, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, or French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, and French as well. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear. So there are no major problems here either.
Blu-Ray Exclusives
There are no blu-ray exclusives for Prison Break: The Final Break.
Features that can be found on the DVD As Well…
Deleted Scenes –
The only extras are two deleted scenes, which total 4 1/2 minutes. The first one sees the agent on Michael’s trail cominf to warn the prison warden that he might make an attempt to extract Sara. The second scene features Mahone tracking down his ex-wife at the farmer’s market, only to find out that she has moved on with her life. Not very interesting and really not worth checking out, since neither scene matters at all in the grand scheme of things.
Hardcore fans will definitely want to check this out, and it’s probably worth a purchase for them. Of course, if you are new to this show, you probably don’t want to start with this. But if you have to start with the fourth season or The Final Break, this is the way to go for sure.
20th Century FOX Home Entertainment presents Prison Break: The Final Break. Directed by Brad Turner. Starring Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper, Wade Williams, Sarah Wayne Callies, William Fichtner, Chris Bruno, and Lori Petty. Created by Paul Scheuring. Running time: 89 minutes. NOT RATED. Released on DVD: July 21, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
