TBG TV: Lost - "This Place is Death"

The Good:

That was a superbly suspenseful few seconds between Jin and the French team realizing Nadine was missing and Jin's acknowledgement of the smoke monster. The camerawork was especially claustrophobic; slowly closing in until Jin's "RUN!" shattered the silence.

I was ready to crap all over the absurd tug-of-war between the French team and the smoke monster right up until dude's arm is ripped off. Just a gloriously gory (by non-cable television standards) visual and a much more effective way of conveying the monster as a threat than the cartoonish way it killed off Mr. Eko back in the third season.

Loved when Ben pulled the van over to confront the open conversation Jack and Sun were having about…killing Ben. All that was missing was a bug-eyed turn with Ben blurting out, "I'm right here, y'know!"

Sometimes, a little exposition goes a long way. Charlotte's scene with Faraday was well done, with more background on her character than we've ever gotten to this point and the added bonus of accompanying answers with more questions. Faraday as a crazy old man? Sweet!

I'm gonna miss m'girl Charlotte. On the one hand, she was actually an interesting character, so I wasn't rooting for her demise as I was with Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Ana Lucia, Libby and, hopefully, Hurley. On the other, most of the island deaths have – to date – been pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of the storyline. Charlotte's demise actually seems tied to the eventual endgame, so I'll refrain from ripping it. For now.

"He's Korean. I'm from Encino."


The Bad:

I will NOT stop making this point: Sun isn't the least bit believable in her "Sun Bradshaw Layfield" heel CEO role. This ill-fitting character development isn't helped when the script requires her to wield a gun, as she did throughout most of this episode. There hasn't been a less-threatening chick packing heat the since this.

Could've done without that silly scene where an exasperated Jin channels his inner Ricky Ricardo and goes off on a rant in his native tongue, with everyone else standing around looking for a translator.

The whole scene where the Oceanic Six essentially goes their separate ways was just…awkward. I mean, I get why Kate won't do Ben any favors and – to a lesser extent – why Sayid wants nothing to do with him, either. But, the execution was especially clunky. Did we really need this contrived conflict to draw the storyline out? They're all going to end up going back to the island, right? If saving their friends isn't a compelling enough reason to win over those who are resistant, I'd love to know what eventually gets 'em to change their minds.

The climactic scene between Jin and Locke was…well, I'm torn. Jin was convincing, practically begging Locke not to bring Sun back to the island, but why on earth would any of the survivors trust Locke at this point? He's clearly established as being only out for his – and, more importantly, the island's – best interests. Don't say I didn't warn you, Jin.


Verdict: This episode has been negatively shredded by a lot of fans online, but I dug it. Though not as good as last week's outing, I'm liking the layering of the past (specifically, the Rousseau arc) with the present. I've even been beaten into submission – with reluctant acceptance – on the time traveling flashes of doom thingie. Next week promises an awful lot of Jack, though. I'll be hatin' again, soon enough.