Tv Shows I'm Watching - Lost (Episodes 3.8 and 3.9)

Episode 3.8 – Flashes Before Your Eyes - **** out of 4

It figures – I decide I’m going to write my Lost reviews by writing about the main story and the flashbacks separately and the very next episode plays around with the entire Lost formula.

I’m not complaining, especially since Flashes Before Your Eyes is easily one of the most exciting and interesting episodes Lost has produced. Season 3 keeps getting more and more interesting.

I was glad to hear that Henry Ian Cusick’s Desmond was joining the cast of Lost after his brilliant guest appearances in season two. But, the writers gave him psychic powers and suddenly Desmond was the weird clairvoyant without a personality. Flashes Before Your Eyes changes all that and brings him back to his half-crazed wide-eyed self.

After Desmond intuitively rescues Claire from drowning, Hurley and Charlie try to question him about his psychic powers. Instead of answering them, he ends up having the most twisted and interesting flashback in Lost’s history.

The audience learns that after he imploded the hatch, Desmond was sent back in time to relive the moment in his life where he almost proposed to his girlfriend Penelope. The flashback deals with whether or not Desmond can alter the course of history. In true Lost fashion Desmond is confronted with this decision in a bizarre yet fascinating way when a character steps out of time and tells him he can’t buy a wedding ring because that decision means the time continuum would be altered and everyone in the world would die since he wouldn’t end up on the island and wouldn’t end up pushing the hatch button. So, as you can see, Desmond is faced with a pretty big conundrum.

I love a good time travel yarn, and this episode provides some truly headscratching moments, but it wouldn’t mean anything if the central relationship between Desmond, Penelope, and her father didn’t work. But it works wonderfully, especially during a scene where Desmond asks Penelope’s father if he can marry her and is flatly rejected with the help of a bottle of expensive whisky.

When everything comes back to the present, Lost once again shows how to do a proper twist ending (I thought I had it figured out and then…bam…it threw me for a loop without diluting the emotional impact). Overall, just a great episode.

Episode 3.9 – Stranger in a Strange Land

Main Story - *** out of 4

Stranger in a Strange Land picks up right after Not in Portland left off. Juliet has killed Pickett and is now standing trial for his murder under the investigation of Isabel, a new character who appears to represent the Law in Others World. Jack, believing Juliet is trying to help him, sorts through the Others hierarchy in order to prevent the worst case scenario – Juliet’s execution. It’s a solid episode, but has a feeling of déjà vu. We’ve seen Jack do all this before in previous episodes, including making deals with Ben involving surgery. Yet, despite this, the developing relationship between Jack and Juliet remains fascinating. Her motives are still unclear, and Elizabeth Mitchell has a great way of playing sweet with an ever so subtle hint of malice.

The most interesting plot developments are tantalizingly brief. We finally see what has become of the kidnapped children and Cindy, the stewardess. And Carl, the boy Kate and Sawyer rescued, talks about the Others village. Speaking of Kate and Sawyer, I’m really enjoying the direction this relationship is taking. After hooking up it’s not all happiness and love serenades for them as Sawyer starts to realize Kate’s feelings are not 100% genuine, even though he has fallen completely for her.

The end of the episode provides a lot more promise, with a plot development, that seems to ensure that the déjà vu experienced in this episode will not be happening in the next.

The Flashback - ** out of 4

It’s the story of Jack and the tattoo artist in Thailand, and frankly it’s a bit of a snoozer. I’ve been intrigued by the importance of Jack’s tattoo ever since it was clearly missing during an earlier flashback, but this tattoo origin story is lacking. Jack basically hooks up with a mysterious character played by Bai Ling and…after lots of shots of her cleavage, and then a bit more cleavage in case we missed it the first two times, she reveals a secret about her tattoo skills. A disappointing flashback that will hopefully lead to something more revealing in future episodes.