And why do they grind to a halt? Well, because it’s time for a Jack episode, and Jack’s only relevance to the plot at this point is in being an irritating, gurning fool torn between two inexplicably attractive women who somehow want to get horizontal with him. Never before has a TV show has such a bizarrely repellent lead as Jack from Lost.
Meanwhile, in the future, Jack and Kate are living together like a happy couple some time after Kate’s trial but before Jack’s famous “we need to go back” rant from the end of Season 3. In far more interesting developments, Kate is executing a promise she made to the now-absent Sawyer, which of course Jack is ecstatic about. In true Lost fashion, we’ve got no idea what it might be, or even if Sawyer is still alive, though we do know he made good on his wish not to leave the island one way or another. The conflict between Jack and Kate is, unfortunately, getting very old, and it’s a pity that you can pretty much guarantee it’s not going to go away any time soon. I had hoped Juliet might introduce a more genuine 4th side to the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle, but even she seems aware that she’s just a diversion for Jack rather than a serious contender for his affections.
The episode’s not all terrible – the return of Rose and Bernard to the supporting cast is always a welcome moment, and makes what may well turn out to be a major plot point – Rose points out that people don’t get sick on the island, they get better – so why does Jack have appendicitis? Could it be that the “sickness” Rousseau mentioned isn’t one specific ailment, but a collection of problems suffered by people that the Island is punishing? Kind of makes me wish they’d checked that with her before she died, really.
Speaking of which, Jack (and Claire’s) father is back. Sitting in a hospital lobby. Wandering around the island. Taking Claire off in the middle of the night, leaving Aaron perched neatly on a tree. Later, the quite probably living-on-borrowed time Jin makes a deal with Charlotte to make sure Sun gets off the island, even if he doesn’t. Those two scenes are this episode’s only real plot developments in the island time frame, but they’re not nearly interesting enough to redeem the episode. Part of the problem is that the really interesting characters – Locke, Ben, Desmond and Sayid – are entirely absent from this episode.
Once again, though, we’re back to the economics of TV Land. With four of the best characters not appearing in this episode, you can be damn sure that next week’s is going to be a hell of a lot better than this snooze-fest. I can forgive one bad episode in Season 4 after so many great ones, but the goodwill is going to quickly evaporate if next week’s isn’t a return to the quality Season 4 has led me to expect.
title: “Lost Season 4 Episode 10 Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-27” author: “Jasmin Black”
Ten episodes in, four more to go. With the silly season of television finales straight ahead, everything seems to be falling into place for Lost‘s three-part (!!!) end-of-season blowout following the most recent installment, entitled “Something Nice Back Home”. Which is nice to see, because I’m not falling into place – a lot is going on with university at the moment, so you’re getting a concise and mostly jumbled recap this week. Let’s make with the quickness, then! So, there we have it – Kate chose Jack. But, seeing as this is Lost, it’s never ever that simple, seeing how Jack didn’t choose Kate. Jack, as always, ended up choosing Jack in his off-island life. What I mean by this is that Jack couldn’t really live a proper, satisfied life, plagued incessantly by both his time on the island and his soul-crushing relationship with his Drinky Doctor Dad (trademarks pending). Watch his face when he’s asking Kate for her hand in marriage – it seems as if he wants her to say yes just so someone will want to keep him about, as if he’s marrying for a sense of his own security. And his only way to get out of this conundrum… well, we saw the results of it in “Through the Looking Glass”. Enough pseudo-psychology now! 2. The freighter fallout I’m guessing they do, season finale and all that. Oh, and Lapidus is definitely one of the good guys. I think. 3. Jin seals his fate Charlotte speaks Korean! And so does Jin, seeing how he’s from Korea and all that. So, really, they should be making friends right now. Except nobody on the beach trusts Charlotte and puppy-dog Daniel, and Jin’s bad at first impressions (example: Michael). So Jin decides to cut a deal with Charlotte – when the helicopter comes, Sun is off the island, no questions asked. If questions are asked, then Daniel gets his fingers broken. That’s a catch-22, methinks. The thing that surprised me about this scene was Jin’s threats of violence – even though he was shooting a gun at the end of the third season, this was more menacing. I guess you can take the good guy away from the badness, but you can never really take the badness away from the good guy. Or something. Just don’t hurt Daniel. I want him and Charlotte to consummate already. 4. In search of a deaddad And Claire wakes up in the middle of the night to see her estranged biological father holding Aaron. In the morning, Sawyer wakes up to find that she’s disappeared and left Aaron behind. Cue cliffhanger. 5. Rousseau is so dead Right, I’m running low on fuel, but I’ll try my hardest to squeeze another recap in two weeks time – next week, you’ll have to make do with someone else’s recaps as I’m at Give It A Name in London to see Glassjaw. If you’re reading this and are going, make sure to say hello and have a chat. Until then, the usual questions. Was Miles’ interest in Claire have to do with Christian coming for her? Is the monster taking on the human forms of Christian on the island and Charlie off the island? Isn’t the medical station not powered by the Tempest, a/k/a the Hatch I Didn’t Understand? When Jack says Sawyer “chose to stay”, does that mean that him and other non-Oceanic Six folk are on the island still? Do you want Daniel and Charlotte to get to it already? Does anyone feel bad for Juliet? (I do, the poor thing. Too damn selfless.)
