Lost: Season 1 Episode 13 "Hearts and Minds" Review

"Your wife's hot."

-Hurley

The 13th episode of Lost follows Boone (Ian Somerhalder) who is jealous of the flirting going on between his step-sister, Shannon (Maggie Grace), and Sayid (Naveen Andrews).  Boone and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) go into the jungle to "hunt" as they tell everyone.  In actuality, they are examining the piece of metal they found while looking for Claire (Emilie de Ravin).  It's a metal hatch with no handle and a glass window that they can't break.  They try to find a way to open it, but are unsuccessful.  On the way back to camp, Boone tells Locke he is going to tell Shannon about the hatch, so Lock knocks him out.

Boone awakens in a rope trap and Locke puts a knife in front of him.  He can reach it, but it will cause him severe pain.  Locke leaves him, after putting a strange substance on his head wound, and Boone is unable to get the knife.  Later, he hears Shannon screaming and the Monster approaching.  Boone manages to get the knife, cut himself free, and find Shannon, who is also tied to a tree.  They escape the Monster and Boone tells her about the hatch, but moments later, the Monster returns and kills Shannon.  Boone makes it back to camp and attacks Locke, who reveals the whole thing was a hallucination and Shannon is perfectly fine.  Boone starts to let go of his obsession with Shannon and he follows Locke back into the jungle.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sun (Yunjin Kim) start a garden and Kate figures out that Sun can speak English, but promises not to tell anyone at Sun's request.

Sayid discovers that there are some magnetic anomalies on the island after he is given a compass by Locke.

Hurley (Jorge Garcia), annoyed with the lack of boar, tries to catch some fish, but fails miserably, while Jin (Daniel Die Kim) catches plenty.  After Hurley steps on a sea urchin, Jin manages to treat the injury and later gives Hurley a fish.

In flashbacks, Boone receives a phone call from Shannon, who is living in Sydney, Australia.  Boone hears what sounds like domestic violence and flies from Los Angeles to Sydney.  When he arrives at Shannon's house, everything appears fine, but Shannon causally reveals a bruise on her head.  With the police unhelpful, Boone pays Shannon's boyfriend, Brian (Charles Mesure), $50,000 to leave, but he later discovers Shannon and Brian were scamming him and Brian beats up Boone.  Later, Shannon drunkenly arrives at Boone's hotel room to tell him that Brian ran off with the money and she knows Boone is in love with her.  He tries to deny it, but they end up sleeping together.  Later, Shannon wants things to go back to the way they were without any regard to what Boone wants.  They head for the airport and board Oceanic 815.

What Works:

"Hearts and Minds" is an episode where the b-storylines work better than the main plot.  These side-stories are pretty great.  The highlights are the scenes with Hurley and Jin.  Jin helping Hurley back to shore after he steps on the sea urchin is one of the funniest moments of the series.  They have awesome chemistry even with the language barrier.  It's a lot of fun and probably the best Jin moment so far in the series.

The Kate and Sun subplot isn't quite as great, but there was one incredibly interesting character moments.  Kate is talking to Sun about her backstory, but is lying about everything.  It's a classic Kate move, but at that time, she thought Sun didn't understand a word she was saying.  She may as well have been talking to a brick wall, yet she still lied!  Obviously, we, the audience, know that Sun understands her, but Kate didn't know that and the fact that she still lied is a fantastic character moment.

Although it has problems, there are parts of the Boone storyline that I liked.  We finally get the reveal about the hatch in this episode.  It's an instantly engaging and iconic mystery and one of the best in the entire show.  It gets a great, proper introduction here and I'm glad they did it in the beginning of the episode.

Finally, I also really liked the Saw-esque trap that Locke puts Boone in.  The ropes looked extremely painful and I totally bought Boone's agony as he struggled to get out.  It's a brutal moment and very memorable.

What Sucks:

"Hearts and Minds" is a great episode the first time you watch it, but it gets worse on the rewatch.  The Monster chase and Shannon's death are very effective when you think they are real, but when you know the outcome, it loses its impact.  TV shows frequently do these fake-out deaths and I typically don't love them.  They feel cheap.  And while this fake-out is definitely stronger than average, it still isn't great and weakens the impact of the episode.  The whole thing feels like a bit of a waste.

Finally, I don't love the flashbacks in this episode.  While I do feel bad for Boone when he discovers he is being scammed, the twist that Boone and Shannon slept together isn't great.  It never really goes anywhere and doesn't add much to the show.  It's just kind of a "meh" twist.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most useful character in an episode of the show.  For this episode, the award goes to Jin Kwon for helping Hurley with his injury and giving him a fish.  Plus we learn that Jin is now the main provider since Locke has stopped catching boar.  This is Jin's first time winning the award.

Verdict:

I really liked "Hearts and Minds" when it aired, but it's definitely not as good on a rewatch.  The b-plots are great with some fantastic moments for Jin, Hurley, and Kate.  The reveal of the hatch is fantastic and the rope trap is really brutal.  The Shannon fake-out death and the subpar flashbacks bring this episode down a bit, but it's still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good