Episode Title: The Beginning of the End
Air Date: 1/31/2008
And, we're back.
After a long hiatus, "Lost" kicked off season four, to big ratings during a time when America is so desperate for new, non-reality based content that they even stuck around after the episode aired to watch the absurd looking "Eli Stone."
The new "Lost" wasn't a mindblower, at this not the way that previous season premieres have been. Obviously, we didn't get anything as spectacular as our first look at the inside of the Hatch in season two or the revelation of the creepy Other-town in season three. But what fans were treated to last night was a lot of setup for what promises to be a wild ride in season 4.
Surprisingly, last night was a Hurley episode, and right away, in the new flash forward structure, we realize that he was one of the people taken off the island, along with only five others (The Oceanic 6.) So far we know half of the people who made it off-island- Jack, Kate, and now Hurley. The flash forward began dramatically, with Hurley in a high speed car chase on the LA freeways (as common a sight to Los Angelenos as rain in Seattle.) But it turns out that Hurley was being chased by the cops- because he ran out of a convenience store after being spooked by something. He didn't rob the place at gun point, he just ran off. I mean, even if Hurley run out with some HoHos and Twinkies without paying for them, would there really be a high speed chase with multiple cop cars pursuing him?
So Hurley gets himself committed, where he is visited by a creepy bald black dude who asks him if "they're still alive." As Jack made clear in the season finale, the Oceanic 6 have made some sort of hush hush deal in which they've promised to keep quiet about whatever happened to them on the island. Hurley's second visitor is more disturbing...none other than poor dead Charlie. The Drive Shaft singer tells Hurley that, yes, he's dead...but that he is there, right in front of Hurley. Charlie tells his old friend that "they need him," presumably referring to the other crash survivors he left behind on the island. When a pre-bearded Jack visits Hurley, he tells him that "it" wants us to come back. It, probably, being the island itself, which has turned out to be one of the most demanding land masses in the history of narrative fiction.
Back on island, in "the present" part of the story, Hurley has to deal with Charlie's death- and begins to think that his friend's warning that the people coming are not Penny's people means that Locke might be right, and they could be hostile. On his way back to the rest of the survivors, he runs into Locke himself...but not before he sees Jacob's creepy shack. Yes, Hurley can see the shack- and a person inside it, in the scariest moment of the season premiere. When he turns away from the little shanty, it's in front of him again. So Hurley's in tune with whatever crazy wave length allows Locke and Benjamin to see Jacob.
When the survivors finally reunite, Hurley has seen Locke's point of view, and decides that staying on the island might be the best option- because that's what Charlie died trying to tell them. The islanders split into two teams, with Captain Jack and Captain Locke being the leaders. Hurley, Claire and baby, the tied up Ben, and, shockingly, Sawyer, join team "stay on the island," while Kate and Sayid stay with Jack. The funniest moment of the episode was when Bernard, who promised to stay on the island with his ailing wife, asks Rose if she wants to go with Locke and she responds "I'm not going anywhere with that man." Probably a good call. He did put a knife in the back of the new arrival before they got a beat on whether she's a good guy or not.
One more note on the flash forward stuff- Hurley tells Jack "I should never have joined up with Locke," so he clearly regrets his decision...though we don't know what exactly went wrong with it. A weirdly upbeat Jack tells Hurley "it's water under the bridge, man," as if joining Team Locke was just a social faux pas, so who knows?
The episode ends with Naomi's friends parachuting onto the island, starting with Jeremy Davies, 90's indie film actor who starred in "Spanking the Monkey" and "Saving Private Ryan," and has always specialized on awkward bordering on creepy characters. When he takes off his helmet, he tells Jack "we're here to rescue you." Time will tell if he's lying.
So, on to theories.
Hurley can see Jacob and his house because of his "insanity" that landed him in the loony bin in the first place (which is where he was in flash backs and the new flash forward.) He either really is insane, or really can see dead people (which is why Charlie comes to him in the flash forward,) an ability he shares with Ben and Locke.
Hurley's igloo drawing at the loony bin has something to do with the arctic hatch from the end of season 2.
The creepy bald black guy is working for an organization looking for the island, and it's going to become very clear how important the island itself is to a lot of different people very soon.
Davies' character works for such an organization. They're not really there to rescue Jack or anyone. (This one is easy to guess, seeing as there are already promos for this season that give that away.)
Letting Ben go with Locke is a really bad idea. Like, really bad.
Jack will look weird with a beard, like Hurley said, but only because it will look fake as all hell. (I guess this isn't a theory, more of a statement on the beard from last season's finale- which, in my mind, is really the only thing I can criticize about that amazing episode.)
This season is going to kick a lot of ass once it gets going, and blow a lot of minds.
Showing posts with label Rescue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rescue. Show all posts
Friday, February 01, 2008
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lost Watch: Like, Woah
Episode Title: The Looking Glass Air Date: 5/23/07
There's just so much to talk about.
"Lost's" third season finale was an absolute stunner. Everything is different after last night. And now we're supposed to wait nine months until we get a new episode? It's just not fair.
So, the most important thing we learned last night? They get off the bloody island. At least Jack and Kate do, and probably Claire and her baby, if Desmond’s vision was accurate (as Charlie’s death would imply.) And we learn all this through an all new “Lost” storytelling device. In what has been described as a "game changer" by the producers, last night's Jack flashbacks were not flashbacks at all...they were flashFORWARDS.
Our first clue of this is when we see a depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, pharmaceutical addicted Jack with a very fake beard flying on an Oceanic Airlines flight, then stumbling around LA, a lost soul with nobody to turn to. He reads a newspaper clipping about a dead man and breaks down in tears, leaves a distressed voicemail, then steps to the edge of a bridge, ready to kill himself. Until a car crashes behind him, and Jack has to go back into hero mode, saving a woman and her eight year old child from the burning wreckage.
Immediately, this doesn’t seem like the Jack Shepherd we’re used to. Jack’s an alcoholic? Just when in his past did he become like his dead (or is he?) father? But the writers don’t let us in on their storytelling trick just yet.
Jack also attends the funeral of…someone. He is the only mourner who shows up, and doesn’t ask to view the body. So who is the deceased? We’ll get to that in the end…sort of.
On the island, in the “present” (or past now?) the showdown with The Others is imminent. Sayid, Jin, and Bernard (of all people) stay behind to blow the tents when Ben’s goons show up as the rest of the survivors head off to the radio tower to shut off Rousseau’s distress call, while Charlie is being held prisoner by some a couple hot Lesbian Others in the underwater hatch.
So yeah, a lot is going on.
When The Others show up, the plan almost works perfectly…almost. Sayid and Bernard hit their targets and blow two of the tents. But Jin misses, tries to run to closer to get a better shot, and is captured. Sayid and Bernard try to run and fight, but both end up surrendering.
The big survivor party sees that only two of the planned three explosions went off, and Kate wants to go back to the beach to help their captured friends, while Jack insists on pushing forward.
In the underwater hatch, Charlie tells his captors that the survivors are heading to the radio tower and that he is there to turn off their jamming signal. They radio Ben, who is surprised to hear them “break radio silence.” Apparently, the rest of The Others believed the two women were no longer on the island and that the underwater hatch was flooded and inoperable. Ben sends the eye-patch sporting Russian to the hatch to investigate, and decides to go to the survivors and “talk them out of” turning Rousseau’s distress call, and allows Alex, his daughter, to join him.
A shaken Sawyer, who is still upset after the events that went down in “The Brig” a few weeks ago, decides to go back to help Sayid, Bernard, and Jin, even though he is unarmed. Kate wants to go too, but he doesn’t want to bring her. Jack is worried about allowing him to go unarmed, but Juliet volunteers to join him and tells them that there is a hidden cache of guns that they can arm themselves with before they head back to the survivors’ camp…after Juliet kisses Jack passionately, raising more than a few eyebrows.
A distressed Kate doesn’t understand why Sawyer wouldn’t let her come and Jack explains that, duh, it’s because he’s trying to protect her. When Kate asks why Jack is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack tells her “because I love you,” in a matter of fact admission that Kate had to have known all along.
Poor Hurley, feeling left out and unsure of himself, asks if he can come along with Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells him he’d be useless and get them killed, in an honest moment that cuts Hurley deeply but had to be said anyway. And oh yeah, Juliet admits that there is no gun cache…she only told Jack there was so he would let them go help their friends.
So the stage is set for three epic showdowns, none of which disappoint.
Ben meets up with Jack and the two of them have a little chat. Ben tells Jack that if he uses the Satellite Phone, the people he summons to the island will kill everyone. He tells him Naomi works for a group of people who have been trying to find the island, who will ruin it. Jack (with reason) thinks he’s bluffing, so Ben radios in to Tom, who is holding the three survivors at the beach hostage, and tells him to kill them if Jack doesn’t relent. Jack won’t budge and hears three gunshots, thinking that he’s doomed his friends to three bullets through their heads.
Meanwhile, Desmond wakes up in the boat above the underwater hatch, with a whopping headache and Charlie’s goodbye note to Claire in his pocket. Before he has time to think what to do next, Eye Patched Russian guy starts shooting at him, so he dives down and enter the underwater hatch. Charlie tells him to hide before his captors catch wind that he’s there, but then Eye-Patch shows up. Charlie informs him that Ben’s been jamming any radio signals to the mainland through the hatch, and Eye Patch decides to radio his boss to decide how to deal with it. Ben convinces him that he’s doing the right thing, and tells him to kill Charlie- and the two unsuspecting female Others.
Eye patch shoots the chicks, but before he turns the gun on Charlie, Desmond pops out and shoots him with a harpoon gun. One of the dying Others tells Charlie the code to stop the jamming signal- the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” tapped into the keyboard (it was programmed by a musician, she says with her last breath.) So Charlie gets to have his big moment and turn off the jamming signal, which will finally get the survivors home. He taps the Beach Boys classic in the keyboard, the yellow light turns off, and a signal comes through…from Penny. An excited Charlie asks Penny about Naomi and the boat off the island, but she tells him that she doesn’t know anything about a boat…Naomi and her crew were not hired by Penny. Before Desmond can talk to his lost love, Charlie sees a terrible sight through a porthole…Eye Patch survived the harpoon through the stomach and is holding a grenade up to the hatch window.
Charlie locks himself in before Desmond can enter, the porthole blows, and water begins to rush in. Thinking quickly, Charlie scrawls a message on his hand and puts it up to the window, telling Desmond that it’s “not Penny’s boat.” Then he dies.
This is a “Lost” first…an original character and fan favorite is killed off. Yeah, they killed Shannon and Boone off…but nobody liked those characters anyway. Charlie’s death is hard to take, and Dominic Monaghan’s performance last night was the best he’s given in the series’ three year run. Charlie Pace, you will be missed.
Back on the beach, Sawyer and Juliet are trying to figure out how they’re going to take out the Others who have their friends at gunpoint…until Hurley zooms in, driving the Dharma VW bus into the action. Hurley! He hits one of the Others with the car, while Sawyer sneaks around and knocks one of them out with a branch. In the scramble, Sayid kills one of them with his legs, Jack Bauer style, and Sawyer takes Tom’s gun. When Tom surrenders, Sawyer still kills him, telling him “that’s for taking the kid.”
Hurley radios in and tells the survivors that they saved their friends and loved ones, a relief to Jack who believes he allowed them to die. At the same time, the jamming signal is off, and Jack and crew turn off Rousseau’s distress call.
We have cell phone reception, people. As Naomi tries to make the call with the satellite phone, she suddenly falls down dead.
Guess who? It’s none other than Mr. John Locke, who was summoned out of what would have been his grave by none other than Walt, or a figment of his imagination in the form of Walt, or the smoke monster in the form of Walt, who tells him “you’ve got work to do, John.”
Jack picks up the phone, and Locke points a gun at him, telling him he’s not supposed to make the call. Jack stands strong, telling him that “I’m done letting you keep us on this island.” Locke relents, unable to shoot Jack, and a desperate Ben yells out “you don’t know what you’re doing!” But the call is complete, and the man on the other end of the line tells him they are coming. And soon.
Cut to the last scene of the “flashforwards.” Jack meets up with someone at the airport…it’s Kate. A distressed Jack tells her that he’s been flying all the time with his “gold pass” that Oceanic gave him, hoping that the plane would crash and take him back to the island. He tells her that “we weren’t supposed to leave,” and that “we have to go back.” Kate leaves, saying she has to go back to “him” (Sawyer?) and leaves Jack to his misery.
WOAH.
So at least Jack and Kate got off the island, and presumably a lot of the survivors have. Charlie’s sacrifice has made it possible for the survivors to be rescued…but the people it’s not clear if the people on Naomi’s boat are the ones who will be doing the rescuing. And a haunted Jack clearly has decided that coming back to the real world was the wrong move…that Locke, and maybe even Ben, were right the whole time.
Mindblowing. The finale implied that “Lost” may be done with the flashbacks, and the “flashforwards” might just be the new way the show will tell its labyrinthine story. Which sounds amazing to me. I can’t wait to see where this baby goes next.
As always, the episode has raised a whole lot of new questions. Who was in the casket at the funeral that Jack attended? He said he was neither family nor friend of the deceased, and nobody else showed up. When he asked Kate why she didn’t come, all she said was “why would I?” So who was it? My money’s on Michael. He betrayed the survivors and murdered two of them, so why would they go to his funeral? But it always could be Ben, or even Locke. His bizarre behavior would imply that not many people like him much anymore. And if he had to leave the island, he might be inclined to kill himself. This would also explain Jack’s guilt and remorse for leaving the island.
And what about Jack talking about his father as if he’s alive in the future? Christian Shepherd is dead. How can Jack tell the hospital’s new chief of surgery to bring his father down and see if he’s drunker if he’s dead? And how can Jack try and get prescriptions for drugs from his father if he’s dead? Did Jack come home to another timeline where his father never died? Is he just delusional at the point that he asks about him?
What are they going to do about Ben? What is Locke going to do? And who the hell did Jack talk to on the phone…are they coming to rescue the survivors…or slaughter them?
Anyone who doubted the show, anyone who turned away from it, gave up on it…it’s time to come back. The show is better than it’s ever been on every level, and it’s time for you to come back to “Lost.” If you thought the show had lost it’s way, you’re wrong. Just get over your fanboy pride and get back on the “Lost” train.
Season 3 ended with a note perfect episode. It was exciting, funny, emotional, and satisfying on every level. Almost every story beat planted earlier in the season has paid off, including the seemingly stupid VW bus episode. The only thing that didn’t pay off was the “Jack’s Tattoo” episode…everything was working in their favor last night to the point that I thought it was going to be the key to killing the smoke monster. The confidence in the storytelling on the show at this point is astounding, and I can’t wait to see how they bring the show to a close over the next three seasons. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I really think they’re going to pull the whole thing off and actually have satisfying ending for loyal fans. If they can equal what they achieved last night, then “Lost” is going to go down as one of the all time great shows.
Nine months is a long time.
There's just so much to talk about.
"Lost's" third season finale was an absolute stunner. Everything is different after last night. And now we're supposed to wait nine months until we get a new episode? It's just not fair.
So, the most important thing we learned last night? They get off the bloody island. At least Jack and Kate do, and probably Claire and her baby, if Desmond’s vision was accurate (as Charlie’s death would imply.) And we learn all this through an all new “Lost” storytelling device. In what has been described as a "game changer" by the producers, last night's Jack flashbacks were not flashbacks at all...they were flashFORWARDS.
Our first clue of this is when we see a depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, pharmaceutical addicted Jack with a very fake beard flying on an Oceanic Airlines flight, then stumbling around LA, a lost soul with nobody to turn to. He reads a newspaper clipping about a dead man and breaks down in tears, leaves a distressed voicemail, then steps to the edge of a bridge, ready to kill himself. Until a car crashes behind him, and Jack has to go back into hero mode, saving a woman and her eight year old child from the burning wreckage.
Immediately, this doesn’t seem like the Jack Shepherd we’re used to. Jack’s an alcoholic? Just when in his past did he become like his dead (or is he?) father? But the writers don’t let us in on their storytelling trick just yet.
Jack also attends the funeral of…someone. He is the only mourner who shows up, and doesn’t ask to view the body. So who is the deceased? We’ll get to that in the end…sort of.
On the island, in the “present” (or past now?) the showdown with The Others is imminent. Sayid, Jin, and Bernard (of all people) stay behind to blow the tents when Ben’s goons show up as the rest of the survivors head off to the radio tower to shut off Rousseau’s distress call, while Charlie is being held prisoner by some a couple hot Lesbian Others in the underwater hatch.
So yeah, a lot is going on.
When The Others show up, the plan almost works perfectly…almost. Sayid and Bernard hit their targets and blow two of the tents. But Jin misses, tries to run to closer to get a better shot, and is captured. Sayid and Bernard try to run and fight, but both end up surrendering.
The big survivor party sees that only two of the planned three explosions went off, and Kate wants to go back to the beach to help their captured friends, while Jack insists on pushing forward.
In the underwater hatch, Charlie tells his captors that the survivors are heading to the radio tower and that he is there to turn off their jamming signal. They radio Ben, who is surprised to hear them “break radio silence.” Apparently, the rest of The Others believed the two women were no longer on the island and that the underwater hatch was flooded and inoperable. Ben sends the eye-patch sporting Russian to the hatch to investigate, and decides to go to the survivors and “talk them out of” turning Rousseau’s distress call, and allows Alex, his daughter, to join him.
A shaken Sawyer, who is still upset after the events that went down in “The Brig” a few weeks ago, decides to go back to help Sayid, Bernard, and Jin, even though he is unarmed. Kate wants to go too, but he doesn’t want to bring her. Jack is worried about allowing him to go unarmed, but Juliet volunteers to join him and tells them that there is a hidden cache of guns that they can arm themselves with before they head back to the survivors’ camp…after Juliet kisses Jack passionately, raising more than a few eyebrows.
A distressed Kate doesn’t understand why Sawyer wouldn’t let her come and Jack explains that, duh, it’s because he’s trying to protect her. When Kate asks why Jack is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack tells her “because I love you,” in a matter of fact admission that Kate had to have known all along.
Poor Hurley, feeling left out and unsure of himself, asks if he can come along with Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells him he’d be useless and get them killed, in an honest moment that cuts Hurley deeply but had to be said anyway. And oh yeah, Juliet admits that there is no gun cache…she only told Jack there was so he would let them go help their friends.
So the stage is set for three epic showdowns, none of which disappoint.
Ben meets up with Jack and the two of them have a little chat. Ben tells Jack that if he uses the Satellite Phone, the people he summons to the island will kill everyone. He tells him Naomi works for a group of people who have been trying to find the island, who will ruin it. Jack (with reason) thinks he’s bluffing, so Ben radios in to Tom, who is holding the three survivors at the beach hostage, and tells him to kill them if Jack doesn’t relent. Jack won’t budge and hears three gunshots, thinking that he’s doomed his friends to three bullets through their heads.
Meanwhile, Desmond wakes up in the boat above the underwater hatch, with a whopping headache and Charlie’s goodbye note to Claire in his pocket. Before he has time to think what to do next, Eye Patched Russian guy starts shooting at him, so he dives down and enter the underwater hatch. Charlie tells him to hide before his captors catch wind that he’s there, but then Eye-Patch shows up. Charlie informs him that Ben’s been jamming any radio signals to the mainland through the hatch, and Eye Patch decides to radio his boss to decide how to deal with it. Ben convinces him that he’s doing the right thing, and tells him to kill Charlie- and the two unsuspecting female Others.
Eye patch shoots the chicks, but before he turns the gun on Charlie, Desmond pops out and shoots him with a harpoon gun. One of the dying Others tells Charlie the code to stop the jamming signal- the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” tapped into the keyboard (it was programmed by a musician, she says with her last breath.) So Charlie gets to have his big moment and turn off the jamming signal, which will finally get the survivors home. He taps the Beach Boys classic in the keyboard, the yellow light turns off, and a signal comes through…from Penny. An excited Charlie asks Penny about Naomi and the boat off the island, but she tells him that she doesn’t know anything about a boat…Naomi and her crew were not hired by Penny. Before Desmond can talk to his lost love, Charlie sees a terrible sight through a porthole…Eye Patch survived the harpoon through the stomach and is holding a grenade up to the hatch window.
Charlie locks himself in before Desmond can enter, the porthole blows, and water begins to rush in. Thinking quickly, Charlie scrawls a message on his hand and puts it up to the window, telling Desmond that it’s “not Penny’s boat.” Then he dies.
This is a “Lost” first…an original character and fan favorite is killed off. Yeah, they killed Shannon and Boone off…but nobody liked those characters anyway. Charlie’s death is hard to take, and Dominic Monaghan’s performance last night was the best he’s given in the series’ three year run. Charlie Pace, you will be missed.
Back on the beach, Sawyer and Juliet are trying to figure out how they’re going to take out the Others who have their friends at gunpoint…until Hurley zooms in, driving the Dharma VW bus into the action. Hurley! He hits one of the Others with the car, while Sawyer sneaks around and knocks one of them out with a branch. In the scramble, Sayid kills one of them with his legs, Jack Bauer style, and Sawyer takes Tom’s gun. When Tom surrenders, Sawyer still kills him, telling him “that’s for taking the kid.”
Hurley radios in and tells the survivors that they saved their friends and loved ones, a relief to Jack who believes he allowed them to die. At the same time, the jamming signal is off, and Jack and crew turn off Rousseau’s distress call.
We have cell phone reception, people. As Naomi tries to make the call with the satellite phone, she suddenly falls down dead.
Guess who? It’s none other than Mr. John Locke, who was summoned out of what would have been his grave by none other than Walt, or a figment of his imagination in the form of Walt, or the smoke monster in the form of Walt, who tells him “you’ve got work to do, John.”
Jack picks up the phone, and Locke points a gun at him, telling him he’s not supposed to make the call. Jack stands strong, telling him that “I’m done letting you keep us on this island.” Locke relents, unable to shoot Jack, and a desperate Ben yells out “you don’t know what you’re doing!” But the call is complete, and the man on the other end of the line tells him they are coming. And soon.
Cut to the last scene of the “flashforwards.” Jack meets up with someone at the airport…it’s Kate. A distressed Jack tells her that he’s been flying all the time with his “gold pass” that Oceanic gave him, hoping that the plane would crash and take him back to the island. He tells her that “we weren’t supposed to leave,” and that “we have to go back.” Kate leaves, saying she has to go back to “him” (Sawyer?) and leaves Jack to his misery.
WOAH.
So at least Jack and Kate got off the island, and presumably a lot of the survivors have. Charlie’s sacrifice has made it possible for the survivors to be rescued…but the people it’s not clear if the people on Naomi’s boat are the ones who will be doing the rescuing. And a haunted Jack clearly has decided that coming back to the real world was the wrong move…that Locke, and maybe even Ben, were right the whole time.
Mindblowing. The finale implied that “Lost” may be done with the flashbacks, and the “flashforwards” might just be the new way the show will tell its labyrinthine story. Which sounds amazing to me. I can’t wait to see where this baby goes next.
As always, the episode has raised a whole lot of new questions. Who was in the casket at the funeral that Jack attended? He said he was neither family nor friend of the deceased, and nobody else showed up. When he asked Kate why she didn’t come, all she said was “why would I?” So who was it? My money’s on Michael. He betrayed the survivors and murdered two of them, so why would they go to his funeral? But it always could be Ben, or even Locke. His bizarre behavior would imply that not many people like him much anymore. And if he had to leave the island, he might be inclined to kill himself. This would also explain Jack’s guilt and remorse for leaving the island.
And what about Jack talking about his father as if he’s alive in the future? Christian Shepherd is dead. How can Jack tell the hospital’s new chief of surgery to bring his father down and see if he’s drunker if he’s dead? And how can Jack try and get prescriptions for drugs from his father if he’s dead? Did Jack come home to another timeline where his father never died? Is he just delusional at the point that he asks about him?
What are they going to do about Ben? What is Locke going to do? And who the hell did Jack talk to on the phone…are they coming to rescue the survivors…or slaughter them?
Anyone who doubted the show, anyone who turned away from it, gave up on it…it’s time to come back. The show is better than it’s ever been on every level, and it’s time for you to come back to “Lost.” If you thought the show had lost it’s way, you’re wrong. Just get over your fanboy pride and get back on the “Lost” train.
Season 3 ended with a note perfect episode. It was exciting, funny, emotional, and satisfying on every level. Almost every story beat planted earlier in the season has paid off, including the seemingly stupid VW bus episode. The only thing that didn’t pay off was the “Jack’s Tattoo” episode…everything was working in their favor last night to the point that I thought it was going to be the key to killing the smoke monster. The confidence in the storytelling on the show at this point is astounding, and I can’t wait to see how they bring the show to a close over the next three seasons. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I really think they’re going to pull the whole thing off and actually have satisfying ending for loyal fans. If they can equal what they achieved last night, then “Lost” is going to go down as one of the all time great shows.
Nine months is a long time.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Lost Update: Y'All Everybody
Episode Title: Greatest Hits Air Date: 5/17/07
With next week’s final approaching quickly, there are lots of balls of story being juggled by the “Lost” writers right now, and it’s nice to see everything really clicking for the show again. “Lost” stumbled a bit early this season and some viewers walked away from the show, but hopefully they’ll come back to it when the DVDs come out this summer, because it’s been as good as (or better than) the first season for the last four or five weeks.
Last night’s Charlie-centric episode was no exception. Charlie has been kind of worthless for, oh, two season now, but last night reminded me of why I found the character likeable and appealing…and it was in no small part due to the resurrection of that stupid song from his former band, Drive Shaft. It’s so ridiculous, but I love “Y’All Everybody.” I want to see Oasis cover it for real at a show sometime…that would be boss.
With The Other approaching and the survivors preparing for their arrival, Juliet tells the group that Ben is jamming all communications from the island in an underwater hatch and someone must swim into a supposedly flooded room and turn it off.
Desmond has one of his flashes and tells Charlie that it’s time…he has to die if he want to help Claire and her baby get rescued. A stoic Charlie agrees to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. It’s all very “Poseidon Adventure” or “Armegeddon.” The flashbacks were actually effective and poignant last night, because they scenes of Charlie remembering the best moments of his life before he knowingly goes into a situation he won’t walk away from. It was a nice change of pace from repetitive character beats in the flashbacks, and served more of an emotional purpose than a storytelling one.
Meanwhile, Jack has a plan for The Others. He tells everyone that Juliet has been instructed to mark the tents with the pregnant women with white at night so The Other know which tents to invade. Jack plans on filling the marked tents with dynamite and then “blowing them all to hell” (his delivery of the final part of the plan was classic Matthew Fox over-dramatic acting. He could teach a master class.)
The group realizes they must also head into the woods and turn off Russoau’s distress signal, which might also interfere with communications from the outside world, and that turning off her signal, flipping off Bens’ jamming signal, and the “blowing them all to hell” must happen all at once. It’s like a video game challenge for the survivors.
When Alex’s traumatized boyfriend shows up at the beach to tell the survivors that The Others are coming sooner than they feared, the group realizes they don’t have enough materials to wire the dynamite. So Sayid has another plan (he always does.) Three people will hide in the woods and shoot the dynamite when The Others’ enter the tents. Like in the end of “Jaws.”
Bernard shows up after an unexplained thirty episode absence and volunteers to be one of the shooters, demonstrating his expert marksmanship that was never alluded to in a previous episode. Whatever, it’s nice to have he and the always hilarious Rose back. Where have they been for so long?
The episode ends with Charlie and Desmond taking the boat out to the underwater hatch. Demond offers to take Charlie’s place, but Charlie knocks him out to ensure that he does it himself. What did I say? Just like “Armageddon.” You know, JJ Abrams was one of the 500 writers on that movie, so it’s not a shock. Just sayin’.
Ready to die, Charlie takes the plunge and swims to the bottom, entering the hatch…and surfaces inside a decidedly non flooded room. An ecstatic Charlie celebrates not being dead- until two bad ass chicks run out brandishing guns. Uh-oh.
So we’ve got Charlie being held prisoner in an underwater hatch, Jack and co hiking out to turn off the distress signal, and Sayid, Bernard, and Jin waiting in the shadows for The Others to attack, all of it culminating in next week’s episode. Oh yeah, and we still don't know the fate of poor, shot in the back John Locke.
Anybody think the Jack's plan is going to go perfectly in next week's finale? If you said yes, I’ve got a mystery island in an unknown region of the world to sell to you.
With next week’s final approaching quickly, there are lots of balls of story being juggled by the “Lost” writers right now, and it’s nice to see everything really clicking for the show again. “Lost” stumbled a bit early this season and some viewers walked away from the show, but hopefully they’ll come back to it when the DVDs come out this summer, because it’s been as good as (or better than) the first season for the last four or five weeks.
Last night’s Charlie-centric episode was no exception. Charlie has been kind of worthless for, oh, two season now, but last night reminded me of why I found the character likeable and appealing…and it was in no small part due to the resurrection of that stupid song from his former band, Drive Shaft. It’s so ridiculous, but I love “Y’All Everybody.” I want to see Oasis cover it for real at a show sometime…that would be boss.
With The Other approaching and the survivors preparing for their arrival, Juliet tells the group that Ben is jamming all communications from the island in an underwater hatch and someone must swim into a supposedly flooded room and turn it off.
Desmond has one of his flashes and tells Charlie that it’s time…he has to die if he want to help Claire and her baby get rescued. A stoic Charlie agrees to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. It’s all very “Poseidon Adventure” or “Armegeddon.” The flashbacks were actually effective and poignant last night, because they scenes of Charlie remembering the best moments of his life before he knowingly goes into a situation he won’t walk away from. It was a nice change of pace from repetitive character beats in the flashbacks, and served more of an emotional purpose than a storytelling one.
Meanwhile, Jack has a plan for The Others. He tells everyone that Juliet has been instructed to mark the tents with the pregnant women with white at night so The Other know which tents to invade. Jack plans on filling the marked tents with dynamite and then “blowing them all to hell” (his delivery of the final part of the plan was classic Matthew Fox over-dramatic acting. He could teach a master class.)
The group realizes they must also head into the woods and turn off Russoau’s distress signal, which might also interfere with communications from the outside world, and that turning off her signal, flipping off Bens’ jamming signal, and the “blowing them all to hell” must happen all at once. It’s like a video game challenge for the survivors.
When Alex’s traumatized boyfriend shows up at the beach to tell the survivors that The Others are coming sooner than they feared, the group realizes they don’t have enough materials to wire the dynamite. So Sayid has another plan (he always does.) Three people will hide in the woods and shoot the dynamite when The Others’ enter the tents. Like in the end of “Jaws.”
Bernard shows up after an unexplained thirty episode absence and volunteers to be one of the shooters, demonstrating his expert marksmanship that was never alluded to in a previous episode. Whatever, it’s nice to have he and the always hilarious Rose back. Where have they been for so long?
The episode ends with Charlie and Desmond taking the boat out to the underwater hatch. Demond offers to take Charlie’s place, but Charlie knocks him out to ensure that he does it himself. What did I say? Just like “Armageddon.” You know, JJ Abrams was one of the 500 writers on that movie, so it’s not a shock. Just sayin’.
Ready to die, Charlie takes the plunge and swims to the bottom, entering the hatch…and surfaces inside a decidedly non flooded room. An ecstatic Charlie celebrates not being dead- until two bad ass chicks run out brandishing guns. Uh-oh.
So we’ve got Charlie being held prisoner in an underwater hatch, Jack and co hiking out to turn off the distress signal, and Sayid, Bernard, and Jin waiting in the shadows for The Others to attack, all of it culminating in next week’s episode. Oh yeah, and we still don't know the fate of poor, shot in the back John Locke.
Anybody think the Jack's plan is going to go perfectly in next week's finale? If you said yes, I’ve got a mystery island in an unknown region of the world to sell to you.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Lost Watch: Enough With The Foreplay
NOTE: Sorry to my one or two readers for not posting this entry. I put it up on the Broadcaster Beat last week the day after it aired, but never got around to throwing it up on my personal blog. Also, I promise one day soon to get back to bloggin' about things other than "Lost," even if it is about other tv shows, movies, and the like...I mean, let's talk about "24" this year, am I right??
Episode Title: "Catch 22" Air Date: 4/18/2007
“Lost” was another transitional episode last night, all setup for what is coming in the last few episodes before the season finale. It was spiced up with Desmond’s vision of Charlie dying a violent death, but we knew that wasn’t gonna happen from the beginning, didn’t we?
Desmond has one of his jigsaw puzzle-like visions in which someone arrives on the island after ditching a helicopter- and he thinks it is Penny, the woman he abandoned. Unfortunately, Charlie dies in his vision and Desmond wants everything to go as he sees it in his head- because changing it will mean it might not turn out how he saw it, and he might not see Penny. Thus Desmond decides he is willing to sacrifice Charlie in order to reunite with his girlfriend.
Des puts together a team to enter the jungle that includes Hurley, Charlie, and Jin- telling Hurley they are coming on the trip because they are the ones who are supposed to go on the trip, according to his vision.
As they trek deeper into the jungle, Desmond becomes more conflicted about the fate he may be dooming poor Charlie to. His flashbacks underscore the theme of sacrifice, as we see that Desmond once tried to become a monk, living on a monetary and taking a month long vow of silence. But it turns out that he had a “religious awakening” right before he was to marry another woman, before he met Penny. Fans will remember that Desmond ended up on the island because he set off on a sailing trip around the world instead of marrying Desmond’s much longed for Penny.
This guy’s commitment issues have taken him to some strange places.
Meanwhile, back at the survivor’s camp, a soap opera is developing as Kate becomes jealous of Jack’s growing closeness with Other spy Juliet, who he is beginning to foolishly trust more and more. Kate sleeps with Sawyer again, but this time because she is jealous of Dr. Jack and the shifty Juliet’s new relationship. Poor Sawyer only gets laid when Kate thinks he is going to die or if she’s jealous. But considering Juliet’s mixed intentions, Jack’s affections will probably return to Kate soon.
Demond and co.’s journey ends the way he thought it would, leading up to Charlie stepping on a trip wire that launches an arrow. At the last second, Desmond pulls Charlie out of harm’s way, saving his life but altering the time line he saw in his head.
But the team has come far enough without Charlie’s sacrifice. They find a woman hanging in the trees who has parachuted out of a helicopter. She’s alive, but when they take off her helmet, it’s not Penny. Did Desmond's choice to save Charlie actually change the person hanging out in the jungle?
Whoever she is, she knows Desmond.
The episode had some pretty cool elements, and I always love time travel/ seeing the future stuff. There were a couple nice little Easter Eggs as well, including the photo on the head monk’s desk when he talked to Desmond in his office- the woman with the monk was the batty old lady who told Desmond in his alterna-flashback earlier this season that he was supposed to leave Penny and end up on the island, that the fate of the world depended on it. And the new stranger amongst the islanders is evidence that finally something has come of the crazy last scene in season 2 in which it was revealed that Penny is searching for Desmond, using paranoid dudes in a bunker in Antarctica.
So it was a cool episode that dealt with themes of fate vs. freewill, and set Desmond up with a very tough and compelling choice. But ultimately, it was another episode that was more setup for things to come. Hopefully, the payoff will be worth it. Personally though, I'm getting a bit tired of all the foreplay. Let's get to the action already.
Episode Title: "Catch 22" Air Date: 4/18/2007
“Lost” was another transitional episode last night, all setup for what is coming in the last few episodes before the season finale. It was spiced up with Desmond’s vision of Charlie dying a violent death, but we knew that wasn’t gonna happen from the beginning, didn’t we?
Desmond has one of his jigsaw puzzle-like visions in which someone arrives on the island after ditching a helicopter- and he thinks it is Penny, the woman he abandoned. Unfortunately, Charlie dies in his vision and Desmond wants everything to go as he sees it in his head- because changing it will mean it might not turn out how he saw it, and he might not see Penny. Thus Desmond decides he is willing to sacrifice Charlie in order to reunite with his girlfriend.
Des puts together a team to enter the jungle that includes Hurley, Charlie, and Jin- telling Hurley they are coming on the trip because they are the ones who are supposed to go on the trip, according to his vision.
As they trek deeper into the jungle, Desmond becomes more conflicted about the fate he may be dooming poor Charlie to. His flashbacks underscore the theme of sacrifice, as we see that Desmond once tried to become a monk, living on a monetary and taking a month long vow of silence. But it turns out that he had a “religious awakening” right before he was to marry another woman, before he met Penny. Fans will remember that Desmond ended up on the island because he set off on a sailing trip around the world instead of marrying Desmond’s much longed for Penny.
This guy’s commitment issues have taken him to some strange places.
Meanwhile, back at the survivor’s camp, a soap opera is developing as Kate becomes jealous of Jack’s growing closeness with Other spy Juliet, who he is beginning to foolishly trust more and more. Kate sleeps with Sawyer again, but this time because she is jealous of Dr. Jack and the shifty Juliet’s new relationship. Poor Sawyer only gets laid when Kate thinks he is going to die or if she’s jealous. But considering Juliet’s mixed intentions, Jack’s affections will probably return to Kate soon.
Demond and co.’s journey ends the way he thought it would, leading up to Charlie stepping on a trip wire that launches an arrow. At the last second, Desmond pulls Charlie out of harm’s way, saving his life but altering the time line he saw in his head.
But the team has come far enough without Charlie’s sacrifice. They find a woman hanging in the trees who has parachuted out of a helicopter. She’s alive, but when they take off her helmet, it’s not Penny. Did Desmond's choice to save Charlie actually change the person hanging out in the jungle?
Whoever she is, she knows Desmond.
The episode had some pretty cool elements, and I always love time travel/ seeing the future stuff. There were a couple nice little Easter Eggs as well, including the photo on the head monk’s desk when he talked to Desmond in his office- the woman with the monk was the batty old lady who told Desmond in his alterna-flashback earlier this season that he was supposed to leave Penny and end up on the island, that the fate of the world depended on it. And the new stranger amongst the islanders is evidence that finally something has come of the crazy last scene in season 2 in which it was revealed that Penny is searching for Desmond, using paranoid dudes in a bunker in Antarctica.
So it was a cool episode that dealt with themes of fate vs. freewill, and set Desmond up with a very tough and compelling choice. But ultimately, it was another episode that was more setup for things to come. Hopefully, the payoff will be worth it. Personally though, I'm getting a bit tired of all the foreplay. Let's get to the action already.
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