Genre: Action | Mystery | Thriller

Air Date/Time: January 16 at 8/7c

Network: Fox

Creators: Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt

Director: “Pilot” – Danny Cannon, “Ernest Cobb” – Jack Bender

Writers: Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt

“Detective Rebecca Madsen” (Sarah Jones) and Alcatraz historian “Doctor Diego Soto” (Jorge Garcia) team up with a secret agency that is dedicated to finding and catching inmates from the infamous prison who went missing 50 years ago and are reappearing today. The special task force includes Sam Neill as “Emerson Hauser” and Parminder Nagra as “Doctor Lucy Banerjee.” Then, when a sniper begins targeting young victims, the team is forced to retrace the steps of the past in order to solve this modern day mystery on the special two-hour series premiere “Pilot/Ernest Cobb” episode of ALCATRAZ.

I first saw the pilot (hour 1) of Alcatraz at Comic Con last July. Given who was involved, and that I knew it involved some weirdness in time and mystery, I wanted it to be magical. It wasn’t magical. It was okay. BUT WAIT. You may have read here on SciFi Mafia that the original showrunner, Elizabeth Sarnoff, stepped down in November when she learned that the powers that be wanted the series to take a slightly different direction. This change in direction meant that scenes from the first few episodes would be rewritten and reshot.

I don’t know if the version of the Alcatraz pilot that was made available for advance screening that I watched last week is the reshot version or not. I do know that there are differences between the clips that have been released (and that we have posted here on SciFi Mafia) and the screener that I just saw. I also believe that there was at least one significant addition to the second-to-last scene, but that might just be my faulty memory.

I also need to say what many of you have seen me say before. There will never be another Beatles, and there will never be another Lost. You can’t blame anyone for wanting to work with people with whom they’ve had excellent previous experiences, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Alcatraz and Lost executive producer J.J. Abrams is working with Lost director/executive producer Jack Bender, actor Jorge Garcia, and composer Michael Giacchino again. While they would likely love for Alcatraz to be as successful as Lost, they know better than anyone that there is no recreating it.

With all of that in mind, I have to say: I really liked this pilot when I watched it this week. I don’t know if it was watching it on a small screen as opposed to on a giant screen in a ballroom, or if the new screener reflects some edits, or if it’s just better to watch while NOT Comic Con-exhausted, but I really like this. It may not be completely magical, but it is compelling. Engaging. Intriguing. There are some nice twists, and some good acting. And that just-something-a-little-bit-extra, whether it’s the atmosphere, the period aspect, the undeniable creepiness factor, the chilling prison administration, or a penumbra of all of it, that makes this a definitely recommended watch.

Jeffrey Pierce as the convict Jack (it’s just a name, Losties) Sylvane is terrific, and does desperation really well. Jorge Garcia had felt a little wooden in his delivery during my July viewing of the first hour, but much less so with the new screener. Sam Neill as Emerson (again, it’s just a name) Hauser still feels a bit wooden, but that fits his character. Sarah Jones as the lead feels engaged, with the let’s-do-it attitude of Fringe’s Olivia, if not quite the same intellectually analytical aura.

The first hour gives you the bones of the series, in the classic style that a pilot hour should, while of course teasing bigger mysteries to be solved. The second hour was new to me, and I think I like it even better than the first hour. Certain aspects of it remind me of a particular classic Twilight Zone episode (no I won’t say which, spoiler hounds), and the titular convict du jour, played by Joe Egender, is very like Lost’s Ben in looks and creepiness. In other words, he’s a really good chilling character whom you like to watch. The main characters and their places in the bigger context continue to develop, and we are given a morsel of new information about the bigger mysteries.

The screeners of the two episodes weren’t final versions, so I can’t comment on the effects, but I can, fortunately, comment on the score. Michael Giacchino. If you are a Lostie, that’s all you need to know. If not, know that no one can set a mood like this man. He uses full orchestration masterfully. Listen carefully and you will be swept away. Additionally, there were some effective camera angles, particularly in one specific venue, that very subtly planted a thought or two in my head about … well, sorry, I can’t say. And overall, likely because of the flashbacks (don’t get excited, Losties; remember, there is a 1960s element that will always come into play), there is something of a pulp detective novel atmosphere that I really enjoyed.

I know that original showrunner Elizabeth Sarnoff called this series primarily a procedural, and I enjoy a good procedural, but it’s the unnatural aspect of it – is it time travel? evil weird science? – that will grab sci-fi fans like you and me. It’s not heavily there in the screener I saw, but it provided the twist I needed to get me to say OOOOOO! And I did. Bring me more like this.

I give Alcatraz: Season 1, Episode 1 and Episode 2 Four Out of Five Stars.