Lost: Episodes 23-24

Recaps of the last two episodes of Lost Season 1, after the jump:

Episode 23 (Exodus, Part 1)

1. Okay guys, let’s do this! The next three hours should explain all the mysteries and clarify exactly what’s been going on for all these epi–oh, things are about to get much more confusing? Okay.
2. The “previouslies” feature Artz so some annoying stuff is obviously poised to happen. But first we flash back to Walt in Sydney, watching Power Rangers at 5am while Michael tries to sleep. They argue and Walt runs away saying “leave me alone!” and you get the idea. Cut to the Island where…
3. Walt wakes up. He’d been sleeping next to Michael in their tent. He walks over to the trees to pee and thinks he hears something in the jungle. And he does! It’s Rousseau, stalking around with a rifle! OMG she shot Walt in the face! No, just kidding. She walks into camp and sees Walt looking at her. He runs away to wake Michael up. Everybody wakes up. Rousseau is creepy and weird. Sayid tells everyone to calm down. Claire’s baby cries, like a tiny little Jack Shepherd. Danielle tells Sayid that “the Others are coming”. WHY THE FACE!
4. Rousseau is telling everyone her story. She says she delivered her baby herself (she still won’t use a gendered pronoun!). She says after a week she saw a column of grey smoke, inland, and they came and took Alex. But now we know, of course, that it wasn’t “they”–it was Ben. Just Ben. Anyway, Rousseau offers 3 options: run, hide, or die. What about fight? Or, since we’re on Lost, how about crying or yelling into the jungle?
5. Jack gets all the extras to help Michael launch the raft. Inspiring music plays as the principals all push/pull the raft towards shore. It’s working! IT’S WORKING! Whoops. It broke a little bit. While they argue about it Walt espies a column of grey smoke, inland. That can’t be good.
6. They show Rousseau the hatch. She’s never seen it before. I guess they’re hoping they can get it open so everyone can hide in there. It’s decided that they should use explosives to blow it up. They’re finally going to the Black Rock, yay!
7. Flashback to Jack in a suit. Oh hey, look who shows up at the bar next to him. It’s Michele Rodriguez, AKA Anna Lucia, AKA “not a fan favorite”. They’re at the airport bar, and she asks about his dead dad and all that crap. He says his dad died of a heart attack, that he isn’t a drinker, and that he’s not married anymore. Oh PS, she’s drinking a “tequila and tonic” because she wants to maximize the disgustingness of her drink. She says she’s seated in the back of the plane. I’m surprised they managed to restrain themselves from playing an ominous orchestral swell right after that. Anyway, she gets a phone call and says they should catch up on the plane. Last words: “the worst part’s over”. What the hell is that supposed to mean, A.L.?
8. Back on the beach, Jack is telling everyone that they’re going into the jungle to get supplies, and that the rest of the group should help Michael with the raft and then go to the caves. Artz is a dick to him about the plan (which he heard from Hurley). Artz claims to be a dynamite expert and offers to help. I don’t remember the actor’s name, but he really “blew up” towards the end of this season.
9. In flashback, we see Sawyer back at the Sydney police station where we saw him throw a hissy fit in Boone’s flashback a while back. Turns out that Sawyer had been in a bar fight 3 days before (when Boone was there); in the meantime, they found out he’s got a criminal record and is a jerk, and because (conveniently) he’s not worth the cost of incarcerating, they decide they’ll throw him on a plane back to America.
10. Back on the Island, he’s cutting bamboo for some reason. Jack finds him and gives him a gun for safety reasons. Since Sawyer figures he’ll be gone on the raft by the time Jack gets back, he tells him about meeting his dad in Sydney. He tells Jack that Christian knew it was all his fault–”kids are like dogs; knock ‘em around enough, they’ll start thinking they did something to deserve it.” Considering how many people on Lost have problems with father figures, I think that is an important statement as applied to this television program. Oh yeah, and Jack is crying again. Anyway, they say their goodbyes.
11. Flashback to the marshal checking his briefcase filled with guns. That toy airplane she’d buried in the NKOTB lunchbox is in the case, too. The marshal is being a giant jerk so I guess it’s okay that he died. Anyway, it turns out that the robbery we saw her in earlier in the season was actually just to get the toy plane–not any money. She killed some people in that robbery, as I recall. That’s messed up.
12. Island time again. Kate goes to Jack and offers to go with him. He says okay. It’s a riveting scene.
13. On the beach, they’re getting ready to launch the raft. It’s all very hopeful as Jack says goodbye to Michael, Walt, and Jin. Kate goes there to say goodbye to Sawyer because she didn’t realize he wouldn’t be there. Guess she’ll never see him again!
14. By the water, on their way to the Black Rock, Locke sees scratches on Rousseau’s arm. She says they’re from a bush. Arzt tells Hurley that it’s actually Arzt, not Artz. Whoops. I’m not going back to change it in the writeups, though. Also, his first name is Leslie. Maybe his middle name is “Knope”? Rousseau leads them to the “dark territory”. She says this is where it all began–where one dude lost his arm. So they’re near the temple! Anyway, Arzt panics and says he’s going back because he doesn’t want to lose his arm.
15. Sawyer appears back at the raft. He’s cut a perfect mast for them because he wants to help, because deep down he’s a good person. Oh, and he’s walking around with his shirt off of course.
16. The Black Rock crew hears some noises in the jungle. Sounds like chanting or something. It’s… Arzt, running from the smoke monster! This is explosive! Locke tells Hurley to just be still, as Jack and Rousseau and Kate run away. Looks like it’s headed the other way. How did Locke know? Kate asks Rousseau what that thing was? Rousseau says it’s a security system to protect the Island. Like she knows. Arzt pops out from the jungle with his bad attitude.
17. Walt finds Shannon folding clothes. She puts on an Arzty attitude at first but then Walt suggests that she take Vincent, to take care of her. He thinks she could talk to Vincent about Boone. She fights back tears, and it’s kinda sweet. She says she’ll give Vincent back once they’re rescued.
18. Flashback to Shannon at the airport. Sayid asks if she’ll watch his bag, which I’m surprised she didn’t say anything snide about him looking like a terrorist. Boone comes back and tells her that he couldn’t get them in first class because she yelled at the gate agent, and he says “one day you’ll appreciate everything I do for you”. She says “you have no idea what I’m capable of”. Then she tells a cop that “some arab guy” left a bag downstairs and walked away. What a b-word.
19. On the beach, Sayid is showing them how to radar device and radio transmitter on the raft. He also gives Michael a flare-gun. In the jungle, they’re finally at the Black Rock. It’s an old boat, you guys! It looks fake.
20. Another airport flashback. Sun brings coffee to Jin, who says “why did it take so long?” Nice, Jin, really nice. An American couple thrilled to get speaking parts in this episode remark on how Jin treats Sun, while she reluctantly pretends she can’t understand them. But she does “accidentally” spill coffee on Jin’s lap, so obviously she doesn’t like being seen that way.
21. Anyway, she goes over to Jin by the raft and gives him something. What is it? It’s transliterated Korean, so he can speak basic nautical English phonetically. That was very thoughtful, Sun. It makes Jin apologize. Then they both cry. I swear, you spend a few days around Jack and you’re a teary mess all the time. Anyway, he says he was ashamed, and is leaving so he can save her. He says Jack will keep her safe until then. I bet they wish they had reconciled a little sooner. Like, uh, the night before, if you catch my drift. Anyway, they love each other again and she forgives him and they have a goodbye kiss.
22. Finally, everyone says their last goodbyes and gathers around the raft. Walt hugs Vincent. Jin kisses Claire’s baby. Michael and Sun shake hands but the sexual tension is so strong that they have to hug. Etc. etc. Lots of farewells. They push the raft out, and it starts to float out to sea. What a happy moment this is. Walt tells Vincent to stay. He does. They raise a sail. It’s so awesome. Walt says “we did it!” although I have to say, even on a normal island wouldn’t this just be the first step with lots of room for things to go wrong? That raft, out on the open emerald water, does look great in HD though.
23. We close ominously, on the column of grey smoke.
24. LOST

Okay guys, in between watching Part 1 and Part 2 I managed to catch the Season 6 premiere. I’ll have more to say about that later on, I imagine, but for now I’ll just say that the following recap, in addition to spoiling the first 5 seasons of Lost, may touch on last night’s episode as well. Let’s get started.

Episode 23 (Exodus, Part 2)

1. Oh boy. I totally forget everything about this episode except for the very last shot, so hopefully I’ll be surprised by something here.
2. After the previouslies, we open on the eye of a crying baby. Claire’s freaking out. Charlie wants to help but she’s not persuaded that it’s going to be okay. Maybe because she knows the Others are going to try to steal the baby away. Charlie asks Sayid for a gun. Sayid notes that the last time he had a gun he killed somebody. Charlie says yes, that’s kind of the idea here. Sayid refuses to arm him, though.
3. Jack, Locke, Kate, Hurley, Rousseau, and Arzt are at the Black Rock set. Hurley wonders how an old ship ended up in the middle of the Island. I wonder if we’ll ever get an answer to that? Maybe the Island rose up from beneath it? Rousseau skips out–Locke says he’ll lead them back. Arzt is a weenie and won’t go into the “ghost ship”. Hurley concurs. Jack, Locke and Kate go in to get the dynamite. It’s dark in there. There are chains and skeletons everywhere–looks like a slave ship. Locke thinks it was sailing from the eastern coast of Africa, to a mining colony. Anyway. They find the dynamite eventually.
4. Outside, Arzt makes some passive-aggressive remarks to Hurley about how he’s an outsider and not cool enough for them. He notes that there are 40 other survivors of the crash and “we are all people too”. This is all very meta. Anyway, Hurley replies that the actors in those roles are not all getting paid like real people, so obviously Arzt has it all wrong. Anyway, he keeps on ranting in a way that is obviously intended to make us annoyed with him. Then he sees Locke and Jack carrying out the dynamite and blows up at them for not handling it carefully enough. Then he gives a lecture about safety. He explains that in high heat & humidity nitroglycerin sweats, and it’s all extremely unstable. He’s condescending and pushy. Then he gesticulates and explodes everywhere! It’s pretty funny.
5. Flashback to Sayid at the airport–the police let him go. In the restroom, a guy who works for Mr. Paik (Sun’s dad) tells Jin that he’s been following him and knows he’s planning to run away. He tells him to take the watch to a guy in California or else… “you will lose her”. He adds that “you are not free. You never have been and you never will be”. That’s sad.
6. Now we see the guys on the raft. They marvel at the size of the island. Michael’s excited to leave. Walt worries about the others while Sawyer sings “Redemption Song” because he enjoys imagery. Jin doesn’t know the song.
7. Sun looks out at the ocean as Shannon struggles hilariously with her luggage and Vincent. Sayid asks if she really needs everything and she is rude to him when he tries to help. He notes that she’s bringing Boone’s stuff with her. She cries again. She wants to give up. Sayid encourages her to buck up.
8. Hurley sits in the jungle and thinks about watching a dude blow up in front of him. He says it was messed up. He says it’s his fault because he’s bad luck. She tells him to stop being such a weenie and recognize that it was just an accident. He’s not persuaded. Meanwhile, Jack and Locke get ready to wrap dynamite in wet cloth. In light of a guy exploding recently this scene is kind of intense. Jack says maybe this isn’t the best way but Locke rejoins, “it’s the only way”. So yeah, it’s a tense little scene but nobody explodes anymore.
9. Charlie makes for Claire a Baby Bjorn ™. Claire kisses him on the cheek. Charlie pops a boner. Rousseau runs over and screams for Sayid. Then she spies the baby and starts being weird. She asks the baby’s name and asks to hold him and gets really, really intense. She holds out her arm for him and Claire sees the scratches. Then Claire remembers that she was the one who scratched Rousseau, when Rousseau was the one who attacked her or something! OMG!
10. Flashback to Charlie sneaking out on a groupie in a hotel room. He’s on his way to Oceanic 815. He grabs the heroin for the road. The groupie sees it and they fight for it. He throws her to the ground. She beats him with her shoe and calls him pathetic. This is an ugly scene. But he still has his heroin at least!
11. Back on the Island he runs after Sayid and says Rousseau was asking for him. Sayid runs to the beach. Someone hit Claire on the head and took the baby! It was Rousseau! Charlie hits Sayid in the face! Good times.
12. Dynamite stuff. Jack still has a chunk of Arzt on his shoulder. Heh. They draw straws and it turns out Kate and Locke will be the ones carrying the dynamite to the hatch.
13. On the raft, they try out the radar. Locke’s reading all the messages in a bottle that people gave them.
14. Sayid tells Charlie that Rousseau may be trying to trade Claire’s baby for Rousseau’s child. I can see it. Sayid gives Charlie a gun but tells him not to make it personal. We’ll see. Claire wants to go with them. She’s crying a lot. Charlie tells her he will get Aaron back. Aaron, you see, is the kid’s name. Not Boone, as I recommended. Pan to a column of grey smoke int he sky.
15. Flashback to Walt and Michael at the airport. Walt’s playing video games and ignoring Michael. Michael goes to make a phone call and says he’ll be right back. On the phone he tells his mother that he can’t handle being a dad. He asks her if she’ll take him. She seems unenthused. When he turns around, Walt is right behind him. Did he hear Michael give up on him? We don’t know. Back on the raft, Michael shows Walt how to steer. Walt asks why Michael and his mom broke up. Then Michael says that Walt’s mom didn’t want them to see each other. Then Walt says she was wrong. Then the rudder breaks. It’s sinking! Then Sawyer jumps in after it! OMG! The rudder is sinking. They throw him rope to tie around the rudder. They pull the rudder in. They pull Sawyer in. Michael finds the gun in Sawyer’s shirt and gives both back to him. Now we know Sawyer has a gun!
16. In the jungle, the dynamite crews head off in two groups. Meanwhile, the other folks make it to the rape caves. Shannon sees the stretcher upon which Boone croaked. Sun tells her that he died bravely. Then she asks if Shannon thinks they’re all being punished for: things they did before; for lies they told. Shannon asks who Sun thinks is punishing them. Sun says “fate”. Claire says that there’s no such thing as fate.
17. Sayid and Charlie rush off to the grey smoke. Charlie is lagging behind because Sayid is a specimen of health and athleticism and Charlie is a recovering smack addict. After a while Charlie is left behind. He hears Sayid’s voice and runs after him. Sayid commands that they take a break so Charlie can rest. They stop at the plane where Boone fell. Sayid shows Charlie that the plane is filled with heroin. Aw, crap. Would have been better not to tell Charlie about that. He loves heroin.
18. Hurley tells Locke what he thinks is in the hatch. Mostly TV dinners and socks and towels. Also, Twinkies ™. That does sound awesome. Locke says that he thinks hope is inside. God, Locke, don’t be such a dweeb all the time. A gigantic goddamn eagle alights from a branch and flies away. Oh no, the smoke monster sound. Oh no, the smoke monster. On no. Explosions! Everybody flees! Locke doesn’t run away though. He just stands there in wait/delight. Ol’ Smokey explodes out from right beside him. It approaches him. He finally decides to get scared. Commercial time, naturally. (PS, is this the first encounter between the Man in Black and Locke? Could be.) After the commercial, Locke has decided maybe he should be running away. And so away he runs. The smoke monster drags him away asw Jack chases both. Jack jumps and grabs Locke, and props him up as the monster tries to drag him into the hole. Jack tells Kate to get the dynamite–from HIS pack–and Kate throws a stick into the smoke monster hole. The smoke monster runs away. They saved Locke!
19. On the raft, Michael and Jin chat about the book of english words Sun made for him. Starboard, aft, port, sail, eat. Michael creepily says “I hope you know how luck you are, man”. Foreshadowing to future cuckolding! But first, Michael gives Jin back that watch. But then Jin gives the watch back to Michael! Then they don’t make out.
20. In the caves, Claire says she doesn’t know what Aaron means. Sun assures Claire that they’ll bring the baby back. I guess she’s probably right. Cut to Charlie and Sayid running again. Charlie cleverly gets caught in a falling rock trap and starts bleeding and whining. Sayid says it’s bleeding too much and he has to go back. Charlie demurs. Sayid cauterizes the wound with gunpowder, badassedly. Charlie screams, wussily.
21. Flashback to Hurley waking up before his flight. Aw man, the electricity went out and his alarm didn’t go off! He rushes off to make his plane. His car breaks down on the way. He just runs down the street with his bags! He gets to the counter but the counter lady says because he’s such a fatso he needs to buy two tickets. That’s sad. Then it turns out he’s in the wrong terminal of course so he rushes off in that direction. He tries to cut in front of Arzt but he’s not having it. He bribes an old man for his motor scooter and drives through the terminal wackily. He just barely makes it on the flight (just as Ben will just barely make it on the Ajira flight). The gate lady says “this is your lucky day!” but it’s not. Anyway, he hugs her because he’s so happy to make it on the flight.
22. Back on the Island, he’s walking through the jungle muttering The Numbers. Kate says hey, the guy who turned me in did it for a $23k reward! Also, flight 815 left from gate 23 (but that’s just my observation). Meanwhile, Locke tells Jack that he is a man of science, while Locke is a man of faith. Locke adds that the Island brought them there. It’s destiny. What a bunch of malarkey! Jack asks Locke if he discussed it with Boone. Locke creepily says that Boone was a sacrifice that the Island demanded. This is some sick stuff. Jack says he doesn’t believe in destiny and Locke says “yes you do–you just don’t know it yet.” Screw you, Locke!
23. On the raft, Sawyer and Michael talk about how Walt is a jerk to Michael and Sawyer says he would have beaten him. Sawyer says his dad died when he (his dad) was 8. Michael surmises that Sawyer is either a hero or suicidal. Sawyer says he “ain’t no hero”. OMG THE RADAR THING IS PICKING SOMETHING UP!
24. Flashback to Locke at the airport. They can’t find a wheelchair for him so they have to carry him onto the plane. It’s kinda embarrassing for him. Then he drops something and can’t reach it because he’s infirm. Cut to the Island, where he walks tall and carries a giant torch. They get to the hatch with the dynamite.
25. Charlie and Sayid come upon the black smoke fire. There don’t seem to be people there. But they hear a crying baby. They call out angrily. Rousseau comes out and cries about how she thought she could trade Aaron for Alex. Sayid talks her down and gets the baby back. Charlie thinks she’s nuts and there are no Others! But there are, dude, you’re way off on that. Rousseau cries some more and Charlie calls her pathetic, then we cut to…
26. Dynamite! They are setting it up around the hatch in preparation for the funsplosion. Jack tells Kate that they’re going to have a Locke problem, and asks Kate if she has his back. She says yes. Then Hurley sees the FUCKIN’ NUMBERS on the hatch. He yells “stop, we can’t do this!” Locke, typically, ignores him and just lights the fuse anyway. IT EXPLODES ALL OVER THE PLACE!
27. Raft. The radar detects something. It’s moving away. They argue about whether they should set off the flare. Sawyer says yes, Michael says no. Walt says yes. They set it off. The bogey, which was moving away, starts moving towards the raft! Enthusiasm! Suddenly a giant spotlight shoots at them from a boat. THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS, THEY’RE SAVED! Presumably? BTW, it’s an Other. And they are stealing Walt. Aw, shit. The rousing inspirational music is over. Michael doesn’t want to give them the boy. Sawyer reaches for his gun. Somebody else shoots him, he falls off the raft! Jin jumps in to get him! Michael fights but gets his ass kicked, into the water. Walt gets totally kidnapped! THEY BLOW UP THE RAFT! Goddammit. This was really disappointing. Michael screams out… “WALT!”
28. At the rape caves, Sayid and Charlie are back with an infant. Shannon rushes over to hug Sayid. Claire is worried about Charlie (and now that we see he brought a heroin doll back with him, we’re all a little worried).
29. Flashback to everybody getting on Oceanic 815. Aw, it’s Boone. Also everybody else.
30. Cut back to the Island, where everybody approaches the hatch. Did it work? It worked! They get the hatch open. And now another iconic shot as the camera rushes down, facing up, into darkness.
31. LOST

Well, that’s it, folks. Overall, I’d say this season was a complete success–starting with a truly impressive pilot, the episodes steadily build, in terms of plot and characterization, and at the end I feel compelled to see what happens next. But no, I won’t be taking on the next 4 seasons of Lost anytime soon. If you want recaps of those, I have a feeling you can find them pretty much everywhere else on the internet. I’ll be weighing in with my thoughts on the Season 6 premiere at some point (and will likely continue to babble about the rest of this season’s episodes as they progress). Namaste.