Lost 4.03 The Economist
Feb. 15th, 2008 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenak!!!!!!!
We haven't had a Sayid episode in a while, and he was in the background through most of s3, so any Sayid episode would have been welcome. One that advanced the plot like this, well. This season definitely offers a fantastic start.
Now, details.
On the island: the newbies continue to be good examples of how to introduce new characters to a big ensemble. They're crucial to the mystery, have distinct personalities, but they don't come across as taking time from the old gang. In the last episode, it struck me that "our" Losties are well on their way to becoming the Others; there were distinct parallels in both the Locke-and-Charlotte and Jack, Kate-Miles scenes with the castaways' first encounters with the Others. Of course, we know that "our" heroes are the good guys and these new arrivals are Up To No Good in the long term. But the newbies stubbornly refuse to behave as evil overlords/thugs despite their up-to-no-goodness. Frank with his established guilt complex re: the crashed plane is calm and sympathetic, Daniel the physicist is unstable but not in a threatening way, more in a enthusiastic geek way, Charlotte is brave and resourceful. Only Miles is a jerk, but then again, as Hurley points out, he's clearly the new guys' Sawyer (down to conning people out of their money and still having feelings about that). Incidentally, I'm thinking the most obvious dangerous one, Miles, will be the most harmless one in the long term and we should watch out for nice gruff Frank, but I watched too much tv.
Daniel's experiment: did anyone else get "Back to the Future" flashbacks? So there is a time difference. Time passes differently on the island. Methinks this will be how they'll explain Walt's growth if and when they reintroduce the kid through other means than a vision of Locke's. (BTW, JJ Abrams should have considered all the way back in s1 that if your seasons take place during a couple of weeks, you should not have a child regular. I wonder how Heroes will do with Micah and Molly in this regard, but then again they have the option of letting months pass between seasons which Lost doesn't have.)
Sayid telling Jack he'll go after Locke & Co. because basically Jack can't be trusted to keep his temper? FINALLY. Mind you, Jack accepts the truth of this in good grace. Incidentally, in my last review I mentioned that Naomi's drawn-out death was a dramatic necessity to make it clear Locke really crossed a line there; Jack by pulling the trigger crossed the same line. (He would have killed Locke if the gun had been loaded, and at that point it would not have been self-defense or anyone else's defense because Locke had not been attacking Jack or anyone else. The justification would have been "I think this person is dangerous for everyone in the long run" which is exactly the justification Locke used for killing Naomi. In both cases, they were willing to commit murder.)
Sayid's trick in exchanging Charlotte for Miles: clever, and makes sense, considering Sayid really doesn't trust the newbies any more than Locke does (I don't think he was lying about that), and it also makes sense Locke would agree. Similarly, makes sense that Locke would have expected someone to come after him and build a trap, though it surprised me that Hurley participated. (Otoh I did figure out Hurley was faking it because if he had genuinenly turned against Locke at this point, at the very least Claire and Sawyer would have joined forces with him, and Hurley wouldn't have ended up in a closet.)
Long-term significant: Locke can't find Jacob again (and Ben is gleeful). For those of us who thought Locke must have been communicating with Jacob shortly before finding Hurley in the season opener, the close-up on an eye spotting Hurley from inside the cabin showed a brown eye, and Locke of course has distinctly blue eyes. So does Ben, for that matter. Of course Locke so far hasn't seen Jacob at all, but he did hear him, and presumably Jacob communicated with him through the Walt vision. But let's not forget Jacob's words in the cabin were "help me". So is there another force on the island?
Kate and Sawyer: you know, I'm not that interested in the eternal Kate-Sawyer-Jack triangle, but the scene wasn't unimportant for the overall narrative because it showed that a) Ben's words from last week have gotten to Sawyer (the ones about Sawyer having no good life to go back to once he leaves the island, that is), and b) Sawyer making the very point to Kate I've been wondering about - what IS Kate's incentive for wanting to go back, precisely? Other than her natural flight instinct? Because aside from Locke and Rose for whom leaving the island means a physical danger, Kate has the worst prospects. Still, I don't think she remained with Sawyer because she actually wants to play house on the island; I think she did it to keep an eye on Locke.
Flashforward: oooooohhhhh. Very much a spy film feeling, though not echoing the Sydney generation of Alias as much as the first generation spies. On the theme of "everyone's lives sucks once they make it off the island", we have another entry. So, for the record: Jack - becomes a suicidal self-destructive drunk. Hurley - sees being locked up in a mental institution as an improvement on his existence. Person Whose Identity We Don't Know Yet - ends up in a coffin with no one showing up for the funeral service. Sayid - becomes an assassin.
Except it's not just about that, or Sayid being unable to escape his past once he's back from the island, oh no, it's more complicated than that. I didn't guess who Sayid's employer would be until the final scene started, though I did assume the reason why he had become an assassin would be connected to the island, and would be about protecting someone. Then we saw the cages with animals in them, and whom do we know who is really into experiments and also likes pets (but has no scruples using them), hmmmm? And as soon as as we heard the voice, I knew. Nice draw out until we saw Michael Emerson's face, nonetheless. So. Ben just removed himself from the No.1 suspect for "person in the coffin" position by virtue of being alive and pulling the strings for one group in the flashforward. (This alas puts Locke in the No.1 place.) As to whom Elsa worked for, clearly the same people who sent Mysterious Not!Lawyer (I know Naomi addressed him by name, but I forgot) who tried to get Hurley to tell him whether people were still alive on the island, if he's not the boss himself, the ones who hired Frank, Miles, Daniel and Charlotte, and presumably the ones who produced a fake plane with fake bodies to be found. Considering they also have the Desmond and Penny photo, clearly Penny's father is somehow connected (since Penny is not), and since they have it in for Ben, they could be what's left of Dharma. Lest we forget, Ben either participated in or even organized the death of every single Dharma employee on the island.
Lastly: another reason for the Alias feeling is the fact we get to hear accented German. Elsa's is better than Sydney's, if you're wondering, but she's still clearly American. (Also, I never met someone German named Elsa in my 38 years old life in Germany. I did meet and am related to a couple of Elses, though, but it's an old-fashioned name and more likely to be one of an older woman.) Ah, double betrayals and killing people one has feelings for even while they're betraying one, too. I'm feeling so nostalgic...
We haven't had a Sayid episode in a while, and he was in the background through most of s3, so any Sayid episode would have been welcome. One that advanced the plot like this, well. This season definitely offers a fantastic start.
Now, details.
On the island: the newbies continue to be good examples of how to introduce new characters to a big ensemble. They're crucial to the mystery, have distinct personalities, but they don't come across as taking time from the old gang. In the last episode, it struck me that "our" Losties are well on their way to becoming the Others; there were distinct parallels in both the Locke-and-Charlotte and Jack, Kate-Miles scenes with the castaways' first encounters with the Others. Of course, we know that "our" heroes are the good guys and these new arrivals are Up To No Good in the long term. But the newbies stubbornly refuse to behave as evil overlords/thugs despite their up-to-no-goodness. Frank with his established guilt complex re: the crashed plane is calm and sympathetic, Daniel the physicist is unstable but not in a threatening way, more in a enthusiastic geek way, Charlotte is brave and resourceful. Only Miles is a jerk, but then again, as Hurley points out, he's clearly the new guys' Sawyer (down to conning people out of their money and still having feelings about that). Incidentally, I'm thinking the most obvious dangerous one, Miles, will be the most harmless one in the long term and we should watch out for nice gruff Frank, but I watched too much tv.
Daniel's experiment: did anyone else get "Back to the Future" flashbacks? So there is a time difference. Time passes differently on the island. Methinks this will be how they'll explain Walt's growth if and when they reintroduce the kid through other means than a vision of Locke's. (BTW, JJ Abrams should have considered all the way back in s1 that if your seasons take place during a couple of weeks, you should not have a child regular. I wonder how Heroes will do with Micah and Molly in this regard, but then again they have the option of letting months pass between seasons which Lost doesn't have.)
Sayid telling Jack he'll go after Locke & Co. because basically Jack can't be trusted to keep his temper? FINALLY. Mind you, Jack accepts the truth of this in good grace. Incidentally, in my last review I mentioned that Naomi's drawn-out death was a dramatic necessity to make it clear Locke really crossed a line there; Jack by pulling the trigger crossed the same line. (He would have killed Locke if the gun had been loaded, and at that point it would not have been self-defense or anyone else's defense because Locke had not been attacking Jack or anyone else. The justification would have been "I think this person is dangerous for everyone in the long run" which is exactly the justification Locke used for killing Naomi. In both cases, they were willing to commit murder.)
Sayid's trick in exchanging Charlotte for Miles: clever, and makes sense, considering Sayid really doesn't trust the newbies any more than Locke does (I don't think he was lying about that), and it also makes sense Locke would agree. Similarly, makes sense that Locke would have expected someone to come after him and build a trap, though it surprised me that Hurley participated. (Otoh I did figure out Hurley was faking it because if he had genuinenly turned against Locke at this point, at the very least Claire and Sawyer would have joined forces with him, and Hurley wouldn't have ended up in a closet.)
Long-term significant: Locke can't find Jacob again (and Ben is gleeful). For those of us who thought Locke must have been communicating with Jacob shortly before finding Hurley in the season opener, the close-up on an eye spotting Hurley from inside the cabin showed a brown eye, and Locke of course has distinctly blue eyes. So does Ben, for that matter. Of course Locke so far hasn't seen Jacob at all, but he did hear him, and presumably Jacob communicated with him through the Walt vision. But let's not forget Jacob's words in the cabin were "help me". So is there another force on the island?
Kate and Sawyer: you know, I'm not that interested in the eternal Kate-Sawyer-Jack triangle, but the scene wasn't unimportant for the overall narrative because it showed that a) Ben's words from last week have gotten to Sawyer (the ones about Sawyer having no good life to go back to once he leaves the island, that is), and b) Sawyer making the very point to Kate I've been wondering about - what IS Kate's incentive for wanting to go back, precisely? Other than her natural flight instinct? Because aside from Locke and Rose for whom leaving the island means a physical danger, Kate has the worst prospects. Still, I don't think she remained with Sawyer because she actually wants to play house on the island; I think she did it to keep an eye on Locke.
Flashforward: oooooohhhhh. Very much a spy film feeling, though not echoing the Sydney generation of Alias as much as the first generation spies. On the theme of "everyone's lives sucks once they make it off the island", we have another entry. So, for the record: Jack - becomes a suicidal self-destructive drunk. Hurley - sees being locked up in a mental institution as an improvement on his existence. Person Whose Identity We Don't Know Yet - ends up in a coffin with no one showing up for the funeral service. Sayid - becomes an assassin.
Except it's not just about that, or Sayid being unable to escape his past once he's back from the island, oh no, it's more complicated than that. I didn't guess who Sayid's employer would be until the final scene started, though I did assume the reason why he had become an assassin would be connected to the island, and would be about protecting someone. Then we saw the cages with animals in them, and whom do we know who is really into experiments and also likes pets (but has no scruples using them), hmmmm? And as soon as as we heard the voice, I knew. Nice draw out until we saw Michael Emerson's face, nonetheless. So. Ben just removed himself from the No.1 suspect for "person in the coffin" position by virtue of being alive and pulling the strings for one group in the flashforward. (This alas puts Locke in the No.1 place.) As to whom Elsa worked for, clearly the same people who sent Mysterious Not!Lawyer (I know Naomi addressed him by name, but I forgot) who tried to get Hurley to tell him whether people were still alive on the island, if he's not the boss himself, the ones who hired Frank, Miles, Daniel and Charlotte, and presumably the ones who produced a fake plane with fake bodies to be found. Considering they also have the Desmond and Penny photo, clearly Penny's father is somehow connected (since Penny is not), and since they have it in for Ben, they could be what's left of Dharma. Lest we forget, Ben either participated in or even organized the death of every single Dharma employee on the island.
Lastly: another reason for the Alias feeling is the fact we get to hear accented German. Elsa's is better than Sydney's, if you're wondering, but she's still clearly American. (Also, I never met someone German named Elsa in my 38 years old life in Germany. I did meet and am related to a couple of Elses, though, but it's an old-fashioned name and more likely to be one of an older woman.) Ah, double betrayals and killing people one has feelings for even while they're betraying one, too. I'm feeling so nostalgic...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 01:14 pm (UTC)"our" Losties are well on their way to becoming the Others; there were distinct parallels in both the Locke-and-Charlotte and Jack, Kate-Miles scenes with the castaways' first encounters with the Others.
Oooh, I had that thought, too. I noted to my husband that although we know who Ben is, and Juliet, and we have a lot more background on the Island than we did before, we still don't know who the Others were/came from. My guess is that leaving the island carries some sort of heavy karmic penalty (and thus Sayid is working to keep the island undiscovered, to allow the Losties who remained to continue their relatively unsucky lives on the island). If that is true, then this would explain much of the Others' motivations to keep the island undiscovered, and their extreme suspicion of the Losties.
So is there another force on the island?
Oh, definitely. The Island has its own endgame(s). Jacob is just a part of it, imo.
I certainly don't mind the Alias feel to the flash-forwards, nor do I mind the hotness that is cleaned-up Sayid. All in all, much to love.
Dang, but this show has been SO excellent since the end of Season 2.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 06:08 pm (UTC)More seriously: all the passports bring up an interesting point. Because until Sayid's flash-forward, we've never seen Ben off the island (unless you count his birth). In Juliet's recruiting scenes, for example, the recruiting was done by Richard and Ethan, not Ben whom she only met after her arrival. Were it not for the pass ports, I'd bet he never left since arriving as a boy, but now I wonder whether he did and that is why the Island didn't heal him the way it did Locke when he had the tumour. It seems to play a game of favours and punishments with its favourites. (See also withdrawing the ability to walk from Locke as a last spur to make Locke take Boone to the dangerous site, but returning it immediately after, and taking the ability to speak after Locke had refused to push the button.)
My guess is that leaving the island carries some sort of heavy karmic penalty (and thus Sayid is working to keep the island undiscovered, to allow the Losties who remained to continue their relatively unsucky lives on the island).
Otoh, Richard and Ethan at least seem to have travelled regularly to and thro. But then again, Ethan is dead and Richard is some kind of immortal... But yes, I think Sayid definitely is aware in the flash forward that if the remaining Losties should be discovered and made to leave the island (if they aren't killed), they'll be as soomed as he, Jack and Hurley appear to be, and wants to protect them from that.
(Though Kate, judging by the brief glimpse we got, appears to be doing relatively well. Hm. But then again if we hadn't seen Jack in his own flash forward, we wouldn't know how terribly he's been doing just based on his appearance in Hurley's....)
If that is true, then this would explain much of the Others' motivations to keep the island undiscovered, and their extreme suspicion of the Losties.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 08:06 pm (UTC)I had similar thoughts during the Locke & Charlotte scene last week which also made me wonder whether we'll see much of The Others this season barring Ben & Juliet.
Ben just removed himself from the No.1 suspect for "person in the coffin" position by virtue of being alive and pulling the strings for one group in the flashforward.
Isn't that presuming that both those flashforwards take place at the same time? Which isn't necessarily true.
Mysterious Not!Lawyer (I know Naomi addressed him by name, but I forgot)
Matthew Abaddon, which really tells you all you need to know about him. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 05:58 am (UTC)I doubt it, for the first half of the season at least, for narrative reasons, but they will have to explain what became of them and who is in charge, given that Ben is currently captive and Locke, whom Richard tried to make into a new candidate, is otherwise engaged. Personally, I suspect that if/when killing starts, the Others will the the redshirts to demonstrate how serious the people behind the Boaties are.
Isn't that presuming that both those flashforwards take place at the same time? Which isn't necessarily true.
Good point. If Jack's takes place later, it still could be Ben in the coffin.
Matthew Abaddon, which really tells you all you need to know about him. ;)
Thanks! Showwriters in Wales and Hawaii clearly go to the same school of subtlety...
no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 01:34 pm (UTC)Glad you think that Sayid could be protecting the other Losties in that manner; that's the best theory I could come up with at the moment.
I have a feeling Kate may not be doing well--her "i have to go back to him" or whatever sounded ominous.
And Ben and Sloane are wonderfully alike, no? I was definitely thinking that as I watched. My love for Ben knows no bounds.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 05:20 pm (UTC)Good point, I guess we need the early part of this season to deal with the Boaties and establish their personalities before the others get reintroduced.
Showwriters in Wales and Hawaii clearly go to the same school of subtlety...
Heh, true enough.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 12:06 pm (UTC)Elsa's is better than Sydney's, if you're wondering, but she's still clearly American. (Also, I never met someone German named Elsa in my 38 years old life in Germany. I did meet and am related to a couple of Elses, though, but it's an old-fashioned name and more likely to be one of an older woman.)
You know, I was wondering about her, actually, since there was an actress named Thekla Reuten in the credits, which seems a distinctively German name to me. In addition, her German, though somewhat accented, sounded fluent (as opposed to Jennifer Garner, who clearly sounds as if she has phonetically learned the words, even though she's quite good at hitting most of the actual word boundaries, etc.). Of course, given that Harold Perrineau was in the credits for the second time in a row without appearing, it's possible they had a cut scene with another actress and simply didn't erase her name from the guest list.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 12:11 pm (UTC)