Ep. 506 - "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Questions Answered

Towards the end of last week's recap, I posed a few questions (scroll down for the prior recap to see what I'm talking about). At least one of those questions was answered this week in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." To wit, what happened to the plane? As we saw this week, Captain Frank Lapidus apparently set it down in more or less one piece on Hydra island, albeit not on the runway built by Sawyer, Kate and the Others.

Aside Number 1 - Frank Lapidus can be my pilot any day. He safely brought down the chopper last season despite its being bombarded in a freak electrical storm, and now he managed to bring flight 316 to a relatively gentle landing despite getting zapped by island-magic white light energy. Sure, some people were hurt (more on this later,) but, unlike flight 815, the majority seem to have survived.

Once off the plane, Lapidus took one of three outrigger canoes, accompanied by "a woman" and the flight 316 passenger list, and paddled over the main island.

Per this week's podcast, I can tell you when another one of the new questions - what happened to Aaron, and why is Kate so upset about it - will be answered. According to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, this mystery will be solved in episode 511, in 4 weeks.

Critique

When I first saw this week's episode, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," I thought it was freaking great. But on a second viewing, I didn't think it really held up like most epsiodes do. Sure, there were plenty of reveals (or quasi-reveals), but the bulk of the action just showed us things we already knew happened, with little added by way of actually the events transpire. Furthermore, the new burning question - just how is John Locke walking and talking in his burial clothes on Hydra Island after his death a few days earlier in Los Angeles - requires one of the biggest John-Lockian leaps of faith from us the viewers of any plot point thus far on Lost.

That said, the revelations in this episode were pretty spectacular. And, having seen both of the last two episodes, I fully agree with the producers' decision to reverse their order.

The Tease

Locke's death explained! Waaaaaalt!! Abaddon returns!!! All this, plus additional insight into Charles Widmore's ideas of how he connects with the island and its history, all on "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.

Flashback

As promised, the bulk of the action in this epsiode dealt with showing us everything that happened to John Locke between the time he fixed and turned the frozen donkey wheel, and the time he ended up in the casket at Hoffs/Drawlar. He found himself in the Tunisian desert , his leg still injured. He throws up, and sees he's being watched by security cameras on a series of posts - oddly reminiscent of the DHARMA barracks fence. Unable to get up (he still has that nasty compound fracture), he shouts to the camera for help.

Night falls, and he's still on his back. A truck approaches, with several gunmen in the back. They pick Locke up and toss him into the payload. He is taken to a field hospital. A doctor rushes him some medication. Locke looks...and sees Matthew Abaddon watching him.(Yeah, Lance Reddick really does bring the creepy, doesn't he?) The doctor sticks a biting stick in Locke's mouth, then resets the break. Pain sets in, and Locke passes out. He awakens, and Charles Widmore is sitting by his bedside. Locke's leg is in a cast, suspended in midair. Widmore says he had a specialist flown in to treat him. Widmore - "it's nice to see you again. I know you're confused. I met you when I was 17, now all these years later, here you are. You look exactly the same." Widmore clarifies who he is. John tells him it's been 4 days since they met in 1954. Widmore is impressed that so much time went by, but apparently not shocked. Widmore knew where Locke would be, he says because that's the exit. Those were his cameras. He was sure Ben would trick Locke into leaving, like he had to Charles. Charles was, he explains, the Others' pre-Ben leader. "They're not 'the Others to' me, John, they're my people." He claims they protected the island, peacefully for more than 3 decades before Ben exiled him. He can't understand why Locke would leave willingly (i.e. untricked by Ben), then surmises he was there to bring his friends back. Widmore tells him about the 3 years the Oceanic 6 have spent in the world, and how they've never breathed a word of their actual experiences to anyone else. Widmore says he'll do everything in his power to help Locke bring them back, because there's a war coming, and if John's not back on the island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.

Locke sits outside, and inspects his new identity as Jeremy Bentham. Widmore joins him and explains that he thought Locke's parents were exhibiting a sense of humor naming him after an English philosopher, so why shouldn't he do the same? (Umm, is that condescending, or is it just me?) Widmore gives Locke an international cell phone, and says "press 2 3 to contact me" (Numbers!!!). Widmore also hands Locke a folder with his friends' whereabouts. Widmore suggests Locke not mention that he's helping, and Locke asks why he should trust his new benefector. "I haven't tried to to kill you. Can you say the same about Ben?" Locke brings up the mercenary force he sent to the island, and Widmore explains he sent them to remove Ben, so it could be John's time to lead. "What makes you think I'm so special?" asks John. "Because you are," responds Charles, authoritatively. A Range Rover pulls up. Locke tells Widmore that Richard said he'd die, but Widmore says he won't let that happen. Abaddon gets out of the car, and Widmore says Mathew will protect John from anything. (Is it just me, or this a lot of bald actors for a single scene on network TV?) Abaddon unfolds a wheelchair, and Locke seems to recognize him. They drive off, to begin Locke's quest to try to recruit the Oceanic 6, and Abbadon says he'll provide anything Locke needs, including helping him find anyone in the world he wants to tell he's alive. Locke doesn't respond.

Aside Number 2 - Let's pause and talk about the Widmore/Linus feud. Obviously, over the past two seasons, we've been meant to see-saw between our views of Charles and Ben and which, if either, of the two of them will turn out to be the good guy. Season 4 seemed to be Ben's time - he showed Locke the video of Widmore ordering a beating, and, after all, Widmore did send an army of armed murderers to the island to kill everyone. They even executed sweet, innocent teenaged Alex. Widmore was enough of a boogeyman that the Oceanic Six lied about what happened to them, and Jack even accepted Ben's help.

Now, it seems, we're meant to think that perhaps it was Widmore who was the aggrieved party, and Ben who we should be booing. After all, Ben killed his own father (or so it seemed), tricked Charles into exile (or so Charles says), promised to kill Penny, had a lawyer show up to come between Kate and Aaron, coerced Sayid into 2 years of assassinations, and, as we'll see at the end of this episode, killed Locke. To be sure, Ben is no angel, either.

But let's examine what Widmore just told John - I saw no indication that Keamey and company were trying too hard not to kill Locke when they stormed New Otherton last season. Also, didn't 17-year-old Widmore break his co-Other's neck to get him to stop talking to Locke and Sawyer? As for "peacefully" defending the island - didn't his people exterminate the military expedition who brought Jughead, then fatally gas the DHARMA initiative? And what about Widmore's claim to have been the Others' leader? Didn't he seem to be taking orders from Richard as a teen?

Finally, an observation on the points on which Ben and Charles appear to agree: both men seem to want the Oceanic 6 to return to the island. Why would two people with such opposite agendas seem to agree on such a big thing? Two thoughts. One, to the extent these big bads are playing some sort of game of ultra-violent chess, I would imagine the game can't be played until all the pieces are on the board.

I'm also thinking of the primary point of agreement between certain ultra-orthodox Jews and certain fundamentalist Christians. The Jews believe the Messiah (Moshiach) will only come when all Jews have gathered in the Biblical Holy Land - indeed, these Jews oppose the political state of Israel because they believe it is wrong to establish a Jewish kingdom before all Jews are present and Moshiach walks among us. The Christians, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah (Jesus), will only return when all Jews have gathered in Israel. Only, in the Christian belief system, the Jews would then be consumed in a massive, God-tossed fireball. In other words, two rather contradictory philosophies that nevertheless both cling to the notion that a messiah will only come when a certain group of people have gathered in one place. A bit of a reach? I don't think so, in light of the (bumbling idiot of a) messianic role Locke has clearly been put into on Lost. Now, if you feel like you're in either the Jewish or Christian group that espouses the beliefs I've tried to describe, and yet you completely disagree with how I've described them, please feel free to correct me. I only know what I think I've been told about these things. In any case, as far as Ben and Charles are concerned, I think they both feel for some reason their final victory will only come with the Oceanic 6 firmly back on the island. The big question is whether either or both of them wants or expects our heroes to survive the experience.

The next stretch of the episode was where we learned surprisingly little that we hadn't already been told about. Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley and Walt have all had conversations in prior episodes about their conversations with Bentham, and how he hadn't convinced them (for the most part) to go back to the island. The few highlights:

Sayid (Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic). After whatever ended his Jason-Bourne-like employ under Ben after 2 years, Sayid had been working with "Build our World," a Jimmy-Carter-like organization building housing in third world countries. In passing, we learned both Widmore and Ben had been monitoring Sayid (and the other former 815ers), which Sayid presumably discovered shortly after Locke's visit, prompting him to spring Hurley...but, of course, we knew all that.

Walt (New York, New York). Walt hasn't seen his dad in three years, and he asked Locke if Michael was on the island. In order to spare Walt further pain, Locke lied and said the last he heard, Michael was on a freighter just offshore from the island, and then decided not to try to recruit Walt. He took his leave of his former protege, but not before hearing that Walt had been dreaming about Locke, in a suit, back on the island, surrounded by people who want to hurt him. (more on this in a bit). Also, Ben watched this whole exchange.

Hurley (Santa Rosa, California). In the funniest bit of the episode, Hurley, seeing Locke, assumed his former comrade had died (like the other former island residents who had visited him at the mental hospital). Discovering Locke was actually alive, and seeing him accompanied by Abaddon, Hurley freaked, refused to go back to the island, and warned Locke that Abaddon was evil.

Kate (Los Angeles, California) Kate is just plain mean to Locke. She says she always figures he never loved anyone, which was why he didn't want to leave the island. He tells her about Helen, and about how he screwed things up by being angry and obsessed, and Kate retorts, "look how far you've come." Ouch, Ms. Austin!

Along the way, Locke asks Abaddon to find Helen for him. He also asks what Matthew does for Widmore, to which Abaddon responds by saying he "helps people get where they need to go," and reminds Locke about how, after his "accident," it was Abbadon, pretending to be an orderly, who convinced him to go on walkabout in Australia, which led to his presence on flight 815. Later, Matthew claims to have found Helen, and takes John to a Santa Monica cemetary, shows him a headstone, and says Helen died from an anyeurism. Locke gets choked up, and thinks out loud that if he had done things differently, they could have been together, but Abaddon points out she would have died either way.

Aside Number 3 - I don't believe for a moment that Helen is dead. Rather, I think this was a fake-out by Abaddon to keep John from having any reason whatsoever not to return to the island.

Also, we get what seems to have become a recurring theme this season - whether or not different actions in the past indeed could have changed the future. We know Faraday says it can't be done - and yet he gave Desmond the message to seek out Ms. Hawking, and will (already did) try to tell child Charlotte she can't come back to the island in the future or she'll die. Looks like Daniel was 1-1. How will Locke fare?

As Matthew loads John's wheelchair back in the car on the way out of the cemetary, he is gunned down with several shots to the chest and back, and appears to have died. Locke jumps to the drivers seat, drives off, then gets into a 3-car crash at an intersection. He awakens in another hospital bed. Jack is sitting there, sporting the early stages of his crazy beard, wondering what Locke is doing there. Locke immediately launches into "we have to go back." Jack, as he always had in the past, scoffs about the notion that they have a destiny. Locke says someone tried to kill him, which Jack interprets as a delusion. Jack rails into him - "did you ever think the delusions you're so important are not real, that you're just a lonely old man who crashed on an island?"Locke tries the one move he knows he has left - "your father says 'hello'". He tells Jack about how Chrisitian told him to move the island. Jack refuses to accept this, because he put his father in a coffin. Locke pleads that Jack alone can get the others to go back. Jack again insist, "we were never imporant, so you leave, and you leave the rest of them alone."

Aside Number 4 - this, clearly, is the moment that Jack became a believer. He believes that John believes what he's saying. And how would John know about Christian? Not that Jack embraced his destiny fully. It's more like he just began to doubt his doubt.

At some point later in time, at the Westerfield Hotel, Locke writes the suicide note Jack would come to read later on flight 316. Taking his crutches, Locke positions a table under a beam, takes out and extension cord, and fashions a noose out of it. He puts his head in the loop, tightens the knot, steps to the edge, then hears a knock on the door. It's Ben, who bursts in, and finds him. He says he found Locke because he has a man watching Sayid, and someone watching all of them (leaving out the whole I watched you talk to Walt thing). Ben admits to shooting Abaddon, who he says would have killed John sooner or later. Ben insists again that Widmore was dangerous, that he moved the island so Widmore couldn't find it, so Locke could lead. "You have no idea how important you are," soothes Ben. "Nothing can happen to you."

Aside Number 5 - man, if you tell John Locke he's "special," he'll follow you around like a teenage girl you just called "pretty." Which is what's a little upsetting. His learning curve is so flat - how can he indeed be so special when he's so easily manipulated?

Locke insists he's a failure, for not being able to get any of them to come back. Ben says Jack booked a ticket to Sydney, with a next day return trip. (This, we know, is true). "If you got Jack, you can get the rest of them." Ben gets down on his knees and pleads, "you can't die, you have too much work to do. We've got to get you back on the island so that you can do it." Ben unties the cord. He stands and offers to help Locke get down. "I know we can do this, John. You haven't even been to Sun yet. Let's start with her." Locke tells Ben about Jin not wanting Sun to come back. "Jin is alive? Alright, John, a promise is a promise."

Aside Number 6 - at this point, Ben seems to already be thinking that befriending John here won't work exactly as planned. He seemed genuinely surprised to learn about Jin being alive, but about as convincing in his agreement to leave Sun out of it as he did last season when he told Kate they could leave the island.

Ben takes off his jacket, then helps John to his wheelchair. He says he can help. John says he knows where to go - to a woman in Los Angeles, Eloise Hawking. Ben asks if Locke is sure about the name. Locke asks if Ben knows her. Ben says, "yes, yes I do,"... then abruptly strangles Locke with the cord!

Aside Number 7- we've sen Ben do all sorts of despicable things, but this was the single most violent, viscious thing he's ever done. So why did he do it? Why save John's life, then, minutes later, kill him? It certainly seemed that Ben was set off by John's knowledge of Eloise Hawking. But was it really suddenly ok for Locke to die, just to conceal some sort of secret from him? I can't help but think that Ben's plan for the island required Locke to have died, but not by suicide. The way he died must have mattered. Again, very religious, if you choose to think of it that

Ben stages the suicide, then wipes down his prints. He spots Jin's ring, then pockets it, knowing he can use it to get Sun back to the island. Ben says, as he leaves, "I'll miss you, John. I really will." And you kinda have to believe him, because why else say it to the dead guy?

The Bookend - Hydra Island

As I mentioned at the outset of the post, the episode began with Lost newcomers Ceasar and Ilana poking around an office in the Hydra station. Flight 316 had been set down on this smaller sister island (which apparently has been bouncing through time and space with its larger counterpart).

Alone in the office, Ceasar breaks into a file cabinet, and finds maps of the island, and drawings eerily reminiscent of the ones we've seen before in Daniel Faraday's notebook. As you can see from this screen capture, the diagram includes vectors labeled "real time," "space-time," "imaginary time" and "imaginary space."

There is a sawed-off shotgun under the desk, which Ceasar grabs and shoves in his backpack. Ilana comes in, wants to know what Ceasar stashed. He lies and says it was a flashlight. They discuss having seen somebody, who was not on the plane, who was in the water. As they walk past Flight 316, still in predominantly one piece, they get to the beach, where the stranger introduces himself as John Locke.

Aside Number 8 - It's difficult to figure out at this point if Ceasar and Ilana knew each other before the flight. It's hard to imagine why a marshall and a random single passenger would. On the other hand, they were the only two people, other than Ben and the Oceanic 6, who managed to get seats in business class. However, given what Ceasar tells Locke at the end of the episode, they may only seem to know each other now in light of a freakish shared experience.

In the morning, Locke stands on the beach, looking out at the waves, across at the island. Ilana brings John a mango. She tells Locke about the pilot and woman who took the passenger list and one of the 3 outriggers they found while everyone slept.

Aside 9 - earlier, we saw two of these outriggers at the flight 815 beach camp. It appears one carried Frank (assuming "the pilot" is Frank) and a woman (Sun?), while they other will have followed shortly after in an attempt to find the first. Sawyer (and Locke, Juliet et al) will (already did?) take one of the two, while another group - presumably the people who will take the second one from Hydra beach - will (already did?) shoot at Sawyer and company. You follow (or lead?)

Ilana doesn't remember Locke from the plane, and Locke says he doesn't, either. Locke explains the suit he's wearing is what he was going to be buried in. "You asked what I remembered? I remember dying."

Aside 10 - I can't take credit for this observation, though I don't precisely recall where I read it - but this scene was quite reminiscent of the first season scene when, shortly after the crash, Locke shares a piece of fruit with Walt and tells him he couldn't walk before the crash of flight 815. All too trusting, this John Locke fella.

And, speaking of Walt, didn't Walt tell Locke about a dream he had...where Locke was on the island...in a suit...surrounded by people who want to hurt him? Locke seems to have taken Walt dreams/visions seriously in the past. Why ignore this one? Or could it just be that Locke is doing his full-on Jesus/Aslan/Luke Skywalker/insert mythical hero here shtick? In other words, he's already died, so what does he have to fear? If these are to be his attackers, these flight 316 strangers, perhaps he figures he might as well lean into the punch, so to speak. But, given that every single decision Locke ever makes seems to be a bungled one, I'll stand by my "stupid move, Lockester" theory.

Later, Locke goes to see Ceasar in the same office from the episode's open, and finds him reading a file with a Hydra logo on it. Locke starts to explain DHARMA. Ceasar asks if Locke was already there when they crashed, but Locke explains he had left the island before. Ceasar asks why Hurley and the others disappeared off the plane when the light hit.

Aside 11 - This at least partially explains why Jack, Kate and Hurley ended up in the lagoon with no recollection of crashing with the plane. It does not explain where Sun and Sayid are. Was Sun the woman who paddled away with Frank? Why wouldn't Sun have been taken, too, by the flash of light? For that matter, as I'm about to mention, why wasn't Ben?

Locke says he thinks he knows how he came to be there (really? Because I'm not sure I do). Ceasar tells Locke some people got hurt. He takes him to a makeshift infirmary, in the Hyrda medical area, where Locke finds Ben, one of the injured. "You know him?" asks Ceasar? "Yeah," says Locke, "He's the man who killed me."

Final Thoughts

Locke as messiah continues to bother me. He never seems to make the right move, does he? I mean, it's not just that he's unafraid of the consequences of his unpopular decisions. It's more than he makes decisions that seem destined to keep him from achieving his own goals.

Ben in this vulnerable postion is also interesting. The island clearly took who it wanted from the living on the plane...and yet, Ben was not one of them. Did he become, in a sense, unworthy, for what he did (whatever it was) after leaving Jack at Eloise's church? Or for killing Locke?

Finally, on the whole confused notion of time...Jack, Kate and Hurley did not seem to experience any time jumps from the time they woke up on the island to the time Jin pulled up in a 70s era DHARMA bus. Yet, it appeared that the Hyrda Island people arrived in the future of the island - which explains their outriggers being left at the future version of the 815 camp. Did the separation of the groups leave them in different time periods? Will this cause some of the unpredictable effects Eloise mentioned (since, after all, Walt, Aaron, and perhaps Ji Yeon did not come back?)

In any case, next week we'll return to the Sawyer/Juliet/Daniel/Miles group, and, the previews lead us to believe, see Sawyer and Kate reunited, in "LaFleur." Until then, Namaste!

Episode 507 - "316" Changes the Numbers on Us

The Explanation
No, that’s not a typo in the title of this post. I know I jumped from episode 505 last week to episode 507 this week. Here’s what’s going on – in last week’s podcast, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse explained that they decided after writing, filming and editing episodes 506 (“The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”) and 507 (“316”), that the story would play better if the episodes’ airdates were reversed. So, for only the second time ever Lost’s producers intentionally aired episodes out of order (the first was in the first season, though the producers declined to reveal which episodes they reversed back then – speculate away). It shouldn’t be a big deal to us, the viewers – after all, the show tells a non-linear story. I for one have been eagerly anticipating “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” which promises to explain how Locke ends up in that coffin. In any case, we’ll see episode 506 next week. For now, episode 507, “316.”

The Retread
One observation I missed last week, that was pointed out to me by LLL newcomer Angelo (my coworker): When Robert’s gun jammed in his cowardly attempt to shoot Danielle, this was no accident. Years later (or, from our perspective, in Season 1), Rousseau told Sayid during a similar confrontation that she removed the firing pin from that gun in anticipation that Robert might very well try to kill her. So this, like Montand’s lost arm, was a moment we’d heard about before. Good to see that, 16 years later, Danielle would use a little more restraint with Sayid than she did with Alex’s dad. Anyway, thanks, Angelo, for pointing this out.

The Tease
Ben gets roughed up (again)! Frank Lapidus Returns!! Most of the Oceanic 6 return to the island!!! All this, plus a bevy of new questions, the (in cameo) introduction of new characters, and a lot of expositional downloading, all on “316.”

The Critique
316 represented a bit of a departure from Lost’s primary M.O. In the guise of Eloise Hawking, a lot of information got downloaded to our heroes (and, of course, to us). Ms. Hawking played a similar role tonight to the one traditionally played by Pierre Chang and his various aliases – someone with superior knowledge who conveyed it so that we, the audience, could get a clue as to what was going on. But what I found that I missed about the Chang/ Candle/ Wickmund/ Halliwax way of doing things was the extra work those DHARMA films made us do. When Eloise Hawking explained to Jack and Sun, and, to a lesser extent, to Ben and Desmond, what they needed to do and how DHARMA’s island-spotting apparatus worked, there wasn’t as much left to the imagination as when Candle obliquely referred to “the incident.” Don’t get me wrong – the Lamp Post stuff was quality mythology material. I just found that the indirect reveals could be a bit more fun to muddle through. Maybe that’s just me.

The Recap (Finally!)
“316” didn’t jump around nearly as much as most Lost episodes. Sure, the opening scene, an homage to the pilot of the series, in which Jack awakens in a suit in the middle of the jungle, was a preview of the episode’s conclusion. But otherwise the story was told linearly, from Jack’s point of view.

As Jeff Jensen explained at great length in his “Totally Lost” column this week on EW.com (which you can access by clicking the title of this post), this episode highlighted the many parallels between Lost and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. When Jack awakened in the jungle, his expression was very reminiscent of the joy (or at least relief) exhibited by the Pevensie children when they found their way back to Narnia in Prince Caspian. Like the Pevensies, the Oceanic Six had believed they would never again see the magical place where they had their big adventure. Obviously, that’s not the case. When Jack stands up, he is holding a piece of a note, which reads only, “I wish.” As we’ll see later on, this is the most important two word segment of a note that would follow Jack for a couple of days until he finally deigned to read it. He then hears Hurley calling for help, and runs to find Hurley, in the lagoon, barely staying afloat by holding a guitar case. “It really happened,” says Hurley, after Jack pulls him to safety. Jack spots Kate lying motionless on some rocks near the edge of the water. As she comes to, Jack confirms they made it back, and Kate asks what happened.

Aside 1 – in typical Lost fashion, the answer to Kate’s question is one of many details cleverly left out of this episode. I’ll run through this new set of questions at the end of this post…

46 hours earlier…
The main narrative picks up right where “This Place is Death” left off, with Eloise Hawking deciding to make do with only Jack and Sun. She takes them, along with Ben and Desmond, to the hidden lair we’d seen under the church. It turns out this “ancient” computer-lined antechamber is an L.A.-based DHARMA station – the Lamp Post. Eloise explains that this station was how DHARMA found the island. Jack asks Ben if he knew about it, and Ben says no. Jack then asks Eloise if Ben is telling the truth, and she responds, “probably not.” Jack looks around, and starts to inspect a 1954 U.S. Army photo of the island (we know when that happened!), when Eloise elaborates. The Lamp Post is one of several DHARMA stations built over a quirky pocket of electromagnetic energy that exists in a few discrete places around the world – including the island. The pendulum device in the center of the station was built on a theory by a DHARMA scientist who surmised that the key to finding the island was to stop looking where it was supposed to be, and instead look for where it was going to be. The island is constantly moving, which, Eloise explains, was why no rescue attempt ever found Flight 815. The scientist who designed the pendulum created a series of equations that predict windows of where the island will be, and when. There are, Eloise explains, only 36 hours left in the next such window.

Aside 2 – again from Jensen, but “Lamp Post” is another Narnia reference. When Lucy Pevensie first entered Narnia through the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first thing she came across in the woods was an out-of-place lamp post.

Also, the presence of the military photo is curious. As we know, that military incursion from the 50s was eliminated by the Others. Was it tied to DHARMA? Is that why DHARMA determined at its inception that the Others were “hostiles?”

Further, the oblique references to an unnamed scientist – my personal theory is that the man in question will turn out to be Charlotte’s father. Given the many Narnia references in the episode, the fact that Charlotte Staples Lewis is very much a reference to Narnia author C.S. Lewis, combined with the fact that we know that Charlotte’s parents were with DHARMA, suggests this may be the case. Jeff Jensen cast his votes for either Daniel Faraday (which would be trippy) or Pierre Chang.

Finally, I loved the advancement of the Ben/ Eloise relationship. It’s clear their agendas, whatever they are, are not completely in synch, but have merely aligned at the moment. More on my take on Ben’s agenda later…

Desmond can’t believe Sun and Jack are going back. He rants about how listening to Ms. Hawking in the past cost him four years of his life, marooned on the very island she’s sending the former castaways back to. Desmond delivers his message from Daniel, then demands to know why Eloise is sending his friends back instead of doing something to help her son and those left behind with him. She says she is helping by sending Jack and company back. Desmond says he’s done with the island as he turns to storm out, but Eloise, somewhat menacingly, retorts that the island isn’t done with him. Desmond pleads with Jack that Ben and Eloise are using people like them as pieces in a game, and that he should ignore whatever Eloise tells him. Exeunt Desmond…for now.

Eloise tells Jack the binder he’s holding contains all routes going towards where the island will be in its current window. The best bet for a return, she explains, will be Ajira Airways flight 316, from L.A. to Guam, so they all need to be on it (hence the title of the episode). She explains they need to recreate the circumstances that brought them there to the island in the first place, including the people who come along, as much as possible, or there could be an unpredictable result. Getting on the plane, explains Eloise, is not all there is to it – at least not for Jack.

She takes Jack to the church rectory, without Ben and Sun. She gives Jack an envelope, with his name on it, and says it’s John Locke’s suicide note. Jack says he didn’t know it was a suicide (which is odd, because at least Sayid seemed to). Eloise says there are many reasons for Locke to have killed himself, but the only one that matters is that he will help them get back, by being a proxy for Christian Shepherd, i.e. a body in a coffin being escorted by Jack. Jack needs to get something belonging to his father, and give it to John. Jack gets upset by the ridiculousness of this part of his task, but Eloise tells him to stop asking himself if it’s going to work. “That’s why it’s called a leap of faith, Jack.”

Ben seems to be praying in the chapel when Jack finds him. He says Sun left, and he’ll pick up Locke’s body on the way to the airport. Jack asks Ben who Eloise is. Rather than answer directly, Ben talks about Thomas the Apostle, who, after telling the other apostles to go with Jesus, that they might die with him, actually came to fame later, for not acknowledging Jesus’ resurrection, until he touched Jesus’ wounds. Ben turns to leave, referring obliquely to a promise to an old friend – a loose end in need of tying up before leaving.

Aside 3 – what Jack doesn’t realize is that Ben’s plan is to go kill Penny. Now that he has seen Desmond, he knows the target of his revenge for the death of Alex is near. And what better timing than just before a route to the island will provide him with an excape!

Later, Jack is summoned to the nursing home where his grandfather, Ray, attempted to make an escape. Helping Ray unpack, Jack finds a pair of Christian’s shoes in Ray’s suitcase, and Ray agrees to let Jack take them.

Aside 4 – Jeff Jensen theorizes that Ray is not really Jack’s grandfather, but Jack himself. In other words, Lost’s take on the time travel theory known as the grandfather paradox – that you can’t go back in time and kill your own grandfather before he sires your father, or there would be no you to go back and do the killing. I’ll just leave this out there as Jensen’s theory, and say nothing further…

Jack returns home, and finds Kate lying on his bed, in tears. She says she’ll go with Jack to the island. Jack asks where Aaron is, but Kate says she’ll only go if he never asks about Aaron again. He agrees, she thanks him, and they kiss deeply.

Aside 5 –Kate had taken off with Aaron from slip 23 in Long Beach less than 24 hours earlier. The next big question from this episode is, what happened to Aaron during that time, and why did it cause Kate to agree so quickly to join Jack? For that matter, why is Jack so willing to ignore the sudden disappearance of his nephew??

In the morning, Jack offers Kate coffee and OJ. Kate notices the shoes, and says they won’t make much sense for the island. Jack explains the white tennis shoes in which Christian was often seen on the island. He had been in too much of a hurry when he picked up his father’s body, and, since nobody would see the feet, and he didn’t feel that his dad was worth the nice pair of shoes, he just slipped the sneakers on. Kate asks Jack why hold onto something that makes him feel sad. In typical Lost fashion, the phone rings before Jack has a chance to answer, and Kate says she’ll see him at the airport. It’s Ben – he says he’s been sidetracked. When we see Ben, he’s bloody (and, really, hadn’t Ben gone too long without some major contusions?) Ben directs Jack to Simon’s Butcher Shop to get Locke’s body.

Jill the butcher opens up and lets Jack in. She asks Jack what’s in his bag, then apologizes for the question. She will give Jack Ben’s van, which she’ll pull around back in 5 minutes. The coffin is still there. Jack opens it, and swaps Locke’s shoes for his father’s. “Wherever you are, John, you must be laughing your ass off that I’m actually doing this, because this – this is even crazier than you were. And yet, you can have that (envelope) back. I’ve already heard everything you have to say, John. You wanted me to go back, and I’m going back. Rest in Peace.”

Aside 6 – despite Jack’s protests, it’s pretty obvious that, for the first time, the hero of our story is overcoming his doubts and answering the call to action.

At the airport, Jack explains to the ticket agent that Bentham's last wishes were to be buried in Guam, and Jack is escorting the body as a friend. He is warned that the airline will have to inspect inside the casket. Jack gets condolences from a stranger (we’ll get to know him in later episodes as Ceasar, played by Saïd Taghmaoui). Jack sees Kate, then Sun arrives. Jack is relieved Sun didn’t change her mind. Sayid is there, too, being escorted by a police officer (who we'll soon get to know as Ilana, played by Zuliekha Robinson) – he’s been arrested! Hurley is there, too, reading a Spanish-language version of a trade paperback of Y the last Man (written by Lost producer Bryan K. Vaughn!) Hurley bought up 78 seats on the flight and tries to prevent anyone from getting on off the standby list. Jack asks how Hurley knew about the flight, and Hugo responds, "all that matters is that I’m here, right? Ok, then. Let’s do this."

Aside 7 - how Hurley got from county lock-up to airport, and, for that matter, how he even found out about the flight, are yet another question posed by this episode.

They board. Sayid sees Jack, and seems less than thrilled. Jack nods to Sun, then Kate. She still seems upset. Jack goes back to his seat. Hurley wrestles with a guitar case. Ben, now with his arm in a sling, runs to get on board before they close the door. Hurley reacts badly to seeing him, but Ben asks Hurley who told him to be there. The flight attendant gives Jack the envelope they found in the casket while screening his cargo. Jack asks Ben what’s going to happen to the other people on the plane, and Ben asks, “who cares?”

Aside 8 - per Eloise, there is a conscious effort to recreate as much of flight 815 as possible here. Jack is still Jack, once again escorting a dead body. This time it is Sayid, not Kate, who is the captured fugitive. I can't help but wonder if this is just a bit of make-believe for recreation sake - after all, even if Sayid were arrested for the three people he just killed, why would he get flown to Guam? And with only his escort, Ben, Ceasar and 4 other Oceanic 6ers in business class with him? Hurley now plays Charley and Walt, bringing a guitar case and comic book on board. Ben plays Hurley, clumsily running to catch the plane before the door closes. I'm not sure who Kate is supposed to be, or Sun, but hey, the effort was there!

After Ajira 316 takes off, Jack goes to sit with Kate. He asks if Kate thinks it means something, that they’re all back together. Kate coldy responds, "we're on the same plane, Jack. That doesn’t mean we’re together."

Aside 9 - after she hooked up with Jack the night before, I'm curious what Kate means by this? Is she commenting on the groups' different agendas? Is she sore that Jack seemed less bothered by Aaron's disappearance? Is she just going through a lot of...stuff?

The captain addresses the plane – it’s Frank Lapidus! Jack tries to talk to him. The flight attendant calls to the cockpit, and Frank comes out. "Well, hello, doc. Small world!" Frank’s been on that route for 8 months now. He asks what Jack is doing going to Guam…then starts to notice the others back there. Jack smiles, and Frank asks, "wait a second, we’re not going to Guam, are we?"

Aside 10 - I love Frank's presence on the flight. Although it does not recreate flight 815, in a sense, it corrects the prior flight. After all, Frank had been slated to fly the doomed Oceanic flight, and that was his reason for wanting to go back to the island on the freighter. As I'll discuss in a bit, I think Frank's being on board may explain the lack of wreckage in the opening sequence of the episode.

Ben reads Ulysses, and Jack asks, "how can you read?" Ben responds, "my mother taught me. It beats what you’re doing – waiting for something to happen. "

Aside 11 - Of course, we know this is not true – Ben’s mother died in childbirth. But we also know how much young Ben wanted to be with his mother, who visited him as a vision on the island. Is Ben’s whole plan about changing the past to be reunited with Mom? Is there anything he can do back in time on the island that would prevent his mother from going into labor in the woods outside Portland?

Also, Jeff Jensen on Ulysses: "As you may or may not know, James Joyce's Ulysses — a day-in-the-life saga about two very complicated Irishmen, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus — communes deeply and ironically with Homer's Odyssey, which, if you recall, tells the epic saga of what happened to the Greek hero Odysseus (or 'Ulysses' in the Latin) on his way home after the battle of Troy. Odysseus was the guy who came up with that sneakiest of sneak attacks, The Trojan Horse. Yes, Odysseus/Ulysses was a very crafty guy. But our old friend Dante — the Italian poet whose notion of Purgatory has spawned many a Lost theory — took a very dim view of this 'hero:' He saw the guy's mad pursuit of adventure at the expense of his family and marriage as a gross perversion of human reason and therefore a bad influence on impressionable minds. As a result, Dante assigned cunning/ambitious Odysseus/Ulysses to the eighth circle of his Inferno, one reserved for — get this — 'false counselors.'"

Jack asks if Ben knew Locke killed himself. Ben says no. (we'll see next week). Jack pulls out the envelope, and says it’s been following him, as though Locke needs him to read it. Ben asks if Jack is afraid to read it, assures him Locke's death wasn’t his fault, then says he’s giving Jack some privacy. The entire letter says only, “Jack, I wish you had believed me – JL”

Aside 12 - Jensen discusses at length how reading the letter was the moment Jack finally was cured of his skepticism and hopped onto Locke's faith-based path. In any case, the only portion of the letter to survive the crash, "I wish," is a cool commentary on the island's ability to deliver, in some respect, on the wishes of believers.

Suddenly there is turbulence. Hurley suggests that Ceasar fasten his seatbelt, then puts on a sleep mask. There is a flash of light as the plane starts to toss (just like the shifts on the island)…and Jack awakens, where we began the episode, the scrap of Locke’s note in his hand. Kate asks where the plane is. None of them remember crashing. Kate wonders where Sun, Sayid and Ben are. Suddenly, a DHARMA bus pulls up, and Jin, sporting a jumpsuit, gets out and holds them at gunpoint, before recognizing them.

Wrap-up

So here, in my mind, are the questions posed by 316:

1. What happened to Aaron, and how did that (or something else) change Kate's mind?
2. How did Sayid end up getting escorted as a prisoner on the plane?
3. How did Hurley even find out about the flight, much less end up there?
4. Given the noticeably sparsely populated business class, what was Ceasar doing there? I.e., the only other person we've never seen before is Ilana, who was escorting Sayid.
5. After they got to the island, what happend to Sun, Sayid, Ben, and the rest of the people?
6. For that matter, what happened to the plane?
7. How did Jin end up working in the DHARMA initiative?
8. Obviously there were still variations from Oceanic 815. What random fluctuations will these differences have caused?

Which brings me to a theory. Flight "815" contained in its designation two of the Numbers - 8 and 15 - that we know were constants to the Valenzetti equation. We also know that DHARMA's stated purpose was to change at least one of the Valenzetti constants, a purpose which it failed to achieve. Now, here comes flight 316. Now, we know that 16 is one of the Numbers, but 3 is not. Did some aspect of the this second go at arriving at the island finally do what DHARMA failed to do, i.e. change the numbers, and, in so doing, save the world?

And then...another theory. This one's about the plane, and where it ended up. Thanks again to Jeff Jensen, I was reminded about Season 3, when Sawyer and Kate were turned into forced laborers building a runway on Hydra Island. We didn't know then what that runway was for. Do we know now? Does the fact that Frank probably anticipated there would be an emergency landing on (or actually near) the island indicate he was able to set the plane down on that runway, explaining the lack of wreckage? On the other hand, the runway was built in 2004, and Jack and company woke up during the DHARMA years, long before there was a runway. In any case, assuming the plane did, in fact safely land, how did Jack, Kate and Hurley end up in the middle of the "main" island, with no idea how they got there after the plane lit up?

Also, an observation - we saw the Ajira water bottle in the outrigger canoe Locke and his group took from the camp. This certainly suggests other people from the plane survived the trip. I can't wait to see which of them end up shooting at Locke's group on the open water. But then...why wouldn't those people time-hop with Locke's group? This is particularly odd in light of Jack and his group seeing Jin in the past.

As for my thoughts on Ben's agenda, here's what I'm thinking happened, going back to last season. When Alex died, Ben's purpose in life shifted. No longer primarily interested in the island (or whatever he was primarily interested in), Ben became single-mindedly devoted to killing Penny Widmore. He somehow knew that Jacob would tell Locke to move the island...which gave him the opportunity to manipulate Locke into letting Ben take his place. Once free of the island, Ben knew that his best chance for finding Penny was to hand out around the Oceanic 6. Sure, he may well have had a reason to get them back to the island, but I think his main purpose there was to wait patiently for his prey to arrive. Sure enough, Desmond showed up less than 2 days before Ben would have to hop a plane with the Oceanic 6 if he was to return to the island. Desmond's presence meant Penny was nearby, so Ben left Jack in the church to go do the deed. Of course, there's now way to know at this point if he succeeded, or if his beat-to-a-pulp condition was a sign that he failed. But I tell you what, Damon and Carlton - if you killed Penny off, particularly after introducing us to little Charlie, you will be dead to me! I'll still watch your show, but I will be very upset about the death of one half of the relationship that sits as the core of Lost's emotional well-being.

And, finally, one more possible interpretation of the title, "316." As Jensen puts it, "Christianity's lynchpin verse" is John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Given the number of would-be messiahs on flight 316, and the need for at least one to be resurrected, I'd say there's plenty of food for thought there.

Anyway, lots of dense commentary on my part this week. I'd love to hear what you think. In the meantime, until "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" next week, Namaste!

Ep. 505 - "This Place is Death" for One Character

Precap

Before we begin – a question I posted on both Facebook and Lost Users this week – if the past can’t be changed by time travel (big if), then why didn’t 2004 Rousseau remember meeting Jin in 1988 on one of the most memorable and traumatic days of her life? Is it because she’s nuts? Or because she didn’t have a whole heck of a lot of contact with Jin in prior encounters with the 815 survivors? Or did the past in fact get altered by the presence of Jin and the other left-behinders? Something to ponder. Some possible answers, courtesy of Doc Jensen at ew.com, will follow below…

One more note – The Numbers made two slight returns last week, that I didn’t catch in my recap. First, Ben had Jack bring Kate to slip 23 in Long Beach. Even more interesting, and subtle, was when Rousseau’s team first meets Jin on the beach. Montand, fiddling with a radio, picks up the transmission of the numbers by DHARMA – the same transmission Rousseau would soon swap with her distress call, which will play continuously for 16 years.

Tease
Smokey returns! Montand (finally) loses his arm!! A major character dies!!! All this, plus Locke’s repair job on the frozen donkey wheel, in “This Place is Death.”

Island
Poor Jin. Having been separated from the other left-behinders, he has no idea he’s been traveling through time, and thus, he has trouble believing the young pregnant woman is crazy ol’ Rousseau. She tells him they sailed from Tahiti on November 5, 1988 (at which point the time travel thing seems to dawn on Jin). He says he needs to find his camp, to find his wife, which prompts Danielle’s crew to ask if he had been on the island before. Jin asks if they saw a helicopter (the one that took off with Sun). Montand scoffs at this. First, he snorts, Jin told them he was on a ship. Now, there was a helicopter? Next thing, snorts Montand, Jin will say there’s a submarine. (Oh the delicious irony). They ask Jin about the radio tower that’s sending the numeric transmissions Montand has been tuning in and out. Jin admits he can’t find his camp from where they are, but he could get there from the tower. So they agree – Jin has to take them to the tower, to call for help.

Aside…Jin never went to the tower – he was on the beach when older Rousseau took the group to the tower. Error in script supervision, or did he just study the map before Jack hatched his divide-and-conquer-the-Others plan?

The group enters the jungle, tracking the numbers signal by its strength. Fetus Alex kicks, and Danielle has a tender moment with Robert (will the baby be “Alexander” or “Alexandra”?)

They suddenly realize that one of their group has disappeared – Nadine, who had their canteen. They hear a noise, which Jin recognizes as an early harbinger of the smoke monster. They frantically search for Nadine, over Jin’s protests that they need to leave. Backtracking, they find Nadine’s pack. Suddenly, there’s a blast, like a smoky geyser, and Nadine’s broken body falls from the sky. The noises get louder, and Jin tells them to run. Montand loses his friends for a moment, only to fall prey to Smoky/Cerberus, who coils, then springs. Smoky grabs and drags Montand into the trees, just as it did to Locke in the first season finale. Robert dives and grabs Montand, as the gruff Frenchman gets pulled into a hole. Jin and the other men grab Robert to help his efforts to pull Montand out of the hole. Smoky pulls harder…and Montand freakin’ loses his arm!!!

Aside – this was far and away one of the biggest “thank-yous” ever for Lost geeks like yours truly. Ever since Danielle Rousseau took Jack and Company to the Black Rock in the first season, and uttered those immortal words, “this is the Dark territory…where Montand lost his arm,” the running gag in podcasts and the online community was whether we would ever learn what the heck she was talking about? Here, in spectacular fashion, at long last we did. 64-dollar question - was Locke in the same danger as Montand? Or was his confidence that Smoky didn't want to hurt him well-based in reality?

After losing Montand (less and arm) into the hole, the group (and the audience) got a look at where that hole went. What we see is – it’s a temple, or at least the ruins of a temple.

Aside – making an assumption here, but this must be “The Temple,” where Ben sent Richard and the Others at the end of Season 3, and where he told Rousseau to take Alex and Carl in Season 4. Strange, then, that Rousseau would willingly go towards this horrific place, and believe it would protect her daughter. Also strange that this appears to be Smoky’s home base. Is that why the Others would be safe there? If so, why would they have needed the sonic fence around the Barracks?

They hear Montand calling, “I’m hurt, help please.” Robert insists on going in after him. Jin only manages to convince Rousseau not to go. She picks up a rifle – the one she’ll have years in the future. Suddenly, there’s another flash. Jin feels a lot of pain, then finds himself alone at the temple.

Aside - was this really Montand, or was Smoky pulling his Yemi/ Dave/ Horse gimmick, and pretending to be Montand, only to lure his people inside? If so, to what end? An efficient way to wipe them out? Or did it in fact want Rousseau, and, presumably, Alex? Why?

The hole is still there, only Montand’s arm has decayed. The temple, we see, is covered in hieroglyphs, similar to the ones under the Orchid and on the countdown clock in the Swan. Jin takes a drink from a leaf, then turns and sees a plume of gray smoke. He heads for it, and sees a camp, with the last remnants of a fire. There’s a music box playing. Flies buzz. There are packs, and a violin. Jin sees two dead, recently-shot bodies – the "extras" from Rousseau's crew. He finds Danielle, still pregnant (so less than 2 months have passed) holding Robert at gunpoint. Robert tells her, it’s not a monster, it’s a security system guarding the temple. She thinks Smoky’s done something to Robert. Robert pleads with her not to shoot him. She lowers her gun…then Robert tries to shoot her, only his gun jams. So Danielle shoots the father of her unborn daughter dead, then sees Jin, accuses him of disappearing, and starts shooting.

Aside - it would appear that, years after she killed him, Danielle still trusted Robert in a sense, when she told Jack and company that Smoky was a "security system." Given that this explanation came from a guy who seconds later would try, in vain, to kill the woman he told it to, I'm doubting the extent to which the security system explanation for Smoky is valid. As to whether Robert had been changed or, rather, replaced...assuming he's a Smoky manifestation, can they really be killed with bullets? Or is the assumption misplaced? For that matter, should we now understand that the "sickness" Rousseau told Sayid about had something to do with going into the temple? What happened in there?

Also, here are Doc Jensen’s explanations of whether Rousseau recognized Jin all those years later: “The answer could very well be: Does it matter? For Rousseau, Reappearing Jin was one more scary, inexplicable situation that was about to become a way of life. By the time their lives intersected once more in her future timeline, seeing Jin again (if she even recognized him), the significance probably just bounced off her. ‘Oh. You again. Whatever.’” Jensen then goes on to offer a further theory, a meandering, but thoroughly entertaining romp, about how the term “Jinn” from Arabian tales and the Koran means an amorphous, powerful, magical creature – also known as “Genie” – that can disappear and reappear at seemingly random times. If we’re to believe that the writers really have had a roadmap in place for the show since very early on, and if we’re to observe how clue-filled character names are on the show, perhaps this explains why Mr. Kwon is named Jin. Moreover, as with Desmond not “remembering” his past meeting with Faraday until Faraday went back in time and made it happen, perhaps that offers one final explanation for why Rousseau seemingly ignored Jin at their future meeting – the universe had not yet course-corrected before her death. It’s enough to make your head spin. So let’s leave this little conundrum alone for now…

Jin runs from Rousseau, there's another flash, and he trips over a root. He hears a gun cock, then hears...Sawyer. They hug each other. Jin explains he wasn’t on the boat, he was in the water. Jin asks where Sun is, and Sawyer’s face drops a little. Miles wonders where Jin came from. Daniel guesses he was blasted clear enough from the freighter to get inside the radius. Jin can’t figure out the time traveling, so he has Charlotte (who he figured out last season could speak Korean), translate. She explains Lockes’ plan to bring Sun and the others back. Jin can’t understand why anyone would want to bring them back.

Locke explains he has to go alone, but he promises he’ll bring Sun back. Charlotte’s condition worsens. Dan asks if she speaks other languages, she jokingly says just Klingon. Dan says it makes sense to go back to the Orchid, but bringing the Oceanic 6 back – that’s where science runs out. There are two more quick shifts, and everyone suffers each time. Charlotte collapses. She gets up, looking very pale and screams to Jin in Korean, then to the group in English. “don’t let them bring her back, no matter what. Don’t let them bring her back. This place is death.” First Juliet, then Sawyer, sprout nose bleeds.

Charlotte gets loopy – "why won’t daddy come with us?" "You know what mom would say about marrying an American." Locke and Sawyer want to leave her behind. Another flash. Charlotte tells them to leave her. Daniel tells the group to go, and says he’ll stay with Charlotte. She tells them to look for the well – that’s where they’ll find the Orchid if it’s not been built or no longer stands. They get to the Orchid. "Thank God," says Juliet, "what are the odds that we’d end up the same time as this thing?" Another flash, and it’s gone. (Loved Sawyer's "ya had to say something" response)…Locke makes a beeline into the brush, and finds the well that Charlotte mentioned. Miles wonders aloud how she knew it was there.

Charlotte, perhaps remembering from her incoherent flashes, tells Daniel she was born and grew up on the island, as part of DHARMA. Her dad went crazy, so her mom took her away, leaving dad behind. Her mom then told her the island was just a fantasy she had invented as a young girl. She tells Daniel she became an anthropologist because she’d been searching for the island her whole life. She remembers a crazy man from her DHARMAkind years, who told her she had to leave the island and never come back, because if she did, she would die. Now that it's all coming back to her, it occurs to Charlotte - that man was Daniel, himself!

Sawyer asks Locke if he plans to find a subway off the island. Jin makes Locke promise not to bring Sun or their child back to the island. But if Sun finds him, and asks him, John won't stop her. Jin says to tell Sun he’s dead, and they found him and buried him. Jin gives him his wedding ring to offer as proof. Locke takes the rope. Sawyer offers to lower him down, but, Locke smiles, "where would be the fun in that?" As they begin to lose sight of Locke, another flash hits. It emanates from the bottom of the well. Sawyer tells Locke to hold on…but Locke loses his grip, and drops to the bottom. After the flash, Sawyer is holding a rope…extending into the ground. Juliet pulls Sawyer back, and says they can’t help Locke.

It looks like Juliet's theory is correct - whatever you're holding during a flash stays with you. Here, the rope sticks around, even as the well it's dropped into disappears. Weird, right? It also begs the question of when they just jumped to. If there's no well, then presumably it has not yet been built. It looked mighty old when they found it, which was apparently before the Orchid was built. Was this jump that much further back in time, even longer than the 1954 jump? Is this the jump that plunged Black Rock into the middle of the jungle?

Charlotte gets even worse. Daniel tells Charlotte about his message to Desmond, how his mother can help. She looks relieved. Then Charlotte smiles, babbles about how she's not supposed to eat chocolate before dinner…she slips away and dies. And guest star Rebecca Mader's time on Lost is done.

Something about the amount of exposition in Charlotte's final scenes made me wonder if this got forced. Is Rebecca Mader going to be unavailable faster than previously contemplated? It's just not like Lost to have a character tell us about her backstory when showing is would be so much cooler. That said, I really liked how Charlotte's character arc came together so well. Right back to that initial flashback, where she seemed so excited to find the DHARMA polar bear. We now know it's because that moment confirmed a memory that she had been told was false. Similarly, her pure delight at returning to the island after jumping out of Frank's chopper - it all comes together now, at her death. Thinking forward (or backward), we now have to wonder - will Daniel, knowing the futility of it all, still try to stop Charlotte from coming back to the island? After all, he already did, in her memory, even though he hasn't done it yet in his. But knowing what he does, why even bother...unless he thinks he can figure out a way to change the rules...

Locke has a compound break – his leg bone is sticking out. He shouts up, but nobody responds. Then Christian Shepherd shows up lighting the way with a lantern. He says he’s here to help the rest of the way. John asks why the jumps are happening, and Christian points out that Locke didn't listen to his instructions from Jacob's cabin - "I said that you had to move [the island], John." Locke pleads that Ben said he knew how to do it, and John had to stay and lead the Others. "Since when did listening to him get you anything worth a damn?" (loved this line). Christian says there’s a woman in L.A., Eloise Hawking, who will tell them how to come back. Christian says he believes in him. John asks about Richard telling him he was going to die. "I suppose that’s why they call it sacrifice," says Christian. Christian tells him to put the donkey wheel back on its access, but that he can't help him along to the next chamber to do it. Why not? Is he really physically there? Why the limitation? Locke sees the frozen donkey wheel, which is pushing back and forth, and pulsing with flash energy as it does. Christian wishes him luck. John lifts the wheel back into place. Christian tells him to say hello to his son. "Who’s your son?" asks Locke, but before he hears an answer, he sees one last...flash.

Will Locke put 2 and 2 togehter and figure out that Jack is Christian's son? Will telling Jack that his father sent him be the thing Locke said that, in Ben's words, made Jack "such a believer?" We'll know for sure in two weeks, in the episode entitled, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." But first, we still have to cover this week's time spent with the Oceanic 6...

But before that, I leave the island time with one perverse question - if the time jumping began when Ben knocked the wheel off its access, wouldn't it make sense that it would end when Locke lifted it back in place? If so, why would he need to sacrifice himself further, or come back with the Oceanic Six? I'm just sayin', if the left-behinders were made safe by the wheel repair, it will be a bit of a bummer for Locke to go through what looks like a tough time...

Oceanic Six
Picking up where we left off in the previous episode, Sun, in her car, takes a call from her mother, who is with Ji Yeon. Sun tells her daughter she’s met her a new friend – Aaron. She says good-bye, hangs up, then goes to do what she came to do – kill Ben (who’s still confronting Kate). She blames Ben for killing Jin. “I didn’t kill your husband, Sun…neither did anyone else, because he’s not dead…Jin’s still alive, and I can prove it.”

It is so rare for Lost to quickly cure dramatic irony - where we know things that the characters don't. Then along came Ben, who delights in doling out patial revelations at just the right time. I hope he gets more to do soon.

Sun demands proof that Jin is still alive. He says there’s someone in L.A. who can prove it – the same person who will show them how to get back to the island. Kate thinks Jack was just pretending to care about Aaron to trick them back to the island. Sayid says he doesn’t want any part of this, and if he sees Jack or Ben again, it will get unpleasant. Kate, Aaron, and Sayid then leave. Ben tells Sun she can have proof in 30 minutes or kill him and never know. “Let’s go.”

Sun, beaten, is upset that more than 30 minutes have passed. Ben says he didn’t account for traffic. Jack apologizes to Sun for leaving Jin behind, then says he’ll kill Ben himself if he’s lying about Jin, after learning what he did to Kate and Aaron – Ben pulls over, and yells at them – "you have no idea what I’ve had to do to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe."

Sun tells Ben to drive.

Ben takes Sun and Jack to the church where Ms. Hawking is. He asks permission to reach into his pocket, then pulls out Jin’s wedding ring. He says Locke gave it to him. "You said John never came to see you," protests Jack, as though he still expects some level of honesty from Ben. "That’s true, Jack, I went to see him." Very Obi-Wan Kenobi of him. Sun asks why John didn’t tell her about Jin (we know the answer there - see above), and Ben suggests, maybe he just didn’t have a chance before he died. (I for one am starting to think Ben had quite a lot to do with that death. We'll see in two weeks, I suppose). Ben says the people on the island need their help. There’s someone inside who can help, but they’re running out of time. Sun looks at the ring, then agrees to help. Desmond steps out suddenly, and asks what they're doing here? "I assume the same thing you are," says Ben, to which Desmond responds, "you’re looking for Faraday’s mother, too?" Ben seems surprised by this. Ben turns and leads them in. "Hello, Eloise," says Ben, looking like he knows he’s been duped.

A lot to pack into Ben's little looks in this scene. On the one hand, seeing Desmond has to make him think his main quarry, Penny, is about to show up on his virtual doorstep. On the other, if in fact he didn't know about the Hawking/ Faraday connection, he has to be wondering to what extent he's being played by Widmore. Either way, the game is afoot!

Ms. Hawking is in there, lighting candles. Desmond sees her and recognizes her from the ring store, back before he arrived on the island. "I thought I said all of them," she scolds Ben. "This is all I can get on short notice," responds Ben, leaving out the part about Sayid, Kate and Aaron having been with them less than an hour ago. "Well, I suppose this will have to do for now," she says. What happened to absolutes and 70-hour deadlines? "All right," she says, "let’s get started."

Well, clearly, this first attempt has to be doomed to failure - no Hurley, no Kate, no Sayid. The question I'm starting to ask is, what about Aaron? Could Ben's attempt to remove him from Kate have been because Aaron is not supposed to go back to the island? Was his birth on the island not supposed to have happened?

Anyway, that's all for now. Until next week, when we'll gather for "316,"...Namaste.