Television Review: The Incident, Part I (Lost, S5X16, 2009)

The Incident, Part I (S5X16)

Airdate: 13 May 2009

Written by: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Directed by: Jack Bender

Running Time: 42 minutes

Throughout its five-season run, Lost consistently continued to adhere to the conventions of US broadcast television at its latter stages, despite some of its seasons being trimmed down from the standard twenty-two episodes. This adherence to traditional formatting included the increasingly common practice of feature-length season finales being divided into two separate episodes, a decision that inevitably continued the annoying habit of having mini-cliffhangers at the very halfway point. Rather than allowing the narrative to breathe and build organically towards a singular, cathartic conclusion, the network's scheduling demands meant that viewers were left with an artificial pause—a contrived moment of tension that served neither the story nor the audience particularly well. The Incident, Part I exemplifies this structural compromise, functioning as an extended preamble rather than a fully realised episode in its own right.

The previous episode, Follow the Leader, has often been described as a "chess move" episode, the function of which was to position various characters in various places and times in preparation for their convergence during the explosive finale. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse continue with this approach in the first part of The Incident, although at the very beginning, they offer a tantalising clue about a major mystery that had remained unresolved for years—the identity, or to be precise, the very existence of Jacob, the enigmatic figure to whom the Others, including their nominal leaders such as Ben Linus, ostensibly answer.

The opening scene takes place apparently sometime in the nineteenth century, with a blonde man dressed in white (Mark Pellegrino) on a beach discussing his strange relationship with a black-clad man (Titus Welliver). As they watch a sailing ship on the horizon, presumed to be the Black Rock, the darker figure declares that he wishes to kill the former, despite rules preventing him from doing so, and states that he will find a loophole to accomplish this goal. In doing so, he addresses the blond man as "Jacob"—the first time viewers have ever seen or heard this character in the flesh.

Jacob later appears in brief flashbacks and flashforwards during which he meets some of the regular protagonists at various points in their lives: Kate in childhood, stealing a lunchbox; Sawyer at his parents' funeral; Jin and Sun during their wedding; Sayid immediately after his wife Nadia is fatally struck by a car in Los Angeles; and, in a hospital, where a Russian-speaking physician treats an apparently badly burned or injured Ilana. These vignettes, whilst intriguing on paper, ultimately serve to frustrate rather than satisfy.

The main storyline, set in 1977, deals with the aforementioned "Incident"—a catastrophic release of electromagnetic energy that Daniel Faraday had planned to stop with a hydrogen bomb. Jack and Sayid, accompanied by Eloise Hawking and Richard Alpert, locate the device, and Sayid dismantles it in order to carry its core, which he intends to detonate at the Swan Station site. Jack and Sayid proceed alone to the Barracks, finding the Dharma staff in chaos. Roger Linus recognises them and shoots Sayid, but both men are picked up by Hurley, Miles, and Jin in a van and begin driving towards the Swan Station.

Meanwhile, another group—Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate—is aboard a submarine. Kate suggests to Sawyer that they take over the vessel, paddle back to the Island, and attempt to prevent Jack's bombing plan. Sawyer is reluctant but acquiesces after Juliet takes Kate's side. Following a brief submarine hijack, they depart and land on the beach, where they are greeted by Bernard and Rose, who have made a successful life for themselves and, being happy together, do not particularly care whether they die in a nuclear explosion. This group ultimately stops Hurley's van in the cliffhanger finale of the episode.

Two different groups also have their own agendas on the 2007 Island. Locke, during the march towards Jacob, discusses Richard's advanced age and varied experiences whilst simultaneously telling Ben that he—rather than Locke—is supposed to kill Jacob. This revelation adds another layer of manipulation to Locke's already complex relationship with the Island's power structures.

Another group is led by Ilana and accompanied by Frank Lapidus, who follows rather unwillingly, particularly after glimpsing the contents of a huge metal crate. They arrive at Jacob's cabin, and Ilana, after inspecting the premises and finding a piece of cloth depicting an Egyptian deity, declares that "he is not there". The cabin is subsequently set alight—a curious decision that raises more questions than it answers.

Whilst the introduction of Jacob was a welcome addition to the series' mythology, the right time to do it was much earlier in the show's run. The vignettes in which he appears in characters' previous lives seem like unnecessary filler and frustratingly prolong the advancement of the general plot. Mark Pellegrino is, however, a good choice to play such a mysterious character, projecting an ethereal calmness that suits the role, just as Titus Welliver is appropriately menacing as his nineteenth-century adversary.

The plot suddenly becomes more complicated, with Sayid getting shot—by Roger Linus of all people—creating all kinds of strange ripple effects for his future and that of the Dharma Initiative as portrayed in previous seasons. The temporal mechanics become increasingly muddled, and the viewer is left wondering whether the writers themselves fully understand the rules they have established.

Furthermore, some of the characters' actions appear to stretch suspension of disbelief, even for a television series that definitely belongs to the speculative fiction genre. Sawyer's hijacking of the submarine and their subsequent departure back to the Island, although mandated by the plot, appears far too easy. The conflict between the various groups of Losties, which culminates in the cliffhanger, seems motivated less by character and their individual agendas, and more by the authors' desire to provide extra drama.

The only element that renders this episode satisfactory is the competent direction by Jack Bender, which results in a couple of interesting images, as well as genuinely great acting from the ensemble cast. The episode nevertheless succeeds in setting the stage for the actual season finale in the second part, though one cannot help but feel that a more cohesive single instalment would have served the material better.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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