A review of..... Lost: La Fleur - SPOILERS (obviously)

Remember grizzled, sarcastic, pain-in-the-ass Sawyer?...nope neither do I. At least not after La Fleur. I'm guessing the choice of name was no coincidence- James Ford's old alter ego is now dead and we are left with soft sensitive Jim La Fleur and with all the twists and turns that Lost offers up, the biggest surprise this episode is just how well Sawyer suits sensitive.

'La Fleur' is thankfully Sawyer centric, which is a welcome breath of fresh air as season four was criminally short on Sawyer. Although it could have centered around any of the 'Island crew' and it would have been a hundred times better than any o6 episode. Even the likable o6 members are getting tired and as for Kate and Jack you almost have to respect the writers for keeping them as central characters when their popularity has plummeted. They are needed, I get that but just so annoying. Hell! At least it's enjoyable to watch the them suffer!

Luckily unlike the o6 Sawyer's fate seems to be pretty good, in fact, with the exception of poor Danial who's heart brake over loosing Charlotte was genuinely touching, everyone seems to be loving the 70s. Jin is finally interacting with more characters now he can speak English well, Sawyer is head of security for Dahma and playing house pretty convincingly with Juliet.

Of cause they can't play Brady Bunch forever. Along come the o6 to complicate things and Horace's (love him, not sure why) question "is three years long enough to get over someone?" is fresh in Sawyer's mind. Well, personally I damn well hope so. I'd rather say something rude about Keamy's mum and suffer the results than sit through any more Jack, Sawyer, Kate angst. And after Daniel and Charlot's o so sweet relationship was cut rudely short I couldn't take it.

Although this episode was light on plot there were so many good character moments it was a real high note to go out on one week hiatus with. Besides, a bit of a brake from the Linus/Hawking/Widmore mind fu*kary is pretty welcome. It got the story where it needed to be in a artful engaging way- what Lost does best at the moment. All survivors are now back together, likewise the action and we have at last stopped the time travel. Whilst it's a shame this means the tantalising glimpse of the 4 toed statue will be the last and therefore there are no chances of a story line where Kate gets bloodily sacrificed by an ancient culture, the time jump cut off in the 70s worked out nicely. There will be three years of island life now for the writers to explore and it's given our islanders time to develop together. Plus it opens doors for lots of mystery solving involving the 1970's crew, like where did Adam and Eve (skeletons in the cave) come from?

The time travel was a huge risk for the writers and so far they have avoided any massive plot holes. It is incredible but they really have pulled it off. OK so it may have slightly 'jumped the shark' plot wise, but they jumped it with style! Lost is still keeping it fresh and me on the edge of my seat.

New questions: So John's resurrection was a given but there is new intrigue from this seasons 'suspicious newbee with ulterior motives' Cesar. I would be tired of another character like this but Dan, Charlotte and Miles have fast become my favorites, (we better not have seen the last of Charlotte) so fingers crossed.

Plus, for the love of Jacobe, who are the giant statue building-4 toed civilisation? (we are so never going to get the answer to that.)