Lost: Not Sure About “LeFleur”

Photo from ABC.com

Last night’s episode of Lost (ABC) “LeFleur” was somewhat of a jumbled mess. It attempted to bring viewers up to date on what happened to those left of the Island after Locke (Terry O’Quinn) managed to get back to the “present” (whenever that is, right now I’m not so sure).

The episode followed Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Faraday (Jeremy Davies), and Miles (Ken Leung). It flashes backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards and…well, you get the idea. At one point, I thought I was caught in some crazy time loop. It turns out that this group of Islanders finally stopped traveling through time as Locke managed to fix things, and they seemed to have stopped in 1974. Right before they made this final stop, we caught a glimpse of a huge statue of a figure standing on the Island. Too bad that is all we got is a glimpse, because that was the only thing in this episode that really grabbed me. I am sure that somewhere down the road this glimpse will have meaning.

Anyway, the Island was a different place in 1974, with the Dharma group seemingly settled on the Island, protecting their compound. We are also introduced to new characters – an annoying habit of this show. This seems to add unneeded complexity to an already confusing story. But as we see Sawyer and his group of Islanders navigate their new time – Sawyer taking the name Jim LeFleur in the process – we also see them years later as they seem to be fully integrated into the Dharma group of Islanders.

Sawyer also begs Juliet to put her doctor’s hat back on and help deliver the baby of new character Amy (Reiko Aylesworth), who is having trouble with the delivery. I found myself wondering – since Juliet clearly decided to stay on the Island when she was given the chance in 1974 to leave, what would happen if she remained there until she was brought to the Island much later in time? Did something happen to Juliet on the Island where she either got off the Island or died there before her other self came later? I think my head is exploding now just thinking about it.

Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) also shows up on the Island, apparently in 1974, and wants an explanation of how some of his men got killed. Sawyer takes a risk and takes ownership of the shootings, at the same time cluing Richard in that he knows all about what had been going on in the past. He tells Richard things that Richard and maybe only a few other people would have known, which seems to cut Sawyer and his group some needed slack.

Later on, we see that Sawyer/LeFleur and Juliet have become a couple. He says he isn’t pining for Kate (Evangeline Lilly) but maybe he really isn’t over her. The test comes at the end of the show, when Jack (Matthew Fox), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Kate arrive and greet him. Sawyer looks happy to see Kate. But, the big question in my mind is – what year did this actually take place? There was much jumping back in forth in time that it seemed like it was only three years after Sawyer and his gang had stopped moving in time in 1974 – but I can’t be sure.

The most gripping moments in the episode, however, belonged to Jeremy Davies as Faraday, showing deep grief at the death of Charlotte, and then later, a jolt when he realizes that a young red haired girl he sees on the island in 1974 is none other than Charlotte, the woman he had just watched die.

So while I won’t say this episode was bad, it certainly had some drawbacks. Adding new characters doesn’t work for me as I think there are many issues that remains unanswered with just the main characters we have now. I didn’t like when Lost did so many flashbacks in prior seasons, and this episode and its flashing backwards, forwards, and probably sideways didn’t score any points with me. But now that everyone appears to be back on the Island, hopefully things will get more interesting.


All Text Content (Recaps, Review, Commentary) © iliketowatchtv.blogspot.com unless otherwise noted


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, at I Like To Watch TV, here.