'Lost': Tying up loose ends

After several weeks of spinning around in an increasingly complex time travel story arc, this week "Lost" put the plot in the backseat and gave us some good old-fashioned character drama courtesy of Kate and Sawyer's big puppy dog eyes.

We finally found out what happened to Aaron (he went to grandma) and what Sawyer whispered to Kate before jumping out of the helicopter at the end of last season (something along the lines of "Take care of my daughter") but perhaps most important to "Lost's" eagle-eyed watchdog fans, we learned why the Ben we saw back in Season 2 didn't remember Sayid, the man who shot his younger self in Season 5. It's a double-edged sword for co-creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (who also wrote this episode) -- the fans love them for their attention to detail. But overlook one moment in the mad rush to surprise and shock and god help them.

The time travel talk between Miles and Hurley was one of the episode's high points and if Hurley has frequently spoken the general viewpoint and attitude of the audience, he practically seemed to be reading directly from any number of "Lost"-centric message boards when he confronted Miles with Ben's seeming amnesia surrounding Sayid. "Huh, I didn't think of that," Miles said.

That conversation pointed out just how close to the edge of the narrative chasm the writers are dancing this season. Make too much of a leap or a twist and you risk sending this carefully constructed series off the cliff into incomprehension, loose ends and viewer apathy (just ask those poor slobs over at "Heroes.")

Luckily, we have a major deus  ex machina -- and I'm beginning to suspect he's a real deus, if you know what I mean -- in Richard Alpert. So we learned that Richard was able to use his mumbo jumbo to save Ben's life but simultaneously cause him to forget Sayid and become the scheming weasel we all know and love today. Genius! Thanks, Richard!

Yes, it seems convenient, and a little too much of the dialogue in "What Happened, Happened" felt like it was being explained right at us instead of existing in the make-believe world we've grown obsessed with, but no matter. Nestor Carbonell, who plays Alpert, is a damn compelling actor and the lighting, sinister music and his intense stare sold the moment. Who would ever have guessed that Sawyer and Kate were the two who helped make Ben who he is now.

As for Sawyer, his character's arc has been impressive. We've finally gotten underneath the tough guy exterior and seen the emotional mess he is deep down. Check out the simpering look he gives Kate when asking about his daughter's well-being. A couple more minutes and he would have been sobbing, I guarantee it. Some may bemoan the diminishment of Sawyer's tough-guy swagger, but I say let him bawl. By now we know him and love him, flaws and all. Remember how Locke almost become a weak mess a couple of seasons ago and now he's back to being mysterious and spooky. The old Locke is still there somewhere, I'm sure, but no matter. We accept all aspects.

And speaking of Locke, the ending of the episode was surprising in a way unusual for this season. Instead of some new narrative twist or revelation, we simply got a small confrontation that benefited from the weight of actions set up weeks ago in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." The look of unease and surprise on Ben's face said it all. Whatever happened, this is no longer quite the Ben we grew to hate and mistrust. He's weakened somehow, and Locke has become the stronger one. Can't wait to see what happens with those two next.

I haven't said much about Kate, even though this was her episode. But I have to confess to being largely apathetic toward Kate and her multiple issues. This was her episode in terms of screen time, but the emotional cores existed elsewhere, in Ben and Sawyer and Juliet, whose confrontation with Jack was heartbreaking. But there's something about Kate that just leaves me cold. I suspect Jack and Sawyer would agree.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

Photo: ABC

Comments

[Joe]

They are definitely doing a number on Jack. Every week they are presenting new reasons to hate him. What is their problem? He has become a completely different person. In fact, if you contrast Jack and Sawyer's character development it becomes even more ridiculius. Its laughable!!!

[Steve Hays]

You forgot to mention another very key moment: when Jack told Kate "you never did like me". Which was a harsh truth. Kate and Sawyer share a past of dissing people that love them, so it is poetic that they don't get back together. I'm so glad they didn't. Juliet is one of my favorite characters. I don't think she has ever faltered from her beliefs, her integrity. I want her to be able to keep what she has created with Sawyer.

Great episode over all. I think I will still go and watch the recap video on the station's website. They must have realized there was a need for some clearer explanation of all the twists, turns - and snaps!

[maria]

That is an interesting point about Jack being so insipid, but consider this: his father is potentially the governor of the whole island. May even be part of the island's core existence. What is going to happen to Jack when he sees his father again, or learns his own involvement in the whole thing. Jack tells Juliet that he had to come back, yet he doesn't know why. What we know is that his half sister (Claire) and his father, who was supposed to be dead and whom Jack has obvious father isues with, are akey players on the island and are still there somewhere. Jack's time is coming. Maybe he will be killed off, but not before something splashy and revealing comes out.

[Carol]

Oh WOW! Lost is getting so good :] I can't wait!
And I agree with what Joe said about how comparing Jack and Sawyer, Jack has changed a lot! It is probably because he left the island and went back to his old life that he got comfortable with the luxury and like that kind of changed his personality. More and more I am beginning to dislike Jack. Sawyer and Jack seem to have changed places or something. :3

I can't wait for more :D

[JJ Flash]

Sayid is supposed to be a master assassin. So how come when he shot young Ben, he didn't make sure that he was dead? Or shoot him in the head or heart?
Another piece of sloppy internal logic that typifies the way 'Lost' has been heading recently. Shame.

[rcp2278]

JJFlash --- uh, no. Remember Sayid was very hesitant in killing little Ben, so maybe there's still some humanity in him to kill him with some sort of dignity...i.e., kill him "cleanly" as opposed to killing him with all his brains splashed out. I'm sure he thinks he killed him with that shot and probably didn't want to become the barbaric person that he once was and obviously regretted.

Also, there's a typo in the review: "Who would ever have guessed that Hurley and Kate were the two who helped make Ben who he is now." Don't you mean Sawyer and Kate?

Still some unanswered questions for me, such as how Ellie and Charles became the leaders of the island as opposed to Alpert (and how the introduction of Ben to the others will generate the conflict between them), whether or not the gang managed to leave the island or die with the Dharma during the purge, when little Ben will return back to the Dharma to eventually kill them off, whatever happened to Annie (Ben's childhood friend), and whatever happened to Faraday. Good episode, but I thought the part where "Ben will forget everything" if Alpert saves him, to me, sounds like a quick fix to that timeline paradox that Hurley addressed to Miles.

[Deebie]

Wow, I completely had a different perspective on this episode. I thought they were telling us that Jack is the one who made Lil Ben into a psychopath by refusing to operate on him. If Jack had operated on him and saved his life, Kate wouldn't have needed to take Lil Ben to the Others. Jack said he still didn't know why he had to come back to the island. I think this is why - he needs to realize that it was his refusal to use his skills as a surgeon and save a life when he was needed that caused Lil Ben to turn into an Other, and then murder all of the Dharma folks.