Lost: Season 5, Episode 13 "Some Like It Hoth" Review

 "The Ewoks sucked, dude."

-Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

"Some Like It Hoth" kicks off with a flashback to when a young Miles (Lance Ho) first learned he had the power to speak to dead people.  Later, older Miles (Ken Leung) has some conflict with his dying mother, Lara (Leslie Ishii), because she refuses to tell him anything about his father except that he is dead and his body is somewhere he can never go.

Years later, Miles works as a medium.  He is approached by Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and after witnessing his abilities, Naomi invites him onto the Kahana to help track down Ben (Michael Emerson).  Miles agrees for 1.6 million dollars.  Before they set sail, Miles is kidnapped by Bram (Brad William Henke) and warned to not go on the freighter.  Bram asks Miles to join him instead and learn about his ability and his father.  Miles says he will not go on the trip if Bram gives him 3.2 million dollars.  Bram refuses and lets Miles go.

On the Island, Sawyer (Josh Holloway) asks Miles to erase the security footage of him and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) taking young Ben (Sterling Beaumon) to the Others.  Before he can, Horace (Doug Hutchison) orders Miles to deliver a body bag to Radzinsky (Eric Lange).  He does and Radzinsky arrives with the body of a Dharma worker.  Miles learns the man was killed when his tooth filling was ripped out through his brain due to electromagnetism.

Miles is ordered to bring the body to Dr. Pierre Chang (Francois Chau), but is forced to take Hurley (Jorge Garcia) on the drive to the Orchid station when Hurley signs out Miles' van and loads it with lunches for the Orchid crew.  Hurley discovers the body and Miles lets him in on the secret and that Dr. Chang is actually Miles' father.  Soon after arriving at the Dharma Initiative, Miles saw his mother in the lunch line and put two and two together.

Hurley tries to get Miles to talk to his father, but he refuses.  Later that night, Miles sees his father reading a book to Miles and realizes his father did indeed love him at one time.  Dr. Chang asks Miles to give him a ride to the docks to meet the incoming submarine.  Miles is shocked to see Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) disembark the sub.

Meanwhile, Roger (Jon Gies) discovers Ben is missing.  When no one has any answers, he proceeds to start drinking.  Kate tries to comfort him, but he grows suspicious of her and airs his suspicions to Jack (Matthew Fox).  Jack tries to throw Roger off the scent and warns Sawyer and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell).  

Phil (Patrick Fishhler) confronts Sawyer with the tape of him taking Ben since Miles never erased it.  Sawyer tricks Phil into his house, where he reveals he hasn't told anyone else about the tape.  Sawyer then proceeds to knock Phil out.

What Works:

The thing I like most about this episode is that it gives Ken Leung a chance to showcase his range.  Miles is typically a pretty one-note character.  I like Miles a lot, but he's simply a sarcastic a-hole most of the time.  We get plenty of that here, but we also get some more depth for the character.  While I can't call his development original, at least it lets Leung stretch his acting muscles.

The reveal that Dr. Chang is Miles' father blew my mind when I was a kid.  I guess most people actually guessed it ahead of time, but I didn't.  I like this twist a lot and it gives Miles a larger connection to the Island.

Finally, I love the scene where Hurley tries to force awkward small talk between Dr. Chang and Miles.  It's very uncomfortable, but Hurley is trying so hard that it's hilarious.  It shows the similarities and the divide between Miles and his father very well.

What Sucks:

I think the biggest problem with the episode is that it mostly feels like filler.  The Miles storyline doesn't propel the plot along at all.  If you were to cut one episode out of season 5, this one is definitely the least necessary.  And while I'm fine with stopping down for some character work, Miles' backstory is far from original on this show.  He has daddy issues.  You can't swing a dead cat on this Island without knocking over 5 main characters with daddy issues.  The reveal itself of who his father is is good, but the overall story is tired.

The B-plot surrounding Roger and the tape is where the larger plot moves forward, but there isn't much time devoted to it and the level of incompetency is much higher than usual on this show.  Miles not being able to erase the tape is unforgiveable and sets off the 3rd act of the season.  We also have Kate drawing attention to herself by trying to make Roger feel better.  Does it make sense with the character?  Sure.  It was still stupid.

Finally, most of the humor with Hurley and Miles doesn't work for me.  Besides the scenes with Dr. Chang thrown into the mix, it mostly falls flat, especially all of the Star Wars stuff.  It feels very forced.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Some Like It Hoth," this award goes to Sawyer for trying to cover up his tracks (it's not his fault Miles dropped the ball) and for knocking out Phil before he could get the upper hand.  This puts Sawyer in 4th place overall and this is his 8th time winning this award.

Verdict:

"Some Like It Hoth" is probably my least favorite episode of season 5.  Ken Leung does a good job and it's pretty good when Dr. Chang is involved, but it's mostly unoriginal filler and when it isn't the characters are pretty incompetent.  Plus the Star Wars stuff doesn't work at all.

 6/10: Okay