Follow along! The episode guide for “Born to Run” is in Finding Lost, pp. 144-150.One thing you can say about Team Darlton: They know how to do a season finale (take THAT, Tim Kring!) Every single one is phenomenal (and I have never been in the camp that hated the season 1 finale, which comes next… I thought the cliffhanger of what was in the hatch was kind of awesome, in the same way that the screen went white at the end of season 5). This first part showed us where the first half of the survivors were just before boarding the plane. And gave us yet another reason to hate Shannon.
Fun things I noticed:
• Man, it took a lot of guts (or something else) to walk into that camp the way Rousseau did. This is a woman who’s lived alone for 16 years, and stared at Sayid as if he were an alien, and now she waltzes into the camp like she’s one of them. It still creeps me out to see her moving silently through the jungle behind the camp.
• I always thought it was a little strange that Jack and Locke are chatting in this ep. I always saw the Boone thing as the real break between the two of them, which sparked all the philosophical arguments they’ll have next season, but here they are chatting (albeit disagreeing) about what Rousseau said.
• It’s interesting that the Others left the Swan alone for all these years. They must have known Desmond was in there, and what he was doing (Juliet chuckles about it in season 5, a moment that’s always baffled me for how laissez-faire she acts about the whole thing).
• Rousseau: “Dynamite. At the Black Rock. In the Dark Territory.” Hurley: “Well, that’s 3 reasons to go right there.”
• LOOOOVE the look on Arzt’s face when he hears that Montand lost his frickin’ arm.
• This ep contains two of my favourite scenes of the series: Jin and Sun making up (please please please let be this be a precursor to the same scene in season 6!!) and Sawyer telling Jack about Christian. It kind of makes their eventual dislike of one another kinda sad.
• The music in the launch scene is fantastic. I’ve always loved that majestic music.
Things that have new meaning:
• At the time we’re to assume she’s staring at Claire because Claire has a baby, but we know better now.
• Ana Lucia guesses that Jack’s not a drinker, but he is… we’ll see him in other flashbacks knocking them back, he just can’t hold it very well. He certainly becomes much better at it after the rescue…
• For everyone who will eventually hate Ana Lucia (and I’ll admit, I had my moments, but I really liked her in the end), this is the scene they should revisit. She’s warm, funny, and attempting to turn her life around.
• There are many lines in this episode that are filled with dramatic irony: Ana Lucia offering to trade places with Jack; Arzt telling Jack he should come along if they don’t all want to blow up (kind of true… THEY weren’t the ones who blew up).
