Here we go:
Lost: Every Man for Himself
There is a second island? WTF?
There are several things which affected my score here. I feel like some of the Season 3 flashbacks do not really tell us much about the characters anymore. In particular, tonight’s Sawyer flashback was mostly pointless. The only interesting tidbit we have gained from this is that S. may have a doughtier to whom he left some considerable sum of money.
It may become more important in the future, but at this point it is just reiteration of what we already know – Sawyer is a two timing con man, who will screw you over if he has half of a chance. But deep, deep inside he is a good guy. We knew that already. I had exactly the same problem with Jack’s flashback. They could give us gold, but they feed us last season’s leftovers. Minus one star, right there.
The second island idea is a little iffy. On one hand it kinda explains why Ben was so freaked out when he found out that the Losties had a boat. It also explains why they went hunting for the raft – they simply did not want to take the chance that someone finds it.
It also explains how Others were always able to easily come from the sea and bypass sentries.
On the other hand, how come no one ever saw it from a mountain peek? How come Russo never mentioned it? How was Ethan and whatshisface able to get to both crash sites so quickly and on foot?
I’m docking half a star for this because it smells like a retcon.
Otherwise I enjoyed it throughly. The #8 fainting bunny is awesome! :) It reminds me of the fainting goats.
My rating: stars
I’m interested to see if Lost will use Desmond’s new precognitive powers to explore the so called prophet’s dilemma in detail. If you really think about it, knowledge of the future robs the prophet of free will. It him, you in a set cause and effect sequence. He is compelled to sacrifice his own well being to save other people’s lives, spare them from trouble and etc…
If he continues helping others, and saving the world, his own life will start comming apart. The prophet becomes jaded, bitter and depressed. He might start questioning his gift and second guessing himself. Is he really supposed to be messing with fate? Is he really seeing the future or is he simply going insane? What if he is wrong one day?
On the other hand If he chooses to ignore your visions, he will have to put up with guilt and remorse. How will the precog feel knowing that he ignored some event he forsaw, and thus allowed people to get hurt. Des he keep killing himself to help others, or does he suck it up and try to live with the guilt? It is a great theme that could be throughly explored by a good writer. But of course there is always the temptation to use a precog/prophet as a deux ex machina plot device.
If you write yourself into a corner, just pull out the future teller wildcard and you are good. It’s damn convinient to have a character like that in your story if you are a writer. But it does not make for good drama or suspense.
So what will become of Desmond? Will he be a tragic prophet cursed by his own gift, or a convinient plot device? Or will he remain one of the quirky unexplained fixtures of The Island™ just like Smokey the Smoke Monster™ the Whispering Jungle Thingy™ and the Island Super Healing Factor™?
[tags]lost, tv, series, island, every man for himself, review[/tags]
