Now, that's what I call an episode of Lost. I was getting worried there for a month or so.

Note that the difference was not the solving of big mysteries. That's the bogus charge that die-hard rose-tinted glasses Lost fans throw at us folks who get impatient from time to time. This episode didn't solve any mysteries. It simply gave me the characters I wanted to see from the first season back, and showed them laugh, cry, and get mad at each other over significant issues: love, death, justice, revenge. That's all it took. Thank you, Mr. Lost show writers.

By the way, I just noticed the difference between drama and comedy. In a drama, you show Michael reunite with Vincent first, and then show the two married couples reunite, in order to create rising empathy for the warm emotions. In a comedy, the order of reunions would be reversed. That simple change would have turned Michael's reunion into comic relief.

ITA with you, JW. As much as I LOVE the mysteries and searching for clues and trying to put it all together, to me what LOST is really about is the CHARACTERS. This one delivered the goods on that score. On the emotionally-gratifying scale, I put COLLISION up there with DO NO HARM and EXODUS.

excellent commentary re: comedy vs drama
i wondered about the whole mike/dog reunion and you
explained it perfectly. it had to be done that way to remain serious.
thanks! JWP

Now, that's what I call an episode of Lost. I was getting worried there for a month or so.

Note that the difference was not the solving of big mysteries. That's the bogus charge that die-hard rose-tinted glasses Lost fans throw at us folks who get impatient from time to time. This episode didn't solve any mysteries. .

True they didn't solve any mysteries (unless you count whether Shannon was shot or stabbed and by whom and if she was really dead!) But they did RESOLVE a few things - some long-standing. We got to see Eko and Locke meet. We've been waiting for that since the beginning of this season. We got to see Ana-Lucia and Jack meet again. We've been waiting for that since the end of last season. And Rose and Bernard finally find each other. Some of us have been waiting to see that one since the pilot!

So...no solutions, just resolutions.

I loved the episode. It had all of the character drama that makes Lost worthwhile to me. And yes, while it didn't solve any mysteries, it finally let us get at that carrot they've been dangling for more than a season.

By the way, I just noticed the difference between drama and comedy. In a drama, you show Michael reunite with Vincent first, and then show the two married couples reunite, in order to create rising empathy for the warm emotions. In a comedy, the order of reunions would be reversed. That simple change would have turned Michael's reunion into comic relief.

Great JWPinkham! I haven't noticed that until I saw your post, but thinking of it, it's exactly the way it should work in a comedy...

Episodes like this, with all this emocional load makes me like even more the show. It's nice to remember that Lost is not only made of mysteries and sci-fi plots, but also about the characters...:ntworthy:

Now, that's what I call an episode of Lost. It simply gave me the characters I wanted to see from the first season back, and showed them laugh, cry, and get mad at each other over significant issues: love, death, justice, revenge. That's all it took. Thank you, Mr. Lost show writers.

In a comedy, the order of reunions would be reversed. That simple change would have turned Michael's reunion into comic relief.

I really like the character studies and think they are at least as important (if not more) as the island mysteries. I love seeing why people behave the way they do - what experiences molded them.

Great observation about the order of the reunions! And you are so right - if Michael and the dog had been last, it would have made everyone laugh. As it was though, I completely misted up! :tongue1:

Ok, who's laughing right now at the mental image of Jin and Sun reuniting with a passionate kiss, Rose and Bernard reuniting with a passionate kiss... and then Michael and Vincent running toward each other down the beach in slow motion, dramatic music soaring in the backround...

I agree with JWP. That was a fantastic episode, full of great character drama that really explored the castaways relationships and emotional damage. Everything from Kate snuggling with Sawyer while trying to get himto swallow the pill- as Jack looks on no less, to the talies finally abandoning their leader, to that great conversation between Sayid and Ana Lucia about their pasts, to Eko and Locke meeting for the first time (that little look tells me that these two characters are going to have a lot to do with each other in the future). All of it was gold. So

(Real Men of GENIUS!)
Thank you Mr. Lost show writers
(OOOOOooo, writes those tense episodes!)
You truly are real men of genius.

come on, I can't be the only one who remembers those commercials, right?

Here here!
The first thing I thought when we got to the end of the episode was, "Yeah, there's the classic Lost I know and love!"
I love it all though. I love that the writers are really taking a risk this season by introducing some new concepts (last week's more conceptual episode) and uniting the tail section and our known survivors.
But, it was good to get a shot again of the season we knew last year.