By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Lost redefined sci-fi television when it premiered in 2004, and immediately, networks scrambled to create more mystery box-style shows in its wake. The show was so successful that it wasn’t just the other studios trying to replicate its success with shows like Surface and Invasion, but creator J.J Abrams tried to capture lightning in a bottle a second time. In 2012, Abrams brought the show Alcatraz to Fox, and the mystery of time-displaced prisoners enticed viewers 1963 appearing in 2012, but it only lasted one season and came to an end right as the mystery was getting good.
Alcatraz Is A Sci-Fi Mystery Box
As with every other mystery box series, Alcatraz starts off by asking a never-ending series of questions: why did the guards and inmates disappear, why are they coming back in the present day having not aged a day, what connection does FBI Agent Emerson (played by Sam Neil) who was a guard in 1963, have to the incident? There are even more that are raised within the first few episodes, and impressively, some of the questions are answered by the end of the first season. Joining Emerson in the quest for the answers are San Francisco detective Sarah Jones (Rebecca Madsen), Dr. Diego Soto (Lost veteran Jorge Garcia), and Dr. Lucy Banerjee (ER’s Parminder Nagra), each of whom has their own reasons to get involved.
Each episode plays out as a case of the week, with a different inmate appearing in the present and, typically, picking up right where they left off. Two recognizable stars appear as inmates late in the season, right before their careers start to take off: Mahershala Ali and Rami Malek, but outside of those two, the inmates are played by the usual faces you find in procedurals, especially those that film in Canada, and if you know, you know. As with any good procedural, the B-story of each episode has the team getting closer to finding out the truth or stumbling across a new revelation that takes them down a new path, but as always, formulaic doesn’t mean bad.
The Last Of Its Generation
Alcatraz was even a small hit when it debuted, thanks to 10 million households tuning in for the debut, but as with all of the post-Lost mystery box shows, the audience slowly fell away over time, eroding to only 4 million for the Season 1 finale. The last of its generation of sci-fi shows, J.J. Abrams, found his other swing at a hit show, 2011’s Person of Interest, picking up viewers and critical acclaim instead. The time-displaced inmate series, though short-lived, is still fondly remembered by those who gave it a chance, with fans explicitly calling out the great Sam Neill for bringing his usual gravitas and energy to the role of Emerson.
What keeps Alcatraz from becoming a cult classic is the lack of resolution. The cliffhanger solves one of the season’s big mysteries but immediately opens up the world to a much larger, much deeper mystery that will never get resolved. It’s a frustrating ending, but the journey to get there makes the series one of the best of its generation
Alcatraz is now streaming for free on Tubi.
