Lost, Season 2, Episode 2: Adrift

Welcome to the Lost Re-Re-Rewatch Project. In case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. This is my fourth round-trip to the Island, but my first time attempting to chronicle my thoughts on the show on an episode-by-episode basis. The mission: A post per episode. Nothing so epic and theory-heavy as Doc Jensen’s great stuff at EW.com, which I highly suggest you read (the theory game is a bit moot at this point anyway), but hopefully it will help scratch both my writing itch and my Lost itch at the same time.

Episode Title: “Adrift”

Overall Episode Rating: D+

For me the Michael/Walt storyline is still something of a sore subject. Critics of the show will use the characters as Exhibit A of the case for why nothing in the show matters. Defenders of the show, like myself, can only shrug our shoulders and say “They mattered… I just can’t really explain how.” And “Adrift” is the episode that best epitomizes this quandry.

It’s the second episode of Season 2. After five months off, Lost finally picks up with what was, arguably, the more exciting of Season 1 finale’s storylines, Walt being abducted from the raft by smelly people in a boat with Michael, Jin and Sawyer being left for dead. The payoff is one of the dullest episodes of Lost. Ever.

There are three sections to the show, each more interminable than the last.

It should tell us something that the best part of “Adrift” is an almost step-by-step re-hash of Jack, Locke and Kate’s descent into the hatch, and the meet-up with Desmond. This time it’s seen through the eyes of Locke and Kate. We are treated to a few good moments, including Locke’s answer to Desmond’s query (“Are you him.” *Pause* “Yes.”), followed by the cryptic riddle, “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?” When Locke doesn’t know, things get weird.

Locke fakes siding with Desmond and locks Kate (who he had found bleeding in the bunker) in a supply closet, slipping her a pocket knife to free herself. In the closet, Kate frees herself and hits the light… to find shelves and shelves of food. In one of the season’s more sublime moments, Kate pauses long enough to scarf down a candy bar and sock a few more away in her waistband (her eye roll upon tasting chocolate again is possibly her sexiest moment in six seasons), before going all “Die Hard” and crawling into the ductwork.

Meanwhile Locke and Desmond chat. Locke explains how the group got to the Island and when a computer starts beeping, Desmond has Locke enter Hurley’s now-famous numbers. When he pushes “execute” we see a strange flip-card timer reset to the number 108 (a figure last seen in an odd mural inside the hatch). Very odd.

Then Jack shows up and we relive the scene where he realizes Desmond is the man he met years ago at the L.A. Colosseum.

Meanwhile, back on what’s left of the raft, a wounded Sawyer saves Michael’s life and hauls him onto a bit of raft. The bulk of the program then continues as a slightly younger, better-looking version of the terrible Mattheau/Lemmon comedy Out to Sea (a lazy attempt to capitalize on the Grumpy Old Men craze).

Here’s how it goes:

Michael yells “Waaaaaaalt!”

Sawyer says “Shut up Mike!”

Mike says “Get off my raft!”

And the raft falls apart!

They blame each other for the situation.

Sawyer says “What are you going to do, splash me?”

Michael does.

And a bit more of the raft falls apart!

Sawyer digs a bullet, put there by one of the grungy people on the boat, out of his arm using his bare hands (this actually was complete ownage.

Michael has a flashback.

A bit more of their raft falls apart.

Sawyer swims for a bigger piece of raft.

A shark with a Dharma logo its tail chases Sawyer.

Michael shoots the shark.

Michael yells for Walt.

Sawyer yells at Michael

The sun rises and they see they’re back at the Island.

They swim to shore and Jin runs out of the jungle with some folks chasing him. He says “Others.”

*Bonk*

The third part of the episode was the flashback, which was so unnecessary as to border on ridiculous. It’s all about Michael’s custody battle for Walt. Other than a touching scene between Mike and Toddler Walt, when Michael gives him a symbolically significant plush polar bear, there is nothing worth remembering.

Kate: Pantry dropper.

Episode: “Adrift”

Director: Stephen Williams

What the title means: See, Walt Sawyer and Michael are stuck on a small raft in the middle of the ocean…

Best Scene: I liked getting another look at the mysterious hatch (this time via Locke and Kate’s POV). The only scene back at the caves is also sort of important: Claire presses Charlie on the Virgin Mary statue — full of smack — in his bag. He says he found it in the jungle, which is true.

Worst Scene: Please read the first 80 percent of this post.

Best Line: “No matter where you go. Your daddy, he loves you very very much. And I always will. Always, ‘kay?” It’s Michael’s farewell to baby Walt, and perfectly done by Harold Perrineau who, outside of Michael Emerson and maybe Terry O’Quinn, is the finest pure thespian Lost has to offer.

Best Throwaway Moment: Not really a cool moment, but when Sawyer performs CPR on Michael it got me thinking: Is there an act of CPR in dramatic television, ever, that isn’t successful? In 24 episodes I’m conting Lost as 3 for 3 so far (Rose in the Pilot, Charlie in Season 1, Michael here.) Poor Boone was sadly conscious for his demise.

Revelations: You enter the numbers in the computer in the hatch, hit Execute, and it resets a timer to 108 minutes; Kate likes Chocolate; There are Dharma Initiative logos popping up here and there.

Next Episode: “Orientation”

(All images and ep-title links are courtesy Lostpedia.com)