We’ve finally reached the end of Alcatraz in its inaugural season. With an ending that could be described as unsatisfying by some, and a great teaser by others, it looks like Fox is planning on giving the show another season. We had back-to-back episodes, which means that’s enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the recap!
Unsecure Delivery
Lucy appears to have made a complete recovery, and is hard at work. She is watching all of the interviews of prisoners that she missed when Hauser comes in to talk to her. She says that she wants to fully rejoin the team, but is told that she may not be ready. Like all good patients, she ignores the medical advice and hits the road with Hauser. They go to the office and Lucy finally comes clean to Madsen and Doc about being a sixty-three herself.
Across the city, an armored truck is robbed and stolen in a very heist-movie-like fashion, complete with robbers in creepy masks. There is one man who is unmasked and seems to be the leader. He is Garrett Stillman, a cold, calculating robber. After giving his accomplices the money, he takes the armored truck and leaves, while the other getaway van bursts into flames. The team arrives on the scene and starts to put the pieces together.
High Connections
Madsen goes to talk to the security firm about the robbery, and then interviews a surviving robber. In the process, she learns that there may be a handler working above Stillman behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Hauser is informed that there was a previously unknown room hidden beneath the lighthouse. He goes to investigate and has his team tear down a wall to give him access.
In the flashback sequences, we learn that Stillman was used by Warden James to get Harlan Simmons, the controller of Alcatraz’s black mark with Tiller, paroled. It seems as though James was trying to break up Tiller’s hold on the supply and position himself to make money. The plan works, and we find out that after he was freed, Simmons became a billionaire who has connections with the security firm that Stillman robbed in the present. It seems as though Simmons has something that Stillman wants, so he plans another heist to get the package.
Hot Package
Stillman gets a new team together and sets out to steal the important package. His security badge he stole for the first heist was deactivated so he resorts to strong-arming his way to get what he wants. The team is called and follow the armored car to a garage.
Hauser and Madsen set off on foot, while Doc finds a car that has been hot-wired for getaway. Doc puts his phone with GPS tracking in the back and leaves. Stillman takes the car and drives off, leaving the team able to track him. They follow him to a warehouse, where he previously met up with Tommy Madsen, who appears to be the man behind the plot. Stillman cracks open the safe and finds a third mystery key. As soon as he does, a man he calls Ghost finds him and shoots him in the head, taking the key.
The second hour starts with this man rushing into a psychiatric hospital claiming to be a time traveler who is being chased by people who want to kill him. I’m pretty sure this happens all the time at these places, because no one seems too shocked by this news. It turns out this man is named Joe Limmerick, and he had the cell next to Tommy Madsen. He was called Ghost because he tried to escape, but was caught. He was legally pronounced dead, so he became known as Ghost. I guess there’s worse nicknames to have.
Tiny Witness
Tommy Madsen shows up at a house and breaks in. He finds a man sleeping on a couch and forces him to call his wife to come home. While this is going on, the man’s small daughter escapes the house and goes to the police. The team is alerted that Tommy Madsen may have been spotted, so they go to the police station and talk to the little girl. She identifies Madsen’s picture, so they head to their house but are too late. The husband got a hand gun and got in a shootout with Madsen, who left with the man’s wife after they exchanged bullets.
It turns out that the woman Madsen wanted is a doctor at the psychiatric hospital where Limmerick went. He has her take him to Limmerick’s room and demands the third key. Limmerick refuses and jumps out the window to his death. Madsen flees after the team arrives. They inspect LImmerick’s body, and Doc’s deep wisdom comes in handy. I was worried about a postmortem prostate exam, but he finds the key sewn into the cuff of his pants.
Weaving a Web
The teams starts to connect Tommy to the billionaire former inmate Harlan Simmons. It seems as though the reclusive billionaire may be more involved in the sixty-threes than previously thought. At the crime scene, Madsen is told Tommy went into the garage, so she gives chase. Tommy hot-wires a Dodge Charger, leaving Madsen to commandeer a passing Mustang. Good thing all these muscle cars are strewn everywhere.
A massive chase takes place with Madsen finally flipping Tommy’s car and pulling him from the wreckage. He tells her that they are family, but when she threatens to shoot him, he stabs her. She is picked up by Doc and taken to the hospital. Doc gives Hauser the key and he goes to unlock the secret room. Inside they find maps that were used to track the prisoners through the silver injected into their blood. They also find a man inside who was working with James on the silver blood project, and it seems as though he has just broken through time himself. The episode ends with Madsen dying in the hospital … or does it?
Like Lost, we are left with more questions than answers at season’s end on Alcatraz. The only difference is that there was a huge following after the first season of Lost, which allowed it to be renewed for another season, while you don’t hear about any Alcatraz fanboys or fangirls. Will we ever find out what happens? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
What did you think of the finale of Alcatraz season 1?
Chase Gamradt
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
