“I’m sorry.”

Since all anybody ever talks about in this episode is the final couple of minutes, let’s just get those out of the way first. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to very quickly recreate my reaction to the end of “Two for the Road.”

I mean… wow. One of the most stunning TV cliffhangers I’ve ever seen. Was it connected to those famous D.U.I.s? Maybe, but only because I think Michelle Rodriquez and Cynthia Watros found out they were getting killed off, then went out to drown their sorrows. Makes just as much sense, but who really knows? There’s a feeling that this was done mainly for shock value, but even so, it works. Ana Lucia and Libby are the first of many, many major characters who die so Ben Linus can live.

What is there to say about the rest of “Two for the Road?” The narrative is pretty straightforward. Ana Lucia is attacked by Henry, so she seduces Sawyer in order to take his gun, and discovers she no longer wants to kill. With deadly results. Michael tells a tale of how he found the Other’s village, which prompts Jack and the others into launching a rescue mission to get Walt. I can’t really think of anything interesting to say about it, but I thought it was all very engaging.

Ana Lucia’s flashback depicts the fallout of her cold blooded murder. I don’t remember how I was imagining this would play out, but a perpetually drunk Christian Sheppard showing up and paying her to come to Australia with him were not a part of it. His activities make sense, thanks to the reveal in “Par Avion,” but his fixation on Ana Lucia is a little harder to pin down. Still, his behaviour prompts her to want to make amends with her mother. Her plane then crashes, where she reverts to her old self for a while on the island, before remembering that she wants to change. It’s a fairly complete, tragic arc for Ana Lucia.

Too bad we can’t say the same about Libby. I’m not fussed about the idea of her not being on the show anymore, but that’s because she never got the chance to develop into an interesting character. Cynthia Watros was solid and likeable in the little screentime she had, and there’s every reason to think the character would have become better had she been able to stick around, but t’was not the case. At least she gets the funniest moment of the episode (“That’s Jin over there”) as well as the most shocking.

The only other thing I want to talk about is Jack and Kate not bringing up the fake beard and tattered costumes as Michael tells his story. There’s a double take from Kate, but that’s it. They have every reason to believe that there’s more to the Others than initially thought, and that Michael’s assertion that they’re not dangerous doesn’t hold up, but they don’t say anything. As much as I love this final arc, it does seem as though characters sometimes ignore things so that the plot can progress in a certain way, and this could be the first instance of that.

Darlton:
Mention of an underwater hatch in the podcast?

The ending overshadows everything, but it’s still a strong hour of television. And quite a good, fitting end for this most controversial of characters.

Rating: 8.5/10
Average: 7.78/10
Ranked 3rd out of 20 episodes.