Thursday, November 09, 2006

Lost: The Fall Finale


Wow, last night was just an awesome episode of Lost, leaving us wanting more. Those final 2 minutes were the most intense I've seen on the show. This will be a long 3 months because last night was the final episode before the show takes a break until February 7, 2007.

''I Do'' laid out more of Kate's fugitive past and exposed some of her slip-ups. Kate's flashbacks in Miami weren't as exciting as the action on the island, but they were full of fun details such as her alias, Monica; her happy wedding; taco night; her honeymoon tickets, booked on Oceanic; her negative pregnancy test; and the drug-laced drink she gave her husband. We learned that she is a woman perpetually torn between fight or flight. In the episode's final, intense moments, Jack illuminated Kate's dual nature by asking her to recall a story he'd told when they first met. Thanks to a lot of online searching this is it: In it, Jack had described an attack of acute presurgery fear, and Kate had said her instinct would have been to run, to which Jack had replied, ''You're not running now.'' This mirrored the events with Jack inside the Hydra, screaming into the walkie-talkie, ''Run, Kate! Run!'' while she refused, sobbing and terrified.

There are those who believe the castaways are on the island for various forms of spiritual resolution. The inner battle of stay vs. go would seem to be the deep-seated issue that Kate is there to work though, complicated by the fact that she's torn between two men. Her tryst with Sawyer in the bear cage was brutally hot and I'm happy to see them together because I never thought that she and Jack made a good couple. However, I do still believe that Kate is struggling with her strong feelings for Sawyer and her strong feelings for Jack. When Juliet marched Kate into Jack's cell, it was very obvious that all Kate did was weep when he asked if she'd been hurt not because Jack asked her but because she realized he loved her. She knew that eventually she will have to choose.

I loved seeing Jack flip his lid in the OR and regain control of his situation. When he assaulted an Other in scrubs and demanded contact with Kate, my heart was racing. Surely, following the hiatus, Jack will stitch up the kidney-sac incision he made, so that Ben can wake up and restore order because Pickett is wreaking havoc without anyone in charge. But one thing though, who's really in charge? As Ben's surgery began, hothead Pickett said, ''Shepard wasn't even on Jacob's list.'' Who's Jacob? What list? Would that make Ben just an underling who reports to head-honcho Jacob? If Jack is not on the list, then why did they take him? Just for the surgery? Since they were so gung ho about killing Saywer, does that mean only Kate is on the list?

Now back to that hot cage sex scene. I thought it was perfect timing in the series — not too soon, not too late. I was, however, a little surprised that they weren't caught. Kate was obviously not supposed to break out of her cage or into Sawyer's, or was she? Also, Sawyer's aware, ever since Ben's violent visit, that the cages are monitored. Then there's the question of how gross two plane-wrecked people on a humid island have to get before sex is unthinkable. Not that acting like animals in heat, outdoors in broad daylight, can't be hot. But I kept thinking, they must be incredibly horny to overcome totally rank jungle stank.

The important thing is that Kate threw herself at Sawyer and he confessed his love. He's vulnerable to heartbreak and she's in love with two men. When Sawyer asked whether she really did love him, she was quiet, kissing him instead, but I'll bet the episode's title is her answer. I still think there is something they need to do with Kate, which is why they use her guys to manipulate her. Anyway, you could tell that Jack's heart broke in the Hydra control room (which was suspiciously empty and full of guns) after he spotted Sawyer snuggling Kate on a security camera. Then, desperate to ''get the hell off this island,'' he consented to operate on Ben. Another question, why, and how, did Alex help free Jack? It also seems that she has a history with Ben, who asked about her moments before surgery. Was she kidnapped from Rousseau and raised by Ben? Alex intrigues me, and I hope we see more of her.

We didn't get to see much of the other castaways. We only saw Eko's brief funeral and Locke seeing a message on his stick, telling him to look north. Why? We also saw previews from future episodes, which raise new questions. But for now, let me just deal with the questions the finale raised: Will Kate and Sawyer get away? Will Jack let Ben die? Is Alex a dissenter or a collaborator putting on a performance? Is Juliet a manipulator, a victim, or the brains behind it all? Who is Jacob? What is this "list"? And just as important, who is on it and why? Is the list of people they need to get rid of or keep? Will Daybreak be a worthy show? All we can do is wonder and speculate. These will be a very long three months. See your next Lost summary on February 8th.

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