Alcatraz - Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot'
I'm breaking up premiere night into two posts, one for each episode (it's not a full on two parter like Lost and Fringe were) so look out for Episode 2 later tonight or tomorrow.
I've been looking forward to this show ever since I heard some of the first rumors that basically consisted of the words "Alcatraz" "JJ Abrams" "Jorge Garcia" and "Sam Neill". That's enough to get me excited, and so far it's delivering! More after the break, spoilers ahead (how spoiled can you get on the Pilot of a show anyway?)For those who don't know me, I was obsessed with Lost. I only say "was" because I have made an effort to not watch any episode of Lost again since the Finale. Someday I'll be ready to go back to the island. Several other shows have filled the space left by my Lost obsession. Fringe. Justified. Breaking Bad. Hawaii Five-0. The list goes on.
But enough about those shows. Alcatraz seems like a cross between Fringe and Lost. Abrams and friends seem to have taken a lesson from all the shows that tried to copy Lost (Heroes, FlashForward) with having a billion characters. Just give us a small team of main characters we can root for, and set them on an adventure of the week. Works great for Fringe and Person of Interest, and it looks like it is going to work just as well with Alcatraz. It seems like the premise of the show is basically that they're going to lock up all these criminals as they pop back up in the present, and lock them away in this new super jail, meanwhile we'll be trying to figure out what the hell is going on with them disappearing in the first place. That should be pretty fun. They set it up with lots of mysterious characters (302) to draw from, much like Lost did with 815 passengers (though we all know how that ended up) so it seems like we will get 1960's backstory to the baddy of the week, which really is the backstory of the island itself more than anything, and I'm sure we'll find out just as much out about the mysterious happenings from these flashbacks as we do from Fringe Division Alcatraz Unit. (Crossover at some point? Well it's possible since they're both on Fox!)The only trouble I think I might have is that I won't ever like Detective Madsen as much as I like Olivia Dunham. She has potential though, and I'm sure she'll grow on me. Sam Neill and Jorge Garcia are already known factors and I already enjoy them immensely, so there won't be any problems there.
My favorite part of the episode is when Madsen's grandfather Thomas is fleeing Det. Madsen and her partner. The partner is hanging from the ledge and then Thomas runs back real quick to give him a quick kick. Yes, that guy ended up dying, but at the time it made me laugh. My favorite line, "Is anyone else's head exploding right now?" A lot of people have been commenting on the music... It's good, serves its purpose, I don't think much more needs to be said about it than that. Anyway, it's great to have Jorge Garcia back on my TV, and I'm far from disappointed with Alcatraz so far! Thanks for reading, see ya in episode two!