“Escape at Dannemora” Critic Reviews, Trivia, and More

| Posted on |

Filling you in on all things related to “Escape at Dannemora” in the lead up to its November 18th premiere on Showtime at 10:00 P.M ET.

The only thing better than a great true crime podcast or documentary is a crime-focussed series on a network that knows what they’re doing. All of my favorite shows fall under the latter, with Season 1 of True Detective, Fargo, and The Night Of topping the list (in no particular order). Eight weeks from now, when Escape at Dannemora wraps up its seventh and final episode, I’m hoping to add it to my shortlist.

Escape at Dannemora is just a few days away now and I can’ barely contain myself. If you’re like me, you know how long the wait has been and finally, it’s time to find out if it can join the elite ranks of prestige crime TV. Below, we’ll go through everything you’ll need to know going in, as well as some stuff I found compelling about Showtime’s newest series. No spoilers, I promise.

Escape at Dannemora

The Basics

Series Premiere: Sunday, November 18th, 2018
Network: Showtime
Time: 10:00 P.M ET
Schedule: New episodes will come every Sunday at 10:00 P.M ET until the season finale on January 6th, 2019.

The Crew

Director: Ben Stiller
Writers: Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin, Jerry Stahl
Lead Actors: Paul Dano, Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette
Notable Supporting: Michael Imperioli, Bonnie Hunt, David Morse, Eric Lang

The Story

“This limited series is based on the stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015 that spawned a massive manhunt for two convicted murderers. The prisoners were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled.” (per Showtime)

The Response

Escape at Dannemora has a 91-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 22 reviews).

  • “The best possible version of a stranger-than-fiction truth told fictionally. The right director at the right time with the right actors and the right story can turn the salacious into the superb.” –Kelly Lawler (USA Today)
  • “Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora proves yet again that the miniseries is the site of the most engaging long-form storytelling in television today.” –Carlos Valladares (San Francisco Chronicle)

The Breakout

Of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s amazing how many specifically praise Patricia Arquette’s portrayal of employee-turned-accomplice Tilly Mitchell.

  • “Stiller and Arquette make Escape at Dannemora an intense, exciting, and character-elevated miniseries. A focus on human error over institutional failings makes for a distinct and gripping experience.” –Ben Travers (IndieWire)
  • “Arquette, in particular, is hard to look away from as a woman desperate to feel wanted. The character seems to take over her entire body.” –Matthew Gilbert (Boston Globe)
  • “It’s Arquette’s Tilly that steals the show.” -Sonia Saraiya (Vanity Fair)
  • “Throughout sits the figure of Tilly, simultaneously terrifying and pathetic, toxically real and unforgettable.” –John Doyle (Globe and Mail)

The Dopeness

  • Bonnie Hunt and David Morse also acted together in The Green Mile back in 1999.
  • Patricia Arquette didn’t want to meet the character she played because she “didn’t want to deal with her drama.“
  • Ben Stiller told NPR that he met with David Sweat (Dano’s character) for “almost six hours.”
  • A lot of the series was actually shot on location in the same places the real events happened.
  • Arquette gained 40 pounds for the role, according to Syracuse.com.
  • Tupac did time in the same prison (Clinton Correctional Facility) and talked about it on his All Eyez On Me album.
  • The song where the prison is mentioned is “Picture Me Rollin” with Pac calling out the prison guards in the outro.
  • Several other rappers were also jailed at Clinton, according to their Wikipedia page. Shyne, ODB, and Maino are three that stuck out but there are others, too.

If you don’t have a Showtime subscription, make sure you get one for the next few months at least. The first seven days are free, followed by $10.99 per month.

Thanks for reading!