Prison Break's Swan Song
Given that it produced some of the best hours of television in the last decade, I thought it was worth saying a few words on the passing of "Prison Break", which is mercifully being put to sleep by Fox this Friday after four seasons. In Britain, the economics of television is different and series can run their course with a limited number of episodes and still be profitable. Here in America, longevity is a prerequisite for profit in the television business. This fact of life regrettably tarnished Prison Break's legacy by forcing a series that should have ended after one or two seasons to drag on for four seasons. Had "Prison Break" been made in Britain, it wouldn't be forced to end in the weary and silly way that it's poised to tomorrow night.
In fact, Prison Break's 79-episode run can be split almost perfectly in half in terms of the series' quality. The first half was fantastic. The second half was grasping.
Prison Break's first season, back in the 2005-2006 TV season, was hands-down the most creatively satisfying season of television the medium has ever produced. It was smart, clever, intense, fun, and boasted some intriguing and memorable characters that heightened the emotional investment of the viewer. Best of all, unlike other serials like "24" or "Lost", it was clear that "Prison Break" showrunner Paul Scheuring had a master plan going in, and wasn't merely making shit up as he went along. Just about everything about Season 1 worked, but going into Season 2, I had to wonder how this could be sustained outside of the prison gates.
At least for the first half or so of Season 2, "Prison Break" pulled it off. The "manhunt" of the second season kept the narrative momentum pressing forward smoothly, if increasingly implausibly from a logistical standpoint. Unfortunately, the show lost its way at some point in the second half of the second season. If I had to single out a specific jump-the-shark moment, it might be when writers attempted to turn PB into a tragic love story with Michael Schofield and prison doctor Sarah Tancretti. From there, the corrupt and murderous President's massive conspiracy ultimately disappointed when finally revealed and the season's climactic storyline set in Panama didn't quite live up to expectations. And when Michael ended the season back in prison, this time in Panama, things were never the same again.
I still watched Prison Break's third season, set in a lawless Panamian prison, and at times found it very entertaining, but the gig was largely up. Writers by and large did the best with what they had to work with, but the series should never have been around for a third season in the first place, as they now had to recreate a prison escape that simply couldn't live up to the excitement of the first season's escape no matter how hard they tried.
Then, last September, came the current fourth season, where the narrative became even more muddled are drug-out. Much like the final season of "The A-Team", the "Prison Break" gang found themselves recruited by the government to go on missions in exchange for their freedom, completely abandoning the show's original premise to point of being unrecognizable save for the characters. Again, there have been outstanding episodes in Season 4, but there have also been a few truly awful episodes and an overarching feeling of a series that's way past its prime and desperately latching onto any narrative gimmick that could help them drag things out still longer and fill out their episode order.
Tomorrow's two-hour series finale might be brilliant. Last Friday's penultimate episode was very enjoyable, after all. But even if it's the best two hours of television ever produced, it won't change the fact that "Prison Break" should have quit while it was ahead two years ago, in which case it could have become a living legend of a series that bowed out on a creative high point. Regrettably, American television rarely works out that way. Just about every successful show is allowed to linger on far too long. "Prison Break" is merely an extreme example of this trend.
In fact, Prison Break's 79-episode run can be split almost perfectly in half in terms of the series' quality. The first half was fantastic. The second half was grasping.
Prison Break's first season, back in the 2005-2006 TV season, was hands-down the most creatively satisfying season of television the medium has ever produced. It was smart, clever, intense, fun, and boasted some intriguing and memorable characters that heightened the emotional investment of the viewer. Best of all, unlike other serials like "24" or "Lost", it was clear that "Prison Break" showrunner Paul Scheuring had a master plan going in, and wasn't merely making shit up as he went along. Just about everything about Season 1 worked, but going into Season 2, I had to wonder how this could be sustained outside of the prison gates.
At least for the first half or so of Season 2, "Prison Break" pulled it off. The "manhunt" of the second season kept the narrative momentum pressing forward smoothly, if increasingly implausibly from a logistical standpoint. Unfortunately, the show lost its way at some point in the second half of the second season. If I had to single out a specific jump-the-shark moment, it might be when writers attempted to turn PB into a tragic love story with Michael Schofield and prison doctor Sarah Tancretti. From there, the corrupt and murderous President's massive conspiracy ultimately disappointed when finally revealed and the season's climactic storyline set in Panama didn't quite live up to expectations. And when Michael ended the season back in prison, this time in Panama, things were never the same again.
I still watched Prison Break's third season, set in a lawless Panamian prison, and at times found it very entertaining, but the gig was largely up. Writers by and large did the best with what they had to work with, but the series should never have been around for a third season in the first place, as they now had to recreate a prison escape that simply couldn't live up to the excitement of the first season's escape no matter how hard they tried.
Then, last September, came the current fourth season, where the narrative became even more muddled are drug-out. Much like the final season of "The A-Team", the "Prison Break" gang found themselves recruited by the government to go on missions in exchange for their freedom, completely abandoning the show's original premise to point of being unrecognizable save for the characters. Again, there have been outstanding episodes in Season 4, but there have also been a few truly awful episodes and an overarching feeling of a series that's way past its prime and desperately latching onto any narrative gimmick that could help them drag things out still longer and fill out their episode order.
Tomorrow's two-hour series finale might be brilliant. Last Friday's penultimate episode was very enjoyable, after all. But even if it's the best two hours of television ever produced, it won't change the fact that "Prison Break" should have quit while it was ahead two years ago, in which case it could have become a living legend of a series that bowed out on a creative high point. Regrettably, American television rarely works out that way. Just about every successful show is allowed to linger on far too long. "Prison Break" is merely an extreme example of this trend.
posted by Mark at 3:20 PM
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