Lost Re-view: Man of Science, Man of Faith

The second season premiere of Lost was the most watched episode of the series' entire run, according to the Nielsen ratings. It was written by series co-creator Damon Lindelof (without writing partner Carlton Cuse, say the credits), and directed by series regular Jack Bender. It's an incredibly strong episode. To the writers' credit, they seemed to understand that they'd made the viewers wait to know what was inside the Hatch for long enough, and made at least two big decisions based on that.

First, there is absolutely no material in this premiere that addresses the fate of Michael, Jin, and Sawyer on the destroyed raft. Yes, they're three series regulars in mortal peril, but the audience simply doesn't care as much about them at the moment.

Secondly, the writers immediately answer the question: "what's inside the Hatch?" You don't know it the first time you watch the episode, but the opening sequence is set in the Hatch, giving us its occupant's perspective on the explosion that gives our survivors access at last. Of course, you don't understand anything of what you're seeing the first time around: Desmond awakening to the countdown beep, punching in something on the computer, taking a shower (under a shower head that some manic fan counted as having exactly 42 holes), giving himself an injection, then...

BOOM! Through a viewing scope and a series of adjustable mirrors, we look up the very shaft that Locke and Jack are looking down. Hurley is nearby, chanting the numbers to stave off a total meltdown. And then comes a very deft bit of writing.

Jack is practical, doing what the characters should be doing in such a situation. The Hatch is useless for their purposes, to hide everyone from the Others. It's a 50 foot drop into nothing, with a busted ladder. So time to forget about it and move on to another plan. But Locke behaves completely irrationally to the actual situation, and is the voice of the audience, now and for the rest of the episode. Forget about the Others and get inside that damn Hatch! And all the while, the plot thickens, as Kate notices the word "QUARANTINE" stamped on the inside of the Hatch door.

Back at the caves, Shannon has lost Vincent. Troubled that this is the one thing anyone ever asked her to do, she's determined to do it right. She's willing to trod off into the jungle alone at night, but Sayid goes with her. The two find the dog, but get separated as they split up to try and corner him.

Then comes the big "what the hell?" moment of the episode. The only bad thing about the episode, in my opinion. And even then, it was cool the first time around; it just sucks that it never really gets paid off. Shannon hears the infamous Whispers, and then looks up and sees a specter of a dripping wet Walt, who motions to "shush," and then chants something unintelligible. The uber-fans determined that Walt is actually speaking backwards, and saying: "Don't push the button. Button bad."

As Hurley might say, "dude." Obviously, the writers already knew about the button in the Hatch and such, and were having some fun. But obviously, they didn't know what was going on with Walt, because this never gets explained. But let's consider some possibilities here.

The Whispers precede the Smoke Monster. But Smokey can't manifest as a person who is alive, so Drippy Walt can't be him.

Walt wasn't thrown into the ocean, so why would he be wet? Much, much later, in season 6, we'd learn about the crazy baptismal pool in the temple on the Island. But do Ben's people, "The Others" who took Walt, actually control that at this point in time?

Desmond is "special," we'd learn, in his reactions to electromagnetic energy, and his ability to jump through time. Is Walt projecting through time? Well, that might be possible, except that he has no recollection of it later. Nor does he ever learn about the button.

In short... I got nothing.

So back to Kate, Hurley, Jack, and Locke, returning to the caves. Kate and Locke are talking about Locke's desire to get inside the Hatch. Hurley is cautioning Jack not to let Locke have time with "your girl." But Jack wants to know what Hurley meant when he screamed that "the numbers are bad." So Hurley, after initial reluctance, tells his entire story. The numbers, the lottery win, the bad luck (even adding a detail we hadn't heard yet, about the chicken joint where he worked getting struck by a meteorite)... everything. But Jack can only fix on one detail: "You were in a psych ward?" To which Hurley simply says that Jack's bedside manner "sucks, dude." (More on that later.)

When the group makes it back to the caves, it's just in time to defuse an argument. Shannon is freaking everyone out with talk of the Whispers, Drippy Walt, and Others. Charlie starts shouting about how there are no Others -- they're just the crazy French woman's creation. So Jack delivers an inspiration speech about the guns they still have, posting lookouts, and how he will "promise" that everyone will see the sunrise together.

But even as he's saying this, Locke has gathered a rope-like length of cable leftover from the plane crash, and is heading back to the Hatch to explore. Kate extracts Jack's honest assessment of the truth of his words, noting he isn't usually a "glass half full" guy, then sets off after Locke, saying he'll need help.

When she arrives, Locke hasn't started down the shaft yet. He says he was waiting for her. He wants to lower her in first, being smaller and lighter. A great moment follows, where she asks "what do I say if I need to stop?" Locke answers, "Stop." But there's a long pause afterward where you sense that Kate knows Locke is so gung ho about this that she doesn't quite trust him to stop even if she says so.

As Kate nears the bottom of the shaft (after a brief mishap where the trees used to support the cable snap), we have a callback to the pilot, as she starts counting to five (as Jack taught her) to push her fear to the side. But just after "four," a metal squeak sounds from below, the light shifts, and she sees movement. She screams to stop...

But then the spotlight Locke once saw come from the shaft flares on! A force pulls on the cable. Locke fights, his hands bleeding, but the cable then goes slack, the light shuts off, and Kate is gone.

Meanwhile, Jack hasn't quite convinced himself with his own speech. He decides to take off after Locke and Kate, and arrives at the shaft to find no one -- just the cable leading down inside. So he wraps his hands and climbs down in. He reaches the bottom and starts inside, beginning a long sequence of very meticulously planned material.

See, you don't know it the first time around, but everything you're about to see is going to be revisited again in the next two episodes, from Kate and Locke's perspectives. There's also important information about the Hatch itself, planted here in the season premiere, that doesn't even pay off until the season finale.

Jack finds shoes carefully placed to the side of the tunnel. (We won't learn what they're doing there this week.) He finds an elaborate graffiti mural painted on a wall, with 108 and the other numbers prominently displayed. (The director Jack Bender painted this mural himself, trivia fans.) He discovers the big source of electromagnetic force lurking behind a wall. (This is the detail that pays off in the season finale.)

Really, all this stuff is outstanding and effectively creepy, because it's so completely different from anything we've seen on Lost before. We've traded the wild jungle for a sinister-looking, harsh metal science fiction bunker, with weirdness around every corner.

Jack then moves into "the dome," the computer room full of whirring tapes, as music starts blasting over the intercom. If you know to be listening for it -- but the first time through, you don't -- you can actually hear Kate faintly screaming Jack's name just over the music (which will be revealed in full next episode). Jack sees the computer, and is about to push a key...

Locke appears, very tense: "I wouldn't do that!" Jack points his gun, but seconds later, it's not the only gun pointed at Locke. Another pops in from the side of the frame, revealing Locke as a hostage. The unseen hostage taker fires a warning shot at an overhead vent (another connection to Kate that will be revealed next week).

Jack tries one more barb against Locke about destiny, but is stunned when the hostage taker reveals himself by the choice of words in his threat: "Lower your gun, or I'll blow his damned head off, brother!" Desmond reveals his face, and Jack recognizes him.

From where? Well, that's a matter for the flashbacks this episode, centered around Jack. But while this is the most shocking thing given to us by the flashbacks, I'd hardly call in the most important thing, character-wise. Yes, we're getting Jack's fourth flashback episode here, but he turns out to be a character that still has plenty to offer.

We find a much younger version of him (great makeup work, by the way) working a shift in the hospital when his future wife Sarah is brought in after the auto accident she referred to last season. (So is another victim, a Mr. Rutherford. Eagle-eared fans would immediately make the connection that this was Shannon's father, who dies there in the hospital.)

After Jack stabilizes Sarah, a later scene has him breaking the bad news. With that terrible bedside manner Hurley was referring to on the Island in the present. Her back is broken, they'll try surgery, but chances aren't good. Jack's dad Christian pulls him aside and councils him: "You might want to try handing out some hope once in a while." But Jack dismisses the advice, saying it's only offering false hope.

Later, in the operating room, just before Sarah is about to be put under, she calls Jack in close, and tells him "a little secret." She confesses that she accepts she won't be dancing at her wedding. She might still "roll," though, and Jack is invited.

And then Jack has a massive, character defining moment. "I'm gonna fix you," he promises her. Even though just minutes ago, he was telling his father he believed this to be a hopeless case. This scene shows us that Jack isn't really just the cold, hard "Man of Science" we've known him to be all through season one. Somewhere in him, there is also a "Man of Faith," and it's ultimately that version of Jack that manifests in the final seasons and takes us straight up the very end of Lost.

It's all right here.

But, of course, the moment that would have everyone buzzing at the watercooler the next day was the following flashback, where Jack is running up and down stadium steps and encounters another man doing the same. Desmond is training for a race around the world. Jack confides that he made a promise to a patient that he couldn't keep; he couldn't fix her. Desmond counters, "Just one thing. What if you DID fix her?" Jack says in her situation, that would be a miracle. "And you don't believe in miracles," counters Desmond. A statement, not a question. A few more words between them, and then Desmond departs with the fatefully true words: "Good luck, brother. See you in another life." (As would occur in the episode's final moment.)

But for my money, this flashback (while good) is sandwiched between two even better ones. I already mentioned the importance of the earlier scene to Jack's character. Lastly comes the moment when Sarah awakens after surgery, and playfully flirts with him as he works up the nerve to tell her he couldn't fix her, that she'll never walk again.

To which Sarah replies, "You're yanking my chain right?" She can wiggle her toes! And Jack tests all over her legs; she can feel every touch. Both weep openly, and if you're at all like me, it's pretty hard for you not to cry right along with them. It's pitch perfect writing, and two outstanding performances from Matthew Fox and guest star Julie Bowen (the latter showing her comedy chops these days on Modern Family).

In short, this is a grade A episode of Lost. (Even though I myself was only fixated on "what does all this stuff in the Hatch mean?" the first time around.) As I said, the only false moment in the episode is the scene with Walt... but there's too much other wonderful stuff going on here for me to get too distracted by that. This episode is creepy and suspenseful. It makes you laugh and makes you cry. It deepens Jack's character and deepens the show's mythology. It just works on every level. A fantastic start to the second season.