Lost: Season 2 Finale "Live Together, Die Alone" Review

"Smells like carrots."

-Desmond Hume

The season 2 finale picks up with Jack (Matthew Fox), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) swimming out to the sailboat only to find a drunken Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) onboard.  Desmond is told by Locke (Terry O'Quinn) that the button isn't real and they decide to put a stop to it.  They trick Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje into leaving the computer room and lock him out.  Eko recruits Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) into helping him find the leftover dynamite from the Black Rock expedition and they attempt to blow open the blast doors, but only injure themselves in the process.

Desmond looks over the sheets of paper Locke took from the Pearl Station and realizes that on the day Desmond was late pressing the button, Oceanic 815 crashed.  Desmond realizes the button is real, but Locke smashes the computer.  Desmond goes beneath the station to the emergency fail-safe switch and activates it, which causes the sky to turn purple.  Only Charlie escapes in time and he repairs his relationship with Claire (Emilie de Ravin).

Sayid, Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) take Desmond's boat and sail it around the island to meet with Jack's group to take down the Others.  On the way, they find the 4-toed foot of a massive, broken statue.  Sayid discovers that the Others' fishing village is empty and a sham.

Jack, Michael (Harold Perrineau), Saywer, Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) head off to rescue Walt (Malcolm David Kelley), but Kate notices a pair of Others following them.  Sawyer manages to kill one and Jack exposes Michael for what he has done.  Jack fills them in on the Sayid plan and they keep going, but end up being attacked and captured by the Others.  Henry Gale (Michael Emerson) is revealed to be their leader and lets Michael and Walt leave the island by boat and allows Hurley to return to camp to tell the survivors not to mount a rescue party.  Jack, Kate, and Sawyer have bags put over their heads and are taken away by the Others.

In flashbacks we see Desmond get out of prison to discover every letter he had sent to his love, Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger), was intercepted by her father, Charles (Alan Dale).  To prove he is good enough for his daughter, Desmond decides to compete in a race around the world being run by Charles.  He randomly bumps into Libby (Cynthia Watros), who hears his story and gives him her sailboat.

Desmond ends up wrecking on the island and is brought down into the hatch by Kelvin Inman (Clancy Brown).  Desmond lives in the hatch for three years and learns how to trigger a lockdown and about the fail-safe switch.  Kelvin forces Desmond to stay in the hatch because of an infection on the island, but Desmond notices a tear in Kelvin's hazmat suit and follows him.  Kelvin has been repairing Desmond's boat, planning to leave him behind, and in a rage, Desmond accidentally kills Kelvin.  In total despair, Desmond prepares to kill himself, but he is stopped when he hears Locke pounding on the roof of the hatch.

Finally, in a frozen tundra, two men pick up a signal of an electromagnetic anomaly and inform Penny Widmore.  

What Works:

This episode is Desmond-centric and by the end of it, he feels like a main cast member.  It's an incredible episode from a character perspective.  Not only do we learn a lot about this guy, but we get a few answers as well, like that Desmond crashed the plane.  We get emotional catharsis and answers, what more could you ask for?

The best scene of the episode is Desmond's breakdown.  Henry Ian Cusick gives an excellent performance in this episode, but his sobbing and screaming, while tearing apart the hatch, is the peak.  It's some of the most heartbreaking stuff on the show, but at the end it gives us and Desmond the hope to go on.  It's truly beautiful.

Terry O'Quinn is also terrific.  He is totally determined to stop the button from being pushed and is 100% convinced he is right, only to discover he is not.  It's a great character shift and his delivery of "I was wrong" is terrific.

This episode also has some cool editing and camera work.  The surreal and spooky effects used when the Others capture Jack's group and when Kelvin takes Desmond to the hatch are awesome and make you feel discombobulated.

Finally, I love the reveal that Henry Gale is the leader of the Others.  This whole time, our heroes had this guy locked up in the hatch and they had no idea who he was.  I was also convinced that Henry was going to blow up the boat as soon as Michael got on board.  Excellent directing from Jack Bender.

What Sucks:

Just a few minor things here.  I hate that Charlie and Claire repaired their relationship so easily.  Charlie has sucked this entire season and doesn't deserve it.  Also, I think there was a few missteps with the fail-safe key.  It's obvious the writers didn't have this planned out back at the beginning of the season, but there were a few ways to make Desmond not giving the key to Locke back in "Orientation" make more sense.  For example, he could have left the key on Kelvin's body and not gotten it back until he fled the island.  That would have made much more sense and is totally doable in the flashbacks.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most useful character in an episode.  Since this was a double episodes, I will give out two awards.  First we have Desmond, who rationally figured out that the button was real and was brave enough to use the fail-safe key. 

The second one will go to Kate for figuring out the Others are not a bunch of savages and for spotting the Others that were following her group.

Since we're at the end of the season, here are the current standings:

Locke: 7
Sayid: 7
Jack: 6
Hurley: 5
Mr. Eko: 5
Sawyer: 4
Sun: 2
Rose: 2
Ana Lucia: 2
Kate: 2
Charlie: 1
Jin: 1
Boone: 1
Michael: 1
Libby: 1
Bernard: 1
Desmond: 1


Verdict:

"Live Together, Die Alone" is probably my least favorite finale of Lost, but it's still a great episode.  Henry Ian Cusick and Terry O'Quinn are fantastic, there is some really cool editing and camera work used, and the reveal of Henry Gale being the leader of the Others is excellent.  There are a few minor issues, but this episode has still got it going on.

 9/10: Great