Two seconds into tonight's episode, Michael let out that annoying "Waaaaaaaaaaaaalt!" again, and instantly every bit of hatred/disinterest I had over the character came rushing back. (Okay, so it was the recap, but still -- it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.)I'm sorry to say that this episode wasn't really good enough to dispel that feeling of "starting off on the wrong foot again," either. It wasn't "bad," necessarily, but I think it was definitely the weakest installment so far this season. Maybe it suffered from being the last one in production before the writers went out on strike?
The opening scene in Locke's camp seemed to set out with this narrative objective: now we're going to tell all the other characters why it is Locke now trusts Ben. But by the end of the scene, nothing had changed! Sawyer, Hurley, Claire... they all seemed to still be asking (and rightfully so), why are we trusting Ben now?
Then things moved to the freighter, and into an uninterrupted Michael flashback that ran the bulk of the episode. Seeing "Mr. Friendly" again was a fun treat, and I have to applaud the razor accuracy with which he challenged Michael -- why the hell did he think telling a young boy he'd murdered two people was a good idea?
In any case, Michael remains a character with a one track mind. So, in the absence of a son to chase after or take care of, suicide became the track. (I must confess now to being a little pissed off at The Island for not letting him get on with it.) Failed suicides were not much more interesting than the previous track, if you ask me.
Perhaps the flashback was deliberately leaving areas open to be visited in future episodes, but it seemed particularly lacking to me. And not in the ways that Lost is usually vague. For instace, why did we never see Charlotte or Faraday on the freighter?
The poor woman who plays Libby... getting canned from the show, and now brought back just to haunt Michael with maybe three lines of dialogue.
And in the final scene. After three years of interesting side adventures with Rousseau, she's gone just like that? Kinda not cool. She didn't have any really great final story like other characters we've lost along the way, nor is her death coming at a time where it's likely to propel the story in an exciting new direction. I mean, sure, it sucks for Alex, but it's really not going to be much to the story or anyone else in it. It was more like they just decided they didn't want to keep flying Mira Furlan out to Hawaii. Disappointing.
Still, even the great seasons of my favorite shows hit a few bumps in the road. This is just one of them. When Lost returns in a month, I'm hopeful it'll be back on its game.
7 comments:
I'm right with ya, Dr.
Out of ALL of the people that have died, the island won't let MICHAEL die? SONOFABLEEPINGBLEEP!!!
I haven't missed that character even the slightest little bit.
Rousseau's death was just...lazy. Unless something pretty interesting happens to Alex after this event, that was just what seemed like a weak story point - because almost everything she did there seemed out of character for what she would have usually done in that situation.
On a side note, whomever was shooting at them is a truly SHIATTY shot. :P
More that they didn't know how long the writers strike would be going on and they knew that Mira was going to be in Serbia & Bosnia until the beginning of March shooting a movie.
They needed an out for "Danielle" and "Karl" because the actors weren't going to be available for a while. In Blake Bashoff's case probably more than a year.
Don't know why they bothered to do this with "Danielle", they haven't used her as anything more than a glorified extra for the past couple of seasons, and it's not like she doesn't have a track record of vanishing into the jungle for long periods of time.
I agree Roland, Michael is necessary but Charlie (and at some point Jin) is expendable?
Frakking island. Maybe it just needs people that don't question too much, they just follow.
I did really like Sayid's response to Michael's story however. "Hm, that's an interesting story Michael, but I call shenanigans!". Why is it only Sayid and Jack refuse to believe a word that comes out of Ben's mouth?
zlatna -- Yeah, you put a better finger on what I was trying to get at. I always liked the potential of the Danielle character, but felt they only REALLY got mileage out of that in the first season. Since then, it's been untapped potential. And now it'll never be tapped.
Except of course for the obligatory appearance she'll make in one of Ben's flashbacks some day down the road... ;-)
They only got mileage out of her character in the first season because she was David Fury's creation. Once he left, she was doomed.
The rest of the writing staff didn't care about her as a character, so never noticed her potential.
It all just makes me sad.
But at least if she's dead dead, I can now quit watching this show.
Killing Danielle is stupid, if only because I always held out for as gap-filling an extended flashback as Desmond's first one. What is the point of killing a character who has long roots on the Island?
If she is David Fury's creation, then ... damn, why did all those writers have to leave after the first season?
Danielle dying was poor, lazy writing. Had that episode been released before the strike I think the Networks would have had move leverage against the WGA.
Danielle tagging along with the Lostie (and later Locke's) camp made no sense for her character. The old Danielle would have delivered the TNT, made some creepy advance towards Aaron, and left back to the jungle. It was lazy writing that kept her in the group to meet her daughter.
Back to Kevin Johnson's flashbacks. Where's the second helicopter? Naomi crashed a helicopter into the ocean and parachuted to the island. But when we see the freighter leave Fiji there's only 1 helicopter on board.
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