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Thursday, January 13, 2005
TV Round-Up
Lost: Hearts and Mind
OK, before we go too far, I think we all need to let our a collective, "Ewww!"

I think we all knew there was something not quite right about Shannon and Boone and while many of us suspected they how they were way too close, I'm not sure many of us expected to see it played out on-screen like that. But give Lost credit for not just making is shocking but also making it reasonably believeable. First of all, turns out their step-siblings. Second of all, the whole undercurrent of sexual tension between them turns out to be a lot like the crush Greg Williams had on Maureen McCormick during the Brady Bunch.

Well, I think crush may be understating it a bit. But watching the story unfold, I had to wonder something. We saw that Shannon has a propensity for using and manipulating men in her life--was she doing the same thing here to Boone? Yes, she sleeps with him, but the scene afterward when she's sitting in the chair and he is lying on the bed and she tells him to get up and get dressed was cold. Again, Shannon knew what Boone was doing--paying off her boyfriends to leave her after she got short-changed in the will--so did she decide to try and turn the tables a bit? And if Boone does seem to realize this in the flashbacks, then it might explain why his grief turns to relief at the thought that Shannon could be dead. Or could it be that he's so horrified and ashamed of who and what he's become that by seeing her dead and letting go of it, he can now go onto to fulfil whatever role the island has for him?

My theory that the island is giving people what they need or want continues to play out--Locke walks, Charlie gets off heroine, Boone is able to let go of Shannon. (Also, Boone is able to open up and share about the door to Shannon without her knowing) But the question is slowly becoming--at what cost? Apparently part of the cost was Claire's being kidnapped and her child. And that leads to my next thought--will the price be too high?

But what I liked most about this episode is how the relationships between the characters are starting to take some shape and pay some dividends. Hurley's attempts to get back in Jin's good graces so he could have fish was nice, as was Jack's scene with Charlie about if he was OK. Also, seeing a friendship develop between Kate and Sun--and Kate's discovery that Sun speaks English was nicely done. (Also nice to see someone is thinking longterm survival on the island as Sun plant a garden). But even as we explore the weirdness that is Shannon and Boone, we come back to the the enigma that is Locke.

I loved seeing how everyone is reacting to Locke and trying to define his role on the island. Interesting that everyone is looking to him and how they are. Boone finds a mentor, Jack finds a guy who can keep the castaways going, other people see him as some type of Zen figure. But yet, in all of this, Locke is lying to them all--keeping them all in the dark as to what he and Boone found. I begin to wonder why he's doing it. I still think it's because he does not want to be rescued. He's finally found a place where he's respected and is the man he's always dreamed of being. He seems to be in no hurry to get off the island. And he knows he has a position of some authority and power--but is he abusing it and what will happen when the other castways find out what he's been up to all this time?

Man, I love this show....

Alias: The Awful Truth
You wouldn't think that two weeks into the season, that Alias would have an episode that was this, well, hum-drum. Maybe it's just that Lost was so good, but honestly, there wasn't a lot in this week's episode of Alias to write home about. This one almost felt like Alias-by-the-numbers, which is a shame as the opening sequence where they steal the location of the Valta is actually quite good and, for the most part, entertaining. Maybe it's just seeing Marshall out in the field that makes it all work.

I looks as if we're going back to season one in just about every way. I wish we'd left Weiss in the dark a little bit longer about the new black ops. Also, it would have lent an intersting dynamic to his potential relationship with Nadia were the two to date, both of them spies but only one of them knowing they're both spies. Also, to have Weiss out of the looop for more than ten minutes would have put some of the season one tension and walking that fine line between what you say and what you don't say to your friends that drove Syd. At this point, Syd might as well walk around wearing a t-shirt that says, "Yes, I'm a spy, thanks for asking." Seriously, I think even the cable guy knows at this point.

Also, I've got to wonder--does the CIA only have six total agents? The odds of Weiss being part of the strike team to take out the Valta stretched credulity to the extreme. Also, I'm glad to know that Alias exists in the same world that 24 does--by this I mean that since in 24 no where in LA is more than ten minutes drive away, that must mean you can hop a plane and get anywhere in the world in under an hour. And that happens here. Jack and Nadia hop a plane and get to Spain within an hour or two so Nadia can kill the bad guy who Jack led her to believe killed her mother? Oh come on now...that is far too easy a way out, don't you think? Or is it all going to lead to a lot of angst later on this season? (Come on! You know it will!)

As for the whole Syd dresses up and goes undercover-yeah, pretty much a yawner. I had no investment in any of it and honestly couldn't care. It wasn't interesting enough to really grab my attention and justify the sheer amount of screen time it got.

That said, Jack's testing Nadia was nicely done. I liked that, reminded me a bit of how he related to Syd in season one. And seeing Jack's justifcation for why he lied to Nadia--the whole killing two birds with one stone thing--was well done. But those scenes were so isolated that they were almost rendered unimportant because of the rest of the silliness going on around them.

Please tell me that this is just a stumble and that this show is not going back to the pattern of season three.


posted by Michael Hickerson at 1/13/2005 08:42:00 AM | |
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