'Loki' Tied a Real Alcatraz Prison Break Into Its Season 2 Plot
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Loki is full of surprises. The Marvel show just released its fifth and penultimate episode of Season 2, and it's a doozy.
After failing to save the TVA, we see Loki, once again, jumping between various timelines and unable to stop himself. Over time, however, we learn he's actually jumping to the potential branched timelines of his friends: B-15, Ouroboros, Mobius, Sylvie and Casey. They're all living very different lives from the ones they had back at the TVA.
B-15 is a pediatrician and Ouroboros is a science professor/failed science-fiction writer. Mobius finally got the jet-ski he always wanted, as he's a salesmen for recreational vehicles and a single dad to two boys. Sylvie, surprisingly, is still the same Sylvie, but she's determined to stay in the '70s Oklahoma where we first found her in Season 2, no matter what Loki says.
That leaves a character we haven't learned much about throughout Loki: Casey. The buttoned up TVA employee hasn't previously been given much of a backstory over the course of the show, but he's a loyal friend to Loki and dedicated to setting things right at the Time Variance Authority.
In Season 2 Episode 5, as we see Loki blipping between each of his friends' imagined lives, we see Casey has a peculiar life. Rather than a quiet suburban existence like the others, Casey is a prisoner named Frank. Along with other men, we see him pulling what appears to be a boat onto a shore. And while that may seem like a silly addition in the context of the show, it's actually a surprising real-life historical event, making Casey (potentially) a real person.
Here's what we know about Casey and his real-life branched timeline version, Frank Morris.
Who is Casey/Frank in Loki Season 2 Episode 5?
In this timeline, Casey is an escaped prisoner. In the beginning of Episode 5, "Science/Fiction" we see Casey in a prison along with two other men. They gather materials and whisper through quiet hallways, pausing when they hear the horn from a passing ship. We then see Casey climb up to a grate, remove it, and reach the roof of the building. As he emerges the screen flashes the time and place: San Francisco, California, 1962. As the three make their way to the water, Loki appears. There, he and a confused Casey talk and it's revealed they're not anywhere near the TVA—they're at Alcatraz (the famed San Francisco Bay prison that closed in 1963 and once held the likes of Al Capone). As they drag a makeshift boat into the water, Loki disappears.
We then see Casey midway through the episode. It's morning and they're on a different beach. Donning a dark green prison jumpsuit, wet from the waves and caked in dirt and sand, we see, along with his two companions, the boat fully ashore. Along with his fellow prisoners, Casey has just achieved a successful prison escape. Still, he doesn't know Loki.
When Loki meets Casey and the other men, he doesn't recognize him as he's no longer the Casey of the TVA, but instead has the memories of a completely different person, the real-life man named Frank Morris. And Morris, for those who don't know, escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 (more on that below).
Casey, along with Hunter B-15, Ouroboros, and Mobius, are disconnected from their TVA memories as the TVA no longer exists. Instead each agent was put in a branched timeline where they lived regular lives. Casey, however, has a far more interesting backstory, as he's assumed to be Frank Morris rather than a regular person with a regular job like Mobius and Hunter B-15. Loki, who, appears to have no particular timeline he belongs to as an immortal deity, jumps from each of these branched timelines to visit each of the agents, including Casey.
Who was Frank Morris?
Frank Morris was (or is?) a real person. According to Alcatraz History, Frank Morris spent his childhood living in various foster homes. In his late teens, he had already accrued a record ranging from narcotics possession to armed robbery. As an adult, he jumped from penitentiary to penitentiary and according to guards, possessed a high intelligence. Before his time at Alcatraz, Morris had become skilled at escapes (although he regularly was caught). In 1960, federal officials decided to transfer him to Alcatraz, where they reasoned it would be harder to escape.
At Alcatraz, Morris became close with two inmates in adjacent cells, brothers John and Clarence Anglin. Along with prisoner Allen West, they hatched a plan to escape. Their attempt would later become one of the most famous prison breaks in American history.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website, On June 12, 1962, guards noticed all three men were missing during a routine early morning bed check. To give themselves time to get away and to fool the night guards, the men created fake dummy heads made of plaster, paint, and real human hair that they put on their pillows. along with their blankets, in the dark guards would believe the men were asleep, like the rest of the prisoners. It likely gave the trio all the time they needed to escape before the morning revealed their deception.
FBI agents later pieced together what occurred with help from West, who wasn't able to escape with the others in time. The group created the plan in December 1961 when they discovered old saw blades on the prison grounds. From there, they acquired crude tools and made a homemade drill made from the motor of a broken vacuum cleaner to remove the vents at the back of each of their cells.
Behind each of their cells was an unguarded corridor they used to get to the roof of their cell block, which they established as a secret workshop. They collected various materials, including over 50 raincoats to create life preservers and a rubber raft. To escape the building, which had a ceiling of over 30 feet, they climbed various pipes.
On the night of the escape, West was unable to get his vent unlatched and had to stay behind. The others managed to get out of the building and launch their raft.
After that? It's a mystery. The FBI officially closed their investigation on December 31, 1979 and gave the case to U.S. Marshals, who have the case open to this day. Theories still exist as to whether or not the men managed to escape the prison, which was known for its terrible waves and wind, which could have easily killed the men from drowning or hypothermia.
Although the men likely have long passed by now (in 2030 they'd be in their 100s), people still wonder if they could have managed to reach shore and survive their escape. The FBI seems to believe there's no way the men could have survived the frigid Bay water and high winds, let alone make it to shore and not be given up after all these years.
Loki uses this mystery as a backstory for Casey, who plays Frank Morris. In Season 2 Episode 5, Frank/Casey is taken out of his timeline, where he supposedly survived the Alcatraz escape. Due to Morris and the Anglins' disappearance, it's a whimsical science-fiction answer to a major mystery.
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