Some Like It Hoth (S5X13)
Airdate: 15 April 2009
Written by: Melinda Hsu Taylor & Greggory Nations
Directed by: Jack Bender
Running Time: 42 minutes
Much of contemporary American, and consequently, global popular culture, has become increasingly derivative and self-referential in nature. In the modern entertainment landscape, audiences are constantly fed recycled narratives, yet this very tendency can occasionally serve to save producers of long-running television shows when their creative juices run dry. By filling the narrative blanks with dense pop culture references, creators can maintain audience engagement even when the core plot struggles to breathe fresh air. One of the more interesting examples of this strategy is the title of the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of Lost, titled Some Like It Hoth.
The title itself is a piece of clever wordplay that serves as a direct reference to two grand Hollywood films from the twentieth century: Billy Wilder’s 1959 cross-dressing comedy Some Like It Hot and The Empire Strikes Back, the 1980 sequel to the original Star Wars and what many believe to be the best film of the entire franchise. While the script, written by Melissa Hsu Taylor and Greggory Nations, gives an explicit reference to the latter film, it notably fails to reference the former, whether due to strict time constraints or the authors’ desire to avoid making the already complex plot even more convoluted. This omission is a pity, as a double layer of reference would have added further depth to the episode’s exploration of identity and disguise.
Structurally, the episode is another formulaic character-centric installment that is heavy on flashbacks. This time, the character in focus is the mercenary psychic Miles Straume. The flashbacks begin on 16 March 1985, where we meet young Miles (Lance Ho), living with his mother Lara (Leslie Ishii), after being abandoned by his father. It is at this early stage that young Miles delivers a disturbing ability to listen to corpses, or as the script suggests, listen to them “talk”. Years later, as a young man, Miles visits his mortally ill mother who tells him about his father being buried at a specific place “he can’t go”. By 2004, Miles has already established his psychic line of work and gets approached by Naomi Dorritt, who recruits him for a Widmore-financed expedition on the Island after passing the test with a dead man named Felix. Miles is promised 1.6 million US dollars for his services, a sum that clearly motivates his decision to board the submarine. However, before departure, Miles is approached by Bram, played by Brad William Henke, a representative of an unknown faction opposed to Widmore, and warned not to go.
The main plot takes place in 1977 and shows Miles being given a delicate task by Horace that involves delivering the corpse of a recently killed Dharma worker to the Orchid Station. The objective is to determine whether the electromagnetism had any role in the incident. Miles is accompanied by Hurley, and the two discuss their respective abilities – Miles sensing dead people and Hurley apparently talking with their ghosts. Even more importantly, they drive together with Dr. Pierre Chang, who is revealed to be the actual Miles’ father. In a poignant scene, Miles is portrayed watching his mother and his young self being read a colour book by his father he knows he would leave him. The episode ends with Daniel Faraday returning to the Island on a submarine, closing a major time-loop thread.
Another side plot at the Barracks deals with the absence of Ben, who has been given to the Others to take care of him. This creates significant complications, because Roger Linus becomes hostile and paranoid, especially when Kate tries a little bit too much to comfort him with a pep talk. An even bigger crisis appears when Miles fails to erase a videotape of Sawyer, a.k.a. “LaFleur”, carrying Ben across the boundary. The tape is seen by Phil, who confronts his boss in Sawyer’s home only to be hit in the ensuing altercation.
The episode was intended to flesh out the character of Miles, who was one of the relatively late arrivals to the series, and it succeeded in it partially. This success was mostly due to Ken Leung who delivered a strong performance, especially in the semi-comical interactions with Hurley which provided necessary levity. Yet, the decision to reveal Miles to be Dr. Chang’s son was another example of an all-too-convenient coincidence that steered the series back to realms of soapish melodrama.
Furthermore, the script authors never bother to explain what would be Sawyer’s cover story for Ben’s absence, nor why would Roger, with all of his alcoholism and guilt, fail to raise hell over his son suddenly being gone. These plot holes undermine the tension of the Barracks storyline. Finally, the scene where Hurley is revealed to be a huge Star Wars geek and writing his own attempt to improve the script for The Empire Strikes Back to send to George Lucas before the 1980 premiere is a nice touch, but this reference probably wouldn’t mean much to the audience that began their Star Wars journey with the prequel or sequel trilogies in the twenty-first Century. The appearance of Dean Norris in a small role of Howard Grey, a grieving father who hires Miles to talk to his recently deceased son, is unintended fan service to devotees of Breaking Bad, whom would soon learn to appreciate Norris as Agent Hank Schrader. Ultimately, while the episode succeeds in establishing Miles, it remains a flawed entry in the Lost canon.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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