Thursday, February 28, 2008

Even Laptops Go to the Doctor

Hello my dear friends -

My beloved laptop is in the shop for a "tune-up," so tonight I write this from my husband's old computer (the screen appears to be pulsing and I'm sure I'm going to get a migraine at any moment). It is t-minus 1 hour and 15 minutes before "The Constant," and I wanted to make you all aware of yet another change in Lost's schedule for the rest of Season Four. They are now going to put the show on hiatus after episode eight (rather than seven, as previously planned). And then, the balance of the season will start up again one week earlier than originally communicated, on April 24th.

So here are the air dates of the remaining episodes... this is the "official word" from ABC:

Episode 6: March 6
Episode 7: March 13
Episode 8: March 20

HIATUS

Episode 9: April 24
Episode 10: May 1
Episode 11: May 8
Episode 12: May 15
Episode 13: May 22 (Season Finale)

We'll see if they stick with this schedule...

Because of my laptop issues and another packed weekend, I expect to get my post for "The Constant" up by Monday night, March 3rd.

T-minus 1 hour and 7 minutes!
- e

Sunday, February 24, 2008

S4Ep4 - Well We're Living Here in an Eggtown...


... and it's hard to choke a grenade down. (Just ask Miles.)

Hello my dear friends -

There have been two times since Lost premiered when I have gotten chills at the end of an episode. The first was in "Deus Ex Machina," when Locke ran back to the hatch (as Boone was dying) and started banging and crying "WHYYYYY?!?!!?" on the little window, and then all of a sudden the light came on. The second was at the end of "Eggtown," when Kate's "son" was revealed to be Aaron. I did not see that one coming! I'm enjoying my spoiler-free status more and more with each episode (although some of my other spoiler-free friends did call the ending--they're way more clever than I am).

From what I can tell on the message boards, this was a love-it-or-hate-it episode, and I am happy to report that I am on the "loved it" side. Which is amazing when you consider that it was mostly about Kate. The Kate Hate Train has therefore not pulled out of its station this season--yet.

I'm going to get the Island events out of the way first this time around, as the majority of things to theorize over happened in the flashbacks.


I BREAK THE YOLKS, MAKE A SMILEY FACE

The episode kicked off with Locke making what looked like a damn good breakfast for Benry. In my opinion, all that was missing was a nicely brewed cup of Earl Grey. But alas, Ben was ungrateful and not only refused to eat, but also scoffed at the book Locke had chosen to bring him to help pass the time. Further, he then got under Locke's skin by saying just the right things to drive The Bald One crazy--picking at his insecurities about being the group's new leader. Talk about déjà vu (which Ben noted as well)... when Locke left Ben and then smashed the tray against the wall in frustration, it was just like when he threw silverware and plates in anger back in the hatch (in "Maternity Leave") when Ben was initially being held prisoner. Don't let him get to you, Locke!

And what should we make of the book that Locke picked to give his prisoner? It was VALIS by Philip K. Dick. You can click the link in the previous sentence if you want more details about its plot, but here's Amazon.com's description: "a fool's search for God, who turns out to be a virus, a joke, and a mental hologram transmitted from an orbiting satellite." I immediately wondered if there were parallels we were supposed to draw with Locke's search for Jacob. The other thing of interest about the book is that there is a child, Sophia, in the story who is supposed to be "the messiah incarnate." Considering that baby Aaron has been thrust back into the spotlight in this episode, I thought that perhaps that was a hint as well. More on Aaron later, though. If nothing else, after reading about Philip K. Dick, I think I would like his books. Score another point for Lost encouraging people to read...

One last comment on this scene... didn't you love Locke's shout-out to all of us rewind/slo mo/freeze-frame-crazy fans: "You might catch something you missed the second time around." Ain't that the truth.


NOW THAT I'M HERE, NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE

Wasn't it hilarious to see all the Losties settling into their new digs in the Barracks? I need one of those Dharma mugs that Kate had on the porch ASAP. When Kate came over to visit Sawyer, I seriously almost peed my pants when Hurley popped in Xanadu, as it is one of my all-time favorite movies. Yes, it is awful, but it is so awful that it is also AWESOME. It just so happens, God's honest truth, that I am going to see Xanadu on Broadway in a few weeks. You can bet that I will write up the experience on According to e afterward. But for now, what you need to know is that Xanadu is about Greek muses who get transported from another time and dimension to southern California, circa 1980, via a "portal" of sorts that exists on a nearby mural (don't ask). One of the muses, Kira (Olivia Newton-John), falls in love with this studly artist dude, Sonny, but their love is not meant to be, as Zeus (her father) wants her back where she belongs. There is also a lot of rollerskating and singing, a random cartoon scene, and Gene Kelly. Yeah, I said it! GENE KELLY.

Just as Cuse and Lindelof drew comparisons between the Island and Narnia, Oz and Wonderland in their 2/18 podcast, I believe Xanadu was meant to be an additional hint about what's going on overall with the Island. Shout-out to one of my readers who speculated that perhaps Ben's secret room contains a portal off the Island, just like the wardrobe transports the children to Narnia in the C.S. Lewis series. Maybe Hurley's choice of Xanadu, with its focus on a portal between worlds, was meant to be similar clue to the real purpose of Ben's secret room. Overall, Xanadu is yet another story specifically mentioned during the show that is connected to the real world, but that also has a supernatural element. Not to mention a rockin' soundtrack--ELO forever, baby! There's even a song called... are you ready? "Suspended in Time." BAM!

Xanadu is also the subject of a famous poem (Kubla Khan) about a tropical paradise. But that's not quite as interesting as the movie.

But let's not let my enthusiasm for Xanadu overshadow what was by far the funniest moment of the night, which took place while the theme song from the movie was playing in the background... Sawyer pulling out the Wine In A Box for his lady love. I was dying.


CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Despite Locke's warnings, Kate follows through with her plan to visit Miles. (One quick side note--I'm not so sure that Locke was all bloody because he just killed a chicken. But I don't even want to think about what else the blood could be from.) Kate succeeds in getting precious time alone with Miles... and all she cares about is whether or not the freighter peeps know what she had done back in the real world? That seemed kind of lame to me, but I guess if she was really struggling with the decision to either stay on the Island or leave, she would want to know if Sawyer's prediction (that she would be hauled off to jail upon her return) had any merit.

There were tons of other strange things that went on during the scenes with Miles. For example, why did he say that he was "exactly where he wanted to be"? Some assume that Miles is Ben's mole, and is fine with being held prisoner because he's getting to learn more about Locke, Ben's new nemesis. Others believe that Miles is happy with his situation because he is still in fact trying to capture Ben, and now he's at least closer in proximity to The Sneaky One than he was before. I'm not sure what to make of his comment, personally.

Next was the bizarre Miles/Ben confrontation, during which Miles said he would tell his employer that Ben was dead if Ben gave him $3.2 million. What?

So, do we believe that Miles is just purely in it for the money, and will convince his employer that Benry is six feet under in exchange for the millions? Right now, this is the way I'm leaning, for two reasons: 1) We saw in Miles' flashback how he just wanted to find the drug money during his ghostbusting of the grandson. Money is a major motivator for him, and he's not necessarily the most ethical of people. So I don't think it's a stretch to believe that he will do what's best for himself. If he can convince his employer that Ben is dead, he'll probably still get paid for the Island mission, in addition to getting $3.2 million from Ben. 2) We know that Ben is still around in the future and is still fighting the good fight against "the bad guys," with Sayid's help. So perhaps Miles succeeds in convincing everyone that Ben is dead. That would explain why Elsa's group couldn't figure out who Sayid was working for--they truly believed that Ben had been killed.

Others fans think, as I mentioned earlier, that Miles is Ben's mole, and that the conversation they had was in code. I agree that this is at least a possibility. "$3.2 million" is a pretty weird number, and it could have meant something specific to Ben, who then covered by saying "Why not $3.3 or $3.4?" Never underestimate the trickery of Ben! Miles also then told Kate everything that he knew about her, and that he got the information from files his team pulled together on everyone on the Flight 815 manifest. Who else is known for gathering information on people? Ben. So there is a chance that Miles has been working with Ben all along and that only he knows the information about all the Lostaways, whereas the rest of the freighter crew does not.

Also remember that Ben claimed to know who Miles' employer was, which could either be interpreted to mean that Ben knows Abaddon, or knows the overall organization for which Abaddon works. Or it could've been a complete lie.

The question that still remains, however, is why Miles was chosen for the mission in the first place. Whoever his employer is must know something about the properties of the Island and figured that Miles' special abilities would be needed. But they must not have realized what a sketchball Miles is and how he would throw the mission for his own benefit if he got the chance.

One last thing we can glean from this scene is that Ben is indeed an international man of mystery---yeah, baby! Miles made it clear that, unlike the Lostaways, he knew all about Ben's background, and what Ben "can do." There's no way Miles would be asking for that much money if he didn't think Ben could get his hands on it. And at the end, sure enough, Ben caved and said he would need a week to get the funds in order. I guess that means Ben's pretty sure he can bust out of his cell in the near future...


THERE'S ANOTHER NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. Y'ALL BEST GET USED TO IT.

I pledged last week that I would stop doubting my man Locke. So I'm not going to... but I can't lie and say it's been easy after this latest installment of madness. While Locke claimed to Kate that he was running something in between a democracy and dictatorship, it sure seems like he's leaning more toward the latter. As always, however, a deep insecurity belies Locke's tough-guy exterior. He let Ben's mocking words get to him at the beginning of the episode, he appeared to be overly concerned with what Sawyer and others thought about his leadership abilities, and he was completely duped by Sawyer shortly thereafter because at his core, Locke's still pretty naive (it's clear that Locke never caught on to the fact that Sawyer was helping Kate the whole time).

While I don't agree with Locke's "iron fist" mentality and don't like that he banished Kate from Othersville, you can bet good money that I was thrilled when he gave the smack-down to Miles. Even though it was a little too over-the-top for my taste (a live grenade in someone's mouth!?!), at least it happened to Miles, right? He looked pretty freaked out--maybe it will scare the ghostbusting abilities right out of him!

I am not doubting Locke anymore, though. It's pretty clear from all of the flash-forwards to date that everyone who left the Island is either miserable, or is involved in a huge cover-up that is wearing on them. So even if Locke does end up causing something unfortunate to happen in the near future, as I keep dreading, it's only because the others didn't listen to his warnings in the first place.


SUSPICIOUS MINDS

Sun is starting to realize that Locke may be right, too. After a strange scene with Jin where she talks about where to raise her baby (rather than their baby, as Jin points out), she begins to question the intentions of the freighter team. Did you catch that guilty look down at the ground that Daniel had when Jack said, "They can make arrangements to get all of us off this Island." D'oh! Sun follows up with asking why Kate would stay with Locke, if Locke were in fact as crazy as Jack claims him to be.

The fact that the group is getting restless helps motivate Jack and Juliet to push Charlotte to call the emergency number they have for the freighter. It's extremely strange that no one's been answering on the main line, isn't it? (Charlotte specifically said, "Minkowski's not answering.") Charlotte agrees to put the call on speakerphone, and we learn that the helicopter has not arrived at the freighter, even though it left the previous night. Frank said they didn't have much fuel left... so what in the heck is going on? Some think that the helicopter's delay has to do with the time differential that Daniel noticed... and so what should normally be a twenty-minute flight to the freighter may end up being a significantly longer trip.

Others swear that Regina must be lying and that the team has in fact made it back to the freighter. If the crew on the ship is up to no good, they would know that Daniel and Charlotte would understand what is going on, whereas Jack and the others would freak out that they'd either been stranded, or that the helicopter went down and killed Sayid and Desmond. Others think that Frank might be Ben's mole, and has taken Sayid and Desmond to another location where they'll be safe. I would love if that turned out to be the case--Frank is the last person I would've suspected.


SO IF YOU DON'T MIND ME SAYIN', I CAN SEE YOU'RE OUT OF ACES

Speaking of the mysterious helicopter team, what was up with that weird scene between Daniel and Charlotte where he was trying to either guess or remember three playing cards she had turned face down? At first I thought that we had received some insight into Daniel's head case-ness... that he had some sort of bizarre memory issue and that Charlotte was trying to do exercises with him to help him. I figured that he had originally seen the three cards, and then she turned them over and then he had to repeat back what he had just seen. After all, his namesake, the scientist Michael Faraday, had memory issues brought on by a battle with mental illness. And Charlotte looked sympathetic and sad for Daniel when he couldn't get all three right. She tried to cheer him up by saying that he had "made progress."

But upon watching the scene again, Charlotte also clearly says "time," like they were supposed to wait a certain amount of time before Daniel made his guess. Now, that could still fit with my original theory. Maybe he has some sort of memory problem where after a specific period of time elapses, he has recall issues. Or similarly, maybe Charlotte didn't want him to take several minutes to try to remember what he saw.

Other ideas are that he never saw the cards in the first place, and was trying to use some sort of psychic power to guess what the correct cards were. Yet another possibility is that the original cards she turned over actually switched to new cards because of some weird property on the Island. Or maybe the cards switched because Daniel willed them to switch? Remember back in Season One where Hurley commented that Walt ALWAYS rolled sixes when they played backgammon? Perhaps Daniel is also "special" like Walt and can somehow cause the cards to change?

All I know is that even though that scene was a short one, it was important. Finally, did you catch that one of the cards was the Queen of Diamonds? Or, a Red Queen. Like in Alice in Wonderland...


WHY GO HOME? WHY GO HOME?

Back in Othersville, Kate walks in on Sawyer reading The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, which is about (ironically enough) a fugitive hiding out on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. Kate tells Sawyer that she is definitely not pregnant, and that Locke has banished her from the Barracks. Sawyer's like, "Um, do you honestly think that I can't take Baldy? I'm insulted!" For reasons unknown, Kate still chooses to leave. How many of you fear that we witnessed the last time Kate and Sawyer ever see each other? I do. And I, for the record, never even cared about who Kate "chose," because both Jack and Sawyer are way too good for her, in my opinion. But I still think she's crazy to leave the Island of her own will, now that she knows she won't die from a pregnancy, and that she is still deemed a fugitive to the outside world. I hope and pray that they give us a better reason for her leaving the Island than, "Locke told her to go away."

Some think that there is a possibility that Kate is lying to Sawyer about not being pregnant, and after testing him to see what his reaction would be, she realized that she did need to leave the Island because he didn't want a child. But since she never mentioned having more than one child in the flash-forwards, and since we know that the child she did have in the future was not hers biologically, I don't think she was lying to Sawyer.

OK, that wraps up everything that came to pass on the Island in this episode. Oops, I thought of one last thing...if you were thinking that "Eggtown" referred to the fact that Locke cooked Ben the last two eggs for breakfast (as I did), you may be interested in another interpretation of the episode's title. You can read the full story behind the term here, but in short, it is used to describe "a deal with undesirable outcomes in either case." Fitting, no?


OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE

Right away in Kate's first flash-forward, we got confirmation that she is indeed one of the Oceanic Six. Many had wondered if, since her meeting with Jack was on the down-low in the Season Three finale, she had escaped the Island but wanted to avoid being captured for her past crimes, so therefore it was not made known that she was one of the famous survivors. Now we know that what actually happened is that she was indeed put on trial, in spite of her new notoriety. The fact that she was charged, however, wasn't what was interesting. The details we learned through seeing her trial were.

The first shocker was that Clean-Shaven Jack was called as a character witness. The second shocker was what he said:
- There were originally eight survivors of the crash (implying that two died)
- Kate took care of everyone while they struggled to survive on an island in the South Pacific.
- He no longer is in love with her.

All of these statements are worth analyzing a bit...

Eight Original Survivors: There is definitely a reason that the Oceanic Six have been told to say that two people who initially had survived the crash ended up dying. Those two people must have been responsible for doing or knowing something that the other six couldn't have done or known on their own--either in order to survive or in order to be rescued. I personally have no idea who the two survivors in question might be.

One theory is that since we now know that Aaron made it off the Island and that Claire seemingly didn't, and that there may be too many witnesses who knew that Kate was not eight months pregnant when she got on Flight 815, maybe they said that Claire died after giving birth to Aaron, and so therefore the rest of the world knows that Aaron is not Kate's biological son. But if that were the case, would Kate's mom still want to see the baby so badly? I would hope that she still would, but others think that it is clear that everyone thinks that Kate is Aaron's birth mother.


An Island in the South Pacific: I think this may just be a writing goof, but since it's my job to report what's been said out there on the message boards, I should point out that some people have noted the inconsistency between the news report about the Flight 815 wreckage that we saw in the season premiere (which said that the plane was found in the Indian Ocean), and Jack's statement (which said that they were in the South Pacific). The theory is that Jack screwed up what he was supposed to say and that someone's going to latch onto it and start unraveling the mystery, leading to the situation that causes Jack to become so distraught in the future. I didn't think twice about this discrepancy, but if you have any other theories, let me know.

Jack No Longer Loves Kate: While he later told her that he didn't mean it when he said "Not anymore," what really is confusing is why the lawyer would ask Jack about his feelings for Kate in the first place. To me, this means that the story that was concocted for the O6 specifically mentioned something about Jack and Kate being romantically involved. Otherwise, why would a lawyer bring that up if she wasn't positive that it had already been substantiated that Jack was at one point in love with Kate? Granted, all of the trial scenes were absolute crap in the sense that they would never happen in real life (ask a lawyer to explain this to you, all of the lawyers on the message boards are upset!), but I'm positive that this line of questioning was there for a purpose.

Some people think that the world at large believes that Aaron is Jack's baby. Seeing as how the kid has blond hair and both Jack and Kate have dark hair, that seems like a stretch. Also, why would Jack be brought as a character witness if he doesn't even display the good character to want to see his own kid? All I know is that the lawyer asked him about his love for Kate for a reason, and it has something to do with the made-up story that the O6 told to the media when they returned home. (But this theory does make me wonder who Kate is claiming the father to be...)

One last comment on this particular trial scene... why did Kate cut Jack off? He was doing a good job making her out to be the hero, and she's never had major issues with bending the truth in the past. Can she perhaps not bear it when it's Jack who's lying for her?


I'M A BITCH, I'M A LOVER, I'M A CHILD, I'M A MOTHER

In another unexpected scene, Kate's sickly mother comes to talk with her, and says that she does not want to testify against her. It is the first time they've spoken or seen each other since Kate visited her mother in the hospital, only to have the policed summoned. But, ah, the power of grandchildren. Kate's mom is desperate to see this latest member of Austin clan, but Kate will not hear of it.

The big question is: WHY? Is Kate still that angry at her mother, especially when her mom was the key to Kate avoiding a jail sentence, or is there a specific reason she doesn't want Mrs. Austin to lay eyes on Aaron?

On another note, many fans are assuming that this sentence from Kate's mom is a clue about the overall timeline: "I've had six months to live for the past four years." I didn't read too much into that statement... I think it was just meant to help us understand her mother's motivations for wanting to finally make peace and move forward. But once again, if you have reason to think otherwise, by all means, clue the rest of us in!


LOVE ME, LOVE MY BAY-BEE

Kate going on and on about her son in this episode reminded me of Claire going on and on about her "bay-bee" all the time in Seasons One, Two and Three. At least the two women have that in common. So much so that Kate will not hang out with Jack in the future unless he comes to visit Aaron. Jack doesn't seem up for that just yet. Chalk up another "Say What?" moment...

Why would Jack want to avoid visiting Aaron? The possible answers hint at why Kate even has Aaron in the first place.

Theories include:
- Claire was killed in the escape from the Island and Jack feels so guilty about it that he can't bring himself to see Aaron.
- Aaron was forcefully taken from Claire and Jack can't bear to reminded of it.
- Claire is either dead or still on the Island, but either way, Aaron reminds Jack of his own time on the Island, which he wants to forget. Kind of like how he was so adamant to Hurley that they would never go back and stormed off once Hurley mentioned it.
- Jack found out that Aaron is his nephew (remember, Christian Shephard was a mack daddy and fathered Claire, too) and seeing him would bring back bad memories of Zombie Dad, and/or intensify any feelings of guilt over whatever happened to Claire.
- Aaron has special powers that freak the hell out of Jack. (On that note, how many of you thought the baby was going to be either an alien or a little wizard or have a strange appearance? I did.)

I also was bracing myself to see a 15-year-old, or something weird like that, because of the possible time differential on the Island. This was when I had been thinking that the baby was obviously Sawyer's. This show makes me love being wrong.


ABSENCE DOES NOT MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER

There was a lot that drove me crazy (in a good way) in this episode, but one of the things I'm now wondering about the most is what happened to make Jack and Kate go from friendly, out-in-the-open meetings and talks of rendezvousing for coffee to the strained state their relationship was in during the final scene of "Through the Looking Glass?" At that point in time (which many believe to be April 2007, based on the newspaper clip Jack had), Kate had told Jack not to call her anymore, and when he finally did reach her, they had to meet late at night in the middle of nowhere outside the airport. Something must have caused a rift between the time of Kate's trial (which I'll speculate on in a second) and Jack's "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" plea.

Perhaps shortly after Kate's trial, Jack started being haunted by visions, as Hurley had been? Perhaps others of The Six had been killed after slipping from the agreed-upon story? All that is clear is that Kate didn't want to go back to the Island at either point in time in the future. She agreed, without hesitation, to a 10-year probation where she needed to remain in-state. In her airport scene with Jack last season, she mentioned that "he" was going to wonder where she was. There seems to be some level of agreement among viewers that the "he" is indeed Aaron. Off-Island Kate is the exact opposite of On-Island Kate: she wants to stay put.


GUYS, WHEN ARE WE?

Not only do we now know that Kate's son is none other than Aaron, but we also know that Aaron's old enough to talk and sleep in a bed rather than in a crib. Lostpedia reports that according to the script, Aaron is two years old. I have consulted my baby expert, DY, and she concurs with this assessment. Aaron is believed to have been born on November 1, 2004. We know that right now on the Island, it is around Christmas Day 2004. If Aaron is now 2 years old, that would put the current time of Kate's flash-forward to be around November of 2006. That leaves less than six months for her relationship with Jack to fall apart (not to mention for Jack to descend into drug-addicted madness and grow a huge-ass beard).

Someone commented to me that they had heard that the producers said that the April 2007 date on the newspaper Jack had in "Through the Looking Glass" was a mistake... but I have not seen that anywhere. If someone actually has PROOF that the April 2007 date on the newspaper clipping in the Season Three finale was a production error, please post it. Otherwise, I'm going to continue to assume that that date is correct.

Back to when Kate's trial is... I know that the judicial system is slow and everything, but doesn't it seem strange that her trial wouldn't get underway until nearly two years had past since she returned from the Island? And that she would still be that famous at that point in time? We all know celebrity is fleeting! It makes me think that the Oceanic Six returned home much later than we may have previously assumed. Meaning, if it's near the end of 2004 on the Island right now, they're probably not being taken directly home from the freighter. It's possible that another whole year may pass where the chosen six are re-programmed or something--where they're offered a financial deal and given a story to memorize and whatnot. At the time of Kate's trial, Jack seems to have no problem reciting the lie, whereas Kate says (paraphrasing): "I've heard you tell that story so many times, I'm beginning to think you believe it." She doesn't appear to be comfortable with the front they're putting up.

Another possibility is that, because time on the Island may be passing more slowly than it does elsewhere, the three months the Lostaways have been gone may in fact be much longer. I don't really know how that would affect Aaron's age and growth, and I don't even want to think about it because it's so confusing!



NOW LET ME BLOW YA MIND

So... many... questions... left! But for whatever reason, the multitude of questions raised in "Eggtown" didn't depress me like they did with "The Economist." Yes, it was freaky as hell when Kate said "Aaron," and it's depressing to think that Claire might have kicked the bucket. I was never a big fan of Claire (because of the whole "bay-bee" thing I mentioned earlier), but it's a little too dark for my taste to have the mother of a newborn baby killed on this show. I hope that's not what happened. So until we know for sure what went down, I will try to think positively and will focus my attention on everything else I've already discussed, as well as these remaining issues:

The Aaron Cover-Up Story
If the rest of the world thinks Aaron is Kate's biological son, then one of three things must have happened:
1) Assuming that there's no time difference on the Island and that the age Kate claims Aaron to be (which they haven't officially told us yet) is actually the age he is, there were either no witnesses to the fact that Kate was not eight months pregnant on the flight, or "they" got rid of all the witnesses who would've known this. There were also people who knew that Claire was pregnant on the flight who may have been able to put two and two together, and therefore those witnesses would've had to have been silenced. Because someone should've been able to figure out that if Kate wasn't eight months pregnant on September 22, 2004, there's no way she could have come back from the Island with a newborn.
2) As mentioned above, perhaps time moved more slowly on the Island. The Six would've been clued in that it's much later in time than they thought it was, and therefore Kate could easily pretend that Aaron was hers, as she didn't have to be pregnant (or at least not showing that she was pregnant) during the flight in order to come back home with a baby, if she was gone for significantly longer than nine months.
3) Kate could just be lying about Aaron's age. Like I said above, even though Lostpedia listed the boy as two years old, on the show Kate never mentioned his actual age (and even if she did, we couldn't trust that that is his real age until we are able to more confidently piece together the overall timeline).


Desmond's Vision
The whole reason Charlie accepted his suicide mission was because Desmond said he had a vision of Claire and Aaron getting into a helicopter and leaving the Island. Since Des hasn't given us reason to distrust him, I believe that we will see this scene unfold. Which may mean that whatever causes Kate to end up with Aaron happens after they're off the Island but before they return home. Or Des was lying and we're going to find out that he's a total prick.


Devil Baby Possibilities
One of the trippiest Lost episodes to date was "Raised by Another," in which Claire finds out that some bad stuff would go down if she was not the one to raise her child:

MALKIN (psychic): It is crucial that you, yourself, raise this child.
CLAIRE: You mean with Thomas? Is he..
MALKIN: The father of this child will play no part in it's life, nor yours.
CLAIRE: So what exactly are you saying?
MALKIN: This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you -- danger surrounds this baby. . .
CLAIRE: Danger?
MALKIN: Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child.
CLAIRE: If Thomas and I don't get back together I'm putting this baby up for adoption. I just wanted to find out what would give the baby the happiest life.
MALKIN: There is no happy life -- not for this child, not without you.
CLAIRE: I don't. . .
MALKIN: It can't be another. You mustn't allow another to raise your baby.
CLAIRE: Okay, great. Thanks for taking my 200.
MALKIN: Oh, no look, take it. Ms. Littleton; I am begging you just to consider...
CLAIRE: I can't raise this child by myself.
MALKIN: You have to listen to me.
CLAIRE: Thanks for your time, and my money back.
MALKIN: Ms. Littleton, please. The baby needs your protection. Ms. Littleton, please.

Now we know that, at least for some period of time, if not for the rest of his life, Kate is raising Aaron. I am really scared that this kid is going to unleash some demonic powers on the world at any moment!


Does Aaron count as a member of the Oceanic Six?
They didn't exactly spell it out for us. If there is something weird going on with time and if "the story" is that Kate got pregnant with Aaron and delivered him all while on the Island, then he wouldn't count as a Flight 815 passenger. And even if it was known that he was adopted by Kate after his birth mother died, Aaron still wasn't on the flight manifest and wasn't born at the time of the crash. We ALL KNOW how cheap the airlines are... do you really think they're going to pay a settlement out to someone who hadn't even purchased a full-fare ticket?

Hee hee, I kid, I kid. There are arguments for both sides of this issue. Many people think it's extremely obvious that Aaron should be counted as one of The Six because, although he wasn't born yet, he was alive in the womb during the crash... and then suffered the hardship of spending his first few months of life on a deserted island. I can see The Powers That Be over at CBS getting all sorts of bad ideas now. Survivor: Newborns vs. Toddlers!


The Rest of The Six
Depending on how Aaron is counted, there are either one or two remaining members of The Six to be revealed. I had always assumed that Sun would get off because of her pregnancy. Now I'm not so sure. There has been absolutely no rhyme nor reason for the first four confirmed members of the group, so I have stuck to my oath made a few weeks ago to not try to figure it out.


I Need a Bushy Eyebrow Fix!
Why the hell haven't they shown Ageless Richard, Cindy, all of the kids and all of the other Others over at the Temple yet? I think we're supposed to forget about them so that when they do show up it will be a big surprise. But who can forget about those ridiculously long eyelashes?


No More Food?
Locke mentioned that he had used up the last two eggs. Then he claimed to have killed a chicken (which would seem foolhardy if there were no more eggs). All of this made me think about the food drop we saw in the past. I believe those food drops were linked to the Countdown Clock O' Doom in the original hatch, which was one of many things Locke blew up. So are they now running out of food? But even more importantly, wouldn't the group who was performing the food drops have realized that something had gone wrong on the Island? Could the organization behind the freighter team have been involved in the food drops before? Or were the drops something that Ben had arranged through some of his contacts off of the Island?

Whew, that's it. See what happens when I like an episode? The length of the write-up increases exponentially.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

Kate: You got blood.
Locke: I just... killed a chicken.




Hurley: No, I moved him to the boat house--[pause]--You just totally Scooby-Dooed me, didn't you?
Kate: Sorry.




[Jack grimaces at another busy signal]
Juliet: Maybe we should try a number other than the boat... like 911?




Sawyer: I know it's in a box, but... pretty damn good wine! I tested it.



Sawyer: She talked to that guy... Bruce Lee from the freighter.



PARTY ALL THE TIME

I hosted a party at my place ("The Hatch") for "Eggtown." If you'd like to see just how crazy I am, click here for the pictures.

Until next week,
- e

Friday, February 22, 2008

The Hatch Lives


Hello my dear friends -

Nope, sorry, I didn't find a way to manipulate time (yet) and get my write-up for "Eggtown" done already. I expect that I will have it posted by Monday morning; believe it or not I actually have somewhat of a social life this weekend.

Here's what may come as a surprise to you in the meantime--I LOVED a Kate-centric episode for once!

I thought some readers would get a kick out of seeing pictures from the party I hosted for my peeps last night, so here they are. My friends didn't want their faces posted for thousands to view (can you believe that?), so I'm sticking to shots of our decorations. If you click on any of the pictures, you can see a larger version.

Below are the other shirt choices I considered. I also considered trying to put the larger one on my dog, but he would have none of it.



As guests rounded the corner to go down into The Hatch, they were reminded of who all the characters are by a little display on the piano (shout-out to CM for these pics she brought to a previous party).


We've had this table set up for years now (we do take it down when the season is over, but during the season it is used as a station for pizza, popcorn, etc.), and the list of characters and mysteries I add to it keeps growing and growing. Since people have asked for close-up pictures of this table in the past, I've included two of the top of the table below. Hauling it out again for last night's party made me realize how many characters have bitten the dust!






Around the corner reside my action figures. They only come alive when I am alone with them, though.



Our TV area was the center of nerdy Lost shout-outs. Can you find nods to: Jack, Hurley, Frank, Kate and Charlie?




Little Trump, Dwight, Agent Mulder (hidden from view), Gollum and Pirate Head have the best seats in the house.


You know your husband loves you when he agrees to RECREATE THE HATCH MAP (yes, it is an exact replica, complete with glow-in-the-dark paint, and some secret messages thrown in for friends).




He even made a helicopter! Rousseau's map of the Island is in the background on the door (this came with one of the action figures).



And finally, my most creative contribution of the night was these cookies. This is about as domestic as I get (no, they were not even from scratch).



If you have enjoyed these pictures, then you might also want to take a look at my Season Two finale party pictures. Have you now fully comprehended the extent of my insanity?

- e

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Before The Kate Hate Train Rolls Again...

Hello my dear friends -

There are two things I wanted to write about before tonight's episode:

1) LOST MUSIC

I FINALLY downloaded the Lost Season One soundtrack, which has been out for a while now. I don't know what took me so long, because it rocks. If you have the chance to check it out, my two favorite tracks are "Life and Death" and "Parting Words." The latter is the score used during the final scene in the Season One finale where the raft launches and Vincent runs into the water and Sun and Jin say good-bye and I was bawling my ass off. It is an incredible score and I am happy I now own it (among 26 other tracks, which have crazy names like "Booneral" and "Locke'd Out Again."

It was hard to find in iTunes (entering "Lost" did NOT bring it up). If you want to check it out, type "Giacchino" (the composer) in the search bar and then click on "Albums" next to his name which should come up on the left. There is a Season Two soundtrack as well, which I will probably download shortly. My favorite title on that one is "I Crashed Your Plane, Brotha." (I am not making up these track titles, even though it sounds like I could've!)

2) LOST PODCAST DEBRIEF

The first official podcast of the season has been released, and I just listened to it. Previously this year Lost had run a few video podcasts, but the usual (longer) audio-only podcasts with Cuse and Lindelof were put on hold because of the WGA strike. It was good to hear their witty and sleep-deprived comments once again, I must admit. Here is what they said that I deemed to be of importance, while leaving out any slightly spoilerish information:

- Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid are confirmed to be four of the Oceanic Six. Kate isn't going to be hiding in the future under some assumed identity. She is definitely one of The Six. They said the other two will be revealed soon, but that they "may be a bit more tricky." Whatever that means! (And don't tell me if you do know what it means.)

- Future Sayid was compared to Jason Bourne and James Bond. They said that they thought the fact that he was "famous" for being one of the Oceanic Six provided the perfect cover for him to be an international assassin - no one would suspect it because he is such a well-known person by that time.

- The time difference on the clocks in Daniel's experiment is important. "Some sort of time fluctuation occurred." DUH!

- Lindelof said he would've gone with Locke when the groups split, because if he was in the Lostaways' shoes at that time, when they didn't know that Jack would indeed get off the Island, he would've thought that Locke had a more salient argument because of Charlie's warning. "It wouldn't be as much that I was going with Locke as it would be that I would want to be away from Jack." Cuse said he would've gone with Jack because Rose did (he loves Rose).

- Hurley said dude 73 times in Season One. In Season Two he said it 44 times. In Season Three he said it 72 times. They then figured out the "DPEs" (Dudes Per Episode) since Hurley wasn't in all episodes in those seasons. Finally, they claimed that the number of DPEs are in Jorge Garcia's contract and they can't go above a certain number, but they are trying to raise the quota. Are you understanding the level of silliness in these podcasts now?

- In the Q&A session, someone asked how the polar bear with the Dharma collar ended up in the desert in Tunisia. They explained a few theories, one of which was: "There may be properties of the Island that are potentially capable of transporting things from the Island off of the Island." They then recommended that people view The Orchid Station video, because it is important. "We rarely include things outside of the show that are important to the story, but in this case, the video is." Can't remember it? It was shown at the Comic-Con convention last summer. See it here.

- Someone else asked if the cow Frank saw was Patchy's cow. They confirmed that it was. There goes my Armageddon theory! Apparently the cow's name is Svetlana. Season Six will be all about this cow and will be called: "The Adventures of Svetlana."

- They intentionally named Charlotte "Charlotte Staples Lewis" as a shout-out to C.S. Lewis. Additionally, "There are themes in the Narnia chronicles that are very relevant for Lost." They went on to say that, like Narnia, The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland are all stories that "are on the other side of Earth. They are not fantasy realms like in Star Wars...Narnia is actually connected to the world that we know, as is Oz, as is Wonderland. As is our Island."

I think that sheds a lot of light on where the story is going... which gives me hope.

Enjoy tonight,
- e

Monday, February 18, 2008

S4Ep3 - "The Economist": Not Just a Magazine for Snobs

Hello my dear friends -

We have been delivered yet another hour of Lost that contained a Hillbilly Boat-load of information, on top of a "That. Just. Happened." twist at the very end. I'm pretty sure I heard the Lost writers yelling "BOOYA!" in the background when Benry was revealed as Sayid's boss-man in the final moments of "The Economist."

But let's not skip to the end just yet. I'm going to cover Island events first, and then move on to Sayid's flash-forwards.


EYES WIDE SHUT

I immediately sensed that this episode was going to be weird when it kicked off with Sayid kneeling in meditative prayer, staring at Dead Naomi, and then going over to her body to shut her eyes. Up until that point, Sayid had close to no contact with Naomi... he wasn't with the original group that found her in the jungle when she crash-landed, he had only been shown talking to her for a matter of moments after she was brought back to the beach, yet now he was the one not only closing her eyes and inspecting her bracelet, but also suggesting that they use the extra room in the helicopter to return her body to the freighter. It seemed like Sayid had some sort of connection to Naomi that even he wasn't fully conscious of, just like how Daniel was crying about the Flight 815 wreckage and didn't know why. Later in the episode we see Sayid do the "close the eyes" move once again with Elsa, and discover that she had a similar-looking bracelet to Naomi's. To me, all of this is more evidence for the Time Loop Theory. What at first seems to be a connection between Sayid and Naomi might actually be Sayid's subconscious drawing him to Naomi because she "reminds" him of a similar situation that will unfold in the future with Elsa.

Naomi's bracelet read, "N, I'll always be with you. R.G." Some people think it's "R.C." (like the cola), but I think it's clearly "R.G." and I'm sticking to it. I read a post from some type-setter/ font expert who swore up and down that it was a G. I, too, consider myself somewhat of an authority on fonts after watching the documentary Helvetica. So G it is.



Unfortunately, though, I have no guesses (nor have I seen any that make sense) for who "R.G." could be at this time. But if it ends up being Ryan Gosling, Richard Gere or Robert Goulet (may he rest in peace), I'm going to owe a lot of people money on the message boards.

Regarding the bracelets overall, the two main theories are:
1) Both Naomi and Elsa were working for "the Economist," whose initials are R.G. This guy gives all the chicks who work for him the same bracelet (but hopefully with different inscriptions). I am on board with this theory.
2) Others think that Sayid ends up taking the bracelet from Naomi and giving it to Elsa in the future. That seems kind of tacky, no? Plus, wouldn't Elsa wonder who "N" and "R.G." are?

On a related note, some fans on the message boards believe that the inscription wasn't meant to be a sentimental note, but rather more of a menacing statement, kind of like, "I will always be watching you, so don't even try to pull anything over on me."

Finally, there are a few who wondered if "N" could also stand for "Nadia" (Sayid's long-lost love from Iraq, believed now to be in the United States), and if Naomi somehow got her bracelet. That makes no sense to me because, if that were the case: 1) Wouldn't Sayid have had a much bigger reaction to seeing the bracelet? 2) Who would R.G. be (and no, "Republican Guard" does NOT make any sense, either)? 3) Why would Elsa have a similar bracelet to one Nadia originally had?


ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

When it becomes clear that no one knows what in the hell is going on anymore, Sayid decides to take matters into his own hands: "You people are idiots. I will go get CharLOTTE." Next, he breaks it down to The Mad Doctor something like this: "You are the worst leader I have ever seen, and trust me my friend, I have seen some horrible leaders in my day. Please stay out of the way now, you have done enough. If you screw up my plan, I will finish you. Make no mistake, I will finish you."

Jack tries to play it cool and shuffles off with Kate, who he then encourages to tag along with Sayid (after they joke about her always wanting to tag along, how meta).

In these early scenes, we also learned that Juliet never knew of Ben having contacts off of the Island, that Miles was simply hired to find Ben and doesn't know anything else about him except his name (destroying my theory that he had a personal vendetta against Ben), that Miles met Charlotte on the freighter, and that Frank considered Naomi "senior management." At this point in the show, I was just happy that He of the Black Tank Top was finally getting some much-deserved air time and that the flashes revolved around him (being spoiler-free rocks).


SEARCHING FOR HIS LOST SHAKER OF SALT

Once Operation: Retrieve CharLOTTE commenced, Jack and Frank were left to bond over sports talk as they looked for the margarita mix and blender Frank could've sworn he stashed in the back of the helicopter. Two things struck me about their short exchange:
1) Jack said, "I can't believe it's been 100 days since I saw a game." That was not supposed to be a throwaway line, in my humble opinion. I think it was meant to tie in with the time difference Daniel's experiment uncovered, which I'll get to in a bit.
2) When Jack told Frank where Sayid is from, I couldn't help but think that "Iraq" connoted something different to Frank than it did to Jack. But I fully admit I may have just been searching for clues... the "100 days" comment seemed more suspect than Frank's reaction to Sayid's home country.


TIME AFTER TIME

My new crush Daniel was in his glory when he decided to run a nerdalicious experiment involving Regina shooting a canister (containing a small digital clock) from the freighter onto the Island. THE ABSOLUTE BEST part about this entire scene was when Jack got a "Oh, crap!" look on his face and started ducking when Regina indicated that "the payload" was supposed to hit Daniel's marker. Forget Smokey, forget Zombie Dad, forget Juliet's awful grilled cheese sandwiches, forget everything else he's witnessed on the Island... we now know what scares the hell out of The Mad Doctor: geeks running experiments.

If you didn't guess that the payload was going to show up much later than expected, then I really think you need to stop watching this show. It's only going to get more complicated from here on out, and you just do not have the mental ability necessary to keep up. I'm sorry. Don't shoot the messenger--I've been trying to tell you for years now that something strange is going on with time!

In this case, the strange thing going on with time was a 31-minute difference between the clock Daniel had on the Island and the one Regina sent from the freighter. The main theory I've read about this result is that it proves that time moves more slowly on the Island--duh. I was surprised to see only a 31-minute delay, to be honest (and apparently in the original script it was only 31 seconds). I've read a half-baked theory about how the farther a location is from the Island, the bigger the time differential between the two becomes. I completely do not understand this idea, so I can't explain it any further.

On a related note, remember that no one from the helicopter has ever commented on what year it is right now. To the Lostaways, it's almost the end of 2004, but perhaps to the helicopter team, it's 2006 or something. Maybe Daniel is beginning to piece together what's going on so that he can enlighten the rest of us. I can't even attempt to dissect any more about Daniel's experiment, because my mind will explode. Since I haven't heard that many other theories about this subject, I'm assuming other fans feel the same way.

Before leaving the experiment scene completely, there was one other part I want to mention; it made me think "What?" even more than the 31-minute delay did. It was when Frank told Daniel to hang up if Minkowski got on the phone, and Daniel acted like that was a no-brainer. In "Confirmed Dead," Miles was trying to reach Minkowski and was annoyed when Regina said that he couldn't come to the phone. But now Frank and Daniel are wanting to avoid talking to Minkowski, and felt fine carrying on the experiment with only Regina's help. What?

All I can figure is that factions developed on the freighter, and for whatever reason, Frank and Daniel don't trust Minkowski. This could give more credence to the theory that Minkowski is Ben's mole on the ship. Or it could mean that Frank and Daniel know about a part of the mission of which Minkowski and Miles are not aware. Regardless, it's very suspect.


TRUST NO ONE

When we first see Locke's group, they have just arrived at what used to be the location of Jacob's cabin (evidenced by the ashy substance in the grass). Benry can hardly conceal his glee when the cabin is nowhere to be found. Hurley once again comes close to spilling that he saw the cabin before in a different location... but instead tries to talk Locke into letting Charlotte go before they head to the barracks. He fails miserably; Locke tells everyone that it's his way or the highway, and even I thought he was sporting a little too much attitude.

The fact that his plan (to capture anyone from Jack's group who came after them) worked probably only boosted Locke's ego further. Who else was shocked to see that Hurley had been in on the scheme all along? When Hurley was found gagged and apparently left behind, I thought, "So that's why he ends up bitter at Locke in the future." But then we learn that he had willingly been a part of the trap! Obviously there's still something bad that's going to happen to cause Hurley to regret staying with Locke's group. I can't take it!

My sense of dread about what's going to go down between Hurley and Locke almost made me forget about something which is probably far more important in the whole scheme of things: it has been confirmed--Jacob's cabin MOVES. Jacob sets up shop wherever he damn well pleases. (Some people also think that Jacob doesn't like light, so his cabin will never appear during the day no matter what, even if someone is in the right spot).


NOW THAT'S A WALK-IN CLOSET!

After passing by several tribal-looking masks and statues and briefly pausing to notice the Qur'an on Benry's bookshelf, Sayid learns that those crazy freaks at California Closets will travel all the way to the Island to hook a brother up. Benry's got what appears to be a small Brooks Brothers store in this hidden room, along with--gasp!--some luggage, money in a bunch of different currencies (Japanese yen, British pounds, and Euros were the most prominently displayed), and a rainbow of passports. There's no way to deny it now... Ben has indeed been off of the Island in the recent past (and that the picture Miles is carrying of him was most likely also taken off of the Island, as many suspected last week).

One other thing to note about Benry's fabulous closet: the picture adorning one stack of money was none other than the scientist Michael Faraday (referenced in my last write-up when analyzing Daniel last name). The twenty pound note featuring Faraday was in circulation from 1991-2001, and make no mistake, it was shown prominently in Ben's drawer for a reason. And I'm sure that reason has to do with Faraday's accomplishments in electromagnetic experiments and technology.


ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The passport that Sayid picked up to inspect was from Switzerland, was issued in April of 2003, and listed Ben's name as "Dean Moriarty." Those who have read Jack Kerouac's On the Road might remember Dean as (the main character) Sal's girl-crazy sidekick. I can draw absolutely no comparisons between the characters of Dean and Benry--in fact they are almost complete opposites. However, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (a graphic novel) speculated that Dean might be the great-grandson of Professor James Moriarty, who was not only the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, but who is also considered to be the first "supervillain." "Supervillain" sounds a little more comparable to Benry than does "womanizing beat poet."



OUR HOUSE, IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR ISLAND

After alerting Sayid to the presence of Locke's group in Ben's house, Kate finds herself trapped by Sawyer. He appears to be unarmed, but because (I can only assume) of the possibility of a Lil' Kate/Sawyer on the way, Kate does not shoot him. Rather, she sits down for a nice leisurely chat with him on Ben's bed (gross). Did you read the news story about how millions of women across the country fainted simultaneously at approximately 9:43 EST on February 14th? Sawyer's mushy plea to Kate was the culprit:

SAWYER: Why do you want to go back, Kate? Seem to recall you being shuttled off to jail before we landed here. So if you think there’s anything waiting for you back home other than handcuffs, you really don’t know how the world works. Look around us, Freckles. We’ve got roofs over our heads. Electricity, showers, beds.
KATE: Yeah, how long, Sawyer? How long do you think we can play house?
SAWYER: (lowers voice) Why don’t we find out?



All together now: Awwwwwwww. Shout-out to Valentine's Day!


FULL CIRCLE

With Sawyer guarding Kate and Miles being held "somewhere else," Sayid is tossed into the game room with none other than Ben. It was not too long ago that Sayid was beating "Henry Gale" to a bloody pulp in the hatch, and now here they are, both being held captive by none other than Locke.

The Bald One eventually comes in, and apologizes to Sayid for all the trickery. He tells Sayid about Ben's mole on the freighter, and obviously ends up agreeing to make some sort of trade... Sayid got Charlotte and Locke got... what?

I deem the scene in the game room to be pivotal, for two major reasons:
1) Sayid yelled, "...the day I start trusting him is the day I would have sold my soul" about Benry. Ummm... considering what we know happens in the future, those are some pretty chilling words. They foreshadow something drastic occurring that completely changes Sayid's mind about Ben.
2) Locke entering the room with iced tea was just like Patchy offering Locke, Kate and Sayid iced tea when they first came upon him at The Flame. While I'm not ready to proclaim Locke an Other just yet, I will say admit that he's getting really close. And it's freaking me out!

So what in the heck did Locke gain by giving up Charlotte? It certainly wasn't keeping Kate and/or Miles. I honestly don't think Sayid, Sawyer or Locke would've forced Kate to stay against her will, and it did indeed seem like Sawyer had gotten his point across to Kate about how only handcuffs would be awaiting her back in the real world. As for Miles, well, Locke already had Miles under his control, so he couldn't have been part of the trade. Sayid must have given or promised Locke something MAJOR. Could this have been the beginning of Sayid's employment by Benry? That seems hard to believe at this stage, too, because Sayid couldn't possibly have imagined everything that would unravel once the Oceanic Six returned home. Chalk it up to yet another mystery.


A PENNY FOR THEIR THOUGHTS

Back at the helicopter, Juliet arrives with Shirt-Unbuttoned-Down-To-Here Desmond (chest-hair-free and damn proud of it, brotha!), who beams at the sight of his ticket off the Island. But shortly thereafter, he tries to demand some answers from Daniel and Frank and shoves the infamous picture of he and Penny in Frank's face. Both men refuse to say whether or not they've ever heard of Penny. But when Des says Penny's last name-- Widmore-- did you notice their reactions? They definitely seemed to recognize that name. But they still kept mum. This scene made me even more confident that Frank and Daniel are in cahoots.

Sayid then returns to the scene with Charlotte... and no one else. Jack feels all foolish after he learns that Kate "decided to stay," and Frank seems happy that "pain in the ass" Miles won't be rejoining the group any time soon. (Although I must say that for us viewers, Miles was responsible for one important part of this episode... when he commented about the Othersville swingsets, he reminded us that Ageless Richard, Cindy, all of the kids and the rest of the Others are at the as-of-yet-unseen Temple. Don't count out Ageless Richard or his bushy eyebrows and long eyelashes!)


PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

Des and Sayid are the two lucky winners of seats with Frank in the helicopter. Sayid suggests bringing Dead Naomi with them and has another strange moment with her as he covers her body with a blanket. Charlotte declines the invitation to leave, and Daniel warns Frank that no matter what, he must keep to the same exact bearing on which they approached the Island.

And with that, the helicopter takes off and Sayid and Desmond finally leave the Island. It was hard to believe it actually happened, wasn't it?


Now it's time for me to confess something: I didn't like this episode. I'll explain why later on, but for now I just had to say that the part where Sayid is shown looking out over the Island as the helicopter lifts off and heads out was the only scene that I did like. In fact, I got a little choked up. I thought they handled it really well and the awesome score (as always) perfectly captured the mixed emotions of the moment. The first of our Lostaways has escaped! But unfortunately he, too, ends up pretty miserable back in the real world, so his escape is not really an occasion to celebrate.


SOMETHING'S FISHY

Miles is now being held captive by Locke's group. Charlotte was shot at, held hostage, and came face-to-face with Ben, but was then taken back to the helicopter. Yet she still doesn't want to leave because she has "work to do." Daniel also doesn't want to leave, claiming that he should probably stay with Charlotte (like he could protect her, which is doubtful). What is going on? Are Charlotte and Daniel going to try to go back to the barracks and free Miles and capture Benry (even though they have been stripped of their weapons)? Or are they actually glad that Miles is out of the way and that Ben's unreachable, so that they can each carry out their own hidden agendas? It's not adding up.

And now, it's time for the flash-forwards.


WHAT'VE CLUBS GOT TO DO, GOT TO DO WITH IT?

When we first see Future Sayid, he's living the life of a high roller, golfing at a private club in the Seychelles. A man drives up and makes a bet with Sayid about which club is better for his next swing. After this mystery man learns that Sayid is one of the Oceanic Six and is able to afford the club because of his crash settlement, he becomes all skittish and tries to bust out of there. But Sayid kills him first, and then walks off the course as sprinklers burst up out of the ground (a nice touch).

Here's what I thought was important about this first flash:
- We know the guy's name: Mr. Avellino. But since we haven't heard that name before, we don't know if it even matters.
- The ongoing black/white theme in the show was subtly played out in this scene, with Sayid sporting a white glove and Mr. A wearing a black one.
- Sayid obviously knew who Mr. A was, whereas Mr. A did not recognize Sayid. If the Oceanic Six were so famous, why wouldn't that guy have recognized Sayid? He said, "I remember reading all about" the crash, which made me assume that it was perhaps over a year after the Oceanic Six returned home, rather than right after they came back.
- If we are to assume (from the other flash-forwards in the episode) that Mr. A was one of the people Benry told Sayid to assassinate, then we can also assume that Mr. A is associated with "the bad guys" trying to find the Island. So it's doubly-confusing as to why Sayid was not recognized by this man from the beginning.
- I checked to see if the guy had a bracelet on like Naomi's and Elsa's, but from what I could tell, he didn't.
- Some people think this scene happened after all of Elsa's scenes, and that Mr. A was indeed "the Economist" who Sayid had finally tracked down. I personally don't believe that... I think Mr. A may not even be that significant in the whole scheme of things... that scene was there to help us piece together that Sayid's life off of the Island consisted of not much more than being a hitman for Benry. He was continually fed names of people to kill off, and Mr. A was just one of the people on Ben's list.


YOU KNOW IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP

"Play on, playah!"

That's what I kept yelling at the screen whenever Sayid rocked his long, flowing locks and seductively murmured come-ons such as, "I'll tell you exactly where you know me from, if you let me take you to dinner." There's no shame in his game! I loved it.

We witness his initial encounter with Elsa, which ends with him leaving the restaurant in Berlin, and then calling Darth Vader to report that he has "made contact." Seriously, that deep voice on the other end of the phone was RIDICULOUS, especially after we learned to whom it was supposed to belong.

In the next flash-forward, things have progressed with Sayid and Elsa, and we learn that they are able to be on their fifth date because he's stayed in Berlin longer than he originally planned (but not because of her, she whines). We also learn that her employer, "the Economist," is very old-fashioned and contacts her via an old-school pager.

Then, in their final moments together, we witness Elsa's pager finally going off, and Sayid warning Elsa to get out of Berlin because he's going to kill her employer. But alas, Sayid has been played by Elsa, because she shoots him and then calls her employer (presumably) and tells him to leave the hotel he's at and to meet her at the "safe house." She also complains that he was supposed to call her at 10:30, and that she might as well kill Sayid because she knew he wasn't going to give up his boss's name.

Sayid had no choice but to kill Elsa, and after doing so he performs his patented "close the eyes on the dead woman's body" move and glances at her bracelet.

So, what did we learn from the Elsa scenes? We learned:
- If an attractive woman is involved in any way, shape or form, Sayid shouldn't be a part of the mission.
- Elsa referred to her employer as an economist who dealt with emerging markets. She said he was old-fashioned. And in the original script, she said that he was supposed to call her at 10 instead of 10:30 (the "at 10" part was deleted from the final cut of the episode). Sayid insisted that her employer was not an economist. Many people are wondering if her employer is Jacob, since we know Jacob doesn't like technology, and if he's calling from the Island, there might be a 31-minute time differential (which would explain the way the original script read). Others think that her employer is someone who is traveling around in time, and that he therefore needs a technology that exists in all of the years in which he's traveling, hence the pager. Some think her employer is Abaddon (who was also, at least for the Island mission, Naomi's employer). That may be true, but the similar bracelets would still have to be from someone with the initials R.G.
- No matter who it is that Elsa was working for, they knew that Sayid was on to them from the very beginning, but they played along because they were desperately trying to find out who Sayid was working for. Which would lead me to believe that perhaps it is not known by the world at large that Benry also leaves the Island. But then again, Benry HAS been leaving the Island, so maybe he is continuing to go back and forth, even though we see him in some pet clinic at the end of the episode. Regardless of where Benry is permanently residing in the future, it must not be obvious to "the bad guys" that he is the one behind Sayid's assassinations.


TAKE THAT, REWIND IT BACK

So we get to the final scene of "The Economist," where Sayid has dragged himself to what appears to be a veterinarian's office or pet hospital. The Darth Vader voice is back, and as Sayid explains that he killed Elsa, he is injected with something. When I watched this episode the second time, I wondered if this injection was the same injection that we saw used a few different times on the Island? Or maybe it was just something inconsequential to help with Sayid's bullet wound.

Either way, Sayid continues his conversation with the mystery doctor:

SAYID: She tried to get information from me.
MAN: What sort of information?
SAYID: She wanted to know who I worked for. She wanted to know about you.
MAN: Of course she did.
[The MAN is revealed to be BEN.]

Cue the "Duh duh DUN!" music!

Believe it or not, I did guess that it was going to be Benry, just because the Darth Vader voice still had Ben's trademark inflections. But I wasn't happy that I was right... in fact, I was really depressed. The whole episode had been a downer for me, and then the ending was the nail in the coffin. I don't like Locke being mean to Hurley. I don't like the Lostaways split into factions. I don't like seeing everyone all miserable in the future. I don't like Miles or Charlotte. I don't like the deepening future-off-Island mystery. Locke is going to cause something bad to happen, and now my #2 and #3 most favorite characters aren't even on the Island anymore. I want Smokey and force fields and Island miracles back, dammit!

Alright, that's enough ranting for one post. And before you feel the need to yell at me about not liking the new direction of the show, rest assured that my brother already took care of that. His exact words were: "You're insane. You knew that some of them were getting off of the island. You are just like Locke - too tied to the island. I think what is going to happen is pretty clear: They (Ben/Sayid) are hunting "the bad guys" and trying to figure out how to get back (Jack, on his own). But they will hunt down the bad guys and they will get back. And it will all come to a head back on the island, with both old and new characters. It is going to be awesome."

At least he compared me to Locke.

Let's move on to the balance of the final scene, which held some interesting clues:

BEN: Why are you crying? Because it hurts? Or because you were stupid enough to care for her? These people don’t deserve our sympathies. Need I remind you the last time you thought with your heart instead of your gun?
SAYID: You used that to recruit me into killing for you.
BEN: Do you want to protect your friends or not, Sayid? I have another name for you.
SAYID: But they know I’m after them now.
BEN: Good.


MY TWO CENTS

So here's what I think is going on: the Oceanic Six, and some others like Desmond and possibly Ben, leave the Island. I'm still not so sure that the freighter is going to take them directly back home, but for now, it doesn't really matter. The Six make some sort of deal with what they may believe to be Oceanic Airlines. Or perhaps the organization they make the deal with goes by another name--either way, part of this deal is that they vow to never tell anyone about the Island or what happened there. However, eventually, this secret starts to weigh heavily on some of them. While we know that 2.5 years into the future Kate still doesn't want to return, Jack desperately does. Something has driven him mad, and the death of someone around that same point in time (which I believe even more strongly now to be Ben) leads him to almost commit suicide. Hurley is affected by the secret much earlier, receiving visits from Dead Charlie (which are perhaps forced upon him by the Island itself, as he cries to Jack that "it" wants them to return).

Sayid is a different story. He is also one of the Oceanic Six, but from what we can tell so far, he doesn't necessarily want to return to the Island, he just wants to keep others from finding it. And he must have a really good reason for doing so, or else he would never have "sold his soul" to Benry. From the last lines of the episode, my guess would be that after Sayid returns from the Island, he does finally find Nadia, but then she is murdered by The Economist's goons. He now wants to avenge her death, as well as protect his friends. But don't jump to conclusions that Ben was talking about Sayid's friends who made it off of the Island. He may very well have been talking about those who wanted to stay hidden and who never left.

Sayid comments that Ben "recruited" him... which leads me to believe that Ben contacted Sayid at some point after Sayid left the Island, and that it was probably a surprise to Sayid that Ben found him. I don't believe that the rest of The Six have been put to work by Benry, but I do believe they know that he's still around, trying to fight the good fight to save the Island.

That wraps up my analysis of this episode. And now, a much-needed break from the gloom and doom that Sayid's flash-forwards brought upon us.

SLEIGH BELLS RING, ARE YOU LISTENIN'?

The winner of The Most Creative Theory award goes to MD, MF and BB (or, "two Christians and a Semite," in their own words), who wrote me with the Holiday Theory. The gist of this theory is that a battle of sorts is underway on the Island, and it's over which religious holiday wins out--will it be Christmas? Hanukkah? Or some bizarro Scientology holiday? Here is their reasoning:

- Jacob is Santa Claus, who can only be seen by "believers." He is losing his powers because the level of cynicism in the world is rising, and people no longer believe in jolly Saint Nick.
- The Island used to be located at the North Pole (thus the appearance of polar bears), but global warming caused everything to melt. However, the magical powers of Santa and his elves can still be found in spots on the Island, which explains some of the strange happenings we've witnessed there so far.
- The Others are Santa's adult elves (which explains why they don't age). But they've lost the ability to carry their babies to term because the Island is now too warm, so they are freaking out about the fact that there are no younger elves around to help build toys. They also hate humans (who caused global warming and led to the pregnancy problem), so they will fight anyone who lands on the Island. But they agreed to bring Juliet there in order to help overcome their pregnancy issue. Further, they kidnap kids in order to convince them to believe in Santa Claus, which helps keep Santa/Jacob from completely losing his powers and disappearing for good.
- The Dharma group was made up of Jewish colonists who wanted to take advantage of Santa/Jacob's weakened state in order to change the official holiday of the Island to Hanukkah, rather than Christmas. They built the Temple, at which the rest of the Others are now hiding.
- The Numbers are the exact proportions of the Dharma ingredients in the Best. Matzo. Ever.
- Naomi and her crew are Scientologists wanting to get rid of both Christmas and Hanukkah so that their own secret winter holiday can be #1 on the Island. This holiday will be revealed at the end of Season Four.

Before you dismiss this theory, consider the following evidence MD, MF and BB gathered to support their ideas:
- The Find815.com game lead players around CHRISTMAS Island.
- Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) stars in the Santa Claus II, as Mrs. Claus.
- “HO HO HO” is hidden in Episode 4.01 (as discussed in my previous write-up)
- Assuming that it was after midnight when Daniel Faraday parachuted to the Island, he landed there on Christmas Eve.
- Time travel is prevalent throughout the series... and how else could Santa deliver presents to all those houses across the world?

I think it's fair to say that the Holiday Theory is just as likely to be correct as any other, right? Great job, guys!


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

FRANK: We burned a lot of fuel coming in, it can’t carry much weight. I’ll take three of you.
MILES: In case you zoned out while you were tweezing your goatee, one of these yahoos took Charlotte prisoner.


JACK: Sayid, so how are we gonna do this?
SAYID: You’re not the best candidate for this kind of mission.
JACK: What kind of mission is that?
SAYID: I’m going to make Locke give me Charlotte. And I’m going to do it without any bloodshed.
JACK: As opposed to the way I’d do it.
SAYID: Last time you encountered him; you put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. That’s not good diplomacy.




MILES: Hey, Jarrah, you think you’re going after Charlotte without me?
SAYID: Of course not.
MILES: (surprised) Oh. Well, good.




[SAWYER shoves BEN]
SAWYER: You ready to give us the name, Gizmo?



LOCKE: He’s not going to tell you who the spy is on their boat, James.
SAWYER: Yeah, why not?
LOCKE: Because that’s the only thing keeping him alive.
SAWYER: Well here’s an idea: why don’t we take a gun, point it to his big toe and send that little piggy to the market?




KATE: Kinda sucks, huh?
JACK: What’s that?
KATE: Being told not to come along. Now you know what it feels like to be me.
JACK: Does that mean I should wait twenty minutes and go anyway?
KATE: Touché.




JACK: What’s his story?
FRANK: Daniel?
JACK: Yeah.
FRANK: Couldn’t tell ya. Half the stuff he says goes over my head, and the other half goes way, way over.




MILES: How about you stop babbling and just tell us what happened here, alright?
HURLEY: Who are you?
MILES: Where the hell did they go, Tubby?
HURLEY: Oh, awesome. The ship sent us another Sawyer.



SAYID: Where’s Locke?
HURLEY: He’s talking to that angry Chinese guy.
SAYID: I’m not going to hurt you, Hurley.
HURLEY: Yeah… I saw you snap that guy’s neck with that break-dancing thing you do with your legs. I think I’ll hang back here.



OTHER RANDOM STUFF OF NOTE

- In the "enhanced" version of "Confirmed Dead" that aired right before "The Economist," one of the pop-up bubbles explained that the mystery woman in Daniel's apartment was his caretaker. I consider that a pretty major piece of information and am annoyed that it was revealed in this fashion, rather than more directly during that episode or through future episodes.
- Click here to read the transcript of an intriguing deleted scene which dealt with one of my favorite parts of the show--the force field/sonic fence.
- The latest official video podcast features a short chat with Naveen Andrews (Sayid) and Michael Emerson (Ben)... I love Naveen's true accent.

Next up, we have "Eggtown." While I unfortunately know a little bit more about this episode than I should, I still have no idea what its title means (and I want to keep it that way). I think that from the previews, it's pretty obvious that the flash-forwards are going to be about my least favorite Lostaway, Kate. I really hope The Kate Hate Train does not need to be summoned for a ride. What is strange is that the voiceover said that "another member of the Oceanic Six will be revealed." But isn't it already pretty obvious that Kate is one of The Six, especially from the preview clip they showed of her being "one of the most recognizable faces in America?" Not to mention her scenes with Jack in the Season Three finale? The bigger question now is... if she agreed to stay with Sawyer in Othersville, how did she come to leave the Island?

I just hope that they get whatever bad thing that's going to happen between Locke and Hurley over with in "Eggtown," so that I can be free of this nagging feeling of dread.

Until next week,
- e