5x07: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Another great episode in a great season. Let me break down my comments by location, saving the on-island stuff for last (and I’ll note upfront that this one gave “316” a run for its “least island time ever” money, although it didn’t “win”):

Tunisia: We have now established that the donkey wheel always throws you out in Tunisia; unfortunately, we’ve also established that it makes you throw up, and we don’t really need to see that again, okay? I’m curious as to why Widmore just now set up the cameras; they weren’t there when Ben showed up, but maybe Widmore believed that Ben would never exile himself from the island.
The great gasp moment of the episode was when we see Abaddon lurking in the shadows at the hospital as a precursor to Widmore himself showing up. Widmore is genuinely awed that this many he met so many years ago on the island remembers that being just a few days ago in his time. Apparently Widmore has had his eye on Locke for a long time, as we learn that Abaddon does indeed work for him (more on him later).
Widmore drops the bomb that Ben tricked him into moving the island, that he (Widmore) was the leader of the Others, and thinks he did the same to Locke. I wonder how he thinks Ben would have accomplished this from the real world, though. Anyway, he lays it out for the rest of the series by saying that a war is coming and the “right” side won’t win unless Locke is on the island. More on this at the end, since it is of the utmost importance.

It is Widmore who gives Locke his new sobriquet, and admits that he is spying on the Oceanic Six, which he claims to be an act of benevolence. He also seems to know that Ben attempted to kill Locke before, but how? Or did Ben do the same to him?

The timeline of Ben tricking Widmore is tough to ascertain. The Purge did not take place until around 1988, long after Widmore would have to be off the island building his business empire and giving birth to Penny. Is that a Widmore lie (he may well turn out to be a compulsive liar like Ben), or did young Ben manage to trick Widmore while working with the Others to enable the Purge?

So Widmore sends Locke on his way, with Abaddon, who is now once again Locke’s nurse, and I of course “next time you see me, you’ll owe me one” came to mind immediately.

Santo Domingo: Sayid, after working for Ben for two years, is trying to get penance by building casas. He sniffs out that Locke must be working for someone, but Locke doesn’t say it was Widmore as he was admonished not to. Sayid tells Locke that he has nowhere else to go, which is why he is so desperate to return to the island, a theme that will be repeated by Kate and Jack.

New York: Locke is there to see Walt, and Abaddon speaks for the audience when he says “that boy’s gotten big”. Not even Locke though can bring himself to tell Walt the truth about his father; while Locke may not be positive Michael died, he has to know it was the most likely scenario. On the plus side, Locke’s fatherly concern for Walt is displayed when he does not ask him to come back. As Abaddon questions his tactics, Locke admits that Jack is the key to his plans: if Jack will go, they all will. Locke has recognized Jack’s leadership traits since “White Rabbit” and is ready to use them to help his cause.

Most interesting about this encounter is that Walt is having dreams about Locke--he's still in communion with the island somehow. These dreams, that show Locke in a suit surrounded by people trying to hurt him, are obviously prophetic in nature, and I’m sure we’ll see them come to fruition as the Ajira 316 passengers consider their circumstances.

Santa Rosa: Love that Hurley is drawing a desert scene with the Sphinx, and that he thinks Locke is just another ghost like Charlie. Hurley is terrified of Abaddon after their first encounter, and generally freaks out and is of no value to Locke.

Kate’s house: Not a lot of insight here, with Kate taking Sayid’s point about belonging and adding the feminine touch that it’s because Locke doesn’t love anyone.

Cemetery: Helen is dead, and does the fact that it was of a brain aneurysm mean anything? Maybe, maybe not. I vote for red herring. Anyway, Ben kills Abaddon, and Locke is injured yet again as he tries to get away.

The only real disappointing thing about this episode was the demystification of Matthew Abaddon, whose first three appearances marked him as one of the creepiest characters on LOST, and here just seemed to be a gofer for Widmore, helping “people get to where they need to get”. I had thought that Abaddon might be a third party actor, but I should have known better after his scene with Naomi in “Confirmed Dead”.

Hospital: I love Jack’s retort when Locke crows about destiny bringing him to Jack’s hospital: “It’s probability”. As a man of probability myself, that warmed my heart. But Jack’s father issues are the wedge that Locke is able to use to make him believe.

Hotel room: Ben offers an alternate explanation for the surveillance of the Oceanic Six, and just as in the case of the plane crash, we still don’t know which of the two men is telling the truth. Both feel that Locke is a lot more valuable than a pawn, though, that much is for sure. We get confirmation that Locke kept his promise to Jin and did not ask Sun to return, and that is was unscrupulous Ben who exploited this angle. Ben saves Locke from suicide, but murders him when he learns that he knows about Eloise.

Why did that revelation cause a complete reversal of course for Ben? We don’t really know enough to answer that. Obviously she is playing both sides, but where do her loyalties really lie?

This episode will certainly have the effect of turning a lot of people’s theories about LOST upside-down, particularly those who follow a simple “Ben’s side good, Charles’ side evil” approach. Some will probably even flip to the other camp.

But as I wrote today, I believe that the true nature of good and bad, black and white on LOST is a long way from being settled. What I do believe strongly is that both Ben and Widmore are utterly amoral, ready to use anyone as a tool to achieve their objective. We may well learn in the course of the upcoming war which Widmore claims Locke needs to be on the island for the “right side to win” that one side is indeed “good”, and it may well be Ben’s, but there is absolutely no way that the actions of Benjamin Linus can be justified. Maybe now that he’s attempted (for the second time) to murder Locke the rest of the world will come around.

The Island: We quickly learn that Cesar and Illana are on Hydra island, and it’s a treat to see photos of h-bomb tests in that station. We learn that Frank and a woman took off with one of the canoes in the middle of the night, and that Hurley and company vanished from the plane in mid-air. The plane looked to be not too damaged; did Frank manage to land it on the infamous runway as he did the helicopter in “Confirmed Dead”?

It certainly seems as if the plane is in the present, which means that it was almost surely the Ajira survivors and not the Oceanic Six who fired on Sawyer, Locke, and company in “The Little Prince”. But who was the woman who went with Frank? The most obvious answer is Sun, since she is as of yet unaccounted for, but the vanishing act seems to indicate that the people who were supposed to be there were taken by the island. So why wouldn’t Sun be in that group?

Ben was hurt badly--and I believe that is because he wasn’t supposed to be on the plane. Maybe that explains why Hawking was working with him; she knew that a return trip to the island would have disastrous consequences for him, and wanted him to go.

Now we have a new group of survivors, stranded and confused. Is Caesar the new Jack? He seems to be a man of science when he investigates the Hydra station, and that would just make his brief conversation with Jack at the airport all the more meaningful. And how long will it be before they turn on Locke, fulfilling Walt’s prophecy while acting just as the tailies did with Nathan? Locke’s story obviously would seem insane to them, much as his story of regaining the use of his legs would have seemed insane to the rest o the Lostaways had he spilled it at the very beginning.

5x07 Pre-Thoughts

One of the things that comes up from time to time is the question of who is “good” and “bad” on Lost. The Others are fond of saying they are the “good guys”, but are they really? Is Widmore really evil?

My belief is that both sides are amoral and simply attempting to serve their own interests. But it may well be that one side’s objectives are better than the other in some meaningful way, and I think it’s more likely that the Others are on that side than Widmore and his people.

That being said, there is one thing I know for sure about LOST. Benjamin Linus is a bad guy. He may be working for the nominally good side, but make no mistake--he is an evil person. He is one of the most charming evil people out there, as seen by the Lostaways continuing to trust him when they have every reason in the world not to, and by his popularity among fans of the show. He is a great character, and Michael Emerson is a fantastic actor.

But Ben Linus is evil. There is no goal, no matter how noble, that can justify all of the evil actions that he has taken. Again, he may be less evil than Widmore, but don’t let that distract you from the truth that he is a bad dude.

Ms. Hawking said the island is constantly moving in time. So why doesn’t anyone on the island ever notice unless there is a catastrophic event like the donkey wheel getting offline?

Based on the fact that the island’s movement can be estimated with some accuracy by the equipment in the Lamppost, my explanation is that the movement of the island in time is predictable and stable under normal circumstances. Therefore, the people on the island do not notice and it does not effect them.

Consider the matter of the Earth. Our planet is hurtling through space at unbelievable speed, and at the same time it is revolving rapidly around the sun, and at the same time it is spinning on its axis. But we don’t notice that. We notice some of the effects, of course--we see the sun rise and set, for instance. But it does not feel like we are moving through space at breakneck speed. If somehow the fabric of the universe came apart, and we suddenly stopped or something, then you’d better believe we would notice it. But the constant movement does not really affect our lives barring some catastrophe. I believe the same is true with respect to temporal movement of the island.

When discussing the identity of “this fellow” in my recap of “316”, there are several good candidates that I managed to miss: Faraday in some kind of time travel (doubt it), Marvin Candle, and my new favorite, Enzo Valenzetti of Valenzetti Equation fame. We were told that DHARMA’s mission on the island was the alter the constants of the Valenzetti Equation, so it would make sense if the genius behind that equation was the man who also managed to find the island. Of course, for now Valenzetti’s existence remains non-canon, so this theory has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I avoid spoilers like the plague, and this year have even attempted to stop watching promos for upcoming episodes. One thing I do like to know and do not consider a spoiler is the title of the upcoming episode. I find that they often just whet the appetite but almost never give away important details (for example, “Enter 77” has great meaning within the context of the episode, but it meant nothing to anyone before watching the episode. There are exceptions, like “What Kate Did” or “One of Them” in which a major plot points are strongly implied, but overall this is not a big deal). Sometimes they are very misleading (I thought for sure that “316” would be Locke-centric).

Well, this week is one of those titles that gives away what the episode is about. I’m not going to share it here, but allow me to say: it sounds very cool.

5x06: 316

I usually like to post my episode thoughts immediately after an episode, but more than any episode of the show since “Through the Looking Glass”, I felt the need to ponder “316” just a little while longer. I still am not quite sure what to make of it. I think a case could be made that it is one of the ten or fifteen best episodes of all-time and I would also see why someone might think it was one of the ten worst.

1. I never expected that the Oceanic Six would get back to the island so early, and it all seemed a little rushed. On the other hand, the show is better when the main focus is on-island (and on that tack, this episode had to have less island time than any ever; the only one I can think of that was even close was “Flashes Before Your Eyes”) and so I understand why they would want to get everyone back on the island. I also appreciated the misdirection on the episode name--with the implications of John 3:16, I fully expected the Bentham flashback episode (although the religious implications were certainly not on the sidelines here).

2. At first, I thought the opening scene was a dream or vision, but of course it turned out to be a flashforward. And I’m sure the time loopers loved it.

3. The vile vortex theorists also had to be thrilled as their theory was basically confirmed, and this explains the reoccurrence of Tunisia, Isaac of Ulluru, and how a Nigerian plane could end up on an island in the South Pacific. Hawking also confirms that the island is constantly moving through time. Interesting that she said the window was 36 hours, but the flashforward was marked as 46 hours in the future…I wonder if there will be any repercussions of that.

4. I wish we could have seen a longer confrontation between Desmond and Hawking (it was all very matter-of-fact), but I was happy to see that Desmond voiced the idea that our heroes are just pawns in a long-standing game between various parties.

5. If they need to create the same conditions on Ajira 316 as on Oceanic 815, as close as possible, why not bring Walt along? While I realize it may not be feasible to make Walt a permanent part of the show, it would have been nice had his name been mentioned at least.

6. Jack’s grandpa Ray looks awfully young; I liked the reveal that the infamous white tennis shoes were Jack’s and that he didn’t want to waste an expensive pair of shoes on his father’s corpse.

7. Jack putting the aforementioned shoes on John reminded me of the scene from “Pilot” in which Locke creepily watches Kate pull the shoes off a corpse. And since I consider myself a man of science much more than a man of faith, I was glad that Jack was still thinking like a skeptic even if he was acting like a believer. “This is even crazier than you are” was a perfect line to sum up the Jack/Locke relationship and the odd place they now are in.

8. When they arrived at the airport, I wondered “Who are these other poor saps on the plane?”, so I was touched to see that Hurley, ever the nice guy, bought all the extra seats to prevent too many innocents from being brought along. This was of course balanced by Ben’s “Who cares?” response to innocent bloodshed, similar to his reaction re: the Kahana in “There’s No Place Like Home”.

9. Finally, questions that arose from this episode, which I will break into three categories. First, questions about the events leading up to the apparent crash:

What happened to Aaron?--this is one of the biggest questions on the show now in my opinion, along with “what happened to his mother?”

How did Hurley and Sayid know about the Flight 316, and why did they change their minds? An easier question is why Lapidus was there: I assume that Hawking et. al. knew he was flying for Ajira and picked the flight accordingly.

Who was the woman with Sayid, and why is he under arrest and being transported to Guam?

Questions about the crash:

What the heck happened? We say the beginning stages of a crash remarkably similar to Oceanic 815, but it ended with a flash, and none of Hurley, Kate, and Jack claim to have known what happened afterwards.

What happened to Sayid, Sun, Ben, Lapidus, and the others on the plane?

Questions going forward:

Jin in the DHARMA suit--did the island stabilize in the Dharma era after Locke put the wheel back on track? Did our lostaways infiltrate the DI, and if so, that would explain Faraday in the Orchid in the first scene of the season as a flashforward.

What happened between Ben, Desmond, and Penny? I assume that killing Penny is the promise that Ben had to keep, but he didn’t look like he was in good shape when he called Jack from the marina. Here’s hoping he failed and that Desmond, Penny, and Charlie are alright. Assuming they are, how will they play into the story as the season unfolds?

At the Lamppost, Hawking speaks of Dharma using the station to find the island, and mentions “this fellow” whose idea the station was. “This fellow” has jumped to join “the Economist” as the great unnamed figures in Lost lore. Of people we know or know of, Widmore is obviously a top candidate, as is “the Economist”, Alvar Hanso, and DeGroot. I am going to bet, with no evidence to justify my supposition, that this fellow and the Economist are one in the same, that we have not met them, and that they are the true employers of Abaddon.

10. “316” featured some of the best lines in a while, all based on Ben’s compulsive lying and downright deviousness.

When Jack asked Hawking if Ben was telling the truth when he claimed he was ignorant of the Lamppost, Hawking replied “Probably not.”

Ben told Jack he was off because he had “made a promise to an old friend.” Said so matter of factly and so benignly even though I think every serious LOST fan must believe he was going to try to make good on his promise to Widmore re: Penny.

As Jack broods on Ajira 316, he asks Ben how he can read. Ben, deflecting the real meaning of the question, says “My mother taught me.” An outright lie (which Jack of course has no way of knowing), but a plausible and humorous lie nonetheless.

5x06 Pre-Thoughts

A lot of people seem to be talking about the voice on the radio reading the numbers (that Rousseau’s team hears), and speculating that it is Hurley or Jack or any number of people. Others claim that it was just a voice, that it doesn’t necessarily belong to anyone we know.

And some of have ridiculed this view, saying things along the lines of “This is LOST! Everything has to be connected!” I say balderdash. Now I have no idea who was reading the numbers. Perhaps it was someone we know, and it does have great meaning--I am making no specific claim about this issue. However, the idea that EVERYTHING is connected is preposterous. It would be impossible to map out the entire show, no matter how brilliant or creative its writers are, in such a way as to make every single detail meaningful.

Additionally, there is a precedent for things that seem meaningful to only be vague connections, not crucial ones. Remember the bracelet Naomi was wearing from “RG”, and how Sayid notes it in “The Economist”, then Elsa has a similar one in the future? The producers confirmed that they were not related; it was just two women who happened to wear a bracelet, and that in and of itself was a connection for Sayid.

I have no problem with people watching the show and coming up with theories to connect every little thing. Some of them will doubtlessly be right. I do have a problem with people acting as if others are fools for not signing on with every pet theory they are peddling.

Did the Monster infect Locke in some way when he encountered it in “Walkabout”? The obvious answer is no, as it later attempted to pull him down a hole, similar to what happened to Montand, in “Exodus”. Nonetheless, it is an interesting idea to consider. Ultimately, though, I believe that Locke was transformed when Abaddon’s idea of a walkabout germinated in his head, and his behavior since then is a natural consequence of him adopting Abaddon’s ideas about going on a walkabout and finding out who you really are.

I would like to retract my statement that “This Place is Death” is the greatest LOST episode of all-time. It is just too difficult to compare a regular mid-season episode to the hyperactivity of a two-hour finale. I think all of the finales were great, and “Through the Looking Glass” was the best, and that makes it the best episode of all-time. “This Place is Death” has overtaken “The Man Behind the Curtain” as the top regular episode.

Others have noted that it happened to be Jin, one of just two married 815 survivors with wives on the island at some point (Bernard being the other), who ends up with the couple of Robert and Danielle. They have banter about whether the baby is a boy or a girl which mirrors what Jin and Sun did at one point, except in the French case the man thinks it’s a boy while Jin thinks it’s a girl. Of course, they both ended up with girls.

Robert does indeed attempt to shoot Danielle, which lends credence to the default position that something in him really did change when he and the others attempted to rescue Montand. The fundamental question is: Did the Monster simply infect them, or did it actually take over their bodies in some way like it did with Yemi? It seems as if the Monster can take its shape-shifting to more impressive levels when it has a corpse to work with (Yemi, Christian)? What could it do with a live body?

5x05: This Place is Death (on-island)

I’ll just say it upfront: I am thrilled that we finally got to see the story of Montand and his arm. Montand himself is a hothead, leading his team on a death march to the radio tower. While Jin agrees to come, you can clearly see the “oh crap, this doesn’t end well” recognition on his face.

And then it happens…the monster comes and grabs Montand in a similar fashion to the way it grabbed Locke in “Exodus”. And as they try to keep him from being pulled into the hole, his arm rips off, which was awesome. Jin saves Rousseau from going down the hole, and…I guess a lot of us, myself included, assumed that the sickness was similar to time displacement syndrome. But Rousseau asserts that the sickness was a result of the monster, and that the people weren’t themselves. Did the monster co-opt Robert and company as we have seen it with Yemi and Christian (or at least we think that’s what’s happened). And of course, we get our first glimpse of the Temple, and Robert asserts that the monster is a security system for the Temple. This is why Rousseau insists “There are no such things as monsters” and that it is a security system to protect the island in “Exodus”. I doubt we’ll see much more of the Temple, as the relationship between the Temple, the Monster, and Jacob is key to the nature of the island itself, and therefore will be a season six issue, I would think.

One question about that scene; Jin saw the black smoke, but Rousseau was killing Robert, so Alex had not even been born yet. So the purpose of the black smoke remains a question to be answered.

I was sad to see Charlotte go; I liked her character, and I think I wasn’t alone in hoping that her expertise in anthropology would help explain some of the island’s history. But if any character had to die, I’m glad it was her and not one of the others. And she did give one final bit of knowledge with her reference to the well. But it was sad to see her declare “This place is death” after her absolute joy at arriving there just a short time ago.

Of course the bombshell is that Charlotte admits she had been on the island and fled with her mother, who insisted the place never existed. She also remembers the strange man who warned her not to come back, which of course was Faraday. I wonder if Faraday warned her mother too, and inadvertently caused Charlotte’s curiosity to be piqued. That was a big theme of the episode tonight, as seen through Jin and Sun’s story--the unintended effects of trying to protect those you love.

So Locke arrives at the well, and proceeds to repel down it just like he did the Hatch in “Adrift”. He ends up in the frozen chamber, and there is Christian. A lot of people have been operating on the assumption that Christian and Jacob are two separate entities, that Christian doesn’t really speak for Jacob, etc. I’m not saying the theory is wrong, but I think its advocates should have been given pause by this scene. Terrible things happened to the island as a result of moving the island--but it was apparently because Locke was supposed to do it. Of course, advocates of that theory will say that we can’t believe anything Christian says. But the question of who was supposed to move the island has always been a good one to ask.

“Say hello to my son”--does Locke ever figure out who Christian is, and is that what really sets Jack over the edge? And since Jack and Locke discussed Jack’s visions of Christian in “White Rabbit” (although Jack never says it was his father, specifically), does that help the process along? I have always considered “White Rabbit” an underrated episode, as it really sets up the man of science/man of face dichotomy and is the first time that Locke professes his faith in the island itself to anyone explicitly. Anyway, I said it earlier, but I can’t wait to see the Bentham flash episode that there surely must be.

Did Locke banish himself by turning the wheel, or has that always been a line of bull from Ben to suit his own devices? The wheel is wobbling, which seems to be causing the flashes; now that Locke has turned it, what will befall the people on the island? How could it get any worse, and yet it must not get any better because action is still needed to save them all. These are the questions that are making Season Five an amazing experience.

5x05: This Place is Death (off-island)

Let it be said: “This Place is Death” is the greatest LOST episode of all-time. I’m going to organize my discussion by on-island and off-island events; I’ll start with on-island:

The first question of the episode was “How will Ben convince Sun that Jin is alive”. Of course, we wound up seeing that it was because, once again, Ben has absolutely no scruples. I think back to “Cabin Fever” when Locke told Ben, “I’m not you”. Once again, that is shown to be true. As crazy as Locke is, he means well, and couldn’t break his promise to Jin.

I jotted it down at the moment it happened, and I *think* I was right--the alliances within the Oceanic Six changed in a moment. Prior to Kate’s blowout and Ben’s admission that he wants to take them back, there were tentative pacts between pairs: Jack-Sayid, Sayid-Hurley, Jack-Kate, Jack-Ben, and Sun against everybody. Then in a moment, Sayid threatens to kill Ben and Jack, Kate is back to hating Jack and furious about his relationship with Aaron, and suddenly, there is a Jack-Sun-Ben possibility. The Jack-Sun bond is cemented when Jack tells Sun that he will kill Ben himself if he is lying after what he did to Kate. And when Ben forks over the ring, he’s conned Sun. Or at least I think. And since Sun and Jack are my two favorite characters, I’m glad to see them back on the same side.

Desmond shows up at the exact moment that the three do; convenient, but did I see a flicker of non-recognition on Ben’s face when Desmond deduced that he was there to see Faraday’s mom too? As if Ben didn’t know the connection? Probably not, but maybe.

Did Hawking ever see Desmond? Because I don’t think Desmond ever saw her or he surely would have been gobsmacked. “Let’s get started”--sounds ominous.

5x05 Pre-Thoughts

* This is not novel by any stretch, but as we have seen Season 5 unfold, the timeframe has been at most a couple of days since the island moved from the perspective of the islanders (just in terms of “experienced” time, not time traveled), and while the Oceanic Six have experienced a similar timeframe, it begins nearly three years after they have left the island. How will this be explained?

I think the answer is in Faraday’s lecture about time being a string. The “event window” that Ms. Hawking is trying to ascertain is when the timeline of the island and the real world will be in synch. Then the Oceanic Six can return at a unique moment on their string that also corresponds island time.

Since the island is now dislodged from time, there is no discrepancy--the matching window could have occurred in 2014 or 3001 instead of 2007, and maybe it would again. But this time may be the only one that fits the lifespan of the current characters, just as Halley’s comet may only pass Earth once in your lifetime, despite the fact that it will continue to pass occasionally for millions of years to come.

* One of the most interesting episodes of the year, and I hope we get in a traditional flashforward format, will be when we get to see Bentham visit the Oceanic Six. I would particularly be interested in the meeting between Bentham and Walt (and, of course, Bentham and Jack).

* With all of the island history being explored, one event that is often overlooked that I would like to see is the story of the real Henry Gayle. I don’t even think I included anything about that incident in my list of fifty Lost questions. But I should have, and I think it would be very interesting. There’s some faint evidence of a Gayle/Widmore connection--was he explicitly sent on a mission to find the island like the Freighter, or was he positioned to do so with a sporting challenge as Desmond was? Or is the seeming Widmore connection a red herring? And how do the Others respond when they encounter him?

* I speculated that we will see the outrigger shooting scene again this year, from the perspective of the Oceanic Six. If they are the party in the other boat, then why are they shooting? And more intriguingly, WHO are they shooting at? Could they be shooting at Locke to attempt to prevent a space-time anomaly, as he is the only person who could possibly be in both parties?

* Another thing I’m looking forward to this season (and am reasonably optimistic that we will see) is Claire stumbling out of the jungle ala “Special”. Perhaps it will come early next season, but it will be an exciting moment in the show, even if it doesn’t go down as a stumble out of the jungle.

5x04: The Little Prince

Another terrific episode…Season Five is off to a great start.

* Glad to see that Charlotte is still alive.

* The scene with Jack and Kate on the Searcher, when Jack asks “Are you with me?”, recalls the scene from “Exodus” in which Jack and Kate discuss their “Locke problem” and Jack tells Kate he needs to know if she has his back.

* I wonder if Sun has hired her own team of goons, or if she and Widmore are pooling their resources? Probably the former as there has not been enough time for the latter. When she pulls out the gun, the look on her face is scary. But I still love Sun, and it will be interesting to see exactly why she’s acting like this when we get an episode focused on her.

* Honest to goodness, when Kate meets with the lawyer at his office, I jotted down “still think client is Ben--no contact because ruse would be up”

* When Locke was intended to go to the Orchid, I had to wonder why he thought that would help, as he was bewildered last time he was down there and has no idea as to what Ben did. I also wondered if it would even be there, but that’s irrelevant for now.

* The image of Hurley in an orange jumpsuit looking like a popsicle was both hilarious and gratuitous. It’s nice to see that Hurley can provide a little levity even in an episode in which he barely appears.

* The hatch light plus Claire giving birth allows us to know exactly where they were--I should check on Lostpedia, but I think it was around day 37. Did the flash occur because Sawyer and co. were about to create a time paradox?

* As Jack climbed into Kate’s car, I had to wonder, “Does it count as an A-team mission if it occurs in the real world?”

* When the islanders came across the longboats with Ajira Airlines paraphernalia, I guessed we were in the future. Maybe the Oceanic Six were even involved. I think we will see the gun battle on the water again this season, from a different perspective, or at least some variation of it.

* I loved Sawyer’s “Thank you Lord…I take that back” as they flashed from being shot at to a torrential downpour. And I wondered immediately, “Is this when the Black Rock, Rousseau, or Desmond crashed?”

* I had some theories about how Mrs. Littleton knew if she did, and they centered around the fact that Sawyer and Locke discussed what he would say to Kate, and that Sawyer witness Kate deliver Aaron. But I guess those are irrelevant now.

* Faraday believes that long-term exposure to the island makes you more susceptible to temporal displacement, and so his question to Miles “Are you sure?” with regard to his visiting the island leads one to assume that maybe he was Chang’s baby, and coupled with the Comicon video, perhaps Chang schemed to get him off the island on Faraday’s warning. Anyway, his theory seems to be confirmed by the fact that Charlotte was struck first, then Miles, then Juliet. This all means that Faraday will be the last one in his right state, and given his skittishness, that’s a scary prospect for all involved.

* I suspected it was Ben behind the Aaron maneuverings all along, and I was glad to see that confirmed. But I wonder how nuts Mrs. Littleton must think Jack is after he almost spilled the beans. And I have to say that Jack saying “Aaron is my family too” was a nice moment.

* Dainelle. Jin (this reminds me of the “Udders! Udders!” scene from “Adrift”). And Montand, arm intact. Is temporal displacement contagious?

* The actor who plays the lawyer bears some resemblance to Christian Shepard from the side, and had me wondering what the heck was going on for a moment.

* Kate saw right through Ben, once it was too late. I’m glad someone is using their noggin. It looks as if things are coming to a head with Sun, and we’ll see whether she’s after just Ben, or Jack as well, or the whole bunch.

* I can’t wait to see how the whole Jin/Rousseau/Montand situation plays out. Time seems to usually skip to a consequential point in the history of the island--does the island, in the course of having itself saved, have a purpose in guiding the principals to where they are “destined” to be?

5x04 Pre-Thoughts

* Seeing the Others circa 1954 has jogged my mind to the same question I asked about the island. What do the Others call themselves? We’ve heard them called the Others or Hostiles, which are both names from the perspective of other groups. What do they call themselves, Jacobians?

* Some people think that Widmore may be Faraday’s father. I suppose it’s possible, but I doubt it. There didn’t seem to be any love lost between Widmore and Ellie, and while you could argue that’s because they were ex-lovers, it was well before Faraday had been conceived.

We don’t know a lot about Ms. Hawking’s allegiances at this point, and her relationship to Ben and Widmore is something I am interested in learning. Yes, she was an Other, but so was Widmore at one time. Yes, she’s working with Ben, but maybe they have common interests (ala Sun and Widmore). She may well be in league with Ben, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s playing both sides in order to fulfill some other agenda (maybe Jacob’s).

A better theory I saw is that Ellie and Widmore are siblings. If you want to insist they are blood relatives, I think that's the way to go. And he did snap at her in a brotherly-quarreling fashion.

* So far it seems as if TPTB have been pretty good about avoiding time travel paradoxes, but others have pointed out that the origins of Locke’s compass are a little murky. We first see the compass, story-wise, in “Cabin Fever” when it is one of the items Richard uses to test Locke. We next see it when Alpert gives it to Locke in the future during one of the premiere episodes. When Locke presents it to Richard in “Jughead”, Alpert claims to have never seen it before. So when did it originate? It seems to have been created out of thin air.

* In addition to Latin, part of Others training must be learning how to snap people’s necks. We’ve seen Goodwin and now Widmore very efficiently dispatch with people in that manner.