While there are many things wrong with this episode, one of the things that I found most annoying is that they chose to start off the episode with a flash of them waking up on the Island. After that we get that annoying "3 years earlier" screen. Then towards the end of the episode, we get to see the same few minutes of footage that we saw at the beginning of the episode! Unbelievable. They did the same thing in the first 3 episodes of Season 2, but the show was at a different level then and riding the euphoria of Season 1 so I could find a way to forgive them for cheating me out of those few minutes.
I was a bit disappointed in this episode, maybe because I still don't buy why the O6 need to go back. Even though I am assuming that in future episodes, they will revisit each character to explain why they got on Flight 316, this episode was too cold and lacking in human emotion overall. Each member of the O6 sat apart and didn't talk, with the exception of Jack and Ben, and Jack and Kate. I also hate the way Sun has been written so far (no questions for Mrs. Hawking about how to return to her daughter?), and I hope there is more they will tell about what her endgame is.
I read ABC switched next week's episode with this one... I wonder if the original order would have made this episode more believable and emotionally resonant.
I read ABC switched next week's episode with this one... I wonder if the original order would have made this episode more believable and emotionally resonant.
They did that? The way they have been telling the story this season, it doesn't even matter what the continuitity is. All they have to do is throw in a 3 years before screen.
I dunno, I wanted to feel it, but just couldn't get it Darlton. I mean, I am guessing here but supposedly returning to the island is meant to be this big dramatic turning point of the show, but it felt like a footnote.
I understand what they did, they set up all the characters to have flashbacks to how they got on flight 316, just like 815 in the first season. But, this meant that we were distant from the characters. We didn't get their motives so we just weren't emotionally invested in their journey. It would have been better to have episodes building up to this dramatic point so we knew what they had been through and what the significance was of them getting on the plane. This just came off disjointed and unimportant.
The other thing, so basically returning to the island involved Jack (the chosen one) and a bunch of things that resembled the original flight (a coffin, 815 passangers, his dads shoes) to fly near the island. This was the big dramatic "fight to find the island" between Ben and Widmore? Well, that's boring. Why didn't Ben just drug them and bring them back two and half years ago instead of playing around with Sayid's soul? And where's Widmore? out to lunch with his business associates and making sure Sun respects him apparently. Couldn't this man of such great power focus a little more on kidnapping the O6 and finding "his island"?
And can someone please slap Kate already? If she goes all "doey-eyed" for Sawyer after playing "jumping Jack" for the past three years, I'm going to start hoping that Jin 'accidently' shot them on first sight.
I thought the whole proxy business was painfully contrieved. And Mrs Hawking went a bit too far in the hammy way of acting. It's like she had to emphasize each word with a different facial expression. Therefore the gravitas of the situation was totally lost on me, I found the whole scene quite comical.
As for not knowing how they all decided to get onto the plane, I have no doubt it'll be explained later, so it didn't bother me.
Overall, not a season 3-bad episode, but a bit underwhelming after what we've been used to in this season so far.
It’s all about gimmicks, pathetic attempts at shock value and WTF moments at the end of an episode these days. Instead of focusing on the foundational aspects of quality writing (a good, plausible story, told in a manner that keeps an audience glued to their seats, maximizing the emotional impact of each scene), they choose to use idiotic gimmicks at almost every turn.
Just think of how much impact scenes like Jack waking up in the jungle would have if we didn’t already know the Oceanic 5 (that’s right, without Aaron, they have now become the O5) would be returning to the Island. An effective use of this technique can be found in the film Jacob’s Ladder, where in Act 1 we have seen the main character living one life in a NYC apartment with one woman and then he wakes up one night in the bed of another woman in a different house. That had a huge impact on the audience. This scene with Jack in the jungle had absolutely no impact whatsoever. And as pibbsneaker pointed out above, not only did they kill the impact of that scene, they then used it twice in the same episode (at the beginning and the end). This kind of writing just screams of weakness. They don’t have an interesting and strong enough story to be told in real time, always moving the plot forward with dramatic conflict that is plausible, so they have to rely on countless gimmicks: FBs, FFs and even dreams.
And how about these characters? I’m certainly no writer (although I’m starting to think I should reconsider this), but as someone who really appreciates a well written movie or TV show after a hard days work, I know good movies and TV shows need to have characters that you care about- otherwise, why invest your time in the story? If a character you couldn’t care less about (e.g. Charlotte) gets killed, you say, “Who cares?” They have these characters acting so stupidly and selfishly, without any regard for anyone else, they’ve turned them into characters I basically couldn’t care less about. They knowingly get on a plane that they presume is going to crash and the others on that plane? Well, sucks to be them. At least Hurley did his part, buying the extra tickets. Come to think of it, Hurley might be the only remaining character that I do care about.
Sun is just going to leave her daughter to go after Jin so that Ji Yeon could very well lose both of her parents? She can’t even put her daughter before her idiot of a husband who chose to watch Michael spray a battery, even after Desmond, who didn’t have a pregnant wife aboard the freighter, left to go up on deck and therefore did make it onto the helicopter?
But, at least we got another WTF moment at the end and we can all rest assured that we will get plenty of FBs in upcoming episodes to explain things like how Kate lost Aaron, Ben was beaten to pulp for the 100th time and Hurley came to be on the flight, carrying a guitar case. I wonder what dead-but-here friend of Hurley’s, who played the guitar, might have told him to get on the plane? Hmmm, that’s a tough one.
I thought the whole proxy business was painfully contrieved. And Mrs Hawking went a bit too far in the hammy way of acting. It's like she had to emphasize each word with a different facial expression. Therefore the gravitas of the situation was totally lost on me, I found the whole scene quite comical.
It was like being in high school and having the drama teacher substitute for the physics teacher. Ugh.
I love the episode (I know I know wrong thread) but I am really disappointed in the total lack of...emotion, I guess, that Sun showed in regard to leaving her baby girl behind, same with Jack not knowing what's up with his nephew. I mean, Sun was, if I remember right, she was SMILING at the air port! Also, damnit, Jack has the right to ask Kate where his nephew is. BUT, he prolly hadn't been laid in a long time, so, can't be TOO mad at him about that. But, in the morning "Kate, what's up with Aaron?" Jeez, all the characters are repeating their screwed up mommy and daddy issues to their own kids.
The stuff like "How'd Hurley and Sayid get there?" I don't care about that. The way that Sun, Kate, and Jack reacted to leaving their kids behind was odd. I mean, they could've done one quick, quick scene of Sun saying goodbye to Ji Yeon, crying, then sucking it up or something.
SIGH
This'll all get addressed next week, and not dragged out. The stuff with the kids really bothers me, and I'm not even a parent! Rant over.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Van Halen
It was like being in high school and having the drama teacher substitute for the physics teacher. Ugh.
Good point. It came across as VERY campy, especially with the music used. Sort of like what a Saturday Night Live Lost Sketch would be. Very Twilight Zone. BUT...I'm guessing she rarely ever gets a chance to deliver a "tour" of the Lamp Post, so she was very excited, having fun with it. Still though, very campy scene. Would've been great if Sawyer was there to say something sarcastic.
Last edited by Adam118; 02-20-2009 at 04:34 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
This was definitely the weakest episode of the season, very similar to "The Other Woman" last season. It just seemed to lack substance, they were too concerned with the shout outs to Season 1, and Flight 815. Really, what did we learn that was important? The only thing I can think of was that Jin was working for Dharma. That's it. They were trying to present Locke's suicide note as something incredibly important, and all it said was something like "I'm sorry you didn't believe me"? So anticlimactic.
I'm a fan of Jack's, so I'm not as bothered with him as some people, but even for me it's getting a little tiring, not to mention Kate. I wouldn't shed a tear if she never appeared in another episode. I'm so sick of her.
This episode was obviously just a set up episode, but there have been other set up episodes and they were definitely more interesting than 316. Maybe it's because the on Island scenes have been so good this year, the off Island scenes just seem so boring, I'm not sure. But for an episode written by Damon and Carlton I expected much more.
Lapidus was really the only good thing about the episode.
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