So for the first time really ever, I’ve read a few columns and articles about last week’s episode of Lost, but nothing jumped out at me as something I needed to respond to. I don’t think that’s any commentary on the episode, which I found highly satisfactory, but it may result in a lighter than usual column. Although some of you may prefer that anyway.
Over at my blog, this is what DaBooty had to say:
I believe that Widmore is actually on the Locke Ness Monster’s side. He seemed pretty pleased that Sawyer was willing to bring him there and I don’t think it was really to kill the LNM. He never actually confirmed that he was goign to kill him, just that he wanted him there. Then when Sawyer told the LNM that Widmore was there, he looked surprised and pleased by it. Also, Sawyer’s convo with Widmore showed that Widmore knew that the MIB took Locke’s form but I am not really sure how he would know that.
In any event, now that Ben is on Team Jacob, I can’t imagine Widmore being on Ben’s team considering their history. Plus, when Miles was on Widmore’s freighter team, Ilana, who is clearly Team Jacob tried to recruit him and told him he is on the wrong side. I think this all points to Widmore being Team LNM. What that means is a whole other story…
DaBooty brings up a good point here. The last two seasons have basically set up this notion that Widmore and Ben are bitter enemies. With this in mind, could you conceivably see them working together? And quite honestly, I don’t think we know enough about either Jacob or the Smoke Monster to become invested in them becoming reluctant allies for the greater good. Especially when you consider how much time they already devoted to the Ben/Widmore war – one that hasn’t been resolved yet, by the way.
However, thinking back to the Widmore/Ben conflict does make me think that there’s something to the notion that this battle isn’t between good and evil. I mean, throughout the whole Widmore and Ben thing, it was never entirely clear who was good and who was bad. The same can be said for the Others. Clearly, this show doesn’t like to straight out say “these are the bad guys.”
That being said, this point does lead me to believe that Smokey and Widmore are in cahoots. And I did like that Miles observation, as well. Great catch!
So I came across an interesting blog – one recommended by the author of the EW.com reviews on his Twitter page (where’s my plug?) – called “Docarzt & Friends Lost Blog.” On the site, there was a review of this past week’s episode, with a significant slant towards the Sawyer and Kate relationship. Don’t get me wrong, he makes some excellent points – which are backed up with specific examples (including screencaps) – but I think some of the arguments are moot. Let me explain. The basic premise of the review is that Sawyer and Kate are intimately connected, no matter the reality. That very well could be true, but the same can be said for Sawyer and Miles, Ben and Locke, Jack and Dogen, Kate and Claire, Jack and Claire, Hurley and Locke, Desmond and Jack, Ben and Alex, and, I’m sorry to say (for the author), Jack and Kate. They ran into each other in the plane’s bathroom, where she used Jack’s pen to escape. She later saw him while she was in the escape cab, and felt a sense of familiarity that she didn’t experience with anybody else, including Sawyer.
So, yes, Sawyer and Kate may very well have a bond that spiritually connects them, but what makes this twosome so special compared to the ones I listed above? Of course, I’m just as guilty as anybody of taking a biased look on who Kate belongs with. I mean, I can just as easily sway this person’s examples to make it a Jack/Kate thing. So Kate found Sawyer skinny dipping? If I remember correctly, that was the episode that she needed to find the Marshall’s briefcase in the wreckage. The major theme of that episode, if I’m remembering correctly, was testing the developing trust between Jack and Kate, as Kate needed to ask Jack for the key he kept around his neck. And the episode that Sawyer was getting headaches and was approached by Kate? Who did she take him to? That’s right – Jack. Honestly, I don’t exactly remember when Kate had to ask Sawyer for guns, but I’m pretty sure it was the episode that she went to save Jack from New Otherton. So all these times she went to Sawyer, she ultimately ended up with Jack. I’m not saying that I buy into these examples, but I’m just showing that you can twist things around all you want to get the result you want.
But I do think one of the author’s points rings very true – that people suddenly have an amazing memory of past occurrences when it proves the point they want to make. Again, that’s something I’m probably pretty guilty of. I’ll just reiterate what I’ve been saying since the end of last season: After seeing Sawyer with Juliet – so happy and at absolute peace – I just can’t imagine him ending up with Kate being a “happy ending.”
As I said in last week’s review, this week’s episode is the first one that I think needs to go balls-out. The first few episodes of the season, in my view, has been about confirming what we already suspected and giving us answers to those little issues that have been nagging many. And I’m fine with that. I tend to watch this show with a lot of patience. I’ve seen people say they hated a perfectly acted, wonderfully written episode because it didn’t provide any answers. And I don’t think that’s a good way to watch an episode. But this is one episode that I don’t think the writers should hold back on.
Although a friend of mine did make a good point. At this point we already know that Richard was a slave on the Black Rock (or, at the very least, that he was on the boat) and that he’s eternally young because he was touched by Jacob. Already having that knowledge, is there anything this episode will tell us that will truly “shock” us? And if it doesn’t, did it fail to deliver?
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, 24, Heroes, and Smallville. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
