On March 21, 1963 three hundred and two inmates, guards, and staff vanished in the night and started to reappear today.
Another interesting episode as we are introduced to our first time-traveling/suspended animation guard. Guy Hastings is the picture of a family man who’s life in his small quarters with his wife and young daughter seems different to life outside. A former Navy officer, Guy’s role at Alcatraz is to train guards. Early on we see a the time in 1960 when Ray Archer chooses to join and go for training, but it becomes crystal clear from the moment he comes face to face with Tommy Madsen that the two young men have had a fierce history, as Tommy lunges Ray and cracks his skull…”You shouldn’t have come here.”, Tommy said.
In modern day Guy goes back to his former quarters and hidden in the panel in the wall is a gun and photos. It becomes clearer and clearer through out the episode that someone is sending these people on missions. Guy goes and finds Ray and forces him to take him to Tommy or Tommy’s Son…
Ray takes him the grave site of Van Madsen, who according to the tombstone, was born in 1960...This raises questions about Rebecca’s understanding of why Tommy went to Alcatraz in contrast to Soto's book, since in the beginning of the episode she asks Ray if he believes that Tommy really killed her grandmother…and Ray responds that he never thought he did. But this renders a bit of problem since Tommy Madsen went to Alcatraz in 1957. How could have Van Madsen been born in 1960 if his mother was already dead? --We can come up with a few ideas. One might be that Tommy went to Alcatraz in 1957 for some other reason. He escapes at some point and impregnates his wife and either someone else kills her after she gave birth in 1960-1962, or she is not dead an he lands in Alcatraz again. --If Van and his wife Sally were in fact killed-murdered and not an accidental death also, then perhaps Guy’s whole episode sheds a light that someone, some group, may have been after Tommy Madsen and/or his family for much longer than we think! Another similar idea is that if Alcatraz is type of time machine, then perhaps in one escape attempt, Tommy goes “back” in time and ends up outside the prison…only to be caught again…something like a “casualty loop”. (Depending on what happens in next weeks episode, I may be talking more about casualty loops). But maybe the whole truth is all wrong some part of this is a conspiracy...or simply a continuity error that will hopefully work itself out later.
The Number of Life: The Meaning of Kwon:
In the first flashback with Guy and his family, we come to see his young daughter Annie. Annie in itself is a mild Lost reference back to Ben’s child hood love interest and a lot of the episodes do remind me of the plots and ploys of Ben Linus. But Annie Hastings may lead to another LOST reference, as her seven year old self was 42 inches tall. At first it seemed just like a maybe easter egg to Sun and Jin Kwon, but the reference carried some weight…We find out Guy was stationed in North Korea (Tommy and Ray's father was also stationed at North Korea -"Ernest Cobb"), that Rebecca gave Ray a commemorative WATCH when she was 13, We end up at the grave site of someone whom fans may speculate may not be dead, and the whole idea of leaving children behind to be raised by other family members, and that Guy seems to be recruited to find Tommy Madsen. And the idea of hunting people down is also reminiscent of Jin’s job working for Sun’s father, Mr. Paik. Additionally the number 42 in pop culture has become known in Douglas Adams, "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" number to "the meaning of life", additionally Lewis Carroll used the number a lot and even wrote an nonsense poem about the number in "The Hunting of the Snark", which he wrote when he turned 42.
Count Your Blessings:
Another mild LOST reference may come in disguise from Hauser’s prayer beads…The beads appear to be of the eastern variety, such as Japa Mala. Japa Mala derive from Hinduism and are also used in Buddhism. Traditionally there are 108 beads to be used as part of a “repetitious” mantra for prayers of health and conscience awareness, since chanting mantras are also apart of a meditative process in both cultures. The name Mala itself is Sanskrit and named after a Deity meaning, “Garland”, suggesting the act to celebrate and need to be remembered. Ultimately the eastern reference leads me to believe that the beads may belong to Lucy, and that Hauser is religiously acting on her behalf for her, but the idea of a repeating, chanting, and mantra could surely be thematic of mental illness, arrested development, and repeated events and/or actions from time period to time period…
Two Players, Two Sides
Guy’s account of what happened in 1963 gives us a little more to chew on. We know there was a Fog and that Guy and possibly other guards woke up in the infirmary, told they were sick/contaminated, their families were dead, and that it is no longer 1963. It seems if Tommy Madsen and the some of the criminals were on the same side, then Guy wouldn’t need to hunt him down. Of course there’s probably more than two sides since we don’t know to what end Hauser or Banjeree are playing at. The Fog itself is also open to speculation. --Were some of the 1963-ers gassed and carried to the infirmary? Or was it radiation poisoning from “The Hole” or some where else?? --But how is it that many of them woke up in the infirmary and none of them were instantly found there at the time they arrived here?? Is there an infirmary-pocket reality? --But I also want point out that we have another side, or at least a contradictory method of time travel, as Jack Sylvane seemed to wake up in his 1963 uniform by himself in the locker room in the 2012 tour-given Alcatraz. --But none of the other criminals (Cobb, Nelson, or Sweeney) are given present day arrival scenes to assure us, as to what exactly is going on...So it becomes harder and harder to figure out who and what is an anomaly…and if they all came “here” the same way and at the same time??
Something Missing?
Some fans have felt there is something missing from the series. I often read comments in which some people feel that the main characters are bland, or that they don’t really care about them. I agree that this is the case to some degree, but I think it’s creative and done on purpose.
All of the main characters, except for Rebecca have been presented rather mysterious to us. We see they have connections, but are being secretive about it. Hauser has a relationship with a women who seemingly time traveled to modern day that he may or may not have known in 1963, Diego Soto is emotionally damaged due to a childhood abduction that seemingly might relate to Alcatraz or the Civil War, as his careers may have been a way for him to deal the trauma of those events, or a way to explore something he doesn’t yet quite understand about it, and Ray too is clearly holding out on his relationship with his brother Tommy Madsen.
Rebecca is the one character who has not shown us something mysterious, or any type of vulnerability to what is happening. She’s a character who isn’t shy, but also doesn’t give out tons of information about her life. I think in way it’s a lack of getting more underneath her skin that holds the story back a little. -But really it makes sense. Tommy Madsen gives a long story vessel for us to see Rebecca through, and I think the writers have to be careful about giving Rebecca away too soon. To make her care too fast. Tommy Madsen, although shown with vulnerable and contemplative scenes, is in a lot of ways like Rebecca: determined, tenacious, and resourceful…and I hope as the series goes on there will be more obvious parallels between the two, and that whom Rebecca really is (who Rebecca was), will become more exposed to us the more she gets involved. I keep thinking it has to be daunting task to become a female police officer, that it might take a lot of gusto to prove your "one of the guys", but I see something in actress that is both “tom-boyish”, but also childlike or angelic and I think it would be nice if some that other stuff could shine through. Don’t get me wrong, I love the character. That scene from pulling her gun from the side of leg was exciting and full of the best hero aspect of the show. If anyone is the good guy, she is.
I like the idea that who the main characters really are, are being withheld from us, --that we have to rely on the past to eventually inform their story. For me I have no problem with this method of story telling. I think it serves the series well and makes it a little different than other Bad Robot works. It gives me something to hold out for, to see the characters identity seep up through the cracks, as these 1963-ers challenge the beliefs of the main characters, revealing them to us slowly.
The ending of the episode was a bit sad. For Guy Hastings to see his daughter all grown up thinking she was dead, and to see someone live a life he didn't, and not able to even reach out to her. It's the first time since Jack Sylvane arrived in "The Pilot" that we really get see someone heavily react to the circumstances. The truth that life goes on.
The only other thing I was wondering at the end of the episode, is if Guy Hastings is going to be taken to Hauser's newly constructed Alcatraz and be put behind bars? If so, it again puts a light on the idea that some these people went to Alcatraz (prison) and maybe didn't really deserve to. That some of these people maybe got involved in things that made their situation circumstantial, and were put into positions in which they were forced to be viewed as criminals, when in fact maybe some of them just didn't know what they were REALLY involved in?!
Until Petty Paxton,
keep the signal fire burning!
