Television Review: The Hunting Party (Lost, S2X11, 2006)

The Hunting Party (S0212)

Airdate: 18 January 2006

Written by: Elizabeth Sarnoff & Christina M. Kim
Directed by: Stephen Williams

Running Time: 43 minutes

By the midpoint of Season 2, many devotees of Lost began to resign themselves to the rather predictable realisation that the series creators had exhausted much of their initial creativity. This exhaustion, compounded by the rigid imperatives of early 21st-century American broadcast television—which routinely demanded twenty-plus episodes per season—meant that the narrative momentum would inevitably falter. Consequently, many episodes were destined to serve as mere filler, or, even when certain mysteries were ostensibly resolved or given a new twist, the general result was frequently underwhelming. The Hunting Party, the eleventh episode of the second season, stands as a clear example of this phenomenon, illustrating how a series built on high-concept intrigue can succumb to the mundane pressures of episodic television production.

The plot of this instalment is rather simple, dealing primarily with the effects of Michael’s realisation that he can communicate with Walt, or someone pretending to be Walt, via the Swan station’s computer terminal. Instead of alerting his fellow survivors to this potential breakthrough, Michael decides to keep the information a secret and hatches a plan to embark on another solo mission to bring his son back. In a display of desperation that borders on the farcical, he knocks out Locke and locks Jack in the armoury, helping himself to guns, ammunition, and supplies. When Jack and Locke eventually set themselves free, they, together with Sawyer, decide to pursue Michael and bring him back. Their trek through the jungle ends with a tense encounter with the Others. Their apparent leader, Mr. Friendly, instead of attacking them outright, issues a simple ultimatum: the survivors might be spared if they do not cross a demarcation line in the jungle. Jack is forced to agree and hand over all their weapons when Friendly threatens to execute Kate, who had been captured by the Others when she foolishly followed the hunting party. All four are eventually released and return to the beach alive, but they do so feeling thoroughly defeated. The episode concludes with Jack approaching Ana Lucia, who is still partially shunned by the group, and, apparently aware of her weapons training as a former policewoman, asking her to organise the survivors into an army.

While the general plot is weak and generic, the flashback structure is even weaker. We are simply subjected to a banal dramatic reconstruction of the events that led to the end of Jack’s marriage. We are reintroduced to Jack as a surgeon with some sort of reputation as a "miracle worker" due to his successful "fixing" of Sarah. He reluctantly takes the case of an Italian businessman, Angelo Busoni (Ronald Guttman), and attempts to remove his spinal tumour. However, the miracle does not repeat itself, and his patient dies on the operating table. Jack is devastated and, in an emotional moment, shares a kiss with Angelo’s daughter, Gabriela (Monica Dean). When he returns home, he attempts to confess this incident to Sarah, but his admission is rendered pointless because Sarah has already decided to leave him, frustrated by his chronic workaholism and his complete neglect of their domestic life. It is a tedious retread of character traits that were already well-established, offering no fresh insight into Jack’s psyche.

Written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim, The Hunting Party depends on what many critics call an "Idiot Plot", a narrative where characters act in an uncharacteristically irrational or stupid manner solely to ensure that certain important plot events can happen. It begins with Jack, Locke, and other ostensibly responsible and rational members of the survivor crew allowing access to the Swan Station to someone apparently as unstable and unreliable as Michael. It continues with Michael, so blinded by his loss that he doesn’t even contemplate the very real possibility that Walt’s message might be a trap. And, of course, there is Kate, who follows the hunting party only to get captured and used as a bargaining chip, a trope that serves little purpose other than to artificially raise the stakes.

Nevertheless, an interesting element of the script is an attempt to give some hint of explanation regarding the Others. At first, they were seen as a strange, almost superhuman, and mysterious force that appeared to kill or abduct survivors at will with seemingly supernatural efficiency. Now, we see them negotiate instead of simply attack, and this shift makes them appear more tribal, more territorial, and, ultimately, more human. This demystification is a crucial turning point for the series, even if the execution leaves much to be desired.

This revelation, however, is obtained via an over-theatrical nighttime encounter in the jungle that might have looked good on paper, but director Stephen Williams makes it too melodramatic and Hollywood-like. The standoff, lit by torches and heavy with portentous dialogue, lacks the subtle menace that the Others previously exuded, replacing genuine tension with a contrived sense of theatricality that undercuts the threat they are supposed to represent.

Another problematic aspect is Jack’s decision to delegate the creation of a survivors’ militia to Ana Lucia, despite Sayid being a far more suitable candidate given his background as a former military officer. This choice is glaringly illogical, notwithstanding the bad blood Ana Lucia created by accidentally killing one of the survivors. The most obvious explanation for such a poor choice would have to lie with Jack or, more likely, the production team of Lost, still being under the spell of the Global War on Terror and American chauvinism. It suggests a mindset unwilling to entertain even the thought of Americans serving under the command of an Arab Muslim who used to fight American soldiers in the past, a blinkered decision that prioritises cultural bias over tactical logic.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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