cinemaknifefight.com
After watching every confusing episode of the television show "Lost", I felt truly lost and drained. So when we heard that its Producers had pulled another one out of the Rorschach Inkblot Test hat, I was both repelled and intrigued.
"Alcatraz" first aired at the beginning of this year. What caught my interest at first was the cast:
**Sarah Jones - Rebecca Madsen - the cop on the task force
**Jorge Garcia- Doc Soto - the geeky expert
**Parminder Nagra- Dr. Lucy Banerjee in present day, (Dr. Lucille Sengupta in 1963) - a Shrink with a past
**Sam Neill - Emerson Hauser - former police officer on Alcatraz, current leader of the task force
Garcia was the affable Hurley on "Lost". Nagra portrayed Jesminder Bhamra in the film "Bend It Like Beckham" and Dr. Neela Rasgotra on the hit show E.R.
Plot:
On March 21, 1963, all the inmates and guards disappeared from "The Rock", a.k.a. Alcatraz prison. In total over 300 inmates and 40 guards just vanished that day. Each week we saw them returning on their own or in small groups from the great unknown. Why did they disappear and what are they here to do now? They had all stopped aging on that fateful day in March.
Nagra's character is the most intriguing to me. Although not an inmate nor a guard at the prison, she had also cheated time by not aging. In the past, she portrays a psychiatrist who worked hard at trying to rehabilitate and help the inmates in any way she can with their tortured minds. In the present she is part of the top secret task force. So you can see that my interest in this show is not based on a sudden interest in the American Penal System. No, that wasn't a Freudian slip!
igossip.com
The charm of this show is the retro angle. Each episode showcases many flashbacks to the 1960's. Nagra's character has the most fun with the beautiful wardrobe, hairstyles and make-up. Dr. Sengupta is impeccably dressed. And her hair comes to life when in the past.There's mystery, time travel and all the grit and beauty of 1960's America. Have a look. You'll drool when you see the wardrobe and get caught up in the past at the same time!
Carol
