UK Gets Lost (Take 3)

[lost-in-love-pingu]

Lost episode 1.3 - Tabula Rasa by Tom Pengelly

We finally see a named episode. Well I don't think Pilot part 3. would have gone down well. But whatever floats your boat. Or plane as the case maybe. I'm here to review the episode that starts delving into the pasts of the characters, scurrying out all those dirty little secrets this apparently unlucky group holds deep within their deserted hope.

The plotline enables us to find out that Kate is a criminal. Despite our knowledge of this, she is given the gun to look after when the trekkers head back for the beach, to be allowed alone in with her captor with the same gun WITH a bullet still in the chamber, and throughout the first 3 episodes, she's been a person to look up to. The writing staff just doesn?t want to let the survivors win, and that's quite funny, although worrying for what the other characters are going to experience, or what they're hiding. Imagine if Shannon was a charity worker! What is even funnier though is that all of this happens whilst Jack and Hurley both know, Hurley even panicking quite a bit. The Marshall is also featured in this episode heavily, with him dying and everything. At times, he wants us to sympathise with him, but at other times, like the rest of the island, we want him dead to put him out of his misery, mostly for the islander's sake. This technique also helps us to come to terms with the issue of euthanasia, and possible make realise that some viewers need to start thinking more empathetically, think with their emotions and not with individual heads, a useful lesson in life. There is also a lot of pressure placed on this euthanasia, with Jack under pressure from the islanders and Kate under pressure as well to kill the Marshall. Irony works again against our characters as Sawyer screws everything up, forcing Jack to kill him. On another front, the islanders are taking charge, with Sayid organising the efforts, showing us from the last episode onwards he knows what to do under pressure. And finally, our hearts can be put to rest. Vincent has been found! Locke brings him back and understands Michael's need to be a father figure, letting Michael take the title. And boy do we want to stroke that doggy. But why does Locke look so grim afterwards? We also found out his secret (ironically being more secretive than the secret), now what is this miracle? And why can't we focus on one question at a time? Damn u JJ and Damon and your persistent and addicting questions!

This episode marks the start of the character flashbacks. The episode belongs to Kate, who spectacularly takes it by the barrel of the shotgun, as was seen when she was caught by the farmer barn-sleeping. The way the flashback is written allows us to see more of Kate's character, therefore allowing us to see the true impact of her evolution. I know I yammer on about character evolution, but if Kate was a thief and a liar, and always a thief and a liar, it would get a bit boring after 48 episodes and we'd be frustrated from not having the chance to kill her. So far, we have been able to deduce that Kate pre-crash was a desperate woman, quick on her feet, sneaky and not trusting. Her more human side though shows, and she's compassionate, and doesn't hold grudges. Really, we've seen all that in the pilot episodes, this episode just prints it into our consciousness, which is always useful for us lazy viewers. The story of the farmer also allows us to see Kate being natural, and also to get Kate captured. The survival horror genre sees a bit of action with a car chase, which, seemingly slow for a car crash, does get hot when the engine catches on fire. Even though the Marshall then scares the bejeezus out of us capturing her and then calls her Kate, can we trust him in saying that that is her name?

I've noticed that I'm including in my reviews reports of comedy. Well that's because there is so much of it, and it is all very well thought out, or in Sayid and Sawyers' case, fought out. These two are still at the smarmy ness and the sarcasm. Sawyer has even resorted to giving people cute nicknames, also signalling that he's getting pretty comfy on the island. His ignorance of culture is also highlighted, although immediately lightened by Charlie's surprising wisdom. This in itself is pure irony, a drugged up popstar with a tone of "Well duh!" The two siblings also start at it again, provoking humour through sheer embarrassment and criticism. This is bound to continue, and we are just loving it. Regarding unlucky irony, which writers are only too happy to rain down on the characters, Michael becomes next. Not only does he land himself in the gutter through something he says, he then runs into something not so cute like Vincent (though is it a polar bear? It does sound familiar). Then runs in on Sun half naked, making the poor woman blush, and Michael, knowing of the language barrier, is just left stuttering and feeling bad. Even though we have to sympathise, that is one of the funniest parts of the this episode. The sympathy though starts to wear thin with comedy when we notice Michael is practically fascinated by Sun. Sympathy and comedy has not come at a better time yet to date. Although, we can immediately detect Charlie's crush on Claire, and it is so cute seeing a guy put himself down for the lady. It's funny too. Hurley also gets the short straw with irony, being shown the gun in the criminal's denims. The poor guy was so frightened but then when Hurley
tells Jack about the gun, the irony of this show reaches its peak... and then Sawyer doesn't kill the Marshall as intended. This show just keeps on dredging it up.

The third episode still keeps on bringing characters in and expanding them. Sayid, being the most resourceful, is placed as leader with everyone accepting it. People are so desperate, that they will do anything to survive. The only downfall is that when it's seen as an individual moment, it does seem like Sayid is getting ahead of himself. The scenes before aren't as glued in our heads to remind us why Sayid is a natural born leader. Sawyer even is getting desperate. He proclaims he knows what he's doing, saying he's in the wild, but he's just as scared as the others. He resorts to surviving by himself because he doesn't feel being with others will help; they'll drag him down. This makes way for a theory that Sawyer isn't as hard as he makes out to be, he's just a scared fresh face out of the crash. However his comments about surviving, despite selfish, do hit hard, especially with Jack, and makes this series more than a documentary of character survival, but makes it interpretable as a documentary for our survival if we suffer a similar fate. Jack evolves his character by trying to get rid of stereotypes and recognise everyone has a fresh start on this island. However this also leads to annoying stubbornness on the viewer's part, when he decides he doesn't want to know what Kate did to land her in jail. Gripping, frustrating and just plain wishing it was Hurley's episode, someone who actually wants to know. The Sun and Jin conflict rears its head again, with Jin being mean at first, but then showing his love. We may love the love, but we love the answers more, what is up with these two?

This episode gets to deal with a range of issues, euthanasia, hope and building strength being the obvious ones. Sayid tells the group to lie about the radio transmission to keep hope, but really, he's telling us at home about the concept of hope. Lost is literally starting to become a subtle documentary, teaching us about different ideas and methods and debates, and this is excellent, considering it has high ratings. More people are being subconsciously educated. At the end, we hear the first overhead song, a snazzy little tune, "They're Gonna Wash Away" by Joe Purdy, very appropriate with washing away the past and starting a new future. Building strength. Conquering fears. Making friends (especially seen when Sayid tosses something to Sawyer smiling). The music also evolves, with even more variations of the melancholy theme. So does the script writing. A literary technique can be interpreted as being used, when Kate says "Put your gun back in your pants Sawyer," she could be talking about the metaphorical gun that men have related to arrogance, cockiness, brass courage and smarmy ness as well as the physical gun Sawyer was holding. Either way, be it a double entendr? or not, it sounds dirty, and everyone loves a good smutty joke every now and again.

Peace be with the Marshall. May we hear his sexy accent again soon.