Lost: Season 1 Finale "Exodus, Part 2" Review

"You got some...Arnzt...on you."

-Hurley

"Exodus, Part 2" picks up with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Rousseau (Mira Furlan), and Arzt (Daniel Roebuck) just after arriving at the Black Rock.  Her job complete, Rousseau leaves them to get the dynamite for themselves.  While trying to teach the others how to safely transport the dynamite, Arzt accidentally blows himself to bits.  

On the way back, the group is attacked by the monster and Locke is nearly dragged off.  Jack and Kate manage to save him even though he told them to let him go claiming it wouldn't have killed him.  They get a look at the monster and see it's made out of black smoke.

After arriving at the hatch, they prepare to blow it open, but Hurley notices the numbers he used to win the lottery, which he believes are cursed, engraved on the side of the hatch and tries to get them to stop.  Locke lights the fuse anyway and blows the hatch open.  Inside, they see a long, metal tunnel leading deep down into the darkness.

Rousseau returns to the survivors camp and kidnaps Claire's (Emilie de Ravin) baby, who Claire has  named Aaron.  Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) chase after her.  On the way, they stop at the plane Boone (Ian Somerhalder) fell in and Charlie learns it was carrying heroin.  He takes some of it that is concealed inside of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Later, Charlie is injured by a booby-trap set by Rousseau and Sayid uses gunpowder to patch him up.  They finally reach the black smoke and encounter Rousseau and Aaron.  Rousseau claims she heard that the Others were coming for the boy and she thought by taking Aaron, she could trade him for her own child.  Charlie doesn't believe there are any Others and he and Sayid return Aaron to his mother.

On the raft, Michael (Harold Perrineau) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) spot something on their radar and Sawyer convinces Michael to fire their only flare.  A ship arrives and, for a moment, they believe they are rescued.  The leader of the new arrivals (M.C. Gainey) demands they hand over Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) and when they refuse, things turn violent.  Sawyer gets shot and falls overboard and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) jumps in to save him.  Michael is thrown overboard, Walt is grabbed, and the raft is blown up.  Michael can only watch helplessly as Walt disappears into the night.

In flashbacks, we see some of our characters as they prepare to board Oceanic 815.  First we have Jin, who is confronted by one of his father-in-law's goons, who warns him about trying to run away with Sun (Yunjin Kim) to America.  Charlie has a brief fight with a girl over his stash of heroin.  Michael has no idea what to do with Walt and tries to convince his mother to take him to no avail.  Hurley overcomes all odds of making the fateful flight after he oversleeps.  Finally, Locke has to be carried on to the airplane when the special wheelchair is misplaced making him feel helpless.

What Works:

"Exodus, Part 2" is basically a perfect season finale.  It wraps up stories from the season, while introducing new ones.  It answers some questions, while giving us plenty more.  It has not one, but two of the greatest cliffhangers of all time.  Not only do we have the chilling scene with Walt getting kidnapped, but we also have the iconic shot of Jack and Locke looking down into the hatch.  I will never forget watching this episode for the first time.  I was in 5th grade and the summer of '05 seemed to drag on forever as I waited for season 2 to roll around with some answers, but I was never frustrated.  I was simply excited for what came next.

The dynamite plot is pretty fantastic.  Arzt's death is one of the best in the entire series, especially with Hurley's reactions.  We also get to see the monster for the first time, though I didn't realize that's what I was seeing when I first saw the episode.  I really like this reveal.  It's quick and subdued.  It's not at all what you would expect.

The raft storyline doesn't have a ton going on, but we get some nice character moments between everyone.  My favorite is when Jin gives Michael the watch he was supposed to deliver to America.  It's a powerful moment and where Jin becomes one of my favorite characters.  From here on out, Jin is amazing.

Aaron's kidnapping caught me totally off guard and the chase is very exciting.  No matter how many times I watch it, I have a hard time sitting through Charlie's gunpowder ordeal.  It's brutal and effective stuff.

Finally, I really like the flashbacks.  Hurley's is really funny, but they are all good.  I especially like the final flashback with everyone on the plane.  All of these people have been brought together onto this fateful flight.  Their destinies have become intertwined and they don't know it yet.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most useful character in a given episode.  Since this was a double episode, I will give out two awards.  The first goes to Sayid for staying calm in the face of Aaron's kidnapping, fixing Charlie's injury, and talking down Rousseau.  This is Sayid's 4th time winning the award.

The second goes to Sawyer for saving the raft's rudder, convincing Michael to fire the flare, which was the right move with the information he had at the time, and for attempting to shoot Walt's kidnappers.  Props for trying.  This is Sawyer's 3rd time winning the award .

Verdict:

"Exodus, Part 2" is a perfect way to end season one.  All three of the plots are exciting, we get excellent cliffhangers, sweet character moments, answers, and plenty more questions.  What more could you want?

 10/10: Amazing