I’m on a quest to re-watch every episode of Lost, one per day. As I polish off each DVD, I’ll post my thoughts on the episodes contained therein.
“…And Found”
SYNOPSIS: The Tailies tell the Rafties that they’re all going on a trek to the Losties’ camp. (Bless nicknames.) But they have to gather food first, so they split up. Libby tells Michael that they imprisoned the three of them because of their “trust issues.” Michael decides to run off to find Walt. Jin leaves to find Michael, and Eko accompanies him. Jin stumbles upon a corpse impaled on a pole, and Eko says that the man’s name was Goodwin. They hear rustling and hide, and a band of Others passes them, including a child with a teddy bear. They finally catch up with Michael, and Jin convinces him to stay with them and that they’ll find Walt together. Meanwhile, Sawyer, Ana Lucia, Libby, Cindy and Bernard continue their trek. On the other side of the island, Sun panics when she can’t find her ring and only finds it when she stops looking; and Kate reads the messages in the bottle in hopes of finding one to her from Sawyer. In the flashback, Sun is set up on an ill-fated date with Jae Lee, heir to a hotel empire; and Jin works at one of the family’s hotels but quits when he can’t deny service to lower-class visitors like his boss wants him to. But fate makes Jin literally bump into Sun at the end.
THOUGHTS: It’s interesting that the Tailies are so quick to assimilate with the Losties. It’s only a day since they found the Rafties, and already they are deciding to join forces. But it’s not a huge surprise, seeing as their ranks have been thinned from twenty-three to five. It seems that as rough as the Losties’ first six weeks have been on the Island, the Tailies have had a much worse time of it. We get another glimpse of the Others, and with their tattered clothes and bare feet, they look downright uncivilized. And why is a child with them? We’ll find out soon. As for the flashback, it’s the earliest Jin/Sun one we’ve seen. Taking all of their flashbacks and Island life into account, is there any better love story told on this show?
“Abandoned”
SYNOPSIS: Sayid unveils a tent he built for Shannon, and the two of them consummate their love, but Shannon is startled by a vision of Walt. She insists that Walt is back on the Island and needs rescuing, so she and Vincent go looking for him. Sayid follows them, concerned about Shannon’s safety. Shannon expresses her frustration that no one ever believes her. Meanwhile, the Tailies and the Rafties continue their trek, but Sawyer collapses in a fever. They continue on with him in a makeshift stretcher, but soon flight attendant Cindy gets snatched by the Others. Elsewhere, Claire and Charlie have a spat, and Locke finds out that Charlie is in possession of heroin again. Shannon and Sayid both see a vision of Walt, and Shannon chases after him and is inadvertently shot and killed by Ana Lucia. In the flashback, Shannon grieves for her father but receives neither comfort nor financial support from her frosty stepmother. Boone offers help, but Shannon won’t take it because she doesn’t think he believes in her.
THOUGHTS: Rest in peace, Shannon. I think it’s kind of a pity that she wasn’t given more to do during Season 2. There were five episodes in which she could have had character development, but instead she was a bit of a bystander. At least this episode gave her a substantial storyline. And it’s also a pity that she died just as she was becoming a likable character. She also got validation that she wasn’t crazy because, interestingly enough, Sayid also sees Walt in the jungle. I can’t remember if I knew someone was going to die this episode the first time I watched it and, if so, if I knew it was Shannon—but it is a pretty shocking death, especially because it was such an unfortunate twist of fate. She and Sayid just happened to intersect with the Tailies when the Tailies were already on edge because of the Others, no one more so than Ana Lucia. But hey, accidents happen! The last moment is great because of the looks on the characters’ faces. Ana Lucia and the rest of the gang look shocked and bewildered, and Sayid looks anguished and angered. He even starts to rise right before the final cut. Good foreshadowing for the next chapter!
“The Other 48 Days”
SYNOPSIS: We how the Tailies spent the first 48 days. The tail section of the plane crashes into the ocean just off the Island’s coast, and a couple dozen people make it to shore alive. But that very night, three of the survivors are taken by the Others, despite Eko killing two Others single-handedly. Eleven days later, the Others take nine more, including the children, Zach and Emma. The Tailies venture into the jungle for refuge. Ana Lucia holds a guy named Nathan captive, believing him to be one of the Others since no one remembers him from the plane. Under the cover of darkness, a guy named Goodwin frees him but immediately snaps his neck. The Tailies move into a Dharma bunker and find, among other things, a radio. Ana and Goodwin head to higher ground to find better reception. Ana interrogates Goodwin since she recalls seeing him come out of the jungle completely dry just minutes after the crash. He admits to being an Other and says that the children and the rest of the “good people” are better off where they are now. He and Ana Lucia fight, but kills him by impaling him. Two weeks later, Bernard speaks with Boone through the radio, but Ana Lucia assumes its the Others trying to find them. A few days later, Libby and Cindy find Jin’s unconscious body washed ashore, and we’re soon caught up to the present.
THOUGHTS: This is the first episode to break the flashback format… though I suppose it was all one big flashback. In any case, it’s the first episode to be presented completely chronologically. First of all, I give credit to the production designers and the director for making the tail-section crash just about as intense a viewing experience as the middle-section crash. And now, we finally see why the Tailies are so paranoid and frayed when we meet them—we see the full scope of the hell they’ve been through on the Island. They started off with a much smaller group, whose ranks thinned far more rapidly than the middle-section survivors. I liked the ways the Tailies’ chronology matched up with that of the Losties. (Writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse even managed to perfectly time a 40-day vow of silence for Eko between the first night and the day when Bernard spoke to Boone and Eko had to comfort a disconsolate Ana Lucia.) Plus, the opening of the episode was fantastic: a pleasant beach scene turned hellish when the tail section and various debris rains down from the skies. All in all, it was an episode worth changing the game for.
“Collison”
SYNOPSIS: Resuming where we left off two episodes ago, Sayid tries to attack Ana Lucia but is taken down by Eko. Ana has Sayid tied to a tree but seems unsure about what to do and highly on edge. Eko leaves and takes Sawyer back to the Losties’ camp. He encounters Jack and Kate as they play a round of golf, and the three of them take Sawyer back to the Swan, where Jack treats his infection. Ana sends Michael back for supplies and implies that she’s going to set off on her own. Eko refuses to tell Jack any details about what happened because he knows the news would only make Jack angry. Michael arrives and tells everyone what’s going on. Jack is ready to leave with a gun, but Eko stops him and says that he’ll take them as long as they go unarmed. Ana finally frees Sayid and accepts her fate, but Sayid doesn’t kill her. Jack and Eko meet Sayid carrying Shannon and Ana not far behind. At the same time, the rest of the Tailies arrive with Jin back at the beach, and Jin and Sun and Rose and Bernard have joyful reunions. In the flashback, a psychologist clears Ana Lucia to back to work as a police officer, but she’s trigger-happy and hell-bent on revenge. We find out that she was given time off because a man shot her and killed her unborn child. She tracks down this man and brutally kills him.
THOUGHTS: The Tailies and the Losties are finally one tribe, for better or for worse—and we see both those pros and cons in this episode. A collision, indeed. It seems fitting that Ana and Sayid spared one another’s lives, since they realized that neither of them are without tortured pasts. Plus, Sayid realizes—as I assume the rest of the Losties will—that the shooting was just an accident. (I actually don’t remember how the storyline plays out from here!) Also, I love the moment when Jack is trying to hit the golf ball out of the jungle and is surprised to see Kate looking so startled. He turns to see Eko, this hulk of a man, with a lifeless Sawyer on his shoulder. It’s a great instance of a sudden change of tone in which a comedic subplot merges with the main drama of the episode.