I Am DB

BABY MAMA
We begin once again on Penny’s boat, the Searcher, in the days following the rescue of the soon-to-be-dubbed Oceanic Six. In a nice, quiet scene between Kate and Jack, we learn that it was Kate who concocted the Aaron portion of the Oceanic Lie, almost as if she owes taking care of him to those they left behind – dead and alive.

Kate: After everyone that we’ve lost – Michael, Jin and Sawyer – I can’t lose him too.

Jack: Sawyer’s not dead.

Kate: No. But he’s gone.

And so we move back to our new present day, which is three years later. Kate is still staying with Sun in her hotel, and she is about to go see Dan Norton, the lawyer who came to her house asking for blood samples from her and Aaron. She leaves Aaron with Sun, who receives a delivery seconds after Kate’s departure. She opens the package, which contains a file from Surveillance Data Investigations, Inc. that includes a report of some kind, as well as photographs of Jack and Ben outside the funeral home where Locke’s coffin resided. Sun’s envelope also contains a small package – a box of chocolates, and beneath them, a handgun…giving new meaning to the phrase, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.”

I have a theory about Sun’s delivery. I think Ben sent it to her. Remember the small wrapped package he removed from the hotel room heating duct in The Lie a few weeks ago? Jack thinks Sun blames him for Jin’s death, and he told Ben that at the funeral home, so I think Ben is trying to take advantage of it (so un-like Ben, I know) to lure her out and then convince her to return to the island. And if he has friends who run a butcher shop and a carpet business, why not friends who operate a surveillance company? On the other hand, if Sun went looking for a company to spy on Ben, how would it happen that she chose the very company Ben is affiliated with? Still, if I am right, Ben may learn soon enough that Sun blames him for Jin’s death, not Jack. So that should make things interesting when she shows up with her chocolate-scented pistol.

But I digress. Kate goes to see Norton, proposing that she will give the blood samples if she can speak to Norton’s mystery client first. Norton says he’ll take her offer to his client when they meet that afternoon, but tells Kate that he’s quite certain the answer will be no, emphasizing that she is in no position to bargain. He says that while he could summon a sheriff to take the test then and there, his client wants to handle the “exchange of custody” more quietly. He tells Kate she has only herself to blame for the predicament, and warns her to prepare herself: “You are going to lose the boy.”

JUST LIKE OLD TIMES
Jack is at the hospital, still helping Sayid recover his full strength. He has to step outside briefly, and while he’s gone, an orderly comes in to give Sayid his meds. Unfortunately, he tries to deliver those meds in the form of two more tranquilizer darts. But Sayid is too quick and gets the drop on his attacker, roundly kicking his ass and giving him a taste of his own tranquil medicine. Jack re-enters, with Ben, just as Sayid finds a piece of paper in the faux-orderly’s wallet. The paper has an address, which Jack immediately recognizes as Kate’s. He calls her to say she has to get Aaron and leave the house, but she tells him that she’s not home and that Aaron is in a hotel with Sun. Jack makes plans to meet her, while Ben prepares for another task.

Ben: Good, I’ll go deal with Hugo.

Sayid: Sorry Ben, I’m not letting you get anywhere near him.

Ben: You have friends in trouble; let’s get them to safety and save the dirty linen for later.

Yeah, we still don’t know what happened between Sayid and Ben. We still don’t know much about their arrangement at all, in fact. Who are the people Sayid was killing? And why is he not killing for Ben anymore? Though they take off together in Ben’s van, those answers will have to wait.

Jack finds Kate parked in her car on a downtown street, staking out Norton’s office. She reluctantly tells him what’s going on, and when she sees Norton drive out of the building, she tells Jack to get in if he wants to keep talking. He does, and off they go. They follow Norton to a motel, where they see him climb a flight of stairs, knock on a door and hand an envelope to a woman: Claire’s mother.

You watched it, so you know that Claire’s mother turned out to be in town because she had sued Oceanic and was collecting her settlement. She knew nothing about Aaron. But her appearance raised a couple of questions for me. I’ve been under the impression that Jack never shared with Kate the details of his first encounter with Ms. Littleton – about his father, the affair, Claire being his sister, even that the woman was Claire’s mother. Yet when Kate sees her from the car, and based on the dialogue with Jack that follows, she knows the woman is Claire’s mother. So if I’m wrong, and Jack did tell Kate who she was, wouldn’t he have had to explain his relationship to Claire…and to Aaron? How else would he make sense of Claire’s mother showing up at his father’s funeral? And if he didn’t mention Claire at all and instead just described the woman as someone who’d had an affair with his father, how would Kate now know that the woman is Claire’s mother?

My curiosity over this is that it would be a pretty big deal for Kate to know that Jack is Aaron’s blood relative, and I’ve never had the impression that she’s aware of it. I’ve always interpreted the pointed dialogue on this issue to be clever wordplay on the part of the writers. In last season’s episode Something Nice Back Home, for example, Jack and Kate are arguing and she reprimands him for his increased drinking and says she can’t have that kind of behavior around her son. Jack yells, “You’re not even related to him!” I didn’t get from that scene that she caught the true meaning of that. Or in this episode, when Jack offers to go up and talk to Claire’s mother, he says, “Aaron is my family too.” Kate cries a bit at this, seemingly moved by Jack’s statement…but it didn’t seem to me that she got more from that, or was acknowledging his true relationship to the boy. I assumed she was just touched that he feels that way. So…am I wrong? Does Kate know that Jack is Aaron’s real uncle? Or did the writer’s mess up? And perhaps the most relevant question: who the hell cares? Did I really just spend two fat paragraphs talking about this non-issue?

Yes. Yes I did. Further evidence of my sad state of mind. Or a relevant point that will eventually allow me say, “I told you so.”

Getting back to more overtly important matters, Ben and Sayid pull their van into an underground parking garage, where none other than Dan Norton meets them and hands Ben some papers relating to the charges against Hurley. He explains that they won’t stick and that the big man should be free the next day.

I’m not sure how he justifies going there, but Jack gets Kate to drive to the Long Beach pier, and upon arrival, they meet up with Ben and Sayid…much to Kate’s surprise and anger (toward Ben, not Sayid. And can I just say that I loved Naveen Andrews’ performance in this scene? The look on his face toward Kate and the way he leaned against the van, all as if to say, “Here we are again…and don’t look at me.”). Jack can see Kate is furious to find Ben there, and he tries to explain without undoing the progress he’s made with her that day (seeing as the last time they saw each other was that night at the airport where he was yelling that they “have to go back!” and she was pretty much disgusted by the sight of him). He tries to tell her that Ben is there to help them, that they all need to be together again so they can go back to the island, but he doesn’t get far before realization strikes Kate.

Kate: It’s him! It’s him, he’s the one who’s trying to take Aaron!

Jack: No, no, you don’t understand…

Ben: No Jack, she’s right. It was me. Sorry. [Classic Ben!!]

Kate: Who the hell do you think you are? Why don’t you just stay away, why don’t you leave me and my son alone?

Ben: Because he’s not your son, Kate.

I love the way he says it, because it really is delivered like a reality check. Just after her trial ended, Kate told Jack that she’d heard him tell the lie about the plane crash so many times that she worried he was starting to believe it. Well, Kate’s comfort playing the role of Aaron’s mother shows she is just as committed to a lie as Jack is.

Whatever is said between them all after that, we don’t hear. The POV switches to that of an unseen watcher, looking on from a car just a few spaces away. And in that car is Sun, with Aaron in the backseat…and her newly delivered gun in the front. She picks it up and gets out of the car. Cliffhanger!!

THE NOSEBLEED SECTION
We pick up with our friends on the island right where we left them, with Charlotte unconscious and the others nervous and agitated. Juliet asks Daniel if he knew this was going to happen to her.

Daniel: I thought it might. I think it’s neurological. Our brains have an internal clock, a sense of time. The flashes throw the clock  off. It’s like really bad jetlag.

Juliet: Jetlag doesn’t make you hemorrhage, Daniel. Tell me why it isn’t happening to the rest of us.

Daniel: I don’t know. But thank God it’s not.

While the two of them and Miles are occupied with the red-nosed redhead, Locke tells Sawyer that they need to return to The Orchid station, suggesting they use the zodiac raft on the beach to expedite the trip around the island. Sawyer is skeptical, but Locke thinks that if he can figure out what Ben did there that allowed him to leave the island, then he can do it too…and save them all.

Locke: This is all happening because they left. I think it’ll stop if I can bring them back.

Sawyer: Bring who back?

Locke: Jack. Sun, Sayid, Hugo, Kate.

Sawyer: The boat blew up and that chopper was probably on it!

Locke: They’re not dead, James.

Sawyer: Says who?

Locke: That doesn’t matter. What matters is they have to come back. I have to make them come back. Even if it kills me.

In thinking about this “it’s all happening because they left” mindset, we should remember that before everything went to shit – that is, before the freighter blew up – Ben released Kate and Sayid, who were in the captivity of Richard and the Others. Before heading off to The Orchid to move the island, he told them they were free to take the chopper and go. So if he was okay with them leaving then, what happened to make their return so essential to the island’s survival? Did he release them thinking that they wouldn’t have time to get out of the island’s grasp before he moved it? If their presence on the island is so important, why did he let them go?

Charlotte soon wakes up, and other than not recognizing Daniel at first, she seems okay for the time being. So the crew begins the long walk back to the beach to get the raft and make for The Orchid.

“TIME TRAVEL’S A BITCH”
Their journey gets interesting that night when they see a beam of light shooting into the sky off in the distance. Locke realizes almost immediately what it is, which Daniel picks up on, asking if he knows when they are. Locke just cautions them all to keep moving. Miles gets a slight nosebleed while they walk, and then they hear a woman’s screams in the jungle. Sawyer goes to investigate and finds Kate delivering Claire’s baby.  He watches transfixed, and just after Aaron’s birth, the next flash comes and takes him away.

Sawyer doesn’t tell the others what he saw when they regroup, but Locke knows he must have seen one of their own, and shares with Sawyer how he knows about the source of the light beam. Miles, meanwhile, alarms Daniel with news of his nosebleed and asks why only some of them are affected.

Miles: Why her? Why me?

Daniel: I don’t know. I think it might have something to do with duration of exposure, you know, the amount of time spent on the island.

Miles: That doesn’t make any sense, those yahoos have been here for months. I’ve never been here before two weeks ago.
Daniel: Are you sure about that?

An interesting point. It’s been pretty much spelled out that Charlotte has been to the island before, though we don’t yet know how or when. But what of Miles? I’ve heard speculation out there on the internets that Miles might be the son of Dr. Pierre Chang, star of all your favorite Dharma orientation videos. In the very first scene of this season’s premiere, Chang wakes up in his island home and tends to an infant son. Could the internets be right? Might that son be Miles?

The group arrives back on the beach to find the camp site is there, indicating that they aren’t in the past. But the place is deserted and in disarray – empty Dharma beer cans litter the table, Vincent’s leash is on the ground and the zodiac raft is gone. Clearly they’re in the near future…but how near? The biggest surprise they find is an outrigger canoe sitting on the beach, empty save for the oars and a water bottle bearing the label Ajira Airways. Juliet doesn’t recognize the canoe as belonging to the Others, but she has heard of the airline, remarking, “They’re based in India but they fly everywhere.”

This marks the first mention of Ajira on the show itself, but a few months back, in the ramp-up to the season premiere, a music video was released for a song by The Fray, and it was done as a tie-in to Lost, complete with clips and two subliminal flashes of the Ajira logo, signaling perhaps that the airline would play an important role in things to come (I speculated that the airline might be tied to Sun’s father). The question, for the time being, is who does the bottle – and the canoe – belong to?

They aren’t waiting to find out. The group takes the canoe and begins the long ride around the island to The Orchid. Unfortunately, they can’t catch a break; early in the journey, another craft appears and its occupants start shooting. Juliet fires back, and in a stroke of perfect timing, another flash comes and brings them to safety. Or, you know, not. They find themselves in the midst of a tumultuous nighttime storm and start rowing for the shore. They make it back, and while catching their breath, Sawyer notices Juliet’s nose bleeding, a grim discovery which precedes a more curious one: wreckage – apparently fresh – from another vessel. They find a French label on the side of a container.

Somewhere out in the stormy waters, six or seven people sit in a raft, speaking French to each other. They notice something floating in the water nearby. It appears to be a human body on a piece of flat paneling. They reach it and pull the figure onto the raft, turning it over to reveal…oh yeah, baby: Jin is back.

They too make it to shore, and the next morning, with the sun now shining, Jin wakes up. A woman from the raft tends to him, offering him water and trying to speak to him in English. He can speak well enough to say that he was on a boat that sank, but he’s too weak to say much else. The kind woman stands up and removes a cloak, revealing a pregnant belly. She introduces herself to Jin, who recognizes the name: Danielle Rousseau.

Time travel’s a bitch.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
-So Dan Norton works for Ben. But exclusively? Kate was right to ask about the coincidence that the same attorney handling Ms. Littleton’s lawsuit just happens to represent the mystery client trying to take Aaron away…a mystery client whose identity she soon learns. Is there more of a connection than meets the eye between Norton’s clients?

-Reintroducing Claire’s mother was a cool red herring, but it didn’t really further the story, did it? I’m enjoying seeing where the stories go, but I do feel like the writers and producers are definitely stretching out the reunion of the Oceanic Six. How much more padding we’ll get remains to be seen, but with Sun currently in Los Angeles, how much longer could it really take them all together? And once they’re all onboard with the plan, how long will it take them to get back to the island?

-Of course, the appearance of Claire’s mother, coupled with an appearance by Claire herself when Sawyer finds himself witnessing Aaron’s birth, was a clever way to keep her in our thoughts while she is MIA this season. In fact, the writers made a smart move by having the time-tripping castaways land on that particular night in the island’s history. It was a significant night for many characters on the show – Locke, Kate, Claire, Charlie, Sayid, Shannon, Jack…and I’d say it was pretty damn significant for Boone, seeing as he died. The Season One episodes that cover those events are Deus Ex Machina (which ends with the Locke pounding on the hatch and the beam of light shooting up) and Do No Harm, in which Claire gives birth, Boone dies and Sayid and Shannon spend their first night together. The Little Prince offered a welcome dose of nostalgia by referencing that particular episode, in which nearly every main character factored prominently into the action (Jin, Sun, Michael and Hurley also played big roles in Do No Harm; only Sawyer, Walt and Locke were not heavily featured). In many ways, The Little Prince felt like a Season One installment, and it probably goes in my Lost episode Hall of Fame. It had great storytelling, great writing, and great performances (particularly from Josh Holloway and Terry O’Quinn).

-There was no mention in this episode of Ben’s visit to Mrs. Hawking, or her warning that he had only 70 hours to reassemble the Oceanic Six (though he did tell Jack to hurry when they split up to go after Kate and Hurley, respectively). When will we see her again, and what will we learn about her when we do? Is she indeed Daniel’s mother?

-If we can assume the island has been moved before, should we also assume that the flashes are a natural result of such a move? And can we also assume that multiple flashes occurred, just like this time? If so, how were they stopped? And if the flashes didn’t happen at all, why now? And if the flashes are happening now because Jack and company left, well, what the hell does that have to do with anything?

-Last week, when I was listing all the boats and planes that have crashed into the island, I forgot to mention Rousseau’s ship. How appropriate that this episode would remind us of that fact…

-The return of Jin was a nice surprise, in that it came much earlier in the season than I expected. I thought we’d be eight episodes or so in before he reappeared. Now that he’s back, how soon will he make sense of the time-tripping, and how long will it be before he finds Sawyer and the rest?

SECOND BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT (I used the best line twice already; I’m sure you can figure it out)…
“Great, maybe they got a flight outta here to Vegas tonight.” – Sawyer

Tonight’s Episode: This Place is Death