Found in Lost: Thoughts on "Meet Kevin Johnson"

It’s now on break until April 27, but Lost went out with a bang this Thursday. Eh, sort of. Not really. Anyway, thoughts follow. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS AHH DON’T CLICK if you haven’t seen the episode.

TOPH TUCKER ‘08

Hmm... OK, so no big surprises, Michael is the spy and Walt was just dropped off at home. (I was half-expecting him to be locked away on the freighter somewhere.)

This, for the most part, felt like it was just filling in a bunch of holes--a bunch of stuff that we just needed to know to keep going. We saw too little of the island itself for my tastes, but oh well. I was expecting an invasion or something, judging by the preview. So much for a midseason climax.

There were several moments when it seemed the concept of the island as purgatory/underworld were about to be introduced--for instance, when it seemed Michael had committed suicide. (Remember especially Locke's dad's highway accident.) But no, it was as if they were just teasing us. I think people (including me) are probably a little too quick to go to the supernatural for explanation of these things on this crazy crazy show.

Speaking of supernatural, though, the most interesting thing from tonight, from the Michael storyline anyway, was how the island wouldn't let him kill himself. It just wasn't supposed to happen. I think that explains a lot of why he was willing to go on the mission. (1) What else is he going to do? (2) I think ultimately he just wants to die, and he thinks the island will only let him die if he does this first. ("What are you doing here?" "I'm here to die.")

Oh, and regarding Walt: I didn't catch it, but Lostpedia says he was played by a double in that episode. Interesting. Does that mean they're going to have issues if they want to bring him back as a regular character, or are they going to explain it away with some little time travel excuse?
Image of double in Meet Kevin Johnson: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Fake_Walt.jpg
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Walt#Trivia

Also: interesting how the Captain (working for Widmore) was implying that Ben planted the fake plane, while now Ben is saying that Widmore did it. And the captain seemed utterly nonplussed by Sayid’s revelation that Michael’s a traitor.

And also interesting: Miles. He's always been a little different than the rest of the freighter folks--more violent, confrontational, sneaky. "Another Sawyer," as Hurley put it. Apparently Locke took the grenade out.

BUT, OF COURSE, the most exciting part was the very end. Looks like Ben got his daughter's two best allies killed. Poor Danielle! And she had an interesting story, too. She was the one who was always talking about the illness and the whispers and what not, both of which remain mysteries. And she was always helpful to the Losties. And she was so sneaky, with her traps and everything. Of course, she may not be dead.

To whoever was manning the blowdarts--nice aim, it took you, what, like three shots to hit Carl? Actually, it almost seemed like an automated defense system, Indiana Jones-style. But no, you can't reason with a trap, which is what Alex was doing there at the end.

So presumably that was the Others, the Hostiles, Richard's people. Why would they kill Carl and Danielle? Did they not "belong" at the Temple? And what exactly IS the Temple???

So many questions left unanswered! So long to wait! This episode had lots of Michael, not enough island. Oh well. It was still great, of course. Any Lost is great, from my undiscerning point of view. :)

Oh, and apparently Aaron is the last of the Oceanic 6. Eh. Not a huge fan of that, but whatever. It has some interesting implications, now that that's locked down:

1. Michael doesn't make it back again.
2. People still don't know about Michael.
3. Either people still don't know about Walt, or he somehow ends up back on the island.
4. But there's no easy way for him to get back, soo...
5. He seems like an interesting ally in Jack's inevitable quest to get back.