Thursday, March 26, 2009
Fun Times With Space/Time Paradoxes(Paradoxii?)
Lost: He's Our YouSeason 5, Episode 10
Battlestar Galactica is gone, so now most of my television Sci-Fi hopes and dreams are pinned on Lost. It's probably not fair to expect Lost to carry the torch left behind by BSG, but, what the hell, I'm just that kind of guy.So, did this week's Lost keep me happy in my post-BSG bliss? Hit the jump to find out!
Well, the answer is unsurprisingly complicated, much like Lost itself. If I wanted to keep it concise, I would just say that the episode was good. Middle of the road, with no real nagging issues to derail the whole thing, but just not entirely exciting. Sure, there was the ending, oh boy, what an ending...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
If I had one big problem with this episode(and honestly this is a gripe that is probably not going to be rectified anytime soon) it's that the producers have created several "mysteries" with the express purpose of having something mysterious. Specifically the mysteries surrounding Sayid's break with Ben(somewhat answered here), why Kate returned to the island sans-Aaron, where Ben went before the flight, how he got all banged up and what happened to Desmond. Honestly, while intriguing, these ideas seemingly only exist to extend the storyline for the rest of the season. Once the Oceanic 6 arrived back on the island--what then? What is the overarching plot supposed to be? Ostensibly the group must get back to the present, but then what? Back in season one, two and three the goal was to get off the island. That was easy to grasp, but what now?
So, how does Lost begin to answer these questions? Well, by falling back on the tired flashback crutch. It's not that I didn't appreciate getting most of the off-island questions answered for Sayid, it's just that I don't want to fall back into old routines that I thought we'd gotten rid of.
In the end, "He's Our You" is a serviceable episode that doesn't particularly stand out except for one giant white elephant in the proverbial room: Sayid's shooting of poor little '70s Ben Linus. Yes, Sayid tries his damnedest to test the "Grandfather Paradox Theory" by emptying a round in young Ben's chest. Upon first brush this is exciting, but upon further inspection we realize that more than likely little Ben isn't going to die, instead the island will save him. He will remember that it was Sayid who tried to kill him and he will morph into the sneaky bastard that we all love to hate.
I'm reminded of a certain line..."All of this happened before and all of this has--" Too soon? Sorry, BSG is still on the mind.
All in all this episode is a perfectly capable one, but serves mostly as filler until we begin our sprint to the season finale finish line. It's quite indicative of the quality of this season that a somewhat filler episode is one in which Sayid effectively kills Ben. Don't worry, I find the irony quite hilarious.
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