Lost 2.7: "The Other 48 Days"

Written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
Directed by Eric Laneuville

In which the harrowing first 48 days on the island for the survivors from the tail section are detailed, including their struggle against the Others and how Ana Lucia got so angry…


Status Report

It’s never easy to break format, especially when a series is incredibly popular and the audience has become comfortable with familiar patterns. It’s also hard to break format when a number of people feel that the season thus far has been faltering. This episode doesn’t completely correct that impression, but it does give hope that the first several episodes were just a clunky set-up period that will finally give way to something more substantial.

This represents the end of the “introduction” phase of the season. As the writing staff has indicated in their various communications over the summer hiatus, the season has been blocked out in three acts, as is typical for an arc-driven show, which were then parsed out into the individual episode beats. During the first season, this process was a bit more seamless, which may be one of the disappointments thus far.

But like similar genre offerings in the recent past, like the works of Joss Whedon, it’s not uncommon for the first several episodes of a season to be a rough transition period. After all, the beginning of a season, especially for a season-arc-driven series, must address the fallout from the end of the previous arc and sow the seeds for the current arc. Even the best writing staff can struggle with this challenge, and when there are shake-ups in the staff as well, the situation gets more complicated.

If the first season was all about establishing relationships and conflicts, then this season is about introducing elements that challenge and pressure those relationships in unexpected ways. The island and the Dharma Initiative concept represent one source of external pressure: the effect of an unknown and unpredictable agency. Similarly, the arrival of the AnaLucia Tribe promises to undermine basic assumptions made by the JackLocke Tribe members.

That being the case, it would have been easy to simply pick up where the previous episode left off, exploring the consequences of Shannon’s death and Ana Lucia’s role in it. But there’s also value in understanding what the AnaLucia Tribe went through and how their internal dynamics evolved. The small number of survivors makes it easy enough to cover in one episode, while the circumstances reveal some tantalizing details about the Others.

In a way, this episode presents a rather compelling argument for why the pacing is not too slow. There were several moments where it would have been nice to have more time to explore dynamics within the AnaLucia Tribe. The one-episode outline of their 48-day ordeal necessarily focused on their interaction with the Others. It answered some questions, but the audience didn’t really have time to get to know anyone other than Ana Lucia in more detail.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Ana turned out to be in law enforcement in her previous life, perhaps undercover. She starts out with an edge, but immediately after the crash, she still has a softer side. She takes on responsibility without being asked, and she’s used to taking charge. Is that her nature, or something that the crash brought out in her? If she feels like she has more right to authority, her reaction to the fragmented leadership in the JackLocke Tribe ought to be damned funny.

But she might also have experience with the military, based on her reaction to the Others. Interestingly enough, the Others don’t necessarily kill those they steal away. That seems to be dependent on their goals. They have a particular rationale: they infiltrate, choose specific victims, and then abduct them. Those left behind seem to be left to their own devices or discarded if they are a threat.

So what are the goals? It’s still hard to speculate, but the decision to take children and certain adults could be related to the idea of conditioning. The Others are strong and have adapted remarkably to the conditions on the island. More than that, the Army knife suggests that they are, in fact, the remnants of the Dharma Initiative personnel from circa 1980. (The previous episode more or less set the crash in the 2001-2002 timeframe, based on the release date of the Dave Matthews Band single that Shannon was listening to early in the episode.)

Who is being studied? Are they taking the children to protect them while they conduct deadly experiments on the remaining adults? Or are the children part of another project? It’s interesting to note that the symbol on the walls of the Dharma warehouse used by the AnaLucia Tribe was different from the one in the “orientation” film. That suggests a different purpose for that building, and therefore, more than one project in progress. (Yet both installations had “Quarantine” emblazoned on the inside of the access doors!) One disturbing possibility is that the AnaLucia Tribe was meant to find that warehouse and those supplies.

As for the members of the AnaLucia Tribe, few questions were answered. The writers did a great job of keeping the identity of the “Other” in their midst an open secret, since the information was right there from the beginning. It seems that Libby is not, in fact, one of the Others, though this is far from certain and could still be a twist later in the season.

Minister Eko cuts an imposing figure on the landscape, to be sure, but his silence was less than informative. His comments about “40 days” were intriguing, since they play into Biblical concepts, but it’s unclear what the implication might have been. As a religious man, will Eko lean towards Locke’s point of view? Or will he serve to expose the weaknesses in Locke’s self-important philosophy?

Ana is clearly meant to challenge Jack and his support system, and it doesn’t help that Sayid is now ready to kill her. If Eko comes into conflict with Locke over interpretations of the island’s meaning, it could take the exploration of faith vs. reason into new and intriguing territory. Libby, on the other hand, is perfectly designed to expose and challenge the walls that the JackLocke Trobe members have erected during the first season. Bernard, one would think, is there to re-unite with Rose and thus act as a contrast, as someone desiring a mutual respect and cooperation.

There are a couple of things that didn’t quite work as well as they could have. For one thing, it always sounded like the AnaLucia Tribe went through much worse. In general, that is communicated, but it’s a question of degrees. Yes, the JackLocke Tribe has had it easy in comparison, but it’s not like the AnaLucia Tribe was fighting for their lives day after day. Ana was just as responsible for creating the siege mentality that made life on that side of the island such a living hell.

The gimmick of an “extended” episode was also a bit annoying. For one thing, to extend the episode, they dumped a long promo for “Invasion” at the typical end of the hour. The final act, thus postponed into the next hour, was little more than a snapshot clip show of events already depicted. It did bring the story to the same end point, but wouldn’t it have been better to make the “extended” content more than a stunt to raise ratings for “Invasion”?

This is also the second time that an episode was used to bring a separate set of characters to the same endpoint as the previous episode. While this is not the retread that “Adrift” felt like, this is a storytelling format that has run its course. Now that the stage is set, the writers should be able to focus less on getting the story where they want it to go and more on the conflicts that were already on the table.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is an interesting look at what happened to the other survivors of Oceanic 815, but devoting a single episode to the story doesn’t give the writers time to do the topic justice. More clues about the Others are revealed, but this is mostly about getting done with the introductory phase of the season once and for all.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10