Considering this is only the second episode co-written by Kyle Pennington and the first episode directed by Mark Goldman, it's impressive that LaFleur turned out to be this good. And that's coming from someone who's generally not a "shipper" when it comes to LOST.
After two straight episodes on the mainland we finally get back to the island, except now we're stuck in 1974 after Locke turned the frozen donkey wheel. While trekking back to the beach camp (where else?) Sawyer's group stumbles across Amy and Paul, a married couple from the DHARMA Initiative. Just one problem: they decided to have a picnic in Hostile territory and Paul has been executed. Sawyer and Juliet save Amy by killing two Hostiles, but that doesn't earn them much good will with her. She tricks them into walking into the 'ole sonic fence (oldest trick in the book!) and they're taken into DI custody.
Horace Goodspeed, then-leader of the DI, had every intention of sending Sawyer's group to Tahiti via the submarine. However, Sawyer (alias: LaFleur) buys the group a couple weeks by mediating an alleged violation of the DI/Hostile truce. Fast-forward three years. Horace and Amy are now together, Sawyer's group are now all members of the DI, and Juliet's tasked with delivering Amy's baby. And the kicker: Juliet and Sawyer — ahem, LaFleur — are now three years into their blissful relationship.
Leave it to Jack, Kate, and Hurley to rain on the parade. Just as some level of stability had been achieved on the island, LaFleur gets the call from Jin. His friends are back after a three-year absence, including Kate. Do these writers know how to execute a cliffhanger or what?
Okay, so there aren't any heavy-hitting themes or metaphors in the script but there's plenty of intrigue in showing us how Sawyer ascended the ranks of the DHARMA Initiative. That counts for something.
I can't decide who earned top honors in this episode between Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Holloway so I'm declaring it a tie. Ladies first so I'll start with Mitchell's highlights:
* Check out her reactions to Sawyer's plea when they're sitting on the dock. Just for a moment she's not the standoffish Juliet and she's got a huge smile plastered on her face. It's a hint of the sweet side of Mitchell you'd very likely see in a real-life interview.
* Her announcement of Amy's successful delivery was quite emotional. Sawyer was the proxy for the audience at that moment, initially thinking she was crying tears of sorrow until she broke into a smile. Brilliantly acted scene.
As for Holloway, I thought he was solid throughout but his best scene has to be the "guy talk" with Horace in the final minutes. His subtle facial expressions told the audience all it needed to know, even as he was saying the words Horace needed to hear.
Bonus points to Reiko Aylesworth (Amy) and Doug Hutchison (Horace), who were very likable even as their characters were less than hospitable to Sawyer's group. I'm a little surprised that I was able to accept them as LOST characters so quickly since I knew them as characters on "24" and "The X-Files" respectively.
I was not terribly impressed with Ken Leung in this episode. As I've said previously, Leung is far better when Miles can be confrontational and sarcastic. He doesn't do "deer in the headlights" well at all, as evidenced by the scene at the Orchid well where he says, "Hey, my headache's gone too. And my nose isn't bleeding anymore!"
Gosh golly gee, Miles!
LaFleur was a good candidate to assign to new LOST director Mark Goldman, who's better known as a primary film editor throughout the series. I have to say I'm impressed with how smooth the episode is from a directorial standpoint, even if there weren't many visuals and effects to speak of.
I did enjoy the brief glimpse of the Taweret statue, though. I can't help but wonder how many first-timers were able to associate it with the statue remnants Sayid and Sun spotted in Live Together, Die Alone.
Each director has his own flavor and I liked Goldman's approach to framing certain scenes. Notice the way we pan around the table as Juliet discusses her time in the DHARMA Initiative. Then it cuts to a slow-mo sequence of toddler Charlotte running nearby and waving at Faraday. Good stuff. I also liked the way he framed the final scene with Hurley, Jack, and Kate emerging from the DHARMA van in a bit of a "hero mosaic" shot.
I have to say I've really warmed up to this episode over the last two rewatches. The first time around I was pretty lukewarm to it, but admittedly much of that was due to an anti-Sawyer bias. After watching the full series I have a deeper appreciation for the Juliet/Sawyer era and it's fun to revisit.
It's significant that Sawyer ascends to a leadership role in the DI, otherwise who knows what would've happened to the other Losties upon their return to the island. In fact the more I think about it the more I realize LaFleur was critical in bridging the gap between various factions on the island.
The atmosphere of LaFleur is surprisingly warm, more organic and plausible than I would've expected. It was a pretty big risk to put Sawyer and Juliet together so intimately without giving the audience much visual justification beforehand. But somehow it worked. The "sunflower scene" in the kitchen didn't feel awkward to me in the slightest, hence the atmosphere was pleasant and uplifting for a change.
In fact there was more emotional impact to seeing Sawyer/Juliet than the Sawyer/Kate reunion in the final scene — I know it's been three long years, Sawyer, but ya gotta get over it bro. Okay, I admit that most of the Sawyer/Juliet impact comes from knowing what happens in the future, but still.
