5x15 Pre-Thoughts

Here we are, at the penultimate episode of the penultimate season. Some disjointed thoughts:

After Faraday's comments about undoing the chain of events that lead to Flight 815 crashing on the Island, it has become a popular theory that either the season finale or the series finale will see the plane landing safely at LAX. I don't buy this, for a number of reasons. One is that from a story perspective, it would wipe out five years of the show, and what would the fun be in that.

But within the logic of the LOST universe, I don't buy it either. Why? One reason is that all of Faraday's efforts to change the past failed. The Lostaways may well attempt to go through with his plan or some variant thereof, but I think they will end up in the same place--in fact, I think they will likely do something that will only make things worse when they inevitably return to the present, and help set up one of the major conflicts of Season 6.

I mentioned in my comments on "The Variable" that it was nice to see a token amount of concern for Desmond's well-being out of Widmore. While Widmore seems to detest Desmond in "Live Together, Die Alone" and "Flashes Before Your Eyes", this episode and "The Constant" both see him displaying a more magnanimous attitude.

Perhaps Widmore's actions towards Desmond can be explained in the same way that Eloise's towards her own son can: necessary steps to take in order to ensure that what is supposed to happen happens. And Daniel's journal may provide them with the requisite information to orchestrate those schemes.

I don't have a comprehensive theory to go along with this, but I have a cool name for a theory of why Widmore and Hawking act as they do: the "Hey Jealousy" theory, after the great Gin Blossoms song: "The past is gone but something might be found to take its place"

Suppose that somehow the past has not just been changed, it has been erased. And thus the Lostaways are needed to go back in time and undertake actions to recreate a different past that nonetheless will produce similar outcomes. Under this half-baked theory, something always happened in 1977 to cause Ben to be taken to the Temple, but it wasn't Sayid shooting him. The lives of people have been manipulated in such a manner so that they will engage in actions similar to those that occurred in the now-erased past.

Inane? Of course. But I liked the "Hey Jealousy" tie-in so much that I had to come up with something.

I wonder if Jack and Richard are going to have a chat in this episode. I don't believe they have ever met--Richard has met Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Faraday, etc. but I don't believe we've ever seen him and Jack on the screen at the same time. I could be wrong though.

Rewatching 1x12 "Whatever the Case May Be"...yeah, not much of value here. No mythology, a convuluted Kate backstory...it is the weakest episode of Season 1. The biggest takeaway for me was the introduction of the iconic waterfall (where the Ajira 316 flashees show up). Oh yeah, and Shannon being hot.

Since that rewatch was so stimulating, I also watched 1x13: "Hearts and Minds". I'm sure many people hated this episode because of the hallucinogenic fakeout death of Shannon, but it's a very good episode regardless. It features some comedy (a number of great Jin/Hurley scenes), the first hint of electomagnetic weirdness (Locke's compass, which Sayid rights off as "obviously defective"), some character stuff (Kate discovers that Sun speaks English), the first flashback crossover (Boone and Sawyer are in a Sydney police station at the same time), our first clear look at the Hatch, and Locke at his finest (in tune with the Island and creepy as hell). A couple of interesting takeaways--the paste that Locke puts on Boone's head (triggering his hallucination that convinces him to let go of Shannon and become a full-fledged Locke acolyte) also makes him see Locke as a deranged creep. Now perhaps that was just what he was already thinking (Locke did knock him out and tie him up, after all), but interesting nonetheless. The other is that Locke startles Sayid in the jungle, with Sayid saying he did not hear him. While the silent jungle walkers aspect of the Others has been toned down a little (arguably being revived a bit in Season Five), Locke certainly fits with his new tribe in this regard.

When looking at a key episode of a season (I would include the premiere, the penultimate episode, and the finale in this category), I have always found it helpful to consider similar episodes from previous seasons. So, for penultimate episodes (I am not including first parts of the finale, even if they aired on a different night as in the case of "Exodus, pt. 1" and "There's No Place Like Home, pt. 1":

1x22 "Born to Run"--the worst penultimate ever, IMO, it did very little to set up the finale, other than to finalize who would go on the raft as Kate's attempt to pin Michael's poisoning on Sawyer rather than herself and Sun backfired. Quite frankly, this was one of the weaker episodes of Season 1, despite the fact that I like Kate.

2x22 "Three Minutes"--we see Michael's time with the Others, which was really the first upclose look we ever got at the Others (although it was their B team of Tom, Klugh, and Pickett that got the most screen time, and they were conning Michael with the hillbilly survivalist act). This episode was very strong, and sets up the finale with the finalization of the attack plan, Hurley's decision to tagalong, Sayid's conclusion that Michael was betraying the group, and the arrival of Desmond and the Elizabeth at the end (it's still a shame no one ever told Libby that there was a Scottish guy named Desmond in the Hatch).

3x21 "Greatest Hits"--the best and last Charlie episode was a perfect setup for the finale, with Jack unveiling his "blow 'em all to hell" plan, Karl arriving to warn of the imminent Others attack, Charlie and Desmond setting out for the Looking Glass, and of course Charlie arriving at the Looking Glass to be promptly held at gunpoint by Greta and Bonnie.

4x11 "Cabin Fever"--more in the vein of "Three Minutes" than "Greatest Hits", this episode puts in place the essential action of the finale without doing as much to commence it. Most of the time is spent with Locke, Ben, and Hurley, with Richard Alpert's (and Widmore, too?) contact with Locke throughout his life (prompted by the events of "Jughead") making for an awesome flashback. Christian tells Locke to move the Island, and Frank tosses out the phone to track the helicopter.

What can we conclude from this? With the exception of "Born to Run", all of these episodes are quite strong, which is good news. In what could be considered a surprise, what with the plot threads coming to a head on the Island, the flashbacks (again, "Born to Run" excluded) were excellent. I learned a bit more detail about this week's episode than I had wanted to, but I'd say it sounds like the trends will hold.