"Namaste" episode review

While "LaFleur" was, in my opinion, concerned with establishing the setting in which I believe the rest of Season 5 will take place, "Namaste" basically seems to set the wheels in motion for the events will unfold throughout the rest of this season.

Initially, I was disappointed with the seeming lack of blow-my-mind moments in this episode but the more I thought about it and after watching it for a second time, I began to like it more and more.

First, some news regarding LOST:

(could possibly be considered "Spoilers" depending on how rigid you are so read at your own risk...)

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First, I understand that there will be two significant deaths before Season 5 is over. One will be a major-ish character (not exactly sure what that means, not gonna lie... lol) but the other has been confirmed to be a major character death.
Here are the facts regarding said death:

1. The character is much-loved by many fans.
2. This is a "real" death (aka, not a John Locke type death) with the character-to-be-killed permanently leaving the show; think a Shannon or a Charlie-type death.
3. It has been confirmed that the dying character will NOT be Evangeline Lilly's Kate Austen.

I would guess that the probable possibilities for this major death are these characters (if you think of someone else, let me know!):
- Ben
- Sawyer
- Sayid
- Daniel
- Miles
- Jin
- Sun
- Juliet
(I would list Jack, but I feel like his role will be hugely prominent in the final season; plus, he's kind of been the main main character since the beginning of the show.)


Second, this piece of information just released on EW.com:
"An ABC insider confirms that LOST will begin filming a wedding ceremony later today that is slated to air during the show's two-hour finale on May 13. Who's getting hitched? Here are a pair of clues: Actors of Asian-American descent are being sought to play extras, and the wedding will take place on the mainland, not the island. That pretty much rules out Jack/Kate or Sawyer/Juliet. "One theory is that it's a flashback to Sun and Jin's wedding," whispers a Lost insider. "But the wild rumor is that Sun and Jin's daughter will marry Aaron in the future."
Nice... How awesome would it be if Aaron and Ji Yeon got married!...crazy... Speculate away!!


Anyway, on to the (hopefully brief) episode recap and then some commentary on specific aspects of the episode which I loved. :)

• First, let's cover what all went down in "Namaste" with the present-time Ajira Airways 316 group. The episode opens with a sequence portraying 316's crash-landing onto a sort of primitive runway on the Alcatraz island, a small island two miles offshore from the main Island which our Losties have become so acquainted with over the course of the show. In the aftermath of the crash, as the crash survivors are trying to determine what to do next and how they ought to best survive, Ben leaves the group in a rather inconspicuous manner, but Sun follows him and Frank follows both of them as well. Sun is under the impression that Jin is on the main Island, which is where Ben is headed, and leads Ben to believe that she's resorted to trusting him just long enough for him to reveal the location of an outrigger canoe which they can use to get over to the other Island, at which point she hits Ben over the head with an oar and knocks him out, leaving him to most likely be discovered and brought to the infirmary with the rest of the injured (where we saw him last in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham").
• Frank and Sun take the outrigger across the two mile expanse of water and make their way to the main Island. It is now nighttime and dark. They land at athe same dock, I believe, which we've frequently seen before in past episodes. Some rustling in the trees proves to be a bit disconcerting but they press on and make their way into the Dharma Initiative barracks area. Waiting there for them is a very ominous Christian Shephard (more so than usual even) who takes them to the Dharma Initiative Processing Center and shows them a framed group picture of recruits into the Dharma Initiative from 1977. Jin, Kate, Jack, and Hurley are all pictured. Christian sums up what's to come for them: " I’m sorry but you’ve got a bit of a journey ahead of you."
• Back in 1977, we left off with Jack, Kate, and Hurley getting out of Jin's Dharma-style van and seeing Sawyer for the first time since on the chopper in Season 4, when Sawyer sacrificially opted to jump ship in order for the chopper to make it back to the Kahana for a re-fuel. After (some very awkward) greetings, Sawyer addresses Jack and co. on the situation regarding the Dharma Initiative and about the time flashes, etc. Jin is also informed that Sun was on a plane returning to the Island.
  
• Sawyer lets Juliet know what's going on and how Jack, Kate, and Hurley have returned. Juliet does her part by making some documentation adjustments -- finding out along the way that Amy and Horace's baby's name is Ethan (!!!) -- allowing the three to appear as new recruits into the Dharma Initiative. The three go through the initiation/registration process at the Processing Center with almost no difficulties.
• Meanwhile, Jin takes off to The Flame where Eric Radzinsky is posted -- yes, the same Radzinsky mentioned in Season 2 who originally worked in The Swan. Jin convinces Radzinsky to check for any plane activity over the Island. None is found, understandably, because the plane, unbeknownst to Jin, landed on the Island in current time (late 2007/early 2008ish, I believe).
• Radzinsky does receive a warning of a tripped motion sensor in the jungle, presumably a wandering Hostile, and Jin runs off ahead of Radzinsky to meet the perpetrator. It turns out to be Sayid, who Jin is forced to apprehend and treat as a Hostile in order to not blow his cover in front of Radzinsky. Sawyer, aka LaFleur, is summoned and he decides, against the wishes and warnings of Radzinsky who contends that they should execute the prisoner and be done with the matter, to move Sayid to a jail cell in one of the Dharma Initiative's barracks buildings.
• Later that night, Jack goes to pay a visit to James, err, Jim LaFleur at his home. Yikes. Jack finds out rather awkwardly that Juliet and Sawyer are apparently together and have been for quite some time. Jack questions what Sawyer's plan of action is, and some amount of conflict begins to resurface just a little. Sawyer is quick to put Jack in his place, however, noting his good now-three-year track record as a leader working under Dharma Initiative. Jack concedes that he's relieved to not have to worry about leading anymore and leaves without too much of a fuss. Outside his door, Sawyer catches a glimpse of Kate pacing back and forth on her patio/porch/doorstep-type deal. :P
• Back to Sayid, a boy comes to see him, delivering something to eat, a sandwich in a bag without mustard. Sayid accepts the offering and strikes up a conversation with the boy, telling him his name, only to realize that the boy's name is Ben. LOST
  

Story/Narrative - This episode is packed with beautiful narrative elements. Let's start with Jack's change. Now, we know that "316" marked the beginning to a new refreshed and revived Jack, one who has embraced his destiny with and on the Island, though he is unaware exactly what that means or will entail. I loved Jack's dialogue with Kate while waiting for Sawyer to figure out what to do with them. Whereas the old Jack would have stressed out about what course of action to take and how the situation ought to best be resolved, when Kate asks "So what are we supposed to do now?" Jack simply responds "I'm not sure yet." Wow. Old Jack would have never been so calm about such a situation. I have a feeling I'm going to like new Jack. :)

Another new Jack instance: While Sawyer might have come off as a bit abrasive in his ownage of Jack, pointing out his strengths in leadership and picking apart Jack's style, noting specifically that a lot of people died, Sawyer did have a point. But wow! Look how Jack responded. He didn't trade punches for long. Aside for the "I got us off the Island" line, Jack took it like a man and, respecting Sawyer's position and where he's coming from. He even went so far as to admit that it was a relief to not be responsible for making all the leadership decisions, though I'm admittedly not quite sure how sincere of a statement that was on Jack's part. Time will tell I suppose...

Along the same lines of Jack, did you notice the nod-of-the-head reference to Ben's father, "Roger WorkMan"? haha Beautiful... Could that have been intentional on Sawyer's part, I wonder? Assigning Jack a janitorial position? Perhaps... Either way, it was a very ironic, amusing little detail.

Throughout the episode, I was constantly creeped out by Phil, a new character introduced in "LaFleur," a Dharma Initiative member who seems to be on to the fact that everything is not quite right surrounding the events of Jack, Kate, and Hurley coming to the Island and apparently knowing Mr. LaFleur a little too well -- "He doesn't like being called James! It's Jim to you!" -- in light of how much time they've allegedly spent on the Island up until this point. I bet we'll see more of Phil later...

Finally, we come to the final scene. Now, while this was admittedly somewhat anti-climactic for an episode-closing scene -- I would have preferred the one with Christian telling Sun and Frank that they have a "bit of a journey" ahead of them -- I believe it's simply setting up next episode. If you watched the "next week on LOST" clip, Sayid's basically going to go crazy. Now. Here are two theories regarding Sayid and Ben's little conversation and what might come to pass as a result of it...
1. Sayid has already relinquished the fact that he would kill Ben the next time he saw him (which, actually, he didn't live up to; that would have been aboard Ajira Airways Flight 316, but whatever...give him a break; he was in handcuffs at the time). He's also very bitter about Ben's manipulating him into knocking off enemies after his wife's untimely death. My guess is that Sayid will escape his prison and attempt to kill Ben, young Ben, which leads me to my second theory...
2. How will Sayid escape? Consider this: By this point, Ben has already talked with Richard out in the jungle beyond the sonar fence and was told to be very patient, that there may, in fact, be an opportunity for him to join The Hostiles at some point in the future. Point being, Ben has, at this point in the game, adopted a partial mindset towards The Hostiles and has most likely mentally sided with them. It'd be crazy if that brown paper bag contained a gun and not a sandwich, but, granted, that's probably a long shot... I could still see Ben freeing Sayid, however, believing him to be a Hostile and trying to save one whom he considers to be a friend.

Let me know what you think regarding this! Who's Sayid gonna go crazy on??

Anyway, all in all, great narrative storytelling. What an episode in this regard! 5

LOST Theory/Mythology - First off, did you notice Sawyer's reference to Faraday? While riding in the van to the barracks, Jack asked "Did you say Faraday? He’s here?" to which Sawyer replied "Not any more." Hmm... I've got a guess about Faraday: I bet Daniel Faraday ahs gone off on his own solo mission to study the true nature and power of the Island in an attempt to "fix" things that have gone wrong, notably in an attempt to save Charlotte's life. This could explain why we saw him in the season premiere at the site of The Orchid as it was being constructed. He was probably trying to observe firsthand the exotic, negatively charged energy which exists in such relatively massive quantities at the site of The Orchid and just on the Island in general, apparently. Moving on, let's talk about Radzinsky. There are some interesting implications regarding him in light of what we saw in this episode. Let's start by saying this: Radzinsky apparently came up with the concept of The Swan or at least was in charge of designing it. He obviously regarded its location as of great importance as well. Consider this, though: How or why would Radzinsky, this man who constructed The Swan, have come to the point where he went crazy because of pushing the button, etc. and decided he had to end it all by blowing his face off with a shotgun? If Kelvin, Desmond's rescuer and initial partner in The Swan, was telling the truth, that's exactly what happened to Radzinsky. That'll be interesting to find out more about (in coming episodes, hopefully!)...

A couple quick side notes... First, Amy and Horace's baby was Ethan, which begs the question: Did Ethan survive The Purge or was he stolen beforehand from The Dharma Initiative or did he simply defect or what? How did Ethan come to be a part of The Others?

Also -- totally called it, btw! yes!! -- Frank did, in fact, land on the runway on the Alcatraz island which Kate and Sawyer were working on in Season 3 while they were prisoners of The Others, being held at The Hydra station. How did it become so complete considering so little work was done by Kate and Sawyer, you might ask? Well, remember this: We don't know how many other Others (<-- lol) were working on the runway as well. Beyond that, the Others could have been working on the runway and completed it in the three years between the Oceanic 6's leaving the Island and Ajira Airways Flight 316 returning to the Island. Who knows what they were up to.

Finally, to end the mythology section, let's take another look at the conversation in the Processing Center between Christian and Sun and Frank. Here's a picture, a close-up of Sun, showing a girl with seemingly reddish hair kneeling down in the shadows in the background of the shot. Check it out...

And here's a video now of the clip, with the linked screenshot above included in real-time. I know, you're gonna think "How did I not spot that when I watched the episode?!" Don't worry about it; I didn't either...
(watch at about 0:28)

Now, while I would say simply by appearance that it has to be Charlotte, it may very well be a hint to Claire's continued companionship with Christian. After all, Emilie de Ravin, the actress who plays Claire, is not being paid as a full cast member this season (they're saving her for Season 6) and therefore may simply have not been able to make a guest appearance, especially considering such small one. I guess we'll see... But either way, what an amazing detail! I hope you enjoyed it. 4

BAMF moments - By way of BAMF moments, again, not much happening. That's two weeks in a row now! Hopefully next week will contain some high-octane action. I will say, though, that Frank's landing of the plane was very bamf. What a stud. He truly is a beautiful pilot, and I can't wait till he grows back his bogusly grizzly beard. :P

Oh, also, the co-pilot got epic owned. That also helped in maintaining this score at an average of three... 3

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