Alcatraz 1x05 Review

Guy Hastings

Ever since this show started there have been many questions. Some are so mysterious and interesting that it's near impossible to imagine a plausible explanation for them. Others though have some very interesting theories that make me very excited for upcoming episodes. In this episode, we got some answers to some big questions. Not full answers, but the events leading up to the 63s coming to the future got a little more light shed on it, and I think I will need to watch that episode again. 

There's also a minor reveal in the episode about Rebecca and Ray's relationship. It's not huge, and doesn't really change things for us I don't think. But it certainly does change things for them. We learn that Ray is not a friend of her grandfather, he's her uncle! That's right, Ray and Tommy are brothers. I guess it was a lot easier to change your name and hide your past back in 1960 than it is today because you would think Alcatraz would check the history of their guards. It's a small quibble, but they went out of their way to mention how that would have been an issue so I think it's warranted. 

Guy Hastings is the first non-prisoner that they are tracking down. I liked that Hauser pointed out that the guards were good men and wouldn't attack a park ranger just for the hell of it. Mostly I liked it because it set up the idea that Guy wasn't a bad guy, and that he has been thrown into something he doesn't quite understand. The other reason is that it opens up some knew questions. Guy keeps referring to a "them" in his story to Ray. I'll get to that later on in much more detail by the way. Clearly, to me anyway, that confirms there was some big conspiracy involved. Hauser even talks about "the people who sent the 63". While we all has assumed there was some greater force here, and that actual people were responsible for the event I don't think we got confirmation like this before. Pretty big I think.

Once again we get people talking about Tommy Madsen and his blood. In the flashbacks scenes we see Tommy whisper to Ray "you shouldn't have come here". This is after he hits him, and I think it's clear the attack was meant to scare him off, as well as give him the verbal warning. This seems to indicate that Tommy was aware of what was happening. Why would he warn his brother to leave unless he was worried for his safety as well? We know that they've been taking blood from Tommy, and I think it's clear that that has something to do with what happens, but what? What makes Tommy so special? Is it possible that Tommy has this power, and all of this has been to either hide his powers, or stop him. 

A crack pot theory I came up with during the episode is that Tommy traveled to the future, did something horrible and was caught. Whoever caught him used his blood to travel back in time and then begin preparing for what happened, and everyone that they they sent forward was either to stop Tommy(as we saw with Guy), to find these keys which are connected to Tommy's future crime, or simply other people who were sent to the future to cover-up the real mission. Even though it's my theory, I'm not sure I like it. It's a little to complicated, and I can't imagine all of this is for one man. Why not just kill him back in 1960? 

Yes I know, I just proposed and then attacked the same theory in the same paragraph.  That's how I roll!

I was fascinated by Guy's story to Ray. According to Guy he watched his family leave on the ferry, just as his daughter remembered. Then we was in the guard tower and fog covered up the stars. I am 100% convinced that the "fog" was not simply San Francisco fog, but was a direct result of this event. Guy then says that we woke up in the infirmary and is told all the families died in an accident. He didn't specify, but I wonder if he was told they died in a chemical explosion since that's the story they told his family. He then says, "it was no longer 1963." Did he discover this some how? Did they tell him? Was this happening in some kind of between world, and they told him everything he needed to know? The reason he goes after Tommy is because he was told to do this. At the end of the episode Hauser says that he approached Ray 16 years ago to help him track down Tommy. 16 years ago?? Not only is that a Lost number(can't help myself sorry), but that opens a whole new line of questions. In the pilot Hauser makes it seem like this is a new problem, and I think he even says Sylvane was the first. We quickly learned that was not true since we say Tommy, and then the doctor later, but what does this mean?

Was Tommy already here 16 years ago? Is it possible that Tommy has been around the whole time and just didn't age? Maybe time travel isn't even the issue here. Maybe Tommy's blood stops the aging process, and these people have just been held in some purgatory like place since 1963, and they are being released sporadically. This would explain why Hauser shot Kit Nelson and then appeared to tell the doctor to bring him back to life. While also very out there, the idea that blood can stop aging is MUCH more plausible than blood allows one to travel through time. 

So that's two theories in this post, and they are in total opposition.  Any ideas? Agree? Disagree?