Lost: Hearts and Minds   Rewatch 
April 27, 2023 9:13 AM - Season 1, Episode 13 - Subscribe

Locke sends Boone on a vision quest.

S1E13: Hearts and Minds (Lostpedia | transcript): air date 12th January 2005 • writers Carlton Cuse & Javier Grillo-Marxuach • director Rod Holcomb • day 24 on the island • Boone flashbacks

Eye • a present for Shannon • Boone looming • just a friendly suggestion • we’re going to want him on our side • MAJOR digestive issues • gross little greyish-yellow things • sto lavorando • she’s special in a lot of ways • so be it • Sawyer in Boone’s flashback • no blood relation • we’re not the dating police • you’ll be the third guy I’ve paid to leave • closer to $50,000 • Sun’s smile • PEE ON IT • sneakier than I give myself credit for • Webelos • that’s where north should be • just getting what she’s owed • have you never lied to a man you loved? • a fish for Hurley • slimy little blueish-black thingies • monster hallucinations • you brought the money because you’re in love with me • ew, incesty • we’ll just go back to what it was • Shannon’s … dead? • it was only as real as you made it • time to let go

Nate Owens, The Rumpus Room: Re-Lost: Hearts and Minds
We just don’t see enough of Boone in Lost to make him much more than an annoyance. He just seems to be made up of spare parts from other characters. He’s impulsive, like Jack! He tags along, like Kate! He’s kind of a weiner, like Charlie! Except all three of those characters are better-acted and more fleshed-out.
Therese Odell, Houston Chronicle: Keeping it in the Family on Lost
[spoilers for future episodes & events throughout]
“Hearts and Minds” was a euphemism for how the military used propaganda during the Vietnam War, in an attempt to win over the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people as a means to win the war. It’s all about control. If you can win over the native population’s hearts and minds, you control them. In the episode, both Locke and Shannon manipulate Boone as a means to control him: Shannon manipulates his heart, Locke (quite literally) his mind. And why does Locke manipulate him? Because he needs Boone on his “side,” whatever that means.
Nate Owens:
So why do I still feel positive about “Hearts and Minds?” Well, in analyzing Boone, the episode tells us almost as much about John Locke, and there’s some very cool stuff there. Locke is beginning to use some interesting language. He mentions that they will want Sayid on “our side.” And when Boone asks him why they can’t tell the other Losties about the hatch, he responds that they aren’t ready yet. Locke seems to be sensing a coming divide between the survivors. He’s of course right, although those divides will usually be his doing. And it’s not just Locke who sees conflict on the horizon. Jack is checking on Locke. His trust in Locke seems to be faltering somewhat. No doubt part of his discomfort is the fact that the other survivors, like Charlie, seem completely sold that Locke is a survival genius. For the first time, Locke is beginning to build his own following, through little spirit-guide moments and few words. He always looks like he knows what he’s doing, even though he’s sort of faking.
Myles McNutt, AV Club: Lost (Classic): “Hearts And Minds”/“Special”
There’s still no certainty at this point in the story that the hatch is something more than a physical object Locke and Boone stumbled across in the jungle. And yet that’s what makes the hatch so integral to “Hearts And Minds.” It doesn’t need to mean something specific to take on meaning in the context of the island, and in Locke’s belief in it. Locke resists Boone’s efforts to tell anyone else about the hatch because he doesn’t think they will understand, and yet he knows that he understands the hatch and the island. He doesn’t need a compass, as he has come to understand the island in a way that transcends such silly tools of navigation. More than any other castaway, Locke has embraced the ways of the island as his own, and has accordingly taken the hatch as a symbol of what the island has to offer if he fully lets go of his past life in order to become one with his new surroundings.
Rewatch companion: THE STORM: A Lost Rewatch Podcast - S1, E13: "Hearts and Minds" with Caroline Framke
Joanna Robinson: “So why don’t you talk to me about what it is about Boone and/or Shannon that you are responding to?”
Caroline Framke: “Yeah, I think like is a generous word. I don’t dislike them. So maybe that already puts me ahead. But I think I just really appreciate the tropes that they represent. They feel like they were ripped from a CW drama and dropped into Lost. Not just because Ian Somerhalder obviously went on to The Vampire Diaries. But they’ve got that look. They’ve got that vibe. They’re like these sad rich kids. So um, god, some of the TV I loved the most as a teen was sad rich kids. So I felt I just really understood what they were there for. And I also thought it was frankly really interesting to have these two people who are so fish-out-of-water — not to like, you know, do island puns — but I feel like most other people in the cast had adjusted to the island, frankly, way better than I would have. I would be a useless mess. And I think having a couple people who are — and this episode obviously, like part of it is Boone trying to, both of them trying to pretend like they're not, or trying to be of use in some way. I thought that that was, if not fascinating, like at least kind of necessary because I feel like it’s a little — you know, unrealistic feels like a stupid word to throw at a show that gave us a polar bear in the first pilot. But I think it’s good to have some people who are like, um, this is really hard. I don’t like it. Maybe I'll just tan.”

Dave Gonzalez: “I don't think either character gets more depth here.”
Joanna Robinson: “I think I like Boone a little less after this episode, actually.”
Dave Gonzalez: “Like, when you were a guy that was just listening to Locke, you were a lot more likable than whoever this sad boy is.”
Joanna Robinson: “I think he lost likeability. Like when he was trying to save Joanna from drowning, like, you know, trying to be the Jack, and failing at being the Jack, still in the water, trying to be the Jack: I had some sympathy for him. I think it’s the moment that he called Shannon worthless that I was like, we’re done here. I'm okay. I’m good. We're good.”
Neil Miller: “I will say at the very least, it makes me less interested in Boone and more interested in the dangers Shannon presents to poor helpless Sayid, who has no idea what's coming for him. At least in season one, in the context of where we're at with this episode, it’s like Shannon: it’s all very bad. It’s very soap opera-ey. But it also sets her up as like: she is a player. Like, she can do some of what Sawyer can do, you know? Like, Sawyer’s a con man.”
Joanna Robinson: “On the one hand, yeah. On the other hand, doesn’t Shannon deserve a fresh start on the island? If Kate and — we’ll find out that Kate and Sawyer are responsible for [redacted], but we’re rooting for them to have their fresh start on the island. So, like, I feel Shannon deserves a fresh start on the island as well.”

“Locke? The guy's a freak of nature. Highly disturbed. But if there's one person on this island I would put my absolute faith in to save us all, it would be John Locke.”

L O S T
posted by We had a deal, Kyle (3 comments total)
 
Currently streaming in the US on Hulu (subscription) and Freevee (free with ads); in the UK on Disney+; and available for purchase just about everywhere. Next episode will post Saturday.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:18 PM on April 27, 2023


I think the show really lost its way with Boone and Shannon when it decided they were going to put them under sexual tension together. That was the misstep that made it possible for the writers to forego any important other characterization that might have made it possible for audiences to connect with them.
posted by Night_owl at 4:06 PM on April 29, 2023


Also they're kind of an uncomfortable fit in this show? Caroline Framke in the Storm interview mentions that "they feel like they were ripped from a CW drama and dropped into Lost" and yeah, that's kind of it exactly.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:49 PM on May 2, 2023


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