The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 4

After three action-packed, mind-blowing episodes, “Lost” slowed down the pace tremendously this week, despite the desperate tremolo of violins priming us for high drama.  We launched immediately into a refresher course on Jateyer 101 (that would be the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle of love).  For those who’d forgotten, Kate totally does love Jack! Except that whole thing with Sawyer ... and Sawyer still loves Kate, yada yada, bored with it. As Miles would say, “Hooray, everything’s back to normal ... now what?”

Did anyone else get the uncomfortable late season 2/early season 3 feeling of useless filler in this episode? Claire’s mom turned out to be a giant red herring whose only purpose might be to show that there’s a lawyer in LA who’s very busy with island-related happenings.

Now that I’m watching “Lost” on a week-by-week basis, I maintain my assertion that the show is a dish best served in generous proportions. Still, “Lost” being “Lost,” there were plenty of redeeming moments. For one, even after being in a coma for 42 hours, International Badass Sayid is at the the ready to “handle” his attackers. The number 42 cropped up a few times in this episode — the sort of winky, layered nuance fans enjoy — along with Brian K. Vaughn’s (who co-wrote the episode) particular brand of ironic humor. Take this gem from Locke for instance, “I want the Oceanic Six to come back, even if it kills me.”  Yeah, about that ...