Meet Kevin Johnson

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

Season 3 was for me a solid if uneven season, with many brilliant episodes but a few slightly underwhelming ones, an inconsistent first part of the season and containing one of 'Lost's' low points "Stranger in a Strange Land". Season 4 had a good amount to live up, and its first episode "The Beginning of the End", was a brilliant start. The following episodes between that and this were generally strong, with "The Constant" being a season and show high-point although "Eggtown" and "The Other Woman" disappointed.

The episode has much of what 'Lost' is all about. It's taut and thought-provoking, with utterly gripping and beautifully developed events. There are a fair share of revelations, ones that are not foreseen or clumsy, and shows plot progression rather than repeating itself or being filler.

Found that the ending, while shocking, happens agreed too suddenly and out-of-the-blue.

"Meet Kevin Johnson" has a great deal of tension and that there are little present-day island events doesn't matter outside of Ben and with Locke's camp. Michael's return is handled beautifully and intriguingly and doesn't waste the potential it had at all. The flashbacks are actually illuminating and very emotionally investable and avoid falling into soap-opera territory.

Can't fault the performances, particularly Harold Perrineau and Michael Emerson.

Nor the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effectively understated and chilling use of music, taut writing and the tightly controlled direction (one of the best of the season and perhaps of the show).

Overall, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Sayid presses Michael to tell what has happened with him since he left the island. In a long flashback, Michael is in despair in Manhattan, since Walt refuses to talk to him after discovering the truth about the deaths of Ana Maria and Libby. When Michael decides to commit suicide in an alley, he is saved by Tom Friendly that convinces him to work infiltrated in the Kahana to save the lives of the survivors in the island. Michael commits sabotage in the radio room and in the engine of the vessel following direct orders of Ben. After the explanations, Sayid delivers the traitor to Captain Gault. Meanwhile in the island, Ben is released by Locke and convinces Alex, Karl and Rousseau to leave the camp and move to a hidden sanctuary.

In this episode, the saga of the despicable Michael is disclosed. The loser character betrayed his friends and killed Libby and Ana Maria in the island; lost the love and respect of his son; is unable to commit suicide; works for Ben; and betrays the Owner, the Captain and the crew of the supply vessel Kahana. It is impressive how destructive this character is, even full of good intentions. Locke is completely insane releasing Ben, but the greatest surprise is the calm behavior of Sawyer, passively accepting the command of Locke and the manipulation of Ben. The tragic fate of Karl, Rousseau and Alex is the great surprise of this episode. However, it seems totally out of the context and unnecessary to expose Tom as a gay. Is it a side effect of the great loss of audience? My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Note: On 14 April 2013, I saw this episode again on DVD.

Like many, many other Lost fans I was concerned about how the writers would explain Michael's return, but it went off without any major issues. The flashbacks were effective, explanatory, interesting, and provided a chance to encounter some faces we haven't seen in a while. Harold Perrineau did a brilliant job this episode, proving that he is a great actor when given the right material to work with, which Elizabeth Sarnoff and Brian K. Vaughan provided with an excellent script. We see barely anything of 'present-time' island events, only getting the obligatory (but nicely done) scene with the rest of the 'important' members of Locke's camp learning that Michael was on the freighter, as well as Ben sending Rousseau to the temple with Alex and Karl, which led to the pretty shocking ending, which actually felt really out-of-the-blue to me, and almost disappointing in how it was written, though not necessarily for its content.

The episode's flashback story was nicely set up, with further mythology reveals (more like hints, admittedly) and nice character-driven moments. There's some great scenes here, and overall I'd say that it's around as emotional and interesting as "Special" from season one, which I personally thought was a great episode. Stephen Williams did a fairly good job of directing the episode and it was nice to revisit some of the music Giacchino wrote for Michael's character. All in all this isn't my favorite episode of season 4, but it is still excellent, and in keeping with the generally high quality of the season, excepting "Eggtown" and "The Other Woman", and to a lesser extent "Cabin Fever", I suppose.