I have to give props to the writers for continuing to surprise me even this late in the game. My first guess was that the name of this episode alluded to a new Dharma station. Then, when the Dharma dudes discovered Horace drunk and blowing up trees, I thought LaFleur was Smokey. (A little out of left field, I know, but you can never be sure about this show.) But Sawyer? That never occured to me.

So how did James and Jin end up working for the utopian usurpers? Let’s say they couldn’t have done it without Juliet. I’ve been impressed with her Other ninja-ness since she decked Kate while she was bringing her a sandwich back in season 3. “LaFleur” revealed her sharp shooter side. The Lefties probably would have never made it out of that field if not for Juliet. She took out two Others before Sawyer could even ready his rifle for cryin’ out loud. I, for one, would love to see a Ben’s Boot Camp episode.

The episode also raised a new batch of questions about Dharma. What happened to Olivia? Why was Amy able to deliver on the island? Who’s her baby? Where’s Ben? What kind of weird thing happens to dead bodies on the island? And there’s no way that was really Charlotte, right?

Sawyer and crew finally landed in 1974. After saving Amy from the Hostiles, they are taken back to the barracks. But not before being knocked out by the sonic fence, of course. Sawyer feeds Horace a spiel about being survivors of a shipwreck. He told him they were looking for the Black Rock. This was enough to temporarily sate Goodspeed, but not enough to buy them a long-term stay. Horace told him the sub was leaving tomorrow morning and that they would all be on it.

That night, while Sawyer was filling everyone else in on the situation, Daniel saw a little girl who he thought was Charlotte. Charlotte was born in 1979. This is 1974. There seems to be a slight discrepancy. I can’t imagine that TPTB could goof up something as rudimentary as that. So, was the little red headed girl a red herring or has something happened that caused her to be born some 10 years early? I need answers.

Richard came strolling into New Otherton that night to make all of Sawyer’s dreams come true. James took the opportunity to tell Alpert about his excellent adventure. Realizing that Sawyer was waiting for Locke’s second coming, too, he basically let the picnic bloodbath slide. He said he would need Paul’s body, though. After a little hesitation, Amy agreed. She said that he would want to keep them safe. So just what do the Others have planned for the “meat”, as Miles would say? Interment doesn’t seem to be standard Other operating procedure. Remember Colleen’s watery funeral pyre? Maybe buried bodies are fuel for Smokey’s fire.

Sawyer’s nighttime tete-a-tete bought them two more weeks on the island. He still had to use his southern charm to convince Juliet to stay. (Apparently the fact that it was the mid-70′s was a nonissue for her.) Then two weeks turned into three years. My bet is that’s the last we hear of it. Tempus fugit, you know.

And so, in 1977, while Sawyer and Miles are picking up a plastered Horace, Amy is having his baby. Juliet reticently delivered the child. A boy. And he’s healthy. Sawyer’s theory that whatever causes death by pregnancy hasn’t occured yet is interesting to me. It’s just as likely, I guess, that the not-so-happy couple conceived off of the island. They can come and go as they please. Or maybe pregnancy issues are a result of the incident. Maybe Dharma “unstuck” the island and it’s constant time fluctuations prevent the unborn from sticking to time themselves. It still leaves the question of who’s the baby. I’m not even going to guess about this one. Frankly, I can’t think of anyone who fits the timeframe, race, and who’s backstory doesn’t contradict what we learned in this episode. (Just for fun, I first thought of Boone and then Thomas, Claire’s baby daddy. Their both too young, though, and Thomas is apparently Widmore’s grandkid anyway.)

What about Ben? He certainly would have been on the island during the three years that Sawyer et al. stayed with Dharma. But there was no mention of him. Make of that what you will.

Olivia? News at 11, I guess.

Now, I would like to ask you, gentle reader, to explain to me just how the Lefties were able to integrate themselves with Dharma and not change the past. I get how it wouldn’t change the future – course correction and all – but Daniel told them they couldn’t do anything now that they didn’t do then. So, what’s up with this?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the quick glimpse we got of the statue. It seems certainly Egyptian to me. I’m not particularly interested in it myself. It’s only the second time we’ve seen it in five years. My guess is it’s not really crucial.

Finally, even though I’ve never watched Lost for it’s romantic angle, I like the Sawyer/Juliet pairing much more than I do the Jack/Kate one. Sawliet are happy and productive together. Let Jater make each other miserable. They’ll love it. And I am pretty interested to see how their sudden return effects Sawliet’s blissful tropic life.

Three out of five.

- Jeremiah

wearelost.wordpress.com

Related posts:

1. “316″ Recap by Jeremiah
2. “The Little Prince” Recap by Jeremiah
3. 5.03 “Jughead” Recap by Jeremiah

The first time I watched this episode I was sort of underwhelmed. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of new information. I mean, we knew John went to the Oceanic 6, asked them to come back, and they said, “Go to hell, Jeremy Bentham.” Did we really need to see it? When I watched it a second time, though, I realized at least half of it was the third act. The entirety of Jeremy Bentham’s life and death could have taken place in that hotel room. And, as it was largely the extended scene between John and Ben, it was well done. Still, I’m not sure why the Suicide Showdown wasn’t the “present” in the episode. I think it might have felt a little less disjointed if John had spoken to the O6 in flashbacks.

On the island, the survivors of 316 have landed on Hydra Isle. It seems like all that rock breaking paid off. The plane is intact, it just skidded off a runway. The Ajirans have found a Dharma station with standard issue maps – Ben’s from season 3 – and weapons. There was a Life magazine with a full color picture of a “hydrogen test”. Inside was a quick glimpse of Julie Adams being carried by Gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon. She also played Amelia, the old lady at Juliet’s book club meeting.

We were formally introduced to Caesar and Ilana, the leaders of the Ajirans. I get a very Jack/Sayid vibe from Caesar and a Kate/Anna Lucia one from Ilana. They lie to each other about guns, seem confused, and find a “survivor” they can’t account for. Par for the course, island-style. Their Ethan Rom is John Locke, dressed like Jack Shephard and enrobed like Brother Campbell. Ilana asks him where he came from and what he remembered. He told her he remembered dying.

He spoke to Caesar, too. Something’s fishy with him. He looks far too comfortable behind that desk to have just crashed landed a day or so earlier. John told him that he’d been to the island before. Caesar told John that a big guy with curly hair disappeared in a flash of light right before the crash. John told him that he thinks he just figured out how he got to the island. Then Caesar took him to see the wounded. John found Ben among the injured. Looks like no Jacobian super healing for him this time around. John told Caesar he thinks he’s the man who killed him.

There was no triage the first time, save Edward. It’s like Widmore is trying to replicate the original flight or that like the Others are. Are we even sure that Widmore and Richard aren’t on the same side? If they were once his people, maybe they still are.

Off island, John landed in Tunisia, as expected. There were cameras set up around the drop zone. After night fell, he was picked up by Bedouins and taken to a field hospital. His leg was reset and he woke up hours later by Widmore. Charles said that he had been exiled by Ben and told John that he wanted him to be the new leader of the Others. John protested, saying that he had sent mercs to take out everybody on the island. Widmore told him that he was only after Ben. He asked John how long ago it was for him that he met Widmore on the island. John said four days. Charles was amazed. He said that John hasn’t aged a bit since 1954. He said that it has been three years since the O6 left and that he can get him in contact with each of them. This was really all John needed to hear and he set off with Abaddon, his chauffeur.

I know you’ll argue with me but this scene seemed to say that the past can be changed. Locke obviously didn’t speak to Widmore in the “first” 1954. He wasn’t born yet. They didn’t meet on the island for another 50 years. It also heavily implied that Richard is from the future rather than immortal.

He met up with Sayid in Santo Domingo where he was building housing. He said no to going back and suggested that John join him if he wanted to do some “real good”. He didn’t fare any better with Hurley who thought he was dead for the first minute they spoke. He seemed to be a little more receptive to what John had to say after a nurse confirmed that he was talking to a guy in a wheelchair. When he learned that he was with Abaddon, though, his mind changed. He told John that he shouldn’t be trusting that guy, stuck his fingers in his ears, and ran off.

John checked in on Walt while he was back in the world. The kid seemed a little standoffish. I’m pretty certain that he knew Locke was lying about his dad. Kate told him that he only wanted to go back because he never loved someone. John said that wasn’t true. He loved Helen. He has asked Abaddon to find her, but Matthew said that he couldn’t. John pressed him about it after speaking to Kate. Abaddon took him to her grave. He said that she died of a brain anyeurism. Very temporal displacement-y. John wondered if maybe it didn’t have to be that way. Matthew assured him it did.

As they were leaving, Abaddon was shot. A very freaked out John climbed into the front seat and sped away. A far cry from the island Locke who would run toward the sound of gunfire. He crashed a short distance away and woke up in, wouldn’t you know it, Jack’s hospital. John said it was fate and Jack said he just wrecked his car nearby. When John couldn’t convince him to come back he told Jack that his father sent him. This sent Jack into a rage and he stormed out.

That night John decided to hang himself, after having only spoken to the O6 once. Ben interrupted him and talked him out of it. He told him that Jack had booked a ticket for Sydney. Ben said that if he had Jack then he had all of them.  Coincidently, Ben overheard John say the same thing when he was spying on him and Walt. John told him that he was supposed to find Ms. Hawking. Ben flipped and choked him to death. It seemed sort of fitting, considering how John had his daddy taken out. Ben cleaned up the place and hung John’s body from the rafters.

This scene was slathered with Christian imagery. John’s arms outstretched, Ben at his feet reaching up to him, the giant cross on the ceiling. It feels like the show is taking the side of faith in this, its’ most scientific, season. It may be asking the fans who are turned off by the whole time-travel business to do the same. It’s too bad the producers’ didn’t have the same confidence with the classic present/flashback construct. This was not a bad episode but it could have been pretty good if it had had a better flow.

Three out of five.

- Jeremiah

wearelost.wordpress.com

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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

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Lost got down to brass tacks this week. And by brass tacks, I mean One-Armed French Dude. It was a great gag, on par with Arzt. The timing was impeccable. Montand was pulled into the “declivity in the wall” just long enough for me to think, Eaten, and then, That’s what she meant by ‘lost his arm’? before he called out for help. Which led to the darkly funny realization that he was just standing (or laying, squatting, what have you) a few feet down this hole. With one arm. Which later led to the genuinely creepy realization that something did happen to all of them down there and, in a moment, they were changed.

There were some updates on non-peripheral characters, too. Jack and Ben got a new recruit when Ben used his Dharma mind tricks to convince Sun to join the Go Back Squad. Here’s a woman with a gun in his face and every intent to kill him over her husband’s death. He not only convinces her to drop the weapon but to get in the car with him and let him drive her to see a woman who can prove that her husband, who was last seen 3 years ago on an exploding freighter, is alive and well. Which is two lies. He has the proof – Jin’s wedding ring – on him and the woman they’re going to see has no time for reunions. And he has the nerve to stop the van on the ride over just to call her an ingrate. Seriously, the guy is magic.

The Island 6 became the Island 5 when Charlotte finally succumbed to her time wounds. She was able to tell Jin not to bring Sun back and Locke how to get to the donkey wheel before she died. She also had some interesting departing words for Daniel, though. She said that she lived on the island as a child. Her parents were members of the Dharma Initiative but that she and her mom left the island and her dad stayed. Her mom would later try to convince her that the island wasn’t real, that she’d just imagined it.  That’s why she spent her life looking for it. And she told him that she remembered now a scary man who told her as a child on the island that she could never come back or she would die. She told Daniel that she thinks that man was him. Faraday: Actual-past Dharma volunteer or future-past volunteer? A few weeks ago, I would have said future-past, but I think my mind is changing. And I may be done theorizing anyway. At the rate Lost is spilling the beans these days, I won’t have to wonder about Faraday for more than a couple more weeks.

Locke finished his death march at the well Charlotte had told him to look for. Jin gave him his wedding ring and made John promise not to bring Sun back. He said for him to tell her his body washed up on shore and to give her the ring as proof. John promised only that he wouldn’t look for her. Then, assuredly and confidently, John climbed down the rope, ready to meet his destiny. Then there was a flash and the rope broke and John fell down and broke his leg. He was met there in the bottom of the was-a-well next to the ancient time machine by disgraced, alcoholic L.A. surgeon Christian Shephard. He got a tongue lashing for sending Ben to do his dirty work before Christian told him it’s not too late. Ben, it seems, didn’t lock the donkey wheel back into its’ proper position after use. John had to finish pushing it. I hope it’s Ben’s “oversight” that’s been causing the time flashes. That’s a scene I can’t wait to see. I can hear Ben’s  I-totally-did-it-on-purpose “oops” now.

Locke’s departure made the I5 the I4. Sort of an odd crew we’re left with. Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Faraday. Only one original Lostie. Wow. And, of course Rose, Bernard, and Vincent, where ever they might be. That, in fact, is my biggest question right now – where’d they go?

This was a much stronger episode than the last one. Death, murder, madness, history, lies, manipulations, Smokey, and One-Armed French Dude? Now, that’s what I call Lost.

Five out of five

-Jeremiah

wearelost.wordpress.com

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3. “Because You Left/The Lie” Recap By Jeremiah

I’m not looking forward to writing this. Normally Lost leaves me breathless and I stumble over my words later trying to tell people about all the cool stuff that happened. Those are the “Through the Looking Glass”/”The Hunting Party”/”Walkabout” episodes. Then there are the “The Other 48 Days”/”Eggtown”/”Stranger in a Strange Land” variety, the ones that feel unnecessary or padded. For me, “The Little Prince” fell into the latter category. And yes, this coming from a guy who just put a season two episode on his list of favorites. Don’t get me wrong, it had it’s moments (Kate in the jungle, the Ajira wreckage, Jin!) but it also had a lot of O6 set up. While I’m confident the off-island plot will pay off, it will take a while to get there. Meanwhile, (doing my best Karl impression) The island plot is packed with revelations! The island is packed with revelations right now! So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little put off by real world shenanigans.

This episode found Kate searching for “The Client”. You know, the one who sends attorneys to a person’s home to obtain a blood sample that will then be used to manipulate said person into giving up custody of a child rather than just file for custody of the child and let the courts sort it out? After talking with Norton (and getting nowhere) and following Norton and finding Claire’s mom (and realizing that she knows nothing), she finally runs into Ben. She hadn’t seen him since she left. Probably tried to forget about him, or thought that he was still on Weirdo Isle. Her brain starts to melt a little. She accuses him of trying to take Aaron. And Ben cops to it. Plain and simple, tells her he sent the lawyers.Question: was Carole Littleton just an overwrought “gotcha” or will she now have an expanded role in the show?

While Ben was at it, he should have told Kate how incredibly naive it was for her to not see this coming. She is only a piece in Ben’s epic game of Risk. It’s a fate I would like her to come to terms with quickly. I can only watch her play the fool for so long.

The same goes for Sun. Her sudden thirst for blood is borderline ridiculous, the fact that Ben cut open Keamy’s throat triggering the explosion that “killed” Jin, notwithstanding. There’s just no way she’s going to murder Ben. Then who would save the world?  How would she even know what he looks like? Has she ever seen him in real life or just in spy photographs?

And Hurley. He goes to jail for killing three people but will apparently be released because the first victim was murdered while he was still in Santa Rosa. What about the picture of him covered in blood and holding a gun over one of the dead guys? Maybe the rich really do get away with murder in L.A., maybe Norton convinced the prosecutors that the pic was just really well Photoshopped. Hopefully this won’t be glossed over, but I can’t imagine the writers will spend too much time springing him from the joint. (Doing my best Desmond) What did one Lost fan say to the other Lost fan? Smells like padding.

Luckily, we have the wickedly unstable island to feast on while Ben readies his team for Season V, Act II. This week, we learned the nosebleed of death is spreading and Faraday believes it has to do with the amount of time a person has been exposed to the island. Miles thinks he’s made a mistake with his calculations. He and Charlotte are the only two with the symptoms (or so he thinks) and they’ve not been there nearly as long as Locke and company. Faraday asks if he’s sure about that. Score one for the “Miles is Chang’s Kid” theory. Does this mean that Faraday has already met Pierre, already been down inside the Orchid? If so, did he flash into the past by himself? And, if so, when? Or, is he really Dharma? Also, why is Miles pretending like he doesn’t know Charlotte was born there? Does he think that he’s withholding that from Faraday and why?

Juliet is beginning to suffer temporal displacement, too, leaving only Dan, Locke, and Sawyer unharmed. I have several theories about this. One, it’s magical island hoo-doo. Always reliable. Two, they were all exposed to varying degrees of radiation – Faraday at Oxford, Locke at the hatch, Sawyer during the crash – making them more or less immune. Three, they get sick next week and thus, when Eloise told Ben he had 70 hours, she didn’t mean before the island moved again. She meant before the people left behind die.

At one point, the Losties flashed to their own recent history and we got a glimpse as to why some folks would not want to change the past. Locke says his reason is because the past is what made him who he is today. Sounds like inspirational speaker babble to me, which may be exactly the role John needs to play right now. Sawyer says only, “What’s done is done,” which, while flimsy, at least sounds like the old, obstinate Sawyer we all know and love. I think this is hinting at an upcoming division among the survivors. We’ve seen science vs. faith. Get ready for relive vs. revise.

When the islanders get back to camp, they find it’s very old. The food is gone and the cans are rusty. They also find an outrigger with an Ajira water bottle inside. Hello, future. There is speculation that Ajira is the airline that brings the O6 back. Fine. But Dharma food lasts forever and so must the packaging. I bet dollars to nickels if the I6 had gotten to talk to whoever was shooting at them before the last flash, they would have said, “Fifty years from now, this island is still here.” Question: Where the hell are Rose and Bernard?

Finally, the last flash. It’s 1988. A shockingly young Rousseau and her team wash ashore, a shockingly roasted Jin in tow. This scene does nothing but drag up new questions. Like, how long had he been out there in the water? Who sent teenagers to find this island? How is this going to change the future? They didn’t seem to have 16 years worth of supplies on that life raft, so where did Danielle get all her stuff from? Does this make Jin’s flashback from “Ji Yeon” an overwrought “gotcha”? And, will this please be the weakest hour of season five?

3 out of 5

-Jeremiah

wearelost.wordpress.com

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If you watched the enhanced version of “The Lie” tonight, you were treated to a couple Easter eggs. OK, maybe only one counts. First, we learned that Ms. Hawking’s first name is Eloise. Sound familiar? Vaguely rat-like? It’s the same name given to the mouse Dan “unstuck” from time at Oxford. Second, did anyone else see Walt in that Tyson chicken commercial? Alright. It’s not directly related. It was weird, though, right?

Those of us who felt overwhelmed by the time jumps in the season opener (myself included), will be glad to know the island cooled it with flashes this week. This revealed an interesting new spin on the storytelling this year. It seems likely that the island will stay in a particular time period long enough for us to get a convenient history. This episode also felt like it had more of a classic Lost structure as its’ flash-forwards centered on one character. It doesn’t mean the paced has slowed any, though. What do you expect from a TV show that begins with a woman whom we’ve never seen pregnant in labor?

Penny gave birth to a remarkably clean little boy on their boat. Turns out it’s not anchored in the Mediterranean. I’m not sure where it is, but then, neither is Widmore. Penny hasn’t spoken to him since Desmond’s return. They name the boy Charlie and the three of them live on this little boat for three years. When Charlie is older, Desmond tells him about a magical island with monsters and deep lochs: Scotland. It’s clever wordplay. Our island has it’s own monsters and deep Lockes to contend with.

When Desmond finally, in 2007, remembered meeting Daniel at the hatch, Penny asked the question on everyone’s mind. Why now? He says he doesn’t know but that he has to find Daniel’s mom. He only has to go to Oxford. He’ll be done with this today, he says. Obviously Desmond and Penny don’t stay in one place too long. They are currently docked in England. Charlie was born some place South Pacific-esque. Desmond says he’s not going back to the island. Strange, then, that he spends all his time doing the thing that got him there in the first place – sailing.

There’s no record of Faraday at Oxford, or at least that’s the official word. And it seems Des is suffering some memory loss as he couldn’t give the clerk any extra information. The year he met Faraday, for instance. Feeling suspicious, Desmond breaks a fumigation seal on Dan’s lab in the attic of the physics building. The chalkboard has been erased but all the equipment is there. He finds a picture on the floor of Faraday and an unknown girl, the glass broken. A maintenance man enters the lab. He tells Desmond he’s not the first one who’s been poking around and that Faraday’s record at Oxford was erased after “what he did to that girl”. Desmond agrees to not tell anyone what he found.

Desmond then goes to find Teresa Spencer, presumably the girl in the photo. She seems to have symptoms of temporal displacement. Her sister tells him that Daniel abandoned her and that Widmore, who’d funded his research, was covering Teresa’s medical care.

Desmond goes to Widmore for answers. He tells Charles what he’s learned and asks how to find Faraday’s mother. Widmore tells him to keep Penny safe. He says the battle for the island goes back many years and that he and Penny are not involved. He gives him the address. Desmond would later lie to Penny, telling her Daniel’s mom is dead. She sees through it. She says they’ll all go to find her, together.

Back on the island, Miles, Charlotte, and Faraday, along with the remaining redshirts, are hiking to the creek to meet Sawyer, Juliet, and Locke. The redshirts are quickly blown away when they set off a series of mines. A group of people, later identified as 1950′s-era Others, ambush the freighter folk. Miles says Faraday is the leader. The Others mistake them for U.S. military, a recent enemy of theirs, and take them to the island’s own Dick Clark – Richard Alpert.

The U.S. military had been planning to use the island to test a H-bomb. The Others had killed the most recent invaders but were left with one huge problem. Like the dynamite in the Black Rock, a cracked and leaking nuclear warhead named “Jughead” threatened to detonate at any time. Dan convinces Alpert that he can help by telling him he loves Charlotte, basically. I was reminded of the scene from early season 3 when Danny asked Kate if she loved Sawyer while he was beating up on him. I’ll never understand these people.

Meanwhile, Sawyer, Juliet, and Locke are also waylaid on their way to the creek.They discovered their assailants were Others when they spoke Latin. Juliet said all Others speak Latin. “It’s the language of enlightenment” Cunningham tells them they’re wasting their time. Their friends have already been captured. Juliet asks him to take them to Richard. She has him convinced when Jones breaks free and snaps Cunningham’s neck. John lets Jones escape. When Sawyer asked why, he said Jones was one of his people.

They follow Jones back to the Others’ camp. Locke decides to finish the conversation he was having with Alpert 50 years from now. Sawyer tells him he’ll just get them killed. He and Juliet go after Faraday who they believe is being led into the jungle on a “death march”.

Locke enters the camp yelling for Richard. Jones points his gun at him. John tells Richard that Jacob sent him. Richard calls Jones “Widmore” and tells him to put the gun down. John says that he is their new leader. Richard shrugs off this idea, telling him that Mittelos Leadership Academy starts at a very early age. Locke tells him that he will be born three-years from now, May 30, 1956. Check it out if he doesn’t believe him. (You will remember this thing which has not happened yet as “Cabin Fever”.)

Dan is taken to the device by Ellie. He tells her that she reminds him of someone, likely Teresa. He tells her how to patch the bomb. “Then,” he says, “bury it.” She doesn’t believe his story and pulls her gun. So, he gives her the old I’m-from-the-future-and-50-years-from-now-the-island’s-still-here line. Just then, Sawyer and Juliet sneak up behind Ellie and she drops her gun.

When the island begins to flash again. John tries again to get Richard to tell him how to get the Oceanic 6 back, but the answer to that question is not to be found here. After the time jump, the show cut back to Sawyer’s group, which included Miles and Charlotte by this time. Dan tells Charlotte that he meant what he said to Alpert about loving her. Then Charlotte falls over, half-dead and suddenly bloody.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I liked this episode much more than the first two. It was more focused and the time travel elements were expressed better. It also may have contained more new information than “Because You Left” and “the Lie” combined. If the writers can keep this up, they might just top season four.

Five out of five.

-Jeremiah

wearelost.wordpress.com

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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!

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