Talk to the Flocke: Reactions to the "Lost" episode "Recon"
Sorry I was out of commission yesterday, gang. This here is a one-man show, and when that one man can't get to blogging, blogging don't get gotten to. Anyhoodle, the important thing is I'm here to discuss "Recon" now, an episode that was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, which is becoming a familiar refrain this season.
Once more, before we get into my own juicy thoughts, here's an aside: Doc Jensen thinks the smoke monster is Faraday. Look, I love the man because his batshit insane theories entertain me to no end and are better supported than some Supreme Court decisions. Still, on this one, I call bullpuckey. No way. Doc thinks that Smokey will be revealed to be some hybrid of Faraday and someone else and that the "thing" locked in Widmore's submarine is Faraday's girlfriend, the one he put into a coma with time travel. I bring this up more as evidence that even people who are highly paid to write for esteemed publications on a weekly basis about "Lost," dudes who have that task as their ONLY JOB, still can come up with weirdo theories, making me feel better about my lack of predictive skills. I invite you to read Doc's column at ew.com, or at least skim it until the final pages. His insight into cool things like ancient mythology involving Oedipus and The Fisher King and his observations about subtle things (like how "Recon" opened with Sawyer saying "son of a bitch" and then the big reveal in the episode was Flocke saying his mother was a crazy bitch and now Claire is too) are well worth checking it out...even if he's wordier than I am.
Okay, let's dive into it now.
Things I liked
Um, did we get any? Maybe?
Reflections
Honestly, I'm not left with too much right now. The only things to think about that the episode left you with were the deal with Flocke's mom and whether or not Sawyer can take submarine-driving classes in the next few weeks (seriously, what is that about?). We moved a few things around without real consequence or significance. I wish we had some more weight to each episode now, but whatever, I still love watching this show so much I can't really complain.
I'm going to give this episode a B-, it would have been a C if not for the bad-ass Flocke/Kate scene. And it would have been an A+ if Claire got eye-stabbed. Next episode is the shit. It's the one we've waited for. We get a Richard-centric episode and it's going to rule. I know it's going to rule. There's no way in which it won't rule. Please, God, let it rule.
Once more, before we get into my own juicy thoughts, here's an aside: Doc Jensen thinks the smoke monster is Faraday. Look, I love the man because his batshit insane theories entertain me to no end and are better supported than some Supreme Court decisions. Still, on this one, I call bullpuckey. No way. Doc thinks that Smokey will be revealed to be some hybrid of Faraday and someone else and that the "thing" locked in Widmore's submarine is Faraday's girlfriend, the one he put into a coma with time travel. I bring this up more as evidence that even people who are highly paid to write for esteemed publications on a weekly basis about "Lost," dudes who have that task as their ONLY JOB, still can come up with weirdo theories, making me feel better about my lack of predictive skills. I invite you to read Doc's column at ew.com, or at least skim it until the final pages. His insight into cool things like ancient mythology involving Oedipus and The Fisher King and his observations about subtle things (like how "Recon" opened with Sawyer saying "son of a bitch" and then the big reveal in the episode was Flocke saying his mother was a crazy bitch and now Claire is too) are well worth checking it out...even if he's wordier than I am.
Okay, let's dive into it now.
Things I liked
- Claire getting slapped: Claire got slapped. Not hard enough, but slapped all the same. In the face. With a hand. You know how close this was to being a perfect episode? When Claire jumped Kate, if Kate had turned and stabbed Claire it would have been perfection. Actually, it would have been cool for several reasons, including Claire being dead. The idea is, Kate would have been converted to the dark side in doing so... Instead, all we get is this brilliant moment. You have to watch a commercial that lasts 30 seconds to see the 2-second clip...but it is worth it and you can rewatch it a thousand times.
- Saywer's double-double con-con: Like Doc Jensen quipped, this was the first "set-up" episode ABOUT set ups. I liked that. I liked the "LaFleur" drop (does that mean something? does he remember? arrrrgggh). I liked the take on Sawyer's Departed-esque line about "I was either gonna be a cop or a criminal" because it makes sense. I liked how pasty Charolette is.
- THE Scene: You know the one. The one that took the episode from "meh" to "good." Flocke had a mom? A crazy mom? Now Aaron's mom is crazy? Is this a suggestion of the time-loopy nature of the show? Has this "all happened before?" Are we to believe a woman gave birth to a smoke monster? What did Flocke mean by "growing pains?" Surely that wasn't a Mike Seaver reference (notice, I avoided the Vinny "Boner" Stabone joke there, because I'm classy). I like this wrinkle and I'm beginning to develop my own thoughts as to what I think is going on...but I'm going to wait until the predictions for next week to drop those on you. Seriously, how much ass is the Richard episode going to kick?
- The Widmore shuffle: We all know it HAS to be a "Who" and not a "What" inside the locked sub room, right? I know who it HAS to be (I mean, I'm probably wrong, but still)
- Squirrel-skull-baby: It needs it's own show. I'd watch that rascally skull baby get into various misadventures. It could be animated if needs be. Let's make this happen people.
- Claire didn't die: Claire got slapped though. Right in the face. Did you see that? In. The. Face. Still, she also got to talk way too much and remains unsatisfyingly not dead.
- Sawyer not asking questions: Look, I've thought this for awhile: I know that Sawyer and the gang traveled through time. I know they've seen weird-ass shit. I know this. But when someone admits to turning into a murder-cloud, a smokey-death-fog, YOU ASK HOW THE F**K THAT CAN HAPPEN. When he busts out "I'm not a what, I'm a who," you say "THEN WHO ARE YOU?" Seriously.
- Walky-talky: There wasn't as much walking, but there was a whole lot of pointless talking in this episode. I could have done without the entire "Sawyer finds the woman on the beach" scene. We all knew it was a set up instantly. Why not just have him show up and get jacked instantly by the Widmore group. Expedience is your friend, writers of "Lost."
Um, did we get any? Maybe?
- Flocke's got a mommy: Is this an answer? Is it even true?
- Widmore's allegiance: I don't think we got a true answer to this, but it does APPEAR for now that Widmore is NOT on the MiB's side. The fact that Flocke sent Sawyer on recon and the fact that they were installing the anti-smokey sound pillar thingies suggest that Widmore is not on Smokey's side. Jacob also DID say to Hurley that he wanted to have Hurley help a person "get to the island," which now appears to be Widmore. Still, I think I'm filing him as non-Team Jacob and non-Team Flocke. I think he's team Widmore. I think he's the threat to the island.
Reflections
Honestly, I'm not left with too much right now. The only things to think about that the episode left you with were the deal with Flocke's mom and whether or not Sawyer can take submarine-driving classes in the next few weeks (seriously, what is that about?). We moved a few things around without real consequence or significance. I wish we had some more weight to each episode now, but whatever, I still love watching this show so much I can't really complain.
I'm going to give this episode a B-, it would have been a C if not for the bad-ass Flocke/Kate scene. And it would have been an A+ if Claire got eye-stabbed. Next episode is the shit. It's the one we've waited for. We get a Richard-centric episode and it's going to rule. I know it's going to rule. There's no way in which it won't rule. Please, God, let it rule.
Labels: "Lost", "recon", lost final season, Lost reactions, lost reactions to recon, lost season 6
posted by Ryan at
9:20 AM
4 Comments:
What did you make of the conspicuous touching/lack of touching in the episode? Like when Kate refused FLocke's hand to help her stand, or when Sawyer refused to shake Widmore's hand at first, but then relented. And I know you hate Claire, but she was a whole new basket of crazy- first she's snapping at Kate, then she holds her hand, then she tries to kill her, then she hugs and thanks her for taking care of Aaron. WTF.
I found myself thinking of that creepy blond boy from a few episodes ago who reminded FLocke that he couldn't kill Richard. Think we'll find out who that was in Richard's episode?
Thanks for the comment, it gave me a reason to watch Claire getting slapped again. Slap. Slap. Slap. God that never gets old. To be honest, whatever "good" came of Claire was negated by her lack of acting ability. When she was talking about skull baby and said "It was all I had" the line could have been creepy or tragic. Instead, it made me giggle. She sucks. I do think you're on to something with the little boy in Richard's story. I think we WILL find out something about him. I may just steal that and put that in my predictions.
You keep saying you want to see Christian come back but I was thinking that Christian was the MiB before he went into Locke's body. Maybe you talked about that in a previous blog but that has kind of been my assumption is that they are the same. Do you not think that they are?
I don't believe Christian was actually the MiB for two reasons: (1) When Sun ran into Christian in New Otherton, it was AFTER MiB had become Flocke and thus couldn't be anyone else. (2) I just don't like it. I think Christian is more than that. I'm not 100%, but that's my gut, yo.
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