First, Cabin Fever's flashbacks of a new character, John, being born three months early, stared at by Ricardo (who now is definitely going by Richard, so that's what I'm calling him from now on), given up for adoption, and visited by Richard at what looks like 6 years old to see if he's ready to join a special children's school and failing the test. Then I watched a new character, Ben, also being born premature and killing his mom in the process in the episode The Man Behind The Curtain. Next, a brief flashback in the episode White Rabbit, introducing another new character, Jack, as a kid who gets beat up by bullies but also stands up to them and then speaks with his dad about it, who tells him that he should never decide to be a hero because he doesn't have what it takes. Next, I jumped back to Cabin Fever to watch a scene with John in high school being bullied and then helped out by his science teacher, who also tells John that a man named Richard Alpert wants him to go to a special summer camp for gifted students. When John protests that he's not a scientist, his science teacher tells him that he really is a scientist, and that he shouldn't try to be something he's not, which infuriates John. Finally, I went back to The Man Behind The Curtain for a long segment with Ben as a kid coming to the island because his dad finds work there with a group called the Dharma Initiative. His dad gets depressed, Ben starts seeing visions of his dead mom and learns that there's a group called "the hostiles" that the Dharma Initiative are scared enough of to erect a giant sonar fence around their facility (and they get into a firefight with them at one point). Ben gets fed up with the situation, breaks through the fence, gets lost in the jungle, and suddenly runs into...Richard! Ben asks Richard if he can join him and his group of "hostiles," and Richard says he might be able to, but that he would have to be very patient. And that's it. Whew!
This was surprisingly smooth for jumping between three episodes in three different seasons. The themes were consistent throughout, and it wasn't tough to keep track of the characters like I was afraid of. I was also very surprised to see Richard featured so prominently in these flashbacks. He's completely lost his accent, but I guess that's possible when you've been around for 100+ years and don't age. The fact that John and Ben were both born prematurely and both run into Richard in some way or another is quite interesting; there may be something about babies being born early and being able to survive that makes them possibly good protectors of the island; they also both lost their mothers, much like Jacob and The Man In Black did. There's also a theme between all three boys of bad fathers, and of course in one case the complete absence of a father. Good stuff to build on.
I think I'm going to stop commenting on the production values unless there's something that truly stands out, good or bad, as all the episodes I've watched have been beautifully made. The acting has been strong throughout, and the writing has been very good except for that first twenty minutes of Across The Sea.
Next up, more random flashbacks! Stay tuned! :)
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