**** Alcatraz airs on the local FOX affiliate which is WTTE 28 and can be found on channel 8 . For HD channel versions, check your local cable or satellite provider for more information. ****
When I discuss Fringe one thing is very clear: I love the show. But more importantly, I love what the show became. Somewhere along the way in season one, it stopped being a case of the week show, and started to lean more and more, without losing the actual cases per week, into weird on-going story territory, and Fringe was all the better for it.
It seems Alcatraz might do the same thing.
Sarah Jones stars as Rebecca Madsen, a detective who sees a man kill her partner. What’s worse is that there is no record of the man in any of our databases, and so, she has been a single cop/detective doing crimes, until one day, the once-deputy-warden of Alcatraz is murdered, and seemingly done by a guy who was there and was considered dead years ago. But as Sam Neill‘s Emerson Hauser clearly states in voice-over, that Alcatraz didn’t close under normal circumstances, and that some deaths were faked, because some people just up and disappeared. Madsen not being FBI is thrown off the case of the former deputy warden, and being a nosy busy body who wants to know who did this, (I’m being snarky a bit, but you know, the typical gut instinct which is she knows she can figure it out) so she enlists comic book owner and Alcatraz-knowledge-base Doctor Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) to help her out. When Hauser and Madsen’s paths cross over and over again, they finally join forces. And thus, the premise of FOX’s new show Alcatraz.
At first glance, the show’s cast and the general premise do work pretty darn well. I saw on twitter and on facebook thought that some people were upset at the writing. I’ll say this: For anyone who seems to be riding or slamming the show for how the characters don’t question anything, and just accept everything, I got to say, get over yourself. You’re watching a television show. Coincidences are made every day on every show you do watch ranging from Sex in the City to NCIS. And all things considering, you’d prefer a 2 hour premiere of two people talking and going insane until they realize, no wait, they are chasing bad guys from the 60’s and then decide to team up in the final 5 minutes? Uh, the show would be canceled in like a week, faster than Work It. In most film and television, an idea of suspended disbelief is given, and while I didn’t care for how convenient it was either, at the same time, it’s not something I’m gonna bitch about. At the end of the day, Alcatraz set out what it meant to do, which is throw down another gauntlet into the sci-fi/thriller genre on network tv, like it’s brothers of L0ST and Fringe before it.
So it begs the bigger question then since I’m stating that, how did the show fare once it got to the meat of them doing the crime-solving/inmate hunting? Well, it was very much like Fringe. The pilot and episode two were aired as a 2 hour premiere, and makes no bones about damaging or killing it’s characters. A character I’d figure to stick around a bit was killed in the pilot and the other one is sniped and left in a coma. Also a few of the twists, which is, the man that killed Rebecca’s partner may be her grandfather who was some of the inmates who disappeared oh-so-long-ago, and that the person who got sniped might have more to them than we’ve let on.
Overall, minus a few nitpicks here and there, the show is really following the same path as Fringe which, in this reviewer’s opinion, is a mighty fine way to go. Let’s just hope though they find their footing a bit sooner rather than later. As I don’t mind case of the week stuff, but I want the on-going story to keep moving.
But what do YOU think, examiners?
Let us know and we may read your comments on Nick’s podcast, the Good, The Bad & The Geekywhich sponsored by Audible.com!
You can comment below or send your thoughts via e-mail or heck, if you have twitter, tweet us! Also, If you like what you hear, please subscribe on iTunesor check out our iPhone/iTouch App!The GBG App is also now available on Android Marketplace!
Comments