Keeping Up With the Joneses

A Desmond-Penny baby! A huge step toward understanding Charles "Jonesy" Widmore! And an H-Bomb!? With so much to cover from last night’s Jughead episode, there’s no time for a pithy, ambiguous introduction. So let’s get to it.

AND LO, A CHILD WAS BORN
The collective swooning sigh of the female LOST population was audible last night, as we were treated to the arrival of none other than Charlie Hume-Widmore (we'll assume he's named after Charlie Pace, not Charles Widmore). Charlie looks about three years old (do some math… Desmond and Penny didn’t waste any time upon their reunion), and as if learning to use big-boy pants and count to 10 isn’t enough to deal with (trust me), Charlie’s parents are on a crash course with a dreary destiny.

“I’ve Got to Get My Honor Back”
Our off-Island story last night focused not on the Oceanic Six, but on Desmond’s fulfillment of his time-traveled directive from Daniel Faraday. Penny’s adamant pleas for Desmond to steer clear of Island-related shenanigans seemed like a transparent attempt to prevent Desmond from becoming the man she has grown to hate: her father. But while he heeds Penny’s warnings to a point, Desmond ultimately forges on to Oxford. Why? Let’s consult our character history.

While training for his sailing race, Desmond explained to Penny, “I’ve got to get my honor back.” He failed at the monastery, the military and with the woman he loved. He didn’t know what he believed in, and he certainly didn’t believe in himself. Now flash forward to last night. Desmond is driven, undeterred and fearless. He is called by duty, and by honor, to take care of those he left behind. If there’s a silver lining to his 3-year island ordeal, it’s that he did indeed get his honor back.

But it wasn't easy. Tracking down Faraday’s mother proves difficult, largely because Oxford University has chosen to forget Daniel Faraday. I’m going to make a couple small assumptions here just to make things simple (call me out in the comments section if you think I’m wrong). Faraday’s experiments went awry when he used a woman named Theresa Spencer as a human Eloise (his old lab rat) and turned her brain to Time Travel Mush. As we find out later, Theresa has been relegated to a bed-ridden existence in which her conscious mind “awakens” in different states, and at different times in her life. Clearly, this Theresa is without a constant and is imperiled by her untethered existence. Faraday abandoned her in this condition, but if his perceived familiarity with “Ellie,” the 1954 Other, is any indication, he won’t be able to completely escape her (read: Ellie reminds Faraday of Theresa). That said, let’s talk about Boone.

Okay. Wait, Boone? From Season One? Have You Been Drinking, Charlie?
That’s none of your business. At the risk of going too tangential, I’m going to summarize the early rumblings of a hair-brained theory for you. Remember Boone? Remember in Locke’s dream when Boone kept saying, “Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs.” He was referring to his childhood nanny. But now that we know a more significant "Theresa," is there more to the story? It might be nothing. But it might be something. That’s all I’m saying.

The Tie That Binds
Eventually, it’s revealed that Faraday’s research – and Theresa’s resulting hospice care – has been funded by none other than uber-benefactor Charles Widmore. This leads to Desmond’s stark, confident confrontation with Widmore, in which he puts his father-in-common-law in his place to get the information he needs about Faraday’s mommy. There’s a lot to say about this scene, but perhaps most telling is this quote from Widmore: “Get out of this mess. You’re getting yourself involved in something that goes back many, many years. It has nothing to do with you or my daughter. Wherever you were hiding, go back there.”

For me though, this final scene threw a wrench into some alliances. Assuming that Faraday’s mother is indeed Ms. Eloise Hawking, why would Widmore so willingly give Desmond her info? Is he working with her? But isn’t she working with Ben? Or is she working for herself, and using connections with opposing forces Ben and Widmore to further her own agenda? That’s a mystery for another day… on to the Time Travelers!!


PARTY LIKE IT'S 1954
A little tip: if you’re signed on for an episode or two of LOST, and they don’t give your character a name… go ahead and book that return flight from Honolulu. A few more nameless wonders were spent last night as the 1954 Others ambushed a rendezvous point and conveniently left only Faraday, Charlotte and Miles alive. Or as I like to call them, Team Discovery Channel.

About Those H-Bombs: My Bad.
Team Discovery Channel and Locke’s Band of Lost Souls are in 1954, in immediate conflict with a group of Others led by (surprise!) Richard Alpert. The Others have mistaken our six remaining characters for American military officers, and they're not greeting them as liberators.

As we later piece together, the 1954 Others suspect our left-behinders of being part of an H-Bomb drop on the Island. Eventually, Faraday convinces the Others to let him diffuse the bomb (by professing his love for pasty, dumpy Charlotte), and he and Ellie trek off to find Jughead, the titular warhead. While they’re there, Faraday hurriedly tells Ellie how to diffuse the bomb, knowing that he has to tell her before time changes again. I liked seeing Faraday prepare for time travel by imparting necessary info to Ellie before it was too late – it reminded me of Richard’s rushed explanation to Locke from last week.

Locke, Juliet and Sawyer set off on a collision course with the scientists when they track two young Others mercenaries back to their camp. Once they arrive, Locke wedges his way into Camp Other by invoking the name of Jacob. Which was a good move, because it causes Richard to call off his gun-toting underling, a young Charles Widmore. Wait. What the hell? Let’s get back to that later.

Take Me To Your Leader
I thought Locke’s conversation with Richard was phenomenal, as expected. In an epic role reversal, Locke is explaining mysteries to Richard and dictating destiny’s orders, imploring him to conform to fate’s roadmap. This after referring to Young Charles Widmore as “One of my people.” It’s clear that Locke is embracing his role, telling Richard he’s “his leader” and operating with the cool confidence of a man who knows his purpose, his destiny. Funny what the dire consequences of a little time travel will do to a man, eh?

And in a snippet of conversation sure to throw a few wrinkles in the fabric of time, Richard challenges John’s assertion that he is the leader. “We have a very specific process for selecting our leadership, and it starts at a very young age,” says Richard. Desperate to prove who he is, Locke tells Richard to go visit him in two years (1956) when he will be born in Tustin, CA. We already know that Richard does in fact come to Tustin in 1956 to see baby Locke, then returns at various points throughout Locke’s childhood.

My assertion is this: when we saw Richard visiting young Locke, we were seeing a Richard who had already had this conversation with John. Put another way: In 1954, Richard is visited by a man from the future (Locke) who tells him to go to Tustin in two years, when the man from the future will be born. This explains Richard’s fascination with John as a young man, why he tells him how “special” he is. It explains why Richard asks Locke which items “already belong” to him (the compass, sand, etc.) when testing him. But what it doesn’t quite explain is why Richard dismisses young Locke as unprepared, or “not ready yet.” If Richard knows Locke to be the man who will eventually ascend to Island preeminence, why does he doubt him at a young age? Debate that one amongst yourselves.

Oh, also: Charlotte may be dead. Fingers crossed.


MR. JONES WISHES HE WAS SOMEONE JUST A LITTLE MORE FUNKY
One of the men captured by Locke, Sawyer and Juliet sported a jumpsuit with the nametag “Jones.” I’m going to assume that he lifted this jumpsuit off of one of the infantrymen that the Others murdered. Because his name isn’t Jones. It’s Widmore. Charles. Freaking. Widmore.

With one simple exchange, we were treated to the beginnings of the Charles Widmore character arc. He was an Other, under the supervision of Richard Alpert. There are a few things to dissect from this revelation, and as a means to that I’m going to refer back to two choice selections from Widmore and Ben’s scene last season.

Widmore: “Everything you have you took from me.”
My early thoughts: Widmore will begin an ascent to power within the Others, only to be preempted and supplanted by young Benjamin Linus. Ben’s usurping of the throne will spark the rift that we currently see between he and Widmore.

But hang on. Both men were working under the orders of one, Jacob. Widmore was working for Richard who was working for Jacob. Ben, eventually, became Jacob’s intermediary. So if both men were working under the same boss, is the chasm between them merely a matter of ego? Are they both working toward the same end, but caught up in the pettiness of who gets to steer the ship?

Widmore: “I know who you are.”
Nah, it’s not a petty battle of egos. Here’s why. The main thing about that Widmore/Ben, Good/Evil, Darkness/Light conversation from last season that still haunts me was Widmore saying to Ben, “I know who you are, boy, I know what you are.” WHAT you are. It’s still early, but what I think might be happening here is an argument over the concept of entitlement. If Widmore is a native Islander, he may feel that the ascension of Benjamin Linus is a slap in the face of Jacob. I foresee a rift forming with Widmore on one side and Ben and Richard on the other. Widmore will claim that Richard forsake his obligation to Jacob by anointing the man (Ben) who fixed a problem (The Dharma Initiative) instead of awarding the man who was the rightful heir to the throne (Widmore).

“I know who you are” = my nemesis, the man who stole everything I deserved.
“I know what you are” = a non-native, carpet-bagging opportunist.
“I know everything you have, you took from me.” = the Island, and what it can do.

And as Charles cryptically noted at the end of the conversation, “The hunt is on” for both of them, as the battle for Island preeminence is about to repeat itself.


Okay. That’s the best I can muster for 1am in the immediate aftermath of an episode that was brimming with theory-making and theory-breaking moments. I enjoyed Jughead a lot, and I thought it nicely assuaged the fear that Season 5 would be too rapid-fire, egg-headed and nerdy for the average viewer. It was a solid return to the mythology of the Island and the an intriguing – albeit fleeting – revisiting of the origins of power on the Island.

What did you think? What are Ms. Hawking’s motives? How does the Widmore vs. Ben feud manifest itself? Is Charlotte gonna die, brother?

Until next week!

Namaste.
Charlie

Edit: BONUS THEORY!!!
Is "Ellie" on the Island short for Eloise? As in "Eloise Hawking"? As in Faraday's MOM!? Was he recognizing Ellie last night because it's actually the 1954 version of his mother? That might help explain Ms. Hawking's fascination with the Island.

Just another tidbit to noodle on :)