Lost 4.8: "Meet Kevin Johnson"

Monday, 24 March 2008

By John Keegan Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.   This is one of those flashback-heavy episodes that will be successful for those with an interest in the central character (in this case, Michael), but something of a minor disappointment for those with an eye to the big picture. There are connections to be made throughout Michael's narrative, with implications galore, but it's not quite on par with the best episodes of the season. Michael's role in the series was fairly one-note by the time he left at the end of the second season. He was doing everything possible to save Walt from the Others, and most of the time, that meant being off-screen. When he did return, his double murder of Ana and Libby was one of the best moments of the second season. Unfortunately, this is mostly remembered (particularly by detractors) as a way to remove cast members after bad press, not for the narrative function that it served. Ben sent him packing with Walt on a very specific bearing away from the island in the second season finale, just before the sky turned purple and the way off the island was supposedly compromised. (Note that the bearing differs slightly from the heading Daniel gave Frank earlier this season.) Even at the time, Ben had been revealed as a master manipulator, so Michael's true fate was open to debate. Sure enough, Michael did not return to the real world in good shape. His guilt was driving him to suicidal tendencies, and he was once again separated from his son. Visions of Libby (or was it actually Jacob?) were haunting him. Before long, Michael was back in Ben's clutches, getting aboard Widmore's boat as "Kevin Johnson" to ensure that the mission to the island would be derailed. As logical as the overall premise is, particularly in terms of Ben using Michael to his own ends, there are some tricky timeline issues to consider. The third season did not cover a very long period of time, perhaps a few weeks all told. Yet Michael manages to return to the real world, attempt suicide through car crash, recover from his injuries, get onto Widmore's boat, and then be with the "rescue party" by the time Naomi fell into everyone's lap. It's possible, but it's also hard to reconcile. More difficult is determining whether or not Tom should have had the time or means to meet with Michael at all. Based on timeline considerations, this is just after Ben, Jack, and the rest made their way by boat from the Hydra Station island to the main island ("Stranger in a Strange Land"). Tom would have been back on the island to play football with Jack in "Par Avion". That gives Tom five days to complete his mission with Michael. According to Tom, Charles Widmore faked the Oceanic 815 crash using his vast resources and intense desire to find the island. One can assume that Widmore knew about the general location of the island by the time Desmond participated in the race around the world. One might also assume that he was involved in the plane being off-course. He could have also been in contact with Kelvin, contriving the situation seen in "Live Together, Die Alone" (if one goes by the "Desmond was tricked into downing the plane" theory). Perhaps Widmore had enough control over Oceanic to regularly "re-route" flights over that region of the Pacific in the hopes of pinning down the island's location more precisely. Whatever the case, Widmore would have had about 75 days to pull together the materials and means necessary to drop a plane deep enough to avoid recovery and end an investigation. (Why no one thought to question how a Sydney-LA flight would end up over the Indian Ocean is another story!) Michael hears the news about Oceanic 815 at the same time as Daniel and Frank. Naomi arrives on the island roughly a week later, so the mission team was pulled together incredibly fast. Perhaps the Kahana was waiting on standby for just such an opportunity, leaving just the crew to be determined. Whatever the case, it speaks to an operation that is far more likely to have faked the crash of Oceanic 815 than Ben's organization, which still seems small in comparison. Michael's story is one of redemption (like most of the character tales on "Lost"), and so far, he appears to be ready to die for the sake of those he harmed. Sayid's decision to turn him in to Captain Gault could make that difficult (though Gault seemed less than surprised). Is this the moment that Ben referred to when he said that Sayid once made the mistake of following his heart? Whatever the case, this is why it was important that Gault told Sayid and Desmond that Ben was responsible for faking the crash; it convinced them to turn in the one person capable of threatening the mission. Of course, Ben is a threat to Widmore, just as Widmore is a threat to Ben (and presumably Jacob). Rationalizations are rife on both sides. It's interesting to note how Ben defines his own actions. According to him, he has killed no "innocents". Never mind how he manipulates others into keeping his hands clean; the real issue is how he comes to define "innocent". The Dharma Initiative certainly didn't pass muster, and neither did most of the survivors of Oceanic 815. Ben adjusts to each new situation, however, as his time with Team Locke demonstrates. Claire still sees Ben as an "Other", but is that distinction meaningful anymore? By living the life of the Others and aligning with their interests, hasn't Team Locke essentially become the very thing they feared in the first season? It's an interesting question of perspective. Similarly, Tom asserts that "the island" won't allow Michael to die. Michael seems to buy into this perception, and there is some reason to think it's true. However, Michael's inability to shoot himself in the head is more the result of a faulty weapon (probably a quick switch by Tom). It has no pin on the hammer, for example. Wrapping that deception in the mystique of "the island", however, leads Michael down the desired path. Which is why it's difficult to know whether or not Ben intentionally sent Karl and Danielle to their respective fates, or if it was a miscalculation. The snipers are most likely the commandos from the Kahana (seen in Michael's flashback, and probably dropped off by Frank not so long ago), and Alex probably saved her own life by mentioning she’s Ben's daughter. It's quite possible that Ben knew the commandos would be coming and where they would likely be, and decided that Alex would be most safe if kept alive to use against him, but that's quite a stretch. (It also seems highly unlikely that Danielle is dead.) With the likely arrival of the commandos and Michael's exposure on the Kahana, this is a good turning point for the season. Events are likely to spiral towards chaos over the remaining five episodes, and considering the rate of revelation already present in the fourth season, much of the action should force some answers onto the table. Even if this particular episode is merely setting the stage, it continues to fulfill the promise of faster, tighter storytelling.

 

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