Lost: Homecoming
As I reflect on this week's episode of
Lost, I find myself in a quandry. Yes, it was great, but was it as great as I think it was? Or was it just that it was the first new episode in two weeks and I'd really, really been looking forward to it?
I think this episode was potentially a huge one for the rest of the season. Claire shows back up, still pregnant and with amnesia. She doesn't remember anything about the plane crash or her couple of weeks on the island before Ethan took her. I've got to say that I think she was allowed to escape. Something's been done to her. I found myself thinking of the sleeper personalities hidden inside of people from
Babylon Five--the person looks and acts the same, but deep inside is a spy that can be triggered at the necessary time. Has Claire become that? Or did they have to send her back to the group because they have Jack, a medical doctor, to help her deliver her baby when the time comes?
And how pissed is Danielle going to be if Ethan was her son and she finds out that Charlie killed him? Again, going back to
Babylon Five, we all know Mira Furlan can play pissed off really well and part of me anticipates her return to the series.
I will admit the scene where Claire remembers the peanut butter was very sweet and it took some of the dark tinge off this entire episode.
Because it's taking these characters to some dark places. Charlie kills Ethan to show he can "take care of" Claire. This, after the flashbacks reveal pretty much what we already knew--Charlie as a drug-addict was not a good thing. He was pretty much a jerk. I did like the conflict we saw in his life there where he starts to fall for the woman he's trying to use and wants to go straight. Interesting that there was no catalyst like Locke in his life before to help him back on the path to coming clean and going straight. I think we're seeing how easy it is for Charlie to be influenced either way--though I will admit he's coming into his own and getting stronger now that he's off the heroine. (Speaking of which, does Locke still have his last stash or was it destroyed?)
Meanwhile, things are getting more interesting. A couple of weeks ago, we had an episode that felt a lot more like a tapestry of the island than just "Oh, let's focus on this character." We get that again this week. I like the conflict Jin feels at wanting to be apart from the community but yet slowly being drug into being part of it. I think it's only a matter of time before Sun reveals she can speak and understand English to help Jin become part of the community. Hell, the man is providing the group with their biggest source of protein in the fish--he's the Richard Hatch of the island. (For those of you who don't remember, Richard Hatch was the self-proclaimed provider of fish in the very first Survivor).
Meanwhile, I begin to wonder what Jack's agenda is. And if his keeping secrets is going to catch up with him. Locke's line about "You've been holding out on me, doctor" when Jack reveals the stash of guns was interesting. I also liked Sawyer's giving Kate his gun that he'd kept hidden. But, back to Jack--he seems to want to set up an elite group on the island who are in the know and have the power. Will there be another group that is left out that begins to challenge that authority? Jack has been given the responsiblity of leadership by the group, but is he now starting to get too caught up in the power and neglecting his responsiblity? Or being blinded to things because of what he thinks is best and not what is actually best for the entire group?
Also, there was some kind of odd non-verbal communication between Locke and Boone when Boone volunteered to be a sentry. They know something more than we've seen...
This episode just flew by with a lot of jaw-dropping moments. Ethan's coming up from the ocean to kill a passenger was one, as was his capture in the forest and then Charlie's shooting him. And does it strike anyone else interesting that both times Jack and Ethan have fought, it's been raining? Significant? I don't know...I could be overthinking this one. It could be the rain is used for dramatic effect. But, man, Jack did beat the crap out of Ethan.
So, going back to my original question--yes, I think this episode was as great as I think it was.
Alias: Nocturne
Two weeks ago, I complained that
Alias ripped off one of the later season episodes of
The X-Files. And now, here they do it again...only this time, they take elements from two episodes from the glory days of
The X-Files. This one had elements of "Sleepless" (attempts to create super soldiers fby removing the need to sleep) and "Wetwired" (the one where Scully gets the subliminal messages from the TV and becomes increasingly paranoid) all over it. So, those elements really took me out of enjoying the episode as much as I should have. Also, some of the plotting was a bit obvious--Vaughn asks Syd why she wants to take it slow and then by the end of the story, under the influence of a mind-altering drug, she tells him. Yeah, didnt' see that one coming.
That said, I did like the way Syd's hallucinations played out. Especially the remarks by Jack. I loved the casual way Jack said--yeah, I killed her mother and I'm gonna kill her too. She just annoyss me with her voice.
Issues with your father, much?
Meanwhile, the one part of the episode that really blew me away was the scenes between Dixon and Slaone. Having Slaone call Dixon on the carpet for doubting it Syd should be back in the field was great...but the final scene between them was just great. I love Dixon's reasoning for staying around and working for Slaone--he wants to be there with Sloane's real agenda comes out so he can stop it. I love it. Absolutely one of the best character scenes this show has had in a long, long time. Please, if any of the
Alias writers and producers are reading this--we want more stuff like that.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 2/10/2005 08:27:00 AM |
|
