| 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" | ||
Peter Hanlon - Father Gordon
Samuel Patrick Chu - Chet (voice)
Terence Lewis - Mess Hall Prisoner
David Allan Pearson - Ranger
Robert Mann - Prisoner in Kitchen
Ben Rogers - MIT Tech
Episode images
"The Ames Bros." is the ninth episode of season 1, and overall the ninth produced hour of Alcatraz. It originally aired on March 5, 2012.
Synopsis[]
1961[]
 The Ames brothers at the mess hall. |
In the Alcatraz mess hall, Herman & Pinky Ames threaten another inmate into leaving his spoon with the brothers for use during an escape attempt, after the inmate disagrees with the brothers regarding the "greatest hitter of all time." Although any unreturned cutlery results in an immediate sentence to the hole, Pinky Ames manages to convince the inmate to do it, with Herman comparing the hole with the infirmary. Herman and Pinky then discuss their "escape" attempt, and refer to Donovan, a corrupt guard and their accomplice, having everything set. Despite being reliable, Donovan is not trusted by either of the brothers.
 Pinky Ames with the Wardens at the chapel. |
Warden Edwin James and deputy warden E.B. Tiller arrive at the chapel with Father Gordon. Despite James thinking that it is himself who encourages inmates to attend Sunday services, Tiller believes it is simply the chance to leave their cells. James inquires Pinky Ames about his opinion, who tells the Warden that he is more spiritual than religious. Ames manages to extract the mysterious keys from James' coat pocket, and asks Officer Donovan for a bathroom break.
 Pinky Ames forces a cook to cut off his pinky finger. |
Both Donovan and Ames to go the kitchens, however, and both Pinky and Herman attempt to duplicate the keys. Donovan hands them a map drawn of the dungeons of Alcatraz, and tells the brothers that they only have five minutes before shift change. Requiring more time, however, Pinky grabs an unsuspecting cook with a kitchen drill, and forces him to cut off his pinky finger, claiming it was an "accident." As Herman arrives with the completed copies of the keys, they walk out of the kitchen with Donovan, who apologises to Ray Archer due to the mess.
 Herman Ames arrested after interrupting the warden's homily. |
On Sunday, Gordon finishes his preaching, and hands over to the warden for his homily. As James gives the homily, however, Herman Ames laughs uncontrollably, finally causing a commotion after which he is arrested by Donovan. Claiming he found wine on "Gods own table," Pinky tells Herman to shut up, after which he also is arrested by Archer. As they are being led to the hole, Donovan tells Archer that he would take it from there.
 The warden frees Donovan, followed by Tiller and Archer. |
Ray Archer tells the warden about his concerns regarding the Ames brothers. Having found pieces of filed metal in the kitchen after the brothers were duplicating the keys, Archer is concerned that they purposely wished to get sent to the hole. James decides to ask the brothers whether this was true, but finds a beaten Donovan in one of the cells instead. As Donovan claims they overpowered him and beat him up, James realises, after finding his keys in the wrong pocket, what the brothers were up to. Tiller and Archer each grab a weapon and follow the warden.
 The brothers held at gunpoint by Archer, Tiller and James. |
In the tunnels under the 'D' Block, the brothers follow Donovan's map and find the door, behind which they suspect there is gold. However, they find that their cloned keys do not open the padlocks. They attempt to return to the hole before they are found, but are held at gunpoint by Archer, Tiller and James. James mocks their plan, telling them they have the wrong keys, and that the brothers owe him a spoon. James then congratulates Archer on stopping an 'escape' attempt, but Archer comments that the brothers were only interested in what was behind the door. James subtly tells him to stop inquiring, and Archer stops asking questions. He then visits his brother, Tommy Madsen, in the infirmary, and tells him that he plans to find out what is happening with the blood at the Warden's residence, to which he has been invited.
 The warden's gold stash, worth approximately $73,400,000 in 2012 US Dollars. |
At a later date, Edwin James arrives in the dungeons to have a look at his gold. As he enters, he picks up a bar and blows on it, saying, "hello ladies..."
2012[]
During a guided tour in the Alcatraz prison Pinky Ames resurfaces among the tourists. Carrying a brown bag he walks into what appears to be his former cell and carasses the wall while the guide closes the doors meaning to show the tourists what it sounds like to be tucked in at night.
During a rainy night Soto is sitting in front of the monitors at Alcatraz, watching the monitors while Madsen appears. He tells her he's waiting for "the Dandruff Guy" to show up, one of the men in "the room" Hauser regularly goes to. Since Hauser had'nt told them their names Soto referes to them as Dandruff Guy, Two-Shirts, Glasses and the Whistler. According to Soto Dandruff Guy has been sneaking in after the last boat left Alcatraz for three weeks to conduct his weird experiments. While that night Hauser is not around Soto plans on finding out what the man is doing there, claiming he would be back within ten minutes. After he left the power begins to flicker, apparently due to the storm outside.
Meanwhile Dandruff Guy knees down and opens his briefcase full of instruments. He seems to get some sort of signal from down the hallway and starts walking towards along the cells not noticing Pinky sitting in one of them. He then is brutally beat down by Pinky who is weilding a wrench and taking several hits to the head while already being down.
Soto is lurking around the corner watching Pinky pulling the still groaning but heavily wounded man into a cell and giving him another blow to silence him before stepping out of the cell with the bag and the wrench. When Soto recognizes Pinky Ames and turns around to inform Madsen Herman appears behind him.
Trivia[]
- The gold bar that Warden Edwin James picks up with one hand, shown in the last scene of the episode, was approximately 3 x 3 x 12 inches (estimating from the size of James' hand). Such a volume of gold weighs about 75 pounds, too much for one to lift with one hand as easily as shown.
- There are 18 such bars in the stack, and there are at least two such stacks. That's 36 bars x 75 pounds per bar = 2700 pounds, which at today's prices (roughly $1,700/ounce) is approximately $73,440,000.
Production Notes[]
- Parminder Nagra (Lucy Banerjee) is credited but is not in the episode.
- This episode was the ninth to be produced, though the eighth to air.
- The flashback of the brothers in the 'D' Block tunnels trying to find gold apparently happened in 1960, according to the caption though, Diego Soto claims that the brothers escape attempt was in 1961.
Analysis[]
Recurring themes[]
Cultural references[]
- Lost - The numbers 48151623 appears next to the mugshot of Huffard Livingstone at the very end of the episode.