Who says sci-fi and emotional drama can't co-exist? Whatever Happened, Happened (WHH) is living proof that they can, and it seems whenever I rewatch the episode I'm reminded of how much I enjoy it.
WHH raises some of the typical questions you'd expect from a time-travel storyline. Is it possible to change events in the past? What would be the implications if you did? Luckily, Miles and Hurley are proxies for the audience in debating those issues.
The bulk of the drama lies in the continuation of the cliffhanger from He's Our You, where young Ben has been shot in the chest by Sayid. Juliet and DI staff are scrambling to keep Ben alive, and much to their shock and dismay, Jack denies their request to perform surgery.
This is excellent writing folks, because I can assure you the LOST audience was just as divided on Jack's decision as the characters on the island were. Personally I applauded the decision, which probably makes me morally reprehensible in the minds of those on the other side. As Jack stated to Kate, he'd already saved Ben's life once and all it resulted in was more tragedy. Ben may not have ordered the Purge but he still had plenty of blood on his hands, something LOST fans tend to sweep under the rug.
Unfortunately, Damon and Carlton stuck with their promise of not introducing a paradox. Ben wasn't going to die either way and nobody was going to challenge the WHH "rule" to the extent that real people would. Still I was glad to see Jack stand his ground, even as he raised questions that would've come straight from Locke in the past.
Even the flashbacks are more interesting than I had remembered. Kate and Cassidy develop a friendship from 2004 through 2007, but Cassidy has a way of taking Kate to task and rejecting her BS. Kate eventually realizes that, as Roger Linus said, "a boy just needs his mother" and thus hands Aaron over to Carole Littleton. Kate establishes her reason for returning to the island: finding Claire.
Even though this isn't my favorite Kate-centric (that distinction belongs to The Little Prince), this is by far Evangeline Lilly's best acting in the entire series. Anyone who watches her excruciating farewell to Aaron without shedding tears simply doesn't have a soul. That's really saying something considering the venom I've had for Kate (the character) in the past.
And yet even as my heart broke for mommy Kate in the flashbacks, I was scowling at island Kate for arrogantly stating she "didn't like the new Jack". What, is Jack's sole purpose to live up to Kate's standards? Please. But that's a tangent on my part, the point is Evangeline Lilly is a supremely talented actress if she can evoke that full range of emotion from me within the very same episode.
On a lighter note, the time-travel exchanges between Jorge Garcia and Ken Leung are almost legendary. I'd post the relevant snippet from the transcript but there's no point — watch it, digest it, and laugh out loud like I did. Miles offering Hurley his gun and telling him to shoot him is when I usually start to lose it.
Bonus points to Kim Dickens (Cassidy), who always does a great job of fitting right in and going toe-to-toe with main cast members. Surprisingly, more bonus points to Jon Gries (Roger Linus) who I thought did an exceptional job this time around.
This is Bobby Roth's second of three directorial contributions to LOST and it's a solid effort. Bear in mind that Kate-centrics tend to very dialogue-heavy and light on visuals/effects, so my rating reflects the comparatively low level of difficulty more than anything else.
From a strictly technical standpoint, one of the most challenging scenes occurred in a grocery store of all places. Kate "loses" Aaron in the store and frantically searches for him, the camera tracking along with her and whizzing by aisle after aisle. It culminates with a little sleight of hand — a Claire lookalike guides Aaron toward the front counter and freaks out the audience for a moment.
WHH is one of those episodes that's actually improving in Longevity over several rewatches. The first time I saw this episode I wasn't catching onto Jack's transition in progress, so I assumed many of his decisions were merely out of spite. Now that I know the series arc it's clear that WHH is one of the defining moments for him, even if it seems like he's doing very little. It's fun to revisit WHH and watch the dynamics at play.
It's of paramount importance that Ben is handed over to Richard for potential healing, so I'll spread out Longevity points across He's Our You, WHH, and Dead is Dead accordingly.
There's one moment in WHH that wasn't atmospheric until Sundown aired in Season 6 — Kate carrying Aaron and singing "Catch a Falling Star" to him. It was already a nice homage to Raised By Another, but after Sundown it's downright eerie to hear.
What WHH lacks in atmosphere it makes up in emotional impact. I can't overstate how emotionally powerful Kate's farewell to Aaron is. Another treat is the surprisingly blunt conversation between Kate and Sawyer, where they discuss his true motivations for jumping off Frank's chopper. Such "cut through the bull" conversations are very rare in LOST so I appreciated Damon and Carlton addressing it directly.
The reason I think WHH is greater than the sum of its parts is because of the nature of the conflicts. Run-of-the-mill shows give us conflict manufactured by convenient circumstances, and that's fine. But the conflict in WHH genuinely divides the audience and blurs the lines between right and wrong, hero and villain.
