Please give our new recapper Jeremiah a warm welcome!!!
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Let me say this before I get started: tonight was a lot of Lost. I’m writing this having only watched each episode once, so if I miss a few details or get a few wrong, mea culpa. The show has the same pace this year that it ended with last year, meaning there’s lots of ground to cover in each episode. Hopefully, one episode per week will prove to be a little more manageable.
Because You Left
Rating: 5/5
Lost’s fifth season, if the first episode is any indication, is going to be a bumpy ride. The island – or maybe just its’ 2004 residents – has become, like Desmond, unstuck. It (or they) jump from the past to the future in an instant, causing some very strange side-effects.
We start with Pierre Chang, circa 1980, tending to his child (which opens a whole can of worms that I’m not going to get into here) then filming the unseen Arrow orientation video before being called to the still under construction Orchid. The chamber that contains the donkey wheel is so hot that it melts the bits they’re using to drill through the rock. Obviously, the freezing over comes later.Behind that wall is a nearly limitless source of energy, Chang tells the foreman. Drilling any further would destroy it. As he leaves, Faraday passes by him with his head down. He seemed, to me, to be trying to hide his face. Rather than being a temporally displaced volunteer, I think that he somehow infiltrates the Initiative in the future-past. It’s also interesting to me, though not really surprising, that the donkey wheel pre-dates Dharma. Must have been the island’s four-toed denizens that built it.
Sawyer, Juliet and the rest of the survivors waiting on the beach believe that everyone died when the freighter exploded, including the Oceanic 6. It gives them an interesting motivation for season 5 and makes me a little miffed that something that basic never even occurred to me in the 8 months since last year’s finale. After the flash, they quickly realize that the camp and all its’ supplies are gone. Faraday asks to be taken to a landmark in an effort to determine how far back they went. Juliet tells him there’s a station just 15 minutes from the beach. On their way to the Swan, however, Fate intercedes and moves them forward to sometime after they blew up the hatch. Temporarily. Time quickly shifts again to a point just after the plane crash (I’m conjecturing here. I think that if Inman had been inside the hatch, he would have answered the door.) Sawyer says that he’s going around back to get clothes, food, and guns from the Swan. Faraday tells him that, since he didn’t do that the first time, he can’t do it now. You can’t change the past, he says. And he was apparently right, as Sawyer’s pounding went unanswered. When the rest of the crew decides to head back to the beach, Faraday says that he left his bag at the hatch. He checks something in his notebook, then goes back to knock on the Swan again. This time Desmond opens the door. Daniel tells him to go back to Oxford and find his mother. He says that Des is uniquely and miraculously suited to do this.
If Daniel is right and you can’t change the past, then why did Desmond answer the door when he knocked and not when Sawyer did? Has all of this happened before? Was Daniel on the island shortly after 815 crashed and did he speak to Desmond then? Following Faraday’s logic, it’s the only explanation. I think a more appropriate thought is that Daniel is a liar, or a teller of half-truths. The past can be changed, at least in a moment to moment way. What other reason could there be for the existence of Ms. Hawking and the rest of the Chronology Protection Agents?
Locke, meanwhile, is dealing with this time turbulence almost by himself. After the island moves, he is alone. Richard and the rest of his merry men have vanished. Mr. Make It Rain heads for higher ground and a better vantage point. Just then, Eko’s plane nosedives into it’s final resting place. He follows it hoping to find survivors. As he makes his way up the cliff he is shot (in his right leg, natch) by Ethan. Ethan does not recognize him. John tells him that Ben has appointed him as the Others new leader. Ethan says that doesn’t sound likely and readies himself to kill John. Before he can, though, the island moves again. Richard finds him this time and removes the bullet from his leg. He tells Locke that he was the one who disappeared, not the Others, and that it’s only a matter of time before it happens again. He says that the only way to stop the time shifts is to bring back the ones who left. And, in order to do that, John must die.
Richard seems to have a good grasp of the big picture. For instance, he knows the Oceanic 6 are alive and well. He gives Locke a compass (shades of Cabin Fever) and tells him that, the next time he sees him, he won’t recognize him. The compass will act as John’s ID. This points, again, to these events having played out before, especially when considering Faraday likening the island to a broken record and Chang’s literal broken record at the beginning of the episode. Perhaps Richard’s memory is simply preserved somehow, while Faraday’s was erased, necessitating his Dharma diary. I think that if I follow that train of thought too far, though, I’ll end up with Daniel working for the Initiative which goes against what I said at the start of this. So I’ll leave that one alone.
Back in the real world, Jack and Ben remove Locke’s body from Hoffs-Drawlar. Jack cleans himself up and gets a suit from Ben. Jack tells him that John never said what happened to the ones left behind, just that they’ll all die if the Oceanic 6 don’t return. “Thank God for second chances,” Ben says, delivering the episode’s best line.
Kate is visited by an attorney requesting a blood sample to determine her relationship with Aaron. He refuses to name his client. She tells him to come back with the sheriff and then does what Kate does best: runs, Aaron in tow.
Sayid brings Hurley to the not-so-safe house. There are two men waiting there for them and Sayid quickly kills both of them, but not before being hit with a tranquilizer dart. Hurley is photographed by someone with a cell phone holding one of the dead man’s guns. The image is immediately broadcast on the news. He is wanted for breaking out of Santa Rosa and going on a killing spree.
Sun leaves Ji Yeon with her mother and leaves Seoul for L.A. At the airport she has an unscheduled meeting with Widmore, who we learn owns Oceanic. Go figure. He feels that Sun disrespected him by speaking to him in broad daylight and in front of his business partners. Sun acquiesces and tells him that they both want the same thing – Ben Linus dead.
The miraculous Desmond wakes up in a sweat. He and Penny are on a sailboat just offshore in what looks like the Mediterranean. He tells her that he was on the island and that they now have to go to Oxford. Apparently Desmond’s “unstuckness” is what allowed Faraday to relay the message, proving, I think, you can change the past. There’s also something odd about Penny but, as it’s spoilerish, I’ll leave that for another time. Those of you who have seen all the previews know what I’m getting at anyway.
It’s interesting to me that Desmond is, so far, the only character we’ve seen both on and off the island. It makes me wonder if Ben meant that the reason he couldn’t return to the island was because, depending on what time it is, he might already be there. It’s far more likely, though, that he was just lying.
This was an exciting and thought-provoking start to the season, certainly better than last year’s premiere. I’ll admit, however, that I don’t find the Oceanic 6 story as compelling as the island story. Don’t get me wrong, I think it will pay off in the end. Right now, though, the O6 are in such disparate locations and head spaces that it will require some serious set-up to prepare them to return. But, apparently, Ben doesn’t have the luxury of time to gather them all together, which leads us to . . .
The Lie
Rating: 4/5
The thing I love most about Hurley-centric episodes is that they’re funny. Most of this show is so serious and dark that we need a little humor to lighten the load. Sure, Sawyer and even Miles provide the island punchlines, but Hugo and his family are all the funny we’ve got in the real world.
After getting away from the safehouse, Hurley decides that the best place for him to go is back home. On the way there, he is pulled over by the police. He thinks. It’s actually Ana-Lucia. “Why did you stop? What if I had been real,” she asks him. She tells him to find a change of clothes and get somewhere safe. “Libby says, ‘Hi’,” she says – this episode’s best line – before disappearing. Perhaps this genuine and witty cameo will earn her some goodwill from all the Ana haters out there.
Hurley’s dad, David, is at home watching Exposé (the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, huh?) when Hurley arrives with Sayid, comatose from the dart, over his shoulders. He tells his dad that they can’t take Sayid to the hospital because he is wanted by the police. Just then, the cops arrive at the house. David convinces them that Hurley is not there. They then start to stake out the house.
When Carmen, Hurley’s mom, returns home to find a “dead Pakistani” on her couch, Hugo realizes something has to be done. He tasks David with taking Sayid to Jack and tells his mom the real story of what happened after the crash. She says that she believes him, even if she doesn’t understand him. David drops Sayid off with Jack and tells him that he doesn’t want him around his son. Jack calls Ben to tell him he has Sayid and is taking him to the hospital.
Kate receives a phone call from Sun, who is now in L.A., and agrees to meet her. She tells Sun about her visit from the lawyer. Sun believes this is Ben’s work, and we all know now what she wants to see happen to him.
Ben goes to Hurley’s house to try to recruit him in the Go Back Squad, but it backfires. Sayid had told Hurley to not obey any of Ben’s orders. Instead of going with him, Hurley runs outside of the house and into the waiting officers’ handcuffs.
The time flashes seem to have subsided slightly on the island, and the survivors use this opportunity to try and score some grub. However, without matches and knives, the boar Miles found is left uneaten. Frogurt (yeah, that guy) is beginning to lose it when the, as yet unbuilt, camp is attacked by flaming arrows. Frogurt – or Neil, if you prefer – is the first casualty. At least one more red shirt is killed. Juliet and Sawyer somehow become displaced from the rest of the group and encounter a group of armed men in the jungle. They are briefly captured and Juliet’s hand is nearly cut off, before Locke shows up, rocks in one hand, knife in the other.
I believe that these men were part of Danielle’s research team, rather than Dharma. Their jumpsuits certainly looked like Initiative attire but their vaguely European accents suggest otherwise to me. Also, I can’t overlook the missing hand plot point. Montand, a member of Rousseau’s expedition, and maybe Chang, suffered a similar condition.
Ben’s real world contacts were revealed slightly. He left John’s body with a butcher named Jill and later met with none other than Ms. Hawking. I found this bit of information pretty surprising. I figured Ms. Hawking was working for Dharma or even Widmore, but not Ben. Using an ancient computer, some chalkboard mathematics, and giant glass-etching pendulum, she was able to determine the island’s temporary location. As in 70 hours temporary. Ben tells her that it’s not enough time. She tells him that it’s not his choice.
Overall, this episode wasn’t as strong as the first, serving more to shuffle the Oceanic 6 into their path back to the island. If you’ve seen the first four seasons, you shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a device the show uses every year – the bulk of each season is just setup for the final episode. This episode was no slouch, just maybe more workman-like in its’ structure. It featured all the main characters, though, and should prove to be a model for the show going forward. I don’t recall, for instance, a single “whoosh”. This year, the story moves from past to present with no sound effects. It’s appropriate considering that the flashback/forward construct of previous years is now gone, replaced with flash-who-knows-wheres. It’s an quick moving and compelling narrative device that should serve Lost well in its’ end run.
-Jeremiah
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Check out Jeremiah’s blog We Are Lost!
Related posts:
-
IO9′s Review of the Season 5 Premiere - BuddyTV’s Review of the Season 5 Premiere
- EW Reviews the Season 5 Premiere
Tags: Because You Left, recaps&reviews, Season 5, Season 5 recaps by Jeremiah, The Lie
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January 22nd, 2009 at 4:27 am
i cant wait for episode 3:) thanks for recap
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:55 am
why can’t I watch the premiere on abc.com?
it’s not there! anyone know the reason?
THANKS for your site
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
Daniel must be telling half-truths because if the past can’t change, then how did Ethan shoot Locke in the leg just after Eko’s plane crashed on the island? Locke wasn’t there before.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
There was a whoosh when they went back to Sawyer and Juliet when they got captured. I’m not sure of the significance of it though.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
To Jeremiah: what makes you think Faraday mets Desmond a little time after 815 crashed? I think this is not true. Watching Desmond & Hawkings meeting in previous season, she tells him to be on the Island for 3 years. The Oceanic 6 left the Island 108 days after they crashed, so in my point of view it’s more likely to think they went somewhere between 2 years and few before 815 crashes!
I think they will never be in a timeframe where they were before (the losties) Otherwise I would be pretty dissapointed.
Anyway: I didn’t like the first 2 eps that much. I’m a big Lost fan but this actually dissapointed me a little. Pretty predictable.
PS: Locke will meet Richard again and Richard will not recognize him? Their first meeting was about 40 years before when Locke was a kid? This is pretty interesting.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
There WAS a woosh! I just can’t remember when it was. But it wooshed at one point going from the real world to the island story.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
I definately heard wooshes
I’m happy to be more interested in the freighter folk’s stories, which I wasnt before
Lost used to be way too slow [season 1] but now Its WAY too fast, needs to slow down to season 4 level
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I was ok with the pace. But it does need to slow down. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. But it did at times seem like a list of plot points being read off to us really fast instead of an integrated plot. Oh, and do you think Charlotte is Desmond and Penny’s kid?
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Wow great review; I really enjoyed reading it Thanx!
And I think the reason why Dan was able to speak to Desmond is because Des is Dan’s CONSTANT, and that’s what Dan was looking for in his diary just before he knocked on Desmond’s door…
I think having a contact with your constant in any time won’t affect the future…or the past…wow I’m lost!
Anyway, who’s with me? lol
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] January 22, 2009, 2:00 pm Filed under: Episodes, Lost, Season Five | Tags: Recap, Review My recap for last night’s fifth season premiere is available on sl-lost.com. So far, mine is the only [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
“There’s also something odd about Penny but, as it’s spoilerish, I’ll leave that for another time. Those of you who have seen all the previews know what I’m getting at anyway.”
WHATS ODD?!
I wanna knowww. I rewatched it, and she seems normal, I guess.
Explain!
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
(Penny’s preggers (or just had a baby, as I’m not sure what time point we’re in when Des takes off for Oxford)).
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Salvatore: Faraday meeting Desmond must have been shortly after the 815 crash. Kelvin Inman never let Desmond out of the Swan Station. Desmonds first time out of the station was when he went after Kelvin and didnt get back in time to the hatch thus causing 815 to crash as he said so in the Season 2 finale. Therefore if Desmond answered the door to Faradays knocking it had to be sometime between when he didn’t push the button and was therefore all alone in the Swan Station and when Locke and Jack blew open the door to the hatch.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
desmonds past has been changed because he is uneffected by the rules an UNIQUELY as daniel pointed out. so he definately can change the past. probably because of what happenened to him when the swan exploded. thats why mrs hawking visited him in the past, because she was afraid that desmond would change and marry penny instead of going to the island. her task was to keep him on his path.
oh for the locke time skipping thing with ethan etc i think it could be on 2 ways: maybe locke appears to have the same conditions as desmond with no rules that effect him OR the “you cant change the past” thing only describes major changes, like people dying or staying alive (charly?) and THEN the “course correcting” of the universe appears.
PS: salvatore, you then HAVE to be disappointed, because at least juliet would have been TWICE on the island, because she definately was on the island with the others when desmond was in the hatch (they both have spent three years on the island!) … but maybe she just disappeared in othertown? who knowes.. quiet paradox
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
@ callum:
very interesting, haha, that would mean when sawyer just walked faster before the next skip back to the beach, he would have met kate jack and hisself there?
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
“thats why mrs hawking visited him in the past, because she was afraid that desmond would change and marry penny instead of going to the island. her task was to keep him on his path.”
I love that quote nemo. it reminds me of donnie darko (don’t know if you’ve seen it) where there is a guide for donnie (frank the bunny) so he makes the right choices and doesn’t allow the universe to end.
could this be jacobs role too? to guide the characters on their correct paths so the world doesnt end?
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
no, haven’t seen it yet but maybe will in the future
i would be quite careful about that jacob thing.. we don’t really know enough about him to say that do we? but i think it’s mrs. hawkings role indeed!
i have my own theory about jacob, as he being suppressed by ben OR christian! or why did he ask locke to help him (without letting ben know) !? but i think it’s rather christian. remember when locke talked to him in the cabin and afterwards ben asked what did HE tell you (referring to jacob of course)? locke said what he had to do but not told a word about christian. so maybe ben wasn’t even supposed to leave the island by turning the wheel, because it was christian who in somehow suppresses jacob. that would make christian a liar.
but isn’t it strange that kate everyone tells kate to come back (locke on the phone in her dream) instead of CLAIRE who tells her to keep aaron away form the island? in think christian has a quite big role.
whow, sorry, that was far off the topic of those two episodes.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
@ Callum: thanks for your reaction. seems to make sense what u said. still i’m not convinced if this is true. for example: if it’s after kelvins death, why would he wear that mask and suit? he then knew that there was nothing wrong with the air or so.
@ Nemo: maybe you’re right. what if they accidentally see themselves? not possible i think. the writers of the show should know better.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
okey guys, i think you both got good points there. i only see three possibilities:
1. something in the past changed and happened to kelvin, so desmond got rescued by radzinsky, who then later killed hiself off? woh but then the desmond flashbacks in season 2 won’t really exist…
2. there’s something we just aren’t able to imagine
3. the writers **** up with the whole time travel thing…
damn.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
lol nemo: 1 thing is for sure: the writers should be very very aware of what they are doing.
maybe desmond just never noticed it. i mean DID he really leave the station? he still stood in the doorway
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
@Jim, Daniel, and 4 elements: If you say there were whooshes, then there were whooshes. I really don’t remember any. I guess I need to rewatch it.
@salvatore: I don’t think Faraday ever met Des at the hatch, but following his “you can’t change the past” logic, that’s the only reasonable explanation. I think Dan is just lying.
@Sab: Dan speaking to Desmond at the Swan proves that you can change the past. Otherwise, Desmond would have never gotten the message.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
@salvatore: you def poked a hole in my logic with des still wearing the hazard suit when he exited the hatch to respond to faradays knocking. therefore the time shift could have been to before the 815 crash which would eliminate and paradoxs with the stranded running into themselves at the beach
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Desmond was wearing Kelvins suit….you can see the rip on his leg….assuming there were only two suits…..that would mean kelvin is asleep or something since kelvin died in the suit….
The rules may not apply to desmond because of him having a constant….just because he turned the fail safe key doesn’t mean he’s invincible…he fixed his time problem when he found his constant….
What happened in the first episode which we apparently aren’t asking about?
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
That was a great reveiw.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
**SPOILER** …I think
@ cdncr, oh thanks. I knew she was gonna have a kid at some point, since the preview showed it. but I didnt see that she was preggers, hides it well. Or not since everyone else saw it, and I didn’t. Oh well, thank you!
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:53 am
Question: did Dan and Desmond ever meet? I mean -after- freight folk arrive and -before- oceanic 6 + Des + Lapidus leave? I know they talk on the phone…
Desmond recognized Jack who he had only spoken to once -prior- to ever getting onto the island, so I think he would probably recognize Daniel if that meeting had actually happened the first time around. But perhaps they never actually saw each other…
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:13 am
yes they did,
they met before des and sayid took off to the freighter on the island AND they met in 1996 in oxford;)
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:21 am
OK, so then why doesn’t Desmond recognize Faraday if they had met 5 years before in Oxford!
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:57 am
eeuh… he does!
Desmond: “do i know you?”
daniel: “yes, you know me”
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:59 am
And why would Desmond ‘get the message’ 3 years later in his dream? 3 years later? Huh? How could that make sense?
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:40 am
Nemo, if Desmond recognized Daniel he would have said “oh you are the professor from Oxford, the one who helped me when I was time travelling from the future!”, but he didn’t.
I think that the changes made on the past cause amnesia to the people involved on those changes to avoid paradoxes.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
salvatore, don’t really see in how far your question isn’t compatible with my words..`? oh and by the way, it would be more than three years, because that’s just the time he was off the island.
Campetin,
that might be true, regarding daniel hat memory problems as well in season 4 with his card games.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
oh and – sorry for doublepost but there is no edit function here, is it? – daniel definately can encounter desmond because the have met before in 1996, not like sawyer who didn’t meet him until they blew up the hatch door. a question would be why then locke can encounter ethan, who whe never met before actually (as far as we know..)
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
The question remain unanswered for now. But for how long? Maybe we’ll learn more next week. There’s pretty much explaining yet to be done.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
i am so confused by all this !
i hope they answer some questions soon…
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I rewatched The Lie. There were four, let’s say, moments when in past season’s there would have been whooshes. The first two were definitely musical cues, the first one being a crescendo, the second a ba-dum-ba-dum. The were both followed by a low thump, sort of like the one heard at the end of each episode. They were not whooshes. The scene Daniel is referring to was bookmarked by what sounded like rolling on a timpani, followed by the same thump. Certainly whoosh-ish, but, I believe, not really a whoosh.
Also, for the sake of completion, I would like to add this to my recap. When Kate met with Sun, Sun told her that she didn’t blame her for Jin’s death. She said that Kate was a person who could make difficult choices and she implored her to do what’s necessary to protect Aaron.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I was thinking about the Locke and Ethan meeting and i remembered a part in season 3 when Locke was with the others and Cindy said “We’ve been waiting for you” or somehting along those lines do you think this is because Locke met Ethan years prior to this and he went back and told the rest of the Others about the John Locke he just met and everything he told him? Maybe that was how they found out he was soo special. IDK just a thought
January 24th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
okay here’s something to discuss:
Sun definitely seemed mildly… sinister in her conversation with Kate. Do we think she definitely doesn’t blame Kate? I’m pretty sure she doesn’t… but perhaps is trying to make Kate feel guilty to help get her get what she wants: the demise of Ben.
What do you guys think?
January 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Hey there!
About Desmond opening the door to meet Faraday…
If you remember, Desmonds checks his notes of Dharma stuff.. there he finds the correct way to knock that door… he knocks three times, wait, knocks some more… or something like that… like a code the Dharma invented to make sure that who’s knocking the door is Dharma…