Lost 5x14 Review
May. 9th, 2009 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThe Variable
This was an enjoyable episode, even though it didn’t feel like too much was established or happened.
- I had been spoiled for Daniel’s death, accidently, a couple days after the episode aired (my fault) but I was so completely not expecting it to happen how it did. The fact that it was Eloise who shot and killed... oh, poor Eloise. I mean poor Daniel, too but I can’t help thinking of Eloise and her knowing that she is going to kill her son, knowing it as she raised him, how horrible for her. I had not been impressed with her at all this episode and her behaviour towards Daniel. When Daniel asked her if it would ‘make her proud of’ him if he went back to the Island it actually made me want to cry and I so wanted to hug him. How horrible for him to never have felt he had lived up to his mother’s high standards and then to die knowing that she had sent him to his death. It’s just so horrible for him. I am torn about Eloise’s reaction – even if she did firmly believe that ‘whatever happened, happened’ I have to wonder about how she raised her son. I would think the more obvious response to knowing that your son isn’t going to have a long life and that you’re going to kill him would be to make his life up until that point more pleasurable. Let him play the piano, being loving and supportive, give him everything he wants. I suppose I can understand her pulling away from him emotionally – knowing she’d going to kill him, seeing it every time she looks at him had to have been agonising for her every single day of her life. This whole situation was just so horrible for both of them.
- What I find interesting is that the Island let Ellie kill Daniel. We’ve been shown that if the Island doesn’t want someone to die it will interfere and save them... well, the main example seems to be Locke but it stands. The Island let Daniel die. Was it because it didn’t want him to try and change things?
- The first theory I read about Ellie and Charles was that they were siblings and I liked it so I kind of glomped onto it. I’d read the other theories but remained stubborn about the first one and it appears that was wrong – Charles and Eloise were a couple and Daniel is their son. As if this story needed more angst and added reason for it to be just that more tragic. For Penny in never knowing that she had a brother, Charles for never getting to know his doomed son and Daniel for never knowing that he had a father and a sister. Penny at the least would have been so good for him. I actually felt sorry for Charles during his and Ellie’s confrontation outside the hospital and looking back on the Daniel/Charles scene with this added knowledge it just makes that scene so very sad. Though I have to say that in the hospital scene I was feeling much more for Ellie who for once was emotional and really seemed to need a hug.
Charles: My relationship with Penelope was one of the things I had to sacrifice.
Eloise: Sacrifice? (emotional) Don’t you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles. I had to send my son back to the Island knowing full well...
Charles: He’s my son too, Eloise.
[She smacks him and walks away.]
- Charles having a life outside of the Island being one, or the main, reason for his being banished also suddenly makes more sense, as does all the Ellie/Charles non-interactions. Charles banishment always made sense to me – he created a life off the Island, spent a lot of time off the Island and I would imagine used the Island/his position to further his life outside – so Charles having an on Island family just adds another layer. It was a little more betrayal on top of his betrayal of the Island. All the non-Eloise/Charles interactions suddenly make so much sense – he has her number and knows where she lives and yet she would help Ben back to the Island and not him.
- I liked that we had some sort of explanation for that flashback, last season (?), of Daniel crying as he watched the footage of Oceanic 815 being found on the ocean floor. That had always seemed so weird. The fact that he’s experimented on himself first (before Theresa) and that during this time period he was a little broken – faulty memory, depressed, emotional – and in need of a caretaker explains it and even though it is such a small thing, that I probably never would have thought of, I love that it gets an explanation.
- Also I like that we got confirmation that it was indeed Charles who put the fake Oceanic 815 on the ocean floor.
- Even though this was technically a Daniel flashback episode it didn’t really feel like one so much. It was kind of shared out between several people most especially with Eloise. This felt like an Eloise flashback episode more than a Daniel one in some ways. Plus this is also where we got the resolution to the whole Penny/Desmond issue where we learn that Desmond was in fact shot and that after some tension he would live. I actually thought for a moment, that because they were being shown, it had to tie in with the main story somehow and that perhaps Charlie would be kidnapped (by Eloise or Charles or the cult, whoever) and taken to the Island and thus Desmond with Penny in tow would return to the Island. But that didn’t happen and instead it felt very much like we were getting closure on the Desmond/Penny storyline. I wonder if this means this is the last we’ll be seeing of them.
- Our Losties were actually less interesting this episode. I liked the group meeting and that it was very much a group meeting with Sawyer leading it but leaving things open for other’s opinions. I think both Hurley and Jin’s decisions were obvious.
“It seems kind of whishy-washy. – Hurley. Hee.
- “Is he still crazy?” – Sawyer
“On a whole new level man.” – Miles
I’m continuing to love the Miles/Sawyer interactions. Miles has so totally become Sawyer (or LaFleur’s) man. The exchange with Daniel where he throws Dan the keys to his jeep instead of going with him, without words saying that he was with Sawyer, was actually one of my favourite moments of the episode. I loved it. I do find it interesting that we are getting so much more of Miles/Sawyer then Jin/Sawyer even though they had a longer relationship. I wonder why?
- I liked the little moment of understanding between Juliet and Kate but I really wish that Juliet hadn’t been so obviously motivated mainly by the desire to keep Kate and Sawyer apart. I loved Sawyer and Juliet’s hand grasp. I really do wish that they could have weathered the return of the others, and especially Kate, as a solid team and with no issues but I knew that would be too much to ask. I do like that even though there is uncertainty between them (‘do you have my back’) they are also very much together.
- I feel like so much badness could have been avoided if Jack (Kate?) had just not given Daniel a gun. If he hadn’t had a gun the meeting with Radinsky might not have devolved into a shoot-out and lead to the uncovering of Sawyer and Juliet. If he hadn’t had the gun he wouldn’t have gone running into the Other’s camp waving it like a crazy person and perhaps Ellie wouldn’t have shot him. I’m betting that after that she totally re-thought her stance on shooting first and asking questions later. Although... did she not recognise him from the whole bomb incident? I also wonder how the Daniel-Others exchange might have gone differently if Kate and Jack had gone down with him. Oh – I was also really surprised that they managed to actually get to an Other’s camp without being found? We know they have security so where the hell were they?
- It really, really annoyed me when Jack, a doctor, laid down cover fire for Kate and Daniel. Like, I was surprised by just how annoyed that made me. It just makes so much sense to me that ex-fugitive Kate, who has so much more experience with guns, would be the one laying down cover fire and the only reason I can see for it being Jack is that he’s male and she’s female. And it kind of pisses me off.
This was an enjoyable episode, even though it didn’t feel like too much was established or happened.
- I had been spoiled for Daniel’s death, accidently, a couple days after the episode aired (my fault) but I was so completely not expecting it to happen how it did. The fact that it was Eloise who shot and killed... oh, poor Eloise. I mean poor Daniel, too but I can’t help thinking of Eloise and her knowing that she is going to kill her son, knowing it as she raised him, how horrible for her. I had not been impressed with her at all this episode and her behaviour towards Daniel. When Daniel asked her if it would ‘make her proud of’ him if he went back to the Island it actually made me want to cry and I so wanted to hug him. How horrible for him to never have felt he had lived up to his mother’s high standards and then to die knowing that she had sent him to his death. It’s just so horrible for him. I am torn about Eloise’s reaction – even if she did firmly believe that ‘whatever happened, happened’ I have to wonder about how she raised her son. I would think the more obvious response to knowing that your son isn’t going to have a long life and that you’re going to kill him would be to make his life up until that point more pleasurable. Let him play the piano, being loving and supportive, give him everything he wants. I suppose I can understand her pulling away from him emotionally – knowing she’d going to kill him, seeing it every time she looks at him had to have been agonising for her every single day of her life. This whole situation was just so horrible for both of them.
- What I find interesting is that the Island let Ellie kill Daniel. We’ve been shown that if the Island doesn’t want someone to die it will interfere and save them... well, the main example seems to be Locke but it stands. The Island let Daniel die. Was it because it didn’t want him to try and change things?
- The first theory I read about Ellie and Charles was that they were siblings and I liked it so I kind of glomped onto it. I’d read the other theories but remained stubborn about the first one and it appears that was wrong – Charles and Eloise were a couple and Daniel is their son. As if this story needed more angst and added reason for it to be just that more tragic. For Penny in never knowing that she had a brother, Charles for never getting to know his doomed son and Daniel for never knowing that he had a father and a sister. Penny at the least would have been so good for him. I actually felt sorry for Charles during his and Ellie’s confrontation outside the hospital and looking back on the Daniel/Charles scene with this added knowledge it just makes that scene so very sad. Though I have to say that in the hospital scene I was feeling much more for Ellie who for once was emotional and really seemed to need a hug.
Charles: My relationship with Penelope was one of the things I had to sacrifice.
Eloise: Sacrifice? (emotional) Don’t you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles. I had to send my son back to the Island knowing full well...
Charles: He’s my son too, Eloise.
[She smacks him and walks away.]
- Charles having a life outside of the Island being one, or the main, reason for his being banished also suddenly makes more sense, as does all the Ellie/Charles non-interactions. Charles banishment always made sense to me – he created a life off the Island, spent a lot of time off the Island and I would imagine used the Island/his position to further his life outside – so Charles having an on Island family just adds another layer. It was a little more betrayal on top of his betrayal of the Island. All the non-Eloise/Charles interactions suddenly make so much sense – he has her number and knows where she lives and yet she would help Ben back to the Island and not him.
- I liked that we had some sort of explanation for that flashback, last season (?), of Daniel crying as he watched the footage of Oceanic 815 being found on the ocean floor. That had always seemed so weird. The fact that he’s experimented on himself first (before Theresa) and that during this time period he was a little broken – faulty memory, depressed, emotional – and in need of a caretaker explains it and even though it is such a small thing, that I probably never would have thought of, I love that it gets an explanation.
- Also I like that we got confirmation that it was indeed Charles who put the fake Oceanic 815 on the ocean floor.
- Even though this was technically a Daniel flashback episode it didn’t really feel like one so much. It was kind of shared out between several people most especially with Eloise. This felt like an Eloise flashback episode more than a Daniel one in some ways. Plus this is also where we got the resolution to the whole Penny/Desmond issue where we learn that Desmond was in fact shot and that after some tension he would live. I actually thought for a moment, that because they were being shown, it had to tie in with the main story somehow and that perhaps Charlie would be kidnapped (by Eloise or Charles or the cult, whoever) and taken to the Island and thus Desmond with Penny in tow would return to the Island. But that didn’t happen and instead it felt very much like we were getting closure on the Desmond/Penny storyline. I wonder if this means this is the last we’ll be seeing of them.
- Our Losties were actually less interesting this episode. I liked the group meeting and that it was very much a group meeting with Sawyer leading it but leaving things open for other’s opinions. I think both Hurley and Jin’s decisions were obvious.
“It seems kind of whishy-washy. – Hurley. Hee.
- “Is he still crazy?” – Sawyer
“On a whole new level man.” – Miles
I’m continuing to love the Miles/Sawyer interactions. Miles has so totally become Sawyer (or LaFleur’s) man. The exchange with Daniel where he throws Dan the keys to his jeep instead of going with him, without words saying that he was with Sawyer, was actually one of my favourite moments of the episode. I loved it. I do find it interesting that we are getting so much more of Miles/Sawyer then Jin/Sawyer even though they had a longer relationship. I wonder why?
- I liked the little moment of understanding between Juliet and Kate but I really wish that Juliet hadn’t been so obviously motivated mainly by the desire to keep Kate and Sawyer apart. I loved Sawyer and Juliet’s hand grasp. I really do wish that they could have weathered the return of the others, and especially Kate, as a solid team and with no issues but I knew that would be too much to ask. I do like that even though there is uncertainty between them (‘do you have my back’) they are also very much together.
- I feel like so much badness could have been avoided if Jack (Kate?) had just not given Daniel a gun. If he hadn’t had a gun the meeting with Radinsky might not have devolved into a shoot-out and lead to the uncovering of Sawyer and Juliet. If he hadn’t had the gun he wouldn’t have gone running into the Other’s camp waving it like a crazy person and perhaps Ellie wouldn’t have shot him. I’m betting that after that she totally re-thought her stance on shooting first and asking questions later. Although... did she not recognise him from the whole bomb incident? I also wonder how the Daniel-Others exchange might have gone differently if Kate and Jack had gone down with him. Oh – I was also really surprised that they managed to actually get to an Other’s camp without being found? We know they have security so where the hell were they?
- It really, really annoyed me when Jack, a doctor, laid down cover fire for Kate and Daniel. Like, I was surprised by just how annoyed that made me. It just makes so much sense to me that ex-fugitive Kate, who has so much more experience with guns, would be the one laying down cover fire and the only reason I can see for it being Jack is that he’s male and she’s female. And it kind of pisses me off.
