Spoilers.
Lost Official Site
The Time: Wednesdays, 9:00 PM, ABC
The Show:
When
Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to London went down somewhere over the
Pacific, the survivors of the crash found themselves marooned on a
tropical island. But this is no ordinary island; it has
unusual magnetic, temporal, healing and seemingly supernatural
properties, and is fraught with constant danger. There is
a mysterious black smoke-like creature, polar bears, and even
apparitions of the dead roaming the forest. The island is
also the former secret haven of a group called the Dharma Initiative,
who were running experiments utilizing the unique properties of the
island via research stations that dot the landscape. Now the
Oceanic survivors, led by Dr. Jack Sheppard, Kate Austen, James
“Sawyer” Ford, John Locke, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, Sayid Jarrah and
others, seek a way to escape the island and its many dangers.
But there are people, both living on the island and seeking the island
from outside, who are at war for control of it, and the Oceanic
survivors find themselves caught in the middle. Told via
nonlinear fashion that incorporates flashbacks and flash forwards, Lost is one of the most unique and densely mythological shows on television.
The Stars:
• Matthew Fox – Dr. Jack Sheppard
• Evangeline Lilly – Kate Austen
• Josh Holloway – James “Sawyer” Ford
• Naveen Andrews – Sayid Jarrah
• Terry O’Quinn – John Locke
• Jorge Garcia – Hugo “Hurley” Reyes
• Daniel Dae Kim – Jin Kwon
• Yunjin Kim – Sun Kwon
• Michael Emerson – Benjamin Linus
• Henry Ian Cusick – Desmond Hume
• Elizabeth Mitchell – Juliet Burke
• Jeremy Davies – Daniel Faraday
• Nestor Carbonell – Richard Alpert
• Alan Dale – Charles Widmore
• Reiko Aylesworth – Amy
The Episode: “Some Like It Hoth”
In this Miles-centric episode, we get the backstory of who Miles is, how he came to be able to speak to dead people and how he ended up on the freighter with Widmore’s other people. Meanwhile, suspicions start to arise at the Barracks when Roger discovers his son has been taken from the infirmary.
The Lowdown:
This episode is fine in terms of giving us Miles’ backstory. It was nicely put together, especially with Miles spending most of his time with Hurley; and it was cool to see Naomi again. However, this just wasn’t the episode we needed at this point in the season, with only four episodes left, which includes the two-part season finale. Considering that we’re just about to hit the final 20 episodes in the entire series, it seems like the time for the backstories on secondary characters is over. I’m guessing there’s still oodles of story to cram into these last 1.25 (I’m rounding here) seasons and this just felt like falling back into the old mistake of filling time rather than moving the story forward, which this episode did very little of.
Well the big reveal this episode is that the fans speculating for a while now about Miles’ lineage turned out to be right: he’s the son of Dr. Chang, who abandoned him and his mother in Miles’ infancy. Which means that Miles was also born on the island, just as Charlotte was. Whether or not Widmore knew this when he recruited him for the freighter (my guess was he did) isn’t made clear. Though it makes me wonder how people come up with the notion about Miles and Chang’s relationship so far in advance of it being revealed. Is it simply “Hey, two Asian dudes of varying ages, they must be related.” Something ever so slightly disturbing about that to me. But give ’em credit, they were right on this one.
Anyway, it turns out that Miles has been able to “talk” to the dead since he was a boy, and he apparently went through a punk phase before eking out a living talking to deceased loved ones…or at least making their survivors think he could. We then see how he got hooked up with Naomi, and later talked to by the “shadow of the statue” guys. Really need to know who they are pronto. They let on that there’s a reason why Miles has the ability he does. Are there some Jacob implications there?
Miles spends the majority of the episode with Hurley, who discovers his secret, only to come right back at him that he has the same power, only “better” than Miles’. They compare notes on their respective fathers, when Miles reveals who his father is and how he’s felt about him, or rather, hasn’t. Miles and Hurley make an interestingly odd pairing, and I liked finding out that Hurley is spending his valuable time trying to avert an Ewok apocalypse, yet manages to work in Star Wars to Miles’ daddy issues.
We also get to see makings of the Swan construction and the stamping of the serial #s on the hatch, with which Hurley is all to familiar. Also interesting that the electromagnetism is already on overdrive as it pulled a worker’s filling out – right through his brain. Some more seeds for the Losties’ lies are also planted as Roger suspects Kate of being connected to his son’s disappearance. Later, Sawyer has to take drastic measures when Phil discovers the security footage that shows him taking young Ben beyond the sonic fence. Also seems a tad dubious that no one else knows Ben is gone yet. Oh, and Faraday is back in town. Finally.
I love the title, but all things considered, the episode was just alright for me. However, the placing of it this late in the season – when I’d prefer to be barreling toward the thing that I know happens in the finale that people who haven’t looked up the finale’s title yet don’t – not so much.