01.00 Lost
02.00 24
Lost. Season 5, Episode 15. "Follow the Leader" Locke leads Ben and Richard around the island, while Jack leads Sayid (but not Kate) to the bomb, and Sawyer and Juliet are led onto the submarine where they meet... Kate.
Lots of wonderful reversals in this amazing episode of Lost.
The best by far is the contrast in the two John Locke's. The one by the airplane is shell-shocked, wounded and confused, whereas the one we spent most of the episode is cock-sure of himself and full of purpose. It is the single most exhilarating thing about this episode. Locke is finally growing into the person he was meant to be.
Or something.
I just like it because the wounded, confused John Locke is flailing about and trying to make sense of it all and looking for someone to help him, someone to lead the way. When Richard first appeared out of the jungle, Locke (and the audience at home) attributed him with more power and powers than he really has. Locke constantly assumes that Richard knows more than him about stuff, and is constantly amazed to find out that Richard knows very little about these things. And, in this wonderful scenes, we see that Locke's salvation comes from himself.
I love that idea.
I love the idea that we can all save ourselves, if we just wait for ourselves to gain the knowledge.
The saddest reversal comes at the very end. Juliet and Sawyer have just declared their mutual love and optimism about their future together, when Kate is dropped on top of them. Boo hiss! Poor Juliet, my heart bled for her in that moment (and doesn't Elizabeth Mitchell look amazing?)
Miles' father went through a reversal when he decided (at the start of the episode) to accept that these (strange) people were from the future. Hurley was hilarious in that scene. And Miles himself changed his lifelong beliefs about his father when he was able to see firsthand the reasoning that caused his dad to banish them (he and his mother) from the island.
Locke and Richard went through two powerful reversals in the final minutes of the episode, and our perception of both was changed as a consequence. Richard kept quiet and looked very concerned throughout the episode - in both timelines. Yet, at the very end, when we have pretty much decided that he is a good guy, he drops a bombshell and voices concerns to Ben that Locke might be 'trouble'. What the frak does that mean? And does the ship-in-a-bottle clue mean they are finally about to tell us that Richard arrived on the Black Rock in the 1850s?
And while we were reeling from the shock of Richard's statement to Ben, Locke suddenly declared that he plans to kill Jacob. He what? Why? Is this some plan to set Jacob free? Or does Locke know that he's evil or something?
Either way, it's gonna make for an exciting finale next week.
24. Season 7, Episode 21. "4AM-5AM" Jack leaves FBI HQ when Chloe finds a lead to who might be involved in what's about to happen next.
One of the best episodes of 24 this season, and one of the very best episodes the show has ever delivered. It was flawless and relentless. Scene after scene, character after character, plot after plot, everything in this episode is pure perfection.
This is a level of television storytelling that nothing else can touch. Not since Wiseguy has a show been so skillful at moving from story arc to story arc and at creating characters that live and breathe, whether 'good' or 'evil'.
Consider the opening scenes.
Scene 1: Tony forces an innocent man into becoming his fall guy. Omid Abtahi and Carlos Bernard are amazing. Abtahi makes us terrified for the man we only met last week, an victim of forces much larger than himself. We watch in terror, wondering if he is to become the latest innocent to die on 24. And, while we wonder this, we watch Tony for a shred of the decency that made us love the character so much in bygone years.
Scene 2: Jack tells Chloe that he is going to die, she cries and they hold hands. Scenes that I never thought I would see on 24. Jack and Chloe are the heart and soul of 24 and I have waited years to see them talk to one another like close friends. But Jack's nature has prevented this from happening. Until now. Now Jack has only hours to live, and he has a team of writers who seem to have a canny knack for giving the fans things that we, very much, want to see. Mary Lynn Rajskub, who gets hotter every year on this show, was amazing in this scene.
Scene 3: Olivia sets in motion the events that will kill Jonas Hodges. This has been the real revelation for me. I honestly thought the writers would fade Olivia into the background, as the whole Jack vs. Tony storyline took over the screentime on the show. If I had been told that Oliva would have a major storyline in these final episodes, I would never have predicted that I would love it so much. I've always had a love/hate relationship with the work of Sprague Grayden, but I think those days are over. Her Olivia is flawed and human and a character I really care about. Pairing her with Leland Orser as a truly fascinating character certainly helps. Leland Orser blew me away on Voyager a decade ago and it's always great to see him with great material.
Scene 4: We visit the Big Bad of Season Seven and, thanks to Jon Voight, we find ourselves feeling sympathy for the deranged cold-blooded killer that we hated a few hours ago. Not only a testament to this great actor's skill, but it's an example of how good the writers are on the show. I thought they were writing this character out with a suicide pill a few episodes. This is much better. And the scene with the photography was genuinely sad. Wow.
Scene 5: Jack goes nose-to-nose with an innocent man, on the trail of Tony. Another example of a scene that can be classed as one of the best scenes ever shown on 24. Ravi Kapoor is outstanding in a major glaring match with Kiefer Sutherland. We know that Jack is completely wrong. And we are nervous about what he is going to do. In this way, 24 transcends entertainment and - like Battlestar Galactica - becomes a mirror held up to the times in which we live.
Highlight? 24 (Jack and Chloe)
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Thu, May 7, 09 - Lost, 24
