Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"Some Like It Hoth" Instant Reactions!

Brian's Three Word Review: Picking Up Speed

It's not as though any of the past few week's episodes have been "bad" - but it seems like they've all been building up to something big... and this week seemed to put us right on the cusp on everything to start unraveling and chaos to ensue. Unfortunately, all this excitement is about to happen when we're due for a "Clip Show" next week, so we'll have to wait two weeks to see how all these storylines that have been started are going to come together. On the plus side, I'm on vacation next week so this all works out perfect for me anyways. It's almost like the Lost writers timed this out on purpose just to help me out...

What did we learn this week to keep us busy during the next two weeks?

  • Miles is indeed the offpsring of Pierre Chang - who seemed kinda jerky, but turned out to be a good father to Baby Miles after all. Who wants to bet that Miles ends up telling him about the Purge, which results in Chang sending Baby Miles and Wife off-Island to save them? He's not a jerk, he's making the tough decisions to save his family!
  • Bram (and Ilana and two other Ajira 316ers) are NOT WITH WIDMORE! Looks like we have a mysterious third party entrant to the storyline after all. Just as I was hoping, this opens the door for Widmore to become a "good guy", come back to the Island with Desmond, and join the Others and our Survivors in the "Battle for the Island" vs. the Shadow of the Statue.
  • What lies in the Shadow of the Statue? Apparently the answers to all life's questions and a sense of "fulfillment" inside someone who has never known their father. Bram assured Miles that Widmore was the wrong team to join - and if he joined the Shadow of the Statue, all his questions would be answered. I'm still a big fan of the Shadow of the Statue being the pre-Others group on the Island, a group more in touch with the "mystical properties" of the Island than our Barracks-living-Others in the 1990's.
  • Faraday is back! Somehow, he got off-Island (putting to rest the rumors that he had simply lost his mind) - I'm guessing hitching a ride on the submarine that Juliet and Sawyer took a pass on. He's spent the last three years in Ann Arbor (home of the Gerald and Karen Degroot, who FOUNDED the Dharma Initiative!). I'm guessing he used that time to learn everything he could about the Island and time travel (maybe starting his journal full of notes that he would later bring to the Island in 2004) - all in an effort to save Charlotte... or get our Survivors back to 2008 where they belong. Something tells me that Faraday is going to be a WEALTH of knowledge about everything going on as soon as someone sits him down and makes him talk!
  • Hurley + Miles = Comedic Genius. The scenes between the two of them were all fantastic, especially discussing talking to dead people ("You're just jealous that my powers are cooler than yours") and Hurley attempting to get Miles and Chang to hang out ("Small world, your kid is named Miles too, huh?") It's really a testament to the Lost writers that characters introduced last season have become such fan favorites and integral parts of the show, even with an already quite full cast of characters.
  • Why did Miles ask Ben for $3.2 million dollars? Quite simply, to double the amount that Widmore paid him. No real deeper meaning there. Miles is all about the money.
  •  Nice references to Lost things this week. The key hidden under the concrete rabbit, Chang reading Baby Miles a book entitled "Me and My Polar Bears", and getting to see both the Swan and Orchid being built. Good stuff.
  • Yep, probably should have watched "Star Wars" as a child. If I had known it would be referenced on Lost twenty years later, maybe I would have had more motivation to show interest back in my youth. 

So... I guess that's it? It seems like there is more to say, but I think I'm out of ideas for now. Discuss!

38 comments:

Rebecca said...

I forgot about Miles asking for the $3.2 million from Ben but makes sense now. I think Chang had good intentions kicking his wife & Miles off the island and hopefully Miles gets to see that. I hope Dan has LOTS of conversations with people in two weeks. =]

While on vacation you should watch all of the Star Wars movies, that's your homework. ;) Have a great time!

Unknown said...

Brian, i think i speak for everyone here when i say that you NEED to watch Star Wars.

I mean, i respect you and all for everything you write about Lost. But seriously, you've never seen Star Wars?!?!?!?!

Prachi said...

Brian - What do you think is the meaning behind what Naomi tells Miles: that the island they are going to is full of ghosts? Is she only referencing all the people Ben has killed? Or is the island really just full of ghosts? (I thought this was ruled out way back when..)

And yes, please watch Star Wars!!

Steve said...

I'm not sold that the 'statue' people aren't with Ben. Maybe they're with the same people at the Jill the Butcher. I'm just not sold on a third party...

But I'm the guy who was convinced there was going to be a morgue with dead people and some underhanded dealings.

No one mentioned the 'magnetic properties' that pulled the filling from the guys head and killed him. Obviously, they've hit something. Apparently the season 3 blue ray DVD has something on the Swan and these magnetic principles. Though I doubt it's absolute canon.. I may netflix it just to see. Apparently it has something to do with 'patching' the electromagnetic pulses. Maybe the failsafe is another 'incident' Shoot, but again, my theories are all out there.


Yes, the writers have done a good jon with Faraday and Miles, but they failed terribly with Nikki and Paulo.

Two weeks? Wow...maybe I'll watch Star Wars to bide my time, but I will say this. They are good movies, but there is a nostolgic aspect from our childhood that probably makes the movies better than they really are to the first time viewer today. And Hurley is right... Ewoks do suck, but not as much as Jar Jar binks. Point is, Watch Episode IV "star wars, a new hope", and skip the prequels.

Anonymous said...

when Bram asked Miles "what's in the shadow of the statue?"

he said "if you don't know, you're not ready"

I felt like that was a literal question, rather than just a code question like "what did the snow man say to the other snow man?"

maybe it literally means something, like there's something actually there?

TheycallmeVic said...

I don't get it, if it was the magnetic properties of the hatch that killed the guy, what's up with the bullet hole in his head?

And why exactly no episode next week?

Unknown said...

Am I the only one who feels that a better title for this episode would have been "That Douche Is My Dad"?

Anonymous said...

Perfect timing for the clip show, I have baller tickets to the cardinals game next wednesday...so thats nice also JarJar is a total butt plug.

Anonymous said...

Brian (and Steve) -- I'm also not sold on the idea of a 3rd party. After watching this episode, I'm feeling pretty strongly that the Shadow/Statue people are working for Ben, but they don't know it... just like we earlier believed that Ilana and company were working for Widmore and didn't know it.

VictorC -- I'm under the impression that the "bullet hole" was from the filling in his tooth that ripped right through his head, and out of his forehead. At one point, Horace is heard on phone saying something to the effect of: "Pierre, if it was the electromagnetic forces that caused this, we need to know!"

Salvar -- LOL. I agree.

I'm not happy about the clip show next week :(

Unknown said...

Victorc,
I think that at first glance it appears as a bullet hole through the head but remember Miles said that his tooth filling was pulled out and shot through his brain because of the electromagnetic properties. Im not totally sure, but wouldn't that filling coming through the brain be around the same size as a bullet?? At least thats how i interpreted it.

Hobbes said...

Also we learned it was most likely Ben who dug up the graves and purchased the plane to fake the Oceanic Flt 816 under water crash site.... unless of course it was the Shadow of the Statue people... hmmm?

Also I believe Miles is the one who actaully filmed the Dr. Pierre Change video (about the future); along with Faraday. They try to make an attempt to change the events of the future but of course just end up repeating everything. I bet some of our losties die and some get sent back to the present (ha avoided the back to the future line - doh). Also repeating Ms.Chang leaving with Miles, and Charlotte and her Mom all leaving the island.

omanni said...

Maybe those Shadow of the Statue people are Eloise Hawking's group? Eloise knew about Ajira 316 and that's why those people could have been in the plain?

jack said...

Hobbes - why do you think Miles was involved in creating that film with Faraday? we hear Faraday's voice in the background but no evidence that Miles was involved.

Good episode but dialogue between Miles and Hurley was a bit too goofy for me.

omanni said...

Think about this. Hurley talked to Miles that in StarWars Luke Skywalker and his father Darth Vader both lose their arm.

Ring any bells?? -Doesn't Pierre have a prosthetic arm in some of those Dharma Orientation films? Maybe Miles also lose his arm?

orangejack said...

I'm on board with the 3 teams. I posted up my thoughts about it too with this analogy: The "shadow statue people" are like Native Americans while Ben v Charles are like the British v US Colonies in the Revolutionary War (it's not important which side is which). In other words, two groups of people fighting over land that both think it's theirs because they found it and took it from the people who already lived there. Imagine the US Native Americans rising up during the Revolutionary War to fight both the US and Britains. I think that's where we might just be going.

jack said...

Not to raise this issue again but if Miles were to die now, how would it affect his infant self? I guess many challenges to writing 'time-travel' sci-fi in a way viewers can manage, in their heads, the 'rules of engagement' so to speak.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ben said...

jack -

Grown up miles dying now wouldn't affect anything. The only thing that might affect anythign is if infant miles died, but since "whatever happened, happened" he basically cannot die, because he doesn't. Grown up Miles was always Chang's chaueffer around the island, you have to stop thinking like back to the future and that people are changing things.

Unknown said...

question.

In season 4, somebody#1 was showing somebody#2 pictures of empty graves and the plane bill of sale to convince somebody#2 that either
Ben or Widmore was super evil.

Who were Somebody #1 ?
Somebody#2 ?
and was it Ben or Widmore?

control said...

Somebody 1 and somebody 2 are Tom (Mr Friendly) and Michael. In New York during the meet Kevin Johnson episode.

Tommy said...

Does anyone else see a clear set-up by way of Jack's laissez-faire attitude for an upcoming climactic point when Jack is begged to step up and lead, and capitulates to do with in glorious fashion? Not terribly excited about that.

And the way Jack "persuaded" Roger Linus that Kate wouldn't hurt her son...boy, that was about the most suspicious piece of work ever.

Dharma Mayonnaise said...

I enjoyed the goofy dialogue between Hurley and Miles. Darlton (on their podcast) previewed this episode by saying that they wanted to have an episode that was lighter and funner than some of the previous ones. They’re also big Star Wars fans so I’m sure they had a blast adding that into the show.

Re: Ben vs Widmore buying the plane: Maybe I’m misremembering but didn’t the dead guy tell Myles that he was bringing that info for Widmore? I took that to mean that Widmore staged it all. Or are some of you suggesting that the dead guy brought it as a warning that someone is up to no good (and someone killed him for having that info)?

I’m excited/depressed that there’s only 4 episodes left. Close to a lot of answers but close to a big Lost hiatus.

Unknown said...

Re: Fake Oceanic Plane in Ocean.

To me, bringing that info to Widmore means that Widmore was collecting the info. Why would he want evidence of his own transgression? Again, to me, that means that Widmore did NOT do it, but that Ben did OR that the shadow of the statue people did.

jack said...

Ben -- thanks much for bringing clarity to that.

Andre said...

I took it to mean that he was delivering the paperwork to Widmore and then Widmore had him killed to keep him quiet.

And since Naomi knew the underwater plane was a fake, she must have been in on the cover-up. She acted like she didn't know when she landed on the island, but she obviously did knew at least part of the situation.

Andre said...

Speaking of Naomi, I'm kind of hoping for some Miles/Naomi lovin'... but I doubt it'll happen.

Kacie said...

You are the first person I've read that agrees with my theory about the pre-others group. I think alpert is one of them, which means they could all be ageless. I'm left with the question: what is their purpose? If this theory is true, I'm SUPER excited to find out how this is all going to come together.

Unknown said...

of course Naomi alrady has a girlfriend. (Regena?) I think she's the one who sunk herself.

Unknown said...

It probably was Widmore who did the fake oceanic, but you just can't believe Ben.

Hobbes said...

Jack - it was just a hunch with the Miles centric episode.

jack said...

Hobbes - probably a good hunch.

on another note, it will be fascinating if or when Miles makes his father aware of what is going on and who he is. Openly witnessing himself as a baby to boot!!

Lisa said...

I just finished watching the episode again, and to me it sounds like Bram doesn't say "the shadow of the statue" but says "a shadow of a statue." It's really not clear, so I can't be sure. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?

Also, I noticed that during part of the scene where Hurley, Chang, and Miles are in the van, you can hear Smokey's receipt printer sound effect.

jack said...

This is a question of the scene with Naomi, Miles and the dead guy....

the evidence (photos, papers, etc) being brought to Whitmore by this man....what does this mean? Does this mean Whitmore wasn't implicated in the fake #815 plane on the ocean bottom? weren't we told it was Whitmore by the freightor captain last season? Why would he have misled the survivors? If not Whitmore, who arranged this? Thoughts? Anyone?? Brian????

Unknown said...

we discussed that above. What do you think?

singhy said...

Jack, don't forget that the freighter captain (working for Widmore) accused Ben of staging the wreck. But as Daniel states, and as mentioned above, Tom told Michael that Widmore staged the wreck. Hence everyone's interest in exactly what the dead man's story means for who was lying!

Bea said...

It seems to me that the Shadow of the Statue people are linked to Dharma. For one thing, that gives a greater sense of purpose to the 1977 setting of this season - it's not just a matter of satisfying our curiosity about Dharma and playing around with cool time-travel theories. Dharma has to be made relevant to the 2008 plot line in order for this season to work as part of the series as a whole. Also, Bram made reference to Miles' father, suggesting some kind of link to Pierre Chang.

MelloMoose said...

Random thoughts after a second watching...

Polar bears are mean and bitey (as we've recently seen in the news) and I bet one would definitely try to chomp your arm off if you were to, say, try and shove it into a little room and teleport it to Tunisia.

I think Miles will tell his Pop about the coming purge which will prompt him to boot his wife & kid off the island in an effort to save them, thus making Miles responsible for his own crappy life.

I also think that Hurley, possibly with help, will be responsible for "the Incident" at the Swan station, which will ultimately make him responsible for the Oceanic Flight 815 crash. He blames the hatch and will try to sabotage it somehow.

The Losties seem poised to be their own worst enemies before they get back to 2008. I wonder if it's one of them who lets Smokey out for the first time?

RebelScum said...

There was a lot of obvious Star Wars references in Some Like it Hoth, but did anyone else pick up on a further not so obvious Star Wars influence/reference?

As most Star Wars fans know, the two droids R2D2 & 3CPO were inspired by The Hidden Fortress’ characters Tahei & Matakishi; two low level comic relief characters who don’t see the big picture of events. This episode plays out just like that.

In Some Like it Hoth we learn DHARMA are constructing the Swan in Other territory, a clear violation of the truce. The consequences when the Others find out will probably be huge.

We also learn Ilana & her Shadow of the Statue group are not working for Widmore. It confirms we have a third group of players involved other than Ben & Widmore. This third party may have been responsible for the fake 815 wreckage. Again, this is big news in the context of the overall big picture story and will no doubt play a significant part in the final episodes of the season.

Yet all that stuff plays in the background At the forefront we have the relatively light relief stuff of Hurley & Miles comparing “their powers“, talking about Star Wars, and discussing father & son issues.