Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Lost: Season 5, Episode 1 Review: Because You Left

Because You Left
Original Airdate: January 21, 2009
Writer: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Director: Stephen Williams

As the series goes full speed toward an ending less than two seasons away, the status quo of the narrative no longer applies. Traditionally each episode had A & B plots with a flashback C plot reinforcing the A plot. Sometimes they’d deviate with something like “The Other 48 Days”, but they didn’t really go too far from formula until the end of season three, with the introduction of flash forwards. Then came “The Constant”, which featured Desmond literally flashing back to 1996. Now as the pertinent stories take place over time, the C plot no longer seems relevant.

Any centric claims for this episode are up for debate: this episode is about plot. It established the three stories that’ll likely make up most of this season: the assembling of the Oceanic Six and returning them to the island, the fates of those left behind and how Locke wound up in the coffin. As expected, the stories pick up where they left off in the finale and as mentioned, they take place all over, from three years after the rescue to the island where we left off jumping through time and space.

What happened on the island is explained partially in the prologue, featuring the multi-aliased Pierre Chang going about his day preparing The Arrow orientation film when problems arise at The Orchid, then still a hole in the ground. There is some powerful energy holed up behind the presumable same wall Ben blew up that caused drill bits to melt and apparently some guy’s brain as well. Chang was worried about what would happen if that wall were breached, and in this episode the consequences of such an action are explored.

It was nice to see Pierre Chang get a flashback of sorts in the often misleading first scene of the season. All we’ve seen of him on the show was as the presenter of the various Dharma orientation films. Here they reveal his real name and show that he’s a grumpy jerk (something fans of The Orchid blooper reel would know already). With the time jumps, we’re certainly going to see more of Dharma.

Of course, the image of the record skipping at Chang’s house is symbolic of what’s happening to the island (although I think a scratched CD, which wasn’t around in the flashback, may be more of the effect). Time is no longer going linearly, but jumping back and forth, leaving the survivors left behind without a camp and desperate to figure out where they are, a futile attempt with the instability of time.

Although he’s blown off by Chang, the construction worker brings up an important point: if there’s no paradox, what’s the purpose of learning how to manipulate time? Chang’s word choice that they could “manipulate” rather than change time seems to indicate something, like being able to prepare for future events if they are unavoidable. This could explain how Widmore got his fortune: he knew which companies to invest in when they were starting.

The prologue ends with the reveal that among the workers at the site is none other than Daniel, posing as “Joe”. By the end of the premiere, Daniel’s appearance seems to be easily explainable: during one of the jumps, he goes undercover at The Orchid construction site to learn more about what is happening. It’s likely they’ll come back to this later, so this easy answer may have more to it.

Time jumping back and forth gives the storytelling an interesting angle. Instead of having to rely on someone’s flashbacks to tell us the island’s story, they’re going to show it as the survivors witness it, like Eko’s plane crashing onto the island. This certainly helps get to some answers regarding Rousseau’s crew getting sick and killed, how the Black Rock managed to find itself in the middle of the island, and more history involving The Others (four toed statue).

While this new storytelling option is interesting, the series is treading in dangerous territory. Heroes has been harshly criticized for not taking its time traveling seriously and often having the characters alter the past in ways that would lead to more significant changes in the present. Lost has done a good job establishing clear rules in their time travel from the start, no paradox being the most important. Regardless of what they do, the universe will course correct to keep events the way they happened. Sawyer can’t encounter Desmond in the final flash of the episode, but Daniel can because they met in 1996.

This encounter has drawn some controversy from fans, who criticized the coincidence that Desmond just happened to remember this memory the same time the gears are in motion for the rest of the castaways to return to the island. It’s not unusual for Desmond’s mind to be a little off, and he didn’t remember knowing Daniel before when they met back in “The Economist”. The imprint in the end doesn’t bother me. It will if they somehow make the encounter on the island Desmond’s dream.

Desmond is another x-factor in the quest to return the Oceanic Six. His mission to meet Daniel’s mother, whose identity was conveniently cut off, is going to collide with Ben and the Six, not to mention Widmore. With the second part considered, the most theorized mother is Ms. Hawking, whom Desmond encountered almost two seasons ago. It makes sense considering what she knew and told him during his first flash. While there’s a difference in last name and accent, Hawking could be her maiden name and he was simply raised in America.

The biggest hindrance in the story last season was that those who didn’t make it off the island took a backseat to those who did. This applied most to Sawyer, the most prominent character who didn’t get a centric episode last season (his last one was in the early episodes of season three). In the vacuum without the prominent leaders, he and Juliet seem to be taking up that spot, although he has a major chip on his shoulder. Believing the people on the helicopter, specifically Kate, died, he is angry and lashing out at the rest of the castaways, or at least Daniel.

Another prominent character whose journey is key to this season is John Locke. Keeping his story quiet was obviously to keep the reveal at the end of last season a secret. Season four did lose a bit as Locke’s story is one at the heart of the series (luckily everything else more than made up for it). With that reveal done, Locke’s story leading to that coffin can begin.

His time as leader of The Others is short living because The Others for some reason do not jump in time with the castaways. This may tie into that Easter egg from “Not in Portland” from two years ago, where the audio in Room 23 (the room Karl was being brainwashed in) reversed says “only fools are enslaved by time and space.” Somehow The Others aren’t “fools”.

Richard, somehow, also knows that the Oceanic Six got off the island safely, but that they need to be returned. On top of not being influenced by the time jumps, Richard knows where they’re heading next, as he prepares Locke to meet Richard before he knew Locke. As the answers begin to outnumber the questions, one can hope that he’ll get a centric episode before the series wraps.

In a nice little cameo, Ethan comes out following Eko’s downed plane and shoots Locke in the leg. With all the time jumping, I expected Ethan to say “Who’s Ben Linus?” after Locke tried to explain himself. Regardless, his appearances hints at us seeing a lot of old characters (or referred to characters from the past) again.

Off island, Jack currently is much like Sayid in Ben’s flash forward last season. Following the death of his long time love Nadia, he was prime for Ben’s manipulative touch. Considering Jack was suicidal as he believed returning was impossible, he was tailored for Ben’s (of all people) mission. Of course bringing these six people back, with Ben in command, isn’t going to be easy.

For starters, Sayid has gone rogue from Ben and is taking Hurley somewhere safe (or at least he thought so). While Sayid was willing to kill people on Ben’s list, something changed that. It’s likely that turning point was Sayid’s flash forward in “The Economist”. Someone is out to get Sayid, leading to the fight at the hotel room. After a tussle and a memorable dishwasher kill (always put in knives blade down), the men are dead, Sayid’s tranquilized and Hurley’s in the worst “Three’s Company” misunderstanding ever.

I’m reluctant to call the men at the hotel room “hit men” because when they had the chance, they merely drugged Sayid when a few bullets could’ve easily substituted. One had a gun (the one Hurley was showing to the guy with the camera phone), but that could’ve been for their protection. Whatever their objective, it’s possible it required these two alive.

With Kate, someone’s playing her by having the two guys come to her house requesting a maternity test. Obviously there are a ton of red flags, from them not mentioning their client (something I’ve been told they’d have to do) to the menace that comes across. It’s likely either Ben, Sun or Widmore. The second part of the premiere gives some credence to it being Sun. It could pertain to Aaron, the one Oceanic Six member blissfully unaware of what’s going on.

Sun’s mission is established with her encounter with Widmore at the airport. Although she wants to kill Ben, her behavior is very Ben like. Obviously that’s what she hopes to get by brazenly confronting Widmore last season and attempting to recruit him and his resources. Without Jin, she’s becoming scary. This may be the biggest boost for Jin being alive: he is likely her only path towards redemption.

Everyone in the main cast is accounted for with two major exceptions. Claire is presumably somewhere under Jacob’s protection, who must’ve been aware of what was coming. While there is news about her role this season, I’ll avoid it for those avoiding spoilers. The other is the more contested Jin, whose fate has never been confirmed. While he was on the boat and close to the explosion, the producers have only said that Sun believes Jin is dead. Daniel Dae Kim is still in the main credits as well, so whatever the capacity, his time on Lost isn’t up yet.

The most annoying remark kicked around since the premiere is that the show has become “too sci-fi”. I wonder what show they’ve been watching for the last four years, between smoke monsters that can lift a grown man and swing him around with deadly force, a man in a wheelchair who can suddenly walk and whatever Jacob is, not to mention that so many people survived a crash like that. Lost has always been sci-fi: it just walks a finer line than Buffy or The X-Files. Now it’s to be seen whether they go too far.

Overall Score: 9/10