Hello Alcatraz fans,
I know you all love this series. The ratings held strong proving that J.J. Abrams hit program Alcatraz is destined to be renewed for many more seasons!
We include the promotional trailer for this weeks exciting episode “Paxton Petty” for your enjoyment.
Guy Hastings:
This week’s episode opens on a man in an empty house. He is Guy Hastings (Jim Parrack). Guy removes a section of the moulding to take out a series of photographs. He is interrupted by a ranger, who he beats up before leaving.
Flashback to a bedroom. Guy is already awake, but an alarm clock wakes his wife. They’re joined by their little girl and his wife makes the comment of never thinking they could be happy where they are.
The camera shifts and we see the barracks on Alcatraz – Guy is a warden at the prison. Today is training day, and he has a small troop of men new to the Rock. Last man to call out is a young Ray Archer (Robbie Amell), who we know as Rebecca’s “uncle”.
The scenes cuts to the present day. We witness the older Ray Archer (Robert Forster) having tea with Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones). He teases her about her appetite and how she orders so many items from the Dim Sum menu. Rebecca denies this when a huge order arrives as “Uncle” Ray gets a smirk on his face. Quite an enjoyable scene!
We observe them talking about Rebecca’s grandfather. We learn that her grandmother’s was murdered and that is why Ray felt obliged to raise Rebecca. We see the love he has for herShe gets a call and has to leave.
In the Alcatraz “Bat Cave”, Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) shows Rebecca a CCTV feed of the ranger entering the Hastings’ old home and reports that he suffered a fractured skull and a punctured lung. The feed has captured Guy leaving and Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) recognises him.
Hastings is the first guard to return and Rebecca wonders why he attacked the warden. Hauser insists that the wardens were all “good men” and that Hastings must have been put up to it – most likely by whoever took (and returned) the 63s. They need to figure out what he’s been sent back to do before he does it.
On the streets of San Francisco, Ray is walking with a paper. The camera cuts across the street to a fist Ray Archer is being watched by Guy Hastings.
Alcatraz, present day. Rebecca, Diego and Hauser visit Hastings’ home. Diego reads from his file on Hastings, filling Rebecca and Hauser in on the man. Hastings has a flawless record, and the official story is that he was killed in a chemical spill with eight other guards.
Hauser finds blood on the wall above the moulding and Rebecca discovers the hidden 
compartment (not that it took huge detective skills really). Inside are two gun clips and she makes the fabulous deduction that Hastings is armed. But with no record of past indiscretions, the team has no idea of where Hastings will have gone.
Diego discovers marks on the wall where Guy and his wife charted the growth of their daughter. He identifies her as Annie Hastings (Lini Evans) and Hauser sends him and Rebecca to find her.
They talk their way into Annie’s rather pretty house by using the story that Diego is writing another book and Rebecca’s his assistant. Annie tells them about growing up on Alcatraz, how her parents never had to lock the doors, and how she got the news about the chemical spill. Her mother met her on the pier (of the mainland) and weren’t allowed back to the island. Later on they got the news that her father had died. Annie’s mother was sent Guy’s personal affects and Diego asks if they can take the box with them.
Flashback to Alcatraz, and Hastings is showing his troop aro
und the prison. They’re in the mess and Archer makes eye contact with one of the prisoners, who then attacks him. The prisoner is hit by Hastings, who orders him to “the hole” and also uses his name: Madsen – he’s Tommy Madsen (David Hoflin), otherwise known as Rebecca’s grandfather.
In the bar where he works, Archer cleans off the counter and then takes the garbage out back. He’s accosted by Hastings, who holds a gun to his head and tells him to turn around. Of course he recognises him, but Hastings knocks him out.
Back back to Alcatraz and the younger Archer is having his head sown up by Dr. Beauregard (Leon Rippy). An attack on a warden means that Tiller (Jason Butler Harner) has to come by.
He is suspicious about the attack and surmises (rightly) that Archer knows Madsen but figures that he is there to bust the prisoner out. Warden Edwin James (Jonny Coyne) thinks this is nonsense and asks Archer if he can go back on duty.
He says yes, and Warden James dismisses Tiller’s claim, though he makes Hastings responsible for any further disturbances involving the younger guard.
Present day and Diego finds that Hastings’ box is full of “good guy stuff” and asks Rebecca what they are looking for. That is anything that will link past and present, anything that might tell them where’s he headed and what his mission is. Rebecca gets a call that says “Ray Archer”.
Instead it turns out to be J.T. (Colin Lawrence), his partner and he tells her that Ray is missing. She tells the others she has to leave and Hauser decides to go with her. She wants to know if he thinks the disappearance is connected to Hastings, at which point Diego finds a photograph of the two men together.
In Ray Archer’s house, we observe that he is coming around after being knocked out and pistol whipped by Hastings who is going through drawers. Hastings is looking for Tommy Madsen and knows that he and Archer knew each other, though Ray continues to claim he only knew the man as a prisoner.
However Hastings finds a photograph and demands to know where Madsen is. Of course, Tommy is dead. Or is he? Hastings points out that he is supposed to be dead too, and claims that Madsen is also still alive. He knows Madsen had a son (Rebecca’s father, for those getting muddled like me) and points the gun at Archer as he demands he take him to find him.
At the bar, Rebecca asks J.T. if there is been any news. He says no and that he’s not seen anyone unusual in the bar. Hauser shows him a photograph of Hastings. Yes, he did see that man – across the street when he opened up. Rebecca tells J.T. to stay at the bar while she goes to Archer’s apartment.
Here Hauser finds the broken frame holding the photograph of Archer and Madsen. They realise that Madsen is Hastings’ intended target, but are not sure why the people that took the 63s would be after Rebecca’s grandfather.
In the gun room on Alcatraz, the younger Hastings tells Archer that he put himself on the line by defending him. He pointedly asks whether the other man knows Tommy Madsen, and Archer lies and says he does not. Hastings doesn’t believe him and tells him to prove it.
Present day and Hauser and Rebecca return to Alcatraz. Hauser gets on “the Bat Phone” as Diego calls it and says he “needs everyone in the room”. He disappears to Diego wondering what that’s all about. Diego then asks about Archer and Rebecca lets him know that Hastings has him. Diego has found more information on Hastings and knows he was Archer’s training officer. The attack on Archer by Madsen was also recorded. Rebecca surmises that since the first place she went to was Ray’s apartment (which she did n0t, but whatever) then it becomes likely that Hastings has taken Archer to Tommy’s old house. They have the photograph and just need to identify where that house is.
In a graveyard, Archer has taken Hastings to “see” Tommy’s son – he and his wife are buried together in a graveyard. Archer tells Hastings that he is the only person connected to Tommy that’s still alive. He wants to know why Hastings is looking for Tommy.
It is what “they” told him to do and that Archer knew what they were doing. He asks him if that’s why he left, but Archer says that was to raise Tommy’s son. Of course, then Hastings realises what the stone says and works out that the girl he’s seen in the photos at Archer’s house is Tommy’s granddaughter. Faced with Rebecca becoming involved, Archer caves and tells Hastings that he’ll take him to Madsen.
At a comic store Diego’s getting his “pro” to draw up a street of houses using the photograph as a reference for the architecture. Meanwhile in The Room, Hauser is looking for any common anomaly (um…) that connects the returns. He thinks Madsen is being hunted because he was unaccounted for. “Or lost,” pipes up one of the roomers. Hauser realises he’s onto something.
So is Rebecca – in searching the population records, she discovers that Ray wasn’t just Tommy’s friend: he was his younger brother. Diego points out that he’d never have been hired as a guard had they known the two were related. Rebecca is busy coming to terms with the fact that Ray really IS her uncle.
Back at Alcatraz 1960, Hastings is running Archer through putting the inmates back into their cells. He asks what they need to do if they want to isolate one cell. Archer does it with the barest hesitation – the cell in question is Madsen’s. Hastings sends him in and Archer beats his brother to the ground.
Present day and Archer stands outside his childhood home with Hastings. Tommy isn’t there but Archer says he’ll be back. Meanwhile Rebecca is driving her very nice car to the house. she gets a call from Hauser, who wants to know where she’s going. Diego realises they’re being tracked. Rebecca tells Hauser they’re heading to Tommy’s old house and Hauser announces he’ll meet them there.
Inside the house, Archer and Hastings are bonding. Or at least, Archer is trying to figure out what’s happened to his old boss. Hastings tells how the last thing he remembers was kissing his little girl goodbye and then going to work. He was in a tower when fog rolled in. The following morning he found himself in the infirmary and being told that his family was dead. The guards were “sick” and couldn’t leave. The next thing he knew was that it wasn’t 1963 any more. Then Rebecca arrives and enters the building. Archer shouts a warning but it’s too late and Hastings tackles her.
She tells Hastings that she knows he’s not a violent man. A family man. He replies that his family is dead, but she tells him Annie is still alive. He doesn’t believe her, but Archer tells him to listen. Rebecca repeats the story Annie told her, how the young Annie used to climb on him “like he was furniture” and Hastings pauses. Whether she got to him, well never know, because Hauser comes in and that puts Hastings on the defensive again. However, she manages to prevent Hauser killing Hastings by shooting the ex-guard in the leg and ending the stand-off. Hauser shares a look with Archer
Flashing back to the prison, Archer visits his brother in the infirmary. He tells him that even though Madsen might not want him around, they’re blood and he will be there for him. As he leaves, the camera pans back to show Hastings has heard the conversation.
Outside Annie Hastings house, a black SUV hides. Hauser points her, her children and her grandchildren to Hastings. He asks if he can see her, speak to her, but Hauser tells him no. While he knows that Hastings is as much as victim as anyone else, he can’t be allowed to see his family ever again.
Later, Rebecca stands outside the bar, watching Ray, who she now knows is her uncle. But he’s lied to her all her life and she cannot bring herself to go and talk to him. Instead, she heads to the Bat Cave, where she confronts Hauser about her inclusion on his task force.
Hauser did indeed ask Ray Archer to be on the force sixteen years ago, but Archer said he was too busy raising Tommy’s child. However the case has revealed how important the missing Madsen, and by extension Rebecca herself, is to discovering what happened in 1963 and why the vanished inmates are reappearing now.
At Ray’s bar, Archer has a visitor. Tommy. And this hasn’t been the first time he’s been in the establishment.
Tommy berates Archer for revealing his hideout and comments on how strange it is to be a grandfather at his age. Archer tells him that he had no choice and that every time Madsen is near, Rebecca is put in danger. Tommy tells him it’s not over but Archer throws him out, telling him that if he sees him again, he will kill him.
And that brings my review on Alcatraz to an end. Stay tuned for more news from the WormholeRiders Alcatraz review team on next weeks episode
Thank you for reading my review and for visiting our news site dedicated to Sanctuary at WormholeRiders News Agency.
Please feel free to leave a comment here or if you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article.
Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit WHR on Twitter or on Facebook. I and the WHR team look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Misa Buckley
Hi Misa,
Thanks for your contributions at WHR.
Best wishes.
Kenn