"LOST" RETROSPECT: (4.08) "Meet Kevin Johnson"

 

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (4.08) "Meet Kevin Johnson"

Years ago, I had written an ARTICLE about the "LOST" Season Four episode, (4.08) "Meet Kevin Johnson". Instead of discussing the episode itself, my article focused on the media and fandom's reactions to it and especially their reactions to the Michael Dawson character, portrayed by Harold Perrineau. But after my recent rewatch, I decided to focus on the episode itself.

"Meet Kevin Johnson", in my personal opinion, was a very good episode. In fact, I consider it one of the better episodes from the series' fourth season and the second-best one that focused on Michael. Like Season Two's (2.07) "The Other 48 Days" and Season Six's (6.15) "Across the Sea", "Meet Kevin Johnson" featured a continuous flashback - the third longest in the show's history. Yet, screenwriters Elizabeth Sarnoff and Brian K. Vaughan had created something interesting with the episode's narrative. The continuous flashback was book-ended with present day scenes aboard Charles Widmore's freighter, the Kahana and on the island. I found this very original. But more importantly, I believe this episode featured one of Perrineau's best performances in the series, good enough for an Emmy nomination that sadly, never materialized.

My only complaint regarding "Meet Kevin Johnson" focused on its timeline. It had occurred to me that Benjamin Linus, the Others' leader, had sent Tom Friendly to New York City to recruit Michael, between the events of Season Three episodes, (3.13) "The Man from Tallahassee" and (3.19) "The Brig". Not only did I find this time period rather slim for Tom to travel to the United States and return in time for Season Three's last four or five episodes, I found myself wondering how Tom had left the island . . . following John Locke's destruction of the Others' submarine in "The Man from Tallahassee". Hmmm. It also occurred to me that roughly a month had passed between Michael and Walt's departure in the Season Two finale, (2.23-2.24) "Live Together, Die Alone" and Michael's return aboard the Kahana in (3.17) "Catch-22". I cannot help but feel that the episode's timeline may have been sketchy at best.

But I want to discuss something else about "Meet Kevin Johnson". In my previous article about the episode, I had discussed what I felt were the hypocritical reactions to Michael's character in this episode and throughout the series. After viewing "Meet Kevin Johnson", I recognized numerous instances of hypocrisy from the characters. In fact, the level of hypocrisy featured in the episode struck me as amazing.

I had a good deal of issues regarding Ben and Tom's exploitation of Michael’s guilt for killing Ana-Lucia and Libby. I realize both men had wanted to recruit him to help deal with those traveling aboard the Kahana. But every time Michael had brought up the kidnapping of his son Walt Lloyd, both men had failed to express any remorse for it. Tom had responded to Michael's accusation by gaslighting the latter over Ana-Lucia and Libby's deaths. I guess exploiting Michael's guilt was more important to him than acknowledging his own over the kidnapping. I also believe that recruiting Michael to serve as Ben's spy would have been easier for Tom if he had simply acknowledged the kidnapping and expressed remorse for it.

Ben had also gaslighted Michael. First, he had ordered Tom to instruct Michael to kill the Kahana crew. Ben even provided a package for the deed - a bomb - to Michael. Upon meeting the murderous Martin Keamy and his mercenaries, Michael had programmed the bomb to set it off. The bomb proved to be fake. Apparently, Ben wanted to prove to Michael that he was a good guy and incapable of killing others. I found this incredibly hypocritical, considering by this point, Ben already had already murdered his father years ago and God only knows how many others. And why on earth did he order Tom to instruct Michael to kill the Kahana crew in the first place? Why deliver a bomb - namely a fake one - to Michael? What made this whole situation so ironic is that in the end, Ben (with Keamy's help) proved to be the one responsible for the Kahana's destruction, along with the deaths of the remaining Kahana crew and Michael, when he killed Keamy inside the island’s Orchid Station. Hell, it took Ben another six years to finally express any remorse over Walt’s kidnapping.

Then we have Oceanic survivors Sayid Jarrah and James "Sawyer" Ford. Both men had condemned Michael for his actions in late Season Two, when they discovered he was among the Kahana crew. When Ben had informed some of the Oceanic castaways at the Others' abandoned barracks that Michael was serving as his spy aboard the Kahana, Sawyer had accused Michael of killing Libby and Ana-Lucia in order to free Ben and get off the island. Period. Nothing else. Upon discovering Michael's presence aboard the Kahana and that he was serving as Ben's spy, Sayid condemned Michael for being a traitor to the Oceanic castaways, when the latter led Sawyer, Jack Shephard, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, and Kate Austen into a trap set by the Others in "Live Together, Die Alone". Sayid even turned Michael over to the freighter’s captain.

And yet . . . not once did Sawyer or Sayid ever mention Walt. Not . . . fucking . . . once. I found it odd that Sawyer had forgotten that Michael's actions had stemmed from his desire to rescue Walt from the Others’ clutches. I find this odd and very hypocritical, considering he had called himself killing Tom in retaliation for Walt's kidnapping. What made this reasoning dubious to me is that Sawyer never went after Ben for the kidnapping . . . the very man who had ordered the kidnapping in the first place. As for Sayid . . . he had learned about Naomi Dorrit's lies, witnessed Daniel Faraday's lies and Miles Strume's hostility on the island. Aboard the Kahana, Sayid had witnessed Captain Gault and other crewmen engaged in strange behavior. He also met Keamy and his fellow mercenaries aboard the Kahana. This should have made Sayid more leery of the Kahana crew. Instead, he became outraged over Michael working for Ben and exposed his fellow Oceanic castaway to the Kahana’s captain. He and accused Michael of not only working for Ben, but also for being a traitor to his fellow castaways. It finally occurred to me that ever since Shannon Rutherford's death in early Season Two, Sayid had developed a toxic obsession and hostility toward Ben Linus - which finally spilled over in late Season Five. It also occurred to me that neither Sawyer or Sayid had ever mentioned Walt or the kidnapping. Nor did either of them ever expressed concern or curiosity about his post-island life. Come to think of it, even Michael had his own hypocritical moment, when he accused Ben of being responsible for Ana-Lucia and Libby's deaths. I believe he wanted to blame Ben for driving him into committing his crimes in (2.20) "Two for the Road".

As I had stated earlier, I believe "Meet Kevin Johnson" was a pretty good episode and probably one of the better ones from Season Four of "LOST". I also noticed the episode reeked with hypocrisy - especially from characters like Benjamin Linus, Tom Friendly, Sayid Jarrah and James "Sawyer" Ford. I do not know if anyone else would regard their behavior and comments as hypocritical or view this all as the screenwriters' questionable writing. Oh well . . . I know how I feel.

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (2.07) "The Other 48 Days"

"LOST" RETROSPECT: (2.07) "The Other 48 Days"

I cannot deny that "LOST" will always be one of my top twenty (20) favorite television series of all time. Nor can I deny that despite my feelings about it, the writing had been flawed on many occasions. If there is an episode that truly reflected my positive feelings about the series, it is the Season Two episode called (2.07) "The Other 48 Days". 

This episode is probably my TOP favorite one in the entire series. Before "The Other 48 Days" aired, I had been watching "LOST" for at least a little over a month. In fact, (2.02) "Adrift" was the very first episode I had ever watch. Although I did watch most of the episodes that aired between "Adrift" and "The Other 48 Days", I found it difficult to feel the series' magic. I was about to give up on the series for good when "The Other 48 Days" aired in late November 2005. Not only did I enjoy the episode, I became a permanent fan of the series.

The plot for "The Other 48 Days" proved to be very simple. It chronicled those first forty-eight days that the Tail Section survivors (the Tailies) of Oceanic Flight 815 experienced on the island. Most of the episode focused upon the minutes following the plane crash, to the Tailies' encounter with Fuselage survivors Jin Kwon, Michael Dawson and James "Sawyer" Ford (which happened at the end of "Adrift"). The remaining few minutes of the episode is basically a montage of the Tailies and the three Losties experiences between (2.03) "Orientation" and (2.06) "Abandoned", when one of the Tailies accidentally shot and killed series regular character Shannon Rutherford.

If one thought that the experiences of the Fuselage Section survivors were traumatic, what they experienced was a piece of cake in compare to the Tail Section survivors. Unlike the Fuselage passengers, the Tailies had no medical doctor/surgeon, a wanted convict with a talent for tracking, a "Great White Hunter", a son of a South Korean fisherman, the fisherman's daughter-in-law with a talent for botany, a construction worker, or a former member with the Iraqi Republican Guard with a talent for communications. Instead, the Tail Section survivors had a former LAPD cop, a Nigerian warlord-turned-drug runner-turned-priest, a flight attendant, a dentist and clinical psychologist. Hmmmm. From my point of view, only the cop and the former warlord proved to be potential leaders for this group of survivors. Without a medical doctor, the Tailies had to witnessed the deaths of those survivors who had been seriously injured. They also lacked supplies, luggage and some foodstuffs from the plane's Fuselage section. Both groups were infiltrated by men spying on behalf of the island's long time inhabitants known as "the Others". Because the Tailies' beach camp was situated not far from the Others' complex, they were harassed and terrorized by the island inhabitants from Day One, to that Forty-Eighth day that marked Shannon's death. In fact, the Others managed to kidnap a total of twelve survivors from the Tailies' camp on Days One and Twelve. On that last 48th day, they finally snatched the flight attendant. The only Fuselage survivor that ended up kidnapped was Claire Littleton. Unlike the snatched Tailies, Claire only spent eleven days as one of the Others' captive during those 48 days. Compare to the Fuselage survivors, the Tail Section survivors came close to experiencing their own version of "Lord of the Flies".

Was there anything about "The Other 48 Days" that I did not like? I did not care much for that montage that marked the last three days that the Tailies spent with Michael, Sawyer and Jin. It seemed like a waste of air time. But I suspect that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse needed some kind of filler leading to that moment from Abandoned, when Shannon was shot. I could complain that "LOST" never fully explained why the Others snatched some of the Tail Section survivors. But that is not the fault of this particular episode's writing, considering that the series is a serial drama. 

My biggest complaint about "The Other 48 Days" is that the Tail Section survivors' story was told in one episode. I truly regret this. In some ways, I found their story a lot more fascinating than the experiences of the Fuselage survivors during that first month-and-a-half. Between the deaths of the injured passengers, the kidnappings by the Others, the power struggles and paranoia between the survivors, the consequences of an Other's spy in their midst, brief contact with a Fuselage survivor via a short-wave radio and God knows what . . . the Tailies' story could have provided an interesting contrast to the Fuselage survivors during the series' first season.

When the character of Ana-Lucia Cortez was first introduced to "LOST" viewers in the Season One finale, (1.23) "Exodus, Part 1", when she flirted with lead character Dr. Jack Shephard at an airport bar in Sydney. By the time the viewers saw her again, she had transformed into a hardened and brusque leader, lacking in any patience with the likes of Michael, Sawyer and Jin; and struggling to stay a step ahead of the Others' harassment. Many of the series' fans grew to hate her, complaining of her character's tough exterior. At the same time, they praised the Mr. Eko character, who proved to be the former Nigerian warlord-turned-priest, for being such a badass in their eyes. I had forgotten that despite the advent of civil rights regarding race and gender, we still live in a very prejudiced society. Apparently, it was okay for a man like Mr. Eko to be tough, but not a woman. Especially not a woman in a leader position. A woman can be tough like Kate Austen or Juliet Burke, as long as they maintained a superficial projection of femininity and find themselves stuck in a love story or mother role. 

I adored Ana-Lucia when she first punched Sawyer in (2.04) "Everybody Loves Hugo". And even after another four seasons, she has remained one of my favorite characters in the series. Before "LOST", I had viewed Michelle Rodriguez as a mediocre actress. I still cannot regard her as a great actress, but her portrayal of the stress-ridden Ana-Lucia had developed her into a very good one. And it took two scenes - one of Ana-Lucia's confrontation with the Others' spy and her emotional breakdown in Mr. Eko's arms - that made me realize that Rodriguez had come far as an actress in the five-to-six episodes she had appeared on "LOST" by "The Other 48 Days". Another performer that truly caught my eye was Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who portrayed the fascinating badass, Mr. Eko. To be honest, I first noticed Akinnuoye-Agbaje in the 2001 movie, "THE MUMMY RETURNS" and 2002's "THE BOURNE IDENTITY". He was memorable in both movies and very entertaining. But his portrayal of Mr. Eko proved to be more complex. Yes, he could be a frightening badass. But at the same time, Akinnuoye-Agbaje injected a great deal of pathos and compassion into his performance, allowing his Mr. Eko to become a more complex character than the ones I have seen him in past movies. 

I feel that Cynthia Watros got a raw deal during her time on "LOST". Thanks to her performance as clinical-psychologist Elizabeth "Libby" Smith, she presented a complex woman behind a superficially likable woman. I am not saying that Libby was an unlikable woman. But considering that she had encouraged Ana-Lucia to do something about a survivor named Nathan, whom they suspected of being an Others spy; and in the next episode, dumped all of the blame surrounding Nathan's death on Ana; I found myself wondering about her true nature. I like to view "The Other 48 Days"and the following episode, (2.08) "Collision" as some of Watros' finest work on the series. Fortunately for Sam Anderson, he got a chance to stretch his stuff in more episode. He certainly did an excellent job as Bernard Nadler, the dentist who happened to be married to one of the Fuselage's survivors. 

Kimberly Joseph was first introduced as flight attendant Cindy Chandler in the series' early Season One episodes. Her character was eventually kidnapped by the Others just before Shannon's death in "Abandoned". As one can see, I do not have much to say about Cindy. Joseph gave a solid performance in the episode. In fact, most of her performances have solid throughout the series' run. I have been aware of Brett Cullen since I first saw him in the television Western, "THE YOUNG RIDERS". I have seen him in many television and movie roles over the years - especially during the first two seasons of "PERSONS OF INTEREST". But I feel that Goodwin Stanhope might be one of the best roles in his career. I was especially impressed by his screen chemistry with Michelle Rodriguez, making his relationship with Ana-Lucia on of the most interesting during the series' run.

What else can I say about "The Other 48 Days"? It is a dark and fascinating television episode marked by an epic storyline about survival, trust and paranoia, thanks to a superb script written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. It also features first-rate direction from Eric Laneuville, and some excellent performances - especially from Michelle Rodriguez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Brett Cullen. After my latest viewing of the episode, my wish that the story about the Tail Section survivors had been stretched over more episodes remain strong as ever.

"LOST": The Death of Nathan

(2.07) ”The Other 48 Hours” is the 31st episode of ”LOST” that aired on November 16, 2005. This episode featured the Tail Section passengers of Oceanic Air Flight 815 and the story of their first forty-eight (48) days on the island. A controversy popped out from nowhere in this episode and it featured a fellow survivor named Nathan, whose death led to a barrage of criticism aimed at another character – Ana-Lucia Cortez, portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez. ”LOST”: The Death of Nathan The previous episode, (2.06) ”Abandoned” ended with the kidnapping of one of the Tail Section survivors, stewardess Cindy Chandler (Kimberly Joseph) and Ana-Lucia’s accidental shooting of one of the regular Fuselage survivors, Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace). ”The Other 48 Days” unfolded the events experienced by the Tailies that led Ana-Lucia to pull the trigger in such haste. And one of those events included the death of a Canadian-born passenger named Nathan (Josh Randall) at the hands of the Others’ spy, Goodwin Stanhope (Brett Cullen), The ironic thing about Nathan’s death is that when this episode had first aired, many of the series’ fans blamed Ana-Lucia for the Canadian’s fate. When Flight 815 of Oceanic Airlines had first crashed on September 22, 2004, the plane broke into several pieces. One of those pieces included the tail section, which landed in the water, somewhere opposite of the Fuselage passengers’ camp. Not long after the survivors swam ashore, some of them – Ana-Lucia Cortez, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Libby (Cynthia Watros) and Others spy Goodwin included – helped the others. But after Tail Sections passengers (aka the Tailies) settled down for the night, the Others snatched three adult males and Eko managed to kill two of them with a rock when they try to take him. It was Nathan who pointed out the disappearance of the three male survivors. Several injured survivors die in the passing days before the Others attacked again on the twelfth night and snatched nine more survivors – including two children named Emma and Zack. Ana-Lucia managed to kill one of the Others. The remaining survivors – Ana-Lucia, Mr. Eko, Libby, Cindy, Nathan and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) – and Goodwin head into the jungle to evade the Others. During their trek into the jungle, Nathan peevishly insisted that they break for rest and water. Although against the idea, Ana-Lucia obliged due to the arguments from the other survivors. She eventually dug a pit – on her own – and converted it into a cage. For Nathan. Apparently, Ana-Lucia had developed a suspicion toward the Canadian-born survivor since the Others’ second attack. Along with Cindy, he wanted to stay on the beach, following the Others’ first attack on Day One. Nathan also lengthy trips into the jungle, supposedly to take a bathroom break. He also seemed rebellious toward Ana-Lucia. Nathan spent four days in the pit without food, despite protests from Bernard and Goodwin. He also had to endure unrelenting questioning by Ana-Lucia. When she indicated her intention to torture him, Goodwin helped Nathan out of the pit. Then he killed the Canadian by snapping the latter’s neck. Ever since Nathan’s death, many fans – but not all – have dumped most of the blame on Ana-Lucia’s shoulders. In the recap for ”The Other 48 Days”, someone named Daniel had this to say: ”She kneels by a stream, and starts to break down. Who says Michelle Rodriguez can't act? She stops herself when she sees Eko standing there watching her. She barks at him, for no one must see her cry. He tells her that everything's going to be okay, and he crouches beside her. "What, you're talking now?" he says. "It's been forty days," he says simply. "You waited forty days to talk?" she says. "You waited forty days to cry," he says, and that totally sets her off, and she collapses, sobbing in his arms. I'm going to hope that the tears aren't strictly of the "even a girlfighter needs to let it out once in a while" variety, and that some of these tears are being shed for Nathan, whose death Ana-Lucia bears some of the responsibility for, whether you like her or not." He was right to claim that Ana-Lucia bore some of the responsibility for Nathan’s death. I only wished he had included the others who were also responsible in the above passage. Even one of the series’ screenwriters got into the act. Both Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim, who wrote (2.16) ”The Whole Truth” had Ana-Lucia assume all of the blame for what happened to Nathan: GALE: I don't mean to be ungrateful, but why are you going to help me get out of here? ANA: On the other side of the Island there was this guy with us. I was 100 percent convinced that he wasn't on the plane. So I dug a whole and I threw him in it. GALE: And what happened? ANA: I was wrong. And now he's dead. But good news for you Henry -- I don't make the same mistake twice. So how about you tell me your story? Well, it is all peachy keen that Ana-Lucia was able to accept responsibility for Nathan’s death. But it would have been sweeter for me if the other Tailies had accepted responsibility on screen, as well. Yes, I am saying that the other Tailies – along with Goodwin – were responsible. Let us exam how each individual in that group was responsible: *Nathan – You read it right. I believe that Nathan was partially responsible for his own death. I realize that he had spoken the truth that intestinal problems led him to disappear from the Tailies’ camp every few hours. But Nathan had been the one who first noticed that the Others had kidnapped three survivors on that first night. He should have realized that disappearing into the jungle by himself for several hours – for whatever the reason – was a stupid move. The Others’ attack on the first night would have convinced me to overcome any embarrassment and insist upon company so that I could groan and fart for two hours with some semblance of safety. And there was the problem of Nathan’s personality. Not only did he have an ornery personality that irritated Ana-Lucia and the other Tailies, he also had a secretive nature that aroused many suspicions amongst his companions. *Ana-Lucia Cortez – As I had stated earlier, Ana-Lucia was partially responsible for Nathan’s death. She was the one who had dug the pit. She was the one who dumped Nathan into the pit, starved him and questioned him constantly. She also threatened to torture him. And although Nathan’s behavior failed to help his cause, I suspect that Ana-Lucia’s own dislike of him allowed her to easily believe that he was a spy for the Others. *Bernard Nadler – Although Bernard had protested against Nathan being dumped and kept in that pit, he did nothing to help the latter escape. Despite knowing that Ana-Lucia was attempting to starve Nathan into confessing. *Libby – Like Ana-Lucia, she disliked Nathan’s behavior. And she had expressed her distrust of Nathan before Ana-Lucia had finished digging the pit: LIBBY [entering]: Hey. ANA: Hey. LIBBY: Back at the beach -- the night they came back -- you said that Nathan was gone for 2 hours? That he was missing? Creeps me out, Ana. Do you really think it's possible that one of us is one of them? Later, she responded to Goodwin’s protest: GOODWIN: You're not all serious. LIBBY: He never talks about himself, Nathan. Every time I ask him anything, he just dodges. You know what really irritated me about Libby in the end? She dumped all of the blame for Nathan’s death on Ana-Lucia in (2.08) ”Collision”: ANA [to Libby]: What about you? LIBBY: I just don't think you're the best judge of character. I was with you when you put Nathan in the pit. That is correct. Not only was she there when Ana-Lucia dumped Nathan’s ass into that pit, she was one of those who had supported the act. Her hypocrisy toward Ana-Lucia really annoyed me. * Cindy Chandler – Like Libby, Cindy expressed distrust of Nathan. She also claimed that she had never seen him on board Flight 815 before the crash – despite her gift for knowing faces: ANA: We were in the air for 2 hours -- I didn't see him once -- not once. GOODWIN: It's a big plane, Ana, just because you didn't... CINDY: No, I didn't see him either. I'm pretty good with faces, you know, with the passengers, and I did not see him. I believe that Cindy may have overestimated her talent for faces. Apparently, she had failed to spot Nathan before spent time in one of the plane’s restrooms, dealing with his “problem”. And she failed to realize that Goodwin had never been a passenger on Flight 815. *Mr. Eko – He was kind enough to feed a banana to Nathan, while the latter was being deliberately starved by Ana-Lucia. And yet . . . he did not bother to free Nathan from the pit. One could argue that Mr. Eko had feared incurring Ana-Lucia’s wrath. But we all know that he was the last person on that island who could ever be intimidated by her. Like most of his companions, Mr. Eko probably harbored suspicions about Nathan. *Goodwin Stanhope - Naturally, he is the main person to blame for Nathan’s death. After all, he snapped the other man’s neck. Goodwin had helped Nathan escape from the pit. He realized that if Ana-Lucia had tortured the other man, she would have realized that Nathan had been speaking the truth. As a spy for the Others, he could not afford for her to continue any suspicions. But . . . there had been no need for Goodwin to commit murder. He could have simply allowed Nathan to maintain his distance from the other Tailies. But he chose murder instead. From the above statements, it is easy to see that I have managed to place the blame for Nathan’s death on just about every member of the group that had left the beach, following the Others’ second attack. Yet, because Ana-Lucia happened to be so unpopular with many fans of ”LOST”, she has received most of the blame. I hope this will finally set the record straight.

"LOST" Behind the Scenes: (2.07)"The Other 48 Days"

Below is a video clip featuring a behind-the-scenes look at my favorite "LOST" episode of all time - Season 2's "The Other 48 Days":



"LOST" Behind the Scenes: (2.07)"The Other 48 Days"