Wednesday, January 20, 2010

5.04 - The Little Prince


Title’s significance: There’s no explicit reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s novel of the same name, but it seems obvious the writers are trying to draw a parallel with Aaron.

Recap: A flashback explores the decision for Kate to claim Aaron as her own, but we’re back on the island as Sawyer accuses Daniel of knowing that something would befall Charlotte. Locke says the group needs to go back to The Orchid to stop the island from skipping – “even if it kills me.” Charlotte wakes up, but she doesn’t recognize Daniel at first. Locke realizes they’ve traveled back to the night the lights went on in the hatch, and Sawyer stumbles upon Kate helping Claire gives birth before another flash sends the island careening through time. The skippers find their camp again, but it’s been ransacked and there are longboats with Ajira Airways water bottles; the skippers take a longboat and sail away, making camp at night as Sawyer tells Juliet about his feelings and notices her nose is bleeding. Elsewhere, a French science team finds a floating survivor – Jin – and their young pregnant leader identifies herself as Danielle Rousseau.

Kate leaves Aaron with Sun and goes off to be mysterious; Sun receives a dossier on Ben as well as a gun hidden in a box of chocolates. Kate meets with Dan Norton to ascertain the identity of the person who hired him; Norton agrees to report the deal to his employer but promises the answer is going to be no. Meanwhile, Sayid wakes up and warns Jack that Ben is only on his own side, but Jack gets kicked out of the hospital – again. A man comes to attack Sayid, but Sayid dismantles him as Ben and Jack come back in, learning that someone’s after Kate, too. Kate follows Dan Norton, who meets his client – Carole Littleton, Claire’s mother. Jack tries to talk Carole out of it, but she insists she has no idea what he’s talking about; turns out she’s just picking up her settlement from Oceanic. Norton’s real client is actually Ben, who frees Hurley. Sans Hurley, Ben reunites Sayid, Jack, and Kate at a marina; Ben apologizes for screwing with Aaron, but Sun’s lurking out of sight with her gun at the ready.

Thoughts: The flashforward was a little limp here, but the time skipping stuff is really interesting, especially when we get hints of something in the island’s past that even our time skippers don’t know (like Miles’s time on the island). Let me back up a bit, though – the last moments of the flashforward at the marina were really impressive, with just the perfect tone/gravitas that this moment should have. And even on rewatch I got chills at the end when Rousseau identified herself.

Favorite moment: “Dude, it’s totally cool. I’m in L.A. County lock-up.” That, or Sawyer praising time travel as it gets the skippers out of a gunfight... and into a rainstorm.

Characters introduced (in order):

  • MONTAND, the scientist we’ve heard so much about
  • ROBERT, Alex’s father

What we learned:

  • Charlotte’s illness is “like really bad jetlag” because her internal mental clock is off.
  • Jack was suspended from the hospital because of his substance abuse.
  • Daniel theorizes that nosebleeds happen in order of exposure time.
  • Dan Norton is actually working for Ben.
  • Jin’s not dead after all!

Questions:

  • Has Miles been on the island before?
  • Where’s Vincent?
  • Where are Rose and Bernard?
  • Who came in the longboats?
  • How did an Ajira Airways water bottle find its way to the island?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

  • I didn’t realize it, but Locke’s rendezvous with destiny at the hatch coincides with Aaron’s birth, both of which the writers have confirmed occurred on an important date in the island’s history (all the time flashes mark important dates in the island’s history). What else did we miss in that episode?
  • Locke’s destiny!

No comments:

Post a Comment