Lo, and the skies opened up and the rain came down and the gods looked down on the latest episode of Lost…
And it was good.
Pretty damn good, in fact.
I have to admit that this episode was really solid. And it even ameliorated some of the concerns I had about last week’s episode. For example, I was enormously frustrated by the lack of communication between Locke and Sayid regarding the explosives in the basement of the Flame Station, but apparently that wasn’t an oversight — it was intentional, as we learn that Locke is up to something. (And from the previews of next week, it looks like he’s got a serious agenda that no one else knows about.)
The characters actually talked. They actually shared information, including Desmond telling Claire about his psychic powers and Charlie’s impending doom. (In previous episodes, that would have been glossed over with some hand-waving, much to the annoyance of the audience.) Locke, et al pressed Mikhail for answers and got a few (including a tantalizing hint that the Others know quite a bit about the Losties pre-crash). And while I was peeved that Locke killed Mikhail before he could offer more answers, it did make sense from the point of view thatsomeone had to test the security system…and Locke does have that hidden agenda.
Also good to see: an actual attempt to get off the island! People exchanging information! An admission that some people have just given up on ever leaving the island. Continuity (Sawyer’s nickname ban continues).
What was bad in the episode? Not a lot. It does, however, stretch credulity to the breaking point to think that Claire could meet her long-lost dad and never get his name. (Even if she didn’t ask, you’d think he would say, “My name is Christian Shepherd.” Or even just leave his name and number in case she changed her mind in the future.) And it’s a little bothersome that Sayid and Kate let Locke’s behavior slide, but they did give him some guff about it and I noticed that he was put on tree-chopping duty while everyone else sat around and chilled out. Also, Claire’s relationship to Jack was telegraphed way back in Season 2’s second Ana-Lucia flashback, so that revelation went over like the proverbial lead balloon.
Fortunately, there was plenty of other good stuff to distract me.
Oh, and that ending? With Jack playing football with Tom? Pretty damn cool. It does, however, indicate that another Jack-centric episode is in our near future…and I think we’ve had enough of them to last a looooooong time.