Lost 2.2: "Adrift"
Written by Steven Maeda and Leonard Dick
Directed by Stephen Williams
In which Michael and Sawyer struggle to survive on the open sea following the raid by the Others, while the Kate and Locke discover more information about the contents of the hatch…
Status Report
After a strong season premiere, introducing another layer of mystery beyond the hatch, a number of questions from the first season finale were still on the table. Perhaps the biggest question involved the fate of those previously on the raft. This episode centers on their experience, but there’s also an odd bit of backtracking in terms of the hatch itself. As such, there’s a sense of little or no forward momentum in the narrative.
The scenes between Michael and Sawyer involve some important character development, but they also highlight the limitations of Michael’s character. Michael is more or less defined by his relationship with Walt. Walt is completely absent, and so this episode covers Michael’s realization that his decision to bring Walt on the raft may not have been a banner moment in parenting.
This is an important enough moment for Michael, and with Sawyer there to give him a convenient scapegoat, one would think that the stage is set for plenty of interesting psychological angst. The problem is that very little ground is covered. If the idea is for Michael to realize that his old life is over and trying to get it back might have cost him Walt, then that concept is not clearly communicated. Michael doesn’t really come out and say that embracing the island and its possibilities is the only way through the crisis.
Maybe it’s just that he’s not there yet. Maybe he needs to get Walt back first before he can understand what he really needs to do to protect himself and Walt from harm. Since he doesn’t really come to any conclusion that he couldn’t have come to in about five minutes, it’s not all that interesting.
Oddly, Sawyer seems to be the one who has changed his spots, at least to a certain degree. He’s the one who realizes that the Others were coming for Walt the whole time, and that they were never going to get rescued. Sawyer also says it best when they drift back towards the island (as predicted by Arzt in “Exodus”): returning to the island is like coming home. It should be interesting to see if this experience with the Others (at least, it is assumed they are the Others) takes Sawyer further along the path to personal redemption.
Turning for a moment to the hatch, some interesting information is provided, even if it didn’t advance the plot very far. For one thing, the power and provisions for the hatch were all provided by the same company (the name was very hard to read…”Dharma”?). That company could be Asian in origin, given the design of the logo. The power cord from “Solitary” was more than likely going into the hatch itself. How Desmond is connected to that company and its goals is another mystery.
A lot of Desmond’s comments were very interesting in light of Danielle’s comments during the first season. Desmond was rather shocked to discover that the rest of the world was still around, which again suggests that the inoculation in the previous episode was all about protecting himself from some contagion. It makes sense that the “security system” was put in place to stop anyone from getting into the hatch and exposing those inside.
If that supposition is correct, then it would appear that the computer system in the hatch can deactivate the “security system”. That’s pure speculation, but it makes a certain amount of sense. The “numbers” were a deactivation code, and it’s rather interesting that the “timer” starts from 108, which is the sum of the “numbers”. It’s all very suggestive, but it’s still not coming together yet. Even so, the “security system” appears to be outside of Desmond’s direct control; it seems as though he worked out how to deactivate it, not that he knew how in the first place.
Desmond seemed to be waiting for someone to come and get him. He assumed that was Locke. Was he supposed to ride out some apocalypse inside the hatch and await a representative from that company? And what set off the “security system” in the first place? Was it Kate, or someone on the outside?
Speaking of Kate, her role in the exploration of the hatch is still not clear. Her motivations were hard to fathom in the previous episode, and while her desire is escape and survival in this case, her overall motivations remain unspoken. She provides Locke with someone else to bounce off of, but beyond that, she’s there to get thrown in the pantry so the common source of the provisions can be revealed.
Even though some of the items are more modern, the majority of the items in the hatch (including the provisions themselves) appear to be much older. There are two ways to interpret this. Either the design is relatively modern but trapped in the 1970s conceptual space, or there’s some strange temporal displacement taking place. (OK, there are other explanations, but those are the more obvious ones.)
In terms of the other characters, just like the previous episode, there’s not much. Many of the other characters don’t even show up. There’s the short scene between Charlie and Claire, where he lies to protect his newfound heroin, but it’s not much. This is basically an episode devoted to four characters, and everyone else is tangential to that story. That lack of depth and subplot is another reason why this episode missed the mark.
Ultimately, though, the problem is the focus. One gets the feeling that Sawyer was supposed to be the one with the flashbacks, which would have made sense. Three of the more popular characters are Jack, Sawyer, and Locke. Focusing on those three at the beginning of the season would have kept interest alive. But the story may not have had enough of a connection to Sawyer, which forced the focus on Michael. It may not mean much to the ratings in the long run, but in terms of the storytelling effectiveness, it just didn’t seem to be as strong as is typical for the series thus far.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was something of a disappointment. By focusing on Michael, arguably one of the weakest characters on the series, a lot of the depth in the current drama was sapped away. Also, there was little advancement in terms of the hatch; even if more information was provided, context is still lacking. It simply felt as though the writers weren’t sure how to get through this part of the story.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
Directed by Stephen Williams
In which Michael and Sawyer struggle to survive on the open sea following the raid by the Others, while the Kate and Locke discover more information about the contents of the hatch…
Status Report
After a strong season premiere, introducing another layer of mystery beyond the hatch, a number of questions from the first season finale were still on the table. Perhaps the biggest question involved the fate of those previously on the raft. This episode centers on their experience, but there’s also an odd bit of backtracking in terms of the hatch itself. As such, there’s a sense of little or no forward momentum in the narrative.
The scenes between Michael and Sawyer involve some important character development, but they also highlight the limitations of Michael’s character. Michael is more or less defined by his relationship with Walt. Walt is completely absent, and so this episode covers Michael’s realization that his decision to bring Walt on the raft may not have been a banner moment in parenting.
This is an important enough moment for Michael, and with Sawyer there to give him a convenient scapegoat, one would think that the stage is set for plenty of interesting psychological angst. The problem is that very little ground is covered. If the idea is for Michael to realize that his old life is over and trying to get it back might have cost him Walt, then that concept is not clearly communicated. Michael doesn’t really come out and say that embracing the island and its possibilities is the only way through the crisis.
Maybe it’s just that he’s not there yet. Maybe he needs to get Walt back first before he can understand what he really needs to do to protect himself and Walt from harm. Since he doesn’t really come to any conclusion that he couldn’t have come to in about five minutes, it’s not all that interesting.
Oddly, Sawyer seems to be the one who has changed his spots, at least to a certain degree. He’s the one who realizes that the Others were coming for Walt the whole time, and that they were never going to get rescued. Sawyer also says it best when they drift back towards the island (as predicted by Arzt in “Exodus”): returning to the island is like coming home. It should be interesting to see if this experience with the Others (at least, it is assumed they are the Others) takes Sawyer further along the path to personal redemption.
Turning for a moment to the hatch, some interesting information is provided, even if it didn’t advance the plot very far. For one thing, the power and provisions for the hatch were all provided by the same company (the name was very hard to read…”Dharma”?). That company could be Asian in origin, given the design of the logo. The power cord from “Solitary” was more than likely going into the hatch itself. How Desmond is connected to that company and its goals is another mystery.
A lot of Desmond’s comments were very interesting in light of Danielle’s comments during the first season. Desmond was rather shocked to discover that the rest of the world was still around, which again suggests that the inoculation in the previous episode was all about protecting himself from some contagion. It makes sense that the “security system” was put in place to stop anyone from getting into the hatch and exposing those inside.
If that supposition is correct, then it would appear that the computer system in the hatch can deactivate the “security system”. That’s pure speculation, but it makes a certain amount of sense. The “numbers” were a deactivation code, and it’s rather interesting that the “timer” starts from 108, which is the sum of the “numbers”. It’s all very suggestive, but it’s still not coming together yet. Even so, the “security system” appears to be outside of Desmond’s direct control; it seems as though he worked out how to deactivate it, not that he knew how in the first place.
Desmond seemed to be waiting for someone to come and get him. He assumed that was Locke. Was he supposed to ride out some apocalypse inside the hatch and await a representative from that company? And what set off the “security system” in the first place? Was it Kate, or someone on the outside?
Speaking of Kate, her role in the exploration of the hatch is still not clear. Her motivations were hard to fathom in the previous episode, and while her desire is escape and survival in this case, her overall motivations remain unspoken. She provides Locke with someone else to bounce off of, but beyond that, she’s there to get thrown in the pantry so the common source of the provisions can be revealed.
Even though some of the items are more modern, the majority of the items in the hatch (including the provisions themselves) appear to be much older. There are two ways to interpret this. Either the design is relatively modern but trapped in the 1970s conceptual space, or there’s some strange temporal displacement taking place. (OK, there are other explanations, but those are the more obvious ones.)
In terms of the other characters, just like the previous episode, there’s not much. Many of the other characters don’t even show up. There’s the short scene between Charlie and Claire, where he lies to protect his newfound heroin, but it’s not much. This is basically an episode devoted to four characters, and everyone else is tangential to that story. That lack of depth and subplot is another reason why this episode missed the mark.
Ultimately, though, the problem is the focus. One gets the feeling that Sawyer was supposed to be the one with the flashbacks, which would have made sense. Three of the more popular characters are Jack, Sawyer, and Locke. Focusing on those three at the beginning of the season would have kept interest alive. But the story may not have had enough of a connection to Sawyer, which forced the focus on Michael. It may not mean much to the ratings in the long run, but in terms of the storytelling effectiveness, it just didn’t seem to be as strong as is typical for the series thus far.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was something of a disappointment. By focusing on Michael, arguably one of the weakest characters on the series, a lot of the depth in the current drama was sapped away. Also, there was little advancement in terms of the hatch; even if more information was provided, context is still lacking. It simply felt as though the writers weren’t sure how to get through this part of the story.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
posted by John Keegan | 15:18
2 Comments:
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Nice job you are doing by writing reviews. I think you should be the director of LOST :)))
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