Wednesday, May 03, 2006

LOST Redux


Holy Crap!! Don't read any further if you're still waiting to see last night's episode:
The episode started with Anna-Lucia being dumb and leaning close to the imposter Henry Gale. Henry lunged at Anna-Lucia, grabbed her and started choking her. He would have killed her, but Locke saved the day just in time by hitting Henry in the face with one of his crutches. Go Locke! During the incident Henry denied that he and the Others were murderers and told Anna-Lucia that she was a murderer. Which is technically true.

In a flash-back, we learn that Anna-Lucia's mother accused Anna-Lucia of executing the man that had shot her and killed her unborn child. Anna-Lucia denied it, quit the police force, and became an airport security officer. In the airport on break, over a tequila, Anna-Lucia met Jack's father. Jack's father tells Anna-Lucia that his son (he does not name Jack) ratted him out for drinking on the job, and that he's on his way to Australia. He asks her to come with him, and she agrees because she, like him, is trying to run away from her problems.

Later, Locke - acting as dumb as Anna-Lucia had acted - opened the door to Henry's cell and struck up a conversation with him, as he seems drawn to do every episode. Locke appears to be trying to find his higher purpose from Henry, and in so doing, he's giving Henry and the Others all of the power. Henry used this opportunity, as he always does, to not-so-deftly try to drive a wedge between Locke and the rest of the survivors. This time, instead of insinuating that Locke lets himself be bossed around by Jack, Henry tried a different tact. Henry told Locke that if he was returned to the Others his leader was going to have him killed for failing in his mission. And what, pray tell, was Henry's mission? To bring Locke to the Others because Locke is allegedly one of the "good" ones.

Before Locke had a chance to process what Henry had told him, Jack and Kate dragged and unconscious Michael into the hatch. They all have a brief conversation and Locke appears to believe that though Jack never talked to any of the Others to offer them a trade, the Others let Michael go in the hopes that the survivors would release Henry Gale. Apparently, the Others are either mind-readers, or followers of the "honor system" (as Jack pointed out). Kate almost seems to buy this cock-eyed theory as well. Clearly, Henry has wormed himself way too far into Locke's head.

Anna-Lucia leaves the hatch in search of Sawyer. She finds him in the jungle picking mangos. She ask him for a gun, but he, being Sawyer, refuses and walks off. Sawyer continues deeper into the jungle and, upon realizing that he is being followed, orders whoever it is to step out and show themselves. Anna-Lucia steps out and Sawyer gives her his trademark once-over. He may have called her "sugar," or I may just be misremembering that. Anna-Lucia again asks Sawyer to give her the gun that he's holding. Sawyer refuses and Anna-Lucia makes as if to hit him, but completely misses. They tussle a bit and Sawyer ends up on top of her.

Sawyer thinks that he got the better of Anna-Lucia, but I think she threw the whole fight just so that she could end up underneath him. Not because she's been burning with lust for him, but because she's determined to get his gun. So determined that she SLEEPS with Sawyer in order to distract him long enough to take his gun. She leaves him while he's cracking jokes about how he won't get any snuggle time from her, and does not even notice that his gun is missing. Men!

Eventually, Michael wakes up. He looks haggard, his mouth is parched, and he has deep circles under his eyes. He tells Locke, Kate, and Jack that he found the Others. There are approximately 22 Others, and according to Michael they sleep in tents, are all dressed simply with no shoes, and their camp has a hatch that is guarded 24 hours a day by two Others with guns. According to Michael the Others are lightly armed. He tells Locke, Kate, and Jack that he believes that Walt and the other children from Anna-Lucia's camp are kept down in the Other's hatch. Michael tells everyone that they can take them. Locke, Kate, and Jack storm out to get all the guns from Sawyer. There is no explanation given for why Michael looks so haggard. Something's not adding up.

While they are accosting Sawyer on the beach, Anna-Lucia goes back to the hatch to kill Henry Gale with the gun that she stole from Sawyer. The sole basis given for this is that Henry tried to kill Anna-Lucia that morning. This seems a bit far-fetched. We know that Anna-Lucia executed the man that shot her before, but she's a cop. Surely she's had other people try to attack her like Henry did, and I'm sure that she did not go and kill all of them.

Then we are shown another flashback in which we learn that right before Anna-Lucia boarded the doomed flight, she called her mother and confessed to killing the man that shot her and told her mother that she was coming home. This flashback tells us two things: (1) Anna-Lucia confessing her sins does not make her "good" in the eyes of the Others (maybe the Others do not believe in redemption); and (2) Anna-Lucia is not going to kill Henry Gale, because despite what the Others think, Anna-Lucia is actually "good." She did something wrong, but she admitted it, and she turned around to face the consequences. Anna-Lucia opens Henry's cell and tells him that he is going to die. She points the gun at Henry's face, but can not pull the trigger. Completely predictable.

In another side story, in an effort to make the moves on Libby, Hurley arranges a romantic picnic on the beach. Unfortunately, he forget drinks and the blanket, and Libby says that she will go back to the hatch for them.

Anna-Lucia shuts Henry's cell and sits down on a couch in the hatch. At that point Michael comes out of wherever he had been resting and asks Anna-Lucia what she is doing. A tearful Anna-Lucia tells Michael how Henry had tried to kill her, and she was going to kill Henry, but she couldn't kill Henry. Wah, Anna-Lucia. I love Anna-Lucia, but I was starting to get really annoyed at the episode right about then. I even turned to Raj and said, "This is so predictable. I can't believe it."

Michael then tells Anna-Lucia that the Others are animals, and that if she can't kill Henry that he will. Again, no surprises here. Of course he's going to do that because they took his son! Anna-Lucia gives Michael the gun, which though predictable was not consistent with her character. Anna-Lucia is a tough chic. The only reason she didn't kill Henry Gale was because she realized it was wrong of her to do so. Having just realized that, it makes no sense that she would hand over the gun to Michael and let Michael do her dirty work. Lost Producers: that did not make sense. Anna-Lucia then, conveniently, tells Michael the combination to Henry's cell.

Michael stands for a minute looking at the gun in his hands. He looks pensive and you think that because this is Michael there's no way he's going to be able to kill Henry either. Just as I've convinced myself that this episode was one of the only predictable Lost duds, Michael turns to Anna-Lucia, says "I'm sorry," and SHOOTS her. Holy crap! Michael shot Anna-Lucia!! Then Libby walks in to get the blanket for her picnic with Hurley, sees Michael standing over Anna-Lucia's body, and Michael shoots Libby multiple times in the stomach. Holy crap again!!

After shooting both women, Michael calmly opens the door to Henry's cell, looks at Henry, and then, with the gun pointing towards Michael's left arm, he shoots the gun. Henry looks like he recognizes Michael.

OMG!

* * *

In Scenes From it looks like Michael shot himself in the arm and most likely let Henry Gale escape. What is wrong with Michael? At first I thought he might be an Other, but the more I think about it, that seems wrong. If Michael was an Other, how do we reconcile his whole story and his past with Walt? A more likely explanation is that Michael has somehow been brainwashed. That, or the Others forced him to do this in order to save Walt. But why wouldn't Michael have tried to tell Locke or Jack if the latter had been true?

I can't believe Anna-Lucia is dead! I thought Libby was kind of blah, but I was interested to find out a little bit more of her story. I missed the episode with her and Hurley, but I gather they were in a mental hospital together. I was curious as to why she was in there. Now I might never know.

But Anna-Lucia was an instrumental member of the cast. Granted, it probably would never have worked to keep her alive, since she killed Shannon and unforgivably destroyed Sayid's love. Even so, I liked Anna-Lucia. Maybe one of them will live and Jack will nurse them back to health? And how could Anna-Lucia die after boinking Sawyer? So much for the steamy love quadrangle we were promised.

5 comments:

Bean said...

I have maybe watched 3 episodes of LOST...each time I am lost...no idea what's going on...TEx and I have a friend with tivo (which is awesome we are getting it soon)...he taped LOST and we watched it last night (skipped all commercials) it dragged me in alot and next week we will probably watch it on our tivo or my friends.

Buttercup...You rocked at summing up everything that happened in last nights episode. Mad Props!! Love U!

Bean said...

You should have had a disclosure at the top prior to telling what happened for those who have yet to see last night's episodes.

They go to read it and you tell the ending right away. No Fare

Buttercup said...

Umm Zaid, Yeah! Thanks for the comments on Lost. I thought the same thing about Anna Lucia and Libby, that the Producers were responding to the drunk driving incidents by kicking them off the show. But that seems a bit harsh.

I think Michael has been brainwashed too. But didn't you think that Henry looked like he recongized Michael? Maybe Henry was in on the brainwashing before he was captured. Do you think Henry was really coming for Locke? I think Henry is just playing with Locke.

Too funny about your husband figuring out all of Lost's secrets. He must be a very perceptive fella.

Jacks father: I couldn't believe that Anna Lucia went off with Jack's father. So we have Anna Lucia, and Sawyer (twice) connected to him. There's also Desmond through Jack. Who else is connected to the Dad?

Heather said...

I was so shocked when Michael shot Anna Lucia. And when he shot Libby I jumped off the couch. After so many episodes where nothing much happens, they really packed a lot into the last few minutes of this one. Brian thinks that only one of them dies. I am thinking that maybe Libby lives, because I think there is a chance she is connected to the Others (based on the mental hospital thing). I am also leaning towards the brainwashing idea, because Michael seemed weird. And why would he stay away for several weeks watching the others guard their hatch? Seems like he would have only been gone a few days.

Buttercup said...

I'm a total Lost Junkie as well. Nice to have found another one.