Getting Lost: “The Shape of Things to Come” Review

Posted by Mike and johhnysweeptheleg

Wow. There’s a lot to digest from last night’s episode, “The Shape of Things to Come,” so we’ll just say that it’s great to have the show back. Now, let’s get down to business.

johnnysweeptheleg’s Lost In A Moment:

We know what the writers were doing during the winter-long strike. Instead of growing beards like Conan and Dave, they perused the Lost blogs and read all the whining over the balance of questions versus answers.

If you like things getting blow’d up and shot at, you loved last night’s Lost.

The same people who captured Alex after gunning down her mommy and boy toy finally reach Ben’s camp. While Ben and Locke barricade the doors, Sawyer does his A-Team impression and somehow avoids 12-on-one gunfire as he makes his way to Claire’s house. But not before it gets blow’d up. Lucky for Sawyer and Claire, nobody ever dies in the A-Team, so Sawyer finds Claire under some rubble and brings her back to Ben’s fort.

The doorbell rings, and everyone’s first reaction is to hide. Not because they fear it’s the gunmen, but because they think it’s a Girl Scout attempting to guilt them into buying more cookies. Instead, it’s Miles and his walkie talkie. Martin is on the other end, and he has Alex. He threatens to kill her in front of Ben. Ben shrugs it off, saying she’s just some baby he stole from a crazy woman years ago. Before taking him to Maury Povich for a paternity test, Martin guns Alex down right before Ben’s eyes.

This changes everything. Ben’s eyes glaze over and it’s decidedly time to go search for Jacob. But not before he summons the smoke monster, who is kind of like your older brother forced to come and rough up the kids bullying you. Y’know, if only your brother were made of smoke and killed people. The smoke monster takes everyone out, and provides us with our WTF moment. Ben controls the smoke monster? Anyway, Ben and Locke call dibs on Hurley for the Jacob search as Sawyer, Claire and Miles have seen enough and scurry back to the beach.

Speaking of the beach, in the 12 seconds that actually take place here, we manage to see Jack exhibiting signs of illness and the start of his eventual pill problem that will cause uncontrollable beard growth and a love of Nirvana b-sides.

But I mentioned something about answers, didn’t I? All of our answers are revealed through flash-forwards. You see, Ben’s a busy guy in this episode. Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere (Man)” plays on Ben’s iPod as he appears in the Sahara Desert (in winter garb), Tunisia, The Iraq and London.

It’s in Tunisia where we find out it’s the future (at least in terms of the show) — Oct. 24, 2005. It’s in Iraq where Ben finds Sayid mourning the death of his wife, Nadia. It’s after revealing the killer works for Widmore, that he gets Sayid to agree to go on the Reaper campaign, which we first saw in flash-forward episodes ago. And it’s London, where Ben finally pays Widmore a visit in the dead of night and establishes the ultimate chess match. Still distraught over the death of Alex, Ben has vowed to kill Penelope.

Now we have Widmore still searching for the island. Ben’s searching for Penelope. And Sayid, whose bond with Desmond is growing back on the freighter, is unknowingly leading Ben right to Penny. Game on.

Questions Answered:

Who shot Karl and Rousseau? The freighter crew, led by Martin Keamy.

What’s going to happen to Alex? Very bad things (and we’re not talking about that awful Christian Slater/Cameron Diaz movie). Worst of all, she died thinking she meant nothing to Ben, even though we all know that’s not true.

Why is Sayid working for Ben? Because Ben convinces him that Widmore is responsible for the death of Sayid’s wife, Nadia. There’s obviously some manipulation going on there, but Ben seems to be telling the truth. Now more than ever, we’re starting to believe that he might actually be a good guy, like he claims. (Of course, knowing Lost, that will change in a week or two.)

In her flashback, Charlotte finds the Hydra symbol and the remains of a polar bear wearing a collar in Tunisia. Um, what’s up with that? We still don’t know, but it’s got something to do with Ben.

New Questions To Be Asked:

Why can’t Ben kill Widmore?

What exactly are the rules that Ben keeps talking about?

Why is Widmore so confident that Ben can’t find Penny?

When and how did the island belong to Widmore, and how did Ben take it from him?

Will Sayid ultimately betray Desmond and kill Penny?

What happened to Ray (the freighter doctor)?

What’s wrong with Jack?

How does Ben control the smoke monster?

What is going on in Ben’s special room?

If you’ve got questions of your own, send them in and we’ll add them to the list. Check back Monday for a preview of the next episode of Lost, “Something Nice Back Home.”

Photo: Copyright 2008 ABC, Inc./Mario Perez