Blu-ray Review: Prison Break, Season 3

THE SERIES: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
Right off the bat, I can’t really say that I am a fan of this series. The first season was pretty enjoyable but I can’t say the same for season 2 or the writers’ strike shortened season 3. The problem with a series based on a prison escape is that it is really hard to move forward after the cat is out of the bag. Putting the lead characters back in other prisons so they can escape again and again just doesn’t cut it for me. You also can’t have them running forever from the authorities and other assorted bad guys as that whole thing was done before on TV and frankly, a lot better.

In any event, season 3 of Prison Break contains most of the cast members from the first season and picks up where season 2 ended, where most of the cast has ended up in Panama where Michael is incarcerated in the worst prison in Panama where beatings and death is an everyday occurrence. Lincoln tries to free his brother from that prison and as one would expect, encounters problems. Season 3 is only 13 episodes long due the the writers strike and is presented here on a total of 4 50 GD dual layer discs. Recommended for fans of the show as these shows will likely never look better than they do on this collection and having the whole set, gives you the chance to watch each episode at your leisure.

THE VIDEO: 4 stars out of 5
All 13 episodes are encoded with AVc at 26 MBPS and are presented in their original HD aspect ratio of 1:78:1. It would appear from my viewing of the discs that the shows do look better on on Blu-Ray than they do on over the air television. However, not by all that much. If you are expecting a much better picture than over the air high definition, you will be disappointed. However, there is an improvement as one would expect given the higher data rate and more efficient codec. Season 3 uses a stylized picture with the shots inside the prison skewed to the brownish side, similar to the mud that makes up much of the camp. Scenes outside the prison are fairly natural looking in regards to their color palette. Flashback scenes on the other hand are very blue and cool looking, clearing differentiating them as flashbacks visually. I found that distance shots looked rather soft and fuzzy with close up shots fairly detailed but nowhere near as sharp, clear and detailed as a show such as CSI NY which IMHO is the best looking HD show on TV. I found that black level overall to be a bit mediocre resulting in a somewhat flat looking image, lacking the depth of the best looking films and TV series. Are these bad looking discs? Far from it as they look very good and as I mentioned earlier, better than the over the air TV broadcasts. However, they fall a bit short of the best looking HD available over the air and short of the last series I reviewed on Blu-Ray, Grey’s Anatomy Season 4.

THE AUDIO: 3 7/8 stars out of 5
The high res audio option as always on a Fox title is presented in DTS HD master Audio. However, here, I found the audio to be very mediocre at best with little in the way of dynamics or real impact. Frankly, this release sounds every bit like a TV show. On the plus side, the surrounds are actively engaged but not not really create a totally immersive aural experience. Dialogue is well recorded and well placed in the mix. Bass is good but not great which explains the overall lack of impact with the sound design. Overall, I was rather disappointed with the audio on this release as it really doesn’t offer much of an improvement at all from the over the air TV version.

IN CONCLUSION
Prison Break Season 3 on Blu-Ray offers an improvement in video quality over the show as seen in over the air HDTV but offers little in the way of an improvement on the audio side. If you are a real fan of the series and need to watch the shows multiple times, by all means pick up this release. However, for casual fans, I can recommend this release as a rental only.

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