Lost - Adrift

You know the phrase, if it could go wrong, it does? Well, that is exactly the case for Mike and Sawyer. Jin is missing and they are on a piece of raft remaining from the burning remnants of Mike's beloved raft-boat. A shark swimming around and Sawyer losing a few bullets doesn't help their cause at all! A distance shot literally points out how Sawyer and Mike are on their own island...and the shark bumps the raft causing it to gradually break apart. It's bad. It's really bad.

Jin’s absence certainly creates a great cloud of mystery. I just figured this is a whole other Lost episode. Those behind Lost Creative appear to be very mindful of how they can tell multiple stories and alternate their myriad of characters. When you’re a creative team with a studio behind the process considering the success rate of the previous season, it provides leeway and freedom perhaps not afforded to shows with less of an audience. I think the confidence in the storytelling is obvious as you watch the show. Once Locke was revealed to have been without the ability to walk and now on the island can, with the response quite positive, the studio could warm those cold feet and give more rope to the creative team. So while Mike and Sawyer bicker and argue on rafts with twine that could separate the linked wood bamboo at the slightest pressure and movement, Jin is somewhere else.

• The Walking Dead has a storytelling technique that has become the standard for how characters are developed. You can have three stories ongoing with a number of characters split up so that they are developed in a fashion that perhaps is easier for those writing for the show. Game of Thrones does so as well. While The Walking Dead can have one episode devoted to a certain set of characters (or if just following one character specifically) and then the next week produce a second episode featuring others not seen the previous week, Game of Thrones gives their featured characters conversation pieces and character scenes specifically designed for gradual development. Lost uses the format of flashback and devotes each episode to a featured principle character while still giving over a few minutes or so to supporting characters in order to establish specific subplot seeds, planting them for future use. In Man of Science, Man of Faith, Shannon sees Walt wet with him convincing her to be quiet before he disappears as Sayid catches up to her. So Walt’s appearing to Shannon is not just a subplot detail to be dropped in the episode for the hell of it…its significance is certain to be further illustrated later.

Obviously Mike is emotionally wounded and a nervous wreck after nearly dying of almost drowning (Sawyer saved his life by resuscitating him). Flashbacks—memories?—of giving up his rights to his son, at the behest of his ex, haunts him. He didn’t want to, thought about fighting her, and yet was not in a good place financially or economically to truly make a difference. And to lose Walt again after finally bonding with his boy, it is no wonder Mike agonizes as he is adrift with Sawyer until they are carried by current back to the island. While one raft falls apart another just floats at a slight distance, and it allows Mike and Sawyer to return to the island (not before Mike must shoot a shark nipping at Sawyer’s heels while he swims for a better piece from the destroyed raft). I did notice what I believe to be the S insignia located all over the items and goods inside the underground bunker where Desmond resides on the shark when it swims past the screen aiming for Sawyer. It is slight but obviously important. 

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Adrift fills in some details not shown in Man of Science, Man of Faith in regards to Locke and Kate. That Locke used the cable to climb down into the underground bunker while Kate must be tied up and put in a food chamber in order to keep her out of sight, out of mind (of course, resourceful Kate finds a ventilation system to escape into after taking a bite out of a candy bar). Locke is ordered by shotgun-toting Desmond to input the “cursed” numerical code into a computer while a specific number is flipped to on the wall behind the monitor. A look of relief on Desmond’s face out of a harried anxiety while Locke obeys calmly but remains baffled by his behavior is result afterward. Locke tries to assure Desmond that he is harmless. Desmond is overly cautious. There is a lot of information unknown about Desmond and an entire season (or longer) Lost Creative had at their disposal to fill in the details. I personally consider this brand of storytelling ideal. Plenty of mystery about characters and back story that details specifics that might surprise and add layers is never a bad thing, I believe. If anything, this opens up the show and doesn’t paint Lost Creative in a corner, telling those in charge of writing this expansive arc with its numerous characters that they are not handcuffed by those without faith. As the silhouettes of the “udders” as Jin emerges towards Sawyer and Mike as they come ashore, that hook for the next episode is in place. FINALLY it appears the others will be revealed…the creative team put this off as long as they could. Kudos to them for having the patience to do so.