| Alcatraz -- Season 1 | ||
| #01 "Pilot" | #08 "The Ames Bros." | |
| #02 "Ernest Cobb" | #09 "Sonny Burnett" | |
| #03 "Kit Nelson" | #10 "Clarence Montgomery" | |
| #04 "Cal Sweeney" | #11 "Webb Porter" | |
| #05 "Guy Hastings" | #12 "Garrett Stillman" | |
| #06 "Paxton Petty" | #13 "Tommy Madsen" | |
| #07 "Johnny McKee" | ||
Daniel Boileau - Jerry
Richard Bradshaw - Security Guard
Natalie Charles - Nurse
Bill Croft - Officer Selvin
Jenna Hastings - Doctor
David Jacox - Dog Walker
Episode images
"Paxton Petty" is the sixth episode of season 1, and overall the eighth produced hour of Alcatraz. It originally aired on February 13, 2012.
Synopsis[]
1960[]
 The "welcoming party," waiting for Paxton Petty in 1960. |
On September 3, 1960, SFPD Officer Emerson Hauser suffers from seasickness while on a ferry with Officer Selvin, on their way to Alcatraz for a prisoner delivery. The two are greeted by Warden Edwin James, Lucille Sengupta and Milton Beauregard. James welcomes the prisoner, named Paxton Petty to Alcatraz, and recalls his criminal history, which features the detonation of multiple landmines in three different locations in San Francisco. Since Petty has claimed there was a fourth location, James assures him that his other undetonated mines will be discovered. Hauser notices Dr. Sengupta, and apparently falling in love at first sight, asks awkwardly if the "lady" wanted a ride back to the mainland, to which the answer was no. Sengupta, however, offers Hauser a peppermint for his seasickness.
 Sengupta questioning Petty about his service in the Korean War. |
Despite James' verbal assaults and Beauregard dunking in head in an icy bathtub, Petty adamantly refuses to give them the fourth location of his mines. Dr. Sengupta, angered by the useless medieval methods of torture, forces James to let her try and get the information. Sengupta, in turn, drugs Petty's tea to help him relax, and recalls his military service in Korea. Back in 1952, Petty, working as a combat engineer for the 15th unit, bombed the town of Wonju, killing large amounts of children. His subsequent five years military prison sentence acted as a base for which he continued to bomb areas in San Francisco early in 1960, seeking revenge against the American nation. Sengupta simply electrocutes Petty, which sets him off singing a Korean song.
 Sengupta asking Tommy Madsen about the lullaby. |
In her office, Lucille plays a tape of the Korean song to Tommy Madsen, a fellow veteran of the Korean War. Tommy agrees to cooperate if she will find out why he is constantly kept in the infirmary, and has his blood taken and tested even though he is healthy. Lucille agrees, and Tommy identifies the song as a Korean lullaby, which served as a secret disguise sung by the soldiers to their own men as a way of telling them where landmines were located.
 Sengupta explaining Petty's lullaby to Edwin James. |
Lucille breaks down the coded lullaby sang by Petty, and discovers that the fourth bomb is located at a place tied to the words "Twin Tree." While she herself is not aware of any possible connections, she has already informed the SFPD, which pleases James. Once she is alone with Beauregard, Lucille questions him about Tommy's presence in the infirmary and the mysterious demand for his blood. Beauregard simply warns her not to overstep her boundaries.
 Sengupta and Hauser having romantic banter. |
At the police station, Lucille visits Hauser, asking if a link to "Twin Tree" was detected. After a romantic banter, the two agreed to go for dinner together.
2012[]
 Hauser at Sengupta's bedside. |
At St. Mary's hospital, Hauser begins playing music by Lucy Banerjee's bedside, in the hopes it may awaken her. However, as a doctor comes in and performs a regular check-up, she sadly informs Hauser that it is not the case. After being asked about whether Banerjee has ever talked about a DNR, Hauser demands to know whether Banerjee is dying, to which the doctor doesn't respond.
 A landmine detonates at Pine Street Park. |
Meanwhile, at Pine Street Park, five landmines detonate killing at least six people, and injuring several others. As Rebecca Madsen and Diego Soto arrive on the scene, they find Hauser already examining a small crater made by one of the mines. Both Hauser and Soto realise that the culprit is Paxton Petty, who has resurfaced.
 Petty held at gunpoint by Madsen. |
As Hauser disappears to find out Petty's next targets, Soto explains more about Petty's history and crimes to Madsen, who recognises his mugshot and immediately realises Petty is at the park, acting as an innocent civilian curious about the bombings. Following a chase, where Madsen holds Petty at gunpoint, Petty detonates and rolls a mine down a hill to where Madsen is. Forced to dive for cover to escape the mine, Madsen looses Petty.
 Nikki and Madsen examine some shrapnel extracted during a victim's autopsy. |
Soto and Madsen then meet Matt Tanner, nicknamed "psycho" due to his humourous attitude. Tanner shows Madsen some extracted shrapnel found on the crime scene, which resembles parts of a military medal. Further evidence is found at the SFPD morgue, where the coroner, Nikki, has extracted some more medal-resembling shrapnel from the dead victims during autopsy.
 A destroyed Silver Star. |
At the Underground Alcatraz Base, Hauser examines some of Lucy's old notes regarding Petty, and unearths a transcript of the Korean Lullaby he sung in the 1960s. Lucy has circled the key words which contributed to Petty's 1960 bombing locations (Beard, Snow, Grace and Twin tress), although Hauser fails to understand why. Meanwhile, a military shop owner confirms to Soto and Madsen that the shrapnel found in the autopsies and at the park were parts of a Silver Star military medal.
 Petty stabs a guard to death. |
Since the Star could not be obtained unless stolen or passed on, Madsen and Soto realise that Petty was digging them up from graves in the Presidio, where he worked while his case was pending investigation in 1960. That night, Petty begins polishing a Silver Star medal which he presumably stole from one of the graves at the Presidio. However, he is caught in the action by a graveyard guard, who inquires what Petty is doing. Petty immediately stabs the guard to death.
 Madsen and Soto investigating Petty's secret stash. |
The next day, Hauser and Madsen arrive at the graveyard to investigate. They realise that Petty had been using the graveyard mausoleum as a hiding place for his bombs and bomb disguises. As Madsen analysed the lock on the mausoleum gates, she realised that Petty had broken out, and not into the building, meaning he resurfaced inside. Madsen and Soto find Petty's bombs, and disguises such as paint and playground turf, which have been used to hide the bombs.
 Hauser researches the lullaby. |
Meanwhile, Hauser manages to break Petty's lullaby code, and realises that one word in every line of the first verse indicated Petty's four targets in 1960. As Hauser searches where Petty is targeting in 2012, he realises that the lullaby, "Little Brook in the Woods," has a second verse, in which every word indicates his 2012 locations. As he realises the next targets are somewhere to do with "windward" and "sunset," he phones Madsen to research possible locations for "windward," while he, himself searched for "sunset.
 The bomb squad clearing the park. |
Madsen and Soto track "windward" down to Windward Elementary, an elementary school and park. However, as they arrive with Matt Tanner and the bomb squad, they realise that Petty has not been there. Angry at Hauser, Madsen phones him to "rub it in." Hauser, meanwhile, tracks "sunset" to Sunset Beach, where he sights Petty planting mines.
 Hauser steps on a mine while advancing towards Petty. |
Hauser holds Petty at gunpoint, but accidentally steps on a mine while attempting to arrest him. Immobilised in order to not detonate the bomb, Hauser hands over Petty his phone and his gun, and is left there, stranded. Petty arrives at Windward Elementary at night, where Soto and Madsen lie in wait for him. Before he can plant any bombs, Petty is arrested by Madsen and taken to Alcatraz.
 Petty back in a cell at Alcatraz. |
At Alcatraz, Madsen imprisons Petty, and demands to know where Hauser is, but Petty refuses to tell her, claiming that he is dead. While Madsen goes to the Underground Alcatraz Base to research Hauser's possible whereabouts, Soto begins telling Petty one of his theories about why the '63's are returning, though Petty is not convinced. Madsen breaks the lullaby code and returns, and takes Petty to Sunset Beach.
 The bomb squad at Sunset Beach. |
Tanner and his bomb squad arrive, but to Tanner's dismay, he realises that Petty has modified the bomb on which Hauser is standing, which has made it near-impossible to dismantle without exploding. Despite this, Tanner still believes that safe disposal is possible, and instructs Hauser to run off the bomb while he holds the trigger. Aided by Madsen, Hauser runs behind the blast wall. As Tanner dismantles the trigger of the bomb, it explodes in his hands, killing Tanner. Enraged, Hauser approaches Petty and tells him "you just killed a good man...and my legs hurt." He then gets even with Petty by shooting Petty in the leg.
 Hauser arriving at New Alcatraz with Banerjee. |
Back at St. Mary's hospital, Hauser tells Banerjee, who is still in a coma, how he found the twin trees, on Mount Sutro. Unable to bear the thought of her death, Hauser removes Banerjee's life support and takes her to Beauregard in New Alcatraz, telling him to "fix her!"
People Hauser Shot[]
- Paxton Petty in the leg.
Trivia[]
Recurring Themes[]
Production Notes[]
- Jason Butler Harner (E.B. Tiller) does not appear. This is the first episode which did not feature Tiller.
- This episode was the eighth to be produced, though the sixth to air.
Bloopers/Continuity errors[]
Several minor errors are made regarding background information:
- While Rebecca Madsen is viewing Petty's SFPD file after the Pine Street Park bombings, Petty is shown to be born on June 7, 1934. However, this would make him 18 in 1952, which is when, according to Lucille Sengupta, Petty joined the Korean War. Despite this, Petty allegedly fought in the Chosin Reservoir battle, in 1950.
- On a file which Madsen views after she incarcerates Petty back in his Alcatraz cell, his arrest date is given as 3 September 1959, which was before he began bombing in 1960.