Television Review: ? (Lost, S2X21, 2006)

? (S02E21)

Airdate: 10 May 2006

Written by: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Directed by: Paul Edwards

Running Time: 43 minutes

Lost’s creators repeatedly demonstrated a mischievous, almost confrontational instinct to defy conventional television storytelling. This was never more apparent than in their handling of the so-called ‘wham’ episode—those seismic instalments designed to irrevocably alter a series’ landscape. The devastating climax of Two for the Road, which saw Ana Lucia and Libby shot and Michael revealed as a traitor, was a textbook example. A standard procedural would have immediately begun unravelling that cliffhanger. Instead, the very next episode, pointedly titled ?, performs a narrative sleight-of-hand. It acknowledges the carnage in the Swan hatch only to immediately pivot away, immersing us instead in the quest of Mr. Eko and a wholly different, more metaphysical mystery. This audacious refusal to give the audience immediate catharsis is a hallmark of Lost’s confident, often frustrating, complexity.

The episode establishes Mr. Eko as its unwavering centre from the outset, filtering events through his serene, purposeful faith. Following a vision of his deceased brother Yemi, who instructs him to help Locke “find the question mark,” Eko becomes the episode’s driving force. In the wake of the shootings, with a wounded Michael spinning his tale of ‘Henry Gale’, Locke volunteers to track the escaped prisoner. Eko, guided by his vision, insists on accompanying him. This partnership sets up the episode’s core dynamic: the contrast between Locke, the shaken doubter whose island magic has seemingly failed him (‘Henry’ has vanished without a trace), and Eko, the resolute believer whose faith provides an unerring internal compass. Locke’s tracking skills are useless, but Eko’s conviction is not. Their journey, first to the Beechcraft crash site and then, guided by a second vision (this time Locke’s dream), to a nearby cliff, culminates in the discovery of a vast geological question mark etched into the landscape below.

The duo’s excavation reveals the Hatch of the Pearl Station, and the episode delivers one of its most tantalising and ultimately subversive reveals. The orientation film, presented by Dr. Mark Wickmund, discloses that the Pearl’s operatives are not studying electromagnetic phenomena, but rather observing the occupants of other stations, notably the Swan. The work is a psychological experiment designed to test the human capacity for belief in a meaningless task. For Locke, whose entire identity has been rebuilt on the sacred importance of pushing the Button, this is a catastrophic blow. It directly attacks the foundation of his faith. Eko, however, embodies a different kind of belief. Unmoved by the film’s cynical revelation, he counters Locke’s despair with profound pragmatism. He offers to assume the Button-pushing duty himself, framing it not as a scientific imperative but as a simple act of faith and purpose. This philosophical stalemate—Is the Button a sacred charge or a cruel joke?—is left exquisitely unresolved.

Meanwhile, back at the Swan, the episode weaves its second, crueller narrative thread. Libby, initially thought dead, briefly clings to life. Jack’s desperate attempt to ease her suffering by sending Kate for Sawyer’s heroin, and Hurley’s heart-wrenching vigil, amplify the tragedy. Her final, agonised utterance of “Michael” is a masterstroke of dramatic irony, a desperate accusation heard only by her killer and an audience complicit in his secret. Her ‘miracle’ of survival is rendered a vicious cosmic taunt, prolonging her pain and deepening Michael’s damnation without granting any cathartic revelation.

The flashback to Australia further enriches the episode’s meditation on belief, coincidence, and cruelty. Posing as Father Tunde, Eko is dispatched to investigate the alleged resurrection of Charlotte Malkin (Brooke Anderson). Her father, Richard Malkin—the very psychic who coerced Claire onto Oceanic Flight 815—dismisses it as a case of hypothermia mistaken for death, deriding Eko as a fraud. Eko files a report denying the miracle. Yet, at the airport, Charlotte herself approaches him. In a quiet, chilling moment, she relays a message from the beyond: she saw Yemi, and Eko will see his brother again. Here, the episode presents another ‘miracle’, but its authenticity is deliberately ambiguous. Was it a genuine supernatural event, or merely the vivid hallucination of a traumatised girl? The script, by Cuse and Lindelof, refuses to adjudicate, leaving the question hanging, much like the station’s symbol etched into the earth.

This deliberate ambiguity is both the episode’s greatest strength and a source of its dramatic limitations. The discovery of the Pearl Station is intentionally anti-climactic. Unlike the awe-inspiring mystery of the Swan’s introduction, the Pearl reveals a banal, almost bureaucratic reality. Its purpose is to deconstruct the very mythos the season has built, a bold meta-commentary on the show’s own relationship with its audience’s theories. However, this can feel underwhelming, a deflation of tension rather than a satisfying escalation.

The episode’s most significant flaw lies in its over-reliance on contrived, interconnected coincidence. The revelation that Richard Malkin is the psychic from Claire’s story stretches credulity, binding the narrative in a web of convenience that feels manufactured rather than organic. Similarly, Libby’s presence at the airport to witness Eko’s encounter with Charlotte is a narrative knot tied too neatly. While Lost often traded in fate and interconnection, here it verges on narrative shorthand, undermining the emotional realism it otherwise cultivates.

A final layer of off-screen intrigue adds poignancy. The episode was originally slated for director Darren Aronofsky, whose intense, visionary style promised a unique interpretation. His departure due to his wife’s pregnancy led to his replacement by Deran Sarafian. One can only speculate how Aronofsky’s sensibilities might have further deepened the episode’s haunting, faith-versus-doubt aesthetic.

In the end, ?’is a solid, if flawed, piece of television. It brazenly sidesteps immediate plot resolution to delve into profound thematic terrain, using Eko’s unwavering certainty as a counterpoint to Locke’s crumbling dogma. Its twin ‘miracles’—Charlotte’s return and Libby’s brief survival—are portrayed as potentially hollow, even sadistic, challenging both the characters’ and the audience’s need for meaningful design. While the contrived coincidences and the deliberately underwhelming Pearl reveal can frustrate, the episode succeeds in its primary ambition: to pose a bold, unsettling question mark over the very nature of belief on the island, leaving the audience, much like Locke, digging in the dark for answers that may not even exist.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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