LOST
Season 3
Episode 21
(WARNING:
SPOILERS)
“Greatest Hits”

Now this is Lost at its best, when the emotion which accompanies the focused character’s story is potent and incredibly moving, while the Island story’s plot is cruising at a rapid clip. The success is all the more notable in that the Island story isn’t just “cruising at a rapid clip” in this particular episode, it’s careening into overdrive as we speed on towards this season’s finale.

Charlie’s the focus this time out, as he learns from Des that he needs to die in order for Claire and Aaron to get on board a helicopter, apparently to get rescued. It seems Charlie will flick a switch, and then drown, and this event has to take place, in order for the “rescue” to occur.
So, facing his impending death with as much courage as he can muster, Charlie sets out to write a list of the 5 best moments of his “sorry excuse for a life,” his Greatest Hits, spurred on by Naomi mentioning that his “death” in the Oceanic 815 crash caused a big stir, and even led to a new DriveShaft album, a Greatest Hits package.

And herein are some of the most moving bits in Charlie’s story thus far. Weighted by all the emotional baggage that his character carries (and which we’ve been privy to over the past 3 seasons), we’re in on the process of letting go, just as Charlie is. The journey is astoundingly moving, and I guess I should’ve been psyching myself out for that goodbye, given that Charlie’s death has been in the cards since early on in this season, but there you go.
Man, this was a toughie to get through, what, with all his goodbyes, to Claire, Aaron (you left the ring in the crib! Doofus!), and Hurley.
And then, the apparent last minute reprieve, as Des offers Charlie an out, but Charlie opts for the Ferro Lad Gambit. (Sorry, comic book reference. In case that went over your head, Bruce Willis pulled the Ferro Lad Gambit too, in Armageddon.)
And then!
Oooh, these sneaky little buggers!
You get all worked up and prepare yourself for Charlie buying it at episode’s end… and he doesn’t! Some gun-toting women are in the Looking-Glass Station and they’ve got Charlie in their sights.
Great. Now I’ll have to go and psych myself out from square one all over again…

Parting shot 1: I’m sure the Lost people know this, but Michael Giacchino is such a prize. Man, he does know how to rachet up the suspense with that score.

Parting shot 2: That was Nadia, right? In Covent Garden, with Charlie? If that was, then she’s crossed paths with 3 survivors thus far: Sayyid, of course, and Charlie, and Locke. I guess she really must’ve gotten around in her life as a fugitive.

Parting shot 3: Wow. I didn’t even get to talk about the Island story…
Okay, Lemme just say, I apologize for not trusting Rousseau and her motives for raiding the Black Rock’s store of dynamite. Apparently, it was for Jack’s scheme to get back at the Others (Jack, who I also mistrusted for a spell back there; sorry, the Island doesn’t really foster trust, if you know what I mean).
Oooh, we’re leading up to a doozy, aren’t we? With the shooters staying behind, and the rest hiking to the radio tower…
Next up, the two-part finale, with Jack as spotlight character.

COUNTDOWN: 50

(Image courtesy of sparklies.org.)

LOST
Season 3
Episode 18
(WARNING:
SPOILERS)
“D.O.C.”

Crackerjack cliffhanger right there!
But let’s backtrack, shall we?

So Eyepatch Dude is still alive?! And Desmond makes a deal with him to help Parachute Girl (who’s apparently multi-lingual like nobody’s business). Urg. These people.
And what does Eyepatch Dude do? He tries to steal the satellite phone thingie. And they still let him go!
Why do I think Charlie’s supposedly impending demise will have something to do with Eyepatch Dude? If so, it’ll all be on Des’ head, for letting the bugger go.

Meanwhile, Juliet helps Sun by bringing her to the medical station, where an ultrasound machine is kept in a secret room. The size of the fetus can help them determine when Sun conceived. If it was off the Island, then fantastic; if it was on, then she’s in the deep doo-doo I mentioned in my review 2 episodes back.
And in the flashbacks, we see Sun as a newly-married woman, approached by Jin’s mother, whom Jin was told was dead. Well, not only is she alive, she’s also an ex-prostitute! So Sun is blackmailed into getting the woman a hundred thousand dollars (I think was the sum) to keep her mouth shut regarding her former profession, money Sun asks from her father.
Interestingly enough, the price of her father giving her the money is that he’ll “promote” Jin, which is how Jin ended up being Mr. Paik’s enforcer!
In all of this, there are a bunch of really great scenes: Sun secretly meeting her father-in-law; Sun and her father, making the deal that will get all that blood and guilt on Jin’s hands; Sun and Juliet, in the medical station, where she confesses to her infidelity with bald hotel owner guy.
Man, I’ve always loved Sun, and this episode was a motherlode of Sun Moments.

Of course, she’s got about two months left to live, so… arrrggghhhh!!!
As it turns out, the baby is Jin’s. (Apparently, just as the Island is particularly brutal to pregnant females, it also ups a guy’s sperm count into the stratosphere; in Jin’s case of being infertile, well, it apparently just made him fertile. What a chauvinistic Island!)
So Sun’s got this death sentence on her now. (First Charlie, now Sun!)

And Juliet’s making tapes for Ben. And apparently remorseful about it.
Okay. Sorry for calling Juliet a “two-faced lying slag.”
Still.

And back to that cliffhanger.
Parachute Girl comes to and says that Oceanic 815 was found, and that there were no survivors…
Hmmmmm…

Parting shot: Fine. If Juliet really busts her a$$ to save Sun’s life, then maybe I’ll consider getting her off my Sh*t List.

(Image courtesy of sparklies.org.)

LOST
Season 3
Episode 17
(WARNING:
SPOILERS)
“Catch-22”

Like Hurley said, this is future crap.
So it’s Des and his flashes, and being placed in a situation where he must choose if he’s willing to sacrifice Charlie for the sake of the possibility that Penny’s about to arrive on the Island. (Catch-22, indeed.)
We also see Des’ brief life in a monastery, making wine, before he’s whisked off by Penny. (Huh. First Eko’s stint as a priest, and now Desmond. What is it about Lost and men of the cloth? Maybe Kate was a nun for awhile…)
Speaking of Kate, she can be such a doofus. After making her solid choice back in the cages, now she’s hurt ‘cause Jack is making time with that two-faced lying slag Juliet, and she jumps Sawyer’s bones. At least Sawyer was canny enough to figure out he was being used. (And isn’t that cute? He gave her a mix tape…)
Getting back to Des, it’s an interesting perspective he voices, that maybe his flashes are a test. Maybe the test is knowing all this is inevitable and resisting the urge to change what he sees.
I was also about 94.6% sure that it wasn’t gonna be Penny there, hanging dead from the tree. I certainly didn’t wait for almost a year just to have her wind up on the Island, dead.
But really, who was that?!

(Image courtesy of sparklies.org.)

LOST Season 3 Episode 8 (WARNING: SPOILERS)
“Flashes Before Your Eyes”

So this episode was a sudden change in pace, as the flashback section is presented as one unbroken sequence, ostensibly showing us what Desmond experienced after he turned the failsafe key in Season 2’s finale.
Bam, back in the apparent past, only to learn the lesson that he cannot change what seems to be his destiny.
Of course, we find out that he’s still trying to change someone’s fate (which was the great punchline that made this episode), though also burdened with the awful inevitability that he ultimately won’t be able to stop it. (Tell us it ain’t true, Des!)
But then, given this episode’s atypical structure, the other subplots are stopped dead in the water, and all apparently so we can learn the possible fate of one of the survivors we’ve come to know and love. (Or inevitable fate, if we’re to take the wedding ring woman’s words as gospel truth.)
Not sure if that’s worth the trade-off, but there’s still a lotta season to go, so I’m just gonna sit tight.

Parting shot: On the plus side, The Others’ (hah! Get it?) Mrs. Mills, Fionnula Flanagan does a great turn as the wedding ring woman (a.k.a.—ahem—Ms. Hawking).

Parting shot 2: Lost racked up 7 nominations at the Saturns this year: Best Network Television Series; Best Actor in a Television Program or Series (Matthew Fox); Best Actress in a Television Program or Series (Evangeline Lilly); Best Supporting Actor in a Television Program or Series (Josh Holloway and Michael Emerson); Best Supporting Actress in a Television Program or Series (Elizabeth Mitchell); and Best Television Series Release on DVD (The Complete Second Season).
Winners will be announced on May 10, 2007.

(Originally posted 022107)

LOST Season 3 Episodes 1-6 Recap

With the impending return of Lost to the airwaves, I thought it prudent to take a look back at the first half dozen episodes of the season, to perhaps better prepare myself for all that is yet to come.

As the third season opens, we get to see “the Others” from up close, as a number of them become pivotal characters to the long and winding thread that is Lost. After the initial introduction to the Others (where we are given the briefest of glimpses of dearly departed Ethan and Goodwin), what becomes steadily apparent is that all is not kosher on this side of the fence.
There is a strange tension between Ben (a.k.a. The Baddie Formerly Known As Henry) and Juliet, with Jack becoming a reluctant pawn in the game being played by the factions within the Others’ camp, a tension which reaches one of its peaks with the ersatz tape of To Kill A Mockingbird which Juliet plays for Jack. We also see Alex’s repeated acts of rebellion and attempted escape.

It’s interesting to note that even as we are shown that not all of the Others are “bad,” we also see in the first 2 episodes of the season (“A Tale of Two Cities” and “The Glass Ballerina”) less desirable character traits of some of Lost’s principals: Jack’s tendency for obsessive behavior, and Sun’s capacity for lying. (And here, I bought her whole “there is no other man.” I am so a sucker when it comes to Sun…)
It is also in “The Glass Ballerina” where it is implied that Jin may know of Sun’s infidelity.

Then there’s Desmond’s new ability. (He may not have turned into the Hulk, as Hurley feared, but he’s become the Amazing Precog!)

And even as we bid adieu to Mr. Eko, we welcome Nikki and Paolo (who I sincerely hope contribute more to the show than Ana Lucia ended up doing).

And how about that cliffhanger, huh? Kate finally makes her choice, and Jack risks all on a gambit which could very well end up with the good doctor going the way of Boone and Shannon and the dodo.

Not too long left before we find out if that’s the case…

(Originally posted 020507)