“…Ten Ajira Passengers a rottin’…”

I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it the second time around, but it kind of disappointed me that nothing was done with the concept of our Losties being in two teams. Team Jacob is this sad lonely little team with a dead figurehead, consisting of an interesting collection of original Losties, former Others, Freighter folk, and an Ajira Survivor. Team Man in Black has an imposing leader, strength in numbers, and most of the original characters, some there of their own free will, some out to play both sides for their own gain. That plus Widmore’s presence, and it feels like there’s a big conflict brewing.

Turns out, these groups aren’t opposed so much as divided. The set-up seemed to be there for something to happen, but it doesn’t really pan out. Instead, the momentum after Sundown is kind of squandered. But while Dr. Linus was low key but a great character study, Recon is just… low key.

Most of the island story is concerned with Sawyer doing a little recon (Oh, Re-Con! I get it!) over at Hydra Island. There are a handful of interesting discoveries. Another group of extras (the Ajira folk) have been wiped out, there’s some filthy, bespectacled, lady who manages to lure Sawyer into a trap (I kept waiting for the moment in which Zoe appear all cleaned up in the Afterlife, some sort of Hot Librarian type moment, but alas). And Sawyer is brought before Widmore, where he begins to pit him and Flocke against each other. I forget who suggested that removing Dr. Linus’s last scene would have both strengthened that episode and made this one all the more surprising, but I agree.

Claire on Kate action over in Flocke’s camp. We had the shippers, oh, Claire loves Kate hahaha. And then they have Claire holding Kate’s hand, getting into a catfight with her, hugging her… it had to be on purpose. Flocke isn’t as interested in this, instead luring Kate away for a chat about his crazy mother. I haven’t really mentioned it, but although Titus Welliver makes a good baddie, having Terry O’Quinn play this final incarnation of the Man in Black adds such a nice psychological edge to this season. His theme is totally a twisted version of Locke’d Out Again, which I hadn’t noticed before.

I’m severely underwhelmed by Sawyer’s alternate universe story. So far, the best stories in this world have been the ones that allowed the Losties to face issues that they hadn’t quite overcome by the end of their life. Locke had to accept his condition, Jack faced his father issues, Ben got another chance to make the right choice with Alex, but I cannot figure out what Sawyer’s journey is. Sawyer apparently came to a crossroads at some point, and instead of going criminal, he became a cop. An interesting idea in concept, and I would totally watch the Jimmy/Miles cop show. But he’s back on the trail for Cooper, something that he dealt with and moved on from on the island, and he’s having some issues with women (Charlotte, who looks surprisingly appealing here). Both of which go up in a puff of smoke by the finale. Even setting that aside, this story wasn’t entertaining in and of itself, and had only some mildly interesting set-up for later events.

And that legendary non cliffhanger too. Someone start up that thread in which we set mundane Lost conversations to scary music, I can join in now that I have the DVDs.

Loose Ends:
Who killed the Ajira Folk? Widmore can be a baaad mother watch-yo-maouth, but their bodies are already decomposing, and Flocke seems unsurprised to learn of their deaths.

Well… what a boring review. All I can say is that Recon isn’t a bad episode at all, but it unfolds as gradually as anything from early Season 2. This close to the end… not a good thing.

Rating: 7/10
Ranked 7th out of 7 episodes.
Average: 8.29/10