I don’t know. That’s my immediate reaction after this week’s episode of Lost. I just don’t know. I don’t know where Desmond is, or if he is alive. I don’t know what Widmore has in store for the 815ers. I don’t know what to make of Smokey and Jack. I just don’t know. The worst part of it all is that we all have to wait two weeks for the next new episode of Lost.
You could definitely feel the show taking a turn in this episode. The storytelling dynamic changed, with no character taking front and center. Instead, “The Last Recruit” focused on the core group of survivors, both on the island and in the sideways world. The wheels appear to be moving faster, even if they aren’t quite touching the ground yet.
There were precious few answers in this episode, only more intrigue. It would appear that the war on the island has begun and the poor Losties are stuck square in the middle of it. I have to wonder what Widmore is thinking. Clearly, he has some inside knowledge about Smokey. Does he believe that missiles are going to be able to stop him? Is he just trying to destroy the Locke body so that Smokey can’t get across to Hydra island? We’ve seen before that the smoke form is not able to go over the ocean. Motivations are still cloudy at best.
To be honest, I was hoping for a little more forward movement than we got in this episode, particularly with a two week break on our hands. I’m sure the writers had little or nothing to do with the scheduling, but it would have been nice to have something big to talk about for two weeks. As of right now, there are just more of the same questions that we have been asking for most of the season.
What is Desmond actually doing? What is the big plan? How much does Widmore know? Can Claire be trusted? Why is it so bad to talk to Smokey? Is there literally something about talking to him, or is he just really persuasive? Did Sayid kill Desmond? What about Richard, Miles, and Ben? Is Jack destined to take over the protection of the island? None of these questions really feel fresh. Even in the sideways world things seemed to be running in place a bit. Certainly more people are meeting and interacting, but we still don’t really know what Desmond was thinking when he drove through Locke. Was it just to get him and Jack in the same room? Couldn’t he have just invited them over for tea?
I just don’t know.
I certainly didn’t hate the episode, but I just don’t think it brought much new to the table. I am still fascinated with what is to come. It looks like Jack and Locke (the man of faith and man of science — oh, how the tables have turned) are going to be spending some time together, and that is usually a good thing for the show.
Even the reunion between Jin and Sun, something a lot of us have been waiting for for years seemed a bit rushed, underwhelming, and offensively interrupted. Bah! I’m frustrated, but being so close to the end, I’m not going to let it get me down.
What did you think of the episode? Did you pick up on anything new? Are you as pissed as I am about the lack of a fresh episode next week.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Apr 20, 2010 @ 22:25 EST5EDT
Yep, pretty unremarkable. The only thing I’m sorta holding out for is that maybe, just maybe, Sayid has been playing everyone and has just been biding his time. He approached Desmond while he sat in that well (I’ve seen deeper potholes, btw), but we don’t know what really happened. Did he let Desmond in on what he has planned and let him go? Because there’s no way he really shot him.
I, too, was disappointed with the reunion between Jin and Sun. It didn’t feel epic, just awkward, because it’s two people hugging and kissing in the middle of a big standoff. And both sides of the standoff are staring at them, with one side pointing guns and the other side grinning stupidly.
It was an hour that keeps the viewer’s interest yet it just seemed to go nowhere. Was there any point to Sun not being able to speak English the last few weeks? Why was Desmond still sitting in the damn well? Is Jack assuming the role Locke held before his death? And who is going to kill the Tina Fey impersonator who hit my last nerve tonight?
In the chat I mentioned that I thought Sun’s language problem had to do with the flash-sideways sorta merging with the “current” timeline. Since she can’t speak English in the sideways world, when she bumped her head, it sorta jostled the two.
I remember you saying that and agreed with it at the time, but if it was a timeline collision then why would reuniting with Jin correct it and let her speak English again?
Maybe the whole meeting one’s true love thing did it? *shrug*
My biggest problem with the Sun/Jin reunion was that the meeting point was right at the fence line. I was cringing the whole time they were running to each other afraid of one of them going boom :(
Me too!
There was a time when the sonic fence spelled danger and I immediately had to think about Mikhail.
Not a bad episode at all in my estimation. I enjoyed watching it, though in retrospect they missed some opportunities. A few of my thoughts:
-Yes, Christian was the Man in Black all along. He claims he did this to help the survivors (specifically Jack), which may or may not be true. Doesn’t feel true, but I’m not going to rule it out.
-I enjoyed Claire in this episode quite a bit, for the most part, but I was disappointed that it just took a speech from Kate to stop her from killing her (and everyone else who abandoned her) when she had the chance. I’m holding out hope that she’s planning to betray them for “Locke” (why do they keep calling him that?).
-I kept waiting for somebody to kill Lapidus. Not that I want them to, but it’s so perfectly set up with him being non-essential personnel. I thought for sure it was going to happen about 4 different times.
-What do you want to bet Richard, Miles, and Ben show up to save Sawyer’s gang in 2 weeks? Possibly with one or more of them getting killed by Zoe in a last gasp (probably Miles, if I had to guess).
-Jin and Sun, together again! Meeting right at the sonar fence was just a coincidence, I s’pose… Anyway, it was hard to get the full emotional impact of this moment, both because of the tense situation, and the fact that we’ve seen them together in the flashsideways for weeks. But on paper, it works.
-I liked the performance of Sawyer in this episode all around. He’s wary of the crazy people, he blames Jack for Juliet (almost as much as he blames himself), he steals Smokey’s boat, he gets backstabbed by Widmore, and he featured prominently in the flashsideways. For my money, this might as well have been a Sawyer episode.
-Jack was kind of a jerk to Claire in the flashsideways, no? And Desmond was a creeper. She just seems to attract the wrong sort of guy. (-:
-I don’t buy Sayid having killed Desmond, and I don’t think we’re meant to. And hey, that well was much deeper when FLocke threw the torch in!
I think that the stuff that happened in this episode, particularly the things Smokey said and the way he acted, will be very important in light of what comes next. I see we’re getting a Jacob/Man in Black episode in 3 weeks, so that should be the one that clears the majority of things up. For now, we’re just taking steps to the final confrontation, and waiting to see how it all shakes down for the Candidates.
P.S. – I’ve never liked Kate. Doesn’t seem like Jacob or Smokey liked her much either. Would someone kill her, please? That would be a great way to piss off the fanbase on the way out the door. ^^
This whole episode was f%&*#ng filler. NOTHING happened. All I got is that Smokey was indeed posing as Christian and the reast was “I will go this way” – “Why?” – “Because!” – “I will go that way then!” – “WHY???” – “BECAUSE!!!”
This was like an episode of “Seinfeld” and a condensed version of the last four years. Heavy dialogue without any forward movement. Perfect analogy Bob.
Yeah with such little time left they wasted an episode on nothing, I wish I watched Glee instead.
Nothing at all happened.
The Jin/Sun reunion was a let down to be sure. The no tears, fear of electrocution, and the short time devoted to it made it a dud.
I did like how Sun not being able to speak stopped her from being able to talk to Smokey, thus hosing his nefarious plot towards her.
Cop Sawyer is a lot of fun.
Adam S….the one thing about Lapidus is, the longer he is alive the more it tells me the end game will involve flying the plane out. You have to have a pilot =)