TV Review: Lost Season 2 Finale

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

From ABC: After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack and Sayid come up with a plan to confront "The Others" and hopefully get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko and Locke come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the "button" and the hatch, on the two-hour season finale.

My Rating: 4 out of 4

At the end of last week's episode, a boat was spotted off shore. Jack, Sawyer and Sayid dive into the ocean to swim for it, and that is where this two hour season finale titled Live Together, Die Alone opens up. The three survivors reach the boat, and they are immediately shot at by whoever is below. That is until they run out of bullets. The three break through to below, and they find Desmond. They bring him back to the island, where many are curious about the boat and its passenger. Jack questions on why he returned to the island, and Desmond tells Jack that he had been sailing for two weeks, and he thought he would have reached Fiji in a week, but instead he traveled in a circle. He arrived back from where he started from. Desmond called this a snow globe effect.

Sayid goes to Jack after Jack is done with Desmond, and he once again tells him that Michael has been compromised. He devises a plan to take Desmond's boat on a scouting mission to see just what The Others are like. Jack agrees, and the next day the five are off to look for The Others. Sayid goes to Desmond and asks for the boat, and he gets it. However, there is a problem. Sayid doesn't know how to sail, so he wants Desmond to. However, he tells Sayid to find someone else. Meanwhile, at the hatch, Locke returns and he tries to get Eko to stop pushing the button. He is unsuccessful though, and Eko even throws him out of the hatch.

Needing someone to sail the boat, Sayid goes to Sun to ask Jin to help him with the sailing portion. She relays the message to Jin, but he tells her he won't leave her. However, in a shocking little twist, she says she will go with him. This is something that Sayid doesn't appreciate at first, but Sun stands firm on it. In the forest outside the hatch, Charlie comes across Locke, and he informs him of Desmond's return to the island. As for the five headed to The Others, they are moving forward. Sawyer and Kate talk about Kate being caught in a net with Jack when a huge bird screeching Hurley's name swoops down from above.

Locke goes to find Desmond, and he tells him about the other hatch and that the button pushing is some kind of huge test. At first, Desmond doesn't believe him, but Locke pulls out the tape he has as proof. Desmond tells Locke if that is the case, then stop pushing the button. However, we know Eko is now taking over that duty. Locke devises his own plan to stop that with Desmond's help. Meanwhile, Sawyer offers Hurley food, which he doesn't want, and Jack talks to Michael about their trip. Michael thanks Jack for coming along to help Walt.

The next morning, Sayid, Sun and Jin spot a part of a statue on the other side of the island. They only find the foot, and as Sayid points out, the foot has only four toes. At the hatch, they lose power, which sends Eko to search out why. Desmond plays around with the wiring, and he is able to trap Eko in a room while they wait to see what happens when the button isn't pushed. Throughout the episode we see flashbacks of Desmond's life before the island. We see him get a boat from Libby that he wants to race around the world. Her husband has just died, so she gives him her husband's boat in this task. We also see him in his dealings the father of his lover. The man has banished Desmond from her life. Once he reaches the island during his around the world boat trip, we see him when he meets up with another man that has the task of pushing the button.

Present day, Kate finds two of The Others are trailing their group. She tells Sawyer just moments before she opens fire. Sawyer joins in, and he takes one down. Jack confronts Michael there on the spot. He tells the others Michael told The Others they were coming. Hurley asks Michael if he killed Ana Lucia and Libby, and the man confesses. Hurley wants to leave immediately, but Jack stops him. He has a plan, but we just don't know what that plan is. Back on the boat, the three sailors appear to find The Others camp. Charlie leads Eko to where the dynamite they used before is hidden. He takes it to the hatch with the intention of blowing the blast door open. However, Charlie tries to talk to Locke first instead. When that is unsuccessful, Eko sets off the explosion, which causes a wall of fire to move through the hatch. Charlie runs from it, and Eko hides from it. Inside the door, Desmond and Locke are unhurt, and Desmond asks Locke why he is doing this. Locke tells him about Boone's death. I never knew his death affected Locke so much, but that appears to be the case.

On the other side of the island, Sayid enters The Others camp, and he finds yet another hatch, or what appears to be one. It is only a door that leads to a rock wall on the other side. Meanwhile, Jack and the others are still headed somewhere, but we're not sure if that is to the beach where the others are. The group finds the journal books written at the other hatch Locke found before just prior to the arrival of The Others. They shoot both Sawyer and Kate with what looks like tranquilizer darts. Jack tries to save Kate, but he is shot himself. The last thing he sees before passing out is one of the others capturing him.

Desmond doesn't believe Locke about the experiment on the island. He asks to see the tape, but he can't. There is no VCR where they are in the hatch. He then asks to see the print-out from the other hatch, but all the print out is is numbers. While this is happening, we go back to the past, and Desmond sees the man he has spent the last three years with venture outside with a hole in his suit. Desmond follows him, and he finds that the air is breathable and there is no reason for quarantine. He also finds his boat. After appearing to kill his partner, he runs back to the hatch to push the button, but he doesn't make it in time. He causes a system failure, which we don't know exactly what that means. However, in present day, we see Desmond ask Locke what day they arrived, and that date is the same as the system failure, which leads Desmond to believe that he is the one responsible for the crash of Oceanic 815.

On the other side of the island, the five are brought in front of the others, and we see the return of Henry Gale. It seems he might be quite important in the group of The Others. We finally see Charlie is okay back at the hatch, but Eko might not be. Desmond tries to convince Locke to push the button, but Locke pushes the monitor off the table, and that causes it to break. Desmond really thinks he crashed their plane. The countdown goes to zero, and we see all hell break loose in the hatch. Things start flying as they are being pulled by some magnetic force. Eko wakes up and with Charlie's help he makes it to the computer room after Desmond opens the door. Desmond himself goes down below and uses a key that looks to be in case of system failure. Locke tells Eko he was wrong just before Desmond turns the key, and a white light blankets the whole island just before there is silence and the quarantine door falls from the sky nearly hitting Claire and her baby. Bernard moves her out of the way just in time.

With The Others, Michael is set free by Henry, who I am thinking is their leader. He is given a boat, and told a specific heading. Walt is on the boat waiting for him. After he leaves, Hurley is released to return to the camp and tell the others to not come their again. Jack, Kate and Sawyer are taken by The Others. Back at the camp, clean-up is underway, and Charlie makes his way back in. Claire sees him, and she's immediately happy. The two talk about the events of that day later that night, and they share a kiss. Charlie & Claire fans can rejoice. We think at that moment, the episode is over, but it isn't. We're taken to somewhere that appears to be in Russia or Antarctica, and two men are playing chess. One immediately notices a flashing alarm on a screen that says something about an electromagnetic anomaly being detected. The two men rush into action, and they call someone. That someone being Desmond's girlfriend. Could her father own Dharma? Could be, but we won't know what happens next until October when Lost makes its return.

This season of Lost has had its ups and downs, its good episodes and its bad episodes. Midseason I was almost ready to give up on the series, but things picked up, and now I can't believe we have to wait until October to find out what happens next. We don't know what happened to Desmond, Eko or Locke. We don't know why The Others wanted Jack, Kate and Sawyer. We don't know if Michael and Walt actually make it off the island safely. Just what was that bright light? Was it a missile being launched? Did Desmond really cause the crash of the plane with the last system failure, and who is watching the island? So many unanswered questions. More questions than answers I think. However, isn't that how this show works? I think so. We'll just have to wait oh so impatiently for its return. Don't forgot to hop on over to Willo's Blog. She was quite happy over tonight's American Idol results!