Thursday, November 02, 2006 - 10:20 PM
HERE BE SPOILERS.
I know I give you a rough idea of the plot every week, but this ain't no filler episode we're talking about here. If you haven't seen it, STOP READING RIGHT NOW.
But to start off, let's go with some lighter, slightly creepier news. A comparison:
Yup, same person. Tomorrow, Elizabeth Mitchell, better known to Lost fans as Juliet, will be reprising the role of Mrs. Claus she originated in The Santa Clause 2 again in the newThe Santa Clause 3. That's right: Juliet the Other = Mrs. Claus. Little kids everywhere should be screaming.
Back to the episode. A number of cool developments, although the big one I was pretty angry about, to be honest. The initial reaction has subsided, but I still think they could've done it better. First, the good stuff:
But then we get the best scene in the episode by far. Juliet comes in and puts a videotape in the VCR. Jack says he doesn't want to watch a movie, but she puts it on anyway, and starts talking to Jack about how great a man Ben is and how Jack should really do the surgery. But on the TV screen is not a movie. It's Juliet, holding up signs: "Don't listen to what I'm saying." "Ben is a very dangerous man." Kill him during surgery, because "no one would ever know." And perhaps most curiously: "some of us want a change." There's clearly a bigger power struggle going on behind the scenes of which we have no knowledge.
So what's going on? Who's telling the truth? My best guess is that the whole "dangerous man" routine is B.S. Juliet wants to kill Ben because of her own interests, probably power-driven interests. Maybe I'm biased because Ben's bulgy eyes had me at hello from day one, but I'm more inclined to trust him than Juliet, who unsettles me even more than whatever gave me massive gas this morning.
And besides, I just really don't want Ben to die.
Because...
That's right...
We already had to deal with the death of another way-too-cool-for-words character. (Literally. He barely ever spoke.)
Mr. Eko.
Also known as The Curse of the Tail Section.
Also known as The Curse of Whoever Gets Pulled Over While Driving.
Yes, for all the cool developments, this was Eko's (last) episode, as he sees more visions of his brother Yemi. It is kind of a cool moment at the end, when he finally comes to terms with his violent past and tells the vision of Yemi that he isn't sorry: his life of crime was a result of saving his brother's life when they were children. He's finally at peace with himself.
Whoops, that means his character arc is finished. The monster shows up and gives Eko a massive beatdown, and while he drifts away into death envisioning himself with his brother, he whispers a final warning to Locke: the rest of them are next.
My thoughts on all of this? Just to be cool, I'll take the normal template and reverse it:
THE UGLY: The death might be the result of behind-the-scenes drama that I don't really care to know much about.
THE BAD: Absolutely terrible death scene. Remember how Shannon got killed under really cool circumstances that propelled the show in cool ways? And Ana-Lucia got killed under even cooler circumstances that also drove the show forward? And Arzt got killed in the most ridiculously cool circumstance ever? Eko got slammed into the ground by sentient black smoke. (Also, no more Eko Speeches. Remember the Rebuilding-the-Temple Speech? And the Dog-in-Hell Speech? Those things were works of beauty.)
THE GOOD: I'm trying to stay positive here, which is the real reason I'm ending with this. The good part about Eko's death is the one hint we got to the nature of the monster. After Eko confessed to Yemi that he wasn't sorry, Yemi responded, "you talk to me as if I'm your brother". So does that mean Yemi was actually just a manifestation of the black smoke? If after saying that, Yemi had dissolved into the black smoke, confirming this, and then killed Eko, the sequence would've totally been redeemed. Think about it -- would that mean that Jack's vision of his father was actually the black smoke? And Hurley's friend Dave? And Shannon's vision of Walt? And Kate's horse, and maybe even the polar bears? And are there two different Monsters, the one that Locke saw (which he revealed was like a beautiful "ball of light") and the black smoke? And the "good" version manifests itself in good, character-redeeming ways (Kate's horse), whereas the "bad" version manifests itself in ways that confuse and torture the characters (Jack's dad, the vision of Walt)? And maybe even the two versions share a God/Satan dynamic? And maybe they even sort of are manifestations of God and Satan?
Unfortunately, Yemi didn't dissolve into the Monster. He walked away and the black smoke came later. And so, I would be more excited about it if we actually had some sort of confirmation that Yemi and the Black Smoke were the same entity. As it stood, the final scenes were muddled and therefore the drama was undercut. But as you can tell from the run-on-theory-orgasm above, the future possibilities are suddenly very appealing.
Let's hope next week lives up to the hype, because we got three long months to wait before the rest of the season is run straight-through. Expect a cliffhanger...
I know I give you a rough idea of the plot every week, but this ain't no filler episode we're talking about here. If you haven't seen it, STOP READING RIGHT NOW.
But to start off, let's go with some lighter, slightly creepier news. A comparison:
Yup, same person. Tomorrow, Elizabeth Mitchell, better known to Lost fans as Juliet, will be reprising the role of Mrs. Claus she originated in The Santa Clause 2 again in the newThe Santa Clause 3. That's right: Juliet the Other = Mrs. Claus. Little kids everywhere should be screaming.
Back to the episode. A number of cool developments, although the big one I was pretty angry about, to be honest. The initial reaction has subsided, but I still think they could've done it better. First, the good stuff:
- Paulo and Nikki get a proper introduction. Instead of the way-lame intro the writers tried to sneak in back in episode three ("When were you planning on telling us this, Hurley?" Nikki shouts as if we've ever seen her before), we actually get the sneaky little in-joke that I was hoping for. Locke invites "everybody" (i.e., "even the extras") along for a trip into the jungle to the Pearl Station and possibly find Eko, who ran off that way. "We should go," Nikki says to Paulo. "You're always whining about not being included." Nice.
- Eyepatch Man. A lot of people complain about new mysteries being introduced, but I love them. Who is this guy? Another Desmond-type loner from the school of hard-knocks? Another Kelvin-type creep? An Other mole? An Other outcast? Plus, him appearing on the monitor in the Pearl was legitimately a scary moment. Nice.
- Juliet's trying to play Ben in the sweet videotape scene. Or maybe she's just trying to play Jack. Nice. Actually, this requires a bit more explanation than a bullet can provide, so please join me...
But then we get the best scene in the episode by far. Juliet comes in and puts a videotape in the VCR. Jack says he doesn't want to watch a movie, but she puts it on anyway, and starts talking to Jack about how great a man Ben is and how Jack should really do the surgery. But on the TV screen is not a movie. It's Juliet, holding up signs: "Don't listen to what I'm saying." "Ben is a very dangerous man." Kill him during surgery, because "no one would ever know." And perhaps most curiously: "some of us want a change." There's clearly a bigger power struggle going on behind the scenes of which we have no knowledge.
So what's going on? Who's telling the truth? My best guess is that the whole "dangerous man" routine is B.S. Juliet wants to kill Ben because of her own interests, probably power-driven interests. Maybe I'm biased because Ben's bulgy eyes had me at hello from day one, but I'm more inclined to trust him than Juliet, who unsettles me even more than whatever gave me massive gas this morning.
And besides, I just really don't want Ben to die.
Because...
That's right...
We already had to deal with the death of another way-too-cool-for-words character. (Literally. He barely ever spoke.)
Mr. Eko.
Also known as The Curse of the Tail Section.
Also known as The Curse of Whoever Gets Pulled Over While Driving.
Yes, for all the cool developments, this was Eko's (last) episode, as he sees more visions of his brother Yemi. It is kind of a cool moment at the end, when he finally comes to terms with his violent past and tells the vision of Yemi that he isn't sorry: his life of crime was a result of saving his brother's life when they were children. He's finally at peace with himself.
Whoops, that means his character arc is finished. The monster shows up and gives Eko a massive beatdown, and while he drifts away into death envisioning himself with his brother, he whispers a final warning to Locke: the rest of them are next.
My thoughts on all of this? Just to be cool, I'll take the normal template and reverse it:
THE UGLY: The death might be the result of behind-the-scenes drama that I don't really care to know much about.
THE BAD: Absolutely terrible death scene. Remember how Shannon got killed under really cool circumstances that propelled the show in cool ways? And Ana-Lucia got killed under even cooler circumstances that also drove the show forward? And Arzt got killed in the most ridiculously cool circumstance ever? Eko got slammed into the ground by sentient black smoke. (Also, no more Eko Speeches. Remember the Rebuilding-the-Temple Speech? And the Dog-in-Hell Speech? Those things were works of beauty.)
THE GOOD: I'm trying to stay positive here, which is the real reason I'm ending with this. The good part about Eko's death is the one hint we got to the nature of the monster. After Eko confessed to Yemi that he wasn't sorry, Yemi responded, "you talk to me as if I'm your brother". So does that mean Yemi was actually just a manifestation of the black smoke? If after saying that, Yemi had dissolved into the black smoke, confirming this, and then killed Eko, the sequence would've totally been redeemed. Think about it -- would that mean that Jack's vision of his father was actually the black smoke? And Hurley's friend Dave? And Shannon's vision of Walt? And Kate's horse, and maybe even the polar bears? And are there two different Monsters, the one that Locke saw (which he revealed was like a beautiful "ball of light") and the black smoke? And the "good" version manifests itself in good, character-redeeming ways (Kate's horse), whereas the "bad" version manifests itself in ways that confuse and torture the characters (Jack's dad, the vision of Walt)? And maybe even the two versions share a God/Satan dynamic? And maybe they even sort of are manifestations of God and Satan?
Unfortunately, Yemi didn't dissolve into the Monster. He walked away and the black smoke came later. And so, I would be more excited about it if we actually had some sort of confirmation that Yemi and the Black Smoke were the same entity. As it stood, the final scenes were muddled and therefore the drama was undercut. But as you can tell from the run-on-theory-orgasm above, the future possibilities are suddenly very appealing.
Let's hope next week lives up to the hype, because we got three long months to wait before the rest of the season is run straight-through. Expect a cliffhanger...
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