(Previously on Lost: “Ji Yeon“)
Well, I know it’s nearly a week late but I did finally get around to re-watching the latest episode of Lost. For those that didn’t read my previous blog on it, my local ABC affiliate (send them hate mail!) dropped the ball and for about fifteen minutes right in the middle of “Meet Kevin Johnson,” the broadcast was soundless. And for a show like Lost, that’s even more frustrating than it would be with any other show.
So I finally found time to watch the episode on ABC.com last night (whose episode viewer is not a big fan of Mozilla, or ad-blocking software, something I had to get around). Was it worth all of the frustration?
In short: yes. Even a sub-par episode of this show (which this was not) would be worth it because it’d still end up being a hundred times more interesting than most network television. But this week was particularly inviting because it’s to be the last pre-strike-written episode before Lost’s hiatus. The show returns on April 24th. Until then we do, of couse, have a lot of questions to ponder.
Last week, we were re-introduced to Michael Dawson, who we haven’t seen since Season 2. He was revealed as Ben’s “man on the boat” in wha’s probably been the worst-kept secret in the show’s history (the fact that actor Harold Perrinearu’s name has been in the opening credits all season probably didn’t help). This week, we get to find out exactly how he came to be on that boat.
The structuring of this episode was pretty weird to me. The meat of the episode was Michael’s flashback, showing his attempted suicide in New York, a meeting with Tom (the Others’ Mr. Friendly) and his subsequent journey to be on the freighter. And that was all fine and dandy. But there were bookends at the beginning and end of the episode featuring Ben, Rousseau, Alex and Karl and their plan to travel to the DHARMA Temple that just seemed kind of tacked on.
Don’t get me wrong. The stuff involving the Temple and how and why it exists and why Rousseau would agree to go and — Oh the ending! — It’s all very fascinating within the context of the show and the show’s mythology but the structuring just seemed kind of weird to me. If they’d dispersed bits of this story into the middle chunk, it would’ve felt more natural. As it is, the ending felt kind of out of nowhere. But shocking, nonetheless.
So here are some questions for this week:
- Which of the Others are able to travel to and from the Island, like Tom?
- How does the Island prevent Michael from killing himself? How far does its power reach?
- How did Miles know that “Kevin Johnson” was an alias?
- Why didn’t Gault seem surprised when Sayid outted Michael?
- Why did Rousseau agree with Ben about taking Alex to the Temple? This is, after all, the guy who stole her daughter for SIXTEEN YEARS. Why would she trust him at all?
- Who shot Rousseau and Karl?
- Are they really dead?
- Did Ben set them up or is it someone else’s doing?
Personally, I don’t think that Rousseau is dead. Re-watching the episode, I noticed a sort of knowing look between Danielle and Ben that made me think that maybe they had some sort of plan that we’re not privy to yet. Plus, I hate to think that Rousseau is going to be gone, especially without the writers giving us her flashback, something fans have been wanting to see for years now.
The writers have been very hush-hush about whose flashback will be in the returning episode in four weeks, but I’d like to think that it’s Rousseau’s. Now would be the perfect time for it, with her life in possible danger*.
And I guess the biggest question is this: Who really set up the fake Flight 815 wreckage that was found? The producers claimed that we’d have two different stories as to how that wreckage got there and that we’d have to decide who we wanted to believe. Well, previously, we were told by Captain Gault that Ben was responsible for the wreckage and the 324 dead bodies found in it. This week, Tom told Michael (and provided a little bit of evidence) that Charles Widmore was responsible for the charade. So who is it? Ben or Charlie Widmore? Or do you think they’re somehow working together? That’s probably the biggest mystery that the who has at the moment and one that I think we’ll get an answer to by the end of this season. Time will tell.
[screencap via Lost-Media.com]
*Reports, however, indicate that the flashback/forward (probably the latter) takes place in Iraq and that Michael Emerson (Ben) is filming scenes there with Naveen Andrews (Sayid). Other reports say that Bearded Jack has also been spotted. So is this a multi-character flash-forward or does GI Jack meet up with Sayid in the future (in Iraq)? I guess we’ll find out in a month…
REALLY GOOD RECAP!
you have good insights and thoughts!