Confirmed Dead (7 Feb. 2008)

The surviving members of the supposed "rescue team" are scattered around the island after a helicopter problem. However, once they are located, they reluctantly reveal that they are indeed not there to rescue them.

Director:

Stephen Williams

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeremy Davies

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Henry Ian Cusick	...	Desmond Hume (credit only)
Jeremy Davies	...	Daniel Faraday
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Michael Emerson	...	Ben Linus
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon (credit only)
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon (credit only)
Ken Leung	...	Miles Straume
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Rebecca Mader	...	Charlotte Lewis
Elizabeth Mitchell	...	Juliet Burke
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke

Storyline

Four members of a supposed "rescue team" arrive on the island and are forced to bail out. They include scientist Daniel Faraday whom is found by Jack and Kate's group as well Miles Straume, a "spirit talker" and they try to find their grounded helicopter and their pilot, Frank Lapidus. Research specialist Charlotte Lewis is found by Locke, Claire, and their group where Ben knows Charlotte and that they are not here on the island to rescue them. At the beach camp, Sayid is also wary about the rescue people whom he suspects are there to mean them harm. Also, backgrounds are shown of the four "rescue party" members, Faraday, Charlotte, Miles, Frank, and Naomi and how they were recruited by a shady "third party" to find the mysterious island.

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Plot Keywords:

helicopter | group | gas mask | stretcher | bloody face | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

7 February 2008 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, ABC Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During one of Miles' flashbacks a news report playing on his car's radio announces that all 324 passengers of Oceanic flight 815 have been confirmed dead. One-third of 324 is 108, the total number of minutes on the countdown timer in the hatch and the sum of the numerical code 4-8-15-16-23-42.

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Goofs

When Ben is trying to save himself from Locke, he recites Charlotte's bio, including her date of birth. He says 1979 was the year she was born. However, in the Season 5 episode "Lafleur" we see a young Charlotte in the Dharma Barracks in 1974.

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Quotes

George Minkowski: [on the radio phone] Dan, the chopper com went dead. What the hell happened up there?
Daniel Faraday: Yeah, I don't know, George, there was an electrical storm. All the instruments, I think they just went down. Listen, I made contact with some of the survivors and we just, uh...
George Minkowski: Dan, am I on speaker?

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Crazy Credits

The producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the people of Hawaii and their Aloha spirit.

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Connections

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

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Soundtracks

"End Title"
Written by Michael Giacchino
Performed by Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra

User Reviews

A bravura piece of genre storytelling

"Confirmed Dead" is a bravura piece of pure genre storytelling, and there's nothing else to it. "The Beginning of the End" put everything in place for the rest of the season, and "Confirmed Dead" had the goal of pushing the story even further, really introducing us to the world of season four, and introducing us to the 'freighter four', if you will, and accomplished its goal very well.

The episode flashes back to the freighter four, Daniel Faraday, Miles, Charlotte, and Frank Lapidus all around the time the wreck of Flight 815 was 'discovered'. Daniel's is still the most interesting and enigmatic flashback (Miles' is just confusing and bewildering), simply because I just don't know who that woman is, don't understand why he was crying, and am also connected to him emotionally more than any of the other freighters. Charlotte's dig in the Tunisian desert was definitely a 'what the hell?' moment and is still a lot of fun. I like my polar bears to be skeletons in a desert a billion miles from where they're supposed to be, they're more interesting that way. Frank Lapidus was supposed to fly 815 eh? Interesting. I don't think there's more to him as a character, but we will probably see a Daniel flashback and a Charlotte flashback in season 5.

Naturally there is not much depth to the proceedings, but the action/adventure stuff on the island is pure adrenaline, Miles' awful couple of lines of exposition excluded, and it's just a bravura piece of storytelling in just about every way, and genuinely suspenseful at times. I'm kind of surprised that this episode holds up on repeat viewings, but it really does. It may not be up there with the show at its absolute peak, but it's definitely a great episode in its own way.