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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Lost recap: Charlie, Hurley save the day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The regular season is over and very last finale that will count toward the Nielsen ratings is “Lost.” (The finales of “House” and “Boston Legal” will air next week.)
Channel Serf was again sweet enough to cede some blog turf for me to write about the “Lost” finale. It was deeply satisfying. The first hour started a bit slow but the second hour had great twists, wonderfully emotional moments, both happy and sad. And that final scene! Wow! I am not a true Lostie. I’m curious to see what the true obsessives think!
It’s been an interesting year for “Lost.” The first six episodes last fall were innately frustrating because they were more of a teaser, focusing too much on the Jack-Sawyer-Kate triangle. And then the show disappeared. The TV critics at the January Television Critics Association session in Pasadena complained to the “Lost” producers, who seem well aware of the viewer frustration. And they mostly addressed them with the final 17 shows, the Nikki/Paula and Jack tattoo episodes notwithstanding.
While there are still a mess of unanswered questions, we now know why Locke was in a wheelchair, we know how the Others learned so much about the crash survivors, we learned that everyone in the outside world thinks they’re dead (which raises more questions, of course.). We learn Charlie is a brave, brave man.
Of course, Charlie is a stupid blabbermouth in the Looking Glass hatch, finking out Juliet and even explaining why he was there. Gee, thanks!
And we learn tonight the long absent Bernard is a tattletale who wasn’t willing to sacrifice his own life for the good of the others (but rather, for the Others.). I don’t even think his wife Rose would appreciate what he did once she finds out. That won’t be a pretty scene!
The second hour picks up the action big time. The scenes in the Looking Glass are great, the twist with Mikhail having to kill the loyal Ben followers Bonni and Greta inside the hatch. Ben is very clear that he needs the jamming continued so everybody would stay on the island. And he didn’t care that Bonni & Greta were loyal. So Ben orders Mikhail to kill them! He gets one of them and the other blurts out the code to disable the block after Desmond harpoons Mikhail. We get Charlie to type in the Good Vibrations song to turn off the block. He gets to talk to Penny and we discover Naomi is not connected to her, as stated by Ben. (Who knows when he’s telling the truth or not?) And Charlie sacrifices himself when Mikhail escapes and blows up part of the hatch. Loved that scene. Bye Dominic. We enjoyed ya while you were with us!
The confrontation between Ben and Jack was priceless. Jack tries to call Ben’s bluff. His men supposedly kill Sayid, Bernard and Jin but for reasons I’m not clear about, they don’t. And they die to regret it because Juliet and Sawyer (now that’s a strange combo!) check out the beach with no arms. Then our favorite Hurley saves the day in his VW van. I was cheering during that scene! Hurley the hero! The producers foreshadowed it in a sense but I still didn’t see that coming. And Tom, a key Other who never got any back story, finally dies, thanks to Sawyer. I agree with Sawyer that there’s no way to trust that man.
And the producers threw us for a loop at the very end — in a good way. All along, we think this is a long Jack flashback but it’s actually a time AFTER they get rescued. They never say who died that caused Jack to try to commit suicide. (We assume it’s Sawyer.) We don’t know who Kate is dating. (Maybe it’s Sawyer?) Jack is indeed truly miserable, post rescue, just as Ben predicted, popping pills and referencing his dead dad as if he were still alive. And that’s where we stand going into season four and 48 more episodes to go.
We still have questions—like how did Locke recover so quickly from the gunshot wound. And why was Walt telling him to get up? Walt, of course, is now three years older and looks it. Where’s his dad? Was that an apparition? Huh?
And did Penny learn anything from that brief connection with the hatch?
And what’s up with Naomi and the supposed rescue? Obviously, the flash forward implies that Kate and Jack, at least, do get off the island eventually. Does that mean we can assume over the next three seasons they won’t die?
Ah… plenty to mull over the next nine months until February, 2008 rolls around and we get our 16 episodes in a row. (No more full 22 or 23 episode seasons for “Lost.” Somehow, ABC negotiated three seasons of 16 each instead of two more seasons of 22 or 23 episodes.)
