There was a lot of hype about this show in last year, prolly cuz of J.J.Abrams connection to the project, but after big hype over Terra Nova and Spielberg connection to that project I’m not falling for that trick again. Big name behind the project doesn’t mean that much to be honest. Terra Nova had potential, but I think it didn’t lived to the hype so I was more careful about Alcatraz.
Looking at the team who created Alcatraz there are big similarities with projects like Lost and Fringe since JJ Abrams is behind all of those and also one actor from the Lost is Jorge Garcia, the big dude with a pony tail. I must say I wasn’t really hooked on Lost, watched 1 and a half season, but Fringe was much more interesting to me. Alcatraz is kind off a mix between those two, even though JJ Abrams explicitly said Alcatraz is not new Lost.
Whatever he said, the show really has a feeling of Lost with all that big mystery – Who? Why? When? The story is actually rather simple, nothing that we didn’t seen before just with little bit mystery. March 21. 1963. everyone disappeared from Alcatraz – 303 people. Convicts, guards, all personnel and guard’s families that lived in one part of island. First on the scene of empty prison comes Emerson Hauser as a young police officer together with a older officer. After the accident the whole case was covered up like everyone was moved out of Alcatraz due to bad condition of the prison. Fake documents and death certificates were issued to make everything legit.
After 50 years the people from the 1963. started to come back, but it seems with specific agendas and tasks. Hauser (Sam Neill) is now leading FBI agent on the secret case that monitors and tries to catch the convicts when they come back. On the other side we have a young detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and she lost her partner few months ago. Her grandfather “helped” him fall of the roof while they were chasing him – yeah you have red it right, her grandfather. She found out there was a family secret that her grandfather was a convict in Alcatraz during that time.
So while investigating one strange murder, she started to poke around into stuff that she really shouldn’t and teams up with Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia), comic book store owner and also doctor of history very familiar with Alcatraz history, they get caught and eventually joined Hauser in his team to investigate and catch the convicts. The show at this moment goes by one episode one convict catching, but since there is a lot of convicts I think they will drop that sooner or later. Show is full of things that really doesn’t surprise you, ie. Hauser assistant looks suspicious right away and when he tells her in one dialogue – well, you wanted those kids. The kids part caught my ear cuz she is about their age also so there must be something interesting in her story, since like I said, not all people that disappeared were convicts.
Overall, the show has potential. The pilot episodes were not exactly a blast, but the story is so far interesting and I will give it a shot. Hell, If I saw whole Terra Nova season waiting to get better, I can give a try with Alcatraz. The show goes every Monday on Fox.
