March 16, 2010

This week's Lost recap will likely be shorter and less in-depth than usual...primarily because I didn't really enjoy this episode. There was some good, some bad, and some confusing, but based on what we've seen so far this season, it was by far the weakest episode yet.

First I want to mention something from last week that I noticed when I was re-watching the enhanced episode tonight. In the scene between Ben and Ilana, which ends with her saying "I'll have you", aside from Michael Emerson's heart-wrenching performance, the music that accommpanied the scene was fantastic. I had to make note of it after watching it again.
The opening scene in the Flash-Sideways was a carbon copy of the con scene with Cassidy when we first learned that Sawyer was a con man. As it turned around on him and the femme fatale drew a gun on him in an apparent attempt to rob him, it looked like a game of Con and Re-Con as they each tried to one-up the other. Did you believe him when he said he was a police officer? I did. I even wrote "I believe" and showed it to my viewing mates after the scene. With one secret word..."LaFleur" (hey, maybe he was just a big 70s hockey fan)...and the reveal of Miles as his partner, we were introduced to a Sawyer we never thought we'd see.

I still get creeped out when I see Claire-sseau's freaky skull doll, or whatever it is. I don't think we'll be seeing those on the Lost website for sale anytime soon.

I found it interesting that Flocke was a comfort to the children, attempting to ease their fears, while at the same time saying "the black smoke killed" the people in the temple. Quite an about-face...honesty,sympathy, compassion? Or all an act?

Sawyer first tells Jin he's with Locke, then tells Kate he's with no one? Which one is it?

Sawyer won't trust Miles in the Flash-Sideways, even as his partner is pleading with him to tell the truth, while at the same time being told by Flocke on the Island that he's "the best liar I know."

Flocke - "I'm the smoke thing." How blunt.

He then went on to say that "it's either kill or be killed. And I don't want to be killed." Say what you want about Flocke, but I can't find a time (yet) where he hasn't been honest in what he has said.
Back in the Flash-Sideways, Sawyer has a blind date with Charlotte, who is now super-hot. (Again, I'm glad I'm blocking the guest credits at the beginning...that would have been spoiled) Charlotte emplores him to "tell the truth" (are you sensing a theme?), and Sawyer responds by telling her he hit a fork in the road where he had to decide to become a criminal or cop...

...and then he nailed her.

Because after all, Sawyer nails everyone, doesn't he? Kate, Juliet, Ana Lucia, Cassidy, Charlotte...I'm waiting for a flashback to find him and Rose doing the nasty. ("Bernard, I thought you were dead!")

So Sawyer goes from grieving Juliet only days earlier, to now reminiscing about Kate after finding their love-cage again on Hydra Island? And her dress is still there? I almost expected there to be a Mariah Carey ballad as Sawyer lovingly cradled a fish biscuit and looked back on that night as a single tear fell down his cheek.

SCREEEEEEECH! That wouldn't happen, because at his core, Sawyer is a douchebag.

I was confused by the Flocke-Claire-Kate scene. At first it seemed like a staged good cop/bad cop thing to try and gain Kate's trust, but the Flocke slapped Claire and it just got all weird. And Sayid just sat there and watched. Creepy.
What the hell is with all of those dead bodies on Hydra Island? Oh man, now we have new characters to learn? Who the hell is Zoe? I'll tell you this much...if they introduced us to Dogen and Lennon and then killed them, Zoe lasts 3 episodes, tops. And on a freak-you-out tip, as one of Zoe's thugs called out "drop it!" to Sawyer, I immediately recognized him as Chip, the kid from Kate and Allie. Don't believe me? Check it out. Although to be fair, I also watched him more recently on Oz as Vern Schillinger's son, Andrew.

Every Flash-Sideways character has paused to look at themselves in the mirror at some point, although Sawyer is the only one to smash it.

We learned a lot from Flocke in two separate conversations with Kate. First, that an enemy "needs someone to hate", and while he was applying it to Claire and Kate, I think this was clearly a reference to his relationship with Jacob. Did you notice how Kate didn't accept Flocke's hand as she stood up to walk with him?
In the second conversation, on the beach, Flocke says "I am not a dead man", and goes on to say how he had a mother who was crazy...a disturbed woman...which led to a lot of problems. This made me gasp, "Oh my God, it's Aaron", but as he then compared himself to Aaron, I wasn't so sure. I think this is a big message to tell us more about who he really is.

I did enjoy Sawyer's flip-flop on whether he was siding with Widmore or Flocke...but it only raised more questions. Are we to believe that Widmore is on the "good" side? Widmore, who ordered Ben to kill Alex as a baby? I doubt it. But are we supposed to view Flocke as "good" then? Highly unlikely. So is their battle one of "bad" vs "bad", or are they BOTH playing Sawyer, and are on the same side?

Other questions:
Why build a sonic fence when you can just spread a little ash?
What was behind the locked door in the sub?
How is Widmore aware of what has been happening on the Island?
Why did Sawyer allow Kate to escape at the airport if he's a cop?

Quick things that made me smile in this episode:
- the glimpse of Sawyer's books on the dresser.
- Charlie's brother at the police station.
- Charlotte's response to Sawyer at her door with a sunflower and beer: "You have GOT to be kidding me!"
- the reveal of Kate at the end of the Flash-Sideways in the alley...although I was expecting it to be Juliet.
I really didn't like this episode, and maybe my pre-disposition to dislike Sawyer's character played a big part in that, although I came around a lot on him after last season's turn as LaFleur.

The one good thing coming out of this episode, however, is the preview for next week's episode, when we get the long-awaited (and I mean LONG-awaited) backstory on Richard Alpert. I got goosebumps watching the preview (see below) for next week's episode, entitled "Ab Aeterno", which is Latin for "since the beginning of time" or "since a very long time ago."