Lost 2.02: But where's all the Jin gone?!

[retro_eidas]

I'm not sure what I think of this ep compared to last week's, but I will say this...

She. is. a. BITCH. Of course we've known that since Special, but still...

So Michael had to give up custody to Walt because she wanted to take him to live with her in Rome? Couldn't Michael have kept his parental rights and the both of them worked out some kind of visitation when Michael got back on his feet? Appparently not. Did that woman have some specific reason for bullying her son's father out of his life? Is Michael a sex offender or something that we haven't heard about yet? Why are you doing this? WHY DO YOU THINK BITCH?! My god. And folks call Shannon heartless?

I almost think it might have something to do with "DHARMA" (due to Walt's specialness) and Susan knows about it all, but until that's eluded or confirmed... Susan is evil. A "blood infection" was too good for her. If Walt does turn out to be the antichrist, we know what side of the family he gets it from. Bah!

Harold Perrineau is a great actor, but I'm still baffled why ABC pushed the switch from a Sawyer-centric ep to Michael-centric. I suppose in the context of the show, considering what happened to Walt, it makes sense.... but I'm probably biased, Michael just doesn't interest me like Sawyer does.

Sawyer always seems to get the raw deal when it comes to medical treatment. That is the second time fingers have been stuck into an open wound of his. Yuck.

Desmond is still looking manic. I am frustrated as hell Jack and he said no more to each other than they did last week. Although that Locke/Desmond exchange was appropriately odd.

Desmond: So they're all still out there?
Locke: As far as I know…

Who was Desmond referring to with "they're all"? The crash survivors... or everyone else?

All that extra food? That hatch still screams fall-out shelter to me ... or the pantry Mr. Torrance got locked in. Neither gives me the slightest good feeling.

So Charlie took a whole Virgin Mary statue... full of heroin incidentally. *sighs* He's so going to succumb, isn't he?

Also, nice DHARMA logo on the tail of the frickin' GREAT WHITE SHARK! Almost reminds me of my roommate in college whose mom embroidered her name into everything, including her underwear. Robot or trained shark? I'm guessing robot. Which would be some serious hardware. Too bad they couldn't upgrade that Apple II in the Hatch... of course from the looks of things, they couldn't upgrade it. Not when it apparently needs to be reset every 108 minutes... or ... something happens. Most likely something bad, very very bad.

ETA. Yes. Lame post title (and echoing pretty much everyone's sentiment), but I need to keep this shit straight somehow in my archive. After awhile, the eps start melting all together into one big blob of confusing, frustrating, hot tv crack.

ETA2. The Canadian promo for "Orientation"... once again, the Canadian promo is much better (and more spoilery).

Comments

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

What is it with not moving the story along? Again, Michael's flashbacks were nothing new, and the sympathetic light in which his flashbacks attempted to place him was completely undermined by how he acted out on the raft with Sawyer. Gah, I just wanted the guy to fall overboard and get eaten by Dharma!Shark. Especially when he bitched as Sawyer about the bullet, and then Sawyer got it out.

And ending the other storyline with the same cliffhanger twice? Wonderful writing there. Hah.

The Charlie/Claire scene really made me root more for a Sawyer/Claire ship. The hobbit's face looked pretty scary when he was trying to make the baby smile. That, you know, and the whole heroin thing. I kept hoping Claire might somehow drop it and discover the drugs already. Because she will, and Charlie will break her heart.

At least one mystery is solved: we do know where the cookies Sayid and Shannon have in the promo pics for 2.4 came from.

[eido.livejournal.com]

What is it with not moving the story along?

Throw scraps out to us like dogs always having us starving for the next installment because the writers use us like $10 whores and we keep coming back for more? That was their modus operandi from season one too, I'm not sure if it's the same or worse from last season. I will say the Pilot was a more contained story than MoSMoF or "Adrift" had been... but I almost get the impression they were supposed to be one ep, but ABC might have broken them up. It may have served better as a two-hour premiere. We would have gotten the same cliffhanger twice, but in the scope of two hours instead of two weeks. Meh. Jack and Desmond couldn't say maybe a few more words to each other? The only thing different was the look on Jack's face of confusion/anguish... which was, you know, absolutely nothing.

Again, Michael's flashbacks were nothing new, and the sympathetic light in which his flashbacks attempted to place him was completely undermined by how he acted out on the raft with Sawyer.

And although I love to hate Susan... she's almost all too contrivedly evil. All for the sake of us trying to get sorry for Michael (who, I agree, was acting like a whiny ass throughout that ep... almost making it hard for me to remind myself he'd lost his son. Again). How horrible can one character be, for god's sakes?

The arguing between Sawyer and Michael also seemed empty or useless somehow. Perhaps that was the point (it's not like they have anything else to do. They can't really call the Coast Guard)... but yet Sawyer is still the hero for pulling Mike out of the water and giving him CPR when he's flailing around expending his energy on being distraught. Go Sawyer! ;)

I mentioned this before, but amusing how Sawyer had just been saying hours ago that he "was no hero"... yet he's saving Michael, doing CPR and pulling a bullet out of his own shoulder with his fingers (the same method Dr. Jack the Hero used on him last season when Sayid cut an artery in Sawyer's arm).

The Charlie/Claire scene really made me root more for a Sawyer/Claire ship.... That, you know, and the whole heroin thing. I kept hoping Claire might somehow drop it and discover the drugs already. Because she will, and Charlie will break her heart.

He would have gotten brownie points if the statue had been the broken one sans heroin, but as is to be expected... the writers are totally going to set that up for something big and angsty in the future. Either Charlie turns back to the drugs or is very nearly tempted to when Claire either catches him at it or finds the drugs herself. Then she can run off and cry on Sawyer's gimpy shoulder. ;)

At least one mystery is solved: we do know where the cookies Sayid and Shannon have in the promo pics for 2.4 came from.

And why they and their clothes look so sparkly fresh.

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

It may have served better as a two-hour premiere. We would have gotten the same cliffhanger twice, but in the scope of two hours instead of two weeks.

The writer in me just can't help but believe there was a way to show all points of view without repetition. It cound have been and should have been sheer brilliance. But the writers made some bad choices, IMO.

And although I love to hate Susan... she's almost all too contrivedly evil. All for the sake of us trying to get sorry for Michael.

My thoughts exactly. They didn't take the time to make Michael a good, sympathetic character on his own; they had to pit him against Evil Ex-girlfriend!Susan and her Evil!Lawyer to make us feel bad for him. That's just lazy writing.

And a lot of the raft stuff was just...pointless. What did the shark do? Sawyer kept swimming around trailing blood, and never was in any real danger. It was weak. And very poorly paced.

I almost would have rather skipped all the ocean stuff and begun the raftaway plot with Sawyer and Michael washed up on the island, and then Jin runs up.

This is really the first episode I've strongly criticized. Because there are so many things that obviously could have been done differently and more effectively. I can see in my mind's eye how it should have played out.

[eido.livejournal.com]

They didn't take the time to make Michael a good, sympathetic character on his own; they had to pit him against Evil Ex-girlfriend!Susan and her Evil!Lawyer to make us feel bad for him. That's just lazy writing.

Maybe that goes back to the last-minute nature of the ep? They changed the storyline from Sawyer-centric to Michael-centric only a few weeks ago. I have to admit, the ep did feel slapdash.

And a lot of the raft stuff was just...pointless. What did the shark do? Sawyer kept swimming around trailing blood, and never was in any real danger.

I did notice a bunch of fanboyish "Jaws" shout-outs. Perhaps they're trying to get Richard Dreyfuss to guest star or something? *g*

begun the raftaway plot with Sawyer and Michael washed up on the island, and then Jin runs up.

Now that you've got me really thinking about it... they could have spent the whole ep setting up the (supposed) "Others" and got the Michelle Rodriguez intro over with already. I have wanted to see Adebisi (the only guest star I've heard about that I've been excited for). Then maybe the last few minutes back to the Hatch and the Jack/Desmond showdown (and without being too spoilery, considering who the next ep is going to be about it would have made a lot more sense) which sets up "Orientation" (and *there* they could have backtracked with the Locke/Kate meeting Desmond scenes). As it was with "Adrift", they practically wasted away all the raftaways' island events with Sawyer and Michael bitching at each other and a non-threatening (robot?) Great White that would make Jaws laugh it's gills off. I think they were trying to flip-flop the island events resonating with the flashbacks (making Michael's flashbacks the focus), not the other way around (as it should have been for the second ep of the season. It's the island/ocean events that should have had the meat of the storyline). The Desmond stuff was kind of interesting, but honestly, should have been saved for ep3. Ep2 just didn't seem as dire or heart-pounding as it really (REALLY) should have been considering where they left off. Walt's kidnapping was the best, heart-in-your-throat moment of "Exodus"! "Adrift" didn't do it justice at all.

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

Maybe that goes back to the last-minute nature of the ep? They changed the storyline from Sawyer-centric to Michael-centric only a few weeks ago. I have to admit, the ep did feel slapdash.

Yes. And if you think about it, in the present-day raft scenes, Sawyer's made out to be the really sympathetic one, and I can just imagine Sawyer flashbacks taking place and nicely contrasting his past actions with his raft heroics.

If they'd done this in a two-hour finale, also, they could have done more with the the caves in the aftermath of 1) evacuating the beach, and 2) Shannon's vision of Walt. That Charlie/Claire scene would have fit in better that way. Three storylines: the hatch, the raft/Others, the caves, and all of them would have been done justice. It just aggravates me that I wasn't consulted by the creative team. ;)

[eido.livejournal.com]

Sawyer's made out to be the really sympathetic one, and I can just imagine Sawyer flashbacks taking place and nicely contrasting his past actions with his raft heroics.

You know. I have wondered if it may be Sawyer who is the "Ralph" in the end. Running through the jungle at breakneck speed trying to get away from spear-wielding, face-painted crazies.