The Episode…
Have we ever seen a darker episode of LOST? Does it get any worse than this? This episode finally delivered on what the cast list had been showing since Januar 31st: the return of Michael on LOST. How he pulled it off, we found out in Meet Kevin Johnson. Or did we? In the first flashback, Michael’s already back on the island. So, an integral part of the storyline has been skipped: how Michael and Walt sailed their boat home. A shame!
On the other hand, here’s what we did find out: the fact that Michael can’t kill himself as he has unfinished business (and all of a sudden it dawns to me why Michael has to be the man in the coffin – why else would Jack commit suicide, other than knowing he’s finally free?), the fact that Walt is back in Manhattan (but, in fact, he is not), the fact that Sayid is making a huge mistake by blowing Michael’s cover (remember Ben saying “remember the last time you thought with your heart instead of with your gun” back in The Economist?), the fact that Karl (and probably Rousseau) are dead, the fact that Widmore is behind it all and how he did it (or is he?), and the fact that Mr Friendly is gay (“Believe me Kate, you’re not my type”).
I personally loved the scene where Michael pins a note to his chest, gears up the car and tries to kill himself. There’s something about the visuals and the audio (another Mama Cass song) that just works. Kudos for whoever thought that out! I would have liked to have seen more of Libby though; this episode felt like they weren’t really using her to her fullest – but you can’t have it all. Personally, I seem to be kind of a Michael fan whereas everyone else around me seems to hate his guts. I think that he’s just about the most tragic character on this show – and through no fault of his own. You could blame Locke for being to gullible towards Anthony Cooper, but you can’t blame Michael anything pre-island. He’s just a poor guy whose wife made his life a living hell, and when he tries to fix her mistakes, he ends up in the crash. I don’t know why, but I always feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for other characters when I see what they are going through in their flashbacks… but Michael and his demon wife just always manages to make me furious and sad at the same time. He’s one of the only characters not to have gained anything by coming to the island. On the contrary, the thing he has built up has been entirely shattered.
The Questions…
Another piece of the ever-expanding puzzle that is question one. Yes, Michael got off the island. So did Walt. They’re not part of the Oceanic Six group though. We didn’t find out anything about Walt (question 2) apart from the fact that he was in Manhattan. So how did he get back on the island while growing so fast? We get another look at question 6: Ben didn’t want Jack to place the call because he knew it would lead the freighter to the island. And, seeing those pansies use a submachine gun to fire at projectiles for fun… I can’t really blame him. Question 9 is undoubtedly the most fun question. What’s up with Rousseau. Well… she might be dead, for one. What a shame – I really liked her. I hope she’s still alive. As for question 10: I’m starting to get a sneaky suspicion that it’s Michael in that mysterious coffin after all…
In all…
This episode was heavily criticized by some people on the internet. It didn’t deliver, they said. I tend to disagree: it really delivered, but in typical LOST-fashion. It went a step further than we would have thought. We would have figured that we’d see how Michael and Walt got home, but this step got skipped… meaning, in my opinion, that something really did happen on their trip home. The only thing I didn’t like was the end: I thought Sayid revealing Michael to the ship’s captain was a better cliffhanger than unknown people killing Karl (and possibly Rousseau). I was really disappointed when the episode just ended like that. But maybe that just was because I had a six week’s worth wait ahead of me…
Last but not least, there’s some good news on the horizon. We’ll be getting a three-episode finale to season 4 this year! Apparently, there was simply too much info to divide into two fourty minute episodes. Isn’t that wonderful news? The sad thing is that we’ll have to wait another week for the final two finale parts. But that’s not that bad considering what we’ve gained, now ain’t it?
Favourite Quote: Minkowski: What, you going Nicholson on us?
