(Rev) The Long Road Home

In his column yesterday, our friend Doc Jensen said the following would happen on last night’s episode (and I quote):

The episode is filled with sharp writing, stunning cinematography, and great performances. It is a weird, wicked, wonderful hour of television. I loved it.

When I look back on the great episodes in Lost history, there are a few that stick out. I think this should and can be personalized for each individual, but a few that stick out for me (this is not in an order…just what I can think of right now):

1. Last episode of Season 1 – with the gang looking down the hole of the Swan hatch. Wowzers.
2. First episode of Season 2 – Desmond riding his bike and listening to “Make Your Own Kind of Music” gave me chills.
3. Last episode of Season 2 – our guys are pushed out on the dock with blind folds. Oh, and the sky turning purple.
4. First episode of Season 3 – Juliet, with that I-just-bawled-my-eyes-out look, listens to “Downtown” while preparing for the book club meeting.

The newest addition to my list?

5. One of Us – April 11, 2007

Juliet’s goes to our island:
So let me get this straight. After accepting the job with Mittelos Biosciences, she agreed to: move away for 6 months, not talk to her family, sign her name on a lot of dotted lines, drink an orange juice tranquilizer. While I may or may not have done three of those four things before accepting this job (you guess, I’ll tell), it seemed a little excessive. Nonetheless, Jules did everything and woke up hoarse and on a submarine. When she emerged from the sub to look at the island, I can’t help but wonder what was going through her mind. I would have turned right around, climbed down the stairs, and asked for the direct swim home.

Juliet has had a rough run on this island. She has gone through a lot and tried her darndest. She was brought here to figure out a way to save the women who die (see below). She did not succeed, but she was “tricked” into stay (or was she?) by Ben. “Stay here, your sister won’t die from cancer because we can cure her” (see below). So she stayed. And now it has been three years. And she is tired. She is mad. And she wants to go home to see Julian, the two-year old her sister has had in her absence.

The last scene (Ben and Juliet at the table discussing the final plan) begs the question: do we trust Juliet or not? Is she One of Us or One of Them? The producers are trying to set her up to be someone we cannot trust…someone who is plotting against our guys. I’ll admit that last night, that was my reaction (if you watched it with me, you know that I was swearing incoherently…). However, after a day to digest, is Juliet still just trying to get off the island? Is she doing everything Ben is telling her to do (infiltrate, lie, cheat, watch, learn) because she will eventually get to leave? I believed her crying scene in Ben’s kitchen…she wants to leave!! So, like Locke, is she just going to do what it takes before she is allowed to leave? (I think Locke is doing whatever it takes to get to his father…he is playing along). I don’t know.

In other news, Mikhail runs a one-man show in his little blue hut. It appears he had access to whatever the heck he wanted to have access to…and had a minion named Richard whom he could send on and off the island to film their you tube clips. Was he watching CNN? Unbelievable! I thought this scene was more powerful than almost the entire episode. Juliet gasping and reaching for the television after the live feed ended made it even more heart wrenching. I believed her. She wasn’t acting. She wants to go home.

Juliet is now on the beach in a hut, trusted by Jack which means she is trusted by everyone. As so many bloggers have pointed out today, the season finale is going to have a heavy heavy emphasis on JACK: we all trust him…but should we?

On the island, pregnant women bleed out of the mouth and die:
Another “worst nightmare come true” on the island, as I have alluded to in previous summary emails. We have our confirmed bleed-at-the-mouth-and-die cases – many before Jules arrived, then the woman on the table who Goodwin/Jules declared a time-of-death for). However, we have some pregnancy “anomalies”, if you will:

1. Claire: She has lived thus far. Juliet seems to think that she holds the answer, but I’m not so sure. Claire was impregnated off the island…maybe you live if you conceive off the island?
2. Ben’s Mom: Not sure who she is or if she is alive. (I just wanted to throw her out there, though, since Ben has said multiple times that he was born on the island.)
3. Danielle Rousseau: Danielle has said that she gave birth to Alex on this island. Again – when did she become pregnant? On the island? Off the island? We don’t know, but we know Danielle is alive.

Other maybe-pregnancies to think about:
1. Sun: Oh, golly. This was unexpected. Sun’s unanswered question until now has been “who is the father?” Now it is “Will she live?”
2. Kate: The horizontal tango with Sawyer while in the cage could lead to something deadly.
3. Juliet: I know you boys all thought Juliet didn’t look too shabby post-tango with Goodwin. This is all besides the point – something might have happened. Who knows.

On the island, they have a cure for cancer:
Since I have spent the day doing research on stem cells (sorry this email is so late…I had to “work”), I can tell you that cancer is a class of diseases characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis. In order to “cure” cancer, you have to figure out a way to kill or replace the abnormal cells. How do you kill the cells? You remove the abnormalities (tumor) or you kick their butts with radiation. How do you replace cells? Well, you have to recreate the cell in its more pure form. The most pure type of cell? That would be stem cells, which have the potential to become any of the 200 kinds of cells that make up the human body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, stem cells can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as a person is still alive.

Speaking with my ‘work’ hat on, I’m wondering if the Others are conducting stem cell research. Speaking with my ‘Lost’ hat on, it actually doesn’t sound all that bad either. Mittelos Biosciences…that sounds stem celly. I checked on the stem cell laws in Oregon – and they’ve got a California feel to them. Oregon can do pretty much whatever they want to do. Thoughts?

Jacob returns:
Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. He’s back. Or is he really a he?

The references were everywhere last night and they did not go unnoticed. We’ve talked about this before, but I think the Jacob references come back to Jacob, the Father of Modern Israel.

Four wives. Twelve sons. The youngest? Cue those Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat soundtracks: BENJAMIN. I don’t know, but it sure makes a nice “wonder”…Ben is the son of Jacob…hmm? Jacob De Groot, maybe??? (see below) (Note: if you had to guess who on the island would wear a Technicolor dreamcoat, would you also guess Happy Tom??? Hahahaha)

Also, Jacob agreed to cure the cancer that afflicted Juliet’s sister. Remember her name? RACHEL. What is the connection? Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife in the Bible.

Okay…I just got too Biblical. Sorry.

Sayid has got his stuff together:
If I had to someone to be stranded on an island with, I’d pick Sayid. If I was picking teams for kick ball, I’d pick Sayid. If I was going grocery shopping, I’d ask Sayid to come along. If I wanted to perm my hair but wasn’t sure if I could manage it on the day-to-day, I’d ask Sayid about his experience.

I’m going to default to Sayid 99.99% of the time. And that means, I’m going to go with Sayid for the rest of the season. Sure, he’s made mistakes (note: I cannot believe I just said that about a torturer…”mistakes”?? Good night, who am I???!!!?!?) However, Sayid seems to be the only one with a straight head right now. This is kind of ironic, seeing as his lover/best friend Shannon was killed only a few weeks ago in Lost-time. I’m glad he has a friend in Sawyer. I think that could work. Opposites attract – weren’t these the two guys who didn’t trust each other at all when we first landed? It wasn’t too pretty…

Looking ahead:
In the next four weeks, we’ve got the following flashes: Desmond; Jin/Sun; Locke; De Groots (the hippie couple we’ve seen in the Dharma films). My predictions? Desmond’s flash is going to bring back Penny and provide a little more clarification on that pseudo-flashback (Was it a dream? Was it real? Did it happen? What the heck?) Jin/Sun’s flashback is going to somehow address this “pregnant women die” thing, as well as a hint or clue at who is the baby-daddy. Locke (finally) is going to catch us up on that whole DAD IS TIED TO A CHAIR ON THE ISLAND IN A ROOM WITH A GAG IN HIS MOUTH story line. And the De Groots? Well, I’ll say this. The De Groot episode will air on my birthday (May 9…mark it on your calendars). I can say that there is no other way I’d like to celebrate my birthday than to give a little air time to these two very important people…as our Charlie has conjectured: Ben’s parents? You be the judge.

Until next week, friends, sleep with one eye open, rewatch episodes to your heart’s content at abc.com, and don’t forget to visit our Dharma blog.

Namaste,
Maggie

PS: Head to EW.com for Doc’s wrap up this week. It is pretty powerful. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20034600,00.html