Summary: Flashforwards take place after the events of Through the Looking Glass. The death of Jeremy Bentham has shaken Jack and it's why he tells Kate to go back. Kate goes home and has a dream about Claire. Sayid breaks Hurley out of his institution and kills somebody who was watching him. Sun connects with Widmore. Jack goes to see Jeremy Bentham and finds Ben who tells him that everyone has to go back. Bentham is revealed to be Locke. On the island, Keamy takes Ben back to the helicopter but he and his men are attacked by the others. Sayid fights Keamy, who is shot in the back by Richard. Ben is freed and returns to the orchid. Locke and Jack meet again and talk. Locke tells Jack to lie about his experiences on the island when he leaves. Locke and Ben descend into The Orchid, Sawyer, Hurley and Jack go back to the helicopter. The helicopter takes off and goes to the freighter. However, there is a fuel leak and Sawyer jumps off to reduce weight. He returns to the island. At the freighter, Michael, Jin and Desmond used liquid nitrogen to freeze the bomb. At The Orchid, Ben prepares to move the island but is interrupted when Keamy comes down the elevator, revealing that if he dies, the bomb on the freighter blows up. Ben kills him in a rage, activating the bomb on the freighter. The helicopter is forced to land on the freighter for fuel and everyone hurriedly fills it and they leave the freighter. Jin and Michael are left behind and die in the explosion. Ben causes an explosion and descends into a frozen chamber to move the island. Locke is given the role to lead the others. Ben turns a frozen donkey wheel, which takes him off the island, and the island moves. With nowhere to land, the helicopter crashes in the water. The people aboard are rescued by Penny and Jack tells everyone that they have to lie.
The Good: True to the style of all previous season finales, this was an action-packed, thrilling episode with several twists and turns that provided an incredibly satisfying conclusion to season 4. There were engaging storylines going on everywhere, and there were dramatic moments around every corner. I really love the action-packed style that "Lost" adapts for its season finales as it always creates a riveting sense that what you are watching is important, and it always provides an immensely satisfying climax for each season. The storyline on the island and the freighter was a blast to watch and was filled with thrills. The resolution with the mercenaries was really satisfying. It was a blast to see the others return to their ruthlessly stealthy and efficient style of fighting in the jungle, which we haven't truly seen since season 2. The action was top-notch and I loved the fight between Sayid and Keamy, which was shot really well to maximize the suspense. Keamy was a really fun character even though he was a fairly two-dimensional villain. Kevin Durand's performance added a lot to the character and made him a brilliant mix of charismatic and intimidating. His scenes in this finale were excellent. I thought that Keamy's arrival in The Orchid later in the episode escalated the tension spectacularly, and seeing Ben violently murder him was incredibly cathartic and was made all the more horrifying with Ben's creepily detached reaction when he realizes that he killed everyone on the boat. This scene was one of the best of the entire finale. The other scenes at The Orchid were also a lot of fun. I'm always happy to see Jack and Locke together on-screen, and their talk in this episode was as excellent as ever. Their argument didn't simply feel like a rehash of their previous arguments, but it instead had a feeling of tiredness to it with both Locke and Jack understanding that they can do nothing to make the other change how they believe. The most substantial part to this conversation was certainly Locke asking Jack to lie once he gets off the island. This pays off brilliantly towards the end of the finale, but I will discuss that later. The other highlight of the scenes at The Orchid has to be the interactions between Locke and Ben, which are as captivating as ever. From the banter about Locke not knowing what anthuriums look like to Ben comically doing everything that the orientation videeo tells him not to do, I was having a blast watching these two on screen together. It all leads up to a beautiful final scene as Ben accepts that Locke would be a better leader than him and admits that he has been too emotional in his decision-making. Ben deciding to face the consequences himself and to step aside to make way for Locke is surprisingly noble, and the show does a fantastic job of making this mean something. Then during the frozen donkey wheel scene (a masterclass of mystery that I will discuss in a second), "Lost" once again shows that it understands how important emotion is in storytelling by focusing the scene squarely on Ben instead of playing up the mystery aspects of the show. When Ben turns the wheel, it's a powerful moment because we can understand what Ben is sacrificing, and seeing him in tears is shockingly moving. It is brilliant how the scenes in The Orchid from the start to the finish of the episode were grounded in reality by focusing on the relationship between Locke and Ben, and then on the weight of the sacrifice that Ben had to make. It is masterful how "Lost" manages to weave emotion into significant plot moments that have no right being as powerful as they are. I have plenty more to say about the frozen donkey wheel scene. Outside of the excellent emotional pay-off with Ben, this scene was an outstanding piece of mystery building. For one, it actually answers several questions. We now know that turning the wheel is what somehow sent Ben to Tunisia back in "The Shape of Things to Come", nicely tying up his storyline for season 4. Furthermore, this could also explain the Dharma polar bear from Charlotte's flashback in Tunisia. It seems like the polar bear may have turned the donkey wheel and been teleported to a desert. I have plenty more questions about this (see: The Unknown), but it is a pretty big reveal. The frozen donkey wheel scene also does really well to build mystery. The cold temperature, the mysterious hieroglyphics, the obvious age of the structure, and its supernatural properties raise so many interesting questions with exciting possibilities regarding where the show can go from here. Furthermore, the very existence of an ancient donkey wheel capable of teleporting islands is such an absurdly hilarious concept that it becomes a brilliant bit of mystery. The other scenes at the beach camp and the freighter are also pretty good, even if they don't have the same level of excitement. The bomb provides a good bit of drama, and it serves as a strong way for Michael to earn some redemption before he dies. I really liked the final scene between Jin and Michael since it neatly pays off of both characters and their friendship. Lastly, I thought that the scenes with Daniel, Miles and Charlotte were also quite good. It was nice to see Daniel earn Juliet's trust as well. Sawyer's decision to jump off of the chopper was another big moment that I really liked. I thought that Sawyer's decision was explored well, and it leads to a harsh realization when Sawyer learns that his heroic act may have resulted in him being the only survivor since the boat exploded. Obviously the big scene is Jin's death, and while I think the moment was hurt by the flashforwards (see: The Bad), it was still pretty gutwrenching, mostly due to Sun's reaction. Yunjin Kim did a tremendous job of portraying Sun's grief, and her reaction was every bit as heartbreakingly brutal as it should have been. Then we get to the ending stretch of the episode, which I thought was really effective. I was concerned that knowing who makes it off the island would remove any interest I would have in actually seeing the Oceanic Six get rescued. However, my concerns were mostly unfounded. I was surprised by how emotional it was to see the survivors finally be rescued, even when I knew exactly what was going to happen. There was a lot of weight to seeing Jack, Kate, Sun, Hurley and Sayid finally reach civilization, having decided that they're going to lie about everything. I'm impressed that "Lost" still got so much emotion out of this scene. Then of course there's Desmond and Penny's reunion, a scene two seasons in the making. I've been very invested in this relationship, so seeing them finally reunite was one of the episode's best and most cathartic moments. It's a moment that was well worth the wait and it fits the season finale. I'm very glad that flashforwards didn't spoil this scene. I really enjoyed the flashforwards in this episode. They were mostly setting up season 5, but the scenes were really well done and covered a lot of ground for a lot of characters. As expected, the season finale finally picks up on the aftermath of "Through the Looking Glass" and it sets up each character's storylines going into season 5. These scenes were very well done, and there were several really compelling moments. Kate's dream was an excellent piece of suspense-horror that plants the idea in her brain that she needs to go back to the island. Sayid breaking Hurley out is an engaging storyline, and it raises some really interesting questions about both characters (see: The Unknown). Sun's offer to ally with Widmore is fascinating and sets up what could potentially be a really exciting storyline for her next season. And of course, Jack has an excellent final scene as he meets with Ben and comes to terms with the fact that he's going to have to convince everybody to come back to the island. The set-up for season 5 was done tremendously well, and it felt really exciting to finally progress forwards in the timeline for the first time since season 3. And of course since it's "Lost", they had to throw in a wonderful twist at the end of the episode with Locke being revealed in the coffin. I could see most people figuring it out before the reveal, but the pan over is still an excellent moment that raises several big questions. The Bad: The biggest problem with this episode is how the flashforwards from previous episodes spoiled what would happen here. A lot of the drama was lessened because we already know the fates of many of the characters. Jin's death was the biggest hit since it became clear that he would die, and thus it didn't feel like the tragedy that it was meant to be. We had made peace with Jin's death six episodes ago, so watchign him die here wasn't as evocative as it could have been. Other things were affected too. While I did praise the emotion that I felt watching the Oceanic Six be rescued, I can't deny that the moment would have been even better if I didn't already know that they would be rescued. Sawyer's choice to jump was also hurt by the fact that I figured out it would happen well in advance because we know that Sawyer doesn't make it off the island. There were several other smaller moments that were also hurt by this, but I won't list them all out here. As a whole, I thought that the flashforward structure of this season did have the unfortunate effect of reducing the impact of several scenes in this finale. I had some issues with the plot too. It felt weird to have Desmond explain so much about the bomb out of nowhere. Then even worse was when Michael suddenly started explaining a lot instead of Desmond. The dialogue here was pretty weak. I also didn't like the idea of Jin staying behind with Michael inexplicably. There's no reason that Jin wouldn't immediately leave to ensure his own safety and he looks like an idiot for staying behind with Michael. Michael's death also feels somewhat anticlimactic since he didn't do much to grow as a character. He only froze the bomb in this one scene and didn't even end up saving Jin. It's disappointing that his return didn't amount to more. Lastly, the fuel leak was a typical TV show plot contrivance, and it was strange that Frank flew for so long without noticing it. The Unknown: How did Locke leave the island? Why? What were the terrible things that happened when the Oceanic Six left? How did Locke die? Was it actually suicide? Sayid seemed to think that something else was going on. Who was the man watching Hurley? Was it one of Ben's men? Widmore's? Somebody else? Why is Sun helping Widmore? What are her goals? Was Kate's dream sent by the island somehow? Or was it her own guilty conscience? Will it help convince her to go back to the island to find Claire? Was Charlotte born on the island? Who were her parents? How did she get off the island? Why and how did Christian appear with Michael? He said that Michael could go. Does that mean that he was the one preventing Michael from dying? Is he responsible for a lot of the island's magical properties? Who is he exactly? Is he Jacob? Who created the frozen donkey wheel? Why did they make it? How did they know that it would make the island move? Did they know it would make the island move? Why is it so cold in the room? Who made the hieroglyphs? Was it the same people who made the donkey wheel? How much did Dharma know about the donkey wheel? Did they use it? Did they test it on the polar bears? Why was it blocked away underneath The Orchid? Was The Orchid successful with its time travel experiments? Did the time travel only work because of the location right next to the frozen donkey wheel? How does Ben know about the frozen donkey wheel? Who told him about it? Widmore knew too. Does the donkey wheel have something to do with Jacob? Best Moment: Ben turning the donkey wheel. Character of the Episode: Ben. Conclusion: "Lost" really knows how to do season finales. True to the previous three season finales, this was another action-packed and thrilling episode, but one that didn't forget to include many powerful character moments and emotional scenes. This was a terrific way to end a terrific season. Season 4 was terrific. I'm incredibly impressed with how "Lost" reinvented itself in this season, bringing in flashforwards, telling stories at a quicker pace, and focusing more on mystery and plot. It's incredibly rare to find a show that returns to a high standard of quality by morphing into something different. Season 4 deserves credit for pulling off this feat. The season did have its flaws to be sure, but as a whole it was easily the most consistent season in the show and it had several stand-out episodes, including the all-time great "The Constant". I think that this was the best season of "Lost" since season 1 and it deserves tons of credit for streamlining the plot while also maintaining the emotional power of the first three seasons. I do think that all of the seasons we have seen so far have been great (I was harsh on my reviews of seasons 2 and 3, a bit unjustifiably. I think that these seasons only disappoint in comparison to season 1, they are still great seasons of television on their own), but season 4 did something truly special by changing the formula so significantly, and having such compelling character stories and mysteries. I really loved this season. Score: 80
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
|