Geronimo Jackson’s song “Dharma Lady” has arrived to iTunes, as promised by ABC in a recent podcast. The song is very similar to The Donkey’s “Excelsior Lady” (the music is almost the same, but the lyrics have been modified).

If you are from the US you can download it for free on iTunes, those of you who live outside the USA can listen to it on the audio player below (thanks, EliOndra!).

Geronimo Jackson – “Dharma Lady”

[audio:http://www.sl-lost.com/audio/dharmalady.mp3]

The Donkeys – “Excelsior Lady”

I wonder which version was used on the episode “316″ when Jin was driving the Dharma van

Related posts:

1. The LOST Initiative – “316″
2. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Easter Eggs
3. Episode 5.06 “316″ – New Promos

As you can see on the table above, we’ve compared your votes left on the Episode Threads‘ polls to IMDB and TV.com users’ ratings. Do you personally agree with the results? Sound off in comments!

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.05 “This Place Is Death” – Open Thread
2. “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” – Open Thread
3. Episode 5.05 “This Place Is Death” Promo #1

[hana-flv-player
video="http://static1.sky.com/feeds/obu_skyone/Lost/series%205/lost%20initiative/Show%2010%20Wednesday/show_10_download.mp4"
width="640"
height="355"
player="3"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
splashimage="http://www.sl-lost.com/vplayerHD.jpg"
/]

Source: Sky.com/Lost

Related posts:

1. The LOST Initiative – “This Place Is Death” – Midweek Edition
2. The LOST Initiative – “The Little Prince” – Midweek Edition
3. The LOST Initiative – “316″

In this week’s podcast we discuss the big questions from the episode “316″, talk about the solved mysteries and share some of the comments left by SL-LOST.com readers on the episode’s open thread.

[audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Campetin-Episode506316158.mp3]

Click here to download this Podcast.

Subscribe on iTunes.

Related posts:

1. SL-LOST Podcast – 5.05 “This Place Is Death”
2. SL-LOST Podcast: 5.02 “The Lie” – Rapid Recap, Thoughts & Theories
3. SL-LOST Video Podcast: “Because You Left” Recap

Source: Sky.com/Lost

Related posts:

1. The LOST Initiative – “This Place Is Death” – Midweek Edition
2. The LOST Initiative – 02/01 Video Podcast
3. The LOST Initiative – 01/25 Video Podcast

“For me, the coolest sets on this show are the ones we build” says Jorge.

Source: dispatchesfromtheisland.blogspot.com

Related posts:

1. New Photos of Jorge Garcia In Vancouver
2. Season 5 Sky One Banner Featuring Jorge Garcia
3. Photos of Jorge Garcia at ‘Peter and the Wolf’ Concert

I like marinating on the show for a few days and going back and watching the show again, especially after talking things over with other Lost fans.  Thanks to everyone out there who also comes on and leaves comments. I love hearing what other people are thinking as well.

Click here for my initial thoughts (the day of the show, immediately after it aired)

1.  I have been going back through some of the first four seasons as I was trying to find where Jack’s dad mentioned the grandfather Ray.  See my previous post, but the only time he’s mentioned is in the mobisode.  Anyway, it has me looking at things and thinking how it all connects.  The opening scene this week with Jack back in the bamboo had me look back at right before he ended up on the bamboo the first time.  There have been questions since Season One about how Jack was thrown so far off from the wreckage with only minor injuries.  While on the plane Jack is drinking heavily.   Here’s what Jack first tells Kate about what he remembers of the accident:

JACK [off camera at first]: We must have been at about 40,000 feet when it happened. Hit an air pocket. Dropped, maybe, 200 feet. The turbulence was: I blacked out.

Also, the flight attendant *slips* him two extra bottles of booze.  So we could almost assume that someone wanted to make sure that he wasn’t hurt in the crash and perhaps doped him so he’d pass out?  I think Jack may have *flashed* to the island the first time much like he did this time.  He blacked out just like this time too.  Coincidence?  The first time he would not have been mentally accepting of the flash whereas this time he’s coming to be the Man of Faith and would be more open to the idea that he got there through some type of time travel versus just being another survivor of the airline crash.

Oh, and we were missing Vincent standing there looking at him.

2.  Here we have a board figuring all the new numbers for us.  Will 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 ,42 be obsolete now?  If the flight coordinates that Mrs Hawking gives Jack indicate anything, they will be 1, 3, 14, 16, 18, 34.

3. Almost 50 years ago to the day that The Military took this picture of the island (from the date of the original crash, I mean).  Coincidence?  As Mr Eko would have said, “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.”

4.  How could Ben have not known about The Lamp Post?  I’m not buying it.  Maybe he’s never been in it (judging from the look on Mrs Hawking’s face when she’s opening the door) but I would venture to guess he knew it existed.

5.  What if Mrs Hawking is actually working with Widmore?  What if she stole all of Daniel’s work in order to find the island?  After all, Dan thought she was at Oxford, not in LA.  Maybe in some crazy attempt to use his work to get back she and Widmore were really responsible for frying Teresa’s brain and not Daniel?  Maybe they want him to think it was his fault to play him into their hands and further Widmore’s attempts to find the island.  Maybe they have some way to track the O6 and follow them back to the island.  It’s pretty obvious that it’s Dan’s work that is all over the chalkboards and we know he was headed to LA after he left Teresa.  Widmore and Hawking would have also known that he was leaving on the expedition to find the island so they can easily go to where Dan’s work was in LA and find the next window to get to the island.  They could use the O6 as their own guinea pigs to see if the theory of the Lamp Post station really works or if it fries their minds and they have to find another way back.

6.  Desmond makes a good point.  Daniel tells him that his mother can help them, not Jack, Sun or Ben.  They are using them but unfortunately I think Desmond’s piece isn’t over yet.  Actually, I’m glad because every Desmond-centered episode so far have been my favorites.

7.  They don’t recreate the circumstances of the original flight because Aaron is not there.  I don’t think that the six that did go (six because Ben went otherwise there would have been seven) end up in the same time and place because of this.  Somehow they are going to have manipulate time on the island to reunite.  Mrs Hawking said that the results would be unpredictable if they didn’t all go.  I guess we’ll see but I do say that little Aaron is going to end up there on the island at some point.\

8.   Ah Ben.  Always hanging around in the most opportune times.  I really doubt he’s praying here as much as he’s planning his next move.  Including the lovely story he tells Jack about Thomas.

9. The bunny at the magic show reminded me of some of the other bunnies we’ve seen so far.  Click here to watch the orientation video for The Orchid station.  Apparently #15 somehow makes it back but they can’t get them near each other.  Assuming this was some type of foreshadowing for if the Losties would come across themselves in another time.  And who could forget #8, the bunny that supposedly had the pace maker installed that killed it when it’s heart rate went too high (to scare Sawyer from escaping) ?

10.  OK, seriously, it just so *happens* that Ray has packed a pair of Christian’s shoes?  The guy only had a couple of shirts and pants and the shoes he picks to take aren’t even his?  Either Jack is the most naive person ever, or the writers have taken a serious short cut here.  It just so *happens* that Jack needs something of his father’s to put on Locke and it just so *happens* that Jack has a sentimental story about his father’s shoes?  This Ray guy better show up later for this scene not to be pure laziness on the writer’s part.

11.  What did Kate do this time?  There are multiple things that she could have done with Aaron and Jack really should have found out what happened.  Back in Season One he said he didn’t want to know what she did in order to be arrested then later changed his mind.  It created a rift between them for awhile.  I think the same thing is going to happen as I’m sure that the Losties on the island are going to ask where Aaron is.

The most likely choice is that she left him with Claire’s mum.  She could have also left him with whoever Sun has watching Ji Yeon or with Clementine (Sawyer’s baby’s momma).  The bigger question is why?  Did Sun somehow manipulate her into going back to the island to atone for *killing* Jin?  Did her guilt over knowing she promised not to bring him back get the better of her?  Or was it something to do with Widmore?  I’m sure we’ll eventually find out.

But, I think Aaron is going to show up on the island anyway.  They ALL had to go back and Aaron was one of the Six.  It can’t be a coincidence that Claire’s mom has the same attorney as Ben and that he conveniently led them to her.  So Kate knew where she was and knew that she’d take care of Aaron.  But, in the end if Claire’s mom does have him I think she’ll show up on the island with him.  No matter how, the kid is coming back.  He has to.

[SPOILER]

12. So Cesear (Saïd Taghmaoui) is also listed in the cast for next week. Assuming this means that he was purposely placed on the plane with the O6.  Maybe he’s in charge of tracking them and helping Widmore to find the island – maybe somehow transmit back to land their location?

[END OF SPOILER]

13.  If Cesear does travel to the island with the O6 then he must be a proxy for someone on the original flight, right?  Who would that be?  Was there a mole on the original flight?

14.  Here’s a thought … if the Losties have been shifting time and we assume that Rose and Bernard have as well, then where ever Claire is (if she’s still alive) then she should be shifting also, right?

15. I understand why Sun left behind her baby and went back to the island.  I don’t think that Sun believes that she’s going back forever, like Jack does.  I’m sure Sun has worked out something where she thinks that she can get back once she finds Jin.  There is no way she’d leave her baby behind.

16. Somebody turned in Sayid to get him on that flight.  I’m sure it’s whoever also talked Hurley into going back and I’m sure we’ll find out who that someone was very soon.

17.  Here’s another thought, wouldn’t someone at Ajira Airlines notice that five of the survivors from 815 were boarding the same plane?  They are boarding in LA so you’d think that as big as a story as it was someone might find it odd that the survivors of that crash just happened to be getting on a plane together.  I know if I saw them I’d be asking to get on a different flight.  And Kate must be using a fake name because she agreed not to leave the area as part of her plea bargain.

18. It’s sweet that Hurley bought all the extra seats that he could in order to keep people from getting on the plane knowing it’s fate.  78 tickets, wow!

19.  If all the passengers end up on the island, then we know it’s more than just those in first class.  You can see a lot of people back in coach.  Maybe it’s just those in first class.  See, you shouldn’t fly first class.

20. Whatever Ben had in the mystery box (remember, he had it hidden in the vent?) he must have in his carry on bag here.  Will be interested to see what it is.

21. Yeah Frank! I can’t wait to see him interacting with Sawyer.  The guy had to fly this plane considering he was supposed to be the original pilot.  I hope the smoke monster doesn’t get him like the first pilot.

22.  By the way, Ben’s mother could not have taught him to read because she died in childbirth.  Remember, Ben’s dad says he can’t celebrate his birthday because he can’t celebrate the day he killed his mother.  Not important to the story, just thought I’d point it out.

23.  Ben says that he didn’t know Locke killed himself… probably because Locke didn’t kill himself.  We see in next week’s preview that Ben is there when Locke is about to hang himself.  I’m guessing that Locke finds something out right before he goes through with it and changes his mind only for Ben to give him a little *help* hanging himself.  Ben talks in technicalities so really, he’s not lying to Jack.  And, it really wasn’t Jack’s fault because it was Ben’s fault!

24.  Is it a coincidence that right as Jack reads the letter they flash to the island?

[SPOILERS]

25.   Jin in a Dharma van.  In reading the descriptions of the next couple of weeks and seeing the promo pictures (don’t read on if you don’t want to know…)…

… it appears that when Locke turned the wheel he froze them in that time, which happened to be back when DI was still in full force.  The Losties on the island have somehow assimilated themselves with the DI.  Somehow Jack, Kate, and Hurley have landed in this time with them.

[END OF SPOILERS]

26.  As far as where Sayid, Sun and Ben are that is still up in the air.  They may be in the current time or they may just be somewhere else on the island.  If they are with Ben my guess is they can go whenever and where ever they want since  Ben seems to be able to manipulate his way around pretty well here.

27.  The Losties being back in time opens a whole realm of possibilities regarding course correction.  Also, we might be closing in on who is Adam and Eve back in the cave.  Right now, my money is on Rose and Bernard.

28.  And is Kate preggers – the proxy for Claire?  Does she find out while on the island and panics knowing she has to get the hell off the island or she’ll die?

gitsiegirl.com

Related posts:

1. 5.02 “The Lie” Recap By Gitsie Girl
2. 5.01 “Because You Left” Recap By Gitsie Girl
3. 5.03 “Jughead”: Initial And Afterthoughts By Gitsie Girl

Thanks for the video, Clay!

Related posts:

1. LOST: On Location – “The Little Prince”
2. LOST: On Location – Episode 3
3. LOST: On Location – Episode 2

Source: The Monitor

Related posts:

1. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts On “The Little Prince”
2. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts On “Jughead”
3. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts On “This Place Is Death”

Previously, on Lost: Ben’s been a busy little beaver, bribing, grifting and cajoling all of the Oceanic Six to go back to the island. Sun’s got a little idea of her own, though – an idea that involves popping a cap in Ben’s conniving ass. She has to put her cold dish back on ice, however, when Ben tells her he has to take her to see the magical time lady at the church. Jack tags along, because he hates being left out of ridiculous situations in which he can constantly call everyone crazy for believing the ridiculousness. At Mrs. Hawking’s neighborhood, Desmond shows up at the same time as everyone else and says he’s got some bizness to take care of. So, they get to it, and Mrs. Hawking gets all cryptic and just a bit pompous before the final thonk!

This week, on Lost: It all starts with the opening of an eye – Jack’s eye, to be precise.

Here we go, again.

He’s in the jungle. He stumbles to his feet. We get deja vu. In his hand is a torn piece of paper with the words “I wish” scribbled upon it. Off in the distance, he hears screams for help and, being a man of action, tears ass through the jungle to do what it is that Jack does – I mean, besides bitch at people and get all blowhardy. He rounds into a clearing and we half expect to see a big, hulking wreckage with mass chaos all around. Instead, it’s a cliff with a waterfall, and down below is Hurley, clinging desperately to a guitar case. Jack dives in, wrangles Hurley to the shallow end of the pool and then notices Kate is crumpled up on some rocks by the shore. She appears to be unconscious. It’s time for the swirling LOST…

46 HOURS EARLIER

Back in LA, Ben has lead Jack, Sun and Desmond into a church to meet with the ever-unsettling Mrs. Eloise Hawkings. Desmond, of course, has been formerly acquainted with the resident time queen, seeing as how she told him back in Season Three that he wouldn’t marry Penny and would end up on an island, pushing a button. Anywho, Eloise leads the quartet down some stairs and into a Dharma station called The Lamp Post. In it is the infamous pendulum we spied at the beginning of the season. It’s really quite large, the pendulum, and there are computers and little flippy tile boards like those down in The Swan, and the map over which the pendulum is swinging is very ornate and appropriately moody. It’s all very impressive, really. After letting all the impressiveness sink in, Eloise starts in with the science and we get to watch Jack’s eyes get all big as his tiny brain is filled with ever-increasing ridiculousness. Basically, the gist of Eloise’s information is thus: the island is unstuck in time and the pendulum exists to not tell where the island is at any given moment, but rather WHEN the island is, and the probability of where it will appear next. Like I said, it’s all very impressive.

All filled up with enough bullshit for one night, Desmond pulls a Jack and tells them all that they’re being used and he’s done with the island. Mrs. Hawking promptly tells him that the island isn’t quite done with him yet – which can only mean that pushing a button down in a hole for three years wasn’t nearly enough, and he must pay the remainder of his pound of flesh at a later date. Desmond storms off.

After Desmond’s tizzy, Eloise hands Jack a binder and points out a specific air flight that will intersect the next predicted coordinate of the island. He must be on that flight – he and all his friends. Eloise then takes Jack into her office and closes the door. Once there, she hands Jack a note – Locke’s suicide note – and informs him that he needs to recreate the original flight of Oceanic 815 as closely as possible in order for this all to work. Amazingly, after five seasons of running from smoke monsters, dealing with hostile, baby-snatching natives and watching Locke’s crazy-ass plans go from incredulous to impossibly true, Jack manages to listen. Eloise informs him that he must give Locke something of Jack’s father’s. Jack starts to be Jack again, what with all the doubting, but Eloise simply tells him “that’s why it’s called a leap of faith,” just as Locke said, long ago, down in that dark Hatch before that first button was pushed. What a long, strange trip, indeed.

Eloise dismisses Jack and he returns upstairs to the church. Ben’s there, and they do a little symbolic song and dance where Ben tells Jack the story of Thomas the Apostle and basically tells Jack that he’s going to have to believe, whether he wants to or not. He then tells Jack that he has to fulfill a promise to an old friend – in other words, he’s off to off Miss Penny Widmore.

Later, in a bar, Jack gets a little ringy dingy from someone at the old folks’ home, informing him that his grandfather has made the Great Escape once again. Jack goes over there and visits with his grandpap Ray, and finds a pair of old shoes in Ray’s suitcase. They’re Christian’s and so Jack asks if he can have them. Ray says of course.

Jack returns to his apartment and finds Kate lying on the bed, trying her best to get back to being that person who was on Oceanic 815 – namely, a manipulative whore. They get it on. Allegedly. He makes her pancakes with little smiley faces in the morning and she plays Ice Queen, and it’s like they have a little slice of the Island right then and there. The phone rings, which is apparently Kate’s Pavlovian response to get the hell out of Dodge, and Jack picks up the phone, alone once again. It’s Ben. Turns out he’s a bit delayed, what with all the killing and maiming he’s been up to, and he needs Jack to pick up Locke’s casket. Locke’s been in a meat locker all this time, staving off rot so’s he won’t be one of those unsightly undead walking around the island.

Man, Long Beach has really gotten rough since the last time I was there. I think we all know what mischief you’ve been up to, Mister Man.

Over at Ben’s butcher, Jack goes into the meat locker and opens the casket. He removes Locke’s shoes and places his father’s shoes on Locke’s feet. Jack smirks and tells Locke that wherever he is, he must be laughing that Jack is actually doing this. For the first time since he taught Kate that little breathing thing for when you’re scared, I actually like Jack. Just for a second, mind you. I half expected him to die right there, as actually liking a despicable character is totally the kiss of death on this show. Alas, he got right back to the land of the living by being his usual dick self when he put the unopened suicide note inside Locke’s jacket and told him “I’ve already heard everything you have to say.” Oh, Jack, please go die in a fire.

We’re at the airport now, and Jack’s trying to use this thing called “charm” to get Locke’s body past the Ajira Airways attendant. He notices Kate’s arrival at the gate, and finally gets cleared to fly, himself. Leaving the line, he is offered condolences by a man that is only credited as “Caesar” in the credits.

Obviously we’re going to see this guy again since he was in Vantage Point last year with our very own Matthew Fox. A far, far better movie than Mr. Fox’s trainwreck Speed Racer.

There are others that have made their way to the airport independently. Sayid pops up, handcuffed and being led past the security line by a woman marshal. Hurley also got the memo, it seems, as he shows up at the Ajira counter and makes sure that the 78 seats he bought on the plane remain his and his alone. Hurley is carrying some essential elements – a comic book and a guitar, presumably one of Charlie’s. They all board and there’s a brief family reunion until Ben gets on board and Hurley starts to lose it. Hurley was informed that Ben was not supposed to come on the trip. Jack assures Hurley that Ben needs to be there and is there to help, which Hurley knows is simply code for lie, cheat, steal and stab when Ben is around.

Hurley makes his way down the aisle with Charlie’s guitar. Looks like there’s quite a few pieces of the old gang on board.

They all take their seats and a flight attendant comes up to Jack to let him know that they found something of his in Locke’s casket. It’s the suicide note. Hah ha, you’re going to have to read it after all, you jackass. Jack grumpily sticks the note in his jacket pocket and the jet is up, up and away.

Once in the air, the captain comes over the intercom and introduces himself as Frank Lapidus. Well, I’ll be dipped in butter. Jack’s brain turns sideways and he finds a stewardess so he can say hello to his old buddy Frank. Frank comes out of the cockpit to say hi and notices all the other Oceanic Six members on board and simply says, “We’re not going to Guam, are we?” I love that guy.

Now back in his seat, Jack engages in a little repartee with Ben. He tells Ben of the suicide note, and Ben leaves him alone so that Jack can read it. Finally, with an air of defeat, Jack pulls the note from his jacket pocket, opens it and begins to read: “Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL.”

We wish so, too, John. We really do.

The plane gives a slight jolt and it seems to be about that time – time to go back. The turbulence picks up and soon the plane is engulfed in a white light and …

… and there’s a closed eye. It opens. It’s Jack. He’s in the jungle. He stumbles to his feet. We get deja vu – again. In his hand is the torn piece of paper from Locke with the words “I wish” the only ones left. Off in the distance, he hears screams for help and, being a man of action, tears ass through the jungle to do what it is that Jack does – try to help people. After the dive into the water to save Hurley, Jack heads over to Kate and revives her. The trio remark that they don’t remember crashing and there’s no wreckage. Jack wants them all to split up and look for survivors. They don’t get very far, as a blue Dharma van comes chugging quickly along the road by the side of the river. A man in a dashing Dharma jumper gets out and levels his gun at them. Jack, Kate and Hurley all stand there, dumbfounded. The camera pans around to reveal that the Dharma security agent is, indeed, Jin. And his mind is just as blown as ours.

Cue the thonk!

I’ve got to hand it to the creative team behind Lost – even though this episode would have been considered a cross between filler and transitional in the old 22+ episode format, they really made this one pack a punch. It not only got the Oceanic Six back to the island, it also introduced a whole slew of new questions that we’ll hopefully see answered over the next season and a half. Also, despite being a transitional episode, we have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get this party started.

DEM LINES, DEM LINES, DEM … LEY LINES
Well, I’m not usually one to say I told you so, but, dangit … I told you so. I’ve been harping about ley lines – those mysterious connections between key spots along the surface of the Earth – for at least a couple of seasons. In “316,” Mrs. Hawking explains that the Lamp Post – the Dharma Station that houses the probability pendulum – is situated over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy … a pocket which is connected to other, similar pockets all over the world. The Island rests on top of one of these unique pockets, and it presumably derives its power from it. Since it is connected to the other pockets of power throughout the world, it’s possible to predict both when and where the Island might pop back into our space-time continuum. Basically, in her description of these pockets of energy, Eloise Hawking is all but calling them ley lines, by their classic definition.

I go into much detail about ley lines and how they can relate to the Dharma Initiative and the Island back in the post The Head Case, The Ghostbuster, The Anthropologist and The Drunk. Feel free to go back and read some of that post, if you like, but in order to expedite things and allow me to do a little analysis in the here and now, I’m going to quote my own words. Then we’ll look at a couple of maps and you’ll see what I’m driving at.

“For the uninitiated, ley lines are a metaphysical collection of mapped coordinates that span the globe and intersect at selected intervals. These intersections are often referred to as places of power and mystery. Many believe that the Salisbury Plains of England are positioned above one of those intersections, and it is here that the Druids long ago built Stonehenge. Contemporary scholars and anthropologists have written off Stonehenge as an ancient calendar, but those with a little more imagination have never quite given up the idea that Stonehenge was a place of enigmatic energy that factored into the druids’ arcane rituals. The Great Pyramids of Giza are another such ancient site that supposedly rests upon one of these great ley lines.

“Ley lines were first given their name by an archaeologist by the name of Alfred Watkins in 1921, although their existence had been rumored for centuries. The basis of his theory of these lines was an ancient belief in a geodesic structure of the modern world. Many ancient civilizations often employed mathematically precise straight points between two locations on any created map, with many overlapping intersects. Later, when a full map of the known world began to take shape, the lines were extended on a global scale, with vertices naturally falling upon some of the more famous and regarded locales from the ancient world. Quite a few skeptics of the ley lines concept concede that it’s mostly human nature to plot straight lines between locations, but quite a few admit to the more-than-coincidental placement of many of these so-called ley lines on modern maps.

“For a closer look at the current, broad view of major ley lines, I have created a map based on the Becker-Hagens geodesic distribution maps that are accepted as canon by many ley line enthusiasts. Within each of the distinct geodesic areas, many subpatches of ley convergences can be extrapolated. In other words, the main divides of the earth can be further broken down into other lines that connect to a point, creating minor points of power. I wouldn’t waste too many brain cells trying to figure out this puzzle, as the main grid map will work fairly well for our purposes.”

Here’s the original map I made. On this map, the red dot referenced the spot that Charlotte came across the polar bear collar in the desert. That’s not important, now. What IS important are the numbers and the orange circles. Those circles are where I thought the Island might reside – at least for Seasons One through Four. We’ll revisit this map in a second and look at it in a different light.“

If you’ll refer to our main map, the main vertices are signified by white dots, with secondary vertices marked by squares. The vertices are all coded by number in the main Becker-Hagens map, and I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting our favorite numbers from Lost on the map I created. Whether these might correspond with Dharma locations is anyone’s guess – I doubt highly the Lost writers took a close look at this kind of map before setting up the mythology. However, it’s a fascinating scenario, nonetheless. The circled areas in yellow are three of the locations that many have speculated to be the location of the island. One, of course, corresponds with one of the fabled numbers. For those that might be a bit curious, and even know what I’m talking about, the number four on the map corresponds to the location of the great Tunguska blast of 1908. For the uninitiated, Google it. It’s worth it.”

Okay, now, with the full reintroduction of ley lines out of the way, and a look back at that map, we can now take a look at the map in relation to the probability pendulum at the Lamp Post.

Here, we go. That large intersection of lines made by the pendulum in the center is the spot with the highest probability of Island re-emergence. And now I’ll show you where that spot is on the Becker-Hagens map …

Here I’ve rearranged the map to create a continuous Pacific Ocean. Please forgive the messiness of a couple of intersecting lines. At any rate, the red line on the map corresponds to the main ley line that could match the trajectory of Ajira Airways Flight 316. It dips a bit further south than it should near Australia, but the important part is that the first leg along the ley line takes it straight through vertex number 16 – the vertex, coincidentally, that most readily matches the key spot on the Lamp Post map. Oh, and the main vertex at the end of that line, where it hits North America? That’s right near LA. More than likely the exact spot upon which the Lamp Post was built.There are two trains of thought we can take in further relation to the ley lines:

1) Might it be possible that the Island is able to spatially displace and reappear somewhere on top of one of these main vertices?

-or-

2) The Island only moves through temporal space, much like Mrs. Hawking suggests in this episode, and the Island can only shift spatially very slightly, in accordance to natural fluctuations in the energy vertex upon which it rests.

Right now, neither trains of thought are completely integral to our story, but they’re still fascinating to think about. And, hey, speaking of shifting only in temporal space, let’s move onto the next thing that’s probably bugging the crap out of everyone …

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE PLANE?
Surviving the crash of Oceanic 815 was a pretty improbable happenstance, to be sure. Surviving a second crash, unscathed, on board Ajira Airways 316, is bordering on the impossible. Unless, of course, you’ve got time on your side.

It’s logical to infer from Jin’s appearance at the end of the episode in a Dharma suit that Jack, Kate and Hurley have jumped back in time, probably sometime around the early ’80s during Dharma’s heyday. The white flash we saw during the plane’s turbulence was, of course, a time shift over the temporal vertex during the Island’s reemergence. Since the Oceanic Six are intimately entwined with the Island, they essentially jaunted down the same “leapline” as Jin, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Daniel. They all remarked, however, that they don’t remember crashing and that there was no sign of wreckage.

There are a couple of ways this all can go down. First, the plane actually did crash on the island, but we just haven’t seen the wreckage yet. For this to have happened, we would have to remember the “upside down house” rule I mentioned last week, where the plane would jump with the Oceanic Six because of their proximity. It’s also possible that only part of the plane actually jumped with the six, leaving the back half of the plane back in the “current” timeline. This means, of course, that it still crashed. The other way we can think of this is if the Oceanic Six, along with Ben, Frank Lapidus, the female marshal and Caesar were the only ones on the plane to timejump, leaving the plane intact back in the current timeline with no pilot, but a co-pilot that could take over. That would mean the plane actually didn’t crash and only the people I mentioned left behind on the island.

Of course, we still have that damn water bottle in the mix. You know, this one:

Unless that belongs to Hurley or one of the other main characters, that means that the plane went down sometime in the island’s history, and there are other survivors out there. When Sawyer, Juliet, etc. timejumped and came across the boat on the beach, they were also chased, presumably by the survivors of that Ajira Airways flight.

So, to summarize, I think the flight did go down, but it may have gone down in a different time than Jack and the others. Who knows, they could become the next set of survivors to make their way on the island, much like the Oceanic gang did, starting the time cycle anew.

As for how Jack, Hurley and Kate managed to survive a crash or a fall or whatever from that height, it either has to be some Island magic, or it has to do with the Earth being in a different spatial position when the six, or the plane, came out of its timejump. You may remember my reference to things shifting spatially because they reemerge in a spot in the Earth’s history when it isn’t exactly in the same spot from which it left. I talked about it a bit back in the review for The Little Prince. Check it out, it’ll explain how someone who is a mile up can find themselves suddenly a mile down when they pop out of the temporal continuum 20-some odd years in the past.

WORKING FOR THE MAN
From the looks of things at the end of this episode, Jin is in the employ of Dharma. Now, it’s possible that Jin could have stolen that jumpsuit, rifle and Dharma buggy, but it’s far more likely that he, Daniel, and the gang may be stuck back in the early ’80s, and they’ve infiltrated Dharma. It would certainly explain why Daniel is bebopping around down in the basement of the Orchid in the season premiere.

You remember this mind-blowing moment, right?

I believe that what might have happened when Locke turned the Great Wheel is that Daniel and Co. jumped to the early ’80s. After he unstuck the Wheel and created a flash, it may have locked all of them into that particular time period. After awhile, when it seemed as though they weren’t jumping any longer, they needed to infiltrate Dharma and see if they could access the Great Wheel once again, so that it might be possible to get back to their own time. Of course, they could all still be jumping and they set a plan in motion to infiltrate Dharma and get access to the wheel so that they could try and stop the Island from skipping. It’s really too early to tell, but it’s going to be an awesome set of developments now that the rest of the Oceanic Six are back.

As for what station Jin is working at, it’s hard to say. The Dharma logo on his jumpsuit doesn’t really correspond to any existing logo that we’ve come across so far in the show. Here, take a look:

The most likely station would be that of the Arrow, since he’s driving around, looking for disturbances and keeping the peace. Of course, in the season premiere, Marvin Candle is just making the orientation film for the Arrow (a lot of you needed to straighten me out, apparently, when I mistakenly mentioned it was for the Swan – well, he was wearing a smock with the Swan logo!), so it might not have existed in its full form just yet. There were probably some initial stations built by Dharma before they became aware of the “hostiles,” and before the “incident” occurred that turned the Swan from a research and science headquarters into the containment confines for the button. It looks very likely that the Dharma logo on Jin’s jumpsuit is a five-cornered star, sort of like what a sheriff or deputy would wear. Maybe it was a security station that was a precursor to the full-time security station of the Arrow. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I will say, however, that the people behind the show just love to screw around with us detail hunters. They purposefully turned down Jin’s collar to hide his full Dharma logo. Punks.

Oh, I almost forgot. You regular readers probably know that I really don’t spend a ton of time looking around online for Lost tidbits, but I did happen across something interesting. Someone had a selected recording from the episode “The Little Prince,” specifically of the moment that Rousseau’s French team is picking up a radio broadcast of the number sequence. Well, if you haven’t seen this or heard this already, it’s a dead ringer for Hurley’s voice. I’m embarrassed to say that I totally missed that. Now that Hurley’s back on the island and they happen to have timejumped right into the Dharma Initiative time, it would make total sense that the number sequence could have been put together by Hurley. That’s another example of a timeloop paradox, but we won’t go back into those right now.

[audio:http://www.sl-lost.com/audio/transmission2.mp3]

Was it Hurley’s voice on the recording the French team heard? Audio courtesy of sl-Lost.com.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
One other huge question that’s itching my brain from this episode is what the hell was Ben up to back in LA? The obvious answer is living up to his promise to Charles Widmore by killing Charles’s daughter, Penny. That’s a horrible line of thought to even follow, but it makes the most sense. Does Ben succeed? What’s happened to her, Desmond or even little Charlie?

Mrs. Hawking told Desmond that the Island was not finished with him yet, so he will likely make his way back to the Island before too long. Obviously, he wasn’t on the plane, so he’ll need to get back there some other way. He’ll also need a motive. I’m truly hoping that motive isn’t revenge, but it’s one possible reason. Desmond could have come around too late to save Penny from Ben, and he beat him to a bloody pulp before Ben dove off Desmond’s boat and into the water. If that’s the case, Desmond may be returning to the island for vengeance.

If Ben does get to Penny, the other reason that Desmond may return to the island is so that he can put things right. Daniel told Desmond that he’s a bit special, and the normal rules of time travel and temporal theory don’t seem to apply to him. Desmond may be able to change something in the past and create a different outcome where he saves Penny.

Of course, Ben could have tried to get to Penny, Desmond showed up in time, beat the ever-loving crap out of him, tossed him off the boat and sailed off on his merry way. In that case, the only reason we may see Desmond again is if Daniel asks for Desmond’s help yet again. That may convince Desmond that he can’t ignore the pleas.

STOP THE WORLD, THERE ARE TOO MANY QUESTIONS
Here’s a collection of some of my random thoughts, and answers to some questions that were brought up by my friend Sandy, and by Mr. Joel Murphy, of Hobotrashcan.com fame.

Why do you think Sayid is in custody?
I don’t know for sure, but if I were a betting man, I’d put down odds that Ben had something to do with it.

How do you think Hurley got released?
With a little help from his friends, of course. Namely Charlie, Ana Lucia, Libby …

How did Hurley find out about the flight? And has he known for a long time? It seems unlikely that he would be able to buy 78 tickets at the last minute, so could he have known before the rest of the Oceanic Six? (Or will having him secure all of those tickets at the last minute be something that the writers expect us not to question?) I guess the most logical answer would be Widmore told Hurley – or perhaps he sent Matthew Abaddon to talk to Hurley on his behalf.
Like I said above, he probably learned about all this from Charlie or Libby. He can see dead people, and they always have something interesting to say. As for the tickets – creative liberty, I would guess. It’s not very realistic, but they sometimes make crazy things happen just for Hurley.

What do you think happened to Kate and Aaron?
I’m pretty sure Aaron is back with Carole Littleton – his grandmother. At least for the time being.

How does whatever happened to Aaron play in to the psychic’s prediction that only Claire could raise him and Claire’s plea to Kate not to bring Aaron back to the island?
That’s an excellent question … one in which I will put some thought into once I go back and watch “Raised by Another” from Season One.

Do you think Jack got Kate pregnant on their last night away from the Island?
Yeppers, I do. It’d only be fitting. I’ll withhold any crazy theories I might have about their child growing up in another time and eventually becoming Jacob. Oh, crap, I just said it. Oh well.

Can you believe Sun deserted her daughter?
Yes, because she has hope that she can bring Jin back home. It’s a hard choice to make, but she had to make it for her family.

Why do you think Locke killed himself?
I don’t really know, but I’m guessing we find out next week!

Who was the shady guy on the flight that talked to Jack in line? Did he make it to the island?
For right now, all I know is that his name is Caesar. You can bet, though, that he’ll be back and he’s probably jumping with the Oceanic survivors since Daniel and Co. are, as well. I’m willing to be that he’s been on the Island before, too.

Do you think Christian will get his shoes back?
Haha … yes, he might just.

[SPOILERS]

Speaking of Christian, it will be interesting to see how next week’s episode pans out with Locke. From the previews, it appears as though Locke is resurrected once he’s on the Island. I figure most of you assumed that would happen. What I want to know, though, is if he will exist in a sort of semi-phase state as Christian appears to. If you’ll notice, Christian only interacts with his environment in a very limited way, and when Locke asks for help in the Great Wheel chamber, he can’t offer any. Is this because Christian is somehow “out of phase” with the normal spatial and temporal continuum? Will John be completely healed and restored to life as he was before he left the island, or will he exist as Christian does? This will be interesting to see.

[END OF SPOILERS]

That about wraps it up for this week. I covered a lot, but there’s still more thoughts a-bubbling. If any of you have some epiphanies, please let me know. For now, I will simply leave you with this:

You remember Adam and Eve from Season One, right? Well, it’s a pretty safe bet now that they’re a couple of the people we’ve grown to know and love. They’re the first evidence of time travel within the show, and it’s all going to come full circle before we reach the end…

Namaste.

Visit hobotrashcan.com to see Chris’ weekly LOST drink recipe!

Related posts:

1. “The Little Prince” Recap & Theories By Chris Kirkman
2. “This Place Is Death” – Recap & Theories By Chris Kirkman
3. “Jughead” Recap, Thoughts & Theories By Chris Kirkman

A few hours ago Jeremiah published his weekly LOST recap, and we know that you are dying to read Chris Kirkman and Gitsie Girl’s thoughts and theories on last night’s episode. But meanwhile, here are 16 links to several reviews from TV critics, journalists, media bloggers, etc.

1. Jeff Jensen for EW.com (read full review here):

It was certainly an episode explicit and implicit with deep thoughts and wild possibilities, but they were all in service of an ironic mission: Bringing Lost back down to terra firma after five episodes of challenging, far-out time-travel storytelling. ”316” — that was the title, and for many more reasons than one — was a proverbial pilot episode for a whole new chapter of the show. It effectively returned the series to a place where all fans — the in-too-deep geeks like me who want meaty mythological disclosures, as well as the normal people who just want powerful, character-driven stories — can find some common-ground appreciation. By reuniting the castaways in the setting we all know and love, and by conspicuously omitting key details from various character arcs (Why did Hurley change his mind? Who was that woman with Sayid? How did Ben get roughed up?) that will surely require some traditional flashback storytelling in order to fully reveal, Lost‘s time-traveling, time-looping, Back to the Future fifth season has now gone all Season 1 on us.

[More reviews after the jump]

2. Mickey O’Connor on TVGuide.com writes:

Well, we now know how the Oceanic 6 got back to the island, but because this is Lost and not Two and a Half Men, what appears to be the burning question is instantly supplanted by a more complicated one: Why did they go back? While Jack and Sun were already on board with Ben’s plan to return, all of a sudden Kate, Sayid and Hurley were all queuing up at the Ajira Airways gate, and we have no idea why. It opens up possibilities in the already-twisty narrative that give us much to anticipate about future episodes.

I won’t dwell on my futile Googling for a deeper knowledge of the title of this episode: “316.” Suffice it to say that not only is it the area code of Wichita, Kansas, and the year that Constantine attempted to end the schism between the Roman Catholic and Donatist churches (whatever that means), it is also the Ajira flight number… and the number of a very telling Biblical passage, that being John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We’ll get to see who Lost‘s resident Jesus figure is in good time, but in the meantime, Mrs. Hawking has something to tell the Oceanic 6 — and the audience.

3. Paul Levinson:

All in all, it was good to see some of our people back on the island – but it may have happened a little too fast. This was one of those episodes that made me wish I had the self-control to DVR this one, and the next few, and watch them all at once, in a more satisfying story arc.

4.Maureen Ryan for the Chicago Tribune:

For all the questions this episode raised, it built up the suspense nicely — by the time the Ajira Airways flight left the tarmac in L.A., I was quite excited to see what would happen next. And there was the deep weirdness of Jack changing Locke’s shoes, the pathos of Jack reading Locke’s suicide note and the slightly eerie yet sad visit that Jack paid to his grandfather, Ray.

5. Nikki Stafford:

Everything has happened before, and will happen again.
How much did I love that opening, with Jack waking up in the bamboo, the same eerie music, the same wind, the same calls for help. I had no idea it was going to turn out to be anything other than a re-creation of the pilot episode, until he got to the cliff. I thought, “Huh. The pilot episode always made it look like he came out of the trees and right onto the beach. And hey… wasn’t Hurley on the beach?” AWESOME. I know some people don’t like to be manipulated by their TV, but I LOVE it.

6. Jonathan Toomey for TV Squad:

Whether you’ve been prepared for it or not, Lost is becoming a very different show. I’m not bringing that up as a negative. I’m not bringing it up as a positive either. This is just the natural progression of what has become the most densely written sci-fi drama ever. Eventually, we were going to reach a point that just seemed utterly ridiculous even by Lost‘s standards.

Let me put it this way – for as far-fetched a show as Lost is (that isn’t a bad thing), I’ve never really felt like I had to suspend my disbelief to buy into it. With this episode, I did.

7. Alan Sepinwall:

While I’ve had some reservations about previous outings this year, “316″ is the first episode of season five to leave me feeling wholly unsatisfied. After that great in media res opening — which had Jack in a suit, waking up on the jungle floor again, in a way that briefly suggested we were seeing a flashback to the series pilot (though his haircut’s different and I think his shirt and tie were as well), before finding Hurley and Kate in the lagoon by the waterfall — it was an awful lot of narrative throat-clearing, punctuated with lots of teases for what I hope will be more interesting episodes down the road. Given that opening, and the fact that “Lost” showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were the credited screenwriters, I was expecting a whole lot more than what I got here.

The problem was the decision to tell the episode from Jack’s point of view. The issue isn’t Jack’s relative worth as a character. Lord knows I’ve complained about Jack-centric episodes in the past, but I think they’ve done some very interesting things with him in these Oceanic Six episodes. The issue is that Jack was the only character among those who wound up on Ajira Airways Flight 316 who had neither reservations about returning to the island, nor any logistical obstacles towards getting there, and so there was no story to tell here.

8. Patrick Kevin Day in the LA Times writes:

We’ve been building to this moment since the last scene of Season 3 — in the episode titled “316,” Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Ben and Frank returned to the island. So why did it feel so anti-climactic?

I think it was because so much crucial action was left off-screen, presumably to be revealed in a future episode. How did Hurley get out of jail and become so willing to fly back to the island? How did Sayid end up in the custody of law enforcement? Who beat up Ben?

It’s a shame we have to wait for those answers, because now that we know the Oceanic Six (three of them at least) made it back to the island, the questions of how they came to be there seem much less important. Somehow Hurley got out of jail, yes, but wouldn’t you rather see the series spend more time dealing with Smokey the Smoke Monster instead of expanding on scenes we don’t really need to see?

9. Thomas Anderson:

Lost has yet to produce a bad episode this season, and this one is no exception – aside from the premiere, it’s easily the best – and a delightful surprise is Eloise Hawking’s character – now that there’s been more revealed about her involvement with the island, she’s much more able to be mysterious with a hint of batshit craziness.  Kate and Jack screwing around again didn’t seem to do much for the plot – they probably both figure there’s not a huge chance they’re going to survive, so they were banking on the whole “last day on earth” scenario. However, it is intriguing what it sets up for when Jack and Sawyer make contact – Sawyer’s probably missin’ Freckles pretty bad by now, and he won’t be none too happy about Jack and Kate playing doctor.  An especially nice part of this episode was its focus on one central storyline – sometimes jumping through three or four different ones like the last few have was a little confusing, as it felt like we didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on how this was affecting each of the characters, but now this episode fixed that.

Why we needed to have that little intro at the beginning that gave away that they got to the island safe and sound is beyond me.  It could have easily been moved without any effect on the story whatsoever (losing that little “I wish” reference wouldn’t have been a big deal), and then there would have been slightly more tension, which could have made it an excellent episode instead of a very very good one.

10. Tim Goodman for SFGate.com:

I liked: Desmond sticking to his guns. Hurley protecting as many innocent passengers as possible. And, conversely, Ben saying “Who cares” when Jack asks what’s going to happen to all the other people. Locke being succinct. The arrival of Gaia from “Rome” (Zuleikha Robinson) to arrest Sayid. The Ajira Air women. And, I guess, Jin driving the Dharma bus. But honestly, aren’t there a LOT of those kinds of twists? Jack’s grandfather trying to leave the drudgery of the retirement community. The opening shot mimicking Jack’s original arrival on the island. The initial burst of excitement realizing – hey! – they’re back. And…that’s about it.

I didn’t like: Mrs. Hawking making it all too simple. Or glossy. Why not have her just say, “You know what? Just go with it.” The thing with Jack’s dad’s shoes. Alright already. Why not his watch? The aforementioned too-easy nature of making it all happen (we’re here, we’re boarding, we’re crashing, we’re back). Why that’s troublesome to me: Because it means how they got there will be told in traditional flashbacks. I prefer crazy time-shifting now. So, what – Sun leaves her kid in Korea? Kate dumps Aaron (probably with Aaron’s grandmother)? Hurley just shows up? Sayid is arrested and forced aboard Ajira (it’s only interesting in that in some way he’s a proxy for Kate and her original trip)? Having “that other guy” on the plane with them. Oh, great, more back story. Kate conveniently plopped on a rock instead of face down and drowned. Oh, I don’t know…

11. Ryan McGee on Zap2it.com:

Finally, off-Island action that comes close to approaching that on the Island. For the entire season, everything in Los Angeles has largely either bogged down the story or fit awkwardly into it. Glad to see the show is no longer putting a square piece into a circular hole. Now we can get down to Island-centric business. We will no doubt down the line learn what happened to Hurley, Kate, and Sayid that fateful night before boarding Ajira Airways, but it will be done so in the context of good ol’ fashioned Island living.

12. Stephen Lackey for mania.com:

The true magic of Lost happens when the show answers the right questions at the right time while sneaking in new intriguing questions at the same time. Some of the failed episodes of previous seasons answered nothing and pounded you over the head with more questions that just made the series even more convoluted. This week was an “edge of your seater” with some of the show’s most exciting questions getting answered. The creators of Lost are a clever bunch. They’ve wiggled in some hardcore science fiction elements and horror elements into a series that actually has a large mainstream fan base along with the rest of us geeks. Hopefully the character moments of the series will keep those fans hooked to the series and help them through the heavy sci-fi moments. The solution to how the island was originally discovered is fairly typical to any fan of sci-fi and the way back to the island makes perfect sense within this world. Jack knew it all along; he just didn’t know exactly which plane to ride and when to ride it.

13. Chris Carabott for IGN.com:

One of the more troubling moments from “316″ has to be Kate showing up at Jack’s home traumatized. This scene played out awkwardly and with little explanation as to what was really going on. Yes, she explicitly told Jack not to ask about Aaron but that mixed with what apparently was a night of sex doesn’t sit well. One thing we’ve learned about Jack over the years is that he’s about as stubborn as they come and I can’t imagine that he’d simply allow the subject to sit. It’s obvious however that Kate is highly traumatized in this scene and without knowing what happened to Aaron we don’t have a clear understanding of her motives. Lost is all about building mystery but the truth behind what happened to Aaron (Did she give him to someone?) is something that needs to be revealed quickly, otherwise it just looks like an awkward loose end.

14. Drew McWeeny:

Who’s got two thumbs and loves “Lost” more than caramel corn right now?

This guy.

This week’s episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, chief architects of my weekly addiction, and it’s got about a jazillion giant things going on it it.  Confirmations of theories.  Final moves of some major chess pieces.  New questions.  And an ending moment shocker that immediately suggest some big answers to the show’s big questions.

So, yeah… it was a good one.

I was taking notes in the dark on my little reporter’s notebook… something, I’ll point out, I never do during a movie in a screening room or a theater.  I find it too distracting.  With me doing this recap each week, though, I want to have a few things written down, things that jumped out at me as I was watching.

15. Rachel Dovey:

Lost has a long, complicated relationship with religion. While the show is not overtly religious, it is decidedly metaphysical, and not just as a sci-fi nodding to whatever else is “out there.” Smoke monsters, ghosts, baptisms, churches and priests with rosaries and biblical walking sticks have all populated the island’s lush environs since Season One.

It’s highly personal, but this has always made me slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s our rigorous separation of church and state that disallowed me from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in middle school, or the music industry’s black-and-white genres, marketing Switchfoot to a completely different audience than Iron and Wine. With a divider like the island’s electric-fence security system, I want my religion over here and my entertaining sci-fi over there, never the twain to meet.

But in a world where polar bears roam the tropics, this doesn’t seem a realistic option. And it probably shouldn’t be. Last night’s Lost pulled religious (primarily Catholic) themes into the mix again, and I started to settle into it, realizing that this show is all about that twilight zone between the real and imaginary, the sacred and the secular, the bizarre and highly mundane. It pushes us into those uncomfortable places, and perhaps therein lies its brilliance.

16. Jay Glatfelter for the Huffington Post:

Last night’s episode concluded where we started off: the Oceanic 6′s return to the island. Hurley, Jack and Kate seem to be together. We don’t know about the rest, their locations or the time period they are in, and to close out the episode we had a double take of Jin dressed in 70′s Dharma fatigues. This places the left behind Losties and at least Jack, Hurley and Kate stuck in Dharma time. How are they going to get back?

My question last week has been answered. I believe this episode gave us the foundation for the rest of the series. Enough new mystery and story for our Losties to get through. God, I love this show!

Related posts:

1. EW Reviews the Season 5 Premiere
2. Episode 5.06 “316″ – New Promos
3. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Promo #1

Lost has been very good at flooring me by the end of an episode but there’s never been one that made my jaw drop during the first 10 seconds. “316″ changed all that. It also changed my opinion of O6 storyline. The off-island plot hemmed and hawed for the first couple hours. Last night, it was suddenly kicked into overdrive.

It opened with an altogether surprising sight – Jack there on the jungle floor, his eyes popping open and adjusting to the island’s improperly scattering light again. It was, of course, meant to evoke Lost’s opening moments. The only difference was that, instead of a mini bottle of booze, Jack had the torn corner of a letter in his pocket. It read “I wish.” Then he heard Hurley calling for help. Jack found him in (Charlotte’s?) river, holding onto a Charlie-esque guitar case to stay afloat. He made a dramatic dive from the top of a waterfall to go after him. Jack pulled Hurley to safety, then went to check on Kate, who was lying on the riverbank. Just then Hurley’s van pulled up and Jin, decked out in a Dharma jumpsuit, got out. And that, in a nutshell, was all that happened on the island. Surprisingly, you won’t hear me complain.

Ben, Jack, Sun, and Desmond went with Ms. Hawking into the church basement. Her “secret lair”, as it turns out, is an off-island Dharma station called The Lamp Post. She said that this station was built over a small pocket of the same material found on the island. This connects to other deposits around the world and to the island itself. She told them that, years ago, a very smart man (my guess is Dan) discovered a way to track the island from The Lamp Post. The island is in constant fluctuation, it’s location is not set. That’s why they were never rescued, she said. Then, while doing a dangerous dance with that giant pendulum (seriously, I half expected one of them to get whacked by it), she told them what they must do to return to the island. She said that there was a commercial airliner, Ajira flight 316, passing through a window that might allow them to go back. She said that they must recreate the conditions of their original flight as closely as possible. Jack asked what would happen if they couldn’t get everyone to return. Eloise told him that the results would be “unpredictable”.

This got me thinking about Locke’s statement that the flashes on the Island were due to the O6 leaving. At first I just sort of brushed this off as hyperbole. But what if the time shifts were caused by Jack and company? Maybe the island has been changing the variables around the “Lefties” to compensate for what the O6 were doing in the real world, course correcting so that the Losties can stay together. If all six hadn’t come back, maybe they would have encountered Jin dressed like an 18th century buccaneer. Just kidding. Sort of. I also think that Sun, Sayid, and Ben didn’t land in the same time frame as the rest of them which would ruin my first theory. I’m keeping my options open.

We got a little bit of an answer from Kate as to why she suddenly wants to return. She abandonded Aaron (my guess is with Carole, Claire’s mom) and ran back to Jack. She said that if he wanted her to go he’ll never ask about Aaron again. Then they got busy. My friend Chris had an excellent theory about this. If John was a proxy for Christian, Kate is a proxy for Claire. The flight needed a pregnant woman onboard to recreate the conditions surrounding 815. She will fill that role.

We are left wondering what caused Hurley to change his mind. He showed up, though, Spanish comic in tow. This one was Y: The Last Man, issue number 15. It was written by Bryan K. Vaughan who is now one of the writers for Lost. The basic plot is that every male mammal on Earth dies mysteriously expect for one man and his pet monkey, It certainly echoes the pregnancy issues on the show. Could just be cross-promotion, though.

Sayid is escorted onto the plane in police custody, handily filling Kate’s original role since she’s playing Claire this time. The only real hint we get about why these two would go back was from Ben’s bloody face. It seems that whoever got to Hurley and Sayid really got to Ben. It’s kind of disconcerting to watch the master manipulator’s best laid plans go to waste in the real world. He certainly doesn’t have the power there that he had on the island. At least he will get back soon enough that his wounds will heal in days instead of weeks.

This was an amazing episode and one that seems to suggest that the roughest part of season five is behind us. It was also the sort of episode to inspire more theorizing than I have time to go into now. I wanted to get this recap out before the weekend, though. I have much more to say about “316″ but, unfortunately, somebody has to pay the bills. Check We Are Lost tomorrow for the extended version of this review.

Six out of five!

-Jeremiah

Related posts:

1. “The Little Prince” Recap by Jeremiah
2. 5.03 “Jughead” Recap by Jeremiah
3. “Because You Left/The Lie” Recap By Jeremiah

Source: TVbythenumbers.com

Related posts:

1. Nielsen Ratings For “The Little Prince”
2. Nielsen Ratings For “Jughead”
3. Nielsen Ratings For “This Place Is Death”

Here are some of the easter eggs we found on last night’s episode: “316″.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.03 “Jughead” – 455 HD Screencaps
2. Episode 5.06 “316″ – New Promos
3. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Promo #1

What did you think of the episode? Leave your opinion and theories in comments!

Episode 5.06 “316″

The way back to the island is revealed to members of the Oceanic 6, but there’s trouble ahead when not all of them wish to return.

Written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse.
Directed by Stephen Williams.

[polldaddy poll="1381477"]

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.04 “The Little Prince” – Open Thread
2. Episode 5.03 “Jughead” – Open Thread
3. Episode 5.05 “This Place Is Death” – Open Thread

Episode 5.06 “316″ – ABC Promo #2

[hana-flv-player
video="http://ll.media.abc.com/video/flv/394x296/LOST_0282_LOS19030_Flight_Promo_SD_fce605be-a6e0-4607-a71b-0cd6797595f5_1989345.flv"
width="500"
height="380"
player="3"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
splashimage="http://www.sl-lost.com/vplayer.jpg"
/]

Episode 5.06 “316″ – ABC Promo #3

[hana-flv-player
video="http://ll.media.abc.com/video/flv/394x296/LOST_0284_LOS19015_BacktheIsland_Promo_SD_d0f9c547-5c38-4d04-8134-987428cd15e4_1993147.flv"
width="500"
height="380"
player="3"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
splashimage="http://www.sl-lost.com/vplayer.jpg"
/]

Source: ABC.com

Related posts:

1. 5.04 “The Little Prince” – 2 Promos From ABC.com
2. Two New Season 5 Promos
3. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Promo #1

Source: DarkUFO

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Promo #1
2. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Canadian Promo
3. Episode 5.04 “The Little Prince” CTV Promo

Related posts:

1. 5.05 “This Place Is Death” – Canadian Promo
2. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Promo #1
3. Episode 5.04 “The Little Prince” CTV Promo

Episode 5.06 “316″ – Sneak Peek #1

[hana-flv-player
video="http://video.ll.facebook.com/video-ll-sf2p/v1182/174/39/1046150592312_19204.mp4"
width="500"
height="380"
player="3"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
splashimage="http://www.sl-lost.com/vplayer.jpg"
/]

Episode 5.06 “316″ – Sneak Peek #2

[hana-flv-player
video="http://video.ll.facebook.com/video-ll-sf2p/v1182/64/72/1046177752991_1910.mp4"
width="500"
height="380"
player="3"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
splashimage="http://www.sl-lost.com/vplayer.jpg"
/]

Source: DarkUFO

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.05 “This Place Is Death” – 2 Sneak Peeks
2. Episode 5×01 – Two More Sneak Peeks!
3. Episode 5.03 “Jughead” – Two New Sneak Peeks!

[audio:http://ll.media.abc.com/podcast/audio/itunes/LOST_507_audio_podcast_5877ab2e-0c3b-4f8d-a475-b234416259b8_1983897.mp3]

Source: ABC.com

Related posts:

1. Official LOST Audio Podcast – 02/05/2009
2. Official LOST Video Podcast – 02/05/2009
3. Official LOST Video Podcast – 01/28/2009