So I just started watching
Alcatraz this past week so it's time for a recap! I was pretty excited to watch the Pilot because it has all the elements of a great show, a good mystery, Sam Niell and the always lovable, Jorge Garcia. Although I intend to keep watching this show I definitely felt a bit letdown by the Pilot. First off, the opening credits were fantastic: the music, the creepy voiceover informing us that Alcatraz officially closed but THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Instead all the inmates and staff members, whose numbers are in the 300's disappeared and now they are coming back...without having aged. The 'not having aged' is a common theme in sci-fi, so I hope there is a badass explanation for this. Sam Niell used to be a warden but now he works in a high tech lab underneath Alcatraz where he tries to figure out where they went, who took them (I'm guessing some baddie with an agenda and lots of money but I'm hoping for aliens) and what they want. Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) meanwhile is a cop who has recently lost her partner, and if there is one thing I've learnt from excessive television watching it's that once you lose your partner you are set for a life of regret, guilt and never being able to find another partner you like as much. She recruits Diego Soto (Garcia), an expert on Alcatraz. At least if everything else goes wrong on this show, we'll have Garcia who is funny and charming as usual. Emerson Hauser (Niell) also has a partner, Lucy (Parminder Nagra ), who we soon learn is one of the 63's (the people who disappeared in 1963. Derr) The inmates are committing crimes left, right and centre and Hauser and team are tasked with stopping them and finding out what they are doing here. The problem is that the bigger mystery is left alone too much and Alcatraz stays in familiar cop show territory, with Madsen and Soto catching the bad guys just in time, loads of cliches and flashbacks that feel contrived. Overall, the plot is original but the presentation feels worn out. The Pilot is essentially two episodes in one, each hour dealing with a different criminal which means that this show is going to be obligated, more or less, to follow this theme with 300 different baddies?! Since that's about 15 seasons I don't think that's what they will do, nonetheless, it seems to be the way season one is shaping up, at least. You know what? I don't like cop shows. There, I've said it. They are formulaic, love torturing innocent characters and the cops always have their 'cop-drama' which 'civilians don't understand.' Overall they are boring and pretentious and require less writing than an episode of Jersey Shore. With that grievance aired I can say-if Alcatraz becomes a real LOST/Fringe-esque mystery I will keep watching but if it's just another cop show with a twist, I won't be.
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