Episode Review & Speculation 6.05 LightHouse

KatesFate’s Episode Review & Speculation
Episode 6.05
“Lighthouse”

Wow! Can you believe that there are only 13 more episodes of Lost to go and although we are finally getting answers, we still have no idea what is going on. I have been savoring each and every moment of Lost this season, knowing they will be the last. Something has felt off to me though and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. Something just feels like it is missing. I figured out what it is though. It’s Juliet. I miss Juliet’s character. I like Kate, but in all reality with Juliet gone, there is no strong female lead anymore. She was always such a fascinating character to watch. I really wish they would have made her a candidate too.

As with the last four episodes and until one timeline is no more, I will split my review into on island and off island events. Let’s start with the off island timeline first.

Off Island Timeline

It’s A Boy!

In the beginning of the episode we see Jack arriving at his apartment and getting cleaned up after work. He walks past a full length mirror *(1) and heads to the bathroom to wash his face and sees his reflection in the mirror. * (2) Well looky there, its Jack’s appendix scar. At first I thought he was surprised to see it and would start freaking out, but it turns out he had it removed when he was 7 or 8 as confirmed by his mom. What was strange was that he called his mom to find out when it was removed because he had seemingly forgotten. Is Jack losing past memories because he never really lived them? I think this means that as they slowly remember being on the island, they will also slowly start to lose past memories they’ve never really lived anyway. In other words, he doesn’t remember because it never really happened. This tells me that these two timelines will converge into one and that in the end they will be on the island where they have always belonged.

After speaking with his mom, Jack rushes out the door and ends up at St. Mary’s Academy. Jack approaches the steps to the Academy and we see a young, brown haired boy sitting alone on the stairs. This is a moment where I can say, I saw this coming but at the same time I didn’t. In other words, I knew the minute I saw the boy that it had to be Jack’s son, however I was also very surprised by the fact that Jack has a son. Again, the casting director did a great job, because the boy really does look like Jack. We learn that Jack’s son is named David and that they do not have the greatest relationship. It is also established right away that Jack is no longer married to David’s mother and only gets visitation once a month.

We have another book reference here as well. Jack picks up a copy of Alice Annotations and tells David he use to read it to him as a child. This is the very same book he use to read to Aaron as well. Did Jack really read the book to David as a child or is he remembering reading it to Aaron and projecting those memories?

Since Jack’s past is obviously different, I immediately wondered if David’s mother is Sarah. It is quite possible that it is someone else. This really wouldn’t matter either unless it turns out to be another Lostie like Juliet or something. Go ahead, laugh all you want, but I am allowed to dream. I don’t really think it is Juliet, but I don’t think it is Sarah either. Maybe Ana-Lucia? Libby? Oh well, it’s fun to guess all the same.

Jack’s mom is frantic because Christian’s Will cannot be found and Jack heads to his mom’s to help find the lost documents, leaving David home alone with the promise of dinner when Jack gets back. When he arrives at his moms, she is frustrated about the lost Will. It would seem Christian’s Will is harder to find that the island itself. While looking for the Will, they discuss David and his inability to communicate with his dad. Jack’s mom reminds Jack that he felt the very same way about his father and suggests that Jack try communicating with David first. If only Christian had been given that advice.

I really liked Jack in this episode. He is so much more laid back and stress-free in this timeline. He doesn’t seem to feel the need to fix things anymore, instead he has more of an open mind and opts to try to set things right. He has a calming effect on his mother who is stressed out when normally Jack would be freaking out over something like this. I also noticed that Jack refused a drink from his mom and in response she said, “Good for you”. Does this imply that Jack had a drinking problem but doesn’t anymore? Or is his mom just happy he chooses not to drink like she does. I’m betting it’s the later of the two, because I am pretty sure Jack is drinking on Flight 815 this time around too. After all, we saw Cindy hand him one bottle of vodka instead of two. Maybe this time around Jack’s mom and dad are both alcoholics or just his mother is and Christian died of other causes. Just a thought.

Jack’s mother finds the will and starts to read it, she immediately asks Jack if his father ever mentioned Claire Littleton. For a moment Jack looked as if the name rang a bell. What really interests me though is that Christian left something for Claire in this timeline because I am pretty certain he didn’t leave her anything in the original timeline or Jack’s mother surely would have mentioned it to him when he escaped the island and went back home. I was happy to see that he and Claire are still related in this timeline too.

Jack arrives back home and David is gone. He calls his ex-wife’s house and leaves a message for David that he is coming there to look for him. When he arrives the address is 23 something, I couldn’t quite catch the rest. David is not there, but Jack finds pictures of he and David together stuck to David’s mirror. *(3) Jack decides to listen to the answering machine and learns that David is at an audition so of course he heads there.

As Jack enters the Conservatory where the auditions are being held, he views a sign that says, “Welcome all Candidates”. I love when the writers do little things like this. He arrives in the middle of David’s audition in what I felt was a very beautiful moment. Matthew Fox did an outstanding job in this scene. You could see the pride and love he felt for David in his eyes and facial expressions. Giacchino’s music in the background makes the scene that much better. Note while David is playing we see his reflection in the top of the piano. *(4) As Jack turns to leave, he is approached by the father of another child and it turns out to be Dogen The Temple Master. Dogen tells Jack, “It’s hard to watch and be unable to help.” I got the feeling that Dogen was not only referring to their children, but also his inability to answer Jack’s questions on the island.

After the audition Jack sits down and talks to David and in one heartfelt conversation he fixes their relationship. Jack figured out a way to make it work by facing his own fears about his father. This ties in nicely with on island Jack. He has to learn to let go and face his fears and understand that he can’t fix everything, but he can fix the one thing he was meant too. I am not exactly sure what that is yet, but I believe Jack is on the cusp of figuring it out.

Black and White All Over

This episode was loaded with tons of black and white images starting with Jack’s apartment. The pictures were black and white, some of the photo frames, the piano keys, the décor and Jack’s office were all done in black and white. We all know these colors play a role in Lost somehow, but why display them so prominently in a Jack centric episode? Maybe it is because Jack needs to realize things aren’t always black and white and that there is a grey area as well.

Reflective surfaces were also scattered throughout the episode and I am numbering them throughout this review. I will talk about these surfaces at the end of the review once I have covered the on island issues which I will do right now.

On Island Events

Girl, you so crazy!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am beginning to think Claire may have found Charlie’s old heroin stash or learned to harvest some “special” island herbs because she is off her rocker. I thought the “infection” was suppose to make you dark, not crazy! Is this how Sayid will start behaving? Will he make some sort of animal version of Nadia and give it a pair of sunglasses? Don’t get me wrong, I like this side of Claire, it is just odd to watch her behave that way, but on the plus side she has suddenly become a much more interesting person than she ever was before. The only things that made her interesting before were Aaron and Charlie.

Claire has Jin and Justin tied up in her house of horrors and she questions them about the whereabouts of Aaron. Here we learn that Claire was taken to The Temple by the others where she was tortured and branded just as Sayid was. All of this branding reminds me of Juliet and the way the others branded her as punishment for killing old what’s his name. Oh ya, Pickett. Is there a connection to the two brandings? Although Juliet’s was an obvious symbol and Claire and Sayids’ are just hot poker marks. Anyway, back to Claire who keeps making mention of a friend and we learn later that her friend is Flocke. That was no surprise. When Claire doesn’t get any answers that she likes, she decides to kill Justin by putting her ax right through his chest. Claire is scary!!! With Justin now dead, Jin changes his story and says that the others do have Aaron and Kate didn’t take him, like he had originally told her. Claire responds to this with the following, “I’m so glad to know that you were lying, because if what you said was the truth, if Kate was raising Aaron, I’d kill her.” Did you hear that Kate, Claire is going to get you and this time you have nowhere to run. So we have Locke, Claire, Jin and presumably Sawyer all together on the island heading for the Temple and Kate off on her own. Let’s see what the rest of the losties are up to.

You Have What It Takes

The second group of losties consists of Sun, Ben, Frank, Ilana and Richard and they are on their way to the temple. The third group is Sayid and Miles who are currently at the Temple. The fourth and final group is Jack and Hurley who are now at the lighthouse and may or may not be heading back to the Temple. Let’s finish up this review by only discussing the fourth group, Jack and Hurley.

The first on island scene begins with Jack’s face reflected in the pond. *(5) We then see Dogen approach Jack and they have an extremely brief conversation that allows us to see that Jack and Dogen are coming to trust one another. I am sure this will come into play later.

Hurley and Miles play a very innovative game of tic-tac-toe. Tic-tac-toe is a game that rarely sees a winner or a loser and most often ends in a tie. Is someone trying to tell us something here? Hungry from all that banana leaf and vine tossing, Hurley sets off to find food and finds Jacob alone inside of the Temple. What was Jacob doing hunched over the water like that? I’ve read that some people believe he was pouring something into the water, but I can’t really tell while watching it. Does anyone have their own theories about what he was doing? If so, please let me know.

Jacob is there because he needs Hurley’s help. Per Jacob, “Someone is coming to the island and I need you to help them find it.” He tells Hurley he will need a pen to write this down. I thought this was funny because I can’t imagine the others using a pen and I wondered where Hurley would find one. It also reminded of me Boone in The Pilot and of the time in the mental hospital when Charlie’s ghost tells Hurley to write a message down for Jack in case he forgets it. Then I got to wondering if all of the ghosts that Hurley has seen are actually Jacob in the form of these people. Me thinks so.

Hurley sets off to run Jacob’s errand and gets caught by Dogen. No worries though because Jacob shows up to run interference telling Hurley exactly what to say. It turns out that if you are a candidate, you have complete run of The Temple and can do whatever you want. I loved Hurley in the scene, “Why don’t you go back to the Temple?” I’d really love to know what Dogen said to him in response. When Dogen leaves, Jacob informs Hurley that he needs to take Jack with him and Hurley wants to know how to do that. Jacob tells Hurley to tell Jack, “You have what it takes.” These five words set Jack off immediately and off he and Hurley went to presumably find Jacob. These words are the exact opposite of what Christian use to tell Jack as a child, “You will never have what it takes.”

While on route, Jack and Hurley run into Kate and blah, blah, blah Kate is off again to do her thing. I don’t mean to sound bothered by this part but Kate seemed just a bit to happy to me during this scene. It was kind of strange. She won’t look that happy when she runs into Craz…I mean Claire.

Hurley and Jack finally arrive at their destination, a giant lighthouse. Jack asks the exact question I wanted to ask, “How have we never seen this before?” and Hurley responds, “Maybe we didn’t need to before.” That explanation is good enough for me. Inside and at the top of the lighthouse, they find a wheel that Hurley has been instructed to turn to 108 degrees and as he is doing so Jack sees his reflection *(6) in the mirrors used to guide the ships in. Not only does he see his own reflection, he also begins to see images. He sees the building where Sun and Jin were married, the church Sawyer saw Jacob at as a child, and his own childhood home. It turns out that the wheel is marked with names and each name has a number. When the wheel is aligned at a specific name and number you see an image of that persons past in the reflective mirrors.

I really loved this and it made me change my mind about the cave Flocke took Sawyer too. I believed it was Jacob’s cave, but the lighthouse proved to me that it wasn’t. Why would Jacob need that cold dark cave to keep track of the losties when he had that beautiful lighthouse and wheel to keep track of them. Upon seeing his own home in the mirrors, Jack becomes very angry and demands answers from Hurley that Hurley just doesn’t have. When Jack doesn’t get any answers he smashes the mirrors into pieces. Although I can understand why Jack did it, it still bothered me because he had no way of knowing if that lighthouse could be useful to them somehow and he smashed it anyway.

The Man In The Mirror

After smashing the mirrors, Jack takes to a cliff side and does some thinking while Jacob pays Hurley another visit. We learn that Jack needs to figure out what his purpose is on his own and cannot be told what it is by anyone else. The trip to the lighthouse was a way for Jacob to show Jack how important he really is. There is something he must do, but he must do it on his own. Jacob also informs Hurley that someone bad is going to the Temple and Hurley wants to warn them but Jacob says it’s too late. My theory on this is that Flocke will get there and kill every other and lostie that is within that temple. Like I said earlier, only Sayid and Miles are there now. I think Flocke will kill them all and all of the other Losties will arrive at the Temple in a montage scene to find everyone dead.

I love Jacob, I really do. I enjoy watching him speak to Hurley and he seems so sincere. It seems pretty obvious to me now that Jacob is the good one here. When Jacob tells Hurley, “Someone is coming to the island. I need you to help them find it.” I believe that statement had two meanings. He was speaking about Jack’s need to realize why he is important but I also feel that someone is still coming to the island. The name Wallace at 108 was not crossed off. I don’t want to see a new character at this point, so I am hoping that Wallace will end up being Desmond or Faraday. I also wonder if Wallace might be Ilana’s last name as she is probably a candidate as well so her name should be on that wheel also.

I am sure you noticed the numbers I posted above certain sentences throughout my review. These numbers indicate everytime that Jack looked into a reflective surface. Jack also stared into a mirror when looking at his son. David served as a mirror for Jack and allowed him to look into himself and fix himself. Now that Jack has done this in the alternate timeline, I think he will also be fixed on the island, so to say. Meaning that Jack is going to figure out what he must do soon and I believe it will happen in the next episode. While he stares at the ocean and does some soul searching, he will finally come to realize that yes, he was brought to this island for a reason.

Things I Noticed

*Claire’s new baby is very, very ugly!
*I have always liked Jack but this episode made me love him.
*Hurley is still wearing a red shirt.

Best Lines

*Dogen – Go back to the courtyard.
Hurley – I’m a candidate and I can do what I want.
Dogen – Who told you that?
Hurley – It doesn’t matter. Why don’t you go back to the courtyard?
Dogen - #$&*(%@^%&$$&

*Jack – Jacob, where is he?
Hurley – He’s kind of dead. He just turns up whenever he wants like Obi Wan Kenobi.

*Claire – We gotta get that cleaned up. One thing that’ll kill you around here is an infection.

*Hurley – What if we time travled to like dinosaur times and then we died and got buried here. What if these skeletons are us? (referring to Adam & Eve at the caves). I think the writers are trying to tell us something here.

Episode Review & Speculation 6.04 The Substitute

KatesFate’s Episode Review & Speculation
Episode 6.04 “The Substitute”


Four episodes down and sixteen to go until the series finale and all of our questions are finally being answered while new mysteries are still popping up. With that in mind, I have a lot to say about this episode so be prepared. Once again I have split the review into two parts, On Island and Off Island Events.

OFF ISLAND EVENTS

A Leap Of Faith

At the beginning of the episode, we see Locke arriving at home from the airport. As he attempts to lower himself from on the lift, it sticks and Locke is forced to take a leap of faith. Unfortunately he fails to land, falling on his face instead. This sort of mirrors what happened to Locke in the alternate timeline, he took a leap of faith and now he is dead. Locke surprises me when falling and shakes it off with a laugh.

Did anyone else notice that when the sprinkler system activated, it sounded just like Smokey? Another thing to note would be the water from the sprinkler falling down like rain upon Locke’s glorious baldhead. How very appropriate. I was elated when I saw Helen rush out of the house to Locke’s aide. Helen is by far one of my favorite flashback characters and I have been in love with Katey Segal since Married With Children.

So in this timeline, Helen and Locke are still together? As far as I can tell, the only issue they ever had as a couple was Locke’s obsession with his father, Anthony Cooper. The fact that they are together now tells me that Locke no longer has issues with his dad. Further proof of this is when Helen suggests that they just elope and only invite John’s father and her parents. Oh and there is also that lovely picture of Locke and his father hung in Locke’s cubicle.

This tells me that Anthony Cooper has a good relationship with his son in this timeline. Maybe Anthony was never a con man at all in this timeline. This revelation could also mean that Sawyer is not a con man in this timeline either. As I said back in my review for LA X, all of their pasts are different in some way now. They may all still be the same person at their core, but something about all of their pasts is different now.

John Locke not only has a different past, he also has a different personality. I love the way this runs parallel to him now being Flocke on island. Locke no longer seems as angry or lost in this timeline. (pardon the pun). In my opinion, it is because of the relationship he has with his father and with Helen. But if Locke has a good relationship with his father, why is he still in the wheelchair? I have no guess on this one, but I can’t wait to find out.

A Few Familiar Faces

Locke runs into a few people from his past in this timeline as well. Randy Nations is still his same old jerk of a boss at the box company. He meets Hurley after being fired by Randy. Since Hurley owns the company, he offers Locke some hope in the form of a new job. I have to mention here that I love the way we are getting to see how lucky Hurley is. That was great when Locke’s ramp stuck and it wouldn’t hit Hurley’s H2! When Locke arrives at the temp agency that Hurley referred him to, he is questioned by non other than the psychic whom Hurley’s father had hired to trick Hurley into believing there is no curse. When Locke then asks to see the supervisor, it turns out to be Rose. It turns out Rose still has cancer so it would appear that even though their pasts are somehow different, the core problems from their pasts are still the same.

Rose gives Locke a job as a substitute teacher and on his first day he substitutes as a health techer. The lesson plan for the day? Why the reproductive system of course. How nicely does this tie into the islands fertility problems? I loved it!!! While in the teachers lounge, Locke runs into an old friend. I knew the minute I heard his voice that it was Ben. It turns out that in this timeline, Ben is a European History teacher with a case of OCD. I for one, cannot wait to see more of this Ben.

I’ve been reading that some people feel these off island events have been boring, but not me. For me it is almost like watching season one all over again. Even in the final episodes, we are learning more about these characters and how their paths were always meant to cross.

ON ISLAND EVENTS

Blind Faith

Locke has Richard hostage in the jungle and he demands that they talk. We learn that Richard is clueless when it comes to Jacob’s agenda, which was kind of a surprise but does make a bit of sense. You’ve all heard me say it before and I’ll say it again, Lost will have some biblical explanation for all of this. Therefore, it makes sense that Richard would follow Jacob blindly. He has seen Jacob perform miracles first hand and he chooses to follow and believe in him, ignoring any and all temptation. Locke seems annoyed with Richard’s decision and you could just tell he was getting ready to kill Richard when he suddenly sees a young blonde boy standing in the jungle. Whoa! Who in the heck is that? He stood there surrounded by white light with blood on his hands. My first guess is that this boy is Jacob. It pretty much has to be. My husband thinks it is Aaron and who knows he might be right, but I doubt it. Love ya hon! I am sticking with the Jacob theory. Richard apparently doesn’t see the boy and Locke blows it off and warns Richard that he’ll be seeing him soon. I am not certain why Richard would not be able to see Jacob as well, but maybe Jacob can make himself seen by only those he wants to see him.



Something Wicked This Way Comes

The Smokey cam was kind of cool and I really liked the roller ocaster sounds as we traveled through the park, erm I mean jungle. Apparantly Smokey is out recruiting and his first choice after Richard, is Sawyer. As Smokey is arrives in Dharmaville, Sawyer is listening to “Searching to Destroy” and drinking heavily. I think, but I am not sure, that the osng Sawyer was listening to was done by Iggy Pop and was on the soundtrack of “The Deer Hunter” and “Apocalypse Now”, both movies about war. Sawyer, although he is drunk as a skunk, knows this man is not John Locke, yet somehow Flocke convinces Sawyer to come with him.

I have to take a moment here to bring something up about Sawyer’s appearance in this scene. I know he is meant to look slovenly and drunk, but was this shot really necessary….

Please writers/directors I beg of you, if we are going to get a shot of Sawyer in his skivvies, myself and every other girl in the world, would like them to be clean!

Flocke convinces Sawyer to put pants on, thank goodness (I can’t believe I just said that), and the two of them head into the jungle. While they are out, they run into the little boy Locke saw earlier with Richard, but this time, Sawyer sees him too. Why would Sawyer see him and not Richard? Got me, but like I said, maybe he wasn’t meant to. When Flocke realizes that the boy must be real if Sawyer saw him too, he takes off after him. Flocke catches up with the boy and the boy says, “You know the rules. You can’t kill him”, and saunters off into the jungle, leaving Flocke lying there screaming, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do”. It seems Flocke is starting to develop Locke’s personality.

So it appears that Flocke is not allowed to kill anyone who is a possible candidate. (I’ll get to all that later) If Jacob gives someone a number and makes them a candidate, the rules must state that Flocke (I wish we knew this guys name already), cannot kill a possible candidate until their name has been crossed off. I wonder how all of this works for Ben and Widmore. They seem to go by the same sort of rules, but keep in mind that Widmore supposedly broke those rules so who is to say that Flocke won’t break them too.

While Flocke is off chasing the boy, Richard appears and tries to get Sawyer to go back to the temple with him. Richard gets a chance to warn Sawyer that Flocke wants to kill him and everyone else and he won’t stop until……Until what? Most likely, he was going to say, until they are all dead. Sawyer chooses to stay with Flocke and it now looks like Flocke might have a genuine recruit. Sawyer may be following Flocke, but Sawyer is far from stupid. Sawyer was a pretty good con man and he still is. I think Sawyer may pretend to follow Flocke for a while, but that in the end he will betray Flocke in order to save the others lives. My theory is that this is how Sawyer will die. Yes, I said it. Sawyer will die. He will die saving the others from Flocke.

Jacob’s Ladder Leads To His Lair

Locke and Sawyer arrive at a huge cliff that leads straight down to the crashing waves beneath it. Attached to that cliff is a ladder that they must climb down. On the way down, Sawyers rope broke and I screamed. Bravo to that stuntman. Stunt people have some big, well let’s just say they are very courageous. Flocke reaches out to Sawyer and saves him. I definitely do not believe that Flocke saved Sawyer out of the kindness of his heart. He saved Sawyer because he needs Sawyer on his side. He needs an army and he needs one now. This was Flocke’s way of building trust.

Once they reach the bottom they enter a cave. I loved this cave. Imagine what it would be like to camp out inside of that for just one night! Too cool. Inside of the cave there is a scale that balances two stones, one white and one black, perfectly. This could signify what was a level playing field between Flocke and Jacob, but Flocke picks up the white stone and hurls it into the ocean. When Sawyer asks why Flocke says, “Inside joke”. Flocke has just thrown the game off balance and elimated the other side or at least that is his prime objective.

What comes next is something we have all waited a long time to hear the answer to. What do the numbers mean? Flocke shows Sawyer the place where Jacob keeps track of those he brings to the island and they each have a number. Per Flocke, Jacob just has a thing for numbers. Well okay then. The following losties are on the wall…..

Locke – 4 (Flocke crosses him off though)
Reyes – 8
Jarrah – 16
Ford – 15
Jack Shephard – 23
Kwon – 42

What is interesting is that Jack is the only one whose full name is listed. This must have some significance. He probably is more important than the others. Also for the number 42 it just says Kwon. Does Jacob mean Sun or Jin? Or does he perhaps mean both of them? I think he just means Jin and I’ll tell you why. Kate is not on the list and at first I was surprised by that because Jacob touched her too. After thinking about it, I realized that maybe Kate is not up there because she is a woman. Maybe Jacob can only be replaced by another man. This is why I think that Kwon means Jin. I still believe that Sun and Kate play an important role in all of this too.

I’m almost done here. Remember what I said, Sawyer is a con man and can smell a con a mile away. He is on to Flocke and Sawyer is set to pull another long con and I can’t wait to see it play out. Okay, I am done now. I will see you next week and thanks again for reading.

Little Things I Noticed

*The coffee cup Locke drinks from in the bathtub is half black and half white.
*Locke mentions wanting to dance at his wedding, just as Sarah did to Jack.

Best Lines

*Flocke – Hello James
Sawyer – I thought you were dead,
Flocke – I am

*Sawyer – Cuz Locke was scared even when he was pretending he wasn’t and you,
you’re not scared.

*Hurley – Chin up. Things are gonna work out.

*Ben – John Locke was a, a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be and I’m very sorry I murdered him.

Lost Episode Review & Speculation - 6.03 "What Kate Does"

KatesFate’s Episode Review and Speculation
6.03 “What Kate Does”

This episode didn’t have all of the awe that the season six premier did, but it was still decent. I think it was meant to be a set up episode for next week while still providing us with some insight into the characters. We also saw a few characters from the past come back in some unexpected ways which is always a nice treat. Well let’s get started shall we?

On Island Events

The Claiming of Sayid

The episode begins with Lennon running barefoot through the Temple. Not wearing shoes is fairly normal for the others. As far back as season two we have seen them running around in the jungle barefoot. However, if you have read my theory on this forum, I believe that shoes and feet somehow play a very important part in this story. I won’t get into now so if you are interested, please check out this thread to read more. I will say that the director certainly made a point out of showing us Lennon’s bare feet.

Even though the spring water was not clear and Dogen himself had declared Sayid dead, Sayid somehow springs back to life surprising everyone. Not only is he alive, but his wound is almost completely healed. The Others are beside themselves over this whole situation and request to speak to Sayid alone. The Others are concerned that Sayid may have been claimed and apparently this is not a good thing. In order to determine what is going on with Sayid, they blow some ash on him and then wire him up to some sort of device and seemingly electrocute him. I found this sort of unusual because the Others do not usually use any modern devices such as electricity. It then hit me that maybe they didn’t electrocute him. Maybe it was some sort of electromagnetic energy that they forced through his body. Then Dogen takes a hot poker and burns Sayid’s chest with it. I am guessing here that the ash blown onto Sayid was really the most important part of the test. Maybe the way in which his wounds react to the ash is what is important here.

I can’t fathom what results these tests were suppose to produce, but they were obviously not the right results, because they are now requesting that Jack murder Sayid before the “darkness” takes over. How was Sayid suppose to react to these tests if he was not being claimed I wonder. He responded pretty naturally to the pain if you ask me.

Dogen wants Jack to give Sayid a pill of some sort, Jack not yet knowing what is in the pill does not want to give it to Sayid and decides to swallow it. Dogen freaks out and performs a combination of martial arts and CPR I was quite impressed with. This could have been a really stupid thing for Jack to do, but I think that deep down Jack knows he is important and that these people will not harm him. At one point, Jack approaches the guards so he can speak to Dogen and he says, “Step aside”, both guards stepped away no questions asked as if their God had spoken.

There was one scene with Dogen and Jack that I found particularly interesting and that was the scene where Dogen was twirling the baseball. Think back to the episode where Richard Alpert visits John Locke as a young boy and asks him to choose which items are his. He asks Locke to choose between the following objects, a comic book, a baseball, a compass, a vial of sand, a book of law and a knife. Locke chose the knife, sand and compass and Richard did not like those choices declaring Locke “not special”. I have a feeling that Locke was suppose to have picked the baseball, compass and the sand instead. What importance that baseball has I don’t know but it is certainly odd that it showed up in The Temple in the hands of Dogen don’t you think?

What Kate Does

When Kate told the Others that she could bring Sawyer back I thought to myself, alright Kate finally understands that this is where they belong and that Sawyer needs to be there too. Boy was I disappointed when Kate suddenly took out both of the Others who were escorting she and Jin during their hunt for Sawyer. Sawyer specifically told her not to come after him. Does she ever learn? I have always liked Kate, but I was very angry with her during the timeline on the island. That girl is like a dog with a bone sometimes. Let it go already Kate. Even Jin knew she was doing the wrong thing. When Jin asked her what she planned on doing when she found Sawyer and she said, “I guess we’ll figure that out together”, I was flabbergasted and actually lost a little bit of respect for the girl. I am hoping she redeems herself in some way and I wonder where she is headed off to now that she realizes that Sawyer doesn’t want her help. My guess is back to Jack and The Temple.

Sawyer’s Heartbreak

I know all of you are probably sick and tired of hearing me say how great Josh Holloway is and how much I have enjoyed his characters arc, but all I can say about that is that you better not read this part of my review. Sawyer is my favorite character for a lot of reasons and yes the fact that he is gorgeous certainly does help, but even if I didn’t find Sawyer good-looking, I would still be impressed with his acting as of late. He has really come into his own as Sawyer and I am going to predict right here and now that next year is the year he will finally be nominated for an emmy.

I love the sarcastic, witty and brooding Sawyer, but there is always more than one side to a person and the character of Sawyer could of ended up being very one dimensional played by another actor. Watching Sawyer love and lose Juliet has been a very emotional roller coaster ride for me and the only other character on Lost whose life has had that effect on me is John Locke.

I mentioned this in a thread on this forum, but do you remember how Sawyer use to keep his stash of guns and goodies right underneath his bed buried in the sand? Well, I like the way the writers carried that over into this episode. While living in Dharmaville with Juliet, Sawyer kept all of his prized possessions under the bed where he and Juliet slept. When Kate goes back for Sawyer she finds him pulling up the floorboards for a box and we see Sawyer pull out a small black velvet bag. I was hoping we would get to see what was in that bag during this episode and I got my wish.

We learn during Kate and Sawyers’ conversation on the dock that Sawyer was going to ask Juliet to marry him. I can’t tell you how much this scene made me cry. I will never watch Lost again without a box of tissue next to me. Sawyer seems to now be resigned to the fact that he was meant to be alone forever and stays behind in Dharmaville and Kate finally leaves with her tail between her legs. The writers have a habit of splitting up the characters during crucial times only to bring them all back together again in some elaborate montage of a scene, so I am sure Sawyer will be back at the Temple once again, the question I have is when? Hopefully he will figure out what Juliet meant when she said, “It worked” and he will be able to move on.

Claire?

I was certain that Aldo was going to kill Jin as he lay there trapped. When we suddenly see both Others get shot, I was certain it was Kate or Sawyer. Never in a million years did I expect to see Claire standing there looking down the barrel of a shotgun looking like a mini Rousseau. I knew Claire would pop up on island at some point, but not in this way, shape or form. We learn from Dogen that Claire has been claimed, infected, whatever you want to call it, but what does this mean exactly and how did it happen to Claire? Did Claire die in her sleep after that explosion and was somehow claimed by the MIB? I am at a loss here, but I am sticking with that theory for now because I don’t see how she could have been claimed otherwise.

I was also pleased to learn that Dogen knows she is Jack’s sister. Dogen had no idea who Jack was when they walked into the Temple, so that has to mean that even though he didn’t know Jack’s face, he somehow knew of Jack and Jack’s family. This only solidifies the idea that Jack is very important to the island and the Others.

I think that pretty much covers the on island events so……………

Off Island Events

Born To Run

When we last saw Kate off island she was running from the Marshall and had hijacked a cab that had an extra passenger in the form of Claire. When the cabbie pulls away, Kate catches sight of Jack standing on the sidewalk and you can instantly see that she is confused when she sees him. I am pretty sure Kate recognized Jack but isn’t quite sure where she knows him from. Interesting though that when she pick pocketed his pen she didn’t show the same recognition. I think that as time goes on for these characters off island, they will very slowly start to have memories of the island that will bring them all together and these two timelines will come together as well.

The cabbie jumps out of the cab suddenly leaving Kate to drive with Claire still in back. I cannot believe that cabbie took off and left a pregnant Claire alone with some crazy woman toting a gun. What kind of man does such a thing? What a wuss. Kate eventually dumps Claire at the side of the road and heads to the nearest auto repair shop where she smiles, hands over $200 and the mechanic removes her cuffs. Like it really would have been that easy in real life.

Kate opens up the bag she stole from Claire so that she can change and realizes that the bag is full of baby items. She finally makes a decision that I 100% agree with and heads back to find Claire and return her bag and purse. After returning her bag, they speak briefly and Kate offers Claire a ride to the home of the couple who is to adopt Aaron. I really couldn’t believe that Claire said yes and excepted the ride. Here is a woman who has a gun and hijacked a cab with it and Claire just hops right in the cab! What was she thinking? Kate could have been some sort of baby stealing nut that you read about in the news for all Claire knew. Claire can be quite flighty at times if you ask me.

Claire learns that the couple who wanted to adopt her baby have split up and are no longer interested in adopting. At that moment, Aaron decides it is time to enter the world and Kate rushes Claire to the hospital. As they pull up outside of the hospital in a cab, a police car goes by. This was another moment I found a little unbelievable. Kate just escaped from a federal marshall in a stolen cab with a hostage, you would think every cop in the city would be on the alert for this cab.

Once in the hospital, Claire’s doctor turns out to be Ethan Goodspeed. I absolutely loved this part of the show. How cool that they worked Ethan into these events. Turns out Claire is in early labor, so Ethan offers to give her some drugs and when Claire asks if it is safe he says, “They are perfectly safe. I just don’t want to have to stick you with needles if I don’t have to”. LOL How great that line was. Remember that Ethan kidnapped Claire and stuck her with many a needle while she was in his captivity. Good stuff. It is also interesting to note that Ethan is no longer Ethan Rom. This means he never went to the island and defected to the others.

I was really hoping that when they got to the hospital Juliet would be the one to deliver Aaron. Now that Claire has opted to stop the labor for now, I am holding out hope that this will still happen. Although it would be nice to see Kate do it just like she did in season one, I would much rather be surprised by the appearance of Juliet.

Before parting ways, Claire gives Kate her credit card and Kate tells her she should keep the baby. Since Claire has now put a name to her baby, I believe she will opt to keep it. Although Kate is constantly running and can be rather wishy washy when it comes to men, the girl has a lot of heart and has always gone out of her way to help someone when they’ve needed it. She didn’t have to help Claire, but she did, even at the risk of being caught.

That is all from me for this week folks. Thank you for reading and since you are reading, please feel free to leave a comment. I love to hear from you.

Best Lines

*Ethan – They are perfectly safe, I just don’t want to have to stick you with needles if I don’t have to.

*Miles – As you can see, Hugo here has assumed the leadership position so that’s pretty good.

*Kate – I shouldn’t have come after you.
Sawyer – Which time?

*Aldo – You better not slow us down.
Kate – You better not slow me down.

Things I Noticed

*Claire had a stuffed whale in her baby bag. Aaron had a stuffed whale in his arms the night that Jack and Kate fought in Kate’s house when they were off of the island in the first timeline.

*There was another zebra crossing shown in this episode when Arzt is in the way of the cab. (Thanks to Gazman’s new sig or I never would have noticed this)

Episode Review - 6.01 & 6.02 "LA X"

KatesFate’s Episode Review – 6.01&6.02 “LA X”

For about an hour before the premier of Lost began, I was on pins and needles. I was so excited to see it that I honestly couldn’t contain myself. I suddenly remembered what it felt like to be a child again on Christmas Eve. I paced around nervously for about an hour and then finally made my way to my chair, powered up the flat screen and cranked up the surround sound. I had waited patiently like a good fan during the longest nine month hiatus EVER and I was ready to get Lost.

I spent the next three hours of the night enjoying the reward that the writers and producers of Lost bestowed upon me for waiting so patiently. It was well worth the wait. I enjoyed the season premier of Lost immensely. There was not a single aspect of the episode that I did not love. It had a nice flow following season fives finale and we were given answers that I didn’t expect for at least a few more episodes. We were also surprised with what I felt was an awesome twist, placing the Losties into two timelines at once.

Timeline One – The flight and arrival at LAX

The fact that detonating the bomb worked and the Losties were right back on Flight 815 was not a big surprise to me. This is what I thought would happen. However, I always thought this would happen and they would retain their memories of the island. I never dreamed that what they did, would make them forget and reset their pasts, not to mention create an alternate timeline where they are still on the island, but now in 2007. I was more than happy to learn that setting off Jughead managed to give us both scenarios. The island is really where they are destined to be, so it makes sense that they are still on it. We’ll talk more about the island later, let’s talk about Flight 815.

This timeline was fantastic. It was awesome to see what would have happened to some of the characters had they never crashed. I also loved the way the writers incorporated lines and sentiments used during season one and how the characters lives still seem to be intertwined. It was interesting that their lives leading up the the flight were different as well. Hurley suddenly feels like the luckiest man alive and Jin is still barking orders at Sun, only this time I get the distinct feeling that Sun does not speak English, yet Jin does. Sawyer still seems like his normal self and is most likely still a con man. However, wouldn’t be a nice twist if this around he is not a con man, but a policeman or a detective? Think about it for a minute and rethink his actions on the flight, it’s not beyond impossible. You see they reset time all the way back to 1977 so anything that happened to them after 1977 has changed. Sawyer’s parents died in 1976 (I think), which would mean his childhood was still the same. But Hurley would not have been born yet, so his past would be completely different. This would also mean that Juliet never went to the island because as we know the island is now underwater, therefore she is most likely not dead in this timeline. Yah!!!!! I wonder if we will get a glimpse of the tailies and what happened to them once the plane landed. I hope we do.

For me the most interesting part of this timeline had to be the fact that both Locke’s knives and Jack’s father have mysteriously gone missing. I also now understand why Locke chose the knife as a young boy when Alpert came to visit him and why it was the wrong choice. Locke chose the knife because it would become the knife that would kill Jacob. This is why Richard never saw anything special in Locke, because he never was. I am guessing that Locke’s knives are lost because their true destiny is on the island as well as the body of Christian Shepard. Perhaps these two items never left the island to begin with when the bomb was detonated.

I also liked the idea that Jack provided Locke with some hope by giving him his business card and offering a free consult. Jack has never been one to hand out hope before and it was nice to see it being offered to John, who could have used much more of it the first time around.

Another interesting thing to note is that Desmond was on the Flight. Or was he? Do you think that Desmond might have been a vision that was meant to somehow jog Jack’s memory to recall island events? He did just seem to disappear into thin air and he was never on Flight 815 to begin with, so why would he be there now?

I also tried very hard to notice when Kate kicked Claire out of the cab, if Claire was pregnant this time around, but it was too hard to tell. Here is a screencap of her. What do you guys think?

And did anyone else notice that Kate pick-pocketed Jack’s pen on the plane in the same way she tried to pocket the handcuff key she and Jack retrieved from the dead marshall on the island and the satellite phone she lifted from his back pocket?

I could go on and on about all of the events so it’s probably best if I just move on the the island events now.

Timeline Two – The bomb explodes and sends the Losties to 2007 but they are still on the island.

This timeline began with a close-up of Kate’s eye. Kate awakens and suddenly realizes she is in a tree. She also has very muffled hearing because of the explosion. I have something to say here and you guys are all going to think I am nuts, but I don’t care because it makes perfect sense to me. As Kate wakes up and is climbing down the tree, her hearing may be muffled, but you can hear all sorts of noises going on around her and it was not just the noise of her climbing down the tree. When she gets her hearing back, everything around her is silent. Now hear me out for a minute, remember the pilot from back in season one that Kate and Charlie found laying in the treetops? Kate looked suspiciously like that pilot laying up there in that tree when she woke up and if you listen to the noises around her, it sounds a little bit like Smokey retreating. It is almost as if Smokey picked her up and put her in the tree without harming her and then retreated as if he was somehow saving her. She also woke up a lot further away from the hatch than everyone else did. I have to add also, that Kate is plagued by a Black Horse in season one. Coincidence? Hmmm…..we’ll see. Wasn’t Kate in the Judas position in the Lost Supper picture? Even though we saw Jacob touch her, whose to say she was not somehow also touched by Esau? If Locke’s character can end up never being special, then Kate’s character can certainly end up being on the “wrong” side.

Moving on to Sawyer & Juliet. Even though the idea the she could possibly be alive down there is a bit hoaky, I was glad that Sawyer and Juliet got to say a proper good-bye. Poor Sawyer though, he has been through a lot and seeing him suffer this way breaks my heart. I tried to contact him through fanmail to let him know that I am here for him whenever he needs me, but for some reason they believe me to be stalking him and I am no longer able to gain access to any of his fansites. Go figure. Their good-bye gave me hope though. Based on Juliet’s comments to Sawyer before she died, I predict that their characters will be reunited with one another before the end comes around. Remember, Juliet is not dead in the off-island timeline and could be living in LA for all we know and remember, she told Sawyer, “It worked”.

Now let’s discuss Hurley. While tending to Sayid who is bleeding profusely, Hurley is visited by the ghost of Jacob. WOW! Jacob tells Hurley that he needs to save Sayid by taking him to The Temple and to take the guitar case too. After easily convincing Jack that Hurley can fix Sayid, they head to the Temple. I was very surprised that we got to see the Temple so soon. Happy, but surprised. It reminded me of a Mayan Temple and the people protecting it are just others. Somebody please tell me why the other that was translating looked so familiar. Have we seen him before somewhere? So Hurley carried this Ankh with a list of names hidden inside all the way to the island. I love that he peeked at what was inside too. It was great that Hurley demanded to know what was on the paper. Once again he saves the day.

A quick thought here. Was Sawyer on the list too? Because you would think if he was that the others would have questioned his whereabouts?

Sayid’s turn. So Hurley convinces them to save Sayid and Sayid is placed into a pool of water that is no longer clear. My guess is that it is no longer clear because Jacob has died. Not to mention, no speak English, English taste bad guy, did not have his wound healed when he placed his hand in the water. So how did the water end up healing Sayid? Wanna know what I think? Too bad, I am going to tell you anyway. I think it might be possible that Jack’s touch somehow saved Sayid. Perhaps after Sayid was taken out of the pool and Jack tried to save him, he actually did save him. Maybe Jack has the same power of healing that Jacob does. He does have an obsessive need to fix things and has performed miracles. Shout out to Lupinbell here who mentioned that Sayid, may have said, “What Happened” in the voice of Jacob when he awakened. I watched it again and I think Lupinbell is right. That is definitely not Sayid’s voice. Could Jacob now be inhabiting Sayid?

I have saved the best part for last. The Lockeness Monster, Richard Alpert and all that went down at the beach. The most spectacular part of the entire episode was the scene where Flocke turns into Smokey, killing Bram and his men in much the same way it did Keamy and gang. I love the way it tricked Bram out of the ash circle. Clever fellow. By the way meppy, I am so sorry that Smokey turned out to be a man. I know you always fancied it a girl. While all of this happened, Ben hid and when it was over he stepped out and was heading toward the door, when Flocke appeared behind him and said, “I’m sorry you had to see me that way”. That statement combined with the look of evil on Flocke’s face and the look of terror on Ben’s face was more than wicked. This will go down as one of my all time favorite scenes ever.

In yet another great Flocke/Locke/Ben scene we learn what Flocke wants. He wants to go home. Home? Where is home? Could he mean the ultimate home, heaven? Was Flocke/MIB cast out of heaven and he now wants to go back. I want to see these two people act together for the rest of their lives and I will watch anything the two of these men do together. How have they not won every single award out there? I am in awe of both of them.

Flocke decides it is time to confront the people on the beach and he starts with Richard. In another great wow moment, Flocke says, “It’s good to see you out of those chains Richard”. Well there you have it folks. Richard was a slave on the Black Rock. I never believed he was an Egyptian. The look on Richard’s face was one of sheet terror and that one sentence from Flocke told us more about Richard that we’ve known for five years. Flocke then man handles Richard and Richard is down for the count. Flocke turns to everyone else and tells them that he is very disappointed in all of them. But why? Does he mean for locking him in a cabin for all of these years and for following Jacob instead?

Back at the Temple, they learn of Jacob’s death through Hurley. Was anyone else surprised that they didn’t somehow know themselves? It seemed odd to me that some stranger had to inform them of it. Jacob could have been dead in that foot for years and they seemingly never would have known. With Flocke on his way to the Temple with Richard in tow, next week is looking to be even better than this episode, although I don’t know how that would be possible.

That’s it for me folks, at least until next week. I know I left some important stuff out, but I have covered some of those topics in other threads so I left them out. Thanks once again for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts and leave your comments.

Things I Noticed and/or Loved

1. Hurley wears a red shirt throughout the entire episode. Say it ain’t so.
2. Frogurt sleeping on the plane between Locke and Ben was a nice touch.
3. I loved that Sawyer & Juliet got to say a proper good-bye.
4. Hurley! Hurley! Hurley!

Best Lines

1. Lockeness Monster – I’m sorry you had to see me that way.
2. Lockeness Monster – It’s good to see you out of those chains Richard.
3. Juliet – It worked.
4. Ben – You used me.