"I can't do this anymore": Lost, season 2, episodes 19

"S.O.S."

Synopsis: Jack decides that they should try to trade Henry for Walt. Meanwhile, Bernard tries to work towards rescue by building a giant SOS on the beach. When Jack and Kate go out into the jungle to the line to meet with the Others, however, the person that greets them is not who they'd expect.

After the last few episodes, which have fallen a little flat on the character front, we get what is a quieter episode but a more successful character-based one. Bernard and Rose, despite doing very little, somehow seem to matter a lot just because they are one of the island's successes. And what's fascinating about this episode is that Bernard and Rose's problems don't arise from resentment or hatred or disappointment, but from their own love.

So after a very sweet meeting that also encapsulates both characters' approaches to life, Bernard and Rose fall in love. Bernard proposes to Rose, only to learn that she has cancer and it's pretty much untreatable. But whereas Rose has accepted this, Bernard thinks he can fix it with a faith healer in Australia.

Now, in the present, Bernard wants to get them rescued while Rose just wants to settle in to the island. And Bernard's need to do something and Rose's acceptance of life's troubles are what the other one needs and finds charming, but unless they find some middle ground, it will also destroy them. Bernard's drive leads him to waste valuable time, but it's also what makes him still want to commit to what could be a very dire and draining marriage with a terminally ill woman. Rose's acceptance means she doesn't reject Bernard, but it also means that she'll just accept their issues without confronting him.

And once Rose actually confronts Bernard, revealing to him that it's not the faith-healer that cured her, but the island itself, then he can see that what he needs to do is be with her, not affect a rescue.

The whole storyline is very well handled, and the actors playing Rose and Bernard really sell what could be overly sentimental by letting the tiredness and disappointments in life play across their faces. Neither of their plans is made in ignorance or denial, but because their lives have led them to places where they think that is the best way to struggle on.

Grade: A

Other Comments

• The show's approach to religion and the supernatural is interesting. I don't think we've seen anyone with religious or spiritual faith who isn't motivated to something greater by it or at least treating it as an honest calling. For example, you'd think the faith healer (a Patrick Stewart look-alike) would be a charlatan, but instead he genuinely believes in what he's doing and offers to return money that's been donated when he can't affect a cure. And he turns out to be right in his way.
• I think it helps soften Bernard by showing him talking to that girl on the crutches as Rose is with the healer. Nice moment that shows why Rose loves him, even as she makes a decision that could really haunt them both.
• The Island is starting to strike me as some sort of giant immune system, like something out of Grant Morrison. Everyone who comes there in crisis finds their buttons pushed by the Island itself and they either heal or die. Or they heal and then die.
• On the other hand, really sucks for someone like that guy who broke his leg with the Tailies. Or Boone. Why didn't the Island help heal them?
• I like Kate's fiery nature coming out at Jack in this ep. From the annoyance she expresses about being kicked out of "the club" to her apology for kissing him... and Jack kind of deserves it.
• So they're building a church? Hmm... Plus, Charlie gets a replacement savior in Eko!
• So what happens when the amount of people who want to stay are about the same size as the group that wants to be rescued?
• And Michael Emerson barely says or does anything in this episode, but every moment he's on, you don't want to look away from him, hoping for some sign of something.

Quotes:

- Hurley: "We built a raft...That got blown up."

- Bernard: "Where's Craig? Where's Frogurt?"

- Kate: "Gonna waste another bullet?"

Jack: "We'll still have 13 more to shoot each other with."

- Bernard: "We won't ever leave, Rose."

- Also Bernard: "I would offer to take down the sign, but we didn't get very far."

"No, I'm done lying": Lost blog-a-thon, Season 2, episode 18

"Dave"

Synopsis: Hurley starts seeing a "friend" named Dave from his time in the mental institution on the island. Dave tells him this entire experience is a figment of his imagination. Meanwhile, Locke finds himself pushed to the sidelines as Jack, Sayid and Ana Lucia deal with the false Henry Gale.

So a friend of mine from college recently sent along a bunch of in-development scripts from major studios. And one of them was a pretty loathsome horror film about some cooking staff trapped in a mental institution during a power outage. And part of the loathsomeness stemmed from the fact the horrific suffering seemed pointless. But the thing that got me was that the inhabitants of the asylum were monolithical, one-dimensional crazies, capable of absurd evil with no rhyme or reason to their affliction. It acted as if Arkham Asylum were meant as a realistic depiction of mental illness and it was kind of sickening.

So, kudos to this episode for avoiding that. Whatever else you can say about Hurley, Lost's writers and Jorge Garcia have never treated him as less than a whole human being. We see him as a nice guy (in some ways, he's the nicest character in the main cast, a fact which the character of Rose acknowledged in-show) and his mistakes usually end up hurting only himself. Compare that to Charlie, whose sympathetic issues have pushed him into incredibly dark territory in recent episodes this season.

But, you know, I called the main twist really early in. I've seen too many horror/fantasy films that rely on unreliable memory or dreams to know that if no one else directly interacts with a character except for one person, he's a ghost/imaginary friend/alternate personality.

That's not to short Evan Handler's work as Dave. He exudes malevolence, but of a very earthly kind, that of that one asshole friend who sort of gives you an adrenaline rush through his asshole-ness.

So too the character of Hurley and our genuine concern for him keep us interested. And his sort-of-breakdown causes one of the best moments of the episode, when he administers a very public beatdown to a surprised Sawyer.

And for a few moments, the double-bluff that the writers play that this might, for once, actually be all in Hurley's head hold power. But despite the clues (not all of them pointed out by Dave, to be fair, which increases the likelihood of them being true), a St. Elsewhere kind of ending after we've become invested in all these characters would make people worldwide want to destroy their TVs. Even with the extra twist ending at the end.

Frankly, the Hatch plot is much more interesting. I like how Locke is struggling against what seems like fate trying to pull him back to his pre-crash life. The other survivors don't know how dismissive they're being, but the episode really gets his POV across, as he lies on the bed and waits for people to tell him what that gunshot was for.

Grade: B-

Other Comments

• So, that's Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison) as Doctor Burke. I really hope he doesn't twig to the fact Walt's a mutant.
• And yes, the poster on his office wall looks a lot like the Island. So, points to you, deranged figment of Hurley's imagination!
• I like that Hurley and Libby's relationship, for all it's gentleness, has a slightly disturbing side. Is she in love with him or in love with fixing him (just like Jack with his ex-wife)?
• Also, John Locke is really having a bad day. Down to one good leg, then your sense of purpose gets taken away? Harsh.
• Also, Dave leads Hurley through the wilderness, through a garden, to a cliff and promises Hurley a new world if he just jumps. See, it is this symbolism that stacks the deck too heavily against Dave for us to believe him.

Quotes

- "God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this island any better than the rest of the world can." - "Henry"

- After Libby suggests the survivors will share food of their own accord: "Great plan, Moonbeam, and after that we can sing 'Kumbaya' and do trust falls." - Sawyer

- "Don't you have an adventure to get to? I think Timmy fell down the well over that way." - Great ep for Sawyer quotes.

"Nobody says anything bad about the dead": Lost, Season 2, Episode 17

"Lockdown"

Synopsis: When Jack leaves Locke and Henry behind in the hatch, the blast doors shut, catching Locke's leg and forcing him to rely on Henry to press the button. Meanwhile, Ana Lucia, Sayid and Charlie find the balloon. Jack and Sawyer play poker. And Locke remembers how his father destroyed his relationship with Helen. It involves his dad faking his own funeral, some laundered money and the mob.

Comments: And then, after that amazing episode with "The Whole Truth", we get a more mixed bag with this one. I don't know if it's the pun in the title or the way the cliffhanger gets squandered or the fact that Locke's daddy issues don't really take any new turns, but this episode falls a little flat for me.

On the plus side, I appreciate the Henry/Locke dynamic that develops, first reluctantly and then blossoming into full-blown trust... until the end. And I also enjoyed the poker game and Jack and Kate's night conversation. We even get some new meta-plot clues (what's that ultraviolet map for? what does the question mark represent? who is dropping supplies?). Finally, the final reveal is well-played. [SPOILER ALERT] The balloon is there, but the grave isn't for Gale's wife. The body buried there belongs to a guy named Henry Gale! [END SPOILERS] Fade out.

On the negative side, the focus on Locke and Henry comes off as Keystone Cops-ish more than claustrophobic. Sure, I buy Locke injuring himself in his eagerness to escape. But stuff like the shelf collapsing... yeesh. I half expected Henry to keep stepping on rakes while he stumbled into the computer room. And Locke's interactions with his father didn't really expand much on the last few episodes. Worst of all, Katey Sagal was wasted, except for that moment at the end during the proposal. Anyone could have said no. But the expression on her face, that mix of pity and sadness, that was great.

I don't mind that the plot-heavy/thriller episodes need to alternate with character development episodes and quieter moments. But when those quieter episodes come up, I want them to actually tell me new things about characters. "Locke is searching for someone who'll stay with him" doesn't cut it.

Grade: B-

Other Comments:

• When Hurley said that the food in the hatch would only last a month for a single man 5 or 6 episodes ago, I wondered how Desmond and his partner had lasted as long as they did. Nice to know that wasn't an error.
• So, did all the Lost writers have daddy issues? Because, between Kate, Jack, Sun, and Locke, we already have a lot of explicitly bad fathers. And I'm not even counting the people whose fathers haven't shown up or are absent. And of course, Michael and Walt's relationship... blarg.
• I became kind of suspicious how Henry knew the numbers after being told once. I've got a pretty good memory, and I can never remember the sequence.
• Two con men in the Lost backstory. You know Locke's dad has to have run into Sawyer at some point. [Older Mr. K retroactive spoiler: Yup, I kinda called this one right. Emphasis on kinda.]

Quotes

- Jack: "When I want the guns, I'll get them."

- Anthony: "Two hundred thousand gets you a great honeymoon."

Locke: "I didn't do it for the money"

Anthony: "I guess some maid's going to get a helluva tip."