| LOST: Meet Kevin Johnson |
| Thursday, 20 March 2008 | |
 LOSTMeet Kevin Johnson aka: "5 weeks of ripping my hair out" by Peter Sorensen In the eighth episode of Season Four, the complete and total mindf**k continues. Sayid confronts Michael (now going by Kevin Johnson) about his time away from the island and we learn where Walt is, how Michael got on the freighter crew, what his mission is, and most importantly: why he's working for Ben. Aboard the freighter, Sayid and Desmond witness the captain "going WWE" on a pair of deserting crewmembers and decide to confront Michael for some answers. Ok, technically Sayid confronts Michael. Desmond just kinda sits around in the background with a "huhwha?" look on his face the whole time. When asked why he's on the boat Michael responds "I'm here to die". Wow, who could have guessed that Michael would turn emo in his time off the island?  '...if you SMELL what the CAP is cookin!' While Miles is busy convincing Locke and Sawyer that Ben has a way to make things happen, Ben tries to convince Alex to go to "the Temple" with Russeau to be safe. He gives her a map and warns her that if anyone knew she was his daughter they would use her to get to him. Russeau is slightly suspicious at first, but one look at Bens eyes and she can tell he's just as concerned for Alex's safety as she is and agrees to go as well. Back on the boat, Michael recalls his time away from the island via flashback. We see him living in a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood with a crappy car... and no Walt in sight. Michael writes a note, pins it to his chest, and speeds off in his car, ultimately trying to commit suicide by driving straight into a freighter container. I want a gun... I want a gun with bullets. He wakes up in the hospital and sees Libby, but then snaps out of it. The nurse asks him if he wants her to contact Walt, as that's who the note was written to. We find out that Walt is with his grandmother and doesn't want to see Michael at all, and later we learn that Michael - in a fit of conscience - told Walt about killing AnaLucia and Libby. Of course, he probably did it right after telling Walt that Santa Clause isn't real and that the Easter Bunny is a violent psychopath. Good fathering there, Mike! After he gets out of the hospital (which must have taken some awesome healing considering this whole flashback must have taken place in under 10 days) he tries to see Walt, but is turned away at the door. As he leaves, we catch a glimpse of Walt, just as young as we remember, looking down at Michael from an upper window. I'm not sure how they did it (lookalike? CG? Younger brother?) but it actually looked like Walt! Incidentally, this throws a whole new light on Taller Ghost Walt. Is T.G.W. a spirit from the future? Did the apparition just not remember how old Walt was? Was Locke insane? I digress... Michael, spiraling into a depressed rage, pawns the watch he got from Jin for a gun and bullets, determined to end his life that way. Thankfully, Mr. Friendly shows up to save the day! Sure, he saves the day by kicking the ever-living crap outta Michael, but there is day-saving nonetheless. Friendly gets Michaels gun and Mike pleads to be killed, but Friendly drops the atom bomb of the night: The island won't allow Michael to die, because he's got "more work to do". Where have we heard that from before (warily eyes Taller Ghost Walt)? Friendly Tom sends Michael packing with the gun, but tells him that he can be found at the Hotel Earl (nice Barton Fink reference, by the way). Michael goes home and puts the gun to his head and slowly... slowly... pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. He checks the chamber and all six cylinders are full. He goes to try again but stops when he's interrupted by the newscast of the Oceanic 815 "wreckage" being found at the bottom of the ocean.  'I'm a pony! I'm a pony!' Michael goes to Friendly for answers and awkwardly interrupts a romantic dinner between Friendly and his boytoy-du-jour, Arturo. Ciao, Arturo! Thank you for finally clearing up that completely non-existant "is Tom gay?" debate! What's next? Tom in cut-off jean shorts watching Project Runway while reading Cosmo? Unnnnnn-necessary! Tom tells Michael that Widmore is behind the faked wreckage and more importantly: HE HAS PROOF! Oh my sweet internet dancing baby Jesus! Someone actually has proof to back up a claim on this show? Inconceivable! Regardless, we see exactly how Widmore staged the wreckage (with Thai corpses, of course!) and why (to keep other people from finding the island first). Tom convinces Michael to become Kevin Johnson, deckhand extraordinaire, as some vague means to redeem himself by killing everyone aboard and saving the Losties. Michael agrees and boards the boat, but gets cold feet after meeting some of the crew (Miles has an awesome moment where he totally calls Michael out on the fake name). A quick phone call to Tom however, sets Michael straight and he boards the boat with a (not-so) mysterious crate. Onboard the freighter, we see that Naomi left first because she had a mission of her own (I think Penny got to her and that's why she has Des's photo) and that Frank joined the team because he knew the crash was fake. Michael almost decides not to go through with it but seeing Keany and his batch of thugs target shooting with automatic weapons changes his mind. Michael takes the crate, which just so happens to be a bomb (gosh, really? I had no idea) to the engine room. He punches in the code (71776 for the number crunchers out there) and wavers on whether to press the button (conveniently labeled "execute"). He again sees Libby, who tells him not to do it before she vanishes again. Michael steels himself up and presses the button. Instead of a giant fireball of an explosion, however, a little lever pops up with a message for Michael: "NOT YET". That'll teach the Others to purchase their explosives from the Acme Corporation. A phone call from Ben (pretending to be Walt) reveals that the "bomb" was to show Michael that Ben won't kill innocent people in this "war" like Widmore would. Honestly, this part freaked me out more than a little because after seeing this, I actually started to see why Sayid would work for him in the future. Has Ben played me as well? Aaaaaah! Ben instead tells Michael to make a list of the crew and to hand it over to him, then destroy the radio room and engines. The lists! They're so that Ben can figure out who is good and who is evil so that they can be dealt with accordingly! Ok, ok - this isn't so much of a shock because it's pretty apparent from the get-go that the lists were something along those lines. Now, we just have a slight bit of confirmation. Michael wraps up his story, and Sayid thanks him, they share a cup of tea on the starboard bow, converse politely for a few hours and then go their separate ways. C'mon! Like that's going to happen! Sayid immediately drags Michael to the ship's captain and squeals like Ned Beatty in Deliverance. Coincidentally, that's probably what the Cap is going to do to Michael now that he knows he's a spy. *shivers* Back on the island, Russeau is leading Carl and Alex to "the Temple" and they stop to take a break. Carl utters the words you never want to hear when alone in the jungle ("I have a bad feeling about this") and sure enough, takes a bullet to the chest for it. Silencers pop all around Alex and Russeau as shots ricochet off the nearby trees. Russeau tells Alex that she loves her, and they start to make a run for it when Russeau is taken out as well. Alex - dead loved ones piling up around her and the assailants closing in - throws her hand up in surrender and screams "I'm Ben's daughter! I'M HIS DAUGHTER!" and the episode ends. ...and now I want to throw a brick at my TV. Noooo! Couldn't we at least have seen who it was that was shooting at them? Damn you Carlton and Damon! You're paying for my therapy sessions brought on by the next five weeks of anxiety! So, psychiatric threats aside, here are my thoughts:
Sorry, this part is for members only and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to read it, please LOG IN or REGISTER. ...and now we wait for five weeks. *goes to look for his non-firing gun* Lost returns in April with it's ninth episode and is expected to run uninterrupted for the remainder of the season. What will happen to Michael now that his cover's been blown? How did the freighter crew, who seem to know all of the other Losties, not realize that one of the survivors of 815 was alive and well on their boat? Is Widmore really the bad guy behind it all? Where is Penny in all of this? My mind is racing with possibilities and questions. It's going to be a loooong five weeks. Have a great Easter everyone! (or for the rest of us - have a great Sunday!)  About the Author:Peter Sorensen is a four-toed insurgent from a remote island who spends his days writing and his nights drinking cheap rum and participating in paragovernmental activities. After being deported to the United States over a border dispute, he took up film and animation as a way to pay for his tragic caffeine addiction. When he is not sowing discord on the streets or committing heineous acts of sedition he sometimes finds a moment to sketch. Who is the real bad guy? Is it actually Hurley? Will Sawyer give birth to Kate's baby? Post a comment below and let us know! Comments (2)
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