Lost Season 5 Episodes 16 and 17: The Incident Pt 1 and 2

Maybe Lost has melted my brain so many times that I’m now immune. Maybe I over-theorized about the finale. Whatever the reason, the finale didn’t totally blow my mind. Let’s break it down.

The episode opens in a poorly lit shelter, where a faceless man is working at a spinning wheel and then a loom. We then see the man retrieving fish from a trap in shallow water, which he cooks up over a fire on the beach. The man is joined on the beach by another man and they both look out at the ship that is approaching the shore. It appears to be the Black Rock, and Man #2 says they will come fight, destroy, corrupt, it always ends the same way. Man #1 says it only ends once and that anything that happens before that is progress, which seems to piss Man #2 off. Man #2 says he wants to kill Man #1 and threatens that one day he will find a loophole. Man #1 says he’ll be waiting. Man #2 gets up to leave and says, “It’s always nice talking to you Jacob.” Jacob says, “It’s always nice talking to you too,” but doesn’t say Man #2’s name. The camera then backs out to reveal they are at the base of the statue, and it appears to have a sort of crocodile mouth–that doesn’t sound like any Egyptian god I’ve ever seen.

So we finally know what Jacob looks like–and this sets up a series of great flashback reveals throughout both the entire two-hour finale. The first involves a Young Kate who tries to shoplift a New Kids on the Block lunchbox, only to get busted. Jacob arrives just in time to pay the shopkeeper and keep Kate out of trouble. He makes Kate promise not to steal anymore–yeah that worked.

Back to the sub in ’77 and Sawyer basically tells Kate to get over it and come back to the real world with him and Juliet. Back on the island, Jack and Sayid layout their plan to remove the plutonium from Jughead and transport it to The Swan site. According to Sayid, they only have two hours to make it happen. Over at The Swan, Chang tries to explain to Radzinski why they have to stop drilling, and Radzinski bitches him out, explaining he has been working on the plans for The Swan for six years.

In ’07, Locke gives his people a quick five, which gives Sun enough time to ask Ben who Jacob is. Ben explains that everyone answers to someone, and the Leader answers to Jacob. She probes further, causing Ben to begrudgingly reveal to her that he has never actually seen Jacob. Meanwhile, Locke and Richard are talking and Richard explains the reason he’s been starting at John is because he’s never seen someone come back to life before. Before pressing on, Locke let’s Richard know that after they are done visiting Jacob, they will have to ‘deal’ with the Ajira survivors. For whatever reason, Locke doesn’t even find it necessary to pretend that ‘deal’ means anything other than kill. Speaking of the Ajira folks, they are arriving on the main island and Lapidus regains consciousness just as they are discussing what to do with him. He asks what’s in the box, and surprisingly they decide to show him. We don’t get to see what it is, but the look on Frank’s face is priceless.  All he can say is, “Terrific.”

Another flashback shows us Young James after his parents’ funeral. He is sitting down to write the letter to Mr. Sawyer and Jacob shows up to give him a nice pen to write it with. After Jacob leaves, Uncle Doug shows up and tells little Jimmy that he needs to move on. He tells him that what’s done is done. This obviously frames grown-up James’ opinion about whether or not to execute Faraday’s plan.

Back on the sub, after some debate which Sawyer thinks he’s won, Juliet surprises him by knocking out the guard and freeing herself. They disable the radio and make the captain surface so they can get back to shore to stop Jack from carrying out Daniel’s plan. Beneath Dharmaville, Richard approaches Jack and wants to know a little more about this Locke dude. He tells Jack he has left the island on three occasions to visit John and that he has never seemed particularly special. Jack tells Richard not to give up on him just yet.

On the road to Jacob, Locke quizzes Ben in an attempt to figure out why Ben hasn’t tried to screw him over yet. Ben explains what went on in the cave below the temple, then begrudgingly confirms when Locke realizes Ben has to follow his orders. Locke instructs Ben to kill Jacob. 

Off-island in ’04, we see Sayid and Nadia walking down the sidewalk, approaching a crosswalk. They start across when Jacob appears and get’s Sayid’s attention. This separates them just enough for Nadia to get plowed by the SUV while Sayid is totally unharmed.

In the tunnel in ’77, Richard opens up a wall to reveal a passage into a Dharma house, then knocks out Eloise so she can’t lead the group any further. He tells Jack and Sayid to go on alone, and turns back with Eloise. Once topside, Jack and Sayid quickly find themselves in a firefight with Dharma, resulting in a serious gunshot wound for Sayid, and Jack killing several Dharma guys. Hurley, Miles, and Jin pull up just in time to drive the boys to safety. 

We got a nice break at this point, and some long overdue fan service. Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate arrived back to the beach, only to be greeted by Vincent–followed by a disappointed Rose and Bernard. Apparently they have been enjoying ‘retirement’ on the island and have absolutely no interest in rejoining the fight. They say they don’t care what happens with the bomb as long as they’re together. This offers an important insight for Juliet, who at that moment see Sawyer look not in her direction, but instead toward Kate. Elsewhere on the island, Lapidus is wishing he hadn’t seen the contents of the box when he is assured these people are ‘the good guys’. Then the group comes upon the cabin, and after Ilyana retrieves a piece of cloth with a picture of the statue on it, the burn the place to the ground. In the middle of this, we get a flashback to an injured Ilyana who is visited by Jacob in the hospital. He explains he needs her help.

Another flashback shows us Jacob on a bench reading Flannery O’Conner’s ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’, which seems very tongue-in-cheek once we see John Locke’s paralysis-causing fall take place over Jacob’s shoulder. Jacob goes to the injured Locke and rouses him long enough to assure him everything will be fine.

On the island in ’07, Locke lets his people rest at the old Oceanic campsite while he shares a few moments with Ben. Ben admits he is a liar, and Lock proceeds to explain that with everything that has happened to Ben, he fails to see why he wouldn’t want to kill Jacob. This seems to ring true to Ben, and I think we just witnessed the first time Locke has ever tried to manipulate Ben and been successful. On the other side of camp, Sun finds Charlie’s old ring and flashes back to her wedding with Jin, remembering a visit they received from Jacob, who Jin noted spoke excellent Korean.

Hurley hits the brakes on the Dharma van in ’77 and when Jack asks why, we see that Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate are standing in the road with their guns drawn.

’07 – Locke asks Richard why they’re stopping and Richard just says, “You’ll see.” Pan over to the statue’s foot.

Sawyer tells Jack he needs five minutes to talk to him before they let him go on. Jack flashes back to his first big surgery, during which Christian made him look like a fool. Afterward, Jack runs into Jacob at the candy machine when Jacob gets two candy bars after Jack’s gets stuck. As Jack walks away with his candy, we hear Jacob say, “I guess it just needed a little push.” This seemed to me like a reference to what it took to make Jack into a true believer instead of a cynical man of science. Back with Sawyer, Jack listens to the theory of ‘what’s done is done’ and denies it. A fistfight ensues, and is only broken up when Juliet arrives to tell Sawyer she has changed her mind about helping Jack. Flash to Young Juliet and sister Rachel getting told by their parents that they’re getting divorced. This leads to Juliet confronting Sawyer about his feelings for Kate, and her final argument, “If I never meet you, then I don’t have to lose you.” I really don’t like this reasoning, because I think that regardless of the love triangle and its outcome, Sawyer is a better man now than he was when the plane crashed. Reverting everything back would mean turning him back into the asshole he originally was.

Over near the Swan, Jack and Kate share a moment and Jack gets her to agree to help him after all. He says, “Nothing in my life has ever felt so right.” It seems to me that includes all the time he spent with Kate–hmm slap in the face much?

Off-island Hurley is getting out of jail, and naturally Jacob is waiting to share a cab back to town. Jacob explains to Hurley that maybe he’s not really cursed, and might even be blessed. He tells Hurley the Ajira flight information and says the choice is his. Jacob leaves the guitar case behind in the cab when he gets out.

’07 on the beach, and Richard is lighting torches to lead the way to Jacob. Richard is pissed when he sees Ben coming along, but Locke puts Richard in his place. Richard opens the door then leaves. Locke then hands Ben a knife and reminds him that things will change once Jacob is gone. For some reason I really felt like for once, Ben was going to follow through and not screw Locke over.

Near The Swan in ’77, Miles takes a moment to ask the group if anyone ever thought maybe the bomb was actually the cause of the incident, and that the best thing they could do was actually nothing. Once again, I have to thank the writers for making Miles the voice of the fans. I have been considering all along that the incident was really caused by the actions of the gang, rather than prevented by them. At the construction site, Jack is spotted and the big climactic firefight begins. Several Dharma folks are killed, and eventually Phil calls everyone off since there’s a gun to his head. Sayid has rigged the bomb to detonate on impact, and Jack drops it into the drill shaft since Faraday’s notes called for it to be close to the energy source. Everyone braces for the explosion and then nothing happens. Instead, the electromagnetism kicks into overdrive and metal stuff starts flying everywhere. Dr. Chang gets pinned under some scaffold and Jack gets busted upside the head by a toolbox, knocking him out. Sweetest of all, Phil gets pinned by scaffolding, then run through with some other metal parts. The culmination of the scene comes when Juliet gets tangled in a thick metal chain, which causes her to get dragged into the mouth of the shaft. Sawyer grabs her arm, but she cannot free herself from the chains. She professes her love for James while he shouts at her not to let go. Ultimately the magnetic force is to strong and she is pulled down the shaft, leaving a screaming, sobbing Sawyer on the surface with Kate.

The Ajira group approaches the Statue beach in ’07 and says they are looking for Ricardos. Richard steps forward and correctly answers the secret question with a Latin phrase. Ilyana then opens the crate and reveals that what they found in the cargo hold of the plane was the body of John Locke. So we quickly realize that this new forceful Locke is none other than some form of Man #2 from the opening sequence of this episode. This explains his strong desire to see Jacob and get Ben to do the dirty work for him. Inside the statue base, Jacob greets “Locke” and says, “I see you found your loophole.” to which he replies, “You have no idea what I’ve gone through to be here.” Jacob explains to Ben that he has a choice to make, which only serves to make Ben angrier than he already was. Ben is extremely bitter about the way he was treated, especially after he blindly followed orders and sacrificed so much for the island. Ben asks, “What was it that was so wrong with me?” and then wants to know what’s in it for him.

Ben: “What about me?”

Jacob: “What about you?”

That’s all the justification Ben needed to plunge the knife into Jacob’s chest. And while Ben seems somewhat horrified at what he has done, Man #2/Locke just kicks Jacob’s body into the fire to ensure the job is finished. The look on Ben’s face reminded me of two things at once: 1) Brutus after stabbing Ceasar, and 2) Judas after kissing Jesus on the cheek. I’m sure this similarity is not accidental.

Back at The Swan site, the camera takes us into the shaft, and to Juliet who’s eyes slowly open. She seems upset to still be alive, then happy to see that the un-detonated bomb is just a few feet away. She grabs a large rock and begins to strike the casing of the bomb. It doesn’t work at first, so she tries again and again and then a white flash fills the screen. LOST.

Let’s be clear. While the episode didn’t completely melt my brain, I still thought it was EXCELLENT. Just like we have all season, we got a lot of answers tonight–answers to questions we have been asking for years in some cases. Of course, in true Lost fashion, we got a bunch of questions too. But that’s okay. 

I told my wife last week that I thought the season would end with a white flash and LOST. I’m actually not thrilled to be right about it though. I would have loved to have been wrong and actually seen what happened to our heroes, instead of being forced to wait until January to find out. That’s okay though, because I know in a year when the series is over, I will be sad that there is no more suspense left. That is my advice for now–enjoy the suspense while we have it, because it is finite.

Lost Season 5 Episode 15: Follow the Leader

For me, the big question going into this episode was which leader was being referred to in the title.  After watching, I suppose some could argue the answer is Jack, but I’m going to have say with complete confidence that it’s John Locke.

The episode opened with another look at Daniel Faraday’s shooting, this time from Jack & Kate’s perspective. Kate prevents Jack from rushing to Daniel’s aid, then Jack is promptly crushed in the face with the butt of young Charles Widmore’s rifle. When Widmore enters camp and asks Richard Alpert what happened, he says that “Eloise…reacted.” Eloise then instructs that Jack and Kate should be put in her tent, and that they aren’t from the Dharma Initiative.

Forward to ’07 and Richard Alpert is in his tent on the beach, building a ship in a bottle, when John Locke arrives at the camp bearing a boar on his shoulders. Locke says, “I brought dinner,” and Richard remarks that something is different about John. “I have a purpose now.” is the only response John gives. When Richard asks why Ben is back too, Locke just says that he helped him get back. Locke then tells Richard they need to take a trip into the jungle for an errand, then they need to visit Jacob. Away from that conversation, Sun is asking Ben who Richard is. Ben tells her Richard is ‘a kind of advisor’ and that ‘he’s had that job for a very, very long time’. Sun interrupts Locke’s conversation with Richard to asks about the picture of the ’77 Dharma folks–Richard tells her he remembers them because he watched them all die. [LOST]

Richard approaches Locke and says he’s ready to go, so Locke invites Ben to join them. Ben gives Locke a typical smartass response, “What’s the matter, afraid I’ll stage a coup?” but Locke just says he’s not afraid of anything Ben can do anymore.

Back in ’77, Jack is trying to convince Kate to help him follow through on Faraday’s plan to ‘set things right’ but Kate isn’t on board. Eloise then comes back and explains to Jack about how she saw Daniel on the island in 1954, which gives Jack enough trust for him to explain the plan to detonate Jughead. Jack plays on Eloise’s guilt about killing Daniel just enough, so she agrees to help and explains that Jughead is buried underneath Dharmaville. I guess that explains Ben’s secret tunnel, since apparently The Others have had tunnels in that part of the island for at least 20 years.

Cut to the Dharma security bunker, and Radzinski beating the shit out of Sawyer. Horace is being his hippie self and objective to the brutality, but Radzinski basically tells him to grow a pair. Security Phil lends a hand with the a/v part of the interrogation and plays the tape of Kate walking into the jungle. (Is it just me, or did this tape look a lot like the old blurry Sasquatch video we’ve all seen a million times? – Check out the recap video about 2 minutes in to see what I mean.) Sawyer doesn’t offer any information, so Phil decides to seal his fate by sucker-punching Juliet. The tactic works, but I think we all know now it’s only a matter of time before Phil gets destroyed by Sawyer. While reviewing evidence, the security team also notices the three names that were added to the sub manifest at the last minute, and wonder who this Hugo Reyes guy is. Cut to Hurley packing up some Dharma rations and making a not-so-subtle dash for the jungle, only to be trailed by Dr. Chang. When Chang confronts Hurley, Jin, and Miles, we are treated to the only real comic moment of the episode as Hurley fails Chang’s history exam miserably and has to admit he’s from the future. This causes Chang to asks Miles again if he is his father, to which Miles simply says, “Yeah, it’s true.” The guys then remind Chang of the importance of evacuating the island.

Back at Camp Other, Jack and Kate ask Richard about the whole Eloise/Charles dynamic to which he replies, “Let’s just say, love can be complicated.”

To ’07 and Richard, Ben, and Locke have reached the clearing where the Nigerian plane wreckage lies. Locke coaches Richard on how to save the man who is about to come into the clearing as well as what to say to him. Just then, we see time-skipping John Locke come stumbling into the clearing from the other side. Richard is confused, but follows Locke’s instructions and enters the clearing. Meanwhile, Ben is awestruck at John’s ability to pick out the exact moment in time to be at the clearing. When Richard returns from his errand, he tells Locke he’s glad he didn’t have to die after all. Locke then tells Richard he did die, and that Ben killed him. This is the first time I can remember Richard looking surprised at anything.

Chang arrives at the Dharma security bunker in ’77 and warns the gang about the impending disaster. Sawyer chimes and validates Chang’s theory and recommends they put all the women and children on the sub. He then says they should put him and Juliet on the sub as well. Radzinski agrees as long as Sawyer will draw a map to the hostiles. Speaking of–we cut to Eloise, Richard, Jack and Kate arriving at a pond, which Eloise explains is the entrance to the tunnels. When Kate decides to bail, the two Other goons who are on the trip take aim and threaten to shoot. We get a close-up of Kate’s face as a shot rings out–it’s the same look Faraday had last week, but when the camera backs out we see that it’s one of the goons who has been shot by none other than Sayid! Eloise then explains the plan to Richard while Kate and Jack catch Sayid up. This includes Kate bursting Sayid’s bubble by telling him that he wasn’t successful at killing young Ben.

Jin, Miles, and Hurley are watching people board the sub, which allows Miles to see his father being a dick to his mother while trying to convince her to leave. This is the moment we have expected for several weeks where Miles realizes his father loves him after all. Sawyer and Juliet climb aboard and Sawyer says good riddance to the island.

Richard takes a swim and leads Jack, Eloise, and Sayid into the tunnel which is apparently the same network of tunnels that Ben fell into from the temple.  We also see a bit of sarcasm from Richard when Jack asks if they got the bomb in through the pool–he tells Jack no, they didn’t get the 12 foot, 40,000 pound nuke in through the pool.

’07 Richard tells Locke they can leave to see Jacob in the morning, and Locke is disappointed. Locke decides to address the entire group–he proceeds to cast a large amount of doubt about Jacob’s existence, then invites the entire group to come with him and Richard to see Jacob in person. Off to the side, Richard and Ben share a moment:

Richard: “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble.”

Ben: “Why do you think I tried to kill him?”

It seems obvious to me that even Richard, the ancient and wise adviser is really not sure what lies ahead at this point. He has seemed very much in control every other time we’ve seen him, but this ’07 Richard has now been surprised twice in the same day by John Locke.

On the sub in ’77, Juliet tells Sawyer she loves him, and he says he ‘loves her back’. He barely finishes when who joins them on the sub but none other than third wheel Kate! In the tunnels below Dharmaville, Jack explains to Sayid that he trusts Young Eloise because Old Eloise is the one who told them how to get back to the island. When they arrive at Jughead, they simply say, “Well, now what?”

Daybreak in ’07 shows The Others marching down the beach on their way to see Jacob. Ben tries to explain to Locke that Richard is concerned. Locke explains to Ben that he has no intention of using Jacob to find the rest of the Oceanic gang. In fact, he plans to kill Jacob. LOST.

I only saw one leader in this episode. It certainly wasn’t Horace, and Radzinski isn’t leading, he’s just being paranoid. Chang isn’t leading, he’s just doing what others have told him to do. Richard isn’t leading in either time period, and Eloise is just carrying on someone else’s mission. I don’t think Jack is leading either–he’s just doing exactly what Sawyer accused him of always doing–reacting. If Eloise sent her own son back knowing she would kill him, why does Jack think she sent him back for any better fate? Locke is the only one who has established himself as a true leader, carrying out his own plan and bringing a group of followers along for the ride. And after this episode, I think I’m one of them.

Video Recap from ABC (Go 2 minutes in for the Kate Sasquatch moment)

Robert Patterson Sasquatch video

In Treatment Season 2 Week 2

Season two is starting to take shape after a second round of session this week on In Treatment.

Note – My day references are based on the session days within the continuity of the show, not the days in real life on which the shows aired.

On Monday, Mia came to Paul’s office for a session, and proceeded to blame Paul for everything in her life that hadn’t worked out in the twenty years since she was last his patient. It became obvious quickly that Mia’s doubts about her own choices were leading her to question Paul’s skills as a therapist. The session culminated with Mia making a point to mention how much money she makes, right before telling Paul he owes her a child for convincing her to get an abortion when she was 22. Mia’s position is absurd, but Hope Davis is doing an excellent job of portraying her. An actor has to be on top of their game on this show, and Davis really sets the standard. With the story told mainly through extended close-ups, extreme control over their emotional displays is key, right down to subtle facial expressions that often tell the story.

Tuesday brought another session with April, the cancer-stricken grad student. I thought this session really let us see Paul’s skills at work. Paul quickly addressed April’s hesitance to share anything at the start of the session, and then her emotions started pouring out. I liked the way Paul initially withheld the use of the phone, and then subtly gave April the phone as a reward after she started sharing. At the end of the session, we got a look at a nervous Paul insisting April not harm herself–it certainly showed us that Paul is still stinging from Sophie’s attempted suicide last year.

Oliver’s session on Wednesday was unfortunately dominated by his bickering parents Bess and Luke. Their exchange was pretty stereotypical, and was surpassed by the conversation in the early part of the session between Paul and Oliver. At first, Oliver’s talk about being fat was actually pretty hilarious, but it quickly turned heartbreaking as he shared what he had heard from the kids at school and even his own parents. Maybe it’s the young fat boy and child of divorce inside me talking, but Aaron Shaw delivered a very real performance this week.

Thursday began with Paul finishing up a visit with his daughter Rosie. She shared a spot-on observation about how Paul’s dedication to his patients (and the confidentiality required) are the cause of Paul’s lack of connection with his family and his resulting loneliness. Later on, Walter had a session where he mentioned several times that he mainly thinks of himself as a poor substitute for his older brother who died as a young man. As Walter insisted on paying at the end of his session, Paul’s frustration was palpable. I wasn’t surprised when it came up during his session with Gina the next day.

Paul’s session with Gina actually began with an ambush from ex-wife Kate that appeared to be nothing more than an excuse to get a couple digs in at his expense. Of course, it also allowed an awkward moment when high school sweetheart Tammy emerged from her session before Kate left. Once Paul went inside, Gina expertly maneuvered Paul into changing his mind completely about his need to go into treatment with her. One of my favorite things about the show is how Gina is the one person that Paul will fully open up with. He hides his vulnerability all week long, not just from patients but from his children and even his wife when he still had one. That doesn’t work with Gina though, and that is what makes this the perfect way to close the week. I think Paul needs his sessions with Gina if he wants to have any chance at succeeding with his own patients. It’s the only way he can get his own baggage out of the way. Speaking of, he certainly didn’t waste any time calling Tammy once he finished with Gina.

I really thought Hope Davis (Mia) and Gabriel Byrne (Paul) gave the stand out performances this week. As I mentioned before, Davis used a subtlety this week that allowed Mia’s true feelings to betray her false front through a series of expertly-executed movements and facial expressions. Byrne on the other hand, showed us a full range of emotions through this weeks episodes, from concern for April’s safety to disdain for Walter’s lack of respect for his skill as a therapist. I’m sure each character will take the spotlight at some point during the season, and getting a chance to see those performances is a big part of what keeps me coming back for more.

Lost Season 5 Episode 13: Some Like It Hoth

As much as we have learned about the Oceanic passengers, Desmond, and some of the Others (Ben & Juliet) over five seasons, we still haven’t learned much at all about the Freighties – Penelope, Faraday, and Miles.  I understand they’ve only been with us for about one season now, but I think we all know that they must be pivotal in the endgame that is starting to unfold.  At least if we didn’t know before tonight, we know now.

The episode opens with a woman looking at a mediocre apartment, who we quickly find out is Miles’ mother.  She assures the potential landlord that he is a well-behaved young man, then gives Miles money for the candy machine.  Not surprisingly, young Miles ends up in another apartment with a corpse instead of a candy bar.  The scene ends with Young Miles shouting at his mother, “I can hear him!” so now we know that this is an ability Miles has had since childhood.  

Cut to ’77 and Miles is working in the security office when Sawyer calls and asks him to erase the pylon security tape to cover up for him and Kate.  Miles is about to pull the tape when Horace arrives with a mysterious black bag that he needs delivered to Radzinski at Grid 334.  Horace tells Miles that he’s bringing him into the circle of trust since Lafleur is MIA.  Miles goes to Grid 334 and Radzinski greets him by aiming a rifle at him and asking why Lafleur didn’t come–Miles says, “Horace sent me instead, I’m in the circle of trust.”  Personally, I don’t know how anyone could say this line without cracking up.  I really feel like ‘circle of trust’ is a comedic phrase for all time thanks to Meet the Parents.  At any rate, Radzinski takes the mysterious black bag, unfolds it, unzips it, and two Dharma workers bring out a body to fill it.  Dirty hippie Radzinski won’t say what happened or why it looks like the guy was shot, but we all know Miles can just use his powers to find out anyway.

Back to the mainland and teenage Miles is visiting his dying mother.  He wants to know more about his father and she tells Miles that he is dead.

In Dharmaville, Miles gets orders from Horace to take the body to Dr. Chang at The Orchid.  When Miles goes back to the van, he finds Hurley loading coolers into the back with the body.  Oddly, Hurley doesn’t notice the body and just tells Miles he wants to carpool, adding that maybe they could prevent global warming since it hasn’t happened yet.  I have to say that while it seems a bit out of place at times, I really love the comic relief that the Miles-Hurley conversations have been adding lately.  It’s also nice to see the writer’s providing a bit of fan service with some of the topics they have been discussing, like time travel paradoxes and now Star Wars.

Kate comes back to the infirmary and lets Juliet know that they left Young Ben with The Others.  She barely gets this out when Roger comes in and sees the empty bed.  He starts freaking out, as you would expect, and Juliet is immediately apologetic and emotional, swearing that she only stepped out for 10 minutes and when she came back he was gone!  As soon as Roger leaves though, Juliet’s emotion vanishes.  She simply looks at Kate and says, “Well, here we go.”

We rejoin Miles and Hurley on the way to The Orchid, and Hurley accuses Miles of farting in the van.  He has Miles pull over so he can check the food, and then discovers the body.  Miles explains that the guy was working in a hole when a filling ripped out of his tooth and exited his head through his brain.  Hurley starts asking about Miles’ power, and then tells Miles that his secret is safe because he also talks to dead people.

Off island, grown-up Miles is selling his ‘service’ to a grieving father.  When the father explains there is no body, Miles demands more money to contact his son, then tells the father what he wants to hear.  As he leaves, Miles is approached in the street by a pre-stabbed-in-the-back-by-Locke Naomi, who invites him to a restaurant to discuss a possible job.

In ’77, Kate tries to ease Roger’s fears, and only succeeds in arousing his suspicion.  Hurley and Miles are finishing their dead people conversation as the approach The Orchid–Miles tells Hurley you can’t have a conversation with the dead and Hurley says, “you’re just jealous because my power is better than yours.”  If we believe that Miles has a legitimate ability, then perhaps this confirms that Hurley is not talking to the dead after all.  Does this mean Hurley really is hallucinating, or just that the island is giving him visions?  It wouldn’t be the first time, since it previously showed him Jacob’s cabin.  After their conversation, Hurley and Miles arrive at The Orchid, where Dr. Chang chastises Miles for bringing someone along, then threatens Hurley with polar bear shit detail on The Hydra island.  Dr. Chang also indicates that the experiments on the other island are absurd, which tells me they must have nothing to do with his own work.  I noticed that Miles wouldn’t make eye contact with Dr. Chang during this scene, but before I could finish my thought, Miles was telling Hurley that Dr. Chang is actually his father.  

2004 Miles and Naomi arrive at what she call ‘his audition’.  Miles quickly explains that the dead guy was delivering something to Widmore, then references photos of empty graves and a purchase order for an old airplane.  Naomi is impressed and offers Miles $1.6 million to join the expedition to an island to capture ‘a murderer’.  At least now we know why Miles asked Ben for such a weird amount in order to look the other way.

Janitor Jack is cleaning at the Dharma school when Roger appears and asks if Jack knows anything about Kate.  Jack let’s Roger know that Kate would never hurt his son (at least not in 1977) and basically tells Roger he should sleep of his drunken haze before thinking about reporting anything to Horace.  Back in the van with Hurley, Dr. Chang, and Miles, and Hugo is asking Chang a bunch of questions, mainly to mess with Miles.  Just as Hurley is suggesting they all have a beer together sometime, Chang tells Miles to stop the van.  He gets out and opens a camouflaged gate, revealing the construction site for The Swan.  When Miles and Hurley are about to leave, they spot to workers putting a serial number on the door of the hatch.  Miles is intrigued when Hurley correctly guesses the final number (42) on the hatch.  When Miles asks how he knew, Hurley says it’s because that’s the hatch that crashed our plane.

2004 Miles is enjoying a fish taco when he gets grabbed by some guys in a black van.  They try to get him to skip to freighter job, and also ask if he knows what lies in the shadow of the statue.  Miles doesn’t know, and try to get him to come with them so he can find out the answers to all his questions.  Miles says he will if they double his money and they just drop him off instead.  When Miles asks what team they’re on, they respond, “The one that’s gonna win.”

On their way back to Dharmaville in ’77, Hurley tells Miles that there will be an accident at the hatch and they’ll have to install a computer with a button you push to keep it from happening again.  This leads to the big confrontation where Miles reveals what Hurley has been scribbling in a composition book for the entire episode–it turns out to be a screenplay for Empire Strikes Back, which Hurley thinks he can send to George Lucas to provide some help, and perhaps a few edits.  At Casa de Lafleur, Sawyer returns to find Jack waiting to fill him in on the Roger/Kate situation.  Sawyer thanks him and after Jack leaves, Security Phil appears with the pylon video tape.  The idiot comes inside and tells Sawyer that he hasn’t informed Horace yet, so Phil gets cold-cocked.

2004 Miles returns to the grieving father and gives him a refund, telling him that he should have told his son he loved him before he died if he needed him to know.  This sets up the cutback to ’77 where Hurley tells Miles that he should give his dad a second chance.  Hurley compares Miles to Luke Skywalker, and why it would have worked out better if he hadn’t freaked out when Vader broke the paternal news to him.  This leads us to my bet for what must be Jorge Garcia’s favorite line of the series, “Let’s face it, ewoks suck dude.”  After receiving this bit of wisdom, Miles walks away and looks in the window of the Chang house to see his father reading a story (about polar bears) to his infant self.  Miles is getting teary-eyed when we see Dr. Chang get a call and come outside.  He asks Miles to come with him to pickup some scientists who have just arrived from Ann Arbor on the submarine.  Once they arrive at the dock, Miles goes down to the sub and find himself face to face with Dr. Daniel Faraday, who offers, “Hey Miles, long time no see.” LOST

This was definitely a critical episode that gave us some excellent back story on Miles and Dr. Chang, and also gave us more information about The Swan.  What I’m most excited about it that it disproves completely the theory that Sun was the infant child in the Chang house.  I never believed the theory that a person could not exist twice in the same time, since Locke/Sawyer/Juliet/Sun had been hopping through several points where they already existed.  I’m glad to see this definitively proven tonight.  My theory is that the landing points in time for the Ajira passengers are based on their role in the endgame–in other words, which side they will end up on.  I thought at first that it could be the Widmore vs. Linus war, but I think we’re going to see Richard Alpert’s group vs. Everyone Else.  One thing is for sure, next week we aren’t going to see anything new, but it looks like we should have a great Faraday-centric episode to blow our minds in two weeks.

Lost Season 5 Episode 12: Dead is Dead

Any issues I had with a slowdown in last week’s Kate episode, were definitely resolved tonight thanks to a focus on Ben, Widmore, and Locke.  Let’s break it down.

The episode opened in ’77 with a man entering the Others camp on horseback.  His first stop after dismounting is to get in Richard Alpert’s face and chastise him for saving Young Ben.  Richard quickly responds that the Jacob wanted it done and that we all know the island chooses who the island chooses.  This seems to satisfy the man, who asks for the boy’s name and enters the tent.  After telling Young Ben that living with Dharma doesn’t mean he can’t be one of them, he introduces himself as Charles Widmore.  I had a major ‘oh duh’ moment when this was revealed.  For some reason I didn’t see this coming, and I feel like after last week it should have been pretty obvious.  Ultimately I think the fact that this guy didn’t seem to look anything like old man Widmore must have been what fooled me.  

Ahead to 2007 and Locke sitting next to Ben in the infirmary when Ben wakes up.  Ben immediately tells Locke that he knew he would be resurrected, to which Locke asks why Ben seems so surprised to see him then.  Ben, quick on his feet as always, tells Locke while he believed it, it’s another thing to actually see it.  Ben also tells Locke that he’s headed to the main island to be judged for breaking the island’s rules. Like the rest of us, Locke wants to know who is going to the judging.  Ben says they don’t have a word for it, but I believe you call it The Monster.  Awesome–who hasn’t thought about Ben getting ravaged by Smokey ever since we saw Mr. Eko get devoured?  I must admit though, that Ben has become a character I love to hate.  I find myself wanting to see what web of bullshit he’ll spin next.  Speaking of, Ben promptly makes an ally of Cesar, by planting some serious doubt about Locke.

Next, we cut to a 20-something Ben and Ethan at approximately age 12.  Ethan’s making a bunch of noise and almost blows their cover as they sneak up on a sleeping Danielle.  As we guessed, Ben steals Baby Alex.  In addition, he tells Danielle that if she wants to live, every time she hears whispers she has to run the other way.  I believe this is the first time anyone has openly acknowledged that the whispers are the cue that the Others are coming.

In Ben’s old office in 2007, Locke decides it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Ben is quick to tell Locke that killing him was the only way to get the band back together to play the Island Reunion Tour ’07.  Ben also reminds us that like so many other things, he did it for the best interests of the island. Locke cracked me up with, “I was just hoping for an apology,” then telling Ben that he would like to help him go and get judged. At this point I was already starting to enjoy this new Locke.  In addition to being resurrected, it appears the Island gave him a pair of balls.  The head for one of the canoes on the beach, but are confronted by Cesar a a few guys.  Cesar starts getting in Locke’s face and questioning his motives.  After leading us to believe he’s going to throw Locke under the bus, Ben surprises Cesar by pulling out the sawed-off shotgun he stole from him and giving him a slug to the chest.  Ben looks at the other men and says, “This gentleman and I are going to take a boat, does anyone else have a problem with that?”  I love when Ben talks shit.  Once back on the mainland, Locke figures out that they’re heading to Ben’s old house so he can summon Smokey.  Locke also calls bullshit on Ben for the second time tonight, as he figures out that this has nothing to do with breaking the rules and everything to do with Ben letting Alex die.

This leads us into another flashback to 20-something Ben, this time with a middle-aged Widmore who is now old enough to played by Alan Dale.  Charles is upset with Ben for failing to kill Danielle and Alex, and reminds Ben that he is making decisions for the good of the island.  Ben asks if that’s what Jacob wants and then offers Baby Alex to Charles so he can kill her himself.  Rather than kill the child, Charles turns and walks away.  I may be premature, but I think this is the moment when Ben asserts control over The Others and Widmore starts to become diminished.

Now we’re back in 2007 Dharmaville, and Locke wants to know why the Others moved in after killing the hippies.  Before Ben can spew more lies, a light comes on in Alex’s old room.  Locke tells Ben to go check it out, and after some brief suspense it turns out to be Sun & Frank.  We find out that Christian told them to wait for John Locke, and they think that’s crazy talk.  Ben tells them to look out the window.  John tells his resurrection story and Sun doesn’t believe him–but Lapidus REALLY doesn’t believe him and plans to head back to the crash site.  Locke warns Sun that her only chance to see Jin is by coming along, so Frank heads back solo.  Locke tells Sun that Ben has something to take care of, so Ben goes into his cubby-hole and summons the smoke monster by pulling a drain plug and talking into a hole in the ground.

Back to the Others and Ben is a bit older–looks like the late eighties since Alex is about 3 or 4 and the Others are now in Dharmaville.  Richard Alpert walks up and lets Ben know that the submarine is about to leave.  Even the Richard tells him he doesn’t have to Ben makes a point to go to the dock to see a handcuffed and somewhat older Charles Widmore being escorted to the sub.  Ben doesn’t miss the opportunity to chastise Widmore, telling him this is what he gets for breaking the rules by leaving the island all the time and fathering a child with ‘an outsider’.  Widmore makes it clear this isn’t over and says, “I’ll be seeing you boy.”

In 2007 Dharmaville, Sun tells Ben she doesn’t believe Locke was really dead.  Without confessing, Ben assures her he was, then tells her how surprised he is that Locke was resurrected.  He says that ‘dead is dead’ and that the resurrected Locke scares the living hell out of him.  After a rustle in the bushes, Ben tells Sun to go inside because he can’t control what’s about to come out, and that’s when instead of the smoke monster, Locke appears out of the jungle.  I see two meaning here and I think both are true.  This is confirmation that while Ben was able to summon the smoke monster in season four, he did not ultimately have control over it.  Also, I think this is a clue that Ben is no longer calling the shots.  Since Smokey isn’t showing up, Locke decides they have to take a walk.

Back at the dock in Los Angeles, but not at night, Ben is on the phone with Widmore.  He called just to tell Charles that he is going to kill Penny.

Cut to Sun, Ben, and Locke walking through the jungle.  Ben wants to know how Locke just knows where to go, and John tells him that now he knows what it was like to be him before.  Ben figures out they’re going to the temple about 50 yards before they get there.  Locke stops been from opening the door and points him toward the hole in the ground that Danielle’s unfortunate shipmate got dragged into by the smoke monster.  Before climbing down, Ben tells Sun if she ever gets off the island, he needs her to find Desmond and apologize for him.

Cut back to Ben at the dock.  He shoots Desmond and approaches Penny with his gun raised.  Toddler Charlie comes up from the cabin, distracting Ben long enough for a wounded and adrenaline filled Desmond to tackle and beat the absolute shit out of him.  I had been thinking and hoping all along that Desmond was the one who worked Ben over, so I’m glad to see I was right on that one.  Like it or not, I’m a fan of Desmond/Penny.  Here’s hoping they find their way back to the island as well.

In an odd sequence that I hope will make more sense before the end of the season, Lapidus arrives back at the small island, only to have Ilana knock his ass out after he fails to answer her riddle, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”  It seems like I heard some speculation that the rest of the people who survived the crash were really Others, but my money  says they are Widmore employees.  I mean you can’t tell me he didn’t have a search setup to notify him when Hugo Reyes decided to buy a last minute plane ticket (or 79).

The big scene this week came with Locke and Ben walking through a tunnel under the temple.  Ben is acting very strange and then insists he can proceed on his own.  Locke agrees and Ben promptly falls through the floor into another chamber.  Locke leaves to find a way out, leaving Ben to explore the chamber.  Ben approaches an altar with a hieroglyph depicting Anubis interacting with what appears to be the smoke monster.  There is a large stone in the floor with a grid of holes, and just as Ben starts to look at it, the smoke monster begins to enter the room through the holes.  It quickly surrounds Ben, and we then switch to a perspective inside the smoke monster, where Ben is shown a series of his own memories about Alex.  After making Ben relive the moment of Alex’s death, the monster dissipates and reveals a corporeal Alex.  Ben’s joy is short-lived as Alex slams him against a column and says she already sees his thoughts about killing Locke again, and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t vow to obey John Locke.  Ben agrees and Alex disappears.  Moments later, Locke appears with a vine to lift Ben out and asks what happened.  Ben says, “It let me live.” LOST

I’ve rattled on a bit too long tonight, but I guess that shows how much I enjoyed this episode.  I am really enjoying this new version of Locke, and I hope it isn’t just a tease.  I would like to think that despite their wishes, both Widmore and Ben are no longer leaders on the Island.  I expect Locke to reunite the Oceanic 815 survivors (including Rose & Bernard) and take his place among the Others.