I Am DB

AMAZING TALES OF FILICIDE
I suggested last week that a few of my questions about Faraday’s death scene may have been asked prematurely, and it turned out that I was indeed jumping the gun. The opening moments of this episode suggest that Richard does in fact remember Faraday from the 1950’s, and that Eloise does as well; it just takes her a minute – after shooting him – to recall. Even Widmore, staring at his face, remarks that he looks familiar.

So Faraday is dead and now Jack and Kate are caught, being held in Eloise’s tent. Jack has become energized by the promise of Faraday’s plan, revealing elements of his personality that have been dormant since his return to the island. His motive for wanting to do what Faraday suggested – the motive he talks about first, at least – is the one I suggested last week: that all the people who’ve died will be able to come back. He tells Kate that this is their chance to wash away all the misery they’ve experienced. “It was not all misery,” Kate says, clearly commenting on their relationship and surprising me with a dash of the sentimental. Jack may appreciate her effort, but he responds, “Enough of it was.”

EW.com’s Doc Jensen made an observation about this which I liked:

“But his [Jack’s] haunted self-involvement is so epically solipsistic and myopic, he can’t see what his mad quest for a historical clean slate would cost those still living — especially his would-be girlfriend. For Kate, the castaway adventure has been painful and hard — but it has also given her so much, from a community of friends to the experience of mothering Aaron to Jack himself. To hear him blather on about obliterating the events that brought them together — I mean, that’s almost like a boyfriend breaking up with you and bitterly saying, ‘I wish we had never met — and now I shall ask my magic genie to make it so!'”

(Hmm, that last part makes me want to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…)

Jensen goes on:

“Moreover — and I think this idea is richly twisted — Jack’s plan would take away something even more important to the castaways. From the very beginning of Lost, we’ve been encouraged to consider these characters as fallen people desperate for redemption, or at least a fresh start. Jack’s plan is a shortcut to absolution. It would also negate the redemption and happily-ever-afters that his castaway friends have achieved.”

He also had something to say about Faraday, which I enjoyed:

“If Daniel’s notebook really is some kind of Bible that holds the key to castaway salvation, then Faraday’s legacy will be redeemed. He’ll have been transformed from a sheep led to slaughter — by his own mother no less! — to a Christ-like good shepherd, sacrificing his life to bring his Lost herd home. I like the idea of ‘Daniel Faraday, Lost messiah.’ A man of science making a crazy leap of faith would make for a nifty reconciliation of the show’s warring themes and an apt conclusion to this ‘316’ season.”

Moving on, when Eloise enters, she asks Jack to tell her the truth about how they came to be there with the man she just killed, who claimed to be her son. She makes it clear to Jack that she is open to his explanation. So Jack tells her that killing Daniel can be undone; that they can change things. Eloise looks to Kate. “Does he know what he’s talking about?” she asks. Kate looks sad as she answers, “He thinks he does.”

Eloise decides to lead them to the bomb, with Richard’s help. She does not invite Widmore to join them, and though the two share a private moment, we are quite deliberately not privy to their exchange. But it looked to me like he put a hand on her stomach as if expressing concern for a baby. I can’t be sure, though; the angle we saw it from – it may have just looked like his hand was there. But this brings up something I asked about last week. I wondered how Eloise could be on the island in 1977 when I figured she must be off, raising Daniel. I assumed the scene where young Daniel was playing piano probably took place around ‘77. But Eloise doesn’t mention anything about having a son, so are we to believe Daniel hasn’t been born yet? If he was born even a year later, in 1978, that would make him 26 when he lands on the island in 2004 (and 29 now that three years have passed). Yeah, I’m buying that like I’m bought Edward Furlong as a 10 year-old in Terminator 2. (In case my skepticism isn’t translating onto the page, that means I’m not buying it at all.) But it’s a relatively minor point, I suppose.

The scene offers little in the way of details about Eloise’s relationship with Charles Widmore. When Jack asks who he is, Richard tells him the man’s name – a name Jack and Kate are obviously familiar with – and adds, “He and Eloise are…well let’s just say love can be complicated.”

BOMB SQUAD
In order to get to the bomb, they need to swim through a tunnel under a stream, but Kate refuses to go further. When the Oceanic Six were on Penny’s boat devising the Lie and Jack asked Kate if she was with him on his plan, she replied, “I have always been with you.” But this time she’s not. She tries to walk away, but the other Hostile accompanying them raises his rifle and tells her to stop. She keeps going and a shot rings out.

I really thought he shot her. I did. But then we see it’s the Hostile who’s been shot, and Sayid rises from the bushes, his gun smokin.’ What a great reveal. I love that Sayid has just been tracking them, watching in silence waiting to see what happened. Or so I assume. I’m guessing he wasn’t just there in that particular spot when they happened to show up. I choose to believe he’s been hiding out and looking in on the Hostiles. Jack proceeds to bring him up to speed.

Sayid: So you’re telling me you’re going to erase the last three years of our lives?
Jack: We can change things, Sayid.
Sayid: I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I’ve already changed things. I killed Benjamin Linus. And we’re all still here.
Kate: Because you didn’t kill him. Sawyer and me took him to The Others so that they could save him.
Sayid: Why did you do that?
Kate: Why did I do that? Since when did shooting kids and blowing up hydrogen bombs become okay?
Jack: The three of us disappeared off that plane and ended up here, ended up now, because this is our chance to change things.
Kate: And if you’re wrong, then everyone on the island dies, do you understand that?
Jack: I’m not wrong, Kate, this is it! This is why we’re here. This is our destiny.
Kate: Do you know who you sound like? Because he was crazy too Jack, you said so yourself.
Jack: Well maybe I was wrong.
Kate: No, you were right. I’m going back to find the rest of our people because if I can’t stop you, then maybe they can.

With Kate gone and a dispensable Hostile…dispensed with, it’s Eloise, Richard, Jack and Sayid on the Jughead journey. They swim underground and find themselves in Temple-like tunnels. Eloise has explained that the bomb is buried beneath the Dharma village – which of course didn’t exist at the time of the burial. Does its presence beneath their homes have something to do with the Truce? How did the Truce come to pass? Dharma folks showed up on the Island and said, “Well take it!” Hostiles showed up and said, “Uhh, not so fast, friendo. We were already here.” Squabbling ensued and escalated into violence…wait, I think I’m describing the plot of Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century…

But really, which side initiates the Truce, and why? Does anyone in the Dharma Initiative – Horace and a few other select members, perhaps – know that they’re living over a hydrogen bomb?

As they wend their way underground, Sayid points out that Eloise’s main interest in detonating the bomb may be to destroy the Dharma Initiative. Jack says it’s occurred to him, but he still trusts her because she’s the one who tells them all how to get back here 30 years later. “And that makes you trust her?” Sayid asks. Apparently Jack has no doubts, even though Faraday said his mother was wrong and that they shouldn’t have come back.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
It’s been three years since Locke disappeared from a log right next to Richard, and now the man is back and ready to assume his position as leader of The Others. As he greets a stunned Richard, Ben and Sun watch from a distance, and Sun asks who he is. “His name is Richard Alpert,” Ben says. “He’s a kind of….advisor. And he has had that job for a very, very long time.” An advisor. That seems in keeping with an idea I talked about a few weeks ago in my Dead is Dead write-up: “Richard is just sort of a part of the package deal. If you want The Island, you gotta take Richard, like it or not.” And possibly foreshadowing what’s to come – not that I thought I was foreshadowing anything at the time – I went on, “In such a scenario, his primary purpose is to protect the island from forces that might harm it, and he won’t interfere with how things are run unless he has doubts about the person running it. Then he’ll do what he has to do to help shift power into safer hands.” I’m banking that theory for later.

Richard does a lot of traveling in this episode. In addition to his trek towards Jughead circa 1977, he has some footwork to do here in 2007.  Locke asks Richard and Ben to accompany him on an errand for which he insists time is of the essence. Ben seems less than eager to tag along, sarcastically asking if Locke is afraid he’ll stage a coup if left behind with his former people. “I’m not afraid of anything you can do anymore, Ben,” Locke says.

On their walk, Locke casually mentions that when this task is complete, he’d like Richard to take him to Jacob. This startles both Richard and Ben, who says, “That’s…not how it works, John.” But Locke clarifies that he is now the leader and as such, he wants to see Jacob. Richard agrees…but he’s not thrilled about it.

Locke leads them to the familiar Beechcraft plane, and those with memories stretching back to the season premiere knew exactly what was coming. Locke informs Richard that in a moment, a man who’s just been shot in the leg will emerge out of the woods on the other side of the plane from where they’re positioned. That man will be Locke himself. Locke tells Richard to treat the wound and tell Wounded Locke he must get his people to return to the island and that he’ll have to die doing so.

This directive from Locke could prove to be crucial. In my previous write-up, I talked about the various people who have said how important it is that the Oceanic Six return to the island. Richard was one of the people I cited, based on the scene from early in the season when Richard treats Locke’s wound. But now that we see the scene from a new perspective and with some background information, we realize that when Richard tells Locke he must bring his people back in order to save the island, he is not imparting information based on his own knowledge. Those instructions come from Locke, not from Richard. And if Locke is really experiencing some sort of symbiosis with The Island, then we now have to wonder if the Oceanic Six really did need to return to save the island, or if The Island simply (cause this is sooo simple) has plans for them. Locke’s communion with The Island is reinforced in his conversation with Ben.

Ben: Your timing was impeccable, John. How did you know when to be here?
Locke: The island told me. Didn’t it ever tell you things?
Ben: No, John. And it clearly it hasn’t told you where Jacob is or you wouldn’t need Richard to show you.
Locke: You’ve never seen him.
Ben: What?
Locke: Jacob. You’ve never seen him, have you?

Ben’s snarky comment is beautifully delivered, like the jab of a jealous playmate, but he never gets to answer Locke’s question because the other Locke disappears from sight. (This does clear up one curiosity for me, which is that for the people who were not moving through time during the flashes, the white light and strange noise went unnoticed. I had wondered if Ellie saw the light and heard the noise when Faraday disappeared from the Jughead site, and ditto for Rousseau when Jin disappeared outside the Temple, or if the effect of the flashes went unnoticed by anyone not caught up in them. Here we see that from Richard’s perspective, Wounded Locke just disappears. Pop. Gone.) Richard returns and says Wounded Locke seemed convinced, especially by the part about having to die. “I’m certainly glad that didn’t have to happen,” he says. “Actually Richard, it did,” Locke replies, looking at Ben…who in turn looks around to avoid eye contact.

STIRRING THE POT
Back from their errand, Locke wants to get going right away to see Jacob. Richard says they can do what he wants, but suggests they talk privately in his tent first. Locke instead asks if this group camped on the beach is the entire crew of Others. Richard says there’s another group at the Temple. Addressing those on the beach, Locke says, “I’ve been told that for some time, you all have been accepting orders from a man named Jacob. And yet, oddly enough, it seems that no one has actually seen him. Now, I’m sure there are very good reasons why his existence and whereabouts are secret, I just don’t know what they are.” He takes an extended pause here, staring at Richard and Ben, before continuing, “And to be honest with all of you, if there’s a man telling us what to do, I want to know who he is. Richard has agreed to show us where we need to go. So I’m gonna go and see Jacob. Right now. And I’d like all of you to come with me.”

I liked Doc Jensen’s observation about this: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but did we just witness the completion of a profound role reversal on Lost? Because Locke’s rhetoric is that of the rational skeptic, demanding empirical proof before committing his trust to some great and mighty Oz. Jack is now the man of faith; Locke is now the man of science.”

The Others seem to like Locke’s idea. They like it rather blindly, like a flock of sheep who have never thought of this idea on their own. Wow, go and see Jacob? Why that’s a smashing plan! Jolly good, yes. This John Locke is clever.

Richard is not as enthused as everyone else. “I’m starting to think John Locke is gonna be trouble,” he says.

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

The following morning, the entire group sets out for Jacob. (I guess Locke decided not to leave that night?) Will they be stopping at The Temple on the way to get everyone else? Locke is all smiles, remarking what a beautiful day it is. But Ben sees a storm on the horizon.

Ben: Richard had some concerns.
Locke: Concerns about what?
Ben: This pilgrimage to Jacob makes him uncomfortable. He’s expressed reservations about whether or not you know what the hell you’re doing.
Locke: I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Ben.
Ben: I know we’ve had our differences in the past John, but I’m here to follow you now. So if you need Jacob to help you reunite your people, then I’ll do whatev…
Locke: I’m not interested in being reunited with my people.
Ben: What do you mean, you told Sun…
Locke: I know what I told her, but that’s not why we’re going to Jacob.
Ben: Then why are we going to Jacob?
Locke: So I can kill him.

Uhhh…

Okay, first: does Locke really intend to kill Jacob, or is he just telling Ben that? If it’s true…why would you tell Ben that? Why would you confide anything in that guy? Maybe if you really are 100% confident Ben is no longer a threat to you and your plans, then there’s no harm done. Personally, I’d play my cards close to the vest. And if it’s not true, why do you want Ben to think it? And if it is true, why do you want to kill him? Did The Island tell you to do it? Does that mean that Jacob and The Island are not of one mind? Could Christian Shephard be the one relaying psychic orders to Locke? I’ve already wondered aloud about the possibility that Christian actually doesn’t speak for Jacob, despite his comments to the contrary. On the other hand, when Locke first went to Jacob’s cabin, he heard a voice say, “Help me.” What if Jacob actually needs/wants to die, and now Locke understands that and plans to follow through, thereby removing the assumed malice from his intentions…

Second, we’ve had our differences in the past? That’s a hell of a way to gloss over shooting him in the stomach and choking him to death, let alone all the lies, manipulation…

Third, I was about to ask who Ben was kidding when he told Locke he’s prepared to follow him. But then I remembered his encounter with the Smoke Monster, and Alex’s warning: “You will listen to every word John Locke says and you will follow his every order.” If that was The Island talking through Alex, and if Locke is communicating with The Island, does that mean he knows that Ben has to defer to him? Is he finally able to trust Ben? I dunno – Ben can still disobey the order he was given by “Alex.” He’d likely have to pay for it with his life, but if he feared that Locke’s plan meant danger to The Island, would he sacrifice himself to stop it? It’s not hard for me to imagine that in the end, Ben will die something of a hero’s death. It would be in keeping with that comparison I’ve often made between him and a certain character from a certain book series about a certain bespectacled boy wizard.

AT LEAST THERE WAS NO WATERBOARDING…
In the wake of the shootout with Jack, Kate and Faraday, the alarm in Dharmaville has sounded, so there’s a bit of chaos. Hurley slips away amidst it all, carrying a backpack full of canned food and the guitar case he brought to the island. He meets up with Miles and Jin, hidden away up on a hill. But he is followed by Dr. Chang, who asks…well, the amusing exchange that follows is worth seeing:

Love that look Miles and Jin exchange when Hurley says there’s no such thing as the Korean war. Anyway, the scene continues with Chang asking Miles if he is really his son. Miles confirms it. Then we cut from Chang saying that he hopes Faraday knows what he’s doing to a shot of Faraday’s body on the ground. I want to make the leap that this edit implies Faraday did know what he was doing, even up to the moment of his death, but I don’t know…

Chang rushes into the security station, but is startled by the sight of Juliet and Sawyer tied up, being beaten by Radzinsky and Phil while Horace looks on powerless. Chang says they need to evacuate the island and hold off on drilling at the Swan, but Radzinsky, in full-on Asshole mode says that he – not Horace – is now in charge and that the decision is his. Groundbreaking at the Swan will commence in “less than 20 hours,” on schedule (20 hours? Didn’t Faraday say “four hours” just a few minutes before he got himself dead? Okay, four is less than 20, but clearly Radzinsky is suggesting that the dig is not quite as immediate as Faraday said it would be…)

Radzinsky really is an arrogant, paranoid prick. I take comfort in knowing that he’ll eventually put a shotgun in his mouth and end up a bloodstain on the Hatch ceiling. But I kinda wish we’d get the satisfaction of watching Sawyer kick his teeth down his throat. Instead, Sawyer confirms Chang’s concerns and says that the women and children should be put on the sub. He adds that if they put Juliet and him on there too, he’ll tell them whatever they want to know. So far, he hasn’t cooperated at all with Radzinsky’s questioning, and I wondered why they didn’t take him out to Oldham, like they did with Sayid. Not enough time, maybe. Not that they were convinced by Sayid’s answers anyway, but maybe hearing a second person say he’s from the future would make them consider it more carefully. As it is, Radzinsky responds to Sawyer’s request by handing him paper and telling him to draw a map to the exact location of the Hostiles. Did Sawyer draw an accurate map, I wonder, or did he pull a Dantooine?

Later on, Miles, Jin and Hurley are hiding again, this time watching people board the sub. They see Charlotte and her mother, and they see Chang forcefully insisting that his wife, holding Baby Miles, get on the sub too. Miles realizes, as I thought in the Some Like it Hoth write-up, that Chang was doing what he had to do to make her leave and go someplace safe. Then they see Sawyer and Juliet being marched onboard as well. Hurley figures Sawyer has a plan. And he does: get off the island, buy stock in Microsoft and bet on the ’78 Cowboys Super Bowl. Though we don’t yet know exactly how that plan will go awry, we know it will have something to do with Kate, who is brought onto the sub at the last minute after being caught coming back into the village by Dharma security. The looks on Sawyer’s and Juliet’s faces say it all.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT/LOOSE ENDS
-After learning of Richard’s lengthy stay on the island, Sun shows him the Dharma photo with Jack, Kate and Hurley and asks if he was there in 1977 and if he remembers them. He says he was and he does, quite clearly – because he watched them all die. So…that’s not good. But did he mean he just saw Jack, Kate and Hurley die? Or did he see everyone on the island in 1977 die?

-I keep thinking about this coming catastrophe at the Swan. According to history, this catastrophe occurs, but the Dharma folks – many of them, anyway – survive it, build the hatch and go on with their lives…until they die in the Purge, that is. If that’s the case, how bad could this accident be/have been, especially in relation to the consequences of an H-bomb detonation? Though we’re being led to believe the “incident” is impending, things seem amiss. Faraday said it would happen in four hours, but Radzinsky says 20. Faraday said it would happen that day, but Chang says in the Swan orientation video that the incident happens after the Swan is built and operational. Could it be that Faraday was lying about everything, and that he was actually trying to spur Jack into action for some other, as-yet-unclear purpose?

-Locke is leading the Others – one segment of them, anyway – to see Jacob. But who are these people? How did they come to be there? Are the children with the group at The Temple? Remember there was like, this whole thing about the Others kidnapping children? Remember that small detail? Remember Cindy, the flight attendant from Flight 815 who wound up with the Others? Where is she?

-Seeing Hurley carrying that guitar case again got me thinking. When he brought it onto Ajira 316, I asked if it was supposed to invoke Charlie, since Eloise told them they needed to re-create the original flight as best they could. What’s that you say? Hurley wasn’t there when Eloise said that? True. But remember the first episode of Season Four? Remember how Hurley kept seeing Charlie all over the place? Remember how Hurley talked to “Dead” Charlie in front of his mental hospital? Remember how Charlie was telling him that he needed to go back to the island? Could it have been Charlie who finally convinced him? Could it have been Charlie who told him to be on Flight 316? And could that guitar case contain more than just a guitar? Could Hurley be El Mariachi?!?

-In the wake of  this episode, friend and reader Denise B. and I were e-mailing about the whole “whatever happened, happened” thing. Here is part of our exchange that I wanted to include:

Denise: Last night’s episode seems to contradict the theory  that “whatever happened, happened” cuz everyone is trying to reinforce the “past” by doing what they experienced – Locke sending Richard to talk to himself and remove the bullet, Eloise sending Faraday to the island, Faraday talking to Charlotte, etc. If choices are the variable, then why still set things into motion that seem to lead up to the same results?

Me: All good points. And those questions are where I start to get dizzy with an effort to apply logic to time travel. Maybe the whole idea is that you can’t change the past, but you can change the future. Flight 815 has already crashed on the island and nothing can erase that reality for all of them…but maybe they can prevent it from crashing there again. Which wouldn’t change their past, but in the great cosmic loop of time, it would change the future. Does that make sense? I’m sure there are massive holes that can be punched into that idea…which is, again, why this stuff makes me dizzy. Let’s say that Daniel’s plan works and 815 lands in Los Angeles as it’s supposed to. What happens to Jack, Kate, and everybody else from the plane who are currently on the island? Do they suddenly cease to exist there? Or do they live out their days on the island knowing that other versions of themselves are having different lives back in civilization. I don’t know…

This exchange with Denise gave me an idea. I want to take it a step further, and propose another wild idea that builds on my wild idea from last week: that the season finale would set the stage for a sixth season in which Oceanic 815 does crash on the island again, but with altered outcomes. Scenarios will play out differently, but deceased characters like Boone, Shannon and Charlie would return to the show. I admitted it was far fetched, but left it dangling as a kinda cool idea. What if that were to happen, but in addition the current crew of survivors somehow got out of 1977 and shifted back to the future. Then you might have a scenario in which there are two Jacks, two Kates, two Sawyers, etc. on the island. And what if our Jack, aware of what’s to come, tries to prevent Boone’s death, for example? What if they start interfering with their own circumstances? Is this making any sense? The Boone example might not work actually, because if they did somehow wind up back in the present day, it would probably be 2007, not 2004 anymore. But maybe in that timeline, the survivors are still on the island three years after the crash, allowing for interaction between two sets of castaways. Oh God, what would I give to see Hurley meet himself?

I’ve lost you, haven’t I? That’s okay…I’ve nearly lost myself. I’ll dial it back down…

-I’m always tooting my own horn when something I speculate on in one of these write-ups ends up happening, and I have another one to point out. But in the interest of full disclosure, I won’t claim bragging rights for this, because I predicted it with complete sarcasm. A few days ago I was re-reading my write-up of the episode 316, and came upon the paragraph discussing Kate showing up at Jack’s apartment and agreeing to return to the island on the condition that Jack never ask her about Aaron. I wrote: “He easily, quickly says yes; she says thank you; she kisses him…and I’m thinking, what?!? A little boy, your nephew, just dropped out of the picture, and you’re going to roll over and not ask any questions? What do you think, she left him with his grandma? You don’t wanna know where is? You don’t care what happened to this three-year-old child?!?”

As we now know, of course, that’s exactly what she did: she left him with his grandma. I dunno…it made me laugh in hindsight. And I’ve always believed that if you can laugh at yourself, you can feel totally justified about laughing at other people.

-Early in the season, I proposed an Odd Couple-like buddy sitcom starring Hurley and Sayid after Lost ends. I would now like to add two possibilities: the same concept, but with Hurley and Miles (or perhaps all three of them) and an update of Three’s Company, set entirely on a submarine, starring Sawyer, Kate and Juliet. I’ve even started to re-write the theme song, tell me what you think:

Come and knock on our door,
Take a step that is new,
We’re descending to 20,000 leagues,
Three’s company too!

Yeah, go ahead and roll your eyes. You’ll be rollin’ your asses up to the gates of my mansion asking for a handout after these ideas make me a billionaire.

FINAL THOUGHT
Alright gang, tonight’s the big one: the Season Five finale. So many questions…

WILL we meet Jacob?
WHO else will die?
WILL Hurley’s motive to return be revealed?
WHAT the [insert chain of five expletives] happened to Rose and Bernard?
WILL we find out more about Ilana, Bram and their statuesque mission?
DID Caesar survive Ben’s shotgun blast?
MIGHT Claire make an appearance to set-up her return for next year?

Hours to go…

Tonight’s Episode: The Incident (and remember, it’s 2 hours. 9-11, preceded by a recap at 8:00)