"Whatever Happened, Happened"

JANUARY 13, 2011

FOCUS: KATE
EPISODE: 5.11
AIRED: APRIL 1, 2009

Proving once again that when they stick to their formula, Season 5 works, “Whatever Happened, Happened” is a pretty solid episode for this massively uneven season, and that has nothing to do with the fact that it’s a Kate episode (and/or that she looks GREAT in her 2007 scenes – I say again, she cleans up nice). Finally depicting what led her to decide to join Jack and the others in returning to the island, it’s both an emotional and an “answers” heavy addition to the season.

And not just answers pertaining to Kate. Once again acting as the audience surrogate, Hurley flat out asks how they can be in the past but not remember it, prompting an exasperated Myles (which I guess is “Miles”, with an “i”, but screw it, I like the “y” version better) to simplify it as best as he can. And I do agree it makes sense (though it’s hard to explain with words – I think it’s just one of those things that requires someone to think “fourth dimensionally”, as Doc Brown might put it), until Hurley presents the ringer – why doesn’t Ben remember them, if this stuff always happened? Of course, that’s what the temple is for, which is just a really lame deus ex machina, in my opinion, but at least they covered their bases instead of just saying “ah, fuck it”, like they did with most of the show’s unanswered problems (i.e. the people shooting at the Island group from the outrigger a few episodes back).

But back to my lady, Evangeline does really good work here. The scene where she talks to Claire’s mom is heartbreaking, and even though her actions on the island don’t really jive with her plan (if her primary goal is to find Claire, why hasn’t she even asked Hurley or Myles if they had seen her?), I liked that reveal, and the whole process of coming to realize that she couldn’t be Aaron’s mother (the grocery store scene, for example). Solid writing and acting all around.

I also enjoyed seeing her with Cassidy. I would have liked a moment where Cassidy was like “Holy shit, you know Sawyer too?”, but her theory on why he jumped out of the chopper actually makes sense, and adds another layer to their little triangle. And the scene where Kate tells Sawyer about Clementine (again, why isn’t Sawyer surprised that they had actually known each other?) is quite touching – Holloway’s baffled and sort of puppy dog-ish expressions are wonderfully odd to see on the guy.

Another good confrontation is between Jack and Juliet. First, it’s hilarious that she doesn’t even give him any privacy (nor does she seem too interested when he steps out of the shower, presumably nude – either she’s really pissed or Jack’s got nothing down there), but it’s also one of the few scenes that they’ve had alone together in ages. Considering how much of S3 was built around their growing relationship, it’s a bit odd that they never really had any one-on-one time in S4 (apart from a few conversations about the Freighter Folk), and this is obviously the first time they’ve had a scene to themselves in S5. Wish it went a bit longer, but I love that Jack seems to be admitting to himself for the first time that he doesn’t know what to do.

And while I hate the subplot about Ben being shot, I liked seeing Roger being sympathetic for once. It’s easy to just think of the guy as a jerk, but if you put yourself in his shoes, you’d probably be a mean drunk too. And unlike Phil or Radzinsky (and now Horace) he doesn’t treat our heroes (in this case, Kate) with suspicion when they reveal that they’re not sure what they’re doing there, even though it’s pretty sad that Kate can’t even work a one lever device (she can figure out the difference between Boone and Sawyer’s “tracks” but not how to move a lever up and down?). And I actually feel bad for him when he finds out about Ben – it’s the most dad-like we’ve ever seen him.

So to sum up: an immensely satisfying episode, big on character moments and even answering a few questions without being too retconn-y or confusing. I was wrong through – this isn’t the one where Jack just shrugs and goes around cleaning chalkboards. I guess it’s in the next episode or so. Our hero!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"He's Our You"

JANUARY 12, 2011

FOCUS: SAYID
EPISODE: 5.10
AIRED: MARCH 25, 2009

Well, “He’s Our You” is a minor improvement over “Namaste”, but again, I really hate the whole “young Ben” portion of this season, and this is of course the big moment in the plotline, where Sayid shoots him. Now, if the writers had both the balls and the patience to deal with the repercussions, Ben would have died, never existed in the lives of the Oceanic survivors, and dramatically changed the plot of the show. But since we know they don’t, this whole plot is just a giant waste of time, and I hate it even more in retrospect because of the time they spend on it that could have been used elsewhere.

But there is stuff to like here. The flashback at the beginning is interesting, because it shows that Sayid has always had it in him to kill (the young actor also looks remarkably like Naveen Andrews, and while we’re on the subject, the kid playing young Ben is quite good too). Even better, this seems like it could be setting up yet another goddamn torture story, but the rest of the flashbacks primarily deal with a peaceful Sayid. After he kills the last of Ben’s list of folks who present some unexplained danger to our heroes (I believe that they are just random enemies of Ben, but they’re still unexplained), he joins some sort of Habitat for Humanity group and takes up ironic drinking, where he meets a woman that, for once, he doesn’t get killed or kill himself.

He also gets to explore new territory on the island – laughing! According to Lostpedia this is the 3rd time we’ve seen him laugh, but I don’t even remember those other instances (and really, Lostpedia creeps me out with this sort of ‘trivia’ – there was an episode a few back where they claim it was only the 2nd Jack episode ever where no one mentioned “home” – who the hell cares or even notices this shit?). But this is definitely the biggest showcase for such behavior; after Oldham drugs him up, Andrews has a grand old time, crying from laughing so hard as he tells them he’s from the future and what not. It’s a shame Oldham only made this one appearance, by the way – does he torture folks physically as well?

I also enjoyed the scene where Hurley brings Jack and Kate some breakfast. Not only for the hilarious notion that Hurley has settled in quite amiably to his new role in the Dharma Initiative, but I liked Jack’s “defense” of Kate’s feelings, which was unexpected. Hurley’s rambling about Sawyer hooking up with Juliet, which upsets Kate, and rather than let it continue to pour salt in the sound (which I would do, especially concerning someone I had slept with like 3 nights ago), Jack takes the high road, telling Hurley to zip it so Kate wouldn’t have her heart broken any further. Oh, Jack, you old softy.

But what the fuck is up with Sayid having to kick Jin’s ass? It’s another contrived moment – Sayid tells him that Sawyer let him go, but Jin decides to check? It’s your friend, asshole! You shouldn’t be confirming his freedom. Give him a gun and some Dharma cookies and wish him well, at the very least. It’s also kind of ridiculous when Sayid seemingly gets upset at Ben’s dad slapping him around – you’re the one who wants to SHOOT the little bastard. Just some sloppy writing if you ask me; makes for “exciting” moments but really doesn’t make any sense for the characters to behave this way.

It’s also yet another Desmond-less episode. Apparently (a reader pointed this out), the actor got accused of groping a female crewmember (during the 3rd seasons) and was sued, which may have been why his screentime was so limited, but the lawsuit wasn’t filed until late April of 2009 – when S5 would have already finished shooting. And it certainly didn’t diminish his role in the 4th season – he was in it as much as anyone. So it’s a mystery why they didn’t give him anything to do in this season, and the show definitely suffers from his absence.

Oh well, tomorrow’s a Kate episode at least. And I think it’s the one where we see Jack actually going around doing janitor shit, which kills me.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Namaste"

JANUARY 11, 2011

FOCUS: NO ONE, REALLY
EPISODE: 5.9
AIRED: MARCH 18, 2009

After three quite good episodes, we’re back to typical Season 5 “meh”ness with “Namaste”, which botches what should be emotional reunions of a bunch of characters (though Hurley and Sawyer’s hug is quite “awww”-worthy) and introduces one of the more annoying subplots from the season – Young Ben chilling with our heroes. Daniel’s established rules of time travel are tossed right out the window with this shit (leading to further idiotic ret-conning to try to correct the plot holes).

They also spend too much time on the rather uninteresting B story of Sun, Ben, and Lapidus heading to the main island. After the previous episodes’ interesting revelations (or at least hints) of the nature of Locke’s suddenly “alive” state, he doesn’t even appear in this one, and instead we just see this rather peculiar trio wandering through the jungle, making knowing looks at one another, and finally doing something interesting at the very end, when they meet up with Christian who shows them his version of the ending of The Shining. Well, two of them do; Sun suddenly realizes that she’s one of the few characters who hadn’t beaten up Ben yet and knocks him out cold for reasons I can’t quite recall.

The focus on this part of the story (they should have given it its own episode with Lapidus flashbacks, dammit!) robs the A story of a better pace. For example, Jack and the others seem to buy into the time travel thing quite well – there could at least have been a scene of it being “proven” somehow, or at least expressing SOME disbelief – Sawyer tells them it’s 1977 and then they just go off to meet their new Dharma employers. Christ, does Hurley even say “Dude...”? Jack’s scene with Sawyer also feels rushed – he comes over, Sawyer tells him that he likes to think instead of react, and Jack just sort of looks at him.

Also, he seems offended that he’s a janitor, which makes no sense since it wasn’t HIS aptitude test that got him there. He should be happy it’s remedial work and not something out of his field of expertise – he could have ended up having to be the Dharma priest or something.

And what’s with people not winking at Sayid? Both Jin and Sawyer get up in a very confused Sayid’s face and play their parts, but never give the poor guy any indication that he should play along too or that they aren’t crazy and are still on his side. Also, having TWO suspicious Dharma assholes seems a bit contrived; they should have left Radzinsky out of it, especially when we know he doesn’t die yet. So we have Phil in order to have a villain that can get his comeuppance at the season’s end, because no one’s ever mentioned him before. They should have just combined the two or something.

One thing I liked was seeing Marvin Candle/Pierre Chang interacting with Jack. Up until now he’s been this guy who seemingly existed in another area of the show, seen only in videos or in stand alone scenes. He met Faraday before, but having him deal with Jack, our main star and hero, really cemented him as a true character, and I enjoyed his subplot in subsequent episodes (though the Myles thing was a bit of a stretch).

As with the season premiere, I think the episode falters by not having a main character to focus on. The switching around through time is disorienting enough; it’s worse without a, well, a “constant” to ground us. And as a result the episode doesn’t really tell a story so much as it just moves all of the pieces around and lays groundwork for future adventures, rendering it rather uninteresting, especially on repeat viewings. Oh well.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"LaFleur"

JANUARY 10, 2011

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 5.8
AIRED: MARCH 4, 2009

A Sawyer episode! Haven’t had one of those in a while. “LaFleur” is interesting in that it’s REALLY a Sawyer episode – Jack, Kate, etc barely appear, but James is front and center for two equally interesting stories, one telling the story of how he joined the Dharma Initiative, and another showing him in a leadership role, dealing with a minor crisis before the shit hits the fan (i.e. Jack and the others arrive). And it aired on my birthday! Nice gift, eh?

What I like about the episode is that it’s actually the inverse of a traditional Lost tale. Usually the present day stuff is action-based, and the flashback tells a personal story that relates to it in some way. But here, the 1974 tale has the action (shootouts! A hostile breach!), and in 1977, Sawyer’s finally coming around to enjoying a life without Kate. And while I certainly don’t buy that a man could forget what my lady looked like after just three years (I’d say at least 10), the sentiment is quite heartbreaking.

But at the same time, I really enjoyed the scenes depicting his growing relationship with Juliet. Her claim that she’ll continue to have his back (and the look on her face when he asks it again at the end of the 1974 tale) is quite touching, and it’s actually one of the few romances born out of the show that I totally buy. Sayid and Shannon never made any goddamn sense, and Kate’s back and forths with Jack and Sawyer usually sprung from her being pissed at the other - as much as I liked seeing her and Jack together in the present day, the two never really had that sort of bonding (not counting their very first meeting) that we see with Juliet and Sawyer here. Good stuff.

It was also fun to see him in a leadership role, and being respected to boot. Folks looked up to him, and he seemed happy. He barely even got to be funny in the 1977 scenes (though I liked his reference to the “coconut telegraph” – good thing he switched it from “internet”), but he did get to help settle a couple’s minor squabble and give his girlfriend a flower. And he makes it believable – good on Josh Holloway for his performance here. He’s barely ever gotten to play anything but an anti-hero, but here? Shit, he’s bordering on Matthew McConaughey rom-com mode at times. He even has his hair combed! I’m guessing this episode is a favorite amongst his female fans.

Speaking of the couple, the female is none other than Reiko Aylesworth, who was one of the few characters I liked on 24 (so of course, she was killed). And one of the Dharma guys who first sees “the hostiles” at the beginning of the episode is Kevin Rankin, better known as Herc from Friday Night Lights (the best show on TV!). Lost employed a lot of folks from my other favorite shows over the years, and S5 would be a goldmine – in addition to these two, Jacob was played by the guy who played Lucifer on Supernatural (and the Man in Black, aka Titus Welliver, also appeared on that show), and the great William Sanderson from Deadwood (and about a million other things) will be popping up in “He’s Our You”. All they needed was someone from MST3k and I’d probably be able to forget most of the stuff I didn’t like about the season!

Anyway, damn good ep, possibly the best in the season. Can’t remember specifically liking any one episode for the rest of the season (I’ll know for sure in about 10 days I guess).

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham"

JANUARY 9, 2011

FOCUS: LOCKE
EPISODE: 5.7
AIRED: FEBRUARY 25, 2009

When I decided to re-watch the entire run of Lost (and write reactions for the joy of upwards of 23 people), one of the things I was most interested in seeing began with “The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham” – watching Locke now that I know he was the Smoke Monster/Man In Black from the moment the Ajira plane crashed on Hydra Island. Some folks have claimed that this was a nonsense, last minute decision made later, and perhaps they are right, but I definitely see some signs of it being the plan here.

For starters, Locke is definitely different here. He still loves fruit, but he’s oddly calm, and answers questions without being an asshole about it like he usually is. Poor Boone couldn’t even get a straight answer from the guy about the meaning of the word “trebuchet”, but now he’s politely telling strangers that he used to be dead. I also don’t care much for seeing him in a nice shirt; my Locke wears a plain T-shirt, dammit.

I also noticed that it was the second episode in a row to tell a story in linear fashion, bookended by present day stuff. And I had forgotten how much of a bummer it was; practically every scene is a downer, and had Locke not turned into such an unlikable asshole over the last two seasons I probably would have cried a few times, especially when he finds out Helen had died (which seemed to be more of an actor availability decision than one of storytelling, if you ask me). His scene with Jack is also quite depressing, and I wish it was longer – especially in hindsight when you realize it’s actually the last time the two men talk (well, I guess it is – Locke never tells him that anything bad happened on the island, which is what Jack says he told him in one of the previous episodes, so maybe they talked again later and we didn’t see it).

(I also forgot that they DO show what happened to the other folks on the plane, which I mentioned in yesterday’s review. Had anyone been reading I’m sure it would have been pointed out.)

I didn’t care much for the killing of Abaddon. I know he had to get back over to Fringe Division, but it seemed like there was more to this character than they had let on, and I don’t recall if he was ever even mentioned again after this. I know I’ve said it a million times, but on this show they should have just recast characters and dealt with it. Iron Man did it with Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle, didn’t seem to bother anyone as far as box office receipts are concerned. No, instead we just get annual single appearances of Walt, and someone always has to comment on how big he got. Real cute. Nice thing about a great story is that no one would really care about that sort of thing. Was killing off Mr. Eko way earlier than expected and annoying every fan on the planet (and leaving a lot of unanswered questions) worth sparing us the “jarring” sight of someone else playing the role? He died before the series’ halfway point; had the character survived until the series finale he would have been the more prolific Eko!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"316"

JANUARY 8, 2011

FOCUS: JACK
EPISODE: 5.6
AIRED: FEBRUARY 18, 2009

While it wasn't exactly a return to 1st season heights, "316" is one of my favorite episodes of the 5th season, thanks to a minimum of time travel (it only occurs when they transfer from the plane to the island), and more importantly - a focus on one character (Jack) in which the story and his personal demons are linked. You know, like the old days.

The key difference is that it's presented in one long "flashback" (it's technically a flashforward through time), something that only Desmond and Michael have been offered so far. The structure keeps most of the island folk off-screen entirely (only Locke's corpse appears, and Jin at the very end), which is fine by me. No time travel and we get to see Jack doing his Jack-thing for the bulk of the hour? Sign me up!

One nitpick I never really thought of before - this all takes place, what, a week after the season 3 finale, where we saw him as a total wreck? Yet he's totally cleaned up (as is his apartment) and functioning normally. I only noticed because Kate is now the one who's all depressed, spending most of the episode crying or hiding behind sunglasses. Their love scene is so damn depressing; as much as I enjoy seeing my lady engaged in bedroom behavior, it's just uncomfortable - maybe they should have just cuddled? Or, if Jack was still all messed up too, it would have been sort of cathartic. Oh well.

Jack undergoes a pretty big transformation as this season continues (and goes full blown in S6), and it really starts here. First with the shoes practically falling in his lap, and then with the suicide note - you can really see that he's starting to buy into this stuff once and for all. One could argue that he felt that way the moment he read Locke died, but I saw this more as a guy at the end of his rope seeing an opportunity to redeem himself, not as a "holy shit, he was right!" moment. It's just a damned shame that the two men never really had another scene together.

And I have to applaud the writers (Lindelof and Cuse in this case) for sticking with Jack despite what seemed like a lot of action occurring elsewhere. It could have easily been another scattered episode, if they showed why Kate was sad, why Sayid was under arrest, why Ben had been beaten to a pulp for the umpteenth time, but they saved all that stuff for later. It's the rare occasion that it seemed they were withholding information not just to keep us coming back, but also to ensure they were providing a focused and just plain GOOD episode of the show.

It also has two of my all time favorite moments from their respective characters. First is Ben's hilarious response (and Michael Emerson's delivery) when Jack asks what will happen to the other people on the plane. It's not only funny because Ben doesn't care, but it's also a good meta-joke - you know there were some people wondering about it, so it was the writers' way of "explaining" that it doesn't matter. I always mock my wife for caring about the person who dies in the opening scene of a horror movie ("Why do you care if they die? You don't even know their name!"), and this is along the same lines - they're just anonymous blurs, and we only have 30 episodes left. There are more pressing matters! I also love that Hurley used his wealth to keep the body count down by buying every available seat. Good on you, Hugo.

The second A+ moment occurs a few minutes later, when Frank sees everyone on the plane and sighs "We're not going to Guam, are we?" I love that he barely knows these folks and is instantly OK with whatever nonsense they're up to - he could have easily turned the plane around before any shit went down. For whatever problems I may have had with the last two seasons, that Frank was still around (I figured he would be killed after 2-3 episodes, initially) made up for some of them. When Desmond was introduced, I was excited, thinking all new characters would be as interesting. Sadly, most weren't, but Frank bucked the trend - just a shame we never got to know too much about him.

All in all, a solid episode of Lost; the type that, when it aired, would rejuvenate my interest for the following week (when more often than not, something would annoy me and make me wish I could just wait for the DVDs or something).

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"This Place Is Death"

JANUARY 7, 2011

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 5.5
AIRED: FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Yay, Charlotte’s dead! Of all the main characters, I am pretty sure she is my least favorite – she was cold, uninteresting, and just downright unpleasant most of the time, with a ludicrous (and error-filled) back-story to boot. But her death in “This Place Is Death” serves two purposes; in addition to amusing me, it also raises the stakes on the time travel shit – you can DIE from this crap (just like the ratings! Hey-o!). A common problem with any continuing narrative is making sure that the audience understands how dangerous something is, and we usually just have to take their word for it. Not on Lost! Cast members are barely safer than the average extra.

Or should that be "safer than John Locke’s leg"? For what seems like the 59th time on this show, he falls and hurts his leg again (for a magical healing island that he supposedly has been “chosen” by, it sure injures him a hell of a lot). The first time, it was like “Oh no!”, because a. we still liked Locke and b. didn’t want him to have to be crippled again. But they’ve gone to that well (heh) too many times now, and he’s no longer as sympathetic anyway.

This scene is pretty interesting in retrospect, because Christian (who if I am remembering correctly is the Man in Black/smoke monster at this point, right?) won’t help him walk, when we now know that this being allows Locke to “live” again when he takes his place. The “Locke as smoke monster” shit really annoyed me, but at least there seems to be some evidence that it wasn’t something they pulled out of their ass during season 6.

Speaking of inconsistencies, nothing we see of Danielle’s past matches up with what she has related in the present day, but I guess she didn’t want to tell Sayid or whoever about the Asian guy who would disappear at random (don’t forget – according to Daniel, everything that happened, happened! Jin has ALWAYS met Danielle before she had her baby!). Jin’s plan to “prove” he’s dead also makes little sense – wouldn’t his word be enough for her? He’d have to pry the wedding ring off his dead hand (not to mention bury him without it – harsh) to make it so? And Jin knows Locke isn’t a fan of this plan – he could just as easily use it as proof he was alive (which is exactly what Ben does).

Also, since when does Jin not want to save his friends? He’s risked his life on several occasions to help Michael, Sawyer, etc – if Locke is telling him it’s the only way to keep all of them from getting hurt/killed, why doesn’t he trust him? Guess it’s because it’s only the 2nd time these two have ever spoken. On that note, his reunion with Sawyer is pretty sweet – good bro-hugging and genuine emotion all around! I also loved Ben freaking out on Jack and Sun for talking about wanting to kill him right in front of him – they have a point, but so does he – he HAS been quite protective of the Oceanic Six (he let them leave in the first place, for starters). Makes up for the sad moment where Sayid tells Jack to fuck off – they had been strong allies almost from the first episode, so this bummed me out. Then again, Sayid’s character is completely ruined from the moment he gets on the Ajira plane anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

And can we get a break on the fucking Geronimo Jackson references? It's the dumbest running gag in entertainment history.

Tomorrow – Jack and Kate play Blue Valentine!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...