LOST Week, Part Four, or Don’t tell me what I can’t do!
Hello hello and welcome to part four of LOST Week here at in medias res. There’s just a few more days til the finale and grief is setting in. I’m going to miss this show. Let’s get to the list. Tonight’s top 5 is (drumroll, please)…my Top Five WTF?!?! Moments. These will be the top 5 moments that made me say ….whaaaaat?!?! Please understand that this is a show with an unending supply of WTF moments. So there will inevitably be something that someone who reads this thinks should be on here that isn’t on here. Deal with it This is my list. So, alright, let’s do it.
5. Michael shoots Ana-Lucia and Libby, Episode 220, “Two For the Road” – This is one plot twist that I didn’t at all see coming. Whether or not this was related to Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros’s law trouble in Hawaii, Michael shooting these two characters and himself, then letting Ben go at the end of “Two for the Road” and the beginning of “?” remains one of the most surprising moment in the history of the series. It’s amazing what a parent will do to get their child back (an idea the series had already explored, with Rousseau stealing Aaron in hopes of exchanging him for Alex back in Season One).
4. Sawyer shoots POLAR BEAR?!, Episode 102, “Pilot, part 2″ – Okay, so I know given all of the things that have happened in the six seasons of this show’s existence, you wouldn’t think this would make the list. But seriously, do you REMEMBER how shocking this was? We didn’t know anything about this island except for the shaking trees and the dead pilot and all of a sudden there’s a FRIGGIN’ POLAR BEAR? I mean, seriously. That’s ridiculous. And it turns out it had to do with the Dharma Initiative all along. This was Episode TWO. We didn’t hear about the Dharma Initiative til a few episodes into Season Two at the earliest. And who says the writers make this stuff up as they go along?
3. Locke used to be in a wheelchair, Episode 104, ‘Walkabout” – Here’s something that we’ve known so long, it’s easy to forget how shocking it was when it was first revealed. This crazy capable hunter guy on the island was completely wheelchair bound for 4 years before showing up on the island. The island healed him. WHAAAAT? This was the point in the first season where it really started to become clear that there some wacky wacky stuff up with the island. Not only are there polar bears and tree-moving monsters, but it was healing people. The island. A piece of land. Healing people.
2. The Others kidnap Walt, Episode 124, “Exodus, Part 2″ – With a brilliant bit of misdirection, fooling the cast and the viewer, the writers tell us the Others were coming for “the boy.” Everyone thought it was Aaron until that spotlight shone on the raft and good ol’ Mr. Friendly said the words “We’re gonna have to take the boy.” We knew there was something different about Walt, and apparently the Others had figured it out as well. I’ll never forget the chill that ran down my spine as Michael was treading water yelling “WALT!” over and over. Poor papa.
1. FlashFORWARD?, Episode 324, “Through the Looking Glass, Part 2″ – So we watch this whole season finale watching what we think are flashbacks to Jack in a drug-addled, paranoid, suicidal state and we think “Man, what’s up with Jack?” None of this vibes with the Jack we’ve seen in prior flashbacks. Oh, he certainly didn’t have it all together, but he was always too busy fixing things to get this messed up. My first clue was when we see Jack in his house/apartment surrounded by maps. I remember thinking “What’s up with all these maps?” Then he heads to the airport to meet someone and who is it, but Kate Austen. You know the rest. This moment was a complete game-changer. When Jack said the words “WE HAVE TO GO BACK,” I knew the whole dynamic of the show was changing, and it did. Brilliant, brilliant idea.
Alright, just a couple more days left. See you tomorrow for Part 5.