By John Keegan and Henry Tran
The back half of this season for "Alcatraz" has featured a good number of returning inmates who have proven intriguing. Add Garrett Stillman to that short list. His complex mind games and unpredictability more than make up for the lack of violence in his crimes. In fact, I think that's what makes him appealing.

By John Keegan and Henry Tran

This is the kind of episode I was expecting "Alcatraz" to make from the get-go. That it came at the very end of the season (and perhaps, the series) demonstrates how much of a disappointment this whole venture has been. The returning '63 of this week stumped the task force, seemingly for the first time since the pilot episode.

By John Keegan and Henry Tran

The most troubling thought I had while watching this episode of "Alcatraz" was that the guest star playing the Criminal of The Week was far more interesting than the main cast. This has been the case for much of the show's admittedly uneven season thus far, but it particularly stood out to me here. The show's writers can't seem to find much variety from the norm here, as Clarence Montgomery apparently keeps committing murder in the same fashion as he did in the past. It's consistent with all the other criminals from 1963 who have come forward to the future, but there is still no explanation for why they are acting in this manner. I fear we may never get that explanation with the show running so close to the end.

By John Keegan and Henry Tran

This episode felt like an attempt to distance the show from the largely self-contained nature of the previous episode with the Ames brothers. It did return to addressing the larger story arc, only to oddly take a step back from a solution that was obvious from the start. That indicates the show might not be willing to change its status quo and is still sidelining a character who might factor very much into the narrative. Of course, the show has so de-emphasized character development at this point that even if she were to somehow come back, there's little chance viewers would care about what happens to her and how she impacts everyone else on it.

By John Keegan


The biggest problem with “Alcatraz”, from my point of view, is the repetitive nature of the premise.  We all know how things are going to play out: one (or more) of the 63’s will return, they will start killing people in roughly the same fashion as the methods that led to their incarceration, Rebecca and Diego will lead the hunt that eventually leads to the capture or demise of the main subject.  The rest is just variations on a theme.