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Alcatraz concludes its first season with tonight’s thirteenth episode season finale “Tommy Madsen,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find Rebecca's grandfather and former inmate (David Hoflin) who desperately tries to track down the mysterious key that opens the door beneath Alcatraz.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Tommy Madsen”!

We open on an overturned car, with Madsen lying bleeding in the street, and flash to 36 hours earlier, where Madsen and her chief discuss what might have led Tommy Madsen to kill her partner.  It turns out her partner will was under Internal Affairs investigation, from the very company they've been investigating, Broadway Mutual.  Across town, the “Ghost” man we saw earlier frantically checks himself into a psychiatric hospital, laying out his story to the bewildered staff.  Evidently he attempted escape back in 1960, and the inmates took to calling him, Joe Limerick, “Ghost” because the Warden filed him as dead after the incident.

Back in 1960 the guards once more take Tommy Madsen to be experimented on, as Warden James and an unnamed man pump his blood back into him, as he writhes in agony and talks of tasting metal.  In the present, Tommy breaks into a stranger's home, holding up the father of a family and scaring off his little girl, wanting to wait for the man’s wife.

While Dr. Beauregard and Lucy ruminate on the nature of the silver-infused blood, Hauser expresses that he wishes to keep Lucy away from all this, and the police come forward with a possible match on Tommy Madsen, from the little girl they picked up.  The little girl is under so much stress that she can’t remember her address, but a little clever drawing exercise allows her to remember.  Back in 1960, Tommy wakes up in a Nob Hill hotel room, with the Warden ready to serve breakfast, and wonders if he’s dead.  Realizing he’s alive, and the silver has made him feel better than ever, he agrees to take a walk with the Warden. In the present, the man’s wife arrives home and Tommy confronts her at gunpoint, only to take a bullet to the leg from the husband, and escape with the wife in tow.

Tommy doesn’t seem too concerned by the gunshot, and the Alcatraz team arrive shortly after to secure the house, while Hauser negotiates with a friend in the military to see Lucy out of the country.  The kidnapped woman is Georgia Bradley, who works in the psych hospital “Ghost” checked himself into, but the team can’t quite seem to put the dots together, even after Hauser brings everyone up to speed on the keys and hidden door of Alcatraz.  They suspect that Warden James might be behind all of it, and the supposed time jumps occurred from tectonic events.

Lucy learns of Hauser’s plan to spirit her away, and informs the team that Georgia Bradley just checked into her hospital, while back in 1960 Tommy and the Warden share a meal at the restaurant he met his wife, and Tommy looks longingly at a family across the way.  Dr. Beauregard reveals to Lucy that he can’t remove the silver particles from her blood, as Warden James takes Tommy to see his son.  The boy flees from Tommy however, and Tommy decides what he wants from the warden.  Where in the present “Ghost” throws himself from a window to escape from Tommy, the past Tommy demands of his brother Ray that he leave the island and take custody of his son, admitting that he killed his wife.

Having arrived at the scene, Rebecca chases Tommy as best she can, commandeering a mustang to engage in a Bullitt style chase around the streets of San Francisco  Doc recovers the mysterious key from “Ghost”s body, but refuses to hand it over until he tracks down and saves Rebecca.  The tense car chase between Tommy and Rebecca ends with Tommy’s car flipping, but Rebecca drags him from the flames in time to save her grandfather.  Tommy does his best to calm his granddaughter down, telling her her partner was paid to spy on her, that Harlan Simmons broke some promise he made to the Warden.  He also asks if she knows what really happened to her parents, but stabs her in the side the moment she lets her guard down.

Soto shows up, the team drags Rebecca to the hospital, and Ray shows up to admonish Hauser, having predicted this would happen if she stayed involved.  Hauser and Lucy leave to open Alcatraz’s mystery door, but Doc wants only to stay and make sure Rebecca survives.  Inside the mysterious Alcatraz door, Lucy and Hauser find a room with consoles, a map and blinking lights, that predicts exactly where inmates will resurface across the continent.  In the past, we see Warden James and his mystery boss showing the room to Tommy Madsen, who had been watched for the project since 1952.  The mystery man congratulates him for surviving the silver infusion, and informs him he’ll be out in the world in three years.

Back in the present, the mystery man appears disoriented before Lucy and Hauser, laughing manically that he made it to 2012.  At the hospital, Rebecca flat-lines.

Did you get your fill of time-jumping action?  What did you think about the episode? Do you think Alcatraz will be back for another season? Join us next season (if there is one) for all-new episode recaps of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.13 "Tommy Madsen" Recap - The End of the Line

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Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s twelfth episode “Garrett Stillman,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former inmate (Greg Ellis) whose heists unfold as intricate games of strategy and planning, while Lucy (Parminder Nagra) awakes from her coma.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Garrett Stillman”!

The still recuperating Lucy observes interviews of the captures ‘63s, particularly Ernest Cobb, when Hauser chides her for being too involved.  She reasons that its time to tell Soto and Doc about her past as a 63, while Dr. Beauregard feels hesitant about releasing Lucy without knowing any of the side effects of the silver in her blood.  Meanwhile, a few robbers manage to outwit and hijack an armored car, chief among them inmate Garrett Stillman.

Back in 1960, Garrett meets with the Warden and explains the reasoning behind his crimes, that he values intelligence and predictability, and playing games, while the Warden thinks he should attend a parole hearing for fellow inmate Harlan Simmons.  Back in the present, Doc and Rebecca catch Lucy up on all she’s missed since her coma, the computer alerts them to the likelihood of Garrett Stillman’s appearance in the latest crime.  As Garrett and his crew load up the money into a van, Garrett takes  an armored car himself, and watches as the van carrying his accomplices explodes.

Rebecca and Doc reason out that Garrett actually wanted the armored car, as the company confirms that to be the third one he’s stolen.  They then learn that one of the men actually survived the explosion, and while Lucy talks to Ernest Cobb about why he singled her out, Doc and Rebecca learn that Garrett stole their key-coded uniforms from actual guards.  Back in 1960, Garrett attends the parole hearing for Harlan Simmons, which despite his earnest nature quickly gets quashed by Deputy Warden Tiller.  Warden James wanted him to see that hoping Garrett can use his skills to forge an approved parole, and have Simmons out of the prison by 1965.  Back in 2012, Garrett meets with his handler, a cool and calculating Tommy Madsen.

Lucy gives Rebecca what answers she can about her grandfather and why he might have killed her partner, and she elaborates on her past romance with Hauser, who seems a very different man today.  The night everyone disappeared from Alcatraz, Hauser was much more concerned about finding Lucy than any of the prisoners.  Upstairs, Doc finds a connection between Harlan Simmons and the company Broadway Mutual, and cryptically no one has seen Simmons in years.  They pay a visit to Broadway Mutual, and though the security officer denies anything suspicious, he clamps up at the mention of Bynum Security.  After they leave, the guard texts the need to move a package, a conversation Garrett has hacked into.

Think tank guru Warren leads Hauser down to the secret corridors of Alcatraz they’ve discovered, only to find them bricked up, to which Hauser orders it sledgehammered.  Upstairs, the figure out that Garrett never wanted money or even the armored cars, but rather to tip off Broadway Mutual, so they’d move their mysterious package ahead of schedule.  Garrett finds his security uniforms no longer work to access the package, pulling out a gun instead, as back in 1960 he manages to swap the forged parole papers for Harlan Simmons.  Before he finishes however, Tiller catches on, and Garrett's partner sells him out.

Back in 1960 Tiller makes sure to swap in the correct papers, and Warden James walks Garrett to the hole, expressing his disappointment.  What he didn’t realize was that Garrett had played Tiller all along, counting on being discovered, and made it so Garrett was the one to actually submit the early parole papers.  In 2012 the team traces Garrett to a parking garage, but rather than fall for the 3 armored cars as Hauser and Rebecca do, Doc figures out Garrett’s real getaway car, and drops his cell phone in as a tracker.

At his hideout, Garrett opens the safe he stole to find a mysterious old key inside, while in 1960 the warden escorts a newly freed Harlan Simmons off the island.  However, a man named “Ghost” shows up to the 2012 trailer, and fatally shoots Garrett, taking the key.  The Alcatraz team arrives to find the dead body, and Rebecca notes the apple peels as a sign of her grandfather’s presence.  Outside, Tommy Madsen shows up, but flees before Doc can get a good look at him.

Later, Hauser finds that behind the hidden wall lay a secret door, but the two keys they have only open a hole for a third key.  Lucy talks with Cobb again about how she’ll always be a target for the others, while Doc and Rebecca pull traffic cam footage to find that Tommy Madsen was indeed Garrett’s handler.

Did you get your fill of time-jumping action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us for another an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX later tonight!

Alcatraz 1.12 "Garrett Stillman" Recap - A Game of Vans

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s eleventh episode “Webb Porter,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former inmate (Rami Malek) whose kidnapping crimes have to do with his obsession with playing the violin.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Webb Porter”!

Doc follows Hauser as the mysterious agent spends some time at an Eastern medicine practice, downing a handful of pills while noting that he “wasn’t always like this,” as we flash back to 1960 in his recitation of philosophy to Dr. Sangupta (Parminder Nagra).  They part ways as Sangupta travels to the island, and Warden James gives her her next assignment to find a way to introduce inmate Webb Porter into the general population.  Sangupta almost instantly deduces that Porter has tinnitus from his mother attempting to drown him as a boy, and theorizes that she can use music to socialize him.

In the present day, Webb Porter beautifully plays the violin until the hair on his bow breaks, from which he drags a captive woman in the next room to be drowned in the tub, having already used her hair for his bow.

After being dragged away from a round of billiards, Nicky and Madsen investigate the girl’s drowning, noting that the landlord had heard music emanating from the apartment.  The case doesn’t seem to match any of their ‘63s, and Hauser refuses to answer any questions of where he goes, or what happened to Lucy’s body, but the presence of colloidal silver in the samples confirms the murder to be of Alcatraz origin.  Sending him the blood work, Hauser instructs Dr. Beauregard to test the sample for a match to Lucy’s blood, noting that they’re slowly losing her.

In 1960, Lucy manages to turn Webb onto music, as he recalls the memory of his mother attempting to drown him.  Meanwhile in the present, Webb shows up to the home of another girl he met at a music function, but the conversation quickly turns deadly when Webb lunges at the girl claiming he likes her hair.  Dr. Beauregard confirms that Porter is a match for Lucy, as Porter impresses the Philharmonic at an audition, but fails to sight-read an unanticipated piece of music.  Rejected, he takes his aggression out on the now-hairless captive girl at her home.

Back in 1960 we see how Lucy first led Webb to pick up the violin, which he almost instantly masters, while back in 2012 Hauser chastises Madsen for wasting time at the site of the next murder.  They realize that the music heard coming from the crime scenes wasn’t the girl, but rather Webb himself, though seemingly no one played violin at Alcatraz.  That is of course, until they happen upon an old violin in the music room, with Webb Porter’s name etched in.

Hauser runs some intelligence of his own by visiting a local music haunt to learn about Webb’s current location from his old friend, flashing back to one of his first dates and first kiss with Lucy.  The past Lucy informs a much more coherent Webb that he’s to be re-introduced into the general population, and allowed to keep his violin, and a grateful Webb hopes to one day repay the favor

As the team puts together that Webb must have another girl from raiding his apartment, they narrow down the results and managed to find the young redhead before Webb can do any serious harm.  Webb himself has gone to the concert hall for his “performance” which he imagines to be a crowded performance fully stocked with cheering fans.  Back in 1960 however, Webb finds a real captive audience in the fellow inmates of his hall, who quickly cease their insults to listen to the beautiful music, including a number of inmates we’ve seen before.  Dr. Beauregard muses that Warden James seems to have found “a new toy,” but when Lucy takes offense, Beauregard corrects that he was referring to her.

Hauser and Madsen arrive at the auditorium, where they manage to corner Porter in the upper rafters, putting him in custody before he can successfully dive onto the stage below.  Hauser takes the man to New Alcatraz, where he seems surprised to see Lucy and Dr. Beauregard there too, gladly contributing his blood to help save Lucy.

Meanwhile, Doc and Madsen observe some of the old Alcatraz tapes, finally spotting Lucy among the 1960 staff, musing how she might be the key to this all.  While Hauser and Beauregard patiently wait, Webb plays his violin for the members of New Alcatraz, and Lucy’s eyes jerk open from their comatose state.

Did you get your fill of time-jumping action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.11 "Webb Porter" Recap - The Music Man

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s eighth episode “Clarence Montgomery,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a wrongfully-accused former inmate who resurfaces and begins committing violent crimes.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Clarence Montgomery”!

Clarence Montgomery (Mahershala Ali) casually sips a drink at a country club’s silent auction, before catching the eye of a lovely brunette woman.  They flirt and take a golf cart for a midnight joyride onto the course, where the mood grows romantic, and all of a sudden Clarence flashes on some brutal murders.  When he comes to, he’s carrying the girl’s lifeless body, wondering who did this to her, and arranging her body in an oddly specific pattern on the course.  Back in 1960, Warden James offers Clarence a chance to put his cooking talents to use as the head chef of the cafeteria, as a chance for redemption.

As Doc recognizes a possible match for Montgomery, the man himself visits an old acquaintance, Emmitt Little (Glynn Turman), who as expected is shocked to see him so young, and reminds him of his past innocence in spite of the blood on his shirt.  Montgomery also remembers being evaluated by Dr. Sangupta (Parminder Nagra), as they debate their mutual race treatment, and Sangupta pushes that he murdered his white girlfriend.

At the scene of the crime, the Alcatraz team realize that the young woman’s body was specifically moved and arranged, much as Clarence’s girlfriend was years ago.   Speaking of the past, the younger Emmitt Little begs Clarence to take the chef’s job, though Deputy Warden Tiller arrives to announce he believes the Warden’s plan to change prisoners wont work.  Back in the present, Nicky examines the murdered woman’s body, and deduces that Clarence couldn’t have been the original killer, as the cuts were made too differently.

Madsen and Doc interview Emmitt Little, having obtained the name from Montgomery’s Alcatraz box, though Little of course denies that Clarence was every guilty of anything.  On their way out, Nicky calls to inform them that a hair on the victim’s body matches someone with Wilson’s disease, who would need precisely the medications they found in Clarence’s old box, meaning he in fact did kill this girl.

As Clarence prepares to work another job in the present, his past self thanks the warden for the opportunity to cook again, though the white inmates refuse to eat the food or have any parlay with their fellow prisoners, sparking a riot that ends with Clarence beaten and the whole population knocked out with gas.  In the present, Clarence finds himself talking to yet another woman, though troubled by flashes of his trial and girlfriend Ellen’s murder on a nearby TV screen.

The next morning, the woman has in fact been killed in the same manner, and while Doc and Madsen realize Clarence was involved with the catering, the chief of police asks for a word with Hauser.  Back in the past, Clarence is beaten and dragged out of his cell, taken underground where Dr. Beauregard administers electroshock therapy while showing Clarance violent imagery of his trial, musing that the therapy “could work in reverse.”   This proves true, as the next day, Deputy Warden Tiller manages to irritate Clarence by assuring him he’s nothing more than a murderous criminal, and Clarence takes the aggression out on a random inmate who initiates conversation, slashing his throat.

Doc and Madsen track Clarence to his present job at the catering company, though in the ensuing chase he manages to get away.  They reason that they can catch him by tracking refills of his prescription, which they trace back to Emmitt Little, while Doc scores a date with Nicky.  The team heads to Emmitt,s though Emmitt keeps them at bay with shotgun blasts screaming about how they can’t take Clarence’s second chance away.  Hauser sneaks around back and talks Clarence into admitting his guilt for the present murders, which he then takes to Emmitt.  Madsen busts into the apartment, but not before Emmitt shoots Clarence for his deeds, killing him.  The incident ends with Clarence in a body bag, and Emmitt being taken into the back of a police car from his wheelchair.

Hauser meets with the chief of police, who reveals that his officers have grown antsy with the Alcatraz team usurping cases, and in return Hauser grants them the chance to very publicly close the 50 year-old Ellen Casey murder by bringing in her real killer, which Doc and Madsen watch with no mention of Clarence’s other murders.  They wonder what turned Clarence into a killer, and Doc admits that while he didn’t previously think Alcatraz among the long list of prisons to conduct bizarre experiments on its prisoners, he does now.

Back in the past, Dr. Sangupta counsels Clarence, noting that even if he didn’t kill Ellen Casey, Alcatraz has now made him a murderer.  She forces him to look at photos of his crimes, and says if he lets her in she can take away those memories, but he insist that no one can anymore.  Their conversation is observed by Dr. Beauregard and Warden James, who note the success of the shock therapy having had the effect of turning an innocent man violent.  When Beauregard asks what the warden does with the inmates blood in between it being taken out and returned however, the good warden insists he does nothing with it, and keeps no secrets from the staff.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.08 "Clarence Montgomery" Recap - A History of Non-Violence

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s tenth episode “Sonny Burnett,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former inmate (Sons of Anarchy's Theo Rossi) whose kidnapping crimes have become increasingly violent since re-surfacing in 2012.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Sonny Burnett”!

On a rainy San Francisco night Hauser visits with Ray Archer in his bar, where Archer demands that Rebecca be kept out of the Alcatraz cases from now on.  Hauser however sees through the demand, realizing that Archer has encountered Tommy Madsen recently.  Meanwhile, Rebecca continues dreaming of the death of her partner, while Tommy Madsen watches her sleep from inside her apartment!  By the time she wakes however, she’s gone.

Meanwhile driving on a deserted road, two businessmen revel in their success while one tries to light up, and the other swerves to avoid a man in the road.  Though at first it seems a mirage, a man named Sonny Burnett appears and kills the passenger, kidnapping the driver Mr. Pierce.  Back in 1960 Deputy Warden Tiller first introduces Burnett into the general population of the prison, where he finds Hicks, a powerful prison figure and asks for protection.  Burnett was famous for not having a $100,000 kidnapping score recovered by the police, which he offers to Hicks in exchange for his safety.

In the present the Alcatraz team looks over the crime scene, noting that even in his past kidnappings, Sonny never committed any acts of violence.  They talk to Helen Pierce, wealthy wife to the kidnapped man, and realize that she was once herself kidnapped as a girl…by Sonny Burnett himself.

In “New Alcatraz,” Hauser recovers from the gunshot wound he sustained in “The Ames Brothers,” while Dr. Beauregard informs him that colloidal silver in the blood of the recovered Alcatraz inmates could account for their healing and longevity.  He also theorizes that a transfusion of it could do well to help Lucy (Parminder Nagra) recover, though none of the current inmates share her blood type.  Back at Helen Pierce’s Rebecca realizes that the woman must be hiding something, and eventually Ray shows up at Rebecca’s to inform her he’s being watched.  She suspects some personal motivation for why Tommy Madsen killed her partner that day, and that Ray too knows more than he’ll let on.

Back in 1960, Hicks informs Sonny that while the package was where he said, it contained no money, and thus they collect on the bet Sonny made with his life by stabbing him in the courtyard.  He awakens in the infirmary having briefly died, and Deputy Warden Tiller chastises him for not deciding whether he wants to be predator or prey in the Alcatraz hierarchy.

In the present, a ransom call for Mr. Pierce finally goes through, instructing Rebecca to drop $100,000 at a local stable, only to find Mr. Pierce’s severed head at the drop location, while Sonny kills the police around her home and confronts a terrified Helen.  He insists that Helen betrayed him and that though he loves her, he wants to make her know what it is to have everything taken away from her, as he believes she did to him.  Once the group discover Mr. Pierce’s head, he smiles, and leaves Helen to her terrified misery.  Meanwhile, the group figures out that he only wants to make Helen suffer, and thus anyone close to her is in danger, particularly her daughter.  After being brought up to speed, Helen reveals that Sonny saw her as a partner of sorts, and that she found and took Sonny’s money after her escape, and was thus the reason he nearly died in Alcatraz.

While Doc and Rebecca find an address from matching tire tracks, Sonny flashes back to days in Alcatraz of vicious physical training, which he uses to assault one of Hicks’ men in the yard, and hopefully improve his reputation.  Rebecca infiltrates Sonny’s hideout and finds the full body of Mr. Pierce, the saw he used, as well as information on Helen’s daughter’s incoming flight.  When the young girl arrives at the airport, Sonny poses as a limo driver to pick her up.  He next creepily picks up some supplies at a local hardware store, before flashing back to Deputy Warden Tiller bringing him a hearty meal for his training, and reminding him that his little show of beating up Vicks’ crony won’t be enough to protect himself.

A little creative detective work and investigation leads the Alcatraz team to realize that Sonny intends to bury Helen’s daughter alive, likely in the same location he left the money.  They manage to track down Sonny’s stolen towncar via GPS, and a high-speed chase away from the buried girl erupts, while Sonny flashes back to having violently attacked Hicks in the Alcatraz yard, even gouging the man’s eyes out.  Warden James observes that Sonny has undergone quite a transformation, but reminds Deputy Warden Tiller to remember his own place in the pecking order as a member of James’ wolf pack.

Back in the present the police manage to stop Sonny’s car and take the man alive, and the combined efforts of police and firemen successfully recover the girl from her burial.  Later, Rebecca assures Helen that Sonny will be out of her life forever, before musing with Doc that they too will have to answer for the things they’ve done in the Alcatraz investigations one day.

In New Alcatraz, Dr. Beauregard informs Hauser that Sonny’s blood lacks the colloidal silver to cure Lucy, as not every prisoner was “taken an interest in.”  Hauser angrily swallows defeat as across town, Tommy Madsen once more observes his granddaughter sleeping.

Did you get your fill of time-jumping action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.10 "Sonny Burnett" Recap - Sonny's Anarchy

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s ninth episode “The Ames Brothers,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find two former Alcatraz inmates looking to infiltrate the prison and recover a legendary cache of gold.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "The Ames Brothers”!

When a modern Alcatraz tour gets cut short by an approaching thunderstorm, one man stays behind transfixed, that of Pinky Ames.  He flashes back to his time in Alcatraz where he and his brother Herman regularly bullied inmates, and the two corroborate their upcoming plans for a heist that will make them rich.

The present storm also has the effect of playing hell with all the tech used by Doc, as he and Sarah observe one of Hauser’s mysterious eggheads performing some scientific exam up top.  Suddenly the technician gets brutally beaten down by Pinky, and when Doc stumbles upon the scene, Herman shows up behind him.  They press Doc for how he knows so much about Alcatraz, and realize he might be useful in updating the maps of Alcatraz they need for their search for a legendary gold.  Back in 1960, Pinky uses his position in the Chapel to slip some keys out of Warden James coat, and an Officer Donovan aids pinky in making soap bar impressions of the keys while everyone else looks on.

Back in 2012, Rebecca finds the corps of the technician from earlier, while Hauser arrives and catches up on the situation via security recordings.  The Ames brothers stash Doc in the hole, and flash back to 1960 where they used their chemistry skills to make a copy of Warden James’ keys from the mold, though a young Ray Archer finds something suspicious about the whole scenario.  Back in the present Rebecca stumbles upon Officer Donovan claiming to be one of the modern-day Alcatraz rangers, and the pair set off to find the Ames brothers.

The Ames brothers note Donovan’s absence and ponder cutting him out of their plan, as we flash back to the past Herman and Pinky getting themselves kicked out of church and put in the hole by Donovan.  Archer brings the suspicious nature of the situation to the Warden, and they find that the boys “overpowered” Donovan and stashed him in the hole.  Back in the present Rebecca quickly sees through Donovan’s deception and turns her gun on the former Alcatraz guard.  The brothers appear guns blazing, and in the ensuing firefight Rebecca shoots Herman through the neck, killing him, while she manages to escape with Hauser.

Given a moment to catch their breath, Hauser reasons that the brothers and Donovan are looking for a stash of legendary civil war gold much as they were back in 1960, and concoct a plan to split Donovan and Pinky up to rescue Doc.  Back in the1960, Herman and Pinky race to a mysterious door in the bowels of the prison, but find that their keys don’t work.  Archer, Warden James and Deputy Warden Tiller arrive to catch them, noting that the keys they copied belong to another mysterious purpose, not this door.  With the Ames brothers in custody, Warden James commends Archer for his intuition, but insists they report the incident as an escape attempt rather than mention the underground bunker.  Archer than takes the news to Tommy Madsen, assuring him that he’ll find the truth of the experiments being performed on Tommy now that he’s in the warden’s inner circle.

Back in 2012 Rebecca arrives to save Doc, and nearly has her head taken off by Pinky.  She leads Pinky away as Donovan takes Doc to open the Alcatraz command center door.  Rebecca manages to get the drop on Pinky literally by dumping a steel bed frame atop the man, while Hauser catches Donovan attempting to open the mysterious underground door with explosives.  He manages to blow the doors and knock out Hauser, but finds the room entirely empty, and at Rebecca’s urging, relinquishes his gun.

Hauser has Donovan taken away to “New Alcatraz” where he interrogates him over why everyone was so interested in Tommy Madsen, and whether the Warden had appeared in 2012 as well searching for his lost keys.  Meanwhile in 1960, Warden James sneaks down to the underground bunker, opening it to find both a civil war cannon, and a large amount of gold…

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.09 "The Ames Brothers" Recap - O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s seventh episode “Johnny McKee,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former Alcatraz prisoner (Adam Rothenberg) known for poisoning his victims with deadly chemical weapons.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Johnny McKee”!

Hauser and Dr. Beauregard overlook the comatose Lucy (Parminder Nagra) in her new accommodations at “New Alcatraz,” where Beauregard remarks that the treatment methods aren’t improving her condition.  He suggests that as long as Lucy remains dreaming, Hauser should read to her as a means of drawing her mind back to reality.  Hauser scoffs, and says to call him when he has a better idea.

At a hopping nightclub, a rude patron demands of the bartender Johnny McKee (Adam Rothenberg) that he mix cocktails for he and his friends, as Johnny flashes back to his time in Alcatraz when an intimidating inmate Mickey Cullen asked him to kill another prisoner who'd been selling weapons.  The memory spurs present Johnny to mix some suspicious looking ingredients into the drinks, which the party takes and immediately begins dying off as Johnny makes a quiet exit.

While Diego abuses the internet connection to play video games, the Alcatraz computer alerts him to YouTube video of the mysterious club deaths, which it then recognizes as featuring Johnny McKee.  Diego alerts a very-much awake Rebecca Madsen, and they meet Hauser at the scene the next day.  Johnny’s previous M.O. was the murder of 70 people at his high school reunion via cyanide sprinklers.  They get the address he listed to the club’s manager as Johnny lines up a new job, and the address turns out to be abandoned.  That is until Diego figures out that the address was actually his cell in Alcatraz, which puts him right next door to previous inmate Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce)!

Madsen presses on Hauser her need to speak with Sylvane, which he reluctantly agrees to  as she and Diego search through McKee’s possessions, finding most interesting a photo of a disfigured woman identified as “Ginny.”  McKee meanwhile sets up his next attack by dumping chemicals in a spa’s pool filter, while flashing back to his 1960 time in the Alcatraz library buying a shank from his intended target.

Madsen sits down to a supervised interrogation of Jack Sylvane, who insists he has no idea how he arrived in 2012.  Madsen offers him a recovered picture of his lost wife, and he remembers a conversation he held with McKee about a girl named Ginny Winters who took him on a date to a malt shop, and led him up to the roof for a romantic moment, but McKee denies knowing what happened after that.  Sylvane also remarks about McKee’s obsession with Jules Verne, and mentions a few choice mysteries about Tommy Madsen always being in the infirmary, or a “hole beneath the hole” within Alcatraz, before being led away.  Rebecca Madsen realizes that McKee often made poisons within his “killing jar,” from white margin nightshade that grew around the prison.

Diego again nervously fumbles his way around Madsen’s medical examiner friend Nicky, while Madsen and Hauser investigate the killings at the pool, putting together that nightshade couldn’t have been responsible.  The present Johnny mixes chemicals for his next attack, while flashing back to Dr. Sangupta (remember?  That’s Lucy!) trying to get him to open up about his past, as Warden James supervises.  The team manages to get McKee’s real address from an herbal shop, but find his lab in an abandoned high school empty.  They do however uncover a formula for his next gas attack, to be completed in a subway as outlined by the writings of Jules Verne!  Across town, Johnny bluffs his way into a subway control car, and poisons the real conductor.

In 1960, the inmates settle in for a screening of the film “Born Reckless,” while Johnny’s target sits in front of him and Mickey Cullen sits to the left.  Present Johnny stops the train, and begins hooking up his poison canister, while 1960 Johnny hesitates in killing his target, and after the movie Mickey Cullen’s lifeless body stays seated, Johnny having killed his “bullying” contractor instead.

The Alcatraz team then uncovers the train Johnny is set to attack, and race to the scene, arriving just in time to find subway patrons banging on the windows of the car to flee the gas.  Hauser breaks open the windows with a nearby axe, and subway personnel successfully liberate the passengers as Johnny flees the scene.  Madsen and Hauser manage to catch up to him, and in the ensuing scuffle McKee electrocutes himself on the third rail, but not fatally.

While Diego and Rebecca muse on the train incident being covered up, they figure out that the girl from Johnny’s photograph is Virginia Williams, and her disfigurement was the result of a chemical explosion that threw acid in her face, likely the work of McKee himself.  Back in the past, Dr. Sangupta continues her interrogation of McKee, who through prodding reveals that his date with Ginny really ended with the lights coming on, and the entire football team humiliating him with a prank date.  They threw firecrackers at his naked body, one of which mutilated his, ahem, “Little McKee,” and he later took his revenge by burning off Ginny’s face and killing his classmates at the reunion.  With the truth out, Dr Sangupta agrees to help him.

In the present “New Alcatraz,” Jack Sylvane requests a word with Hauser, giving back the photo of his wife so as not to remind him of the life that no longer exists.  Hauser reminds him that 50 missing years or no, Jack will serve out his prison sentence, despite his pleas of having changed or no longer dreaming.  Hauser reluctantly retreats into Lucy’s room, and finally agrees to read aloud to his comatose partner.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.07 "Johnny McKee" Recap - The Poison Back in Town

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s sixth episode “Paxton Petty,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former Alcatraz prisoner (James Pizzinato) known for placing land mines in populated areas in San Francisco

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Paxton Petty”!

In 1960, a young Emerson Hauser vomits over the side of a boat in the Alcatraz dock, as Dr. Sangupta (Parminder Nagra) and Warden James arrive to receive a new prisoner Paxton Petty (James Pizzinato), notorious for planting mines in populated areas in San Francisco.  Warden James assures Paxton that they’ll find his remaining mines by any means necessary, but before they head into the prison Hauser nervously asks if Dr. Sangupta needs a ride to the mainland.  She declines, but offers him a peppermint for his nausea.  In the present, the elder Hauser watches over Lucy’s unconscious body, playing music for her, when a doctor arrives to report that she’s shown no improvement, and may need DNR instructions.

Somewhere at a local park, a man looses a dog to go for a run, when suddenly a mine beneath him explodes and blows off his leg!  Multiple mines erupt in the nearby chaos, injuring other pedestrians.  When Rebecca and Diego arrive on the scene, Rebecca notices a suspicious man at the scene that we know to be Paxton, while Hauser and Diego figure out on their own that the incident is his handiwork, describing him as a combat engineer eventually tried for war crimes.  When Madsen sees his picture, she takes off after the man from earlier and stops him, but in defense he rolls a mine at her, which she barely escapes.

After recovering, Madsen notices a friend among the bomb squad, that of Matt “Psycho” Tanner (Necessary Roughness and True Blood's Mehcad Brooks).  They note that some of the shrapnel contains rather uniquely-shaped metals, which a visit to Madsen’s medical examiner friend (whom Diego attempts to hit on) reveals them to be pieces of war medals

On Alcatraz, Hauser examines some of his old possessions , including photos of himself and Lucy, and song lyrics with the words "brooke," "beard" and "grace" circled, when we flash back to Paxton Petty’s torture via ice tub back in 1960.  He still refuses to divulge the location of his mines, and Dr. Sangupta insists that they need to try psychological methods instead.  Meanwhile in the present, having learned that the medals are in fact silver stars, Rebecca and Diego figure out that the only place to get those would be off of exhumed soldiers from Paxton’s graveyard shift at the Presidio.  They arrive but find no undisturbed graves, and Rebecca realizes he’d have to hide them where no one would look.

In Dr. Sangupta’s old office, she serves Paxton tea to warm him up, before revealing that she in fact drugged the tea to make him more docile.  She questions him about his time in the war, all-the-while setting him up for electro-shock therapy, which once administered, Paxton starts humming a tune.  She seeks out Tommy Madsen for the meaning of the tune, which in exchange for her finding answers of why he’s kept in the infirmary for his blood, confesses that the song represents a pattern to remember where mines are stashed.

In the present, Rebecca and Diego enter the Mausoleum finding Paxton’s stash of mines recently painted to resemble playground colors.  She calls Hauser to update him on the situation, when he demands she cross reference her results with anything “Windward,” though they find nothing at the local Windward Elementary School park.  Hauser meanwhile goes off on his own to another of Paxton’s targets, a Sunset beach, accidentally stumbling on Petty planting his mines.  Before he can apprehend him, he steps on one of the mines, and is forced to remain in place for the time being.  Later that night while staking out Windward, Paxton arrives to plant his minds and Rebecca subdues him, but realizes that he’s done something with Hauser.

Rebecca throws him in his cell in present Alcatraz, and Paxton insists that he wants to know why he awoke in the year 2012 in a graveyard.  Rebecca leaves Diego to entertain Paxton with his theories on the time jump, and uncovers Hauser’s research of the song lyrics, leading her to put together his location at Sunset beach.  She lets Paxton out and drags him to the beach, but not before he mentions something to Diego about an unrecorded female doctor in Alcatraz’s past.  Speaking of the past, Dr. Sangupta informs Warden James of the methodology for finding the mines, but Dr. Beauregard refuses to answer any of her questions about why Tommy Madsen is being kept in the infirmary.

Back in the present, Rebecca calls the bomb squad to help free Hauser from his predicament, despite Paxton’s taunts.  Tanner reveals that Paxton wired this mine specially to be difficult to diffuse, and while a momentary respite allows Hauser to escape unharmed, the mine still detonates, killing Tanner.  Angered, Hauser shoots Paxton in the leg and deceives him by saying the missing mine from 1960 blew up twenty years ago.  When Paxton reacts, he inadvertently reveals the real location, and Hauser thanks him for instructions on where to dig.

In the past, Dr. Sangupta arrives at Hauser’s work station to ask about the “Twintree” outlined in Paxton’s notes, but also offers him a chance to take her to dinner.  In the present however, aged Hauser whispers to a comatose Lucy that he finally found the mine, before unhooking her from life support and carrying her out of the building.  He takes her all the way to New Alcatraz, where he commands Dr. Beauregard to “fix her” using her own methods.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.06 "Paxton Petty" Recap - Mine Crafting

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s fifth episode “Guy Hastings,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to find a former Alcatraz prison guard (True Blood's Jim Parrack) with ties to Rebecca's grandfather and her still-living foster father Ray Archer (Robert Forster).

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Guy Hastings”!

In 2012 Alcatraz, Guy Hastings overlooks the dilapidated state of his former apartment, ripping off a hidden panel to find photos of his family from the past.  When a current Alcatraz guard finds him trespassing, Guy knocks him unconscious, takes a gun from the same compartment, and stops to observe his daughter’s height markings etched into the wall.  Flashing back to the 60’s, he watches his wife awake in the same room, and plays with his daughter before heading off to work in the rain to train new prison guards, one of whom is the man we’ve come to know as Ray Archer.

Back in the present, Ray shares dumplings with Rebecca Madsen, who asks if Ray really thinks her grandfather Tommy killed her grandmother.  Ray confesses that he didn’t at first, but does now, before a call takes Rebecca to the scene of the beaten guard on Alcatraz.  They reason that if Guy Hastings, a guard rather than an inmate could attack someone violently, he must have been put up to it.  Meanwhile, Ray goes back to his bar while Guy looks on across the street.

History records that Guy Hastings died in a chemical spill in 1963, but while investigating the apartment, they find blood on a side that leads them to the hidden wall panel, empty save for a few clips.  They think it’s likely that Guy will reach out to his still-living daughter Annie, so Diego and Madsen visit her under the pretense of writing an Alcatraz book.  She doesn’t offer much beyond fond memories of her father, but does have a box of old memorabilia.  Back in 1960 Guy leads a young Ray Archer on his first tour through the Alcatraz cafeteria when Ray spots Tommy Madsen (David Hoflin), who immediately lashes out and gets in a violent brawl with the new guard, Tommy quietly hissing “you shouldn’t have come here!”  Back in the present, Guy holds a gun to Ray outside his bar before knocking him out.

In the 60’s Alcatraz infirmary Dr. Beauregard tends to Ray’s head wound, when Wardens Tiller and James arrive demanding an explanation for the incident.  Tiller seems suspicious that Tommy immediately attacked Archer, suggesting a connection and possible breakout attempt, but Guy assures him that he’ll vouch for Ray.  In the present Diego finds a photo of Ray with Tommy Madsen, as his employee calls Rebecca to inform her of Ray’s disappearance.  Ray wakes up to find Guy going through his home looking for evidence of Tommy, and demanding to know his location.  Guy remains certain that Tommy must be somewhere in the present as well, and demands Ray take him to Tommy’s son instead.

After learning that Guy had been seen earlier across the street from the bar, Rebecca, Diego and Hauser visit Ray’s apartment to find it trashed, and his prize watch left behind.  They put together that whoever set the Alcatraz inmates on the lose must be disconnected from and searching for Tommy Madsen, though Hauser remains uncertain why.  Back in the past, Ray swears to Guy that he has no relationship to Tommy Madsen, but Guy informs him that if he is to work at Alcatraz, he should prove his loyalty by attacking Tommy in front of the same inmates who saw his head split open by the man earlier.

In the Alcatraz base Hauser meets with his private team to theorize what could be causing these events, while Diego and Rebecca  recognizes a house from an old photo, and enlists Diego and his computer skills to identify the location, believing Ray and Tommy might have grown up near one another.  Across town, Ray takes Guy to the gravesite of Tommy’s son Van, along with his wife.  Guy says that he was instructed to look for Tommy because of “what they told me, what you saw they were doing to him,” but Ray points out he left some weeks before the disappearances to raise the family Tommy Madsen left behind.  When Guy threatens Rebecca, Ray relents and offers to take Guy to Tommy.

The Alcatraz team manages to figure out from old records that Tommy and Ray were in fact brothers, making Ray Rebecca’s biological uncle, while back in the past the guards arrange for Ray to beat up Tommy in a public display.  As Rebecca and Diego race to the scene, Ray and Guy enter the old home of Tommy Madsen, finding him not there at the moment.  Ray asks Guy where he’s been all these years, but Guy only remembers being knocked out one night on duty, being told his family died in a chemical spill, and spending weeks in the infirmary before suddenly “it wasn’t 1963 anymore.”

Rebecca arrives on the scene, but Guy gets the jump on her, holding her hostage while she insists that he was a good man and that his daughter lived on to have a family of her own.  Hauser enters threatening to put a bullet in Guy’s head, but Rebecca manages to turn the tables and cap Guy in the knee before that happens.  Meanwhile in 1960, Ray visits Tommy in the infirmary, and the two seemingly renews their bond, as Guy observes.

Hauser takes Guy to observe Annie and her family from a distance, noting that Hauser can’t ever see or talk to them, but lamenting Guy as a casualty in all this business.  Across town, Rebecca observes Ray tending bar from outside, before heading over to Alcatraz to confront Hauser.  She’s realized that Ray’s all-too-easy acceptance of the situation means Hauser had approached him about the inmates before, and that Hauser needs someone with ties to Madsen working on the team in order to function.

Meanwhile after a late night, Tommy Madsen confronts his now-elder brother Ray in his bar, who greets him coldly and sends him away noting he’ll kill him if he sees him again.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.05 "Guy Hastings" Recap - A Guarded Matter

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s fourth episode “Cal Sweeney,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to stop another former Alcatraz inmate known for robbing banks of their safety deposit boxes, rather than vaults.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Cal Sweeney”!

In present-day San Francisco, a sharply-dressed, if anachronistic man walks into a bank, and inquires about visiting his safety deposit box.  Flirtatiously, the teller leads him to the vault, where the two get down to dirty business, before the man pulls out a syringe and drugs the woman unconscious.  He opens his briefcase and assembles a captive bolt pistol, which he uses to unlock a number of safety deposit boxes, dumping their contents into his case.  He eyes a particular necklace when another man comes in, finds the teller unconscious, and our villain is forced to put an end to him No Country For Old Men-style.

Back in Alcatraz 1960, the same man, Cal Sweeney (Eric Johnson) shows new recruit Harlan (Steven Grayhm) the business of smuggling contraband through the laundry, marking up another inmate triple the rate for being unable to pay that week.  He mentors Harlan, pointing out that any weakness shown in his enterprise will be seen by those looking to take over his operation.  Just then, a guard drops by to let Cal know that Deputy Warden Tiller (Jason Butler Harner) has tossed his cell.  Sweeney returns to his cell to find an important item missing, and notes how he needs to talk to Tiller.

In the present, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) discuss over Japanese food the Gotham City-based criminology model that got Diego barred from being a professor, when Hauser (Sam Neill)  calls them into the bank scene.  Diego immediately recognizes the handiwork as Cal Sweeney’s, as Rebecca interviews the teller to learn that Cal had romanced her over time to get in that position, and that they could likely catch Cal when he attempts to pawn any of the items he stole.  However, at that moment Sweeney arrives at the home of the man whose necklace he stole, claiming to be an insurance agent taking stock of the stolen items.  The man grows suspicious when Cal demands to know the story of how he met the wife the necklace belonged to, and Cal captive-bolds his hand to keep him from calling the police

Back in 1960, Cal confronts Deputy Warden Tiller in the prison barber shop, where Tiller denies knowledge of Cal’s small metal box but demands a piece of his operation.  Sweeney refuses at first, but Tiller reminds him that he best comply lest he be “nicked,” and later Sweeney relays the situation to Harlan.  Harlan suggests he confront Tiller privately, and pulling steward duty at Tiller’s upcoming birthday celebration would provide the opportunity.  Meanwhile back in the present, Diego and Rebecca arrive at the necklace man’s wife and home to find him dead, while Cal walks into another bank and eyes his next teller.

In 1960, the guests slowly arrive for Tiller’s birthday celebration including Warden James (Jonny Coyne), Tiller himself, his mentally disabled sister, Dr. Beauregard, and our favorite time-displaced Dr. Lucy “Sangupta" (Parminder Nagra).  She and Beauregard banter about her research in removing traumatic memories as rehabilitation for convicts, before we flash back to the present observing Diego and Rebecca mining through Cal’s old possessions, solely a burn tin box with nothing inside.  Hauser arrives, and the group notes Cal’s change in behavior from his past crimes, but realizing that the bank robberies have in common Cal’s romancing of a middle-aged teller upon whom he bestows flowers.  They track the flower shop and learn Cal’s likely next target.

Cal pulls the same make-out routine on his next teller, but she manages to evade his syringe and sound the alarm before the prisoner knocks her out.  He empties the safety deposit boxes once more, but finds his exit blocked by security guards and the arrival of the police.  He fires his gun wildly, and creates a hostage situation.  Back in 1960, Warden James leads a toast and bestows the birthday gift of a fine pen upon Tiller, when Harlan spills coffee and creates an opportunity for Cal to confront Tiller in the bathroom.  Once there, Tiller demands 50% of Cal’s smuggling operation, but insists he has no knowledge of the tin box.  Cal turns violent in demanding his stolen property, but Tiller stabs Cal with the pen and threatens 60 days in the hole if Cal speaks of the incident.

In the present, Hauser arrives on the hostage scene noting that Cal has no demands and offering to distract the police while Rebecca sneaks in to lead Cal out discretely.  Rebecca enters through the next building’s vents, but attracts Cal’s attention.  She confesses to being unarmed, but assures him she knows who he is, and will lead him out rather than risk being caught by present-day authorities.  While Hauser continues to distract, gunshots inside draw a SWAT team, and in the confusion of gas canisters and hostage evacuation, Rebecca manages to sneak Cal out wearing a SWAT uniform, and the two drive away in a police car, Hauser riding in Diego’s mustang in pursuit.

Hauser chides Diego’s driving, and when Cal recognizes their following Rebecca calls their pursuit off by turning on their car's siren.  Meanwhile back in 1960 Cal awaits being taken into solitary, when a next-cell Harlan reveals that he was the one to take Cal’s burnt tin box, the only remnant of his childhood life and family, and returns the box before announcing his plans to take over Cal’s operation during his solitary.  Cal destroys the box, as Tiller arrives to take him to his confinement.

While Rebecca continues driving Cal, she questions the significance of the velvet bag he retrieved from the bank, which he cryptically admits he doesn’t know the contents of.  He menacingly instructs her to pull over, when she notices his lack of seat belt and crashes the car to gain the upper hand.  Later, Rebecca and Diego revel in their fourth victory, though Hauser denies them any explanation of the key, taking it to his lab of scientists for research.  They don’t uncover much beyond the keys having been carved by lasers, technology unavailable during the 1960s.

Back in time, Warden James leads Harlan to the downstairs chamber of a “dissident” who requests a meeting, using the mysterious keys to open a strange door that Harlan seems fearful of the contents of, but the warden leads him inside noting  that “your future just got brighter.”

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.04 "Cal Sweeney" Recap - Just A Little Off The Top

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s third episode “Kit Nelson,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to stop another former Alcatraz inmate known for kidnapping children, and returning them to their homes after their murder.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Kit Nelsen”!

In present day Walnut Creek, CA, a man casually opens the gate and enters (with keys) a home while clutching a large white chrysanthemum.  He heads up to the bedroom of several young sleeping boys, casually observing them before clamping down over the elder boy's mouth, and assuring him that if the boy screams, he’ll kill his brother.  Flashing back to Alcatraz 1960, we see the same man chastised as a “child-killer” out in the yard, and savagely beaten by the other inmates while the guards look on.

Back in the present, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Reyes) illustrates a comic book based on his experiences with the Alcatraz task force, when he hears over his police scanner news of a child’s kidnapping with a flower found at the scene.  He panics, finds an old clipping from his files, and rushes out of his shop.  Meanwhile at the hospital, Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) and Rebecca Madsen observe the still-comatose Lucy Banjeree (Parminder Nagra), when Diego rushes up to deliver the news.  He believes the recent kidnapping to be the work of Alcatraz inmate Kit Nelson, who kidnaps boys on a Friday, and returns them to their homes dead 48 hours later.

Noting along the way that Kit Nelson had a brother who died of scarlet fever the same age as his victims, they arrive at the boy’s house to question the mother, who upon seeing a photo of Kit Nelson recognizes him as a man from the local hardware store who stopped by to do some work.  When the youngest boy Liam sees the photo, he reveals that he indeed saw the man in the bedroom the night before, but was too scared to do anything about it.

At a local lake, Kit takes Dylan to rent out a fishing boat, while back in 1960 Kit recovers from the aftermath of his beating.  Dr. Beauregard doesn’t take too kindly to Kit’s recovery given the inmate’s history, when the man behind the divider we saw last week laughs and offers his own insight into why the other inmates attacked Kit.  After drawing blood from the man, the doctors draw the divider revealing Tommy Madsen, Rebecca’s grandfather.

Back in the present, Diego and Rebecca question the hardware store owner, who reveals that someone stole the real “Warren’s” uniform and some fishing supplies, and that that the only local area for fishing is the LaFayette Recreation Area.  Meanwhile, peaceful fishing between Kit and Dylan turns dark when Kit instructs his captive into the water, and soon follows.  He forces Dylan to hold him under as long as he can, and then afterward reveals with a sinister tone that it’s “your turn.”

Having missed them at the lake (from where they’ve since moved on to the movies), Diego reasons that Kit might be taking Dylan to do things the young boy likes, but seems troubled by the thought.  Back in 1960 the Warden brings a wheelchair for Kit and claims responsibility for his beating, informing him that he’ll protect him by isolating him from other prisoners.  Kit also received a letter from his father, and despite the inmate’s hesitation the Warden would like the pair to visit with one another.

In the present, Hauser grows increasingly despondent over Lucy’s absence and cancels the Amber Alert over Dylan.  Meanwhile, Diego and Rebecca interview Dylan’s mother once more, and upon learning that Dylan likes none of the things Kit has taken him to do, Diego rushes off babbling about cherry pie.  He reaches the front yard just in time to see the police leaving due to the cancelled Amber Alert, which Hauser arrives to explain is for the greater good, that they can catch Kit when he brings Dylan back (dead), the boy’s death preferable to releasing images of the 63 Alcatraz inmates to the media.  Diego storms off, and Rebecca reminds Hauser that they all need each other’s expertise to function, and must trust one another.

After checking out multiple nearby diners for their cherry pie, Diego manages to find himself in exactly the right spot where Kit has taken Dylan for a slice.  He calls Rebecca to casually relay the situation, while Kit flashes back to 1960.  In Alcatraz, he finds himself face to glass with his estranged father, who believes that Kit killed his own brother, and upon discovering her son’s horrid actions their mother protected the boy by hiding the evidence and blaming scarlet fever.  He believes that Kit hated his brother for loving life, lakes, miniature golf and cherry pie, but after his brother’s death their mother only ignored him further.  Kit refuses to admit his guilt, but the father leaves happy knowing his evil son will die in prison

Back in 2012, Diego attempts to stall Kit and Dylan from leaving, before Rebecca finally arrives and a standoff ensues.  Kit manages to gain the upper hand and has Rebecca cuff herself with Diego to a dumpster, but after Kit speeds off Rebecca uses her backup weapon to free herself from the cuffs.  Defeated, Diego dejectedly believes the boy’s fate to be his own fault.  Their luck quickly turns around however, as Diego later goes through Kit’s possessions and realizes he had unusually expensive cigarettes in his Alcatraz cell.  Diego traces the influx of cash to some back pay that Kit received from his job at a construction company, which for a time made bomb shelters, one of which was located in Walnut Creek not far from Dylan’s home!

Kit flashes back to 1960 once more, where the Warden has him thrown into a pitch-black solitary cell for a quiet conversation.  Lighting one match for every moment of questioning, the warden demands to know the truth about Kit killing his brother.  Through coercion and intimidation, the warden finally gets Kit to cop to murdering his sibling, unintentionally at first, but giving in to the thrill of it at last.  He put the chrysanthemum on his mother’s bed, as they were both hers and his brother’s favorite.  Back in the present, Dylan manages to distract Kit long enough to slip off his shoe and hurl it at the bomb shelter’s only light, climbing up the ladder and escaping into the forest!

Kit chases Dylan through the forest with Diego and Rebecca in hot pursuit, and Rebecca manages to corner the pair once more.  Despite his lack of a weapon Kit believes that Rebecca won't shoot, when all of a sudden a shot from Hauser hits Kit through the head.  Later, Hauser requests a moment with Diego, intimating that he knows what happened to him at the age of 11, and despite a state of arrested development he needs Diego to be an adult rather than an 11-year old.  Diego agrees, and Rebecca reminds him that he doesn’t have to tell her what really happened to him, as it’s his own origin story.

Diego takes it on himself to visit the now-safe Dylan and beef up his comic collection, when the boy confesses he’s still afraid.  Diego confesses that he himself was kidnapped at that age, but managed to get away.  He assures the boy that “once you know you can do that, it sort of give you a superpower, like [comic superheroes], but real.”

Later, Hauser carries the bodybag of Kit into "New Alcatraz," bringing it to a still-living and un-aged Dr. Beauregard.  Hauser intimates that he may need the physician’s help with “a friend of mine,” and the doctor reports ready.  Hauser takes off, as Dr. Beauregard lights a cigarette, and gleefully switches on the record player in his office.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.03 "Kit Nelson" Recap - Sweet Cherry Pie

Alcatraz unlocks its third episode "Kit Nelson" tonight after debuting last week with both the pilot episode and follow-up "Ernest Cobb," as this week the Alcatraz task force races against time to stop a kidnapper from the past (Michael Ecklund) with a nasty habit of returning his victims home after he's killed them.

Finding the target before it's too late becomes something of a personal quest for Alcatraz expert Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia), so will Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) be able to track down Kit Nelson before it's too late?  Just what interest has Dr. Soto taken in their latest recovered Alcatraz inmate?  Does Emerson Hauser know more than he's letting on? And what was up with Emerson's assistant Lucy (Parminder Nagara) showing up in the past? Be sure to check out tonight's episode for all your answers when it debuts in its regular time slot at 9:00 ET/PT, after an all new episode of House.

For those interested in keeping score of J.J. Abrams' latest mystery series, the two-part series premiere of Alcatraz debuted to an impressive 10 million viewers, scoring a 3.3 demo rating.  The premiere boasted ratings 10% higher than the debut of FOX's fall sci-fi epic Terra Nova, whose renewal has yet to be decided by the network.  Alcatraz also gave the FOX network its best drama series debut since 2009's Lie to Me, so there's a good chance its future will be somewhat less in doubt than other high-profile science fiction series on FOX.  If you want to keep the mystery going, you'll just have to watch every week!

But before you tune into tonight's all-new Alcatraz, be sure to check out FOX's special behind-the-scenes preview from the episode below, and flip through a host of fresh images from "Kit Nelson" by using the arrows above!

Tonight on Alcatraz: A Child Killer Returns from the Past (Sneak Peek)

J.J. Abrams operates in a way that's similar to the deists' perception of God. He simply creates something, winds up the spring, and lets it go how it will. Sometimes, as with Undercovers, the clockwork is wound too tight and it breaks. But Abrams has a tendency, as he did with LOST, to wind things up just right, and then step away. He did the same thing with FOX's Fringe, one of the most creatively brilliant shows on television right now.

In a video released by FOX on Thursday, Abrams chats with Fringe marketing special ops Ari Margolis about why exactly he loves the show that he helped to create, pointing out how the show is a wonderful mix of the scary and the heartfelt, pointing to Walter Bishop (John Noble) as a prime example.

While Abrams realizes that viewership isn't great and that chances of a fifth season aren't great, he certainly sweetens the pot for FOX to renew the series; he's willing to once again wind up the clockwork. "While I don't know what the schedule is, it has been my desire since the pilot to direct an episode," Abrams says. "I would say without question that if Fringe comes back, I would do anything in my power to direct an episode. I would love it."

Fringe will air Friday, January 20 with the episode "Enemy of My Enemy" at 9/8c on FOX. Watch it live.

Check out the video below.

Fringe: J.J. Abrams Wants to Direct an Episode in Season 5

Alcatraz continues its two-part series premiere with tonight’s second episode “Ernest Cobb,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) settle into their new roles investigating the re-appearing Alcatraz inmates, and a brutal sniper attack points them and Hauser (Sam Neill) toward an eccentric inmate (Joe Egender) known for sniping victims in threes.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Ernest Cobb”!

In Alcatraz 1960, Tiller leads prisoner Ernest Cobb through the pirson to meet Warden James, who questions Cobb about his sniper shooting crimes while popping off his own rounds at a makeshift targeting range.  Cobb declines to explain what motivated his original crimes, but does explain that he shot a prison guard to request a transfer to Alcatraz for a private room.

Later, presumably in the present, Cobb sets himself up a pleasant hillside picnic in the park.  After a bite of his sandwhich, he assembles his sniper rifle, and trains his eye on a coung couple strolling through nearby fair grounds.

Elsewhere, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) trains an assistant to run his comic shop while he works on the top-secret Alcatraz task force, when Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) arrives with breakfast, and a few questions about the limited information about her grandfather in Soto’s books.  Back in the park, Cobb trains his sniper sight on a man, and the young couple he spied earlier.  He guns down the man, the young teen, and his helpless girlfriend, all of whom die instantly.

At the crime scene Diego expresses difficulty being around such gore, but contributes when he and Hauser realize that the dead crows mean another Alcatraz inmate’s MO, that of Cobb’s.  Cobb usually does three shootings in three days, before disappearing underground.  Diego and Rebecca have an epiphany about the type of gun Cobb used, and with some deductive reasoning manage to recover one of the bullet casings the inmate left behind!

Quickly flashing back to 1960, Cobb and his chatty cell neighbor observe the scene from the pilot of Jack Sylvane being dragged away from his divorcing wife, before the action shifts back to 2012, where Lucille (Parminder Nagra) interrogates Jack to see if he recognizes Cobb.  He denies knowing Cobb, and insists he has no idea how he arrived in 2012 or what the key he retrieved last week signifies.  According to their equipment, Sylvane appears to be telling the truth.

Diego observes a few hidden mysteries around their home base, before Cobb’s gun casing leads them to a gun shop Rebecca has investigated before.  There they discover via security footage that not only did Cobb retrieve his rifle using a prepaid cell phone, he also carried a distinct room key they can trace to a hotel.  Cobb sets up his rifle and coldly waits in his room, as Lucille, Diego and Rebecca head to the hotel room, which sits empty.  That is, until Lucille uncovers a window message with a bullseye over it, and Cobb shoots her through the chest from across the way!  An ambulance takes Lucille off as Hauser finally arrives, and ignores Rebecca’s questions to scold her that Ernest Cobb is still out there.

With Lucille alive but in a coma, Hauser retreats to his re-created Alcatraz to question Jack if Lucille was a target, which he denies knowing.  Hauser reminds him that “Dr. Beauregard” might be able to jog his memory.  Meanwhile, Diego and Rebecca manage to reason out that Cobb’s seemingly random MO hides that fact that one of his victims is always a teenage girl.  As Rebecca tries to get into his head from the prison cell, Diego brings an undelivered letter to Cobb from Eloise Monroe, his half-sister looking to strike up a pen-pal relationship after she saw their mother spurn Cobb.

In 1960, Cobb finds a method of passive resistance in Alcatraz that gets him sent to solitary confinement, while Rebecca realizes the man made a scope out of limited means, and liked to stare at the view overlooking San Francisco.  The ‘60s Cobb finds new torment from the warden by placing his chatty neighbor in solitary with him, as 2012 Cobb perches himself, and takes out three new victims by a local mall.

Rebecca reasons that the mall shootings were only Cobb’s second killing, Lucille not having been intentional, which means the man will strike once more.  Comparing Cobb’s prison cell view with the buildings he would have seen at the time, Hauser and Rebecca come to believe Cobb will use either one of two buildings as a vantage point for his final kills, and the team races to stop him.

Hauser takes one building while Rebecca takes the other, but it’s Rebecca that finds the man poised to kill on the rooftop.  She attempts to reason with him and explain how his half-sister tried to contact, but it’s of no use.  Thankfully, Hauser arrives and together he and Rebecca manage to outflank Cobb long enough to get him on the ground, where Hauser shoots Cobb through the hand for revenge.

Later, Hauser keeps watch over Lucille while Rebecca assures Diego that despite his trepidation, he’s doing fine in their mission, and she will need his help to continue.  Hauser leaves the hospital sharing an intense gaze with Rebecca, and heads back to “New Alcatraz” to bring in Cobb, who seems confused to see Jack Sylvane present as well.  Hauser assures Cobb he could have killed him, and Cobb will wish he had.

However, back in 1960, Warden James finally gives up on rehabilitating Cobb, and brings in a new doctor he believes can help, none other than Lucille Sangupta herself, at the very same age!

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the premiere? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.02 "Ernest Cobb" Recap - Sniper Hunt

Alcatraz unlocks its first episode series premiere event from the mind of J.J. Abrams with tonight's pilot "Jack Sylvane," as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) finds herself embroiled in a mind-boggling mystery of how 1960's Alcatraz inmates are re-surfacing in present day San Francisco with murderous intent.  Alcatraz certainly holds promise going forward, but isn't quite the dramatic hook some of Abrams' past TV works have been.

I first saw Alcatraz when they screened the pilot episode at San Diego Comic-Con, though I confess to drifting in and out of attention, owing partly to other assignments of previous Ballroom 20 panels, a lack of anything particularly grabbing within the pilot itself, and just a brutal, brutal hangover from all the socializing the night before.

So while I could have done a better job on focusing on what does, and doesn’t work about Alcatraz the first time around, the eminent prestige of J.J. Abrams and its sci-fi premise would inevitably draw me back in for further viewing.

Then, I found out they re-tooled the pilot a bit from what was shown, and I couldn’t be sure whether what I had watched recently in FOX’s online screening room was the original or the updated version.  Even with that dilemma, re-tooling pilots always bodes ill for a series.  So keep in mind that what you see from Alcatraz’s series premiere tonight wasn’t always present, and serves to highlight a few points FOX obviously found problematic, notably a lack of character for lead Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones).  Near as I can tell, none of the original pilot dealt with the death of her partner, her difficulting in working with others, or her grandfather already resurfacing in present day.

I also did a bit of research into other reactions to the pilot, many of which hit some of the same points, that conceptually Alcatraz seems like a cool idea for series and a smart blend of sci-fi with the procedural, but little else.  Clearly the writers are setting up some kind of larger sci-fi conspiracy to explain where the 302 Alcatraz prisoners and guards have been for 40 years, but beyond that most of the action simply lies in unremarkable characters following somewhat typical cop-show beats.  I’m reminded of specific comments* from J.J. Abrams on how he envisioned Alcatraz as a less serialized, inmate-of-the-week type series that anyone could find accessible by jumping on to random episodes during the season, and that mentality certainly shows.

(*) Others have also pointed out that in discussing the show Abrams drew on the same “Alias as over-serialized” anecdote he used when first describing Fringe, which hit its creative stride by embracing longer story arcs, not avoiding them.

The basic synopsis of Alcatraz unfolds as troubled young detective Rebecca Madsen and Alcatraz expert Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) find themselves drawn into the murder investigation of a former Alcatraz staff member, apparently by long-dead inmate Jack Sylvane.  Once they uncover too many details of the seemingly impossible murder, secretive FBI agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) recruits them as part of the larger investigation of why Alcatraz inmates are re-appearing un-aged in present day with murderous intent.

With 302 names on the roster to investigate and a host of unanswered questions, Alcatraz’ pilot leaves plenty of room to grow, but could use a little work in developing its characters.  Madsen seems to have a colorful enough past, but we don’t grasp much of a clear hook for why she finds herself so drawn to the Alcatraz cases, or even how impossible they seem.  As I mentioned earlier FOX seems to have beefed up her grandfather’s role in the mystery, but that shoehorning doesn’t illustrate much of a real connection she has to the man other than blood, or her surrogate uncle (Robert Forster).

Diego Soto on the other hand, everyone loves Hurley, but the pilot doesn’t give the good doctor much to do beyond a couple of “gee whiz” reactions and a few dots about Alcatraz to connect.  Sam Neill’s Emerson Hauser emerges as a frontrunner for the most intriguing character thus far, but I wouldn’t trust J.J. Abrams to show his hand so quickly.  By the same token I expect that whatever orders they might have, each inmate (or guard) the team encounters from the past will run the gamut of emotions, as Alcatraz’ pilot seems inconsistent on portraying Jack Sylvane as sympathetic and remorseless.  We feel for him given his plight and unfair treatment in prison, but those sympathies don’t quite gel with his unrepentantly violent nature.  I haven’t seen the second episode FOX will air along with the pilot, so we’ll see if character motivations become any clearer.

I’ll definitely keep up with Alcatraz going forward, but I might dip more into the recap side rather than review, unless the show manages to grow out of its more generic cop show conventions.  Really, must every leading detective be a loose cannon with family issues that no one else works well with?

See?  Not everything needs to draw heavy LOST comparisons.

And Another Thing…

• We'll be back with a recap of the second episode "Ernest Cobb" later, but you can also check out our extensive Alcatraz coverage, including set visits, and interviews with Executive Producer Jack Bender, Jorge Garcia, Sarah Jones and others.

• Should we start a pool of crazy theories to explain the science-fiction?  My money’s on either cloning, or cryogenics given the additional hospital ward experiment scenes added to the pilot.  Time travel seems like it might be a little grand for this show.

• For funsies, take a shot every time someone dramatically reminds another that “THIS IS ALCATRAZ!”

• Unless I'm mistaken, the current version of the pilot also removes a scene in which Sylvane recieves cryptic, almost hypnotizing instructions from a payphone call, something they may have wanted to keep more ambiguous at first.

• Man, the guy they got to play a young Sam Neill looks creepy.

What did YOU think?

Alcatraz 1.01 "Jack Sylvane" Series Premiere Review

Alcatraz is one of the most hotly anticipated new shows of the midseason. After all, it is the new show from J.J. Abrams, the brain behind LOST, Fringe, Alias, and Felicity. The series, which stars Sarah Jones (Big Love) and Jorge Garcia (LOST), centers on the mysterious disappearance of everyone from Alcatraz Prison decades ago... And their sudden, mysterious reappearances in the present. It's a creepy, fun show, with a tone reminiscent of Fringe's first season.

A new poster for the series has been released, featuring an appropriately fog-shrouded Alcatraz and the show's title in massive lettering.

Cast promotional photos have also been released, featuring quite a few familiar faces. In addition to Garcia, who played the lovable Hurley Reyes on LOST, the show stars Robert Forster (Arthur Petrelli from Heroes) and Santiago Cabrera, who is nearly unrecognizable without his long hair from his role as painter Isaac Mendez on Heroes. Sam Neill's also a major part of the cast, his first television role since last year's failed ABC series Happy Town. Then there's Jason Butler Harner, an actor probably most known by Alcatraz's target audience as the first ever Fringe villain, Richard Steig.

Alcatraz, from its cast alone, seems like the perfect fodder for genre television fans. Of course, it also needs to perform really well in order to avoid cancellation, especially in the prime Monday night timeslot where FOX is premiering it.

You can check out all the Alcatraz photos over the next few pages.

Alcatraz will premiere January 16 on FOX.

Alcatraz: New Poster and Promo Photos Released

Bradley Cooper looks to be on the verge of becoming a huge movie star. This Friday sees the release of Limitless, his first major project that boasts his name as the title star and will see if he can sell a film on his own rather than part of an ensemble cast like in He's Just Not That Into You and Valentines Day (it also stars the little known actor Robert De Niro). Speaking to the New York Times this weekend his roots in television were discussed as part of what has helped him become the star that he is today.

Cooper played Will Tippin in Alias for two seasons and became more than Sydney's (Jennifer Garner) reporter best friend, when asked about Cooper show creator and producer JJ Abrams responded

"Originally Will was on the outside of what was going on in Sidney’s life, but it became clear that Bradley’s range went far beyond sidekick. We realized we needed to bring him into the main plot."

The character of Will went from being a nuisance who threatened to expose Sydney's double life in the first season who fans of the show weren't too impressed by to a character that was sorely missed when he left at the end of season two. His guest appearances in the later seasons of the show and particularly in the 100th episode ("There's Only One Sydney Bristow") were received with welcome arms and showed that Will Tippin was a character that became a fan favourite, much of this was down to Cooper's charm and chemistry with Garner. He is obviously not too hard on the eye either and as the New York Times piece points out

A common thread uniting nearly all of Mr. Cooper’s performances is that his characters have been defined by ample smoothness and sex appeal. Even portraying a journalist on Alias he peeled off his shirt in the very first episode, flaunting a physique more Muscle Milk than Murrow.

He is however more than just a pretty face and is rather versatile, going from playing the sweet best friend in Alias to the alpha male douche in The Wedding Crashers, and striking the mid point of these two characteristics in the film that most certainly put him on the big movie star radar; The Hangover. If Limitless doesn't perform particularly well all should not be considered lost for Cooper who is reprising his role of Phil in The Hangover Part II, coming this May and is likely to be a box office smash. It looks like Bradley Cooper will be set to be the headlining movie star it was clear he could be back when Abrams cast him in Alias.

Bradley Cooper from Alias to Limitless and Beyond

Last week, we reported that CBS had picked up the J.J. Abrams (LOST, Alias, Fringe) / Jonah Nolan (co-writer of The Dark Knight and The Prestige, brother of Christopher) pilot Person of Interest.

Last month, we reported that J.J. Abrams' other series, Odd Jobs, starring former LOST castaways Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn, was to be pushed back.

These two stories add up to this new report from TVLine: Abrams has (again) snagged Emerson, who will play a lead in Person of Interest.

This is great news, (Emerson's guest appearance on Parenthood this week reminded us all what a phenomenal actor the Emmy winner is) as anything that gets him back on our screens will be much-anticipated and widely watched. "The project is a crime drama centered on an ex-CIA agent, presumed dead, who teams up with a mysterious billionaire (Emerson) to prevent violent crimes in New York City," says the report. People who are presumed dead? Mysterious billionaire? Oh, how LOSTesque!

The news also comes with an air of mystery and perhaps sadness for us LOST fans who were dying to see Emerson and O'Quinn together again. This news surely puts their on-screen reunion in jeopardy. If Person of Interest takes off, will a different actor will be needed to pair with O'Quinn if Odd Jobs is to be developed next year? Who would you like to see in that role, if not Emerson? If Emerson isn't around, will O'Quinn still want to take the gig?

I'm getting ahead of myself with these questions, but somewhere down the line they will be addressed. Abrams and Emerson are two of the very best in the business, and Nolan has an incredible track record as well. Share your thoughts below!

Michael Emerson and J.J. Abrams Reunite For CBS Pilot

J.J. Abrams is a very busy man lately.  His new movie Super 8 will be released this summer and he's still working on the follow up to Star Trek.  In addition, he's got a few television pilots brewing.  Last year's Undercovers was canceled by NBC, and his new pilot starring LOST alums Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn has been put on hold, but the pilot for Alcatraz is filming (with Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia) and CBS has just picked up another pilot called Person of Interest.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms that CBS has put in a pilot order for this new show, which is a crime drama written by Jonah Nolan.  He's the brother of Christopher Nolan and co-wrote the script for The Dark Knight.

In other words, Person of Interest has a pretty decent writer.

The show is being produced by Warner Bros. TV and Abram's production company Bad Robot.  The story follows an ex-CIA hitman and a scientist, who team up to attempt to prevent crimes before they occur.

So the question, of course, whether this story will turn out to be more dark and mysterious like Fringe, or lighter like Undercovers.  Of course, we don't know whether the show itself will end up being picked up, so we'll have to wait for the networks to announce their schedules for the fall in the coming months.

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J.J. Abrams' Person of Interest Pilot Picked Up by CBS

The Internet exploded with excitement back in September when it was reported that NBC had picked up J.J. Abrams' Odd Jobs, featuring ex-LOST castaways Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn as former black ops agents. That was just about the best news that could come out for us LOST fans who were suffering from withdrawals, with the exception of a Sawyer/Miles buddy cop show, which fans have been imagining since the two worked together in the final season. (Hey, TV execs: if you can get Josh Holloway and Ken Leung attached to the project, there would be an audience. I'm just sayin'.)

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. Deadline reported yesterday that the show will be delayed until next season:

"...the commitment to the J.J. Abrams/WBTV-produced drama Odd Jobs starring Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn, whose script came in very late, is being rolled to next season when it will be applied to the same or new Bad Robot project."

Now, things could be much worse so let's take a look on the bright side. Delayed is certainly better than abandoned, right? Right. However, this news begs the question of will Emerson and O'Quinn still be attached to the project a year from now? Unless an announcement is made, we will just have to hope that they are, because the two men are phenomenal together on screen. It would be a shame if they never worked together again, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that the show will go on as planned with the two stars.

Let's look back to the bright side. While we wait for Odd Jobs, we still have Alcatraz to be excited for. It's another trip to a mysterious island with J.J. Abrams and Jorge Garcia, who will be playing a "hippy geek" doctor. With Alcatraz this year and Odd Jobs next year, we've got a lot of good television to look forward to, my friends.

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J.J. Abrams' Michael Emerson/Terry O'Quinn Series 'Odd Jobs' Delayed

J.J. Abrams has so much going on that it'd be difficult to fit the entire list into one 140-character tweet. Collider caught up with the busy Abrams and got his take on the current and future television shows he's involved with as well as the upcoming films Star Trek 2 and Super 8. Check it all out below.

His thoughts on the LOST finale and whether or not he had any input:
J.J. ABRAMS: Oh, my god, I thought those guys just did an incredible job. It was really beautifully done. No. I watched them do an amazing job without me, and I didn’t want to upset the balance. Seriously, they didn’t need my help. They did an amazing job.

How he feels about Fringe's move to Friday night:
ABRAMS: Oh, I’m horrified beyond belief, but as a fan of the genre and the show, I’m hoping that fans will tune in. I certainly can promise that it will be worth their while. The episodes that are coming up are spectacular. I guess you can just be hopeful and say that, if the work is good enough, it will find the audience. I think they’re doing better work now, even in the second half of Season 3, than they’ve ever done on the series. I’m just crossing my fingers that fans of the show, show up. I don’t see an upside because the audience on Friday nights is harder to find. But, that’s not to say that they aren’t there and that we might not be able to make it there. Certainly, I would be lying to you if I said I’m thrilled about the move. But, what I am thrilled about is that the network has been incredibly supportive and, despite its move to Friday, they’ve been nothing but encouraging of the show. It’s still on the air in its third season, and it’s not easy to do that. It’s not easy to get to Season 3 of anything. They’ve allowed the show to become truly great, I think. The question is, will audiences find a great show on Friday nights? I pray that they do.

On what he has in development for network television right now:
ABRAMS: We have a few projects. We have a show for Fox called Alcatraz, that starts shooting on the 19th, which I could not be more excited about. And, we have a show for CBS called Person of Interest, that Jonah Nolan wrote. We have Odd Jobs for NBC. And we have a new script called Pulp, that was written by Alison Schapker and Monica Breen. That’s a spectacular script. We’re about to go out with that.

The status of Odd Jobs, with Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson:
ABRAMS: A script is being written right now. The intent would be to make the pilot for this season.

Is Alcatraz actually about Alcatraz?
ABRAMS: Alcatraz does involve Alcatraz. Some will be [shot in the actual prison], yes. There are sets being built, but there will be some of the pilot shot in San Francisco at Alcatraz. I don’t want to give anything away because no one wants to hear that, but I will say that it’s a beautifully written and surprisingly emotional script, although not surprising when you know that Liz Sarnoff wrote it. She’s amazing. The show is about an incredibly odd and mysterious turn and secret about the prison of Alcatraz, and a modern-day mystery that involves something very odd that happened there 50 years ago. The cast is unbelievable. It’s Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia from Lost – who was the first person we cast and is just the greatest with an amazing role – and Johnny Coyne, who’s an amazing English actor. We have a spectacular cast. There are a number of other actors and it is wonderful. I’m really excited about the show.

His thoughts on what happened with Undercovers:
ABRAMS: I’ve got to say, I feel like it was unfortunate. Of course, I completely blame myself for the entire thing. The conceit of the show was to do a much more frivolous, fun show, but ultimately, I think it was just too frivolous and too simple, and we didn’t go deep enough. We were really desperately trying to stay away from mythology and complexity and intensity and too much serious, dark storytelling and, ultimately, that’s not necessarily what I do best. I think audiences felt that it was a little bit lacking. I see that and completely take responsibility for its failing. I especially feel for the actors, who are incredibly talented and wonderful. The directors we got, the editors and the crew was awesome. The idea that I would somehow squander really talented people’s time and take them and us away from our families and other work we have to do, it was a real heartbreaker. Again, I feel completely responsible. I would desperately hope that no one, including network executives, would see the failure of Undercovers as a reflection of the race of the cast. It obviously had absolutely zero to do with that. It was completely my responsibility and not anyone else’s. I don’t think anyone is going to think that. Instead of that, I think they would say, “Series that have a premise that’s too light and too disposable and too frivolous won’t work.” Audiences want more. They want something that is more emotionally true and resonates a little more. I think the true failing of the show was that it didn’t go deep enough and it wasn’t about enough. Everyone, including Josh Reims, with whom I created the show, followed my lead. It was all my doing.

Take a moment to digest all of that information, and when you're ready, here's what he had to say about two of his upcoming films.

When will audiences get to see a trailer for Super 8?
ABRAMS: Probably sometime in March, I think.

Do you have a date by which you have to decide whether you’re going to direct Star Trek 2?
ABRAMS: That’s a good question. I probably do. I don’t know. There’s a script that should be coming in, hopefully by the time there’s a trailer for Super 8, and then we’ll know.

What’s the biggest proponent of that decision for you?
ABRAMS: I guess the idea of not wanting to choose to direct a film, for which I’ve not read a script. It’s a tough decision to make without seeing any pages. That’s not to say that I don’t have all the faith in the world in the spectacular writers. Damon Lindelof, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman are awesome. My hope is that they’ll write the script, it will be great and we can make a fun, exciting sequel to Star Trek.

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J.J. Abrams Talks LOST Finale, Fringe, Alcatraz, Person of Interest, Odd Jobs and More

J.J. Abrams has been a very busy man these past few months. According to TV Guide, his company, Bad Robot, is developing yet another series - entitled Pulp - with a very Pulp Fiction tone to it. Apparently, this new show will be a crime drama set in a slightly heightened reality, quite like Quentin Tarantino's classic 1994 movie.

Lost, Fringe and Alias' veteran writers, Monica Breen and Alison Schapker, have penned the script for Pulp. If the show is picked up by a network, they would also serve as executive producers.

This is the fourth project of Abrams that can be ordered for the next Fall Season. The others are Alcatraz, with Jorge Garcia, on FOX, Odd Jobs (with Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn) at NBC, and an untitled crime thriller with screenwriter Jonathan Nolan at CBS.

J.J. Abrams brings a Pulp Fiction like project to television

Every time I see or hear about Sam Neill, I can't help but think about "Jurassic Park" and his role as Dr. Alan Grant. Well that's all about to change as Mr. Neill has scored a major gig to go explore another famous island by another creative genius.

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva has announced that Mr. Neill is the latest actor to join 'Alcatraz', J.J. Abrams' new pilot for FOX, which is in contention for a slot on FOX's 2011-2012 Fall Schedule, which we would be surprised if it didn't given the excellent plot and cast being round up.

"Alcatraz" will follow a team of FBI agents and Alcatraz experts who are assembled after a group of prisoners and guards from the infamous prison reappear in present day after disappearing without a trace a long time ago. The special team is then tasked to track each individual down for answers to the phenomenon.

Neill will portray Emerson Hauser, who Deadline labels "the head of a government agency who radiates authority and piercing intelligence." Sounds a bit Widmore/Sark-ish to me... Neill joins Sarah Jones, Jonny Coyne, Jason Butler Hartner, and everyone's favorite LOST alum Jorge Garcia, who will be the Alcatraz expert of the group.

As the cast builds up, "Alactraz" will undoubtedly be one of the most talked about new shows during pilot season. If it makes it to series, then it should serve as a perfect companion show with J.J. Abrams' other FOX sci-fi drama Fringe, which is currently in its third season.

What do you think about this new casting choice? Will  Sam Neill make a perfect J.J. Abrams male lead?

Source: Deadline

Sam Neill Nabs A Lead Role in Abrams' Alcatraz

As you may have heard (and if you're a regular TVOvermind reader, you couldn't help but hear Clarissa's shouting), Supernatural won the TV Guide cover online poll, narrowly besting my personal favorite, Chuck.  My dear counterpart and I had an amusing back and forth during the voting period about the superiority of our respective favorites, and the awesomeness of the fanbases supporting those shows.  It all made for good fun, but as the poll drew to a close, and our "hatred" for the opposing show grew, something dawned on me.  See, I just put "hatred" in quotes because I don't actually hate Supernatural (I cannot speak for Clarissa's feelings towards Chuck, though at Comic-Con, I thought I saw her giving Zachary Levi the stink-eye - Clarissa: This is entirely inaccurate, I was actually admiring Captain Awesome's awesome physique and Levi was standing in the way.), mostly because I've never seen an episode.  To be honest, I've never watched an entire thirty-second commercial for the show.

I was thinking about this yesterday when I saw an Entertainment Weekly article asking what network one can't live without.  My personal answer to this question is, despite its troubles, NBC.  Maybe this is because I grew up in the glory days for the network (The Cosby Show, Cheers, Friends, ER, Frasier, etc.), but for whatever reason, I always find myself giving NBC the benefit of the doubt, and hanging on with shows that I really should have ditched long ago (The Event and Outsourced, I'm looking in your direction).  Most of the shows I currently enjoy watching are on the Peacock Network: Chuck, Community, The Office, 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, Parenthood, The Biggest Loser; and I know I'll be giving The Cape, Harry's Law, and Perfect Couples a shot.

This isn't to say that I don't watch other networks (my Survivor and Modern Family articles will attest to that), because I do.  But as I was considering the question asked in the EW article, I realized that TheCW wasn't even close to being in the running -- there isn't one show I watch on that network.  Even when I tried keeping up with Nikita, I was watching it on the network's website, not live or on my DVR, and still I only saw the first three episodes before that show fell by the wayside.  Why, I wondered, do I have a blind spot for TheCW?

Now, I'm sure all of you can inundate the Comments section with the awesome shows I've been missing (and you should!), but I wonder why they've never held any interest for me.  At first glance, I figure that, as a 32-yr old guy, I'm not really in the network's target demographic, but as a bit of a nerd, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries should be up my alley for their fantasy aspects, and who can turn down Maggie Q kicking ass in a bikini?  I tried thinking back to the last show I watched with any regularity on TheCW or its predecessors, The WB and UPN.  I had to go allllllll the way back to Swans Crossing (Yes, that's Sarah Michelle Gellar in the center of the picture below - Clarissa: I am somewhat ashamed to say that I also watched Swans Crossing, then followed SMG to All My Children and then to Buffy).  Yeah, that show debuted eighteen years ago, and it was pretty terrible.  Further, it started the network's trend of airing soapy, not particularly good, teen dramas in which I just really wasn't interested.

I think those formative years with TheCW and its ancestors created an association in my mind of that network with the kind of television I don't want to watch, similar to the opposite feeling I have with NBC.  Further, this bias continues to today, making me not really consider TheCW's programming when deciding what to watch.  Of course, I'm only one man, and I can't watch everything on television, but to totally write off a network seems a bit, I don't know, wrong somehow.

So, I ask you, is there a network that you, for some reason, just avoid altogether, despite hearing what great shows are airing on it?  Have you had this type of situation in the past?  Were you able to get over it, and if so, how did you it?  What kinds of associations do you have with particular networks, and what formed them?    Further, what blind spots do you have with writers, producers or stars?  Will you never go near a J.J. Abrams show?  Can you just not understand CBS' love affair with Alex O'Laughlin?  Will you automatically set up a season pass for a Joss Whedon show?  Please leave your comments below, but please don't turn this into a "That show sucks, so you suck!!" type of thread.  This is a fun discussion about our television hang-ups, and not a chance to degrade someone else's taste.  I greatly look forward to your responses.

Clarissa: I'm the exact opposite of Michael. I watch far too many CW shows to the exclusion of many other networks, although I do watch shows on Fox and ABC (but I only watch one show each on CBS and NBC).  I'm smack dab in the middle of TheCW's top demographic (women 18-49).  I like the cheesiness of 90210 and Gossip Girl, I love the mythology of Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries (although the hot boys are a bonus as well) and I'm very into the ass-kicking on Nikita.  But most of the comedies Michael mentioned above on NBC I just don't follow.  Do you think most of this has to do with personal preference?  Or are the shows we watch and the networks we follow a reflection of our age groups and gender?

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E-mail: michael@tvovermind.com

What is This 'Supernatural' You Speak Of?: Do You Have a Network 'Blind Spot'?

Anna Torv - a name we'd heard hide nor hair of in the States just three short years ago.  While yet to still become a household name among the broader population, she has made a significant impact in the world of science fiction entertainment.

Plucked from relative obscurity by a team which included J. J. Abrams - a man with an eye for starlets in the making, turning Keri Russell and Jennifer Garner into virtual overnight sensations - Torv was cast to play the now beloved Olivia Dunham on the FOX sci-fi hit Fringe. She didn't have the smoothest of starts, however, with many believing the character too stiff, impenetrable and almost bored by the strange and unexplainable events she was called upon to investigate.

Fast forward to season three, Torv - along with the bulk of the cast - was given the especially trying challenge of portraying two different sides of her character.  Of all the actors on the show, I believe Torv has made the most of this opportunity and set herself apart as the cream of a crop of dominant performers on one of the most inventively written series ever to find a spot on broadcast television - and for this, I believe she deserves a spot among the 2011 Emmy nominees.

Among her counterparts, John Noble - a brilliant actor himself, and an egregious oversight among the 2010 supporting actor nominees - is playing two very different sides of the same character, Walter Bishop.  The same goes for Jasika Nicole's Astrid.  While a challenge for any actor to play dual roles on the same show, at least their characters personalities are diametrically opposed to one another.

Torv's Olivia Dunham, on the other hand, requires a much more delicate touch.  Both Olivia's are very much alike in their personalities, with only subtle differences aside from their hair color.  Torv straddles those variances with judicious skill, essentially having to play a third and even a fourth version of the character.

Third and fourth character, you ask?  In a sense, yes.

The brilliant, tortured and somewhat reserved original Olivia, while captive in the alternate universe, was forcibly given Fauxlivia's memories and gradually adopted that persona, burying original Olivia's memories and personality in the process.  The heartbreaking scene where she came face to face with the alt-world version of her mother, who had died in our world when Olivia was young, had a tremendous impact as the moment when Olivia tragically gives herself over to Fauxlivia's mind completely.  Even still, glimpses of Olivia would come out from time to time, as the story required, ultimately causing her to "awaken" and re-emerge as this world's Olivia.

Fauxlivia, a bolder and more playful version of her this world self, having deceived her way to our universe with Peter and Walter, was now required to evade suspicion by posing as our world's Olivia.  There were moments, such as when she murdered the deaf man in "The Box," where she broke back to her Fauxlivia persona, but had to quickly turn it back on when Peter arrived unexpectedly, or when she failed to remember something that the real Olivia would have never forgotten.

Not only has Torv been required to play both Olivia and Fauxlivia, she has also had to manage Olivia transitioning to and from Fauxlivia, as well as Fauxlivia posing as Olivia.

A lesser actress would be hitting Fox up in advance to foot the bill for her post-season psychological treatment.

If this tedious character balance isn't enough, add to it that she's had to play victim, aggressor, counselor, temptress, murderer, and protector, running the gamut of almost every possible emotion in the process - not to mention spending countless hours filming scenes inside of a water tank. What other lead actress has had all this asked of her - within the span of 8 episodes, much less an entire season - and done so with such aplomb?

Here's hoping that the Academy rises above their snobbery towards sci-fi television and rewards Torv next year for a truly outstanding performance.

Jeff Kirkpatrick also writes reviews for Fringe at his blog "TV On My Terms" and on Twitter: TVOnMyTerms

Why Anna Torv Deserves An Emmy Nomination

J.J. Abrams has found his new TV leading lady.

According to Deadline.com, Sarah Jones will join the ranks of Jennifer Garner, Keri Russell, Evangeline Lily, Anna Torv and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the latest 'Abrams Girl' (our equvilent to being a Bond Girl nowadays) in Abrams' latest pilot Alcatraz, which is in the works for FOX.

The latest creation from the man who brought us Fringe and LOST revolves around the reappearance of a group of Alcatraz prisoners and guards, who mysteriously went missing 30 years ago, and the team of FBI agents picked to solve the mystery. Jones will play Rebecca Madsen, who Deadline describes as being "smart, thoughtful and a little obsessive police officer," which makes her the perfect addition to J.J. Abrams Hall of Kick Ass Women. Jones joins previously cast Jorge Garcia (LOST), who will play Rebecca Madsen's teammate Dr. Diego Soto, a walking Alcatraz encyclopedia whose expertise will be of great use for his teammates.

Jones is not unknown to most TV fans as she is fresh from a stint on the FX shows Sons of Anarchy and Justified, with guest starring stints on Ugly Betty, Big Love, and House.

The project is in contention for a slot on FOX's 2011-2012 Fall TV Schedule, but we're pretty sure that it's a safe bet it will make the cut for next fall. We think it would be a perfect companion to Fringe, don't you agree?

Are you guys ready to welcome J.J. Abrams' latest female hero with open arms?

Source: Deadline

J.J. Abrams Casts New Female Lead For 'Alcatraz'