Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Man From Tallahassee

Tonight's episode of Lost continued the general upward trend of the show, I think. And I'm a bit surprised and pleased to say it, actually, because the structure of the episode was the same as some problem episodes this year -- this episode left most of the main cast off-screen, focusing only on a single small group. It worked this time out because of who we were focused on.

First, there were Locke's flashbacks. For a long time, I think most people had expected that his father was responsible for putting him in the wheelchair. But I know I for one didn't expect he had done so personally, and in such a spectacular and especially violent way.

Then there was a full force return of Ben. In his "Henry Gale" persona, he was one of the best things about season two. And tonight, the writers delivered more top quality dialogue for him, and actor Michael Emerson gave an absolutely perfect performance. Ben may be the one in the wheelchair, but he has all the power, and he remains one of the best things about Lost.

I saved for last the thing that will surely have people speculating the most, as another tiny piece of the Lost puzzle was doled out. Somehow, Locke's father has been transported to The Island. Apparently, this is because some part of Locke consciously or unconsciously wanted that confrontation. Or perhaps more accurately, he wanted to avoid that confrontation, and thus it was thrust upon him.

If you accept Ben's description of how this works as fact (which, admittedly, is not necessarily the wise thing to do) and the whole supernatural "wish for something" nature of this "Box," then it would seem that this is the cause of many of the strange things that have popped up on The Island since day one: Walt's polar bears, Jack's visions of his dead father, the black horse from Kate's flashbacks (which Sawyer also saw)... hell, maybe even the crashed Nigerian plane complete with Eko's dead brother inside.

An explanation of this may not be coming any time soon, but it's something at least to see that the "piece" responsible has now been moved onto the board.

1 comment:

GiromiDe said...

Another big piece that has been the subject of speculation is that Locke's father -- whatever his real name is -- is the real Sawyer, which I hope will be revealed now that he's on the island. This would lead to an interesting character dynamic between Ford and Locke.

Speaking of the Box and polar bears, I wonder if the writers will resurrect Walt's thread. How exactly could he project himself? Was that The Box?

I think The Island may actually be evil. Locke has been duped before, and I think it would be fitting that he be duped again by The Island. Remember the undercover officer's statements about Locke's personality?

Now if we can only understand what the heck The Monster is about.