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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Lost “This Place is Death” A Killer of An Episode

Photo from ABC
Last year about this same time, I was moaning that ”Lost” had lost me. The show was plodding, it was too confusing, it seemed to answer none of the pressing question. A little more than a year later there are still many questions, but at least the series seems to finally be moving forward. In fact, there isn’t any series on television right now that has so many layers to it, and that happens in so many time periods, with so many people that is so compelling and almost addictive to watch.

The following includes a recap of what happened in this latest Lost (ABC) episode, “This Place is Death.” There are so many things going on, but believe it or not, things are actually starting to make more sense, and events seem to tie in more cohesively than in the last season. Maybe there are more subtle things buried in this show that I am missing, but if there were, I didn’t feel the lack of little imbedded secrets detracted from the episode. In fact, I find that the story line is much cleaner, crisper, and seems to have more of an impact.

If you missed it, here’s what happened:
Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) has returned to The Island, still alive after the ship explosion. When he meets a much younger Danielle Rousseau (Melissa Farman), he is surprised that he doesn’t seem to be in the same time period when he left the island. He later finds himself in the same predicament as the rest of those he left behind on The Island – he is shifting in time. After being attacked by the black smoke monster, the group of French people he is with disappear into the monster’s hiding hole, with Danielle staying behind. But when Jin shifts in time, he finds himself standing there alone, accompanied by one of the Frenchmen’s decaying dismembered arms. He later sees Rousseau, in a different time, shooting one of the Frenchmen, telling him that the monster changed him. She also gets ready to shot Jin because she saw him disappear, but the time shifts again. He later finds himself connecting with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Locke (Terry O’Quinn), and some of the rest of those left on The Island, including the three scientists and researchers Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Miles Straume (Ken Leung), and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader). While they continue to head to the Orchid station as Locke thinks this is the way for him to get off the island and save everyone, Charlotte’s nosebleeds and her disorientation continue to get worse, and she eventually dies, with Faraday present. Before she dies, she tells Faraday that she was on the island before – as a child, and someone told her that The Island was Death and never to come back. She remembers who told her that years ago when she was a child – it was Faraday himself, much to his shock.

The group manages to find the Orchid station, and after a time shift, only see a well in its place. As Charlotte also told them to look for the well, Locke decides to drop himself down into it, hoping it would bring the others back. But Jin is having second thoughts, and does not want Locke to tell Sun (Yunjin Kim) to return, as he is concerned she will die as the others left behind appear to be doing, as they are developing the same symptoms as Charlotte. He gives Locke his wedding ring to use as proof that he saw Jin, and to tell her not to come back. We later find that the ring is not used in the manner Jin expected.

Meanwhile, back in the present – whatever the present happens to be – Ben (Michael Emerson) is still trying to convince Jack (Matthew Fox), Sun, Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) to go back to The Island. As Sun holds a gun on Ben, he tells her that he has proof that Jin is alive and they need to go back. He convinces them to go with him so he can show them the proof. Kate wants nothing to do with it, so she takes Aaron and leaves. Sayid also takes off for the same reasons. Jack and Sun accompany Ben.

Meanwhile, back on The Island, Locke has gone into the well via a rope, and when the light of an impending time shift appears, Sawyer grabbed on to the rope to pull Locke out. But, as the time shifted, Locke fell off the rope into the well, injuring himself, and Sawyer was standing there with the rope in his hands, that suddenly went straight into the covered ground. The well was gone. But Locke, in his own area deep in the well, was greeting by Jack’s father (John Terry), who tells Locke that he must get everyone back to the island, and needs to enlist the help of Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan). Christian couldn’t physically help Locke, but he tells him that the wheel has slipped off its axis and Locke must give it a little push in order to save everyone. As Locke seems to make the wheel get back on track, the white light of a time shift appears, and Christian tells Locke to say hello to his son as the flash grows brighter, but Locke does not know who he is talking about.

Back in the “real” world, Ben has taken Sun and Jack to a church, and shows Sun the ring that Jin gave to Locke, as proof Jin is alive back on The Island. She agrees to go along with him. But, another person has come into the church – it’s Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), who asks "What are you doing here?" Ben responds "I assume the same thing you are." Desmond asks "You're looking for Faraday's mother too?" At this point, Eloise Hawking walks in, and seems displeased that Ben didn’t bring “all of them.” When Ben says this is all he could get on such short notice, she looks at him with a strange, determined face and says "Well, I suppose it will have to do, for now" and they should get started.


The questions are: Get started to do what? Is Eloise on the good side or the bad side? Is Ben really trying to help everyone or just himself? Why are the people on The Island getting nosebleeds and will they die like Charlotte? How did Locke get off The Island and to the present time, and what caused his death? How will they get back and how does Locke’s body fit into all this? Oh the questions, the questions! Will this show ever answer a question?


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