January
31
'Lost': From a Rock to a Hard Place
Here is the greatness of "Lost."
In the climax of the season premiere that aired tonight, Hurley shocks us by saying he's not going to follow Jack to await (questionable) rescue, and gives an impassioned speech explaining how the valiant, pre-drowning actions of Charlie compel him instead to follow Locke back to the barracks. Hurley's words are completely moving, and not at all unconvincing.
Then in the epilogue, taking place in the future (with Hurley back in a mental institution), Jack hears Hurley admit he was wrong, in just about as moving a fashion. It's a complete reversal, but the link in the two scenes is the anguish Hurley feels each time.
For three seasons and now starting a fourth, "Lost" has made me care about what happens to characters like Hurley. It's not because of the mysteries of the island. It's because of the lengths the show has gone to establish these characters' backstory and humanity in the context of the island. Hurley and friends are way more interesting to me than Jacob.
Extraordinary things have happened, are happening and will happen. But in the end, "Lost" isn't about those things alone. It's about the people. And so while tonight's episode didn't have the jawdropping moments of last season's finale, it offered the promise of many more adventures, not only in exploring the island, but in exploring these characters.
In short: very cool.
Highlights: Almost everything Hurley does in carrying the episode (his moment breaking the Charlie news to Claire shouldn't go unmentioned, either), and the effect Hurley's actions ultimately have on Jack.
Also, the appearance of Lance Reddick of "The Wire" (devilishly purporting himself to be your friendly neighborhood Oceanic Airlines Asylum Hospitality Coordinator) and Ben's continued mind games with Jack.
Lowlights: Jack's naivete in assuming that Naomi could only have gone the most obvious direction, and Hurley's all-too-wistful desire to do a cannonball just at the moment he's about to get the bad news about Charlie.
Truths I'm willing to wait to find out, that you're probably on your way to figuring out: Dead Charlie - figment of Hurley's imagination, or something more?
And, the Oceanic 6??????
— Jon Weisman
(Remember, folks - no spoilers about future episodes!)
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Posted by: Packaging Connections | July 16, 2012 at 01:55 PM
I am behind you.You can count on it.
Posted by: iphone club | January 04, 2010 at 12:19 AM
Jeff Jensen at EW.com writes, "Christian Shephard rocking in Jacob's chair gave me the chills."
There are just so many images of dead people returning - the Russian, Charlie, Dr. Shephard - it's all significant, I'm just not sure how so.
I appreciate everyone fighting through the passwords to comment.
Posted by: Jon | February 01, 2008 at 11:07 AM
The reverse order does take some getting used to, but it’s not too bad. I don't like having to decode a message to get my comments to post. I understand it’s there to stop spam, but is that a huge issue around these parts?
I also noticed last night that each season begins with a vehicle accident. Season 1 was 815 crashing, Season 2 was the raft blowing up, Season 3 was 815 crashing from a different angle, and Season 4 was Hurley taking out some fruit.
Posted by: ibleedbloo | February 01, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Do we know what Jacob looks like? I only remember that little glimpse that Locke saw.
Maybe Jack's dad is alive then.
I think chatting on the toaster is easier than here. The reverse chronological order and the "enter the password" thing makes it harder.
Posted by: fanerman | February 01, 2008 at 10:47 AM
God knows why, but after almost ignoring Lost for three seasons, I got hooked by this one. It helps that I did watch the finale last season. Hurley was quite amazing.
Why do "we have to go back?"
Posted by: Vail Beach | February 01, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Excellent point, Jon. I guess I just enjoyed the playfulness of Hurley taking the leap into the water.
ibleed,
You are right about Jack's comment in the hospital. It is hard to tell by the other doctor's reaction whether Jack is crazy or if his dad is actually alive. Plus, at the pharmacy he tries to give them a prescription written by his dad, and she says she will call his dad about it. Of course, Jack storms off, so it could be that there is no dad to call
Posted by: Kevin | February 01, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Kevin,
It's not a big deal, but no, I didn't like it. I just thought it was too on-the-nose. I felt I was being hit over the head with the irony - irony isn't much fun if you can see it coming a mile away.
Contrast it with the irony of Hurley being so convincing that he shouldn't stay with Jack, followed by Hurley being so convincing that he should have stayed with Jack. That was big stuff for me.
Posted by: Jon | February 01, 2008 at 09:39 AM
It looked like Jacob to you in the rocking chair? That does make sense. For some reason I had it in my head that it was Jacob who peeped out he window. But it could make sense that it was Locke. When I get home I will try to analyze eyes of the "peeper" and John Locke.
Also, Michael in the casket makes sense, but that means something would have happened to/with Walt.
One thing that has always bugged me is in the first flash forward, when Jack is freaking out in the hospital, he tells the the boss (Mike from Las Vegas, don't know his characters name), to go to Jacks dads office and see how drunk he is (or something to that extent). Now, Jack could have been drunk/high and not thinking straight or his dad could really be in his office. We never found the body, the casket was empty.
Posted by: ibleedbloo | February 01, 2008 at 08:36 AM
Jon,
Are you saying you didn't like the cannonball scene with Hurley? I thought the situational irony was quite good there. Hurley jumps in symbolizing his baptism/renewal of being free from his past, only to come out of the water to the news of death and sadness.
ibleedbloo, I could see that being Jack's father. But it did look like Jacob to me in the rocking chair, and I think it was Locke who walked up to the window.
Posted by: Kevin | February 01, 2008 at 08:21 AM
Yeah that's what I figured. It didn't seem like too much of a stretch.
Speaking of which, maybe Michael's the one who died. Who else would have gotten off that island besides the Oceanic 6? When Michael/Walt got off, I'd expect they didn't get any fanfare from the press or whoever. And I wouldn't be surprised if they got issued new names and lives and everything. And it could explain why Kate had some animosity and didn't go to the funeral, and why nobody else attended either.
Posted by: fanerman | February 01, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Hurley would deny knowing Ana Lucia because he probably doesn't walk talk about the details of what happened on the island. Would you tell a cop, "Oh, yeah, I knew your partner, one of our friends murdered her, but he was under duress..."
Posted by: Bob Timmermann | February 01, 2008 at 12:09 AM
I thought that was Locke in Jacob's hut.
I don't think the dead guy was one of the Oceanic 6 either, based on the celebrity of Jack and Hugo. Do you think these flash forwards will eventually coincide with "present day" and that the Oceanic 6 (or whoever is left) will go back to the island?
Posted by: fanerman | January 31, 2008 at 11:45 PM
I didn't mean to "spoil" anything. Just trying to dissect what I saw on screen.
Posted by: ibleedbloo | January 31, 2008 at 11:41 PM
So does getting the flash forward in the season premiere (as well as the "Oceanic 6" label) vault Hurley from the 2nd-tier Lostaway up to the upper echelon of importance?
Posted by: fanerman | January 31, 2008 at 11:37 PM
While I could be way off base and assuming to much, I don't think the person in the casket was part of the Oceanic 6. We saw tonight that Hugo was a "celebrity" for being one of the "6" and we saw last night in the pop-up version of the Season 3 finale that Jack had achieved the same celebrity for being "that guy" from the plane crash. That suggests to me that all 6 achieved some celebrity after returning home just for being in the crash. The person in the casket had no one come to their viewing except for Jack. Even though that persons death was posted in the newspaper, no one came, no friends no family, no one but Jack.
Here is a question, why would Hurley deny knowing Ana Lucia?
Posted by: ibleedbloo | January 31, 2008 at 11:37 PM
ibleedbloo, those are spoilers!!!!
Also, you said at the Toaster:
40. ibleedbloo
I think we just saw the point where Jack "loses it". Good Jack would have never had pulled the trigger.
I agree with you. I think that's the point where Jack decides he wants a beard.
Posted by: fanerman | January 31, 2008 at 11:32 PM
"the Oceanic 6" was an awesome reveal. It suggests, and is backed up by other things in the episode, that only six of them returned from the island! Jack & Hurley for certain, most likely Kate (based upon seeing her in last season's finale flash-forward), probably the man who died who Jack went to see the casket of, and then...? Two more...! Who are the three we don't know about yet? How does it all happen? Man, it just gets better and better. Put one mystery to rest and open several more!!!
Posted by: Brent | January 31, 2008 at 10:31 PM
After several viewings by several different people, I conclude that Jack's dad was in the rocking chair in the cabin. Nobody else conclusively agrees with me. But I am sure of it in my tiny little mind.
Posted by: ibleedbloo | January 31, 2008 at 10:21 PM
I liked this recap in the review of the first two episodes of Lost in the LA Times: "The shack with the crazy . . . guy? ghost? voice talent? . . . is back in play, as are gas masks, polar bears and Locke's missing kidney. Seriously, the show is so whacked that at one point, when it flashed forward to an excavation site in Tunisia (Tunisia! never a good sign), I fully expected some blind priest to totter forward bearing the skeletal remains of a jackal. Yes, that's right, the answer to the mystery is: Ben is the Antichrist. " (Just fyi, the review was a rave basically, loved the craziness...)
Posted by: Craig | January 31, 2008 at 10:17 PM
Reverse comments, the most recent on top, this will take some getting used to.
Posted by: kngoworld | January 31, 2008 at 10:10 PM
I agree with everything you wrote Jon. I love the characters. What dramatic changes on the island do not concern me as much as what happens to the characters we have traveled with.
Posted by: kngoworld | January 31, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Wait, was that Jeremy Davies parachuting onto the island at the end? That can't be a good omen, can it.
Great episode, and as you said - the jumping forward and back, the juxtaposition of both was handled expertly.
Posted by: Craig | January 31, 2008 at 10:06 PM
I hate Lost as much as I love it sometimes. I need more.
Posted by: ibleedbloo | January 31, 2008 at 10:05 PM