'Lost': My recap of 'What Kate Does' is live
In short: a solid, if unremarkable, episode of "Lost." Which is to say that it swept the floor with nearly everything else in the television landscape, but the show has set the bar so high that it's impossible to hit it out of the park every time.
What the show's getting right: the small scenes between characters that have spent years developing the relationships, shortcuts, mistrusts, and adventures that lead them organically to the places they are now. When the show goes small, the results are huge. The Claire/Kate/Ethan scene was TREMENDOUS, as was the Kate/Sawyer scene on the dock. Those two scenes alone, coupled with a nice Jack/Sayid scene, lifted the episode on its back and carried the lesser parts.
What the show's currently not getting right: at this point, half-talk and evasive answers don't really cut it. Talk of "infection" lasted twice as long as it should have, delivered by characters we just met and don't particularly have any affinity for either way at this point.
But, as always, read my full recap for the rundown top to bottom of this episode. And, as always, leave your burning questions below with this week's word preceding them: AAAAAARRRRROOOONNNN! Only questions that start with that will be answered. Thanks!
Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group.
Photo credit: ABC
So, if I was an Other telling Jack who Dogen is, would I say, "he walks among us, but he is not one of us?"
Anyway, count me in as one of those loving the off island time line. After last season, I wasn't sure if the off island stuff could redeem itself, but so far it's looking good. As long as we keep on seeing everyone have extreme deja vu, and things continue to happen as they always/were supposed to happen, I'm in.
Oh, and do we really need to see a commercial of V after Sawyer throws out his engagement ring. I mean, come on ABC.
*sigh* yada yada yada i get it, they end up with similar happenings off island as on island. im bored, its moving too slow. yes the evasiveness is getting old. everything is starting to feel forced.
I think it would be a huge let-down if Lennon or Dogen or any other Other suddenly started giving up closely guarded secrets at this point. It's not in their nature to do so, so I would consider it to be "out of character". Of course, if there were a compelling reason for them to start telling Jack & Co. more about what's going on, then that would be different. I think we saw a breakthrough in this regard: Jack forced Dogen to reveal something about the island - and it happened in way that is consistent with how we've seen the Others behave over the last 5 seasons. I would expect further revelations to be equally hard earned, until it makes sense for there to be any sort of trust between the 815'ers and the Dogen/Lennon faction of Others.
The return of the "sickness" and talk of infection turned my theory on its head, but this is my new theory. MiB is the one who revived Sayid (he may not be able to enter the temple, but he can do things from afar), and that process infected Sayid. MiB infects Sayid to make him a follower, and Sayid becoming crazy and killing people would fit. Sayid is Judas in the Last Supper poster, because as an infected person, he will follow MiB, but there will be a part of humanity in him that in the end betrays MiB.
Review of the episode on my blog:
http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-lost-season-6-episode-3-what.html
AAAAAAARRROOOOOOONNNN!!!
My question is actually about last week's premiere, and something you seemingly missed in your recap. Why does the woman who prods Sun to find out if she knows English or not in the airport call her Ms. Paik? Is she not married to Jin in this alternate universe?
Another interesting thing to point out: Desmond is wearing a wedding ring on the plane.
After watching the episode, I I read all of todays's stuff (the "how will 'it worked' work" debate, the transcript of the live pre-show chat, and Ryan's recap of tonight's episode), and my first thought is:
What is the significance of Artz's reference to "Midnight Cowboy" ("I'm walking here!")?!
Seriously, EXCELLENT recap and thoughts, Ryan. Agree almost completely with your take on the postive and (alas) negative aspects of the "episode" (segment).
My favorite comment from the transcript of the pre-show chat: Paterickschmede's
"Yea, but Hurley's got the upgraded talks to the dead, and video killed the radio empath."
My favorite comment from the "how will 'it work" work" "debate":
AMANDA: "Actually, I'm VERY disappointed that "Lost" decided to maintain two different storylines for its last season..."
I tend to agree Amanda... so far at least... though I hope eventually something unexpected ("oh wow!") will happen that will inspire and epiphany and I will delcare myself completely and utterly wrong for ever having doubted Darlton for a second.
Forgot to mention my favorite quotes from the recap:
"Lennon insists that Sayid has to take it willingly, otherwise it won't work. What's in the pill? Hey, awesome question, Jack. Direct, and to the point, and offering no way to let them avoid answering it. So, naturally, they avoid answering it, and I start balling my hand into a fist."
And, of course:
"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Aldo's peeved tonight."
On a more serious (that is, philosophical) note:
"playing back everything Dogen says to Jack, you realize he's telling the truth every step of the way about the purpose of the pill. He just chooses to omit its main ingredient."
I suspected from the beginning (that is, more and more with each Dogen comment) (well before the apparent confirmation by the allegedly poisen pill), that Dogen meant that the infection of Sayid had to be killed in order to keep it from spreading to other people. But maybe that comes from having watch so many classic Trek episodes so many times. (One in particular in which certain people had to be killed in order to keep "the body" of the society from being "infected".)
"Maybe the Man in Black seeks to bring out man's inner darkness, the layer that he's convinced lurks under us all anyways. Not sure I like the idea... I'm personally a bigger fan of my theory... that "Coverfield" was a covert "Lost" movie about what would happen if the monster were released as a byproduct of the Oceanic 6 leaving."
Can't wait to hear what JeffC's wife thinks about all this... I hope she is as excited as I am that the war may indeed be the struggle of "the devil"'s attempts to bring that dark side of man to the surface.
To me this is much more profound and resonant than a simple 50's sci-fi story about having to keep a monster from getting loose from an island so it doesn't go all Godzilla on everyone on the mainland.
(Can't remember the name of the person who a few days ago posted about the increasing parallels to traditional judeo-christian story, but I thought they had some good points.)
In any case, it's quite interesting that at this late point in the season we still don't know for sure if
1) it is a classic battle between primal good and evil (as perhaps personified by Jacob and TMIB); or
2) Jacob and TMIB transcend the whole concept of good and evil, that is the domain of the human characters exclusively; or
3) Jacob and TMIB are basically just like most humans, a mixture of good and evil, always tempted to use evil to get the things they think they need or want.
I don't have a strong preference, I just hope that it turns out to be "oh wow!" good (and doesn't spoil going back and re-watching the early seasons).
I also find it interesting that at this late date in the series that we have two completely different views of what's going on: What all call the parallel vanishing point timeline theory advocated by Ryan and apparently just about everyone else, and the epilogue theory seemingly believed in by only a few, including JeffC and myself.
I thought tonight's episode gave further credence to the epilogue theory, in that things seem to be working out for our characters the way we "feel" they should. For instance, Claire not giving up her baby. But apparently the parallel-vanishing point believers found plenty that they feel support their theory too.
I'm not rooting for either possibility (well, maybe a little for bragging rights), because I don't particularly like either scenario. I'd really prefer some other wild -- but organic -- scenerio nobody has thought of yet that makes us all go "oh wow! yes! why didn't we think of that! that makes so much sense!"
P.S. On the (admittedly extremely minor) chance that it was bothering anybody else but me, the name of the previously referenced classic Trek episode just popped into my head: "The Return of the Archons".
AAAAARRRROOOONNN!
Since the green pill was not so much "medicine" as a last resort/euthenasia, do we really know if there is a cure for this sickness? Is what makes Aaron so special that he will pull Claire back from the brink once they are reunited?, and thats why Malkin put her onto Oceanic 815, knowing that someday in some way, Aaron would save Claire?
And along with that, with the revelation to Jack that his sister has "fallen to the dark side", will he be more motivated now to find her and fight the Man in Black in order to free her?
AAAAAAARRROOOOOOONNNN!!!
My main question is "How does Kate plan to reunite Aaron and Claire? It took them three months to actually find a way to leave the island the first time. What does Kate plan to do once she finds her?"