Alcatraz - OAD 1/16/12 - Lost 2.0?

29604 Views 161 Replies 72 Participants Last post by danterner, Jan 31, 2012

TonyTheTiger

Discussion Starter · Jan 17, 2012

Hmmmm, a clanging cell door (Lost's airplane noise?) between time-shifted scenes?

Is it me, or are they trying to recreate the mysticism of Lost?

I'm trying to stop doing this or there will be disappointment.

I wasn't surprised at the ending of the second part at all. However, there's enough intrigue to keep me watching.

Thoughts?

1 - 20 of 162 Posts

Rob Helmerichs

· #2 · Jan 17, 2012

Yeah, definitely Lost-Lite (or Lost for Dummies). A newspaper critic said basically that it wants to be like Lost, but without taking any chances...which kinda misses the point. The phrase "sparkless blah" came up in reference to both Alcatraz and Terra Nova, which seems apt...two shows that want to be cutting edge but don't have the guts.

And why would you be surprised at the ending to the second part, which was an almost-exact rerun of the ending of the first part?

My favorite WtF moment was when they missed finding the sniper...because he set up inside the range they thought he had.

There was a fair amount of cool stuff, however, and I can hope that over time the cool stuff will win out and the stupid (and the sparkless blah) will fade away.

VegasVic

· #3 · Jan 17, 2012

Undecided so I'll keep watching.

danterner

· #4 · Jan 17, 2012

The number 47 certainly got mentioned prominently and repeatedly.

I like the show, I think. I'll definitely give it a chance.

Question: When Jack was shot in the cemetery, where was he hit? Because in all of his subsequent scenes he seemed uninjured.

Satchel

· #5 · Jan 17, 2012

I liked it. Can't wait to see how the cop's grandfather storyline plays out. And that bartender uncle knows more than he's letting on too.

murrays

· #6 · Jan 17, 2012

I liked it as well, definitely more interesting than Terra Nova.

The plus for us was having just been to SF and Alcatraz a year and a half ago.

-murray

sonnik

· #7 · Jan 17, 2012

How is this for a "Lost-ish" clue...

The boat to Alcatraz at the beginning was named "Warden Kelvin" - and at about 41 minutes in the second hour, during the sniper shooting scene "Kelvin Fish Cannery" (or something like that) was painted on the side of a building.

The Warden's character name was Edwin James, so if "Warden Kelvin" was a person, we haven't met them.

Overall, I will look forward to the next episode.

verdugan

· #8 · Jan 17, 2012

Satchel said:
And that bartender uncle knows more than he's letting on too.

I agree about the uncle.

I liked it so far. Keeping the SP.

Thom

· #9 · Jan 17, 2012

I'm liking it so far, but I'm nervous about it being on FOX. They have a history of meddling with shows, plus cutting and running early.

JYoung

· #10 · Jan 17, 2012

sonnik said:
The boat to Alcatraz at the beginning was named "Warden Kelvin" - and at about 41 minutes in the second hour, during the sniper shooting scene "Kelvin Fish Cannery" (or something like that) was painted on the side of a building.

The Warden's character name was Edwin James, so if "Warden Kelvin" was a person, we haven't met them.

Rob Helmerichs said:
Yeah, definitely Lost-Lite (or Lost for Dummies). A newspaper critic said basically that it wants to be like Lost, but without taking any chances...which kinda misses the point. The phrase "sparkless blah" came up in reference to both Alcatraz and Terra Nova, which seems apt...two shows that want to be cutting edge but don't have the guts.

And why would you be surprised at the ending to the second part, which was an almost-exact rerun of the ending of the first part?

Huh?
The ending of the second episode was the revelation that Lucy looked exactly the same in 1963 as she did in 2012.

This isn't Lost and people who came into this show expecting Lost need to adjust their expectations.

That said, I'm finding the show interesting and the cast is solid enough that I'm willing to ride this out for a while.

Although I do have to wonder about Sam Neil's Hauser.
Assuming that he was 18 years old in 1963, he'd have to be 68-69 now.
A little long in the tooth to be a Federal Bad ass, I think.

sonnik said:
The boat to Alcatraz at the beginning was named "Warden Kelvin" - and at about 41 minutes in the second hour, during the sniper shooting scene "Kelvin Fish Cannery" (or something like that) was painted on the side of a building.

The Warden's character name was Edwin James, so if "Warden Kelvin" was a person, we haven't met them.

This may be of interest.

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jlb

· #11 · Jan 17, 2012

I like it a lot! And I thought Hurley....er.....Jorge was great!

And similarities to Lost are fine by me. Key #......8

Prisoner 2002..... Adds to 4

Prisoner 2024..... Adds to 8

What surprised me was that Greg Grunberg hasn't made a cameo yet. This is a JJ show after all.......

caslu

· #12 · Jan 17, 2012

The first new network series in a long time that I've liked right out of the gate... sure there are some connections and parallels to Lost but not in a way I found annoying, plus you can find connections in a lot of shows of similar genre. Definitely didn't think it was blah, unlike Terra Nova which I stopped watching after just a few episodes.

I've been on an Alias kick lately and rewatching that series, so I appreciated the number 47 showing up as a callback to that show. Perhaps a Rambaldi device is behind the possible time travel going on here

.

ADG

· #13 · Jan 17, 2012

Didn't really care for the leap at the end of ep 2 where they "knew" the sniper would be on one of two buildings. He could have been anywhere that was elevated - just as he was on a hilltop for the first shootings at the fair. And they knew WHEN to look for him as well (the time of day). But okay, enough to get me to watch one or two more and see where it goes.

Rob Helmerichs

· #14 · Jan 17, 2012

JYoung said:
Huh?
The ending of the second episode was the revelation that Lucy looked exactly the same in 1963 as she did in 2012.

Oops, sorry. I was talking about the overall ending, which was the captured inmate being brought to Neo-Alcatraz and Sam Neil showing that he's a badass that knows more about what's going on than he's letting on.

JYoung said:
This isn't Lost and people who came into this show expecting Lost need to adjust their expectations.

Then they really need to stop presenting it as Neo-Lost!

I'm still interested. Just nowhere near as interested as I wanted to be.

flyers088

· #15 · Jan 17, 2012

If you want people to think you are just not another lost re-tread then you need to remove yourself from all things lost. It was nice to hear the same music/sounds used in lost but after a while I just kept thinking this is just not as good as lost.

Jesda

· #16 · Jan 17, 2012

I thought Lost was idiotic, especially the way it ended. Glad to see this isn't trying to be a clone.

Not sure if I'm into it though.

Family

· #17 · Jan 17, 2012

Maybe Lost just left a bad taste with that poor ending, but I'd be thrilled if Alcatraz was easier for the casual viewer to follow. Most of what made Lost great had no relevance at its conclusion. Great ride (though difficult to entirely follow if one had a life), but I'd be happy if Alcatraz has a simplier arc with interesting episodes.

So I have no issue so far and will continue watching.

Fish Man

· #18 · Jan 17, 2012

I like it.

There's an old quote from Roger Ebert called the Walsh/Stanton rule: "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."

I'm coining a new one: "No TV series staring Jorge Garcia can be altogether bad."

Lucy being revealed to be one of those who disappeared in 1963, but had already come back (perhaps the first to come back?) was sort of predictable, but still cool. I was thinking, up to that point, "How did they know to set up that command center under Alcatraz? How did they know the prisoners would be coming back?" Unless, someone who was not a criminal, someone friendly to law enforcement, came back already. That someone, was apparently Lucy.

danterner said:
Question: When Jack was shot in the cemetery, where was he hit? Because in all of his subsequent scenes he seemed uninjured.

Looked to me like the leg, based on his reaction to the shot. Flesh wound in the leg might heal sufficiently for him to appear uninjured pretty quickly. They'd always go for a non-life threatening injury since they definitely want them alive.

goMO

· #19 · Jan 17, 2012

didn't like it (but the wife did). Sam Neil was just a little too stereotypical as the fed guy who keeps secrets. And the female cop just figures things out a little too easily for me - finding the hill, the spot, and then the bullet casing was just too stupid..

I don't know why, but it makes me miss Terriers..

SeanC

· #20 · Jan 17, 2012

The thing that is annoying me is they appear to be setting this up as:

Hurley and partner = good
FBI guy and coma girl = supposed to be good, probably bad
Alcatraz prisoners = supposed to be bad, probably 99% bad with one good guy.
Alcatraz guards = supposed to be good, probably 99% bad with one good guy.

I'm interested at this point, SP stays.

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