Though it has a different title, Adrift could easily be regarded as the second part of an extended season premiere, since both episodes together neatly tie up certain mysteries and introduce some new ones, along with a bunch of previously unseen characters. It's every bit as riveting as its predecessor, and perhaps even bolder.
How so? Well, for a show that prides itself in playing with chronology, thanks to the various flashbacks that make up the main characters' back-story, even this episode's prime narrative ploy looks unprecedented: instead of picking up from the cliffhanger at the end of Man of Science, Man of Faith, it goes back to depict the events leading up to that scene, which is then re-staged with different vantage points. Thus, we get to see how Kate and Locke ran into the hatch's lone inhabitant Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), who holds them at gunpoint and is, unbeknownst to them, an old acquaintance of Jack's. The second important plot strand is (finally!) the aftermath of the raft exploding: Jin's missing, and Sawyer almost gets in a fight with Michael (and eaten by a shark). While they get back on the Island, the threat of the Others feels more real than ever...
Adrift was, apparently, meant to be a Sawyer-centric episode, but it was decided at the last minute to make it about Walt. Fortunately, the writing stays sharp as the flashbacks provide details about his custody battle (with a welcome appearance by Saul Rubinek as one of the lawyers) with Walt's mother, which led to father and son not seeing each other for a few years prior to the Oceanic 815. Most notably, these scenes have one of the most seemingly innocent foreshadowings of the series: little Walt receives a toy animal - a polar bear.
Boldly going where no show has gone before (pardon the geek reference), this early offering from Lost's second season boasts true bravery in its writing, deliberately pacing itself (a necessary move, since the show-runners were yet to decide how long it would last) and, in a way, almost making fun of its slow-burn style by using the same cliffhanger twice (and with no resolution until next time). However, it also knows when to get dead serious, like in the final scene which, once again, suggests the stakes have been raised beyond belief. Just one word: "Others!"
How so? Well, for a show that prides itself in playing with chronology, thanks to the various flashbacks that make up the main characters' back-story, even this episode's prime narrative ploy looks unprecedented: instead of picking up from the cliffhanger at the end of Man of Science, Man of Faith, it goes back to depict the events leading up to that scene, which is then re-staged with different vantage points. Thus, we get to see how Kate and Locke ran into the hatch's lone inhabitant Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), who holds them at gunpoint and is, unbeknownst to them, an old acquaintance of Jack's. The second important plot strand is (finally!) the aftermath of the raft exploding: Jin's missing, and Sawyer almost gets in a fight with Michael (and eaten by a shark). While they get back on the Island, the threat of the Others feels more real than ever...
Adrift was, apparently, meant to be a Sawyer-centric episode, but it was decided at the last minute to make it about Walt. Fortunately, the writing stays sharp as the flashbacks provide details about his custody battle (with a welcome appearance by Saul Rubinek as one of the lawyers) with Walt's mother, which led to father and son not seeing each other for a few years prior to the Oceanic 815. Most notably, these scenes have one of the most seemingly innocent foreshadowings of the series: little Walt receives a toy animal - a polar bear.
Boldly going where no show has gone before (pardon the geek reference), this early offering from Lost's second season boasts true bravery in its writing, deliberately pacing itself (a necessary move, since the show-runners were yet to decide how long it would last) and, in a way, almost making fun of its slow-burn style by using the same cliffhanger twice (and with no resolution until next time). However, it also knows when to get dead serious, like in the final scene which, once again, suggests the stakes have been raised beyond belief. Just one word: "Others!"
