Lost 2.04: The Other Survivors

Last night’s show exposed the tribulations of Hurley and the hardships of the survivors on the other side of the island.

With the meeting of Michael & Co. with what we thought were the Others, last week’s show set us up to what turned out to be a decent show. We found out that these were in fact not the “Others” we had grown to fear but actually other survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. And though we did not get to spend much time with them, from what we saw, we could see they suffered a great deal more than our normal crew had on the other side of the island. What was particularly interesting about these other survivors is where they were situated. Michelle Rodriguez (here on out, known only as Snarl) brought us to their habitat and if you looked carefully, you could see the same logo from the hatch on the walls in this place. Only this habitation was far more run down and ransacked than the hatch. Which led me to thinking: Was this the original hatch of the corporation? In episode 03, “Orientation”, we learn that the Hanso Foundation implemented the whole inputting of the numbers as a result of… unforeseen events. Could those unforeseen events have been the result of having the first hatch on the wrong side of the island with the real Others? And since the Others were a force to be reckoned with, the Hanso Foundation had to implement a bad-ass security system which went off every 108 minutes to ensure the safety of their experiment? We already know that Snarl & Co. didn’t survive too well since they were on the wrong side of the island, so why couldn’t we take that further and think that for the first experimenters? I think it’s feasible, especially in light of the fact that the hatch Snarl was in had the Hanso logo everywhere.

My one gripe about introducing all of these new characters to the show: I hope they implement them smoothly and effortlessly and don’t make us sit through some forced circumstances where they all become friends and work together. I want to see the conflict between those who had it badly and those who had it relatively easy. I think we’ll see that in the upcoming shows but I want to make sure it doesn’t get too melodramatic and to the point where the show becomes a soap. Secondly, I hate Michelle Rodriguez. With a white hot passion of a thousand burning suns. She is a horrible actress and I don’t know how the JJ let her onto this show, considering the wonderful job he did picking and choosing character actors who were relative nobodies. Michelle has no acting skills and is type cast into playing one and only one kind of character: the bad ass girl. I am all for the bad ass girl (see: Kate) but for God’s sake, don’t make her into a one-dimensional character. And her face. It never, ever deviates from the snarl. That’s the only face she can put forth and I guess it’s getting her the jobs so why change if it’s working. Just horrible. Hence her nickname of Snarl. Whenever she is on screen, I cringe and hope to god she is going to do something new. But, in the end, she never fails to deliver her snappy bad ass lines and do her requisite combat moves along with her insufferable attitude. I just wonder how much better her character would be with an actually good actress playing that role. It would make the case and situation of the other survivors more sympathetic. As it stands now, whenever she comes on screen, I pray for her to go away and not do something clichéd.

Back on the lighter side of the island, Hurley had his time in the spotlight this episode. I like this flashback significantly more than Locke’s due to the fact that it wasn’t over handed and it felt genuine. His back story is something that we can, although not too much concerning the money, relate to since we’ve all had things change and then had to deal with the consequences. You could really feel for Hurley and his predicament and in the end, you were really rooting for him. But you fully realize just how insecure Hurley is and how he is always fighting to get people to just be his friend. And it showed in his flashback and doling out the food from the hatch. One scene I particularly enjoyed was when he was about to blow the hatch and Rose catches him. The counter-scene from his flashback was perfectly placed in this instance and I felt it just underscored what we already felt for Hurley. See? This is how you flesh out the back story of a character we already sympathize for, not like how JJ did it for Locke. When viewed side by side, this episode triumphs over last weeks by a long shot.

This episode didn’t answer too many questions about the hatch or the Hanso Foundation but I felt it did a good job of progressing the show forward sympathetically, as we began to unravel the story of the other survivors and one of the best characters in the show, Hurley. Next weeks episode should be good, since we have the trek across the island to get back to the main cast and what appears to be Walt walking around. What I want to know, will Michael, Snarl & Co. bring the real Others back to the main crew? That’ll be an interesting plot twist. Can’t wait!