Lost: This island is bad!

Another Wednesday, another awesome episode of Lost.

See, the problem is, we’re five seasons into this show now. And the producers have finally learned from their mistakes. Every single episode now is jam-packed with forward movement, and intriguing dialogue, and new twists to the mythology. Had I been recapping this show in an earlier season, an entire review might have read: “We learn that Jack has daddy issues, and that he wants to make out with Kate but is too scared. Also, Sawyer plays ping pong.” But now, every episode has about nine hundred things happening that will all presumably be relevant come the season finale. It’s cool, albeit exhausting.

Anyway, as for this week…

The basics: We spend most of our time on the island for a Jin-focused episode. Jin hangs out in 1988 with Danielle Rousseau and her crew until they go bonkers. Then he meets up with the rest of his islander friends and they all time-warp together over to the Orchid. (Well, except for Charlotte, who dies on the way, and Daniel, who stops to watch.) When they get to the Orchid, all that remains is a well, and Locke climbs down in and tries to turn the wheel so he can leave the island and save them or whatever. Meanwhile, in L.A., the Oceanic Five (everyone but Hurley) is assembled at the marina, but Kate, Aaron and Sayid take off once they realize what Ben is up to. Ben manipulates Sun and Jack into coming with him to see Mrs. Hawking, but since they made such a big deal about how he needed all of them, I don’t see what this is going to accomplish. Also, Desmond shows up, looking strangely hot. “All right! Let’s get started!” says Mrs. Hawking. (And, indeed, let’s. Is anyone else getting the feeling that this is like that scene two hours into Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf was all, “Okay! We have a Fellowship now, let’s head off on our journey!” and it was like, “Uh, are you telling me those past two hours I’ve spent sucking down soda in a poorly ventilated multiplex while you guys tramped all over the Shire were just the friggin’ prologue?”)

The good:

• Jin, Jin, Jin. I decided this week that he’s the show’s best-written character. True, most of his development happened back in season 1, but he’s consistently interesting and I don’t think he’s annoyed me once. And there are always a bunch of “Awww” moments in every Jin episode. Also, I mean, it’s Daniel Dae Kim.  What’s not to love?
• In Frenchieland 1988, the smoke monster is at its fiercest, and it manages to rip off one guy’s arm and drive the rest of Danielle’s crew, including her husband, whacko. So she kills them all. It’s pretty darn cool. Apparently this whole story was told in a previous season but I had totally forgotten it.
• The Frenchies have their own version of Daniel – a geeky guy who draws outlines of radio towers in the sand – and I already love him. As does Danielle. He’s her husband, Robert! (The Frenchies also have their own Sawyer, but sadly, he seems to be in charge. Up until he gets his arm ripped off.)
• When Jin meets up with the rest of our time-warping island crew, he and Sawyer share a big, overjoyed hug. I’d forgotten they were friends. It was a cute moment.
• We get to see Sawyer try to explain the time-warp concept to Jin as if Jin speaks English but is simply very stupid. Most of the time Sawyer’s provincialism is irritating but sometimes, like in this scene, it’s funny.
• Charlotte’s death scene is well-done. First, she goes delusional for a while and thinks she’s a little kid, but it’s interesting, not disturbing. Also, she mentions a love for Geronimo Jackson, which is a random bit of continuity that I guess is supposed to appease us season 2 fans. The way she babbles out her origin story makes it obvious pretty early on that she’ll be dead by the end of the episode, but that’s okay. She was always the least interesting, by far, of the Boaties, and Daniel will be much more fun to watch with a dead girlfriend than a live one. We do have to see Jeremy Davies cry, though, which is creepy.
• Juliet is mostly useless, as usual. But when Locke goes down into the Orchid well, she offers up this gem: “John, if whatever you’re attempting to do actually works, thank you.” Y’know, I hate Juliet, but she’s probably the character on this show who’s most like me. Hmm.
• Sun’s daughter, Ji Yeon, phones in an appearance, and is adorable. This does not stop Sun from hanging up on her and charging off to kill Ben, however, which is even cooler.
• So far this season, the writers and Michael Emerson are doing their best to make us forget that Ben is a psychopath. I suspect that this is building up to something cool in the second half of the season.

The bad:

• When Locke goes down the well at the Orchid, he spots someone skulking around. It’s Jack’s dad, Christian Shepard (I always want to call him Christian Slater),  aka Jacob. You know, if this actor had been playing Jacob from the beginning, I think I’d be into it. But because I was forced to endure several flashback episodes with extensive Jack’s-daddy-issues footage, not to mention that awful Ana Lucia ep, all of which prominently featured this guy, I can’t stand him in any incarnation.
• Juliet is still alive.

The stuff that will matter next week:

While dying, Charlotte says she grew up on the island as part of the Dharma Initiative, but left with her mother while she was still young, leaving her father behind. Then, her mother told her the island wasn’t real and that Charlotte had made it up. But sometime during her childhood, Charlotte saw a crazy man who told her to leave the island and never come back. Now she thinks that man was Daniel. So presumably we’ll be seeing a little redheaded English girl in a future time-warp. Wait, didn’t Ben have a little girlfriend when he was a Dharma kid? No, no, I’m not going to predict or analyze, that’s how I got burned back in season 1. Not going to think about that anymore. I’m covering my ears and humming, here.

Also, when Locke goes down the well, he winds up falling and impaling his leg. Then, per Christian Jacob’s instructions, he goes to the wheel Ben turned in last season’s finale,  which has been bumped off its axis, and gives it a little push. So now I guess Locke’s going to L.A. to die, or something.

Next week, Ms. Hawking gives us the history of the island’s physics or something, and it looks like we have an entire episode about the Oceanic Six. Oh, lordy.

Season 5, Episode 5: This Place is Death (originally aired February 11, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Not Without My Jin by J.B. Perlow.

For more on Lost, click here.

Wednesdays, 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC