Lost: Meet Kevin Johnson

When Michael set sail from the island at the end of season 2, it was unclear whether or not we would actually receive any closure in the tale of Michael Dawson. Harold Perrineau's relationship with the producers had become strained, and the actor had a few pilots lined up for the fall season. Thankfully, all of those pilots failed, Harold made nice with Lindleloff and Cuse, and as a result, Lost fans will get their closure. Quite a bit of closure actually.

I loved how this episode was written. They started out with island exposition, with Ben setting up Rousseu and Karl, dove right into Michael's missed exposition, and then finished off with an end that I don't think anyone could have predicted. The pacing was tight, and it seemed like every second a massive A-Bomb of information was being dropped on us.

Michael's state of mind was one of the most compelling aspects of the episode. Most fans (and Ben) agree that Michael killing Ana-Lucia and Libby seemed excessive when it came to rescuing Walt, and the guilt of those senseless killings has driven Michael to the edge. The scenes where Michael attempts to kill himself are very intense, and Perrineau does an outstanding job making them believable. It turns out Michael can say more than "Waaaaaaaaalllllllttttt", in fact, he can play manic depressive pretty well. M.C Gainey also made his triumphant return as Tom, revealing more of how the Others actually operate as an operation through recruiting Michael. They manage to convince Michael that stopping the freighter might be Michael's only chance at redemption, because the island won't let off so easily as simply killing himself. This scene still left we wondering how the Others have a seemingly endless supply of information, money, and gay lovers. Yes, Tom is gay, just like everyone predicted, but it was nice to see it finally revealed, despite it's relative cheesiness.

Then there's the ending. People who know me, know that I'm a spoiler hound, and I had no idea that this was coming at all. Of course there was the warning from the ABC promo department ("Someone will.......DIE!!!!"), but I never suspected that it would go down like that. I have a pretty good feeling that Karl is gone, but Danielle? That's up for debate over the next few weeks. Also up for the debate is whether or not Ben set up Danielle and Karl to get the ax or someone else entirely.

Overall, Meet Kevin Johnson was a solid episode and a triumphant return for Harold Perrineau. How he will play into the rest of the season should be interesting to watch, and adds yet another layer to the onion that is the Lost story. The

The next new episode isn't until April 24th and will be the first of the final five episodes of the season. Right now all signs point to the episode being a Sayid flash forward. If that's true, then season 4 continues to be very unorthodox, as there has yet to be an episode about Jack, Locke, or Sawyer. I guess we'll find out. Until then.........watch more Basketball.

9.1/10