Foreword
Welcome back, Lostophiles. Sorry it’s taken me so long to recap the first few outings in Season 5. It was not my intention to combine episodes 501, 502 and 503 into one post, but sometimes life just gets in the way that way (in my case, I’ve been working some extra-long hours assisting on a jury trial, and, while not working, playing with my daughter). But, since it would be disingenuous to recap one episode at a time having seen all three, I’m giving you all my combined thoughts on “Because You Left,” “The Lie” and “Jughead.”
Prologue
Thirty-four hours, over the course of 16 months. That's all there was between we, the loyal Lostophiles, and the end of this incredible television journey, before the season premiere....
Time Travel moves from the background to the forefront! Daniel Farraday emerges as a key figure in the Lost mythos!! Important clues to the history of the island, the Others and the DHARMA Initiative!!! All this and more, in the first three episodes of Season 5! (Enough with the teases, already)!
The Open - Pre-Dharma Shenanigans:
How cool was that opening scene, where the mysterious figure who we followed through his morning routine of waking up (at 8:15!!!) and tending to his baby son turned out to be, not one of the characters we've "directly" interacted with, but the mercurial Pierre Chang?
Aside Number 1: (That didn’t take long). There is a ton of speculation on the inter-webs about who that baby will turn out to be. A common thought is that Miles Straum, the ghost-whispering freighterite, will turn out to be the son of Pierre Chang. And, really, wouldn’t spending time on Lost island as a baby partially explain why Miles can commune with the dead?
The Chang sequence, which apparently took place during the construction phase of the DHARMA Initiative, is remarkably illuminating. For starters, we learned that the endless series of aliases Chang uses in the orientation films (Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund, Edgar Halliwax) are nothing but characters the good doctor was playing for the benefit of future DHARMA initiates. We also learned that, unlike the “fully operational” phase we saw in prior flashbacks to Ben’s childhood, the people who built the DHARMA facilities wore civilian clothes most of the time. Additionally, we learned that the Arrow station, where the Tailies set up their home base, was built for the purpose of studying techniques for fighting the indigenous hostiles.
Aside Number 2: Boy, those DHARMA folks were awfully manipulative. I wonder if any of the experiments future recruits performed were actually meant to achieve anything? Just what was DHARMA really up to?
Chang’s orientation film for the Arrow is interrupted by a construction worker, who drags the good doctor to the site that will someday be the Orchid station. The workers’ drill keeps melting. Sonar reveals the frozen donkey wheel behind the rock wall they’re drilling into. Chang says they have to stop drilling immediately, and that harnessing the energy source behind that wall will let them manipulate time. But he angrily scoffs at the idea that it’s possible to change history – to “kill Hitler” as the foreman asks. As Chang walks out, he is bumped by...Daniel Farraday!
Aside Number 3: Credit to Doc Jensen for this one – if the time-hopping Losties will end up interacting with DHARMA, does this perhaps explain the real way that Ben and the Others gained their intel on the crash survivors and the freighterites? I.e., that they knew them all personally, decades before they arrived?
Island Time
Aside Number 4: Because, linearly-speaking, the on-island events take place three years before the off-island events (and, physically speaking, as far back as 54 years earlier), I’m lumping that portion of the first three episodes together first. Indeed, in light of Ben’s comment to Jack that Locke’s death meant they would never know what happened after they left, it would seem the on-island events are this season’s flashbacks...
After wondering the past 8 months what happened to the “left-behinders,” we quickly learned that they are now bouncing through various time periods in the island’s history. This includes those still on the beach (Juliet, Sawyer, Rose, Bernard, Miles, Charlotte, etc.), those on the Zodiac boat (Daniel, Neil “Frogurt”), and John Locke. Not included, however, are Richard and the rest of the Others.
The first sign something odd is happening is Bernard and Rose’s discovery that the camp is gone. As Farraday points out, however, it’s not so much gone as not yet built. Daniel tells them that, in order to get their bearings, they need to find something man-made. Juliet suggests the Swan hatch. Sawyer, having a hard time wrapping his head around the time-hopping thing, doesn’t see the value of going to a building they blew up.
Juliet asks Sawyer why he jumped off the helicopter, and he says he wanted to verify Kate, er, “they” got to the freighter. Daniel explains what is happening by analogizing to a record with the needle skipping, suggesting they have been dislodged from time, and noting that it’s unclear if the island is moving through time the same way they are. Sawyer notes that Locke is missing from their group.
Locke, who had been surrounded by Richard and the fawning Others when the sky lit up, finds himself suddenly alone. He climbs up a hill, and sees the beachcraft crash - the one containing Eko's brother and the heroin statues, one of which falls out at his feet.
Exploring, he finds the plane dangling in the spot where, years later, Boone would climb in and fall to his death. As Locke climbs up, he gets shot in the leg...by Ethan! Locke tells Ethan, who has yet to meet him in his own timeline, that Ben Linus appointed him as their leader...prompting Ethan to take aim with a kill shot...until Locke is saved by another time jump.
Charlotte asks Miles if he thinks Widmore's looking for them. Miles notes, since it took 20 years to find the island last time, that’s not much to hope for. Their group gets to the hatch, and find it still/already imploded, meaning they're now post-crash. Juliet and Sawyer, still believing their friends all died when the freighter blew up, consider waiting for a time jump between the crash and the freighter invasion, to warn their people about the danger, but Daniel says they can't change anything in time. The stream can't be changed. Any attempt to do so will fail. Sawyer asks how he knows so much. Daniel tells Sawyer about his Dharma-laden journal. They can't stop what's happening. Sawyer asks who can...
Aside number 5: Even before I read Doc Jensen’s theory on this, it occurred to me...could the failed attempts to reach out to their friends explain the mysterious whispers? In other words, maybe those “whispers” are in fact the shouts of Juliet and Sawyer trying to warn their friends about dangers they know from experience will happen. But instead of being perceived as shouts, the “course-correction” force of time almost completely muffles the warnings into disembodied whispers? Or not.
Locke sees the once-again toppled beechcraft, and hobbles over to it. Inside, he makes a tournequet for his leg out of a seat belt. Richard approaches, and, unlike Ethan, recognizes John (of course, Richard had met Locke many times through the years, so he would have a leg up on Ethan, anyway). John wonders how Richard knows he’s been shot, and Richard tersely explains if he hasn’t told him yet, he will. “When they are,” explains Richard, as he removes the bullet, “is all relative.” Richard didn't move through time when the sky lit up, but John did. Richard has no time to explain, because he needs to impart instructions before the next time jump. Next time Richard won't know John yet, so John will have to give him a compass. Locke asks what the compass does, and, in a line only Nestor Carbonnell could deliver so perfectly, Richard says, “it points North, John.” The only way to save the island, explains Richard, is to get the Oceanic Six to come back. To do that, John will have to die (and, apparently, first claim to be Jeremy Bentham). Suddenly, there’s another light, and John is alone in daylight. The beechcraft is again suspended in midair, and John is still holding the compass from the wreckage...
Aside number 6: Not that the whole thing isn't perplexing, but I'm wondering most at this point is, why are Locke, now the Others' leader, and Juliet, who has been one of them for more than three years, bouncing through time, while Richard and the rest of the Others, including Cindy and the other abducted tailies, are not? If it's a question of drinking the cool-aid, what happened to Juliet? And did the time jumps start before locke had his glass?
Aside number 7: Mystery solved! Remember when Richard visited young John and, as a test, asked him to identify which of several objects had previously been his? John failed the test when choosing the knife. We now know the correct answer was the compass. More on this later...or earlier...it’s all relative.
At the Swan hatch, as Juliet explains Desmond's time spent pushing the button to Miles, the next shift happens. The hole in the ground is replaced with the still-buried station, some time before Locke found it. Sawyer makes for the back door, wanting supplies from Desmond, who is likely inside. Daniel warns that Desmond doesn't know him yet, so they can't meet, because to Desmond, they didn’t meet before the plane crash. Sawyer bangs on the door, anyway. Daniel warns there will be no answer, because it didn't happen before. Sawyer, mad about the deaths of his friends, doesn't like the "can't change things" theory. Juliet suggests a return to the beach. Charlotte springs a nose bleed. Daniel is very concerned, then acts as though it was just the sight of blood that upset him. He sends Charlotte ahead, claiming he forgot his backpack. Grabbing it, he reads something from his DHARMA journal, then tries again to knock on the hatch door. It opens, and out comes Desmond in a yellow suit, asking if Daniel is "him," his replacement. Daniel quickly explains that Desmond is the only one who can help, because the rules of time don't apply to him. He's “uniquely and miraculously special.”
Daniel says only Desmond can help, if he made it back, by returning to where they first met at Oxford, and finding Daniel’s mother, whose name is...(insert inconveniently timed time jump).
On the beach, Bernard tries to start a fire. Frogurt is getting a bit nihilistic. Juliet surmises they still have the Zodiac boat because whatever was with them when they moved is along for the ride. Daniel, returning, says they can't just leave on the Zodiac, because he needs to calculate a new bearing, and to do that, he needs to figure out where they are in time. Miles says he's going to find them food and wanders off. Bernard gets the fire started, but accidentally blows it out. Charlotte can't shake her headache. Daniel assures her it will pass (she may be assured, but it’s clear to us he’s just trying to maker her feel better). Charlotte says earlier, she was thinking about her mother, then couldn't remember her maiden name. She asks if he knows what's happening to her, but they're interrupted when Miles shows up with a recently dead boar he found in the jungle. “We can't even get fire!” Neal screams, when suddenly a flaming arrow strikes him in the chest, the first in a volley of such projectiles... Another castaway is hit, then another. Juliet tries to save the last one, and Sawyer pulls her away. He shouts to everyone to rendezvous at the creek.
Aside number 8: RIP Frogurt. Though the character had no lines on the TV show before Season 5, he’d been in the background for a while. In season 1, when Hurley gave a speech about how he’d been getting to know the people from the crash, he mentioned that Neal owned a frozen yogurt shop. He and Sawyer then mentioned “Frogurt” from time to time. Two summers ago, Frogurt got his first speaking appearance, in a “mobisode” in which he announced to Hurley his intention to compete for Libby’s affections. So now we can all collectively feel the loss of this tremendously important character. Or not.
Juliet and Sawyer find a moment of quiet after escaping the arrow attack. Sawyer, at last, no longer shirtless, but still shoe-less, steps on some sort of thorn (ouch). They hear footsteps, and see legs walking by. Those legs belong to men wearing World War II/ early Cold War Era U.S. military uniforms. They capture Sawyer and Juliet. The “American” soldier in the uniform labeled “Jones” demands, in a British accent, to know what they’re doing on “our island.” As Jones orders his companion to cut off Juliet’s hand to start their interrogation, a couple of rocks, then a knife, from the bushes save them. It's Locke.
At the creek, Charlotte, Daniel, Miles and some “red-shirted” extras wait for Sawyer and the others to arrive. Charlotte is doing worse - dizzy, double vision. Dan's worried, but promises nothing will happen to her. Miles sees a trip wire...on a landmine. But it's too late - the extras blow up! Out come archers, in army uniforms, with a young woman who demands to know who's in charge. Miles volunteers Dan. "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" she demands.
Aside number 9: this line was a head-fake. We’re meant to think soldier-girl knows Daniel, personally. We’ll later discover she has mistaken our group for different people altogether.
The “soldiers” fetch the bodies. The woman among them says Daniel’s people, not her group, put the mines there. She demands to know where the rest of their people are.
Locke admires the mint condition World War II era rifle the soldiers were carrying. The two they’ve captured speak a different language...and Juliet knows recognizes that it’s Latin. One of the soldiers wonders to Jones, in Latin, why they’re not in uniform. Jones warns him to shut up. Sawyer wonders why Juliet and the two captives speak Latin. She says it’s simple – they’re all Others!
As the creek group, now bound, are marched along, Miles starts hearing dead people. They’ve just walked over fresh graves of 4 U.S. soldiers - 3 shot, one dead from radiation poisoning. Daniel, not at all nonplussed by the Sixth Sense thing Miles is doing, asks if the ghosts told him what year they’re in. They are taken to a camp of military tents, from which Richard (looking just like he always does) emerges. He says he assumes they’ve come back for their bomb.
After they’re taken to a tent, Daniel tells Charlotte and Miles to let their captors continue in their mistaken impression that the three of them are U.S. Military. The female Other, whose name is Elly, comes in and insists their people attacked the Others first. That they conducted their test and opened fire. Daniel, seeing the radiation burns on the hands of one of the Others, figures out that the military had brought a hydrogen bomb to the island for testing. He says he can render the bomb inert and make it safe so the radiation sickness will stop. They suspect he’s really on a suicide mission and will just detonate the bomb, but he says they can be sure he won’t...because he’s in love with Charlotte (an argument that apparently makes perfect sense to them).
As Locke admires his compass, Juliet tells Sawyer that Latin is “Others 101” because it’s the language of the enlightened. Juliet knows Richard is with the Others. As the chatty soldier relents, and tells them how to get to the Others’ camp, Jones breaks his neck and runs off. Locke won't shoot him... “because he's one of my people.”
At the camp, Daniel figures it’s the 1950s, when the US tested H bombs. He admits he really loves Charlotte. Elly takes Daniel to Richard. Richard said he gave the previous battalion a chance to leave, and if they had, he wouldn't have had to kill them. He says that, like Daniel (whom he still assumes in army), he, too answers to a chain of command. Jones arrives. Richard can’t believe Jones would lead Locke company to them. Jones scoffs, you think he can track me? that he knows island better than I do?
Juliet tells Sawyer that Richard's always been on the island. Locke asks how old he really is, and Juliet just responds, “old.” They see Farraday being marched off. Locke wishes Juliet and Sawyer luck in rescuing him – he’s going to see Richard.
Elly wants to know why Daniel keeps looking at her. He says she reminds of someone (more on that later). She doesn't believe his U.S. military story. "I'm your best chance at disarming that bomb," Daniel says, illustrating why his identity shouldn't matter to her. They arrive at the bomb, which has “Jughead” written on it (hence the title of the third episode), where it dangles from a drop rig. There's a fissure on the bomb. Daniel backs her up. He says he needs lead or concrete to bury it. Bury it, he assures her, and everything will be fine. He knows this, he says, because 50 years from now, the island will still be here.
Aside Number 10: Major Mystery Solved!!! Remember back in Season 2, when Sayid and Jack first explored the Swan Station? In the back, they found a massive block of concrete, with no apparent way in our out. The concrete emanated some heat. Sayid noted at the time it was the type of thing he’d seen engineers put in place to contain raditation leakage, like in Chernobyl. The mystery now is whether Jughead was only coincidentally near the Swan Station, or if the bomb’s presence itself was in some way connected with the “incident,” the need to push the button, the purple sky event, or the hatch’s implosion (and there are no real coincidences in Lost, are there)?
Sawyer and Juliet “rescue” Daniel. Juliet suggests they all put their guns down, in light of the bomb. Elly asks if they are they from the future too? Sawyer marvels, “you told her?”
Aside Number 11: Is this moment the start of the Others’ learning about the island’s strange time-space properties?
Locke marches in and demands to see Richard, who doesn't know him. Locke says, Jacob sent me, and Richard is clearly moved by this. He tells Jones to put his gun down...only he calls him “Widmore.” The guy in the Jones outfit is Charles Widmore!!!!
Aside number 12: So...Charles Widmore was an Other? But not their leader? We had always assumed the way Ben “took” the island from him implied that Widmore was DHARMA. Was there a schism within the Others after the purge of DHARMA? Or is DHARMA itself the schism – a group that broke off from the Others, even as its later inductees had no idea that they came from the same group they would come to call the hostiles? Very interesting, indeed. One thing’s for sure. Widmore really does have a connection to the island.
John gives Richard the compass, and tells him his whole story. John says he's their leader, and asks how to get off the island. Richard says they have a specific process for selecting leader – one that starts at a young age. John tells Richard to go visit him...it will be 2 years later that he'll be born, in Tustin California. But then the island flashes again, and Richard and the camp disappear, without telling John how to get off the island. Daniel unties Charlotte, who starts bleeding profusely from the nose, and collapses.
Aside number 13: Afterthoughts on the island story: This of course explains what Richard was doing following John through the early stages of his life. He was told to do so...by John himself. In a sense, then, John just made himself the Others’ leader. So why, then, did Richard think young John would “remember” that the compass had been his? Do Others leaders have future visions, like Desmond’s? Also, Jacob was apparently around and pulling Others strings as far back as (at least) 1954. And Richard wasn’t the leader at the time, begging the question of who was. Finally, notice the Others’ M.O.? They wait for their island to be encroached upon, then wipe out the invaders, and appropriate their homes and clothing. They did it with the U.S. Army in the 50s, and with DHARMA in the 80s. So just how old is Richard???
Anyway, on to the Oceanic Six stories...
Oceanic Six Flashback
The second episode, entitled t"The Lie," begins with a flashback to the moment on board Penny's boat that the future Oceanic Six, along with Desmond, Penny, and Frank Lapidus, decided they would lie about their story to protect those left on the island. Frank agrees to roll with whatever they all decide. Hurley suggests, since the island disappeared, so why do their friends need further protection? Penny assures him her father will never back off his pursuit of the island. Hurley thinks he won't be considered crazy if the rest of them back him up on the truth. Sayid disagrees, and says they have to lie. Hurley says Sayid will remember this, and he won't get Hurley's help someday when he needs it.
The Present...or Three Years Later...or Last Year (it's kind of confusing)
Sayid and Hurley
Sayid and Hurley, fresh from Sayid's shooting of the man outside of Santa Rosa in order to bust Hurley out, stop for drive-in food. "You know," says Hurley to the agitated Iraqi, "maybe if you'd eat more comfort food, you wouldn't have to go around shooting people." Sayid didn't know the identity of the man he killed. "He was armed, and he was watching you. That means he was an enemy." Sayid says he became paranoid because of what he did working for Ben the past 2 years. He warns Hurley to do the opposite of anything Ben tells him.
At Sayid's "safe" house, an ambush awaits, but Sayid kills one assailant, then gets tranked by a second. Ultimately, Sayid kills the dart gun assailant by flipping him onto a bunch of dirty knives in a dishwasher. Outside, people find the first body, see Hurley holding the man's gun, covered in what appears to be blood (but is really ketchup) and snap cell phone photos. Sayid begins to succumb to the drugs, and Hurley helps him out, commenting on how not safe the safehouse is.
Driving like a madman, Hurley tries to fasten Sayid's seatbelt and hits some trash cans, when a siren gets him to pull over. The cop...is Ana Lucia!?
She chastises Hurley for being so stupid, pulling over for the police. She instructs him to get new clothes, go to a safe place, and take Sayid to someone he trusts. Stay away from the cops, and don't get arrested. As she turns to leave, she stops, gives that wry Ana-Lu smile, and says, "Libby says hi." Hurley turns around, and the cop car is no longer there.
Aside Number 14: It's too bad that the bad blood with which Adewale Akinnoue-Akbaje left the show makes it unlikely we'll ever get to see Hurley have a run-in with Mr. Eko's ghost. His moments with Charlie and Ana Lucia have been outstanding.
Hurley tries to awaken Sayid, who has mutilple types of currencies in his wallet. Entering a convenience store, Hurley buys an "I heart my shi-tzu" T-shirt. He looks familiar to the clerk, who remembers him as the guy who won the lottery and crashed in the plane. Fortunately, she doesn't turn around to see his face on the news, reporting that he's wanted for the killings of the man at Santa Rosa and the two at the safe house. Back in the car, he drives off, passing Kate and Aaron, who pull into the same station...
David Reyes makes a sandwich, then turns on ..."Expose!" (Razzle-Dazzle!) Hurley bangs away at the back door, carrying Sayid - "hey dad, how's it going?" David hasn't seen the news. Hurley says he's wanted again, kind of. David asks who Hurley is in danger from, and Hurley doesn't know. The LAPD shows up. David plays dumb, and the cops leave. Hurley says they can't take Sayid to the hospital, but agrees they need a doctor. Hurley knows what to do. The cops are staking out the Reyes house. David asks if Hugo is crazy. Because, either that, or he's lying to him. Hurley says he's not crazy, and there's a good reason he's lying (though the three years of lying are clearly weighing on him). From downstairs, we hear Carmen Reyes, shockingly calm as she asks, "Why is there a dead Pakistani on the couch?' Hurley promises everything will make sense. David drives off in a land rover. He passes the cops, and waves.
David brings Sayid to Jack, who insists on taking Sayid to the hospital. David demands that Jack stay away from Hugo. Jack calls Ben, and tells him Sayid just showed up at his door. Ben has that ominous look on his face...
Aside number 15: we'll get to Ben and Jack in a moment. But it's clear from Ben's look at this point that, given his recent history with Sayid, he was hoping to round up the rest of the group, first. Well, Ben is nothing if not able to change plans on the fly.
Hurley explains to Carmen that Sayid is my friend, but he also has a secret double life, where he has ninja skills and crazy spy stuff. Carmen says a good guy doesn't kill. Hurley says he doesn't know why anyone would want to hurt him. She demands he tell her the truth. Finally relenting, he tells her the story of what really happened. The explanation is priceless - particularly when he admits to having no idea why they had to push the button every 108 minutes. "But the rest of the people, who were on that plane, they're still on that island." Carmen says she believes him. She doesn't understand, but she believes. "A lot of people died, mom. Now this bad stuff is happening because, well, we shouldn't have lied."
Jack puts Sayid on a gurney, and straps telemetry strips to his chest. Raiding a supply closet, Jack administers an injection. Sayid suddenly awakens, and moves to strangle Jack before getting his bearings. Sayid demands to know where Hurley is.
Ben shows up in Hurley's kitchen, only to be met with a flung hot pocket. Ben assures him he's taken care of Hurley's trouble. Ben says he can take Hurley to Sayid, where Jack is. "In their defense, I'm not an easy person to trust. But they came around when they realized we all want the same thing - to go back to the island." Ben offers a life where Hugo never has to lie again. Please, he implores, let me help you. "Never, dude," says Hurley, and he runs out to the cops, confessing to the killings. "I killed four people, three people, how ever many are dead, I killed them." Hurley smirks back at Ben, his way of showing he knows he's beaten him.
Aside number 16: So...the freaking ghost of Ana Lucia tells him not to let himself get arrested, and he surrenders. He does this because he suddenly trusts Sayid - the paranoid killer who Hurley had promised to back up someday. All in all, probably the worst judgment Hurley has shown since he almost let "Dave" convince hm to jump off a cliff...
Kate and Aaron and Sun
Sun arrives at an airport. Her cell phone call is not connecting. At the Oceanic counter, while checking in to fly to L.A., she is taken away and detained in a locked room, where Charles Widmore waits inside. He's demonstrating how mad he is that she showed him no respect with her prior public approach to speaking with him. He brings up her claim that they have "common interests." She clarifies - to kill Benjamin Linus.
Aside number 17: We wondered who the other person Sun blamed for Jin's death would be. Now, it seems, we know - it's Ben. Though she could not have known at the time the freighter blew up, given that "Bentham" had been visiting them recently, perhaps Locke told her what happened in the Orchid station. In any case, with Sun, it's best never to assume the full truth is being told at any given moment.
A doorbell disturbs Kate and Aaron's morning routine - someone claiming to be Dan Norton of Agostini and Norton, tries to Barge in. He and his silent associate request blood samples from Kate and Aaron. They claim to have a Court order, but no freedom to divulge the identity of their client. They threaten to come back with the Sherrif. Kate knows that the time has come. She packs hastily, including her hidden cash and gun, and tells Aaron they're "going on vacation." Walkingg past a photo of Jack with Aaron, Kate tells Aaron, "say bye-bye, baby."
Having just, unbeknownst to them, driven past Hurley and Sayid, Aaron whines that he wants to go home. Kate dials Jack's number, but disconnects before the call goes through. An unknown caller calls her. She can't believe who it is. "What, you're in L.A.? Of course I can meet you - I'll meet you in half an hour." Kate tells Aaron they're going to see a friend.
The mystery visitor is Sun. Sun and Kate enjoy some tea. She wanted to see Kate, and shows a picture of Ji Yeon. It would be nice to see her and Aaron play together, she muses. Sun asks if Kate is really fine. Kate says someone knows they're lying, and tells Sun about the lawyers who showed up. Sun said they weren't interested in exposing the lie, because they wouldn't do that in private. They just want Aaron. Sun asks if Kate would do everything she could to keep Aaron. Kate asks what kind of person she thinks she is, and Sun reminds her how she tricked her onto the chopper before the freighter blew with Jin still aboard. Sun does not blame her - if not for the deception, they all may have died, and not just Jin. Her point was that Kate can make hard choices for the ones she cares about.
Jack and Ben
The odd couple of Jack and Ben may be heart and soul of the Oceanic 6 storyline for the season, but in these episodes, they did little except provide some exposition. They begin in the morgue at Hoffs/Drawlar, where Ben suggests they close Locke’s coffin and load him into their van. They discuss their plan to round up the Oceanic 6, Hurley first. Jack asks, "how did we get here? How did all of this happen?" Ben echoes what Jack previously heard from Bentham/Locke. “It happened because you left, Jack.”
Jack shaves off the crazy beard. Ben wonders what Locke said to make Jack such a “believer.” Jack says Locke told him that Sawyer, Juliet, and everyone else left behind would die if he didn't come back. Locke didn't say what happened after the island moved. Ben darkly suggests - "then I guess we'll never know."
Aside Number 18: Nothing new here, but how frakking great is Michael Emerson?! Does anyone think for even a microsecond that Ben doesn’t know precisely what happened to those left behind in the three years since the Oceanic 6 got home?
Ben watches the news, discovering that Hurley was busted out of his hospital, and has been accused of killing the people that Sayid, in fact, took out. It would appear the plan to get Hurley first has hit a snag.
Ben unscrews a vent in his room, and retrieves a package, which he shoves in a duffel bag as Jack emerges from the bathroom. Jack looks for his pills, but Ben flushed them down the toilet. Ben says he's checking out. He tells Jack to go home and pack anything he wants in this life into a suitcase, because he's never coming back. Jack says, "good." Ben says he'll get Jack in six hours, after he moved Locke's casket someplace safe. Jack asks, "safe? he's dead, isn't he?" Ben responds only, "I'll see you in six hours, Jack."
Aside number 19: Doc Jensen has reinterpreted two key lines from last season to surmise that the Oceanic Six, once they return to the island, will be asked to somehow resurrect John Locke, but that doing so will be "cross-the-streams" bad. In particular, he refers to the Hurley's relaying to Jack Ghost Charlie's message, "you aren't meant to raise him," and vision-Claire's message to Kate, "don't bring him back, Kate, don't you dare bring him back." At the time, both certainly seem to be discussing Aaron - indeed, Hurley even asked Jack, "do you think he meant Aaron?" The Doc's theory is that they both meant Locke, as in "you aren't meant to raise [Locke from the dead]," and "don't you bring [Locke] back [from the dead], Kate." After all, the very same vision that included Claire also included a telephone voice warning Kate (albeit in reverse) that she had to return to the island...
Ben goes to a butcher shop. The woman inside, Jill, knows him. She expected Locke's body, and agrees to hide it. Everything is moving according to plan. Ben refers to two other men and asks if they'd checked in. Jill needs to keep Locke safe, or else, everything they're about to do, won't matter at all.
Somewhwere, a pendulum swings, and an old, DHARMA-era computer monitor flashes, "event window determined." The pendulum marks a cross hatch on the floor. A hooded figure notes what is happening, then climbs a staircase to a rectory. Ben is there, lighting candles. "Any luck?" The hooded figure turns out to be Ms. Hawking, the former time-travel savvy curio shop curator who told Desmond about his destiny to push the button on the island and how time has a tendency to course correct. She tells Ben that he has only 70 hours left, regardless of how much time he thinks he needs. Ben, uncharacteristically pannicky, says, "look, I lost Reyes tonight, so what happens if I can't get them all back?" "Then God help us all."
Aside Number 20: Halleluyah! After one brief but powerful appearance in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," and a true "cameo" in a framed photo on the desk of Brother Campbell at Desmond's monastery, Ms. Hawking finally returns to Lost, and establishes that she is very much involved in the goings-on. It is clear now that she is Farraday's mother - and will be even clearer after the Desmond/ Penny adventure in "Jughead..."
Desmond and Penny
In flashback (which we didn't know was a flashback at first), we learn that Desmond and Penny gave birth to a son while docked in a Southeast Asian port. We later learn that they named their son "Charlie," which, although it is Penny's father's name, here most likely honors the man who gave his life to deliver Penny's warning to Desmond.
Suddenly, in the "present," Desmond wakes up one morning, with the memories of his hatch-door encounter with Dan fresh in his head - memories he didn't have before that very moment. Desmond rushes on deck, and prepares to set sale. He says they're leaving, to go to Oxford.
Penny and Des puzzle over why now? It's been three years, since he left the island, six years since he first got there. Why no prior recollection of Farraday knocking on his door and then disappearing in a flash of light? Regardless, Desmond tells Penny, "I'll be back and then I'm done, forever, I promise." She demands a promise never to go back to the island. "Why in god's name would I want to go back?
At Oxford, a clerk tells Desmond they have no record of Farraday ever having been there, which is odd, since Desmond clearly recalls having met him there. Desmond can't remember the year he met Daniel (he was, after all, hopping back in time with his mind at the time). Desmond wanders to the physics department, and goes up to Daniel's secret lab, where he sees the sign, "Danger - fumigation." Everything inside is covered over. Desmond finds a picture of Daniel with a blonde woman - most likely the one who Elly reminded him of. He also finds the time travel radiation machine and rat maze. The caretaker finds him there, and says Desmond is not the first to look for Farraday. Desmond asks why the university is pretending not to have heard of him. Can you blame them, asks the caretaker, "after what he done to that poor girl?"
Following the lead provided by the caretaker, Desmond seeks out Theresa Spencer, the girl in the photo, but meets her sister instead. At the mention of Farraday's name, the sister shows Desmond Theresa, hooked up to life-sustaining machines in a hospital bed, apparently a vegetable. She's going through time jumps (like Desmond and Minkowski did before). Daniel didn't stay, curses the sister, he left her like this, to the States. The sister says she doesn't know what she would have done but for Widmore, Daniel's benefactor, who took care of Theresa ever since.
Aside number 21: I want to like Daniel. I really do. I want to believe he was less interested in Widmore's goals when he boarded the freighter. But the idea that he has spent years being sponsored by Widmore...makes it a bit hard to let him off with a simple "he's just a nerd" shrug.
Des barges in on...Widmore. Desmond refuses to answer questions, but has some of his own, after which he'll never show up in Charles's life again. Charles, concerned ever since Ben said he would kill her, asks if Penny is safe. Desmond deflects - he wants Farraday's mother. Widmore considers, then tells him she's in L.A. (Yup, it's gotta be Ms. Hawking). Widmore, thinking Ben would never look for Penny so far from his home base in London, and surmising Penny would follow Desmond, even gives him the address. He suspects Daniel's mother won't be pleased to see him - she's a very private person. Widmore cautions Desmond - deliver your message, then get out. Don't put Penny in danger. The events going on here go back many years "Wherever you were hiding," Charles begs his daughter's only protector, "go back there."
Desmond returns to his family, and, carefully considering Widmore's warning, lies and says Farraday's mother was dead. Penny smells the lie, and he says he wants to be done with it all. Knowing him too well, Penny says he won't be able to just forget about it, so, since she and Charlie will obviously be going along, they might as well get on with it.
Final Aside: At this point, my head is spinning. Widmore is Farraday's benefector, and knows that his mother is Ms. Hawking, and where to find her. Farraday went on Widmore's mission to retrieve Ben, and knows that his mother is the only one who can help him. Farraday's mother...is working with Ben, against Widmore. Ben wants, more than anything else, to kill Penny out of revenge for the execution of Alex. Widmore, in an attempt to protect Penny, sends her straight to where Ben is working in cahoots with Ms. Hawking. So is she not really alligned with Ben? Are she and Daniel working at cross-purposes to Widmore? How does Abbadon, who "recruited" Daniel to the freighter fit in? How does Widmore, the ex-Other, tie in to DHARMA - the research group studied by Widmore's sponsee, Farraday?
Moreover, even though the island may not be "moving" with its visitors, it is clearly moving in space, too. This is obvious from two clues. First, from directly above in the chopper, it could be seen to disappear. Second, Ms. Hawking's computer seemed to be tracking a number of locations before finally determining where in space the island actually is or will be, and when in time that will occur.
All in all, a great beginning to the season. The producers in several recent interviews lately have told us that our job as an audience this season is to try to figure out to what extent Daniel's claim that time is set and cannot be altered, even by traveling through it, was correct. Implicit in that is the notion that one could end up brining about the very event he sought to change by virtue of trying to change it. That said, it's clear our time-hoppers are changing the past in certain ways. They led the bomb to be buried by the Swan hatch, and Richard to seek out Locke as a boy, and Desmond in the present/future to seek out Ms. Hawking. It's going to be a fun ride.
Until next week, when Kate and Aaron take center stage in "The Little Prince," Namaste!
Welcome back, Lostophiles. Sorry it’s taken me so long to recap the first few outings in Season 5. It was not my intention to combine episodes 501, 502 and 503 into one post, but sometimes life just gets in the way that way (in my case, I’ve been working some extra-long hours assisting on a jury trial, and, while not working, playing with my daughter). But, since it would be disingenuous to recap one episode at a time having seen all three, I’m giving you all my combined thoughts on “Because You Left,” “The Lie” and “Jughead.”
Prologue
Thirty-four hours, over the course of 16 months. That's all there was between we, the loyal Lostophiles, and the end of this incredible television journey, before the season premiere....
Time Travel moves from the background to the forefront! Daniel Farraday emerges as a key figure in the Lost mythos!! Important clues to the history of the island, the Others and the DHARMA Initiative!!! All this and more, in the first three episodes of Season 5! (Enough with the teases, already)!
The Open - Pre-Dharma Shenanigans:
How cool was that opening scene, where the mysterious figure who we followed through his morning routine of waking up (at 8:15!!!) and tending to his baby son turned out to be, not one of the characters we've "directly" interacted with, but the mercurial Pierre Chang?
Aside Number 1: (That didn’t take long). There is a ton of speculation on the inter-webs about who that baby will turn out to be. A common thought is that Miles Straum, the ghost-whispering freighterite, will turn out to be the son of Pierre Chang. And, really, wouldn’t spending time on Lost island as a baby partially explain why Miles can commune with the dead?
The Chang sequence, which apparently took place during the construction phase of the DHARMA Initiative, is remarkably illuminating. For starters, we learned that the endless series of aliases Chang uses in the orientation films (Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund, Edgar Halliwax) are nothing but characters the good doctor was playing for the benefit of future DHARMA initiates. We also learned that, unlike the “fully operational” phase we saw in prior flashbacks to Ben’s childhood, the people who built the DHARMA facilities wore civilian clothes most of the time. Additionally, we learned that the Arrow station, where the Tailies set up their home base, was built for the purpose of studying techniques for fighting the indigenous hostiles.
Aside Number 2: Boy, those DHARMA folks were awfully manipulative. I wonder if any of the experiments future recruits performed were actually meant to achieve anything? Just what was DHARMA really up to?
Chang’s orientation film for the Arrow is interrupted by a construction worker, who drags the good doctor to the site that will someday be the Orchid station. The workers’ drill keeps melting. Sonar reveals the frozen donkey wheel behind the rock wall they’re drilling into. Chang says they have to stop drilling immediately, and that harnessing the energy source behind that wall will let them manipulate time. But he angrily scoffs at the idea that it’s possible to change history – to “kill Hitler” as the foreman asks. As Chang walks out, he is bumped by...Daniel Farraday!
Aside Number 3: Credit to Doc Jensen for this one – if the time-hopping Losties will end up interacting with DHARMA, does this perhaps explain the real way that Ben and the Others gained their intel on the crash survivors and the freighterites? I.e., that they knew them all personally, decades before they arrived?
Island Time
Aside Number 4: Because, linearly-speaking, the on-island events take place three years before the off-island events (and, physically speaking, as far back as 54 years earlier), I’m lumping that portion of the first three episodes together first. Indeed, in light of Ben’s comment to Jack that Locke’s death meant they would never know what happened after they left, it would seem the on-island events are this season’s flashbacks...
After wondering the past 8 months what happened to the “left-behinders,” we quickly learned that they are now bouncing through various time periods in the island’s history. This includes those still on the beach (Juliet, Sawyer, Rose, Bernard, Miles, Charlotte, etc.), those on the Zodiac boat (Daniel, Neil “Frogurt”), and John Locke. Not included, however, are Richard and the rest of the Others.
The first sign something odd is happening is Bernard and Rose’s discovery that the camp is gone. As Farraday points out, however, it’s not so much gone as not yet built. Daniel tells them that, in order to get their bearings, they need to find something man-made. Juliet suggests the Swan hatch. Sawyer, having a hard time wrapping his head around the time-hopping thing, doesn’t see the value of going to a building they blew up.
Juliet asks Sawyer why he jumped off the helicopter, and he says he wanted to verify Kate, er, “they” got to the freighter. Daniel explains what is happening by analogizing to a record with the needle skipping, suggesting they have been dislodged from time, and noting that it’s unclear if the island is moving through time the same way they are. Sawyer notes that Locke is missing from their group.
Locke, who had been surrounded by Richard and the fawning Others when the sky lit up, finds himself suddenly alone. He climbs up a hill, and sees the beachcraft crash - the one containing Eko's brother and the heroin statues, one of which falls out at his feet.
Exploring, he finds the plane dangling in the spot where, years later, Boone would climb in and fall to his death. As Locke climbs up, he gets shot in the leg...by Ethan! Locke tells Ethan, who has yet to meet him in his own timeline, that Ben Linus appointed him as their leader...prompting Ethan to take aim with a kill shot...until Locke is saved by another time jump.Charlotte asks Miles if he thinks Widmore's looking for them. Miles notes, since it took 20 years to find the island last time, that’s not much to hope for. Their group gets to the hatch, and find it still/already imploded, meaning they're now post-crash. Juliet and Sawyer, still believing their friends all died when the freighter blew up, consider waiting for a time jump between the crash and the freighter invasion, to warn their people about the danger, but Daniel says they can't change anything in time. The stream can't be changed. Any attempt to do so will fail. Sawyer asks how he knows so much. Daniel tells Sawyer about his Dharma-laden journal. They can't stop what's happening. Sawyer asks who can...
Aside number 5: Even before I read Doc Jensen’s theory on this, it occurred to me...could the failed attempts to reach out to their friends explain the mysterious whispers? In other words, maybe those “whispers” are in fact the shouts of Juliet and Sawyer trying to warn their friends about dangers they know from experience will happen. But instead of being perceived as shouts, the “course-correction” force of time almost completely muffles the warnings into disembodied whispers? Or not.
Locke sees the once-again toppled beechcraft, and hobbles over to it. Inside, he makes a tournequet for his leg out of a seat belt. Richard approaches, and, unlike Ethan, recognizes John (of course, Richard had met Locke many times through the years, so he would have a leg up on Ethan, anyway). John wonders how Richard knows he’s been shot, and Richard tersely explains if he hasn’t told him yet, he will. “When they are,” explains Richard, as he removes the bullet, “is all relative.” Richard didn't move through time when the sky lit up, but John did. Richard has no time to explain, because he needs to impart instructions before the next time jump. Next time Richard won't know John yet, so John will have to give him a compass. Locke asks what the compass does, and, in a line only Nestor Carbonnell could deliver so perfectly, Richard says, “it points North, John.” The only way to save the island, explains Richard, is to get the Oceanic Six to come back. To do that, John will have to die (and, apparently, first claim to be Jeremy Bentham). Suddenly, there’s another light, and John is alone in daylight. The beechcraft is again suspended in midair, and John is still holding the compass from the wreckage...
Aside number 6: Not that the whole thing isn't perplexing, but I'm wondering most at this point is, why are Locke, now the Others' leader, and Juliet, who has been one of them for more than three years, bouncing through time, while Richard and the rest of the Others, including Cindy and the other abducted tailies, are not? If it's a question of drinking the cool-aid, what happened to Juliet? And did the time jumps start before locke had his glass?
Aside number 7: Mystery solved! Remember when Richard visited young John and, as a test, asked him to identify which of several objects had previously been his? John failed the test when choosing the knife. We now know the correct answer was the compass. More on this later...or earlier...it’s all relative.
At the Swan hatch, as Juliet explains Desmond's time spent pushing the button to Miles, the next shift happens. The hole in the ground is replaced with the still-buried station, some time before Locke found it. Sawyer makes for the back door, wanting supplies from Desmond, who is likely inside. Daniel warns that Desmond doesn't know him yet, so they can't meet, because to Desmond, they didn’t meet before the plane crash. Sawyer bangs on the door, anyway. Daniel warns there will be no answer, because it didn't happen before. Sawyer, mad about the deaths of his friends, doesn't like the "can't change things" theory. Juliet suggests a return to the beach. Charlotte springs a nose bleed. Daniel is very concerned, then acts as though it was just the sight of blood that upset him. He sends Charlotte ahead, claiming he forgot his backpack. Grabbing it, he reads something from his DHARMA journal, then tries again to knock on the hatch door. It opens, and out comes Desmond in a yellow suit, asking if Daniel is "him," his replacement. Daniel quickly explains that Desmond is the only one who can help, because the rules of time don't apply to him. He's “uniquely and miraculously special.”
Daniel says only Desmond can help, if he made it back, by returning to where they first met at Oxford, and finding Daniel’s mother, whose name is...(insert inconveniently timed time jump).On the beach, Bernard tries to start a fire. Frogurt is getting a bit nihilistic. Juliet surmises they still have the Zodiac boat because whatever was with them when they moved is along for the ride. Daniel, returning, says they can't just leave on the Zodiac, because he needs to calculate a new bearing, and to do that, he needs to figure out where they are in time. Miles says he's going to find them food and wanders off. Bernard gets the fire started, but accidentally blows it out. Charlotte can't shake her headache. Daniel assures her it will pass (she may be assured, but it’s clear to us he’s just trying to maker her feel better). Charlotte says earlier, she was thinking about her mother, then couldn't remember her maiden name. She asks if he knows what's happening to her, but they're interrupted when Miles shows up with a recently dead boar he found in the jungle. “We can't even get fire!” Neal screams, when suddenly a flaming arrow strikes him in the chest, the first in a volley of such projectiles... Another castaway is hit, then another. Juliet tries to save the last one, and Sawyer pulls her away. He shouts to everyone to rendezvous at the creek.
Aside number 8: RIP Frogurt. Though the character had no lines on the TV show before Season 5, he’d been in the background for a while. In season 1, when Hurley gave a speech about how he’d been getting to know the people from the crash, he mentioned that Neal owned a frozen yogurt shop. He and Sawyer then mentioned “Frogurt” from time to time. Two summers ago, Frogurt got his first speaking appearance, in a “mobisode” in which he announced to Hurley his intention to compete for Libby’s affections. So now we can all collectively feel the loss of this tremendously important character. Or not.
Juliet and Sawyer find a moment of quiet after escaping the arrow attack. Sawyer, at last, no longer shirtless, but still shoe-less, steps on some sort of thorn (ouch). They hear footsteps, and see legs walking by. Those legs belong to men wearing World War II/ early Cold War Era U.S. military uniforms. They capture Sawyer and Juliet. The “American” soldier in the uniform labeled “Jones” demands, in a British accent, to know what they’re doing on “our island.” As Jones orders his companion to cut off Juliet’s hand to start their interrogation, a couple of rocks, then a knife, from the bushes save them. It's Locke.
At the creek, Charlotte, Daniel, Miles and some “red-shirted” extras wait for Sawyer and the others to arrive. Charlotte is doing worse - dizzy, double vision. Dan's worried, but promises nothing will happen to her. Miles sees a trip wire...on a landmine. But it's too late - the extras blow up! Out come archers, in army uniforms, with a young woman who demands to know who's in charge. Miles volunteers Dan. "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" she demands.
Aside number 9: this line was a head-fake. We’re meant to think soldier-girl knows Daniel, personally. We’ll later discover she has mistaken our group for different people altogether.
The “soldiers” fetch the bodies. The woman among them says Daniel’s people, not her group, put the mines there. She demands to know where the rest of their people are.
Locke admires the mint condition World War II era rifle the soldiers were carrying. The two they’ve captured speak a different language...and Juliet knows recognizes that it’s Latin. One of the soldiers wonders to Jones, in Latin, why they’re not in uniform. Jones warns him to shut up. Sawyer wonders why Juliet and the two captives speak Latin. She says it’s simple – they’re all Others!
As the creek group, now bound, are marched along, Miles starts hearing dead people. They’ve just walked over fresh graves of 4 U.S. soldiers - 3 shot, one dead from radiation poisoning. Daniel, not at all nonplussed by the Sixth Sense thing Miles is doing, asks if the ghosts told him what year they’re in. They are taken to a camp of military tents, from which Richard (looking just like he always does) emerges. He says he assumes they’ve come back for their bomb.
After they’re taken to a tent, Daniel tells Charlotte and Miles to let their captors continue in their mistaken impression that the three of them are U.S. Military. The female Other, whose name is Elly, comes in and insists their people attacked the Others first. That they conducted their test and opened fire. Daniel, seeing the radiation burns on the hands of one of the Others, figures out that the military had brought a hydrogen bomb to the island for testing. He says he can render the bomb inert and make it safe so the radiation sickness will stop. They suspect he’s really on a suicide mission and will just detonate the bomb, but he says they can be sure he won’t...because he’s in love with Charlotte (an argument that apparently makes perfect sense to them).
As Locke admires his compass, Juliet tells Sawyer that Latin is “Others 101” because it’s the language of the enlightened. Juliet knows Richard is with the Others. As the chatty soldier relents, and tells them how to get to the Others’ camp, Jones breaks his neck and runs off. Locke won't shoot him... “because he's one of my people.”
At the camp, Daniel figures it’s the 1950s, when the US tested H bombs. He admits he really loves Charlotte. Elly takes Daniel to Richard. Richard said he gave the previous battalion a chance to leave, and if they had, he wouldn't have had to kill them. He says that, like Daniel (whom he still assumes in army), he, too answers to a chain of command. Jones arrives. Richard can’t believe Jones would lead Locke company to them. Jones scoffs, you think he can track me? that he knows island better than I do?
Juliet tells Sawyer that Richard's always been on the island. Locke asks how old he really is, and Juliet just responds, “old.” They see Farraday being marched off. Locke wishes Juliet and Sawyer luck in rescuing him – he’s going to see Richard.
Elly wants to know why Daniel keeps looking at her. He says she reminds of someone (more on that later). She doesn't believe his U.S. military story. "I'm your best chance at disarming that bomb," Daniel says, illustrating why his identity shouldn't matter to her. They arrive at the bomb, which has “Jughead” written on it (hence the title of the third episode), where it dangles from a drop rig. There's a fissure on the bomb. Daniel backs her up. He says he needs lead or concrete to bury it. Bury it, he assures her, and everything will be fine. He knows this, he says, because 50 years from now, the island will still be here.
Aside Number 10: Major Mystery Solved!!! Remember back in Season 2, when Sayid and Jack first explored the Swan Station? In the back, they found a massive block of concrete, with no apparent way in our out. The concrete emanated some heat. Sayid noted at the time it was the type of thing he’d seen engineers put in place to contain raditation leakage, like in Chernobyl. The mystery now is whether Jughead was only coincidentally near the Swan Station, or if the bomb’s presence itself was in some way connected with the “incident,” the need to push the button, the purple sky event, or the hatch’s implosion (and there are no real coincidences in Lost, are there)?
Sawyer and Juliet “rescue” Daniel. Juliet suggests they all put their guns down, in light of the bomb. Elly asks if they are they from the future too? Sawyer marvels, “you told her?”
Aside Number 11: Is this moment the start of the Others’ learning about the island’s strange time-space properties?
Locke marches in and demands to see Richard, who doesn't know him. Locke says, Jacob sent me, and Richard is clearly moved by this. He tells Jones to put his gun down...only he calls him “Widmore.” The guy in the Jones outfit is Charles Widmore!!!!
Aside number 12: So...Charles Widmore was an Other? But not their leader? We had always assumed the way Ben “took” the island from him implied that Widmore was DHARMA. Was there a schism within the Others after the purge of DHARMA? Or is DHARMA itself the schism – a group that broke off from the Others, even as its later inductees had no idea that they came from the same group they would come to call the hostiles? Very interesting, indeed. One thing’s for sure. Widmore really does have a connection to the island.
John gives Richard the compass, and tells him his whole story. John says he's their leader, and asks how to get off the island. Richard says they have a specific process for selecting leader – one that starts at a young age. John tells Richard to go visit him...it will be 2 years later that he'll be born, in Tustin California. But then the island flashes again, and Richard and the camp disappear, without telling John how to get off the island. Daniel unties Charlotte, who starts bleeding profusely from the nose, and collapses.
Aside number 13: Afterthoughts on the island story: This of course explains what Richard was doing following John through the early stages of his life. He was told to do so...by John himself. In a sense, then, John just made himself the Others’ leader. So why, then, did Richard think young John would “remember” that the compass had been his? Do Others leaders have future visions, like Desmond’s? Also, Jacob was apparently around and pulling Others strings as far back as (at least) 1954. And Richard wasn’t the leader at the time, begging the question of who was. Finally, notice the Others’ M.O.? They wait for their island to be encroached upon, then wipe out the invaders, and appropriate their homes and clothing. They did it with the U.S. Army in the 50s, and with DHARMA in the 80s. So just how old is Richard???
Anyway, on to the Oceanic Six stories...
Oceanic Six Flashback
The second episode, entitled t"The Lie," begins with a flashback to the moment on board Penny's boat that the future Oceanic Six, along with Desmond, Penny, and Frank Lapidus, decided they would lie about their story to protect those left on the island. Frank agrees to roll with whatever they all decide. Hurley suggests, since the island disappeared, so why do their friends need further protection? Penny assures him her father will never back off his pursuit of the island. Hurley thinks he won't be considered crazy if the rest of them back him up on the truth. Sayid disagrees, and says they have to lie. Hurley says Sayid will remember this, and he won't get Hurley's help someday when he needs it.
The Present...or Three Years Later...or Last Year (it's kind of confusing)
Sayid and Hurley
Sayid and Hurley, fresh from Sayid's shooting of the man outside of Santa Rosa in order to bust Hurley out, stop for drive-in food. "You know," says Hurley to the agitated Iraqi, "maybe if you'd eat more comfort food, you wouldn't have to go around shooting people." Sayid didn't know the identity of the man he killed. "He was armed, and he was watching you. That means he was an enemy." Sayid says he became paranoid because of what he did working for Ben the past 2 years. He warns Hurley to do the opposite of anything Ben tells him.
At Sayid's "safe" house, an ambush awaits, but Sayid kills one assailant, then gets tranked by a second. Ultimately, Sayid kills the dart gun assailant by flipping him onto a bunch of dirty knives in a dishwasher. Outside, people find the first body, see Hurley holding the man's gun, covered in what appears to be blood (but is really ketchup) and snap cell phone photos. Sayid begins to succumb to the drugs, and Hurley helps him out, commenting on how not safe the safehouse is.
Driving like a madman, Hurley tries to fasten Sayid's seatbelt and hits some trash cans, when a siren gets him to pull over. The cop...is Ana Lucia!?
She chastises Hurley for being so stupid, pulling over for the police. She instructs him to get new clothes, go to a safe place, and take Sayid to someone he trusts. Stay away from the cops, and don't get arrested. As she turns to leave, she stops, gives that wry Ana-Lu smile, and says, "Libby says hi." Hurley turns around, and the cop car is no longer there.Aside Number 14: It's too bad that the bad blood with which Adewale Akinnoue-Akbaje left the show makes it unlikely we'll ever get to see Hurley have a run-in with Mr. Eko's ghost. His moments with Charlie and Ana Lucia have been outstanding.
Hurley tries to awaken Sayid, who has mutilple types of currencies in his wallet. Entering a convenience store, Hurley buys an "I heart my shi-tzu" T-shirt. He looks familiar to the clerk, who remembers him as the guy who won the lottery and crashed in the plane. Fortunately, she doesn't turn around to see his face on the news, reporting that he's wanted for the killings of the man at Santa Rosa and the two at the safe house. Back in the car, he drives off, passing Kate and Aaron, who pull into the same station...
David Reyes makes a sandwich, then turns on ..."Expose!" (Razzle-Dazzle!) Hurley bangs away at the back door, carrying Sayid - "hey dad, how's it going?" David hasn't seen the news. Hurley says he's wanted again, kind of. David asks who Hurley is in danger from, and Hurley doesn't know. The LAPD shows up. David plays dumb, and the cops leave. Hurley says they can't take Sayid to the hospital, but agrees they need a doctor. Hurley knows what to do. The cops are staking out the Reyes house. David asks if Hugo is crazy. Because, either that, or he's lying to him. Hurley says he's not crazy, and there's a good reason he's lying (though the three years of lying are clearly weighing on him). From downstairs, we hear Carmen Reyes, shockingly calm as she asks, "Why is there a dead Pakistani on the couch?' Hurley promises everything will make sense. David drives off in a land rover. He passes the cops, and waves.
David brings Sayid to Jack, who insists on taking Sayid to the hospital. David demands that Jack stay away from Hugo. Jack calls Ben, and tells him Sayid just showed up at his door. Ben has that ominous look on his face...
Aside number 15: we'll get to Ben and Jack in a moment. But it's clear from Ben's look at this point that, given his recent history with Sayid, he was hoping to round up the rest of the group, first. Well, Ben is nothing if not able to change plans on the fly.
Hurley explains to Carmen that Sayid is my friend, but he also has a secret double life, where he has ninja skills and crazy spy stuff. Carmen says a good guy doesn't kill. Hurley says he doesn't know why anyone would want to hurt him. She demands he tell her the truth. Finally relenting, he tells her the story of what really happened. The explanation is priceless - particularly when he admits to having no idea why they had to push the button every 108 minutes. "But the rest of the people, who were on that plane, they're still on that island." Carmen says she believes him. She doesn't understand, but she believes. "A lot of people died, mom. Now this bad stuff is happening because, well, we shouldn't have lied."
Jack puts Sayid on a gurney, and straps telemetry strips to his chest. Raiding a supply closet, Jack administers an injection. Sayid suddenly awakens, and moves to strangle Jack before getting his bearings. Sayid demands to know where Hurley is.
Ben shows up in Hurley's kitchen, only to be met with a flung hot pocket. Ben assures him he's taken care of Hurley's trouble. Ben says he can take Hurley to Sayid, where Jack is. "In their defense, I'm not an easy person to trust. But they came around when they realized we all want the same thing - to go back to the island." Ben offers a life where Hugo never has to lie again. Please, he implores, let me help you. "Never, dude," says Hurley, and he runs out to the cops, confessing to the killings. "I killed four people, three people, how ever many are dead, I killed them." Hurley smirks back at Ben, his way of showing he knows he's beaten him.
Aside number 16: So...the freaking ghost of Ana Lucia tells him not to let himself get arrested, and he surrenders. He does this because he suddenly trusts Sayid - the paranoid killer who Hurley had promised to back up someday. All in all, probably the worst judgment Hurley has shown since he almost let "Dave" convince hm to jump off a cliff...
Kate and Aaron and Sun
Sun arrives at an airport. Her cell phone call is not connecting. At the Oceanic counter, while checking in to fly to L.A., she is taken away and detained in a locked room, where Charles Widmore waits inside. He's demonstrating how mad he is that she showed him no respect with her prior public approach to speaking with him. He brings up her claim that they have "common interests." She clarifies - to kill Benjamin Linus.
Aside number 17: We wondered who the other person Sun blamed for Jin's death would be. Now, it seems, we know - it's Ben. Though she could not have known at the time the freighter blew up, given that "Bentham" had been visiting them recently, perhaps Locke told her what happened in the Orchid station. In any case, with Sun, it's best never to assume the full truth is being told at any given moment.
A doorbell disturbs Kate and Aaron's morning routine - someone claiming to be Dan Norton of Agostini and Norton, tries to Barge in. He and his silent associate request blood samples from Kate and Aaron. They claim to have a Court order, but no freedom to divulge the identity of their client. They threaten to come back with the Sherrif. Kate knows that the time has come. She packs hastily, including her hidden cash and gun, and tells Aaron they're "going on vacation." Walkingg past a photo of Jack with Aaron, Kate tells Aaron, "say bye-bye, baby."
Having just, unbeknownst to them, driven past Hurley and Sayid, Aaron whines that he wants to go home. Kate dials Jack's number, but disconnects before the call goes through. An unknown caller calls her. She can't believe who it is. "What, you're in L.A.? Of course I can meet you - I'll meet you in half an hour." Kate tells Aaron they're going to see a friend.
The mystery visitor is Sun. Sun and Kate enjoy some tea. She wanted to see Kate, and shows a picture of Ji Yeon. It would be nice to see her and Aaron play together, she muses. Sun asks if Kate is really fine. Kate says someone knows they're lying, and tells Sun about the lawyers who showed up. Sun said they weren't interested in exposing the lie, because they wouldn't do that in private. They just want Aaron. Sun asks if Kate would do everything she could to keep Aaron. Kate asks what kind of person she thinks she is, and Sun reminds her how she tricked her onto the chopper before the freighter blew with Jin still aboard. Sun does not blame her - if not for the deception, they all may have died, and not just Jin. Her point was that Kate can make hard choices for the ones she cares about.
Jack and Ben
The odd couple of Jack and Ben may be heart and soul of the Oceanic 6 storyline for the season, but in these episodes, they did little except provide some exposition. They begin in the morgue at Hoffs/Drawlar, where Ben suggests they close Locke’s coffin and load him into their van. They discuss their plan to round up the Oceanic 6, Hurley first. Jack asks, "how did we get here? How did all of this happen?" Ben echoes what Jack previously heard from Bentham/Locke. “It happened because you left, Jack.”
Jack shaves off the crazy beard. Ben wonders what Locke said to make Jack such a “believer.” Jack says Locke told him that Sawyer, Juliet, and everyone else left behind would die if he didn't come back. Locke didn't say what happened after the island moved. Ben darkly suggests - "then I guess we'll never know."
Aside Number 18: Nothing new here, but how frakking great is Michael Emerson?! Does anyone think for even a microsecond that Ben doesn’t know precisely what happened to those left behind in the three years since the Oceanic 6 got home?
Ben watches the news, discovering that Hurley was busted out of his hospital, and has been accused of killing the people that Sayid, in fact, took out. It would appear the plan to get Hurley first has hit a snag.
Ben unscrews a vent in his room, and retrieves a package, which he shoves in a duffel bag as Jack emerges from the bathroom. Jack looks for his pills, but Ben flushed them down the toilet. Ben says he's checking out. He tells Jack to go home and pack anything he wants in this life into a suitcase, because he's never coming back. Jack says, "good." Ben says he'll get Jack in six hours, after he moved Locke's casket someplace safe. Jack asks, "safe? he's dead, isn't he?" Ben responds only, "I'll see you in six hours, Jack."
Aside number 19: Doc Jensen has reinterpreted two key lines from last season to surmise that the Oceanic Six, once they return to the island, will be asked to somehow resurrect John Locke, but that doing so will be "cross-the-streams" bad. In particular, he refers to the Hurley's relaying to Jack Ghost Charlie's message, "you aren't meant to raise him," and vision-Claire's message to Kate, "don't bring him back, Kate, don't you dare bring him back." At the time, both certainly seem to be discussing Aaron - indeed, Hurley even asked Jack, "do you think he meant Aaron?" The Doc's theory is that they both meant Locke, as in "you aren't meant to raise [Locke from the dead]," and "don't you bring [Locke] back [from the dead], Kate." After all, the very same vision that included Claire also included a telephone voice warning Kate (albeit in reverse) that she had to return to the island...
Ben goes to a butcher shop. The woman inside, Jill, knows him. She expected Locke's body, and agrees to hide it. Everything is moving according to plan. Ben refers to two other men and asks if they'd checked in. Jill needs to keep Locke safe, or else, everything they're about to do, won't matter at all.
Somewhwere, a pendulum swings, and an old, DHARMA-era computer monitor flashes, "event window determined." The pendulum marks a cross hatch on the floor. A hooded figure notes what is happening, then climbs a staircase to a rectory. Ben is there, lighting candles. "Any luck?" The hooded figure turns out to be Ms. Hawking, the former time-travel savvy curio shop curator who told Desmond about his destiny to push the button on the island and how time has a tendency to course correct. She tells Ben that he has only 70 hours left, regardless of how much time he thinks he needs. Ben, uncharacteristically pannicky, says, "look, I lost Reyes tonight, so what happens if I can't get them all back?" "Then God help us all."
Aside Number 20: Halleluyah! After one brief but powerful appearance in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," and a true "cameo" in a framed photo on the desk of Brother Campbell at Desmond's monastery, Ms. Hawking finally returns to Lost, and establishes that she is very much involved in the goings-on. It is clear now that she is Farraday's mother - and will be even clearer after the Desmond/ Penny adventure in "Jughead..."
Desmond and Penny
In flashback (which we didn't know was a flashback at first), we learn that Desmond and Penny gave birth to a son while docked in a Southeast Asian port. We later learn that they named their son "Charlie," which, although it is Penny's father's name, here most likely honors the man who gave his life to deliver Penny's warning to Desmond.
Suddenly, in the "present," Desmond wakes up one morning, with the memories of his hatch-door encounter with Dan fresh in his head - memories he didn't have before that very moment. Desmond rushes on deck, and prepares to set sale. He says they're leaving, to go to Oxford.
Penny and Des puzzle over why now? It's been three years, since he left the island, six years since he first got there. Why no prior recollection of Farraday knocking on his door and then disappearing in a flash of light? Regardless, Desmond tells Penny, "I'll be back and then I'm done, forever, I promise." She demands a promise never to go back to the island. "Why in god's name would I want to go back?
At Oxford, a clerk tells Desmond they have no record of Farraday ever having been there, which is odd, since Desmond clearly recalls having met him there. Desmond can't remember the year he met Daniel (he was, after all, hopping back in time with his mind at the time). Desmond wanders to the physics department, and goes up to Daniel's secret lab, where he sees the sign, "Danger - fumigation." Everything inside is covered over. Desmond finds a picture of Daniel with a blonde woman - most likely the one who Elly reminded him of. He also finds the time travel radiation machine and rat maze. The caretaker finds him there, and says Desmond is not the first to look for Farraday. Desmond asks why the university is pretending not to have heard of him. Can you blame them, asks the caretaker, "after what he done to that poor girl?"
Following the lead provided by the caretaker, Desmond seeks out Theresa Spencer, the girl in the photo, but meets her sister instead. At the mention of Farraday's name, the sister shows Desmond Theresa, hooked up to life-sustaining machines in a hospital bed, apparently a vegetable. She's going through time jumps (like Desmond and Minkowski did before). Daniel didn't stay, curses the sister, he left her like this, to the States. The sister says she doesn't know what she would have done but for Widmore, Daniel's benefactor, who took care of Theresa ever since.
Aside number 21: I want to like Daniel. I really do. I want to believe he was less interested in Widmore's goals when he boarded the freighter. But the idea that he has spent years being sponsored by Widmore...makes it a bit hard to let him off with a simple "he's just a nerd" shrug.
Des barges in on...Widmore. Desmond refuses to answer questions, but has some of his own, after which he'll never show up in Charles's life again. Charles, concerned ever since Ben said he would kill her, asks if Penny is safe. Desmond deflects - he wants Farraday's mother. Widmore considers, then tells him she's in L.A. (Yup, it's gotta be Ms. Hawking). Widmore, thinking Ben would never look for Penny so far from his home base in London, and surmising Penny would follow Desmond, even gives him the address. He suspects Daniel's mother won't be pleased to see him - she's a very private person. Widmore cautions Desmond - deliver your message, then get out. Don't put Penny in danger. The events going on here go back many years "Wherever you were hiding," Charles begs his daughter's only protector, "go back there."
Desmond returns to his family, and, carefully considering Widmore's warning, lies and says Farraday's mother was dead. Penny smells the lie, and he says he wants to be done with it all. Knowing him too well, Penny says he won't be able to just forget about it, so, since she and Charlie will obviously be going along, they might as well get on with it.
Final Aside: At this point, my head is spinning. Widmore is Farraday's benefector, and knows that his mother is Ms. Hawking, and where to find her. Farraday went on Widmore's mission to retrieve Ben, and knows that his mother is the only one who can help him. Farraday's mother...is working with Ben, against Widmore. Ben wants, more than anything else, to kill Penny out of revenge for the execution of Alex. Widmore, in an attempt to protect Penny, sends her straight to where Ben is working in cahoots with Ms. Hawking. So is she not really alligned with Ben? Are she and Daniel working at cross-purposes to Widmore? How does Abbadon, who "recruited" Daniel to the freighter fit in? How does Widmore, the ex-Other, tie in to DHARMA - the research group studied by Widmore's sponsee, Farraday?
Moreover, even though the island may not be "moving" with its visitors, it is clearly moving in space, too. This is obvious from two clues. First, from directly above in the chopper, it could be seen to disappear. Second, Ms. Hawking's computer seemed to be tracking a number of locations before finally determining where in space the island actually is or will be, and when in time that will occur.
All in all, a great beginning to the season. The producers in several recent interviews lately have told us that our job as an audience this season is to try to figure out to what extent Daniel's claim that time is set and cannot be altered, even by traveling through it, was correct. Implicit in that is the notion that one could end up brining about the very event he sought to change by virtue of trying to change it. That said, it's clear our time-hoppers are changing the past in certain ways. They led the bomb to be buried by the Swan hatch, and Richard to seek out Locke as a boy, and Desmond in the present/future to seek out Ms. Hawking. It's going to be a fun ride.
Until next week, when Kate and Aaron take center stage in "The Little Prince," Namaste!
This is ABC's first promo poster for Season 5. A few observations:
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Jack is still their presumptive leader, but his hold over them is tenuous, and where he once provided comfort and inspiration ("live together, die alone," etc. etc.), he's now all about spin control. He reminds his peeps - if they get a question they can't or don't want to answer, just stay quiet, and people will think they're in shock. Sun reminds him, "we are in shock, Jack." Kate is already holding Aaron, having assumed the role of mother. Karen Decker of Oceanic Airlines (more on her later) comes back and informs the group they've been dubbed the "Oceanic Six." They land at a military airport West of Honolulu, with a gahering outside that includes Hurley's parents, Sun's parents, and Jack's mother. Mr. Paik gives Sun an odd look, and Sun barely registers his presence. Kate has...nobody, and neither does Sayid, but Hurley introduces Sayid to the Reyeses.
The casting of Forbes is notable because she has also appeared in each of the polar opposites of sci-fi fanboy favorites: she played Ro Laren, an anti-authority (and ultimately treasonous) character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and she played Admiral Caine, the uber-authoritarian/ Machiavellian fleet commander in Battlestar Galactica. I don't know if the producers had these two series' conflicting uses of science fiction, or these two characters' conflicting views on authority, in mind when they cast Forbes as an apparent corporate mouthpiece for Oceanic Airlines, but if they did, then bravo!
Their reunion is bittersweet - sweet for them, but tinged with sadness for us, as we know of Nadia's fate in the months to come.
4815162342....Hurley doesn't want any part of it, and runs away.
Jack starts to goes off on his own, entrusting the baby to the others, but Sawyer goes with him, muttering, "you don't get to die alone."
He gets a flash back at him, and says they can go now, but insists what he said is none of their business.
He insists they drop their guns, and before you can say "finally, the Others are back," they are surrounded by Others with guns. Richard disarms Kate and Sayid.
Jack and Sawyer head for the Orchid; 
and, as the Others march Kate and Sayid to who-knows-where;
Hurley and John watch Ben approach the greenhouse, hands up. 
Omar and others, including Keamy, come out to find Ben. "My name is Benjamin Linus. I believe you're looking for me." Keamy puts a gun to his head, then smacks Ben, knocking him out.
