Summary: In flashforwards, Hurley is arrested after taking off in a high speed car chase. He gets placed in a mental institution where he is confronted by a mysterious man asking if "they" are still alive. He is also visited by the dead Charlie who demands that he do things for those that were left behind. Lastly, Jack checks in with Hurley who tells him that they have to go back. On the island, Hurley is devastated when Desmond returns with news of Charlie. The group sets off to the radio tower to warn Jack that the people on the boat aren't who they say they are. Meanwhile, Naomi runs into the jungle and Kate tracks her down. Naomi covers for them and tells the people on the boat that there was an accident when she parachuted in. Naomi dies. Hurley gets separated from the group and encounters Jacob's cabin. He runs away and finds Locke who helps him rejoin the group. The groups meet up and Jack attempts to kill Locke but Sayid pulls him away. The group splits into two camps. Locke's camp, including Claire, Hurley and Sawyer head to the barracks to hide while the others go to the beach with Jack to await rescue. Jack and Kate go off into the jungle and find a man who has arrived from the boat.
The Good: As always, "Lost" subverts expectations with the opening scene of a new season and it does it again this time. While it's probably the weakest season opening scene so far, it's still quite good stuff as we see Hurley in a very unexpected situation and learn a very important piece of information about the future with the introduction of the "Oceanic Six" (see: The Unknown). It's a very interesting way to start the season, and I'm excited to see more from it. The rest of the flashforward storyline was extremely well done. The flashforwards feel very different from the flashbacks and they make this episode feel different from the staler flashback episodes last season, giving the story a lot more momentum than it had in season 3. I really like the new formula that's being developed here. Judging from this episode and "Through the Looking Glass", it seems like the flashforwards will use a new style of storytelling where we see a character make a key decision on the island, and we will see the consequences of that decision in the future. In the season 3 finale, it was Jack's choice to call the boat, and here it's Hurley's choice to go with Locke. The other flashforward scenes were quite good at building mystery. We see a mysterious new character confronting Hurley, hints of the island's powers extending to the real world, and a surprising arc for Hurley who seems to be haunted by his past in a very literal way. I'm really enjoying these flashforwards so far and it seems like they might be just the thing to make the series feel new and exciting again. The island storyline in this episode is also quite good. Early on we get to see Desmond return and set up the story beats that carry this episode. He reveals that the people on the boat cannot be trusted, and also drops the bombshell that Charlie died. The group's grief for Charlie is pretty sad and I really like how the episode furthered its stories with Charlie's death. Hurley's decision to join Locke makes sense because of what happened to Charlie, so establishing the importance of Charlie's death was essential for this episode. Thankfully, the writers nailed it. The other thing the writers did really well was making it clear that the group is too disorganized to actually do something about the people on the boat. With hanging threads like not knowing who the people are, and also Naomi's impending demise, the episode created a surprising amount of suspense as everyone prepares for the arrival of these people. The island story all builds up to a really strong climax where the group separates into two opposing camps. This split is illustrated as quite a big deal and it does feel like a major event that will have consequences (as Hurley's flashforward also establishes). What I enjoyed most about this was how every character had logical reasons for choosing the side that they did. It makes sense that Hurley and Claire would listen to what Charlie said. It makes sense that Rose wouldn't want to side with the murderous Locke. It makes sense that Sawyer would join Locke after what he learned about him in "The Brig". There are lots of nice character details here, and that added a lot to this scene. It was nice to see Ana Lucia's partner return for a brief cameo. It's a fun return and it also serves to further cement how Hurley can't seem to escape the past in his flashforward storyline. The Bad: The writing is quite sloppy at times though. The Naomi plot in particular is really poorly thought out. Why didn't anybody even check to see if Naomi was still alive? They all just assumed she was dead which is absolutely ridiculous, especially considering that Jack was there and we know that Jack would always do everything he possibly can to save lives. Furthermore, why would Naomi just sneak away into the jungle when she's half dead, and how did she do it so quietly? It makes absolutely no sense. What's even stupider is that she would still somehow have the physical ability and thought process to make a dummy trail in case anyone was following her. It seems to pointless to do all of this, especially since Naomi just dies anyways. Furthermore, it's ridiculous that Jack wouldn't send a second party down the trail Kate found just in case Naomi did go down that way. This entire storyline is pretty contrived and doesn't make any logical sense. I wasn't very happy with the lack of reaction to Jack attempting to kill Locke. We saw that Locke wasn't willing to kill Jack, so surely seeing Jack pull the trigger expecting to kill him would be pretty shocking for everyone. Furthermore, this scene wasn't a private occurrence. Everyone saw what happened, and they should be legitimately horrified by it. One particularly sloppy piece of dialogue is Rose not wanting to go with Locke because he's a murderer, yet she completely ignores how Jack was about to kill Locke right then and there. There are unfortunately several pieces of lazy writing like this scattered throughout the episode which brings down its quality. As a final note, I was confused to see that Alex and Rousseau aren't spending any time together. Surely they would want to know more about each other. It's strange to have Rousseau standing quietly with Ben while Alex chats with Karl like nothing has changed. The Unknown: Plenty of questions. To start, who are the Oceanic Six? Which six survivors made it off the island? We know of Jack, Hurley and Kate. Which other 3 left the island? Who is the mysterious man that visited Hurley? Was he another vision or did he actually exist? Who is he? What does he want? How does he know that the others are still alive? Hurley's encounter with the cabin was a frightening scene (see: Best Moment). How did the cabin seemingly teleport like that? Hurley seemed to almost enter another dimension when he found it. How does that work? Who was in there? There were at least 2 people. One would be Jacob. Who was the other? How can Charlie appear off the island? I thought this kind of stuff is restricted to the island. Or is Charlie just part of Hurley's imagination, similar to Dave? Why does Hurley regret siding with Locke? What happens to Locke's camp? Who is the man at the end of the episode? It's an exciting cliffhanger to end the episode one. Best Moment: Hurley's encounter with the cabin is chilling drama. It's haunting, mysterious and surprising all at once and it left me in high suspense. It's tense to see Hurley looking inside, and every moment following this can be analyzed closely because I'm very interested to learn more about Jacob and this cabin. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: This was a really strong season premier. While there was unfortunately a lot of silly writing choices, the overall episode is quite good and starts off season 4 in a good way. I'm excited for this season because it already feels far different from seasons 1-3 due to the new formula. However, the writers need to be much more cautious because more thoughtless writing in important episodes can easily ruin this season. Score: 67
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
|