You know her methods. Fix her.
- Emerson Hauser
This episode of Alcatraz featured a new kind of criminal – Paxton Petty, who sets landmines in public locations to wreak havoc on area citizens. Again, we find the opening scene to depict a crime: this time a park full of people is torn to shreds by several landmines. And again, Doc Soto recognizes the 63′s M.O. and identifies the culprit as Paxton Petty, without so much as referencing any source of information other than his absurdly large brain. And again, they track him down and stop him before he can cause too much damage, but not before he has murdered several other people. Sensing a pattern yet? That’s because this show is becoming increasingly repetitive. I’m hoping it turns in a different direction soon, but so far, no luck, and I don’t see it changing any time in the immediate future.
They tried spicing up the episode with the death of a character close to Rebecca. Or at least we’re made to assume they were close. They introduce the character awkwardly, allude to a previous friendship between him and Rebecca, and then send shrapnel tearing through his body when he attempts to disarm one of Petty’s bombs. Wait, what? Were we supposed to feel fear of the his life? Or feel bad for Rebecca? The later is easier to do, but still, it’s tough to feel emotion for a character’s death when there was NO characterization involved. It was just a nameless (almost literally, since I can’t even remember his name) face being discarded from the series. I feel like they tried to evoke a sense of anxiousness and worry and emotion, but all they evoked was a mild chuckle from myself at their miserable attempt.
And another thing… can the Alcatraz doctor (who also, by the way, is somehow still alive and hasn’t aged, but he works for Hauser?) bring people back to life? Because first Hauser brought Kitt Nelson’s dead body in to him and said, “You know what to do.” And now, after finding out that Lucy won’t survive, he pulls the plug on her, carries her to the doctor, throws her on the table, and says, “Fix her.” I’m sorry, but I’m starting to get impatient with both the withholding of information from us viewers (HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?) and the writers’ feeble attempts at drama.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that they can turn it around.
