A Tale of Two Cities
- Episode aired Oct 4, 2006
- TV-14
- 43m
IMDb RATING
8.6/10
6.6K
YOUR RATING
Jack, Kate and Sawyer are kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves as more sophisticated and savvy than anyone guessed.Jack, Kate and Sawyer are kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves as more sophisticated and savvy than anyone guessed.Jack, Kate and Sawyer are kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves as more sophisticated and savvy than anyone guessed.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
- Mr. Eko
- (credit only)
Naveen Andrews
- Sayid Jarrah
- (credit only)
Henry Ian Cusick
- Desmond Hume
- (credit only)
Emilie de Ravin
- Claire Littleton
- (credit only)
Jorge Garcia
- Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
- (credit only)
Daniel Dae Kim
- Jin-Soo Kwon
- (credit only)
Yunjin Kim
- Sun-Hwa Kwon
- (credit only)
Dominic Monaghan
- Charlie Pace
- (credit only)
Terry O'Quinn
- John Locke
- (credit only)
Kiele Sanchez
- Nikki Fernandez
- (credit only)
Rodrigo Santoro
- Paulo
- (credit only)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMichael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus (in season two known as Henry Gale), was originally contracted to appear in just three episodes but the producers were so impressed by him that they contracted him for a further five episodes (making eight in total). In season 3, he is a regular cast member.
- GoofsOceanic flight 815 is seen breaking up in-flight only a few hundred metres off the ground by Ben and Juliet. However, in season 1, when the tail breaks off, the plane is at cruising altitude well above the cloud layer.
- Quotes
Tom Friendly: Hey, you got yourself a fish biscuit. Now how'd you do that?
Sawyer: I figured out your complicated little gizmo.
Tom Friendly: It only took the bears two hours.
Sawyer: How many of 'em where there?
- Crazy creditsThe producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the people of Hawaii and their Aloha spirit.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Lost: Missing Pieces: The Envelope (2008)
Featured review
A promising tale
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 gets off to a promising start with "A Tale of Two Cities", a very good and nearly great episode in its own right and one of the better episodes for me to deal with this particular storyline. It is though something of a let down after Season 2's brilliant finale "Live Together, Die Alone" and not in the same league as the pilot episode(s) and "Man of Science, Man of Faith" as far as previous season openers go. Nothing is done terribly exactly, it is mainly because there are a couple of elements that have been done better in other episodes.
Jack's flashback scenes are where "A Tale of Two Cities" is at its least successful. They do a laudable job at making Jack more interesting and are well acted (Matthew Fox does give some of his best acting to date here in a powerful turn). On the other hand they are not exactly illuminating on Jack's character, generally reinforcing and slightly building upon what we already know and other episodes do better at having flashbacks that feel relevant with the rest of the episode and gel well.
However, the island events/mysteries, centred solely on the captives and the Others is where "A Tale of Two Cities" really engages. Kate and Sawyer don't have as much to do as the rest and are underused somewhat.
But the opening scene is very suspenseful, loved the development of The Others and there is a major revelation involving a major character's real identity that is well handled and is suitably surprising. It is the tautly written and superbly acted interaction with Jack and Juliet and the character of Juliet (only introduced here and already fascinating) that come off most successfully.
All the acting is great. Have already mentioned Matthew Fox and Michael Emerson is suitably chilling, but the best performance is given by the knockout that is Elizabeth Mitchell.
Can't fault the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effective use of music, mostly taut writing and the tightly controlled direction.
Overall, promising Season 3 opener. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Season 3 gets off to a promising start with "A Tale of Two Cities", a very good and nearly great episode in its own right and one of the better episodes for me to deal with this particular storyline. It is though something of a let down after Season 2's brilliant finale "Live Together, Die Alone" and not in the same league as the pilot episode(s) and "Man of Science, Man of Faith" as far as previous season openers go. Nothing is done terribly exactly, it is mainly because there are a couple of elements that have been done better in other episodes.
Jack's flashback scenes are where "A Tale of Two Cities" is at its least successful. They do a laudable job at making Jack more interesting and are well acted (Matthew Fox does give some of his best acting to date here in a powerful turn). On the other hand they are not exactly illuminating on Jack's character, generally reinforcing and slightly building upon what we already know and other episodes do better at having flashbacks that feel relevant with the rest of the episode and gel well.
However, the island events/mysteries, centred solely on the captives and the Others is where "A Tale of Two Cities" really engages. Kate and Sawyer don't have as much to do as the rest and are underused somewhat.
But the opening scene is very suspenseful, loved the development of The Others and there is a major revelation involving a major character's real identity that is well handled and is suitably surprising. It is the tautly written and superbly acted interaction with Jack and Juliet and the character of Juliet (only introduced here and already fascinating) that come off most successfully.
All the acting is great. Have already mentioned Matthew Fox and Michael Emerson is suitably chilling, but the best performance is given by the knockout that is Elizabeth Mitchell.
Can't fault the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effective use of music, mostly taut writing and the tightly controlled direction.
Overall, promising Season 3 opener. 8/10 Bethany Cox
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Mar 22, 2018
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