LOST has always won my heart for its ability to simultaneously dish out heady sci-fi theory and intricate character-driven drama – like a lunch lady scooping mashed potatoes and peas into the remaining opening of your lunch tray. And yes, I made that analogy up myself.
The Variable – a companion piece to last season’s The Constant – was a microcosm of the show’s very philosophy. In it, we learned that this whole “scientific equation” of events we’ve seen over the past five years is subject to the actions and motivations of the people in the story. Or as Daniel referred to them, “variables.” Sci-fi and drama, working side-by-side. Or perhaps more appropriately, in direct opposition. Let’s take a look.
This Week, On A Very Special E.R.
Turns out Desmond’s grocery bag didn’t contain that bulletproof can of haggis (thanks Jeff Jensen), as the opening scene saw him rushed into an operating room, flanked by Penny and baby Charlie. As his family awaited his recovery, they were visited by everyone’s favorite terrifying precognitive octogenarian, Eloise Hawking. After some awkward introductions, Ellie tells Penny that it’s her son’s fault that Desmond has been shot. That son, of course, is Dan Faraday.
Für Eloise
As young Dan Faraday – making like a young yours truly on a mid-90s Tuesday afternoon – tickles the ivories, his mother enters with what looked to be this damning sense of worry on her face. What we have to remember about Eloise Hawking is that she has some sort of precognitive capacity (see: telling Desmond about the man in the red shoes who would die, and other examples). With that in mind, her speech to Daniel about his brilliant scientific/mathematical mind and its role in his “destiny” (which she defines as “a special gift that must be nurtured,”) takes on a darker meaning. “It’s my job to keep you on your path,” she says with a gulp. And we see the first look at a mother who’s torn between an inescapable destiny and the love for her son.
She tells him to quit the piano in order to focus on his true purpose. “I can do both,” pleads Daniel. “I can make time.” To which mom replies, “If only you could.” Choice words, there. If only he could “make” time, indeed.
I’d Fix It If I Could, and I’d Always Win
Back in 1977, Daniel Faraday is wasting no time ensuring that certain happenings, well, happen. First stop: Jack’s condo and an obligatory shirtless Dr. Shepherd shot for Maggie. Dan asks Jack how he got back to 1977, and when Jack explains that Dan’s mother told him it was his “destiny,” the younger Faraday laughs it off. “Well I got some bad news for you, Jack. You don’t belong here at all. She was wrong.” This is an important foreshadowing of Daniel’s new understanding of what can and can’t be changed in time travel. More on that later.
Next on Maury: “Mr. Chang, You ARE The Father!”
Faraday ventures with Miles to the Orchid Station, where we finally get some context for the cryptic Daniel-as-Dharma scene that opened this season. After confirming the existence of that doomed electromagnetic energy, Faraday comes clean to Dr. Chang about his purpose, complete with an “I’m from the future” revelation and a warning that this very energy (specifically the pocket located at the Swan Station site) endangers the lives of everyone on the Island. At least they’ve got some time, right? A couple months? Oh, six hours? Well shit.
Miles derides Faraday for his suddenly forthcoming nature, trying to shield Dan’s crazy from Dr. Chang. Dan jabs back by telling Dr. Chang that Miles is his grown-up son, also from the future. Awk. Ward. But Dr. Chang conveniently dismisses the notion, and Dan tells Miles he was just ensuring that Dr. Chang did what he was supposed to do. At this point, Faraday’s mission was becoming clear: to ensure that whatever happened, happens. With a few exceptions.
Gryffindor!
Looking like a Hogwarts grad with his very own Hermione Granger in tow, Daniel’s Oxford graduation is met with a chilly reception from mummy dearest, who even goes so far as to exclude Dan’s girl (Theresa, the unfortunate lass who would later become a victim of his experiments) from lunch. Eloise reiterates to Dan the importance of focusing on his work, against which her son pushes back on the way only a son who’s tired of being told what to do can. But apparently, what she didn’t see coming was the revelation that her son’s work would indeed continue, thanks to a generous grant from her old “friend,” Charles Widmore. And with both parties exhausted by passive-aggressive, strained mother-and-son relations, Eloise exits, leaving Daniel with a very important notebook as a graduation present.
Fun tangent: what if that notebook wasn’t blank, but partially filled-in by Ellie with bits of her precognitive knowledge? We never saw past the first page. Could she have planted a few necessary fate-adhering notes in the book? Nah. Okay maybe.
It’s Alright, Cuz I’m Saved by the Bell
Continuing his penchant for after-school-special style pep talks (remember his backwoods man-to-man with Karl two years ago?), Sawyer makes like A.C. Slater, flipping a chair around and hatching a plan. He spells out two options: hijack the sub back to the mainland or retreat to the jungle. After a few votes for “jungle,” the meeting is interrupted by Miles and “Twitchy,” who proposes a third option: let’s go meet the Hostiles so I can talk to my mother about “getting us back to where we belong.”
As Dan hurriedly tries to explain his M.O. to his fellow castaways, Jack interrupts with a part-and-parcel purchase of Daniel’s plan. Why? Because what’s Jack got left to lose. He tried the jungle for three months, and that didn’t work out so well. He tried living off the Island for three years and nearly killed himself. Newly-purposeful Jack is eschewing empirical, rational decisions in favor of any path that might prove enlightening. And the transformation from Man of Science to Man of (Blind) Faith continues. With a little help from Juliet, Daniel’s mission is set forth, with Jack and Kate on his side. Because if Kate loves one thing, it’s trips to the jungle. And if she loves two things, it’s trips to the jungle and lanky Midwestern LOST bloggers. Shut up, it could happen.
HOLY SHIT! SWINE FLU!
Okay, I’m more inclined to believe that the illness that requires in-home hospice care for Daniel is some sort of recurring short-term amnesia (presumably due to some serious exposure to electromagnetic and/or radioactive elements). But I’m not ruling out Swine Flu, because the news tells me I should be afraid of it.
The Variable gave us context to another long-lost scene, as we learned the circumstances around Daniel’s tearful reception of the news about Oceanic 815. Here we learn that Daniel’s marbles aren’t so much in tact, thanks to this illness. And the arrival of Charles Widmore doesn’t exactly help. Widmore offers Dan a trip to the science lab to end all science labs, a place with unique properties that can further his research, show him things he’d “only dream of,” and, most importantly, “heal” the troubled scientist’s warped memory. Interesting, I didn’t see Dan as someone who had been cured (like Locke or Rose), but apparently the Island had some effect on him.
Widmore also confirms that he planted the fake 815 wreckage, thus settling a long-held debate among those of us in LOST la-la-land.
Yeah, You Should Go to the Island. It’s. Ummm. Great.
I used to get mad at my mom for suggesting words when we played Scrabble. Mom, I apologize. You are nowhere near as pushy as Eloise Hawking, and I love you.
Ellie interrupts and derails Dan’s etude – apparently even adult Dan is easily shattered by his mother – to once more hammer home the importance of his “purpose.” Eloise delivers a stirring, yet conflicted plea for Daniel to take up Mr. Widmore on his job offer. She quivers with a graver sense of importance than she lets on, begrudgingly encouraging her son that he is capable of what the job requires, and playing the same “This Island can heal you” card that Widmore laid. She appeals to his need for her approval, and when he asks, “Will it make you proud of me?” we see Eloise Hawking deliver one of her finest moments to date. “Yes, Daniel, it will.” In the seconds that follow her reassurance, her face jumps from proud to terrified to withholding to torn. Yes, she accomplished her mission of ensuring Daniel got his “job” done. But she knows the price.
I Like It When We Call Him Big Poppa
We pick up Penny and Eloise’s conversation, where Eloise refers to Desmond as a “casualty” of this cosmic war we’re learning about. And more importantly, Eloise admits that for the first time in a long time, she doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.
Here’s what happened next: I got to say I told you so. A long-awaited meeting of Charles and Ellie spawned the revelation that Charles Widmore is, indeed, Daniel Faraday’s father. But the bigger message of this conversation was that of sacrifice. Eloise one-upped Charles when he claimed he sacrificed his relationship Penny for the Island by reminding him what she had sacrificed for it: her son. And after Widmore reminded Eloise who Dan’s daddy was (him!), she slapped him and hailed the cab.
You’re Alive, and You’re a Terrible Shot!
Before Jack, Kate and Dan can trek off to Hostile-ville, Dan detours to the jungle gym from hell for a visit with quintessential Ginger, Charlotte. That memory she gained right before her death, of a scary man telling her to leave the Island? Here’s where it came from, right alongside the now-understandable, “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner,” line. Faraday seems torn on this one. I think he knows that scaring Charlotte into leaving the Island will eventually intrigue her into returning, waltzing into her grave. But he knows that he has to preserve the events of 1977, and so reluctantly and tearfully he warns her to leave. “I tried to avoid telling you this,” he stammers, “I didn’t think I could change things. But maybe I can.” Maybe he can. But not yet.
After busting caps in Razinsky and his Black Swan Jumpsuit cronies, our heroes escape Dharmaville and venture into Hostile territory.
Goin’ Nuclear
Before he goes to speak with his mother, Daniel Faraday delivers his last lecture to Jack and Kate, imparting some essential knowledge along the way. First off, he echoes Miles’ declaration that this moment is “our present,” and that anything can happen, to any one of them.
Second, Faraday finally comes clean about his battle plan. Turns out, he came back to the Island to stop himself from ever coming to the Island. Daniel’s theory goes as follows: if he can stop the Incident, he can prevent the entire story we know as LOST. The Incident is the explosion of electromagnetic energy at the Swan Station. It leads to the cement fortification of the Swan Station, and the initiation of the button-pushing protocol. That leads to Desmond pushing the button for three years, before failing to push it and sucking Oceanic 815 down to the Island. That leads to the Widmore-financed search party that brought Dan and Charlotte, et al., to the Island. And eventually it leads to the time-leaping, Ajira-crashing set of circumstances that brought them to this very point.
So what’s he going to do?
Enter Jughead. Dan wants to use the hydrogen bomb he encouraged the Hostiles to bury in 1954 to “negate” the electromagnetic energy at the Swan Station, thus negating all the events that ensued because of that energy. Heavy.
There Goes Rhymin' Simon
No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away.
- Mother & Child Reunion, by Paul Simon.
Daniel storms into Camp Hostile much like Locke had done 23 years earlier. He demands an audience with Eloise and the location of the hydrogen bomb. But before Richard can reason with him, Daniel escalates the conflict by beginning a three-count. He never gets past “two.” A bullet pierces his torso, and we look back to see the shooter is none other than the victim’s mother, Eloise Faraday.
“Oh Eloise. You knew, you knew this was gonna happen. You sent me here anyway,” says Daniel.
“Who are you?” asked Eloise suspiciously.
“Your son.”
Don’t Call it a Constant
Before I get to the moral of the story, a quick bonus theory for you.
Let’s just assume that Eloise’s meeting with Penny in the hospital and Daniel’s intrusion into the Hostile Camp happened on the same exact day. On that one day in 2008(ish), Eloise was talking to Penny while her son had traveled back to 1977 to meet a younger version of herself. Got that?
Good. Because it was this day that Eloise that told Penny that, for the first time in a long time, she didn’t know what was going to happen next. “First time in a long time.” So Ellie hasn’t always had this precognitive knowledge. Why did she suddenly lose it? I think it’s because she’s now without a constant: her son. My theory is that the birth of Daniel provided Eloise a constant through which she could travel through time and retain – much like Desmond – precognitive flashes of the future yet to unfold. But when 1977 Eloise killed Daniel (and remember, if what we were seeing was Daniel’s “present,” as he said it was, this actually happened at the same time Eloise was talking to Penny in the hospital in 2008), she killed her constant. And her ability to see flashes of the future.
Taking One for the Team
A mother shooting her time-traveling son? That’s heavy, even for LOST. So what did it all mean? Here’s my take.
I believe Daniel knew that by dying, he could convince Jack’s people and/or Eloise’s people to carry out his mission. That’s why he told Jack about the plan right before he went down there. I’m not sure he had precognitive knowledge of his death, but he had to know it was a possibility, so he made sure Jack knew the plan. And I think Daniel’s mind is reasoning that he needs to do something drastic to push the Hostiles to prevent the Incident.
What Daniel Faraday learned in his time in Ann Arbor was this. Fate’s “supposed-to-happen” course of events is like an equation. While constants allow individuals to bounce back and forth on different sides of the equation, it’s the variables that matter most. Those variables – defined as individuals and their rationalizing, random, freedom of through – can alter the equation. They can alter the way things are “supposed” to go.
And in Daniel’s mind, every bad thing that ever happened to him, the woman he loved and the only friends he ever really knew was a direct result of the Incident. So by preventing the Incident itself – or guiding others to – he could prevent a lifetime of pain and suffering for everyone he loved.
Ironically, it was Daniel Faraday’s own internal “variables” that led to this decision. His free thoughts, rationalizations and free will led him to ultimately ditch his mother’s long-held concept of destiny and his long-held theory that “whatever happened, happened.” He became, in a way, a man of faith, believing that he could utilize the free will granted to him as a human being to do the most good for the most people.
But what we’re yet to find out is whether Daniel’s idea of “the most good” is actually that. Maybe his meddling in fate alters the course of history in a way that negatively impacts the people he loved. Or maybe, with one selfless act, he just took a huge step toward saving them all.
Of course, that would depend on your definition of “saved.”
Namaste.
Charlie
Variables and Constants
Ladies and gentlemen of the Dharma Blog: Welcome to the 100th episode of “Lost.”
From the earliest days of television, reaching 100 episodes has been a standard. It has represented the benchmark that separated the good from the great, the mortals from the immortals, the classics from the…well, unclassics (Seriously, what is the opposite of classic? I’m losing my mind…).
If my research is correct, since 1947, 296 scripted comedies and dramas have made it to (at least) the 100-episode milestone. Some 83 of those, including “Father Knows Best,” “The Cosby Show,” “Cheers,” and “The Waltons,” lasted beyond 200 episodes. Only 20 – including “Dragnet,” “Dallas,” and “My Three Sons” – passed 300 episodes. One juggernaut, the mighty “Gunsmoke,” went all the way to 635 episodes.
Tonight, “Lost” joins the ranks of TV immortality alongside classic shows like “I Love Lucy, “Dynasty,” “ER,” “The Facts of Life,” “The West Wing,” “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “Ally McBeal,” “The Practice,” “Get Smart,” “Happy Days,” “Law & Order” and “NYPD Blue.” (Note: In spite of this impressive list, a number of fantastic shows never reached the 100 episodes, including (most notably) “The Wire,” which closed the book at 60 episodes.)
Folks, “Lost” has arrived in the triple digits. And it is going to be one helluva episode.
Folks, “Lost” has arrived in the triple digits. And it is going to be one helluva episode.
…100 Days, 100 Episodes…
In a Lost-like twist of fate, tonight’s 100th episode falls on the day when President Obama will exercise his free will and deliver his “First 100 Days” speech in primetime. According to the network, the President’s speech will last only one hour, leaving “Lost” to start at the regularly scheduled time (9/8PM CST). While I don’t want to think about ABC preempting “Lost” to continue the press conference (should it go longer than anticipated), I think we need to be prepared for it.
In a Lost-like twist of fate, tonight’s 100th episode falls on the day when President Obama will exercise his free will and deliver his “First 100 Days” speech in primetime. According to the network, the President’s speech will last only one hour, leaving “Lost” to start at the regularly scheduled time (9/8PM CST). While I don’t want to think about ABC preempting “Lost” to continue the press conference (should it go longer than anticipated), I think we need to be prepared for it.
Note: Charlie and I will seriously have a panic attack if this happens.
So, cross your fingers, get out your rosary beads…and let’s pray that tonight’s episode, “The Variable,” starts on time and blows us all out of the water as only Faraday can do.
“The Constant” vs. “The Variable”
The producers are saying that tonight’s episode is a “companion piece” to last season’s memorable episode “The Constant,” the Desmond-centric classic that will probably go down as one of the Top 5 episodes of all time. Check out the Dharma Blog recap from that episode for a full run-down of what happened.
So, cross your fingers, get out your rosary beads…and let’s pray that tonight’s episode, “The Variable,” starts on time and blows us all out of the water as only Faraday can do.
“The Constant” vs. “The Variable”
The producers are saying that tonight’s episode is a “companion piece” to last season’s memorable episode “The Constant,” the Desmond-centric classic that will probably go down as one of the Top 5 episodes of all time. Check out the Dharma Blog recap from that episode for a full run-down of what happened.
But, if you don’t have time to read it all, here’s a quick recap: Desmond endured vicious, turbulence-caused side effects as he flip-flopped through time. His mind jumped between 1996 and 2004: he had conversations with Faraday in 2004 that he passed along to Faraday in 1996. It ended with the heart-felt, tear-inducing phone call with Penny that had all of us choked up.
(It’s alright to cry, Charlie. Go ahead. Let it all out.)
Okay, so tonight’s episode is called “The Variable.” Looks like we need to think back, once again, on the innocent days of high school physics and algebra, and take a closer look at constants and variables…
Bill Nye Can Help Us With This!!
Let me break this down for you. In math, we’ve got constants (things that do not change) and variables (things that do change). They are essentially opposites. During “The Constant”, we learned that constants are the anchors that keep someone grounded as their mind and consciousness jump around in time. Per Faraday, the constant needs to be someone or something that exists in both time periods the person in jumping between…AND the jumper needs to care greatly about and would recognize it/him/her. For Desmond, this was the lovely Penny Widmore. And at the conclusion of the “The Constant,” we discovered that Faraday had written the following in his journal: “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.” (More on this to come…)
Bill Nye Can Help Us With This!!
Let me break this down for you. In math, we’ve got constants (things that do not change) and variables (things that do change). They are essentially opposites. During “The Constant”, we learned that constants are the anchors that keep someone grounded as their mind and consciousness jump around in time. Per Faraday, the constant needs to be someone or something that exists in both time periods the person in jumping between…AND the jumper needs to care greatly about and would recognize it/him/her. For Desmond, this was the lovely Penny Widmore. And at the conclusion of the “The Constant,” we discovered that Faraday had written the following in his journal: “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.” (More on this to come…)
I’m going to go out on a (well-populated) limb here and guess that a variable will take on a similar specific meaning in tonight’s episode. I’m also going to guess that a variable will be something or someone that can break the rules and change the future. Much like a constant was a person, I’m guessing that a variable will be a person…read: Daniel Faraday…who has found a way to change the past. How? (Much more on this to come, too…)
Guest Stars tonight…
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Sonya Walger as Penny Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Fionnula Flanagan as Eloise Hawking, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Sarah Farooqui as Theresa, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Wendy Pearson as E.R. doctor, Todd Coolidge as paramedic, Peggy Anne Siegmund as caretaker, Jennifer Sojot as E.R. nurse, Spencer Allyn as young Daniel Faraday, Michael Dempsey as foreman, Maya Henssens as young girl, Ariston Green as workman, Marvin DeFreitas as young Charlie and Brad Berryhill as anxious guy.
Guest Stars tonight…
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Sonya Walger as Penny Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Fionnula Flanagan as Eloise Hawking, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Sarah Farooqui as Theresa, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Wendy Pearson as E.R. doctor, Todd Coolidge as paramedic, Peggy Anne Siegmund as caretaker, Jennifer Sojot as E.R. nurse, Spencer Allyn as young Daniel Faraday, Michael Dempsey as foreman, Maya Henssens as young girl, Ariston Green as workman, Marvin DeFreitas as young Charlie and Brad Berryhill as anxious guy.
(Oh, boy. Brad Berryhill as “anxious guy”?? This is going to be fun!!)
Given that this week is Faraday-centric, the inclusion of Richard Alpert makes me very, well, giddy. Is Faraday going to interact with him in 1977 on the island? Or did Faraday interact with him at some point during the three years he was off the island?? My mind is racing…oh, the possibilities! What if Faraday is a secret double-agent for the Others, working inside Dharma, learning their secrets, figuring out how to take them down from the inside…all the while, learning the truth about the island and its powers?????
So then we’ve got Penny and Widmore. Will they appear in 2008 to advance their storyline, getting them closer to returning to the island with Desmond? Will we finally see Widmore forgive Desmond and tell him that he help returning to the island for the upcoming battle royale? Or will they appear in 1996, in the scenes from “The Constant,” only this time from the perspective of Faraday, who might have been following Desmond around to figure out what the heck was going on? Frankly, I'll take either…
Continuing the guest star excitement (and I know Charlie will like this), it looks like we’ve got not one, but TWO appearances by Eloise Hawking…both in her old 2008 form, and also a much younger/hotter Eloise (circa 1974-1977).
Alice Evans as Younger (Hot) Eloise
Hot Eloise’s inclusion (along with “Young Daniel Faraday”) could mean we will finally get answers about Faraday’s birth…was it on or off island? When did Eloise leave the island? Is Widmore really the father? More importantly, did he find out on Maury Povich?
So what does all of this mean??
Well, it looks like we are going to see a LOT of Faraday’s backstory…and I’m going to go as far to say we might see all of it. Think about it: there is the potential to see his birth, everything he did between 1974 and 1977, and maybe even some of the stuff he did in 1996 and beyond (after his meeting with Desmond, leading up to boarding the Freighter).
Well, it looks like we are going to see a LOT of Faraday’s backstory…and I’m going to go as far to say we might see all of it. Think about it: there is the potential to see his birth, everything he did between 1974 and 1977, and maybe even some of the stuff he did in 1996 and beyond (after his meeting with Desmond, leading up to boarding the Freighter).
Do I even dare say it? Yes, I dare. I’m inclined to move Faraday up on my possible death list. (cue: angry glares and swear words)
However, if Faraday dies, I don’t think it will until the season finale, after he causes (gulp) The Incident…
However, if Faraday dies, I don’t think it will until the season finale, after he causes (gulp) The Incident…
And the Episode Description says…
On the 100th episode milestone, the time of reckoning has begun when Daniel Faraday comes clean regarding what he knows about the island.
On the 100th episode milestone, the time of reckoning has begun when Daniel Faraday comes clean regarding what he knows about the island.
Alright, guys. This is it. I’m absolutely convinced that tonight is going to start up a lot of crazy action and reveals that will all build up to the finale. Tonight’s episode has the potential to flip-flop-and-shift our fundamental understanding of the island. The line about Faraday “coming clean” about what he knows isn’t a Hilary Duff-ism. He knows a lot more than he has shared about the island. We’re likely going to get some intense revelations, folks…and it might not be pretty.
It is also true that “the time of reckoning” has arrived for many storylines. Frankly, there is a lot up in the air right now: Faraday is back on the island, presumably to carry out some plan that will inevitably have dramatic repercussions; Sawyer has Phil tied up in the house and his cover is nearly blown; Horace and Roger are increasingly suspicious about Kate/Jack, leading to an inevitable reveal sometime soon; and Pierre Chang, who may or may not know (1) about the time travel going on, (2) that many Dharmas are going to die in The Incident, or (3) that is adult son is walking around the same community that his baby son is at…
And that’s not even the half of it! Heck, we’ve got Locke…Ben…Sun…Widmore and Desmond and Penny…Ajira 316 + Illana…Sayid running through the jungle…the Shadow of the Statue…
MAN! We ARE in the middle of a lot of crap!
But, we are also in a freaking awesome place. Everything is going to start coming together – both from a season and a series perspective. This week and next week (the episode entitled “Follow the Leader”) will set up a lot for the series finale AND the final season. Will we see many resolutions tonight? Probably not. But we will likely be in a place where we can hit the ground running in January 2010.
And that’s not even the half of it! Heck, we’ve got Locke…Ben…Sun…Widmore and Desmond and Penny…Ajira 316 + Illana…Sayid running through the jungle…the Shadow of the Statue…
MAN! We ARE in the middle of a lot of crap!
But, we are also in a freaking awesome place. Everything is going to start coming together – both from a season and a series perspective. This week and next week (the episode entitled “Follow the Leader”) will set up a lot for the series finale AND the final season. Will we see many resolutions tonight? Probably not. But we will likely be in a place where we can hit the ground running in January 2010.
Enough Big Picture Stuff. Back to this week…
Essentially, Faraday is going to explain what he knows tonight.
To understand what that might be, let’s look at the timeline of Daniel Faraday…which can get a little confusing. Let’s start by looking from a “Factual Timeline Perspective”:
1954 - Faraday meets Eloise/the Others, helps them with the Jughead
1970ish - Daniel Faraday is born (somewhere, to someone)
1974 - Faraday leaves the island
1974-1977 - Faraday spends three years off-island, starts working with Dharma in Ann Arbor
1977 - Faraday returns to the island
1994 - Widmore begins funding Faraday’s research
1996 - Faraday meets Desmond, who provides him with settings for his experiment
9-2004 - Faraday cries when seeing the Oceanic 815 wreckage
12-2004 - Faraday arrives on-island from the Freighter
However, we also need to look at the life of Daniel Faraday from the order that he actually experienced it. So from a “Daniel Faraday Perspective”:
Essentially, Faraday is going to explain what he knows tonight.
To understand what that might be, let’s look at the timeline of Daniel Faraday…which can get a little confusing. Let’s start by looking from a “Factual Timeline Perspective”:
1954 - Faraday meets Eloise/the Others, helps them with the Jughead
1970ish - Daniel Faraday is born (somewhere, to someone)
1974 - Faraday leaves the island
1974-1977 - Faraday spends three years off-island, starts working with Dharma in Ann Arbor
1977 - Faraday returns to the island
1994 - Widmore begins funding Faraday’s research
1996 - Faraday meets Desmond, who provides him with settings for his experiment
9-2004 - Faraday cries when seeing the Oceanic 815 wreckage
12-2004 - Faraday arrives on-island from the Freighter
However, we also need to look at the life of Daniel Faraday from the order that he actually experienced it. So from a “Daniel Faraday Perspective”:
1970ish - Daniel Faraday is born (somewhere, to someone)
1994 - Widmore begins funding Faraday's research
1996 - Faraday meets Desmond, who provides him with settings for his experiment
9-2004 - Faraday cries when seeing the Oceanic 815 wreckage
12-2004 - Faraday arrives on-island from the Freighter
1954 - Faraday meets Eloise/the Others, helps them deal with the Jughead
1974 - Faraday leaves the island
1974-1977 - Faraday spends three years off-island, starts working with Dharma in Ann Arbor
1977 - Faraday returns to the island
1994 - Widmore begins funding Faraday's research
1996 - Faraday meets Desmond, who provides him with settings for his experiment
9-2004 - Faraday cries when seeing the Oceanic 815 wreckage
12-2004 - Faraday arrives on-island from the Freighter
1954 - Faraday meets Eloise/the Others, helps them deal with the Jughead
1974 - Faraday leaves the island
1974-1977 - Faraday spends three years off-island, starts working with Dharma in Ann Arbor
1977 - Faraday returns to the island
Okay, take a leap and go with me on this next part, guys. Here’s my theory/understanding in terms of this second timeline…
Maggie’s Theory about the Second Timeline
In this second timeline, Mr. 1977 Faraday knows a freaking lot. He has the knowledge from years of study in the 1990s and his time spent on the island, including all the time-skipping. Being one of two time jumpers who left the island (Locke is the other one), there is the potential to do a lot of damage. Sure, Faraday could do fun stuff (like go to Disney World!), but I actually think he spent 1974 through 1977 focused on saving Charlotte. In order to do so, he has to find a way to alter the past/change the present, which is impossible…or is it?
Maggie’s Theory about the Second Timeline
In this second timeline, Mr. 1977 Faraday knows a freaking lot. He has the knowledge from years of study in the 1990s and his time spent on the island, including all the time-skipping. Being one of two time jumpers who left the island (Locke is the other one), there is the potential to do a lot of damage. Sure, Faraday could do fun stuff (like go to Disney World!), but I actually think he spent 1974 through 1977 focused on saving Charlotte. In order to do so, he has to find a way to alter the past/change the present, which is impossible…or is it?
When Faraday time-jumped to yellow-jump suit Des (early 2000s), he told Des that he was “special,” that “the rules” didn’t apply to him. Most people (well, at least me) interpreted this to mean that the rules about changing the past do not apply to Des thanks to the purple blast of electromagnetism he endured when imploding the Swan Hatch. Whatever happened, happened…unless you are Desmond, in which case you get to decide what happened through your actions.
If Faraday wants to change the past, he has to become like Desmond – “special” so that the rules don't apply to him. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the only known way to “become special” involves the electromagnetic properties of the Swan. So perhaps Faraday is returning to the island to expose himself to these properties/powers. During his time spent in Ann Arbor, Faraday probably worked out a plan to figure out exactly how he was going to do this…and now he’s back on the island to carry it out.
If Faraday wants to change the past, he has to become like Desmond – “special” so that the rules don't apply to him. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the only known way to “become special” involves the electromagnetic properties of the Swan. So perhaps Faraday is returning to the island to expose himself to these properties/powers. During his time spent in Ann Arbor, Faraday probably worked out a plan to figure out exactly how he was going to do this…and now he’s back on the island to carry it out.
Faraday definitely knows the risks. The exposure to high levels of electromagnetic energy could cause him to become unstuck in time when traveling to or from the island (just like Desmond and Minkowski). If Faraday is going to carry out his mission, he needs to take precautions to prevent suffering the same bloody-nosed fate as Minkowski: he needs a constant.
"If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my Constant."
Faraday wrote this in his journal in 2004. Keep in mind this was BEFORE the time-travel stuff started, BEFORE he discovered Charlotte was going to die, BEFORE he concocted his game plan.
In my mind, this means that 1996 Faraday had a journal containing information that he didn’t need until 1977. So, before he left for the island in 1977, perhaps Faraday sent something to himself that he would receive sometime before 2004. Picture this: he’s a normal/nerdy physicist at Oxford, dating Theresa, oblivious to all of this…and then he receives a journal from HIMSELF from the 1970’s and his mind is officially blown. He starts reading his research and carrying out the experiments. Over time, he slowly begins to understand more and more. The journal never leaves his side. He meets Desmond Hume in 2004, he rereads his journal that references Desmond…and suddenly it all starts to make sense.
Faraday wrote this in his journal in 2004. Keep in mind this was BEFORE the time-travel stuff started, BEFORE he discovered Charlotte was going to die, BEFORE he concocted his game plan.
In my mind, this means that 1996 Faraday had a journal containing information that he didn’t need until 1977. So, before he left for the island in 1977, perhaps Faraday sent something to himself that he would receive sometime before 2004. Picture this: he’s a normal/nerdy physicist at Oxford, dating Theresa, oblivious to all of this…and then he receives a journal from HIMSELF from the 1970’s and his mind is officially blown. He starts reading his research and carrying out the experiments. Over time, he slowly begins to understand more and more. The journal never leaves his side. He meets Desmond Hume in 2004, he rereads his journal that references Desmond…and suddenly it all starts to make sense.
Faraday has probably had a number of revelations like this between the 1990’s and 2004…come to think of it, maybe there was some journal reference to the island, the crash of Oceanic 815, and his plan to become “special.” This would probably drive him to be slightly crazy (see: Daniel crying when viewing the wreckage of Oceanic 815).
Then again, once he ends up on-island in 2004, having this information would suddenly be really, really useful. It could explain how Faraday knew so much…what equipment to bring for his payload experiment… that light didn’t “scatter right,” etc. – because he sent himself information about all of this, information he gathered through his time on-island and his time with Dharma.
It might all make sense!
You could take this a few steps farther if you want (of course I want to!)…Widmore starts funding Faraday in 1994 because he met him in 1977 off-island while Faraday was working in Ann Arbor and learned the truth…
Oh, the possibilities…
You could take this a few steps farther if you want (of course I want to!)…Widmore starts funding Faraday in 1994 because he met him in 1977 off-island while Faraday was working in Ann Arbor and learned the truth…
Oh, the possibilities…
So buckle in, kids! Let’s do this! Happy 100th Episode, Lost!!
Namaste,
Maggie
Maggie
And The Cat's in the Cradle
Some like Some Like it Hoth. And I am one of those. In an hour of father-son dynamics examined against the backdrop of freaky sci-fi elements, it was only right that LOST tip its hat to the episode’s obvious inspiration: Star Wars. Let’s take a look.
Portrait of the Ghost Whisperer as a Young Man
Miles didn’t learn to be special, he was born special. He first learned this on an innocent trip to his apartment complex’s vending machines, where the dying thoughts of a neighbor crept into young Miles’ conscience, terrifying him, his mother and the apartment superintendent all at once. If older Miles is arrogant about his abilities, his younger self was terrified of them. Really cool scene.
In The Circle, The Circle of Trust
Back in 1977, Miles is asked to erase the evidence of Kate and Sawyer’s meddling in the life (and near-death) of young Benjamin Linus. Miles obeys, while Sawyer impresses my girlfriend with his Head of Security badge. Who the hell does he think he is?
Miles’ mission is interrupted by Horace, who tasks the intermediary with a DHL (Delivery of Human Lifeforms) job. Horace unceremoniously inducts Miles into the “circle of trust,” empowering Miles and distracting him from asking troublesome questions like, “Why am I holding a body bag?” and “Why are you making me drive the Dharma van into Hostile territory?”
Those answers came quickly, though. Radzinsky’s men load a dead body into the bag and stuff it in the Dharma van. The only non-mysterious element of this corpse: it’s clearly an Other, and it certainly didn’t die by falling into a ditch, as Radzinsky attempted to posit. Miles is sent back to Camp Dharma, but he doesn’t leave before using his powers to ask the body, “What really happened?” Cue LOST logo and me wetting myself.
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Looking like an extra from The Fast and the Furious, teenage Miles goes to visit his dying mother, whose cryptic and unsatisfying answers do little to quell her son’s suspicions about his father and his abilities. She tells Miles that his father is dead, has been for a long time and that his body is “somewhere you can never go.” At this point, I thought, “Ahh, Miles went to the Island to communicate with his dead father.” As it would later turn out, I was dead wrong (pun most definitely intended).
Like a pinball bouncing erratically between Island superpowers, Miles is redirected by Horace to take the body to Mr. Chang at the Orchid. Miles’ face speaks volumes here, as he weighs his duty to the Dharma Initiative, his desire to fly under Horace’s radar and his natural aversion to encountering Mr. Chang (who we first assumed, and later learned, is Miles’ deadbeat dad). Ultimately, he bites the bullet and heads back to the van. And as the fates of comedy would have it, Hurley needs to go the Orchid, too. And off goes the most hilarious LOST couple since Nikki and Paulo.
Give Me Back My Son!
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of an ailing young Ben Linus are beginning to stir up trouble. Kate debriefs Juliet on young Ben’s condition, conveniently leaving out the whole, “We left him in the care of the eyeliner-laden Other who promised to erase his memory and rob his innocence before carrying him into a temple,” part ("Or, N.A.M.B.L.A."). But there wasn’t time for explanation, as a hysterical Roger Linus entered the infirmary and grew irate at his son’s “disappearance.” “Well,” said Juliet in her masterfully calm, cool tone, “here we go.”
Later, as Roger Linus swings drunkenly on the Dharma playground, he grows suspicious of Kate's seemingly disingenuous, a-little-too-concerned motherly worries. And Kate’s unyielding quest to make just one parent feel good about their child hits yet another snag.
“What About You, Sideburns? You Want Some of this Milk?”
In keeping with his janitorial duties, Jack takes over Roger Linus’ cleaning rounds. First stop: the school, where a cursory overview of – get this – Egyptian history is scribbled on the blackboard. The blackboard makes mention of “Tripling ideograms,” “determinatives” and various stages of Egyptian history. I wonder why they want the kids to know these things. Oh. Right. Because the Island is the sole remnant of the historic Egyptian civilizations. That’s right. Eventually, Ben covers for Kate, deeming her a good person in order to settle Roger down.
Interesting turn of events here. Remember the first couple seasons, when our new arrival castaways couldn’t comprehend the actions of the Island inhabitants? The Others consistently vouched for certain people, referring to themselves as “the good guys” and the castaways they abducted as “good people.” Well now, here’s Jack, sitting squarely on the other side of the equation. Whether he believes it or not, he’s singing Kate’s praises in order to serve the greater good: protecting his ass, and that of his friends. He even empathizes with Roger by justifying his drinking, a very Otherly tactic. Is this a commentary on the early-season Others, implying that their savage means justified their well-informed ends? Or is Jack’s protection of Kate a mere bastardization of the Island’s “good and evil,” principles, employed by Jack to keep himself out of trouble? I report. You decide.
And That is Why You Brush Your Teeth. Because Fillings Will Murder You.
En route to the Orchid station, Miles’ conscience gives way to the unexpectedly heavy day placed upon him, and he comes clean to Hurley about the corpse in the back. “His name’s Alvarez, he was digging a hole…he felt this sharp pain in his mouth, which turned out to be a filling from his tooth being yanked right out of its socket and blowing through his brain.” Whoa. “How does a filling get blown through someone’s head?” asks Hurley. Good question. I bet you a case of Apollo Bars it has something to do with the Island’s electromagnetic properties, and I bet you two cases that that’s why Pierre Chang wants the body. I think that Alvarez stumbled upon the eventual site of the Swan Station, or whatever it is around the Swan Station that eventually necessitates the whole button-pushing madness.
After debating whose ghostly communicative abilities were superior, Hurley delivered the line of the night: “You’re just jealous that my power’s better than yours.” Awww, snap.
Side question: there’s exotic matter beneath the Orchid Station. There’s some electromagnetic something beneath (or around) the Swan Station. And somewhere, Jughead is buried. How does it all match up?
I’ll Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes
Back in 2005, Miles eases a grieving father’s guilt before being encountered by Naomi (damn!), whose employer might be interested in hiring him. They venture to a restaurant, but not to eat (hopefully). It’s a job interview, as Miles is asked to assess the thoughts and circumstances surrounding the death of a man named Felix. Little did Miles know, this job interview was his first step into the harrowing rabbit hole of the Linus/Widmore War for the Island.
Miles discovers that Felix was delivering photos of empty graves and a purchase order for a plane to a “Mr. Widmore.” This essentially confirms that Widmore staged what the rest of the world believed to be the crash of Oceanic 815. Naomi fills Miles in on the mission of finding Ben Linus, and offers him a spot on the team. Miles initially opts to take the equivalent of the blue pill from the Matrix, choosing to let this hot, accented woman keep her crazy goose chases to herself. But when she sweetens the pot with a $1.6 million offer, Miles promptly swallows the red pill and descends into the rabbit hole (sans Laurence Fishburne).
Well Don’t Look at Me Like I’m Frikkin’ Frankenstein, Give Your Father a Hug
Did they just use the word “douche” on LOST? Classy.
The interplay between Dr. Chang, Hurley and Miles was solid. Hurley somewhat insensitively poked and prodded at the father-and-son combo. And when he stepped over the line, Dr. Chang threatened him with Polar Bear Pooper Scooper duty, serving what he called, “their ridiculous experiments” on Hydra Island. Again, we see Pierre’s contempt for any non-Orchid-related Dharma activity. Clearly, this man has a singular focus, and all the Polar Bears and paperwork that clog up the process are serious annoyances to him. As I’ll argue in a bit, Chang’s perception of the seriousness of his work will have its consequences.
First Leaf-Covered Secret Door on the Left
As the Dharma van rambles on, Hurley pries, asking Chang about his work and his family, all-the-while blatantly alluding to the fact that his son has time traveled back to 1977 and is sitting next to him right then. But Hurley’s shenanigans are interrupted by Pierre, who opens a secret passageway in the jungle (awesome, by the way, I want to see more of these) and leads the Dharma van into a massive hole in the ground. And as we learned with the engraving of some very special numbers on a very special door, that was no ordinary hole in the ground. It was the early stages of the Swan Station. “They’re building our hatch,” said Hurley, “…the one that crashed our plane.”
Hurley’s face here was really interesting. He seemed to be contemplating whether or not he could prevent the last 5 catastrophic years of his life by somehow stopping this station from being built. But then, the lessons of Miles and Faraday kicked in, and Hurley realized the futility. Either way, we saw Hurley watch the construction of a structure that he knew would eventually change his life drastically. And that was cool.
You Owe Me a Fish Taco and One Hell of an Explanation
Scene of the night: Miles’ brief abduction at the hands of Bram and his henchmen. Remember, Bram is the Ajira 316 passenger who partnered with Ilana during the coup d’ etat. Turns out, that coup was no coincidence. Bram’s in on the game. And we can now assume that Ilana is, too.
Bram accosts Miles, warning him that working for Widmore means working for the enemy. “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue,” asks Graham, issuing the litmus test that he and Ilana would eventually try on Frank and the other Ajira 316 castaways. Bram interprets Miles perplexed non-answer as a sign that he’s not ready. And then, Bram goes all Ben Linus on Miles’ ass. He promises him answers about who he is, who his father was and why he can do what he does. He dangles the carrot of understanding – Ben Linus’ greatest weapon – right in front of Miles’ nose. Miles doesn’t chase, and when Bram can’t double Widmore’s $1.6 million offer, the conversation is over.
“All the money in the world isn’t gonna fill that empty hole inside you, Miles,” warns Bram. God. This whole exchange just smacked of every manipulative Ben Linus conversation we’ve ever seen. Which leads me to the conclusion that Bram and his associates are working for one Benjamin Linus. We’ve already seen what Ben can do off the Island, and that he’s not without resources (guns, vans) and confidants (the butcher lady and possibly Hawking). I believe that he (and the Others) have this network in place (and that people like Australian psychic Richard Malkin are part of it). I also think this means Ben knew Ilana before Ajira 316, and that she is not working for the family of a man that Sayid killed. My take: she, Bram and a few others are Island exiles who are on a mission for redemption. Regardless, the Ajira 316 takeover storyline just got a ton more interesting.
Just Tie the Rope, And Kick the Chair
You know who sucks at erasing security tapes? Miles. You know who’s annoyingly good at finding them? Phil. And you know who’s got a hell of a cover-up job in front of him? Jim LaFleur. “Get some rope,” he quips to Juliet after knocking out the gnat-like Other who knows too much. I can’t help but think we’re seeing the beginning of the end for Sawyer and Juliet’s Dharma Utopia. The house of cards is about to come crumbling down.
Dreams From My Father
Miles quickly revisits the dead boy’s father he spoke to earlier before boarding the Kahana, admitting that he lied about communicating with the boy. He then admonishes the father: “If you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should’ve told him while he was still alive.” Here, Miles is still carrying some daddy angst. And so this scene perfectly set up the gorgeous ending of Some Like it Hoth.
Throughout the episode – and upon he and Miles’ return to camp – Hurley fails in his attempts to get Miles to cut his dad some slack. Miles wants nothing to do with Dr. Chang. That is, until, Hurley’s heartfelt account of forgiving his father seems to hit home with Miles.
And as Hurley leaves Miles, the typically sarcastic, detached ghost whisperer peers into the window of his childhood home and catches a rare glimpse of a kinder version of his father. Dr. Chang is holding his son and reading to him, until duty calls and Chang is called out to work yet again.
It then dons on Miles. The mistakes that parents make are not so black and white. After a long day of watching his father wrestle with the enormity of the Island’s power, then come home to try and be a father to a son who he knows will grow up in a hellish alternate reality, Miles finally acquires some sympathy and understanding. His father didn’t kick he and his mother off the Island because he didn’t love them. Quite the opposite. His father didn’t want this precocious little boy to grow up in a land where electromagnetic forces randomly murdered people walking in the jungle. Where a smoke monster lurked in judgment of every soul on the Island. Where a man being a mere man – or a Workman – is simply not enough, in a place that demands so much from its inhabitants. Pierre Chang didn’t banish his family from the Island. He spared them from it. And from his workaholic self.
Just as this realization washes over Miles, his father emerges from the house to ask for a ride to the docks. It's another summons to another obligation that robs Pierre of yet another night with his family. But this time, Miles doesn’t run from his father. With his newfound understanding in mind, he accompanies his dad to the Dharma van. It’s time to be a man.
After casting off decades of resentment to help out his father, Miles arrives to the docks to see none other than Daniel Effing Faraday emerge out of the sub. To me, it seemed like the Island rewarded Miles’ trust and understanding by reuniting him with Faraday. His old friend. And the man who may very well be the key to solving the remainder of this whole sordid mystery.
Namaste.
Charlie
Portrait of the Ghost Whisperer as a Young Man
Miles didn’t learn to be special, he was born special. He first learned this on an innocent trip to his apartment complex’s vending machines, where the dying thoughts of a neighbor crept into young Miles’ conscience, terrifying him, his mother and the apartment superintendent all at once. If older Miles is arrogant about his abilities, his younger self was terrified of them. Really cool scene.
In The Circle, The Circle of Trust
Back in 1977, Miles is asked to erase the evidence of Kate and Sawyer’s meddling in the life (and near-death) of young Benjamin Linus. Miles obeys, while Sawyer impresses my girlfriend with his Head of Security badge. Who the hell does he think he is?
Miles’ mission is interrupted by Horace, who tasks the intermediary with a DHL (Delivery of Human Lifeforms) job. Horace unceremoniously inducts Miles into the “circle of trust,” empowering Miles and distracting him from asking troublesome questions like, “Why am I holding a body bag?” and “Why are you making me drive the Dharma van into Hostile territory?”
Those answers came quickly, though. Radzinsky’s men load a dead body into the bag and stuff it in the Dharma van. The only non-mysterious element of this corpse: it’s clearly an Other, and it certainly didn’t die by falling into a ditch, as Radzinsky attempted to posit. Miles is sent back to Camp Dharma, but he doesn’t leave before using his powers to ask the body, “What really happened?” Cue LOST logo and me wetting myself.
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Looking like an extra from The Fast and the Furious, teenage Miles goes to visit his dying mother, whose cryptic and unsatisfying answers do little to quell her son’s suspicions about his father and his abilities. She tells Miles that his father is dead, has been for a long time and that his body is “somewhere you can never go.” At this point, I thought, “Ahh, Miles went to the Island to communicate with his dead father.” As it would later turn out, I was dead wrong (pun most definitely intended).
Like a pinball bouncing erratically between Island superpowers, Miles is redirected by Horace to take the body to Mr. Chang at the Orchid. Miles’ face speaks volumes here, as he weighs his duty to the Dharma Initiative, his desire to fly under Horace’s radar and his natural aversion to encountering Mr. Chang (who we first assumed, and later learned, is Miles’ deadbeat dad). Ultimately, he bites the bullet and heads back to the van. And as the fates of comedy would have it, Hurley needs to go the Orchid, too. And off goes the most hilarious LOST couple since Nikki and Paulo.
Give Me Back My Son!
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of an ailing young Ben Linus are beginning to stir up trouble. Kate debriefs Juliet on young Ben’s condition, conveniently leaving out the whole, “We left him in the care of the eyeliner-laden Other who promised to erase his memory and rob his innocence before carrying him into a temple,” part ("Or, N.A.M.B.L.A."). But there wasn’t time for explanation, as a hysterical Roger Linus entered the infirmary and grew irate at his son’s “disappearance.” “Well,” said Juliet in her masterfully calm, cool tone, “here we go.”
Later, as Roger Linus swings drunkenly on the Dharma playground, he grows suspicious of Kate's seemingly disingenuous, a-little-too-concerned motherly worries. And Kate’s unyielding quest to make just one parent feel good about their child hits yet another snag.
“What About You, Sideburns? You Want Some of this Milk?”
In keeping with his janitorial duties, Jack takes over Roger Linus’ cleaning rounds. First stop: the school, where a cursory overview of – get this – Egyptian history is scribbled on the blackboard. The blackboard makes mention of “Tripling ideograms,” “determinatives” and various stages of Egyptian history. I wonder why they want the kids to know these things. Oh. Right. Because the Island is the sole remnant of the historic Egyptian civilizations. That’s right. Eventually, Ben covers for Kate, deeming her a good person in order to settle Roger down.
Interesting turn of events here. Remember the first couple seasons, when our new arrival castaways couldn’t comprehend the actions of the Island inhabitants? The Others consistently vouched for certain people, referring to themselves as “the good guys” and the castaways they abducted as “good people.” Well now, here’s Jack, sitting squarely on the other side of the equation. Whether he believes it or not, he’s singing Kate’s praises in order to serve the greater good: protecting his ass, and that of his friends. He even empathizes with Roger by justifying his drinking, a very Otherly tactic. Is this a commentary on the early-season Others, implying that their savage means justified their well-informed ends? Or is Jack’s protection of Kate a mere bastardization of the Island’s “good and evil,” principles, employed by Jack to keep himself out of trouble? I report. You decide.
And That is Why You Brush Your Teeth. Because Fillings Will Murder You.
En route to the Orchid station, Miles’ conscience gives way to the unexpectedly heavy day placed upon him, and he comes clean to Hurley about the corpse in the back. “His name’s Alvarez, he was digging a hole…he felt this sharp pain in his mouth, which turned out to be a filling from his tooth being yanked right out of its socket and blowing through his brain.” Whoa. “How does a filling get blown through someone’s head?” asks Hurley. Good question. I bet you a case of Apollo Bars it has something to do with the Island’s electromagnetic properties, and I bet you two cases that that’s why Pierre Chang wants the body. I think that Alvarez stumbled upon the eventual site of the Swan Station, or whatever it is around the Swan Station that eventually necessitates the whole button-pushing madness.
After debating whose ghostly communicative abilities were superior, Hurley delivered the line of the night: “You’re just jealous that my power’s better than yours.” Awww, snap.
Side question: there’s exotic matter beneath the Orchid Station. There’s some electromagnetic something beneath (or around) the Swan Station. And somewhere, Jughead is buried. How does it all match up?
I’ll Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes
Back in 2005, Miles eases a grieving father’s guilt before being encountered by Naomi (damn!), whose employer might be interested in hiring him. They venture to a restaurant, but not to eat (hopefully). It’s a job interview, as Miles is asked to assess the thoughts and circumstances surrounding the death of a man named Felix. Little did Miles know, this job interview was his first step into the harrowing rabbit hole of the Linus/Widmore War for the Island.
Miles discovers that Felix was delivering photos of empty graves and a purchase order for a plane to a “Mr. Widmore.” This essentially confirms that Widmore staged what the rest of the world believed to be the crash of Oceanic 815. Naomi fills Miles in on the mission of finding Ben Linus, and offers him a spot on the team. Miles initially opts to take the equivalent of the blue pill from the Matrix, choosing to let this hot, accented woman keep her crazy goose chases to herself. But when she sweetens the pot with a $1.6 million offer, Miles promptly swallows the red pill and descends into the rabbit hole (sans Laurence Fishburne).
Well Don’t Look at Me Like I’m Frikkin’ Frankenstein, Give Your Father a Hug
Did they just use the word “douche” on LOST? Classy.
The interplay between Dr. Chang, Hurley and Miles was solid. Hurley somewhat insensitively poked and prodded at the father-and-son combo. And when he stepped over the line, Dr. Chang threatened him with Polar Bear Pooper Scooper duty, serving what he called, “their ridiculous experiments” on Hydra Island. Again, we see Pierre’s contempt for any non-Orchid-related Dharma activity. Clearly, this man has a singular focus, and all the Polar Bears and paperwork that clog up the process are serious annoyances to him. As I’ll argue in a bit, Chang’s perception of the seriousness of his work will have its consequences.
First Leaf-Covered Secret Door on the Left
As the Dharma van rambles on, Hurley pries, asking Chang about his work and his family, all-the-while blatantly alluding to the fact that his son has time traveled back to 1977 and is sitting next to him right then. But Hurley’s shenanigans are interrupted by Pierre, who opens a secret passageway in the jungle (awesome, by the way, I want to see more of these) and leads the Dharma van into a massive hole in the ground. And as we learned with the engraving of some very special numbers on a very special door, that was no ordinary hole in the ground. It was the early stages of the Swan Station. “They’re building our hatch,” said Hurley, “…the one that crashed our plane.”
Hurley’s face here was really interesting. He seemed to be contemplating whether or not he could prevent the last 5 catastrophic years of his life by somehow stopping this station from being built. But then, the lessons of Miles and Faraday kicked in, and Hurley realized the futility. Either way, we saw Hurley watch the construction of a structure that he knew would eventually change his life drastically. And that was cool.
You Owe Me a Fish Taco and One Hell of an Explanation
Scene of the night: Miles’ brief abduction at the hands of Bram and his henchmen. Remember, Bram is the Ajira 316 passenger who partnered with Ilana during the coup d’ etat. Turns out, that coup was no coincidence. Bram’s in on the game. And we can now assume that Ilana is, too.
Bram accosts Miles, warning him that working for Widmore means working for the enemy. “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue,” asks Graham, issuing the litmus test that he and Ilana would eventually try on Frank and the other Ajira 316 castaways. Bram interprets Miles perplexed non-answer as a sign that he’s not ready. And then, Bram goes all Ben Linus on Miles’ ass. He promises him answers about who he is, who his father was and why he can do what he does. He dangles the carrot of understanding – Ben Linus’ greatest weapon – right in front of Miles’ nose. Miles doesn’t chase, and when Bram can’t double Widmore’s $1.6 million offer, the conversation is over.
“All the money in the world isn’t gonna fill that empty hole inside you, Miles,” warns Bram. God. This whole exchange just smacked of every manipulative Ben Linus conversation we’ve ever seen. Which leads me to the conclusion that Bram and his associates are working for one Benjamin Linus. We’ve already seen what Ben can do off the Island, and that he’s not without resources (guns, vans) and confidants (the butcher lady and possibly Hawking). I believe that he (and the Others) have this network in place (and that people like Australian psychic Richard Malkin are part of it). I also think this means Ben knew Ilana before Ajira 316, and that she is not working for the family of a man that Sayid killed. My take: she, Bram and a few others are Island exiles who are on a mission for redemption. Regardless, the Ajira 316 takeover storyline just got a ton more interesting.
Just Tie the Rope, And Kick the Chair
You know who sucks at erasing security tapes? Miles. You know who’s annoyingly good at finding them? Phil. And you know who’s got a hell of a cover-up job in front of him? Jim LaFleur. “Get some rope,” he quips to Juliet after knocking out the gnat-like Other who knows too much. I can’t help but think we’re seeing the beginning of the end for Sawyer and Juliet’s Dharma Utopia. The house of cards is about to come crumbling down.
Dreams From My Father
Miles quickly revisits the dead boy’s father he spoke to earlier before boarding the Kahana, admitting that he lied about communicating with the boy. He then admonishes the father: “If you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should’ve told him while he was still alive.” Here, Miles is still carrying some daddy angst. And so this scene perfectly set up the gorgeous ending of Some Like it Hoth.
Throughout the episode – and upon he and Miles’ return to camp – Hurley fails in his attempts to get Miles to cut his dad some slack. Miles wants nothing to do with Dr. Chang. That is, until, Hurley’s heartfelt account of forgiving his father seems to hit home with Miles.
And as Hurley leaves Miles, the typically sarcastic, detached ghost whisperer peers into the window of his childhood home and catches a rare glimpse of a kinder version of his father. Dr. Chang is holding his son and reading to him, until duty calls and Chang is called out to work yet again.
It then dons on Miles. The mistakes that parents make are not so black and white. After a long day of watching his father wrestle with the enormity of the Island’s power, then come home to try and be a father to a son who he knows will grow up in a hellish alternate reality, Miles finally acquires some sympathy and understanding. His father didn’t kick he and his mother off the Island because he didn’t love them. Quite the opposite. His father didn’t want this precocious little boy to grow up in a land where electromagnetic forces randomly murdered people walking in the jungle. Where a smoke monster lurked in judgment of every soul on the Island. Where a man being a mere man – or a Workman – is simply not enough, in a place that demands so much from its inhabitants. Pierre Chang didn’t banish his family from the Island. He spared them from it. And from his workaholic self.
Just as this realization washes over Miles, his father emerges from the house to ask for a ride to the docks. It's another summons to another obligation that robs Pierre of yet another night with his family. But this time, Miles doesn’t run from his father. With his newfound understanding in mind, he accompanies his dad to the Dharma van. It’s time to be a man.
After casting off decades of resentment to help out his father, Miles arrives to the docks to see none other than Daniel Effing Faraday emerge out of the sub. To me, it seemed like the Island rewarded Miles’ trust and understanding by reuniting him with Faraday. His old friend. And the man who may very well be the key to solving the remainder of this whole sordid mystery.
Namaste.
Charlie
Feel it, HOTH HOTH HOTH!
Happy Wednesday!
Before I start this preview, I am going to be honest with you: I’m pretty nervous about this post! Tonight's episode, Some Like It Hoth, seems to be a combination of two references:
1. The 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.
2. The planet Hoth in the (yawn) Star Wars Universe
So why am I nervous? Well, I have (shockingly) never seen the movie Some Like It Hot, and (prepare yourself, Lincoln...) I have barely seen Star Wars. I know, I know. Cue the gasps of horror and dropped jaw. I’m not sure if I am ashamed or proud…but I’m sure you’ll tell me how I should feel in the comments section.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I should ask Charlie to switch preview/review writing until it was too late…so you’re stuck with me! Thank goodness for Wikipedia!!
Some Like it Hot
Okay, let’s start with the plot of the movie, Some Like It Hot. As I understand it…
Two struggling musicians (Curtis & Lemmon) witness a gangster murder. BUT, they are spotted by the gangsters! (Oh no!) So the two of them decide to flee town and take jobs in an all-girls band (headlined by Marilyn Monroe) headed to Florida (they cross-dress). Both Lemmon and Curtis fall in love with Marilyn Monroe (her name in the show is “Sugar” Kane). A male millionaire falls in love with one of them (thinking he is a she), and a wacky hijinx ensues. Apparently the ending involves the object of the millionaire’s affections pulling off his wig, yelling “I’m a man!”, to which the millionaire responds “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
Sounds hilarious, huh?
And what about Hoth?
Okay, forgive me on this one. (yawn) In the fictional universe of Star Wars, Hoth is the sixth planet of the Hoth System. The planet Hoth is covered with ice and snow, has numerous moons, and is unfortunately pelted by meteorites from a nearby asteroid belt. The native creatures of Hoth include the wampa and the tauntaun.
Before I start this preview, I am going to be honest with you: I’m pretty nervous about this post! Tonight's episode, Some Like It Hoth, seems to be a combination of two references:
1. The 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.
2. The planet Hoth in the (yawn) Star Wars Universe
So why am I nervous? Well, I have (shockingly) never seen the movie Some Like It Hot, and (prepare yourself, Lincoln...) I have barely seen Star Wars. I know, I know. Cue the gasps of horror and dropped jaw. I’m not sure if I am ashamed or proud…but I’m sure you’ll tell me how I should feel in the comments section.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I should ask Charlie to switch preview/review writing until it was too late…so you’re stuck with me! Thank goodness for Wikipedia!!
Some Like it Hot
Okay, let’s start with the plot of the movie, Some Like It Hot. As I understand it…
Two struggling musicians (Curtis & Lemmon) witness a gangster murder. BUT, they are spotted by the gangsters! (Oh no!) So the two of them decide to flee town and take jobs in an all-girls band (headlined by Marilyn Monroe) headed to Florida (they cross-dress). Both Lemmon and Curtis fall in love with Marilyn Monroe (her name in the show is “Sugar” Kane). A male millionaire falls in love with one of them (thinking he is a she), and a wacky hijinx ensues. Apparently the ending involves the object of the millionaire’s affections pulling off his wig, yelling “I’m a man!”, to which the millionaire responds “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
Sounds hilarious, huh?
And what about Hoth?
Okay, forgive me on this one. (yawn) In the fictional universe of Star Wars, Hoth is the sixth planet of the Hoth System. The planet Hoth is covered with ice and snow, has numerous moons, and is unfortunately pelted by meteorites from a nearby asteroid belt. The native creatures of Hoth include the wampa and the tauntaun.
(long pause)
If you are like me, you have no idea what the heck a wampa or a tauntaun are (…nor do you know how to pronounce the darn words). Well, apparently, wampas are fictional predators resembling Yetis. Tauntauns are bipeds that look like odd...dinosaur-horses of some sort.
Uh, really weird...
So, how does any of this relate to Lost?
Well, from the episode description and the previews we’ve seen, I think it makes sense how the movie fits in. We are gong to see Miles and Hurley on a journey (delivering some sort of package to an important Dharma official...more below). Are they going to cross dress like Curtis & Lemmon? No, I don’t think so…that’s just not something any of us need to see.
Instead, I think the ‘cross dressing’ analogy comes from the fact that Miles and Hurley are pretending to be Dharma…and attempting to avoid capture/attack from ‘real’ Dharma or the Others, just like the characters in the movie were avoiding the gangsters. Also similar to the movie, let’s be honest: a Miles and Hurley delivery is almost a guaranteed ‘wacky hijinx’. There will definitely be some humor and comedy, too…which will be a nice break from the really heavy science-y storylines we have had so far this season.
As far as the Hoth part of the title, I’m struggling. I guess you could say that Smokey is like a wampa? Uh…all of you big Star Wars fans out there, here’s your chance to share all the (worthless) knowledge I know you have in our comments section…I need your help!
Tonight’s Guest Stars
As it has been the entire season, tonight’s guest star list gives us a pretty decent idea of what is going to go down:
Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Marsha Thomason as Naomi Dorrit, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Leslie Ishii as Lara, Brad William Henke as Bram, Dean Norris as Howard Gray, Tim DeZarn as Trevor, Lance Ho as young Miles and Linda Rose Herman as Evelyn.
Based on the previews, guest stars and description, it is clear we are going to have a Miles episode…which is the first Freighter team member’s flashback we’ve had since season 4! Yay!
I’m semi-excited to see Naomi come back, mainly because I think her accent is pretty awesome. Naomi on the list means that we will probably see a pre-Island flashback conversation/situation between her and Miles. We know that Abaddon forced Naomi to put Miles on the Freighter Team, maybe we’ll figure out why he was so insistent. Did Abaddon know about Miles ability to commune with the dead? Actually, is Miles’ ability to communicate with the dead widely known? And what, exactly, is the extent of his powers? How does he have these powers? Anyone else wondering if it was standard superhero-style radiation (Jughead, anyone), or was it maybe inherited from a lineage of dead-people-talking ancestors?
Actually, segue with me...
If you are like me, you have no idea what the heck a wampa or a tauntaun are (…nor do you know how to pronounce the darn words). Well, apparently, wampas are fictional predators resembling Yetis. Tauntauns are bipeds that look like odd...dinosaur-horses of some sort.
Uh, really weird...
So, how does any of this relate to Lost?
Well, from the episode description and the previews we’ve seen, I think it makes sense how the movie fits in. We are gong to see Miles and Hurley on a journey (delivering some sort of package to an important Dharma official...more below). Are they going to cross dress like Curtis & Lemmon? No, I don’t think so…that’s just not something any of us need to see.
Instead, I think the ‘cross dressing’ analogy comes from the fact that Miles and Hurley are pretending to be Dharma…and attempting to avoid capture/attack from ‘real’ Dharma or the Others, just like the characters in the movie were avoiding the gangsters. Also similar to the movie, let’s be honest: a Miles and Hurley delivery is almost a guaranteed ‘wacky hijinx’. There will definitely be some humor and comedy, too…which will be a nice break from the really heavy science-y storylines we have had so far this season.
As far as the Hoth part of the title, I’m struggling. I guess you could say that Smokey is like a wampa? Uh…all of you big Star Wars fans out there, here’s your chance to share all the (worthless) knowledge I know you have in our comments section…I need your help!
Tonight’s Guest Stars
As it has been the entire season, tonight’s guest star list gives us a pretty decent idea of what is going to go down:
Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Marsha Thomason as Naomi Dorrit, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Leslie Ishii as Lara, Brad William Henke as Bram, Dean Norris as Howard Gray, Tim DeZarn as Trevor, Lance Ho as young Miles and Linda Rose Herman as Evelyn.
Based on the previews, guest stars and description, it is clear we are going to have a Miles episode…which is the first Freighter team member’s flashback we’ve had since season 4! Yay!
I’m semi-excited to see Naomi come back, mainly because I think her accent is pretty awesome. Naomi on the list means that we will probably see a pre-Island flashback conversation/situation between her and Miles. We know that Abaddon forced Naomi to put Miles on the Freighter Team, maybe we’ll figure out why he was so insistent. Did Abaddon know about Miles ability to commune with the dead? Actually, is Miles’ ability to communicate with the dead widely known? And what, exactly, is the extent of his powers? How does he have these powers? Anyone else wondering if it was standard superhero-style radiation (Jughead, anyone), or was it maybe inherited from a lineage of dead-people-talking ancestors?
Actually, segue with me...
Speaking of ancestors, this week appears like it will confirm many of our suspicions that Miles is the child of Pierre Chang we saw in episode 1 this season, who seems to feature prominently in this episode based on the preview. With Young Miles and Lara (friendly reminder that Lara was the name of Pierre’s wife) making an appearance, it looks to be pretty obvious. Then again, if it is revealed, it will be rather anticlimactic, don't you think? I mean, nearly everyone is assuming this is the case. Also, I am not sure what will happen if now-Miles interacts with young Miles. Seems like that would be…bad. On a lot levels.
This is what I’m thinking: I’m wondering if Pierre knows who Miles is…in the same way that Faraday thought Ellie “looked familiar.” Perhaps Pierre has this gut feeling about Miles, which is why he trusts him to deliver whatever this important package is. Maybe Miles shares information with 1977 Pierre about what is going to happen, which is how Pierre knows to build the Orchid, understands the frozen donkey wheel, etc. Because, let’s be honest: even though Horace appears to be in charge…Pierre appears to know an awful lot…
And the description says…
Suspicions about a possible breach intensify after Ben is taken from the infirmary, and a reluctant Miles is forced to work with Hurley when he's asked to deliver an important package to a top Dharma official.
Well, it looks like the inevitable has arrived: time is running out for Sawyer’s perfect life as a Dharma. I’m gathering that tonight will take place concurrent to the events from “Dead is Dead”, but from the perspective of Dharma instead. In other words, we’re back to young Ben disappearing from the infirmary…and Kate & Sawyer are suddenly missing. Given Horace and Phil’s obvious suspicions about the flaming Dharma van from “Whatever Happened, Happened”, it shouldn’t take too long for them to start blaming the new recruits, especially talk-back-Jack and suddenly-suspicious-Sawyer.
However, the main storyline of the episode will likely revolve around Miles and his UPS package delivery to a top Dharma official. Two huge questions right off the bat: what is the package and who is the Dharma official? I’m going to turn to you for ideas about the package…I actually have no ideas. Anyone? Anyone?
There are a number of guest stars we haven’t met, so that might be the Dharma official. But what if it is someone we know? Like…Christian Shepherd? Oh man, that would be insane. And fantastic!
Should be fun…
It should be fun, no matter what. I’m looking forward to some new Hurley-isms and some sarcastic Miles, which always makes me smile.
Sorry this is so short, but I’m not sure what to think about a lot of this. Any Star Wars fans want to chime in? Who do you think the Dharma official is? And what about this package? And do you think Pierre is Papa Bear to Miles? Comment away!
Namaste,
Maggie
This is what I’m thinking: I’m wondering if Pierre knows who Miles is…in the same way that Faraday thought Ellie “looked familiar.” Perhaps Pierre has this gut feeling about Miles, which is why he trusts him to deliver whatever this important package is. Maybe Miles shares information with 1977 Pierre about what is going to happen, which is how Pierre knows to build the Orchid, understands the frozen donkey wheel, etc. Because, let’s be honest: even though Horace appears to be in charge…Pierre appears to know an awful lot…
And the description says…
Suspicions about a possible breach intensify after Ben is taken from the infirmary, and a reluctant Miles is forced to work with Hurley when he's asked to deliver an important package to a top Dharma official.
Well, it looks like the inevitable has arrived: time is running out for Sawyer’s perfect life as a Dharma. I’m gathering that tonight will take place concurrent to the events from “Dead is Dead”, but from the perspective of Dharma instead. In other words, we’re back to young Ben disappearing from the infirmary…and Kate & Sawyer are suddenly missing. Given Horace and Phil’s obvious suspicions about the flaming Dharma van from “Whatever Happened, Happened”, it shouldn’t take too long for them to start blaming the new recruits, especially talk-back-Jack and suddenly-suspicious-Sawyer.
However, the main storyline of the episode will likely revolve around Miles and his UPS package delivery to a top Dharma official. Two huge questions right off the bat: what is the package and who is the Dharma official? I’m going to turn to you for ideas about the package…I actually have no ideas. Anyone? Anyone?
There are a number of guest stars we haven’t met, so that might be the Dharma official. But what if it is someone we know? Like…Christian Shepherd? Oh man, that would be insane. And fantastic!
Should be fun…
It should be fun, no matter what. I’m looking forward to some new Hurley-isms and some sarcastic Miles, which always makes me smile.
Sorry this is so short, but I’m not sure what to think about a lot of this. Any Star Wars fans want to chime in? Who do you think the Dharma official is? And what about this package? And do you think Pierre is Papa Bear to Miles? Comment away!
Namaste,
Maggie
Great Article from Rolling Stone
"We have always known what the very end of this series will be," Lindelof continues. "We are going to present the audience with the empirical answers to these questions — the questions that we care about and that we feel are really important to understand in order to give the show the necessary closure. We will not be cutting to black as a Journey song plays. But as for the grander questions Lost raises — you know, does free will win out over destiny? — these sort of larger thematic questions can't be answered by a single show, and we certainly wouldn't have the hubris to try."
Brilliantly (and misleadingly) titled, "Unraveling the Mysteries of 'LOST'," this Rolling Stone interview with Damon & Carlton is a spoiler-free examination of how the minds behind the show weave deep character development, the supernatural and unparalleled mystery into the rich tapestry we watch each week. It's a cool article, so check it out. Again, it's spoiler-free.Charlie
Original Sin
He murdered, lied, cheated, stole and manipulated. Ben Linus’ entire life has been one long con. A crime. And last night, we relived some of its highlights (or lowlights). But in the end, I believe, we learned that Ben Linus’ real sin was spitting in the face of fate. And that every other misdeed was mere cannon fodder.
Last night, that cannon ignited. And it blew to smitherines the pristine image of Island preeminence, good intentions, and cool, calm control that Ben has been faking his entire life. Let’s take a look…
So That’s Where Kate’s Horse Came From
Okay, not really. Different horse. But as a bellwether for the history lesson we were about to receive, last night’s episode opened with Charles Widmore riding on horseback into an antiquated village setting. Apparently there were no Dharma Vans available to rent.
When Widmore confronted Richard about their new guest, I caught a hearty whiff of struggle between struggle between Widmore’s earthly entitlement and Alpert’s otherworldly communion. “You should’ve let him die,” said Charles. “Jacob wanted it done,” replied Richard, “the Island chooses who the Island chooses, you know that.” Richard played the trump card, and Charles folded his hand. Charles’ mortal dominion and Richard’s eternal paradigm seemed at odds here, and it brilliantly foreshadowed Charles’ fall from grace at the hands of very earthly temptation.
Widmore’s first visit with Ben Linus was mostly unceremonious, save for one thing. Ben seemed to remember most things (that he hated his father, that he wanted to be one an Other), but was entirely cloudy about how he got injured (Sayid shooting him). Might Richard have erased only that memory in order to keep Ben’s perception of his life story in tact? Did he remove the part of Ben’s life that now deviated from the original path? If so, that means Richard’s been playing dumb with his whole, “What do you mean you traveled through time?” routine. Me likey.
The Awakening
After waking up to a hovering John Locke, Ben said he “believed” Locke would live, but was surprised to “see” it. And that seemed to be a major theme of the episode, that Ben is now living in a life he can’t predict, where he doesn’t “know the answers to the questions he asks” as Locke later puts it. We are seeing Ben born with a blank slate, a tabula rasa. And what was the title of the Season 1 episode that featured Locke born anew? You guessed it: Tabula Rasa. And who, in real life, came up with the concept of a tabula rasa to describe every man’s birthright of a blank slate? You guessed it: philosopher John Locke. It’s the circle of life. And it moves us all.
Ben starts answering as many questions as he can. He tells Locke that he broke the rules (by returning to the Island) and needed to do his penance at the hands of none other than Smokey, or as Locke apparently calls it, “the Monster.”
The New Sheriff In Town
Ben encounters Casear. Were this Season One, I might fear Caesar. But knowing Ben as we do, and watching him manipulate Caesar like a lump of clay, I felt entitled to a certain knowledge. It’s like we’re all John Locke, watching history unfold again, only with a knowing sense of what is to come. Caesar’s suspicions regarding Locke only further motivate Ben to flee – and Ben knows that he needs to take Bald Jesus with him.
The Root of Ben’s Evil
While waiting to attack Rousseau, Young Ethan asks if he should do it, which Ben refuses, despite Ethan’s penchant for cloak-and-dagger stealth operations. Surprised by Rousseau’s baby, Ben spares the Frenchwoman’s life and takes Alex. Here we see the initial seeds of Ben’s soft spot for children on the Island. We know it later becomes a fixation that annoys Richard and the Others, and as it turns out, that fixation was born with the Alex abduction. This is also, perhaps, why he feels that unnatural loyalty toward Alex. Hang on to this scene in your head, I think it might be a lot more important than it initially seems.
Because when Ben and Ethan return to the Others Camp with Alex, we realize that Ben’s actions on that beach initiate the rift between he and Charles. Charles claims that the Island wanted Rousseau and Alex dead. Ben claims that Jacob/the Island wouldn’t want the baby killed, and challenges Charles to kill Alex himself if he’s so sure. This is why this scene is important: because somebody (Ben or Charles) is wrong about what exactly the Island wants. Later, I’ll argue that Charles was right and that this misstep was the beginning of Ben’s undoing. Later.
Was there also a biblical tie-in here for anyone else (isn’t there always?)? Many of modern Christianity’s detractors claim that while the word of God may be infallible, its interpretations by man (compiled in the Bible) are not. If Jacob is God, and the Island is their utopia, are the Others in a struggle over versions of their own gospel?
All Apologies
In the Hydra offices, Ben explains to Locke that murdering him was the only way to bring the Oceanic Six back, which was in the Island’s best interest. The strange thing here? It seems feasible. I hate myself whenever I believe Ben Linus, but I can’t help but buy the bespectacled one’s explanation. And most importantly, as Ben says, “it worked.” It apparently worked enough for Locke, who decided that he wanted to be a part of whatever Ben was up to. And off they went.
But not before encountering Caesar and his Hydra Island deputies. Ben shot the sheriff. But he did not shoot the deputies. Dead is dead. And by “Dead” I mean “Caesar.” And Ben and Locke are free to continue their mysterious mission.
Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay…
Watching Ben’s powwwwer, fade away. (Sorry). When Locke inquires as to Ben’s arm injury, Ben coyly replies, “I’ve found that sometimes friends can be significantly more dangerous than enemies, John.” It’s as if Ben knows he’s about to fully cede Island control to John, and is afraid of what that might hold. Although I think he genuinely likes John, he understands the awesome power that Locke must assume. And Locke’s cavalier attitude toward it all of late isn’t the most reassuring thing to the man who’s been fighting to protect the Island his entire life. Look at me, sympathizing with Ben again!
This scene was another piece of the gradual passing of the torch from Ben to Locke. Later in the episode, Widmore tells Ben that, “One day, you’ll be standing where I’m standing now. You’ll be the one being banished.” And Widmore was right. Literally. In that very spot, on that very dock, Ben eventually handed over the reins.
Broke Into the Old Apartment
As they enter Camp Otherton, the light in Ben Linus’ cabin flickers on, and Ben goes to investigate. Inside he finds Sun and Frank, who are awaiting Locke’s arrival in order to embark upon the “long journey” that Christian promised them. Sun shows Ben the 1977 Dharma New Student Orientation photo, at which Ben balks and seems genuinely confused about the Oceanic Six’s time-traveling journey. See? He’s lost control, people. He’s lost control.
Sun, promised a reunion with Jin, decides to stick with the Grumpy Old Men, as Frank decides to retreat back to his Ajira charges. Locke, equipped with an admirable “Just do it already” attitude, keeps Ben on task. We see what was behind Ben’s magical dress shirt collection, as he descends underground to apply some Mystic Liquid Plumber to the situation and tell Smokey, “I’ll be outside.” Cool.
Don’t Let the Door Hit You
Back in 1994ish, Papa Ben goes to see his nemesis leave the Island. Ben tells Charles that he brought the banishment upon himself by leaving the Island “regularly” (does that mean Donkey Wheel exits are excluded from the Island’s naughty list?) and “having a daughter with an outsider” (POOF! There goes my Ellie-Charles-Faraday-Penny family tree theory, for now). “You broke the rules, Charles,” says Ben. Raise your hand if you’d like to read this rulebook. Yeah, me too.
Ben reiterates the whole, “The Island didn’t want Alex dead,” argument, which seems to have lingered as a sticking point between the two men. It appears that Ben and Widmore’s feud is truly about island entitlement, a dispute over whose interpretations of the Island’s overtures was correct. And in a damning condemnation and ominous foreshadowing, Charles tells Ben that if he’s wrong, he’ll one day be standing right here, right in Charles’ shoes. As we’ve seen, Widmore was right. He adds, “…you cannot fight the inevitable,” seemingly illuminating a more literal translation of the “whatever happens, happens,” time travel argument. He’s telling Ben not to mess with fate’s path, lest he be punished by fate’s wrath (Rhyme alert!). Keep that nugget in mind. I’m getting there.
Desperately Seeking Smokey
Awaiting Smokey in the New Otherton commons area, Ben has time for a quick back-and-forth with Sun. They debate the state of Locke’s “living,” and Ben declares, “dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island, scares the living hell out of me.”. To further emphasize that point, when Ben refers to Smokey as an uncontrollable force about to emerge from the jungle, Locke pops his head out from the tree line. That’s the uncontrollable force. Ben Linus is out of strings to pull. And since Locke is now in charge, it’s time to go find Smokey. And he knows just where to find him.
"Ima Bust A Cap In Yo - Hey, Cute Kid!"
To all of you who had, “trying to kill Penny,” in the “what did Ben Linus do to get roughed up before the Ajira 316 flight” poll, congratulations. You win. Ben warns Widmore over the phone that he’s about to even the score for Alex’s death. He walks coolly onto the dock, capping Desmond as he interrupts the mission. But when he finds Penny, baby Charlie emerges from the boathouse. And suddenly, that soft spot for children in Ben’s heart enlarges and takes over. He can’t kill her. Or at least, he hesitates to. And in that time, Desmond recovers enough to beat him senseless and roll him off the dock.
Man, that soft spot for children costs Ben dearly, doesn’t it? So where did it come from? I think it emerged from his own shattered, broken childhood. And ironically, that soft spot gets him in a lot of trouble. It prevented him from settling the score with Widmore when he couldn’t kill Penny. And it might’ve doomed his Island leadership when he spared Alex. Are you liking all these vague allusions to my main point in this article? Be patient, baby birds. I'll feed you.
The New New Sheriff In Town
Frank’s return to the beach is met by a gun-toting Ilana and her equally-equipped henchmen. “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” she questions Frank. What? What the hell was this all about? “Get everyone else, tell them it’s time. And tie him (Frank) up. He’s coming with us.” Okay what did we miss over on Hydra Island? Did Ben’s shooting of Caesar drive Ilana and Co. to marshal law? Did they see the four-toed statue from across the water and realize that they weren’t on any ordinary island? I don’t know, but this scene baffled me. It’s my “I have no clue so take a stab at it in the comments section” get-out-of-jail-free card moment of the week. Ha!
Come on Baby Light My Fire
Back to the good stuff. John and Ben trudged beneath the temple with torches lit, searching for Smokey. Eventually, Ben opts to go it alone, falling into a sub-sub-subterranean level, complete with a slate of hieroglyphics that make the Swan Station countdown timer symbols look like the Egyptian equivalent of Dick & Jane.
There is so much to dissect in these last few minutes. First of all, if you are an ancient Egyptian or Tom Hanks from The Da Vinci Code, please translate all those hieroglyphics and email me what they mean. As Ben ambles through the room (which it seems he’s never seen before, furthering the idea of his tabula rasa), he comes across what seems like an altar. Adorning the stage is a carving of a Greek God (that seems to resemble the completed four-toed statue figure) and a squiggly-lined menace (Smokey, presumably). I think the point of this symbolism was to confirm that indeed the Island was founded (or inspired) by ancient civilizations, and that the issues and ramifications of the Island’s power are not by any means new.
Smokey emerges from the altar, surrounding Ben with images of Alex’s death. I think when we saw this happen to Eko, we saw it from an outsider’s perspective (you could vaguely make out images of Eko’s sins). But last night we saw what the smoke monster shows someone from their perspective. Ben was enveloped by the sins of his past, and as tears welled in his eyes, he relived Alex’s murder. And then, the smoke cleared. And just as Eko was greeted by an apparition of his dead brother when Smokey left him, Ben was greeted with a “daddy?” It was Alex. But she wasn’t there to forgive him. She pinned him to a wall and drove the final nail into his all-knowing coffin. She took him to task for everything he’d done, and for apparently planning to kill John Locke, “again.” She threatened him, imploring him to follow Locke and his every word. Faced with the guilt of what he’d done to Alex before, Ben acquiesced, agreeing to follow Locke no matter what. And then, as if expecting one final blow, Ben Linus cowered. When he opened his eyes again, the room was empty and his torch was relit, guiding him to the hole in the floor where John Locke was waiting, with a rope, to be followed.
Ben's Biggest Mistake
Alright, so what’s this all mean? There was a lot of “stuff” in Dead is Dead. But what’s the point? I’ve been hinting at it throughout the article, so time to pay it off…
Ben Linus has been guilty of a lot. Murder. Lying. Greed. Manipulation. You name it. But his greatest sin, if I’m reading last night’s episode correctly, was his disobedience of fate. He didn’t kill Alex and Rousseau, even though Charles (via Jacob) told him it was what the Island wanted. He disobeyed, letting that do-no-harm-to-children soft spot override his duty to the Island.
And when he ousted Charles Widmore from the Island and assumed leadership of the Others, he further contradicted fate's wishes. We know John Locke was supposed to steer this ship. But Ben clung to power long enough to let things get way out of hand, with John Locke barely arriving in time to save the day (hopefully). Locke is special. Locke is in tune with the Island. Locke loves the Island. He gets it. He “is” it.
But for 25 years, Ben Linus ignored this fact. He wasn’t an Island native, but he acted as one. He was a surrogate demigod. And in that time, the Island punished his disingenuous leadership by killing pregnant women and their babies, by allowing a mercenary to murder his daughter and by imperiling the otherwise-serene life of the Others.
Maybe if Ben would've done as Widmore ordered and just killed Alex and Rousseau instead of steering the Island on the path of his choosing, he would've continued on as a normal Other. But he had to stick out, had to disobey. Ultimately, it led to his takeover, where he operated the very empire that he had defied.
Widmore told him that if the Island wanted Alex dead, she’d be dead. And although it took 20-some years, the Island finally proved Widmore right. It course-corrected, using Keamy to commit the murder that Ben couldn’t carry out earlier in his life.
Ironically, Ben’s biggest sin was not killing someone. The Island has been course-correcting for Ben with drastic measures, such as bringing Oceanic 815 onto the Island, or opening the porthole for the freighter folk. And I think the Island’s last act of course-correction, in its desperate attempt to right the wrongs of Ben Linus, is to put everything back in John Locke’s hands. The way it was always supposed to be.
Namaste.
Charlie
Last night, that cannon ignited. And it blew to smitherines the pristine image of Island preeminence, good intentions, and cool, calm control that Ben has been faking his entire life. Let’s take a look…
So That’s Where Kate’s Horse Came From
Okay, not really. Different horse. But as a bellwether for the history lesson we were about to receive, last night’s episode opened with Charles Widmore riding on horseback into an antiquated village setting. Apparently there were no Dharma Vans available to rent.
When Widmore confronted Richard about their new guest, I caught a hearty whiff of struggle between struggle between Widmore’s earthly entitlement and Alpert’s otherworldly communion. “You should’ve let him die,” said Charles. “Jacob wanted it done,” replied Richard, “the Island chooses who the Island chooses, you know that.” Richard played the trump card, and Charles folded his hand. Charles’ mortal dominion and Richard’s eternal paradigm seemed at odds here, and it brilliantly foreshadowed Charles’ fall from grace at the hands of very earthly temptation.
Widmore’s first visit with Ben Linus was mostly unceremonious, save for one thing. Ben seemed to remember most things (that he hated his father, that he wanted to be one an Other), but was entirely cloudy about how he got injured (Sayid shooting him). Might Richard have erased only that memory in order to keep Ben’s perception of his life story in tact? Did he remove the part of Ben’s life that now deviated from the original path? If so, that means Richard’s been playing dumb with his whole, “What do you mean you traveled through time?” routine. Me likey.
The Awakening
After waking up to a hovering John Locke, Ben said he “believed” Locke would live, but was surprised to “see” it. And that seemed to be a major theme of the episode, that Ben is now living in a life he can’t predict, where he doesn’t “know the answers to the questions he asks” as Locke later puts it. We are seeing Ben born with a blank slate, a tabula rasa. And what was the title of the Season 1 episode that featured Locke born anew? You guessed it: Tabula Rasa. And who, in real life, came up with the concept of a tabula rasa to describe every man’s birthright of a blank slate? You guessed it: philosopher John Locke. It’s the circle of life. And it moves us all.
Ben starts answering as many questions as he can. He tells Locke that he broke the rules (by returning to the Island) and needed to do his penance at the hands of none other than Smokey, or as Locke apparently calls it, “the Monster.”
The New Sheriff In Town
Ben encounters Casear. Were this Season One, I might fear Caesar. But knowing Ben as we do, and watching him manipulate Caesar like a lump of clay, I felt entitled to a certain knowledge. It’s like we’re all John Locke, watching history unfold again, only with a knowing sense of what is to come. Caesar’s suspicions regarding Locke only further motivate Ben to flee – and Ben knows that he needs to take Bald Jesus with him.
The Root of Ben’s Evil
While waiting to attack Rousseau, Young Ethan asks if he should do it, which Ben refuses, despite Ethan’s penchant for cloak-and-dagger stealth operations. Surprised by Rousseau’s baby, Ben spares the Frenchwoman’s life and takes Alex. Here we see the initial seeds of Ben’s soft spot for children on the Island. We know it later becomes a fixation that annoys Richard and the Others, and as it turns out, that fixation was born with the Alex abduction. This is also, perhaps, why he feels that unnatural loyalty toward Alex. Hang on to this scene in your head, I think it might be a lot more important than it initially seems.
Because when Ben and Ethan return to the Others Camp with Alex, we realize that Ben’s actions on that beach initiate the rift between he and Charles. Charles claims that the Island wanted Rousseau and Alex dead. Ben claims that Jacob/the Island wouldn’t want the baby killed, and challenges Charles to kill Alex himself if he’s so sure. This is why this scene is important: because somebody (Ben or Charles) is wrong about what exactly the Island wants. Later, I’ll argue that Charles was right and that this misstep was the beginning of Ben’s undoing. Later.
Was there also a biblical tie-in here for anyone else (isn’t there always?)? Many of modern Christianity’s detractors claim that while the word of God may be infallible, its interpretations by man (compiled in the Bible) are not. If Jacob is God, and the Island is their utopia, are the Others in a struggle over versions of their own gospel?
All Apologies
In the Hydra offices, Ben explains to Locke that murdering him was the only way to bring the Oceanic Six back, which was in the Island’s best interest. The strange thing here? It seems feasible. I hate myself whenever I believe Ben Linus, but I can’t help but buy the bespectacled one’s explanation. And most importantly, as Ben says, “it worked.” It apparently worked enough for Locke, who decided that he wanted to be a part of whatever Ben was up to. And off they went.
But not before encountering Caesar and his Hydra Island deputies. Ben shot the sheriff. But he did not shoot the deputies. Dead is dead. And by “Dead” I mean “Caesar.” And Ben and Locke are free to continue their mysterious mission.
Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay…
Watching Ben’s powwwwer, fade away. (Sorry). When Locke inquires as to Ben’s arm injury, Ben coyly replies, “I’ve found that sometimes friends can be significantly more dangerous than enemies, John.” It’s as if Ben knows he’s about to fully cede Island control to John, and is afraid of what that might hold. Although I think he genuinely likes John, he understands the awesome power that Locke must assume. And Locke’s cavalier attitude toward it all of late isn’t the most reassuring thing to the man who’s been fighting to protect the Island his entire life. Look at me, sympathizing with Ben again!
This scene was another piece of the gradual passing of the torch from Ben to Locke. Later in the episode, Widmore tells Ben that, “One day, you’ll be standing where I’m standing now. You’ll be the one being banished.” And Widmore was right. Literally. In that very spot, on that very dock, Ben eventually handed over the reins.
Broke Into the Old Apartment
As they enter Camp Otherton, the light in Ben Linus’ cabin flickers on, and Ben goes to investigate. Inside he finds Sun and Frank, who are awaiting Locke’s arrival in order to embark upon the “long journey” that Christian promised them. Sun shows Ben the 1977 Dharma New Student Orientation photo, at which Ben balks and seems genuinely confused about the Oceanic Six’s time-traveling journey. See? He’s lost control, people. He’s lost control.
Sun, promised a reunion with Jin, decides to stick with the Grumpy Old Men, as Frank decides to retreat back to his Ajira charges. Locke, equipped with an admirable “Just do it already” attitude, keeps Ben on task. We see what was behind Ben’s magical dress shirt collection, as he descends underground to apply some Mystic Liquid Plumber to the situation and tell Smokey, “I’ll be outside.” Cool.
Don’t Let the Door Hit You
Back in 1994ish, Papa Ben goes to see his nemesis leave the Island. Ben tells Charles that he brought the banishment upon himself by leaving the Island “regularly” (does that mean Donkey Wheel exits are excluded from the Island’s naughty list?) and “having a daughter with an outsider” (POOF! There goes my Ellie-Charles-Faraday-Penny family tree theory, for now). “You broke the rules, Charles,” says Ben. Raise your hand if you’d like to read this rulebook. Yeah, me too.
Ben reiterates the whole, “The Island didn’t want Alex dead,” argument, which seems to have lingered as a sticking point between the two men. It appears that Ben and Widmore’s feud is truly about island entitlement, a dispute over whose interpretations of the Island’s overtures was correct. And in a damning condemnation and ominous foreshadowing, Charles tells Ben that if he’s wrong, he’ll one day be standing right here, right in Charles’ shoes. As we’ve seen, Widmore was right. He adds, “…you cannot fight the inevitable,” seemingly illuminating a more literal translation of the “whatever happens, happens,” time travel argument. He’s telling Ben not to mess with fate’s path, lest he be punished by fate’s wrath (Rhyme alert!). Keep that nugget in mind. I’m getting there.
Desperately Seeking Smokey
Awaiting Smokey in the New Otherton commons area, Ben has time for a quick back-and-forth with Sun. They debate the state of Locke’s “living,” and Ben declares, “dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island, scares the living hell out of me.”. To further emphasize that point, when Ben refers to Smokey as an uncontrollable force about to emerge from the jungle, Locke pops his head out from the tree line. That’s the uncontrollable force. Ben Linus is out of strings to pull. And since Locke is now in charge, it’s time to go find Smokey. And he knows just where to find him.
"Ima Bust A Cap In Yo - Hey, Cute Kid!"
To all of you who had, “trying to kill Penny,” in the “what did Ben Linus do to get roughed up before the Ajira 316 flight” poll, congratulations. You win. Ben warns Widmore over the phone that he’s about to even the score for Alex’s death. He walks coolly onto the dock, capping Desmond as he interrupts the mission. But when he finds Penny, baby Charlie emerges from the boathouse. And suddenly, that soft spot for children in Ben’s heart enlarges and takes over. He can’t kill her. Or at least, he hesitates to. And in that time, Desmond recovers enough to beat him senseless and roll him off the dock.
Man, that soft spot for children costs Ben dearly, doesn’t it? So where did it come from? I think it emerged from his own shattered, broken childhood. And ironically, that soft spot gets him in a lot of trouble. It prevented him from settling the score with Widmore when he couldn’t kill Penny. And it might’ve doomed his Island leadership when he spared Alex. Are you liking all these vague allusions to my main point in this article? Be patient, baby birds. I'll feed you.
The New New Sheriff In Town
Frank’s return to the beach is met by a gun-toting Ilana and her equally-equipped henchmen. “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” she questions Frank. What? What the hell was this all about? “Get everyone else, tell them it’s time. And tie him (Frank) up. He’s coming with us.” Okay what did we miss over on Hydra Island? Did Ben’s shooting of Caesar drive Ilana and Co. to marshal law? Did they see the four-toed statue from across the water and realize that they weren’t on any ordinary island? I don’t know, but this scene baffled me. It’s my “I have no clue so take a stab at it in the comments section” get-out-of-jail-free card moment of the week. Ha!
Come on Baby Light My Fire
Back to the good stuff. John and Ben trudged beneath the temple with torches lit, searching for Smokey. Eventually, Ben opts to go it alone, falling into a sub-sub-subterranean level, complete with a slate of hieroglyphics that make the Swan Station countdown timer symbols look like the Egyptian equivalent of Dick & Jane.
There is so much to dissect in these last few minutes. First of all, if you are an ancient Egyptian or Tom Hanks from The Da Vinci Code, please translate all those hieroglyphics and email me what they mean. As Ben ambles through the room (which it seems he’s never seen before, furthering the idea of his tabula rasa), he comes across what seems like an altar. Adorning the stage is a carving of a Greek God (that seems to resemble the completed four-toed statue figure) and a squiggly-lined menace (Smokey, presumably). I think the point of this symbolism was to confirm that indeed the Island was founded (or inspired) by ancient civilizations, and that the issues and ramifications of the Island’s power are not by any means new.
Smokey emerges from the altar, surrounding Ben with images of Alex’s death. I think when we saw this happen to Eko, we saw it from an outsider’s perspective (you could vaguely make out images of Eko’s sins). But last night we saw what the smoke monster shows someone from their perspective. Ben was enveloped by the sins of his past, and as tears welled in his eyes, he relived Alex’s murder. And then, the smoke cleared. And just as Eko was greeted by an apparition of his dead brother when Smokey left him, Ben was greeted with a “daddy?” It was Alex. But she wasn’t there to forgive him. She pinned him to a wall and drove the final nail into his all-knowing coffin. She took him to task for everything he’d done, and for apparently planning to kill John Locke, “again.” She threatened him, imploring him to follow Locke and his every word. Faced with the guilt of what he’d done to Alex before, Ben acquiesced, agreeing to follow Locke no matter what. And then, as if expecting one final blow, Ben Linus cowered. When he opened his eyes again, the room was empty and his torch was relit, guiding him to the hole in the floor where John Locke was waiting, with a rope, to be followed.
Ben's Biggest Mistake
Alright, so what’s this all mean? There was a lot of “stuff” in Dead is Dead. But what’s the point? I’ve been hinting at it throughout the article, so time to pay it off…
Ben Linus has been guilty of a lot. Murder. Lying. Greed. Manipulation. You name it. But his greatest sin, if I’m reading last night’s episode correctly, was his disobedience of fate. He didn’t kill Alex and Rousseau, even though Charles (via Jacob) told him it was what the Island wanted. He disobeyed, letting that do-no-harm-to-children soft spot override his duty to the Island.
And when he ousted Charles Widmore from the Island and assumed leadership of the Others, he further contradicted fate's wishes. We know John Locke was supposed to steer this ship. But Ben clung to power long enough to let things get way out of hand, with John Locke barely arriving in time to save the day (hopefully). Locke is special. Locke is in tune with the Island. Locke loves the Island. He gets it. He “is” it.
But for 25 years, Ben Linus ignored this fact. He wasn’t an Island native, but he acted as one. He was a surrogate demigod. And in that time, the Island punished his disingenuous leadership by killing pregnant women and their babies, by allowing a mercenary to murder his daughter and by imperiling the otherwise-serene life of the Others.
Maybe if Ben would've done as Widmore ordered and just killed Alex and Rousseau instead of steering the Island on the path of his choosing, he would've continued on as a normal Other. But he had to stick out, had to disobey. Ultimately, it led to his takeover, where he operated the very empire that he had defied.
Widmore told him that if the Island wanted Alex dead, she’d be dead. And although it took 20-some years, the Island finally proved Widmore right. It course-corrected, using Keamy to commit the murder that Ben couldn’t carry out earlier in his life.
Ironically, Ben’s biggest sin was not killing someone. The Island has been course-correcting for Ben with drastic measures, such as bringing Oceanic 815 onto the Island, or opening the porthole for the freighter folk. And I think the Island’s last act of course-correction, in its desperate attempt to right the wrongs of Ben Linus, is to put everything back in John Locke’s hands. The way it was always supposed to be.
Namaste.
Charlie
Another Week, Another Lesson.
Welcome to Wednesday! It is great to see you all today. I hope you have recovered from last week’s crazy Lost episode. I don’t know about you, but Charlie and I are still talking about whatever happened. (Wait…we talk about Lost all the time…so that really isn’t shocking…)
But let’s get down to business. Ladies and gentlemen, dead is dead.
Tonight’s Episode: Dead is Dead
Last week, Miles made sure that we understand a key piece of the time travel equation: that “whatever happened, happened.” In what will be a classic Lost scene from season 5 in my book for years to come, Miles and Hurley went back and forth, leaving us to identify with Hurley, yet ponder-then-accept the explanations of Miles. What does it mean to say “whatever happened, happened”? Well, according to Miles: creepy little Ben was always shot by Sayid; Jack always refused to help Juliet out with the surgery; Sawyer and Kate always decided to take him to Richard Alpert; and Richard always took him into the Temple. Seems simple enough, right?
Well, not exactly. Miles also touched on something else…that although history is already written/decided for the Dharma Initiative folks, 1977 is now the ‘present’ for our survivors…which means they can die…
And that, my friends, brings us to tonight’s episode, “Dead is Dead.” It looks like we’re going to get another pseudo lesson in the nuts and bolts of time travel. While it may seem so simple and fundamental at first glance, I’m wary that they are making such an effort to make sure we, the audience, understands the concept (see obvious episode title). Why wary, you ask?
But let’s get down to business. Ladies and gentlemen, dead is dead.
Tonight’s Episode: Dead is Dead
Last week, Miles made sure that we understand a key piece of the time travel equation: that “whatever happened, happened.” In what will be a classic Lost scene from season 5 in my book for years to come, Miles and Hurley went back and forth, leaving us to identify with Hurley, yet ponder-then-accept the explanations of Miles. What does it mean to say “whatever happened, happened”? Well, according to Miles: creepy little Ben was always shot by Sayid; Jack always refused to help Juliet out with the surgery; Sawyer and Kate always decided to take him to Richard Alpert; and Richard always took him into the Temple. Seems simple enough, right?
Well, not exactly. Miles also touched on something else…that although history is already written/decided for the Dharma Initiative folks, 1977 is now the ‘present’ for our survivors…which means they can die…
And that, my friends, brings us to tonight’s episode, “Dead is Dead.” It looks like we’re going to get another pseudo lesson in the nuts and bolts of time travel. While it may seem so simple and fundamental at first glance, I’m wary that they are making such an effort to make sure we, the audience, understands the concept (see obvious episode title). Why wary, you ask?
Well, I think it might mean someone is going to die tonight.
And if I am understanding the lesson of the episode title correctly, if anyone dies this week, in any time frame, they are dead. Dead is dead. It happened.
But I could be very wrong. (See: John Locke coming back to life, which I’ll touch on in a bit.)
Wait…you seriously think someone is going to die??
I know, I know. I appear to have gone off the deep end. And let me tell you that I hope I’m wrong. But let’s prepare ourselves for this by thinking it through. For starters, there are definitely some characters that I would categorize as safe:
(1) Miles – This guy needs to use his I-can-talk-to-the-dead powers to speak with the following people: Jacob, Christian Shepherd, Claire, and probably many more spirits we haven’t met. He’s totally safe.
(2) Daniel Faraday – He is even safer than Miles. We haven't seen him for weeks (really bugging me, by the way), and know he will eventually sneak into the Orchid station to do...something. Faraday has a lot of story left.
(3) Jack -- So, we still don’t know why Jack came back to the island. And we definitely need to see Jack encounter now-living Locke. Jack’s not going six feet under tonight…I promise.
(4) Hurley – Similar to Jack, we haven’t been told why Hurley returned to the island or how he found out about Ajira 316. He’s not going anywhere.
(1) Sayid – Unfortunately, this one is pretty obvious…and most of you have picked up on it. Sayid’s backstory was finished a couple weeks ago, he completed what he thinks was his purpose (shooting little Ben), and he is currently in the dangerous position of running around this messed up island by himself. Things are not looking great…
Man, this is a freaking ALL-STAR list of characters, including four characters that have been around since episode 1 of season 1…and one who (I believe) is the most interesting and best-acted character on the whole show. Eeeek, this is going to be crazy.
That is unless, of course, no one dies.
Sidenote to Charlie: writing previews and speculating can be frustrating sometimes!
Guest Stars Tonight!
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Sonya Walger as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Said Taghmaoui as Caesar, Melissa Farman as young Danielle Rousseau, Brad William Henke as Bram and Matt Hoffman as Jed.
Alrighty, so this list opens up a whole new can of worms. Looks like we might be all over the map-of-time tonight. Unfortunately, this might suck since there is a high probability that we won’t have a significant amount of advancement anywhere. But nevertheless, it looks like we will see: Richard Alpert and little Ben inside the Temple (1977); some interaction between Ben and young Danielle (late 1980s); some scenes involving Alex as a teen (it is the actress we’ve seen play Alex before, not a ‘young’ version) (2000ish); Ben interacting with Penny…and probably Desmond, too (2008); and some action with the Ajira 316ers (2008).
All in all, the guest stars seem to indicate this we are looking at some major moments (oh man, just like Charlie's final centric-episode “Greatest Hits”?????) of Ben’s life.
I will also point something else out that seems unimportant, but it caught my eye. No Dharma members appear on the guest star list this week. After three weeks focused almost entirely on the Dharma storyline, maybe we’re getting a break from 1977 this week.
And if you scroll back up, you’ll see that the only one remaining is Benjamin Linus.
The Description for Tonight
To atone for sins of the past, Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster in order to be judged.
Sweet mercy, what a fantastic description!! Let’s break down each clause…
“To atone for sins of the past…”
My first inclination (nay, the first very lengthy version of this post...) was an overview of the sins of Ben’s past. I was thinking about stuff like the Purge and all the other crap he has done over the years (I was at crap #19 when I stopped my list). This (I thought) would provide a nice opportunity for Ben to relive his mistakes and atone…not to mention a logical segue to flashbacks. But then I realized that it actually doesn’t make a lot of sense to do it that way. I hope I don’t lose you on this (it is a little time-travel-y): if Ben is atoning for sins he committed before 2005, wouldn’t he have ‘paid’ for them a long time ago? He summoned Smokey once before that we know of (when Keamy killed Alex)…so if Smokey had any "outstanding issues" with Ben’s sins, wouldn’t he have punished Ben at that point?
For this reason, I wonder if the sins he needs to atone for happened between the Frozen Donkey Wheel turn (2005) and the return to the island (2008). As far I can remember, Ben has committed two major atoning-is-definitely-needed sins (you'll note Sayid's '05-'08 murderous spree is not on here because Ben didn't technically commit those sins...):
1. Maybe killing Penny (Gosh, I hope I am wrong...)
2. Returning to the island
In regards to the #1, I would remind you that when Keamy killed Alex, Ben told Widmore that he had "broken the rules." It is possible that there is an eye-for-an-eye Article of the Island Constitution. But, it is also possible that since it was technically Keamy who actually killed Alex, Widmore could somehow get off from any sort of punishment. Follow me on this, though. If Ben kills Penny, he did it himself, and he might have some pretty serious consequences.
And if I am understanding the lesson of the episode title correctly, if anyone dies this week, in any time frame, they are dead. Dead is dead. It happened.
But I could be very wrong. (See: John Locke coming back to life, which I’ll touch on in a bit.)
Wait…you seriously think someone is going to die??
I know, I know. I appear to have gone off the deep end. And let me tell you that I hope I’m wrong. But let’s prepare ourselves for this by thinking it through. For starters, there are definitely some characters that I would categorize as safe:
(1) Miles – This guy needs to use his I-can-talk-to-the-dead powers to speak with the following people: Jacob, Christian Shepherd, Claire, and probably many more spirits we haven’t met. He’s totally safe.
(2) Daniel Faraday – He is even safer than Miles. We haven't seen him for weeks (really bugging me, by the way), and know he will eventually sneak into the Orchid station to do...something. Faraday has a lot of story left.
(3) Jack -- So, we still don’t know why Jack came back to the island. And we definitely need to see Jack encounter now-living Locke. Jack’s not going six feet under tonight…I promise.
(4) Hurley – Similar to Jack, we haven’t been told why Hurley returned to the island or how he found out about Ajira 316. He’s not going anywhere.
(5) Juliet – There are still too many questions about Juliet…what she knows, where she has been, etc. She is definitely keeping secrets that need to be revealed before she’s killed. She’s safe this week.
(6) Sun – Her ambiguous and bizarre scene in the weathered Barracks with Frank and Christian cannot be the end of her story. Christian said she has a journey ahead of her…and that journey won’t be taken/resolved this week. Sun is sticking around.
(7) Locke – Okay, so technically, Locke might already be dead. But he is obviously of some greater importance to the island and whatever great battle is forthcoming. Clearly, Locke has a lot left to do.
Okay. If they are safe…who isn’t safe?
This leads us to the following characters that have some element of potential-tragic-danger surrounding them:
(7) Locke – Okay, so technically, Locke might already be dead. But he is obviously of some greater importance to the island and whatever great battle is forthcoming. Clearly, Locke has a lot left to do.
Okay. If they are safe…who isn’t safe?
This leads us to the following characters that have some element of potential-tragic-danger surrounding them:
(1) Sayid – Unfortunately, this one is pretty obvious…and most of you have picked up on it. Sayid’s backstory was finished a couple weeks ago, he completed what he thinks was his purpose (shooting little Ben), and he is currently in the dangerous position of running around this messed up island by himself. Things are not looking great…
(2) Kate – It kills me to say this, but last week really wrapped up most of the loose ends on her backstory. She has grown up. She learned lessons. She has been redeemed. Her love "square" storyline shrunk significantly last week (especially with Sawyer). And the worst of it is, if she didn’t have this ‘mission’ to find Claire, she would have no storyline right now. Even that could be resolved by a deathbed wish from Kate to someone (Maybe Sawyer? Asking him to return the favor?) to promise to bring Claire back to Aaron. (I know you’re so mad at me right now, Charlie, because she would be another ‘hot girl’ to die…sorry…)
(3) Sawyer – Again, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Sawyer’s situation is a lot like Kate. He’s grown up. He’s learned the lessons. He fits in. He is in love with Juliet. He is in charge of Dharma security. All of these character developments are suspicious in my book. Granted I personally think there is more of Sawyer’s story to tell…but again, what is his storyline right now? While Jim LaFleur was a major player earlier in the season, his life is starting to unravel. Anyone else see him (gulp) dying a hero’s death?
(4) Jin – Tragically, I did not put Jin on the safe list with Sun. And it hurts my heart. Is there a good reason Jin should die? No way. But again with the storyline argument: what would the impact be on this story if Jin wasn’t there? There really wouldn’t be any, from my perspective. I don’t think it is likely he will die, but I don’t know…and for the record, I will seriously CRY if he dies. (Attention boys at our Watch Party: it will probably be the ugly cry.)
And finally…
(5) Benjamin Linus. Okay, kids. Sit back and get comfortable.
Tonight’s episode is going to be Ben-centric, which immediately shoots him to the top of my who-might-die list. The previews and guest star list (awesome, by the way) show us that we are going to fill up multiple question marks in his backstory, from Ben stealing Alex from Danielle to ‘tying up loose ends’ at the marina before Ajira 316. In my book, the biggest question mark in Ben’s past is what happened between him and Widmore on-island…how he allegedly ‘tricked’ Widmore into leaving. Anyone else hoping for a huge Charles Widmore presence in this episode to answer this question?? Cross your fingers!
I clearly need to prepare myself for a death. Who is it going to be??
Okay. If you want me to actually rank the most-likely-to-die characters in order, I would predict:
(1) Sayid
(2) Sawyer
(3) Ben
(4) Jin
(5) Kate
(3) Sawyer – Again, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Sawyer’s situation is a lot like Kate. He’s grown up. He’s learned the lessons. He fits in. He is in love with Juliet. He is in charge of Dharma security. All of these character developments are suspicious in my book. Granted I personally think there is more of Sawyer’s story to tell…but again, what is his storyline right now? While Jim LaFleur was a major player earlier in the season, his life is starting to unravel. Anyone else see him (gulp) dying a hero’s death?
(4) Jin – Tragically, I did not put Jin on the safe list with Sun. And it hurts my heart. Is there a good reason Jin should die? No way. But again with the storyline argument: what would the impact be on this story if Jin wasn’t there? There really wouldn’t be any, from my perspective. I don’t think it is likely he will die, but I don’t know…and for the record, I will seriously CRY if he dies. (Attention boys at our Watch Party: it will probably be the ugly cry.)
And finally…
(5) Benjamin Linus. Okay, kids. Sit back and get comfortable.
Tonight’s episode is going to be Ben-centric, which immediately shoots him to the top of my who-might-die list. The previews and guest star list (awesome, by the way) show us that we are going to fill up multiple question marks in his backstory, from Ben stealing Alex from Danielle to ‘tying up loose ends’ at the marina before Ajira 316. In my book, the biggest question mark in Ben’s past is what happened between him and Widmore on-island…how he allegedly ‘tricked’ Widmore into leaving. Anyone else hoping for a huge Charles Widmore presence in this episode to answer this question?? Cross your fingers!
I clearly need to prepare myself for a death. Who is it going to be??
Okay. If you want me to actually rank the most-likely-to-die characters in order, I would predict:
(1) Sayid
(2) Sawyer
(3) Ben
(4) Jin
(5) Kate
Man, this is a freaking ALL-STAR list of characters, including four characters that have been around since episode 1 of season 1…and one who (I believe) is the most interesting and best-acted character on the whole show. Eeeek, this is going to be crazy.
That is unless, of course, no one dies.
Sidenote to Charlie: writing previews and speculating can be frustrating sometimes!
Guest Stars Tonight!
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Sonya Walger as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Said Taghmaoui as Caesar, Melissa Farman as young Danielle Rousseau, Brad William Henke as Bram and Matt Hoffman as Jed.
Alrighty, so this list opens up a whole new can of worms. Looks like we might be all over the map-of-time tonight. Unfortunately, this might suck since there is a high probability that we won’t have a significant amount of advancement anywhere. But nevertheless, it looks like we will see: Richard Alpert and little Ben inside the Temple (1977); some interaction between Ben and young Danielle (late 1980s); some scenes involving Alex as a teen (it is the actress we’ve seen play Alex before, not a ‘young’ version) (2000ish); Ben interacting with Penny…and probably Desmond, too (2008); and some action with the Ajira 316ers (2008).
All in all, the guest stars seem to indicate this we are looking at some major moments (oh man, just like Charlie's final centric-episode “Greatest Hits”?????) of Ben’s life.
I will also point something else out that seems unimportant, but it caught my eye. No Dharma members appear on the guest star list this week. After three weeks focused almost entirely on the Dharma storyline, maybe we’re getting a break from 1977 this week.
This would eliminate our 1977 survivors from my who-is-going-to-die list.
And if you scroll back up, you’ll see that the only one remaining is Benjamin Linus.
The Description for Tonight
To atone for sins of the past, Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster in order to be judged.
Sweet mercy, what a fantastic description!! Let’s break down each clause…
“To atone for sins of the past…”
My first inclination (nay, the first very lengthy version of this post...) was an overview of the sins of Ben’s past. I was thinking about stuff like the Purge and all the other crap he has done over the years (I was at crap #19 when I stopped my list). This (I thought) would provide a nice opportunity for Ben to relive his mistakes and atone…not to mention a logical segue to flashbacks. But then I realized that it actually doesn’t make a lot of sense to do it that way. I hope I don’t lose you on this (it is a little time-travel-y): if Ben is atoning for sins he committed before 2005, wouldn’t he have ‘paid’ for them a long time ago? He summoned Smokey once before that we know of (when Keamy killed Alex)…so if Smokey had any "outstanding issues" with Ben’s sins, wouldn’t he have punished Ben at that point?
For this reason, I wonder if the sins he needs to atone for happened between the Frozen Donkey Wheel turn (2005) and the return to the island (2008). As far I can remember, Ben has committed two major atoning-is-definitely-needed sins (you'll note Sayid's '05-'08 murderous spree is not on here because Ben didn't technically commit those sins...):
1. Maybe killing Penny (Gosh, I hope I am wrong...)
2. Returning to the island
In regards to the #1, I would remind you that when Keamy killed Alex, Ben told Widmore that he had "broken the rules." It is possible that there is an eye-for-an-eye Article of the Island Constitution. But, it is also possible that since it was technically Keamy who actually killed Alex, Widmore could somehow get off from any sort of punishment. Follow me on this, though. If Ben kills Penny, he did it himself, and he might have some pretty serious consequences.
As far as the 2nd sin, we’ve been told that if you leave the island, you can never come back. Perhaps Ben coming back to the Island is an example of him breaking the rules (same Constitution, different Article) and he needs to plead his case for returning or else face the consequences.
Does this mean that the Island Constitution is totally okay with killing people, stealing babies, manipulating people, etc., as long as you are doing it for the island’s well-being? Um, apparently. But if you start acting on your own, following your own emotions or looking out for your own interests instead of the island’s, you have to stand before the island judge to plead your case…and the judge’s name is Smokey.
“…Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster…”
Does this mean Ben will return to that hidden room in the Barracks where he summoned Smokey last season? Me thinks yes. But why the word ‘attempt’? I mean, he was pretty successful when he tried this before. Is Smokey going to pout? Is Smokey not going to come out? Will Smokey being having a bad day?
Or has Ben lost his ability to summon Smokey????
Hmmm…
“…in order to be judged.”
Remember right before Eko died, he saw his life flash before him through Smokey, via all those images from his past? I’m guessing Ben is going to get something similar. Either Smokey is going to give Ben a get-out-of-jail free card, or Smokey is going to go all crazy and throw Ben into numerous inanimate objects. This judgment is going to be a moment of truth for Ben.
My apology for using a swear word, but I think shit is going to hit the fan tonight!! (And I love it!!)
Does this mean that the Island Constitution is totally okay with killing people, stealing babies, manipulating people, etc., as long as you are doing it for the island’s well-being? Um, apparently. But if you start acting on your own, following your own emotions or looking out for your own interests instead of the island’s, you have to stand before the island judge to plead your case…and the judge’s name is Smokey.
“…Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster…”
Does this mean Ben will return to that hidden room in the Barracks where he summoned Smokey last season? Me thinks yes. But why the word ‘attempt’? I mean, he was pretty successful when he tried this before. Is Smokey going to pout? Is Smokey not going to come out? Will Smokey being having a bad day?
Or has Ben lost his ability to summon Smokey????
Hmmm…
“…in order to be judged.”
Remember right before Eko died, he saw his life flash before him through Smokey, via all those images from his past? I’m guessing Ben is going to get something similar. Either Smokey is going to give Ben a get-out-of-jail free card, or Smokey is going to go all crazy and throw Ben into numerous inanimate objects. This judgment is going to be a moment of truth for Ben.
My apology for using a swear word, but I think shit is going to hit the fan tonight!! (And I love it!!)
So what do you think is going to happen??? Comment away!
Namaste,
Maggie
Namaste,
Maggie
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