Lost: Left Behind

Weirdly one of the best episodes of season three seems to follow one of the worst. Where the Nikki and Paolo fest was enjoyable only for its removal of the most annoying characters on the show, Left Behind managed to showcase a few things which made fans really enjoy the show in the first place.

While Kate's backstory didn't stun us with a lot of new information about her character, at least it neatly dovetailed into the main story. Between the parrellel female relationships or the theme of unintentional harm (Kate's mom, Jack) - the episode felt dense and entertaining rather than rambling and ... well, lost.

And it was spooky. The Smoke Monster, or "Ambigous Plot Device" as I like to call it, managed to create tension. That Smokey isn't really under the Other's control nor do they know what it really is (if we're to believe Juliet) is even an interesting island factoid. Imagine, a character offering information without being killed.

This is the kind of episode which makes it feel like the producers are getting the show back under control. Next week should prove interesting since they have an Other in the camp, not in captivity, and apparently Sayid will interrogate her. Will Sawyer tell her to run? Will Jack tell her to run? Will someone shoot her or shove her off a cliff?

I'm hoping the writers give us a compromise. Juliet will be helpful, but not overly so. She's got to give something to the Losties in order to gain their trust. I imagine there will be a combination of "I don't know" or "I can't tell you" to cover the rest. The latter feels pretty weak, though, since her old comrades just left her to be polar bear chow.

The show's rating spiral has continued downward - so let's hope they can end this season with a bang. Surely Locke will play a large part in this season's finale.