Lost - "Whatever Happened, Happened"

Episode Title: "Whatever Happened, Happened"

 

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: It's like the writers knew exactly what was going to happen at the end of last week's episode (Ben getting shot), and named this episode as a way to immediately answer any questions people might have about the fate of Ben! Given that this week's episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (joy!), I think that's probably a pretty safe bet. We've all thrown the expression around for the past few weeks, but it still seems like some people are confused by it. In a nutshell, it basically means that you can't create a paradox of time. Meaning, Sayid can't go back and time and shoot Ben unless that has ALWAYS happened. You can't add new events to the past. You can't say "well, that didn't happen originally, but now that our Survivors are back in the past it's different." Whatever happened, happened.

 

Applying this theory to Sayid shooting Ben, it means that Sayid has always shot Ben, and somehow Ben still survives, becomes leader of the Others, messes with our Survivors, ends up off-Island, ends up back on-Island, and gets whacked upside the head by Sun with a Backrigger paddle. From there, who knows what happens to Ben - but at the very least we know that regardless of what happens in 1977 - all these events will eventually happen.

 

We debated exactly how Ben could survive such an apparent killshot, and I'm anxious to see exactly how the writers explain his survival. It seems to me there are two cards they can play - the Medical Card, or the Mystical Card. The Medical Card would have Jack / Juliet saving Ben, and having a medical explanation for how he was able to survive ("It went right through him without hitting anything major! It's a miracle!"). The Mystical Card could still have Jack / Juliet working to save him, but wouldn't be able to explain why he didn't die ("The bullet is lodged in his heart. He should be bleeding to death but he's not!") In the first case, we would have a scenario with a great deal of irony where Jack / Juliet end up saving the life of someone who will eventually cause such heartache and trouble for them. In the second case, we would have another example of the Island not allowing someone to die until it's damn well ready... which may actually mean Ben was somewhat "chosen" by the Island after all (at least to carry out the Purge). Either way, this event should result in some Lost-classic long wordless stares between our Survivors (I'm looking at you Jack and Kate) as they realize what happened (happened).

 

Guest Stars: Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Kim Dickens as Cassidy, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Susan Duerden as Carol Littleton, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, William Blanchett as Aaron, Sebastian Siegel as Erik, Candace Scholz as Debra, Susan King as sweet young woman, Miko Franconi as grocery worker, Scott Moura as manager and Olivia Vickery as Clementine.

 

Guest Star Breakdown: Anytime Richard Alpert appears in an episode, it's good news for me. The question is - will he be interacting with our 1977 Survivors, or our 2008 Survivors? Remember, we still have absolutely no idea what the Others have been up to from 2005 to 2008, so an appearance of Alpert in 2008 might be our first chance to find out... also, we seem long overdue to have some advancement in the 2008 storyline. Remember how important Locke was to the beginning of this season? We've now gone three episodes without seeing him. Does he finally make his way over to the main Island to reunite with Alpert and learn his "new mission"? On the other hand, a reappearance of Alpert in 1977 might confirm that he witnesses Ben's apparent "death" and "resurrection" in surviving Sayid's gunshot wound, which puts him on the path to becoming the eventual leader of the Others. I guess either way, it'll be good for the storyline. Dare I get greedy and hope he appears in both 1977 and 2008 to advance BOTH storylines? Probably an unrealistic request...

 

The other shocking guest stars all appear off-Island, most likely in the form of flashbacks. First we've got Carol Littleton (aka "Claire's Mom") and Aaron (aka "Claire's Kid"), which seemingly confirm that this week will be a Kate-centric episode, featuring flashbacks about what she did with Aaron before boarding Ajira 316... and it looks like the answer is "left him with Carol and told her the truth about who Aaron is"... which would absolutely blow the cover off "the lie" that the Oceanic Six have told since they returned from the Island... and might inadvertently lead to a whole new set of people finding a reason to hunt for the Island.

 

Then, we've got Cassidy (aka "Sawyer's Former Lover") and Clementine (aka "Sawyer's Bastard Child"). For those who don't remember Cassidy, she was a recently divorced woman who Sawyer hooked up with, then taught how to con before long conning her (that sounds dirty), took her money, and left her... even though it kinda seemed like he truly liked her. 

She would later interact with Kate in a few flashbacks and eventually meet Sawyer in jail to inform him that he had a daughter named Clementine Phillips. Remember the mysterious thing that Sawyer whispered into Kate's ear before jumping off the helicopter in last season's finale? Smart money was that he told her about Cassidy and Clementine, and asked Kate to "take care of them" or "tell them he was a hero" or "give them some money". Based on their inclusion in what seems to be a Kate-centric outing, it looks like she kept her word... and this was probably the person Kate was talking to on the phone when Jack got all paranoid in "Something Nice Back Home".

 

Remember last week when I said it looked like we filled in all the "holes" in Sayid's storyline, so I was afraid he might be on "Death Watch"? Based on the characters appearing in this episode, there's a good chance we're going to do the same thing with Kate, filling in all the "holes" (that's what he said?) - so she might be on Death Watch as well from this point forward... or there's just the possibility that with less than 25 episodes of Lost remaining, these are simply the first characters to start "wrapping up" their backstories in preparation for the inevitable ending... boy, that makes me depressed just thinking about it. This should cheer us up:

 

Episode Description: Kate goes to extreme measures to save Ben's life when Jack refuses to help.  Meanwhile, Kate begins to tell the truth about the lie in order to protect Aaron.

 

Episode Breakdown: Wow. Talk about your all-time backfires. I guess forget about all those times I referenced Jack saving Ben's life over the past week! Apparently he's throwing that Hippocratic Oath out the window and saying "Oh, Young Ben needs help to survive? Sucks to be him!" The irony here is that in 2004, Jack hated Ben, yet still saved his life by performing the spinal surgery on him. Yet in 2008, after Jack has been working with Ben to get back to the Island, seemingly on good terms, he's presented with a situation to save his life and refuses. Is Jack trying to change the past? Or has he really just become that hardened during the three years he spent off-Island?

 

At any rate, this forces Kate to go to "extreme measures" to save Young Ben's life, which is again ironic since less than a week ago she was the person who had such anger towards Ben, slapping Jack for talking about his funeral and walking away from their proposal to return to the Island at the marina. Is she trying to prevent creating a paradox of time, or does Young Ben just remind her of Aaron, which makes her a softy for saving the lives of children?

 

Either way, this episode description makes it seem like Ben's survival of Sayid's gunshot is going to be explained medically, rather than mystically. But this still doesn't help explain what extreme measures she could go through to save him. It seems like there are rather limited options on the Island to save him - especially if Jack is refusing to help. That leaves the shoddy medical staff in Dharma who couldn't even deliver baby Ethan (I guess this is before The Staff existed since that was a MEDICAL STATION), Juliet, or the Others. Since there's some obvoius tension between Kate and Juliet, would that qualify Kate going to her for help as an "extreme measure"? That seems like a stretch. Going to the Others to help Ben would seem "extreme" given her current position inside Dharma, but how would they be able to help? While this could explain Alpert's role in the episode, it doesn't seem like they have any super-doctor among them or magical healing fountain. If they did, wouldn't they have used either one over the past few seasons when our Survivors were killing Others left and right? Puzzling...

 

The second portion of the episode description appears to actually be a description of the flashback portion of the episode, where Kate begins to tell the truth about "The Lie" (about the Oceanic Six) in order to protect Aaron. I'm guessing this simply means dumping Aaron with Carol and saying "this is your grandson. He's was born on this mysterious Island that no one can find, but the natives may or may not think he's special. For some unknown reason, I'm going back there. Make sure Aaron doesn't go back there... even though technically his mother - and your daughter - might be alive and well on the Island... bye". This scene should be followed by Carol asking Kate if she is drunk and / or high, but probably will result in her accepting Aaron in the end.

 

So there you have it. Am I excited for this episode? Absolutely. As I mentioned, it's written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, which means we could receive some serious mythology or big picture revelations. In theory, all the writers on Lost probably know all the "secrets", but in my head, I picture Carlton and Damon revealing only what they need to each week, while keeping the major secrets locked inside their heads until they reveal them. I don't think they would "trust" anyone else to write an episode with a big revelation out of fear that the details might not match what they've envisioned inside their head - which is why they usually are the ones to write the season premieres and season finales, which many would call the "most important" episodes each season.

 

...and with that, I've sufficiently over-hyped this episode so that no matter what happens, people will be disappointed. You're welcome.

 

Happy Losting!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=420.0

"He's Our You" Analysis!

Unlike most episodes, where I need a little time afterwards to "digest" everything that happened, I'm feeling pretty good about this one right off the bat because there really wasn't that much to it. Some people loved the episode (because they love Sayid, and he was front and center for the full hour) and some people hated the episode (because nothing really "happened" for the vast majority of the episode). As for me, I come down somewhere in the middle. Yes, it was good to "fill in the gaps" on Sayid's story… but nothing that was revealed was all that shocking. It was almost like those flashbacks were designed to give us exactly enough information to explain why things happened (why Sayid "quit" working for Ben, how Sayid got "arrested" by Ilana and ended up on Ajira 316) without raising any new questions or giving away any huge revelations. In some ways, those flashbacks were a bit of a letdown since they seemed like "the easy way out". Instead of Ben and Sayid having some huge falling out or fight - it was simply that Ben stopped giving Sayid orders and the two men walked away from each other. For the time being, Ilana appears to be a simple bounty hunter - not a former Other or person working for Widmore for some greater purpose. In both cases, my reaction was "okay" instead of being "holy crap!"

 

As for the on-Island 1977 action, Sayid seemed resigned to "give up" for the majority of the episode, not willing to work with Sawyer on his schemes to free him or come up with a cover story - which seemed pretty uncharacteristic for Sayid. It's like he was a broken man, instead of a calm, confident, hero. Aside from killing Benjamin Linus, which Sayid seems to realize is "his mission" on the Island, he seems willing to lay down and die rather than fight… which was kinda sad to me. Perhaps finding out that Ben is still alive despite his best efforts will be just the spark that Sayid needs to find a passion and mission on the Island again. If not, I think his days on Lost are numbered. Here's hoping!

 

On to the analyzin'…

 

Widmore. For the over-analytical among us (me), one of the still-outstanding questions from Season Four has been the identity of The Economist. As the season progressed, most casual viewers probably just assumed that The Economist was Widmore, which makes total sense - but if you look closely at the details of the episode "The Economist", they actually seem to rule Widmore out as a candidate (relive the memories here: http://lost-and-gone-forever.blogspot.com/2008/02/economist-analysis.html). Later in the season, we also saw Ben visit Widmore in "The Shape of Things to Come" - before the events of "The Economist" episode took place, which even further seemed to prove Widmore was not The Economist. Long story short - it seemed like Ben and The Economist didn't know each other, when Ben and Widmore clearly have a long history. So up until this point, there was still a big question mark about this Economist. Was it a third party that we hadn't met yet? Was it someone like Jacob or Alpert?

 

As it turns out, the most obvious answer was the correct one - and maybe we were all looking into the details of "The Economist" a little too closely.

 

This week, after Sayid completes his "last kill" for Ben, Ben clearly states "that man was the last of Widmore's people" who were putting the Oceanic Six at risk, which seems to confirm that all the people who Sayid had been killing over the years were working for Widmore, who is also The Economist.

 

Long story short - in case anyone out there still had "Who is the Economist" on their "Outstanding Lost Questions" list, which has to be about 1000 pages long at this point, you can cross it off!

 

From an overall storyline timeline perspective, we've got the following:

• Ben leaves the Island after turning the FDW
• Ben recruits Sayid
• Ben visits Widmore
• Sayid kills Widmore's Henchmen
• Ben determines that Sayid's work is done, and sets him free

 

This just seems a little strange to me, since one has to assume Widmore would just recruit new henchman - and at this point, Ben still has no idea how he's going to get back to the Island (I'm assuming Locke hasn't left the Island at the point of Ben and Sayid parting, since you have to allow enough time between this scene and Sayid starting to work with "Build Our World" in the Caribbean). It all just seems like Ben was using Sayid for the sake of using him - sure he might have been killing Widmore's men, but there wasn't an "end game" in mind - unless it was just to put himself in a advantageous position over Widmore in their "race for the Island" by taking out Widmore's resources.

 

The other thing that bothered me was there really wasn't some huge fallout between Sayid and Ben. Remember Sayid's impassioned plea to Hurley about "if you meet Ben, always do the opposite of what he says"? Where did that come from? To continue the overall storyline timeline perspective:

• Ben determines that Sayid's work is done, and sets him free
• Sayid goes to work in the Dominican Republic building homes
• Locke visits Sayid
• Ben kills Locke
• Ben visits Sayid, claiming that Widmore killed Locke and is threatening Hurley
• Sayid rescues Hurley and tells him to never trust Ben

 

See the disconnect? Where does Sayid get off telling Hurley to "always do the opposite of what Ben says" when in fact he is doing precisely what Ben told him to do? Or is it just that Sayid hates himself for doing what Ben told him to, and wants to save Hurley from a similar fate? Either way, we never saw anything that reveals why Sayid went from happily killing the people on Ben's list to absolutely hating him and promising to kill him if he ever sees him again. Maybe that scene will happen in the future and this will all make sense, but for now, it just seems like a glaring character inconsistency for Sayid.

 

Ilana. Last week we seemed to confirm that Ilana and Caesar did not know each other pre-flight (since Caesar called her "lady" after the crash, instead of "Ilana"). This week, we learned more about her identity - she's a bounty hunter, hired by the family of Peter Avellino (the guy Sayid killed on the golf course last season)… at least that's what she thinks. Here is where there are three distinct schools of thought:

1. Ilana was truly hired by the Avellino family, and the fact that this just happened to put Sayid on Ajira 316 proves that it was "fate" or "destiny" that he end up back on the Island.
2. Ilana thinks she was hired by the Avellino family, but was really hired by Ben - who was pretending to be the Avellino family. Ben is ensuring that Sayid ends up on Ajira 316, rather than it being a question of fate.
3. Ilana knows she is working for Widmore, but is using the Avellino family story as a cover to hide her true allegiances. This opens the door for Ilana to suddenly become an agent for Widmore who made her way back to the Island… thus helping him "find the Island".

 

Looking at the history of Lost, the first scenario seems the most likely. After countless conspiracy theories over the first two seasons, we eventually found out that it was "fate" that Oceanic 815 crashed on the Island (not some pre-planned event). Although some still have elaborate schemes to the contrary, it seems like it was "destiny" that our Survivors ended up on Oceanic 815 in the first place. Sayid ending up on Ajira 316 - and back on the Island - could follow the same logic, where we come up with conspiracy theories and logical ways to explain it… but in the end, it comes down to fate.

 

The second scenario removes this "mystical element" from the explanation, and is easily explained. Ben would know the names of the people he killed, and has the wealth to hire Ilana for the job under false pretenses. Also, what are the odds that the Avellinos are one of the less than 175,000 people who live on Guam? It seems a little convenient that someone murdered in the Seychelles (population 82,000) would have family in Guam. Out of the 6.7 billion people in the world, it's like two needles in a haystack.

 

The third scenario is definitely the most fun, but also the kind of scenario that Lost nerds like me come up with in hopes of everything having deeper meanings and shocking twists. If there really is a "war" coming for the Island, I have to assume that Widmore will be involved… and unless he finds the Island again, how is that going to happen? There's a million other ways that Widmore could enter the picture, but having Ilana be the one to pull him back to the Island makes her character infinitely more interesting and important - and not another Nikki / Paulo throwaway-type character.

 

So what's it going to be? I'm hoping for the third scenario… but if I was a betting man, I'd go with the first. Prove me wrong, Lost writers!

 

Sawyer. Poor Sawyer. First he tried to "play house" with Kate in Dharmaville (unsuccessfully). Then he succeeds in "playing house" with Juliet, builds a nice comfortable life for the two of them, and finally seems to find peace and happiness… and then along come our Ajira 316 Survivors and suddenly his cover is nearly blown, burning buses are running into buildings, and Juliet seems to be questioning their love. It's pretty ironic actually. Locke left the Island and pleaded the Oceanic Six to return to the Island to "save the other Survivors" - but from the moment Locke left, things have gotten significantly better for those Survivors to the point where things were going pretty great. Granted, they're living a lie in 1977, but you can't tell me that they haven't been happier on-Island than the Oceanic Six have been off-Island. When our Ajira 316 Survivors showed up, Sawyer's first instinct was to get them assimilated into the Dharma culture, not "figure out how to get off the Island or back to 2008". Clearly, he's found something on the Island that he never found off-Island - an honest "normal" life. You could argue that it's nothing more than "playing house" - it's fake, it's temporary, and it's inevitably going to end (by the Purge if nothing else), but I can't help but feel bad that Sawyer's happy world is quickly coming crashing down.

 

Ben. Last but not least, we have our good friend Benjamin Linus. Speaking of feeling bad, it's pretty cruel how the writers have done their best to make the audience feel sorry for Ben - dead mother, abusive father, miserable on the Island, nerdy-looking, shot by an Iraqi - when we all know that he will grow up to be a conniving, murderous, two-timing, still nerdy-looking guy. Which means at the end of the episode, I didn't feel any remorse for an innocent kid who just wanted to belong getting shot point blank in the chest - part of me wanted to cheer, part of me simply said "it's not going to stick. Whatever happened, happened."

 

Still - this event is really pushing Faraday's theory about being unable to change the past to the test. I know a lot of people have commented that this seems to take away the notion of free will, since it seems like everything is pre-destined to happen, and there's nothing you can do would change it - but I think it's important to realize that "whatever happened, happened" only applies to the time travelers in the past - they're the ones who are in the wrong place in the space-time continuum, and are therefore "handcuffed" by the repercussions of their actions. In 1977, members of Dharma could do whatever they wanted. Likewise, our Survivors in 1977 still have free will and can die or affect the other time-traveling Survivors, they just can't interact with the events of 1977 enough to change the outcome… if that makes sense. So once our Survivors return to 2008, everything will once again be up for grabs. The future will be unwritten, just like the theme song to The Hills.

 

But for now, we're in the past. This story has already been told, and our Survivors are somewhat just "experiencing it" firsthand. So even though Sayid has always shot Ben, it has always just been a part of Ben's life that makes him the man we know in 2008.

 

I can see two possible ways that the shooting of Benjamin Linus will play out:

1. He's magically fine. Although we know that the Island doesn’t let people die until they're supposed to, this is a little different because we actually saw the bullet make a hole in Ben's body, as opposed to a gun not firing (Michael). It's also different than what happened when Ben shot Locke, since this bullet was to the heart, instead of in the side (conveniently close to where a scar from kidney surgery might be). I would have a hard time believing that Ben is just going to sit up, have no blood pouring out of him, and be like "huh, apparently I'm invincible". Lost may have time travel and smoke monsters, but this would be absurd to the point where I might have to pretend Season Five never happened.
2. Ben is injured, but survives. Hard to believe since Sayid is a trained assassin, but it would set the stage for a pretty great storyline where Jack and Juliet have to save the life of Benjamin Linus. The bullet could have missed Ben's vital organs, allowing Juliet or Jack to remove it, patch him up, and eventually bring him back to health. The great thing about this theory is that it could give us an explanation to the "she looks just like him" comment that the Others made about Juliet when she first arrived on the Island. I would think that if she is able to save him, Ben would be eternally grateful to this mysterious woman - and if he happened to find a woman who looked just like her twenty years later, he would have an affinity towards her. Ah, puppy love.

 

As I've mentioned before, I think this season ends with "The Incident", which sends our Survivors back to 2008. From the perspective of Dharma, our Survivors must just "disappear", I suppose. But still, Dharma will remember them - they'll know their names, their habits, and their history. However, after the Purge Benjamin Linus is going to be one of the few people left on the Island with this intimate knowledge of characters like Jack, Juliet, Sawyer, and Sayid. He's going to "know" them before they ever arrive on the Island, and know what they did to him in his youth - both good and bad. As I said before, this has to be a huge advantage to Ben, and explains how he is so easily able to manipulate our Survivors and stay one step ahead of them. Because technically, he doesn't just know their past, he knows their future! He knows what they will become… or is it that he helps mold who they become? Crazy time travel chicken and the egg discussions!

 

After this episode, the relationship between Sayid and Ben becomes far more interesting. So - Sayid shoots Ben in 1977 and tortures him in 2004… almost killing him twice. I wonder if Ben sent Sayid on missions around the world killing random people not to weaken Widmore… but just to mess with Sayid and put him through the same pain and torture that he has caused Ben? I mean, taking that many lives has to weigh on you, right? That could explain the sudden ending of their killing spree. Ben just figured he'd put Sayid through enough, and things were even now.

 

Probably not, but this puts Sayid right up there with Locke and Alpert in terms of "most layered relationship with Ben" of any characters on the show, making their scenes all the more interesting from here on out.

 

Note: I did go back and review the Sayid / Ben scenes from inside the Swan Hatch in Season Two. There's no real obvious "hints" of their prior relationship, mostly because Ben is uber-mysterious and creepy to everyone equally… although his frightened screams when he first saw Sayid while caught in CFL's trap could be interpreted as "oh crap, not this Iraqi again! He shot me in the heart the first time!"

 

What's next for Ben's character? As I mentioned in the Instant Reactions, I think his miraculous recovery from a should-be fatal gunshot will certainly pique the interest of the Others (once they find out about it), and might even make them start thinking "Huh, the Island doesn't want him to die. Maybe he's special?" which has to be a great argument when Ben eventually runs for the position of "Leader of the Others". The problem is that there is still a lot of time between this episode and the Purge, which means we're probably not going to see that gradual acceptance into the Others happen. Based on the timeline and episodes remaining, we've probably got no more than a week or two left in 1977, which means we might leave Ben as a kid recovering from a gunshot wound, left to wonder about what exactly happened in the next few years leading up to the Purge.

 

PS - I definitely think Ben was the one to light the Dharma van on fire, creating the distraction needed to free Sayid.

 

PPS - No, Ben's Dad wasn't inside that flaming Dharma van - he dies via poisonous gas in a Dharma van on the day of the Purge, remember?

  

…and I think that's all for this week. Discuss!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=419.0

"He's Our You" Instant Reactions!

Brian's Three Word Review with Punctuation: Whatever happened, happened?

After a pretty slow first fifty-seven minutes, Lost got way crazy in its final three. I mean, the one fundamental rule we've been using to explain this season has been Faraday's adage of "whatever happened, happened" - which means that Benjamin Linus grows up to lead the Purge, mess with our Survivors, bring them back to the Island, and creep us all out. Doesn't Sayid shooting him totally break that rule? And didn't we all (and by "we all", I mean "I") think this would mean the space-time continuum would tear apart and it would bring about the end of the world... and couldn't only the "special ones" like Faraday or Desmond carry out such actions? GREAT SCOTT!

Relax.

It would mean all these things... if Ben was really dead. But there's no way that Ben is REALLY dead. Or even if he is, he's coming back to life next episode, a la Locke when Ben shot him (or when he came back to the Island). 

Want a reason for why the Others were willing to accept Ben as their leader even though he was an enemy "Dharma"? How about the fact that he survived a deadly gunshot thanks to fate / whatever happened, happened. But they don't know that. All they know is that he's pretty "special"... kinda in the same way that John Locke is special since he foretold his arrival to the Island 50 years before it happened. What if the Others have foolishly picked two incorrect leaders thanks to these wacky time travel adventures of our Survivors?! No wonder they're falling out of favor with the Island, unable to have babies, and Jacob asked for help!

I can guarantee that this is going to be the primary discussion point for this episode. Some will argue that Faraday was wrong and that you can change the past, which will spawn discussions about how they can now save Charlie / Boone / Shannon, prevent the Purge, save the cheerleader, save the world, and all live happily ever after... but just trust me when I say there is no way that this will happen. The Lost writers seems smart enough to know that this is an EXTREMELY slippery slope to start heading down, and have been beating us over the head with the "whatever happened, happened" stuff from the start - to reassure us that they won't go this route.

Again, the discussions are inevitable - but just trust me that you can't change the past.

The other discussion items from the episode are a little less glamorous than the first:

• The book that Young Ben gave Sayid was "Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan" by Carlos Castaneda. It's about a young anthropologist living with a Yaqui Indian's world of "non-ordinary reality" and the difficult and dangerous road a man must travel to become "a man of knowledge", full of hallucinogenic drugs. See the relevancy to this episode? 
• Ben seemed to confirm that The Economist = Widmore, even though there are still some logical holes in the episode "The Economist" because of this. However, it does make things a little easier, since we know there are just two "big players" in the battle for the Island - Ben and Widmore - not three, including a mysterious third party that we haven't met yet.
• Is it possible that Dharma started their whole "time travel" kick thanks to Sayid telling them that he was from the future? Is the Swan Station named the Swan Station thanks to Sayid? Fun stuff to think about... except for when it makes your head hurt.
• She could just be a good liar - or unknowing pawn in Ben's schemes - but for now Ilana seems to be an innocent bounty hunter, not a former Other / off-Island henchman for Ben. So it was just fate that Sayid ended up on Ajira 316 (unless Ben paid her off, pretending to be the family for one of Sayid's victims... which would make some sense since Guam and The Seychelles are nowhere near each other).

...and I think that's about it. Like I said, not a whole lot to this episode aside from the final scene. I'm still worried about Sayid's chances for survival on the Island since in one episode, they basically filled in every gap in his storyline, and Sayid seems to think that he just completed "his mission" in returning to the Island in killing Ben. Of course he's wrong, but his character doesn't know that.

Okay - discuss!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=417.0

Lost - "He's Our You"

Episode Title: "He's Our You"

 

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: This is probably one of the most fun episode titles Lost has ever produced. It's totally gibberish and twisted - yet somehow makes total sense given the numerous dichotomies we've seen on Lost this season... and is strangely exciting for me to think about. So what does it mean?

 

I have to assume that it's a phrase spoken in the episode... or a phrase that could be spoken in the episode to explain the scenario. So it must be one "group" talking to another "group", attempting to explain someone by comparing them to a person that the other group would understand. Let's use a simple scenario to explain:

 

We are a group of die-hard Lost fans who read a Blog written by Brian (me). Let's pretend that I come across a group of die-hard Chuck fans who read a Blog written by Joe. In having discussions with these Chuck fans, to explain who Joe is to me, they would say "he's our you" and it would make total sense.

 

As an aside, if anyone knows where I can find these die-hard Chuck fans, let me know. Chuck is the best show on TV right now that no one is watching, and it saddens me greatly. If you are not currently watching Chuck, you are saddening me. Why are you so mean?! There's a good chance that if Chuck gets cancelled, I'll stop blogging about Lost and turn this site into a "Bring Back Chuck" Blog. So... no pressure on you, but unless you start watching Chuck and get your friends to join in - ensuring that it stays on the air, you will have no one to blame but yourself when Lost... and Gone Forever becomes Chuck is Lost... and Gone Forever? Got it?

 

Back to the title.

 

The way I see it, there are a number of "groups" that could be involved in the "he's our you" discussion:

• Dharma
• The Others
• The Survivors in 1977
• The Survivors in 2008
• The Ajira 316ers

 

None of these groups has a total understanding of the other groups, and may require a "he's our you" analogy to explain someone within them in a way they could understand. There are a number of really cool potential explanations for the episode title, mostly ones that would reveal the true nature / purpose of characters on the show. The possibilities are pretty endless - the only thing that we confirm is that it will involve a male character (sorry Kate, Juliet, Amy, and Sun) and it will involve an interaction between two of these thus-far separate groups, which can only help us understand them even more.

 

Or - it could be something even more mind-blowing... like a character running into himself in the past. In this scenario the "he's our you" is taken much more literally - like "this is our copy of you". But I don't know that Lost would go that far.

 

In the end, I'm going to settle down on "He's Our You" involving one of the following characters: Locke, Alpert, Ben, or Sayid. The first three should be pretty easy to understand, since they have all been involved in the "leadership" of the Others at some point in time. "He's our you" could easily be used to explain to Locke who the new leader of the Others is, who Christian Shephard is, or something along those lines. As for Sayid, as you'll soon see, this looks to be a Sayid-centric episode, and with his unique role on the Island as a Survivor who Dharma thinks is an Other, our Survivors know is one of them, and the Others have no idea who he is - there's a lot of potential to "explain" him using a "he's our you" phrase.

 

In some ways, Sayid represents Dharma's version of our Survivors' Ben - a stranger on the Island they can't explain who seemingly knows too much, so they keep him locked up until they can debate and figure out what to do with him. This might be the least geektastic explanation for "he's our you", but it's certainly the easiest.

 

 

Guest Stars: Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Reiko Aylesworth as Amy, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, William Sanderson as Oldham, Sayed Bedreya as Iraqi father, Xavier Raabe-Manupule as 12-year-old Iraqi boy, Dmitri Boudrine as Ivan, Michael Hardy as Floyd, Joe Toro as bartender, Achilles Gacis as guy in car and Anthony Keyvan as young Sayid.

 

Guest Star Breakdown: To start things off, I don't want to read too much into things - but it's curious that Ilana is listed as a guest star for this episode without Caesar (the first time that this has happened). While it's entirely possible that this simply means there is a Ajira 316 scene involving only Ilana and Locke / Ben, the over-analytical side of me can't help but wonder if instead she appears in a scene with the Others - proving that she is one of them, even if Caesar is not - or that she appears in a flashback, explaining how or why she came to capture Sayid. Otherwise, there is the standard inclusion of the major Dharma players we've met thus far (Horace, Amy, Phil, Radzinsky) with the inclusion of Roger Linus to accompany Young Ben on the Island.

 

The other guest stars seem to indicate that we will be getting the first traditional Lost flashback of the season. A scene involving a 12-year-old Iraqi boy and an Iraqi father makes Sayid the most likely candidate to receive the flashback... oh, and the inclusion of "YOUNG SAYID" might also be a clue as well. 

Initially, reading this really disappointed me. With as much exciting stuff going on between our Survivors in 1977 and 2008 - plus the fact that we haven't seen any Desmond / Widmore stuff for weeks, the last thing I wanted to have eating up a portion of the episode is a flashback to Sayid's youth to provide parallel symbolism with his current predicament on the Island... unless we get a total flashback of all the pieces of Sayid's backstory that we haven't seen thus far.

 

If that's the case, sign me up. I'll take one scene with Young Sayid if it means I'll get a few scenes that show what caused the falling out between Sayid and Ben - or how he got captured by Ilana and ended up back on Ajira 316.

 

Although - if we receive all these flashbacks, I would start worrying about Sayid's character on the show. An episode dedicated to telling the remaining portion of his backstory certainly makes it appear as though he's not going to be surviving on the show much longer - especially given his current predicament on the Island. Don't die, Sayid!

 

Episode Description: Things begin to unravel when one of the survivors goes rogue and takes matters into their own hands -- risking the lives of everyone on the island.

 

Episode Breakdown: In my mind, there are three potential candidates to "go rogue" - Faraday, Sayid, and Jack Bauer. We all know that Jack Bauer is the most likely candidate, but since he's not on Lost, I'll rule him out. That leaves Faraday "going rogue" through his actions inside the Orchid / attempting to change the past, or Sayid "going rogue" and busting out of his jail cell and going kung fu on his Dharma captors. Since it's a Sayid-centric affair, he seems to be the more likely candidate... until you read the rest of the description - that this rogue action puts the lives of everyone on the Island in risk. That certainly sounds like a "changing the past which will bring about the end of the world" type situation, the kind of situation I envision Faraday putting us in by messing with the FDW or trying to save Charlotte's life.

 

Even if Sayid were to break out of his cell (somehow) after finding out who Young Ben is - and is so full of rage that he takes it upon himself to try and kill Ben - he wouldn't succeed, right? Because we all know that Ben lives until at least 2008. Whatever happened, happened, right? Only Faraday or Desmond can change the past because they're "special", right? If this is the case, it seems like the main "action" of the episode would surround Faraday - which makes no sense in a Sayid-centric episode since the two characters have totally different things going on right now on the Island.

 

In the end, although there are logical holes (at this point), I think Sayid is the most likely candidate to go rogue - and take matters into his own hands to carry out whatever "mission" he feels brought him back to the Island in 1977 - even if he ultimately will not (and cannot) succeed. Over the past few weeks, we've had some pretty questionable episode descriptions, so it's possible that it's inaccurate.

 

After all "risking the lives of everyone on the Island" sounds way more exciting than "but finds that he can't change the past so it's no big deal."

 

Happy Losting!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=416.0

Crappy "Namaste" Analysis

You’ll have to forgive me for the delay and rushed nature of my “Namaste” Analysis. For me, the greatest four days of the year surround the start of the NCAA Tournament, and traditionally involve taking off work, drinking, and watching basketball for about 48 hours over the course of four days. This year, it was even sweeter thanks to the Dayton Flyers not only making the tournament – but winning a game in it for the first time in nearly twenty years. On top of it all, the wife scored us tickets to go watch the Sunday games live and in person back at the Happiest Place on Earth (UD).

Add it all up, and it equals no time for Lost for Brian. I toyed with the notion of just skipping the “Namaste” Analysis, but had some base thoughts in my head that I figured should be posted or else you’ll be confused when I reference them later and you don’t understand what I’m talking about. So it’s going to be short and sweet this week – with “Namaste” Analysis tonight, and “He’s Our You” Preview tomorrow.

 

Take a deep breath, here comes the fastest episode analysis of the year…

 

Ethan. We learned this week that Ethan Rom is the potentially-miracle baby love-child of Amy and Horace Goodspeed. Why the different last name? How did he survive the Purge? Ethan would have been 15 at the time of the Purge – so it’s not as though the Others took him away at that time and raised him as one of their own (“Raised by an Other”, in your face Aaron!) – by that time, he would have probably been well on his way to becoming a card-carrying Dharmite, and probably would not play friendly with Ben and Alpert – who killed his parents.

 

This must mean one of two things:

1. He was taken away from Amy and Horace well before the Purge, and raised as “Ethan Rom” among the Others, explaining how he survived it. We’ve already seen Horace give up Paul’s body to keep the “truce” with the Others – what if they break it again and this time the cost is much steeper – like giving over Horace’s first born son? This theory definitely has a Biblical / Mythological feel to it, which would fit in with Lost.
2. He became a Rebel Dharmite with Ben, and believed so strongly in their purpose that he was cool with killing his mother and father, along with a host of other innocent people. Lest we forget that Ethan was the same guy who hung Charlie, probably killed Scott, and threatened numerous other Survivors in Season One… plus he would have been in that rebellious teenage stage at the time.

 

This is one of those rare situations where I like both of my theories (as opposed to most of the time, when I like neither), but I’m not sure which is more likely. But depending on which comes true, it will definitely help shape just how “good” or “evil” Ethan Rom really was.

 

Faraday. We also learned this week why Faraday has been strangely absent among the scenes of our Dharma Survivors. After Sawyer briefly explained the “rules” about being 30 years in the past to Jack, Jack asked, "Faraday’s here?" to which Sawyer responded, "Not anymore."

 

Personally, I took this comment quite literally – like Faraday had left the other Survivors and Dharma. Others took it to mean that Faraday had mentally left the Survivors – reverting back to the crazytown state we saw him when we were first introduced to his weeping character in Season Four.

 

To me, it looked like the Faraday we saw at the start of the season, inside the Orchid, was altogether “there” and hatching some mischievous plan – not a basket case needing someone to help take care of him. I also think having Faraday leave Dharma provides him with a chance to interact with the Others, and give the audience a chance to learn a little bit more about them, their motives for carrying out the Purge, the nature of the truce, etc. We need at least one of our characters to interact with them to pull these answers out, why not make it Faraday, who might happen to be the child of two current / former Others in Ms. Hawking and Charles Widmore?

 

This would also keep Faraday as a “wild card” – who might be accidentally bringing about the end of the world in his efforts to save Charlotte… or might be the hero saving all our Survivors and sending them back to their proper time through his actions at the Orchid. I like keeping these options available!

 

Radzinsky. I think the biggest question from our introduction to Radzinsky this episode is “why was he so concerned that Sayid – who he believes to be an Other – saw his plans for the Swan?” It’s pretty clear that Dharma building the Swan Station is either in violation of the truce between Dharma and the Others, or that it is going to cause some sort of negative impact on the Others – which would explain why Radzinsky would be so concerned with keeping it secret.

 

If it was as simple as a violation of a truce about where Dharma was allowed on the Island, these fears would seem pretty silly. I think it would be obvious the Swan Station was being built when they excavated the land and actually, you know, BUILT IT. It’s not as though that thing would spring up overnight. It would require a lot of manpower, a lot of hours, and make a lot of noise to create that concrete underground fortress we all knew and loved. So that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

 

The other option would be that the creation of the Swan would be a “bad thing” to the Others. Some have come up with some pretty wacky theories about the Swan Station being used to keep the Island from moving by releasing the Island’s “unique electromagnetic energy” every 108 minutes – which would be a “good thing” to Dharma (easy trips to and from the Island), but a “bad thing” to the Others (easier for the Island to be found by no good outsiders). The only problem with this is that according to Pierre Chang (as Marvin Candle), it wasn’t until after “The Incident” that the 108 Numbers became necessary – and “The Incident” didn’t occur until after the Swan was built and operational. Unless Dharma was really forward-thinking, this doesn’t seem to make sense either.

 

But if you keep in mind the original aim of the Swan Station – “to study the unique electromagnetic fluctuations” of the Island, you can begin to formulate a theory where Dharma used the Swan Station to get close to the gooey core of the Island – which might have been the key to understanding what it was, how it worked, and some other very fundamental things about the Island… things that the Others might take as very secret, important, and sacred. If Dharma was able to “figure out” these powers, they might have been able to “harness” them – for good or evil – and you could see how that would be something the Others would be against. Therefore, even though it was built on “their side” of the Island, if Dharma found out about it – they would almost certainly do everything they could to stop it from being built… which would explain the secrecy.

 

Or, maybe Radzinsky was just uber-paranoid about stuff and concerned about copyright infringement on his sweet designs.

  

Ben. I think it was pretty obvious that when Ben heard there was an Other being held in the cell underneath the Barracks, he put himself in a situation to interact with that mysterious Other – the question is whether this was his first contact with a “hostile”, or if he had already been in contact with Richard Alpert at this point.

 

Depending on the timeline, this interaction could lead to two very different repercussions.

1. If it’s Ben’s first meeting with an Other, it could have taught Ben that there was nothing to fear about them, giving him the confidence to venture out beyond the Sonic Pylons and learn more about them. It’s Sayid’s fault that Ben turned into the creeptastic adult we all know and fear!
2. If Ben has already been in contact with Richard, things get a lot more interesting. Then, he could be acting as a spy for the Others – reporting back to Richard about their “fellow Other” that has been captured, working to help him escape, and learning the truth – that Sayid is not an Other at all.

 

But for me, here’s the most important thing – I think we’re close to finally having the confirmation we needed that the Others knew a hell of a lot about our Survivors before they arrived on the Island. We now know that Ben met Sayid and Alpert met Locke / Sawyer (and talked to them about time travel). While they might not have enough to go on to actually work up the full life histories of these characters (yet – aside from Locke), they have about 30 years until they come back to the Island with the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, which is plenty of time to start researching EVERYTHING about them.

 

How was Ben seemingly always one step ahead of our characters? Because he had full files about some of them before they ever arrived on the Island – because he knew they would eventually be there (especially true of Locke, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Juliet – who just conveniently happen to be the characters he has “messed with” the most over the years). While he didn’t know exactly when or how they would arrive, he knew they would eventually get there – which is why he quickly sent out Ethan and Goodwin to work up “lists” of the people who survived the Oceanic 815 crash. He probably did something similar each time ANYTHING crashed on the Island. He was waiting for them.

 

Runway. Of course, the one thing this prior knowledge doesn’t confirm is how the Others knew to start building a runway in 2004 in preparation for a plane to crash-land there in 2008. We have yet to see any proof that the Others themselves were able to hop around in time at ease – and things like Alpert being surprised and skeptical when Locke starts talking about time travel makes me think they never did. Was this a command of Jacob? Were the Others just planning on using a plane to go to and from the Island instead of the submarine? Or was it just a lucky coincidence / fate?

 

Barracks. One item that seems to be confusing a lot of people (and making them question Faraday’s claims of “whatever happened, happened”) is that the buildings that Sun and Frank entered on the Main Island were way more derelict and boarded up than they were in 2004 (when Locke and Co. were living there), even though they are in 2008. But here’s the thing – those weren’t the Barracks. They were the “Processing Center”.

 

The Dharma Barracks are more in the “center” of the Island, whereas the Processing Center is near the shore. Aside from flashbacks we saw in Ben’s flashbacks, I don’t think our Survivors have ever explored the Processing Center – which means it could have fallen into shambles after the Purge, hiding those pictures of our Survivors in 1977 all these years… or maybe the Others found those as well at some point, which helped them do some research on our Survivors.

 

At any rate, I don’t think it proves that Sun and Frank are in a “new timeline”, or that the past has changed – simply that up until this point, everything was taking place at the Barracks, not the Processing Center.

 

Sun. When Christian tells Sun “I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you." I instantly thought it was some type of journey to reunite with her friends… but why would Christian Shephard care about helping Sun out like that? Rather, I think this phrase means something far more cryptic – like Sun needs to do “her part” to help bring the Survivors back to 2008 (in preparation for the “battle for the Island”). I still stand by my belief that there will be only one more time jump on Lost – and it will involve everyone from 1977 coming back to the present. So to have Sun jumping around in time seems superfluous at this point.

 

Numbers. If you noticed, when the Ajira 316 co-pilot tried to place a mayday call, he briefly hears the Numbers broadcasting… even though in 2008, not only have the Numbers been replaced by CFL’s distress signal, but that was shut off by Jack in the Season Three finale. So what gives? I think it’s the same thing that happened with Sayid and Hurley picked up the “old time radio station” on the beach. The unique magnetic properties of the Island make radio signals bounce around and get “stuck” around the Island, making it possible to pick up things that haven’t been broadcast for years.

 

Creepy Girl. Finally, we have the mystery girl in the background of the Processing Station building that Sun, Frank, and Christian were in. On first glance, she looked like a blonde (Claire!). Upon further review, she seems a little “bigger” than Claire, and the hair might be more reddish than blonde (Charlotte!). While Claire would make sense – since we’ve seen her hanging with Christian in old cabins before, Charlotte’s inclusion would seem to give legs to the theory that “dead people on the Island come back as creepy spirits.” Although, that doesn’t explain why we don’t also see any of our other deceased Survivors walking around on the Island, so I don’t know that I’m sold on that one either… and it doesn’t actually look like either person.

 

(Or maybe this is finally a case of us catching a “production mistake” and that was just somebody in the shot that shouldn’t have been. This is by far the easiest and most boring explanation, but it’s always an option given the rushed nature of shooting Lost.)

 

…and breathe.

 

Okay, sorry for the craptasticly rushed analysis. But it’s better than nothing, right?

 

Until tomorrow’s episode preview…

"Namaste" Instant Reactions!

Brian's One Word Review: Changes.

In some ways the storylines in this episode were fairly predicatable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable to watch them unfold. It's a testament to the writers that they took the time to setup such awesome storylines that even though I pretty much guessed the direction this episode would go, I was still giddy in watching it unfold. Jack, Kate, and Hurley going through the enormous WTF of joining the Dharma Initiative? Totally awesome and surreal. They could have had twice as many scenes involving them going through the initiation process, and I think we all would have eaten it up and begged for more.

But the big theme of the episode is definitely "change". This week, Jack and Kate found out "you can't go home again". Three years have passed, things have changed. Sawyer is now in charge (and totally badass in being the leader). Jack has been relegated to following his lead, instead of being the defacto leader of the group. It seems like Jack and Kate thought that they could fall back into the same realtionships with Sawyer and Juliet that they had before they left, only to find that they had moved on... and unlike the Oceanic Six - have to some degree been totally happy in doing so on the Island.

In some ways, the return of the Oceanic Six is kinda ruining the party for our Skipping Survivors. Irony.

So what did we learn?

• Caesar and Ilana do not know each other before the crash. I had some previous theories about them being Outcast Others, but they both seem to be clueless about what is going on, and don't seem to know each other. Either they're putting on a great show, or they are simply innocent people caught up in this mess.
• We confirmed that Sun, Locke, Ben, and Frank didn't skip back to 1977 with the rest of the Oceanic Five... but why? It's easy to come up with excuses for why Ben, Locke, or Frank wouldn't have been included - but Sun is basically in the exact same mold as Sayid, Jack, Kate, and Hurley. The only thing I can think of (aside from making a good story about lovers being separated by time) is that she is somehow "changed" or "dirty" from working with Widmore off-Island. I don't have the theory fleshed out yet, but it seems like that's the only thing that separates her from the rest.
• It turns out we do know the baby delivered last episode - it's none other than Ethan Rom! This is the first confirmed non-Ben Dharmite that survived the Purge on the Island. He would have been fairly young at the time, so maybe the Others did spare any Dharma youth in the Purge?
• The good news is that Sun and Frank's Outrigger is at the dock near the Barracks, NOT at the Survivor's Beach - so it doesn't seem like they are likely candidates to get shot by Juliet in the skip earlier this season.
• This episode touched on a question I didn't really think about until now - but what has happened on the Island from 2005-2008? None of our Survivors were there, so you would think that the Others would have just been living drama-free during this timeframe... but clearly not in the Barracks, which appear to now be home to Jacob-Christian, Smokey (!), and haven't been lived in for quite some time. 
• It seems like Christian is going to "send" Sun back to 1977 with her friends - or use her to help get our Survivors back to 2008, maybe? The real irony would be if she jumped back to 1977 while Jin jumped forward to 2008... and once again they are separated by 30 years. If I was writing Lost, I would totally go for this story - but then again, I'm cruel.
• FARADAY IS ON THE LAMB. In the past month, I went from theorizing that Faraday would be a bad guy (inadvertently bringing about the end of the world in trying to save Charlotte) to being a good guy (using the Orchid to cause "the Incident" to get our Survivors back to 2008), but with Sawyer's comment this week, I'm back to the FARADAY IS DANGEROUS side of the argument. It'll probably change next week, but for now, I want to know where the hell he is, and what the hell he has been up to.
• Young Ben obviously had some interest in the Others, volunteering to bring Sayid food, hoping to get some information about the Others. He's obviously a disinfranchished youth rebelling against Dharma society - Ben is the original Rebel Dharmite! Teenagers..
• Was that Claire I saw over Sun's shoulder after she was looking at the Dharma Picture from 1977? There was definitely someone else in the cabin with Christian... 

Okay - I think that's enough of the highlights for now. Time to focus on watching 24 hours of NCAA basketball over the next two days. 

GO DAYTON FLYERS!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=414.0

Lost - "Namaste"

Episode Title: “Namaste”

 

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: The word “namaste” is a good example of Lost making me a smarter person. Who says that TV isn't good for you? I'm pretty sure that I never heard or used the word "namaste" once in the first twenty-four years of my life, but after hearing it used multiple times over the past three seasons, it’s a word my brain comprehends… and that I could probably use in a sentence correctly. In your face, word of the day calendar! So what's the deeper meaning behind making "namaste" the episode title this week? Let's examine…

 

Officially, “namaste” is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian subcontinent. Taken literally, it means "I bow to you". When spoken to another person, it is commonly accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest. The gesture can also be performed wordlessly and carry the same meaning. In Indian and Nepali culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, upon departure only the wordless hands-folded gesture is made.

 

On Lost, the Dharma Initiative has taken the word and turned it into their catchphrase (much like “Aloha” to Hawaiians or “Who Dey” to Cincinnati Bengals fans) – it means, “hello”, “goodbye”, “I hate Pittsburgh”, or any number of other common phrases. We’ve mostly seen it being used in the past by Pierre Chang on the Orientation videos – but have also heard it being used mockingly by Kelvin Inman inside the Swan Hatch. I'm going to guess it's a word that is used quite liberally among the more "devout" Dharmites, so its appearance this week makes a lot of sense. After all, as we saw last week Sawyer, Jin, Juliet, Miles (and assumedly Faraday) have become Dharma over the past three years on the Island (which is pretty mind-blowing when you think about it. Remember at the start of Season Two when we first learned about Dharma and wanted to know all about it? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought "oh, we're going to learn all about it through the eyes of our Survivors in Season Five, since they WILL BE DHARMA." I love Lost.)

 

At the end of the last episode, Sawyer and Jin discovered that Kate, Jack, and Hurley had somehow returned to the Island - so taken quite literally "namaste" could mean "welcome" to these newcomers to the Island in the year 1977.

 

***For those who don't want to speculate based on the episode preview, you'll probably want to stop reading now. In fact, you probably shouldn't be reading any of this! What's the matter with you?***

 

The curious thing is that based on the preview, it looks like Sayid trips some sort of security system and is "captured" by Dharma (which is really, really ironic given the past history of Ben being captured / tortured by Sayid in Season Two). In the brief scenes we've got in the preview, they aren't talking about "a group" of people being captured - but only one - Sayid. 

So where are Jack, Kate, and Hurley? They're safe and sound with Jin and Sawyer. The way I see it, there's two ways that Sawyer can explain the sudden arrival of these strangers on the Island:

1. Claim they are the long-lost "crew" that he has been searching for over the past three years, who he suddenly found.
2. Sneak them into Dharma.

 

The first scenario would require a lot of explaining - like how they survived on the Island unnoticed for so long, why they are so clean-cut looking, why they are wearing modern clothes, etc - so although it might have worked in the first few days or weeks after Sawyer and Co. met up with Dharma in 1974, it probably won't cut it in 1977.

 

On the other hand, assuming that the submarine is still coming and going to the Island every week or so, bringing people to and from the Island, it would be easy for Sawyer and Co. to work the names of Jack, Kate, and Hurley into the manifest of expected arrivals and sneak them into the group of gawking newbies arriving on the Island after a long trip on a submarine. Plus, it just adds to the delicious irony that more and more of our Survivors are "becoming" Dharma!

 

So, it seems as though "namaste" not only refers to a welcome of Jack, Kate, and Hurley to the Island in 1977… but also as a welcome to the Dharma Initiative itself! Not the deepest title ever - but still pretty cool.

 

 

Guest Stars: John Terry as Christian Shephard, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Francois Chau as Dr. Marvin Candle, Said Taghmaoui as Caesar, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Reiko Aylesworth as Amy, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Molly McGivern as Rosie, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Dan Gauthier as co-pilot and Sven Lindstrom as photographer.

 

Guest Star Breakdown: Wow - there's a lot to be really excited about in this week's Guest Star listing. For starters, it seems to confirm that we are going to start having a dual-Island-storyline going on - one focusing on the 316ers in 2008 (Frank Lapidus, Caesar, Ilana) and one focusing on our Survivor-Dharmites in 1977 (Candle, Amy, Phil, Rosie)… in a way, it's like the flashbacks and flashforwards since they are totally different time periods, and you could even use the same sound effects. Once again, Lost has found a way to keep the "flash" idea fresh! We should finally be able to confirm who was with Frank on the Outrigger (it's going to be Sun, just trust me), and what happened when they got back to the main Island. Will we see the other side of the scene where Juliet shoots a Backrigger this week? I'm going to guess that will take at least one more week - since we need to allow time for at least a few more 316ers to get over to the main Island, as there were definitely more than two Backriggers that we saw earlier this season. But what we might see is what Frank and Sun discover when they reach the old Beach Camp, and where they go from there. Will they attempt to enter the Jungle? Will they run into the Others? Will they give up on Jin and build a sand castle? I can't wait to find out!

 

But the far bigger guest star news starts with the inclusion of both Young Ben. Could it be that we'll see the scene of Young Ben arriving on the Island again, this time from the perspective of our Survivor-Dharmites? I don't think they would recognize him, but they could totally see his name on some sub manifest! I know that "whatever happened, happened", but I can imagine someone like Sayid flipping out and attempting to attack Ben - couldn't you? If nothing else, the dropped jaws and shocked glares between our Survivor-Dharmites and Ben will be nothing short of amazing. Here is this meek, nerdy little kid that will eventually manipulate and attempt to ruin all their lives… and get a number of people killed in the process. It's a damn good thing that Desmond didn't end up on Ajira 316 - and in 1977 with Jack, Kate, and Hurley - if he really does have the power to change the past, you better believe he would use it to squeeze Young Ben's little neck (assuming Ben attacked / killed Penny, of course - which reminds me, are we going to see any more Desmond this season? With so much on-Island action to take care of, I'm afraid we won't see him again until next season…)

 

Finally, the biggest guest star this week (for me, at least) is none other than Radzinsky, a guy who thus far on Lostpedia has been represented by this picture of stained blood on the ceiling of the Swan Hatch:

 

 

For those who don’t remember, here's a brief refresher courtesy of Lostpedia:

 

Radzinsky was Kelvin Inman's partner inside the Swan before Desmond crashed on the Island. Kelvin told Desmond that Radzinsky was the originator of the blast door map, which he worked on with the aid of his photographic memory. He discovered how to fake a lockdown incident, which made it possible to work on the map more deliberately. Radzinsky is also responsible for having edited the Swan Orientation film. Kelvin explained to Desmond that, while he was asleep, Radzinsky committed suicide by putting a shotgun in his mouth and firing it, causing a blood stain on the ceiling. Because of the protocol, Kelvin had to bury him within 108 minutes.

  

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Radzinsky:

 

 

It's going to be somewhat sad to finally meet poor Radzinsky, since we already know how it all turns out for him… poorly. He's going to be a "prisoner" inside the Swan Hatch that eventually goes crazy and kills himself. But his existence on the Island in 1977 does raise a number of quite intriguing questions:

• Since Kelvin seems to have learned much of what he knows from Radzinsky, did Radzinsky teach him to keep up the "quarantine" hoax? Or did Radzinsky actually think that something happened on the Island to cause the conditions to change, like the Purge? Clearly he's walking around in 1977 with the other Dharmites without any concern for his health.
• What happened to turn Radzinsky into a "Rebel Dharmite", as I long ago reasoned he must be, based on the things written on the Blast Door Map… and what would be the point, if all of Dharma died in the Purge, but Radzinsky survived thanks to being stuck inside the Swan Hatch? Was he simply recording everything he knew on the Blast Door Map so that someone in the future could pick up the work of Dharma on the Island? If so, why make that information so hard to find?
• Given that Radzinsky lives on the Island before the Swan Hatch was built (and the Orientation Video made), he should know all the details surrounding the Incident and the reason for entering the 108 Numbers. As we saw when Locke didn't enter the Numbers, it's bad news… so why would he eventually edit the Orientation Video? Wouldn't all the information contained within be pretty important?
• Did Radzinsky voluntarily enter the Swan Hatch, thinking he would be relieved of duty in a short period - but then the Purge happened, stranding him all alone in the Swan Hatch with the weight of the world on his shoulders to keep entering the Numbers? Was Kelvin with him from the start, or did he come along later?

 

Many questions… and since it's only 1977, we probably won't get any of these answers this week… but maybe we'll get some before our Survivors skip back to 2008 (since I'm assuming this will be "The Incident"). At any rate, it'll be nice to get to know another character in the Lost universe that we first heard about three seasons ago.

 

 

Episode Description: When some old friends drop in unannounced, Sawyer is forced to further perpetuate his lie in order to protect them.

 

Episode Breakdown: Before we attempt to tackle this week's episode description, I think we better revisit last episode's description, since this week seems to build on it:

 

"Sawyer perpetuates a lie with some of the other island survivors in order to protect themselves from mistakes of the past."

 

Looking back on "LaFleur", the first part of the description makes sense - Sawyer and the other Skipping Survivors lied about who they really were, and said that they arrived on the Island due to a shipwreck… but I'm still not sure about the second part. What are the mistakes of the past? It seems like the alternative to lying about their origin is to tell people that they are from the future and skipping through time. Did the Skipping Survivors, aside from Locke, ever tell this to anyone on the Island? I can't think of any situations where their identities were questioned, especially from Dharma. Even with Locke telling the truth, there were no real negative repercussions as far as our Skipping Survivors are concerned - and you could even argue that there were some real positive ones since it put Locke on the path to be the leader of the Others, allowed Sawyer to talk Alpert into keeping the truce, and eventually led to stopping the Skipping on the Island (in a roundabout way). If anyone else understands what this means, please enlighten me in the Comments!

 

But I digress - the important thing is that this week seems to hint that Sawyer will take his lie one step further to protect Jack, Kate, and Hurley. Initially, this sounds like he'll claim that they are his long lost missing crew members to protect them from being captured by Dharma (like Sayid) - but as I discussed above, sneaking them in as Dharma seems like the much more logical and fun way to deal with their arrival… and if I can't make sense of last week's episode description even after watching and analyzing the episode, there's probably a good chance that this week's episode description isn't 100% accurate either - so I'm going to stick with my instincts and chalk up the episode description to being another week of vague inaccuracies, designed to keep the true action of the episode secret… and that's perfectly fine with me!

 

Lastly, as promised I'll tackle the questions that were posed in the Comments from my "LaFleur" analysis… in case anyone cares!

 

Sam said...

Brian, I think you are missing the main point about Paul's Ankh. it is a direct allusion to Paul Anka, who wrote (according to Wiki) such (Sawyer-centric) hits as: "You Are my Destiny," "Lonely Boy," "I Miss You So," "Puppy Love," "One Man Woman/One Woman Man," "I Don't Like to Sleep Alone," "It's Hard to Say Goodbye," and my two favorite Lost-centric titles, "Times of Your Life" (can you say 'time loop'?) and "(You're) Having my Baby."

 

Brian says…

Absolutely fantastic. I wish I had come up with that.

 

NathanColquhoun said...

could the baby have been Karl?

 

Brian says...

2004 - 1977 = 27 Years Old. Karl was Krazy, but he certainly didn't appear to be any older than late teens / early twenties. Possible, but not likely.

 

singhy said...

However my question for you - just to get your thoughts - is "What do you think the repercussions (if any) of Miles being a Dharmite at the same time he is born, and our survivors being present at the same time Benjamin Linus is a Dharmite, are?"

 

Brian says...

Seeing our Survivors mingle around so freely with Dharma makes me think that maybe running into yourself won't bring about the end of the world like I initially thought - although, it's fair to say that Miles will never come in close contact with himself (who would let a creepy security guy near their newborn baby?). Like I said, the implications of Ben (or Alpert) running into our Survivor-Dharmites is far more interesting, since if they are able to put together who they are once Oceanic 815 crashes on the Island, they would know that there was nothing they could do to prevent them from carrying out their destiny of time-skipping (since "whatever happened, happened").

 

omanni said...

Have you thought that why Richard thinks Locke is the leader of the Others?

Locke didn't success in those tests that Richard did to him when he was young.

I think the only reason that Richard thinks Locke should be the leader is that Locke said it to him in 1954. So it's a loop. Maybe Locke shouldn't actually be the leader?

 

Brian says...

I think Richard Alpert was skeptical about Locke's claims from the start. He saw nothing "special" about young Locke when he visited him in his youth, but eventually realized that Locke was telling the truth (in part thanks to Sawyer corroborating his story last week in 1977). Even if Richard doesn’t believe it, he knows that he has to make Locke believe it - since that is what led to Locke going down the path he did, eventually bringing him to 1954 to talk to Alpert. It will be interesting to see if Locke is really special once he reunites with the Others on the Island in 2008. Will they greet him with open arms? Did he already complete his "mission", and is now of no more use to them than Ben (who also carried out his "mission" in the Purge)? Locke has a history of being used and abused, but I'd hate to see it happen to him yet again on the Island. Give the guy a semi-happy ending!

 

pete said...

In the episode where Ben was born on the side of the road and his mom died, it was Horace Goodspeed and his wife Gloria that stopped to help Ben's dad. Horace later helped Ben's dad get a job on the island with Dharma, after Ben was older.

 In this episode, Horace's wife is AMY.

So what happened to Gloria? Or Amy? Why was Horace on the mainland when Ben was born? Was it before or after Sawyer and crew showed up on the island? And is it possible a young Ben Linus is in the Dharma camp with Sawyer and crew?

 

Brian says…

Yeah, I probably should have addressed this in my analysis. It seems like a pretty glaring continuity error. We know that Horace and Amy are hot and heavy in 1977… and it seems like this will be the year that Ben arrives on the Island – meaning that Gloria will be teaching him about volcanoes on the Island in the very near future. What gives? I think the logical explanation is that Horace has multiple lady-friends. It was the 1970's, after all. Free love, rock and roll, and pot brownies for everyone! Does Dharma know how to party or what?!

 

Dave Harty said...

My big question from this week is what made Julliett decide to stay longer than 2 weeks? Was it her feelings for Sawyer or something else? She seemed pretty determined to return to the real world when that sub left in 2 weeks.

Also, did Juliett know about the purge and how Dharma came to its end?

 

Brian says…

The sappy romantic in me wants to say that Juliet stayed because she was falling for Sawyer… or maybe Sawyer just kept coming up with excuses for her to stay "just a little longer" each time and eventually won her over. We've seen no evidence that Juliet know about the Purge, although one would think that a smart girl like her could figure out that if suddenly this huge group of people suddenly "left" the Island, there was something sketchy that caused it involving Ben and the Others.

 

Matthew said...

What if the Others at some point jumped back in time, like WAY back, and are having to "wait" for their current time to age normally? That would explain Alpert,at least. Also, remember when Juliet was working with the birthing mothers, and she said that one of the birthing moms' wombs was that of a 75 year old? Maybe their inability to birth is due to the fact that their bodies are very old from a time skip, but their outward appearance stays normal. What say you?

 

Brian says…

I had the same theory a few weeks ago - until I realized that if this was the case, Alpert shouldn't have been so surprised by Locke's claim that he was from the future. It's still the most "scientific" explanation for Alpert not aging - but it seems like there are already holes in it. Blasted!

 

jack said...

the age old question remains "what happened to the FTS from the past (it was a full statue) to the present (it is just a foot)"? how did it get destroyed? what is its' significance?

 

Brian says…

I'm going to assume that it suffered the same fate as many ancient structures - erosion from wind, rain, the ground settling beneath it, and being shot by soldiers during WWI for target practice eventually caused it to fall to the ground.

 

David's Honey said...

Did any of the bodies in the pit from "the incident" have their jumpsuits on w/ a name of LaFluer? Or were all the jumpsuits deteriorated too much?

What was the name of the Dharma man who was building a house in the woods that one of the Losties (Locke?) saw?

 

Brian says…

The only visible name on the jumpsuits in the Purge Pit was Horace… as in Horace Goodspeed… who happened to be the same Dharma Man perpetually building a cabin in Locke's dream.

 

 

I think that just about covers it.

 

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=413.0

  

Happy Losting!

"LaFleur" Analysis!

It's an easy week. For all those who have been beyond confused by the concept of "whatever happened, happened" and all the jumps through time, this episode should be an easier one to digest. Even though "LaFleur" featured two "skips" through time - they were both quick, and one seemingly permanent. Also - instead of jumping back and forth between what was happening on the Island in 1970 vs. 2008 vs. what is going on off the Island, we were able to stay situated within a three year span (1974-1977) with a specific group of characters for the vast majority of the episode. As a result, it was the most straightforward episode of the season, and really reminded me about the Lost we all fell in love with during Season One, where the story was driven equally by both the characters and the circumstances, instead of our characters being "along for the ride" as the circumstances takeover the story.

 

If I had to guess, based on this episode, the time traveling stuff is going to go on the back-burner for a while, perhaps only to reappear one more time this season (to eventually reunite EVERYONE in the proper time period of 2008 - which I'm currently guessing will be tied into "The Incident" / Faraday in the Orchid… and will be the big event of the season finale). So, for the first time this season, we don’t have to start our discussions with advanced theories about the space-time continuum and the end of the world. Instead, we can start with something much easier this week...

 

Love! I know that some people absolutely hate the "Love Rhombus" storylines on Lost involving Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet - and want the show to focus on nothing but Island mythology, time travel mumbo-jumbo, and the science behind Smokey, but these people are probably big nerds who have never been to second base with a girl. Love makes the world go round (and draws that all important female demographic!), so it was nice to see a little honest to goodness lovin' on Lost that didn’t involve heavy drama and crying (cough cough Kate cough cough). Although it was almost entirely contained within a single episode, the relationship between Sawyer and Juliet seemed totally honest, slowly developing over the course of three years (instead of Kate and Sawyer - who really have only known each other for three months). It kinda crushed me at the end when Sawyer didn't tell Juliet the phone message from Jin, since it means he might be secretly still harboring some feelings for Kate. I know the "who will they end up with?" storyline makes for good TV drama, but the logical side of me makes the answer pretty obvious.

 

Jack and Kate are both messed up. They're great for each other, and the original "couple" on the show. Sawyer and Juliet are both awesome and now have this super-unique shared experience that has brought them together. Plus, Kate is kinda crazytown. If Sawyer was smart, he'd give up on her and stick with the much more stable (and nearly just as hot) girl in Juliet! Even if it takes us another season and a half to get to this resolution, I just hope it ends with Kate-Jack and Sawyer-Juliet… or in a perfect world, Kate-Juliet.

 

But enough with the teenage girl drama, on to the bigger questions from the episode.

 

The Four-Toed Statue. After over two seasons of waiting, the Four-Toed Statue finally made a reappearance this episode, in all its complete, massive glory. Although we only got a fleeting glimpse of the back of this statue, it appeared to be Egyptian in nature since it seemingly had a headdress and was holding an Ankh (cross with a loop at the top - don't worry, we'll talk more about Ankhs later). 

However, after doing some extensive research on Ancient Egypt on Wikipedia, none of the over 60 Gods and Deities were a perfect match to what our four-toed friend. Most websites are going with Anubis (the God of the Underworld) or Tawaret (the Fertility Goddess) as the closest match, but neither seems to match exactly. Check it out:

 

 

 

This reminds me of what happened the last time Lost sent me down the path of spending hours researching Ancient Egypt - trying to translate the hieroglyphics from the 108 Clock inside the Swan Hatch during the second season. After applying a lot of energy and brain power that could have been used solving the world's problems / writing the great American novel, we arrived at the general consensus that it meant "to cause death" or "die". We all felt pretty smart, and it seemed to fit with the meaning behind the 108 Clock.

 

However, a few months later show creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof would tell us that the countdown timer sequence meant "underworld", but was also "subject to interpretation". To me, that meant they didn't really intend for us to translate it quite as literally. So before we all get too crazy about analyzing the Four-Toed Statue and what it might mean (Anubis means they are all dead! Tawaret allowed the people on the Island to have babies!) we should keep in mind that there's a chance the writers on Lost just told their special effects team "Hey, make a big Egyptian-looking statue" that isn't supposed to be any one deity in particular… or maybe it's going to end up being Sawyer after all (just kidding).

 

The one thing that the existence of the Four-Toed Statue proved was the overall timeline regarding the FDW. In "Ancient Egyptian Times" (read: old), there was just a rope in the ground, thanks to Sawyer holding onto it when a flash happened. This must have led to the well eventually being dug in that location (to figure out where the rope was leading). By 1974, the well has been filled up by dirt. This could have occurred before Dharma arrived (as a preventative measure by the Others to keep people from messing with time), or shortly after Dharma arrived (again, by the Others to keep Dharma from finding the FDW). It seems somewhat unlikely that Dharma themselves would fill it in, only to dig it up later when constructing the Orchid Station.

 

So, in summary…

 

Rope in the ground --> Well --> Filled in Well --> Orchid Station

 

Of course, this brings up the question - where did the FDW come from? The earliest point we have seen in the Island timeline is the rope in the ground… and we know that the FDW existed then, since Locke turned it to stop the skipping. That means when the ancients dug that rope up, the FDW was already there, with a ton of earth sitting on top of that cavern. So has the FDW just "always been there?" Is it just a part of the Island? It hurts my head to think about (so much for this being an "easy week"), but I'm guessing this is a question that won't be answered for quite some time - if ever. I'm leaning towards "the FDW has always been there, and exists outside the normal space-time continuum" (which explains why it was "off axis" when Locke found it in ancient time, even though it was Ben that pushed it off axis in 2005).

 

Ankh. Before we wrap up the "Ancient Egypt" portion of the Blog, we need to talk about Ankhs (Ankhi?). After Paul died, the necklace that Amy removed from his body was an Ankh Necklace, featuring the same cross with a loop at the top that the Four-Toed Statue appeared to be holding in one or both hands. As I mentioned in the Instant Reactions, the ankh is the Egyptian hieroglyph for eternal life and fertility, which opens up the possibility for some pretty wacky theories.

 

Could this be why Amy was able to successfully give birth to a baby on the Island, whereas all others have died? She had some ancient Egyptian mojo on her side, since she had Paul's Ankh Necklace in her possession? Tying it back to the Four-Toed Statue, did the statue exist (holding a big, honking ankh) to provide that same mojo on a much larger scale - like to everyone on the Island? Did the destruction of the statue lead to the inability for people on the Island to make babies? If Paul had this Ankh Necklace, does that mean he was a descendent of the Ancient Egyptian Island dwellers, who joined Dharma for some reason, like because he fell in love with Amy? Is this why the Others shot and killed him, since he was a traitor?

 

It's a fun theory, but unfortunately, I think it's more likely that the Ankh Necklace was simply a plot device. Amy needed to have something of Paul's in her drawer for Horace Goodspeed to find - so that he would flip out about it and end up having the heart-to-heart conversation with Sawyer about "is three years long enough to get over someone?" - so that the audience could have a reason for Sawyer to talk about his feelings about Kate - leading up to their reunion at the end of the episode.

 

Having that object be a necklace that Amy removes from Paul's dead body is a neat way to accomplish this - but the object could have just as easily been something else. When you think about it, we've already seen a ring become the object of separated love with Sun and Jin and a watch be used as a plot device with Jin and Michael - so there wasn't a lot of jewelry left that could have been used without seeming repetitious to some degree.

 

Why make the necklace an Ankh Necklace? Well, Paul is a dude - and guys don’t really wear necklaces unless they are military or religious. Given the hippie roots of Dharma (did you catch the pot brownie reference?!), making it a normal cross would seem a little out of place. But making it an Ancient Egyptian Ankh makes Paul seem like a hippie who loves how "trippy" Ancient Egypt seemed. Personally, I would have went for Paul having a hemp necklace - but that might have been too blatant.

 

It would be cool if the first, wackier theory about fertility turned out to be true - but I'm guessing the second, plot-functional theory is the case. I'm reminded of the bracelet that Sayid pulled off Naomi in "The Economist". After people came up with numerous theories about how that bracelet connected to Elsa's bracelet in the flashforwards, Damon Lindelof responded that "there is no connective tissue. Sometimes a bracelet is just a bracelet." Maybe in this case, an Ankh is just an Ankh.

 

Babies. But what about Amy being able to give birth? Why was she able to succeed where so many Others had failed in recent years? The episode left it somewhat open-ended by saying that the Dharma women usually left the Island to give birth. Was this because they found they were unable to give birth on the Island, or because they were just rational people who would rather deliver in a hospital rather than a jungle? It's worth going back and reviewing the "rules of babies" that we've picked up from Lost over the years:

1. Babies conceived off-Island are able to be born on the Island (Aaron).
2. Babies conceived on-Island are able to be born off the Island (Ji Yeon).
3. Babies conceived on-Island will kill the mother and child before the third trimester if on-Island (Juliet said so).

 

In Amy's case, we don't know if the baby was conceived on-Island or off-Island, since Dharma seemingly came and went from the Island with ease thanks to the submarine. For the sake of argument, let's assume it was conceived on-Island - assuming the baby is Horace's, and he was some type of "leader", I'd think he would stay on the Island all the time. Even though Amy delivered her baby "early", which is why she was still on-Island, she seemed to be in her third trimester judging by the size of her belly. This means that the "rules" didn't apply to her. Was she special, or did the rules change between 1977 and 2001 (when Juliet arrived on the Island)?

 

I think if Dharma had prior experience with their women dying during childbirth, there would have been a lot more precaution to ensure that Amy was off-Island well in advance of her due date - and I think there would have been a lot more shock and excitement once Amy actually gave birth. So either they were unaware of the potential danger of pregnant women on the Island… or they didn't have anything to worry about since it didn't apply to them. This also marks the second time this season that we've seen a baby born / recently born among the Dharmites (Baby Chang) - and while we don't know all the details surrounding that birth either (it very well could have been off-Island), it's pretty ironic that giving birth on the Island would eventually become such a huge issue, when it doesn't seem to be a problem in 1977… at least not for Dharma.

 

Who is to say that Others ever had the ability to give birth on the Island? Although we theorized that Faraday (and maybe Penny) were the offspring of Ellie Hawking and Charles Widmore (Others in 1954), there's no way to confirm that they were actually born on-Island. In fact, having them need to be born off-Island would provide an explanation for why Ms. Hawking would leave the Island in the first place. On the other hand, what would separate an Other from a Dharma? You would think the same "unique electromagnetic properties" of the Island would apply to both - unless the effects increased with time, and the longer you are on the Island, the more dramatic the consequences of birth become. Still, that wouldn't explain why it was so critical that Sun get off-Island last season, since she had only been there for a few months, whereas Amy had been there for at least three years… unless Juliet was simply making an assumption that Sun would have issues with her pregnancy due to all her previous experience with the Others.

 

In the end, I think it boils down to one of two explanations:

 

1. The Others have never been able to reproduce on the Island.

 

But this would mean there is something that distinguishes an "Other" from someone else on the Island - like an "initiation" of sorts that somehow makes them different. Otherwise, the forces of the Island should be working against Dharma having babies the same way they are working against the Others. It sounds weird, but I wouldn't rule it out - especially with the talk of The Temple, the branding of Juliet to make her an "outsider", and the Others' seeming immunity from the Island skipping.

 

2. The Others used to be able to reproduce, but something changed.

 

This could be something very straightforward. After the Purge, there could have been residual poison gas on the Island, for some reason making childbirth impossible. Or, after "The Incident", maybe there was so much electromagnetic charge floating around the Island that it had some effect on the Island preggos. I can't explain why either of these would have an effect on only pregnant women, instead of everyone overall living on the Island - but it's possible.

 

Or, it could be something a little more interesting… like the Others falling out of touch with the Island. It's an old theory of mine dubbed "The Cowboys and Indians Theory". For the newer readers of the Blog, or those who have forgotten it, here's a quick summary of what I wrote way back in the magical year of 2007:

 

Cowboys and Indians. Let’s assume that back in the day, pre-Dharma, the Others used to be “one with the Island”, living in peace and harmony, and reaping the potential super-natural benefit of eternal life because of it. Then one day, along come the Dharmites, who start infringing on their territory – tearing the Island apart building various “Stations”, carrying out freaky experiments (potentially using the Others as test subjects even), and generally destroying the peaceful hippie vibe of the Island. The Others recruit Ben as a Dharmite who can relate to their Dharma-hating, and along with some other Rebel Dharmites, they carry out “The Purge”, thinking it’ll mean a return to their peaceful ways of the past.

 

Unfortunately, they realize that running water and electricity are pretty nice things to have – so instead of returning to their village (or Temple, or wherever they live), they setup camp in the Barracks. From here, it’s a slippery slope. The Others get a taste for television, the Internet, and Dharma Beer. They continue to move farther and farther away from the “oneness” with the Island that they used to have. In fact, to outsiders (and we, as viewers for the first two seasons), it’s hard to distinguish them from the hated Dharmites. They’re wearing their clothes, using their Stations, and carrying out some freaky experiments of their own (Krazy Karl's Rave Room, anyone?).

 

Irony! Much like Sawyer becoming the man he hated the most, the Others became the very civilization that they were trying to rid themselves of with the Purge.

 

The assumption here is that as the Others fell out of favor with the Island, they lost the ability to have babies on the Island, almost as a punishment. It picks up on some of the themes we've seen over the years like the conflict between Alpert and Ben, the Others embracing Locke as their new leader, and Ben fighting to keep his place on the Island using things like the Looking Glass. In a nutshell, although Ben was useful for getting rid of Dharma, he led the Others down a path where they "lost their way". Unfortunately, much like the first theory, I can't explain this with science - but it's a much more mystical explanation for the baby-making-issues, which seems more in tune with the Lost way of doing things.

 

Finally, who is Baby Goodspeed? We didn't get a name for him in this week's episode, but based on the timing his character would be in his late 20's in 2008. Unfortunately, there really aren't any available characters to fit that bill where we don't already know other details about their birth, which eliminate them (assuming that Miles is Baby Chang, and Faraday's Mom is Ms. Hawking). Also, I've always assumed that Ben was the only Dharmite to survive the Purge, so unless Baby Goodspeed left the Island before the Purge, he would be dead anyways, right? Although this is Lost, and every character seems to have a very specific purpose, at this point, I'm thinking that Baby Goodspeed is similar to the Ankh - a plot device for this week's episode, and not a character that will grow up to be a main character on the show.

 

 

The Truce. In the past, I've proposed that there was an internal debate among the Others about how to deal with Dharma. Some probably sided with Charles Widmore in wanting to "work with them" and some probably wanted to "kill them all". Alpert seems to be somewhere in the middle, and was likely the one to create a truce with Dharma while they sorted things out. There were probably specific guidelines about where Dharma could and couldn't go without suffering consequences - and I'm guessing that Amy and Paul stepped out of those boundaries for their little picnic. The fact that the Others would have so quickly killed them for breaking this truce makes me think that those Others were ones who sided with the "kill them all" way of thinking. This would confirm Richard's reaction and way of dealing with Dharma. He pretty calmly talked to Goodspeed and Sawyer, and asked for Paul's body as a way of showing his people that both sides suffered losses - probably in an effort to placate them and prevent them from storming the Dharma Barracks and killing more innocent people. Unfortunately, it probably won't be long before more situations like this occur and the situation continues to escalate until we get to the point where the "kill them all" Others become a majority… leading to the Others recruiting Ben to rid themselves of Dharma once and for all.

 

As I said in my preview for this episode, the fact that Alpert has now interacted with both Locke and Sawyer in the past has some pretty big repercussions on understanding how the Others dealt with the Survivors of Oceanic 815 in 2004. Alpert would have known that no matter what the Others did, Locke and Sawyer (at the very least) would survive long enough to start skipping through time - which may have prevented the Others from launching a full-out attack on our Survivors to wipe them out from the start. But I think the more interesting thing is that although Ben may have been "in charge" at that point, it seems like Alpert had become less and less of a fan of his actions over the years. The arrival of Oceanic 815 could have given Alpert the opportunity he needed to convince them that Locke was "chosen" (he has the ability to travel through time!), and this was the man destined to become their leader… conveniently removing Ben from the picture.

 

Boy, would I kill for a Richard Alpert flashback to confirm some of this stuff.

 

Okay, enough blabbering for this week. Sorry for the delay, but with Lost on a repeat this week, I figured this would give you something to chew on during the week. Also, this provides us with a good chance to do some Q&A - so if there are any questions that you have about this season thus far, or Lost in general, and want my opinions on them, feel free to ask them in the Comments Section, and I'll make a post with my responses either before my "Namaste" Episode Preview, or along with it.

Finally, and most importantly this week... 

Go Dayton Flyers!

 

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=408.0

"LaFleur" Instant Reactions

Brian's Four Word Review: Pretty Nice Little Episode.

Ironically, probably the most talked about portion of this episode is probably going to be the three second view of the Four Toed Statue (from behind) - but the real highlight of the episode for me is that it harkened back to Season One. After weeks of having a TON of mythology, storyline twists, and puzzling revelations - this week was a nice little episode focused on CHARACTERS, just like in Season One. As a result, there's not a ton to over-analyze this week. This will be short and sweet!

• Sawyer is flat out awesome. He's now hooked up with both Juliet and Kate (who does he think he is, the Bachelor? Topical!), proven that no mater how hard he tries to be a tough guy, deep down he's a softy and heroic leader.
  
• Thank God we can finally put to rest the ridiculous notion that Sawyer will become the four-toed statue. It appeared to be a traditional Egyptian-type statue, holding those Egyptian Crosses (with the loop at the top).
• Speaking of which, this was the same necklace that Amy kept from Paul. Also known as the Key of the Nile, the Looped Tau Cross, and the Ansate Cross. It was an Ancient Egyptian symbol of life and fertility. Sometimes given a Latin name if it appears in specifically Christian contexts, such as the crux ansata ("handled cross"). Hmmm - is there some connection there?
• Alpert knew Sawyer in 1974. As I was wondering in the episode previews, what are the reprecussions of this once 2004 rolls around? Again, he knows that Sawyer will not die from 2004 until 2005 (when the skipping starts). I wonder how this affects the decisions that Alpert and the Others made in regards to dealing with our Survivors.
• Initially, when Alpert stormed into the Barracks, I thought "Oh God - Sawyer and Juliet are responsible for the Purge! They carried out the Purge as payback for two of their own getting shot!" But it seems like Alpert accepted taking the body of Paul as retribution... but what did they do with the body?
• Who is the baby that Juliet delivered this episode? Born in 1977, it would be someone aged 27 on the show. I'm racking my brain thinking of characters that apply, but no major characters are coming to mind.
• Since that baby was able to be born on the Island, time to open back up the theories that Ben somehow changed something on the Island - see my Cowboys and Indians theory! The Others got "out of touch" with the Island, and thus could no longer have babies!
• I'll say it before and I'll say it again - where have Rose / Bernard / Vincent been for the past three years?!

Regarding next week's episode (note: stop reading now if you don't want to know what we saw in the preview!)

• Sayid did skip back to 1977! That means only Sun, Ben, and Locke are in 2008, and all the rest of the Oceanic Six went back in time. Pretty cruel, fate - prety cruel.

No new episode next week (not sure why), so we've got a one-week breather. Also, after watching this episode, it turns out that some "Anonymous" poster got cute and spoiled the episode this week. I'm not sure how to combat that stuff from happening other than eliminating anonymous posts... so from now on, you have to fess up to your comments!

I predict pretty light discussions this week. Prove me wrong!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=401.0

Lost - "LaFleur"

Episode Title: “LaFleur”

 

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Some anonymous commenter (tangent - seriously guys, how hard is it to make up some name when you post comments to better identify yourselves?) has been eagerly awaiting this one for over two weeks, so I’ll do my best to make it good.

 

Since there are a number of new characters this week only described by their first name in the episode preview, there’s always the chance that “LaFleur” will simply be the last name for one of them. LaFleur sounds like a good name for some type of security guard to me… but that’s probably because the mall cop in the movie “Mallrats” named La Fors, which is pretty close. But where’s the fun or deeper meaning in that?

 

On the other hand, if you do a quick translation of “La Fleur”, you’ll find that it is French for “The Flower” – which provides us with a little more to chew on. Given that they used the French translation of “The Flower” instead of Spanish (LaFlor), German (DieBlume), or Russian (Цветок), initially I was thinking this might have something to do with CFL or her crew – but assuming the two timelines on the show are going to be the 1970’s (before CFL arrived on the Island) and 2008 (after CFL is dead), that seemed like a dead end (pun!)

 

The next logical assumption is that “The Flower” will be referring to a female character on the show, which leaves us with a number of potential candidates. But I don’t really see Kate, Sun, or Juliet being called a flower since they’ve all proved to be pretty tough ladies over the seasons. Who does that leave? How about this mysterious individual with a sack over her head?

 

It looks like she is in pretty bad shape, with one strange man holding her while another points a gun at her head. Lucky for her, Sawyer is nearby with his trusty shotgun – and apparently makes quick work of both of them, saving her and revealing her true identity. Note – these are all my assumptions based on the episode preview, summarized in the following screen shots:

 

So who does Sawyer end up saving? Based on his reaction in that last screen shot, it seems like is shocked and recognizes the person, which narrows down the list of potentials quite significantly. Again my first thought was Kate (a lot of my thoughts are about Kate, let’s be honest) because from the hair seems similar… but that theory was busted by the following screen shot, which clearly shows Kate wearing a different shirt in the scene where she reunites with Sawyer (again, assumption on my part based on the preview).

 

Since Sawyer is in the 1970’s, that means the female must be an Other or a Dharma, right? Unfortunately, since we’ve yet to really significantly “get to know” any Female Others to the point where Sawyer would instantly recognize them, they also seem to be eliminated. The two guys attacking her, on the other hand, are great candidates to be Others.

  

It almost looks like Mystery Girl was having a picnic before being captured, which may mean she is a Dharmite on a peaceful afternoon stroll before being accosted by two Others, still distrustful of these new “Dharmites” crawling all over their Island. Like Jin, if Sawyer is working for Dharma in the 1970’s (which he is, according to the jumpsuit he's sporting in the screen shot below), she could be almost ANY female Dharma from the era – since he probably has had the time to get to know most of them during his time in the 1970’s.

 

So who is it? I really have no idea, but I’ll give you my best guess in a bit – but to wrap up the “Deeper Meaning Guess” portion of the Blog, let me just summarize it as “LaFleur” = “The Flower” = “Mystery Dharma Girl”… or maybe it is just a reference to The Orchid Station.

 

Guest Stars: Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Reiko Aylesworth as Amy, Christopher Jaymes as doctor, Kevin Rankin as Jerry, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Molly McGivern as Rosie, Carla Buscaglia as Heather and John Skinner as Other #1.

 

Guest Star Breakdown: Does our Flower reside among the guest stars for this episode? There are three “new” females listed – Amy, Rosie, and Heather. Is “Rosie” a play on words for “Rose”… like the Flower? Maybe, but it could just as easily be one of the other two or none of the above. There really isn’t anything to go on here, other than the fact that Reiko Aylesworth, aka “Michelle Dessler From 24” is finally showing up this week as “Amy” – which I believe is supposed to be a recurring role, based on the information we got over the summer. If so, it’s a very welcome addition to the cast.

 

The only two familiar characters this week are Richard Alpert and Horace Goodspeed. Again, if our Skipping Survivors have become Dharma, the inclusion of Horace Goodspeed makes perfect sense. It’s actually the inclusion of Alpert that is more interesting. Since Horace Goodspeed (along with most of Dharma) died in the Purge before Oceanic 815 crashed on the Island, it really isn’t a big deal to have our Survivors interacting with them in the 1970’s.

 

However, any Alpert interaction with our Survivors would suddenly raise a TON of questions about the prior four seasons of Lost, since it would indicate that when our Survivors crashed on the Island in 2004, Alpert (and the Others) already knew some of them from the 1970’s…

 

(Note: initially I was thinking this detail might have been what separated the “chosen ones” that the Others took from those that the Others left alone – but that doesn’t make much sense. Even though Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley appeared on Michael’s “list” at the end of Season Two, that seemed to be more for saving Ben’s life than anything else… and it doesn’t account for the Tailers that were taken. There are just as many characters to disprove this theory than there are to prove it – if not more.)

 

Still, the mind boggles thinking about what the repercussions of these interactions might be. Would Alpert instruct the Others to leave Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Jin alone in 2004 to ensure they end up in the future… er, the past? Or would Alpert know that attacking them would be useless since “whatever happened, happened”, and obviously they end up living on the Island long enough to skip back to the past?

 

Like I said, it boggles!

 

Episode Description: Sawyer perpetuates a lie with some of the other island survivors in order to protect themselves from mistakes of the past.

 

Episode Breakdown: Even though it’s only one sentence, this episode description is pretty intriguing because it seems to fly in the face of “whatever happened, happened.” How could Sawyer protect the Survivors from mistakes of the past? Wouldn’t they have either been a part of them, or not a part of them? It seems like they choosing one path or another would have an impact on the future. Shouldn’t the universe course correct and eventually reach the only possible outcome even if our Survivors attempted to avoid it?

 

I’m having trouble reconciling the theory of “whatever happened, happened” from Faraday with the “universe has a way of course correcting itself” from Ms. Hawking. Based on Faraday’s theory, it’s impossible to change anything in the past (unless you’re “special” like Desmond). But based on Ms. Hawking, you could temporarily change the past – but eventually it’s going to catch up with you to make things happen the way they were supposed to be (like Charlie dying).

 

Either way, it seems like there’s no such thing as free will for our Survivors in the 1970’s, does it? Whatever they did is already going to be known to the Others who were on the Island back then and still alive today, isn’t it? Maybe I’m overthinking it, and truthfully, there’s a chance that any one of our Survivors could die each episode – but part of me is thinking that we already know what the overall outcome of our Survivors’ actions in the 1970’s are going to be… since we already know what the Island was like in 2004.

 

But we digress and over-analyze to a fault.

 

What is this “mistake of the past” anyways? What did Dharma screw up that might drag our Survivors down with them? Is it tied to The Incident? The Purge? And how could our Survivors “lying” help them avoid it? I’m happy to say that I have no idea, and I think the episode preview is intentionally vague to keep us from spoiling the surprise for ourselves.

 

Note: this is me internally rectifying the “don’t over-predict the episode ahead of time to ruin the surprise” with “provide the people with what they want”. I’m compromising by quitting while I’m ahead right here by simply saying “I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out.”

 

Oh – what about the Mystery “Flower” Girl? Well, I can’t quite work out all the details in my head, but in thinking about what Dharma Female could have a profound impact on the storyline, one person immediately came to mind.  

 

“The Flower” is Annie, Ben’s former Dharma girlfriend.

 

Although we don’t have specific dates (on Lostpedia, at least), Ben apparently was born in the early 1960’s, which would mean he could be anywhere from 10-20 years old in the 1970’s, where our Survivors are currently residing. Since Annie was roughly the same age, it would put her as a teen in those years as well – which kinda looks like the age of our Mystery Dharma Girl. Here’s what I’m thinking – Annie and Ben were supposed to have a romantic picnic out in the Jungle, but Ben didn’t show up for some reason (maybe he was off discussing strategy with Alpert). Along come some Others who attack our fair Annie, and were it not for our Survivors, might have killed her.

 

In a huge case of irony, were our Survivors not there – had they not done the altruistic thing and saved this stranger from the Others, Annie would have been killed, Ben would have blamed the Others for this, and probably never would have sided with them to help carry out the Purge. So indirectly, our Survivors now have the deaths of all of Dharma on their consciences.

 

Or if you want to get even wackier, maybe Annie was supposed to die at this encounter, and our Survivors have temporarily prevented it from happening (using Ms. Hawking’s theory that you can temporarily postpone the inevitable). I don’t really know how this would fit into the overall storyline, but I’ve always thought that the event that turned Ben from sweet-nerd-kid into coldhearted-Purgey-man involved Annie dying.

 

The writers have told us that she would be an important character to the overall storyline of Lost, and I can’t think of a better time for that story to be told than right now, when our Survivors are living through it – as opposed to waiting until later and telling it through flashbacks.

 

So there’s my forced guess, based on shaky facts and my hopes for the greater storyline. But with as little information we have, it’s the best I’ve got for this week. See, I told you these things were going to get worse as we get closer to the conclusion of Lost!

 

Happy Losting!

 

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=400.0