"Meet Kevin Johnson" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction drama television series Lost. It was written in October and November 2007 by supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff and co-producer Brian K. Vaughan, and filmed that November. The episode was directed by co-executive producer Stephen Williams.ABC Medianet, (February 29, 2008) "Sayid Confronts Ben's Spy on the Freighter, and Ben Pleads with Daughter Alex to Flee Locke's Camp to Survive an Impending Attack ". Retrieved February 29, 2008. "Meet Kevin Johnson" first aired March 20, 2008, on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States and on CTV in CanadaABC Medianet, (March 7, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule Grids ". Retrieved on March 17, 2008. with a running time of 42 minutes.
In the second-season finale, after 67 days of being stranded on a mysterious and mystical tropical island, Oceanic Airlines 815 crash survivor Michael Dawson (played by Harold Perrineau) successfully negotiates his escape via motorboat with the island's dangerous original inhabitants, whom the survivors refer to as the "Others". One month later in the episode before "Meet Kevin Johnson", Michael reappears on a freighter offshore of the island, undercover with the alias "Kevin Johnson". Most of the narrative of "Meet Kevin Johnson" consists of a continuous flashback—the third longest in the show's history after "Across the Sea" and "The Other 48 Days"—showing what happened to Michael in the month that he spent away in New York and on the freighter, primarily his recruitment aboard the freighter Kahana as a spy for the Others.
The writers completed "Meet Kevin Johnson", the eighth of 16 ordered scripts, on the same day that the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike action began. Post-production finished weeks later without input from the show's writers. ABC pledged to air the completed eight episodes regardless of the strike's resolution, but the writers felt that the episode's cliffhanger was unsuitable as a potential season finale. ABC ultimately overruled their opposition.
"Meet Kevin Johnson" was watched by 13 million Americans and was met with mixed reactions. A major discussion point was the episode's climax, which was criticized for its placement in the story and its focus on secondary characters. Although critics responded well to Michael's emotional journey, they complained that his physical journey seemed to conflict with Lost's timeline that had been laid out in previous episodes. The episode was honored with the fourth season's sole Primetime Emmy Award for its achievement in sound mixing.
Plot The episode's opening is set on December 26, 2004, over three months after the crash of Oceanic 815. Sayid and Desmond are on the freighter Kahana, moored offshore of the island where the plane crashed. The freighter is owned by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who is intent on extracting the Others' leader Ben Linus (Michael Emerson). Captain Gault (Grant Bowler) stops two crewmembers from deserting the freighter in a raft. He publicly beats them and shouts that this is to save their lives, reminding the crew of what happened to George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) when he left the boat. The next morning, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) confronts Michael about his motivations, and the narrative shifts into an uninterrupted flashback of Michael's life after escaping from the island.
Michael and his son Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley) return to New York. Overcome with guilt, Michael confesses that he murdered Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros) as part of his rescue of Walt from the Others' captivity. Michael becomes estranged from Walt, who goes to live with Michael's mother (Starletta DuPois). Michael is haunted by apparitions and nightmares of Libby. Michael attempts to kill himself twice, but is unsuccessful. That night, Michael is confronted by Tom (M.C. Gainey), the Other who abducted Walt. Tom explains that Widmore staged the wreckage of Flight 815 found in the ocean and is determined to find the island. He also explains that the island will not allow Michael to kill himself, and tasks Michael with infiltrating the freighter Kahana to kill everyone on board. Michael agrees to this and boards the freighter from Fiji. Michael becomes acquainted with the crew and hesitates to sabotage their mission until he finds Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and his associates target-practicing with machine guns. After Michael tries to detonate a provided bomb only to discover that it is a fake, Ben contacts Michael by radio and explains that the trick illustrated his stance against killing innocent people in his war against Widmore. The flashback ends and Sayid, appalled by Michael's association with Ben, exposes his duplicity to Gault.
On the island in the Others' abandoned Barracks where some of the survivors have taken residence, 815 survivor John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) meets with his faction to discuss the freighter and Ben reveals that Michael is spying for him there. Ben later urges his adopted daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde) to flee to the Others' sanctuary at the "Temple" for safety; she is accompanied by her biological mother Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) and boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff). On their way, Karl and Rousseau are shot dead by hidden assailants and Alex surrenders.
Production Casting
"Meet Kevin Johnson" features the first appearance of Cynthia Watros as Libby in Lost since the second-season finale.Raggs, Matt, (January 18, 2006) "The Character of Claire ", The Fuselage. Retrieved on August 30, 2007. After her character's death in the second season, Watros became the first main cast member never to play the central role in a Lost episode. Several members of production stated that the character's backstory would be explained in later episodes, but this was continually postponed.Ausiello, Michael, (May 10, 2006) "Why Lost Killed Libby", TV Guide. Retrieved on August 30, 2007. Jensen, Jeff, (January 31, 2007) "The Isle Files ", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on August 19, 2007.Ausiello, Michael, (September 20, 2007) "Lost Resurrects Libby!", TV Guide. Retrieved on September 20, 2007. Watros made a couple of appearances via hallucinations in Michael's flashbacks in "Meet Kevin Johnson". The writers asserted that while they had yet to shed light on the character's past, they would finally in their fifth year.Littleton, Cynthia, (April 15, 2008) "Lost at NAB ", Variety. Retrieved on December 6, 2008. When Watros returned to Lost for "Meet Kevin Johnson", she did not receive the "special guest star" credit, as was customary for former main cast members of Lost. She was instead billed simply as a guest star, although her name appeared with that of frequent guest star M.C. Gainey ahead of the remainder of the episode's guest cast, who were listed alphabetically on-screen."Lost on Location: 'Meet Kevin Johnson' ". Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience, Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Featurette, disc 6. Released on December 9, 2008. Damon Lindelof said that "it was sort of like a walk down memory lane for the dead", as the episode included several characters who died earlier on the show.
First-season regular cast member Malcolm David Kelley returned in an uncredited cameo for a single scene as Michael's ten-year-old son Walt without dialogue and from a distance. Fifteen-year-old Kelley said make-up was applied to him in an effort for him to look younger;Hollywood 411, (April 7, 2008) "Lost: Malcolm David Kelley ", TV Guide. Retrieved on April 10, 2008. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse later clarified that footage of Kelley from production on the first season was composited into the shot.Lindelof, Damon & Cuse, Carlton, "There's No Place Like Home". Lost: The Complete Third Season – The Extended Experience, Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Audio commentary, disc 4. Released on December 9, 2008. Because Kelley was so obscured and his name did not appear in the cast list, television critics were convinced that Walt had been recast.Heisler, Steve, (March 21, 2008) "Lost Me Tender: Where's Walt, Though? ", Time Out. Retrieved on March 21, 2008.Daniel, (March 21, 2008) "Lost Diary: 'Meet Kevin Johnson' ", TMZ.com. Retrieved on March 21, 2008.
Having appeared in six episodes of the third season and the first two of the fourth season, Blake Bashoff was cast as Moritz Stiefel in the Broadway production of Spring Awakening.Hetrick, Adam, (December 7, 2008) "Bashoff to Replace Gallagher, Jr. in Spring Awakening; Burton Will Also Join Cast ", Playbill. Retrieved on March 23, 2008. He warned Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that he would be unable to shoot Lost for at least six months beginning in December 2007, as he rehearsed for and performed in the production.Godwin, Jennifer, (March 21, 2008) "Oh My God! Those Bastards! They Killed ****! ", E!. Retrieved on March 21, 2008. The producers decided to that the character would die in this episode. The cliffhanger of "Meet Kevin Johnson" sees Karl shot dead by unseen killers in the jungle. Two episodes later, the character Miles Straume (Ken Leung) finds Karl partially buried in the jungle dirt, but this corpse is portrayed by a body double.
Writing
The Writers Guild of America went on strike on November 4, 2007McNary, Dave & Littleton, Cynthia, (November 2, 2007) "Writers Call for Strike ", Variety. Retrieved on November 3, 2007.—the day that the writers finished editing the final draft of the script of "Meet Kevin Johnson".Lindelof, Damon & Cuse, Carlton, (November 5, 2007) "Lost Writers: 'Like Putting Down a Harry Potter Book in the Middle' ", Variety. Retrieved on November 8, 2007. The writers wanted to hold the eight episodes until they were able to produce more of the season because the eighth episode has a "very cool" yet inconclusive cliffhanger that was not written to end the season;Goldman, Eric, (November 7, 2007) "Writers Strike: Should Lost Air This Season? ", IGN. Retrieved on November 8, 2007.Fernandez, Maria Elena, (December 14, 2008) "Lost Fans: Look Out for That Cliffhanger! ", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on March 18, 2008. they compared it to "the end of an exciting book chapter [but] not the end of the novel."Ausiello, Michael, (December 12, 2008) "Lost Abandoning Wednesday?", TV Guide. Retrieved on March 19, 2008. ABC decided that the eight episodes would be aired from January to March, regardless of whether anymore episodes were produced in the 2007–2008 season.Grossman, Ben, (November 7, 2007) "Strike Coverage: ABC to Air Partial Season of Lost ", Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved on November 8, 2007. After the strike's end on February 12, 2008, the writers pleaded with ABC to air "Meet Kevin Johnson" on April 17 with the second pod of episodes, due to "the eighth episode [being] non-traditional and the start of something new".Ausiello, Michael, (February 13, 2008) "Exclusive: Lost Finds Post-Grey's Berth!", TV Guide. Retrieved on March 18, 2008. ABC prioritized scheduling Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Lost's returns all for April 24.ABC Medianet, (February 20, 2008) "ABC Announces the Return of Television's Biggest Hits Shows ". Retrieved on March 19, 2008.