ALCATRAZ Episode 1.07 ("Johnny McKee"): Thoughts & Theories

Well you know, I've been shoved around

Hey, but I've done my share of the shovin' too

I guess you get what you deserve

Yeah you get what's comin' to you.

- John Mellencamp, “Born Reckless”

Let's hop on the train with our gas masks at hand, and make our way through the manufactured fog...


The 302/63’s


1. Dr. Lucille Sengupta/Lucy Banerjee
2. Dr. Milton Beauregard 
3. Mrs. Beauregard (questionable)
4. Guy Hastings, guard
5. Ernest Cobb, inmate #2047
6. Tommy Madsen, inmate #2002
7. Johnny McKee, inmate #2055
8. Kit Nelson, inmate #2046 
9. Paxton Petty, inmate #2223
10. Cal Sweeney, inmate #2112
11. Jack Sylvane, inmate #2024


ALCATRAZ BOOK CLUB


As was the case with LOST, one of my favorite aspects of contemporary television is the integration of literary references that encourage viewers to research and read actual books (versus gadgets). So I was thrilled to see so many books and hear related quotes in last night’s episode of ALCATRAZ.  


The Carpetbaggers – Harold Robbins


I do not see any real connection from to the show. As Dr. B said, it is pulp. At least compared to the others on display in the episode. 


The Metamorphoses of Ovid 


The Metamorphoses is a 12,000-line poem, essentially about transformation. The book is far too dense for me to possibly attempt to explain in any brief manner, but I believe it was used in this episode for two specific reasons: 1. Lucille/Lucy has not appeared to change in any way from 1963 to present day (physically or mentally, pre-coma) and 2. Jack Sylvane told Hauser that he HAD changed (and could no longer dream). 


20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne


The book is about adventures aboard the submarine Nautilus, which was built in secrecy and roamed the ocean without detection from land-based government. 


The real USS Nautilus submarine launched on 1/21/54, and became the first commissioned nuclear power submarine in the US Navy. Johnny McKee said that the USS Nautilus passed through the SF Bay, but it didn’t depart Pearl Harbor toward the North Pole until 1958.


JULES VERNE


The man deserves his own section. Jules Verne also wrote an aptly titled book called "The Mysterious Island" and much of his work is very applicable to this show, thematically. 

“Is the Master out of his mind?' she asked me. I nodded. 'And he's taking you with him?' I nodded again. 'Where?' she asked. I pointed towards the centre of the earth. 'Into the cellar?' exclaimed the old servant. 'No,' I said, 'farther down than that.” ― Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Perhaps the secret to the 63’s does lie in the hole beneath The Hole, in the subterranean area of Alcatraz (see crazy theory below)....

“When I returned to partial life my face was wet with tears. How long that state of insensibility had lasted I cannot say. I had no means now of taking account of time. Never was solitude equal to this, never had any living being been so utterly forsaken.” ― Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

An apt way to describe the experiences of the returning inmates…


SCIENCE CLASS


McKee rigged sprinklers with Zyklon A, a liquid pesticide that releases hydrogen cyanide in a chemical reaction with water. Zyklon B is more commonly known, primarily because it was used in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

Most nightshade plants have berries that contain poisonous solanine, causing convulsions and death. But there are other plants in the nightshade family with toxic berries that harm but do not kill (see crazy theory below). 


SAN FRANCISCO, AS VANCOUVER


I live here, and I have no complaints about what they’re using in Vancouver to stand in for locations in San Francisco. For legal/clearance reasons, they can’t use some of the real names, as is the case with most shows (thus, SFTA rather than BART for the trains).  But it is a bit disconcerting when they show a crazy man gassing the “East Bay Tube,” as we take the train through that very Trans Bay Tunnel quite frequently. Speaking of clearances – I did laugh out loud that McKee gassed a train full of Golden State Warriors fans. Clearly it was a good deal cheaper to feature that fan gear than the Giants, A’s, Raiders or 49ers.  


DR. LUCILLE SENGUPTA/LUCY BANERJEE

“I can help you with that memory; I can help it go away.” - Dr. Sengupta, to Johnny McKee

We now know that her “methods” included electroshock therapy, traumatic memory therapy and acupuncture [auricular acupuncture has been known to treat inmates in prison psych wards; it was developed in 1957, which would have made it a relatively new and experimental method for Dr. Sengupta]. 

The newly unfrozen-in-time Jack Sylvane said that he’s changed because “I don’t dream.” It seems that Dr. Sengupta’s efforts to remove painful memories resulted in the removal of dream capacity instead. That would make sense, considering how many of the returning 63ers seek to revenge or avenge loved ones, with memories more intact and missions activated. 


Flashing back to 1960, Dr. Sengupta asked Johnny McKee if he dreamed about his victims. In 2012, we know that Lucy Banerjee is dreaming while in a coma. We have to ponder whether or not SHE is dreaming about her victims…possibly the 63’s.


DR. MILTON BEAUREGARD


Dr. B referred to current day in New Alcatraz as “our so-called reality.” Given that he is ageless, we must consider WHEN and HOW he re-entered, if he returned at the same time as Lucille/Lucy, if he was given a choice to go with the 63’s, if he knows how he lost 50 years and/or if he helped orchestrate the entire event.  It was quite telling that Dr. B called the 1961 book The Carpetbaggers “a MODERN classic." It could very well be that he has no idea what year it is. Look at the man - he does not get out much.


Now that Rebecca Madsen has heard the name Beauregard, I’m hoping she brings it up with Doc, who must have written about Dr. B in his books. If they figure out that he’s still alive, and one of the 63’s – they might finally start to put the puzzle pieces together and discover New Alcatraz.

THE PRISONERS

“You were in prison then, you’re in prison now. Take away the passing of 50 years – nothing’s changed for you.” – Emerson Hauser, to Jack Sylvane

TOMMY MADSEN


This is a shot in the dark, but I am starting to think that Rebecca’s grandfather is going to discover New Alcatraz; that he went off-mission to “rescue” his fellow inmates from their re-incarceration. 


JOHNNY MCKEE


McKee is the first returning inmate we’ve seen that sought out employment in order to continue their life of crime.  

I believe that McKee specifically chose that train at that time to gas. He must have known that there was a Warriors game that night, and assumed that most of the fans would be male. Although much has changed since 1963, the section of passengers they chose to show did not seem to contain any female basketball fans. Score one for the psychopath. 


Once again, we do not see Hauser bring an inmate to New Alcatraz. Johnny McKee might have died, but so did Kit Nelson – and we have yet to see if Dr. B brought him back to life in New Alcatraz. So either the killed inmates are in cold storage, or they are in revitalization chambers. I prefer to think it is the latter. 

THE WARDENS

Donde esta Deputy Warden Tiller? His absence, two episodes in a row, is blowing a hole right through my agoraphobia/Isaac Asimov theory.  


Can someone please make an animated gif of Warden James saying Ding? Hilarious. But when I hear Ding, I see Fring. Breaking Bad fans will understand. 


Just as Warden James forced a confession out of Kit Nelson with his creepy match game, he assisted Dr. Sengupta to force a confession out of Johnny McKee. To me, it is almost as if the Warden makes it his personal mission to have each inmate confess to their sins before they qualify (in his mind) to be part of the future 63’s. 


CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK, PT 1 – ASSEMBLAGE


It might be possible that  “they” combined the areas of expertise from among the 302 on Alcatraz to create the tools necessary to pull off the events of 3/21/63. So far, those that fit the task: Kit Nelson used to work for a company that built bomb shelters (the subterranean dungeon and/or wormhole), and Johnny McKee used to be an organic chemistry teacher (“the fog”). 


In addition, I think it was a major clue that McKee “pulled garden duty a lot,” as Warden James himself seemed to be particularly fond of the prison gardens (noted in “Guy Hastings”).  The phillumenist is also a horticulturist! The Warden may have been working with or forcing McKee to educate him about the uses of the nightshade plants.  


CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK, PT 2 – ENTER SANDMAN


In smaller dosages, some of the chemicals derived from the plants in the nightshade family can be used as a sedative or to treat motion sickness. Side effects from these drugs may include confusion, agitation, hallucinations, paranoid behaviors, and delusions. Thus…the “fog that took all the stars away” on 3/21/63.   

For the second episode in a row, the Medical Examiner (not coroner, as I've erroneously labeled her previously) Nikki has worn a Sandman comic tee. As I noted in last week’s post, the main character in The Sandman comics was an escaped prisoner named Dream.  Obviously, dreams play a huge role in this episode and the entire series.  But what is even more relevant (particularly for this theory) is that Dream used a gas gun to compel his enemies to tell the truth and also to put them to sleep.  


Nikki is not one of the 63’s, BUT…my conspiratorial instinct suspects that she is Dr. Beauregard’s granddaughter. Her profession, location and conveniently nerdy tees are pointing me in that direction. She is a plant, she knows SOMETHING and may just play a role in the re-entry process of returning 63ers. Who better to help revive those stuck in time than an M.E.? Especially if she was tasked with reviving some who may not have survived or were injured during the 20,000-league journey back from the center of the earth…


CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK, PT 3 - TRANSPORTATION


Johnny McKee was a huge Jules Verne fan, and noted that as early as the 1800’s - he wrote about “how we would travel underwater.” If those who vanished from Alcatraz in 1963 didn’t travel through a wormhole, perhaps the subterranean area beneath Solitary on Alcatraz was actually a carved out tunnel system for submarines. If you’re wondering how that many subs (enough to hold 302 people) were able to travel the Bay undetected, just remember that a) we are suspending our disbelief here, people and b) Verne's Nautilus utilized that very technology.
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And…scene. Thank you for taking the time to read though my analysis and (hopefully) get a few laughs out of the crazy theories! As always, I encourage and appreciate feedback and constructive comments. Please note: due to travel, I will not be able to watch & write about next week’s episode until Friday, March 2. 


-Jo