I’m well into season 3 now, but I want to review my favorite episodes of season 2. I’ve decided there are several types of episodes I like.
First there are the episodes that tell a good stand-alone story. A fine example is The Long Con. The story of Sawyer’s long con in real life kept us guessing through various twists and turns – who is conning whom? - right up to the end, and beyond, leaving us with the question: Does he go after the girl, or is he conning her too? (we find out in season 3). Meanwhile on the island, he is running a long con to obtain the weapons and drugs, though it’s not clear why. He tells Kate: “It’s what I do. You run, I con.”
Next, there are episodes that advance the overall story of the island by answering some questions and raising new ones. I particularly liked Lockdown, which introduced the idea of the periodic lockdown of the hatch (why?), the rough map of the island, and leads us to question whether Henry actually pressed the button or not (he says he did, later says he didn’t, but it seems he must have, or maybe not…), and thus again the question of whether the button pushing has a reason or not. It answered the question of Henry’s truthfulness: Sayid proved he was lying. And it twists with the appearance of food dropped by parachute, which still hasn’t been explained. Lock’s back story is interesting in that we are never sure until the end if he is being conned again.
Finally, there are the very special episodes where life on the island and a character’s previous life intersect dramatically. Perhaps my favorite episode of season 2 is the Hurley-centric Dave. The Dave character is interesting in and of itself. But the interplay of reality and imagination in both realms is compelling. Is island-Dave a real entity pretending to be an imaginary entity? I think he is the first of the various “appearances” we’ve seen of somebody who never really existed (or did he?) Or is he purely imaginary? And the consequences for our understanding of the whole island experience are profound. Dave makes a very good case that it’s all in Hurley’s head. Nah, can’t be, can it? And the ending in the institution when Libby shows up is one of the most truly shocking moments I’ve experienced. It literally gave me goose bumps. Too bad the writers decided to abandon the Libby character. She will be missed.
Ah, Henry. Always the manipulator. Michael Emerson is the actor who plays him, and he is superb (you'll see him more as you go along, I'm not sure how far in you are.)
ReplyDeleteAnd the food drops has been a source a major questions for a long time. Still not necessarily answered by the end of season 5.
And I agree with you about the Dave episode. I thought it was a brilliant example of how the writers can so deftly toy with your comprehension of what is actually happening on the island. And I was also very disappointed with Libby's demise, though the sequence in which it happens was absolutely jaw-droppingly WTF awesome. Some other LOST fans on the web noticed, as I did, that Libby's briefly mentioned late husband was named Dave, (when she gave Desmond the Elizabeth), but apparently the writers have confirmed that her husband was not Dave of Hurley's imagination. Shucks.
I also noticed that Libby's husband's name was Dave. And her appearance at the institution where Dave manifested did make me wonder.
ReplyDeleteI finished Season 3, Episode 7 "Not in Portland", which, btw, was a wonderful episode in an otherwise somewhat disappointing season. I'll blog more about that later. And yes, Michael Emerson is marvelous. Ben is so deliciously evil, I don't trust anything he says or does, to the point where I thought maybe he was faking his tumor for some weird reason.
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