Post-"316" Speculation and Theories

In the wake of this past episode of LOST, "316," I felt like I should post a list of theories and just ideas that have been running through my head. (Some of these theories are continuations/modifications of past theories that I came up with. Please see my "Post-Season 5 Premiere Speculation and Theories" post from back in January.) Here we go:

• Wasn't it bogus how Ben had told Jack that Locke hadn't come to see him, but when Jack found out that Ben had seen Locke off the Island, Ben's response was, "I went to see him." Wow. I have a proposition for you: Matthew Abaddon will not kill Locke, as I previously speculated. Ben's visit to Locke, or Jeremy Bentham, was to express to Locke that he must commit suicide. Once again, Ben will manipulate Locke and, whilst the Island told Locke he would have to die -- "I suppose that's why they call it sacrifice," is what Christian Shephard said -- Ben will use Locke's suicide to aid him in some way, perhaps in his return to the Island. After all, Ben must have a plan of some sort, and we know that his interests don't always match up with those of Jacob.
• Much of Charlotte's history was revealed to us in "This Place Is Death." She says that she remembered Daniel being on the Island when she was a child and described him like this: "...there was this man...a crazy man, he really scared me. And he told me that I had to leave the Island and never ever come back. He told me that if I came back I would die." This may go without saying, but I think that Daniel will go find Charlotte and try -- even though he's said it's impossible before -- to change the future and keep her from dying by telling her to never come back, because he loves her.
• On a somewhat similar note, I have a theory about Charlotte's parents. Her father and mother worked for the Dharma Initiative. Through her random snapshot stories ("Why can't Daddy come with us?" and "I moved away with my mum. Just my mum...and...I never saw my dad again."), it would seem that Ben's childhood playmate Annie -- whose fate we do not know -- was not killed in The Purge. Ben probably got married to her and had a daughter: Charlotte. Annie decided she wanted to leave the Island, though, at some point, fearing for her child's life amidst all the warring between The Hostiles and The Dharma Initiative. She realizes that it's not all just about "scientific research" but that there's more to it. Ben, however, committed to Richard long ago when he was just a child that he would wait for when the moment is right and participate in The Hostiles' Purge, probably being the one to let them in through the sonar fence. His primary motivation to do so was because he wants to be with his mom, who died in giving birth to him but whom he saw late one night out beyond the sonar fence. So, back to the situation: Ben doesn't want to leave but Annie does. Annie decides to leave with little Charlotte, who doesn't understand why her daddy isn't coming too. This is also why Ben likes Juliet so much: "You look just like her," is what Harper told Juliet in explaining Ben's manipulative, controlling tendencies towards her. Juliet probably looks like grown-up Annie.
  
• I have only become further convinced that Miles is the son of Martha and Pierre Chang -- just a side note but keep that in mind. ;)
  
• In "316," we find out that the Dharma Initiative found The Island through the use of the Dharma Lamp Post station and specifically the Foucalt pendulum. I'm willing to guess that Horace Goodspeed was the creator of the swinging pendulum in The Lamp Post station. Ms. Hawking described the man who built it as a "very clever fellow," and it would appear that Horace is ageless just like Richard from what we've seen of him. This, to me, means that he is probably extremely important; we just don't know it or understand the extent of his importance yet.
  
• I know that Jack, Hurley, and Kate at least seemingly "woke up" on the Island; however, this leads me to questions: "What happened to the actual plane?" Perhaps the plane landed on the runway that Kate and Sawyer worked on during their stay on the Alcatraz island as prisoners of The Others? This could explain why the canoes with the Ajira Airways water bottle were found at the Losties former camp: they had to canoe over to the main Island from the smaller Alcatraz island.
  
• I'm guessing that whoever Matthew Abaddon is working for and whatever his motive is, the two new characters we saw in "316," Ilana and Caesar, work for the same person and have the same motive. I'm guessing that they're a part of modern-day Dharma Initiative people who are off the Island, the people behind the scenes who actually realized that the Island was not only being used for scientific research but understood its true significance. Perhaps Matthew Abaddon is even the leader? I do not think that Abaddon is working for Widmore. Perhaps Abaddon is the "economist" who Sayid was tasked with killing by Ben while he worked for him off the Island after their rescue and Sayid's wife Nadia's subsequent death?
• I'm guessing that the group on the canoe that shot at Locke and company before the jump to the storm the night of Rousseau's arrival at the Island was probably Ilana and Caesar and perhaps others associated with them.
• It would seem that the Island is now (perhaps somewhat permanently) locked into Dharma Initiative time, sometime in the 80's maybe? I bet Daniel will warn the Dharma Initiative of the tragedy that is going to befall them in the form of The Purge and will see whether or not he can change the future.
• It would seem that Ben set out to stick to his word and kill Widmore's daughter, Penny, as revenge for Widmore killing his "adopted" daughter Alex. I think that Desmond will try to stop Ben and that Ben will try to kill Desmond but will not be able to because, just as Ms. Hawking said, The Island is not done with Desmond. So then, I'm guessing Ben will abandon his mission of killing Penny and instead will recognize the importance of Desmond's return to the Island and therefore take him to the plane and have him stowed away somewhere on it.

That's all. No fancy theories about what happened with/to Aaron to change Kate's mind and make her willing to go back.

I may have forgot something, in which case I'll add it and bring it to your attention.

But PLEASE! feel free to comment!! Correct me! Pick my brain! Suggest an alternate explanation! Get involved. :)

"316" episode review

Wow. Truly epic episode. Loved every bit of it.

I have to confess that as Season 3 of LOST slowly developed, I began to notice something, or rather a lack of something, something that I miss and have continued to miss through Season 4 and Season 5: conversations, in all actuality more like monologues on the part of the speaker, blatantly based off some historical figure(s) or something of that nature. I'm talking about Locke telling Boone about Michelangelo's unappreciative father and his creation of the Statue of David. I'm talking about Locke's amazing (albeit fictional) story of Ernest Hemingway's jealousy of Fyodor Dostoevsky. These stories always seemed to highlight something that was happening at that very moment in the plot and/or character development of the show and were just plain awesome. They provided for some interesting storytelling within the story that simply allowed the show to slow down and cause viewers to ponder the principles or questions where prompted by said stories.

These stories were sort of, err, "lost" I felt as we got further into Season 3 and had largely disappeared with the blisteringly fast pace of Season 4. Now, don't get me wrong, Season 4 is perhaps my absolute favorite season of LOST (maybe...), and I can understand considering the writer's strike and the short season length, but still, I miss those slow "story" moments.

Arguably my favorite part about last week's episode? IT HAD ONE, and a good one at that.

...Oh, and let me apologize by saying that last week I noted the importance of "316" succeeding "This Place Is Death" when "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was originally planned to succeed "This Place Is Death." Let me correct myself by saying that the real significance in the order of "316" and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" being switched is that we got to see the events taking place in "316" before the events which will take place in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." I sort of got my interpretation wrong there, and I apologize.

Anywho, on to the episode synopsis!

• Jack wakes up lying in the middle of a jungle -- a scene intentionally shot eerily similar to LOST's opening pilot sequence, the first scene of the entire show. If you hadn't already guessed it, it's obvious that this is a scene depicting Jack's return to the Island when you realize how alert and unphased he is by the situation and his surroundings. Jack hears a drowning, hyperventilating Hurley yelling for help and discovers him splashing crazily in a pool of water probably more than fifty feet down from the waterfall at the top of which Jack is standing. Jack dives down to Hurley's rescue (obvious bamf moment on the part of the LOST co-producers) and helps him calm down. He then rushes to Kate's unconscious side and tenderly wakes her up. Kate's first words almost are "Are we...?" and before she can finish her statement, in pipes Jack, "Yeah. We're back." Great opening scene.
• Forty-six hours earlier, we come to where we left off with our beloved Losties off-Island. Ms. Hawking's dialogue with Ben -- you know, the whole "I thought I said all of them" bit -- is repeated but this time the scene continues with Ms. Hawking taking the group down into her "secret lab" which we saw before, now revealed to be "The Lamp Post," an off-Island Dharma Initiative station used by the Dharma Initiative to find the Island initially! (...on the assumption of Ms. Hawking's integrity) Ms. Hawking explains that the Dharma Initiative devised the technology to find the Island because they realized that without it, they would have no chance of finding the Island because it is constantly moving. She explains that they have 36 hours to get on a certain plane -- Ajira Airways Flight 316 -- if they hope to get back to the Island in the small "window of time" opportunity that they have.
• All this nonsense about the Island and the whole Foucalt pendulum deal pushes Desmond over the edge, who emphatically expresses his anger with the entire situation and leaves, warning Jack not to get mixed up in all of it. Ms. Hawking takes Jack to her private study or something of that nature, alone, and tells him that in order for them to get back to the Island, things must be as close to the original crash as possible in terms of similarity. In addition, she gives Jack John Locke's suicide note, which Locke apparently wrote for Jack specifically. She tells Jack that this is John Locke's purpose with it all: He is to serve as a sort of proxy for Jack's dead father in the original crash. Because of this, Ms. Hawking tells Jack that she has to find something that belonged to his father and give it to John Locke in the coffin. Jack has (finally -- we were waiting for it) grown upset with all the "ridiculous" mumbo-jumbo that Ms. Hawking has been rambling on about. I love her response to his protests of logical and tangible truth: "Oh stop thinking how ridiculous it is and start asking yourself whether or not you believe it is going to work. That's why it is called a leap of faith Jack." BEAUTIFUL.
• Jack leaves Ms. Hawking's study and finds Ben in the church's auditorium. Jack asks Ben about Ms. Hawking and how she knows all the stuff about the Island and the Dharma Initiative, etc. that she does. Ben ignores Jack's questions and instead (YES! This is the story part!!) points out to a Jack a painting of the apostles crowded around the risen Messiah in wonder and Thomas feeling Jesus' wounds. Ben tells Jack how Thomas the apostle had every intention of dying with Jesus when they found out about Jesus' intentions to go there, knowing he would be killed. Instead, though, Thomas is not remembered for his bravery but for doubting Jesus' resurrection, hence the title "Doubting Thomas." Ben ends the story with a cutting statement: "He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. The story goes that he needed to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced," to which Jack responds, "So was he?" Ben's answer? "Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later Jack." Amazing. LOST's own "Man of Science" is slowly being transformed into his arch-enemy Locke's "Man of Faith." LOVE IT.
• Jack leaves and the next day gets a call from his grandfather's nursing home, telling him that (apparently again) Jack's grandfather has tried to run away from the nursing home. Jack goes to see Granddad Ray and skillfully manages to acquire a pair of his father Christian Shephard's shoes -- Jack has found that "thing" which he can use with Locke to mimic the original flight.
• As Jack returns home, he notices that something isn't quite right. A quick survey of the house reveals that someone had been sleeping/waiting for him...in his bed... You guessed it! Kate. She's obviously been crying and she asks Jack if he still plans on going back to the Island. Jack tells her yes, he does, and she says that she's going to go with him. Jack asks what about Aaron, and Kate tells Jack that if he wants her to go back with him, he can never ask about Aaron again. Yikes. Jack concedes and Kate proceeds to thank him...and no, not just verbally either.
• The morning after, Jack receives a phone call from a battered and bruised Ben who tells Jack that he has to go to the butchery and get Locke's body from Jill, the woman who Ben left in charge with the coffin. Jack heads over there and has a conversation with Locke and puts his father's pair of shoes on him. He gives Locke the note back, too, placing it in his jacket lapel. Jack doesn't want to read it: " I've already heard everything you had to say John. You wanted me to go back, I'm going back." He then ends the "conversation" with a simple three-word farewell that must have been so hard for him to say: "Rest in peace."
• At the airport, Jack clears Locke's body onto the plane with the Ajira Airways counter attendant (the questions asked by the counter attendant are reminiscent of Jack's difficulties with the Oceanic Flight 815 counter attendant when he was trying to get his father's body on the plane). Sun and Kate are also there at the airport. We then see Sayid, as well, seemingly being escorted in handcuffs by a strange woman. In the waiting area for Ajira Airways Flight 316, Hurley is reading a Spanish comic book. Yet another similarity to the original Oceanic Flight 815 ordeal. Hurley buys up all the remaining seats on the plane, hoping to save as many lives as he possibly can, unsure of what will happen to the people on the plane who aren't meant to go back to the Island.
• On the plane, Ben boards, a little late, complete with bruised, scathed face as well as slinged arm. Hurley freaks out but Jack manages to get him to sit back in his seat and calm down, which, Hurley's seat, by the way, is next to a menacing-looking man. It is probable that Sayid's relationship to the woman under which he is in custody is similar to that of Hurley's relationship to this man. Who are these people??!
• Jack realizes that good ol' chopper pilot Frank Lapidus is the pilot of the plane. Jack requests that he speak to the pilot, Frank, and the flight attendant allows the meeting to take place and gets Frank from the cockpit. A very clean-shaven Frank almost immediately makes the connection: "Wait a second... We're not going to Guam, are we?" haha Poor Lapidus... *sigh*
• Jack is nervously sitting in his seat, anticipating the crash or landing or however they're apparently going to get to the Island. Ben on the other hand is quietly and contentedly reading a copy of "Ulysses." Jack inquires as to how Ben can be so calm to which Ben responds that it's better than what Jack's doing. True. Jack asks Ben if he knew how Locke died. Ben says he doesn't and Jack tells him. Jack continues to show Ben the suicide note which somehow made it back into Jack's pocket and tells him that it's like "John needs [him] to read it." Ben asks Jack why he doesn't read it then. With no response Ben asks Jack if it's because he's afraid. Jack asks what of to which Ben replies, "Afraid that he blames you. That it's your fault that he killed himself." Jack asks Ben if it was his fault and Ben simply responds: "No Jack it wasn't your fault. Let me give you some privacy." Alone, Jack opens the note and reads it. "Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL". Wow. Amazing.
• The plane begins to shake; it has hit turbulence. The fasten your seat belt sign turns on and there is a flash of bright light. Now we recover from the bright light to the opening scene of the episode with Jack waking up much like he did in the first scene of the show in the jungle. A quick recap of Jack saving Hurley and finding Kate is shown and then something new happens: There's the sound of a vehicle pulling up near to where Jack, Kate, and Hurley are. A Dharma van much like the one Ben's father "Roger, Work Man" drove pulls around the corner and Jin hops out, aiming a rifle at the survivors. A sudden look of surprise comes over his face. LOST

Story/Narrative - I loved the conversations between Jack and Ben. Priceless. I really can't wait to see what all happened with John Locke off the Island before his apparent suicide.

On another hand, all the many, little similarities between Oceanic Flight 815 and Ajira Airways Flight 316 were incredibly interesting. I'm sure there are lots more that I neglected to mention in my plot summary. I'll have to re-watch the Pilot!! ;)

Oh, and Jack's dive from the waterfall after Hurley, in my opinion, represented a lot! But I'm going to cover it in the "BAMF moments section" because let's face it, it was a very bamf dive. 5

Lost Theory/Mythology - So the Dharma Initiative found the Island by building that Lamp Post station. And they knew it existed because of proof they had found; they just didn't know where it was. Ms. Hawking speaks of a "very clever fellow" who built the swinging pendulum "on the theoretical notion that they should stop looking for where the Island was supposed to be and start looking for where it was going to be." Hmm...

Also, of GREAT importance to the mythology behind the history of the Island and its discovery. A certain picture distracts Jack. It appears to be a picture of the Island and, at the bottom of the picture, it reads: "9/23/1954 – U.S. ARMY – OP 264 – TOP SECRET – EYES ONLY." Nice...

Desmond's purpose in relation to the Island is not over with yet, according to Ms. Hawking. And she was the one who predicted his future with the hatch and the button, as we saw in Season 3. After all, she was the one who convinced him to break up with Penny in the first place! What are her motives?... 5

BAMF moments - Jack's dive symbolizes so much. Consider Jack off the Island. Ever since he left, practically, Jack has been a whiny bitch about having to go back to the Island, etc. No discredit to him because it's obviously important to his destiny that he be there, but still, we're all sick of whiny, mopy Jack and have been waiting for heroic, leader Jack to come back. With this dive, Jack assumes this role, and you can tell: this time, I doubt it'll be hard for Jack to accept his leadership position. On a separate note, I believe this dive symbolized a baptism of sorts representing Jack's slow shift from Man of Science of Man of Faith, which I believe will be the main focus of his character's development for the remainder of the show.

As far as actual fighting-esque action goes, this episode was pretty devoid of it, which makes me think that I should re-think my rating style...because this episode was definitely every bit as good as last week's, if not better, but unfortunately it's going to receive a worse review number-wise from me... :/ 3

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

"This Place Is Death" episode review

(Let me begin by saying that I freaking LOVED this episode!!! Back to the review, though...)

Wow... Things really got moving with this episode of LOST as almost no time is wasted before you jump right into the fray.
...
Ha-ha!
(Just in case you didn't catch that, that was a joke...the LOST Season 5 promo music video featured a song by The Fray, which was "just pure crap," to quote Ron Howard...)

This episode was originally meant to be succeeded by "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," which was actually written at the same time as what has now been decided to be next week's episode: "316." Damon Lindelof chose this switch because he thought that it would be "cool." Bastard... That probably, in all reality, really translates to something of the nature of "We know that by switching around these episodes, you won't understand the big picture of the pair until you see the second. In other words, we want to screw with your mind -- that's right: even more." Bogus!

Anyway, here's a recap of "This Place Is Death."

• The ominous business-tycoon-yet-loving-mother Sun gets a call from her daughter Ji Yeon while she brandishes her new 9mm "toy." We finally get a glimpse of the "Three Years Later" Korean mama in action and wow -- what a contrast between her motherly sweet-talking and her previously exhibited lethal sense of foreboding.
• Sun gets out of the car, leaving Aaron to twiddle his thumbs in the backseat, and approaches Ben and company, expressing her clear intentions to kill Ben then and there. But, if you know anything about Ben, he's rarely surprised -- in fact, the only time I think I honestly have seen him surprised is when his poor not-technically-biological-daughter Alex was shot by the Kahana's head mercenary Keamy -- and surely enough, Ben has leverage. Ben reveals to Sun that her husband Jin is very much alive and on the Island. Sun, obviously floored by this statement, was of the impression that Jin was dead and was seeking revenge on Ben for her husband's death. She demands proof, and you and I can only help but think: "Ben wins again..." Sun leaves reluctantly with Jack and Ben to go see this "proof" that Ben claims he has. Unfortunately, Sayid and Kate bolt, both perfectly certain that they will absolutely NOT get involved in another one of Ben's schemes, especially one regarding going back to the Island.
  
• Ben takes Sun and Jack to a church -- yes, the same church as the one with the underground science lab of Ms. Hawking's and the creepy candelit room above -- where he has Jin's wedding ring. Sun is truly touched...and wants answers. Don't forget our old friend Desmond though. Des also arrives at the same church in search of Daniel Faraday's mother. The group heads inside and corporately meets a very disappointed Ms. Hawking who expresses her dissatisfaction with not all of the Oceanic 6 being there, at which point I thought "C'mon! Cut Ben a little slack. Hurley is a nutcase, after all..."
• Back on the Island, if you remember, Jin was united with Rousseau's 1988 science team. Pestered with more questions, Jin finally works out a truce, if you will, to try and find the radio tower on the Island where the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) are being broadcasted on a loop. (We know from non-canonical Lost info that this continuous broadcast was set up by the Dharma Initiative.)
• One of the French team members seemingly disappears on the way to the radio tower, much to the frustration of Montand, the obvious head honcho of the science team, who demonstrates verbally on more than one occasion that he is not afraid to assert his authority. Jin warns the group that it's time to go, simply saying, "monster." The group is not necessarily convinced but becomes dreadfully aware of the reason behind Jin's avid warnings when Smokey attacks Montand and drags him through the jungle to a hole which leads underground to some sort of tunnel which apparently leads to some sort of temple, covered in hieroglyphics and just sitting there in the middle of the jungle. The group tries to save Montand but fails to save, err, all of him; instead, they end up with just his arm. Nice...
• The rest of the group wants to head into the tunnel after Montand to try and save him. Jin insists that Danielle does not, citing the importance of her child's welfare, who she is probably somewhere around 7 months pregnant with (assuming she carried the baby for a typical 9 month term). Danielle relents but the rest of the group heads into the hole after Montand. There's a time flash and Jin jumps forward in time two months. Jin comes to the beach and notices the three other French science team members' bodies lying dead on the sand, decorated with bullet wounds to the head and chest if I recall correctly. He then witnesses a defensive, scared yet determined Danielle Rousseau holding her husband Robert at gunpoint. She claims that he has not been the same since he and the rest of the team went after Montand into the temple and that he, like the others, was infected. Robert convinces his wife to stand down and then makes his move, aiming his rifle at her and without any sense of hesitation squeezing the trigger. Unfortunately for him, she had removed the firing pin, though. He tries to protest his case but a reassured Rousseau this time has no trouble in pulling the trigger, downing her "sick" husband. She notices Jin, who apparently watched the action unfold and takes a few shots at him as well, chasing him into the jungle. Luckily for Jin, there's a time jump. In the new time, a still very confused Jin is held at gunpoint by a familiar voice from behind him: Sawyer.
• Jin joins the group with Daniel, Charlotte, Juliet, and Locke, etc. which is headed to The Orchid station in order to try and fix the time travel problem where it seems to have started. Locke believes that there he can find a way to leave the Island and bring back the Oceanic 6. More time jumps occur on the way, and Charlotte becomes so sickly that the group has to stop. Daniel chooses to stay behind with her so the rest of the group can move on towards their objective. Before Locke and co. leave, though, Charlotte tells Locke to look for a well if The Orchid station isn't there.
• With Daniel at her side, Charlotte has reached the point where she is jumping from one point in time to another, rather rapidly. Charlotte does manage to reveal to Daniel that she was born on the Island and that her mother left the Island, taking her with her at a very young age. Thereafter, whenever Charlotte would remember living on the Island and would ask her mom about it, her mother would simply dismiss it as a figment of her imagination. Charlotte even remembers that there was a man on the Island who warned her before she left to never come back to the Island or she would die; she believes that this man was Daniel. Unfortunately, Charlotte dies soon after, much to the dismay and sorrow of Daniel. Tough stuff...
• Locke and the rest reach The Orchid and find the well, just as Charlotte described it. Jin makes Locke promise to tell Sun that he died on the Island and gives Locke his wedding ring as proof; Jin doesn't want Sun to come back to the Island with their child in search of him. Locke takes the rope heading down into the well and begins to descend to the bottom. Unfortunately, there's a time jump and Locke falls from the rope and severely injures his leg. He lands in an underground cavern, the same one that Ben went through to turn the wheel in the Season 4 finale. Jack's dead father Christian Shephard approaches Locke, complete with creepy shadow-casting lantern. He reprimands Locke for ever relying on Ben and for trusting him. He explains to Locke that he has to get those who left the Island together and bring them to Eloise Hawking (aka Ms. Hawking). Locke asks about Richard's statement that he would have to die, and Christian Shephard merely replies, "That's why they call it a sacrifice." He tells Locke that he told him to move the Island, not Ben, and instructs him to turn the wheel, which is basically spazzing out at this point, and set it back on its axis. As a flash occurs, Christian asks Locke to say hello to his son. Locke inquires as to who his son is but it's too late... LOST
  

Story/Narrative - First of all, I loved Desmond's look of surprise as he saw the group consisting of Ben, Sun, and Jack at the same church that he was sent to. Beautiful. I can't help but think about Ben's promise to Widmore, that he would kill Widmore's daughter Penny, Desmond's wife, just as Widmore killed Ben's "daughter" Alex. I also can't help but take that thought further and imagine that Ben is already contemplating in the back of his mind how he'll get to Penny and exact his revenge. Damn it... I love Desmond and Penny. At least Ben is preoccupied for now and has seemingly more important matters to intend to...

Ben is still driving that darn Canton-Rainier van, which, as you may already know, is an anagram for "Reincarnation." In other words, the letters in the title Canton-Rainier can be rearranged to spell "Reincarnation," most likely signifying Locke's probable resurrection on his return to the Island.

Finally, I love the comparison and contrast between Locke and Ben. Locke is specifically thanked by Juliet for his sacrifice and dedication for trying to save the rest of them from certain, imminent death. On the other hand, Ben loses it and protests his own case to Sun and Jack, expressing the extreme amount of trouble he has had to go through to keep them all safe. A definite comparison between the two is drawn at the same time, however. Locke and Ben both, on their descension to the icy chamber housing the frozen wheel, injure their legs in a fall on the way down. Nice. The LOST producers truly are amazing. 5

Lost Theory/Mythology - The smoke monster struck again and, as consistent with its previous appearances, something new was revealed about it: Its apparent place of residence is The Temple. Furthermore, being a "security system" to protect the Island, Smokey seems to really be protecting The Temple..?..maybe? Finally, whatever is in The Temple, or perhaps just Smokey, is inflicting intruders with a "sickness" which makes them lose enough of a grip on reality to want to kill their own soul-mates, a la Robert. Crazy... Learning more about how Rousseau's team was "infected" and them getting "sick" and what that looked like was incredibly fulfilling and left me wanting to see more of Rousseau's past firsthand. This was incredibly refreshing and revealing storytelling.

As seen on the Blast Door Map in The Swan, the original "Hatch," the smoke monster again tries to drag one of its victims, like it did to John Locke in Season 1, down into a hole, which are probably what Radzinsky labeled on the Blast Door Map as "Cerberus Vents." "Cerberus" is the name which Radzinsky appropriated to the monster, who we belovedly know to as Smokey.

By the way, was this temple that we saw the same "Temple" that Ben sent his people, The Others, to for the end of Season 3 and practically the entirety of Season 4? I think it is, but we'll see...

Finally, with Locke and Christian Shephard's conversation, we again are shed more light on the apparently dissatisfactory situation that involved Ben being the leader of the Others and somewhat controlling Jacob while he had power. If you recall, the only thing Jacob has directly said in his own voice was to Locke in Season 3: "Help me." And if you recall, a sort of restraining soot encircled Jacob's cabin. When Locke noticed it in his first encounter with the cabin, Ben hurried him on, telling him to pay no attention to it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that Jacob is that better of an alternative to Ben. With Jacob free to do as he pleases, considering Locke accepts his word as the proverbial Gospel truth, who knows what will happen on the Island and what that will mean for our beloved Losties. :/ 5

BAMF moments - Smokey strikes again! It had been too long, honestly... Beyond that, Montand lost his freaking arm!! I mean, c'mon!!!! Also, the scene involving Rousseau and Robert was super epic. From Robert's grand act and Rousseau's subsequent resolve to kill her "sick" husband, it was just intense all-around. 5

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

"The Little Prince" episode review

"The Little Prince" faced quite the challenge of keeping up the intensity and momentum that has constituted LOST's fifth season up until this point after last week's episode, "Jughead," but did so wonderfully and provided some great storytelling, revealed something HUGE -- that's two week's in a row, with last week's revelation being Widmore's past as an Other on the Island -- and even introduced what I'm sure will be a factor later in this season...

A small order of business to attend to here: Are the episode recaps a good thing or are they needless clutter, in your opinion? I'm sure it depends somewhat just on how much you all individually have watched and continue to watch the show and how much you pay attention to the details when you watch it... But let me know via the comment option at the bottom of this blog post if the episode recaps are good or bad in your opinion. I'm considering scratching them and just formally writing about the episode and then rating the given episode in the three categories I chose already: Story/Narrative, Lost Theory/Mythology, and BAMF moments.

Anywho, here's the recap:

• The episode opens with a flashback, if you will (I know all this may start to be getting confusing to you), of Kate and Jack on Penny's boat, the Searcher, following their rescue after the chopper crash into the ocean. Kate convinces Jack that she must take custody of Aaron and pose as his mother. Unfortunately, this scene is somewhat ruined by the only real cheesy line in the entire episode's screenplay -- "I have always been with you." LAME. And it's not like Evangeline Lilly didn't deliver it well as Kate, either. On the contrary, the emotion in her voice supported her genuine feelings in making such a statement and reflected Kate's character completely; it was just a really gay line... But hey, at least they got the one bad line over with at the very beginning of the episode so we could forget about it amidst the turmoil that made up the rest of "The Little Prince."
• The proverbial shit has hit the fan back in the States with our loved off-Island characters. Kate leaves Aaron with Sun, who has convinced her that she needs to confront the attorney, Dan Norton, who wants to conduct a maternity test on Kate to determine her relationship, or lack thereof, to Aaron.
• Back at the hospital, Ben has come and met up with Jack and Sayid, who has finally come around full circle it seems, and just in time: A man posing as an orderly armed with another of those horse-tranquilizer-filled dart guns attacks him, but, of course, fails to phase Sayid in the least and just ends up hurting. In his pocket, Sayid finds Kate's Los Angeles home address and Ben, Jack, and Sayid surmise that she was the next target. The three decide to split up -- Jack will find Kate and warn her about the threat, and Ben and Sayid will head to the prison where Hurley is being held after his arrest in "The Lie." (Btw, seeing Hurley in an orange prison jumpsuit was probably the funniest thing ever...mainly just because it was Hurley.)
• Kate tries to strike a deal with mysterious attorney Norton. She will allow his client to have a blood sample from her and Aaron if only she can know his identity. Norton lets Kate know that she's in no position to be negotiating a bargain but says that he'll pass the offer on when he goes to meet with his client later that afternoon. Kate waits outside Norton's office until she sees him leaving in his car, at which point Jack has come to warn her about the possible threat on her life. Jack hops in and the two head off, tracking Norton in hopes of finding out the client. It would appear that he leads them right back to his hole when we see Carole Littleton -- Claire's mom -- standing in a hotel doorway, talking to Mr. Norton. And everyone mutters: "Oh yeeeaahhh..." But wait! Jack heads in after Norton leaves to ask Carole why she's being so persistent and almost lets the cat out of the bag but realizes that she has absolutely no idea what Jack's talking about; she came to Los Angeles to collect her check from Oceanic due to her finalizing a settlement with them.
• Meanwhile, Norton leaves Mrs. Littleton's hotel room and meets with Ben. Ben reveals the identity of Norton to Sayid, saying, "That's my lawyer," in a total deadpan tone of voice that only Ben could deliver. Beautiful. Ben is a douche, and an awesome one at that. Norton tells Ben that he's confident that he can have Hugo "Hurley" Reyes released from prison first thing in the morning.
• Ben and Sayid come and meet up with Jack and Kate, and, just as everyone was afraid of, Kate was not happy to see Ben. Not in the least. When Ben doesn't deny that he was the one sicking Lawyer Norton on her, she's even less amused. And, as if the situation wasn't already heated enough, Sun is shown secretly watching the entire conversation unfold from the driver's seat of her car, with innocent Aaron sitting in the backseat. Yeah, she has a gun. How is this going to turn out well?
• Back on the Island, things are still happening, too! Don't forget, Daniel Faraday and company are trying to make sense of their surroundings and find a way to put a stop to the Island's time-jumping tendencies, which are starting to have a real negative effect on the group. Charlotte finally wakes up, much to the relief of a very worry-stricken Dan. The group heads off to The Orchid station at the suggestion of Locke, who believes that there best chance in finding a way to restore the Island to the present time lies there. The group begins to head back to their campsite to use the Zodiac raft to travel around the Island and get to The Orchid station quicker.
• There's a time jump, and it turns out to be the night of November 1st, 2004 -- the night that Claire gave birth to Aaron and also, let's not forget, the night that Boone died. Sawyer sees Claire in the jungle, giving birth to Aaron, and Kate helping deliver the baby. Sick moment. Loved it.
• Miles gets a bloody nose, too. Yikes. He takes Daniel aside from the rest of the group and tells him discreetly, not wanting to alert the others. Locke needs to die. Quick.
• There's yet another jump, this one in the future, and the group finds a canoe which they use instead of the non-present Zodiac raft to paddle around the Island. They are attacked by another canoe full of unknown assailants and, fortunately, there's another time jump. Unfortunately, though, they jump into a ridiculous storm.
• Another group is shown weathering the vicious storm: stranded, insane French woman Danielle Rousseau and "her team," which she so often referred to while she was still alive. We know from what Rousseau told the Losties in previous seasons that she and her team were conducting scientific research and were traveling on their boat when it crashed in the middle of a huge storm. Apparently, they took the emergency raft and began to head towards the Island. But wait! We see a man laying motionless on a piece of wooden ship wreckage. The French researchers pull him into their boat, to safety. And it's most definitely Jin. He's not dead. But he's extremely disoriented and in bad shape. The group lands on the Island and immediately questions the man who LOST viewers were so torn down the middle as to his fate: dead or alive. The end. LOST.

Story/Narrative - This story was told incredibly well and was even slowed down a bit, too, which was a nice refreshing change of pace. First, I think it was interesting to see in the opening scene of the episode how, in spite of everything, Kate and Jack still foster something of a scarred relationship, which is somehow understood by both parties to be on the backburner for time being. We know that after this, Jack and Kate did get back together and that problems from their past drove them apart and (partially) drove Jack into his pill-popping downer period. I can't imagine they'll end up together. I don't feel like the show is continuing to lead us down that path. One thing's for sure, though: Their relationship is far from over, and I can't wait to see how it progresses.

Another tidbit that I enjoyed was the misdirection with Claire's mom. It's not enough that the Lost co-producers deliberately deceive their audiences in such a matter. Now, don't get me wrong, they mislead their audiences a lot. But this -- this was just a blatant "Hey look, it's Claire's mom and that makes so much sense that she would want to find out if Aaron's, in fact, her grandson!" It was so obvious. And then we find out that that wasn't the case. It seemed like a waste of a scene, when Jack confronted Carole Littleton, but I think it was yet another reminder from the co-producers that not everything in this show is as it may seem right now. We, the viewers, should not be taking everything for face value.

Next -- true, this bit is a bit obvious -- I think it's interesting that the dart guys seem to have no intention of killing anyone they assault. Perhaps they just want to speak to the Oceanic 6 individuals and find out if the "rest" are "still alive." Remind you of anyone? Matthew Abaddon, maybe? He confronted Hurley during his stay at the mental institution, posing as an Oceanic representative. We don't know Matthew Abaddon's true intentions yet, but I'd be willing to bet that as the show nears its end, he will become a bigger and bigger player in the story.

Finally, I loved all conversations involving Sawyer. Locke talking with Sawyer about how he wouldn't go back and warn his past self because he recognizes that he needed that pain to come to the point where he is now as a person. Sawyer adopting the same mindset in telling Juliet that "what's done is done." Nice. Oh, and as a side note, I loved the look on Locke's face when he sees the light from the hatch shine in the air. I loved even more his explanation to Sawyer: "The night that Boone died I went out there and started pounding on it as hard as I could. I was...confused...scared. Babbling like an idiot, asking, why was all this happening to me? . . . Light came on, shot up into the sky. At the time, I thought it meant something." Sawyer: "Did it?" Locke: "No. It was just a light." Amazing. The narrative of this episode was something of beauty.5

Lost Theory/Mythology - In the first scene of the Season 5 premiere of LOST, entitled "Because You Left," we see a very concerned and distracted Daniel Faraday amongst a constuction team, excavating what will become the real meat of what makes up The Orchid station. I don't think he's ageless. Rather, consider this: Daniel, Locke, and the group are heading to The Orchid station right now. Perhaps there will be a time jump and Daniel will realize a prime opportunity to learn more about the Island and its power(s) and experience it firsthand. If this doesn't happen, I'd be willing to bet that Locke will turn the same wheel that Ben did in the Season 4 premiere and in so doing, will end up off of the Island and will mark the beginning of his series of visits to the old Losties, trying to convince them to go back to the Island.

Daniel Faraday provided some interesting information: The longer you've been on the Island, the more susceptible you are to a bloody nose. He described the cause of said nosebleeds and hemorrhaging as "neurological. Our brains have an internal clock, a sense of time. The flashes...throw the clock off. It's like really bad jet lag."

Look to see more on the mysteriously ominous "Ajira Airways" in the future episodes of this season. Juliet described the company as an airline out of India which has flights across the entire planet. She's the only one who seems to know anything about them, but I'm guessing that the assailants who shot at our Losties on the canoe were part of an Ajira Aiways on-Island crew who, after they noticed one of their canoes was gone, pursued the thieves. Who knows how they got there or for what purpose. Perhaps Ben will bring the Oceanic 6 back to the Island through Ajira Airways.

And, on what is purely a side note, I can't wait to hopefully see more as to what will happen with Rousseau and her team. There better not be another damned time jump for a while. I really can't wait to see how "Montand lost his arm," to quote Rousseau's own words in the Season 1 finale, as the Losties trekked through the "Dark Territory" to get dynamite from the Black Rock. Also, if you didn't notice, Rousseau and her team hear the transmission of the numbers -- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 -- on their radio when they first land on the Island, just like Rousseau said they did. Awesome. 5

BAMF moments - Nice little fight scene with Sayid kicking yet some more "Tranq Goon" (to borrow a title given by EW's Doc Jensen) butt. Always good. The unidentified assailants attacking Locke and company on the canoe provided for a nice shot of action, short lived as it was. 4

Overall Score - (5 + 5 + 4)/(3) = 4.67