Grade: D-
With all the pretty much singular mystery that has been building up since the first episode of
Alcatraz it almost felt like the finale couldn’t come any sooner with the hopeful amount of story that would come in
”Tommy Madsen.” As the episode continued to unfold right where
”Garrett Stillman” left off tensions were high to finally find out what was behind everything that happened previously in the season. As backstory in flashbacks for Tommy unfolded & an ever present chase went down in the present one thing became very clear by the end of the episode. Once the episode finally came to a close & all that would be told was finally given there was no doubt that nothing was really answered by
Alcatraz & unlike
LOST there really wasn’t that much to have revealed in the first place.
As
”Tommy Madsen” unfolds in flashbacks & present we see that Tommy was acting as the handler & supplying all the returned inmates. As we began to see that Tommy was the first person able to accept the silver in his bloodstream the episode left the reason for the silver unanswered. As we learned that Tommy killed Rebecca’s partner because he was working for an inmate who betrayed the warden we don’t find out why this inmate betrayed the warden or what they both are ultimately after. Lucy’s goal of finding out why Ernest Cobb shot her only seemed to pile on more unneeded mystery as it is revealed that she will always have a target on her back. By the end of the episode it seems that what any little reveal is given is only decidedly piled on with much more unneeded mystery.
Even in the last final moments of the episode
Alcatraz seems to try & go out of its way to keep such a heightened mystery as if it was a matter of national security. One character, in particular, even gives out a maniacal cackle of a laugh & it only seems justified that
Alcatraz as a whole is laughing at its fans who decided to stick around in hopes of some sort of answer. It is still unknown at the end of the episode if the series would be picked up for a second season & as people will continually fight throughout message boards & comment sections on wether or not it will get renewed it seems that the series itself doesn’t care. Like that ridiculous laugh,
Alcatraz comes off in its end as some sort of cruel joke.
