As Prison Break opens, we learn that Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) is one death row awaiting execution, having been convicted of murdering the vice president's brother. We then meet Lincoln's brother, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), who is arrested for robbing a bank. Despite the pleas of his attorney and friend, Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), Michael pleads no contest and allows himself to be sentenced to prison -- the same prison where his brother is being held. It seems that Michael has a plan to break his brother out of prison. Michael has studied every detail of the facility and has the blueprints of the prison tattooed on his body.

However, when Michael arrives at Fox River Penitentiary, he finds that all of his planning and studying hasn’t prepared him for all of the aspects of prison life. His cellmate is a lovelorn man named Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), who is desperate to see his fiancée. Part of Michael’s plan involves the prison’s infirmary, and he begins to see the complicated Dr. Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) everyday. Michael learns that the warden (Stacy Keach) is a level-headed man, but some of the guards, especially Captain Bellick (Wade Williams) are brutal. As the date of Lincoln’s execution draws closer, Michael makes friends and enemies as he attempts to carry out his plan. Meanwhile, Veronica begins to investigate Lincoln’s claims that he was framed and begins to uncover a conspiracy that could endanger everyone involved.

So, the idea of Prison Break, the fact that a man is going to free his innocent brother from death row, sounds very simplistic and doesn’t sound like the kind of thing which could sustain an entire season of television. And yet, despite some fits and starts, the 966-minutes of the first season of the show is exciting and easily draws the viewer into the story.

One of the main reasons that Prison Break works is the writing on the show. Series creator Paul Scheuring and his staff. They have clearly put an amazing amount of thought and planning into the show, and the story is very, very detailed. Michael has put a great deal of work into his escape plan and the show examines many of the minute details of this multi-layered scheme. And, as noted above, Michael runs into unexpected obstacles once he reaches prison, and these really bring the story to life. Essentially, Michael is a brilliant man who was able to devise an elaborate plot, but he couldn’t predict the behavior of his fellow inmates. As he attempts to set his plan into motion, he’s continually stymied by the violent and greedy behavior of his fellow inmates. Michael’s plan to only have a small group involved in the endeavor grows out of control, and this adds many interesting characters to the story.

And it’s these characters that add another layer to Prison Break. Yes, the show gives us the usual array of stereotypical characters -- the Mafioso, the child-killer, the hustler, the petty-criminal -- but these characters are also given a great deal of depth and this only increases the drama. In fact, there is one episode late in the season which is comprised solely of flashbacks as we learn the stories of several of characters and come to learn how they got to Fox River. The show creates a complex network of sympathetic characters and villains and their interactions with Michael creates a nice sense of drama and suspense. The show does an especially good job of creating situations where Michael must trust a character that we’ve come to hate. Obviously, these characters are bolstered by the actors on the show who are all good, especially the Wentworth Miller as the stoic Michael Scofield. As Miller is asked to carry the show, he does a fine job of portraying a man who has taken on a daunting task and occasionally gives in to his demons.

My only complaint about Prison Break is the show’s inconsistency. The first few episodes of the show are very intense and I immediately found myself caught up in the story. However, these episodes were also very bleak and watching them back-to-back was a harrowing experience. And then suddenly, much-needed levity found its way into the show. (This has the earmarks of a mandate from the network and, for once, it’s welcome.) The first half of the season does a great job of examining Michael’s plan and each episode deals with a different facet of his scheme. (And these are usually hidden in the intricate details of his tattoos.) But, the second half of the season gets away from this idea and the show becomes somewhat repetitive as Michael’s plans are constantly forced to change due to mitigating circumstances. The show goes from being a sort of “James Bond in prison” to a more conventional undertaking. Don’t get me wrong, the show maintains its suspense and its one of the most shocking shows that I’ve ever watched as many characters don’t survive, but I found that I enjoyed the earlier episodes more than the later ones.

This may sound odd, but I’m always wary of new shows on FOX because of the annoying way in which they hype them. Every program on the network is the funniest or most exciting or most dramatic show ever made! I don’t expect them to question the quality of their own shows, but they make outlandish claims that are rarely unfulfilled. So when Prison Break was advertised as an exciting new show, I initially passed. I’m now glad that I took a chance on the show, as I found it be very engaging and addictive.

Prison Break: Season One goes over the wall onto Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The set contains all 22 episodes of Season One, spread across six discs. The discs have a 1080p HD AVC transfer and the show has been letterboxed at 1.78:1. The image is very sharp and clear, and it easily looks better than the DVD release of the series. The image shows a mild amount of grain, but only in the daytime exterior shots. The crispness of the image is immediately noticeable and the colors look very good and realistic. Much of the show is shot through chain-link fences and the DVD showed a great deal of pixellation and video noise during these scenes. That is not in evidence here though, and the fences pose little problem. The discs have a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio track which runs at 48 kHz and 1.5 Mbps. The amount of detail in the stereo effects is instantly noticeable, especially during crowd scenes such as in the cafeteria -- there is a great deal of detail and one can pick up subtle sounds. The dialogue and sound effects are always clear and audible. There is a nice, steady amount of bass response, giving an ambience to the interior scenes. The surround sound is somewhat disappointing, as crowd scenes, such as the riots, don't produce much rear speaker action. But, the scenes where the camera "wooshes" through the prison bring about some nice rear effects.

This DVD set contains a fine assortment of extra features. Six episodes contain AUDIO COMMENTARIES from a variety of speakers. Creator Paul Scheuring and actor Dominic Purcell contribute to four of the commentaries, and executive producer Brett Ratner talks over the “Pilot” which he directed. The other commentaries feature various writers, directors and actors. All of these commentaries are very informative, but the ones which feature a large group, such as “Riots, Drills, and the Devil” (Parts 1 & 2) are very entertaining as the speakers have a good time kidding around. The episodes “Allen”, “And Then There Were 7”, “Brother’s Keeper”, and “J-Cat” all offer deleted scenes, all of which are brief and don’t contain any new info. There is an alternate ending to the episode “End of the Tunnel”, which actually ends the episode earlier than the one which actually aired.

The remainder of the extras appear on Disc 6. “Making of Prison Break“ (31 minutes) is featurette which offers comments from cast and crew, as they discuss the development of the show, the cast & characters, the location, and the acting & writing style of the series. As the show is shot in an actual prison, “If These Walls Could Speak: Profile of Joliet Correctional Center” (9 minutes) gives a detailed history of the facility which closed in 2002. “Beyond the Ink” (16 minutes) is a look at Michael’s tattoo. Tattoo artist Tom Berg describes his work on the show, but the segment doesn’t spend enough time on how the fake tattoo is applied to Miller. “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene -- Prison Break“ is an 8-minute featurette which again introduces viewers to the show and describes shooting in the real prison. The extras are rounded out by a series of 6 TV SPOTS. It seems odd that Fox would put this set on six discs, as it's my understanding that with the capacity of Blu-ray, they could have gotten all of the episodes on 2 discs at the most. Also, I'm not crazy about the packaging here, as the discs don't seem to want to live together in harmony.