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.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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?
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