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Lost - 4x02 - Confirmed Dead

Sometimes it's hard to know what the writers of Lost are thinking. Okay, so it's always hard to know what the writers of Lost are thinking, but this week there were more "Seriously?!" moments than usual. Let's take a closer look...

Happenings: On island, the action centres around the arrival of four of Naomi's colleagues: Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume, Charlotte Staples Lewis and Frank Lapidus. Despite Jack's previous conviction that rescue was imminent, relations get off to a shaky start when it's revealed that Daniel is carrying a gun. Shakier still is their first encounter with Miles, who brandishes his own firearm and accuses Kate of killing Naomi. The hostilities are tempered slightly, however, when Miles seemingly communes with Naomi's spirit and confirms Kate's story implicating Locke. Reinforcements arrive from the beach in the form of Juliet and Sayid, and the group head out to find the other parachutees. Helicopter pilot Frank turns up unharmed, crucially with his helicopter in similar condition, but Charlotte has the (mis?)fortune of landing nearest to Locke's ragtag group of rebels on their way to the barracks. Ben shoots Charlotte. Charlotte's wearing a bulletproof vest. Locke smacks Ben around. Ben explains what the new arrivals want: him.

In flashback, we're given snatches of back story on Daniel, Miles, Charlotte and Frank. Daniel weeps uncontrollably at footage of the 'wreckage' of Oceanic 815, without knowing why. Miles convinces a boy's ghost to stop haunting his grandmother, slyly pocketing said ghost's hidden cash stash in the process. In Tunisia, Charlotte bribes her way onto an archaelogical dig and unearths some Dharma branded evening wear. Unconvinced by the underwater crash footage, Frank calls the Oceanic hotline to contest its authenticity. In a meeting with Matthew Abaddon, Naomi questions whether her four new colleagues are up to the task ahead. Likes: It was an unusual move to dive straight into the identities of the 'rescue' team, and a welcome one - the season 2 premiere introduced Desmond, but it was 20+ episodes later before we were treated to his first flashback. Short-term questions are answered fairly comprehensively, most notably that the freighter has brought these people on a mission to locate Ben. Less clear is what they're supposed to do with him, although the shadowy meeting between Naomi and Abaddon towards the end gives the impression that Ben has made it onto yet another enemies list. There are a few nice lighter moments - Jack winking at Kate, Frank being welcomed to the island by a cow - but also the odd telling comment, particularly Sawyer's warning to Locke that Ben has already planned their undoing. The fact that the helicopter survived intact is a more interesting proposition than the alternative (remember how long Desmond's boat lasted last season?), although whether it will remain in good condition much longer, or indeed ever return from the freighter, is anyone's guess.

Dislikes: With 12 main characters and plenty of recurring guests surviving from last season, what the show did not need this year was 3 new regulars (Daniel, Miles and Charlotte) arriving simultaneously. Factor in Michael's return to the main cast and you can probably anticipate many more episodes in which central characters don't appear at all - Desmond, Sun and Jin were this week's screentime casualties. The recurring guests don't stop coming either, with Frank making his first appearance and Abaddon popping up again. Even Naomi managed a posthumous flashback. It all adds up to a rather unsatisfying package as Jack, Kate and Locke monopolise proceedings and the likes of Claire and Hurley simply nod along in the background.

As much as I like the idea of changing up the execution of the flashback device, debuting 4 new characters in the same episode was a strange choice. Only Miles really gets anything to significantly flesh out his character; Daniel - who you would think would be our way into the group, as Jack and Juliet have been before him - gets only a few seconds, interesting though they may be. Focussing on Daniel may have been the more conventional approach, but then there's a good reason for certain conventions. Sharing out the flashbacks amongst a group of characters is a nice idea, but it should have been saved for later in the season, when we might have more reason to care about these people.

Of course, this wouldn't be a proper rant if I didn't bring up accents. As good as Lost is at breaking down character conventions, Confirmed Dead introduces us to yet another hard-headed, well-spoken, English anthropologist. Essex must be absolutely crawling with them!

Lastly, do we really need to see Ben being violently beaten again? Jack gave him a kicking in both Through the Looking Glass and The Beginning of the End, and this week Sawyer gets his licks in twice. Please people, give the poor evil genius a break.

Rating: 3 out of 7 DHARMA Stations

General Reaction: Well 2 episodes into the fourth season and the writers have had to set up some new characters. I suppose when you kill off Charlie and a few of the Others you're going to need to do that.

For me, the episode was treading water even though we learnt a lot about the people from the freighter. It will be interesting to see wether the helicopter manages to remain intact, as Locke seems intent on keeping himself and the rest of group on the island. I'm looking forward to seeing how this season plays out and eagerly anticipating the moment when Jack, Kate and Hugo leave the island. Confirmed Dead rates 4 out of 7 DHARMA Stations.

Points of Interest:

• SF versus F - It looks like the supernatural themes brought to the fore in last week's episode are being taken forward fairly rapidly. Does this mean that I was wrong and Hurley was really talking to Charlie's ghost?
• Ghost Whisperer - Characters who can see the future are pretty common in SF, but Desmond's abilities have been handled in quite an original way thus far. Characters who can see/talk to ghosts are equally common (Matthew Fox played one in Haunted back in 2002), so let's hope Miles's talents are taken in new directions too.
• Dharma dig - The apperance of the Hydra logo at the archaeological site suggests Dharma's roots run a lot deeper than the research commune Ben grew up in.
• Not Penny's Boat - We now know why Naomi's people came to the island, but if Ben is all they want then what do they need an anthropologist and a physicist for? Is this some sort of attempt to resurrect the Initiative?
• POV - Drew Goddard, writer of hand-held monster movie Cloverfield, co-penned this episode as well as Lost Moment #13. Both feature first person camerawork, from Daniel and Vincent's perspectives respectively (!).

Points of Contention:

• Before the watershed - Would a TV station really get away with showing footage of decomposed corpses from an air disaster during the day? Would they even get away with showing the same at night?
• Work clothes - Why is Daniel dressed in a shirt and tie? Are the costume department simply bored of dressing people in grubby t-shirts, or is there something to be gleaned from Dan's attire?

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