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
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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