"Escape at Dannemora"

You wouldn't think that a sensational prison escape which happened not-so-long ago could make such a compelling miniseries but it truly does.  Creators get credit for telling multiple stories of all those involved.  The most striking, of course, is that of Tilly Mitchell, played brilliantly by Patricia Arquette.  A tremendously complicated character, Arquette finds all the levels in this woman, communicated by a look, a grunt, a terse word.  With the arguable exception of Lyle Mitchell no character here is portrayed in a simple way and one sees the sides, as it were, of people who are pretty a-moralistic to begin with.  It was engaging in the same way as a page-turning book is.  You know what's going to happen but you have to watch, racing to get to the next episode.  Directed by Ben Stiller, there was a good deal of consternation by the people of upstate New York who were most impacted by the escape and thought that Stiller's involvement meant that the tale was being turned into a comedy.  They couldn't have been more wrong.  This is a quiet, thoughtful, well-done piece of work (with a nice soundtrack, to boot).  Not for the kids, the sexual activity is clear from the very beginning and episode six detailed in graphic violence.  Episode six is retrospect, showing how these two men ended up with life sentences.  For the very squeamish it could theoretically be skipped and not destroy the overall narrative.  That being said, watch it.  Really, really good.