"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.23-1.25) "Exodus"

 

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.23-1.25) "Exodus"

If one was to ask me what was my favorite season finale of "LOST", I would be prone to answer Season Four's (4.12-4.14) "There's No Place Like Home". But my third choice - and a very close one at that - would have definitely been the Season One finale, (1.23-1.25) "Exodus".

Although I do not consider it to be my favorite "LOST" finale, I can honestly say that I found it to be the most emotional . . . at least for me. Many would say that the series finale, (1.17-1.18) "The End". Mind you, "The End" had its share of emotional moments. But there were many aspects of it that I found very irritating. I also found some flaws in the script for "Exodus". But I felt those flaws were overshadowed by some great writing by screenwriters/producers Damon Lindehof and Carlton Cuse.

I might as well begin with what I consider to be the episode's flaws. The Season One finale featured flashbacks that revealed the castaways' experiences during their last hours in Sydney, Australia, before boarding Oceanic Flight 815. Mind you, I did not have any trouble with most of the flashbacks. Some of them revealed the development in personalities or relationships for some of the characters. This was apparent in Michael Dawson and Walt Lloyd's two flashbacks, along with Shannon Rutherford's, Charlie Pace's and to a certain extent, James 'Sawyer' Ford's. Other flashbacks revealed the personal clouds that hung over Jin-Soo Kwon, Sayid Jarrah and John Locke. Jack's flashback served as an introduction to Ana-Lucia Cortez, who would have a major role in the second season. But there were some flashbacks which I found useless and a waste of my time:

*Kate Austen - Her flashback featured U.S. Marshal Edward Mars explaining his long search for the young fugitive. Basically, all he did was reveal to the Sydney Airport authorities about his cat-and-mouse games with Kate and her infantile bank robbery in New Mexico. Yawn!

*Sun-Hwa Kwon - Her flashback merely confirmed her original secret knowledge of English via her understanding of the racist American couple who seemed to harbor clichés about Asian marriages.

*Hugo "Hurley" Reyes - His flashbacks consisted of a series of minor incidents that nearly causes him to miss Oceanic Flight 815. Was it Lindehof and Cuse's intent for the audience to view Hurley's experiences with the ironic view that he would have been better off by missing the flight? I do not know. Then again, I do not care.

Not only did I find Kate's flashback a bore, I found some of her actions in this episode rather . . . peculiar. Okay, I had no problem with her decision to accompany Jack and Locke to the Black Rock. She wanted to help. Okay. But following Leslie Artz's death, she decided that she wanted to be one of the two to carry the dynamite in her backpack:

LOCKE: It's not smart to keep it all together. So, we split them up. If we need 3 sticks to blow the hinge then we should bring 6 -- 3 and 3 -- failsafe, in case one of us...

JACK: You and me, then.

KATE: No, I'm -- I'm taking one.

JACK: It's not going to happen, no.

KATE: This is why I came.

JACK: Then, you wasted a trip.

I realize that the castaways' leader, Jack Shephard was being controlling. But why on earth was it necessary for Kate to carry some of the dynamite? Why on earth would a woman with the survival instinct of a well-trained mercenary want to risk her life to carry a bunch of unstable sticks of dynamite? Cuse and Lindehof never made Kate's reasons clear. Poor Evangeline Lilly. She really had to put up with a lot of shit from those two.

At the beginning of the episode, Danielle Rousseau appeared at the Losties' camp with news that the Others were going to attack their camp. After accompanying Jack's expedition to the Black Rock, she returned to the Losties' camp with the intent to steal baby Aaron in order to exchange him for her long missing daughter, Alex. When Sayid and Charlie finally caught up with her and Aaron, she revealed that she 'did' hear whispering about the Others coming for the "boy". As it turned out, the Others were after Walt. And they snatched him from the raft that Michael, Sawyer and Jin used in their attempt to leave the island. But . . . why did they snatch Walt? More importantly, how did they know that he was special? I doubt that Others spy Ethan Spy had found out. He spent most of his time with the Losties keeping an eye on Claire Littleton, who was pregnant during his stay with them.  Cuse and Lindehof had failed to reveal the details behind Ben Linus' decision to order Walt's kidnapping in any of the series' 121 episodes.  But they did reveal who had originally ordered it in the series' mobisode called, "Room 23".

Thankfully, "Exodus" was filled with so many memorable scenes and moments that I am willing to forgive Cuse and Lindehof some of the episode's missteps. As I had stated earlier, this episode was filled with some very emotional moments. My favorite included Sawyer's revelation to Jack about his meeting with the latter's now deceased father back in Australia. Superb acting by both Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox. Another great moment featured Walt's decision to hand over his dog Vincent to the grieving Shannon. Neither Malcolm David Kelley or Maggie Grace had ever received any recognition for their acting. Well, perhaps Kelley did once. Yet, both of them gave some of their best performances in this scene - especially Grace. But who gave the best performances in the episode? For me, the honors should have went to Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim as the castaways' estranged Korean couple. The couple finally reconciled over their matter regarding Sun's secret ability to speak English in a very emotional moment that featured tears, hugs and superb acting by the two. In fact, I am still wondering why the two Kims had never received any major acting nominations for their performances on the show. Both Fox and Terry O'Quinn gave excellent performances in an interesting scene in which Jack questioned John Locke about his penchant for revolving his life around the island's mysteries.

Many fans have claimed that strong characterization has always been the major strength on "LOST". Perhaps. But there have been many times during the series' six season run in which some of the characterization seemed to have declined. Think (1.12) "Whatever the Case May Be", (2.04) "Everybody Hates Hugo", (3.03) "Further Instructions", (3.09) "Stranger in a Strange Land", (4.04) "Eggtown" or (4.06) "The Other Woman". But when it came to action-oriented scenes and story arcs, "LOST" was truly in its element. And "Exodus" had its share of memorable action-oriented scenes and one truly chilling one.

My favorite action scenes included the expedition to the Black Rock, Leslie Artz's death, and Sayid and Charlie's search for Danielle and the kidnapped Aaron. However, one of the better scenes featured the Black Rock expedition's encounter with the Smoke Monster (aka the Man in Black) and the latter's attempt to drag Locke into some hole. When I think about it, some of the most effective action scenes during the series' first four seasons featured the Smoke Monster. But not even the Smoke Monster's attack upon Locke, Jack, Kate and Hurley was nothing in compare to what happened to the castaways on Michael's raft. In what I believe to be one of the most chilling scenes in the series' history, Walt ended up being kidnapped by the Others. Between the night setting, the violent attack upon the raft passengers and Walt's cries as he was being carried away by his kidnappers still leaves chills within me, even after six years.

My recent viewing of "Exodus" also left me pondering about some of the characters and events. While my family and I were watching those moments leading up to Walt's kidnapping, we found ourselves openly wondering what would have happened if Sawyer and Walt had not convinced Michael to fire that flare gun. Because once he did, the Others managed to find them within minutes. While reading some of the reviews and posts about this episode, I noticed that back in 2005, many assumed that Charlie would resume taking drugs after he found the Virgin Mary statuettes filled with heroin. Considering how Locke "helped" Charlie get over his drug addiction in (1.06) "House of the Rising Sun", I am not surprised that Charlie took one of those statuettes. In fact, I believe that Charlie did the right thing. Only he could really help himself get over his drug addiction. All Locke did was manipulate him into doing something that he had never volunteered to do in the first place. That is not real help.

Jack may be a controlling and doubting ass at times, I found myself sympathizing with him during his conversation with Locke about the island. The fact that Locke believed that opening the hatch would lead to his "destiny" and his willingness to be dragged away by the Smoke Monster made me realize that the latter had been right in Season Six - Locke was a chump. He had spent most of his time on the island believing that he had to delve its mysteries in order to achieve some kind of destiny and the position of being special. And when Locke told Jack that the late Boone Carlyle had been a sacrifice that the island demanded, I am surprised that the good doctor managed to refrain from shooting him. If I had been in Jack's shoes, I would have shot him. I realize that it would have been the wrong thing to do, but I still would have shot him. I just do not see how Locke could justify Boone's death in that manner.

"Exodus" has its flaws that I found worthy of a head shake, including some questionable flashbacks and the story arc featuring Kate and the dynamite sticks. But most of the episode featured some excellent writing that included great emotional moments and action sequences, along with first-rate acting by most of the cast. Not surprisingly, it is not only one of my favorite season finales of "LOST", but also one of my favorite episodes period.

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.17) ". . . In Translation"

 

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.17) ". . . In Translation"

Before I commence upon this article, I should reveal that the "LOST" Season One episode, (1.17) ". . . In Translation" is one of my all time favorites from the series. I will try to be as biased as possible regarding the episode, but do not expect me to succeed.

To understand ". . . In Translation", one has to watch the previous episode, (1.06) "The House of the Rising Sun". The flashbacks in that episode revealed the backstory of the marriage between Jin-Soo Kwon and Sun-Hwa Kwon (née Paik) before they had ended up stranded on the island via Oceanic Flight 815. Told from Sun's point of view, the flashbacks revealed that Jin had to take a job working for Mr. Paik, Sun's father in order to win her hand in marriage. The couple became increasingly estranged, as Jin began spending more time doing his father-in-law's bidding than with his wife. One night, after they had been married for a period of time, Jin returned home covered in someone else's blood. Fearing that her husband might be a dangerous killer, Sun secretly plotted to leave Jin (hence the secret English lessons); but changed her mind while on route to Los Angeles, via Sydney. "The House of the Rising Sun" also revealed the growing animosity between Jin and fellow castaway Michael Dawson, when the former attacked the latter for wearing Sun's father's watch - something that Michael had discovered on the beach.

". . . In Translation" continued the revelation of the Kwon marriage, only from Jin's point-of-view. The flashbacks revealed the circumstances behind Jin asking Sun’s father her hand in marriage, the bargain he had made to work for the older man, Jin’s growing awareness of Sun’s frustration with his duties and more importantly the real circumstances surrounding the infamous blood on his hands that Sun had spotted. Sun saw a man who may have committed a brutal murder. What really happened is that Jin prevented a government official – who had refused to re-open one of Mr. Paik’s factories – from being murdered by one of his father-in-law’s henchmen by convincing the man to cooperate after a severe beating. Realizing that he was in danger of losing Sun, Jin decided to take his fisherman father’s advice to use a business trip to leave South Korea and stay in the U.S. for good. Only the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 intervened. Following the events of (1.14) “Special”, Michael Dawson decided to build a raft in order to get his ten year-old son away from the dangers of the island. The hostility between Michael and Jin finally came to a head when someone mysteriously set fire to the raft. Believing that Jin had set the fire, Michael attacked the former. Sun’s desperate cries for Michael to stop revealed her knowledge of English to Jin and the other castaways. The revelation not only led to a further rift between the South Korean couple, but also to the beginning of a friendship between Jin and Michael, as they proceeded to rebuild the raft.

This episode was aptly named ". . . In Translation", a take on the title of Sofia Coppola's 2003 movie. If anything, it focused upon the main problem that surrounded the Kwon marriage - namely the bad communication that existed between the couple before and after the crash of Oceanic 815. For some time, Sun believed that Jin may have murdered on her father's behalf, due to the blood she had spotted on his hand. This would explain why she had continuously declared to people like Michael and fellow castaway Kate Austen about Jin's dangerous nature and how "he was capable of anything". And this would explain why she took the trouble to learn English and not tell Jin. However, Jin was also guilty of keeping secrets from Sun. He never told Sun the details behind the blood on his hands, believing that it was not her place to know. More importantly, he lied about his father, Mr. Kwon, telling both Sun and her father that the latter was dead. Which is ironic, considering he left Sun after learning that she spoke English. Even more ironic is the fact that Sun knows that his father is alive . . . but never bothered to reveal this to Jin. Some viewers translated that last shot of Sun revealing her bikini without Jin hovering about, as a sign of her "freedom". Whatever "bondage" that Sun found during her marriage, it had been created by bad communication between her and Jin. For me, Sun’s removal of her wrap struck me as a hollow and irrelevant gesture. Her "freedom" came at the cost of losing - at least for a while - the very man that she would always love more than anyone.

On a minor level, a lack of communications also continued to exist between Michael and Walt. Most fans tend to blame Michael for this by accusing him of being a poor parent. There were moments when Michael became forgetful of Walt. And there were other times when Michael's jealousy of Walt's friendship with castaway John Locke got in the way. However, many of these fans failed to recall that Walt was just as responsible as Michael, due to his residual resentment toward the major changes in his life - losing his mother and gaining a long lost father. Because of this resentment, Walt had a bad habit of disobeying his father when he should have done the opposite. As far as these fans are concerned, Locke would have made a better parent than Michael. Personally, I disagree. Locke was adept at being a friend to Walt. Being a friend did not necessarily mean one is a good parent. The latter has to be an effective disciplinarian, as well. Unfortunately, being a disciplinarian does not jibe with the early 21st ideal of parenthood.

A third story line centered on the triangle that existed between Shannon Rutherford, Sayid Jarrah and Shannon’s stepbrother, Boone Carlyle. But I barely paid attention. In a nutshell, Sayid declared his intentions to court Shannon to Boone. The latter decided to stir up trouble by hinting to Sayid that Shannon likes to use older men for her own benefit. Needless to say, Shannon set things to right and resumed her romance with Sayid after receiving sound advice from Locke.

Screenwriters Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Leonard Dick really did a great job in continuing the revelations behind the Kwon marriage in this very emotional episode. The island incidents balanced very well against Jin's flashbacks regarding his marriage. And this episode really worked, due to the outstanding performances from Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim. Also Harold Perrineau (Michael Dawson), Bryan Chung (Mr. Paik), and John Shin (Mr. Kwon) gave excellent support.

Some of my favorite scenes in the episode included Jin's successful attempts to save the life of the South Korean government official, his marriage proposal to Mr. Paik and especially the poignant conversation he has with his father, Mr. Kwon, about his marriage. I also enjoyed the scenes that featured Michael's two attempts to bond with ten year-old Walt - the second being more successful. I also enjoyed Locke's revelation that Walt was responsible for burning the raft. But my favorite scene featured the moment when Jin discovered that Sun spoke English. Director Tucker Gates did an excellent job in conveying Jin's confusion with spinning camera work and muffled babble, as the the South Korean castaway tried to understand the English words that swirled around him. The only dark spot in this episode was Sawyer's attempt to form a lynch mob for Jin, after the raft caught on fire. It was an unpleasant reminder that Mr. Ford's penchant for resorting to violent retribution remained with him until the last season.

A few years ago, I had created a LIST of my ten favorite episodes from "LOST". ". . . In Translation" ranked at number six on my list. After my recent viewing of the episode, that ranking still stands.

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.12) "Whatever the Case May Be"

 

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (1.12) "Whatever the Case May Be"

I had never meant to write an article on (1.12) "Whatever the Case May Be", the Season One episode of ABC’s ”LOST”. Honestly. But after I recently re-watched the episode, I realized that I had to say or write something about it.

”Whatever the Case May Be” happened to be the second episode that featured Kate Austen as a main character. While frolicking in what looked like a spring, Kate and fellow castaway James “Sawyer” Ford came across another chunk of Oceanic Airlines 815’s fuselage section and several dead passengers. Kate also discovered a silver Halliburton case that she asked Sawyer to retrieve for her. The case belonged to the recently dead U.S. Marshal Edward Mars, who had been escorting Kate back to United States soil in order for her to face criminal charges. Being Kate, she decided to tell Sawyer that he could keep the case . . . before making several attempts to get her hands on it by theft. The case not only contained Marshal Mars’ firearms and some money, but also a sentimental object that meant very much to Kate.

How much did that object mean to Kate? As shown in the episode’s flashbacks, it meant so much to her that she staged a bank robbery (in which she pretended to be a potential loan customer and victim) in New Mexico in order to acquire it from one of the bank’s safety deposit box. It seemed that Marshal Mars had placed it there to entrap Kate. As for the object of Kate’s desire, it turned out to be a toy airplane that once belonged to a former childhood sweetheart named Tom Brennan, whose death she was partially responsible for, as shown in a later episode called (1.22) “Born to Run”. Not only was Kate willing to stage a bank robbery in New Mexico and steal the Marshal’s case on the island for it, she was also willing to manipulate and lie to castaway leader Jack Shephard in order to get her hands on it.

Several “B” plots also abound in this episode. One of them featured on Charlie Pace’s continuing melancholy and guilt over Claire Littleton’s kidnapping at the end of (1.10) “Raised By Another”. In short, Charlie sat around and moped over Claire, while the other castaways moved their belongings to another beach in order to prevent everything and everyone from a rising tide that threatened to wash over their camp. In the end, Rose Nadler helped him snapped out of his gloom with tough words and a prayer. John Locke and Boone Carlyle focused on finding ways to open the hatch they had discovered near the end of (1.11) “Even the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” and met with failure. And Sayid Jarrah asked Boone’s stepsister, Shannon Rutherford, to help him translate longtime castaway Danielle Rousseau’s maps and notes, which are written in French. His request attracted Boone’s jealous attention.

Did I like ”Whatever the Case May Be”? No, I did not. In my opinion, it was one of the worst episodes from Season One. In other words, I thought it was a piece of crap. One, the entire storyline about Kate’s efforts to get her hands on the toy airplane struck me as an exercise in irrelevancy. The fact that this particular episode was resolved in ”Born to Run”, the next Kate-centric episode, not only convinced me of the uselessness of this storyline, but also the flaky nature of Kate’s personality. Look, I understand that she had felt guilty for inadvertently causing Tom Brennan’s death. But was it really necessary to set in motion a bank robbery in New Mexico or piss off Jack and Sawyer for that damn toy plane? I do not think so.



Kate’s quest for the toy airplane produced two sequences that really annoyed me. One, her attempts to steal the Halliburton case from Sawyer left me shaking my head in disbelief. At one point, I felt as if I was watching two adolescents behaving like ten-year-olds. Both of them seemed ridiculous and immature in their efforts to steal the case from each other . . . not sexy. And why did Kate hand over the case to Sawyer in the first place? She could have maintained the lie that the case belonged to her. Nor did she have to tell Sawyer what was inside the case. At least she would have been spared resorting to childish efforts to get the damn thing. The quest for the toy airplane also produced one of the most ludicrous flashbacks in the series’ history, and one of the dumbest bank robberies in movies or television. The fact that Kate had staged the robbery for the airplane makes me want to upchuck. And if she knew that Marshal Mars had placed the airplane inside the bank, why did she have to enter the bank, unmasked? Why not simply act as one of the masked robbers? And if the whole thing was a trap set up by Marshal Mars, where in the hell was he? Where was the stakeout? And what were Damon Lindelof and Jennifer Johnson thinking when they wrote this episode?

And if the main plot seemed ludicrous beyond belief, the subplots were no better. After discovering the infamous hatch to the Swan Station at the end of the previous episode, (1.11) “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”, John Locke and Boone Carlyle decided to keep their discovery a secret. Well . . . Locke did. Boone rather idiotically decided to follow his lead. To this day, I am amazed that so many ”LOST” fans had continued to regard Locke as the castaways’ wise mentor by this point in Season One, considering that his decision to keep the hatch a secret struck me as incredibly stupid. Oh well. Perhaps Lindelhof and Johnson needed this secretive behavior as fodder for future storylines. Another subplot featured Sayid Jarrah and Shannon Rutherford’s efforts to translate the charts and notes that he had stolen from Danielle Rousseau in (1.09) “Solitary”. The storyline regarding the charts and notes amounted to nothing. But it did initiate the romance between the former Iraqi soldier and California dance student. We finally come to the subplot regarding Charlie Pace’s guilt and despair over Claire Littleton’s kidnapping and Rose Nadler’s attempts to help him deal with the latter. One, I found subplot boring. And two, Rose’s attempts to revive him from his despair struck me as a perpetration of the ”Religious Black Woman” cliché. Not only could I have done without this subplot, I could have also done without her dialogue.

Many fans have viewed Jack’s behavior toward Kate in this episode as abusive and controlling. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I found his reaction to Kate’s revelation about her tracking skills in ”All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” as controlling and abusive. Frankly, I thought he was being a prick. However, I completely understood his behavior with Kate in this episode. Honestly? Kate had manipulated him and lied to him for the sake of case and a toy airplane. Instead of keeping the case in the first damn place and explaining to Jack why she wanted it opened, Kate behaved like an erratic child. And Jack treated her like one, in a fit of disgust and anger. Boone continued his verbal abuse of Shannon’s self-esteem in this episode. I realize that she had behaved abominably to him, back in Australia. I also realize that Shannon can be a bitch. But she had done nothing to earn such constant and persistent abuse. So . . . Boone behaved like a prick. Sawyer did not treat anyone with such abuse. I found his efforts to open the case rather childish, but that is all. But I thought that Kate treated him in an abusive manner in an effort to get her hands on the case. I realize that she did not want him to know about her criminal past. But as I had stated earlier, she could have continued to claim the case as hers and recruited Jack’s help to open the damn thing. Instead, she allowed Sawyer to take the case. The she resorted to stealth and physical abuse to get it back. Kate had behaved like a prick . . . or a female version of one.

"Whatever the Case May Be" had one or two virtues. Actually, it had one. Larry Fong’s photography of the Hawaiian jungles and beaches remained fresh and beautiful as ever. But with so much infantile and stupid behavior by the characters, and incompetent writing by Damon Lindelhof and Jennifer Johnson, is it any wonder that I hold this episode in deep contempt?