Summary: In flashbacks, Jin and Sun try to have a baby but a fertility doctor says that Sun is infertile. Sun visits Jae Lee regularly to learn English and reveals that she is planning to leave Jin. The fertility doctor hunts down Sun and reveals that Jin is sterile and she is fine. On the island, Sun and Jin have an argument. Sun gets a pregnancy test and learns she is pregnant. She is afraid to tell the truth to Jin, but after talking with Jack she tells him she is pregnant and they reconcile. Meanwhile, Locke invites Ana Lucia to interrogate Henry. Ana Lucia gets him to draw a map to his balloon and she goes to find it with Sayid and Charlie.
The Good: The Ana Lucia storyline was the best part of this episode. Her interrogation of Henry was terrific and she asked some pleasingly logical questions that I'm surprised Sayid didn't ask. She gets Henry to draw a map to the balloon which is a really significant development. Her mission with Charlie and Sayid is pretty entertaining and it leads to a fantastic character moment as Ana Lucia accepts that she isn't well liked and finally apologizes to Sayid for what she did. That scene felt very real, and Sayid's reaction where he redirects his anger onto the others was tremendous. Sun and Jin's story was fairly enjoyable as well. The writers have done a spectacular job of hinting at Sun and Jin's history of being unable to have a child by showing us their gentler behaviour around babies. This has happened countless times in previous episodes, as recent as "Maternity Leave" which sees Sun telling Claire that a mother shouldn't leave her child. As for character development, Sun gets a decent look here as she makes the decision to tell Jin the truth instead of keeping more secrets, proving that she is unwilling to make the same mistakes that ruined their relationship in the past. Jin on the other hand, goes through a similar arc as he forces himself to give Sun the freedom she craves so that she can be happy, unlike before when Jin was cruel and condescending. There were some little things I really liked. The Jin POV sequence where we get to see how confusing it is for him when he can't understand anyone was very good. I really liked Sun refusing to get in the car with the doctor in the flashbacks. It was a small moment of humanity that added to the realism of the show. Lastly, I love that the show went the extra mile to provide multiple reasons that Sun didn't tell Jin she was learning English. Not only was it because she planned to leave, but also because she was secretly meeting with Jae Lee which Jin certainly wouldn't have approved of. The final scene of Henry goading Jack and Locke was a bit generic, but it was still a very fun way to end the episode. Michael Emerson did a great job, and the cliffhanger builds up a lot of excitement for the next episode. The Bad: The many secrets that characters hold are getting more frustrating by the episode. Ana Lucia not telling Jack and Locke about the map is simply absurd. Why wouldn't she let them know so they can plan their next move accordingly? The writers don't even provide a reason for her to not tell them, instead we just get yet another one-liner about how Locke and Jack are fighting. Add this secret on top of Locke not telling Jack he invited Ana Lucia in, Jack wanting nobody to know about Henry, Hurley hiding his food stash and Sun trying to hide her pregnancy. And that's only from this episode. Plus Eko and Charlie still haven't told anyone about the monster so there's that too! With all of these secrets floating around, this episode feels like it came straight out of season 2 of "The Walking Dead". This season doesn't seem to be capable of hitting the highs of season 1 with any kind of consistency. The character work isn't what it used to be. This episode tells a passable story for Sun and Jin but it is nothing special. The island story is also quite bland. Even with a plot focus this season, the island storylines aren't as consistently entertaining as they were in season 1. This episode has practically no stakes and even in the most interesting story (Ana, Sayid and Charlie's trek), literally nothing exciting happens outside of Ana's apology. Some small things bugged me too. Sayid's confusion at how Ana Lucia got Henry to cooperate was baffling to me. Surely the torturer would know the most efficient methods to get somebody to give information. Charlie is still a complete asshole and it feels so out of character. His constant smirk and rude behaviour to Ana Lucia just felt awkward. The Unknown: Did Sun have an affair with Jae Lee? If she did, then the baby would likely be his. But I won't disregard the possibility of the island curing Jin's sterility like it did Locke's legs. Is there actually a balloon or has Henry set up an ambush somehow? Best Moment: Ana Lucia apologizing for killing Shannon was a lovely moment. Character of the Episode: Ana Lucia. Conclusion: This was a decent episode with some good moments. Unfortunately there is nothing special about this and the many secrets are becoming frustrating. Score: 61
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Summary: Aaron gets sick and Claire is concerned. Rousseau shows up and warns Claire that Aaron may be infected. Claire talks to Libby about her amnesia and she starts to slowly remember what happened when she was taken by Ethan. Claire remembers being in a medical facility which has vaccines for the sickness. She goes with Kate to where this facility was with Rousseau's help. Claire doesn't find any vaccines but remembers that she was helped by a teenage girl, likely Rousseau's daughter. Claire returns to camp and Aaron is fine. Meanwhile, Eko finds out that Jack and Locke are hiding somebody in the hatch. He gets Jack to take him to Henry where Eko apologizes for killing two others.
The Good: I was surprised by the slight change in the flashback formula. Instead of getting flashes to a time before the plane crash, this episode flashes back to Claire's memories when she was taken by Ethan. This slight change makes the episode a lot more interesting as the flashbacks give us some vital information about the others while also letting us explore another Dharma station, which is engrossing and entertaining. And as a bonus, we even get the return of Ethan. The story was entertaining, and it was a good plot to have Claire attempting to find the medical facility again. We're never quite sure of what she's going to find there and that adds a degree of tension to the episode. There's also some good stuff here for Rousseau. We get to see her at her lonely best here as she seems so detached from Claire and Kate emotionally. It's evident that Rousseau is only there in the hopes that she may find Alex, so it's pretty heartbreaking when she realizes that Alex isn't there and that she must keep on living alone. Everything happening at the hatch was pretty interesting. The introduction of Henry has focused the plot on the hatch for the moment, and I really like that. This season was in dire need of a focused plot because it was extremely messy during the first 13 episodes. Everything surrounding Henry made for some compelling television. Locke has been going through a lot of frustration off-screen this season and I've mentioned before how unsatisfying that felt. Now with Henry introduced, Locke's frustration are starting to be explored and this storyline is starting to become meaningful, especially with that ending scene. On the other hand we have Eko who steals the show. Eko quickly determines that Jack and Locke are hiding something and he acts on it to further his own interests. What's so fascinating is that we aren't entirely sure what Eko's motives are so his ensuing conversation with Henry is filled with suspense and fascination, comfortably making it the best scene of the episode (see: Best Moment). The Bad: Unfortunately the character journey for Claire falls flat because she is thoroughly unlikable the entire time. She is pretty annoying and whiny and she is rude to literally everyone. She disturbs Jack really late at night and continues to complain to him about everything. Then she's rude and hostile to Sun who she asks to watch over Aaron. Finally, her interactions with Rousseau are downright horrible. Sure, Rousseau did try to take Aaron, but Claire still comes off as unnecessarily rude, especially since she needs Rousseau to help her get back to the facility and Rousseau seems willing to help. Then we have Kate who has apparently become Claire's mom off-screen considering how she turns Claire's business into her own. It's frustrating to watch Kate treat everybody like they are inferior, particularly Libby who she is unfairly mean to. I don't know why the writers think that making characters behave rudely for no reason will help us sympathize with them. "Lost" has a problem of making its characters keep unnecessary secrets. I've complained a lot about this season's poor handling of the hatch, and now it's threatening to go down the same route with Henry by having Locke and Jack inexplicably keep his presence a secret. We aren't given any good reason as to why they wouldn't tell everyone that he is there. Another issue that I'm noticing is the show's newfound desire to focus on plot instead of character. Season 1 was so good because there were outstanding character arcs in every episode that amplified an exciting island storyline. But season 2 seems to be more fixated on plot than character, especially with recent episodes like "One of Them" and "The Hunting Party" which, while great episodes, were much more interested in building up the plot instead of telling us a fresh and powerful character story. Don't get me wrong, episodes focused on plot can still be great, but they aren't as memorable as the emotions that season 1 episodes made me feel. I'm not too please with Henry trying to sow conflict between Jack and Locke. The prisoner causing dissent between his captors is such a predictable story that I've seen several times before, so I hope that we get something else instead. The Unknown: We learn so many interesting things about the others here. Judging by what Kate finds in the lockers, it appears that the others' ragged appearance may be a show. Kate finds ragged clothing, fake beards and theatrical glue. This discovery, furthered by the presence of a beardless Zeke in the flashbacks, suggests that there may be a lot more to the others than what we've seen so far. Zeke mentions a possible leader among the others. Who is this leader? Is there a hierarchy among the others? How many of them are there? What positions of power exist in their community? What is the vaccination for? Is there actually a sickness? The others seem to be concerned about it. Why hasn't it affected the survivors yet? Best Moment: Eko and Henry's conversation is fascinating. After getting beaten up by Sayid, Henry looks suitably horrified when he sees the intimidating Eko enter the room. Eko is so fascinating to watch here and he does something surprising: he gives Henry a confession. Eko confesses his guilt for killing the two others back in "The Other 48 Days" because he needed to get it off his chest. It's a wonderful bit of character building for Eko, and the show expertly uses his mysterious and unpredictable nature to really surprise us and make us think that he's doing something much more sinister than what he actually does. Character of the Episode: Eko Conclusion: This episode advanced the plot nicely and had some good moments, but the poor character development for Claire and her annoying behaviour really drag this episode down. Score: 62 Summary: In flashbacks, the US military attacks where Sayid is working and want him to cooperate with them so they can find a pilot who was interrogated there. Sayid is used to get the information from his commanding officer, and Sayid is convinced to torture him to get the pilot's location. The pilot is already dead and the US military end up leaving Iraq. Sayid is released. On the island, Sayid finds Rousseau in the jungle. She takes him to a place where she has caught a man in a trap. The man claims to be named Henry Gale but Rousseau thinks he is an other. Sayid takes him back to the hatch and interrogates him. Locke changes the combination in the armory so that Jack can't stop Sayid. Jack convinces Locke to open the door when he prevents Locke from pushing the button. Sayid is convinced that Henry is an other and beats him up. Jack pulls him off. Sayid goes to Charlie and explains why he believed Henry is guilty. Sawyer enlists Hurley to help him find a tree frog.
The Good: The premise of this episode is fantastic. A mysterious person has been captured and it is the job of the survivors to determine if he is innocent or if he is an other. This is a fantastic way to create drama, and it leads into a lot of fascinating inter-character conflict and internal conflict towards the end of the episode. What makes this work so well is that it is unclear if Henry Gale is innocent or not. Since I can't predict the plot, I'm hooked the entire time by a drive to get answers. As a result of my total investment in this episode, the interrogation scenes end up being fantastic. I've always been a fan of Sayid's pragmatic approach so I loved seeing him go after Henry, trying to pry a lie out of anything he says. However, Henry seems solid and he has all the right answers. It's fascinating to follow Henry's actions as Sayid does, and it becomes clear what Sayid is looking for. Due to his experience as a torturer, Sayid knows that the way to get the truth is to search for a lack of emotion which would suggest that Henry is lying. Even though Henry has all of the right answers, the devil is in the details. It's apparent that Sayid believes that Henry's actions and emotions don't match up with what he is saying, and that is what makes Sayid believe he is guilty. But there's another angle to this: what if Sayid is wrong and is still too unstable following Shannon's death to make an unbiased decision? Sayid's questionable mental state still makes it unclear if Henry is telling the truth or not. This uncertainty keeps the drama, while Sayid's logical approach makes the interrogation satisfying. It's a brilliantly put together sequence. While all of this is happening, Jack and Locke further their conflict in an excellent way. Jack has always been bloodthirsty and demands revenge against the others. Even though Jack is emotionally driven and is always quick to grab the guns, he still has morals. We see that here as Jack doesn't wish to torture Henry Gale for fear that he's innocent. Evidently, he's still a little shaken from when Sayid tortured Sawyer back in "Confidence Man". Locke on the other hand, continues to behave in a more extreme manner following "Fire + Water", and he is willing to do what has to be done to ensure the safety of the survivors. It's an interesting change for the two of them, and it leads to some excellent conflict, particularly when Jack threatens to let the timer run out if Locke doesn't give him the combination (see: Best Moment). Sayid's flashbacks were very well done. The story was a joy to watch and it had a nice amount of depth to it. It's important for us to know how Sayid ended up as a torturer, and the story is quite compelling. It's sad to see the loyal soldier become a torturer due to his desire to do the right thing. The Bad: Unfortunately, the episode hurts itself badly in its final few minutes. Sayid goes to Charlie and explains why he believes Henry to be guilty. And the explanation is completely at odds with what we had just seen. Apparently Sayid believes Henry is an other because he doesn't feel any guilt when he beats him up. That seems like such a flimsy basis to make a decision off of, and it is completely at odds with the realism that I've come to expect from Sayid. It's a shame because this scene with Charlie could have been used to clarify the story of the episode but it only serves to confuse everything. It very nearly ruins a fantastic episode. This episode felt like it was padded with unnecessary filler outside of the scenes with Henry. The flashbacks are very good, but they are hardly essential for Sayid's character. The tree frog plotline in fine for comedy, but it is a complete waste of time. The change in Locke's character to make him more ruthless hasn't been conveyed well at all. It effects this episode too because Locke's decision to let Sayid torture Henry doesn't feel like something he would agree to. The Unknown: Who is Henry Gale? Is his story true? Or is he an other? It would have been nice if Sayid had been given more time to ask questions. Henry's wife apparently got sick and died. Is this the sickness that Rousseau was talking about? What were those hieroglyphs that appeared after the timer hit zero? Best Moment: As Sayid started punching Henry, the tension escalated dramatically and Jack went to the extreme to get inside the armory. His threats to Locke that he would let the timer run out were fantastic, and Jack looked almost deranged as he threatened Locke and got to exhibit some dominance over him. Then the tension ratchets up as we worry about both the timer and Sayid at the same time. It's brilliant stuff, and the scene concludes in wonderful fashion as we get a tantalizing hint about what happens when the button isn't pressed. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was pretty great stuff for a lot of the episode, but a fair amount of little issues plagued this and prevent it from being one of the show's best episodes. But still, this is an excellent episode that I enjoyed very much. Score: 71 Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer does a long con on a woman named Cassidy who has $600K. He falls in love with her and doesn't want to continue, but eventually he decides to do it anyways and he takes her money and leaves. On the island, Sun is attacked and everyone gets riled up in fear of attacks from the others. Kate and Sawyer suspect Ana Lucia is responsible and tried to scare everybody into joining the army. Sawyer warns Locke that Jack is coming to get the guns so Locke hides them. Locke and Jack get in a blowout, but Sawyer reveals that he tricked everyone and stole the guns. Kate is disgusted by Sawyer's actions and claims that he wants to be hated. Later he meets with Charlie, who was working with Sawyer and is the one who attacked Sun and followed Locke to the guns.
The Good: I love watching cons. I find stories that pay attention to details absolutely fascinating because they reward rewatches and include lots of lovely little details that are simply satisfying. As such, I loved the conning themes in this episode. It was really fun to see Sawyer execute two cons, one in flashbacks and one on the island. The way that everything slotted together by the end of the episode was lovely. This episode felt like it had much more focus and heart put into it than most episodes this season. The gun story is pretty well set up. I wish this episode was the direct follow up to "The Hunting Party" because a lot of the plot involves the fallout of the confrontation in the climax of that episode. The tension in the camp surrounding the others increased naturally, and as a result there was much more emphasis on the Jack/Locke conflict as they both approach the new threat completely differently. But enough about the plot. This episode is all about Sawyer, who has been given consistently great development. This season he has felt a little bit adrift (he's done nothing but flirt with Kate for the past few episodes) and there wasn't much character development surrounding him. That changed here as Sawyer does the most despicable thing he has done since season 1. We learn a lot about why Sawyer is the aggressive and vile man he is despite showing potential to be a better person. As Kate says at the end of the episode, Sawyer wants to be despised by everyone, because if he can be redeemed for his crimes, than so can the Mr. Sawyer who ruined his life. And for a man driven by his desire for revenge, confronting the possibility that Mr. Sawyer may actually be a decent man isn't possible. So Sawyer compensates by making himself hated by everyone, especially the ones he loves, who are Cassidy and Kate in this case. It's a wonderful bit of character exploration that shows us that Sawyer isn't a bad person at heart, but he wants to believe that he's a bad person. This also does a good job of explaining why Sawyer has been a mix of hateful and lovable throughout the series, as sometimes his true nature seeps out and he isn't able to be that hateful person he knows he must be. There were some pleasing moments of good writing in this episode. Sayid has been in the background for a while now, so the writers check in with him in a nice little side story to show him trying to move past his grief. I also liked the little touch of Sawyer losing his glasses on the raft and Kate having to read to him. Lastly, there was another random Easter Egg as Kate's mom appeared in Sawyer's flashback with Gordy. The Bad: The plot to build an army is a good idea but the execution here was pretty bad. The main issue is we see absolutely nothing of the community. The extras are hardly used in this episode and we aren't shown Ana Lucia and Jack actually doing anything. Everyone talks about making an army, but we never see anybody actually making the army. It's a classic case of the writers failing to abide the "show don't tell" rule, and that hurts the episode. There's too much exposition here which could've been replaced with us actually seeing how the camp feels about training an army. Charlie's story arc isn't working at all. He's become such a cartoony evil now, and couple that with his comical hood and we might as well call him "Darth Charlie". He's an utter prick in this episode as he is motivated purely by hate and anger, working only to hurt others instead of benefiting himself. His attack on Sun is quite shocking and it's really hard to buy into Charlie stooping so low as to do that. The Unknown: What does Sawyer plan to do now that he has all of the guns? Where is he hiding them anyways? Hurley makes a curious comment regarding the music transmission that Sayid picked up. He notes that the transmission could be from "any time". Could being unstuck in time or something like that possibly explain how this island has never been found before? Best Moment: Sawyer's speech declaring he's in charge again was very well done. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a really fun episode that gave us more strong development for Sawyer. Score: 70 Summary: Flashbacks show that Liam was intoxicated during the birth of his daughter and was later kicked out for dropping his daughter. He returns to Charlie and secretly sells his piano in order to repair his own life. On the island, Charlie has frequent dreams about needing to save Aaron and starts acting irrationally. Charlie goes to Eko who says Aaron must be baptized. Locke follows him to his secret stash and takes it away from him. Soon after, Charlie decides to baptize Aaron himself and lights a fire to distract everyone while he does it. Claire notices and everyone stops Charlie. Locke punches him.
The Good: The Hurley and Libby story is decent for a B-story. There are a couple of decent laughs, and this new relationship does serve to get us to know Libby a little better, which is welcome. With better execution, there's a good story here for Locke. Freeing Charlie from addiction was one of his first successes on the island, so it should be easy to see why he would be so frustrated with Charlie seemingly returning to drug use. The Bad: Unfortunately that's all I have for the good. This episode was all-around terrible. One of this show's best strengths is its ability to make me sympathize with just about everyone. So it's quite a big shock when an episode like this one comes around in which almost every character is completely unsympathetic and I find myself detached from everyone's emotions. Charlie gets it the worst. He's not using drugs, but he may as well be with how irrationally he behaves all the time. He's a liar whose motivation and behaviour is so suspicious, and we're never given an adequate explanation for why he is acting like this. Claire on the other hand, is just an outright bitch for most of this episode and somehow I can't even sympathize with her fear of Charlie. Locke behaves completely out of character throughout this episode. For whatever reason he seems to have abandoned his faith to take care of Claire, and all of his actions are wildly different from the character that I remember from season 1. Lastly there's Eko who is frustratingly vague and unhelpful throughout the episode. The sloppy character writing leads into a plot that makes no sense and is simply frustrating to watch unfold. Just like in "Everybody Hates Hugo", this episode opens up with a strange dream sequence. I don't know why these sequences keep coming up when they seemingly aren't even relevant to the story. It diminishes the impact of dreams when they aren't used to advance the plot like they did back in "Deus Ex Machina". Anyways, these dreams provide a forced catalyst to make Charlie behave irrationally through a lot of stupid moments. The sleepwalking scene was poorly done. It seemed an innocent mistake and should have gone down as a big misunderstanding. It wasn't Charlie's fault, yet people inexplicably treat it like it was his fault, including Claire who goes to the extreme and slaps him for no real reason. It's really frustrating stuff, yet it's nothing compared to what came afterwards. Charlie decides that the best course of action is to light a fire that could destroy the camp so he could secretly baptize Aaron. In what world is this a good idea? Why would he do this? This is actually worse than Hurley's decision to bring dynamite into the hatch. The plan is stupid, and it's hard to believe that somebody who is sober would behave like this. Then we have Locke, a pretty peaceful guy normally, punching Charlie hard for his actions. This has to be one of the most out-of-character actions that anyone has taken in this show. I could maybe understand if Locke had been pushed to this point, but he really wasn't. He seems frustrated, but we aren't given a chance to explore why he feels this way. Is he disappointed in the island? In Charlie? Why? How does it make him feel? None of this is explored whatsoever, and that makes analyzing Locke's behaviour feel like guesswork instead of character analysis. On top of all of this nonsense, Charlie's character arc is completely useless. There is no meaningful story being told about him. It's just rehashes of what we already knew from season 1. Charlie has struggles with addiction (The Moth), and he has a desire to save others (Homecoming). Is there anything in this episode that we couldn't have figured out about Charlie from the aforementioned episodes? The flashbacks also fall into being useless filler. Once again Liam screwed Charlie over by selling his piano for his own selfish gains. We have already seen Liam screw Charlie over before, so what's the point of showing us the same story again? It's a completely empty storyline. Also I really could have gone without seeing that stupid diaper commercial being filmed. The Unknown: Will Charlie's dreams be relevant? I doubt it. Does Hurley actually know Libby from somewhere else? Why is Eko marking trees? Best Moment: It's really, really hard to find a good moment. I'll go with Hurley and Libby talking in the hatch. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: This was bad. Just when I thought that "Lost" was finding its footing again, we get this. This season has to be the most inconsistent season of television I've ever seen. There have been some genuine high points, but the good gets soiled when we got awful episodes like this one. Something really needs to change because episodes like this are just unacceptable for a show of Lost's caliber. Score: 32 Summary: In flashbacks, Jack is approached by a woman named Gabriela who wants him to do an impossible surgery on her father to save his life. Jack does it but is unable to save his life. He ends up kissing Gabriela. He returns home to Sarah who he hasn't been spending much time with. Sarah reveals she is going to leave him. In the present, Michael locks Jack and Locke in the armory and leaves to go after Walt. Kate and Sawyer free them, and they all go after Michael. Jack orders Kate to stay behind. Jack, Locke and Sawyer follow Michael's trail and they hear gunshots. After giving chase they encounter Zeke who has come with a force of others hidden int he jungle. Zeke gets them to surrender their weapons when he reveals that he has Kate and plans to kill her. He lets them know that they don't have freedom of the island. The group returns to the camp unsuccessful. Jack goes to Ana Lucia with a plan to train an army.
The Good: It looks like "Lost" is finally picking up steam again. The island story in this one was superb. From the first minute it was intense, important and exciting. The hook of Michael leaving to go after Walt works tremendously well, and the ensuing mission to go after him creates some organic conflict and character exploration. This all builds up to an outstanding confrontation with the returning Zeke. The others have never been so mysterious and threatening as in this scene, making this a huge escalation in the conflict between the survivors and the others. Zeke was wonderfully charismatic in the role, making it clear that the others hold a real power in the jungle, one that the survivors, even with their guns, cannot hope to match. The flashbacks told a very good story too. Across the entire run of the show we have learned a lot about the good-hearted, yet immensely flawed character that is Jack. But there were still some holes in his story that needed to be filled, most importantly, the reason that his marriage with Sarah failed. We got a wonderful story encapsulating why Jack was unable to keep his marriage, and it fits perfectly with the character that we have come to know. As Sarah says herself, Jack is always obsessing over something and trying to fix something. He's never just being himself, he's always out to prove himself to his father, to get that little bit of acceptance that he desires so much. And here, Jack completely blows up his life with his own need to validate his actions. He gets more involved with Gabriela than he should, he takes his failure to save the old man's life too personally, and he consistently ignores Sarah throughout all of this. By the time Jack tries to set things right, it's too late. And what's worse is that it's nearly impossible to believe that Jack would have been able to save his marriage even if he did try -- once he knew that they were on stable ground, he would just focus on something else in a fruitless attempt to gain his father's approval. Jack's story on the island ties into this flashback story very nicely. He's angry, stubborn, overly emotional and unreasonable pretty much the entire time. Just like in the flashbacks, Jack's drive is that he desperately wants to fix something. In this case, he's desperate to bring Michael back to the camp. The connection between stories works very well, and Matthew Fox does a tremendous job conveying Jack's emotions, as always. Additionally, I really liked the parallel between this episode and "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues". Both of those episodes showcase Jack's negative side as he recklessly goes after somebody through the jungle, but impressively enough, both episodes tell very different stories about Jack. I liked the brief Sun/Jin side story. I really like that this story stemmed from Michael's departure, just like the main storyline, giving the episode some focus. As for the story itself, it was a good way to examine Sun and Jin's relationship a little more without detracting from the central plot of the episode. The Bad: The played up love triangle stuff isn't doing much for me. There are so many melodramatic moments, like Jack accusing Sawyer of loving Kate and then later not accepting Kate's apology. It's too cheesy to be compelling television. Yet again, Kate completely fails as a hardened criminal as she gets captured. That aspect of her character has been poorly demonstrated since the beginning of the show. The Unknown: What happened to Michael? Did the others get him? What were those gunshots? Zeke called for somebody named Alex to bring Kate out. Is this Rousseau's daughter? How do Jack and Ana Lucia plan to train an army? Best Moment: The confrontation with Zeke was awesome television. This is the most urgent and intense this season has been outside of episodes 1, 3 and 7. Zeke was a frightening presence even when alone, and it was great to see his charisma going up against Jack's stubbornness early on. But then Zeke turns the tables in a splendid way. The "light em up" moment was genuinely chilling, and it shifted the tone of the scene suddenly and effectively. After that, Jack was never in control of the conversation and Zeke used both intimidation and power to wrestle him into defeat in such a fantastic, villainous way. This was great stuff. Character of the Episode: Jack, though I'll give an honourable mention to Zeke. Conclusion: This episode delivered. The island plot was epic, and the character exploration for Jack was very well done. It looks like the show is finally starting to pick things up. Score: 76 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Eko was a war lord in Nigeria. He goes to his brother Yemi, a priest, to transport drugs out of the country via plane. Yemi initially refuses but Eko threatens him to get him to do it. Yemi calls the military and ends up being shot in the chaos and sent out on the plane in place of Eko. On the island, Claire tells Eko about Charlie's Virgin Mary statue. Eko is aware of what it is and goes to find Charlie, demanding that he take him to the plane. Claire is angry when she learns that heroin is in the statue. On the way to the plane, Eko and Charlie encounter the smoke monster. Once at the plane, which si the same plane from the flashbacks, Eko mourns over Yemi's body.
The Good: Eko's first episode delivered the goods. His past is every bit as dark and fascinating as I had hoped it would be. The story of Eko being a war lord in Nigeria is a big surprise, and the man we see in the past is the stark opposite of the religious man on the island. It's a surprising twist that makes Eko's story immediately gripping and exciting to follow. The story we are told in flashbacks is actually very good. The brotherly relationship between Eko and Yemi is nicely explored, and we are shown that they do care quite deeply for each other despite their differing morality. The background we get on Yemi is effective, and it's enough to make Eko finding his skeleton in the plane a harrowing moment (see: Best Moment). Furthermore, we get the bonus of learning the history of the plane in the jungle, solving one of the show's bigger mysteries from season 1. The island story was refreshing in how it reverted to season 1's style of storytelling. One of the things that season 2 hasn't done very well is creating a dramatic and exciting story on the island. With the return of a mission through the jungle filled with tension and conflict, the show regains some of its ability to create compelling drama. The conflict came from the start of a unique new relationship between Eko and Charlie, while the drama came from the unexpected presence of the smoke monster, which was an excellent addition to the episode. The scene where Eko stared down the smoke monster was intense and fascinating, raising several questions about the monster (see: The Unknown). It was nice to get some advancement in Charlie's character arc. He had been carrying the Virgin Mary statue for a while now with nothing much of substance happening. It's past time that he gets some focus. Eko is the perfect person to bring the focus onto Charlie as he stumbles around, desperately making excuses to make himself look better. Of course Charlie isn't using, but he did make a mistake by not telling Claire about the statues, and now it seems his new character arc will be about owning up to his decisions, and even though he hasn't been using, he needs to accept that he has to win back the trust of the people around him, including Claire, Locke and Eko. This is excellent set-up for that storyline in a Charlie-centric episode down the road. The Bad: Why didn't Charlie tell people about the monster? It's the same issue from "Exodus", only this is even more unbelievable because this is the same Charlie who was gossiping in the last episode. Would he really keep his mouth shut like this? He should be freaking out! Instead he's calm as can be for the rest of the episode, which is completely implausible. The same goes for Eko. Stoic or not, Eko should have had a more pronounced reaction when he was confronted by the supernatural. Claire's unnecessarily rude to Charlie here. Sure he lied to her, but he doesn't deserve this treatment from her. It's highly unbelievable that she wouldn't care to help Charlie recover from his addiction, especially seeing how kind Charlie has been to her, and how he went to save Aaron back in "Exodus". Claire's behaviour here isn't consistent with that. This episode doesn't quite hit that level of excitement or emotion to get it close to an 80. Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent episode, but it doesn't ever threaten to go above and beyond that. The Unknown: How did Eko transition from a war lord to a priest? Why didn't the smoke monster kill Eko? What was it doing to Eko? If you pause when the camera moves through the monster, there are flashes of Eko's past visible. What does that mean? Is the smoke monster reading his memories? How can it do that? Why would it do that? Is this what it did to Locke back in "Walkabout"? Why didn't it do the same thing to the pilot in the first episode? What did "Walt" communicate to Michael? Where is he? Will Michael try to go after him? Will somebody find Charlie's stash of statues? Will Charlie be able to free himself from the clutches of heroin before it backfires on him in a big way? Best Moment: Eko enters the plane and discovers that one of the bodies inside is Yemi. In a rather unsettling scene, Eko hugs this decayed body and cries over the loss of his brother. It's a very sad moment that provides the catharsis for the flashback story. Character of the Episode: Eko. Conclusion: This was great stuff. The island story and flashback stories both hooked me immediately and told a compelling story. This was one of the better episodes of the season for sure. Score: 73 Summary: In flashbacks, Kate kills her step-father Wayne, who abused her mother. Kate lets her mom know what she did before she leaves. But her mother turns her in and Kate is apprehended. After a car accident, Kate escapes and goes to her father, confessing that she killed Wayne when she learned that he was actually her biological father. In the present, Kate watches over Sawyer as Jack attends Shannon's funeral. Sawyer becomes momentarily possessed by Wayne so Kate runs away, panicked and thinking she's crazy. She runs into Jack who comforts her and they end up kissing. Later, Kate returns to Sawyer and confesses why she killed Wayne. Sawyer wakes up. Meanwhile, Locke shows Eko and Michael the orientation video. Eko reveals that he found some cut parts of the film in a book on the other side of the island. Locke and Eko watch the unedited video, which claims that communication with the computer is forbidden. Michael is contacted on the computer by somebody claiming to be Walt.
The Good: It took a very long time, but we finally got a Kate-centric episode that's willing to explore her character instead of just painstakingly raising more and more questions about her backstory. We get plenty of answers here, as we find out what Kate's crime was, why her childhood was troubled, and presumably why her mother was so afraid of her back in "Born to Run". It's nice to see the show finally giving us the emotional story that Kate deserved to have gotten back in season 1. Kate's character development in this episode is pretty well done. It's wildly different from everyone else because we get to see how utterly selfish Kate is. Sure Wayne was a bad person, but Kate only killed him for herself, not anybody else. All of her motives are selfish, and this carries into her island story too. Kate selfishly abandons Sawyer when she becomes a little spooked, and she even kisses Jack for no reason other than to make herself feel better. The lack of follow-up between them actually works in this case, because the kiss wasn't due to love, just Kate's own selfish desires. I also like that we got to explore why Kate was attracted to both Sawyer and Jack. By all rights, Kate should be with Sawyer - they have far better chemistry - but Kate is constantly reminded of Wayne when she is with Sawyer, which makes her feel like she should be with the heroic, perfect, Jack. Eko was terrific once again. He has a wonderfully mysterious aura that makes all of his scenes gripping, plus a natural charisma. His speech about Josiah wasn't entirely necessary, but it was fascinating to listen to as Eko patiently got to the point. All of his interactions with Locke were simply spectacular, and it was wonderful to see some focus put back onto the hatch. The other stuff in the episode was also fairly well done. I liked Charlie gossiping to Kate about all of the new people. Sayid's state of depression was well acted, and a natural follow-up to Shannon's death. I laughed at Hurley's comment about Bernard being white, and also at Sawyer thinking they were rescued after waking up in a bunk bed. The Bad: Something about this episode didn't click the way it should have. I was entertained throughout, but I didn't find myself connecting to very much of the episode, which isn't a problem I've usually had with "Lost". Perhaps this had something to do with the character of Kate, which was a problem once again. Most of the problems surrounding Kate had to do with her emotions. I never felt like I was sympathizing with her the way I should have been. Her selfish reasons for killing her father do make her character stand out, but it does make it far tougher to sympathize with her. This disconnect between me and Kate led to me not enjoying this character exploration as much as I should have. On the island, Kate goes through a brief arc where she thinks she's going crazy. The problem with this is that the storyline is rushed and not very satisfying. Jack went through this same story in a much more satisfying way back in "White Rabbit". The emotional beats of this story just felt hollow, and I think the writers didn't commit enough to the story to make it memorable, or even plausible. It also doesn't help that Wayne possessing Sawyer felt like a lazy plot device to illustrate Kate's conflicting feelings about him, rather than a compelling reason for Kate to believe she is crazy. I was a bit disappointed by Jack and Ana Lucia's conversation. They didn't really give us anything new in their conversation, and there was no development whatsoever for either character. The Unknown: What's with the horse? Where did it come from? Is it the same horse from the flashbacks? What is the significance of this horse? What does it symbolize? How could Sawyer possibly have been possessed by Wayne? This might end up being explained, but I highly doubt it. Why are there blast doors in the hatch? Does it have something to do with the incident? Very interesting ending. Who is talking to Michael? Is it actually Walt or is it just one of the others posing as Walt? Where is this communication coming from? Best Moment: Eko's speech was quite fascinating, and the interactions between him and Locke were a joy. Character of the Episode: Kate, though Eko came close to passing her. Conclusion: This was another solid episode that was missing a few things from being great. This season has been very strange so far. Its had the two best episodes of the series so far, but also the two worst. And everything in between has been simply average as the show has been unable to replicate the spark the made season 1 so compelling. I really hope that the show can find its footing again, because while this is fine television, there is potential for so much more. Score: 63 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Ana was a cop. She was shot on the job while pregnant, killing her unborn child. Her attacker is caught and Ana ensures he is freed so that she can kill him herself. In the present, Ana knocks Sayid out when he attacks her and ties him to a tree. She threatens everybody as she tries to assess the situation. Eko leaves and takes Sawyer to Jack and Kate to save his life. He passes the news of Shannon's death but refuses to take the angry Jack to where Ana Lucia is. Michael gets Ana Lucia to let him leave, and the others leave soon after. Michael goes to Jack and offers to lead him to Ana Lucia. Eko convinces them to go without guns. Ana eventually decides to let Sayid go after pondering things over and speaking with him. Jack arrives and reunites with Ana Lucia. At the beach, Rose and Bernard are reunited, as are Jin and Sun.
The Good: Ana's story here is quite good. In the previous episode we took a look at her island persona, but this episode dives deeper into her background, giving us insight into her aggressive and commanding behaviour on the island. Her history as a cop is a natural solution to her behaviour, and it's quite nice to see a few little details touched up on. We've learned why Ana wasn't too fazed by murdering Goodwin (she's killed before), why Ana was so determined to help the kids (she's lost a child), and why Ana was able to shut off her emotions and adapt an extremely pragmatic leadership style (she's a police officer). This episode did a good job of putting Ana Lucia's behaviour under examination, while giving her a nice flashback storyline which culminates in a very good twist. On the other hand, the island story is also pretty well done. The situation she's in forces Ana Lucia to act quickly and forcefully in order to remain in control. Her aggressive behaviour here will likely put some people off, but I thought it was an effective and realistic way for a cop to deal with guilt. While in an intense conflict with herself, Ana Lucia immediately acts to maintain control, fearful of her friends no longer trusting her, and equally fearful of people criticizing what she had just done. It was pretty relatable, and I could sympathize with her as she gave out needlessly aggressive orders while simultaneously isolating herself from everyone. It was sad to see her overreact in such a big way, but it was consistent with the character we get to know in the flashbacks. The climactic conversation with Sayid ended up being pretty good as Ana told him her story before letting him go, finally ready to face the consequences of what she has done. Eko had a great episode as well. He gets to act as the moral compass of the group, making decisions that he feels are best for everyone. Just about every scene with him was really good, and Eko's pacifistic nature really got to shine here. The highlight scenes were Eko refusing to lead Jack to Ana Lucia, and him demanding that Jack leave the guns behind so as to not create more unnecessary conflict. The ending reunions led to some pretty good moments. It was great seeing Jack deal with yet another miracle as he is brought face to face with Ana Lucia, another ghost from his past (though a much more recent past than Desmond). The two romantic reunions between Rose/Bernard and Jin/Sun were both quite good, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't smile while watching them. The Bad: The Kate/Jack story didn't work for me. The golfing part of the episode just screamed filler, as the writers could certainly have reminded us of their relationship in a more important storyline. I also wasn't very happy with the scenes dedicated to saving Sawyer. After how gripping Jack's attempts to save Boone were in "Do No Harm", it feels quite disappointing that the episode didn't even try to turn Sawyer's deteriorating condition into something genuinely threatening. Instead all of the focus was on setting up a Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle, which does not interest me at all. Love triangles typically result in pretty poor storytelling, so I hope this show stays well away from that trope. While I liked parts of the ending montage, I didn't like the entire thing. I was very disappointed that there were no questions asked about Michael and Jin's sudden return with a couple of unfamiliar faces. Why wasn't anybody upset about their chances of rescue becoming practically zero? Why wasn't anybody asking about where Sawyer and Walt were? Why wasn't anybody inquiring about these two new people and the mysterious others? There should have been more panic and fear catalyzed by Michael and Jin's return, but the show instead only shows us everyone happily reuniting and chatting. It's awkward not to address the elephant in the room, and it damages the emotion of those final scenes. As always, I had a couple of nitpicks. It seems irresponsible for Kate, Charlie and Hurley to be golfing so close to the camp where they could easily injure somebody with an unlucky swing. It seems odd that Jason would be deemed innocent just because Ana Lucia didn't identify him. Surely Jason's confession should be enough to take the case to trial. The Unknown: What will Jack and Ana Lucia's interactions be like? How will the relationship they had developed in "Exodus" be altered by the events of the island? Best Moment: Ana and Sayid's conversation at the end of the episode was very good stuff. Character of the Episode: Ana Lucia. Conclusion: This was a pretty good episode. While not on the level of some of the show's best episodes, this still told a good character story while bringing us to the big reunion of camps that was expected. Score: 66 Summary: The episode details the 48 days the Tailies spent on the island. After the plane crashes, Ana Lucia takes control and tries to calm everyone down. At night, the others attack and take a couple of people, Mr. Eko kills 2 of them and stops talking. The group decides to wait for rescue while Ana Lucia becomes suspicious of Nathan. Another attack from the others result in 9 kidnappings. Ana Lucia kills one of them and finds a list of names. She concludes that there is a traitor in the group. Ana Lucia thinks it's Nathan and starts torturing him. The real culprit is Goodwin who sneakily kills Nathan. Ana Lucia eventually figures out that Goodwin is with the others and she kills him after a short fight. Afterwards, she finally breaks down and Eko comforts her. A montage takes the story to the moment where Ana Lucia shoots Shannon.
The Good: Television is often at its best when it completely blindsides you with something wonderful. This episode completely broke the established formula of the show and gave us something that was different from anything "Lost" has ever done before, and it worked spectacularly. From the first few moments, it was clear that we were watching a special episode. This episode skips over the "previously on" segment, recaptures the chaotic feel of "Pilot Part 1" and even adopts a unique formatting by separating the story into different days. The allure of something new and different immediately struck me, and within seconds I found myself hooked, excited to see what this episode could accomplish. And this delivered big-time. The Tailies are all mysterious people who we know precious little about. And that stays true after this episode. There are no flashbacks and no backstories explaining why a character behaves the way they do. Instead the episode is shrouded in mystery regarding the history of these characters, and we are allowed to form opinions on them solely based on their actions on the island. It's similar to how we were introduced to the characters back in season 1, and it sets up for each individual character's flashback episode to really surprise us and potentially offer that same shock if our understanding of a character turns out to be completely wrong ("Walkabout", "Confidence Man" and "...In Translation" are wonderful examples of this). But this episode doesn't only build up for future reveals. The change in character-based storytelling gives us a more linear storyline focused on Ana Lucia, who tries her best to lead her ragtag group of people through desperate times where everyone's lives are on the line. Ana Lucia is positioned similarly to Jack, and what makes her character stand out is the different approach she takes to leadership. Ana Lucia somehow manages to be even more emotionally driven than Jack while maintaining an even greater degree of rational decision-making as she makes decisions for the best of the group while actively working towards ensuring everyone's survival. It's a great story, and condensing 48 days of struggle into just 40 minutes works in the episode's favour as we are subject to the extreme mental strength Ana Lucia must have in order to deal with all of this. This becomes increasingly apparent towards the end of the episode with Ana Lucia's experiences with Goodwin and Nathan which cause her to finally snap and realize what everything has come to. Her line to Bernard where she tells him to get used to his new life hits really hard, and some quality acting makes it easy for us to understand how difficult it is for Ana Lucia to lead the group the way that she does. All of this background on Ana Lucia's leadership makes her murder of Shannon even more powerful. Now it's so easy to see why Ana Lucia would be so quick to pull the trigger when Shannon stumbles out of the woods, and it's much harder to fault her for her actions. I'm even more excited to see the fallout of this scene now. The Goodwin and Nathan plot was phenomenal. The episode does such a good job of tricking you into thinking that Nathan is an other. From the Goodwin scene in "...And Found", we naturally assume that he was killed by the others, not that he was an other himself. Furthermor, Nathan's shifty behaviour, the dramatic stare-downs between him and Ana Lucia, as well as the connection to Ethan with his home country being Canada all suggest that he is the culprit. So when Goodwin suddenly snaps Nathan's neck, it's a huge surprise that immediately elevates the tension of the episode. The ensuing scene with Ana Lucia and Goodwin is fantastic. It's a fantastic gun-under-the-table scene with the knife being passed back and forth, and Ana Lucia starting to ask Goodwin some suspicious questions. The tension escalates naturally in a brilliant way and the brief fight at the end is exciting, even with the outcome predetermined. I appreciate that the fight was short and explosive. It made me forget for just long enough that Goodwin is destined to die here, making the fight more dramatic than it would have been if it was stretched out. There were some very good minor moments. Mr. Eko's background story as he seemingly takes a vow of silence was pretty good, and it culminated brilliantly in that scene with Ana Lucia (see: Best Moment). Also, I really liked the reveal that Bernard was the person who Boone contacted back in "Deus Ex Machina". It makes Boone's death feel even more tragic, knowing that it was all for nothing. The Bad: It is annoying that a big cliffhanger isn't advanced in the following episode for the second time this season. Though I do like the way that this episode made Shannon's death have a little more weight to it, I still don't like having to wait even longer to find out what happens next. Surely Nathan's excuses should have been much better if he was actually innocent. Nobody was ever going to buy his bathroom excuses, so it seems really strange that he was innocent all along. His actions and words don't seem to correlate with what an innocent man would say. The ending montage was a decent way to speed through the footage that we had already seen. However, it does feel like a waste of time to spend something like 5 minutes on scenes that we were already familiar with without much alteration. I feel like there is a better way to advance to that final scene without it feeling so redundant. The Unknown: What were Ana Lucia and Mr. Eko's lives back in the real world? They somehow seem like even more of a mystery after this episode. Why is there a quarantine sign on the door of the other Dharma station? Do all stations have quarantine on them? What was with the glass eye inside the station? How about the bible? How did the others obtain a US army knife? Best Moment: As excellent as the Ana Lucia vs Goodwin scene was, I have to go with the scene by the stream between Ana Lucia and Eko. Ana Lucia finally cracks as the guilt of murdering Goodwin and torturing Nathan gets to her. Mr. Eko is there and he decides to speak for the first time in 40 days, comforting Ana Lucia. These two are hardly friends, but Eko still goes over to her and comforts her as she finally lets out all of the pent up emotion inside of her. It's a powerful scene that nicely shows us the trust that the Tailies have built after spending 40 days together. Character of the Episode: Ana Lucia. Conclusion: What a ride. This episode set out to do something different and it gave me an experience completely unlike anything "Lost" has ever done before. Somehow, this changed the formula yet still kept the heart of the show, providing us with some of the best 40 minutes of drama you will ever find. This is one of the best episodes of the series for sure. Score: 89 Summary: Flashbacks show Shannon's rocky relationship with her step-mom Sabrina. When her father dies, Shannon's inheritance is kept by Sabrina since there was no will. As a result, Shannon is unable to pursue a job opportunity and she lashes out at Boone who doesn't seem to believe in her abilities, just like Sabrina. On the island, Shannon sees Walt but Sayid doesn't believe her claims which frustrates her. Charlie and Claire have a smallfight and Claire goes to Locke, letting him know about Charlie's Virgin Mary statue. Mr. Eko, Jin and Michael reunite with the rest of the group and press on to the survivors' beach camp. Sawyer passes out due to his wound so they decide to cut through the jungle. Cindy vanishes and Ana pulls out her gun. Shannon looks for Walt through the jungle with Sayid. They reconcile but Walt suddenly appears. Shannon goes after him but is shot and killed by Ana Lucia.
The Good: This episode was balanced much better than every episode this season since the premier. Every storyline was interesting and there was an appropriate amount of time spent advancing each conflict. It's nice to see the pacing return to normal, and I think that made this episode easier to watch. Furthermore, it was nice to finally get flashbacks for Shannon, giving the flashbacks importance, which was missing in "Everybody Hates Hugo" and "...And Found". Shannon's backstory is solid. She has always been a bitchy character who has been difficult to like. It's good to see that the writers thought up of a good story to explain why she behaves in such a toxic way. Shannon's relationship with Sabrina is horrible, and the pressure of constantly being deemed a failure seems to have gotten to her repeatedly. She freaks out against Boone who is only trying to help, and she does the same to Sayid on the island. Her inner conflict is easy to understand, and it adds some depth to her when we learn why she is so determined to prove herself once people start doubting her abilities. Shannon's island story is interesting too because of Walt's mysterious appearances (see: The Unknown). His seemingly random appearances are very creepy, and they add some dramatic weight to the episode. The ending scene is very well done and it delivers a real surprise when Shannon is shot and killed. Shannon's scenes are also inter-cut brilliantly with the Tailies storyline as Cindy is taken by the others right when Shannon and Sayid begin hearing the whispers. Speaking of the Tailies, their story was solid again. We finally get to the point where they have intersected with the main group of survivors, and the stage has been set for a big conflict. Shannon has died, the Tailies have some horror stories to tell about the others, Sawyer is in critical condition, and the survivors will learn that the raft will not be bringing rescue. The scenes with Charlie/Claire/Locke were fine. There wasn't anything special here, but it does look like the writers are developing a long-running story centering around Charlie's Virgin Mary statue. I'm interested to see where this goes. The Bad: Shannon's death does feel a bit lazy. She has done practically nothing in the entire season, and it feels like she was killed because the writers were unsure of what to do with her now that Boone is dead. Her death scene was surprising and it will likely have a big impact on the story, but it doesn't feel like a major game-changing death, likely because Shannon has firmly been a background character for much of the show. It's not as impactful as if somebody like Sawyer had died instead. The writers still have not addressed why Sayid is engaging in a romance with Shannon. Shannon brings up that he's just going to leave her for Nadia, but we don't really get to see how Sayid actually feels about that. We haven't been shown why Sayid would want to be in a relationship with Shannon, and we also don't know how he feels about it. That's a problem, and it's one of the reasons that this romance never quite felt right for me. It's odd that Locke wouldn't immediately confront Charlie on his drug abuse when he hears about the Virgin Mary statue. Instead Locke just vaguely accuses Charlie of being a druggie and doesn't follow up at all. That's not like the wholesome sage Locke that we had gotten to know in season 1. Once again, "Lost" is sacrificing character communication for the sake of meaningless drama. The Unknown: Why is Walt appearing randomly. Since Sayid saw him, he's clearly not an illusion. Is he with the others? Were they around when he showed up? Is he trying to escape? Or warn the survivors? What was he trying to say to Shannon? Did Cindy really get taken like that? How? Why? What motivates the others to do this? Apparently they took a lot of the Tailies, including some kids. Why did they do that? Why haven't they taken anyone from them fuselage survivors' camp? Ana Lucia refers to a point when Mr. Eko apparently wasn't talking. Why wasn't he talking? When was this? How will Sayid react to Ana Lucia killing Shannon? How will the camp react to this? Will there be any major conflict? Best Moment: The ending scene was a good surprise and an effective cliffhanger. Character of the Episode: Shannon. Conclusion: This was a solid episode that improved on the season's unbalanced pacing. While not a special episode itself, this does nicely set up for what will hopefully be better stuff in the next few episodes. Score: 65 Summary: Flashbacks show Sun getting set up with Jae Lee to be married. But Sun is heartbroken when she learns that Jae plans to go to America to marry an American woman. Meanwhile, Jin gets a new job at a hotel but he eventually quits when he is forced to act against his morals. Afterwards, Sun and Jin meet each other for the first time. On the island, Sun decides to bury the bottle from the raft. Sun loses her wedding ring and talks to Jack, Hurley, Locke and Kate trying to find it. She eventually finds that she lost it while burying the bottle. The tailies begin to go across the island to the survivors' camp. Michael goes off in the jungle to find Walt and Jin and Mr. Eko go after him. They have a near miss with the others. Jin finds Michael and convinces him to come back.
The Good: Once again, the tailies storyline saves the episode. The wonderful joy of getting introduced to interesting new characters is showcased in this episode as we learn more about Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko and Libby who are immediately interesting. Ana Lucia comes off as sarcastic and confident, Libby very casual and quirky, and Mr. Eko is intimidating yet wholesome. It's a wonderful mix of characters and the promise of learning more about them makes me more engaged with everything going on in the tailies storyline. The tailies story does one other thing right, and it does so masterfully. That thing is building up the others as a threat. The episode does a fantastic job of establishing how horrifying the others are. Libby's claims about the others are intriguing, and it's evident that the tailies are terrified of these people. Then we come across Goodwin's corpse, which is a horrific image and it does a wonderful job of letting us become afraid of the others based off of what we are shown rather than what we have seen. Then everything culminates in an outstanding moment as Jin and Mr. Eko hide in the bushes, watching several silent figures moving through the jungle (see: Best Moment). The tension is built up with every moment, and the episode does a wonderful job of building up our fear for that frightening climax. The flashback story is decent entertainment. It's nice to get a look at what Sun and Jin were doing before they met each other, and there are some good moments that deepen these characters. We get to see Jin's morality more, making his transformation into Mr. Paik's hitman even more horrifying. Plus we get to see more of Sun's desire to break free from her family's constraints. It's all pretty solid stuff. What really makes this story work is probably the accurate depiction of Korea and its cultural style. Everything feels completely different from what we would expect in Western countries, and I think the episode did a really nice job of including details to make the setting feel more realistic. The Bad: Unfortunately this episode feels almost entirely like filler. Outside of the tailies story, nothing else feels important. I enjoyed the flashbacks but I don't think they were necessary at all. They don't provide anything important to the series at a whole outside of a fun side-story. If you take out the flashbacks, I don't think out perceptions about Sun and Jin would be any different at all. Even worse is Sun's storyline which is completely meaningless. Sun losing her wedding ring isn't a good story in any way and I had zero interest in it. I found myself groaning whenever the scene shifted back to Sun. The scenes of Sun talking to various other survivors are admittedly written pretty well (Locke is his usual self, Hurley is as funny as ever), but they still feel pointless as the conversations don't serve to advance the plot or characters in any particular way. This makes two slow episodes in a row. The momentum coming out of the big reveals in "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Orientation" is completely gone now, and I'm finding myself less invested in the season than I was before. I feel like the writers should have put in more effort to advance the plot consistently in every episode. Having 2/5 episodes be packed with fast-paced plot development while nothing happens in 3/5 episodes is a very strange balance. The pacing needs to improve because it is all over the place at the moment. The Unknown: What did the others do to the tailies? Who was Goodwin and what happened to him? Why did the others kill him? Also, there appeared to be a child carrying a teddy bear in the group of others that walked by. Why do they have a child with them? They have Walt too, so do they specifically go after children? Best Moment: The creepy moment of the others shuffling by was fantastic and filled with dread. It was set up perfectly too with Mr. Eko immediately shutting Jin up and searching for a hiding place the moment he heard a sound. Character of the Episode: I'll have to give it to Mr. Eko. He's been a blast to learn about. Conclusion: This episode has one really strong storyline but I couldn't shake the feeling that most of this episode was unnecessary. This is a fine if unspectacular watch. Score: 60 Summary: Flashbacks take us to right after Hurley learns he won the lottery. Hurley quits his job and has a really fun day with his friend Johnny. Hurley is happy and doesn't want everything to change, but it inevitably does after Johnny learns that Hurley won the lottery. On the island, Hurley is put in charge of the food and begins to cave under the pressure of everyone hating him because he doesn't give them food. He tries to get out of the job but is unable to. Pushed to the limit after an argument with Charlie, Hurley tries to blow up the food with dynamite but Rose talks him out of it. Hurley then decides to give away all of the food to everybody. On the other side of the island, Sawyer, Michael and Jin are freed by Ana Lucia's group who are also survivors of flight 815 from the tail section of the plane. The tailies have also found a Dharma station and the 5 of them who survived are living there. One of them is Bernard, Rose's husband.
The Good: The tailies storyline is the redeeming quality of this episode. These characters are all so mysterious so it's fascinating to learn about them and what they've been through. The scenes with the tailies were all excellent and there were numerous good moments that effectively utilized comedy, tension, suspense and mystery to create good television, like Sawyer's interactions with Ana Lucia and the reveal that there "were" twenty-three of them. There were a few other little things I liked. Sayid investigating the magnetic wall makes perfect sense and it enriches the mystery of The Swan. Seeing Rose again is always nice, and it was a welcome surprise to run into Bernard in the tailies group. There was a funny transition from Charlie yelling at Hurley on the island to Hurley mocking Drive Shaft in the flashbacks. Lastly, I liked the return of Locke's boss Randy who is Hurley's boss in the flashbacks. It's a nice little easter egg. The Bad: Unfortunately this was an atrocious episode that did almost everything wrong. The Hurley storyline was a complete bust and it felt like a waste of time. Following up on recent events, you would expect Hurley to get an episode focused on the numbers and his fear about what their appearance on the island might mean. Instead we get an episode showcasing Hurley's fear of people not liking him. This comes right out of nowhere and it never feels like an important story. Furthermore, there is no fascinating character development that occurs in this episode, stripping "Lost" of one of its best qualities. Hurley's character arc is written so poorly. I can understand that Hurley wants people to like him and is afraid of being hated, but that is never the focal point of the episode. Instead the episode chooses to make Hurley believe that all change is bad because it makes people hate him. That's such a nonsensical belief. Judging by the stories both on and off the island, surely Hurley should believe that secrets are the problem, not change. Hurley kept a secret from Johnny and lost a friend, while on the island people are getting angry with Hurley because he is keeping secrets. Instead, the writers don't even address this, and that really hurts the episode. The resolution of this story is somehow even worse. A logical conclusion would be for Hurley to accept that change needs to happen and move forwards as a more mature person. Instead the show takes a perplexing route and seemingly enforces that Hurley was right all along. Giving away all of the food means that Hurley still rejects change and never learns anything from his experience. That's awful writing. Why create this story is Hurley doesn't grow or change from his experiences? It's all so pointless from a character perspective. The flashbacks are also quite bad. The tone is all over the place and there never seems to be a consistent story being told. Rather than focusing on a specific character arc for Hurley, the show gives us a bunch of random scenes with a loose thematic attachment, and then the show hopes that everything would just gel together and make something worthwhile. It didn't work. And then we get to Hurley's decision to blow up the food with dynamite. Oh dear. First of all, it's impossible to believe that Hurley would get to the point where he would decide that blowing up the food would solve all of his problems. The episode never makes me buy into his mindset. Even more ridiculous though is the thought that Hurley would even get dynamite in the first place. This is the same Hurley who was too horrified to even touch the dynamite in "Exodus", the same Hurley that was horrified after he witnessed Arzt explode handling dynamite. Hurley is the last person I would ever expect to grab the dynamite, so you can imagine how livid I was when I realized what Hurley was about to do. I can't believe that the writers decided that Hurley would logically try to blow up the food. Sadly I'm only just beginning to scratch the surface as to how nonsensical the writing was in this episode. I thought the decision to keep everything in The Swan a secret was baffling. Everyone in the camp knows there was a hatch, so how do they plan to keep everything secret? People will want answers! They will want to see what was in the hatch, they will want to know why Locke and Jack go out in the jungle and rarely come back, they will want to know everything because that's how humans behave. The idea that Locke and Jack wouldn't want to tell anybody is just absurd and I can't understand why they would make that decision. It gets worse when later in the episode, Locke casually tells Charlie about everything inside The Swan. What the hell!? This contradicts everything we had just learned about keeping The Swan a secret. What makes this all the more egregious is the fact that the whole episode is centered around Hurley's frustrations at keeping The Swan secret. Just tell everybody about it! It's not hard. Let them know that there is food but that they are organizing it and handing it out very soon. People will understand, and it seems like a far better idea than just telling everyone nothing. The communication between everybody in this episode is just horrible. We have no idea what the group discussed to do about The Swan, which is made worse when the writing contradicts itself. Without any context surrounding the decision to tell people about The Swan, there is no drama and it's hard to understand the characters when we skip over important conversations that they must have regarding The Swan. One key aspect that made me groan in disbelief is the idea that Hurley is in charge of the food. Why on Earth would only one person be in charge of food? Surely Jack and Locke and Sayid would want to have extensive discussions about what to do with the food. I mean, it's food and they need it to survive! Why would they pawn it off to Hurley and instead focus on some button which can be easily taken care off? This gets even more frustrating when Hurley goes to Locke in an attempt to give somebody else the job. But Locke tells him he's not allowed to quit. Um, why? There are 40+ other people on the island, just get one of them to do the job! Why make poor Hurley suffer needlessly? At least get the man some help! But apparently Locke is too busy organizing shifts for the button, a job that should be considered far less important than organizing the food. Locke is a total asshole here for no reason whatsoever. Then we get to the end of the episode where Hurley simply gives away all of the food in a single day. Why would everyone allow this? Boar, fruit and fish will surely run out so shouldn't there be a back-up supply of food just in case? Why is nobody mentioning this? Even Jack just accepts Hurley's decision because "well Hurley's in charge of the food". Well he really shouldn't be in charge of the food if he makes idiotic decisions like this! It's unbelievable that nobody had any interest in the food and helping Hurley figure out what to do with it. Also, what happened to keeping everything secret? You can't just give everyone packaged food without explaining where it came from. The fact that nobody else in the survivors' group has gone to check out the hatch is completely unrealistic. Showing Charlie following Locke to get answers isn't enough. Everyone should be following Locke to get answers. Charlie is a prick in this episode. He says mean things to Hurley over and over again, and he gets angry for virtually no reason. He's impossible to like in this episode. Of course it's all made worse when you realize that Hurley could have simply told him he's organizing the food and that he will give him the peanut butter once he's done. They're friends so Charlie would understand. But then there would be no drama, so of course we need to include another frustrating case where characters are inept at communicating with each other. The scene of Jack walking in on Kate in the bathroom was so awkward. I have no idea what the point of that scene was. It was just weird and the character interactions were incredibly awkward. Maybe that was the point of the scene, but I can't imagine why. It didn't further Jack and Kate's relationship and it wasn't funny. It just made Jack look extremely creepy. Lastly, that dream sequence was random and in no way relevant to anything. It felt like a poor attempt to start off the episode in an interesting way. Instead, the dream only adds to the tonal inconsistencies present throughout the episode. The Unknown: What is under all of that concrete? Why did the Dharma Initiative need to put so much concrete there? What happened to the tailies? There were 23 of them but now there are 5. Did the others attack them? What's in their Dharma station? Which station is it? What's its purpose? Best Moment: The feast at the end was nice. These montages are more effective now that we have come to love these characters, and seeing all of them be happy was emotionally satisfying. I particularly loved the detail of Rose pocketing an Apollo bar, presumably to give to Bernard when she sees him again. A shame that this came right at the end of the episode, too little, too late. Character of the Episode: Rose. Conclusion: What a frustrating episode. There isn't much to enjoy here, and when you start digging through the details, nothing makes sense. This was a horrible way to follow up on one of the biggest episodes of the show yet. This season has been really inconsistent so far. Hopefully it can hit a more consistent stride soon because I don't want any more episodes like this pile of trash. Score: 36 Summary: In flashbacks, Locke meets Helen and they begin a relationship. However, Locke can't get over what his father did to him and he consistently wakes up early to park his car in front of his father's house. Helen forces him to break this habit in order to be with her, encouraging Locke to take a leap of faith. On the island, Kate knocks out Desmond who accidentally shoots the computer. As Desmond scrambles to fix it, Locke and Jack watch an orientation video explaining what the computer is for. Desmond's attempts don't work so he leaves and starts running. Jack confronts him and Desmond remembers him. Jack lets him go. Kate brings Sayid who fixes the computer. Locke encourages Jack to push the button to take a leap of faith. They argue but Jack ultimately gives in. Meanwhile, Michael, Jin and Sawyer get imprisoned. They are joined by Ana Lucia who was also on flight 815. Sawyer hatches an escape plan but Ana Lucia takes his gun and escapes, revealing herself to be one of the others.
The Good: This was a massive episode for the show. I'll go as far as to say that this is a contender for the most important episode of the series so far. So much happened in just 40 minutes, and by the end of the episode I was breathless. This episode expertly sets the stage for the major storylines in season 2 and I'm incredibly excited to see what comes next. This episode was generous enough to give us loads of information about the hatch. Apparently it's a station called The Swan for a company called the Dharma Initiative. I'll have much more to say about this in "The Unknown". But this was a huge reveal and my curiosity in the backstory of this island must have increased by tenfold in this episode. The writers did an absolutely incredible job of revealing so much information while still leaving so much in the dark meaning that I somehow walked out of the episode with more questions than I had going into it, despite being given loads of answers. That's a perfect way to build up mystery. Even with a large emphasis on plot, character storylines weren't forgotten in this episode. Both Locke and Jack were given so much in this episode that furthered their feud in very meaningful ways. This episode neatly served as a part 2 to "Man of Science, Man of Faith" in terms of the Locke/Jack story. Where the season premier was more focused on Jack, this one was more focused on Locke. Through the flashbacks, we get more important backstory on Locke. Not only do we get to learn who Helen was (mentioned in "Walkabout"), but we get to see Locke take a big leap of faith. This of course ties into the climactic scene of the episode where Jack takes his first leap of faith. The message here is obvious: having faith isn't as easy as it may seem, and even Locke has struggled to let go of his beliefs and put his trust in something else. This was a very good exploration into the man of science vs man of faith theme. On top of that, there is a nice bit of development for Locke. Locke has total confidence that the computer will be fixed, but when he is left alone with hope dwindling, we see a little bit of fear creeping into Locke. In spite of everything that has changed, Locke still fears that the island will let him down just like his father did. It's lovely storytelling and you have to wonder if this will come into play in a more significant manner down the road. Jack gets a lot of good moments in this episode. He's so convinced in his man of science approach that he almost appears to be emotionally unstable at times. It's so good to see his approach in contrast to Locke's. Locke is more than happy to put his faith in what is going on, never once pausing in order to fully understand what is happening. Jack is the total opposite, refusing to let Desmond do anything until he fully understands what is going on. This erratic behaviour of Jack's works really well and it even feels realistic when you recall how perturbed he must be about encountering Desmond on the island. This, on top of the existence of a mythical smoke monster, provides Jack with evidence of miracles and destiny. Jack isn't ready to face of believe any of it however, so he spends the episode immensely frustrated and in conflict with himself. To deal with this, he flails his gun around and continually threatens Desmond. But once Desmond recalls who Jack is, there's no escaping it for Jack, who is forced to face his own emotions directly in what was one of the episode's best scenes. The Michael/Jin/Sawyer storyline was in the background of this episode, but what we got was really good. Ana Lucia made a welcome return, and her affiliation with these other people raises major questions (see: The Unknown). I liked how she was able to get information out of Michael, Sawyer and Jin. I'm very interested to see how the next episode follows up on this storyline. As ever, there were loads of little details that I loved. The orientation video was put together in a wonderfully authentic way, looking like it was straight out of the 70s. I was also a big fan of Jack offering a pleasingly logical explanation for the button being a psychological experiment especially after the orientation video did mention that the Dharma Initiative performed psychological tests. His ensuing scene with Desmond where he brought this up was wonderful, as was Desmond saying that he contemplated if it was actually real every single day. It's a lovely little look at how human beings would react in the situation. If you were in Desmond's position, would you really have the courage to let that timer run out? The Bad: This episode honestly feels a little bit too busy. Thankfully the content is so good that this isn't a major problem, but it is certainly jarring to go from a meandering episode like "Adrift" into a thrill ride of an episode like this one. I can't help but wonder if it would not have been better to put some of the material from this episode into "Adrift" so that the pacing could be a little more consistent. The ending scene of the episode was a little bit awkward. The image of several characters standing around this computer reminded me of the outstanding transceiver sequence in "Pilot Part 2". Unfortunately, this scene was too fixated on Locke and Jack to hit the same highs as the other scene. Sayid and Hurley felt like they should have been much more involved. Hurley should have been panicked and freaking out the entire time, while Sayid really should have just pushed the button himself. It feels lazy that the writers only partially used Hurley and Sayid in this scene and then ignored them in favour of Jack and Locke. It's a shame, because this could have been a classic scene with better contributions from Hurley and Sayid. I understand that the writers want to use Hurley for comedic purposes, so they don't want him to change much. But he really should have been more panicked in this episode, and it's odd that Hurley would not be thinking about the presence of the numbers. So there was a front door to The Swan. How did nobody find it? The facility isn't that big, so it's hard to buy into the idea that nobody would have noticed this large metal door sticking out of the ground. The Unknown: Who was Kelvin? Why was he in The Swan? Why was he alone? What had happened to his partner? How about his replacements? I have so many questions from the orientation film. Is the button actually doing something? What is it for? Who are the Dharma Initiative? Are they still active? Are they on the island? Could they be the others? What is their goal for the research they are conducting? Is all of their research done on the island? The Swan is apparently station 3 of 6. Are the other 5 stations on the island too? Where are they? What will be found inside of those? Also, The Swan is apparently a station studying electromagnetism. That seems to explain the magnetic wall we saw back in "Man of Science, Man of Faith". Why aren't there any electromagnetic studies happening though? Could that be evidence of this being a psychological test? Furthermore, if pushing the button is so important, why haven't more replacements come? Also, what was the incident that Dr. Marvin Candle mentioned? Why was the computer only implemented after the incident? Who was the girl in the picture with Desmond? Also where has he gone now? I imagine that won't be the last we see of him. Seeing that Locke had dubbed a sex line worker with the name "Helen" back in "Walkabout", I think we can presume that his relationship with Helen doesn't end well. What happened between them? Why is Ana Lucia working for the others? Did she get recruited by them? How does that work? Or was she lying about what happened to her after the crash? Best Moment: The orientation video was a piece of art. I was gripped the entire time watching to ensure that I didn't miss a single important detail. The whole thing was amazingly put together, and it did a fabulous job of giving us information without ever giving us too much. The cherry on top was Jack and Locke's wildly different reactions to the video. I was personally 100% on Locke's side. "We're gonna need to watch that again". Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: This episode reminded me a lot of "Pilot Part 2" because of how much it got me invested into the season 2 storyline while simultaneously doing a ton of character work. Even though the highs of this episode were arguably better than the highs of the pilot, this episode was also more flawed. In the end, I view both episodes as about equally effective. Score: 80 Summary: In flashbacks, Michael tries to prevent Susan from leaving the country with Walt so that he can remain his father. Eventually Michael caves in and lets them go. On the island, Locke goes into the hatch after Kate. When Locke arrives, Desmond threatens him with a gun. Desmond locks Kate into a closet but Locke gives her the tools to escape. Kate enters the vents. Desmond questions Locke until Jack arrives in the hatch. Michael and Sawyer float through the ocean on wreckage from the raft. They argue and blame each other for Walt's kidnapping. Eventually they float back to the island where they find Jin shouting "others". A group of people descend down on them.
The Good: The scenes in the hatch were the highlight here. It was a unique idea to show us a different POV leading up to the confrontation at the end of "Man of Science, Man of Faith", and I think it worked in some levels. Desmond's scenes with Locke were very good and they raised loads of new questions (see: The Unknown), fleshing out the mystery in an enjoyable way. I was on the edge of my seat to ensure that I didn't miss any important details. Plus there were some very nice moments here like Locke excitedly assuming that he is the "him" that Desmond has been waiting for, the reveal of that mysterious computer that Locke typed the numbers into, and Kate enjoying a chocolate bar in the pantry. The raft story has a few good parts too. There was a pretty good story being told as Michael starts the episode off by blaming Sawyer for everything. He is completely blinded by his loss and makes an enemy of the one man he has for company. But by the end of the episode, everything sinks in for Michael and he accepts that Walt's kidnapping was his fault. It's a solid character arc to build an episode around. I liked Sawyer pulling the bullet out of his shoulder with his bare hands. We also got a classic one-liner to follow-up. The Bad: This episode did not do a good job of continuing the story from the last episode. After that epic season premiere, there was a ton of momentum going into this episode and it was all squandered. There were multiple moments where I found myself impatiently waiting for a scene to end so we can move onto something more interesting. This made the episode drag on, and it felt like an eternity until we finally caught up to the events at the end of the last episode. And then in a frustrating move, we still didn't get to see what happened next. Somehow the writers managed to stall the story for an entire episode. The scenes on the raft weren't very interesting either. When the extent of the story is that two characters are floating on a raft, there needs to be some extremely good character exploration to ensure things stay interesting. This episode didn't provide a fitting amount of character development. All we really got to see was Michael and Sawyer fighting for something like 15 minutes, and that wasn't interesting. Michael was a complete asshole to Sawyer the entire time. I understand why the writers had Michael blame Sawyer for Walt's kidnapping, but Michael went too far with his accusations, particularly with his claim that Sawyer took a bullet to save himself instead of Walt. Also, telling Sawyer to get off his raft when there is a shark in the water has to be one of the worst things Michael has ever done. He could have died! Speaking of the shark, the writers tried to create some tension-based drama with the presence of the shark. It didn't work at all. It was blatantly clear that nobody was getting eaten by a shark so I never got too worried for the safety of Michael and Sawyer. The death fake-out didn't work for me either, and it felt like a desperate attempt to squeeze some drama into what would have otherwise been a meandering and dull storyline. Sadly, the writers failed to produce any good drama so we ended up with a meandering and dull storyline anyways. Michael's flashbacks didn't offer much to the story at all. Sure there is the contrast of Michael fighting to get his son back both on the island and off the island, but that doesn't offer much storytelling depth. All of the episodes in season 1 had flashbacks with more depth than this. Furthermore, we don't learn anything new about Michael from his flashbacks. We know he didn't want to give Walt away, we know he loves his son, and we know that Michael has always been quick to anger. Nothing new is established here, so the flashbacks feel like a waste of time. The only redeemable part would be Michael's scene with young Walt, but I feel like we could have had a better story leading up to that moment. The Unknown: "Dharma" seems to be the corporation responsible for the hatch. Why did they make it? When? Where is the company now? What is their goals? How did they find the island? Why haven't they revealed it to anyone? Desmond brought up tons of questions. Who was the man he was waiting for? Is he waiting for somebody to replace him? What's the answer to "what did one snowman say to the other snowman"? How long has Desmond been in the hatch? The scratchings on the wall suggest that it has been an extremely long time. What is this sickness that Desmond mentioned? Is it the same one Rousseau's crew was infected with? Why aren't any of the survivors sick? Also what's with the computer? Typing the numbers into it and pressing execute resets a timer. What's the timer for? Why do the numbers have to be used? What's the point of all of that? Did Jin get taken by the others? Who are these people that are descending down on Jin, Sawyer and Michael? Best Moment: The final scene was pretty awesome. Jin finally appears and screams for Michael and Sawyer. He frantically keeps shouting "other" over and over again, and the episode ends with a brief shot of a group of people surrounding the trio. The visual is excellent, and the scene serves as an epic yet horrifying cliffhanger. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: I guess the title "Adrift" was an apt one for this episode. The pacing of the episode is comparable to a piece of wood adrift in the ocean. This ended up being a frustrating episode that did nothing for the show overall. It's immensely disappointing that we got this lazy episode following the series' best episode so far. Score: 47 Summary: In flashbacks, Jack treats Sarah who has very little chance of regaining the ability to move below the waist. Christian tells Jack to improve his bedside manner, and Jack ends up telling Sarah he is going to fix her. Stressed out after he fails the surgery, jack goes for a run and speaks with a man named Desmond who encourages him to believe in miracles. Miraculously, Sarah can wiggle her toes and Jack is stunned. On the island, a man is revealed to be living inside the hatch. Jack decides not to go into the hatch because the ladder is broken and he talks Locke out of going in. Jack makes a speech to the panicked camp that he will stay with them until morning and they will be safe. Locke goes out to the hatch and Kate joins him. Locke lowers Kate down into the hatch but something happens to her. Locke goes down to investigate. Jack decides to go to the hatch anyways and he goes in. He finds Locke with a gun to his head, and discovers that Desmond in inside the hatch.
The Good: That first scene was a perfect way to start the season. I've never seen a season of television open up with such a bold, thrilling, and shocking twist/reveal. This was just a genius idea, and it was executed to perfection. With that painful cliffhanger at the end of "Exodus", everyone is clamouring to see what is inside the hatch. So when we are presented with what seems to be a flashback sequence, we get a little bit frustrated. But then as the scene goes along, things get really weird. I was engaged in trying to unravel what was going on, and I was hit by a huge surprise once I realized that the show had given us exactly what we had wanted (a look inside the hatch) without us even realizing what was going on. The transition to the shot of Jack and Locke looking inside the hatch was a magnificent reveal and it capped off an extraordinary opening sequence. As for the bulk of the episode, I thought it was incredible. This did everything you would want from a season premiere. From the first minute, this episode was packed with intrigue and excitement. There were so many questions raised, and this did an absolutely brilliant job of keeping my interest. The episode is also packed with drama, including Kate's descent into the hatch, Jack exploring inside of the hatch and Shannon seeing Walt in the jungle. There was so much to enjoy here, and I think anybody would be immensely satisfied with this. But what sends this episode over the edge is the wonderful character exploration it does alongside the drama. Jack is given a very thorough examination in two departments: his inability to give out hope, and his dedication to being a man of science. I'll discuss the former first. We have seen throughout the first season that Jack is a very realistic man, and he is horrible at giving people hope. That character trait is explored here as we see Jack utterly fail at giving out hope in the flashbacks. He gives Sarah a harsh truth and Christian pulls him aside and chides him for it. Jack doesn't listen to Christian, and we see the consequences when Jack horrifies Sarah's fiance. In response to seeing the effects of taking away hope, Jack goes too far and gives Sarah too much hope. Having been unable to strike an effective balance between optimism and pessimism, Jack ends up wracked with guilt. But the pay-off comes on the island when Jack finally gets to apply what he has learned in a fantastic speech. His speech works so well because we see him completing his mini-arc of character development as he steps up as a leader and gives out hope to the camp, easing everyone's minds and cooling the panic. It's a lovely scene that was built up to in a very good way. On the other hand, the episode also explores Jack's determination to be a man of science. Both on the island and off the island, Jack stands by his realistic world view, evidenced by his response to Hurley's claim of being cursed. "They're numbers" is what he tells Hurley, and he is unwilling to even consider the possibility of the supernatural, immediately honing in on the idea of Hurley having been in a psych ward beforehand. He ignores any possibility of the supernatural, even going as far as to ignore the mythical smoke monster he had just seen a couple hours earlier. Jack refuses to believe in faith or destiny and we are shown how far he is willing to go with this belief. But what makes this storyline so compelling is that Jack is forced to confront the existence of miracles twice in the episode. The first time is in the flashbacks. In a wonderful scene where Jack meets Desmond, he discusses how he doesn't believe in miracles at all. Yet the next day, he finds that Sarah has miraculously regained feeling in her legs. Jack still doesn't accept the miracle, and as we see from "Do No Harm", he is more than happy to assume that he was simply successful in the surgery. But on the island he is faced with a miracle he can't ignore. In the ending scene, Jack comes face to face with Locke who has a gun to his head. Yet Jack seemingly couldn't be happier. Locke's "destiny" has led to his life being threatened, and Jack is more than happy to taunt him instead of attempting to save him. But right in his moment of triumph, Jack is forced to face the possibility that destiny may actually be real as encounters Desmond again in what must have been a one-in-a-million chance. Jack is forced to toy with the idea that destiny must be real, and that is a fantastic cliffhanger to end the episode on. The rest of the episode is filled with lovely little scenes. I was very pleased to see Kate and Locke talking about the smoke monster. They both saw something fantastical and it is only natural to want to discuss it. I was similarly pleased with Jack confronting Hurley about his crazy behaviour in the last episode. Another great moment comes from Kate as she is lowered into the hatch. Her dialogue with Locke is really well written, and it's a joy to watch. I also really like the callback to the pilot as Kate counts down from 5 when faced with fear. The Bad: I don't have much to add here. I suppose it would have been nice to see Kate and Locke also question Hurley's behaviour from the last episode. The Unknown: Now I have plenty to add here. How long has Desmond been in the hatch? How did he get there? Was it connected to his race around the world? What is he doing there? What is the facility he is running? Why have we never seen him leave it? Is he alone? Why? What was with that strange injection he took? What's with that computer that woke him up? Is it an alarm or something? Why does he have so many guns available? Where does he get all of his supplies? Also what was with that wall that Jack was looking at? The key around his neck was attracted to it. Is there something magnetic in there? I have so any questions and I'm really excited to learn more. Why did the hatch door say quarantine on it? Does that have something to do with the sickness that Rousseau claimed her crew had? Was Walt really in the jungle? How did he get there? Was it just a vision? What was he saying? The victim of Sarah's car accident was a man named Adam Rutherford. Shannon's last name is Rutherford. Could that be her father who we know is dead? Best Moment: It has to be the opening scene. Just wonderful television. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: Now this is how you start a season. Not only was this a dramatic episode that sets up the season in an interesting way, but it also served as an excellent character piece for Jack that gave him some brilliant conflicts to deal with. This is fantastic television and is the best episode of the series so far. Furthermore, this is also the best season premiere I have ever seen. Season 2 is off to an amazing start and I cannot wait to see more. Score: 90 Summary: Flashbacks show the various survivors preparing for flight 815. Hurley barely makes the plane after a string of bad luck. Charlie has to fight to keep enough heroin to take with him. Jin is told by Mr. Paik's man that he isn't free. Everybody boards the plane. On the island, Rousseau kidnaps Claire's baby, now named Aaron. Rousseau wants to trade him to the others for Alex. Charlie and Sayid hunt down Rousseau and get Aaron back. Charlie finds the plane full of heroin and takes some. On the raft, Michael, Walt, Sawyer and Jin bond more with each other. Eventually they see a blip on the radar at night. Sawyer gets Michael to shoot the flare and they are discovered by a boat. The people on the boat appear to be the other people living on the island and they kidnap Walt and shoot Sawyer before blowing up the raft. Meanwhile, Arzt tries to teach the others how to handle the dynamite but he blows up. Jack, Kate, Locke and Hurley divvy up the dynamite between themselves and head back. They are attacked by the monster which is revealed to be a column of smoke. It tries to take Locke into a hole but Kate throws dynamite at it so it leaves. Locke and Jack debate between science and faith as they walk back. They use the dynamite to blow open the hatch right as Hurley notices the numbers inscribed on the side.
The Good: This was a fantastic finale that ended the season with a bang. This episode was fast-paced and exciting with numerous big moments and dramatic reveals. Everything made this episode feel important and it served as a memorable climax to what has been an exceptionally strong first season. There were four main stories throughout this episode that gave majority of the cast important things to do while also leading up to three main climactic moments. The story that had the most going on was probably the Black Rock mission. It started off shockingly enough with Arzt's unexpected demise. Even thought the moment was genuinely shocking and Hurley got some good jokes, the early parts of this storyline had some big problems (see: The Bad). Everything that came afterwards was pretty awesome though. Locke and Jack's relationship developed spectacularly well in a few outstanding scenes. I really enjoyed the scene of Locke removing the dynamite. His talk of board games was consistent with Locke's hobbies in "Walkabout" and "Deus Ex Machina", plus it led into a lovely moment as Locke jokingly frightens both Jack and the viewers with a "bzzzt". While Locke had fun in the moment, it's evident that Jack didn't appreciate the joke. The tensions between them are high and Jack looks at Locke like he is insane for joking around with dynamite. Then things get to a new level with the reveal of the monster. First and foremost, I can't think of a more unexpected thing for the monster to be and I really applaud the creativity of the showrunners to come up with the idea of the monster just being a column of smoke. I have plenty of questions to ask about that (see: The Unknown). But the monster also added a lot to the Jack/Locke conflict as Locke inexplicably requested that Jack leave him because he will be okay. Of course we know what motivates Locke, but Jack has no idea and is confused by Locke's belief that he has some greater purpose on the island. Their ensuing man of science vs man of faith conversation is as fascinating as it gets, and the scene ended up being the best of the episode (see: Best Moment) which is saying a lot when you consider the number of amazing scenes in this episode. This storyline ended with the climactic moment that closed out the episode, and it's a pretty big moment. This entire season was oriented around this mysterious hatch and the end of this episode finally sees it opened, and in dramatic fashion. In typical "Lost" fashion, the opening of the hatch went the extra mile to get more drama as Hurley sees the numbers on the side and goes into a complete moment. Not only was it exciting, but it also suggests that Hurley may have to reveal his curse to everybody since he was shouting "the numbers are bad" very loudly. I'm excited to see the fallout of this. Furthermore, I'm very happy with the season's cliffhanger. Some people will be very mad that the contents of the hatch weren't shown in the episode, but I think leaving it for next season was a great decision, and it ends season 1 with a memorable visual. The second storyline was of Michael, Walt, Sawyer and Jin on the raft. The scenes between these four were wonderfully well done and the isolation of the four characters allowed them all to develop nicely in interesting ways. A number of the scenes here were well written and elicited a reaction from me. I really liked Sawyer showing that he has softened up a little bit despite still being an asshole overall. I especially liked when he vehemently denied that he was singing Bob Marley, and then later when he smugly read everybody's letters despite Walt telling him not to. I was also really happy with the development of Jin and Michael's relationship. Seeing that they were at each other's throats earlier in the season, it's impressive that the show has allowed them to become friends in a natural way. The scene of Jin entrusting his watch to Michael was a lovely little moment that resolved the conflict between them in a beautiful way. Then much like the first storyline, this had a huge climactic scene that ended things off in dramatic fashion. This story had a hugely important ending as it confirmed that there is actually a group of people living on this island. The build-up to this reveal was simply spectacular. The tension built up brilliantly as the characters argued whether or not it is worth to fire off a flare. Then once the boat appeared, it seemed like we were watching a rare moment of sheer joy. But something didn't feel quite right. Surely they wouldn't be rescued at the end of the first season. Then the act is dropped and the man on the boat chillingly says "the thing is, we're gonna have to take the boy". The change in tone is downright frightening and the scene goes from relief to horror as Walt is kidnapped, Sawyer is shot and the raft is blown up. The characters are left in a downright terrible position and I can't wait to see what they are going to do to get out of being abandoned in the middle of the ocean. The third storyline of the episode is one that neatly sets up the reveal of the others at the end of the episode. Rousseau's motivation to kidnap Aaron is to trade to the others because they want the boy. But of course it turns out that Aaron isn't the boy they want. It's a lovely little line of dialogue that brilliantly sets up the conclusion of the raft story. But to backpedal a little bit, I really enjoyed the Rousseau story overall. Her stealing Aaron is a surprising twist, and it's evident that there is more to this idea than what is given to us in this episode due to Claire's sudden memory of her (see: The Unknown). Anyways, this storyline sees Charlie and Sayid forming an unlikely team to bring Aaron back. Both of them are really good here. Charlie is passionate and heroic while Sayid is intelligent and composed. This gives us an unexpectedly great team to follow this storyline with, and a lot of their interactions are brilliant. The fourth and final storyline is the flashback story, which is just as fun in this episode as it is in part 1. There were good moments that allowed us to reflect on the story as a whole. Charlie pathetically fighting a fellow junkie over the last of the heroin and Jin being told he isn't free by Mr. Paik's agent were standout moments that showed us how far these two characters have come. In the past, they were both controlled by something, but on the island they have freed themselves from their prison. Hurley's comedy sequence is the other memorable flashback we get and it is fantastic. This scene was the funniest "Lost" has ever been, and there is so much to enjoy as we see Hurley scrambling desperately to get on the plane that took him to the island. These flashbacks were fine on their own, but they were lacking something special to make me believe that it was worth seeing these characters at the airport. Thankfully, the episode found exactly what it needed at the end. The boarding of flight 815 was an unexpectedly emotional moment, and it was genuinely sad seeing these characters getting on the plane that would change their lives forever. The episode lingered on the boarding scene to draw out as much emotion as possible, and it really worked. Scenes like this prove that "Lost" is a show that understands the importance of emotion in television, and that goes a long way towards making a TV show that will be remembered for a long time. Some other scenes in the episode deserve praise. Shannon and Sayid's relationship hasn't been particularly good, but I enjoyed the scenes of them getting over their problems in this episode. Lastly, I really liked Sun contemplating the idea of the characters being punished by being stranded on the island. Jin mentioned this same thing to her in the previous episode, and it makes perfect sense for her to dwell on his words. The Bad: The death of Arzt was another shocking moment in an episode that was full of them, but the moment didn't work at all. The main issue I have with his death is that it was mostly played for laughs. It seems like a tone-deaf way to illustrate the horrifying concept of death, a concept that should not be treated so lightly. It's pretty frustrating to see death portrayed like this especially considering how well done Boone's death was. Furthermore, I get the sense that "Lost" created this annoying, unlikeable character for the sole purpose of killing him off. It's not good writing to introduce a character that accomplishes absolutely nothing, only to kill them off for no reason. The haphazard treatment of Arzt left me disappointed and it made me look like a fool for being interested in learning more about him. Why wasn't anybody talking about the smoke monster? Hurley, Kate and Jack have just witnessed some supernatural stuff on the island for the first time yet nobody is talking about it. You would think Hurley would not be shutting up about this horrific smoke monster, but he is quiet and everyone inexplicably ignores what they have seen. It isn't realistic that they would say nothing about the monster, and it comes off like the writers wanted to show us the true form of the monster without it impacting the story at all. That make me question the decision to put this reveal here in the first place. The Unknown: The Black Rock is apparently a slave ship. That means it must be several centuries old at least. How old is it exactly and how did it end up on the island? Why did Claire scratch Rousseau? When did this happen? Was Rousseau somehow involved in her kidnapping? Will Charlie start using again now that he has found a consistent supply of heroin? It's one thing to kick drugs when you have no access to them, but it's another thing when the temptation is there. What the hell is the smoke monster? How does something like that even exist? Where was it taking Locke? What was inside of that hole? Does it live there? Why did it take Locke? In the previous review, I suggested that the monster lives in the dark territory. The fact that the group encountered it again seems to suggest that it does live there, as does this mysterious hole. Kate mentions that the number 23 does have some meaning to her. Have these numbers somehow managed to impact everyone's lives? What is the significance of this? Who are these others? How did they get a boat? Where do they live? How did they know about the raft? Why did they take Walt? Is it because he's special? How did Rousseau hear them saying they were coming for the boy? Was it the whispers? How are the others connected to the whispers? They seemed pretty normal to me. How are Michael, Jin and Sawyer going to survive? How bad is Sawyer's bullet wound? What is inside of the hatch? I noticed a broken ladder inside of it. How are they going to get down? Best Moment: The Jack and Locke conversation was a truly special moment. We have waited a full season to see somebody talk about the supernatural aspects of the island, and we finally get to see it happen here. Locke talks to Jack about the strange existence of the island and he speaks about his thoughts of destiny. Jack, thinking Locke is crazy, doesn't want to hear it and we end up getting some compelling verbal sparring between the two. I was particularly fascinated by Locke's claim that Boone was a sacrifice. It's an extraordinary line to show Locke's devotion to the island, but the line simultaneously tells Jack that Locke is even more delusional than he had imagined. It's great that the writers are able to make us understand the views of both characters, and I really want to see more from these two in the second season. Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: What a splendid finale. There were emotional moments, stunning twists, chilling conversations and dramatic sequences. This had everything you could want from a supersized episode that culminated a phenomenal first season. This episode delivered in every way. This season was incredible. It's amazing that this show has created so many engrossing characters in just 25 episodes while simultaneously giving us an intriguing plot that has me desperately wanting to start the next episode. This season was a near-perfect beginning for a TV show and it delivered in nearly every episode. There was a rough patch in the middle of the season, but the beginning and ending ruled and there were several episodes that will go down as all-time classics. I couldn't ask for a better first season of a TV show. Score: 85 Summary: Flashbacks show the survivors in Sydney preparing for their flight. Walt argues with Michael and is upset to be with him. Sawyer is deported for headbutting an important minister in a barfight. Jack meets Ana Lucia at a bar. The Marshall checks his briefcase and taunts the arrested Kate. Shannon stands up to Boone. Sun and Jin eat before their flight. On the island, Danielle arrives at the camp and warns everyone that the others are coming. Jack decides to get everyone to work on the raft so they can send it out quickly, while he comes up with a plan. He decides to go to the Black Rock to get dynamite to blow open the hatch. Before he leaves, Sawyer tells Jack that he met Christian. Kate, Locke, Hurley and Arzt go with him. Everyone says goodbye to each other and the raft is launched with Michael, Walt, Sawyer and Jin on board. Jack and co. are attacked by the monster in the dark territory but they manage to escape. They find the Black Rock and discover that it is actually a ship.
The Good: This episode feels like the beginning of a season finale. From the start of the episode there is an established threat (Danielle's warning), plenty of story momentum (getting the raft in the ocean, going on a mission to get the dynamite), and a far grander scale than any other episode we have seen before (focus on several characters as opposed to just one). This episode feels pretty big, and it does a wonderful job of setting up what should be an even more explosive part 2. But to say that this episode is only set-up would be doing a huge disservice to what the writers have accomplished here. Despite the crutch of being set-up and not pay-off, this episode still manages to include several moments with emotional resonance. It's pretty impressive that so many character arcs and relationships have important moments in this episode. The writers have expertly disguised the fact that this is a set-up episode by resolving several plot threads that have been lingering for many episodes now. The best examples of this are the launching of the raft, Sun and Jin making up, and Sawyer finally telling Jack that he met Christian in Australia. All 3 moments are very powerful and they give this episode an identity when it easily could have been dismissed as simply a part 1 in the face of what will likely be a much more exciting part 2. I want to talk about the emotional moments of this episode more in-depth because some of them were damn good. The launching of the raft was a far better scene than I anticipated. After seeing this raft being built for 10 episodes (!) now, there is a real sense of accomplishment once we get to see it finally completed. This is the survivors best chance for rescue, and it feels so good to watch Michael and the others sail off in the distance because they worked their asses off to get this far. Yet the moment is also sad because there are several goodbyes as key characters like Sawyer and Jin are now separated from people who they have a strong relationship with. Sun and Jin are the obvious relationship being broken and there was a good amount of development given to them in this episode. I really like the idea of Jin believing he is being punished for the actions, and I could totally buy that he tells Sun his true feelings when he realizes that he may never see her again. The more interesting scene was actually Jack and Sawyer's farewell. After starting out as enemies, it's been surprising to see their relationship evolve into something more. Sawyer telling Jack about Christian was a spectacular scene that nicely resolves Jack's feelings of guilt towards his father's death, while also showing us that Sawyer has come to respect Jack. Sawyer didn't need to relieve Jack of his demons, but as a showing of good faith, maybe even friendship, Sawyer does something genuinely good for once. On top of all of this character work, there is a bunch of exciting plot development. Danielle's threat is very interesting and it raises tons of big questions about these others going into part 2 (see: The Unknown). The mission through the jungle is a nice throwback to the pilot episodes which featured 2 separate treks. Just like in the pilot, there is some great drama to be had from a trek through the jungle. The character interactions are a lot of fun, and the writers also squeeze in a tense sequence as the monster returns after being absent for a long time. Then we get a lovely cliffhanger as we get the shocking reveal that the Black Rock is actually a massive ship, instead of a literal black rock. That was a lovely little twist, and it nicely played on our presumptions to surprise us. The flashbacks were nice inclusions to the story. It was nice to see how far the characters have come in one season by comparing where they were in the airport to where they are now. Just about every scene had something enjoyable about it. I liked seeing a new character get introduced in Ana Lucia (see: The Unknown). I'm curious about the purpose of her introduction, and it suggests that there may be other survivors out there somewhere. I also enjoyed the Kate flashback. The show retconned in some clarification on some unexplained things in Kate's story, like the plane being in the bank and the Marshall bringing 5 guns on the plane. Lastly, I really liked the Shannon flashback for a few reasons. For one, it's great to see Boone again, and the scene gave you a real sense of what Shannon has lost on the island. Furthermore there were some nice nods to the pilot. Shannon mentioned that there was a guy who wouldn't let them get into first class early in the season, and we hear about that guy here. Furthermore, we hear from Sawyer that he saw Sayid getting pulled out of line at the airport back in "Pilot Part 2". Now we know that Sayid actually was pulled aside and it was because of Shannon. Lastly, I am really enjoying Arzt. He is a wonderful breath of fresh air, and he has provided good comedy so far. The Bad: I have a couple of small gripes. For one, I was disappointed at the lack of reaction to Danielle's arrival and warning. Surely there would be tons of questions floating around the group, and surely there should be a panic. This show has never cared much about showing the community dynamics in the survivors' camp, and that trend continued here. It seems odd that Jack was able to get everybody to help with the raft for this one day. It begs the question of why everyone wasn't helping out earlier. Surely everyone would want to work on their best chance for rescue. The Unknown: Who are these others? Why are they attacking now? Why not before? Why do they warn the survivors by lighting fires to create black smoke? It's mentioned that the hatch likely has another entrance that would likely be used instead. Where is this entrance? Has Locke searched for it? How big is the area the hatch leads into anyways? How did the Black Rock get into the middle of the jungle? How long has it been there? Why does it have dynamite? Why did the show introduce Ana Lucia? She was sitting in the back of the plane so we know that she likely died. But wouldn't it be meaningless to introduce her now if she is dead? Could there be other survivors from the tail section of the plane? Or perhaps just Ana Lucia? If there are other survivors, how have they been surviving this long? Where did Danielle get those scratches from? I don't buy her claims that it was a bush. Apparently the dark territory is where Danielle's team got infected. How did they get infected? How does Danielle mark the borders of the dark territory anyways? What is different about it? Does the monster reside in the dark territory? That could explain why it has been absent for so long. Danielle claims the monster is a security system. What does that mean? How does she know this? She also claims that it is protecting the island. Protecting it from what? Why? Also Montand apparently lost his arm. How did that happen? Best Moment: The launching of the raft was an unexpectedly powerful moment. Character of the Episode: Jack. The scene with Sawyer was terrific and Matthew Fox did some of his best acting so far. Conclusion: This was an excellent part 1. Not only did is set up the next episode, but it also stood on its own with some superb character moments. Score: 80 Summary: In flashbacks Kate reconnects with childhood friend Tom who is a doctor. She goes to visit her mother who has cancer. Kate's mother screams for help so Kate has to leave as the cops arrive. Tom goes with her but he is shot and killed. On the island, the raft is almost ready to go. Kate tries to get Sawyer off the raft so she can go in her place which leads to drama with Michael. Later, Michael is poisoned and he angrily accuses Sawyer of doing it. Sawyer reveals to everyone that Kate was the prisoner. It's revealed that Sun poisoned Michael, but that she did it unintentionally. Her real target was Jin to get him to stay on the island. Meanwhile, Sayid brings Jack to see the hatch. Locke and Jack want to open it but Sayid does not.
The Good: Kate actually does get a good amount of character development in this episode. This episode focuses on how self-absorbed she can be at times, and how this character trait does damage to herself and those around her. On the island we see her estrange Sawyer when she selfishly tries to take his spot on the raft, while on the island we see her return to meet her childhood friend Tom, a selfish move that ends in his tragic death. Furthermore we get a very interesting glimpse at Kate's troubled childhood which I'm very interested to learn more about (see: The Unknown). The main island plots of this episode were fine and easy enough to enjoy. Michael being poisoned is a good story to center the episode around as it set up plenty of opportunities for character conflict, with some pretty decent moments. The hatch storyline works really well in the background. I enjoyed Jack and Locke debating with Sayid over the pros and cons to opening the thing. It makes perfect sense that Sayid with all of his military background would immediately think of the potential dangers that could be inside of this hatch, keeping him consistent with his more pragmatic approach. There's also a damn good scene between Walt and Locke that seems to be about the hatch (see: The Unknown and Best Moment). There were a few little things I really enjoyed. Arzt is a fun addition to the cast. I enjoy seeing more of the other survivors that aren't part of the main cast. There were some nice character moments too. I like that Sawyer figured out that Kate was the prisoner. The show has teased that Sawyer suspects the truth about Kate (like in "Pilot Part 2" and "Outlaws"), so it's nice to get confirmation that he is well aware that Kate is a criminal. Lastly, I really loved Hurley accidentally revealing Kate's fugitive status to Locke. His frustration over not being able to keep track of who knows what was very funny as well as a nice dose of realism. The Bad: Kate is the weakest character in the series so far. I like the idea of Kate unexpectedly being a criminal, but the show hasn't committed enough to the idea, and as a result it becomes very hard to buy into Kate actually being a hardened badass. Kate just seems like too pure of a person on the island, and there isn't enough evidence of her personality being affected by a troubled childhood to suggest that her criminal nature is caused by her past. Furthermore, the show spends too much time trying (and failing) to draw a fitting contrast between criminal Kate and normal Kate. It isn't very interesting to watch, and it has unfortunately given her a surprisingly low amount of character development, especially when compared to other characters. Kate has had 3 centric episodes now, but we still hardly know her, and it feels like we are only beginning to look into the deeper aspects of her character. This episode felt too melodramatic for my taste. There isn't enough interesting conflict throughout the episode, and the episode spends too much time making characters have meaningless arguments with each other that don't develop character relationships at all. It all feels surprisingly sloppy for a show that is usually really good at developing meaningful character conflict. Instead of getting sensible conflict, everyone seems to argue with everybody in this episode without any good reason. Furthermore, things aren't helped when there are several unusually poor lines of dialogue in the episode. Jack and Locke arguing about discretion feels pretty forced, and their interactions feel a little too cheesy and clunky. There's also a really poor line from Kate when she asks Jack if he really thinks she is capable to poisoning Michael. It's a very awkward line for an established prisoner to say, and it's hard to believe that Kate would respond with that. In every way, that line sounds like a very poorly constructed attempt to lie. The explanation behind the toy plane was a total disappointment. In the end, the plane had no real meaning to it at all. It was just a memento of Tom. Would Kate really go through all of that trouble to get some memento out of a bank vault? The story feels to absurd to be satisfying. The Unknown: So Kate was on the run before she got Tom killed. So if he isn't the reason why she is wanted, then what is the reason? What did she do? The scene between Kate and her mother Diane was very interesting. Kate seems to really care about her mother who doesn't seem to return the feeling. Diane's cries for help were very unexpected and you can't help but wonder why Diane is so afraid of Kate. It all seems to ties into Kate's childhood somehow, as evidenced by the tape that Kate and Tom listened to earlier in the episode. As a kid, Kate reveals a desire to run away, and she seems to have good reasons to do so. What problems would lead Kate to want to leave her family? How did the plane end up in a bank vault? Is there still more story to be told about this plane? Earlier in the episode, Kate picks up a letter which I assume told her about her mother's condition. Who sent the letter? Is Walt referring to the hatch when he told Locke not to open it? Why would he say that anyways? How does he know about the hatch? What does he know? Does this have something to do with him being special? I presume it does. Could he have seen things in a dream like Locke did back in "Deus Ex Machina"? Best Moment: Walt comes up to Locke and they start off having a pretty casual conversation. But things turn surprisingly mysterious when Walt recoils from Locke's touch and warns him not to open "that thing". The scene brilliantly builds up tension and it ends up being both mysterious and frightening. Character of the Episode: Kate. Conclusion: This was a pretty weak episode. It had enjoyable aspects but it never seemed to suggest that it was telling a compelling story. With the 3 part season finale starting with the next episode, I will chalk this down as a fluke, and hopefully "Lost" can end a terrific first season on a high note Score: 53 Summary: In flashbacks, the CIA recruit Sayid to locate a large amount of C4 taken by a group terrorists. Sayid agrees because the CIA will take him to Nadia if he complies. Sayid agrees and is forced to convince Essam to become a martyr despite his reservations. Sayid reveals the truth after they are given the C4 and Essam, dejected, shoots himself. Sayid gives Essam a funeral. On the island, Locke returns for Boone's funeral. Jack angrily attacks him but passes out. Kate forces Jack to rest. Sayid interrogates Locke, who takes him to the plane. Locke reveals he was the one who knocked out Sayid. Sayid is ultimately convinced of Locke's innocence. Shannon is angry and tries to kill Locke herself with a gun. Sayid prevents this and Shannon storms away. Sayid goes to Locke, declaring that he will show him the hatch.
The Good: This is an episode where the flashbacks completely steal the show. The flashback story fantastically resumed Sayid's story from where it left off in "Solitary". We get to see a summation of what Sayid has been up to since Nadia's escape all the way up until he boarded Flight 815, giving us big answers about what he went through and what happened to Nadia while still leaving behind a lot of mystery (see: The Unknown). This episode fixates on Sayid infiltrating a terrorist group for the CIA in order to obtain some missing C4. The story is interesting and Sayid is given plenty of scenes to shine, giving him a strong moral conflict to deal with as the CIA order Sayid to be a horrid friend to Essam. The highlight of the episode was Sayid and Essam's relationship. It was sad seeing Sayid force himself to convince Essam to become a martyr for his own selfish desires, and Essam's distraught realization about Sayid's true motives was a heartbreaking moment (see: Best Moment). These moments work so well because the flashbacks gave us a chance to understand Sayid and Essam's friendship and importance to each other. By the time the two of them are together in the truck, we fully understand what is motivating them and we also understand why Essam would feel so betrayed when he learned about Sayid's secret mission. It shouldn't be understated how impressive of a feat this is. The flashback storylines typically take up only 15 minutes or less in an episode, so it's really impressive that the writers were able to tell such a compelling story in a short amount of time. I also really liked the conclusion of the story. After being forced to go against his morals for much of the episode, Sayid is finally able to do something good by honouring Essam and giving him a proper burial. So Sayid takes the opportunity, and as a result he ends up on the flight that crashes him on the island, once again separating him from Nadia right before they were about to reunite. It's pretty tragic that Sayid sticking to his beliefs and his heart is what caused him to be on Flight 815. The island story has some really good moments. The episode starts off on the right foot with a major conflict brewing between Locke and Jack in the wake of Boone's death. Jack is fittingly exhausted after donating blood and staying up the entire night, and Locke is fittingly shaken after Boone died because of his faith in the island. Both of these characters are wonderfully flawed in this episode. Jack is rash as he attacks Locke in front of everybody. Locke is unable to say anything to make people calm down and trust him because Boone's death has actually impacted him. Plus there was a really good scene featuring Locke and Shannon that showed us more of Locke's unease. The episode did a god job of dealing with Locke and Jack despite this being a Sayid episode. Sayid had a good episode too. He is spotlighted in several scenes, the best of which being his interrogation of Locke. That scene was intriguing and there was drama in wondering what Sayid would learn from Locke. Plus it's always awesome to see Sayid's logical approach in contrast to Jack's highly emotional approach in the previous episode. Their dialogue was well-written, and it led to the great cliffhanger of Sayid demanding Locke take him to the hatch. Sayid was given a few other strong scenes where he speaks about Boone following his death and also saved Locke's life when Shannon tried to kill him. The side stories are fine and there is some good comedy there. Turnip Head (yes I'm calling him that until I get a name) being soothed by Sawyer's voice is silly, but it is harmless humour. I also got a kick out of Hurley singing to Turnip Head. The Bad: The biggest development of the episode was unfortunately really bad. And that was Shannon's decision to kill Locke. First of all, it seems completely ridiculous for her to want to murder somebody because Boone died. Even with the mystery surrounding his death, I find it hard to buy that Shannon would actually decide that Locke needed to die. Going to Sayid to get him to kill Locke did make sense, but what didn't make any sense was Shannon deciding to pull the trigger herself. This is a character who has always turned to somebody else to solve her problems, and you're telling me that the one time she chooses to do something herself is to kill somebody? That makes no sense. The writers seem to think that just because a character is grieving, that means that they are suddenly plot devices that can make a bunch of stupid decisions. Furthermore there is a serious plot hole here. Jack did reveal to everyone that he had guns, but the only person he showed the location of the guns to was Locke. So how did Shannon know where to look to find the guns? And how did she know that Jack had a key that she needed in order to open the case containing the guns? She only knows this because the plot needs her to know it in order to run this clichéd storyline of Shannon trying to kill Locke. Locke revealing that he hit Sayid was a very awkward reveal. Locke needed Sayid to trust him, so why would he bring up the fact that he was secretly responsible for denting the survivors' chances of escaping the island. I understand that the writers were trying to go for Sayid being convinced not to kill Locke because Locke is smart and offers their best chance of survival. But the dialogue that was chosen to present this point was very strange and it certainly didn't take me to the same conclusion that Sayid ended up reaching. This was a rare moment where I thought the dialogue really let down the story. The Unknown: I thought Sayid said that Nadia was dead back in "Solitary". Why did he say that if he knew she was alive? Or could it be that he suspects that the CIA people lied to manipulate him to do their bidding? I would put this in The Bad, but there may be something to explain this. Will Locke actually take Sayid to the hatch now? Will Sayid tell everybody else about the hatch? How will the group respond to this? Best Moment: Essam learning of Sayid's betrayal was a damn good scene. Essam went from shocked to angry very quickly as the feelings of betrayal swamped him. But realizing that he no longer knew what to believe and that he had nothing in the world to stay around for was too much for him to take. He heartbreakingly chose to spare Sayid and instead take his own life in what was a wonderful moment of television. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was an episode of two halves. Off the island, we got some of the most compelling flashbacks yet. But on the island, we had a very by-the-numbers TV drama storyline filled with plot holes and surprisingly weak writing. In the end, I would still consider this a good episode, but not one of "Lost"'s best. Score: 67 Summary: In flashbacks, Jack prepares to get married to Sarah, a woman who he miraculously saved in a surgery. Christian helps him subdue his doubts by telling him he will commit easily but won't be able to let go. They get married. In the present, Jack works hard to save Boone whose condition continues deteriorating. Jack prepares to amputate Boone's leg but Sun points out he is bleeding internally. Jack eventually gives up on Boone after an internal struggle and Boone dies. Meanwhile, Claire goes into labour and Kate, Jin and Charlie work together to ensure the birth is successful. Sayid and Shannon go on a date, and upon returning they learn of Boone's death. Jack angrily goes after Locke who he suspects to have killed Boone.
The Good: This is a really strong episode. Hospital drama episodes usually don't do a whole lot for me, but this one felt special. A combination of Jack's desperation, my emotional investment in the story, and the frenetic pacing made me enjoy this a whole lot, creating an extremely tense and emotional episode. I really enjoyed everything Jack did, as Matthew Fox brilliantly portrayed his emotional instability, adding another layer of tension to an already tense plot. The episode consistently gives us scenes with high drama. So many moments stood out, like Jack putting Boone's leg back in place, and the dramatic ending as Jack goes after Locke. I was also surprised by the ending where Boone actually dies. Most shows would only dedicate an entire episode to this if the victim survives, so it is quite a surprise when it sinks in that Boone is going to die. The episode does a terrific job of making this death mean something and feel like a massive moment in the story. Despite Boone's death being such a pivotal moment of the show, the episode is all about Jack. Though it may seem awkward to put the focus away from Boone in his final episode, this actually works stunningly well. This is actually the first time that we have seen Jack in a high-stress position where he is attempting to save a life. Just like in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", this episode does a fantastic job of showing the rougher parts of Jack's character, putting the spotlight on the flaws in Jack's character. We get to see first-hand that Jack has huge issues with letting go, as he tries to save Boone's life far past the point where he should have decided that Boone was too far gone. Without Sun there to keep Jack in line, who knows how much damage Jack could have done trying to save Boone's life? In particular, Jack's attempt to amputate Boone's leg was particularly horrific, especially after there was sufficient proof that Boone would die anyways. This story rhymes with the flashback story too. We see a pattern of Jack refusing to give up on things that have already gone past the point of no return. On the island it's Boone, and in the flashbacks it's his relationship with Sarah, which we know is doomed due to the fact that Jack isn't married anymore in the present. The flashbacks have some great scenes to highlight this. The best example is Jack's conversation with Christian, who accurately pinpoints the big flaw in Jack's character: he can easily commit to things, but when it comes to letting go of things, he is completely hopeless. We have seen Jack's inability to let go time and time again (his desperation to catch Ethan, his decision to turn in his father, his inability to get over the fact that he left Joanna die, etc.), and this episode focuses completely on that character trait. The other half of the episode is pretty strong too. Claire's labour is handled well, plus it gives Kate, Charlie and Jin some important things to do. I really appreciated that the episode spliced Boone's death with Claire's baby's birth, giving the episode a wonderful emotional climax that concludes both of the episode's main storylines in spectacular fashion. Some other small things pleased me. The side characters were given a lot to do, leading to tons of great character interactions. Sun was a standout as she acts like the voice of reason to Jack who continuously gives in to his worst impulses. I also really liked the brief encounter between Sun and Jin who continued their conflict in a nice way. Sayid and Shannon had decent scenes together which culminated nicely in Shannon learning about Boone's death. Sawyer, Hurley and Michael all had small roles as well which I appreciated. Lastly, I enjoyed the cameo of Marc Silverman (from "White Rabbit") at the beginning of the episode. That scene also had a classic "Lost" twist with the surprise reveal that is was Jack getting married not Marc. The Bad: This episode could have easily scored an 80 on paper. The episode is intense and exciting featuring some tremendous character work for Jack, as well as a major character death that has a huge impact on the show. But there is one issue that hangs over the episode that prevents it from getting an 80. The issue is that of tone. The tone on the island is scary as intense as we have Jack scrambling to save Boone's life while Claire is forced to give birth alone in the jungle. But off the island we have... Jack getting happily married? The tonal shift is extremely noticeable and it takes me out of the episode quite a bit. Had this episode been more consistent with its tone, it would have been a lot better. The Unknown: What happened with Jack's marriage? Why is he no longer married? I was intrigued by some recurring lines of dialogue. Jack uses Locke's signature line, while Boone lets Jack off the hook just like Rose did back in "Walkabout". I'm not sure if there is significance to this, but there does seem like there should be a reason for some lines to be noticeably reused. What is Claire's baby going to be named? I hope he gets a name soon since calling him "Claire's baby" is going to get old quick. What did Boone want to tell Shannon for his last words. Was there something he actually wanted to tell her, or was it just to give him a dramatic final line? Boone mentions some vague things about the hatch to Jack. How much did Jack correctly interpret from Boone's words? What does he think Locke has been up to? Does he actually think Locke killed Boone to silence him, or is it just another case of Jack having a bad emotional reaction? Best Moment: Boone's death mixed with Claire's baby being born is an excellent sequence that delivers on emotion. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: This episode does so much right, and it produces some of the best drama of the show so far. Furthermore, we get a fantastic character death to close things out, making this episode important and memorable. The only flaw is in the tone, but aside from that this is more outstanding storytelling. Score: 79 Summary: Flashbacks show Locke's mother finding him at his job. After meeting her, Locke hunts down his father Anthony and they get to know each other and grow close. However, Anthony needs a kidney transplant or he will die, so Locke gives him his kidney. But it turns out that Anthony orchestrated everything to get Locke to donate his kidney and he abandons Locke immediately afterwards. On the island, Locke fails to get into the hatch and notices that he is losing feeling in his legs. Locke has a dream of a Beechcraft crashing on the island, so he takes Boone and they go looking for it. Locke continues to lose motion in his legs but they find the plane. Boone goes into it but doesn't find anything of note. The plane falls while Boone is attempting to make a transmission and he is seriously injured. Locke lugs him back to Jack before angrily banging on the hatch, betrayed. A light turns on in the hatch. Meanwhile, Sawyer deals with headaches so Jack goes to check him out. Sawyer has myopia and now needs glasses to read.
The Good: Once again, "Lost" knocks it out of the park with an amazing episode. Like "Numbers" before it, this episode increases the emphasis on the mythology of the show while simultaneously telling a meaningful story that sticks with you after watching the episode. Throughout the episode, tension is built beautifully. The episode starts with the huge surprise of Locke losing feeling in his legs. Whatever the island did to him is going away, and that is a fascinating mystery to center the episode around. It raises so many questions and got me invested in the episode immediately. Furthermore, my interest in the mystery of this show has never been higher coming off of the outstanding "Numbers". Instead of putting in a slow transition episode, the show capitalized on its momentum and delivered another huge episode that develops its mythology in an excellent way. The show continues to explore its mystery with a spectacularly edited dream sequence as Locke has a cryptic dream that sets up the plot in an intriguing way. The scene is done superbly well and it is extremely creepy with the jarring cuts, sudden flashes of information and Boone's increasingly creepy voice. It's a damn good scene which ensures that anybody watching the episode will be unable to leave their seats. Boone and Locke's mission is tremendously enjoyable and it gives us some very important moments. The discovery of the Beechcraft is huge as it confirms that Locke does have a legitimate connection to the island somehow, while also adding another mythological mystery to the show (who were the people on this plane). This is also a great episode for Boone who gets to experience the reality of the island's supernatural properties firsthand as Locke tells him about Theresa and also reveals that he used to be paralyzed. Boone becomes a believer and it's exciting to see him and Locke eagerly trying to discover what was hidden in the plane. Locke gets confused when he finds nothing, but Boone is proactive. He sees a chance for rescue, and true to the instinct we have seen from him in episode 1, he selflessly takes the risk of staying in the plane in hopes of rescue. And true to form with how Boone has behaved since the start of the show, his attempts go down in vain and he doesn't end up accomplishing anything, ending up in a critical condition which sets up the story for the next episode. The flashback story is superb. It ends up being unexpectedly emotional once Anthony's con is revealed and it is impossible not to feel bad for Locke who finally got to have a father who cares for him for a short amount of time, only for it to be ripped away yet again. It's no wonder that Locke is so happy to have a meaningful connection with the island, since it seems that he has never had any kind of emotional attachment with anybody or anything before the crash. It's very sad storytelling, but it is consistent with the character of Locke. As a last note, I think the ending twist is set up really well. When rewatching the episode, it's extremely obvious that Anthony is conning Locke. It's very impressive that the writers make this seem so obvious without giving it away in the first watch of the episode. Locke's character journey in this episode is something really special. The storytelling in this episode is incredible. Like all of the best "Lost" episodes so far, this episode had a brilliant connection between past and present. Both stories are about Locke putting his faith into a greater entity, one that he feels he can trust in more than anything else. But both times he feels betrayed. The end of the episode is so heartbreaking because it's a case of history repeating itself. Locke is utterly shattered in the flashbacks when he is conned, paralleled by Locke feeling betrayed by the island when it gave him nothing in exchange for Boone's grievous injuries. But the episode is careful not to end off on a depressing note. The final moments of the episode are beautiful as the island seemingly reaches out to Locke, giving him a sign that his faith is rightfully placed this time and that Locke was simply being tested; there is a greater purpose to what he is doing, and Locke isn't being made a chump this time. The side story was pretty good as well. There was a nice amount of character development given for Sawyer in this episode. Nobody seemed to be particularly mad at Sawyer in this episode, and it seems that people are getting used to him. Sawyer is starting to soften up a bit and it seems like his shtick of trying to make people hate him is starting to wear off. Plus we get some really funny moments from this story like Jack questioning Sawyer on a number of embarrassing things. As an aside, I really loved the subtle foreshadowing in the first flashback scene with the Mouse Trap game. It's clever scene editing to end off the scene with a mouse being caught in a cage directly after Locke interacts with Emily for the first time. The Bad: Nothing I can think of. The Unknown: Why was Locke losing feeling in his legs? Was it just a test of faith? Or could it be something else? What was with that dream? Why did Locke get that dream? Why did the island direct him to the Beechcraft? Boone was shown to be hurt in the dream, so was Boone's fall supposed to happen? What will it lead to? Why was it necessary for the island to push Boone to getting this injury? Why is the Beechcraft on the island? What's the story behind the Nigerian drug smugglers? Were they more than drug smugglers? Who was that communicating with Boone? What were they saying on the broadcast? It was difficult to hear. What is the light that turned on in the hatch? Was it a message from the island? Why did the island send a message to Locke? Can it really just turn lights on at will? Will Boone survive his injuries? Best Moment: The final few minutes were some of the best television you can see. The con reveal is absolutely heartbreaking and it brilliantly parallels the story on the island. The final moments of Locke banging on the hatch and screaming are very powerful, and they end off the episode on a memorable, emotional note. Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: That's two in two for outstanding episodes. This episode had the exact same impact as "Numbers" only it managed to be even better with its emphasis on tension coupled with a much more powerful story for Locke. This is spectacular television on every level. Score: 86 Summary: In flashbacks, Hurley wins the lottery of over 100 million dollars. After winning he is faced with bad luck; his grandpa dies, his mom's new house burns down, Hurley is falsely arrested and more. Hurley thinks he is cursed and realizes his winning numbers were the cause. He investigates the origin of the numbers from his friend from a mental hospital but finds no answers. On the island, Hurley notices those same numbers in Rousseau's notes. He goes to hunt her down under the guise of getting batteries for Michael so they can detect ships from the raft. Charlie, Sayid and Jack go after Hurley who pushes on. Hurley eventually meets Rousseau who reveal a transmission of those numbers are what sent her to the island. She agrees they are cursed. Hurley, satisfied, heads back with the batteries. It's revealed that the numbers are written on the side of the hatch. Meanwhile, Locke builds a crib for Claire as a birthday present.
The Good: This was a huge episode for the show. Hurley has been such an innocuous side character that I don't think anybody was particularly excited to get his backstory. But to my absolute surprise, Hurley's backstory is proven to be essential for the story, and it changes my view of the entire show as a whole. Once I realized how significant these numbers could be for the show, I was immediately engrossed by the episode. There was a sense of importance to everything that was happening once I realized how key Hurley's backstory was, and that added a lot to the suspense of the episode. I was fully immersed into everything that was going on. And this episode rewards you for getting fully invested. For pure entertainment value, this is about as good as it gets. It's so rare to see an episode of television that balances tension and comedy so elegantly, and with such purpose. Every laugh is meticulously inserted into the episode, and somehow the many jokes in this episode don't take away at all from the tension. There are moments in this episode that switch from goofy to serious extremely quickly, but it's all done so masterfully that it only adds to the experience. And on top of this wonderfully entertaining, game-changing plotline, we get a fantastic character journey for Hurley to give the episode an emotional core. Both on and off the island Hurley is going through the same journey: he's looking to prove that he isn't crazy and that this curse exists. But nobody ever seems to believe him, and he is left desperate for somebody - anybody - to just agree with him and not question his sanity. Furthermore, this desire to prove his sanity does stem from deep inside Hurley's character, evidenced by his apparent connection to a mental hospital (see: The Unknown), suggesting that there is still a lot more to Hurley than what we have been shown. Anyhow, Hurley's desire to prove himself leads to a number of great conversations throughout the episode. In the flashbacks, Hurley goes hunting to find an explanation for the curse which takes him to Leonard and Martha Toomey in 2 fantastic scenes. The first scene with Leonard is awesome because of how brilliantly it reveals information. Hurley talks and slowly feeds the audience information in an organic way. But then the scene really takes off when Leonard actually starts speaking. He completely panics and throws out tons of surprising information. The moment is outstanding because it confirms to us that there is something supernatural going on, immediately getting me invested in the numbers. The ensuing scene with Martha is just as well done as the Leonard scene, only it's even better. Once again, a ton of new information is slowly revealed to us through Martha's story. It seems clear that there is a curse. But impressively, the show offers up an alternative perspective as Martha says that she doesn't believe that numbers are cursed at all. It opens up our mind to the possibility that the curse may not be real. Since we are watching a TV show, we immediately assume that there is a curse, but what if there isn't? Nothing is made explicitly clear, and that makes for some fascinating television. On the island, Hurley's still looking for the same thing: confirmation that this curse is real. This takes him to Rousseau where he finally snaps in a terrific scene. Hurley's frustration is easy to understand, and his demand for answers is very well-acted. Rousseau agrees that there is a curse, but considering her mental state, it really shouldn't mean anything to Hurley. But Hurley has been so desperate for somebody to believe him that even the tiniest victory means the world to him. Hurley's hug to Rousseau is such an awkward moment, yet it's a powerful one; a wonderful climax for Hurley's character arc in this episode. The Locke/Claire side story was fine television. It's nice to get some character interactions between two people who I don't think have ever actually talked. Plus we get to see Locke helping out a fellow survivor yet again, which is always fun to watch. Locke certainly comes off as the most endearing and likeable of the survivors so far. Lastly, I'll draw some attention to the humour in this episode. "Lost" is a fairly funny show, but this episode has some of the best comedy so far. Moments like Hurley telling the man on the ladder not to put the light bulb in while he's there, and Hurley's terrible lies to Charlie were standouts. The Bad: Charlie is a bit out of character in this episode. He's pretty mean to Hurley in a lot of scenes which doesn't seem like the Charlie we know. I had a couple of extremely nitpicks that I might as well put in here. For one, you can't actually make glue out of animal fat, so Locke's glue doesn't make any sense. You can make glue out of animal hide though, so an easy fix could have made this make more sense. Additionally, there is an odd moment at the end of the episode where Sayid hands Michael the battery after returning from Rousseau. It's an odd moment because Michael can't do anything with the battery. Sayid is the one who needs to use the battery to create a device, so why would he give it to Michael? The Unknown: What is the significance of the numbers? Is there actually a curse? Is there a way to break the curse? What created this curse? Why was it playing from the radio tower? Who made that transmission? Why did they make that transmission? What did Leonard mean when he said that Hurley opened the box? Where is the radio tower? Who built a radio tower on the island? Why was it built? Why was Hurley in a mental hospital in his past? What was wrong with him? Does he still have mental issues to some degree? In the flashbacks, it's mentioned that Hurley has become majority shareholder for a box company in Tustin. Is that the same box company that Locke worked at? Best Moment: The Hurley and Martha conversation was the highlight of the episode for me. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: What a spectacular episode. I don't think anybody expected Hurley of all people to have such a compelling and important backstory. This episode completely changes the way that we have to watch this show and it pushes the supernatural elements of the show to the forefront. But what is most impressive is that the character-based storytelling somehow doesn't get lost in the shuffle like it did in "Raised By Another". This was a brilliantly put together episode in every way. Score: 83 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Jin's job for Mr. Paik started tame, but when he was promoted, he was forced to kill people that displeased Mr. Paik. Unable to tell Sun about her monstrous father, Jin grew distant from her. He visits his father and plans to escape to America with Sun. On the island, Michael's raft catches fire and Jin is the prime suspect. Sawyer forcefully brings Jin over and Michael beats him up until Sun intervenes by revealing she speaks English. Jin is repulsed by this and gives Sun the cold shoulder. Sun proposes that they restart but Jin says it is too late. Meanwhile, Sayid and Shannon grow closer and start a relationship. Locke confronts Walt about why he burned the raft.
The Good: Yet another character gets a spotlight episode, and as usual, "Lost" knocks it out of the park. This is a terrific episode for Jin, who prior to this episode has been portrayed as a 2-dimensional abusive husband. But this episode gives him an incredible amount of depth, giving us a brilliant story about Jin's slow descent into darkness as he works for Mr. Paik. The flashbacks in this episode show us how Jin only did terrible things at request of Mr. Paik, and he only did these things so that he could stay with Sun. But of course the irony is that the actions Jin was taking to stay with Sun ended up driving them apart, as Jin was unwilling to tell her how monstrous her father was. The story is really well done, and the wonderful bathroom scene from "House of the Rising Sun" is shown again, only this time it has a completely different meaning as it is seen from Jin's POV. It's little touches like that which allow "Lost" to tell such compelling stories. Pleasingly, this episode didn't suffer from the main flaw of "Outlaws"; the on-island story felt really important and it built up tension in a compelling way. The burning of the raft is a surprising moment, and it makes perfect sense that the event would stir up inner conflict throughout the camp. The mystery of who burned the raft gets a lot of interest in the episode, and the drama ratchets up as the episode goes on. The climax of the episode fittingly blows off this tension as Michael and Jin get into a fight, blowing off their big issues, and then we finally get the big scene of Sun revealing that she can speak English to everyone. That reveal is terrific and everyone is fittingly shocked, particularly Jin who just looks hurt and stunned by the reveal. Lastly, we get to that awesome Locke speech as he finally gets people to open their eyes to the thought of other people being on the island, while also dispersing the inter-community conflict. Following the climax, the story still continues in heartbreaking fashion with a brilliant Sun/Jin confrontation. While living in Korea, Sun and Jin were never given the chance to enjoy each other's company the way they had wanted to before they were wed. But now, there is nobody stopping them from repairing their relationship and moving on together. There is nothing stopping this relationship from moving forward -- except Jin and Sun themselves. Tragically, the sympathetic mistakes that both of them made in the past are still haunting each other on the island, and now they are unable to stay together on the island. Despite getting the perfect opportunity to be together, they have grown further apart, which is a very sad conclusion to a relationship that seems like it was just not meant to be. As always, I was pleased by a few other things. The reveal that Walt burned the raft is a good one, it's both unexpected and logical. It also makes Walt feel like more of a character by giving him motivations, relevance and desires. The Sayid and Shannon subplot is fine and it has some great moments, including a nice scene between Locke and Shannon. Lastly, I enjoyed the ending montage quite a bit. After such a depressing end to the Sun/Jin story, it was definitely necessary to end things off on a more positive note. I like the idea of Jin helping Michael with the raft to mend some fences. Plus there's the brilliant moment of Hurley's batteries dying at the end. The Bad: The show remains inconsistent with its community reactions. The raft gets burned followed up by a Jin/Michael fight, and everyone gets involved. But when Claire gets kidnapped or when Ethan starts killing people, everyone is completely nonchalant. It's very inconsistent. I didn't like that Sayid decided not to get involved with Shannon based off of Boone's word. It seems out of character for him to actually listen to Boone, and the drama feels manufactured to give the Shannon/Sayid subplot an actual story. It's a shame that this was the story that the writers chose, since I think a story of Sayid struggling to move on from Nadia would have been much more compelling. Instead, the writers continue to conveniently ignore Nadia's existence so that this Sayid/Shannon romance can continue. The Unknown: That was Hurley on the TV during Jin's flashback. Why was he on the news? Was Jin planning to escape with Sun into America? Based off of his conversation with his father, I would say it's likely. Apparently Locke's dad isn't a cool guy. Why? Best Moment: The Sun and Jin scene at the end of the episode is really powerful. Jin silently decides to move back to the beach with Sun begging him to stop. Finally having had enough, Sun switches to English and lets out all of her frustrations. Following her outburst she practically begs Jin to start fresh like they always wanted. Sadly, Jin decides it's too late. Character of the Episode: Jin. Conclusion: This was another awesome episode. The flashbacks and island stories are both very compelling, and while this episode doesn't hit the highs of "Outlaws", it's more consistently entertaining. "Lost" is two for two for great episodes now and it seems like the season is picking back up again. Score: 74 Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer is approached by Hibbs who says he has found the real Sawyer in Australia under the name Frank. Sawyer goes to kill Frank but finds that he can't do it. He goes to a bar where he meets Christian who encourages him to go through with it. Sawyer kills Frank only to realize that he had been duped by Hibbs into killing the wrong person. On the island, a boar attacks Sawyer over and over again so Sawyer angrily goes after it. Kate joins in with him, trying to get Sawyer to give his gun back to Jack. They bond while they camp out together. Sawyer eventually finds the boar but decides against killing it. Sawyer gives his gun back to Jack and realizes that Christian was his father. Meanwhile, Sayid helps Charlie deal with the fact that he killed Ethan.
The Good: This episode is much better than it has any right to be. On paper this is a stupid plot and it seems like this is going to be another dull episode. But the show stepped up and we got a tremendous character episode with high quality dialogue, powerful themes and some stellar acting. The island story is pretty simple. A boar pisses Sawyer off so he decides to enact some petty revenge. The story is consistently funny and there are plenty of moments where I genuinely laughed, like Sayid harassing Sawyer, Kate amusingly watching Sawyer track everything but the boar, and of course the boar's apparent vendetta for Sawyer. But where this episode stands out is in its character development. The island story is chock-full of brilliant character interactions. The Kate and Sawyer relationship is still a highlight of the show, and they were terrific in this episode. The I Never scene was a piece of art that brilliantly revealed details about these characters while also allowing them to bond in an interesting and well-written way. Sawyer got the best arc of the episode though. On the island we can see his thirst for revenge as he goes after the boar, but he's obviously haunted by something. The vague line of "it'll come back around" is repeated frequently, and Sawyer's connection to Locke's story add a lot of intrigue to what is nagging Sawyer about the boar. By the end of the episode, it's clear that the boar symbolizes Sawyer's guilt over killing Frank in cold blood. Sawyer wants to get back at the boar, but he has this sinking feeling that the boar embodies Frank who is coming after him in death for revenge. At the end of the episode Sawyer gets a chance to cut out his guilt and also get vengeance on the boar, but he doesn't take the opportunity. Sawyer is still unable to get over what he has done, so he realizes that he isn't ready to kill again. The story is told very well, and Sawyer deciding not to kill the boar is a surprisingly good moment. Everything that happens on the island brilliantly ties into the flashbacks too. The flashbacks are used to bring clarity into Sawyer's inner struggles on the island, making them a wonderful way to provide exposition for the main story. "Lost" has used this technique before in other great episodes ("Walkabout" for example), but I think this is the best use of it. Without the flashbacks, we would have no way of understanding what was in Sawyer's mind as he chased the boar. The flashbacks aren't only used to propel the island story though; they stand on their own as an individual story of a man who struggles to take his first kill. There are so many fantastic scenes in the flashback storyline including a tense sequence when Sawyer first confronts Frank, and a beautifully written conversation between Sawyer and Christian. Not only does Christian push Sawyer towards his eventual killing of Frank, but he also gives us a new viewpoint of his relationship with Jack, suggesting that Jack's massive backlog of guilt may actually be a little redundant since Christian died feeling proud of his son. Finally, we got the outstanding twist as Sawyer, the con man, gets conned into killing the wrong person, giving him none of the inner peace he had desired and instead leaving him with a healthy dose of guilt to deal with. Sawyer went for the kill with intentions to rid himself of his baggage, but he walked away having added on to the immense weight on his shoulders. Charlie's storyline fit the theme of this episode nicely. While Sawyer deals with the grief of killing somebody for the first time in the A-story, Charlie does the same thing in the B-story. It's nice to get some follow-up on the events of the last episode (it would have been nice if the same was done with Charlie's withdrawal!). Charlie killing Ethan is a very significant moment, and I'm glad that the character has had a reaction to it, allowing him to grow and change. Furthermore, the episode nicely utilizes Sayid as he is the perfect guy to sympathize with Charlie over killing people. There were a few other moments I liked. I enjoyed Hurley's remark on Ethan rising from the grave to kill them all. It's nice to see that the survivors have implanted a supernatural vibe on the mysterious other people, and I really wish we could get more scenes of characters conversing about Ethan and whoever else could be on the island. Also I think this is the first time we learn what Sawyer's real name is: James. The Bad: This episode is a fine character piece, but it is severely lacking in drama. There is literally no suspense or drama in the island storyline and that does hurt the episode a little bit. It's certainly not a major problem (I've given slow, character-based episodes of shows like "Better Call Saul" really glowing reviews), but it does prevent this episode from reaching the high heights of some of this season's best episodes. I didn't like Kate freaking out when Sawyer picked up the baby boar. Her childish whining does not mesh at all with her character of being a hardened criminal. Kate remains the most inconsistent and worst written character on the show. The Unknown: Why did Sawyer hear "it'll come back around" from the whispering in the jungle? Was it just his imagination or was it actually there? Who is Hibbs to Sawyer? What did he do that made Sawyer despise him? What is the Tampa job? Kate was married? When? To who? Presumably this was before she became a criminal. Kate said it was a very short marriage. What happened that ended it so quickly? Was Frank's spirit actually inside that boar? I doubt it, but you never know when this show may take off into supernatural territory. Best Moment: There are plenty of fantastic scenes, but I'll go with Kate and Sawyer's game of I Never. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a surprisingly excellent episode. The character work is top-notch and it more than overcomes a lame island plot. Score: 74 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
May 2024
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