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Looks as though the powers that be returned to fine form with this episode, recharging the formula and giving us a lot of new twists and turns. Even though it was billed as a Kate-centric episode, the secrets behind the curtain had much more to do with Sayid, the Others and, of course, our long-lost Island mother, Claire. We’ve got much to talk about, so grab your vials of Dharma vaccine and let’s …

GET DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS
After last week’s premiere I started contemplating all the loose ends that still waited to be revisited and tied up. Since Desmond was primarily on my mind, I started thinking about all the central points around his story and the tiny details that may have been lost along the way. I just couldn’t get the sickness out of my mind, and his insistence on carrying the vaccine that lie in the Hatch along with him when he left the Swan in season two. Thankfully, the writers brought the sickness back in full force this week and revealed not only one of the main sources, but a hub around which we could try and make some sense of the madness.

According to Dogen, Sayid is infected. With exactly what, we can’t be sure, but he refers to it as “being claimed.” From what the Temple dwellers have revealed to Jack and company, this claim appears to be the mark of Esau if we are to believe that they are protecting the Temple and their way of life from the Man in Black. Before this episode, we were not privy to the source of the sickness or infection, but we can now assume that the waters that run beneath the Temple as the main source. When Sayid was placed in the Spring, the waters were dark and murky. Dogen commented that he wasn’t completely sure of the outcome if they were to dip Sayid in the bubbling pool, but he is now convinced of Sayid’s infection. The source is now clear, but the circumstances that surround the pool, the sickness and the Temple are a bit muddy. Pun intended.

Throughout the seasons when Rousseau spoke of the sickness, she claimed that it was the reason that she had to kill her entire team. In “This Place is Death” last season, we see the whole story unfold. While searching for the radio tower, Rousseau and her team encounter Ol’ Smokey, and he drags Montand to the Temple, severing his arm. With Montand wounded below, the team, with the exception of Rousseau (and Jin, who was a temporal witness to the events), venture into the Temple through the Cerberus vent. Later, Jin witnesses Rousseau confronting her lover, Robert, on the beach. Two of the members of her team that had disappeared into the Temple were already lying dead on the beach, dispatched by the French woman. Robert appears to have been changed, acting in a very cool, detached manner toward Danielle. They stand with rifles drawn until Robert pulls the trigger. The gun fails to fire and Danielle puts him down. Throughout this standoff, Rousseau refers to the “sickness” that had taken over the team since they had encountered the Monster.

Removing that firing pin was a nice move, lady.

In relation to the science team infection, Dogen says to Jack that “the infection will spread.” Dogen may not be referring to an infection spreading within Sayid, but among those that surround him. This would make sense in the context of Rousseau’s team – if one was in need of help at the Temple and was infected, he was likely to spread it to the others he was closest to. In this way, we can infer that the infection may be either a literal infection, or a dogmatic one; Sayid may be infected with an ideal or even free thought that is detrimental to the paradigm of the Temple patrons, whomever they truly serve.

Here’s the muddy part: at the end of this week’s episode, Dogen tells Jack that his sister had contracted the same sickness that now infected Sayid. Moments later we see Claire taking out some Others, standing with a rifle and looking crazed, just as Danielle had done countless times before. The parallel is clear – Claire is now almost exactly like Danielle. She is alone, relying only on herself, her baby removed from her by possible outside forces. She may not know who to trust, just as Danielle had admitted first to Sayid and then other survivors she encountered. Now, to draw that parallel, we must assume that Claire and Daniel’s circumstances are near-identical. However, from our perspective, Danielle never entered the Temple, and therefore did not come in contact with the muddy Spring. Her teammates, on the other hand, most assuredly did.

This raises huge questions. Danielle believed that her teammates were infected, but from the point of view of her teammates, Danielle must have appeared infected. The same would hold true with Dogen and his group in relation to Sayid. And, just as Robert was eager and willing to kill the woman he loved, Dogen, too, was more than eager to kill Sayid outright when he thought him to be infected. Danielle only killed out of self-defense, but Robert and the Temple dwellers were willing to kill outright. The same seems to be true of Claire.

As an aside, this “claim” would appear to be from Esau/MIB, at least if we take into account what the Temple dwellers have told us. But is it really? Who do they really serve, and who/what do they wish to protect the Temple from? It’s clear from the events in “This Place is Death” that Ol’ Smokey has open access to the catacombs beneath the Temple, so the Temple dwellers seemed to feel no fear from it before news of Jacob’s death. The Temple even seemed to be the home of Cerberus/Esau/MIB, so why would they suddenly fear its return? Were they under Jacob’s understood protection and could now no longer depend on him? Or could they actually serve Esau and are now open to some sort of barrage from Jacob who has been unleashed now that Ben dispatched him in the Statue?

Speaking of Ben, he’s another wild card. In “Whatever Happened, Happened” from last season, Ben is taken to the Temple after his fatal wound at the hands of Sayid. Richard tells Sawyer that if Ben is taken into the temple, his innocence will be lost and he will forever be one of them. Ben is healed, and does, indeed, become one of the Others. However, the same circumstances that surround Sayid and Claire must not surround Ben, as he was not judged to be infected and was allowed to live amongst the Others freely, even becoming their “leader.” Clearly he was not “claimed,” but later fell under the influence of Esau, regardless.

Then we have the Dharma Initiative and the Quarantine. Dharma knew of a “sickness” and was vaccinating their personnel for quite some time after the Incident. From their perspective, the sickness may have appeared much like how Rousseau perceived it. Members of the Initiative may have come in contact with the Hostiles and were subsequently “turned,” causing a form of insanity that made them inherently hostile. That’s assuming, of course, that the quarantine and sickness weren’t methods devised by Dharma to keep Swan subjects from venturing too far into the jungle. After six seasons, however, I seriously doubt that scenario.

Does anybody miss the Hatch as much as I do?

One other tidbit before we wrap this portion up: it’s mostly clear from Dogen’s actions that they can’t kill Sayid without Sayid willingly giving his life. Whether that is against a code, or if Sayid is unable to endure harm from most mortal weapons remains to be seen. If Sayid can still be harmed after his “resurrection,” then why not just shoot him if he is infected? Even if he is a zombie, they should know by now that a good, clean shot to the head usually does the trick. Of course, most of them have been stuck on the Island for awhile and may not even know George Romero’s name. (Just to be clear, the zombie thing is a joke – I don’t want an inbox full of people asking of the Island’s gonna be full of zombies, no matter how cool that would be.)

I realize that I may have raised more questions than provided answers in this bit of analysis, but I wanted to present most of the instances of the infection that we’ve encountered to foster thought and discussion. I think we’re still missing a big piece of the puzzle needed to finally figure out what’s going on with the sickness. Hopefully, more of that will become clear after we see more of the Claire that has become Rousseau’s doppelganger. (And, yes, I think those traps were set by Claire – but even broaching that topic opens a whole new can of worms; maybe next time).

THE OTHER MAN
Well, well, Dr. Goodspeed. His appearance at Mercy Hospital to take care of Claire was certainly unexpected. We were first introduced to Ethan – as Ethan Rom – in “Solitary” waaaay back in season one. Throughout the seasons we learned that Ethan acted as a spy and as a surgeon for the Others, kidnapping Claire and taking her to the Staff medical station to evaluate her and her unborn son, and prep her for a C-section to take Aaron to live amongst the Others. In Season five, we found out that he is the son of Horace and Amy Goodspeed, of the Dharma Initiative.

Back in 1977, Ethan and his mother, Amy, were part of the group to be evacuated from the Island prior to the Incident. It’s assumed that they got off the Island, but we don’t know at what time or under what circumstances he returned to the Island to join the Others.

In the LA X timeline, Ethan is not one of the Others (not that we’ve seen, anyway), and is not on the Island since it is underwater and inaccessible. It’s not known whether he was born on the Island, as it’s not known if Amy and Horace were ever part of the Dharma Initiative in this timeline. We do know, however, that Dharma was on the Island at some point since we see the remains of Dharmaville in the underwater shot at the beginning of “LA X Part 1.”

No matter the circumstances, it’s clear that Ethan and Claire’s “strings” (see analysis for “The Lie” from last season), or quantum states, are entangled. Just as he acted as a sort of surgical “caregiver” for Claire on the Island, so, too, is Ethan entrusted with the well-being of Aaron in the alternate timeline. I believe that this quantum entanglement extends to all those that have been involved with the Island in this, or any other divergent timeline that may have developed throughout the years that the Island has been in flux, or in a quantum loop. I hope to look more closely at this phenomenon as the season progresses and we see more instances of entanglements like Claire and Ethan’s.

MASTERS OF ALL, MASTERS OF NONE
Let’s talk briefly about Jacob and Esau – who’s really the bad guy, here? And are they one in the same, in a quantum sense or literary sense?

In terms of the duality of form, in last week’s final episode, Esau walks away from those on the beach, claiming that he is very disappointed in all of them. This displays a piece of his character that belies his reliance on followers, just as Jacob has relied. As far as actions – at least actions that we can clearly attribute to Esau in his smoke form – Esau clearly has only killed armed people as Ol’ Smokey, either in self defense or in the defense of another, such as Ben, when Ben was faced by Keamy and his team in season four. Esau spared Ben’s life because he needed his help, but if Jacob can assume a smoke form, as well (which we discussed briefly last week), then the actions of Ol’ Smokey have to be broken down and attributed to two different mindsets. This could explain why Eko is spared in “The 23rd Psalm,” and then killed the next time he meets Cerberus in “The Cost of Living.” Also, Locke sees Cerberus in “Walkabout” in season one, but is then attacked and almost dragged underground by Cerberus in that season’s finale. We either have a true wildcard in Ol’ Smokey, or we have two separate entities able to assume smoke form and running about the Island, enacting their own agenda.

That’s just one thought, though, I could be completely wrong.

FILE THEM UNDER MISCELLANEOUS
Just a few quick thoughts before wrapping this analysis up for the week:

HoboTrashcan founder Joel Murphy mentioned an interesting detail about Esau and Richard’s altercation in last week’s episode. In my recap, I state that Focke punches Richard in the face to take him out after Richard exclaims “You?!” to Focke. Joel noticed that the punch was to Richard’s throat, rather than to his face. I missed that, but it’s an important detail. Since Richard knows Focke/Esau/MIB’s true identity, it’s pretty obvious that he would want to shut Richard up quick, fast and in a hurry. The best way to do that, and insure that he couldn’t talk even if the attack didn’t result in a knockout, was to take away Richard’s means of speech. Richard’s knowledge of Esau may also enable him to encant some sort of protection ritual. Regardless, it’s best for Esau’s plans if Richard was incapacitated and mute. Nice catch.

I don’t think Ricardus is going to be singing karaoke for awhile.

In last week’s column I mentioned that Desmond turned the failsafe key at the Swan twice – once to bring down Oceanic 815 and once to implode the Hatch at the end of season two. I stand corrected – Desmond didn’t turn the failsafe key when Oceanic 815 went down, he simply input the shutdown/release code after the timer had run into the red zone. I got several emails and comments about that. Way to keep me honest, people!

HoboTrashcan reader Meaty was the first of a couple of astute readers to mention that not only did Jack and Desmond have a red mark on their necks; fellow quantum leaper Daniel Faraday did, as well. Daniel got his red nick during the scuffle at the mechanic’s pool in Dharmaville during “The Variable,” when he was grazed in the neck by a bullet. This is a fascinating little detail, as Daniel and Desmond’s quantum strings are very closely entwined since Daniel advises Desmond to find his constant, and later utilizes Desmond’s ability as the Variable to alter the course of events. Desmond and Jack’s strings are just as closely entwined, making Desmond the middle man of the quantum jet set.

What’s important to note here is that Faraday’s red mark is on the right side of his neck, whereas Desmond and Jack’s are both on the left. However, we see Jack’s mark as a mirror image. Fascinating. That little detail could mean nothing; could mean everything.

There are several hundred other pressing questions and intriguing details we could go into this week (I didn’t even get to Claire and her “missing time”), and many of you have asked for certain things to be brought up for discussion, but those will have to wait until next time. Right now, I’m ready to enter my favorite quantum state – that of sound sleep. Until next week, keep thinking those thoughts, and if you have an epiphany tell me something good.

Namaste.

[Chris' detailed recap of this episode can be found at Hobotrashcan.com.]

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