When it comes to miniseries, you can’t get more classic than a true-crime miniseries. The format is made for true crime: the events are based on real life, so there’s no expectation of a Season 2, and knowing what’s to come because of the real-life events keeps audiences tuning in week after week.
In 2018, this was proven by what may be the most distilled version of the true crime miniseries: a scandalous, dramatic, and very often goofy take on a real-life event backed by an all-star cast and crew. Now that it’s streaming on Netflix, it may just be your next obsession.
Escape at Dannemora tells the true story of two prisoners who, with the help of two prison employees, escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York in 2015. One of those employees was Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (Patricia Arquette), a married seamstress with a bad habit of being unfaithful. She first carries on a relationship with inmate David Sweat (Paul Dano) and then his friend Richard Matt (Benicio del Toro).
Together, the two talk Tilly into helping them in an effort to escape, using the underground tunnels and sewer system. The first five episodes in the series’ eight episodes are spent on the lead-up to the escape: how they promised Tilly a life in Mexico, how Tilly explained her relationship with the inmates to her husband, and how they kept everything out of view of the prison administration.
Once the escape actually happens, the linear focus of the series is completely abandoned. In Episode 6 of the series, we see just how these inmates ended up in prison in the first place — and how Tilly ended up working there. It’s something that could only happen in a series like this — a standalone flashback episode right at the most climactic moment in the entire story.
There are plenty of other true crime miniseries — Patricia Arquette would even go on to play yet another complicated woman with a regional accent in Hulu’s The Act the year after this. But what makes Escape at Dannemora so special is the variety of people involved. Beyond the three main stars, all of whom are found more often in high-profile movies, the creative bench is also full of big names.
Escape at Dannemora was co-created and written by Mad Men staff writer Brett Johnson and The Player’s Michael Tolkin, and every episode is directed by Severance’s Ben Stiller. The combination of the decades of experience delivers the perfect miniseries balance: not too structured that it feels engineered, but also not too cinematic that it feels like one story divided into parts.
This series understands what makes true crime miniseries one of the most enduring genres — the voyeuristic pleasure of being part of a secret conspiracy, balanced with the enjoyment of knowing how it all will end. When Sweat and Matt debate whether or not the escape will work, the audience knows — it’s in the title — but that doesn’t make the journey there any less watchable.
