5.03 - Jughead

Title’s significance: “Jughead” is the name of the atomic bomb stashed on the island in the 1950s.

Recap: As the episode begins, we meet Desmond and Penny’s baby before jumping to the present, where Desmond is looking for Daniel’s mother in England. Desmond promises Penny that this is the last he’ll have to do with the island. At Oxford, Desmond can’t find any record of Daniel Faraday, but his research lab is still intact, albeit under quarantine. A custodian tells Desmond that Daniel was kicked out of Oxford for experimenting on a young girl, time-skipping Theresa Spencer. Desmond finds Theresa, who’s having flashes like Desmond and Minkowski had, and he learns that Widmore is paying Theresa’s medical bills. Desmond goes to Widmore, who gives Desmond an address for Daniel’s mother and who tells Desmond to “get out of this mess.” Desmond tries to lie to Penny about Daniel’s mother, but she catches on and volunteers to go to Los Angeles with him.

On the island, Daniel worries about Charlotte’s building symptoms before a landmine attack makes the time-skippers prisoners of the Army Others of 1954 (sounds like a Busby Berkeley musical). While Locke’s group mulls what to do with their Army Other prisoners, the captive time-skippers meet ageless Richard, who tells them there’s a nuclear bomb on the island; Daniel realizes the bomb is unstable and advises Richard to let him render the bomb inert. Daniel also reveals he’s in love with Charlotte. Jones escapes from Locke, Sawyer, and Juliet, but of course Locke tracks him back to camp as Richard allows Daniel to disarm the bomb. Daniel tells Ellie to bury the bomb, knowing that it won’t detonate since he comes from the future. Locke comes looking for Richard, who reveals that “Jones” is actually Charles Widmore. When the island jumps again, Charlotte collapses with a profusely bloody nose.

Thoughts: Season Five continues off to a positive start with an episode that enmeshes itself in heavy mythology. The time jumping thing has the potential to get old, but at least it’s done tastefully here and with a fair amount of respect toward using this device to deepen the show’s larger story and to give us a better portrait of what the island is like at different times in its history.

Favorite moment: Sawyer recaps last episode in three words: “Frogurt on fire.” Could be a new hit flavor at Coldstone.

Characters introduced (in order):

• EFREN SALONGA, village doctor
• CHARLIE HUME, Desmond and Penny’s baby
• ELLIE, militant Other
• THERESA SPENCER, victim of Daniel’s experiments

What we learned:

• Desmond and Penny have a child named Charlie.
• The Others know how to speak Latin.
• The landmines were planted by the U.S. Army.
• The Army Others killed four U.S. soldiers.
• Daniel experimented on a woman named Theresa.
• Daniel is in love with Charlotte.
• While testing H-bombs in the Pacific, the U.S. Army left one at the island.
• Juliet confirms that Richard is very, very old.
• Daniel’s mother lives in Los Angeles.
• Jones is really Charles Widmore.
• Richard’s test was to determine whether or not Locke truly is the leader of The Others.

Questions:

• What’s wrong with Charlotte?
• Why is Widmore caring for Theresa?
• How does Daniel know Ellie?
• What’s Widmore’s interest in Daniel?
• How does Widmore know Daniel’s mother?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• We meet the Army Others, which suggests to me that there’s a few groups of Others throughout history, and I’m not really sure what this current group of Others/Hostiles represents.
• I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: what is Locke’s destiny?