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
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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