A Tale of Two Cities

Season 3, Episode 1, Aired
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Episode Summary

Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in unusual locations after being kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves to be more sophisticated than anyone could have previously guessed.
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Fan Episode Reviews (213)

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  • Hmm..

    8.0
    "Great"
    By mmvd, Jan 04, 2012 Report Abuse
    There was kind of a strain, because you didn't know what the other will du with Kate et cetera...the start with Juliet was great. Then the plane crash! Then you noticed: you're in the future when the plane crashed on the beach. But then Kate and the others were captivated. And the tension was gone. The whole mystery about the others was just gone. But it was the first episode in which you found out that there is another town.moreless

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    0 0

  • The writeres ran out of ideas.. it's just boring now.

    4.0
    "Poor"
    By Kuznech, Nov 05, 2011 Report Abuse
    I was addicted to Lost, but the plot has gone wild.. ther'es too many storylines, the others are not interesting. and why don't we see what happenes on shore or what happened to lock eko and charlie? Lost has JUMPED THE SHARK! for the first episode of the season we learn nothing. locked in bear cages and under-water aqurium? Jack and Kate are not intersting. I wanna know what's going on with Charlie, Sayid, Hurley and Sun.. That Henry/Ben guy is a charchter not well-thought or well-written. It feels like those soup operas, that runs out of ideas and they add an evil twin brother..moreless

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    1 5

  • I wasn’t really disappointed by the first episode, as I was really disappointed by the second’s season last episode.

    2.5
    "Terrible"
    By galanou, Mar 26, 2011 Report Abuse
    I wasn't really disappointed by the first episode, as I was really disappointed by the second's season last episode. I think it was pretty obvious that in the new season the writers of the series had the intention of revealing, once again, absolutely nothing.
    I didn't even find the 5 fist minutes exciting, what was the exciting about them? We found out that the plane crashed while the others were already on the island, something that we already knew. If that was the 5th or 6th episode maybe I would have found it interesting, but after waiting for 3 months the big premiere that everybody was talking about
    I'm starting to wonder if the writers have a story in their minds or if they are just trying to keep people in front of their TV sets for as long as they can, without having a clue of how this story is going to end.moreless

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    3 3

  • Awesome.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Sarah_LOST, Oct 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    Jack is imprisoned in the Hydra, an underwater Dharma Initiative station, and interrogated by an Other named Juliet. Kate and Sawyer are kept in nearby cages. Sawyer tries to escape with a teenage Other named Karl, but they are caught. "Henry Gale," whose real name is Ben, is revealed to be the leader of the Others. In flashbacks, Jack obsessively tries to find out who his wife Sarah is having an affair with during his divorce settlement. Jack suspects his father and attacks him at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Jack is arrested and bailed out by his wife. What an awesome way to start the season, I love the song and I love Jack, his back story's are always amazing plus he is hot. I love the scene where he wakes up and he is locked in a room and then we walks into a window - so funny. I also love it when Kate wakes up and then Sawyer wakes up all in different places. But there all in the same area and I love the area is awesome. I love the scenes with Jack and Jukiet and the scene with Ben and Kate. The scene with Kate and Sawyer is awesome too, I love the way Sawyer gets the fish biscuit.moreless

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    1 1

  • A different slant on the island

    8.5
    "Great"
    By DavidB226Morris, Oct 11, 2009 Report Abuse
    .The title of this episode is a reference to Dickens' classic tale,, and seems to be referring the two civilizations that have cropped up on the island. We've gotten a pretty clear idea of what the survivors of Oceanic 815 have built to over the past 66 days (and from this point on, we now have a pretty good idea how much time is preceding between episodes); now we get a look at the 'other' side of the coin.

    There's a slightly more civil veneer of the Others little village, but from what we see in this episode alone, it's not any more solid than the one the Losties have built. The Other's may have nice houses, indoor plumbing, and book clubs (!) but they don't seem quite as joyous for all the miraculous things that they have.. The first flashback is the day of the crash from their perspective, specifically a woman named Juliet, who doesn't seem any happier on the island than anyone else. The feeling of a hierarchy is present, but it's pretty hard to believe in when she is trying to do the dirty work, that her heart is really in it. It's for these reasons (as well as her crying jag) that make us sympathize with Juliet. Elizabeth Mitchell's dazzling work doesn't hurt, either
    .
    The cliffhanger to Season 2 set up a LOT of questions, so perhaps it's not surprising that we only get one set of them answered. For starters, where are Jack, Kate and Sawyer. All three awaken in different place suggesting the use of drugs. Jack is inside in a cage surrounded by a hall of mirrors. Kate awakens in a shower with a bandage on her arm, and Tom (now known to be 'Mr. Friendly's real name) Sawyer wakes up in actual cage that seems set up for animals mixed with something out of B.F. Skinner, as we see when he tries to feed himself. Sawyer is the only one who wakes up with company--- a teenager across from him, who looks hopeful at the idea of another society to join. He manages to help Sawyer escape for a few fleeting moments, only to be recaptured, and forced to apologize to Sawyer. All we know about the boy is his name is Karl. What does he have to do with anything? More than you'd think.
    However, the episode is Jack centered, which is sort of a shame, because we now know him so well, watching him struggle with his failed marriage or his lousy father doesn't really tell us anything. By now we know Jack can't let anything go. Wee that with his attitude towards Kate; we se it every time he dealt with Locke, and now we see that he's being dealing with it with the Others. For some reason, Juliet has been assigned to work with him, and unlike the others she takes a softer approach, for all the good it does her. It now seem as if all the struggles have caught up with, and the island seems to have completely worn him down. Yes, like Sawyer he does charge after Juliet, and tries to make an escape, but watch carefully what he does. When he hears that if he opens a door in the cage, they all die, he then shoves it open--- and water comes pouring in. Only when he sees that's he put someone in danger does he stop the charge to destroy everything--- which includes the island.

    We do get one question answered--- the man who we spent half the time wondering was Henry Gale is actually Ben, and though he commands leadership, the Others don't seem to care for him any more than Kate does, when he puts her in a dress, invites her down for breakfast, and coldly tells her the next two weeks are going to be very difficult,. We don't know what the Others have planned, but they're probably not going to be discussing 'Carrie' with her.

    Jack's flashback, while a little contrived, does show something that we didn't know. While he seemed a good moral person in his story, the breakup of his marriage with Sarah seems to have undone him. He starts lashing out at everyone, including Sarah and his father, and the consequences are disastrous. He drives his father back to the bottle (and even though he knows how horrible his problem is, he doesn't seem that sorry about it.) and now makes sure Sarah never talks with him again. This is a paranoid streak that will become apparent when he gets off the island.

    We do get some information about the Others, but there are far more gaps in the limelight. Jack is being held in a Dharma station called the Hydra (which wasn't on the blast door map but Juliet seems to make clear that the two are not the same. Who are they? How did the Others get also the amenities--- books,, ovens, plumbing, etc For that matter, how do they have electricity? How is that they have all this information on the passengers? Some of this information could be found by a person with patience and a good internet site, so that's not as shocking. but they also seem to know things that the castaways haven't revealed to anybody. How willing a participant is Juliet? We can see she clearly doesn't much like Ben; is she doing this of her own will. And why is it that Kate and Sawyer seem to be getting less fancy treatment than Jack is? Do they think he's more important. Not to mention, we don't know what's happened to Sayid, Sun and Jin, or what the hell happened to the hatch when the sky turned purple. This is a good episode to get us back in the swing of things, but it could have been quite a bit better. What stick in the mind is the fine work by Mitchell and Michael Emerson. The last thing Ben told Michael was 'they're the good guys" and Juliet seems like one., but surely there are less violent ways to be good. Are the Others as united as they seem? This will be quite important the further along the season progresses.
    Myscore:8.5moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Back in Season 2's "Maternity Leave", when given a book to read, Henry Gale says, "You don't have any Stephen King?". We learn in this episode that he dislikes Stephen King. Edit
    • When Tom pushes the latch down on Sawyer's cage, he doesn't actually close the padlock on the lock. Edit
    • Juliet says Jack attended Columbia University, but on his wall in his office is a degree from the University of California (which has his name misspelled as "Shepard"). Edit

  • Notes

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    • Matthew Fox submitted this episode for consideration on his behalf in the category of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" at the 2007 Emmy Awards. Edit
    • This episode was nominated for the 2007 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Sound Effects and Foley for Television - Short Form. This episode was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. Edit
    • Although they are credited, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), and Kiele Sanchez (Nikki) do not appear in this episode. Edit

  • Quotes

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    • (After Jack has burst into his father's AA meeting and Jack is told his father has been talking about him) Jack: What did you tell them about me, dad? That your son never really "had it"? Not like the old man. I didn't have the will to make it work, my life, my job, my marriage? What did you tell them about my marriage, dad? Edit
    • Jack: What's his name? Sarah: Jack, stop. Jack: I'm not gonna stop, I'm gonna keep asking you that until you tell me. Jack: I don't ask you what you do in - Jack: Just tell me what his name is. I wanna know who he is. Look, you can have everything, the cars, the house, I don't care. I just - I just wanna know the name of the man that is worth my wife. Edit
    • (about the handcuffs) Ben: Sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you to put those on, Kate. Kate: And if I don't? Ben: Then you don't get any coffee. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The scene with Kate in a dress was an allusion from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the idea of making tom-boyish Kate vulnerable. Edit
    • Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi: Sawyer calls Karl "Chachi", a character on these TV shows which aired between 1974 to 1984. Edit
    • Episode Title: The title A Tale of Two Cities is taken from a well-known Charles Dickens novel with the same title. In the novel, a man, learning he is to become the next Marquis St. Everemonde, is desperate to hide this information from his new father-in-law, a Briton who had been imprisoned by the man's uncle years before. Meanwhile, when he must return to Paris on matters of business, he is captured by the members of the French Revolution and sent to the guillotine. The man's life is spared by an acquaintance who takes his place at the guillotine, a British lawyer who bears an uncanny resemblance to the man. Also, in the official podcast, Damon Lindelof explained that the "two cities" refer to the two "societies" of the Others and the survivors. Edit

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