Lost, Season 3 Episode 9 "Stranger in a Strange Land" Review

 "You have a sheriff?"
-Jack Shephard



Season 3, episode 9 kicks off with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Karl (Blake Bashoff) paddling back to the island, even though Kate wants to go back to help Jack (Matthew Fox).  When Karl breaks down crying, Sawyer tells him to go and fight for his girlfriend, Alex (Tania Raymonde), and lets him go.  Sawyer tells Kate he knows she only slept with him because she thought he was going to die and they head back for camp.

On Hydra Island, Jack is moved out to the cages, while Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) is put in his old cell because of her killing Danny Pickett (Michael Bowen).  Juliet is allowed out to treat Ben (Michael Emerson), who develops an infection.  She asks Jack for help, but he refuses.  Later, the stewardess from Oceanic 815, Cindy (Kimberly Joseph), arrives, but only tells Jack she is here to watch something and seems to be a member of the Others.

Jack is brought in for questioning by the Others' sheriff, Isabel (Diana Scarwid).  He tells her Juliet never actually asked him to kill Ben, but she see through his lie.  Later, Alex tells Jack that Juliet is likely to be executed for saving Sawyer and Kate, so he has Alex let him out of his cell and makes a deal with Ben.  Jack will treat the infection if Ben stops Juliet's execution.  Juliet is spared, but is branded.  The Others take Jack on a boat to leave Hydra Island and return to the Barracks.

In flashbacks, we see Jack travel to Thailand, where he meets a mysterious woman named Achara (Bai Ling, who I've met in real life and was very nice).  She claims to have a gift, but won't tell him about it.  After a month of being in a relationship, Jack follows her to her work.  Her gift is she can see who people are and then tattoos it on them.  Jack forces her to do it to him, even though it is against her people.  The next day, Achara's brother, Chet (James Huang), and several other men beat up Jack and force him to leave Thailand.


What Works:

This is widely considered the worst episode of Lost, but it still has some things going for it.  Matthew Fox and Michael Emerson both do a great job.  I love watching Jack just screw with the Others.  He spends the episode acting like a petulant child, which Jack is known to do, but I like watching him do it to the show's villains.  Emerson spends the episode bed-ridden, yet he still manages to act better than most people can with a full range of motion.

I also liked the scene where Cindy stops by Jack's cage.  Is she needlessly vague?  Yes, but it's more of the creepy cult stuff from the Others, which I love.  How did Cindy get this way?  Did they brainwash her?  It was an exciting development at the time and it just upped the Others' creep factors.

Finally, the ending montage sequence has an incredible peace of music called "Ocean's Apart".  It becomes Juliet's theme on the show and it's one of my favorite pieces on a show full of great music.  It's very epic and honestly deserves better than to be in this episode.


What Sucks:

The most common complaint with this episode is nothing happens.  It just spins its wheels.  It's probably the single most skippable episode of the show.  There really isn't any forward momentum and the writers used this stalling episode as evidence that ABC needed to give Lost an end-date.

The Kate and Sawyer is a total dud.  It's the two of them fighting and Karl leaves.  It's not interesting at all and doesn't add anything to the story.

The flashbacks are some of the worst in the show's run.  Who cares about how Jack got his tattoos?  We also see Jack has control issues.  Wow, breaking news.  We've never seen that before...

I hate the character of Isabel.  The sheriff for the Others should be intimidating.  Someone to be feared.  Diana Scarwid just sounds bored for the entire episode.  I'm not sorry that we never see her again.


Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character in an episode.  For "Stranger in a Strange Land", this award goes to Jack for trolling the Others and saving Juliet's life.  This is Jack's 9th time winning the award, which puts him in 1st place.


Verdict:

I don't think "Stranger in a Strange Land" is the worst episode of Lost, but it is the second worst.  I still prefer this one over "What Kate Did".  Fox and Emerson do a good job and the ending has a god-tier level score, but Isabel sucks, the story is dull, and we make absolutely no forward momentum.

 4/10: Bad 


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