I've been turning over the show in my head, especially the last five minutes - really, three seasons have been building to that, haven't they? There's still a ton left to find out about the island itself, but now the question becomes: where is next season going to pick up? It's hardly obvious - the next episode could as easily pick up right where it left off as it could with a Jack eyeball shot on a boat or plane, or for that matter with another flashback or flash-forward - but we can perhaps make a few guesses about the next move based on the events of "Through the Looking Glass."
Jack, Kate, and at least one other person (probably two) get off the island.
I feel safe in assuming that the flash-forwards are somewhat malleable - i.e. they're set at the end of a timeline that the plot is currently following, but Jack may or may not trace his path to that exact point. I would be exceedingly surprised, for example, if the show were to suddenly leap forward and pick up where it left off at the very end of the episode, as opposed to at the end of the "present" time period. Kate's "he" is probably supposed to be Sawyer, since if it's not him it could really be anyone, while the dead guy is most likely either Locke or Ben. (Ben seems unlikely to leave the island voluntarily, but he was tied up.)
Some sort of deal was involved.
Drew first proposed this in a discussion we were having, and it makes sense. Just look at the dialogue - Kate states that "this isn't going to change," while Jack says he is "sick of lying." Well, lying about what?
Remember: there's a plane with bodies in the ocean off Bali, where the real plane would never have ended up. Assuming that the Widmore Corporation is connected with Hanso, has a hugely powerful global reach, and wants to find the island and perhaps has some sense of its history, it makes sense to think that when Widmore heard about the plane crash - tying it in with the electromagnetic anomaly they were apparently looking for - they moved to plant the fake plane to throw rescuers off the scent. Because Widmore/Hanso wanted to find the island again, something they had probably been unable to do since the Purge of the Dharma Initiative, and they didn't want anyone else to stumble across it in the process. Hence why they were so mad about the S1 anomaly being missed, leading to the scramble in the listening station over the S2 anomaly. Penelope probably had gleaned some knowledge of the island from her father's dealings and suspected that Desmond could be found there, hence why she requested that the men in the listening station contact her as well.
This doesn't totally explain why Naomi had Desmond's picture or stated that she was looking for him, of course. Perhaps Widmore knew what his daughter was up to and supplied Naomi with a copy of the photo to throw anyone suspicious of her off the scent.
But okay: fake plane intended to thwart rescuers from getting anywhere near the island so that a Widmore/Hanso team could find it first and perhaps attempt to resume Dharma-like operations (or even something more sinister). Ben does seem truly terrified of the consequences of Jack's phone call; despite many of his actions, it doesn't seem impossible to think that, in many ways, he is going to turn out to be the "good guy" of the story, at least where the island itself is concerned.
So Widmore/Hanso allow people off the island, but perhaps they force them to lie about where they'd been? Ben doesn't want the outside world knowing about the island, so other people aware of its properties could surely feel the same way. Perhaps the freighter could steam over to Bali and pretend to have rescued the Losties there. This would explain Jack's desire to "stop lying," certainly, and Widmore/Hanso holding something over the Losties' heads would explain Kate's vehemence that "this isn't going to change." And of course, it would explain Jack's behavior - perhaps knowing what he allowed Widmore/Hanso to do on or to the island, or to some of the people there, is eating Jack up inside, and certainly his reaction to the death is telling. Could Locke have ended up back in a wheelchair as a result of leaving the island and offed himself, leaving Jack to feel responsible for his death? Could Ben have killed himself (or been killed) after being forcibly removed from the island? The latter seems to fit in a little better with Kate's "Why would I go [to the funeral]?" but it's hardly a given. (There are quite a few people on the island who would be unlikely to have anyone turn up at a viewing for them in LA, after all.)
The biggest question for next year, of course - which means it probably won't be answered until 2009 - is this: What exactly does Jack learn between "Through the Looking Glass"'s present and its future that causes him to feel that leaving the island was a mistake? Why does he want to get back so badly? For that matter, why does Kate "have" to go with him?
Well, there's the thought that, prior to crashing on the island, Jack's life peaked when he saved Sarah and was all downhill from there. On the island, Jack is a hero and a leader; off the island he was a wandering drunk with a failed marriage. That said, his desire to get back seems rooted in a lot more than his own desire to be a hero. They weren't meant to leave? It would be one thing if everyone were suffering off the island, but Kate seems to be doing okay, right? (And, if she's with Sawyer, Sawyer, although I give that a 50/50 shot, really.)
Maybe the bulk of the survivors aren't allowed to leave? (It would create a lot of questions for Widmore/Hanso if they faked the plane crash, claiming everyone was dead, and then more than a handful of people turned up alive, no?) Jack wants to return to what has really become his family - more so than what is left in the real world - while Kate is more willing to cut ties if it means a more normal life? Whoever the other person is who offed himself (assuming that's what happened, but it does seem like the implication) could be having the same remorse/guilt as Jack. This might also explain why it seems like either Kate doesn't want to talk to Jack at all, or why they have been discouraged from contacting each other (which would explain their meeting spot; I kind of got this vibe more so than that Kate herself just didn't want to see Jack).
I may be guilty of overanalysis at this point. But is such a thing really possible with this show? I say no. There's really tons more I could theoretically go over, but I'll hold myself to this for now. It alone may very well keep me occupied for the next eight months. It's funny looking back, because I started this blog having loved the first season on DVD and then feeling pretty disappointed for much of the second season and into the first part of the third season. But the second half of Season 3 is probably as good as television has ever been for me personally. I will be there in 2010, come hell or high water.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
s3e22: Through the Looking Glass
The plan doesn't work quite so dynamite (ha!), and Bernard, Jin and Sayid are taken prisoner by the three Others who aren't killed (Tom, that guy, and then that other guy). Ben catches up with Jack and the rest of the gang and informs him that unless Jack stops trying to make contact with the boat, Ben will have his guys shoot Jack's guys. Jack refuses to give in, so Ben does, except that he really doesn't, which Tom lets us know in the clumsiest bit of dialogue that's ever appeared on this show. Either Ben is not as cold-blooded as he seems or something else odd is going on, not that we're going to find out what anytime soon, if so.
Ben allows Alex to tag along, revealing that he knows she betrayed her. (This is due to Bernard the big fat blabbermouth giving up the details of the plan with Jin held at gunpoint.) After Jack thinks his friends are dead, he beats the hell out of Ben, then drags him back, at which point Ben reveals to Alex that Rousseau is her mother.
Sawyer and Juliet head back to the beach, although not before Juliet gives Jack a big ol' smooch that has only been set up for 22 damn episodes. They're not sure what to do when they get there (good bit of banter: Sawyer: "There's only three of them and four guns!" Juliet: "And there's two of us, and no guns."), until Hurley - previous recipient of the double brush-off for being too fat to help anyone - comes flying in with Roger Linus' van. He runs over one Other, a tied-up Sayid breaks another's neck with his feet - Jesus! - and then Sawyer, in the last we see of him, shoots Tom in virtual cold blood after the latter has surrendered, saying, "That's for taking the kid off the boat." Uh, damn, Sawyer! Weren't you all messed up about killing Locke's dad ten minutes ago?
Hurley radios back to let the Others know what happened, but Jack has the walkie, and everyone hears that our heroes are all alive.
Oh, but then there's Charlie. He's been in the Looking Glass getting his ass kicked. The women there radio Ben, who sends Mikhail over. Mikhail seems kind of perturbed since Ben has been doing a lot of lying. Ben swears that he is not lying now, not to Mikhail, and tells him to kill everyone. Mikhail kills the women, but then Desmond pops out of the back - where he'd been hiding after being forced to swim down when Mikhail first arrived at the beach - and shoots Mikhail with a spear gun. Bonnie, the blonde one, stays alive just long enough to inform Charlie that the code to turn off the jamming device is the tune to "Good Vibrations." Um, okay. Kind of corny there, show, but I guess I'll allow it. Charlie taps out the tune and the light goes off. And then... a transmission comes in! And it's Penelope! And she apparently reveals that she didn't send any boat and that she doesn't know anyone named Naomi. (Although the latter part doesn't necessarily seem odd, since didn't Naomi just say that her company was hired?) And then Mikhail shows up outside the porthole with a grenade. Man, that guy is like Michael Myers! Penny catches that Desmond is there, but then Mikhail blows the window, and Charlie shuts the door to conform to Desmond's flashes, even though he probably could have survived easily. Frankly, I'm a little annoyed with the writers on this one - Charlie was kind of an annoying, crap character for most of three seasons, and then he was suddenly made into a great, noble guy, naturally just long enough to kill him off. I actually liked the Charlie of the last two episodes. Oh well, it probably would have been more annoying if they hadn't done it, and it was a poetic ending to that chapter.
Locke is about to kill himself in the pit when Walt appears to him and tells him that his work isn't done. So motivated, Locke climbs out of the pit, and just as Naomi is about to contact her boat, *spluh*, she takes his hunting knife to the back of the head. Locke threatens to shoot Jack, but Jack uses the phone anyway, and Locke - surprise! - can't pull the trigger, despite Ben's exhortations. Ben continues to claim that Jack is making a mistake and everyone will die if the boat is contacted, but Jack does it anyway. The voice on the other end of the phone tells Jack that the boat is on its way.
And then we cut to the final flashback, where we find out that the episode's flashbacks have actually been flash-forwards. (Drew correctly guessed this fairly early on.) Jack, with a big beard, has read about a death in the LA paper. (Freeze-framing tells us it's a man, found downtown, but no more is given.) Jack is about to jump off a bridge when a car crashes behind him. He saves the woman inside and is lauded as a hero, but Jack has gotten hooked on oxycodone and is all kinds of messed up. He keeps calling someone, though we never hear a voice on the other end. He attends the viewing of the person who died, but no one else has shown up. Finally Jack convinces the person on the phone to meet him at the airport. The low harp string of ominous occurrences informs us of their arrival and... it's Kate. Jack has apparently been bothering her quite a bit, and she doesn't like it. She leaves, saying "he'll wonder" where she went, but not before Jack says that they have to go back. They shouldn't have left the island.
Season.
I mean, great episode. First of all, loved the flash-forward. Second of all, loved they ended it in such a way that there are clearly lots of unanswered questions, but not on a ridiculous cliffhanger that would make me spend the next eight months going "Hurry uuuuuup!" I have no idea where they're going next, and that's not a bad thing.
Things we need to know now:
* If Penny didn't send Naomi, who did? And why were they looking for Desmond? The guys in the listening station last year seemed to suggest that they were working for more than one person ("They're gonna kill us!"), even if we only saw them calling Penelope. The Widmore Corporation, maybe?
* Who is this grave threat to the island? Again, Widmore? The Lost Experience, which I believe is considered canon, drew a connection between Widmore and the Hanso Foundation, which is connected with Dharma... Ben describes the threat as greater than any the island has faced in years, and given Ben's history, Dharma was probably that last threat.
* If Locke really believes, as Ben does, that the island needs to be saved from exterior incursions, why does he just walk away? He was "man enough" to kill Naomi.
* Who died off the island? Could it have been Sawyer, or is Kate supposed to be still with him? Locke? (Jack seems to almost feel responsible for the death, and if he was responsible for getting Locke rescued, and Locke ended up back in a wheelchair and killed himself, I can see why Jack would be so messed up.) Are we likely to see more flash-forwards in Season Four?
* Richard doesn't age and Mikhail doesn't die. Reasons? Also, Jacob is still hanging out there.
* Jack keeps talking like his dad is alive, and certainly no one corrects him when he makes the claim at the hospital, where assumedly they would know. Is this a different timeline? Is Jack just delusional?
* What conclusion does future Jack come to that make him realize they shouldn't have left the island?
Okay, I lied: I can't wait for Season 4. Or 5 or 6. But at least we have a lot to chew on between now and then.
Ben allows Alex to tag along, revealing that he knows she betrayed her. (This is due to Bernard the big fat blabbermouth giving up the details of the plan with Jin held at gunpoint.) After Jack thinks his friends are dead, he beats the hell out of Ben, then drags him back, at which point Ben reveals to Alex that Rousseau is her mother.
Sawyer and Juliet head back to the beach, although not before Juliet gives Jack a big ol' smooch that has only been set up for 22 damn episodes. They're not sure what to do when they get there (good bit of banter: Sawyer: "There's only three of them and four guns!" Juliet: "And there's two of us, and no guns."), until Hurley - previous recipient of the double brush-off for being too fat to help anyone - comes flying in with Roger Linus' van. He runs over one Other, a tied-up Sayid breaks another's neck with his feet - Jesus! - and then Sawyer, in the last we see of him, shoots Tom in virtual cold blood after the latter has surrendered, saying, "That's for taking the kid off the boat." Uh, damn, Sawyer! Weren't you all messed up about killing Locke's dad ten minutes ago?
Hurley radios back to let the Others know what happened, but Jack has the walkie, and everyone hears that our heroes are all alive.
Oh, but then there's Charlie. He's been in the Looking Glass getting his ass kicked. The women there radio Ben, who sends Mikhail over. Mikhail seems kind of perturbed since Ben has been doing a lot of lying. Ben swears that he is not lying now, not to Mikhail, and tells him to kill everyone. Mikhail kills the women, but then Desmond pops out of the back - where he'd been hiding after being forced to swim down when Mikhail first arrived at the beach - and shoots Mikhail with a spear gun. Bonnie, the blonde one, stays alive just long enough to inform Charlie that the code to turn off the jamming device is the tune to "Good Vibrations." Um, okay. Kind of corny there, show, but I guess I'll allow it. Charlie taps out the tune and the light goes off. And then... a transmission comes in! And it's Penelope! And she apparently reveals that she didn't send any boat and that she doesn't know anyone named Naomi. (Although the latter part doesn't necessarily seem odd, since didn't Naomi just say that her company was hired?) And then Mikhail shows up outside the porthole with a grenade. Man, that guy is like Michael Myers! Penny catches that Desmond is there, but then Mikhail blows the window, and Charlie shuts the door to conform to Desmond's flashes, even though he probably could have survived easily. Frankly, I'm a little annoyed with the writers on this one - Charlie was kind of an annoying, crap character for most of three seasons, and then he was suddenly made into a great, noble guy, naturally just long enough to kill him off. I actually liked the Charlie of the last two episodes. Oh well, it probably would have been more annoying if they hadn't done it, and it was a poetic ending to that chapter.
Locke is about to kill himself in the pit when Walt appears to him and tells him that his work isn't done. So motivated, Locke climbs out of the pit, and just as Naomi is about to contact her boat, *spluh*, she takes his hunting knife to the back of the head. Locke threatens to shoot Jack, but Jack uses the phone anyway, and Locke - surprise! - can't pull the trigger, despite Ben's exhortations. Ben continues to claim that Jack is making a mistake and everyone will die if the boat is contacted, but Jack does it anyway. The voice on the other end of the phone tells Jack that the boat is on its way.
And then we cut to the final flashback, where we find out that the episode's flashbacks have actually been flash-forwards. (Drew correctly guessed this fairly early on.) Jack, with a big beard, has read about a death in the LA paper. (Freeze-framing tells us it's a man, found downtown, but no more is given.) Jack is about to jump off a bridge when a car crashes behind him. He saves the woman inside and is lauded as a hero, but Jack has gotten hooked on oxycodone and is all kinds of messed up. He keeps calling someone, though we never hear a voice on the other end. He attends the viewing of the person who died, but no one else has shown up. Finally Jack convinces the person on the phone to meet him at the airport. The low harp string of ominous occurrences informs us of their arrival and... it's Kate. Jack has apparently been bothering her quite a bit, and she doesn't like it. She leaves, saying "he'll wonder" where she went, but not before Jack says that they have to go back. They shouldn't have left the island.
Season.
I mean, great episode. First of all, loved the flash-forward. Second of all, loved they ended it in such a way that there are clearly lots of unanswered questions, but not on a ridiculous cliffhanger that would make me spend the next eight months going "Hurry uuuuuup!" I have no idea where they're going next, and that's not a bad thing.
Things we need to know now:
* If Penny didn't send Naomi, who did? And why were they looking for Desmond? The guys in the listening station last year seemed to suggest that they were working for more than one person ("They're gonna kill us!"), even if we only saw them calling Penelope. The Widmore Corporation, maybe?
* Who is this grave threat to the island? Again, Widmore? The Lost Experience, which I believe is considered canon, drew a connection between Widmore and the Hanso Foundation, which is connected with Dharma... Ben describes the threat as greater than any the island has faced in years, and given Ben's history, Dharma was probably that last threat.
* If Locke really believes, as Ben does, that the island needs to be saved from exterior incursions, why does he just walk away? He was "man enough" to kill Naomi.
* Who died off the island? Could it have been Sawyer, or is Kate supposed to be still with him? Locke? (Jack seems to almost feel responsible for the death, and if he was responsible for getting Locke rescued, and Locke ended up back in a wheelchair and killed himself, I can see why Jack would be so messed up.) Are we likely to see more flash-forwards in Season Four?
* Richard doesn't age and Mikhail doesn't die. Reasons? Also, Jacob is still hanging out there.
* Jack keeps talking like his dad is alive, and certainly no one corrects him when he makes the claim at the hospital, where assumedly they would know. Is this a different timeline? Is Jack just delusional?
* What conclusion does future Jack come to that make him realize they shouldn't have left the island?
Okay, I lied: I can't wait for Season 4. Or 5 or 6. But at least we have a lot to chew on between now and then.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
s3e21: Greatest Hits
I'll be honest: for the penultimate episode of Season Three, I was really hoping for more. This was mostly an hour of setup for the finale, and while I can't totally complain - in some ways it's just a three-hour finale split over two nights - I thought we might get a little more. Instead, we got:
* "Here are the exact specifications of Jack's plan!"
* "Here are the exact specifications of Ben's plan!"
* "Here is a Charlie backstory that serves no purpose other than to convince you he's going to die, even though any reasonable person could have realized that they would never kill him off in so obvious a fashion!"
* "Here are ten seconds of significant interest, just to wet your beaks for next week!"
Really, the last ten seconds weren't even that interesting, by this show's standards. They showed us that the Looking Glass is still staffed. Presumably it's staffed by Others; so what does this tell us? Obviously it's likely to be explained in the finale, but I would assume that there's some kind of "Ben has way the crap more contact with the outside world than he's telling anyone" thing coming. The whole show seems to be trending towards a fall for Ben; there's clearly a faction within the Others that is upset with his leadership and it's not just Juliet, regardless of what was implied by her trial early this season. Whether that's what the "everything will change" tagline means, obviously I don't know, but if I had a couple bucks to put down in Vegas I'd lean that way, especially with Jacob looking to Locke for help. (However, Lindelof and Cuse said on last week's official podcast that Jacob was more of a fourth-season story, so my question becomes: are we even likely to see Locke next week? Maybe near the end of the show? I had read something saying that the season finale would involve a clash between Jack and Locke - which makes sense since Locke doesn't want to leave the island - but that seems less likely now, doesn't it? Unless maybe they run into him on the trek to the radio tower...)
I will say that Charlie's Sydney Carton moment was one of the better single moments for the show in the last two years, so at least there was that. Otherwise, though, this was mostly "an hour that's not the finale." I'm looking forward to those two hours, myself. Let's hope it's better than last year's.
* "Here are the exact specifications of Jack's plan!"
* "Here are the exact specifications of Ben's plan!"
* "Here is a Charlie backstory that serves no purpose other than to convince you he's going to die, even though any reasonable person could have realized that they would never kill him off in so obvious a fashion!"
* "Here are ten seconds of significant interest, just to wet your beaks for next week!"
Really, the last ten seconds weren't even that interesting, by this show's standards. They showed us that the Looking Glass is still staffed. Presumably it's staffed by Others; so what does this tell us? Obviously it's likely to be explained in the finale, but I would assume that there's some kind of "Ben has way the crap more contact with the outside world than he's telling anyone" thing coming. The whole show seems to be trending towards a fall for Ben; there's clearly a faction within the Others that is upset with his leadership and it's not just Juliet, regardless of what was implied by her trial early this season. Whether that's what the "everything will change" tagline means, obviously I don't know, but if I had a couple bucks to put down in Vegas I'd lean that way, especially with Jacob looking to Locke for help. (However, Lindelof and Cuse said on last week's official podcast that Jacob was more of a fourth-season story, so my question becomes: are we even likely to see Locke next week? Maybe near the end of the show? I had read something saying that the season finale would involve a clash between Jack and Locke - which makes sense since Locke doesn't want to leave the island - but that seems less likely now, doesn't it? Unless maybe they run into him on the trek to the radio tower...)
I will say that Charlie's Sydney Carton moment was one of the better single moments for the show in the last two years, so at least there was that. Otherwise, though, this was mostly "an hour that's not the finale." I'm looking forward to those two hours, myself. Let's hope it's better than last year's.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
s3e20: The Man Behind the Curtain
Ben flashback! Ben flashback! Ben has not, in fact, lived on the island all his life. He was born right outside of Portland (hmm hmm hmm hmm), killed his mother in childbirth (the writers do love those fakeout openings, where you assume she's on the island, but then no), and then he and his father - Roger, Work Man of Hurley's van fame - went to the island when he was, I don't know, middle-school-aged, because Roger had gotten a job with the Dharma Initiative, which seems pretty darn cultlike. Roger hates the job and takes it out on his son... who runs off into the jungle after seeing his mother. He ends up running into Richard - buh-wha? - who sure doesn't look any worse for thirty years of wear at this point! Later - at an undisclosed time between 12-year-old Ben and 40-something Ben; he's probably supposed to be in his 30s at this point, though - Ben kills his father just as the "hostiles" kill the other Dharma members. And there's Richard again, looking exactly the same 20+ years later.
In current time, Ben is forced to take Locke to see Jacob - sure he is. Ben never does anything he doesn't want to do, so clearly some larger plan is in the offing. Ben takes Locke to a dark cabin in the jungle and presents... an empty chair. And talks to it! Just when Locke has decided that he's seen enough of the Anthony Perkins impression, he hears a strangled "Help me" from behind him. Locke turns on his flashlight, but Jacob the Unfriendly Ghost doesn't take too kindly to "technology" and tears the room apart. Locke later accuses Ben of putting on a show, so Ben fesses up to being dishonest about at least one thing - he wasn't born on the island like he's been saying. To prove it, he shows Locke the mass grave of the Dharma people, and then shoots Locke in the gut. Locke falls into the pit and tells Ben what Jacob said. Ben says he hopes Jacob will help Locke, and leaves.
In the B plot, Sawyer and Sayid reveal Juliet's deception to everyone, just in time for Jack and Juliet to return and explain that, in fact, Juliet has been working with Jack on a way to thwart the Others, not help them. Okay, Jack, you're forgiven for being annoying. For now.
Next week: the Others are coming, and the castaways are ready. I guess. And Desmond tells Charlie he needs to die this time. Which I'm sure means it won't happen, although according to the producers we're still at least 2-3 deaths short of the promised May total.
Because Lost never opens a window without building three more doors in the house and then shutting all of them, this episode left far more questions than it answered. Below, a small stab at some of them:
1. Um, Richard doesn't age?
We've already established that the island seems to have super freaky healing powers, so presumably it can also greatly extend the lifetimes of its inhabitants? Or at least the lifers? But if that's true, who knows how long they've been on the island - remember, there are also weird old ruins all over the place. But if they have these insane long lives, why would they seem so excited just because Locke's legs started working again?
2. Ben's plan for Locke...
What's the deal here? Does he really want Locke out of the way so badly? If so, why go to all the trouble he did? Because he knew his people were interested in Locke and he needed to get him alone? But if he really wants Locke out of the way, presumably he would have finished the job. He didn't.
3. OMG WTF Jacob
Yeah, I don't even know what to tell you here.
In current time, Ben is forced to take Locke to see Jacob - sure he is. Ben never does anything he doesn't want to do, so clearly some larger plan is in the offing. Ben takes Locke to a dark cabin in the jungle and presents... an empty chair. And talks to it! Just when Locke has decided that he's seen enough of the Anthony Perkins impression, he hears a strangled "Help me" from behind him. Locke turns on his flashlight, but Jacob the Unfriendly Ghost doesn't take too kindly to "technology" and tears the room apart. Locke later accuses Ben of putting on a show, so Ben fesses up to being dishonest about at least one thing - he wasn't born on the island like he's been saying. To prove it, he shows Locke the mass grave of the Dharma people, and then shoots Locke in the gut. Locke falls into the pit and tells Ben what Jacob said. Ben says he hopes Jacob will help Locke, and leaves.
In the B plot, Sawyer and Sayid reveal Juliet's deception to everyone, just in time for Jack and Juliet to return and explain that, in fact, Juliet has been working with Jack on a way to thwart the Others, not help them. Okay, Jack, you're forgiven for being annoying. For now.
Next week: the Others are coming, and the castaways are ready. I guess. And Desmond tells Charlie he needs to die this time. Which I'm sure means it won't happen, although according to the producers we're still at least 2-3 deaths short of the promised May total.
Because Lost never opens a window without building three more doors in the house and then shutting all of them, this episode left far more questions than it answered. Below, a small stab at some of them:
1. Um, Richard doesn't age?
We've already established that the island seems to have super freaky healing powers, so presumably it can also greatly extend the lifetimes of its inhabitants? Or at least the lifers? But if that's true, who knows how long they've been on the island - remember, there are also weird old ruins all over the place. But if they have these insane long lives, why would they seem so excited just because Locke's legs started working again?
2. Ben's plan for Locke...
What's the deal here? Does he really want Locke out of the way so badly? If so, why go to all the trouble he did? Because he knew his people were interested in Locke and he needed to get him alone? But if he really wants Locke out of the way, presumably he would have finished the job. He didn't.
3. OMG WTF Jacob
Yeah, I don't even know what to tell you here.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
s3e19: The Brig
Everyone who could not tell from last week's teaser that Locke had his father tied up and not Ben, raise your hands. No one? That's what I thought. Even when this show is being clever, it's sometimes too good (bad?) about telegraphing its next twist. If you can call that a twist.
The twist I did like - Locke's dad is also Sawyer's con-man namesake. I called it before they laid it all out in painstaking detail - "Why yes, I have been to your childhood hometown and used a literary character's name as my pseudonym, why do you ask?" - right when they went to commercial with Sawyer's "Who the hell are you?" Locke's dad is a con-man, he would have something to say that would make Sawyer want to kill him - it worked. I actually liked this twist; it's a nice departure from the characters having inane, tiny background connections that only serve to make people go "Heeeeeyyy..." Not as moving as the Sawyer/Jack's dad bit from the end of Season One, but fitting.
Locke's dad seems to think they're in hell, although as Drew suggested to me, it seems pretty obvious that this is just typical Others-style "go get 'em" activity. Hit by a car from behind and the paramedic smiles at him? Probably Ethan. The B-plot teases otherwise, what with the whole "They found the plane near Bali" thing, but then that doesn't even make sense, since Bali is in the opposite direction from Sydney that LA is. We really don't learn anything new, except that there's some interference preventing the phone from working, apparently. Also, people on this island are not good at keeping secrets, and Jack continues to be kind of an oblivious dick.
Locke's dad is typical Locke's dad asshole guy and Sawyer ends up killing him. Interesting moment for Sawyer there, since the show had spent the better part of a month trying to make him a really great guy. I suppose having him kill a total asshole (and still being sick about it) doesn't necessarily change that, and he already had killed one guy he merely thought was the con man responsible for his parents' murder-suicide anyway, but it's still interesting. I wonder how this might relate to him being a bigger leadership voice in the camp in the last three episodes (see: teaser).
Locke gives Sawyer some anti-Juliet ammo and then takes off, claiming he's not back to join Ben, but then he slings the body of his father on his back, so yeah, he is. (Side note: Rousseau getting dynamite, throwaway moment or daughter-rescuing payoff later on?)
Next time: Jack's still pretty annoying, as he apparently can't believe why no one would trust him for waltzing around with an Other. Everyone remembers how trustworthy Michael was after he came back, Jack! Of course, Sayid and Kate were held captive by the Others too, but they don't want to fuck one like Jack does. Sawyer plays the tape and Jack gets all huffy and Sawyer calls him on his shit. Locke goes back to Ben and sees some stuff, maybe. And there are only three episodes left and I think they're going to be three real motherfuckers. In other news, swearing is fun!
The twist I did like - Locke's dad is also Sawyer's con-man namesake. I called it before they laid it all out in painstaking detail - "Why yes, I have been to your childhood hometown and used a literary character's name as my pseudonym, why do you ask?" - right when they went to commercial with Sawyer's "Who the hell are you?" Locke's dad is a con-man, he would have something to say that would make Sawyer want to kill him - it worked. I actually liked this twist; it's a nice departure from the characters having inane, tiny background connections that only serve to make people go "Heeeeeyyy..." Not as moving as the Sawyer/Jack's dad bit from the end of Season One, but fitting.
Locke's dad seems to think they're in hell, although as Drew suggested to me, it seems pretty obvious that this is just typical Others-style "go get 'em" activity. Hit by a car from behind and the paramedic smiles at him? Probably Ethan. The B-plot teases otherwise, what with the whole "They found the plane near Bali" thing, but then that doesn't even make sense, since Bali is in the opposite direction from Sydney that LA is. We really don't learn anything new, except that there's some interference preventing the phone from working, apparently. Also, people on this island are not good at keeping secrets, and Jack continues to be kind of an oblivious dick.
Locke's dad is typical Locke's dad asshole guy and Sawyer ends up killing him. Interesting moment for Sawyer there, since the show had spent the better part of a month trying to make him a really great guy. I suppose having him kill a total asshole (and still being sick about it) doesn't necessarily change that, and he already had killed one guy he merely thought was the con man responsible for his parents' murder-suicide anyway, but it's still interesting. I wonder how this might relate to him being a bigger leadership voice in the camp in the last three episodes (see: teaser).
Locke gives Sawyer some anti-Juliet ammo and then takes off, claiming he's not back to join Ben, but then he slings the body of his father on his back, so yeah, he is. (Side note: Rousseau getting dynamite, throwaway moment or daughter-rescuing payoff later on?)
Next time: Jack's still pretty annoying, as he apparently can't believe why no one would trust him for waltzing around with an Other. Everyone remembers how trustworthy Michael was after he came back, Jack! Of course, Sayid and Kate were held captive by the Others too, but they don't want to fuck one like Jack does. Sawyer plays the tape and Jack gets all huffy and Sawyer calls him on his shit. Locke goes back to Ben and sees some stuff, maybe. And there are only three episodes left and I think they're going to be three real motherfuckers. In other news, swearing is fun!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
s3e17: Catch-22 and s3e18: D.O.C.
Travel last week prevented me from watching "Catch-22" until yesterday, so we might as well just combine them.
Desmond gets all future-y again, as the writers tease every viewer by pretending Charlie dies (although you're a total sucker if you fell for that one). (Incidentally, was this first scene directed by Quentin Tarantino? Gory violence and a totally random argument about a foot race between Superman and the Flash? What the fuck?) Desmond somehow convinces Hurley, Charlie and Jin to go tramping into the jungle after something he won't tell them about, narrowly saves Charlie, and in the flashback, we see that he's used to totally copping out of his problems. The parachutist Desmond thought was Penny (as though a rich girl like that is going to be doing her own parachuting) turns out to be someone completely unknown to us, but she does know who Desmond is and has his picture, so it seems pretty clear she was sent by Penny, as we finally start to follow up on the last scene of the Season 2 finale. In the B plot, the writers continue to pretend that Kate is carrying a torch for Jack. I'm starting to care even less about this than about the Charlie/Claire relationship.
In this week's episode, Sun finds out that pregnant women are pretty much hosed if they got pregnant on the island. Thanks to Jin's miracle island sperm, she did. Uh oh. Juliet ultrasounds her, then sneaks back in to leave a tape-recorded message for Ben, though she accidentally hits stop before telling him of her hate for him. Glad we cleared that one up. Presumably this is supposed to set up the resolution to a future conflict wherein Juliet picks the side of right despite the Others' coercion, but we'll see how that goes.
In the flashback, Sun's mother-in-law is even bitchier than the average mother-in-law, demanding 100 grand to spare Jin the shame of discovering that she was a prostitute. This inspires Sun to research Jin's family history, meeting his father, who is totally cool with being considered dead. Those Koreans are really concerned with appearances, man. We also see that Sun was basically responsible for Jin having to become the bad-type he was in the first season flashbacks (although it was really his mom's fault, so whatever), but if you think about it, it's not really all that important now. The only thing that we really get out of the flashbacks is seeing that Sun is willing to go through a fair amount for Jin, though some consolation that is now.
In the B plot, we go back to Desmond and crew. Lady Parachutist is dying of a punctured lung, but then Mikhail shows up (WTF?) and saves the day. Or at least her. He tries to steal the satellite phone that doesn't work anyway and gets caught by Jin, but Desmond still lets him go per their agreement that if he saved the parachutist Desmond would let him walk. So dead people just get up and walk around now? I know the island has healing powers, but that seems sort of extreme.
Parachute girl wakes up and talks to Hurley. He anxiously asks if she's there to rescue them and reveals that he was on Flight 815, to which she replies that that's impossible, because the plane was found and there were no survivors. Uh..... huh?
Next week: Locke recruits Sawyer to kill "Ben" - do you really want to give me odds it's not actually his dad?
I have to say, over the past month or so I've probably enjoyed Lost as much as at any point since I gorged on the first season nearly two years ago. Let's see three more episodes of this, guys. You can handle that, right?
Desmond gets all future-y again, as the writers tease every viewer by pretending Charlie dies (although you're a total sucker if you fell for that one). (Incidentally, was this first scene directed by Quentin Tarantino? Gory violence and a totally random argument about a foot race between Superman and the Flash? What the fuck?) Desmond somehow convinces Hurley, Charlie and Jin to go tramping into the jungle after something he won't tell them about, narrowly saves Charlie, and in the flashback, we see that he's used to totally copping out of his problems. The parachutist Desmond thought was Penny (as though a rich girl like that is going to be doing her own parachuting) turns out to be someone completely unknown to us, but she does know who Desmond is and has his picture, so it seems pretty clear she was sent by Penny, as we finally start to follow up on the last scene of the Season 2 finale. In the B plot, the writers continue to pretend that Kate is carrying a torch for Jack. I'm starting to care even less about this than about the Charlie/Claire relationship.
In this week's episode, Sun finds out that pregnant women are pretty much hosed if they got pregnant on the island. Thanks to Jin's miracle island sperm, she did. Uh oh. Juliet ultrasounds her, then sneaks back in to leave a tape-recorded message for Ben, though she accidentally hits stop before telling him of her hate for him. Glad we cleared that one up. Presumably this is supposed to set up the resolution to a future conflict wherein Juliet picks the side of right despite the Others' coercion, but we'll see how that goes.
In the flashback, Sun's mother-in-law is even bitchier than the average mother-in-law, demanding 100 grand to spare Jin the shame of discovering that she was a prostitute. This inspires Sun to research Jin's family history, meeting his father, who is totally cool with being considered dead. Those Koreans are really concerned with appearances, man. We also see that Sun was basically responsible for Jin having to become the bad-type he was in the first season flashbacks (although it was really his mom's fault, so whatever), but if you think about it, it's not really all that important now. The only thing that we really get out of the flashbacks is seeing that Sun is willing to go through a fair amount for Jin, though some consolation that is now.
In the B plot, we go back to Desmond and crew. Lady Parachutist is dying of a punctured lung, but then Mikhail shows up (WTF?) and saves the day. Or at least her. He tries to steal the satellite phone that doesn't work anyway and gets caught by Jin, but Desmond still lets him go per their agreement that if he saved the parachutist Desmond would let him walk. So dead people just get up and walk around now? I know the island has healing powers, but that seems sort of extreme.
Parachute girl wakes up and talks to Hurley. He anxiously asks if she's there to rescue them and reveals that he was on Flight 815, to which she replies that that's impossible, because the plane was found and there were no survivors. Uh..... huh?
Next week: Locke recruits Sawyer to kill "Ben" - do you really want to give me odds it's not actually his dad?
I have to say, over the past month or so I've probably enjoyed Lost as much as at any point since I gorged on the first season nearly two years ago. Let's see three more episodes of this, guys. You can handle that, right?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
s3e16: One of Us
AKA "Everybody Hates Juliet." Not that we can blame them.
Nice to see some stuff get resolved, or at least answered. We find out what Juliet was on the island to do, and some of what the Others were doing (although we still didn't really get a good sense for why, or how they manage to extend their tentacles so far - if they're not affiliated with Dharma, how do they manage all the mainland stuff?). We also found out about the Claire/Ethan business (thanks, helpful over-explanatory-for-newer-viewers flashbacks!). Frankly I think we were still left with more questions than answers about the Others - including, what are they hoping to use Juliet for, as we find out in a "gotcha" end scene that Ben and Juliet apparently planned the whole thing. Drew thinks Juliet is pretending to go along with Ben but won't really, and I think that may be right, but Ben thinks she is, and she did the first part of it. I thought it was a good episode up until that last scene, which kind of bugged me.
The teaser was all, "ZOMG last five episodes FTW," so let's do a quick bit of consideration.
1) We know Kate and Sawyer get down, AGAIN, so it's also likely that the writers make some attempt to hook Juliet up with Jack. This seemed to be the plan at the start of the season and then not much was really done with it.
2) Sawyer goes apeshit on Locke. So, why? Does Locke do something first? Does Sawyer think that Locke can get him something? Is this Sawyer actually taking some sort of "leadership" role? This will go a long way towards determining Sawyer's character, possibly for the rest of the show's run.
3) A helicopter? Sure sounds like it, but that barely makes sense, unless the Others have one stashed away. Which I guess is possible. The teaser gave us the old "salvation/annihilation" dichotomy, and based on a gun going off and what looked like some big jungle spear or trap, it's probably the latter. Also, I don't believe anyone but the Others could get a helicopter to the island, so, yeah.
4) Though we didn't see any hints of it, I gotta think the monster comes back. So far this season it's killed Eko and taken photos (I guess?) of Juliet and Kate, both of which are too weird for it to be left alone for another whole year. That could be one of the big late-season reveals. Although do you buy Juliet's claim that "we don't know what it is?" This means that Ben doesn't know what it is, and he's lived there for what, 40 years or so? Whatever the monster is, it sure seems like a bit of technology and certainly not a kind that existed in the 1960s. And how long has the "fence" been there? I don't know, the whole thing seems a little plot-holey to me.
5) Someone probably dies. The writers love killing people for little reason, but this is a good spot (as good as it could be) to bump off someone and have it be somewhat meaningful. I hope it's Charlie.
Nice to see some stuff get resolved, or at least answered. We find out what Juliet was on the island to do, and some of what the Others were doing (although we still didn't really get a good sense for why, or how they manage to extend their tentacles so far - if they're not affiliated with Dharma, how do they manage all the mainland stuff?). We also found out about the Claire/Ethan business (thanks, helpful over-explanatory-for-newer-viewers flashbacks!). Frankly I think we were still left with more questions than answers about the Others - including, what are they hoping to use Juliet for, as we find out in a "gotcha" end scene that Ben and Juliet apparently planned the whole thing. Drew thinks Juliet is pretending to go along with Ben but won't really, and I think that may be right, but Ben thinks she is, and she did the first part of it. I thought it was a good episode up until that last scene, which kind of bugged me.
The teaser was all, "ZOMG last five episodes FTW," so let's do a quick bit of consideration.
1) We know Kate and Sawyer get down, AGAIN, so it's also likely that the writers make some attempt to hook Juliet up with Jack. This seemed to be the plan at the start of the season and then not much was really done with it.
2) Sawyer goes apeshit on Locke. So, why? Does Locke do something first? Does Sawyer think that Locke can get him something? Is this Sawyer actually taking some sort of "leadership" role? This will go a long way towards determining Sawyer's character, possibly for the rest of the show's run.
3) A helicopter? Sure sounds like it, but that barely makes sense, unless the Others have one stashed away. Which I guess is possible. The teaser gave us the old "salvation/annihilation" dichotomy, and based on a gun going off and what looked like some big jungle spear or trap, it's probably the latter. Also, I don't believe anyone but the Others could get a helicopter to the island, so, yeah.
4) Though we didn't see any hints of it, I gotta think the monster comes back. So far this season it's killed Eko and taken photos (I guess?) of Juliet and Kate, both of which are too weird for it to be left alone for another whole year. That could be one of the big late-season reveals. Although do you buy Juliet's claim that "we don't know what it is?" This means that Ben doesn't know what it is, and he's lived there for what, 40 years or so? Whatever the monster is, it sure seems like a bit of technology and certainly not a kind that existed in the 1960s. And how long has the "fence" been there? I don't know, the whole thing seems a little plot-holey to me.
5) Someone probably dies. The writers love killing people for little reason, but this is a good spot (as good as it could be) to bump off someone and have it be somewhat meaningful. I hope it's Charlie.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
s3e15: Left Behind
Plot: the righteous among the Others are called up to Heaven in the Rapture, but Kate, Sayid, Jack and Juliet find themselves... no? Okay, let me start over.
Plot: the Others, plus Locke, take off, leaving only Jack, Sayid, Juliet and Kate. Juliet takes Kate into the jungle and handcuffs them together, apparently in a Benry-like ploy to get Kate to like her (PS: It fails miserably). Meanwhile, Flashback Kate teams up with Sawyer's baby's mama to ask her (Kate's) mom why she called the cops. The answer? Because Kate blew up her damn husband. Wow, mystery solved! That's some nice sleuthing, show! I assume we're supposed to feel bad for Kate here, but I really don't. And if we're not, why exactly are we wasting an entire backstory on it? Whatever. Sucked. Also, enough with the cutesy coincidences. I know Kate's never going to find out the connection between Sawyer and Cassidy, so it doesn't matter, it's just the writers having a laugh. Okay, we get it. People are connected, blah blah. It just feels gimmicky to me, especially when it's never paid off. The thing with Sawyer meeting Jack's dad? Paid off. Ana Lucia meeting Jack's dad? Uh, not so much. Can't we learn from this, guys?
The B plot, in which Hurley convinces Sawyer to be nice to everyone for about two hours, was pretty skippable. It's hard to see this Sawyer lasting (especially when, as the teaser shows us, Juliet's arrival gives him an excuse to be all pissed off next week), so it was kind of a throwaway plot. It was all right, particularly the Hurley-Sawyer moment at the end when Hurley tells Sawyer that he needs to lead them, and the little montage, but eh.
The only really good thing about this episode was that we got another tantalizing glimpse at the "monster." It appears to be a giant photo booth.
Plot: the Others, plus Locke, take off, leaving only Jack, Sayid, Juliet and Kate. Juliet takes Kate into the jungle and handcuffs them together, apparently in a Benry-like ploy to get Kate to like her (PS: It fails miserably). Meanwhile, Flashback Kate teams up with Sawyer's baby's mama to ask her (Kate's) mom why she called the cops. The answer? Because Kate blew up her damn husband. Wow, mystery solved! That's some nice sleuthing, show! I assume we're supposed to feel bad for Kate here, but I really don't. And if we're not, why exactly are we wasting an entire backstory on it? Whatever. Sucked. Also, enough with the cutesy coincidences. I know Kate's never going to find out the connection between Sawyer and Cassidy, so it doesn't matter, it's just the writers having a laugh. Okay, we get it. People are connected, blah blah. It just feels gimmicky to me, especially when it's never paid off. The thing with Sawyer meeting Jack's dad? Paid off. Ana Lucia meeting Jack's dad? Uh, not so much. Can't we learn from this, guys?
The B plot, in which Hurley convinces Sawyer to be nice to everyone for about two hours, was pretty skippable. It's hard to see this Sawyer lasting (especially when, as the teaser shows us, Juliet's arrival gives him an excuse to be all pissed off next week), so it was kind of a throwaway plot. It was all right, particularly the Hurley-Sawyer moment at the end when Hurley tells Sawyer that he needs to lead them, and the little montage, but eh.
The only really good thing about this episode was that we got another tantalizing glimpse at the "monster." It appears to be a giant photo booth.
s3e14: Exposé
I managed to get my eyes shut just in time to miss all the spiders, in case you were wondering.
As usual, when characters die we have to suddenly have a flashback for them, so basically Nikki and Paulo are given backstory only to be killed off. It's essentially a mini-morality play within the show; the plot isn't advanced at all, the ending (in which Nikki and Paulo are buried alive because, thanks to spider bite paralysis, they appear dead) is pretty twisted, and the whole thing is a total dead end (no pun intended). They basically just chose the two most expendable characters who had been given names before this point and whacked them for no real reason other than it probably seemed cool when they thought of it. But with the tedious "what goes around comes around" lesson, it was like this episode was written by the Others. Nikki and Paulo are not good people; Nikki and Paulo go bye-bye. But really, who gives a shit? Not me. I guess it was an interesting mystery but it was one wholly invented for this episode. If the writers are going to solve mysteries, maybe they should work on ones that anyone actually cares about.
Now I'm kind of mad. And I didn't hate the episode while I was watching it (even if it was a contrived excuse to get Daniel Roebuck another paycheck), but the entire principle behind it is kind of pissing me off. Next time, solve a real mystery. Jeez.
As usual, when characters die we have to suddenly have a flashback for them, so basically Nikki and Paulo are given backstory only to be killed off. It's essentially a mini-morality play within the show; the plot isn't advanced at all, the ending (in which Nikki and Paulo are buried alive because, thanks to spider bite paralysis, they appear dead) is pretty twisted, and the whole thing is a total dead end (no pun intended). They basically just chose the two most expendable characters who had been given names before this point and whacked them for no real reason other than it probably seemed cool when they thought of it. But with the tedious "what goes around comes around" lesson, it was like this episode was written by the Others. Nikki and Paulo are not good people; Nikki and Paulo go bye-bye. But really, who gives a shit? Not me. I guess it was an interesting mystery but it was one wholly invented for this episode. If the writers are going to solve mysteries, maybe they should work on ones that anyone actually cares about.
Now I'm kind of mad. And I didn't hate the episode while I was watching it (even if it was a contrived excuse to get Daniel Roebuck another paycheck), but the entire principle behind it is kind of pissing me off. Next time, solve a real mystery. Jeez.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
s3e13: The Man From Tallahassee
This was probably the best episode of the season so far. I might be exaggerating a little when I say this next part, but I think there's a chance that it was the best episode of the past two seasons - at the very least it's top five in that time period. What made it so good?
1. Meaningful backstory.
Backstory was beginning to feel like a tired gambit that continued to be included in every episode just for formality's sake, but finding out how Locke ended up in the wheelchair - something I think we've all been waiting to see for two and a half years now - is pretty darn important. It's a shame that the CGI in that scene had to be so terrible, but then TV CGI usually is. The whole thing also told us more about Locke's motivations than the backstories usually do; generally the connection is superficial and evident, like "Check out Jack having no respect for other societies" or "Sayid doesn't want to kill this guy because he learned about mercy" or something. Benry spells out the connection for us at the end - part of the reason Locke doesn't want to go is because his con man father can't find him here - but it still works better than any backstory since Season One.
2. Good one-on-one scenes.
The Jack/Kate scene in the rec room was solid, although Kate's repetition of "What did they do to you?" got a little annoying. Better still were the scenes between Benry and Locke, with excellent acting jobs from both Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson.
3. Great cliffhanger.
How long has it been since we had a really good cliffhanger? Mid-Season 2? Longer? All I know is, Locke's dad being behind the door was pretty awesome.
So, quick recap: Kate, Locke and Sayid find Jack. Kate goes in but Jack tells her to leave because he's being watched; Kate and Sayid get captured. Locke goes to Benry's room because he wants to blow up the submarine. Benry acts like he doesn't want this to happen, but it turns out that he actually does (which Alex tells us ahead of Benry actually admitting it - this is also a parallel to Locke's dad, whose plan, you may recall, was to make Locke think that giving him the kidney was Locke's idea). Locke blows up the submarine, preventing Jack and Juliet from leaving. Jack had made a deal with Benry that Kate and Sayid would be let go as soon as Jack got off the island. Sorry, Kate and Sayid. Backstory Locke is much less pathetic than usual, confronting his father after the son of his father's new mark gets suspicious and asks Locke for a reference. The son turns up dead; Locke's dad claims no part in it but then knocks Locke out a window, breaking his back. Then at the end Benry shows Locke "what came out of the box" that supposedly will give you anything you ask for: Locke's dad, who looks MAJORLY freaked out to see Locke. And I guess that makes sense. Could this explain Jack's dad and the horse as well?
Next week: someone dies, apparently, and it looks like some nasty jungle bug/spider is involved - thanks a lot, show. My guess is that it's someone inconsequential - Nikki, Paulo, someone even more faceless - and not Charlie, much though we all want it to be. And then the teaser acts like Sun kills Sawyer, which we all know won't be what happens.
1. Meaningful backstory.
Backstory was beginning to feel like a tired gambit that continued to be included in every episode just for formality's sake, but finding out how Locke ended up in the wheelchair - something I think we've all been waiting to see for two and a half years now - is pretty darn important. It's a shame that the CGI in that scene had to be so terrible, but then TV CGI usually is. The whole thing also told us more about Locke's motivations than the backstories usually do; generally the connection is superficial and evident, like "Check out Jack having no respect for other societies" or "Sayid doesn't want to kill this guy because he learned about mercy" or something. Benry spells out the connection for us at the end - part of the reason Locke doesn't want to go is because his con man father can't find him here - but it still works better than any backstory since Season One.
2. Good one-on-one scenes.
The Jack/Kate scene in the rec room was solid, although Kate's repetition of "What did they do to you?" got a little annoying. Better still were the scenes between Benry and Locke, with excellent acting jobs from both Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson.
3. Great cliffhanger.
How long has it been since we had a really good cliffhanger? Mid-Season 2? Longer? All I know is, Locke's dad being behind the door was pretty awesome.
So, quick recap: Kate, Locke and Sayid find Jack. Kate goes in but Jack tells her to leave because he's being watched; Kate and Sayid get captured. Locke goes to Benry's room because he wants to blow up the submarine. Benry acts like he doesn't want this to happen, but it turns out that he actually does (which Alex tells us ahead of Benry actually admitting it - this is also a parallel to Locke's dad, whose plan, you may recall, was to make Locke think that giving him the kidney was Locke's idea). Locke blows up the submarine, preventing Jack and Juliet from leaving. Jack had made a deal with Benry that Kate and Sayid would be let go as soon as Jack got off the island. Sorry, Kate and Sayid. Backstory Locke is much less pathetic than usual, confronting his father after the son of his father's new mark gets suspicious and asks Locke for a reference. The son turns up dead; Locke's dad claims no part in it but then knocks Locke out a window, breaking his back. Then at the end Benry shows Locke "what came out of the box" that supposedly will give you anything you ask for: Locke's dad, who looks MAJORLY freaked out to see Locke. And I guess that makes sense. Could this explain Jack's dad and the horse as well?
Next week: someone dies, apparently, and it looks like some nasty jungle bug/spider is involved - thanks a lot, show. My guess is that it's someone inconsequential - Nikki, Paulo, someone even more faceless - and not Charlie, much though we all want it to be. And then the teaser acts like Sun kills Sawyer, which we all know won't be what happens.
Friday, March 16, 2007
s3e12: Par Avion
So, is the new trend to reveal secrets that have already been revealed, only we get to make sure that they're true? If you saw "Two for the Road" (s2e20), you most likely already suspected that Jack's dad was also Claire's dad, so while this episode confirmed it, that can hardly be considered a major surprise. Also, while the backstories can still be interesting, I can't be the only one who thinks that they have far too little to do with the main stories these days. I guess Claire's backstory reveals why she has this wild mood swings from lovey-dovey to histrionic bitch? Maybe? Whatever, I could absolutely not care less about the Claire/Charlie plot.
I do still wonder if Jack's dad isn't dead. He's just connected in so much in the past - also, if he is dead, then the fact that he's Claire's father really doesn't mean anything, and is just kind of a dopey connection on the part of the writers. Since Claire never gets his name, it's hard to imagine how she and Jack could find out about this - I guess the Others could tell them, since they probably know in that way of theirs, but why would they feel a need to? It's too bad, because when the connections are done right they can be great. The moment late in Season One when Sawyer tells Jack about meeting his dad was, for my money, the single best moment of the entire series. I'm not kidding.
In the much, much more interesting plot, Locke is becoming kind of a shady character, leading up to next week. He "unintentionally" kills Mikhail by tossing him through the "fence," and then it turns out he took some C-4 from the house, not long after claiming he didn't know that it was there. They all climb over the fence, and then freak out because Jack appears to be playing football and having a grand old time in St. Othersburg. The spike of the ball right at the end made me chuckle.
Next week: a mystery worth knowing the answer to! We finally find out how Locke got paralyzed (at a guess, his dad was involved somehow), and then apparently he has some sort of score to settle with Ben, or wants to know the answer to something, or something. We're on kind of a roll right now - tonight's episode wasn't great mostly because it was a Claire/Charlie episode first and foremost, but the rest of it wasn't bad at all and as Claire/Charlie episodes go, it was fine, I guess. I think next week's episode could be one of the best in a while, although it does mean the return of the most pathetic character in TV history, Backstory Locke. We'll see.
I do still wonder if Jack's dad isn't dead. He's just connected in so much in the past - also, if he is dead, then the fact that he's Claire's father really doesn't mean anything, and is just kind of a dopey connection on the part of the writers. Since Claire never gets his name, it's hard to imagine how she and Jack could find out about this - I guess the Others could tell them, since they probably know in that way of theirs, but why would they feel a need to? It's too bad, because when the connections are done right they can be great. The moment late in Season One when Sawyer tells Jack about meeting his dad was, for my money, the single best moment of the entire series. I'm not kidding.
In the much, much more interesting plot, Locke is becoming kind of a shady character, leading up to next week. He "unintentionally" kills Mikhail by tossing him through the "fence," and then it turns out he took some C-4 from the house, not long after claiming he didn't know that it was there. They all climb over the fence, and then freak out because Jack appears to be playing football and having a grand old time in St. Othersburg. The spike of the ball right at the end made me chuckle.
Next week: a mystery worth knowing the answer to! We finally find out how Locke got paralyzed (at a guess, his dad was involved somehow), and then apparently he has some sort of score to settle with Ben, or wants to know the answer to something, or something. We're on kind of a roll right now - tonight's episode wasn't great mostly because it was a Claire/Charlie episode first and foremost, but the rest of it wasn't bad at all and as Claire/Charlie episodes go, it was fine, I guess. I think next week's episode could be one of the best in a while, although it does mean the return of the most pathetic character in TV history, Backstory Locke. We'll see.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
s3e11: Enter 77
All right, an episode that manages to be good without being wacky! Okay, so the "Sawyer gets his ass kicked by Hurley at ping-pong" subplot was wacky, in addition to completely predictable (Sawyer gets his bravado tossed back in his face? No way!), but at least they hustled through it. As did Hurley (see what I did there?).
As usual, Sayid for some reason knows everything. Maybe it's supposed to be the difference between Locke, who seems to think that a few adventure courses make him an expert, and Sayid, who was in the military and actually is an expert. Yet the show has certainly made Locke plenty of a bad-ass at various points in the past. Not so much this one, though.
Sayid, Locke, Kate and Rousseau stumble onto a house while following Locke's compass bearing. Rousseau huffs off, in keeping with her namesake's belief that man's natural goodness is corrupted by contact with others. Oh, Lost, you are so deep. (Little known fact: Anglo-Irish statesman/philosopher Edmund Burke died on July 9, 1797, of injuries sustained after wandering into the street during a conversation with his ex-wife and being run over by a carriage.) Sayid goes up to the house and gets shot for his troubles.
Turns out the guy in the house is Mikhail, the last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative. Just kidding! He's an Other. And the woman who let Hurley go, Bea/Miss Clue/Klugh/whatever, is hiding in his basement, after having recently ridden a horse there. Sayid, of course, knows all this. After a bunch of fights, Mikhail shoots the fluent-in-Russian Bea at her apparent request. Locke beats a computer chess game and gets access to Dr. Marvin Candle (or whatever his name really is), but is unable to use the satellite dish or sonar, so instead he blows up the house by accident. Jesus Christ, Locke, what did you think was going to happen if you said there'd been an incursion by the Hostiles? Superman would swoop in and save everyone? Stop pressing things! Sayid gives Locke an absolutely withering look for his bad judgment and our heroes troop off into the night. Strong work by Naveen Andrews in this one; no wonder he's getting annoyed at his lack of face time.
Meanwhile, Sayid continues to have some of the most interesting backstory, although an entire episode's worth is spent to set up a single decision by Sayid at the end of the episode - not to kill Mikhail - and then the teaser suggests that it's all a moot point next week, as the group stumbles upon yet another weird-ass thing we've never seen before. It would be nice to know what the Others are hiding such that they constantly seem to feel a need to take it to the grave with them, but clearly this is asking way too much. That's more a Season 5 thing, don't you think?
As usual, Sayid for some reason knows everything. Maybe it's supposed to be the difference between Locke, who seems to think that a few adventure courses make him an expert, and Sayid, who was in the military and actually is an expert. Yet the show has certainly made Locke plenty of a bad-ass at various points in the past. Not so much this one, though.
Sayid, Locke, Kate and Rousseau stumble onto a house while following Locke's compass bearing. Rousseau huffs off, in keeping with her namesake's belief that man's natural goodness is corrupted by contact with others. Oh, Lost, you are so deep. (Little known fact: Anglo-Irish statesman/philosopher Edmund Burke died on July 9, 1797, of injuries sustained after wandering into the street during a conversation with his ex-wife and being run over by a carriage.) Sayid goes up to the house and gets shot for his troubles.
Turns out the guy in the house is Mikhail, the last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative. Just kidding! He's an Other. And the woman who let Hurley go, Bea/Miss Clue/Klugh/whatever, is hiding in his basement, after having recently ridden a horse there. Sayid, of course, knows all this. After a bunch of fights, Mikhail shoots the fluent-in-Russian Bea at her apparent request. Locke beats a computer chess game and gets access to Dr. Marvin Candle (or whatever his name really is), but is unable to use the satellite dish or sonar, so instead he blows up the house by accident. Jesus Christ, Locke, what did you think was going to happen if you said there'd been an incursion by the Hostiles? Superman would swoop in and save everyone? Stop pressing things! Sayid gives Locke an absolutely withering look for his bad judgment and our heroes troop off into the night. Strong work by Naveen Andrews in this one; no wonder he's getting annoyed at his lack of face time.
Meanwhile, Sayid continues to have some of the most interesting backstory, although an entire episode's worth is spent to set up a single decision by Sayid at the end of the episode - not to kill Mikhail - and then the teaser suggests that it's all a moot point next week, as the group stumbles upon yet another weird-ass thing we've never seen before. It would be nice to know what the Others are hiding such that they constantly seem to feel a need to take it to the grave with them, but clearly this is asking way too much. That's more a Season 5 thing, don't you think?
s3e10: Tricia Tanaka is Dead
If February sweeps are over, that means it must be time for a wacky midseason episode that's generally fun but tells us nothing. And how better to do that than with a Hurley plot? Hurley finds a car and wants to drive it, and spends the episode bouncing between flashbacks that would make Steven Spielberg proud with their daddy issues and trying to convince Jin, Sawyer and Charlie to help him get the car working. At the end of the episode, they do, and Hurley does some donuts in a field. It was a pleasant episode, and I know not every episode is going to give you many answers, but it seems like this show has left far too many strings hanging to dick around like this, even in midseason. In the first season, when there were fewer questions, character episodes were great. Now they just feel annoying, even when they're good. Aside from the reunion scene, the coda, and the few fleeting references in the middle, this really did feel more like a first-season episode - not that there's anything wrong with that. The first season feels more all the time like the only classic season this show is going to end up generating - it's still interesting from week to week, don't get me wrong, but it's just not the same.
In the only part of the episode that's even remotely relevant to anything else, Kate goes off to find Rousseau (predictable from the moment she strode into the jungle, as if she was going to be off to hunt Cap'n Eyepatch). Rousseau proves just as surly as ever, but mellows out when Kate reveals the "surprise" that the Alex we've been seeing with the Others is the same Alex who's Rousseau's daughter. Oh, really? Thanks for putting that at the end of an episode like it's a shocking cliffhanger, show. I'm more than a little tired of the only mysteries getting answered being the ones that everyone had already guessed the answer to anyway.
The upcoming episode at least looks interesting, but I bet it asks more questions than it answers. Why shouldn't it?
In the only part of the episode that's even remotely relevant to anything else, Kate goes off to find Rousseau (predictable from the moment she strode into the jungle, as if she was going to be off to hunt Cap'n Eyepatch). Rousseau proves just as surly as ever, but mellows out when Kate reveals the "surprise" that the Alex we've been seeing with the Others is the same Alex who's Rousseau's daughter. Oh, really? Thanks for putting that at the end of an episode like it's a shocking cliffhanger, show. I'm more than a little tired of the only mysteries getting answered being the ones that everyone had already guessed the answer to anyway.
The upcoming episode at least looks interesting, but I bet it asks more questions than it answers. Why shouldn't it?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
s3e09: Stranger in a Strange Land
I really should know better by now than to let the ABC promotions department jerk me around every single time. Of course they're going to say that the next episode features can't-miss surprises! That said, "three of Lost's biggest mysteries will be answered" is just blatant false advertising. Unless the mysteries were as follows:
1. What happened to the people the Others took?
I'm not sure this would rank in my top three questions, but I guess it was something. We still don't really know what happened, per se, just that they're alive and evidently still kicking it on the island (or rather, the second island).
2. Do the Others live on the island?
I had thought this was already reasonably well implied, although the shots of St. Othersburg that led off this season suggested otherwise. Of course, if they don't live on the island as Isabel suggests, doesn't that make St. Othersburg a gaping plot hole? Or is that just where they live when they're on the island? Whatever. We still don't know where they do live, except that it can't be that far away since that's clearly not a seaworthy boat. I don't consider an answer that vague to be an answer.
3. How much more shitty backstory can we get?
This one was definitely answered: a lot! Seriously, though, I can't think of a third thing that was answered and the backstory was asinine. Was it supposed to be showing that Jack doesn't have the appropriate respect for other groups of people? Because I think we could have guessed that. Oh, and his tattoo, conveniently, contains a message that describes both his place in Thailand and his place with the Others! Oh, how droll. Come on, Lost - no one considers "what does Jack's tattoo mean" to be a mystery of the show at all, let alone one of the biggest ones.
In other plot "developments" (ha!), Sawyer and Kate snipe at each other and Sawyer encourages Carl to go back for Alex. Which he maybe does and maybe doesn't. Juliet is being investigated for killing Pickett and trying to kill Benry. Benry's stitches are infected, and Jack decides to play his buddy, apparently to make sure he (and Juliet) can get off the island as Benry suggested. And Backstory Jack rightfully gets the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of Thai guys.
I wouldn't go so far as to say this was the worst episode of the season, but it was certainly the worst of the "nonstop season" so far, though that's only out of three, of course. It just didn't tell us much of anything, after promising it would. That's been kind of the constant letdown with this show - even most of the answers are only kind of half-answers, and that's when they come at all.
Sigh. And now that February sweeps are over, I suppose we're looking at a lot of water-treading over the next 13 episodes. Cool.
1. What happened to the people the Others took?
I'm not sure this would rank in my top three questions, but I guess it was something. We still don't really know what happened, per se, just that they're alive and evidently still kicking it on the island (or rather, the second island).
2. Do the Others live on the island?
I had thought this was already reasonably well implied, although the shots of St. Othersburg that led off this season suggested otherwise. Of course, if they don't live on the island as Isabel suggests, doesn't that make St. Othersburg a gaping plot hole? Or is that just where they live when they're on the island? Whatever. We still don't know where they do live, except that it can't be that far away since that's clearly not a seaworthy boat. I don't consider an answer that vague to be an answer.
3. How much more shitty backstory can we get?
This one was definitely answered: a lot! Seriously, though, I can't think of a third thing that was answered and the backstory was asinine. Was it supposed to be showing that Jack doesn't have the appropriate respect for other groups of people? Because I think we could have guessed that. Oh, and his tattoo, conveniently, contains a message that describes both his place in Thailand and his place with the Others! Oh, how droll. Come on, Lost - no one considers "what does Jack's tattoo mean" to be a mystery of the show at all, let alone one of the biggest ones.
In other plot "developments" (ha!), Sawyer and Kate snipe at each other and Sawyer encourages Carl to go back for Alex. Which he maybe does and maybe doesn't. Juliet is being investigated for killing Pickett and trying to kill Benry. Benry's stitches are infected, and Jack decides to play his buddy, apparently to make sure he (and Juliet) can get off the island as Benry suggested. And Backstory Jack rightfully gets the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of Thai guys.
I wouldn't go so far as to say this was the worst episode of the season, but it was certainly the worst of the "nonstop season" so far, though that's only out of three, of course. It just didn't tell us much of anything, after promising it would. That's been kind of the constant letdown with this show - even most of the answers are only kind of half-answers, and that's when they come at all.
Sigh. And now that February sweeps are over, I suppose we're looking at a lot of water-treading over the next 13 episodes. Cool.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
s3e08: Flashes Before Your Eyes
Because this show now has more characters than it knows what to do with, prepare to completely ignore Jack, Kate and Sawyer for an episode. Oh, but we get to see Locke and Sayid!... just kidding. They're immediately out of the picture as Desmond runs off to the ocean to rescue a drowning Claire, just after Charlie and Hurley (apparently camp bellwethers) are informed of Eko's death.
Charlie earns - sorry, reaffirms - my eternal hatred by flouncing about as Desmond performs CPR, and then having the sheer balls to say "Charlie's here!" as she comes to. Dude, I know she kissed you (for still no reason I can see) in the last season finale, but you are not Claire's husband. Or even boyfriend, really. Maybe she would like you more if you weren't such an overpossessive twit. Case in point: a couple minutes later when Claire sits down next to Desmond - the guy who just saved her life - for about three seconds, and then Charlie huffs over all, "Where have you been? Aaron's starving." I know, TV time and all that, but come on. She just sat down. Back the fuck up, guy.
Charlie and Hurley are suspicious of Desmond's talent for knowing that things will happen, so they get him drunk and then Charlie - ever with a Napoleon complex - bullies Desmond until the latter tackles him. "You don't want to know what happened to me!" Desmond yells, and then we see what happened.
And honestly, I'm not entirely sure what it was. My leading theory would be that Desmond got a very realistic life-flashing-before-eyes moment, but what was with the old lady who wanted to make sure that things happened the same way? If it was just a flashback and she was in fact a sort of conscience figure, why would it matter if he tried to do things differently, really? He already turned the key. If he was actually traveling through time (or leapt Sam Beckett-style into his own body, whatever), why does a hit from a cricket bat send him directly back to the island? More importantly, wasn't someone claiming recently that the show really wasn't very (or at all) supernatural? And yet here we have either time travel or seeing the future, and there's no real way around it. If Desmond knows the future because he's already lived through this timeline - although that makes no sense since turning the key sent him back before he got to this point - then it's time travel, and that's supernatural. If he knows the future because he keeps getting flashes of it, as he states, then that's obviously supernatural. Either way, I think we have our first confirmed plotline that science cannot possibly explain away, although I think most people would tell you that the show was firmly in the realm of the supernatural long before this point.
The point of all this runaround is that what Desmond keeps seeing is Charlie's future, and Charlie keeps dying, so Desmond's been saving him, but he knows he can't do it forever, and predicts that Charlie is going to die. Hooray! The universe hates Charlie as much as I do! Desmond, quit getting in the universe's way!
In miscellaneous plot news, man, Mr. Widmore is an asshole. That whiskey may be expensive but I doubt a single swallow is worth more than Desmond. Think about what you could get for his kidneys alone on the organ black market! Also, apparently the English pub crowd really loves them some Cass Elliott. And why is the angry guy with the cricket bat there immediately as the game ends? Did the bartender promise him the money would show up magically in his wallet if the team won?
Next week: Forget any of this ever happened, it's back to the Jack plot. Where he had the upper hand a week ago, apparently now he's just another prisoner, and the previously taken castaways are "here to watch," whatever that means. The tease promises answers to "three of Lost's biggest mysteries," which, yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.
Charlie earns - sorry, reaffirms - my eternal hatred by flouncing about as Desmond performs CPR, and then having the sheer balls to say "Charlie's here!" as she comes to. Dude, I know she kissed you (for still no reason I can see) in the last season finale, but you are not Claire's husband. Or even boyfriend, really. Maybe she would like you more if you weren't such an overpossessive twit. Case in point: a couple minutes later when Claire sits down next to Desmond - the guy who just saved her life - for about three seconds, and then Charlie huffs over all, "Where have you been? Aaron's starving." I know, TV time and all that, but come on. She just sat down. Back the fuck up, guy.
Charlie and Hurley are suspicious of Desmond's talent for knowing that things will happen, so they get him drunk and then Charlie - ever with a Napoleon complex - bullies Desmond until the latter tackles him. "You don't want to know what happened to me!" Desmond yells, and then we see what happened.
And honestly, I'm not entirely sure what it was. My leading theory would be that Desmond got a very realistic life-flashing-before-eyes moment, but what was with the old lady who wanted to make sure that things happened the same way? If it was just a flashback and she was in fact a sort of conscience figure, why would it matter if he tried to do things differently, really? He already turned the key. If he was actually traveling through time (or leapt Sam Beckett-style into his own body, whatever), why does a hit from a cricket bat send him directly back to the island? More importantly, wasn't someone claiming recently that the show really wasn't very (or at all) supernatural? And yet here we have either time travel or seeing the future, and there's no real way around it. If Desmond knows the future because he's already lived through this timeline - although that makes no sense since turning the key sent him back before he got to this point - then it's time travel, and that's supernatural. If he knows the future because he keeps getting flashes of it, as he states, then that's obviously supernatural. Either way, I think we have our first confirmed plotline that science cannot possibly explain away, although I think most people would tell you that the show was firmly in the realm of the supernatural long before this point.
The point of all this runaround is that what Desmond keeps seeing is Charlie's future, and Charlie keeps dying, so Desmond's been saving him, but he knows he can't do it forever, and predicts that Charlie is going to die. Hooray! The universe hates Charlie as much as I do! Desmond, quit getting in the universe's way!
In miscellaneous plot news, man, Mr. Widmore is an asshole. That whiskey may be expensive but I doubt a single swallow is worth more than Desmond. Think about what you could get for his kidneys alone on the organ black market! Also, apparently the English pub crowd really loves them some Cass Elliott. And why is the angry guy with the cricket bat there immediately as the game ends? Did the bartender promise him the money would show up magically in his wallet if the team won?
Next week: Forget any of this ever happened, it's back to the Jack plot. Where he had the upper hand a week ago, apparently now he's just another prisoner, and the previously taken castaways are "here to watch," whatever that means. The tease promises answers to "three of Lost's biggest mysteries," which, yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
s3e07: Not in Portland
After the lame episode that was "I Do," and the massive hiatus that followed, it's about time we got a pretty good episode that didn't rely on jerk-you-around twists to be interesting. I'm not even sure when the last one of those was, frankly; mid-first season?
The flashback centers on Juliet, who it turns out has not been on the island that long. She used to work as a medical researcher in Miami, and then Dharma (I would assume) got wind of what she was doing (Ethan apparently was in town checking her out) and invited her to Portland. And then they were all, "Well, not quite Portland. More like, Mysterious Island Somewhere in the Pacific." This episode's title is one of the most accurate ever, since nothing in it takes place within 3,000 miles of Portland.
Jack continues to huff and puff around the operating room. Juliet calls his bluff about letting Benry Gale die - Jack, these people have reams of research on you! You don't think they know how much you hate when your patients die? - then orders Pickett to chase down the escaped Kate and Sawyer. And then Benry talks to her and she does the opposite - just as we hit the inevitable Pickett/Sawyer showdown, Juliet shows up and blows Pickett away. Which was utterly predictable because you knew one of those two had to die and it wasn't going to be Sawyer. In other Others news, Alex is all rebellious again and Kate and Sawyer help her pull her gomer boyfriend out of some weird torture device out of A Clockwork Orange. Also, Tom reveals himself to be kind of a puss.
Questions:
1) Why is Benry suddenly cool with letting Kate and Sawyer go? Is he worried that Jack really would let him die if he didn't? For that matter, why is he suddenly cool with letting Juliet go? (Assuming that he's actually cool with it, of course.) And why does letting her go depend on her letting other people go? Has Benry had a change of heart and suddenly thinks everyone should fly the coop? Too many episodes left for that, methinks.
2) So Benry is Alex's dad. Do we think this is literal Dad? As in, getting it on with Rousseau? I'm unconvinced. If Benry has lived on the island his whole life, as he told Jack, then either (a) Rousseau has told a whole bunch of lies about her past or (b) Alex was brainwashed as a youth into thinking Benry was her father. If (b) is the case, why is she so rebellious now? I had thought that much of her behavior was predicated on knowing that she was kidnapped as a child, but now I'm not sure.
If he's her literal dad, this opens up many many cans of worms. For example, recall from s2e14 that Rousseau captured Benry and brought him to Jack and co. Well, if Rousseau and Benry know each other... sort of a problem, yes? And that doesn't really reconcile with Rousseau saving Claire from the Others. I don't think this is the way they'll go, but who ever knows with this show?
Jack stitching Benry up thanks to Kate's tearful recollection of his story from the pilot was probably the best moment of the season so far. There, I said it. Let's hope for more of those in the remaining 15 weeks.
The flashback centers on Juliet, who it turns out has not been on the island that long. She used to work as a medical researcher in Miami, and then Dharma (I would assume) got wind of what she was doing (Ethan apparently was in town checking her out) and invited her to Portland. And then they were all, "Well, not quite Portland. More like, Mysterious Island Somewhere in the Pacific." This episode's title is one of the most accurate ever, since nothing in it takes place within 3,000 miles of Portland.
Jack continues to huff and puff around the operating room. Juliet calls his bluff about letting Benry Gale die - Jack, these people have reams of research on you! You don't think they know how much you hate when your patients die? - then orders Pickett to chase down the escaped Kate and Sawyer. And then Benry talks to her and she does the opposite - just as we hit the inevitable Pickett/Sawyer showdown, Juliet shows up and blows Pickett away. Which was utterly predictable because you knew one of those two had to die and it wasn't going to be Sawyer. In other Others news, Alex is all rebellious again and Kate and Sawyer help her pull her gomer boyfriend out of some weird torture device out of A Clockwork Orange. Also, Tom reveals himself to be kind of a puss.
Questions:
1) Why is Benry suddenly cool with letting Kate and Sawyer go? Is he worried that Jack really would let him die if he didn't? For that matter, why is he suddenly cool with letting Juliet go? (Assuming that he's actually cool with it, of course.) And why does letting her go depend on her letting other people go? Has Benry had a change of heart and suddenly thinks everyone should fly the coop? Too many episodes left for that, methinks.
2) So Benry is Alex's dad. Do we think this is literal Dad? As in, getting it on with Rousseau? I'm unconvinced. If Benry has lived on the island his whole life, as he told Jack, then either (a) Rousseau has told a whole bunch of lies about her past or (b) Alex was brainwashed as a youth into thinking Benry was her father. If (b) is the case, why is she so rebellious now? I had thought that much of her behavior was predicated on knowing that she was kidnapped as a child, but now I'm not sure.
If he's her literal dad, this opens up many many cans of worms. For example, recall from s2e14 that Rousseau captured Benry and brought him to Jack and co. Well, if Rousseau and Benry know each other... sort of a problem, yes? And that doesn't really reconcile with Rousseau saving Claire from the Others. I don't think this is the way they'll go, but who ever knows with this show?
Jack stitching Benry up thanks to Kate's tearful recollection of his story from the pilot was probably the best moment of the season so far. There, I said it. Let's hope for more of those in the remaining 15 weeks.
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