On March 21, 1963 three hundred and two inmates, guards, and staff vanished in the night and started to reappear today.
Childhood Trauma & Arrested Development:
"Arrested development is what happens when we're traumatized as children. We get stuck at the age when the trauma occurred for our entire lives."IMO These are the themes to series. It asks us what it is to be an adult, and if any of us ever really do get over some of the things from our childhood experiences? Clearly looking at characters like Cobb and Nelson, emphasise the possibility that some of us reach a point where we don’t change and can't learn, and this in itslef presents a challenge to all of the characters.
Michael Eklund guest stars as Kit Nelson, and Mr. Eklund is not only recognised by various roles in various television series, but also more recently in another Bad Robot work in last seasons’ FRINGE episode, “The Plateau”. His character there, Milo Stanfield (a reference to Alias’ Milo Rambaldi) was a man with a low IQ, whom became apart of an experimental drug trail that eventually extremely heightened his brain function, resulting in being able to create fate by setting up chain reactions and by also being able to see the immediate future unfold right before it happens!. A side effect was loosing affection for those he loved, including his last remaining family, his kid sister.
Additionally this episode immediately reminded me of another FRINGE season 3 episode, “The Abducted”, where the alternate-red Philip Broyles’ son, Christopher, is kidnapped by a man known as, “The Candy Man”- a man with an ageing disorder whom was literally stealing the youth out of the children to stay ‘young’ and survive! --But really, even “The Abducted” was just an episode that reflects the bigger arc regarding the story of Peter Bishop, whom was stolen by his father’s doppelganger from another entangled parallel universe! It's any wonder than that Kit Nelson's name may be an anagram for "Stolen Kin"!
But I think the idea of one’s past coming back to haunt them may also share some blood with Lost, since, like Alcatraz, every week we were able to take a look back at who the characters were prior to coming to the Island. The beginning of Season 3 stands out, as the criminological aspect of Kate Austen and James Ford shine through a plot via Ben Linus to blackmail Jack Shepphard into surgery. Kate and James are two primary characters who’s past led them to become criminals. But really most of the characters suffered from family infliction and childhood trauma, and not just Kate and James.
Generations of Time Travelers: A History of Alcatraz
A: The American Civil War, Edwin James, and Alcatraz:
“Your father served two terms in the war, as did I.”I purpose that Edwin James isn’t from the 1960’s, let alone the the 1900’s, that there is lack of clarity to which war he could mean...
Edwin James is featured in a 1960’s flashback interrogating Kit Nelson. One scene gives us a glimpse of an American Civil War match box filled with matches in which James tries to lure Nelson in telling the truth about killing his brother during childhood. Nelson wants the light of the matches SO bad, he eventually caves in, as it seems James uses a repetitious tactic to get his way.. James doesn’t completely fulfil his bargain with Nelson, but does leave him with the match box filled with some matches. Even in present day, Kit Nelson holds onto the matchbox.
The history of Alcatraz is a bit of an expansive one, including the time of The American Civil War. In 1850 the Governor of California bought the property on behalf of the U.S. Government. It quickly became a military base, Fort Alcatraz.
During the American Civil War it was partially used as an arsenal, and by 1861 many criminals of The America Civil War were held there and it became a military prison. So it’s curious that in both the 1860’s and the 1960’s the land was used for the same purpose.
Taking a segway to Jimmy Dickens, once again his name may be a reference to the author Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens works span across the mid 1800’s from both pre-American Civil War and during. As stated in a previous post, I suspect that “The Mystery of Edwin Drood“, Dickens last unfinished mystery novel may relate since it shares the title character’s first mid 19th century first name, Edwin.
Additionally Dickens and many of his time, whether American or British, were concerned of social justice and were often referring to philosophers like Jeremy Bentham for inspiration. It’s interesting then that Nelson and James had this taunting scene with a wheel chair. And not only did the episode give us underground hatches to discover, like with Lost’s John Locke, who briefly takes on an alias as Jeremy Bentham in season 4, that I had mentioned that FRINGE episode, “The Abduction” may also relate, considering actor Lance Reddick not only plays Philip Broyles, but also LOST’s Matthew Abbadon, in which like this scene with James and Nelson, does Matthew taunt John by threatening him while in a wheelchair at the top of hospital stairs (“Cabin Fever“)…both Nelson and John Locke are killed by an ‘Emerson‘…(Lost’s Ben Linus is played by Michael Emerson and Emerson Hauser is the name of Sam Neiills character.)
I will be curious to see how Jimmy (which is a variation of James) may also relate more directly, considering Santiago Cabrera is cast as a series regular, but yet the third episode in, we’ve only gotten a glimpse of him!
Two other Dickens’ works I am on the look out for is “Hard Times” and “Bleak House”.
B. Native Americans, Spanish Interest, American Military Prison(s):
The history of Alcatraz stems even further back than the American Civil War. When I first learnt of the series back in the fall of 2010, I learnt that Alcatraz tours go on all year, except for Thanksgiving. It turns out that this time is set aside for the descendants of indigenous Native Americans to commemorate with a festival!
Additionally in the late 1700’s the Spanish also came to the Island in for which it’s named, "La Isla de los Alcatraz's,", meaning the Island of Pelicans…Before the U.S. Government bought the Island, it was once in the ownership of Mexico.
Going back to the 1949 Governor of California, John C. Freemount, was one who believed in the concept known as “Manifest Destiny” (Derives from President Polk), in which the people of the United States believed in the “expansion” of their democratic views to as many people and places as possible (basically a type of Imperialism), which was used as means to justify the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, in which Alcatraz became owned by the U.S. Government as a by product. It not only housed Civil War and 1960-era criminals, but also Spanish-American War criminals.
It’s curious then that Jorge Garcia embraces his roots by playing a character who clearly by his name, Diego Soto, also descends from Latin/Hispanic/Spanish-American origins--Additionally not only is he an Alcatraz expert, but an American Civil War historian as well!
The Great Architect: Building on Behalf of Belief
One scene in the episode gives a sense of sentimentality to Emerson Hauser, as he lays his fingers across Lucy’s sweater and book.(Which no matter how hard I searched internet I could not find out the title of the book! Do any of you guys know?) But what stuck out to me was also Hauser’s ring. Some times people were rings to express their role and/or to commemorate belonging to a group. A basic everyday example is a class ring, but Hauser’s is somewhat symmetrical, an appearance of a seven pedalled flower motif.
A lot of times with Bad Robot I had danced around ideas relating to Free Masonry. Free Masons are often times viewed in pop culture to be at the center of conspiracy theories, including novels such as Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol”. -- Masons are known through out ancient and even more modern history (WWII) to be “stone workers”, in both everyday construction (buildings, roads, bridges) and sometimes rather amazing structures of architecture (churches, monuments, statues, temples) relating to a theological belief of the idea that they are building on behalf of a Supreme Being, as a general Mason viewpoint is, ‘God’ is “The Great Architect of the Universe”. (Modern Day Masons tend to lean towards philosophical discussion, rather than physical construction) But through out history there are many other groups sometimes related or are similar to Mason groups, such as Templar, Rosicrucian, and alchemy groups that work on behalf of some more specific theological/political belief. But I think our very own DarqueMode, is right in leaning toward Rosicrucian, since these groups go back to to medieval Germany said to be founded by the legendary Christian Rosenkreuz ("Hauser" is a German name), and since Bad Robot often uses ROSE as motif and metaphor for hope and life. Rosicrucian beliefs stem from Rosenkreuz and 3 published Manifestos during the 1600's (<--The time of great Alchemists, such as Sir Isaac Newton)
This makes me immediately come back to Alias with characters Arvin Sloane, Irena DeRevko, and the group: Prophet Five---a dedicated group who believed in and helped cultivate the works and prophecies of 15th century Italian inventor, Milo Rambaldi. In the last season on Alias, Sydney meets an immortal man referred to by Rambaldi as, "The Rose". He has been awaiting Sydney for centuries living underneath an very old Italian Prison.
Although I don’t believe we will see a group to have actually exited or exists, rather we might see a fictionalised version of these sorts of groups, I do think we could get into the same kinds of ideas with a mystery school group, such as Prophet Five…The general idea of a stone worker, architect, or one who helps build structures leads me this episode’s introduction of the C & C Cement Co.
This episode featured a cement company who was known to build military bunkers. Specifically in this episode it related to Kit Nelson and where he took his child victims to kill them. What’s curious is that the Prison of Alcatraz would have had to have been built and rebuilt over and over in order to accommodate America’s worst criminals, as the time periods and technology progressed…It only makes sense that this is probably the company hired to build at least part of, perhaps some of the sub-levels, of Alcatraz during and before the 1960’s time period.
Looking more on Wikipedia, it does state that parts of the prison, even as early as 1912, were bunkers! (Although the term bunker really isn’t used until the first World War) In the 1930’s it was deemed an F.B.I. Prison. (Federal Bureau Prison--This is only about 25 years after the F.B.I. was established)
Additionally going back to LOST, this isn’t the first time we have seen military bunkers! Surely every LOST fan that ever lived thought of the Dharma Initiative during this episode! (Not to mention the outside of the newly constructed Alcatraz Hauser takes Sylvane through at the end of “The Pilot”) --Again going back to previous posts, it might not be a bad thing to think about the Dharma stations in terms of scientific experimentation and possible electromagnetic pockets and/or cryogenic chambers….
Of course this could all be a red hearing, but I hope it's not.
The Tables Keep Turning:
The end of the episode is a bit dramatic! Emerson Hauser carries the dead body of Kit Nelson in a body bag over his shoulder into the reconstructed Alcatraz, sending a silent message to Cobb and Sylvane, 'This can happen to you!' (-Although Hauser stressed to Ernest Cobb last episode that being dead was better than being alive to brought to interrogation of the new Alcatraz). But more over Hauser takes the body into a medical room where Dr. Beauregard awaits him! Like Lucy and the first 3 inmates, it appears that Bearagaurd hasn't aged much (which is funny considering how old he already was in the 1960's). But like a scene in "Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde", or even going back to Soto's comments to comparing Hauser to, "Dr. Strange Love", is there something almost absurd, comedic, and also perhaps misanthropic about these two characters' exchange, including Hauser asking for a favor for a friend, followed by Beauregard's sentimentality to an old turn table and cigarettes, as he happily listens to songs of yesterday as a means of preparation to dive into an autopsy!
A SpoilerTV forum member and moderator, Joshua, also picked up on this horror-film aspect, as he now half expects a resurrection of Kit Nelson! I didn't initially take it that far, but I have to say I would be delighted if that were to happen!
Something else to consider is the turn table/record player itself. Once again these old devises that play music are another reoccurring object and theme in Bad Robot works, especially Lost and Fringe. In Lost it's a metaphor/anology for how the Island works, the idea that history/memory is on a disk that can "skip" (Wheel in the Orchid falls off it's axis) and "loop" (Play certain segments over and over) conveying multiple time lines, repeated event history via time travel, creating mildly different iterations/branch offs from any given point in said Island's histories. (Daniel Faraday: "Whatever happened, happened"/"People are variables")
In Fringe the same concepts apply, except that unlike Lost the idea of time loops is up front and more specifically apart of the characters story. ("The Day We Died") [Blue] Walter Bishop is often seen with an LP of his favourite band, "Violet Sedan Chair" (<--metaphor for the time machines!) and album "Seven Suns". Bad Robot went out of their way to actually make an LP with 9 tracks with lyrics and with sounds that play on the trippy inter-dimensional-multi-universe concepts of the show. Even an episode "The Firefly", gives a story about the band's piano player, Roscoe Joyce (Christopher Lloyd), the loss of his son, and the inter-dimensional time travel and multiple-sight capacity of The Observer's abilities, as Fringe is about trying to change the said fate of their timeline.
It's these ideas that also makes me wonder if a time loop or time loops will become apart of Alcatraz's mythology, but perhaps it's only going to go as far as to looking at generations of people/families with in a time line who time travel to a later date...
"I'm doing this because I'm a father too."Note: One can kind of see a lot Alcatraz-ish ideas in Fringe's "The Bishop Revival" and perhaps "the Arrival", but both of those episodes go out of their way to hint at the importance of family and generational advancement in terms of two of the main characters.
The Episode Itself:
This one was more of a stand alone like the former “Ernest Cobb”, but not without clues or looking closer at social injustice.
Kit Nelson was scary. The serial killer aspect that he and former episode's Ernest Cobb display gives reassurance to the audience that some of these prisoners were mentally ill, but the debate really goes beyond this, in which if mentally ill people should be considered criminals, rather than patients, and by extension if the abusive atmosphere of Alcatraz is where some of these people really belonged? It’s this that gives the show a great sense of tragedy.
“I know what’s gonna happen next.”Soto continues to resonate with the audience. His academic viewpoint makes him a little more like most of us, people who are not law enforcement or federal agents. But his knowledge allows for him to get into the head space of the criminal and I think over time he will be well on his way to criminal profiling!
However, Hauser hit a nerve when he attacked both Rebecca and Soto. First accusing Rebecca that her involvement is merely personal, relying on the fact that her grandfather killed her partner, and Diego, by telling him he needs to man up and get over his childhood trauma.
Not that I don’t think that Hauser has a point, still do I think Rebecca is naturally driven, but possibly in denial about her grandfather, but also shaped by her childhood experiences, and do I also think that Diego needs to get some wits about him, but more over I think this is easier said than done.
It occurs to me that people who have big problems tend to try and hide those problems by being overly authoritative and accusing someone else of having those problems instead. Hauser clearly has a big obsession of collecting his former inmates, --dead or alive! And considering his relationship with Lucy, one can only suspect that he isn’t over traumatic experiences of his past or youth yet either!
But what Soto tells the young boy Dylan at the end of the episode I think is only half the truth. I think that experience with being abducted truly scarred Diego. When you think about his choice of professions, it’s clear he chose ones which are safe. Ones that are therapeutic and maybe ones where he can ask his own questions about why he was abducted. And it’s this that leads me to believe the abductor may relate to either Alcatraz or The American Civil War. But the comic book facet lets Diego think about all the reasons why any of us do any of the things we do, and his work is surely a reflection of how he feels and what he’s thinking, but also it reflects the story of a good hero. A person who has to find his place in the world and rise to the occasion of whom he really wants to be. Eventually showing everyone what he stands for.
Until Next Time,
Make your own kind of music!
PS: Don't forget to check out the SpoilerTV Alcatraz Photo Archive! New Mug Shot Photos Added!
