"New Man In Charge"

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

FOCUS: BEN, HURLEY
EPISODE: 6.18?
AIRED: N/A

12 minutes to explain a few of the show's plot holes in a non-amusing, annoying, largely sloppy (why would Chang explain polar bears and room 23 in the same video?) way? Fuck you, "New Man In Charge". What a total waste of time. Worse, it even has its OWN new, never-to-be-answered questions? What the hell do they want Walt for, exactly? Who is watching the island while both Ben and Hurley are dicking around in Santa Rosa? And what did they do with Desmond, which I seem to recall hearing was the point of the thing in the first place? Yeah, thanks for letting us know why Chang had a different name, though. Pointless fan-wank.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"What They Died For"

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

FOCUS: JACK, LOCKE, DESMOND, BEN
EPISODE: 6.16
AIRED: MAY 18, 2010

There’s a “law” of sorts, particularly for television, that states that unless we see the body, a character isn’t dead. So when Smokey “kills” Richard in “What They Died For”, I knew it was BS, just like I was pretty sure Lapidus wasn’t dead (though things were a bit grimmer for him since we at least saw his body hit the floor). You can fool me with the timeline and other nonsense, but you can’t fool me into thinking someone is dead when they’re not, Lost!

Actually a lot of the island stuff is kind of dumb in this one. I really hate how Widmore goes out, simply being shot moments after arriving on the main island. Especially at the hands of Ben; while I understand the “poetry” of it (for lack of a better word), Ben’s random return to villainy didn’t sit well with me, and since I always enjoy the idea of enemies teaming up against bigger enemies, I was hoping for more of their uneasy alliance leading into the finale. Widmore was sort of a 2nd main villain on the show after Smokey – he should have been part of the finale. Points for Zoe's death though, not only is it a good shock moment, it's also hilarious that Locke points out how pointless she was. Good call, Smokey!

It also makes “Across The Sea” even more annoying, since Jacob explains all the key points anyway. Again, had thAT episode taken place at the beginning of the season, the refresher would be appreciated, but this aired a week later – we haven’t forgotten the basics. I like that Jack takes over, however, and Sawyer’s “God complex” line is hilarious – it’s the rare time I disagree with Kate (I would have laughed and shook his hand for that one, not told him to shut up). At the time, I was sort of like “Wait, this is already settled? What the hell is going to happen in the finale?”, so on a re-watch it’s actually a lot of fun – Jack’s NOT the guy after all.

The sideways stuff is a hoot though. Giacchino’s score is wonderfully frantic, particularly in the later scenes where Desmond is playing puppet master. Ana Lucia’s appearance was a nice surprise (why she wasn’t “ready”, I’m still unsure), as was Hurley’s ugly orange Camaro. I would have liked a little more with Desmond and Hurley planning things out, but I guess that would have been hard to do without giving away the big secret. One thing that’s sort of odd about the revelation is that no one seems to mind that (spoiler!) they’re dead – with the exception of Jack, they sort of take the news pretty easily.

And I love the Ben/Desmond scene. Even a second time around I thought he was going to run Locke over again, which is just hilarious. But I also like how he “wakes” Ben up, by beating the bejesus out of him one more time. I bet the makeup folks on Lost were glad it was over, knowing they’d never have to make Michael Emerson look beat up ever again. The stuff with Alex is also very sweet, and again ties into the idea of the flash sideways being a way for them to put their biggest personal demon at rest (which again is why the Sawyer and Sayid sideways stuff was largely horrible). Jack and Locke’s scene is a bit on the nose (nearly every line is a repeat of a line they have said before – Christ, why didn’t THAT wake them up?), but again, it’s always nice to see them talking as friends again. When you watch the first season, even when they disagree, there was always a mutual respect for one another, and I really missed that as the show progressed. One of the show’s biggest failings, I think, was killing Locke off without ever having one last real scene with Jack (though “The End” at least has a good line of dialogue to make up for it).

Well, that’s it! Tomorrow’s the big finale! I’m about to get 90 minutes of my day back!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Dr. Linus"

JANUARY 25, 2011

FOCUS: BEN
EPISODE: 6.7
AIRED: MARCH 9, 2010

If I had any time, I’d string together all of the major Ben episodes (not just his “centric” ones, but his introduction, the reveal he’s an Other, etc) and marvel at the change he made over the course of the five seasons he was on the show. Ben (and Michael Emerson’s performance) were such an integral and enjoyable part of the series, it was almost odd to go back to S1, when he wasn’t even mentioned let alone present. And with perhaps the exception of Jack, he made the biggest change as a character, which came more or less to its conclusion in “Dr. Linus”, which cemented him once and for all as a good guy.

Of course, the writers had been leading him in that direction for a while now, but he was still showing his manipulative side here, lying about how Jacob died, only for Miles to use his superpower to expose him. But by the episode’s end, he had made amends, apologized to Ilana (who claims Jacob was like a father to her, and we’ll just have to take her word for it I guess), and had been seemingly accepted by the group for once – Sun even lets him help her put the tarp on her little tent. I guess they could have had Jack and/or Hurley shake hands or hug him when they returned to the beach and went through the familiar “reunion” routine, but I suppose that would be pushing it.

Especially since, despite being a mostly good episode, the writing gets painfully on the nose more than once, with Ben discussing both on the island and in the flash sideways how different life would have been had this happened or not happened, as if we didn’t get it yet. Having Ben and Jack hug it out might have killed all of the episode’s goodwill, which in retrospect would be even MORE upsetting since this is an other instance of the “waiting room” having a strong emotional story that in many ways serves as a character redeeming themselves for their biggest failing in life, in this case Ben’s failure to save Alex. As I mentioned yesterday, these sort of stories were far more logical and meaningful than Sayid’s typically action heavy tale, and validates the whole “Lost Heaven” idea, especially when you know that’s what it is.

The Jack and Richard stuff is also quite good, as we finally learn a bit about Richard’s agelessness (love Hurley asking him if he’s either a cyborg or a vampire), and their faceoff in the Black Rock is pretty sweet too. I almost sort of wish that Richard panicked and put the fuse out himself, just to maybe put some doubt into Jack’s mind again (he’s pretty much a firm believer now, or, fittingly, a “Man of Faith”), but you can’t deny it’s a pretty awesome scene. It’s also the rare time Richard ever really talked to anyone besides Locke or Ben; it’s a shame that he was finally added to the main cast this season but never really got integrated with the rest of the characters.

This episode also has one of the more annoying instances of the sudden rain that has plagued the show from the very beginning. It rains all the time in Hawaii, and being a TV show set almost entirely outside, they can’t very well just go to a cover set or delay filming. So you’ll often see it raining in a scene even though it wasn’t raining in the scenes before or after, and there’s not much they/you can do about it. But here, it’s actually raining pretty strongly in HALF of a scene! Jack and Hurley are chatting, and on Hurley’s shot it’s clear, but on Jack’s it’s pouring, and you can’t even HEAR it, rendering the scene very distracting and fake. If it were up to me (and nothing ever should be), I would have digitally added rain on Hurley’s coverage and added in the appropriate sound effect, so it would at least be consistent for the scene.

Also, while I could certainly live with never hearing their names again, I love the sort of “epilogue” to the Nikki and Goddamn Paulo story, with Miles bringing up their diamonds very casually as a funny shoutout, and then seemingly robbing their graves at some point to get the diamonds for himself, which should more than take care of his 3.2 million dollar wish. Lucky bastard. I need to have the power to talk to the dead! All I want is like 50 grand to pay off my debt and buy a new car, jeesh.

Final note - according to the Lostpedia, the role of the principal was written specifically for William Atherton. Way to creatively cast, Lost writers – have William Atherton playing an asshole. Too bad they couldn’t work in Reginald VelJohnson as a cop or maybe Michael Cera as a socially awkward annoyance.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Dead Is Dead"

JANUARY 14, 2011

FOCUS: BEN
EPISODE: 5.12
AIRED: APRIL 8, 2009

Apparently, "Dead Is Dead" is the lowest-rated episode of Lost ever (per Nielsen ratings), attracting barely more than a third of the audience that tuned in for its highest rated ("Man of Science, Man Of Faith"). That's kind of depressing, but what surprises me is that it suggest there were a lot of folks who watched the show casually. With a show this mythology and character heavy, I would think the ratings would consistently stay even or slide, not go up and down like they do for CSI or Law & Order (shows with little to no continuity - I know for a fact that L&O's three series don't even air episodes in order). Who the hell was like "Maybe I'll watch Lost this week..."?

Anyway, it doesn't deserve its fate, since it's a pretty good episode, especially in retrospect as it deals heavily with the "monster", whom we now know was embodied by Locke. The scene where Locke disappears after Ben falls through the ground in the cave, at first glance, seem to just be bad (convenient) timing on his part - watching for the first time I was probably thinking "Aw shit, if he hadn't gone off he could have seen the monster too!". Now I realize he had to go "change", and it's another strong bit of evidence suggesting that, as rather idiotic as it was, the idea to make Locke the monster was indeed decided long before it was revealed in S6.

There's also another scene where he mysteriously disappears, when Ben "calls" it by, well, whatever it is he does (looks like he's flushing a toilet made out of a hole in the ground). Perhaps Locke just took off in case Ben's actions caused a reaction in his "persona"? Or maybe he went to Alex's grave to get whatever he needed to turn into her later? I forget the specifics, but he can't just shapeshift into whoever he likes, right? Doesn't he need to touch the body or something? Ah, who cares - it's obvious just from Terry O'Quinn's change in how he plays the character that something is amiss, so while I really hated the decision, I'd have to defend it against anyone claiming it was made up in the episode it was revealed.

I also liked how Lost's casting folks once again found a young actor that could pass for the older actor whose role he was inhabiting for a flashback, in this case Widmore. He's way better than the guy we saw in "Jughead", for starters, and he could very easily be a young Alan Dale. Since they have the worst luck in the world when it comes to making its actors look younger (Ben looks completely ridiculous with his longer black hair), it's a good thing Lost has this uncanny knack for finding (presumably local Hawaiian) actors that we can instantly recognize as the younger version of someone we know.

I haven't talked about the music for a while. One thing I've noticed with this marathon "re-viewing" is that I can recognize the various themes for certain characters, Sayid's and Ben's in particular. I mean, I'd recognize the cues in the past, but this is the first time I noticed how they were tied to certain characters (i.e. you never hear those sad strings for Jack or Locke; they BELONG to Sayid). It would be cool if Michael Giacchino released a CD with just the themes for each character, I think. And I say again, few television shows have ever had such consistently great and memorable music, and I hope he continues to have such an impressive career.

Another good thing about this episode is that we finally see Desmond! Not for long; he doesn't even have any real lines beyond things like "Hey!", but it's good to see him all the same - he's been absent for like five episodes. And we finally learn why Ben was all beat up when he got on the Ajira plane - it was from the vicious beating Desmond gave him after he tried to kill him and Penny (but paused when he realized they had a kid - or was just momentarily distracted trying to figure out if "Charlie" was named after Pace or Widmore). And thus Desmond gets to join the club of folks who have smacked Ben around. Let's see, there's Jack, Sayid, Locke, Sawyer, Ana Lucia, Sun, Rousseau (butted him with her gun), Alex roughs him up a bit at the end of this one... hell, even Hurley threw a Hot Pocket at him. Dude's spent 75% of the show with bruise/cut makeup on.

So basically, it's a shame that more people saw "Fire + Water" than this, is what I'm saying.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Shape Of Things To Come"

DECEMBER 24, 2010

FOCUS: BEN
EPISODE: 4.9
AIRED: APRIL 24, 2008

OK, so now I remember why "The Shape Of Things To Come" would have made for a more tantalizing mid season ender - Jack's ridiculous ailment! It's probably one of the most worthless subplots in the entire series, a 24-esque excuse to cause more problems for our heroes than something of any real narrative purpose, but at the time we didn't know that - it would have been fun to guess about it for the 5 weeks Lost was off the air due to the strike.

The final scene of the episode is also far more cliffhanger-y than the one in the previous episode, when Rousseau and Karl were killed. Alan Dale's performance in the scene is wonderfully menacing (he seems to be channeling Anthony Hopkins), and again, we didn't know that everything they were talking about amounted to jack shit. What the hell is Ben talking about with the "rules" and why can't he just kill Widmore? Never explained, but again, at the time it seemed cool.

It's also a damned funny episode, which may surprise some considering how grim it can be (multiple deaths on and off the island). Sawyer's brotherly protection of Hurley ("If you touch one hair on his curly head...") is so wonderful, and I love the look on Sawyer's face when Ben tosses him a shotgun early on. The scene where Daniel realizes he's been caught in his lie is also quite amusing, so much that I can overlook the rather odd notion that Jack knew Bernard knew Morse code, since the two of them have never had more than a passing conversation. And it's kind of sick, but the casual and inane manner in which they kill off three of the nameless plane survivors is kind of awesome in a Silent Night Deadly Night humor kind of way. I mean, they literally line up to get shot to death, all the while missing Sawyer (I like that they replayed the scene from "Kevin Johnson" to remind us what lousy shots the mercenary guys are).

But Sawyer's inability to get shot is nothing compared to Claire's ability to survive HER ENTIRE HOUSE EXPLODING. I mean, the thing seemingly disintegrates half of the house's contents, hence Sawyer's relative ease of finding her in the rubble (which mostly consists of clothes and small junk), yet Claire comes through with a scratch on her head and momentary amnesia ("Charlie?"). That's some Jack Bauer level resilience right there.

However, it is also a bit of a sad episode. It's pretty painful to hear that Nadia was killed just months later (something we could surmise from "The Economist"), and Sayid's grief is quite well played. But also, the death of Alex (aided with some top notch Giacchino music) is pretty depressing - the season had been making some effort to turn Ben into a more sympathetic character, and they finally hit that point here, especially when he stayed behind to say goodbye to her. Poor Ben. Villainous, crazy, kidnapping Ben.

Also, as an LA resident, I liked hearing a shoutout to a particular intersection, and that it made sense. While "La Brea and Santa Monica" is not 3 blocks from where Nadia was seen getting hit in the episode that showed it, it's at least similar to the type of area they depicted (and the location of the Best Buy where I bought Rock Band!). I remember seeing a slasher movie called New Year's Evil that had police responding to a distress at "Ventura and Laurel Canyon", which was depicted as an isolated suburban area, when in reality it's a very busy, brightly lit intersection. Also, when I was in Boston, an episode of Dawson's Creek had Joey get mugged at "Downtown Crossing", which looked like a ghetto instead of the highly commercialized shopping area that is actually is. So good on you, Lost (which fakes all of its LA areas in Hawaii).

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Man Behind The Curtain"

DECEMBER 7, 2010

FOCUS: BEN
EPISODE: 3.20
AIRED: MAY 9, 2007

We waited all season, perhaps even further back (into Season 2), for Lost to give us a Ben-centric episode, and “The Man Behind The Curtain” finally delivered. And while not without some minor issues, it was worth the wait, providing several answers big and small, opening up a huge new aspect of the mythology, and ending on the best shock since Michael shot Ana Lucia and Libby.

Let’s get the minor stuff out of the way. Since Ben is still our main villain, it’s kind of disappointing that a big part of his demeanor is due to the old “he wasn’t held enough as a child” excuse. I was hoping Lost’s writers could come up with something a little less clichéd, though I admit it’s nice to have that sort of “bond” between him and Locke, whose mother didn’t die, but still abandoned him (and, I never noticed, both of their mothers are named Emily) and his father was a royal pain in the ass. They were also both born premature, another thing I never really picked up on before.

I also still don’t get why Ben lied about being born on the island. Was it just to provide a beginning of the episode twist? It seems like one of those things that they actually changed and thus it became a useless lie (like Sun never cheating on Jin) more than something that was planned. “He’s gonna say he was born there, but he really wasn’t! You know, so... he uh... um... Yeah.”

Otherwise, it’s great stuff. I love how something that was the source of a very fun and lighthearted episode (“Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”) had very grim origins. Not that I actually felt bad for Roger “Workman”, but it kind of takes the fun out of the earlier episode knowing that the skeleton was a guy who got gassed by his own kid when he was trying, for once, to be a father to the guy. Poor sod. And I don’t know, if my kid’s birth killed my wife I’d probably be a bit resentful too, so maybe some sympathy IS in order. He’s nice enough to Kate in Season 5.

The few scenes at the beach are also top notch, with a lot of tension and power struggles, plus the welcome revelation that Juliet doesn’t really plan to sell them out to her former neighbors. Ben’s plan seems a bit over the top ridiculous at this stage (again, why all the “bad guy” stuff? Why not just ask them if they want medical treatment if they’re pregnant, explaining that the Island will definitely kill them if not?), but I like the “triple agent” twist all the same.

It’s not hard to see why people hate Jack though, considering his attitude here. Even I, a big Jack supporter, want to smack him when he’s like “I hadn’t decided what to do about it yet.” Never quite decided if it was writer sloppiness or a character flaw, but sometimes Jack acts like a president, and other times a dictator. And I wish they could have spent a little more time on the folks who were potentially caught in the middle; Hurley is close to all three potential leaders (Sawyer, Sayid, and Jack) – who does HE side with in all of this? Or Charlie? And do folks like Desmond even care?

Tomorrow (or today!) – "Greatest Hits"! Good. I could use a good cry.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...