Recap of Episodes 5.1 "Because You Left" and 5.2 "The Lie"
I think it's only appropriate to start this post where my last one left off... with Frogurt. If you listened to my segment Wednesday with Bob & Brian you know that we were talking about all of the bizarre ways people have died on this show. Tricia Tanaka and her camera man getting killed by a meteorite hitting the Mr. Cluck's is still my favorite, but the flaming arrow to Frogurt's chest and him becoming a big fireball is a close number 2. At least we didn't have to wait 8 episodes for a medusa spider to bite him.
I'll admit, I was nervous before seeing the episodes last night. I have clearly stated in the past that I was not the biggest fan of the time travel concept. As Faraday told Sawyer last night, it would be difficult to explain to a Quantum Physicist, so it makes for a perilous road when a television show is going to attempt such a concept and expect the audience to follow AND be entertained.
Well done Lost creators... well done. I am officially on board.
Not only were the concepts were easy to follow, it gives limitless possibilities for explaining the history of the island. When I saw the beach craft fly over Locke's head my mind instantly thought of all of the possibilities... seeing the Black Rock shipwreck, encountering Rousseau's Team (which I understand will happen some time in season 5), finding out more about the early DHARMA Initiative, seeing the 4-toed statue in it's entirety... the show can now take us so many places in the island's deep history. Every Lost fan should feel like a kid on Christmas morning.
There are still plenty of opportunities for the time travel concept to tank but I have faith, especially since we have Faraday on the island to help explain what is going on to the rest of the survivors (and us). The creators have said that Faraday and his journal will be a key part of this season. We are starting to see just how key. Many of the emails I received from you guys have asked how Faraday knows so much about all of this. I thought it was pretty clear that Faraday has been time traveling before. Last season we saw him with the memory problems (similar to those that Charlotte seems to be having). Then there is all of the info in his journal, how could he have recorded it if he hadn't experienced the island before. The best evidence of course came last night when we saw him during construction of the Orchid Station which took place in the early 70's. I am assuming that was part of his independent time travel, not what is happening to our people currently.
Then there is Faraday's mother, whom he told Desmond to go seek out. I think most of Lost nation is assuming that Ms. Hawking (the woman Desmond encountered in the ring shop in season 3 who we also was last night with Ben) is Faraday's mother. That still does not explain exactly who she is? Is she a protector of the island? A guardian of destiny? It remains to be seen. The guardian of destiny idea is an interesting one to me. We have seen Ms Hawking previously tell Desmond that the way of the universe can't be changed, i.e. no matter how many times Des saved Charlie eventually he was going to die. Then last night we heard Faraday say that the past can't be changed, because there are "rules". But clearly it isn't all as clear cut as that. If destiny is destiny and things can't be changed, then why is the world in peril from the island time jumping? Wouldn't destiny take care of that? Perhaps there are some exceptions to these rules. Faraday mentioned Desmond as someone who is special and may have the power to change the course of time. Also, the last time we heard talk of "rules" it was coming from Ben and Widmore when he "changed the rules". That may be something entirely different, but it is worth keeping in the back of your mind.
I will be curious to find out the "physics" reason as to why the world is in peril. My guess is that island moving could eventually destroy the world/universe much like the mind of a person jumping in time could eventually kill them, i.e. Minkowski. As I mentioned earlier Charlotte seemed to be feeling the ill effects of time travel, but it was different from what we saw with Minkowski. Perhaps it's the difference between the mind jumping and the body actually jumping. A few of you have asked why Charlotte is being hit with this sickness but know one else is. Last season we learned that Charlotte has a past with the island, perhaps she was even born there. That has to be why she is going through it and no one else is. It's likely that one of the jumps through time we take will show is her origins on the island. By the looks of the season preview after the episodes last night we may get to see her meet her end on the island as well.
My favorite moment last night was the exchange between Richard and Locke after he had been shot. Richard tells John that he won't recognize him next time they meet. Richard hands him a compass and tells John to give it to him. If you recall that compass was one of the items Richard placed before Locke as a boy to see if he was ready to go to the "special school". It clearly holds some kind of significance, and Richard clearly knows what is happening. I will be curious to find out why Locke, Sawyer, Juliet and the rest are jumping and Richard and the Others are not. I have to think it has something to do with their connection to the island and finding their destiny. By the way... that is officially the "easy" answer to questions this season. If you have no clue, just say "because it's their destiny". You will sound like you know what you are talking about because apparently everything this season is about destiny.
As much as there were lots of answers provided last night, there are still new questions. Who are the army guys? One avid sethislost.com reader pointed out that they were attacking with arrows and we learned last night that The Arrow DHARMA Station was essentially a military defense station. I don't give much weight to that because if you followed the jumps in time correctly, when the attack occurred was the same time when Desmond was still in the hatch. That would have been within the 3 years before 815 crashed and DHARMA was long gone by then. So who knows who they are, fortunately it looks like we'll start to get the answer to that next week.
I realize I have largely ignored the Oceanic 6 in this post, but I think it is because most of their story last night was straight forward. The one thing I am curious about is who is Sayid really working for. He was working for Ben, but is he still? He told Hurley not to trust a Ben says. I have long contended that while it is possible that Widmore killed Nadia, it is equally as possible that Ben and his people did as a way to recruit Sayid. Either way it looks right now that Jack is the only one really aligned with Ben. And even though it looks as if Ben is acting as a "good guy" right now, I put a lot of stock in the fact that Carlton Cuse called him a "bad guy" in the clip show yesterday. It is quite likely that while he may be acting in an altruistic manner to get everyone back to the island to save it (and the world possibly) I have to imagine that he does still have a selfish agenda.
If you have any questions that I haven't answered or want me to elaborate on anything, feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can email me at sethislost@gmail.com. Check early next week for the answer to your questions and to get a quick preview of episode 5.3 "Jughead".
first a quote from Ben...
"destiny, is a fickle bitch"
now the meaning...
fickle- likely to change, esp. due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable: fickle weather.
so destiny may not be all its cracked up to be.
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It will be interesting to see if the police officers who handcuffed Hurley were really police officers or if they were working for Ben. At the deli, Ben had asked if two other people had arrive yet. The lady said they had. It wouldn't surprise me the "police officers" were really those two guys and Hurley isn't really going to jail. But I guess we will find out next week.
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Excellent theory. I was thinking about that when I rewatched last night because Ana Lucia specifically tells him not to get arrested. I don't know about you but if I was Hurley I would listen to all of the dead people talking to me.
Also, it may not be next week that we find out. I am told that next week's episode is primarily focused on Desmond and the people on the island with very little focus on the Oceanic 6. Apparently some of them don't even appear in next week's episode. However, you are right in that we should know what is up soon. After all Ben only has 70 hours to collect everyone.
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Say, was it just me, or did one of those "cops" look a whole lot like Matthew Abbadon? I'll have to take a closer look when I rewatch it this weekend.
Also, as for the military guys who attacked Sawyer, Juliet, et. al., they had British accents and their uniforms and weapons looked to be WWII vintage. Again, I'll have to take a closer look this weekend.
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Possibly, but why would Ben tell Ms. Hawking that we lost Reyes, if he has control of Hurley? Ben could be misleading her, but it seems to me that Ben needs her. So I beleive that Hurley is with the Police.
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Andy, sorry to be so late in replying, but yeah, after I rewatched 5x01 & 5x02, it was clear that the one cop wasn't Abbadon. But the guy did look a lot like Abbadon, which shouldn't be too surprising, since we've seen Lindelof & Cuse pull that one on us before.
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Seth,
Are you completely convinced that when we saw Dr. Candle in the opening that it was in the 70’s and Faraday traveled back in time? There were 3 clues that we were, the alarm clock, record player and the reel to reel camera. Besides that everything looked pretty modern. We’ve seen Desmond have a record player in the hatch in 2004 and if you wanted fake an old video you would need to shoot it on an old camera. Not sure how this would even fit in but the scene seemed off to me.
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Point taken... but I am going to stick with my first thoughts on it. Time travel is the new focus of the show and Faraday is at the center of it. It makes more sense to me that the scene we saw (including the skipping record) was to give us more info about the "limitless power" coming from that part of the island and to show us that Faraday has indeed been there before which is why he knows so much.
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One thing that you didn't mention in your post is that the dream that Locke has in season 1or2 when him and Boone find the plane. In his dream he gets shot in the leg and falls, so when he wakes up he sends Boone. It wasn't actually a dream at all but a memory since Locke will eventually be in the past.
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I think you are mistaken, but I am going to have to go back and check. In Locke's dream he is in a wheelchair again, but he wasn't shot in the leg. I'll check this weekend but I am pretty sure I am right.
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Another little thing I noticed. When Ben asks Jack if John told him what happened to those left behind on the island, Jack responds that he didn't. Ben hesitates for a fraction of a second before saying, "Then I guess we'll never know." Is it safe to say that Ben DOES know what happened to those left behind? And, is John really dead? I know he had to "die" to get the Oceanic 6 back to the Island, but as with alot of other happenings, is his "death" a ploy to get Jack on board with Ben? Just some random thoughts. Keep up the great work and love the B&B segments.
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You are probably right... I would guess that Ben knows what happened. There is little that he and his people don't know. Even if he doesn't know specifics he has to have an idea.
Is Locke dead? I am going to say yes, but I am also going to say that we will see him alive again at some point. How? Who knows, it's Lost.
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I think the baby Dr. Cheng was caring for at the very begining was Charlotte as a baby. You really couldn't tell the sex of the baby, but it definitely wasn't his, the skin color wasn't even close. Who else could it be if not Charlotte?
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Definitely could be... if it isn't her I think the baby has some significance. In the video released at ComiCon (previously posted on this site) we never see the baby but we can here it crying and he tells his wife to take tha baby outside. Why have a baby there if it doesn't have some significance?
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The soldier's uniforms looked liked a time frame from the 50's to the 80's and did the one soldier have an accent? Also was Sun getting hostile towards Kate at the end of their meeting?
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Were the guys who captured Sawyer and Juliet briefly before Locke came to rescue them part of Rousseau's team in the past?
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I can pretty confidently say no... they had British accents (or something similar). In an upcoming episode there are people cast as young french woman, french man #1 and french man #2... I am going to say that those people are Rousseau's team.
I will have more on the identity of the "soldiers" in my weekend mail bag.
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After watching the episodes again i noticed something. At the begining, when building the orchid station, Dr. Cheng when explaining what would happen if all the islands energy gets released, he says "God help us all." The woman; who may or may not be Farraday's mother, says the same thing at the very end of the episode, I think the two are connected somehow, maybe?
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Possibly, but remember that Cheng is with DHARMA and Ms. Hawking is apparently with Ben's people and Ben called DHARMA's involvement "silly science experiments". Maybe they just both know the consequences of moving the island.
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I was a little confused by Richard telling Locke that he won't remember him the next time they cross paths. Wasn't Richard there at Locke's birth? Hasn't he basically known and recruited Locke his entire life?
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Yes, he has. But we dont know where in time Locke is. When we see Richard he's always the same age. Maybe we will see Richard before he does all his time traveling or whatever he does.
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Regarding Ms. Hawking being Faraday's mother. I think they are really trying to make it look like she is, which makes me think that she's actually not his mom.
My guess for the baby at the beginning is that it is Miles. We have already been hinted to that Charlotte has been on the Island, possibly born there. Faraday has been there we have now seen, so I am guessing that Miles also has the same kind of connection to the Island.
Another theory I have heard others bring up on other sites is that the soldier who caught Juliet and Sawyer, the one who said "What are you doing on OUR Island?" is actually Widmore in the past. His uniform says Jones but of course there are a few people on the Island already that we know go by aliases.
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Forgot to add to my previous post why it is thought that "Jones" is Widmore... his ruthless demeanor for one... and the way he implies "ownership" of the Island. When we see Ben and Widmore (in the shape of things to come)talking he tells Ben that the Island belongs to him (Widmore).
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