Lost: Season 1 Episode 19 "Deus Ex Machina" Review

"Theresa falls up the stairs.  Theresa falls down the stairs."

-Boone Carlyle

The 19th episode of Lost follows Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) as they continue to try (and fail) to open the hatch.  As Locke starts to lose feeling in his legs again, he has a dream about a small plane crashing on the island.  He convinces Boone to go with him to find the place convinced that whatever is inside will help them open the hatch.  On the way, they find the corpse of a man from Nigeria, dressed as a priest, and armed with a gun.

Locke's legs give out and he tells Boone that he used to be paralyzed from the waist down until crashing on the island.  They eventually find the plane on the edge of a cliff.  Boone climbs insides and finds another dead man dressed as a priest, maps of Nigeria, and crates of Virgin Mary statues with heroin inside.  He also finds a radio and attempts to get it working as the plane's weight starts to shift.  Boone gets in contact with someone and tells them he is a survivor of Oceanic 815.  Boone does not hear the voice on the other end say that he is a survivor of Oceanic 815 because the place falls off of the cliff.  The feeling in Locke's legs returns and he drags the seriously injured Boone out of the plane, picks him up, and heads back to camp.

Meanwhile, Sawyer (Josh Holloway) is suffering from severe headaches.  Kate (Evangeline Lilly) gets Jack (Matthew Fox) to take a look at him and determines Sawyer needs glasses.  With help from Sayid (Naveen Andrews), they are able to fashion a pair for Sawyer.  

Jack and Kate are at the caves when Locke arrives with the injured Boone.  Locke says that Boone fell off a cliff, but says nothing about the plane.  Before Jack can get any more information, Locke vanishes.  He goes out to the hatch and screams and pounds on it in anger and despair.  Inside the hatch, a light turns on.

In flashbacks, Locke is approached by a woman named Emily (Swoosie Kurtz), who claims to be his mother and that he was immaculately conceived.  Locke uses a private investigator to track down his father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), and the two quickly become close and go hunting together.  Locke discovers Anthony's kidneys are failing and he needs a transplant.  Locke offers to give him a kidney.  When Locke wakes up, there is no sign of Anthony, who checked out of the hospital and is in private care at his home.  Emily arrives and reveals she was in on the plan to get Locke to give Anthony a kidney and did it because she needed money.  Locke goes to Anthony's house, but is denied entry and he breaks down in his car.

What Works:

"Deus Ex Machina" adds a lot of mythology to Lost.  It gives us the Nigerian plane and the light in the hatch.  Both are very intriguing mysteries and great additions to the show.

The flashbacks are truly fantastic and Locke's breakdown at the end is hard to watch.  The entire episode, Anthony is presented as nothing but a good guy and to have the rug pulled out from under us like that with no closure or onscreen reveal of Anthony's true nature is brutal.  The audience is right alongside Locke and you can really feel the betrayal.  Terry O'Quinn is amazing here and is hurt and rage are palpable in both the flashbacks and his breakdown on the hatch at the end of the episode.

This is also the beginning of the end for Boone, who put too much faith in Locke and winds up paying the price.  His time in the plane is extremely intense.  We know that plane is going to fall, the question is will Boone be inside when it does?  We haven't lost a main character up to this point, so when I first saw this episode, I was pretty shocked to see Boone inside when it fell.  It's an iconic sequence and a game-changer for the show.  By the end of the next episode, it's established that main characters can die and no one is safe and the setup from this episode is very well done.

Finally, I really enjoyed the Sawyer subplot.  Watching Jack give Sawyer such a hard time was very satisfying.  We also get to watch Sayid splicing two pairs of glasses together, which is really cool.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most useful character in a given episode.  While Kate, Jack, and Sayid were all helpful in getting Sawyer feeling better again, I have to give the award to Boone.  He was brave enough to get into the plane and risked everything to try and get everyone rescued.  Tragically, we learn next season that he was just talking to other survivors of the crash, but he sacrificed himself to try to get the others rescued and I think he deserves his first (and probably last) award for this.

Verdict:

"Deus Ex Machina" is a spectacular episode of Lost and a game-changer for the show.  Boone's fall is really intense, the flashbacks are heartbreaking, Terry O' Quinn is incredible, and the Sawyer storyline is very fun.  This episode has 100% got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing