.jpg) |
| By THMS.nl [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
In flashbacks, Jack becomes obsessed with finding out who
Sarah left him for. He decides it’s his father and attacks him at an AA
meeting. Sarah bails Jack out of jail and tells him that Christian fell off the
wagon. It’s all Jack’s fault. On the island, Sawyer and Kate are kept in old
polar bear cages by the Others, and Jack is in a Dharma station called The
Hydra. A teenager named Karl is also in a cage, and he tries to escape, using
Sawyer as a diversion. They are both caught and Carl is moved. We find out that
Ben is the others’ leader, the others have a modern settlement on the island
(complete with houses and electricity), and we meet Juliet Burke, a blonde sent
to befriend Jack.
This episode’s title is a funny way to start the season
because season three is truly “the best of times and the worst of times.” It has
some great, legendary LOST episodes, heavy on creepiness, mythology, and jaw
droppers. It also has some of the worst episodes and a mostly terrible first
part of the season. It was good to start with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, but what
the Others were doing with them wasn’t particularly interesting. It ended up
being all about Jack, but couldn’t the writers have come up with a purpose for
Sawyer and Kate as well? The opening scene of this episode was incredible, as
was the introduction of Juliet. It took a while for us to trust her, and with
good reason. She’s one of the most mysterious, complicated female characters on
LOST, and we love how the actress portrayed her. The flashback was sad and went
a long way toward explaining Jack’s usual behavior. Still, the episode should
have had more forward-moving plot because it was a premiere.
Episode grade: B-
The Glass
Ballerina
In flashbacks, Sun’s father walks in on Sun having an
affair, so he orders Jin to kill the man. Jin beats him up instead (a scene we
saw in the first flashback), and Jae kills himself by jumping off a building
immediately after, because of the shame. On the island, Ben offers to take Jack
home if he goes with Ben’s plan once Ben decides to reveal it. Kate and Sawyer
have to smash rocks. Sawyer kisses Kate. Sun, Jin, and Sayid fight on the
sailboat until an Other boards and Sun shoots her. The Others steal their boat.
This should have been the third episode. By now, we want
to see the aftermath of the hatch imploding, not some boring tripe about how
Sun lies to her husband. We know Sun lies to Jin. We were sad that she had an
affair. We don’t think it was necessary to their story. All the sailboat events
were boring, even Colleen’s shooting. The interesting parts were Jack, Kate,
and Sawyer’s scenes, and nothing really happened there anyway. We liked the
scene where Ben showed Jack footage of the Red Sox winning the world series to
prove that Ben had contact with the outside world. Often, LOST would drag its
feet with a dull main plot, but then save the episode with a slamming final
scene. This was one of those times.
Episode grade: D+
Further
Instructions
In flashbacks, Locke joins a commune, but then he ruins
it. On the island, no one died from the hatch imploding, which is nice. Locke
and Charlie save Eko from a polar bear, and Hurley finds out that Desmond can
see the future. We liked the sweat lodge and the vision. No one is really a fan
of the commune flashback, but we didn’t hate it. We thought it went a long way
toward characterizing Locke further. He’s a screw up who wants to fit in and
have a purpose as well. He wants a family and he wants to not mess things up
for everyone, like he always does. Yeah, it’s weird, but we thought the
episode’s real disappointment was that the post-hatch danger was a freaking
polar bear. It redeemed Charlie a little bit though.
Episode grade: C
Every Man For
Himself
In flashbacks, Sawyer cons a fellow inmate to get out of
prison (and get some reward money for his daughter he just found out he had).
On the island, Ben cons Sawyer into thinking that the Others planted a
pacemaker in Sawyer’s heart that might kill him. Colleen (the woman Sun shot)
is rushed to Jack and Juliet for surgery, but she’s too far gone and dies. Her
husband beats Sawyer up. Kate admits she loves Sawyer. Ben reveals that they
are being kept on a separate island, so there is no way Kate and Sawyer can
escape by running away. Sorry Sawyer, you bored us. We don’t care about your
daughter or your prison deeds. The heart thing we got all flustered over turned
out to be a trick. Cute bunnies though, and Evangeline Lilly can sure act.
Episode grade: D
The Cost of Living
In flashbacks, Eko takes over as town priest after Yemi’s
death, replacing his brother, and he kills to protect the town’s inhabitants.
On the island, Eko tries to defend his actions to the smoke monster, but it
just kills him. Juliet tries to get Jack to kill Ben during the spine operation
Ben needs. We loved the video Juliet made and the music that accompanied it.
Eko’s death was so lame. We hated his
speech about how he didn’t sin. Um, yeah, he did. We’re glad the smoke monster
ate him. By this time in the series, we didn’t care about him at all, so a
flashback was boring and unwelcome. Then he died, making it an even bigger
waste of time. We think, overall, the Eko character was pointless because the
show was forced to kill his character before his time. They had to let the
actor go.
Episode grade: D-
I Do
In flashbacks, Kate marries a cop and tries to live a
normal life. She even calls the federal marshal and asks him to leave her
alone. After realizing she doesn’t “do taco night,” she confesses everything to
her husband, drugs him, and then runs away. On the island, Kate and Sawyer have
sex, and Jack sees it. Jack stops Ben’s surgery to give Kate and Sawyer a
chance to escape.
We know this episode doesn’t have a good reputation,
partly because it was a mid-season cliffhanger that frustrated viewers at the
time, but we liked it. We love Nathan Fillion from Firefly, Dr. Horrible, Blast
from the Past, and Castle. He was a LOST fan dreaming of being on the show
before he was on it. He seems like a really cool guy. His presence alone made
this episode for us. He’s such a sci-fi staple that he had to make it on LOST
at some point, just so he could be a small part of it. It might have been cool
to bring him back to see Kate after she got off the island. Too bad they
didn’t. We can’t decide if the sex scene was personal and hot, or disgusting
because of where they were and the lack of baths.
Episode grade: B-
Not in Portland
In flashbacks, Juliet is a fertility doctor who is able
to impregnate her sister, despite her sister’s cancer. Richard Alpert from the
island interviews her for a job with “Mittelos Bioscience,” recruiting her to
be an Other. She can’t take the job because her ex husband is a dick, so
Richard arranges for him to get hit by a bus. Ethan shows up too. On the
island, Alex helps Kate and Sawyer escape, as long as they take Karl with them.
Juliet shoots Colleen’s husband, saving Kate and Sawyer. Jack finishes
operating on Ben.
This is where the season finally started to pick up some
steam. It was about time for a Juliet flashback. The stuff with her sister and
her work was endearing and made us like the character where we didn’t before.
Not only did this episode bring the heart, it was also SO CREEPY and introduced
Richard Alpert. The brainwashing room was also eerie. We liked the “ye olde
wookie prisoner” trick, as well as Jack’s surprising successful finish of Ben’s
surgery. Finally, the main characters were out of their cages and the show
could move forward. Great flashback, great on-island plot. This is what makes a
good LOST episode. This was the best episode LOST could have returned from its
hiatus with.
Episode grade: B+
Flashes Before
Your Eyes
In flashbacks, Desmond remembers what happened to him
after the hatch imploded. He was transported through time back to an important
day with Penny. It was the day her father told Desmond that Penny was out of
Desmond’s league and Desmond broke up with her. On the island, Charlie and
Hurley try to get Desmond drunk so that he will tell them why he can see the
future. Desmond pounces on Charlie after Charlie calls him a coward. Desmond
reveals that Charlie is going to die.
Opinions differ on this episode. Some people think it’s
annoying that it’s mostly flashback. We can’t believe some people hate this
episode. It’s weird, it’s wild, it’s emotional, it’s exciting, it’s scary, and
it gave us Eloise Hawking. Everything that happened in this episode ended up
being important later. The time jumping, Charlie’s imminent doom, and the Penny
relationship all cropped up. It’s one of the first really nerdy episodes of
LOST, and it also redeemed the hatch implosion by showing us that there was
actually a crazy consequence. We’d been waiting for that. This is a home run.
Episode grade: A+
Stranger in a
Strange Land
In flashbacks, Jack sleeps with a woman in Thailand and
she tattoos him. Then some dudes come beat Jack up. On the island, Juliet
stands trial for killing a fellow Other, but Jack and Ben save her from the
death penalty. Instead, she is marked. Jack and the Others leave to go back to
the main island. This is notorious for being the worst episode of LOST. We
agree that the flashback was pointless and boring, but the on-island plot wasn’t
that bad. We were still entertained. The fact that we enjoyed this episode just
goes to show that the worst episodes of LOST are still better than most things
in life. We were actually worried for Juliet. There are some decent Kate and
Sawyer scenes too. The story behind Jack’s tattoos were a letdown. No one
really cared about his tattoos, but if you are going to bring that back story
up, it needed to be worth hearing.
Episode grade: F
Tricia Tanaka Is
Dead
In flashbacks, Hurley’s dad comes back after being absent
from his life. Winning the lottery makes a guy popular… On the island, Kate and
Sawyer make it back to camp broken up/fighting. Hurley finds a Dharma van in
the jungle and gets it to run. Kate sets out to rescue Jack. A great opening
scene (with an expensive explosion) starts off an underwhelming episode about
Hurley’s daddy issues. The van stuff was fun and classic Hurley. There’s
nothing wrong with a little hope and joy on this show every now and then. The
on-island plot fit the show’s most uplifting themes, even if it seemed like a
repetitive time-waster coming after a bad episode. We weren’t digging the
flashback though. We hate Hurley’s dad and cringe every time he’s onscreen.
Episode grade: B-
Enter 77
In flashbacks, Sayid is kidnapped by the husband of one
of his former torture victims. She forgives Sayid and tells her husband to let
Sayid go. On the island, Locke, Sayid, Rousseau, and Kate find a Dharma
communications station where they meet Mikhail, a Russian other. Locke blows up
the station, pissing everyone off. They take Mikhail prisoner and march him
into the jungle. At camp, Sawyer loses to Hurley in ping-pong and has to
refrain from using nicknames for a week. This is possibly our favorite Sayid
flashback. It’s powerful. While it doesn’t amount to much later, it’s a great
standalone story. We also meet icky Mikhail, which is exciting. We like him. We
also get some information about the Dharma Initiative. The ping-pong contest
was adorable. There wasn’t a dull moment in this entry.
Episode grade: A
Par Avion
In flashbacks, Claire meets her father, Christian
Shepherd, for the first time. She rejects him. Claire’s mother is in a
vegetative state after a car accident in which Claire was driving. On the
island, Claire tries to use birds to send messages off the island, and Desmond
tries to keep Charlie safe. Locke tests a sonic barrier fence by pushing
Mikhail into it, causing him to foam at the mouth and collapse. Sayid, Locke,
and Kate cross the fence and make it to the Others’ camp where they see Jack
happily playing football. Ugh. This episode. The bird thing was pointless and
felt like the writers stalling for time. The flashback is only fun to watch the
first time. Claire looks better blonde, but she looks nice with black hair too.
The best moment was when Locke “kills” Mikhail, and the last ten seconds were
pretty good too. It’s not a bad episode (again, none of them are), but it
doesn’t crack the top 80.
Episode grade: D
The Man From
Tallahassee
In flashbacks, Locke’s father pushes him out of a window,
paralyzing him from the waist down. On the island, Locke, Sayid, and Kate are
captured trying to get to Jack. Jack doesn’t need their help, because Ben has
agreed to release him and Juliet on the Others’ submarine. Then Locke blows up
the submarine, ruining everything. Ben shows Locke that he has Locke’s father
here, on the island, locked up in a room. We finally find out how Locke was
paralyzed, and the show doesn’t disappoint with that reveal. The flashback is
almost painful to watch. The ending was a jaw-dropper, and we like how the show
prevented Jack and Juliet from leaving just yet. Exciting, gut-wrenching, and
entertaining all the way through.
Episode grade: A
Expose
In flashbacks, Nikki and Paulo’s time on the island is
detailed, as well as their relationship history. Paulo wants Nikki. Nikki just
wants some diamonds they stole. In the present, Charlie tells Sun he kidnapped
her. Nikki and Paulo are bitten by a spider that paralyzes people for eight
hours. The survivors think the couple is dead and accidentally bury them alive.
Man, LOST sure knows how to kill annoying characters. No one liked these two,
so the show decided to stall for time by making an excellent standalone episode
about greed. We love the sick way it ended and feel like the whole episode was
a lot of fun. Best stalling ever.
Episode grade: C
Left Behind
In flashbacks, Kate befriends Cassidy (Sawyer’s lover he
conned/Sawyer’s baby momma) and tries to visit her mother, who doesn’t want to
see her. On the island, The Others and Locke leave. Kate, Sayid, Jack, and
Juliet are left behind. Hurley cons Sawyer into being nice to people. Hurley’s
con was the best thing ever. (We’re exaggerating, but still, it was adorable
and clever.) Kate and Juliet had good scenes together, and it was good to see
that Cassidy wasn’t a huge waste of time since she cropped up again and has a
connection to Kate. Not that the flashback was super good. In fact, it was kind
of boring, like a lot of Kate episodes are (What Kate Does being the most
boring). The on-island action saves it.
Episode grade: C+
One of Us
In flashbacks, we see Juliet’s early days on the island.
She is unable to save the pregnant women on the island from mysterious death,
but Ben won’t let her go home to be with her sister. On the island, Jack, Kate,
Sayid, and Juliet arrive at the main camp, and no one trusts Juliet until she
saves Claire from an illness. The illness that turns out to be a ruse concocted
by Ben to help his mole, Juliet, win the survivors’ trust.
This is an episode where the on-island action is both
misleading and not that interesting, but the flashback intrigues. The Goodwin
affair was interesting, but the best part was when Juliet saw footage of her
nephew. This is the episode in which we really started to trust Juliet. Yeah,
we thought she was a mole by the end of the episode, but we knew her motives.
She just wants to go home. As long as what she’s doing gets her closer to home,
we can trust her to do it. She’s not a bad person, and she’s not a manipulator.
She’s just desperate, and we feel for
her.
Episode grade: B+
Catch-22
In flashbacks, Desmond tries to be a monk, but that
doesn’t work out. He meets Penny soon after. On the island, Desmond has flashes
that convince him Penny is about to parachute onto the island, but in order for
her to be successful, Charlie has to die in the jungle. Desmond leads Charlie,
Jin, and Hurley into the jungle, but he is unable to let Charlie die.
The on-island action was better this week. Penny and
Desmond’s first meeting wasn’t epic enough to really live up to their great
romance. Is everyone on this show Catholic? The monk stuff led to nothing. It
just showed us that Desmond has a lot of trouble finding his place in the
world, something we knew about him before. It wasn’t creepy or funny or
anything. It’s the lamest Desmond episode, but it moves things forward with the
arrival of Naomi, and Charlie nearly dying was exciting. We’re glad Desmond couldn’t
lead him to his death.
Episode grade: D+
D.O.C.
In flashbacks, Sun is blackmailed by Jin’s biological,
prostitute mother, and Sun meets Jin’s wonderful father. On the island, Juliet
gives Sun a sonogram in the Dharma medical station, confirming that the baby is
Jin’s, which is bittersweet because it means Sun might die. Mikhail is alive
and helps save Naomi, who reveals that Oceanic 815 was found, but there were no
survivors.
The Naomi reveal was a mindf*** we loved. The Sun story
was one of the best, sweetest Kwon stories in LOST history. We love Jin’s
father and that entire flashback plotline. So, so nice. Finally, we were
relieved that the baby was Jin’s. Remember, we didn’t like the adultery anyway.
Who freaking does? The episode gets good marks for being so dang heartwarming,
as well as showing one of the show’s only good fathers one more time.
Episode grade: A-
The Brig
In flashbacks, Locke is trekking with the Others, and Ben
is trying to get Locke to kill his father. In real time, Locke gets Sawyer to
go kill his father for him. Turns out, the man from Tallahassee is the original
Sawyer. Locke episodes are almost always winners, and this is no exception. The
on-island flashbacks and present-day actions were equally enthralling. A
prominent Sawyer plotline was closed. We were annoyed that Locke always has
someone else do his dirty work, but we understand that he can’t kill his own
father. Richard started emerging as a character to watch, separate from Ben’s
authority. This one is tragic. And perfect.
Episode grade: A+
The Man Behind the
Curtain
In flashbacks, we see Ben as a little boy with a really
mean dad who blames him for his wife’s death in childbirth. Ben joins the
others, grows up, and kills his dad…along with most of the Dharma Initiative.
In the present, Ben takes Locke to meet the Others’ leader, Jacob. After Locke
hears Jacob, Ben becomes jealous and shoots Locke, leaving him in a mass grave.
Juliet is revealed to be working with Jack against the Others and Ben.
Ben is a liar. He wasn’t born on the island. That wasn’t
the episode’s only surprise or revelation. This one answered major questions:
What happened to the Dharma Initiative? Who was Roger Workman? Why is Ben such
a tool? The stuff with Ben’s childhood crush didn’t amount to anything, but
most of the episode was dark, relevant gold. Ben shooting Locke was a shocker
worthy of a finale, but we weren’t quite there yet. How freaked out where you
during the Jacob cabin scene?!! OMG, we are still freaking out. We were like,
“What the hell?” the entire time. Jerk that he is, you can’t hate Ben. He’s
just too darn entertaining and complicated. That’s got to be one of the best
villains…no, characters...in TV history. He’s a small, cold man, but you feel
for him. Perfection once again.
Episode grade: A+
Greatest Hits
In flashbacks, Charlie remembers the five greatest
moments of his life…his “greatest hits.” On the island, Jack prepares for war
with the Others because they are coming to take all the pregnant women. Charlie
has to swim to an underwater Dharma station to enable Naomi to contact her
boat. That way, the survivors can get off the island. Desmond tells him that he
has to die in order for them to be saved. We weren’t Charlie fans throughout
the first three seasons, but just before his death, LOST made him our favorite
character. The flashbacks worked so well. We cried, we cared, we were
impressed. Who knew our hearts would break a little over one of our least
favorite LOST characters? We loved his connection with Nor too. By this point,
LOST was on a roll. Could the finale deliver? (spoiler: oh, hell yeah)
Episode A+
Through the
Looking Glass parts 1 and 2
The survivors beat the Others, with a significant assist
from Hurley. Naomi makes contact with her boat, but Locke throws a knife into
her back trying to prevent the survivors from leaving. Ben agrees that
contacting that boat is a deadly mistake. Charlie has success in the underwater
station before finding out that Naomi’s boat wasn’t sent by Penny. He is able
to tell Desmond this right before he drowns. Stupid Mikhail kills him (and dies
for real this time). In flashforwards, we find out that both Kate and Jack get
off the island, but Jack screams, “We have to go back!” We only find out the
flashes are of the future in the last scene. HOLY F***!
The twist at the end was possibly LOST’s best, biggest
surprise. Everyone was fooled. Everyone was impressed. Everyone was pumped
beyond belief for the next season. Who knew the castaways could get off the
island and the show would not only still work, it would move into its geekiest
seasons yet. Seasons four and five were solid. Just about everyone agrees on
that. There were only two bad things about this finale. 1) Charlie shut the
door on himself and didn’t have to. Maybe it was a moment of panic that killed
him, and he was thinking unselfishly (and irrationally). Still, we don’t think
his death was necessary, and the show should have had him die in a more convincing
way. 2) Jack’s pubic beard. That was hard to look at. Bleck! The show needed a ballin’
finale, and it delivered, blowing would-be contender for the nerd throne, Heroes,
away. Heroes turned out to have only one good season. LOST had six. WIN. This episode
made us love TV the way we do today and set a bar for twists that has never been
topped.
Episode grade: A+
No comments:
Post a Comment