Lost - Meet Kevin Johnson
I decided once I realized Meet Kevin
Johnson was a “Michael flashback episode” that I just wouldn’t be
spending much time on it. Talking about Michael too much would just encourage
those bad feelings that have been relatively moot during much of the fourth
season of Lost. The moment where a
bound and gagged Jack, Kate, and Sawyer rest on their knees while Michael and
WAAAAALLLLTTTTTTT (!!!!!!!!!!) boat away to certain coordinates offered by Ben
Linus left such a sour distaste. Being reminded of it in this episode just brought
it all back.
I won’t go on and on nitpicking about the details regarding New York, because I felt very little about Michael’s travails. His putting a gun to his head or chin didn’t pull from me any sympathy. I can’t forget the murder of Ana or Libby, and when confronted with what Michael did during a conversation on board the freighter, Ben was quick to respond that those deaths had nothing to do with him. Michael, wearing the headphones in the communications room of the freighter, can only drop his head after reluctantly agreeing to put together a list of those onboard, so that the innocents can be separated from those undeserved of being spared.
So Libby and Ana’s deaths are on him alone. He shot them, and when Sayid gives Michael up to Captain Gault at the end of the episode, I, for one, didn’t mind a bit. Quite frankly, why should either Sayid or Desmond believe Michael or Ben? What has Ben done that deserves any semblance of trust? Sure Widmore might just be responsible for the Oceanic 815 fake that was found on an ocean floor, but Ben very well could be as well. Why should we trust Ben anymore than Widmore? And that is the question, the great mystery cultivated over the fourth season…which is the true villain? Sure Ben says he’s “the good guy”, but is he really? Who’s to say Ben didn’t send Tom to New York to urge a down-on-his-luck Michael (about to commit suicide since he can’t see his son, now staying with his mother who refuses to allow Michael and Walt to have access to each other) to persuade him to be a spy, purposely feeding a cockamamie story about how Widmore was the culprit in the fake Oceanic just so he could keep others from discovering the island and have it for himself, with plans to murder the likes of Jack, Kate, Claire, etc.?
If Ben wants to keep the island for himself, why not lie to Michael so he would serve as a deck hand on the freighter, sabotage it, and keep it from communicating out to Widmore or leaving its position? In fact, Frank Lapidus has a reverse story when talking to Michael (just a pilot who knew that the plane shown as the Oceanic in a news program wasn’t) that Widmore wanted to find the island and Ben, feeling as if the fake plane located was Linus’ scheme.
I won’t go on and on nitpicking about the details regarding New York, because I felt very little about Michael’s travails. His putting a gun to his head or chin didn’t pull from me any sympathy. I can’t forget the murder of Ana or Libby, and when confronted with what Michael did during a conversation on board the freighter, Ben was quick to respond that those deaths had nothing to do with him. Michael, wearing the headphones in the communications room of the freighter, can only drop his head after reluctantly agreeing to put together a list of those onboard, so that the innocents can be separated from those undeserved of being spared.
So Libby and Ana’s deaths are on him alone. He shot them, and when Sayid gives Michael up to Captain Gault at the end of the episode, I, for one, didn’t mind a bit. Quite frankly, why should either Sayid or Desmond believe Michael or Ben? What has Ben done that deserves any semblance of trust? Sure Widmore might just be responsible for the Oceanic 815 fake that was found on an ocean floor, but Ben very well could be as well. Why should we trust Ben anymore than Widmore? And that is the question, the great mystery cultivated over the fourth season…which is the true villain? Sure Ben says he’s “the good guy”, but is he really? Who’s to say Ben didn’t send Tom to New York to urge a down-on-his-luck Michael (about to commit suicide since he can’t see his son, now staying with his mother who refuses to allow Michael and Walt to have access to each other) to persuade him to be a spy, purposely feeding a cockamamie story about how Widmore was the culprit in the fake Oceanic just so he could keep others from discovering the island and have it for himself, with plans to murder the likes of Jack, Kate, Claire, etc.?
If Ben wants to keep the island for himself, why not lie to Michael so he would serve as a deck hand on the freighter, sabotage it, and keep it from communicating out to Widmore or leaving its position? In fact, Frank Lapidus has a reverse story when talking to Michael (just a pilot who knew that the plane shown as the Oceanic in a news program wasn’t) that Widmore wanted to find the island and Ben, feeling as if the fake plane located was Linus’ scheme.
Very little happens on the island. Locke brings in Miles to
meet with those at the barracks from the beach, as Ben comfortably sits within
central focus. Ben’s release and allowance to be free certainly raises
awareness among the likes of Sawyer, Hurley, and Claire. Miles cracks to Locke
and Sawyer that 3.2 million would be accessible to Ben because he gets what he
wants. Miles remarks that just look at how Ben is no longer stuck in a cell or
with a gun to his head. He makes a good point. Locke really needs to know about
Jacob’s cabin and the island. Ben did tell him about (and show him footage of) Widmore,
at least. Ben does send Alex to “the sanctuary” (obviously where the Others
are, considering we haven’t seen them in a while) as protection, anticipating
the arrival of Widmore’s armed men. If Ben has proven he cares about anyone, it
is Alex. Karl follows beside her because he loves her (and vice versa), and
Danielle decides to lead them both to the sanctuary. The end, showing bullets
firing out of the jungle from an unforeseen location, hits and kills Karl. Also
hit by a bullet…Danielle. This final few minutes and plot development is perhaps
the best part of the episode to me.
*Tom is revealed to be gay, once again brought back to life due to the Lost flashback. Not necessarily that big of a deal today, but perhaps this was a bit more surprising then? If I were to perhaps balk about the flaws in "connecting dots" regarding proper placement of Michael here and there it is how Tom can be in New York and on the island, the process of going back and forth within such a rather small window. But I'm not as finicky as a lot of Lost fans seem to be. Dissecting time line frailties can be left up to those so willing to be obsessed with [in]consistencies. I focus on the characters and plot developments that show their evolution throughout the series and / or effects as complications arise on the island. Asking about how Michael could have developed his life in such short order just isn't really my bag. Always nice to see Libby again even if she's a haunting illusion. And the note with the bomb, and Ben pretending to be Walt, both quite clever.
*In all honesty if I had a major gripe about this episode is that it felt as if it served as just a reason to shoehorn Michael back into the show. I have a hard time believing there was this outcry for his return. Without Walt as his main focus, his return felt forced. I guess, personally, following him back into the show left me groaning inside although there was a cheer inside when Sayid stripped him of his status as a spy before Gault.
I said I wouldn't write much about this, and yet I do. Go figure.
*In all honesty if I had a major gripe about this episode is that it felt as if it served as just a reason to shoehorn Michael back into the show. I have a hard time believing there was this outcry for his return. Without Walt as his main focus, his return felt forced. I guess, personally, following him back into the show left me groaning inside although there was a cheer inside when Sayid stripped him of his status as a spy before Gault.
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| Care package from Ben |
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| Map to "sanctuary" |
I said I wouldn't write much about this, and yet I do. Go figure.
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