Over the years "Hearts and Minds" has come to be regarded as one of the weakest season one episodes. Upon revisiting it yet again I am as oblivious to the reasoning behind its reception as I was in season one. Yes, the flashbacks aren't great, but they are solid enough and far from as completely irritating and boring as, say, "Whatever the Case May Be". They fit Shannon's character, they fit Boone's character, and they're fairly entertaining thanks to a convincingly-written script by Carlton Cuse and Javier Grillo-Marxuach.
Similarly, I just do not understand what can be seen as bad about the real-time events. Locke's character gets an interesting spin and examination through his inducing of Boone's vision quest and his interactions with Sayid and with Jack, Boone is given solid material, and there's some really fun, enjoyable scenes with Jin and Hurley.
"Hearts and Minds" is directed beautifully by Rod Holcomb, perhaps the highlight in terms of direction of the first season as a whole. There are numerous shots that stand out and the monster attack during Boone's vision is really quite wonderfully filmed and edited. Carlton Cuse, on the DVD commentary track, points to the silhouette shot of Boone in the dark after he has presumably had sex with Shannon as one of his favorite shots on the show and I can't argue with him on that, it really is beautiful. The whole thing is very tastefully-directed and comes as a relief after many episodes early in the season that looked like a retarded monkey had given directing a shot.
The whole episode has a different air about it than most episodes. Boone's vision quest is appropriately dream-like and alien, the Hurley/Jin dynamic is an interesting extrapolation of Jin's character which even with "House of the Rising Sun" in consideration was fairly one-sided and very serious.
"Hearts and Minds" is considered by many to be among the weakest episodes of not only the first season but also of the entire series. Other than its lack of advancement of plot and character I cannot see many of the weaknesses others point at. The flashbacks are watchable and the events on the island are hugely entertaining. A flawed but fun episode that stands out as being one of the best of the first season on a visual level.
8.5/10
