TV Recap: Lost – ‘LeFleur’

By Jordan Tunney

March 5, 2009

Fanboyz Grade: B+

I’ve always loved the Dharma Initiative. There’s just something about them that makes it sound like a fun organization to work for. Matching jumpsuits, beautiful location, and of course job security. I guess the only downsides would be the natives of the island trying to kill you and a black smoke monster kept at bay by a sonic fence that can fry a human brain. During last night’s episode, “LeFleuir”, we learn Sawyers group shacks up with them for three years, waiting around for Locke to come back.

Locke’s departure from the island, we learned, stopped the time fluctuations that nearly killed everyone. However, this means they are stuck wherever in time they are now. After hearing gunshots and rescuing a woman from being taken by unknown assailants, Sawyer and the group are taken to the Dharma barracks. After Richard (leader of the natives and older then Matlock) goes to the compound to confront Horace (leader of Dharma Initiative on the island) Sawyer goes out and explains he was responsible for the deaths of the would-be kidnappers and his people are not Dharma.

Sawyer concocts a lie that his group crashed their freighter looking for a lost ship, the Black Rock (great con Sawyer), and that they will be allowed to stay as they continue to “search for their lost crew”. Flash forward three years, and the group is working for the DI while still looking for any sign of Locke. The episode jumps from the present time, that is from the moment Locke left, to three years later. In the three years later portion, a subplot dealing with Horace and his drunken argument with his woman (the one rescued by Sawyer) is thrown in to show us Sawyer’s group’s level of involvement in the DI. Sawyer has moved on from Kate and fallen in love with Juliette. At the end of the episode Jin radios Sawyer to tell him they found Jack, Kate and Hurley, and ends with a shocked look on his face when seeing Kate’s back.

I liked this episode for several reasons. One, we get a glimpse of the gigantic statue near the ocean, where fans recall previously seeing a four-toed statue that perplexed us for so long. Good to see they threw us a bone there. Secondly, the three years ago and three years later actually worked out pretty well. If you’ve stuck with the show so far you’ll know other episodes have sometimes been hard to follow but this one worked nicely. Lastly, though many fans are picking sides in the “Kate-Jack-Sawyer” love triangle, throwing Juliette back in the mix will no doubt make things more interesting in upcoming episodes. Now its like a love square but more dysfunctional; more like a love rhombus.

What are your thoughts/theories?