For a second there, I wasn't sure if I was still watching LOST. It marked the first time the show ever had a cutaway which showed somewhere other than the island after the crash. The two men are playing chess when a nearby computer starts its klaxon.
Notice that the number on the screen is the product of the numbers on the hatch that figure so prominently in Hurley's life: 4x8x15x16x23x42=7418880. Oh, and they spoke Portuguese.
The episode focused on Desmond, the guy the Losties found in the hatch at the beginning of the season. He was in love with Penelope Widmore, daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Her father disapproved of their relationship. After looking at the computer, the guy on the right calls Penelope telling her about the find. Viewers are led to assume that she's looking for Desmond. He has been missing for a few years and Penelope is the name of Odysseus' wife in The Odyssey who was faithful to her husband for decades and pined for his return. Penelope also said earlier in the episode something like "You can find people when you have a lot of money." So we don't know whom or what she is looking for but the last 2 scenes are significant as they discount many a theory about the show. We cut to the world off of the island so the Losties are not in an afterlife and are not the last people left on the earth.
Another major scene or shot, really, is this one:
On the way to make a sneak attack on the camp of The Others, Sayid, Jin, and Sun spot this foot, apparently all that remains of a statue. Notice it has 4 toes. I really liked how this came out of left field and was gone as soon as it arrived. According to the producers (via the official LOST podcast), this is a remnant of a time before the Dharma Initiative began on the island.
The other major plot developments were:
1) Michael and Walt are reunited and sail off after being told to hold a bearing of 325. I liked this because they sail away in the same boat that The Others used to kidnap Walt at the end of the first season.
2) We meet Kelvin. Desmond's boat encounters a nasty storm and he awakens on the island. Kelvin, the current resident of the hatch, pulls Desmond off the beach. We see how they fake a lockdown and Kelvin continues the map on the blast door that he former cohort, Razinski, had started. We are told that Razinski killed himself with a shotgun to his mouth. Kelvin also tells Desmond that entering the numbers was done to discharge a dangerous build-up of electromagnetism.
3) The hatch is destroyed? Desmond loses hope as has Locke and they let the countdown end without entering the numbers. This sets off the magnet behind the wall and all hell breaks loose in the hatch. This happens after Desmond determines that the last time he didn't enter the numbers on time, the effect was to down the Losties' plane. I found all of this to be rather odd. Desmond knows what happens when the button isn't pushed yet he's totally casual about Locke's plan to see what happens. Plus, if this is really why the plane crashed, then all of the synchronicities and instances of the Losties crossing each others paths in the past is all just a wild coincidence. There was no plan or plot to get them on the same plan; it all boils down to chance. An outrageous, highly improbable, and unbelievable bit of chance. This also makes the appearance of the Oceanic Airlines planes in the crib intended for Claire's child in the medical hatch ridiculous. Why would there be OA hoolies there if the downing of the OA plane was pure coincidence? However, when the pandemonium erupts, there is a shot of the washer and dryer being thrust to the wall by the attraction. This might explain why most everything in the hatch is vintage 1970s excepting the washer and dryer. A previous system failure caused their destruction and they were replaced in a supply drop ala the "Lockdown" episode. That's my theory, anyway.
Really quickly here – Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley were captured by The Others. Hurley was set free to tell his companions not to ever go to the dock where they were brought which apparently services one Pala Ferry. Hurley walks off and bags are thrown over the heads of our Losties but not before Jack and Kate exchange winks and knowing glances. Charley and Claire kiss so it seems that their relationship has been mended. Eko's fate is unclear as he was locked out of the computer room by Locke and Desmond and he tried to blow it open with dynamite. Desmond was last seen turning the key to some kind of failsafe system for the hatch after it had (finally!) reached the point of no return with the button not having been pushed. After doing so, we cut back to the other survivors on the beach and the sky turns a brilliant white and there's a deafening hum. This scene kind of perplexed me. With the sky changing color and the hum blaring, we see The Others and the Losties on the dock. The fake Henry Gale, shown to be the leader of The Others, has an angry look on his face but I also got the impression that he was not really surprised that it happened. This means that, during the lockdown, he did indeed enter the numbers and lied to Locke about it. While prisoner in the hatch, Fenry did all he could to make Locke lose his faith and hope. He lied about pushing the button and he pitted him against Jack by making comments about Jack pushing him around, etc. It seems like he did all he could to get Locke to stop pushing the button. Why was Fenry screwing with Locke in this way? Was this part of a subterfuge to dishearten Locke and, at the same time, get Eko to start pushing the button? I mean, if you con the button pusher into not pushing the button, you can't be angry that the button doesn't get pushed.
I liked the way certain mysteries were kinda-sorta solved. We really don't know the fate of Michael and Walt. Certain questions went unanswered and new questions arose. I enjoyed this season in that it emphasized the mystery of the hatch. The enigma of the island has always been more interesting to me than the relationships of the characters. It's not that I don't care about the relationships but I find the enigma much more interesting. For instance, when the whole deal about Sun keeping Jin from finding out that she knows English. Yeah fine but what about the smoke? I thought that this season did a good job of letting certain characters develop around the hatch and what was inside of it.
On the downside, the coincidences have gotten so numerous as to be meaningless. They're no longer surprising nor particularly interesting. Also, I'm getting very frustrated with the lack of communication amongst the Losties. Various people find out various bit of weird shit about the island yet they never have a confab. If one or two characters keep things close to their chest, that's fine. OK, I can deal with that. But everyone is tight-lipped. If a cloud of black smoke came up to me and had images of people from my past, I'd go back to camp and start blabbering like I was writing to the Penthouse forum. Kate and Claire don't discuss the medical hatch. Locke and Eko don't talk about the smoke. Locke and Eko remain silent about The Pearl. I'm not asking for a scene like that with Mr. X in JFK. I just want to see the characters take a little more interest in their surroundings.
Other gripes:
-- Are we really to believe that the magnetic in the hatch took down the plane? Come on, the force needed to tear apart a plane at that altitude would be enormous.
-- I just don't buy it that Desmond would stay in the hatch for two years while his partner went outside.
-- We are shown a scene in which Desmond is in the hatch in despair. He hears Locke above at the hatch door decrying Fate and he shines the bright light up at him. Why not go up and say hi? And why be all defensive when the Losties blow the hatch door when you know that someone is up there?
-- While I realize that the writers have a lot to contend with in terms of the number of characters and whatnot, I find the way that they just abandon certain things disturbing. Where's the monster and the black smoke? They build up all this mystery about them and they're gone in a poof. I think this is where characters discussing things would come in handy. You don't actually have to show the smoke but having the characters discuss their encounters with it would at least keep it at hand instead of just being forgotten.
Season 3 starts in late September and continues for 6 weeks. At this point, we'll get a mini-cliffhanger and a 13-week hiatus. The show will then pickup again in February and continue without reruns or interruptions until the end of the season. Look for the emphasis to be placed on The Others and the relationships of the Losties. The season 2 DVD comes out in October.
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