Category: Lost (Page 16 of 29)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Sayid-centric episodes almost always rock, and tonight was no different. Opening in the future with a cleaned-up Sayid playing golf, the former Iraqi soldier is clearly living the good life courtesy of a large settlement from the airline. Or so it seems. When an Italian gentleman approaches him with a friendly golf bet, Sayid reveals his true identity – much to the shock of the man, who looks genuinely spooked by his presence. It isn’t until Sayid calls the man by name and shoots him dead that things become a little clearer: he’s a bounty hunter.

Fast-forward a couple months and Sayid is tracking yet another target in Berlin. This time, it’s a woman named Elsa, and as they spend more time with one another, Sayid appears to be falling in love. Elsa admits to feeling the same way, but when Sayid tells her the truth about why he’s there (i.e. using her to get close to her employer), she shoots him in the chest. Apparently, this girl was playing him too, but how she managed to do that when Sayid approached her first is beyond me. Still, she seems to believe that she can get information from Sayid about his boss, and while she dials her employer to tell him the good news, Sayid is given just enough time to grab his gun and kill her first. Upon closer inspection, he discovers a silver bracelet on her wrist. The same bracelet, in fact, that Sayid has seen once before – on Naomi’s wrist, with the inscription “I’ll always be with you.” Now, that isn’t to say that they were lovers, but it definitely suggests some kind of Dharma tie-in between the two women, as well as the Italian man from before.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Sayid has just cut a deal with Frank. If he can rescue Charlotte from Locke, he’ll get a one-way helicopter ride to the freighter. Joining him on the hunt is Kate and Miles, but when they arrive at the barracks, they discover Hurley locked away in a closet. He claims that Locke and the rest of B Troop went scavenging around Ben’s house, but it’s quickly revealed that, well, Hurley was lying. Locke springs an ambush on the trio and captures them, but not before Sayid discovers a hidden passageway in Ben’s house containing passports and money in several different currencies. Is Ben some kind of international assassin, a la Jason Bourne? Probably not, but he must have some kind of hidden agenda with goodies like that lying around.

When Sayid explains to Locke about the deal he’s made with Frank (playing it off as a way to get on their boat and snoop around), Locke agrees to a trade: Miles for Charlotte. It’s a pretty smart move on Sayid’s part (even though Frank suggests he cheated), and it earns him a trip to the freighter, along with Desmond and Naomi.

Of course, there are a few other things I failed to go into detail with in this blog entry (namely Daniel’s experiments, which seem to indicate the island is as much of a scientific clusterfuck as we all assumed), but they pale in comparison to the big reveal of the night. Yes, Sayid is a bounty hunter. And yes, those people are probably somehow related to Dharma. But just who exactly is the brains behind the whole operation? Ben Linus.

The plot thickens…

Much like season two’s “The Other 48 Days,” tonight’s episode wasn’t exactly devoted to answering any of the ongoing mysteries, but it did introduce several new characters that will play a major role this season. First off, let me just say that Carlton Cuse and Co. has done an exceptional of casting this year. Fans of “The Wire” were no doubt excited to see Lance Reddick pop up in last week’s episode, but the addition of guys like Jeremy Davies, Ken Leung and Jeff Fahey will definitely force the series regulars to up their game. Oh yeah, and there’s a new female character as well (played by Rebecca Mader), but I can’t really speak on her acting ability since, well, I’ve never heard of her.

Before I get ahead of myself, though, it’s probably best to discuss these new characters – all introduced in their own flashback sequences:

– Daniel Faraday (Davies) is a physicist who, upon watching television footage of the underwater discovery of the Oceanic Flight 815 wreckage, breaks down and cries. We really don’t know why he’s upset (and it doesn’t look like he does, either), but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

– Miles (Leung) is paranormal detective of some sort who tricks an old woman into believing that he can contact her dead son and assist him in crossing over. As it turns out, Miles really can contact the dead, but he uses his abilities for different reasons – namely in locating some (drug?) money hidden in the kid’s room.

– Charlotte (Mader) is the lone female of the group, but she’s got a far cooler back story than the first two. While interrupting an archeological dig in Tunisia, Charlotte comes across the fossilized remains of a polar bear and discovers – wait for it – a Dharma-branded collar beside its skeleton. Pretty neat stuff if you ask me, and it might finally lead to an answer about the three-toed statue that’s since been forgotten.

– While watching the very same news broadcast as Dan, the final member, Frank Lapidus (Fahey), notices that the reportedly dead pilot isn’t who they say it is. A call to the Oceanic hotline reveals that not only did Frank know Seth Gordon (Greg Grunberg, AKA the pilot who was eaten in the series premiere), but that he was originally supposed to pilot Flight 815 until he showed up drunk.

– The foursome was led by Naomi (the only “trained” member of the group), who in turn answered to Abaddon. As we see in the final flashback of the night, Naomi can’t help but wonder if there will be any survivors when they arrive, but Abaddon is more than certain that everyone is dead. As we already know, he couldn’t have been any more wrong, and for that, Naomi probably lost her life.

So, now that we’re all caught up, let’s jump back to the end of last week when Jack and Kate were introduced to Dan. As the first rescue team member on the island, it’s evident from the get-go that Dan isn’t a very confident dude. In fact, he’s downright scared to see Jack and Kate waiting for him, but he pulls it together and begins the hunt for the other three with the help of the SAT phone’s GPS tracker. On the way, the trio comes across a silver crate filled with nuclear protective gear, prompting Jack to answer the obvious question, “What the fuck is going on?” According to Dan, rescuing the survivors isn’t exactly their “primary objective,” but the dude seems nice enough, so Jack and Kate continue to follow him through the woods. That is, until they come across Miles, who’s a little more aggressive than Dan. Accusing Kate of Naomi’s murder, he demands to be taken to the site of her body so that he made figure out exactly what happened. Kate seems perplexed by the idea that he would just know, but I’m more perplexed by the idea that this guy is able to talk with the dead. I don’t know. It seems a little cheesy to me, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s Ken Leung.

When another GPS signal suddenly appears on the SAT screen, Jack and Co. go racing towards it, but when they discover Vincent the Dog with a tracker wrapped around his neck, Jack knows exactly what has happened: Locke’s taken Charlotte hostage. For the time being, though, it seems like the bald-headed leader of B Troop is perfectly content with keeping her alive. Unfortunately, Ben has other plans, and when he steals Carl’s gun and shoots Charlotte in the chest, it’s revealed that she’s clearly prepared for such an attack. Charlotte’s wearing a bulletproof vest, and after grilling Ben for information, Locke learns why she and her team have come to the island: they want Ben. For what, exactly, we still don’t know, but methinks it has something to do with his leading the island revolt a couple years back.

A Troop has just learned the same information, but that’s the least of their worries. They’ve just tracked down Frank, the pilot of the mission, and they now have a mostly functional helicopter at their disposal. So what happens now? Do Jack, Kate, Sayid and the three newbies make a run for it, or will their conscience lead them back into the jungle to warn their friends? Well, we pretty much know that escape isn’t going to happen any time, but it’s nice to know that they have a means of transportation to leave the island. The question now is: when?

After eight long months off the air, “Lost” is finally back… well, for eight weeks anyways. With the writer’s strike rearing its ugly head midway through production, it looks like fans will have to endure yet another lengthy wait for the remainder of season four. Still, it’s nice to have one of my favorite shows back in rotation. Sure, I probably complain more than anyone when it comes to the chronic inconsistencies of J.J. Abrams’ island drama, but when it comes down to it, there’s no denying that “Lost” has continued to captivate me, through good times and bad.

For the time being, it appears the flash-forward is the new flashback, and this is probably the best news of the season. There weren’t many memorable flashbacks last year, so the integration of this new parallel storytelling device is tantalizing at the very least. I don’t expect the flashbacks to be completely discontinued (then again, maybe they will be), but I wouldn’t expect one to crop up for quite some time.

Speaking of which, tonight’s episode opened with yet another flash-forward – this time starring Hurley. As Jack goes about his daily morning routine (i.e. drinking a glass of OJ spiked with a little vodka), he turns on the local news station to see Hurley in a high-speed pursuit with the police. After crashing into a convenience store and being arrested (all while shouting “Don’t you know who I am? I’m one of the Oceanic Six!”), it’s more or less confirmed that Hurley has gone a bit insane. When the detective in charge of the arrest mentions that he knew Ana Lucia, Hurley denies ever meeting her, and instead pleads for a transfer to the nut house. It’s there that he’s visited by Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick, from HBO’s “The Wire”), a man Hurley doesn’t seem to know, but who seems to know everything about him. In fact, when he asks Hurley if “they’re still alive,” the dude totally freaks out.

Not much is known about Reddick’s character, but a recent interview indicated that he was a man of power, which can only mean one thing: Dharma. As for the question itself, Abaddon definitely has to be referring to the survivors who didn’t make it off the island. This means that they’re either still alive, or all dead. I’m going to bank on the former, though, since Hurley’s future visit with Jack (sans beard and depression) seemed to indicate a need to return to the island to right their wrongs. What exactly they did is still unknown, but it’s clearly going to be the focal point of the remainder of the series.

Back in the present, the survivors are preparing for the arrival of the “rescue boat” when a recently stabbed Naomi sneaks away into the jungle. Somehow, Locke has disappeared as well – despite the fact that he was standing a mere 10 feet away from Jack moments before. More concerned with Naomi’s disappearance, Jack and Co. go into the woods looking for her. Kate manages to get separated from the group, however, and Naomi ambushes her from the trees. Again, how someone on the brink of death was able to climb up a tree is beyond me, but I digress. Naomi ends up trusting that Kate meant her no harm, and she puts in another call to her friends, who still haven’t been able to lock on to their location.

Meanwhile, the beach group (which consists of Hurley, Desmond, Sayid, Sawyer and Bernard) heads back to warn Jack about Penny’s message, but when Hurley somehow gets lost in the shuffle (discovering Jacob’s abandoned house along the way), Locke is there to lead the way. The two groups finally converge in the middle of the woods, and after the news of Charlie’s death is announced, Locke makes a speech about his plans to head to the Others’ barracks for refuge. Jack is against the idea, but after attempting to kill Locke with an unloaded gun (“You’re not going to shoot me Jack, any more than I was going to…” *click*), most of the red shirts (along with Hurley, Claire and Sawyer) join Locke in what seems to be the safer strategy of the two. This divide between Jack and Locke is probably one of my least favorite ongoing subplots, but it’s a necessary conflict for the story to progress.

The arrival of yet another pilot (Jeremy Davies) caps the end of the episode, and while it probably left most people wanting more, well, I have a pretty good feeling that next week will more than make up for the lack of action. “Lost” is back, and for once, I couldn’t be more excited by the possibilities that it brings.