Season four of LOST did a lot of things right. I think death, however,was not one of these things, with of course the exception of a couple moments presented terrifically. Differing from the three seasons preceding it, season four uses death less as a thematic device than before. The stories the writers tell this season rely more on the suspense and drama of who the people of the freighter are, whether they have good intentions, what the deal is with the “Oceanic Six,” and a sense of “Hey, check out how fresh the show is now that we flash forward instead of back.” With all this other focus, using death to tell stories about character and emotion takes a back seat for the most part. However, two key instances really shine through: Jin and Alex.
[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="206" caption="Alex pleads as Keamy has no mercy."]
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Jin has an interesting relationship with the audience during season four. About halfway through the season, the audience gets a taste of dramatic irony in a somewhat frustrating – but I think very creatively done – episode that has the viewer believe Jin overcomes a slew of obstacles to arrive at the birth of his daughter. The writers sneakily present the episode with a set of flash-forwards for Sun, a card carrying member of the Oceanic Six, while giving flashbacks to Jin, whose timeline is of shady businessman days. Since soon-to-not-be-preggers Sun is delirious from the miracle of childbirth, she calls out for her absent husband, despite his untimely demise. Thus, the episode concludes with the shocking revelation that Jin has died in the near future (I know, strangely worded…), as huggable Hugo and sweet Sun visit his tombstone with baby Ji Yeon.
As a result of this episode, the viewer watches the rest of the season wondering when Jin will die, since we all know it is coming. I know I said earlier I thought this was an instance of using death in an interesting way, but it really lacks in impact compared to the journey of Charlie and Desmond in season three. That being said, there does exist a deeper since of finality with Jin’s apparent death. With Charlie, there was always that compelling sense of “what if?” – such as whether Desmond maybe could save him after all and overcome so called Destiny. With Jin, every moment of loving interaction with Sun after that episode until the explosion of the freighter in the finale is torturous. We know their fierce love has an expiration date.
Of course as all of us who have seen season five know, Jin’s death is about as genuine as anything said by Ben, and the Korean hubby washes ashore for an entirely different story arc. I would like to say that this fails to diminish the power of the story of Jin’s death in season four, but the already short season, cut down even more by the writers strike, misses the opportunity to really run with the idea of Jin’s inevitable death, so the whole ordeal feels gimmicky on some level.
By far the greatest use of death this season occurred in “The Shape of Things to Come.” Talk about coming back from the writers’ strike with a bang! In a season packed to the brim with thrilling and compelling grade A episodes (including “The Constant”!), this certainly rests near the top. A completely monstrous Keamy and his band of mercenaries slaughter the whole of “Othertown,” marching around with a captive, the ever-stunning Alex. Keamy tries to use his possession of Ben’s daughter to force the sneaky man into surrendering, but Ben tries to call his bluff. Unfortunately, Keamy was not bluffing…
The complete and utter look of horror on Ben’s face at the sight of Alex’s death is nothing short of phenomenal. I have always believed that Michael Emerson is the best actor on that whole program, among a solid group of terrific performers. It’s at the moment of Alex’s death that the audience sees Ben as a total monster and tragic hero. (I use the term “tragic hero” as it applies to theatrical tragedies, wherein the protagonist befalls a great disaster because of a character flaw. I do NOT mean to imply that Ben is any kind of hero…) Ben’s overwhelming sense of manipulative superiority and duplicity results in the death of a person he genuinely cared for deeply. What makes the moment even more tragic is that the last words uttered by Ben to his daughter conveyed a false lack of affection for the girl, since she was not actually his real daughter. Emerson’s acting, coupled with terrific writing, masterfully captures the anguish of the scene. The audience should feel entirely sympathetic for the insidious man as he mourns his daughter’s death, while simultaneously having the urge to vomit at what he said. The pain builds up to a great moment of retribution when Ben unleashes the Smoke monster to massacre the mercenaries. The sheer horror felt by Ben, and his flash-forward confrontation with Widmore, really captures the sense that the rules have changed.
Despite really creating a powerful story with Ben and Alex and some painful drama with Sun and Jin, the rest of the short season seems lacking in its use of death in story telling. I want to be clear thatI am not criticizing the amount of times death is used, but rather in how it failed to reach full potential. I would like to see quality over quantity. I think my biggest issue was the fact that the show introduces an intriguing character that can communicate with the dead, but shows this power in limited circumstances. I certainly do not think Miles should have been the main focus, but I would have liked to have seen his ability used in a more compelling character-driven way rather than a cool device. Since they were already grouped together, I would really have enjoyed seeing Miles serve as a medium for Claire to speak with Charlie. It did not have to be the focus of a whole episode, but I think we could have seen some wonderful work. Furthermore, I think the eerie sense of death on the freighter was great and creepy, but also could have been used to explore character development. Also, I thought the death of Rousseau was much too much a throwaway moment – which is fine for Karl, but not for the awesome French lady! Sacre bleu!
Finally, I think the story of Michael / Kevin Johnson could have developed a more satisfying conclusion by focusing a bit more on his death, since for Michael death was a reward. This notion is extremely compelling, but failed to drive the narrative the way it could have. Scenes of Michael’s inability to take his own life because of the Island were about as much as the audience got. I don’t think it was poorly done, but I think it could have been richer.
A lot of my quips probably arise from the shortened nature of the season, resulting both from a writers’ strike and also a deal with ABC. With a few more episodes, maybe they could have spent more time on character development and used the theme of death to explore more fully the fantastic characters the show has given us. All in all, I think the marvelously executed death of Alex more than makes up for any small quibbles I have.
