LOST Season 5 Episode 13 - Some Like it Hoth

Dead People, Ice Planets and Polar Bears...OH MY! Put them all together and you can get an idea of what happened on ABC's LOST this week! Hello LOSTIES and welcome back! Any crazed science fiction fan out there knew that once our LOST Crew was placed in 1977, that SOME homage would have to be paid to Star Wars. Co-Creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof initially bonded over a Star Wars t-shirt that Damon was wearing on the day they met. (I'm not a freak, watch the extras on the season 1 DVD! Okay, maybe I'm a freak for knowing that.) Of course, what you may not have known was that the idea for LOST was spawned from that initial meeting of the minds. Until now, Sawyer has rambled off various Star Wars nicknames here and there throughout the seasons, even exact phrases from the movies. But 1977 was a magical year for Science Fiction as STAR WARS came into our lives forever (well some of your lives, I didn't come around until the year after!). So how better to salute the wonderful movie franchise than to uncover yet another CHARACTER with some crazy Daddy issues? (The debate on the prequels and how they may or may not have ruined the franchise should be put on the back burner for now! Hurley is just worried about getting rid of the EWOKS at this point! Original Trilogy Baggage)

That's right, Miles Straum finally takes center stage after the strike-shortened season 4 postponed our Freighter folk's backstories to this year. What we ended up with was a fun little adventure for Miles and Hurley, the ongoing collapse of Sawyer and crew's DHARMA cover, and more plot movement and setup for what is seeming to be the FINAL CONFLICT on LOST Island. What lies in the shadow of the statue anyway? Sounds like it might not just be an expression! Anyway, let's not waste any more time folks. Time to dive into another WOW-worthy episode of a WOW-TASTIC season of LOST!

Miles - The Flashback Story

So before we even saw this episode, we had speculated that Miles was the baby that we saw in the season premiere with Dr. Pierre Chang (Marvin Candle, Edgar Hallowax, Marc Wickmund, etc...). We also got a glimpse of Chang's wife in the season premiere, so anyone with a good memory (or that has watched the episodes a few times) probably would have made the connection in the opening scene of this episode that Miles is the son of Dr. Chang, and that he and his mother left the island when he was a little boy or maybe even an infant (hence him not remembering living there). We see Miles discover his supernatural abilities as a boy, and him question them as he grew up. As an adult, he exploited them to earn a living (which we saw in his initial flashback scene in season 4). We also learn how and why he was recruited for the freighter and some other interesting things along the way. Here are some highlights from the flashbacks.

• The clock in the beginning of the episode said 3:16. An obvious allusion to Ajira Flight 316 as well as the bible verse John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" But we discussed all of that fun stuff in the episode titled "316" anyway! Bottom line? The writers have new numbers to mess around with and they're not afraid to flaunt them in our face!


• Did that apartment complex look like the one from the Karate Kid or is it just me? (probably just me!)


• Little kid Miles had his first encounter with a dead person at the apartment. He "sensed" that the key to the dead man's room was under a white stone rabbit. (white rabbit anyone?)


• Kind creepy stuff when Miles said that the dead guy was still talking to him and that he can hear him. Also weird that present day Miles (located in the past) told Hurley he doesn't have conversations with the Dead, he feels them! But we'll get there later! As we have seen before, Miles was able to determine how the man died.


• Later in life, perhaps his late teens/early 20's, Miles returns home to visit his dying mother. Looked like cancer. He asked his mother why he is the way he is and why she never talked about his father. She said that his father is dead and that Chang kicked them out when Miles was a baby. Miles wanted to know where the body was so he could find out for himself. She alluded that it's on the island. Hmmm, so did Chang REALLY die when they said he died? It would seem that he made more films after the INCIDENT at the Swan Station which has not happened yet in 1977. I'm guessing we may see the events of baby Miles play out in the present day. And this is probably a good time to bring up that crazy video from Comic-Con last summer with Dr. Chang. It seems very possible that whatever THAT is about may be why he got his wife and son OFF of the island. Let's not forget that we here Daniel Faraday's voice in the video. And why does Chang bring up the "PURGE" with it being 30 years earlier? The purge doesn't happen until 1992! Anyway, I'd expect to see more of this before the end of the season.
  
  
  
  


• Years later, not long before the freighter trip, we see Miles as a professional "GHOSTBUSTER" or helping loved ones be at peace. He's a con-man. He tells them what they want to hear and gets their money. Of course, the 2 times we have seen him collect money, both times he eventually returns it. Miles mentions that he needs to see a body. When the father of slain son tells Miles the football star was cremated and spread over the football field, Miles mentions that may not work. What does this say about the time that Miles talked to the GHOST in the season 4 flashback when he was just in the boy's bedroom? There was no body there that we knew about.
  
• Anyway we get to see Naomi again. The girl from the freighter who first parachuted onto the island with Desmond's picture, told the LOSTIES that everyone thought they were dead, and ended up getting killed by Locke with a knife thrown into her back. Apparently Widmore (we can assume it's him I would think!) has been following Miles' work and thought he might be useful in extracting BEN from the island. There are lots of dead bodies on the island and they thought Miles could communicate with them to find him as Ben was involved with the DHARMA purge. I'm sure Widmore failed to mention that HE ordered the purge!
  
• Naomi takes Miles to a dead body for his audition. Miles finds out that the dead man was Felix and he was delivering papers, photos and pictures of empty graves and a purchase order for an old airplane to Charles Widmore. Hmmm, when I first watched the scene I just assumed this confirmed that Widmore DID set up the fake flight 815 on the bottom of the ocean. But now thinking about the episode from last season "Meet Kevin Johnson" when Michael talked to Tom aka Mr. Friendly "off-island," I remembered that Tom was in possession of papers, photos and pictures of empty graves and a purchase order for an old airplane. Hmmmmmm did Tom kill Felix and steal all of this documentation that he showed to Michael? Was Felix doing RECON work for Widmore or was he delivering receipts of what Widmore purchased? Yikes, maybe I'm overthinking this, but I don't think we proved either way who set up the fake flight. Correct me if I'm wrong!
  
• Naomi mentions that Widmore is offering $1.6 Million to Miles to help them extract "mass-murderer" Ben from the island. Anyone doing the math could have multiplied this by 2 and got $3.2 Million, a number that Miles asks Ben for in season 4 when he told Ben he knew who he was and that he could get that kind of money.
  
• At another point before his trip on the freighter, Miles was kidnapped in a VAN by none-other than a man we really just started to get to know last week. His name? BRAM. Where did we see him last? Holding a gun to Frank Lapidus on Hydra Island in 2007 and working with Ilana. He tries to get Miles to work on HIS side (i.e. not Widmore's side) and to not get on the boat. He asked Miles if he knew "what lies in the shadow of the statue" which he didn't naturally. Bram said that this meant he is not ready to go to the island. Bram promised answers to Miles if he went with him. Why he has a gift, who he is, etc... Bram also promised information on Miles' father. Miles continues a running theme for the episode that he stopped caring for his father and that he just wants money. DOUBLE what Widmore is offering. DUM DUM DUMMMMM
  
  
• There's your 3.2 million folks! So what can we conclude here? Well we can't say officially that Bram and Ben are on the same side, although it seems likely. We can probably confirm that Miles THINKS they are on the same side when he asks Ben for the $3.2 million.
  
• Anyway, Bram refuses to pay the money and says that Miles will never fill that hole inside of him, and that he's playing for the wrong team. Bram says he is on the team that is going to win. Okay, so is this the WAR that Widmore spoke of to John Locke? Is it truly a Ben vs. Widmore battle? Or are Bram and Ilana part of some new faction and threat to the island? Is this the small chess moves being made to set up the grand battle for the island in season 6? Will this Bram guy be a major player? If Ben is in cahoots with these people, does that mean that Ben has left the island and created a life for himself OFF of the island as well? Pictures, passports and foreign money in season 4 all point to the fact that he has. We also know that he was in Tunisia at some point in time before his 2005 stint too. Somehow Ben and Charles Widmore were able to make boatloads of money off of the island while living ON the island for a large portion of their lives. Very interesting indeed! Anyway I'm rambling here!
  
• As I mentioned earlier Miles returned to Football Dad to give back his money. It was more of Miles' father issues coming to play. The dad wanted to know if his son knew he loved him. Miles told the father that he lied earlier and it wasn't fair to the dead son. The father should have told him when he was alive. OUCH! Hopefully, Miles and Chang will have that bonding moment he so desperately needs!

1977

Things Falling Apart in DHARMAVILLE

So outside of Miles' story, we had a follow-up to what has been going on in DHARMAVILLE since Ben was taken by Sawyer and Kate to The Others. Sawyer and Kate have returned and try to cover up where they have been. Roger starts to get suspicious over some things Kate says and does. Jack tries to clean it up. And by the end of the episode Sawyer finds himself in a pickle with Phil! Here are the things worth noting from this storyline.

• While Sawyer and Kate are re-entering the sonic fence area of the barracks , Sawyer contacts Miles over the walkie talkie and asks him to get rid of the security tape of them coming back. (hmmmm why not dispose of the one of them leaving too? unless it's on the same tape) Miles was catching up on some old sporting news as you see Tommy Lasorda was just hired as the coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Insert your Grey's Sports Almanac theories now (Back to the Future II for you untrained out there! Marty buys an almanac from the future in hopes he can bet on games in the past and make some dough and all hell breaks loose!)
  


• Sawyer sends Kate to talk to Juliet and find out if anyone has been wondering what happened to Ben. Meanwhile, Sawyer leaves the premises again to look for Sayid.


• Kate finds Juliet at the infirmary and updates her on the situation. She thanks Juliet for sending Sawyer to help. And then Roger comes in to spoil the fun as he is looking for Ben. He flips out! Seriously, Juliet didn't come up with a better excuse in all the time that Kate and Sawyer were gone than "I'm sorry, I was gone for 10 minutes and when I came back he wasn't here"? Yikes. I don't blame Roger for flipping out! Roger says he's going to contact security. Juliet feels like the jig might be up!


• Next we see Roger drinking some DHARMA beer (his favorite pasttime) on the swingset. Kate tries to help the situation by calming him down. Kate keeps explaining that things are going to work out. She just has a feeling. Tells him not to give up hope as she opens up her own can of DHARMA beer. Roger starts getting suspicious of Kate, thinking she knows what happened to Ben. She seems to be getting OVER-interested in Ben.


• Jack tries to cover for Roger's janitor duties by cleaning up the DHARMA classroom. Roger knows that Jack was "recruited" at the same time as Kate and asks what he knows about her. He tells Jack about about his suspicions about Kate giving blood for Ben, telling him about her "feeling that Ben will be alright." Roger talks about reporting her to Horace. Jack, seemed to come a little out of his "I'm not going to do anything" mode by trying to steer Roger off of the path. Jack tells Roger that he's drunk and getting some crazy ideas, that he knows Kate and she wouldn't do anything to hurt Ben (at least not CHILD Ben!). This seems to calm Roger down for now.


• If you take a closer look at the chalk board that Jack is erasing you will see some Egyptian scribblings on the board. Looks like DHARMA is getting into the whole Egyptian symbolism too, eh? Pretty good timing with the creation of that SWAN Hatch and the CLOCK that counts down to the end of the world! (you know, the clock that when the timer hits zero, a bunch of Egyptian Hieroglyphics come up?) Not sure where to go with all of that, but it does make me think that there is something more to DHARMA's interest in the Egyptian ties of the island.
  


• Sawyer returns home that night to find that Jack is having some coffee with Juliet. Jack came to fill in Sawyer on the "Kate" situation from the day, that her heart was in the right place and that he tried to diffuse the situation. Sawyer gets a little flustered at the situation but then recognizes Jack's efforts to be a team player and thanks him.
  
• And of course, as Jack leaves the house and Sawyer walks outside to breath in some of that fresh DHARMA air, Phil arrives with some interesting news. He figured out who stole Ben. SAWYER himself! But he came to the Head of Security whom he's worked with for 3 years hoping there was a logical explanation for all of it. And the Sawyer does what we all have wanted to do, KNOCKS that punk out! Sawyer tells Juliet to get some rope. Ohhhh boy, this isn't going to be good. Mr. LaFleur's cover story has about run its course. Can't wait to find out what happens!

Miles and Hurley's Secret "Circle of Trust" Mission
With Sawyer being absent "looking for the escaped prisoner" Horace asks Miles to become part of the "Circle of Trust" and entrusts Miles with a SOLO mission to deliver a package to Radzinsky. Miles will then return with a package that needs to be delivered to Pierre Chang at the Orchid. Hurley gets mixed up in the adventure and comedy ensues! And of course, some juicy reveals occur along the way. Here is what went down:

• Horace asks Miles to take the package to grid 334 and bring back Radzinsky's package with no questions asked. Grid 334 is HOSTILE territory. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put the clues together here! Radzinsky has been discussing plans for the Swan station since we first met him. We know they are trying to keep it a secret from the Hostiles. We also knew that the first hatch our LOSTIES discovered in 2004 was very far from all of the other DHARMA stations. But it is exciting nonetheless that we are witnessing the creation of the legendary SWAN station!
  
• It turns out what Miles brought to gun-toting whiny Radzinsky was a body bag to put a, you guessed it, dead body into (package #2 for Miles to return). It looked like we had a man shot in the head, but that was not the case! Miles talks to the dead guy and eventually we find out that the man's name was Alvarez and and that his fillings shot up from his tooth and blowing through his brain, killing him. Remember back in season 2 when Desmond told Jack every time he walked by the CONCRETE wall in the hatch that his fillings hurt? (I love how we all used to think that crazy Scotsman was telling us that his "feelings" hurt!) Electromagnetism folks!


• When Miles returns, Horace is on the phone with Pierre Chang. He mentions that if the death was caused by electromagnetism they need to know. Horace asks Miles to bring the body to Chang at the Orchid. Miles hesitated, most likely because he didn't want to interact with his father. (at this point in the episode it had not been officially revealed yet though)


• Meanwhile, Hurley started loading up Miles' van with sandwiches, complete with Hurley's garlic mayo, for the Orchid workers. He figured that he would go WITH Miles to the Orchid. Naturally, Miles couldn't figure out how to explain to Hurley that he needed to go by himself. So, Hurley and Miles team up for another comedic adventure! You gotta love Hurley's line about carpooling "It will help with global warming which hasn't happened yet. Maybe it will prevent it!" You really just gotta love Hurley. He had some classic lines in this episode which I will try to unveil to you as we go along!


• On the journey, Hurley is writing in a notebook and asks how to spell "Bounty Hunter." Anyone that recognized the episode title of HOTH had to make the immediate connection to The Empire Strikes Back, but we will hold off for the big reveal!
  
• Hurley smells something in the van and suspects Miles for some gas passing. Miles claims it's Hurley's garlic-mayo. But Hurley finds the dead body. "There's a body bag with a dead body in it!" Miles explains how the guy died. And the Hurley suspects that Miles can talk to dead people because "so can he."


• Miles is intrigued by Hurley's comment and asks him more about it. They have conversations? Hurley says yes, that he actually sees them and that he sometimes plays chess with them (Mr. Eko last season). Miles says that is not how his "POWER" works. He doesn't chat with ghosts, he feels them. When they die their brain stops functioning there is just who they were and what they knew before they died. This confuses me again with the flashback scene we saw with Miles last season where he talked to the boy, asked him some questions and then something fell over in the boy's bedroom as if he was actually there. I guess he may still have just sensed the boy's presence, but something isn't really tying up there! Again, gotta love Hurley's line "you're just jealous that my power is better than yours!"
  
• They arrive at the Orchid. Chang is not happy about Hurley being around for the trip. Hurley mentions he won't talk about the body. Chang threatens him with the worst job on the island, even worse than a cook. "I like being a cook!" (I'm telling you, classic lines all over the place!) That would be cleaning up the "turds" from the Polar Bears on Hydra Island. Ahhh, you gotta love the mentioning of Polar Bears in the same episode that has the Ice Planet "HOTH" in the title! Of course, this is the first time we officially confirmed that the BEARS in the cages on Hydra Island were indeed POLAR Bears. We had assumed with 99% certainty, but here's the 1% if anyone was still doubting! The same Polar Bears that learned how to work machines and feed themselves food. Maybe the same polar bears that were released onto the main island, found the caves (where one took Mr. Eko) and through the underground cave system, found their way to the colder dwellings. Perhaps even arriving to where the donkey wheel was and figured out how to turn THAT bad boy and end up in Tunisia! (Can't take credit for that one folks! Got that from a COMMENTER on the Gather site where I post the blog too! Brilliant idea though!)
  
• The body is brought inside the Orchid. Hmmmm, are they going to transport the body through TIME? Chang requests Miles to stay until he returns. Hurley starts calling Chang some bad names. Miles confirms that Pierre Chang is indeed his father.
  
• Hurley goes on a rant about Miles' dad being the dude from all of the "movies" (DHARMA Films). And he asks Miles why he changes his name for every video. Miles seems to know why because he said that he didn't want to talk about it. But how did he know it was his dad? He got in line behind his mother at the cafeteria. Nice! Hurley asks about the purge and shouldn't Miles say something? Miles says that he can't change anything so why bother? Hmmmm, maybe Miles DOES tell Chang about the Purge which makes him think the purge is imminent (see video above) even though it doesn't happen for years to come. Of course with Daniel talking on the video, it could be HIM that reveals this information.
  
• Chang tells Miles to take him to Radzinsky at the work site. He looks at Hurley and says if he utters one word "Polar Bear Poop, got it!" Miles asked what happened to the body, Chang simply responds "What body?" which makes me think they disposed of it indefinitely. Which makes me think they transported it to another place and time. But I dunno. Maybe I am overthinking again!
  
• The journey from Orchid to Swan was filled with classic Hurley moments as he tried to bond the long-lost Father and Son. Gotta love how he went from asking what he does at the Orchid (classified) to asking if he has told his wife or KIDS about it. Then asking what his 3 month old's name was. "Small world! That's your name too, right Miles?" Then the whole Jazz (Miles Davis) discussion was great where we find out that his wife likes jazz where he prefers country (proven by the Willie Nelson song playing in the season premiere). Hurley then tries to encourage them all to go out for a beer together sometime and get to know each other.
  
• They arrive at the work-site where we see a camoflauged gate that Chang opens. Miles drives them through to the site. Chang says he will get a ride back with Radzinsky. Hurley wonders what the place is until he sees the infamouse HATCH door and a worker inscribing the "Serial Number" 4-8-15-16-23-42 into it. Niiiiice. Hurley realizes what they are building "the hatch that crashed our plane."
  
  
• Okay, seriously? Miles didn't figure out from Juliet's speech about the hatch during their time flashing days that they were building the Swan hatch here? He knows how to find grid 334 but cannot figure out where the Swan Hatch was going to be? I find that to be a stretch, but whatever! Maybe not everyone can remember the island as well as Charles Widmore and John Locke!
  
• Hurley explains that an accident is going to happen at the hatch (THE INCIDENT!) where they will have to build a computer that you have to push so the world doesn't end. Would be kinda interesting to see how our LOSTIES may be involved in said incident and if it would result in them being moved back to the appropriate TIME ZONE. Afterall, we do know that Desmond traveled through time when he turned the key and made the sky purple!
  
• Hurley tries to force the issue of Miles bonding with his father. He won't be around in the future so you can get to know him now. He was totally down for that beer dude. When Hurley got to the point of Miles holding himself as a baby and changing his own diaper, Miles lost it. He doesn't want to get to know his father. He wasn't around when he was little. He is dead and gone, he never cared about him. Hurley says that he is NOT gone. He's alive in this time.
  
• And then we get to the moment we have been waiting for! Miles steals Hurley's journal and starts to read from it "Exterior Hoth: Little spy robot thingy zips through the atmosphere and crashes onto the snowy planet below. That's when Chewbacca shows up and blasts it away with his crossbow-laser. He shakes his FURY fist into the sky in triumph. Chewbacca: ROOOOWWWWWRRRRRLLLLL" Hurley - "It's furry. Furry fists. I need a spell check" CLASSIC!!! Hurley confesses that he is writing Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars just came out in 1977 and George will be looking for a sequel soon. He has seen Empire 200 times so he thought he would help George out and send him the script with a couple improvements! (if you talk to any Star Wars fan out there, there are definitely things that they would like to change out of George's Bible! George can't get any love from his fans these days.) This was just hysterical.
  
• Miles calls the idea the stupidest he has ever heard. And Hurley drives home the point that at least he's not scared to talk to his own dad. He later gets into the fact that his father left when he was 10 but was given a 2nd chance with him and they are the best of friends now. Miles said that Chang left him when he was a baby and that he never knew him. Then, Hurley compares the situation to Empire Strikes Back. We should be glad that Hugo probably never gets that script to George because he totally recalled the story wrong! He said that Luke found out Darth Vader was his father and instead of putting his light saber away and talking about it, he ended up getting his hand cut off. DUDE, Hurley, he got his hand cut off THEN found out Vader was his father! He goes on to say they worked it out eventually but at what cost? Then he complained about all of the problems with Return of the Jedi: Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett was eaten by the Sarlacc and we got the Ewoks. "It all could have been avoided if they just communicated. Let's face it. Ewoks sucked dude." Best Hurley line ever! Of course, only being 5 when Return of the Jedi came out (and scared to death by Darth Vader), I loved those furry little Ewoks! But yeah, looking back at how live-action teddy bears took down the Empire? Kinda silly!
  
• Hurley then leaves Miles alone with his thoughts. Miles looks into Chang's house and sees him reading to baby Miles and realizing that Chang really DID love him. (note: this also further proves to the naysayers that our LOSTIES can exist in the same time as themselves. I tried to tell you!) Miles begins to cry, acknowledging that he has been holding on to this pain for quite some time. When Chang leaves the house on business he tells Miles that he needs him. It may as well have been Chang telling Miles that he has ALWAYS needed him in his life because he seemed to have an awakening of the opportunity Hurley spoke of all episode.
  
  
• Chang tells Miles that the sub is here from headquarters and that he needs Mile's help bringing them in. They are scientists from Ann Arbor (University of Michigan - where DHARMA founders The DeGroots reside)
  
• When Miles gets to the Sub, a familiar person steps out of it. It's Daniel Faraday! "Hey Miles, Long time no see!"
  
  

BOOM LOST

Woaaaaaaa. Daniel was OFF Island?! Working for DHARMA? What was he doing there? This will answer the ultimate question of if our time travelers leave the Island if they will be in the same time period. Crazy episode of LOST. You had to love all of the Star Wars stuff, but also the information revealed to us with BRAM trying to recruit Miles, Chang being Miles' father, seeing the Swan Hatch being built, watching the LOSTIES' cover story crumble, and having lots of Hurley dialogue! For the final 4 hours (3 weeks) of the season, I suspect it is going to get very intense, just like every other season.

Speculation on the Next New Episode of LOST
(Warning: Potentially Mild Spoilers ahead! Skip if you don't want to know the title of the episode and whose character-centric episode is next!)

• The next episode (in 2 weeks) is entitled "THE VARIABLE." I am guessing it is going to be Daniel's crazy flashback story. Will we find out why he was crying when he saw fake flight 815 at the bottom of the ocean? Will we find out more about his connection to Desmond and his revised thoughts on Time Travel?
• Something that interests me in the title is that last season we had a Time Travel episode called "THE CONSTANT." Anyone who paid attention to science experiments in school know that in every science experiment there needs to be a CONSTANT and a VARIABLE! Something tells me, we may be getting an additional twist to our Time Travel theories.
  

In Closing

That's pretty much all I have for the week. I tried to be less wordy for the episode and think I was successful until I got to the Hurley/Miles section! There is no new episode next week, just one of those crazy recap shows. So, please keep the discussion in the comments going strong for the next couple of weeks. There's always lots to discuss with this crazy show! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always. I will see you in 2 weeks! NAMASTE, and May the Force be with you!


This blog is also posted on Gather.com. Feel free to check it out and send some votes my way! You may also stumble upon additional discussions there!

Special thanks as always to Sledgeweb for providing awesome screen shots on their site.

LOST Season 5 Episode 12 - Dead is Dead

So, what lies in the shadow of the statue? Um I dunno, maybe the 5th toe? Wow, what a crazy episode of LOST! And on top of that, just flat out bizarre! I am sure once the entire show is complete and we look back on "Dead is Dead" everything will make sense. But right now? Ummmm woa.... Of course, the whole episode wasn't that nuts, it was really just those last few minutes. Well there was that and of course everyone's confusion on why Locke is alive again with no real explanation except "I knew it would happen!" But, alas, I nitpick! We got some information in this episode that we have been begging for for several episodes now. So let's not waste another minute pondering over where this falls on the all-time greatest episodes list (we all know "The Constant" is still high on that list!). Let's get into what happened on ABC's LOST this week.

We got another chapter in the saga of Ben. This put us in a unique situation where we could catch up with Ben's 2007 ventures as well as flash back to a point that took place not long after we last left Ben in 1977 (which is present day for some of our other Losties!). It all makes sense in the land of LOST these days! This episode is really a tale of redemption for Ben, much like Eko's in those dreaded first 6 episodes of season 3. Time to dive into the details!

Ben's Flashbacks

1977 - Ben's recovery

We open up tonight's episode with a man on horseback arriving to the Others' camp. I'll spare the suspense. It's Charles Widmore circa 1977! The man is furious with Richard.

• First of all, a HORSE? This is the first horse we've seen on the island since Kate's run-in with the black horse. Speaking of which, what happened to all of those stories where our characters were being haunted by ghosts via animals? Sawyer and the Boar, Kate and the Horse? Hurley and the Hurleybird? (just kidding on the last one)
• Anyway, Charles is mad that Richard brought young Ben into THEIR temple and that Richard should have let Ben die. Ben will later in life talk about how the wall around the temple was built to keep the NON-OTHERS out of it. So what is so special about this Temple? And why aren't they showing us it yet? I'm guessing that will be a season 6 reveal.
• Richard tells Charles he is just a boy and Jacob wanted it done. The Island chooses who the Island chooses. I wonder if this is where Jacob's List comes into play (referenced in season 3. The one Jack isn't on.). Of course, we don't even know if Jacob was ever communicating with Ben, so Ben may have made that list himself.
• Charles seems to accept this logic and goes in to see Ben. We find out for certain that Ben does not remember what happened. But we learn enough to tie events together in Ben's life. He remembers his father and that he wants to be one of the hostiles.
• Charles explains just because he lives with the DHARMA folk doesn't mean that he isn't one of them. This ties up the fact that Ben was still living with the DHARMA crew and working with his father right before the purge in 1992. The funny thing is, before tonight I never questioned the fact that Rousseau had Alex 16 years before 2004 and the Purge happened 12 years before 2004 and the fact that Alex was taken as a child and raised by Ben. I should have been questioning it, but it never really crossed my mind.
  
  Speaking of Alex...

Baby Issues
We see an older Ben and a young boy Ethan at Rousseau's camp. Ben was charged with killing Rousseau by Charles Widmore.

Here is what transpired:

• The heartless boy Ethan explains to Ben that he would do it for him. This reminds me of Sayid taking the fall for his older brother with killing the chicken and of course the tales of Eko and Yemi killing a man when told to.
• Ben shuts Ethan up and heads into Rousseau's tent. And unexpectedly baby Alex is there.
• Rousseau does some flipping out in French and accuses Ben of infecting her crew.
• Ben, apparently has a little bit of a heart and actually saves Rousseau. He tells her to never come look for her child and any time she hears whispers, run the other way.
• Hmmm....so where was the black smoke that Rousseau said she saw before they took Alex? Remember in season 1 when she told them there was black smoke and they took her baby? And then we saw the black smoke and they took Walt? (all they wanted was the boy) Unless, we're meant to think that Rousseau saw the black smoke MONSTER which infected her crew and then Ben came and took the baby. I dunno. That's a stretch, but I don't think they will really plan on closing up that loop much more!
• So Ben talks about the whispers. I guess he knows what that is all about? Will we ever find out? Or are we just going to be told that it's the "SOUND OF THE OTHERS" and to just deal with it?
• When Ben brings the baby back to Charles, the current leader of the Others is NOT a happy man. He gave orders for Ben to kill Rousseau, and then he said to kill the baby.
• Charles explains that everything he does is to protect the Island. Sounds familiar, Ben says that years later!
• Ben challenged Charles and asked if that is what Jacob would want. That it's just a child. This seems to be everyone's soft spot the past couple episodes. It's just a child! Ben challenges Charles even further by telling HIM to kill Alex. (technically, eventually he kinda does!) Thus, begins the downfall of Charles's reign on the Island.
• As I stated earlier, all of these events happened BEFORE the purge. Alex couldn't have been more than a few months old at that point which may put us around 1989ish. The purge was in 1992.

Widmore's Departure

• This is clearly AFTER the purge as The OTHERS have taken over the Barracks (DHARMAVILLE). Ben is pushing Alex on the swingset and Richard is there.
• We can probably assume with certainty right now that Charles Widmore ordered the purge as he was still on the island when it happened. Ben said last season that he didn't give the order. It's never safe to assume without seeing though, especially with Ben involved!
• We also find out that Charles DID lie to Locke about how he left the island. He said he was tricked into turning the donkey wheel. But we see him kicked off the Island by Ben via Submarine.
• We learn that Penny was born OFF of the Island. Widmore made regular visits off of the island and had a life there. He had a child, Penny, with an outsider. This apparently is breaking the rules. Yikes, what rules are we talking about NOW?
• Ben claims he will be a better leader than Charles because he will sacrifice anything necessary for the island. But the issue comes up around how he wouldn't kill Alex.
• And the debate continues, did the island want Alex dead or did Charles? Charles states if the Island wants her dead she'll be dead and the roles will be reversed and Ben will be banished just like Charles is now. We see all of this play out in season 4 when Ben leaves the Island after Alex is killed by Keamy. Charles says you can't fight inevitability. Does this play into the Whatever Happened Happened philosophy from a FUTURE perspective? Whatever is meant to happen WILL happen? Is this why Locke is alive on the Island? Because he is supposed to be alive? My mind is just boggled folks!
• In any case, Charles is one ticked off dude. And I would guess ticked off enough 12ish years later to send a freighter to recruit Ben Linus, and perhaps kill his "daughter" in the process! Of course, based on that picture Miles had of Ben last season, it would appear that Ben made regular trips off of the island as well. And what's up with the 3.2 Million dollars? Maybe we'll find out about that soon! Yikes, I'm just rambling on and on aren't I?

Off Island, the day of Ajira Flight 316


Ever since we saw Ben tell Jack he had a promise to keep to an old Friend and then saw him make that bloody phone call to Jack later, we've been wondering what on earth happened to Penny, Desmond and little Charlie. Well, I'm excited to say that the RIGHT thing happened! But the way they tied it all together was pretty awesome.

• Ben makes a call to Charles as he is walking on the dock towards Penny and Desmond's boat. He tells Charles he is going back to the Island. Charles says he has been trying for 20 years and it's impossible. Ben says he will succeed where Charles failed. (Why wouldn't Widmore just go on the freighter WITH his crew if he wanted to go back so badly? Would the Freighter have not found the Island?)
• Ben tells Charles he is going to kill Penny and that he is looking at "Our Mutual Friend" right now. Ahhh good times, Desmond and Penny named the boat after the one Charles Dickens book that Desmond never read. He has been saving it to be the last thing he reads before he dies.
• But even better, Desmond with a bag of groceries in hand sees Ben and asks what he's doing there then BAM....Ben shoots Desmond (well he shoots the bag of groceries)
• Ben goes towards Penny, introduces himself and apologizes for her getting caught up in this. Penny explains she has no ties to her father. And as Ben is getting into explaining how awful Charles Widmore is and is responsible for killing his daughter....little Charlie comes out to the rescue!!! As we have learned earlier Ben cannot bring himself to kill the mother of a child! It's just a child!
• Ben lowers his gun, unable to proceed and BAM BROTHAAAAA...DESMOND comes and beats the living daylights out of Ben then throws him into the water. YEAAAAH!!!! Many of us were hoping that's how it went down and sure enough, it did. But the twist of using Charlie and the fact that Ben actually wasn't going to go through with it, a nice little addition of redemption for Ben's character. Beautifully done LOST WRITERS! Whew, with all the craziness going on in this episode, it was totally worth it for that scene.
• So the big question...what now is motivating Desmond to return to the island? or perhaps their crazy boat they are on will end up shipwrecked on the island, similar to when Desmond arrived the first time? Time will tell. But surely all of that talk about the rules not applying to Desmond and him being uniquely and miraculously special in the season premiere wasn't just for kicks. Maybe he factors in in getting everyone back to the future! Who needs Doc Brown when you have a time traveling SCOTSMAN?!
  

2007

Hydra Island - Ben and Locke catch up
When we last left Ben and Locke last week, Ben was just waking up and Locke had a wonderful smirk on his face welcoming Ben back to the place where miracles happen. And we were all anxious to find out the rest of that conversation. Here's out it went down folks:

• First of all, Locke wakes Ben up. It didn't happen as suddenly as it was suggested in last week's episode that showed Ben waking up as soon as Richard too little Ben into the temple in 1977. I think they added that little line from John to confirm that the 2 events were completely separate.
• So after John's big line, Ben's bug eyes widened to new levels as he pronounced "I knew it!" This kind of falls in line with other things Ben said to Jack off of the island. The doubting Thomas story and Ben's reaction to Jack asking "he is dead, right?" Ben even gave a twist on the doubting Thomas story in saying that it's one thing to believe, but to see it is something else all together. (Thomas didn't believe until he saw Jesus risen from the dead)
• So instead of asking right away why Ben killed him, he asks why Ben was running away to the main island. Ben tells John he was going back to be judged. He "broke the rules" by returning to the island and now needed to be judged by "THE MONSTER." Ben claims The Others never had a name for it. We find out later, that this really isn't the reason Ben wanted to be judged. So then once again, what are these rules that he speaks of? Why was Ben able to come back and Charles wasn't? Is there even such a rule that the island won't let ex-leaders come back? And do these rules have anything to do with the rules of Time Travel that Faraday and Chang talk about? This Jacob guy is one crazy lawmaker!
• Later on we get the scene we were waiting for. Ben is in what we find out to be HIS office. (the same office that Caesar was looking around for supplies a few episodes back). Ben finds a picture of him and Alex and takes it "for sentimental reasons" he says.
• Locke, showing more confidence than ever, makes fun of Ben's office for a bit calling it "too corporate" but then wants to address the elephant in the room. Why on earth did Ben kill him?
• Here's the explanation from our most famous truth teller! It kinda makes sense I guess, in a demented weird sort of way. So it's hard not to believe him. Both Locke and Ben were aware that John had failed to convince the Oceanic 5 (no Aaron) to come back to the island and that the only way to really do it was for him to die. So then why did Ben talk him down from suicide? Locke had critical information that would have died with him and afterwards Ben didn't have time to talk Locke back into hanging himself (That got a good laugh out of me). It was in the best interest of the island. And "IT WORKED!" Everyone is back but they don't know where, Locke is alive. So it sounds like it had nothing to do with suicide vs. murder and trying to replicate whatever happened to Christian Shephard (although, I still think his death was more than a heart attack or a drunken bender).
• Locke humorously told Ben that he was just hoping for an apology. And that he is going to help Ben be judged. Locke does not completely trust Ben, with good reason. He tells Ben "if everything you have done was truly in the best interest of the island, then I'm sure the monster will understand." More to come on this!

"Sic Semper Tyrannis!" - Caesar's destiny
There were some interactions with some of the new island residents from flight 316. Here's what went down.

• We appear to see a distrusting Ben again who tells Caesar that the old man is crazy and that he doesn't remember him from the plane, doesn't even know him so couldn't possibly have "killed him." He suggests that Locke may be playing them and was already here on the island. During this conversation Ben finds out that Caesar has a gun and was planning to use it.
• When Locke and Ben later plan to take another outrigger to the main island, Caesar has some issues with this since he is "calling the shots" and he wants to know how Locke knows so much about the island. He reaches in his bag for his gun, Ben takes it out of his hiding place and takes Caesar down. RIP Caesar. So much for him playing a larger role on the show. I gotta say, not too disappointed by this one.
• So, keeping tabs on the outriggers, we know 2 of these things end up at the 815ers old camp. And there will be 2 at the dock near the barracks once Locke and Ben take one. And only one outrigger is at Hydra. Doesn't mean much now, but it plays into the end of the episode.
  

Main Island - Dharmaville aka Othersville

So Ben and Locke arrive at the dock that Sun and Frank parked their outrigger at. Locke puts his shoes back on as the 2 of them catch up on what happened between Sun, Frank and Ben before Locke "came back into the picture" so to speak. A quick recap, Sun knocked Ben out with an oar. And Ben explains that the injury to his arm was from something different (as we learned earlier in the blog, that was courtesy of the Scotsman brothaaaaa!!!)

• Ben explains to John that he finds sometimes friends are more dangerous than enemies. And that he killed Caesar because he had stolen the gun he was planning to use on Locke which set up the classic line "No sense in me dying twice right?"
• Ben and Locke head towards the Barracks to Ben's old house. It's the only place Ben knows where to summon the monster. Locke, seeming to have all the answers this time around on the island, informs Ben that he thinks Ben is lying about his reasoning for wanting to be judged. Ben doesn't care about RULES and leaving the island. He wants to be judged for essentially killing Alex (or letting her be killed to save himself). The look on Ben's face says it all. His old tricks don't seem to be working!
• Note, when they arrive to the Barracks the Processing Center sign is stil hanging off the roof of one of the buildings. So perhaps it wasn't a smoke monster illusion. We do see the windows are boarded up too though. Maybe no one ever went in that building? Kind of hard to believe that in all of the years The Others lived there that no one browsed in there and saw the DHARMA RECRUIT CLASS PHOTOS. Although, Ben seemed thoroughly surprised to see the picture later.
• Locke asks Ben if moving into the Others into the Barracks after the purge was Ben's idea. It doesn't seem like something the island would want. Ben tries to claim more knowledge about the island, but again Locke isn't buying it and just seems to have a better understanding than ever of what is going on. It is worth mentioning in season 3 that Locke explained that the use of technology seems against the Island's wishes and Ben told Locke then that he really didn't know what he was talking about.
• A creepy scene follows with a light on in Ben's old house and someone moving around in Alex's room. Locke tells Ben to check it out. When he goes into the house, we see an unfinished game of RISK still on the table. If you recall in "The Shape of Things to Come" Hurely, Sawyer and Locke were playing Risk right before the Red phone rang and Dharmaville went up in "smoke" (yep, dual meaning between the mercenaries blowing up some buildings and the Smoke Monster saving the day!) I think we see this table here to most certainly prove that no alternate timeline was created by our LOSTIES being in the DHARMA past.
  
• Ben also finds Sun and Frank in his house. They spare no time in going over the Sun vs. Ben battle. Frank shows Ben the DHARMA picture with Jack, Kate and Hurley in 1977. Ben claims not to know that they were in the DHARMA Initiative or really to know of the existence of the photo. But I'm skeptical. It seems like he is up to his lying ways again.
• Sun and Frank also inform Ben that they ran into a crazy old man named Christian who told them to wait here for John Locke but that they weren't holding their breath since the man is dead. This followed by them looking out the window and Locke politely waiving. Ahhh this crazy show.
• Sun and Frank are in disbelief. Locke explains there must be a good reason for him being alive but doesn't know why or how. Frank think they're all nuts. Leads for some good comedy of trusting a murderer, a dead guy and believing that everyone else is 30 years ago. He pretty much tells Sun he is out of this and planning to head back to the plane to try and radio for help.
• Locke convinces Sun that she will never find her husband if she leaves with Frank. Well, it is the whole reason she abandoned her 3 year old daughter, so she better go with Locke! Locke, again seeming to have a plan which he never had in his 1st Island life, said he has some ideas on how to find Jin. Where is this information coming from?
• Sidenote: Did Lapidus and Locke ever really meet last season? I don't think they did! He had heard the name from Hurley on the life raft when they explained that he moved the island and he knew the name from the manifest since he studied and memorized the whole thing. But I just thought it was interesting that they never met, and that he acted like he knew Locke in this scene. Such is life on a TV show I guess!
• Anyway, before Locke can go forth with his plans, he is forcing Ben to carry through with his mission to be judged.
• Ben opens up his secret door that we saw last season, and we get to follow Ben down into the cave this time around. There is a lantern (just like in the donkey wheel cave) and Ben crawls his way down to a nice puddle of muddy water. He pulls something in the water like a drain, and the water goes down. Ben tells "Smokey" that he'll be outside. So I wonder if there is significance to the WATER? Does that keep Smokey at bay? Is that why the thing never wanders around the beaches? Eh, just me doing some crazy speculating.
• Ben goes outside and sees Sun but no Locke. Locke told Sun he had something to do and Ben was confused on what it possibly could be. So are we Ben!
• Sun is confused to how Locke is alive and is convinced Jack lied. Ben tells Sun that Locke was indeed dead and now is alive. He says he had no idea it would happen even though he told Locke he KNEW it would happen. He has seen the island do miraculous things like heal the sick but never bring someone back from the dead. "DEAD IS DEAD. you don't get to come back from that, not even here" Locke being alive scares the living hell out of him.
• Well it sure seems like Ben feels that way, but why lie to Sun? To cover up that he is the one that killed Locke? So if Dead is Dead, I guess that is trying to confirm to us that everyone else that was dead on the island is truly dead, which includes visions we'll see later in the episode. What does this say about Christian Shephard? The producers have always said that Christian is certifiably dead. And I would say the fact that he shows up in various time periods would support that theory (visiting Locke at the Donkey Wheel). It's just tough delivering your messages via Ben, the lying machine! Especially when he tells a lie while explaining it!
• Locke returns and Smokey never shows up. He tells Ben that they will have to go TO the monster instead of trying to summon it. Ben argues that he doesn't know where it is. Locke bluntly says "I do." Okay, I give up. Where is Locke getting his information from? Is he in communion with the island now that he is risen from the dead? Where did he go when he went into the jungle. Did he go to the cabin? Ben wasn't gone for THAT long.

Main Island - Journey to the Temple

• Before departing to find ol' Smokey, Locke tries to assure Sun that he understands how weird this is with him being alive, but that he's the same John Locke he has always been.
• On the journey, Ben is clearly freaked out and asking Locke question after question. How does Locke know where he is going? How did he get this brain dump of information? Did he suddenly wake up one day and know all the answers to the universe?
• Locke is loving the role reversal and how Ben has to blindly follow Locke just Locke had to follow Ben in hopes he would find what he was looking for.
• Ben realizes where they are going, he tells them it's where they brought him as a boy. It's where the island healed him. The Temple. They arrive at the wall and we are told that the temple is a half mile past the wall which was built to keep the NON-OTHERS out. As I stated before, I'm guessing the temple itself will be a season 6 reveal. But for now, Locke has other plans in mind. They are going under the Temple into into the CAVE where we saw Smokey drag Montand sans arm and the rest of Rousseau's crew.
• Of course, perhaps the temple is the answer to reuniting the crew in the 1977 and 2007 and we just do not know that yet. I guess we'll see.
• Ben is a little freaked out about going into Smokey's residence and tells Sun if she ever leaves the island to tell Desmond he's sorry. (obviously we know what he's sorry for) Of course it makes me wonder if Sun is going to get separated from Locke and Ben after the 2 of them head into the cave. Sure, Ben thought he was marching off to his death and wouldn't get a chance to get his message across himself. But I dunno, just got that feeling. Also, does this mean that Sun and Jin after they are reunited may try to leave the island to be with their child? Time will tell.
• Locke and Ben head into the cave. To Be Continued!

Hydra Island - Frank Returns

• Well, I pointed out earlier that there was only 1 outrigger at Hydra Island. Well the 2nd one returned with Frank and he didn't run into friendly company when he returned.
• Ilana found a stash of guns (maybe in the Hydra closet where Jack grabbed a gun in season 3?) and has taken over the reigns of the motley 316 crew. When Frank goes to see Ilana she points the gun at him and asks the secret question "what did one snowman say to the other?" Just kidding! She said "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"
  
• Frank had no idea what the answer was and was tied up.
• Ilana tells another guy with a gun to get everyone else and tell them that it's time. I guess she asked EVERYONE the question to see if they were with her? Speaking of with her, who is SHE with? Who recruited her to get Sayid? Was it Ben? Widmore? An unkown party? Is she the leader of the new threat that will face our LOSTIES in this season and the next? Is this the introduction to the WAR that is coming to the Island where Locke needs to be there for the right side to win? (according to lying man Charles Widmore of course)
• Lots of questions, the one thing we probably can confirm is that the 2 outriggers on Hydra and the Ajira water bottle we see are the things that make their way to the 815ers old camp and the same people that chase after at shoot at Locke, Juliet, Sayid, Miles, Dan and Charlotte when they take 1 of the outriggers to the Orchid. Stay tuned for the rest of their story in a future episode.
  

Main Island - The Cave

• As Locke and Ben head further into the cave with their torches, Ben tells Locke he was right about why he wants to be judged. He let Alex die in order to not leave the island. And now he has to answer for that. He asks Locke to let him go on his way alone.
• As Ben walks on he falls through the floor into yet another room filled with ancient Egyptian lore. Heiroglyphics galore. Clearly, I'm not liscenced to translate this stuff for everyone, but feel free to give it a shot! There are more pictures on Sledgeweb's site linked here.
  
  
  


• Ben makes his way through the room to a wall with a very telling engraved picture on it. It appears to be the Egyptian God Anubis feeding our Smoke Monster a treat. This picture here is a mythological delight. First of all, there was much speculation that the 4 toed statue HAS to be the Egyptian God of the Underworld after we saw the shot of the statue's back. This picture goes a long way in supporting that theory. To help the theory along, there is also an Ankh which is carried by Anubis and also referenced in the same episode we saw the statue ("LaFleur"). There is also a Serpent hanging out with Anubis in the picture for all of you "the island is the Garden of Eden" theorists out there! And on the left side of the picture a WHEEL of some sort maybe? No clue. What does all this mean? You got me. But clearly again, we are being told that this island has strong ancient Egyptian origins or at least strong signs of the island's original inhabitants.
  
• As Ben stares in fear at the picture, his torch goes out and our pal Smokey comes out of the grates below it and encapsulates Ben.
  
  
  
• When we saw the smoke monster meet Eko for the first time, we saw images from Eko's past throughout the smoke. This time it is taken a step further as we see Ben re-experiencing some pretty bad moments in his life and with Alex including the moment where he lets her die. Ben is clearly torn up be seeing all of this and unlie Eko, seems to be very sorry for what he has done.
  
• The smoke eventually subsides and Ben's torch all of a sudden lights back up. What is THAT all about?
  
• But then like Eko was visited by Yemi, Ben is visited by Alex (all seeming to be the Smoke monster taking the form of these people). Ben apologizes to Alex and says that everything was his fault. She goes after him, pushes him against a wall and tells him that she knows he is planning to kill Locke AGAIN. If he so much as touches Locke, she will hunt him down and destroy him. She instructs him to follow his every word and do anything he asks Ben to do. Ben hesitates but then fearfully promises to do this.
• I guess if Smokey can take the form of Yemi and Alex and in both cases be able to interact and have physical contact with people, it's not a stretch to say that Christian Shephard is the same. But why is Christian appearing to more people than just Jack? Michael, Ben, Locke, Hurley, Sun, Frank and even Vincent (the mobisode) have seen Christian. Something tells me he is a bit different. But I still hesitate to say he is reincarnated like Locke.
• Anyway, back to Ben. Alex disappears into thin air. We hear Locke screaming down to Ben . He has some rope and sends it down to Ben. Locke asks what happened? Ben, looking like the fear of God, Jacob or Locke has been put into him responds "It Let me Live"

BOOM LOST!

Nothing really to say except....WHA????? Lots of headscratching to go around in this episode. So Smokey is judging people. Yeah, we kinda got that before with Eko. But is it judging everyone? Did it judge the 815 Pilot? Or did he just kill him because he wasn't supposed to be flying the plane? (Frank was) And another thing, when do we know when we can trust what Ben is saying? Only when we SEE what he is saying is true? (i.e. Ben telling Sun to trust him that Locke died. We saw Ben kill Locke) Or can we now believe Locke knows all and when he suspects Ben of lying, then we know it's a lie? And how does Locke know everything? Where was he for that first day or 2 when Ajira 316 crash landed on Hydra? Could that be helping to explain what is going on? Where did he go when he went into the jungle? Will Young Ben ever see the LOSTIES in 1977 again or will he remain with the Others until they are gone...helping to solidify him not remembering them? But what would that say about the 3 years that Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Daniel were there? Oh yeah, where IS Daniel? While we're at it, why doesn't Richard age?

The funny thing is, I thought we were more in ANSWER mode these days on LOST. But there are still lots of questions to go around. It should be interesting to see how it is all resolved in. 22 more hours! Overall, the episode was a good time (I know, I always say it) but man was I confused! Please, join in on my confusion and post your thoughts of "Dead is Dead" and what is going on on LOST Island! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings (and I do ramble quite a bit with this show!) and I'll see you next week. NAMASTE!

This blog is also posted on Gather.com. Feel free to check it out and send some votes my way! You may also stumble upon additional discussions there!

Special thanks as always to Sledgeweb for providing awesome screen shots on their site.

LOST Season 5 Episode 11 - Whatever Happened, Happened

When in doubt, when you need to explain something complex, when you need some comic relief involved in revealing something that some people may not like, you need to turn to Hurley for some help! My friends, the war on different theories of Time Travel was a big topic in "Whatever Happened, Happened". And the name of the episode played a major role in explaining what happened on ABC's LOST, this episode and most of the episodes this season. Well, if you want to get technical, possibly since season 1! We knew Time Travel was a touchy subject to try and introduce to the show. And we knew once it became a major plot device in season 5, it was only going to get more confusing for everyone. I believe this episode was their attempt to explain it more clearly. And if people didn't catch it the first time, they can rewind and try to catch it again! At this point, it just seemed like a recap of all of the blogging, debating and arguing about the theories already out there. So hopefully, the majority are on board with this and we can move on to find out exactly what they are all doing in the past!

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself (what else is new?). Overall, tonight was still a solid episode of LOST. (WOW!!!, by the way!) This episode was a Kate centric story and she was a major factor on the Island and off. The plot keeps moving ahead on the Island (in the past of course). We also got some key flashback scenes with Kate that answered all of the questions we have had about her since she told Jack in season 4 that she made a promise to Sawyer. And we continued to see a whole new side of Jack Shephard with his rebirth on the Island. Oh yeah, and Hurley and Miles discuss Back to the Future and all things Time Travel! Let's dive in and see if there's anything worth discussing. (DUH....it is LOST after all!)

Kate's Flashbacks
(2005-2007)

Kate and Cassidy Meet Again

I think we all knew when Kate was on that phone with someone in the season 4 episode "Something Nice Back Home" (a Jack Flash Forward episode) that she was talking to Cassidy, Sawyer's daughter's mother and also someone who crossed paths with Kate who helped her out when she was on the run from the law. We knew that Sawyer whispered something to Kate before he jumped out of the helicopter in the season 4 finale (which we all surmised was that he had a daughter and asked Kate to find her). So, this episode really just paid it all off finally.

• Kate is listening to Patsy Cline's "She's Got You". (revised)This isn't the first time we have heard Kate listening to Patsy. The tie as always been that Patsy died in a plane crash. And plane crashes just seem to keep happening on LOST!
• Kate sings "Catch a Falling Star" to Aaron. There have been several references to this song when it comes to Aaron. Claire asked potential adopting parents in season 1's "Raised by Another" if they would sing the song to Aaron. Also, the nursery that was built for Aaron by the Others on the Island had one of those MOBILE (is that what you call those things that spin above a crib?) that played the tune also, indicating that they had that knowledge that Claire wanted Aaron to hear that song.
• So, here's a question. I think we all thought that Sawyer whispered to Kate that his daughter was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Well it sure looks like Cassidy and Kid lived right there in Los Angeles. Convenient isn't it? Oh well, I'm not going to get overly critical since we can't actually hear that in the whisper. But what are the odds that she would be living in L.A.? I guess there are no coincidences on LOST, just convenient writing!
• To sum up this conversation, Cassidy was excited to see Kate. Kate ends up telling her the truth but still lies about Aaron and says she is the mother. She says she lies because she has to. Eventually, we find out that Kate was afraid that someone would take Aaron away from her because SHE needed him. Okay, whatever! Cassidy informs Kate that Sawyer left Kate just like he left her. He got scared about what would happen to him if they got rescued and he jumped. Seems to be true based on the conversation Kate and Sawyer later have.
• Kate tried to offer some of her Oceanic settlement money to Cassidy and tried to prove that Sawyer cared for the child.
• Not sure if she took the money but I think the bottom line here is that we see a bond has formed between the 2. Kate has someone she can tell the truth to off of the Island besides her Oceanic buddies, and it is her closest link to Sawyer.

What Kate Did after Oceanic 6 (minus Hurley) reunion

After Kate stormed off and drove away from the docks on that oh so important night, that crazy kid she was raising got thirsty for some milk. So they went to a grocery store.

• Aaron changes his mind and wants a juice box instead. Jack calls Kate, she looks at phone, closes phone then looks up and Aaron is gone. Yikes! No fear, he didn't vanish into thin air. Just found a lady that looks just like Claire (from behind) and was walking out the store with her. Hmmm interesting. Apparently, this is a wake up call for Kate.
• The next morning (this would be coinciding when Jack is hanging out with Grandpa Ray) Kate returns to visit Cassidy and update her on the latest situation. They want to go back to the Island! Cassidy says Jack has a screw loose. At this point in time, we finally meet Clementine who calls Kate, "Auntie Kate." Clearly, these visits have become very regular. This would seem to confirm that phone call that Kate had when Jack walked in last season was between her and Cassidy.
  
• Kate goes on about how she lost Aaron in the grocery store and how she has always felt like she was going to lose him. Cassidy, the voice of reason yet again, explains to Kate that it's because Aaron is not hers (so Kate did eventually explain EVERYTHING to Cassidy). Sawyer broke Kates heart and she used Aaron to fix it.
• Anyway, this motivates Kate to go see Claire's mother who is still staying at the motel where Jack and Kate were the day before. Kate explains everything to Mrs. Littleton. How they lied, how Aaron is her grandson, how Claire is still alive (hmmm can we accept that as confirmation even though Kate doesn't exactly know what happened to her?), and how she lied because she needed Aaron. She wanted to keep him safe, to protect him. I actually wondered why Kate didn't bring up the fact that Jack and Claire are related, but I just remembered, Mrs. Littleton revealed that little nugget TO Jack! Duh...
• Bottom line, anyone who guessed that Kate left Aaron with Mrs. Littleton...you guessed correctly! That really did seem like the best possibility. Good job! Here's the kicker though, why on earth did none of us guess the simplest reason for what motivated Kate to go back to the Island? I figured it out in the middle of THIS episode. All of the clues were there even when Ben said a few episodes back "He's not your son Kate." It was so simple! Kate is going back to get Claire and bring her back! DUH MIKE!!!! I can figure out how Time Travel works on this show, but I can't figure out THAT?! yikes.
• So are you guys thinking like I'm thinking? Desmond had a vision of an unspecified point in time in the future. He knew Charlie had to die by drowning to make this vision come true. He saw Claire and a baby (he assumed to be Aaron) get on a helicopter and leave the Island. We had all ruled this out by now as a false vision because Aaron is grown up and well...not even on the Island! What if this vision is still yet to happen? What if the baby is someone who hasn't been born yet? What if whatever our LOSTIES are doing on the Island restores the ability to reproduce on the Island? Or even simpler....what if it's Kate and Jack's child? (pending Kate is pregnant from their one night stand after losing Aaron). Hmmm, and why wouldn't Desmond see KATE getting on that helicopter with her son/daughter? It's far fetched at this point, but it would be a pretty cool way to tie it all together!
• Anyway, back to the story...Kate says her goodbyes to Aaron, is an emotional wreck, and we can assume heads right over to Jack's apartment and gets ready for that one night stand! And now kids, we know why Kate has returned to the Island.

The Island
(1977)

After the Shooting

The story resumes right where it left off. Jin is on the ground by Ben. He is awoken by his walkie and brings Ben, still alive, back to DHARMAVILLE. Horace and DHARMA crew are dealing with the fallout from the firey DHARMA VAN and the breakout of the HOSTILE (Sayid). Horace meets Jack and Kate in suspicious situations. Kate and Roger Linus form a bond. Drama ensues over saving Ben

• Jack inserts himself into the situation and asks how Sayid could have set the building on fire if he was locked up. Horace suspects someone within DHARMA has helped Sayid escape as Security did not pick up any Hostile activity in the area.
• Roger asks for Kate's help in pulling the remains of the burned DHARMA van away from the building. She has no idea what she is doing. They bond over the fact that they were just given assignments with no say. (We saw Roger get his "Workman" assignment in Season 3's "The Man Behind the Curtain") And once Kate finds out it's Ben's father we get the line becoming a classic for our LOSTIES meeting key people in the past "It's Nice to Meet You."
• Kate goes running into the Security station to talk to Sawyer about Ben getting shot. Sawyer flips out and says she can't be there. Horace comes in and sees Kate and wonders why she is in there. Sawyer covers for her.
• Sawyer, Miles, Jin and Horace scope out the cell and notice there are janitor keys in the door. They narrow it down to 3 janitors. Roger, Jack and Random Guy Willie.
• Sawyer tells Miles to round up Jack, Kate and Hurley and lock them down in a house. Things are getting messy and they are just going to mess things up!
• Sawyer goes to infirmary where Juliet is working on Ben. He runs into Roger who is a mess. (I guess he really does care) Sawyer does some pretty classic investigation work by subtley asking for Roger's keys. He doesn't have them, and Sawyer immediately identifies the culprit as Ben himself.
• Juliet informs Sawyer that the Doc is at the Looking Glass until Friday. She is working on the patient. I guess at this point Juliet is accepted as being a doctor since she delivered Amy's baby? Anyway, Juliet says Ben is not doing well and that she needs a real surgeon. Well who didn't see that coming?! Sawyer knows what he has to do and heads after Jack.
• To be continued.....let's pause for some Time Travel talk!

Hurley and Miles get their Geek on! (Time Travel on LOST 101)

So over 2 scenes, Miles and Hurley go over the 2 very popular theories on Time Travel that have been flooding discussions across the nation. Some may have felt this was heavy handed, and I even felt my eyes rolling at one point like...are they seriously still talking about this!? But, I think they were anticipating lots of questions on this and they wanted to certifiably inform people how TIME TRAVEL works on LOST. People may not be happy with it, but hey, we still have 6 more episodes to go this season that will hopefully explain exactly why we are in the past witnessing the inevitable. And surprisingly, Hurley and Miles have some good chemistry to make this happen.

• We open up with Hurley focusing on his hand waiting for it to disappear. This is an homage to Back to the Future. In the movie, they take Time Travel to a whole other level as when you travel to the past you CAN change things. And Marty McFly went to the past and almost ruined his parents from ever meeting which made him start to vanish himself. Thankfully he fixed it and altered the future to a better future for him! (well, that is until Back to the Future II came and ruined it all!) I've had several discussions with people who were convinced that this is what was happening on LOST, despite my best efforts to explain the "Whatever Happened, Happened" concept. So you gotta love when we have HURLEY once again be the guy that speaks the minds of the fans. (kinda like when Hurley and Dave had the discussion that the Island was ALL in Hurley's imagination. That he was dreaming it and all he had to do was wake up. That was a theory going around too.) LOST likes to dismiss theories by addressing them very directly on the show. And, as I've stated before, they use Hurley as their vessel to do this!
• Miles brings up what I have been focusing on the blog for a couple weeks now. Whatever happened has ALWAYS happened. Sayid shot Ben, which means he ALWAYS has shot Ben. The key is that our LOSTIES are experiencing this for the first time, so even though they have knowledge of how things turn out, they don't know the events that take place to make them happen so they can't change it. (And we have to wonder if this is the reason for why other things have happened to our LOSTIES like Michael couldn't kill himself, Jack couldn't kill himself, Locke couldn't die when shot by Ben, people survived the flight 815 crash....was this because they HAD to survive to fulfill certain events that already have taken place on the Island (or were going to take place in the future))? I keep bringing that up, but it never gets old!
• Hurley puts the theory to the test asking about their current conversation. If it has already happened, what am I going to say next? ba dum CHING! Clearly, the conversation didn't happen for them yet so they are experiencing it for the first time.
• Hurley then asks if it has already happened to him, then why doesn't he remember it. Ugh....this is the question that kept coming up in comments when I talked to people. I never could grasp it. Why would they remember it? It's still the PRESENT for the LOSTIES. Miles goes onto explain that when Ben turned the wheel that time is not a straight line for them anymore. Their experiences in the past and the future have already happened but not THIS moment right now.
  
  (anyone thinking of Spaceballs? "This is now. Whatever happens now is happening right now! What happened to then? You missed it! When? Just now. When will then be now? SOON! ahhhhh good times! Gotta love Mel Brooks comedies!)
• Miles then moves to the next level and gives Hurley his gun and tells him to shoot him. Hurely then explains how he cannot shoot Miles because then he'll never come to the Island on the freighter 30 years from now.....UGH UGH!!! Again, people getting tripped up by this one too. Miles tries to nail home once again that YES, he can die because he has already come to the Island. I think this is trying to clarify that there ARE indeed Life and Death stakes on the Island for these LOSTIES even though the future is already written. THEIR future is not written because we don't know when and how they die. For all we know it could have been 1977. And I'm guessing those ADAM AND EVE skeletons will still play some kind of role with this trip back to 1977. And I'm getting more and more scared that it is Rose and Bernard because SERIOUSLY....where/when on Earth (or the Island) are they????
• So Hurley thinks he gets it now, but then comes up with the head-scratcher. If Ben grows up to become the Leader of the Others....then why doesn't he remember Sayid when he was being tortured in 2004 by him? This gets clumsily explained later (seems convenient, and I'll say for now that we haven't seen the whole show yet so let's give them a chance to explain better!). But here's my thing....why would it matter if Ben did remember? He was lying about everything at the time (being Henry Gale). He is a GOOD liar. Who is to say he couldn't pull off not recognizing Sayid? If he was gathering intel on these people since he became one of the OTHERS then he would have known going in there he would be interrogated by Sayid. But oh well....that's not the way they are going to play this for now. Interesting. But we will get into the explanation for this one a few sections down.
• Sidenote: Based on Miles explaining all of this, we can assume that Daniel is the one that took the time to explain it all to him. And this probably means that Daniel told Charlotte to leave the Island and never come back exactly as Charlotte remembered it years later. But I'm guessing there is going to be a Daniel-centric episode this season that will explain where he has been!
• The Hurley/Miles discussion continues off screen even further and becomes just a comedy bit later when Miles tells Hurley to tell him more Time Travel theories. Ahh good times.
  
  Everyone thoroughly confused? Do you get it better now? Are you mad at the creative direction of the show? Well, either way I'm continuing with the rest of the recap now!

Jack's Refusal
When we last left Sawyer, he was heading to the Lockdown House to recruit Jack for surgery. What we found though is a NEW Jack who is not so determined to fix things.

• Jack, coming off of Miles's initial "Whatever Happened, Happened" lecture seems to believe it at face value. Also, new for Jack to just believe this crazy stuff on the Island is actually happening without some hesitation.
• Sawyer tells Jack that they need him to come with. Ben has sprung a leak and is losing a lot of blood and need him to fix it. Jack's response? Quite simply - NO. Ouch Sawyer, maybe you should've been a TAD nicer when he offered his services to help with Sayid!
• Sawyer is shocked by Jack's refusal and says that the kid will die if he doesn't come with. Jack's response? "Then he dies"
• Kate takes the argument one step further after Sawyer leaves. "You can't just let a boy die!" Jack says that they can't change what has already happened and that it has nothing to do with him. He goes on to say that he has already fixed Ben once 30 years from now (really 27 Jack!) and that he did it for Kate. Remember season 3 when Jack was locked in the Shark tank and was asked to perform surgery on Ben's spine? Kate, then added pressure by asking him to do it to save Sawyer. He did it for Kate, he doesn't need to do it again.
• Kate tries another angle. It's their fault, they brought Sayid back and caused Ben to get shot. Jack retorts that the last time on the Island he spent all of his time trying to fix things (don't we know it Jack!). Jack starts speaking like Locke and saying that maybe the Island wants to fix things itself and he was getting in the way.
• Kate says she doesn't like the new Jack who is just going to sit around and wait for things to happen. Ahhhh but Jack says Kate did NOT like the old him! BURRRRRN!!!!!!
• Kate runs out of the building and to the infirmary. We'll get to that story in a second.
• Juliet, after putting Kate on a secret mission (again, next section), heads to talk to Jack and is quite upset with the man for not coming to help with Ben. She comes in and kicks Miles and Hurley out of the house and heads into the bathroom where Jack is showering. They do love having Jack feel awkward coming out of the shower. It happened in season 2 when Locke decided it was the best time to shave.
• Juliet says how she needed Jack. He was a surgeon and the kid was bleeding. Jack says that the kid is Ben. Juliet says that it's not Ben yet, just a kid. Juliet informs Jack that Kate is trying to save Ben now and Sawyer is helping. She is not asking for Jack's help. All she wants to know is why he came back.
• Jack says he came back because he cared and that he was trying to save them. Juliet gets all emotional and says they didn't need saving, they were doing fine for 3 years. She wants Jack to tell her the real reason he came back. He came back for himself and she wants to know.
• Jack, again sounding like Locke, says that he came back because he was supposed to come back. But he does not know why yet. Juliet tells him he better figure it out soon.
• Yikes, did I just read back the script to you? It all just seemed important. Ben is not Ben yet, Juliet venting about how her life was great and they came back and ruined a good thing. Jack talking about his destiny. Well, I guess I could have just summed it up like that! So what do we think Jack's destiny is? He can't stay all laid back forever! Does he need a visit from Daddy to set him straight? Or perhaps he needs to meet up with a ressurected John Locke? That is kind of difficult right now! Oh well, time will tell.

Operation Save Ben
Kate runs into the infirmary to offer her assistance to Juliet.

• Kate offers her blood as it is revealed that she is a Universal donor. Really? Well why on earth did she not reveal that in Season 1 when Boone was losing blood and Jack had to give his own? Ohhhhh right. She was helping Claire deliver the baby. Duh!
• Kate and Juliet gossip about Jack for a bit. Kate explains that they were engaged at one point when Juliet asked if anything happened with them off Island. Hmmm how did Juliet take that news? About as well as Kate took the news that Sawyer was with Juliet? Yikes!
• Oh well, Roger Workman comes in to ruin the fun. He is still an emotional wreck over his son. Kate says Roger can keep him company while Juliet tends to Ben.
• Roger admits Ben stole his keys. He said LaFleur saw right through him. Roger knows that Ben broke Sayid out. He knows that it is his fault because he has been a bad father. He always thought he would be a great father. But it turns out that a boy needs his mother (who died during Childbirth, but whom Ben has seen visions of on the Island outside of the DHARMA fence).
• Roger asks Kate if she has kids. She doesn't keep the lie up anymore and says no.
• Ben goes into shock which gets them all worried. Juliet sends Roger to the medical station for supplies. But Juliet tells Kate that she cannot fix it.
• We find out the sub is gone and won't be back for a couple of months. Interesting. She explains how Ben IS going to die. He is in an unresolveable medical situation.
• Then Juliet has a brainstorm. There are people that can help. Them crazy OTHERS!! And thus, we see crazy fate rearing its ugly head.
• They load Ben in a DHARMA van. Kate convinces Juliet that she needs to go alone. Juliet needs to keep her cover. Juliet says she has to explain to Sawyer what went down but will give her a head start.
• Kate heads to the SONIC FENCE in the van and then stops. Ben tells Kate to tell his dad that he's sorry for taking the keys. Ahhh probably the last of nice boy Ben that we will ever hear! In fact, of the LOSTIES never were involved in Ben's past, he may have eventually made ammends with his father. You see, to me, that makes this season interesting even if we already know how things end up in the future. We are still learning of key decisions made by our LOSTIES that affected the past and sets up their own PAST on the Island in the future! (did I lose you?) Something tells me there are even bigger events coming up in the remaining episodes of this season that our LOSTIES will be significantly involved in. And I can't wait to find out!
• Sidenote: We better get some information on that DHARMA Food Drop soon! If it doesn't happen this season, I don't know when it will!

Kate and Sawyer Catch Up

• Sawyer approaches in another van and says he came to help Kate. It's not like she knows how to find the crazy Others!
• SKATER Alert - Sawyer calls Kate Freckles again. awwwwwww
• Kate asks Sawyer why he is helping. Sawyer asked the same question to Juliet, why is Kate helping Ben? Juliet told him no matter what he is going to grow up to be, it is wrong to let a kid die. Sawyer says he is doing it for Juliet. bigger awwwwwwwwww!
• Kate and Sawyer wander through the jungle with Ben. They discuss Sawyer thinking Ben broke Sayid out. Sawyer says a kid will do almost anything if he's p.o.'d at his parents. Something tells me we aren't going to see Sawyer as a kid doing something crazy to his parents. But this was more as a segueway to talk about Clementine.
• Kate informs Sawyer that she did find Clementine and help take care of her. Sawyer looked genuinely concerned and interested to find out about his daughter. Kate says she is beautiful and looks like Sawyer when she smiles.
• Sawyer knew that she and Cassidy would have lots to discuss. She explains Cassidy's theory on Sawyer jumping out of the chopper. To which Sawyer explains it never would have worked out between him and Kate. He wasn't fit to be her boyfriend and wasn't fit to be Clementine's father. But he has done lots of growing up over the past few years which is seen in his relationship to Juliet.

The Inevitable Happens
Kate and Sawyer are interrupted by The Others and a bunch of rifles.

• Random OTHER Guy that we may can learn more about says that they are in violation of the truce. Sawyer says that they know. The kid has been shot and it is both of their problems. And to avoid a war they need to be taken to Richard Alpert STAT!
  
• As they are walking through the jungle, Richard just appears out of nowhere. "you asked my people to bring me to you, here I am." Hmmm, something tells me we are supposed to be asking about this. He just APPEARS when summoned? Who/What IS this guy?
• Richard asks if the boy is Benjamen Linus. Sawyer is confused that Richard knows who he is. (last time Richard and Ben met, Richard was a little more hippie like and told Ben to be patient. I guess this is the moment we were waiting for!)
• Kate and Richard are introduced. She explains they need Richard to save Ben's life.
• Richard hesitates and then tells them if he takes Ben that he will never be the same again. He will forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. And Ben will forever be "one of them". Oh boy.....feel the collective eyes roll around the world! So Ben is simply going to forget that he was shot by Sayid? Convenient! Although I am left intrigued. We have always thought that some of The Others seemed to be brainwashed in one way or another. Remember how evil ETHAN was in season 1? And how seemingly invincible he was when he fought Jack? Perhaps this is getting to this answer. I'll have more on this in a few bullets.
• The bigger deal seems to be that Kate agrees to Richard's disclaimer. This is, as I mentioned above, showing that if the LOSTIES were never in the 70's Ben may have grown up to be a normal boy, the purge may never have happened and babies may have flourished on the Island for all we know! Kind of the same thing with Locke. If he had never gone back to the 50's and told Richard about himself, Locke may have never been a CHOSEN one for the Island. This season of LOST is showing how intermingled our LOSTIES are with the history of the Island. And it is kinda crazy! Does it all serve a higher purpose? I would be inclined to think so. We just don't know what yet!
• Random Other Guy tells Richard that he shouldn't do this without asking Ellie (or we assume to be Eloise Hawking). It is also mentioned that Charles Widmore may find out. Yes, in case you forgot, Charles Widmore told Locke that he was leading The Others at this time. And this is the first mention we get of him in the 70's. It seems like both he AND Ellie are on the Island at this point. And if it's 1977, and Ellie is Eloise, one would tend to think that Daniel Faraday is also on the Island as a child. Hmmmm, so why didn't he get the nosebleed during the flashing?!
• Anyway, Richard tells Random Other Guy to let Charles find out and that he does not answer to either him or Ellie. Hmmm, so where does Ellie rank on the chain of command? And who DOES Richard answer to?
  
• Richard takes Ben and brings him to the Temple gates. Yes, the very same Temple referenced since season 3, but first seen this season with Rousseau and crew.
  
• We see Richard take Ben through some secret door and that is the last we see of him in the past. Something tells me this sets up quite nicely to a Ben-centric episode where we might get to catch up with present day Ben and see flashbacks for where Richard takes him beyond that wall. Of course, I can only speculate!
  
• So, remember in the episode "This Place is Death" earlier this season when Rousseau's crew began to tell a bunch of lies after being infected by the Smoke monster at the Temple? Do we think this has any tie to Ben's ability to constantly lie and the fact that Richard says he will never be the same? I guess time will tell!

The Island - Hydra Style
(2007)

We see adult Ben sleeping on his bed after being smacked in the head by Sun. John Locke is sitting beside the bed just waiting for him to wake up. He does and alarmingly sees the man he murdered staring at him. "Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living!" and then we get the greatest smirk you will ever see from John Locke.

BOOM LOST!!!

Finally, we saw 2007 again on the Island! Of course, only for a few seconds. But something tells me this is setting up a future episode. And since I have promised to not discuss previews for next week, all I will suggest is, watch the previews for next week! It looks to be a great one! But we definitely got another solid outing from the LOST crew. Some minor annoyances that we dissected above. But hopefully, they will get resolved in future episodes!

5 weeks worth of episodes to go for Season 5 (6 hours of new material). We're getting into the final stretch. Every episode that airs will make us sadder and sadder as we realize we are approaching the end of a great show next year! But there is plenty of stuff we need to find out before we see what happens in the last episode of LOST! And I intend to be blogging us every step of the way! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always, see you next week and NAMASTE!

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