"We all died three days ago. We deserve to start over." - That, ladies and gents, is a thesis statement. Surpisingly early in the run, but this seems to be something that will guide the show going forwards. What is rebirth, and does the show mean they died, like, literally? Cause I could kind of see that being the case. Quiet contemplation runs through the episode, and it's much the better for it. Bombast is well and good, and probably needed to hook the audience, but if this is the model from now on, I'll be pretty thrilled. It's a brutal episode, spiked by two of the best pieces of dark humor I've seen since ever, and a lot of great character work. Just awesome all around.
So what did Kate do? Murder? Possibly, but if so it was self-defense. She's virtuous, too dang nice to be believable as some sort of scheming black widow. I believe the bad relationship, some nightmare in her past. I've said before that I'm fascinated by people acting precisely, and Kate is clinical in her planning. But she's naive, too, and trusting. Experienced in these things but untrained, not a professional. Notice that she can't pull the trigger. She's fooling herself to some extent (is shooting someone so different from having them shot?), but she at least believes there's something to be preserved. The island now becomes her proving ground, as it seems to be for them all.
The mysterious Mr. Locke has seen a miracle. Terry O'Quin twinkles paternally and reveals nothing. There's no lightness to his decision to let the father return the dog. It's redemptive. His eyes in that last shot are scales, the balance not yet achieved. Backgammon fits, even if the metaphor is clumsy. It occurs to me that he asked the little boy which side he wanted to take, instead of Locke making the choice. Will this be his question to all the others? Is he just ahead in the game, or is he the one tilting the scales? My hope is that every episode is devoted to the background of a single character, as this one if for Kate. The producers assembled a rich and interesting cast, and we've seen glimpses and hints of stories from many of them. What the hell is going on with Sun and whoever Daniel Dae-Kim is playing?
But the cast is now smaller by one, and the marshall / bounty hunter jackass won't be getting a showcase episode. Very sad. Also hilarious. I don't give a crap about the man himself. A plot device and nothing more, but what a great slice of black humor as he dies. Vicious and wild and astonishingly real. This is a situation of hard and brutal choices. Sawyer is right the entire time. The man needs to die, and the absurdity of these scared, bumbling idiots is exactly how they might actually act in that situation. Sawyer, incidentally, isn't quite as big a badass as he'd like everyone to think. Been in a few fights? Sure. Killer? Weeeeeellllllll. Sorry bro.
And a huge apology as well to that poor farmer, whose lost arm made me cackle. Look, real life is funny. It's messy and dumb and full of smart people doing stupid shit. Few shows even try to reflect that balance, to bring order and chaos and chance into a depiction that feels organic. There are many, many ways the increasingly huge mythology could spiral out of control, and the elements of surprise will get harder to sustain with each episode. But, for now, it's pretty damn cool.
Speaking of things that aren't cool…. See you Sunday for Twilight. Aw crap…...
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