04.00 Lost
Lost. Season 5, Episode 16. "The Incident" Jack carries a bomb, Locke gives Ben a job to do...
The only problem I can see with Lost at this stage is that it's hard to get fired up about the main characters goals when they've been proven to be wrong about important stuff in the past. Jack has a goal in this episode and Locke has a goal in this episode, and - to be honest - given their patchy track record with stuff, it's hard to... care.
I think I'm supposed to care. I think I'm supposed to be invested in what Jack wants. But, two years back, he was passionate about getting everyone off the island. And we now know that that was a pretty crap plan.
Now he wants to set off an atom bomb.
And there's no reason for the viewer to believe that this will work, either. And, instead of increasing the tension, it only served to increase my apathy.
Locke's goal in this episode had me mystified. Having seen the twist ending it makes sense, but for the duration of the episode it was a bit frustrating. Entertaining, but frustrating. And, to be honest, given Locke's patchy track record with these things, I found myself much more invested in Ben. In fact, I was completely invested in Ben for the duration of the story and really concerned for him at the very end. (That was a fantastic ending. Poor Ben.)
Back in the Seventies, I wasn't that pushed about Jack and his mission, but I was absolutely heart-broken for Juliet and Sawyer. Their story was/is amazing and wonderful and sad and romantic and a million other things.
But I must confess to being just as weary of all the in-fighting as Rose and Bernard. And while I loved this episode from start to finish, it was for reasons that had nothing to do with the engines that were driving the two plots.
Mark Pellegrino was a terrific Jacob. His interactions with all the main regulars were great. Short powerful scenes, which - I think - went a long way towards explaining the nature of Jacob.
Not that the episode really wants us to know very much about who he is. They script shows us a heck of a lot of the stuff that he has done.
But why has he been weaving all these threads?
Well, I guess, that will have to wait for next season...
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