The second season of Lost continues its glorious streak via the superb Orientation, which provides some much needed answers and sheds some light on the new faces populating the show, while also getting more personal with the consistently intriguing John Locke.
Having settled their differences, the survivor group formed by Jack, Kate and Locke is shown the inner workings of the hatch by Desmondm who claims he knows nothing about what happens on the Island since his job is to push a button every 108 minutes (as explained in a video made by a "DHARMA Initiative") to prevent something bad from happening. Locke, being the man of faith, is immediately mesmerized by this discovery, whilst the more practically inclined Jack is concerned with the hatch being able to provide shelter for the rest of the castaways. Elsewhere on the Island, the raft survivors have been captured by what seem to be the Others, with Sawyer forced to make small-talk with a fellow prisoner: Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez), last seen chatting with Jack at the airport in a Season One finale flashback, who apparently was in the tail section of the plane when the accident occurred.
As for the flashbacks, the primary concern is Locke who, kidney-deprived but still walking fine, attends support groups to cope with his pain and anger. On such an occasion he meets Helen (Katey Sagal, of Married with Children fame), with whom he gets romantically involved. However, the relationship is strained because of John's dark feelings and thoughts, which cause him to stalk Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe) and eventually confront him about his deception.
Aside from neatly forming a bond with the present time by including mentions of faith (always a key theme when Locke is involved), the flashbacks allow us to see yet another side of the character, a more tender one that is brought out by Helen, who is played with great humanity by Sagal. Kevin Tighe also makes a welcome return as the shockingly cold-blooded Cooper, who justifies his actions bluntly and without remorse: "You needed a father figure, and I needed a kidney." Additionally, the plot adds quite interesting aspects in terms of mythology, with the first mention of DHARMA, complete with a possible "mad scientist" type (played by François Chau), the button and the number 108, which just so happens to be the sum of Hurley's "cursed" lottery-winning combination. Combined with the notion of the Others and that bizarre black smoke which has a knack for killing people, it looks like the Island's mysteries won't get dull any time soon.
Having settled their differences, the survivor group formed by Jack, Kate and Locke is shown the inner workings of the hatch by Desmondm who claims he knows nothing about what happens on the Island since his job is to push a button every 108 minutes (as explained in a video made by a "DHARMA Initiative") to prevent something bad from happening. Locke, being the man of faith, is immediately mesmerized by this discovery, whilst the more practically inclined Jack is concerned with the hatch being able to provide shelter for the rest of the castaways. Elsewhere on the Island, the raft survivors have been captured by what seem to be the Others, with Sawyer forced to make small-talk with a fellow prisoner: Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez), last seen chatting with Jack at the airport in a Season One finale flashback, who apparently was in the tail section of the plane when the accident occurred.
As for the flashbacks, the primary concern is Locke who, kidney-deprived but still walking fine, attends support groups to cope with his pain and anger. On such an occasion he meets Helen (Katey Sagal, of Married with Children fame), with whom he gets romantically involved. However, the relationship is strained because of John's dark feelings and thoughts, which cause him to stalk Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe) and eventually confront him about his deception.
Aside from neatly forming a bond with the present time by including mentions of faith (always a key theme when Locke is involved), the flashbacks allow us to see yet another side of the character, a more tender one that is brought out by Helen, who is played with great humanity by Sagal. Kevin Tighe also makes a welcome return as the shockingly cold-blooded Cooper, who justifies his actions bluntly and without remorse: "You needed a father figure, and I needed a kidney." Additionally, the plot adds quite interesting aspects in terms of mythology, with the first mention of DHARMA, complete with a possible "mad scientist" type (played by François Chau), the button and the number 108, which just so happens to be the sum of Hurley's "cursed" lottery-winning combination. Combined with the notion of the Others and that bizarre black smoke which has a knack for killing people, it looks like the Island's mysteries won't get dull any time soon.