Summary: Flashbacks go to Jack as a kid when he gets beat up trying to save a friend. His father Christian berates him for this. Later in life, Jack is told that Christian fled to Australia. Jack goes to find him and sees that he drank himself to death. Christian's body is taken on Flight 815. On the island, Jack attempts to save a drowning woman but can only bring back Boone who tried to save her too. Jack follows the man in the suit who is actually his father. He is encountered by Locke who encourages Jack to keep going. Jack finds a reliable source of water and more wreckage from the flight. He finds Christian's coffin but the body is missing. The water is running out in the survivors camp so Boone takes it to manage it without telling anyone. The camp nearly breaks into chaos but Jack returns and settles things down, accepting leadership of the camp.
The Good: Jack is the complete star of this episode. Matthew Fox brings the character to life by terrifically portraying the many emotions that Jack goes through in this episode. Jack goes through a very intense period of his life in this episode, across both the flashbacks and the island story, and the character work done here goes a long way to develop his character and position him naturally as the leader and main protagonist. I really enjoyed the flashbacks. Jack and Christian evidently had a strained relationship which stemmed from Jack's childhood. Christian has hammered it into Jack that he isn't good enough, and while it seems that Christian attempted to use this to humble Jack and make him understand that he can't do everything, it seems that Jack took it as Christian never believing in him. It's a sad misunderstanding and it makes it much more likely that Jack was always seeking his father's approval, making it all the more tragic that Christian dies before Jack can get what he wanted. This nicely ties into the island story as Jack is haunted by the memory of Christian (literally). Jack's storyline is that he must take up the leadership role int he survivor's camp despite initially having no interest in doing so. The island story is all about Jack getting over the baggage of his father's death and ridding himself of the constant feeling that he doesn't have "what it takes". Unfortunately Jack is unable to fully exorcise his demons as he doesn't get the closure he seeks from Christian's coffin as the body is missing. In a great scene, Jack pours out all of his frustration that had been building throughout the episode for so long. And despite not getting the resolution he wanted, he was still able to patch himself up again and go back to the other survivors, now willing to be the leader that they need. Jack has proven that he does have what it takes. I thought that the more plot-related stuff was interesting too. Jack following Christian was very interesting to follow, especially his run-in with Locke, the only other person to have witnessed the magic of the island. Locke has a faith in the island that nobody else has after it restored his legs, so he encourages Jack to trust in the visions he is having, expecting that Jack will eventually find what he is looking for. And surprisingly enough he does find what he needed; he found the water, but most importantly, he found his resolve. The story of the water disappearing was really well done. Without a leader, the camp naturally fell into total chaos in just a few hours. Boone, Kate and Sayid all try to do the right thing in this episode but they don't end up accomplishing anything, and everything blows up by the end of the episode until Jack calms everyone down with a wonderful speech. There were many nice moments scattered throughout. Boone taking the water makes perfect sense as he thoughtlessly tries to do good after he realizes that his attempt to save Joanna at the beginning of the episode actually led to her death. I also liked Sayid and Kate hunting down the water, and their scenes with Sawyer were a highlight. Sayid gets to be smart as he waits for Sawyer to lead them to his stash, Kate gets to be ruthless as she attacks Sawyer and Sawyer gets to flirt some more with Kate, who he has clearly taken a liking to. The character work remains really damn good. Michael and Walt get a good scene early in the episode as Michael gets frustrated with Walt asking him why he can't drink the ocean's water. The scene pulls double duty too as it also explains to the viewers that the survivors can't drink the ocean water. Claire also gets a really good story as she is able to express to Charlie how everyone treats her differently with much more vitriol because she is pregnant, which would make perfect sense in a community of survivors waiting to be rescued. Charlie also gets to show his good side as he comforts Claire. I'm very pleased that Charlie has been developed beyond being a drug addict, since his addiction doesn't necessarily mean that he is a bad person and a big problem all the time. The Bad: Teasing us with Jack almost falling off a cliff was pretty stupid. It was obvious that he wasn't going to fall. This episode is excellent, but it doesn't score nearly as high as "Walkabout" did. Why? It's actually through no fault of the episode itself. This episode did a lot of things right, but it didn't wow me and exceed my expectations as regularly as "Walkabout" did. There doesn't necessarily need to be things I don't like about an episode that make it weaker than another episode. The Unknown: How is Christian appearing on the island? Did he somehow get revived? Why isn't his body in the coffin? Why weren't Jack and Christian talking to each other before Christian went to Sydney? What happened between them? Was it a big spat or is this normal interaction in what looks to be a very strained relationship? Why did Christian appear to Jack? Did he actually want Jack to become a leader and that is why he took him on a little journey? Was it because there was water in that direction? What are his motives? Why hasn't he appeared since leading Jack to the water? Locke says he had seen into the eye of the island. Is he referring to the monster? What did he see that was so beautiful? Or could he just be metaphorically referring to when he got his legs back? Best Moment: Jack and Locke's conversation was so well written. Locke is the only character who has a legitimate reason to discuss the magical elements of the island that have been demonstrated to us. It's nice to see the writers take full advantage of Locke, using him to fill our minds with more wonder about the island. Furthermore, Locke's dialogue is so well delivered by Terry O'Quinn who feels almost sage-like as he advises Jack. Character of the Episode: Jack. Conclusion: Another brilliant episode that told a phenomenal character story. This show is off to a stellar start. Score: 75
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|