Answered: How Los Angeles connects to the island, and how our people can get back there. Good neo-Victorian scientific setting, and good explanation by Faraday's mother.
New questions raised:
1. Why did Kate leave Aaron behind?
2. Who beat up Ben?
3. How did Hurley and Sayid know to come to the airport?
4. Who was the woman with Sayid?* (And, for that matter, who was the other Iraqi - I think we saw him last in the excellent "House of Saddam" on HBO - the actor, that is...) *Played by Zuleikha Robinson, of Rome fame - thanks to Mike for mentioning this in the comments.
There were some nice touches - Frank Lapidus as the pilot of the plane (which makes sense - he is somehow one of the ushers to and from the island), and Jack meeting his grandfather.
And other less obvious questions - why, for example, did Faraday's mother, played by the fabulous Fionnula Flanagan, not react more to Desmond's message from her son?
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.
As it is, I'll just have to wait, looking through time for next week's screen...
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See also: The Richard-Locke Compass Time Travel Loop ...
and Lost Returns in 5 Dimensions and 5.3: The Loops, The Bomb ... 5.4: A Saving Skip Back in Time ... 5.5 Two Time Loops and Mind Benders
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18 comments:
Paul,
Since there are 28 episodes left in the series, it's clear that we're still at a point that a number of new questions have to be raised. I have little doubt, based on what the LOST producers have given us this year and last, that those questions will be addressed.
Some people (though not you) thought that last week's episode was too quickly paced and had too much information for viewers to process.
This week, the opposite criticism is being raised by some, including Alan Sepinwall.
The show just can't seem to win with these folks.
To me, each season is a book, and each episode a chapter in it. I don't want them to all be the same. And thankfully they are not. And the whole story will be told when the book is complete.
More interesting to me than the specifics of how the Oceanic 5 of 6 got back to the island, though that is clearly important, is that once again, the producers defied our expectations by getting them back to the island (though clearly in the wrong time period) much sooner in the season than many expected.
I remember a few years back watching the season one DVDs. On one was a commentary track by the creators of Lost. When it came to the part where Jack's father appeared to him on the island, one of them called attention to his big white tennis shoes and said that many viewers had noticed them and thought they meant something. (Actually, they meant nothing and weren't expected to be so visible on screen.) One of them suggested to the other that they should make up an explanation for those shoes in a future episode. I burst out laughing when Jack finally gave an explanation in this episode.
David - I don't disagree - especially not that it was a nice powerful surprise to get most of the Oceanic Six back on the island. The opening scene was especially good.
But I just thought there were too many questions that got them there, the scene at the airport was a little hoakey, and even Jin at the end was a little obvious...
But it's all ok ... not every chapter in one of the best books of all time has to be equally mind blowing...
Hi Paul, I think this was a great episode. the woman with Sayid was a marshall like when kate was on the original flight. I think they were trying to recreate as close to possible the original. I do not know how Sayid was arrested. As for Aaron thats interesting, She might have given him to Claires mother or made a deal with Ben to save Aaron. Her jumping into bed with Jack could have caused her to get pregnant (like Claire)on the flight. Let me know what you think. Also I find it strange that Sun would leave her child to get to Jin(knowing how hard it was to get back the last time)
Dawn - I thought the same thing too about all the substitutes on the plane. Locke is Jack's father. Hurley with his guitar is Charlie. Sayid in handcuffs is Kate. Ben arriving just in time for the flight is Hurley...remember he almost missed the plane. That Arabic man on the plane is Sayid, and I also think Kate could be pregant, which would make her Claire. What I don't understand is why some of them have substitutes, but some don't?
My question was if Daniel Farraday's mother knows how to reach the island, knows Ben AND is known by Charles Widmore, then how is it that Widmore cannot find the island using the same means? He told Desmond where she was, and presumably, he knew what she was doing there. Also, did anyone else see a weird look on Ben's face when Desmond referred to the woman in LA as "Farrday's mother"? Is she really his mother? She's English and Daniel is not. But Charlotte was English, and she had been on the island as a child...
>2. Who beat up Ben?
I think that was Desmond. It seems likely to me that the 'unfinished business' was the promise to kill Penny. Whether Ben succeeded or not is something we'll possibly see in the next few weeks.
What in the world is this island???
I think that's the biggest question of all now, which may be resolved by the conclusion of the series (I still believe they aren't ever going to finish this).
But what was interesting was the same light that transported the islanders through time, teleported Jack, Kate and the others off the plane, or at least that is how it is being viewed for the moment, and presumably to an earlier time frame on the island when Dharma was there (aka Daniel showing up right outside the chamber at the beginning of the first episode this season).
I really thought last year they would spend the entire season trying to get back to the island, but now it may be that they spend the rest of the season getting back to their own time on the island. We'll have to wait and see in the weeks to come, but that does go along with Daniel being present at the time Dharma first found the time chamber.
I too was surprised at how quickly they put them back on the island and do like the fact they are going to go back and tell how Locke ended up committing suicide next week, if it really was suicide. I think that's what you might see in the weeks to come, them not only explaining Locke, but why Aaron was left behind, what happened to Ben before he got on the plane (and why no one seemed to react to his appearance AT ALL), where Desmond is, and did that plane crash or continue on? It looked like Locke was talking to the stewardess Jack had been talking to onboard the plane in the preview for next week, so perhaps she is a replacement for someone, along with that other Iraqi guy as some of you have suggested.
But the last two episodes have renewed more vigor in the search for answers to this island. Why does Jack truly want to go back? Obviously there must be a connection between the four toed foot, ruined temple and the black smoke. The black smoke seems to not only guard that temple, but resides there. There had to have been some form of highly advanced civilization there at one time, far more so than today, but did they come from the future or the past? Now that we know the island does in fact move through spatial parameters, we know it moves through time, so some of the technology could obviously have come from our own future, rather than something alien.
Oh man, the last two episodes have created a conudrum of confusion. They'll certainly spend the next few on back stories, maybe some flashbacks mixed with flashforwards for sure, but certainly by this seasons end, we won't believe where the final season is headed.
I was poking around on the Alan Sepinwall blog and found a bunch of interesting points made in the comments section about this episode. I can't take credit for any of these, but I really like them:
--When Locke left the island, the time jumps stopped, stranding everyone in the time of the arrival of Dharma. They have been there for three years.
--Charlotte must have learned Korean from Jin when she was little (and she may be the girl who befriended little Ben). Jin may now speak the fluent English of Daniel Dae Kim.
--The island may not always have been wandering. The post WWII bomb tests may have happened when the island was stationary. The wandering may have started when Locke reengaged the wheel thingy to leave the island in the past.
--Just as Jack's dead father served as a surrogate for Jacob, so too will Locke's ghost now embody Jacob.
--Apparently, during the time jumps, water bottles from the airline of the plane used to return to the island were found at the beach. It was suggested that while the Oceanic 5 were sent to the past, the plane itself, along with all the other passengers, crashed in the present. It was their camp and their boats that were found on the beach.
Ben probably was not successful at killing Penny. If he had been, he would have been exuding glee. Also, Desmond's time travel abilities may have come in handy in protecting Penny.
What I would like to know is where Locke ended up in the world when he used the time traveling device down below the orchid. I remember Ben ended up in the desert, but he was still alive. How did Locke die, and was it really a suicide?
Also, how does Jack's grandfather relate to the story? I mean besides retrieving his father's shoes, what point was there to show the grandfather?
Paul, you might already know this, but the woman with Sayid is played by Zuleikha Robinson, who was the conniving Gaia in Rome. Great actor! Lost sure do stock up the great HBO and Showtime series atcors...
It was a very good episode; I think it was definitely more coherent than last week´s, tho it had its notable flaws (sayid/kate/hurley). But, hey, it´s Lost. We´ll know. I only hope the reason for their sudden change of heart/mind is convincing enough. Especially on Kate´s side.
Now, i had a great feeling when Jack wakes up at the very beginning of the episode. He actually seemed happy, or relieved! It felt like a cycle being completed. Which reminds me of the reference to Ulysses (the book which Ben is reading); it was written by james Joyce, who also wrote a book called Finnegans Wake, famous, amongst other things, for having a circular structure. Now, if i were carlton cuse or damon lindelof, I would have used that reference instead of Ulysses... BUT WAIT! Ulysses tells the story of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom, from the moment he leaves his house, TO THE MOMENT HE RETURNS! Of course, Ben is coming back home, so you get the analogy.
Well, sorry for the digression. Had to do it! So, good episode, evident flaws, but the story keeps strong. Can´t wait to know the story of the so called Jeremy Bentham
Great comments, everyone!
Mike - Sayid's escort did look familiar (as well as great), and so did her name - but I forgot to look it up - I'll put her name in the blog post now. Pullo's Gaia was one of my favorite bad characters in Rome!
Alex - some battle with Penny and Desmond is the likely source of Ben's beat-up. Someone over on my Open Salon blog said he thought that Ben did kill Penny, which would lead Desmond to go after Ben on the island... We'll see (I like Penny).
ED: True, Jack might have obtained something of his father's without seeing his grandfather - but I enjoyed the scene.
Kid - good point about Ulysses - not mention the reflection of the Odyssey...
Dawn,
You are blowing my mind. I felt clever for making the connection that Ben may have gone after Penny. It would never in a million years have occurred to me that Kate might be pregnant and therefore become a surrogate for Claire.
I agree with your assessment overall, Dr. Levinson. Not the most amazing episode ever ... but so far this season, I think the others have been superb. And you can't expect every single episode to be perfection. Even still, I can't wait to see the answers to all of the questions they brought up.
Jessica and Dawn - absolutely great point that Dawn made about Kate spending the night with Jack to get pregnant - I hadn't thought of that either.
By the way, I'm beginning to love this episode more, in retrospect.
Does anybody have any theories regarding the following questions,
--When are we going to see Claire again?
--Did Sawyer and Juliet Burke get together during the 3 years the Oceanic 6 have been off the island?
--Is Daniel an immortal the same as Richard Alpert because he soesn't seem to have aged since we saw him in construction site of the Orchid Station during the first episode of series 5? or did he appear in this time during one of the time flashes and that was when he told Charlotte to leave the island.
--Will we ever see the marines that came on the ship at the end of series 4 that were guarding the orchid when ben turned the wheel? How come they are not moving in time when the flashes occur?
--If Jin was saved when the boat exploded by a flash, did michael get off of the boat as well?
"--If Jin was saved when the boat exploded by a flash, did michael get off of the boat as well?"
This is the only one I have any idea about. I'd say that Michael is definitely dead. He was pretty much told so in the instant before the explosion.
The one great unanswered question that I haven't seen anyone tackle yet is that of what the Oceanic passengers are to the island. Why are they so important? Why does the island want need the O6 to come back? It seems like the passengers' destinies were tied to the island and each other before they got on the plane, but how?
Does anybody have any theories regarding the following questions,
--When are we going to see Claire again?
Re: Clair, not so much a theory as more question... why did she need replacing if she is already on the island (assuming we are correct that a pregnant Kate is her
theoretical replacemnet
--Did Sawyer and Juliet Burke get together during the 3 years the Oceanic 6 have been off the island?
I hope so because I really want them both to be happy, but I'm pulling for Jack and Kate to be together
--Is Daniel an immortal the same as Richard Alpert because he soesn't seem to have aged since we saw him in construction site of the Orchid Station
Geeze I hope not, can you imagine that insipid voice lasting for eternity!
during the first episode of series 5? or did he appear in this time during one of the time flashes and that was when he told Charlotte to leave the island.
I assumed it was a flash travel
--Will we ever see the marines that came on the ship at the end of series 4 that were guarding the orchid when ben turned the wheel? How come they are not moving in time when the flashes occur?
Hmmm, good memory, I already forgot about them
--If Jin was saved when the boat exploded by a flash, did michael get off of the boat as well?
Hope sprinbgs eternal! I of course also hope Charlie is alive. Stll can't believe he didn't slam the hatch shut from the otherside.
Okay so my biggest question is...If Charlotte was on the island before, (as well as Sawyer, and Julliette) shouldn't they all have "constants" which should keep them from the nose bleeds and dieing. Remember Desmond had to find his "constant" who had been in two "time zones" so he wouldn't go crazy and die!!
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