I'm sorry, but I cannot write a recap for the season finale because my head exploded. The boat was Desmond's...given to him by LIBBY? Libby's dead husband's name was David...Hurley's imaginary friend's name was Dave. Desmond's girlfriend was the daughter of Mr. Widmore of Widmore Labs and Widmore Construction. Fabric softener glows in black light? Desmond's companion in the hatch was the guy who made a torturer out of Sayid. The button really does something! Desmond brought the plane down? Who are the Others? Why did they get more than what they bargained for when they got Walt? Is Michael really leaving? What's my name? Where is Sayid? Was the black smoke his, or not? Who are you? Was Penny Widmore searching for the island because of Desmond? How did she know he was there? Desmond brought the plane down? What up with Charlie, yo? When does next season start?
I thought the episode felt a little bit weird and hurried at first, but once shit started flying I didn't care and I thought it was great. Now what say you?
So much happened, yet at the same time, so little! Let's see...we got some insight into Michael's two weeks away from camp. On his way to save Walt, he was intercepted by Zeke and pal. It seems to me that they lured him out there through the computer in the hatch, although I guess it could have been Walt. Anyway, once Michael was captured and brought to the Others' camp near the rocks with the hole in the middle (as described in chat on the computer), Zeke's pal took his blood with a syringe and then brought a woman named Miss Clue (?) to question him. She asked many questions about Walt, many of them Michael couldn't answer because he wasn't around as Walt grew up. She also asked whether Walt has ever been somewhere he shouldn't; had Michael ever seen him, even though he was supposed to be halfway around the world?
After a week of questioning, Miss Clue tried to make a deal with Michael. She told him one of their men was captured and they wanted to get him back. Michael was to go back and release him in exchange for Walt and their freedom. Michael demanded to see Walt. Walt mentioned being forced to take tests, asked about his dog, then suddenly warned Michael that "They're not who they say they are. They're pretending." He broke away and ran to his dad, begged him for help then was dragged out screaming, "I love you." After this Michael was ready to do anything asked of him, and Miss Clue told him that once Henry was freed Michael would have to return with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer. She specified he must bring all four, but no one else. Michael agreed and demanded also they give him the boat, presumably the boat Zeke was on when they stole Walt from the raft last season.
Back at camp Michael was trying to rally the four into going with him to save Walt. He was adamant that no one else come, insisted that it was his right to organize the mission because he was Walt's father. Sawyer thought Sayid should be included, so he invited him along. When Michael found out he was very upset by this so he convinced Sayid to stay behind. Sayid agreed and they shook hands. Hurley, on the other hand, had said he had no intention of coming along and this worried Michael also.
Meanwhile, Charlie approached Claire on the beach. He made a bit of smalltalk but finally showed her why he had come...he brought her a case full of Dharma vaccine. He showed her the pneumatic injector and told her he had tried it on himself first, just in case. Charlie said he had found it on the pallet from the food drop and saved it for her. She seemed pleased and a bit forgiving of the past.
Eko returned to the hatch. He took a little walk around until he noticed his crucifix lift from his chest, alerting him to the magnetic force in the hatch tunnels. The alarm sounded, so he went back to the computer and entered the numbers. Charlie found him there after seeing Claire and seemed extremely put out that Eko had given up the building of the church in favour of the hatch. He refused to bring Eko's things to him and walked off. A bit later on, Vincent brought Charlie a Virgin Mary. Charlie was stunned, followed Vincent back to Sawyer's tent and found the stash of them. He took them all to the beach and chucked them into the ocean. Immediately afterward he noticed Locke sitting on the beach not too far away from him, watching the whole thing.
For most of the day Kate and Hurley were digging graves for Ana Lucia and Libby. Just before sundown everyone made their way to the beach to pay their respects. Right before the funeral, Sayid approached Jack secretly because he felt Michael had been compromised and was most likely leading them into a trap. Sayid said they had one more night to figure out what to do, because Michael meant to lead them to Walt in the morning. After Hurley said a few words about Libby, he turned to Michael and said he'd changed his mind and would go with him to get Walt. Sun then looked out at the ocean and yelled, "Boat!" The boat wasn't too far away, and looked like a fancy, modern sailboat. One more episode to go!
Another big one this week. We started off with Eko having a dream of Ana Lucia, shot and bleeding, telling him he must help Locke do his work and find the question mark. Events in his life flashed by, then he found himself in the hatch with his brother. Yemme told him Locke's work was important, and to take his axe. When he awoke, he did just that.
Jack, Kate, Locke and Sawyer rushed back to the hatch as soon as Locke told them about his suspicion that Ana Lucia might try to kill Henry. They arrived to find Michael emerging from the hatch. Michael told them the obvious story of Henry shooting him and escaping. They carried him back into the hatch to take care of his wound and found Ana Lucia dead. Libby was still alive, to Michael's dismay. Jack realized he could not help Libby but wanted to make her comfortable so he sent Kate and Sawyer to retrieve the heroin from Sawyer's stash.
Meanwhile, Eko joined them in the hatch and said he'd like to help. He suggested he and Locke try to find where Henry had gone, but once in the jungle Eko asked Locke about the question mark. As told to him in the dream, Locke did not want to share any information. Eko knocked him out, and when he came to Eko explained that these were Ana Lucia's wishes. He admitted that he didn't know what she was referring to, but he knew Locke understood and that was enough. Locke showed him his little drawing of his memory of the blast doors, and they headed into the jungle. That night they ended up at the site of the plane where Eko found Yemme's body.
While they slept, Locke had a dream that Yemme was asking Eko to climb the cliff, which he did. In the dream Eko fell from the cliff and Locke was startled awake. Eko explained that the man in Locke's dream was his brother, then proceeded to climb the cliff. Once at the top he looked down and saw a circle on the ground were no vegetation would grow. He guessed that the earth had been salted purposely so the spot would be visible from the sky.
The flashbacks during this episode were about Eko's final days in Australia as a priest. He had plans to travel, obtaining a falsified passport, when the Monsignor asked him to investigate a possible miracle. A girl had supposedly drowned to death but came back to life during her autopsy. Eko spoke to everyone involved but was thwarted by the girl's father when he went to interview them at their home. Her father turned out to be the psychic that advised Claire about her unborn baby. He wouldn't allow Eko to speak to the girl, and explained that there was no miracle and outed himself to Eko as a phony psychic. He said his daughter was hypothermic, not dead, and that his wife was just trying to spite him. Eko agreed to leave them alone and report back to the church that no miracle had taken place.
Eko and Locke found the central hatch under the ruins of the plane and went in. This bunker seemed to be a surveillance chamber with many television screens. They found a Dharma orientation video and learned that the jobs of the people stationed there were to observe the people working at the other stations and record every minute detail. Apparently the other stations were just psychological experiments in which unaware subjects performed duties they believed to be of the utmost importance. Locke discovered that the pushing of the button was meaningless and became upset.
Eko was convinced otherwise. He gathered what papers and information he could to take back with them. He told Locke about his past, including what happened at the airport just before he boarded Flight 815: The psychic's daughter approached him and said she had a message from Yemme, from when she was "in-between places." The message was that Eko was a good man and priest, that Yemme had faith in him even if Eko did not, and that he'd see him soon. Eko relayed this story to Locke, explained how he found his brother's body on the island and brought it full-circle to finding the central hatch. He said that if Locke wouldn't push the button anymore, that Eko would.
Kate and Sawyer ran into Hurley on the beach. He was looking for Libby. Kate told him what (she thinks) had happened, and took Hurley back to the hatch. When they returned with the heroin, Hurley sat by her side while Jack medicated her. Poor Hurley, his anguish and sorrow broke my heart. Knowing about his backstory and his feelings of responsibility for the deaths in his past brought a lot of meaning to his apology for forgetting the blankets; it appears he feels responsible for Libby's fate as well. Libby came to briefly and struggled to say Michael's name and Jack assured her he was okay. Libby died before she could explain what really happened.
I don't know where to start, really.
Flashbacks this week centred around Ana Lucia and her tendency to avenge. We saw Ana and her mother, the police captain, in the morgue with the body of a man. The man was responsible for shooting Ana and causing her to lose her pregnancy. Ana refused to identify him during a lineup, then killed him herself the night before. Ana's mother asked if she did it and begged to help her. She asked that Ana respect the law if not her mother, so Ana handed over her badge and quit the force.
In present day, Ana Lucia was playing tough guy with Henry and ended up letting him get her in a choke hold. Locke saved her life by braining Henry with his crutch.
Flashback again. Ana had taken a job as airport security and went to the bar after work. She met Jack's father, who "hired" her to be his personal protection on a trip to Sydney. She agreed and went.
After saving Ana Lucia from Henry, Locke entered the safe and asked Henry why he tried to kill Ana but did not try to kill him during the lockdown, when he was vulnerable. Henry explained that when he was caught in Danielle's net he was on his way to find Locke because he was "one of the good ones." Henry surmised that his leader, a brilliant but unfrogiving man, would kill him for failing his mission of collecting Locke. Kate and Jack interrupted their conversation when they returned with Michael.
In flashback, Ana Lucia had arrived in Sydney with Jack's father. He stumbled to her room, very drunk, and told her it was time to earn her keep. It was the middle of the night, pouring rain, and he had her drive him to a house in the suburbs. From the car, Ana saw him argue with a woman at the door, demanding he had a right to see his daughter. He got rough and Ana jumped out to stop him. She took him away.
In the hatch, Locke asked how Jack and Kate found Michael, if the plan to offer a trade with Henry worked. Locke pointed out that a coincidence was unlikely, Jack said Michael must have heard him yelling and stumbled out of the jungle.
During the next flashback, Ana Lucia was parked in front of a bar with Jack's father after the incident in the suburbs. She demanded to know what he was doing, and he told her he was trying to cope with the fact that he shunned and hated Jack for trying to help him. He said he was running away and accused Ana Lucia of being in Sydney for the same reason. He invited her into the bar for a drink, but she turned him down. On his way out of the car, he almost knocked Sawyer over. (In a few minutes, he would meet Sawyer in the bar, and Jack's father would die that night, if memory serves.)
Meanwhile, Ana Lucia was in a vengeful mood so she chased down Sawyer to obtain a gun. He didn't want to give her one so she tried to steal the one he was carrying. They struggled and he pinned her to the ground. Boots were knocked and I guess she felt a little dirty because she threatened to kill Sawyer if he told anyone they slept together.
In the hatch, Jack noticed Ana had a cut on her face. Before she could respond, Locke covered for her and said she fell because he left the floor wet. Michael came to at this point and started talking about what he had seen amongst the Others. He said he walked back toward the Tailaways original camp, found the Others living in squalor, in tents. He said there was a hatch, and he knew Walt and the other children were there. He described it as being guarded constantly by two men with guns. He pointed out there were only two guns, and thought if they formed a party, they could overtake the guards and get Walt back. Jack and Kate exchanged a glance; I guessed it was in reference to their conversation in the jungle when she described how she found costumes and makeup in the medical hatch. Instead of saying something, they trusted Michael. Jack and Locke had a conversation about being on the same page and trusting each other. They decided to get the guns from Sawyer and rescue Walt. Ana said she'd watch over Michael in the hatch.
After confronting Sawyer, it came out that Ana had stolen Sawyer's gun in the jungle. Locke realized that covering for her incident with Henry was a bad idea and said there was something Jack should know.
Meanwhile, Hurley was feeling romantic. Earlier he'd approached Sayid hoping to get the radio working again, so he could have a John Cusack moment with Libby. Sayid talked him into taking her to a secluded beach instead, so they could be alone. He had taken Shannon there. Libby then caught Hurley raiding the food stores on the beach and he panicked, worried that she would think he was having issues with food again. Finally he told her about the surprise picnic he was planning and she said she'd like to go. He still wanted to surprise her with the location Sayid had given him. As it turned out he got lost and they ended up back on the beach where Jin was cleaning fish. Libby asked for blankets and a drink, which Hurley didn't have. She offered to get the blankets and told him he might be able to get some wine from Rose and Bernard. Hurley got excited at the prospect of getting drunk and finally remembering how he recognized Libby. She looked a little green at his outburst, but went to get the blankets anyway.
In the hatch, Ana let herself into the safe to confront Henry. She gave him a knife and told him to cut himself loose so she could kill him standing up. She cocked the gun. Following that we got a flashback that took place in the Sydney airport where Ana witnessed Jack pleading with the ticket agent about getting his father's body back to the US. Ana decided she was ready for help; she called her mother and said she wants to come home. Her mother agreed to meet her.
In the hatch again, Ana was sitting down, looking at the gun. Michael woke and came to talk. She needed to let something out, so she explained to him about wanting to kill Henry but being unable to. She was broken. Michael offered to do it. He talked about the loss of his son, about seeing how horrible the others were and wanted to do it. Ana gave him the combination to the safe, Michael stood up and SHOT ANA IN THE CHEST! Libby was down there getting blankets; she saw him and HE SHOT HER TOO! A LOT! Michael then unlocked the safe, looked at Henry and shot himself in the shoulder.
Unfortunately we taped Lost on the Canadian channel and didn't get to see the Hanso ad. I searched around, and if you missed it too or just can't seem to get through on the phone, The Tail Section has mp3s of the voicemail here.
Tonight we finally got our long-awaited Rose and Bernard story. I was a little bit disappointed in the episode. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I wanted more...something. Story progression, maybe.
I had thought that Rose and Bernard had been together a pretty long time. As it turned out, they'd only met shortly before the plane crash. They met because Rose had her car stuck in the snow and Bernard helped her get it out. He pushed, she stepped on it, he fell, she asked him out for coffee. The first dialogue between them in the flashback was so very much like their current bickering that I didn't realize they were meeting for the first time until they introduced themselves.
After a short five months of dating, Bernard proposes to Rose in a restaurant, telling her that in their short time he knows they're meant to be. She responds by telling him about her illness and that she has a year left to live. It sounds so melodramatic right now as I write, but it wasn't at all in the scene. I felt so bad for them. Bernard lets her know that even so, he still wants to be married, so she says yes.
In present day, Bernard is distraught with the turn island life has taken. He's horrified to realize people are settling in and living. He tries to rally everyone (including Frogurt, the frozen yogurt guy - I thought that was hysterical) into building a sign on the beach big enough to be seen by planes and satellite. At first everyone is gung ho but they all end up dropping out, perhaps because the island has become home, perhaps because Bernard was completely slave-driving and rather crazed.
In flashback Rose and Bernard find themselves near Ayers Rock. Rose thinks they're lost, but Bernard has a surprise; he's taken her to a spiritual healer to whom he's made a $10,000 donation for the privilege of an audience. Rose is upset but agrees to give it a try because her husband so desperately wants to save her. The healer says he can't help her, that the power in the land beneath them isn't the right place for Rose. He offers to give back the donation but Rose wants to lie to Bernard and pretend she's been healed. She wants to enjoy the time they have left.
Meanwhile, Locke's been stewing over a couple of things. He's desperately trying to recreate the schematic from the blast doors (I wish I could just email it to him!) and obsessing over what Henry said to him last week about not having pushed the button. It gets to him and he ends up screaming through the door at Henry, begging to know if he was telling the truth. No verbal response, but we see Henry wearing an evil grin. Finally he leaves the hatch and has a little chat with Rose. She makes fun of his injury, but then tells him pointedly that they both know he will heal quickly. Does Rose remember Locke from the plane in a wheelchair? When he returns to the hatch, Ana Lucia says she pushed his button. Locke tells her he's done with the button.
During an argument, Rose wants Bernard to relax about making the sign on the beach and just let things be. He retorts that if he wasn't inclined to "do something" about things, Rose wouldn't be alive today. She walks away at this point, seemingly offended, but later confronts him with the truth about their time in Australia. She insists that she hadn't been healed then, but that she is now. That her place of healing is on the island. Bernard believes and vows that in that case, they must stay.
A final flashback brings us to the airport before Rose and Bernard board the plane. She is feigning happiness at being cured. When Bernard steps away, she fumbles for her medication and drops it. At this moment Locke passes by, picks it up and hands it to her. He is in his wheelchair, so now we know that during their brief talk on the beach they were acknowledging their mutual faith in the power of the island.
Jack and Kate had a little adventure of their own this week. They went to the clearing where they last saw the bearded Zeke. Jack's idea was to let the Others know they have Henry and want to exchange him for Walt and Michael. Kate reveals the trip she made to the medical bunker and explains about the costumes, makeup and beard she found in the locker there. Jack was annoyed that she hadn't reported it sooner which she countered by expressing her anger about not being included in the whole "Henry is Our Prisoner" extravaganza. Jack yelled himself hoarse, trying to get the Others to show themselves. Finally, late at night, someone came out toward them from the jungle. He had a torch. He fell down. It was Michael.
Dun dun dun!
Frustratingly, I was only able to watch the first half of Lost last night, so I have no idea what happens. I'm hoping to have a chance to watch the rest this afternoon.
The opening was hysterical, with Libby helping Hurley get rid of his secret food stash only to discover the dropped supplies. While everyone was fighting over the food, Hurley saw a man he knew from his stay in the psychiatric hospital. He chased him; the man got away but left behind a slipper. In flashback we learned that this man was Dave, a friend who seemed to want to keep Hurley from improving and getting better, who talked Hurley out of taking his medication and staying off his diet.
Hurley saw Dave on the island again, accused him of being imaginary but changed his mind when Dave launched a coconut at his stomach and it actually hit him. He was so terrified by the whole ordeal that he went to Sawyer and asked for the same meds he was taking in the hospital. Sawyer made fun of him, so Hurley lunged at him! Sun and Jin saw the whole thing. Sun wanted Jin to stop the fight, which he did only after taking a moment to enjoy Sawyer getting what he deserved.
In the bunker, Jack tended Locke's smashed leg which he thought was fractured, and said Locke would have to keep off of it for a few weeks. He suggested the use of a wheelchair they found in the wreckage (Locke's chair, presumably) but Locke wouldn't hear it. Sayid and Ana Lucia were questioning "Henry" who kept lying about the Others. Sayid almost shot him, but Ana pushed his arm away just in time.
That's all I saw. Sorry this isn't a full recap, but have at it in the comments!
In flashback we got a little bit more of Locke's story, picking up where we left off last time with Helen. Locke's father staged his own death, enlisted Locke's help in getting some money out of a safe deposit box and fled. Locke lied to Helen about it and she left him, despite his asking her to marry him.
In present day, Jack left the hatch in disgust after hearing Henry's "If I Were an Other" ramble. He spent the rest of the episode playing poker and making Sawyer look like a turd. Jack won the poker game and reclaimed the medicine Sawyer stole from the hatch.
While Henry and Locke were alone, the speakers crackled an unitelligible warning. While Locke was straining to hear, a bunch of huge doors slammed down trapping him and Henry in the central part of the bunker. Locke was concerned about entering the numbers into the conputer, so he asked Henry for help in prying open the doors. He promised Henry to protect him from the other castaways in exchange for his help and released him from the safe.
Henry and Locke raised one of the doors a bit and propped it open with a toolbox. Locke tried to scoot under the door but it fell and pinned him. He instructed Henry to travel through the vent system to the computer room and enter the numbers. The alarm was sounding at this point. Suddenly the lights went out and the room was lit by blacklight. The blacklight enabled Locke to see some crazy Dharma schematics imprinted onto the door under which he was trapped. Then the lights went out entirely.
Shortly afterward the power came back on and the doors raised. Locke dragged himself to the computer room, calling out for Henry, expecting him to be gone. Henry was there and claimed that he reset the clock in time but had nothing to do with the doors raising.
At this point, Jack and Kate were standing outside the entrance to the hatch. They noticed a strobing light nearby and went to investigate. They found a parachute attached to a shipment of Dharma food that had been dropped.
Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie stumbled up them, having just returned from their trek. They announced having found the things Henry described: a smiley-face balloon and a gravesite. The entered the hatch and violently separated Henry from Locke. Locke protested, saying Henry was helping him out. Sayid revealed that they had found the balloon and grave. Sayid continued that he'd dug through the grave and discovered not Henry's dead wife, but the body of a man who held identification in the name of Henry Gale.
Dun dun dun!
I loved the episode this week. Sawyer took a brief break from discovering how to increase his bust and assemble belted feminine napkins to provide Sun with a pregnancy test from his stash of everything. Sun took the test with Kate by her side and confirmed she was indeed pregnant.
In flashback we learned that Jin wanted to have a child in the hopes that Sun's father would allow Jin to step down as one of his henchmen. They visited a fertility doctor only to learn that Sun could never have children. Later on, the doctor approached Sun and told her the truth: Jin was the one who can't have children but he was too scared to tell the truth in front of Jin.
We also learned that Sun was learning English from a man whom she had once been arranged to meet romantically. Last season in flashback, Sun agreed to some matchmaking attempts by her mother and met a man she liked. It turned out he was in love with someone else and was planning to go to America to be with her. They agreed to be friends. Apparently that didn't work out because during one of their sessions, he expressed to Sun he was interested in her when she told him she wanted to leave Jin. He referred to his time in America.
In the end, Sun told Jin about her pregnancy and also the truth about Jin being infertile. She swore she'd never been with another man. Jin declared their baby a miracle and their relationship seemed to move forward with regard to trust and respect.
Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice, Ana Lucia was recruited by Locke (behind Jack's back) to try to get some truth out of our creepy Henry Gale. She convinced him to draw a map to the location of his balloon, which she hid from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Instead, she approached Sayid with the information while he was with Charlie so the three of them set out to find the balloon.
Jack decided the next morning it would be fun, since he and Locke are in the middle of a big Power Pissing Contest, to invite creepy little Henry out for some well-preserved cereal. Henry continued to play them against each other by discussing the map he drew for Ana Lucia. Then he proceeded to outline a scenario in which, had he been an Other, the map was intended as a trap for Ana Lucia, creating a bargaining chip so he could be traded back to his people.
Can Jack and Locke not see this man is manipulating them? In the words of G.O.B., "Come on!"
Now a question: In the scene where Sawyer calls Jin, "Daddio," that was some backwards talking, wasn't it? Intended to sound like gobbledygook to Jin's ears since he doesn't speak English, my guess is that it was just dialogue about Sun's pregnancy played backward, but you never know with this show. I'm assuming one of you will track down the answer?
I ended up passing out early last night and I missed Lost. Was it good? It's rewinding right now, so I'll soon replace this lame excuse with some sort of recap. No need to wait for me, feel free to discuss in the comments.
Edited to add: Great episode! Claire remembered her time away from camp before Aaron was born. She was being treated with some sort of vaccine to her unborn child, by Ethan. She was drugged the entire time and felt safe with the Others, even consenting to give them her child. A young woman (presumably Rousseau's daughter, Alexandra) helped her escape even though she was too drugged up to realize she wanted to. Claire's need to get vaccine for her sick child guided her through these memories which lead her to search the jungle and find the medical bunker. As it turned out, there was no vaccine to be found; the Others had obviously cleaned up after themselves. Aaron luckily didn't seem to need it since his fever broke.
The most interesting thing to me about the episode was the discovery that the Others were purposely wearing dirty, torn clothing to appear as though they were living in the jungle. Through Claire's memories we saw they had clean, fresh clothing to wear. Is this proof that the Others actually work for Dharma and are forcibly recruiting the surviors?
Henry Gale, the prisoner in the bunker, began to try to manipulate Locke which was further proof to me that he is an Other. Disappointingly, Locke fell for it. Frankly, I don't buy it. Up to now, Locke has been portrayed as a very strong, intuitive man. I'm finding it hard to believe he would play subordinate to Jack or to anyone, nor would he so easily be influenced by such an obvious attempt at divide-and-conquer by the prisoner.
Sayid's flashback this week was about the first time he tortured someone for information. The man he tortured was his own commanding officer, and he did this at the behest of the US military. Sayid was shown evidence that his commanding officer tested poisonous gas on the innocent people of Sayid's village, so Sayid felt no loyalty to him and did as he was asked in exchange for his freedom. In the end we learned that the American spoke Iraqi and could have done it himself. Upon being set free, the American told Sayid he had given him a valuable skill set, but Sayid vowed never to do anything like that again. Obviously we know that was a promise he didn't (couldn't?) keep.
Sayid found Danielle in the jungle. She was looking for him because she had trapped one of the Others and was delivering him to Sayid so that he might provide them with information. Sayid cut him down from the trap because the man claimed innocence. Danielle shot him in the back with an arrow when he tried to run away, and this must have changed Sayid's mind because when he took the man back to the bunker for Jack to treat him, he insisted he be alone with him to get the truth out of him.
Locke helped him by changing the combination of the armory behind Jack's back. Once Jack treated the man's arrow wound, Sayid locked himself in the armory with the man and began questioning and torturing him. The man claimed he had been on the island for four months with his wife, who recently died from fever. He said they had been ballooning across the Pacific when their balloon went down. Sayid determined the man was lying when he couldn't remember details about burying his wife. Sayid was drawing on his experience burying Shannon and began beating the man severely.
Jack forced Locke to give him the new combination. Locke refused until the alarm sounded, but gave in because Jack threatened to allow the countdown to run out. Locke opened the armory and rushed to the computer to enter the numbers before time ran out but failed. The clock began flipping to red hieroglyphic symbols (begin the analysis, kids!) and I thought we were going to see SOMETHING GOOD and I got REALLY EXCITED! No such luck, though. Apparently you can be a few seconds late before you hit enter and nothing bad happens. Or does it?
Jack stopped Sayid in mid-kick and and that was the end of that. However, Sayid got a look on his face, of some kind of realization. The potential Other also had a look on his face, and it didn't seem to be the look of a man who had just been begging and beaten.
Sayid went to the beach and sat next to Charlie. Sayid told him what happened in the bunker, and said that Jack and Locke don't understand because they have forgotten about the horrors they've suffered at the hands of the Others, like Charlie being strung up and Claire kidnapped. And this leads me to some issues I had with the episode...it seems like everyone has forgotten. Sayid's first instinct was to disbelieve Danielle about the man. Even if she was wrong, after what they've gone through, wouldn't you want to be sure? Jack is trying to organize an army against the Others, yet he refused to even entertain the idea that the man was one of them.
At the beginning Sayid explained to Danielle why he didn't trust her...he mentioned that she falsely warned them of the Others coming to take a child...Claire's baby. He accused Danielle of lying about that just so she could get her hands on the baby. Hasn't Sayid figured out that Danielle was telling the truth, mistaken only about which child? Because they took Walt. Or have I gone totally crazy?
The side plot this week was about Sawyer being unable to sleep. Sawyer's guilt took the form of a teeny tree frog whose trill was keeping him awake. On a search for this frog, he ran into Hurley enjoying a secret stash of ranch dressing (good at room temperature for seven years? UGH). When they found the frog, Sawyer smushed it to death instead of allowing Hurley to relocate it. What up with that? I figure that most of what Sawyer does is for show, and I wonder what he was trying to show Hurley/Rerun/Barbar with that particular display of ugliness.
I had a great recap this week. Right before I hit save my browser crashed, a la Flight 815. I'm really pissed off. I'm not going to attempt to rewrite it, but I'm throwing some things around my living room right now and the rage, she is leaving.
Great episode. I'm glad that they've decided that Sawyer wasn't going to become some jolly goody-two-shoes and live happily ever after with Kate. He's much more fun when he's an evil ass. I enjoyed his flashbacks and though I knew, deep down, that he was totally going to screw Cassidy over, I kept hoping that he wouldn't. But I did like that he played Kate.
Charlie! I could believe he was muddled and confused when he was obsessed with saving and baptizing Aaron, but hurting Sun just so he could make Locke feel like a fool was deliberately malicious. I think he's going crazy. While I feel bad for the direction his character is taking, I must say I also find him more watchable this way than when he's at Claire's heel. I was pleased he didn't take the heroin, though.
Ana Lucia is in a bad place because of her earlier behaviour and manslaughter of Shannon. She makes an easy scapegoat, which is why Sawyer's plan worked in the first place. I wonder if she'll ever be able to redeem herself with the rest of the castaways.
I'm curious about Sawyer's motivation. There is the obvious stuff: Jack ransacking his tent to steal back the stolen meds and the fact that his stash was reclaimed and divvied while he was on the raft; the theory Kate has about Sawyer wanting everyone to hate him. But I think there's more to it. What's he really trying to accomplish?
I loved the scenes between Sayid and Hurley, enjoying some big band together under the stars. I'm disappointed that Sayid is not more involved in the main plotlines because I really like his character. I also want to get back to Michael and particularly Walt. Wither Walt?
And what was Locke looking for in the hatch when he was shaking the books?
Did that kid look like Dominic Monaghan or what? The first scene was a flashback of Charlie as a little boy at Christmas. His older brother got a Voltron toy, but their mom gave Charlie a piano and charged him with the responsibiliy of saving the family with his talent. Charlie's dream of his childhood included a warped memory of his father, a butcher who did not believe in the arts and would have preferred the boys follow in his footsteps instead. I got the feeling Charlie's dad was a frightening guy, since in the dream his hands were dripping with blood and he was chopping the heads off of dolls with a cleaver.
The scope of Charlie's dream changed and he found himself on the beach playing the piano. He heard a baby crying and thought it must be Aaron, trapped inside the piano, which started floating out to sea.
When he woke up he freaked out and ran to check on the baby, who was fine. Later he made some diapers, hoping to get back on Claire's good side, but she wasn't having it and she asked him to leave her alone and give her some space.
Charlie's flashbacks during the rest of the episode centered around his relationship with his brother and how it changed once Liam's daughter was born. Because of heroin, Liam missed his daughter's birth and ended up getting thrown out of the house for dropping the baby. He came to Charlie for support and drugs. Charlie was happy to have his brother back and thought the two of them could get back to writing music, but Liam was only interested in the heroin.
One day Charlie came home to find that Liam had sold the piano for money to take his family to Australia, mentioning a clinic that could help him get clean and keep his family together. Charlie was devastated to lose the gift from his mom, but seemed just as put out by the fact that Liam would choose to be with his wife and daughter over him. During the flashbacks Charlie spent a lot of time yelling at his brother to stop using so much heroin although he was using it himself.
In present day, Charlie again dreamed of harm coming to Aaron. He saw the bassinet in the ocean and swam out, saving Aaron and bringing him back to shore. Charlie woke up to find himself standing on the shore holding the baby. He had actually taken the baby out of the crib in his sleep. Locke accused Charlie of using heroin again; Charlie lied to him about burning down the entire stash of heroin with Eko. Locke followed Charlie into the jungle and discovered him and his Virgins Mary, taking them away.
Charlie told Eko about his dreams and Eko suggested that, based on the symbolism, perhaps the baby might be in need of a baptism. Charlie became obsessed with this, and started a fire in the jungle as a diversion so he could steal Aaron and do it himself. When he was found, Locke punched him in the face and the entire camp turned away from him.
Claire took it to heart and asked Eko for the baptism, which he performed on both of them.
So, what was the reason for Charlie's sudden paranoia about the baby, and how did it tie into his brother's choices in the past? Was Locke right when he said Charlie needed to save the baby because he couldn't save himself? I wasn't really clear on what was going on with Charlie and his sanity, and I didn't understand why he didn't talk to anyone about what he was going through. During a flashback last season we learned that Charlie was on Flight 815 because he was returning from a trip to visit his brother who turned him away. Liam had finally gotten clean and did not want Charlie back in his life.
Piecing together Charlie's story I got the idea that Charlie was somewhat in control of his drug habit, at least moreso than his brother, until Liam left him behind.
I was surprised that there was no mention of Michael. I miss Walt and his crazy backwards talking. And I never want to see Driveshaft dancing around in diapers, not ever again.
Sorry guys, I don't have time to do a recap this week, but feel free to discuss just the same. The episode didn't really grab me...I don't know if it's because my mind was on other things or because it was kind of slow. The only parts I really liked were the teeny glimpses at character development such as the relationship between Jin and Sun, and Hurley discussing his crush on Libby with Charlie. The banter between Locke and James was pretty good, too. Locke is such a smartass.
The preview for next week grabbed my attention, though.
This episode rocked.
Eko as a child. Brutal men invaded his village to steal children, presumably to raise them as criminals. The men gave Eko's younger brother a gun and tried to force him to murder an old man. Eko stepped in and did it instead. He was then taken by the men, and over the years Eko became a feared gangster while his brother ended up a Catholic priest.
During a conversation with Claire, Eko learned about Charlie's obsession with his statue of the Virgin Mary. He recognized the statue and insisted Charlie take him to the site of the plane crash. In Nigeria, Eko had arranged to fly the heroin out of the country by forcing his brother to help disguise them as priests. As it turned out, Eko's brother was mistakenly killed by the authorities when he tried to get Eko to change his mind. Eko's partner took off in the plane with his brother's body, and Eko was left behind.
While Charlie and Eko were hiking toward the plane, the mysterious black smoke came rushing toward them. Charlie was up in a tree and was screaming for Eko to run. He didn't and faced the smoke head on. I don't know if any of you guys caught this, but when the camera was panning around and we could see Eko through the smoke, I was sure I saw a person in there. We watched the scene frame by frame, and there were LOTS of people in there. Most were hard to make out, but I distinctly saw the faces of two boys frozen in fear, and the image of a woman. Total goosebumps! Hopefully there will be some screencaps of this floating around.
When they arrived at the plane, Eko found his brother's body and said goodbye. Eko had broken Charlie's statue earlier in the episode, and handed him one more to replace the one he broke before he set the entire plane on fire. Charlie asked if Eko was a priest too, and he said he was. He recited Psalm 23 and Charlie joined in. During his backstory I got the feeling that Eko had held onto his religion despite his life as a criminal, but after his brother's death he embraced it. I can't wait to find out what events put Eko on Flight 815.
Meanwhile, Kate gave Sawyer a haircut and Locke ended up teaching Michael how to use a gun. Michael had some time alone in the bunker and made contact with Walt again through the computer. Jack walked in on him just as Walt was typing something about Michael needing to come, By the time Jack left, the screen was blank and we didn't get to see what else he had typed.
Near the end of the episode while Eko and Charlie were reciting the psalm, Jin introduced Sun to Anna Lucia and gave her a fish. Hurley helped Libby build a shelter and she made puppy eyes at him. Claire, however, was not making puppy eyes at Charlie upon his return. She told him to get lost and that she didn't want him anywhere near her or the baby. Charlie slithered away into the jungle. I was hoping he was going to trash his statue and get rid of the heroin inside, but instead he hid it. With about 10 others. He had been going back for more statues ever since he found them with Sayid. Charlie! I think he needs a beating from Eko's Jesus stick.
Just a reminder that next week (Jan. 11) Lost is back with two new episodes, starting at 8 (eastern time). First up is a recap show about the first 48 days on the island, then a real episode at 9. Can't wait!
I was unable to watch Lost last night because I had to do something much more fun instead. My husband and I will be visiting Freakgirl and Geekboy this weekend, and to do that we need to cross the border and to do that I need to prove my citizenship. Jeremy and I turned our entire house upside down last night, searching for my birth certificate. We recently moved (6 months ago) and some things are still in boxes, so I have no idea where anything is. Anyway, we found my birth certificate - the trip is still on, I am still sane, the party will go on, the wine will be drunk.
So, how was the show? Discuss.
Dear reader Mason faces this American holiday with non Lost-watching family (gasp!) and threatened to cry if there was no Lost post, so I shall make Mason a thankful dude.
Another great episode, particularly because they chose to eschew the vengance angle. Ana Lucia bullied Libby into tying up Sayid because she was afraid he'd come after her. She expected loyalty from her group of tailaways and while they acknowledged that she kept them alive thus far, they did not support her choices following Shannon's accidental shooting. Eko grabbed Sawyer and went off to find Jack.
Ana Lucia decided it would be best for her to leave and live on her own, so she sent Michael to camp to fetch ammo, clothes and supplies, then she would let Sayid go. I thought that could get interesting since Ana had no idea who Sayid was. If he wanted to, I expect he could find her. Soon afterward Libby, Jin and Bernard left as well. Ana Lucia and Sayid were left alone to talk. She identified herself as a cop and Sayid related the time he tortured Sawyer last season. He speculated perhaps she was meant to kill him.
Eko found Jack and Kate playing golf. They brought Sawyer into the bunker and Jack doctored him up with a cold shower and tried to administer some antibiotics without much luck. Kate stepped in and had an intimate moment with Sawyer, urging him to take the medication. Jack looked a little jealous and made some glib remark about not learning the ear-whispering technique in medical school.
Locke questioned Eko about what had happened and learned that Shannon had been shot. When Jack found out he demanded to go with guns blazing until Eko mentioned Ana Lucia's name. Jack remembered Ana Lucia from the airport bar, and became very sad. From what I remember their time together in the bar was rather brief, so I am not entirely sure why Jack reacted to her name so emotionally.
Sometime prior to Flight 815, Ana Lucia was a police officer who worked under Captain Madre: La Madre del Ana Lucia. At first we were led to believe she had been suspended for inappropriate action but finally found out that she was actually on a forced leave after having been shot during a burglary. On her first call back on the job Ana Lucia was overly aggressive during a domestic dispute. On her way back to the station that day, she was informed that her shooter had been apprehended, had confessed and all that was necessary was for Ana Lucia to identify him. She denied that the man in question was responsible.
Not a surprise based on what we know of her character, Ana took matters into her own hands and killed her confessed shooter herself, telling him she was pregnant just before she shot him. She told Sayid the story of the burglary but omitted the actual ending. She released him and lay the gun at his feet, telling him she deserved for him to kill her. He elected not to, and was carrying Shannon out of the jungle as Jack and Eko arrived. Ana and Jack shared a silent, meaningful look that for reasons I mentioned earlier I didn't quite understand.
I cried for Rose and Bernard, then I cried even more when Jin and Sun met again. Theirs is a miraculous love.
Michael's reunion with Walt's dog was very bittersweet.
Next week: Time's up!
Loved. It.
Watching life on the island from the perspective of the tailaways was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be, and very suspenseful even though we already knew the general outcome of their story. The tailaways began life on the island with so much less than the survivors from the front section. The tail of the plane sunk into the ocean instead of falling onto the beach, so there wasn't much to salvage. They had no doctor. The Others took three survivors away on their very first night. They were hunted right from the beginning. The abduction on the twelfth night was downright savage and frightening.
The main things I noted include the teddy bear which suggested the children were still alive and the same kids whose legs we saw in a previous episode; Goodwin, once he was outed as one of the Others, saying that Nathan from Canada was "not a good person" and that's why he wasn't on the list of people to be abducted; Bernard making contact with Boone over the radio; the word "quarantine" painted on the inside of the door of the bunker; the fact that the tailaways didn't seem to experience any strange, surreal or paranormal episodes like the survivors of the front section did.
I thought the paranoia and aggression of Ana Lucia and Eko were justified after having seen that they had to kill in order to survive and protect the rest of their group. The change of Eko's gentle character was particularly sad; emerging from a long, remorseful silence only to become the man who grimaced so violently while beating Jin, Michael and Sawyer with his club.
Can't wait to see next week's show. Okay everyone, have at it!
I'm not sure if Maggie's around today, so I'm just going to open up a comment thread for last night's Lost. Go!
Sorry everyone, I haven't had a chance to watch Lost yet, and I probably won't until late tonight. Thanks for opening up the thread, Freakgirl.
- Maggie
No real plot development this week, but I enjoyed it just the same. Sun freaked out after losing her wedding ring because she thinks Jin is dead. The tail section survivors decided they wanted to go to Michael, Jin and Sawyer's camp, so Bossy McBosserton ordered everyone to collect food and water for the trek. Michael took the opportunity to run off and look for Walt. Jin and Mr. Echo went after Michael and almost ran right into the Others (was that a child with that teddy bear?). They found Michael soon afterward.
The flashbacks this week told the story of how Sun and Jin met, from each of their perspectives. I really like listening to Korean. (The only thing that took me out of the story was when Sun's mother was on screen because every time I saw her I had to shout, "What? No Bette Midrah?" Be glad you don't watch tv with me.)
Sun told Kate about the bottle she buried last week and Kate rummaged through the messages, looking for Sawyer's until Sun stopped her and said they were private. Kate explained that she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Sawyer, then spotted Sun's ring, which she must have lost while burying the bottle.
I guess Kate's going to be a bit jealous when Sawyer shows up back at camp with his new girlfriend, Female Sawyer McBosserton. Her attitude's getting old. I loved that at the beginning of the episode Sawyer speculated that the tail section survivors were planning on eating them...straight out of the comments from last week, heh!
Hurley's backstory tonight took us to his last day as a civilian - the day before he cashed in his lottery ticket. It seems he lost his friends and the life he knew because of the money and he was terrified the same thing would happen on the island. Jack wanted Hurley to inventory and then ration the food in the bunker storeroom to make it last as long as possible. Hurley wanted to share it so that he didn't have to be the evil Food Fuhrer. Actually, Hurley wanted to blow up the food but Rose helped him come to a much saner resolution, and Charlie (spoiled brat that he is) was finally able to give Claire her peanut butter.
Sayid and Jack have been trying to determine what is in the bunker. Sayid had been unable to get through the concrete wall which houses the mystery magnet, so they crawled underneath the bunker to explore. Sayid noted the thick concrete below the room they were trying to breach and told Jack it reminded him of Chernobyl. Jack heard a noise and followed it, only to re-enter the bunker from below and catch Kate coming out of the shower.
Sawyer, Jin, Michael and Walt took a bottle full of notes from the survivors to their loved ones with them on the raft, hoping to deliver them. The bottle washed up ashore near Claire, who gave it to Sun. Sun buried the bottle; either she thinks Jin is dead and she was symbolically burying him, or she was hiding the bottle, not wanting the others to lose hope in rescue.
On the other side of the island, we learned that Michael, Jin and Sawyer's captors really were Flight 815 survivors. They had imprisoned the three men until they were satisfied that they were telling the truth, then let them out and led them to their camp...another bunker? On the hike to the bunker Michael learned from a woman, Libby, that there were 23 tail-section survivors, but when they entered the bunker it looked like much less. Michael said he thought there were 23 of them; Libby replied that there were. A man at the bunker asked Michael and Sawyer about a black woman in her fifties and we finally got to meet Rose's Bernard.
Last week I was feeling kind of meh but this week my head exploded.
The standoff between Jack, Locke and Desmond ended when Kate shot up Ye Olde Computere with a shotgun. The display reading "108" turned out to be a countdown in minutes to some mysterious yet absolute doom, which could be averted by entering the infamous numbers and bringing the clock back up to 108 minutes.
What the hell is Dharma? What is the disaster Desmond and Dead Kelvin were saving the world from? Could Desmond be just a regular guy coerced fearsomely into this insane duty when his boat crashed during his race around the world? Is he a big sketchy freak because the poor man hasn't been able to sleep longer than 100 or so minutes ever since Kelvin became Dead Kelvin? Where is Dead Kelvin's body since we know Desmond has been afraid to leave the hatch due to the quarrantine? Have Sayid's fingernails grown? What is Station 3? Where are reels 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of 6? Has this mission of entering the code and pressing the button been happening since 1980, the date at the end of the orientation film? What about the vision of Walt warning Shannon, "Don't press the button; the button is bad"?
I enjoyed Locke's flashback of his relationship with Helen, although it was difficult to watch because through his other flashbacks, we know it doesn't work out. And we still don't know why he lost the use of his legs.
Jack interested me most this week. He was really upset about Desmond, and I think it was the revelation that Desmond is just a regular man that set him off. I think he may have seen Desmond as being responsible for the miracle of his wife-to-be's recovery, and it was at that point in his life that Jack actually began to have faith. Now that Jack is faced with the knowledge that his wife healed without divine intervention, he has suddenly lost all faith. I'm suddenly very interested to know why he and his wife are no longer together - does it have something to do with his faith or lack thereof? Something for which he now blames Desmond?
Anyway, after Sayid had fixed the computer and despite Hurley's protests about the numbers, Locke convinced Jack to press the button and reset the clock. The two of them have assumed the responsibility without knowing why, just as Desmond had without knowing why. I assume Dead Kelvin had no idea himself or he would have told Desmond. Has this duty been passed on for 25 years without anyone knowing why?
Oh yeah...Jin, Sawyer and Michael got captured by the Others. Michelle Rodriguez posed as a fellow captive in order to gain information and also stole Sawyer's gun.
Still loving this show.
Michael and Sawyer find themselves alive and alone in the ocean. Sawyer still has the gun and while checking to see if the rounds in the magazine are dry, he drops them all over the place and I slap myself in the forehead. The men are frightened by something disturbing the raft from beneath and Sawyer placates himself by deciding it's "only" a shark. Being unable to find Walt and Jin turns the men into a couple of kindergarten babies, and as such they fight over the raft. Sawyer jumps onto another piece of raft and then proceeds to pull the bullet out of his shoulder with his bare hands, because that's just the kind of guy he is. As Michael and Sawyer are trying to blame each other for what happened, Sawyer comes to the conclusion that the Others were after Walt in the first place.
Back at the bunker, Desmond asks of Locke, "Are you him?" Locke plays along but doesn't know what one snowman might say to another, which seems to have been a passphrase because Desmond decides Locke isn't "him" after all. Desmond wants Locke tied up, but Locke convinces him to tie Kate instead, and Kate gets thrown into a dark closet but not before Locke shoves a knife into her pants when Desmond can't see.
A brief scene of camp in the jungle brings us to Charlie, Turniphead and Claire. Claire finds Charlie's secret Virgin Mary of Heroin in his pack; Charlie grabs it away and gives her crap about how it's just a nice thing to have around.
Kate, in her closet, cuts herself free with Locke's knife, finds a lightswitch, and finds herself in a storeroom full of non-perishable food marked with the mystery company's logo (octagonal yin-yang symbol). She grabs a few candy bars and escapes the room through an air vent in the ceiling. Meanwhile, Locke and Desmond are getting to know each other. Locke asks Desmond if he ever leaves the bunker and Desmond demands to know if any of the survivors have gotten sick yet. Locke asks about the quarantine warning on the inside of the hatch door, but one of Desmond's alarm systems goes off, and he brings Locke into the room with the ancient computer.
Locke is being instructed at gunpoint to enter certain numbers we all recognize into the computer, and then hit "execute". Locke does, and the sum of the numbers (108) appears in an old display. We then hear Jack's voice, and we've caught up with last week's episode.
The flashbacks this week centre around Michael and the memories of his struggle to keep Walt's mother from taking him away. Michael agreed to let Walt go in the past, and he decides now that it was a mistake. He vows to find Walt and get him back. When the sun comes up, Michael and Sawyer find themselves back on the island, and they come ashore to find Jin screaming and running toward them, hands tied behind his back. As they untie him, they finally understand one of the words he's yelling: "hundreds". Looking up, we see Jin's captors approaching.
The new season of Lost started with a pretty strong opener. The show began with what we thought was a flashback from the early 80s but turned out to be a montage of a mysterious stranger who was actually living inside the hatch. Above ground, Jack decides for everyone (to Locke and Kate's dismay) that it would be too risky sending everyone down because the ladder inside the hatch is broken. Meanwhile, Shannon runs into the jungle to find Walt's dog and has a frightening experience. She hears voices and sees Walt, soaked and bleeding, trying to communicate with her. Sayid leads her back to camp where she freaks out and scares everyone else.
Jack has flashbacks of meeting his wife (last season it was revealed that Jack married a patient whom he had saved from paralysis) and giving her a grim prognosis. His father imparts some wisdom about giving patients hope even when they're screwed. Jack calls upon this and promises everyone that while they won't be going into the hatch, everyone will be just fine and the sun will come up tomorrow.
Locke announces that he is going to return to the hatch anyway, and Jack allows him this even though he doesn't approve. Kate surprises Jack by opting to follow Locke, and finds herself being lowered down first. Locke loses control of the rope, a floodlight streams from the hatch opening, and Kate is gone. Locke goes in after her. Jack apparently feels Kate is in danger so he ends up returning to the hatch with one of the guns, enters and discovers the den of the mysterious stranger. He is about to fiddle with an ancient computer when Locke reveals himself. Jack points his gun at Locke and demands to know where Kate has gone. The mysterious stranger, hidden behind a wall, also points his gun at Locke's head and orders Jack to lower his weapon.
During one of Jack's flashbacks, he inexplicably promises his patient that he will fix her spine during surgery and is devestated when he cannot. He meets a mysterious stranger while running his frustrations out, a stranger who talks about miracles. When Jack returns to his patient's bedside to give her the bad news, she stuns him by wiggling her toes and presto! No paralysis.
Surprise! The mysterious stranger from Jack's flashback is the same stranger who is holding Locke at gunpoint. Mysterious!
Unfortunately, we got not a peep about Sawyer, Michael or Jin.
Loved it, but I was disappointed that Locke kept addressing Hurley as Hugo, without any reaction. Am I missing something? Did Hurley react to Locke somehow knowing his name at the end of last season?
What did you all think?