Lost - Exodus, Part 3 [The Raft-Boat]

A father losing his son, how truly devastating that can be. I can’t possibly imagine seeing my son taken from me, without any ability to intervene. To have the euphoria of potential rescue thwarted by pure evil in just a matter of seconds; how particularly terrible, right? To lose not only your son, but also the very travel on the water that took hard work, excessive labor, strong will, and ingenuity to build. In a matter of seconds all that was dear and precious is taken away. Television is a medium certainly built for such dramatic shifts, taking the audience on a rollercoaster, designed to bring us to the heights of nirvana to the depths of the abyss. And the very best television not only does it, but does it well. Lost is such a show. Now every show, no matter how good, will endure its ups and downs. I felt the Shannon-Boone specific episode, where it is revealed that they are step-siblings and slept together, was one of such lows, but towards the end I cop to be somewhat surprised that developments regarding that storyline’s movement towards tragedy and woe took a bit of the disillusionment away. But as the first season finale concluded, Exodus Part 3, I’m the first to say that the great turn of the screw was twisting me all in knots. Bravo.

Michael insisted his son went with him on the raft-boat, along with Jin-Soo and Sawyer. He wanted his boy off the island. Considering the previous perils and inconveniences of the island, it is understandable that Mike would want his son, Walt, to accompany him. Jack does ask Mike if he thinks he should take such a dangerous risk. Mike is certain that Walt should go. Walt had wanted to stay on the island but at the end was ready to depart with his father once they left the island.

So as the raft-boat left the island, the journey into the unknowns of what lie ahead offered the obvious idea of certain danger. What would that danger be exactly? Turbulent waters caused by oncoming perilous weather? Or perhaps the wrong boat carrying a crew with only bad intentions? What is ultimately tragic about the latter is that if Mike doesn’t heed the beckoning of those aboard the raft-boat, the dangers of what happens afterward could have been averted. He could have held on to that one flare for later, never giving that boat their location. Fate and tragedy intertwined and all that.

M.C. Gainey has been a rough character actor for a majority of his career. His features often scruffy and intimidating, his voice often noised with a certain growly, antagonistic tenor, Gainey stands out in his movies. He fills up a screen and comes off often as an antagonist. Lost is the perfect place for someone like him in terms of villainy. When he emerges on the little boat with the spotlight, accompanied by his ruffians looking like white slavers, it more than likely produces an immediate gulp and/or lump in the throat. I imagine those knots tightening quite a bit with that spark of thought in the minds of many, “Uh, oh.” Who are these people really? Is Gainey a member of that party to truly fear that Danielle Rousseau has been carrying on about? When Gainey says he will be taking “the boy” [Walt, as Mike’s face exhibits a variety of emotions in one fail swoop from exhilaration at being found, to bewilderment at the proclamation, to absolute terror], all of a sudden Rousseau’s warnings (and what happened to her in regards to her child) might just echo in the mind. This culminates in Sawyer’s drawing of the gun with the retaliation a shot from the other side wounding him, Mike being multi-attacked and tossed of the raft-boat, and Jin diving in after Sawyer. Walt cries out to his father as the boat motors away and Mike is keeping head above water, powerless to do anything. This is shot in a manner of perhaps a minute and yet that lasting shot of a father/son separation felt as if it was an hour.