Alcatraz 1x07 Review

Johnny McKee

Johnny McKee is one of the more terrible killers we've seen on the show so far. He's also one of the best explored characters. He poisons with nightshade, and another really complicated concoction that I won't even attempt to remember.  His targets are people he views as bullies, but his victims are pretty much everyone who has the bad luck of coming into contact with the poison. He has a pretty interesting back story, and I like that his reason for killing him getting revenge for what was done to him and not just him being a crazy guy. 

Like I've been saying for a few weeks I'm not totally cool with them giving every single bad guy a reason to kill and be a baddie but I think it worked here. I was legitimately scared of McKee throughout the episode because he didn't seem crazy and I was happy that they confirmed that. I mean, he was crazy in that he's a homicidal maniac, but he is in full control of his facilities and knows exactly what he's doing. They did remark at one point that he didn't see it as murder because the people he killed were not good people, and that is crazy. But again, killing for revenge is a reason and most of the killers we've seen on the show haven't had a reason at all for killing innocents. 

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. 

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. 

Alcatraz 1x04 Review

Cal Sweeney

Cal Sweeney is a bank robber who only steals from safety deposit boxes, and he doesn't kill people unless it's necessary. Or at least that's the profile we get from Diego about him. The episode and his actions are a little different than that. This episode is my least favorite so far. I was not very interested in Cal Sweeney, and I'm starting to worry that each bad guy will have something dark and sad in their past that will try and make us understand why they turned to crime. Last week I said that they weren't trying to make us feel terribly sympathetic towards them, and I think that's still true, but I'm not sure of the message when Tiller acts like such an ass to all of them. Are we supposed to despise Tiller? Are we supposed to view the prisoners are victims? Sure it's not right to treat them badly, but come on, these are very bad guys and just because Tiller teases them is not enough for me to hate him, and like them. 

Alcatraz 1x03 Review

Kit Nelson


The third episode of Alcatraz picks right up with the action without skipping a beat. We have a new prisoner to track down, and equally scary to last week's sniper, Kit Nelson.

In this episode we also learn a good amount about Diego. I again loved the way his character is portrayed. He's the regular guy of the group, but he's also a genius when it comes to Alcatraz and his presence is sorely needed. Both Rebecca and Hauser agree that he is needed on this team. The scene where Hauser reveals he called off the Amber Alert was hard to watch. Here's a man who would sacrifice a child in order to keep this secret. There are people who are wondering if Hauser is a good guy or a bad guy, but I don't think that's the right question.

Alcatraz 1x01/02 Review

Pilot/Ernest Cobb


This review will cover both the episodes even though they are two separate stories. There will be spoilers.

Alcatraz has been the much hyped new FOX show from J.J. Abrams staring LOST Alum Jorge Garcia, and a favorite of mine Sam Neil. The other lead is Sarah Jones, people may know her from Sons of Anarchy. Since I've never seen that show I have no idea if her role was big, or memorable. Jones plays SF Detective Rebecca Madsen, and she quickly gets pulled into the craziness of the premise.

Basically, in case you weren't paying attention, or want to know and don't care about being spoiled here's the main idea. Back in 1963 all prisoners and guards mysteriously vanished and were never seen nor heard of again...until NOW. They are appearing one by one, and causing havoc. There seems to be something behind not only their disappearance, but also their reappearance. Both Cobb, and Sylvane seemed to know exactly where to go, and what to do once they arrived and neither one seemed freaked out about being thrown almost 50 years into the future. It's almost as if they have been prepared for this. Obviously more is going on, and I'm very interested to see where it goes.