Wednesday, March 03, 2010

S6Ep6 - Sundown

Hello my dear friends -

No time for small talk! Let's get right to it... flashes first.

DON'T YOU TELL ME TO DENY IT
I'VE DONE WRONG
AND I WANNA SUFFER
FOR MY SINS

Remember last week when I mentioned that most of the 815ers' lives seemed better in the sideways timeline? Uh, scratch that for Sayid. We'd assumed he was gazing upon a picture of his wife Nadia on the rebooted flight... but it turns out that she married and has two children with Sayid's brother, Omer. D'oh! It sucks because otherwise I was really digging the kids calling him "Uncle Sayid."

Yet just because she married his bro doesn't mean Nadia's over her feelings for He of the Black Tank Top ... and vice versa. In fact, the flashes were quickly devolving into some sort of stolen glance and angst-filled rival to the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle when Omer finally visited Sayid in the dead of the night and informed him that he was in the kind of trouble that heaps of cash can't remedy. Seems he'd taken a loan from some Bad Dudes. Cue the wheels to start spinning in all of our heads... surely it was going to be someone we knew, right? Omer says matter-of-factly, "Can you just kill these guys for me, 'cause, like, that's what you do?" and Sayid was all, "NO! Stop reducing me to nothing but a cold-blooded murderer! I have changed!!!" M'kay...

Next thing we know, Omer's in the hospital (Hi, Jack!) and Sayid's about to throw the beat-down on someone, but Nadia pleads with him to just go back and take care of the kids. When we later saw him fixing the vase -- even after he explained that its destruction was caused by a "boomerang incident" -- I was still confident that he'd already taken care of business and hoofed it back before school was out. But I was wrong. He didn't make the pain rain down on anyone just yet, and was finally able to explain to Nadia why he couldn't be with her. It's because he doesn't feel he deserves her -- he just can't get over all of that torturing in his past. The torturer is now the tortured. And... scene.


HE HAD A NASTY REPUTATION
AS A CRUEL DUDE
THEY SAID HE WAS RUTHLESS
SAID HE WAS CRUDE

I was forewarned there was going to be a surprise guest star in this episode, so I watched the first ten minutes or so with a magazine held up to block the bottom of the screen until my husband told me the credits were over. There must be too much other Lost info in my brain, because I failed to recognize Omar the thug from the freighter team when he rolled up to take Sayid on a ride to meet the Head Bad Dude, and therefore still had no idea who the Head Bad Dude might turn out to be. My best guess was Widmore.

So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the meathead we all love to hate, Martin Keamy. Unable to hide his buffness, even when frying up eggs. Sayid could stand about two minutes of his cockiness before springing into Badass Mode, disarming the nearby goons and then pointing the gun at Keamy. And then pulling the trigger. At least Sayid got to be the one to kill Keamy in this timeline, huh?

Oh, but the surprises weren't over. There was some commotion in the freezer, and then all of us immediately starting ticking through the various characters we suspected might be in there. I was still thinking Widmore, but had Mr. Paik (Sun's dad) and Ben on my list, too -- figuring that maybe Ben was a European History teacher by day and still mixed up in sketchy stuff at night. In no way did I expect it to be Jin, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because with all that cash in his bag at the airport, it was pretty clear that he wasn't just planning a quick Vegas retreat.

So the flashes ended by confirming that 1) things are not coming up all puppy dogs and roses for Sayid and Jin in the No Crash timeline, and 2) that any way you slice it, Sayid's gonna kill some mo-fo's dead. I still love him, though.

There's much more to discuss in the on-Island events, so here we go...


BETTER OFF DEAD
YEAH, BETTER OFF DEAD
WHY DON'T YOU TRY
PUSHING DAISIES INSTEAD?

Sayid, no longer able to deal with all of the Others continuing to give him the stink-eye, busts into Dogen's lair and demands to know what's going on. Dogen explains that Sayid's inner pendulum has swung to the "Beyond Bad" side and that it would be best if he ceased to exist. Now, remember that when Sayid thought he was a goner back at the Swan site, he basically told Hurley that there was nothing that could save him because of all the horrible things he'd done in his life. Yet once he took a dip in the Temple's spring, died and came back to life, all of a sudden he's claiming to be a good person. Methinks he doth protest too much, and that, sadly enough, the darkness was in fact already winning out within Sayid at that point.

Dogen knew this, and so it was a total Battle Royale in that little chamber with random pots flying and shelving units crashing and broomsticks being used as defense weapons and all sorts of ninja moves. I LOVED IT. Sayid had finally met his match, and Dogen could've ended it all once he had Sayid pinned, but then that damned baseball dropped onto the floor and snapped Dogen out of his rage. At this point I must admit that I was just proud of myself for noticing how weird it was that we saw Dogen twirling that same ball a few episodes back. And then I immediately became obsessed with understanding the meaning behind it.
I started thinking it was some sort of Magic Eight Ball and when it rolled a certain way that meant something to Dogen. As we found out later, I was wrong yet again.

But before we learned the history of the baseball, Dogen and Sayid had unfinished business. Dogen was like, "I totally pwned you, but I'm letting you go so get out of here before I change my mind." Humiliated, Sayid does just that, but first he stops to tell Miles of his plans. Miles sets him straight on the fact that he was in fact dead for a full two hours, and that whatever brought him back to life was NOT the Others' magic water.


YOU KNOW, SHE'S A LITTLE BIT DANGEROUS

Around the same time, Fake Locke and Claire have left Jin back at Claire's makeshift abode (I assume) and are now standing on the ash perimeter outside the Temple. Claire's whining about not wanting to go inside and Fake Locke's like, "For the last freakin' time, do you want your kid back or not?" He reminds her that he always does what he says and notes that he's only going to hurt "the ones who don't listen." That was apparently a good enough answer for her and so she sullenly trots off.

The Others are all, "Aww, crap, HER again???" when Claire stomps onto the grounds and starts talking smack to Dogen about his penchant for speaking Japanese. She tells Dogen that "you know who" wants to see him out back, and Dogen replies, "Do you seriously think I would fall for that?" He orders Claire to be thrown in a holding pit and then taps an about-to-leave Sayid on the shoulder and says, "Remember that little brawl we had earlier today? Are you man enough to put that behind you and place yourself in harm's way to prove how 'good' you are? Yes? Excellent! Follow me."

They go back into the lair, where Dogen proceeds to pull out some sort of box that got me ALL excited because I thought it was the same weird case that Ben took out of the ventilation system last season in "The Lie." Remember that? What in the hell was in that thing?


That's definitely an answer I'm expecting to get because it was too random to have in that episode otherwise.

But anyway, Dogen's box contained some sort of magical knife and was too ornate and long to be the same thing Ben had been toting around off-Island. He tells Sayid that if he really wants to prove he's a hero, he's got to stab the guy who's "evil incarnate" through the heart before he says anything, and that this baddie is most likely going to appear to him as someone he knows who has died. Finally, Dogen made like Padma on Top Chef and ordered Sayid to "pack his knife and go."


DON'T SPEAK

At this point I was beside myself with fear that either Sayid or Fake Locke was going to kick the bucket. Yes, I of course prefer Real Locke to Fake Locke, but we all know that Fake Locke is still an absolute trip to watch. Then I was scared that Sayid was going to forget that Kate wasn't dead and stab her when she appeared out of nowhere in the jungle. But he didn't, phew. She continued on to finally be reunited with Claire, he paused for a drink of water, and then the wind kicked up and the ticker sound started and...

... out came Fake Locke. In that split-second my true loyalty was revealed, because I screamed at the TV, "STAB HIM YOU FOOL BOOB, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?!" Alas, Fake Locke got out two words before Sayid was able to act. I had interpreted Dogen's instructions literally -- meaning that if Fake Locke said anything whatsoever, then the whole plan was foiled. So that's why Sayid's stabbing attempt didn't work. I've talked to a few people who don't share that opinion -- they think maybe Sayid didn't actually hit Fake Locke's heart (we know he's had issues with his aim in the past from his assassination attempt on Little Ben), or that Dogen was just setting Sayid up, or that it was a last-ditch effort that Dogen wasn't really sure would work at all (did you notice Fake Locke didn't even bleed?). Either way, Fake Locke pulled out the knife and was like, "Really, Sayid?"

You can bet that at this point I feared the worst for Mr. Jarrah. Because here's the thing, the ABC Promo Monkeys had promised us that this episode was going to be SO CRAZY that they couldn't even show us more than three seconds of it in the previews before it aired. Therefore, I had really worked myself up into a lather and was confident that one of the main characters was going to be killed off. Since Fake Locke survived, I figured the goner had to be Sayid. Yet I was wrong AGAIN (I actually like being wrong when it comes to this show, so it's all good) and Fake Locke did nothing more than lambaste Sayid for being so gullible. "So you believed that random samurai you've known for like, what, a few days? The same guy who already tried to kill you twice? Reeeaaaal smart, Sayid, way to go. I, on the other hand, can offer you anything you want -- anything. No really, ANYTHING. Yep, even that."


TAKE MY ADVICE
AND LISTEN UP


Sayid strolls back to the Others' territory and shouts, "Hear ye, hear ye! Your man Jacob is dead, and Smokey will be coming to kill you all at sundown unless you agree to leave the Island with the man who looks and sounds like but is not John Locke. Best of luck, suckas!"

Miles try to ask Sayid what they should do next, but Sayid's on a mission and heads into the Temple. Meanwhile, Kate had found Claire and did not get quite the reaction she was expecting when she was finally able to share the good news that Aaron was safe back in the real world. Claire was all, "Hey sister, I've got bigger problems -- like this natty weave!!! And you're about to have a big problem too, in that Smokey is going to barrel through here at any moment and leave you dangling on the rope ladder, fearing for your life. Think about THAT."


AND YOU REALLY DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN
BUT IT REALLY IS THE END OF THE LINE


While Kate's getting the sinking feeling that something's not quite right about Claire, Sayid has gone to "return Dogen's knife" (that's the new code phrase for "kill people"). But first, the Lost gods put me out of my misery and revealed the meaning behind the baseball. Turns out that back in the real world, Dogen had too much to drink before picking up his son after baseball practice, crashed his car, and his son died. When Dogen said that a man showed up at the hospital and promised that he'd save his son in return for Dogen coming to the Island and never seeing the boy again, I was SURE the man was Ben, since that's pretty much exactly the same story Ben gave to Juliet to get her to come work for him on the Island (substitute "son" for "sister"). But it turns out that it was Jacob himself who drove the hard bargain with Dogen. Sayid's like, "That sucks. Now I must drown you."

I SO did not see that whole scene coming, either. Did I not just admit in the last post that Dogen was growing on me? Damn. I'll console myself with the thought that he appears to be sober and with a very much alive son in the alternate timeline. Next to be shown no mercy was Lennon, who had never really connected with me, but who I did have a moment of true sadness for after he starting crying, "What have you done!?!? Do you know what you've done!?!?!" once he found Dead Dogen in the spring.

It turns out that the ash alone wasn't enough to stop Smokey. It was Ash + Alive Dogen that was necessary to keep the Man in Black at bay (I'm not even questioning that at this point -- no energy). And the second Dogen's ticker stopped ticking, Smokey began wreaking all sorts of vengeance on the Others.


BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS
ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?

Just in time for the Spectacular Smoketacular, Ilana, Lapidus, Sun and Ben arrive at the Temple. Sun gives us her requisite "Where is Jin?!!?" plea and Lapidus gives us another few snarky one-liners and then Ilana hauls everyone (plus Miles) into a secret room to wait out the mayhem. Ben tried to get Sayid to come along, and let me just tell you that I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that Sayid was going to kill Ben right then and there. Remember, I was still under the impression that something SO CRAZY was going to go down in this episode because of that freakin' non-preview. Instead, Ben told Sayid that there was still time to escape, which led to the #1 Freakiest Moment of the Night: Sayid's haunting "Not for me." I can barely even stand to look at this screencap, his face is just so creepy. Aaaahhhhh!!!!


So the splinter group of good guys is in the depths of the Temple, Jin's presumably still in the jungle with a gaping ankle wound, Jack and Hurley are probably on their way back from the lighthouse, Richard is MIA, Sawyer is MIA (remember, last we saw of him he'd agreed to "get the hell of this rock" with Fake Locke), and Kate... oops. See what happens when you change up your routine and DON'T tag along with Jack, girl? You get thrown in with a bunch of undead freaks, fraidy-cat Others and Evil Incarnate himself, aka Fake Locke. I have to say that Kate's face when she realized what she'd gotten herself into was one of the only light points in an otherwise extremely tense hour.


What was just as interesting was Fake Locke's reaction to seeing her among his troops. Here are the progressions of his face: 1) What tha? 2) Oh, this is precious. 3) Hmm, could she be trouble? 4) Nah, she's just a girl. Maybe I could even use her as Jack or Sawyer Bait if need be. That seemed to work for my friends the Others back on the Hydra, I do believe.

They all marched off of the grounds in slo-mo, set to a way-too-unnerving version of Claire's "Catch a Falling Star." When I realized exactly what it was I was hearing, I got chills.


YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME
YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME

So before I wrap things up, let's talk about who's good, who's bad, and who's something that we can't quite put our finger on yet. Here's where I stand: I think the Man in Black/Fake Locke is bad. I think Dogen calling him "evil incarnate" is the closest this show is ever going to come to hinting that he is actually Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, or whatever you want to call him. In no way do I believe that we'll ever actually learn his "name." We don't really need to. We just need to make up our minds whether or not we think he's the bad guy, and I've made up my mind.

Here's exactly why I think the Man in Black is "bad": 1) He's Smokey. Smokey's killed a lot of people just for the hell of it at this point. 2) He offered Sayid "anything he wanted," but in exchange for an evil act. 3) He's a very slick talker -- claiming to always "do what he says" and all that. I'm not the most religious person in the world, but I'm pretty sure that those are some of the devil's traits as well... spinning lies that sound like the truth. 4) He's saying he wants to "go home" and leave the Island, but since we know he's extremely old, there's no way he has any sort of off-Island life to return to. I think the only way he can break free of whatever took him out of his original form is to destroy the Island. He probably just wants to die at this point. 5) He is clearly trying to pick off Jacob's Chosen Ones. 6) This face:


7) And this face:


As for Jacob, well, I'm not so sure. I don't think he's supposed to be God or anything like that, nor do I believe that he's supposed to represent 100% Goodness, Not from Concentrate. For those who draw parallels between the deal Fake Locke made Sayid and the deal Jacob made Dogen, I say: Fake Locke required an act of evil (killing Dogen) in return for Sayid to get something that HE wanted -- something selfish. Jacob required Dogen to perform a selfless act (coming to the Island) in order to save someone else. Yes, it still put Dogen in an awful situation, but once again, to draw parallels to the Bible, there were a whole lot of sacrifices that had to be made by those who were following someone who they weren't even really sure existed. That's basically the definition of "faith." Plus, to be totally practical, I just can't fathom that the writers would have this evil awful guy be the one to bring our Losties to the Island. I have to believe that Jacob knew they were special and that whatever they did on the Island would have the most positive impact on the world at large, versus if they never crashed there at all.


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

MILES: You know the blonde? One that had the baby?

KATE: Claire?

MILES: Right. Claire. She just strolled in here a couple hours ago, acting all weird. Still hot though.



KEAMY: I make good eggs!


I really, really enjoyed this episode. Here's hoping for more of the same next week!

Until then,
- e

56 comments:

Erika (aka "e") said...

The songs this time around were:

Criminal - Fiona Apple
Life in the Fast Lane - The Eagles
Better Off Dead - Bad Religion
Dangerous - Roxette
Don't Speak - No Doubt
Listen Up - The Gossip
Driftwood- Travis
Are You Gonna Go My Way? - Lenny Kravitz
Irreplaceable - Beyonce

Thanks for reading!
- e

Countitandthefoul said...

First??

Countitandthefoul said...

First? Always enjoy your recaps, thanks!

doug... said...

Thanks for taking the time. Very good episode and always appreciate your insight.
Take care, Erika.

Argentina (L) Lost said...

Loved the episode and loved your recap as always, E! Here's my two cents, another reason why MIB/Fake Locke is evil in my book:

8) Fake Locke's conversation with Sayid is reminiscent of Jesus' temptation in the desert, where the devil offered him all the kingdoms in the world, if Jesus would just worship him.

whimsymoon said...

I totally agree with you on FakeLocke being the bad guy. Since Sayid was dead for a few hours (thanks Miles!), does this mean that Claire was actually dead for a while? So much for "no zombies!"
Thanks for the great recap....as always.

Kia said...

I agree with Argentina.

This recap was REALLY funny by the way! "Claire was all, 'Hey sister, I've got bigger problems -- like this natty weave!!!'" -that had me laughing and coughing at the same time (I'm sick) LOL!

I agree that Flocke is evil, and I would like to add that Dogan was responsible for the death of his son..... so Jacob offered him a chance to save his son and redeem himself. This is completely different from MIB's promises in my opinion.

This episode made me sad. Poor, seemingly doomed Sayid!!!

Mair said...

::APPLAUSE:: for this episode (which I labeled as simply "WOW" on facebook) and for YOU, erika! You are so awesome!

There are definitely Bible parallels here....it took me a few seasons to be convinced of it, but I am totally on board with that now.

Julian said...

Disturbed my sleep to see Sayid go evil.

Anna said...

E! you are a genius!!
are you a Twilight Zone fan?
there is an episode, THE HOWLING MAN that is very, very much like the link to the devil that you've described! I have goosebumps right now, because I have a feeling you nailed it. . .

Tim said...

Great recap as always. It was sad to see sayid go totally to the dark side, but it makes sense with the themes of the show. The whole free will versus determinism idea is prevalent, and i think this whole episode was ultimately about the Losties not really being able to change their fate (or at least certain ones).

Re: the Biblical themes, i def think that Jacob has a "trump card" up his sleeve and allowed himself to be killed so that he could ultimately defeat his nemesis. This echoes the story of Jesus allowing himself to be crucified and die - allowing his enemy to think he had won - and then pulling a trump card and coming back to life.

But another interesting thought is that "Jacob" means deceiver in the Bible. I wonder if that will come into significance in some way. I do think that it's pretty established that Flocke/Smokey is the big bad in the show, but maybe Jacob is just a lesser bad guy. Or maybe it means he's disguising just how much of a "good" guy he really is. I can't think they picked that name for no reason, just like i can't think that Jack Shepherd is a random name and that his # is 23 (like the 23rd Psalm).

MamaJolley said...

Good catch, Tim! Jack Shepherd - #23 - 23rd Psalm - The Lord is my Shepherd...
Good one!!!

Anonymous said...

Your insight that MIB is so old that he has no place to go home to is true on any other show but "Lost." Maybe he wants to go back in time, or even change history, just like Jack. If the 815'ers can do it, MIB should be able to figure it out... which come to think of it, could be how Adam and Eve show up!

Kelly, UK said...

An awesome episode. Like the others here I feel sad that Sayid has gone to the dark side, and shocked at his murderous actions. But relieved he is still alive.

I liked the Biblical parallels. Very interesting. This season is so different from the ones that have gone before. When we first heard that a war was coming, I had no idea it would play out like this. It's better than I imagined!

I wonder who will eventually take over from Jacob? I think Hurley is the strongest 'contender'. He seems to have the purest heart.

Sherlock938 said...

Incredibly funny and inspiring recap. Thank you, -e.
The MiB maybe evil incarnate, though as "carne" means flesh, this is the wrong metaphor. Knives can't hurt him. But Jacob is operating like the Mafia. Making offers you can't refuse. I would avoid doing business with both of them.
Great episode, not much answers or mythology, but extremely entertaining.
Marcus

Sherylm said...

Great write-up, e, and it did calm me down a bit...I started to smile with the Twilight reference (which is what comes after Sundown by the way ;-) but I really started to laugh out-loud with the dwarves and the mines of Moria photo caption!

As soon as Locke appeared in the jungle and said "Hi there, Sayid", I told my husband and son that it was too late for Sayid. After all, Dogan didn't say: 'Don't have long and intimate conversation with this undead old friend or your soul will be lost'. He said: 'If he speaks, it's already too late.'

So, our Losties are being divided into two camps - those who are members of Unlocke's zombie army and those who are joining up under the banner of the late Jacob. Yet, on each side there are misfits: Sawyer, Jin and most particularly Kate on the dark side (I think Locke's dismissal of her as a threat will prove to be his undoing) and, in the other group , Ben, who I wish would end up doing something to redeem himself or at least figure out that all the evil stuff he did in the name of Jacob was, unbeknownst to him, the work of Unlocke who had been controlling him since his "cure" at the Temple.

I didn't recognize the bad henchman either so I was really surprised when Keamy spoke. So, he was the associate Jin was supposed to give the watch to? And did Mr. Paik hope that Keamy would get rid of his unwanted son-in-law?

All in all, a lot to think about but I'll have to wait a couple of days to get my courage up to watch the episode again.

Eloise said...

Excellent recap, and loved the photo captions!

This episode made me sad, also. Plotwise, it moved along, but the character side was a downer. With half the cast MIA and the rest dark or weird (Kate?), Miles was all I had to believe in or hold on to.

Thanks Erika!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the recap, E! Excellent as usual.
Just a quick observation: It seems that the show is going towards confirming what we saw on the LOST Last supper picture--regarding which side our beloved characters are on. The writers also said that those sides would be changing back and forth for some of them....food for thought
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bscreview.com/wp-content/gallery/lost-last-supper-3/lost-last-supper-poster-3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bscreview.com/2010/01/lost-last-supper-take-3/&h=450&w=800&sz=140&tbnid=8f4iDA97Ikf_zM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLOST%2Blast%2Bsupper&usg=__oRgA-J-RvTWd7DoOpS40RIAbXwU=&ei=36-PS_mzDoGvtgery6yrCw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=8&ct=image&ved=0CBgQ9QEwBw

Jubie said...

This was a great recap, andI especially loved some of the tags on the screencaps. Had me laughing out loud at work.

Way to go :)

Dish said...

Great write up as always... but one nit to pick. Dogen never said Sayid was "evil." He said his scales tipped the wrong way. It's not like Jacob is some goodie goodie either.

JOE BONES said...

you said everything is looking better for the 815ers in the alt time line, except for sayid.... i was disagree. things arent great for any of them, but many of their MAIN CONFLICTS, the things they could never leave behind once they got to the island, the things that tortured them the most.... well, in the alt time line those things are resolved mostly.

jack's dad issues are resolved through jack being able to try to be a better dad than christian.

locke still cant walk, but he at least accepts that he is crippled and shouldnt go on walkabouts because it will only make him feel bad.

sayid, in the alt time line, can at lease acknowledge that him and nadia never should have been together.

things still suck for them, but they have been given the opportunity to lay behind their core conflicts.

joe boes said...

ALSO..... i was totally confused about what was in ben's bag in THE LIE also.... but when i rewatched the season, it became clear all that was in the bag was A GUN he was hiding from jack

joe bones said...

also, also

the "good guys" (ilana, miles, sun, lapidus) are not in the temple. they used the secret exit that jacob showed hurley. the secret door they took was the way out of the temple.

the only person left in the temple is ben.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't wait for your recap! Your insights and observations are the best! Just thinking....could the "sideways" be life after deals made on the island? Sayid sells his soul so he can hold Nadia again. The devil, Flocke, promises such and delivers in the "sideways" version-he can hold her and be near her, but she is his brother's wife! That sounds lke something the devil would do. Perhaps Jack doesn't sell his soul so he has a son and a chance to make amends with his son unlike his own father/son experience? Kate will get a chance to be proven innocent if she rejects Flocke on the island? Sawyer also rejects Flocke and gives up his conning games (warns Hurley that people could take advantage of him?) Hurley is a good soul and becomes the luckiest man in the world? I have never had a theory before and haven't worked it all out, but what do you think?

the lice in Claire's hair said...

Just to carry the Jacob good or evil question one really silly step further: the actor that plays Jacob also plays the devil on Supernatural. Just saying.

Seriously though, I was also wondering about that look from fake Locke regarding Kate. Can't quite get a read on that one!

lorivan11 said...

Was Miles even on the island before Claire disappeared? It seems to me that Claire was long gone before Miles appeared...but he can see dead people...

Daniel said...

Great recap! It was a fun read.
I have a couple questions for the masses.
1. I think someone else mentioned this, but is Claire "dead" or just "French-Lady-Crazy"?
2. Do we think that Sayid is really dead? And is their anyway of “saving them”?

Here is why I ask: We know that the MIB can take form of people who died on the island – supposedly he is currently stuck in Locke – so we assume that when we had seen Christian on the island that it was the MIB in disguise. But Christian did not die on the island and now with Sayid 2.0, and not knowing his "life-status", it makes for interesting potential ending for the show. I feel that show, some way, will come down to Jack (Jacobs replacement) vs. his Dad and MIB – and the “infected few”. But then the question gets raised, what form of Christian is he? That is why I asked about Sayid.

Lorraine Be said...

After Dogen said he had had too much to drink after work, I really wanted him to say he had ended up photocopying his bum (that's butt to you Americans).

hatch-man said...

Interesting episode, and great recap!

I was still under the influence of the stomach flu during the episode, so I really didn't get much until I watched the DVR later.

When first seeing the show, I was quite sure that Dogen, speaking of Fake Locke, said something like "he is Jacob's - - - " unintelligible. Anybody else get that? I couldn't find it on the recording.

I still don't buy the Good vs Evil thing. These groups seem to have different methods, but they are both controlling, conniving, not-too-forthcoming.

It is more sensible to me that we are seeing two separate god-like beings, not a fight between a monotheistic god and his/its nemesis. Remember, we were told that notJacob was "once a man."

And, where the heck is Richard? What is Walt's dog up to?

Anonymous said...

so dogen backwards is N E GOD

ANY GOD?

Wonder if he was a Pope or something that represented Jacob.

Also did you notice when smokey flew over Kate in that pit that there were people inside of smokey?

R.P. McMurphy said...

e, your analysis is always the best! Here's my first foray into related material and I'm sure it's a reach and completely off base! I noticed Dogen had a black glove on his left hand and it reminded me of the sci-fi novel The Left Hand of Darkness. A poem from that book sounds Lost related:

Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way...

Certainly has the light/dark imagery of Lost and life/death.

How's your book coming?

Ernie said...

Great recap, e, but I did not enjoy this episode as much as you did. It was a more of a middle of the road one for me.

amstabok said...

I swear that I never thought I'd be cheering for Ben, but when Sayid told him that he'd gone to the dark side, I shouted, "RUN, BEN!!! RRRUUUNNN!!!" Who knew after so many episodes of evil Ben, I'd be cheering for his safety?! By the way, what happened to him? He didn't make it back to Ilana, Frank and the other "Good Ones"... right??

SDS said...

I love how alike we think sometimes.

First - love your mixture of lyrics - Bad Religion to Travis to Beyonce?!

Second - I too thought the baseball landing had more significance, like it literally signalled that the smoke monster was there, in a crystal ball kinda way.

Third - I took Dogen literally and thought that, the second Locke spoke, he had protected his body. Like maybe when he is between Smokey/Locke he is vulnerable?

"I want to be a Jedi!" - best image tag ever!

I now feel a bit foolish using the "we hardly knew ye" line in my recap :(

Kate should have really mentioned Claire's mom if she wanted a better reaction.

Ironic that Keamy (the man whose heartbeat kept the freighter safe) would appear in the same episode Dogen dies (the man whose heartbeat was keeping the Temple safe) huh?

Agree 100% with creepy Sayid-face and also Ben was rather foolish in going to get Sayid - maybe he grew on him during their off-Island days, like a reverse stockholm syndrome?

I'm pretty much with you in that Smokey just wants to die at this point - if he takes the world with him, so what!

Here's to a good episode and a great recap! Cheers E.

- Chris
- superduperstream.blogspot.com
- lostquestions23@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

This is Sarah M. in MI - Crazy episode, but not what I thought either based on the hype!

Re: Alternate timeline being the reward for making a "deal with the devil" -- I would buy that, if it weren't for the fact they show John's alternate timeline. He's dead, how can he be making a deal???

So curious what "I Can't Believe It's Not Locke's" look at Kate means.
He looked sort of perplexed, and surprised, like he didn't know what to make of her. I haven't seen him look surprised before, even when Sayid stabbed him he seemed nonplussed.

And we were totally chanting "Imhotep...Imhotep..." as they all creepily followed him at the end. LOL

How are they going to wrap this up in the few episodes remaining?

Great write up as usual!

ldbenz said...

Long time fan of your posts - first time responder. Love your stuff.

I completely agree that we may never know the name of MIB but I can't stop something from gnawing at me.

If Lockes off-island death was listed in the obituaries as his name being Jeremy Bentham (and why was that?), then is it possible that MIB's name is Jeremy Bentham and what would THAT mean?

I'm just putting it out there and if it's been discussed and I've missed it, I think it could be something worth re-addressing (if not to just put my thoughts to rest).

TheInterviewPro said...

If smokey accounts for dead people appearances, then how do we interpret Christian helping Locke turn the wheel? Were the polar bear and horse appearances smokey? Darmah? to what end?

Keira said...

Two thing thoughts:
1- With all the ties to ancient mythology, could MIB be some sort of banished evil deity and Jacob was sent there to protect be his "jail guard" to be sure he stays there and does not escape and destroy the whole world? Remember that Mrs. Hawkings said something about the end of everything for "all of us". So Jacob is not God, per se but his role is to keep MIB there forever.

2- I'm sure you saw/read this but good theory on baseball stuff and Lost: A baseball (being showed and referred to quite a bit this season) is constructed the following way: A baseball has ONE seam made up of 108 DOUBLE stitches that create ONE loop that seems like TWO parallel loops. This loop makes TWO halves that fit together like yin and yang. The stitches holding it together. The first and last stitches of a baseball are HIDDEN. The seam is the timeline.

Also...the writers of LOST are huge Yankee fans:

ALL of the NUMBERS are retired Yankee player numbers : 4... Lou Gehrig 8...Yogi Berra 15...Thurman Munson 16...Whitey Ford 23...Don Mattingly 42...Mariano Rivera (Rivera's number is not retired for him -yet- but the number is retired by virtually every other team for Jackie Robinson. Nobody will ever wear that number as a Yankee again.)

Anonymous said...

When Sayid told Flocke that what he wanted most in this world died in his arms did you assume it was Nadia? Remember, Nadia didn't die in his arms, she was killed in a car accident, but Shannon did die in his arms. Wonder if he wanted Shannon back.

Also notice how the events in the island correspond with what happens in the LA life? A total mirror.

Spanio said...

Who ever said that FLocke's "home" is off-island? Sure, it COULD be a physical location somewhere in the world. But it could just as easily be a physical location ON the island.

That is... assuming "home" isn't something a little more figurative.

Jane said...

Hi e - great recap yet again. I think this was the best episode ever. Hope you're feeling better.

I think the Lostie that will take over for Jacob is Sawyer. We have seen the parallel world for everybody except Sawyer.

My thought, probably wrong.

Toon Dawg said...

Perhaps the Island is the original Garden of Eden, and Jacob & MiB were angels who were originally assigned to protect it. MiB turned against God (like Satan did) and is now trapped on the Island.

nancymkqueen said...

This was the darkest episode ever, but still necessary in the full story I'm sure. Great recap as always.
About why you can see Locke in the Flash Sideways is it's 2004. Perhaps he still died/killed himself in 2007?
I still think that these two timelines will come together and make sense. ( at least I hope)

Jim said...

Ok, this just came to me, so give me a moment. Lost overall theory: what if the flash sideways ends with each "candidate" having a kid and it is the kid's destiny to go to the island to be a potential candidate. On the island, all candidates fail/die, but their offspring/relatives in the flash sideways become the next candidates? It becomes a generational thing. Widmore was apparently related to the pirate ship. Could the other Losties have previous relatives that were on the island? It always ends the same, the candidates fail (crossed off names in the cave/lighthouse) and the next generation must try again. All seem to be moving forward and could/will have kids in the sideways, setting up the next in line. Just my wild, just woke up too early on a Saturday morning theory.....

Jim

Garry from UK said...

Sounds good Jim, however in the sideways timeline the Island is at the bottom of the sea?

How would the children of the non-losties go to there?

I reckon both timeline will merge eventually somehow but not sure how.

A massive incident like the one that split the timelines in the first place may have to happen.

Matt in Dallas said...

I am just convinced that the 'sideways' flashes are actually the end of the story/show. So what is happening on the island is still building to the end...and that 'end' will essentially wipe out everything about the island for everyone, and everyone will have lived their lives. So what we are seeing in the 'sideways' flashes is that end. It is not the bomb going off and causing a split timeline...it's something that hasn't happened yet.
So Jack has a kid and is fairly happy. Kate is a good person, wrongly accused, helps out Claire. Sayid is a pretty bad dude. John Locke is happy, getting married. All of them have some cosmic tie to what happened..and they have some senses of De Ja Vu, but it is essentially the end. It's just playing out their true destinies, whatever they may be.
Now the 'why' or 'who is Jacob' and 'who is Smokey/FakeLocke' stuff is not clear yet. They are playing games, toying with the worthiness of humanity. Eventually over these next 12 hours our Losties will prove their worth and save the world!!
Simple.

Bea said...

Thanks E for a great recap and your humour too.
As far as the bad/evil lottery is concerned, my thoughts are quite opposite.
Sayid if cheating Flocke, the clue being how he acted with Keamy in the parallel world: no mercy for those who do bad. But Flocke is neither bad nor good, he is just attempting to counterbalance all Jacob's actions and interferences with the human's world (kinda), for the sake of it (remember what he said about the white stone in the cave of numbers?).
Jack is the leader-to-be, no doubts. But, his mission to be different from his father is accomplished already, the rest counts much less, despite it might even be the end of the world...
But, most importantly, a connection between the two worlds will be established and each and all will have to decide where they belong to, including resurrected Locke (I am with you E, Locke will be back and on his feet).

Night!

Sherylm said...

I rewatched the episode last night with my daughter who hadn't seen it yet as she had been traveling and I noticed that Dogen never says his son died. What he says is (paraphrase): The crash was terrible. I survived but my son...leaving the sentence incomplete followed by a very pregnant pause. Then he continues: I met a man who said he could save my boy (you can't save a dead person), etc. etc. So Dogen's choice was clear: he could either let his son die from an accident that he himself caused or he could save his son and allow him to live out his life by moving away and never seeing him again. I don't think many parents would have any problem with such a choice.
My daughter also pointed out that Hurley, the only one of the main characters whose problems in the past were not the result of his own actions, can see real dead people but all the supposedly revived dead people are clustered around Smokey and Unlocke, casting doubt on their independent existence (since dead is dead). That made us wonder if the promise made to Sayid would turn out like that short story, "The Monkey's Paw" where your wishes are fulfilled but in some terrible unforeseen way.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for another great write-up e! Am I right in thinking that the restaurant where Keamy had Sayid and the man with Keamy were from when Sayid was held and tortured until he confessed to having tortured that man's wife?! And - the thing I can't stop thinking about is the look on Kate's face as Smokey flew over her in the temple. She seemed to be in awe and kind of creepily delighted. I got the same impression when she went with Locke. My thought was that we were seeing her scale start to tip. Like Sayid and Sawyer (and unlike Jack and Hurley), she's done her fair share of pretty bad stuff in the past...

Garry from UK said...

Hello - e, fantastic write up again as usual :-)

This might sound controversial but please bear with me and I will explain.

I did not like this episode!

And it certainly wasn't because it was rubbish. This episode is probably one of the best in the history of Lost.

However I did not like it because it made me feel sad, sad for Kate, sad for Sayid, sad for Claire, sad for the rest of the 'others', sad for Dogen and I was even feeling sad for Lennon.

Pretty much a big feeling of sadness. Only LOST can make me feel happy one week, confused the next week and then sad the week after.

There was just something about this episode that made me feel sad! Like Flocke/MiB was winning even though I don't know if he really is good or bad for sure.

Next weeks doesn't look too promising with one of my favourite characters Henry Gale(remember the good old days when Ben was called Henry?) might meet his maker.

Maybe the writers are making us feel sooo down in the dumps that when the finale arrives it will be a mega/amazing experience! That we will never forget.

Mac said...

"You know that roses and lilacs are funky too?
Let 'em go at it, let's see what they do
Ah - they're messing with the forces of good and evil
They turn 'em loose, they turn into people"

--David Byrne--


e. Every week gets better... along with your writeups. Thank you so much.

No one seemed to pickup on the "Catch a falling star" musical theme except to say it was spooky and set the tone for the strange sunset ending.

Maybe the falling star symbolizes the "exotic matter" encountered at Orchid (i.e., FDW), whose powers have never been explained. The strict definition of "exotic" is "from a foreign place" -- possibly in this case from a place that's very far away.

The Temple Others were chanting "Imhotep Imhotep" as fLocke led them in their sunset zombie-walk. Imhotep is well-documented as the architect of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. (Arch. Hist. 101)

This whole thing may be leading us toward some strange, unearthly encounter. And I don't mean the Second Coming of Perry Como!

--Mac Attack--

Anonymous said...

Damon Lindelof Producer/Co-creator a North Jersey native talks about his mixed feelings about the end of the series
The Record
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/87094332__Lost__producer_co-creator_talks_about_bringing_the_series_to_a_close.html

Jason Seville said...

In response to Tim (the eleventh poster on this stream) -- I'm not sure if you're looking at some resources that I'm not, but "Jacob" doesn't mean "deceiver" in the Bible. The Hebrew word for Jacob, ya'aqov, is a play on words with the word for "heel" ('aqev), since Jacob was born after his twin brother, Esau, and came out holding on to Esau's heel. (See Genesis 25:26)

Also, this name may be derived from a verb that means something along the lines of "may he protect," though I seriously doubt the writers have delved far enough into biblical Hebrew to have TOO deep of a meaning assigned to the name "Jacob."

hatch-man said...

aaagh!

only an hour to go, and I've got a stuck pixel on my TV!!!!

somebody quick, get me a sharpie.

Tim said...

In response to Jason - I know your right about the heel meaning but he does deceive his father into giving him the family blessing instead of his older brother Esau. In the story Esau says that because of the meaning of Jacob's name he would deceive his father and wrongfully take esau's place. I also think there is another reference somewhere in the bible that talks about Jacob's name but I'm forgetting where at the moment.

It all makes me wonder if Jacob and MIB's relationship is similar. Did Jacob trick MIB and trap him there? Are they brothers? Do they have the whopper of all daddy issues (especially since the show is so full of them)?

Anonymous said...

"Did anyone else think the last scene was a little anticlimactic? "We're not takin' the plane... we're takin' THE SUB." As if that was some huge twist or something? I was like, "Huh? Why is that how this episode ended?" But whatever. We'll see how well Sawyer's plan works. Won't he need to know the exact coordinates to follow in order to be able to break free from the Island's grip, though?"

Maybe wrongly, but, I immediately assumed that deciding to stay with Juliet was his 'purpose' and having lived on the island for 3 years in Dharmaville, he would have some knowledge of submarines/coordinates???


"AND since Widmore seems eager for Sawyer to bring the Man in Black to Hydra, it seems like he intends to fight, kill and/or capture him."

Did Widmore's smile not creep you out? It made me wonder whether Widmore's (main) motive is to get Smokey Locke to the Hydra island to fight/kill/capture him at all? Maybe he is doing a long con on Sawyer? THAT would be a twist and a half!?