Though this episode wasn’t as exciting as the season premiere, there was much here to like.
Transitions between timelines
Most of the Island scenes flowed right into the Mainland scenes, and vice-versa. It reminded me of the way the flashbacks worked in Season 1, where there would be some action on the Island and then a flashback to a directly relevant scene from the character’s past.
I have no guesses yet as to what, if anything, these seamless transitions might mean, but they’re a great storytelling technique, giving the episode, with all its different plotlines, a kind of unity. The fact that we don’t yet know what that unity is about only makes it that much more intriguing.
See how smoothy these transitions flow:
Island Sawyer: “I’m thinking about about running, Kate.” Cut to mainland Kate running from the Marshall.
Mainland Kate driving. Cut to Island Kate turning a corner.
Island Kate, to Lennon: “I can be very convincing, when I want to be.” Cut to Mainland Kate driving into mechanic’s shop, where she convinces the guy there to cut off her handcuffs and give her a place to change.
Mainland Kate opens Claire’s bag. Cut to Island Kate stuffing things into her own bag.
Mainland Kate is about to drive Claire to her destination. Cut to Island Kate leading group through the jungle.
Island Jin to Kate: “Once you catch up with Sawyer, then what?” Island Kate: “I guess we’ll figure that out together.” Cut to Mainland Kate and Claire in the cab, where they will soon have to figure out together what to do.
Mainland Claire feels the baby coming. Cut to Island Kate, walking into the children’s playground in the deserted Other compound.
Island Kate to Sawyer: “I was worried about you.” Cut to Mainland Kate, worried about Claire, rushing her to the hospital.
Kate holds Claire’s hand in hospital. Cut to Island Kate telling Sawyer that she came back to the Island because she needs to find Claire.
Kate is about to leave Claire. Cut to Kate about to leave Sawyer.
Leakage from one timeline to another
This was an eerie moment:
Kate: “Aaron’s a great name.”
Claire: “I don’t know why I said it. It’s like I knew it or something.”
I expect we will be seeing more leakage as the season progresses.
Karma
Sayid, the torturer, gets tortured. Could this be karmic justice or retribution?
Jack, who wants to save everyone, easily admits that he didn’t save Sayid from the gunshot wound. Is it his destiny to learn humility? Or maybe not, as he does save Sayid in the end.
The other Others
It’s so funny that the hippie Other with the Lennon eyeglasses is actually named Lennon. Even funnier is the way that Television Without Pity calls his constant companion Dogen “Yoko.”
You have to stay
Dogen tells Sawyer, “You have to stay.” Sawyer answers, “No I don’t.”
Is “You have to stay” the Season 6 version of “We have to go back?” Will something terrible happen if the current band of LOST-ies do not all remain in the Temple?
Sawyer, Kate, and Jin all managed to get out. Was this a good or a bad move for them? I think they may be in trouble. As horror films have taught us, people in creepy situations should never separate themselves from the larger group.
The revelations
What’s a LOST episode without revelations? This episode had three, though we had to wait for them until the very end.
1. Sayid has been “claimed”!
2. Claire too!
3. Oh, look, the person who just shot those people is Claire!
And just because I like the love triangle …
Yeah, I know, many fans loathe the love triangle, but I still get a kick out of it, and out of moments like Jack’s leaning in to kiss Kate, and Kate walking away.
And the love quadrangle too …
I’ve already mentioned how moving I found the scene on the dock where Sawyer blamed himself for Juliet’s death.
All in all, a good episode, if not one of the all-time greats.
All screencaps are from lost-media.com, except for the screencap of Dogen and Lennon, which is from the ABC site.
What did you think about Jack swallowing the poison pill meant for Sayid? Was he just being cocky in thinking he was important enough to Dogen that if it was a bad thing, he’d be saved? Or???
That’s a very good question! You may be right that Jack was being arrogant in believing that Dogen would save him if the pill he swallowed was poisonous.
But the Others seem to think it was very important to keep all the LOSTies, except for Sayid, alive. Did Jack know that? I’m not sure, but I think Jack may have overheard Dogen telling Sawyer that he couldn’t leave.
If Jack knew, or guessed, that the Others wanted to keep him alive, then it wouldn’t have been arrogance — or not arrogance alone — that prompted him to take the pill.
I’m leaning more towards that idea, because Jack seemed to be atypically humble, at times, in this episode.
Another possiblity is that Jack felt so guilty about Sayid’s being shot — he did, unfairly, blame himself — and he also may have felt badly about not being the one who saved Sayid from the wound. So if Jack was at all like he used to be in earlier seasons — compulsively trying to save everyone all the time — then he might have been willing to take a crazy chance, in swallowing the pill, in order to try to save Sayid.
And Dogen had said to Jack earlier that the pill would redeem him (from his guilt at leading Sayid into danger). That was a lie when Dogen said it — but it turned out, in the end, to be ironically true, because Jack did use the pill to redeem himself — just not in the way that Dogen had expected.