Lost - Season 3, Episode 21 - "Greatest Hits"

If I were compiling a list of Lost's Greatest Hits, I can assure this episode would NOT be on it. It's a shame too because the last half-dozen or so episodes have been consistently fantastic, and this episode certainly had the potential to continue the streak.

I'll keep this post brief, because honestly, there just isn't that much to say about this fairly run-of-the-mill installment.

THE GOOD:
1. The showdown for the finale has been set up nicely. We've got Sayid, Jin and Bernard (yes, you read that correctly) staying in the camp to blow up the ten Others coming to kill them, while Jack is leading the rest of the group to the radio tower to wait for Charlie and Desmond to unjam the radio signal so that they can use Naomi's satellite phone to contact her boat, which is 80 miles off-shore. Charlie is currently a captive of two women in the strange, underwater hatch known as The Looking Glass, so something must going down there in next week's finale.

2. Ben has flown off the handle. He's making irrational decisions based on secret, selfish motives, and as we all know, when anyone in television has a good plan and throws it out the window in favor of a rash, uncalculated commitment of passion, it's bound to fail. I'm very excited to see how this shakes out in Wednesday's two hour finale (gotta love the two hour finale format. It's almost as good as the two hour pilot format.)

3. Oh wait. That's it. No more good things.

THE BAD:
1. A Charlie-centric episode? What is this, season one? Maybe we cared about Charlie's past when he was a main character, but now, when he's just a whiny Brit who can't stop fawning over Claire (who CLEARLY doesn't love him, but more on that later...), no one gives a twig. It was especially bad because the flashbacks told us absolutely nothing. Nothing relevant at all. Who cares what Charlie's favorite moments in his life were? I wouldn't even care to watch MY favorite moments on tv for an hour, let alone those of an obnoxious fictional character.

2. When will Charlie get it through his frosted tips that Claire doesn't love him and is only using him for his superior babysitting/butlering skills? I've never seen a less appreciative or interested woman than Claire. Charlie has basically adopted her son Aaron as his own, has saved her life several times (risking his own in each occasion), and is at her beck and call at all times. And he gets one reluctant kiss as a reward? I don't know whom to scoff at more: Claire, the Aussie Ice Queen, or Charlie, the Ingratiating Ingrate.

3. This episode was all set up, no action. I can be a little forgiving about this because I understand that awesome finales may require a lot of build-up to really take off, but I can't be too forgiving because as Heroes showed this past week (THREE characters killed off! Are you kidding me?! How could this show possibly be any better?), you don't necessarily need to sacrifice action for the sake of exposition.

As lame as this episode was, I must say I am VERY excited for the finale. If the past two season finales are any indication, this season's will not only be jaw-dropping and action-packed, but the final minutes will most definitely flip the series onto its head and take it in an entirely new direction for season 4 (which, by the way, is only 16 episodes long and will not debut until February 2008. Now would be an excellent time to catch up on the past 3 seasons if you have not yet done so.)

THE UGLY:
Desmond and Charlie were alone on a boat, about to do a dangerous mission from which and what did Desmond say? NOTHING. It was a perfect opportunity for the delivery of one of my all time favorite lines in the history of tv, coined by Desmond in season one: "See you in another life, brotha." But did he say it?! NO.

Something I noticed-- usually, episodes written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, two of the show's executive producers and creators, are of a much higher caliber than those written by staff writers. The premiers, finales and other marquee episodes are all by Cuse and/or Lindelof. It's a pretty good indicator of what the quality of the episode will be. This week's was written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. They sound like they should be my lawyer and my dentist, not writing my television shows.

In hindsight, I like this episode even less than when I watched it. In fact, I hate this episode. It gets a C

Favorite Scene: When Ben returns from his trip to Jacob and moves up the attack to NOW.
Favorite Line: "Tomorrow? No. No, they're coming tonight. They're coming right now!" -Karl