Operation Humanize the Others begins, as Juliet drags Jack in to save the woman Sun shot, but he can't, so her husband goes berserk and beats the crap out of Sawyer for having a Sun Number of 1. Kate says she loves Sawyer to get him to stop, but later goes back on it - the Sawyer/Kate dance is getting a little ridiculous at this point, isn't it? Just get them together already. Pretending Jack is part of the love triangle isn't fooling anyone.
Jack seems eager enough to play doctor, perhaps just hoping for a return to a sort of normalcy. Then he displays his awesome doctor powers by diagnosing Benry Gale from a single set of X-rays (next week: special guest star Bill Frist!). Benry Gale has a spinal tumor, and Jack is a spinal surgeon, hmm hmm hmm hmm. The question is why they're jerking him around so much first. Wouldn't you want to placate the guy a little bit before you let him operate on your leader? (For the record, that Benry Gale was X-ray tumor guy was only confirmed in next week's teaser, but Drew correctly guessed it before that anyway.)
The Others con Sawyer into thinking they've put a pacemaker in his heart that will kill him if he gets too worked up. Of course they haven't - look at the hack job they did on Colleen, for crying out loud - but Sawyer isn't as aware of their non-medical skills as Jack ends up being. Benry Gale calls Sawyer out on being hot for Kate - ah-durr - and then reveals that they're not even on the same island anymore, but rather the next one over. Which they got to how, exactly? Whatever. Hot-air balloon.
Meanwhile, in the three-scene Desmond plot, he apparently foresees a rainstorm. So did he gain the ability to see the future, or just Doppler radar? He puts up a golf club as a lightning rod. Why? I'm guessing because he can, since no other reason is evident. I'm sure this will pay off somewhere way, way down the road, perhaps when Penny rides in to save everyone in, you know, Season Nine.
I do have to say that Sawyer episodes tend to be among the very best - both of his first season episodes were stellar, in particular, and last season's "The Long Con" was pretty good although its setup was questionable. This one was kind of more of the same - you think Flashback Sawyer is doing one thing but really he's doing another - except that Sawyer does display a little genuine human emotion in setting up a bank account for his apparent daughter. (By the way, is it at all funny that the woman who got conned called the police when she had originally requested that Sawyer teach her how to con? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.) And the scene with Sawyer and Benry looking out at the island was strong.
One other interesting thing: the Others refer to "the sky turning purple," suggesting that they don't know that much about the island themselves - the Dharma people knew about the electromagnetism, after all. But if this is much of a clue, I doubt it will get play again for months.
Next week: Locke and Eko may not be getting along. Some dude with an eyepatch is in one of the hatches observed on Pearl TV. Jack tells Benry he knows about the spinal tumor (this has to be what they're going to be willing to release him for, right? Though knowing Jack, he'll try to haggle them up for more releases). And while it's at best vaguely alluded to, could we finally see a return of the security system? Do you realize we haven't seen it since, unless I'm mistaken, the tenth episode of last season? A little too long, especially considering how much it showed up in the first season.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
s3e03: Further Instructions
I guess this episode wasn't bad, but it had a few negative things going for it:
1. Our third crappy backstory in a row. I suppose it's interesting to find out exactly what the characters did before they were here, but is it too much to ask that those things not be totally disposable? Jack's and Sun's both told us nothing about the characters we didn't already know (and did so in pretty on-the-nose fashion, too), and Locke's barely even makes sense, except that it shows - again - that he's long been searching for meaning in life and keeps having a hard time finding it. Is there a more pathetic character in TV history than Backstory Locke? I say no.
2. A return to my least favorite of the abandoned plot strands, Charlie and Claire. In the first season, these small interpersonal conflicts on the beach were all well and good, but with the scope of the series having expanded dramatically, they just seem trivial and a waste of time now. Plus, Charlie and Claire continue to duke it out for the title of Most Annoying Character, particularly with Michael having sailed off (yes, I know his boat did not have a sail).
3. A totally cheesy plot device: the return of Boone in a hallucinogen-induced dream sequence of Locke's. Barely rates above Jamie Kennedy's cameo in Scream 3 on the list of "Most Forced Guest Appearances Ever." Why did Boone need to show Locke every single other person of concern? We already know he's not going to be able to do anything for most of them. Seemed like a lot of foot-dragging, which has defined the better part of the first three shows of this season, dare I say.
The whole hatch thing strikes me as a little implausible (all the metal sucks in on itself, but the survivors are blown outwards?), and it sure looked like they left a continuity goof in there (what kitchen is Hurley going to get bandages from if the hatch went reverse Big Bang on us?), but I guess I can live with that for now. Desmond potentially seeing future events, however, seems like it has potential to either get unlikely in a hurry or just offer tons of openings for future deus ex machinae.
I suppose it seems like I'm complaining a lot, and I suppose I am. I still like the show - there is, overall, none more compelling on television week to week - but I'm starting to get a little more frustrated with its pacing and general tendency to pad out its episodes with a ton of needless filler when it could be giving out actual info.
Next week: Kate, do you like Sawyer? Check yes or no. The Others clearly either like over-the-top psych testing or they're just a bunch of sadists. Or maybe both.
1. Our third crappy backstory in a row. I suppose it's interesting to find out exactly what the characters did before they were here, but is it too much to ask that those things not be totally disposable? Jack's and Sun's both told us nothing about the characters we didn't already know (and did so in pretty on-the-nose fashion, too), and Locke's barely even makes sense, except that it shows - again - that he's long been searching for meaning in life and keeps having a hard time finding it. Is there a more pathetic character in TV history than Backstory Locke? I say no.
2. A return to my least favorite of the abandoned plot strands, Charlie and Claire. In the first season, these small interpersonal conflicts on the beach were all well and good, but with the scope of the series having expanded dramatically, they just seem trivial and a waste of time now. Plus, Charlie and Claire continue to duke it out for the title of Most Annoying Character, particularly with Michael having sailed off (yes, I know his boat did not have a sail).
3. A totally cheesy plot device: the return of Boone in a hallucinogen-induced dream sequence of Locke's. Barely rates above Jamie Kennedy's cameo in Scream 3 on the list of "Most Forced Guest Appearances Ever." Why did Boone need to show Locke every single other person of concern? We already know he's not going to be able to do anything for most of them. Seemed like a lot of foot-dragging, which has defined the better part of the first three shows of this season, dare I say.
The whole hatch thing strikes me as a little implausible (all the metal sucks in on itself, but the survivors are blown outwards?), and it sure looked like they left a continuity goof in there (what kitchen is Hurley going to get bandages from if the hatch went reverse Big Bang on us?), but I guess I can live with that for now. Desmond potentially seeing future events, however, seems like it has potential to either get unlikely in a hurry or just offer tons of openings for future deus ex machinae.
I suppose it seems like I'm complaining a lot, and I suppose I am. I still like the show - there is, overall, none more compelling on television week to week - but I'm starting to get a little more frustrated with its pacing and general tendency to pad out its episodes with a ton of needless filler when it could be giving out actual info.
Next week: Kate, do you like Sawyer? Check yes or no. The Others clearly either like over-the-top psych testing or they're just a bunch of sadists. Or maybe both.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
s3e02: The Glass Ballerina
AKA "Sun is a big fat liar." In part two of the three-part series "Let's find out what happened to everyone after the finale as slowly as possible," Sayid thinks he's luring the Others into a trap, but they sneak around him and take the sailboat, which Sun manages to get off of after killing an Other who was only introduced in this episode. No fish biscuits for you, Sun! We see in flashbacks that there's a lot of stuff she doesn't tell Jin - such as sleeping with Baldy, who might be the father of her baby as I speculated a few months ago - which is paralleled in the present-day plot, where she helps Sayid keep Jin in the dark about his true motives. Except not really, because he's gaining a better understanding of English. So, having accomplished nothing and helped the Others get another boat, the three head back to base camp.
Back at Others HQ, Sawyer makes out with Kate, though it seems like he does it mostly to see how the Others will react and how tough they are. Stone-cold bitch Juliet gets him in line by threatening to shoot Kate. Sawyer explains his whole plan to Kate, not thinking that he might be under surveillance. But guess what?
Finally, Benry Gale goes into Jack's cell and tells him that he can go home if he cooperates with the Others, using footage of the Red Sox's World Series win to prove that the Others have contact with the outside world. (He also answers the question of why they'd still be on the island if they were able to get off when he says that he's lived on the island his whole life. 40 years or so? That predates Dharma, unless he's a lot younger than he looks.) The question is, what will Jack have to do?
One guess: harm/kill one of his people. Bear in mind Jack has known these guys just over two months; could the prospect of getting off the island prove too tempting to resist? (Probably not, if we know Jack, but who ever knows anything with this show?)
I should note that if I had a nickel for every time the show had an episode that treaded water for 58 minutes and then suddenly got interesting in the last two, I'd probably be working on a buck and a half. It's one of the few things that really drives me up a wall about Lost; the tendency of most episodes is to spin the wheels all show and then grab us back with a tantalizing ending. In some respects that's how the seasons have started to go, too - how much did we learn in the entire second season, and then they gave us a whole bunch in the finale? It's a little bit cheap and I wish they could offer more on an individual episode basis.
Next week: Fooled you, Flanders! Made you think Locke, Eko, and Desmond were dead! They're not, though. But you thought they were! But they're not.
Back at Others HQ, Sawyer makes out with Kate, though it seems like he does it mostly to see how the Others will react and how tough they are. Stone-cold bitch Juliet gets him in line by threatening to shoot Kate. Sawyer explains his whole plan to Kate, not thinking that he might be under surveillance. But guess what?
Finally, Benry Gale goes into Jack's cell and tells him that he can go home if he cooperates with the Others, using footage of the Red Sox's World Series win to prove that the Others have contact with the outside world. (He also answers the question of why they'd still be on the island if they were able to get off when he says that he's lived on the island his whole life. 40 years or so? That predates Dharma, unless he's a lot younger than he looks.) The question is, what will Jack have to do?
One guess: harm/kill one of his people. Bear in mind Jack has known these guys just over two months; could the prospect of getting off the island prove too tempting to resist? (Probably not, if we know Jack, but who ever knows anything with this show?)
I should note that if I had a nickel for every time the show had an episode that treaded water for 58 minutes and then suddenly got interesting in the last two, I'd probably be working on a buck and a half. It's one of the few things that really drives me up a wall about Lost; the tendency of most episodes is to spin the wheels all show and then grab us back with a tantalizing ending. In some respects that's how the seasons have started to go, too - how much did we learn in the entire second season, and then they gave us a whole bunch in the finale? It's a little bit cheap and I wish they could offer more on an individual episode basis.
Next week: Fooled you, Flanders! Made you think Locke, Eko, and Desmond were dead! They're not, though. But you thought they were! But they're not.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
s3e01: A Tale of Two Cities
It's hard to believe that it's been four and a half months since the Season 2 finale, doesn't it? It's also hard to believe that after all the punches in that episode, the premiere would be such a letdown, but that was my first impression.
The pre-title sequence was pretty cool - at least, the last minute of it was, while the rest was mostly misdirecting filler. But after that, things kind of go downhill. Far too much of what's becoming a Lost staple, where one character asks a question that the audience wants to know the answer to, and the character of whom the question is being asked says nothing and sometimes just walks away. After a while that stops being mysterious and just gets irritating. The flashback scenes were, as far as I'm concerned, among the most useless in the show's run. (And, again in somewhat typical fashion, a character doesn't just say one sentence that could clear up a misunderstanding. Why didn't Jack's dad just say, "Dude, I didn't sleep with your wife?" Getting flustered and rambling about "letting it go" only makes things worse, guy!)
Still no explanation of what the Others want with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, of course; some experiments are apparently going to be conducted (maybe?), or at least something that will make Kate's next two weeks unpleasant, but naturally there's pretty much no hint of what that is. Also, the Others somehow have all this information - and apparently it's ridiculously detailed, right down to the emotional state of Jack's ex-wife - yet when do they ever get off the island? And it's in neat little binders and everything so it's not like they have it e-mailed in. Once more, typical Lost - the more things are revealed, the less sense they tend to make. It's a good thing (or maybe a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it) that I started with last year's premiere and not this year's, because I doubt it would have hooked me at all. But it's too late now.
Next week: Sayid, Jin and Sun attempt a daring sailboat rescue that probably fails. Benry Gale wants the boat (maybe because he gave his to Michael). Probably more happenings in Dharmaville, too, although I don't know that any made the teaser.
The pre-title sequence was pretty cool - at least, the last minute of it was, while the rest was mostly misdirecting filler. But after that, things kind of go downhill. Far too much of what's becoming a Lost staple, where one character asks a question that the audience wants to know the answer to, and the character of whom the question is being asked says nothing and sometimes just walks away. After a while that stops being mysterious and just gets irritating. The flashback scenes were, as far as I'm concerned, among the most useless in the show's run. (And, again in somewhat typical fashion, a character doesn't just say one sentence that could clear up a misunderstanding. Why didn't Jack's dad just say, "Dude, I didn't sleep with your wife?" Getting flustered and rambling about "letting it go" only makes things worse, guy!)
Still no explanation of what the Others want with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, of course; some experiments are apparently going to be conducted (maybe?), or at least something that will make Kate's next two weeks unpleasant, but naturally there's pretty much no hint of what that is. Also, the Others somehow have all this information - and apparently it's ridiculously detailed, right down to the emotional state of Jack's ex-wife - yet when do they ever get off the island? And it's in neat little binders and everything so it's not like they have it e-mailed in. Once more, typical Lost - the more things are revealed, the less sense they tend to make. It's a good thing (or maybe a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it) that I started with last year's premiere and not this year's, because I doubt it would have hooked me at all. But it's too late now.
Next week: Sayid, Jin and Sun attempt a daring sailboat rescue that probably fails. Benry Gale wants the boat (maybe because he gave his to Michael). Probably more happenings in Dharmaville, too, although I don't know that any made the teaser.
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