Slowly (very slowly) but surely (not so surely), Lost is piecing itself back together again. The last two episodes, despite leaps of logic and frustrating flaws, have been relatively excellent. Last night's hilariously/ominously titled "This Place is Death" managed to procure some of the best and most intense sequences I've seen on the show in some time. (Eight words: The smoke monster ripped off some dudes arm!!) That's not to say we're out of the woods yet; unfortunately Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have lost the thread and pacing of what makes the show ever-so-great. Like the frozen donkey wheel before Locke finally set it back on its axis, the balance of the show is off--too much Island, not enough LA/not enough Island, too much LA. Hopefully we're finally getting everything back to normal. And by "normal", I mean "totally and completely not normal and wildly confusing".In lieu of thousands of words, here are some of my observations from "This Place is Death". Spoilers, people!
Rebecca Mader, Due on Set!
And so last night, Charlotte finally died. Since it was announced before the season that actress Rebecca Mader was signed up for a new movie starring George Clooney (the hilarious sounding Men Who Stare at Goats), I've been literally counting the minutes until her character was killed off. Thank the Lord! Charlotte was a hot mess of nosebleeds and snootiness; in fact, much like the Tailies from Season Two, the Freighter Folk have been an outright disaster, save Daniel. (Has Miles done anything remotely interesting outside of waiting around to be Dr. Pierre Chang's son whilst cracking wise?) In her final moments Charlotte told Daniel what we all already knew: that she was born on the Island, spent time there during the Dharma years and wanted desperately to return. Oh, and she remembered this weird and creepy bogeyman-type fella from her childhood, who told her never to return to the Island... because she would die. That man? Daniel Faraday, natch! Maybe you can't actually change the past. Also: any guesses on who her father is? I thought Ben for a moment, but that literally doesn't make any sense. Then again, this is Lost...
The One-Armed Man!
For Lost fans who have been waiting patiently for the past four seasons-plus to find out the truth behind Danielle Rousseau and her doomed shipwrecked crew mates, I hope you enjoyed the first ten minutes. While I'm tempted to shout "that's it?!", the trip down memory lane with Danielle featured what could be the coolest moment ever on the show: the aforementioned smoke monster-arm ripping sequence. What did we learn from all this carnage? Well it looks like the smoke monster lives inside the Temple we've been hearing so much about from Ben. And it also clearly took a page out of The Ruins, since after the one-armed man was sucked into the bowels of Hell, the monster threw his voice back up to the topsiders telling them that everything was okay and they should all come down to help him out. Surrre, guy. That the men who went into the Temple came out as brainwashed Stepford's was pretty cool; it turns out the sickness that infected Danielle's friends wasn't time travel displacement after all. Of course, one question is still lingering: what in God's name is the smoke monster? Maybe Locke was right to ask that of Ben back in Season Four.
Terry O'Quinn, Emmy Winner!
I'll be honest: most of the time I get so wrapped up with the brilliance of Matthew Fox and Michael Emerson that I totally sleep on Terry O'Quinn. What a mistake! While Locke has been up and down as a character (clearly he's the toughest of the leads for Messrs. Cuse and Lindelof to get their arms around), Mr. O'Quinn is almost always flawless. "This Place is Death" should be used for his Emmy reel. The scene he shared with John Terry--as Christian Shepherd, of whom it now must be asked: is he actually Jacob?--inside the frozen donkey wheel chamber was heartbreaking and empowering.
Lingering Questions and Annoyances!
1.) Seriously Lost? When Christian was about to tell Locke that Jack was his son, you pulled the "we'll cut a character off right before he gives another character extremely pertinent information" trick a second time in five episodes? Get worse! That might have been the most contrived thing the show has ever done.
2.) As much as I loved the Jin/Rousseau stuff, there were problems: since Jin prevented Rousseau from heading into the temple, then clearly she would have recognized him when they met after the crash, right? This Jin/Rousseau thing is like a sink hole that keeps getting bigger.
3.) Wait, didn't Miles already know that Charlotte was on the Island before? Then why was he so surprised she knew where the well was? Here's a tip writers: maybe you should rewatch the DVDs before the season starts. And, back to Charlotte: is she Annie? Ben's girlfriend?
4.) For those of you who haven't paid attention during the last four episodes of hand-holding, yes: Eloise Hawking is actually Daniel's mother, and the same woman who had Daniel at gunpoint during "Jughead". If you needed any further proof that aging is a bitch, take a look at Eloise: she went from being a pixie-like fox to Fionnula Flanagan. Ouch.
5.) Now that Locke fixed the donkey wheel what is going to happen? Are the Islanders trapped in whatever time period they were in after the final flash? And are we all to assume that the time period will be the Dharma-era (since we already know Daniel ends up there)?
6.) Along the same lines, does that mean that when the Oceanic Six get back to the Island, they'll have to time travel back to when their friends are? I think I'm getting a nosebleed...
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