The 2012 television season has brought about a number of exciting new series, including the much-anticipated Alcatraz, which airs Monday nights at 8/7c on Fox. This series, from executive producer J.J. Abrams, who brought us our beloved Lost, centers on a mysterious set of circumstances involving Alcatraz, America’s most notorious prison.
The prison was shut down due to scandal and budgeting in 1963. According to the series’ plot, however, the prisoners and staff were not transferred to another facility as the official story would have us believe. Rather, everyone incarcerated or working on the island that fateful day simply disappeared. Now, approximately 50 years later, both inmates and prison guards are showing up again – one at a time. More strangely still, they appear to not have aged a single day since their disappearance.
Sam Neill plays Emerson Hauser, a federal agent shrouded in a great deal of mystery. He himself was to start work as a prison guard at Alcatraz on that same day in 1963. However, when he and his supervisor walked onto the island they discovered that all the inmates and staff were missing.
Fast-forward fifty years and Emerson Hauser, through secrets not yet revealed, seems to have been aware ahead of time that the missing would soon return to the streets of San Francisco. He has assembled a team of experts (many of whom are rarely seen and carry out highly secretive work behind closed doors) and is attempting to capture the prisoners as they reappear. In classic J.J. Abrams style, Sam Neill’s character has kept most of his knowledge concerning these circumstances close to the vest. Emerson Hauser is assisted primarily by Rebecca Madsen, played by Sarah Jones, and Dr. Diego “Doc” Soto, played by Jorge Garcia – the endearing television star who played Hugo “Hurley” Reyes in Lost.
Madsen is a San Francisco homicide detective who gets uncomfortably close to Hauser’s operation when she pursues a suspect who, unbeknownst to her at the time, is actually one of the missing Alcatraz prisoners. Through persistence and a family connection that is revealed later in the pilot episode, Madsen is offered a position on Hauser’s team. She accepts and a transfer immediately ensues. Once becoming fully involved, Madsen enlists the help of Dr. Soto, who is an expert on the history of Alcatraz, including details concerning its inmates and staff. Together, Madsen and Soto fight an uphill battle while they hunt down returning prisoners without the benefit of all Hauser’s knowledge.
After just three episodes, including the pilot, this series already seems promising. J.J. Abrams has inserted his famous brand of mystery, offering viewers enough of a glimpse behind the curtain to keep them interested and wanting to know more, but little enough that revelations don’t compromise the underlying secrets that fuel the plot. For those who enjoyed Lost, Fox’s new series Alcatraz should not be overlooked.