Lost - LaFleur - 3/4

LOST fans got a rare and unexpected treat last night when they excitedly sat down to view the latest installment, "LaFleur". And what was said treat, you ask? A treat that the brain-fried audience could really use right about now; a strangely chill and uncomplicated episode.

"*GASPS* Horrors! A chill and uncomplicated LOST episode, you say? Such a thing does not exist and I'm offended that you'd even suggest such a idea! Of all the nerve!"

Ok, ok, before you go grabbing for your torches and pitchforks, allow me to s'plain. I'm not saying that the LOST writers have lost their edge (get it, lost LOST?) or that the episode was any less sweet-as-cake than all the other LOST episodes. All I'm saying is that compared to the lethal doses of mind-exploding material that's been offered up weekly since Season 5 started, last night's episode was refreshingly mind-soothing.

Depending on how good you are at guessing (watching season after season of X-Files with my parents really honed my guessing skills) or how quick you are to pick up on subtle LOST hints, last night's episode held few of it's calling card "HOLY SH*T" and "WTF?" moments. Watching with our small yet highly valuable cash of LOST knowledge and kindly given "Three Years Earlier"/"Three Years Later" story format, it was easy to sit back, relax and pretty much know how things were going to turn out (a luxury that I'm not sure we've ever had with LOST). Don't get me wrong, there were a couple "Ohhhhhhhh" moments, like when Sawyer ended up being the intimidating "LaFleur" of the Dharma people but even that wasn't too surprising, if you read between the "this episode centers on Sawyer" lines. No, this was a surprisingly easy episode to watch and enjoy and it was no less brilliant for its uncomplicated and shockless tone.

So, instead of shocking, brain-shattering revelations and time-travel frustrations (oooh, that rhymes!), this episode gave us an emotional, character-centric narrative that 1) gave us some much needed character development 2) gave us some much needed Sawyer face time (yummmm) 3) answered the burning questions as to the why and how of Season 5's first scene with Daniel Faraday as a Dharma worker and 4) allowed for our castaway characters to have the same amount of personal "growth" time as our Oceanic 6 characters (three years, to be precise). As for the last note, this was something I had not been expecting and it's the sole reason for such a heartbreaking feeling at the end of the episode, when Sawyer finally lays eyes on Kate again. What's worse, he has been spending the last three years in love with someone else, believing that he'd long gotten over his feelings for her. "Is three years long enough to get over someone? Absolutely". But, I bow my head to you, Josh Holloway, for your superb acting skills that gave us that heartrending look; the look that proved both Sawyer a fool and the invalidity of his above statement. It seems that three years is not actually enough time to get over someone. However, it is enough time to grow, become a better person and to fall in love with someone else. And that, my dear readers, is enough to take my already broken heart and burn those shattered little pieces to ashes.

So, how do I feel about this development between Sawyer and Juliet, you might ask? Well at first, I felt uncertain. The writers love to play with us, even in a somewhat uncomplicated episode, and as they set up scene after scene between Juliet and Sawyer, you just can't help but want to see that big kiss, the kiss that will finally reveal what happened between Juliet and Sawyer. Are they still just friends? Are they together? Are they married? Do they have kids? And so on. Part of me willed them to kiss, revealing to me that they were indeed together and happy. But the bigger part of me hoped that they weren't together because if they were, I knew a rock was about to be thrown at their beautiful glass house. A rock named Kate. When that kiss finally came, followed by Sawyer's "Ode to My Forgotten Love", I knew where I stood. I didn't like it. Not one bit.

A couple frivolous thoughts:

- It's interesting how Sawyer ends up being the one that grows into a better person and finds love and happiness with someone else, whereas Kate tries to live happily with Jack and Aaron but it doesn't take long before it all falls apart for her. It looks like Sawyer could have been happy with Juliet forever, whereas Kate can't find happiness anywhere or with anyone.

- It's also interesting how everyone, both the On-Islanders and Off-Islanders, were given three years to grow, change and live their lives whereas John Locke was not. He is the only person to not live those three years, to not love and change and grow.

- I was expecting that Sawyer and the gang were going to "infiltrate" Dharma, but what I wasn't expecting was that they would actually end up being a real part of it. Not only that, but that they would be happy there and make friends and come to care about the people there. It's was an unexpected development, at least for me.

- Where was our boy Daniel during the "Three Years Later" scenes? Harassing a young Charlotte perhaps?

- Who else loved the Richard/Sawyer scene? Do you know why I loved that scene so much? Because for once, it was Richard who was like "what the hell?" and our people who were "in the know". Ah, sweet turning tables.

- Is anyone else digging the new and improved Sawyer, cause damn...........

That's all, folks. See ya next week, LOST lovers!