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Game Over For Ana LuciaIf you're TIVOing LOST and haven't watched it yet, well, you should know better than to be surfing the blogs. Nevertheless, you should stop reading now.
When I wrote about Shannon's death in "Abandoned" (see Abandoned: Remix and its accompanying commentary), I had some complaints about how the story and death were handled. Although I still have some complaints about the events of "Two For The Road," I'm pleased to say they are much less significant -- and even more pleased to say that virtually every complaint I had about "Abandoned" was rectified in "Two For The Road."
To quickly summarize the two biggest issues:
* Regarding "Abandoned," I complained that the flashback (FB) was not relevant to the Island storyline. I suggested rewriting the FB so that we learned some crucial piece of information -- which would then be snatched away from the castaways by the death of the character. That's exactly what happened -- and how -- in "Two for the Road."
* Regarding "Abandoned," I complained that the FB was not sufficiently sympathetic. While Ana Lucia's FB last night was not exactly a tear-jerker, it was far more relateable than the lame-o "rich girl loses her inheritance" story of "Abandoned."
Now, that doesn't mean this was a perfect execution (so to speak). Ana was, by the end, still a difficult character to like. Her urge to kill Henry wasn't sufficiently explained by her flashbacks or her Island experiences. The writers could have made one small change that would have substantially increased our investment in Ana Lucia -- they could have done the "Two for the Road" flashback FIRST, then done the "Collision" flashback last night. That would have accomplished two things.
First, we'd all have been a LOT more interested in Ana Lucia from the get-go. Mysterious past and connection to Jack's dad, we'd have been on pins and needles waiting for the next installment. Her character would have MATTERED more throughout all of her short tenure on Craphole Island.
Second, the juxtaposition of the murder-revenge flashback story from "Collision" with the Island events of "Two for the Road" would have worked together much more fluidly. We would have the FB showing Ana as a potential murderer -- then as an actual murderer, even as we saw her struggling with the decision about whether or not to kill Henry.
The "Road" FB would also have fit in a little more smoothly with the events of Collision, in which Ana Lucia was planning to run away from the other castaways and strike off on her own. Minor tweaks in both episodes would have further strengthened these connections. For instance, we could have seen a greater emphasis in "Collision: on the escape idea, and it would have been important to keep out some major revelation about her relationship with Christian until the Island events of "Road."
All in all, however, I'm not complaining too much. The shock value of Michael's sudden turn toward (apparent) villainy gave the episode a HUGE impact that has everyone buzzing today. It reinforces the idea that anything can happen on this show, which is a great strength of LOST, and it sets up the countdown to the season finale.
I do think Ana Lucia was never very well-developed as a character, and that detracted from last night's episode, as it detracted from "Collision." Frankly, it's becoming pretty clear that the LOST creative team has serious problems writing for women.
Kate is fascinating, but so weird that she doesn't fit any typical mold (and I believe her flashbacks are mostly imagined). Sun is well-done, Claire is OK. Rose has potential but hasn't achieved it yet. Libby is a cipher, which is fine. But Ana Lucia and Shannon were both characters with great potential who were left out in the cold, then killed off when the impoverished spring of ideas for them ran dry. The men of LOST are consistently the best developed and they get the lion's share of attention. I think we can do better, don't you?
ON ANOTHER TOPIC...
If you haven't been to The Hanso Foundation Web site lately, you might want to check it out. You can also try to call the Hanso phone number that aired during the commercials (877-HANSORG), but I hear it's pretty jammed up. Fake commercials are a lousy trick, of course, because you're stuck having to watch the real ones, but c'est la guerre...
Technorati Tags: Lost, Dharma, Dharma Initiative, phone_number, Alvar Hanso, Hanso, Hanso_Foundation, Hatch, Ana Lucia, Michael, 877-HANSORG, video, film, logo, Henry, Gale, killed, web, site,
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