"Lost" The Economist (2008)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Jack Bender

Writers:

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

TV Series:

"Lost" (2004)

Original Air Date:

14 February 2008 (Season 4, Episode 3)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Sayid negotiates a deal with Locke to hand over Charlotte from the "rescue team," so that he can get on their helicopter and reach their ship. Kate joins Sayid for the mission, but she decides to stay behind with Sawyer.

Plot Keywords:

Berlin | Helicopter | Flash Forward | Number 50 | 5 Iron

Cast

Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Henry Ian Cusick	...	Desmond Hume
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

Runtime:

43 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14+ | Venezuela:PG-13 (DVD rating) | USA:TV-14

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

ABC Studios

Trivia:

Elsa tells Sayid to meet her at the restaurant for their first date at 8 o'clock. 8 is one of the fabled island "numbers."

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Elsa talks in German to her employer in the flash forward scene, the subtitles say 'He had no idea' but what she actually says at that moment translates into 'He won't give up the name now'. Earlier in that scene, the subtitles say 'He won't give up the name now' but the actual words translate into 'He won't say anything'.

Quotes:

Sayid Jarrah: [to Locke about Ben] Forgive me, but the day I start trusting him is the day I would've sold my soul.

Movie Connections:

References "2004 World Series" (2004)

Great script by Kitsis and Horowitz

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"The Economist" basically continues developing the on-island story quite fast, and Charlotte rejoins Frank and Daniel while Miles ends up in Locke's hands. Most intriguing of the on-island events are the discovery of Ben's secret room and Daniel's time experiment, which is a terrific scene in its execution. This is a great script, and it's really better than I initially thought it was. Lots of fun, occasionally clever dialogue, some great one-liners ("great, the ship brought us another Sawyer"), and a neat structure and sense of pace, although it slows down slightly near the end as far as the on-island stuff goes.

The flashforward is better than I initially gave it credit for as well. It works both as a spy story (which I'm sure the genre enthusiasts who wrote the script were thrilled to write), and as an emotional story for Sayid. I'd go as far as saying it was at least his second most interesting flash (forward or back) to me personally, and I really thought that Naveen Andrews was terrific here, and gave one of his better performances. Yes, the ending was surprising and intriguing, but I really don't think that this episode as a whole should be reduced to its ending. As a script, this really works well all-around, and is excellent both on and off the island. The dialogue in particular struck me as notably better here than in many other "Lost" episodes.

Jack Bender's direction is tasteful and smart as well (as usual), and I found the scene in the hotel with Sayid and Elsa late in the episode especially well-shot. I know this episode is well-liked, but I feel like it almost doesn't get quite enough credit, it is really, really good all-around. Some of Michael Giacchino's new compositions for season 4 are absolutely incredible, can't wait for that CD.