Television Review: Confirmed Dead (Lost, S4X02, 2008)

Confirmed Dead (S0402)

Airdate: 7 February 2008

Written by: Drew Goddard & Brain K. Vaughn
Directed by: Stephen Williams

Running Time: 43 minutes

The second episode of Season 4, Confirmed Dead, presents an interesting paradox for the writers of Lost. While the season is ostensibly a bold pivot toward a post-Island narrative focusing on the "Oceanic 6," this instalment suggests that the creators, despite their grand plans, still find themselves tethered to the limited setting and the intricate, often labyrinthine plot of the previous seasons. Consequently, they are forced, at least for the duration of this episode, to return to the formula that defined the show’s earlier years, albeit in a more streamlined and sensible fashion. Rather than immediately diving headfirst into the complications of life off the island, the episode functions as a bridge, anchoring the new timeline with the familiar mechanics of the old one.

The script, co-written by Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughan, cleverly returns to the established formula in two distinct ways. Firstly, it constructs a plot that serves as a mini-remake of the original crash scenario, complete with the discovery of an aircraft. Secondly, it relies on the classic device of flashbacks to explore the psychology and history of the survivors. However, the premise is immediately complicated. The narrative opens weeks after the initial crash, with the apparent discovery of the remains of the crashed Oceanic airliner in the depths of the Sunda Trench, near the coast of Bali. Television news broadcasts disturbing images of a decomposing body allegedly belonging to Captain Seth Norris, the pilot. The deaths of all passengers and crew appear to be confirmed, sealing the fate of the survivors as dead.

This apparent resolution is immediately undercut by a glaring inconsistency. While Norris did indeed die, he did on the Island. Therefore, the body aired on the news cannot belong to him. The person who knows the truth is Frank Lepidus (Jeff Fahey), the drunkard pilot. He calls a telephone hotline to reveal the deception, effectively signalling that this was not merely a rescue mission but an intelligence gathering operation. This operation was supervised by Matthew Abbadon, who had previously briefed Naomi Doritt on the mission. The team members brought to the Island include Daniel Faraday, the emotionally unstable man Jack and Kate discovered at the end of the previous episode; Miles Straume (Ken Leung), a psychic; and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), a British scientist who had discovered the skeletons of a polar bear with a Dharma Initiative insignia at an archaeological dig in Tunisia. The helicopter carrying them to the Island is struck by lightning and forced to make a forceful landing, with most of the team members bailing out and dispersing.

The present-day plot demonstrates that the team members have all survived, though they are scattered across the island's terrain. Eventually, they are captured by two different factions of the Losties. One faction, led by Jack and Kate (who have already found Daniel), is joined by Sayid and Juliet, and they manage to capture Miles. They subsequently find Frank, who has successfully landed the helicopter and volunteers to bring anyone back to the freighter. Conversely, it is a much more difficult time for Charlotte, who ends up captured by the faction led by the distrustful Locke. Ben, who is tied up and being held by Locke's group, keeps warning them that the "rescuers" shouldn't be trusted. In an apparent attempt to make a point, and perhaps out of pure malice, Ben uses a moment of carelessness to grab the gun and shoot Charlotte. Miraculously, she survives only because she is conveniently wearing a bulletproof vest underneath her clothes.

Ben has, by this point, all but exhausted the mercy of Locke's faction, and Sawyer prepares to execute him. However, Ben saves himself by offering valuable knowledge about Charlotte and everyone in the new expedition, claiming that he learned all of that by having his own man on the boat. Both factions soon learn that it was Ben who was the actual target of the expedition, not the survivors.

Confirmed Dead is a well-made episode that is structurally very sound. It demonstrates an economic way of introducing new characters and moving the plot forward without feeling cluttered. The director, Stephen Williams, deserves particular praise for the small Tunisian flashback segment. Here, he appears to pay homage to the opening of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, specifically the discovery of objects in the desert that weren't supposed to be there. The visual language of the scene mirrors the Spielberg classic, using silence and the discovery of the polar bear skeleton to build a sense of mystery and dread.

However, if there was a flaw in the episode, it is the repetition of Ben being pummelled and being an inch from being killed while in captivity. This beats him down repeatedly, which becomes somewhat repetitive and counter-climactic after the number of episodes dedicated to his torture. Furthermore, the shooting of Charlotte is something of a too obvious red herring. Given the established tropes of the series, it was highly predictable that an attractive woman, particularly a blonde, would die at the hands of Ben. The bulletproof vest is conveniently introduced afterwards because the actress, Rebecca Mader, happens to be a redhead former model, a coincidence that feels somewhat contrived. Another possible flaw is the image of the decomposed "Norris" being aired by the broadcast network without pixelation, a technical detail that was already standard for most broadcast televisions at the time, making the scene look budget-conscious rather than gritty.

The episode was generally well-received at the time, although it later created some sort of continuity problems. Rebecca Mader, playing Charlotte, deliberately changed the lines about her character's date of birth during filming, which caused some friction with the continuity department.

Nevertheless, Confirmed Dead is a generally successful episode that sets the plot in motion. It introduces new and fascinating sets of characters, expanding the lore of the Island with the addition of the Dharma Initiative skeletons and the specific scientific backgrounds of the new arrivals. It also shows great possibilities for the post-Island future of the "Oceanic 6" characters, whose ordeal, with the presence of Abbadon and his mysterious agenda, might not be over.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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