5.13 - Some Like It Hoth

Title’s significance: This episode title puns on the ice planet from “The Empire Strikes Back” as well as the cross-dressing comedy “Some Like It Hot,” in which the protagonists must disguise themselves in order to protect themselves.

Recap: In Miles’s flashbacks, we learn that his power is for real and kicked in when he was very young. When his mom was dying, Miles asked about his father, who abandoned them when Miles was young; Lara tells her son that his father is dead. A father hires Miles to find out if his son knew he loved him before Naomi tries to hire Miles. Later, Miles was stopped by Bram, who told him not to go to the island, but Miles wouldn’t listen; Miles later confessed to Mr. Gray that he had lied about his son. In 1977, Horace brings Miles into the “circle of trust” and tells him to bring something to Radzinsky; Radzinsky gives Miles a dead body and tells him to bring the body to Horace, who sends Miles to Dr. Chang. Kate returns to camp, but Roger notices that Ben is missing, which leads him to panic. Hurley carpools with Miles to The Orchid and discovers the body in the trunk, which Miles identifies as Alvarez who died when a filling in his mouth was blown through his brain. But Hurley promises to keep Miles’s secret as Roger becomes suspicious of Kate’s involvement in Ben’s disappearance; Dr. Chang gets upset about Hurley knowing the secret, but Hurley again promises to keep a secret before Miles reveals that Dr. Chang is his father. Roger asks Jack about Kate, but Jack advises him not to do anything rash since he’s completely soused. Hurley and Miles drive Dr. Chang to The Swan site, and Hurley encourages Miles to connect with his father. Meanwhile, Phil reveals to Sawyer that he knows that Sawyer and Kate took Ben, but Sawyer decks him to protect his secret. Later that night, Miles and Chang head for the submarine dock, where a new scientist is coming in – Daniel Faraday.

Thoughts: Miles is like a dark hybrid of Sawyer and Hurley, so this episode is pretty funny but it’s also very dark, too. There’s a lot of gloom and doom which makes it a little difficult to enjoy on rewatch, but there’s enough important information trickling through to make this a worthwhile endeavor.

Favorite moment: “Polar bear poop, got it.” That, or the revelation that Hurley is writing “The Empire Strikes Back” – “Let’s face it, dude. The Ewoks suck.”

Characters introduced (in order):

• LARA CHANG, Miles’s mother
• HOWARD GRAY, bereaved client of Miles
• FELIX, deceased delivery boy for Charles Widmore

What we learned:

• Miles’s power isn’t bogus.
• The Swan was built in Hostile territory.
• Miles’s ability requires a body to work most efficiently.
• Pierre Chang is Miles’s father.
• Miles was hired to speak to the dead bodies on the island in order to find Ben.
• $3.2 million was double what Widmore was offering.
  

Questions:

• Who killed Felix?
• Where’s Daniel been?
• Why is he returning to the island now?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Now that we know Miles’s ability is legitimate, I’m wondering which of our dead castaways he’ll be talking to this coming season.
• Miles says that a body leaves behind feelings and impressions – is this how Jacob’s nemesis was able to impersonate Locke?
• Bram isn’t working for Ben, and he’s not working for Widmore. Is he on Jacob’s team, and if so, is this team really going to win?