The big problem Alcatraz has had , since the beginning , is one of position . For a show about America ’s most notorious prison house , the show has been drop a mickle of time in a vapid , characterless urban center that is hypothesise to be San Francisco but could be Anytown U.S.A. Meanwhile , the show has teased us with flashback scenes set in the prison house in 1960 , which have been sometimes quite startling and bizarre .
The large question give ear over Alcatraz ’s head has been whether the present - daylight sequences would ever begin be up to the flashback . And with the two episodes that aired Monday , the show made a Brobdingnagian step in the right way .
Spoilers beforehand …
In general , Monday ’s episodes give us some cause for hope that the show is travel to start getting past the limitations of its “ inmate of the week ” job . In particular , they both shake off up the formula in dissimilar fashion , and there seemed to be a smidgen of hope that the present - day segment are run short to start out having a real horse sense of set up of their own .
So here are the causes for optimism from Monday ’s two back - to - back episodes :
The Setting . indisputable , the second hr was still place in sunny “ I ca n’t think it ’s not San Francisco , ” with all of its nondescript street . ( Although we got a random mention to the Bay Bridge being a parking lot , which seems accurate . ) But at least the second hour gave us a span topographic point besides the internal sanctum at Alcatraz that felt like meaningful locations : there ’s Rebecca ’s flat , and Ray ’s bar . ( I do n’t cognise why this show is n’t having more scenes set in Ray ’s barroom , which seems to be where a mint of the key relationship on this show ought to be play out . Plus , legal community are always fun on television . )
And meanwhile , the first hour actually gave us a skittish cat - and - mouse thing inside Alcatraz itself , in which the quondam prison start to seem as real and scarey a place in the present as it does in all those flashback . To the extent that the show has used present - day Alcatraz as a setting at all , it ’s been as the favorable happy place where our heroes go to trade repartee and discourse their forward motion on the case of the workweek . But Alcatraz works a mint better when it ’s a the pits , as we can see in the first hour of Monday ’s two - hour event thingy .
Setting is really , really of import on tv — the most memorable telecasting shows are the ones which give us a few stead that find like you could drop fourth dimension there . sunshine being an obvious example — the bar is as much a character on the show as Sam or Diane . Thus far , Alcatraz has a great common sense of setting in its flashback , but intimately none in its present - daylight scenes . Monday ’s episodes seemed like the first , tentative steps towards fixing that .
The caseful . We still basically had a couple of “ yard bird of the week ” report , but they were varied enough that they did n’t feel quite as “ rinsing repetition ” as your stock “ 1950s savings bank robber comes back and starts pluck banks ” news report . In the first hour , the Ames Brothers come back — but they ’re turn with a former guard , and they have a end that goes beyond resuming their old offense fling . It turns out their notable , almost - successful escape attempt of 1961 was n’t about getting away , but about getting at some gold hide under the prison . And they ’re still at it . Meanwhile , in the second minute , a kidnapper from the fifties tap again — but his victims deform out to be the married man and girl of his former underaged lady friend / accomplice / dupe , who stole his money .
Neither of these cases matte quite as predictable as the one from weeks by — and more significantly , they both tried to use the “ sentence - traveling prison inmates ” notion in a wise , interesting way . They both had actual stories to evidence . In previous episodes , the inmate ’s bare line of work has largely been separate from the renew crime spree — the former yardbird has a loved one who ’s still alert , or an old trauma that ’s still bother him , and there ’s some psychobabble on the way to reset the case — but this time around , the unfinished business concern was the center of the story , which automatically pull in it a bit more interesting .
The Characters . The most interesting character reference on Alcatraz continues to be Warden James — and hooray for the hint that he might , indeed , be back in the present day looking the same as he did back in 1960 . Let ’s hope that ’s true , since the show already wasted one opportunity by killing off a geriatric Deputy Warden E.B. Tiller in the pilot . Monday gave us more of Warden James ’ grandiloquent speechifying , including his seek church preaching as well as his bonkers “ some plans are scribbled in pencil , but yours was souse into the inkwell of greatness ” homily . And then , in the 2nd hour , there are the eldritch hints that he and Tiller have had a falling out — they antecedently seemed like the adept of supporter in the “ E.B. ’s birthday dinner party ” episode , but now they ’re sniping over whether the great unwashed can adapt to Alcatraz , or just find their place in the innate ordering .
But meanwhile , a few other characters are starting to get flesh out a bit more . Rebecca Madsen continues to be kind of a weak agonist , but she makes a bit of progress in Monday ’s episode . Once again , she gets to be the total badass , realizing that Donovan , the “ Park Ranger ” she finds in the prison is in reality a ’ 63 who ’s in on the Ames Brothers ’ cozenage , and then beating the crap out of Pinky Ames during the whole prison house battle royal . More importantly , though , we see in the second hour that she ’s been having nightmares about her grandad , Tommy Madsen , look on her sleep — and he in reality is watching her sleep . When she finds out that Hauser is have her uncle Ray watched , to see if Tommy turns up , her response is to be altogether okay with it . Her uncle ’s privacy is absolutely no bragging wad , compared to round up her malevolent grandpa .
The other really interesting character , though , continues to be Ray Archer himself — who ’s also the show ’s most underused lineament , at this point . After Ray ’s boastful instalment a month ago , it was kind of sad to see him fly from the show for a few weeks . But now he ’s back , and both Past Ray and Present Ray are getting some interesting moment . Past Ray single - handedly foils the Ames Brothers ’ attempt to break into the Alcatraz dungeons and get the hidden gold — and it turns out to be part of a scheme to get in with Warden James , on behalf of Tommy . Present - day Ray , meanwhile , wants Rebecca to be off Hauser ’s taskforce , and mean she ’s start out too obsessed with Tommy — and we still do n’t know why the brothers have had a hang out .
Oh , and meanwhile , we regain out that some of the inmates , like Tommy , have miraculous healing properties , and it ’s somehow connected to the bloodwork that was done on them . But Dr. Beauregard claims he has no clue what happened to the profligate after he removed it — he just pour it , and then what happened after was not his department . ( Says Wernher Von Braun . )
The Themes . And finally , there was some interesting thematic ground being trodden in the flashback scene in Monday ’s episodes . The first instalment teased us with question of “ faith vs. spirituality , ” with Pinky Ames suggesting that religious belief is just another word for want a payoff for full behavior . The chapel at Alcatraz is a cardinal part of the Ames Brothers ’ plan to get at the concealed gold — that ’s where they steal the Warden ’s keys , and that ’s where Herman Ames stages his outburst , laugh at the Warden ’s preaching and getting both blood brother chuck out in the Hole , on purpose . The Warden really seems to want to consider that some of the men in Alcatraz are getting religion — but then we see him cradle his atomic number 79 bars and much relieve oneself love to one of them .
And then in the 2nd half , there ’s a uncanny sort of Darwinism - vs - destiny debate between the dead antipathetical Warden James and Deputy Warden Tiller . Kidnapper Sonny Burnett tries to purchase trade protection from this calendar week ’s Alcatraz offence honcho ( how many law-breaking political boss did Alcatraz have , anyway ? It seems like there ’s an inexhaustible supply ) and fail , because his 14 - year - onetime girlfriend steal the money he obliterate . or else , Sonny find the crap kick out of him , and the two wardens deliberate whether he can ever adapt and learn to fight back . This sets up a weird sort of Rocky - esque training discharge for Sonny , where he does a million press-up while E.B. Tiller lectures him on being the Panthera tigris and show up no clemency — all so Tiller can turn out a point to James . In the end , when Sonny screen this week ’s crime boss — which is worse than killing him — Tiller tells James this shew that you’re able to push a man too far . ( And Sonny , incidentally , has notice a canny twist on the “ You ’ll never populate to see another mean solar day ” thing . “ See , ” geddit ? )
All in all , these two hours were n’t go to overturn the spiritualist of television or anything , but they were definitely a big footstep frontwards . you’re able to see why the show was so keen to air them back - to - back — even after car - racing delayed last week ’s episode , they still choose these two installment to air together — because they ’re a reasonably good showcase of what this show is subject of , when it stretches a number .
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