Wentworth Miller: Prison Break and Joan of Arcadia

Wentworth Miller is an actor with an interesting career. Although it was fairly short, he left a strong, positive impression. Undoubtedly viewers will miss him now that he's now turned to screenwriting (hopefully not for good).

Miller's first big project, Prison Break, was an excellent show for the first season, and pretty repetitive from then on. However, it seems the cloud of the last few seasons of Prison Break seems to have obscured what made the show great in the first place: Michael Scofield. The first season had numerous strengths: T-Bag was incredibly unsettling and the creative plot made for very interesting story possibilities, but everything was built on Michael Scofield. Wentworth Miller's semi-creepy interpretation was the saving grace of a character that could have turned out very two-dimensional. It's a shame Prison Break didn't have enough fuel to keep giving him a good story to work with.

The real disappointment where Wentworth Miller is concerned is his earlier appearance on Joan of Arcadia. For those who don't know, JoA was a show that aired in the early 2000s about a girl who could talk to God. God would take the form of a seemingly random person, like a janitor or police officer, and give her "mini-crusades" to perform. It was Amber Tamblyn's first big appearance and a great show. Unfortunately it was abruptly cut-short after only two seasons to make way for (groaning) Ghost Whisperer. The show's writers scrambled to find a way to satisfactorily end the program, and they somehow perfectly manufactured a short arc involving the introduction of the show's version of Satan.

Guess who they found to play the sinister character? If you guessed Betty White you were wrong. It was Wentworth Miller! He was phenomenal. Although his character only appeared in the final two episodes, he dominated the screen. It goes to show that, although he was great as a force for good on Prison Break, Miller really is meant to play the villain. Ryan Hunter was another person that God had revealed himself to. However, Ryan had a different, less grateful response to God's presence. As you can imagine, this makes for an interesting confrontation with Joan.

The scenes worth watching start on 2:40, but watch the entirety if you want a better perspective.

Comment on his performance below.