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ENTERTAINMENT
SEASON 4
February 1, 2008
The Beginning Of The End
I'm really glad I rewatched season 3 this past month. I think I got a little more out of the episode than someone who didn't and didn't remember the details. While the episode seemed to try to do a little too much, I very much appreciated the episode checking in on the vast majority of the characters and giving as many people as possible some face time and registering their reactions to the events that ended last season. Far better than how last season began with the overlong focus on just a few characters.
The little stuff was great: Happy Jack to Hurley on the walkie talkie ("You better pack your bags, buddy!"). I don't think Jack's ever been happier than in that first segment. I loved the huge tonal shifts going from still having the euphoria of thinking they were being rescued in the beginning, to how they all gradually learned how Charlie died and why, to the fear of what the Freighter people really are, the confusion between Jack and Locke's perspectives on the Freighter, and the way the castaways separated in Jack and Locke's camps by the end. What a great callback to the original Jack vs. Locke rivalry that began season two ("Man of Science, Man of Faith".) I loved the interaction between Rose, Sun and Claire. I loved that what motivated Hurley and others to side with Locke was to honor Charlie's sacrifice. How Kate and Jack are a unit and how Juliet left with Locke. Ben was awesome: "Jack, with your permission, I'd like to go with Locke."
As much as I love Hurley, "Hurley being crazy" episodes haven't been my favorite. The "Dave" episode from season 2 is one of my least favorites of the whole series, if not the least. But the flash forward stuff is interesting.
Who are the rest of the Oceanic Six? I even wonder if Kate is technically one of the Oceanic Six? She is a fugitive; even if she got off the island, the returning castaways are famous public heroes. Would Kate have her record wiped clean because she returned from the dead? Maybe she's technically not one of the famous six. I still say Michael was the guy in the casket at the end of last season but who really knows? Maybe we'll know because Michael will reappear before the 8 episodes are up.
One other thing going in the castaways favor is the Others. I like the potential of these evil freighter people, the big, bad villains even Ben fears and has been protecting the island against all this time, being a catalyst for the castaways and the Others working together. It won't be so clean and clear as a Marvel Team Up, but I'm excited by the potential of The Others and our Oceanic castaways banding together against a common foe. There are so many new questions now that many of the old ones are answered or have been given some clarification. The island's mysteries aren't solved but I've always been more interested in the characters than in the mysteries so I'm pretty enthusiastic about the possibilities going forward.
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