"Lighthouse" will not be too popular with the fanbase at large--too much Jack and it comes on the heels of a truly great episode. I like Jack, so that's not a problem in this corner. It was a good, solid episode.
2004X
Jack conspicuously looks in a mirror twice, and this becomes quite relevant in the Island timeline as well. He can't remember having his appendix removed; his mother informs him that it happened when he was seven and his father insisted on doing it himself, but was stopped by the other doctors (sounds familiar, eh?). Of course, the big reveal is that Jack has a son, David.
Jack and David are very distant; Margo tells Jack that it was the same when Jack was David's age, but Jack replies that's because he was terrified of Christian. Margo suggests that perhaps David is terrified of him too. Margo and Jack are searching for Christian's will--they find it, and it includes Claire, which might be the most decent thing Christian ever did in his life.
David runs away while Jack is at Margo's house; Jack thinks he might be at his mother's house, and while there he again looks in the mirror, sees a picture of his son in a Dodgers cap, and learns that he is trying out at a music conservatory. We also see that David has a Meat Coat poster on his wall--that's the band that Charlie's reorganized Drive Shaft was supposed to open for. Unfortunately, we don't get any indication of who David's mother might be (Juliet is my #1 candidate).
At the conservatory, Jack runs into Dogen, who comments that there is too much pressure on the kids and that it is tough to watch them but not be able to do anything to help them--similar to the position that Dogen is in while watching over his flock of candidates at the Temple.
David is surprised to see Jack there, and they have a nice father-son chat in which we learn that Jack used to have a creepy-intense interest in his son's piano playing (no surprise given his personality), and that's why David hid it. Jack relates that Christian thought he would fail, and tells David that he loves him unconditionally.
Claire, Jin, and Black Robe
Claire seemed normal at first blush, but the crazy train started rolling down the tracks shortly thereafter. She's using Rousseau's old shelter, dresses Jin's wound as "infection will kill you out there" (an obvious double-meaning). Jin investigates and finds a super-creepy fake baby made of rocks (?) as Claire brings back Jason the Other, not dead after all. She's been told by both her father and her "friend" that the Others took Aaron.
Jason wants Jin to help him stage a prison break, and Jin tells Claire that Kate took Aaron off the Island and raised him--I'm not sure how he would know that Kate ended up taking care of Aaron (last he saw Aaron was with Kate, Sun, and the others on the chopper), but it was a nice try. It doesn't assuage Claire--she was captured by the Others, taken to the Temple, tested like Sayid, and so she axes Jason. At the end of the episode, Jin claims to have lied about Aaron, saying he saw him at the Temple, and Claire says she would have killed Kate were that true. We see that her friend is Black Robe (and she knows he's not really Locke). Uh-oh.
I still expect that Claire will somehow be redeemed and returned to her normal state, but things don't look good at the moment.
Jack and Hurley
Jack tells Sayid why all the Others are looking warily at him, then chats with Dogen. They tell each other little while thanking each other for their honesty--Jack asked if leaving was an option, and the answer was "Everything is an option, but..."
Meanwhile, Jacob appears to Hurley again and tells him he needs to help someone find the Island, and to write things down. He writes on his arm and goes down a secret corridor. Dogen finds him, but can't see the writing on his arm. He tells Hurley he's not supposed to be there; Jacob guides Hurley through the conversation, so Hurley says he's a candidate and can do what he wants. Dogen tells him off in Japanese; Jacob does not provide a helpful translation for Hurley and the audience. Hurley was not supposed to go by himself; he needs Jack to go with him.
Hurley objects that Jack is too stubborn to listen, but Jacob says to tell him that he has what it takes. Sure enough, that does the trick, but how did Jacob know that Jack was always told by Christian that he didn't have what it takes? Hmm...
They slip out into the jungle, meeting Kate, who is still off to search for Claire. That's good, because Hurley tells Jack that Kate was not invited on their trek. They go by the caves, a good opportunity to namedrop Shannon and bring Adam and Eve back on screen for the first time since 1x6. Hurley ponders the possibility that they will travel back in time and two of them will become Adam and Eve. Jack is more interested by his father's coffin, admitting that it was Christian's ghost that led him to the water.
As they continue, Jack and Hurley share stories about why they came back--Hurley because of Jacob's visit, Jack because he was broken and stupid enough to think the Island could fix him.
They soon come across what they were looking for--a lighthouse. Jack, as I admit I was, is somewhat incredulous at finding yet another new Island location (and although he doesn't know it, yet another lair for Jacob), wondering why they hadn't seen it before. Hurley says it must be because they weren't looking for it, and we are left to wonder about the material nature of this structure.
Interestingly, Jack can see the writing on Hurley's arm. Their mission is to turn the light on, which will be accomplished by using the mirror to start a fire. Of course, they need to set it to 108 degrees (and symbolically combine the Oceanic candidates' numbers?). But Jack soon sees that each degree corresponds to a name, and that one can see things in the mirror at each degree. He forces Hurley to go back to his number, 23 degrees, where he sees his childhood home (it looks like the house he still resides in in 2004X). Jack concludes that Jacob has been watching the candidates (answering why he knew "you have what it takes" would be a big winner, and he rightfully snaps and breaks the mirrors.
As Jack takes all of this in and stares off into the distance, Jacob appears to Hurley again. Hurley now has ink on his forehead, and Hurley wonders why Jacob is so calm at the derailment of his plan. Jacob says he's sure they'll find another way to the Island, and that Jack needed to see how important he was on. Jack has a mission to accomplish on the Island, but he needs to discover for himself what it is. Some people can be sent along their way through a chat in the back of a cab--others need more of a push.
As a bonus, Jacob says their trek kept Jack and Hurley away from the Temple--necessary because "someone bad is coming". We then cut to the scene with Claire, Jin, and Black Robe as Locke, leading to the natural question--is the bad person Black Robe? Claire too? All of them? Am I reading too much into this? Quite possibly.
In the good/evil sweepstakes between Jacob and Black Robe, both took hits tonight. Jacob's spying does seem to indicate the sort of malevolent intentions that Black Robe ascribed to his meddling in the lives of the Lostaways. On the other hand, Black Robe has been feeding lies to Claire which lead to her killing an Other for a baby-napping that they didn't actually pull (what are the odds?)
Also, compare and contrast Jacob's reaction to his plan being foiled by humans with Black Robe's angry "I am very disappointed in all of you!" declaration on the beach.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
6x5 Pre-Thoughts
* The big debate is the question of good and evil on LOST, in light of Black Robe's pitches to Alpert and Sawyer in "The Substitute". Allow me to reiterate first that I believe that LOST operates on a concept of a dualistic morality, with no clear good and evil--just light and dark, like backgammon pieces. However, for the sake of discussion, let's assume that there are clearly defined lines between good and evil on the show.
In that case, I still believe that Jacob is good and Black Robe is evil. Let me count the reasons:
1) We've seen Black Robe commit evil acts; we've never really seen Jacob do anything that's clearly evil. We've seen Black Robe kill people for no good reason; one could argue that Jacob killed Nadia, but that's far from clear.
2) Black Robe oversold his case on Jacob messing with people's free will. Yes, he approached many of the Lostaways at emotional and/or vulnerable moments in their lives. But how hard did he push?
a) Don't you think Sawyer would have finished that letter anyway? That letter didn't create his feelings; it encapsulated them.
b) Jack...he didn't even say much, just "a little push".
c) Jin and Sun...he told them to treasure their love (although he did hint that they might be seperated).
d) Ilana...he asked for her help, and it was clear they already had a history of some sort.
e) Kate...he told her not to steal, although he did prevent her from facing the music for doing so. A questionable character lesson, sure, but not the work of a monster.
f) Locke...he may have resurrected him. In any event, nothing sinister.
The only visitations to Lostaways that support the notion that Jacob is bad are his appeals to Hurley and Sayid. Interestingly, both of these occur after they were members of the Oceanic Six; with the exception of Ilana, a story we have yet to see, every other visit was before Flight 815.
He did approach Hurley at a vulnerable moment, but his sell was pretty soft. He offered up the idea that Hurley was blessed rather than cursed, and his logic was fairly sound. He emphasized that Hurley had free will to make his choice.
Sayid, that's another story, one I'll leave for another day. Again, though, Black Robe's conclusion outpaces his evidence.
3. The approach of Black Robe is that of Satan. He tempts with knowledge, offering a bite of the forbidden fruit. The ways of God are somewhat inscrutable in many religions, and that uncertainness sets the seeds for rebellion.
* Thanks to Lostpedia, here are the notable names visible on the cave wall as crossed out candidates: Brennan, Rutherford, Burke, Linus, Lewis, Straume, Pace, Mars, Littleton, Fernandez, Henderson, Faraday, Chang, Goodspeed and Pickett.
Notable missing names (not comprehensive): Tunde, Dawson, Lloyd, Smith (Libby), Lapidus, Alpert, Carlyle, and of course, Austen, which seems strange considering she was welcome at the Temple. Of course, it's possible that some of the names were just not seen on screen, and I'm sure that Kate's candidacy or lack thereof will be revisited.
* Some people are making theories on the premise that Sawyer could see the kid and Richard couldn't, but I agree with Erika of DarkUFO: the kid was gone by the time Richard turned to look. I suppose it's possible that if the kid was Jacob, only those touched by Jacob would see it, but Jacob's ghost appeared only to Hurley (Jacob even told Hurley that Jin would not be able to see him).
* Obvious thing I should have noticed but didn't--Jacob's ladder. Except this one goes down, not toward heaven.
* So in 6x3 a date on Claire's sonogram, really noticeable only when one paused and squinted, made people think 815 had landed in October in 2004X. Then in 6x4, Helen mentions that their wedding is in October. Said people have a cow.
Now I realize this sounds a tad hypocritical from someone writing a LOST blog, but has it ever occurred to you not to over-analyze the tiniest details? You'll spare yourself a lot of trouble and spare the rest of us a lot of self-righteousness.
* People are naturally wondering how Ben, Ethan, and anyone yet to be revealed in 2004X who was on the Island when Jughead went boom could possibly still be alive. I've seen two good possibilities discussed:
1) The detonation of Jughead is not what caused the Island to fall to the bottom of the sea; it was simply the catalyst to a chain of events that concluded with the Island on the ocean floor. Scientifically, a hydrogen bomb doesn't sink an Island (although it should by all rights kill everyone), so this makes some sense.
2) If the bomb goes off, there is a butterfly effect of a sort, and every moment in Island history that the Lostaways touched is changed. This means that Locke never talks to Richard in 1954, among other things.
The second explanation would address why Locke is so different in 2004X. So far, of the characters we've met in 2004X, only Locke's fundamental character has changed. For the others, details are different, but their underlying natures remain the same. Jack is a man of science (with an additional touch of faith); Kate runs; Claire is pregnant and confused; Charlie is a drug addict; Ben is a prickly pear (albeit presumably not a mass murderer); and so on. But Locke in 2004X is a man who, while he still desires some greater destiny, is capable of accepting the limits of his condition. Why this difference? Maybe because he hasn't been told his whole life that he was special, been recruited and checked up on from birth by Richard Alpert...because he never met Richard Alpert in 1954.
In that case, I still believe that Jacob is good and Black Robe is evil. Let me count the reasons:
1) We've seen Black Robe commit evil acts; we've never really seen Jacob do anything that's clearly evil. We've seen Black Robe kill people for no good reason; one could argue that Jacob killed Nadia, but that's far from clear.
2) Black Robe oversold his case on Jacob messing with people's free will. Yes, he approached many of the Lostaways at emotional and/or vulnerable moments in their lives. But how hard did he push?
a) Don't you think Sawyer would have finished that letter anyway? That letter didn't create his feelings; it encapsulated them.
b) Jack...he didn't even say much, just "a little push".
c) Jin and Sun...he told them to treasure their love (although he did hint that they might be seperated).
d) Ilana...he asked for her help, and it was clear they already had a history of some sort.
e) Kate...he told her not to steal, although he did prevent her from facing the music for doing so. A questionable character lesson, sure, but not the work of a monster.
f) Locke...he may have resurrected him. In any event, nothing sinister.
The only visitations to Lostaways that support the notion that Jacob is bad are his appeals to Hurley and Sayid. Interestingly, both of these occur after they were members of the Oceanic Six; with the exception of Ilana, a story we have yet to see, every other visit was before Flight 815.
He did approach Hurley at a vulnerable moment, but his sell was pretty soft. He offered up the idea that Hurley was blessed rather than cursed, and his logic was fairly sound. He emphasized that Hurley had free will to make his choice.
Sayid, that's another story, one I'll leave for another day. Again, though, Black Robe's conclusion outpaces his evidence.
3. The approach of Black Robe is that of Satan. He tempts with knowledge, offering a bite of the forbidden fruit. The ways of God are somewhat inscrutable in many religions, and that uncertainness sets the seeds for rebellion.
* Thanks to Lostpedia, here are the notable names visible on the cave wall as crossed out candidates: Brennan, Rutherford, Burke, Linus, Lewis, Straume, Pace, Mars, Littleton, Fernandez, Henderson, Faraday, Chang, Goodspeed and Pickett.
Notable missing names (not comprehensive): Tunde, Dawson, Lloyd, Smith (Libby), Lapidus, Alpert, Carlyle, and of course, Austen, which seems strange considering she was welcome at the Temple. Of course, it's possible that some of the names were just not seen on screen, and I'm sure that Kate's candidacy or lack thereof will be revisited.
* Some people are making theories on the premise that Sawyer could see the kid and Richard couldn't, but I agree with Erika of DarkUFO: the kid was gone by the time Richard turned to look. I suppose it's possible that if the kid was Jacob, only those touched by Jacob would see it, but Jacob's ghost appeared only to Hurley (Jacob even told Hurley that Jin would not be able to see him).
* Obvious thing I should have noticed but didn't--Jacob's ladder. Except this one goes down, not toward heaven.
* So in 6x3 a date on Claire's sonogram, really noticeable only when one paused and squinted, made people think 815 had landed in October in 2004X. Then in 6x4, Helen mentions that their wedding is in October. Said people have a cow.
Now I realize this sounds a tad hypocritical from someone writing a LOST blog, but has it ever occurred to you not to over-analyze the tiniest details? You'll spare yourself a lot of trouble and spare the rest of us a lot of self-righteousness.
* People are naturally wondering how Ben, Ethan, and anyone yet to be revealed in 2004X who was on the Island when Jughead went boom could possibly still be alive. I've seen two good possibilities discussed:
1) The detonation of Jughead is not what caused the Island to fall to the bottom of the sea; it was simply the catalyst to a chain of events that concluded with the Island on the ocean floor. Scientifically, a hydrogen bomb doesn't sink an Island (although it should by all rights kill everyone), so this makes some sense.
2) If the bomb goes off, there is a butterfly effect of a sort, and every moment in Island history that the Lostaways touched is changed. This means that Locke never talks to Richard in 1954, among other things.
The second explanation would address why Locke is so different in 2004X. So far, of the characters we've met in 2004X, only Locke's fundamental character has changed. For the others, details are different, but their underlying natures remain the same. Jack is a man of science (with an additional touch of faith); Kate runs; Claire is pregnant and confused; Charlie is a drug addict; Ben is a prickly pear (albeit presumably not a mass murderer); and so on. But Locke in 2004X is a man who, while he still desires some greater destiny, is capable of accepting the limits of his condition. Why this difference? Maybe because he hasn't been told his whole life that he was special, been recruited and checked up on from birth by Richard Alpert...because he never met Richard Alpert in 1954.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
6x4: The Substitute
So are you still whining about "What Kate Does"? I didn't think so.
First, events from 2004X:
We don't know why Locke is in a wheelchair, but we do see that he's still with Helen and he still wasn't allowed to go on the walkabout. Apparently it was not his father that put him in a wheelchair, as Helen suggests they invite him to a quickie wedding. Locke skipped out on a conference he was supposed to attend in Sydney, leading to him getting canned by Randy. Never fear, though--new company owner Hurley is there to set Locke up with his temp agency. I thought we'd see that their number was (481)-151-1623 or something to that extent.
A temp agency where the initial interviewer looks a lot like the fake psychic David Reyes hired to try to convince his son that there was no curse. Whose supervisor just happens to Rose, who still has cancer, telling Locke she's moved past the denial stage and suggests that he should do the same with respect to the limitations of his condition.
Locke toys with calling Jack, but tells Helen he doesn't believe in miracles. He ends up as a substitute teacher, and he makes fast friends with a very stereotypical bachelor-type teacher--Ben Linus, European History.
Now, on the Island:
Ben, Ilana, Frank, and Sun
Ilana is shook up by the deaths of Jacob, Bram, and the rest of her group. Ben is still lying about who killed Jacob, and Ilana is collecting Jacob's ashes. Is it possible that the source of the ash that repels the Monster are those of past Island protectors? Ilana knows that Black Robe is on a recruiting mission.
The group buries Locke in what Frank accurately describes as the weirdest funeral he's ever been to. Sun can't think of anything to so, so in a rare moment of vulnerability Ben lauds Locke as a believer, a man of faith, a better man than he'll ever be, and one that he's sorry for murdering. Ilana, who seems to have the best understanding of the Jacob/Black Robe conflict of anyone on the Island with the possible exception of Dogen, claims that Black Robe is now stuck in Locke's body.
Black Robe, Richard, and Sawyer
The Monster-eye view of Black Robe traveling to cut down Richard and see Sawyer was awesome. In his conversation with Richard, Black Robe, dressed as Locke, tempts Richard with knowledge (just like Satan, dressed as a serpent, tempted Eve with knowledge). He tells Richard that he knew Locke could get an audience with Jacob because he was a candidate. Richard has no idea what this means, and Black Robe twists the knife by saying that he never would kept him in the dark like that. Apparently Ilana and Bram even had some understanding of what that meant. But Alpert is loyal, and refuses to follow Black Robe--who sees a blond boy in the jungle, which seems to shake him up (yes, even the Monster).
I was a little surprised that Locke was upfront with Sawyer about his being dead, but Saywer would have seen right through it, saying that he knows it's not Locke because he's not scared. Black Robe tells Saywer he can answer the most important question in the world--"Why are you on this Island?" I can think of some more important questions, but that's quibbling.
Sawyer can see the kid too; when Black Robe chases him down, the kid (who is dressed like a Hostile) says "You know the rules--you can't kill him", leading to one of the angriest "Don't tell me what I can't do" that we've ever heard. I presume that he is chiding Black Robe for killing Jacob through a loophole, but I suppose they could be referring to the candidate as well. Of course, the identity of this kid (young Jacob?) is now a big question.
While Black Robe is off chasing the kid, a terrified Alpert implores Sawyer to come back to the Temple with him, warning that the Monster wants to kill everyone that Sawyer cares about. Sawyer threatens to shoot Black Robe, but as we saw with Bram in the statue, that would accomplish little, and he is not afraid. Black Robe reads, but Steinbeck was after his time. He tells Sawyer that he has been trapped for so long he can't remember what it was like to be free, but claims that he was a man who felt the same emotions as everyone else. We obviously have a lot yet to learn about how Black Robe and Jacob came to be, but it seems as if they both were mortals at one point.
So Sawyer and Black Robe venture to Jacob's secret lair in a coastal rock face. How many homes does Jacob have anyway? The statue, the cabin, this cave...Black Robe tosses a white rock (which had been balancing on a scale with a black rock) into the ocean, saying it's an inside joke. He shows Sawyer a list of names scrawled in the rock--some crossed out, six still intact, all numbered. He explains that Jacob "had a thing for numbers", and we see that the numbers he liked were 4) Locke 15) Ford 16) Sayid 23) Jack and 42) Kwon (Black Robe doesn't know if it's Jin or Sun).
The names still intact are all candidates--candidate to replace Jacob as protector of the Island. What does this mean for those whose names we don't see (most notably, Kate)? And wouldn't you love to see the full list of names and numbers? I suspect that the rest of the season will see names scrawled off this list, metaphorically at least.
Sawyer protests that he's never seen Jacob, but Black Robe assures him that he has--at a moment in his life where he was young and vulnerable, pushing him towards the Island and taking away his free will. Black Robe offers three courses of action for Sawyer:
1) Do nothing--see how it plays out, and perhaps get crossed off the list
2) Accept job--protect Island from nothing--it's just an Island (channeling Jack, to whom I'm sure he'll make an impassioned appeal at some point)
3) get off Island--with Black Robe
Sawyer agrees to help Black Robe and endeavor to get off the Island. They're choosing sides now.
People will surely be discussing the question of which Island contestant is good and which is evil after this episode. I'll weigh in on that in my 6x5 preview, but for now, I'll just point out that of the six candidates, three of the visits do plausibly fit as the type of manipulation that Black Robe claims Jacob engages in--Sawyer (writing the letter, although he was already doing that on his own); Sayid (distracting him as Nadia is run down); and Hurley (telling him how to get back to the Island). However, Jacob's visits to Kate (telling her not to steal, although I guess one could argue that he prevents her from learning from the consequences of her crime), Jack (candy bar in the doctor's lounge), and Jin/Sun (telling them to treasure their love) imply no action whatsoever.
Also, did Locke look at himself in the mirror? I didn't notice, but he was in the bathroom. Of course, he's dead--maybe only those still alive in 2007 look at themselves in the mirror in 2004X.
First, events from 2004X:
We don't know why Locke is in a wheelchair, but we do see that he's still with Helen and he still wasn't allowed to go on the walkabout. Apparently it was not his father that put him in a wheelchair, as Helen suggests they invite him to a quickie wedding. Locke skipped out on a conference he was supposed to attend in Sydney, leading to him getting canned by Randy. Never fear, though--new company owner Hurley is there to set Locke up with his temp agency. I thought we'd see that their number was (481)-151-1623 or something to that extent.
A temp agency where the initial interviewer looks a lot like the fake psychic David Reyes hired to try to convince his son that there was no curse. Whose supervisor just happens to Rose, who still has cancer, telling Locke she's moved past the denial stage and suggests that he should do the same with respect to the limitations of his condition.
Locke toys with calling Jack, but tells Helen he doesn't believe in miracles. He ends up as a substitute teacher, and he makes fast friends with a very stereotypical bachelor-type teacher--Ben Linus, European History.
Now, on the Island:
Ben, Ilana, Frank, and Sun
Ilana is shook up by the deaths of Jacob, Bram, and the rest of her group. Ben is still lying about who killed Jacob, and Ilana is collecting Jacob's ashes. Is it possible that the source of the ash that repels the Monster are those of past Island protectors? Ilana knows that Black Robe is on a recruiting mission.
The group buries Locke in what Frank accurately describes as the weirdest funeral he's ever been to. Sun can't think of anything to so, so in a rare moment of vulnerability Ben lauds Locke as a believer, a man of faith, a better man than he'll ever be, and one that he's sorry for murdering. Ilana, who seems to have the best understanding of the Jacob/Black Robe conflict of anyone on the Island with the possible exception of Dogen, claims that Black Robe is now stuck in Locke's body.
Black Robe, Richard, and Sawyer
The Monster-eye view of Black Robe traveling to cut down Richard and see Sawyer was awesome. In his conversation with Richard, Black Robe, dressed as Locke, tempts Richard with knowledge (just like Satan, dressed as a serpent, tempted Eve with knowledge). He tells Richard that he knew Locke could get an audience with Jacob because he was a candidate. Richard has no idea what this means, and Black Robe twists the knife by saying that he never would kept him in the dark like that. Apparently Ilana and Bram even had some understanding of what that meant. But Alpert is loyal, and refuses to follow Black Robe--who sees a blond boy in the jungle, which seems to shake him up (yes, even the Monster).
I was a little surprised that Locke was upfront with Sawyer about his being dead, but Saywer would have seen right through it, saying that he knows it's not Locke because he's not scared. Black Robe tells Saywer he can answer the most important question in the world--"Why are you on this Island?" I can think of some more important questions, but that's quibbling.
Sawyer can see the kid too; when Black Robe chases him down, the kid (who is dressed like a Hostile) says "You know the rules--you can't kill him", leading to one of the angriest "Don't tell me what I can't do" that we've ever heard. I presume that he is chiding Black Robe for killing Jacob through a loophole, but I suppose they could be referring to the candidate as well. Of course, the identity of this kid (young Jacob?) is now a big question.
While Black Robe is off chasing the kid, a terrified Alpert implores Sawyer to come back to the Temple with him, warning that the Monster wants to kill everyone that Sawyer cares about. Sawyer threatens to shoot Black Robe, but as we saw with Bram in the statue, that would accomplish little, and he is not afraid. Black Robe reads, but Steinbeck was after his time. He tells Sawyer that he has been trapped for so long he can't remember what it was like to be free, but claims that he was a man who felt the same emotions as everyone else. We obviously have a lot yet to learn about how Black Robe and Jacob came to be, but it seems as if they both were mortals at one point.
So Sawyer and Black Robe venture to Jacob's secret lair in a coastal rock face. How many homes does Jacob have anyway? The statue, the cabin, this cave...Black Robe tosses a white rock (which had been balancing on a scale with a black rock) into the ocean, saying it's an inside joke. He shows Sawyer a list of names scrawled in the rock--some crossed out, six still intact, all numbered. He explains that Jacob "had a thing for numbers", and we see that the numbers he liked were 4) Locke 15) Ford 16) Sayid 23) Jack and 42) Kwon (Black Robe doesn't know if it's Jin or Sun).
The names still intact are all candidates--candidate to replace Jacob as protector of the Island. What does this mean for those whose names we don't see (most notably, Kate)? And wouldn't you love to see the full list of names and numbers? I suspect that the rest of the season will see names scrawled off this list, metaphorically at least.
Sawyer protests that he's never seen Jacob, but Black Robe assures him that he has--at a moment in his life where he was young and vulnerable, pushing him towards the Island and taking away his free will. Black Robe offers three courses of action for Sawyer:
1) Do nothing--see how it plays out, and perhaps get crossed off the list
2) Accept job--protect Island from nothing--it's just an Island (channeling Jack, to whom I'm sure he'll make an impassioned appeal at some point)
3) get off Island--with Black Robe
Sawyer agrees to help Black Robe and endeavor to get off the Island. They're choosing sides now.
People will surely be discussing the question of which Island contestant is good and which is evil after this episode. I'll weigh in on that in my 6x5 preview, but for now, I'll just point out that of the six candidates, three of the visits do plausibly fit as the type of manipulation that Black Robe claims Jacob engages in--Sawyer (writing the letter, although he was already doing that on his own); Sayid (distracting him as Nadia is run down); and Hurley (telling him how to get back to the Island). However, Jacob's visits to Kate (telling her not to steal, although I guess one could argue that he prevents her from learning from the consequences of her crime), Jack (candy bar in the doctor's lounge), and Jin/Sun (telling them to treasure their love) imply no action whatsoever.
Also, did Locke look at himself in the mirror? I didn't notice, but he was in the bathroom. Of course, he's dead--maybe only those still alive in 2007 look at themselves in the mirror in 2004X.
Monday, February 15, 2010
6x4 Pre-Thoughts
* I have to wonder whether the High Priest's diagnosis of Claire as claimed is accurate. I suppose it's possible that he had the opportunity to observer her up close and personal at some point, but just because she has gone all native in the jungle doesn't seem like enough to conclude that she's sick to me. It seems more as if she is the new Rousseau--driven to paranoid insanity by the loss of her child, and hellbent on getting it back and/or destroying the forces responsible. In Rousseau's case, that force was the Others. But in Claire's case, it is the Monster. It seems as if Claire could be a valuable asset in the fight against Black Robe.
* The producers specifically requested that people stop calling it "bizarro 2004" or an "alternate timeline". My response: fair enough, especially since I am a fan of it so far. From now on, it will be referred to on this blog as "2004X".
* Jeff Jensen from EW has coined "Locke-ness Monster". Clever.
* I don't like to brag about being right (especially since I'm wrong so often), but there were a lot of people convinced that Sayid had been imbued with Jacob's spirit after his seeming resurrection. Yeah, not so much.
* The backlash in the fan community to "What Kate Does" really surprised me. It was certainly no "LA X", but people are comparing it to "Fire + Water" and "Stranger in a Strange Land" (another episode I don't hate anywhere near as much as the consensus, but that's another story).
Kate is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't in the eyes of so many. It's pointed out that she's a murderer--but so are Sawyer, Sayid, Locke, Ben. She and Jack are blamed for the love triangle, which I don't like any more than you do--but Sawyer is safe from that criticism. When she acts selflessly, as in coming back to the Island to find Claire, people seek selfish motivations to ascribe to her. When she acts selfishly she gets hammered--but Sawyer can be selfish for 3 1/2 seasons and the first three hours of the final season and he gets a free pass.
Now if you like Sawyer because you think he's a good-looking man, fine. But don't pretend that he's virtuous or that Kate has no redeeming qualities.
* I like the theory that Jack and Kate share that odd look as Kate escapes in the cab because at a parallel time in 2004 they have now met. I don't buy the theory (it would cause all of the 2004X Lostaways to remember each other in no time, story-wise), but it's a good thought.
* Right before Claire shoots them both, Jason says "He's one of them". Aldo replies "He might be one of them". Obviously the connotation of "them" runs a lot deeper then the way it would have been used by Others in the past to refer generally to Lostaways. Jacob's chosen people? A group that's been foretold in some way? There's no real way to answer these questions, but they're worth asking.
* The producers specifically requested that people stop calling it "bizarro 2004" or an "alternate timeline". My response: fair enough, especially since I am a fan of it so far. From now on, it will be referred to on this blog as "2004X".
* Jeff Jensen from EW has coined "Locke-ness Monster". Clever.
* I don't like to brag about being right (especially since I'm wrong so often), but there were a lot of people convinced that Sayid had been imbued with Jacob's spirit after his seeming resurrection. Yeah, not so much.
* The backlash in the fan community to "What Kate Does" really surprised me. It was certainly no "LA X", but people are comparing it to "Fire + Water" and "Stranger in a Strange Land" (another episode I don't hate anywhere near as much as the consensus, but that's another story).
Kate is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't in the eyes of so many. It's pointed out that she's a murderer--but so are Sawyer, Sayid, Locke, Ben. She and Jack are blamed for the love triangle, which I don't like any more than you do--but Sawyer is safe from that criticism. When she acts selflessly, as in coming back to the Island to find Claire, people seek selfish motivations to ascribe to her. When she acts selfishly she gets hammered--but Sawyer can be selfish for 3 1/2 seasons and the first three hours of the final season and he gets a free pass.
Now if you like Sawyer because you think he's a good-looking man, fine. But don't pretend that he's virtuous or that Kate has no redeeming qualities.
* I like the theory that Jack and Kate share that odd look as Kate escapes in the cab because at a parallel time in 2004 they have now met. I don't buy the theory (it would cause all of the 2004X Lostaways to remember each other in no time, story-wise), but it's a good thought.
* Right before Claire shoots them both, Jason says "He's one of them". Aldo replies "He might be one of them". Obviously the connotation of "them" runs a lot deeper then the way it would have been used by Others in the past to refer generally to Lostaways. Jacob's chosen people? A group that's been foretold in some way? There's no real way to answer these questions, but they're worth asking.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
6x3: What Kate Does
I felt that "LA X" was an atypical LOST premiere because it showed us a whole new world (Temple) rather than just winding down out of the finale. This week's episode, "What Kate Does", did some of the latter. Some observations and thoughts:
* Part of the reason I wasn't in love with this episode as I was with "LA X" was because of a little too much lovey-dovey stuff, centered on Sawyer. His emotions go on a roller coaster from extreme bitterness (even disowning Sayid as a friend) to blaming himself for Juliet's death and throwing the engagement ring he'd bought for her into the ocean. I'm sure some women were swooning, and I recognize that it's a necessary part of the show, but it isn't for me.
* Once again, bizarro-2004 parallels the reality we know, but with a twist. Claire and Kate (but especially Claire, with the name Aaron) both seem to have a deja vu feeling, but can't place their finger on it. Kate is the second character (last week it was Jack) who we see look at their reflection in the mirror in bizarro timeline, which can't be a coincidence. Kate once again goes out of her way to help Claire (as she's doing on Island), and once again has to assist in delivering the baby, or at least a false start (as she did on the Island). And it's nice to see that Kate kept finding Claire on-Island at the top of her agenda once she got back.
* So Ethan is still working as a doctor, but now he's Dr. Goodspeed--no name change because he didn't participate in the murder of his parents? This is why it would be so interesting to see how Ben turned out. And it also adds further intrigue to the question of the Island's fate in the bizarro timeline, as the Goodspeed family would have been on-Island for any immediate 1977 catastrophe.
* It was disappointing that we didn't know the woman Claire was going to give the baby too--although it's quite possible that we know the MIA husband (I suspect we'll learn more when there's a Claire-centric episode). It looked as if TBTBP were going for a Juliet fakeout, as the woman looked vaguely like Juliet from behind and was wearing one of her trademark shirts. Juliet would have made sense from the Ethan angle--rather than being engaged in attempting to solve pregnancy problems on the Island, she could have been having trouble conceiving herself.
* Sayid is tortured (electroshock, again, and hot poker) to see if he is infected--and he is. Why him and not any of the other Lostaways? Is it because he was wounded when he went through the declivity under the Temple wall? Or is it because the spring water was murky? Or is it just a possible side effect of being healed in the spring.
Rousseau warned Sayid way back in 1x9 "Solitary" to be on guard against the sickness, but apparently he has now succumbed. We are told that he has been "claimed", and that the darkness growing with in him will spread until it reaches his heart, at which point he will be gone as we know him.
Nonetheless, I love that Jack is finally being assertive in his second tour on the Island (taking the pill himself was awesome), and I love the Sayid/Jack relationship of mutual trust. I'm reminded of their big moments together in the Season Two, Three, and Five end games. The two have always been able to work together towards a common goal, maybe as well as any pair of Lostaways.
* The high priest gets his own bullet point (I realize he has a name, but I'm going to keep call him that until it's actually used on the show). I'd love to know what he was typing and whether or not he was a baseball fan before he came to the Island (he is Japanese, after all). He informs us that he was brought to the Island, and implies that Jack and company should now have some understanding of what that means. He says that Sayid must take the medicine...err poison willingly, or it will not work, but that seems like a cover for himself to make sure that Jack and Sayid are on board with it. He's still short with answers, as is Aldo, who doesn't even want to let Kate and Jin know what year it is or about what happened to Ajira 316.
The high priest explains that the translator provides a layer of separation between himself and his people, and in light of Jacob's human interactions with the Lostaways, I can't help but think that this is yet another area where the Others have gone astray. I believe that there's an intentional contrast between the priest's leadership style and the fact that Jack is putting up with Sawyer threatening to kill him.
* So, Claire has the sickness too--not too surprising, since it seems as if she's been chilling with an apparition of the Monster since late December 2004. I have to believe that there will be some cure for the sickness, though, and that Claire will be reunited with Aaron. She'll have her brother and Kate doing all they can to save her.
* Part of the reason I wasn't in love with this episode as I was with "LA X" was because of a little too much lovey-dovey stuff, centered on Sawyer. His emotions go on a roller coaster from extreme bitterness (even disowning Sayid as a friend) to blaming himself for Juliet's death and throwing the engagement ring he'd bought for her into the ocean. I'm sure some women were swooning, and I recognize that it's a necessary part of the show, but it isn't for me.
* Once again, bizarro-2004 parallels the reality we know, but with a twist. Claire and Kate (but especially Claire, with the name Aaron) both seem to have a deja vu feeling, but can't place their finger on it. Kate is the second character (last week it was Jack) who we see look at their reflection in the mirror in bizarro timeline, which can't be a coincidence. Kate once again goes out of her way to help Claire (as she's doing on Island), and once again has to assist in delivering the baby, or at least a false start (as she did on the Island). And it's nice to see that Kate kept finding Claire on-Island at the top of her agenda once she got back.
* So Ethan is still working as a doctor, but now he's Dr. Goodspeed--no name change because he didn't participate in the murder of his parents? This is why it would be so interesting to see how Ben turned out. And it also adds further intrigue to the question of the Island's fate in the bizarro timeline, as the Goodspeed family would have been on-Island for any immediate 1977 catastrophe.
* It was disappointing that we didn't know the woman Claire was going to give the baby too--although it's quite possible that we know the MIA husband (I suspect we'll learn more when there's a Claire-centric episode). It looked as if TBTBP were going for a Juliet fakeout, as the woman looked vaguely like Juliet from behind and was wearing one of her trademark shirts. Juliet would have made sense from the Ethan angle--rather than being engaged in attempting to solve pregnancy problems on the Island, she could have been having trouble conceiving herself.
* Sayid is tortured (electroshock, again, and hot poker) to see if he is infected--and he is. Why him and not any of the other Lostaways? Is it because he was wounded when he went through the declivity under the Temple wall? Or is it because the spring water was murky? Or is it just a possible side effect of being healed in the spring.
Rousseau warned Sayid way back in 1x9 "Solitary" to be on guard against the sickness, but apparently he has now succumbed. We are told that he has been "claimed", and that the darkness growing with in him will spread until it reaches his heart, at which point he will be gone as we know him.
Nonetheless, I love that Jack is finally being assertive in his second tour on the Island (taking the pill himself was awesome), and I love the Sayid/Jack relationship of mutual trust. I'm reminded of their big moments together in the Season Two, Three, and Five end games. The two have always been able to work together towards a common goal, maybe as well as any pair of Lostaways.
* The high priest gets his own bullet point (I realize he has a name, but I'm going to keep call him that until it's actually used on the show). I'd love to know what he was typing and whether or not he was a baseball fan before he came to the Island (he is Japanese, after all). He informs us that he was brought to the Island, and implies that Jack and company should now have some understanding of what that means. He says that Sayid must take the medicine...err poison willingly, or it will not work, but that seems like a cover for himself to make sure that Jack and Sayid are on board with it. He's still short with answers, as is Aldo, who doesn't even want to let Kate and Jin know what year it is or about what happened to Ajira 316.
The high priest explains that the translator provides a layer of separation between himself and his people, and in light of Jacob's human interactions with the Lostaways, I can't help but think that this is yet another area where the Others have gone astray. I believe that there's an intentional contrast between the priest's leadership style and the fact that Jack is putting up with Sawyer threatening to kill him.
* So, Claire has the sickness too--not too surprising, since it seems as if she's been chilling with an apparition of the Monster since late December 2004. I have to believe that there will be some cure for the sickness, though, and that Claire will be reunited with Aaron. She'll have her brother and Kate doing all they can to save her.
Monday, February 8, 2010
6x3 Pre-Thoughts
So I guess "LA X" was in fact 6x1 AND 6x2.
* I want to see what Ben is doing (presuming he's alive) in the alternate timeline. Really badly. And what caused the Island to sink in the alternate timeline? The bomb wouldn't sink the Island, and it wouldn't leave all of those structures standing--it had to have been something else.
* "LA X" was easily the second-best season premiere (behind only "Pilot", and there's no shame in that). Most premieres are mostly wind-downs from the finale, and "LA X" was too to some extent, but it also showed us things (like the Temple, and the fact that the Monster is Black Robe) that I suspected we wouldn't see until later in the season. It also felt a lot more connected than last year's two-hour premiere (intentionally so, I suppose, since it was a two-part episode as opposed to two separate episodes).
* I read three recaps at DarkUFO, all missing obvious things. I don't mean to pick on that site, but it just goes to show that the idea of LOST experts is silly. I miss things all the time and put my foot in my mouth in this space every week too. But don't let some jackass bully you into the notion that his crazy theory is correct. Chances are good that you pick up on a lot of stuff that he misses as well.
* Sayid is not Jacob. I don't have any proof, mind you, so feel free to think that's the case if you'd like. However, I think it would be too easy, and would negate the importance of Jacob's murder. If Jacob is to be reborn, I suspect it will only be after a healthy amount of intrigue over what it means to be a "candidate".
On a related Jacob note, Lennon asks Hurley when Jacob is coming to the Temple. This seems to be more evidence that it was not Jacob trapped in the cabin; he seems to have been free to move around the Island, and apparently leaving his statue base to head to the Temple would not have been unprecedented.
Why isn't the ash always around the Temple?
A possible explanation offered by Erika at DarkUFO: We saw that Rousseau's team was attacked by the Monster near the Temple, that it lured them into the crevice under the Temple wall, and that is where it (as Locke) led Ben to itself. The Monster seemingly lives at Jacob's temple--is this some kind of dualistic balancing act, and now with Jacob gone the Monster will be able to use its access to cause harm. Or perhaps, as hinted at by Ryan at Zap2It, the Monster guarded the Temple to keep new Island visitors from getting there and being exposed to Jacob (and that perhaps that is why the High Priest and the other Others were so eager to kill the new visitors--they might believe that anyone who could get past the Monster and to the Temple had to be working in cahoots with him.)
* I can't believe that people who have rolled with all of the crazy things that have happened on LOST over the years are balking at the idea of a parallel universe. You can think quantum mechanics is hokum, if you'd like, but parallel universes have a much stronger logical foundation than deus ex machinas do, and those have been on the show forever.
* I want to see what Ben is doing (presuming he's alive) in the alternate timeline. Really badly. And what caused the Island to sink in the alternate timeline? The bomb wouldn't sink the Island, and it wouldn't leave all of those structures standing--it had to have been something else.
* "LA X" was easily the second-best season premiere (behind only "Pilot", and there's no shame in that). Most premieres are mostly wind-downs from the finale, and "LA X" was too to some extent, but it also showed us things (like the Temple, and the fact that the Monster is Black Robe) that I suspected we wouldn't see until later in the season. It also felt a lot more connected than last year's two-hour premiere (intentionally so, I suppose, since it was a two-part episode as opposed to two separate episodes).
* I read three recaps at DarkUFO, all missing obvious things. I don't mean to pick on that site, but it just goes to show that the idea of LOST experts is silly. I miss things all the time and put my foot in my mouth in this space every week too. But don't let some jackass bully you into the notion that his crazy theory is correct. Chances are good that you pick up on a lot of stuff that he misses as well.
* Sayid is not Jacob. I don't have any proof, mind you, so feel free to think that's the case if you'd like. However, I think it would be too easy, and would negate the importance of Jacob's murder. If Jacob is to be reborn, I suspect it will only be after a healthy amount of intrigue over what it means to be a "candidate".
On a related Jacob note, Lennon asks Hurley when Jacob is coming to the Temple. This seems to be more evidence that it was not Jacob trapped in the cabin; he seems to have been free to move around the Island, and apparently leaving his statue base to head to the Temple would not have been unprecedented.
Why isn't the ash always around the Temple?
A possible explanation offered by Erika at DarkUFO: We saw that Rousseau's team was attacked by the Monster near the Temple, that it lured them into the crevice under the Temple wall, and that is where it (as Locke) led Ben to itself. The Monster seemingly lives at Jacob's temple--is this some kind of dualistic balancing act, and now with Jacob gone the Monster will be able to use its access to cause harm. Or perhaps, as hinted at by Ryan at Zap2It, the Monster guarded the Temple to keep new Island visitors from getting there and being exposed to Jacob (and that perhaps that is why the High Priest and the other Others were so eager to kill the new visitors--they might believe that anyone who could get past the Monster and to the Temple had to be working in cahoots with him.)
* I can't believe that people who have rolled with all of the crazy things that have happened on LOST over the years are balking at the idea of a parallel universe. You can think quantum mechanics is hokum, if you'd like, but parallel universes have a much stronger logical foundation than deus ex machinas do, and those have been on the show forever.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
6x1: LA X
Could it be? Is "LA X" the greatest non-finale episode of all-time, overtaking either "The Shape of Things to Come" or "This Place is Death"?
With such a sweeping episode to discuss, I'll look at each of four different major places of action separately:
Bizarro 2004, on Oceanic 815 and at LAX
JACK: His usual self--saving Charlie's life, offering to check out Locke, fretting over Christian's body being lost. Also, more notably, he seemingly recognizes people but being unable to place his finger on it, and possibly imagining Desmond being on the plane.
KATE: Like Ben, always with a plan, escaping from Mars in the bathroom and commandeering Claire's cab.
SAYID: He helps Jack saves Charlie and pines after Nadia.
ROSE & BERNARD: In love and still with bathroom drama.
CHARLIE: Why did he swallow his bag of heroin, rather than dropping it in the toilet?
JIN & SUN: Jin's still telling her to button up, and Sun is still too fearful to reveal she can speak English to save Jin from a customs nightmare. Also, Jin is delivering the watch as planned.
LOCKE: (Apparently) lies that he went on his walkabout, he lost his suitcase full of knives.
BOONE: Went to Australia and was unable to bring Shannon back.
SAWYER: Looks to be getting ready to con lotto winner Hurley, as his advice seems a trojan horse as it was with Munson in 3x4. Also seems to recognize that Kate is in cuffs and help her out on the elevator--who says there's no honor amongst thieves?
HURLEY: Owns Mr. Cluck's (and discusses chicken products over the phone), but now he's the self-proclaimed luckiest man alive.
DR. ARZT: Still desperately wanting to be one of the cool kids, he's visibly disappointed when he learns shlub Hurley didn't get to be a millionaire through some Horatio Alger story.
THE ISLAND: It's underwater, including the remnants of the statue.
I have to be honest; this portion of the episode was underwhelming. While I think an alternate timeline has the potential to be very cool, the set up of this episode didn't do it for me. Hopefully, if/when the stories get more character-centric, bizarro-2004 will reach its potential. Intriguing, though, is the notion that Desmond might serve as some sort of ghostly guide for Jack.
AT THE SWAN
The immediate effect of Jughead going off is apparently to put the Lostaways back in 2007 where they belong. Juliet is alive, but only long enough to tell Sawyer she needs to tell him something. Luckily, Miles is there to say that the message was "It worked".
Meanwhile, Jacob appears to Hurley; apparently only Hurley can see him as he is now dead, and instructs him to bring Sayid to the Temple.
AT THE STATUE
Black Robe (disguised as Locke, of course) wants to speak to Richard. When Bram and some other meatheads run in with guns, it is confirmed that Black Robe and the Monster are one in the same. The circle of ash keeps the Monster out, as Bram makes a circle around himself, but knocking down a column to force him out of the circle does the trick.
Black Robe tells Ben that he's a "who", not an "it", then displays his contempt for Locke and the rest of the Lostaways, but particularly Locke. I have to admit I agree with Smokey--Locke was weak, pathetic, and irrevocably broken, and it is fitting that his last thought was "I don't understand". Most importantly, Black Robe tells Ben that he wants to go home.
Outside, Black Robe kidnaps Richard after telling him "It's to see you out of those chains", to which Richard responds "You?!" Black Robe declares "I am very disappointed in all of you", namely Frank, Sun, Ilana, and the Others.
AT THE TEMPLE
It certainly appears as if the Whispers are related to the Temple and/or its inhabitants, as they are heard loud and clear before Kate vanishes. Plus we get to see blog namesake Montand, albeit minus arm. The Temple features an awesome pond, a high priest who apparently speaks gibberish as he hates English, and his John Lennon look-alive (ok, that's stretching it) sidekick. The guitar case Jacob gave to Hurley has a wooden ankh inside; when broken, it is seen to contain another of Jacob's infamous lists, which apparently includes the names of Hurley, Kate, Jack, Jin, and Sayid, as it saves them from getting capped. Sayid is taken to the spring, which has a nasty reddish color (perhaps because of Jacob's death?) The priest cuts his hand so it bleeds and dips it in, which reminds me of the Shi'a ritual in which men cut the top of their head.
John Lennon warns that Temple healing has risks--yeah, we've seen Ben. Then Sayid is held underwater until an hourglass runs out, at which point he appears to be dead. Jack tries to save him, as Kate begs him to stop, and I'm surprised that the name of Charlie was not invoked. When Hurley informs the High Priest that Jacob is dead, everyone goes into a defensive panic, shooting off fireworks, building barricades, and spreading ash to keep Black Robe out. Then Sayid, whose death would mean everyone was in a lot of trouble according to Lennon, awakes just as Jack is being dragged away for questioning.
Obviously there a lot of questions that could be asked. Let me share a few that have really captured my imagination:
* Where is home for Black Robe?
* Could Richard have been a slave on the Black Rock (hence the reference to chains)? It's long been a popular theory that Alpert came to the Island on the Black Rock.
* Which timeline is real? What does Juliet mean by "it worked"? Does that mean that both timelines are really happening, or will one eventually have to take precedence over the other?
Runaway train, never coming back.
With such a sweeping episode to discuss, I'll look at each of four different major places of action separately:
Bizarro 2004, on Oceanic 815 and at LAX
JACK: His usual self--saving Charlie's life, offering to check out Locke, fretting over Christian's body being lost. Also, more notably, he seemingly recognizes people but being unable to place his finger on it, and possibly imagining Desmond being on the plane.
KATE: Like Ben, always with a plan, escaping from Mars in the bathroom and commandeering Claire's cab.
SAYID: He helps Jack saves Charlie and pines after Nadia.
ROSE & BERNARD: In love and still with bathroom drama.
CHARLIE: Why did he swallow his bag of heroin, rather than dropping it in the toilet?
JIN & SUN: Jin's still telling her to button up, and Sun is still too fearful to reveal she can speak English to save Jin from a customs nightmare. Also, Jin is delivering the watch as planned.
LOCKE: (Apparently) lies that he went on his walkabout, he lost his suitcase full of knives.
BOONE: Went to Australia and was unable to bring Shannon back.
SAWYER: Looks to be getting ready to con lotto winner Hurley, as his advice seems a trojan horse as it was with Munson in 3x4. Also seems to recognize that Kate is in cuffs and help her out on the elevator--who says there's no honor amongst thieves?
HURLEY: Owns Mr. Cluck's (and discusses chicken products over the phone), but now he's the self-proclaimed luckiest man alive.
DR. ARZT: Still desperately wanting to be one of the cool kids, he's visibly disappointed when he learns shlub Hurley didn't get to be a millionaire through some Horatio Alger story.
THE ISLAND: It's underwater, including the remnants of the statue.
I have to be honest; this portion of the episode was underwhelming. While I think an alternate timeline has the potential to be very cool, the set up of this episode didn't do it for me. Hopefully, if/when the stories get more character-centric, bizarro-2004 will reach its potential. Intriguing, though, is the notion that Desmond might serve as some sort of ghostly guide for Jack.
AT THE SWAN
The immediate effect of Jughead going off is apparently to put the Lostaways back in 2007 where they belong. Juliet is alive, but only long enough to tell Sawyer she needs to tell him something. Luckily, Miles is there to say that the message was "It worked".
Meanwhile, Jacob appears to Hurley; apparently only Hurley can see him as he is now dead, and instructs him to bring Sayid to the Temple.
AT THE STATUE
Black Robe (disguised as Locke, of course) wants to speak to Richard. When Bram and some other meatheads run in with guns, it is confirmed that Black Robe and the Monster are one in the same. The circle of ash keeps the Monster out, as Bram makes a circle around himself, but knocking down a column to force him out of the circle does the trick.
Black Robe tells Ben that he's a "who", not an "it", then displays his contempt for Locke and the rest of the Lostaways, but particularly Locke. I have to admit I agree with Smokey--Locke was weak, pathetic, and irrevocably broken, and it is fitting that his last thought was "I don't understand". Most importantly, Black Robe tells Ben that he wants to go home.
Outside, Black Robe kidnaps Richard after telling him "It's to see you out of those chains", to which Richard responds "You?!" Black Robe declares "I am very disappointed in all of you", namely Frank, Sun, Ilana, and the Others.
AT THE TEMPLE
It certainly appears as if the Whispers are related to the Temple and/or its inhabitants, as they are heard loud and clear before Kate vanishes. Plus we get to see blog namesake Montand, albeit minus arm. The Temple features an awesome pond, a high priest who apparently speaks gibberish as he hates English, and his John Lennon look-alive (ok, that's stretching it) sidekick. The guitar case Jacob gave to Hurley has a wooden ankh inside; when broken, it is seen to contain another of Jacob's infamous lists, which apparently includes the names of Hurley, Kate, Jack, Jin, and Sayid, as it saves them from getting capped. Sayid is taken to the spring, which has a nasty reddish color (perhaps because of Jacob's death?) The priest cuts his hand so it bleeds and dips it in, which reminds me of the Shi'a ritual in which men cut the top of their head.
John Lennon warns that Temple healing has risks--yeah, we've seen Ben. Then Sayid is held underwater until an hourglass runs out, at which point he appears to be dead. Jack tries to save him, as Kate begs him to stop, and I'm surprised that the name of Charlie was not invoked. When Hurley informs the High Priest that Jacob is dead, everyone goes into a defensive panic, shooting off fireworks, building barricades, and spreading ash to keep Black Robe out. Then Sayid, whose death would mean everyone was in a lot of trouble according to Lennon, awakes just as Jack is being dragged away for questioning.
Obviously there a lot of questions that could be asked. Let me share a few that have really captured my imagination:
* Where is home for Black Robe?
* Could Richard have been a slave on the Black Rock (hence the reference to chains)? It's long been a popular theory that Alpert came to the Island on the Black Rock.
* Which timeline is real? What does Juliet mean by "it worked"? Does that mean that both timelines are really happening, or will one eventually have to take precedence over the other?
Runaway train, never coming back.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Season Premiere Pre-Thoughts
Here we go, the final season premiere. Will a new song be forever associated with LOST (in the spirit of "Make Your Own Kind of Music", "Downtown", and "Shotgun Willie"?) Will everyone get off the plane in Los Angeles? Will the new storytelling device be to show alternate timelines as flashes? Will the survivors return to 2007? 2004 after the crash?
Thankfully, I'm unspoiled and will find out in good time. Rather than trying to speculate, I'd rather write broadly about Season Six and what my expectations are. I embrace the reality that LOST will not answer every question it has posed, and that it would be folly to try. Nonetheless, I believe there are a number of questions that do beg for answers, namely (and in no particular order):
* What is the true nature of the Jacob/Black Robe conflict? Good v. Evil? Shades of gray? Are they gods, demigods, ageless mortals in the mold of Alpert?
* What destroyed the statue? Was it related to the pregnancy problems? And if not, what caused those?
* What is the history of the Hostiles/Others? Are they simply the people Jacob has drawn to the Island? What is their mission, and what is the Temple?
* What are the Whispers?
* Who are Adam and Eve?
* What is the Monster? More specifically, I don't need to know how a cloud of black smoke is sentient; I just need to understand its relationship to other forces on the Island and what it is judging? What is its moral code, so to speak?
For me, those are the major questions. If most of those questions are addressed adequately, then I will be very satisfied with LOST. There are many other questions that could be asked, and hopefully some will be answered, but the ones I'm really invested in are listed above.
Broadly, I would like the ending of the show to be spectacularly inconclusive. So many episodes of LOST have ended with myself and many other audience members scratching our heads and wondering what the heck we just watched. I'd like my immediate reaction to the final scene of the show to be "I wasted six years of my life obsessing about this television show to get THAT as a payoff?" The fun of LOST has always been theorizing and scrutinizing every little detail. What fun would it be if that was eviscerated by the ending of the show?
In order for LOST to be true to its own nature, it has to end with a question mark. I have faith that it will, and I believe that in the long haul, diehard LOST fans who don't agree with me now will.
Thankfully, I'm unspoiled and will find out in good time. Rather than trying to speculate, I'd rather write broadly about Season Six and what my expectations are. I embrace the reality that LOST will not answer every question it has posed, and that it would be folly to try. Nonetheless, I believe there are a number of questions that do beg for answers, namely (and in no particular order):
* What is the true nature of the Jacob/Black Robe conflict? Good v. Evil? Shades of gray? Are they gods, demigods, ageless mortals in the mold of Alpert?
* What destroyed the statue? Was it related to the pregnancy problems? And if not, what caused those?
* What is the history of the Hostiles/Others? Are they simply the people Jacob has drawn to the Island? What is their mission, and what is the Temple?
* What are the Whispers?
* Who are Adam and Eve?
* What is the Monster? More specifically, I don't need to know how a cloud of black smoke is sentient; I just need to understand its relationship to other forces on the Island and what it is judging? What is its moral code, so to speak?
For me, those are the major questions. If most of those questions are addressed adequately, then I will be very satisfied with LOST. There are many other questions that could be asked, and hopefully some will be answered, but the ones I'm really invested in are listed above.
Broadly, I would like the ending of the show to be spectacularly inconclusive. So many episodes of LOST have ended with myself and many other audience members scratching our heads and wondering what the heck we just watched. I'd like my immediate reaction to the final scene of the show to be "I wasted six years of my life obsessing about this television show to get THAT as a payoff?" The fun of LOST has always been theorizing and scrutinizing every little detail. What fun would it be if that was eviscerated by the ending of the show?
In order for LOST to be true to its own nature, it has to end with a question mark. I have faith that it will, and I believe that in the long haul, diehard LOST fans who don't agree with me now will.
Season Five Review
I've been re-watching the entire show to get ready for the final season, and I'll be giving a mini-review of each:
Notable new characters (on-screen appearances only): Pierre Chang (5x1); Frogurt (5x1); Jill (5x2); Montand, Nadine, Robert, and the rest of Rousseau's team (5x4); Caesar (5x6); Ilana (5x6); Ray Shephard (5x6); Amy (5x8); Phil (5x8); Bram (5x9); Radzinsky (5x9); Oldham (5x10); Clementine Phillips (5x11); Black Robe (5x16); Jacob (5x16)
Notable births: Charlie Hume (5x3), Ethan Rom (5x8)
Notable deaths: Frogurt (5x2); Montand, Nadine, Robert, and the rest of Rousseau's team (5x5); Charlotte (5x5); Abaddon (5x7); Locke (5x7); Caesar (5x12); Daniel (5x14); Jacob (5x16); Juliet (5x16); Phil (5x16)
First centric episode: Richard (5x15), Jacob (5x16)
Multiple centric episodes: Kate (2)
DHARMA station interiors first seen: Lamp Post (5x2)
Monster Appearances: 5x5, 5x9, 5x12
Name-dropped titles (not necessarily comprehensive, but obviously memorable): Because You Left; The Lie; This Place is Death; 316; LaFleur; Namaste; He's Our You, Dead is Dead, The Variable, The Incident
Best episode: 5x16, "The Incident". From the jaw-dropping opening scene, to the murder of Jacob, to the fade to white, "The Incident" is the finest episode that LOST has ever produced. A Jacob-centric episode? C'mon, don't even try to deny it.
Second-best episode: 5x5, "This Place is Death". An extraordinary episode, the greatest non-finale episode the show has ever produced (excluding "Pilot"). The episode is loaded with mythology, namely what happened to Rousseau's team (also see "Best Scene", and as you can see from the title of this blog, this is something I'd longed to see and I was not disappointed), confirmation that Eloise Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother, and a scene between Cabin Christian and Locke in the donkey wheel chamber (discussed below).
Charlotte dies, telling Faraday that she was born on the Island and has spent her life trying to get back, but also that before she left, Faraday approached her and told her never to come back. Charlotte's death is not for naught--instead, it activates the entire end game of the season by getting Faraday to desperately search for a way to change the past and to prove his own theories wrong.
Back in Los Angeles, the allegiances within the Oceanic Six change on a dime, as my two favorite characters (Jack and Sun) are on the same team, even exasperating Ben to the point of pulling over and lecturing them as if they are children asking "When will we get there?"
Third-best episode: 5x12, "Dead is Dead". A mythological feast, as Ben episodes tend to be. In flashbacks, we see Richard Alpert tell Widmore that Jacob wanted Ben to be saved; Ben and Ethan kidnapping Alex, with the former telling Rousseau to run the other way if she ever hears whispers; Widmore telling Ben that he should have killed Alex, despite being unwilling to do it himself and not saying that Jacob ordered it; Ben seeing off Widmore as he is banished, reiterating that he'd broken the rules by leaving the Island frequently and having a daughter with an outsider; and Ben's unsuccessful effort to murder Penny as retaliation for Alex's death.
Ben claims that the Others don't have a word for the Monster and that it's role is as a sort of judge, jury, and executioner. He attempts to summon it by draining muddy water from a basin in an underground tunnel, but Locke leads him to the crevice under the Temple wall where Montand ended up, and there the Monster emerges from a vent in its most revealing appearance on the show. It appears to be on Black Robe's side as, taking the form of Alex, it orders Ben to follow everything that Locke says.
On top of all this, Ben says that the Temple is a half-mile beyond the wall (meaning it has yet to be seen on the show), and the Ilana/Bram group takes control, with the crate appearing for the first time and Ilana asking Frank "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" As I said, a mythological touchstone episode.
Overlooked episode: 5x11, "Whatever Happened, Happened". I'll admit it: when I saw the previously on LOST teaser focusing on Kate, Sawyer, and Cassidy, I groaned. But this episode was probably the best character episode of the season, showing why Kate was willing to give up Aaron and why she came back to the Island, introducing the new laid-back Jack, and humanizing Roger Linus a tad. The episode's ending, in which Sawyer and Kate turn Ben over to Richard Alpert, provides some mythological teases--Richard taking Ben to the Temple will cause him to forget what happened to him, and "his innocent will be gone" and he will always be an Other. We also learn that Eloise and Charles are the leaders at this point.
Best episode ending: I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think it's in 5x15 "Follow the Leader", when Locke informs Ben that they are making a pilgrimage to Jacob so that Locke can kill him. The ramifications of that sent my mind spinning over the next week. Other good ones are:
1. the reveal of Eloise as the hooded figure in the church, working with Ben on a way back to the Island (5x2 "The Lie")
2. Jin finding Jack, Kate, and Hurley after they were flashed off of Ajira 316, driving a DHARMA van and wearing a jumpsuit (5x6 "316")
3. Sayid shooting young Ben Linus (5x10 "He's Our You")
Creepiest episode: 5x10 "He's Our You" takes the cake. Oldham, DHARMA's pharmaceutical torturer who lives in a teepee and listens to old music plus young Ben setting a bus on fire and crashing it into a building to spring Sayid? No contest.
Best flashback: Does it really have to be answered? Jacob visiting (and touching) various Lostaways can't be matched. The visits:
1. Kate, as she and Tom steal the lunch box they'll use for their time capsule
2. Sawyer as he writes his letter to the real Sawyer at his parents' funeral
3. Sayid, distracting him as Nadia is struck and killed by a car
4. Ilana, bandaged in a Russian hospital (radiation burn?)
5. Locke, after Cooper threw him out the window (and is it possible that Jacob's touch resurrected him at the time? It certainly woke him up if nothing else)
6. Jin and Sun, offering his blessing at their wedding
7. Jack, after his count to five surgery
8. Hurley after his release from jail, telling him that he is blessed, not cursed, and inviting him on Ajira 316
The most interesting this he says are to Jack ("I guess it just needed a little push") and to Hurley (essentially, "it's your choice").
Most important mythological development: DHARMA, hieroglyphs/Egypt/Tarweet, intro of Black Robe
Time travel dominates the mythological portion of the first two episodes, but we don't really learn anything new so much as experience what we were already aware of in a new way. It's in 5x3 when the new information really starts to come: Jughead is introduced, Widmore was an Other, and John told Richard to come visit him at his birth, and that it was John flashing into 1954 that started the interest of Richard and the Others in him. A self-fulfilling prophecy. In 5x4, Ajira Airlines is first introduced and it's strongly hinted that Miles is from the Island. In 5x14, we learn that not only is Eloise Faraday's mother, Widmore is his father (which means Penny is Daniel's sister, Ellie and Charles were lovers, etc.) and he staged the wreckage of Oceanic 815. In 5x15, Ben describes Richard as an "advisor", we learn that he's never seen Jacob, and that Richard wasn't kidding when he told Locke in 5x1 that Locke gave him his instructions. In 5x16, Richard attributes his agelessness to Jacob, and says that only the leader can request a meeting with Jacob. We also see the circle of ash has been broken around the cabin, leading Ilana to conclude that Jacob is not there and someone else has been using it. She and Bram introduce the concept of a "candidate".
Most important scene of the season: The opening scene of 5x16 "The Incident", in which the show draws back the curtain again (for the final time?), expanding the scope of what we are watching. Jacob and Black Robe chat over fish and an approaching ship (it has to be the Black Rock, right?)
Of course, everyone focuses on their conversation, in which Black Robe expresses his dismay that Jacob has brought another group of people to the Island--he believes they all fight, destroy, and corrupt. Jacob, however, believes that "it only ends once...everything that happens before that is just progress". Black Robe then expresses his desire to kill Jacob and vows to find a loophole.
But what goes unmentioned about this scene is that for the first time, we get a good view of Taweret in all her glory.
Best scene of the season: I'm drawing a distinction between most important (the one that tells us the most about the larger story) and best, which is one that is great to watch.
Finally getting to see what happened to Rousseau and her team takes the cake. We learn that a time-flashing Jin was with them as they ventured into the Black Territory. The monster attacked, killing Nadine and grabbing Montand and dragging him into a hole just as it attempted to do with Locke. Montand has his arm ripped off as the group attempts to pull him to safety, then lures the rest of the team down below. Jin prevents Rousseau from going, then flashes to a few weeks later as Rousseau has killed her team, save Robert, who she is holding at gunpoint. Robert tells her that he is not sick, and that it is not a monster--just a security system to guard the temple. He convinces Rousseau to lower her rifle, then points his at her and pulls the trigger--but she's removed the firing pin and in turn shoots him, then shoots at Jin, who she believes to be a "carrier"--i.e. an Other.
I don't usually do play-by-play, but you can tell from the title of this blog that I waited a long time for this one.
For comedy, Hurley explaining the first four seasons of the show to his mom in 5x2 is tough to top. For dark drama, Ben murdering Locke in his motel room, moments after talking him out of committing suicide, is as good as the show has ever been.
Feel-good moment of the season: I really like Jacob's chat with Hurley in 5x16, telling him that he is blessed, not cursed. There aren't that many scenes that overflow with positive emotion in Season Five.
TIVO moment: Unlike some previous seasons, there is no single scene that demands scrutiny. I'd say that shots of the statue, the art around the Monster vent, and Jacob's tapestry are the most interesting things to examine in detail.
Line of the season: "My mother taught me"--Ben to Jack, as Jack asks him how he can read while waiting for something to happen on Ajira 316 in 5x6 "316". It's great because it's quintessential Ben--he can't even quip without lying.
Secret scene: The fork in the outlet is that it is Locke's dead body in the crate the Ajira group has been hauling around. It's a pretty solid reveal, and it's also really cool that the same object (Locke's corpse) has been the secret reveal in two consecutive seasons.
Character of the season (each character can only be picked once): Sawyer evolves into a leader, a role that is thrust open him with the departure of Jack, Kate, and Sayid and Locke's return to the real world. He pulls it off, and as LaFleur is a respected community leader. Even after that crumbles, he leads the rest of the Lostaways to help Jack, despite not really wanting to, and his genuine love for Juliet is a new side for his character (while he clearly loved Kate, he never had a chance to display the same sort of care. It will be interesting to see how he reacts now that Juliet is gone.
Bunny sightings: 5x6
Other observations on the season:
* I absolutely love the flaming arrow scene in 5x2. There's nothing to analyze about it, it's just awesome.
* Untangling the Jacob/Black Robe allegiances in 5x7 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" is something that might not be possible until the series can be viewed as a whole. Widmore tells Locke a war is coming, and that if he's not on the Island the wrong side will win. Contrast this with Bram, who tells Miles in 5x13 that by working for Widmore he is going to be working for the wrong side, but that Bram's side is going to win. Does that make Widmore a servant of Black Robe, since Locke is the foundation of his loophole? Widmore claims not to know that Locke will die--a lie, or evidence that he, like Ben, just knows that Locke is important in some manner and doesn't know why?
And Walt tells Locke that he has had dreams of him on the Island, wearing a suit--a condition he's in when resurrected and possessed by Black Robe. Does that make Walt in touch with the dark side? For those who take that position, there's been ample supporting evidence through the years.
* Is it possible that Faraday and Charlotte could be Adam and Eve? Consider that Charlotte's body vanished during one of the flashes, so we don't know what happened to it. Faraday died in 1977, which would make him a little short of the range Jack suggested (40-50 years), but as he said, that was just a guess. Perhaps someone laid them to rest together in the caves. Wouldn't it my ironic if Adam and Eve were a couple with no sexual relationship headlined by the show's leading expert on time travel?
* It's no secret that there are a lot father issues on LOST, so it's worthwhile to categorize them for the main characters:
Horrifyingly bad relationships--Kate, Sawyer, Ben
Really bad relationships--Jack, Sun, Penny
Issues or non-existent relationships--Juliet, Miles, Faraday, Walt, Jin, Sayid, Claire, Charlotte
Seems OK--Charlie, Shannon
Unknown--Michael, Desmond, Boone, Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Lapidus, Ilana
I do find it amusing that while father issues dominate, the single most screwed up relationship is between Daniel...and his mother.
* In an ongoing attempt to classify Island phenomenon between those created by Jacob and those created by Black Robe:
1. Hurley's vision of Ana-Lucia "You have work to do". See below--I really don't have a grand theory on what was behind the Island magic of Season Five. I think we need the perspective of another season to really get a better sense of what's going on. "X have/has work to do" is a phrase that's been uttered in both the mobisodes (by Christian Shephard, with respect to his son) and by "taller ghost Walt" to Locke in 3x22.
2. Who controlled the flashes? It's obvious that the Lostaways were inserted in specific moments in the Island's history, and taken out at others. But who do they benefit? Jin saves Rousseau, for instance, which seems like something Jacob might ordain. But Locke is prevented from being shot by Ethan--could serve Jacob's agenda, but it also would behoove Black Robe to keep his loophole alive and well.
3. Christian appears to Locke as he is about to turn the wheel, reinforcing the idea that he has to die and telling him in just as many words that he is now a sacrifice the Island demands. And if that's not the work of Black Robe, than all of my attempts to assign agency to these events are worthless.
* Mysteries/questions that might never will be answered and don't have to be (some are obviously more important than others):
1. What did Ben take out of his slick in the motel room? Jin's ring seems to be a possibility, but it was a big package.
2. Who sent the assassins after Sayid? Widmore seems like an obvious choice, but it also could have been Ben, just as he was manipulating Kate through legal machinations with respect to Aaron.
3. Who was shooting at Locke/Juliet/Miles/Charlotte/Faraday/Sawyer when they were in the outrigger? I thought that scene would be revisited at some point in Season Five, but I guess we'll have to wait for it. The obvious guess is that it's the Ilana faction shooting at what they believe to be faux-Locke.
4. What was the reaction of the outside world when Ajira 316, carrying five members of the Oceanic Six, disappeared just as Oceanic 815 had?
5. Who was the "clever fellow" that devised the Lamp Post's mechanism for locating the Island?
6. Why did Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley end up in 1977 while Ben, Sun, and Lapidus remained in the present day?
7. How did the Hostiles move Jughead into the tunnel?
8. What's in the guitar case that Jacob gave to Hurley?
Notable new characters (on-screen appearances only): Pierre Chang (5x1); Frogurt (5x1); Jill (5x2); Montand, Nadine, Robert, and the rest of Rousseau's team (5x4); Caesar (5x6); Ilana (5x6); Ray Shephard (5x6); Amy (5x8); Phil (5x8); Bram (5x9); Radzinsky (5x9); Oldham (5x10); Clementine Phillips (5x11); Black Robe (5x16); Jacob (5x16)
Notable births: Charlie Hume (5x3), Ethan Rom (5x8)
Notable deaths: Frogurt (5x2); Montand, Nadine, Robert, and the rest of Rousseau's team (5x5); Charlotte (5x5); Abaddon (5x7); Locke (5x7); Caesar (5x12); Daniel (5x14); Jacob (5x16); Juliet (5x16); Phil (5x16)
First centric episode: Richard (5x15), Jacob (5x16)
Multiple centric episodes: Kate (2)
DHARMA station interiors first seen: Lamp Post (5x2)
Monster Appearances: 5x5, 5x9, 5x12
Name-dropped titles (not necessarily comprehensive, but obviously memorable): Because You Left; The Lie; This Place is Death; 316; LaFleur; Namaste; He's Our You, Dead is Dead, The Variable, The Incident
Best episode: 5x16, "The Incident". From the jaw-dropping opening scene, to the murder of Jacob, to the fade to white, "The Incident" is the finest episode that LOST has ever produced. A Jacob-centric episode? C'mon, don't even try to deny it.
Second-best episode: 5x5, "This Place is Death". An extraordinary episode, the greatest non-finale episode the show has ever produced (excluding "Pilot"). The episode is loaded with mythology, namely what happened to Rousseau's team (also see "Best Scene", and as you can see from the title of this blog, this is something I'd longed to see and I was not disappointed), confirmation that Eloise Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother, and a scene between Cabin Christian and Locke in the donkey wheel chamber (discussed below).
Charlotte dies, telling Faraday that she was born on the Island and has spent her life trying to get back, but also that before she left, Faraday approached her and told her never to come back. Charlotte's death is not for naught--instead, it activates the entire end game of the season by getting Faraday to desperately search for a way to change the past and to prove his own theories wrong.
Back in Los Angeles, the allegiances within the Oceanic Six change on a dime, as my two favorite characters (Jack and Sun) are on the same team, even exasperating Ben to the point of pulling over and lecturing them as if they are children asking "When will we get there?"
Third-best episode: 5x12, "Dead is Dead". A mythological feast, as Ben episodes tend to be. In flashbacks, we see Richard Alpert tell Widmore that Jacob wanted Ben to be saved; Ben and Ethan kidnapping Alex, with the former telling Rousseau to run the other way if she ever hears whispers; Widmore telling Ben that he should have killed Alex, despite being unwilling to do it himself and not saying that Jacob ordered it; Ben seeing off Widmore as he is banished, reiterating that he'd broken the rules by leaving the Island frequently and having a daughter with an outsider; and Ben's unsuccessful effort to murder Penny as retaliation for Alex's death.
Ben claims that the Others don't have a word for the Monster and that it's role is as a sort of judge, jury, and executioner. He attempts to summon it by draining muddy water from a basin in an underground tunnel, but Locke leads him to the crevice under the Temple wall where Montand ended up, and there the Monster emerges from a vent in its most revealing appearance on the show. It appears to be on Black Robe's side as, taking the form of Alex, it orders Ben to follow everything that Locke says.
On top of all this, Ben says that the Temple is a half-mile beyond the wall (meaning it has yet to be seen on the show), and the Ilana/Bram group takes control, with the crate appearing for the first time and Ilana asking Frank "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" As I said, a mythological touchstone episode.
Overlooked episode: 5x11, "Whatever Happened, Happened". I'll admit it: when I saw the previously on LOST teaser focusing on Kate, Sawyer, and Cassidy, I groaned. But this episode was probably the best character episode of the season, showing why Kate was willing to give up Aaron and why she came back to the Island, introducing the new laid-back Jack, and humanizing Roger Linus a tad. The episode's ending, in which Sawyer and Kate turn Ben over to Richard Alpert, provides some mythological teases--Richard taking Ben to the Temple will cause him to forget what happened to him, and "his innocent will be gone" and he will always be an Other. We also learn that Eloise and Charles are the leaders at this point.
Best episode ending: I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think it's in 5x15 "Follow the Leader", when Locke informs Ben that they are making a pilgrimage to Jacob so that Locke can kill him. The ramifications of that sent my mind spinning over the next week. Other good ones are:
1. the reveal of Eloise as the hooded figure in the church, working with Ben on a way back to the Island (5x2 "The Lie")
2. Jin finding Jack, Kate, and Hurley after they were flashed off of Ajira 316, driving a DHARMA van and wearing a jumpsuit (5x6 "316")
3. Sayid shooting young Ben Linus (5x10 "He's Our You")
Creepiest episode: 5x10 "He's Our You" takes the cake. Oldham, DHARMA's pharmaceutical torturer who lives in a teepee and listens to old music plus young Ben setting a bus on fire and crashing it into a building to spring Sayid? No contest.
Best flashback: Does it really have to be answered? Jacob visiting (and touching) various Lostaways can't be matched. The visits:
1. Kate, as she and Tom steal the lunch box they'll use for their time capsule
2. Sawyer as he writes his letter to the real Sawyer at his parents' funeral
3. Sayid, distracting him as Nadia is struck and killed by a car
4. Ilana, bandaged in a Russian hospital (radiation burn?)
5. Locke, after Cooper threw him out the window (and is it possible that Jacob's touch resurrected him at the time? It certainly woke him up if nothing else)
6. Jin and Sun, offering his blessing at their wedding
7. Jack, after his count to five surgery
8. Hurley after his release from jail, telling him that he is blessed, not cursed, and inviting him on Ajira 316
The most interesting this he says are to Jack ("I guess it just needed a little push") and to Hurley (essentially, "it's your choice").
Most important mythological development: DHARMA, hieroglyphs/Egypt/Tarweet, intro of Black Robe
Time travel dominates the mythological portion of the first two episodes, but we don't really learn anything new so much as experience what we were already aware of in a new way. It's in 5x3 when the new information really starts to come: Jughead is introduced, Widmore was an Other, and John told Richard to come visit him at his birth, and that it was John flashing into 1954 that started the interest of Richard and the Others in him. A self-fulfilling prophecy. In 5x4, Ajira Airlines is first introduced and it's strongly hinted that Miles is from the Island. In 5x14, we learn that not only is Eloise Faraday's mother, Widmore is his father (which means Penny is Daniel's sister, Ellie and Charles were lovers, etc.) and he staged the wreckage of Oceanic 815. In 5x15, Ben describes Richard as an "advisor", we learn that he's never seen Jacob, and that Richard wasn't kidding when he told Locke in 5x1 that Locke gave him his instructions. In 5x16, Richard attributes his agelessness to Jacob, and says that only the leader can request a meeting with Jacob. We also see the circle of ash has been broken around the cabin, leading Ilana to conclude that Jacob is not there and someone else has been using it. She and Bram introduce the concept of a "candidate".
Most important scene of the season: The opening scene of 5x16 "The Incident", in which the show draws back the curtain again (for the final time?), expanding the scope of what we are watching. Jacob and Black Robe chat over fish and an approaching ship (it has to be the Black Rock, right?)
Of course, everyone focuses on their conversation, in which Black Robe expresses his dismay that Jacob has brought another group of people to the Island--he believes they all fight, destroy, and corrupt. Jacob, however, believes that "it only ends once...everything that happens before that is just progress". Black Robe then expresses his desire to kill Jacob and vows to find a loophole.
But what goes unmentioned about this scene is that for the first time, we get a good view of Taweret in all her glory.
Best scene of the season: I'm drawing a distinction between most important (the one that tells us the most about the larger story) and best, which is one that is great to watch.
Finally getting to see what happened to Rousseau and her team takes the cake. We learn that a time-flashing Jin was with them as they ventured into the Black Territory. The monster attacked, killing Nadine and grabbing Montand and dragging him into a hole just as it attempted to do with Locke. Montand has his arm ripped off as the group attempts to pull him to safety, then lures the rest of the team down below. Jin prevents Rousseau from going, then flashes to a few weeks later as Rousseau has killed her team, save Robert, who she is holding at gunpoint. Robert tells her that he is not sick, and that it is not a monster--just a security system to guard the temple. He convinces Rousseau to lower her rifle, then points his at her and pulls the trigger--but she's removed the firing pin and in turn shoots him, then shoots at Jin, who she believes to be a "carrier"--i.e. an Other.
I don't usually do play-by-play, but you can tell from the title of this blog that I waited a long time for this one.
For comedy, Hurley explaining the first four seasons of the show to his mom in 5x2 is tough to top. For dark drama, Ben murdering Locke in his motel room, moments after talking him out of committing suicide, is as good as the show has ever been.
Feel-good moment of the season: I really like Jacob's chat with Hurley in 5x16, telling him that he is blessed, not cursed. There aren't that many scenes that overflow with positive emotion in Season Five.
TIVO moment: Unlike some previous seasons, there is no single scene that demands scrutiny. I'd say that shots of the statue, the art around the Monster vent, and Jacob's tapestry are the most interesting things to examine in detail.
Line of the season: "My mother taught me"--Ben to Jack, as Jack asks him how he can read while waiting for something to happen on Ajira 316 in 5x6 "316". It's great because it's quintessential Ben--he can't even quip without lying.
Secret scene: The fork in the outlet is that it is Locke's dead body in the crate the Ajira group has been hauling around. It's a pretty solid reveal, and it's also really cool that the same object (Locke's corpse) has been the secret reveal in two consecutive seasons.
Character of the season (each character can only be picked once): Sawyer evolves into a leader, a role that is thrust open him with the departure of Jack, Kate, and Sayid and Locke's return to the real world. He pulls it off, and as LaFleur is a respected community leader. Even after that crumbles, he leads the rest of the Lostaways to help Jack, despite not really wanting to, and his genuine love for Juliet is a new side for his character (while he clearly loved Kate, he never had a chance to display the same sort of care. It will be interesting to see how he reacts now that Juliet is gone.
Bunny sightings: 5x6
Other observations on the season:
* I absolutely love the flaming arrow scene in 5x2. There's nothing to analyze about it, it's just awesome.
* Untangling the Jacob/Black Robe allegiances in 5x7 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" is something that might not be possible until the series can be viewed as a whole. Widmore tells Locke a war is coming, and that if he's not on the Island the wrong side will win. Contrast this with Bram, who tells Miles in 5x13 that by working for Widmore he is going to be working for the wrong side, but that Bram's side is going to win. Does that make Widmore a servant of Black Robe, since Locke is the foundation of his loophole? Widmore claims not to know that Locke will die--a lie, or evidence that he, like Ben, just knows that Locke is important in some manner and doesn't know why?
And Walt tells Locke that he has had dreams of him on the Island, wearing a suit--a condition he's in when resurrected and possessed by Black Robe. Does that make Walt in touch with the dark side? For those who take that position, there's been ample supporting evidence through the years.
* Is it possible that Faraday and Charlotte could be Adam and Eve? Consider that Charlotte's body vanished during one of the flashes, so we don't know what happened to it. Faraday died in 1977, which would make him a little short of the range Jack suggested (40-50 years), but as he said, that was just a guess. Perhaps someone laid them to rest together in the caves. Wouldn't it my ironic if Adam and Eve were a couple with no sexual relationship headlined by the show's leading expert on time travel?
* It's no secret that there are a lot father issues on LOST, so it's worthwhile to categorize them for the main characters:
Horrifyingly bad relationships--Kate, Sawyer, Ben
Really bad relationships--Jack, Sun, Penny
Issues or non-existent relationships--Juliet, Miles, Faraday, Walt, Jin, Sayid, Claire, Charlotte
Seems OK--Charlie, Shannon
Unknown--Michael, Desmond, Boone, Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Lapidus, Ilana
I do find it amusing that while father issues dominate, the single most screwed up relationship is between Daniel...and his mother.
* In an ongoing attempt to classify Island phenomenon between those created by Jacob and those created by Black Robe:
1. Hurley's vision of Ana-Lucia "You have work to do". See below--I really don't have a grand theory on what was behind the Island magic of Season Five. I think we need the perspective of another season to really get a better sense of what's going on. "X have/has work to do" is a phrase that's been uttered in both the mobisodes (by Christian Shephard, with respect to his son) and by "taller ghost Walt" to Locke in 3x22.
2. Who controlled the flashes? It's obvious that the Lostaways were inserted in specific moments in the Island's history, and taken out at others. But who do they benefit? Jin saves Rousseau, for instance, which seems like something Jacob might ordain. But Locke is prevented from being shot by Ethan--could serve Jacob's agenda, but it also would behoove Black Robe to keep his loophole alive and well.
3. Christian appears to Locke as he is about to turn the wheel, reinforcing the idea that he has to die and telling him in just as many words that he is now a sacrifice the Island demands. And if that's not the work of Black Robe, than all of my attempts to assign agency to these events are worthless.
* Mysteries/questions that might never will be answered and don't have to be (some are obviously more important than others):
1. What did Ben take out of his slick in the motel room? Jin's ring seems to be a possibility, but it was a big package.
2. Who sent the assassins after Sayid? Widmore seems like an obvious choice, but it also could have been Ben, just as he was manipulating Kate through legal machinations with respect to Aaron.
3. Who was shooting at Locke/Juliet/Miles/Charlotte/Faraday/Sawyer when they were in the outrigger? I thought that scene would be revisited at some point in Season Five, but I guess we'll have to wait for it. The obvious guess is that it's the Ilana faction shooting at what they believe to be faux-Locke.
4. What was the reaction of the outside world when Ajira 316, carrying five members of the Oceanic Six, disappeared just as Oceanic 815 had?
5. Who was the "clever fellow" that devised the Lamp Post's mechanism for locating the Island?
6. Why did Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley end up in 1977 while Ben, Sun, and Lapidus remained in the present day?
7. How did the Hostiles move Jughead into the tunnel?
8. What's in the guitar case that Jacob gave to Hurley?
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