Alcatraz premiere hints at more to come

I can't help but feel that JJ Abrams is starting to phone things in lately. The respect that I have for the man that resurrected the "Star Trek" franchise and brought back quality sci-fi to television in the form of "Fringe" remains immense, but I find myself wondering just how much effort he's put into Fox's new sci-fi mystery show "Alcatraz."

The concept behind "Alcatraz" is undoubtedly an intriguing one. The convicts imprisoned in Alcatraz prison that were relocated at the time of the facility's closing are revealed to have not been moved, but have rather mysteriously disappeared. Slowly, for some reason, they begin to reappear in the modern day just as they were before the prison shut down in the 1960s. Upon being alerted to reports of crimes being committed by people who haven't existed for nearly 50 years, the FBI hunts down these prisoners before they return to their criminal ways while seeking to get to the bottom of what exactly happened at Alcatraz that caused this phenomenon.

Sarah Jones plays homicide detective Rebecca Madsen, whose partner was killed by one of the escaped convicts some time ago. She's now teamed up with Alcatraz expert Diego Soto, played by Jorge Garcia of "Lost" fame, and FBI agent Emerson Hauser, a former Alcatraz guard and played by Sam Neill.

The chemistry between Jones and Garcia was easily the highlight of the premiere. Their partnership showing Soto's lack of field experience and adjustment to the situation feels organic and allows for some of the best moments of both episodes.  Sam Neill also has an impressive amount of screen presence, coming off as demanding and even a little bit menacing.

Unfortunately, the episodes seem to be in a habit of moving along a bit too quickly. Very little is explained or even hinted at regarding the phenomenon that caused these events in the first place. At the moment the focus seems to be landing purely on the acquisition of the criminals, as their appearances are made known. Regardless of what the explanation ultimately ends up being, I sadly foresee this lack of foreshadowing being rather abused in a push to stretch the show out longer than it really needs to be. With this system in place, it seems that the only true payoff for the show will hinge on the prospect of it receiving a full run, meaning that if the explanation is too ridiculous, or if it gets canceled before completion, everything showing up until that point will be wasted.

The show isn't bad by any means. It's an intriguing premise with a lot of tense moments, and I'm willing to give it a couple of weeks. Sadly, however, it takes far too many gambles on the idea that it will be around for a long time, which leaves it with little to entice from the start. 

B-