Castaways: And So it Begins, the Beginning of the End

***Castaways is a feature dedicated to one of my favorite TV shows, Lost. I am a huge fan (though not nearly as obsessive as some) and this feature will spotlight episodes reviews and other theories/discussion on a weekly/Biweekly schedule during the course of the season. WARNING. The following article assumes you have seen the respective episodes to date. If this is not the case, please beware of spoilers.***

Episodes Reviewed:
4.1-“The Beginning of the End”
4.2- “Confirmed Dead”
Mobisode 13- “So it Begins”


So with last week we began with the highly anticipated fourth season premiere of Lost “The Beginning of the End.” When last we left our favorite Losties in the series changing finale “Through the Looking Glass”, Charlie had sacrificed himself to allow a radio transmission for help, though not before warning Desmond that it was “Not Penny’s Boat.” Savior Jack had brought his people up the mountain, captured Ben, and called Naomi’s freighter friends for help. But not before Locke and risen from the skeleton pit to knife Naomi in the back.

So things should be good, right? Help is on the way. Well of course not, this is Lost, and we all know that the future is a foreboding one of Jack hopped up on meds with a scraggly beard, wanting to jump off of bridges and yelling to Kate that they have to go back. But how exactly did they get to this predicament? Well this week’s flashforward does not offer up the answers to this particular question, but it does provide us a solid Hurley story, which we haven’t really seen since “Dave.”

Hurley flips out in a convenience store and after a short-lived OJ chase, is brought in by the cops. He pleads to go back to the nuthouse and they gladly grant it. There he meets the effectively creepy Abaddon who offers to get him out of the hospital, and wants to know what happened to the rest of the Oceanic 815 survivors. Hurley flips, he leaves, but Hurley is haunted by Charlie. Later on relaxing outside, a very lucid Charlie visits Hurley, clearly accepting the fact that he is dead, but yet is here. He warns Hurley that “you know they need you.” Whatever that means. A not yet bearded Jack shows up at the end to play a round of horse with Hurley. Jack’s afraid that Hurley will “tell their secret” and Hurley assures he won’t, and admits to Jack that he was wrong to go with Locke.

This Hurley flashforward offers up some good stuff. The first of which is the short haired Charlie. This seems to differ from his visions of imaginary friend Dave. He knew, only what Hugo did. Vision Charlie (as I like to call him) seems to be far more aware of things than Hurley does. He admits to his own death, but also to the importance of Hulrey’s mission. If Vision Charlie was purely a figment of his imagination (ala Dave) why would Hugo imagine him with a haircut, one of which Hurley has never seen him with? Maybe its just me, but I tend to recollect people the way they were, not as if they have changed. Maybe that’s just me. In this way Vision Charlie is startlingly like the old woman who visited Desmond in last years “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Vision Charlie seems to want to correct the timeline though albeit in a cryptic manner.

Also good is the inclusion of the Oceanic Six. So far we know Jack, Kate, and Hurley with three others got off the island (I know who the other three are, but that would be telling.) I like that the surviving six have kinda become celebrities in the future, this can lead to interesting things is future flashforwards, especially when Jack mounts his return to the island. Theory: Jack and Kate return to the island and thanks to some weird time paradox become the Adam & Eve skeleton in the cave of season 1.

Back on the island in “present time” Desmond returns to warn of Charlie’s death and the freighter people in general. The beach group heads off to tell Jack. On their way to do so, Hurley gets separated and finds himself at Jacobs cabin. After seeing Christian Shephard through the window, along with Jacob’s eye. Hurley meets up with Locke, and decides Jack’s wrong. Meanwhile not quite dead Naomi has run off, and the freighter people are getting suspicious. After all, are girl can only be collecting firewood for so long. Kate finds Naomi in a tree, they tussle and Naomi covers for the Losties, radioing her last message to the boat “Tell my sister love her.”

The 815ers finally all get together and mourn Charlie’s death, and the great schism occurs, splitting the survivors into two groups. Team Locke, comprised of Hurley, Calire, Alex, Carl, Sawyer, Rousso, Ben, and tons of extras who are heading back to the New Otherville barracks for safety to fight of the supposed rescuers. And Team Jack of Kate, Juliet (way to go with both ladies Jack!) Desmond, Sayid, Sun, Jin, Rose, Bernard, and way fewer extras who want to hitch a helicopter ride home and wait for the freighter people. Oh how quickly people loose faith in Jack. The Man of Science, Man of Faith lines are now clearly drawn. And we are left with Upham from Saving Private Ryan, parachuting down to rescue Jack’s people.

Lost seasons premieres seem to follow the reverse Star Trek movie motif, the odd ones are amazing, the evens are just good. While season four’s premiere isn’t bad, it does feel a tad like filler. There is a lot positioning of the chess pieces on the board to establish what looks to be a fascinating season four. Unfortunately, it kinda seemed poorly written, which is odd considering its from creators Carlton Cuse and Dameon Lindeloff who penned many a key and awesome episode over the course of the series, including the aforementioned season three finale. There are several scenes where we cut back and a character says “So that’s what happened to Charlie” or something to that affect. I understand why they do it. People need to get information and you don’t want to repeat it too many times, especially since it would take away from the very moving “I’m going with my friend” speech Hurley gives to divide the Losties in twain. But it all seems like a stall tactic til the rescuers come. I mean, anyone who thought Naomi was really dead from Locke’s knife last season is delusional. Mikhail (aka Patchy) died what, like three times last season? People on Lost have more lives than a cat (still waiting for that zombie season Carlton and Dameon) with maybe the exception of Pablo and Nikki. Still, “The Beginning of the End” is reminiscent of season two opener, where we spent three episodes around the first ten minutes of opening the hatch (remember the days of the Hatch, oh how far we’ve come.) Basically the episode is an IOU, a promise of ass-kickery to come.

This kicks into high gear with great affect in episode 4.2 “Confirmed Dead.” Now this is the season premiere we wanted to see. “Confirmed Dead” introduces us to the rescuer (or the bizarro Fantastic Four as I like to call them), each one of the four with their own flashback. We really get to see the crashed Oceanic 815 that Naomi eluded to last season in “D.O.C” There are a lot of questions raised. Why do they want Ben? How do they have a picture of adult Ben if he has never left the island? Is Abaddon Dharma? How did a Dharma polar bear end up in Tunsia? Why was Charlotte looking for it? Why was she not surprise to find it? Why was Daniel crying at the sight of the wreckage? How does Miles communication with the dead fit into all this? Why were these people chosen for a reason? How will Hurley seeing Jacob affect things to come? Whose Ben’s man on the boat? The list goes on. This is the true awesomeness of Lost, to give us these mysteries. Not only that, we get some nice character moment.

Kate: Why didn’t you tell me we had back –up?
Jack: I gave you the wink, thing…

I love that. Sawyer calling Locke Col Kurtz. Its all great with some nice action thrown in. Leave it up to Lost vet Drew Goddard, fresh off the success of Cloverfield to give the fans everything the want. How the hell is Locke still walking? I screamed during the opener, and here he at least gives a reason why they aren’t digging another grave. “Confirmed Dead” sets the stage for an awesome season to come. And honestly, I can’t wait.

Finally lets talk about something that some fans might have missed, the Lost mobisodes (which ironically enough, is something the WGA strike is about) that were a Verizon marketing scheme. to download to your cellphone but are also featured a week later on ABC.Com. Instead of being throwaways featuring non-cast members these short 2-3 minute eps are like deleted scenes of the series. Most of them are trivial little things like Juliet looking at Ben’s X-rays and knowing he has cancer, but as a whole they are very enlightening. Several feature Jack, Michael, and Sun and Jin as well as Ben and Juliet. One would expect that these are the key figures in season 4. However the most important installment is called “So it Begins” the final episode, thirteen. It features Christian Shephard walking around in a suit on the island, and telling Vincent to go wake up his son, cause he has “work to do.” This leads directly into the first scene of the pilot. This little missing piece could possibly the most important of all and its so awesome that the creator did it in this way.

Christian Shephard’s presence on the island has been a contention among fans for the whole series. Ever since Jack started seeing him in the first season, there has been much speculation of his role in the overall scheme of the show. Many even wondered if he was indeed Jacob himself.

With this episode we have Christian walking around, able to communicate with Vincent, and aware of some higher purpose for Jack. This is the first time we’ve seen him minus a person (Jack seeing him) Speculating that he is like Yemi is a tad premature because Yemi clearly stated to Eko that he wasn’t his brother. Christian states to go get “my son” meaning Jack. Is he the smoke monster? I don’t know. But this is the first time a vision has appeared without a witness, unless you count Vincent, which I don’t. It also makes Christian appearance to Hurley in Jacob’s cabin, even more monumental. I have a feeling Christian Shephard will be an integral part of season four.

So with these three things my obsession with all things Lost has once again kicked into to high gear. Watch enjoy, and speculate. I’d love to hear others thoughts. And for all the fans of the show please check out Lostpedia.com, which is where I obtained all photos. It’s a great site for all Lost fans.

Until next week….




Coming Soon: 4.3 "The Economist"