Alcatraz 1x06 Review

Paxton Petty

This week we're back to tracking down criminals, and we've got a real bad guy this time. He plants land mines in public areas and hopes to kill as many as possible. While the crime is rough an scary I wasn't that blown away by the episode. We got more information about Lucy, but she still is cloaked in mystery, and we got a slightly better understanding of what the people being brought to the future know. In Petty's case, nothing. 

I was happy that Diego got some nice moments with the cute medical examiner. It's always nice when comic books bring people together. I wonder if part of the flirting he did was to show Rebecca that he too can be friendly with the opposite sex. He certainly didn't seem pleased when she was all chummy with her cop friend. Speaking of the cop friend, since we had never heard of him before, and she treated him like her best bud I immediately imagined him in a red shirt. In other words, I was almost certain he wouldn't make it through the entire episode. Turned out I was right. Not sure why they didn't have a robot jump in once all he had to do was cut something, but that's okay.  I mean once Hauser was off the mine, why not just get everyone out of there send in a robot and BOOM. No one hurt. I guess that's not dramatic though. 

We learn from Petty that he went to sleep back in 1963, and woke up in the tomb at the Presidio. That's a different story than we heard from Guy Hastings who made it seem like there was some time inbetween. It also doesn't fit with what I've thought was almost clear about some of the others. Some have had a clear mission other than their standard crime. Last week the theorized that only a handful of them have actual missions and the majority of the people who were brought to the future were just along for the ride. 

If that's the case then I fear many of the episodes will be like this one. Good story, creepy bad guys, but little to show for it at the end of the episode. We assume of course that Petty was placed in the super secret prison Hauser has, but we didn't see that happen. I'm not saying we need to see it every week, but that place looks important. We need to know he's putting all the people there, and not just some of them. We can't afford to assume that kind of thing with a show like this, it needs to be clear. 

I also was again slightly disappointed that they tried to explain why he was a crazy bomber. Is no one in the world just a bad guy? If they were going to make this about a guy who was angry at the US Government because he felt slighted then there should have been more references to the modern treatment of vets. I'm not going to get political in this post, but it's a big issue and I think brushing over it was a mistake. Again, I'm not saying they should spend a lot of time on this, but if Rebecca's cop friend had tried to connect with him about a similar experience he had maybe in a war I would have felt like Petty's story mattered. Not getting a medal would be upsetting, but considering how some other vets fair after war I would argue that he came out pretty well. They didn't even discuss the possibility of PTSD. It was a chance for the show to broaden into things larger than itself, and it didn't do it. 

The ending was also quite confusing. I know a lot of people have theories that Lucy isn't part of the '63s, but that she some how traveled back there to influence them. I think this episode both helped and hurt that theory. The fact that she was quick to develop a relationship with young Hauser was a positive event for this theory, but mostly everything else seemed to negate it. Her questions to Petty, and Madsen show a lack of knowledge that you would imagine she would have if she was sent back there. There's no point in sending her back here to get intel, I mean everyone is coming forward anyway. The most positive clue was that Diego said there were no women doctors on Alcatraz, but of course he was cut off immediately. However the record of her ever being there easily could have been hidden. 

I'm still enjoying the show, and will certainly keep watching(I'm more than intrigued) but I think they need to speed up a little bit with important stuff. Not answers exactly, but little bits of information that open up more questions and avenues of theories. That's what Lost was so good at, and while not everyone loved Lost...I did. So I would have no issues if this show gave out information in a Lost manner.