I Am DB

Hulllo, what have we here? No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I’ve whipped up an extra message to be delivered ahead of tonight’s episode. Consider it a bonus…with the understanding that the word “bonus” suggests not only something in excess of the norm, but also something worth getting excited about. Your general interest in reading these tedious messages will determine whether or not this is a bonus or just another message from me to ignore.

The purpose of this is A) to bring up a couple of the things that I was thinking about after the recent “Cabin Fever” episode; and 2) to toss out some theories – albeit, extremely fragmented ones full of holes, and each covering just a small corner of the massive quilt that is the story of Lost.

First: Cabin Fever, an episode which spawned a lot of talk about Ben and Locke, Jacob, and that ‘ol Doc Brown classic we like to call the space-time continuum. It definitely seemed worth pointing out that Ben and Locke came into the world in similar fashions. Both were born to mothers named Emily who did not stick around to raise them – Ben’s died, Locke’s abandoned him; both were born prematurely; and both, as children, encountered Richard Alpert. Richard’s encounter with Ben was by chance, or so it seems at this point. But it was on the island, and happened when Ben was…I don’t know how old. Maybe 12? Conversely, Richard actively tracked Locke, which means it was off the island, and it began when Locke was a newborn.

Do these early-life similarities say anything about Locke and Ben? Both seem to share a connection to the island, and their own personal relationship is complex, to say the least. Does time travel come into play here? Is it possible that when Richard seeks out baby Locke, he is doing so from a future in which Locke has already been to the island? Perhaps a future in which Ben has recognized something in Locke that he believes is vital to the survival of the island, leading him to send Richard back to a time when he might be able to bring Locke to the island earlier, for a purpose that could thwart Charles Widmore’s island intentions? And if by some stretch this is remotely accurate, it would mean that Ben and Richard have a fair amount of control over the use of time-travel. So far, such control has not been in evidence. If moving the island involves any sort of time travel, then it has been described by Ben as “dangerous and unpredictable” and “a measure of last resort.”  Of course, this whole notion does nothing to explain the things Ben and Locke have in common. But this is Lost. There are no coincidences.

Now we also have to remember that Richard Alpert was not the only familiar face to turn up in Locke’s pre-island life. He also met Matthew Abbadon. How does that factor in? Well let’s suppose that there’s some truth to the Alpert/Locke/time travel theory. What if Widmore and Abbadon were able to access similar technology? Abbadon might then be able to visit Locke in the rehab center and encourage him to go on the walkabout. If somehow Widmore knows about Locke and his connection to the island, then perhaps he tries to get Locke on Flight 815, knowing that it will crash and knowing that once Locke is there, he will discover its power and want to stay. But what if he were taken off the island against his will? What if he were the object of an “extraction mission,” as Captain Gault said to Keamy – an attempt by Widmore to remove him from the island so that he could be forced to share its secrets, or lead the way back if the island were to “move” after his removal? Serving Widmore in this way might be fulfilling Abbadon’s pledge that when he and Locke meet again, Locke will “owe him one.”

If there’s any credence to this, and if Ben became aware of Widmore’s intentions, then it would be extremely important to him to get to Locke himself before Widmore could. Important enough to send him trekking across the island alone in search of Locke (eventually getting caught by Rousseau and claiming to be a balloon-traveler named Henry Gale); important enough to build Locke up and make him believe in his kinship to the island while at the same denying him many truths and revelations – truths and revelations he would not want Widmore to be able to access if he did get hold of Locke; important enough to shoot him in a misguided attempt to keep him from being any good to Widmore (he admits later that he hadn’t thought the shooting through, and should have known it wouldn’t have done any good); important enough to convince Locke that Widmore is an enemy of the island and that he must work with Ben to protect it. When Widmore fails to get Locke off the island – via Naomi – he begins targeting the Oceanic Six and trying to get them to lead him back to the island…hence Abbadon’s visit to Hurley in the mental institution.

I realize that this theory is quite shaky, full of holes, and casts Locke in probably too central a role in the overall mythology while totally ignoring Jacob, the various lists of survivors that once seemed like a key plot point but haven’t been mentioned lately, and other things. It also assumes that Widmore and Ben have access to each other’s information, suggesting a double-agent or who-knows-what other form of treachery. This is why I don’t spend much time spinning theories, but instead try to keep track of the questions. Still, I found myself piecing the following together as well. While it too has holes and doesn’t fully add up, I do think it’s more solid than the preceding, and likely has elements of accuracy to it. So here goes:

It would seem that Charles Widmore once had possession of the island, but lost it to Ben. Ever since that happened, he has been trying to find it again and regain control. Knowing of the island’s electromagnetic properties, he’s had multiple crews deployed in the South Pacific – the closest approximation he has of the island’s location – looking for electromagnetic anomalies. One of these crews notifies him of such an anomaly on September 22, 2004 (caused, unbeknownst to him, by his own daughter’s beloved). The same day, he learns – along with the rest of the world – that a huge passenger airplane flying from Sydney to Los Angeles disappeared from radar somewhere in the South Pacific. Connecting the two dots, he believes that if he finds the plane, he can find the island. Determined to keep other search parties from discovering the plane before him for fear that they might discover the island and its powers, he stages a fake crash site in order to distract the world and draw other search parties away from wherever the plane really is. Of course, if he did this, he would have to either ensure that no survivors – if there were any – ever made it back to tell their story…OR he would have to create the story himself and get any possible survivors to go along with it. (We might find out tonight if this last piece is at all valid.)

Okay, that’s pretty basic stuff – I don’t claim to be breaking new ground with this theory; I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. But I think it’s pretty solid. From here, I’m much less confident, but let me try to fill in some possible details.

For whatever reason, Widmore has an obsession with the Black Rock. In an attempt to locate the remains of the ship itself, he discovers an island which may or may not be inhabited at the time. Soon after, he is approached by The Dharma Initiative, which is seeking funding to launch a remote commune for studying. He offers this island, which is useless to him other than being the final resting place of the Black Rock. Maybe he has purchased the island…although that would leave a paper trail, so maybe not. Or perhaps he purchased it through some sort of shady business deal with a certain powerful Korean businessman who was his closest business contact in that part of the world (the island isn’t too close to Korea, but considering the size of the whole planet, they’re kind of in the same ballpark). Anyway, in keeping tabs on the work of the Dharma Initiative, he discovers that this island has powerful properties which he wants to exploit.

The theory gets even hazier here, because there are parts I haven’t figured out yet, but Ben comes into the picture around this time. Maybe Widmore somehow enlists his aid, and since Ben has his own issues with the Dharma Initiative, he agrees to help Widmore destroy it…ergo, The Purge. But Ben does this not with the intention of letting Widmore have his way, but instead with taking control of the island for his own reasons – reasons which run contrary to Widmore’s desires and which therefore put the two men at odds. Yet how does this fit with Ben’s comment to John (made just before shooting him last season) that the Dharma crew couldn’t co-exist with the island’s original inhabitants? Given that young Ben encounters Richard Alpert in the jungle, does that make Richard one of the original inhabitants? By the time The Purge takes place, Richard seems to be taking orders from Ben, so something there doesn’t add up. Maybe The Purge doesn’t have anything to do with Widmore. Like I said, this theory gets less sound as it goes, and is riddled with holes and flaws. But I feel like portions of it could be on the right track. (Another problem is that I think the Dharma Initiative was already studying electromagnetism, which would mean that they probably had the island already as opposed to Widmore giving it to them. Also, if Ben acted on his own in betraying Widmore after The Purge, where does Jacob factor in? And how would Widmore even get to know Ben, who has been living on the island for years before The Purge?)

I’ll end the speculation for now, and see what the season finale leaves me thinking. Just thought I’d share…

PRESENT TENSE
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but this season has been building toward an explanation of how six Oceanic 815 survivors were rescued. With tonight’s season finale set to answer that question (to an extent, at least) I’m left asking something I asked after last season’s finale as well: when will we be when the next season begins? Throughout Season Four, Island-Time has still been the present, with flashbacks and flash-forwards filing out the story. But with the rescue about to be explained, will the future become the present when Season Five comes around? Island-Time, aka The Present, is about to catch up with the rescue, so what we’ve seen as The Future is about to be The Present. Next year, what will the Oceanic Six’s flashes show us?

And what about those who remain on the island? Will we continue to see flashbacks for them? For Ben, there is plenty of story left to tell on both sides of the clock (past – his childhood friend Annie, The Purge, relationship with Richard Alpert; future – pursuing Penny, warring with Widmore, protecting the island).

I bring this all up now because the way this episode was put together, it felt to me like the flash-forwards were being presented as The Present. Plenty of episodes over the years have begun with a flashback or flash-forward before we move to the island, and this episode was similar in that it began with the Oceanic Six’s arrival home, settling on Kate before cutting to the island action. I can’t say what it is, as it may have been a completely personal interpretation, but something about the rhythm of this episode suggested to me that the post-island scenes were the present, and the characters in those scenes were flashing back to the island. I’ll see if I get that feeling again tonight. Otherwise I just wasted three paragraphs.

COMING HOME
The members of the Oceanic Six are strapped in the back of a cargo plane, about to land on a private air strip in Hawaii where they will be reunited with their families (finally the show gets to use a Hawaiian location without trying to make it look like London, New York, Los Angeles, etc.). An Oceanic rep tells them the press will be there, but that they do not have to speak. Jack tells her it’s okay; they’ll answer the reporters’ questions. The others stay silent, look skeptical. After the rep leaves, Jack says that they all know the story and it’s better to get it over with. He says if there’s something they don’t want to answer, pretend they can’t remember; everyone will think they’re in shock. “We are in shock, Jack,” Sun tells him.

The reunion scene is a touching one. I’m sure I’m not the only one who in the last four years has imagined a scene where a rescued survivor is reunited with family (though the one I had most often envisioned was Charlie and his reformed-junkie brother, or Claire going to see that brother after Charlie died). Sayid and Kate have no one to greet them, but Sun’s parents are there, as are Hurley’s. Jack’s mother, who we’ve seen only once, early in Season One, is on hand too.

MEET THE PRESS
The Oceanic rep makes a brief presentation about the circumstances of the crash and the rescue, saying that the crash site was in Indonesia. The eight survivors were carried by the current to a small, unpopulated island. On Day 103, the remains of an Indonesian fishing boat washed up on shore, with basic supplies and a survival raft. On Day 108, the remaining six survivors used that raft to travel to the island of Sumba, where they were found by local fisherman and taken to a village. A photograph showing their arrival is displayed. (Am I the only one who thinks it strange that someone in that fishing village had a camera? Maybe those places are more modern than I’m giving them credit for.)

The timing sounds about right, and would put the rescue at sometime in January 2005. And for those whose geography is a little rusty, as mine was, Indonesia is northwest of Australia; Fiji, near which the fake plane and all its dead passengers was found, is well off the east coast. In other words, the two sites are not even close. And neither of these sites necessarily come close to where the island actually is. Exhibit A…

The press questions quickly get tricky. A Korean reporter asks Sun if her husband was one of the people who died on the island. She hesitates. Jack looks at her with concern. Finally, she says that her husband never made it off the plane. Sayid answers a question about the possibility of there being other survivors still out there with a defiant, “Absolutely not.” Jack gives a look at that point, to no one in particular – a shrug that seems to say, “Well that’s not exactly true.” Another reporter questions how pregnant Kate was at the time of the crash – i.e., at the time the U.S. Marshal apprehended her in Australia. Was the arresting Marshal the only person who saw her in custody at that time, leaving no one else to contradict her claim of pregnancy?

So let’s see if the season finale explains how the Oceanic Lie is constructed, and by whom; how the Oceanic Six are convinced to play along; why they are the only ones who make it off the island; if they believe that the lie is temporary and that the truth will eventually come out, or if they expect to have to stick with this story and take the truth to the grave; and how the lie is spun in light of the fake wreckage being discovered and all bodies accounted for.

LIFE AFTER DEATH
The early days of the Oceanic Six’s return seem to go well enough. Nadia seeks out Sayid and finally this star-crossed couple comes together (Shannon who?), but by and large the group is never far from fate’s reach. Hurley enters his house one day to find it deserted, and though he quickly realizes he’s the recipient of a surprise birthday party, that discovery comes after we hear a familiar whispering throughout the house which we usually hear in the island’s jungles. When his father presents him with his old Camaro, finally restored, he is excited to take it for a spin…until he spots the readout on the odometer –  481516, with a trip meter reading of 2342. This was the first time in ages the numbers had been evoked, and it added a nice “classic Lost” vibe to the episode. Hurley runs from the car and says he doesn’t want it…though he must have a change of heart eventually, seeing as he uses it to lead the cops on a high speed chase.

Sun paid her father a visit at his office, where he was upset by a business deal gone wrong. Prior to her arrival, as Mr. Paik was yelling at his people, something occurred to me that never has before, and I was embarrassed that it had never crossed my mind. Like Charles Widmore, Paik is a wealthy, powerful, sinister bastard. What if he had some connection to the Big Picture as well? The details we witnessed just before Sun showed up seemed almost too specific to have no deeper meaning. As I rolled that over in my mind, the scene played out. Seeing Sun stand up to her father and put him in his place by revealing that she used her Oceanic settlement to buy a controlling interest in his company? Well all I can say is an enthusiastic, “You go, girl!” That was bad-ass (though I was surprised the settlement was that large). In light of her revelation, and the way Mr. Paik was condescending to her when she first walked in, saying that the argument was part of his business and nothing she’d understand, I reconsidered my initial thought about his involvement in the larger events. I’m not ruling out that possibility, but after Sun showed him what’s what, I thought the argument was just there to set-up his attempt to belittle her. Still…

Another curiosity: Sun told her father that two people were responsible for Jin’s death, and that he was one of them. Who does she consider the other to be?

And then there was the post-island scene that delivered the biggest blow: Jack learning of his relationship to Claire. After spending at least a couple of years in a coma, Claire’s mother has now been awake for some time, and approaches Jack after his father’s memorial service. She explains to him that she believes the reason his father was in Australia was to see her daughter; his daughter. Jack tries to say that his father didn’t have a daughter, but the woman makes it clear that yes, he did…and that in an unbelievable coincidence, that daughter was also on Flight 815 – one of the passengers who died when the plane hit the water. She tells Jack that his sister’s name was Claire, and it’s all Jack can do to hold it together when he realizes that she was his sister, and that Aaron – who Kate is holding just a few feet away – is his nephew. Whoa.

I gotta say, I didn’t see that coming. In “Something Nice Back Home” a few weeks ago, Jack was arguing with Kate and yelled that she wasn’t even related to Aaron, after she referred to him as her son. I commented on the phrasing in my write-up, but thought that the writers were being ironic. I didn’t think he knew about his connection to Claire. I’ve been assuming that for all his success at moving on with his life and selling the Oceanic Lie, the passing off of Aaron as Kate’s daughter was the one part of the fiction that really weakened his resolve; the one part of the tale that he could never get comfortable with. But it appears that his issue all along has been knowing the truth about the baby – a fact which is easier to see now that we’ve learned of this memorial service for Jack’s father, taking place well before Kate’s trial (Aaron is still a small baby at the service, whereas he has grown noticeably by the time the trial ends – he has a head full of blond hair, is sleeping in a bed rather than a crib, and says, “Hi mommy” to Kate).

It’s also worth noting that at the beginning of the eulogy for his father, Jack says that it was ten months earlier, at the airport in Sydney, when he first wrote down what he planned to say. Ten months. If he was on the island for roughly four months, that means the memorial service is taking place six months later. So Kate’s trial must be well after that. And based on the conversation Jack had with Hurley in his room at the mental hospital in “Something Nice Back Home,” Jack and Kate probably got together sometime after Hurley’s freeway chase and subsequent return to the hospital.

So Jack knows about his connection to Claire, but he has apparently not shared his knowledge with Kate. In their argument where she calls Aaron “my son” and he points out that she’s not related to him, she shows no sign of understanding his loaded meaning, and the way she says “my son” shows total ignorance of the kid’s true relationship to Jack. When Jack and Kate speak outside of the courthouse just after her trial ends, she says to him, “I understand why you don’t want to see the baby.” But my guess is that she really doesn’t; she assumes what I did – that Jack is simply not comfortable with the Aaron piece of the Oceanic Lie.

FOLLOW THAT COPTER
Now that we’ve covered the future – or is it the new present? – let’s look at the old present…or rather, the new past. In other words, the island and the freighter. Despite having his appendix removed less than two days earlier, Jack is determined to follow the chopper using the satellite phone that was tossed out (he assumes by Sayid and Desmond). Faraday uses the phone to call the one being tracked, and they overhear Keamy ordering Frank to set the chopper down and telling his men about their deployment to The Orchid. Juliet doesn’t know what The Orchid is (which seems a little odd considering her time as an Other. I think she’s done playing both sides, so her ignorance seems genuine.  Given The Orchid’s implied power, perhaps it wasn’t a Dharma station to which Ben easily shared access). Faraday, on the other hand, does know what The Orchid is. When he overhears Keamy, he tells Charlotte with deep concern that Keamy is using the secondary protocol, and that they have to get off the island as soon as possible.

Why do some people know about the secondary protocol while others don’t? Keamy knows about it, but Gault did not. Faraday knows about it, but Charlotte doesn’t. Why is that? In his notebook, Faraday has a drawing of The Orchid logo, surrounded by various equations and the words, “Space Like Factors.” What does he know, and why don’t others in seemingly equal positions know it too?

Juliet tries to make Jack stay and rest, but Jack is in full-on hero mode, saying that he promised to get these people off the island and that he has to go after the copter. She storms off, and after telling her he’ll see her in a few hours, he and Kate lock and load and head into the jungle.

COMINGS AND GOINGS
In the jungle, Jack and Kate encounter Miles and an Aaron-toting Sawyer. He explains that they “lost” Claire – that she walked off in the middle of the night, left the baby behind and that they spent a day looking for her unsuccessfully. Jack and Kate don’t know what to make of this, as Sawyer hands Aaron to Kate. When Sawyer learns they’re after the copter, he tells them what Keamy did to New Otherton. Still, Jack feels he can’t turn back, saying that he put Desmond and Sayid on that copter. It was his call, he says…which is interesting because, no, actually, it wasn’t. Sayid and Desmond each made their own way onto the copter – Sayid to learn more about the people on the freighter, and Desmond to get answers about Penny. Jack had nothing to do with it. Was this sloppy writing, or a deliberate move to showcase how deep Jack’s hero-complex runs? I’m going with the latter. Either way, after some fun, old-school bickering with Sawyer, Jack moves on. Sawyer goes with him, and Kate, Aaron and Miles head back to the beach.

Soon afterwards, Sayid arrives on the island in the freighter’s zodiac raft. He tells everyone that he needs to ferry them off the island in groups of six, because Keamy’s team is going to kill everyone. Juliet tells him that Jack and Kate thought he was on the chopper and went after it. Kate arrives with Aaron and Miles, and offers to help Sayid track Jack and Sawyer. She hands Aaron to Sun, and goes back into the jungle with Sayid, who has left ferrying duty to Faraday. Sun and Jin are in the first group to leave (so Jin gets off the island. Hmm…) Even icy Charlotte looks concerned for Faraday as he heads off with the first group.

When they arrive at the freighter, Desmond helps them all aboard (and seeing Sun holding Aaron, doesn’t think to inquire about Claire. I’ll chalk that up to the fact that there’s kind of a lot happening at that moment). Faraday heads back immediately, and Sun and Jin are met by a shocking site: Michael. He explains to them how he got back to New York. Following Ben’s bearing took him and Walt to an inhabited island where he was able to sell the boat and buy fare back to New York, where they couldn’t tell anyone who they were. His explanation fills in some holes…and frankly, fills them in quite shoddily. Is this really all there was too it? Michael explains it almost dismissively. I feel like there should be more to it, and I’m not sure if that’s just me looking for mysteries where there are none (could you blame me?), or if we’re really meant to take it at face value, as if Damon and Carlton have heard fans ask the question and threw this in as an attempt to settle the issue. Either way, when Sun asks if he’s now working for Ben, Michael gets immediately defensive, and says he’s not working for Ben, but is trying to make up for what he did; trying to help them. That may be true, but given your actions Michael, you don’t get to be defensive. You haven’t earned back anyone’s trust just yet, so settle down.

Desmond, meanwhile, has made a grim discovery. He runs to fetch Michael, who follows him – with Sun and Jin right behind – into a room that is wired with enough C4 plastic explosives to blow the ship sky high. Now we know what that device on Keamy’s arm was. (Can I get an “Oh shit,” please?) Jin tells Sun to leave the room, so she heads back out on the deck, with a loaded, fatalistic glare back at the door closing behind her. Are Jin and Desmond going to die trying to dismantle the explosives? I can’t decide if I think Jin is really dead or not. On the cargo plane home, Sun did not seem as upset as I’d expect her to be if he were truly gone, so that gives me hope. On the other hand, would she be any less upset if he was alive but she had to leave him behind, knowing it was unlikely or perhaps even impossible that she’d ever see him again?

Is the freighter going to blow? Is Faraday going to have to start taking people back to the island? Will that explain why some people, like Rose and Bernard, remain on the island? Sawyer specifically chooses to stay, or so we’ve been told, but are people who had a choice in the matter a minority? I still can’t fathom how Jack, Kate, Sun, Hurley and Sayid could be talked into leaving everyone else behind. Is Widmore responsible for their rescue and the Oceanic Lie? Does Ben orchestrate it? Is Oceanic itself complicit in the conspiracy?

Back on the island, Jack and Sawyer find the copter. Frank has been handcuffed to it, but they set him free and he’s prepared to fly everyone off the island…until Sawyer realizes that Keamy’s crew is headed for Ben, and that in Frank’s words, “nothing good” is in store for anyone who’s with him: namely Hurley. Jack and Sawyer now must go after their friend.

Kate and Sayid, meanwhile, find themselves ambushed by Others – led by Richard Alpert. We haven’t seen most of the Others since Ben and Alex set off for the radio tower at the end of Season Three. They’ve apparently been hiding out in The Temple, whatever that is. Is that where they are now marching Kate and Sayid? For what it might be worth – probably nothing – they’re dressed in their “jungle chic,” which was their most oft-seen costume in the Season Two days.

MAN WITH A PLAN
In the previous episode, Ben was feeling like his time as a leader was over, but he was back in charge after Locke told him that Jacob’s instructions were to move the island. This sets Ben, Locke and Hurley on a course for The Orchid, which Ben describes only as a greenhouse. He says the process of moving the island is “dangerous and unpredictable. It’s a measure of last resort.” Hurley raises a good point: if the island moves, won’t Keamy and his people move with it? Ben says yes, they probably would – a problem that he’s working on.

On the journey, Ben stops and uncovers a hidden box that contains binoculars, a small mirror…and 15 year-old Saltines. He holds the mirror to the sunlight and makes some kind of signal up toward the trees off in the distance, on higher ground. A similar signal is sent back. “Alright” says Ben, “now we can go.” What was that all about? Was that The Temple? Was Ben communicating with Richard, telling him to take a crew out into the jungle and see what or who they find? Was his message – which he refuses to share with Locke – something to protect his own interests, or do I dare to say that it was also aimed at protecting those with him and all others on the island?

They finally arrive outside The Orchid, but see that Keamy’s men are already there, much to Ben’s frustration. So Ben gives Locke instructions on how to get into the greenhouse and find the elevator that will take him down to the actual Orchid station. And to cause a distraction that allows Locke to do this, Ben marches right down to the greenhouse and hands himself in. Before he goes, Locke asks him what he’s going to do. Ben turns around and looks at Locke like he’s an idiot. “How many times do I have to tell you, John? I always have a plan.”

THE COFFIN
Whew. What does the season finale have in store for us? Among other likely surprises, we’re supposed to learn who was in the coffin that Future-Jack visited in the Season Three finale. Who could it be? Several people in this episode were left in a position that could spell their end, but none of them seem to fit with the puzzle pieces that were laid out last year: someone whose death would merit a mention in the paper; someone who neither Kate, nor anyone else, would have a desire to pay respects to; someone whose death would hit Jack hard at a time when he’s hell-bent on returning to the island; someone who would be in a funeral home in what looked like a lower income, dirty L.A. neighborhood. Could it be Ben? Not unless this takes place after Ben stitched up Sayid’s arm in a Berlin animal hospital. Locke? That would mean he’s off the island – and getting written about in the newspaper. This doesn’t seem likely. Michael? Again, why would his death make the news? Besides, Michael is from New York, not L.A. Maybe it is someone completely out of left field; someone we thought was a friend, who has committed some yet-to-be-seen treachery, such that nobody except Jack cares to see them anymore. Or maybe, as I had considered in an earlier write-up, the death is a ruse and the body inside the coffin is not who Jack thinks it is. Maybe Ben fakes his death. Jack didn’t look at the body, so he wouldn’t know for sure who is in the casket.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Aside from the coffin revelation, this episode surely has a death or two in store for us, as well as a kiss that is supposed to be quite the shocker. Also, word is that we’ll see the pilot of Flight 815 in a flashback (could we learn how and why Frank was supposed to be flying the plane that day?). And I wonder whether or not we’ll see Claire again, or if we’ll have to wait until next season for more information about her move to Jacob’s cabin. Will Abbadon show up? How about Naomi?  We’re only hours away…

Tonight’s Episode: There’s No Place Like Home (Parts II and III)

I gotta tell you, the crazier this show gets, the harder these things are to write. There was a lot I wanted to bring up this week – things that dated back to some of the earliest episodes from Season One – but I just didn’t have time to get it all down and pop some of those old episodes into the DVD player to check my facts. So while this is already longer than you can probably bear to endure, it’s much abbreviated from what I’d hoped to assemble. As it is, I won’t tell you how long it’s taken me to write this friggin’ recap – one that is, frankly, not at all up to my personal standards. Anyway, I’ll revisit some of the episode’s most intriguing moments soon.

Try to contain your excitement.

PREMATURE
This pivotal episode began with an initially puzzling flashback that turned out to be the furthest trip yet into a character’s past. So far back, in fact, that the character wasn’t born yet. A pretty teenager named Emily dances to a Buddy Holly LP, preparing for a date with a boy twice her age. When the rebellious girl runs from the house to avoid her disapproving mother, she gets hit by a car and winds up in the hospital, forced to give birth to the baby she’s been secretly carrying for five or six months. The preemie survives against all odds, leading the nurses to dub him a miracle. Unable to face the responsibility of motherhood, the girl gives her special boy up for adoption. Thus begins the lonely life of John Locke.

BLASTS FROM THE PAST FUTURE
Baby John is only a few months old when he attracts the attention of a stranger. That’s right my friends: the enigmatic Richard Alpert resurfaced in this episode. He is first seen staring at baby John through a window as a nurse speaks to Emily’s mother. He returns a few years later, when John is a small boy living with a foster family, and introduces himself as a man “who runs a school for kids who are extremely special.” He believes John may be such a child (and notes with interest a picture John has drawn of what looks like a man being attacked by a whirl of black smoke). Richard proceeds to give John a test, not unlike the one Buddhist monks have used through the centuries to locate the boy who possesses the reincarnated soul of the Dalai Lama. According to the book Magic and Mystery in Tibet by Alexandra David-Neel, “A number of objects such as rosaries, ritualistic implements, books, tea-cups, etc., are placed together, and the child must pick out those which belonged to the late tulku [Tibetan Buddhist master], thus showing that he recognizes the things which were his in his previous life.” (Thank you Martin Scorsese, director of Kundun, for teaching me of this ritual. And thank you Wikipedia, for confirming my memory 11 years later.)

Similarly, Alpert lays out an array of objects on a table in front of young John, and asks the boy to look at them and think about them. Then he asks, “Which of these things belong to you already?” John seems to understand, and carefully peruses the items, which include a Mystery Tales comic book, a baseball mitt, and a tome titled “Book of Laws.” John selects a vial that contains non-descript granules, as well as a compass. Richard seems pleased, until John chooses a knife. For me, the moment when little Locke picks up that knife is like when Harry Potter identifies the wand for which he is destined; fate is clicking into place. But Richard is disappointed. In fact, he seems quite put-out, telling John that the knife does not belong to him and abruptly collecting the objects and leaving, saying that John is not quite ready for his school.

John gets one more chance years later. Now a bullied high-school student, his science teacher informs him of an exciting opportunity. The teacher has been contacted by a Dr. Alpert, from a company in Portland called Mittelos Laboratories, which is doing cutting edge work in chemistry and new technologies. They want John to attend their summer camp, but John rejects the idea, frustrated that things like this are the reason he gets picked-on. His teacher  tells him that while he may not want to be the guy working in the lab, surrounded by test tubes, that’s who he is, like it or not. “You can’t be the prom king,” he says. “You can’t be the quarterback. You can’t be a superhero.” Locke’s retort is one we’ve heard him use before: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”

So it seems that Richard Alpert, always defying the aging process, has been watching over John Locke for his whole life. But on whose behalf? And what is Alpert’s connection, if any, to another familiar figure who shows up in John’s pre-island life?

The fourth flashback captures John at the physical rehabilitation facility where he is living after being paralyzed. After a trying workout, an orderly wheels him back to his room. We don’t see his face at first, but the distinct voice registers immediately as he engages Locke in conversation. Soon enough we get a look at him: Matthew Abbadon. He calls Locke’s survival from an eight-story fall a miracle, and then suggests that Locke go on a walkabout, insisting it will do him good. Locke points out that he’s a cripple, ill-suited to walking about anything. Abbadon tells him, “I went on my walkabout convinced I was one thing, but I came back another. I found out what I was made of; who I was.” Before leaving John, he adds, “When you’re ready Mr. Locke, you’ll listen to what I’m saying. And then, when you and me run into each other again, you’ll owe me one.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until they run into each other again.

xxx xxx

MARTIAL LAW
Let’s switch gears for a bit and focus on the freighter. It was a big night for Lost‘s Number One asshole, Martin Keamy, who returned to the freighter with his smoke-ravaged crew. Apparently, the Black Smoke did some pretty intense damage after all. When the freighter’s doctor (still alive despite already washing up dead on the beach) asks Keamy what attacked the most severely injured man, Keamy replies, “A black pillar of smoke. Threw him 50 feet in the air. Ripped his guts out.” He says this rather nonchalantly, without the slightest trace of surprise or bewilderment that he’d been attacked by a mass of thick smoke. Maybe because he wasn’t surprised? Maybe because he knew about the smoke? If Widmore knows about the Black Smoke – which seems conceivable – then maybe Keamy had been warned about it. Widmore seems to be keeping his man well-informed, considering that Keamy knows that the safe in Captain Gault’s office contains something he calls a “secondary protocol.” He opens the safe despite Gault’s objections that he’s breaking what I guess would be first protocol. Inside he finds a packet of papers that includes a Dharma logo. He tells Gault he’s looking for the one safe place on the island that Ben could go to if he expected the island to be torched. This place must be what Ben referred to as The Temple when he tried to send Alex to safety. I wonder if The Temple is the same place as the Dharma station known as The Orchid. I mentioned that station a couple of weeks ago, along with a link to a Dharma orientation video that sheds some light on just what the Orchid is equipped to study. Did you watch that video? Seriously…you should.

Anyway, Captain Gault is alarmed to hear of Keamy’s plan to “torch” the island. “That was not the agreement! I agreed to ferry you here for an extraction mission,” he says. Growing increasingly wary of Keamy’s intentions, Gault offers to help Sayid and Desmond protect their people by readying the freighter’s inflatable, motorized raft for them to take back to the island and start rescue runs. Desmond declines, telling Sayid “I’ve been on that island for three years. I’m never setting foot on it again. Not when Penny’s coming for me.” So Sayid heads off alone, keeping in mind Gault’s warning to stay on Faraday’s bearing.

Keamy’s comment about torching the island made me wonder: does he intend to wipe out the island’s inhabitants, or actually destroy the entire island? Because the latter agenda wouldn’t seem to be in Widmore’s best interest…unless Widmore, through the methods of time travel that seem to be taking on more significance, could then travel back to a time before Ben “stole” the island from him. Man, my head is spinning.

When night falls, Keamy begins loading up the chopper with his crew and a whole lotta heavy artillery. But Frank refuses to pilot him back to the island, objecting to Keamy’s mission and explaining that he was hired to fly scientists. Knowing that killing Frank won’t help his cause, Keamy instead tries to motivate him by slitting the doctor’s throat and tossing him overboard. (A mystery solved!!!) That’s when Gault shows up pointing a gun at Keamy and threatening to fire if doesn’t stand down. Keamy shows off some kind of device, which looks like a small radio or walkie-talkie, strapped to his arm. He warns that shooting him would be a bad idea. What is this device, and what will happen if Gault shoots? Keamy manages to shoot first, and Gault falls to the deck, apparently dead. Now properly motivated, Frank boards the chopper and discreetly starts wrapping a satellite phone in a backpack. From afar, Desmond watches this all unfold.

When the chopper flies over the island, the beach crew hears the propellers approaching and gathers to see what they hope will finally be their salvation. The chopper continues flying over the island, but as it passes the beach, a package is tossed out. It smashes the roof of what I believe is Claire’s tent, (the crib is visible next to it – the crib which still contains Charlie’s Drive Shaft ring). Jack retrieves the package, which turns out to be the backpack in which Frank put the satellite phone. Jack looks at it and sees the copter’s signal moving further across the island. He infers that they are supposed to follow. (Minor point, but I’ll mention anyway that Dan and Charlotte were nowhere to be seen when the chopper flew by. Given the grilling they’ve received from everyone on the beach, you’d think they’d be right there with everyone else watching the approach.)

One more note about the freighter activities. When Keamy discovers that Michael revealed his identity to Ben, he goes down to Michael’s room and finds him chained to the bed. Keamy tries to shoot him…but doesn’t. Did the gun jam, or was it empty? More to the point, is Michael still under the “protection” of the island? Is he, for the moment, unable to die? When Keamy learns that Michael is also responsible for wrecking the engine room, the beating begins. Sayid, starting to feel guilty for turning him in, later asks Gault if Michael is dead. “No,” the captain replies, “but not for lack of bloody trying.” How long will the island keep Michael safe? And when Frank went to help him out of his room later, was he really planning to take him down to the engine room as he told Keamy, or was he trying to help him get somewhere safe?

WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD
We’ve talked so far about Locke’s past and two mysterious figures who have attempted to manipulate it. Let’s turn our attention to the man’s present as he, Ben and Hurley continue their search for Jacob’s cabin. While the others sleep, Locke dreams of an encounter in the woods with a Dharma mathematician named Horace. We’ve met Horace before, of course. He and his wife happened upon Roger and Emily Linus after she went into early labor while on a hike outside of Portland. They tried to get her to the hospital, but she died by the side of the road with her newborn baby, Ben, in her arms. Some years later, Horace brought Roger, with Ben, to the island to work for the Dharma Initiative. That didn’t turn out so well for Horace, who was eventually killed when Ben and his followers – including Richard Alpert – gassed all things Dharma in a massive purge (an act which Ben cryptically tells Hurley was not his decision. “But I thought you were their [the Others’] leader?” Hurley asks. “Not always,” Ben says). When last we saw Horace, he was sitting on a bench, dead, blood trickling down from his nose. Now Locke encounters him in the jungle, chopping wood to build a cabin for him and his wife. “You gotta find me, John. You gotta find me. And when you do, you’ll find him,” Horace says.

“Who?” Locke asks.

“Jacob,” answers Horace. “He’s been waiting for you a real long time.”

Is Horace going to take on more significance as the mystery of Jacob evolves? Did Horace really build the cabin that Jacob now calls home? If so, when did Jacob take possession of it? Was he on the island before the cabin was built? How long has Jacob been on the island?

Reinvigorated by his dream, Locke leads his companions to the Dharma mass grave, where he was shot by Ben not long before. He starts poking through the bodies until he finds the one wearing Horace’s uniform. Sure enough, he finds a map to the cabin in Horace’s pocket. The quest continues. All the while, Ben is unusually subdued. He appears to recognize that Locke’s role in the island’s future is growing while his own is dwindling. When John wakes from his dream with Horace, Ben is staring at him knowingly (in yet another perfectly-played moment by Michael Emerson – how does he do it??). “I used to have dreams,” he muses. When they finally find the cabin, accurately portrayed on Horace’s map, Ben declines to enter with Locke. “The island wanted me to get sick,” he says, referring to his spinal tumor. “It wanted you to get well. My time is over, John. It’s yours now.” But he has also warned John about what lies in store for him. “You’ll understand soon enough that there are consequences to being chosen. Because destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.”

Does Ben really believe that the sun is setting on him? Or perhaps he is once again manipulating Locke, bolstering his sense of purpose only to soon deliver another shot to the gut (if not literally, this time). As always, Ben is impossible to read. When Locke offers Hurley a chance to go back to the beach, but does it in a way that makes staying more attractive, Ben is impressed. Locke responds to Ben’s suggestion that he tricked Hurley into staying, telling him, “I’m not you.” And having just commended him, Ben brings him back down a notch, saying, “You’re certainly not.”

DEAD OR ALIVE?
Or something in between? Locke enters the cabin and does not find Jacob, but a man who says, “I can speak on his behalf.” That man is Christian Shephard…and he’s not alone. Oh no. As Locke soon realizes, Claire is in the cabin too! She seems quite calm, almost bemused, and certainly not quite herself. She also seems to share the level of knowledge that Christian has, which would mean she knows a lot more about what’s happening than Locke does. He asks why she’s there and where the baby is, but Christian assures him that “the baby is where he’s supposed to be,” and redirects Locke’s attention to the topic of urgency: Keamy’s imminent return to the island. “How do I save the island?” asks Locke – a question which I think will, in large part, define the final two seasons of the series.

Whatever happens next, we don’t know. We move outside to Hurley and Ben, who silently share a chocolate bar in a moment perfectly played, yet again, by Emerson and Jorge Garcia. (I’ve already made my case for Michael Emerson winning an Emmy this year, but Jorge Garcia has definitely earned a nomination for his stellar Season Four work). When Locke emerges, they ask him if Jacob told him what to do. Locke answers, “He wants us to move the island.”

Oh, is that all? Shouldn’t be a problem, right? If the cabin can move from spot to spot, why not the island? Does the island shift around with regularity? Is this why it is so hard to find? Why is the island so hard to find? Why is Ben so sure that Widmore won’t be able to locate it?

Hell, forget that. The real question? What is Claire doing in that cabin?!!? Some speculation I’ve read online suggests that she did not survive the explosion when Keamy blew up her house at New Otherton. If that’s true, then she continued to exist in some sort of in-between state – still corporeal enough to carry Aaron and be seen by Sawyer, but ghostly enough to attract some extra attention from Miles. If she is dead, what does that say about the vision Desmond had of her and Aaron leaving the island in a helicopter? Is that just going to be left unexplained? Charlie died for that vision, damnit! And all of Desmond’s other visions came true, at least until he personally interfered with the outcomes. So why should this one be any different? On the other hand, if she is alive, what does that say about Christian? How real is he if Claire is quite comfortably hanging with him in Horace’s love shack? For four seasons, Claire has too often been relegated to the sidelines. With this head-scratching new development, let’s hope her story arc is about to become more pertinent to the show’s mythology. (I don’t think it was an accident that the writers had Frank’s backpack crush Claire’s tent. Seeing the crib served as a reminder of what waits there for her if she ever gets back to find it…and if she did die in the explosion, the destruction of her beach house is a clever way of hinting at that fate.

x x

FINAL THOUGHTS
As I said at the beginning, there are a lot of things I want to point out about the events of this episode, but I ran out of time. There is a week off between tonight’s episode and the two-hour-finale; bad news for our drug habit, good news for my writing habit. I’ll use the week off to address all that I couldn’t fit in here, and I’ll leave you with this tease of some things on my mind: backgammon, premature babies and the mothers who birthed them, and the compass.

Tonight’s Episode: There’s No Place Like Home (Part I)

x x

HAPPINESS IS JUST AN ILLUSION
Jack’s illness, which first manifested itself in last week’s episode – or, yesterday, in island-time – worsened…today. Though he was reluctant to admit it, he agreed with Juliet’s diagnosis that his appendix was inflamed and needed to be removed before it burst and he got dead.

Of course, we know that Jack’s life wasn’t in real danger, since we’ve seen him alive and…well, maybe not well…but certainly alive in the future. And the flash-forward seen in this episode gave a glimpse of how Jack would begin to slide down the slope o’ self-destruction at which he had bottomed-out in the season three finale. But this look ahead started off pleasantly enough – Future Jack is living with Kate, their island-flirtations finally grown to fruition. And living with Kate means living with Aaron. Previously, this seemed like something Jack was unable to do, but now he has settled into it. Maybe. Kate calls him a natural when she observes him reading Aaron a bedtime story (Alice in Wonderland), but Jack may not be as convinced.

Though Jack is playing house with Kate and Aaron and all seems well, we can already see cracks around the edges. At the medical office where he works, he escorts out a woman who will be operated on the following day…and catches a glimpse of his father getting up from a couch in the lobby and following the woman out the door…almost like the Grim Reaper might follow someone whose time has come. Before he can fully register what he sees, a colleague calls for him. And even before he can see to that, he’s notified of an urgent phone call.

VISITORS
The phone call is from a doctor treating Hurley at the mental institution where he is still living. Jack goes to visit him, and finds the big guy is refusing to take his medication, convinced that he and the rest of the Oceanic Six are actually dead. They never made it off the island, he says, and even points to Jack’s fairy-tale ending with Kate as evidence that they’re in heaven. Hurley goes on to tell Jack that Charlie visits him regularly, and that Charlie has a message for Jack, which Hurley has written down so as not to forget: “You’re not supposed to raise him, Jack.” Hurley then asks if that warning makes any sense, and if Jack thinks the message refers to Aaron. Jack says no, it doesn’t make any sense…but his behavior tells a different story. Upon hearing the message, he stands up in what seems an expression of nervous agitation, as if Charlie’s warning touches a nerve to which Jack is keenly sensitive, or confirms a feeling he already has. For no matter how much he wants to live the good life with Kate, the fact is that he has not made peace with the Aaron situation…and everything it represents. Maybe the warning just plays on generally ambiguous feelings about his new role as father-figure. But it seems to strike a more specific chord, one with which Jack has been wrestling. Hurley also warns Jack that Charlie said someone would be coming to visit him soon too. Is Charlie referring to Christian Shephard, who does appear again briefly in Jack’s office a few night’s later?

Meanwhile, Jack and Hurley are not the only ones receiving seemingly spectral visitations. Christian also appears to his other child, Claire. She, Sawyer and Miles have been making their way back to the beach through the jungle, and during the night she wakes up to find that Aaron is not by her side, but is being held by Christian near the campfire. “Dad?” she asks. It’s probably just me, but I thought Christian looked a little different than usual in that moment. Maybe it was just the angle he was shown at, or perhaps it was just poorly photographed and too quickly edited, but he didn’t look like he normally does. I only bring it up because I wonder if he was supposed to look different. Remember the first episode of this season, when Hurley saw a silhouetted figure in Jacob’s cabin? A figure who seemed to be Christian Shephard?  Whoever (or whatever) Jacob is, could he be taking on the form of certain other individuals, and not succeeding in making that form 100% accurate? I’m probably reading way too much into this, but Christian, Jacob, fireside ghosts…it might all tie together.

Anyway, Sawyer wakes up the next morning and is informed by Miles that Claire wandered off into the jungle in the middle of the night. Sawyer chides him for letting her go alone, but Miles says she wasn’t alone. Whoever she was with, she called “Dad.” Getting this news from Miles is tricky, given his ghost-sensing skills. Did he only hear Claire saying “Dad” and therefore assume that she was with somebody? Or did he actually see Christian with his own eyes? And even if he did, would Sawyer have seen him too had he been awake? Sure, Sawyer sees the occasional phantom horse, but Miles’ gift is more pronounced (as evidenced by his grisly discovery of Rousseau and Karl’s hastily buried bodies). Miles is the island’s own Haley Joel Osment…except Chinese. And not prepubescent.  So the question remains: how real was Christian? Sawyer finds no trace of him or Claire in the jungle. Just Aaron, abandoned near a tree.

BACK OFF, MAN…I’M A SCIENTIST
Getting back to Jack’s island life, Juliet makes preparations to remove Jack’s appendix. She sends Sun and Jin to the Dharma medical hatch known as The Staff, where they need to acquire medical supplies that Juliet has listed out. Faraday volunteers to accompany them, with Charlotte, to help find the right tools. His idea doesn’t go over well, seeing as everyone has had it with the freighter duo’s deceit. Even Charlotte is content to play the role of adversary that everyone has cast her and Daniel in, but he chastises her for letting her bad attitude feed everyone’s mistrust. He assures them all that he doesn’t know what is going on with the freighter, and that he and Charlotte are scientists who just want to help. (This sentiment also comes across when Miles finds Karl and Rousseau. Sawyer asks him if his buddies are responsible for the murders, to which Miles sincerely replies, “They’re not my buddies, man. I didn’t sign up for this.”)

Faraday has struck me as a decent guy from the beginning, and I believe that he does want to help. But his admission in the previous episode that his team has not come to take the survivors off the island makes me wonder what exactly they have come for, and what they were told about the possibility of finding 815 survivors on the island. We know that Daniel, Charlotte, Miles and Frank were chosen by Matthew Abbadon for a specific purpose, but what do they each know about that purpose? What were they told their mission was? What were they led to believe about the freighter and the mission of its other passengers, like Keamy?

One of my favorite moments of the episode comes when Jin approaches Charlotte, after seeing her face react to bits of Korean conversation he shared with Sun, and tries to engage her in his native tongue. She plays dumb, until he threatens to break Daniel’s fingers one at a time. Once she gives up the ruse, he tells her that when the chopper returns to the beach, she has to get Sun off the island. He knows that Sun and the baby are in danger, and he is determined to get her safety…even if he can’t accompany her.

UNDER THE KNIFE
Jack tells Juliet that he wants to be awake for the operation, talking her through it with the help of Kate holding a mirror. Juliet says she has plenty of experience with appendectomies, but he insists. He also insists that Kate hold the mirror after Juliet suggests that Bernard would be a wiser choice, given his medical experience. But Jack, almost like a petulant child, adamantly replies, “No, I want it to be Kate.”

Jack’s plan doesn’t work out so well, as his pained reaction to the incisions prompts Juliet to order Kate from the tent have Bernard knock Jack out with chloroform. The operation goes well, and when Kate returns to check on him, Juliet tells her that Jack kissed her a few days earlier. She says that while she enjoyed it, she knows that Jack’s true feelings are not for her, but for Kate. It’s a nice gesture on Juliet’s part, and when Kate leaves a moment later, Juliet tells Jack that she knows he is awake, which he is indeed. Did he hear what she told Kate? She looked sad when she acknowledged, in not so many words, that her feelings for Jack are unrequited, and the moment left me wondering again where Juliet will land when rescue comes.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Getting back to the future, Jack’s seams continued the early stages of unraveling after his unsettling visit to Hurley. Although he asks Kate to marry him a few days later, he seems to do so despite the instinct that playing daddy to Aaron is not something he can commit to, no matter how much he may want to be with Kate. His unease leads him to ask a colleague to write him a prescription for some pills to help with stress and lack of sleep.

Things then get uglier when he catches Kate in a lie and she tells him that she was doing a favor for Sawyer – one that she can’t elaborate on. Jack can’t believe that even now he still has to vie with Sawyer for her attention. He asks why she won’t tell him what the favor is, and she says that Sawyer wouldn’t want her to. “But he’s not here, is he?” Jack says. “No. No, he made his choice. He chose to stay. I’m the one who came back. I’m the one who’s here.” Even though his anger is somewhat justified, it’s still hard to watch Jack acting suspicious and accusatory toward Kate. It makes him seem weak somehow, in a situation where we want to see him at his best. The fact that he’s drinking more than just a nightcap doesn’t help. Kate tells him that he needs to work out whatever problems he’s having if he’s going to be around her son. And then his true feelings come out. “Your son? You’re not even related to him!” Jack yells, unaware that Aaron is standing in the hallway. His choice of words is interesting, seeing as he is related to Aaron…even if he doesn’t know it yet. He doesn’t say “That isn’t your son!” or “You’re not even his real mother!” The wording draws a pointed yet indirect contrast between him and Kate and their connection to Claire’s offspring.

Of course, the real mystery spawned in this scene concerns the favor Kate is doing for Sawyer. My guess is that it has something to do with Sawyer’s daughter. Remember Cassidy, the woman he conned, who later informed him – while he was in prison – that he had fathered her child? If you remember Cassidy, you may remember that she and Kate once had a chance meeting, back in Kate’s fugitive days, and helped each other out. Cassidy made it possible for Kate to briefly visit her mother. Now, whatever Kate is doing behind Jack’s back, I think it may involve Cassidy and her/Sawyer’s daughter.

I like seeing how, depending on the circumstance, Jack and Kate have each showed a certain ease with what I call the Oceanic Lie. For example, when Jack testified at Kate’s trial, he readily perjured himself with the story of only eight people surviving the crash, Kate saving them from drowning, etc. She was clearly not comfortable with his testimony, interrupting it to say that she did not want him to continue. Afterwards, she told him that she’d heard him repeat the story so many times that she worried he might have started to believe it. Yet when it comes to Aaron, Kate fully embraces the lie, showing a strong commitment to her role as Aaron’s mother (repeatedly and protectively referring to him as “my son”). For Jack, the Aaron aspect of the Oceanic Lie is a much more difficult part for him to go along with.

LOOSE ENDS
While walking through the jungle, Sawyer asks Claire how she’s feeling. She says, “At least I’m not seeing things anymore.” This line should probably have been it removed, as it references a deleted scene from the previous episode. I don’t know what happened in the missing scene; only that Claire had some kind of vision. Could it have been another appearance by her father? Something else that would have shed a clue as to what’s coming for her? Oh well; we’ll have to watch it in the deleted scenes when season four comes out on DVD (December 9th. Reserve your copy on Amazon now!)

Also, it seems the Smoke Monster didn’t do as much damage as last week’s episode led us to believe. Keamy and his team made a brief appearance in this episode, looking haggard for sure, but still kicking. I wonder how the Smoke Monster decides when to kill somebody (Mr. Eko, the 815 pilot) and when to just mess with them something awful (Keamy’s team, Juliet and Kate, Locke).

FINAL THOUGHTS
Like the Juliet flashback episode earlier in the season, this was a quieter installment with some good, small revelations and hints of things to come. Things should pick up again in the next chapter, as the search for Jacob resumes.

Oh, and once again I must give a nod to Jorge Garcia’s fine work in this episode. Hurley may usually be the happy-go-lucky castaway, but Garcia always manages to find the depth and the soul that lurks beneath the surface, and when he’s given opportunities like this to express more complex emotions, he never fails to deliver. His scene with Jack was terrific.

Tonight’s Episode: Cabin Fever

Returning after five trying weeks off, our favorite vehicle for self-torture did not ease us back in gently. This episode was full speed ahead and there’s lots to talk about, so tuck in – this is a long one.

THE DOCTOR IS OUT
The episode began with a body washing up on the beach. It turned out to be the doctor from the freighter – his face bruised, his throat slit, and his color not-so-healthy. Faraday identified him for the others, and said he was alive the last time they saw each other. Jack asked when that was, to which Faraday replied (with his typical twitchy hesitance), “When is a relative term.” Indeed. Last time we saw the doctor, he was alive. But time on the freighter is not n’sync with time on the island, so for us, his death is yet to be seen. How will the good doctor make his exit from this tale? Could Michael have anything to do with it?

Speaking of doctors who don’t look so good, Jack wasn’t doing too well either. He diagnosed himself with a stomach bug, but by the end of the episode he looked like a Chestburster was about to explode through his ribcage. He’s one doubled-over convulsion away from Sigourney Weaver showing up with a flamethrower. What’s ailing him?

BRING YOUR STOLEN DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY
It began as a serene afternoon in New Otherton. Ben was tickling the ivories while Locke, Sawyer and Hurley played a friendly game of Risk. But before too long, the smoke would hit the fan. The neighborhood fell under attack from the freighter’s mercenaries, led by that magnificent bastard Martin Keamy (whose name I’ve been misspelling…and whose eventual, inevitable death I look forward to with glee). Turns out they were indeed responsible for the murder of Rousseau and Karl, and now with Alex as their captive, they stormed the gates. It must be said that even with all the fantastical things we’ve seen on this island, Sawyer and Claire surviving this attack was a stretch. I’ll gladly go with it, but come on – the gunmen picked off the nameless extras with one shot a piece, but couldn’t hit Sawyer at all? (Couldn’t? Or perhaps weren’t meant to?) And despite Claire’s house exploding, she managed to walk away merely shaken and bruised.

I’ll spare the detailed recap; you all know what happened. Keamy stood in front of Ben’s house with a gun to Alex’s head telling Ben over a walkie-talkie (delivered by Miles, now in the house with the rest) that if he didn’t surrender, Alex was dead. Ben called the bluff…and in an ice cold move that nobody – least of all Ben – actually expected, it was lights out for Alex. Keamy shot her in the head, leaving Ben genuinely stunned, uttering, “He changed the rules.”

We’ll miss Alex (and Rousseau, whose fate seems sealed with the death of her daughter), but I give credit to the creators for doing what had to be done in service of the story. Alex’s murder was harsh but effective. I do wonder if Damon and Carlton always intended this, or if they planned to develop the Rousseau/Alex storyline further at one time.

SMOKE IF YOU GOT ‘EM
After killing Alex, Keamy and his people retreated – why, I’m not quite sure. Couldn’t they have stormed the house? Or would that risk killing Ben and/or other people inside who they need alive? And if that’s the case, what was their plan to get hold of Ben now that Operation Daughter-As-Bait didn’t work?

Moments after the death of his “daughter,” Ben slips into his secret room – discovered by Sayid earlier in the season – and locks Sawyer and company out. He uncovers another door, covered in strange markings – hieroglyphics? – and disappears into a dark corridor. When he emerges from the secret room (sometime within the next 20 minutes, as the sun has gone down by the time he reappears), he is covered in soot. Acting like he wasn’t even gone, he tells the others to run for the trees when he gives the word. Then everything starts to shake, and in what may be one of my favorite shots in Lost history, the Smoke Monster careens through the forest and starts going to town on the freighter team hidden just beyond the tree line. Following Ben’s orders, the others leave the house and watch as the Black Smoke runs wild, flashes of light popping in the dark, a fleeing gunman literally grabbed by the billow and pulled back (a sight we’ve seen before, but one that’s new and shocking for Sawyer, Hurley, Claire and Miles). Unafraid, Ben sends the others on while he goes to say a final goodbye to Alex. As he approaches her and sits by her side, the smoke attack subsides.

What…the…fuck?

A fascinating new dimension has been added to the Black Smoke mythos, as it becomes apparent that Ben not only knows what it is (despite previously telling Locke otherwise), but can also summon it…or operate it…or do something that manipulates it. So where exactly did the hieroglyphic door lead, and what did Ben do to bring about his sooty advantage?

BENJAMIN LINUS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
Ben’s flash-forward – to late October 2005 – began with him waking up on the cracked floor of the Sahara Desert, as if he had just been dropped there from the sheltering sky. How did he get there? Why was his arm injured?

He’s next seen checking into a hotel in Tunisia (where Charlotte once discovered a Dharma-tagged polar bear carcass) under the name Dean Moriarty, which seems to slightly disturb the woman at the front desk. He also needs to confirm the date – not just the month and day, but the year as well. Why would he be uncertain of the year? He starts to walk away, only to notice that the TV news in the lobby is reporting on none other than Sayid Jarrah, who says to the cameras that he just wants to bury his wife in peace.

Next stop: Iraq. Here we learn that Sayid found and married his old flame Nadia sometime after getting off the island, but she has just died and is being buried in Iraq. Ben confronts Sayid with the news that Nadia’s death, which occurred back in Los Angeles, was the work of one of Charles Widmore’s operatives…an operative who is also in Iraq, closely observing Sayid’s moves. We don’t know quite how Nadia was killed, but Sayid has lost yet another love, and is feeling wrecked. Wrecked enough to help Ben kill Widmore’s man….and wrecked enough to volunteer his services for additional killings that will chip away at Widmore’s network. Ben tries to dissuade Sayid, warning him, “Once you let your grief become anger, it will never go away. I speak from experience.” (Am I correct in sensing that the experience he speaks of goes back much further than the death of Alex?) Ultimately, he accepts Sayid’s help…which is probably just what he wanted in the first place, judging by the satisfied smile that creeps upon his face as he walks away.

So…was this all part of Ben’s plan? Was he looking for Sayid from the moment he landed in the Sahara, or did he only become aware of Sayid’s situation after seeing the TV news? As usual with Ben, I think he knows more than he’s letting on…remember, sometime after these events, he will be stitching Sayid’s arm in a Berlin animal hospital, telling him, “Need I remind you what happened the last time you thought with your heart instead of your gun?” To which Sayid will reply, “You used her death to recruit me into killing for you.” We must assume the “she” Ben references is Nadia. Given that fact, what role did Sayid inadvertently play in her death? Where was he when she died? Was he the intended target, or was her death meant to send him a message?

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT
After finishing his business in Iraq, Ben moves on to London, where in the middle of the night, he infiltrates the penthouse apartment of Charles Widmore. How did he get the key? Did he acquire it himself at some point in the past (or perhaps the future), or was it procured for him? Widmore wakes up, not entirely surprised to see his guest. Even with his nightstand lamp on, the room is dark, and both men’s faces are half-illuminated – an effective play of light and shadow that adds a wonderfully sinister touch to the confrontation between these agents of intrigue. Widmore asks if Ben has come to kill him. “We both know I can’t do that,” Ben answers. Why can’t Ben kill him, and does that go both ways?

Ben accuses Widmore of being responsible for Alex’s murder, but Widmore refuses to take the blame, assigning it back onto Ben and saying “I know who you are, boy. What you are. I know that everything you have, you took from me.” These statements, and pretty much everything about their interaction, cement that Ben and Charles have a complex relationship which goes back quite a while. Ben announces that he will avenge Alex by killing Widmore’s daughter, teasing, “Penelope, is it?” as if he doesn’t know damn well what her name is. Whatever his relationship with Widmore is, it is up close and personal enough that Ben certainly knows Penny’s name. I wonder, though – does Ben know about her and Desmond? Is he aware of that connection? How much does he even know about Desmond at all? Are Desmond and Penny together now, and if so, where?

Widmore tells Ben that he’ll never find her. I want to believe him, but I worry about Ben’s resourcefulness. With Charlie’s death destroying my desire for an Anglo-Australian happily ever after scenario, all of my romantic hopes for this show are now pinned on Desmond and Penny. If Ben kills her…I’m just not gonna be okay with that.  I want to say it would be too much of a downer for Damon and Carlton to let it happen, but let’s face it – Lost has not been kind to long-separated pairs who reunite, whatever kind of love they may share. If it please the court, I submit defense exhibits A-C: A) Rousseau pines for her kidnapped daughter for 16 years. Within days of finally meeting, both are killed; B) Walt is kidnapped and Michael spends weeks of torment searching for him, eventually murdering and betraying his friends to get the boy back…only to lose him again after confessing his sins; and C) Sayid spends eight years trying to find the love he let go, and shortly after marrying her, she dies. If the pattern holds, Desmond and Penny’s tale could end up a heartbreaker.

So why doesn’t Widmore think Ben will ever find her? Has he expected Ben to target her, and therefore sent her into hiding?

“That island’s mine, Benjamin,” Widmore tells him. “It always was. It will be again.” Just as Widmore said Ben will never find Penny, so does Ben reply that Widmore will never find the island. “Then I suppose the hunt is on for both of us,” Widmore says.

Oh, and did you note the painting on the wall above Widmore’s nightstand? It’s the Black Rock. The same painting was on display at the auction where Widmore purchased the infamous pirate ship’s ledger. Remember that? The one that was being sold by the family of Tovard Hanso? Widmore seems to have a strong fascination with that ship. Could he be collecting anything that is part of its lore? Could such a collection include the island that served as the ship’s final resting place?

Ben leaves the penthouse, and so ends a thrilling encounter that ratchets up the mystery yet another few notches.

AND THE EMMY GOES TO…
I must take a moment and pay tribute to the unfailingly brilliant work of Michael Emerson, who plays Ben. Emerson was nominated for a Supporting Actor Emmy last year, but lost to Terry O’Quinn (Locke) – who should have won it for the show’s first season and was therefore due. That was fine with me. But if there is any justice in TV Land, Emerson’s name is being engraved on a statuette as we speak, with four other saps waiting to be nominated just to pad the category. Emmy nominations are chosen on the basis of a single episode, and surely this will be the one submitted as Emerson’s showcase. But let’s face it – this guy shines in every single installment, and doesn’t require big scenes to make a lasting impression. This season has been chock full of stellar Ben moments too numerous to list. A pitch-perfect facial expression here, a hilariously inventive delivery of a one-liner there – his performances are consistently priceless. If you still have this episode on your Tivo, watch the expression on his face when Locke and Sawyer come in and interrupt his piano playing. He gives them the look of a kind man whose best friends have just walked in and pleasantly surprised him…an expression so not representative of their relationship yet so quintessentially Ben, that it makes for a laugh-out-loud moment. It lasts maybe two or three seconds, but it is pure genius. Emmy better take notice of this guy.

LOOSE ENDS
So where are we at the episode’s end? On the beach, Faraday is caught in a lie, leading to his admission that the freighter crew had no intention of taking the crash survivors home. In the jungle aftermath of the Smoke Monster’s attack, Ben and Locke are ready to seek out Jacob for direction on what to do next. Sawyer decides he’s had enough of Ben and Locke’s secrecy, and decides to head back to the beach with Claire, Aaron, Miles and Hurley. But Ben and Locke know that they need Hurley to find the cabin, so after a tense moment between Sawyer and Locke, Hurley agrees to stay behind. (It was a kick to see Sawyer play the protector role in this episode – concerned about Claire, risking death to save her from the attack on the house, and threatening to kill Locke if he harms a hair on Hurley’s head.) I’m curious as to why Ben is so sure that Hurley will be able to find Jacob’s cabin, given that Locke was unsuccessful when he tried to go back there. Besides, shouldn’t Ben know where to go? Not to mention the fact that previously, he was reluctant to take Locke to see Jacob at all. Now he insists on it, and wants Hurley there too. Why? I also find it interesting that Locke goes along with Ben’s theory about Hurley. It’s fun to watch Locke’s continual frustration of knowing he has to trust Ben and follow his lead despite how many times it comes back to bite him in the ass. It kills him to admit it, but somehow he knows that Ben is right about needing Hurley to find the cabin, and he silently accepts the fact.

Other random questions and thoughts I’m left with:

– The $3.2 million arrangement between Miles and Ben seems to have been resolved.

– I was surprised that we learned how Ben and Sayid’s alliance came to be. I was sure that would be season five revelation.

– Will we ever find out why Ben stole baby Alex from Rousseau in the first place?

– When the Smoke Monster attacked, it seemed to be emitting bursts of light. The only time we’ve seen it behave this way (I think) was when it first appeared to Mr. Eko and showed him images from his past. Was it doing the same to the gunmen in the jungle?

– The jacket Ben was wearing when he landed in the Sahara was heavier than one might wear if planning a trip to the desert – just another thing about that scene that suggests Ben’s arrival there is sudden and unexpected. Also, the jacket bears the name “Halliwax.” You know those Dharma station orientation videos? You know the Asian doctor who appears in all of them? You know how he has a different name in different videos? Well one of those names is Edgar Halliwax – and if this doesn’t sound familiar to you it’s because a) you aren’t an obsessed freak like some people who are still typing this message at 12:37 a.m. the morning before he delivers it to you, and b) the Edgar Halliwax video has not yet appeared on the show. This video was unveiled last summer at Comic-Con, and refers to an as-yet-unseen-but-soon-to-be-seen Dharma station called The Orchid. Check it out. This is about two minutes long, and worth watching, as it sheds a clue on how Ben might have crash landed in the desert.

-E! Online’s columnist Kristin Dos Santos made a point I liked:

“Australia’s the Key to the Whole Game”: So sayeth Hurley during tonight’s game of Risk, and I sayeth we listen! Flight 815 originated in Sydney, por supuesto, as did Aaron and Claire, who are supposedly integral to what Lost is all about…Not to mention Charles Widmore’s obvious Aussie accent! (OK, that might be unintentional, since Alan Dale is from the Land Down Under in real life, but still.)

FINAL THOUGHTS
Whew. All I have left to say – scratch that; all I have time left to say – is that this episode ranked among the season’s very best, alongside “The Beginning of the End” and “The Constant.”

Tonight’s Episode: Something Nice Back Home