Tuesday, January 27, 2009

S5Ep2 - The Lie

Hello my dear friends -

I must admit that I doubted my ability to finish two write-ups within one week. I can't lie and say it's been fun. In fact, I've needed to consume dangerous amounts of pizza, caramel corn (thanks, CM), cupcakes (thanks, KG) and Magic Shell (thanks, DY) in order to complete this most daunting task. But at least the rest of the season should be much easier to analyze when compared to the double-whammy that was the premiere... right? (Please, God, make this be so.)

If you're just tuning in to Long Live Locke and want to read my post for "Because You Left" (the first hour of the premiere) before this one, it's here. Also for those who are new to my site, please keep in mind that we like to keep things spoiler-free up in here. If you comply with that simple rule, then you get to roll over the pictures in every post and read secret messages from me.

For everyone else, we must march onward to discuss "The Lie." Since the Island events were relatively straightforward this time around, I'll begin with those...


I KEEP BLEEDING
I KEEP, KEEP BLEEDING LOVE

The time-trippers actually stayed put (year-wise) this episode. Charlotte had another nosebleed and complained of a headache and memory loss, which concerned Daniel as he seems to understand what those symptoms mean... most likely because of his space-time research and his role in helping Desmond avoid death by encouraging him to find his constant (Penny) not too long ago.

So what exactly is going on with Charlotte? At the end of Season Four, Miles commented that he knew she accepted the freighter mission in order to find the place she'd been born. Between that remark, the joy Charlotte exuded when we first saw her land on the Island, and the fact that she's had nosebleeds not only as a child but also now after the Island moved, I don't think there's any reason to question the theory that she has been on the Island at some other point in her life.

Some people think she needs a constant in order to stop her nosebleeds... but that idea confuses me. She's not doing the same sort of time-traveling that Desmond was (where the body stays put but the mind jumps around)... that we know of. But for argument's sake, let's say that her bleeding is a result of her constant-lessness. Weren't both Faraday and Miles with her off of the Island -- couldn't either of them be her constant? If for some reason they don't count because (as they did mention before) none of them really talked to each other before they landed on the Island, does that mean she's a goner?

And if she needs a constant, wouldn't everyone else in the group as well? Or is there something different about Charlotte because she was either a) born on the Island and therefore has physically left and returned before, or b) previously around a lot of radioactivity? OR is Charlotte simply being affected by the time-jumping earlier than the others... like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, is she signaling what will eventually happen to everyone else, save Bernard and Rose, who should definitely be able to act as each others' constants?

Along these same lines, some people believe that the Oceanic Six need to come back because they serve as the constants to the people left on the Island. This idea makes no sense to me... a constant is only a constant for someone because they were important to that person throughout time. This wasn't the case for the passengers of Flight 815, though -- they were all strangers before the flight. And even if for some bizarre reason Kate was able to be Sawyer's constant (for example), who would the others match up with? Who that is left on the Island would need Hurley as a constant? Or Sayid?

Anyway, back to poor Charlotte. I'm sure we'll discover the reason for her nosebleeds one way or the other, but for now all I'm absolutely positive of is that Faraday is going to freak out and lose it if his lady love meets her maker. So much so that he might even take off his tie (!) and/or attempt to bend the very same rules he previously claimed could not be broken. He may feel compelled to try to change the past in order to save Charlotte... which may explain why he was hangin' with the DHARMA peeps at the beginning of the last episode.


GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!

Once night falls, the group (including Vincent -- hooray!) is suddenly under siege. Good riddance to Frogurt, who pulled an Arzt and bit the dust before he got any more annoying. Flaming arrows take down several other redshirts, and all of the main characters get separated in their attempt to escape the attack. (Vincent surely outran them all and is still safe.) Sawyer and Juliet eventually find themselves alone in the jungle.

As those two are making their way to the creek in the hopes of regrouping with everyone else, a barefooted Sawyer steps on some sort of huge thorn or pointed piece of bamboo that he plucks from one of his toes. Now, did that seem strange to you? It should have, because you should know that this show hardly ever includes a weird scene like that for no reason. Though I shudder to think that this may come to pass, I would be remiss in my duty to keep you apprised of all theories if I didn't report that a lot of buzz is swirling about Sawyer being the person the Four-Toed Statue was built to honor.

The belief is this: Sawyer steps on the wicked bamboo, which eventually causes one of his toes to become so infected that it must be amputated (I hope Jack's Amputron 2000 is still on the Island somewhere...). As the group travels through time, Sawyer does something extremely heroic or self-sacrificial, which results in him being viewed as a sort of savior-like figure to the Island's inhabitants from way back in the day (possibly even the natives). They build a statue of his unique foot to commemorate his contributions to the Island and forever remember him... and that's how the Foot-Toed Foot Statue comes to exist.

Good God, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this one. But it doesn't matter what I think, all that matters is whether or not it's a reasonable theory. And unfortunately, I do believe it's plausible. (I know for a fact that more than one woman reading this is sighing that it would be a damn shame if they made a statue solely of Sawyer's... foot.) But I'm hoping that this scene was just a red herring meant to throw us off the trail of the statue's real history.

Since it's kind of pointless to debate the Sawyer Statue idea until we have any more proof, let's move on to the next scene in which Sawyer and Juliet are ambushed by some seriously pissed off British-sounding dudes. They're like, "This is OUR Island, and therefore we're chopping off the chick's hand because we can, and... because we have snotty accents!" Right before one of them was undoubtedly going to do so, they are distracted by an unseen attacker, and Sawyer and Juliet take the opportunity to grab their weapons.

Even though in the back of my head I was pretty sure it was going to be either Locke or Richard who emerged from the darkness, there was a small part of me hoping that we'd see Alex with her awesome slingshot again. But it was my man Locke, and he's all, "What UP, homeys?"

Since I can only assume that we're going to learn more about the Lostaway's newest on-Island foes in the next episode, I'll keep my thoughts brief as to who and "when" they are: I think the group is now several decades in the past, and the angry soldiers are from some sort of military group we haven't seen before -- they're not DHARMA or part of the Hostiles/Others. Their accents lead me to believe that perhaps the Island is now in a time when Widmore was also there, but that may be a long shot. Either way, these guys are bad-to-the-bone mo-fo's and I am truly scared of what will happen when our survivors encounter any more of them. Yes, Locke is BACK in all of his knife-throwing glory, but he's still only one man...


That's it for the Island... time for everything else. Let's start with the episode's opening scene -- the only one that took place shortly after the helicopter left, rather than three years after the O6 returned home.


LIAR (LIAR)
LIAR (LIAR)
IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

The best thing about the beginning of "The Lie" (for me) was that we got to see good ol' Frank Lapidus again. I really love this guy and I hope The Powers That Be find a way to work him in every once in a while over the course of this season and next. I think they will because without Zeke/Tom and Jack's Hillbilly Beards, the show is not meeting its required facial hair quota and that could become a problem. Maybe Frank will be the pilot who flies the O6 back to the Island? Until then you can rest assured that he's downing some brewskies, keeping Hawaiian shirt vendors in business and fronting a Jimmy Buffett cover band somewhere in the Caribbean.

OK, let's get serious again. The second episode of the year kicked off with a meeting of the O6 while they were still on Penny's boat. They were discussing the cover story for what had happened to them since the crash, and Hurley was the holdout. We've received hints before that the others -- or at least Jack -- were worried about Hurley sticking to the story. Remember the game of basketball in the mental institution where Hurley accused Jack of only visiting to "see if I was nuts... if I was gonna tell"?

It seems as though everyone had a right to be worried. "The lie" weighed heavily on Hurley's mind for three years, driving him back to the psych ward and eventually causing him to break down and tell his mother what had really transpired during those 108 days when everyone thought he was dead.

But his confession happened at the end of the episode, so I'll talk more about the possible repercussions of Hurley's truth-telling later on. For now, we need to take a moment to consider the threat Hurley made to Sayid before the group headed off to Sumba: "I'm gonna remember this. Then someday, you're gonna need my help, and I'm telling you right now, you're not getting it. "

Ah, but we all know that Hurley is simply too good of a person to be able to follow through on that sort of tough talk. When the time came for Hurley to come to Sayid's rescue, he of course didn't hesitate to do so.


LEAN ON ME
WHEN YOU'RE NOT STRONG
AND I'LL BE YOUR FRIEND
I'LL HELP YOU CARRY ON

After Sayid lost consciousness thanks to a vicious attack by unknown assailants at the not-so-safe house, Hurley springs into action, gets his comatose friend in the car and takes him to his parents' mansion after a quick chat with Dead Ana Lucia and the purchase of a most awesome new shirt. (Yes, I caught the in-joke about "not getting arrested"; yes, I had visions of Weekend at Bernie's when Hurley put shades on Passed Out Sayid; and yes, Shih Tzus do rock.)

Unfortunately, nothing seems to be able to revive Sayid, so Hurley instructs his father to take the ex-torturer to The Mad Doctor... leaving him and his mother alone inside the house that is now being staked out by the LAPD. (And no, one of the officers was not Abaddon -- there's more than one tall black guy out there, folks!)

Sayid is successfully passed off to Jack, who then calls Ben to tell him of this new development. But when Sayid wakes up, he's immediately concerned with the whereabouts of Hurley... and for good reason.

After spilling his guts to his mom (in a scene that was both hilarious because of Hurley's spot-on summary of the past four seasons and heartbreaking because of his mother's tender "I believe you"), Hurley's cornered alone in the kitchen by Ben... whose surprise appearance led Hurley to waste a perfectly good Hot Pocket.

In the hopes of persuading him to join Jack and Sayid on a trip back to the Island, Ben says everything he can think of to play into Hurley's reluctance to perpetuate the Oceanic Six's lie. But Hurley adheres to Sayid's earlier warning and does "the opposite" of what Ben suggests: he busts out of the house and surrenders himself to the police.

Things just haven't been going Ben's way recently, have they?


IT'S TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE
IT'S TOO LAAAAATE

Since there's so much to discuss about Ben's motives over the course of episodes 5.01 and 5.02, I'm going to come back to him in the next section. After all, the ladies haven't been getting much attention thus far, so I think it's best we switch gears and talk about the meeting between Sun and Kate.

Kate, on the run again after being visited by some suits who demanded a blood test to prove her relationship to Aaron, considered seeking refuge with Jack for a few seconds. Then she remembered his nasty beard and crack-is-wack jumpiness and thought better of that plan. Luckily, Sun calls just as Kate is contemplating her next move. They decide to reunite in LA... and what a reunion it was. Can somebody say "awkward"?

So many things were weird -- with Sun -- during this rendezvous. First, she shows Kate a baby picture of Ji Yeon, even though her daughter should be nearly three years old by this point in time.
Then she seems to be going down the path of blaming Kate for Jin's death. I got shivers during the freighter flashback of Kate deciding to return to the helicopter rather than retrieve Jin and thought, "My God, Sun's out for revenge against Kate, too." Even though Sun then attempted to be all, "No, really, it's OK...you saved the rest of us" after seeming totally cold and calculating two seconds prior, I do think that she still holds Kate partially responsible for Jin's death.

Sun goes on to insinuate that Kate needs to "take care of" the lawyers who are snooping around, ending with "Wouldn't you do anything you had to in order to keep Aaron?" The whole exchange had a very threatening, ominous vibe to me. Which made it even funnier when Sun completely switched gears at the end of the scene and asked, "So, how's Jack?" and Kate got this "D'oh!" look on her face.

While I have theories about a lot of things that have transpired on this show, Sun is really throwing me for a loop. She could be in cahoots with Widmore in order to kill Ben, or she could be a double-agent for Ben. Or she could be totally on her own and pitting everyone against each other in order to take them all down for contributing in some way, no matter how small, to Jin's death. But one thing's for certain: she is up to something and is deadly serious about accomplishing her goal, whatever it may be. Is it wrong to hope for a Sun versus Sayid battle of wits and ninja/breakdancing moves? If she's out to stop the rest of the O6 from going back, it could happen.


YOUR EYES,
YOUR EYES...

WHY DO YOU TELL

SO MANY LIES?


Back to Ben...

When we first see Mr. Linus in this episode, he's being his usual sneaky self and taking some sort of case out of his hotel room's air vent. Was this package left for him, or something he's had hidden all along? I have absolutely no guesses as to what he's got in there, so I'll give a shout-out to reader BB who thinks that Ben's toting around a collection of Medusa spiders. In my Season Four finale post I mentioned that some people thought Locke had intentionally injected himself with poison from (or had otherwise been bitten by) the same type of spiders that attacked Nikki and Paulo. Remember how those two were paralyzed and appeared to be dead when they were actually still alive? (It still disturbs me to think about Nikki's eyes flying open as she was buried... ugh). Maybe Ben needs to keep using the spiders on Locke to prolong the O6's belief that Locke has departed for the great big Box Company in the Sky. After all, Ben changed the subject when Jack asked, "He is dead, isn't he?" (I also need to give a shout-out to reader Emily who suggested that perhaps the reason Hurley's dad was shown watching Exposé (the corny TV series in which Nikki used to star) was to give us a little clue about the spiders.)

Regardless of whether or not Locke is dead dead, Ben isn't telling Jack everything he knows about how his former nemesis ended up in a coffin... or about what happened to those left on the Island. Only after he was positive that Locke hadn't communicated those details to Jack did Ben say, "Then I guess we'll never know."

Believe it or not, I'm siding with Ben on this one. He actually has good reason not to be entirely forthcoming. If Locke isn't really dead, then of course Ben would be reluctant to share that information with Jack. From what Richard said in the last episode, it seems pretty critical that the Oceanic Six believe that Locke has passed on. Why, though, would Ben choose not to play up the horror of what has transpired on the Island? Wouldn't that just further convince Jack of the need to go back? Uh, no... do you really think the Oceanic Six would accept that Sawyer, Juliet and the rest are now traveling through time? We crazy fans can't even completely process it! It's definitely best that Ben keeps that little detail to himself.

Next, Ben takes off for the butcher shop. The man's been under a lot of stress -- don't deny him a juicy steak!

OK, so Ben wasn't actually hankering for some meat. He needed to go talk in code to counter worker Jill, who we can only assume is one of Ben's off-Island Others. Remember how Patchy thought Bonnie and Greta from the Looking Glass station had been "on assignment in Canada"? The man's got people everywhere! Apparently two other Others he has working for him in LA are named Gabriel and Jeffrey. I'm sure we'll meet them soon.

As for Jill, I don't believe we've seen her before. She is obviously familiar with the plan to get the Oceanic Six back to the Island -- she even knows that Jack likes to pop pills a little too much. From her exchange with Ben we learn that their mission is dependent upon Dead Locke's safety. I can only assume that Jill has to keep Locke's body cold in one of the meat freezers (or, if the spider theory is correct, she's got to keep injecting him with poison) until Ben returns. By the way, if you didn't watch Lost but somehow came across this site and only read the previous sentence, you'd probably be calling the police right now. Just as Jack asked, "How did we get here? How did all this happen?" I ask, "Why am I writing about dead bodies, meat freezers and poisonous spiders? Is this an episode of Lost or The Sopranos?"


THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
IS COMING TO TAKE YOU AWAY


We've reached the final scene of the episode. I can't say I was surprised to see Ms. Hawking in it. What I didn't expect, however, was that she'd be in a creepy secret lair under a church... or that she would be rocking on with her bad self in a hooded cloak. Since I'm fully aware that most people reading this blog are not as nerdy as I am, I feel the need to share with you something I've learned over the years that might save your life one day: if you ever see someone in a hooded cloak, you need to run in the other direction immediately. People who wear such things are not necessarily evil, but they almost always have great powers and are usually on a very dangerous mission in which you do not want to get involved. Underneath a hooded cloak could be Little Red Riding Hood (best-case scenario), a wizard, a Jedi, a priest involved in a centuries-old conspiracy, an elf, a witch, a magician, or -- worst-case scenario -- the Grim Reaper. Don't say I didn't warn you.

While I haven't made up my mind about what exactly Ms. Hawking is just yet, others are pretty certain that she's Faraday's mom. Daniel yelled to Desmond that he needed to find his mother at Oxford in order to save everyone on the Island, but never spit out her name before the flash cut him off. Then in the next episode Ms. Hawking appears, scribbling at a chalkboard much like we've seen Daniel do in the past. So they must be related, right? Hmm, I'm not so sure. All I know is that Hawking is currently in LA, whereas Desmond's heading to meet Daniel's mother at Oxford. With the urgency of the Oceanic Six situation, it doesn't seem like Hawking would be jetting off on a cross-country, transatlantic flight any time soon. Plus, why would Hawking tell Desmond that fate can never be changed but her son tell him that he is the only one who can change it? (Unless they had a falling out over that very argument... that's the kind of thing that tears Nerd Families apart!) There are a lot of other reasons why I don't think Hawking and Faraday are related, but quite frankly I don't really care about this question too much. We'll find out soon enough if Hawking brought Mr. Skinny Tie into this world, so I'm willing to save my brain cells for other mysteries.

So let's get back to her menacing chamber. Using a Foucault pendulum, a ton of hard-core equations and a handy-dandy computer program (run on an old school Apple, just like the one in the Swan hatch), Hawking was clearly trying to determine how the Oceanic Six could return to the Island -- where they'd have to make their attempt and how long they had to do so.

We know the answer to the last part: seventy hours. When Hawking meets Ben in the church and tells him this bit of news, he flips out, unsure of whether or not he'll be able to round up the O6 in that time considering what Hurley had just pulled. Hawking's "God help us all" (which echoed Candle's sentiments at the Orchid in the last episode) seems to be in line with what she had told Desmond when they met in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (she was the one who sold him Penny's ring, remember?). Back then she had said that if Desmond didn't fulfill his mission on the Island, then "every single one of us is dead." However...


Y'ALL GONNA MAKE ME LOSE MY MIND
UP IN HERE
UP IN HERE

It's been banged into our heads that the Oceanic Six "HAVE to go back." We've also learned that, in the time-travel rules of Lost, no one can change the past, and if they attempt to do so, then the universe will eventually "course correct." So what I do not understand (and what several others have asked me about) is why Ben and Hawking are so worried about the O6 returning to the Island. If they're "supposed to," then one way or the other they will, right?

Unless something went haywire with the space-time continuum and, as has been echoed by both Hurley and Jack since the end of Season Three, they "were never supposed to leave" in the first place. Meaning that in no previous iteration of space-time did anyone from Flight 815 ever return home, so now neither Ben, nor Hawking, nor Widmore know how things are going to end up. Behold the power of free will over destiny!

Remember how truly, deeply shocked Ben was when Alex was killed? He found Widmore off-Island and told him that he would get revenge for Alex's death by killing Penny, and that Widmore would come to regret "changing the rules." So all I can figure is that something has indeed happened to change what was supposed to transpire on the Island, and now Widmore and Ben are racing against each other to set a new course of events.

But was it Widmore who did something to change the rules? Or was it Desmond (who Daniel claims is the only person who can)? Let's not forget how our favorite Scotsman greatly delayed Charlie's death. Desmond had visions of several ways Charlie was supposed to kick the bucket... but he managed to keep them from happening. Until, that is, the ex-rocker drowned in the Looking Glass after enabling communication between the Island and the freighter. This allowed Keamy's team arrive. They killed Alex, the freighter blew when Ben killed Keamy, the Oceanic Six left and then Ben moved the Island and all hell broke loose. As Ben had said to Locke, doing so was "a last resort"... Ben knew he was out of options by that point. If Desmond hadn't tried to save Charlie and had heeded Ms. Hawking's warning that he should never interfere with fate, would everyone still be chillin' on the beach, drinking stale DHARMA beer after a long day of participating in the second Island Open?

To those of you who might wonder why Ben was so cavalier when Richard told him that he'd agreed to let Kate and the others leave the Island in the Season Four finale, I think the explanation for his behavior is that he already knew he had to move the Island at that point. Once the communication lines were opened by Charlie and once Jack answered the freighter's call, Widmore knew where the Island was. Ben was probably happy the helicopter left with those 815ers aboard it, because they would give him an opportunity to return to the Island after he moved the Frozen Donkey Wheel. (Or at least right now it seems like Ben's going back with them because he keeps using the word "we" about the return trip.)

Which brings us to...


YOUR CONSTRUCTION
SMELLS OF CORRUPTION

What is up with Ben? Is he a bad guy or a good guy or both? The transformation his character has taken in this series is nothing short of mind-blowing. I had been thinking that, at least compared to Widmore, Ben was (as Hurley put it), "on our side now." Even though he might have his own selfish reasons for wanting to return to the only real home he'd ever known, I figured that overall he was looking out for the best interests of the Island, the O6 and the people they left behind.

But why does Sayid no longer trust him? I tend to view Sayid as a character who can read others fairly well; maybe he caught on to the fact that Ben was up to no good. And let's not forget that Ageless Richard wasn't exactly a fan of Ben at the end of Season Four. Richard told Locke that he had to go back and die in order to get the O6 to return. We never heard him say anything like, "Oh, and make sure that little squirrely guy is along for the ride, too."


Could Ben be fooling us all -- again?

I should also mention that just because I'm questioning Ben's motivations doesn't mean that I think Ms. Hawking is also bad or that Widmore is good. If Penny doesn't trust her own father, then he's probably not the most upstanding guy. As for Ms. Hawking, she's probably just doing her part in helping to restore order to the universe and might be oblivious to Ben's hidden agendas. All I am certain of is that we need to keep an eye on Mr. Linus.


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


ANA LUCIA: ... You getting all this?
HURLEY: Yeah.
ANA LUCIA: Then get to it. And stay away from the cops. Do not get arrested.



SAWYER (to Faraday, who is returning to the camp): Welcome back, Dr. Wizard.
MILES: I think it's Mr. Wizard.
SAWYER: Shut up.


CONVENIENCE STORE GIRL: Shih tzus?
HURLEY: Um, I, uh, like shih tzus.
CONVENIENCE STORE GIRL: It looks like you heart them. Rough night?
HURLEY: Yeah.
CONVENIENCE STORE GIRL (looking at Passed Out Sayid in the car): Your friend's pretty wasted.



BEN: Are you looking for your pills, Jack? I flushed them down the toilet.
JACK: Thank you. I was just going to do that myself.
BEN: Yeah, I figured you were.


[HURLEY'S MOM comes home.]
HURLEY'S MOM: Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?


Finally, I just wanted to thank everyone who has left a comment, told friends about my site, connected with me on Facebook and/or emailed me with ideas. Time never seems to be on my side (until I figure out how to manipulate it... mwah hah hah), and so I apologize for not being able to reply directly to everyone who has written. In a future post I hope to address the most "frequently asked questions" I've been getting, so keep them coming. In the meantime, I'll be begging the Lost Gods to never air two episodes on the same night ever again, because I am BEAT.

Until next time,

- e

70 comments:

Erika (aka "e") said...

Here are the songs I pulled from for the section headings in this post, in order:

“Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis

“Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis

“Liar (It Take One to Know One)” by Taking Back Sunday

“Lean On Me” by Bill Winters (no, not the Club Nouveau version)

“Apologize” by OneRepublic featuring Timbaland

“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” by Steve Harley and Cockney Revel

“Magical Mystery Tour” by the Beatles

“Party Up” by DMX

“Battleflag” by Lo Fidelity Allstars, featuring Pigeonhead


- e

Alexander Fulks said...

I think that if Hawking is Faraday's mom, the reason she tells Desmond that fate can never be changed and that he has to go to the Island is because she knows Desmond is Faraday's constant. If Desmond doesn't go, then her son dies from the nose-bleed sickness.

Alexistran said...

I'm over the opinion that we've already met Gabriel and Jeffrey and that they are the lawyers who went after Kate.

Seriously, Ben knows Kate (and we know Kate) and if Kate only knows one thing thats how to run.

I did like her comment of "What kind of a person do you think I am?" to Sun - The kind of person who blows up her father because he's abusive to her mother perhaps?

Anonymous said...

LOVE IT!

Mair said...

excellent as always - and thanks for the "red shirts" comment from a diehard Trek fan here...keep it up, e.


M.

Anonymous said...

IS there any blog awards we can put you up for e?

Anyway,, call me stupid but I didn't get the "Don't get arrested" gag, is it an American joke?

I vaguely remember Weekend at Bernies and Sayid looking wasted looked funny.

Also the convenience store girl said "It looks like you heart...."

I thought she said "It looks like you hurt...." because of the ketchup on his dressing gown looking like blood. But if she said heart that makes more sense.

Remember we don't get the next episode in the UK until Sunday so I really really appreciate your non spoiler policy.

This blog gives me something to look forward to on Monday morning after my head has stopped spinning from the episode from the night before.

Regarding Sawyers foot? DO you really think there is a link with the Statue? Would some primitive tribe build a statue of just a foot and an ankle, I imagined the foot is what is left of a massive statue that has corroded over the years.

Just think ladies a 50 ft statue of Sawyer :-)

Oh and by the way RED SHIRTS, very funny boone and that p*ss poor captain would have been proud of you ha ha

Goodnight

SKID said...

e,

"Farraday tie-guy" here again . . .

Cannot believe you failed to mention that we finally saw a shot of a tie-less Farraday . . . (of course ignoring the theory that he put on his DHARMA coveralls and t-shirt OVER his tie) WHICH leads me to believe that AT SOME POINT we will see a shot of him preparing for his DHARMA subterfuge by removing the tie thus dashing my hopes that it will only come off in a moment of heroic and epic utility.

. . . but maybe (IF Hawking DOES turn out to eb Momma Farraday) they will reveal that in a flashback revealing her sitting in a rocking chair . . . pregnant . . . and knitting . . . the tie.
(BOOM)
LOST

Jason said...

The one thing I am still confused about is when the losties on the island were in this hour. E, you said that you think they are decades in the past, which I originally thought as well, but after viewing the episode a 2nd time, I noticed that after Locke flashes away from Richard near the drug plane, they show Locke looking around to get his bearings, and when he looks up, the plane is back in the tree and it looks like it is smoking, as if it had just crashed. Was this an error in editing, or am I missing something?

Anonymous said...

PLEASE tell me......why no-one ever brings up episode 1 where Kate is involved in the bank heist at her job and then shoots her boyfriend. I know this has nothing to do with this episode, but no-one has ever seem to have a good answer for this and it is bugging me, BUGGING ME@

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

The episode where Kate shoots her boyfriend is explained, she used him to get the toy aeroplane from the bank vault.

Am I wrong? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Another great writeup! However, I'm not convinced that Mrs. (Ms.?) Hawking is in LA. With all the timey wimey stuff, it's entirely possibly that Ben shot over to UK. How many Dharma stations might there be? I only say this because it occurred to me yesterday that perhaps Mrs. Hawking's workshop is in the basement of Desmond's former monastary - remember the picture of her with the monk? Just a thought.

And I loved the "dead pakistani" comment, especially since Mr. Andrews is Indian in real life.

Erika (aka "e") said...

A few quick comments:

1) The "arrested" joke comes from the fact that after Michelle Rodriguez (who plays Ana Lucia), along with the woman who played Libby, both were arrested in real life on Hawaii for drunk driving, their characters were killed off. Same with Daniel Dae-Kim (Jin's gone, for now at least). So it was like Michelle was telling Jorge Garcia (Hurley) personally to stay out of trouble or he'll get canned on the show.

2) Not really sure what the question is about Kate killing the guy from the bank. It's just like Sawyer killing the guy at the shrimp shack he thought was the real Sawyer, Kate killing her dad, Sayid torturing people, etc., etc... these are simply things that the characters did in their past that showed they needed some sort of "redemption" - I don't think there's anything more to it than that. And yes, as Garry said, we did see that she got the toy plane from the love of her life, Tom, from that scene.

3) I DID mention Faraday's tie in the caption in my last write-up! I'm sure he did NOT take it off! If we saw Hawking knitting a tie I will explode, that would be too awesome.

4) That would be great if there was a full Sawyer statue that eventually just crumbled down to the foot only. And no, I'm still thinking this isn't what the statue is, but thought I should mention the theory.

5) Jason -- nope, Locke moved again after he saw the plane smoking, but they never showed that flash from his point of view. I watched it again to be sure. Basically when he sees the plane smoking, we then switch over to Des and Daniel at the hatch. There is ANOTHER flash at that point (when Daniel's shouting his mom's name)... we just never see Locke experience it -- but he obviously did because next time we see him he is saving S and J in the jungle. I do feel like they edited it a bit weirdly, it wasn't clear but I understood it once I watched it again.

6) Definitely possible that Hawking is fibbing a bit to Des in order to ensure he saves her son, if Daniel is her son.

Thanks for reading everyone.

- e

Anonymous said...

Now that we know about the time travel induced sickness in those who have been exposed to radioactivity or extreme magnetic forces, can we link a past island time jump to the sickness in Rousseau's shipmates? And if so, would Alex have been Rousseau's constant?

Anonymous said...

I just realized something - what if the "whispers" from season's past are actually the Losties in the trees and bushes making sure not to be seen (to not disrupt time)? And what if the black smoke monster is "fate" trying to correct time?

Heather said...

I love what you do...I love Lost, but I don't seem to pick up on ANY (or at least only some) of the theories that you put forward. And they all make sense! And it blows my mind! Thank you for putting a fellow Lost fan on the right track each week.

As for Hurley, there were only 2 police officers arresting him. Why didn't Ben just take them out? Doesn't he "always have a plan?" That one stumped me.

Anonymous said...

I think that Mrs. Hawking is afraid that Desmond MIGHT change something. I think he IS that special but that she didn't really want him to know that. She seemed a tad bit afraid in the jewelry store and, as you said, told him that they would all die if he didn't do what he always did. Why else would she be in that store? She obviously can time travel too. Perhaps she is keeping her eye on him so that he does the right thing.

Daniel is now counting on that "specialness" to save them. Kind of like his own last resort donkey wheel.

It seems to me that Desmond had two different time travel experiences. The freighter scenes were only in his mind but I'm wondering if the hatch explosion was him physically going back in time.

I love your idea that Desmond really messed up by letting Charlie live long enough to save them all. It seems that our beloved Desmond CAN change things.

-S

Anonymous said...

On the statue, I remember reading way back that the statue was to originally have 6 toes, not 4. The issue is that it should be different. Given that, I don't think it's Sawyer and a "Lost" toe.

Again another great write up! My head is spinning trying to figure out who is playing who, who's bad and who's good. I just hope that after season 6, we can get a full 6 season revisited, but pop up video style! Season one, see how the Adam and Eve are in the cave? That was us really foreshadowing.....now that would be awesome!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the insight on episode one and the bank heist, but I think my real question is why Kate was not arrested and charged with that? Did I misunderstand the episode entirely? I thought she worked at the bank and her and her boyfriend decided to rob it and that she shot and killed the boyfriend and she ran away.

So, she never got caught for that? How could that be?

This is the only thing I cannot 'figure out' that keeps bugging me about the whole series!

Erika (aka "e") said...

The bank heist was all a con that Kate was in on (and she never actually killed anyone during it).

All the info on it is here:

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kate_Austen#New_Mexico_bank_robbery



Regarding another comment about Rousseau's team... in my pre-season five post I said that I felt "the sickness" could be the effects of time travel, so yes, I think that's possible.

- e

Anonymous said...

kate never killed that guy. she shot him on the leg.

the only person she ever killed was her father, and her mom was the only witness and she decided to not testify against her.

Anonymous said...

sun is creeping me out.

im not sure that she blames kate, im thinking she actually blames jack. the way she said 'how's jack' was way weird... and it was actually jack's fault, kate was going to get jin and it's jack who drags her to the chopper saying he will go get jin, and he is the one who refuses to go back.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the link on that!!! I really really appreciate it.

Love you E!!! And was OH SO HAPPY to see you got to meet your man this summer. Luck you. I love your write ups and look forward to them every week.

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

I think Charlotte's a paradox. When she gets her nosebleed, they've gone back several years, ostensibly to her babyhood on the island; since there's two of her there at the same time her brain's going all asplody.

And there's no such thing as a "perfectly good Hot Pocket". :)

Anonymous said...

It's amazing to me how fast ETHAN got to the plane. So if he was in camp watching the plane fly across the island and crash how in the world did it take him 2 minutes to get there and shoot Locke in the leg?
You didn't mention how Richard tells locke that he should change the bandages every two hours and let the island take care of the rest. Interesting line. He knows that the island has those powers.

I can't wait to figure out what the heck happened to Claire and the crazy leisure suit daddy. It should be a fun season. A bit of a bummer that there's only 14 episodes left with possible 2 being the finale which means only 12. Bleck!

Anonymous said...

Great post! Also, I want to point out two things.
1.Remember the military knife Goodwin and Ana Lucia were sharing?
Does it belong to the hand-cutting happy people Sawyer and Juliette met?

2.I believe Ms Hawkin is Dan's mother. Get this, a few weeks after the O6 leave Penny's boat, Desmond gets that new memory of Dan. He goes to Oxford and visits Ms Hawkin (what an awesome scene that'll be). She realizes that the end of the world scenario will be happening soon.
She then spends the next years in L.A. doing her crazy research leading up the scene at the end of "The Lie".

Also, I believe that Desmond's purpose all along has been to deliver this message to Ms Hawkin.
He NEEDED to be in the hatch so that he could receive Dan's message. Pushing the button isn't how Desmond saves the world. Alerting Ms Hawkin is actually what he does to save humanity.

Erika (aka "e") said...

Jacob -

Yes, I definitely think the knife could have been left behind by the Angry Soldiers and later used by Goodwin and the Others that we know.

Regarding Hawking, unfortunately we know that Des's memory didn't occur until 3 years after he left the Island (I talked about that in my previous write-up). Penny specifically says "You've been off the Island for three years," so we know that he's remembering the moment around the same time that Ben is also visiting Hawking at the church in what we can only assume is LA.

- e

Christy G said...

awesome! thanks for working extra hard to get both write-ups! i can't believe wednesday is already almost here!! oh, and the sawyer is the statue theory is hilarious. i doubt it's true, but it cracks me up!!

Ernie said...

e,

Don't forget that ABC is airing an enhanced version of The Lie Wednesday night before the next episode. I wonder if we'll get any additional insight.

Christy G said...

okay i was just rewatching "because you left" and i have a question. in season 4, in the episode "the constant" we see desmond go back to meet daniel at oxford, but daniel doesn't remember ever meeting desmond before. now, in "because you left" faraday tells desmond to go back to the place we met. does faraday remember now? or maybe is it in his journal? just wanted to see what people's thoughts were on this. thanks!

Anonymous said...

What really bothered me this episode was the line by Hugo's mother. She said, "Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?"

Why would she NOT call Sayid by his name. I mean she does KNOW who he is. She was introduced to him and he was at Hugo's suprise Island-themed birthday party.

Is there some time-travel involved here or am I grasping at straws?

PenguinJosh said...

Another awesome (and considerably less confusing) recap!!

Thanks erika! :D

Josh

Alex King said...

Once again excellent post!
And I do wonder if we will ever get to see Paulo and Nikki again...god I hope so. Paulo is one hot brazilian man :)
Thanks e!

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned Sawyer's shirtless state throughout both episodes. I was thinking how hilarious it would be if his shirt disappeared every time the sky flashed because he wasn't wearing it when it happened the first time. I think I could handle a whole season of shirtlessness :)

Anonymous said...

Great recap and analysis, as always.

Some comments...

I know you post a lot of theories not necessarily believing they are true, but don't you think it's pretty much impossible that Locke was actually bitten by the spiders and is being kept alive by such obscure methods?

I want the Great Bald One to be alive just as much as the next Lost fan, but, I mean, how disappointing would that be? It would be one of the worst cop-outs ever. "Oh, he actually wasn't REALLY dead, he was just unconscious for days, barely breathing because of being perpetually injected with venom from the Nikki and Paulo spiders taken from the island"... Sure, it's a possibility, but for me it's just too much. Locke's even had a funeral, and Richard said (although he was quite in a rush) that John would have to *die*... Why confuse Locke if he meant something else?

Of course, we have the suspicious conversation between Jack and Ben, but I think that means something other than "he's not actually clinically dead".

What I've always thought, Locke being basically the heart of the show, is that he's not going to stay a corpse for all the episodes left (besides the parts of the story prior to his death), but that he'll come back in SOME way. After last year's finale, I always thought he'd be back in spirit at least. I can picture his corpse disappearing on island and then appearing as visions, Jacob, whispers, or whatever unconventional way the island decides to use. Besides, Zombie Season isn't that close yet :P I mean, wouldn't it be a little *too* much, even for Lost, to have a corpse coming back to life and being fully revived? They wouldn't do it so explicitly. Maybe Desmond can change the past and prevent his death, too.

We know Locke was shot and left for dead by Ben, but at least he had a kidney missing, so we can justify part of it using logic. Just like Richard says, the island helps, but it can't do ALL of it.

And as funny as it is, I can't say I agree with the Sawyer statue theory; again, it's just too much. It looks too ancient, and if a civilization were to reproduce a giant statue of some hero down to such detail, don't you think they'd leave a space where the missing toe was? To me, it just looks like the person that statue was built after was born with 4 toes, rather than having lost one. And can you seriously imagine watching Sawyer traveling back in time to some ancient tribe, being a savior to possibly unknown people (Sawyer, of everyone!) and then the people building a statue of him? Sorry, I can't possibly picture that ever happening, although all is possible in the Lost universe. The scene with him stepping on something was quite suspicious, nonetheless.

With the confusing Desmond flashes in previous seasons, I wasn't really a fan of the time travel idea because I could never fully grasp the concept that was pseudo-explained, but I have to say, so far, I'm loving the ideas put forth in these two episodes- it's still really confusing, but I'm glad to see it take more shape. It really has potential to explain a LOT of the mysterious happenings.

I wanted to share with you 2 of the theories I came up with after thinking about the confusing phenomenon.

1) I've always thought Miles' skill was a bit "out of sync" with the rest of the show. To me, the "ghosts" or apparitions seen on-island were never really fully portrayed as dead spirits lingering around, or souls that never really left. Even dead Horace was shown to be in a loop, instead of a spirit just going around. The visions were always strange happenings which seemed physically impossible because the person appearing couldn’t have possibly been there, rather than that person being dead. Sure, Christian and Yemi were actually dead, but their corpses disappeared before they appeared as so-called “ghosts”… I don’t think ghosts need that to show themselves -- the apparitions could have been their corpses animated by Smokey, the island, or something else. And think about Walt; he didn’t die (though he is a special boy) Anyway… What if Miles, instead of seeing the dead talk to him (why would they, anyway) can actually see past happenings around the place he is at? Think about it... Wouldn't he be able to obtain the same information (or more!) than he would from a spirit? And how would he communicate with a boar spirit anyway? (Animals can be ghosts, too?) Or is it supposed to be that a dead person watched the boar die and stayed around to divulge that precious info?

Assuming he could see the past, when he went to Mrs. Gardner's grandson's room, all he had to do is see where the kid hid the money before dying. Although he apparently talked to the spirit, so that bit wouldn’t make sense. But this theory could apply to other occasions, as well. He could have "seen" that the fence had been turned off some time ago (Spirits wandering around the fence waiting for someone to see them to tell them the fence is off is a bit farfetched, isn't it?), or how Naomi was killed, or when the boar had died.

How exactly his skill ties into the time traveling thing, I'm not sure, but just as Desmond had his ability to see the future after the Swan implosion, Miles might have been through something that enables him to see the past. Maybe even more so if he is in fact, Pierre Chang's son.

2) I can't explain Smokey with time travel, but what about the whispers? What if, when the island skips in time, or people "jump" to different whens, a sort of residue is left? What if when you hear whispers in a certain spot of the island, it just means that at a certain point in time, people in that place traveled to a different point in time? Maybe what they were saying before or after they travel is heard in that spot... or, if you consider time as a street, and people went from time A to time C while standing on the same spot, and you happen to be on that spot during time B, maybe you can hear that "residue".

3) Not a theory, but thinking about Charlotte, I just came up with this: maybe you haven't noticed, or maybe you have, but here it goes: remember the vision of Horace Locke had in Cabin Fever? After he says he's been dead for 12 years, we see him bleeding from the nose -- very much in the same way Charlotte was in this episode. Ok sure, she's not been dead for 12 years (at least it doesn't seem like it), but it may be worth noting. I think they even bleed from the same side of their noses.

Well, that's about it. Sorry about the long post, but your recaps always make my head work like crazy :D

Anonymous said...

I am a devoted LOST fan and newly found your web-site. I have spend the last couple of days reading most all of your previous posts from the last seasons.

I LOVE everything you have put together. It makes me want to watch the series all over again! You do great work and really took an already GREAT show to new levels!! Not just GREAT... BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION - I just hope ABC will give Sawyer a spin-off once the series is over!

P.S. I don't get the red-shirt thing? Someone explain?

Erika (aka "e") said...

I have a link in my post on the word "redshirt" that goes to a page that explains what it means... basically just a minor character who gets killed off right after they're introduced.

- e

Unknown said...

Hi e,

About the Sawyer toe thing--I read on a different blog (I think Dark UFO) that some people believe that this could be a time loop type of incident.

The blogger said that in an earlier episode (the blogger didn't specify which one, and I don't remember) Sawyer steps on a nail in the jungle. Now they are showing him step on something different (a piece of bamboo or whatever). It's akin to the picture frames changing in the home where they show us Miles doing his "ghost-hunting" for the first time. Or the food changing in the refrigerator at the barracks, etc.

Not sure what this will add up to or if this other blogger is on to something or not. But SOMETHING is definitely up with this or why would thing linger on it the way they did (I don't believe it will have anything to do with the 4-toed statue).

Thanks for the awesome write-up and for the "shout out."

Take Care,

another e

Anonymous said...

Regarding whether the writers will bring Lapidis back again, you said,
"I think they will because without Zeke/Tom and Jack's Hillbilly Beards, the show is not meeting its required facial hair quota and that could become a problem."
LOL!Just one more example of why I enjoy your posts so much. Thanks, e!

Abby said...

Hi e,

another great recap.

I was thinking about what you wrote in regards to Desmond changing things and whether or not the Oceanic 6 were ever supposed to leave. I definitely think that Desmond changed things...assuming that Des wasn't just manipulating Charlie (seeing Claire & Aaron fly off in a helicopter), what did happen was different than what Des originally saw.

What if Charlie was supposed to turn the switch and communicate with Penny, but Jack wasn't supposed to contact the boat? Des's original vision still could have occurred, I suppose. I dunno. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Loving the write up!

My family got some good laughs over the "hood-warning." LOL
[As a nerdy family, we've taken it, and the time-travel argument caution, to heart!]

Always a treat to read your writing.

Thanks!

Sarah M. in MI
(I have seven kids, age 14-2, and they can pretty much name all the LOST characters. I'm not sure whether to be proud, or ashamed. LOL)

sweetpeas said...

For Emily re Sawyer stepping on something in the jungle - the exact same thing DID happen to Sawyer, I thought of it right away after he did it again in this episode. I think it was a dart though from the dart board when the Swan imploded...I don't think it was a nail (not 100% sure though)I thought back then it was strange that they would put that scene in and not have it mean anything later in the episode or season. And then even stranger they did it again in the exact same way. E - what do you think? Do you remember when he stepped on the dart the first time? Emily may be on to something, so subtle but so sneaky! I agree by the way, don't think it has to do with foot statue.

L.Didi said...

Hey e!

love the blog, you are so clever. I have an idea of why I think Desmond is special, small but an idea.

Maybe Desmond is affected in different ways because he was in the Quarantined Hatch...he believed he had to stay in there because of something on the outside that would contaminate him, maybe there reallyw as somehting? Just a thought.

Lula! said...

Loved every word, as always. I especially love anyone who can reference DMX and Jerry Lee Lewis in the same post. You know I've been digging (and mentioning in my comments!) your song shoutouts over the past few years...keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Sawyer and his body parts ... something I've never been able to figure out happened back in Ep 4 of Season 3 - "Every Man for Himself"...

After Cassidy (I think that's her name?) comes to see Sawyer in prison, and shows him the picture of Baby Clementine, he walks back to his cell with another prisoner. The guy asks Sawyer what Cassidy wanted, and Sawyer answers, "Something I ain't got".

I always thought that was strange. Was he simply referring to his supposed lack of compassion? Or something else? It just seemed like such an odd comment.

Any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Veryy cool posts. It took me a while to get through them though, so I can only imagine how long it must've taken you. I'm so confused about the whole time-traveling part of the show that I am contemplating just ignoring it, but your blog helps me keep things ordered in my head. Thanks for that ;) Have fun watching tomorrow night!

Unknown said...

2 comments
1)I'm hearing that the asian Dharma doctor guy that made the orientation video is Miles father, and that was Miles as a baby when they discovered the wheel under the Orchid station.
2)Hawking told Desmond that he would never marry Penny, yet she did have on a wedding ring in the season 5 opener

The Rush Blog said...

This show has become too damn confusing. It's storyline on the Swan Station is already conflicting and I don't see any resolution or explanation for it in the next two seasons.

Why did they lie about Aaron being Kate's son? There was no need. They could have easily stated that Claire survived the crash, gave birth to Aaron and eventually died before being rescued. Why tell the authorities that Aaron was the son of a woman facing criminal charges back in the States? Aaron could have ended up with his grandmother in Australia.

If the Oceanic Six has to return to the island in seventy (70) hours - less than three days - how long is the time span going to last for this season? And what on earth will Season 6 be about?

Anonymous said...

"This dead Pakistani really ties the room together"

Unknown said...

Enjoyed your blog just like I always do :) and you're right, the line

"Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch" really is the best line, and it made me drop on the floor laughing :D


However, I have a thing to comment on. You talked about Charlotte and her possible need of a constant, and who would serve as constants for the rest of the survivors.

1. In S4E5, Daniel specifically said that SOME people suffer the side effects of time traveling and they need a constant. This doesn't mean that everyone would eventually need a constant. Only certain people, [most likely those who were exposed to high level of radiation]. So, as you first said, Charlotte must have been been on the Island before and was exposed to such a thing. I don't think we'll see everyone needing a constant.

2. A constant is someone who is not traveling in time with them. This is why Rose/Bernard cannot work for each other, and the survivors on the Island itself cannot work on themselves either. You need to have a constant that was there when you were in a stable situation, and when you are time traveling.

If we are to believe that all the people on the Island need a constant, than they only need the O6 to help them through it. And one person's constant CAN be another's. Though Daniel specifically said that you need something/someone that means a lot to you, but I do think that the relationship between the O6 and the Islanders is more than strong at this point. And Jack, serving a constant for Juliet, can also serve a constant for Rose.

:) Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

If Locke isn't really dead, that funeral parlor is in it with Ben (like the butcher shop) because they would normally embalm his body. Hard to come back from that!

And beware of Miles... he too wears a hood at times!!

-S

jantje_lover said...

Great recap again E, not much to comment on so I will simply say:

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

"The belief is this: Sawyer steps on the wicked bamboo, which eventually causes one of his toes to become so infected that it must be amputated (I hope Jack's Amputron 2000 is still on the Island somewhere...). "

This really made me laugh Erika! I hope you have copyright (or at the very least Jack has!)on that! I take it that was the "machine" that Jack chopped off Boone's leg with?

Great post as always. More food for thought. I did initially think (when I watched it the first time) that when Sayid wakes up from his dart-induced coma aided by Jack that he was very concerned that Hurley had been left on his own. I certainly didn't get the impression that Jack had phoned Ben to collect Hurley. I then re-watched, having read your post-ep analysis and am still not convinced. Don't ask me why but I get the feeling that Ben did this of his own accord...as if he knew somehow in advance. I could be wrong though. Just a gut instinct. Maybe I missed a hint. I don't think just because Ben (he who is not to be trusted according to Sayid) told Hurley "how else would I know that Jack and Sayid were together", that Jack phoned him. I think that Ben was perhaps overstating the obvious. Again, I may be wrong and I'll stand corrected if someone can point out anything to the contrary.

Keep up the good work! Cheers e!

Anonymous said...

I have a question that I have not seen addressed anywhere: Why do the main characters keep asking, "Now why would I do that" or some variation thereof? Knowing how closely fans watch everything, I am sure it means something. I wish someone who is good with this sort of thing would put together a video of all the times characters have said that phrase (sort of like someone did with all the "whats". It has happened a bunch of times and was very noticeable when I just re-watched seasons 1-4 before the season 5 premiere. Love your recaps!

Anonymous said...

e - I've been lurking for well over a year and have decided it's finally time to make my presence known. Thank you SO much for your write-ups. They're one of the few things that make the seven-day wait between episodes bearable! And I feel as if I, who another blogger would derisively call a fangirl (even though I've watched since the beginning), understand this show much more fully because of them.

Also, I recently revisited your earliest and mid-series posts and loved seeing the evolution of your blog. I, too, enjoy the song lyrics and was so happy when you used Journey lyrics during a Season 4 recap!

@ Anon S - Good call with Miles and the hoodie. As I was watching the first two episodes last week, I thought, "Why does Miles have his hood up?" They're in a stinkin' hot jungle and some/most of the time it isn't even raining as they're flashing through time (not that the hoodie would have helped him stay dry anyway!). I wonder what, if anything, will be made of that.

e - I hope your fingers will have found enough rest so that we can enjoy your episode three write-up sooner rather than later. (But no pressure!)

Rebecca

SisterKristen said...

Forgive me if this has already been discussed ... could Mrs. Hawking be the ex Mrs. Widmore?

Anonymous said...

I am so confused about what can and cannot be changed in the past. For example, if the past can't be changed (except maybe by Desmond), then how could Frogurt be killed at the end of the last episode, if he was not dead at the time of the freighter? I thought that maybe the characters had skipped into the future when they see the scary British people. If they are in the past, then how could someone die who is not dead in the future, without seriously changing everything else?

Anonymous said...

"What really bothered me...She said, "Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?""

I think that demonstrates once again that Hurley's parents are really self-centered, like when they threw an island themed party 'they just don't get it.' It's not important to them what his name is.

"Speaking of Sawyer and his body parts ...
After Cassidy (I think that's her name?) comes to see Sawyer in prison, and shows him the picture of Baby Clementine, he walks back to his cell with another prisoner. The guy asks Sawyer what Cassidy wanted, and Sawyer answers, "Something I ain't got".

I always thought that was strange. Was he simply referring to his supposed lack of compassion? Or something else? It just seemed like such an odd comment. "

I think he is lacking both money, (which he fixes with his deal with the government) and the ability to be a real father to Clementine.
My dd thinks that when he hands Aaron to Kate in last season's finale, he is acting as if now BOTH of them will take over caring for him. Maybe he's fixing his Daddy issues also?

"Why did they lie about Aaron being Kate's son? There was no need. They could have easily stated that Claire survived the crash, gave birth to Aaron and eventually died before being rescued."

I think that a) how would they have kept him alive, healthy and so robust without milk, and b) they are keeping him safe from Widmore.
If he went back to Australia, they couldn't protect him.

"If the Oceanic Six has to return to the island in seventy (70) hours - less than three days - how long is the time span going to last for this season? And what on earth will Season 6 be about?"

I think when they said "70 hours" they just let us in on what the parameters of this season would be.
And that Season 6 will be them arriving on the island until whatever resolution needs to occur.

"I have a question that I have not seen addressed anywhere: Why do the main characters keep asking, "Now why would I do that""

Our favorite is Miles saying "What DO I mean???" LOL
You are RIGHT! Not sure what it all means, but there is a lot of that going around.

"Good call with Miles and the hoodie. As I was watching the first two episodes last week, I thought, "Why does Miles have his hood up?" They're in a stinkin' hot jungle and some/most of the time it isn't even raining as they're flashing through time (not that the hoodie would have helped him stay dry anyway!). I wonder what, if anything, will be made of that."

Charlie wore his hood all the time when he went to the "dark side" for a while. Hmmm.....

Love the thoughts everyone is bringing here! Thanks E!

Sarah M. in MI (who needs to get a life. After tonight.)

Anonymous said...

Hi E - lovely post, as usual. Just a few thoughts:

1. I think that Sun has her own agenda and will be agent/double agent/quadruple agent whatever it takes to avenge Jin's death. Funny how pre-crash she was ready to divorce him, huh?

2. I think the suitcase Ben pulled from the heating duct was his and had precisely what he recommended Jack to collect--anything of value to him that we wants. "Because you're not coming back here". So in Ben's suitcase would be the boy/girl figurines, maybe a picture of Alex, etc. I don't think it contains spiders.

3. re: Sawyer's foot. I think the thorn in his foot might be: 1) a reference to Aesop's fable re: lion and the slave. If you look at the story, you'll see a lot of similarities between the story and the plot of Lost. Here's a link:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0156.html

It's about unlucky friendships and how they end up saving each other. Could this be Sawyer and Juliet?

4. Shout out to Cheryl and her comment re: maybe Hawking is in UK. That makes perfect sense to me, especially, as you pointed out, there was a pic of the abbot and Hawking in the abbot's office.

Julie
http://julieisnotlost.blogspot.com

Robert Klotz said...

Hi again, Erika!

Well, SOMETHING has to be up with the British Military Dudes. I think you're exactly right that they're pre-DHARMA. I think they're Widmore's original soldiers. They have a WW2 era look to them that many have noted. We know from the original DHARMA orientation film, the Swan mashup with one-armed Dr. Marvin Candle, that Alvar Hanso was an arms dealer/developer from the second world war and later helped arm NATO forces. This overlooked bit of errata from the Swan film should be factored in. Perhaps the island is unstuck in time because of the nuclear bomb experiments of the 1940s and 1950s in the South Pacific? Was Chaz Widmore part of Hanso's weapons business? (ARE WE EVER GONNA MEET FREAKING ALVAR HANSO?!)

Something tells me that there will be a link revealed soon about the Arm Whackers. Montand's arm, Candle's arm...Juliet's still got hers thanks to Johnny Locke's devotion to knife-throwing.

Also...try this on for size and wildness:

Aaron Daniel Faraday! Ho ho.

No, I'm not at all serious.

drew said...

Fantastic synopsis as always. And I am SO GLAD today is wednesday. I also love, as usual, your mix of music is amazingly well versed, from DMX to to Jerry Lee Lewis.

Anonymous said...

I understand that your hand and fingers have their own selfish reasons for not wanting 2 hours of Lost to air on the same night, but I just can't seem to get enough and would welcome double episodes whenever the Gods saw fit to bestow them. The hour on Wednesday seems to fly by like a Zodiac boat through a time ripple, while the rest of the week spent waiting for the next installment seems to skip maddeningly like an old scratched up Dharma 45. Anyway I really just wanted to thank you for such brilliant and insightful recaps / dissections / explanations. They really enhance my enjoyment of the show. In between episodes they have become my Constant. LOL.. yes I'm a true nerd. Thanks again & keep up the good work! PS. Treat yourself to a home paraffin bath unit for those tired aching hands, you deserve it!

Unknown said...

As always great reviews - Been a reader since I found you in season 2 and always look forward to the write ups.

I had a few of your conenctions but the whole section linking Desmond prolonging Charlie's death to the freighter - Alex getting shot etc - did NOT pick up on that at all, great observation!!

Anonymous said...

"I feel the need to share with you something I've learned over the years that might save your life one day: if you ever see someone in a hooded cloak, you need to run in the other direction immediately. People who wear such things are not necessarily evil, but they almost always have great powers and are usually on a very dangerous mission in which you do not want to get involved. Underneath a hooded cloak could be Little Red Riding Hood (best-case scenario), a wizard, a Jedi, a priest involved in a centuries-old conspiracy, an elf, a witch, a magician, or -- worst-case scenario -- the Grim Reaper. Don't say I didn't warn you."

i laughed for about 20 minutes straight last night when i read that... :D

*kristYn from CALI*

SKID said...

e,

So the woman on the island goes by “Ellie.”

. . . and we find out tonight (for the first time?) that Ms. Hawking’s name is ELOISE HAWKING. (THAT tidbit came from one of those ABC pop ups in the enhanced episode . . . that I had thought were pointless.)

They just might be useful after all.

Hmmmmm. Further evidence that Ellie/Eloise are the same person and she is Mommy Farraday?

We'll know for sure when we see her sitting in a rocking chair pregnant . . . knitting . . . a tie.

(Yes, I am the Farrady tie-guy).

. . . and I stand corrected that you DID mention the tie in your previous write-up. I failed to scan over the picture of him. I DO think it is on under his shirt as well. You can see a bulge. Did I just say that out loud?

Anonymous said...

Hi E,

Wasn't sure if anyone else caught this - but did you see on the enhanced episode of "the Lie" tonight that Mrs. Hawking's first name is Eloise? I think this is some serious proof that Daniel and her must know eachother, and he must have named his lab rat after her (since we know no other Eloise). Ahhh!!!

- Kristen

Anonymous said...

Very interesting as always, but I was a bit taken aback that you called British accents "snotty". I guess I'll let you off, because you are usually complimentary about us Brits. :)
Loving your work as always, e.

Robert Klotz said...

I'd like to take this chance to apologize for being slightly spoiled when writing my post, Erika. I knew that Jughead referred to a nuclear bomb, and I included that information in my post to this blog yesterday well before airtime.

The rest I guessed from that prior knowledge (honest!).

Bad form. I won't let that happen again, as I too am mostly spoiler free.

Alanna said...

Just wanted to let you know that you are my new favorite blog! :) Yay for LOST. I will be back every week!!!

SisterKristen said...

I'd say it's pretty clear that Widmore is Faraday's father and Mrs. Hawking is his mother. Which means Penny is his sister and Charlotte is his ... um ... ???

Anonymous said...

Here are some theories/comments about last night's episode 5.4.

Baby Charlie-
Penny and Desmond's baby is named Charlie. Could it possibly be that they are Hobbit Charlie's birth parents and something happens to them when they return to the island and Charlie is raised by someone else in the UK? There was no mention of Charlie being adopted, but he could simply not know. Not to mention that the code on the computer was a Beach Boy's song and programmed by a musician. The consensus seems to be that Charlie was that composer. This is a way for Charlie to arrive in the islands as a child in the 70s but still be on Flight 815.

Fake 815 crash plane-
Could it be possible that it wasn't a fake plane but a possible outcome of the 815 crash due to time travel? This could explain there being more than one pilot. Lapidus was supposed to be the original pilot but his friend took the flight instead. A third pilot could have existed that crashed in another time line.

Widmore-
I was a little disappointed to find out that Widmore was the young Other with the uniform that said Jones on it. I was hoping he would be a pirate from the Black Rock, which could still happen if he has time travelled like Ben. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The whispers-
Could the whispers be the time hopping 815 and freighter people trying to not be seen by their 2004 selves?

Ana Lucia-
Dead AL told Hurly not to get arrested and at the end of episode 2 he did. We have to expect some major repercussions for this action.

Mrs. Eloise Hawking-
I think the yound British girl with Daniel is a young Mrs. Hawking. I believe Richard called her Ellie.

SM