Lost: Season 2, Episode 7 "The Other 48 Days" Review

"If I were a savage, I would have cut off his finger already.  That's tomorrow."

-Ana Lucia Cortez

The 7th episode of season 2 of Lost is one giant flashback focusing on the survivors of the tail section of Oceanic 815.  After crashing on the island, Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez) becomes the leader of the tail section and makes Peace Corps member, Goodwin (Brett Cullen), her right-hand man, though she frequently clashes with another survivor, Nathan (Josh Randall).  On the first night after the crash, three survivors are kidnapped by the Others.  They try to kidnap Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) as well, but he kills two of the Others with a rock.

On Day 12, the Others return and kidnap 9 more survivors.  Ana Lucia kills one of the Others and finds a list of the people they took on it.  The remaining seven; Ana Lucia, Goodwin, Nathan, Mr. Eko, Libby (Cynthia Watros), Bernard (Sam Anderson), and Cindy (Kimberly Joseph) all flee into the jungle to hide from the Others.  Ana Lucia becomes suspicious that Nathan is actually one of the Others.  She builds a tiger pit and throws him him, but he maintains his innocence,

Goodwin is revealed to by one of the Others when he murders Nathan and makes it look like he disappeared.  The group finds a Dharma station called "The Arrow" and find a radio inside.  Goodwin and Ana Lucia take it up into the mountains to try and get a signal.  Ana Lucia reveals she knows Goodwin is one of the Others.  He claims the people they took were the good people.  The two of them fight and she kills Goodwin.

Later, Bernard uses the radio and gets in contact with Boone (Ian Somerhalder) during his fateful climb into the Beechcraft.  Eventually, they find an unconscious Jin (Daniel Day Kim) on the beach, which leads them to their fatal encounter with Shannon (Maggie Grace).

What Works:

The pacing of this episode is very strong and the story flies by.  A lot happens in these 48 days and the episode never has a dull moment.  We know where these characters are going to end up, but there is enough suspense and unanswered questions to hold your interest.

This episode does a great job of explaining why Ana Lucia is the way she is.  She has been far from the most likable character on the show, but at least we now know why she's been so paranoid and hostile. She's been through a lot.

This bring me to my favorite part of the episode.  We've thought our main group of survivors have had a tough time on the show, but this episodes blows that idea out of the water.  The Tailies have had it way harder than the main group ever has.  They have a lot more injured people, fewer supplies, and are constantly being hounded by the Others.  Even when they do have good fortune, like finding the Arrow, it isn't as useful as the Swan has been to the main group.  It's honestly kinda fun seeing the hell that these people have been through.

What Sucks:

The only real problem I have with this episode is how focused it is on Ana Lucia.  Mr. Eko, Libby, and Bernard get barely anything to do.  This episode is supposed to be about all the survivors of the tail section, but it's really just about Ana Lucia, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Platinum Polar Bear:

This Award goes to the most useful character in a given episode.  For "The Other 48 Days," I'm giving the Platinum Polar Bear to Ana Lucia Cortez almost by default.  She's not a perfect leader by any means, but she does a solid job.  Throwing Nathan in the pit isn't a great, but that guy didn't do himself any favors.  She also figured out that Goodwin was an Other and killed him.  And honestly, Mr. Eko, Libby, Bernard, and Cindy didn't do enough to earn the award, so Ana Lucia gets her first.

Verdict:

I really like "The Other 48 Days."  It's got great pacing, excellent development for Ana Lucia, and I love how much worse the Tailies have had it than our main group of survivors.  I wish that the other Tailies had gotten more to do, but this episode has still got it going on.

 9/10: Great