S5Ep4 - The Little Prince

Hello my dear friends -

Like most Lost fans, I enjoyed "The Little Prince" because it provided a welcome break from the intensity of the first three hours of the season. Even though the writers did throw us some curve balls and answer a few questions, not a heck of a lot actually happened in this episode to spawn a slew of new theories. At first I thought that meant that I'd have a very easy time cranking out a short post... but of course I was completely wrong. It doesn't even matter anymore whether or not a new episode is chock-full of information... the name of the game in Season Five is thinking back to how clues from past episodes may be able to be reinterpreted now that we know what's transpired since the Oceanic Six left the Island. Hence, no rest for weary Lost bloggers.


'CAUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE WAITED FOR
YOUR CHANCE TO EVEN UP THE SCORE

From the short flashback at the beginning of the episode, we learned that it was Kate's idea to pass off Aaron as her own son once they returned to L.A., despite Jack thinking that there was probably a better way to handle the situation. Now -- three years later --Kate's worst nightmare has come true: someone's on to her.

In "The Lie," Kate told Sun about the lawyers who paid her a visit. The next time we see the two women, it's clear that Sun has advised Kate to try a little harder to find out the identity of the mystery client. Since Sun has been acting so shady, I definitely thought she was leading Kate into a trap by encouraging her to visit the law firm. I feared that Kate would be nabbed the second she stepped foot in their offices, and then Sun would run off with Aaron.

Before we saw the contents of the package Sun received at the hotel and before we saw her show up at the pier where the rest of the O6 (minus Hurley) met Ben, I thought there was still a chance that Sun was working for Mr. Linus. But as soon as we learned that she had hired someone to tail Ben (and/or Jack) as well as supply her with a gun... well, then I was pretty sure that she either really is in cahoots with Widmore, or is at least using him for the time being to bring Ben to justice.

There's still the question of how Sun would ever connect Ben to Jin's death, though. Even if Desmond -- who had been on the freighter long enough to have possibly learned that the explosives in its depths would be triggered by the heart monitor device attached to Keamy -- put everything together and told the O6 the whole story while they were resting on Penny's boat for a week, Sun would still have no way of knowing that it was Ben who killed Keamy. After all, Richard was the one who shot Keamy after his tussle with Sayid. The O6 should've thought Keamy was already dead by the time they left the Island and that Jin and Michael were just delaying an inevitable explosion. Therefore, all I can figure is that Locke/Jeremy Bentham visited Sun off-Island and explained what really happened...

...But that scenario doesn't really make sense, either, because we obviously have enough information at this point to assume that Locke was/will be doing everything he could to convince the O6 to return to the Island. It doesn't seem like he would purposefully say something to upset Sun, much less motivate her to knock off Ben. Consequently, the mystery of Sun's motivations remains.


THERE'S A MAN WHO LIVES A LIFE OF DANGER
TO EVERYONE HE MEETS HE STAYS A STRANGER
WITH EVERY MOVE HE MAKES, ANOTHER CHANCE HE TAKES
ODDS ARE HE WON'T LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW

Elsewhere in L.A., Sayid finally awakens after what Jack said had been forty-two hours of unconsciousness. Forty-two hours?!? I was surprised to hear that much time had passed since we saw He of the Flowing Locks get darted in "Because You Left"... but whatever. Probably all we were supposed to take away from Jack's comment is that if Ms. Hawking told Ben that he had seventy hours to get the crew back to the Island, then only slightly more than a day remains now to get the job done.

As Jack is pulled out in the hall and scolded by a hospital administrator, yet another dude tries to dart Sayid. Obviously whoever is behind these attacks wants Sayid captured alive -- and I think we can narrow the mastermind down to either Widmore or The Economist. I'm leaning toward the latter. Widmore has given us no reason to believe that he's wanting to mess with any of the people who have returned from the Island. Sun approached him first, and when Desmond stormed into his office, Widmore didn't try to stop him from leaving. In fact, all he seemed to care about was keeping Penny and Desmond out of the whole drama. I'm not saying that Widmore is a good guy or that he doesn't have an evil plan to find and control the Island, but there's really nothing that would lead us to believe that he's the one trying to get Sayid.

However, the same thing can't be said about The Economist. And here's why...


I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE
SOMEBODY'S WATCHIN' ME

As you may remember from Sayid's first flash-forward episode -- entitled, um, "The Economist" -- Sayid and Ben had been working together to try and kill this as-of-yet unnamed man. Here are a few key points of dialogue from that episode that I think will be important to keep in mind going forward (I've cut out unessential lines in the interest of time and post length):

Scene: When Sayid first meets Elsa in Berlin

SAYID: I’m a headhunter. A corporate recruiter. What do you do?

ELSA: My employer is an economist. He works in emerging markets. Actually, I don’t really understand what he does; which doesn’t matter, since all I do is shop for him. [Holds up pager] If this goes off, I’m at his side instantly. Which is wonderful, since he’s only in Berlin once or twice a year.

Scene: Sayid and Elsa's fifth date

(Elsa looks as if she's going to leave her pager behind when she and Sayid head out to the opera)

SAYID: I’ll carry it. If he does call, I don’t want you fired over me. You should tell your employer that there is newer technology.

ELSA: Well, I’ve tried. He’s very old-fashioned.


Scene: Elsa, who has just declared her love for Sayid, realizes that he's a spy

SAYID: You have to leave Berlin. People will be asking questions soon. About what happened to your employer. And you can’t be around to answer them.

ELSA: My employer? This… this is about my boss? Who are you? You’re gonna kill him? Do you even know him?

SAYID: His name is on a list.

ELSA: A list? What list? You have a list?

SAYID: It’s my employer's.

ELSA: And who is that?

SAYID: It doesn’t matter who he is! The man you are working for is not an economist.

From the exchanges above, we can infer that The Economist (I'm sticking with the nickname the Lost fan base at large uses, despite Sayid's last line) is male and that Ben and Sayid actually do know his name since it's on "the list." As we also know that Sayid had been killing off anyone Ben told him to at that point in time, it's fair to assume that The Economist would've been a goner had Sayid come face to face with him. The fact that Elsa mentioned that he was "old-fashioned," especially when it came to technology, leads me to believe that this guy may be doing a little time traveling. However, since we have yet to see anyone (except if you count Ben when he turned the FDW in one year and landed in the desert in another) -- actually time travel off of the Island, I'm not really sure how The Economist could be manipulating time. But more on that a bit later.

First, here are a few more points to consider...

Scene: Elsa shoots Sayid and then calls The Economist

ELSA: (on phone, in German) You were supposed to page me at ten-thirty, not ten. No, I didn’t kill him. He’s not going to give up the name now. Why should I keep him alive? No, he had no idea. All right, all right. I’ll bring him to you.

Scene: It is revealed that Sayid has been working for Ben.

BEN: I have another name for you.

SAYID: But they know I’m after them now.

BEN: Good.

These two scenes lead me to believe that whoever The Economist is, he does not know who Ben Linus is... or... he does know who Ben is but either 1) doesn't realize that Ben has left the Island (which definitely rules out Widmore, as Ben visited him off-Island and already had a chance to kill him) and/or 2) doesn't realize that it's Ben who's directing Sayid's actions. All this guy probably does know is that someone's been picking off his colleagues and he needs to get to the bottom of it. Otherwise he and Elsa wouldn't be so concerned with Sayid giving up the name of his employer. Further, now that The Economist knows that Sayid is after him, it would make sense that Sayid would be pursued by his henchman from that point forward -- leading to the ambushes at both the safe house and at the hospital. The Economist still wants to question Sayid, hence the tranquilizers rather than bullets.

Elsa's given us a few more clues about her boss, but before I delve into them I'm going to apologize for how confusing some of my analysis is going to be. There's just no easy way to write about the time travel/warp stuff.

Once you're sure your mind is up to it, read on...

LET'S DO THE TIME WARP, AGAIN

If you're under the weather or have consumed even the tiniest bit of alcohol, turn back now. You've been forewarned!

Let's revisit a strange comment Elsa made when she spoke to The Economist on the phone, shall we?

"You were supposed to page me at ten-thirty, not ten."

Hmm, her boss didn't call at the right time.

In fact, he was a half-hour off.

Now, perhaps the poor man was simply (and understandably) anxious about getting Elsa away from Love Machine Sayid, but something else happened on the Island in that same episode that makes me think the mix-up in the page time might have more meaning: Daniel ran his rocket experiment and found there to be a 31-minute difference between the time it was on the Island and the time it was on the freighter. Why should you care? Because I think there's a remote possibility that The Economist was calling Elsa from the Island. And even though I am saying upfront that this idea probably has no merit and it's totally ridiculous that I'm creating a theory based on ONE SENTENCE in the entire series, I will still attempt to explain it -- just in case.

So let's say that The Economist is on the Island. Let's also say that he's an Other working secretly against Richard and Ben for whatever reason (maybe he's a Dharma member-turned-Other who survived the Purge and is finally exacting revenge?). He may even be working for someone else (perhaps Abaddon?). Elsa said this guy had been in Berlin a few times each year... and we know that the Others seem to have always had the ability to leave and return to the Island, so that could still work (if it was even The Economist she actually met with). We also know that the Others like to roll old-school (or perhaps they've had no choice) -- so that may factor into why The Economist is still using a pager.

Here's where it starts getting messy. Forget the fact that Sawyer, Locke and crew have been traveling through time on the Island, because that doesn't apply to this theory, and the reason why is because the Others have not been affected by the turning of the FDW. I repeat, Richard and his people have not been skipping through the years. We know this from "Because You Left," when Daniel noted that it was most likely only the Lostie, Freighter + Juliet group moving around, and when Richard confirmed that by telling Locke that he (Richard) "didn't go anywhere" and that only John would be "moving on soon."

If The Economist is a rogue Other on the Island, then as the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 passed in the outside world, they passed for him on the Island at the same rate, too. We first received proof of this from the fact that the date on the Island and the date on the Freighter and the date in the outside world were all the same -- December 24, 2004 -- when Desmond called Penny in "The Constant." (They even had a calendar up in the communications room for our benefit.) And then of course when the Oceanic Six left the Island, it was clear that 108 days had passed both on the Island and elsewhere. All that ever appeared to be different (time-wise) between the Island and areas outside a certain radius was the thirty-minute time difference Daniel discovered in his rocket experiment (which was also evidenced by Dead Doc Ray washing up on the Island when Alive Doc Ray was still on the freighter).

So that's why, as I started think about who could be behind using Sayid as a dartboard in L.A., I zeroed in on the comment Elsa had made last season about The Economist calling a half-hour early. I think it's also a possibility that while Elsa assumes she's been meeting with her boss every once in a while over the years in Berlin, that The Economist never even left the Island and she'd been meeting with one of his cronies instead.

I'll stop with this now because I honestly think it was probably just a throwaway line, but since I'd be mad at myself for not mentioning it if it does in fact turn out to be a valid theory, I had to say something.

WHO ARE YOU?
WHO, WHO, WHO, WHO?

So back in L.A. in the hospital room where Sayid is able to fight off his latest aggressor, he discovers Kate's address in the guy's pocket. Ben (who's arrived after losing Hurley to the LAPD) doesn't seem the least bit surprised that Sayid has been targeted again, whereas Jack is immediately concerned for Kate.

I was a little confused by this scene because when Sayid asked the Faux Male Nurse who he worked for, the response was "Address -- it's in my pocket." We all know that Kate didn't send someone to capture Sayid, so I'm not sure if we're meant to think that this guy was going to go get her next, or if her address was supposed to throw Sayid off of the trail if the Faux Male Nurse was caught.

Before I wrap up talking about Sayid and whoever is out to get him, let me encourage you to review the first few sections of last season's "The Economist" write-up, because we need to be on the lookout for the "R.G." who gave similar metallic bracelets to both Elsa and Naomi from the freighter. Since we don't know a character with those initials yet, my bizarre Rogue Other theory could still work. Though at this point, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being the late Robert Goulet. Regardless of who The Economist is, I'd bet that he's got to be referenced again (or shown) sooner rather than later. Ben and Sayid both made subtle references to their falling out (Ben: "Let's... save the dirty linen for later"), so perhaps we'll get a flashback about why Sayid is confident that "the only side Ben's on is his own."

I'M A DESPERATE MAN
SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY
THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN

While Ben and Sayid spend some quality time driving around together (in a van that had an anagram of "Reincarnation" on its side...), Jack goes to ensure that Kate is safe. He ends up tailing the lawyer with her and they are both stunned to find that Claire's mom is the one he's visiting. Too bad that I wasn't stunned; the "Previously on Lost" clips always ruin those types of surprises. As soon as they aired the scene where Ms. Littleton visited Jack at his dad's funeral, I knew she'd be in the episode. Grrr.

Anyway, I can't decide if her inclusion in "The Little Prince" was simply to fill time and save the big reveal of The Mystery Client until the end of the episode, or if there's really more to her L.A. visit than attempting to get settlement money from Oceanic (which does seem strange since it's three years after the crash).

Regardless, Jack and Kate are convinced that they no longer need to worry about her, and they head out to meet Sun and Aaron at the marina. At the same time, Sayid and Ben were chatting with Ben's lawyer to get the details about springing Hurley from the slammer. The lawyer is of course the same one working for Claire's mom (that seems like a BIG stretch... of all the lawyers in the world she hires the guy Ben has on his payroll?) and the same one that's been harassing Kate (not to mention the heroic chemical plant manager on last week's 24, the dad from My So-Called Life (Jordan Catalano 4EVA), and one of the founders of the Steppenwolf theater here in my hometown -- Chicago represent!).

I can't say I was too surprised by this reveal; it seemed pretty likely that Ben was going to exploit each of the O6 in whatever way he could in order to convince them of the need to return to the Island. So far he's played on Jack's guilt and savior complexes as well as his need to "fix" things, Hurley's reluctance to continue lying, and Kate's fear of someone taking Aaron away. Sayid's already lost everything he cares about in the world, so if the others go, he shouldn't be too hard to convince. Which of course leaves Sun and Her Gun. I can only assume we'll see how Ben intends to manipulate her next week -- unless she shoots him first.

While the episode ends before Sun gets out of her car, we are treated to Kate's reaction when she sees both Sayid and Ben. It was something like, "WTF!??! OMG?!?!! Are you kidding me?!?! Seriously?!?! WTF!!?!?!!" -- and not in a good way.

And now, let's hop over to the Island.

BABY, BABY, BABY,
LIGHT MY WAY

Locke convinces Sawyer of the need to return to the Orchid Station so that he can attempt to leave the Island and bring back those who left. The rest of the group sets off with them, and on the way they see the infamous hatch light shoot up to the heavens. The first thing that went through my mind was, "HolycrapholycrapholycrapholyCRAP -- we might get another glimpse of the Amputron 2000!!!" I was so looking forward to watching Jack almost hack off Boone's leg with the plane's cargo hold door once again. Alas, it was not meant to be.

But I still absolutely loved revisiting that fateful night on the Island, because the scene at the end of "Deus Ex Machina" where Locke was crying and banging on the hatch is one of my all-time favorite memories of watching the show. I had a group of people over for that episode and everyone totally flipped out and got chills when that freakin' light came on. My heart broke a million times over for Locke when he was all, "WHYYYY did you do this to me?!?! Whhyyyy!!!!!???", and so I was thankful that we got to hear how he's put that experience in perspective: "I needed that pain to get to where I am now."

Next, Sawyer stumbles upon Kate helping Claire give birth to Aaron in the jungle. I gotta tell ya, I definitely choked up watching him stand there, transfixed. I thought I would hate it if the characters ever came across each other or saw situations from their own time on the Island, but I was really moved by both Locke and Sawyer's reactions.

IF YOU WANT BLOOD
YOU GOT IT

In a not so pleasant turn of events, both Miles and Juliet joined Charlotte's Bloody Nose Gang. I can no longer deny the "Miles is Pierre Chang's son" theory discussed at the beginning of my write-up for "Because You Left" -- I think it's pretty obvious from Daniel's "Are you sure?" comment that Miles has indeed been on the Island before. The interesting thing is that he doesn't seem aware of this fact (thereby squashing speculation that he was out to kill Ben to avenge his father's death in the Purge). And apparently Juliet is affected because she'd been on the Island so much longer than the others. On that note, I should probably address a question I've gotten a few times: If Juliet is an Other, why isn't she staying put in time with Richard and the rest of her people... and why would she get a nosebleed? My guess is that when she received that weird branding mark after her trial for killing a member of her own group (in order to help Kate and Sawyer escape Alcatraz Island), that exempted her from the benefits of being an Other. She avoided the Others' usual "eye for an eye" death sentence, but lost immunity from potentially fatal bouts of time travel.

I'm pretty sure that Sawyer, Rose and Bernard (if we ever see them again) will also start experiencing this side effect before too long -- I mean, we've heard more than a few times that "everyone's going to die" if the Oceanic Six don't return...

A SHOT IN THE DARK
NOT A THING THAT YOU CAN DO
A SHOT IN THE DARK
ALWAYS CREEPING UP ON YOU

Did we perhaps see evidence of that return already? After the next flash, the group finds their old camp -- minus the Zodiac and plus two outriggers which contained evidence that their prior occupants had been on Ajira Airlines. We've seen the Ajira logo before -- hidden in promos for Season Five -- and most people assumed that it would be the airline that brought the O6 back.

That's the way I'm leaning, too... although it's of course also possible that Ajira carried an enemy group to the Island and the O6 return by other means, especially considering the fact that Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Charlotte and Daniel became the target of gunfire as they paddled around the Island. I find it hard to believe that any of the O6 would randomly start shooting from afar at a canoe full of what could be their friends. And I of course hope it's not the O6 in the other boat, because one of them might have been hit by Juliet before the next flash swept the time travelers to (relative) safety...

HEY, I...
OH, I'M STILL ALIVE

The final scene of the episode delivered the big shocker of the night. Not so much because Jin was found alive (I'm totally spoiler-free and knew he'd be back - come on, it's Jin, people!), but rather because of who found him. The year is 1988 and Danielle Rousseau and her science team have just crashed on the Island -- we even finally got a glimpse of Montand (with both arms).

Now of course the question becomes, will Jin stay with them long enough so that we get an understanding of what actually happened to the entire crew and how Danielle went from a sweet-faced, gentle young woman to a hardened Crazy French Chick? And will Jin find a way to reunite with his fellow Lostaways left on the Island? And does anyone remember a time when Danielle and Jin directly interact in "the future" after the 815 crash? Off the top of my head, I can't... but Jin obviously recognizes Danielle's name and/or face when he awakens on the beach. He was like, "Oh #$(* -- don't shoot me, freak!"

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

KATE (to Aaron): Aaron, honey, mommy's gonna run out and do an errand. I'll be right back. OK? And then we can go home.
SUN: Don't worry about us, Kate. There's candy in the minibar and a hundred channels on TV. We're going to be just fine here.

(e thinks: Worst. Babysitter. Ever.)

JACK: Hurley, where are you?
HURLEY: Dude, I'm totally cool. I'm in L.A. County lockup.

KATE (to Jack): You shaved your beard.

JULIET: The camp's back.
SAWYER: Finally. Anybody for a DHARMA beer?

JULIET: Ajira. It's an airline. It's based out of India, but they fly everywhere.
SAWYER: Great. Maybe they got a flight out of here to Vegas tonight.

SAWYER: I saw Kate.
JULIET: What?
SAWYER: Last night, in the jungle. Before the last flash. She was delivering Claire's baby.
JULIET: But that was two months ago.
SAWYER: Time travel's a bitch.

SAYID: Who was that?
BEN: That's my lawyer.

KATE: It's him.
JACK: What?
KATE: It's him. He's the one who's trying to take Aaron.
JACK: No. No. You--you don't understand.
BEN: No, Jack. She's right. It was me. Sorry.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

Thanks to everyone on Facebook who sent along their well wishes for my dog. He was very ill last week but is doing better now, as you can see below. He was actually quite annoyed that I disturbed his Lost-watching experience to take this picture.



As always, thanks for reading -- Ben has less than a day to get the 06 and Dead Locke back to the Island, and so I can only imagine that the next episode is going to be a wild one...

- e