"Follow the Leader" episode review

Okay, so "Follow the Leader" was a great episode, and it set the stage beautifully for the finale. Honestly, this episode felt so event-packed that they probably could have easily squeezed another entire episode out of it at the very least.

Unfortunately, looking back on it, I would have to disagree with Wikipedia's pre-episode preview, labeling "Follow the Leader" as a Richard-centric episode...

Anyway, in anticipation for the two-hour LOST finale, "The Incident" -- YES!!! -- let's consider the major death which is said to occur... My initial guess after having learned of this development several weeks ago? Juliet. No questions asked...but now, well, you'll just have to read my LOST Theory/Mythology section down below. :)

Welp, on to a brief episode synopsis.

• Let's start off with 1977, first with Sawyer and the gang who were making their way to the beaches. As we saw last week, Sawyer and Juliet were caught, while Miles and Hurley and Jin escaped. Miles, Hurley, and Jin make preparations to leave, packing some food, etc. Dr. Pierre Chang notices them leaving and, after asking Hurley a few questions, gets them to admit that they are, indeed, from the future. He ascertains that Miles is, in fact, his grown-up son. Miles takes this opportunity to warn Dr. Chang that he must send everyone off of the Island, just as Daniel had said.
  
• Meanwhile, Sawyer and Juliet are being held captive and interrogated by Horace Goodspeed, Stuart Radzinsky, and Phil. Radzinsky quickly takes control of the situation, going so far as to even vocalize his position of power, saying that Horace doesn't have the "stomach for what happens next." Man...I'm really starting to feel sorry for Horace; I feel like he may have been one of the true innocent victims of the Purge... Radzinsky repeatedly beats Sawyer, demanding answers, specifically where the Hostiles are. After Phil goes so far as to punch Juliet in the face, Sawyer eventually caves in and draws a map to where the Hostiles are in exchange for the promise of Juliet and he being given safe passage off of the Island with the rest of the fleeing Dharma folks aboard the sub.
• Out in the jungle, Kate and Jack debate the validity and plausibility of Daniel's theory when he suddenly gets shot. Jack and Kate begin to retreat but are captured by two Hostiles on horseback, one of which is middle-aged Widmore, and Jack totally gets the crap owned out of his face...ouch... Jack admits that he and Kate were with Daniel, and Jack and Kate are brought into Eloise's tent. Eloise comes in to ask them some questions and, after some explanation by Jack, believes in his story; she understands that she did, in fact, just shoot her son from the future and decides that it is important that they follow through with her late son's plan and detonate the hydrogen bomb.
• Richard leaves with Eloise and Jack and Kate; they make their way to a pond where there is a secret underwater passage which leads into "The Tunnels." Before heading in, Kate decides she can't go any further. Eloise insists that Kate cannot leave, having acquired knowledge of the Tunnels, etc., but Kate starts to walk off anyway. Right before she's about to get capped by some other Hostile with them, a shot rings out from the forest, shooting said Hostile. And who else was behind this little attack other than Sayid? Richard asks Eloise privately what they're doing seeing as one of their people was just killed. Meanwhile, the other group comprised of Jack, Kate, and Sayid is having a little discussion of their own. Sayid agrees to Jack's plan, whereas Kate still maintains her position and this time leaves for good, but not before making a point to compare Jack to Locke right in Jack's face. Ouch...
• Richard, Jack, Sayid, and Eloise make their way down through the pond and up into the Tunnels. After some walking they come to Jughead, the hydrogen bomb which the Hostiles buried in obedience to Daniel, who commanded them to do so back in 1954.
• Back at the Barracks area, Sawyer and Juliet board the Dharma sub to travel back to the mainland and presumably be done with the Island forever. Sawyer reconnects with Juliet but then, suddenly, major buzzkill: Kate drops on in. Wow...fail... Apparently the Dharma Initiative didn't want to have anything to do with this troublemaker either... Yikes...
• FINALLY, let's recall what went down in present time, 2008: Locke meets up again with his people, finally after all this time... Locke informs Richard that the reason he seems different is because now he has a purpose. Sun takes an opportunity to confront Richard, inquiring of him if he has ever seen those of her friends pictured in the Dharma Initiative new recruits photo from 1974. He responds yes, he has, and that he watched them all die. Yikes...
• Locke takes Richard and Ben on a little journey that very night so that Richard can come talk to time-jumping Locke and take the bullet out of his leg, as well as tell himself from the past (err, future...) that he's going to have to die. I love how Richard was like, "Well, I'm glad that didn't have to happen," and Locke's just like, "Well, actually, Richard it did," right as he looked at Ben, as if just to say, "Douche." Richard follows Locke's instructions and relays all the information to time-jumping Locke. Meanwhile, Ben asks Locke how he could have known that it was this night in particular that Richard came out of the jungle and talked to him. Locke responds that the Island told him, and continues to rub it in Ben's face.
• The three return to the camp, where Locke informs the entire camp that they'll be taking a group trip to see Jacob, this man who they've apparently been taking orders from for some time but have never meant. Locke reassures Sun that Jacob will know what to do for them to reunite with their friends. On the way to Jacob's cabin, however, with Richard leading the way, Locke reveals to Ben his true purpose for wanting to go to the cabin: "So I can kill him." LOST
  

Story/Narrative - I loved how the focus on this episode, as the title "Follow the Leader" would seem to suggest, is all about people following their respective leaders, even when they're completely unsure as to whether they know what the hell they're doing or not. Obviously the two main examples of this in this episode were Jack and Locke... And not to say that Locke has by any means completely switched from man of faith to man of science, but it's pretty interesting that while Jack has completely switched from man of science to man of faith as he begins to trust in the Island's will and in his own destiny, Locke has in a small way accepted a man of science sort of view in that he wants to see for himself this Jacob and validate his authority in his own mind. Interesting...

Some refuse to follow their leaders in this episode, however: Kate decides she can no longer follow Jack -- he's simply become too crazy for her to handle, and she's specifically frustrated by all the Locke she's beginning to see in him... I definitely feel like this conversation's not over, though, and I'd be willing to guess that we'll be seeing more of Jack and Kate in the finale. Will she trust him and support his decision in the end?? What do you think?

The real, underlying point of tension that's going on between Jack and Kate right now, though, is their differing viewpoints on Daniel's rationale that the future can and should, in fact, be changed. While Kate sees all the good in what's happened after the crash -- Rose's cancer being cured, Locke no longer being a paraplegic, Charlie overcoming his heroine addiction, *cough* her not having to go to jail *cough*, and finally, her and Jack meeting and their subsequent on-again-off-again relationship over the past few years -- Jack sees all the anguish that came as a result of it... And it's not just that Jack is remorseful in regards to their relationship, having been hurt time and time again by Kate. Jack is still a fix-things-up-right kind of guy -- that's simply his personality -- and if he has a chance to eliminate the hundreds of innocent deaths that came as a result of the crash and those deaths which followed it on the Island, he's gonna take it. This is where he and Kate do not see eye-to-eye.

Luckily for Jack, not everyone is against him, though. Yes, I'm referring to Sayid. I loved his logic: "Well, if this works, you might just save us all. And if it doesn't?...at least you'll put us out of our misery." haha Beautiful.

Moving on to the other spectrum of things on the Island in the present, 2008, let me start off by saying that I have no doubt that that screenshot of the ship in the bottle that Richard was constructing was important... However, rather than it simply being a reference to Richard being a direct descendant from the Black Rock (which I'm not opposed to at all...), I'm thinking it might be more of a symbolic image of Richard -- an idea which I read about somewhere -- but more on that later!...

Sticking with Richard, I thought it was pretty sweet how they connected that scene with him finding a confused, time-jumping Locke in the jungle to now. Finally that conversation makes sense!!
Locke: "How did you know there was a bullet in my leg, Richard?"
Richard: "Because you told me there was, John."
Locke: "No...no. No, I didn't."
Richard: "Well...you will."
Beautiful. :)

Ben's one line to Richard was particularly amazing, too. After Locke invites the entire group of Others to go with him to go see Jacob, Richard turns to Ben confidentially and says, "I'm starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble," to which Ben replies, "Why do you think I tried to kill him?" haha He sounded so ridiculously serious!! haha I loved it..

And now a few odds and ends narrative-wise (I know, I know.. But this episode was just packed with good stuff!): First, let's talk about Horace and Eloise's relationship. "[Widmore] and Eloise are...well, let's just say love can be complicated." Those were Richard's exact words to Jack/Kate. I definitely think now that Widmore was the father of Eloise's son Daniel and that she is pregnant with said child right now during the timeline we're watching in 1977. If you noticed, during their conversation which we could hear very little of, Widmore subtely places his hand on Eloise's stomach and seems to want her to stay and not go with Richard and the two time-traveling intruders to the Tunnels...but she does anyway.

Another little thing: I was surprised at Sawyer. He's been so self-sacrificial for a while now, notably since the Season 4 finale, but now he suddenly seems to have completely sold out his friends, Jack and Kate. I mean, he drew a map for Radzinsky that would lead him to the Hostiles to wage his war, no doubt, knowing full well that Jack and Kate were probably with them by that point... Wow...harsh... My guess is that Kate will realize this and do something to disrupt the submarine's trip back, probably pissing off Sawyer... Or maybe Sawyer has known in his mind all along what his plan is and he hasn't really intended to abandon all his friends as it would appear... We'll see, I suppose.. What do you think about this? 5

LOST Theory/Mythology - So, we did gain some incredibly small measure of insight as to Richard's role: He's a "sort of advisor," according to Ben, a job which he has had "for a very, very long time," also according to Ben... Here's what I'm thinking: Richard has been promised and is holding down the fort, protecting the Island, until the arrival of this one, special leader -- yep, you guessed it: Locke. The reason I think Richard is so uneasy about Locke's decision to go see Jacob, bringing along freaking everyone with him, is because it is such a groundbreaking action, and one which Richard clearly did not expect. I think he's willing to go along with it, though, because he's known that this leader, once he arrived, would be so unpredictable in nature and would make some definite changes, ones that since he made them would be right... I think Richard's still just blown away at this substantial and non-customary of an action on Locke's part, though... We'll see how his faith in Locke plays out in the finale.

And in regards to the ship in the bottle image, I think Richard's simply been given the role of waiting on the Island for this person to come along and has been doing so for a veeerry long time. So then, he, in a sense, is sort of the ship trapped in the bottle. His state of existence is seemingly impossible -- he doesn't age -- just as it would seem that there is no way that a model ship could sit inside of a bottle. Plus, he's confined to this small space, and it is out of his power to leave... I think Richard is weary of his role, of his position, and of his life.

Staying on the topic of Richard, he said that he "watched them all die," Jack, Kate, Hugo... Here's what I'm thinking, and this is my theory regarding the major death: I bet Jack will finally fulfill his destiny in accordance with the Island, and, as a variable, act out, dying himself as a sacrifice for the rest of those who would have died alongside him in the Incident had he simply sat back and watched things unfold. Yes, this would be huge. Yes, it would groundbreaking.
...But you have to admit, it would be so undeniably epic... I'm willing to predict this over Juliet's death in the finale; let's see if I'm right... But tell me: Which major character do you think will die?

Moving on, I think it's important to take note that there is an extensive network of underground tunnels throughout the Island, it would seem...no doubt constructed by its original inhabitants... And it's interesting that the bomb is currently being stored under the Dharma Initiative Barracks... Is that simply coincidence?

Beyond that, I'm sure we'll find out how the bomb was brought down into the Tunnels in the finale; I can safely say that I have no idea how it happened so I won't even try to speculate...

Oh, and finally, it was cool to see Dr. Pierre Chang launching into action and taking it upon himself to issue the departure of all the non-essential members of the Dharma Initiative off of the Island. I especially loved the shot of Charlotte and her mom getting into one of the vans...good closure there... 4

BAMF moments - Sayid FINALLY came back, thank goodness, and in typical Sayid bamf style! What a win. His hidden attack and subsequent appearance alone merits this section a 3. :P

Also, not that it's "bamf," per say, but HOLY COW. Radzinsky is a freaking spaz!! I've always felt that way but he completely lost it when he was interrogating Sawyer. Wow...

Oh, and in anticipation of the finale, you can be sure that Sawyer will be true to his word: He's totally gonna kill Phil...and you know it'll be bamf...so I suppose this is more of a bamf prehash/prediction. ;) haha 3

Overall Score - (5 + 4 + 3)/(3) = 4

"The Variable" episode review

Holy crap. Daniel died.
Sad face. :(

I couldn't believe that Daniel got killed off. I have to admit, the misdirection created through Ms. Hawking's line to Penny in the hospital totally had me going, thinking Desmond was going to be the minor-but-really-more-of-a-major-death cited by EW's Michael Ausiello: "Your husband has become a casualty in a conflict that's bigger than him, that's bigger than any of us."

As much as I love Daniel, if the LOST masterminds had killed off Desmond, I would have been even MORE pissed.

That being said, I was right in my predictions about this episode that we'd learn more about Daniel's apparent memory problems. Also, we did learn a bit more about the backstory of his seemingly journal-of-great-importance, as well as a little more concerning his history with Theresa. And it would seem that we even learned who his father is! (but more on that later...)

On a separate note, let me say that I have faithfully held myself back from looking up casting for the two-hour season finale in order to spare myself from ruining ANY surprises whatsoever (which, I'm sure there'll be numerous "Oh my gosh!!!" moments in said season finale, entitled "The Incident").

Oh, and btw, POSSIBLE WIKIPEDIA SPOILER REGARDING NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE...

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Next episode, the penultimate episode of Season 5 before the season finale, entitled "Follow the Leader," is probably not a reference to Ben subverting himself to Locke's judgment and leadership, as I previously surmised. According to Wikipedia, the episode will be centered on Richard Alpert!!!
Yes, I freaked out, too... I cannot WAIT to learn more about his backstory, something we dedicated LOST fans have speculated on and wondered about since way back in Season 3.

Anywho! On to a brief episode synopsis of "The Variable" and then to breaking down some specific episode points which struck me as especially interesting. :)
Read on.

• So let's first concentrate on chronologically breaking down Daniel's growth from child to the grown-up Faraday who we know and love(d): At a young age, Eloise Hawking, Daniel's mother, asks Daniel if he knows what his destiny is and when he responds no, tells him that it's his brilliant mind; she also tells him that it's her job to keep him on this path.
• Years later, Daniel becomes the youngest doctorate to ever graduate from Oxford University. His mother, Ms. Hawking, goes to see Daniel at his graduation, who is with his girlfriend Theresa Spencer, and gives him a blank journal as a gift. She also takes the opportunity to again remind Daniel of his gift. In addition, Daniel reveals in this conversation to his mother that he's been given a $1.5 million pound research grant from some random industrialist "Charles Widmore."
  
• Again, years later, after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, we get to see a continuation of the scene in which we saw Daniel crying as he watched the news broadcast depicting the discovered wreckage of the missing Oceanic 815 airliner. We find out that Daniel had not only done experiments on his girlfriend Theresa in his research, but also on himself, rendering him unable to remember anything over an extended period of time. This condition is considerably more fortunate in comparison to Theresa's, however, who we know to be stuck in a kind of lifeless, vegetative state. Daniel is visited by Charles Widmore, who tells him that the wreckage that's being played on the TV is fake, that it had been staged by him, and that the real plane had landed on the Island, a place Widmore invites Daniel to go to on his boat, the Kahana, where Widmore tells Daniel his ailment will be cured. Later, Daniel is again visited by his mother, Ms. Hawking, who tells him that he should take Widmore's offer and go to the Island, imploring him to consider all the work he could accomplish with a once-again sound mind. Sadly, Daniel agrees dutifully to his mother's desire for him.
• Now, jump to 2007 off the Island. Following the events of "Dead Is Dead," Desmond is rushed to the hospital after being shot by Benjamin Linus and somehow mustering the strength to beat the crap out of him before realizing the extent of his wound and succumbing to it. While waiting for an update on her husband's condition, Penny is visited by Eloise Hawking who apologizes to Penny for involving Desmond in everything that's happening around them. A very confused Penny is then allowed to go see Desmond who is recovering quite nicely. Desmond and Penny have a touching moment (which honestly felt just a little contrived, I have to say -- it didn't go over quite as smoothly as the highly emotional phone scene in "The Constant," I didn't think). Meanwhile, outside of the hospital, Charles Widmore speaks with Eloise Hawking, explaining why he cannot go in and see his daughter: "Unfortunately, Eloise, my relationship with Penelope is one of the things I had to sacrifice." Eloise retorts that he isn't the only person who's had to make sacrifices, as she begins to cite her sending her son back to the Island, knowing full well his fate. "He was my son, too, Eloise." *slap!*
  
• Finally, back to "present" Dharma time. Daniel Faraday has returned to the Island, having been doing research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, off-Island at the Dharma Initiative headquarters. He has apparently returned after learning that Jack and the rest of the Oceanic group came to be living with the Dharma Initiative in 1977 upon returning to the Island. After learning that Eloise Hawking had told Jack and the rest of the group that it was their "destiny" to do this, Daniel has Miles take him to the construction site of The Orchid station, where he goes to find Dr. Pierre Chang. Daniel warns Pierre Chang of a catastrophic event which will occur in six hours at The Swan station. Daniel explains that he knows these things because he is from the future. However, Dr. Chang does not believe Daniel's story, even after Daniel tells him that the grown-up Miles in front of him -- who refuses to affirm Daniel's allegations -- is his son from the future.
• Later on at the Barracks, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Hurley, and Miles come to the decision that they're going to flee the Dharma Initiative compound to make camp at their old beach. Daniel, Kate, and Jack, however, go to see the Hostiles because Daniel says it is imperative that he be brought to his mother because she's the only one who can get them back to where they need to be in time and space. Unfortunately, the three are confronted by Radzinsky while packing up and getting guns, and a gun fight breaks out. They are able to escape, however, sending Radzinsky to Head of Security LaFleur's house to inform him of the situation and see what the hell he's been up to. Unfortunately for Sawyer and Juliet, Radzinsky and his team discover Phil in the closet all tied up. Fortunately for Hurley and Miles, though, they were outside at the time of Radzinsky's arrival to Sawyer and Juliet's humble abode.
  
• Meanwhile, Daniel explains to Kate and Jack out in the jungle what he plans to do. Daniel intends to detonate the hydrogen bomb which he instructed the Hostiles to bury back in their 1954 time jump visit. He thinks that if he does this, he can destroy the energy residing under The Swan station, preventing it from ever being built, which, in turn, will prevent "The Incident" from ever happening in the first place, which, finally, will keep Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing on the Island.
• Kate expresses some measure of unsurity regarding Daniel's plan but there's no time to discuss the ramifications and plausibility of it as the three stumble upon the Hostiles' camp. Daniel strides into the camp with his gun drawn, commanding Richard to take him to see Eloise. Richard claims that Eloise is gone at the moment, and the two continue to argue, ending in Eloise shooting Daniel in the back as it seems he is about ready to shoot Richard. Daniel, very confused, begins to connect the pieces, realizing that Eloise always knew. Eloise, also confused, asks who Daniel is, to which he replies, "I...I'm your son." LOST
  

Story/Narrative - First of all, we are again confronted with this recurring theme in LOST of parent issues. Daniel has serious mommy issues. I felt hurt and deeply moved by the pain that Ms. Hawking had inflicted upon her son due to her ridiculous insensitivity when Daniel asked her, "Will...will it make you proud of me?" "Yes Daniel, it will." "Then I'll do it." Wow. What a blow to the heart. Holy crap...

On a separate note, I found it really interesting how as SOON as Sawyer ended a phrase directed to Kate with the term of endearment "Freckles," she immediately shot an icy look at Sawyer and relinquished to Daniel and the group the security code to unlock the sonic fence. Wow. Great acting and what an interesting development... Man, if Juliet does die in the finale as I am right now suspecting, I will feel terrible for her... It's like she'd seen this coming, Sawyer beginning to tap back into his past feelings for Kate, but knew that she could do nothing to stop it... How sad... :/

Moving on to something which I found to be a little odd, when Penny was told she could go in to see Desmond, she just happily left her son Charlie with the nurse. Okay...really?? There's no way that after everything that had happened that day, she would have just left her kid with some random nurse lady, especially in front of this creepy Eloise Hawking lady who she was approached by who she'd never met before in her life. I thought that was kind of lame, and I'm guessing all mothers would agree.

Finally, let's talk about Jack... Now, I've been holding throughout this season following Jack's return to the Island that he's not turned into some half-hearted wimp but that he's simply biding his time and waiting to see what the Island has for him to do, rather than freaking out and trying to take control of everything... But I can't shake the feeling that Jack launching into action regarding Daniel's plan isn't what he is, in fact, meant to do. I feel like he's jumping the gun and making an inaccurate assumption...but maybe I'm wrong... I dunno... What do you think about this?

Regarding Daniel's plan, after watching this episode, I found myself wanting more backstory regarding Daniel's change of heart. Now, I get Daniel changing his focus from always being on "the variables" rather than "the constant(s)," but what exactly happened to make him realize this and change his thinking? Was it the knowledge of Jack and the gang having returned to the Island into 1977 Dharma time?

Finally, as I've been saying throughout this entire season, we are finally getting to this pinnacle point where our Losties will actually come to a situation where they will test Daniel's past theory of "whatever happened, happened" and see if it really holds up. It's coming; I'm telling you... Look for it to specifically happen in the season finale, "The Incident." I'm guessing Jack will take up where Daniel left off, using his journal to try and see his dying mission through... We'll see how this works out... 4

LOST Theory/Mythology - So, we finally know once and for all that Widmore did, in fact, plant the fake plane wreckage in the Sunda Trench in the middle of the Indian Ocean, which is believable considering his seemingly huge amount of wealth and resources as an "industrialist" -- whatever that means... And how did he come to get all that money and be so rich?? I hope we find this out this season, just so I don't have to wait 7 months wondering why...

We also learned just exactly why Daniel's memory was so messed up: He had been conducting experiments on not only his girlfriend Theresa but also himself, and it would seem, comparitively, that she got the short end of the stick, to be honest...
Although, I'm still a bit hazy as to why Daniel was crying when he saw the fake plane wreckage being broadcasted on the news...did he start having memory problems after Oceanic Flight 815 disappeared, and is that why? But even if that's true, why would he have cried about the remains of a plane that had gone missing being found months later? That seemed odd to me... Do any of you have some insight into this? I would much appreciate it.

Moving on, though, I was interested by Eloise Hawking slapping Widmore when he responded to her, "He was my son, too, Eloise." I do believe that he was, in fact, married to her on the Island as a Hostile. I think she slapped him, though, because of his double-life off the Island with the family he had with an "outsider," one of the reasons which Ben cited in having Widmore banished from the Island forever. This family would have included Penny being born, but the question is inevitably brought up: Who is the mother? Being LOST, I'm sure it will end up being important... Either way, it's cool to think that Jack and Claire as half-siblings have been joined by Daniel and Penny. Interesting.

Finally, the most disturbing and thought-provoking part about this whole episode: Hawking's devotion to her upkeep of time, even to the point of knowingly sending her son to his death on the Island in 1977. Wow.
Now, while it's easy to simply get caught up in Eloise Hawking's ridiculous brutality and lack of any sort of apparent love, what's more interesting, I think, is to consider how amazingly dedicated she is to what seems to be her job of ensuring that everything plays out as it ought in light of past and future events. Who exactly is she responsible to? Or is this simply her "gift"? And on the same line of the whole "gifts" thing, we're learning that more and more of our beloved Losties have different gifts:

Walt = he's "special"; see the mobisode and the one Season 1 scene where he seemingly unintentionally brings about the deaths of birds.
Claire = something weird is going on with her...
Miles = can access the final thoughts of a dead person's life.
Hurley = apparently sees and has regular conversations with legitimately dead people.
Daniel = his brilliant mind.
Locke = special communion with the Island, according to Ben, and also apparent throughout the show.

Now, did I miss anything? I'm not trying to say these will end up being intrinsically important to the show's mythology, but I think they might... It's interesting anyway; something to think about... 5

BAMF moments - Wow. What an epic firefight. I thoroughly enjoyed that part. I think the best part about it was how it started. As Daniel smugly strolled up to the jeep, confident that his words would detain Radzinsky from taking action, Radzinsky let a shot fly -- Daniel didn't exactly understand what a hothead he was dealing with, I don't think. :P
The only reason this section gets a four rather than a five is because I felt a little dissatisfied with the cheap exit LOST took to resolve this situation: Really? An exploding gas drum? Really??

Beyond that, HOLY COW. Radzinsky is freaking spazzing OUT!! Just how I would expect him to react, though, considering how they've presented his temperament throughout this season.
I mean, when he stormed into Sawyer's house, he was PISSED. I was like, "Holy crap -- he is gonna freak the eff out when he finds Phil." And he did. Bad news for Sawyer and Juliet. I wouldn't be surprised if he tortures them for information regarding their infiltrator group, and, if they refuse to give him any, tries to execute them. We'll see, though. 4

Overall Score - (4 + 5 + 4)/(3) = 4.33

My theory on the infamous "Incident" + "The Variable" preview

With two weeks off in between new LOST episodes, I felt it would be appropriate at this point to share with all of you my theory regarding the long-told-of "Incident" and everything surrounding it.

I'll also write a small preview for this coming Wednesday's episode, "The Variable," regarding what I expect will be covered.

So, here's my huge, epic theory... To give credit where credit is due, my brother and I pretty much came up with this together through some crazy, detailed discussion following one of the episodes from earlier this season. Be forewarned: This theory is going to require a significant amount of groundwork to be laid in order to properly outline this wide-spanning theory. Here goes...


All-things "The Incident" Theory

• In The Swan orientation video from Season 2, made in 1980, we are told by "Marvin Candle," aka who we now know to be Dr. Pierre Chang, that "The Hatch" was originally intended to be a place to study electromagnetism, specically, "the unique electromagnetic fluctuations" from the part of the Island where the station is located. However, the video goes on to explain that "not long after the experiments began . . . there was an incident, and since that time, the following protocol has been observed." This protocol which Pierre Chang describes is pushing the button, a procedure which must be repeated every 108 minutes.
  
• Now, we know from other LOST canon what exactly "pushing the button" does and what it prevents. Let me refresh your memory: There had been repeated hints that pushing the button was of the utmost importance and that if this procedure was not continued, the results would be catastrophic. In the Season 2 finale, we learn that pushing the button is really a discharge mechanism to release an electromagnetic anomaly residing within the sealed off portion of The Swan, an aspect of The Swan to which Sayid commented: "The last time I heard of concrete being poured over everything in this way was Chernobyl." The man who rescued Desmond when he shipwrecked on the Island, Kelvin, told Desmond a good deal more about "The Incident." He explained that The Incident was a containment leak which caused a charge to build up over time. After 108 minutes, the charge builds up to the point where the magnetic field it creates begins to have effects within The Swan station itself. After following Kelvin into the jungle one day, Desmond comes back to The Hatch late and the timer has already run down to nothing, displaying hieroglyphics were the countdown numbers once were. He still managed to release the charge by inputting the numbers and pushing the button but the results were catastrophic: This seemingly small screw-up on Desmond's part caused the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, bringing our Losties to the Island. If not stopped completely, the magnetic field created by the buildup would hypothetically continue to grow indefinitely, killing everyone on Earth. This is implied by Ms. Hawking who explains Desmond's future path to him as his consciousness travels back in time, causing him to re-live a series of events in his life before coming to the Island (this occurs in the Season 3 episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes"). Ms. Hawking explained to Desmond, "Well, I know your name as well as I know that you don't ask Penny to marry you. In fact, you break her heart. Well, breaking her heart is, of course, what drives you in a few short years from now to enter that sailing race -- to prove her father wrong -- which brings you to the Island where you spend the next three years of your life entering numbers into the computer until you are forced to turn that failsafe key. And if you don't do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of us is dead..."
• This final statement of "every single one of us is dead" has been confirmed by the co-producers Damon and Carlton to mean everyone in the world. So what keeps this from happening? Turning that failsafe key... But what do we remember about the failsafe key? The failsafe key was a mechanism which, when triggered, would completely terminate the electromagnetic buildup that the protocol of entering the numbers and pressing the button discharged time and time again. Turning the failsafe key was described by Kelvin as "[blowing] the dam." As we know, in the Season 2 finale, Locke, in his frustration and despondency, destroyed The Hatch computer, insisting the button need not be pushed. Desmond realizes that the button must be pushed and turns the failsafe key, causing The Swan station hatch to implode and releasing what's generally referred to as the "Discharge."
• The "Discharge" is also commonly referred to as "the sky turning purple" by the Losties and others on the Island because of the effects exemplified by the Discharge: A blinding white light covered the Island, the sky turned an intense violet color, the ground shook, and an intense buzzing sound was heard, described by Hurley as sounding like a blender. The creepy Other Tom explained that this event shut down the Others' communcations completely.
• So, how do we (or I guess "I") make sense of all this? Well, get ready...
• We know from "Some Like It Hoth" that The Swan was built in The Hostiles territory, breaking "The Truce" that the Dharma Initiative had with the indigenous people of the Island. Why would the Dharma Initiative risk this? I believe because this area on the Island is so highly concentrated with this special electromagnetic energy and therefore so critically important, the Dharma Initiative felt.
• So how did the failsafe work? How did it terminate the electromagnetic buildup once and for all? Here's what I'm thinking (and here's where all the theorizing and speculation starts...): Turning the failsafe key set off Jughead, the 1950's U.S. H-Bomb left on the Island, buried deep underground, beneath the surface of the Island. The failsafe key "hub" or whatever you want to call it even looks like it could be a nuclear launch "ignition" (for lack of a better term)... Somehow I believe the Dharma Initiative got a hold of Jughead, since the last we know, The Others had it and were implored by Daniel Faraday to bury it immediately. The Dharma Initiative might have buried Jughead near the source of this unique electromagnetic energy lying within the core of the Island so that when the bomb was detonated, the energy, while it would unfortunately be sealed off pretty well, if not indefinitely, would no longer be a threat and would not be unleashed to create a magnetic field of such proportions that it would kill everyone on the face of the planet.
  
• Now work with me here -- this makes sense... The violet sky and the blinding white light is very reminiscent of when Ben turned the frozen wheel in the Season 4 finale, transporting him 10 months into the future and creating the exact same effects listed above. We know that in this situation the Island moved. Additionally, the wheel had, according to Christian Shephard in instructing John Locke in "This Place Is Death," "slipped off its axis. All you have to do is give it a little push." The wheel seems to control time on the Island. It had slipped off its axis and throughout the beginning of Season 5, we saw the effects of this skipping turntable-esque phenomenon: Time jumps occurred over and over, transporting our Losties on the Island through time.
• Now, the question is, what are we to make of the obvious similarities between this event and the effects of Desmond's turning the failsafe key? I propose to you this: If Jughead was indeed set off by Desmond's turning the failsafe key, it would have created significant tremors in the earth, earthquake-type vibrations which we saw in the Season 2 finale. This explosion may not have been enough to knock the wheel off of its axis, per se, and so disrupt the linear progression of time, but it might have been enough to jolt the wheel forward, moving the Island a little further in time than that of the outside world.
• Is there any evidence for this crazy theory, you may think? The answer is yes. Consider Daniel Faraday. In his "experiment" in Season 4, he communicates with Regina back on the freighter, the Kahana, telling her to shoot "the payload," a small rocket. However, there is a discrepancy: By her calculation, by the time the payload ought to have reached the beacon, Daniel doesn't have it year. It suddenly revives a while later, 31 minutes and 20 seconds later, in fact. Daniel asserts that this discrepancy is "far more than weird." Could it not be that the wheel was shook forward 31 minutes and 20 seconds into the future? In the second episode of Season 4, "Confirmed Dead," Daniel, shortly after his arrival onto the Island, vaguely comments, sort of to himself, "The light...is strange out here, isn't it? It's kind of like...it doesn't scatter quite right..." Now, I'm no physicist to be sure, but might light passing through the atmosphere into a place 31 minutes and 20 seconds further in the future appear to the trained eye of a legit physicist to look a little strange? I believe the answer is yes (and have no IDEA how else this line could possibly ever be explained if not through this! haha).
  
• Now, all of this protocol of pushing the button would never have even been necessary if it hadn't been for this "Incident" which occurred. While the larger more exciting, tying-together-previous-bits-of-information theory was all the stuff I just talked about above, I do have an idea as to what The Incident might have really been. Here's my guess: The Losties currently living in 1977 time will attempt to access and utilize the unique electromagnetic energy of the Island to transport themselves back into present time, but this will cause a containment leak in the energy, requiring the subsequent continuous buildup to be released. Either way, look forward to this season's two-part finale episode, which is entitled "The Incident," to depict some of the catastrophic events surrounding the occurrence of the Incident, as well as what the Incident actually is...because let's face it, I'll probably be wrong. :P

"The Variable" preview and personal speculation...

What can we expect in this week's new episode, "The Variable"? Well, we know that it is a Daniel Faraday-centric episode. Daniel has just returned to the Island from off the Island with a group of scientists from the mainland.

The co-producers have specifically labeled this (as it might logically seem) to truly be a sort of sister episode to Season 4's "The Constant," an episode depicting Desmond's struggle to identify his constant to save himself from the fate of being too long unstuck in time: death.

Here's what I believe will be true about Daniel's ventures since we last saw him in "LaFleur":

• When Jack asked Sawyer if Daniel was with them, Sawyer ambiguously replied, "Not anymore." My guess is that Daniel probably left on that sub which Horace promised Sawyer and the rest of them would come to take them off the Island in a little over two weeks after Sawyer saved his ass and the rest of the Dharma Initiative in the episode "LaFleur," explaining that they were not responsible for the deaths of two of Richard's men, Hostiles. Obviously, for whatever reason, Sawyer and Juliet and the gang decided to stay and were given that opportunity, having gained Horace Goodspeed's trust. But Daniel, I'm guessing, left and went back to the U.S. and has been working at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the Dharma Initiative's home front is apparently located, gleaning information about the Island and learning more about the Island's unique properties. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel Faraday doesn't spend some amount of time with his mother, Ms. Eloise Hawking. Finally, I believe that Daniel will be directly connected in at least one scene to the Island-finding Dharma Initiative Lamp Post station, complete with swinging pendulum.
• Now, it would seem that Daniel has been sent for by Pierre Chang to help in understanding and learning how to properly harness the electromagnetic energy of the Island, so easily disrupted as we saw in "Some Like It Hoth," as a man's tooth filling was ripped from his mouth up through his skull, killing him.

Okay, so there's what I believe Daniel has been up to. Now, here are things which I believe will be covered in more detail or perhaps even answered, some of them, in "The Variable":

• Daniel's apparent memory problems. Upon arriving to the Island in Season 4, there are numerous scenes which seem to hint that his memory suffers, why, we don't know. Furthermore, when he sees the fake plane wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 discovered on his television at home before coming to the Island and being recruited by Charles Widmore to go to the Island on the Kahana, he starts to cry and, when asked by his caretaker as to why he's crying, replies he does not know why. I expect this phenomenon of apparent memory loss will be addressed.
• I think we'll learn more about Daniel's journal, in general, perhaps specifically why Daniel would think to recognize Daniel as his constant in case anything might go wrong in the future.
• I also think we'll find out more about this Theresa chick who he apparently did experiments (funded by Widmore?) on and why he bolted when she essentially went under and assumed the disposition of a vegetable.
  
• Why knows: I'm reaching here, I think, but it'd be cool to find out for sure who exactly is Daniel Faraday's father and maybe even more about why Desmond is "uniquely and miraculously special." I hope! :)

So that's it. Whew! I know, it was long, and if you made it all the way through, I salute you.
Do you have questions? Objections? Anything? Feel free to comment below. :)

"Some Like It Hoth" episode review

As expected, "Some Like It Hoth" was not a mind-blowing episode like its predecessor "Dead is Dead," featuring Smokey-judged Ben. The co-producers explained that "Some Like It Hoth" is meant to be an episode to truly set into motion the the chain of events leading up through the Season 5 finale. :) Plus, it provided some character development of Miles, something we hadn't had nearly any of, which was surprising considering his prominence in the show as part of the main cast.

Considering this episode was somewhat of a "setting the stage" episode, then, I promise you the episode recap and analysis should be comparitively brief compared to my last review of "Dead Is Dead"! So bear with me. ;)

Oh! But first, according to Michael Ausiello over at EW.com, the major-ish death to occur before the Season finale which I wrote about a few posts back was NOT Caesar. So I suppose that means there's still a major-ish death to come!...as well as the major death we were promised... Wow, that made me sound like a creep. Poor word choice on my part, I suppose...

Oh, and next episode, airing in two weeks, "The Variable," is, in fact, going to be a Faraday-centric episode (YES!!), probably regarding what he's been up to since arriving at the Dharma Initiative Barracks back in 1974; there's been a three-year lapse between then and 1977, where our Losties are at right now... I'm guessing he was working with the Dharma Initiative at the home front in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a scientist, researching the prospect of time travel but more importantly (to us, anyway) learning more about the true nature and history of the Island. We shall see, though. I can't wait.

Anyway! Here we go with the recap...

• First, let's cover what we saw of Miles' past: As a young child, Miles discovers his ability to hear the voices of dead people. Years later, he goes to see his mother, who is dying of cancer. Miles asks her about his abilities and why he is the way he is. He also inquires as to his father, something which had obviously been a hot issue between the two of them throughout his life. Miles' mother Lara tells him that his father never cared about either of them, that he kicked them out when Miles was only a baby. When Miles asks where he can find his father's body, his mother replies that its "somewhere [he] can never go."
• Some time later, Miles is approached by Naomi Dorrit, who tests Miles' ability and, once seeing it is indeed true, recruits him to go to the Island on the freighter for $1.6 million dollars. Miles agrees. Later, Miles is pseudo-kidnapped by a group of men who claim that Miles ought not get on that boat because it's been chartered by Charles Widmore. They tell him that he's on the wrong team and offer him answers to his questions if he comes with them, but Miles is only interested in pay and says if they have $3.2 million that he'll join them; they aren't interested and they dump Mile off by the road.
• Somewhere around this time, Miles was paid by a man to commune with his dead son. However, his body was cremated, and therefore Miles cannot communicate with him. But, he lies and tells the father that his son knew he loved him. Later, Miles returns and gives the man back his money, saying he hadn't, in fact, talked to his son and that if he wanted his son to know he loved him, he should have told him so while he was still alive.
• Flash back/forward or whatever to the Island in 1977: Miles is contacted by Sawyer at the sonic fence, who tells him that he has to destroy surveillance evidence of them passing through the fence, taking Ben's body to the Others. Before Miles can dispose of the tape, however, he is approached by Horace Goodspeed, who is forced to send Miles on an errand with a package to take to The Swan where he'll receive "something" in return, officially bringing him into the "circle of trust," since Sawyer is nowhere to be found, supposedly off searching in the jungle for the escaped Hostile prisoner, Sayid..
• At the construction site for The Swan, a bodybag is loaded into Miles' van, which he is ordered to take to Dr. Pierre Chang at The Orchid. On the way back at the Barracks, Hurley begins loading some meals to take to the workers at The Orchid into Miles' van who, after realizing there are no other vans, is forced to allow Hurley to accompany him to The Orchid. As chance would have it, Hurley's curiosity leads him to discover the dead body. Miles instructs Hurley that he can't tell anyone what he knows. On the way to The Orchid, Hurley learns of Miles' ability and tells Miles' that he has a similar ability in that he talks to dead people, too. Once at The Orchid, the body is unloaded, an event overseen by Pierre Chang, who is initially very perturbed at Hurley knowing about the situation. Miles and Hurley assure Dr. Chang that Hurley won't speak a word and that it was an accident, which satisfies him for the time being. It turns out he needs a ride to The Swan anyway, and so Miles is forced into an extended car ride with his father, a situation which Hurley finds very amusing and one which he doesn't shy away from bogusly poking fun at. After dropping Dr. Pierre Chang off, Miles and Hurley begin to drive back to the Barracks. Along the way, Miles finds out that Hurley has been writing a screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, which is the next STAR WARS movie to come out in the year 1977 which they are living in. Hurley makes some connections between Miles and his father and Luke and his father Darth Vader, encouraging Miles to forgive his dad.
• Switching gears, we see Kate and Sawyer at the sonic fence after giving up Ben's body in "Whatever Happened, Happened." Kate drives back to the Barrack's infirmary, where Juliet had been treating Ben's wound. Ben's father Roger suddenly arrives and becomes (understandably) ecstatic when he realizes his son has inexplicably gone missing and storms out of the building to contact security.
• Sometime later that day, Kate goes and talks to Roger in an attempt to console him concerning his son's disappearance. Her goodwill backfires, however, when Roger becomes extremely suspicious and begins putting pieces together in his mind, determining that Kate must have had something to do with his son's sudden disappearance. Roger goes to Jack, who is busy cleaning one of the Dharma classrooms, and asks him about his fellow recruitee Kate. Jack assures Roger that she would never take his son or do anything like that and that she is his friend. Roger concedes but is obviously not satisfied with Jack's word on the matter...
• Later that night, Sawyer returns from the sonar fence, presumably after spending the day looking for the escaped prisoner, Sayid. Jack is there at the house with Juliet; he came to give them the heads up about Roger's suspicions of Kate being directly involved with his son's disappearance. Sawyer is frustrated with Kate's indiscretion and thanks Jack for giving him the heads up, sending him off. At that same moment, Phil approaches Sawyer with evidence regarding his connection to Ben's going missing: the security tape. Sawyer extracts the fact Phil hasn't gone to Horace yet and doesn't hesitate when he knocks Phil out cold.
  
• Back at the Barracks that same night, Miles notices Pierre Chang in his home, reading a bedtime story to his baby self and, you can tell, he considers Hurley's words from earlier that night about forgiveness. After a while, Pierre Chang steps outside and, after seeing Miles, asks him to accompany him to the dock, where a submarine of scientists from Ann Arbor has arrived. Upon arriving, Miles makes his way to the submarine and begins to help a man up and out of it. Who is that man? Daniel Faraday. "Hey, Miles. Long time no see." LOST
  

Story/Narrative - Pretty good stuff... I think it's relevant to take note of Miles' daddy issues, a common, recurring theme in the story of LOST. Consider (especially) Jack, as well as Kate, Charlie, Ben, and the list goes on.

Beyond that, there were any number of STAR WARS references throughout this episode. Before I begin to list some of them, I have to give credit where credit is due: Doc Jensen over at EW.com came up with the majority of these, if not all of them, but I felt they were very astute observations...

First, there's the obvious comparison which is even made by Hurley of Miles being like Luke, unable to forgive his father, Dr. Pierre Chang, just as Luke was initially unable to forgive his father, Darth Vader. However, a case can be made for Miles representing Han Solo as well. Consider: Han Solo is just in it for the money, initially, when he helps the Rebel Alliance, much like Miles who, prior to his arrival on the Island, doesn't care what side he's on but how much he's getting paid. I believe Miles has already moved past the point where he only cares about what's in it for him. What's left? Time to forgive his dad...but will he get another chance?

Another similarity: Miles and Hurley delivering a "packages" and dead bodies to bigger players in the picture is very akin to R2D2 and C3PO's task of delivering critical information to Princess Leia of the Rebel Alliance. And they play the part quite well actually, bickering all along the way and creating some truly humorous situations, much like R2D2 and C3PO do throughout their journey together.

Finally, two more references (and then I swear I'm done!): Jack firmly assuring that Kate wasn't the perpetrator of Ben's disappearance was somewhat reminiscent of Obi-Wan's reassurance in A New Hope: "These aren't the droids you're looking for." Ehh?? And even more interesting, Sawyer's sweet little setup crashing around him due to forces outside his control is very akin to Lando Calrissian's loss of control over his prime accomplishment and object of pride: Cloud-City. Nice...

Anway, "enough of this STAR WARS crap," you're probably saying... I thought it was cool how Hurley sees "The Hatch" being made, and even the numbers -- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 -- being inscribed on the inside of "The Hatch" door. In that moment, you can tell he's contemplating the possibility of changing the future. That maybe if he can keep that Hatch from being built, the numbers will never have cursed him and been such an element of bad luck in his life. Yet again, the writers of the show are harping on this idea, this clash between theory and actually experimentation in regards to time travel. Sure, we've been told time and time again that "whatever happened, happened," and that it can't change. But I'm convinced that at some point before the end of this season, a big decision will be made in direct opposition to what the Losties' know to happen in the future, and then we'll see whether the future can change and what will happen if and when they try to do so.
...Needless to say, I can't wait for that moment. :) ...assuming that it does, in fact, actually happen...

Finally, just as the co-producers intended, this episode truly did do a wonderful job, I think -- and time will tell -- of setting the stage for the path leading up through the remainder of this season. I mean, Sawyer has actually come to the point where he's had to physically assault one of his men in order to protect their lie. Juliet practically speaks for where the show's headed, you can tell, when she looks at Kate after Roger storms out of the infirmary and delivers in her classic deadpan way, "Well...here we go." 4

LOST Theory/Mythology - First of all, we got some old, nagging, albeit small, questions answered in regards to Miles. The reason he asked for $3.2 million dollars from Benjamin Linus in Season 4 in exchange for telling his employers (his superiors on the Kahana and ultimately Charles Widmore) that Ben was dead was simply a repetition of a question he had already asked which we also saw in this episode, highlighting, then, his contentment with siding with whoever as long as he gets what's coming to him. Also, we found out that the reason Miles was chosen for the mission on the Kahana in the first place: Because of his ability to talk to dead people, the plan was Miles would communicate with the many dead individuals on the Island, people whose death was directly connected to Ben, and in so doing possibly garner some information as to Ben's whereabouts on the Island, since there mission was to apprehend him. Interesting... I was wondering how his ability factored into his being recruited onto the team...

And it would seem we were given an answer to another question, too. Miles "audition" with Naomi led him to identify this man named Felix as delivering some very important papers and photos, etc. to "a guy named Widmore," as well as a purchase order for a plane... So is this the writers' way of, in fact, confirming that Widmore is 100% responsible for the fake wreckage? You'll remember that in Season 4, Tom -- an old Other favorite, now dead -- showed Michael these exact documents, explaining to him his mission, if he would accept it. So did Tom intercept this Felix and kill him, ascertaining the tangible proof of Widmore's connection to the fake wreckage? Or had Felix stolen these documents from one of Ben's off-Island men and was he bringing it back to show to Widmore when he was stopped and killed by Tom? retrieving the evidence?
..Am I reading too much into this?...or am I right in thinking we still don't technically know for sure who was responsible for the fake plane wreckage?...

Moving on, I think it's incredibly interesting how the Dharma Initiative, it would seem, wasn't so innocent after all in their being at war with the Hostiles, the indigenous people of the Island. They were secretly building one of their "research" stations in Hostile territory! Holy cow!! I wouldn't be surprised if this sparked the large-scale conflict between the Hostiles and the Dharma Initiative leading to the Purge, and possibly even if it caused The Incident...we'll see about that, though, in the finale I'm assuming, considering its title is "The Incident."

There was yet another reference to the electromagnetic energy of the Island, and I think its sheer power too. Correct me if I'm wrong but in talking with my buddy Jake and after doing some research, fillings are, and have been for some time, composed primarily of what's called silver amalgam, a substance which has such a small magnetic value that it's simply been labeled as "nonmagnetic" by the scientific community. So then, what of the man whose filling was ripped up through his head, killing him? Is this an implication of the sheer intensity and power of this unique energy residing under the surface of the Island?...or simply a screw-up on the part of the LOST team? haha ..Perhaps I am reading entirely too much into this, but, ehh, I enjoy it. :P

We got another scene involving this apparently new player in the big picture of LOST, who must be either descendants of the OLD original inhabitants of the Island or modern-day Dharma Initiative people who have finally returned to the Island to claim what they believe is rightfully their's. Bram -- the same big guy who is now on the Island with Ilana who we saw in "Dead Is Dead" -- asked Miles if he knew "what lies in the shadow of the statue," and when Miles replied that no, he didn't, Bram responded rather queerly, "Then you're not ready to go to that Island." Hmm... Bram also promised Miles that if he came with them, he would receive something far greater than money: "But if you come with us, all those things you've spent your life trying to find out, you'll know. You'll know who you are, Miles -- why it is you have a gift, and, most of all, you'll know about your father." Miles didn't bite, but this made me think that these people must be descendants of the original inhabitants of the Island. I don't get the feeling that the Dharma Initiative has the kind of knowledge and insight to be able to promise Miles those things or that they're even considered with such matters, anyway. The Dharma Initiative was seeking to study the Island because of its obvious uniqueness, and possibly trying to manipulate and control its power for their own means; who knows. I guess we'll see... But I don't feel like Bram's conversation with Miles reflected "Dharma values," per se... Besides, if Miles really is so "special," wouldn't the Dharma Initiative have had money to recruit him? Tell me your thoughts on this...

Sticking on the theme of Miles' powers, it's interesting that Miles must be in direct contact with the body of the deceased in order to hear their last thoughts in his head. It's also important to note that Hurley's "power," while it would seem similar, is in all reality very different: By the way Hurley has described it and in seeing his conversation with dead Charlie in Season 4 off of the Island, it would seem that he actually sees and seemingly has conversation with all the dead people he talks to, unlike Miles. Is this difference important? I'm guessing so... Also, back on the subject of Miles, we know that his ability was with him since a very young age. My guess? It will somehow stem from the fact that he is living in the same direct area and time period as his baby self. Taking it a step further, I bet Miles will die in 1977 in his present, while his baby self is alive in his past, creating some sort of a weird paradox/effect-type thing to where he can access the last dying thoughts of a person. What's your theory? Why is he the way he is?

Finally, I'm guessing that Dr. Pierre Chang isn't as heartless as his wife made him out to be, in all reality, to her son. My guess is he'll find out about the Purge and send his wife away with his son, possibly at some point this season, in effect saving their lives. However, he probably won't explain himself because he won't want his wife to know of what will supposedly be his fate, but he will be fixated on staying in order to study time travel and possibly prevent the Purge from ever happening... Maybe this is also the reason why Charlotte left the Island at a young age with her mother but not her father. Not that Miles and Charlotte have the same father, but that the circumstances involving that departure were similar... 4

BAMF moments - I mean, I suppose the fact that that Alvarez guy got his filling ripped out of his tooth and it shot up through his brain was pretty bamf...but it's not like we got to see it, so.. 1

Overall Score - (4 + 4 + 1)/(3) = 3

"Dead Is Dead" episode review

Man, this episode of LOST was a complete win. All of the various scenes from all different time periods felt relevant and shed some light on specific situations which have been referenced in LOST throughout.

I was super excited about another Ben-centric episode for two reasons: 1) Since Season 3, when Ben concretely became a main character of the show, we've been treated to only one Ben-centric episode per season and 2) because they're always bamf. "Dead Is Dead" was no exception.

Oh, by the way, in my last review, I listed a few unanswered questions and unexplained stories which are supposed to be covered before the end of season, according to Team Darlton. In this coming week's episode, "Some Like It Hoth," an episode centered on Miles technically but I suspect also will explain Hurley's mental-institution-to-boarding-Ajira-Airways-Flight-316 journey, I'm guessing it will be explained what exactly Miles' demand to Ben in Season 4 for 3.2 million dollars meant, what it was code for. This is something that I forgot about that Team Darlton said would be explained this season, and I'm guessing it will be explained next episode.

While I'm on the subject of making predictions about next week's episode, I'll go ahead and make a couple more: We'll undoubetdly learn more about Miles' spiritualist nature, as in how he can speak to lingering dead people's selves. I'm also guessing that, assuming my prediction of Miles being Dr. Pierre Chang's son is correct, Miles will see and be confronted with his baby self, perhaps only in passing, and that he will be surprised to learn that he was born on the Island and even more surprised to find out who his real father is.

All that aside, on to a brief episode synopsis! (I'll cover the events chronologically, as they occurred linearly in time.)

• In 1977, after Ben's apparent visit to The Temple with Alpert, a man on horseback rides into The Others camp, a man revealed to be Charles Widmore. He protests the fact that an outsider was taken to The Temple, but Richard insists that the Island wanted it done and that Jacob chooses who Jacob chooses. At this point, Widmore concedes Alpert's decision and goes into a tent to talk to young Ben who is still recovering from his gunshot wound. Widmore explains to Ben that though he has to return to live with the Dharma Intiative, that does not mean that he cannot be one of them.
• Fast forward to 1989, and we see Ben with little Ethan getting ready to make their move on the beach, watching Rousseau's tent. Ben goes into the tent alone, with every intention of killing Rousseau, but at the sound of her crying baby, is startled and knocks over the music box, waking her up. Ben takes the child in his arms and warns Rousseau not to try anything. She accuses him of being a carrier of the infection and is ready to try and attack him but Ben fires a warning shot and tells her that she's lucky to be alive and warns her that if she ever hears whispers to run the other way. Ben leaves the scene abruptly with Ethan and upon returning to The Others' camp, Ben is confronted by an obviously older Charles Widmore as to why he has a child. Ben explains that the French woman had a baby and asks what exactly he was supposed to do, just kill her anyway? Widmore says yes, saying it is Jacob's will. Ben says that if it is indeed the will of the Island, that Widmore should be able to do it as much as he. At this, Widmore turns away.
• In 1992 or later, we see Ben pushing Alex on a swing at the Barracks. Richard comes to him and says the submarine is leaving and that he can see the passengers off if he wants but that he doesn't have to. Ben goes, where a handcuffed Widmore is being led to the submarine. Widmore says he knew that Ben would come to gloat over his victory in getting him exiled from the Island for "breaking the rules," notably by making frequent trips to and from the Island and also by having a family off the Island, having a daughter with an "outsider." Widmore essentially tells Ben that one day if the Island did want Alex to die, she will, and that he will eventually end up like him: banished from the Island.
  
• In 2008, before boarding Ajira Airways Flight 316 to come back to the Island, we see Ben at a marina, where he calls Charles Widmore to tell him that he's about to make good on his promise of killing his daughter Penelope. After hanging, Ben approaches Penny and Desmond's Boat, Our Mutual Friend, but is momentarily stopped by Desmond. Ben pulls out a gun and shoots desmond around the right side of his chest, knocking him off his feet and deliberately approaches the boat, warning Penny not to move. Penny frantically explains that she has no relationship with her father, and Ben apologizes but insists that he still has to kill her because of his conflict with Mr. Widmore. Right then, Charlie, Desmond and Penny's son, runs aboard the boat, wondering what's going on. Penny tells him to go back inside, but his appearance makes and impression on Ben, who temporarily lets his guard down. Desmond attacks Ben from behind, knocking his gun out of his hands, and whales on his face with his left arm repeatedly and then dumps his pummeled body into the water.
• Finally, in present time, Ben is greeted by Locke as he wakes up in the infirmary after being knocked out by Sun. Ben tells Locke that he knew that he would come back to life upon returning to the Island but is still shocked to actually see that it has happened. Ben tells Locke that he has come back to be judged for "breaking the rules," for returning to the Island, something he was not supposed to do. Locke asks who he has returned to be judged by, and Ben replies that they don't have a name for it but that he believes they call it "The Monster." Locke tells Ben that he'll go with him to the main Island to accompany him on his way to being judged. Ben first, however, retrieves a picture of Alex and him from his office at the Dharma Initiative's Hydra station.
• On the beach, Locke is confronted by Caesar as he tries to take one of the outrigger boats to the main Island. Earlier, Ben had agreed with Caesar that Locke knew a little too much about the Island and planted the idea in his mind that he didn't remember seeing Locke on the plane. It wasn't difficult to convince Caesar that Locke was a psychotic, insane inhabitant of the Island, considering he had told Caesar before that then unconscious Ben was the man who had killed him. Caesar told Ben that he had his back if Locke tried anything. Seeing this as an opportune time to stand up to Locke, Caesar denies Locke permission to take a boat. As tensions begin to rise, he reaches for the shotgun in his bag, when Ben reveals that he had taken it and shoots Caesar at point blank, knocking him off his feet. Ben then asks if anyone else has a problem with them leaving with a boat and tosses the shotgun to Locke.
  
• As Ben and Locke arrive at the main Island at the dock, they notice Frank and Sun's boat and make their way to the Dharma Barracks. At Ben's house, Ben finds Sun and Frank. Sun shows Ben the picture off the 1977 Dharma recruits that Christian Shephard showed her. Ben insists that he is legitimately suprised by this. Sun also tells Ben that she and Frank were told to wait for John Locke to find out what to do to save their friends in/from the past. Frank pleads with Sun to leave with her, but Sun tells him that she has to stay, that she feels that that's the only way she'll ever see her husband again. Frank respects her decision but feels that it's in his best interest to leave and go back to the main group on the Alcatraz island. Upon returning to the main group, Frank asks Ilana what is going on, considering her and some others have rifles and are moving a huge crate sitting on the beach. She responds by saying, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Frank doesn't understand the question and Ilana knocks him out with the butt of her rifle, telling the man next to her to gather the others, saying, "It's time," and that Frank is coming with them.
  
• Back on the main Island, Ben goes into the secret chamber connected to his house and summons the smoke monster. It doesn't come for quite some time, however, and finally Locke tells him that if it won't come to them, they'll go to it. Locke, Sun, and Ben set off and make their way to the exterior wall of The Temple. Along the way, Locke accuses Ben of being in the position that he had always been in before, not having all the answers and not liking it. Once at The Temple, Locke informs Ben that they'll be going under it rather than passing through the wall, and so they do. While Sun waits outside, Ben admits to Locke that the real reason he came back is to be judged not for returning to the Island but for killing his daughter in a sense, just as Locke had guessed. Suddenly, Ben crashes through the floor into a lower passage. Locke leaves to find something to lift Ben back up to safety, and Ben takes the time to observe his surroundings.
• Ben quickly realizes that he's come to a place that he's never seen before and takes note of the picture on the stone wall in front of him. Suddenly, his torch goes out and the smoke monster comes before him and encircles him, presenting a juxtaposition of his life memories revolving around Alex, culminating in the image of her death. The smoke monster then dissipates, reigniting Ben's torch, and Ben is greeted by someone who appears to him in the form of his daughter Alex. Alex tells Ben that she knows that he's planning to kill Locke again and warns him that if he does, she will hunt him down and destroy him. She makes Ben agree to follow Locke and do whatever he says. She then leaves a very frightened Ben, backing away into the darkness, and Ben makes his way back to where he fell through the floor, where a concerned Locke has hurried back with a vine. "It let me live," a relieved Ben reveals. LOST
  

Story/Narrative - First of all, I really liked to see the truth behind the Rousseau baby-stealing situation. We had been under the impression that The Others were in the business of stealing kids for a while now, but, at least in 1989, they weren't. In a way, Ben was being completely honest and truthful when he told Rousseau, "Be grateful you're still alive." If he hadn't taken Alex, she would've been killed along with Rousseau, a command which Ben didn't carry out. So is he that much of a monster? Apparently not by this point, if you're a viewer who sees Ben as the epitomy of evil. Maybe some event yet to occur past 1989 will really push Ben over the edge...the death of Annie, perhaps? Or maybe Ben really does have some redemptive qualities and we got a huge glimpse at them in "Dead Is Dead." I dunno...either way, I loved it.

Moving on, I have to say, I loved the parallelism presented in the episode as we see Ben's will to kill Rousseau thwarted by her child's crying out and then his determination to kill Penny distracted by Penny and Desmond's son Charlie's sudden appearance. Maybe he does have a heart... Either way, it was interesting to see Ben's intentions of murdering someone diminish at the sight of innocence. Could this be a reflection of his regret for his own once-innocent self? I suppose time will tell...

In regards to said confrontation, for some reason I get the feeling that there was more to Desmond and Ben's fight than what we saw. I mean, c'mon. What am I supposed to think? Desmond just punches Ben a few times and dumps him in the water? Really? That's it? He just threatened your wife and child's life! There's no way Desmond would have been content with just throwing Ben in the water; he would have wanted him dead, for good. So will we see more later, or are we just meant to fill in the blanks? What do you think?

STILL on the subject of Ben (most of this post-recap analysis will be), I have to say, I'm not convinced that Ben is telling the truth about Locke. He says he knew that Locke would come back to life upon returning to the Island but that he looked so surprised because, in his words: "...it's one thing to believe it, John. It's another thing to see it." After all, consider a few things: 1) Why would Alex have said in her rebuke of Ben, "I know that you're already planning to kill John again, and I want you to know that if you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you"? She didn't make it sound like Ben knew that he would come back to life but that he had repeated his attempt in Season 3 when he shot Locke and left him to die in the mass Dharma grave at finishing of John Locke and, in so doing, eliminating a problem. Thinking more about this, it would seem to make sense. After all, Ben might have wanted Locke to be on the plane simply to recreate the original flight to the best of his ability... I can't remember; did he directly say any words to anyone concerning Locke actually coming back to life upon returning to the Island? I don't think so. And this would seem to make sense because who did Ms. Hawking explain Locke's role as a proxy in replacing Christian Shephard's dead body upon the plane to? Jack. Alone. As in, Ben wasn't there. So Ben had no idea about Christian Shephard, it would seem, which would explain his reaction when Sun mentioned Christian Shephard showing them the 1977 Dharma recruit picture. All that being said, Ben is shocked to see John Locke freaking alive. He can't believe it. But, he adapts his story and tells John that he thought the Island would bring him back to life, getting maybe just a little bit back into his good graces. Let me know what you think about Ben: How much of what he said last episode was true and how much do you think was complete bull?

Moving on into some new territory, I have to say, I'm a bit shocked at what would seem to be Caesar's apparent death. Is this the "minor death" that was said would occur before the season finale? Anyway, I feel like Ilana and Caesar are on separate "sides," if you will. That being said, I have absolutely NO idea who Caesar is "with." But Ilana, I've got her pinned! There are either two possibilities: Ilana and the rest of her team are either modern-day Dharma Initiative people looking for some good ol' fashioned revenge or they're Widmore's men. Seeing as the whole Widmore-hiring-people-to-attack-the-Island story plot has aleady been used, however, I'm gonna go with modern-day Dharma Initiative people. Besides, that would be really interesting to see the contrasting images of the seemingly Utopian Dharma society with modern-day Dharma Initiatiave people complete with guns and ready to own The Hostiles once and for all, after almost twenty years since being "purged" from the Island. And actually, there's a third possibility that I skipped over: Perhaps they're the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Island. I'm starting to think that maybe the Hostiles, the indigenous people of the Island, originated from the Black Rock survivors who, after they wrecked upon the Island, spread throughout and populated it. If this is true, it would seem that the truly original inhabitants of the Island (Egyptians or Tunisians, perhaps?) have long since been gone. And maybe they've finally decided to come back, right in time for the show's final season. I'm not sure. But that is another possibility.

Additionally, I was intrigued by Ilana's question, which seemed to be a code: "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Is there a real tangible answer? If there is, I'm gonna go ahead and guess "The Well." But maybe it was just a question set in place so that all the individual members of whatever group they're a part of could identify one another after the crash and spring into action... In which case, maybe Caesar was a part of the same group and he just didn't seem to know Ilana because they hadn't gone around asking the question yet and realized who all were their allies by that point.

One final thing about Locke: I don't get the feeling that Locke is entirely normal. I don't think this is just the whole Jesus complex thing, either (which is an understandably sentiment on his part, don't get me wrong -- I mean, he did resurrect from the dead...). I felt like Locke was acting a little eery throughout the entire episode...not exactly like Christian Shephard though, which struck me as odd. I guess we'll see more on this. Perhaps Locke is simply adapting to whatever differences he feels as being a physically dead person brought back to life rather than his previous, "normal" self. I dunno... I definitely feel like he was a little disappointed that he A) didn't get to see Ben get judged and B) that Ben was judged apparently so mercifully. Hm. I suppose we'll see. (...I feel like I'm saying that a lot: "we'll see." Am I? :P )

Oh, and what exactly was Locke doing out in the jungle? My guess is that he ran into Christian Shephard and that he was told to bring Ben to the Temple and to go under it. In a sense, I'm guessing that the Island wanted to see if Ben was truly repentant for killing his daughter and if he would admit that he, in fact, was responsible for her death, which she did before arriving at his judgment, which I why he was forgiven and allowed to live, I'm guessing. 5

LOST Theory/Mythology - Okay, so I'm a little confused about The Temple. Richard told Kate and Sawyer in the last episode, "Whatever Happened, Happened," before they handed young Ben over that if he took him and healed him, "If I take him, he's not ever going to be the same again . . . What I mean is that...he'll forget this ever happened and that...his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us." Okay...but young Ben was pretty much the same as he had been before: He still is afraid of his dad, he doesn't want to go back to live with the Dharma Intiative, and he reeeaalllly wants to be a part of The Hostiles. The only thing that's changed is that he doesn't remember exactly what happened, how he got injured... So is that it? I guess we'll see more as to what exactly the side effects of somone being brought into The Temple are... I'm just a bit confused by that whole ordeal...

Also, Widmore told Locke after he found him lying in the middle of the Tunisian desert, at the "exit," after turning the wheel, that he wasn't surprised that Ben had tricked Locke into leaving the Island as well: "I was afraid Benjamin might fool you into leaving the Island, as he did with me." Well, nooo, not exactly. It would seem that Widmore was officially, "legally" banished from the Island by the Others' terms or whatever. It didn't seem like he was "fooled" into leaving. He was pretty much escorted off the premises by guys with bulletproof vests and rifles. I mean, he was sent away, not tricked into leaving. It would seem that now we're seeing more of a deceitful side of Widmore, kind of like with Ben earlier. Apparently he's willing to fudge the facts a bit, too, if it means relating to John Locke and winning him over to his side... So just how important is John Locke in the big scheme of things with the Island??! Apparently very...

Just to clear something up that Team Darlton had confirmed via podcast I think it was, the part of The Temple which we saw with Jin and Rousseau's team was not The Temple itself but the exterior wall, which was explained by Ben in this last episode: "We built this wall to keep people like the two of you from ever seeing it." So we haven't actually seen The Temple itself yet -- just the wall half a mile around it and what lies beneath it. But consider the implications of Ben's statement: If The Others truly did build that wall, they must have been on the Island for a loooong time. Because that wall was freaking old! And it was covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics in some places, too, I believe, so that would imply that the original Others had Egyptian roots. That or the wall was just really old-looking and it's mean to be as some sort of a scam, to trick the person outside the walls to believe that the structure is really way older than it actually looks. I don't know. That, or maybe the Others didn't even build the wall, or the Temple for that matter, and Ben was just lying!

Keeping on the subject of Egyptian mythology, it would seem, considering the depiction on the rock wall above the area where Smokey apparently comes from, that our famed statue is, in fact, Anubis, seeing as he is clearly the god depicted in his image. Take a look for yourself. Beyond that, though, notice the Smoke monster-looking part of the picture that looks as if it may be in conflict with Anubis...that or Anubis is summoning it... And what of the snake behind Anubis... I know there's a snake-like creature in Egyptian mythology that I gathered is basically the original bad guy in their mythology. Could that be him? I'll have to do some research. But right now it's late, so..

But yeah, as I said above, we found out where Smokey comes from!! Cool, right? Except that we don't really understand it, nor do we understand what exactly is happening when Ben summons him, even though we saw how he does. Apparently he drains a little murky pool full of muddy water and poof! he arrives (or at least he's supposed to). And apparently the smoke monster seeps through numerous holes on a panel which sits underneath a picture of the Egyptian god Anubis.

So is Smokey sort of Anubis's "right hand," allowing him to act on the Island, so to speak? I don't think so... I think they're two separate entities. Oh, and by the way, I think that the numerous holes in that room that Ben was in which lined the sides of wall were the "CV"s, or "Cerberus vents," which were labeled on Radzinsky's hatch map, presumably the tunnels leading to the holes in the ground where Smokey can and does appear from. Pretty sweet... But then again, he can also kind of just uproot trees and pop out from where they were rooted, can't he?

Anyway, back to the whole Anubis thing. Did anyone else think that Alex looked a little bit like Anubis in her scene with Ben?!?! I mean, maybe it was just the lighting, but I feel like that was definitely a direct comparison that we (or perhaps only some of us...) were meant to make.

In regards to Alex: Who exactly was she?...obviously she wasn't actually Alex reincarnate. The context of what she had to say rules that out. So was she a manifestation of the smoke monster then, like Yemi when he talked to Eko in Season 3 before his "judgment" at the hands of the Smoke monster? No, I tell you! Consider this: While Yemi's conversation(s) with Eko were very judgment related ("It's time to confess, brotha" and things of that nature...), Alex's words to Ben were much more directions-related, which reminded me more of Jacob, or the Island. It felt like there was more of a relationship there ("Listen to me, you bastard!"), and one with some sour feelings, which would make sense since Ben wasn't actually playing fair with Jacob it would seem, keeping him in a cabin and encircling it with apparently confining soot/ash-type stuff. Jacob finally has a chance to free himself and realize his control again, and he will not let Ben touch his man. I think it had to have been Jacob, or the Island or whatever -- I'm still not exactly sure how those two entities are related... 5

BAMF moments - Wow. Finally some good ownage! It had been a while for LOST. First of all: Holy cow. Caesar got freaking owned. Oh my gosh. Ben totally owned him. At first I was like, "Wow. Ben is a douche. He's already turning people against Locke." But it was all really a manipulation-play on Caesar so that Ben could nab his shotgun and get him on his good side, allowing him to eliminate him as a threat when they needed to get a boat and get to the main island. That being said, Ben epic owned Caesar and it was brutal.

It would also seem that Ilana and her people are going to be providing us with some future ownage, considering the huge box of what I'm guessing are weapons. Oh, and I bet that they're the ones that'll take that boat and fire at Locke and the other time-traveling Losties, something we confusedly saw back when they were all skipping through time earlier in the season.

Finally, the smoke monster is just bamf in and of itself. The way it encircled Ben and presented him with the good that he had extinguished in indirectly killing his daughter was crazy. Pretty sick stuff...

Finally, Desmond owned Ben, right before he was about to own Penny, and I am soooo glad he didn't. Desmond and Penny are my favorite love story / relationship in the show and if they had died, I would have been pissed. 5

Overall Score - (5 + 5 + 5)/(3) = 5

"Whatever Happened, Happened" episode review

After seeing Sayid's journey onto Ajira Airways Flight 316 and all that nonsense in last week's episode, "He's Our You," we got to see how Kate ended up there in the most recent episode, "Whatever Happened, Happened."

Suffice it so say, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and first off, would like to draw attention to Evangeline Lilly's acting performance. Wow. Kate's character truly came to life (as much as I've hated her since like, somewhere down the line in Season 3) as we saw her cope with what seemed to be Sawyer's true motive for jumping off the helicopter but especially in the scene where she says goodbye to Aaron. More on that later...

Oh and btw, seriously, this week I am seriously incredibly surprised that I'm managing to get this review. School is hectic as crap right now, but after this week, I should be in the clear for pretty much the rest of the semester, excluding finals, which generally always end up being pretty stressful in and of themselves.

Oh and by way of some LOST news (but not really...well, part of it is, actually), let me remind you some of the stuff which we were promised to see more on at the beginning of the season and something in specific which the co-producers, aka team "Darlton," have confirmed we will see more of before the end of the season (I think via podcast? but I'm not for sure.):

First of all, the thing which team Darlton confirmed we will see "enough of to know exactly what it is," or something along those lines, before the season finale is the statue. You know, the four-toed one? which is presumably the same one which we saw the backside of in "LaFleur." I am freaking psyched to finally find this out and am sure that the answer will undoubtedly shed some light on all sorts of things LOST. ;) If you're interested in reading up on theories, a lot of people are thinking Egyptian god/goddess, due to the other Egyptian influences in the show (namely hieroglyphics, as well as Hurley recently painting a picture with a sphinx in it while outside at the mental institution which he was staying at). Some of the gods/goddesses which people are particularly fond of in speculation are Anubis, Horus, and Sekhmet, but I'll let you do the research rather than embarking on several huge theories and supporting evidence for each possibility... Let's face, all three are probably going to be wrong anyway. :P lol

Now for some things which were promised to be answered at the beginning of the season, which I can only hope Team Darlton will still live up to their word about:

1. What really happened between Ben and hot-air-balloon-crash-survivor Henry Gale.
2. The reason why Libby was in the mental institution (the same one Hurley was in).
3. Why Ms. Hawking was pictured in a photo with Brother Campbell, Desmond's superior at the monastery. (<-- I still don't feel like this specifically has been answered, and I'm pretty sure the co-producers said it would be. I mean, granted, we've learned a ton more about Ms. Hawking but not this, I don't think...)
4. How/Why Ben was caught in Rousseau's trap (Season 2), where he was subsequently handed over to the plane crash survivors.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense and onto a brief recap of what went down in this past episode...

• First, let's catch up on Kate's backstory: Why did she decide to get on that Ajira plane and go back to the Island? Well, the real explanation goes a little further back (not like, childhood-further-back like Sayid, but still...). The first scene in the past that we see of Kate depicts Kate with still-baby Aaron making a visit to see Cassidy, Kate's past friend and also Sawyer's past girlfriend-long-con, and her and Sawyer's daugher Clementine. The two develop a real friendship of some measure of substance it would seem, and Kate eventually tells Cassidy the entire lie, including the fact that Aaron isn't her son. Eventually, Cassidy leads Kate to understand that the real reason she took Aaron and kept him was to help herself get over Sawyer. Realizing that she is all too right, Kate decides she must go back to the Island. She leaves Aaron in the care of Carole Littleton, the child's true grandmother and Claire's mom, who was still in town on the business of collecting a settlement with Oceanic. Kate tells her that she's going back to find her daughter and bring her home.
• Now that that's wrapped up, let's see where we are in the "present," 1977. Jin wakes up in the middle of the jungle at night after being knocked out by Sayid and notices young Ben lying on the ground. He regains his senses and loads him up in the van and brings him back to the Barracks to be worked on. Back at the Barracks, things are pretty crazy. The fire has been put out, but Horace is pissed. Definitely coming off as a little understandably snobbish after Jack's remark, who is nothing but a janitor in Horace's eyes, Horace explains that since no alarms were triggered on the defense perimeter whatsoever, that it must have been a traitor, someone in the Dharma Initiative, who caused the disturbance and freed Ben.
• Juliet is tasked with fixing Ben but can't pull it off and she knows it. She sends Sawyer to go get Jack, who is with the rest of the Losties group under what is essentially house arrest, but Jack refuses to help. This upsets Sawyer, Kate, and Juliet but springs Kate particularly into action.
  
• Kate heads over to the sick bay to give blood to Ben, who is dying; she is a universal donor. During this time, she gets a chance to talk with Ben's father Roger for a second time. He reveals that he knows that Ben swiped his keys and let Sayid out, and he also knows that Sawyer knows this because the bastard never asks a question he doesn't already know the answer to (or something along those lines...).
• It quickly becomes clear that simply giving more blood to Ben isn't going to be enough, and that without some form of further treatment, he will surely die. Juliet suggests that he be brought to her people, The Others. She lets Kate leave with Ben, but Kate doesn't seem to get very far. At the sonic fence, a van pulls up, and it turns out to be Sawyer, who hasn't come to bring her back but to help her. Sawyer and Kate take Ben into the jungle and pretty soon they run into The Hostiles. Richard tells them that he can heal Ben but that Ben won't remember what happened and will never be the same. Kate insists anyway.
• In the next to last scene we see Richard carrying Ben through the jungle, alone, to what we know to be The Temple. As he backs into the door and into the darkness, however, we are the ones who are left in the dark. What a shame...
  
• The final scene, somewhat unrelated to the rest of the episode I felt, showed Locke there to greet Ben when he woke up. Welcome back to "the land of the living," he said. As I watched this scene, I was initially very confused, I will admit, but then after seeing the preview for next week's episode, "Dead Is Dead," it became all too clear: This ending scene was clearly meant to set up next week's apparently Ben-centric episode (which I am freaking psyched for, might I add!!!). Ben episodes are always winners, and usually there's only one a season. Remember the one in Season 4? It was called "The Shape of Things to Come" and was all about Ben's daughter being executed, him summoning Smokey, and Widmore "changing the rules." That being said, I can't wait for next week. :) LOST
  

Story/Narrative - First off, let me begin by saying that I love this situation that LOST has presented us with: Now, we would all agree that killing a kid is bogus...generally. But this is Ben we're talking about!! right??! This dilemma, highlighted time and time again throught this and last week's episode truly seems to split LOST's viewers down the middle, and I love it. Can you blame Jack for not operating on Ben? After all, it's the same man who will go on to chain him up in a cell and manipulate him into doing all sorts of things he doesn't want to. Hmm...you be the judge. Talk it out amongst your LOST buddies.

Moving on, let me again say that I loved Kate's role in this episode, mainly due to Evangeline Lilly's amazing acting job. The scene where she left Aaron was truly touching and made me realize again why I love LOST so much, beyond all the crazy mythology. Also, what an intriguing and all-too-believable reason for her to be going back to the Island: To find and bring back Claire! I can't believe I didn't think of that! It makes so much sense, and I love how all of the backstory involving Sawyer and Kate's replacement of him with Aaron played out. Great stuff.

Back on the topic of Jack's refusal, again, let's revel in this new Jack. I, personally, love it...still. That's right. I said it. (<-- He Is Legend reference) I love how Jack isn't reacting emotionally to these situations but is sticking to his guns and following his heart, for once, instead of his head. Consider all the crap that Ben has made him go through (...in the future...yeah, I know; it's a mind-f***): He basically intentionally made him see the woman he loved have sex with another guy and then brought her in to see him so she could beg for him to do the surgery so that Sawyer wouldn't be killed. So Jack does the surgery on Ben, which was Ben's plan all along, with the promise that he'll be able to take the sub off the Island, but then, also probably part of Ben's plan, Locke comes along and destroys the submarine. Suffice it to say: Jack hates Ben. But then again, is that reason enough not to save him? Remember all the crap that Ben pulled on Juliet? Making her stay on the Island even though the women kept dying on her. He wouldn't even let her go home to see her dying sister! And then there was the whole obsession complex that he had with her (do you recall the "You're mine!" incident?), which was just creepy as all get out. And yet, all that considered, Juliet knowing exactly what he was going to grow up into, she still recognzied that it was wrong to let a child die... Man. You've got to take a side on this!

Anyway, back to the topic of sticking to one's guns, way to go Sawyer! I loved how Sawyer told her that he wasn't doing it for Kate but for "her," Juliet. Yes. Even more, I loved how he said, "You and me would've never worked out, Kate. I wasn't any more fit to be your boyfriend than I am to be that little girl's father." And then, "I've done a lot of growing up in the past three years." Yes you have, Sawyer, and it's freakin' awesome. I have to be honest, I was a bit skeptical as to whether Sawyer would manage to stay faithful to Juliet and not fall head over heels for Kate as soon as she set foot again on Smokey Island, but so far he has. I applaud thee, Sawyer. But, in all honesty, let's face it: Sawyer'll probably get with Kate again before it's all over. Not that I want it to happen, but come on! some people actually watch LOST for the love triangle, or I guess square now, between Jack, Juliet, Sawyer, and Kate.

And Sawyer wasn't the only one who got a stab at Kate and let his maturation show in conversation with her: Jack straight up owned her. Bad.
Jack: "When we were here before, I spent all of my time trying to fix things... But, did you ever think that maybe the Island just wants to fix things itself? That maybe I was just, getting in the way?"
Kate: "You know, I don't like the new you. I liked the old you, who wouldn't just sit around and wait for things to happen."
Jack: "You didn't like the old me, Kate."
DAMN!!! Man, I just can't say it enough: I love the new Jack!

This episode was great narrative-wise. To summarize it, not only did it portray Kate in truly touching, emotional way, it also showed her receiving some honest words from both Sawyer and Kate that I've wanted her to hear for quite some time now. Is it just me or does it seem like all of the characters so far, especially those who returned to the Island, are maturing a lot, or are on the road to a higher level of maturity, as the show nears its end? 5

LOST Theory/Mythology - Holy cow. I have to talk about The Temple!! Could this loss of innocence due to Ben's being taken into The Temple, and I'm guessing to be healed by Jacob, be why he's such a psychopathic freak? Richard said that he "would never be the same again" and that after taking him to heal him he "will always be one of us." Is this why he's so crazy? This could explain a lot, depending on how it plays out...

Beyond that, let's recall some things. We were led to believe earlier this season that Rousseau's team got "infected" and basically went crazy trying to kill her because of, she thought, the monster. But I'm guessing that they went crazy because they went into The Temple, perhaps because they weren't suppoesd to be there or maybe because they were simply too old? I'm not sure yet, but I can't wait to see more on The Temple and Ben's whole "loss of innocence" and what all that means.

We also learned a little more about the leadership of The Hostiles, kind of in passing, however... As Richard was walking off with Ben towards The Temple, a certain Hostile whispered in Richard's ear, saying, "You shouldn't do this without asking Ellie. And if Charles finds out--" but Richard cut him off, saying, "Let him find out. I don't answer to either of them," and then he turned and walked away with Ben into the jungle to The Temple. Huh.

So is Charles the leader of The Hostiles at this point? And what role did Ellie play exactly? It would seem that she at some point becomes more than just a member, sort of like Charles, who we also saw back in the 50's, when Richard was undoubtedly the leader of The Hostiles. So at what point did Richard secede full leadership of the indigenous people of the Island and for what reason?... I do know that little lines like those that are sort of hard to catch the first time around generally always touch on a subject which will be brought up in fuller illumination later, but I enjoyed the reference, and it prompted me to wonder about who is exactly in charge here... Jacob?

Finally, Hurley and Miles shed some more light on LOST viewers' questions regarding time travel on the LOST universe. Sayid always shot Linus. That is what always happened. It's just that Jack, Sawyer, and all them never experienced how it all turns out. All of the events we've seen in LOST in the past already happened but not for the Losties. For them, it's happening right now. The reason why Hurley doesn't remember any of what happened in the past is because when Ben turned the wheel, time isn't a straight line for them anymore. The Losties' experiences in the past and the future occurred before their experiences right now in 1977. Any of them can die, including Miles, for example, because he has already come to the Island on the freighter. This, in 1977, is their present. Ben must live, however, because it is his past. Hurley objects asking why Ben won't remember in the future that Sayid, who will later torture him, is the same man who shot him in 1977. Miles is stumped by this, but I have a theory for you: because of whatever happens to Ben at The Temple, obviously! He won't remember any of this; that's what Richard said!

I dunno... We'll see how all this plays out... 5

BAMF moments - Not much bamf-ness, but such a great episode... Perhaps I should take this category out, but I feel like just rating episodes based upon two categories would be lame... Maybe I'll think of a better, more refined system for next season...

Oh, I will say that the scene with Ben shaking and crap in the sick bay before Kate decided to take him to The Hostiles was pretty intense... 2

Overall Score - (5 + 5 + 2)/(3) = 4