I hope you all survived last week’s hiatus without any lasting repercussions and/or nose bleeds. I don’t know about you, but I found myself watching the American Idol results show last Wednesday night…which (in the words of Dharma Blog reader Noah) is like “trading in a five course meal for a bag of Skittles.” Yes, that is what it felt like: a bag of Skittles. I hate Skittles.
But not to fear! Lost is back tonight and diving in right where we left off…which, as you’ll recall, was at a Sawyer reunion with Jack, Kate and Hurley. Namaste, friends!
Tonight: Namaste!
I’m pretty sure I had never heard the word “namaste” before I started watching Lost. However, I now use the word nearly everyday in some form. Walking into my cubicle land in the morning? “Namaste, Brad!” After buying my morning cup of coffee from the barista at Bruegger’s? “Namaste, Jill!” Seeing Charlie in the Que Place parking garage after work? “Namaste, Dear Constant!” It is actually a greeting/salutation in India. Literally, namaste means “I bow to you.”
A misleadingly (a new word I've created) optimistic Dharma Welcome sign
It appears that the members of the Dharma Initiative turned the word into their catch phrase (think “Aloha” in Hawaii). It means “hello”, “goodbye”, “Go Big Red”, or any number of other commonly used phrases. We were first introduced to it by our old pal Pierre Chang on the Orientation videos, but also heard it used (mockingly) by Kelvin Inman (to Desmond) inside the Swan Hatch. All of this to say, the title of tonight’s episode actually makes a lot of sense. As we saw last week, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Miles (maybe Faraday, too) have become Dharma Initiative members during the past three years on the Island.
The TiVo says…
ABC is hyping tonight’s episode, “Namaste,” as follows: “When some old friends drop in unannounced, Sawyer is forced to further perpetuate his lie in order to protect them.” Well, this likely means Jack, Kate, and Hurley.
I think there are two ways that Sawyer/“Jim LaFleur” can explain the sudden arrival of these strangers on the island. First, he could claim they are the long-lost “crew” that he has been searching for over the past three years, who he suddenly found. Or, he could simply sneak them into barracks/Dharma camp.
Even though I’m leaning towards the first explanation, it would require a lot of explaining. For example, how did they survive on the island unnoticed for so long? Why they are so clean-cut looking? Why are they wearing modern clothes and singing Kelly Clarkson songs? So, although his lie might have worked in the first few days or weeks after Sawyer et. al. met up with Dharma in 1974, I just don’t think it will work in 1977.
On the other hand, assuming that the submarine is still coming and going to the island every week or so, bringing people to and from the Island, it might be easy for Sawyer to sneak the names of Jack, Kate, and Hurley onto the manifest of expected arrivals and sneak them into the group of crazy NKOTB (…that’s New Kids on the Block…) arriving to the island after a long trip on a submarine. (Plus, it just adds to the incredible irony that more and more of our original 815 survivors are becoming Dharma! I LOVE LOST!)
So, I’m going to propose that the title “Namaste” not only refers to a welcome of Jack, Kate, and Hurley to the Island in 1977…but also as a welcome/reintroduction for the viewers to the heydays of the Dharma Initiative! SWEET.
Guest Starring Tonight!
Following the trend of season 5 so far, we’ve got quite the guest star list tonight:
John Terry as Christian Shephard, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Francois Chau as Dr. Marvin Candle, Said Taghmaoui as Caesar, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Reiko Aylesworth as Amy, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Molly McGivern as Rosie, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Dan Gauthier as co-pilot and Sven Lindstrom as photographer.
This confirms a few things. First of all, we’ll have both 2008 and 1977 island action tonight. One will focus on the 316-ers (Ilana, Caesar, etc.) and one will focus on the survivor-Dharma-ites (+ Marvin, Amy, etc.). I’m guessing the Frank Lapidus appearance will confirm that he is with Sun (I think) in the stolen outrigger (that canoe from a few episodes back that ‘disappeared in the night’, according the Ilana).
But let’s just cut to the chase here. The HUGE elephant in the room/bigger guest star news is the mention of both Young Ben (and yes, Dan, I also think he is creepy as all heck).
The TiVo says…
ABC is hyping tonight’s episode, “Namaste,” as follows: “When some old friends drop in unannounced, Sawyer is forced to further perpetuate his lie in order to protect them.” Well, this likely means Jack, Kate, and Hurley.
I think there are two ways that Sawyer/“Jim LaFleur” can explain the sudden arrival of these strangers on the island. First, he could claim they are the long-lost “crew” that he has been searching for over the past three years, who he suddenly found. Or, he could simply sneak them into barracks/Dharma camp.
Even though I’m leaning towards the first explanation, it would require a lot of explaining. For example, how did they survive on the island unnoticed for so long? Why they are so clean-cut looking? Why are they wearing modern clothes and singing Kelly Clarkson songs? So, although his lie might have worked in the first few days or weeks after Sawyer et. al. met up with Dharma in 1974, I just don’t think it will work in 1977.
On the other hand, assuming that the submarine is still coming and going to the island every week or so, bringing people to and from the Island, it might be easy for Sawyer to sneak the names of Jack, Kate, and Hurley onto the manifest of expected arrivals and sneak them into the group of crazy NKOTB (…that’s New Kids on the Block…) arriving to the island after a long trip on a submarine. (Plus, it just adds to the incredible irony that more and more of our original 815 survivors are becoming Dharma! I LOVE LOST!)
So, I’m going to propose that the title “Namaste” not only refers to a welcome of Jack, Kate, and Hurley to the Island in 1977…but also as a welcome/reintroduction for the viewers to the heydays of the Dharma Initiative! SWEET.
Guest Starring Tonight!
Following the trend of season 5 so far, we’ve got quite the guest star list tonight:
John Terry as Christian Shephard, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Francois Chau as Dr. Marvin Candle, Said Taghmaoui as Caesar, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Reiko Aylesworth as Amy, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Molly McGivern as Rosie, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Dan Gauthier as co-pilot and Sven Lindstrom as photographer.
This confirms a few things. First of all, we’ll have both 2008 and 1977 island action tonight. One will focus on the 316-ers (Ilana, Caesar, etc.) and one will focus on the survivor-Dharma-ites (+ Marvin, Amy, etc.). I’m guessing the Frank Lapidus appearance will confirm that he is with Sun (I think) in the stolen outrigger (that canoe from a few episodes back that ‘disappeared in the night’, according the Ilana).
But let’s just cut to the chase here. The HUGE elephant in the room/bigger guest star news is the mention of both Young Ben (and yes, Dan, I also think he is creepy as all heck).
Young and Creepy Ben
Are we going to see the scene of Young Ben and Roger arriving on the Island, again…but this time, from the perspective of our survivor-Dharma-ites??? Would they recognize him? I don't think they would, but they could totally see his name on some sub attendance list!! AHH! I know that I’m supposed to believe that “whatever happened, happened,” (R.I.P. Charlie Pace)…but I can imagine someone like Sayid (he does have mad assassin skillz) flipping out and attacking Young Ben…couldn't you? If nothing else, I’m planning on a few dropped jaws between the survivor-Dharma-ites and Creepy Young Ben. This scene, if it happens, will be freaking incredible. This nerdy little creepy kid that will eventually manipulate and attempt to ruin all their lives…oh, and kill a whole lot of people, too. Yes, yes, and yes.
(2) What happened to turn Radzinsky into a rebel (which many reason he must be, based on the clues/secrets written on the Blast Door Map)? What would be the point of sharing all the secrets if all of Dharma died in the Purge, but Radzinsky survived thanks to being stuck inside the Swan Hatch? Was he simply recording everything he knew on the Blast Door Map so that someone in the future could pick up the work of Dharma on the island? If so, why make that information so hard to find?
(4) Did Radzinsky voluntarily enter the Swan Hatch, thinking he would be relieved of duty in a short period…but then the Purge happened, stranding him all alone in the Swan Hatch (with the weight of the world on his shoulders) to keep entering the Numbers? And was Kelvin with him from the start, or did he come along later?
In case you can’t tell, I’m pretty darn excited about Radzinsky’s debut!!
I know I’m leaving out a lot…
There’s a freaking lot going on right now within the Lost storyline. Will we see Ben tonight? Not sure. What about Sayid? Not sure. Richard? Locke? Who knows! At this point, though, I think the writers will be smarter than that: no need to bring every storyline into every episode. We wouldn’t get anywhere if they did that! So, I’m going to guess tonight is a breather from the Ben/Widmore war. Maybe…
Come back tomorrow!
We hope to see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning for an exciting review by your Constant and mine, Charlie!
In the meantime…
NAMASTE!
-Maggie
Radzinsky? Who the heck is that?
Finally, we’ve got a mention of Radzinsky. If you’re like me, the name maybe rings a bell…but you can’t quite place a face? Well, that’s because we’ve never met Radzinsky; we’ve only heard about him. In fact, Lostpedia has Radzinsky’s picture as a blood stain on the Swan Hatch ceiling right now.
Finally, we’ve got a mention of Radzinsky. If you’re like me, the name maybe rings a bell…but you can’t quite place a face? Well, that’s because we’ve never met Radzinsky; we’ve only heard about him. In fact, Lostpedia has Radzinsky’s picture as a blood stain on the Swan Hatch ceiling right now.
Radzinsky's Blood Stain (gross...)
So, courtesy of Lostpedia, here’s a quick Radzinsky refresher: Radzinsky was Kelvin Inman’s partner inside the Swan before Desmond crashed on the Island. Kelvin told Desmond that Radzinsky was the originator of the blast door map (the glow-in-the-dark one that Locke found during the episode Lockedown), which he worked on with the aid of his photographic memory. He discovered how to fake a lockdown incident, which made it possible to work on the map more deliberately. Radzinsky is also responsible for having edited the Swan Orientation film. Kelvin explained to Desmond that, while he was asleep, Radzinsky committed suicide by putting a shotgun in his mouth and firing it, causing a blood stain on the ceiling. Because of the protocol, Kelvin had to bury him within 108 minutes.
Okay, I think it will be sad to meet poor Radzinsky since we already know how it all turns out for him…quite poorly, I might add. He will be a prisoner inside the Swan Hatch; he’ll eventually go crazy; he’ll eventually kill himself. But, for the sake of mythology, his existence on the island in 1977 does raise a number of quite intriguing questions (thanks to blog reader Brian for fleshing out some of these questions):
(1) Since Kelvin seems to have learned much of what he knows from Radzinsky, did Radzinsky teach him to keep up the “quarantine” hoax? Or did Radzinsky actually think that something happened on the Island to cause the conditions to change (read: like the Purge)? In the previews that have aired on ABC, he is walking around in 1977 with the other Dharma without any concern for his health.
Okay, I think it will be sad to meet poor Radzinsky since we already know how it all turns out for him…quite poorly, I might add. He will be a prisoner inside the Swan Hatch; he’ll eventually go crazy; he’ll eventually kill himself. But, for the sake of mythology, his existence on the island in 1977 does raise a number of quite intriguing questions (thanks to blog reader Brian for fleshing out some of these questions):
(1) Since Kelvin seems to have learned much of what he knows from Radzinsky, did Radzinsky teach him to keep up the “quarantine” hoax? Or did Radzinsky actually think that something happened on the Island to cause the conditions to change (read: like the Purge)? In the previews that have aired on ABC, he is walking around in 1977 with the other Dharma without any concern for his health.
(2) What happened to turn Radzinsky into a rebel (which many reason he must be, based on the clues/secrets written on the Blast Door Map)? What would be the point of sharing all the secrets if all of Dharma died in the Purge, but Radzinsky survived thanks to being stuck inside the Swan Hatch? Was he simply recording everything he knew on the Blast Door Map so that someone in the future could pick up the work of Dharma on the island? If so, why make that information so hard to find?
Radzinsky's Blast Door Map
(3) Given that Radzinsky lives on the island before the Swan Hatch was built (and the Orientation Video made), he should know all the details surrounding the Incident and the reason for entering the 108 Numbers. As we saw when Locke didn't enter the Numbers, it actually IS bad news. So, why would he eventually edit the Orientation Video? Isn’t all the information contained within be pretty important?
(4) Did Radzinsky voluntarily enter the Swan Hatch, thinking he would be relieved of duty in a short period…but then the Purge happened, stranding him all alone in the Swan Hatch (with the weight of the world on his shoulders) to keep entering the Numbers? And was Kelvin with him from the start, or did he come along later?
In case you can’t tell, I’m pretty darn excited about Radzinsky’s debut!!
I know I’m leaving out a lot…
There’s a freaking lot going on right now within the Lost storyline. Will we see Ben tonight? Not sure. What about Sayid? Not sure. Richard? Locke? Who knows! At this point, though, I think the writers will be smarter than that: no need to bring every storyline into every episode. We wouldn’t get anywhere if they did that! So, I’m going to guess tonight is a breather from the Ben/Widmore war. Maybe…
Come back tomorrow!
We hope to see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning for an exciting review by your Constant and mine, Charlie!
In the meantime…
NAMASTE!
-Maggie
2 Snarky Comments:
I've seen Ben when I watched one of the ABC's Sneek Speaks. So he's in the show tonight!
I re-read your post, post show. You can be so prophetic sometimes I swear. But it clearly demonstrates how in tune you are with the show and the characters. Nice job. Realizing you have a day job and life priorities that come first, just wanted to say I appreciate the time you take to do this. You and Charlie! Constants that you are.
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