Season
1, Episodes 23 and 24- “Exodus, parts 1 and 2”
Summary:
A
series of flashbacks show the characters on the day of the flight, including
Jack meeting a woman named Ana-Lucia. Danielle arrives at camp, warning that
the Others are coming, and a pillar of smoke appears to signal their assault.
Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Arzt, and Danielle trek to the Black Rock to
retrieve dynamite so they can blow open the hatch and hide inside. After an
encounter with the monster, they arrive at the Black Rock, which turns out to
be a giant slaving ship that washed inland. The camp begins to push the raft
into the water, and Sayid gives them a radar to detect ships, and a flare gun.
Sun gives Jin a list of English phrases and they reconcile. Walt asks Shannon
to take care of Vincent. The raft finally sets sail with Michael, Walt, Jin,
and Sawyer onboard.
The
camp scrambles to the caves for safety. At the Black Rock, Danielle leaves the
group. They take several sticks of dynamite but Arzt blows up in the process. The
group takes a few sticks and splits them up for the trek back. The monster
attacks and Locke is about to be dragged into a hole but they use dynamite to
scare the monster away. Danielle returns to camp and inquires about the baby,
and some scratches on her arm prompt Claire to flashback to her abduction and
realize Danielle was involved in her kidnapping in some way. Danielle steals
the baby, and Charlie and Sayid take off towards the pillar of smoke. Claire
reveals the baby is named Aaron.
They
arrive at the Beechcraft and Charlie takes some of the heroin inside, and he is
later injured by one of Danielle’s traps. They approach the signal at night,
and Danielle is forced to give Aaron back over to them, muttering that the
Others said they were coming for the boy and that she hoped to get Alex back.
Charlie and Sayid return to the caves with Aaron. The raft crew discovers an
object on the radar and use the flare to signal it. The boat finds them but the
people onboard shoot Sawyer, kidnap Walt, and blow up the raft. Locke’s group
sets the dynamite on the hatch and light it despite Hurley’s warning after seeing
the numbers. The hatch blows open, and Jack and Locke stare down into the dark
abyss.
Review:
All three hours of “Exodus” really could
be considered the quintessential “Lost” episode. Practically everybody gets
their moment to shine. There are some fantastic character beats, jungle
exploration, and sweat-producing tension. Let’s start with the flashbacks,
which pepper the whole thing and serve to remind us of where these characters
were before we met them. Charlie the junkie, Sun the submissive wife, Kate the
prisoner, etc. We are now able to calibrate all of their progress and reflect
on their season-long journeys. The man in the bathroom warns Jin that he will
never be free from Mr. Paik’s control, yet we flash to Jin on the open seas; now
free of control even from the island. Jack recaps his backstory to us at the
airport bar, but his is slightly different from the rest because in addition to
reflecting on the past, it also sets up the future with the introduction of
Ana-Lucia. Unfortunately, this is the most pleasant Ana will be in her entire
run but it’s a warm interaction. Ah, what could have been…
The past-gazing doesn’t stop with the
flashes. Sawyer finally lets on to Jack about his meeting with Christian in the
bar and reassures him of his father’s actual feelings. Jack and Sawyer are too
rough around the edges to actually have this moment straight-up, so Sawyer
plays coy as a buffer so they can talk without really talking. Michael and Jin
officially bury the hatchet with the gold watch as a symbolic peace offering,
putting a period on a season-long rivalry. The final montage of the passengers
getting on the plane is a very bittersweet moment, as they are soon about to be
rid of the burdens that have plagued them for weeks, months, or years, but at a
great cost.
One of the top highlights of season one,
and possibly the whole show, is the launching of the raft in a big, emotional
shove off the sand. That’s one of the best scores Michael Giacchino ever made;
full of hope and promise, despite the raft’s ultimate demise. And just as we
feel that we are on the precipice of salvation and ready to leave the island,
they cut back to the billowing smoke and a pulsating, musical, thrumming sound
that posits impending doom. Bam. Smash-cut to black.
The actual finale itself splinters among
three separate but equally riveting missions that are among the best that “Lost”
has to offer. Sayid and Charlie’s mission is fairly straightforward but both of
them have something on the line. The periodic glimpses of the black smoke
taunts them as they tear through the jungle. The pit-stop at the Beechcraft
with the heroin comes off as a little forced but nothing egregious. The raft
mission is pretty steady for most of the way – interrupted briefly by a wayward
rudder, which doesn’t really add much. It gets much better after dark, when
they debate alerting their presence to the blip on the radar. M.C. Gainey’s Tom
got less threatening as season two, then three, wore on, but his debut is still
a standout introduction. The hatch may have been all that anyone talked about
that summer, but this was the true cliffhanger as the raft was blown to bits,
Walt was abducted by creepy hobo people, and the others were treading
helplessly in the water (with Sawyer being shot). That’s how you end a season.
The Black Rock mission seems pretty tame
compared to the other finales we eventually get, but it’s got some classic
moments. Arzt is a bit of a weird meta
commentary on the show’s disinterest in focusing on anyone outside of the main
characters, and he provides some good humor for a while. To give the dynamite
the necessary drama, they needed to see it blow up, and hey, why not Arzt? The
Black Rock is one of those set pieces that “Lost” used very rarely, but always
to good effect. As a result, it maintains its mystery and aura even in
retrospect. Jack and Locke have another key conversation, the man of
science/faith debate. Locke’s insistence that “it ends at the hatch” is laughable in hindsight. But at the time, it really felt like we were about to
crack open the show. The controversy about who gets to carry the dynamite, I
could kind of do without.
The final couple minutes after the last
commercial break are dialogue-free, as we see the cast board the plane, and
Locke’s crew remove the hatch lid. There’s probably no other way they could
have ended it. Frustrating, perhaps. Exciting, definitely.
Connecting the Dots:
If Danielle did hear whispers saying
they are “coming for the boy”, it lends credence to the revelation that the whispers
are dead people trying to warn when danger is coming. And “the boy”, of course,
is not Aaron but Walt. We see them studying Walt in the mobisodes. Either they
learned from Ethan that the boy has powers that could be studied; or they
decide to kidnap children in particular because they are more easily influenced
and are not considered to be part of the “broken people” whom Jacob wants to
groom as a potential replacement.
A plot point that still does not appear
to have a solid explanation is the pillar of smoke. Danielle claims it is a
warning sign from the Others. However, we never see them do this or reference
it the rest of the show. The lack of footprints might point to the Others
because they have been shown to hide their tracks. However, there’s a chance
Danielle lit it herself, thinking that it would draw the Others to her and thus
she could make the trade for Alex. There’s a weird tinfoil theory involving the
real Henry Gale that I will mention when we get to that. Either of the first
two theories can work, but I just wish we had confirmation on this one.
Hey Ana, you know that coffin that you
heard Jack talking about? Yeah, that’s the guy you just road-tripped with.
Danielle’s reference of Montand losing
his arm finally pays off in season five, episode five. We’re a long way off
from that. But good of them to keep it in their back pocket. Another long-term
plot point: the Black Rock, which we see in “The Brig” but whose history is not
revealed until season six.
The Hurley Bird is ultimately revealed
to be a DHARMA experiment. I personally thought the fanbase’s fascination with
the Hurley Bird as an actual mystery was stupid, and that it didn’t need an
explanation. But there you have it.
Ranking:
1.
Exodus, part 2
(10/10) (Three great plots infused tension and danger, with bittersweet
flashbacks. The first in a long line of perfect finales.)
2.
Deus Ex Machina
(9.5/10)
3.
Pilot, part 1
(9/10)
4.
Numbers (8.5/10)
5.
Exodus, part 1
(8.5/10) (Terrific setup that leads to the emotional raft-launching,
interspersed with great character beats.)
6.
Solitary (8.5/10)
7.
Outlaws (8/10)
8.
Walkabout (8/10)
9.
Pilot, part 2
(8/10)
10. White Rabbit (8/10)
11. …In Translation (7.5/10)
12. Do No Harm (7.5/10)
13. Homecoming (7.5/10)
14. Raised by Another (7.5/10)
15. Tabula Rasa (7/10)
16. The Moth (7/10)
17. Special (7/10)
18. Hearts and Minds (7/10)
19. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (6.5/10)
20. The Greater Good (6.5/10)
21. Confidence Man (6.5/10)
22. House of the Rising Sun (6/10)
23. Born to Run (5.5/10)
24. Whatever the Case May Be (4.5/10)
Season 1 Average: 7.479
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