Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer is approached by Hibbs who says he has found the real Sawyer in Australia under the name Frank. Sawyer goes to kill Frank but finds that he can't do it. He goes to a bar where he meets Christian who encourages him to go through with it. Sawyer kills Frank only to realize that he had been duped by Hibbs into killing the wrong person. On the island, a boar attacks Sawyer over and over again so Sawyer angrily goes after it. Kate joins in with him, trying to get Sawyer to give his gun back to Jack. They bond while they camp out together. Sawyer eventually finds the boar but decides against killing it. Sawyer gives his gun back to Jack and realizes that Christian was his father. Meanwhile, Sayid helps Charlie deal with the fact that he killed Ethan.
The Good: This episode is much better than it has any right to be. On paper this is a stupid plot and it seems like this is going to be another dull episode. But the show stepped up and we got a tremendous character episode with high quality dialogue, powerful themes and some stellar acting. The island story is pretty simple. A boar pisses Sawyer off so he decides to enact some petty revenge. The story is consistently funny and there are plenty of moments where I genuinely laughed, like Sayid harassing Sawyer, Kate amusingly watching Sawyer track everything but the boar, and of course the boar's apparent vendetta for Sawyer. But where this episode stands out is in its character development. The island story is chock-full of brilliant character interactions. The Kate and Sawyer relationship is still a highlight of the show, and they were terrific in this episode. The I Never scene was a piece of art that brilliantly revealed details about these characters while also allowing them to bond in an interesting and well-written way. Sawyer got the best arc of the episode though. On the island we can see his thirst for revenge as he goes after the boar, but he's obviously haunted by something. The vague line of "it'll come back around" is repeated frequently, and Sawyer's connection to Locke's story add a lot of intrigue to what is nagging Sawyer about the boar. By the end of the episode, it's clear that the boar symbolizes Sawyer's guilt over killing Frank in cold blood. Sawyer wants to get back at the boar, but he has this sinking feeling that the boar embodies Frank who is coming after him in death for revenge. At the end of the episode Sawyer gets a chance to cut out his guilt and also get vengeance on the boar, but he doesn't take the opportunity. Sawyer is still unable to get over what he has done, so he realizes that he isn't ready to kill again. The story is told very well, and Sawyer deciding not to kill the boar is a surprisingly good moment. Everything that happens on the island brilliantly ties into the flashbacks too. The flashbacks are used to bring clarity into Sawyer's inner struggles on the island, making them a wonderful way to provide exposition for the main story. "Lost" has used this technique before in other great episodes ("Walkabout" for example), but I think this is the best use of it. Without the flashbacks, we would have no way of understanding what was in Sawyer's mind as he chased the boar. The flashbacks aren't only used to propel the island story though; they stand on their own as an individual story of a man who struggles to take his first kill. There are so many fantastic scenes in the flashback storyline including a tense sequence when Sawyer first confronts Frank, and a beautifully written conversation between Sawyer and Christian. Not only does Christian push Sawyer towards his eventual killing of Frank, but he also gives us a new viewpoint of his relationship with Jack, suggesting that Jack's massive backlog of guilt may actually be a little redundant since Christian died feeling proud of his son. Finally, we got the outstanding twist as Sawyer, the con man, gets conned into killing the wrong person, giving him none of the inner peace he had desired and instead leaving him with a healthy dose of guilt to deal with. Sawyer went for the kill with intentions to rid himself of his baggage, but he walked away having added on to the immense weight on his shoulders. Charlie's storyline fit the theme of this episode nicely. While Sawyer deals with the grief of killing somebody for the first time in the A-story, Charlie does the same thing in the B-story. It's nice to get some follow-up on the events of the last episode (it would have been nice if the same was done with Charlie's withdrawal!). Charlie killing Ethan is a very significant moment, and I'm glad that the character has had a reaction to it, allowing him to grow and change. Furthermore, the episode nicely utilizes Sayid as he is the perfect guy to sympathize with Charlie over killing people. There were a few other moments I liked. I enjoyed Hurley's remark on Ethan rising from the grave to kill them all. It's nice to see that the survivors have implanted a supernatural vibe on the mysterious other people, and I really wish we could get more scenes of characters conversing about Ethan and whoever else could be on the island. Also I think this is the first time we learn what Sawyer's real name is: James. The Bad: This episode is a fine character piece, but it is severely lacking in drama. There is literally no suspense or drama in the island storyline and that does hurt the episode a little bit. It's certainly not a major problem (I've given slow, character-based episodes of shows like "Better Call Saul" really glowing reviews), but it does prevent this episode from reaching the high heights of some of this season's best episodes. I didn't like Kate freaking out when Sawyer picked up the baby boar. Her childish whining does not mesh at all with her character of being a hardened criminal. Kate remains the most inconsistent and worst written character on the show. The Unknown: Why did Sawyer hear "it'll come back around" from the whispering in the jungle? Was it just his imagination or was it actually there? Who is Hibbs to Sawyer? What did he do that made Sawyer despise him? What is the Tampa job? Kate was married? When? To who? Presumably this was before she became a criminal. Kate said it was a very short marriage. What happened that ended it so quickly? Was Frank's spirit actually inside that boar? I doubt it, but you never know when this show may take off into supernatural territory. Best Moment: There are plenty of fantastic scenes, but I'll go with Kate and Sawyer's game of I Never. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a surprisingly excellent episode. The character work is top-notch and it more than overcomes a lame island plot. Score: 74
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Summary: Ross meets a student who is in love with him and he decides to date her. One of Chandler's old friends has become a movie director and Joey pushes Chandler to talk to her and get him an interview. Rachel and Phoebe's apartment burns in a fire and the two of them have to live with Joey and Monica respectively.
The Good: This is just a really fun episode. There are three strong storylines here and each of them consistently made me laugh. All of the characters are extremely fun here, there is none of the cartoonish overacting that has plagued the season, and most of the laughs are organic. Ross is a lot of fun as he dates Elizabeth while also trying to maintain his reputation with the other professors. Ross' nicknames are clever, and the reveal that he could get fired for dating Elizabeth is a pretty good moment. Joey and Chandler's story is also really fun. The way that Chandler maneuvers the situation to get Joey an audition is really funny, as well as Joey's little jingle to remember Thursday. Phoebe and Rachel are also pleasingly consistent to their characters in their story, and I like the irony of Joey's place actually being the better place to stay over Monica's. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. Best Moment: Joey almost missing his audition and Thursday and panicking when he realizes what day it is. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: This is a really fun episode with a lot of laughs. This season is finally beginning to find some consistency. Score: 71 Summary: Flashbacks show Charlie deciding to steal and sell a woman's valuable heirloom in order to buy more heroin. He befriends the girl and ends up falling in love with her, wanting to be respectable. He takes a new job, but after dealing with withdrawal, he goes through with the con anyways. In the present, Claire wakes up with amnesia. Ethan appears to Charlie and threatens to kill somebody at nightfall if Claire isn't returned. Jack and Locke debate defenses to protect Claire. Their plans fail and somebody is killed. Jack brings out the guns and takes four others to fight Ethan, using Claire as bait. Jack fights Ethan and captures him but Charlie kills him before he reveals anything.
The Good: Charlie is a good character. He is very flawed, but he comes off as earnest and passionate in everything he does, making it easy to root for him. In both the flashbacks and the present, it is easy to root for him to succeed and prove that he is capable enough to protect the people around him. The story told surrounding his character is pretty good, and it is nice to see him becoming capable enough to help Claire on the island whereas he failed to take care of Lucy in the past. Ethan was the highlight of this episode though. He's threatening and scary, and his presence adds a huge deal of tension. The entire episode is centered around his impending threat, and it is gripping to see Jack, Locke, Sayid and the others all preparing strategies in an attempt to prevent Ethan from killing people. The stakes are high in this episode, so I was very invested. The plot moves nicely and it builds to a good climax featuring another really intense fight between Jack and Ethan. As usual, a few small details impressed me. I was pleased by Sayid thinking logically and wondering if Ethan had somehow caused Claire to become amnesiac and returned her to the camp. I also liked that Claire wa sable to figure out that something was happening based off of how people kept looking at her. Lastly, I really laughed at Charlie's Monday selling copiers. The Bad: Unfortunately this episode is by far the most frustrating so far. Ethan's death is a massive disappointment, and it is very annoying that we learned literally nothing about these other people from the whole Claire abduction storyline. It feels like the writers wanted to introduce others on the island but were opposed to explore what that would mean for the survivors. So they crafted a meaningless storyline that had such little impact on the plot of the show as a whole. Furthermore, the writers were evidently uninterested in exploring how the presence of other people on the island would impact the community of survivors. Inner conflict is never shown, not even in this episode when Ethan literally kills somebody in cold blood. It's very disappointing and it's a far cry from episodes like "White Rabbit" that beautifully conveyed conflict within the survivors camp. Another piece of lazy writing is Claire's convenient amnesia. It becomes apparent that Claire actually did escape, making Ethan look bad, but also she somehow forgot everything so that she is unable to give us any important details about the other people. This was such a clichéd moment in the episode, and it's annoying to see "Lost" taking after every other generic TV drama in this episode, especially after the show worked so hard to stand out in its first ten episodes. I was not a fan of Ethan dying either. Ethan was such a big threat, but somehow he is taken out in such an easy way. Jack and all of the others bring out guns, acknowledging that they had to do something extreme to take down Ethan. But not a single shot is fired, and Jack simply takes down Ethan by just beating him up. If Ethan could be beaten down so easily, then why was he such a big threat? This is an example of very generic villain writing, where the villain is depowered whenever it is convenient for the plot. Then we get to Charlie actually killing Ethan. Charlie is a character I like, but by having him kill Ethan for no reason whatsoever, viewers will start to turn on him. Charlie has just taken away the possibility of getting answers, and also the possibility of an interesting new plot development of Ethan in captivity. That's a very poor use of a sympathetic character. Lastly, it's annoying that nobody got frustrated with Charlie for killing Ethan. Ethan could have told the survivors some useful things, and he was also their best chance of getting off the island. Surely people would be angry with Charlie for taking away their best chance of escape. But the writers don't punish Charlie for his actions, but they frustratingly reward him by having Claire come back to him after he kills Ethan. The Unknown: Who was Ethan anyways? What did he do to Claire? How did she escape? Why did he want her back? Best Moment: Ethan threatening Charlie was a chilling moment that set the tone for the rest of the episode. Character of the Episode: Ethan. Conclusion: The Claire abduction story has been the show's biggest failure so far. The plot didn't go anywhere and it got a very poor resolution here. Charlie's character story is good however and it, as well as William Mapother's performance as Ethan, prevent this episode from getting too low of a score. Still, this is easily the weakest episode so far, and "Lost" has clearly entered a midseason lull. I really hope that the rest of this season can get the show back on the right track. Score: 51 Summary: Flashbacks show that Michael was in a relationship with Susan who eventually left him for a job opportunity, taking an infant Walt with her. Susan got involved with another man, Brian, and Michael's dreams of being a father were crushed. 9 years later, Susan dies and Brian goes to Michael to give him custody of Walt. On the island, Michael catches Walt with Locke and angrily blocks him from speaking with Locke. Michael decides to build a raft to escape the island and Walt helps. Walt sneaks away to see Locke but Michael finds out. Michael and Walt verbally fight so Walt leaves with Vincent. Walt is found and cornered by a polar bear. Michael and Locke work together to save him. After, Michael shows Walt some drawings he made for him when he was a baby and they grow closer. Locke goes looking for Vincent and finds Claire instead.
The Good: Michael finally got his centric episode, and what we got was a nice exploration into fatherhood. The flashbacks flesh out how excited Michael was to be a parent to Walt, only for that dream to be snatched away for him. It feels horribly unfair for Michael to finally be given a chance to be a parent after he loses all interest in fathering Walt, forcing him to take care of a kid who doesn't know and doesn't trust him. The story is told very well and it's easy to sympathize with Michael in spite of his poor parenting on the island. What this episode makes clear is that Michael does try to be a good parent but he doesn't know how to approach Walt as a father. It's sad to see him trying and failing to get close to Walt, and it's understandable that he gets angry at Locke who is actually successful at befriending Walt. The episode tells this story nicely and builds to a good conclusion as Michael is able to overcome his flaws. He makes peace with Locke and he earns the respect and friendship of Walt; a hard fought victory for Michael. The plot is interesting enough to follow. I love the idea of Michael trying to make a raft to get off the island. It's nice to see that people haven't forgotten about getting off the island, and it makes sense that people start coming up with alternate solutions when it is apparent that no help is going to find them. I also think the episode does get some good tension coming from the conflict between Locke and Michael. Then the end of the episode signals a meaningful change in the story as Claire stumbles back into the survivors. It will be interesting to see what happens next. There are some good things to enjoy from the side stories as well. The diary story is harmless comedy with moments like Charlie punching Sawyer, and later, Charlie trying to restrain from reading Claire's diary. But then things take a darker turn as Charlie discovers some disturbing comments (see: The Unknown). I also enjoyed the follow-up from the last episode as Boone resists the urge to drop everything for Shannon. He has moved on and changed, which is nice to see. The Bad: This episode comes off as too simple. The plot isn't very interesting and there really aren't any twists and turns, or moments of exciting drama. Though the last two episodes have been weaker than usual, they still have great moments of drama that surprise us and take the story in interesting directions. This episode doesn't seem to take any risks and it is a very straightforward story. That's not a bad thing, but it does mean that this episode does very little to stand out. I also had issues with how Michael was portrayed in the flashbacks. Rather than the flashbacks turning Michael into a gray character, like flashbacks have elegantly done for other characters, Michael is portrayed as a pure good guy. In contrast, Susan comes off as a pure bad guy. The story is surprisingly black and white, which doesn't quite fit with what "Lost" has presented to us so far. I thought the climax of the episode was very underwhelming. The polar bear threat isn't very dramatic since it's fairly obvious that nobody important is about to get eaten by the bear. I honestly felt more tension in the Michael/Locke scenes earlier in the episode than I did in the polar bear attack. Furthermore, the effects did not look very good, and the shaky cam that is used to dodge a good look at the polar bear made the climactic scene pretty disorienting, and less pleasing to watch. Did Michael seriously steal Brian's dog when he took Walt? The Unknown: Walt's apparent special abilities are very interesting. We see him throw the knife with stunning accuracy early in the episode. And later we see him seemingly summon a bronze cuckoo, the bird he was studying about, when he got angry. Finally, a polar bear attacks Walt after he looks at pictures of a polar bear in the spanish comic. These are very interesting tidbits that make me curious about what's so special about Walt. What is this mystery location on the island that Rousseau's maps point to? What's with the dreams Claire was having? What is the significance of the black rock that she was dreaming about? What happened to Claire after she was taken? How did she escape from Ethan? Did she escape or was she allowed to go back? What will she tell the survivors? What did Ethan do to her while she was gone? Best Moment: The Walt flashback was very well done. When the bronze cuckoo appears suddenly, the tone becomes very ominous and it's clear that Walt isn't just a normal kid. Character of the Episode: Michael. Conclusion: This was a good episode that told a simple story, but this certainly feels like a step down from the great character-centric episodes we got earlier in the season. Halfway through the season, "Lost" seems to have gotten into a somewhat disappointing stretch of episodes. Let's hope that Claire's return can give this season the momentum it needs to return to its best. Score: 65 Summary: In flashbacks, Boone goes to Australia to save Shannon from an abusive boyfriend. Boone pays the boyfriend to get him to leave but he eventually realizes that it was a trap from Shannon to get more money. Shannon's boyfriend takes the money and leaves her. Shannon goes to Boone and they have sex. On the island, Locke and Boone have found a hatch in the ground but can't get it open. Boone wants to tell Shannon but Locke doesn't want him to. Locke knocks him out and ties up Boone in the jungle. Boone is given a hallucinogen and has a vision of Shannon dying. He returns to Locke who tells him he needs to let go. Meanwhile, Sayid and Shannon grow closer and Kate discovers that Sun can speak English while helping her with her garden. Hurley tries to catch a fish to help with his stomach issues.
The Good: Boone's story here is really strong. His unhealthy relationship with Shannon is explored very nicely in the past and present as he needlessly involves himself in Shannon's life over and over again due to his awkward infatuation with her. I applaud the writers for taking the risk and putting in a very icky step-sibling romance into the show, using it to nicely deepen Boone's character and give him a creepier side. I like the episode's focus on getting Boone to let go of his love for Shannon. Him abandoning his dependence on her reminds me of Charlie ditching his drugs back in "The Moth", and the main story of this episode is impactful in a similar way to that one. But despite this being Boone's episode, it's Locke who is the standout. Locke gets plenty of scenes with various characters and his charisma and personality shines through in every scene. Some highlights include his Michelangelo speech to Boone early in the episode, his Webelos backstory to Sayid and his conversation with Jack on the state of his hunting. Locke seems to have seriously grown into a wise sage character as we see him offering assistance to just about everyone, and his decision to help Boone let go was pretty noble. The side stories were fantastic in this episode. Not only were they a lot of fun, but they also allowed the episode to touch on a lot of little details which I really appreciated. The Jin/Hurley story is consistently hilarious and I found myself laughing at Hurley's antics every time he came on screen. I also really love the idea of a rumour spreading around that Jin actually speaks English. That rumour, along with Kate's rumour that Locke has decided to keep the boar to himself, feels so realistic, since rumours would come up like crazy in a small community that has nothing better to do. There were some other little details I liked. Sun's garden is nice and it works as a hobby for her to help her kill the time. I also really loved the way that Kate discovered that Sun speaks English. Furthermore, I think it's really interesting that Kate was still lying to Sun despite thinking she doesn't understand what she is saying. Is she practicing her ability to lie to manipulate people? That's very interesting characterization. Lastly, I was very pleased to see Charlie's withdrawal being addressed, even if it was very brief. The Bad: It's a bit hard to believe that Locke can just make a strong hallucinogen just like that. Additionally, how could Locke know that the vision that Boone had would help him let go of Shannon? The show seems to be making Locke far more supernatural than he actually is with this poor writing. While the monster escape sequence was exciting, it's hurt by the fact that something just doesn't seem right the entire time. I ended up predicting the hallucination reveal early on and that took away from a lot of the drama. I also never bought into Shannon's supposed death since the moment felt way too flippant and out-of-nowhere to be real. I thought that Boone's story got totally overshadowed by the rest of the episode. It didn't stand out as much as it should have, and I was much more interested by Locke's scenes. Did Sayid really get over Nadia that quickly? Having him go after Shannon is a bit odd. The Unknown: What's in the hatch? How are Locke and Boone going to get it open? Why was Kate practicing lies on Sun? Why doesn't Locke's compass point north? That was a very interesting development, and it raises several questions. Also why did Locke say he didn't need the compass anymore? Is it because he knew it was faulty or something else? What's in that box that Michael was looking at? Best Moment: Locke's Michelangelo speech is really well done. It's always fascinating to listen to Locke speak and there is a sense of mystery throughout the scene as we try to figure out where Locke is heading with the story Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: This was a very strong episode that told a solid character story with some very strong side stories and character interactions as well. Though Boone's story was somewhat overshadowed by everything else, this was still an easy to enjoy episode. Score: 69 Summary: Ross tries to teach "Unagi" to Rachel and Phoebe who are more than a little skeptical about the idea. Chandler and Monica agree to make each other Valentine's Day gifts but both of them don't know what to make for the other. Joey tries to pretend that he has a twin to do a medical experiment for money.
The Good: There are three very good but not quite great stories presented here. Ross is the highlight and the Unagi story is very funny. His attacks on Phoebe and Rachel are very funny, and the gag of him accidentally attacking two random other women ends the episode on a real high note. Monica and Chandler feel earnest as they struggle to get each other presents, and the ensuing chaos as Chandler pretends that he made a mixtape before the whole plan backfires on him is pretty funny to see. Lastly, the Joey story has some great moments like Joey's apparent backstory with Carl and him trying to hit on the receptionist. The Bad: All three stories are quite silly in nature. Just about everyone is overacting regularly now and a lot of the laughs come from moments that don't feel even close to as realistic or relatable as moments from earlier in the series. For a show that is essentially about six friends living their lives, I need to feel like the story is one that would fit in reality. This interactions in this episode are just too unrealistic to create this feeling and that prevents this episode from being great. Best Moment: Ross attacking the wrong women and getting his ass kicked was hilarious. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was a goofy and funny episode, but also an episode that really shows how much this show has fallen. Score: 69 Summary: Flashbacks show Kate robbing a bank with the help of some guys she manipulated. She turns on them when they threaten to kill the bank manager. Kate is only there for a mysterious green envelope. In the present, Kate and Sawyer find a pond in the woods and swim in it together. They find bodies from the plane in the pond and Sawyer finds a briefcase that Kate claims in hers. Sawyer keeps it but can't get it open. Kate attempts to take it from him but she is unsuccessful so she goes to Jack, telling him that the key is buried with the Marshall. Jack agrees to get the key for her but only if he opens the case with her. The case has several guns and the green envelope from the flashbacks. The envelope contains a toy plane that belonged to the man Kate killed.
The Good: The briefcase makes for a good central plot. There is a lot of mystery surrounding what is in there, and that curiosity invests us into the episode. It's also pretty fun watching Sawyer's barbaric attempts to open the case combined with Kate sneakily trying to steal it from him. Kate and Sawyer are really good together. Their chemistry is much better than Kate and Jack's, and the scene at the pond feels so natural. It's just two people having fun for a couple minutes after making a neat little discovery. Furthermore, there is a spark between them whenever they speak which makes their relationship more meaningful than Jack and Kate who just don't produce that spark at all when they talk. I also really like how the fun opening scene got more serious as the bodies appear at the bottom of the pond and the case is introduced to the story. The flashbacks are pretty enjoyable. Much like the case story, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the flashbacks. Kate is obviously involved in the bank robbery somehow but it isn't immediately clear how she is involved and why she would want to rob a bank. Watching the mystery unfold to get our answers is satisfying and things are wrapped up nicely by the end with the reveal of the toy plane. There's one other thing I really want to mention that I've been meaning to bring up for a while now: the setting. The island setting has actually been extremely effective at creating drama and tension which has been a big part as to why this show is so good. The jungle is so mysterious and it creates drama because there are so many possibilities for what could be lurking behind the trees. We have seen that idea come into play in nearly every episode as we are frequently presented with the unexpected emerging from the leaves. In this episode, the unexpected was Sawyer who was apparently following Kate. There were some other small moments that worked well. The character interactions remain a highlight of the show. The side stories with Charlie/Rose and Sayid/Shannon are pretty unspectacular, but they are still a joy to watch due to pleasingly logical continuations of prior storylines (Charlie's near-death experience, Sayid taking Rousseau's notes), and also because of the very well-written dialogue. I also really liked the Jack/Kate scene with the buried Marshall. I absolutely love the connection of Jack burying the Marshall to him wanting to bury his father, and I also enjoyed Kate's attempted trick to hide the key. Lastly, I liked the cut from Sawyer looking for the axe to Boone having swiped the axe to help Locke. The transition was clever, plus it led to a funny piece of dialogue from Locke. The Bad: Unfortunately Kate's story falls totally flat. After 2 centric episode, it feels like we still hardly know the character and my interest in her has been falling rapidly since "Tabula Rasa". Kate's two episodes have been based more around the mystery behind her instead of giving us high quality character work and it hasn't worked for her. In this episode Kate isn't really given much outside of the scene with the toy airplane, but even that scene disappoints. The airplane is such an underwhelming reveal and it's hard to imagine any reason for Kate to take such risks just to recover that toy plane. Due to that, this feels like a case where we needed to understand the significance of the plane to fully connect with Kate emotionally. The problem is that the plane clearly means something to Kate and she is crying, but we don't understand why she is crying. It disconnects us from the character, preventing us from feeling anything toward Kate. I'm also not a fan of the plane getting all of the focus of the episode. By putting so much emphasis on the plane, the story completely ignores the fact that several guns have been introduced to the plot. Surely this is a big deal! Claire has been taken and these guns give the survivors an opportunity to not only defend themselves, but also to make attempts to bring her back. But for some reason the plane is focused on more and Claire's abduction has somehow been placed firmly in the background. It's very hard to believe that nobody outside of Charlie is affected by Claire's kidnapping. I think that's enough about the airplane, and it's time to get back to Kate. A big problem I have with Kate is that I'm really struggling to buy into the criminal aspect of Kate's behaviour. We haven't seen Kate do anything even remotely hardcore on the island, and that makes the hardened Kate of the flashbacks so difficult to buy into. It's so hard to believe that the kind, unthreatening girl on the island who flirts with Sawyer is the same person that kills, or almost kills, her 3 fellow bank robbers in cold blood. It's such a sudden shift, and the show hasn't given me enough insight into Kate to make me buy into it. I think it's really strange that Jack is still so hostile towards Kate. Last episode he was justified because he was under a lot of pressure and he let his negative emotions get a hold of him. But then why is he so rude to Kate here? He is downright awful in parts of the episode as he chastises her for always lying and being manipulative, but we have been given no reasons for him to think this way. Hell Kate actually told him something genuine last episode, so why does he still get mad at her for being dishonest? The writers of this episode seem to have misunderstood Jack's behaviour in the previous episode. Lastly, even the flashbacks have some dumb moments. The decision for the crooks to kill the bank manager is so absurd and unnecessary and it makes me wonder why they would bother. Why add another criminal charge to their records? Furthermore, shouldn't it be their top priority to just get the money and leave? Why waste time trying to kill people and why change the plan on the fly? They are just asking for things to go wrong. Additionally, the bank manager should be trained to give up all of the money and not risk any lives. There is no reason for him to resist the robbery as much as he does. It sure looks like the writers didn't research bank robberies enough for this storyline. The Unknown: Is there anything of substance in Rousseau's notes? What is the significance of the toy plane? Is Kate telling the truth to Jack? Did it belong to the man she loved or the man she killed? Or did she kill the man she loved? If that's the case, then why did she kill him? Also, is the man that she killed the reason that she is a wanted criminal? Or is there more to the story than that? What does Boone need the axe for? What exactly have Locke and Boone found? Best Moment: I'll go with Jack's "because I had to bury him" line. It's a wonderful piece of continuity that also allows Jack to reflect on his father. Character of the Episode: Kate. Conclusion: This was "Lost"'s first below par episode. There were several things to like and the story is fun to follow, but the writing is a significant step down from what we have gotten before. Kate is also proving to be a pretty disappointing character whose storyline isn't being conveyed in a way that benefits her. Let's hope that this was just a fluke and that we will be back to greatness in the next episode. Score: 57 Summary: Flashbacks show one of Jack's patients dying in surgery. Christian had been operating on her before but he was under the influence so Jack took over. Christian convinces Jack to claim the death was inevitable, but upon learning that the patient was pregnant, Jack tells the truth and Christian loses his job. In the present, Jack, Kate, Locke and Boone go looking for Claire. Ethan leaves two trails so the group splits up. Jack and Kate go the correct direction. Ethan attacks Jack and threatens to kill one of them if Jack keeps following. Jack presses on and they come across Charlie who has been hanged from a tree. Jack is able to resuscitate him but he doesn't remember anything. Locke and Boone keep searching and they find a mysterious structure in the dirt.
The Good: This episode had the most exciting, suspenseful plot since the pilot episodes. Following Claire and Charlie's kidnapping, there was a huge sense of urgency throughout the episode, and the momentum of chasing after Ethan made the episode work at a faster than usual pace with much more tension than what we usually get. As a result, this episode was very easy to watch and it would certainly be a highlight episode for the more casual viewers. That's not to say that the character stuff was reduced in favour of the plot, like in "Raised By Another". In fact, it's almost the opposite as this episode ended up having some of the strongest character development of the series this far. Jack's story is amazing to behold, and it's surprising how many new aspects of his character were explored in this episode. "White Rabbit" showed us Jack's most likeable traits: he's a leader, he's strong-willed, and he's heroic. In contrast, this episode shows us the more negative aspects of Jack's character. Throughout the episode he's angry, stubborn, obsessive, overly emotional, and very aggressive. But somehow the writing is so good that Jack never feels inconsistent with what we have seen of him so far, and it comes off that the writers are showing us the deeper aspects of his character. Like everybody else, even Jack has his flaws, and this makes him a much stronger character than he had appeared to be so far. The flashback story was terrific. One of the biggest mysteries from "White Rabbit" was what had happened between Jack and Christian. We are given the answer here in what ended up being a terrific examination of Jack's character. We get to learn more about why Jack was so anxious to see Christian buried. Not only was it because of their issues, but it was also because Jack himself feels responsible for the events that led to his father's death. Christian tried to get Jack to lie for him, going as far as to manipulate Jack in what was a pretty fantastic scene. But unfortunately Jack's heroic instincts haven't changed since his childhood, and we get to see Jack cave at the idea of lying, showing such integrity and dedication to the work he does by telling the truth. But Jack preserving his morals came at the expense of his relationship with his father, which was already somewhat strained. The flashback story ties into Jack's struggles on the island as well. We see Jack vehemently dashing through the woods, taking no breaks and refusing to care for himself until Claire and Charlie are found. Just like with Christian, Jack is feeling guilty about his actions which led to Claire storming off alone, and he won't stop until he has done the right thing and saved both Claire and Charlie. Jack's arc on the island is a combination of his willpower to do the right thing and the guilt he feels when his actions have unintended consequences, the two main aspects of his character that were explored in the flashbacks. Outside of Jack, there is a lot to love about the island story. There are several great moments throughout the episode that service other characters and also provide great drama. I appreciated the scenes with Michael as he gets dismissed by Locke in a lovely bit of continuity (back in "Walkabout", Locke saw for himself that Michael can be a liability). It sets up a nice bit of conflict between them while also making Michael seem more likeable as he decides to head into the jungle anyways. The fight sequence between Ethan and Jack is another highlight. The fight was short but sweet, and it was carried by the menacing threat that Ethan poised. William Mapother was very intimidating in this short scene, and his imposing presence gave me chills. Lastly, I thought the climactic scene where Jack and Kate stumbled upon Charlie was mostly fantastic. The moment was stunning, and it seemed like "Lost" may have actually killed off a key character already which would have been a devastating twist. Though that wasn't the case in the end, the scene still carried a lot of weight and it was really powerful seeing Kate crying while Jack desperately tried to bring Charlie back to life, unable to accept that he had caused Charlie's death. I liked the scene between Sayid and Sawyer. Their interactions were well written and well acted, giving us an electric scene with a lot of substance. We get to learn what Sayid has seen as a backdrop to the character drama of Sawyer confronting the man who tortured and nearly killed him. It's interesting to see Sawyer forgive Sayid, showing that he does have a human side and that he is well aware that he did deserve everything that he got. The Bad: Charlie coming back to life was a bit of a cheesy moment, but the scene was so well executed that it didn't bother me much. What did bother me was that Charlie conveniently didn't remember anything and only gave us vague details about what happened. The writers weren't ready for Charlie to give away much information, but they also weren't ready to kill him off. So instead of committing to one of these things, they took the cheap way out, which didn't feel satisfying at all. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see more reactions to what happened to Claire. The idea that there are other people on the island and that their community had been infiltrated should be horrifying to everyone. Nobody should be able to trust each other, and there should be fear all around the camp. Yet the episode doesn't explore this at all which feels like a missed opportunity. Panic radiating through the camp would have made the episode even more gripping. Jack was too confrontational with Kate in this episode. I get that the writers were trying to show Jack's aggression, but the moment where he demands that Kate tells him something real didn't land with me. It was similar to the scene in "The Moth" when Kate raged at Sawyer. The moment wasn't earned and it only happened because the writers needed for it to happen. Did we really need such cheesy punch sound effects during the Ethan/Jack fight? The poor sound design stood out there. The Unknown: Why is Hurley known to be a warrior back home? Why was Jack the only one to hear Claire's screams? I wonder if this will be significant later or if it was just Jack's anxiety-filled brain imagining screams that weren't actually there. Charlie seems to suggest that more than one person attacked him and Claire. Did Ethan bring friends? Where are these other people anyways? Could it be that they are much closer to the group of survivors than we expect? Best Moment: Plenty of moments stood out so it's tough to choose. I'll have to go with Jack going with his guts and telling the truth about what happened during the surgery. I'll put that scene slightly above Jack trying to revive Charlie and Christian manipulating Jack. All are fantastic scenes. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This was a spectacular episode that had rich character development and tons of action and tension. Though I had issues with the episode, there is just so much to love about this that I can't justify a score lower than an 80. Jack's story is simply remarkable and this episode has my favourite flashback and main island storyline so far. Score: 82 Summary: In flashbacks, Claire' boyfriend Tommy convinces her to keep her baby so they can raise it together. Tommy leaves her soon after. Claire goes to see a psychic, Richard Malkin, who is horrified by what he sees, telling her that her baby must be raised by her. Richard gets her to take Oceanic flight 815. In the present, Claire is having bad dreams. One night, she claims she is attacked by somebody but no culprit is found. Jack chalks it off as it happening in Claire's head. Claire is angered by this and leaves the camp. Charlie follows her. Meanwhile Hurley makes a census of everyone on the island. He gets the flight manifest froM Sawyer and is horrified when he finds out that Ethan wasn't on the plane. Ethan confronts Charlie and Claire alone in the jungle. Meanwhile, Sayid returns, claiming they are not alone.
The Good: Once again, "Lost" changes gears and has a very different episode from everythign before it. After so many deep character episodes, the focus completely changed in this episode, bringing out the show's more mysterious, plot-related elements instead of character. There is an emphasis on the more supernatural elements of the show in this episode, making this episode feel more important, and also very exciting for the future of the show. That's not to say that Claire's story is bad. It's not. We do learn about Claire's backstory, why she is pregnant, and why she may be hesitant to trust Charlie. Her backstory isn't as complex as other characters', but it is interesting enough. Plus, her island storyline is really interesting. With her being pregnant, we can never be sure if we can trust her experiences as they may be fake. I like that the show openly explores this with Jack giving Claire a sedative, providing us some natural character conflict. Then we get to the superb end of the episode. Claire and Charlie are vulnerable at the end of the episode, and it feels like the surprising climax would be Claire giving birth. But the show throws out a number of surprises for us. For one, Sayid makes a sudden return with some cryptic remarks (see: The Unknown). But then the big surprise comes as Hurley reveals that Ethan wasn't on the plane. The final shot of Ethan staring down at Charlie and Claire with that creepy look is downright chilling, and it leaves us on an extremely suspenseful cliffhanger which makes me really enthused to watch another episode. I thought that Hurley's side story was really good. His scenes were quite funny, as usual. I particularly liked his scene with Locke, and the joke of Hurley trying to get away from Locke after being creeped out is hilarious. Furthermore, the importance of this side story is completely unexpected. After Hurley made a golf course in a harmless B-plot in the last episode, we assume that this story is more harmless fluff to develop characters a little more. But the Hurley story actually ends up being important, and it impressively set up the ending reveal in a very big way. Lastly, I thought the scenes of the psychic in Claire's flashbacks were outstanding. Richard Malkin actually outperformed Claire in this episode, and he was portrayed brilliantly. The fear and confusion across his face when he is doing the psychic reading is pretty horrifying, really playing up the mystery. Even more terrifying is his urgent reaction to Claire, demanding that she must raise the baby herself (see: The Unknown). The psychic stole the show this episode, and I'm dying to learn more about what he saw and if he will play a bigger role later in the show. The Bad: As much as I like the change of pace, the episode is missing something by not having the great character exploration that I've gotten used to. With a more emotional story for Claire, this could have been amazing. But with a simpler storyline, the episode doesn't hit as hard emotionally as previous episodes of the show. The Unknown: What was Claire's dream about? Is there any significance there? Is the psychic real? Did he actually know about Flight 815? What did he see regarding Claire's kid? Who is Ethan? How was he already on the island? How did he infiltrate the survivors group? Did he attack Claire at night? Why? Is he interested in her baby? Why? What is he going to do at the end of the episode? Is he going to fight Charlie and Claire? Kidnap them? What is his plan? What are his motives? What happened to Sayid in the jungle? He seemed pretty shaken up. Was he attacked by other people? Is that why he claimed they weren't alone? Or did he possibly get infected by the sickness Rousseau was talking about in the last episode? Best Moment: The ending of the episode chilled me to the bone. A frightening reveal that changes the story and ends the episode with a perfect cliffhanger. Character of the Episode: Richard Malkin. Claire was somewhat underwhelming in this episode so he ended up stealing the show. Conclusion: This was another great episode, changing up the formula to focus more on the plot. However, the lack of character stuff does make this episode a step lower than the other episodes of the show. Score: 68 Summary: Monica ends up sleeping with Chandler. Ross has a threesome with Carol and Susan but it doesn't go well. Rachel struggles to bring herself to have an affair with Joey since she is still married to Barry. The friends can't bring themselves to tell Phoebe that she is fired.
The Good: This was more really fun stuff. There's a nice message here about the bonds between the friends still bringing them to the same place anyways despite everyone's lives being so different. A lot of the conclusions were excellent. Ross and Rachel being drawn together again was lovely. Phoebe becoming a nicer person who plays guitar poorly is a nice way to end her story. Monica and Chandler were great again as they got closer in this episode. All of the story conclusions were great and satisfying. The episode had really funny moments too. The character interactions were wonderful and carried the episode, with several standout lines. Lastly, I loved seeing Joey's fancy apartment return in this episode, which was a nice detail. The Bad: This was a rare case where the part 2 isn't as good as the part 1. Seeing the stories conclude was more predictable, meaning that this episode didn't fascinate me as much as the previous one. Also, I thought Chandler having only had sex once before Monica was inconsistent. Chandler was frequently with women throughout the early seasons, so I'm not sure why he hardly had sex in this alternate reality. Best Moment: Joey and Ross talking about the threesome was hilarious. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: Like part 1, this was another extremely fun episode. While not quite as good as part 1, this was still really enjoyable. Score: 72 Summary: The group of friends ponder the idea of what their lives would have been like if Ross never got divorced, Rachel stayed married to Barry, Monica was still fat, Chandler quit his job, Joey was still on Days of Our Lives and Phoebe was a stock broker.
The Good: Leave it to a formula break episode to come in and rescue the season. This was excellent stuff that capitalized on how much we care about these characters to provide a wonderful alternate reality comedy episode. There were so many easter eggs and callbacks throughout the episode, leading to several funny moments and memorable lines. Also, there's just something really fun about seeing slightly different renditions of these characters interact with each other. I thought that this episode nicely prevented itself from falling into the pitfalls of this season. With a different take on the main cast, the writers were forced to treat the characters like real humans, and that avoided the crutch of making an episode too cartoony. The writers were focused on the impact of making these characters slightly different from who they should be. Chandler and Joey's roles are swapped so they act slightly differently, Monica is less confident, etc. The other pitfall this episode avoided was having a very poor story. This episode was based on a genius concept that had much more creativity put into it than 90% of the episodes this season. Ironically, I thought some of the alternate reality characters are more in-tune to who these people are than the current renditions of the characters. Monica in particular stands out, and it's so refreshing to see a version of Monica that isn't unnecessarily loud and obnoxious, feeling more like the Monica from the first few seasons before her character was overblown. The Bad: Phoebe's character didn't fully land for me. The jokes surrounding her weren't very clever, and her character was hurt by the consistent butchery of Phoebe in the past few seasons. SInce Phoebe's kindness has been severely downplayed in recent seasons, her character doesn't feel very different from what we are used to. The point of sweet Phoebe becoming a total hardass didn't land at all. Best Moment: There were tons of great moments. My favourite was Monica and Rachel's conversation in Central Perk. There were great moments like Rachel trying to convince herself to cheat on Barry (throwing in a nice reference to "we were on a break" as well), and also Monica still being a virgin. Character of the Episode: Monica. Conclusion: This was an awesome episode that felt like a breath of fresh air in what has been a pretty disappointing season so far. I'm nervous that this high quality is only going to last for the alternate reality storyline, but hopefully I'm wrong. Score: 75 Summary: Flashbacks show Sayid's time torturing people in the Republican Guard. He is eventually forced to torture his lover Nadia. She doesn't give any information and Sayid is told to kill her. Unable to do it, Sayid frees Nadia and shoots himself to make it seem like she escaped. In the present, Sayid finds a cable on the island and follows it. He is caught in a trap, captured and tortured to reveal the location of somebody named Alex. Sayid speaks with his torturer and deduces that she is the French woman, Rousseau. Rousseau tells Sayid her story but she comes off as mentally unstable. She warns Sayid of others on the island. Sayid convinces Rousseau to let him go so he can go back to the camp. In the jungle, Sayid hears strange whispers. Meanwhile, Hurley creates a golf course to help ease stress back at the camp. While Michael plays golf, Walt goes to Locke to learn how to hunt.
The Good: Even though "Lost" has a working formula that has produced outstanding episodes, it still isn't afraid to shake things up. This episode is the most plot-heavy episode since the two-part pilot, and it manages to exquisitely mix the plot elements and the character elements together to create an episode that has parts of the excitement from the pilot and parts of beautiful storytelling from all of the episodes since. The episode started off on the right note. We get more hints at Sayid's backstory as he looks at the pictures of Nadia which builds up our excitement for learning more about Sayid. Continuing on, the episode then introduced a mysterious cable that leads into the jungle, forcing Sayid into many different traps. The opening sequence is tense, exciting and mysterious, and it is a perfect way to get us invested in the episode. Then we get an awesome sequence of Sayid being brutally tortured, which is a perfect irony. Sayid went off on his own to atone for torturing Sawyer, and he ended up atoning for his sins in a more fitting way than he would have expected. This leads into the introduction of Rousseau, the French woman who has become quite unhinged after 16 long years alone on this island. Her mannerisms are so unpredictable, almost childlike in certain elements. It's really sad to see how her time on the island has changed her, to the point that she has forgotten how to be social. It's especially powerful to see her attempt to cling on to Sayid, her only source of human interaction in over a decade. Furthermore, we got a lovely speech from Rousseau as she reveals how she got to the island, and covers a lot of the different things that happened to her team, which only furthers the mystery of the island (see: The Unknown). While the episode tells Rousseau's story, it's also telling Sayid's story simultaneously. The episode impressively blended the flashbacks with the island storyline. As Nadia breaks through Sayid's hard exterior in the flashbacks, Sayid breaks through Rousseau's wall in the present. It's a story of a cold-hearted, almost evil character getting brought back to sanity by the person they were torturing. A lovely parallel story that works really well. Sayid's actual story here is good too. I was pleased to get a look at his life in the Republican Guard, covering his duty as a soldier mixed in with his childhood relationship with Nadia. I really enjoyed the little things that were shown about his character. Scenes like Sayid refusing to desert his post to protect his family, and him praying to Allah while hanging in Rousseau's trap were excellent, and they did a great job of making Said feel like a real, relatable character. The fate of his relationship with Nadia is sad when it is revealed that Sayid has been holding onto a small hope of her life for years and years now, knowing in his heart that she is likely dead. The Hurley side plot is a lot of fun. Hurley hasn't been given much screen time to develop so far, so it's good to put the focus on him for this episode. Hurley comes off as a very wholesome person as he puts in the effort to get the other survivors to have fun, in contrast to Jack's desperate attempts at mere survival. The story doesn't advance the plot any, but it is enjoyable to watch and it continues this show's consistent characterization in an enjoyable way. There were some other small moments I really liked. I appreciated Michael's suggestion of making a shower at the caves, which is a sensible thing to work on. I also love the idea that rumours of the polar bear spread throughout the community, but may not have reached everyone. The show hasn't fully explored the idea of being in a community of less than 50 people, but this is a good start. I also really like that Michael got distracted by the golf which gave Walt the prime opportunity to go learn from Locke. Lastly, I was glad to see one of the non-main characters get some spotlight as the man with the hives got a few scenes to get introduced as well as Ethan in another extra scene. This episode seems to hint that the community of survivors will be getting more exploration in future episodes. The Bad: It was a bit odd to have the flashbacks be told in English instead of Arabic, unlike "House of the Rising Sun" a little while back. Then again, there may be some limitations in play that forced the change to English in the flashbacks so it isn't a huge problem. The Unknown: Why is there a cable on the island? Does it lead anywhere? What happened to Alex? Is he dead? Rousseau claims that there are others on the island. Are there? Where are they? Why are they there? Apparently they were carriers of the sickness. How? What is this sickness anyways? What symptoms come from the sickness? Is there even a sickness or did Rousseau just go crazy and kill her team? Lastly, what are those whispers? It seems that there is some truth to what Rousseau is saying due to Sayid hearing the whispers in the jungle. What is the black rock that Rousseau mentioned? Why did her team go there? What happened to Nadia after her escape? Is she really dead? Rousseau says there is no such thing as monsters. What does that mean? Has she seen the monster? Why haven't any of the survivors gotten sick? Why hasn't Rousseau gotten sick? Is the sickness gone? Best Moment: Rousseau telling her story was extremely gripping. It was fascinating to learn all of this information, and the scene gets even more interesting when we realize that Rousseau may not be the most reliable source for this information. Sayid eventually realizes this too, leading to a wonderful line as Sayid tells Rousseau that he thinks she has been alone for far too long. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was yet another brilliant episode that combined story and plot in a fantastic way. This show continues to impress me. Score: 77 Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer pulls a con on a girl named Jessica. He convinces her that he got in contact with somebody that is going to triple his money, but he needs help from an outside party to get enough money to make the deal. Jessica offers her husband's money and Sawyer nearly takes the deal. But when he sees that they have a kid, he backs off. In the present, Shannon is suffering from asthma as her inhalers are missing. Boone suspects Sawyer has the inhalers but Sawyer refuses to give them. Kate goes to talk with Sawyer about this to which Sawyer gives her a letter saying that Sawyer's con killed a child's parents. Jack and Sayid end up getting frustrated with Sawyer and eventually take him away for torture. Sayid is revealed to be experienced at torturing and Sawyer eventually spills the beans: he doesn't have the inhalers. Sayid doesn't believe him and nearly kills Sawyer. Horrified by his actions, Sayid leaves the camp to scout the island. Kate visits Sawyer and reads his letter again, deducing that he wrote the letter.
The Good: This was another fantastic episode that told a brilliant story. After last episode was lacking in drama, this episode came up with a much better plot. Shannon's asthma is a good focal point for the story as it does give the episode a sense of urgency and it helps build to the many frustrations which boil over through the course of the episode. The key characters that come into conflict in this episode are Sawyer, Jack and Sayid. Sawyer is just an overall prick as he has been throughout the series, so it's no surprise that he is the catalyst in this episode. Jack and Sayid on the other hand are both experiencing intense frustrations against Sawyer. Jack is noticing that he is running low on medical supplies, and Sawyer hoarding a lot of supplies puts Jack and Sawyer at odds. Sayid's feud with Sawyer is already more personal, and it certainly isn't helped by Locke getting Sayid to suspect that Sawyer was the one who attacked him. With all of these characters at each other's throats and with the urgency of Shannon's deteriorating condition, it isn't a surprise that Sayid and Jack turn to something barbaric and desperate to solve their problems. The torture scene is extremely intense and is one of the better drama scenes that the show has produced. I had genuinely no idea where the story would go once Sayid started torturing Sawyer and I was left on the edge of my seat. The end of the sequence is handled well too. Sawyer is as much of a jerk as ever when he demands that Kate kiss him anyways, and the subsequent reveal that he doesn't have the inhalers is a surprise, but one that fits with Sawyer's character. Speaking of Sawyer's character, he is given a ridiculous amount of depth here. The show pulls the same trick they used back in "Walkabout" where a twist at the end of the episode completely changes our perception of a character. The original story we believe is that Sawyer is a con man that feels guilty about what he did to the kid that sent him the letter. So to cope he is just a complete asshole to everyone. The story is easy enough to understand and enjoy throughout the episode, plus we get a wonderful scene where Sawyer forces Kate to read the letter, showing an intensity that we have never seen from him before. Because of this story, it seems obvious that the flashbacks are showing us Sawyer doing the con that leads to the deaths of Jessica and David. But because this is "Lost", Sawyer's character has so much more to it. The end of the episode gives us some surprising twists starting with Sawyer's unexpected decision to abandon the con he was doing. It's confusing and it raises many questions about why Sawyer's flashbacks don't seem to correspond with the story. Then Kate gives us the huge reveal that Sawyer was actually the one who wrote the letter. The twist is outstanding and it does a brilliant job of making us sympathize with Sawyer. A con man with regrets is still somebody who is easy to hate, but the man with a revenge quest who tragically became the man he wants to kill is so much deeper. My feelings towards Sawyer are very complex now, and I'm feeling a mixture of hate, pity, understanding and sympathy. Just like with Locke, the episode expertly changed my thoughts on Sawyer. I also really loved the look we got into Sayid's character. Learning about his background as a torturer is very significant, and it appears that Sayid has a darker past than it initially seemed. I really like his decision to distance himself from the camp after he nearly killed Sawyer. Sayid seems genuinely ashamed of what he did and now it's time for him to atone in his own way. Furthermore, Sayid leaving on his own gives us a good excuse to explore more of this mysterious island with a new plot thread. The Charlie/Claire side story is harmless fun and I liked it. It develops their relationship well, and it also allowed for Hurley to continue to be hilarious. The Charlie/Hurley scene is one of the show's funnier moments so far. The Bad: Apparently Charlie went through withdrawal off screen because he is fine now. That's pretty sloppy storytelling, and I think a side story of Charlie dealing with withdrawal would have been a much better addition to this episode. Locke suggesting that Sawyer could delay the fuse with a cigarette is absurd. With Sawyer needing to react to Shannon's bottle rocket, to delay a fuse with such timing is near impossible. Sayid should have been smart enough to realize this. The Unknown: It seems that Locke wasn't the one who attacked Sayid. So who was it? Best Moment: Kate realizing the truth about Sawyer's letter was a shocking twist and it really put Sawyer's character into the spotlight. I love the idea that Sawyer isn't actually his name, and that he donned the name when he realized that he had become the man he wanted to kill. The depth to this is so spectacular. Kate deduces that Sawyer's toxic behaviour is because he wants to be hated, and the episode seems to imply that Sawyer behaves this way intentionally. Sawyer seems to believe that he has to be a terrible person, because if he can forgive himself, then that would mean that he can also forgive Mr. Sawyer. And that is something that Sawyer is nowhere near ready to deal with. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: With a structure similar to "Walkabout", this ended up being another outstanding episode. The story is so well done, and the depth given to Sawyer is simply remarkable. This show continues to deliver. Score: 81 Summary: Flashbacks reveal Charlie as a formerly religious man who is uncomfortable about the temptations that being a rockstar brings. Charlie almost quite the band but his brother Liam gets him to continue. Charlie is uncomfortable by Liam's actions but he eventually gives in and becomes a druggie. A while later, Charlie visits Liam in Australia to get him back into the band but Liam is clean and has moved on. In the present, Charlie is struggling with withdrawal and goes to Locke to get his drugs back. Locke tells Charlie he will give him the drugs if Charlie asks him 3 times. Charlie gets angry with Jack and causes a cave-in, trapping Jack. The survivors try to get him out and Charlie eventually volunteers to go in and get Jack once a hole is made. Charlie is able to get in and get Jack out safely. Charlie goes back to Locke and burns his remaining heroin. Meanwhile, Sayid sets up 3 devices to locate the origin of the transmission but he is knocked out by somebody before he can find it.
The Good: This episode feels very different from everything that came before. This episode was incredibly focused on Charlie's story, and it told a much more complete story than all of the other character-centric episodes as Charlie goes through what is pretty much a full character arc in this one episode. This nicely gives the episode a sense of completeness and satisfaction on a higher level than the previous episodes. This episode is also heavily focused on the theme of choice. The theme is explored with every chance that the episode gets, and we end up getting a very strong story for Charlie that centers around the decisions he has made and the decision he is ultimately going to make at the end of the episode. I thought the first flashback was perfect, as the priest introduced the concept of choice in Charlie's life. Charlie wants to be a good person but he gives in to temptations and doesn't seem to fully accept that there is a choice to be made. He lets himself become a druggie, and later in the flashback he blames Liam for his addiction. He hasn't accepted that drugs were his choice, not something that he was destined to do. This pays off wonderfully at the end of the episode as Charlie is finally able to understand that he does have a choice, and he chooses to go to Locke and destroy all of his remaining drugs. It's a lovely moment where Charlie finally comes full circle, and it's hard not to feel happy for him overcoming his addiction. There were more moments centering on choice that were really strong. Locke was fantastic here as he played a sort of wise master over Charlie, attempting to get him to break his drug habit. The titular moth speech that Locke tells Charlie is a spectacular moment that is so rich in theme, symbolism and character (see: Best Moment). The flashbacks are also really good as they examine why Charlie ended up making the choices he did. He felt abused by his brother and useless to his band, so to cope with these feelings, he turned to drugs. This is mirrored effectively in the island storyline as Charlie spends much of the episode feeling useless, which is conveyed through good acting from Dominic Monaghan and some stellar directing. Evidently these feelings of uselessness lead to Charlie wanting to get his drugs back from Locke, but when Charlie chooses to do something good and save Jack, he is finally able to overcome his self-destructive feelings of uselessness. The plot of the episode is fine as well. Charlie causing the cave-in made sense, and his growing frustrations as he dealt with withdrawal made sense. I liked the Sayid/Kate/Sawyer plot line too. It was a nice background plot that went to a very interesting ending as Sayid got mysteriously attacked (see: The Unknown). The Bad: The storytelling here is great, but the drama is lacking. The cave-in story doesn't add much tension because it seems obvious that both Charlie and Jack aren't going to die in a cave-in of all things. It's not a particularly tense storyline. Furthermore, I thought that having Charlie get dramatically chased by a boar early in the episode was very awkward and it seems like it was only added in an attempt to get more drama into the episode. The episode's focus on Charlie did help give the episode a greater sense of completeness, but it did lead to some cons as well. This dedicated focus meant that this episode didn't feature much story for the side characters. There wasn't really anything interesting happening with the side characters throughout the episode, taking away one of the things I most enjoyed about the past 6 episodes. There are a few other small issues I had with the episode. The episode is a little heavy-handed with its storytelling, and while I still enjoy it, there is a lack of subtlety with some of the story beats, for example the moth leading Charlie out of the cave. I thought that there were some other clumsily written moments. The biggest offender for me was Kate's oddly hostile reaction to Sawyer when he showed up, which is especially strange since Kate has never seemed to particularly despise Sawyer. It was a case where the plot demanded that Kate got mad at him, so she did. Lastly, I found the whole story of Kate running back to save Jack to be pretty generic and uninteresting. The Unknown: Is there actually a greater explanation for why everyone survived the plane crash? Michael says he has a background in construction. Is there any significance to this? Who attacked Sayid? The only person I can think of that would make any sense is Locke, but I'm still not sure why he would do that. Best Moment: Locke's moth speech is a great moment. Charlie comes to Locke at his lowest and begs for his drugs. Locke recognizes Charlie's suffering and connects it to his own suffering when he was in the wheelchair. So he lets Charlie know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, using a moth as a terrific analogy. The dialogue is really well written and the scene has a lot of significance to the story overall. Fascinating stuff. Character of the Episode: Charlie, though Locke was a close second. I get the sense that the centric character will usually be the character of the episode. Conclusion: This was a great episode that told a terrific, well-rounded story. It was more flawed than previous episodes of the show, but I thought the strong storytelling still earns in a score over 70. Score: 71 Summary: The friends are upset because Chandler doesn't cry. Rachel gets Ross to stop dating Jill, but Jill learns this and tries to get back at Rachel. Joey discovers that Phoebe is apparently a porn star and decides to investigate.
The Good: This was a welcome return to form to an extent. The previous few episodes have been filled with thoughtless plot lines and jokes that just don't make me laugh very much. Some of the issues were rectified in this episode. The overarching story from the previous episode was fun to watch. Rachel trying to get Ross to stop dating Jill was amusing, and the conclusion to the story is really strong, also furthering the Ross/Rachel story. The Phoebe story is also very good. It's inventive and also leads to some really funny moments (see: Best Moment). Joey and Phoebe in particular are treated really well as characters, and they are funny throughout. Chandler's story isn't the best, but it does get some good laughs. The Bad: The joke of Chandler crying at the end is stupid. What's worse is that the story could have easily been less infuriating if Chandler had been mockingly crying at the end instead. Furthermore, Monica is awful to Chandler as the writers continue to sabotage her character by playing up her loud and obnoxious side. Best Moment: Joey and Ross return with movies of Phoebe doing porn and everything that comes afterwards is hilarious, from everyone deciding to watch the movies, to the names of the movies, to Phoebe walking in at the end. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: While not a special episode, this was very good comedy for the most part and I enjoyed it. Score: 66 Summary: Flashbacks show that Jin and Sun used to have a loving relationship. When they married, Jin had to work for Sun's father and he turned into a colder, more ruthless man as a result. Sun wanted to leave him but at the airport before their flight, she changed her mind. On the island, Jin attacks Michael and he is handcuffed to a part of the plane until his motives are discovered. Sun goes to Michael and talks to him, revealing she can speak English. She explains that it was his watch. Michael gives his watch to Jin and releases him. Jack takes a group to the caves and decides that he wants to move a portion of the camp to the caves, which he successfully does. Locke gets Charlie to give up his drugs.
The Good: Jin and Sun's story is horribly tragic. The flashbacks make is clear that the two of them used to have a very loving relationship. Jin was not the man that we met on the island, rather he was a kind-hearted and loving man who was able to charm Sun easily. But sadly Jin had to sacrifice himself to Sun's father in order to ensure their marriage, and it ultimately led to him losing himself as a person. The kind-hearted Jin became a ruthless and cold man which very quickly alienated Sun. The tragic part of all of this is that Jin justifies his actions because he is doing them for Sun who is growing further apart from him every day. In the end Sun gets so frightened by Jin that she attempts to escape him by faking her kidnapping. The scene where she makes her decision is fantastic (see: Best Moment), and it's really sad to see her stick with Jin after being reminded of why she loved him in the first place. And that ended up being an unfortunate mistake, one that we can really sympathize with. The two island stories are very good. The Jin/Sun story is strong and it has a nice amount of mystery as we watch the episode to learn why Jin attacked Michael. It's a good hook and I thought the resolution was really good. Jin attacked Michael over something really stupid, fitting to his aggressive nature and loyalty to Sun's father. We also get a great twist when Sun reveals she can speak English. The twist isn't the most surprising (Sun and Jin needed to be able to communicate to the others somehow), but I still didn't see it coming. The caves story is really strong too. It makes sense that Jack would want to move into the caves for survival's sake, though I totally understand that people would be upset at the idea of abandoning all hopes of rescue. The separation of the survivors was a good story and the montage at the end of the episode was a nice way to show everyone separated by their ideals. Plus it was a visually nice way to show the group's separation, which is especially good for a show which has been pretty flat with its cinematography so far (outside of some great transitions between flashbacks). As usual, the two main plots lead to some awesome character work being done. Locke gets Charlie to drop drugs in a wonderful side-plot, continuing his shtick as a sage-like character. Michael gets his best episode yet as he gets to rage at Jin while also being a better parent to Walt than what we have seen from him beforehand. Jack and Kate continued to flirt in some really good scenes with nice dialogue and some comedy coming from Charlie and Hurley. The Bad: I thought that Jack asking Kate what she did at the end of the episode was pretty awkward, and it wasn't built up to well enough. They were getting along really well for most of the episode, and Kate choosing to stay on the beach is a very understandable move, especially seeing how many people stayed with her. Yet Jack seems to believe that this decision is so strange and has something to do with Kate's background. The writing doesn't get this idea across very well, so Jack's lines don't seem to make much sense. Hooray for more gratuitous shots of Kate in a bra. Though they weren't as bad as the shots in "Pilot Part 2" since this time it led to a funny joke from Charlie. The Unknown: Who were those skeletons that were laid to rest in the caves? What is with the stones they had with them? How is Charlie going to deal with his withdrawal? With there still being some heroin left in Locke's possession, will Charlie be able to resist taking it back? Why does Sun speak English? When did she learn? She has also kept it secret from Jin for some reason. Why? Could it be that she planned to go to America after faking her kidnapping so she learned English to prepare? Best Moment: Sun sees the black car waiting to take her away, but in the moment she struggles to commit to leaving Jin. Right when it seems like she is about to swallow her feelings for him and leave, she takes one final look back only for Jin to hold up the flower, reminding her of the man he used to be. It's such a heartbreaking scene and it's impossible not to sympathize with Sun as she eventually finds that she is unable to leave Jin. Character of the Episode: Several characters were great here, but Sun seals her spot here with the airport scene. Conclusion: Another episode, another brilliant story. The show remains so consistent and the character-centric flashback formula is doing wonders for developing the show's characters and keeping the show compelling. Even when focusing on the mostly underdeveloped and separate Korean couple, "Lost" remains compelling. Score: 70 Summary: Flashbacks go to Jack as a kid when he gets beat up trying to save a friend. His father Christian berates him for this. Later in life, Jack is told that Christian fled to Australia. Jack goes to find him and sees that he drank himself to death. Christian's body is taken on Flight 815. On the island, Jack attempts to save a drowning woman but can only bring back Boone who tried to save her too. Jack follows the man in the suit who is actually his father. He is encountered by Locke who encourages Jack to keep going. Jack finds a reliable source of water and more wreckage from the flight. He finds Christian's coffin but the body is missing. The water is running out in the survivors camp so Boone takes it to manage it without telling anyone. The camp nearly breaks into chaos but Jack returns and settles things down, accepting leadership of the camp.
The Good: Jack is the complete star of this episode. Matthew Fox brings the character to life by terrifically portraying the many emotions that Jack goes through in this episode. Jack goes through a very intense period of his life in this episode, across both the flashbacks and the island story, and the character work done here goes a long way to develop his character and position him naturally as the leader and main protagonist. I really enjoyed the flashbacks. Jack and Christian evidently had a strained relationship which stemmed from Jack's childhood. Christian has hammered it into Jack that he isn't good enough, and while it seems that Christian attempted to use this to humble Jack and make him understand that he can't do everything, it seems that Jack took it as Christian never believing in him. It's a sad misunderstanding and it makes it much more likely that Jack was always seeking his father's approval, making it all the more tragic that Christian dies before Jack can get what he wanted. This nicely ties into the island story as Jack is haunted by the memory of Christian (literally). Jack's storyline is that he must take up the leadership role int he survivor's camp despite initially having no interest in doing so. The island story is all about Jack getting over the baggage of his father's death and ridding himself of the constant feeling that he doesn't have "what it takes". Unfortunately Jack is unable to fully exorcise his demons as he doesn't get the closure he seeks from Christian's coffin as the body is missing. In a great scene, Jack pours out all of his frustration that had been building throughout the episode for so long. And despite not getting the resolution he wanted, he was still able to patch himself up again and go back to the other survivors, now willing to be the leader that they need. Jack has proven that he does have what it takes. I thought that the more plot-related stuff was interesting too. Jack following Christian was very interesting to follow, especially his run-in with Locke, the only other person to have witnessed the magic of the island. Locke has a faith in the island that nobody else has after it restored his legs, so he encourages Jack to trust in the visions he is having, expecting that Jack will eventually find what he is looking for. And surprisingly enough he does find what he needed; he found the water, but most importantly, he found his resolve. The story of the water disappearing was really well done. Without a leader, the camp naturally fell into total chaos in just a few hours. Boone, Kate and Sayid all try to do the right thing in this episode but they don't end up accomplishing anything, and everything blows up by the end of the episode until Jack calms everyone down with a wonderful speech. There were many nice moments scattered throughout. Boone taking the water makes perfect sense as he thoughtlessly tries to do good after he realizes that his attempt to save Joanna at the beginning of the episode actually led to her death. I also liked Sayid and Kate hunting down the water, and their scenes with Sawyer were a highlight. Sayid gets to be smart as he waits for Sawyer to lead them to his stash, Kate gets to be ruthless as she attacks Sawyer and Sawyer gets to flirt some more with Kate, who he has clearly taken a liking to. The character work remains really damn good. Michael and Walt get a good scene early in the episode as Michael gets frustrated with Walt asking him why he can't drink the ocean's water. The scene pulls double duty too as it also explains to the viewers that the survivors can't drink the ocean water. Claire also gets a really good story as she is able to express to Charlie how everyone treats her differently with much more vitriol because she is pregnant, which would make perfect sense in a community of survivors waiting to be rescued. Charlie also gets to show his good side as he comforts Claire. I'm very pleased that Charlie has been developed beyond being a drug addict, since his addiction doesn't necessarily mean that he is a bad person and a big problem all the time. The Bad: Teasing us with Jack almost falling off a cliff was pretty stupid. It was obvious that he wasn't going to fall. This episode is excellent, but it doesn't score nearly as high as "Walkabout" did. Why? It's actually through no fault of the episode itself. This episode did a lot of things right, but it didn't wow me and exceed my expectations as regularly as "Walkabout" did. There doesn't necessarily need to be things I don't like about an episode that make it weaker than another episode. The Unknown: How is Christian appearing on the island? Did he somehow get revived? Why isn't his body in the coffin? Why weren't Jack and Christian talking to each other before Christian went to Sydney? What happened between them? Was it a big spat or is this normal interaction in what looks to be a very strained relationship? Why did Christian appear to Jack? Did he actually want Jack to become a leader and that is why he took him on a little journey? Was it because there was water in that direction? What are his motives? Why hasn't he appeared since leading Jack to the water? Locke says he had seen into the eye of the island. Is he referring to the monster? What did he see that was so beautiful? Or could he just be metaphorically referring to when he got his legs back? Best Moment: Jack and Locke's conversation was so well written. Locke is the only character who has a legitimate reason to discuss the magical elements of the island that have been demonstrated to us. It's nice to see the writers take full advantage of Locke, using him to fill our minds with more wonder about the island. Furthermore, Locke's dialogue is so well delivered by Terry O'Quinn who feels almost sage-like as he advises Jack. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: Another brilliant episode that told a phenomenal character story. This show is off to a stellar start. Score: 75 Summary: In flashbacks, we see that Locke works in a box company and aspires to go on a Walkabout in Australia. His boss Randy patronizes him for his dream. Locke also has an unhealthy relationship with a sex line worker named Helen. He eventually goes to Australia but isn't allowed to go on the Walkabout due to being paralyzed. In the present, the survivors discover boars on the island. The food runs out and Locke suggests they go hunting - he had brought a suitcase full of knives on the plane. Kate and Michael join Locke. Kate attempts to put up an antenna for Sayid but it falls and breaks when the monster shakes the trees. The monster confronts Locke who survives and returns with a dead boar. Jack decides to burn the fuselage to dispose of the rotting bodies and Claire holds a memorial service. Shannon gets Charlie to catch a fish for her to prove to Boone that she can fend for herself. Jack sees a mysterious man in the suit in the jungle. A final flashback shows Locke standing up for the first time in years after the plane crash.
The Good: Now that is how you execute a plot twist. The final moments of this episode were absolutely stellar and they are most certainly what this episode will be remembered for. While I think that there is so much more to love in the episode than the twist, there is no denying that it is the episode's best moment. But what is most impressive about the ending twist is how it immediately clarifies the murky parts of Locke's storyline while completely changing our views of not only the character, but of the story that this episode was telling. Before the twist, this episode felt like it was about Locke finally proving to all of his naysayers that he was every bit as good as he said he was. The story worked and I was invested in Locke proving the world wrong; don't tell him what he can't do! Yet all of my initial interpretations of the story were completely wrong. This wasn't about Locke proving himself to the world, rather it was about him finally becoming able to do all of the things that he always wanted to do. This was Locke living the dream in a place that has given him everything he could ever have wanted, and it had very little to do with Locke proving himself. For an episode to completely change our interpretation of its story in just a single scene at the end is downright amazing, and it is one of the finest feats of writing I have seen. Furthermore, this twist subverted our expectations in a perfect way. In an age of film and television where plot twists are often dished out left and right without a lot of meaning (looking at you "Westworld"), it's so refreshing to see a small twist that has such purpose to it. This twist is one that almost solely affects Locke's character and not the plot at all. But I think this is what a great twist should encompass. Any twist can shock the viewer, but for a twist to not only shock but make a viewer feels a sudden twinge of unexpected sympathy, pity and mystery makes it really special. I was left in a state of wonder after this twist, left reflecting on how much I had misinterpreted this episode and also thinking about what it means for Locke to have magically regained use of his legs after the plane crash. The twist was set up so well too. Randy's insults for Locke are very clearly directed at his paralysis on rewatch, and Locke's example of Norman Croucher, a double amputee, makes much more sense. Furthermore, those excessive shots of Locke's feet make it clear what he is thinking about, yet it's impossible to guess as much on your first watch. Such a brilliant way to hide foreshadowing for a plot twist in plain sight. Locke's story is a damn good one. It would have been easy to write Locke as a 1-dimensional cool survivor-type character, but where is the fun in that? By going the extra mile and adding so much more depth to Locke, the writers have crafted a character that practically every viewer will be compelled by. Locke is not some great guy, he is flawed like all of us. The flashbacks portray him as a weak old man who refuses to accept the reality of his life situation, and is constantly belittled by everyone for his foolishness. His life is so lonely that he has turned to a sex line worker for his only comforts. It's all very pitiful, but it also gives us good reason for Locke to be so at peace on the island. After all, the island has given him the ability to do everything he has ever wanted to do. The rest of this episode is just as splendid as Locke's story. I'm left impressed by how this episode somehow managed to give something to do for nearly every single character using just two storylines: the need to get food, and the burning of the fuselage. Both of the storylines make sense and are very important, so there is a sense of plot movement as the characters work through these problems. A lot of characters get great moments. The food issue allows for us to know Locke better, and we even get more information on Michael and Kate as they join in and talk a lot to each other. Michael has been in the background for most of the series, so it is nice to get to know him better, while Kate continues to show us that she does seem to be naturally nice and resourceful. The food storyline also leads to nice characterization for Shannon as we get to understand her relationship with Boone a little more. Shannon manipulates poor Charlie into catching a fish for her, which does lead to a funny scene with Charlie Hurley. Yet there is still more character work being done here with the fuselage story. We get to see Boone develop as he goes to Jack to help Rose out. So far Boone had been trying to do everything himself and making a fool of himself in the process, so it is refreshing to see him learn from his mistakes and let Jack take care of Rose. Jack himself is developing too. It's hard to imagine the Jack from the pilot giving the go-to to burn the fuselage, but with him accepting that everyone is stranded for a long time, he has no problem giving the order. I also like Sayid's role in this episode as his Muslim background would oppose him to cremating all of the bodies instead of burying them. The Bad: There were a couple small things that bothered me. Michael getting Sun to watch Walt was another good example of the show giving a background character something to do. But it makes no sense that Michael would go to the one person who doesn't speak English to watch over Walt. Additionally, I was annoyed by everybody assuming Locke was dead just because the monster was heading in his direction. Well what is he dove into a bush like Jack did? Nobody had any reason to believe he was dead, and I think it was absurd that everyone seemed to assume he died. It's even more painful for the viewer because we are even more certain that Locke wouldn't die offscreen in the middle of his own episode. The Unknown: There's another interesting detail on Kate that I won't put in The Bad because it may be intentional. In this episode Kate tells Jack she is a vegetarian, but we see her eating bacon in the last episode. This could be sloppy writing, but it also may be hinting at Kate lying to Jack to charm him, which fits my theory of her having a hidden dark side that she hasn't shown yet. Sayid has some photos of a woman in a hijab. Who is she? A girlfriend or wife? Why wasn't she on the plane with him? Rose suggests that there may be other survivors from the tail section of the plane. Is she right about this? Did Locke see the monster? The directing suggests that he did have an encounter with it. Why didn't the monster kill Locke? Or did Locke fight it and escape? Who is the man in the suit that Jack is seeing? How did Locke get his legs back? Is there something on the island that fixed him? This twist certainly suggests that there is something supernatural at play. Locke said that he has been paralyzed for 4 years. What happened that put him in the wheelchair? Best Moment: The final twist is so damn good. The scene of Locke talking to the Walkabout guy is built up really well. When Locke's condition is brought up, our mind immediately starts to think what could be wrong with him. When the wheelchair is revealed, it's a shock that explains everything but also gives us a wave of pity as we watch Locke stranded, unable to go on his Walkabout. But then there's a cut back to after the crash as Locke stands up for the first time. The scene is absolutely perfect. Terry O'Quinn's performance is wonderful, the mystery of Locke regaining his legs hits us right away, and the music plays up the emotions perfectly. It's wonderful to see the show convey that such a horrific moment in the lives of so many people is actually the best moment in the life of John Locke. Splendid storytelling. Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: This episode is phenomenal. So much is accomplished in this episode and the storytelling is something really special. I didn't expect "Lost" to top its pilot episode so quickly, but it has done that with one of the best written TV episodes I have ever seen. Score: 88 Summary: Flashbacks show Kate arriving at a farm in Australia while on the run. She does work for the farmer, Ray, for a few months until Ray turns her in for a 23 thousand dollar reward. In the present, the group on the trek decide not to tell anyone about the transmission and Kate is also trusted with the gun. Upon returning, Kate tells Jack about the transmission. Jack learns from the Marshall that Kate is a fugitive and Hurley also finds out. The Marshall's condition continues to deteriorate but Jack continues trying to save his life. Kate eventually trusts Sawyer with the gun and Sawyer shoots the Marshall. He doesn't kill him however so Jack has to do the job himself. Locke finds Vincent and has Michael return him to Walt.
The Good: "Lost" has now settled into its format with this third episode. This episode took the time to establish how the show will work going forwards. Flashbacks are going to be a big part in revealing more information about these characters, and it appears that the flashbacks in each episode will be centralized to a single character. This is a great format and it does a really good job of making each episode feel like an independent story while also being part of a complete whole. I'm liking this format so far, and I hope that the story thrives with it. This episode was focused on Kate whose story is revealed slowly, and it appears that the writers are playing the long game with Kate's character. Despite seeing a lot more of her in this episode, I'm still not certain about Kate's nature or what kind of person she is. Both in the flashbacks and on the island, Kate seems like a genuinely kind person who develops a connection with Jack and Ray. But the Marshall's words suggest that there is something more under the surface of Kate (see: The Unknown). I enjoyed the thematic territory that this episode delved into. As a whole, this episode is all about starting fresh, hence the title of the episode which translates to "blank slate". There are some lovely moments that work with this theme. The obvious one is that Kate has now been given a second chance in her life after crashing on the island. But what fascinates me more is how Jack is affected by this theme. Early in the episode we see Jack encountering Sawyer in a terrific scene as it is shown that Jack is yet to accept that they are truly stuck on this island. Even when Kate tells him about the transmission, he isn't nearly as horrified as he should be. He hasn't accepted his new life yet. It's when Sawyer attempts to kill the Marshall that Jack has his wake-up call, and by the end of the episode he has realized that the world has changed and he has to start fresh. The actual plot of the episode is pretty good as well. The slow death of the Marshall is the central storyline and it leads to some great moments. One of the better sequences was how the Marshall's suffering is heard throughout the camp, and the other survivors are quickly becoming perturbed by it. This gets the viewer contemplating the morality of killing the Marshall to take him out of his misery before it is actually brought up in the show. That added a lot to my investment in the Marshall's fate, which effectively made me care about the fate of a character that I hardly know. Then there is the shocking scene where Sawyer does the deed to kill the Marshall, yet he still fails to kill him in what ended up being the darkest scene of the show so far. There were a few other scenes that deserve mentioning. I appreciated that we got to see the people on the trek working towards the decision of not telling anybody about the transmission. It took them a while to actually get the conversation there which makes sense because the transmission evokes feelings of hopelessness in people, an emotion that people would rather push away than face. But when the topic is brought up, I was pleased to see the characters sensibly come to a group decision that makes the most sense. The characters have been impressively real so far. Finally, we get to that ending montage which was a fun way to end the episode, which was especially necessary after the Marshall's depressingly painful death. Plus there were a few nice moments squeezed in there like Sayid tossing Sawyer an apple and Walt being reunited with Vincent. The Bad: This episode is pretty slow, especially coming off of the pilot episodes. With there being so many standout moments in the pilot episode, it is a bit surprising for there to be no real standout moment in this episode. There are some great conversations, like Jack and Sawyer about civilization, but they don't feel as memorable as the moments in the pilot. I wouldn't say that this is an issue, but it is the main reason that this episode didn't live up to the pilot's lofty standards. Did we really need to see Kate asking the Marshall for a favour in another flashback? The scene was shown to us just one episode ago, and it's insulting our intelligence to remind us of it with a direct flashback. The Unknown: Can we trust Kate? She seems like a decent person so far, but the Marshall suggests that she is always like this. Does this mean that Kate is a manipulator? Is she manipulating Jack right now? What exactly is it that makes her so dangerous? What was it in the jungle that chased Michael? Was it another polar bear? Best Moment: Not much stood out but I'll go with Sawyer showing some humanity and throwing his cigarette away after failing to kill the Marshall. Sawyer has been an unrepentant asshole so far, so it's nice to see that he does have some depth to him/ Character of the Episode: Kate. Conclusion: This was a slower episode, but one that establishes "Lost"'s formula in an interesting way. Plus the show's strong writing easily helped overcome the slow pacing. Score: 68 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Charlie is a heroin addict and Kate was a prisoner in custody of the US Marshall. In the present, Jack, Kate and Charlie return with the transceiver. Sayid is able to fix it up after a brief altercation with Sawyer. Walt discovers handcuffs while looking for Vincent. After working, Sayid determines that he needs to make a trek higher up the mountain to get signal to make a transmission. Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, Boone and Shannon join in. Jack works to save the Marshall's life so he stays behind. On the trek, the group encounters a polar bear that Sawyer kills with a gun. Kate takes the gun from him. Sayid eventually gets connection but the group end up finding a transmission that was already broadcasting. The transmission is from a French woman and it has been playing for 16 years.
The Good: After an exhilarating first episode, the pace slows down considerably in this episode. It's not a bad thing since the pace inevitably had to slow at some point, but I'm more impressed by the amount of tricks the writers used to disguise this slower pace. While the first episode threw us into an intense situation, this episode built on the story with lots of mystery and some well-executed plot twists that were spread throughout the episode so that there was always something interesting happening every 5 minutes or so. This helped blend the slower moments into the episode and it allowed the episode to maintain a more exciting flow. Throughout the excitement, this episode was just as sublime as "Pilot Part 1" when it came to introducing characters. This episode smartly introduced another trek which allowed us to get to spend some more time with the side characters. Sawyer and Sayid were the focal point of this episode as they come into an exciting conflict early in the episode, before they both end up influencing the plot in big ways (Sayid fixing the transceiver, Sawyer unveiling the gun), developing their characters at the same time. But we also got tons of time with other characters. We get to see the relationship between the Korean couple, we get to see Hurley's soft-hearted and comedic nature in two memorable scenes with Sayid and Jack, we get to see Michael and Walt's poor relationship, and even an exploration of Shannon and Boone's characters. This episode did so many small things to develop its characters, and it is really impressive. Despite the focus not really being on them, we still learned a lot of new information about Kate and Charlie during the episode's two flashbacks which provided some really clever twists that changed how I felt about these two characters. Charlie has been the comic relief throughout these two episodes, but it turns out that he is a heroin addict, which makes him a more gray character. The same goes for Kate who is revealed to be the prisoner, opening up the possibilities for what kind of person Kate really is. These twists land perfectly and they make me much more interested to learn more about Charlie and Kate. The trek provided some great drama to go with this excellent characterization. There is a lot of added mystery with the mysterious polar bears and the shocking 16 years reveal at the end of the episode (see: Best Moment). Both of these moments landed in scenes which were packed with tension and character details, which only served to add to my enjoyment of the episode. Lastly, the humour has been damn good so far. I've laughed at nearly every joke, and the characters have been pleasingly consistent with their styles of humour. Sawyer is sarcastic, obnoxious and witty, Charlie is over-the-top and silly (which also fits in with his drug addiction as he is high when he says a lot of his funny lines), and Hurley is awkward and relatable. These three provide majority of the jokes throughout the episode, and I found myself laughing more in this episode than in some episodes of dedicated sitcoms. The Bad: Did we really need to get that fanservicey shot of Kate washing up in the ocean? The cast is attractive, no need to show it off to us. It's a small nitpick, but how did Charlie end up with the fuselage survivors? The bathroom was in the very front of the plane and he scrambled to the first open seat he found in the flashback. So how did he somehow teleport to the center of the plane? The Unknown: What happens when Charlie inevitably runs out of heroin? Will the Marshall survive or is he a goner? I don't imagine his chances are very good. What was on the letter that Sawyer was reading? What is the secret that Locke tells Walt? What's with the polar bear? How did it get to live on a tropical island? Do the polar bears have something to do with the monster? Why was Kate arrested? What did she do? Is she a threat? In the flashback the Marshall refers to her having a cover story. Is she actually responsible or is she just framed? Also, what was the favour that Kate wanted of him? Who is this French woman? Is she really still on the island? Why didn't anybody rescue her across 16 years? As Charlie said, where are they? Also, what was it that killed the other people she was with? Was it the monster? Best Moment: That final sequence is oustanding. It's really impressive that the show managed to get so much drama and tension out of 6 characters crowding around a transceiver to listen to a message. Each character had a distinct purpose to the scene and they all added to the conversation, be it interpreting the message (Shannon), stirring up conflict (Sawyer), providing comic relief (Charlie), doing the math (Sayid), keeping things in control (Kate), or encouraging Shannon (Boone). Every character stood out and added tons of suspense. The end of the scene when the message is revealed to have been broadcasting for 16 years ends up being a chilling way to relieve the tension, ending in the best possible way with Charlie saying what is on everyone's mind: just where are they? Character of the Episode: Plenty of characters stood out in this episode. I'll give this one to Sayid who made a great first impression. Conclusion: This episode was slower, but it was still an incredible episode that accomplished a lot of different things. As a two-parter, this pilot is practically perfect, filled with huge reveals, tons of characetr work, some intriguing mystery and plenty of motivation to continue watching the show. Score: 80 Summary: A flashback shows Jack drinking as Flight 815 crashes. In the present, Jack wakes up in the jungle and starts saving people in the wreckage of a plane crash. Jack meets Kate and asks her to stitch up his wound. There are 48 survivors who start waiting for rescue and they are startled when they hear a monster in the jungle. Jack decides to go looking for the cockpit in hopes of finding the transceiver. Jack, Kate and Charlie go together. They find the cockpit and the pilot, who is alive. The pilot reveals that they were 100 miles off course when they crashed. The monster arrives and kills the pilot. Jack, Kate and Charlie escape.
The Good: This was a successful pilot in every single way. This episode nails every single thing I want from a pilot episode, and in my mind this is certainly the best pilot episode of all time. The most impressive aspect is the pacing. I've seen countless TV shows which I can recommend with the condition that "you have to get past the first few episodes before it gets good". So many TV shows start with such a slow burn, and they only start getting exciting later on. Some prime examples are "Outlander", "Person of Interest", "24", and even "The Leftovers". Heck even comedies like "Friends" and "Seinfeld" started slow. I'm not saying the pilots of these shows are bad, but they are so by-the-numbers and ordinary, especially compared to later episodes in these shows. But with "Lost", this pilot episode hits the mark immediately, running at a rapid pace from scene to scene with there constantly being plenty to enjoy and to be excited by. Whether it's Jack running around in that spectacular opening sequence, the characters giving us some fascinating glimpses into their personality, or the monster raging through the jungle, there is always something interesting happening throughout these 45 minutes, and that makes this a thoroughly enjoyable episode of television. Two sequences stand out in particular for me as epic television moments. The first was the opening moments of the show. Having us witness Jack wake up in the jungle wearing a suit with a dog running around and a bottle of alcohol in his pocket made us immediately disoriented and it let us fully experience the fear of a plane crash. Watching Jack run around saving people one after the other was awesome, and it makes us immediately like him as he steps up in a pressure situation to save some lives. Furthermore, the effects were fantastic, especially for a show that was created in 2004. This opening scene was a total spectacle and it wowed me as I watched it. The other standout sequence was Jack, Kate and Charlie in the cockpit. The colouring of the cockpit in the stormy weather was so dark and dreary, adding a very scary atmosphere to the scene. The brilliant music helped too, crafting a lovely scene as Jack, Kate and Charlie make their way through the plane. Then of course there is the monster attack which was downright frightening and reminded me of "Jurassic Park" as the heroes are trapped in a confined space with a huge monster outside. The scene was very intense and provided a fitting climax to the episode. What made that cockpit sequence even better was how well I got to know Kate and Jack throughout the episode. By the time they were speaking with the pilot, I had a decent enough idea of their personalities, particularly Jack who had been given the most to work with, particularly with his fantastic speech about his first surgery. We don't quite know Kate as well, but she feels very real and likable as she quickly builds a connection with Jack. Then there's Charlie who serves as a great comic relief while also providing us some of his backstory. Most interestingly though, there is some depth to Charlie which is hinted at a few times in this episode (see: The Unknown). The side characters are also established really well. We don't get to know them very well (we don't get any names for most of them), but we are still able to get the gist of their characters with a few choice pieces of dialogue and some terrific visual storytelling. It's a great way to introduce these characters quickly even when the story isn't focused on them. One other thing I want from a TV show pilot is plenty of intrigue, mystery and a general motive for me to continue watching the show. This had all of that in spades. I finished this episode with plenty of burning questions I want answered (see: The Unknown). The monster is a great mystery that makes me excited to see more, and there are so many little clues about the side characters that I'm eager to learn more about them. The episode flies by and it offers so much content that I can't imagine somebody not wanting to check out the next episode. The Bad: I don't have anything bad to say about this. The Unknown: I have plenty to say here however. Was there a dog on the plane? Is the dog Vincent, who was mentioned by Walt? Jack seems troubled if he is downing alcohol on the plane. What's bothering him? What was Charlie doing in the bathroom? I don't buy his explanation of throwing up. We also see Charlie running from the flight attendants in the flashback which is very interesting. The bald man on the beach seems oddly at peace with the crash. Why? Does he know something about the crash? What is the monster? Why did it attack the pilot? Best Moment: The opening minutes with Jack waking up and immediately running through the remains of the plane in an effort to save people was the perfect way to start a show. So fast paced, so exciting, and so engrossing. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This was an incredible pilot episode that instantly let me know that I was watching a brilliant show. I can't wait to watch the next one. Score: 85 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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