“Confirmed Dead”
February 7th, 2008
Oh Lost. You are capable of telling us a lot in the span of 42 minutes, introducing four new characters who will play an important role moving forward. And yet, at the same time, I am infinitely more confused than I was before – for all of the things we learned about Dan, Miles, Charlotte and Frank, we are still unclear on why they’ve assembled in this fashion and why it is that their personal obsessions with Oceanic Flight 815 have brought them to the island.
Over the span of “Confirmed Dead,” we learned who was responsible for sending them, and their initial mission on the island in the immediate future. However, their larger plan is still largely vague, and there are still a boatload of questions (A freighter load, perhaps) left to answer. If Locke was frustrated when Ben was unable to answer his question about the origins of the Smoke Monster, we were doubly so…but in a good way.
The episode used four separate flashbacks for all of our four Freighters, each of them having some sort of connection to the story at hand. In each story, we had an odd glimpse at their personalities and, more importantly, an interest in not only Oceanic 815 but also the island and its various eccentricities.
When a category at an awards show features two actors or actresses from the same show, sometimes logic points towards the two individuals canceling one another out. This would allow another competitor, not competing against someone from their own show, to waltz away with the trophy.
I’ve been stepping back from reporting individual news stories for a while, but this is getting impossible to ignore. Over the past month or so, Lost has added five recurring characters to its already expansive cast. Some have been small pieces of casting, whereas others have been large recurring roles.
Cultural Learnings 