Alcatraz - Kit Nelson

The criminal of the week is Kit Nelson, a child killer. So, a fan favorite, naturally. He goes into a little boy’s bedroom, kidnaps him while he sleeps, and leaves a white chrysanthemum on the kid’s bed. Hurley hears about the kidnapping on his police scanner and recognizes the detail of the flower as part of Kit’s M.O. Hurley alerts his partner and Hauser. Hauser remains unimpressed with Hurley’s skills, especially because of Hurley’s weak stomach. Hurley doesn’t like to see people killed, and a kidnapped child really rubs him the wrong way. Hauser can’t imagine why and wants Hurley off the team. Rebecca resists Hauser on this.

Back in the ‘60s, Kit would kidnap 11-year-old boys on Friday, keep them alive for the weekend, and then return their dead bodies to their homes on Sunday night. Hauser calls off the Amber Alert put out for the boy (Dylan) so that Kit Nelson won’t know the police are onto his eventual plan. That way, Kit will return Dylan’s corpse on Sunday night and Hauser will be able to catch him at the boy’s house. Hurley doesn’t like this plan, because it doesn’t involve saving Dylan, so Hurley makes it his personal mission to find and save Dylan before the weekend is up. We love you, Hurley. You do what Hurley would do, even when you are not Hurley. Even though one of us keeps calling you Hurley in the Alcatraz posts ....

Kit Nelson’s first kill was his little brother, because he was jealous of all the attention his mother gave him. Nelson spent the rest of his free life recreating that crime with other little boys. Nelson’s mother covered for him and said his brother died of scarlet fever, because she was unwilling to lose two children at once. Kit’s father hated him and was grateful for Alcatraz. Daddy Nelson even paid a visit to Alcatraz to tell his son that.

Because Hurley has studied all these prisoners and researched them, he knows that Nelson likes to do things like fishing, mini-golf, and desert-eating with his victims. Hurley ends up finding Nelson and Dylan in a diner, eating cherry pie. He calls Rebecca, but she doesn’t arrive in time. Hurley rashly decides to stall Nelson and Nelson quickly figures out that Hurley is onto him. We seriously loved how hard Hurley was trying to get that boy back. He did NOT want to let Nelson go. Sadly, Nelson got away with Dylan shortly after Rebecca arrived and was able to do nothing.

Hurley and Rebecca dig through Nelson’s items from the 1960s, when he checked into the prison. An item leads them to an old bomb shelter. There, they find Nelson and Dylan. Dylan runs and Nelson almost catches him, but Hauser appears, redeeming himself slightly, and shoots Nelson. Nelson dies. No one is sad. Hauser decides that Hurley is useful because of his expertise, but Hauser cautions Hurley that he needs an adult doctor, not Hurley the 11-year-old boy. That’s when we find out that Hurley himself was kidnapped at that age.

Hauser brings Nelson’s body to the new Alcatraz in the woods. He gives the body to Dr. Beauregard, the doctor who worked in the Alcatraz infirmary and tormented Nelson in the 60s. Beauregard had two kids himself, you see. In the present, Beauregard will be examining the body for clues or something. Just like Lucy, he hasn’t aged a day. Speaking of Lucy: she has not yet woken from her coma.

We are starting to really like this show. It seems we're not the only ones. The show got solid ratings in its second week and we don't think this episode will cause the show to lose many people. Hurley got more to do this time. Now, it’s time to develop Rebecca more.

Episode grade: B