Lost Recap/Review

One of Them
See, this is why I hate the promo departments at just about every network. If I enjoy a show, I'm always curious to know what's coming next and what I can look forward to the next week.

But just as we've seen in movie theaters, sometimes the trailers give away all the good stuff.

But on TV it's worse. It seems a lot of times these days, the scenes and snippets in a promo are taken from the last quarter of an episode or they misrepresent the episode they're previewing. Or in the worst case (such as we had for this week's Lost) both. See, I made the mistake of watching the preview last week and seeing the confrontation between Jack and Locke about letting the counter get down to zero to see what happens.

Part of it was my fault, really. I started imagining scenarios as to how and why this would or could happen. It's also bad because I start looking for that scene to show up, anticipating it and I may miss some good details of the overall rest of the plot unfolding on-screen. It's why I should really learn to skip the previews. (It's why I've given up watching the Stargate shows live....SciFi simply shows most of the episode of Battlestar Galactica in snippets during those shows and ruins some of the suprises. I know you want to get fans to tune in, but leave some things a mystery, please!)

But enough whining about the promos. I know it's not going to change.

So, this week's lost was really one for the ladies since it featured all of the men of Lost and none of the women. Looking back, the only female with any significant screen time was Rousseau. Oh and we got the soldier looking at a picture of Kate. Now, I hate to reveal my ignorance here, but I will. Was the soldier in the back of the truck the same man that Kate had to kill in one of her umpteen flashback stories we've seen until now? I'm sure there are eagle-eyed viewers out there who can tell me. (I guess I could just break out my DVDs of season one...)

It seems the theme of the last couple of episodes is that you can change the surroundings of the person, but you don't really fundamentally change who they are. Last week, we saw that no matter how it appeared that Sawyer had mellowed, he hadn't. And this week, we see that Sayid really hasn't changed that much. He still pretty much believes the ends justifies the means, as he proves here by torturing the alleged Other to get information from him. Part of me wonders if it was some kind of payback for the death of Shannon that made him do it. Sayid seems to want someone to feel his pain and understand it. He won't go and talk to anyone on the island about it, so he takes it out on this poor guy who may or may not be an Other.

I did get a bit of a chill when Sayid said he knew the guy was lying because he felt no remorse in what he'd done. So, does that mean he felt remorse for torturing Sawyer last season?

In the flashbacks, we learn how Sayid learned his trade. Seems the U.S. Army taught it to him. Or at least helped him to realize his full potential. Really puts that whole "be all you can be" slogan in a new light, doesn't it?

Also of interest is how Charlie, a perceived outsider now, has become the sounding board or almost father confessor to the island's people. Is it becuase they feel that Charlie is so on the outs with the community that he won't share these secrets with the others? And do you get the feeling that Charlie just might be collecting secrets and could use them later for his own advantage?

And is it just me or is Jack starting to lose it a bit? His ever-growing conflict with Locke seems to be unhinging him. I wonder if this is supposed to parallel the journey Jack took pre-island where he seemed to have it all only to slowly lose control of his life. Same thing seems to be happening here. To run the analogy into the ground, Locke is a father-figure to the island and we see that Jack doesn't get along well with father figures. Part of that may be that Jack has a more rigid code of right and wrong...it's not quite as case by case basis as we see in others on the island and that is leading to some conflict. And we've got Locke who seems to see the greater good of the group taking precident over an individual's rights. I have to wonder if Locke is up to something more than he's telling...again, he faced down the island and lived. Also, he has a lot to lose should they be found or the secret of the island be revealed. So how far will he go to retain what he's gained?

We did actually see the timer get down to zero and it was replaced by--some symbols. I'm sure there are some who TiVOed the episode who can break down exactly what the symbols were and speculate on what they mean. If you want to see what flipped up, you can go here and see a screen capture. But I found it interesting to wonder--what happens if they all line up. And are the colors of black and red of significance?

And finally, we have the throw-away plotline of the week with Sawyer. Seems a tree frog is driving Sawyer nuts. And we see that everyone on the island is pretty pissed at him. The only help he can find is Hurley, who we find out has been hoarding food. They track down said frog and Hurley offers to take it somewhere else in the island, only to have Sawyer crush the frog in his fist. At first, I thought this lighter plot was there to off set how dark the Sayid plotline was, but then when Saywer crushed the frog, I think the point was to have the entire Sawyer arc recapped in a quick little burst. See, he seems like he's wacky and misunderstood, but in the end, he does whatever it takes to ensure his comfort and position.

Lesson learned. Again.

And now, we have a wait of a few weeks for new episodes....