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- TV Series: Lost
- Episode: This Place is Death
- Starring: Michael Emerson, Yunjin Kim, Evageline Lilly, Ken Leung, Rebecca Mader, Jeremy Davies, Terry O’Quinn, Daniel Dae Kim, Elizabeth Mitchell
- Written By: Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz
- Directed By: Paul A. Edwards
- Network: ABC
- Series: Lost
Lost: This Place is Death
Joe gives his take on the latest Island action. By Joe Oesterle
February 12, 2009
Source: JoeArtistWriter
Locke (Terry O'Quinn) takes on the burden to stop the island's increasingly violent shifts through time in LOST: THIS PLACE IS DEATH(2009)
© ABC
Greetings fellow junkies. It’s Thursday, and that can mean only two things. It’s time for me to write my weekly LOST column, which means it’s also time for my biggest fan, and harshest critic, Hanso, to chime in and tell me what I missed. (Love ya Hanso.)
I’ve watched This Place is Death three times already, and I’m still not sure how much I liked it, or where it falls in the rankings of LOST episodes. In many ways, it brought some nostalgic Season One flavor, but towards the end, it was very much a Season Fiver.
One thing I was happy to see is we got a peak at Sun’s baby. There was plenty of concern among the faithful that the reason Sun showed Kate an infant photo of a child that had to be a toddler was because something dastardly befell the young girl. Perhaps Ben had kidnapped her in an effort to control Sun, or worse yet, the baby girl was dead.
I can’t say I subscribed to the dead baby hunch – that just seemed a little too harsh for this show, but I was curious why Sun would carry around such an old picture. Based on her baby-sitting skills - letting Aaron eat from the candy bar, allowing him to watch whatever he wants on TV and then driving him to a potential murder scene, perhaps Sun hasn’t gotten a hang of being a Mommy, because she hasn’t been around her own kid all that much since the infant photo was taken. That or the writers were purposely screwing with us. F’ing writers.
Montand’s a Douche
Ok, let’s begin. The first half of this episode was certainly full of Jin. In fact, you could say it was a Jin-soaked episode. Ha ha ha. Jin-soaked, like the drink, and because Jin was soaking wet… ha ha ha. Ehhhhhhh. (Why is it I hate when someone else makes a pun, but when I do it, I think I’m the funniest guy in the history of the world?)
Anyway, there was a lot of Jin, and good for that. Everyone loves Jin – except for that tall, blonde Montand guy. He was a little douchey right from the get go. What the hell Montand? If I was in a little raft, and I picked up some guy who clearly survived some boating accident (at the very least) I wouldn’t doubt him when he mentioned a helicopter.
This is what that jerk Montand actually says – in very condescending tones:
“First there’s a boat, then there’s a helicopter. What’s next, a submarine?”
Why jump to sarcasm. Obvioulsy there was a boat. Do you think Jin just likes floating in the middle of the ocean on pieces of wreckage? I didn’t like that Abercrombie and Fitch looking dude from the beginning, and I’m sure he wouldn’t be all douchey to Jin if he knew what a badass Jin can be.
Slight Tangent Turns into a Paragraph, But an Important One
Finally Robert, Danielle Rousseau’s baby-daddy, asks Jin if there’s a radio tower on the island and Jin confirms this. Slight tangent – the voice the French we’re hearing from the radio tower, the voice that was repeating “The Numbers,” that voice sounded a lot like Hurley’s voice. But if that was Hurley’s voice, and the French heard it in 1988, and Rousseau admitted in Season One that she taped over that voice with her own distress signal, that means Hurley – travels back to the island prior to 1988--Loving that.
It would appear that the only other female member of the Besix Douze didn’t watch any of Season One. If she had, poor Nadine would have known better than to straggle at the end of the line in any LOST jungle parade. Good old Smokie grabbed her, chewed her up a little, and then just dropped her off in the middle of everyone – just because he can. Smokie is more badass than Jin.
Enter Smokie
Suddenly Jin finds himself in the role of the grizzled island veteran, warning everyone to run. Of course this bunch is just ripe for the picking, and Smokie probably felt male model Montand was just as big of a douche as I did, because Old Black and Plumey goes after Pretty Boy with a misty vengeance. He grabs Montand and drags him along the unforgiving underbrush, cutting up his face pretty badly along the way. But that’s not all, when they get to the famous and previously unseen temple, despite the best efforts of the French and Jin, Smokie records the victory in a game of human tug of war.
Upon first viewing I doubted that Jin, Robert and company would be strong enough to be able to contribute to Montand’s arm being torn from its socket, but watching it a second and third time, it’s clear the smoke was curling ominously around the dude’s arm, so maybe Smokie somehow sliced the arm with his magical smoke saw… Whatever happened, it was freaky. Let’s see Montand get any more Abercrombie print work with one arm and a gashed up face.
So now the French decide to follow Montand down the Temple Tunnel of the Killer Smoke Cloud. Even if I liked Montand, I would be hard pressed to heed his cries for help. At least Jin has some common sense, and also talks Danielle out of joining the rest.
Oh yeah, then Jin experiences the light for the first time – since he’s been unconscious every other time. He grabs his head, Danielle is more than a little confused, because she just witnessed some trippy stuff, and then, from her perspective at least, Jin just disappears. Looks like we just witnessed the first stop on Danielle Rousseau’s one-way bus trip to Crazytown.
Next Stop Crazytown; Population – Rousseau
Jin looks down and sees the same arm, but it has inexplicably aged in a matter of seconds. Still, there was a watch on it, and judging from Montand’s ego, it was probably a nice expensive French watch. We all know how much Jin loves watches. He almost beat Michael to death for a nice watch in Season One, but then again, if you don’t know what decade it is, who cares what time it is. Good call Jin.
…and now we see how Rousseau aged 35 years in 16 years time. Poor kid had to shoot her beloved; the same beloved who probably gave her that fancy spinny music box thing. That gift had to have some relevance between the two. I would imagine shooting the man you loved, the father of your unborn baby, the man who just tried squeezing of a shot at you could mess with a girl’s self esteem.
Her friends “got sick” and obviously were plotting to kill her. Did Smokie infect their minds, turning them against Rousseau, or was it spending all that time in the spooky tunnel with Montand? I bet if you spend enough time in closed quarters with that guy, you would become a giant douche bag too.
Here’s what I’m wondering… Why did the gun jam on Robert when he pulled the trigger on his lady friend? We’ve seen this happen before when the island needs someone to finish their mission. If Rousseau’s mission was to have Alex, well mission accomplished, but what did Alex go on and do that was so great that Rousseau gets a death pass?
Alex, as far as we can tell, didn’t do much except whine at Ben while she was alive. Why was Keamy allowed to kill Alex? Widmore changed the rules, but in doing so, did he prevent Alex from her destiny? HMMMMMMM? (That’s a good one.)
Another Slight Tangent
Hey, this may mean nothing, other than it’s another slight tangent, but did anyone else notice a little red star on the back of Jin’s shirt? In any other program this is not worth mentioning, but this is LOST, and they love using symbols. Is this an actual logo of a brand of clothing I’m not familiar with, or is there something more to it?
Meanwhile, Back at the Jungle
Miles Encino line was great. “He’s Korean, I’m from Encino.” By the way, why is Charlotte so embarrassed about knowing how to speak Korean, but then proudly boasts she is also fluent in Klingon? If I spoke Klingon, I’d share that with only a very select few nerd friends. I suspect Locke spoke Klingon in high school, and that’s why the jocks shoved him in a locker so often.
Meanwhile back at the Dock
Kate realizes while Sun has a gun to Ben’s neck that he wants them all to take another island vacation. Kate apparently must really love the whole mom thing, because I don’t know any other woman who wouldn’t jump at the chance of leaving her kid behind for a tropical paradise after three years without a vacation.
Then we have Sayid threatening to kick Jack’s ass. Not very nice way to thank the doctor who patched him back to health…. I mean first he chokes him, then he makes a not so veiled threat about doing him some serious harm, and he hasn’t even received the medical bill yet.
Hey—o! A doctor joke… you know, because health care is so expensive… Ha ha, eh the hell with you guys… That was funny.
And another thing, how does Ben, who always has a plan, not take LA traffic into account?
Meanwhile, Back at the Jungle
Charlotte starts to collapse, and Faraday confesses bringing back people in order to stop the temporal shifts, is not a scientific thing. So what does that leave? Religion or magic?
These Time Skipping Slurpee Headaches brain freezes look painful, and now they’re starting to affect Sawyer (But not Locke – is this because he’s special?)
Normally pale skinned, redheads with piercing blue eyes can be haunting, be they’re down right terrifying when the pass out and wake op screaming in Korean. “DON’T LET THEM BRING HER BACK - This place is death.” Locke didn’t seem too fazed by that. He’s still on his mission.
Meanwhile, Back at the Reincarnation Carpet Cleaning Van
Loved Ben’s slamming on the brakes lecture, “If you people knew how I kept you alive…etc.” That was a seriously great guilt speech. I’m not sure if Ben’s mom was Jewish or Catholic, but even though she died at childbirth, she did pass on the talent of shaming others into not shooting him.
Meanwhile, Back at the Jungle
Charlottes flashing back to the late 70’s/early 80’s, as evidenced in her, “Turn it up, I love Geronimo Jackson” quote. This, along with her admission to seeing a crazy Faraday when she was a little girl, and of course seeing Faraday pass Dr. Chang, gives credence to LOST becoming the new That 70’s Show.
Charlotte confesses to growing up on the island as a young girl, and she’s tried her whole life to get back. Hey man, I was a kid in the seventies. Planet of the Apes marathons, Pink Floyd, Evel Knievel. Hell, I’d go back too if I could. But Charlotte was talking about the island, and before coughing up her last words, which I’m betting will be mine as well, “I’m not supposed to have chocolate before dinner,” she hips the islanders to the Orchid well.
Next Jin extracts a promise from Locke. Do not bring Sun back, and then gives his wedding ring to prove his death. Locke reluctantly agrees, but he must have a back up plan. Locke needs all of them, but I believe he, unlike Ben is a man of his word.
Anyone else notice how good Locke is on that rope? For a high school science nerd who was shoved in lockers by the jocks he’s a pretty good rope climber.
And man, I haven’t seen televised leg trauma that graphic Lawrence Taylor ended Joe Theisman’s career on Monday Night Football. Then again, Theisman is about as douchey as Montand.
Down the Well
Christian Shepherd greets Locke with lantern in hand like some creepy underworld tour guide on a scary Zeppelinesque album cover. Maybe Geronimo Jackson has an album cover like this? I’m certain Crankshaft didn’t have anything that cool on their albums. Crankshaft is totally lame.
And you know what Christian? You guys would be a lot better off if you weren’t so creepy cryptic. You tell Locke to move the island, and so he tells Ben, and Ben does the heavy lifting, and then you get all semantic on Locke for not doing it himself. Just spell it out. Apparently it’s pretty important stuff. Geez.
What happened to the Hippocratic Oath anyway? The good doctor doesn’t even so much as help Locke up, let alone attempt to put a splint on his leg.
Christian does say to John, he needs to bring back all of them - “everyone who left.” This would include Aaron and also Desmond. I ‘m not sure if Ji Yeon is necessary, but this got me thinking, who the hell is Claire talking about when she says “Don’t bring him back Kate?” She seemed pretty cozy with her ghost dad when we last saw Claire in season four… did she and daddy go their separate ways again, or was Claire talking about Ben?
Anyway, Christian doesn’t argue when Locke tells him Richard told him he was going to die. Locke just accepts the bitter cup, and agrees to be the sacrificial lamb to help mankind. That Locke is a zealot; I’ll give him that.
Meanwhile, Back at the Church
Ben presents Sun proof of her husband’s survival with the very same ring Locke promised to show as a sign Jin was dead.
Why didn’t Locke tell me himself? Sun questions. This seems to indicate that Locke did pay a visit to Sun before he died, but never told Sun that Jin was still alive. He must have been conflicted as to how to get Sun back and still keep his word to Jin. Of course when he died, of an apparent hanging suicide, none of that mattered because Ben, who has no trouble playing fast and loose with the truth, presented the ring as proof Jin was still among the living.
Now Desmond shows up, and Ben is thrown by this. If Ben has played this scene out countless times before, (and that’s possible if we’re talking about time travel) he must really be freaked by Desmond’s arrival. This must be the first time in the continuous loop that Desmond ever shows up at the church.
Eloise lighting her mass candles, she greets Ben, and while she was absolutely clear the last time they spoke about bringing the entire Oceanic Six, both Ben and Mrs. Hawking seem a little more relaxed when all Ben could muster up is two of the six plus Desmond. Mrs. Hawking appears to look past everyone, and fixes her gaze on Des for a second, and suddenly she seems a bit more confident that she does need the entire crew - at least not yet.
So until next week, fire up your Hi-Def TV, (Imperative if you’re expecting to make out arm-slicing smoke monsters.) make sure you hit the record function on your TiVo, (For multiple viewings, and freeze framing purposes immediately after watching the show the first time.) keep your laptop nearby, (You’ll never know when you might need to Google the correct spelling of a former Redskins QB.) load up that bong, (For some of us, LOST isn’t our only drug of choice.) and get ready to get LOST.
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hey Joe, I've only watched it once but i coulda swore up and down that Robert' gun did not jam at the most critical point, more that his gun wasnt loaded and it went "click" and Danielle's gun WAS loaded and went "BANG!" through Robert.
i noticed also that was Hurley's voice repeating the numbers on the original radio tower transmitter, if it was Hurley (and that WOULD be cool) he's so traumatized by those damn numbers WHY would he make that recording in the first place?
oh well thats why we have season #6 to look forward too.