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Reviews
Lost: 316 (2009)
Another gem
This episode blew me away, and not because it was so action packed or full of reveals. It blew me away because it brought back the essence of "old" Lost... the character focus the and amazing dialog that defined the first 2 seasons.
I'm glad the writers chose this approach to tell the O6's return story over the "boom boom bang bang" one, which I feared would happen given how fast paced the show has become.
This episode was a gem. Yes, there were some seemingly weird and convenient plot elements in it(suddenly everyone appearing on the plane), but it's all because we saw it from Jack's perspective who has obviously become a man of faith now, much like Locke.
Besides I'm sure we'll get flashbacks later on from Kate/Sayid/Ben/Hurley/Sun that will explain how they all ended up on the plane.
Overall I think "316" is on level with "This Place is Death", but is brilliant for different reasons. Both are among the show's bests.
Dollhouse: Ghost (2009)
If this show will be canceled, it'll be the writers' fault.
Quite honestly, I wasn't too excited for this show, but it still managed to let me down.
The concept(on paper) looks good, but in execution, it's horrendous. How can you relate to a character with no personality, and be interested in a plot that's only interesting in it's setup phase? Let me explain it. Each episode will deal with a small story of Dushku's character(and obviously, sometimes, others too) taking a "role". The scenes before that(Dollhouse scenes) are fairly good. But once she gets on the mission, it's just like any other crime show.
The supporting case COULD make up for the lead's dullness, but they don't. I mean Fringe -- Olivia Dunham is pretty dull, but the rest of the cast is strong. Not here.
I gave Dollhouse a fair chance - I sat through the pilot, and didn't look elsewhere. If I was watching this on TV, I probably would've turned it off halfway. Thank god for DVR.
Lost: This Place Is Death (2009)
One of the finest episodes of the show so far.
"This Place is Death" is a surprisingly amazing episode that is pretty much close to perfect. A brilliant script and story by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, fantastic directing from Paul A. Edwards and great performances from the cast all around make this episode a true gem.
What I loved the most about this episode is how it was "multi-layered". The first part was fully Jin - centric, with him experiencing some of Rousseau's past. It was very well done, and we got to see the most important events of Rousseau's 16 years. Don't forget that while 16 years is a lot, most of that time was spent with her hiding and setting up traps, which wouldn't be exciting to see.
What WAS exciting is seeing the smoke monster again. Seeing the Temple - and the sickness. Montad losing his arm was effective fan service. I don't want to theorize here, but I'm convinced that the smoke monster has to do something with the sickness, given how Montad was suddenly "all okay" after losing his arm, and asked for his team to retrieve him.
The reunion of Jin and the islanders was great, and the episode reached a different layer at that point. The flashes got aggressive, which resulted in Charlotte's death. It wasn't a tearjerker, but it was a very good emotional punch. I very much enjoyed her final dialog with Daniel, it cleared up lots of things regarding her past.
The episode had 2 heroes. Jin and Locke. While Jin had the first part of the episode, Locke had the second part - his journey down the Orchid was one of the greatest sequences of the show to date, especially with Christian being there.
Locke's character is finally exciting again, after being somewhat dodgy in S3/S4. The fantastic performance from Terry O'Quinn helped too.
Finally, we had the Oceanic Six storyline, which was good. It was kept short, which means it was effective; it wasn't terribly exciting, but it was necessary for the plot to advance. I loved Ben's "outburst" at Sun and Jack. It was one of the very few moments where Ben let go of himself.
The best part of this storyline was the ending with Desmond joining up and finally visiting Eloise Hawking. A very intriguing ending; it's now obvious that O6 is going back to the island soon.
Overall, this episode was excellent, one of the show's best. Technically, the episode was even better; the smoke monster-scenes, the way the flashes were done(they really felt aggressive!) and the general "look" of the episode was cinematic.
10/10.
See you in a week.
Lost: Jughead (2009)
A well done episode of Lost.
"Jughead" is yet another fine addition to season 5, which is shaping up to be the show's best offering.
The island portion of the episode was exciting as ever - a very well directed episode that has some delicious twists. I loved seeing the others - in 1954 - and the introduction of the H-Bomb was very efficient too - yet another mystery to be solved. But hey; Lost is all about mysteries. I love stories driven by questions. The H-Bomb (Jughead) seems like a critical plot point that will be brought up sometime later. Another interesting development was finding out that Charles Widmore was indeed on the island before - a very surprising and sudden reveal. Well done.
This episode instead of focusing on the Oceanic Six focused on Desmond - this was the weaker part of the episode, as most of the Desmond plot was about him running around in Oxford. While I enjoyed seeing Penny give birth to Charlie(great homage to Charlie Pace!) and I liked Desmond confronting Charles Widmore, the rest was passable.
The cliffhanger was rather weak, seeing Charlotte pass out felt a little forced, but regardless, the episode was very satisfying. We learned about the others, Widmore, Dan's "other" side(experimenting with humans) and I enjoyed the little romance between Dan and Charlotte.
8/10
Lost: Pilot: Part 1 (2004)
A pilot that lives up to the rest of the show - which is a big thing, considering Lost is one of, if not THE best show on TV.
Please note: I based this review on my experiences when I FIRST watched the pilot. My opinion changed after re-watching(I'll mention that towards the end of my review, but I feel it's more fair to judge a pilot based on the first impressions, since it's job is to make viewers interested.) Well, after all the hype the show received, I thought, okay, let's give this a go - so at least I can thrash yet ANOTHER TV show. Because, until Lost, I was absolutely HATING television. But came Lost and restored my faith.
Lost's opening is so shocking, I was literally blown away. They already.... crashed? They start the show without showing any of the characters? Without the actual plane crash? Genius.
The first 5 minutes is also the most spectacular sequence I've ever seen on television. So well done, so cinematic - even Michael Bay would like it! The rest of the pilot seemed to flow pretty well. All interesting characters. The one who instantly grabbed my attention was of course Mr. Locke, but I really enjoyed everyone else too - most of the characters seemed really refreshing compared to regular TV standards.
The driving mystery of the Pilot was the smoke monster - this is the only part which I felt was a little "clunky", so to say... i just found it a little hard to believe that NONE got a good look on it.
I much more enjoyed the polar bear shooting, and the cliffhanger with the french woman's radio broadcast. Really, really freaky stuff - I knew this is going to be a show I'll have to tune in to every week! After re-watch: After I was completely hooked on the show, and went back to the pilot, I got nostalgic. I of course didn't appreciate the opening sequence as much, but I appreciated the rest much more. It's always fun to look back how our beloved losties were at the start - and how "simple" the show was back then.
On my original viewing, I'd given 8.5/10 to the episode, and now, probably a 9.5/10. The not-showing-the-monster cliché still hurts a little.
Lost: The Little Prince (2009)
Easily the best Kate centric episode to date -- another fine addition to season five.
Kate episodes are the weak points of Lost. The problem with Kate is that the writers struggle making up new, fresh stories for her. It's always either regarding Jack/Sawyer(sometimes both of them), or it's about her running away from the authorities.
Last year's "Eggtown" was a good step forward, but still failed to live up to basically any other episode in the 4th season.
But finally, the ice is cracked - "The Little Prince" was one hell of an episode - my favorite of Season Five so far, and yes... it's Kate centric.
Did they "fix" Kate? Is she a good character now? No. She's still pretty mediocre as a character. While her post-island story is more interesting than her pre-island, it still falls flat. HOWEVER, what the writers did was simply go around her character. Literally feature her MUCH less than in any other Kate episodes.
This is part of the show's new direction - even though there are centrics each episode, they are not as focused as they used to be.
Let me start with the weak part of the episode. Yup, you guessed, Kate. But in small doses like this, even Kate is enjoyable, especially when paired up with post-island Jack, portrayed brilliantly by Matthew Fox. I enjoyed seeing her "maternal instincts" in action, and her meeting with Ben was priceless.
Everything else in the episode was pure gold. The Oceanic Six storyline is just as exciting as the island storyline at the moment. I enjoy Sayid, Ben and Jack working together very, very much. Can't wait for the big "return"! On the island, we had some more time shifting. Sawyer seeing Kate helping Claire to give birth was by far the most emotional moment of the season - so far. A very well done and well acted scene. I also loved Locke seeing the hatch light - very nostalgic.
The raft chase was fantastic too. Although the flashes always seem to come in convenient times, I love the dynamic it creates.
Lost episodes always have fascinating endings, and "The Little Prince" is no expectation. Two huge revelations: Jin is alive(YAY) and is saved by young Rousseau and her crew. Could this be a set up to a Rousseau centric episode? Let's hope. Unfortunately, the ending was dragged out way too long to be truly shocking, but it was still extremely satisfying.
Overall, "The Little Prince" is an extremely successful Kate episode; it had the right balance of O6/Island storyline, enjoyable amount of Kate, and some surprising reveals - what else you need? 9/10
Lost: There's No Place Like Home: Part 2 (2008)
One hell of a finale.
Lost finales are always the biggest TV events of the year - and the 4th one is no expection.
Last year's finale was rather slow paced; it was one giant build up to the magnificent last scene.
This year's finale is more of an action packed one. Constant thrill and horror, great suspense, and.... answers.
"There's No Place Like Home" ends the most complete chapter of Lost; the 4th one.
Top notch writing by Damon Lindelof and Cartlon Cuse(as usual), beautiful directing by Jack Bender(as usual), and outstanding performances by the entire cast(as usual) - especially by Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, Matthew Fox, Yunjin Kim, Harold Perrineau and Evangeline Lilly.
The only thing that comes in mind I wasn't fully satisfied with is.... the sheer fact Lost isn't on for 8 months!