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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Episode 405 - "The Constant" For Us Is Confusion

Desmond and Penny finally connect! We finally meet Minkowski (if only briefly before his unfortunate demise)!! And teases of answers to questions we've long been asking!!! All this and more in last night's episode, "The Constant."

Foreword
For the second week in a row, my recap veers off my usual off-island first/ on-island second format. Last week I reversed the order; this week, I combine the two into one stream-of-consciousness passage, as "The Constant" seems to require. The story, a uniquely linear narrative that nevertheless bounces back and forth through time, seems to owe a great deal of literary debt to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 (strangely, not a book I recall seeing on Lost - and, yes, I thought of this before reading Doc Jensen's recap on ew.com). So, without further ado, on with the recap of the latest Desmond-centric episode...

Last week we were left with Jack questioning why they had not yet heard from the helicopter. This week, we open with Frank, still piloting Sayid and Desmond out to see. Sayid sees Frank refer to a "cheat sheet" given to him by Daniel, and wonders why he does not know where the boat is?
He also wonders why they're flying directly into a thunderhead. Desmond, clutching the picture of Penny, says he expects to find answers on the boat. As they enter the cloud, the chopper slips a bit off its bearing ...

...and suddenly Desmond is back in the army. He tells his drill sargeant he is late to wake up because of a dream - of the helicopter, in the storm....and suddenly he flashes back to chopper, but now he's disoriented and frightened, and doesn't know who Sayid is, or how Sayid knows his name.

Meanwhile, on the beach, morning has come and Jack is still worrying about the day that's elapsed since the chopper left. Juliet thinks Charlotte knows more than she's saying because she's not worried. Daniel says, "maybe we should just tell them." Charlotte, patronizingly, warns Daniel not to confuse anyone, but Juliet snarkily suggests that if Daniel speaks slowly, they should be able to follow along.
"Your perception of how long your friends have been gone, it's not necessarily how long they've actually been gone," explains Daniel. When this (shockingly) does nothing to improve Jack's mood, Daniel assures him "it will be fine as long as Frank stays on the bearings I gave him." If not? "There might be some side effects."
Back on the chopper, the freighter, Kahana, comes into view as Sayid wrestles Des to calm him down. Des looks desperately at the picture of Penny. As they land, Sayid preps his gun.

After they land, the helicopter party is greated by two freighterites, Kamy and Omar, who are none too thrilled that Frank brought 815 survivors (well, really just one) to the boat. Keaney insists on taking the increasingly agitated Desmond to sick bay for a doctor to look at him. Desmond shouts "I'm not supposed to be...here?" Suddenly he is back in the army, standing up, while the rest of his squad is still doing crunches as punishment for Desmond's slow wake up. Desmond later tells a buddy what he experienced, and recalls the only familiar aspect of the boat "dream" was the photo of Penny. He goes to call her, drops his change, and when he goes to pick it up... he's back on the boat. Kamy and Omar lead him below deck.They say they left from Fiji, so at least they know they're still in the Pacific. Kamy locks Desmond in a room, where he's greeted by...George Minkowski, strapped to a bunk."it's happening to you, too, isn't it?" asks George, sounding every bit as mad as Desmond appears. And why wouldn't he be? "Minkowski" gets his surname from the physicist who conceptualized that time is really the fourth dimension of space, a concept since referred to as "Minkowski Space-Time." Bear that in mind...

Later on the deck, Sayid sees Omar using binoculars, and Kamy yelling at Frank. Frank joins Sayid and says he doesn't know what's happened to Desmond, but he is trying to help. He trades the phone for Sayid's gun and says the phones only work with each other. They call Daniel, who lets Jack and company know their friends have arrived and asks, oddly enough, if Desmond was recently eposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism. (Purple sky hatch implosion, anyone?) He says some people get confused going to or coming from the island, but this is not amnesia.
In sick bay, Minkowski is locked in a catatonic blank stare, then awakens and tells Des he was just on a ferris wheel. As ship's doctor "Ray" comes in, Minkowski raves that "it's going to happen to everyone, once we start heading to that island again," until Ray injects Minkowski. Ray asks Desmond about the last thing he remembers...
...but Desmond is now back on the base, picking up his dropped change and calling Penny. Still smarting over getting dumped by Des just before he enlisted, she tells him to leave her alone. As he is about to plead that he needs her...
...he's back on the freighter. Sayid and Frank bust in and hand him the phone. Daniel asks where and when desmond thinks he is, and Desmond responds on the British base in 1996. Daniel tells Desmond, when he returns to 1996, get on a train and find him, Daniel Faraday, at Queens College in Oxford.

Daniel then rifles through his bag searching for his journal. He says that Desmond's side effects are unpredictable, a random effect, that sometimes moves an individual a few hours, sometimes days. Daniel tells Desmond to tell 1996 Daniel to set his device to 2.342 (gratuitous mention of the numbers - 23 and 42!), oscillating at 11 herz. If the numbers don't convince past Daniel, Desmond should say he knows about Eloise. Desmond jots these notes on his hand, but they are gone when he finds himself back in the 1996 phone booth. He goes to Oxford, and finds long-haired Daniel Faraday. Daniel, assuming it's a prank, wonders why he would put Desmond through the headache of time travel, and not help him in the future? Des relates the numbers, and says he knows about Eloise, and Daniel relents and takes him to his lab. Desmond asks if he's changing the future by having this discussion. Daniel puts on a radiation vest, which he says Desmond doesn't need because he does not have to worry about prolonged exposure. Eloise, we learn is a rat, who gets put in a maze. Using Desmond's settings, Daniel radiates Eloise with a purple light......and after she briefly goes catatonic (like Minkowski), he releases her into the maze, where she runs directly to the other side. The kicker? Daniel wasn't even going to teach Eloise how to navigate the maze until an hour later. Her mind, it seems, was sent to the future. So...let me get this straight...the purple-tinted radiation can blast your mind through time? And Desmond was at ground zero for such a radiation burst...but despite his prior flashes, it's happening more now? What's going on here? As past Daniel and Desmond contemplate the sketchy knowledge that they end up on some "bloody island"...
...Desmond is suddenly back on the boat. Kamy is pissed for some reason that Frank let Desmond talk to Daniel. Sayid demands to talk to the captain, but he and Desmond are quickly locked in. Desmond desperately wants to get back in Oxford to learn what he's supposed to do next from Daniel. Minkowski hears the name, Desmond, and it sparks some awareness. He says he was the ship's communications officer, and every so often, he'd get a flashing light for an incoming call, with strict orders never to answer (orders he did not exactly follow). Those calls came from Penny...
...and with that, Desmond is back in Oxford, after being "out" for 75 minutes, though he only experienced 5 minutes on the freighter. Daniel guesses Desmond's progression is exponential, making it harder to jump back. Desmond looks at Eloise, who suddenly died from an aneurysm. Daniel postulates Eloise short-circuited because she had no anchors in time. He says, to avoid Eloise's fate, Desmond needs a constant, something in the future that he really cares about, that also exists back in 1996. The constant can be a person, but he has to make some kind of contact. But, of course, Penny's old number has been disconnected. Desmond falls over...
...and finds himself on the boat. Minkowski says somebody sabotaged all communications equipment 2 days earlier, but he could fix it. Minkowski points out that the door has been opened. Looks like, as George says, they have a friend on the boat. Could this be Ben's spy? Could it be Frank, who assured Sayid he was trying to help? Could Frank be Ben's spy?
George develops a nose bleed. As Sayid is about to lead them out of the now-unlocked cabin...

...Desmond is again back in England in 1996. He goes to an auction, where lot 242 (!) is, of all things, the journal of the first mate of the Black Rock, being sold by the family of Tovar Hanso (who is this Tovar fella? We know Alvar and we know Magnus...).
According to the auctioneer, the journal is the only known remnant of the lost ship, and it turned up with some pirates in Madagascar...So to clarify...both Black Rock and Oceanic 815 ended up on an island. The freighter just off the coast of the island got there by traveling a short distance from Fiji, while the ship's journal found its way to Madagascar. Fiji and Madagascar are 8209 miles (13210 km) (7133 nautical miles) apart (I loves me the inernet). So where on Earth is this sodding island?
Anyway, at the auction, Charles Widmore wins the journal for 380,000 pounds. Desmond approaches him after the bidding. Charles tells Desmond to follow him......to the men's room. Widmore snidely gives Desmond Penny's address and leaves, with the sink he used still running.
Lots to unpack here. First of all, presumably, with this journal, Charles Widmore can learn all about the island. On the other hand, if he already knows about it, his purchase of the journal would prevent others from learning about it. In either scenario, eight years later, I'd say Charles is a good candidate for being the puppet master behind the forces Ben wants so desperately to oppose. This would also explain, or at least suggest, how it was that Naomi got that picture of Penny and Desmond. The other interesting thing about this sequence is why Charles gave Desmond Penny's address if he seems so hellbent on keeping them apart...
Desmond reaches to turn off the sink that Charles left running...
...and finds himself back on the boat. George knows it's getting harder for Desmond to stay in one time or the other, and says the jumps will start happening faster. George tells how he and someone named Brandon took off towards the island, but now Brandon is dead. They get to the com room, and George passes out. Sayid asks if Desmond knows the number he's supposed to call, but Desmond doesn't. He sees the 2004 calendar, and starts to bleed out his nose. Suddenly, Minkowski goes into convulsions and dies, just like Eloise! RIP George Minkowski - we hardly knew ye...Desmond knows the same thing going to happen to him if he can't contact his constant....

...Back in the men's room, the faucet never turned off, and the runoff awakens Desmond. He takes the address, 423 (the nubmers again!!!) Cheyne Walk and finds Penny. He begs and pleads for her to listen to him. He tells her in 8 years he will need a number to call to reach her. "I won't call for eight years, until December 24, 2004." She reluctantly gives him the number and, after she shoves him out the door...
...he is back in the com room, where he gives Sayid the number. Sayid makes the call, and it rings and rings, until, finally, Penny picks up. She can't believe it's really Desmond! Desmond suddenly remembers the island, and tells Penny he's been there. Penny says she's been looking for him for the past three years. She said she'd been researching the island and finally knew she wasn't crazy to do so when she talked to Charlie. They say they love each other and promise to find each other, even as the call fades out. And Desmond stays put on the freighter. Apparently, the contact stopped the jumps.
Ok...so why did Charles lead Desmond to Penny's place? I expected him to find her with another man, but that didn't happen. Given that Desmond, five years later, would try to win back Penny's heart and his own honor by winning Charles' foundation's race, the act that would lead him to the island, has Charles been manipulating Desmond all this time? Is Penny in on it? I mean, why would she have been researching the island for three years before Desmond ever told her he was there? Even if she finds Hanso's journal in her dad's things, it would only tell her the island exists, not that Desmond is on it. This leads me to the conclusion there are only three possibilities. 1) Charles and Penny are in cahoots, perhaps to find and exploit the island, and Desmond should not be trusting her; 2) Penny learned about the island and made the wild leap to assuming, since she couldn't find Desmond, he must be there, or 3) Charles intended that Desmond end up on the island, but Penny uncovered this plan and sought to rescue Desmond. Personally, I think only 1 and 3 are truly likely, and I sure hope it's 3...

We end on the beach, where Daniel keeps looking through his easter-egg-laden journal. Check out this diagram, with vectors corresponding to "real time", "real space," "imaginary time" and "space-time." What is that all about? Finally, Daniel finds that he wrote - "if anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant."
Okaaaaaaaay. So, last week, Daniel struggled to "remember" three hidden playing cards, improving to remembering two out of three. This week, Daniel tells us what Desmond experienced was akin to his consciousness traveling through time, and that a side effect is amnesia. Daniel told Desmond the only cure would be to find a constant in both time frames he bounces between. And now it seems Daniel anticipates he will need a constant, and that Desmond will be that constant for him. So has Daniel already started traveling through time? Did he come to the island intending to do so? Is this time travel his unique goal, or is it tied to what the freighterites are all after?
Well, that's it for this week. Tune in next week for "The Other Woman." In the meantime, head on over to the spoilers blog for some teases regarding next week and the remaining two and a half seasons of Lost by clicking here.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Episode 404 - Kate Goes Free In "Eggtown"

Before we get started, a quick shout-out to Mollie D, the first LLL reader from Australia to post a comment to the blog. Welcome aboard, Mollie D! Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy oy oy! So, with that, on with the show...

In the spirit of great fictional trial portrayals, I'm reminded of the famous Danny Kaffee (Tom Cruise)/ Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson) exchange from "A Few Good Men." "You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want ANSWERS? I want THE TRUTH! YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH..." Those answers were delivered last night (along with, of course, many more questions). So what answers did we get in "Eggtown?" The answer to why Kate went free! The answer to who is the fifth O-sixer!! The answer to what the O6 told the world went down!!! The answer to whether Bear Cage Sex Knocked Kate Up!!!! All this, and some bizarre character action. (I still can't figure out the significance of the title. Any ideas? Please let me know.)


Island Time

The episode begins close in on John Locke's closed eye as it opens (oh, how the producers love to open episodes with a close-up of an eye opening). Locke has taken Ben's hospital bed as his own - insert poignant observation regarding recovered cripple here. He whips up some breakfast and grabs a book (Philip K. Dick's Valis, which stands for "Vast Acting Living Intelligence System," perhaps a sign of what Jacob/ smokey/ the island could be?), then goes down to the dungeon-like basement, where he unlocks a door (to the same room where Locke last season was shown his bound and gagged father, Anthony Cooper) and brings the breakfast to Ben. Locke wants to know who Ben's spy is, but Ben pulls another manipulation. "You keep hitting dead ends," taunts Ben, again accusing Locke of needing someone to tell him what to do next. "Here we are, just like old times, except I'm locked in a different room, and you're more lost than you ever were." John takes the food and smashes it against the wall, signifying to Ben that he's gotten under his skin.



Outside, Sawyer greats Kate and Claire and Aaron, and Claire skedaddles to fetch him some coffee. By now we know Sayid was correct - Kate did stay behind voluntarily. Kate tells Sawyer she didn't stay to move in with him. He says she has a "secret agenda" and she tells James she doesn't trust him. He suggests this is about the preganancy (remember? it was on Juliet's taped secret message to Ben last year? Big unanswered question (oh there are so many)?), but she shoos him away.

Back on the beach, Jin and Sun are trying to pick where they will live when they get to the United States. Jin has been learning English for Sun, but Sun says she wants to raise their baby in Korea. Getting a little ahead of ourselves, Mr. and Mrs. Kwon? Jack returns with Daniel, Charlotte and Juliet.

Kate asks Locke if she can talk to Miles, but is denied. Locke says New Otherton is not a democracy, yet denies he's a dictator. So what, Soviet communism? Kate then "scooby doos" Hurley into revealing that Miles is in a boathouse. When she asks Miles what he knows about who she is (presumably to help her decide if the outside world does, indeed, offer only handcuffs as Sawyer said last week), Miles agrees to tell her, but only in exchange for one minute with Ben.



Jack tries to contact the boat with one of the satelite phones, but can't reach them. Sun gets concerned that Locke might be right about the danger posed by the freighterites.

Back in New Otherton, Kate gets uncomfortable when Claire asks her to comfort Aaron for a moment. Claire recommends that Kate try having a baby some time.

Sawyer and Hurley are rooming together. Kate shows up just as Hurley starts watching Xanadu (when combined with the 8-track recording of "Road to Shambala" from last season, I'd say Hurley has an affinity for other-worldly paradises). Over boxed DHARMA wine, James asks straight up what she wants to use him for. She wants help busting Ben out. So Sawyer visits Locke for a round of backgammon. Locke asks if Sawyer believes Locke knows what he's doing as a leader, but Sawyer says he'd be more worried if they stayed on the beach. Sawyer gets Locke's word he wouldn't do anything to Kate, then spills the beans on Kate. Locke guns up and says whatever Miles has to say to Ben, he can say to him...but Miles is gone when they arrive (i.e. Sawyer lured Locke away so Kate could take the already-sprung Miles to see Ben). Finally confronting his (alleged) quarry, Miles offers to lie to his employer and say Ben is dead in exchange for $3.2 million. Ben, always ready to play the part of the chorus, asks why $3.2 million, and not 3.3 or 3.4? Miles brushes off this question but says he would take care of Charlotte's having seen Ben. Ben negotiates a week to make it happen. Miles tells Kate everything there is to know about her and suggests she stay on the island rather than face justice. Locke, none too pleased, arrives and sends Kate home.

So, what's up with this Miles-Ben exchange? Is Abaddon the employer to whom Miles obliquely referred, or is there some unknown different mastermind? Why assume Ben had, or could deliver, 3.2 million dollars? For that matter, as Ben asked, why that particular amount? And does Ben in fact intend to pay up?



Locke arrives at Claire's and asks Kate what happened between Miles and Ben. She tells him, but then Locke banishes her from the barracks. Kate then shows up in Sawyer's room. He says he "unbanishes" her. Nookie ensues.



On the beach, Charlotte quizzes Dan over which playing cards are face down. He struggles, and she, interestingly, asks what he remembers. He ends up getting two out of three (correctly "remembering" the queen of diamonds and six of clubs).




In each of the past three weeks, Daniel has had a little "moment" like this one that suggests something much deeper about his character. There was the oddly-scattered jungle light, the time-shifting rocketry experiment, and now this card trick. Was this just a memory test? Does Daniel suffer short term memory difficulties? Or is it a test of psychic ability, or, as Jeff Jensen theorizes, a test of recall from a time travel experience? In any case, these cards may have some further importance...



Jack interrupts and asks why the boat doesn't answer his calls. Charlotte tells Jack about an emergency number, which she calls and gets Regina, who never heard about Desmond and Sayid, and claims to not know the helicopter ever took off from the island. But they left in broad daylight, and it's now nighttime. Is this a lie, or has something strange happened to the helicopter? It can't be that bad, since Sayid was on board and he's one of the O6...



We return to Miles, hanging by his arms from the ceiling. Miles is greeted by Locke, who puts a grenade, pin pulled, in Miles' mouth, a sign that it's time to keep his mouth shut (i.e. lest the trigger spring).




Sawyer and Kate wake up and get back to it. She says she's not worried about being pregnant - She's sure she isn't. There! An answer to a question! Sawyer's relief is not what she wanted to hear, though, so she gets set to leave New Otherton. Kate slugs Sawyer when he snidely says she'll be back in a week after getting pissed at Jack over something.

So, while the island time portions of this episode seem to have teased any number of events going forward, it was the off-island sequences that really provided big-time answers...



FlashForward - Kate Austen
Kate, dolled up, put on sunglasses and emerged from a car in front of a courthouse. Who was the strange bearded man shouting at her outside? Somehow I'm sure we'll find out later. Kate's charges were read to her - murder, arson, assaulting officers, grand theft, yadda yadda. She pled "not guilty." Kate's lawyer told the Court she could not flee since she was one of the most recognizable faces in America, (in other words, we just established, in case there was any doubt, that this is a flash-forward) but the judge ordered her remanded without bail through the duration of the trial (as if Kate ever fled anything in the past, eh?).



Kate later met with her lawyer, who said the DA was going to try the case herself. Kate didn't want to deal, so her lawyer said to make the case about who she is, not what she did. But Kate refused to let him bring in...her son?! So, folks, now we know who the "he" was who was going to wonder where Kate went during her late-night rendezvous with Jack...but didn't she tell Sawyer she wasn't pregnant?



At trial, Kate's lawyer surprised her by calling Jack as a witness. He was still clean-shaven, as the trial was obviously before Jack's brush with addiction. Jack told the jury a skewed version of events, including the marshall dying in the crash. According to Jack's sworn (and perjured) testimony, he never asked if Kate was guilty because she pulled the only eight survivors of the crash out of the water, and cared for all of them, even though two later died. (Umm...I'm pretty sure Jack is about 40 survivors short on that count. Any guesses as to who the two who died later are under the O6 story?) The DA asked if Jack loved Kate, and he testified "no, not anymore."



Kate's lawyer wheeled in her mother to a conference room. She didn't want to testify against Kate, but she wanted to see her grandson. But Kate didn't want her anywhere near him. Still, the DA later told the judge Kate's mother was unable to testify for medical reasons. The DA demanded 4 years in a deal before agreeing to time served plus 10 years' probation, no leaving the state. So, Kate was free (and a celebrity - so there's our answers as to how she wasn't in jail and how she was able to afford the cushy Volvo in Jack's flash-forward). Jack intercepted Kate by the backdoor to the courthouse. "You know Jack, I've heard you say that story so many times, I'm starting to think you believe it." Jack told her he didn't mean that he didn't love her. Kate said she knew why Jack didn't want to see the baby, but until he did, there would be no going for coffee. Edited as the show was, we were meant to assume the baby was Sawyer's, conceived in the bear cages, and that Kate merely lied about her pregnancy. But the last scene of the episode made clear this was not the case.



Kate was taken to a lovely house by the taxi. She went in, greeted the nanny, and climbed the stairs to the room of....Aaron! Yup, folks, it would appear the fifth O-sixer is Aaron Littleton, who for some reason calls future Kate "Mommy." So Jack has an aversion to seeing Aaron? Does he know yet that Aaron is his nephew? Is he blaming himself for whatever ill befell Claire that led to mother and child being separated? For that matter, how are we to understand Desmond's vision of Claire and Aaron boarding the helicopter, if only Aaron made it back? Or is Claire the other O6er who for some reason gave up her child?




One final note. Before we saw Aaron, we got a brief look around his room. This is a screencap of a painting hanging on the wall. As if the importance of Daniel's card "guessing" game weren't hidden enough before, now one of the very cards he correctly guessed is painted on Aaron's wall? What's the deal with the Six of clubs? Is there a greater meaning to the number 6 than the number of survivors who got off the island? Or did Daniel somehow predict there would be six survivors?

Well, lostophiles, that's all I got this week. Sorry so late, but it's been a busy day. And to the loyal friends and readers who emailed me after seeing the episode on the East Coast that they correctly guessed the Aaron shocker before it was revealed, well, so did I!

Namaste!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Previewing "Eggtown"; Producers speak to Jeff Jensen

What Will Eggtown Reveal?

There are a number of questions that Kristen at E! Online says will be answered on this week's installment, "Eggtown." I don't know these answers, so by my personal definition, these are not spoilers. But for the spoiler-averse, I've posted the questions to be answered on the spoiler blog, and not here. Click on the title of this post for the teases, and watch Thursday night for the answers.

Lindelof and Cuse Let Down Their Hair With Jeff Jensen
Today, ew.com ran a long interview conducted by Jeff Jensen with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. This interview took on a number of topics regarding season 4 (and the future). Below are some anti-spoiler highlights (i.e. things that Damon and Carlton disavowed or assured us are not going to be important going forward). Click here to go the spoilers blog for a list of questions and when we can expect answers (but not the answers themselves)...

1. There is no connection between Naomi's bracelet and Elsa's bracelet from last week's episode. Rather, Sayid's taking a moment to notice Elsa's was more a thematic reminder to him about Naomi, and not meant to imply that both Naomi and Elsa were receiving gifts from the mysterious "R.G."

2. Although part of the game of Lost is trying to figure out when in time different episodes' flash backs and flash forwards occur, within any given episode, those sequences are chronological. Thus, last week, Sayid shot the man on the golf course before he met Elsa.

3. Last week's episode was written before the Red Sox' 2007 World Series victory. Thus, Frank Lapidus's remark to Jack about "don't get me started" was not a hint that he had traveled back in time from beyond the next (post-2004) Boston championship, just a nod to how rough 2004 was for Yankees fans.

4. Lost and its answers do not and will not involve alternate realities or changing the future or paradoxes caused by time travel. Jack will get all drugged-out and bearded, and the first flashforward was not meant to be just one possible future that the characters (Jack, in particular) will be trying to change.

5. In last season's finale, when Penny seemed to be sitting in front of the video phone coincidentally at the exact moment the Looking Glass stopped jamming signals, what the producers intended was that Penny had some sort of alert mechanism telling her when the call would go through. Charlie turned off the jamming, so Penny got the alert, and that's why she placed the call at that time.

Now for the closer-to-spoiler reveals, click here...

Until after "Eggtown," Namaste!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Episode 403 - Sayid Targets "The Economist"

Another Oceanic Sixer confirmed! The Island's physics cause much head-scratching!! Sawyer and Kate play house!!! and of Lost's best WTF endings, ever!!!! But before recapping "The Economist," some housekeeping...

The Final Word On Post-Strike Lost
Earlier this week, I posted some tentative news about Lost's post-strike production slate. The final final word was given by Damon Lindelof to E! online's Kristin Dos Santos, who reported, "'we are going to execute our full story plan for season four,' D.L. says. 'This simply requires a shift from high-octane storytelling to superhigh-octane storytelling. It requires no cramming, only a slightly heavier foot on the gas pedal...so, hold on to your hats. Those of you waiting for the long-anticipated Jin and Hurley Ping-Pong tournament, however, will be very disappointed." Kristin went on to report that the breakdown will be as follows: first, ABC will air the first seven (not eight) episodes on back-to-back weeks (i.e., another four weeks of new episodes going forward). After a 4-6 week hiatus, an additional 6 will air, on consecutive weeks, in the Thursday at 10 p.m. timeslot (following new episodes of "Grey's Anatomy"). As many of you no doubt have noticed, this move effectively cuts off the last episode filmed before the strike began, and moves it weeks later. The reasoning given by ABC and Lindelof is that episode seven provides a better leaving-off point before the brief hiatus. Now, on to the show...

Foreword
You will notice, I think, that this week's recap is a little less detail-focused than last. This is for two reasons: 1) "The Economist" relied more on broad plot strokes and less on detailed mythological expansion than "Confirmed Dead", lending itself more to summary, and 2) my wife fell asleep in the crook of my arm just before Lost started last night, leaving me with only one hand with which to type my notes. Now, one note of caution: do not read this post until you've seen the episode!!!

Flash-Forward - Sayid Jarrah
We learn that Sayid is one of the Oceanic 6 in his first flash-forward sequence, in which he was golfing in a secluded resort in the Seychelles. Another obscenely wealthy golfer, a Mr. Abilene (please chime in if you heard it differently) made a "my club is better than yours" bet with Sayid but then seemed oddly fearful when Sayid revealed himself to be one of the O6. Seconds later, Sayid gunned the man down.

Later, in a cafe in Berlin, Sayid met cute with a personal shopper named Elsa who claimed to work for an economist (a shadowy figure never revealed on screen for whom the episode is titled." They later had a dinner and ultimately started a fling. For some reason, Elsa's boss never paged her during this relationship (a supposed break from routine), and before long it became apparent (to us, anyway) that Sayid was tailing Elsa for access to this Economist.

Then one morning, Elsa's beeper went off, signaling that her boss was back in town. Sayid, ever the hopeless romantic, had by then fallen for Elsa, and warned her to leave berlin. Elsa feigned being upset that Sayid used her, but he explained that her employer is not an economist, that his name was on a list...and then Elsa freakin' shot him in the shoulder! As noted by Jeff Jensen, holy Casino Royale!!! Elsa made a call to her boss and noted she should kill Sayid since he would not reveal his own employer. But our clever Mr. Jarrah lured her out of the back room by breaking a mirror, then proceeded to shot Elsa twice in the chest, killing her. As he loomed over her body, he took exceptional note of her bracelet, one very similar to another we saw earlier in the episode (but more on that later).


Sayid then went to a veterinary clinic to get patched up, apparently by his mysterious boss, who asked, "Is she dead?" Sayid confirmed she was, only to be asked, "why didn't she kill you?" He matter-of-factly explained she wanted to learn his boss's identity. "Of course she did," responded the boss, as if noting that by now, we all really want to know who he is, too. Obligingly, the boss turned around revealing himself to be....Benjamin Linus???? In typical Ben style, he then continued, "why are you crying, because it hurts, or because you were stupid enough to care for her? These people don't deserve your sympathies. Need I remind you what they did the last time you thought with your heart instead of your gun?" Sayid responded, "you used her to recruit me into killing for you." Ben's response - "Do you want to protect your friends, or not, Sayid? I have another name for you." Sayid, concerned, responded. "but they'll know I'm after them now." Ben ended the episode with one word - "Good."

So let's take a moment to unpack this sequence...For starters, whatever led to Sayid's becoming Ben's assassin began with the death of another woman. Could this ultimately be the fate of Nadia, for whom Sayid has pined since before he boarded flight 815? Also, Ben's suggestion that these killings in some way help Sayid's friends. Assuming this means the rest of the O6, or those still on the island, what could possibly lead Sayid to believe this (particularly given his statement in island time in this episode that the day he began to trust Ben would be the day he lost his soul)? Back when Tom couldn't fathom why Ben would leave Sayid alive on the beach, was Ben thinking this many moves ahead?? And we never figured out what qualified somebody to be on Jacob's "good" list, so what makes these international bigwigs members of the "bad" list? There are other questions, but we'll get to those as they tie into island time...

Island Time

As Sayid prays by the helicopter, Jack and Juliet discuss the revelation that Miles is hunting Ben. Jack asks if Ben ever mentioned people off the island, but we don't get a response. Sayid, out of respect, covers Naomi's body, but he takes note of her bracelet. Removing it, he reads, "N. I'll always be with you, R.C."


It is the design of this bracelet that Sayid would later recognize on Elsa's dead wrist. What is the connection? Is RC the "economist?" Given Ben's aversion to Naomi and her crew now, and his assigning Sayid to kill the economist (and others) later, are Sayid's future victims connected to our mysterious newcomers?

Sayid demands to be taken to the freighter on the next flight of the chopper, and "purchases" his seat with a promise to first retrieve Charlotte from team Locke. He then retrieves the picture of Desmond and Penny from Naomi's pack, and he and Jack dispatch Juliet to fetch Desmond to see if he can't get a few answers from these people.

Let me just say, I love when Sayid steps up and takes charge. His strategies don't always work out, but whereas Jack's "man of science" and Locke's "man of faith" personalities never seem to lead us, the audience, anywhere, Sayid's "man of action" personality introduced us to Rousseau, the power line running to the Looking Glass, the four-toed statue, and, coming soon, the freighter.

Meanwhile, Team Locke arrives at the familiar ring of ash, only to find there is no Casa de Jacob. Hurley is unsurprised (he told John it was the other way, though he doesn't say anything about it now), and Ben, of course, takes the opporunity to taunt Locke in front of his people, "John's looking for somebody to tell him what to do next." And really, isn't that Locke's biggest failing as a man of faith - his constant need to find the next burning bush?

Hurley tries in vain to persuade Locke to release Charlotte, since he didn't sign on for any hostage-taking. Locke gives him the "I'm the decider" speech, apparently silencing Hugo's dissent...

Back at the chopper, Sayid and Miles are about the leave, but Sayid won't take Jack, since the last time Jack and Locke met, Jack pulled the freakin' trigger!!! (still can't get over that). Kate playfully tells Jack now he knows what it's like to be left behind, and Jack equally playfully suggests he should make like Kate and wait 20 min and go anyway? Then Jack proceeds to, as Jeff Jensen puts it, begin the end of his future romantic possibilities with Kate, when he suggests she accompany Sayid and Miles, since Sawyer would keep her safe from Locke, thus giving Sayid more leverage. As Jensen wrote this morning, "it felt like classic Jack emotional dunderheadedness. You could tell Kate wasn't thrilled with Jack treating her like a pawn on a chessboard, and my hunch is that what we really saw in the moment was the beginning of her dawning realization that as much as she may dig Jack's cheese, he's got a lot more getting over himself to do before they can have a flash-forward future together, much less swap valentines and spit." And thus, the trio departs, with Miles kvetching that it's no fair he doesn't get a gun (as if!)

After their departure, Daniel sets up a mysterious experiment involving an antenna and some other devices. Frank tells Jack that, when Daniel explains what he actually does, "half of it goes way over my head, and the other half goes way way over." Daniel initiates a call to Regina on the freighter to get her to begin her part of the experiment, and Frank warns him to hang up immediately if Minkowski picks up. What's up with these strange freighter politics? How many separate agendas do these people have, anyway? Regina dispatches something and a countdown commences for its arrival at the antenna, but at the time it should have arrived, nothing happens...
Sayid's team finds the barracks apparently deserted, until they hear a noise from a closet. Inside it's Hurley, bound and gagged and claiming to have been left behind for his objection to keeping Charlotte as a hostage. He says Locke's group is scared the freighterites (the "F4" as they've come to be known online) is there to kill them, and he pointedly asks Miles if this is the case. Miles creepily responds, "not yet." Miles also gets in a quip calling Hurley "tubby" while demanding to know where Ben is, and Hurley responds, in classic fashion, "great, they sent us another Sawyer."
Back at the chopper, after Frank (a downhearted Yankee fan) confirms the Red Sox 2004 championship for Jack, the "payload" arrives in the form of a rocket. Daniel opens the rocket and retrieves a clock, but when he compares it to his own, he finds it is running 31 minutes behind!!! Finally, a TV show written by and for theoretical physicists! Huzah! But seriously, any thoughts on what this is all about? Please send them my way. Desmond arrives with Juliet and smiles when he sees the helicopter, as though it actually had Penny's face painted on it (perhaps Des shouldn't expect to see her too soon, given that actress Sonya Walger has been appearing on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" as the eventual wife of the man Sarah Connor left following a marriage proposal...)

As Kate rifles through Ben's empty closet, Sayid inspects Ben's bookcase, where he pauses for a moment on Ben's copy of the Quran. Perhaps a tease to their future connection? Sayid discovers, behind the bookcase, a secret room, filled with suits, cases, and lots of international currency, as well as a number of passports. The Swiss passport Sayid inspects shows Ben's picture with the name, Dean Moriarty. Suddenly, Kate is greeted by Sawyer and Sayid is surprised by Locke. Hurley sheepishly avoids eye contact and says, "sorry, dude." Sayid is marched over to where team Locke is keeping Ben (the game room), and tells Hurley he doesn't have to fear him. Hurley's response (does he get all the best lines, or what?), was that he's seen Sayid do that "break dancing thing" with his legs, so he'll just hang back. Locked in with Ben, Sayid starts falling victim to the master manipulator's taunts. Ben says he bets Locke would not be stupid enough to fall for Hurley's ruse, and when Sayid suggests he's better off since he has actual friends, Ben points out there is no use having friends he can't trust.

In one of my favorite scenes in the episode, Kate asks Sawyer again what he's doing with Locke. Sawyer's answer was the closest he's ever come to an actual sappy moment with Kate. He tells her he has nothing to look forward to off the island, but stops just short of overtly saying that she is what makes the island worth staying for. He reminds her she was heading to L.A. in handcuffs and asks why she wouldn't go straight to jail the minutes she got back (and really, after the first flash forward, haven't we all been wondering that?) She asks how long the two of them could play house in New Otheron, and Sawyer asks her back, "why not find out?" What made this scene so great for me was not just the just-shy-of-tender moment between these two, but the fact that, for all his claims last week that he wouldn't listen to Ben lest he be subject to manipulation, he basically quoted Ben's words while arguing that he and Kate should stay on the island and she should let goody-goody Jack leave without her.

Locke brings Sayid some iced tea (and ignores Ben's comment that he's thirsty, too). Sayid reveals his stance on the F4 - he tells Locke that he agrees the newcomers are liars and not really there to rescue them, but says in order to infiltrate their freighter, he needs to bring Charlotte back. He then assures John he never intended to take Charlotte from him without leaving something in exchange...

Back at the chopper, Desmond does not believe Frank when the pilot says he doesn't have any idea who Penny Widmore is. Des then insists he's flying back to the freighter on the first flight out. (Why on Earth Frank goes along with this so easily, I can't begin to imagine).

Sayid returns with Charlotte in tow. He tells Jack that Kate decided to stay (is he telling the truth, or did Jack really just lose Kate for good to Sawyer's "let's play house" overtures? Funny how offering a woman a happy, secure future gets you farther than using her as a pawn.... He also reveals he traded Charlotte for Miles. Frank decides this satisfies their arrangement, since he considered Miles a pain, anyway. Charlotte and Daniel decide not to take the last seat on the chopper. Daniel warns Frank to fly the same exact bearing. Since there are no other takers for the final seat (Jack seems aware that Sayid and Desmond are better equipped scouts than he is), Sayid insists they take Naomi's body "home." Finally, the chopper departs, with Frank at the stick, Desmond riding shotgun, and Sayid in back with Naomi's body.


Parting Thoughts

1. So the big reveal this episode was obviously Ben's off-island role as sayid's handler. The first thought that occurred to me when I saw this was, of all things, "OMG, that was Ben in the coffin at Hoffs/Drawler!!!!" Why make this connection? Here's my thinking. Ben was one of the names kicked around online after last season's finale. After all, he was someone both Jack and Kate knew but for whom Kate could not fathom why she would attend a funeral. He was neither friend nor family to Jack. Ultimately, I ruled Ben out because I did not believe he would ever leave the island, willingly or otherwise. Obviously, I was mistaken about that. Moreover, given the stack o' fake passports, the fact that the obit referred to Mr. Jonathan L___tham is as obviously explainable as the report that the deceased was from New York.

2. With only 43 episodes to go, I think the mysterious economist might very well be Matthew Abaddon. It appears Abaddon and Ben have been set up as the master movers on opposite ends of some big chess game. And if not Abaddon, then perhaps somebody working for or with him. I would bet that Mr. Widmore's name will end up being on Ben's hit list at some point, too.

3. I'm still trying to get around the 31-minute delay in the arrival of the Regina's rocket. Obviously, there are some quirky space/time things going on with the island, which is why it appears invisible to the outside world (usually - hello, where are those Arctic guys from Season 2???) and why only select bearings will let you escape (or get to) the island. The weird time shift may also explain why Walt has aged faster than the show's time line allows. But then, after three years, on the island, why was Desmond able to track his button pushing "oops" to the date Oceanic 815 crashed? Shouldn't time have been messing with him, too? Or was the Swan Hatch implosion the start of the whacky time effect?

4. As much as I admire Sayid for his "get 'er done" attitude, did he screw things up again with his Miles for Charlotte swap? Didn't he just somehow convince Locke to release somebody with nearly complete intel on the numbers and armaments to be found at New Otherton, or the fact that if you find John Locke, you find Ben Linus? For that matter, how dumb is Locke not to account for this? Perhaps New Otherton won't be a permanent home, after all...

5. Assuming Kate did in fact stay behind willingly, it's getting even murkier how she and Hurley will end up in the O6. Jack and Sayid are in the work-with-em (at least to figure out what they're up to) group, while Hurley and Kate are in the stay-away-from-them-at-all-costs group.


Well, that's it for this week, folks. See you back here next week for the intiguingly titled "Eggtown."

Monday, February 11, 2008

News, Notes, Questions

Happy Tuesday, Lostophiles. A few items to run through, including the biggest question (in my mind) from last week's episode, and the real-world outlook for the rest of the 4th season.

Question - Who is Ben's Man On the Boat?
The shock ending of "Confirmed Dead" was Ben's execution-avoiding announcement that he had a man on the freighter. This WTF moment got me to thinking, who could this person be? A few possibilities:

1. George Minkowski. Minkowski, who we've only heard as the voice on the satelite phones, was strangely unavailable when the search party tried to reach him. Could he have been spying for Ben? Since we don't know thing one about this new character (other than that he will be played by Fisher Stevens), I think this little moment of weird is not really enough to put George into the "likely" category.

2. Regina. The only other person on the boat who has been named. Other than her presence on the boat, there is nothing making her particularly likely to be the mole.

3. Mikhail. Our favorite late, great eye-patch toting Other seemingly died at the end of last season with a harpoon in his chest and a grenade exploding in his hand. On the other hand, Mikhail has cheated death a few times in the past (including getting zapped by the Barracks fence), and served as Ben's information gatherer when Flight 815 went down. Ultimately, however, it's not Mikhail's death that makes him seem unlikely to me, so much as the fact that he was busily trying to preserve the jamming signal in The Looking Glass until after Ben was captured, and thus unavailable to supply Ben with any intel.

4. Charlotte. The theory here is that Ben's shooting Charlotte twice in the chest (knowing she was wearing a bullet-proof vest) was meant to throw off people's suspicions. Add to that Charlotte's apparent familiarity with DHARMA polar bears and the island, itself, and we may be on to something. Also, she didn't seem to bat an eyelash when she saw Ben being dragged around by Sawyer and Rousseau, even though recovering him was her primary objective. Still, I think saving the mole reveal to the end of the episode even though Charlotte and Ben had been in close proximity for a while makes this one dicey.

5. Michael. Now, I don't for a minute think Michael Dawson (who will be returning to Lost this season) would willingly work to help the guy who turned him into a multiple murderer. But Michael was drugged and transported to the Others' fake base, and the Others did put a tracking implant into Claire when they had her in custody, so maybe Michael was bugged by the Others and doesn't know it.

6. Walt. The same logic as with Michael applies to Walt, but I don't think this is the answer. Walt scared the heck out of the Others, so I don't think they'd want to mess with bugging him. Also, if Walt just happens to be on the boat and much older, that will simply end up being too hard to explain (just don't ask me how Michael is on the boat but Walt is not).

The End of the WGA Strike
Yesterday, E! online ran the following quote from Lost's Damon Lindelof about determining how much Lost we'll see now that the WGA strike is wrapping up:

"As for Lost (pending the actual lifting of the strike, which we vote for on Tuesday), a game plan should begin to manifest by the end of the week. All I can say is that [co-executive producer] Carlton [Cuse] and I and the rest of the writers have every intention of making sure you guys get more episodes this season beyond the eight already completed. How many and how they will be aired is a conversation we'll be having with our bosses, but as soon as we've got a plan, we'll tell the fans first."

This morning, Lindelof went on to tell CNN.com that he felt fulfilling the original 16-episode season order was a real possibility.

Subsequently, however, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and USA Today all published quotes from Lindelof's producing partner, Carlton Cuse, who said the plan will likely be to complete a 13-episode season, a reduction of three episodes). Even though fewer episodes will air this year, the over-arching plot involving the freighter people will resolve itself, so we, the viewers, will not be left hanging all summer. The remaining three episodes will be tacked on to next season (or perhaps split over the next two seasons, which will then be slightly longer than originally intended.

I like this plan - it gives us more Lost (always a bonus) while also preserving the "every season is like one of the Harry Potter books" structure of the series. I think the only "casualty" we can predict at this point is that Rousseau's backstory, which the producers at one hinted may have been revealed this season if certain other elements could get squeezed in first, will likely wait until season 5. But, hey, we waited this long, and she's still a fun whacky character, n'est-ce pas?

Finally - For Whom I Write
A buddy of mine from www.lostusers.com, who posts under the tag "lightenupjack," asked in a comment to my prior post who my intended audience is for my recaps? As LUJ notes, you could argue, given the finer details I include every week, my audience is people who want to know the whole story but don't actually watch the show, and he wonders why I don't edit out the reporting aspect and focus just on theory and discussion (LUJ, if I misparaphrased, please chime in).

Here's my answer. Because Lost, more than any other show, find God in the details, I report on seemingly minor points because it allows the blog to act as a reference when we see these points in the future. Also, since it's almost impossible to see everything contained in every episode, the blog allows even avid viewers who may have missed a minor point to catch what I caught, even where those minor points still lack the context necessary to establish their ultimate importance.

Finally, I really write for me. What I mean by this is simply that by jotting it all down, I find I'm better able to remember details when they again surface and become relevant.

(and, ultimately, I write for all y'all).

Well, until after "The Economist" airs Thursday night, ta ta for now!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Episode 402 - The Living Were "Confirmed Dead"

Last night, we got introduced to this year's new crop of characters, got a taste of what the outside world thinks it knows about flight 815, and uncovered evidence of DHARMA initiative shenanigans far away from the island. Let's have at it with "Confirmed Dead."

Behind the Scenes
The credited writers on this episode were Brian K. Vaughn (the comic book impressario about whom I beamed last season) and Drew Goddard, the Bad Robot Productions "It" boy who scripted "Cloverfield." As a brief digression, I found Cloverfield to be a big disappointment, sort of a DVD special feature masquerading as a real movie. And where did it lack most? In the script department. But I still liked last night's Lost (despite some of the critiques it has garnered, discussed below), proving that the fault with Cloverfield lies not with the writing but with the attempt to turn a gimmick into a full feature film...

Flashback - The Freighter People
Tonight's flashbacks tied together a number of threads, including the recent alternate reality game, "Find 815." I've discussed Find 815 before, but not so much how it ended. As was made clear last night, at the end of Find 815, our hero, Sam Thomas, and the freighter Christiane I, found the wreckage of flight 815 while trolling the Sunda Trench looking for Black Rock.

The story last night picked up right there, when Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), who landed on the island at the end of the prior episode, saw the footage of the remote submersibles coming across flight 815 on the news from a living room in Essex Massachusetts. Daniel got very upset by the news that all aboard were now confirmed dead, though he himself seemed unable to figure out why.

Later, we met Miles Strom (Jeff Jensen asks, "maelstrom?"), a ghost-busting con man from the L.A. area played by Ken Leung. When we first saw Miles, he was parking his car in Inglewood, CA, a news report confirming all 324 passengers on flight 815 were dead playing in the background. He was at the home of Mrs. Gardner, who was haunted by the ghost of her drug dealing grandson. For $200, Miles agreed to end the haunting. He used a strange, dustbuster looking device (which may or may not have been for anything but show), but did, it seemed, make contact with the dead. Miles trembled, then began to speak to nobody we could see, demanding to be told where "it" is. A sound behind a cabinet prompted Miles to check behind a vent, where he found a wad of cash and a stash of drugs. He turned off the device, then told the ghost it can go now, that it was at peace. Happy to score the hidden loot, Miles even gave a refund of $100 to Mrs. Gardner on the way out the door.

Still later, in the desert in Madenine, Tunisia, at a secret dig project, we met Charlotte Staple Lewis (more on that that name, later), played by Rebecca Mader. She saw a French language newspaper on the ground reporting that 815 was found, with no known survivors, but for some reason continued to doubt these reports. After bribing her way into the dig, she found a skeleton...of a polar bear...with a DHARMA Initiative Hydra Station leather collar! And the strangest thing about this scene? She didn't seem the least bit surprised by this...

In the fourth flashback, we were introduced to Frank Lapidas (Jeff Fahey), a travel agent in Eleuthera, Bahamas. As Frank let a toy plane sink in a fish tank, he watched yet another report on the recovery of flight 815. According to the news, which depicted the graphic footage of a decomposing body in the pilot's chair, the body was confirmed as the pilot on flight 815 (which, of course, is odd, given that we all know the pilot was killed by the smoke monster and left, broken, in the treetops). The news report continued that recovering bodies would be next to impossible, but it was hoped that confirmation that all 324 passengers were accounted for would provide closure. Frank called the family and friends hotline on the bottom of the screen - 888-548-0034 (try it - it works), and reports that the pilot in the footage is not Seth Norris (Gregg Grunberg from "Heroes," who you'll remember from the aforementioned monster-chomping scene in the pilot episode, no pun intended). Frank knew this because the left hand, clearly visible on the screen, had no wedding ring. And the reason Frank knew that Seth always wore his wedding ring? Frank was supposed to be the pilot of flight 815.

Aside # 1 - I think, when Lost is over and done with, this episode will be one of the ones that turns out to have so many clues in it, we missed them all. But Frank's flashback provided what I think was a huge clue. Ever since Naomi first revealed that flight 815 was found with no survivors, we questioned how this could be possible? The first possibility was that she lied, but since Anthony Cooper seemed to agree with her when he saw Locke and assumed he was already dead, that was never too likely. The second was that somehow, the plane duplicated itself (and its contents), a possibility hinted at by this summer's reveal of the orientation film from the as-yet-unseen Orchid Station of the DHARMA Initiative. The jury's still out on this one. But the final possibility, which previously seemed really unlikely, was that the found wreckage was a hoax, perhaps to get the world to stop looking for the missing plane. I thought that idea lacked a connection to the story at the time, as Lost may be big on mysteries but has not been too big on conspiracies. Yet, here we are, with evidence that the one person on board the plane positively identified on TV is not who the media said he was. When you throw in the Find 815 story, in which the last man on Earth still looking for flight 815 was directed by shady, mysterious emails to the very spot where the wreckage was "found," and all of a sudden, the consipracy theory has some legs. And it has even more in light of the fifth and final flashback sequence...

Finally, we flashed back on Naomi at the moment her team was assigned...by Matthew Abaddon?! It seems, not that surprisingly, that Abaddon was not a lawyer for Oceanic Airlines as he would go on to tell Hurley in last week's flash-forward. Naomi was not pleased about shepherding an archaelogist, a physicist, a ghostbuster, and a drunk pilot for a mission "like this" - which we would later learn was a mission to find and snatch Ben - since none of them had military training. Naomi and Abaddon argued over whether she and her team,would find survivors of flight 815. Abaddon, insisting she would not, as though repeating a media buzz word, told her that every member of the team was selected for a specific purpose, and that everything relies on you getting the team in, getting them out, and preventing them from getting killed.

Aside #2 - Doc Jensen noted this scene can be criticized because flashbacks on Lost are supposed to be linked to the island-bound story through a main character, but here, the only character who had been to the island was Naomi, who is now currently deceased. Personally, I don't care too much about this supposed lack of Lost purity. Frankly, if the remaining 46 episodes turned out to be nothing but Dr. Marvin Candle lecturing on what the heck we've been watching, and what it all means, that would be fine, just tell the story!

Aside #3 - pause for big breath - this last flashback also created the most head-scratching moment thus far in the young season. So let me get this straight...Naomi believed that going on this mission to an island, to capture Ben, who was not on flight 815, might bring her in contact with survivors of flight 815? Yet Abaddon insisted to Naomi, who was clearly in "the know" about this, that finding these survivors would be impossible. Perhaps Abaddon really believed this (the way G.W. Bush seemed to really believe he'd find WMDs in Iraq), especially since, in the future, when the Oceanic Six are already back home, he would inquire of Hurley if "they were still alive." But that's not the only head scratcher. Let's just assume something about flight 815 going down made Abaddon and Naomi decide to go to that island for Ben. So then why did she show up claiming to have been sent to rescue Desmond? Why even connect Desmond to the island where the 815ers, or for that matter, Ben, would be found? And how does this synch up with Penny having a direct video conference link to the Looking Glass station, and her denial that she owned the freighter from which Naomi and co. arrived on the island? Yup, many questions need answering...

That's it for the flashbacks. They left me with this question - why would a cultural anthropologist, a socially awkward physicist, a ghost whisperer, and a drunk ex-pilot make up Abaddon's hand-picked team?

Island Time
We began this week's island time action rewinding the ending of last episode by a few minutes, and coming at it from a different perspective. We see the helicopter, and Daniel getting pushed out when the flight gets bumpy. His parachute opens, but he still hits hard. Regaining his wits, he cocks then hides a gun, and meets Jack and Kate. He introduces himself, and says he's there to rescue them. He also says there were four people on the chopper, including him, and he had no idea how many got out before it went down. Kate gives Daniel Naomi's phone. He calls George Minkowski, who lost contact with the chopper. George demands to go off speaker. Daniel walks a few steps away. Kate reminds Jack that Naomi covered for them, so they'll be fine, except Jack spots Daniel's gun. Daniel explains his GPS transponder, and asks where the rest of Jack's people are. Most of them, Jack reports, are on the beach. Daniel catches the phraseology and asks, "most of them?"

Elsewhere, we find team Locke under cover while John basks in the rain. He tells Hurley, who has Vincent with him that the storm is about to pass, and, sure enough, it does. Sawyer wants to know why they're heading East if the barracks are South. Locke says they have to go to a cabin, but Hurley blurts that the cabin is in a different direction. Catching himself, he tries to cover, saying he meant the cabin of the plane, but Ben gives a look indicating his understanding that Hurley has seen the disappearing hotel Jacob. John tells the still-skeptical Sawyer that he got his orders - to go to the cabin and to kill Naomi - from Walt (only taller).


On the beach, Juliet answers Sayid's question about why Ben insisted the people on the boat meant them all harm by saying either it was a lie meant to scare them away from rescue, or the actual truth (in other words, three years as an Other gave her no clear insight into the mind of Ben Linus). She changes the subject, and asks how many guns they have left.

Jack, Kate and Daniel find a box from the chopper. It contains gas masks. Jack, getting suspicous, asks Daniel about the gun. He says it's a precaution. When Jack asks, "against what?" Daniel "Ok, see, umm, rescuing you and your people? Can't really say it's our primary objective." Then what is, inquires Jack? Saved by the bell, Daniel gets the signal from Miles' transponder.

Aside #4 - Michael Aussielo of TV Guide points out the ridiculousness of how long it takes Jack to follow up on his unanswered question. Seriously, Jack, why are you the least inquisitive person in the world? As a hero, you're a zero. Ask a question (or a follow-up) every now and again, not just because your audience needs you to find answers, but because a "man of science" such as Jack should want to get a better understanding about what's happening in the world around him, particularly where those goings-on seem to affect his personal safety.

We get back to Locke, still getting the third degree from Sawyer. Locke confirms what we astute lostophiles suspected at the end of last season - the lack of a kidney (previously conned away by Anthony Cooper) saved John when Ben shot him through and through the very spot where the kidney should have been - that, and Walt.

Over by the rocks where Kelvin Inman died moments before Desmond accidentally brought down flight 815, a man is down, with his cute still attached. Jack climbs down, followed by Kate and Daniel. It's Miles, who awakens and points a gun at Jack. He sees Kate move for Daniel's gun, and demands to know where Naomi is - "the woman you killed, where is she?" Miles chastises Daniel for being too trusing, confirming that Naomi used the code - "tell my sister I love her." Kate, guns pointed at her, again rats out Locke. Miles swears he would know what happened if he saw the body (you know, because he's a ghost whisperer).

Back by team Locke, Ben tries to talk to Alex. Karl tells him to keep his mouth shut. Sawyer interrupts. Ben asks him why he left Kate behind and says Sawyer doesn't stand a chance now. Back in the real world, taunts Ben, a low-life scumbag couldn't compete with a surgeon like Jack. This prompts Sawyer to administer the next in Ben's seemingly endless string of beatings. Locke pulls them apart and says they're keeping Ben alive because of his superior knowledge of the island. Hurley, who saw Sawyer execute Tom in cold blood, gives Sawyer a stern look and subtly shakes his head. "Only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny," snorts Sawyer, "and I bet he already figured out how he's going to do it. So you walk him."

Kate leads Jack and the boat guys to Naomi's body. As Miles concentrates, trying to get a reading, Daniel, a physicist, notices something about the light not scattering quite right in the jungle. Miles accepts that they didn't kill Naomi, but as another signal gets detected on the phone, he refuses to put down his gun. Jack says he should, since some of his friends are hiding with guns pointed at Miles and Daniel. Miles does not believe it until a shot hits a tree next to his head. It's Sayid and Juliet to the rescue! Miles and Daniel are disarmed...

...then Justin Timberlake goes flying towards a teenaged girl drinking Pepsi...

(sorry - that was a pretty cool Superbowl ad getting rerun during Lost).

Elsewhere, Charlotte (the signal detected by Miles) awakens hanging upside-down from a chute, suspended several meters above a stream. She releases the cute and falls into the water. She surfaces, and appears to be not just happy to have survived the fall, but, Jeff Jensen observes, happy as though she returned somewhere comfortable she had been before.

Aside #5 - Jensen posits that the name, Charlotte Staples Lewis, is meant to invoke C.S. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Jensen further notes that in Prince Caspian (which will be released this summer as a major motion picture), the Pevensie children, who readers met as the protagonists of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, returned to Narnia with much the same expression that Charlotte sports here. Given her strange familiarity with far-from-the-pole polar bears and DHARMA logos, there may well be something to this theory...

Back with team Jack, Sayid inquires why Miles and Daniel are not surprised to see survivors of flight 815, since Naomi said they were supposed to be dead. Miles deadpans, ''Oh my God! You guys were on Oceanic 815! Wow! That better?''

Charlotte, surrounded by team Locke, asks how many 815ers are alive. Hurley is suspicious, but starts to give the details, until Locke stops him. She's further amazed by Aaron being born on the island (I'm telling you, she knows stuff). Locke asks what happened to the chopper. She says she doesn't know. John tells her she's coming with them, and that they don't want to be found.

Sayid sees Charlotte's signal is moving fast on the phone, and Jack takes off after it, with the rest of his group in tow. According to the phone, Charlotte is right there...but it's Vincent, with her transponder tied to him. Jack knows what this means - Locke's got her.

Finally, we find Frank, a little banged up, climbing a ridge. At the top he finds...a cow? With a bell? He pulls out his phone, but it's smashed. He has a flare, which he shoots off.

Back on the team Locke march, Ben gets a hold of a gun and shoots Charlotte twice when after she spots Frank's flare...but she's okay - she's wearing a vest?! Seems like an unlikely precaution, eh?

Jack's crew finds Frank. Frank says he put the chopper down safe and sound...and, sure enough, there it is. Jack, Sayid and Kate give incredible looks of relief.

Later, they carry Naomi's body down to the chopper, but Miles points out, correctly, that right now Naomi is just "meat" and they can't add her weight to the low-on-fuel helicopter. Sayid confirms the chopper is flight-ready. Jack agrees to give the phone to Miles in exchange for what they're doing there. Miles shows Jack a picture of...Ben! But it seems like a Ben from years ago. Miles calls the freighter and gets someone named Regina. He then asks for Minkowski, but George can't come to the phone...Frank knows that Juliet was not on the plane, since he thoroughly memorized the manifest after it went down. Franks seems intrigued by finding a "native."

Meanwhile, Locke, believing Sawyer may have been right in the first place, is about to kill Ben. He tells his people to leave the area if they don't want to see this. Ben tempts John to release him in exchange for answers. Locke calls his bluff, demanding to know what the black smoke is. Ben says he doesn't know (and, to me, Ben sells this one - but his lack of knowledge about Smokey is a topic for another day). About to get shot, Ben spurts out that he knows the woman they found is Charlotte Staples Lewis, and rattles off her whole biography, and the names of her team. Ben knows what they're doing here. "I know what they want," he tells Sawyer. "Me, James, they want me." He says he knows this because...he has a man on their boat!

So who is this man? It could be Minkowski, who was strangely unavailable when his people called. Or, some have opined, it could be Charlotte herself. The theory here is that Ben shot her knowing full well she would have a vest on, so that he could convince Locke's group that he and Charlotte are at odds with each other. This brings back to mind my theory that when Ben shot Locke, he knew it was in a spot that would not hurt John...
In any case, that's it this week. As I mentioned before, the obvious clues and mysteries revealed in "Confirmed Dead" may turn out to be eclipsed by the little moments many of us probably missed. This was the most densely-packed hour of Lost in a very long time. So, while Jack's failure to ask questions continues to annoy me, I'm pretty happy.

Next week, in "The Economist," the promos promise, another member of the Oceanic Six will be revealed.