Title’s significance: Pretty self-explanatory on this one. This episode covers Locke’s time as Jeremy Bentham off-island.
Recap: Caesar and Ilana discuss their plane crash and the fact that a few people “disappeared” from the plane; what’s more, somehow Locke is alive again! Locke reveals that he was at one point dead, but he doesn’t know why he’s alive again. Locke flashes back to turning the wheel and being transported to Tunisia, the same spot Ben came to and which is now under video surveillance. After being rescued by some nomads, he meets Charles Widmore, who reveals he was once leader of The Others and that three years have passed since the Oceanic Six left. Widmore helps Locke track down the Oceanic 6 and sends Matthew Abaddon to help Locke. First they visit Sayid in the Dominican Republic, but he’s busy doing charity work and isn’t interested. Next, Locke visits Walt, who admits he’s been having dreams about Locke but who doesn’t know what happened to Michael; what Locke doesn’t know is that Ben is following him. Hurley initially believes Locke to be a ghost, but he stops listening when he sees Abaddon. Kate won’t sign on because she thinks Locke’s never loved anyone, and Locke learns that his love Helen died of a brain aneurysm. At the cemetery, Abaddon is shot, and Locke speeds away – into a car crash; he’s brought to Jack’s hospital, where Jack refuses to concede that Locke may be right about anything. Despondent, Locke attempts to hang himself, but he’s stopped when Ben arrives; Ben talks Locke down by telling him he’s not a failure, but he kills Locke when he gets the chance and makes it look like a suicide. Back on the island, Locke and Caesar talk about why some people disappeared on the flight, and Locke sees that Ben is one of the people from the plane; none too happy, Locke reveals that Ben killed him.
Thoughts: Back to back Damon & Carlton episodes? What have I done to deserve such a boon? This is another one of those great “answers” episodes in the tradition of “Meet Kevin Johnson” and “The Other 48 Days.” There is an abundance of answers in this episode, with hints of a larger storyline that you just know is going to get fleshed out in Season Six. This episode really gives Terry O’Quinn a chance to shine in what turns out to be his last performance as Locke (from here on out, he’s just Jacob’s nemesis pretending to be Locke), so stay tuned for more on how he’s still on the show.
Favorite moment: For pure shock factor, it’s Abaddon’s death, but I really treasure the scene between Locke and Ben in the hotel room, because (again) these two are the top actors on the show; Ben’s last line – “I’ll miss you, John. I really will.” – epitomizes what’s great about the character, because he just might be sincere.
Characters introduced (in order):
No new characters introduced in this episode.
What we learned:
Locke was transported off-island after turning the frozen wheel.
Widmore remembers meeting Locke in 1954 – this makes him about 70 years old.
Widmore was once the leader of The Others before Ben exiled him.
Widmore set Locke up with the Jeremy Bentham identity.
Abaddon “help(s) people get to where they need to be.”
Helen died in 2006.
Matthew Abaddon is killed by Ben Linus.
Locke told Ben that Jin is alive; Ben also took Jin’s wedding ring.
Locke didn’t commit suicide; Ben murdered him and made it look like a suicide.
Questions:
How do Caesar and Ilana know each other?
How did Locke come to be alive again?
Is this really Locke?
Where did Frank go, and who did he take with him?
What went down between Widmore and Ben, and when?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
Spoilers – it’s not really Locke. It’s Un-Locke, most likely Jacob’s nemesis and perhaps even the smoke monster. So why Locke’s form, and why the charade?
Widmore speaks of a war coming to the island, but between whom, for what, and who will win?
How much of what Widmore says can we trust, anyway?
Jack says that Locke isn’t special, which of course runs contrary to all that I’ve been saying on this blog all along. Final word, Season Six?
Who’s on the side of good – Widmore or Ben? Are either of them good?
Title’s significance: Ajira Flight 316 brings the survivors back to the island. (Tell me the allusion to John 3:16 isn’t intentional. Just try.)
Recap: The episode beings with Jack rescuing a drowning Hurley and finding Kate after waking up in a jungle somewhere. 46 hours ago, Mrs. Hawking takes Jack, Ben, Sun, and Desmond to The Lamp Post, a Dharma station which plots the location – both temporal and spatial – of the island. Desmond thinks this is poppycock, but Mrs. Hawking says the island’s not done with Desmond. When Desmond storms out, Mrs. Hawking reveals that Ajira Airways 316 will fly through the window and return them to the island, as long as they recreate the circumstances of the crash “as best as possible.” Mrs. Hawking delivers Locke’s suicide note to Jack and asks him to use Locke as a proxy for his father, encouraging a “leap of faith.” Jack visits his grandfather Ray, who gives him Christian’s shoes, which Jack then gives to Locke; Kate returns to Jack and asks to come back to the island, but Aaron’s not with her. A drenched and bloodied Ben calls Jack, asking him to pick up Locke’s body. At the airport, Jack learns that Sayid is in the custody of a marshal, and Hurley’s arrived with a guitar case; at the last second, Ben arrives on the plane, much to Hurley’s chagrin. What’s more, Frank Lapidus is the pilot of the aircraft, and he deduces that the plane won’t make it to Guam. Jack reads Locke’s suicide note – “I wish you had believed me” – as the plane hits turbulence; a white light flashes. Jack wakes up in the jungle – he’s back on the island, but no one remembers crashing. Suddenly a Dharma van rolls out of the jungle, and out steps Jin, wearing a Dharma jumpsuit.
Thoughts: Mrs. Hawking delivers a crucial monologue in this episode, one that probably would have flopped if Damon & Carlton hadn’t written it. This whole episode is yet another indication of why these two are the top writers on the show – because they know what they’re doing, and it shows, even if it’s only a little bit at a time. The fifth season really gets in gear with this episode, now that we’re back on that little ole island.
Favorite moment: Jack asks Mrs. Hawking if Ben’s telling the truth; she responds, completely deadpan, “Probably not.”
Characters introduced (in order):
RAY, Jack’s grandfather
CAESAR, Ajira 316 passenger
ILANA, Sayid’s marshal
What we learned:
The Lamp Post is a Dharma station used to find the island.
The survivors were never rescued because no one could find the island.
To return to the island, one needs to recreate the circumstances that brought them to the island.
The Ajira flight that crashed on the island brought some of the Oceanic 6 with it – Flight 316.
Questions:
How did Eloise come to man the Lamp Post?
Why would Locke kill himself?
What promise is Ben going to fulfill?
Where’s Aaron?
Why was Ben all drenched and bloody?
Why is Sayid in custody?
Whose guitar case did Hurley have?
How did Hurley know that Ajira 316 was going to crash?
What happens to the other people on Ajira 316?
What’s going to happen when Ben returns to the island, since he’s not supposed to come back?
Why didn’t Ilana seem concerned about the plane hitting turbulence?
Where are Ben, Sayid, Sun, and Frank?
Why is Jin wearing a Dharma suit and driving a Dharma van?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
What does Mrs. Hawking mean when she says that the island isn’t done with Desmond?
Mrs. Hawking’s interaction with Jack and Ben’s monologue about St. Thomas raises the issue of faith. I think as viewers we need to have faith that all this will work out, but I’m wondering also what role faith is going to play in the lives of the survivors this final season.
Notice that Jack’s switching over toward being a man of faith in this episode.
Title’s significance: Charlotte tearfully tells Jin that Sun must never come back because “this place [the island] is death.”
Recap: Jin’s time with Rousseau corroborates most of the crazy Frenchwoman’s story as Jin tries to find his camp and the radio tower on the island. But the smoke monster crashes the party and attacks Montand; when his team tries to save him, his arm gets torn off, and he’s sucked into some ruins. All of Rousseau’s team follow Montand into the ruins, but Jin prevents her from following them. Time skips, more intensely than before, and Jin sees the pillar of smoke before finding Rousseau at her camp, pointing a gun at Robert, who she claims is ill like the rest of her team that she has already killed. Before she can shoot Jin, time skips again, and Jin is reunited with Sawyer; Locke tells Jin that Sun is safe and reiterates a need to get to The Orchid. But time skips again, and again, and Charlotte collapses as Sawyer experiences a nosebleed now. With the time-skipping careening out of control, Locke forges on ahead, but Daniel agrees to stay with Charlotte, who confesses before dying that she grew up on the island and that she met Daniel when she was young. At The Orchid, Locke finds a well, but before descending he has to promise Jin not to bring Sun and her baby back to the island; in the well, Locke fixes the frozen wheel and meets Christian, who directs him to Eloise Hawking before Locke disappears in a bright white light.
Just as Sun’s ready to kill Ben, she gets a call from her daughter, who misses her. Sun’s further deterred when Ben reveals that Jin isn’t dead. Ben promises that the same person who can take them back to the island has the proof that Jin is alive, but Sayid and Kate (with Aaron) bail on the return expedition. When Jack tells Sun that he’s willing to kill Ben himself, Ben gets teed off at how ungrateful they’re being for his attempts to bring them back to the island. Ben reveals that he visited Locke before he died and gives Sun Jin’s wedding ring as proof. Suddenly, Desmond arrives; he’s found Faraday’s mother, and not only is she the woman Ben’s been working with, she’s also Desmond’s temporal policeman, Daniel Faraday’s mother – Eloise Hawking.
Thoughts: The direction in this episode is stellar, but I think it suffers from an overreliance on the on-island shenanigans while shortchanging the Oceanic 6 plotline. I think the episode isn’t the best-written either, although my complaint is chiefly with the handling of the Rousseau plotline; it’s tantalizing, but it ultimately doesn’t deliver much beyond what we already knew about the situation. By the end of the episode, though, we’re in a good place.
Favorite moment: Christian’s line about Ben – “Since when did listening to him get you anywhere worth a damn?” – is priceless; in fact, that whole scene in the cave is delightful.
Characters introduced (in order):
BRENNAN, LACOMBE, and NADINE, members of the science team
What we learned:
Montand lost his arm while his team tried to save him from the monster.
Robert tells Rousseau that the monster is a security system for the temple.
The smoke monster retreats to a temple on the island.
Charlotte grew up on the island, but she left at an early age and never spoke of it with her mother.
Charlotte became an anthropologist to find the island again.
Daniel will meet young Charlotte.
The time flashes kill Charlotte.
Locke, not Ben, had to move the island.
Christian knows about the frozen wheel.
Daniel's mother is Eloise Hawking, Ben's collaborator and Desmond's temporal policeman.
Questions:
How does Ben know Jin’s still alive?
Why did the monster single out Montand?
What is the temple for?
Did the smoke monster do something to Rousseau’s team, or is she nuts?
Is Ben serving his own interests here, or is he really caring for the Oceanic 6?
Who built the well?
Under what circumstances will Daniel meet young Charlotte?
How did Ben get Jin’s wedding ring – the one he gave to Locke?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
Despite highlighting Rousseau and her science team, we really didn’t get any information on the so-called sickness that befalls her team. Double-You-Tee-Eff, mate?
Geronimo Jackson comes up again. The writers know this is important, but who are they? (My personal theory: it’s a band that Charlie forges in a post-Jughead world.)
Who built the well? And the wheel?
Notice that Christian adamantly refuses to touch Locke. Is it because he’s really Jacob’s nemesis/the smoke monster? Or is it just an issue of Locke’s destiny?
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?
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?
Title’s significance: This episode deals with the psychological ramifications of “the lie” that the Oceanic 6 told, particularly on Hurley.
Recap: After a brief flashback to the decision to lie about the island – Hurley wanted to tell the truth but was outvoted – we’re back on the skipping island. When night falls, Neil Frogurt is peeved that Bernard can’t start a fire, and Charlotte tells Daniel that she’s having headaches and spells of forgetfulness. The Others launch a flaming arrow attack, and the 815ers flee the beach; Sawyer and Juliet are then attacked by Others in army uniform. As The Others imperil Sawyer and Juliet, they’re saved by Locke (with knife-throwing accessory).
Hurley madcap-drives an unconscious Sayid around town before he’s pulled over... by a hallucination of Ana-Lucia, who tells him to pull it together and that he still has work to do. Kate gets a mysterious phone call from “a friend,” and Ben gets rid of Jack’s pills before he tells him to pack as if he’s not coming back. Hurley returns home with Sayid over his shoulder, looking for Papa Reyes’s help, while Kate visits her “friend” – Sun, who tells Kate that the lawyers must have something other than “the lie” on their agenda. Papa Reyes brings Sayid to Jack and tells Jack to stay away from Hurley. Jack alerts Ben, and Hurley spills the beans to his mom about the whole shebang. Jack revives Sayid, as Ben comes to Hurley and invites him to join his group; Hurley rebels, though, and turns himself in rather than join Ben. In a curious math/science lab that looks suspiciously like a Dharma station, someone’s calculating an “event window” - it's Mrs. Hawking, who's helping Ben get the Oceanic 6 back to the island.
Thoughts: Much less of a bang-up affair than the previous episode, “The Lie” is a much more subdued episode, digging in a little deeper rather than showing us just how wide the hole is that the survivors are in. Having said that, I think this episode was funny (as most Hurley-centric episodes are) and easy to follow, but there’s much more of a sense of mystery in this episode than in “Because You Left.”
Favorite moment: “Welcome back, Dr. Wizard.” “I think it’s Mister Wizard.” “Shut up.” That, or Hurley’s mom exclaiming, “Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?” Or even when Hurley admits that he “was never really clear on” what would happen if the button wasn’t pushed – in fact, that whole narrative Hurley gives his mum.
Characters introduced (in order):
JILL, a butcher running a front for Ben
JONES, British military Other
What we learned:
Anything the islanders had with them is time-traveling, too.
Mrs. Hawking is indeed real – and she’s working with Ben.
Questions:
Why didn’t Ben answer Jack when he asked if Locke was dead?
What’s Jill’s connection to the whole thing?
Who do the lawyers represent?
Who are the military Others?
What’s Mrs. Hawking calculating?
How does Mrs. Hawking know Ben?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
“Everything’s gonna make sense, I promise,” Hurley says. But I’m with his mom on this one – “It better!”
Title’s significance: Ben says that all the bad things that have happened occurred “because you left.”
Recap: Curiously, this episode begins by introducing the man from the Dharma videos – his real name’s Pierre Chang, and he’s not happy that something’s going wrong at The Orchid. But somehow, Daniel’s in Dharma Days, too... This episode also begins splitting the plotline in two: on-island fritziness and off-island shenanigans. After Ben moves the island, Sawyer and Juliet notice the smoking freighter is gone, and Rose and Bernard reveal that campsite is gone, too. Daniel theorizes the island is time-traveling a la a skipping record, and the group notices that Locke is separated from them; he’s busy witnessing the crash of the Nigerian drug plane, but when he tries to help them he’s shot by Ethan before the island jumps. Daniel cautions that time travel can’t affect the past; “Whatever happened, happened.” Locke is found by Richard, who treats his gunshot wound, gives him a compass, and tells him he has to die to save the island. The island jumps again, and Sawyer tries to get into The Swan for supplies before being told by Dan that it didn’t happen and so it can’t happen; Charlotte gets a nosebleed, and Daniel makes contact with Desmond, telling him to find his mother.
Off-island, Jack feels hopeless about going back to the island, confiding to Ben that Locke fretted about everyone they left behind dying. Kate’s visited by Dan Norton, a skeezy lawyer who thinks Kate isn’t related to Aaron, so Kate skedaddles. As Sun tries to fly to Los Angeles, she’s detained by Widmore, who accuses her of not respecting him and asks what their common interests are; she reveals that they both want Ben dead. Sayid brings Hurley to a safehouse, advising Hurley to do the opposite of anything Ben says before roughing up some hooligans inside. Now married to Penny, Desmond wakes up with a new memory of Daniel
Thoughts: I’m not going to bother patting Damon and Carlton on the back, because you know that’s coming. What I am going to do is point out how fluidly the “skipping in time” element is explained and integrated. Note also that Locke isn’t told that he’s time-traveling; like so many other things in his life, he has to figure it out for himself.
Favorite moment: Richard isn’t fazed by Locke saying that Ethan shot him: “What comes around, goes around.”
Characters introduced (in order):
PIERRE CHANG, the temperamental artist formerly known as “Marvin Candle”
NEIL FROGURT, 815er we’ve heard so much about
DAN NORTON, a lawyer after Kate and Aaron
What we learned:
The Arrow was designed to research The Hostiles.
The Dharma Initiative didn’t build the frozen wheel.
Ben moved the island in time, not space.
Sun and Widmore both want Ben dead.
Sayid brings Hurley to one of Ben’s safehouses.
Daniel says the past can’t be changed.
Daniel was hired because he’s been researching The Dharma Initiative.
The rules don’t apply to Desmond.
Questions:
How did Daniel get back to the Dharma Days?
If the island is time-traveling, why don’t The Others jump with it?
Can the past be changed?
When will Locke tell Richard about his gunshot wound?
Why don’t the rules apply to Desmond?
Who is Daniel’s mother?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
I think we haven’t seen the last of The Orchid. Though The Swan gets a lot of play with the Jughead plan, The Orchid can actually time travel. Is this how they’ll save Jacob?
Daniel says that “whatever happened, happened.” But the entirety of the Jughead plan hinges upon Daniel being wrong. Is he?
I may as well just come out and say that I think Season Four is my favorite season of LOST (at least, thus far on rewatch; I haven’t, obviously, gotten through Season Five just yet, and Season Six promises to blow us out of the water). A large part of this is due to the fact that the season doesn’t really waste any time – thank you, writers’ strike – and keeps moving forward no matter what. (That’s not exactly true; “Something Nice Back Home” isn’t the best episode, and notice it’s a Jack-cenrtic one.)
The central theme here was the tale of the Kahana freighter, who they were working for, and why they’d come to the island. In true LOST fashion, we know almost all of what we initially wanted to know about the freighter people, but their appearance on the show opens up a new dimension that some of us had only theorized – Widmore is a central player in the show’s mythology, and he’s got some kind of connection to the island that connects with a competition between himself and Ben. While we’ll get little glimmers of this battle in Season Five, I think the larger resolution of this conflict is yet to be seen.
This season also showed us how new characters need to be introduced. None of this Nikki and Paulo stuff; we need characters with mysterious backgrounds that, once revealed, still make them relevant and important elements on the show. Enter Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, and Frank – four extremely interesting and entertaining (Charlotte’s not a comedian, sure, but I can at least appreciate another redhead on television) characters who still haven’t quite met up their full potential, so I’ll be looking for at least Miles and Frank in Season Six (and perhaps Daniel, if the Jughead plan worked, which I think it did).
Season Four is pivotal in my “Locke is going to save everyone” theory since Locke finally stops running away from his destiny and accepts his newfound responsibility as the leader of The Others – “Welcome home,” Richard tells him, suggesting that this is where he’s meant to be. But there’s something extremely sorrowful in this moment, too, both because I have a feeling Locke’s being used by Jacob’s nemesis and because Ben’s farewell to Locke seems so tragically sincere that I truly believe Ben has come to regret the things he’s done to Locke. Oh, wait; Ben (SPOILERS) kills Locke next season. Forget that.
I’m also very curious – even more so after Season Four – about these apparitions on the island. Come to think of it, they almost always appear when a character “has work to do” (Jack, Locke, Michael) or is running headlong toward their destiny (young Ben, Eko, and perhaps Shannon). It seems by this point that the apparitions are manifestations of the black smoke monster, something that’s going to be reinforced when Ben comes to The Temple to be judged. To what end remains to be seen, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it all has to do with the plot to kill Jacob.
Holy guacamole. I think I just figured it out. Locke’s favorite game is Mouse Trap, remember? The object of that game is to get all the pieces in place so that, by the time you spring your trap, your opponent never sees it coming. What if Jacob and his nemesis have been playing a colossal game of Mouse Trap on the island, and everything we’ve seen so far has been the nemesis (sometimes as the smoke monster, which I maintain is his alternate form) getting his pieces into place in order to spring a trap on Jacob? More on that in the next roundup, when we actually meet Jacob and his nemesis.
And now for our Questions roundup: Of our 148 lingering questions, 30 have now been answered, leaving 118 still remaining (these 118 will continue to carry over to subsequent roundups until they are answered). In Season Four, I asked 93 questions, 40 of which were answered within the season; this leaves 53 questions for future seasons to answer. That brings our running total of lingering questions to 171. Unlike with previous seasons, I took my responsibility seriously and didn’t ask a single smartass question.
Asked and Answered – Lingering Questions:
Michael promises to find Vincent “as soon as it stops raining.” Immediately, it stops raining. Is this situational humor, or is there something special about Walt? – I’m closing the book on this one. Walt’s special.
Walt keeps rolling what he needs in backgammon and says he’s the luckiest person his step-dad knows – is there something supernatural at play? – Closing the book on this, too.
Are The Numbers cursed? – By this point, it certainly looks that way.
How does Walt know about the hatch? – I’m closing most of the books on Walt in this roundup; Walt touched Locke and learned about the hatch. Presto.
How does Locke know so much about babies? – It’s subtle, but Locke grew up in a foster home with a baby; it’s likely he learned there.
Was Goodwin going to kill Ana Lucia? – Ben says that Goodwin truly believed Ana Lucia could change and be worthy of being on the list.
Why did Pickett take Michael’s blood? – Pickett likely wanted to make sure that Michael was Walt’s father.
Why won’t Michael be able to return to the island? – Ben was yanking his chain; Michael still has work to do.
Are The Others really “the good guys”? – I think at this stage of the game, they’re the better guys, and Widmore’s really the bad guy.
Why isn’t Kate Tom Friendly’s “type”? – Tom’s gay.
Why is Karl being held captive? – Ben doesn’t want him getting Alex pregnant.
Why stay on this island if The Others can leave all along? – The Others believe they’ve been chosen by Jacob.
Who is Jacob? – He’s the real leader of The Others.
Does Widmore have an island connection as the paintings in his office suggest? – He certainly does, since he’s pursuing the island, but we don’t know quite why.
Why was Locke’s paralysis cured immediately, but Ben has been allowed to suffer? – Locke is chosen to be the new leader of The Others.
Why can’t women give birth after conceiving on the island? – Their immune system turns on the fetus.
How did the parachutist get the photograph of Desmond and Penny? – Widmore.
Who is the parachutist working for? – Charles Widmore.
How does the parachutist know Desmond’s name? – She’s working for Widmore.
Is Sun going to be okay? – She gives birth off-island just fine.
What’s the deal with the Flight 815 discovered by those not on the island? How can that be? – Charles Widmore faked the crash of Flight 815 because he knows they’re really on the island, which he wants for himself.
Why is Ben so afraid of Jacob? – Jacob is apparently a very powerful man.
How did a group of low-tech Hostiles purge the island? – Ben used The Tempest, a gassing Dharma station on the island.
What is The Temple? – It’s a secure place used by The Others.
Is Kate pregnant? – No.
What forces are attacking the island? – Widmore.
Who’s in the coffin? – John Locke.
If it’s not Penny’s boat, whose is it? – Widmore.
Who else makes it off the island? – The Oceanic 6 (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron), Desmond, Frank, Ben, and Locke.
In the flashforward, who’s going to wonder where Kate is? – Aaron.
Asked and Answered – Season Four:
Who else is in the Oceanic 6? – Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron.
Why did only six return? – That’s all the helicopter could accommodate.
What makes Ben think the freighter people are trouble? – Ben knows what Charles Widmore is up to.
Who does Matthew Abaddon really work for? – Widmore.
Matthew Abaddon asks, “Are they still alive?” Who’s he looking for, and *are* they still alive? – It’s open to interpretation. He could be asking about his science team, or he could be looking for the rest of Flight 815.
What’s Christian doing in Jacob’s cabin? – Christian speaks on Jacob’s behalf.
Why do the freighter people have gas masks and guns if they’re on a rescue mission? – They’re actually not. They’re supposed to find Ben and kill everyone else.
What is the primary objective of the freighter crew? – Find Benjamin Linus.
Is Miles’s ability for real? – Certainly seems that way by season’s end.
How did the Dharma bear make it to Tunisia? – One can infer that the bear turned the frozen wheel at one point, since it’s in the same place that Ben lands after doing so.
Why was Charlotte so happy to see the Hydra logo? – Charlotte implies she was born on the island and has been trying to find her place of birth.
Who planted all the bodies underwater in Oceanic wreckage? – Charles Widmore.
Why would someone fake Oceanic wreckage? – Widmore wants to prevent anyone else from finding the island.
Why can’t Minkowski come to the phone? – He’s having flashes just like Desmond.
Does Ben really know about the monster or not? – He can summon the monster; he’s a liar.
Who is Ben’s spy on the freighter? – Michael.
What’s Locke’s interest in Miles? – Locke wants to know who the freighter people are working for.
What’s the significance of the bracelet that Naomi and Elsa both have? – Damon & Carlton say none, so okay.
Why would Sayid work for Ben? – Sayid is trying to avenge Nadia.
Assuming he's not posing as one of the Oceanic 6, how did Ben get off the island? – By turning the frozen wheel, Ben was transported off-island into the future.
Why is Locke holding Miles prisoner? – Locke’s motives are unclear, but he wants information out of Miles and is using him as a hostage of sorts.
Who were the two that allegedly survived the crash but aren’t considered part of the Oceanic 6? – According to the extended version of “There’s No Place Like Home,” Charlie, Boone, and Libby all survived. Continuity error, I guess.
What happened to the helicopter? – It got caught in space/time and didn’t quite land “on time.”
How did Kate get a hold of Aaron, and why would Claire let him leave the island without her? – Claire left Aaron in the jungle to be with Christian, where Aaron was retrieved by Sawyer and brought to Kate.
Why can’t the freighter communicate with Penelope? Who told them not to? – Widmore.
Who sabotaged the radio equipment on the freighter? – Michael.
Why does Widmore want to find the island? – Ben suggests there’s a profit motive in it for Widmore.
What’s the source of the banging pipes noise? – It’s never revealed, and with the freighter blown up it’s unlikely we’ll ever find out. I’ll surmise that it was Michael destroying the radio room, though.
Is Jin really dead? – Certainly looks that way.
What the deuce is Michael doing on the freighter? – He’s Ben’s spy.
Who shot Karl and Rousseau? – Keamy and his men.
Why doesn’t Captain Gault seem upset that Michael sabotaged his equipment? – Oh, he’s peeved, all right. He locks Michael up when he finds out.
How did Ben get all the way to the Sahara? – Turning the frozen wheel seems to transport one in space and time.
What happened to Ben between December 2004 and October 2005? – This is curious. Apparently no time passed for Ben after turning the frozen wheel, but he was thrown forward in time.
How can the doctor be fine if his body just washed up? – Because the island and the freighter aren’t on the same “time,” the doctor’s death happened at two different places in two different timelines.
As of this flashforward, has Jack found out that he’s Aaron’s uncle? – Yes, he finds out at his father’s funeral.
What is the secondary protocol? – Head to The Orchid, since that’s where Ben’s going.
What’s the nature of the device strapped to Keamy? – It’s a dead man’s trigger.
How can one move the island? – By turning the frozen wheel.
Who’s Jeremy Bentham? – We can infer that Jeremy Bentham is an alias Locke adopted after somehow and for some reason leaving the island.
Still Unanswered:
Why doesn’t technology work on the island?
“Where are we?”
Why did the thing in the jungle let Locke live, and why does he lie about it?
Where’s Christian’s body?
Is the Christian on-island a ghost, a resurrected Christian, or something else entirely?
What does Locke mean when he says that he’s “looked into the eye of this island, and it’s beautiful”?
What is the source of the mysterious whispers?
What does Claire’s dream/nightmare mean?
Why can’t anyone else raise Claire’s baby?
Did the psychic know that Flight 815 was going to crash?
Why are the tides rising so quickly?
Why has the monster been quiet the last few weeks?
Why is Michael “holding on” – for Walt or for himself?
Did Walt somehow cause the Bronze Kahuku to crash into the window?
Is Claire’s black rock the same as Rousseau’s black rock?
What was the Tampa Job that Sawyer and Hibbs worked?
Did Sawyer ever get revenge on Hibbs for using him?
What’s the significance of The Numbers?
Why does “using” The Numbers lead to problems?
Who’s been broadcasting The Numbers from the island?
Why did the island take away Locke’s ability to walk?
I think this one is between the lines, especially in light of the fifth season’s events: Did Shannon miss, or did the island save Locke?
Was it Walt’s thoughts on the hatch that spurred his change of heart vis-à-vis leaving the island?
Why did Montand lose his arm?
What infected Rousseau’s team?
What makes Rousseau claim the monster is a security system?
How did The Black Rock get all the way inland?
Michael said it best: “How the hell does a place this big never get discovered?”
Why isn’t Locke afraid of the smoke monster?
Where did the smoke monster try to take Locke?
What did Shannon see in the jungle – Walt or something else?
What’s the significance of the mural in the hatch?
Why would Desmond think that the world doesn’t exist anymore?
What will the other five DHARMA orientation videos show? – One (The Pearl) shows that the stations are under surveillance. The Orchid demonstrates the time travel potential at that station.
What happened in the “incident”?
Why the numbers – why do those get entered into the computer?
How did Rose know that Bernard is fine?
Who is Jae Lee’s American woman?
Why is Shannon seeing visions of Walt?
What is the function of The Arrow station?
Who claimed that the island was under quarantine, and why?
Who does the glass eye belong to?
Where did the U.S. Army knife come from?
Where did the mysterious black horse come from?
Are the ghosts that Kate is seeing connected to the “ghost” of Walt that Sayid saw?
Are the odd things around Kate – Sawyer as Wayne, the black horse – ghosts, guilt, the smoke monster, or something else?
How could communication with the outside world lead to another incident?
Does Eko have a soul?
Why didn’t the smoke monster attack Eko?
What does Sawyer owe Gordy?
Why are transmissions coming in from 1944?
Why is Rousseau so convinced that Henry Gale is one of The Others?
What’s the significance of the hieroglyphics?
What was The Staff’s original function?
Why do The Others pretend to be all grizzly?
I think it’s also fair to ask whether Dave was Hurley’s imagination or “the island” just messing with him.
Did “Henry” press the button?
How does the island heal people?
Is Richard Malkin genuinely a psychic or not?
Who salted the question mark?
Why did the orientation film presenter use a different name – Mark Wickmund instead of Marvin Candle? (Add Edgar Halliwax to this list.)
Why did Locke have to come to the Pearl?
Why did Ms. Klugh choose the four survivors that she did?
Why was Desmond dishonorably discharged from the army?
Why couldn’t Desmond leave the island?
Why is Libby’s hair different in each flashback?
Who was Libby married to? David, but David who?
What’s the story behind the Hurley bird?
What’s the deal with the four-toed statue?
How did Inman get from Iraq to the island?
Who is Radzinsky?
Why would Radzinsky edit the video?
Why did Radzinsky kill himself?
Why did Kelvin leave the army?
Why does Ben treat Kate so differently?
Were Sarah and Christian having an affair?
What’s The Others’ endgame?
What’s the point of having Sawyer and Kate break rocks?
Who are the Dharma skeletons in the bear cave?
Why was the smoke monster following Eko?
If that wasn’t Yemi, who was it?
Why did the smoke monster kill Eko?
Who’s on Jacob’s list, and how does it differ from Ms. Klugh’s list?
Why isn’t Jack on Jacob’s list?
Why is Ben claiming to be Alex’s father?
Was there something supernatural at play when Juliet’s husband was hit by a bus?
How does Mrs. Hawking know everything?
Is Mrs. Hawking real?
Is Achara’s gift metaphorical or supernatural?
Why has Cindy joined The Others?
How does Karl not know about The Brady Bunch?
What’s the significance of Juliet’s mark?
What do Jack’s tattoos “mean”?
Where’d the dart in the jungle come from?
What is the nature of the truce that Mikhail mentions?
What did Ms. Klugh know that she didn’t want the survivors to know?
Will the homing pigeon plan work?
What is Richard Alpert’s role with The Others?
Why did the smoke monster shoot Juliet with white light?
What happened the other three times Juliet’s shoulder was dislocated?
Why doesn’t Ben want anyone leaving the island?
How can Jacob cure cancer?
Why is Ben so hooked on Juliet?
What happened with Sayid in Basra?
Why is the room in The Staff hidden?
What about the island increases sperm count?
How did The Others know to be waiting for Locke?
Why did The Black Rock come to the island?
How did Ben see his mother in the jungle?
What’s the significance of the white ash around Jacob’s cabin?
Why is Richard so interested in Ben’s vision of a dead person?
Was Jacob really in the cabin?
What happened to Annie?
What was The Looking Glass’s original function?
What happened to Mikhail’s eye?
What’s with the vision of Walt?
Why weren’t Jack and Kate supposed to leave? That is, why do they have to go back?
What happened to the island after they left?
How can Jacob’s cabin move?
What’s up with the visions of Charlie?
Who is the woman with Daniel?
Why was Daniel so upset about 815?
If the freighter mission is to apprehend Ben, why do they need scientists and ghost whisperers?
Who is R.G.?
Why did the beacon have a lag time before landing on the island?
Who is the economist?
Why is it important that Frank stay on the exact same bearing to leave the island?
Who is on Ben’s list?
Why is Miles willing to lie about Ben?
Why does Miles want $3.2 million on the nose?
Why does the island only displace some people and not others?
Who’s Eloise?
How did Harper appear seemingly at will?
Who does Juliet “look just like”?
How does Widmore know about the island?
How does Charlotte know about The Purge?
Was it just a guilty dream, or did the island really manifest Libby to Michael?
How did Nadia die?
What’s this business about rules?
Just how far back do Ben and Widmore go?
Why was Jack allowed to fall ill?
Why is Miles so interested in Claire?
What actually powers the locations on the island?
Who was Kate on the phone with?
What promise did Kate make to Sawyer?
Why would Claire so willingly abandon Aaron?
How did Richard Alpert know when Locke was going to be born?
What was Richard’s test supposed to prove about Locke?
Which items “already” belonged to Locke?
Who led The Others before Ben?
What was Matthew Abaddon’s miracle?
Will Locke and Abaddon ever meet up again?
Was that really Claire in the cabin?
Sun blames her father for Jin’s death, but she blames one other, unnamed person – who?
How does Widmore know about The Orchid?
When was Charlotte on the island before that she’d want to come back?
Can The Orchid really time-travel bunnies, or was Ben just yanking our chain?
What did Sawyer whisper to Kate?
Where is Sayid taking Hurley?
Is Jin really dead?
What “common interests” do Widmore and Sun have?
How does Ben know about the frozen wheel?
Why can someone who moves the island not return?
Where did the island go?
Why the sudden reversal of position on Aaron being raised by someone other than Claire?
Why didn’t Claire have her normal accent in Kate’s dream?
We can assume that Desmond stays with Penny, but how does Frank fit into the story the Oceanic 6 sell?
Will Jack and Frank ever see each other again?
What bad things happened after the Oceanic 6 left the island?
Title’s significance: Wizard of Oz reference (not the first).
Recap: Upon finding the helicopter’s sat phone, Jack aims to lead a group to The Orchid, which terrifies Daniel. Sawyer (with baby Aaron) and Miles encounter Jack and Kate en route, and Sawyer rubs in a little “Locke was right all along” before Jack decides to take off alone; Sawyer will have none of it. Via mirror Morse code, Ben sends a message to The Others as Daniel begins to ferry survivors off the island. At The Orchid – the location from which the island can be moved – Ben realizes he’s arrived too late; Desmond gets the freighter engines running again, but there’s some RF interference preventing the boat from monitoring the reef. Jack and Sawyer rescue Frank, who cautions a bad moon rising. Sun and Jin meet Michael on the freighter, but their reunion is cut short when Desmond discovers gobs of C-4 in the engine room. Sayid and Kate find that they’re being followed by Richard Alpert, and Ben surrenders himself to Keamy’s mercenaries.
Jack catches up with Locke at The Orchid as Desmond, Jin, and Michael examine the C-4, which they learn is connected to a radio receiver. Keamy brings Ben to the helicopter, but his people are attacked by Kate, Sayid, and The Others as Richard Alpert shoots Keamy. Locke asks Jack to stay on the island, but when Jack refuses Locke tells him he’ll have to lie as Ben returns to The Orchid; Richard gives the 815ers the helicopter. Ben gives Locke the Orchid orientation video, which suggests the station is capable of time travel; the elevator reactivates, though, and not-quite-dead Keamy joins them down in the station. Despite knowing that Keamy’s attached to a dead man’s trigger, Ben stabs Keamy to death without a care for the fate of those on the freighter; Daniel and Charlotte exchange intimate words about leaving the island, and Charlotte decides to stay. A fuel leak on the helicopter forces Sawyer to jump out in order to save everyone else aboard.
Locke rushes to save Keamy, who promises that Widmore will find Ben no matter what; unintimidated, Ben promises to find Widmore first as Keamy dies. When the C-4 gets the signal of Keamy’s death, Michael sends Desmond and Jin to get everyone off the boat. After refueling, the helicopter departs the freighter with “The Oceanic 6” aboard; Christian visits Michael and tells him, “You can go now,” as the freighter explodes – with Jin still aboard. Sawyer washes ashore and finds Juliet mourning the loss of the freighter. After blowing a hole in the Orchid test chamber, Ben apologizes to Locke for “making your life so miserable” and descends down to a hidden chamber where he finds a frozen wheel. Locke returns to Richard and The Others, who welcome him “home” as Ben turns the frozen wheel, muttering “I hope you’re happy now, Jacob” and making the island disappear from sight; with no place to land now, Frank’s helicopter crashes into the ocean, and the Oceanic 6 (plus Desmond and Frank) make it to their life raft. Soon the raft is discovered, and Jack realizes that Locke was right – they have to lie about their experiences. The boat that rescues them is actually Penny’s boat – The Searcher – this time, and Desmond promises never to leave her; he introduces the Oceanic 6 to Penny, and they devise a plan to hide the truth about their experience. They take the life raft to Membata and await their actual rescue.
In the flashforwards, the Oceanic 6 land in Hawaii and agree to speak to reporters after being greeted by their loved ones. The Oceanic 6 sell a story to reporters about washing up on Membata in the Sumatran Islands, and Sayid is finally reunited with Nadia. Baby Bump Sun (variant action figure) buys out her father, blaming him for Jin’s death, and Hurley’s folks throw a surprise birthday party for him. At Christian’s funeral, Jack meets Claire’s mother, who comes clean about Claire’s parentage. We revisit the Season Three flashforward, in which we learn someone named Jeremy Bentham is trying to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Walt comes to visit Hurley in the institution and asks why the Oceanic 6 are lying; shortly thereafter, Sayid kills a man outside Santa Rosa and busts Hurley out with the news that Jeremy Bentham is dead of a suicide. Sun visits Widmore and tells him that they have “common interests.” Later, Kate dreams of Claire, who tells her not to bring Aaron back to the island. Jack breaks into the funeral parlor, but Ben’s already there waiting for him; he tells Jack that he has a plan and that all of them have to return to the island, even the man in the coffin – John Locke.
Thoughts: Damon & Carlton return, and boy do they return. This was a three-hour tour de force, closing the stories of the freighter and the Oceanic 6 but opening up about eight billion new storylines. I really wish I could have watched it all in one sitting, but the thing was three hours long as it is. The thing I really loved about this episode is how the action never really seemed to let up and how the whole affair had a dire sense of urgency about it. While sealing a lot of storylines (I feel like I write this for every finale), there’s a whole new set of questions just waiting to be answered, but this is for sure one of LOST’s finest hours and may even make this season my favorite of all.
Favorite moment: For the first part, Hurley tears into the Dharma crackers as Ben remarks, “You know those are fifteen years old?” (That, or Hurley’s mom reminding him that “Jesus Christ is not a weapon.”) As for the second part, it’s Rose sassing Miles about the peanuts – “I’m gonna keep my eye on you, shorty.” Or Ben’s simple response when Locke informs him that he’s just doomed everyone on the freighter – “So?” Of course, the last second reveal that Locke is in the coffin pretty much knocks the episode out of the park.
Characters introduced (in order):
KAREN DECKER, Oceanic representative
What we learned:
Aaron is considered part of the Oceanic 6.
The Orchid is a Dharma greenhouse doubling as an experiment site for space and time.
The Oceanic 6 story involves washing up on Membata, claiming that Jin died on the plane, that Aaron is Kate’s son, and that there are no other survivors.
Moving the island is “a measure of last resort.”
Sun now owns Paik Industries.
Ben knows how Widmore knows about the island, but he isn’t telling.
Claire’s mom is out of her coma.
Jack learned about Claire’s parentage at his – their – father’s funeral.
Aaron is the person that is waiting for Kate.
According to Miles, Charlotte was on the island before.
The Orchid is built over a cache of negatively-charged exotic matter.
The Orchid time-traveled bunnies.
Keamy’s device monitors his heart-rate and is connected to the C-4 transmitter.
Charlotte implies she was born on the island.
Michael’s work is finished – he dies saving the people on the freighter.
“Whoever moves the island can never come back.”
Ben was transported to Tunisia after moving the frozen wheel.
Penny rescues the Oceanic 6.
John Locke is the man in the coffin.
Questions:
Sun blames her father for Jin’s death, but she blames one other, unnamed person – who?
How does Widmore know about The Orchid?
Who’s Jeremy Bentham?
When was Charlotte on the island before that she’d want to come back?
Can The Orchid really time-travel bunnies, or was Ben just yanking our chain?
What did Sawyer whisper to Kate?
Where is Sayid taking Hurley?
Is Jin really dead?
What “common interests” do Widmore and Sun have?
How does Ben know about the frozen wheel?
Why can someone who moves the island not return?
Where did the island go?
Why the sudden reversal of position on Aaron being raised by someone other than Claire?
Why didn’t Claire have her normal accent in Kate’s dream?
We can assume that Desmond stays with Penny, but how does Frank fit into the story the Oceanic 6 sell?
Will Jack and Frank ever see each other again?
What bad things happened after the Oceanic 6 left the island?
How did Locke get off the island?
How did Locke die?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
Jack hasn’t met Claire since he found out about their relationship. How’s that going to work?
Christian appears in this episode to tell Michael that his work is done. Noting the fact that Christian wears two different outfits at different times, are there “different” Christians, and if so are they on opposing sides? What exactly IS Christian’s function – is he a mouthpiece for Jacob, the island, or someone else?
By the end of the episode, Locke is calling the camp of The Others “home.” Special, chosen, or manipulated?
Title’s significance: Get it? Like Jacob’s cabin! Except we might also connect it to Captain Gault’s theory about his boaters having extreme cabin fever, if we want to ascribe Keamy’s irrational behavior to that and not to him just being bonkers.
Recap: Flashbacks remind us that Locke is special – so special, in fact, that Richard Alpert visited him several times, at his premature birth and during his childhood, administering a curious test which Locke seems to have failed; after being paralyzed, Locke was visited by Matthew Abaddon, who encouraged him to go on a walkabout and promised to see him again. On island, Locke, Ben, and Hurley argue over who knows where Jacob’s cabin is. Keamy returns to the freighter, pissed that Freighter Prisoner Michael (variant action figure) sold him out and even more pissed that he can’t seem to kill Michael. Locke dreams of Horace Goodspeed, stuck on a loop in the jungle; following his dream, Locke goes to the mass Dharma grave, reveals the truth about it to Hurley, and finds a map to the cabin. Meanwhile, Keamy accesses the secondary protocol while Sayid convinces Gault to assist a rescue mission; Frank frees Michael as Sayid returns to the island (Desmond stays behind). When Frank refuses to fly Keamy back, Keamy kills the doctor and Gault, convincing Frank to assent, but on the way Frank drops a pack with a tracker in it, which the survivors promptly find. At Jacob’s cabin, Ben finally concedes that Locke is the new chosen one, so he and Hurley wait outside while Locke enters; inside, he encounters Christian, who’s chilling with Claire and who tells Locke that he needs to move the island to save it.
Thoughts: Locke-centric episodes are almost always my favorites, and even though this one wasn’t written by Damon & Carlton (where were they this season?) I really enjoyed it nonetheless. This is due in large part to being one of the better “get our characters into place” episodes, but it’s also because this episode joined my three favorite characters together and revealed that they’re like a highly dysfunctional and distrustful family. And if I were to make a DVD of “Ten Episodes that Prove that Locke is The Chosen One,” this would make the list for sure. Episodes like this one make me want to stay up until three in the morning watching LOST.
Favorite moment: Ben shrugs off shooting Locke, saying, “I really wasn’t thinking clearly.” That, or Hurley sharing his candy bar with Ben. Probably that one. It's such an odd moment, but it's so striking since the most evil character on the show is sharing something with the most genial one; it's also brilliantly acted by Michael Emerson, who's the undisputed king of pregnant pauses.
Characters introduced (in order):
MRS. LOCKE, Locke’s grandmother
MR. GELLERT, Locke’s science teacher
What we learned:
Locke was born three months premature.
Horace built Jacob’s cabin.
At one time, Ben had dreams that gave him guidance, but now Locke is having those dreams.
Baby Locke was invincible.
Locke drew a picture of the smoke monster when he was a child.
Ben didn’t decide to initiate The Purge; their leader did.
It was Abaddon’s idea (perhaps Widmore’s) for Locke to go on a walkabout.
Abaddon went on a walkabout once.
Keamy kills/killed Doctor Ray and Captain Gault.
Christian is not Jacob, but he can speak for him.
Questions:
How did Richard Alpert know when Locke was going to be born?
What was Richard’s test supposed to prove about Locke?
Which items “already” belonged to Locke?
Who led The Others before Ben?
What is the secondary protocol?
What’s the nature of the device strapped to Keamy?
What was Matthew Abaddon’s miracle?
Will Locke and Abaddon ever meet up again?
How can one move the island?
Was that really Claire in the cabin?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
Richard remarks of Locke’s dexterity at backgammon, “You seem to know the game pretty well.” Knowing that backgammon on the show is already a symbol of good and evil, just how in tune with the whole good/evil battle is Locke, and which side is he on?
“There are consequences to being chosen... because destiny is a fickle bitch.”
