Flash hopscotch

I need to take “expert multitasker” off my resumé, because the flash forward/flashback combo in last night’s episode of LOST, “Ji Yeon”, caught me off guard. The big shocker was supposed to be Ben’s man on the boat: Michael. Instead, we got a psych out by the writers with the reveal that while Sun was delivering her baby off-island in the future, Jin’s flash scenes were actually from 2000 while still working for Sun’s dad.

The mind scrambling effect was soon replaced by another disorienting sensation – mourning. Jin, it seems, is dead. Though I’m holding out hope that Jin’s still fishing with Bernard on a canoe somewhere off the coast of Lost Island.

Lost recap 4x07: Ji Yeon

In the flashes:

We start with a flash forward of Sun going into labor. She happily delivers a healthy baby girl. A well-dressed Hurley visits Sun and little baby Ji Yeon in Seoul and they pay a visit Jin’s grave. The date of death on the headstone was 9/22/04, the date of the crash – evidence that Jin may still be on the island.


Geek alert: In Sun’s first flash forward scene, Sun’s TV was showing Exposé dubbed in Korean, starring every Lost fan’s least-favorite character from last season, Nikki. Razzle Dazzle!



In Jin’s flash backs, he is delivering a stuffed panda bear to an associate of Sun’s father. The toy shop salesman said that it was the Year of the Dragon, apparently 2000. Another clue was Jin’s old cell phone.


On the island:

Juliet was trying to ensure Sun stayed on the beach for her best chance to get rescued and stay alive, but really pulled a bitchy move by telling Jin about Sun’s pre-crash affair. Regardless, it worked. After a chat with Bernard, Jin forgives her. Further evidence that he’s still alive in the future, Jin says to Sun, “You’ll never lose me.”


On the ship:

Desmond and Sayid were slipped a note warning them not to trust the captain. Later, they meet Captain Gault, who confirms that there was wreckage from flight 815 faked and that he believes Ben is responsible. The helicopter was no longer on the landing pad, and Gault explains that Lapidus is off on a quick mission, but doesn’t clarify where.

Geek alert: Captain Gault was a fictional sea captain in a series of stories written in 1917 by English author William Hodgson. Gault is a captain for hire who despite being a law-breaker, seems to follow a solid moral compass. He’s also revealed to be a member of a secret society and possesses knowledge about an unusual number of areas including the occult, religious artifacts and gemology. The stories also often include misinformation and misdirection by the captain . Sounds a little like a show we know.

We finally meet the mysterious Regina who is clearly confused as she’s reading a book upside down. When we see her again later she’s wrapped up in chains, looking like she’s just come from the freighter’s drama club performance of “A Christmas Carol” playing Jacob Marley. She jumps off the port side of the ship to her death. The captain orders the crew to ignore her, much to Sayid’s and Desmond’s dismay. Apparently the captain doesn’t want to lose more of his crew to “cabin fever”. We later see that Regina isn’t the only one to have killed herself, as the doctor shows Des and Sayid to their suite, and it’s primed with brain splatter on the wall.

Geek alert: The book that Regina was reading upside down was The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne, a story about a group of survivors from a shipwreck on a raft for weeks, several of whom commit suicide.


Let’s discuss:

We now know that the members of the Oceanic 6 are Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Aaron and Sun. Agreed?

Did it seem curious that Sun’s OB doctor wasn’t available? This does frequently happen, but he told her she’d need a cesarean section when the baby was already crowning. Was he even a doctor? Or was he working for Ben to report back whether the baby who was conceived on-island lived?

When Sun told Hurley no one else came to see her and the baby or to visit Jin’s grave, he said “Good”. Why?

The doctor said the room that he was showing them to was quiet. Sayid said that the ship was anchored so it shouldn't be noisy. The doctor replied, “If you say so.” Are they moving through the water? Time? Space?

Why is there an axe embedded in the hull of the ship? More “cabin fever” crazies? I'm betting we get a freighter flashback story at some point this season.

Although it seems we got the answer to who Ben’s man on the ship is, do we really know it’s Michael? How can Michael communicate with Ben with a sabotaged radio room? I’m thinking Walt might actually be Ben’s mole, using telepathy or teleportation to communicate with Ben. Also, the note not to trust the captain looked like it was written in a teenager’s block lettering to me.


What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts.

See you guys at dinner

They can’t all warp our brains, and I’m happy they don’t. Last night’s episode of LOST, The Other Woman, gave us answers to who sent Not-Penny’s-Boat, a return of the jungle whispers, a love triangle that didn’t include Kate, a love quadrangle that does include Kate, and Ben owning everyone he comes in contact with – especially Locke.

Got an appetite for rabbit…uh…answers? We can satisfy that hunger. What did you notice about last night’s episode? Add your catches in the comments section.

Lost 4x06 Recap: The Other Woman

On last night’s episode of LOST, Juliet is visiting her shrink and talking about feeling like a celebrity. We assume she’s been rescued, but the producers switched it up and re-introduced flashbacks. (How quaint!)

The shrink is Goodwin’s wife, Dr. Harper Stanhope. In her home office where she’s psychologizing on Juliet, there are framed diplomas and certificates on her wall. One is from the Experimental Social Psychology Society. Another is a Certificate of Recognition from the Hanso Foundation.

The episode title, The Other Woman, was a cool play on words. Juliet is the other woman in Goodwin’s marriage to Harper, the other woman in Jack and Kate’s relationship, and she was an Other who was a woman.

It would seem she had officially left behind her Team Ben loyalties, but when confronted with the spectral Harper in the jungle, she is convinced to follow Ben’s orders to stop Charlotte and Daniel. Was Harper really there, or was she another manifestation of the black smoke monster, like Tall Walt or Eko’s brother Yemi? I’m going with the latter. I’m not so sure that Harper was actually relaying orders from Ben, but rather from the island itself.

Charlotte and Daniel strayed from their class trip to take a detour to the Tempest station, the island power plant. DHARMA had some serious gas, man! The Tempest station had huge cooling tanks. Why were they using some sort of lethal gas to power the island? And how did Goodwin get a chemical burn from a gas? Granted, I haven’t taken a bio or chem class since 10th grade, so there could be an answer that some 15 year old could fill me in on.


Geek alert: The map Faraday and Charlotte used get to The Tempest has a DHARMA logo on it. There are also a few “Unknown” markings on them. Why would there have been sections marked “Unknown” if DHARMA built all the infrastructure on the island?


By the way, Charlotte is one bad ass! She cold cocks Kate in the jungle and then manages a little Sayid-worthy breakdance skills on Juliet in the Tempest station. Those are some pretty handy moves for a…cultural anthropologist?

Ben gives Locke the combo to his wall safe. Inside is a videotape marked Red Sox which he taped over (Yankee fans rejoice!) with a video of Charles Widmore, Penny’s dad. Widmore’s henchman is shoving a blindfolded man that looks like Ben Affleck into a car. (Maybe Jimmy Kimmel was the cameraman.) How convenient that Ben had exactly what he needed in that safe (box) to convince Locke that he was telling the truth. However, more than in any other episode, I felt like Ben’s words were somewhat more sincere this time. Then again, with the amount of detail Ben’s been able to gather on every other person on the island, it seemed odd that Ben would have a sketchy file on Widmore.

Although this was a Juliet-centric episode, I think we can all agree it was all about Ben Linus. Ben may rule all people, but after he left Juliet with Goodwin’s body, he hiked back over the hill like a little girl. Ben’s childlike declaration to Juliet – “You are mine” – was telling. We also see this with his trying-too-hard attempts at giving her the house and making dinner for her. Despite his evil mastermind capabilities, he seems pretty stunted with his personal relationships.
Even with his relationship issues and the impending attempt for an outside force to take over the island, Harper says to Juliet that Ben is exactly where he wants to be. (Miles told Kate the same thing in the boat house where he’s being held.)

Locke, apparently the island’s Century 21 real estate agent, helped Ben trade up from his dank, basement rental to a nice ranch on a quiet street in the ‘burbs. In typical, manipulative Ben fashion, he strolls across the courtyard all smiles at a stunned Hurley and Sawyer saying, “See you guys at dinner.”


Random observations:

The word hostile was thrown around a couple of times tonight. First Juliet said to Goodwin that Harper “seemed kind of hostile.” Then Claire said to Locke that she rhetorically stated that the freighter people “think we’re hostile.” The Others had been the island hostiles, but now the Locke Flock are the hostiles to be dealt with and eliminated by a new crew.

Why didn’t Ben ask Locke for his house back? Was it a power play by Locke, or another way to help discredit Locke in front of his crew?

Geek alert: In the Tempest station, there’s an image of a fuse box-like door labeled “Box Maker.” Odd label. Does this have something to do with the magical box through which Ben brought Locke’s dad to the island?







Jack kissed Juliet in the woods, but it was pretty chemistry-free. Is he over Kate and really in love with her, or just trying to fix things again?

Juliet was fortifying a shelter on the beach. Sun asks her why she would bother since they were about to be rescued. But Julie knows she’s not going anywhere as long as Ben is alive.

This ain't no Love Boat

“Maybe if you talk real slow, we’ll be able to follow you.” – Juliet

Physicist Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) could explain it as slowly as he wanted, and I’m still not sure I followed all of what transpired on last night’s episode of LOST. It’s not really going out on a limb to say that the episode, “The Constant,” is in the top 5 episodes of the series. Though once my brain stops melting, it might even move into the top episode position. Much like Desmond, I think I need “a constant” to help me figure this one out.

I’m not gonna lie. I’ve got mostly a list of questions. Drop us a comment with some of your thoughts. Might need some help with this one!

Lost 4x05: The Constant

Here's what we know:

• Charles Widmore, Penny’s father, is bidding at a 1996 auction on some items related to the Black Rock – the slave ship that’s somehow now in the middle of the island. The ship was lost in 1845, and one of the items he wins in his bid was the ship log of crew. Will some of the names in the log be remarkably similar to the names of some current-day inhabitants of the island? Perhaps we’ll learn that Richard Alpert, the eyeliner guy, ages even better than we’d realized.


• Geek alert: The auctioneer stated that the last-known owner of the Black Rock items was Tovar Hanso, an obvious relation to Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation. Also, the captain of the Black Rock in 1845 was named Magnus Hanso.


• Widmore sends Desmond to see Penny at her new address – 423 Cheyne Walk. Four and 23 are two of the LOST numbers, but also significant is Cheyne Walk, a street in London with some famous past residents including Henry James, author of one of the books Desmond had in the hatch with him.


• Widmore used a towel to turn on the faucet and on the soap dispenser in the restroom at the auction house. But when Desmond touched the faucet, he flashed back to 2004 on the freighter.


• On the freighter, 4 dates in October weren’t X’d out - or were so in a different color - on the calendar in the sick bay. Could this have coincided with the dates that Desmond turned the failsafe key and “the sky went purple?”
  

Help a brotha out:

• Are the writers of LOST seriously trying to keep me awake all night?


• Were Gopher, Julie and Isaac on another deck waiting to welcome Sayid and Desmond on board?


• Is Daniel affected by the same time perception shift as Desmond? If Desmond is Daniel’s “constant”, did Daniel’s reminder note to his future self end his time shifting?


• Was the “sickness” that killed Rousseau’s scientist shipmates what killed George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) and Eloise the rat?


• Was the crew on the freighter was a little more ragtag than expected? Hadn’t you expected a paramilitary operation led by the “evil” Minkowski?


• Was Juliet being protected from this effect when they drugged her before bringing her to the island?


• Since it’s Christmas Eve, will the Losties remember and do a Secret Santa?


• Is Jacob caught in this time loop? Remember his one and only line: “Help me.”


• Are people who enjoy the relationship angle of LOST now totally swooning over Desmond and Penny after their phone reunion? I’m man enough to admit I got a lump in my throat.


• Was the time shift on the freighter later or earlier than the island? Or was the crew so surprised to see the chopper back because it appeared to them as if they chopper had just left?


• Has Ben somehow mastered this time perception shifting? Is he using this ability to alter the future of the island?


• Will the real-world Asian tsunami that happened on Dec. 26, 2004 factor into the show’s plot?

There were certainly enough questions to keep my mind racing. Hit me up with your comments below with your answers to the questions from “The Constant.”