In a brilliantly frustrating move, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who share the writing duties on this episode, choose to ignore the immediate ramifications of Abandoned's tragic climax (the death of Shannon at the hands of Ana Lucia), preferring instead to look back on what has shaped up to be an interesting new plot element: the survivors from the tail section of Oceanic 815, first seen at the end of the season's second episode and incorrectly assumed to be the Others.
Ditching the usual flashback structure, The Other 48 Days is strictly Island-based and does exactly what it says on the tin: revisit the events of the show up to this point, but from the point of view of Ana Lucia and her group. We get to see how she, Eko, Bernard and Libby got onto the beach and struggled to realize what had happened to them, how they eventually came to terms with the fact that they were left on their own and how Goodwin (Brett Cullen), an undercover spy for the Others revealed to be dead in the present time-line a couple of episodes ago, tried to deceive them. All that, plus previously established events leading up to the sad conclusion of Abandoned.
The bold narrative decision to leave out the flashbacks pays off in spades, as the episode's plot - itself a collation of back-story segments, minus the off-Island bits - offers plenty of insights into this new group, clearly establishing it as very different from the main survivors we have familiarized with so far. With no camp, radio, Rousseau and whatnot, these people are truly alone, shaped by brutal experiences. Hints of Ana Lucia's predisposition for violence have already been shown earlier in the season (this also applies to Eko, although both actors' past roles have contributed to this general impression), and this alternative viewpoint provides viable explanations, laying the foundation for character arcs to be explored in future story lines. In short, what could easily have been a filler episode is actually an essential chapter in the Lost saga, adding to the show's richness and complexity, as the ending (a reshot version of the fatal Ana Lucia/Shannon encounter) simply but powerfully proves. On this evidence, the next few ones will be very much worthwhile.
Ditching the usual flashback structure, The Other 48 Days is strictly Island-based and does exactly what it says on the tin: revisit the events of the show up to this point, but from the point of view of Ana Lucia and her group. We get to see how she, Eko, Bernard and Libby got onto the beach and struggled to realize what had happened to them, how they eventually came to terms with the fact that they were left on their own and how Goodwin (Brett Cullen), an undercover spy for the Others revealed to be dead in the present time-line a couple of episodes ago, tried to deceive them. All that, plus previously established events leading up to the sad conclusion of Abandoned.
The bold narrative decision to leave out the flashbacks pays off in spades, as the episode's plot - itself a collation of back-story segments, minus the off-Island bits - offers plenty of insights into this new group, clearly establishing it as very different from the main survivors we have familiarized with so far. With no camp, radio, Rousseau and whatnot, these people are truly alone, shaped by brutal experiences. Hints of Ana Lucia's predisposition for violence have already been shown earlier in the season (this also applies to Eko, although both actors' past roles have contributed to this general impression), and this alternative viewpoint provides viable explanations, laying the foundation for character arcs to be explored in future story lines. In short, what could easily have been a filler episode is actually an essential chapter in the Lost saga, adding to the show's richness and complexity, as the ending (a reshot version of the fatal Ana Lucia/Shannon encounter) simply but powerfully proves. On this evidence, the next few ones will be very much worthwhile.