Revisiting Lost’s Third Season: Episodes 18-19
Less than a week! Less than a week! It’s a bit surreal, isn’t it? In this current strike-induced wasteland of network television, it’s been a long while since I’ve been truly excited about any episodes of anything. Today, we’re taking a look at two of the last five episodes, both quite good, but one clearly better than the other. Whenever Sawyer cold-bloodedly murders someone, the Lost writers are doing something right.
Episode 18: D.O.C.
Do You like Sun? Then you liked this episode. Sun and her back story are the main focus here, and though the ending on the island is great, the whole episode is pretty much Sun contained. Juliet and Sun secretly got to th Dharma facility with the pregnancy equipment and Juliet checks her out. She was worried about whether her unborn child was Jin’s or not. The thing is, Juliet tells her that if a child is conceived on the island then the mother will almost certainly die. So, the ultimatum is this: a bastard child and life, or Jin’s child and promised death. Turns out the father is Jin and this makes Sun happy, imminent death be damned. Juliet gained some viewer points this episode, thanks to her “I hate you” to Ben in the recorder, though we know she’s still working with the Others. The B story all had to do with Desmond, Charlie, Jin and Hurley reviving Naomi. Mikhail the Bad Ass shows up and, in turn for saving Naomi with his Russian medical skills, they don’t kill him. The episode ends with one of the best WTF’s ever: Naomi wakes up and tells everyone that Oceanic Flight 815 was found – there were no survivors.
Rating: 7/10
I’m not a huge fan of Sun, but I think this is her most enjoyable flashback ever. The pregnancy stuff is always a little creepy, and we got some more insight into Juliet’s character. Also, the Naomi revelation was great. And Mikhail!
Episode 19: The Brig
This is, perhaps, my favorite non-finale episode of the season. As I’ve previously stated, Locke and Sawyer are my two favorite characters (aren’t they everybody’s?) and this episode just brought it. I love it when Lost throws aside the typical flash back formula and shows previously unseen action on the island. In this case, we saw Locke’s perspective of the previous week – living with the Others, being ordered to kill Cooper, his interactions with Richard Alpert. Unable to join the Others again until his father is dead, Locke retrieves the man who he believes will kill his father – Sawyer. And in one of the great scenes Lost’s ever had, Sawyer kills Locke’s father, only after realizing that Locke’s father is the real Sawyer, the man who ruined his family, his life. Sawyer’s chain strangling was brutal and strangely therapeutic.
Rating: 9/10
I love the atypical-formula episodes of Lost, and this one involved my two favorite characters. What more do I need?
YES! I loved loved loved the Brig, so much so I would have gone for a 10/10. D.O.C not so much only because Sun is not all that interesting to me, but Mikhail made it all worth it, AND we get another sexy lady with a sexy accent on the island which is always welcome, even if she’s just lying there bleeding. But now that a major story line for Sawyer is all wrapped up (a.k.a the whole letter/revenge thing), what’s going to happen to everyone’s favorite conman?
Comment by SteveD — January 25, 2008 @ 10:04 am
“But now that a major story line for Sawyer is all
wrapped up (a.k.a the whole letter/revenge thing),
what’s going to happen to everyone’s favorite conman?”
Sawyer’s story has legs. By having James Ford kill
the “real” Sawyer, the writers opened up a lot of
narrative space for both Ford and Locke. Both
characters have excorcised burdens which they had
allow to define them. Now, what do they do?
In the season 3 finale we saw Sawyer go back to help
his fellow islanders. Prior to that decision, Kate
said he was acting distant/foggy/disinterested (I
can’t recall the exact wording). It seems as if, in
going back to help his friends, Sawyer was making an
effort to become the man the “real” Sawyer had
prevented him from being. Ford stepped out of the
shadow of Sawyer and did the right thing.
In the new season, I think we’ll see Ford struggling
to stay out of those shadows. In the tv spot, he
says, “I’m doing what I’ve always done, survivin’” (or
something prerry close). This, I imagine, is in
response to him being called out for some
self-interested behavior.
The writers have been really good about making sure
that Sawyer (and all the characters, in fact) doesn’t
come off as some “is he good”/”is he bad” binary
figure. I think that will continue this year. Think
about the possibilities: James Ford’s effort to become
a better person is the direct outgrowth of having
killed the man he blames for the destruction of his
family. That’s a lot of moral ambiguity.
None of this is even to mention how Locke plays into
all of this, from orchestrating the murder to the bond
that has been created between these two characters
(Personally, I hope that Sawyer asking Locke if he was
really ever in a wheelchair is only a sign of things
to come).
Can’t wait ’till Thursday.
Take care.
Comment by moram — January 25, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
i wanted to put this idea out there and see peoples opinions… it started when i was watching a season 3 episode where sawyer mentions the brady bunch to karl and he had no idea who or what they were because his life had all been on the island. It made me think how much it appears Ben knows about everyday life in America (he has spoken about baseball teams and mining companies very comfortably) yet Ben says he has spent his whole life on Island. We know he came when he was young but my points above make me think that in future Ben flasbacks we will see him back in the U.S living parts of his life there, he just seems much too smart, whereas Karls naivity really jumped out at me…. thoughts?
stu
Comment by stu — January 27, 2008 @ 4:25 am
I rewatched the entire 3 seasons with my girl lately.
She didn’t know Lost before and I was really looking forward her being as impatient as I am for season 4. It worked by the way, she’s now as desperate as I am for january 31st.
Watching Lost again with her new eye on the series was really interesting.
Among the things that really shocked me during the 2nd watching was Ford’s behaviour after he Killed the real Sawyer (Locke’s dad).
At first he seems really tough and disillusioned.
It starts with his “arguing” with kate on their way to the radio tower when she tells him he’s not the same and he finally decides to go back to the beach, alone.
Then back on the beach, he simply kills Tom in cold blood without hesitation.
It’s kinda like now that he has killed Sawyer, he can be really himself, and this himself is definitely not a nice person.
I think Sawyer is somehow born again killing the man who ruined his life, but yet free, this new-born-Ford is not as good as one would have expected.
In the 3 1st seasons we saw a tough guy called Sawyer who was always wavering between being good or bad, I think the Ford we’ll see in the 3 coming seasons has made his choice : he is definitely a bad person.
Comment by bobindahood — January 31, 2008 @ 6:48 am