Well, for the first time this season, I can say that I was genuinely disappointed with an episode of Lost. With such a phenomenal outing last week, and really a stellar season up until now, I suppose it was inevitable. Unfortunately for Lost, and for us, I think the we saw the peak and genius of the flashsideways last week. This week was certainly a fine example of the storytelling technique, but had nowhere near the depth that Ben’s flash did. In Sawyer’s flash, we saw that his life took a decidedly different turn, with the conman instead becoming a police officer.
It seemed like there was a whole lot of set up, but not a lot of anything else in this episode. Even the flashsideways seemed to be setting up more flashsideways stories. It was hardly a complete journey and seemed only to introduce Sawyer’s life and predicament and have him, quite literally, bump into Kate. There were some nice nods, as we have become accustomed to. Sawyer had a date with Charlotte, Charlie’s brother was looking for him at the police station, and Sawyer’s partner was Miles. I smell a spin off! Who wouldn’t watch a buddy cop show with Sawyer and Miles? Seriously, that would be pretty awesome.
Back on the island the action was hardly more compelling. Locke sent Sawyer on a “recon” mission to find out the situation on Hydra Island. Turns out old friend Widmore docked his sub there. Again, I’m glad to have Charles back in the picture, as there is obviously a lot of resolution to his story that needs to be revealed.
I guess, at the end of the day, I’m just not a fan of Sawyer’s behavior this season. I understand that much of it comes from grief (and I’m pretending that during his longing snuggle with Kate’s old Hydra dress he was really thinking about Juliet, or else it would certainly cheapen that whole relationship). His actions right now just seem incredibly selfish. Even if his big plan, which isn’t that big of a plan, works, he’s going to end up stranding or harming the rest of the people on the island, including some of his friends. This is hardly the redemption that I was hoping to see from the character. I am hoping that this was all just set up to make his moment of heroism all the more meaningful, but for now, I’m annoyed. In my book, this was a step backward for Sawyer’s character arc. Plus, I’m really sick of hearing him say he’s not “with Locke.” All I’ve seen from him this season is blind obedience to the Smokey John Locke. Just because he has some ulterior motive to “sneak away when no one is looking,” it doesn’t really mean he’s not on his side.
At least we have some things to look forward to. Namely next week’s episode, which is the long awaited tale of Richard Alpert’s past. I’m hopefully, and fairly certain, that it is going to have some juicy information in it for us.
There are a few things that I’m going to be stewing on for the rest of the week, and will most likely discuss them in next Monday’s column: Kate’s conversation with Smokey regarding his crazy mother (it seemed to me to not be in regards to Locke’s crazy mother, but Smokey’s), and what might be in the locked room in the sub. There are so many possibilities.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Was I way off base with my assessment?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 16, 2010 @ 22:21 EST5EDT
You were not off base – this was a pretty lame episode. In fact, when FlashForward started airing I thought it was just a long form commercial, because nothing had happened yet so the episode couldn’t be over.
It beat the Jack episode and the Kate episode. I wasn’t a big fan of the Sayid episode, either. It was not in the same league as “The Substitute” (Locke) or “Dr. Linus”, though. Locke quite specifically says he’s talking about Smokey’s mother (“before I looked like this”). Or I guess that’s the Man in Black’s mother.
I enjoyed seeing Kate almost get stabbed, and Claire getting slapped. I have nothing against women, but I find both of these characters utterly annoying in any and all timelines. I did like seeing Charlotte again. I hope they show us Faraday before the end of the series.
Yes, I’d watch the James Ford/Miles cop show. Especially if Miles’ dad made an appearance (great to know he grew up knowing his father, who’s working in a museum).
Yeah, I had the same thought RE: Locke saying “before I looked like this,” but at the same time thought it was a little odd. If I’m not mistaken, Kate doesn’t really have any idea about what Locke is, other than him saying “I’m not a dead man.”
I’m not that shocked by Sawyer’s actions. Playing off conflict for personal gain has been his m.o. for a long while, and it’s not surprising he’d return to that comfort zone with the loss of Juliet. For much of season five she seemed to be the impetus for or at the root of a lot of the positive decisions he made, and with her gone his moral compass has gone askew again. Still, somehow I’m willing to bet they’ll have another pang of conscience in store for him before the end.
“…what might be in the locked room in the sub.”
Maybe it’s Desmond and for some reason Widmore needed him to get back to the island. If I’m not mistaken Cusick’s name still keeps appearing in the opening credits and I’m not sure how else he’d figure into things unless he’s relegated purely to the flashsideways storyline.
Desmond was one of my thoughts, too, though I kind of hope it’s not Desmond.
Aarrghh! This was a LAME episode! Tired of Sawyer, Kate, and Claire…want more forward movement to the story and answers. I’m sure the writers will resolve the big questions, my fear is that they will do it n a rush in the two hour finale and we will realize the bulk of season 6 was crappy filler. I’m a fan but a let-down, frustrated fan. This season makes me believe what some have posited, that the writers make much ip as they go along. I wanted to savor this season as answers unfolded but now I’m hoping I’ll get a few bones thrown my wayin the finale. Aaarrgghhhhhh!!!!
Wanting to get off the island, and a showdown over the sub seems like ground we’ve covered before. *yawn*
The Richard Alpert story seems promising.
The un/not/whatever Locke story about his crazy mother seems strange somehow. Both in the way he conveyed it, and from what little we know about Smokey/Man in Black. It seemed mythological somehow, like his mother could be a giant squid or something. Perhaps she’s a mummy locked in Widmore’s closet. ;)
I agree that there was definitely more to his “mother” than he was letting on. With all the talk of bad decisions, my mind went to Cain and Able. I suppose one could interpret Eve as crazy….
Forgot to mention that it is entertaining to watch Sawyer con people with the truth.
You can tell a lame episode of LOST when at the very last minute of the show you don’t go “WTF?!”, it had a horrible ending to a waste of an hour of my time. Just… damn bad… I can’t think of anything else to say. lol
I enjoyed the episode, it had alot of interesting moments: a Sawyer/Miles buddy cop drama, Kate getting choked, Claire getting smoke slapped, Widmore and his underling Tina Fey, Smokey’s conversation about his mother (Jesus, even all powerful morphing smoke has parental issues on this show), and Charlotte.
Then came the end when Sawyer made his con clear to Kate. He is screwing over WTFocke and Widmore and stealing a submarine to ride off into the sunset with Kate. Really? And the way it went down with Kate pointing out that they don’t know how to fly an airplane so how are they escaping. “Oh don’t worry we will take the sub instead.” How the fuck is working a sub simpler?!
Oh well next week is all about Richard!!!
There were a lot of nice moments, but I felt like there was no real “story” in this episode. It was just getting from one point to another.
Funny you mention the spin-off here, as we all said it in the chat last night too!
“A rough and tough hick from the Midwest with an Asian partner who can hear voices from the dead. They are: Sawyer & Miles! Coming this fall to ABC.”
I didn’t feel like this was all that lame for some reason. Probably because I actually felt like there was some advancement with Widmore being shown again and WTFLocke (my favorite name for fake Locke from the chats) saying “I am the smoke thing.” Also, hopefully, the end of whiny, weird Claire.
I’m going to propose a title for the Sawyer-Miles cop show: “Smartass & Spooky”
I’m still sticking with my own “NonJohn” moniker for the bald dude if for nothing else than it rhymes.
I didn’t hate the episode, but it definitely wasn’t one of the greatest. Still, as Sebastion correctly pointed out, this wasn’t a train-wreck of an episode like some of seasons past.
Certainly not a train wreck, but the past few weeks have been superlative in my opinion. In retrospect, Dr. Linus is probably one of my favorite episodes of the entire series.
As for what to call Locke, there are so many good options. On the Podcast Damon and Carlton said that all the writers just call him Locke. I’ve fallen into a bit of a “Smokey” rutt, I admit, but I rather stick to one than try to come up with something clever in every other sentence like Doc Jensen does over at EW.
NonJohn, WTFLocke, UnLocke, Man in Black, Jacob’s Nemesis, the Locke Monster, The Lockeness Monster, the list goes on…
I didn’t think this episode was boring nor did I think that the story didn’t progress and I especially didn’t think the writers weren’t giving answers or just making stuff up as they went along.
I enjoyed seeing what Saywer’s potential was – either become a criminal or join the Police. I loved the scene when the car crashed into their car. I mean look at this scene alone – it’s Movie material. It looks as if you went to the cinema to watch this. With those wide empty streets I fealt like watching “Heat” and I wasn’t even watching it in HD.
I like the season so far. I liked how things turned out in this episode. With Sayid finding Jin in the freezer at the end of his episode and Sawyer now reconnecting with Kate in his, there is a lot of stuff that is still bound to happen on the new timeline. It’s the second act of a good movie and it’s not boring. Things are happening every episode. I mean do I have to remind you guys about some of those episodes back in season 4? Namely the first ten episodes of THAT season until ABC finally decided how many more episodes there were going to be? The crapfest it was because THERE they had to make sh*t up because they didn’t know how much more filler they would have to produce…
Anyway – awesome show, still love it. Can’t believe how much I’m going to miss it once it’s gone.
Not my favorite episode of the season so far, but I do like Sawyer. I went, “Wow!” when they made him a cop in the alternate timeline. I did not see that coming. And I agree with the poster who said that Sawyer’s backslide is due to grief over Juliet. Three years with her now seems like a long-lost paradise to him, and he’s pretty crushed. You can see it in everything he does. I actually really like Josh Holloway’s performance. It was also good to see Miles (and to a lesser extent, Charlotte – what exactly was the point of her character, again?) in the flashsideways. Doesn’t surprise me to see Kate and Sawyer running into each other again.
I did think “We’re gonna take the sub” followed by a dramatic sting of music was the lamest end to an episode of Lost in memory, though. Really looking forward to next week’s episode. Are we switching back to flashbacks for a week, do you think, to explain what Richard’s deal is? Or will it consistently be the current flashsideways theme? If so, I’m a bit disappointed we won’t actually see Ricardus’s history.
I am under the impression from the buzz I’ve seen around the episode that it will indeed be a flashback episode.