Follow along! The episode guide for “Two for the Road” is in Finding Lost, pp. 296-301.I will never forget the first time I watched this episode. The shock of Ana Lucia sitting next to Christian at the bar… the suspicion when he wanted to call her Sarah, of all things… and then: THAT ENDING. I was watching it alone, and when Michael shot Ana Lucia, I wasn’t her biggest fan at the time, and I screamed and started laughing uncontrollably, and then he shot Libby, and I… laughed harder. I still don’t know why I did that second part, because I don’t think I ever disliked Libby, but I think it was the shock of it all, and the only way I could think of handling it. Wow. Watching it again for the umpteenth time, what I think works so well with that ending is the silence. There’s a quiet talk with Ana Lucia, then he quietly says “I’m sorry,” shoots her… silence… “Michael?!” Turns, shoots her, silence… opens the door, Benry slowly stands up, he stares at him, braces himself and shoots himself in the arm (at the time, some people thought he’d committed suicide). And then we see the end title card, without that usual sound it makes. It’s silence, punctuated by gunshots…
Fun things I noticed:
• It always makes me laugh seeing the cop cars with Hurley’s numbers on top of them.
• Ana Lucia looks about as happy as any airport security person I’ve ever seen. Har. Doesn’t matter how nice people are in the airports I’ve been to, you hit security and the smiles DISAPPEAR.
• I think this is the only time we hear Patsy in a non-Kate scene.
• Check out the different Mrs. Littleton. I thought this one actually looked more like Kate. Maybe when she’s not screaming, she’s not a great actress. But her accent HAD to have been better than Duerden’s.
• There is an image in my head now of Sayid eating popcorn and totally being into Say Anything. It’s a bit disturbing.
• Sayid tells Hurley about the picnic spot where he took Shannon. He leaves out the bit about where they returned and Boone had been shot. Probably not the best place to take Libby??
• Sawyer + Ana Lucia = WRONG
• Christian calls AL “Kiddo,” like he refers to Jack.
• So Ana Lucia was connected to Christian, Jack, Sawyer (hitting the car door), and Claire before the crash. And Kate if you count Patsy Cline.
• How huge a moment is it that Jack admits Locke was right??? Wow. I’d totally forgotten that one. It’s like Juliet thanking Locke for saving them as he’s going down the well in S5.
• Libby: “This is our beach… there’s Jin.” Hahaha!!
• Oh, Hurley. WHY didn’t you remember the blankets?!
Things that have new meaning:
• I asked this at the time in my book, but it STILL doesn’t seem to make any sense: Why does Ben tell AL that she killed “two of US”? She’d killed Goodwin, and he was the only Other that Ben sent to the beach. Nathan was not an Other, nor was Shannon. Is he referring to Jason? Was he some sort of off-island Other? If so, he certainly didn’t come off as one of the good guys.
• Now that Christian has appeared to Locke with talk of Jacob, I wonder now if he was an early agent? Notice how he gets AL to Sydney, as if that’s his way of ensuring she’ll get on the plane home?
• In our ongoing, “Is Libby an Other?” lookout, notice how she once again steps in as the one to talk AL out of hurting Ben. Hm.
• Again, Ben says, “I’m dead anyway.” Significance?
• So, I’ve read an interview where Emerson says he was told to play this scene as if he doesn’t really know who the great man is, and he looked at the director and said, “Is it me?” and everyone kind of smirked, but wouldn’t answer. So now, 4 seasons later, he’s under the assumption that Ben was actually referring to himself, which he could very well be. Or… is he referring to Jacob? He hasn’t really talked to Jacob, as we now know, so would he have really honestly talked about Jacob with such reverence? Or is he just spinning his usual bull?
• How was Goodwin conveying messages about the people on his beach back to Ben and Co.? Was he using a recorder and leaving it somewhere like Juliet did in S3?
