Ladies and gentlemen, I have a new obsession and its name is Prison Break.
Oh yes, I did forget to mention how my vacation was. It was brilliant! My family and I had a fantastic time in Disney and in Vero Beach, which was all kinds of relaxing- something I desperately needed after a long four months of diaper-clad, sticky-fingered, sneaky-yet-adorable two-year-olds. But on my vacation, there was something I discovered that took me back to my days of caring wayyyy too much about fictional characters and the always-dramatic lives they lead. Something by the name of Prison Break.
Now I know what you're thinking- this is hardly the kind of show that I'd watch and looking at my track record, you'd be correct. With comedies such as Community, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Gossip Girl (alright, so it's not technically a comedy, but it's a teen drama, so basically they're the same thing) under my belt, it was a wonder I even gravitated towards something like Lost, which is so, so far from a comedy. But I did, and I loved it, and then Netflix suggested the subject of this blog post, Prison Break.
So I did what I usually do when Netflix suggests things- I ignored it. But one night during my fabulous vacation, I was flipping through the channels and an episode of Prison Break was rerunning in some ridiculous channel only the messed up state of Florida would have. It was already halfway over but I thought, meh, why the hell not? And before you could say Fox River State Peniteniary, I was hooked. And I mean seriously captivated by this show with such a simple concept- a man (an attractive man played by Wentworth Miller) gets himself sent to prison so he can breakout with his wrongfully accused brother. Yet, this show is anything but simple and I think that, like what I saw in Lost, is what drew me in.
And currently, I've only completed the first season and still have three to go, but I just wanted everyone to be aware of my new obsession, because I'm sure that Prison Break will be the subject of many blog posts to come. As for this one, I just want to point out all of the ironic things about this show that just seriously make me think. In case you couldn't tell from my love of Lost and Community, I like shows that make me think.
First of all, let's talk about the concept- a man tattooing the blueprints of a prison on his body so he can break his innocent brother out of jail. Like... Who even comes up with this kind of idea? But not only is it bat-shit crazy, it's freaking brilliant. There is no way the average con would dream of doing this, but then again, Michael Scofield isn't your average con. He's planned this from day one and the look on Lincoln's face when Michael tells him his plan is just so hopeful, like he actually believs it's going to work. And it does... Kind of. It's a risk, but everything he's ever done is a risk, so why not try?
And then, let's talk about who we're siding with here. There is a complete transfer of power here and coinciding with this, we watch this nail-biting tale of people trying to break of prison and we actually want them to succeed. Some of these people are killers- Abruzzi is in the mafia and freaking Teddy is a child rapist, for God's sake- and yet, we still get angry when the guards figure out their plan or unknowingly prevent me from escaping. It just baffles me, because I'm thinking about it now and wondering if these people were real, would I really want them out in the real world, amongst normal, innocent people? HELL no!! But that's the crazy thing about this show- these people are convicts, but they're made to be the good guys and even though some of them have done terrible things, we somehow are able to look past that and cheer them on through their troublesome journey.
This, of course, brings us to who we're not siding with and that is, obviously, law enforcement, the very people who we'd be siding with if this was happening in real life. It's just insane, because the people who are accusing Lincoln Burroughs of murdering the Vice President's brother- who is, by the way, very much still alive- are the Secret Service. Like... What the hell? These are the people who are trusted to protect the president of the United States and they're allowed to just go shooting people and blaming it on others?? It's just insane. And of course, because they're the Secret Service, they can get away with anything. It is messed the F up, friends. Goodness. I still can't get over it.
So, that's my beginning to the Prison Break franchise. It's a messed up world where the supposed "good guys" are actually the guilty ones who are killing people left and right and the bad guys, those convicted of heinous crimes and rotting in prison, are those we're rooting for to succeed. It's very weird and very screwed up...but it's amazing. The show has quickly become my newest obsession and, since my shows don't start again until October, its exactly what I needed. ;)
