Alcatraz (FOX) - News/Discussion/Speculation/Predictions SPOILERS

[Morbo]

Show was good enough to hold my attention. I'll disagree and say that I don't think it was very well written - lots of cheesy predictable bland dialogue.

Let's face it, the show is basically Fringe, minus the uber-sci-fi.
Female lead.
Creepy male superior that is shady.
Quirky sidekick.
Mystery.

Except the female lead and character on Fringe is way better than on Alcatraz. I'm delighted to see Jorge Garcia though. And I have a special place in my heart for Dr. Alan Grant.

I guess we just need to realize that JJ is creating the same thing over and over again.
He's behind Fringe, OUaT, and this. Though I do think OUaT is vastly different, and we do love that show.

I'll watch this show, but I won't cry if it goes away. But then again, anything is better than Terra Nova.

[Ian-S]

I echo everything good that has been written previously, especially the bit about Fringe and female lead, nothing like a bit of eyecandy to keep the viewer interested.

[Krisz]

This surprised me a bit as I really wasn't expecting it to be something that I would want to watch.

It really caught my attention and I'm intrigued enough to want to find out why all those prisoners are coming back in the present, why they were taken in the first place, and why Sam Neil is 'collecting' them and putting them back in his own version of Alcatraz.

When I was in San Francisco a few years back I stood on the dock from where the tour boat went to Alcatraz looking at 'The Rock' and just felt a really cold creepy feeling about the place. My daughter felt the same and we couldn't get ourselves to go on the sightseeing tour. I suppose this is why I'm intrigued by this show, there's just something about that place I couldn't put my finger on.

It was a nice surprise to see Paul McGillion. He may now become an expected sight in every J.J Abrams production after Abrams gave him that little spot on the Trek movie!

[LtColCarter]

So, what does everyone thing of Alcatraz? I enjoyed the twists in the beginning...but what I'm wondering is

Spoiler:

what happened to the prisoners in 1963? Why did they all disappear? Also, what is making them come back now? From what I saw, it seems someone is giving them missions to accomplish...at least from what I saw with the first dude that came back.

[Amann]

Damn, tonight's episode sucked hard. I thought that Jack Sylvane (the first prisoner to come back) was going to get a bit more development considering they were showing more of him. I am very interested in where his character goes, if he winds up eventually helping the good guys or escapes. He is the least evil of the prisoner immates shown so far. An unlucky grocery store robber that knocked off one with a post office and got sent to Alcatraz, and then kills a guy that tried to rape him in the shower. Self defense. Although he does kill the deputy Warden out of revenge (but from what we've seen, he was a real dick that probably deserved to get shot from his framing immates and completely denying prisoners any chance for privileges simply because he doesn't like the guy. It's one thing to dislike criminals for what they are, but another thing entirely to start framing them for stuff. It is unprofessional and guys like him have no business being in law enforcement or running a prison.) Then Jack shoost two cops "on his mission". Which we have no idea what it is about yet, and why he needed that key. Perhaps compulsed to do so, or promised something that is worth killing for, since we have absolutely no idea what is behind all of it. Since Jack's character before the present day was not a guy that killed effortlessly. Makes me wonder wtf happened to him.

But this is the absolute least of this episode's problems.

1) The whole diner scene. Now, Diego Soto said in the last episode that he wasn't cut out for this kind of work, that he wasn't very much a field agent. Ok, I can buy that. But now he runs off without telling anyone about the lead or suspicion he has that the child killer is going to a diner to get some cherry pie. Instead of informing everyone about the whole idea after giving a rant to Neill's character about saving the child's life, he runs off like the action hero and goes chasing the lead on his own. Now, he is in a diner, where by luck, he encounters the child killer with the kid. Instead of getting up and walking past the killer's table casually before smashing a fist in the side of the guy's head or grabbing him and pinning hum underneath your big bulk (Soto is at least 200-300 pounds heavier than this guy and would have little trouble overpowering him), he sits there and as they are leaving, slides a plate off the table in front of them to delay them, and tries to delay them more by asking if they had change for a dollar or what they are doing. The whole scene was contrived and painful to watch. It certainly makes me hate the character all the more for his stupidity.

2) The scene immediately after, where they have the child killer at gunpoint, was almost as bad if not worse. Cue Rebecca Madsen, a trained cop, who pulls up and whips out her gun and points at the killer. The killer grabs the kid and has the gun to the kid's head. Ok, hostage situation. Very well. So what does she do after he says he is gonna kill the kid? She throws away her gun and handcuffs herself and Soto together. Instead of saying something like "You can't go anywhere.", which is what most cops would do. They would try to negotiate or at least risk the shot, because if they let the killer go, the kid would be killed anyway unless they happen to find him again. So the killer gets away. Instead of unlocking the cuffs, she shoots the cuffs and then points the gun at the fleeing car that is now much further away than she was before. So she is willing to at least aim or shoot at a moving car that is much further away and possibly hit passerby or the kid but not shoot the killer in the face at 10 feet away? God, she can be stupid for a cop. And then she has the gall to say to Soto for his running off that "it wasn't his fault" The hell it was! If he just stopped the killer right in the diner, he wouldn't have had a gun out, and the kid would be saved.

We are led to believe these characters are somewhat smart and intelligent, but so far all I am seeing is their idiocy. The only saving grace of the episode and the show itself was Sam Neill (his character is badass), and the premise of what the hell happened on Alcatraz. I will watch one more episode, but if they screw up like they did tonight, no more watching for me.

3) How did Neill's character know where the killer was going to be? He wasn't in the room with Ditz and Bozo when they were looking for the bomb shelters where the killer used to work at. No explanation to how he got there. At least show a 10 second scene after Ditz and Bozo left the computer room, and have Neill come in and glance at the screen before he follows them or Something. OR SIMPLY HAVE HIM STANDING IN THE ROOM WITH THEM!

4) This has more to do with Soto than anything else. Bozo insists he is not a field agent (and he isn't), yet he is running around with a cop catching guys instead of being like Abby from NCIS and being what he is, a consultant. And he does that action hero thing that would likely have gotten him killed or chewed out by any competent cop.

[Rocket_Scientist]

I love this show so much, if only because I'm such a Lostie that anything remotely like Lost fascinates me.
Alcatraz definitely has its own merits too, though. Sam Neill's character is so awesome, and of course Diego Soto is loveable, lol.

Amann, let me speak to your first point of concern. While I do see your point, I disagree with some of your analyses. I think he only ran off because of how emotional the situation made him. His personal experience of being kidnapped definitely clouded his judgment, which, IMHO, is perfectly reasonable. If you're having memories of personal trauma, you can be forgiven for acting a bit out of character. I think his tunnel-vision of saving the kid no matter what was, at the very least, to be expected, if not forgivable. I also think he can be forgiven for not being more proactive about stopping Nelson. Madsen told him to "stay put," and since she's the cop, I suspect he wanted to follow instructions. Also, he's not the most, um, athletic fellow and I suspect a physical confrontation didn't even occur to him. Besides, the guy's an experienced criminal. Even if I were huge, I'd worry about him whipping a gun out faster than I could hit him. I think Soto's actions fit his character perfectly: he suddenly began to realize his emotional reaction had him between a rock and a hard place, and wanted to let Madsen do her job (so he didn't have to get involved). As a result, the best thing he could do was hope Madsen showed up before Nelson left, and, since she didn't, his "quick" thinking resulted in a semi-ineffective stalling.

Whew. Sorry for being long-winded. If you totally disagree, that's absolutely fine. I just wanted to share my own interpretation.

[Amann]

I love this show so much, if only because I'm such a Lostie that anything remotely like Lost fascinates me.
Alcatraz definitely has its own merits too, though. Sam Neill's character is so awesome, and of course Diego Soto is loveable, lol.

Amann, let me speak to your first point of concern. While I do see your point, I disagree with some of your analyses. I think he only ran off because of how emotional the situation made him. His personal experience of being kidnapped definitely clouded his judgment, which, IMHO, is perfectly reasonable. If you're having memories of personal trauma, you can be forgiven for acting a bit out of character. I think his tunnel-vision of saving the kid no matter what was, at the very least, to be expected, if not forgivable. I also think he can be forgiven for not being more proactive about stopping Nelson. Madsen told him to "stay put," and since she's the cop, I suspect he wanted to follow instructions. Also, he's not the most, um, athletic fellow and I suspect a physical confrontation didn't even occur to him. Besides, the guy's an experienced criminal. Even if I were huge, I'd worry about him whipping a gun out faster than I could hit him. I think Soto's actions fit his character perfectly: he suddenly began to realize his emotional reaction had him between a rock and a hard place, and wanted to let Madsen do her job (so he didn't have to get involved). As a result, the best thing he could do was hope Madsen showed up before Nelson left, and, since she didn't, his "quick" thinking resulted in a semi-ineffective stalling.

Whew. Sorry for being long-winded. If you totally disagree, that's absolutely fine. I just wanted to share my own interpretation.

The point is, he could have easily taken Nelson by surprise, just walk past the table where both were and hit him in the face before he could react. OR grab and throw him. He can't whip out a gun that fast. Or at the very least, ensure that the diner would react and restrain both of them. I rather be restrained by a bunch of fellow diners with the criminal also being pinned and restrained while the cops are there, knowing the kid is now safe and going to be returned home, rather than do some half-arsed stalling attempts that only alert Nelson that something was up.

[LtColCarter]

The point is, he could have easily taken Nelson by surprise, just walk past the table where both were and hit him in the face before he could react. OR grab and throw him. He can't whip out a gun that fast. Or at the very least, ensure that the diner would react and restrain both of them. I rather be restrained by a bunch of fellow diners with the criminal also being pinned and restrained while the cops are there, knowing the kid is now safe and going to be returned home, rather than do some half-arsed stalling attempts that only alert Nelson that something was up.

I agree...but its obvious that you've never had anything traumatizing happen to you as a child. Those types of events have long lasting events. As an adult, I was hit in an intersection by a drunk driver. For months after that I would cringe each time I went through an intersection and there was on coming traffic. I'm over that now, but I think your assessment is a little harsh. Walk a few feet in someone's shoes before you judge them.

And as far as the cop taking the shot...in that case...we would've lost both the killer AND the child. Letting them go was the best option.

Anyway, I enjoyed the episode...I will admit that I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two that we saw last week.

[Morbo]

ep was pretty not good.

[VampyreWraith]

I thought this Monday night's episode was ok, I liked the first two a lot better though.

[LtColCarter]

I thought this Monday night's episode was ok, I liked the first two a lot better though.

Agreed...but still good...

[Morbo]

btw this should be required watching before viewing the show

[Morbo]

better episode tonight.
barely started filling in holes, but a start.

[Rocket_Scientist]

I really loved tonight's episode. Lots of unexpected twists, and things are starting to come together.

[Kliggins]

Really good episode tonight. Will be interesting to see where it goes.