The Tail Section

After a grueling three week hiatus LOST at long last returned; surely the talking point across the ample fan community now will be, did it deliver? In this fan’s mind, the answer is a resounding YES. LOST : Abandoned was a return to the godlike level of writing mastery that was displayed in season one. Hell, I’d say in many ways it even surpassed it. Abandoned managed to succeed on every level that makes the show such a pleasure to watch; touching character development; startling revelations; cryptic elements; you name it.

There were times in season one where nobody wanted answers, we just wanted the mystery to continue forever; we were entranced by these beautifully embossed and textured characters, real people that we cared about dangling over a dark and mysterious abyss. For a while, it was the story of these people that kept our minds off the hatch, and the others, and the black rock, and the radio transmissions. Abandoned was a return to that heyday. With a bullet (very short scene, right at the end, we’ll get to that later.)

And so, let’s get into the finer parts of the episode with the visual aids. To be honest, it is hard to capture the essence of this episode by skimming over it. There is a lot of development for a lot of characters, a lot of future conflicts set up, and more then a couple of nods out to us fans in internet land. (You have to see Hurley and Rose’s conversation on "spoiling", and Boones first line "Death sucks huh?" is a riot!)

Yes, they did it, okay? Now get to bed, you have school in the morning.

Walt has completely mastered astral projection, but just can’t get the telephathy thing.

Shannon’s flashbacks were everything they were promised to be, a complete retroactive reshaping of the character. We learn that Shannon not only had hopes and ambitions, but talent. You will learn why she became the manipulator, and if your like me you’ll think it was justified.

Boone’s appearance was brief, but relevant.

Charlie lectured Claire on her lack of parenting sense.

… while Locke took a more helpful approach, and won a little endearment from Claire. Locke also learned from Claire that Charlie has one of the Mary statues.

Sawyer is NOT looking good at all.

And unfortunately, this is where my DVD recorder crapped out, so I won’t be posting anymore screen caps until I get the HD feed in the morning. There were a few things I wanted to show you, including the kill shot from the end. I’m sure it is all over the net who fired that shot, feel free to discuss this in the forums.