Alcatraz kicked off with two episodes to set the tone for the rest of the season. While each episode was centered around a returning Alcatraz prisoner, each also helped to develop the overall mystery. What happened to the prisoners and guards at Alcatraz in 1963 and why are they coming back now?
Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) conveniently gets assigned to investigate the murder of Alcatraz’s former Deputy Warden E.B. Tiller. When the FBI took over the case, Madsen didn’t give up and uncovered the finger print of former Alcatraz prisoner, Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce).
Welcome to the 21st century, where if a government file is restricted, you just need to do a Google search to solve the mystery. No one can hide anymore! Madsen contacts an Alcatraz expert, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) to help her. They get caught investigating by Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) and Lucy Banerjee (Parminder Nagra). And, that gets the real story going.
Rather than going through each of the Alcatraz prisoner’s returns, I’m instead going to focus on the overall mystery and the role each character played within it.
Jack Sylvane — Prisoner 2024
He ended up in Alcatraz due to a series of events that started when he stole food to feed his family. The show effectively used flashbacks to develop some sympathy for him as the warden treated him horribly at Alcatraz. His decision to kill E.B. Tiller came across somewhat justified. But, these moments of sympathy are easily wiped away when he killed the cops and Barkley Flynn. Each time I watched the reunion with his brother, I teared up a bit. It was a bittersweet moment. The big mystery here is why was he sent to steal the key from Flynn?
Detective Rebecca Madsen
The first hour closed with her finding out that her grandfather was a prisoner at Alcatraz, not a guard as she had always believed. To make the situation worse, he returned to the present day at least three months prior and was responsible for the death of her partner. Madsen’s involvement in the mystery started conveniently, but her personal connection will create an urgency to figure out what is going on.
Dr. Diego Soto
He is an expert about Alcatraz and its occupants. His knowledge will be invaluable to the investigation. It seems that there is something more to him than we have been let in on at this point. What do you think it could be?
Ernest Cobb
He is the second returned prisoner that the team investigated. He was a sniper that terrorized people due to being abandoned by his mother. Again, another inmate that does evil, but also draws some compassion in the way his story was told. Why did he return? What mission was he sent to complete? Kill Lucy? Or was there something else. This is still a mystery.
Lucy Banjeree
Whoa! She was at Alcatraz in the 1960s? That was definitely a twist I didn’t see coming. Is Dr. Lucille Sengupta the same Lucy? I’d say, “yes.” So, we know she treated Cobb, but did Jack know her? I watched her interrogation of Jack again and couldn’t tell. He seemed concerned with who was watching. Was that why he didn’t talk freely with her about the time travel? That reveal leaves me with more questions than answers, but has hooked me! Does Hauser know? Is she part of the conspiracy or a victim like the prisoners? Just before she was shot, she tells Diego, “How I feel about what is happening doesn’t change the fact that it is happening.”
Emerson Hauser
He is the lead investigator of this Alcatraz mystery and has been there from the beginning. He was a young guard back in 1963 when the prisoners and guards disappeared. That should provide us with insight into what happened back then from flashbacks. But, how much does he know now? He told Jack that E.B. Tiller was a friend. How did they become friends since they weren’t at Alcatraz at the same time? Was E.B. Tiller involved? Hauser doesn’t seem to know who is behind the abduction or returning prisoners. Does he know that Lucy is involved? He asked Jack if Lucy was a target, which leads me to believe he does know the truth about her. Otherwise, why would she be a target?
These two episodes set the framework for a mystery that has me hooked. The story and the characters are both compelling. Going into the second episode, I thought the prisoner of the week format could be too procedural-like, but I don’t see that happening. Instead, each prisoner’s story will be used to better develop the overall mystery. I have no clue why the prisoners were taken, who took them, or why they are being used now, but I definitely will tune in each week to find out.
Clearly, I’m hooked. What did you think? Coming back for more next week?
Odds and Ends
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jan 16, 2012 @ 22:19 EST5EDT
Sylvane does not age because he is a Terminator in TSCC, methinks. Also, Katee Sackhoff could have played Madsen nicely.
Sackhoff would have been amazing. I’m not super attached to Madsen right now. I hope the actress grows into the role.
I have concerns about the show. I am so anti-procedural (I want to like Grimm, but I just can’t), and this is feeling super procedural. But it’s J.J., so I’ll give it a solid 6 weeks to delve into the mystery. Plus, Hurley for geeky comic relief, so easy sell.
Hauser knows what’s up. He’s trying to stop it. Or control it, being a prison guard and all.
And I swear to god, if Alcatraz ends up being on top of a time rift (a la Doctor Who/Torchwood) I’m going to be pissed because I’ll have to clean off eggs from my TV. The only reason I could see them building a bat cave in the same spot would be due to some temporal energy at the location that they’re trying to tap into to stop the impending evil plot. It worked for Lost kind of because of the mythology built before time-travel became an apparent part of the story-line. Time travel is part of the show from the get go. If it’s some time-energy/rift/hatch/elctro-magnet field power, JJ has to explain it quick and then move beyond it. If it’s not, some part of the show has to be amped up. Either mystery (that will have a non-cop out pay off), drama, comedy, whimsy, something. Hurley doesn’t have enough of a role to carry the show.
He could try to make it a supernatural Shawshank, but both prisoners have been guilty so far, so you’re not really routing for them. Yes, the prisoners were humanized, but real life convicts are humans with a back story that created emotions that they were unable to cope with in a socially acceptable way. Robbing a store to feed your family is still robbery. He then a killed another man in prison who hit on him. He and his wife could barely communicate in the visitation scene and she seemed like a mail-order bride. I really didn’t feel bad that she married his brother. Killing women with a sniper rifle that reminded you of your half-sister because your mom abandoned you and didn’t abandon her is still murder. And he was OCD crazy. OCD sniper? No thank you.
I hope it gets better, but I wasn’t impressed. If it wasn’t JJ, I wouldn’t continue.
On other premier notes, Lost Girl seems kind of awesome.
Did Jack kill the cops? I thought they both lived since he shot them in the shoulder. I remember thinking the same thing when he shot them, and then they mentioned the cops were still alive later in the episode.
Only one of them was still alive when found.
Are we really supposed to believe that Sam Neill is 70 years old? Or late 60s, if we buy that they sent a teenage guard out to Alcatraz? (OK, in real life the actor’s 64, but I’d say he looks younger). And why cast sympathetic actors for both of the murderers, and give them sympathetic backstories? Are they killers to be hunted down, or not? I don’t want to like them.
I was thinking that the female lead was doing a Katie Sackhoff impression. Hey, how about that dramatic but useless room with all the photos on the walls? Any reason for that, other than a dramatic scene each week, when they have all those flatscreens hooked up to computers in the batcave?
I got so sick of the insulting subtitles. You’d think the black & white would clue in anyone as to which were the old scenes, weren’t you? And is there some other prison in the show? Why keep putting ALCATRAZ on the screen with every subtitle, especially when it’s the wipe from the show to each commercial break? You CAN take branding too far. And you CAN underestimate the intelligence of your audience.
I’m interested in the sci-fi angles of the show. The last thing network TV needs is another show about a high-tech team chasing down a new killer every week. If that’s all they’ve got, I’ll be giving up pretty fast. I’m hoping for more, considering the talent involved. Maybe CBS can cancel the useless “Person of Interest” and Michael Emerson can come over to this show as another team member. Now THAT would make it interesting.
Very good ScottH. I will only add that as I was watching, I graded homework, played words w/ friends, folded laundry, all while petting the cat with my foot – and still was able to predict what was going to happen next. Just pap so far. Still, hope springs eternal. Perhaps it will improve.
I thought I was the only crazy one that thinks Emerson’s character is way to young to have worked in 1960-1963ish. He either was drinking the keep me young juice for awhile then went off of it, or had to be pulled out of time at some point. He looks awesome for a 70 something year old otherwise!
I’m surprised by the negativity here. I will definitely be watching, seems like a very promising show. The second episode was a bit too much like a procedural for my liking but the first was a lot of fun.
A couple of quick things – Dr Soto needs to provide value to the team and not just be a comic foil. The character provides nothing to the team right now. THe lead might be the dumbest detective on TV. One she let a perp pull on here and did nothing, the 2nd time she announced she was putting her gun down when it served no purpose. Characters can’t be stupid for a show like this to succeed.
I liked the ambiguous nature of are the bad guys really bad and are the good guys really good? I liked the greater mystery and how it was introduced. THe sniper shootings were brutal as they should be portrayed.
Katie Sackhoff would have chewed the scenery apart and made this show much less nuanced then it has the potential to be. She’s not the right actress for every role that requires a tough blonde in a bob cut.
I don’t know, he is an Alcatraz expert but then again I guess he can’t possibly know anything they wouldn’t be able to find in books and files anyway so maybe you’re right.
It is hard to believe they’d take him to crime scenes though.
Maybe you are right about Katie not being right for every role, but at least she’s believable in a fight. The gal they’ve got is laughable in that regard.
I think they all were all cloned by the goverment and some how they are released