Law and order - Lost style
I thought the most ironic quote of the show was when Ben tells Locke, “here we are again in the same place and you are more lost than ever”. That pretty much sums up the show, as well as all of us as viewers after 4 seasons. But this episode was all about Kate – and her lack of any semblance of intelligent thought or action. It took her all of 5 seconds to do exactly what the Bruce Lee guy wanted her to do. Oh you want to go see Ben so you can tell me something about myself? Sure, let’s go. I don’t know about you, but I could think of a lot better answers to get out of the dude than, who am I? The soap operatic love triangle angle is pretty much unbearable at this point. The final clincher with the baby was pretty much telegraphed with the clothesline scene. Just more mid-season filler. Overall a pretty sloppy episode that I give a 7 out of 10 on the new suck-o-meter. (10 being the worst episode ever, 1 being some of the decent season 1 episodes)
Written by Tyler on February 22nd, 2008 with
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The important thing to remember about Lost is that the writers are NOT very good, and NOT very bright . . . yet they absolutely believe they are brilliant. This very clearly explains why the show drifts here and there at a sluggish pace and rarely ties anything together. Case in point: the most significant and unanswered, yet simple question, in Lost is this: WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN??? For godsakes, where are the children everyone was, rightly so, worried, concerned, angry, about during season one. Oh, I know, they were led off into the island wilderness by that band of Others we no longer hear or talk about. But people, really, at least SOME of those on the beach would ask WHERE IN GOD’S NAME ARE THE CHILDREN???
This by no means precludes asking why aren’t they exploring the hatches anymore, nor why no one seems to hunt pigs, nor why anyone at all asks about the three toed giant statue. Because the true answer is that the writers don’t care about any of those threads. Either that or they’ve forgotten about them. And they certainly don’t have kids of their own because if they did, they’d let someone on the island ask, WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE CHILDREN?????
ohhh yeah i forgot about that.
I agree about the children. I too forgot about them. Kates question she asked the ghostbuster in exchange for talking to Ben was seriously the worst thing ive ever seen. —> I will do you a favor, if you tell me something I already know….? huh??… But even though this episode had a couple of dumb things overall I really liked it.
Actually, since Kate is a fugitive it makes sense that she would be desparately trying to find out if her potential rescuers know about her.
This ties in with earlier episodes when Kate was trying to forge a passport. But maybe your attention span is too short to remember that far back.
wow…that’s an excellent point. I’m sure we could collectively remember 100 or so “VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENTS” of the show that have been nearly or entirely ignored. proof again that the show’s strength (er…gimic) is intrigue, not resolution.
NEWS FLASH: The series is not over yet! It’s not 2010 yet! Why would they answer all of the questions 2 years before the show is over?
Get a clue, bro.
My point is not that the show hasn’t told us where the children are, but that the characters don’t even ask that question, nor seem to care — which they most certainly would in real life. Someone would want to know because they’d care. No one asks and no one cares on the show, because the writers don’t care what happened to the children. Yet they should, and would if they were any good. But they aren’t.
Jack saw the children when he was with the Others. Remember when Jack saw the Australian flight attendant (named Cindy, I believe)? The children were with Cindy and they were all with the Others. Jack knows that the Others are taking good care of the children.
don’t taze me, bro’ !
you’re assuming they’re going to start answering questions at all. at the rate they’re going, they’ll have to knock off a dozen an episode…worse, they’re still RAISING NEW QUESTIONS !!!!
the ’story’ is 2/3 over…bro’
Patience is a virtue. Why would they reveal all of the answers right now?
you keep asking, so I’ll keep answering…for now…
no one here has ever advocated for getting ALL the answers in one shot…but 1 or 3 would be a great start. I’m assuming you’ve not taken time to read the FAQ or peruse previous threades, but this is one of the most prevalent (and widely accepted) criticisms of the show: it fails to deliver resolution to many of the ‘mysteries’, fails to resolve storylines, while simultaneously raising new questions and introducing new characters.
we’ve tired of clues.
Excellent points, not to mention I wouldn’t ever sit casually on a porch sipping coffee when I knew somewhere, ANYWHERE on the island there was a invisible monster capable of materializing and killing people at any second! I’d be holed up in a cave sweating bullets with a shaky gun pointed at the entrance.
Tyler, man, I would expect better from you. You forgot about the sonic fence.
Oh right, the 10 ft high magic fence that the smoke is not able to go over. Forgot about that one.
I will admit that you do make a decent point here. But, perhaps the smoke monster is only as intelligent as a bear, so it wouldn’t realize that the sonic waves only went a dozen feet high.
The fact that you think the children not being shown is a big problem says a lot about you. The children are with the Others right now. Why do you think that’s such a big deal? I’m sure the show will get back to the Others down the road.
Chillax, dude.
so locke gives ben a book, but ben has already read it so locke says to read it again as ben may have missed something the first time. it just made me think “oh yes there will be comment bubbles on the pages this time” i just hate the pretentiousness and condescension toward viewers regarding those “enhanced” episodes that air prior to the current weekly episode. those “easter eggs” are so obscure and for the most part extraneous to the point where they don’t even need to be present. and then the show does all of us oblivious viewers the favor of showing us how clever the show was to include said easter eggs. if they are that important, make em stand out, or at least make them matter. i can watch an episode of “arrested development” which was my old favorite tv show five or six times and i could always catch something new– something significant– something to make me want to watch an episode more than once. i couldn’t possibly want to watch an episode of lost twice. if i missed something, it didn’t matter anyway because nothing matters in this show anymore.
I watched Through the Looking Glass twice and I really enjoyed it the second time around. I think it was about 8 months between viewings, so maybe if you gave it some time you’ll be in the mood to re-watch some LOST.
Holy shit.
That episode sucked so much ass that I’m a little stunned.
Yes, I’m 100% serious. I was fucking bored the whole time. It was a waste of an hour of what could have been quality television programming. I was bored with Evangeline Lilly’s atrocious acting, bored with the asinine twist at the end, bored with the annoying kid, bored with the courtroom, bored with the entire episode. The only redeeming factor was when Locke put the grenade in that dude’s mouth.
Blow me, Lost. When are the writers going to realize that NO ONE CARES ABOUT KATE’S STORYLINE ANYMORE?
Welcome Back JT!
I agree about the grenade, that WAS pretty cool. My only question is, if it goes off, will he really die, or just come back like everyone else?
Name one person who had come back to life.
The russian guy who ended up killing Charlie. Didn’t locke push him through the sonic fence causing him to foam from the mouth and die?
No. The sonic fence was not on death-level.
Not on “death level”. What the ….!?
Who are you? The sonic fence tender? You are really ridiculous!
Yes… the Russian himself said it.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t actually pay close attention to LOST.
JT, I agree totally. sorry it’s struck you so hard, but I found myself entirely ambivalent about the story, the characters, the show…I’m basically following just enough so that if (???) there ever are explanations, I get some payoff.
but frankly, I don’t see there being much in the way of plot advancement this season. a few more questions raised, some interesting, some predictable.
I found sayid’s future piqued my interest. kate’s didn’t. in fact, that we now know aaron is with Kate, we know something happens to claire. so…how long will we have to wait for that f’in drama to unfold?!?! a whole hour (or more?!) devoted to claire dying and being reunited with charlie in the etherworld.
Actually, we picked up an interesting plot point: Jack and Kate had a fake story about how only 8 people survived the crash. Plus, we don’t know if Kate’s son is Claire’s Aaron or another Aaron fathered by Sawyer.
Also, we know that the helicopter is probably having problems.
how could it NOT be the Claire’s aaron? Did you see how big that thing was, and it talked! They aren’t far enough in the future for it to be Kate’s actual kid - you do the math
It can easily be someone else’s kid (even Kate’s) because the Lost writers don’t give two damns about internal story logic. You have to wait around for them to explicitly explain whose kid it is, but even that explanation would be suspect because everything on Lost is lies and red herrings—proving once again that this show is a pointless exercise in futility until the last half of the final episode.
Maybe the trial takes place three years after they get off the island.
I think the “da da da” music at the point she said Aaron was enough of a clue that it was Claire’s Aaron. Add to it the fact Jack is apparently afraid of the baby says it was Aaron.
ha! seriously?
the helicopter is having problems…probably…that’s the big plot advancement that took 60 minutes to tell??
you’re an idiot, bro’ .
plus the “fake story” was already alluded to several times in previous episodes.
I almost feel like the writers pulled the rug out from under me — like they crafted three pretty-damn-good episodes only to reveal, in episode four of the new season, that it’s still really all about who Kate’s in love with.
A fucking attorney asking Dr. Jack Shephard, on the witness stand, if he LOVES THE DEFENDANT? I literally shook my head in disbelief when I heard that line.
Interesting to note that this episode was co-written by Elizabeth Sarnoff, who also co-wrote (unless I’m mistaken, and please someone correct me if I am) everyone’s favorite Lost episode, Stranger in a Strange Land!
JT,
Love is a part of the human experience. It’s part of the mix of drama that makes LOST interesting. If you were marooned on an island with a girl that looked like Evangeline Lilly don’t you think there’d be a possibility that you might fall in love with her?
Uhhh, no I’d be nailing the pregnant chick (no chance of getting her pregnant AGAIN) not to mention that EdR is 100 times more hot than Beaver teeth.
I guess you missed the whole part where it was revealed that Jack and Kate were claiming that only 8 people on Oceanic 815 survived. We learned a little more about the charade they had to play to get off the island.
Don’t even fucking try to defend this episode, and don’t condescend to me with tripe like “we learned a little more” about the charade they had to play in getting off the island. This episode was trash. Shit. Garbage. Slow-moving and poorly written. Crap. I could give two shits about some line about there being eight people who survived the plane crash. That doesn’t make up for a shitty episode.
I’ve been a fan of this series since day one, and I’ve staunchly defended every single episode — even the shittier ones — from everyone on this site. In most cases, I’ve succeeded. Even with *weak* episodes, I doggedly refused to let people barrage the show with criticism I didn’t feel was warranted. This week, the criticism is warranted, and I hope to God almighty that at least one writer strolls onto these boards and reads one of the posts.
So please. Just stop. Even great shows have weak episodes, and this was a weak episode — and it pisses me off to no end because it could have been good. But it wasn’t. Stop trying to make it something it’s not.
Frankly, while it may not have been the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, it was entertaining television.
JT, I’m shocked especially after you got defensive about us making fun of you. I honestly thought this was a good episode, then again I don’t care about the Kate-Jack-Sawyer triangle. The funny thing I think people are missing is that what happened to everyone else? Saayid is with Ben, so they must have been together, and that means there is another way off the island. I think some people are missing the trees for the forest. Think about it, I’ve deduced some things and I’m waiting to see if I am right. For one, the guy in the coffin, think maybe he’s someone Saayid killed? Part of the reason they were there? THat is why Jack was torn up perhaps. How did Ben get off the island? And did the other survivors stay? The only ones with reasons to leave did, the others like Sawyer probably opted to stick around. Or maybe there’s some time warp issue that will come about in the final season where the remaining hostages are found. Maybe they did try to rescue them but they were lost in a time thingy. I’m not defending this show as much as now I think I see where it’s headed. JT, don’t lose the faith, I now think that all the episodes this season have been intentional in their suckiness and misdirection, and by the 8th or 10th episode we’ll see where the show is headed. In the meantime, just enjoy the suckiness.
Another great episode for LOST.
Seriously no other show touches it.
U.N.C.L.E. touched it. (the man from), but that’s our little secret.
no show would, even a show about a 10′ pole !
Be careful, bro, I think we have a lot of American Idol lovers on this site.
I kept saying over and over to Mrs Meister - “This is the worst Lost episode, possibly ever”. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened. I mean, we didn’t even walk in the jungle. Parakeet probably was in rhapsody of the riveting Kate flash-forwards, but they sucked too.
Even the insignificant, minor characters like Kate’s mom are inconsistent. In every previous episode she either screams or says how much she can’t stand her. Now, suddenly, she loves her again. “everything changed when I thought you were dead”. What?!!?? Ridiculous.
The scene with ghost-boy was even more stupid, worthless filler. I loved the “deception” of Locke and watching Locke and Sawyer racing (why?!?!) through the woods to the mysterious boat house. What a crock.
Perhaps the best scene was Kate walking in on the shirtless Sawyer. I looked over at the wife and said “Oh look, Fabio has joined the cast!”
if sawyer comes across a blow dryer, he can feather his hair and win the Island Farah Fawcett Lookalike Contest !!
I thought the highlights really emphasized his cheekbones.
Let me give you some free advice: PAY ATTENTION when you watch LOST.
1. We learned that Jack and Kate have a sham story about getting off the island where they way only 8 people survived.
2. Kate’s mom did a 180 because she thought that Kate had died. That’s very legitimate.
3. We don’t know if Kate’s Aaron is Claire’s Aaron or another Aaron fathered by Sawyer. Maybe that’s why Jack didn’t want to see little Aaron.
4. We learned that Miles has been sent by a powerful enemy of Ben’s.
5. We learned that Dan is having memory problems.
Let me give you some free advice, Parakeet. This is what we all have learned about you:
1. You are so in love with the show that you blindly follow it like a lap dog and have no ability to objectively critique an episode.
2. You are so lame that you repeat yourself multiple times within the posts
3. You are new here and yet you have insulted posters that have been around for quite a long time. Hence you are a rude jerk.
4. You have no clue how to frame a real argument, you just write soppy, lame commentary parroted from the commercials and other fan sites.
5. You still really, really, really suck
Yawn. Let me know when you have a real complaint.
Glad you haven’t abandoned us JT.
Last nights epi was such a let down and that is saying something because my expectations were already pretty low. I actually think it entered negative numbers on the suck-o-meter. To list all that was bad would be like writing a book and I just don’t feel inspired. I think Tyler was generous to rate it so high. IMO it was the worst epi ever.
Mrs. Meister
It was one of the worst episodes ever. Absolutely. Fucking dreck. And this is coming from someone who still loves the show.
Sorry about my little tirades last week (Preev, if you’re reading this, are we still pals, dude?) Some of the comments on Tyler’s previous blog posts were pissing me off, mainly because the first three episodes of this season have been pretty damn stellar, IMO.
But yeah. This one blew goats. Multiple goats. Lots of goats. Dozens of them. And this love-triangle shit between Jack, Sawyer, and Kate has GOT to stop. Seriously. No one over the age of fourteen years cares about this idiotic plot thread.
But half the fans are 14 or under….
It was a breather from the fast-action episodes.
When were the fast action episodes? After the first season, Lost has been steadily slouching toward irrelevance.
Yeah, Through the Looking Glass was just so slow…
No problem, JT, we all have a bad day and as nice a guy I am I can really rub someone wrong at the wrong time. As I said up the comments, I think this episode made me see something, and that was there is a direction, and if I read it correctly, then the next 3 should be really good. AT first I was pissed off that I sat in a Panera Bread parking lot for 45 minutes, but after I drove off angry, I realized something and then it clicked. I am going to keep the thoughts to myself for now, and maybe I’m delusional, but I thought this episode dramatically speaking was bad, but storyline I think it was a 9/10 (or a 2/10 on Tyler’s scale). Keep the faith, JT, I’m with you most of the time.
Mrs M, Actually negative numbers would be better, its a reverse scale with 10 being the worst
I understood what you were saying. The negative numbers were on my own suck-o-meter. On your scale, I thought 3 points above the worst was being generous. Let’s just say, I don’t think this epi was ‘one of the worst’, I think it WAS THE WORST. Even worse than Niki & Paulo, worse than the ping-pong tournament, even worse than Bored of the Rings.
Mrs. Meister
My apologies Tyler. I just went back and re-read what you wrote. I missed that you called the meter the suck-o-meter. I probably realized you wrote it subliminally and chose to use it myself. I didn’t mean to be so confusing. OK, so we are all together, I will submit to YOUR suck-o-meter and rate the show about 15.
Mrs. Meister
Gotcha, I think I was a little too generous looking back on it.
Specifics, please.
Specifically, you suck
You are unwittingly making me look good.
Terrible. Now I didn’t watch all of it, mind you, but the parts I saw were dreadful. And any scenes with Kate and Jack (or “Kack”, as we used to say) are insufferable. The two worst actors on the show.
The Ben/Locke convo was not only ironic, as Tyler pointed out, but an admission of failure on the part of the “writers”. I ought to call them hacks. They have absolutely no idea what to do with half the characters, and clearly getting tired with the rest of them. Having gotten bored with their own story, the writers are now jumping ahead to the conclusion to provide some excitement and a feeble attempt at resolution. Only there can’t really be a resolution when there’s a huge gap in the plotline, which they haven’t shown us yet (and probably haven’t written.)
The one thing I did I like about this episode was the title: It seems the writers are finally admitting to the audience that they really have laid an egg with this show. It is a veritable “Eggtown” of rotten eggs.
I think it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the actors to breath authenticity into the nonesense they are forced to spew week after week and it shows.
What’s the “gap” that you mention?
the one between your ears.
I’m the one making intelligent analysis of LOST rather than just crying because the characters don’t ask about the children or because they still haven’t explained the four-toed statue foot.
Nicely done. LMeister. Nicely done.
Boy was this a lousy episode. It looks like the Lost show-runners are now recruiting writers from General Hospital or As the World Turns.
And I hope everyone took note of how the “Big Mysteries” are henceforth going to play out. The BM this week was “How can Kate being walking around free in the flash-forwards when she has all these charges hanging over her head?” Answer: Via an absolute sham of a legal proceeding. This stillborn courtroom plotline was completely unbelievable—pure, 100% unadulterated fantasy. Kate is charged with 1st degree murder, assault, arson, armed robbery, kidnapping (?), and various other related crimes. And yet—AND YET—she walks out free with only 10 years probation!!! Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick!! This gives dumb a bad name! Hey Lost writers: Why didn’t you just have the judge order up a “We’re sorry Kate” parade while you’re at it!? Unbelievable. And this is what the Lost braintrust develops after years—YEARS—of knowing that they will have to somehow “rescue” Kate from all of her legal troubles. Feh…
Oh yeah, the fanboys were also treated to the little nugget that Jackass knew to be hanging out in the courthouse parking lot because the D.A. (or maybe the defense attorney) “owed him a favor.” I bet the fuselage is buzzing over that one.
Back on the island of loose cannons–where everyone does his own thing without any sort of consultation or unified effort—the status quo remains in full force. Information is shared only on a need-to-deceive basis, and the conversations are still pointlessly furtive and sub-rosa. To borrow one of my favorite lines from the Bitterness Fiesta: “On Lost, just getting someone to do the dishes requires three weeks of misdirection.”
Stupid, stupid episode. Easily the worst of the season.
The plea bargain was so stupid. “Yeah, Kate is such a hero and celebrity that no way will any jury convict her, regardless of the mountains of evidence against her, so let’s just give her probation!” Only a moronic fan could swallow that one.
Agreed. And there are plenty of those at the fuselage and TWOP.
I think there are a few floating around here too.
Mrs. Meister
The implausibility of the entire courtroom proceedings was patently obvious even to an infant so you can imagine what it must be like for someone with a legal background to have to sit through. In fact, I changed the channel. Although I don’t practice criminal law, I can say with a high degree of certainty that the DA would not have relied on the mother (a DYING and presumably heavily medicated woman) as her “star” witness. And even if she could have beaten the murder charge, it would have been possible to make a solid case for the other counts. Character witnesses are rarely called during oral argumentation… Oh Christ… forget it. And… that probation offer was merely a set up for creating difficulties when Kate invariably will have to leave the state to return to the island with the other clowns in order to seek collective redemption.
Thanks for the legal analysis, Perry Mason.
Look Parakeet, you are a fool. You have NOTHING to say, just ridiculous cliches. You can’t refute his argument because you KNOW it is on target. You really need to realize that you have no chance of winning the argument that Lost is a brilliant show. I challenge you to state your case without using emotional or “belief” or “have faith” type arguments. I bet you cannot even come close to debating the minds on this site. You sir, are a joke
Fun Fact: Jack’s appearance in the trial was limited to his role as a character witness. In real life (at least in California), character witnesses are only called after the defendant has already been convicted! That way, you don’t have a parade of witnesses coming up to say “she’s a really great gal” since these kinds of comments are completely irrelevant to the case. The Lost writers inhale vigorously yet again.
Sorry Sasquatch, I posted after I read this but made essentially the same point above. You call character witnesses for sentencing purposes. Yet another example of their complete disregard for getting facts straight. Burns my ass. I wonder: are they that dumb or do they assume the viewers are?
Didnt anyone see the OJ trial?
The trial was my main objection too. Soap operas are notorious (and ridiculed) for having main characters commit all sorts of heinous crimes and then walk away through the ever-popular “loophle” and this was as dumb and far-fetched as any of them. I was surprised they didn’t show the prosecutor and judge having a drink together at the end and clinking their Dharma wineglasses together. Just awful. Also find that I have watched this way too much because I know what’s gonna happen. Knew Locke would throw the tray while Ben could hear it. Knew when Locke went running through the jungle that Kate and Asian guy would be with Ben. Knew as soon as they talked about Kate’s kid that it was Aaron. Knew I was gonna hate myself for another hour wasted in my life. Really suckarific.
“I was surprised they didn’t show the prosecutor and judge having a drink together at the end and clinking their Dharma wineglasses together.”
Careful there Bill. Sounds like future flashback material to me.
Yeah, wouldn’t surprise me. Like I said, I’ve been sifting through this silt for too long.
NEWSFLASH: Kate’s dad was abusive. What she did had some justification.
NEWSFLASH: Some justification on one count doesn’t let you avoid jail on six or seven
hmmm, kate and sawyer in the ‘present’ talking about how kate ISN’T pregnant. wait a second !!! what the…!?!?! but kate has a son in the flash forward. who…? but how…? OMG, it’s AARON !!!!
such a big build up for a pretty transparent ‘twist’.
Here’s my problem… uh is he one of the oceanic 6? If so then why after they were rescued, didn’t anyone question why this baby wasn’t on the manifest? If the baby is not in fact “The Aaron” and is just a kid she was pregnant with.. then it begs the question that if there were only 6 survivors on the island… was she pregnant by one of them?
Good point. We don’t know if it’s Claire’s Aaron or another one fathered maybe by Sawyer.
Stay tuned.
Yeah she would decide to name her baby Aaron because everyone on the island loves that name so much. Maybe Sun names her baby Aaron too?
one other thing that bugs me…
the flash forward at the end of last season (when??!!) showed a whacked out jack pleading with kate to go back to the island. yet all the flash forwards this season seemingly occur prior to that moment. that wasn’t even the starting point for ‘future storylines’. so in essence, even the flash forwards are flash backs…yah??
that is, we already know jack has a beard, but now we must suffer through him growing it?!?!
That’s another one of the Big Mysteries: How does Jack go about growing his beard? Kinda like the BM involving the origin of Jack’s tattoos (which the writers assured us was a BM that everyone wanted to know about)
BM? Is that bowel movement?
“Kinda like the Bowel Movement involving the origin of Jack’s tattoos ”
Mrs. Meister
Thanks for appreciating the pun. Yes, it was intended.
Well, if it was intended, you need to sharpen your delivery, pal.
I think most of us picked up on it. Maybe you need to sharpen your mind.
Which all begs the question, when the show finally ends will it be in the present, the current future, the past future, the past, or the past past?
the pluperfect subjunctive