page_title: Meet Kevin Johnson
section_title: Critical response
hierarchical_section_title: Meet Kevin Johnson / Reception / Critical response
caption_attribution_description: English: Blake Bashoff at the stage door of Spring Awakening following a performance as Moritz Stiefel.
context_page_description: "Meet Kevin Johnson" is the 80th television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's Lost and the eighth episode of the fourth season. It was written in October and November 2007 by supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff and co-producer Brian K. Vaughan, and directed in November by co-executive producer Stephen Williams. "Meet Kevin Johnson" first aired March 20, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada.
  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 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".
context_section_description: Critics and fans alike criticized the writers' seeming disregard for the Lost timeline. Based on the actions and whereabouts of characters in the third season, fans could deduce when parts of Michael's flashbacks occurred in relation to events on the island. John Kubicek of BuddyTV wrote that "This timeline results in some serious issues fans should have with time … This makes almost no sense … Michael left in the boat, he had to find help, come ashore, somehow explain himself, get on a plane back to New York City, drop off Walt to live with his grandma, find an apartment, get into a car accident, recover, and only then did he meet Tom. Either the writers are playing fast and loose with the concept of time, or Michael had the busiest week in the history of the world." Using Lostpedia as a reference, Nikki Stafford of Wizard pointed out that the chronology was not only almost inconsistent with the third season, but also with an earlier episode of the same season. Damon Lindelof responded that "we [the writers and producers] find that the [fan message] boards can be really toxic" and pointed specifically to the "nitpick[ing]" of the possible continuity issues of "Meet Kevin Johnson", saying in defence of the script that "it's television."
  The cliffhanger, in which Rousseau and Karl are killed and Alex calls out in desperation that she is Ben's daughter, gained a mixed response. In an 8.8 out of 10 review, IGN's Chris Carabott called the scene "completely out of place … tacked on and anticlimactic" as it "came at the strangest moment". Jay Glatfelter of The Huffington Post deemed the cliffhanger "a shocker"; he asked "do we really care [about Karl's death]? I mean, he did have a nice new haircut and all, but he really wasn't too interesting of a character." Despite his assessment that "this impressive episode was a fitting midseason finale", Digital Spy's Ben Rawson-Jones wrote that the "climax wasn't as effective as one could have hoped for, as the collective fates of Alex, Danielle and the ultra-expendable Karl don't rouse a great deal of interest." Grading the episode as a "B", Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen was also unimpressed with the cliffhanger and the characters carrying it; he felt that network executives were partially to blame for going against the wish of the show's creative team to broadcast "Meet Kevin Johnson" as a midseason premiere as opposed to a midseason finale. Jensen criticized the episode's unique flashback format, commenting that it lacked the usual "deeper, more immersive experience [that] embellishes the sophistication of the storytelling" of Lost.
  "Meet Kevin Johnson" had a share of good reviews, with critics acclaiming the character development and emotional struggles of Michael. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger found this "middle chapter" to be "quite good" with "a fine performance from Mr. Perrineau". Sepinwall wrote that Michael's "struggle to deal with the guilt from his Faustian bargain to save Walt was another moving example of how the writers this season are really trying to build on the emotional impact of everything that's happened before." The San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman echoed this praise and referred to "Gay Tom" as "a unique and funny twist". Cynthia Littleton of Variety wrote that "Perrineau plays it just right most of the time—no hysterics or scenery-chewing, just a man trying to do the right thing, most of the time." In a four-out-of-five-star review, Digital Spy's Ben Rawson-Jones lauded the lack of interruption to the flashback and commented that "[Michael's] suicidal plight was well conveyed and there were plenty of shocks and thrills along the way". Dan Compora of SyFy Portal enjoyed seeing dead characters in flashbacks and commended Perrineau's performance and character's story, while criticizing the underutilization of the rest of the main cast. In an overall positive review for the episode, The Huffington Post's Jay Glatfelter had mixed feelings for the revelation of Tom's sexual orientation, writing that "It seemed a little oddly placed, kind of like 'Let's
caption: Actor Blake Bashoff, who plays Karl, left Lost for Broadway theatre.
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