Monsters of Television

“I don’t trust myself.”

So the buzz has died down a bit on Lost‘s return (except at the ABC promo department), it feels like time to start evaluating what the flash sideway offers as a narrative device. Even before the episode started, I had two things written down:

1. Run away. That’s what Kate does.
2. First challenge of flash sideways is to make characters we already know amazingly interesting. Develop Kate beyond “she runs.”

Because that’s the challenge the show faces with this new device. The flashbacks had become redundant (“Jack must save everyone.” “Sayid must come to terms with his past.” “Kate runs.” “Everyone has father issues.”) and were losing their narrative, and emotional, heft. While I think the flash sideways present an opportunity for interesting narrative moves, and this episode does make a few, I do worry that, thematically, they may potentially feel old hat.

While I’m no Kate fan, I feel providing the Kate flash sideways up first is smart, and significant, for a couple of reasons (aside from the fact that it gets it out of the way!). First, and most importantly, is allowing Claire to return to the narrative fold after being gone for a season. Narratively, based on the fact that Claire seems to now be Clairesseau, we needed her folded back into this story in a way that made sense. The flash sideways achieves this by reminding us about Claire enough that when she appears at the end, it doesn’t feel unnatural (or like the show forgot about her).

Secondly, and here’s where I think (hope) the show can avoid the thematic stagnation of the flashbacks, is that it’s becoming clear that the flash sideways have the potential to be some sort of self-aware timeline. And by self-aware, I mean that the people within it, from the Island anyway, seem to have flashes of realization about certain things. Jack recognizing Desmond on the plane is more from the steps running way back in Season 2, but he seems to be somewhat aware that something is off. Likewise, Kate clicks when Claire shouts Aaron’s name. There’s this since of recognition, of something on the tip of their brain that can’t quite figure out (OMG! They’re all dolls in the attic!).

Third, and like I thought last week, the flash sideways allow us to work through these ideas of fate and choice in different ways. Kate, no matter what she does or what timeline she’s in, is connected to Aaron. The Universe will not allow her to be disconnected from Aaron. Even on the Island, Kate’s motivation is to find Claire so she can start bringing them back home (that Sawyer neglects to mention that Claire walked off Christian is a bit weird, but he’s grieving, so I’ll let it go this week).

As a result, Kate’s flash sideways is a good, soft, introduction to the narrative device, and gives us an idea of how it could work before things get really complicated. I’m not suggesting that the flash sideways will get complicated, because I don’t think they’re structured to make the audience start piecing together which pieces go where in a person’s life (I suspect things will be fairly chronological). I’m simply suggesting that the on-Island stuff may become a little heavier in terms of the mythology lifting, and that the flash sideways will provide a compliment to the mythology, as the flashbacks were prone to do.

But Christian provides me to a nice segue to the Temple stuff. Initially, my read of Dogen’s test/torture of Sayid (what is it with people on this Island, strapping Sayid down, and torturing him? Is it that tanktop he always wears?) was determining if Sayid has been possessed by Jacob’s nemesis somehow (though, why he’d need to do that when he’s currently posing as Locke is something I should’ve asked myself). Because, with all the zombie talk, I thought maybe that, like I think Christian’s corpse has been, Sayid was somehow going to work for Jacob’s nemesis.

And then I promptly had a geek heart attack that they were properly returning to the infection from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in season 1. And then that Claire has been infected! But she’s a ghost! Or is she?! AAAAAAAH!

But that’s stuff for later, because I have no answers to that, and don’t like to predict things (I ruined the S3 finale for myself by predicting correctly). The temple stuff this week highlights another central theme that Lost has toyed with, but I don’t think people have focused on (too much) and that’s what it means to lead.

Dogen’s assertion that he doesn’t like how English feels on his tongue, while cool and in keeping with the character type, felt cliche. But his explanation that it allows him to maintain a distance between those he leads makes sense. It contrasts, as the temple sequence this week is built to make clear, that Jack is too emotionally connected to those he is (was) responsible for, and look what has happened to them and to him. Dogen’s people no doubt are loyal to him, and they trust him, but they don’t trust him in the way that Sayid trusts Jack: without doubt.

And that, nicely, sums up this episode in its entirety. It was about trust. From the (way too convenient) mechanic to Claire coming to trust Kate (and vice versa) to Jack and Sayid to Jack trying to trust Dogen, this season may very well be about this entire idea of who you can ultimately trust, and who is fit to lead.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Have there been papers about Lost and abjection? There have to be. If not, someone’s missing the boat.
• The Jack-Sayid relationship has always been one of my favorite aspects of the show, and to see it again here pleased me immensely. That Kate and Jin didn’t go more time together was frustrating since that’s a dynamic that I don’t think has really been explored.
• I didn’t mention Ethan has Claire’s emergency OB in large part because it was a serious WTF moment that I don’t know what to do with it yet.
• I really hope Justin’s still alive. He was cool. I’m glad that tool Other got shot though. Dude was carrying a grudge for way too long about getting hit in the head with a rifle.