Ok, so first off, we’re playing the “where is Claire” game again? But this time, instead of being drugged and taken into the creepy Baby Hatch she goes off willingly with Christian Shepherd AND LEAVES HER BABY? Something doesn’t seem right at all about this. After all, Christian Shepherd is supposed to be dead and why would Claire leave her baby? I don’t have a clue.
But the question now is impossible to avoid: are they all dead? Did none of them actually survive the plane crash? I want to say no, and that it’s all just a nice bit of writing to throw everyone off the real path, but after tonight’s episode I’m not so sure. They’ve had dead people show up on the island before, but it was always attributed to a manifestation of the Island, perhaps even the Smoke Monster, but now they might actually be dead people. In the preview for next week the guy in the Darmha jumpsuit (was it Ben’s dad?) tell’s Locke he’s been dead for 12 years. The, “they’re all dead” idea would explain why Michael can’t kill himself and why Tom said the Island won’t let you die, because you’re already dead, but I don’t really buy it.
It isn’t something that can be explained through science/psudoscience, which is what the producers have said all along. It also seems like a cheap copout to give into the whole, “it’s all been a dream” or “they’re all dead” storylines. Almost cliché. I’m not going to believe it because the quality of the writing so far this season has been incredible, and to fall into such a cliché seems out of character. Why would they take the time to show a dead and burred CFL and Carl (which was pretty nasty) if we’re to believe that they are all already dead? My guess is we’re being set up for something big to happen for the season finale. And unless it’s a flash-forward where Jack takes off his shirt and doesn’t have an appendix scar… well I don’t even know what would prove they all died.
EDIT: Ok, so after I just read Brian’s great Instant Reactions I realized that the entire opening of the show featured a shirtless Jack in the future without a scar. Does this prove they are all dead? I still don’t think so. It gives the idea more credence, especially the idea that the six “survivors” are actually dead (see below), but I still don’t think it sells it. Maybe we’re looking at parallel universes and the crew from Sliders is going to show up at some point looking for a way home. Yeah, I’m that big a nerd.
EDIT 2: Alright, well Brian came through again and proved his instant reactions wrong by showing that Jack did have an appendix scar, although a very small/faint/nearly impossible to see. Way to go LOST crew. You had us going for a few days which was your plan all along. You’re pretty slick!
The real question from this episode is what’s the deal with Christian Shepherd? We know that he is both Jack and Claire’s father and that he had a drink with Sawyer right before he died… we also know that he may or may not have been the creepy guy sitting in the rocking chair with “Jacob” and that he seems to roam the island at will and, now the future too. His return tonight is important, and will be important for the rest of the story, but I can’t seem to figure out why. Perhaps he was a former partner of the Hanso Foundation and has inadvertently (or maybe not) brought his family to the Island and stuck them right in the middle of the Ben vs. Charles Widmore war. I don’t know. His puzzle piece just doesn’t seem to fit.
Piecing together the timeline this episode takes place somewhere after the Kate trial and before the season finale from last season. We learned that it was Hurley who sent Jack into his depressive tailspin that lead to him wanting to kill himself. We learned that Kate chose Jack, more or less, because Sawyer chose (interesting word usage) to stay on the island. We learned that Hurley’s visit from Charlie earlier this season was actually just the first of many, which lead him to deduce they never survived. Interestingly enough Hurley specifically said the Oceanic Six all died and not the people on Oceanic flight 815. So perhaps the people survived the plane crash, but somehow the six (actually eight though two died “in the water”) that left the Island actually died? Maybe that’s why Jack wanted to get back so badly. That would actually work better than the Island people are dead.
One thing I felt odd, or out of place, tonight (other than Bernard proclaiming that the medical crew was back from their mission at the precise moment the commercial ended) was that Jin and the ginger scientist had a heart to heart in Korean and that Jin want’s Sun to leave the Island without him. After all that has gone into bringing the two back together, it seems very strange that Jin doesn’t seem to want to leave the Island with Sun. Like the reappearance of Christian Shepherd, I don’t really see how this fits.
I don’t know. Overall tonight’s episode started out pretty slow, had a few building moments of suspense, but in the end didn’t really go anywhere. Perhaps next week, when Locke (seemingly) finally makes it to the Temple, we’ll get some answers. Though, I’m pretty willing to commit 100% to the season finale is the Oceanic Six leaving the Island for good… and not to the freighter, to the real world. Which means we’ll see just with whom (most likely Widmore) and why they make whatever deal they made to keep everything quiet. Mark it. I’m going all in on that one.
~ fin ~
LOST was back tonight with a shear vengeance. If you don’t want any MAJOR spoilers, then stop reading.
Ok, so now we know how Ben was able to convince Sayid to work for him… Widmore’s people killed Sayid’s woman and bam, grief becomes anger, anger becomes vengeance and all of a sudden Ben has the perfect pawn. However, we learned that Ben is no spring chicken himself. Somewhere in Ben’s island life he was trained in some sort of high end combat. When he took out those guys on the horse, I knew we were in for one great episode.
Rules
It looks like Widmore, who’s corporation was a partner/ran the Dharma Initiative at one point or another still holds a grudge for Ben “stealing” the island during the “purge” all those years ago. Evidently they had some sort of rules established that Widmore broke. I assume it involved each others families. It seems Widmore was once on the island because when Ben had the opportunity to kill Widmore in his bed, he said he knew he wouldn’t be able too. Since the island won’t let some people die… well, Widmore must have had some sort of interaction with it. Since the rules are now gone, Ben is on the hunt to kill Penny, which should make things interesting with Desmond.
Hidden Island
Despite the freighter showing up on the island’s doorstep, and at some point taking the Oceanic Six to safety, evidently the island is still hidden from the rest of the world. How? I don’t seem to have any clue.
Smoke Monster
Ben evidently lied when he said he had no idea what the smoke monster is because he evidently has the ability to summon it like a guard dog — a strong, powerful, large, black smoke monster guard dog. It is proving more and more evident that Ben knows much more about that island then he lets on.
Travel
Ben clearly has the ability to travel to and from the island using some sort of worm hole or warp or something. It was hinted at when the scientist chick found the polar bear skeleton in the Tunisian desert, which just happens to be where Ben arrived. There is an idea floating around the interwebs that the island sits on a vile vortices which connects various points around the globe through a warm hole. It’s begging to look like that’s actually the case.
Death
A lot of people out there believe that Clare bites the dust at some point since Kate has Aaron in the future. I don’t believe this and think that Kate stole Aaron but it seems I’m few and far between. Though the whole “Clare eats it” idea was played with tonight when her house blew up around her. They teased the idea for one commercial break before she was found safely under a blanket in the middle of the blown up house. Cheers writers. On the other hand, the writers didn’t pull any punches when it came to Ben’s daughter, Alex. The commandos called Ben’s bluff, and actually killed her setting off the chain of events that leads to Ben treating to kill Penny Widmore.
The Shape of Things to Come
It looks like the shape of things to come for our island dwellers involves Locke, Ben and Hurley visiting Jacob for some advice as to what to do next. I expect them to visit the Temple thereafter to find the other Others, along with Alpert who could probably do a whole bunch to help explain things considering he doesn’t seem to age. It also looks like, based on the preview for next week, that Jack is extremely sick (could this be the first sign that the island won’t let him die?) and the beach camp, which is now the only camp left, is going to start finding a way to fight back against their new enemy — should it come their way. I would say they would try to get some answers from the strange scientists, but conveniently Jack’s going to rupture his appendix which will require their attention. It’ll be interesting to see what their real purpose on the island is and where their true allegiance lies.
This was one killer episode and is actually just another great chapter in the best season of LOST on TV yet. The shape of things to come for LOST look very, very good.
~ fin ~
Spoiler warning…
Tonight’s “mid-season finale” promised two things: Michael’s story and the death of a character. We got both of those. First, Michael’s story.
So despite the heading Ben gave Michael being different than the one that the helicopter pilot had, Michael and Walt did make it back to New York. Though Walt no longer wants to speak to Michael because he knew how they got off the island. Michael wants to kill himself but evidently can’t because, well the Island won’t let him. What? That’s right. The Island won’t let him die. Evidently this is common, as Mr. Friendly points out. Apparently the Island has a task for Michael to complete and he can’t die until it’s done. She know we know why Michael is on the boat and what he’s supposed to do. Though, in an ironic twist, Sayid decides that working for Ben is a bad thing and turns Michael into the crazy captain. What happens next? Well, there is cliff hanger part one.
Mr. Friendly was also able to come and go from the Island at will. That’s not really new, but this was obviously AFTER the sub was destroyed and all the communications on the Island were destroyed. Ben still has some secrets he isn’t sharing, like how he travels at will. This whole story-line worked, but it didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know.
The only weird thing is that Michael saw a vision, in the form of Libby twice. When she showed up on the boat she told Michael NOT to push the button (nice way to work an “execute” button back into the story). So here we have two weeks in a row where our Losties have seen people telling them to do something contrary to what Ben has instructed. Could Jacob be trying to get people to “help him” considering he’s no longer talking to John Locke? I don’t know.
“Someone will die.” That’s what the previews said. Well, someone did… Carl — Alex’s boyfriend. Alex, Carl and CFL were traveling to the Temple, to meet up with the real others in an attempt to survive the boat’s not-so-friendly “rescue” party. But during a 2-minute water break in the last seconds of the episode (predictable?) Carl is shot with a seemingly high-powered and silenced rifle. Momently later, after a semi-emotional “I love you” CFL is also gunned down. Not knowing where the bullets are coming from Alex surrenders yelling that she is Ben’s daughter. Cliff hanger part two.
Here’s what doesn’t make sense. We are obviously supposed to believe that our traveling party was taking fire from the boat-people. It would obviously explain where the helicopter went and the seemingly lack of people on board the boat, but I don’t buy it. Even if the “rescue” party is there to kill everyone but Ben, why would they just open fire on everyone — wouldn’t they want to see if these people knew where Ben was before shooting them? I don’t know, it just seems too set easy.
So now we wait, until April 24th, for the remaining six episodes of this season… before waiting another nine or so months for the next season. Let the speculation begin!
~ fin ~
Here is your weekly spoiler warning. Stop reading now if you’re on the west coast and don’t want to know what happened in tonight’s episode of LOST.
Alright, well that was like a punch in the stomach. Going into tonight I had figured that only Sun or Jin had survived to join the ranks of the Oceanic Six, not both of them. My basis for this was that Clare’s child, whom I believe Kate kidnapped, Aaron was counted as one of the Six despite not actually being on the flight — technically. Either way, the writers did a brilliant job of making me believe that I was completely wrong and that Jin had in fact made it off the island to see Sun give birth. Unfortunately, I was horribly wrong and Jin was in fact one of the “two” that didn’t make it from the water to the real world. It’s pretty sad too considering they have always been a pair on the show and separately neither of them has much of a story — whereas together they have a great story. Hopefully this isn’t the end of the Sun/Jin flashback shorelines…
So this makes our official Oceanic Six as follows:
- Hurley
- Jack
- Kate
- Aaron
- Sayid
- Sun
This also means that the “two” that don’t make it (based on Jack’s testimony at Kate’s trial that eight people survived the crash but only six made it out of the water alive) are Jin and Clare. I’m assuming Clare died somewhere between Lost Island and where they get rescued based solely on Desmond’s vision of Clare and her baby taking off in a helicopter.
We also learned that Michael is Ben’s mole on the boat. But seriously, did anyone not see that coming? It’s been blatantly obviously for a few weeks now. But what Michael, rather Kevin Johnson’s appearance tonight means, is that next week’s episode, “Meet Kevin Johnson,” means we’ll get to see exactly what happened to Michael from the point he left the dock with Walt to where he is on the boat mopping up blood — assuming that LOST does what it usually does when it wants to bring us up to date, ala the first 45 days with the Tail Section People.
It also means that I’m fairly sure that Michael/Kevin will be killed next week. ABC teased that someone is going to die next week, it’s a situational season finale (pre-writers strike at least), and Michael is an obvious scape goat. Why? Well, he’s despised by everyone on the island for killing Libby and Anna Lucia (even though she really didn’t belong on the show) to save himself and his kid, once the Freighters figure out who he is (which could come next week) they’ll want him dead, and once he tells Sayid and Desmond what he’s been up to for the last two months he’ll serve absolutely zero purpose — unless of course next week we find out that Michael has some sort of triple-agent status going on — but I doubt it. So Michael fans, his return might be short lived.
Michael’s note to Sayid read “DON’T TRUST THE CAPTAIN.” Now, if we’re to believe that note, then I would assume that the whole bit about Ben being behind the real staging of the fake flight 815 would be false. While it made for an interesting twist in the episode, it really doesn’t make sense. Granted, Ben has proved that he’s willing to do anything to keep people from finding the island and he has access to a ton of money… but other than that it doesn’t fit. In the next fifteen weeks (based on Sun’s pregnancy I can assume that the “Six” are about fifteen weeks from rescue) something big is going to cause a huge flip in everything: Sayid will come to trust Ben enough to kill people, Hurley will want to go back to the mental institution, Kate will end up with Clare’s baby, etc… So if Ben really staged the fake crash, complete with 300+ substitute dead bodies, why would Sayid come to believe him? Either that, or Ben really does have some crazy ability to make people do what he wants them too. After all, he did get Michael to kill for him and Locke release him. It seems like we’re one or two pieces of the puzzle away from making it all make sense, but I’m probably completely wrong. It looks like we’re going to have to wait until the second mini-season starts at the end of April to find out what Ben is really up to, which I assume will happen when Locke and Co. reconnect with the Others who have been in the “temple” for a long while now.
Wow. That turned into a lot more than I thought it would. It wasn’t a great episode but it did provide a lot to talk about.
~ fin ~
Tonight’s episode of LOST was called “The Other Woman” and I’m going to briefly discuss it now. West coast friends, consider this your warning.
Alright, so I think it’s almost 100% clear that Michael is going to be Ben’s spy on the boat… Though I find it interesting that the scientists from the boat obviously have a different agenda then the “muscle” on the boat, though neither is very clear.
But here’s a question. Do the boat people control the smoke monster now (who showed up in the form of the Harper tonight)? When “Charlie” (who I think was the monster) showed up in the future to visit Hurley he wanted to know where everyone was. Tonight, the monster wanted Juliet to stop the containment of the gas… both of which would play into Widmore’s hand. So do they somehow have control over whatever the monster is?
Also, now that Jack has apparently gone all in with Juliet does that mean Kate will fall back to Sawyer again, and finally end the Juliet+Jack+Kate+Sawyer soap opera that’s been going on for awhile now?
I like how Ben was asking Locke if the revolution had begun yet where clearly, his now acceptance into their society has, or will, trigger that very revolution.
Final thought: Ben said that if his people had cared about him, they would have stormed the camp long ago… His people have been waiting, I assume, at the temple for a number of days now (weeks worth of episodes). Why isn’t Locke’s next step going to find them?
Consider this the official “Mindless Chatter” for the week.
~ fin ~
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