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

LOST Season 5 Episode 10 - He's Our You

WOW LOSTIES, just WOW! My pen fell out of my hand at our cliffhanging moment of LOST last night. Every episode is crazy, but now. NOW? The writers are just trying to go ahead and call me a liar! I am sure the comments on this post will be flooded with "I told you so's" that we are being shown that the future is being re-written because of our LOSTIES being in the past. I'm still holding true to my "Whatever happened, happened" stance! No turning back now. We still have a ways to go before we find out what happens in the last episode of LOST! And we know that Michael Emerson's work over the past 4 seasons of lost will not just vanish because of a trigger happy Sayid! But, kids, I'm getting way way ahead of myself. We have a whole crazy episode to recap! What we had is yet another engaging and fantastically written episode of LOST. My mission for this blog entry? Can I be a little less wordy? Let's find out!

The synopsis: We have a Sayid centric story where we tie the missing events that led to his falling out with Ben on the Island and his capture by Ilana leading to his boarding of Ajira flight 316. Meanwhile in 1977 (currently the present day in the minds of our heroes), Sayid makes life difficult for Sawyer with his refusal to cooperate. Drama ensues in DHARMA LAND.

The Flashbacks

Well, depending on how you want to look at this, most of them could technically be flash forwards because they take place at a later date. But, to keep us all sane, we will consider 1977 Sayid as "Present Day Sayid" because, for him, it IS the present. So the events that take place in this section are all part of HIS past! Are we all on board? Good!

Tikrit, Iraq (unspecified date)

A theme is introduced to us that Sayid was born to be a killer. That it's in his blood. We see Sayid as a boy snap the head of a chicken (rooster?) doing a favor for his older brother. Their father told the older son that he had to kill the bird to become a man! Since Sayid killed the chicken, he will be a man, according to his father. Well, we finally see that even Sayid had some issues with his father (a running theme in the world of LOST).

Moscow

This scene takes place at some point after Sayid's last flash forward episode in season 4 "The Economist." In the Economist, we learn that Sayid become an assasin for Ben to try and keep his friends safe. He killed a man (Mr. Avellino) on a golf course and fell in love with his next target whom he also killed. Here we see Sayid chasing another target.

• Sayid kills the man he was chasing and meets up with Ben wearing a goofy hat afterwards. He is told that this was the last one of Widmore's organization that posted a threat to his friends. So this confirms that Widmore was the Economist, as if we didn't figure that out by now!
• Sayid wonders what next to do with his life. Ben tells him to live his life, that he's free. So, depending on how you want to look at this....did Ben know that Sayid still was going to go back to the Island because he saw him there as a boy? Well, that whole last scene just throws everything up for questioning!
• In either case, Ben obviously had other things in mind for Sayid. Let the mind games begin! (or continue I guess?)

Santo Domingo
We're back with LOST's version of Habitat for Humanity and Sayid is doing his good deeds! First he was visited by Locke. Now he has a 2nd visitor.

• It's Ben. Sayid:"How did you find me?" Ben: "I looked" ahhhh that dude can say so much with 2 words!
• Ben informs Sayid that Locke is dead. He left out the part that he actually killed him! He blames the death of Locke on Widmore's retribution for the killings that Sayid has been up to. He then explains that someone was planted outside of Hurley's Institution at Santa Rosa. This sets up the scene in the season finale of season 4 where we see Sayid kill the man planted outside of the nut house.
• Okay, so Ben set up a ruse to get Sayid back to Los Angeles. Were the men that were chasing the Oceanic 6 all HIS men then? Did Widmore have nothing to do with it? And if they were Ben's men, did he let them all get killed? And I guess we really didn't get an answer this episode if Ilana worked for Ben too.
• Ben starts to get into Sayid's head that he's a born killer, the same thing that his father told him. Sayid refuses to believe it. Of course, if kid Ben survives to next week then older Ben would actually NOT be lying since he already knows Sayid tries to kill him! Ugh....time travel!
• So I guess by this scene, we are meant to think that Sayid has realized he was used by Ben. Because after he rescues Hurley, that is what he tells him! Maybe all of that time building houses helped him put it all in perspective.

Los Angeles
We revisit the Oceanic 6 (minus Hurley plus Ben) reunion at the docks where it is revealed that the plan is to return to the Island. Sayid wants nothing to do with it, and we have a modified quote from Sayid. Instead of "if I ever see either of you again it will be extremely unpleasant" it was "if i ever see YOU again...etc..." and it was focused at Ben. We next join Sayid at a Bar.

• He's drinking LOST's favorite Whiskey. Ol' McCutcheon's at $120 a shot!
• Ilana is there clearly coming on to him. Sayid goes on and on about trying to change. Ilana discusses people tempting you to staying the same.
• Next thing we know...we're in a hotel room. Sayid gets fooled by the ol' "Take of my Boot but I'm really going to kick you with it" switcheroo! The tables are turned and Ilana has a gun on Sayid.
• Ilana said she was hired by the family of Peter Avellino to bring Sayid back to Guam. She doesn't acknowledge being a bounty hunter, per Sayid's question. For all we know, she could be related to Avellino. And if Peter worked for Widmore, doesn't that mean that Widmore might possibly have someone on the Island again in Ilana? Eh...it's a stretch. Plus, we don't know...she could be working for Ben also.

Airport prior to Ajira Flight 316

• Sayid actually does see Hurley, Jack and Kate prior to getting on the plane. He realizes what might be happening and questions whether they are going to Guam. Ilana's "where else would we be going?" question seemed a little suspicious. But it could be just me looking into things.
• But Sayid requesting to take a later flight seems to indicate that he'd rather face punishment in Guam than to return to the Island.
• Sayid sees Sun on the plane. But the fireworks start when Ben gets on the plane. He overheard Jack and Hurley talking about "getting back" Sayid asks if Ilana is working for Ben. Goes on to explain the monster that Ben is: responsible for the murder of his daughter to save himself, responsible for nothing short of genocide (the purge), liar, manipulator. Ilana, again mysteriously asks "why would i work for someone like that?" She just never really gives the impression she is telling Sayid the whole truth. More to tell there! But we see Sayid again tortured by what he has done since he has left the Island while working for Ben. And it surely goes into his motivation for what he does after his return to the Island.

1977

The story on the Island consists of the DHARMA folks trying to figure out who Sayid is, Sawyer trying to help conceal their "cover" as DHARMA members, and Sayid trying to figure out his purpose for returning to the island. Kate finds out about Juliet and Sawyer and oh right, little Ben is intrigued by Sayid.

Sayid and Ben's sandwich dates

• Well, we see that Ben developed his lying skills much younger in life. He lied to Security Phil telling him that Horace asked him to keep bringing Sayid sandwiches. This time around? Chicken Salad!! That'll get Sayid to talk!
• We also see Ben's love for books started early too. For the book he gives Sayid to read is one that he read twice. The name of the book you ask? "A Separate Reality" by Carlos Castaneda which was published in 1971. This book is alleged to be a non-fiction piece of work that discusses the author's supposed 3 year apprenticeship of a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, Don Juan Matus. Interesting. Let's think about the title though. We have been long told that the producers of LOST want to avoid creating Alternate Realities, futures and what-not (ahem...Heroes). But considering the events that occur at the end of this episode, I believe this tidbit has been dropped in to make us still ponder the possibility of it. You know, kinda like they threw in DAVE's speech to Hurley that the whole show is a dream inside Hurley's head and he just have to jump off of the cliff to wake up. The producers had already stated that the show won't be a dream! Kinda like the show always hints at themes of purgatory even though we know the show is not about that! So, we know that with Time Travel stories, that there is indeed this ability or desire for people to want to change things that happened in the past. But what we already know from the producers is, you can't change the future from happening! And I believe what will become a much bigger theme on LOST over the rest of this season....whatever happened, happened! We shall see though! (I'm getting ahead of myself yet again!)
  
• Does anyone like the mirroring going on here? Season 2, Ben (Henry) was held hostage by the survivors (even brought in by Sayid) and questioned for a long time. Here we see that Ben was initially the one questioning one of the survivors on if HE was one of them! Not to mention the rest of DHARMA's interrogation of Sayid that we will get to in a bit.
• Ben asks Sayid if Richard sent him. If you recall from season 3's "The Man Behind the Curtain" (or watched the "previously on LOST" for this episode), Ben and Richard had met before when Ben first arrived to the Island. Ben was going to leave DHARMA but Hippie style Richard stopped him and made him go back. Richard told him to wait and be patient, that it wasn't time yet. We learn in this episode that it has been 4 years since that meeting in the jungle. Ben tells Sayid that he has been patient and that he can help Sayid if HE is patient.
• We find out that the security cameras in the cell are video only and have no audio feed, according to Ben. Worth noting since Sawyer talks to Sayid freely later.
• A second meeting of Sayid and Ben actually does not occur. Sayid has a discussion with Roger Linus (Ben's Father). Roger asks Sayid how he got caught, Sayid has words with Roger for being a janitor. Roger strikes back with talks of Oldham (we'll get to him in a bit). But the payoff for this scene is when Ben shows up with a sandwich and is caught by Daddy. Ben is clearly scared. Roger gets a little violent pushing him into the bars of Sayid's cell. Ben admits that no one told him to bring the sandwiches. Sayid starts to piece together similar issues he had with his father.

Island Gossip Corner and Juliet's concerns
There isn't much for Kate, Hurley, Jack or Juliet to do in this episode but they do have their moments. Here is a quick summary.

• Juliet overcooks the bacon over concerns of their old friends returning to the Island. She is concerned that her simple life with Sawyer is over. She is concerned that Sayid will blow their cover. Sawyer is determined to not let that happen. He also tried to convince her that them returning doesn't change what Juliet and Sawyer have.
• Kudos to a commenter last week who caught that we found out Kate and Hurley's DHARMA jobs in last week's episode. Kate is a maintenance gal with Juliet. And Hurley? Fittingly a DHARMA Chef! We get a nice DHARMA cafeteria scene between Hurley, Jack and Kate where Hugo brings out some waffles.
  
• They discuss Sayid's situation. Kate was hoping that Jack made progress when he talked to Sawyer the night before. Jack informed them that Sawyer told him to take a hike and let him handle it. Jack seems to be totally fine with the new chain of command. Almost relieved that it doesn't have to be him. At this Kate offers to talk to Juliet. Hurley makes the big reveal that Juliet probably wouldn't say anything either because she is with Sawyer. Ahhhh Hurley, so subtle "They live together, like not as roommates? You know together like you guys were? Thought it was kinda obvious. I mean, who couldn't see that coming?" Good times! As always, we can rely on Hurley so speak for the fans that saw the Juliet/Sawyer storyline coming a mile away. But, oblivious Kate was the last to find out. Even asking Jack if he knew too.
• A later scene shows Juliet and Kate talking cars at work. Juliet finds out Kate knows about her and Sawyer to which she responds with she didn't know how to tell her herself without it coming off as her telling Kate to stay away. oooooooooohhhhh SNAP, Kate! You just got served! On the surface Kate tells Juliet that it is okay.

And thus, this ends this week's edition of Gossip Corner - LOST style! Back to the good stuff!

Interrogation of Sayid

• Horace and Radzinsky visit Sayid first trying to get him to talk. Horace snaps the handcuffs off. They think he has had issues with the hostiles and that maybe he could be turned to work for DHARMA. Sayid says nothing and is told that he has an hour to speak up, essentially before they take it to the next level with the mysterious Oldham.
• After Horace updates Sawyer on the situation, James offers to talk to Sayid. Sayid opens up to Sawyer about meeting a 12 year old Ben Linus. He questions how Sawyer can live with him. Sawyer explains because he has to. Sawyer then opens the cage and apologizes before he starts beating Sayid. Sawyer had a plan. Sayid would confess that he had intel on the Hostiles that he would give in exchange of living with the DHARMA crew. Sawyer had to make it appear that Sayid would not give up the information easily. Sayid does not want to do this. He asks Sawyer to let him go. Sawyer goes on and on about how he's created a good life there and people trust him and told Sayid to cooperate. Sayid still refuses.
• Later on, they come for Sayid to bring him to Oldham. Sawyer gives him one more chance to play ball.....nothing. Sawyer uses the tazer on him and he becomes incapacitated.
• Sawyer, Sayid, Radzinsky and Phil drive out into the jungle to some crazy tipi looking shelter. And we meet Oldham aka the 3rd Regular Cast member from Deadwood to appear on LOST. (Cassidy, Sawyer's baby mama and Pickett's Wife that gets shot by Sun. The name is escaping me right now!) Took me awhile to recognize him without the beard and top hat and ridiculous outfit. But that annoying voice is the same!
  Update: Thanks commenter "TIM" for pointing out that Juliet's sister is also an actress from Deadwood..she played Calamity Jane! So there are 4 in total.
  
• There is a phonograph player playing a tune that I did not know. I'll update this bullet if it turns out to be anything significant!
• Sayid asks Sawyer who the man is. And of course, the name of the episode comes into play. "He's our You" explaining that he is the DHARMA torturer.
• Oldham concocts some truth-telling drug to feed to Sayid. What's that stuff they use in the Harry Potter books? Veritaserum? Sure seemed like that! They put Sayid in restraints which he is told is for HIS protection from the side effects of the drug.
  
• They force the cube thingy into Sayid's mouth. Oldham dtells him not to fight it, he will tell the truth either way. Oh he sure did! So much so, that they didn't believe him. Fantastic!
• What a comical scene: I'm a bad man, not a hostile, came BACK to the Island on Ajira flight 316. Originally crashed on Oceanic flight 815. Was on the Island for 100 days (ummm I believe it was 108 days Sayid!)...go ahead ask Sawyer!
• Before Sayid can point out Sawyer Radzinsky wants to know about the Flame. Sayid starts explaining what he knows about the DHARMA stations: The Flame is a communications station, The Pearl (the one near Yemi's plane) is for Observing other stations and the Swan was to study electro-magentism. Or at least it was until the Incident! Radznisky concerned that Sayid knows about the name of the Swan station even before it is built. He saw the model, he IS a spy!
• Sayid then tells them all that they are all going to die. Then he explains he knows all of this because he is from the future. Gotta love Oldham's "OOPS" when he thinks he needed to use less of the drug. Then Sayid gives his most sinister laugh and tells him that he used the perfect amount. Yikes!

Jury's Out

• Sayid is brought back to the Barracks and back to his cell while a large group of DHARMA officials meet at Horace and Amy's house to decide what to do with him.
• Radzinsky votes to kill Sayid. He knows too much. Horace wants more time to decide. Sawyer tries to convince everyone he should talk to him again. Radzinsky goes nuts. Man, no wonder this guy went nuts and blew his brains out. He was already a nutcase before pushing the button every 108 minutes!
• Radzinsky threatens to call Ann Arbor and let THEM make the call. We can only assume he is referring to the DeGroots at the University of Michigan who created the DHARMA Initiative. Ahhhh, it was nice to hear them referenced!
• Amy chimes in speaking for the people. She can't sleep with one eye open. They can't keep him here. They have a baby to worry about now. Oh come on Amy, it's only Ethan! He starts stealing babies later anyway!
• Regardless, Horace puts it to a vote. Everyone votes to have Sayid killed except Sawyer. But in order to keep his cover, Sawyer has to change his vote to make it unanimous.
• Sawyer makes one more attempt to get Sayid out of this mess. He opens his cell and tells Sayid to hit him in the face, grab the keys and make a run for it. Sayid refuses. He felt like he had no purpose when he returned to the Island. But now he knows exactly why he is here and is not going anywhere.
• Sawyer gives up and goes to talk to Kate. (although, with some hesitation first. Sorry Juliet, best get used to it!) Sawyer wants to know why they all came back. Sayid was talking about his purpose and he wants to know why they are all back. Kate doesn't know why anyone else came back, only why she did. But she didn't reveal what that purpose is. Because another conflict on LOST is always right around the corner!

The Break-Out

• Kate and Sawyer witness a burning DHARMA van heading right into one of the DHARMA buildings. DHARMAVILLE goes nuts. Sawyer runs int Jack and mentions how there have been no burning buses for 3 years and then they're back for 1 day! Ahh good times.
• We see DHARMA has a few fire hoses that Jack starts to use on the building.
• Sawyer mentions that building "15" is on fire and everyone needs to get there. Yep, those crazy numbers again!
• Anyway, turns out the fire was only a distraction for Ben to break Sayid out. Security guy Phil was summoned to the fire as well. Not sure why, but it made me think of when Walt set the raft on fire. Even though it was more closely tied to Charlie setting a fire as a distraction when he stole Aaron in the dreadful "Fire + Water" episode of season 2!
• We see Ben with his broken glasses from an encounter with his father. Sayid says that his father was a hard man as well. An emptional Ben goes on about how he hates it there. He wants to be taken away from DHARMA and brought to Sayid's people. Sayid accepts to do so. And explains that this is why he is there.
• Ben gets Sayid out and then there is some running in the jungle. And a DHARMA VAN drives by. It's Jin. He sees something moving and stops the van. Sayid hides Ben. He explains to Jin that Sawyer let him go but no one knows. Jin wants to radio it in to Sawyer first. Sayid knocks Jin out. Ben was impressed with the moves.
• Sayid tells Ben that he was right about him. That he is a killer. As Ben stands there confused, Sayid takes Jin's gun and shoots young Ben right in the heart. Ben falls to the ground. Sayid runs off into the night.
  

BOOM LOST!!

Okay, so get your shots in! Yes, in 2007, it appears that we see the DHARMA Barracks with DHARMA signs and pictures galore all over the place. So, Ben being shot here would help one's case to think that our survivors are in fact in 1977 for the first time and are changing the way history was once written. That eliminating Ben has eliminated the purge. Personally? I do not think it is as cut and dry as this. We were told in season 3 the rules of time travel. Everything has a way of course correcting itself. We have also seen people over and over again with the inability to die. Jack can't jump off the bridge, Michael can't kill himself, Ben can't shoot Widmore, surviving the crash of 815, the helicopter crash after the Island moved, Sawyer getting shot by an OTHER a few episodes ago and him not seeming to get shot at all, and of course even Locke getting shot by Ben conveniently where his missing kidney was. It seems that the effects are random with how this all works.

So what does this mean? Is Young Ben not dead? I'm inclined to think that he is not. We know Michael Emerson (older Ben) will not be phased out that easily being such a integral part of the cast these days. Let's think about it. Ben still appears to be a member of DHARMA right before the purge. So he was not meant to LEAVE DHARMA for good during this time period. But that doesn't mean Richard won't save him. Though at this point, he's face down in the jungle next to an unconscious Jin. Jin could bring Ben back to DHARMAVILLE, and then guess what? Maybe they'll need a surgery and there's only one man that they can ask to do it. Yep, you guessed it....not baby Ethan but janitor Jack Shephard! Tons of ways they can go with this.

I just hope they don't say he's dead and then raise him from the dead John Locke style. (of course, we don't know for sure if Locke is really alive or just another Christian Shephard) Ugh, I'm rambling I know. But before we get to the comments, just know that this episode did not phase me from my "WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED" stance on the time travel aspect of the show. Which means, in my head, something has to explain the events that happen to make it appear otherwise.

To avoid spoilers, I will refrain from telling you the name of next week's episode. But if you click on this link, you might feel a little enlightened!

Other than that, take your best shots at me. Explain to me how our crew is changing the course of the show. And I will make my best efforts to explain how this will NOT be the case! The war between LOST viewers has begun and it's all thanks to the introduction of TIME TRAVEL! I love it! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always. See you next week and 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 9 - Namaste

Hello LOSTIES! WOW WOW WOW!! Has this season been on fire or what? Chalk this one up to another episode of LOST I just absolutely loved. We are uncovering the DHARMA past 1st hand episode by episode and are still continuing to see the Island in present day. And the best part about it is that the story is continuing to move at a rapid pace as we approach that May 2010 Series Finale! We finally have a large portion of our original LOST crew back in one place and we should be beginning to uncover the purpose of why the Oceanic 6 (err 5) had to return. No sense in writing more mumbo jumbo up here. Let's get into the details of what happened on LOST!

Once again we flash between 2 different time periods and do not focus on any particular character this time around. As suspected we have some people on the Island in 2007 and the rest are stuck in 1977, the Glory Days of the DHARMA Initiative. In 2007, we uncover more of what happens to Ajira Flight 316 and the passengers that remained on the plane. In 1977 we continue where we left off last episode as Sawyer meets up with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Jin. And off we go to that mysterious Island we know and love!

2007

Ajira Flight 316

It's night time on flight 316. Must be moments before Jack opens Locke's letter. Our Oceanic 5 are preparing for their return. Up in the cockpit Lapidus is a little concerned himself!

• The co-pilot informs Frank that he recognizes Hurley as one of the Oceanic 6 and states that he must have nerves of steel to get back on a plane.
• Then the turbulence begins. They turn off the auto-pilot.....then the FLASH happens.
• It would seem that the flight FLASHED to the Island as well wouldn't it? It was all of a sudden daytime after the flash and the Island was in sight. There have been many rumblings out there that maybe the Island doesn't move through space at all, just time. Perhaps these windows to get to the Island have nothing to do with WHERE the Island is. It could just be a matter of passing through the window when it is open to get to the stationary Island. And if that's the case, we could tie flight 815 and the Nigerian Plane both to this theory. As for water arrival, that may be different story all together (Rousseau, Desmond, Freighter, Black Rock).
• Anyway, the plane seems to have lost power in the flash but they are able to power back up enough to get the thing in somewhat flying shape to land. At this point I screamed out "LOOK FOR THE RUNWAY!!!!!" And sure enough, they found it! This finally settles the debate that some out there were STILL saying there was no runway for the plane to land on. We see a DIRT PATH paved for a plane to land. We learned in season 3 that Sawyer and Kate's hard work breaking rocks (for those dreadful 6 episodes) was all for building a runway. Was the runway a task set forth from Jacob as he knew that the Ajira flight would land there? If so, we can still speculate that Jacob just may be Locke from the future. But we shall see one of these days!
• While the plane is heading down, you can hear The Numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42 being recited over their radio. What is THAT all about????
• Frank is able to land the plane on the runway, but runs out of track. The plane comes to a sudden stop as it slams into trees and vines and what not. Those trees and vines put a sudden end to the co-pilot as well!
  
• We find out that Sun is still on the plane as suspected. We find out that Caesar and Ilana do not know each other (he called her "Lady").
• We find out Ben was not hurt from the crash as he confirms that Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid are all gone. And asks how he can possibly know where they are. Ben says a lot of other things in this episode that I want to believe to, but I just give up on that guy!
  

After Crash Happenings

We rejoin the 316 survivors on the beach.

• Sun is clutching Jin's wedding ring hoping to find him. Ilana exchanges some pleasantries with Sun.
• Frank takes charge tells everyone to stay calm and stick together until they get rescued. We've been here before and are bored for a second! Frank plays dumb to where they are to all of the newbies.
• Caesar makes mention of a few things to Frank that triggers Ben to know they're on Hydra Island. He sneaks away. Sun follows....and Frank is not far behind.
• Ben informs Sun that he is going back to "OUR" Island and invites her along. He claims that he does not know where Jin is, but considering we know more about Ben's past, perhaps he does!
• We learn that the 3 Outriggers DO belong to The Others. I'm not sure why Juliet would claim not to know they existed a few episodes back if that was the case. I am going to choose not to look into this one!
• Frank arrives and warns that Ben is dangerous and recaps the Freighter with mercenaries coming all with the mission to kill Ben. Loved Ben's response "How did that work out?" As we know, the OTHERS took care of the mercenaries. And well....Ben took care of Keamy.
• Ben suggests there are supplies that can help at the DHARMA Barracks that are not far from the dock.
• And once they get that information SUN, who claims she had to trust Ben, slammed Ben on the head with an OAR! THWACK!!!! "I Lied" niiiiiice! So next time we see Ben he will probably get a nice wake up call from Locke.

Back to the Island

• Frank and Sun take an outrigger to the Island and head to the barracks.
• They did encounter Smokey for a second. (or heard it) Frank has never seen the monster. I don't think Sun as "SEEN" it either but she definitely knows of its existence, but doesn't alarm Frank about it.
• When they get to the abandoned barracks, we begin to hear whispers....then a LIGHT pops on in one of the houses. It's Christian Shephard! Well, he is just appearing to everyone now it seems. I don't have enough more information here to speculate about what's going on with him at the moment. So we take it for what it is. A Ghost that can hold babies and turn on lights and appear in different times, off the Island and on the Island and on the Freighter and can talk to anyone he pleases! Is Locke the same as HIM now? or different somehow? Stay Tuned!
• Sun tells Christian she is looking for her husband. Christian brings them inside and shows them pictures of the DHARMA Recruit Classes. They come across 1977 and we see Jack, Kate and Hurley in the picture. He tells them that they have a bit of a journey ahead of them. Hmmmmm are Sun and Frank going to travel back in time TO them?
  
  
• We're not quite there yet, but you may want to take a look at these 2 pictures (the photo and the live TAKING of the photo). Our image experts over at lost.cubit.net have identified that there is a MISSING person in the LIVE shot (see #4). However, if you look even closer at the circled place in the LIVE shot. You can still make out a FOOT in there. What's going on here? Could be just a mess up in the filming. Or we could be meant to think that there is some altering with TIME going on. Even a Ghostly appearance in the picture! Very Marty McFly Back to the Future disappearing Photo'ish! I'll leave it up to you to all theorize in the comments!
• Also, if you rewind the scene when Christian is showing the photo to Sun and Frank, the door swings open and there is a quick sighting of smoke. Now if you recall, when Christian appeared to Jack off Island in the flash forward, the smoke alarm went off. I mentioned that it was possible that it could be related to the Smoke Monster! Well, I'm throwing it out there again! It may not have been smoke at all, but it's worth noting!
  
• One more thing to note. Apparently, you may have only seen this on the HD Broadcast, but near the end of this scene, you can make out a woman standing in the room with Christian as well. Speculation is leading to this possibly being Claire! (Look behind Sun to the right in this photo.)
  

That's all we have from 2007. Sun and Frank have a journey ahead of them. Stay tuned to find out exactly what that's all about. Let's head to the past and catch up with everyone else!

1977

Reunion

We continue the story right where we left off. Sawyer arrives to meet up with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Jin. Everyone stares and smiles for awhile. Then, it's time to catch up!

• Hurley breaks the tension and goes for a hug. "you're alive!!!" Sawyer goes for a nickname in return "Easy on the ribs Kong!" to which Hurley responds that he missed that. Good times!
• Friendly handshake follows between Jack and Sawyer. And then the awkward hug between Kate and Sawyer with shots of Jack's "what can I really do? It's been 3 years." reaction.
• Sawyer asks how Locke got them to come back. They caught Sawyer and Jin up to the best of their knowledge that Locke was dead. Jack said it didn't matter how he died (didn't want to tell them it was suicide as he thought it was).
• Jin avoided explaining their current situation without Sawyer's help. They explain that it's 1977 and they've been working for DHARMA for 3 years. (Hurley's "WHAT???" reaction was priceless leading into the opening LOST title)
• Hurley's reaction to Jin's improved English was also a good time! So great to have them all together again!
• Kate reveals that it has been 3 years since they left the Island as well.
• Sawyer and Jin explain that they cannot be off grounds too long without reporting in because of the hostiles (others).
• Jack explains that they didn't come alone and that Lapidus, Sayid and Sun were on the plane too. Jin runs off to the FLAME station stating that if a Plane landed on the Island, Radzinsky would know!! (Recognize the name? Well I threw in a question in the last blog if we'd meet him and sure enough we did! He was Kelvin's hatch mate in the Swan prior to Desmond. He eventually blows his brains out leaving Kelvin to push the button alone. There was speculation that Hurley was going to turn out to be Radzinsky. No such luck folks! But I guess there's nothing saying that Hurley won't provide him with the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) to program into the hatch computer!)
• Sawyer panics as he thinks they need to slow down and think things through (a theme that we will revisit a little later). He tells the rest of them to stay put until he figures out a way to explain where they came from.
• Kate asks who else is there besides him and Jin. Naturally, we cut away without hearing Sawyer's answer. But the story cuts to Juliet and Miles...

Back at the Ranch

• Juliet heads to Security Station and requests Miles' help for finding Sawyer who took off without any explanation. They find out he has returned to the Barracks.
• Sawyer catches Juliet up. She definitely didn't react well to their return as she probably was just getting used to be happy and in love with Sawyer! But she was the one that came up with the plan. The sub was coming in with new recruits that day. Jack, Kate and Hurley will be 3 of them!

And the Baby is...(drumroll)

• There is a short scene between Juliet and Amy where Juliet grabs the Sub manifest stating that she didn't want Amy working during her recovery from giving birth.
• We find out that they named the baby ETHAN. This was a popular speculation and based on the timing, probably one of the only options that really worked. (although I thought Ethan was older than 27 when 815 first crashed!) But this is intriguing. Ethan was originally a DHARMA guy then. So that kinda kills any theories that only Island Natives can come and go from the Island as they please. (I started to think that after we saw Tom "Mr. Friendly" off of the Island talking to Michael saying that "some of us can come and go") I guess there is the possibility that they really do take the Sub on and off of the Island. But that doesn't explain Richard going in the 50's pre-DHARMA. Unless, Richard is a Ghost-like dude just like Shephard and possibly Locke. Oh well, for now, we know Ethan was with DHARMA. So that begs the question, what side does Amy end up on when the PURGE happens? Ben tells Hurley in season 4 that he was "one of the ones" who were smart enough to join ranks with The Others before ending up in the DHARMA ditch. And if Ben had to kill his father. Perhaps Ethan had to kill Horace or Amy? Or maybe that's only a task for the one destined to become the LEADER of the Others? Ahhh, I'm rambling. We'll save the rest for the comments!
• Amy asks Juliet when she and Jim are going to have children. Juliet hesitates saying the timing has to be right. That could be two-fold with the Baby making issues on the Island (which we have to find out how that happens right?) and also with the return of Kate!

Sawyer's Plan/Orientation

• While they wait for Sawyer's return, Kate fills the time by asking about Hawking and if she mentioned that they'd be arriving 30 years in the past. Jack says no and is wondering what they have to do there.
• Sawyer returns and catches the trio up with the plan and that it has to happen now. Another batch of recruits doesn't come for 6 months. Jack goes for a power play to try and think up another plan. Kate and Hurley decide they should listen to Sawyer "I vote for not camping!" It's going to be interesting to see how long Sawyer remains the one in charge. Clearly something will have to happen that will make Jack the "go to" guy again! But through the rest of this recap, we will see how Sawyer gets enjoyment over the current role reversal!
• Sawyer also explains how everyone is always knocked out for their Sub trip. So no one meets each other until they get here. Let's discuss this in the FLAME section below!
• On the DHARMA Van ride back to the Barracks, Hurley asks about warning the DHARMA people about the purge (I love how everyone just accepts the fact that they're in the 70's so quickly!).
• Sawyer has a great comeback about not playing Nostradamus for them. But then explained how Faraday had a theory about trying to change the past. (I wonder if this is the "what happened happened" theory or if something different happened when he decides to talk to Charlotte?) We find out that Faraday definitely is not with them anymore. So I wonder if the scene with Dan at the Orchid has already happened at this point? We didn't find out if Dan was dead, alive, with the others, transported to the future....so I'm guessing the reveal of what happened to him will be significant! Perhaps, Sun and Lapidus will run into him and then we will get a Dan-centric Flashback episode? Ahhhh me and my crazy theories!
• The Van arrives at the Barracks. The band Blue Image's "Ride Captain Ride" is playing to celebrate the arrival of the DHARMA recruits. Key lyrics include "mystery ship" and "others." I'm sure there is no significance other than irony!
• Sawyer explains the plan. Jack, Kate and Hurley's names have been added to the recruit list. They should go to the Meet and Greet, watch the video, put on their jumpsuits and take their work assignments.
• Hurley was paranoid that he would get quizzed on who the president is at the time. Sawyer ensured him that it wasn't a game show and that he has their back.
• Miles returns and questions the arrival of the 3, but there are bigger things to deal with. Duh, there's a 145 at the Flame! Sawyer talks to Jin via the walkie and finds out the have run into a hostile. Yep, it's Sayid (I skipped that story intentionally for the moment, so we'll get to it in a bit!)
• So we follow Jack, Kate and Hurley into the orientation. The video is the same one we saw during Ben's flashback episode in season 3 "The Man Behind the Curtain" when little boy Ben and his father "Roger Workman!" arrived on the Island.
• We finally get a name for the DHARMA guy from Mad Men. It's Phil (whew, that's easier!). He summons over "Jack Shephard" (hmmm, they didn't bother with aliases this time. Hopefully they don't do too much off-island research!)
• Jack meets Pierre Chang first-hand. (aka Marvin Candle, and various other waxy names!) Chang mentions that this is not is normal job but he was summoned from his lab to help. (probably because Amy was resting) He can't find all of the paperwork and blames it on everything being disorganized that day. He asks Jack who his shuttle driver was. Jack tells him LaFleur and that's good enough for him. We find out Jack's work assignment will be a "WORKMAN" aka DHARMA Janitor Jack can't help but smile because he knows Sawyer was behind it. So the big question...will Jack actually meet and worth with Roger Linus? I'd put money on it! There was an attack by the hostiles at one point during Ben's flashback episode. I wonder if we will actually see why that happened!
• Kate runs into a little trouble as Phil cannot find her on his list. Juliet saves the day, reluctantly!
• We will probably get more info on Kate and Hurley's jobs next week. But I am still guessing for now that Hurley will work with Radzinsky!

The Return of the Flame

Well, did you guys ever think we'd see the Flame station again after Locke blew it up? It's back in all of it's glory in 1977! Complete with Muppets Broadcasts and DHARMA Legends we've only heard about in the past. We follow Jin to the FLAME who is in desperate search for information on his missing wife.

• We meet Radzinsky who is clearly building the model of the Swan Station (the original hatch!) that we saw in the orientation video way back in season 2. The blueprint for the Swan is underneath the model. We will get into more Swan discussions in a second.
  
• Jin runs in and starts checking the radar logs. He wants to know if the plane landed. Radzinsky flips out a bit then tries to help him. Although he is confused at Jin's incessant need for the information.
• Radznisky hears back from The Looking Glass who said that there is nothing coming but the Sub. Remember the bluepring for the Looking Glass and how there was a spot on it for the Sub? I had theorized way back then that this was possibly how the sub was arriving to the Island. Remember, everyone is unconscious for the trip. Juliet was too. We have never seen the sub actually "arrive" to the Island and neither has any of its passengers which makes you think something crazy is going on. And considering how we now learned that aircraft are "TELEPORTED" (for lack of a better word) to the Island through these windows, perhaps the DHARMA sub is similar? Lots of questions on those water vehicles! I always wanted to see more of The Looking Glass station. That was quite a set they built for the season 3 finale. Seeing it for 2'ish episodes isn't enough. Give us more Looking Glass!
• Anyway, grid 325's motion censor went off with Hostile activity. Jin, hoping it's Sun, runs out to meet them. Long story short...It's Sayid! Jin quickly asks where Sun is. Sayid states that he doesn't know. Then Radzinsky arrives and Jin changes his tune. They both point their guns at him. He has to treat Sayid like a HOSTILE.
• After Jin's call to Sawyer, James rushes to the Flame station. Radzinsky explains that they have shoot him because he saw a model of the Swan station and sees where they are building it. Hmmmmm so perhaps the Swan WAS a mystery to The Others which is why Radz and Kelvin may not get purged. Well, Ben has to find out about it at some point, because he monitors them from The Pearl station with Juliet before he recruits Jack to do his surgery.
  
  (Here's Radzinsky!)
• By the way, Radzinsky's in-depth involvement with DHARMA and the maps of stations explains how he was able to draw the blacklight map of the stations in the Swan Hatch. By the way, reading that map again so many seasons later is a pretty good time! Things seem so much clearer!
• Sawyer gives Radz a great nickname of "Quickdraw" with his desire to kill Sayid. Instead, Sawyer relishes the chance to "interrogate" Sayid, similar to Sayid interrogating Sawyer in season 1. This time though? No torture involved.
• Apparently, terms of the truce are that Hostiles have to identify themselves as such or else they can be shot on sight. Sayid plays along.

Welcome Sayid the Hostile!

• Back at the barracks we flash to the 1977 taking of the DHARMA Recruit picture. We discussed this in the 1997 section above.
• What we didn't discuss was the song playing during the Photo Event. Something about a "DHARMA LADY" ? Could this be the legendary Geronimo Jackson band that has become a household name since season 2? I've heard rumors that a Geronimo Jackson album would be available for sale in the real world at some point this season. And that one of the songs would be featured in an episode. I'm guessing this was what the producers were discussing! Sorry kids, I think I'm gonna have to pass on the album purchase. So you can let me know how it is whenever it goes on sale!
• Sawyer brings Sayid back to the barracks and takes him straight to the security station. Everyone sees Sayid though in the process. It's going to be a difficult sell to assimilate Sayid into the DHARMA crew!
• Sawyer gives Sayid a nod assuring him that he has it under control. And he tells Phil to get him some food.

Just Like Old Times for Jack and Sawyer

• Jack wants to have a chat with Sawyer to catch up a bit. Love how Phil tells him not to call LaFleur JAMES. He hates it.
• Juliet answers the door. A nice cheesy hugging scene between those 2. But the killer part is when she tells him he didn't have the wrong house. She is marking her territory! (well, not from Jack...but you know what I mean!)
• Sawyer offers Jack a beer to which he declines. (I'm sure he loves drinking refrigerated and fresh DHARMA beer now!)
• Jack has many questions about their current situation, but starts with asking about Sayid. Sawyer says he's working on it. Jack starts questioning Sawyer's work ethic (reading a book). And Sawyer lets Jack have it!
• Sawyer explains his leadership style vs. Jack's. How Jack was more reactive than thinking things through (while reading books Winston Churchhill style) and how people ended up dead under Jack's lead. Jack retorts saying that he got people off the Island (good job Jack...all 6 of you plus Desmond!)
• Sawyer says he is going to go back to reading his book. It's how he saved Jack today and how he'll save Sayid tomorrow. Oooh burn!
• Can't have Jack and Sawyer being friendly for too long right? I love how they reintroduced the tension between them. That being said...there's no way Sawyer-in-charge can last. Some event has to happen to put Jack back in control. Maybe it will be a surgery that needs to be performed. Maybe something entirely different. But, as Jack told Sawyer in season 2 "when I want the guns, I'll get the guns!" For now, this dynamic should be a fun one to watch!
• After Jack leaves, Sawyer stares at Kate across the way, but then retreats back to his home with Juliet. Stay tuned for more drama there!
  

Sayid is hungry again!
As we all know from Sayid's reaction to the lima beans on the freighter, you do not want to give the man bad food! It makes him very disgusted! Fortunately, someone comes to his rescue with food that is a step up from the beans.

• A little boy arrives to bring Sayid a sandwich. Sayid gladly accepts. The boy asks if Sayid is a hostile. Sayid asks what he thinks? The boy asks for Sayid's name. He gives it. Sayid asks for the boy's name....we see his face. "BEN" Nice to meet you Ben!
  

BOOM LOST!!!!

OK, so it was obvious that it was going to be Ben. That's all good. The bigger question. Will Sayid decide that this is the information he needs to choose a side? Sandwich (Ben) vs. Lima Beans (Widmore)? Oh yes...you must go with the better food option! Okay okay, I'm kidding! The bigger question is if Ben is working for the others already. And if not, is he hoping Sayid is one so that he can get more information about them? We know he wanted to leave DHARMA not long after he got there to be with his GHOST MOM.

Other questions that arise from this. Ben is aware of Sayid, Jack, Kate and Hurley from 1977. Did the 2004/2007 version of Ben have this knowledge? If so, then he DOES know what happened to all of them. He always knew that they had to go back to the Island if they left. And...is that how they had all of the information about Sayid and Jack that we found out in season 3. Because they have been following their lives since way back when? Same with John Locke?

Loads of questions that time travel can bring! We can sort them out in the comments below. I think I've gotten a little too wordy once again so I will say my goodbyes! Another fantastic episode of LOST in the history books. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I look forward to hearing yours! And it couldn't be more appropriate than after this episode to say...NAMASTE!



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

LOST: Season 5 Episode 8 - LaFleur

Hello Losties! I'm sure most of us are still trying to wrap our heads around Ben's reasoning for talking down Locke from the noose only to take him down within minutes! But, this week we had to catch up with our LEFT BEHINDERS to find out what happened to them after Johnny Boy Beamed off the Island. LaFleur was a lot slower paced than our past couple of episodes, but still chock full of little goodies we can talk about. And of course, the moment we wanted to come much sooner in the episode was saved for the episode ending 2-week cliffhanger! Ahhhh LOST! Gotta love it! I enjoyed the episode, as I do every episode. But, compared to the last couple of episodes, we're bound for a bit of let down! So we'll just give it a one exclamation point WOW! The episode served the purpose that it had to serve, told the story that needed to be told, and now we can move on to the exciting stuff! We're at the midpoing of the season folks, can you believe it? Only 26 hours left of LOST from now until May 2010. Yikes, well let's not start crying now, let's get into the episode!


So this episode starts off immediately after Locke falls down the well. When we last left our Island crew Daniel was hovering over Charlotte who passed away and Sawyer, Jin, Juliet and Miles were surrounding a rope in the ground that a few seconds before had John Locke on the other end of it. Crazy Time travel! And exactly "when" did they end up? Well there's a bit of an interesting twist there!

The Final Flash

• We find out that when Locke fell into the Donkey Wheel cave, Sawyer and crew flashed back to a long long long long time ago! Yes folks, Miles spotted a fully constructed gigantic statue that very much looked like something that could have deteriorated over the years only to leave ONE FOOT, which happens to have 4 toes on it!
  
• FINALLY, we got to see more with the statue. Naturally, we only got to see the back of the statue so no telling what the front is. Wow, so how far DID they travel back? And doesn't it look kinda Egyptian to you? I kinda think so. Let's recap all of our Egyptian paraphernalia hanging around the Island. We have the Hieroglyphics that are showing up on all ancient structures (the temple, the cave that Ben summoned Smokey from). Then we have the DHARMA Swan Station clock that showed the symbols when the clock counted down to zero. We also get a new relic in this episode that is DHARMA related as well. Let's not also forget that Hurley was drawing a picture of a Sphinx in last week's episode. Oh, and there is an Island exit in Tunisia, which is a hop-skip and a jump away from Egypt. What gives people?! Are we making some connections here? Oh, and does it seem like the statue has a nice full head of long hair? Remember way back when in season 3 when we saw a brief shot of JACOB in the rocking chair? He seemed to be sporting that haircut as well, didn't he? (okay, that part is a stretch!) But seriously, we should be tying this Egyptian stuff together by now right? An Island which some crazy energy source, ancient Egyptian artifacts, an ancient wheel deep in the Island that teleports you to Tunisia. A Smoke monster, healing powers. Yikes, I'm still LOST, but I feel like we got a crazy clue here. It would seem that the Egyptians may have been the first residents of the Island. THEORIZE away! And now that we know the statue was COMPLETED at one time, are we now going to have to wait until season 6 to see the front?
• Anyway, while my rant above went on for 3 hours, we only saw like 3 seconds of the statue before we got a whole new kind of flash after Locke turned the wheel. The earth shook the sky was flashing a little differently, but then we got to hear the sound we've come to know and love and BOOM....they were in a new time period sans headaches and nosebleeds. And thus, the flashing ends.
• The well is there again, but there is no hole going deep into the earth. Hmmm, that's weird. Considering the time we know they end up in how did Charlotte know about the well to tell them it was a way to the wheel? Was it recently filled with dirt by the DHARMA Initiative? And come to think of it, now that we know that the donkey wheel exists the spinner to Tunisia, we CAN pretty much confirm that this MUST be how the Polar Bear ended up there right? I know some found this far fetched. But how else would it have happened? Can't we somehow tie this to Charlotte knowing to look in Tunisia and to her knowing about the well? I dunno, maybe I'm grasping at straws here!
• Anyway, they assume Locke has succeeded in leaving the Island and now they will wait. How long you ask? As long as it takes...

3 Years Later (1977)

Well, looks like some of our theories when we saw Jin in the DHARMA suit turned out to be correct. We figured that if 3 years passed off of the Island, that maybe the same would happen for the people that stayed ON the Island. At this point the episode begins to flash back and forth between the 3 year period that Sawyer, Jin, Miles, Dan and Juliet waited on the Island for their friends to return. Let's break it up between the 2 time periods as best we can!

• We open up with some DHARMA Security guards slacking on the job. Well, really just Jerry (Jason Street's Crippled friend on Friday Night Lights) and his girl Rosie are dancing to some classic jams on the reel to reel! Then Jerry's security buddy (couldn't make out his name but he was the comedian in season 2 of Mad Men) ruins the fun by saying they need to focus on their job.
• There is a mention of Polar Bears in cages here. We already knew DHARMA was experimenting with Polar Bears, so nothing new. I just want to know how one ended up in Tunisia!
• We see Horace Goodspeed on one of the security cameras all drunk on DHARMA Booze and blowing up trees with Dynamite (from the Black Rock maybe? We know Sawyer brings it up to him 3 years prior) If you don't remember Horace, we saw him in season 3's "The Man Behind the Curtain." On the mainland, he helped deliver Ben on the side of the road and then recruited Ben's dad Roger to work for the DHARMA initiative 12 years later. So this is still before Ben comes to the Island.
• Anyway, the security guys summon the head of security LaFleur. And it turns out to be a clean shaven James "Sawyer" Ford. What a great name: Jim LaFleur You know the writers loved giving Sawyer that alias to go by.
• Sawyer and Miles (Sawyer calls him Enos, not sure if it's a nickname or what he's going by) head out to pick up Horace. Horace seems to be the leader of the DHARMA initiative. His drunkenness is apparently a rare occurrence, so something was up.
• Sawyer brings Horace to Amy (his wife) it's Michelle Dessler from 24!! Lots of recycled cast members from other TV shows in this episode!
• Amy tells Sawyer that they got in a fight over something. Before she can reveal what, she's going into labor!
• We learn from the doctor that all pregnant women are taken off the Island to have their children. Amy was supposed to be on the sub on Tuesday to go to the mainland. But the baby is early. It seems like they were leading us down the path for us to think that even DHARMA folk had trouble having children on the Island. But in later times, no one would have gotten to the stage of pregnancy that Amy did.
• Anyway, a C-Section must be performed and no one there can do it. Sawyer goes and recruits Juliet who is undercover as a DHARMA Maintenance woman. She was fixing one of the vans. Juliet seems to have made an agreement with Sawyer to never work with pregnant women on the Island again due to her track record. Sawyer makes a comment that maybe whatever happens later on the Island that kills pregnant women, hasn't happened yet. This would seem to be the case.
• Later outside of the infirmary, Jin comes to see Sawyer. Looks like Jin is on assignment looking for their friends. He searches one grid of the Island per day. His English has gotten considerably better. Now, after 3 years, that would be understandable! So, it turns out that when Jin found Jack, Hurley and Kate he was in fact actually looking for them. Crazy stuff!
• Juliet comes out and delivers the good news to everyone. "It's a Boy!!!" And now, everyone wonders...WHO is Horace and Amy's child? Ahh, I'm not even going to start theorizing right now!
• I think it is important to note that we did not see Dan in the 1977 storyline. We'll learn in a little bit that Dan kinda went nuts after Charlotte dies. And we saw when the Orchid Video was being filmed that he was working for DHARMA and seemed very interested in that crazy Donkey Wheel. Hmmmmm
• Anyway, Mr. LaFleur, French for The Flower, picks a flower from a garden and heads to Juliet's house who is making a nice dinner. There's some hugging, some kissing and .....woaaaa "I LOVE YOU's" going around. Looks like Sawyer found a new gal to play house with! Not that this is a shocker, they've been building this relationship all season long, well really starting in the season 4 finale. JATERS and SKATERS might be jumping ship soon to support this new LOVEFEST!
• Sawyer, reading a new book is watching over Horace. He wakes up and begins to explain how the fight happened. Horace found a Ankh Neclace that belonged to Paul (Amy's old husband. We'll get to that in a second too!). Horace felt that 3 years was not enough time to get over someone. Sawyer went into his speech talking about how he used to feel for Kate. But then he said he can barely remember her face anymore. 3 years is absoultely enough time to get over someone.

Let's pause this storyline and find out how they got there!

3 Years Ago (1974)

When in doubt, go to the Beach!

• Sawyer, Miles, Juliet and Jin start heading back from the well and find Dan mumbling to himself and saying "I'm not going to go after her this time." He obviously is referring to the creepy comments Charlotte made to him right before she died. Dan is supposedly going to tell little girl Charlotte to leave the Island and never come back unless you want to die! Interesting that he was saying "this time." Kinda reminded me of when Desmond consciousness traveled back to before he was on the Island and relived key moments of his life again and tried to change things. (the first time we meet Mrs. Hawking) Anyway, he still dumps Penny and ends up back on the Island and starts ranting about wanting to go back and try it again. Am I suggesting that this version of Dan has traveled back and tried to prevent this before? No, not really. He is probably just saying it because he knows that Charlotte remembers him doing it which means he will do it. But I did find it interesting!
• Dan told everyone that Charlotte was gone. When she died her body "moved on" and they stayed. Interesting way to put it. Wouldn't you think that "THEY MOVED" and she stayed?
• Dan, explains how they are stuck in the time that they are there for good. Oh, and he's gone a little crazy too!
• Sawyer takes charge with Dan "checked out" mentally. He suggests to go to the beach and wait for Locke and crew. This starts a nice running banter of jokes between Miles and Sawyer. Miles says all they ever have are 2 plans "go to the orchid, or go to the beach." Miles made a good point about the flaming arrows, but how did he know what time they were in when he said the Camp is gone? I guess because they saw the well? I don't think the well was there at all in 2005 beyond. Eh, minor semantics again. It was still great to hear Sawyer tell him to "ZIP IT!" Plus Sawyer then says "IF our stuff is there, Great, if not we build new stuff." So that covers it!
• Juliet publicly agrees with Sawyer to help things to get moving, but then she tells him in private that it's a stupid idea. (flirtingly, albeit!) She tells him to come up with a better plan before they get there. Thankfully, there was GUNFIRE to save the day!
  

There's Always OTHERS to deal with

• As anyone would, our heroes fled TO the sound of gunfire. We see 2 people that are confirmed as OTHERS, a dead guy in a DHARMA Jumpsuit, and a woman with a bag put over her head. (It's Amy that we meet 3 years from now)
• Miles tries to confirm with Dan that they don't get involved. Apparently, living with a new theory about time travel after his Charlotte conversation, he tells Miles that it doesn't matter what they do. Whatever happened happened. So I guess he's suggesting that if Sawyer and Juliet kill 2 OTHERS, that is what always happened in the timeline. Doesn't make sense with people suddenly getting memories in the future but it's exactly what happened here! Boom, Juliet takes one down before he gets Sawyer and BAM Sawyer gets the other one. Nice little head nod-exchange from Sawyer to Juliet. The flirtation continues!
• Dan gets a new nickname from Sawyer - Plato. And I know this comes later but he calls Miles - Banzai and well that was just a fantastic time!
• It's interesting to note here that Juliet doesn't recognize the OTHERS. She says it is before her time. It's 27 years prior to when Juliet came to the Island. One could argue that these people COULD HAVE still been on the Island as our part of the Nomadic Others tribe. But the ironic thing is, she probably never met them because she helped kill them before she was even there. Ahhhhh Time Travel!
• We find out that the dead DHARMA guy is Amy's first husband, Paul. (Yep, the same Paul that Horace gets all worked up about 3 years later)
• Sawyer begins a massive lie to coverup their time-traveling future-dwelling past. He tells Amy that their ship wrecked here on the way to Tahiti.
• He's also alarmed because the Others had a walkie and may have radioed in for reinforcements. They need to get moving.
• Amy discusses how they need to bury the bodies. DHARMA has some kind of TRUCE with the OTHERS. We will get into the Truce a little more in a bit, but one has to wonder if breaking this TRUCE potentially led to the purge?
• Amy also says they need to bring Paul with them. Jin volunteers to carry him. And they bury the other 2.

Back to the Barracks

• Anyway, they begin their venture to the Barracks. Sawyer still has his take-charge attitude. Explains how he used to lie for a living so everyone just follow his lead.
• Then Dan almost runs into Sonic Fence around the barracks. Juliet sorta blows their cover by screaming at Dan to stop! Amy looks at them now distrustingly. Juliet requests for Amy to turn it off as it looks like some sort of sonic fence. Right, because we run into those every day!
• Long story short, she appears to change settings and walks through (but we hear some kind of noise when she does). Everyone else follows and passes out. Must've been set to a low enough setting that earplugs would do the trick for Amy!
• Sawyer wakes up later and Horace is there to great him. He thanks Sawyer for helping Amy in the jungle. And explains that the fence incident is defense protocol against the Hostiles with whom they don't get along.
• Horace tells Sawyer that all of his people said to talk to him because he was the "boat captain." Anyone else picture Sawyer as the Skipper in a Gilligan's Island remake for just a brief second? Anyway, he introduces himself as Jim LaFleur. Explains they got caught in a storm and shipwrecked and must've hit the reef. They all washed up on shore. He explains how they were on an expedition looking for a Slave Ship based out of England known as the Black Rock. Horace claims he never heard of the Black Rock, which for all we know could be the truth at that point. But 3 years later he most likely got the dynamite from there!
• Sawyer explained that they were in the jungle because some of their crew went missing and they were looking for them (Are they really going to be able to explain that they finally found their crew 3 years later when they pick up Jack, Hurley and Kate? That should be interesting! But we're not there yet!).
• Horace explains that only DHARMA members can stay on the Island and that Mr. LaFleur is NOT DHARMA material. He says that they're all going to be on the next submarine off of the Island. Funny how now that they're in the wrong time, getting off of the Island doesn't sound like such a good idea!

Meanwhile...Outside

• Miles, Dan, Juliet and Jin wait for Sawyer to salvage the situation. Miles mentions how Sawyer is probably blabbing about time travel at this point.
• Juliet explains how she used to live in the Barracks and how the Others took them over and wiped out mostly everyone that lived there (not Ben!)
• Jin asked Dan if they are no longer going to flash. Dan says no and that the record is spinning again, but they're not on the song they want to be on. Ahhh how poetic. So do we think Dan is going to try and FIX the record? And that's why he is mining at the Orchid?
• Oh right, we see Charlotte as a little girl! Dan, looks like he's going to forget all about NOT wanting to warn Charlotte this time. We'll see!
  
• Sawyer catches everyone up on the situation that they believed the story but still getting booted from the Island. Oh and that LaFleur is Creole. Maybe Sawyer spent some time in New Orleans during his Conning days? Something tells me we probably won't be getting a backstory on that one!

Encounter with Richard

• Just as they think they're luck has run out, it's The OTHERS to the rescue again! The DHARMA alarm is sounding. Someone has entered the premesis.
• Our Heroes are put into a house under guard with someone that I swore looked like Locke's Helen for a second. But her name was Heather and upon further review, decided it was not her. That just would have been silly!
• We then see Richard with his infamous torch enter the scene. He plants his torch in the ground and waits for someone to come talk to him. Sawyer and Juliet exchange glances "UH OH..." Dum dum dummmmmm!
• Horace goes out to meet Richard. We find out that the Sonic Fence doesn't keep The OTHERS out of the barracks. Interesting. Do they have DHARMA earplugs too or is there something ELSE about our infamous Others? We already know Richard is an ageless wonder! Anyway, we also know he was referring to Smokey when he suggested what the fence DOES keep out.
• Richard said that 2 of his men are missing and that the TRUCE has been broken.
• Horace comes in to check about the bodies with Sawyer. Horace tells Mad Men guy to call the Arrow station and tell them they are at Condition Level 1 and to turn the fence on Max. We learned in the season premiere that the Arrow Station's (aka the station where our Tail Section was living hand found the glass Eye and hollowed out bible) purpose was " to develop defensive strategies and gather intelligence against the island's hostile environments" We now see that playing out here. Hmmm, if Chang was creating the Orientation Video for The Arrow in the premiere and we saw Dan there in the premiere does that suggest Dan goes even further back in time? That just can't be right. Maybe they were operating without an orientation video for awhile.
• Anyway, Sawyer sees this as an opportunity to stay relevant. He volunteers to talk to Richard and explain the situation. Gotta love how he referenced Richard's "eyeliner" too!
• This leads to an awesome scene between Sawyer and Richard. Sawyer explains that he killed the two others in self defense. He saw a woman in distress and saved her. Explained that he's not with DHARMA. And then explains to Richard exactly how he knows him. He asked if they buried "Jughead" 20 years before. He mentioned Locke visiting him and claiming to be their leader. He mentioned he's on the Island waiting for John Locke now. (again, this makes me think of the OTHERS telling John "we've been waiting a long time for you" - of course I still don't understand why Cindy the Oceanic 815 flight attendant said that!)
• Richard then believes that Sawyer is not with DHARMA but that 2 of his people are still dead and they will want Justice. Now why does Richard refer to them as HIS people when he's never 1st in command? Surely, Widmore is in charge at this point!
• Anyway, that's not important right now. What is...is that Richard wants Paul's body in exchange for his 2 dead people. Huh????? This screams of Locke coming back to life again. Are they going to offer him up to the SMOKE GODS or something? This is just bizarre. But I'm sure there is a deeper reasoning for it that we just don't know right now.
• Horace tells Amy he is willing to accept if she doesn't want to give up Paul and that they will suffer the consequences. Amy decides to keep everyone safe by giving up Paul. She takes the Egyptian Ankh Necklace off of his neck.
• By the way, the Ankh is another Egyptian Symbol that represents Eternal Life.
• Interesting that he was wearing that and that The Others want his body. That's all I'm saying! Oh, that and that there is more Egyptian artifacts on the ISLAND both inside DHARMA and out. What is going on here???
• Anyway, this wins Sawyer and crew a 2 week stay on the Island to look for their friends. But we can assume they worked that into 3 years with Sawyer's classic conning ways!
• Ahhh and then the big scene between Sawyer and Juliet happens. Juliet has been trying to get off of the Island for a long time. Locke said that he was leaving to save them, and they appear to be saved. And even with it being 30 years earlier, she still wants to take that sub and leave the Island. She said that her life as she knew it not existing off of the Island yet is not a reason to go. Sawyer then asks if HE is a reason not to go. He goes an a great rant about how she can't leave him there with a Mad Scientist and a Mr. "I speak to Dead people" and Jin who is a great guy but not the best conversationalist. He needs her to have his back. He begs her to give him 2 weeks. And well we see what that turns into over 3 years. And thus, the birth of the new couple to root for blossoms. (And yeah, I know we already talked about it above!)

Back to the Future (3 years later)
But Present time for our 815/316/Freighter/Juliet Generationers
Yet still the Past! (1977)

Longest Blog header in Lost Addicts history! Sidenote: you would hope at least the DHARMA crew were able to leave the Island during the summer of 1977 to watch Star Wars at least a couple dozen times! Anyway, back in DHARMA-Land 1977, Sawyer and Juliet are catching some Z's and the phone rings. Jin's on the phone. Sawyer instructs Jin not to bring them in and to meet him at the North Valley. Juliet asks what is going on. Sawyer says that it's Jin and he has to go. Sawyer drives a DHARMA JEEP (new vehicle!) to meet up with Jin in his DHARMA VAN. Sawyer gets out of the car, Hurley steps out of the van with the guitar. Jack steps out in his suit. Jack and Sawyer exchange smiles. And then Sawyer sees Kate....and it would appear all feelings that he has forgotten about came rushing back within a second.

BOOM LOST!!!!

Like I said, tough to top our Oceanic 5 returning to the Island and Locke seeing Ben after his murder in the past couple of weeks. But that was still a good time! Is it enough to hold you over for 2 weeks? Yep, there is no episode next week. We knew there had to be at least a 1 week break to drag this show into the proper MAY SWEEPS Finale Week. There is still plenty to talk about over the next 2 weeks so here's a few discussion points!

• What role will Jack, Hurley and Kate play in the DHARMA past? Will Sawyer work them into their lie? He IS head of security afterall!
• What about all of these Egyptian Artifacts? Anyone want to venture a guess on the ultimate question to end them all? WHAT IS THE ISLAND?!
• Will the show end with our crew stuck in the PAST or is Dan going to try and change that? I am going to guess that they won't if we have Locke and the Ajira crew in the future. And especially if SUN is separated by time from Jin.
• How is the next interaction between Ben and Locke going to go?
• Who is Jacob???
• How did Christian Shephard change out of his Suit into Business Casual?
• Why doesn't Richard age?
• What is the Smoke Monster?
• What happened to Desmond and Penny?
• Charles Widmore: Good Guy or Bad Guy - Discuss
• Ben Linus: Good Guy or Bad Guy - Discuss
• How are Nikki and Paulo doing in the ground in 2007?
• Did Jughead implode when the Hatch imploded?
• How did Kelvin get to the Island? Was he there during the purge and allowed to keep pushing the button?
• Will we ever meet Radzinsky?
• Who are the Adam and Eve Skeletons?
• And finally, where on earth are ROSE AND BERNARD?????!!!!!!!

Next episode looks like a doozy, but to avoid spoilers, I'll avoid discussing for now. In the comments? All bets are off! Discuss away folks. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings, NAMASTE and see you in 2 weeks!

This blog will also be 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.