Writers: Drew Goddard & Brian K. Vaughan
Director: Stephen Williams
Cast: Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Ken Leung (Miles Straume), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte Lewis), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Matthew Fox (Jack), Michael Emerson (Ben), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Zoë Bell (Regina), Tania Raymonde (Alex), Blake Bashoff (Karl), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), Lance Reddick (Matthew Abbadon), Mira Furlan (Rousseau), Marsha Thomason (Naomi), Fisher Stevens (George Minkowski), Kanayo Chiemelu (African Man), Jill Kuramoto (Female Anchor), Necar Zadegan (Translator) & Azure McCall (Miss Gardner)
Four strangers parachute onto the island, bringing unease and distrust from both factions of survivors…
While I certainly enjoyed last week's premiere, it was little more than a perfunctory continuation of season 3's finale – helped along by fan-pleasing moments. Confirmed Dead, on the other hand, is a far livelier instalment; bulging with fresh information, deepening mysteries, a quartet of new characters, and a clearer sense of where season 4 is headed…
The confirmed dead of the title alludes to Flight 815, which is "discovered" at the bottom of the ocean's Sunda Trench and broadcast on the news – clearly part of an elaborate cover-up. The first new character we're introduced to is Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), who is moved to tears after watching the submerged 815 on TV, in stark contrast to his present day temperament – as he parachutes onto the island from a stricken helicopter and allies himself with Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly).
Daniel is a twitchy physicist whose motive for coming to the island slowly comes under suspicion by Jack, who wonders why he thought it necessary to take a gun and a box containing hazmat suits and gas masks on a rescue mission – prompting Daniel to admit rescuing survivors of Flight 815 isn't his first priority...
Elsewhere on the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is leading his splinter faction to Jacob's Cabin, admitting to Sawyer (Josh Holloway) that he's acting on information provided to him by "taller-ghost Walt". Ben (Michael Emerson) is trying to mess with Sawyer's head – by reminding him that Kate isn't likely to choose him over spinal surgeon Jack if they ever get off the island. Emerson is always a delight, and this episode is particularly good because it later reveals Ben still has a significant role to play on the show...
It's Locke's group who stumble upon the second new character: English anthropologist Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), her parachute caught on a branch overhanging a small lake. Her flashback is perhaps the most jaw-dropping of the newcomers, as she heads up an excavation in Tunisia – where the skeletal remains of a polar bear have been discovered in the desert! What's more, the bear has a Hydra Station DHARMA tag still attached to it!
Sadly, Charlotte is the least likeable of the new characters, being particularly snotty and prickly when greeted by Locke's insistence his party don't want rescuing. But, first impressions of people on Lost are never very accurate, so I'm sure she'll improve over the coming weeks.
Jack, Kate and Daniel track a signal on their sat-phone to the craggy shoreline, where they find the third rescuer: Miles Straume (Ken Leung), a hot-headed Asian man who demands to know what happened to Naomi and, after being told she was killed by a rogue member of their team (Locke), demands to be taken to her body...
Another intriguing flashback reveals Miles' unique ability, as he arrives at a house in Inglewood, California, to meet a kindly black lady. Upstairs, in a young boy's bedroom, he seemingly contacts the deceased spirit of the murdered occupant... and a spirit apparently reveals where a stash of money and drugs have been hidden. Miles takes the cash, but leaves the drugs...
On the island, medium Miles is taken to Naomi's body and confirms she was killed in the way Kate described. By now, Jack and Kate are becoming wary of their rescuers intentions, so it's lucky that Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have had a conversation at the beach about Ben's reasons for saying the rescuers are hostile, and arrive to help Jack take Miles and Daniel hostage.
The final newcomer to the island is Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), whose flashback shows him living on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Frank watches the news report about the discovery of Flight 815, but realizes that the corpse of pilot Seth Norris couldn't possibly be him – as he knew Seth personally and knows his friend always wore a wedding ring. After calling the Oceanic Hotline, Frank is frustrated to fins his concern is brushed aside, but it's made clear Frank was supposed to pilot Oceanic Flight 815 on its fateful journey, before Seth replaced him.
Frank has also arrived on the island, having managed to land the lightning-struck rescue chopper on a patch of grassland. He fires a distress flare into the air from a hillside, which is seen by Locke's group, but Frank is discovered by Jack's team – who are amazed to find they now have a working helicopter! Surely their escape from the island is now imminent? Yeah, right...
A final flashback appeared as a quick scene between Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and Michael Abaddon (Lance Reddick), the stern black man who visited Hurley in the mental institute last week. It becomes clear that Abaddon wants Naomi to lead a four-man team to the island, comprised of: "a head case (Daniel), a ghostbuster (Miles), an anthropologist (Charlotte) and a drunk (Frank)". Intriguingly, Naomi is told by Abaddon that there are no survivors of Flight 815 on the island...
In Locke's group, Charlotte is trying to persuade them to go and find whoever fired the flare, frustrated she's been found by a faction who distrust her on sight. As she pleads with them, gunshots are fired into her chest by Ben (who managed to get hold of a Blake's gun), and she falls to the floor. Sawyer pins Ben up against a tree, taking his act of murder as reason to kill him once and for all. Locke goes to Charlotte, who isn't dead because she wisely chose to wear a bullet-proof vest – although he agrees with Sawyer that Ben has become a dangerous liability...
However, Ben proves he's still invaluable to them; by reeling off information and facts about Charlotte, then revealing the rescuers are actually here to for him, and he knows all this because he has a man on their boat...
Once again, it's a simple on-island story, but one that nicely introduced four new characters (complete with quick accompanying flashbacks), and they all seem to be interesting -- for one reason or another.
I particularly like Jeff Fahey's haggard appearance as Frank, and his relevance to Flight 815, while Ken Leung gives Miles a pleasingly capricious nature, and his psychic abilities should prove useful. How long before he makes contact with Jacob and the other island ghosts? Jeremy Davies is already doing great work with ambiguous Daniel, although I'm less keen in Rebecca Mader as Charlotte right now -- but that's really only because she was written as being quite irritating.
Writers Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughan also make welcome links to Lost's mythology throughout the episode – by having Locke once again predict the weather (in symbiosis with the island), and cleverly have Locke's absence of a kidney save his life – as the bullet Ben shot him with went straight through his abdomen and couldn't puncture that missing organ.
So, in a strange way, Locke's conman father actually saved his life by stealing his kidney – which was a neat connection to make. They even had Locke demand Ben tell him what the smoke monster is at gunpoint – which was an enjoyable moment of reality creeping into the show.
You definitely got the sense that Goddard and Vaughan love connecting Lost's dots, and are fully aware of the issues fans find frustratingly enjoyable on the show. It might help that comic-book writer Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) only joined the team in season 3, so approaches Lost with the memory of being an answer-hungry fan -- thus bringing a fresh perspective, nurtured by veteran co-writer Drew Goddard.
Above all, there's a sense of urgency and energy in season 4 already. It really does seem like we're rushing towards a conclusion now -- despite having 46 episodes left to go! The flashforwards and flashbacks are acting as a great pincer on the present-day island story, while the revitalizing nature of new characters (arriving with new mysteries), actually seems necessary – and not a pointless exercise to drag the series out.
Burning Questions
-- What are the remains of a DHARMA polar bear doing in the Tunisian desert? Is this proof the island is somehow jumping around in four dimensions, perhaps travelling back in time and shifting locations?
-- Who is Ben's inside man on the rescuers' freighter? Is it the as-yet-unseen Minkowsky who's been talking to Jack and Daniel via the sat-hone?
-- Why did Matthew Abaddon assemble a rescue team comprised of a medium, a pilot, a physicist and a soldier? And who is he working for?
-- Who staged the fake Flight 815, and why bother going to that trouble? Was it Oceanic Airlines? The Hanso Foundation? DHARMA?
-- Why was Daniel Faraday inconsolable when he heard about Flight 815's discovery on the news? And why isn't he that emotional now?
-- Who was the young black boy Miles made contact with as a spirit? It can't be just a random character in the world of Lost, so is the boy related to Mr Eko? Michael and Walt? Abaddon?
-- Why was Charlotte so disbelieving about Flight 815s "discovery"?
-- Why did Daniel bring hazmat suits and gas masks to the island? Did the rescuers expect similar gas-attacks that the "hostiles" used against DHARMA?
-- Why do the rescuers want Ben?
-- Why does Locke want everyone to go to Jacob's Cabin? What else did Walt tell him to do? Did Hurley find the real/physical Cabin last week?
As always, there are plenty of questions to mull over– but I wouldn't have it any other way. A very strong start to season 4 so far...
10 February 2008
Sky One, 9.00 pm
Director: Stephen Williams
Cast: Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Ken Leung (Miles Straume), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte Lewis), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Matthew Fox (Jack), Michael Emerson (Ben), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Zoë Bell (Regina), Tania Raymonde (Alex), Blake Bashoff (Karl), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), Lance Reddick (Matthew Abbadon), Mira Furlan (Rousseau), Marsha Thomason (Naomi), Fisher Stevens (George Minkowski), Kanayo Chiemelu (African Man), Jill Kuramoto (Female Anchor), Necar Zadegan (Translator) & Azure McCall (Miss Gardner)
Four strangers parachute onto the island, bringing unease and distrust from both factions of survivors…"It's only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny.
And I bet he's already figured out how he's gonna do it."
-- Sawyer (Josh Holloway)
While I certainly enjoyed last week's premiere, it was little more than a perfunctory continuation of season 3's finale – helped along by fan-pleasing moments. Confirmed Dead, on the other hand, is a far livelier instalment; bulging with fresh information, deepening mysteries, a quartet of new characters, and a clearer sense of where season 4 is headed…
The confirmed dead of the title alludes to Flight 815, which is "discovered" at the bottom of the ocean's Sunda Trench and broadcast on the news – clearly part of an elaborate cover-up. The first new character we're introduced to is Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), who is moved to tears after watching the submerged 815 on TV, in stark contrast to his present day temperament – as he parachutes onto the island from a stricken helicopter and allies himself with Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly).
Daniel is a twitchy physicist whose motive for coming to the island slowly comes under suspicion by Jack, who wonders why he thought it necessary to take a gun and a box containing hazmat suits and gas masks on a rescue mission – prompting Daniel to admit rescuing survivors of Flight 815 isn't his first priority...
Elsewhere on the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is leading his splinter faction to Jacob's Cabin, admitting to Sawyer (Josh Holloway) that he's acting on information provided to him by "taller-ghost Walt". Ben (Michael Emerson) is trying to mess with Sawyer's head – by reminding him that Kate isn't likely to choose him over spinal surgeon Jack if they ever get off the island. Emerson is always a delight, and this episode is particularly good because it later reveals Ben still has a significant role to play on the show...
It's Locke's group who stumble upon the second new character: English anthropologist Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), her parachute caught on a branch overhanging a small lake. Her flashback is perhaps the most jaw-dropping of the newcomers, as she heads up an excavation in Tunisia – where the skeletal remains of a polar bear have been discovered in the desert! What's more, the bear has a Hydra Station DHARMA tag still attached to it!
Sadly, Charlotte is the least likeable of the new characters, being particularly snotty and prickly when greeted by Locke's insistence his party don't want rescuing. But, first impressions of people on Lost are never very accurate, so I'm sure she'll improve over the coming weeks.
Jack, Kate and Daniel track a signal on their sat-phone to the craggy shoreline, where they find the third rescuer: Miles Straume (Ken Leung), a hot-headed Asian man who demands to know what happened to Naomi and, after being told she was killed by a rogue member of their team (Locke), demands to be taken to her body...
Another intriguing flashback reveals Miles' unique ability, as he arrives at a house in Inglewood, California, to meet a kindly black lady. Upstairs, in a young boy's bedroom, he seemingly contacts the deceased spirit of the murdered occupant... and a spirit apparently reveals where a stash of money and drugs have been hidden. Miles takes the cash, but leaves the drugs...
On the island, medium Miles is taken to Naomi's body and confirms she was killed in the way Kate described. By now, Jack and Kate are becoming wary of their rescuers intentions, so it's lucky that Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have had a conversation at the beach about Ben's reasons for saying the rescuers are hostile, and arrive to help Jack take Miles and Daniel hostage.
The final newcomer to the island is Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), whose flashback shows him living on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Frank watches the news report about the discovery of Flight 815, but realizes that the corpse of pilot Seth Norris couldn't possibly be him – as he knew Seth personally and knows his friend always wore a wedding ring. After calling the Oceanic Hotline, Frank is frustrated to fins his concern is brushed aside, but it's made clear Frank was supposed to pilot Oceanic Flight 815 on its fateful journey, before Seth replaced him.
Frank has also arrived on the island, having managed to land the lightning-struck rescue chopper on a patch of grassland. He fires a distress flare into the air from a hillside, which is seen by Locke's group, but Frank is discovered by Jack's team – who are amazed to find they now have a working helicopter! Surely their escape from the island is now imminent? Yeah, right...
A final flashback appeared as a quick scene between Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and Michael Abaddon (Lance Reddick), the stern black man who visited Hurley in the mental institute last week. It becomes clear that Abaddon wants Naomi to lead a four-man team to the island, comprised of: "a head case (Daniel), a ghostbuster (Miles), an anthropologist (Charlotte) and a drunk (Frank)". Intriguingly, Naomi is told by Abaddon that there are no survivors of Flight 815 on the island...
In Locke's group, Charlotte is trying to persuade them to go and find whoever fired the flare, frustrated she's been found by a faction who distrust her on sight. As she pleads with them, gunshots are fired into her chest by Ben (who managed to get hold of a Blake's gun), and she falls to the floor. Sawyer pins Ben up against a tree, taking his act of murder as reason to kill him once and for all. Locke goes to Charlotte, who isn't dead because she wisely chose to wear a bullet-proof vest – although he agrees with Sawyer that Ben has become a dangerous liability...
However, Ben proves he's still invaluable to them; by reeling off information and facts about Charlotte, then revealing the rescuers are actually here to for him, and he knows all this because he has a man on their boat...
Once again, it's a simple on-island story, but one that nicely introduced four new characters (complete with quick accompanying flashbacks), and they all seem to be interesting -- for one reason or another.
I particularly like Jeff Fahey's haggard appearance as Frank, and his relevance to Flight 815, while Ken Leung gives Miles a pleasingly capricious nature, and his psychic abilities should prove useful. How long before he makes contact with Jacob and the other island ghosts? Jeremy Davies is already doing great work with ambiguous Daniel, although I'm less keen in Rebecca Mader as Charlotte right now -- but that's really only because she was written as being quite irritating.
Writers Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughan also make welcome links to Lost's mythology throughout the episode – by having Locke once again predict the weather (in symbiosis with the island), and cleverly have Locke's absence of a kidney save his life – as the bullet Ben shot him with went straight through his abdomen and couldn't puncture that missing organ.
So, in a strange way, Locke's conman father actually saved his life by stealing his kidney – which was a neat connection to make. They even had Locke demand Ben tell him what the smoke monster is at gunpoint – which was an enjoyable moment of reality creeping into the show.
You definitely got the sense that Goddard and Vaughan love connecting Lost's dots, and are fully aware of the issues fans find frustratingly enjoyable on the show. It might help that comic-book writer Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) only joined the team in season 3, so approaches Lost with the memory of being an answer-hungry fan -- thus bringing a fresh perspective, nurtured by veteran co-writer Drew Goddard.
Above all, there's a sense of urgency and energy in season 4 already. It really does seem like we're rushing towards a conclusion now -- despite having 46 episodes left to go! The flashforwards and flashbacks are acting as a great pincer on the present-day island story, while the revitalizing nature of new characters (arriving with new mysteries), actually seems necessary – and not a pointless exercise to drag the series out.
Burning Questions
-- What are the remains of a DHARMA polar bear doing in the Tunisian desert? Is this proof the island is somehow jumping around in four dimensions, perhaps travelling back in time and shifting locations?
-- Who is Ben's inside man on the rescuers' freighter? Is it the as-yet-unseen Minkowsky who's been talking to Jack and Daniel via the sat-hone?
-- Why did Matthew Abaddon assemble a rescue team comprised of a medium, a pilot, a physicist and a soldier? And who is he working for?
-- Who staged the fake Flight 815, and why bother going to that trouble? Was it Oceanic Airlines? The Hanso Foundation? DHARMA?
-- Why was Daniel Faraday inconsolable when he heard about Flight 815's discovery on the news? And why isn't he that emotional now?
-- Who was the young black boy Miles made contact with as a spirit? It can't be just a random character in the world of Lost, so is the boy related to Mr Eko? Michael and Walt? Abaddon?
-- Why was Charlotte so disbelieving about Flight 815s "discovery"?
-- Why did Daniel bring hazmat suits and gas masks to the island? Did the rescuers expect similar gas-attacks that the "hostiles" used against DHARMA?
-- Why do the rescuers want Ben?
-- Why does Locke want everyone to go to Jacob's Cabin? What else did Walt tell him to do? Did Hurley find the real/physical Cabin last week?
As always, there are plenty of questions to mull over– but I wouldn't have it any other way. A very strong start to season 4 so far...
10 February 2008
Sky One, 9.00 pm
