Summary: In the flashsideways, Hurley helps Sayid remember by getting him to help Shannon. Kate is reunited with Claire at the concert and helps her give birth, helping both of them remember. Charlie is there too and also remembers. Jin and Sun remember at the hospital when the doctor, Juliet, shows them their baby. Juliet runs into Sawyer at the hospital and they both remember. Locke remembers after his surgery but Jack doesn't. Jack goes to the concert to find David and instead finds Kate. Kate takes Jack to the church where everyone is gathering. Jack goes in and finds his father and finally remembers. He learns that he died and that the flashsideways is a kind of purgatory world. Jack joins everyone else as they decide to move on together. On the island, MIB finds Desmond with Rose and Bernard. He takes Desmond with him, threatening the lives of Rose and Bernard. Jack's group meets up with MIB and Jack goes with MIB to take Desmond to The Light. Desmond goes in and "removes the cork", destroying The Light. The island starts to destroy itself, but MIB has also become human. Jack chases down MIB and they fight. Jack is mortally wounded, but Kate shoots MIB. Jack kicks him off a cliff and he dies. Everyone else tries to escape. Miles and Richard find Frank in the water and they go to the plane to fix it. Sawyer and Kate go over there on MIB's boat and they find Claire, convincing her to go with them. They all get on the plane and leave. Hurley stays behind with Jack who has to go back to fix what Desmond did. Ben stays behind too. Jack accepts that he will die and makes Hurley the new protector. Ben agrees to help him lead. Jack goes into The Light and puts the cork back in. He has Hurley pull Desmond out. The Light is restored. Jack wakes up outside of the cave and walks to where he first landed on the island and dies there.
The Good: I've had my problems with this final season, but this final episode was a brilliant standalone conclusion for the show. "Lost" has always understood the importance of emotion in storytelling, and that did not change with this last episode. There was excitement and twists, but more than anything, this episode closed out the story for all of the characters, giving us an emotional and memorable farewell to one of the strongest casts of characters I've ever seen in a TV show. I love the decision to focus so much of the show's finale on the characters, and that made this episode exceed my expectations. The opening montage was a beautiful piece of work to kick off the episode. From the first second, "Lost" established a sad, reflective atmosphere for this final episode, revelling in the fact that the show was ending and extracting as much power from that idea as possible. The success of this scene immediately invested me into the episode, and it was a sign of the heavy emotional focus that would permeate the rest of the episode. We finally got to find out more about the flash-sideways world, and I will admit that the conclusion to this storyline was hugely satisfying. Surprisingly, most of this finale took place in the flashsideways and I think that this was the correct call. Unlike previous episodes where I felt emotionally distant from the events in the flashsideways, this time I was invested in everything. The key difference here is that in this episode it was blatantly obvious that the characters I was watching were the same characters who I had been invested in all this time. They were no longer these alternate reality versions of the people I knew, they were the exact same people! Once that realization came in, everything happening in the flashsideways carried far more emotion. All of the various moments of the characters' remembering their past lives were beautiful and heart-warming, a perfect send-off for all of these characters that I've enjoyed watching for the last six seasons. The episode built up to its emotional ending perfectly. There were so many fantastic moments in the flashsideways up until the ending sequence, which I'll talk about later, but at its heart, the ending sequence focused on Jack, and to great effect. In typical Jack fashion, he had been stubbornly hiding from the truth about where he was, and he was only able to finally remember after being faced with the memory of his father. Jack's scene with Christian was fantastic. Not only did Christian provide the necessary context for what this flashsideways world is, but he also had a heavily emotional role in finally resolving Jack's longest running inner conflict: his lack of closure with his father. It's impressive that a show with such scope as "Lost" managed to circle its conclusion back to the emotional heart where it started. Then we had a spectacular final few minutes to close out Jack's life beautifully, and celebrate the relationships between the characters (see: Best Moment). This ending was something special and was executed perfectly. What made the flashforwards work so unbelievably well was the little moments that made these characters feel so real, reminiscent of "Lost" at its best. It was great to finally understand what Desmond was trying to do and what exactly it was that changed him after remembering. The season has been hurt by keeping Desmond's motives needlessly vague for so long, but this does explain things in retrospect at least. The flashsideways story will doubtless be better on rewatch, and I'm pleased that we at least got an explanation for one of the most frustrating questions that has plagued my mind for much of this season. Hurley's trip with Sayid was a blast to watch. It was clearly obvious that this was our Hurley through some delightful moments with him. Seeing Hurley's goofy grin upon seeing Charlie again is one of those really human moments that I appreciate so much. Most TV shows forget the humanity of their characters, but "Lost" rarely does. I also really got a laugh out of Hurley trying to spark Sayid's memory by giving him a gun, calling back to their experience together in "Because You Left" and "The Lie". The storyline went to its natural conclusion as Sayid was reunited happily with Shannon, giving us a nice little cameo from Boone as well. It initially felt weird that Sayid was not with Nadia, but considering how Sayid's story went in "Sundown", I would guess that Sayid doesn't believe himself to be worthy of Nadia after all that he's done, especially after her death. Because of that, having him end up with Shannon at the end makes perfect sense. The many scenes of the other characters remembering were all brilliant. We got to see a nice moment at the concert as Claire's birth from season 1 was recreated, allowing her, Kate, and Charlie to all remember. Plus there's the really funny scene where Charlie sees Claire in the crowd and creepily stares her down in shock. At the hospital we get some delights. Jin and Sun remembering while Juliet shows them their baby was really emotional, helped along by the fact that we know that Jin and Sun died too soon a couple episodes ago. Their brief encounter with Sawyer was another pleasing delight, especially with how happy Jin was to see him again. Then we got the magnificent scene between Sawyer and Juliet, who were as amazing together as when we last saw them. I was thoroughly pleased to learn that Juliet's last words "we should get coffee some time" and "it worked" all had to do with what she would tell Sawyer in the flash-sideways. Lastly, I come to Jack's excellent scenes with Locke and Kate. Terry O'Quinn is as loveable as ever, and Locke remembering was thoroughly heartwarming. I especially loved the brief smile that washed over his face when he recognized Jack's signature stubbornness. Kate and Jack's scene was surprisingly sweet. Kate took it easy with him, and it was evident how happy she was just to be seeing Jack again, echoing in her statement of "I missed you so much" that she had lived out the rest of her life before reuniting with Jack here. Some other great moments in this storyline came towards the end of the episode with Ben. I appreciate that Ben decided to stay behind a little longer. It wouldn't fit for him to be in the church with everyone else, plus he would naturally want to be with his daughter a little while longer. I enjoyed his apology to Locke, and their scene together was fittingly sweet as Locke forgives him, and they share a moment as Locke stands up for the first time in this world. Lastly, we have a lovely little interaction between Hurley and Ben, hinting at the friendship they developed during Hurley's time as protector. The island story was far more straightforward than the flashsideways one, but it was still filled with excellent scenes with strong storytelling. It was good to see Rose and Bernard one final time, showing that they did jump back to the present along with the others, but they continued to live happily together. I also really liked the small moment where Richard discovers a gray hair, and realizes that he wants to live. Desmond telling Jack about the flashsideways world and how that's where everything matters was really strong too, highlighting why Desmond has changed so significantly. He literally got a glimpse of the afterlife. It also gave Jack a nice moment to show how he has changed by telling Desmond that he knows that he can't change the past and has to accept what has happened. Jack finally felt like a genuine hero by the end of the episode, which was the right way to end his story. It was tense to see him working with MIB to set up Desmond destroying The Light. We got a nice callback to the hatch in season 1 which allowed Jack to talk down to MIB and defend Locke's ideals. Once The Light went out, we got what was a fairly simple final battle between Jack and MIB. It was a bit cheesy at times, but it was delightfully cheesy and led into a pretty solid action sequence, ending with MIB's death. I appreciated Kate shooting him down early in the episode, and there was pay-off to them when she delivered the mortal wound to him. MIB's death mirrored Jacob with Jack kicking him off the cliff, just like how MIB kicked Jacob into the fire, a nice parallel. But it was after MIB died that Jack's heroism stepped up. He decides to sacrifice his life to save the others as well as the island, deciding to stay back while Sawyer and Kate leave. His farewell with Kate was another powerful moment in an episode that was filled with them. It was clearly outlined here that Jack was sacrificing his relationship with Kate to fulfill his destiny and save the world. Another lovely scene is Jack helping Hurley realize that he must be the next protector. Jorge Garcia did a terrific job here of highlighting Hurley's fear, and his tears upon realizing that Jack has to die were genuinely powerful. I enjoyed the funny irony of Hurley becoming protector by drinking water out of an Oceanic water bottle, and his constant denial of his new position was completely sensible. I found Hurley asking Ben to help him out to be a touching scene, and Ben's humility at being asked this question is a perfect indication of how nicely he has developed into a likeable character, leaving his days of lying and manipulating behind him. The Bad: While I praise the decision to focus the end of the series on the characters instead of on mythology and the island, there are still consequences of this approach. The most significant consequence is that Lindelof and Cuse have broken their promise to the fans that all of their questions would be answered. Constantly asserting that things would be answered has distracted the audience from the story and made them focus too much on the plot during these final episodes. As such, an incredibly moving episode like this may not be appreciated from the legion of fans who were disappointed with how the rest of season 6 went, and that is understandable. Had there not been so much hype on solving the mysteries created by Lindelof and Cuse, I believe that this episode would be much more beloved than it currently is. Instead, this wonderful episode is a polarizing experience, not through any fault of its own, but because of a lot of unsatisfactory storytelling throughout season six. The flashsideways were given an excellent resolution, and looking back, I appreciate them more as a complete story. However, I have to question if this story was a necessary one. Did we really need the flahsideways to exist in every single episode when they are essentially just an extended epilogue for the characters? Surely it would have been better to include the flashsideways in "LAX", "Happily Ever After", "The End", and maybe a few other choice episodes instead of throughout the entire season. A lot of the time spent with the characters in their centric episodes feels like wasted time now, even if there were some good storytelling ideas for them. There is no way that Frank survived the submarine sinking, that is entirely unbelievable. Furthermore, I don't understand why he is suddenly fine with flying the plane off of the island. Wasn't he against this possibility a few episodes ago because the condition of the plane was uncertain? Why change his mind now? This was one plot development that was way too convenient and undercooked. Claire's role in this season was just awful. Her storyline went nowhere and her scenes in this finale were tedious, consisting of characters just trying to convince her to join them until she gives in. I wish Claire had been handled better this season. Claire was "crazy" this season, and apparently that meant that the writers could write her illogically and nonsensically. That's not how "crazy" works, there should still be some consistency to her even if she is crazy. The Unknown: How did the flashsideways world get created? How did Jack survive The Light? Is it because he was the protector? How did MIB become human again after The Light went out? Best Moment: The final few minutes of the episode were mesmerizingly beautiful. One of the most emotionally powerful sequences of television I've ever seen. Contrasting Jack's death on the island after having saved his friends with everybody finding their inner peace and moving on in the flashsideways was fantastic stuff. It even nicely came back around to the show's central theme of letting go. But more than strong storytelling, this sequence was put together in a way that felt highly emotional and nostalgic. The score, acting, pacing, and editing added so much to this sequence and I really felt something seeing everybody hugging it out after finding each other again. Furthermore, the decision to have Jack go back to where he woke up was wonderful, and it added some extra emotion in this final scene by allowing us to reflect on how far the characters and the show has come since that first episode. And of course, ending the show with a shot of Jack's eyes closing was the poetic cherry on top for what was a fantastically emotional final scene. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: As a standalone episode, this was fantastic. There was so much emotion here, and "Lost" did something really special here by choosing to focus on the characters, their relationships, and how much we care about what they have been through. This felt like a celebration of the show, and I will absolutely miss it now that it is over. Season 6 as a whole was a bit disappointing. There were some stand-out episodes like "The End", "Across the Sea", and "Ab Aeterno", but these were mostly only good as standalone experiences. The story as a whole didn't come together very well this season. The pacing was strange, too much time was spent in the flashsideways, we didn't get enough answers for important aspects of the show like the others, and some of the characters like Sayid, Claire, and Widmore were given a weak storyline throughout the season. That being said, there were lots of enjoyable episodes and season 6 was an easy-to-watch season with plenty to love; it was just a step down from the excellence that "Lost" displayed in seasons 4 and 5. If I had to rank all of the seasons I would go with 1 > 4 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 6, but I firmly believe that every season is great and has different strengths and weaknesses. As a whole, "Lost" stands the test of time as one of the all-time great TV shows. If anything, it is better to watch the show now because people binging the show will not be bothered by the lack of answers problem that ruined the show for so many people back in 2010. But overall, "Lost" is a magical experience. There are better shows out there, but I don't think there is any TV experience I have had that tops the first time I watched "Lost". I enjoyed the show thoroughly from season to season, flaws and all. The show was never boring, and there were always characters to invest in, mysteries to unravel, and stand-alone episodes to enjoy. One of the best things that "Lost" did was reinvent itself with each passing season. The show was never afraid of changing and growing, allowing it to stay fresh for its entire 120 episode run. I hold a very high opinion of this show to this day, and I think that it is essential television to watch. Score: 81
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Summary: In flashsideways, Desmond returns to run Locke over again. Ben stops him but is beaten up by Desmond and remembers him. He tells Locke about it, and Locke goes to Jack, convinced that he is supposed to be fixed. Desmond turns himself in to Sawyer, and while being transferred to prison, he breaks out with Kate and Sayid, with the help of Hurley and Ana Lucia. On the island, Jack and the other survivors decide that they will go after MIB to kill him. They head to find Desmond and the well. On the way, they are intercepted by Jacob who throws his own ashes in the fire, allowing himself to be seen by everyone until it burns out. He explains why he brought them there and that one of them needs to replace him. Jack chooses to do it and becomes the next protector. Ben, Richard, and Miles get C4 from the barracks and run into Widmore and Zoe, who fled there. Zoe tells them that MIB is coming, Widmore hides and Miles runs away. Richard goes to talk to MIB who possibly kills him. MIB approaches Ben who tells him where Widmore is hiding. After MIB threatens Penny, Widmore tells MIB that he brought Desmond as a last resort, but Ben shoots him, saying he doesn't get to save his daughter. MIB goes to the well and finds that Desmond had been taken out. He reveals to Ben that he plans to destroy the island.
The Good: There were some sound developments in this episode to set up the finale. Jacob's speech to the remaining candidates was well done and it entirely outlined the stakes of this final conflict. We have it explicitly stated why everyone was brought to the island, what they need to do, and what they are fighting against. This was a scene that we needed, and it nicely brought everything together and closed out Jacob's role in the story. Some nice touches in Jacob's answers include him saying that he specifically picked flawed individuals like himself, and that he gave the candidates a choice, not forcing the role of protector onto them like his mother did to him. I really appreciate how Jacob has been humanized, and that added a lot more weight to his words. Jack's decision to take on the role of protector was a great moment, one that the show has been building up to for a while. I enjoyed Ben's scenes in this episode. He hasn't been given a whole lot to do this season, so it was nice to see this episode devote a lot of time to him. Seeing his actions in this episode, it would be easy to assume that Ben is back to being the same horrible and evil person he was in previous seasons. But that wouldn't take into account how his character grew in the episode "Dr. Linus", an episode that highlighted the good side of Ben. Because we have seen Ben change, I think it is fair to assume that what we see in this episode is Ben doing everything he can to survive. He sells out Widmore, he kills him, and he allies with MIB to ensure his own survival. And it's important to remember that he still has a walkie-talkie to contact Miles with. It's likely that Ben will try to turn on MIB when he gets a chance. I enjoyed the way this story was told and it gives some fascinating depth to some of Ben's scenes. It's chilling to see Ben sit down outside of the barracks, awaiting his own death as MIB casually walks over to him, knife in hand. The fear is portrayed superbly by Michael Emerson, and when MIB gives Ben a chance to live, you can see him take the opportunity with both hands and give up Widmore. You can portray Ben's betrayal of Widmore as petty revenge for Widmore killing Alex but it is more than that. It is Ben trying to save himself and come up with a plan, and I believe that Ben's decision to kill Widmore was to stop him from giving MIB valuable information. This depth adds more substance to Ben's storyline in this episode. I was pleased to see Sawyer feeling fittingly guilty after what happened on the sub, and it was nice to see Jack absolve him of any blame. I also enjoyed the cameos from Danielle and Ana Lucia in the flashsideways. The Bad: Something about this episode felt flat. The storylines on the island were fine enough, but they were missing that extra bit of emotion that we usually get from "Lost". The resolution of the Widmore storyline should have been a huge moment, but it was executed in a way that made it feel like an afterthought - just another loose end to tie up. There should have been a more important feel to those scenes. Similarly, the scenes with Jacob weren't as good as I had hoped. I like the scenes but I can't help but feel that they should have been better. It would have been nice to see more of a reaction from the candidates to what Jacob was saying, and I especially would have liked to see a greater emphasis on what Jack was sacrificing to become protector of the island. The moment that Jack says he will do the job is good, but it's not great because that extra emotional element that "Lost" usually nails is missing from the scene. Widmore's return was executed poorly and had a disappointing conclusion. After how central to the plot the Ben/Widmore rivalry was, you would expect their reunion to be a huge moment. But it's happening far too late in the game to feel important, and there is no emotion to any of their scenes together. I was disappointed that such a compelling relationship was shoved to the side and given a flat conclusion. Furthermore, I was unsatisfied with Widmore telling Ben and Richard that Jacob came to him. If that's true, it's hard for it to have any meaning because it is hard to see why Jacob would come to him. Apparently Jacob showed him the error of his ways, which is far too vague and lifeless of a line to have any impact. How has Widmore changed after this meeting? What did Jacob tell him to get him to change? I have no idea. This reveal means nothing if I haven't even seen how it affected the characters and the story. Widmore's return to the island deserved much more screentime and I can't help but be disappointed with how he was handled. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the flashsideways world. The scenes in this episode were good and enjoyable, and there was a sense of momentum heading into the finale. But I'm still so confused about what Desmond's goal is and how he is able to know and do the things that he is doing (see: The Unknown). That makes it tough for me to emotionally invest in seeing Desmond reunite everyone, even though I feel like I am supposed to be rooting for him to do so. Hopefully the finale can provide us with an emotional edge to bring together this strange flash-sideways story. There were some small things I also did not like. If Richard was killed by MIB, that's got to be one of the worst deaths on the show. He deserved much better. Danielle telling Ben he was like a father to Alex was a well-acted scene, but it was too heavy-handed to have much impact. MIB telling Ben that he plans to destroy the island seems stupid. MIB just promised Ben that he would be in charge once he was gone! The Unknown: What is that cut that Jack has on his neck? I remember seeing it back in "LA X Part 1". Why is Desmond calling Jack claiming that he found his father's body? How does he know that Jack lost his father's body in the first place? How is he able to go after Locke knowing that he won't accidentally kill him? How was he able to organize the escape with Kate and Sayid? Did Jacob actually visit Widmore? Why? Couldn't he have just gone straight to Desmond instead? Or even Ilana, somebody we know that Jacob trusts? Talking with Widmore seems like a waste. How does MIB plan to use Desmond to destroy the island? Who took Desmond out of the well? Did the candidates get to him first? Was it Sayid who let him out? Miles? Or someone else? Is Richard really dead? Best Moment: Jack becoming protector of the island. It's the culmination of his arc and the moment felt significant. I appreciated the little touch of Jacob saying "now you're like me", the same way his mother did to him. Character of the Episode: Ben. Conclusion: This episode set up the finale decently, but a lot of the moments didn't land as well as they should have. This was an alright episode, but there is a lot of pressure on this finale to give us an emotional and suspenseful climax that is worth the many tedious episodes we have gotten this season. The pieces are in place, and I hope that "Lost" can deliver a fitting and memorable conclusion. Score: 57 Summary: A long time ago, a woman named Claudia arrives on the island where she meets another woman. Claudia gives birth to Jacob and MIB and is promptly killed by the woman, adopting the kids as her own. As they grow up, Jacob and MIB develop opposing worldviews. The mother reveals that she is protector of the island and shows Jacob and MIB The Light, which she is protecting. Jacob is content on the island and is looking to earn the mother's admiration, while MIB yearns to see what is across the sea. MIB has a vision of his dead mother and goes to live with the other people on the island. Jacob and MIB still talk frequently and MIB eventually reveals that he intends to leave the island and has found a way off. Jacob tells this to the mother. Distraught, the mother takes Jacob back to The Light and makes him the next protector. The mother goes to see MIB, knocks him out, and slaughters his people. Enraged, MIB goes back to the cave where they lived and kills the mother. Jacob sees this and beats up MIB, takes him back to The Light, and throws him in. MIB becomes the smoke monster. Jacob lays the mother and MIB's physical body to rest in the cave.
The Good: With just a few episodes left, "Lost" decided to hit us with one final swerve with a stunning formula break episode. I never would have expected an entire episode to go without having a single main cast member appear and that is exactly what happened here. The entire episode took place in the past and gave us the detailed history of Jacob and MIB, and I was engrossed by every moment of it. I had hoped to learn more about these mysterious deities all season, and I'm thrilled that we finally got a chance to see who they are and what they have been through. So much of this episode explained the Jacob/MIB dynamic that has been present since "The Incident". For a show notorious for not answering questions, it nailed all of the important character-centric questions surrounding Jacob and MIB. We learned everything we needed to know about their relationship, who they are, and why they are at war in this episode. Let's start with MIB. MIB's motives have been kept murky since his introduction, and we finally get to see what drives him: he just wants to see what is across the sea to satisfy his child-like sense of curiosity and wonder. It's surprisingly human and relatable, and I appreciate that this villainous character has been given such a simple and understandable origin. I also like that we see how he developed his philosophy about humans. It actually came from his mother, but he doubled down on it because he ended up living with humans, experiencing their vanity firsthand. I really like the storytelling of how this contrasts with Jacob's views on humanity, which I will discuss more later. MIB's desire to kill Jacob also makes a lot of sense. MIB just wanted to leave, but his mother stopped him and foiled his plans. And then to add the cherry on top, Jacob turned him into the smoke monster, forcing him to live on as an entity instead of as a being, and taking away any chance of him ever leaving again. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to want to kill somebody. Jacob is also given an excellent bit of development. I've always thought of Jacob as a god in this universe, so it was easy for me to be frustrated with how he seemed to be so vague and distant from his people for what felt like no good reason. But this episode explains to us that Jacob is no perfect deity. He's just another flawed human that was thrust into a job he never felt like he wanted, deserved, or earned. He's as clueless of a protector as he could possibly have been. This episode does a fantastic job of portraying Jacob as timid, confused, and low on confidence. He is the one who stays with the mother, and yet he is always the second favourite, the back-up choice to being the protector. He is the one who is afraid of moving on and having things change. When MIB threatens change by leaving the mother, Jacob beats him up. When MIB threatens to leave the island, Jacob immediately tells the mother. When MIB kills the mother, Jacob lashes out and turns him into the smoke monster. Jacob is not some legendary being, he's an afraid child with an inferiority complex. It's surprising how negatively he is portrayed in this episode, painting him as so relatably human. I also really appreciate that this episode even explains why Jacob is so distant from his people. He's not just being vague and unhelpful because the plot demands it - it's just who he is. Jacob is timid and shy, and he does not like to directly involve himself with people. Instead he likes to watch, and he is able to believe that humanity is not all bad because he takes an observer's perspective on all humans. Unlike MIB, he keeps his distance from humans, hoping that their individual sense of good is enough to overpower the vanity, negativity, and evil that overcomes them when they interact with each other. That's why Jacob does not stop Ben from killing him. That's why Jacob makes Jack go on a frustrating trip to a lighthouse instead of giving him answers. That's why Jacob doesn't communicate much with his followers. He expects people to understand good for themselves without needing somebody to tell them what to do. This philosophy is developed organically in this episode, and it clashes with MIB's philosophy beautifully. Bridging these two characters together, we have the mother. The mother is admittedly a bit underdeveloped, but she fulfills her role in the story perfectly. This woman is legitimately lonely and insane. She lives on her own, kidnaps two babies after killing their mother, and raises them while feeding them her own propaganda, preventing them from being their own people. The mother feels like the real villain of this story because it is her controlling and manipulative style of raising these two kids that caused all of this chaos to happen in the first place. I know a lot of people will be upset that we didn't find out more about the mother. But we really didn't need to know more about her from a storytelling perspective. She fulfilled her role perfectly, and I found myself getting invested in this family dynamic and all of the twists and turns that happened until the somber moment when Jacob said a final goodbye to his family at the end of the episode. On top of this lovely story, we were given loads of answers in this episode. Now, I know that lots of people will be upset with these answers because they didn't answer every little detail. For every answer we got, it raised more smaller questions that will frustrate viewers. But I maintain that this is not that big of a deal. The questions that remained unanswered are not important to the story, and spending more time addressing those questions would likely be a detriment to this episode. For example, we do not need to see exactly how the frozen donkey wheel was built and when that happened. All we need to know is that MIB invented it in an attempt to use the power of The Light to get off the island, and that it was finished sometime after this episode, likely by MIB to see if it would work. We don't get every detail possible, but we get enough for these to be a satisfying enough conclusion. Several other questions were answered this way. In this massive episode, we learned that MIB and Jacob were brothers, that the protector of the island creates the mysterious "rules' we keep hearing about, that Jacob is responsible for MIB becoming the smoke monster, that The Light is at the center of the island and is the reason for its importance, and so on. There were loads of reveals and answers in this episode, and I enjoyed them a lot. The Bad: There were a few moments in this episode that felt sloppy. The mother claims that she has made it so Jacob and MIB can't hurt each other. And yet Jacob beats him bloody on two separate occasions, knocks him out after bashing his head on a rock, and ultimately turns him into the smoke monster. So that line was just a blatant lie and only serves to confuse me. Did she mean that they were just unable to kill each other? If so, she should have said that. It was very confusing to me when Jacob hurt MIB in spite of what the mother said. I'm also confused about what to make of MIB becoming the smoke monster. With how vague The Light is, it's hard to understand what exactly resulted in MIB becoming the smoke monster and how this changed him (see: The Unknown). That moment could have used more context. I wasn't happy with the flashbacks at the end of the episode. They almost ruined the devastatingly sad conclusion of the episode as Jacob buried his family. It was jarring to go from Jacob's sadness to seeing the other characters finding the skeletons in what was an unnecessary flashback. We know where the skeletons are from! We don't need to see it again! These flashbacks came off as smug, as if the writers were trying to say "see, we planned it out this whole time!" even though that is blatantly untrue. The scene would have been far better had it just been Jacob mourning in silence or with some gentle music playing. I can see why some people would not like this episode. It's a very bold move to have an episode so close to the end of the show where not a single main cast member appears. As outlined above, I thought that this was a tremendous decision, but I can understand that some people would be frustrated with it, especially when you consider how rushed the past few episodes have felt. Having an extra episode to tell the story at a better pace could have been valuable. I also understand the criticism of how unsatisfying many of the answers are in this episode. I've outlined above why this episode's approach to the island's mythology didn't bother me much, but I understand if you're somebody who was frustrated that after six seasons of promised answers, you get told to stop asking questions and just enjoy the ride. It feels like a cop-out, and Lindelof and Cuse's decision to hype up that everything will be answered only to leave a lot of mysteries unresolved is a huge slap in the face to the people that watched "Lost" specifically for the mystery and mythology. Since I am not one of those people, I am not too bothered by the show's decision to zero in on story and emotion over plot and mystery, and I enjoyed this episode. But I am not the whole audience of the show, and I think that it is the responsibility of the writers to tell a compelling story that everyone can enjoy, not just a story that will divide the entirety of the show's audience. I'll continue to defend this episode and my enjoyment of it until the day that I die, but I can't say that this episode is not deserving of the polarizing reaction that it received. The Unknown: Oh boy, here we go. I expect that most of what I put here will not be answered. Who was the mother? How did she get to the island? Why does she have such a dim view of humanity? Who made her the protector? What is The Light exactly? Is it naturally forming? Did somebody make it there? How do you find it? How does its powers work? It looks like MIB built the frozen donkey wheel underneath The Orchid. But he was unsuccessful in his attempt to build it in this episode. When did it get made then? After the events of this episode? Why? Was MIB still involved with it? How does the power of The Light get harnessed to teleport somebody off of the island? Were the people we saw here the others? Does this mean that neither Jacob nor MIB created this group of people? What is the significance of them then? Are they somehow connected with the Egyptian people that built the statue and the temple? What exactly were these rules that the mother, MIB, and Jacob used? Is that an ability of the protector of the island, to create these rules? What exactly can you do as protector of the island? Why did MIB become the smoke monster? Does anyone become a smoke monster when they get thrown into The Light? Is MIB even himself anymore after becoming the smoke monster? Or is he a different entity? How is he evil incarnate? is it because he's a being made purely of The Light? Does that make him evil? How? Why? Not many unanswered questions frustrated me in this episode, but the ones surrounding the smoke monster definitely did. Why did MIB's body appear at such a distant location after he went into The Light? What happened to him in there? How was Claudia able to appear to MIB? Why didn't she also appear to Jacob? How do dead people appear on the island like this? Is it some different, unexplained force? Why does this happen? What's controlling it? Is this their actual conscience appearing or is it some fancy sort of vision? And for god's sake, what is MIB's name????? Best Moment: MIB embracing his mother in the cave was a phenomenal piece of acting. You could see that MIB is still the same as the young boy we met at the start of the episode that wanted nothing more than to just see what was on the other side of the sea. After all these years, that's still all that he is. He still loves his mother and there is nothing inherently evil about him. And in a devastating twist, that one moment of weakness allows the mother to knock him out and strip everything away from him. It's a fantastic scene that is heart-wrenching and pivotal in the episode. Character of the Episode: MIB, thought it is tough to choose between him and Jacob. Conclusion: This is a polarizing episode, but I thought that it was mesmerizing; the biggest formula break of the whole show and it was thrilling to watch. Every little detail provided us with key answers, and they connected it all cohesively within a compelling and emotional character story that humanized the two godly beings that have been the men behind the curtain of this entire story. Yes, there were flaws. The unanswered questions and few sloppy moments did give this episode a slightly unsatisfying feeling. But so much was done well, and the conception of this episode was a stroke of genius. My favourite episode of the season. Score: 80 Summary: In the flashsideways, Jack offers to fix Locke's back with a surgery but Locke refuses. Jack is unable to let it go and pursues Locke's history to his father, who was in the same accident as him. Jack talks to Locke about it and tries to get him to let go but Locke refuses. On the island, MIB arrives at Hydra Island and breaks the candidates out of Widmore's captivity. MIB finds C4 on the plane and decides they have to leave on the sub. Sawyer plans with Jack that Jack will push MIB in the water while the others escape in the sub. Widmore's men arrive and a shootout starts. Kate gets shot and Jack takes her into the sub. MIB and Claire fight back, but Sawyer leaves them out and gets the sub to leave. Jack finds a timed explosive in his bag and realizes MIB planned it out. He determines that MIB can't kill them and tells everyone to let the timer run down - they won't die. Sawyer doesn't listen and tries to defuse it, but it ticks down faster. Sayid takes the bomb and runs, the explosion kills him. The sub starts to sink and everyone tries to get out. Frank is knocked out by a door and is left in the sub. Sun is trapped by a heavy object and Jin stays behind with her. They both die. Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer are the only survivors. MIB realizes they survived and goes to finish the job.
The Good: This worked far better than most episodes this season. The island story moved at a rapid pace and was packed with excitement and drama at every turn, building up to a tremendous climax. I thoroughly enjoyed the build-up, as it set up a lot of the conflict for later in the episode. MIB makes a key point on why he should be trusted, Sawyer also has an excellent moment where he pretends to trust MIB before forming another plan to betray him. And we get some good scenes with Jack who remains loyal to his friends while maintaining that he will stay on the island to find his true purpose. Then the episode hits with its magnificent twist. The reveal of the bomb on the submarine is a real heart-stopping moment, set up beautifully by MIB's ominous statement that the "sub is the last place you want to be". The impact of the moment is fantastic and it makes MIB's plan crystal clear in just a few quick moments. He wasn't able to kill any of the candidates, so he only pretended to be their friends enough to be suspicious so that they would betray him and ultimately kill each other. It's a fantastic reveal that finally gives us an answer on MIB's motives, which are superbly well written. You get the sense that MIB has been turning candidates against each other for years on end and rubbing it in Jacob's face. On a more immediate note, the bomb reveal is massive because it comes off as an immediate death sentence. "Lost" has always been so good at these high stakes scenes where multiple characters have to come together and solve a problem under time pressure ("Pilot Part 2", "Orientation"), and this may very well be the best of them. The urgency is there as everyone argues, and all of the logical solutions are brought up and ruled out. Then we get into the fantastic heart of the scene as Jack gets a chance to show us how he has changed. The man of science has become the man of faith as he pieces together MIB's plan and tells everyone that nothing is going to happen. This is a monumental moment for Jack, one that directly calls back to his experience with Richard and the dynamite in "Dr. Linus". But in a tragic twist, Sawyer doesn't have any faith in Jack and refuses to listen. And why shouldn't he? The last time he listened to Jack, Juliet got killed. It fits that Sawyer doesn't listen, and it leads into the spectacular moment as the timer ticks even faster, with death becoming an inevitability. Such a fantastic scene with fantastic writing, one that had me at the edge of my seat the entire time. Everything that comes afterward doesn't quite live up to the high quality, but it is still excellent television. Being trapped on a sinking sub is a terrifying idea, and the horror of that idea brings a high level of suspense. The escape is filled with great moments like Hurley, in denial, going to get Sayid, and Jack being unwilling to leave Jin behind. And tragically, we lose some of the main characters in excellent scenes. I have my issues with all of the deaths (see: The Bad), but I still found most of them to be effective. Sayid's death is a good way to redeem the character, and having him give his life to save the others is in-line with what he would do. I just wish that Sayid had been given a stronger story that built up to this moment. Jin and Sun's death is brutally emotional, and carries most of the emotional weight of the episode. Their last words are well done, and having Jin go back to Korean was a beautiful little touch. The flashsideways story is also quite strong. It doesn't progress the plot forward, but thankfully the story is powerful and told so well that it overcomes that issue. The episode cut to the heart of both Jack and Locke and it built beautifully to their final scene at the end of the episode. It was wonderful to see Jack express how Locke helped him process his father's death, and Jack returning the favour to Locke was an outstanding moment. We also get to hear Locke's story of his own guilt, which was terrifically portrayed by Terry O'Quinn as always. Then of course we get a tremendous juxtaposition as this time it is Jack asking Locke to let go and take a leap of faith, and when Locke ultimately refuses, it is Jack who gets to say the memorable "I wish you had believed me". The whole scene was written extremely well. The flashsideways had some other strong moments. It was great seeing Anthony Cooper again, even if he was only there for a short scene. I also loved that Jack obsessed over Locke and went as far as to hunt down his father to get the truth. That's such a pure Jack move, and it contrasts nicely with how Jack has changed for the better on the island. I also loved Jack's scenes with Claire and him acknowledging her as family was touching. We were robbed of these scenes in the main storyline because of Claire's craziness and being left behind, so it was nice to get them in the flashsideways instead. The Bad: The deaths didn't quite deliver. One big reason is because the characters who died are still alive in the flashsideways, so the impacts of their deaths are lessened. Hell, we literally see Jin roaming the hospital hallway mere seconds after he dies! The specific deaths have individual reasons for not being as powerful as they should have been. Frank's death was as memorable and impactful as a wet fart. The character stuck around and did absolutely nothing for a season before dying an unceremonious death. Whatever. As I've been saying for the last while, Jin and Sun's death was lessened by how much the characters had been shoved to the side the past two seasons. And of course, I was waiting the entire time for Sun to tell Jin that he had a daughter and should have saved himself for her sake. But instead that fact was completely ignored, which was very sloppy writing. And again, I was really frustrated by the fact that they were speaking English rather than Korean. The scene of them talking in the cages felt awkward because it was in English instead of Korean. Lastly, we get to Sayid. Sayid's death was massively disappointing because of the amount of questions that died with him. I guess we never will learn more about the "infection", which makes me question why so much of season 6 was spent building up mystery around what happened to Sayid and Claire if we were never going to get answers. That's very sloppy. One big nitpick I have with the sinking sequence is that "Lost" has severely underestimated how difficult it is to swim while carrying somebody else. The submarine is sinking and far away from both the surface and the island (note that Frank never got instructions to get the submarine to go back towards the island!), so the distance to swim to get to land will be gigantic. Unfortunately, there is no way I can buy that anyone would have survived the sinking submarine because of this. The Unknown: Why were Widmore's fences offline at the start of the episode? Just how incompetent are his men? Also, we still don't know anything about why Widmore is here and what his motives are. With just 3 episodes left, I really hope we get more on him. Why isn't Locke able to kill the candidates? Is Jacob somehow protecting them? Is Frank actually dead? We didn't really see him die. I can't see nay way he would have survived though. Best Moment: The argument between Jack and Sawyer leading up to the explosion of the bomb, but you could choose many other scenes too. Fantastic stuff. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This episode was a terrific example of how to do tension-based television, and it worked as a dramatic and climactic piece of television, while also having a strong emotional core. Sure there were some problems regarding the character deaths, but overall this is still superb stuff, and I hope that it's a sign of great things to come for the rest of the season. The best episode of the season so far. Score: 77 Summary: In the flashsideways, Locke is rushed to the hospital alongside Sun. Sawyer interrogates Kate, and gets a lead on a suspect for a shooting: Sayid. Sawyer and Miles go to his house and arrest him. Desmond runs into Claire and gets her to meet a lawyer, Ilana. Ilana recognizes Claire as the mysterious person on Christian's will and introduces her to Jack. Jack suddenly gets a call from the hospital and goes in to operate on a patient: Locke. On the island, Jack finally meets MIB and confirms that the vision of his father was in fact MIB. Jakc agrees to work with MIB for the moment. Zoe arrives and demands MIB return Desmond. She has the camp fire off a mortar strike as a threat. MIB plans to storm Hydra Island and tells Sawyer to get the boat. Sawyer takes Kate and leaves instructions for all of the others to separate from MIB and meet up at a dock so they can escape on the boat. Jack gets everyone to sneak away, but leaves Claire and Sayid behind as they can't be trusted. Claire follows them and is upset, but Kate convinces her to go with them. MIB sends Sayid to kill Desmond, and it is unclear if he goes through with it. The boat goes to Hydra Island, but Jack changes his mind and decides to go back, unwilling to leave the island. Upon reaching Hydra Island, Jin and Sun reunite. Widmore decides to capture everyone instead of letting them go. Widmore fires mortar strikes at MIB's camp. MIB sneaks into the jungle with Jack.
The Good: This was an in-between episode that seems to connect the slow-paced middle of the season with the final stretch of the season. It did its job effectively and there were plenty of developments and great moments in this episode that I enjoyed. Just about every character received some good scenes. I thought Desmond's argument to convince Sayid not to shoot him was superbly written and it fits with Sayid's story. I do wish that Sayid had been handled better in recent episodes to make this moment even more meaningful (see: The Bad), but on its own it is a terrific scene. I also really liked Jack's conversation with MIB, and it felt like Jack was sizing up what his purpose is on the island. I was glad to see Jack asking if MIB was Christian, and it is sensible that Jack would connect that MIB would take the appearance of other dead people as well as Locke. Jack's decision later in the episode to jump off the boat is another brilliant moment that was executed really well (see: Best Moment). It was good drama watching Sawyer enact his plan to get everyone off the island, and Jack choosing to stay behind is the perfect climax for this story. Lastly, I was pleased to see Jin and Sun finally reunite, even if the scene wasn't as good as I was hoping (see: The Bad). The flashsideways story is finally picking up some momentum now. Not having a centric character helped the flashsideways finally pick up some momentum. Recent episodes (barring "Happily Ever After") have had a strong feeling of filler in the flashsideways, and it has felt like the story isn't heading anywhere worthwhile. But that changed in this episode. The characters have intersected in a number of really interesting ways, and it's fun to watch these many encounters. From Jack operating on Locke to Sawyer arresting Sayid, there were plenty of joyful ways that characters intersected with each other. Plus, we got some really delightful moments. Sawyer talking up Kate was a delight and a throwback to their interactions in the earlier seasons. I also really liked seeing Desmond following Claire, trying to lead her to meet Ilana. He was so unintentionally creepy, and Claire's increasing awkwardness and fear was genuinely funny to watch. The Bad: A lot of the characters' journeys to get to this point in the season have been botched, and that took away a lot from this episode. I think the biggest example is Sayid, who has hardly done anything since his turn to the dark side in "Sundown". It's remarkable that 7 episodes after his turn, we still have no context on what this means for him. Is he actually infected? Can he be saved from this? Is he even capable of being human anymore? Is he the same Sayid as before? And of course, how did he come back to life? None of these questions have been answered, and that has caused me to disconnect with Sayid as a character. We need to see what has happened to him, we can't just be told vaguely that he's evil now. I'm not sure of what to make of Desmond persuading Sayid because I'm so disconnected from Sayid. I don't have any idea if Sayid is capable of being redeemed, and that prevents me from buying into the idea of Sayid sparing Desmond's life. As a result, the moment completely lacks emotional impact, and the excellent writing of the scene is wasted. We need more clarity on the character of Sayid for his story to be impactful. Claire is another character whose story is suffering badly. I'm stunned that we haven't been given a centric episode for her yet, especially since we still haven't found out what happened to her after she was taken by Christian in season 4. Just like Sayid, the character of Claire is so painfully unclear, and that is preventing me from emotionally engaging with her. One key moment is Claire's acknowledgement that she knows MIB is also Christian. This feels so strange because in "Lighthouse" she had implied that she thought that MIB (she calls him "my friend") was different from her father. But now she suddenly seems to understand that they are the same? This doesn't make any sense and I'm not sure what to feel. Furthermore, Claire says that she completely trusts MIB, and yet she leaves alongside Kate and the others immediately after. That's horrible character writing, and I've been thoroughly unsatisfied with how Claire has been handled this season. And as the cherry on top for the poor handling of Sayid and Claire, everybody else is willing to leave them on the island with MIB without a second thought. Claire is a bit more excusable since she has gone crazy, but abandoning Sayid so suddenly after all that they have been through together is tough to buy into. You would think that Hurley at the very least would make a case for saving Sayid. Instead they just claim that "he's changed", and use that as grounds to abandon him. That is awful, and it perfectly highlights how poorly the writers have handled both Sayid and Claire. I was disappointed by Jin and Sun's reunion. They have been apart for 2 seasons now, and both character's development has been stunted because of their separation. So the moment they reunited needed to be a seminal moment to justify the last two seasons. And it really wasn't. In what world do they reunite as a throwaway scene at the end of a set-up episode? This should absolutely have happened at the end of a Jin/Sun episode so that we could really feel the emotion as they reunite. This reunion would have been far better off if it had happened in "The Package" instead. Furthermore, Sun suddenly remembering English made me roll my eyes. What a stupid moment. Who thought it was a good idea to have Sun lose the ability to speak for this pathetic pay-off moment? Their reunion is emotional enough, we don't need any other nonsensical tropes in this moment. Lastly, I was bothered by the fact that they were both speaking English. Sun has no reason to believe that Jin speaks fluent English. They should absolutely have been speaking Korean with each other. There were some other little things that bothered me. In the flashsideways, Desmond is still way too mysterious for me to connect with his story. There's no way that he knew that attempting to murder Locke would put him in Jack's care, yet that's the implication that the story gives. Furthermore, there's no way that he would be lucky enough that Claire would go to the exact building where Ilana just happens to be working. Also, Ilana's cameo has to be one of the show's weakest. She hardly even feels like herself and that perfectly encapsulates how weak of a character she was. Lastly, Jack learning that Claire is his half-sister did not work at all. The issue is that we have already seen this exact same scene happen before in the other timeline. Seeing it again in a different scenario went into some uncanny valley territory, and it made me feel really weird and uncomfortable. The Unknown: Did Sayid kill Desmond? I highly doubt it. MIB tells Jack that for his plan to work the way he intended, he needed Locke to be brought back to the island. Eloise was the one that told Jack that Locke had to be brought back. Does this mean that Eloise is working with MIB? Or is it just a coincidence? Why was Sun screaming "it's him" about Locke? Is she remembering him as MIB? Claire tells Jack that "you decided the moment you let [MIB] talk to you". This is in-line with Dogen telling Sayid that he has to kill MIB before he talks. Is this just a neat parallel, or is it suggesting that MIB does have some magical powers of persuasion? We still aren't entirely sure what he is capable of. Was MIB actually the one that brought Sayid back to life? How did he do this? Does MIB actually want the candidates to leave? Why is it so important for him? I suspect that he is manipulating them somehow. Best Moment: Jack's conversation with Sawyer on the boat. His apology for getting Juliet killed is a heartfelt moment, and his decision to stay behind makes perfect sense. Likewise, Sawyer is completely understandable in his treatment of Jack, having had enough of the island and destiny after all that he has lost. Their conflict works really well, and Jack ultimately jumping off the boat is a really strong character moment. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This should have been an excellent set-up episode with a lot of powerful moments and big developments. But the poor storytelling in the middle section of the season has impacted this episode and a lot of the key moments didn't quite deliver. This is still solid television, but it is disappointing to see "Lost" making significant missteps that damage the story in its final run. Score: 60 Summary: In the flashsideways, a successful Hurley is forced into a date by his mom. He encounters Libby, who is in a mental health institute but claims that she knows him. Hurley has an encounter with Desmond who encourages him to follow through with Libby. Hurley talks more with Libby and they end up kissing, causing Hurley to remember. Desmond finds Locke and runs him over with his car. On the island, Ilana gets dynamite to help Richard blow up the plane but she blows herself up. With Michael's instructions, Hurley gets everyone to go to the Black Rock to get more dynamite, but it's a trick and Hurley runs ahead to blow up all the dynamite. Richard goes with Ben and Miles to stay away from MIB while Hurley gets Jack and Sun to go with him to talk with MIB. Hurley sees Michael again and discovers that the whispers are the dead souls trapped on the island. Hurley makes it to MIB's camp. Meanwhile, Sayid shows Desmond to MIB who takes him to a well and throws him in it.
The Good: There is a lot going on in this episode, and it pushes the plot forward significantly. There are big developments here like the destruction of the Black Rock, Ilana's death, Richard's group splitting away, and Hurley, Sun, and Jack joining up with MIB's camp. We also surprisingly get a straightforward answer for once as we learn about the nature of the whispers (though that reveal wasn't entirely satisfying, see: The Bad). All of this is good to see considering how recent episodes in this season have been mostly uneventful and have lacked urgency. There were some nice character moments throughout the episode. Jack's arc this season has been a highlight. It's so great to see him finally letting go and letting others take the lead. His complete trust in Hurley and his admission of guilt for getting Juliet killed were impactful moments that reveal to us exactly how and why Jack has changed this season. Hurley has a pretty good episode too as we get to see the show's themes of leadership extend to him for once. Usually the leader role would be limited to Jack, Locke, Ben, or Sawyer, so it's nice to see the show toy with the idea of Hurley stepping up and being in charge. The flashsideways story is pretty good. Hurley's as relatable as ever even with his good luck. Despite being the man of the year, he's still lonely and unable to find a girl for himself, which sets up a beautiful romance between Hurley and Libby, leading up to a surprising climax as Hurley remembers the island. It should be interesting to see the impact this has on the story (see: The Unknown), but more importantly, the moment stands out emotionally because it is a nice bit of bonding for Hurley and Libby. It was great to see Libby again, and even get some possible answers about why she was in the mental institute in the real world (issues with reality). There were some other small things I enjoyed. This episode was light on callbacks but we had some delightful moments like Dr. Chang being the spokesperson for Hurley and Hurley's mother being exactly the same as ever, even with Hurley being one of the world's most loved individuals. MIB's story with Desmond was solid and enjoyable. Terry O'Quinn is as great as ever, and there was a genuine surprise when MIB seemingly left Desmond in the well for dead. The Bad: Many of the developments here did not work for me, and I think that is because this episode did not make these moments resonate emotionally. Let's take the splitting of the main group into two smaller groups. This is something we have seen several times before in "Lost" (think "House of the Rising Sun" and "The Beginning of the End"), but it felt so empty and unengaging this time around. I think that's because the characters aren't making any interesting choices or developing interesting conflicts with this split. The conflict between the groups is practically nonexistent and it only comes to the forefront because of Hurley's choice to blow up the Black Rock, a decision that was played for shock value rather than any actual emotional value. As such, the conflict between Hurley and Richard has very little heart to it, and seeing the groups split up feels like the show going through the motions instead of making me care about what is happening. Ilana's death was awful. What a horrible resolution for a character who ended up being completely pointless. She didn't add much to the show, she was a forgettable character, her plot function could easily have been fulfilled by somebody else, and her death wasn't even any good. We already saw Arzt die the same way, seeing it happen again adds nothing whatsoever. It's a horrible way to end this character's story, and I can't help but be disappointed by how Ilana and her group amounted to absolutely nothing. Furthermore, I was frustrated with the lack of reaction to her death outside of one line by Ben. And even that line didn't land well with me. His claim of "the island was done with her" just reeks of the real meaning being "the writers were done with her". I also wasn't happy with the answer for the whispers. Having them just be dead spirits is really unsatisfying, and it isn't even a complete answer! We know that the whispers are connected to the others somehow, but the show doesn't tell us why this is the case, so it is an incomplete answer anyways. Furthermore, the reveal of this answer isn't a big dramatic moment, and it's not part of a character moment either. The episode comes to a halt specifically to give us this lame, half-assed answer, and that is just not worth it. I've always respected "Lost" for never sacrificing its drama for the sake of giving out answers. I'm alright with there being some minor mysteries left unresolved - obviously the show won't be able to tackle every tiny detail. But if we are getting answers, they need to be more thought out than this. The flashsideways story has its problems to. For one, it's really tough to buy into the idea that world-famous Hurley is struggling to even get a date. Furthermore, Hurley should not be surprised that Libby knows his name. He's famous! There are more significant issues with this story though, and they primarily involve Desmond. It's hard to connect with Desmond's journey when he is going around like a magical messiah to all of the Oceanic 815 passengers. His words to Hurley only seemed to work through blind luck. There were surely plenty of variables that could have prevented Hurley from remembering his past with Libby. Additionally, how does Desmond know about Hurley and Libby being together? I'm still unclear with how much Desmond actually knows. The ending scene of the episode is a big surprise, but I'm left scratching my head at how Desmond thinks that attempting to kill Locke will help him remember. I wish that we had more context on what is going on inside Desmond's head as he goes on his journey. The Unknown: How does Desmond know how to help Hurley? Why did he run over Locke at the end of the episode? How is that going to help Locke remember? MIB sees a young kid again when he takes Desmond away to presumably kill him. Who is this boy? Is it Jacob? MIB's younger self? Why is he appearing? Is he a manifestation of MIB's conscience telling him not to kill someone? What does MIB plan to do with Desmond? I assume that he survived being thrown in the well. Is someone else going to find him? Best Moment: It's tough to find a moment that really resonated. I'll go with MIB questioning Desmond and throwing him into the well. Character of the Episode: MIB. Conclusion: This was a weak episode, the worst of the season so far. There were plenty of developments but I felt indifferent to most and disliked a few. There was plenty of plot momentum this time, but that doesn't offer much when many of the developments fell flat. This middle section of season 6 has been disappointing so far. Score: 52 Summary: On the island, Widmore sets up an electromagnetism test to see if Desmond can survive it. Desmond is locked in a room and exposed to electromagnetism, and his consciousness is thrown into the flashsideways world. In the flashsideways world, Desmond is single and works for Widmore, who deeply respects him. Desmond is tasked with bringing Charlie to perform at a concert for Widmore's wife Eloise. Charlie tells Desmond that he experienced something on the plane, flashes of memories he doesn't have. Charlie drives Desmond's car into the water and Desmond has these flashes to, drawing him towards someone he loves named Penny. Charlie doesn't come to the concert so Desmond apologizes to Eloise. He keeps looking for Penny and Eloise tells him that he needs to stop. Desmond prepares to leave but he is met by Daniel who explains he has been having flashes too and suspects they are in an alternative universe. Daniel tells Desmond that Penny is his half-sister and Desmond meets her. Upon contacting her, he wakes up in the present and has changed completely. Zoe escorts Desmond, but Sayid takes control and takes Desmond away. Back in the flashsideways, Desmond sets up a date with Penny and decides that he is going to show what he experienced to the other Oceanic 815 passengers.
The Good: Once again a Desmond episode provides us with an excellent formula break experience that is nothing like anything else in the season. The utilization of the formula break was tremendous in this episode because it finally connects the flashsideways universe with the main universe, finally creating some stakes for the flashsideways to make it more interesting to me. I've been criticizing the flashsideways a lot in recent episodes, and I think that it was really important to give them a greater sense of importance. This episode did that, and while I still have plenty of questions (see: The Unknown), I am more interested to see where this is all going. This was a very important episode for the show and I think that we will look back at this episode as a major turning point for the story of season 6. Desmond's story has its flaws (see: The Bad), but I can't deny that it is superbly written and the mystery is captivating to watch. The episode progresses at a good pace, and there are big, important scenes given to us at regular intervals to ensure that spending a whole episode in the flashsideways doesn't become a dull experience. There are so many well-written moments throughout this episode. Desmond and Charlie's dynamic is a lot of fun, and the episode does a tremendous job of showing us these "flashes" that Charlie talks about, giving Desmond hints of the love that he had in the other universe. These scenes are edited well and they build up suspense and mystery for the rest of the episode. The climax of the episode is built around conversations, which I always enjoy. The episode builds up to Desmond meeting Eloise, Daniel, and ultimately Penny, through several terrific scenes. It's as unnerving as ever to see Eloise be so mysteriously omniscient and I enjoyed her presence in this episode. Daniel was as wonderful to watch as ever, and he offered a ton of great mysterious lines while Jeremy Davies gave us another great performance. And of course, Desmond and Penny together are always a delight, and their last scene was very sweet. This is probably the most callback-heavy episode of the season so far, and there were so many little delights to enjoy. The episode is very similar in structure to "Flashes Before Your Eyes", and as such it feels like a direct reference to that episode. There are lots of little moments in Desmond's story that call back to characters and moments in previous seasons. It's weird in a beautiful way to see Widmore so impressed by Desmond, and I love the touch of him sharing the MacCutcheon with him in this universe. George Minkowski being Desmond's driver is another nice touch. There's also mention of a button again, teasing the button from season 2. Eloise appears again, and of course she is somehow omniscient once again. She gets in a really good line as she tells Desmond "it's about time", which is very clearly a tongue-in-cheek moment created by the writers. Daniel's presence as a musician in this world is a lovely moment for him, suggesting that in this universe Daniel was allowed to make his own destiny instead of adhering to the one Eloise pushed him towards. There's another nice reference as Daniel mentions that Charlotte was eating chocolate when he saw her in the museum. Lastly, it's fitting that Desmond's first meeting with Penny in this world took place at the stadium where we saw him for the first time in the show. The Bad: I'm sure that it shows in my summary that this episode is extremely convoluted and confusing, and this takes away from the story being told. I'm aware that these complaints may sound a bit hypocritical as "Lost" has often had convoluted mysteries like this. But the difference between this episode and a better one like "Flashes Before Your Eyes" is that the withheld information actively prevented me from emotionally investing in the story. "Flashes Before Your Eyes" gave me a good idea of what was happening, and by the end of the episode I knew that Desmond was reliving his past and was hopeful of changing things. So I had enough context to invest in Desmond's personal arc. But "Happily Ever After" doesn't give me that same context. I finished the episode with more questions than I started it with, and while I'm sure they will be answered eventually, it makes for a lesser emotional experience when I don't understand what is at stake during a character's journey. I wasn't able to invest with Desmond in this episode in the way that I did in his previous episodes. Several moments in this episode didn't hit me the way that they should have because of the confusing nature of the episode. Desmond experiencing these "flashes" would be more powerful if I had a better idea of what they are. Eloise telling Desmond to stop looking for Penny could have been a huge moment if we knew what the significance of everything was, and if we knew why Eloise was saying this to him. I also feel cold on the ending of the episode. I'm not sure what to feel about Desmond's new mission. I'm too confused to know if I'm rooting for him to succeed or not. All of these moments could have landed better if I had a bit more context on Desmond and what he has discovered. I imagine this episode will be much better on rewatch when I have a better idea of the bigger picture, but on first watch this is too confusing to be the amazing episode it is trying to be. The Unknown: Why does Widmore need Desmond? Why does he need to expose him to electromagnetism again? What is the purpose of this? How did Desmond's experience in the flashsideways change him so suddenly? Did his brain actually get fried? Or has he learned something that we aren't aware of yet? What does Sayid plan on doing with Desmond? What were those flashes that Desmond experienced? What is the significance of this? Why is he going to show this to the others? What does he hope to gain? What are his motives in the flahssideways? What does he think is happening in this world? How is Eloise self-aware in this other world? She seems to know that the other timeline exists. How? We better get more than her explanation of "because I just do". Why does she want Desmond to stop searching for Penny? Daniel talking about detonating a nuclear bomb was interesting. Is this confirmation that we are in an alternate timeline? Is this timeline technically fake, and are these flashes an attempt to revert back to the "real" timeline? I'm very confused by all of this. Best Moment: Desmond and Penny setting up a date. They are just wonderful together. Character of the Episode: Desmond. Conclusion: "Lost" has always been really good at making formula break episodes, and this is no exception. It's a well executed and memorable experience that changes everything in preparation for the final stretch of the season. However, I think that too much information was withheld from us and that hurt my emotional investment in the events of this episode. This is still a great experience, but it's certainly a far cry from some of the best formula break episodes of "Lost". Score: 69 Summary: Flashsideways show that Jin and Sun aren't married but are still secretly together. Afte rhaving sex at night, Keamy arrives at Sun's hotel room and discovers her with Jin. He reveals that he was hired by Mr. Paik to kill Jin. Jin is taken to the restaurant and tied up, but he's freed after Sayid kills everyone else. Sun arrives with Mikhail later and Jin kills Mikhail, but Sun is shot in the process, and she reveals she is pregnant. On the island, MIB goes to visit Sun and Widmore attacks the camp, taking Jin back to Hydra Island. MIB talks to Sun who runs away from him, but she hits her head and loses the ability to speak English. Richard reveals that he plans to blow up the plane MIB plans to use to escape and Sun is upset and lashes out at him and Jack. Jack later apologizes and promises to get her and Jin off the island. Meanwhile, Widmore meets with Jin and shows him pictures of Ji Yeon. MIB comes to Hydra Island and has a stand off with Widmore. He leaves Sayid there and Sayid discovers that Widmore has brought Desmond back to the island.
The Good: This was an entertaining episode, similar to "Recon". The flashsideways story is a bit inconsequential (see: The Bad), but it is a fun watch and it's interesting to see an alternate world where Jin and Sun aren't married and Mr. Paik attempts to kill Jin. Plus it's always fun to see more of Keamy and Mikhail. Meanwhile, the island storyline has some decent plot development. We get to learn Richard's plan to stop MIB and we also get to see Widmore make some moves against MIB, finally getting their conflict going with their stand-off against each other. It should be interesting to see both of these storylines develop in later episodes. There were some nice character moments throughout the episode. Jack and Sun's relationship is handled really well. It's nice to see that Sun has absolutely no interest in any of the destiny stuff that Jack spews at her, and their conflict feels natural, stemmed by Jack's obsession with finding purpose. It leads to a nice moment towards the episode's end as Sun apologizes for shouting at Jack, and Jack looks past his own personal goals to promise Sun that he will help her return home with Jin. MIB also has a really good episode. This season has done an excellent job of making MIB surprisingly sympathetic in spite of being a villain. He has been caring in a number of ways, and that happens again in this episode with his scene with Claire. He comes off as genuine in stating that he wants the best for Claire even though he evidently doesn't need her (she isn't a candidate). Furthermore he keeps his word to Sun by not taking her with him by force when she gets knocked out. MIB remains really compelling and one of the most interesting aspects of this season. There were several small moments that I enjoyed. Sun resolutely running away from MIB fit very well. Jin seeing pictures of Ji Yeon was the emotional highlight of the episode (see: Best Moment). Ilana suspecting Ben when he conveniently finds Sun knocked out is really funny. Widmore and MIB's confrontation is well written and excited. And of course, the cliffhanger ending with Desmond's return is a very good reveal. And of course, season 6 continues to be loaded with Easter Eggs. There were many callbacks to moments from the past: Sun unbuttoning her shirt, Jack and Locke talking to Sun in her garden, Widmore saying "war is coming" to the island, and Mikhail being shot in the eyes. Furthermore, it was of course a blast to see Keamy, Omar, and Mikhail again. Another surprise was the return of room 23, and getting confirmation that it was made by the Dharma Initiative to experiment on the others. I wish that we had more small moments like this to confirm some answers. The last two seasons could really use more stuff like this to help resolve more mysteries. The Bad: This episode feels flat and I think that it is largely because this is a Jin/Sun episode. Jin and Sun have never been main characters in terms of plot, and their episodes are often more contained character stories. However, I still enjoy most Jin/Sun episodes. But this episode doesn't manage to have that same personal feel of Jin/Sun episodes of the past, and I think that it is because Jin and Sun have faded so far into the background since the end of season 4. Both characters have hardly done anything since the season 4 finale, and the only interesting part of their story right now is wondering if they will find each other. That's not enough to tell a compelling story, and I'm really disappointed that both Jin and Sun failed to have compelling character arcs on their own. Sun's story especially hurts since there was a lot of set-up for her becoming a vengeful independent woman set on bringing hell down on Ben and Widmore. But that storyline never developed and Sun just faded into a background role. With Sun and Jin being glorified background characters now, centering an episode around them does not work. They never feel important and I'm not as invested in their storyline as I should be. I wish that these two characters had been handled better in the last two seasons. The flashsideways story also feels a little flat. Similar to Sawyer's episode, the flashsideways doesn't feel like it is telling a proper story. It feels like a lame fanfiction since there aren't any underlying themes, ideas, or character resolution as we saw in episodes like "Dr. Linus", "Sundown", "Lighthouse", and "The Substitute". This episode has nothing like that, and it only serves to be a fun alternative where Jin and Sun have to fight Mr. Paik's attempts to kill Jin. There is no underlying emotional story arc, and I felt empty by the end of the story. Plus, Jin and Sun have a similar problem to Sawyer: they don't have any closure to close out their character arcs. All Jin and Sun need to do on the island to get closure is to find each other again. And since they start out together in the flashsideways, there is no emotional moment of closure that the episode builds up to. It's another flat flashsideways experience that makes me feel like the flashsideways is more of a dumb gimmick than a necessary storytelling device. Some small things bothered me. Sun getting aphasia is a dumb storyline. With "Lost" coming closer to its conclusion, we do not need a silly storyline of Sun becoming unable to speak English. It feels like such a cliche. Furthermore, the moment of Sun running into the tree is laughably stupid and implausible. Another stupid moment is Zoe acknowledging that she is a geophysicist. She questions why Widmore put her in charge, and it makes me question it too. Keamy was pretty successful, so why would Widmore hire a group of scientists and incompetents to fight a war? Surely he would want somebody like Keamy again! The Unknown: Why doesn't Sayid feel anything? What exactly is happening to him? Is Desmond the package? Why has Widmore brought him back? How will he be important? Will Desmond somehow prevent MIB from leaving? Flashsideways Sun is apparently pregnant? Will she survive getting shot? What is the significance of her being injured? It's difficult to see a purpose for the flashsideways right now. Best Moment: Jin seeing Ji Yeon was a fantastic moment, and Daniel Dae Kim does a magnificent job of being both happy to see her and being sad at how much he has missed over the past three years. This one moment makes you desperate to see Sun and Jin reunited and back with their daughter. Character of the Episode: Jin. Conclusion: This episode was easy entertainment, but it feels even more flat and uninspired than "Recon". This season needs to pick up soon because it has lost a lot of momentum, and I'm really concerned about the significance of the flashsideways now. Score: 56 Summary: Flashbacks show that Richard accidentally killed a doctor in an attempt to save his sick wife Isabella, but she died anyways. Richard is going to be executed, but is saved when he is bought as a slave on the Black Rock. The ship crashes on the island, destroying the statue in the process. The officers start killing all the slaves, but then MIB arrives and kills all of them, except Richard. He later appears to Richard as Isabella, faking her getting captured by what Richard believes is "the devil". MIB appears to Richard in person, breaking him free and telling him he's in hell and the only way to escape is to kill the devil, Jacob. Richard is sent to kill Jacob but Jacob stops him. Jacob convinces Richard that he is mistaken and offers him a job: to step in and advise the people he brings to the island on his behalf. Richard accepts and is also given the gift of eternal life. On the island, Ilana reveals that Richard should know what to do next. Richard doesn't and he storms off into the jungle, attempting to join MIB. However, he's stopped by Hurley who has spoken with Isabella and she shares a moment with Richard. Richard understands his next task: to stop MIB.
The Good: "Lost" is a show that understands that story is far more important that plot. Plot on its own can be interesting to watch, but it is almost never memorable and it doesn't engage you in the way that a good story does. And its with this logic, that "Lost" decided to focus Richard's backstory on the character himself instead of the potential answers that his backstory could give. For the most part, this works really well, and "Ab Aeterno" ends up being an intense and enthralling character journey in a unique time period. The tone of these flashbacks is so different from any other episode. Going back to 1867 is a huge change, and it is fascinating to see the deeply religious themes that permeate the episode, as well as Richard himself. Richard believes he is in hell, and the character is driven by his limited knowledge of the world, especially when compared to modern standards. This change in time period gives this episode an almost epic feeling as we dive farther into the past than we ever had before, and every second we spend in Richard's past is a thrill. Emotionally, the episode remains grounded in Richard's relationship to Isabella and his fear of going to hell, which are emotions that are very easy for anyone to relate to. This emotional aspect of the episode added a lot, and Nestor Carbonell's terrific performance (more on him later) got the most out of the emotions. Richard's desperation to save his wife early in the episode resonated with me, as did the horror of his realization that he will have to go to hell after accidentally killing the doctor. The story is pretty simple, but the performance elevates it to another level. Then once we get to the island, we are thrust back into the Jacob/MIB rivalry, but we see it from the perspective of Richard, convinced he is in hell and that he has to save his dead wife from the devil. The scenes in the black rock are a highlight of the episode as we see Richard struggling to survive in his chains while having to suffer through losing Isabella again. The scenes are brutal, engaging, and acted to perfection. It's impressive how this episode does a significant formula break to show some key history of the island, but it maintains emotional resonance through Richard's story. The biggest mythological aspect of this episode comes from MIB and Jacob. It's fascinating to see a sequel to the opening scene in "The Incident" as both of them try to fight their own philosophies, using Richard as a pawn. MIB immediately manipulates him and his beliefs in an attempt to get him to kill Jacob, meanwhile Jacob appeals to his compassion and humanity, seeing and understanding that Richard has the morality to understand that killing is wrong. I like seeing the parallels between these two characters and I hope that we learn more about them. Their final scene together was really well done and had some exciting symbolism as MIB destroys Jacob's wine bottle present, highlighting that his motives are likely more sinister than what we have been told in the present. Additionally, I really liked MIB telling Richard to kill Jacob with a stab before he has a chance to speak, paralleling Dogen's orders for Sayid back in "Sundown". MIB and Jacob are like two sides of the same coin. Jacob's big explanation about the island is one of the episode's most important scenes and I really enjoyed it and the implications it has (see: The Unknown). I don't often talk about presentation in an episode, but I can't deny that this episode's presentation added a lot. The costume for 1867 Richard was tremendous and he looked like a completely different person. Furthermore, Nestor Carbonell's performance in this episode was legitimately one of the very best in the series. To go from calm and composed Richard Alpert to playing this terrified, religious criminal is remarkable, and I was blown away by his range in this episode. 1867 Richard feels like an entirely different person. Additionally, this episode introduced a new character theme for Richard and it was beautiful. "Lost" has always had a stellar soundtrack, but this track was especially moving, and it fit this unique episode very well. The Bad: I'm sure that there are people out there that won't like this episode because of some of the choices that were made. This had the potential to be a huge revelatory episode that revealed a ton of answers about the island, the others and Jacob, but we didn't really get that episode. Much of what we saw here was stuff we could have easily pieced together, and outside of Jacob's speech about the nature of the island, I felt like we didn't get any major answers. It was wonderful seeing Jacob's origin story, but I can't help but be disappointed that we didn't get to see what happened after Richard starting working for Jacob. We could have seen him form the others, go through several leaders, grow the organization, send messages from Jacob, all the while dealing with the fact that he is living forever. But that story wasn't told, and even though I liked what we got, I am sad that we didn't get this other story. It looks like "Lost" has entirely abandoned explaining more about the others, which I think is a poor decision considering how crucial the others have been to the show. In "The Good" I explained that I'm glad that the show prioritized story over plot. However, I can't deny that merging story with plot would have hit the best of both worlds, and it's what I wish this episode had done instead of prioritizing story. Ilana's flashback at the beginning of the episode is random and out of place. I can't help but question its inclusion, especially since Ilana could have easily given us the information revealed in this scene without even bothering with the flashback. The Unknown: Did Jacob send Isabella to meet with Hurley somehow? That's the best possible explanation I have for how she knew about MIB and Richard's purpose. Was she even real, or was she just a vision made by Jacob to get Richard to believe? Does this confirm that Jacob is responsible for visions on the island? This could be an explanation for things like Eko's dreams and visions in "The Cost of Living" and Ben's vision of his mother in "The Man Behind the Curtain". I hope we get a more concrete answer on what causes these visions to happen. Is MIB able to take the form of dead people who didn't die on the island? It appears that he took on the form of Isabella in this episode. Was he able to do that because he "scanned" Richard earlier? Once again MIB has offered to reunite someone with a dead loved one. Is he really capable of doing this? Is the flashsideways world created by MIB to fulfill this promise? It should be interesting to see if Richard turns up with Isabella in this world. Jacob's speech about the island raises some big questions. Why is MIB so connected to the "evil" that the island is apparently protecting the world from? What exactly is this evil? Is it purely metaphorical or is there a more literal manifestation of the evil on the island? What is Richard going to do to stop MIB? Best Moment: There are lots of choices, but I'll go with my gut and pick the smaller moment for its emotional value. My pick is Richard's time in the Black Rock, chained to the wall. So well acted, so brutally emotional, and so engaging to watch. Character of the Episode: Richard. Conclusion: Richard's episode finally arrived, and it told an incredible historical story, centered around a superb performance by Nestor Carbonell. But it wasn't a perfect episode, as some of the choices here left me underwhelmed and wanting for more that I know we will never get. There's a lot of great stuff here and I loved most the episode, but I don't feel that it lived up to the unrealistically high expectations I had going into it. This still gets an excellent score, but I was hoping that this would have been one of the best episodes of the series. It's an excellent episode, but nowhere near one of the best. Score: 74 Summary: Flashsideways reveal that Sawyer has become a cop. His partner, Miles, sets him up on a date with Charlotte, but when she finds his folder for hunting down Mr. Sawyer, he forces her out. Miles discovers Sawyer has been lying and Sawyer comes clean with him. Kate suddenly smashes into Sawyer's car and he chases her down. On the island, MIB sends Sawyer to Hydra Island for recon, revealing that he wants to use the plane to escape. Meanwhile, Claire attempts to kill Claire, shaking her up. MIB talks to her and reveals a bit about his own past. Claire eventually apologizes to Kate. On Hydra island, Sawyer finds the Ajira survivors all dead and meets Zoe. He unearths that Zoe is working for Widmore and he meets with Widmore. Sawyer makes a deal to bring MIB unsuspecting to Widmore. Upon returning, Sawyer tells MIB about Widmore and helps MIB prepare a plan. After, Sawyer reveals to Kate that he's playign both sides and plans to escape with Kate on Widmore's sub.
The Good: This episode is based on a fun idea. Sawyer's recon mission i enjoyable to watch, and it's nice to see Sawyer using his conman skills to play a Sayid role, extracting information from Zoe, attempting to unearth who she is and why she is there. The flashsideways are similarly fun as we see Sawyer in a surprising role as a cop. It's a nice alternate reality for Sawyer, and I liked seeing this version of Sawyer also struggle to deal with the baggage of the letter. Again there were lots of nice throwbacks in this episode. The return of the pigeon drop was welcome, and it nicely set up the twist that Sawyer is a cop. It was nice to see brief appearances of Liam and Charlotte in the flashsideways as well. However, the best reference was easily Sawyer's return to the cages and him picking up Kate's dress. It makes perfect sense for him to pause for a moment and feel nostalgic for such an emotionally intense period of his life. The moment has a lot of emotional resonance. The Claire storyline is pretty solid and it features some of Evangeline Lilly's best acting on the series as she tries to process that Claire is not what she expected and just tried to murder her for no reason. Seeing Kate so shellshocked is disheartening, and her final hug with Claire was really good. You can tell that Kate wants to comfort her but is unsure if it's another trap and if Claire still wants to kill her. There's also a chilling moment as we see Sayid leave Kate to her fate at Claire's hands. It's evident that the infection inside of him is spreading and it's changing who he is. The Bad: Looking back to "What Kate Did", I was skeptical of the flashsideways initially. But those feelings were put on the backburner with the last four episodes being so creative with their storytelling. They made the most of the limited flashsideways story, doing something really powerful and interesting in each episode. But this episode doesn't have that same emotion, and my skepticism over the flashsideways has returned to the forefront. Even though they have provided good episodic stories, I don't think that the flashsideways are interesting as a cohesive story yet, and I don't know that they ever will be. The reason that the weaknesses of the flashsideways are exposed in this episode are because of the weakness of Sawyer's arc. Unlike Jack, Locke, Sayid and Ben, Sawyer is a character who already found fulfillment in his new life with Juliet. He already got over his past and found a happy existence for himself. Thus, seeing Sawyer try to find fulfillment in the flashsideways feels like a meaningless story; a weaker version of what we have already seen on the island. And with there not being anything else going on in the flashsideways, the story falls flat. No amount of buddy cop storylines, character cameos, and references can salvage a weak story. This episode suffers from being a lot of set-up. Considering how compelling Sawyer was early in the episode, I was looking forward to his episode. However, his storyline in this episode was far weaker than what we saw from him earlier in the season. It's disappointing to see what is likely Sawyer's final centric episode become a mostly uninspired and simplistic set-up episode. The others remain as frustrating as ever in this episode. Even with Sayid being clear that the people who stayed behind would die, Cindy still asks what happened to these people. Additionally, I was confused that they did not know that MIB is the smoke monster. Did Dogen not share any information with his own people? Why would he ever expect them to remain loyal if they don't know that MIB is the enemy? It's all as frustrating as ever. The cop reveal is fun, but it is shocking to me that the cops would be listening in on Sawyer having sex with this lady. There's no way that cops would ever operate like this. The Unknown: Who was MIB's mother? Why was she crazy? How did this impact MIB? Did she also live on the island? What is Widmore hiding in the sub? Who killed the Ajira people? Was it Widmore? MIB? Someone else? I suspect that it was Widmore. How is Widmore aware of MIB? Ben didn't know about him, so how does Widmore? How did he get back to the island, and how did he know to prepare to fight MIB? What are his motives? Is he choosing a side or is he a sort of wild card? Will Sawyer's intentions be discovered by MIB or Widmore? What will happen? Will he be able to escape on the sub? What will become of Sawyer arresting Kate in the flashsideways? Best Moment: Not much stands out. I'll go with the fascination of MIB's story about his mother. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was entertaining and solid television, but it was severely lacking in emotion and memorable moments. One of the flattest episodes of "Lost" you can find, and a very disappointing Sawyer-centric story. Score: 59 Summary: In flashsideways, Ben is frustrated when he is pulled from his history club meetings to cover detention by Principal Reynolds. Ben decides to make a play for his position when he learns from Alex, his student, that Reynolds has been engaging in sexual activity with the school nurse. He confronts Reynolds with a threat, but Reynolds threatens to write a bad recommendation for Alex if he lets Ben take his position. Ben gives up his plan for the sake of Alex's future. On the island, Ilana learns from Miles that Ben killed Jacob and gets him to dig his own grave. While he digs, Ben is met by MIB who offers to let Ben join him. Ben is freed by MIB and goes, but Ilana gives chase. Ben explains why he killed Jacob to Ilana in a passionate speech, and Ilana decides to accept him. Ben chooses to go back with Ilana. Hurley and Jack encounter Richard who leads them to the Black Rock, telling them that everyone at the temple died. Richard has Jack light a dynamite fuse for him because he wants to die but can't kill himself because of Jacob. Jack agrees but sits with Richard, believing that he has a destiny and that the dynamite won't blow up if Jacob has plans for him. The fuse abruptly stops and the dynamite doesn't blow up, confirming Jack's theory.
The Good: Ben's story is fantastic in this episode. The flashsideways are back to being about fulfillment as they offer Ben another chance, giving him the choice between his own power and Alex's life. And this time he makes the right decision, and doesn't give up Alex's future for his own personal gain. The story left me feeling really happy for Ben, seeing that he doesn't have to be a manipulative liar and is capable of being better. It's always impressive how "Lost" makes me sympathize with Ben despite all of his despicable actions. It's strange that this episode works so well, because the flashsideways story sounds like an awful idea on paper. A story that takes place in a high school? Pass. But it works absurdly well. Surprisingly, Ben is in his element as a teacher, and it is wonderful to see the relationship he has with Alex, having not given in to his worst character traits in this alternate universe. The high school symbolizes a perfect world for Ben, one where he can live a simple and happy life despite having no power at all. Compare this to the island, a place where he has power, but he is now miserable and unhappy. You can't help but wonder how much better of a person Ben would be if he had never taken up any power. This implication is what brings suspense into the high school storyline. Your stomach turns a little bit when Ben tries to take Principal Reynolds' position because you get the sense that it will ruin everything that Ben has. And there is tension that Ben will choose wrong again, because Sayid was unable to find fulfillment in the previous episode. The writing and acting in this storyline helps it maintain drama despite being based on such a mundane premise. It shouldn't work, but it ends up being enthralling television. The island story is very effective. The story of Ben literally digging his own grave, being faced with the consequences of his decisions is very powerful stuff. It isolates Ben and makes him feel despair and powerlessness in a way that Ben rarely feels. This effectively makes us sympathize with Ben throughout the episode and builds nicely to the episode's climax as Ben opts to not kill Ilana, instead giving her a really passionate speech (see: Best Moment) because deep down he doesn't want to leave to go with MIB. It shows very real character growth that Ben chooses not to go with MIB's promise of power, instead opting to do the right thing because he understands that power is not the most important thing to him. Again, this episode has a few nice callbacks and moments. Ben's speech about Napoleon and power at the start of the episode was a lovely bit of tongue-in-cheek storytelling. I was also pleased to see Miles digging up the diamonds Nikki and Paolo were buried with, as well as Ben going through Sawyer's stash. I really enjoyed the ending of the episode as we got an old school montage as Jack and Hurley arrive and reunite with Sun. Jack and Hurley's story is a perfect B-plot. The encounter with Richard is very dramatic. Richard has been fascinating to watch in his few scenes this season, and Nestor Carbonell has done an outstanding job of showing us the collapse of this character's world. When he says he wants to die, you buy into his emotional state. But what's most fascinating is the effect that Richard has on Jack. After his experience in "Lighthouse", Jack has now become a man of faith. So when faced with somebody who has lost faith, naturally Jack will do his best to "fix" him and restore his faith. Jack's choice to light the fuse, willing to risk everything because he believes that he has a greater destiny, is a fantastic character moment, showcasing the change in Jack. The ending with the fuse going out was a superb moment, concluding a tremendous B-story. The Bad: It's a small issue, but it is notable that this episode doesn't progress the plot very much at all. Ben's story is grounded in character and emotion, but it does very little for the show in the grander scheme of things, which is especially underwhelming when you remember that there are only 10 episodes left with plenty of plot threads needing to be resolved. Furthermore, it's disappointing to see Ben get a story in the flashsideways instead of a traditional flashback, especially since he's so connected with the others and the history of the island. You just can't help but feel disappointed that we didn't get a chance to get more answers with another look into Ben's past. That being said, I will always prefer a beautiful and emotional story like we got in this episode to an episode all about plot and giving out answers. Hence why it's only a small issue for me. Did Principal Reynolds have to be so comically awful? Give the guy one admirable character trait at least. The Unknown: What changed in the flashsideways world to get Ben and Roger off of the island? Could their presence be another hint that the flashsideways is an epilogue, not an alternate reality? If the bomb exploded, surely Ben and Roger would have been killed. What is Jacob's plan for Richard and Jack? What kind of powers does MIB have? I was very surprised to see him free Ben using some sort of godly ability. What else can he do? How did Widmore find the island? What role will he play in this Jacob vs MIB conflict? Will he pick a side, or will he be a sort of wild card? What are his plans for everyone on the island? He seems to have a destination in mind to land. Where? Also, is Widmore the person that Jacob said was coming back in "Lighthouse"? Best Moment: Ben's speech to Ilana was phenomenal. Michael Emerson was remarkable in this scene and his word really pull at your heartstrings and make you feel for this awful, awful person. Every beat of his speech was executed perfectly, and Ben's regret and loneliness are really easy to relate to. Ending the scene with Ben choosing to come back with Ilana because he just wants to belong somewhere is both hopeful and sad all at once. Simply beautiful storytelling. Character of the Episode: Ben. Conclusion: Emotionally, this episode did everything perfectly. I don't think that this episode had a big role in the overarching story of season 6 (except the ending), but it was focused, powerful, and memorable. If there's one thing you can count on from "Lost", it's that the show will always provide superb character stories like this one that are capable of wowing you emotionally. Even in episodes that don't have much plot movement, it's important to remember that very few shows are capable of nailing down the emotional aspects of storytelling quite like "Lost". This was an excellent episode. Score: 74 Summary: In flashsideways, Sayid returns home in LA to his brother Omer, who has married Nadia. Omer is in trouble after borrowing a loan and he wants Sayid to help deal with it. Sayid initially refuses because Nadia doesn't want him to be a bad person, but after Omer is hospitalized and Sayid is picked up to meet Keamy, Sayid kills all of them. On the island, Sayid confronts Dogen and Dogen fights Sayid, trying to kill him. Dogen wins but his conscience intervenes. Dogen wants Sayid to leave. Claire arrives at the temple and demands that Dogen meet with MIB. Dogen refuses and Claire is captured. Sayid is sent by Dogen to kill MIB. Kate returns to the temple and tells Claire that she took Aaron. Sayid meets MIB and stabs him but it doesn't kill him. MIB convinces Sayid to deliver another message: for everyone to leave the temple by sundown or they die. Some people leave and a panic starts. Sayid finds Dogen at the pool and Dogen tells him his backstory. Sayid kills Dogen, which allows MIB to enter the temple and start slaughtering everyone. Ilana's group arrives and they take Miles to safety. Sayid, Claire, and Kate end up going with MIB.
The Good: This was a dark and depressing episode in all the right ways. The last two episodes have shown our main characters (Locke/Jack) get happy endings in the flash-sideways universe. In a lot of ways, it feels like this season has been celebrating the characters by giving them happy endings in the flash-sideways, while challenging them in meaningful ways on the island. With this in mind, it would be so easy for "Lost" to fall into a pattern and become predictable in these final episodes. So naturally, this episode completely bucked that trend and gave us a haunting and depressing character piece on Sayid that gave him anything but a happy ending. Leave it to "Lost" to always surprise you in meaningful ways while telling a really compelling story. As mentioned above, Sayid's story is really dark, and it works superbly well. Sayid has always been one of the most inherently tragic and intense characters on the show, so it makes perfect sense to have his episode feature a turn towards darker storytelling. Sayid's flashsideways story may not be as entertaining to watch as the others, but it is based around a spectacular idea. Unfortunately for Sayid, even in this idealized flashsideways world, he still doesn't get what he wants. He isn't with Nadia because he is still wracked with guilt over the horrible things he has done, and no matter how hard he tries, even in this world Sayid ends up becoming a coldhearted killer in order to pave his own future. For Sayid there is no escaping his nature, and that is an incredibly sad gutpunch to realize, made worse by the realization that other characters (Jack/Locke) were able to find peace, but Sayid still is unable to (see: The Unknown for speculation as to why). This inherent evilness to Sayid is contrasted perfectly on the island, where Sayid appears to have literally become evil now that he has been infected. The episode plays up the mystery of if this is actually Sayid impressively well. From the subtlety of this strange British accent that Sayid has developed to the extremely out-of-character claim from Sayid that he is a good person, there are always reasons for you to doubt that Sayid is even himself anymore. And that mystery builds and builds to the end of the episode where we see Sayid at his most ruthless, murdering Dogen and his translator in cold blood, damning everyone in the temple to death. It's a shockingly ruthless move, especially since Dogen had just opened up to Sayid about himself in an attempt to make peace with him. And Sayid responds to Dogen's one moment of tenderness by killing him, a decision that the Sayid from previous seasons likely would not have made. And the cherry on top is the scene where Ben confronts Sayid in the pool. Ben tries to get Sayid to come with him and that there is still time, but in one of the episode's best and most chilling moments, Sayid replies with a cold smile "not for me". Simply brilliant storytelling. The island story had some tremendous and exciting moments throughout even without Sayid's storyline. The fight between Sayid and Dogen was intense and excellent, and it has to be one of the best choreographed fight scenes in the show so far. It was intense and thrilling. In contrast to epic action, we also got an amazing conversation between Sayid and MIB that had me at the edge of my seat. It was amazing to watch MIB manipulate Sayid to get control over him, while also doing what Dogen and the others failed to do: showing Sayid that he understands him and offering Sayid something to gain. Their entire scene is tremendous, and I love that Sayid initially listened to Dogen by stabbing MIB (almost) immediately. Poor Sayid really does want to prove that he isn't as awful of a person as he thinks he is. But it just isn't meant to be. Lastly, I thought the climax of the episode was dramatic and excellent. Dogen's backstory was sad and engaging, and it was the calm before the storm as MIB's attack on the temple provided the episode with an exciting game-changing climax that completely changes the story for season 6. I also really enjoyed the eerie "catch a falling star" sequence to end the episode as MIB assembles his new army, planning to get off the island. This episode was so different that it was even short on references to season 1. The first five episodes had the same centric episodes as season 1 (two-part premier, Kate, Locke, Sawyer), but this episode bucked that trend with Sayid. However, we still got a nice callback to "Solitary" when we see the picture of Nadia that Sayid had early in season 1. And while it's not a season 1 reference, I was thrilled by the cameo appearance of Keamy, who is just as much fun to watch as a mob boss making scrambled eggs as he is being a ruthless mercenary. The Bad: The temple storyline ended up being a questionable waste of time. The temple is supposed to be a big part of the show's mythology and could have provided a crucial look into the lives of the others and answered plenty of questions. But all it amounted to in the end was a bunch of frustratingly vague characters who never answered questions properly and caused endless frustrations before the temple storyline got unceremoniously killed off. The others have to be the biggest disappointment of "Lost' so far, so I was really hoping that the temple would correct that and fill in some gaps about why they are here, how their Jacob religion works, how they decide their leader and what their goals are. Instead we get nothing at all, and that is a massive waste of potential. Furthermore, the others are incredibly confusing in this episode. In "LA X Part 2" we saw that Dogen learned of Jacob's death and sent orders to release a flare to summon everyone to the temple. And it's clear from Richard's face that he understood that the message of the flare is that Jacob is dead. Yet this episode still has a scene where Sayid reveals that Jacob is dead and that's somehow a big shock for everyone. They have known this for several episodes now! Why is this a surprise? And it is alarming how quickly they abandon Jacob and turn to MIB's side. It's incredibly unclear why these people stay here and believe in Jacob if news of his death is enough to instantly send them running to MIB's side. This makes absolutely no sense, and the thoughtlessness of this storyline is really anger-inducing, because we should have spent more time exploring the culture of the others in this season and in season 3 so that we might be able to understand their actions better. I really just wish that the others had been developed better, because as things stand right now, they are a ridiculous and contradictory faction of people. One incredibly stupid twist was the reveal that Dogen was the only one keeping MIB out of the temple. Now I can buy into the idea that Jacob gave Dogen this power, that is not the problem. What is the problem is that Dogen, the only thing protecting the temple, is inexplicably left alone with Sayid who the others believe is corrupted! Why doesn't Dogen have any protection? It's simply absurd. Furthermore, we saw in a previous episode that some of the others were going around making ash circles around the temple, seemingly to keep MIB out. Did those just disappear? Apparently they didn't even matter because MIB came in anyways. That's really poor writing to forget about this detail. A final frustration comes from how inept Jacob and the others are at communicating. MIB had one single scene with Sayid, and he told him everything he needed to know. And in this one scene, MIB told Sayid more than the others told him in the last 4 episodes. Seriously, why did the others need to be so vague? Had they at least communicated, I'm certain that Sayid would not have sided with MIB so easily. It's no wonder that Sayid chose MIB, because the others gave Sayid no reason to stay with them or trust them. Additionally, I have to question Jacob's decision-making. The others are supposed to be his people and he is their god. So why did he just condemn them all to death, knowing that MIB was going to wipe them out or make them join him? Jacob comes off as an awful leader if he just allows this to happen, and it makes me question if the others even mattered at all. The Unknown: Why is Sayid unable to have the happy ending that other characters got? Is this because he is still somehow infected in this alternate universe and is therefore incapable of finding true happiness and closure? This could give credence to the idea that this alternate universe is somehow happening after the events of season 6 and is a sort of epilogue for the characters. Sayid hesitated and let MIB say hello before he stabbed him. The episode doesn't play with this idea much, but would Sayid have actually killed him if he attacked before MIB even said a word? It's an interesting idea to think about. How does MIB plan to give Nadia back to Sayid? Could this possibly be tied into the alternate universe, because Sayid is with Nadia in that world. Does this mean that MIB is responsible for this alternate reality? What is next for Sayid? He definitely does seem to be colder than before, so I think that the infection is a real thing. Is there any way for him to break free from it, or disinfect himself? Or will he remain "evil" until the end of the show? What is Jin doing in the freezer? Why was he captured? Is there any significance to Sayid encountering him? Best Moment: Sayid and MIB's conversation was gripping and thrilling from start to finish. MIB remains fascinating to watch, and watching Sayid grapple with morality and grief is always compelling television. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This ended up being a real mixed bag. On one hand, there were several terrific scenes here and Sayid's story was profoundly sad and memorable. But the plot-related events of the episode were hugely disappointing, with the resolution of the temple storyline and the others being wholly unsatisfying. This is probably one of the toughest episodes of the show for me to score because some parts of this episode were the best of the season so far, while others were the worst. I want this to score much higher, but I can't justify calling this any more than a really good episode as a whole. Score: 67 Summary: Flashsideways reveal that Jack has a kid, David, with his estranged wife. Jack's relationship with David isn't very good, but after talking with his mom, Jack reaches out to David and discovers that he has secretly been playing piano. They share a sweet moment together. On the island, Hurley is contacted by Jacob to take Jack on a mission to a lighthouse where he has to help somebody get to the island. Hurley and Jack go together and run into Kate along the way. Once at the lighthouse, Jack sees that Jacob has been watching him since his childhood. Frustrated, Jack destroys the mirrors in the lighthouse. Jacob reveals to Hurley that this is what he intended and that they need to stay away from the temple. Meanwhile, Claire has captured Jin and Justin and has become crazy like Rousseau. She demands Justin tell her where the others are keeping Aaron, and when he doesn't, Claire kills him. Jin tries to tell Claire that Kate took him, but when Claire reveals she would kill Kate, Jin says he was lying and insists that Aaron is in the temple.
The Good: This episode makes it pretty clear what this season is trying to accomplish with the flashsideways. In this alternate reality, our main characters are being given closure, overcoming flaws and insecurities that they were unable to overcome in the other universe. This does give me some ideas on what the flashsideways really are (see: The Unknown), but more importantly, it allows me to appreciate the stories being told. Despite this version of Jack not being the Jack that we know, it is still powerful to see some version of Jack overcoming his parental insecurities and connecting with his son, successfully overcoming a lot of the baggage that his relationship with Christian left him with. The scenes between Jack and David were surprisingly engrossing, and their sweet moment together near the end of the episode was emotional and beautiful. The main island story is pretty well done. Jack and Hurley's trip is a lot of fun, and it does echo more traditional "Lost" episodes with characters going on an unknown mission of self-discovery following some vague purpose that may or may not even exist. Season 6 as a whole does seem to be echoing this idea a lot. "The Substitute" was also structured similarly with Sawyer going on a journey with MIB with the promise of answers at the end, compared to Jack going with Hurley, serving as a stand-in for Jacob, with the same promise of answers at the end. I really like this parallel, as it not only serves as a neat celebration for the storytelling style of "Lost", but it also has a lot of subtle details that enrich the storytelling (contrasting characters like Jacob/MIB and Jack/Sawyer). This episode in particular feels like a direct follow-up to "White Rabbit" and it shares a lot of similarities. For one, Jack's story arc is a very similar adventure of self-discovery. In season 1, it was a story about Jack resolving his inner turmoil so that he can find himself and become a real leader. Here, it's a story about Jack pushing away the doubts that have crept into his mind since his failures at the end of season 5, fully accepting that he is on this island for a reason. It's a similar story of leaving the past behind and accepting a new role, and there's even a similar character moment of Jack frustratedly destroying something (coffin/mirrors) at the climax of the episode. Another neat parallel comes from the return to the caves, and the sighting of the coffin, two key images from "White Rabbit". Season 6 has been relying heavily on parallels and callbacks to the past, but not in a bad way. Instead of throwing around references just for the sake of throwing them around, these parallels are being used to enhance the story, and I really like that. Claire's story is pretty good as well. Emilie De Ravin does a surprisingly good job being unhinged, and her brutal murder of Justin is a very memorable moment. It's very easy to buy into Jin's growing fear of Claire that results with him lying to her about Aaron. This story also has a really good ending as MIB arrives, clearly having manipulated Claire into serving him in the same way he manipulated Ben last season, and Sawyer in the previous episode. Dogen's appearance in the flashsideways was a fun appearance. The Bad: While I do like the parallels in this episode, sometimes they are hammered in far too hard and the moments don't feel earned. The biggest example of this is Jack destroying the mirrors in the lighthouse. The destruction of the coffin in "White Rabbit" is a really powerful moment that stems from Jack's frustrations at once again being robbed of the closure he needed. This moment with the mirrors doesn't have that same weight to it, and I didn't feel as connected with Jack's emotional state as I should have been. I get his frustrations throughout the episode, but I don't entirely understand why Jack would be so furious at finally confirming that he is here for a reason. Again, the flashsideways haven't hooked me as a standalone story. I appreciate them for the character work they are doing but I'm still not sure about how I feel about seeing so much of this world. I would rather spend my remaining time on the island or exploring the versions of the characters I have come to know over the last 5 seasons. There's no way that this lighthouse wasn't found earlier, especially since it is right on the coast, seemingly close to the caves. The excuse that "we just weren't looking for it" is very weak and doesn't satisfactorily fill in this blatant plot hole. Jacob's motivation for hiding all of these details to give Jack this experience feels a little bit cheap and too convoluted. Wouldn't it just be easier for Jacob to tell Jack? "Lost" has never been good with characters being honest with each other, but this is pretty frustrating because you get the sense that Jacob is only being this vague for the sake of the plot. The Unknown: Why didn't Jack remember his appendix being taken out? Is this a hint that the worlds are somehow connected? We know that Jack lost his appendix on the island in season 4. This, combined with how the characters are overcoming their flaws, suggests that the flashsideways could be some sort of perfect world designed for the Flight 815 survivors, possibly by Jacob or MIB. Who is Jack's ex-wife in the flashsideways? Is it Sarah? Juliet? Somebody else? Is somebody actually coming to the island? Or was that made up by Jacob as a cover for Jack's personal journey? If there really is someone, who is it? What is going to happen to the temple? Is the person coming to the temple MIB? Why did Jacob get Hurley and Jack away from there but leave Sayid behind? Sayid has had a noticeable British accent since he came back to life. At first I thought it was unintentional, or maybe it had to do with Sayid being exhausted after dying. But his accent is still there. Is there a reason for this? Is this a hint about how Sayid has been "infected"? Best Moment: Jack and David's moment together. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This was another really strong episode. It's not quite as effective as the previous one and there are some issues, but I still enjoyed a lot of the storytelling here. Score: 69 Summary: In flash-sideways, Locke is living happily with Helen. He gets fired after skipping his work meetings on his trip to Australia and ends up getting a new job opportunity thanks to Hurley. Locke takes a new job as a substitute teacher and debates calling Jack for the consult. On the island, MIB visits Sawyer and offers to take him somewhere where he can find out why he's on the island. Sawyer runs into a terrified Richard and doesn't trust MIB. He still agrees to go along but is wary. MIB takes Sawyer to a cave where several names have been written on the wall and scratched out. The names correspond to the people Jacob met in "The Incident". Sawyer is perturbed by this and agrees to help MIB leave the island. Meanwhile, Ilana's group head to the temple and they bury Locke at the beach camp on the way.
The Good: An episode centered around MIB is always welcome, and I thought that we got a lot of good content here. MIB's story was so mysterious and full of tension and suspense, expertly brought on with a few key choices. The partnership with Sawyer was one of those excellent choices. Sawyer is completely disinterested in island mythology, which should feel frustrating because everyone watching wants to learn more. But it actually works brilliantly because Sawyer ends up purely acting out of self-preservation in his interactions with MIB, making his actions feel more realistic and immersive overall. He doesn't ask the nitty-gritty questions, but he asks reasonable questions when he's confronted by MIB. Sawyer, like us, is unsure of if he should trust MIB, and confronts him numerous times about this. Their dynamic is really engaging to watch and their conversations are extremely well-written throughout the episode, culminating in an outstanding scene in the cave (see: Best Moment). MIB himself gets some really interesting moments. We see him get confronted by a mysterious kid (see: The Unknown) multiple times in the episode, seemingly stopping him from murdering both Richard and Sawyer. Not only does this hint at more answers about MIB and Jacob, but it also draws a curious parallel between MIB and Locke when MIB angrily shouts "don't tell me what I can't do!" in a terrific moment. Perhaps they are more similar than MIB lets on. I really liked the POV shots of MIB when he's in his smoke monster form. That was some really clever and inspired camera-work, which we don't usually see a whole lot from "Lost". Lastly, I really enjoyed MIB's "inside joke" as he threw the white rock symbolizing Jacob into the ocean. A pleasant surprise of this episode is that it gives a proper send-off to Locke. Locke finally gets buried and is eulogized by Ben in a great scene. Ben's words are heartfelt and filled with remorse, but also hilariously awkward as Ben gives a powerful eulogy to the man that he murdered. Frank's comment at the end about this being "the weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to" is really funny. But more than just this burial, the send-off for Locke comes in the flash-sideways where we see Locke living happily with Helen, seemingly at peace. We can see the difference immediately. Locke merely laughs after the humiliating scene where he falls into his lawn and the sprinklers go off, an incident that likely would have frustrated the Locke that we knew on the island. It's surprisingly fulfilling to see Locke live happily with the woman he loved, especially considering his devastatingly tragic fate. A story of Locke living with Helen while accepting the reality of his situation as a cripple by becoming a substitute teacher is heartwarming. In this world, Locke has found the inner peace that he never had in 5 seasons of "Lost", and I think that this is as good of a send-off for Locke as we are going to get. As is typical of season 6 so far, there were plenty of Easter Eggs here. Sawyer gets to talk about Of Mice and Men again, after he brought it up previously in "Every Man for Himself". This connection to season 3 also draws a parallel between Sawyer's journey with MIB in this episode with Sawyer's journey with Ben in "Every Man for Himself". There's another clever reference in the flash-sideways with Locke's alarm, which is the same sound that the alarm made in the hatch when there was less than 4 minutes left. Lastly, this one isn't technically an Easter Egg, but it is an absolute delight to see Ben as a European history teacher complaining about coffee. The Bad: I find it hard to believe that Locke's body was carried all the way back to the beach camp to be buried. That seems like a lot of work. Also Locke must have been dead for several days now at least, and his body hasn't been preserved since it came to the island. That body should be rotting a lot more than what is shown. I'm still feeling uncertain about the flash-sideways world. Locke's story was far more interesting and emotionally powerful that Kate's in the last episode, but I still struggle to fully invest in these alternate versions of the characters we already know. And I still can't help but wonder what the point of it all is. The Unknown: So are the candidates the people who are being considered to replace Jacob? How is somebody selected to be the replacement? Who is the little kid that MIB keeps seeing? Is it younger Jacob? What are the rules that are mentioned here? Curiously, this parallels the Ben/Widmore relationship with these mysterious rules. Are these rules somehow connected? What is MIB recruiting for? An army to help him get off the island? Who else will he get to join him? Why is MIB only able to impersonate Locke now? Were his abilities to be other people somehow tied to Jacob? Was MIB Christian this entire time? It sounds like Locke is on good terms with his father in the flash-sideways. What is he going to be like? Will we get to meet him? Best Moment: MIB and Sawyer in the cave. Terry O'Quinn continues to be outstanding, and he once again stole the show in this episode. His performance, combined with big reveals, memorable dialogue, and a huge decision for Sawyer made for a tremendous climax to the episode. The scene starts off mysteriously and builds to huge revelations as we discover that Jacob wrote countless names on the wall, presumably all candidates that he brought to the island. MIB reveals to us exactly what a "candidate" means, and I think this is an excellent choice because it grounds the reveal in reality. Instead of being this huge, mythical moment, MIB points out the absurdity of it all, claiming that Jacob ruined lives by bringing people to the island. It's likely that he's manipulating Sawyer here, but he makes an excellent case, and you can't help but get the feeling that MIB himself has had his life ruined by Jacob, who is presumably the reason that he can't leave the island. The scene has an emotional intensity to it, elevating this big reveal to something more. MIB's list of choices for Sawyer is also excellent, and it builds to a stellar closing scene as Sawyer agrees to help MIB leave the island. The whole sequence is a brilliant piece of drama. Character of the Episode: MIB. Conclusion: This was an excellent hour with excellent performances, big reveals and a lot of well-written scenes. The flash-sideways story still feels a little awkward, but everything else worked really well in this episode. I've got very little to complain about with this one. Score: 72 Summary: In the flash-sideways, Kate escapes in the taxi and abandons Claire after stealing her stuff. After removing her handcuffs, Kate realizes Claire was pregnant, and after feeling bad, she returns to her. Kate helps Claire out and takes her to the hospital when she has a false labour. On the island, Dogen learns what happened to Sayid and runs some tests on him which involve torture. They tell Jack he is sick and tell him to give Sayid a pill. Jack refuses and swallows it himself, but Dogen forces it out of him, revealing that it's poison. He tells him Sayid has been "claimed" and that this will corrupt him. Sawyer leaves the temple, and Kate and Jin go after him with Aldo and Justin. Kate knocks them out and continues on her own. She finds Sawyer at the barracks but isn't able to get much out of him in his grief. Jin heads back to the temple but Aldo and Justin find him. Aldo prepares to kill him but he's shot by Claire.
The Good: This episode had some engaging parts. The temple storyline remains very interesting. The mystery of what happened to Sayid was explored nicely, and I'm glad that Sayid resurrecting was treated like a huge deal. The episode builds up a lot to the Jack/Dogen scene towards the end where Dogen reveals everything he knows about what happened to Sayid, suggesting that we might finally get to see the "sickness" that Rousseau talked about back in "Solitary", one of the show's longest running mysteries. The scenes between Jack and Dogen were also really well done. Dogen was frustrating at first (see: The Bad), but he's growing as a character and the final scenes made him much more interesting than he initially seemed. Jack had a really good episode full of decisions as he debates what to do with the pill. His decision to take it himself to force Dogen's hand was an excellent moment and was suitably dramatic. Sawyer continues to be really compelling. His grief is heartbreaking to see, and the reveal that he planned to marry Juliet was really sad. Kate gets some good scenes too when she realizes how broken Sawyer is and that there's nothing that she can do to help him. I liked the build-up to the Claire reveal. The traps set all over the place built up some interest and the ending scene where she appears and ruthlessly kills Aldo was a huge surprise. Its been a long time since we've seen Claire, and with her apparently having been "claimed", I'm sure that she's going to feel like a very different person now. The cliffhanger works so well because you can't help but get excited to see how Claire has changed. We got some more lovely references in the flash-sideways. Seeing Ethan as the doctor (and using his real last name Goodspeed) was a delight, and we got a terrific line when he tells Claire he doesn't want to unnecessarily stick her with needles if he doesn't have to. The Bad: This episode feels like it is killing time. There isn't much happening here that is compelling, and I found myself wishing that the episode pick up the pace so we could move on to more interesting things. It doesn't help that this is a Kate episode, since Kate has always been one of the least compelling characters on the show. There wasn't anything interesting done with her in the entire episode, and all of the most interesting moments involved Jack or Sawyer instead of her. The vagueness of the others really annoyed me for much of the episode. We should have learned about Sayid's situation very early in the episode, but instead we have to sit through what felt like endless scenes of Dogen and his translator making vague statements about infection and medicine, not explaining important details oto anybody. It's so frustrating because the lack of communication is done for no reason other than to hide details from the viewers, because it makes no sense that Dogen doesn't reveal what he knows to Jack in order to get Jack to trust him. Furthermore, if Jack's group is so important, why doesn't Dogen share what he knows with them so that they understand the situation they are in? It makes no sense that he keeps so much secret. This kind of frustration feels a lot like early season 3, which I thought the writers had learned from. I'm not pleased to see them making the same mistakes again. The flash-sideways story was a nice story of bonding for Kate and Claire but it made no sense. Your telling me that Claire is seriously going to confide in a criminal who hijacked a taxi and threatened her at gunpoint just because she felt lonely? Seriously? Anyone in her shoes would be terrified of Kate! I can't buy into them forming a bond because Claire should be terrified to be with her after what she did at the start of the episode. Furthermore, how is it that nobody called the cops on Kate? Claire didn't call them, and neither did that taxi driver since Kate is miraculously able to keep using that taxi without arousing suspicion. There is so much ridiculousness in this storyline that it becomes impossible to take it seriously. Furthermore, I'm not convinced that this flash-sideways world is any more than just silly Easter eggs and references. There hasn't been anything yet to convince me that this is a story that is worth telling. Some other small things bothered me. It was cool seeing Aldo again but he was so needlessly aggravating in a way that made me not enjoy his presence at all. Jin's choice to return to the temple perplexed me. Sun isn't there! Why wouldn't he want to get away so that he could look for her on his own? You can see the writer's fingerprints all over Jin's decision to go back. There was no logical reason for the character to return, he only did because it was needed for the story. I feel like I've seen Sayid get tortured 100 times in this show. I think it was done to parallel "Solitary" in this episode, but it feels so repetitive since the irony of the torturer being tortured has happened so much now. The Unknown: Why is it so important that the group stays in the temple? Why is it so bad if some of them leave? What is this infection that Sayid has? Is it the same thing that happened to Rousseau's team? How is this going to affect Sayid? Is the person we are seeing even Sayid anymore? How will he change? Apparently the same thing happened to Claire too. How? Do you have to die in order to be "claimed"? Is this MIB's work or is it unrelated? Is there a connection between the two timelines? Kate lingered on Jack for a while as if she knew she remembered him, and Claire's statement that she just knew the baby's name would be Aaron is a little strange. Best Moment: Sawyer talking about Juliet's death on the dock and accepting responsibility for it was really sad. The way that Sawyer has changed throughout the seasons after key moments in his life has been really impressive. He's definitely one of the best written characters on the show. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a weak and frustrating episode in a lot of ways. There were good scenes, but not enough to distract from the fundamental problems. I expect a lot more from "Lost". Score: 53 Summary: In the flash-sideways, Kate escapes from Edward and hijacks a taxi which has Claire sitting in it. The airline loses Jack's coffin and he's upset about that. Jack meets Locke, who lost his box of knives, and offers to give him a consult for his condition. Jin's money gets taken away. On the island, the group goes into the tunnels underneath the temple but are captured by the others. Their leader, Dogen, threatens to kill them but Hurley reveals the guitar case, which has an ankh inside it, carrying a piece of paper. After reading it, Dogen lets them in. He tries to save Sayid using a pool, but it doesn't work and Sayid dies. Hurley reveals that Jacob is dead so the others make preparations and send out a flare. Richard sees the flare and panics. MIB emerges from the statue and knocks out Richard, taking him with him. Jack picks a fight with the others, but they stop when Sayid wakes up.
The Good: I enjoyed much of this episode. It's a lot of table-setting, but it is done well and is very exciting. The intro to the temple was superbly done, and it is a really impressive set. The scenes at the temple were packed with mystery and I'm intrigued by this new group of others. I want to learn more, so the episode did its job of getting me hooked for the season. There was still some emotion here that gave the temple story some heart. Jack and Sawyer's emotional states are being set up well. Jack is wracked with guilt over what he's done, and we can see that the guilt is undoing the transformation he made last season. The episode even parallels Jack trying to save Sayid to Jack trying to save Charlie back in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", making it explicitly clear to us that Jack is returning to his stubborn self in his grief. His faith has been shattered, and I'm interested to see if he finds a way to rediscover it. Sawyer on the other hand is processing his grief normally. He's passed the point where he wants to kill Jack and is accepting what happened. I'm curious to see how Sawyer is able to move forwards without Juliet. Then of course we get to Sayid's revival at the end of the episode. Sayid's death was sad and had some good farewells, but it was a bit flat compared to Juliet's death. Now we get to see why. During a really touching scene as Hurley says farewell to his friend, we get a hint from Miles that maybe something isn't right with Sayid. And the end of the episode gives us the stunning reveal as Sayid comes back to life, wondering what happened. The moment lands really well and it's a great cliff-hanger to take us into the next episode. The story at the statue was kept short but it was consistently interesting. We got a fantastic scene between MIB and Ben (see: Best Moment), and then we get a pretty great moment as MIB takes out a stunned Richard and walks off into the jungle. I'm very excited to see what happens next with MIB and I hope to see more of him in the next episode. I have my criticisms of the flash-sideways (see: The Bad), but there were more fun moments and references in there. I enjoyed seeing Frogurt shouting at Kate, and there was a nice reference to "White Rabbit" when Jack tells Locke "you won't believe me if I told you". The Jack/Locke scene was surprisingly good, and it was nice to see these two interacting as helpful strangers, offering advice to each other about their respective problems. I hope that we see more of these two together in the flash-sideways. The Bad: The flash-sideways world feels strange to me and I'm not yet engaged in the storyline. Last episode worked because it had the emotion of the survivors never actually going to the island and getting to LA X. This episode doesn't have that added emotion, so it relies on us caring about this storyline. And at the moment, I'm not invested in seeing this version of the characters. These aren't the same people I've invested the last 5 seasons in, so I'm not very interested in what happens to them. This is why Kate's escape doesn't work for me, because I'm not invested in her getting away safely. The scenes in the flash-sideways mostly dragged until the really well-written Jack/Locke conversation. Once again, this episode fell into the trap of having too many frustratingly vague statements. Something like the translator claiming that the paper said they have to save Sayid or it would be bad is needlessly frustrating. Just tell us what the paper says! Instead, we apparently learn that Sayid dying would be an apparent calamity, but we have no idea why. It feels like fake stakes, and I'm unable to properly understand what it is that the others are afraid of. These kinds of lines are still very frustrating. The Unknown: What did Juliet mean by "it worked"? Did she see the flash-sideways universe as she died? What was written on the paper inside of the ankh? Why did it convince Dogen not to kill everyone? I presume that the pool was used to heal people, but it doesn't appear to be working anymore. Why? Is it because Jacob died? How did Sayid end up coming back to life? Did the pool actually work or was it something else? Who is Dogen? How connected is he to Jacob and the others? What will we learn about the others in the temple? How different is this group of others from the others that were led by Ben? MIB says to Richard "it's good to see you out of those chains". Does this mean that Richard came to the island on the Black Rock? It seems that these two have met before. When and under what circumstances? Will Kate be able to escape in the flash-sideways? Is Sun able to speak English? What happened to the coffin and Locke's box of knives? Best Moment: MIB's speech to Ben about Locke, tying back to his own motives was superb. I have to keep praising Terry O'Quinn because he has been stellar in this role, and he adds and extra level of engagement to this scene. The dialogue is extremely well written. MIB's analysis of Locke is profoundly sad and it hammers in how awful his death really was. I'm really pleased with how this scene was used to give us a motivation for MIB, proving that he will not be a 2-dimensional villain. He wants to go home, and I'm curious to learn why. The entire scene was just 2 minutes, but it was packed with information and emotion, and I loved every second of it. Character of the Episode: MIB. Conclusion: This episode felt more like moving pieces into place than the last one, but some excellent scenes gave this one some extra weight to it. Overall, this is a very exciting part 2, and I'm interested to see what's to come for the rest of the season. Score: 69 Summary: In flash-sideways, the island is shown to be at the bottom of the ocean. Flight 815 doesn't crash and Desmond is on the plane. Charlie chokes on heroine in the bathroom and Jack saves him, but he is arrested. Meanwhile, Jack's group has traveled back to the present from 1977. Sawyer attacks Jack but stops when he hears Juliet trapped under wreckage. Sawyer goes to get her but she dies. Sayid is going to die too, but Hurley is approached by Jacob's ghost, telling him to take Sayid to the temple. Everyone agrees to go along with it. Bram and his men go inside to find the man in black (MIB) and they learn that Jacob is dead. They try to kill him but MIB is revealed to be the smoke monster and he kills all of them.
The Good: As ever, a new season starts with a shocking and entirely unexpected opening sequence. Following up the explosion with what seems at first like a rewritten timeline (see: The Unknown) was a real shock and I was stunned throughout the entire opening of the episode, wondering what direction the show was going to go in. But more on that alternate reality later. Right after the opening we return to the main island plot and it's clear that we will get continuation of the main island story. Thankfully, the events towards the end of season5 were not rendered meaningless and there is still plenty of story to continue with. The scenes with Jack's group were tremendous. There was a vivid sense of despair and sadness in these scenes as nobody looks happy to be back in the present. Sawyer angrily rages at Jack in a terrific scene, and Jack looks shocked and helpless after realizing that his plan didn't work. There were some other excellent sad moments to follow up on the season 5 finale. Juliet's death was superbly done and Josh Holloway was every bit as good as he was in "The Incident" as he tried everything in his power to save Juliet only to have her die in his arms. It's very tragic. Sayid also gets a terrific moment before falling unconscious, pondering that he will be punished in the afterlife. The episode maintains this dark and depressing aura throughout and it is very effective. The scenes at the statue are extremely tense. We get a huge reveal as we find out that MIB (man in black, it's what I'm going to call "Locke" until we have a name) is actually the smoke monster. This brings up a hell of a lot of questions and connections (see: The Unknown), and it's really fun to think over everything to fully understand the significance of this reveal. On top of that, Ben is put in a really tense spot as he has to hide what he's done from Richard and the others while also fearing what MIB might do with him now that he's got what he needed. Ben is terrified for his life here, and is probably thinking back to how he killed Locke once he was done manipulating him, afraid that MIB will do the same with him. The confrontation between Bram's group and MIB was superbly intense, and the sequence where the smoke monster murders them all was outstanding and filled with suspense. The storyline is helped along by how incredible Terry O'Quinn is at portraying this villain. He's unnervingly terrifying and he steals the show every time he's on screen. It's a terrific performance that makes me really appreciate his versatility as an actor. I really enjoyed the alternate reality scenes in this episode. I'm not entirely sure what's going on (see: The Unknown) but I am enjoying the scenes we are getting. I would presume that this alternate reality is somehow connected to the main storyline in an important way. This storyline is really delightful and is packed with terrific callbacks and references, with minor changes to the characters that make things more interesting. For example, it's really great to see Rose comforting Jack about the turbulence instead of the other way around. There are other similarly delightful moments: Hurley being the luckiest man on Earth, Charlie saying he's supposed to die and even referencing his iconic "terrific" from "Pilot Part 1", Boone saying he'll stick with Locke if the plane ever goes down, Arzt being fascinated by Hurley, Jack being told by Rose he can "let go", Desmond appearing on the plane, etc. All of these moments were really well done, and they make this alternate universe storyline more emotionally satisfying. The ending scenes with everyone arriving in LA X was surprisingly emotional. "Lost" has always been incredible with these departure/arrival scenes, making use of how we care about these characters to make them feel deeply powerful. This one works so well because with everyone arriving at LA X, you understand that in this reality they will not meet and bond with each other like they did on the island, which creates a profoundly sad feeling throughout the scene, a fitting conclusion to what has been a dark and sad episode. The Bad: I am nervous about the alternate universe storyline though. I really hope that it has a major importance to the story or else it might just feel like fanfiction as a sort of "what if" storyline. I'm not a huge fan of that idea because I'm invested in the story of these characters that I've been following since season 1. These alternate reality people are similar, but not the same, and I'm not as invested in them as I am with the characters on the island. I hope that this storyline shows its purpose soon and is used sparingly. If this alternate reality is replacing flashbacks in this last season, I'm not sure that it's a good thing. I have some small nitpicks as usual. Ben should be covered in blood after he killed Jacob, the little splatters on his shirt would not be accurate. Furthermore, even in the dark people will absolutely notice the blood on his shirt and be curious about it. Additionally, I was annoyed that Jin didn't question Hurley asking him about the temple. He just answered the question. There should be no way that Hurley knows this information, and Jin should be far more curious how he obtained the information. The Unknown: Did a new reality just get created by the detonation of the hydrogen bomb? How will this new reality tie into our current reality? What is the blood on Jack's neck? Why is Desmond on Flight 815? Did Locke actually go on the walkabout in this timeline? How and why did everyone get transported back to the present? Was it because they were successful in creating a new timeline? How is Jacob able to appear to Hurley? Is this another one of his abilities? Is he sending Sayid to the temple to be saved in the same way that Ben was in the last season? The reveal that MIB is the smoke monster answers some things but also raises more questions. If he's the smoke monster, does that mean that the vision of Alex that Ben had last season was also orchestrated by him? Does this mean that he's the one who killed Mr. Eko? It seems that MIB can appear as people who have died. Have all of these visions of dead people been MIB? Like Yemi? Christian? Ben's mother in "The Man Behind the Curtain"? Also, why is he unable to cross circles of ash? Is this why there was ash around the cabin? To keep MIB out? What was it that Juliet wanted to tell Sawyer? Best Moment: It's tough to choose. I'll go with Juliet dying in Sawyer's arms for the pure emotional impact, although MIB killing Bram's men is a very close second. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a packed part 1 of a premiere that went at an excellent pace. Season 6 was set up perfectly, but there were also plenty of gripping, intense moments to make this feel like more than just a set-up episode. Score: 75 Summary: A flashback shows Jacob living in the statue, talking to a man in a black shirt who is looking for a loophole to kill him. We are also shown Jacob interacting with Kate, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Jack, Hurley and Locke in key moments of their lives. In the present, Locke tells Ben that he wants him to kill Jacob, particularly because of how Ben has been ignored for his many sacrifices. The group eventually gets to the statue and Richard shows Locke and Ben the way in. Ilana's group goes to the cabin and determines that Jacob isn't there; someone else had been using it. They make their way to the statue and show what's in the box: Locke's dead body, found in the plane. Inside the statue, Locke is revealed to be the man in the black shirt from the flashbacks. Ben kills Jacob. In 1977, Sayid follows Daniel's instructions to isolate the bomb's core. Richard knocks out Eloise and takes her back. Sayid and Jack sneak through the barracks with the bomb but Sayid is spotted and shot by Roger. Hurley, Miles and Jin arrive in a Dharma van to save them and take them to The Swan. Juliet decides to go back to the island and she helps Kate escape. Sawyer comes too. They encounter Rose and Bernard back on the island. The trio stop Jack's van and Sawyer talks with Jack to convince him to stop. When it doesn't work, they fight until Juliet breaks it up. Juliet decides to let Jack go. Jack arrives at The Swan and after a gunfight, he throws the bomb down the drilling hole. It doesn't work and the incident happens. Phil is killed, Dr. Chang's arm is crushed, and Juliet gets dragged into the drilling hole. Juliet miraculously survives and she sees the bomb. She smashes it with a rock until it explodes.
The Good: This felt like a finale. The pacing was excellent and there was a constant sense of suspense and mystery throughout the episode. This felt like a big climax, and I really enjoyed myself for the entire runtime of the episode. I really loved the introduction to Jacob (see: Best Moment). This character is the closest thing we have seen to a god, and "Lost" introduced him in perfect fashion. It takes a lot of guts to finally show us this quintessential character and have him be murdered in the same episode. The highlight with Jacob is definitely in the flashbacks. It was really interesting to see Jacob interact with the main characters, and we also got a good reason to see some of the key moments in their lives. Under the guise of Jacob's visits, we got to see some terrific moments like Nadia's death, Jin and Sun's wedding, Sawyer writing his letter, what happened to Hurley to get him on Flight 316, and Jack's first surgery which he described back in "Pilot Part 1". These scenes were excellent and acted very well. Plus there was a lot of intrigue as Jacob noticeably made physical contact with all of the characters and interfered in their lives in meaningful ways (possibly reviving Locke, getting Hurley on the plane, saving Sayid's life, reminding Jin and Sun of their love). I thoroughly enjoyed these scenes, and I'm excited to see what it's all building up to. The present-day storyline of going to Jacob was handled really well. It built up suspense really well and concluded with a spectacular twist that caught me off guard and completely changed everything. There was a lot of excitement built throughout the episode for this meeting with Jacob, built up by numerous things: Locke and Ben's conversations, Ilana's trip to the cabin, and of course, the excellent Jacob flashbacks throughout the episode. And at the end of the journey we are hit with a real shock, and it's one that makes perfect sense. Locke was still in the coffin. The person we have seen on the island this entire time is not Locke! This twist caught me completely off-guard and it completely changes everything, while also simultaneously answering a lot of the questions I had about Locke in the last few episodes. The twist is brilliantly executed, and its timing is perfect. Immediately the stakes get raised for the confrontation between Ben, Locke and Jacob, now that we know that this impostor is not somebody who we can trust. The episode ties back to its opening scene beautifully, revealing that the man in the black shirt is who we are seeing right now in Locke's body. The twist works on every level and it gives us a really memorable reveal in this episode. But also, the reveal has an undertone of real sadness to it. This means that Locke really is dead, and that being strangled by Ben after almost killing himself after losing his confidence really is how his story ends. It's horribly sad and tragic, and the realization that Locke's story has ended like this is a gutpunch. It also retroactively makes "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" an even better episode on rewatch because now it can be watched with the added context that this really is the end of Locke. Ben killing Jacob was set up through the entire episode and it ended up being one of the most satisfying and emotional moments of the episode. Once again, "Lost" has proven that Ben is one of the deepest and best characters on the show with what he was put through in this episode. Throughout the episode, "Locke" slowly convinces Ben that he needs to be the one to kill Jacob. Looking back, it's easy to see that "Locke" has been manipulating Ben this entire time, a wonderful bit of irony. He plays on Ben's emotions towards Jacob, and turns Ben's own jealousy and sense of inferiority in the face of the enlightened Locke against him. Ben ends up falling for the trap entirely, and when he comes face to face with Jacob, all he can think about is the resentment that had been building inside his head. Ben lets out an impassioned speech, possibly the most vulnerable we have ever seen the character. Ben's anger and sadness at being overlooked materializes wonderfully in this scene, and his anguished cry of "what about me" is tremendous. Even better is Jacob's response. We know from the opening scene that what is really happening here is another manifestation of the philosophical debate about humanity that these two beings were having with each other. Ben's choice here is a life-or-death situation for Jacob to prove to "Locke" that humanity does have good in them. Jacob reminds Ben that he has a choice, but Ben isn't hearing what Jacob is saying. Ben is too angry and filled with resentment. And so when Jacob replies "what about you?" to Ben, Ben snaps. It's likely that Jacob would have been hoping that Ben would prove his worth by not killing Jacob, but Ben is too angry and hearing Jacob question his worth is too much to take. So Ben kills him, and a choice that I can only imagine will have huge ramifications down the road (see: The Unknown). It's such a brilliant move to have Ben be the one to kill Jacob. Throughout this season we have been reminded over and over how despicable and manipulative Ben is. Even though we can sympathize with him, he is definitely not a good person. So naturally, he's the perfect person for the man in black to bring in front of Jacob, the perfect example of the weakness in humanity. Ben has seemingly messed everything up for all of our other characters specifically because of how awful he has been. This sets up a pretty good story for everyone else to try to prove that the man in black is wrong about humanity. I'm really excited to see where the philosophical aspects of this story will go in season 6. The 1977 storyline was really strong. It started as a story of two halves with the characters split across two locations, and each storyline has some really nice character moments. First there is Jack and Sayid, who are working towards getting the bomb over to The Swan. This story develops patiently but once everyone is ready to move out, things get more exciting. Richard has a good moment as he steps in to protect Eloise, refusing to go along with what seems like a suicide mission. There was a great pay-off for the Roger storyline, as Roger recognizes Sayid, and in a shocking moment, fatally shoots him in the abdomen. This was a really big moment early in the episode, and I do wonder if Sayid's story may be ending soon. He got some nice moments after getting shot as he resigns himself to death and accepts that he likely deserves his fate. On the other hand, Jack once again shows how he as changed as he not only endangers Sayid, but also doesn't do everything possible to save him, focusing on his own destiny with the bomb instead of getting Sayid the medical help that he needs. Meanwhile on the sub, we have Kate, Sawyer and Juliet. This story unfolds really nicely as it starts with Sawyer standing his ground and refusing to get involved with the craziness Jack is bringing down onto everyone. But then Juliet decides that they have to go back, and so they get off the sub. This decision works pretty well, even if some of Juliet's other decisions do not (see: The Bad). There is a terrific moment as Juliet looks back at the sub, accepting that she may have just lost her only chance of escape from this island that has held her prisoner for over 6 years by now. Following this, we get a real delight as Rose and Bernard return! They have been missing since "The Lie" and it's great to see them set up together living in a cabin in the jungle, happy and relaxed. Bernard's speech about being with the person you love is a beautiful moment that nicely establishes the theme of love that would permeate much of the second half of this episode. The developments in the first half of this episode lead up to a tremendous moment as both storylines collide with an excellent shot of Sawyer, Kate, and Juliet standing in the road to block the van. The episode then moves into a conflict between Jack and Sawyer. This conflict works brilliantly because these two have been opposed for much of the second half of the season. Jack's unhappiness leads him to hunt for a greater purpose, in stark contrast to Sawyer who already found his purpose and happiness in the time that Jack was gone. Jack finding his way has come at the expense of Sawyer, so it's great to see Sawyer get a chance to let out his frustrations. Some of the moments in this conflict were melodramatic (see: The Bad), but it did well to set up the climax of the episode as everyone arrives at The Swan to ensure that this bomb goes off. The last gunfight is good, if not great, but what really makes this sequence is the build up to Jack dropping the bomb. The scene feels monumental, and as usual, "Lost" does a terrific job of focusing on the emotion of this story rather than the plot. The brief sequence of everyone taking their final looks at each other while waiting to pop out of existence was remarkably powerful, and it was an emotional high point of this finale. Then, naturally, everything goes wrong and that builds up to the other big emotional high point of this finale: Juliet's fall. I thought that the chaos during the incident was really well shot, and Juliet being dragged down into the shaft was a horrifying and sad image. Josh Holloway did a tremendous job a he tries to save Juliet, and it was heartbreaking to watch Sawyer witness her fall, while Juliet simultaneously comes to understand that Sawyer truly does love her like he said he does. But the episode isn't done there. Somehow Juliet manages to survive, and in an excellent scene (minus one moment where Juliet's blood disappears), she smashes the bomb until it detonates, leaving us on a massive cliffhanger comparable to the fantastic ending to "Exodus" back in season 1. As you can see by the size of this paragraph, the second half of the 1977 storyline was packed with drama and exciting moments, to the point where even if it wasn't all perfectly executed, it was so thrilling to watch that it doesn't matter much if there were flaws. The story as a whole works really well and it's an excellent conclusion to what was a really well written Dharma Initiative storyline. Plus there were also some nice moments for the side characters in the Dharma Initiative. The episode neatly used dramatic irony with Radzinsky, as we know that his actions that caused the incident will lead to him being punished by staying in The Swan and pushing the button until the end of his days. I was also pleased to see Miles tell Dr. Chang to get as far away as possible, paralleling how Dr. Chang sent his family as far away as possible. And we even get to see the injury that likely caused Dr. Chang to amputate his arm and replace it with a fake as we see in The Swan orientation video. And of course we get a pretty satisfying death scene for Phil. The Bad: I've praised recent episodes for really nailing down character motivations to make it easy to understand their actions in these insane and intense circumstances. By introducing a bunch of love-triangle ridiculousness into this episode, a good portion of that hard work was unfortunately undone. This episode nailed a lot of things, but its biggest problem was the implication of some really stupid melodramatic love-based motivations in the 1977 storyline. I've praised Jack's arc in this season as him searching to find purpose in the wake of the terrible things that happened with him after he left the island. But this episode throws away that depth to suggest that he's only doing this because he screwed up with Kate. That's a real slap in the face to simplify Jack to this extent after how well he has been written lately. Juliet is the other character who was badly hurt in this episode. It was ridiculous how she kept flip-flopping on her motivations on the basis of a few looks Sawyer made towards Kate. I understand the emotional value of Juliet's story, and it does pay off nicely at the end of the episode with Sawyer doing everything and more to save Juliet. But in execution, the story comes off as melodramatic and frustrating. Juliet should have had more consistent motivations throughout this episode, and changing her mind so much just because she is insecure about Sawyer is a flimsy motivation at best. Also, Juliet's one flashback scene is really out of place in the episode (the only flashback without Jacob), and it feels like a last-minute attempt to explain why Juliet is behaving so irrationally. It does not work. Some small things bothered me as well. In the last episode Richard claimed that he watched everyone die. And yet he wasn't even there at the incident? That moment from last episode has become a notable plot hole. Sayid felt like a plot device for much of this episode. Somehow he knows about Daniel being explicit with his timetable, even though Daniel was dead before Sayid returned. And somehow Sayid is able to work with a NUCLEAR BOMB because of his army experience. That is too much to believe. I was also upset at how the Dharma Initiative members all stopped fighting and talking once they lost the gunfight. They should have done everything in their power to stop Jack from detonating the bomb, since that would likely mean the death of everybody. The Unknown: I have tons and tons of questions. Who is the man in the black shirt? Why does he want to kill Jacob? Why does he need a loophole? Jacob is apparently able to bring people to the island. Was the ship he brought in the opening scene the black rock? Is this how everyone else has gotten to the island? Jacob brought them in? Is this why Flight 316 needed to mimic Flight 815? So Jacob would recognize everyone and bring them back? Why does Jacob bring people to the island? We also learn that Jacob is responsible for Richard's immortalized state. How does he do this? What other powers does he have? How many other things has he been responsible for? Why is Jacob interacting with so many of the characters who ended up on Flight 815? I noticed that he made physical contact with all of them. Did he give them some sort of power? How? Why? What are his plans for these people? Was Jacob responsible for Locke's survival after he was shoved out of the window by his father? Also, I noticed that Jacob specifically wore gloves when talking to Ilana, likely to ensure he wouldn't touch her by mistake. What is so special about everyone else? What is Jacob's relationship with Ilana anyways? Why did he help her? Why did he need her help? What happened to Ilana that caused her to be so injured? Bram claims that Frank is not a candidate? What does it mean to be a candidate? A candidate for what? Who are the candidates? The burning of the cabin is an interesting scene. Why didn't it start a forest fire? Is the cabin in a sort of different dimension from everything? Is that how it is capable of moving? Did Jacob make it capable of doing this? Ilana mentions that Jacob hasn't used it in a long time and that someone else has been using it. Is this someone else Christian? Does this mean that Christian may not have been working for Jacob? Could he be working for the man in black instead? Why was there ash around the cabin? I remember seeing it before in "The Man Behind the Curtain". Why is it important that the circle of ash was disrupted? It seems that the guitar case Hurley's been carrying is of significance. What is in there? Why did Jacob give it to Hurley? Is Locke really dead then? That's very sad. How was the man in black able to impersonate him? What will happen now that Jacob is dead? I'm sure that killing someone who is practically a deity will have some major consequences. I can't imagine that the man in the black shirt being in control will be a good thing. Also, as Jacob dies, he says "they're coming". Who? Will Juliet and Sayid survive? I presume if the past actually is changed, then it won't matter that they have fatal injuries. But will the bomb exploding actually work? Or is Miles right and the bomb will actually cause the incident instead? Best Moment: The opening scene was perfect in every way. It's become a signature move for "Lost" to start episodes in a completely random scene that has seemingly no relevance to anything we are watching. And yet it's so gripping to watch. We know it's important, so trying to figure out why is thrilling. As the clues come together (we see the island, the ship, the line that Jacob brought them here), we begin to realize that what we're watching is essentially two gods arguing with each other, a story that not only parallels the Ben/Widmore dynamic (with the existence of rules stopping them from killing each other), but one that suggests that everything we have seen in this show has in fact been happening for a reason. And in watching Jacob and this mysterious other man talk, we are getting the closest glimpse at the truth we have ever gotten. The scene is written magnificently to engage you in the possibilities of what is really happening, and every second of this scene is a delightful thrill-ride. A fantastic way to start the episode. Character of the Episode: It's tough to choose with so many characters getting time to shine. I think I'll go with Ben. Conclusion: Once again "Lost" ends a season with a thrilling, game-changing episode packed with suspense, epic moments, emotion, and shocking reveals. Season 5 has been a consistent season but it didn't hit the highs of previous seasons. That is, until now. This lived up to its role as a season finale of "Lost" and it delivered in almost every way. Overall, I enjoyed season 5 a lot. It had ups and downs, but I think it was the most consistently enjoyable season in terms of quality. There wasn't a single bad episode in its entire run. Season 5's biggest problem was definitely how complicated the story got, and at times the complexity would overshadow the emotional story being told. But for the most part, "Lost" maintained its strong emotional core by focusing on characters and how they feel even as the story got more complex. I think this season changed and adapted to the developments in the story really well, and its been thrilling to watch where the show goes. I really enjoyed the Dharma Initiative storyline, as well as the time travel storyline. The Oceanic Six storyline is probably the low point of the season since it ended as such a convoluted mess with an unsatisfying conclusion. But as the show revealed more details, it did retroactively improve that storyline a little bit. As a whole, this was one of the better seasons of "Lost" so far, filled with excitement and drama as the show prepares for its conclusion. Score: 85 Summary: In 1977, Sawyer negotiates a place on the sub for him and Juliet after Radzinsky takes over the Dharma Initiative. Jack convinces Eloise to take him and Kate to the bomb that was buried. Along the way they run into Sayid. Kate chooses to go back to the Dharma Initiative and is put on the sub with Sawyer and Juliet. Dr. Chang discovers that Hurley, Miles and Jin are actually from the future and works to prevent the incident. Jack, Sayid, Eloise and Richard go to the bomb, which is in underground tunnels underneath the barracks. In the present, Locke meets with Richard again. The island guides Locke and allows him to guide Richard to giving the compass to Locke's past self as seen in "Because You Left". Locke orders Richard to take him, and everyone else, to Jacob. Locke admits to Ben that he plans to kill Jacob.
The Good: The part of this episode that I enjoyed the most was how it handled the character motivations in 1977. There were several really nice character moments throughout the episode. I was really pleased with Jack and Kate's conflict. This season has forced Kate to really see how Jack has changed after Locke's death, and she is very upset with how crazy he sounds. And he does sound crazy. Jack is trying to detonate a bomb to change the future, and he has much less evidence of this working than Locke did with anything he ever believed in. Jack is desperate to find his purpose, and it's pushing him towards doing something completely absurd. Kate, fittingly, does not buy into it. She does need to go back to the present day to find Claire, but her horror at how Jack has become just like Locke prevents her from being okay with going along with him. The characters have been outlined incredibly well, and this allows their conflict to work perfectly. Sayid's return is also really well done. Sayid is in a similar place to Jack. He is looking for a purpose because he's still on the island and he has no idea what to do. So he latches onto the one possibility he has of getting things back to normal. It makes sense for Sayid, and I'm once more impressed with how well the characters' motivations have been laid out in this storyline. Sawyer and Juliet are similarly effective. They just want to keep living their lives together because the last 3 years in the Dharma Initiative were far better than any of their other days on the island. So it makes total sense that Sawyer's solution is to get on the sub with Juliet so that they can get away from all of the craziness. Meanwhile, Locke's mission in the present remains really engaging, primarily because of Terry O'Quinn's continually terrific performance this season. Locke is so charismatic and almost intimidating in a lot of these scenes, and it really feels like the power dynamic has shifted. Both Richard and Ben are continually flabbergasted by Locke's newfound confidence, and for once it feels like these key knowledgeable characters are playing catch-up with Locke. The dynamic has changed in a really exciting way, and it sets up for a series of really interesting twists and reveals with Locke, like the curious resolution of the compass story (see: The Unknown) and Locke's decision to go see Jacob, ultimately planning to kill him. These moments are handled extremely well and they make me very excited to see the season finale. There were some really nice small moments in this episode. Hurley being unable to pretend like he isn't from the future was a hilarious moment, particularly his assumption that the Korean War didn't even exist. I also love that the question that brought him down was "who is the president of the United States", which is the exact question that Hurley was concerned somebody would ask him a few episodes back. The moment is executed brilliantly. I also really liked Miles realizing that his father only did what he had to in order to get his mother to leave the island. It's a strong character moment to continue Miles' story this season. Sawyer's "good riddance" to the island as he boarded the sub was a nice line, reminiscent of who Sawyer was before he became LaFleur. The Bad: I have a couple of minor problems. Locke getting Richard to hand the compass to himself creates a paradox where the compass was somehow never actually created so it can't possibly exist. "Lost" has had paradoxes before, so it seems like this is something we just need to accept in this universe. But it still feels awkward. It's clear that Richard getting to meet all of these characters back in 1977 was a retcon. If he had met everyone before and remembered them, then why didn't he say anything about them to Ben in season 3? Surely Richard would have wanted to meet with these people again if he knew they were going to inevitably time travel back to 1977. Lastly, the submarine CGI looks absolutely terrible. That was an unnecessary shot and it did not look good at all. The Unknown: How is Richard an advisor? Why doesn't he lead himself? Who assigned Richard to be an advisor? Apparently everyone dies in 1977 and Richard witnesses it. I presume this would happen during the incident. How does this happen? Does everyone actually die? What's the significance of Locke creating a paradox by getting Richard to give the compass to his past self? Why did the island need it to happen in this way? How is Locke getting information from the island? We've known that the island has some sort of sentience for a while now due to the dreams and visions. But how is it directly communicating with Locke? And why? Did the island tell Locke to kill Jacob? Are the island and Jacob not working together? Is Jacob an enemy to the island? It seems that Ben has never actually seen Jacob. Does that mean that the scene at the cabin with Ben, Locke and Jacob was fake? Why did so much stuff get thrown around then? And who is it in the cabin? Is it just Christian? How does Christian fit into all of this? How is he alive anyways? How does this work? How does Ben know about the cabin but not Jacob? I have endless questions about this. How are Sawyer, Kate and Juliet going to get back to the island? I'm sure that they won't just leave. Will Jack's crazy plan actually work? How will they get the bomb to The Swan? Best Moment: I'm tempted to go with the shock ending reveal that Locke plans to kill Jacob, but Dr. Chang outsmarting Hurley in a matter of seconds is too funny to pass up. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: This episode was purely set up. There's nothing particularly memorable here and the pieces are being moved into place for the finale. Does that make this a bad episode? Not at all. It just doesn't put in the effort to be something more than a transitional set-up episode. This is simply a solid hour of "Lost". Score: 62 Summary: Flashbacks show Daniel's past. Eloise raised him from childhood to always be focused on his work. After the incident with Theresa, Daniel gets a memory condition and is approached by Widmore who offers him to go to the island. Eloise encourages Daniel to accept the offer. In the present, Desmond recovers from his gunshot wound. Eloise meets with Widmore who reveals he is Daniel's father. On the island, Daniel goes to Dr. Chang to ensure he gets people to evacuate the island. The incident will be happening later in the afternoon. Daniel has a plan to get everyone where they need to be and Jack and Kate choose to help him. They go to the hostiles after a gunfight with Radzinsky and other Dharma people. Sawyer refuses to help Daniel and he organizes a plan for everyone else to live in the jungle. Radzinsky goes to Sawyer's house and finds out what happened to Phil. He captures Sawyer and Juliet. Daniel reveals that he plans to detonate a hydrogen bomb to prevent the incident and change the future. Daniel goes into the hostiles' camp with a gun to speak with Eloise, but he is shot and killed by her.
The Good: Finally we get an episode about Daniel, and this one really delivered. Daniel's story ended up being one of the saddest and most tragic in the entire show. Through the flashbacks we get to see a story of what could have been. Daniel seemed happy playing the piano, and he seemed happy with Theresa. But Eloise remained cold and distant, knowing that none of these things would be in Daniel's future. She knew that his fate was death at her hands, but she pushed him towards it anyways. It's an inherently sad story, and the way that the episode tells it is masterful. We don't realize the emotional weight of Eloise's decision to push Daniel to keep working until the very end of the episode. Seeing Eloise shoot and kill him is a stunning moment, and it completely changes how we view the episode and the characters involved. The emotional impact is similar to in season 1 with episodes like "Walkabout" and "Confidence Man" that totally subverted our understanding of the central characters we had been following. It's a tremendous piece of storytelling, and it gives this episode the emotional punch that it was looking for. Meanwhile on the island, we see Daniel objecting to Eloise's beliefs about fate. The episode is very fast-paced and it focuses on Daniel doing everything possible to change the future. There is a constant edge-of-your-seat tension throughout the episode, created by the rapid pace and the episode's sense of importance. Daniel returns and instantly starts working on his new theory about the variables, one that we learn more and more about as the episode goes on. The information is doled out to us at a really good pace, and we get a lot of excellent, dramatic scenes throughout the episode. The scenes with Dr. Chang were great, and it was a real shock to see Daniel admit he's from the future. There was also a lovely bit of suspense as Daniel also reveals that Miles is Dr. Chang's son. Following that, the episode gets into an excellent group conflict (discussed more below), a stunning scene between Daniel and Charlotte (see: Best Moment), and then an excellent, well-written shoot-out as Radzinsky catches Daniel, Jack and Kate at the motor pool. Then following that we get an outstanding reveal as Daniel unveils his plan to detonate a hydrogen bomb, which is such an insane and dramatic idea, but it works unbelievably well as a dramatic reveal that increases the stakes. The episode has so many terrific moments throughout and it is a joy to watch them all. But the glue holding it all together is Jeremy Davies' performance as Daniel. He gives such a convincing and charismatic performance, and it elevates all of these moments. For example, Daniel has never used a gun, so Jeremy Davies holds the gun with a sense of real awkwardness throughout the episode. Daniel's mistake of showing the gun to Radzinsky is perfectly sensible, since I could completely buy that Daniel may have entirely forgotten that he was even holding a gun. It's a subtle detail, but it works really well. The group conflict in this episode was handled really well. The rift in beliefs between Jack and Sawyer are what make this so compelling. Where Jack is looking for a purpose now that he's on the island, Sawyer has already found one in his life in the Dharma Initiative. These characters' motivations are easy to understand and they are laid bare for us to see, and that makes it very easy to understand the conflict that occurs once Daniel returns with plans to change the future. I enjoyed the debate scene, and I thought that every character made decisions that fit with what we understood about them. The Bad: Part of the tragedy of this episode depends on us feeling for and understanding Eloise as a character. Unfortunately, I think the episode falls short in this regard, and it diminishes the impact of this episode. The problem with Eloise is that we never understand why she is so devoted to ensuring that what's supposed to happen happens. We aren't given a convincing reason for her to sacrifice her relationship with Daniel to send him to his death. And because of that, her actions feel emotionally disconnected from us. I still think that it's powerful to rewatch the episode, seeing how everything Eloise does is to send Daniel to his fate, but it's missing that personal connection that "Lost" is usually so good at establishing. Eloise could have been written better to give this story an even greater impact. The scenes involving Desmond are fine, but like in "Dead is Dead", they feel tacked on to the episode. Obviously Desmond isn't going to die here. The Widmore reveal is pretty good, but I can't help but think that the reveal could have been integrated into the story in a more compelling way. The Unknown: How does Eloise know so much? What did she mean that for the first time in a long time she doesn't know what would happen next? What changed that made this happen? How did she know what was going to happen to begin with? Does it have something to do with Daniel? Or is it something else entirely? What's going to happen to Sawyer and Juliet? What will Radzinsky do with them? Is there any chance that Daniel's free will theory is still right? The end of the episode seems to prove him wrong in a dark and depressing way, but is there still a chance that he could be right? Could the past be changed by preventing the incident? Best Moment: Daniel's moment with Charlotte hit the hardest for me. Jeremy Davies is so good in this scene and you feel his pain when he says that he wanted to avoid talking to her but he realized that he has no choice if he wants to go through with his plan. It's absolutely tragic. Character of the Episode: Daniel. Conclusion: This was a terrific, heartbreaking episode of "Lost". Daniel's story is excellent, and the drama on the island is incredibly intense and suspenseful. As has been the case with much of season 5, there are flaws here that prevent this from being a top-quality episode. But as a whole, this is an excellent, game-changing episode that sets up the season's climax. Score: 75 Summary: Flashbacks show a younger Miles discover his abilities. When his mom dies, he goes to her and learns about his father, who is dead. Later, Miles is recruited by Naomi to work for Widmore. Miles is picked up by Bram who warns him not to go on the freighter but he doesn't listen. On the island, Miles is recruited by Horace to work for the inner circle, and is unable to delete footage of Sawyer on the security cameras. Miles drives a dead body down to Dr. Chang at The Orchid alongside Hurley. Miles reveals that Dr. Chang is his dad. Hurley tries to get them to reconnect and he encourages Miles to give his dad a second chance. Miles sees his father playing with his past self. Scientists from Ann Arbor arrive, including Daniel. Phil sees the security footage and confronts Sawyer but Sawyer knocks him out and ties him up.
The Good: It was nice to finally get some backstory on Miles who has been around for a while without contributing a whole lot. Getting to know his full story for the first time makes this episode feel similar to one you would see back in season 1. This feel is also established by the slower pace of this episode. There isn't as much plot movement in this episode compared to the last few, and that helps this episode keep its focus squarely on Miles and his storyline. It's a welcome change, especially after "Dead is Dead" was the complete opposite and got overwhelmed by its focus on the convoluted plot rather than character. It was good to learn more about Miles' personal life and struggles, particularly involving his father. He goes through a good arc here as he learns to give his father a second chance, while having a nice storyline in the flashbacks involving Mr. Gray. Miles claims that he's all about money, but returning his money to Mr. Gray for the sole purpose of proving a point about being a good father highlights that Miles does need that father figure in his life more than he needs the money. The island story explores Miles' daddy issues in a pretty fun way. Hurley is an excellent foil for Miles in this episode, and the opposite way that he handled his relationship with his father provides a direct lesson for Miles. To this episode's benefit, it isn't heavy-handed at all with this storytelling. Hurley and Miles start the episode as a really funny character pairing, with Hurley providing plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that made me really enjoy his presence. But when the story hit its more serious beats, it felt organic. We knew Hurley was trying to help, evidenced by his hilarious attempt to bring Dr. Chang and Miles together, so it makes sense when Hurley gives Miles some personal advice to help him resolve his issues. The story is written tremendously well. Plus we also get some really fun conversation about talking with dead people, contrasting both Miles' and Hurley's experiences. I also got a big laugh out of Hurley trying to write the script for The Empire Strikes Back. The flashbacks had some really interesting moments. It was good to see Naomi again, and her deal to Miles explains why he asked Ben for 3.2 million dollars. The sudden kidnapping by Bram is a big scene that seems to function to set up the storyline going on with Ilana on the island. I'm interested to learn more about this new mysterious group that "Lost" chose to introduce to us so late in the season. The Bad: Nothing I'd call bad. This isn't as important or revelatory of an episode as the last few episodes, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Unknown: Who was Bram? Who is he working for? Why haven't we seen him before? He asks the question about the shadow of the statue that Ilana asked in the last episode. Are they connected? How? What are their goals? Why did they warn Miles to not go on the freighter? Who else have they contacted? What's going to happen with Phil and Roger? Will Sawyer be able to keep Phil hidden? Will Roger complain to Horace and put some heat onto Kate? What happened to the person who died? Did electromagnetism cause his fillings to kill him? We see The Swan is being built now. Will we get to see what the incident was? What has Daniel been doing at Ann Arbor? How will his return impact the story? Why did Dr. Chang abandon his wife and Miles? He seems to be a caring father in the past. What changed? Best Moment: Miles seeing his father playing with baby Miles was a beautiful moment to cap off the episode. The episode does a fantastic job of building up to this emotional conclusion as Miles finally gives his dad a chance and sees that maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all. Character of the Episode: I want to give it to Hurley, but this was all about Miles and he deserves it. Conclusion: Some people may call this filler, but that would greatly undersell this episode. There was less plot progression here than in previous episodes, but the writing was excellent and we got a wonderful story for Miles, giving us an episode that felt similar to season 1 "Lost". This certainly isn't one of the show's best episodes, but it's still really good. Score: 69 Summary: Flashbacks show Ben take Alex from Rousseau and object to Widmore's demands to kill her. Eventually Ben grows up and gets Widmore banished for breaking the rules and making a family off the island. Ben takes over as leader. After Ben leaves Eloise, he finds Penny and Desmond and tries to kill Penny but isn't able to bring himself to do it. Desmond beats up Ben and throws him in the water. In the present, Locke decides to go with Ben, who plans to be judged by the smoke monster for getting Alex killed. Caesar tries to stop them but Ben kills him. Ben and Locke go to the barracks where they find Sun and Lapidus. Lapidus goes back to the other island, but he's knocked out by Ilana who has taken control. Locke starts having sudden realizations of knowledge and he takes Ben to the temple to be judged. Ben goes under the temple and is judged by the smoke monster. His life is spared, but he's told to obey Locke and never betray him again.
The Good: This episode was huge and it did a lot of things really well. Ben's story in this episode is excellent. The death of Alex last season was a massive moment for the character, and is one of season 4's most memorable moments in my opinion. It's so great to see "Lost" explore the impact that Alex's death had on Ben outside of the simple Hollywood approach of grief and revenge. So many TV shows and movies simplify dealing with a loved one's death in this way. Ben's guilt is shown to us really well throughout the episode. The flashbacks center around Ben's relationship with Alex, and he frequently thinks back to her in the present. The episode builds and builds to that tremendous climax when Ben finally sees Alex again and the scene delivers hugely (see: Best Moment). We can tell based off of Ben's face that his guilt over letting Alex die will ensure that he keeps his promise to obey every word Locke says. Having Ben feel such intense guilt for what he did humanizes him really well, and it reminds me that even though this man is a ruthless and manipulative murderer, he is still a human being with struggles and fears and conflicts. Ben has to be one of the best villains ever conceived in television because we are still somehow able to understand him and everything he does and even sympathize with him. What's so satisfying about this episode is how it forces Ben into the back seat. In every one of Ben and Locke's conversations before, Ben always looked to be in control. But that's changed now. I have no idea what death has done to Locke (see: The Unknown), but he's changed and become far more confident now. Seeing this new version of Locke is incredible, and he almost feels like an entirely new character. He's so mysterious and enigmatic, and I can't wait to get the next Locke-centric episode to really find out what's going on with him. It's fascinating to watch how the Ben/Locke dynamic has changed. Suddenly Locke seems to be almost entirely in control of their conversations and he knows everything whereas Ben knows nothing. The juxtaposition between the past and present in this relationship is excellent, and I loved how the episode drew attention to it ("that's what it felt like to be me"). The dialogue between Ben and Locke is top-notch as always, and the superb writing and acting in this episode hits the same highs as "The Man From Tallahassee". There are so many delightful lines, and many moments where I laughed out loud. But there were also some genuinely terrifying moments, my favourite being when Ben admits to Sun that he didn't expect Locke to revive and that he's terrified by the fact that Locke is walking around normally again. Seeing Ben so shaken throughout the episode makes Locke's resurrection feel like a monumental moment, and it excites me for more scenes between the two of them. Caesar's death early in the episode surprised me because I was sure that he would be a more important character. I'm completely fine with it though. Watching Ben manipulate and kill this poor guy for the sake of getting back in Locke's good book was a really nicely executed story. It's Ben doing what he does best in an attempt to regain control, and yet it doesn't work and Locke still plows forward, filled with confidence. Plus watching Ben play the oblivious bystander is absolutely hilarious. One particular moment in this episode that I loved was when Ben declared to Sun that "something is going to come out of that jungle. Something I can't control" while anticipating the smoke monster's appearance. And then Locke walks out. It's a delightful moment that highlights the change in the Locke/Ben dynamic, and is one of my favourite parts of the episode. Again, the dialogue and writing in this episode was excellent, and easily its strongest aspect. The Bad: This season has been missing something in its episodes to prevent them from hitting the highs of previous seasons. There has been too much emphasis on plot and mystery and that makes it pretty difficult to follow along and understand the stakes sometimes. This episode was hurt the most by this problem. Ben being "judged" by the smoke monster left me with far too many questions, and I think that diminished the emotional impact of the episode. Instead of focusing on the heart of the episode with Ben's guilt over what happened with Alex, or with the Ben/Locke dynamic, I spent far too much time contemplating the convoluted details that made up this plot (see: The Unknown). I assume most of this stuff will be answered, but even if it is, it doesn't fix how much of this episode I spent confused and frustrated by how little I understood of the main plot. I can't help but be disappointed with how the vagueness of the story took away from this episode, and others in this season. I was also let down by the flashbacks. Don't get me wrong, it was great to finally get background on Ben and Widmore as leaders of the others. But the story felt rushed. The flashbacks here had to tackle the Ben/Widmore stuff while also touching in on Ben's attempt to kill Penny. That's too much to tackle, and both storylines suffered as a result. The Ben/Widmore story felt particularly underwhelming. It was well-written and well-acted, but there was no heart to the story. Watching those scenes just felt like watching the writers check off a list of reveals to ensure that they get through everything that they need to. The emotional core to the story was missing, and things progressed so quickly that we were often being told details instead of being shown them. That's weak writing, and I think that it was a waste to cram the Ben/Widmore stuff into an already packed episode instead of giving it its own episode. I'm not a fan of how "Lost" handled Ben's attempt to kill Penny. The show tried too hard to make us think that Ben killed Penny to the point where it felt manipulative. Things like Ben telling Sun to apologize to Desmond feel so unnecessary, and they only exist to cheaply make us think that Ben killed Penny before the episode reveals that he actually didn't. It's a simple and flat story centered only around thrills, and this type of storytelling is well below what "Lost" is capable of. And to think that this weak story is the reason that the Widmore/Ben flashbacks were rushed. What a disappointment. I expected more from both flashback storylines and I was ultimately let down by what we were given. The Unknown: Richard says that Jacob wants him to save Ben. Is this true? Why? Does Jacob choose the next leader of the others? Is this why Richard stepped down? Because Jacob told him to? Why does Ben have to be judged? We've never seen anyone be judged before. Is this something the others regularly do? Why? Why does the smoke monster judge people? What is the purpose of it? Does the smoke monster reflect the will of the island or something like that? Or is it tied to Jacob somehow? How does this all add up? Why is there a system to summon the smoke monster in the barracks? Is this connected to the areas under the temple? I presume that the smoke monster lives down there. Why does it obey the others and help them? Was this area built by the others? Or the Dharma Initiative? Or was it built before then? Did the smoke monster cause Ben to have a vision of Alex? How did it do that? I recall in season 3 that the smoke monster was also potentially causing Eko to have visions of Yemi before it killed him. How and why does the smoke monster create these visions? If Alex is a manifestation of the smoke monster, then why does the smoke monster want Ben to obey Locke? How did Locke come back to life? Ben suggests that this is completely abnormal. So why is Locke back? How? And how does he know so many more things than before? How did he gain so much confidence suddenly? Was there really something hugely special about him all along? What is it? We also get confirmation from Ben that the whispers are linked to the others. How? What are the whispers? How do the others control them? What are the rules that Ben and Widmore keep talking about? I assumed they were an agreement between the two of them, as in they won't kill each other or each other's family. But now we're being told that the rules are obeyed by the others because it's against the rules for Ben to return to the island, just like it's against the rules for Widmore to have a family off the island. What are these rules? What's in the big box that Ilana and her men were carrying? Who are these people? Why did they ask Frank about the shadow of the statue? What does it mean? What's the answer? Is Desmond okay? He seemed to be fine, but he did just get shot by Ben. Maybe that's what Ben was apologizing for? Best Moment: Ben confronting the smoke monster. The sequence building up to this scene is mysterious and suspenseful, and seeing the smoke monster literally envelop Ben and haunt him with his past was frightening. The scene was dripping with mythology, and yet it also had a strong emotional core as Ben was forced to relive his daughter's death and feel that guilt once again. The ensuing confrontation with Alex was horrifying with how Ben was being threatened by his own dead daughter. Ben is shaken and changed by this moment, and I found that to be very compelling, and realistic. The whole sequence was a masterful mixture of suspense and emotion. Character of the Episode: Ben. Conclusion: This episode did a lot of things, and most of it I enjoyed greatly. The dialogue and writing was excellent, and I'm as invested in the characters, mystery and plot of the show as ever. But the disappointing flashbacks and the convoluted plot hurts this episode a lot, bringing down what could have been another outstanding episode of "Lost". Score: 69 Summary: Flashbacks show Kate meeting Cassidy and giving her support on Sawyer's behalf. Later, after almost losing Aaron in a grocery store, Kate decides to leave Aaron in the care of Claire's mother while she returns to the island to bring Claire back. On the island, Jin brings Ben back to Juliet who can't save him. She asks Jack to save Ben but Jack refuses to do it. Kate decides to take Ben to the others and Juliet helps her sneak out. Sawyer catches up[ with Kate and helps her the rest of the way. Richard takes Ben and takes him to the temple. Juliet confronts Jack about his decision and Jack explains that he is waiting to find his purpose. In the present, Ben wakes up and finds Locke staring down at him.
The Good: Kate's flashback story in this episode is excellent. Much like Sayid's last episode, this episode fills in some gaps and tells us what resulted in Kate choosing to return to the island. The story here is really well told. Kate as a mother works surprisingly well, and Evangeline Lily thrives in the role. Her performance in this episode is outstanding and makes me buy into the idea of Kate settling down and finding inner peace in parenting Aaron. But the peace is only temporary. The guilt of leaving Claire behind and taking her baby is haunting Kate and it manifests in a brilliant scene at the grocery store (see: Best Moment). As a result, Kate decides she has to go back, and we get the climax of this story: Kate finds Claire's mother and leaves Aaron in her care, vowing to bring Claire back. Impressively, the episode has set up this scene so that it has a significant emotional resonance, and Kate's motives to do this make perfect sense. The show also goes a step further by giving us a terrific farewell scene between Kate and Aaron, one that has quite a bit of impact. You get the sense that Kate is sacrificing something to do what she believes is right, and that does more to make me like and relate to this character than anything else the series has done with Kate. It's a well-written story arc with some great emotional weight. The story with Cassidy was pretty well done too. It was nice to see "Lost" continue the relationship that these two built back in "Left Behind", and I thought that their scenes together were well done. Cassidy helped illuminate Kate's inner struggle in an organic way, helping Kate come to terms with why Aaron is so important to her and why Sawyer leaving her behind hurt her so much. It's a really smart way to examine Kate, and adds some extra depth to what was already a pretty compelling flashback story. The island story had a lot of good moments, and there was tension throughout with Ben's life in the balance. I was pleased to see Kate play a central role in saving him, and the episode did a good job of setting up this decision by having Kate form a small connection with Roger. Roger is surprisingly sympathetic in this episode and I really liked that. "Lost" always does tremendously well with making its characters a mix of good and bad, instead of focusing too far on good or bad. Jack's role in this episode was terrific. His choice to not save Ben was fantastic and helped shed light on Jack's motives and the inner change he experienced before returning to the island. Hearing him say that he doesn't yet know why he's come back to the island was a fantastic moment, especially with how it echoes Locke. Lastly, I reallyu laughed at Miles trying to explain time travel to Hurley. There were some really funny jokes in there and Hurley also asked some really good, important questions. The Bad: Though Kate and Sawyer did have an excellent scene towards the end of the episode, I found it difficult to buy into the storyline of Kate being screwed over by Sawyer and having to get over him. Especially since she quickly ended up getting with Jack afterwards, and since we have never seen her feel conflicted about Sawyer at any point after she left the island. It feels like a forced storyline, and it's much weaker than the storyline with Aaron. I have some nitpicks too. Richard saying that Ben's "innocence will be gone" is one of those frustratingly vague lines that is needlessly mysterious. I can't tell if the writers are using this to raise even more questions, or if they were too lazy to come up with an actual effect that this healing process would have on Ben. I would have liked to have something more specific to explain why this healing that Richard did would have been bad for Ben in the long run. I never liked the idea of Juliet calling her people "the others". Juliet lived with them for 3 years, it makes no sense that she would call them "others" instead of "my people" or something else like that. The Unknown: What will happen to Ben now? What did Richard mean when he said that Ben's innocence would be gone? Where did he take Ben? To the smoke monster? We know the monster guards the temple. Richard mentions Charles and Ellie, and I can only presume that they are Widmore and Eloise. We know Richard was leader before, so why did he step down for these two? I'm curious to learn more about how the leadership of the other changed, and also why it had to change from Richard. Was it Jacob's decision? How will Kate, Sawyer and Juliet explain Ben's disappearance? Will they be discovered? What is Locke going to do with Ben? Best Moment: Kate losing Aaron in the grocery store was an excellent scene. The way the episode staged a perfectly normal occurrence as a mysterious and scary event was perfect, and it brilliantly brought up Kate's inner conflict to set up her decision to go back to the island to find Claire. Character of the Episode: Kate. Conclusion: Kate's always been a weak spot for "Lost" and her episodes typically haven't been the best. But this was probably the best we have seen from the character yet, as we got a really compelling flashback story that added more weight to an exciting and dramatic island story. This is the best Kate-centric episode so far, and a great episode overall. Score: 70 Summary: Flashbacks show Sayid has always been ruthless since his childhood. Ben tells Sayid his work is done after another assassination. Later, Ben contacts Sayid to tell him that Hurley is beign watched. After leaving the marina, Ilana pretends to be interested in Sayid to lower his guard and capture him. She is taking him to Guam as a bounty hunter. In 1977, Sawyer tries to get Sayid out of captivity but Sayid doesn't cooperate. Horace takes Sayiod to Oldham who gives him a truth serum. They think Sayid is crazy when he says who he is, but Radzinski is convinced he's a spy when Sayid mentions The Swan. After a conference, it is agreed that they will kill Sayid. However, Ben breaks Sayid out and tries to go with him. Sayid is discovered by Jin and Sayid knocks him out. Sayid shoots Ben with Jin's gun.
The Good: The island story was tense and exciting, and it felt important. Sayid's imprisonment is a big problem, and seeing Sawyer attempt to resolve it as the situation gets worse and worse is really intense television. Sayid is difficult to work with here, but it makes sense as Sayid had no desire to be back on the island, and he wasn't afforded the same luxury as Kate, Hurley and Jack of slowly coming to accept that he's in 1977. Sayid is very much confused and alone in his journey, and that makes him feel isolated from his friends. I thought that all of Sayid's choices in this episode were very engrossing. There was very strong drama with every decision Sayid made. From choosing not to work with Sawyer, to deciding to murder Ben, the episode did a fantastic job of connecting us to Sayid's emotional state to make these choices have an emotional impact. Surprisingly, the episode really shined when Sayid's agency was stripped away and he was taken to Oldham. Once again we get the lovely irony of the torturer being tortured for information, and the set-up for the scene is intense. I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen when Oldham went to work with Sayid. Hearing Sayid speak the truth was excellent drama because you were never sure how much he would reveal. Luckily he was cut off when he started to reveal really bad stuff (like who Sawyer was), but the scene still maintained that intensity. It all built to a lovely climax as Sayid laughed at how he was talking with a bunch of people who are destined to die. Naveen Andrews did a terrific job here, and the scene was really well done. The flashbacks in this episode are quite good. I was surprised to get a deeper look at Sayid's childhood, especially since his childhood hasn't been mentioned at all for the entire series. It was interesting to see his upbringing, and it neatly tied into the idea of Sayid always being a natural killer. It was good to finally see how Sayid and Ben's professional relationship ended, and to also see what happened to Sayid after he left the marina. These flashbacks did well to fill in gaps in the story. But more than that, they also nicely set up Sayid's emotional story in this episode. We get to see Sayid grappling with himself about who he is and what his purpose is. He's good at killing, and torturing, and being ruthless, but we can see that he doesn't want any of that. He's very conflicted. And surprisingly, by the end of the episode, Sayid actually doubles down on being a killer. He doesn't better himself, he actually does worse than that. The episode seemed to be building towards Sayid sparing Ben, especially after Sayid witnessed how Roger abused Ben. But Sayid doesn't make that decision. Instead he finds purpose in his return to the island by killing Ben, and because of that he is able to pull the trigger. It's a stunning twist that leaves me really excited for what's to come in the next episode, and it raises lots of questions about how this will impact the world (see: The Unknown). I also really appreciate that Sayid is shown crying after killing Ben. One thing "Lost" always does well is that it roots its big moments in the emotional state of its characters, making it emotionally powerful on top of being significant to the plot. The Bad: I feel like Sayid needed a better motive to not work with Sawyer. It feels like Sawyer should have either tried harder to get Sayid to listen to him, or Sayid should have had a more convincing and personal argument as to why he isn't cooperating. It very much feels like he didn't listen to Sawyer because the plot demanded it, which is very poor writing. The story of the Oceanic Six remains a mess, even with this episode clarifying a lot of things. Even with the answers we received, I have way too many questions (see: The Unknown). I still don't understand who the people were that attacked the Oceanic Six. Did they work for Widmore or Ben? I have no idea. It was an interesting mystery at first, but now that the story is entirely complete and we still don't have answers, I can comfortably say that making this so mysterious was a mistake and weakened the story. I'm also not a fan of the idea of having key questions answered in flashbacks in the way that they were in this episode. The storytelling is non-linear in a way that disrupts the emotional experience that these characters are going through. It would have been much better for the story had we seen these moments between Sayid and Ben before Sayid went to get Hurley from the mental hospital. The Unknown: Sayid has a brother apparently. Where has he been the entire show? What's happened to him? So was the man outside Hurley's mental institution Widmore's man or Ben's man? I still have no idea, and we get conflicting information about this. On one hand, Ben tells us it's Widmore's man, but it's Ben so can we really trust him? Sayid certainly did not. Was Ilana taking Sayid on Ajira 316 really just a coincidence? Or is there something else at play with her? She didn't seem to know who Ben was, but maybe she was lying. Did Sayid just kill Ben? Does this mean that Daniel was wrong about the rules of time travel? How will this effect the world and the story? Is Ben actually dead? Or can he survive somehow? Best Moment: Sayid's interrogation by Oldham. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was an excellent episode that had a wonderful central story for Sayid, and wove that into a suspenseful plot with a phenomenal cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for more. There were some problems, and they prevent this episode from scoring higher, but I still loved this episode. Score: 74 Summary: In 1977, Sawyer organizes it so Jack, Kate and Hurley join the Dharma Initiative as new recruits. Jin goes to The Flame to find the plane but doesn't find anything. He instead finds Sayid and is forced to apprehend him as a hostile. Sawyer takes over and gets Sayid in a cell at The Barracks. Sayid meets young Ben. Jack speaks with Sawyer who is still planning their next move. In the present, Sun follows Ben who wants to return to the main island. He takes her to an outrigger but Sun knocks him out and leaves with Frank instead. They go to The Barracks where they meet Christian. Christian shows them that Jack, Kate and Hurley joined the Dharma Initiative in 1977.
The Good: This episode had a lot of really fun plot developments across three different storylines. Watching Sawyer try to find a way to assimilate Kate, Jack and Hurley was really engaging. The story was packed with lovely moments of character reuniting after years apart, showcasing the bonds between these characters. But on top of that, it was tense and exciting to see if this plan would actually work. There are some really nice moments throughout, and I thought that the characters were handled nicely. Jack in particular had a great episode, and I got a laugh out of seeing his reaction when he realizes he's just a janitor. The final scene between Jack and Sawyer (spearheaded by an excellent reunion between Jack and Juliet) was really well written and had a lot of lovely moments (see: Best Moment). The Sayid storyline was more unpredictable and it's the first big problem that we're going to have to see sorted out. Sayid is unlucky enough to be apprehended by Radzinski, and he's found himself in a difficult situation, split up from everyone else, with nobody around to explain anything to him. I love how this wa emphasized throughout the episode with Sayid's shocked look once Jin points a gun at him, and with the glances shared between Sawyer and Sayid as the episode goes on. This storyline has been set up tremendously. Sun had a really good episode too. It was great to see her manipulate Ben for her own needs, showing us a new bit of ruthlessness within her that the season had been hinting at for a while now. Her determination to find Jin gives her story some more emotional weight as well. One of the episode's highlights has to be the spooky sequence in the barracks which felt similar to the amazing cabin scene in "The Man Behind the Curtain". While this wasn't quite on the same level, it was a tense moment and it gave us another encounter with Christian, furthering the mystery of who he is and what his goals are. The Bad: This was pretty much just a transitional episode. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and had a lot of good scenes, but it didn't come together as a complete experience like most other episodes of "Lost" do. The Unknown: We got to meet Radzinski surprisingly. Apparently he is building The Swan. What else will we learn about this? Why didn't Sun go back in time with the rest of the Oceanic Six? What happened to Daniel? Did he die? Why isn't he with Dharma anymore? Is Horace and Amy's baby the Ethan from season 1? That's a surprising reveal. Was he recruited by the others similarly to Ben? The monster was lurking around where Sun and Frank were. Will they encounter it? Why did Christian choose to help them? Who is he exactly? What are his goals? Is Phil suspicious of Sawyer? He gave a strange look towards Jack when he went to meet with Sawyer? What will become of Sayid meeting Ben? Best Moment: The Jack/Sawyer scene at the end had the most emotional weight to it. It's nice to see how both characters have grown. Sawyer has become a real leader while Jack has finally started to value letting things go. It's great to see Sawyer criticize Jack's ineffective leadership style, and to see Jack actually bask in not being in charge anymore. Of course Jack still bickers with Sawyer and gets defensive, because even with his development, he's still the same person. The episode does a nice job of showing change in these characters while still having them feel like the same people. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a really solid episode that moved the story forward. It didn't have the emotional focus of the last three episodes, but there were plenty of great moments here, and I'm even more excited now for what's to come in the rest of the season. Score: 67 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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