This time we’ve got a musical felon showing up in the present day. Webb Porter also happens to be a veritable genius with a 162 IQ, even though he’s a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Present: Doc follows Hauser down a Chinatown street, and the FBI agent buzzes into a walk-up. Outside, Doc makes a note of the address. Inside, Hauser takes some pills given to him by an Asian woman. She comments that he looks better than the last time she saw him. And then looks like she’s about to give him a massage.

Flashback: Young Hauser walks along the docks holding hands with Lucy Sangupta. He’s escorting her back to the boat for Alcatraz, and they make plans to meet that night. When Lucy gets back to the island, Warden James escorts her to visit with one Mr. Webb Porter. James wants him in general population, but there’s only one room which calms him. Lucy observes some scratches on the floor, which turn out to be Porter dragging the bed from the opposite wall.

Porter, by the way, has a genius-level IQ. His momma tried to drown him when he was 6 though, and he’s suffered from constant tinnitus since then–ringing in the ears. Lucy suggests a new therapy she’s heard about, which James is all for, and then she asks Porter if he likes music.

Present: A man plays a violin. We see then it’s Porter, and he first turns on the water in a tub before entering the bedroom where a woman is tied up. Violin music plays over the scene of the woman struggling, but Porter is too strong. She slashes his neck with her nails, and then water flows under the bathroom door. Ah darn, and here I was kind of hoping she’d get away.

Madsen and Nikki are out at the bar playing pool. Nikki grills Madsen about what she’s working on, especially since this is the first time in awhile they’ve hung out. Both of them get phone calls–Madsen’s is from Doc. He tells her Lucy’s gone from the hospital; Hauser took her.

Nikki’s call is about a homicide in Daly City. Yup, it’s that girl we saw Porter kill. Madsen tags along and looks around the apartment while Nikki examines the body. Madsen finds something on a carpet and drops it into an evidence bag. Nice one, Beccs.

Back at the Superbase, Doc and Madsen skim through the system looking at inmates who murdered women. Hauser walks in and they tell him about the sample found under the dead co-ed’s fingernails. A sample that has colloidal silver in it, which Hauser then tells them means it’s a ’63. Since, you know, some of them had high levels of colloidal silver in their blood.

Madsen and Doc interview the dead co-ed’s professor. He doesn’t recognize Porter at all, and reveals the dead co-ed was the only girl missing from his class.

Hauser contacts Beauregard via video chat, and sends over the sample of Porter’s skin for testing. The doctor says Lucy’s slipping away from them … it might not be enough to find a matching blood type now.

Flashback: Lucy tells Porter she can take the horrible memory of what his mother did to him away. Beauregard nods and the guards unplug the refrigerator. Porter flips out a bit … and then Lucy flips on the record player. She instructs Porter to take the notes in, and he can carry it with him wherever he goes. She asks him about the night his mother tried to drown him, and as Porter talks we see flashes of his mother holding him underwater. He sobs in the middle of the telling, and Lucy tells him that now she can help him.

Present: Porter plays the violin outside a woman’s house. She opens the door and greets him, recognizing him from a party they were both at. They chat a bit, and then super creepy music comes on. This of course means Porter’s going to do something bad … then he tells the woman he likes her hair and grabs her by the throat. Yup. Called that.

Hauser goes to the new Alcatraz, where Beauregard tells him the new ’63 is a match for Lucy. Huzzah! A chance for her to be saved!

Porter is auditioning for something, and finishes playing when the people give him sheet music to play. He can’t do it though–he’s unable to read music and they thank him for coming. Which is the brush off, of course. Then he goes back to the woman’s house and says she was good enough before untying her.

Flashback: Tiller leads a band in the Alcatraz music room, when Lucy interrupts with Porter in tow. Tiller kicks the band out to give them space. Lucy brings Porter into the storage room after getting permission to borrow an instrument. Porter picks out a violin, and at first it screeches something awful. After a snide comment from Tiller, Lucy tells him to play what’s in his head. Then suddenly he’s able to play a decent song. Sounds like he’s a savant to me too, Lucy.

Present: Hauser snaps at Madsen for seeming to not investigate the ’63, and she snaps right back that they thought the perp was targeting musicians so they went to the school. Doc then tells them someone heard violin music earlier, like at the other crime scene. And this new victim didn’t play a single instrument. Hauser puts two and two together–the music is Porter.

Alcatraz -- Porter playing at the Philharmonic

Back at Alcatraz, Madsen and Doc look through the files on the music room. They can’t find any violin music, and Doc says the band was totally brass. Played a lot of jazz. Then Madsen finds a violin with the name Webb Porter scratched into the back. And we have our identity!

Doc and Madsen check out the two women to see if there’s a connection, while Hauser visits a musician friend at a jazz bar to see if he knows of any new arrivals in town. The friend tells him Porter bought an old violin and got a gig stacking chairs at the Philharmonic.

Flashback: Lucy and Hauser are on a date at the same jazz bar he visited in the present day. She tells him about her success with using music therapy on Porter. Hauser compliments her, and then leans and plants a kiss. Awww …

Present: Doc and Madsen uncover the connection between the victims. Both were at a fundraiser at the San Francisco Philharmonic three days before the first one died. Hauser calls and tells them about Porter’s job. He also has the perp’s home address, so Madsen and Doc high-tail it there.

Hauser and Madsen knock on Porter’s door. There’s no answer, so Hauser uses a key to open their way forward. An inspection shows Porter is nowhere, and then Hauser finds four different bows strung with female hair. One’s strung with red hair even. But only one. They run out, realizing he has another girl.

Porter sits on the edge of a bed while a sobbing redhead is tied up. He’s trimmed off bits of her hair to string his bow while she watches.

Flashback: Lucy tells Porter he’ll be transferred back to general population. He’ll be able to play his violin at the end of every day. When he asks why she’s doing so much for him, she says she thinks anyone can change.

Present: Doc finds two redheads who attended a Philharmonic fundraiser. One checked in at a bar 12 minutes ago on Friendsquare, which leaves the other one. Madsen and Hauser head to the other girl’s apartment. They find her tied up, and when Madsen unties her she says Porter is performing for the first time tonight.

Porter plays on a darkened stage, the spotlight on him. He bows to what he hears as cacophonous applause, but then the camera pans to the audience. It’s empty. Umm, can we say cuckoo for cocoa puffs?

Flashback: The inmates in general population shout at Porter when he’s lead in. They do not want him in there. At all. Porter’s locked in his cell, and then immediately pulls out his violin and begins to play. The inmates quiet down in response to the music, and the silence is deafening. Beauregard, Tiller, and Lucy look on from above … the inmates break out in applause when Porter finishes.

Present: Porter packs up his violin and runs when Hauser and Madsen enter the theatre. Hauser says he wants Porter alive and unharmed, and then Madsen sees him run along the catwalk. So she follows him that way, and Hauser takes another way up. They soon corner Porter on a section of catwalk, guns out, and tell him there’s nowhere to run. Porter tries to jump and kill himself, but Hauser leaps in and with Madsen’s help pulls him back.

Hauser takes Porter to the new Alcatraz in handcuffs. He shoves the inmates into the room with Lucy; suffice to say the inmate’s surprised to see her there. Porter asks if she’s going to live, and Hauser says only with his help. Beauregard orders Porter to roll up his left sleeve, which the crook does without hesitation. Lucy was nice to him after all. Hauser looks on as they transfuse Porter’s blood into Lucy.

Doc is digitizing the reels from the music room back at the base while Madsen watches. Then she sees Lucy on the reel, and points it out to Doc. Uh-oh … the truth comes out now. They figure Hauser must be hiding Lucy where they’re keeping the other ’63s, and Madsen wonders if Lucy is the key to everything.

Back in the new Alcatraz, Porter plays his violin while the inmates and Hauser listen. Beauregard and Hauser keep vigil over Lucy, waiting for the colloidal silver in the blood to do its work. And the episode ends with Lucy’s eyes snapping open. Yeah, I kind of figured that one.

Next week: The two-hour season finale! And finally a bit more about Tommy Madsen.

If you missed the previous episode, be sure to read our ‘Alcatraz: Calrence Montgomery’ recap to catch up.