Lost 3.4: "Every Man for Himself"
Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Stephen Williams
In which Sawyer is tortured horribly by the Others, forcing Kate to take action, while Jack is brought in on an unexpected emergency and Desmond shows more unusual initiative…
Status Report
During the first season, the highest ranked episode was “Outlaws”, the second Sawyer-centric episode written and produced. It’s ironic, then, that this season’s Sawyer episode is the least effective episode thus far. While a lot of the themes continue from the season premiere, particularly in terms of the psychological testing and torture, none of them gel particularly well. The writers try to set up a meaningful parallel between past and present without entirely earning it.
The Others were originally shown as the faceless enemy, united in their disturbing and mysterious cause, but that has changed significantly. The Others are now exposed as human beings after all. Ben may be the leader, but there are tensions and internal conflicts. Even under the most dire of circumstances, Ben is ready to manipulate his captives and test their responses. The implication would be that Ben’s leadership style has engendered something of a schism among the Others, with Alex and her cohorts undermining his authority (by, for instance, freeing Claire).
The Others have been ruthless to the JackLocke Tribe, but now they are shown as ruthless to each other. Pickett’s wife is mortally wounded, and the entire situation is used as a means of testing and manipulating the prisoners. Ben is more than willing to direct his people to channel their grief and pain towards this unknown goal. This is entirely consistent with his interactions with the JackLocke Tribe in the second season. Ben is, in many respects, a cult leader, a zealot of his own cause. Anything and everything may be sacrificed to whatever that cause might be.
Jack still seems at the center of the manipulation, even if the episode doesn’t focus on him directly. It’s not at all certain that Ben is suffering from a tumor on the spine, though it could be legitimate. Whatever the case, Pickett’s wife was already dying by the time that Juliet came to Jack, begging him to help. They were playing on his training, undermining his reasonable perspective separating his people from the Others. By having him attempt to save one of “them”, Ben forced Jack to perceive them as equals. (The absence of a working “crash cart” is suspicious, given how well they’ve maintained other non-critical systems.)
In the moments after, Jack is kept isolated so Juliet can continue to undermine his perceptions, playing on the sympathies engendered by their shared experience. It’s quite possible that Juliet was honest about her medical background, but Jack has no reason to believe her. He sees the truth of the situation as plainly as the audience, but he can’t escape the fact that he needs to solve a problem once it crosses his path. Ben’s medical condition, staged or otherwise, will eat away at his resistance.
One reason they chose to abduct Sawyer and Kate along with Jack is the likelihood of using their complex relationship as leverage. Letting him hear Sawyer being tortured is unusual, however. On the one hand, Ben could be testing Jack’s concern for Sawyer, to see how deep the animosity might be. But reminding Jack of that torture could work against the effort to convince him to join the cause, if that is the goal. It’s just as likely that Alex and her friends have been trying to counter the conditioning process, reminding Jack of his friends and what Ben is doing to them.
Beyond their relationship to Jack, it’s unclear why Sawyer and Kate were abducted. Logically, they must serve a purpose for the Others. Ben puts Sawyer through the paces in this episode, and it is remarkably brutal. He lets Pickett beat Sawyer to a pulp to see whether or not Kate will declare her love for him and save his life. It’s almost certain that Pickett was channeling his anger as per Ben’s directions, so what was the advantage?
It’s still reasonable to assume that Ben is aware of Jack’s attraction to Kate, and that he wants to show Jack that Kate is really in love with Sawyer. It would be an effective way to isolate Jack and take away more of his resistance. They began with testing all three of them based on their histories and established psychology, but it looked like they adjusted when they discovered that Kate asked about Sawyer first.
But Ben obviously has something in mind for Sawyer as well, and it’s not clear what that purpose might be. If he’s trying to turn Jack and it’s going well, is Sawyer the backup plan? Is he trying to dominate Sawyer physically and mentally to beat down his resistance, thinking that will get Sawyer to respect him? It could be that this is Ben’s way to turning Sawyer. Show him how much better they can be at the game, and then offer him the chance to go home if he betrays the JackLocke Tribe in the process. They certainly dangle Kate in front of him like a carrot!
That would appear to be the implication of the flashback as well. Sawyer was tempted into betraying a fellow inmate for his own benefit. Unfortunately, the flashbacks are a bit spare, and they introduce an element that could be disastrous. Why does Sawyer have to be a father, when there are so many other issues for him to deal with? Sure, there’s the parallel between Clementine and Kate, in terms of people he will sacrifice for, but it doesn’t work as well as the writers would hope.
However, the Others now know his weakness: Kate. If they are trying to break down their resistance, using their strengths against them, what do they have planned for Kate? They already know that she can escape that cage, but they do nothing about it. It still feels like Kate is there so they can use her waffling between Jack and Sawyer to their advantage, but that seems too simple for Ben and his cohorts.
Meanwhile, lest the audience forget about the JackLocke Tribe amidst all the bloodletting, Desmond shows the practical side of precognition. It was easy enough to figure out where he was going with his science project, but that simplicity worked fairly well. Now the rest of the tribe has reason to wonder about him. Will he become another challenge to Locke’s status as shaman, or will Locke try to use him to unveil more about his supposed destiny?
At the current pace, it would make sense for the Others to reveal their purpose by the end of this six episode mini-season, thus launching the rest of the season into a different direction for the remainder. Hopefully that will also mean less of the repetitive torture. It’s one thing when it leads to a logical plot progression; it’s another when the writers just seem to be lingering over it.
(As a sidenote: There is a podcast associated with the various science fiction reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Lost”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com to listen to the show!)
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode continued to explore the motivations of the Others, including how far they will exploit a situation to their own ends. The parallels between past and present were a bit less impressive this time around, and some elements were a little predictable. That said, the Others manage a level of psychological manipulation untouched elsewhere in TV Land.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10
Directed by Stephen Williams
In which Sawyer is tortured horribly by the Others, forcing Kate to take action, while Jack is brought in on an unexpected emergency and Desmond shows more unusual initiative…
Status Report
During the first season, the highest ranked episode was “Outlaws”, the second Sawyer-centric episode written and produced. It’s ironic, then, that this season’s Sawyer episode is the least effective episode thus far. While a lot of the themes continue from the season premiere, particularly in terms of the psychological testing and torture, none of them gel particularly well. The writers try to set up a meaningful parallel between past and present without entirely earning it.
The Others were originally shown as the faceless enemy, united in their disturbing and mysterious cause, but that has changed significantly. The Others are now exposed as human beings after all. Ben may be the leader, but there are tensions and internal conflicts. Even under the most dire of circumstances, Ben is ready to manipulate his captives and test their responses. The implication would be that Ben’s leadership style has engendered something of a schism among the Others, with Alex and her cohorts undermining his authority (by, for instance, freeing Claire).
The Others have been ruthless to the JackLocke Tribe, but now they are shown as ruthless to each other. Pickett’s wife is mortally wounded, and the entire situation is used as a means of testing and manipulating the prisoners. Ben is more than willing to direct his people to channel their grief and pain towards this unknown goal. This is entirely consistent with his interactions with the JackLocke Tribe in the second season. Ben is, in many respects, a cult leader, a zealot of his own cause. Anything and everything may be sacrificed to whatever that cause might be.
Jack still seems at the center of the manipulation, even if the episode doesn’t focus on him directly. It’s not at all certain that Ben is suffering from a tumor on the spine, though it could be legitimate. Whatever the case, Pickett’s wife was already dying by the time that Juliet came to Jack, begging him to help. They were playing on his training, undermining his reasonable perspective separating his people from the Others. By having him attempt to save one of “them”, Ben forced Jack to perceive them as equals. (The absence of a working “crash cart” is suspicious, given how well they’ve maintained other non-critical systems.)
In the moments after, Jack is kept isolated so Juliet can continue to undermine his perceptions, playing on the sympathies engendered by their shared experience. It’s quite possible that Juliet was honest about her medical background, but Jack has no reason to believe her. He sees the truth of the situation as plainly as the audience, but he can’t escape the fact that he needs to solve a problem once it crosses his path. Ben’s medical condition, staged or otherwise, will eat away at his resistance.
One reason they chose to abduct Sawyer and Kate along with Jack is the likelihood of using their complex relationship as leverage. Letting him hear Sawyer being tortured is unusual, however. On the one hand, Ben could be testing Jack’s concern for Sawyer, to see how deep the animosity might be. But reminding Jack of that torture could work against the effort to convince him to join the cause, if that is the goal. It’s just as likely that Alex and her friends have been trying to counter the conditioning process, reminding Jack of his friends and what Ben is doing to them.
Beyond their relationship to Jack, it’s unclear why Sawyer and Kate were abducted. Logically, they must serve a purpose for the Others. Ben puts Sawyer through the paces in this episode, and it is remarkably brutal. He lets Pickett beat Sawyer to a pulp to see whether or not Kate will declare her love for him and save his life. It’s almost certain that Pickett was channeling his anger as per Ben’s directions, so what was the advantage?
It’s still reasonable to assume that Ben is aware of Jack’s attraction to Kate, and that he wants to show Jack that Kate is really in love with Sawyer. It would be an effective way to isolate Jack and take away more of his resistance. They began with testing all three of them based on their histories and established psychology, but it looked like they adjusted when they discovered that Kate asked about Sawyer first.
But Ben obviously has something in mind for Sawyer as well, and it’s not clear what that purpose might be. If he’s trying to turn Jack and it’s going well, is Sawyer the backup plan? Is he trying to dominate Sawyer physically and mentally to beat down his resistance, thinking that will get Sawyer to respect him? It could be that this is Ben’s way to turning Sawyer. Show him how much better they can be at the game, and then offer him the chance to go home if he betrays the JackLocke Tribe in the process. They certainly dangle Kate in front of him like a carrot!
That would appear to be the implication of the flashback as well. Sawyer was tempted into betraying a fellow inmate for his own benefit. Unfortunately, the flashbacks are a bit spare, and they introduce an element that could be disastrous. Why does Sawyer have to be a father, when there are so many other issues for him to deal with? Sure, there’s the parallel between Clementine and Kate, in terms of people he will sacrifice for, but it doesn’t work as well as the writers would hope.
However, the Others now know his weakness: Kate. If they are trying to break down their resistance, using their strengths against them, what do they have planned for Kate? They already know that she can escape that cage, but they do nothing about it. It still feels like Kate is there so they can use her waffling between Jack and Sawyer to their advantage, but that seems too simple for Ben and his cohorts.
Meanwhile, lest the audience forget about the JackLocke Tribe amidst all the bloodletting, Desmond shows the practical side of precognition. It was easy enough to figure out where he was going with his science project, but that simplicity worked fairly well. Now the rest of the tribe has reason to wonder about him. Will he become another challenge to Locke’s status as shaman, or will Locke try to use him to unveil more about his supposed destiny?
At the current pace, it would make sense for the Others to reveal their purpose by the end of this six episode mini-season, thus launching the rest of the season into a different direction for the remainder. Hopefully that will also mean less of the repetitive torture. It’s one thing when it leads to a logical plot progression; it’s another when the writers just seem to be lingering over it.
(As a sidenote: There is a podcast associated with the various science fiction reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Lost”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com to listen to the show!)
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode continued to explore the motivations of the Others, including how far they will exploit a situation to their own ends. The parallels between past and present were a bit less impressive this time around, and some elements were a little predictable. That said, the Others manage a level of psychological manipulation untouched elsewhere in TV Land.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10
posted by John Keegan | 15:51
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