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The 1960 portion of the show has Warden James striking a deal with an English inmate named Garrett Stillman. Stillman loves games and planned all his crimes as if they were chess matches, moving the pieces and thinking several moves ahead. That's just why the Warden needs him to steal, forge and switch the parole board's ruling against Harlan. (He's the pipsqueak who outsmarted Cal Sweeney a while back so he could take over the contraband operation in the prison laundry.) The Warden wants Harlan off Alcatraz and, through a very complex series of machinations, he gets his way. Harlan is grateful for his freedom, though he clearly has no idea the price he'll be expected to pay some day.
In the present day, Stillman shows up and steals several armored trucks. They're just a decoy to keep the cops and the Alcatraz team off his back. In reality, he's stealing the third and final key to the mystery room beneath the lighthouse. He doesn't say outright who he's ultimately working for, but the implication is that it's the Warden. (Although if it's the Warden, why wouldn't he still have his own keys?) His "handler" is Tommy Madsen, who shows up to retrieve the key. He's too late, though, because some other inmate (nickname: Ghost) kills Stillman and absconds with the loot. Rebecca and the gang are always one step behind.
In other happenings, Lucy has rejoined the team, Harlan is a crazy old recluse who owns a billion-dollar bank, and time-travel (or whatever the hell it is) has bittersweet consequences. Stay tuned for the full weecap.
Click here for the finale recaplet.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!After being revived last week with special blood, Lucy starts things off this week by watching the recorded interviews of four inmates. All at the same time. Did the blood make her a really good multitasker or was she always like this? She's so into the interviews (particularly Ernest Cobb's creepy account) that Hauser startles her when he walks into the room. They're in the lab portion of the woodsy prison. He chastises her for not resting up like Dr. Beauregard wanted. Lucy wants to go with Hauser back to Alcatraz. When he hems and haws, she realizes that she still hasn't told the rest of the team the truth about her. She marches off to Dr. Beauregard to get his stamp approval, but he declines as he doesn't yet know all the potential side effects of her recent blood transfusion. Lucy decides she doesn't need his approval, after all.
Elsewhere in some San Francisco alleyway, a man eats his lunch in an armored car. Someone knocks on the door. He slides open a little window, scans the knocker's uniform badge and opens the door. He gets punched in the face with the butt of a shotgun. Two other men in creepy hoods join him and take the uniforms off the rest of the car's guards. One of the masked men turns off the car's GPS transmitter. The security guards -- sans uniforms but still alive -- are pushed out the back door as the car drives off.
Flashback. Alcatraz rec yard, 1960. The apparent ringleader from the scene sits on the steps, playing chess against himself. Warden James comes along and makes a move without being invited. Rude! The Warden waxes poetic about his favorite piece being the Knight, while our thief prefers the Bishop. "Bishop's about the end game, the long diagonal that lies in wait," he says, revealing much about himself. He has an English accent, not of the Hollywood chimney sweep variety. Deputy Tiller watches from the top steps, looking suspicious or perhaps slightly dyspeptic. Warden James invites his new thief friend to an upcoming parole board hearing on the island. He's confused by the invitation, but intrigued.
Present. Doc tidies up the desk ahead of Lucy's arrival. He's nervous because she's one of the '63s. He's like, "Nobody bothered to tell us," and Rebecca's all, "We never bothered to ask," which is just dumb. Stop being dumb. Hauser walks in with Lucy and Doc gives her an awkward, but sincere hug. Rebecca hands over a file of all the '63s they've caught. "I think we owe you an apology," Lucy begins. Hauser apparently doesn't like the "we" part of that and skedaddles while Lucy explains. "We thought it was best to keep things a secret, but it was a mistake to lie to you," she says. Doc wonders why there was never any mention of a female doctor on Alcatraz and Lucy explains it away as one of the Warden's secrets. She's visibly saddened. She'd believed she was there to help the inmates. Doc says she can help them now and asks her about what he calls the "time jump," going from 1963 to 2012. She says something about adapting quickly to modern technology, which I don't think is exactly what Doc meant, but whatever. She talks about Hauser without mentioning him by name, but about the sadness of realizing people you've loved living an entire lifetime without you. "You begin to realize that even though you're in their world, you're not of their world." The show has been in dire need of little human moments like this from the start.
Lucy moves from her reverie to the computers, complimenting the improvements Doc made to them. With impeccable timing, the computer chimes in with a report of the armored car robbery. Lucy and Doc read over the details together and come to the same conclusion at the same time: "Garrett Stillman." They share an info dump about Stillman being a former strategist for the British military, had a high IQ and a penchant for armored cars. Lucy talks about being a "gamesman" who planned elaborate heists.
As part of that elaborate heist, Stillman hands off a bag of cash to his accomplices. They pull into an alley and everyone but Stillman heads for a parked van. "Nice job, see you at the pub," Stillman calls after them. The accomplices are probably all thinking what a nice guy he is for a thief, right up until the moment they get into the van and it explodes. Stillman watches the whole thing without surprise. Cue the intro.
Doc and Rebecca get to the alley. One of the accomplices survived because, as an EMT on the scene says, the blast shot him clear of the fire. Of course, his bones probably look like cracker meal now. Doc and Rebecca talk out the details of the crime and realize Stillman wasn't after the money, seeing as how he left it burning in the van. He just wanted the armored car.
Bynum Security. Rebecca talks to the guard from the stolen armored car. It turns out that was the third car stolen in the last month. Yet somehow it didn't ping on the computer until now. The guard IDs Stillman from his mugshot and says he had a real uniform, complete with a real badge code that couldn't have been counterfeited. Rebecca gets a call about the surviving accomplice and tells the guard's boss to change all the badge codes. You'd think they would have already done that, knowing that several cars had already been stolen. Dumb.
Back on the island, Lucy and Hauser have a chance to chat. She's pleased with how Rebecca's doing on the team, but Hauser thinks Rebecca makes everything too personal. "You mean she doesn't shoot first, ask questions later?" Lucy asks. Hee. Lucy can stay. Hauser thinks it's a flaw that the inmates could exploit. "You can't see it, can you?" Lucy asks. "You were just like her, once." Sadness. A sub-hub nerd named Warren comes in with a scan of all the areas beneath the lighthouse. Hauser doesn't think there's anything in there, but Lucy tells him about a bulkhead that used to be there.
Hospital. The accomplice tells Rebecca that Stillman made up fake contest with a vacation prize to get a Bynum employee out of his apartment for a few weeks. Then he broke in and stole his uniform. Nobody was any the wiser. Rebecca finds out that some guy was supplying Stillman with his guns, but the accomplice never met him. Rebecca and Doc walk out of the room. "This guy helping Stillman - you think he's another '63 or just a regular person?" Doc asks. "I don't know, but maybe it's the same guy that gave Jack Sylvane his gun, Ernest Cobb his rifle," she says. Doc adds, "Cal Sweeney the numbers on the safety [sic] deposit box with the key in it." He thinks for a second. "So if we catch Stillman, maybe we'll catch his handler," Doc says. "Maybe we'll get answers," Rebecca adds. Hey, show? If you're back for another season, please stop assuming your viewers are brain dead iguanas. It's one thing to have your characters connect the dots for the audience, but they don't need to do it with road flares and neon signs. It's dumb and annoying.
Stillman drives the armored car into a dilapidated warehouse and parks it to its two missing siblings, then flashes back to 1960. He sits in on the parole board hearing. Aboard member bangs a gavel and says, "Please remember our decision will remain sealed and confidential until delivered to the governor." That's just in case you wondered later how this whole dumb caper was pulled off without anyone knowing about it. Harlan Simmons is called forward. (He's the youngster who took over the laundry scheme in the Cal Sweeney episode.) He pleads his case with eloquence and politeness, but Deputy Tiller steps forward to testify against him. The board members fill out triplicate forms in the negative and then toss the carbon sheets into the trash, all while Stillman watches. After everybody else leaves, Warden James sits down beside Stillman. "Mr. Simmons won't be eligible for parole again until 1965 and I'd prefer him off my island before that time." He wants Stillman to steal the board's paperwork and replace it with something more favorable to Harlan. He offers Stillman the laundry racket as payment. The parole board will be having lunch at the warden's residence later that day, giving Stillman three hours to come up with a plan.
Present. Stillman walks over to an old Streamline trailer and knocks on the door before entering. "You get me the crew I asked for?" he asks the man inside. "Ready and waiting," comes the answer. It's Tommy Madsen. He peels an apple. This is important later. Strangely, even though the other inmates have been blending into their surroundings, Tommy still has his 1960 flattop and clothes.
Alcatraz storage room. Rebecca sorts through Stillman's old belongings, to no avail. Lucy walks in and offers to answer any questions she has. "Where'd you get that frosty lipgloss?" Sorry, that's just my question. It's very pretty. They talk about Tommy. He was charming at times, cunning and ruthless. Lucy says he was patient. "He could peel apples in a single strip." So can I, and I am the opposite of patient. Lucy doesn't know why Tommy killed Rebecca's partner. She knows they took a lot of blood from Tommy, but not why. She tried to look into it, but backed off when "Emerson" asked her to. This makes Rebecca realize Lucy and Hauser knew each other back then. Off Lucy's sad expression, she also realizes the two were a couple. She tells Rebecca sweet things about young Hauser that kind of blow Rebecca's mind. "Sounds like we're not even talking about the same guy!" she says. "I know," Lucy answers sadly. Rebecca wonders what made him change. Uh, how about mysteriously losing his girlfriend? "For the past 50 years, he's been trying to find me," Lucy says, "and now I'm trying to find him." Aw. See, this kind of talking isn't so bad. It's info dump, but with heart.
Doc calls them back up to the hub. He's found out that Broadway Mutual, one of Bynum Security's biggest clients, was founded by Harlan Simmons. Nobody's seen him since the '70s -- not because he's missing, but because he's a recluse. Doc thinks Stillman aims to steal a bunch of money from Harlan.
Flashback. In the mess hall, Stillman recruits someone to steal the carbon papers from the trash, someone to forge the signatures and someone to get him into the warden's luncheon.
Present. Rebecca and Doc drop by Broadway Mutual. They talk to a security guy who shows them into a vault, which is really more of a storage closet. The security guy says the money is electronic. Rebecca wonders why Broadway Mutual needs Bynum Security. "If they're not moving money for you, then what are they moving?" she asks. The guy has no idea. As Rebecca and Doc walk off, unsatisfied, the security guy sends a text message to someone. The message goes to someone on Stillman's crew. They're all sitting in a van, waiting for the location of their pickup. They get it from the security guy's message, and then Stillman shoots one of his crew and dumps him out onto the street.
Warren leads Hauser to a spot under the lighthouse where a thermal scan shows a cavity behind one of the walls. Hauser tells him to get the team and some sledgehammers.
Hub. Lucy and Doc do some computer stuff and find out that Bynum moves a secret package for Broadway Mutual once a month. "Whatever it is, Mr. Simmons doesn't want it in the same location long enough for anyone to find it," Lucy says. Hauser joins them. Everybody talks some more and figures out that Stillman is trying to scare Harlan into moving the secret package ahead of schedule. They intercept the text about moving the package and hustle. Lucy stays behind so she can interview the inmates. As Hauser leaves, she calls after him: "Try not to shoot anyone if you can possibly help it!" Hee. "I don't know what you're talking about," he calls back.
Flashback. Stillman shows up to the luncheon in a steward's uniform. His accomplice panics because Warden James will know he's not one of the usual stewards. Stillman is very nonchalant about the whole thing as he shows up to the table. The Warden is shaken by his appearance and has to launch into a story about civet poop coffee to cover his reaction. Deputy Tiller looks suspicious, as usual. After the lunch, Stillman lets his inside man know he made the switch. The rat immediately rats him out to Tiller. Tiller reaches into Stillman's jacket pocket and snatches out an envelope. Stillman only looks slightly peeved. Also, there are too many similar names in this episode. "Stillman" almost sounds like a portmanteau of "Tiller" and "Simmons."
Present. Stillman shows up at the pickup point. A security guard scans his uniform, but the badge code is now invalid. Stillman piston-whips the guard. Why didn't Rebecca or someone call this place to let them know something was going on? When the team shows up, they find the guard tied up outside and the armored car speeding away.
1960. Warden James watches as all his plans fall to crap. Tiller helpfully gives the real hearing papers to the parole board and accepts the fake in return. He gives them to Warden James, who has to act like he's not furious. Warden James saves his anger for when he escorts Stillman to his new home in the hole. "I offered you the opportunity to seize your place atop the rock and you failed," he says. "Are you sure, warden?" Stillman asks. "Check the envelope." Warden James does so and sees that he has the real papers, denying Harlan his parole. Warden James is impressed. He realizes Tiller was set up. Stillman explains he knew he couldn't get into the parole board's briefcase, so he relied on a known snitch to rat him out to Tiller, who inadvertently made the switch for him.
Present. The team follows the armored car to a parking garage. Rebecca and Hauser go off in search of Stillman while Doc is instructed to stay behind. He ignores them, which is a good thing, because he wanders around and finds the hot-wired car that Stillman plans to use for escape. He also talks to himself a lot because the show doesn't trust the audience to know what he's doing without spelling it out. Elsewhere, Rebecca sees the three armored cars driving off and gives chase. Meanwhile, Stillman carries a small safe to his getaway car. Luckily, Doc has dropped his cellphone into the backseat so they can track it.
Warehouse. Safely hidden in the Streamline, Stillman busts open the safe and pulls out a tiny key. While he ponders it, we flash back once more to 1960 as Harlan prepares to leave the island. The Warden sees him off. He gives Harlan a slip of paper. "Number of a friend," he explains. "Someone who'll help you find your feet on the outside. He'll know how to get us in touch when the time arrives." As Harlan boards the SFPD patrol boat, Warden James takes the little key out of his coat pocket, for no reason other than to tie it back to the present-day scenes.
In the present, a heretofore-unseen man barges into the Streamline. He aims a gun at Stillman. "Ghost, what are you doing here?" Stillman asks. "You weren't supposed to open that," Ghost says. He demands Stillman hand over the key. When Stillman refuses, saying he stole the key for someone else, Ghost shoots him.
By the time Rebecca and Hauser find him, he's dead. Rebecca finds apple peelings to the body. It's a good thing Lucy just happened to tell her about Tommy Madsen's displays of patience or Rebecca might have suspected Johnny Appleseed. Doc, waiting in the car outside, sees a white truck pull up. Before he can get a look at the driver's face, the high beams come on, obscuring his view. The truck speeds away as Doc frantically shouts for Rebecca.
Back on the island, Warren shows Hauser to the door he's found hidden beyond the wall. Hauser's all excited and digs out his two big keys. His excitement fades when he turns the keys and a panel slides back, revealing another keyhole.
Woodsy prison. Lucy interviews Ernest Cobb. She wants to know why he shot her. He explains she's a target and not because she was tracking him. "As long as you're alive, you'll always be a target."
Hub. Rebecca and Doc track down traffic camera snapshots and find the white truck. They get a good look at the driver. "Oh, my God," Rebecca whispers. "That's your grandfather," Doc says, as if she wouldn't recognize him. Then, just in case she forgot the guy's name, he adds, "Tommy Madsen!" Then, to drive the point home even further, he also adds: "He's the handler!" The music tries to make it sound all shocking and dramatic. It's not.
Tippi Blevins disappeared from prison 50 years ago and then mysteriously reappeared to write about this show. Email her at b_tippi@yahoo.com, or find her on Twitter.
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