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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"
"Clarence Montgomery"
1x08 epcap
Season
Episode

10
Airdate
March 12, 2012
Running time
42:59
Production code
2J5057
Written by
Directed by
Co-starring
James Bamford - White Inmate

Michael Bardach - ND Prisoner #2
Panos Bilalakis - Cell Guard
Sarah Blondin - Kate
Ryan Bruce - Young Republican
Christine Chatelain - Megan
Eric Fell - Club Manager
Drummondo MacDougall - Right Winger
John Murphy - Frank
Barry Negling - Mess Hall Guard
Tim Perez - Police Chief
Marc Senior - Young Emmitt Little
Aubrey Sixto - Barber
Kimberley Sustad - Charlotte

Greig Thorlacius - ND Prisoner #1

Episode images

"Clarence Montgomery" is the eighth episode of season 1, and overall the seventh produced hour of Alcatraz.

Originally the eighth episode, it was set to air on February 27, 2012, but was pre-empted due to a NASCAR postponement.

Synopsis[]

1960[]

1x08 kitchens
Warden James and Montgomery in the kitchen.

At Alcatraz, Clarence Montgomery is sent to the kitchens to visit Warden Edwin James, who asks Montgomery to taste some of his cooking. After Montgomery expertly gives the warden some advice to increase the taste, the warden asks Montgomery to supervise the kitchen and prepare the menu for the next Chef's meal, in two days. Although Montgomery's previous supervisions and menus had caused trouble and aggression from the racist white inmates, he is forced to accept the wardens request.

1x08 seng
Sengupta questions Montgomery.

As Dr. Sengupta questions Montgomery, he blames his incarceration on racism from "white folks," due to the civil rights situation in the USA during the 1960s. Montgomery also points out that Sengupta herself was not white, so their situations were not different. Although Sengupta assures him questioningly that he is here due to the murder of his white girlfriend, Ellen Casey, Montgomery subtly denies.

1x08 tiller
E.B. Tiller intimidates Montgomery.

As Montgomery is having a trim, he argues with fellow inmate Emmitt Little about his new "promotion." While Emmitt argues that a coloured inmate taking over the kitchens of the worlds famous federal prison would be considered an honour, though Montgomery is more concerned about the response from the white inmates. As Deputy Warden E.B. Tiller arrives, he teases Montgomery and tells him that although Warden James thinks he could "convert" all the prisoners at Alcatraz into better people, he "would admit to doubt," and was anxiously waiting for the results of Montgomery's cooking. After Tiller leaves, Montgomery angrily points out that a cook wouldn't change anyones views but the Warden's.

1x08 taste
James tastes Montgomery's cooking.

In the kitchen, Montgomery puts the finishing touches on his cooking. Warden James arrives and compliments Montgomery, who thanks the warden for allowing him to cook again, as it was his favorite hobby. James tells him his "future has begun." Afterwards, James gives his speech regarding parlay and civilisation to the inmates at the mess hall.

1x08 tear
The tear gas cans detonate to stop the fighting.

While the coloured inmates dig in, complementing Montgomery, the white inmates, separated from the coloureds, toss their food trays and cutlery to the floor, muttering insults such as "we're not eating this garbage." They are further annoyed by the warden's swearing ("I said Bon Appetit, you sons of bitches!"), and a fight between the white inmates and the coloured inmates begins. As wardens James and Tiller, along with the guards evacuate the mess hall, Montgomery is beaten by white inmates. The tear gas cans on the ceiling then detonate, choking the inmates.

1x08 guilty2
Montgomery electrocuted and forced to watch a 1960s news broadcast.

Montgomery is taken out of his cell and into a dark room where Dr. Beauregard straps him into a chair, and injects him with a sedative - a much more aggressive version of what Lucille Sengupta did to Paxton Petty. This created a reverse effect, in that it cemented a 'false truth' in his mind (that he in fact DID kill his girlfriend -(Beauregard comments that "it works in one direction, I don't see why it can't work in the reverse.") As Montgomery is electrocuted at 60 volts for 2 seconds, he is forced to watch a horrific news broadcast about his trial for murdering Ellen Casey.

1x08 gant
Montgomery begins posing Gant's body.

While Montgomery is working at the laundry, Tiller arrives and intimidates him by calling him a criminal. Already angry about the chaos earlier in the mess hall, Montgomery is agonised by the constant talking of inmate William Gant, who almost drove Ernest Cobb into insanity due to his constant "yapping." While Gant continues to talk, Montgomery slices his throat with a knife, and begins to pose his body like Ellen Casey's. He is then caught.

1x08 pasture
Beauregard and James discuss Montgomery.

Due to the false knowledge that he murdered his Ellen Casey, he is once again questioned about his convicted crime. He flatly denies it, and truthfully tells Sengupta he did not kill his lover. Looking on from the side are Edwin James and Milton Beauregard, discussing the fact that the one innocent man on the rock committed one of the most atrocious crimes. Beauregard goes on to question James what is happening to all the blood samples being collected, between him extracting the blood and putting it back in the inmates. This hints at two things; the blood is not being stockpiled for other uses, and Beauregard has no idea what is going to happen in '63.

2012[]

1x08 golf
Montgomery looks at Megan Palmer's body in horror.

At an auction, Clarence Montgomery flirts with Megan Palmer, a young lady he recently met. The two take an "adventurous" ride with a caddy to a golf course, and apparently unaware of what he is doing, Montgomery slashes Palmer's throat and positions the body similarly to Montgomery's alleged first victim - Ellen Casey in 1958 - the crime which ended him up in Alcatraz.

1x08 visit
Montgomery visits his former fellow Alcatraz inmate, Emmitt Little.

At the Underground Alcatraz Base, Diego Soto is examining recent crimes and analysing whether the culprit was a possible '63 match. As he reads the report on Palmer's body found at the golf course, he realises from the body position of the victim, that Clarence Montgomery was a possible suspect. Meanwhile, Clarence visits Emmitt Little, his fellow inmate at Alcatraz inmate who was released in 1961. Although Clarence was innocent in 1958, he explains that he is "not no more," and that he killed a girl. Revealing his bloodstained shirt, Little demands, "what happened to you?"

1x08 tskforce
The Alcatraz Task Force discuss the crime scene and Montgomery's involvement.

The Alcatraz Task Force arrives at the golf course, where Soto explains to Rebecca Madsen and Emerson Hauser about Montgomery. Madsen talks to Megan Palmer's friend, however she claims that she saw nothing, since Palmer had flirted with many friends. Due to the lack of witnesses, Hauser demands proof from Madsen and Soto, even though they are sure that the murderer is Montgomery.

1x08 nikki
Nikki proving that the two murders were not performed by the same person.

Soto and Madsen visit Nikki, who is conducting Palmer's autopsy. She claims that the man who killed Palmer was not the same man who killed Ellen Casey 50 years ago, since there were a few noticeable differences between the knife stabbings, such as the fact that the killer of Casey was left handed, while Montgomery was right-handed. As she demonstrates using Soto's hands, Soto becomes bewildered due to his affection for Nikki. Hauser gives Madsen twelve hours to solve the case before it goes back to the SFPD homicide department.

1x08 little
Madsen and Soto visit Emmitt Little.

In Montgomery's box, Soto finds recipes, bottles of Penicillin and Vitamin B6, and newspaper articles, on which Montgomery has circled the name of Emmitt Little. Realising that Little was still alive, Madsen and Soto pay a visit to him. Little claims that Montgomery was innocent, and that he heard that he died in prison in 1965. He is unable to tell Madsen whether Montgomery was right or left handed, however. As Madsen and Soto leave, Nikki calls and informs Madsen that she found an African American hair sample with a positive DNA test for Wilson's Disease, which would have required Penicillin and Vitamin B6 to treat in the 1960s.

1x08 larder
Montgomery hands over the food and leaves with his suit for the wedding.

Montgomery arrives at a wedding party, having accepted a job for a company named the Lafayette Larder. Handing over the food ordered for the wedding, Montgomery takes a fancy suit and manages to enter the wedding, where he sees a hallucination of a 1960s news broadcast about Ellen Casey's murder. He manages to seduce another girl into a walk at a golf course, where he kills her in a similar manner to Megan Palmer. As the police and Alcatraz Task Force arrive, the Chief of the SFPD arrives and expresses the need to talk to Hauser regarding a problem. Hauser tells him to meet him at the "usual place."

1x08 chase2
Montgomery chased by Rebecca Madsen.

As Madsen and Soto arrive at the Lafayette Larder, the spot Montgomery, who runs and manages to get away by diving under a lorry. Madsen and Soto then go back to Nikki, who can track all prescriptions from any drug store in the city. As they track prescriptions for penicillin, they find one given to Emmitt Little. As Madsen leaves, Soto promises Nikki a drink.

1x08 fire
Little firing shots at the task force.

Hauser, Madsen and Soto arrive at Little's apartment, but as they knock, they hear a gun being readied to fire. As they duck, a shot is fired by Little through the door. While they attempt to negotiate, Little fires more shots at them, telling them how Montgomery was innocent and how the Lord gave him a second chance. Madsen argued that Montgomery was killing people, to which Little replied "then it's your own damn fault!" Meanwhile, Hauser attempts to reach the room in which Montgomery is hiding through the fire exit.

1x08 shot
Little shoots Montgomery, and surrenders to Hauser and Madsen.

As Little continues to blast holes in his door, Hauser holds Montgomery at gunpoint through his window. He tells him to come quietly, or be shot. Montgomery confronted Little in the living room, and begged him to shoot him with his final bullet, as he had no wish to be imprisoned again. As Madsen and Hauser infiltrate the house, Little shoots Montgomery, blasting him backwards and killing him instantly. Little then surrenders. As he is put into a police cruiser, Hauser asks the officers to put Montgomery's body into his black SUV.

1x08 chief
Hauser meeting the chief of police and giving him Huffard Livingstone's file.

Hauser meets the police chief at an undisclosed park, where the chief mentions how his police force is getting annoyed at how Hauser keeps taking over their homicide cases. Hauser then hands the chief a 50 year old document, with contained the fingerprints and file of the actual murderer of Ellen Casey - Huffard Livingstone. After the Chief of police arrests Livingstone, he clears Montgomery's name, and states that although Montgomery "died in 1965," he hopes his clearing may give his family some much needed comfort.

1x08 tv
Madsen and Soto discuss the possibility of radiation experiments with the inmates blood.

As Madsen and Soto watch the news broadcast about Livingstone's arrest at the Underground Alcatraz Base, they discuss the possibility that Alcatraz was part of the 1960s experimental programme which was used in prisons by the US Government and the CIA. Although Soto had never heard of such experiments in Alcatraz, he agreed that due to the resurfacing of the inmates, intentional radiation poisoning of the blood taken from inmates such as Tommy Madsen may have been a possibility, similar to Utah federal prison.

Trivia[]

Production Notes[]

  • This is the first episode to contain swearing, which was previously forbidden. At approximately 22:42, Warden Edwin James says "Bon appetit, you sons of bitches!" A similar occurrence regarding Diego Soto occurred during the filming of "Paxton Petty," but the offensive part was cut from the final aired version.

Analysis[]

Recurring themes[]

Cultural references[]

Literary techniques[]

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