Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer is in prison. He befriends a guy who stole $10 million and when he learns the location of the money, he gives it to the warden to secure an early release. On the island, Colleen arrives in critical condition and Juliet goes to operate on her. Sawyer tries to orchestrate an escape, but it fails and Ben has a pacemaker put into him. Defeated, Sawyer returns to his cage without any fight left which unnerves Kate. Juliet brings Jack to operate on Colleen but she dies anyways. In his anger, Danny beats up Sawyer. Ben visits Sawyer and takes him out of the cage. He reveals that there is no pacemaker and that the Hydra is located on a separate, much smaller island. Meanwhile, Desmond behaves strangely and gets lightning to strike a structure that he built.
The Good: Sawyer's story is decent fun and there are some very good moments. I especially liked his failed attempt to electrocute Ben which showed both how resourceful Sawyer is and how cunning the others are. The relationship between Sawyer and Kate is explored in a meaningful way. We don't see much attraction between them, but they are both trapped together and concerned for each other. It's easy to buy into their emotional state, and the scene where Danny beats down Sawyer in front of a crying Kate was certainly a highlight of the episode (see: Best Moment). Lastly, I really liked the ending twist that the others are located on a separate island. This nicely explains why the security is so lax (since there's nowhere to escape to) and it also adds another layer to the mind games that the others are playing on Jack, Kate and Sawyer. We do learn some interesting detail about the others. There are some hints that these people aren't as together as it initially seemed. They were woefully unprepared for injury, so much so that they had to bring in Jack to help. It's evident that despite their resources, they may not be as well off as it seems. The Bad: Unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of this episode. Sawyer does well in the lead role but unfortunately he isn't explored in a particularly meaningful way. There is the nice irony of the con man getting conned, but there isn't much for his character to do. On the island he's the same plucky hero that he has been in the past few episodes, only now he's hit a low point. There isn't much more to it than that unfortunately, and even the flashbacks don't add anything of value. This episode really drops the ball from a character perspective and I found it tough to remain emotionally engaged. The plot had several issues as well. The most frustrating of these problems were the flashbacks which suffered from the exact same drawbacks as the last episode. We learn literally nothing new about Sawyer, and the plot line is completely uninteresting. We are introduced to characters that we have no reason to care about, and we aren't given a story that rewards getting invested at all. It's such an empty plot with no real twists or turns, and I found myself looking at my watch during almost all of the flashback scenes. The island story is similarly problematic. The others are still persisting with their mind games, but the impact is lessening dramatically. As we begin to see more incompetence and disorganization within the ranks of the others, they become less intimidating and frightening, which almost entirely removes all of the drama in the episode. All we're left with is an organization of people who think that they are smarter than they actually are because they play mind games. I have no more fear for these people. Furthermore, these mind games are not making for good television. It's quite dull to watch, and if it wasn't for Michael Emerson's great performance as Ben, the others would be a total bust. The pacemaker plot is a perfect example of why the storylines this season haven't clicked with me. There just isn't any good drama produced from the pacemaker outside of one scene (see: Best Moment). And the whole thing serves no purpose in the overall story. We get a big twist that the others have taken drastic measures to control Sawyer, but then it turns out that nothing actually happened. So what was the point? The story has meandered too much this season. The Unknown: What's with Desmond doing his "experiment"? Did it have something to do with his strange ability to predict the future in the previous episode? It seems like lightning was going to strike Claire's tent, so did Desmond just save her life? Is Juliet saying the truth when she says that the others have no leader? Because Ben absolutely seems like a leader, and everyone seems to acknowledge it. Is there more to the hierarchy than what meets the eye? Apparently the others have a submarine. Is this how they can leave the island? Where is the submarine? Could it be taken by Jack, Kate and Sawyer for them to escape the smaller island? Whose scans were those? Apparently somebody has a tumour on their spine and it seems that this is why Jack has been held captive. Is it Ben's scans? Why are the others so unprepared for any kind of medical emergency? They had an entire town back in "A Tale of Two Cities" and they even had control of a Dharma station full of medical supplies. Are we really supposed to believe that they don't have any doctors or medical equipment? I won't put this in The Bad because there may be an explanation, but on the surface it seems like sloppy writing. Best Moment: In a rage following Colleen's death, Danny goes to Sawyer and viciously beats him in front of Kate who begs him to stop. Danny demands that Kate admit she loves Sawyer, and she does so in order to stop the beat down. This scene is the most intense the episode got, and it was the only time I was ever at the edge of my seat. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This episode fell victim to all of this season's biggest weaknesses. This is watchable television, but the show's much simpler and far less exciting than it was in season 2. Score: 53
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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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