Revisiting Lost’s Third Season: Episodes 4-7
For all the talk of Lost’s first six episodes of season three being sub-par, I enjoyed the hell out of them. Sure, a couple of the episodes were a bit slow, and Mr. Eko’s death could’ve been handled better, but I think it set up the rest of the season quite nicely. Maybe I’m just high off of watching Lost again. Anyway, this isn’t just one of those article ideas that’s going to die before it’s seen through – over the holiday weekend I busted through eight more episodes with the help of my two brothers, a crap load of Diet Pepsi, and the occasional appearance of Sir Jack Daniels. It was the holidays, after all. We’re seeing this one through, folks. I’m going to post four episodes tonight, four tomorrow.
Episode 4 – Every Man for Himself
Depending upon whether an episode is focused on Sawyer or Locke, I waver between which is my favorite character. After this episode, I confidently proclaimed that Sawyer was indeed my favorite. So many good things about this, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m pretty sure no character has ever taken a more brutal series of beatings in an episode without dying than Sawyer did here. First, the Others ruthlessly toy with Sawyer, drugging him, and then Ben convinces him that they surgically implanted a pacemaker in his heart that will kill him if he gets too high of a heart rate. The heart rate watch that beeps they give him is genius, as is Ben fake killing the bunny in front of him. There’s Kate’s maybe genuine “I love you” so Pickett will stop beating the crap out of him, and then there’s the reveal of the second island. Normally, when the action on the island is good, the flash back will be the weak point. Not here. We see Sawyer in jail, perfectly executing a con while in cahoots with the warden, commuting the remainder of his sentence, and setting up the daughter he’s never met with a nice little college fund.
Rating: 9/10
Sawyer at his best, fake bunny killings, and a good con. Plus, Kate gets a little naked.
Episode 5 – The Cost of Living
This is another episode in which the flash backs are a highlight. However, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Mr. Eko is featured and, in the end, he is struck dead by the smoke monster. Nikki and Paolo are incredibly annoying as they tag along to the Pearl Station, next to Yemi’s crashed plane. The whole episode feels like an excuse to rid the show of Mr. Eko, and it both saddened me greatly and angered me that such an awesome character was executed so mercilessly. The highlight, probably, was the brief shot of Mikhail and his eye patch on the security cameras. Other than that, we got some Juliet vs. Ben stuff, which was cool, but not enough to redeem the episode.
Rating: 5/10
About as bad as season 3 got, which is mostly an indication of just how good the season was. Goodbye, Mr. Eko. We will always miss you and your whooping stick.
Episode 6 – I Do
Kate takes center stage here and, this being the last Lost episode of 2006, contributes to a solid, if a little frustrating, cliffhanger. Juliet tells Kate that Pickett will kill Sawyer and the only way to stop him is to convince Jack to do the surgery on Ben. Kate tries, Jack isn’t hearing anything of it, and Kate returns to her cage, devastated. She and Sawyer have sex, and Jack is let out of his cell to “accidentally” see the naked post-coital cuddling of Sawyer and Kate. It was a brilliant last attempt by Ben to make Jack want to do the surgery on Ben’s spine. Jack agrees, and the surgery is set for the next morning. Then, Jack pulls off perhaps his most bad ass move of the series. He slices Ben’s kidney sack, holding Ben’s life at ransom for the escape of Kate and Sawyer. Kate’s flash back is endearing, as she marries a cop played by Nathan Fillion under a false name. In the end, as always, Kate has to run, and does so heartbreakingly. Given that this was the last episode for months, it was a frustrating cliffhanger, but a good one.
Rating: 8/10
The first portion of season 3 comes to a head, Evangeline Lilly shows off some impressive acting chops and Jack’s badassery is in full force.
Episode 7 - Not in Portland
There’s some crazy stuff in this episode. The flash back shows Juliet and her work as a fertility doctor. She manages to get her cancer-ridden sister impregnated, and is hotly recruited by the ageless Richard Alpert and his Mittelos company. The on-island action is the best part of the episode, however, as Alex helps Kate and Sawyer escape, only after they rescue Karl from the ridiculously freaky Room 23, where he’s being brain-washed (“God loves you as he loved Jacob”). Special shout out to the casting director for casting It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenny as the guard to Room 23. Alex’s craftiness is awesome, considering who her mother is. Juliet cold-bloodedly shooting Pickett, allowing Kate, Sawyer and Karl to escape back to the main island is great, especially when it’s juxtaposed with the warmness of her character in the flashbacks. Also of note is Juliet’s ex-husband getting hit by a bus after she had told Alpert that she wishes her ex-husband would get hit by a bus. Mittelos doesn’t mess around. Jack finishes the surgery on Ben successfully, and we get a nice call back to Lost’s pilot as Kate emotionally recites Jack’s speech from the very first episode of the series.
Rating: 8/10
Room 23, our first encounter with Jacob and Richard Alpert, Alex showing off her stuff, and we finally start to unravel the mystery of Juliet.
Wow. Way off on the Eko ep man. And I also thought the Sawyer backstory (although the second (and I believe third) island were revealed in this ep, which was freakin’ sweet)was contrived, which, as much as I love both Locke and Sawyer’s characters, their flashbacks so often seem. And the Juliet ep…correct there as well. I love the concept of other others. And other other other others for that matter.
Comment by Hopsing2 — January 4, 2008 @ 1:10 am
Elizabeth Mitchell’s acting in Not in Portland should win her an emmy
Comment by shaun — January 4, 2008 @ 5:09 am
Well these weren’t bad reviews! The only thing I don’t admit is the rating of the fifth episode - “The Cost of Living”. Maybe it had a stupid ending but still…i loved the last episode with Eko! I’d give 7/10 rating.
Everything else rocks.
Comment by Lost Series MKD — January 4, 2008 @ 5:51 am
I agree with the Cost of Living rating. Definitely one of the weakest episodes (along side Par Avion, but then I’m not a big Claire or Eko fan). Not in Portland though, wow, loved that one. I was a little iffy on whether I liked Juliet until then. The cut from her Mettilos meeting and “I’m a mess,” to her on the Island walking with that determined stare…chills, chills down my spine.
Comment by Steve D — January 4, 2008 @ 7:15 am
I didn’t like The Cost of Living either. Weakest episode of the season. The only good thing was spying Patchy.
It was BEYOND contrived. The effects were great, but the story–meh.
Comment by KeepingAwake — January 4, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Anybody who thinks Cost of Living is bad, let alone worse than Stranger in Strange Land, must be smoking something strong.
Comment by Node32774 — January 4, 2008 @ 9:10 am
My fave episode of the above is Not In Portland. My fave of all has to be Flashes Before Your Eyes.
My least fave of the above is by far The Cost Of Living
Comment by CraigG — January 4, 2008 @ 9:23 am
Thanks for the commentary. I too am busting through these as well and it’s good to see commentary right after watching the episodes.
Episode 4 I thought was a bit slow compared to the first 3 episodes. We see yet another con. Also Sawyer gets conned very easily and it’s apparent our favorite loner actually does feel for people. These folks have been through a LOT together, so it’s only natural that they feel a bond between each other. I also wonder if Cassidy was conning Sawyer too via Clementine.
Episode 5 I thought was very good (except for the stupid banter in the Pearl). There is a lot going on in this episode. I love how they recreated parts of the New testament with Eko searching for Yemi’s body similiar to Jesus rising from the dead. Notice the smoke monster killed Eko with an upside down cross. The very end with him and Yemi is very beautiful. Also watching the funeral of Colleen was great as well. One thing that is not making a lot of sense yet is When 815 crashed, why didn’t the inhabitants simply introduce themselves and be friendly and ask for the assistance of the Doctor. Why the us vs them mentality? Something larger is looming. I disagree that this was a bad episode…I save that title for Stranger in a Strange land which is coming up.
Episode 6…finally Kate and Sawyer get it on. Jack finally has the others in the palm of his hand in what was probably the best acting he has done on the show. By this time it’s really apparent that Claire, Sayid, Sun, Jin and Hurley are WOEFULLY missing in action. Great cliffhanger!
Up to this point TPTB have been touting these 6 as a pod..mini arc..a small story within the story. WHile these lead up to what was to come later on, I felt there was a little missing. Also by this point most of the flashbacks have become pretty unneccessary. Sure, they add to the overall characters, but nothing new is revealed and easter eggs are few and far inbetween. You can tell they are biding time as since they don’t know when ABC will let Lost end we’re getting some filler. This filler runs from Episode 4 through Episode 12 (Par avion)…of course there are great episodes intermingled like Not in Portland and Flashes, but those are with newer characters. Starting with Episode 13 to the end it’s pretty much all good.
Episode 7 - A True return to what made Lost so great. We get an excellent performance by Juliet, We get Room 23, We get lots of action,vunexpected twists, and mysterious private canversations. We get Ethan Rom. We get anagrams. We get easter eggs. We get an Apolla Bar Ad. SImply a great episode.
Comment by downthehatch — January 4, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Kewl comment. You’re right. I think I love Flashes, because it’s the first episode in the season that isn’t really dry, and it’s the first to try to answer some unexplained theories (time travel) and we get into a new character (Desmond).
I got the season 3 DVD set for X-Mas, and I’ve already watched it.
I’m rewatching seasons 1,2 and 3 before the re-launch of the show on Jan 31. A bit too much maybe?
Naw!
Comment by CraigG — January 4, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
i thought they did a good job of sending eko off, considering that they had to do it earlier than they wanted to (the actor wanted to leave the show). i thought his last lines were very touching and definitive of his character “i did not choose to live this life, but i lived it nonetheless and i did the best i could” something along those lines. it was DEFINITELY better than the worst ep in Lost history Stranger in a Strange Land (2/10 on that one) =P
I Do probably had one of the most intense last acts of any Lost episode.
Comment by david — January 5, 2008 @ 6:54 am
I totally agree with you on ‘The Cost of Living’ - I would’ve give it 6/10, but yeah, it seemed like a contrived episode to rid the series of Mr. Eko…
It seemed rush and silly… LOST was not on form with that episode… However, the other episodes were amazing… ‘Not IN Portland’ has to be one of the best, most chilling episodes ever, (I think we all got chills when Edmund Burke got hit by the bus), and the little easter eggs - like the ‘Apollo’ advert on the bus; Genius!
Locke’s still my favourite though =]=]
Comment by jacob_lost — January 5, 2008 @ 7:15 am
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays Eko chose to leave the show at that time. You cannot expect a miracle when the writers are put in that situation.
Comment by dt23 — January 5, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
The Cost of Living as the weakest episode of the season…..seriously? Come on, people. You guys think that TCOL is weaker than Stranger in a Strange Land, The Glass Ballerina, or Expose? I don’t think so. I thought that 305 was great. The backstory was great. I loved Eko’s visions. I thought it was great showing how Eko was such an evil dude before making it to the island. Then, on the island he was trying to make amends for his bad life. He thought that he was being punished. Another bit of awesomeness was how fearless Eko was when facing off with Smokey. “I do not ask for forgiveness. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. How is that a sin?” While, I don’t think that it was one of the best episodes of the season, I certainly do not think that it was the weakest of the season.
Comment by Joe D. — January 6, 2008 @ 11:02 am
i’m a huge eko fan and terribly sad to see him go, the rating was apalling, 8/10 at least… and it’s hard to see anything short of a violent death for someone with such a violent past… i personally think it’s one of the best of season 3, and come on… at least it’s not a claire of hurley episode
Comment by mr dave — January 7, 2008 @ 7:46 am
http://www.lost.eu/6f993
Comment by are you LOST? — January 9, 2008 @ 6:54 am
Look Oscar, the first six episodes are great….on dvd. Try this, watch the first episode, then wait a week. And do the same for the last five. Thats why people were upset, Lost is a show better watched on dvd when you can go right on to the next one. You’re talking like someone who sat down and watched a good chunk in a row.
Comment by DRich — January 9, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
hey whats up. i dont know if this is old news or anything, but Eko actually wasnt written to die. his parents were killed in real life, and left the show. that really sucks really bad for him. (us too cuz he ruled, but damn)
Comment by Csongei — January 9, 2008 @ 8:44 pm