What did I think of the latest episode of this “guy’s soap opera” called LOST?

READ ON!

Well, I think it is sufficient to say that LOST has officially returned, and returned with a thrill ride of an episode. I felt like I should have paid to see this episode. It felt so much like a fast-paced movie that I never wanted to end. It answered questions, yet it raised so much more. In some ways, this episode felt like a premiere, with setting up lots of things for the next four episodes.

I, for, one enjoyed this episode. It definitely not what I was expecting out of this return episode. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting in anticipation of this episode, but it certainly defied them. I say that in the best way possible, though, because that is what LOST does best: toy with your expectations and defy them. This episode did that in spades.

This episode was co-written by Brian K. Vaughn and Drew Goddard. Apart, they have great written episodes, comics, and movies. Together, they are a writing force to be reckoned with. They really laid on everything that makes you love LOST pretty thick. I definitely give kudos to both of those writers, as I am a big fan of their work apart from LOST, as well as within it.

This episode was directed by Jack Bender, who, to this day, remains my favorite director on LOST. Every episode he directs, he really brings his A-game to. A lot of the premieres and finales were directed by him, so you know he is a trusted director on the series. I got really excited when I found out he would be directing this monumental episode of LOST, that really be driving the rest of the season home.

Now, this episode focused mainly on the character of Benjamin Linus, who, as some of you know, is one of my favorite characters in the series. In fact, one of my favorite LOST episodes to this day is The Man Behind The Curtain, the first Ben-centric episode. So when I first heard that this was going to be a Ben-centric episode, I was expecting an episode like that, where we would learn more about Ben’s backstory. Boy, was I wrong! What we got instead was a monster-beast episode that really moved the character of Ben in a forward direction that even I didn’t see coming.

Now, all character-centric episodes of LOST hinges on that particular actor to portraying the character to drive the episode. As we know from previous seasons, Michael Emerson is quite the talented actor. After all, he won an Emmy for his work in season 3. But he really drove this episode. Throughout the course of the episode, Mr. Emerson had to portray a volley of emotions that we have not seen Ben exhibit before; Emotions such as shock, awe, frenzy, and even grief. It was particularly awesome to see. If Michael Emerson does not win an Emmy for his work this season for this episode alone, I will be very disappointed.

What makes this character-centric episode very different from any other in LOST’s history is that the off-island action that our lovely Ben portrays begins in the most abrupt way. It begins with a question - - how did Ben get to the point? For those of you who may be a little hazy on the details, the episode begins with Ben in the Sahara Desert with a DHARMA parka. Many questions are raised from this scene - - how did he get there? What was he doing wearing the DHARMA parka?

Here is my theory on that. If you look closely at the parka, you see that there is a DHARMA symbol unlike any we have seen in the show’s history. Also, the name Halliwax is on the right side of the front of the DHARMA parka (or DHARKA, as it been dubbed by the producers). Now, over the last summer, LOST’s producers and showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse showed an exclusive video detailing the existence of a DHARMA station called the Orchid. They have stated that this station is probably the most important of all the stations. I believe that this Orchid station was somehow instrumental in Ben’s arrival in the Sahara to the year 2005. I don’t know any other specifics other than that, and everything else is just theory.

This episode also served as somewhat of a prequel to the events of the Sayid-centric episode of the season, The Economist, as in this episode, we really got to see how exactly Ben recruited Sayid to be his hitman in his war against Widmore. He did it the same way he always recruits people to do things - - through manipulation. It almost makes you wonder - - did he travel to Iraq hoping to recruit Sayid or were his motives more? You always have to take Ben’s words about anything with a 10-pound bag of salt. I cannot wait, though to see if we see any other Sayid-centric episodes in the future to see more of the Ben and Sayid dynamic.

However, the Ben and Sayid “prequel” left me wanting more questions. In the Economist, Ben notes that there was a one time where he used his heart instead of his gun. Now, seeing where we were in the episode, I was expecting to see this kind of moment between the two characters. But we did not see it. I can only hope that we will see this scene play out on the island before the Oceanic Six are “rescued” at some point in the series.

One thing I loved about Ben’s flash-forward was the look and feel that he had through the whole episode. In every scene he was in, he had this kind of rugged, Indiana Jones look. He carried that feel throughout the whole episode, and I liked that. It made Ben seem more of a traveler than just the puppetmaster than we’re used to seeing.

But the on-island aspects to this episode were just as interesting as the off-island aspects. Wait, I take that back. They were more interesting, if not ten times more exciting. It was during the on-island scenes that I was literally on the edge of my seat. We really got to see the war between Ben and Widmore take its scope, and it felt huge. With all the gunfire and explosions that took place within that small area of the Barracks. It was intense!

With that intensity comes high-octane special effects. I have to say all the special effects were really upped with this episode. It only added to the intensity that was had with the Freighter Gang’s arrival onto the island.

Some other aspects that are worth noting in this episode is Locke’s role in all of this. Ben seemed pretty adamant that Locke stay alive. Now, I have said, in prior reviews and in my Top 10 LOST characters article, that Locke is like the “chosen one” of the island. Ben has admitted that Locke has some sort of communion with the island that I think Ben has but just not to Locke’s degree. I think Ben knows that Locke is still an important player in the events to come.

Another interesting note in the dialogue between Ben and Locke is the mention of Jacob. I, for one, am glad that Jacob is being brought back into the forefront of the LOST action once again, even though we’ve only seen him in one episode. It has also been confirmed what has been speculated by fans everywhere that Hurley has seen Jacob’s cabin when it moved. So it’ll be very interesting to see how Hurley interacts with Jacob, in the ways that Locke and Ben have. I cannot wait to see where Hurley, Ben, and Locke’s quest for Jacob leads their characters in the overall scheme of things.

Another character that really shined in the episode was the character of Sawyer. He really reminded me of that classic character that just goes into battle half-cocked, and has really evolved from that character we saw in the pilot, where he just didn’t care about anybody but himself. He was just all about saving the other survivors in Locke’s camp, and I am interested if something will happen in the next four episodes to make us almost hate Sawyer again. Because in the past, there have been moments that we have loved Sawyer and then the writers throw in something that makes us hate him. But right now, I am totally loving Sawyer.

One part of Sawyer’s storyline in this episode was making sure that Claire was safe. Now, I was certain that Claire was going to bite the dust in this episode. This was largely due to the fact that Kate ends up with Claire’s son, Aaron, in the future. I honestly believe that the writers toyed with that expectation when they blew up Claire’s house. In typical LOST fashion, they toyed with it, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. One part of Claire’s little bit in the episode was that she mentioned Charlie. I am glad to see that Claire still shares that connection with Charlie that she had in the earlier episodes of the series.

A character that I am kind of growing on right now that I wasn’t as much when he was first introduced is the character of Miles. Now, when Miles was introduced, he seemed to be this “second Sawyer” on the island, but now we are seeing somewhat of a sympathetic side to him. We see that Miles was led to believe that their mission might’ve been a peaceful one when it came to finding Ben, but it seems he is one of those people who as Ben as said in the last episode, didn’t know the evil of their employer, Charles Widmore. He’s another character that I’m actually excited to see progress in the next few episodes.

While we’re talking about characters, there was a character that bit the dust this week on LOST, and that is the character of Alex. I was kind of shocked to see her go, and thought that they might have kept her around a bit longer, kind of to dangle her like a carrot in front of Ben’s face for a few more episodes, but alas it was not. Now this is a death that is good. This was what is called an empowering death. The death of Alex is something that is definitely going to propel Ben’s character forward to a state of grief and anger. We saw this a little bit in the flash-forward scenes with Ben and it is something that we will continue to see in the present storyline.

I think the coldest thing about this was the fact that Alex literally died hearing her father say that she meant nothing to him. We know that it was a bluff; a bluff that Ben was not expecting to be called on, but a bluff nonetheless. But to a daughter, to hear that from her father is cold, especially at that age.

While we’re on the topic of Alex’s family, one little thread that I was wanting to see resolved but was not was the cliffhanger of a month ago. For those a little hazy, Rousseau (“the crazy Frenchwoman”) was shot “dead” at the end of the last episode. The writers of this episode really left it ambiguous whether Rousseau was dead or alive. I still hold my present theory that Rousseau kind of licked her wounds a bit and is still kicking somewhere on the island, and she will making a stunning return appearance either in this season or the next.

Another thing that this episode had was another stunning appearance by the Smoke Monster that has been plaguing the island for a long time. In fact, if memory serves, this is the first appearance of good ol’ Smokey this season. Due to the condensed season, it might be the only appearance. Now, I always find when we see the Smoke Monster, it is always intriguing, and we learn more about the deepening mythology and mystery of the island through the Smoke Monster, every time we see him.

This was probably the most interesting, because it built on what we’ve already been told about the Smoke Monster in earlier episodes of the series. In one episode that I cannot recall, I remember Rousseau calling the Smoke Monster the “security system.” Now, what I believe happened, is that Ben didn’t control the Smoke Monsters per se, but I believe he alerted the Smoke Monster to something disturbing the island. Like any good secutity system, the Smoke Monster responded.

I have to say though, that the special effects were just plain cool in the scene with the Smoke Monster. I just really enjoyed more than any other scene that the Smoke Monster has been in in the course of the series’ four-year run.

Now, I do have a feeling that Ben “unleashed” the Smoke Monster at a great cost to the island and the people living on it. He did seem worried when the Smoke Monster started attacking the Freighter Gang and was adamant that they stay as far away from it as possible. I think this because I don’t think the Smoke Monster can be “controlled.” Summoned, yes; Controlled, never. It’ll be very interesting indeed to see how that plays out in the next couple of seasons.

The other on-island aspect was concerning Jack’s team and trying to contact the Freighter. But this plotline reminded me very much of how the plotline with Juliet secret tape from Ben played out in The Man Behind the Curtain. It was very minimalized but I know the events in this plotline will play a huge part in the next few episodes.

Now, for the most part of this episode, Jack was very very ill. I think this will play a very big role in the next episode. I don’t know what Jack’s illness is coming from. Could it have come from the gas at the Tempest station that Charlotte and Faraday supposedly disabled? Who knows?

One thing we did learn from these scenes is that the Freighter Team had no intentions of rescuing the 815 survivors. This is a very interesting development in the storyline of the season, because the whole season we’ve been lead to believe that eventually the Freighter was going to take them away from the Island, but now we’re lead to believe they’re not going to at all.

This also raises the question - - If the Freighter doesn’t take the Oceanic Six (Jack, Kate, Aaron Hurley, Sayid, and Sun) off the island, then how do they get off? It is what I am interested to know. I cannot wait to see where the whole “get off the island” goes now that we know that the Freighter is not directly responsible. They got the ball rolling in the long scheme of things, but it isn’t what gets the Oceanic Six off the Island, and I am excited to see what actually does.

Now, the meat of this episode lies (like so many great LOST episodes) in the final scene. The final scene of the episode transpires between Widmore and Ben. Now, I must say, this scene is the scene that raised a lot of questions for me. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. For one, this scene really did set off the off-island Linus-Widmore war. We have seen the beginnings of an on-island Linus-Widmore war (which may or not have been a hoax), but now it seems the hunt is “on.” I look forward to more Ben-centric episodes where we see Ben and Penny possibly interacting, when Ben finds her and possibly kills her. I also look forward to the moment when Widmore sets foot on the Island once more. So many possibilities . . .

Some other questions that were raised is the longstanding rivalry between Widmore and Ben. In the scene, Ben confesses that he can’t kill Widmore. Why can’t he? Is Widmore immortal? The sky is the limit with the questions. Widmore also mentions that he “knows” several things about Ben, like who he is, what he is, and that everything Ben has, he took from Widmore. Like I said, this scene raised so many questions that I know will be answered in the coming seasons, as LOST is drawing to a close at the conclusion of the sixth season, which makes this more questions thing a little bit easier to swallow.

All in all, a very powerful, emotionally gripping episode. I really enjoyed it. Everything seems to be amping up like never before on LOST this season. The episode seemed to have everything - - heart, story, action, and of course - - questions, lots and lots of questions.

This episode was aptly titled “The Shape of Things to Come.” I really love these epic titles they have chosen this season. The premiere episode was The Beginning of the End, which I think was gutsy, and now this episode being titled as it was. If this is truly the shape of things to come, than I feel we are in for a quite a ride this season. I simply cannot wait to see where we go from here.

RATING: 10/10