"Exodus: Part 2"

OCTOBER 23, 2010

FOCUS: EVERYONE!
EPISODE: 1.24
AIRED: MAY 24, 2005

I made the mistake of watching the season finale, "Exodus: Part 2" with some friends, which is something I wouldn't do again until the FINALE finale (because for that one I was promised mini-wieners). It's just too hard to not talk while watching stuff with friends (at least, for me), and Lost isn't something you want to talk during (AFTER, of course, is a whole other ball game). So I had missed a lot of the little moments here and there; I remember not knowing how Charlie got the cut on his eye, for example.

Since it's a direct continuation of part 1, it's a lot more action packed, since so much of part 1 was about getting everything set up. The smoke monster "chase", the boat attack, Charlie and Sayid's mad dash to find Rousseau and Aaron, the various goings on with the dynamite (poor Arzt... and poor Jack, with "some Arzt" on him)... this is a pretty Bruckheimer-ian episode, compared to most others (including some of the other finales). I love when the smoke monster drags Locke (even more so now with later developments in my head), prompting Jack to do an awesome dive to save him (and then blow the thing up). I just wish that Locke had a little disembodied smoke tendril on his ankle when he got pulled up, that'd be amazing.

And yet, true to form for the first season, it never loses sight of the characters. It's not as tear-jerky as part 1, but there are a lot of minor little bonding moments throughout the episode, such as Michael and Sawyer discovering their mutual love of Bob Marley, or Locke and Hurley discussing Twinkies. Hell even Jack and Locke get in a brief moment, discussing the game Operation (with Locke displaying some of his dry humor again - "Zzzt"). However, the most memorable is probably with Claire, Sun, and Shannon in the caves, trying to cheer each other up. I never really noticed before, but the women on the show never really had much interaction with each other on a one-on-one basis the way the guys did. I can't think of one female/female relationship on the show that I'd consider as strong as say, Hurley and Charlie, or Sawyer and Myles even. Kate and Sun probably come closest, but even that was fairly limited.

Speaking of women not getting as much to do as the guys, I never noticed - Claire doesn't get her own flashback in either part of Exodus. Every other character has one (and some appear in others'), but Claire gets screwed, other than the final, silent montage of everyone getting on the plane.

Another thing I noticed in this one goes back to what I was saying in the review for "Born To Run", as we have another instance of not knowing that something was still a secret when it becomes an issue. Sayid brings Charlie to the plane and literally throws heroin at him - I figured by now his junkie status would have gotten around (especially since he told Hurley, and we've been led to believe Hurley cannot keep secrets). And even if not, Sayid's a pretty smart guy - he never noticed Charlie's obvious withdrawal symptoms?

The episode also includes one of the series most oft-mocked moments, Harold Perrineau's "Darth Vader finds out Padme has died" level outburst of "WAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLT!". It's not even so bad in context, it's just that it was part of like 17 'Previously, on Lost' clips, it began to drive spikes into my brain (as did Kate's "I OWE him that!" concerning going back for Jack in Season 3). Some DVDs give you the option of skipping the "Previously" things, though I don't think Lost is among them. If so, I definitely would, especially on episodes like this episode where they are THREE minutes long.

As we all know, the episode ends with Jack and Locke staring down the hatch, cutting to credits before we know who or what is in it. All summer long folks were asking "What's in the hatch?", though few ever came up with "A guy named Desmond". As future seasons came and went, interest would dwindle, and such cliffhangers would often infuriate rather than intrigue. So it was nice to go back to the capper for what was the closest to a perfect season the show ever had.

Really, there were only 2-3 weak episodes this season (its longest, for the record), and no outright stinkers, something future seasons couldn't claim. The pacing was perfect, the ratio of answered questions to reveals of new ones was quite satisfying, and all of our characters were given plenty to work with. Take Season 6, for example - Desmond only appeared in like 3 episodes. Obviously some got more time than others, but it never felt like they were completely abandoning a character for long stretches. Also, it never felt like they were just dilly-dallying; there was a sense of urgency to the season as a whole, whether it was the search for more food or the race to find Claire or whatever, things were always on the go. Later seasons would include Claire trying to attach a message to a bird's foot, or Charlie building a church. Riveting. So it's a shame that the show never lived up to this first season (IMO), but it's a testament to how great it was that it retained my interest until the end - I felt I owed it to the folks behind it as a thanks for doing something so great here.

Next up: Season 2! Eko! The Hatch! Ben! DESMOND!!!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Exodus: Part 1"

OCTOBER 22, 2010

FOCUS: EVERYONE!
EPISODE: 1.23
AIRED: MAY 2005

I had initially planned to watch both parts of "Exodus" today, to try to start playing "catch up" after my unexpected hiatus, but I forgot both parts together equaled over 2 hrs, and didn't have the time. Oh well. It's a shame, because the two episodes are essentially one long whole (no time whatsoever passes between them), and it's been so long that I actually forgot some of what happens.

But just from this part I can guarantee that it was the first or second most satisfying season finale ever, wrapping up some of the mythology and character storylines (ones that didn't need to be dragged any further lest they lose their impact), while opening up the story enough to make you want to come back for Season 2. Only Season 3's finale, with its mind-blowing twist, measured up to this one, in my opinion.

The number of tear-worthy character moments just in this first part are staggering. Sawyer finally telling Jack about meeting his dad, the emotional goodbye at the raft (Vincent trying to swim after the raft destroys me), Jin finally making peace with Sun... seems like I'm fighting back the waterworks every 5 minutes in this one. Partly because the show was a big hit - you knew that they wouldn't get rescued anytime soon, and now that they've proven that they have no qualms about killing off main cast members (Boone), it's very possible that Sawyer, Michael, Walt, and/or Jin would die out there, and that this really WOULD be goodbye (for Walt it pretty much actually is, and I don't know if Michael ever saw a lot of them again, can't remember).

It's also one of the last times we see everyone together, both in the appearance of the black smoke and in the launching of the raft. One thing I didn't like about future seasons is that it seemed they were always finding ways to keep people apart, with some characters almost never interacting with certian others again. Christ, Season 3 started off with an episode where we only saw Jack, Sawyer, and Kate (and the new cast members). It's one of the things that made them better to watch on DVD, because you would only be an hour from seeing your favorite character(s) again, instead of a week or more.

Speaking of new characters, we're also introduced to Ana Lucia, aka the bane of many fans' existence. It's odd though, she seems to be playing a completely different character here - not bitchy, not abrasive, and even kind of flirty. At the time, she seemed like a good addition (despite the fact that I'm not a fan of the actress period). She appears in Jack's flashback, which is one of many "right before the plane" based flashes we see in the show, all focusing on a different character. Some of them are pretty eye-opening when you consider how much things have changed since then; i.e Walt hating Michael, Shannon being pretty racist towards Sayid, but Ana is the only one who appears to have had a complete 180 turn in personality (i.e. Shannon is still a bitch).

I haven't mentioned Michael Giacchino's music in a while - the piece where the raft takes off is pretty much the greatest cue I've ever heard on a television show. As much as I miss Lost, I'm sort of glad it's over and will thus free him up for more work, hopefully in film. I think he's going to be one of the all time greats.

This episode's also a good showcase for my favorite extra, the bearded guy that I call Roger (see above). When everyone is saying goodbye, he's always finding a way to be in the shots, even though no one is talking to him. Love that guy. I wonder if he made more than typical extra pay. The beard alone is worth an additional 500 per episode.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Born To Run"

OCTOBER 21, 2010

FOCUS: KATE
EPISODE: 1.22
AIRED: MAY 11, 2005

The last episode before the 2 hr season finale, “Born To Run” finally answers one of the most pressing questions Lost fans had – “What is the meaning of Kate’s stupid little toy plane?” Oh wait, I’m sorry – I got that backwards. It answers one of the least interesting questions Lost fans had. In retrospect, it’s sort of foreshadowing Lindelof and Carlton’s approach to Season 6 – answering pointless shit no one really cared about while leaving other mysteries unresolved.

It’s fitting then that this episode provides our strongest evidence yet of Walt’s “powers”, which were also never explained. Somehow he knows about the hatch, and also that it shouldn’t be opened. Granted, he’s right (other than the fact that it provided Desmond, one of the show’s most endearing characters), but how did he know? Does he have ESP? If so, why is it so intermittent? Well, Malcolm David Kelley grew nine inches, so we’ll never know.

Speaking of characters knowing things they shouldn’t, I love that Hurley freaks out over not knowing who knows what. It always seemed odd to me that folks never caught on about certain goings on – it’s not like they’re spread out really far or have much else to do with their time. So when Kate makes her big “reveal”, it’s sort of anticlimactic – I figured everyone knew by then anyway (I assume Hurley’s scene with Locke was put in just to remind us that it was still a secret, but it still fell flat, especially since she didn’t tell us what her crime was).

Nitpicks aside, it’s a decent episode. You know I love Kate, so I’m happy to have her in the flashbacks as well as on the island. And I feel for Tom, the dude who was obviously sweet on her but she never returned the affection in a way that mattered (you can tell she’s jealous that he got married). Been there, dude! Though those girls never got me shot while trying to escape the cops after seeing their dying mother. So I can’t really relate to that part of his arc.

And it introduced Arzt! I love that guy. Daniel Roebuck is one of the nicest actors I’ve met since moving here (in fact, my first “Hollywood” job was as an extra on Navy NCIs, where he was the guest star of the week), and he’s a big nerd as well, collecting old Universal Monster memorabilia and such. It’s a shame they killed him off two episodes later; I would have loved to have him around for a while. It’s also the first major instance of introducing another survivor (not counting Ethan) who everybody seems to know even though we’ve never seen him/her before. It’s certainly the most successful – future folks (Nikki and Paulo, Froberg) would be major distractions because the show had been around for so long at that point. Here it had only been 20 episodes, so it wasn’t as jarring. And he’s lovable enough to welcome the addition.

I also liked the interplay between Jack and Locke, with Locke questioning Jack’s presumption that he’s in charge and Jack mocking Locke’s tendency to hide things. But ultimately, they both wanted to open the hatch (much to Sayid’s dismay), so I like that they were tentatively allies again. Forgot about that. Another little moment I forgot about is when Jin protects Michael from Sawyer – amazing how building a raft with a guy can really make you forget how much you wanted to kill him a week or so ago.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Greater Good"

OCTOBER 20, 2010

FOCUS: SAYID
EPISODE: 1.21
AIRED: MAY 4, 2005

Lost returned from another “brief” hiatus with “The Greater Good”, which is annoying even under normal circumstances, but even more so when you consider that the episode takes place later on the same day as “Do No Harm”. It’s been a month for us but they’re just burying Boone now and Claire still hasn’t named her baby? So this is definitely an episode that works better when watching them all back to back.

Because it’s not a particularly good episode, because half of it surrounds on something you know isn’t going to happen (Sayid or Shannon killing Locke – he can’t die til we know why he was in a wheelchair, dammit!), and the other half revolves around cutesy Three Men & A Baby antics. These sort of things are fine, again, in back to back viewings, but they were pretty cruel to come back after a month with this sort of nonsense. I do like that the baby only stays quiet when he hears Sawyer’s voice – I wonder if Kate ever told Jack that when they were fighting in the future. Would have been a good burn.

Sayid’s flashback, as before, is about Nadia, and we learn how he got on Oceanic 815. It’s kind of a bummer moment, because he changed his original, presumably non-crashing on a magic island flight, in order to help bury his friend, thinking it was the least he could do after selling the guy out and causing him to pull a Radzinsky right in front of him. Otherwise the flashbacks aren’t of much use, mostly just telling us stuff we already know. It’s a shame so many of Sayid’s flashbacks revolved around his involvement with the Republican Guard - he seemed like he could be one of the more interesting characters but they always focused on this sort of stuff. And with each character having roughly 7 centric episodes a piece (except for Jack, who got like, I don’t know, 46), in the long run I wish they had opted for a little more variety, knowing how few they’d have for everyone.

My favorite scene of the episode is probably the lone stand-alone bit, with Walt asking Michael about the raft. It’s the sort of scene they wouldn’t bother with after a while, where they give the non-involved characters a bit of business in order to justify their paycheck. But in retrospect, it’s kind of telling – Walt asks about sharks (they encounter one), if they’ll die on the boat (both Michael and Jin DO die on boats, albeit not that one – Sawyer is not actually in the scene), and if it will tip over (well, no, but it will get blown the hell up, and the mini-rafts they make out of it tip over a bunch). Every now and then, they either prove that they did have everything planned, or watched the episodes over and over to build plot elements out of throwaway dialogue. Either way, makes it fun to watch again.

And we have a beach fight! It’s been a while. Doesn’t amount to much, since everyone runs in to break it up, but it’s fun to see Jack go apeshit for once and tackle Locke. It’s not as amazing as his diving punch in the finale, but for a while it was definitely one of the best “Action Jack” moments.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Do No Harm"

OCTOBER 19, 2010

FOCUS: JACK
EPISODE: 1.20
AIRED: APRIL 6, 2005

If you don’t like Jack, or Jack episodes, then “Do No Harm” probably pissed you off, since this makes his third (fourth if you count the pilot) while most folks had only gotten one (and Shannon hadn’t even gotten that much!). But I am on team Jack, so I was perfectly OK with it, especially in retrospect, as its one of his few relatively happy episodes, detailing his wedding to Sarah (Julie Bowen, as lovely as always), a stark contrast to the island stuff, where he spent the entire episode making the “Jack-face” as he tried to save Boone (for some reason).

It’s also one of the even fewer (only?) times he and his dad have a nice, conflict-free scene together, sharing a drink and discussing Jack’s inability to pen his vows. It was a bummer for me to watch, since my dad died shortly after I got engaged, so it was the first time since his funeral that it really hit that he wouldn’t be there at my wedding (which was about 3 months from the time this episode aired). Not that we’d share a drink (my dad did not drink! Smoked like a chimney though – hence why he wasn’t with us anymore. Don’t smoke, kids!), but it would have been nice to have him there, obviously. Way to bum me out, Lost.

On that note, I had to laugh at his cutaway during the actual wedding. Jack and Sarah kiss, everyone applauds, Christian smiles... and immediately looks off to the side. My guess – he was planning his route to the bar.

The point of his flashbacks was to illustrate Jack’s inability to let go and fix things, which of course plays a big part in pretty much every decision the guy will make over the next six years. Granted, we’ve already sort of learned this from the other ones, but it’s nice that they found a way to depict it in a rather happy manner, instead of the usual angry outbursts and fighting that permeates most Jack-isodes. And I like that Boone, moments from death and probably in some pretty unbearable pain, had to be the one to tell him not to use the makeshift guillotine to amputate his leg, because Jack refused to listen to Sun or anyone else. Hilariously enough, it had been so long since I had seen the episode that I couldn’t remember if he actually went through it or not, so these scenes were kind of suspenseful all over again.

Speaking of Sun, they never really explored her role as a sort of 2nd doctor on the island, with her herbal remedies and more level-headed approach to things. I wish they had done more with it, though then again I can’t really think of too many extreme situations like this – pretty much everyone else that died on the show died instantly (well, except for Paulo, the poor bastard).

Jack shouts “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” at one point, which is cool but I think sort of premature in the grand scheme of things – it would have been more of a “moment” if we had gotten further into the Jack vs. Locke “war”, one that basically started in this episode. Up until now they had been casual friends/allies, but from here on they would more or less constantly be at odds for some reason or another.

The other big thing is that Claire finally has her baby, despite looking ready to pop when they crashed 40 days ago. It’s a pretty typical TV moment to have a baby delivered in a less than ideal place by a non-doctor (Michael Giacchino’s score basically seems to be mocking it), but it plays well, and it’s worth it for Jin’s reactions to Charlie throughout the process. It’s the first time that Jin has been warm and friendly to another character; even when he’s doing something helpful (like building the raft) he always seems pissed off. Good ol’ Jin and his inexplicably fast-growing hair. I also like the bit where, for once, he communicates with Sun as translator – it’s underplayed, but it's pretty much the first time they’ve really spoken civilly since he found out she spoke English.

And this is the first time I’ve watched the episode since it became a “thing” that Kate would raise Aaron. So that takes on a nice little bit of extra meaning. You can even go deeper – Jack refused to help deliver him, just as he would later shun the chance to have any contact with him (and going even deeper than that – it’s your nephew, dude!). LEVELS, man.

Anyway, RIP Boone. May you appear in several random flashbacks over the next five years.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Deus Ex Machina"

OCTOBER 18, 2010

FOCUS: LOCKE
EPISODE: 1.19
AIRED: MARCH 30, 2005

We’re back! Due to the Screamfest film festival, I had precious little time for anything else, so Lost had to be put on hold until it was over. But I sort of like the irony, because when "Deus Ex Machina" originally aired, it was after a long break from the previous episode ("Numbers"), which of course I had no recollection of, 5+ years later. It was these sort of long breaks that would ultimately lead to the show airing nonstop in the 2nd half of the season instead of throughout the year like a normal show. Lost is not a normal show.

Good episode. It’s the type that I loved the most, where we had two plot lines going on, one important to the island mythology, and the other character based (and often humorous). The character one is Jack trying to help Sawyer with his headaches. It’s a real showcase for Jack, because he gets in some great lines (“I’m just going to get a one-liner for my trouble. And maybe if I’m really lucky, a brand new nickname.”), and delivers one of the all time best paybacks when he forces Sawyer to admit he’s got STDs and slept with hookers in front of Kate, even though that information has nothing to do with the diagnosis he already made (Sawyer’s got vision problems). In a way it’s sort of mean spirited of Jack, since Sawyer hadn’t really done anything to him in a while and had been being fairly civil to him to boot (the “insurance rant out” line, for example). But I like that when he tells Kate he helped him for her, it seems like he’s being the bigger man, but if you think about it, he did all of this to let her know that the guy she wanted to boink (and eventually did) has the clap.

Also, we see Jack shaving. That settles one mystery of the show – why no one ever grew an amazing beard. They took the time to shave. Me, even if I didn’t have a beard, that would be the first thing I put in the “pros” list when debating life on the island. Shaving sucks.

As for the real story, it opens up a lot more of the plot then it initially seemed on its first airing. The drug plane would continue to be a focal point for both mythology (“?”) and character stuff (Charlie has a new stash!), the priest corpse would turn out to be related to a character we haven’t even met yet... Plus, the light in the hatch not only proved someone was inside, but we eventually got the story of why he turned the light on in the first place. And most of us probably didn’t think Boone was going to die from his injuries, especially since we just found out about his nanny-murdering ways.

The flashbacks follow suit – despite the way the episode ends, this would most certainly not be the last we see of Anthony Cooper, nor would he be Locke’s exclusive burden to bear. And I like how the episode plays with the audience’s anticipation of how Locke got into the wheelchair – there is NO reason for him to get hit by a car in the opening scenes other than to mess with us. Bastards. Speaking of screwing with the audience, sometimes they get a bit too goofy with the numbers – why would a toy store keep Nerf footballs 7 aisles away from the “regulation” ones? They should have just said aisles 15 and 16, if they had to get the numbers in there somehow.

I also like that Locke gets to show off some of his dry humor. “I don’t even know how to spell trebuchet”, Boone says. “It has a T at the end,” Locke replies. Heh. It makes up for the never explained nonsense about him losing the ability to walk whenever it became convenient to the plot. Seriously, that was one of their dumber moves, even if it does sort of work in an ironic way with regards to the episode’s title, as it’s sort of a reverse Deus Ex Machina (out of nowhere, something happens that... totally screws the character over).

It’s weird, I thought Boone died earlier in the season than this, but there are only four more episodes to the season (and thus, 3 after he died, since we don’t get to experience the joy of that until next week/tomorrow). Sorry, Boone fans – I wasn't exactly sad to see him go.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Numbers"

OCTOBER 8, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY (!)
EPISODE: 1.18
AIRED: MARCH 2, 2005

Finally, a Hurley episode! “...In Translation” gave us a pretty tantalizing clue about his past (since I assume most, if not all, folks figured his $83,000 debt with Walt wasn’t something he could actually cover), but “Numbers” explains it right off the bat – Hurley is a multi-millionaire, thanks to some peculiar numbers coming up in the lottery. So we also finally get confirmation that all of the 4s and 15s and 23s on the show so far weren’t just lazy number-writing. This shit MEANS something!

Seriously, if anyone who ever watched Lost disliked Hurley, they are the worst person in the world. Jack’s expression when he hands him the battery at the end of the episode just sums it up so perfectly – the guy is just an endless source of surprise and joy. Sometimes they would use him in a bit too meta of a way, but for the most part he was just delightfully laid back and awesome, and I wish he had gotten more centric episodes over the course of the show. I also got to thinking – since Hurley was sort of our “voice” on the show (he’d often repeat things that were brought up on message boards and such), was it intentional that he (us) would be the one to guard the island after everyone left? Like, the show is gone but it lives on through us, or something like that?

(There’s probably about 900 pages worth of discussion on this on one of the Lost sites, but for the most part I never really went on those – too easy to lose an entire day reading theories and such. I always chose to more or less let the show speak for itself. Also, if you haven't guessed yet, the mythology stuff wasn't as interesting to me. I kept coming back for the characters.)

I also like that it’s one of many “trek” episodes, with a few of our folks going off to rescue/find someone or whatever, because we haven’t had one for a while. I always liked these (particularly in the earlier episodes) because it gave the characters a chance to bond a bit on one-on-one terms. That or they just remind me of Stand By Me. Either way, I’m always happy to have one.

The subplot with Locke building the cradle for Claire is also very sweet. It seems like for a lot of Season 1, Locke was there to more or less guide or offer advice to each character individually, without having too many plots of his own. So here it’s Claire, last week it was Shannon (and Walt, a bit), Sawyer before that... he’s like NBC’s “The More You Know”, but with knives. Next week (so, tomorrow) he gets his own episode again. I feel Locke was the least consistently written character on the show, and given the lamest possible death, so going back to episodes like this just reminds me of how much that pissed me off. Casually killed by Ben in a hotel room somewhere instead of on the island... so friggin weak.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"...In Translation"

OCTOBER 7, 2010

FOCUS: JIN
EPISODE: 1.17
AIRED: FEBRUARY 23, 2005

Unwanted reminders of an over-praised Oscar bait-y bore aside, “...In Translation” is another rock solid episode of Lost, effortlessly combining island drama, back-story, and character relationships into a cohesive whole, each element complementing and strengthening the others. It’s a balance not every episode achieved, and even fewer achieved so well. It’s also another strong example of how there was nothing else like Lost on television, since nearly half the episode is in Korean.

It also brings back an element that’s been missing for a few episodes – people beating each other up! I wonder if there’s a site online somewhere that has all the fight stats from the show. Is there any combination of male characters (save the peaceful Hurley) who never had a physical altercation over the show’s run? I can’t recall Charlie ever fighting Ben - that might be about it. This one offers another go around between Michael and Jin, though Michael has the upper hand this time. Sawyer also takes a few shots at him. Looking back, it’s kind of funny to think how some of these folks were the best of friends just a few weeks later. Sawyer’s kicking Jin in the side and tying him up here, but in about 20 island days, he’ll be teaching him the most important things to say to a woman.

Another thing it brings back is Hurley’s Discman, which was a mini-tradition in the early episodes, where he’d be listening to a song over a montage of everyone doing their thing. It would have gotten annoying if they did it in every episode, but I like that they actually gave it a sendoff (his batteries die) instead of just phasing it out. So for those keeping track: the fucking Discman gets a proper final scene, but most of the characters do not. But it’s an oddly sort of grim moment, depicting their hopeless situation in a very unexpected yet perfect way (and there’s no “DONNK” over the final “Lost” title card, which just adds to the uneasy feeling).

We also have the rare instance of a mystery being introduced and resolved in a single episode. They could have dragged the “who burned the raft” thing for a few episodes, but we find out who it is by the end of the 42 minutes, even though Locke is the only one on the show who knows. Speaking of Locke, he gets some great moments in this one despite not having his own little subplot. In addition to his man-to-man with Walt, where he drops the first hint about his father, he also gets one of his funniest lines ever when Shannon gives him a rambling message for Boone (“Should I be writing this down?”).

Back to the Korean thing – I just want to point out a few episodes back I said something about doing a show from Jin’s “perspective”, not being able to understand them. I had completely forgotten about the scene where they did indeed give us a taste of what it was like for him (with everyone basically speaking backwards). You know, it would have been really grating for an entire episode, so my idea was stupid. This was better.

And Sun finally reveals she can speak English! Not sure why she had to hide it for so long once someone knew – she didn’t want Jin to know, but how would he? Someone going to tell him? He wouldn’t understand that either. I also don’t quite get why he’s so angry about it – if he wants to get her off the island, wouldn’t this be beneficial, since now he will have a way to communicate with Michael for the raft-building? Maybe they give a good reason in a few episodes, I can’t remember.

Speaking of their fight, according to Lostpedia, this would be the day (roughly) that Jin and Sun conceived their child, as detailed in Season 3. They chalk it up as a blooper, saying that they had no time, but after she defends him against Michael (during the early part of the day) they go off for a bit, and then apart from when she talks to Michael later, they’re unaccounted for until the raft burns in the middle of the night. – plenty of time for them to get it on. So it fits, even if it was probably just something whoever wrote that later episode didn’t really give a shit about. I know I’d want to put the moves on my wife if she just punched Harold Perrineau in my honor. HOT.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Outlaws"

OCTOBER 6, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 1.16
AIRED: FEBRUARY 16, 2005

I think “Outlaws” might be one of my favorite episodes of the first season. It has everything I could want from a Lost episode – some juicy backstory for one of the main characters, some odd humor (the line from Kate – “I’d say you’ve been following Boone for the past hour” kills me), a big “connection” revealed, and Kate tossing back shots. And it all surrounds Sawyer, who is one of my favorite characters and has inspired my current haircut.

And it’s certainly my favorite “this was a good idea” occurrence, because HOLY SHIT, I never realized that Sawyer was basically the one who killed Christian by buying him drinks when he was already obviously drunk. I’m not sure if I have watched this one again since the episode where he pals around with Ana Lucia, so I don’t feel TOO guilty about it (since you’d have to know the whole timeline to make that connection), but damn, what a kick in the ass. Now the question is, does Sawyer ever realize it? They’re all in Lost Heaven together, you think Christian ever looked at Sawyer and gave a sarcastic “thanks for the booze”?

This also makes Sawyer the sort of Kevin Bacon of the show so far, since he know has a a pre-flight connection to both Jack (through Christian) and Boone (at the police station). Later we learn that he crossed paths with Ana Lucia, and he also had one-step-removed connections to Locke (the “real” Sawyer) and Kate (Cassidy). Maybe more, but I can’t remember right now.

The episode also alludes to a “Tampa job” that is never expanded on, which is a shame, as I was hoping to see more of Robert Patrick on the show. I think he’s an underrated actor, and a good meaty supporting role on a show like Lost could have done good for him, not unlike Jeff Fahey in the later seasons. Oh well.

It’s also a bit of a frustrating episode, because there are two instances where you want Sawyer to open up to someone, only to withdraw. The first is with Sayid, which isn’t too important, as it regards the noises in the jungle and it’s not like either one had the answers to the other's question anyway. But man, how bad do you want him to tell Jack he met his dad? Especially after a cute little moment where Sawyer is actually nice to Jack instead of antagonizing him (the “stick em up” bit). I don’t know about you, but I always wanted these guys to become good friends. I loved the bit in Season 3 where they play ping pong together, and other assorted moments, but their bond never really lasted. And most of S6 they hated each other, so that’s a bummer.

As for the assorted other stuff, nothing too special. I like Hurley’s theory that Ethan would become a zombie, and it’s nice to see the raft come together, but there isn’t much in the way of plot advancing. Nor are there any unanswered questions (though I still don’t know what the hell Charlie is building when Claire tries to talk to him – it doesn’t look anything like the tool he uses to shovel Ethan’s grave to me), so that’s good.

One thing about watching them back to back like this – the eye thing at the beginning of most episodes gets kind of annoying. I’m glad they cut back on it as the show went on.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Homecoming"

OCTOBER 5, 2010

FOCUS: CHARLIE
EPISODE: 1.15
AIRED: FEBRUARY 9, 2005

According to the Lostpedia, Damon Lindelof considers “Homecoming” (which he wrote) the worst ever episode of Lost. Now, I assume he couldn’t pick one that someone else wrote, but even among the ones he DID write, I’m not sure why he singled this one out. It’s not a particularly great episode, no, but it’s not a BAD one by any means. You get Jack kicking some ass, Charlie going all Charles Bronson on Ethan, a nice Office shout-out, and an 815 reference (the copier) that I just caught now on my 4th viewing. Not too shabby.

My guess would be that the episode does have some plot contrivances that exist to keep the Others from being unveiled too early. We get that Charlie is pissed, but shooting a guy in cold blood does seem a bit out of character. And it also robs us of Ethan, who was always one of the more interesting Others (which they obviously agree with, since they kept working him into flashbacks – he appeared in more episodes after he died than he did before).

Also their new clothes are largely ill-fitting. Sawyer’s bright blue shirt and Jack’s black one just don’t look right on the characters. It’s an odd thing, yes, but I dunno, it bugged me for some reason. However, I highly doubt that was one of Lindelof’s issues.

Otherwise, what’s not to like? Hurley delivers one of the show’s all time best eulogies (“Sorry I kept calling you Steve.”), Vincent returns, Jin gets to have another “conversation” with one of the English speaking folks (Charlie, who tells him he’s lucky to be so ignorant – it would have been cool if they had figured out a way to do an episode from Jin’s perspective, without understanding a word), and Jack gets one of his rare good insults directed at Sawyer.

As for the flashbacks, like the best episodes (which again, this is not), we learn more about the past of a character while understanding what drives them to do what they are doing on the island. Here it’s Charlie being turned down by a woman he cares for, telling him he will never be able to take care of anyone. It’s a sad moment, and ties in perfectly to the island stuff, which a few of the recent episodes weren’t as successful at doing (such as “All The Best Cowboys...”). I remember one season 2 episode, they actually changed who the episode was “about” by swapping in someone else’s flashbacks, but that doesn’t seem like it would be possible with this one. It’s totally a “Charlie” episode (hell, it’s not even HIS worst one, now that I think of it - the one where he has flashbacks about doing a diaper commercial was way worse).

Then again, Mr. Lindelof thought dedicating half of the final season of the show to some temple that no one cared about was a good idea, so why listen to him?

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Special"

OCTOBER 4, 2010

FOCUS: MICHAEL, WALT
EPISODE: 1.14
AIRED: JANUARY 19, 2005

I’ve seen “Special” at least four times, and I still cringe at the shot of Michael getting hit by a car in one of his flashbacks. It’s easy to spot the edit where the stuntman replaced him, but still, THAT GUY got hit, right? And there’s no padding on the ground to cushion him. It’s a pretty epic hit. Puts that digital Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black to shame.

This occurs in one of the many flashbacks in this episode. In fact, I’d guess that this one has the closest flashback to island ratio of any season 1 episode, because there’s a lot of story to cover (plus two characters to focus on). Since we’ve learned so little about Michael on the island, it’s up to the flashbacks to reveal his desire to be a dad, the reason he wasn’t, and how he became one again. But we also have to learn that Walt is really special, which will play a major part in-

Oh wait, right. Walt’s abilities and “special”ness never really paid off, did it? The actor got too big and rather than recast him (something they only did with Claire’s mom, and obviously Aaron, throughout the show’s run, which is pretty impressive), they just wrote him out and left pretty much everything about him unresolved. Apparently he’s in the “New Man In Charge” thing that’s on the S6 DVD (I haven’t watched that yet – saving it for my sole “fresh look” review!), but it still leaves a lot of his backstory unanswered. He can make birds kill themselves and appear as a wet ghost – that’s about as much as we ever really learn.

Michael is one of the show’s more polarizing characters – on one hand, we see that he really does have Walt’s best interests at heart (lying to him about why he was taking him, for example), and you can’t help but feel for the guy when he realizes his ex never gave the kid any of his letters. But on the other hand, he’s always up in Locke’s face just for talking to the kid, and he’s a jaywalker. He gets more “villainous” next season, obviously, and I’m not sure his redemption was really full-fledged (since most of the other survivors didn’t even know he was on the boat), but until then it was fun sort of trying to gauge whether or not I liked the guy.

And hey, we get another polar bear attack! It’s a pretty sweet sequence, and the effects aren’t even that bad for a TV show. Plus it allows Michael and Locke to kind of call a truce, which is the sort of thing I always like. Not sure I liked Boone becoming a crazy “guard dog” for Locke though – last week (or, yesterday, in the show’s timeline) he wanted to kill the guy himself. I guess you build up an insanely high loyalty to a guy once he convinces you not to try to nail your sister anymore.

The inception of the raft is also here, though of course it would be the first one that gets destroyed by Walt (because he’s special!), not the real one they actually use. It’s kind of weird that it took almost a month for someone to think of making a goddamn raft while they were on an island, but I guess thinking of it in episode 14 is better than episode 15. And unlike Tom Hanks they didn’t have to wait for a porta-potty to get a move on. Just a shame they didn’t figure out how to open the hatch before they made it, Desmond probably had way better tools.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Hearts & Minds"

OCTOBER 3, 2010

FOCUS: BOONE
EPISODE 1.13
AIRED: JANUARY 12, 2005

Back in the early 00s, MTV had this show called Undressed, that was supposedly really risqué for basic cable. I never watched it, but one night after the bar we had retreated to one friends’ townhouse dorm and someone put it on while we continued drinking*. And it was a marathon, which meant I watched a few story threads unfold in their entirety (it was sort of an anthology show, with weaving stories that would last 3-5 episodes). One of them was about two teens whose parents had recently gotten married, making them step-siblings, but they were still attracted to each other (they had dated prior to the parents hooking up). So when the parents planned to go out of town, they decided they’d finally screw around, and for like 4 episodes they teased and flirted, all building toward the night when they’d have the place to themselves... at which point they decided not to go through with it.

I bring it up because Lost had no such qualms, and had their step-siblings totally do it in "Hearts & Minds", even with the added ickiness of them having been brother and sister since they were children. Also, this was primetime major network TV, not cable at 2 am watched only by drunks.

(I also just learned that Damon Lindelof was actually one of the writers on that show, though not the step-cest storyline. Weird.)

So I think it’s safe to say that this is where Lost proved that it wasn’t too concerned with being conventional or presenting its protagonists in the most flattering light. I mean, they had guys like Sawyer being kind of a dick, but then his flashbacks revealed he was a good guy at heart. Or you'd have Jack selling out his dad, but again, it was to potentially save lives. But this? You just don’t have a lot of network shows featuring siblings, blood or not, going at it. Or episodes where other “hero” characters drug one of those people and put them through mental torture just to get them to stop wanting to nail their sister for a 2nd time, as Locke does.

Needless to say, good episode. You get a huge character revelation, some minor advances to the Hatch storyline, and a lot of great comedic interplay between Hurley and Jin, as the former tries to learn how to fish, much to the amusement of the latter. And the scene where Hurley steps on a sea urchin is another classic bit (another thing you don’t see in too many network shows – one man asking another to pee on him). And then Kate discovered Sun can speak English, which is a nice little “about goddamn time” moment, since Michael being the only one is a bit useless since he can’t even go near her without Jin getting all worked up. It also introduces her garden, which makes several appearances throughout the show – it would eventually be the only sort of “this is what they’d have to do to survive” thing they kept going. Everything else would just be chalked up to “they got it from the Hatch/Othertown”.

I’m not too big of a fan of “it was all a dream/hallucination/whatever” storylines, but this one works, because it’s rooted in character and also tipped off right from the start (if Locke had this “healing” mixture, why hadn’t he used it before on other people’s injuries?). Boone’s struggle to get the knife is pretty painful to watch, and the smoke monster chase scenes are the best we’ve gotten yet. We also see them hide in a banyan tree, a moment that would inspire one of the more ridiculous and annoying parts of the mostly terrible Lost: Via Domus game (see below). Thanks, episode.

This was the first episode written by Carlton Cuse, who would go on to be just as important as Damon Lindelof in the show’s execution. This was due to JJ Abrams more or less leaving the show to work on Mission Impossible III, never to fully return (he’d be credited as a producer for the entire show’s run, but it was more of a ceremonial credit than anything). The other guy, Jeffrey Lieber, would continue to have diddly-shit to do with anything on the show in any way shape or form, yet still makes more in a year than I will in ten for being one of the writers on the ABC-commissioned pilot (which was heavily rewritten by Abrams and Lindelof). Not a bad gig, huh? Hey, I’m a lousy writer too – maybe I can get a gig writing something that gets rejected/rewritten into something really popular! I can live as a king!

Where are we?

*I hope “Rose” from HMAD has followed me over here.

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Whatever The Case May Be"

OCTOBER 2, 2010

FOCUS: KATE
EPISODE: 1.12
AIRDATE: JANUARY 5, 2005

According to the invaluable Lostpedia, "Whatever The Case May Be" was the highest rated episode of Lost's first season (which means, given the show's decline in ratings as it went on, would also make it one of the highest rated episodes period), which is kind of ironic, since it's a Kate episode, which a lot of fans tended to dislike, and it's also not a very good episode.

And by that I mean it's an episode that follows the pattern of (too many) later season episodes, with a lot of treading water. Last week's episode introduced the hatch, but we only get one scene about it this week, with Boone bringing Locke an ax to help open it - and that's it, we don't see them actually USE it. Meanwhile, Kate wants to get a locked briefcase that's in Sawyer's possession, but won't say why. And when we find out, it means nothing to us (and it won't until near the end of the season), though it does have a few handguns that will be very useful over the course of the show. And then Sayid and Shannon translate the papers he stole from Rousseau, but they turn out to just be some lyrics from "La Mer", i.e. worthless (though we get a nice little Finding Nemo reference, so there's something).

The most significant thing in the episode is probably the creation of a new camp further up the beach, which I think will be the location for camp for the rest of the show. It's interesting to see everyone settling into their lives on the island, picking out good spots to set up their new homes rather than just toss something up for hopefully temporary shelter. According to Lostpedia, the episode takes place on Day 21, so it's been 3 weeks - not an unreasonable reaction. I probably would have built a hut (or at least asked someone who knew how to make one to do it for me) after like, 3 days tops.

Hell the episode doesn't even really bring up any new mysteries (save the toy airplane), even unsolved ones. The closest we get to one is how the Marshal's briefcase, which we learn was checked, ended up underneath the seat of a passenger who presumably was in the main cabin. But that's the sort of thing that's more of a plot contrivance than a mystery, I think. I am also curious about Boone's claim that the other folks see him and Shannon as jokes. I would like to know where that came from. Like, with all the shit going on and 46 people around, who was like "You know sucks? Boone. Guy's worthless!"? Then again I'm also baffled why out of 46 people, there's at least 20 or so men around, yet none of them hit on Shannon, who is hot as hell and just sitting by herself sunbathing most of the time. Kate makes sense - she's always off doing stuff and/or palling around with the two alpha males; you'd have to be a moron to try to hit that. But why is Sayid seemingly the first guy to even talk to her since Charlie in the first couple episodes?

Speaking of Kate, she looked good in her flashbacks. It was the first time we saw her sort of made to look pretty, and further cemented my crush on her. But I was disappointed, as I'm sure many were, that the episode didn't reveal anything about why she was on the run, and instead just introduced a new mystery. It also doesn't fit very well into her entire backstory - once we have all of the information, we know that the "bank robbery" would have occurred after she was already on the run for killing her dad - is this really the sort of crap she should have been focusing on? And if it was indeed that important, wouldn't Edward have known that and thus had someone watching the place? Just doesn't quite gel for me.

I'd like to point out that we're now halfway through the first season, and things will start getting more mythology-heavy. We will also soon be losing the survival aspects of the show, as they will open the hatch 12 episodes from now and never again have to worry about food, shelter, supplies, or anything else one might have to worry about on a deserted island. In retrospect I wish they had stretched this part of the show longer, but alas. Makes me appreciate these pre-hatch episodes all the more I guess.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

OCTOBER 1, 2010

FOCUS: JACK
EPISODE: 1.11
AIRED: DECEMBER 8, 2004

Unsurprisingly, Jack was the first character to get a 2nd "centric" episode, even though many characters (Hurley, Michael, Jin...) still hadn't even had one. And the flashbacks in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" aren't as strongly tied to the island story as previous episodes had been; we learn in the very first flashback that Jack doesn't quit easily, which will factor into the final segment of the episode, but otherwise, the story about him being the worst son in the world has little ties, thematically or otherwise, to the island story, which concerns a rescue mission for Charlie and Claire.

But it's a damn powerful backstory all the same, plus gives us the first interplay between Matthew Fox and John Terry, which would be one of the highlights of the show, in my opinion. Most of their exchanges were strained, but both actors were always on their A-game for these scenes, and despite the abundance of father issues on the show, theirs is the only one that I would consider fully fleshed out. The scene where Christian manipulates Jack into signing the false report by actually complimenting him for once is heartbreaking, and it's just a taste of things to come.

We also learn, or at least get hints, about a number of other characters this week. Hurley alludes to being rich, Kate talks about her father, Locke reveals he works for a box factory, and Boone reveals both the nature of his business (wedding dresses) and his familiarity with Star Trek, which foreshadows stuff both on-show (his death) and off (JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof being part of the team that resurrected Trek's big screen franchise, 5 years later).

The hatch also makes its first appearance, which seems kind of early now that I think about it, since it would take the rest of the season (we're not even halfway through it) to open the goddamn thing. What gives, Locke? Locke also begins to display his animosity towards Jack this week, looking about 2 seconds away from kicking his ass throughout most of their scenes together. But he's typical Locke with Boone, showing off his uncanny "Island" skills (predicting the rain) and making odd, dry jokes. And his response to the "red shirt" phenomenon is classic in every way shape and form.

Oh and Charlie dies for a little bit, only for Jack to pull an Abyss and beat the piss out of him until he resuscitates. It's a great sequence - Kate's reaction is still pretty gut-wrenching, even when I know he'll be OK for another 60 or so episodes. Plus, Lost was the rare show where I never really believed anyone was safe (besides Jack and Kate), so scenes like this worked perfectly the first time around. As anyone who reads Horror Movie A Day knows, I am very critical of movies that constantly put people in danger when we know they can't die, so those rare occasions that it works (i.e. I'm not sure if they will make it) are truly appreciated.

No unanswered questions this week, unless you count Walt's suspicious "luck" at backgammon as another sign of his "special"-ness, which of course we never got an answer for. However, according to the Lost wikipedia, the show takes place on their 16th day on the island, which means if I had stuck to my initial plan (to watch each episode on the date it took place), I wouldn't be watching this one until October 8th. Maybe I should take that approach after all - October's already in full swing, and finding time for this plus a daily horror movie is just going to get harder.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Raised By Another"

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

FOCUS: CLAIRE
EPISODE: 1.10
AIRDATE: DECEMBER 1, 2004

We return from our first Lost hiatus! There was a week off in between “Solitary” and “Raised By Another”, and such gaps would become common over this and the next two seasons, resulting in unbroken (and shorter) seasons that started in January, where there would be no breaks except for extreme cases (like the President talking or something). It’s sort of fitting that the episode would focus on Claire, who would be the first main cast member to take hiatuses from the show, not appearing for several episodes at a time.

Of course, Claire was always one of the least interesting “pre-Island” characters, as there wasn’t much intrigue or mystery with her past, except for the identity of her father, which wasn’t a mystery really, but rather something they decided to reveal to us in a later season. In fact, the one legit mystery about her was why her “psychic” told her to get on this specific plane, when we later find out he’s a fraud – and that is something they never bother to explain. Good work, guys. I actually distinctly recall this being the first time I ever fell asleep watching the show, as a result of "resting my eyes" during her rather generic flashbacks revolving around her boyfriend and adoption drama.

But this episode is the rare time that the A and B stories connect in a meaningful way (it’s also the first time a character has a “current time” voice-over for one of their flashbacks, I think). While Claire is being attacked and being hit on by Charlie, Hurley is trying to build up a roster of who’s who, putting names to faces and such. The subplot is mostly played for laughs, due to Jorge Garcia’s oft-improvised responses and lack of tact (calling Ethan by his wrong name, for example). It also has a wonderful little moment where he walks over to Sawyer and manages to get what he wants with no resistance on Sawyer’s part. In fact, Sawyer actually seems impressed and sort of charmed by the exchange, and it’s the beginning of their fan-pleasing bromance (all time favorite Sawyer moment – “If you hurt one hair on his curly head...”).

But then Hurley realizes that Ethan Rom (as everyone knows, this is an anagram for "Other Man". But it’s also one for "Hate Norm", which I think should be explored as well) wasn’t on the plane, just as Ethan turns full villain in front of Charlie and Claire. It also coincides with the return of Sayid, who is babbling about the French woman and the other stuff he learned. It’s the most tense the show has been in several weeks, frankly.

We also get a funny little bit about “Scott and Steve”, a running joke in the form of two sock characters that would ultimately die (one early on, the other I assume during the season 5 massacre). I could never tell them apart, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers switched their identities around just for fun. But at least they had names; we never found out much about the 25 or so other folks.

Another thing I liked about this episode was that it kicked Charlie’s affection for Claire into full gear. In early promos for the show (perhaps due to his LOTR fame), Charlie/Dom Monaghan was featured prominently, as if he was just as big a character as Jack (he’s up there in the Season 1 image I used to make the banner! And don’t think I haven’t noticed the visual “irony” of me being between the real-life couple), but he hasn’t been given much to do (even in his own episode) that didn’t involve his drug addiction. It’s nice to see a different, and quite sweet, side to the character, and Monaghan seems much more comfortable playing the lovestruck guy than a junkie. His fondness for Claire (which was sadly never equally returned, in my opinion) would culminate in one of the show’s all time best episodes (“Greatest Hits”), and watching this one again makes me sort of dread having to re-watch the episodes where she was afraid of him due to his drug habit. I wanted these two to be happy forever, dammit!

Good episode (on the island anyway). Worth the original wait.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Solitary"

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

FOCUS: SAYID
EPISODE: 1.9
AIRDATE: NOVEMBER 17, 2004

One of my all time favorite movies is Cast Away, which is actually what drew my attention to Lost in the first place (a “Fall TV Preview” billed it as “Cast Away meets The X-Files”), so I was sort of excited for “Solitary”, because I thought it would be the start of a multi-episode storyline of Sayid living on his own, finding food and shelter without the help of the others, stuff like that. You know, like Cast Away, but without the volleyball.

But the plot lasts roughly 19 seconds. The episode opens with him taking a break, looking at poorly composited in photos of Nadia (I assume they didn’t have her cast at the time they shot the scene?), and then he looks over and sees the cable that leads him to Rousseau. Good spot for a break I guess! Oh wait, everything happens for a reason. Either way, it would have been nice to see him on his own a bit longer – for all we know this is the first time he even stopped (though Kate says he’s been gone two days – which means that this is the first time we’ve skipped over a full day), and it would be a while before we’d learn how far the cable was from the beach (and even longer until we found out what it was for).

Rousseau is of course the first person we see on the island that wasn’t part of the crash (at least, so we think – more on that in a bit), and revealed as the speaker on the recording. Our first big mystery solved! Remember how we thought all mysteries would only take 5-6 episodes to get resolved? We were so young and trusting... Mira Furlan would continue to pop up at random throughout the show’s run, once to hilarious effect (collecting dynamite) but usually just to help along some plot thread. She was always a welcome presence, however – I would have loved an episode devoted to her throughout the years.

The B plot is a rare “light” story about Hurley building a golf course, mainly as a means of allowing everyone to have a little fun so that they didn’t go crazy from all the bad stuff (Jorge Garcia’s delivery of “How?” when Jack says that things could be worse is award-worthy). It’s a rare treat to see everyone having fun, and allows for a nice moment for Sawyer, who makes a bet (against Jack of course) using some of his much-coveted supply of sunscreen, which I always took as him more or less giving it away as a nice gesture. Of course, we never find out who won (I don’t think?). Let’s assume Jack sunk his putt and Sawyer happily gave away 2 tubes of sunscreen to Boone and Kate, while calling them random names.

We also get introduced to Ethan (William Mapother), who like all non original cast members, would be clumsily shoe-horned in as if they were someone that was there all along. It’s something the show never really got good at (Nikki and Paulo being the most clunky), so it sort of spoiled Ethan’s villainy before it even happened, but oh well. They don’t waste too much time trying to get you thinking he’s a good guy though; I think it’s revealed in the next episode. Either way: our first Other! Yay!

I didn’t really mention Sayid’s backstory – it’s a good thing they did it, because it made him a sympathetic character again after last week’s torture sequence. Who doesn’t feel bad for a guy who just wanted to help out a childhood sweetheart? It’s also a good example of how amazing the production design team was on this show – with very rare exceptions, they never left Hawaii to film anything, yet the show depicted (fairly realistically) Iraq, Australia, New York, Los Angeles, Korea... you watch shows like CSI: NY and anyone can tell you that they're actually in Los Angeles, but I was often fooled here. Nice work, folks!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Confidence Man"

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 1.8
AIRDATE: NOVEMBER 10, 2004

Since Sawyer was one of the more mysterious characters on the show, I remember being pretty excited for “Confidence Man”, as it would shed some light on his past. It’s not a particularly great episode (either on or off the island), but it got the ball rolling one of the series’ biggest “everything happens for a reason” revelations – the identity of the “real” Sawyer and how he related to one of the other castaways. Some folks figured it out prior to the actual episode where it was revealed, but I was not one of them. Score one for the writers.

Sawyer’s “late for a meeting/drops the money in front of his mark” trick would be used 2-3 more times on the show, so it’s kind of fun to see it actually working again, since the other times resulted in a plot turn of sorts. It’s also the “sexiest” episode of the show thus far; not only is Sawyer’s female mark (marcy?) smoking hot, but fans of Josh Holloway probably wore out their Tivo buttons during a few key scenes in the episode (“It’s about bunnies!”). There’s also that kiss that Sawyer demands from Kate, which goes on long enough for us to understand she’s not exactly repulsed by the idea. Over time, there would be a lot of relationships forged, though most of them were sweet or purely PG rated (Hurley and Libby). But whenever it came to Sawyer, for whatever reason, it’d be more about the sex (until Juliet anyway). Remember when he boinked Ana Lucia out of nowhere? Dude got more play on this show than the rest of the guys combined.

Claire also finally returns after taking the last couple episodes off. Charlie’s trying to convince her to move to the cave, and uses peanut butter borrowed from Pee Wee’s Playhouse to do it. It’s a sweet little subplot, with a random jab at Australians (why wouldn’t they like peanut butter?) thrown in for good measure. Their relationship was one of the more tragic in the series, so this stuff sort of breaks my heart when I start thinking about the show as a whole instead of trying to be ignorant of future events. However, Walt doesn’t appear in the episode, presumably because he was somewhere being “special”, whatever the hell that meant (biggest annoyance I had as a fan – the fact that these goons didn’t think a kid would grow up faster than the time depicted on the show, forcing them to write his character out and leave a giant plot thread dangling forever).

Speaking of watching with all the knowledge of future episodes at my disposal, the scene where Sayid discusses his attack with Locke is fun to watch. And it’s interesting, because Locke deftly throws Sayid off track by suggesting it was Sawyer who did it, which leads to the first of several dozen scenes of Sayid, our protagonist, torturing someone. He atones by taking off at the end of the episode, ashamed at what he did, but it was still a pretty ballsy thing to do with one of the show’s more endearing characters. And it was nice, in retrospect, to have a major plot development that occurred as a result of character action that was in no way connected to Dharma stations or time travel or whatever. The mythology was opening up (and in the next episode even more so), but the events of the show were still very much rooted in these characters.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Moth"

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

FOCUS: CHARLIE
EPISODE 1.7
AIRED: NOVEMBER 3, 2004

Despite having one of the most obvious metaphors ever committed to film, “The Moth” is a good episode of Lost. I don’t mind heavy-handedness too much, and Charlie crawling his way out of the “cocoon” is still better than the good vs bad nonsense in the 6th season (wrapping baby Jacob and baby MIB in white/black was the last straw). Still, now I look at it as a sign that these guys maybe weren’t the best writers in the world after all.

Otherwise, solid stuff. I liked the idea of a cave-in, because so far they hadn’t really faced much “real” danger (one cannot consider polar bear attacks in the middle of a tropical island to be something that would realistically come up in this situation). Maybe it should have been someone more expendable inside, since Jack isn’t really in danger until the last episode of the show, but it still works. And I like that it gives Michael something to do besides say “Come on, man” to Walt for once, plus lets him and Jin work together to save Jack (I also like that Jin puts aside his “Me man, you woman” attitude towards Sun for a while, letting her get dirty and help move rocks).

It’s also the first time we can really feel sympathetic toward Sawyer, since Kate is such a bitch to him in this one. He even goes out of his way to tell her about Jack’s accident, but when she berates him (twice) before he even speaks, he decides not to. Her fault. There was a moment in an earlier episode where he related to Boone how much it sucked to be the one everyone hated, but here was the first time you got a good glimpse of the conflicted hero he’d eventually become. When Kate says “You’re actually comparing yourself to JACK?”, Josh Holloway totally nails the hurt look in his eyes.

I haven’t talked much about the acting on the show; I think they were all pretty great in their roles, but a lot of them, Holloway included, seem to have perfected one character and don’t have much range beyond that. I couldn’t imagine him playing Jack, for example (nor could Matthew Fox pull off Sawyer). Of all the folks I wasn’t familiar with prior to the show, Naveen Andrews seems to be the one most capable of taking on a completely different role with ease. But they all pale to Terry O’Quinn, who gets some nice moments with Charlie in this episode, making him beg for his heroin 3 times before he will actually give it to him.

Quick note – I never thought about it, but Charlie tosses his stash into the fire that is cooking their food. Enjoy your heroin-smoked boar, everyone!

As for the flashbacks, I liked how they each took place months or even years apart; showing them before they even got signed, to the peak of their fame, to when it was all over. But I think they should have shown something in between him first trying it and the last flash, where his brother is now clean and he’s a mess – how did that transition occur? We got some of that filled in over the years, but the way it was structured here was awkward at best. I know fans like to “organize” the flashbacks in chronological order (at least, on paper) – of all of them, Charlie’s would be the one that would require the most work, because his flashback episodes tended to span many years, filling in blanks like that one while adding other pieces to the puzzle.

But hurrah! Another one without any lingering mysteries! Good old season 1.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...