Episode 2 - LA X (2)
7 February 2010
Review
Present: Sawyer buries Juliet and asks Miles to tell him what she was going to say. Jack, Hurley, Jin and Kate take Sayid down into the temple. They are captured by more Others who let them live when they find a note from Jacob in Hurley’s guitar case. They drown Sayid in their healing water but he dies. Hurley tells them that Jacob is dead and they freak out, manning the defences and sending a flare to warn Richard. The Man in Black marches out to confront Richard, beats him up and carries him away. Sayid comes back to life.
Flashback: Kate escapes from the Marshall and hijacks a taxi with Claire in it. Jin and Sun are detained because of a large amount of undeclared money in his luggage. Christian’s coffin has gone missing as have Locke’s knives. It gives Jack the chance to offer Locke a consult for his spinal injuries.
The Good: The story continues, picking up in pace and delivering another fascinating collection of scenes to compliment part one and set up the season.
Once more the intrigue in the flashes are there. Did Sun learn English in this reality? Is that money for Jin’s new life in America or just bribe money or what have you. Is Claire pregnant and off to put Aaron up for adoption? Where is Christian’s coffin and is that significant?
Kate’s story provides the tension and it does a good job of that. The mass of people at an airport provides convincing cover for her escape complete with the only other survivor who would sympathise with a fellow criminal (Sawyer) giving her a little help. Meanwhile Jack and Locke meet in quite another world. That was a wonderful scene really, again the producers are able to create a compelling scene with just two men having a conversation. But because of the acres of context and irony in them meeting like this it has a whole different feeling to it. I did make the connection once between Jack being the miracle worker and Locke’s miracle being his healed back (201). But I never saw this coming, with potentially Jack operating on Locke’s spine. Again that Season one Locke dialogue is back, still so refreshing and endearing. He just cuts right to the heart of what Jack is feeling in a very presumptuous way by avoiding the issue of the coffin and poking directly at Jack’s grief. Its wonderful stuff because like Jack you kind of have to smile at how inappropriate yet kind he is being. It’s so interesting to see the two of them bonding in another place and another time. With his defences down Jack actually likes Locke.
Speaking of Locke, Terry O’Quinn has a terrific episode all round. Together with that scene he gets to grin and play with Ben’s mind and then shock and beat down Richard. He plays each role with gusto and it’s entertaining and convincing in equal measure. It’s also pretty much confirmation that the Man in Black became Locke once his dead body hit the beach and not before as some have speculated. It seems this timelines John Locke really was a sucker all along and was a willing pawn of the Man in Black. It’s good to see Ben understanding how Locke and others have felt all these years being manipulated by him. We also have almost surely confirmed that Richard was a slave on the Black Rock thanks to the chains comment from MIB. He also must know that MIB is the monster because he screams for no one to shoot. All good reveals.
The storytelling is strong and simple as you would expect. Episode one ends with Juliet dying and this episode begins immediately with the focus shifting to Sayid and the trek to the Temple. Lost keeps its plots deceptively simple most of the time. It’s just a trek across the jungle to a new location and the anticipation of what is about to happen carries the drama. Yet a new location is typically spectacular with a Mayan looking design. Together with an oriental “chief priest”, some Sikh head dresses and general hippy style dress these Others seem to add yet another layer of mystery to the story of Jacob’s people.
We get the reveal of Hurley’s guitar case and a big connection to an old mystery, Jacob’s lists (from Season two and three mostly). Again it raises the question of how much Jacob knows in advance because he clearly listed this group of people a long time before this incident takes place. I particularly liked how the lists were not spelt out as I have done, by any of the characters. The same way the “chief priest” doesn’t explain what the water does, he just cuts his hand and sticks it in. Viewers should figure both things out for themselves, they don’t need to be spelt out.
The drowning of Sayid was another good scene. For once I thought the reactions of our survivors were spot on. Yes they could have jumped into the water to save Sayid but I thought their reactions were appropriate. First off they cried out and looked concerned, Jack did try to step in but was cut off, showing resistance was futile. Plus their journey there was confusing and Sayid was dying and so the air of hopelessness around them made me feel convinced by their behaviour. Jack then tried to save him as you would expect him to and as he once did for Charlie (111).
Sawyer demanding answers from Miles in his grief made sense. Juliet’s “It worked” comment seems to be the only connection in 2007 to what is going on in 2004 elsewhere though Sawyer doesn’t seem to want to know more which is a bit odd. Miles helping him out and calling him “boss” was a nice sign of respect.
Cindy, Zach and Emma being present should be a big deal. It would be very nice to have a full explanation from them about what they have been up to. It’s nice to see them present and correct for now. This story also seems to confirm something which perhaps we were already sure of: that the Others are the good guys. They are Jacob’s followers determined to keep the island and perhaps the world safe from the Man in Black. We still need to know more about their morality, even here they are happy to shoot a bunch of innocent people. But in general this is confirmation that they are who they have been saying they were all along.
It all seems to point toward MIB wanting to get “home” to the Temple and the Others and survivors all working together to stop him. That would give the season a nice good guys versus bad guy framework but doubtless it will be more nuanced than that. The rallying of defences at the Temple seemed extreme enough to signal how dangerous MIB is. And of course there is the mystery of how Sayid was resurrected and who or what he is now.
The Bad: Sawyer not sticking around for more discussion seemed odd after forcing Miles to listen to Juliet.
The Unknown: All the aforementioned questions about Claire, Jin and Sun. Losing Christian’s coffin seems like a significant development. Not just because of Christian’s appearances on the island but because of the big deal made over Locke being a proxy body on Flight 316 (506).
Montand’s corpse being pretty much where he landed seems to confirm what we thought had happened when he was dragged down there (505). He was killed and MIB\smokey impersonated him in order to lure the French team down there and possess them. Or something along those lines.
Why was the Temple water dirty? How does it heal people? Was it dirty when they healed Ben? What is Sayid now?
Best Moment: Locke and Jack in the airport. Two characters we know so well having a simple conversation but to the viewer the world is upside down. Brilliant.
The Bottom Line: More of the same. Entertaining, intriguing, logical. It answers almost as many questions as it asks which is very rare for Lost. These first two episodes were very smooth ways to transition fans into the final season and they were packed with quality.
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