LOST Season 5 has been uneven on the whole (by this series' standards, it's still great by "normal" standards), but in the last few episodes you get the feeling that it's building to something great, and right now in "The Incident" I'd say the series is back to the level of "Through The Looking Glass" - several separate plot lines/group of characters, all of them gripping, suspenseful and unpredictable, and extremely well-directed by Jack Bender. (Spoilers follow, so beware) In one of the best opening sequences I've seen in a long time, the identity of Jacob is finally revealed - and I felt relieved that he is NOT one of the previously introduced characters. That's what most fans were expecting, but it would make no sense from a storyline perspective, since none of the people who time-traveled had the opportunity to become powerful, feared bosses even at the 1950's ("Jughead"). And he is not a supernatural being, either - he is an ordinary-looking man with supernatural powers. The flashbacks in this episode are brilliant - just like in "Exodus", they belong to multiple characters, and we see how Jacob contacted each of them at an earlier point in their lives. It makes sense that nobody would remember him, just BECAUSE he looks so ordinary. And it also clears up the concept, again first suggested in "Exodus", that these people were selected and brought to the island on purpose - not exactly by "the island itself", but by Jacob. The fact that the episode finds time for genuinely sentimental moments (Rose and Bernard, Sun and Jin, etc.) in the middle of so much tension and mystery is one of the reasons the previous finales, and especially "Live Together, Die Alone", have such a classic status. Just one warning: the more familiar you are with the whole series, the more rewarding this episode will be for you. The script defies expectations and tricks the viewers at every turn, the mythology is thicker than ever before, Jack Bender directs in a very cinematic style, with suspenseful action scenes and clever revealing shots, the special effects are convincing, the music score is effective and the performances are top-notch.
"The Incident" is now part of my TOP-5 of the entire series, along with "The Man Behind The Curtain", "Flashes Before Your Eyes", "Pilot", and "Live Together, Die Alone". **** out of 4.
"The Incident" is now part of my TOP-5 of the entire series, along with "The Man Behind The Curtain", "Flashes Before Your Eyes", "Pilot", and "Live Together, Die Alone". **** out of 4.