Lost Re-view: Hearts and Minds

The next episode of Lost was a fairly momentous one, as it marked the first writing credit for Carlton Cuse. The story is that co-creator Damon Lindelof had been left alone running the series when J.J. Abrams went off to make Mission: Impossible III, and the pressure was affecting him so much that he was considering leaving the show. But his friend Carlton Cuse, who'd worked with him before on the series Nash Bridges, convinced him to stay, and agreed to come on to share show-running duties with him. This was the beginning of the pairing that would see Lost all the way through to the end.

Officially, Cuse started as part of the writing staff during the episode Solitary. And also officially, he shares writing credit here with Javier Grillo-Marxuach (who'd already contributed two episodes). Nevertheless, this episode marks a pretty big milestone for Lost. (On the directing side, it was less noteworthy. Director Rod Holcomb only worked on one other episode besides this, much later during season five.)

In front of the camera, this episode also marked the end of the short two-episode run of "second flashbacks." The focal character of this installment is Boone, and his flashbacks cover him flying to Australia to save his sister from an abusive boyfriend. They also include several big revelations.

First, there's the reveal that the entire situation is a con by Shannon, working in tandem with her boyfriend. The only "trouble" she's in is financial -- not that she's in a dire state. After her own father's death, Boone's mother kept all the family money, and she thinks she's entitled to it. If she can extort some of it from Boone, fine with her.

Second, there's a cute moment in a police station. Boone is there trying to file a report on the "abusive boyfriend," and Sawyer is also there, ranting and raving. (We'll learn why a few episodes down the road.) This is really the first time that we see the crash survivors connected in their pre-Island life. Sure we saw Jack and Sun in the same flashback scene a few episodes back, but that was hardly unusual, as both were at the Sydney airport checking in for the fateful flight. This Boone-Sawyer connection, though fleeting, is the first time we see any connection between the characters prior to the flight, and paved the way for more meaningful connections between characters down the road.

But the main thing we learn in Boone's flashbacks is that Shannon is not actually Boone's sister by blood. She's his stepsister. And in a drunken moment near the end of the episode, she asserts that he's in love with her and always has been. The two sleep together, though before the morning even comes, she wants things to go back to the way they were. This re-frames everything we've seen of these two so far a very different way. What the viewers assumed was just typical sibling rivalry and banter was actually the relationship between a young man and his unrequited-but-then-requited-oops-no-completely-shut-down-after-all love. It informs why Boone has thrown in so enthusiastically with Locke in an effort to redefine himself. He hasn't been able to leave his pre-Island past behind after the crash; it's right there on the Island with him.

..and really tormenting him in this episode. Things kick off with the expected close-up on Boone's eye, as he watches Sayid bringing a gift to Shannon and flirting with her. That's more than Boone can stand, so he's quickly off to challenge Sayid. Stay away or else. It seems to be all Sayid can do not to laugh in Boone's face; he does noticeably smile as he basically tells Boone, "bring it, kid."

But fortunately, Locke is there to defuse any trouble, pulling Boone off into the jungle for another excursion to the now partially exposed Hatch. They've apparently just been going to stare at it for a few days, Locke waiting for inspiration on how they might get it open. He tells the story of Michelangelo, forbidden to "work with his hands" by his father, who simply spent months staring at the block of stone that would one day become the famous statue of David. The fact that this is the metaphor Locke thinks of tells you how spiritual a mission this is for him, and how important he thinks it is. Locke may well be on his way to believing that finding the Hatch and getting inside is the true reason he was brought to the Island.

Then things take a dark turn. Boone wants to tell Shannon about the Hatch, and Locke won't have it. He knocks Boone out and trusses him up with a series of arm-breaking knots. Leaving Boone tied up with a knife just out of reach, Locke abandons him in the jungle, saying that he'll be able to get free once he has "the proper motivation."

But not before some cryptic dialogue and actions that only make sense by the end of the episode -- or, of course, upon a second viewing. Locke mixes up a hallucinatory paste and smears it on Boone's wound, in order to give him a form of "vision quest." He's taken it upon himself to rehabilitate Boone, saying: "I'm doing this because it's time for you to let go of some things. Because it's what's best for you. And I promise, you're gonna thank me for this later."

Boone does get free after a bit of intriguing camera work with a fish-eye lens, and responds to a call for help from Shannon. Make that "Shannon." What follows is all in Boone's mind, as he finds his stepsister tied up as well, and then both take off fleeing through the jungle, pursued by the Monster. Of course, Boone doesn't know what the Monster is or what it looks like anymore than first time viewers do at this point in time, so all any of us sees in this episode is a shadow falling on the trees.

Boone's imaginary Monster catches Shannon. After the attack, Boone finds her chewed-up body dead in a stream. And the first time around, this is what really brought down my opinion of the episode. I mentioned a few episodes back that outside of the show itself, the creators had gotten into an ill-advised sort of game of "chicken" with the audience about their willingness to kill a main character.

First, they'd faked Charlie's death. Now in this episode, they fake Shannon's. And even though I believed this death more at the time than I ever believed they'd kill Charlie, this fake-out ends up being far cheaper than the other. Charlie's near-death really happened and had emotional heft for multiple characters. Shannon's death here is just Bobby-Ewing-in-the-shower cheating of the audience. I think it tweaks the viewer so much that after this second fake death, you're almost angry at the writers. You'd better not trick me again, you cowards!

Even on a repeat viewing, Shannon's fake death here simply doesn't carry any weight. The only character this matters for is Boone. And it's actually a liberating experience for him. He confides to Locke at the end of the episode that at the thought of Shannon being dead, he "felt relieved." It's just much harder to relate to a character who would feel joy at a death than it was two episodes ago to relate to two characters filled with sorrow and guilt at a death. Plus, of course, there's the shadow hanging over all of this in the second viewing -- the knowledge that Boone himself will be dead before the season is out. It's hard to get too invested in what he feels, be it relief, guilt, or anything else.

Boone's on-Island story might be a bit of a misfire, but it's not the only story going on in this episode. Hurley and Jin are paired up in a fun subplot. Hurley's not getting enough protein (what with Locke now doing things other than catching boar), so he needs to get some fish. Jin's the man to talk to about that. The trouble is that Hurley is convinced Jin has it in for him after a brush-off in an earlier episode. "That guy holds a serious grudge."

Still, Hurley sucks it up, and manages to explain in charades to Jin that he just wants to be pointed to where the fish are. Hurley will catch his own. Jin gives a "sure you will" smile in reply, very much like Sayid's "sure you will" smile earlier in the episode when Boone threatens to kick his ass. Even more hilarious charading follows when Hurley steps on a sea urchin and he tries to get Jin to pee on it. But in the end, the two do bond. In the final act, Jin brings Hurley a fully cleaned fish to eat. It's not just fun, but is the most kind and fun-spirited we've ever seen Jin (outside of Sun's flashbacks on their early relationship).

Jin's "other half" is involved in a subplot too. Kate is helping Sun with the garden she's planting, going around looking for seeds in the jungle. (An activity that Jack rather creepily spies on. After being oddly cold to Kate in the previous episode, he's suddenly warm again this time. Maybe it's because the only Sawyer appearance this episode is in that flashback.)

Kate discovers that Sun can speak English in the episode, but promises to keep the secret. Sun exacts this promise by asking Kate, "have you never lied to a man you've loved?" This very clearly hits Kate close to home, though the full details are in flashbacks yet to be seen.

Locke and Sayid have an interesting scene together as well. Sayid's still working on Rousseau's map, and trying to make an improvised compass. It leads to an interesting character anecdote where Locke reveals he was in Webelos (which Sayid of course doesn't know), and that he was not "the most popular kid" growing up. He then gives Sayid his own compass, not needing it anymore since he's already found what he's looking for.

And also not needing it because it doesn't really work on the Island. In a subsequent scene between Sayid and Jack, the strange electromagnetic properties of the Island are first hinted at, when Sayid explains that the compass doesn't point where it should. Sayid simply believes it's a defective compass, but we the full-educated viewers know otherwise.

Another interesting scene occurs between Jack and Charlie. After Kate suggests that Locke has stopped catching boar on purpose for some perhaps nefarious reason, Jack goes looking for other opinions on Locke. Charlie's got nothing but praise for him. Locke saved his life, Charlie says. Yes, he thought Locke was crazy at first, but now he's the one man on the Island that Charlie would put his faith in more completely than any other. In short, we're slowly starting to set up the mighty Locke for a fall in the back half of the season.

Finally, in a sort of replay of Sawyer tearfully looking at his letter on the beach several episodes before we'd learn what it said, we briefly see Michael this week looking into a wooden box. He's found his own luggage, it turns out, and this item is important. Though like Sawyer's letter, we don't get to see inside yet.

As you can see, it's a bit of a winding episode. Many of these simple stand-alone scenes do work. The Boone flashbacks aren't bad either, and better the more you can empathize with his "loving the wrong girl" situation. But the main Island plot isn't very strong, and is undermined farther with the second faked death in just a few episodes. Overall, I rate this episode a B-.