Two for the Road (Lost)

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"Two for the Road"
Lost episode
Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) after shooting Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros).
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 20
Directed byPaul Edwards
Written byElizabeth Sarnoff
Christina M. Kim
Featured music"The Hard Way" by Kasey Chambers
Production code220
Original air dateMay 3, 2006 (2006-05-03)
Running time43 minutes[1]
Guest appearances
John Terry as Christian Shephard
Rachel Ticotin as Teresa Cortez
Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Lindsey Littleton
Michael Emerson as Henry Gale
Episode chronology
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"S.O.S." 		Next →
"?"
Lost season 2
List of episodes

"Two for the Road" is the 20th

television series Lost, and the show's 45th episode overall. The episode was written by supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff and producer Christina M. Kim, and directed by Paul Edwards. It first aired in the United States on May 3, 2006, on the American Broadcasting Company
. In the episode, flashbacks reveal more about Ana Lucia's past, while in present time, Ana Lucia tries to get a gun to kill Henry, and Michael returns to the rest of the survivors.

"Two for the Road" was generally well-received by critics who were shocked that Ana Lucia and Libby were killed off. The actresses

Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Episodic Drama for writing the episode.[4]

Plot

Flashbacks

Flashbacks begin directly after

Flight 815
and calls her mother, apologizing and telling her that she wishes to make things right. Teresa says she will be waiting for Ana Lucia in Los Angeles.

On the Island

In the present, Ana Lucia starts questioning

Others down and found out that they are living worse off than the survivors. He also says that once he is healthy, he will organize a rescue mission to reclaim his son Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley). After Locke and Jack begin to plan a rescue mission for Walt, they realize that they need more guns, and go to Sawyer, who realizes that Ana Lucia has stolen his. Elsewhere, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) has planned a romantic picnic for himself and Libby, but Hurley gets lost and leads them back to the survivors' beach. There, he realizes that he forgot to pack a blanket and Libby offers to go back to the hatch to retrieve one. She also suggests that Hurley ask Rose and Bernard for some wine for the picnic, a suggestion that Hurley is delighted to hear. Meanwhile, back in the hatch, Michael asks Ana Lucia what is going on and she explains a few things: Sawyer has all the guns, Jack, Locke, and Kate left to get the guns, and they currently have one of the Others, Henry, in captivity inside the armory. She mentions that Henry tried to kill her earlier in the day and that although she was about to kill Henry, she was not able to pull the trigger. Michael offers to do it, but after she hands him the gun he turns around and shoots her dead. Libby walks in with the blankets and startles Michael causing him to shoot her too. Michael then walks into the armory where Henry is being held. Instead of shooting Henry, Michael shoots himself in the arm.

Production

Producers denied rumors that Ana Lucia was killed off because of Michelle Rodriguez's behavior.

Filming

"Two for the Road" was the second episode of the series directed by Paul Edwards. Edwards had previously directed the episode "What Kate Did".

Numerous locations on Oahu were used as filming locations for the episode. The rooftop on

Renaissance Ilikai Waikiki Hotel. The scenes on the beach were shot at Oahu's Papa'iloa Beach as usual.[5]

Casting

The deaths of Ana Lucia and Libby caused speculation that they were killed off due to the

DUIs that actresses Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros received within fifteen minutes of each other on December 1, 2005. Watros pleaded guilty, was fined $370, and had her license suspended for 90 days. Rodriguez initially pleaded innocent, but in April 2006 pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to five days in Oahu correctional facility in May. But she ended up serving only 65 hours due to jail overcrowding.[6]

In February 2006,

US Weekly claimed that an insider told them that the Lost producers were frustrated with Rodriguez's behavior and were going to kill her character off.[7] In 2023, Maureen Ryan reported various allegations of co-showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse fostering a toxic work environment. Several sources, including a member of the writing staff for the second season, corroborated claims of Rodriguez's firing due to her December 2005 arrest. The writers' room also hung up the actresses' mugshots on the walls to mock their circumstances.[8]

After "Two for the Road" initially aired in May 2006, writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told TV Guide that when talking to Rodriguez about the part of Ana Lucia, she said that she would be interested, but only for a year. After sitting down with her, the two were very impressed with her energy, and decided to adjust their plan to make her character only last one season.[2] Later, in a 2020 podcast, Lindelof amended this and revealed Rodriguez expressed interest in continuing the role beyond her one-season deal midway through the season (shortly following the DUI charges), but he informed her they had already planned her death storyline.[9] However, in a December 2006 interview, Rodriguez previously stated she was informed two weeks before they shot the episode that her character was being killed off. She remarked how hard it was to keep it from the cast who were discussing their storylines next season for the two week interval.[10]

Lindelof made a claim of recalling that after they found out both Rodriguez and Watros got DUIs, he expressed concern that it would look like killing Ana and Libby was the producers attempt to say "Don't drive drunk!", and even considered re-writing the script so it wouldn't seem that way, but the producers decided just to keep it like it was. Lindelof also denied rumors that Rodriguez was killed off because she was hard to deal with, saying that Michelle was "totally professional and got along well with all the other actors". According to Lindelof and Cuse, Watros was very sad about Libby being killed off, and the producers felt bad for her, so they helped her get in a pilot for a show on CBS called My Ex-Life, although it was not picked up by the network.[2][11]

Writing

The episode was written by

third season episode, "The Glass Ballerina
".

Audience reception to Ana Lucia was unfavorable so they justified killing Libby alongside Ana Lucia to elicit sympathy.[13] However, Rodriguez's character was designed from the beginning as a "love-to-hate character", as Cuse remarked in a November 2005 podcast. Lindelof further described the character's intentional role as a "persona non grata in our society for some time to come" as a result of Shannon (Maggie Grace)'s death and becoming integrated into the fuselage camp.[14]

By the time they chose to write Rodriguez's character off, the producers had also scrapped plans for her character's romantic storyline with Jack (Matthew Fox) as part of a love rectangle with Kate and Sawyer. [citation needed] They attempted to rework the storyline with Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell, though after "The Other Woman", Lindelof felt the relationship was contrived and ended it as well.

The producers initially planned to bring Watros back as a recurring guest star, to tell Libby's story in a mysterious, posthumous way.

fifth season.[16]

Watros was available for and returned for the

sixth and final season for two episodes (the equivalent of the remaining episodes she was initially contracted to return for in Season 4 before the strike). Albeit, her role reprisal was in non-standard form. Due to the "alternate timeline" premise of the sixth season (later revealed to be the characters' "bardo
" awakenings), the flashback format had been discarded, which meant her character's backstory was never resolved following Libby's death, after being shot in "Two for the Road".

Reception

"Two for the Road" was viewed by 15.03 million American viewers, which was 1.5 million fewer than the ratings compared to the previous year.

February 2007 ceremony for writing the episode.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Lost - Netflix". Netflix. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Ausiello, Michael (2006-05-03). "Why Did Lost Kill Ana Lucia? Lindelof/Cuse Tell All!". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  3. ^ a b "Lost Ratings". Not Confused Just Lost. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  4. ^ a b "2007 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2007-12-05. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  5. ^ "Two for the Road". Lost Virtual Tour. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  6. ^ Associated Press (2006-05-04). "Sex, Bloodshed and Betrayal Served Up on 'Lost'". Fox News. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  7. ^ Splash News/ Snapper Media (2006-02-02). "Sexy Rodriguez told to get Lost: report". MSN. Archived from the original on 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  8. ^ Gularte, Alejandra (2023-05-30). "Showrunner Damon Lindelof Responds to Lost Accusations". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  9. ^ Dave Gonzales, Joanna Robinson & Neil Miller (13 May 2020). "The Storm: A Lost Rewatch Podcast". Player FM (Podcast). AudioBoom. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  10. ^ Tara DiLullo (2006-12-05). "Faith No More?". Lost - The Official Magazine. Bankside, London: Titan Publishing Group. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  11. ^ UPI News Service, (April 19, 2006) "Lost actress Cynthia Watros to make CBS My Ex-Life sitcom pilot Reality TV World. Retrieved on August 8, 2008.
  12. ^ https://thescriptsavant.com/tv/Lost_2x20_-_Two_for_the_Road.pdf#page=41
  13. ^ Ausiello, Michael (2006-05-10). "Why Lost Killed Libby". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  14. ^ Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (21 November 2005). "Official LOST TV Show Podcast Full - Seasons 2-6". Internet Archive (Podcast). ABC. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  15. ^ Godwin, Jennifer (May 7, 2009). "Lost Redux: Who Causes the Incident?". E!. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  16. ^ Godwin, Jennifer (May 7, 2009). "Lost Redux: Who Causes the Incident?". E!. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  17. TV Squad
    . Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  18. ^ a b Slocum, Mac (2006-05-04). "Key Points from "Two for the Road"". Filmfodder.com. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  19. ^ Daniel (2006-05-03). "So Glad to Have You Back, Michael". Television Without Pity. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-07-22.

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