Let's Face It: The Ewoks Suck, Dude: Lost Recapped

Here's a question to ponder: how many time filler episodes do we have to sit through before we can safely call season five of Lost a placeholder? Because while "Some Like It Hoth" was one of the better time-filler efforts, it was time-filler none-the-less. And it's now part of an alarming trend. I can count on one hand the amount of honest-to-goodness, full bodied episodes we've been treated to this season; mostly it's been one-off character stories that either work (Sayid, and, yes, Miles, which I'll get to) or don't (Kate).

The problem with "Some Like It Hoth" was that if it never existed, we wouldn't really be any worse for wear. The big reveal, that Miles was Pierre Chang's son, is something I've been expecting since the season premiere, and it's not like I was alone. Were we supposed to be shocked to find that Dharma was building The Swan to cover for an electromagnetic event? Or that the numbers being engraved on the hatch door were "4 8 15 16 23 42"? Floored that Daniel was one of the scientists on the submarine? Or even mildly surprised that Jimmy Barrett from Mad Men turned out to be a sneaky douche that found out something he shouldn't have? That stuff was telegraphed from three thousand miles away. And normally this would have irked me quite a bit, but since Ken Leung is so subtle and good as Miles, I didn't really care.

I wrote about Mr. Leung this week for the Observer, proclaiming him a television regular who shouldn't be one, and while I still stand by that statement--you should be required to have more than one or two lines of dialogue per week to get regular status--I understand why Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse want to keep Mr. Leung around. As an actor he's a weird conundrum: his performance is filled with an underlying manic anger, but it's done so effortlessly that it almost seems laid back. While Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Terry O'Quinn, Henry Ian Cusick, Naveen Andrews and Josh Holloway all try to out Alpha-Male each other, Mr. Leung stays coiled like a snake that's about to lash out. I had offered the thought that Miles was going to die in "Some Like It Hoth" and still think he might before the season is out, but whereas before tonight I was hoping it would happen--thinning the heard is always a good thing on Lost--now I'm actively against it. The show needs more Miles, if only because it needs more Ken Leung.

Onto the lightning round! You know the drill: spoilers!

1.) Did you catch the roundabout explanation as to why Miles asked Ben for $3.2 million dollars last season? Because it was double what Charles Widmore offered him. Tidy wrap-up to that loose end.

2.) While I had major issues with the "look how cute we are!" meta time travel conversation that Hurley and Miles had a few weeks back, I loved every single second of their interplay tonight. The Star Wars references--though Hurley rewriting Empire Strikes Back doesn't actually track since that's the best Star Wars, but hey, I appreciate the effort; the bonding over talking to dead people; the sandwiches. It was like watching Sawyer and Hurley talk, only without any of the insults--though, to be fair, Miles did call Hurley's head a piece of granite. Still, I think I'd be alright watching these two converse on a weekly basis.

2a.) About Miles' daddy issues: I know he's pissed and all, but it seems pretty clear that Pierre sent Miles and his mother off the Island because he didn't want them to die in The Purge and not because he hated them. The ComicCon video that Lost released last summer is a good jumping off point for proving this theory. (And yes, that is Daniel's voice in the background of the video.)

3.) Personally, any episode that features Marsha Thomason's Naomi is a good episode. How can I put this? She's crazyhot.

4.) Speaking of crazy: so after Miles agreed to go to the Island to find Ben, he was picked up by The Dude from Choke in an unmarked black van, Children of Men-style, and told that he shouldn't be working for Charles Widmore. Huh. Remember all that stuff before about everything being so predictable? Well I did not see that coming. I assumed after last week that Illana and That Dude were working for Charles, but now... who knows? Have we ruled out the idea that they work for Dharma and are part of what Pierre called a "reconstituted Dharma Initiative" in the ComicCon video? Or, better yet, are they mystics from the Island's past? Or, maybe they are just working for Ben. What lies in the shadow of the statue? I know! Actual intrigue. This is something to watch for the rest of the season.

5.) Matthew Fox sighting! Having Jack wiping down a blackboard was a stroke of genius. Having him share coffee with Juliet and calmly tell Sawyer what an idiot Kate was being--and, holy crap, what an idiot she is--was priceless. I love this New Jack! His reformed attitude of total resignation is quite refreshing.

6.) I won't bother bringing up Rose and Bernard again--oops, too late!--but I will ask aloud: what the hell is Sayid up to? Are we to believe he's still aimlessly stumbling around the jungle, working off the acid trip he was sent on? Or maybe he's training The Others on their extra-special ass-kicking fighting abilities?

Next week: get your social lives ready... Lost is in "special" mode, which means we won't get a new episode until two weeks from now, when Daniel takes center stage. Pull the Delorean out of the garage for that one.