the blast door map

directed by: bobby roth, who has only directed one episode of 'lost' before - 'the man behind the curtain,' which makes him a natural choice to helm a revisiting of new otherton in the dharma days. this season it looks like they've been very selective about directors they've invited back - rather than switiching between jack bender and stephen williams for the entire season, they're bringing back directors who have excelled at telling the stories of particular characters.

written by: damon lindelof and carlton cuse. i've got to say straight off how impressed i was by this episode. of course it's always best to look at the big picture of 'lost' rather than in the unfair chunks we get week by week. it's meant to be seen on dvd, sequentially, in all-day marathons that irritate our significant others. thankfully, damon and carlton are showing us that they're aware of the mid-season sins they committed, and are using the end of the season to explain their actions. it hurts me to think how close we are to the end of this season (and the grand finale), but the narrative direction of these past three episodes has restored my faith in the show.

director of photography: john bartley. something horrible has been happening to the jungle footage this season. the overly yellow color-correcting is getting out of hand. see minor gripes.

lowdown: not the greatest episode ever, but certainly the best kate-centric one, and a return to that season-one feeling.

nuggets:

1. hurley vs. miles.
2. kate.
3. sawyer.
4. juliet.
   
5. jack.
6. ben.
7. gripes.
   
8. preboomer.

1. hurley vs. miles.



this scene was another fantastic piece of writing by damon and carlton proving that, yes, they are still in touch with their audience. whew. hurley mentioning 'back to the future' echoed the cries of a thousand fanboy blogs. this time it's miles, rather than daniel, who serves as the calm, reasoned voice of damon and carlton telling the audience 'there is one timeline!' ryan mcgee felt that miles' confidence in the rules was misplaced, but i don't think so - miles has had three years to ponder it.

but then hurley stumps miles with the ultimate question: 'ok so why didn't ben recognize sayid way back in season 2 then?' (i'm pretty sure hurley didn't say 'season 2,' but i'd have to check the transcript)



i must admit my disappointment here - i think that the show could withstand the scrutiny of having ben remember sayid - as i worked out at length in last week's entry. i wish that instead of being stumped, miles had said 'hurley. you're talking about ben. c'mon.'

2. kate.



one of my favorite things about 'lost' is how a seemingly unimportant episode can later become vital in the larger scope of the story - such as the ho-hum 'the whole truth' from season 2 in which sun discovered that she was pregnant. later, when the life and death stakes of island pregnancy were discovered, this events of that episode took on dire new meaning.

here we have kate reconnecting with cassidy, who she met in 2001, after cassidy had been betrayed by sawyer, but long before kate would ever meet him. it's too bad cassidy didn't have cards with sawyer's photo saying 'don't date this guy.' that episode, 'left behind,' was perhaps one of the weakest of season 3, and did nothing to quell that small sense of dread that comes with the discovery that this week we're going to have to sit through a kate-centric episode.



cassidy was first introduced to the show in the season 2 episode 'the long con' (which is what damon and carlton have been accused of perpetrating on the audience for five years now). in that episode, cassidy realizes that sawyer is a con man, and begs him to teach her his trade. the first thing he shows her is how to sell fake jewelery outside of gas stations, which is what kate finds her doing several months later. you could argue that the unspoken recognition sawyer and kate had for each other as outlaws is the same force that brought kate and cassidy together. another probable force bringing them together is damon and carlton saying 'uh, we don't have an end date yet, and we're running out of flashbacks.. let's pick two names out of a hat and have them meet each other in the past.'

but kate. i had some serious fears about where they might go with kate.


kate in an alternate timeline in which her father's abuse leads to low self-esteem rather than murder.

thankfully, we now know that when sawyer asked kate 'why did you come back,' she was not about to reply: 'for you sawyer. i came back for you!' thank the dharma gods. if she had said that, a little part of my love for the show would have died. she might as well have been coming back to the island to get her goddamed toy plane. remember that? we like to pine for it, but season one was not perfect.



kate has never really had a good, clear objective - which is the reason everyone groans in horror at the thought of kate-centric stories. but this episode's revelation comes as an almost direct response to my complaint last week that the show had forgotten claire: kate's mission is to find her, and reunite her with aaron. it has nothing to do with sawyer. it has nothing to do with jack. it's the best thing the show has ever done with kate, and it shows in evangeline lily's performance. she's an actress who seems only as interested in her character as we are, and i'm thrilled to see how this plays out.


this must have been an interesting casting call. 'someone who looks like claire, but not really.'

what has also been refreshing is that my great fear about the post '316' O6 flashbacks is that they have not been about 'being convinced' to go back - they've (so far) either been about situation or decision.

i had predicted that kate's last-minute hop into jack's bed was an attempt to get pregnant, since it might be her last chance to do so, ever. alas, that odd decision has not been addressed yet.

3. sawyer.


sawyer in an alternate timeline in which anthony cooper never conned his parents.

you know what was so great about this episode? not a whole lot happened, but the writing was spectacular, which is why it felt like season one again. it was about smart people taking stock of a situation and deciding, after smartly weighing options, what to do next. maybe the most shocking thing damon and carlton could have done was allow their characters to act like true adults, which juliet, kate, and sawyer all managed to do. there's hope for sawyer and juliet - because kate has no intention of reuniting with sawyer, and sawyer's priorities are settled. this episode managed to capture that liberating feeling of being over someone. if you've ever become true friends with an ex's new lover, you know what i'm talking about.

4. juliet.

elizabeth mitchell has been cast in the pilot episode of the new version of the 80's sitcom, 'v.' hopefully this is a situation in which she is only in the pilot, and not an early indication that dire things are in store for juliet.


juliet in an alternate timeline in which santa claus is real.

this isn't so much about juliet as it is about how impressed i am with elizabeth mitchell as an actress. in every episode she has a moment that shines through with crystal clarity. this week it was her momentary far-off look causing kate to ask 'what?' and then she drops the bomb:

JULIET: ..maybe there's something they can do.
KATE: ..they?
(pause)
JULIET: the others.

her matter of fact, almost sad delivery is devastating. juliet knows what it means - and it's almost as if she discovers in that moment that this is how ben the boy became ben the monster. and it's all jack's fault.

5. jack.



..or is it!? can jack be blamed for not wanting to help? it does seem strange that he came to the island only waiting for some 'purpose' to be thrust upon him, but when that possible purpose (save ben!) doesn't suit him, he rejects it. it raises interesting questions of 'free will' versus 'destiny.' if he did save ben, then the universe would merely course correct and bring ben's temple transformation about in a different way, right? so maybe jack has the right idea: sit back like the rest of us and watch the show.


jack in an alternate, very loud, brightly colored, irritating timeline.

juliet's confrontation with jack was another fantastic example of the show subverting our 'love quadrangle' expectations. it's no accident that damon and carlton decided to have her walk in on him while getting out of the shower. they wanted to set up the most potentially sexual situation possible between them and then crush it with reality. these two, like kelly clarkson, are not hooking up. as there will be no alternate timeline, there will be no love quadrangle.

6. ben.


ben in an alternate timeline in which his acting sucks in an astonishingly bad way.

richard alpert takes ben to the temple, do 'do something' to him that will both 'remove his innocence' and 'make him forget everything.' verrrrry interesssssting.

to see the others tied to both the temple and the experiences of rousseau's crew is very exciting. points:

• is 'the sickness' experienced by rousseau's crew actually what makes the others, the others?
• will we perhaps see alpert's arrival to the island, and initial encounter with smokey & the temple?
• is this temple-transformation the reason that the others were not jumping through time during the flashes? (in which case cindy and the kids might not have been jumping)
  
• was juliet taken to the temple?
  
• ..and if she was, was the effect removed when she was branded after her trial for killing pickett?

7. gripes.


richard alpert strides through the normal-looking jungle. then, moments later..


richard alpert strides through a 'cold case' flashback.

i'm not sure if it's a) a choice to differentiate the past from the present, or b) necessary because of bad weather/light conditions in hawaii this year (exec producer jean higgins mentioned in a video podcast that it had been rainier this year than they'd like). it's a shame because that kind of artificial color just isn't 'lost.' in the season one dvd extras, there's an interview with jack bender where he talks very specifically about the deliberate choice to light and shoot 'lost' realistically - so much effort was put into making the beach and jungle look natural and untampered with. it's a shame to see the show getting 'cold case-y.'



another minor gripe is this idea that sawyer broke kate's heart. it doesn't really ring true. their only real 'breakup' occurred at the barracks after locke evicted kate and sent her back to the beach. kate and sawyer had some falling out after he expressed relief over her not being pregnant. but heartbroken? hrm. i don't think so. it's a minor gripe though, because thankfully, kate's objective doesn't involve sawyer anymore.

final minor gripe is ben's memory being erased: weak. first he was anakin/darth vader, now he's c-3po??

8. preboomer.

this is truly the season of wtf-faces. after a full episode of 1977 goodness, we transition from ben's 'rebirth' to his 'reawakening,' in the 'present' with the now 'resurrected' locke sitting at his bedside.

LOCKE: hello ben. welcome back to the land of the living.
BEN: (wtf!?!??!)

(boom)

(thanks to rob konigsberg for edits and suggestions)