If it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress

Sticks and stones may break my bones…or detonate a nuke. We meet Jacob! And…his Man in black?!? Neither of them appear particularly old. Or scary. Or ghostly. Jacob has like Triple Elite Platinum SkyMiles from visiting Losties. He also likes to touch. Locke’s body is in the unnecessarily large box. Phil of the Eyebrows bites it. And not a second too soon. Talk about a long con…Ben’s been duped for 35 years as an eventual loophole. And the part of Locke was played last night by a stand-in who looks exactly like him.

Lost 5x16 and 5x17: The Incident

Rather than end with a scene that leaves us scratching our heads and palpatating, they punched us in the gut right from the top. So the island is a … chess game of good and evil? This is going to be an abridged recap of the two hours.


Island, 1800s:
The show opens with a man spinning threads for a tapestry - it is Jacob! He walks out to the beach, pulls in a fish trap and cooks up his breakfast. A man in a black shirt walks to the beach and they chat.

Man in black: Morning
Jacob: Morning
Man in black: Mind if I join you?
Jacob: Please. Want some fish?
Man in black: (He shakes his head no.) Thank you. I just ate.
Jacob: I take it you're here because of the ship.
Man in black: I am. How did they find the island?
Jacob: You'll have to ask them when they get here.
Man in black: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong aren't you?
Jacob: You are wrong.
Man in black: Am I? They come. Fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
Jacob: If it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress.
Man in black: Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?
Jacob: Yes.
Man in black: One of these days, sooner or later, I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
Jacob: Well, when you do, I'll be right here.
Man in black: Always nice talking to you, Jacob.
Jacob: Nice talking to you, too.

Geek alert: The fish appears to possibly be a red herring. Is this a clue that this scene and this episode are meant to be “red herrings” and throw us off of the truth? Or because Jacob fillets the fish, are we meant to believe that this is the end to “red herrings” on LOST. Are we done and moving forward with just the truth and the realities of…what lies beneath the shadow of the statue…and more?

Question: Jacob was using the spinning wheel – another wheel. They talk about it always ending the same. How many times have they experienced this? Is it a time loop? Will the killing of Jacob simply allow the loop to end or will it allow for evil – or, at the very least, unpredictability – to take over. Or do they mean that man will always resort to sin?


Geek alert: On the tapestry that Jacob is weaving, there's an Eye of Horus. I've mentioned the Eye of Horus several times this season in my blog entries.




Geek alert: Jacob (God) in white/other guy (Devil) in black. There’s much interweb speculation that the man in black represents Esau. Esau was Jacob’s older twin brother in the bible. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a meal. Jacob may have been helped by his mother, Rebekah, in deceiving Esau into accepting the deal. So is this a case of, like Ben and Widmore, the man in black – Esau – trying to get the island back after being tricked into giving up control? Or is it just a case of good and evil, God and the Devil?

Geek alert: Jacob caught and cooked what appeared to be a red herring. This might mean that the writers have ended all “red herrings” from this point on. Or it could be a clue that this scene/episode was a red herring – implying that Jacob is actually evil and the man in black (Esau) is good.


Geek alert: So the statue. I've been a big proponent of it being Horus. Doesn't seem that's the case. Sobek, perhaps? Taweret?



Jacob’s Frequent Flier Status:
We get a series of flashbacks. Jacob visited several folks at key points in their lives.

• We see him at a store in Iowa where Kate was with her friend Tom as a girl as Jacob saves her from getting caught as a shoplifter
• Sun and Jin meet him on the receiving line at their wedding and he speaks to them in Korean about love.
  
• He visits Sawyer at his parents’ funeral and gives him a pen as Sawyer is writing the note to the real Sawyer that he carried all his life
• At the moment John Locke after he was pushed by his father out of the window, Jacob was reading nearby and goes to John to tell him all will be ok.
• Jacob is at the intersection where Sayid’s love Nadia was killed in a hit and run
• Ilana is in a hospital, fully bandaged, and gets a visit from Jacob asking for her help.
• He is there after the first surgery where Jack cut Sarah’s dural sac when Jack counted to 5 and fixed his error.
• He’s at the jail when post-rescue Oceanic 6 Hurley was released after faking his confession to escape Ben
  

Questions:
Was he there when those events happen, or did he time travel back to those moments to help influence them and get them to the island? Interestingly, Hurley’s and Sayid’s visits were post-Oceanic 6 rescue.

Did Jacob bring Locke back to life after the fall from the window? It seemed John took a gasp as though he hadn’t been breathing.

Jacob leaves a guitar case in the taxi with Hurley. What’s in the case and why did Hurley bring it to the island?

Geek alerts:
When Jacob visited each of them, he touched them. Did his touch somehow change them all? He barely interacted with Jack, yet he was there.

The NKOTB lunchbox was the one Kate and Tom dug up with the time capsule items inside.

Jacob was reading Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” a story with an underlying religious aiming to expose the sinful nature of man in the modern, secular world.

Living off the grid:
Sawyer, Juliet and Kate escape the sub and return to the island. They come ashore and Vincent greets them. He’s been living with Rose and Bernard off the grid in a cabin, somehow escaping detection for the last 3 years. Rose is not surprised to hear their plan and says that nothing’s changed – they went back 30 years and are still looking to ways to shoot each other. Bernard says that he doesn’t care if they die from the bomb, as long as they are together. Sawyer looks at Juliet, then she sees him look at Kate longingly too.



Question: Was Juliet pregnant? She put her hand on her abdomen when Bernard, with a seemingly knowing glance, asked her if she wanted to stay for tea.

“Jacob’s” cabin:
Ilana, Lapidus and the Ajira crew arrive at Jacob’s cabin. It’s daytime and the place is in even worse shape than before. It’s been abandoned. She finds a piece of tapestry on the wall and she announces that the cabin hasn’t been used by Jacob in a long time, that someone else has been living there, and they burn it and head off for the statue.


The Four-Toed Statue:
They arrive at the statue and Richard tells Locke that’s where Jacob lives. John and Ben follow Richard to the statue and Richard says Ben can’t come, but Locke insists. Richard pushes on the secret panel in the statue (you knew there would be one) and Locke and Ben enter. Locke hands Ben the knife and they find Jacob sitting inside.

Ilana and crew arrive at the beach, ask for Ricardus, and Richard steps forward. She asks, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Richard answers in Latin: Ille qui nos omnes servabit.

Geek alert: Translation is: “He who watches over all of us” or “He who will save us”.

Inside the statue, Locke tells Ben to kill Jacob, and Jacob tells Ben that he has a choice. But Ben, fed up with being ignored by Jacob for 35 years asks, “What about me?” and Jacob answers coldly, “What about you?” Ben stabs him twice. As he lay dying, he says, “They’re coming.” Locke looks a little panicked and then rolls Jacob into the fire. (DAMN!)

Question: Did Jacob choose to die for his people to save them? Yet another Jesus allegory.

Geek alert: On Jacob’s tapestry in the statue is a quote in ancient Greek from from Homer's “Odyssey”, translated: "May the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires."

Question: So the man in black, Esau, somehow appeared as Locke and exacted his revenge. Is this the smoke monster? Did he also appear as Christian, Claire and Yemi?

Ilana tells Richard that she was told to show Richard what was in the box. Inside was the body of John Locke, very much dead. (My wife has been saying this for weeks and I've been denying her. I begrudgingly apologize.) Sun asks who, then, is inside the statue?


At the Swan Station:
The drilling has created a dangerous situation and Radzinsky called for Phil of the Eyebrows and other security folks. Jack and crew arrive, guns ablazing and overpower the Swan crew. Jack drops the plutonium core of the H-bomb into the drill and…nothing. But then the magnetic pull goes crazy and the drill begins to implode on itself. Chang’s arm is pinned, all the equipment is pulled down. Happily Phil is killed. (Hooray!) Juliet is entangled in chains and Sawyer and Kate try to save her, but can’t. She gets pulled down the pit into the darkness. And Lost’s “Titanic” moment has millions of relationshippers sob.

The drill continues to implode under the weight of the magnetism and we see Juliet at the bottom, dying. She sees the bomb next to her, manages to pick up a rock and smashes the bomb until the screen goes white.

And … see you in 8 months.

Geek alert: The screen cut to white this time, with black type. The first time in the history of the series that happens. So is this an indication that it worked? Were things re-set? Is this an indication of us going back to the beginning next season?


Wow. Eight months. That’s a whole lot of waiting. Will the island be there? I sincerely don’t believe they’d cheat us out of the last 5 years of following the show to just say none of it happened in a St. Elsewhere snow globe ending scenario. Was your mind sufficiently blown? Do you feel that the loose ends are being wrapped up well enough?

Post some comments below.

-Sean Salo

I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble

Chang takes Twitchy’s advice. Kate carries a third wheel onto the sub. Sawyer, Juliet and Kate take submarine ride at Disneyland. Ellie, Jack, Sayid and Richard try out for the Island’s Olympic swim team. Locke sends Richard to see Locke. John gives the extras something to do. Oh…and he sets off to kill Jacob. All in a day’s work.

Lost 5x15: Follow the Leader

The last episode before the 2-hour finale was another great one. Locke comes into his own as leader and makes some unusual leadership choices. And Jack feels he's finally fulfilling his destiny. What did you think? Comment below with your thoughts.

Island, 1977:
Faraday dies and Jack gets introduced to the end of Widmore’s rifle. Jack and Kate, get captured Ellie has them sent to her tent, bloodied and bruised. Jack tells Kate that they can fix things if they follow what Daniel said and make it so that Flight 815 never crashed and all those who died will not have died. Kate says that it wasn’t all misery as she thinks of Aaron.

Ellie asks what Faraday needed the bomb for and Jack says that she wouldn’t believe him if he answered. She tells them that she met Faraday when she was 17 at the Jughead site she will believe him. Jack tells her that she can erase what she did if they follow the journal.

She agrees, but explains that Dharma has built a village over the spot, but assumes they can re-infiltrate Dharma.

Radzinsky is smacking around LaFlawyer to try to get information on where Kate and the Hostiles are. Horace tries to get them to stop, but Radzinsky – Stuart – says he needs to use his methods. Phil of the Eyebrows pulls a bitch move and punches Juliet to get him to talk. All he really had to do was have her stare at his eyebrows for a few minutes and she'd have caved.

A Dharma flunkie walks in and says that Kate, Jack and Hugo were last minute additions to the list and they realize that Hurley is a part of it. Hurley is packing up some food and meets Miles and Jin in the jungle.

Question: Hurley was carrying the guitar case again. What’s inside the case that was so important that Hurley needed it?

Dr. Chang follows him there and asks if they are indeed from the future. Hurley says no, and Hurley says he was born in 1931. Chang asks if he fought in the Korean War, and Hurley says there’s no such thing. (Camera pans to Jin, who gives Miles a WTF look.) The jig is up and Hurley admits it. Chang gets Miles to admit he’s his son, and then he tells Chang that if Faraday said to evacuate the island, they should.

Ellie has Jack and Katie untied and says she’s taking them to the bomb. Richard tells Jack that the man is Widmore. Widmore tries to convince Ellie not to go. He can be heard talking about "her condition" and he even puts his hand on her abdomen. Was she pregnant with Faraday in 1977?

Chang goes to the security office and says they need to evacuate. Chang tells Radzinsky that they can’t drill, but Radzinsky says they’re drilling on schedule. LaFlawyer chimes in that he’s right and agrees to help them if they put him and Juliet on the sub with all the Dharma women and children.

Ellie and crew arrive at a stream and she says they need to swim underneath to make it to “The Tunnels”. Kate tells Jack she’s not going any further and tries to leave, but one of the Hostile’s points a gun at Kate. He’s then taken out by Sayid.

Sayid says that they don’t need to erase the last three years because he killed Little Ben. Kate says that they saved him and Sayid asks why, but Kate says that killing kids and blowing up H-bombs isn’t ok. Jack says that what they’re doing is their destiny. Kate says he sounds crazy and like Locke, but Jack says that maybe Locke was right. Kate leaves anyway.

The evacuation of Dharma continues. Chang is getting his wife and baby Miles to leave, but Miles, Hurley and Jin are confused why Sawyer and Juliet are getting on the sub.

Sawyer says to Juliet that they’ll buy Microsoft, or bet on the Cowboys in the 1978 Super Bowl and be rich. As they get into the sub, LaFlawyer says “good riddance” to the island.

Jack follows Richard into the stream and to “The Tunnels”. Jack asks if they’re going to take the bomb out through the pool, and Richard says, “it’s a 12 foot long 40,000 lb. Hydrogen Bomb, no – not through the pool.” Sayid and Ellie make it into “The Tunnels” and they all set out to find Jughead.

LaFlawyer tells Juliet that they aren’t going to Ann Arbor and that once they dock, they’ll be free in the real world where Dharma has no influence. They declare their love for each other and Kate enters the sub with a third wheel tucked under her arm (AWK-ward) and is like, “Hey guys, is this seat taken? Don’tcha just love cruises? The buffets rock!” The sub starts its voyage and the worst CG in the history of LOST is on display as it submerges. Seriously.

They make it to the bomb and Ellie asks, “Well, now what?”

Island, 2007:
Richard is building a ship in a bottle. Locke shows up with a boar and a mission. Ben and Sun follow. Richard is more than a little surprised to see Ben. Ben explains to Sun that Richard is “a kind of advisor – and he has had that job for a very, very long time.” Sun questions Richard about whether he was there in 1977 and remembers any of them, and he says he was and he remembers watching them all die.

Question: What kind of advisor is Alpert? Like a resident advisor who helps freshman when they move into the island? What does this mean? Or is it because he has been on the island for so long - hundreds or even thousands of years - perhaps, that he has unique insight into the island and how to tap into it...which would explain where he gets the patience for building a ship in a bottle. (EDIT: Thanks Phil) Or, is this another nod to Thoth, (as pointed out in the Some Like It Hoth episode recap) Egyptian advisor to the gods, and another clue that Richard has been there since ancient Egyptian times?

Geek alert: The ship in bottle looks identical to The Black Rock, seen in the painting at the auction Charles Widmore attended.

Sun is comforted by John who says he’ll find Jin if there is any way. Locke tells Ben to come along on this trip and that he’s not afraid of anything he can do to him any more.

Locke, Richard and Ben are in the jungle and Richard asks John where he’s been the last three years. John’s amazed that he doesn’t know, but Alpert says that he just disappeared on the day Ben turned the wheel. John says that when they’re finished he wants to be taken to see Jacob. Ben and Richard say that he shouldn’t rush it, but Locke insists. But first they have to visit Yemi’s plane.

Locke tells Richard to go see a man who walks out of the jungle and tell him he has to bring everyone back and that he has to die. The man – John Locke.

Richard goes to the other Locke and helps him remove the bullet from his leg - the bullet Ethan shot into his leg in the first episode of season 5 when Locke was flashing through time. Ben asks Locke how he knew this was the exact moment to be here, and John said the island told him. Ben tried to refute him and says that he doesn’t know how to find Jacob, but Locke counters that he’s never actually seen Jacob. Other John disappears and Richard walks back. He says he’s glad John didn’t actually have to die, but Locke says he did.

Locke arrives back at the beach and makes a speech to the Others. He tells them that rather than just accepting orders from a mysterious Jacob and that they should all go to see him together. Richard says to Ben, “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble.” Ben answers, “Why do you think I tried to kill him?”

Ben tells Locke that Richard is concerned. Locke isn’t buying into Ben’s manipulation any more. He has a purpose. He tells Ben that he’s not interested in being reunited with the Oceanic people, he wants to go to Jacob so he can kill him.

Geek alert: There’s been speculation that Jacob’s “help me” to John was his way of asking to be unlocked in time and to finally die. Seems that is at least John’s interpretation now.

Hit me up with some comments below.

-Sean Salo

Do you have something for a beginner?

Charles Widmore ties in the LOST offspring race with Christian. Mrs. Hawking bitch slaps Widmore. Phil of the Eyebrows comes out of the closet. LaFlawyer and Juliet get snagged by Radzinsky. Daniel Faraday made little Charlotte cry on the playground. Miles wusses out again on a daddy connection. Faraday storms the Others camp and gets a cap popped in him for doing so. Mommy issues! This is new.

Lost 5x14: The Variable

Some great answers on LOST last night. The Variable gave us some much needed background on Daniel Faraday and the idea of destiny. What did you think? Drop me a comment with your thoughts.

Long Beach, 2007:
Desmond is rushed into the ER, but makes it. Mrs. Hawking visits Penny in the waiting room and freaks her out by saying her son, Daniel Faraday, was responsible for Desmond being shot.

Island, 1977:
Faraday arrives from Ann Arbor on the sub and he makes Miles take him to Jack, who he has seen in the new recruit picture.

They wake Jack and ask how he got there. Desmond tells Jack that he doesn’t belong on the island and that Mrs. Widmore was wrong about it being their destiny to get back to the island.

?, 1980s:
Young Daniel (appx 12 years old?) is playing piano. Mrs. Hawking comes into the room, crying, and tells him about destiny and having to play up his gifts. She asks how many beats the metronome has hit since he started playing, and without hesitation he says 864. She says that he has to give up distractions like piano and focus on science. Daniel says “I can make time.” (Ha.)

Geek alert: 864 is 108 x 8.

Island, 1977:
Faraday heads off to find Pierre Chang at the Orchid. Jack goes to warn Sawyer about Faraday and Sawyer fills him in about Phil, who’s now bound and gagged in the closet.

Faraday sees Chang arrive at the Orchid construction site and follows him downstairs. Chang is yelling at the construction workers about not drilling further. He says to stop drilling or they’ll release the energy, and “then God help us all.”

Geek alert: “Then God help us all” was the same warning Hawking gave Ben if he couldn’t get all of the Oceanic 6 and Locke back to the island.

Faraday confronts Chang and tells him he needs to evacuate the island before another electromagnetic incident at the Swan station that will be 30,000 times as powerful as the one that yanked the filling out of the worker’s head. When asked how he could possibly know this, Daniel answers, “I’m from the future. He tries to convince Chang he’s not lying by sharing his journal. Miles tries to stop him, but Faraday blurts out that Miles is Chang’s son. Miles denies it.

Oxford, 1990s:
Daniel, whose wig is about twice as large as his head, has graduated and he brings his girlfriend and research assistant, Theresa, and Hawking blows her off and asks if they could go to lunch without her. He confronts her at the restaurant and says she was very rude, but Ellie reminds him how important his work is. She says that any women in his life will only be hurt, that he doesn’t have time for relationships. She tries to cover it up by saying that his work will always come first.

He tells her that he’s the youngest doctor to have ever graduated from Oxford and that he’s gotten a £1.5million research grant from an industrialist – Charles Widmore. She hands him a present, his leather journal (though when new it had embossed images on the cover, perhaps a fleur-de-lis.) The inscription inside reads, “Daniel, No matter what, remember, I will always love you. – Mother.”

Geek alert: Fleur-de-lis is typically a design that can be political, artistic or symbolic. Interesting considering she forced him to suppress his artistic interests.

Island, 1977:
Sawyer is meeting with Juliet, Jack, Jin, Kate and Hurley and they discuss how they can get out of there. He says that they can try to commandeer the sub or try to live in the jungle. Faraday and Miles return, and Saywer invites Faraday in for pound cake and punch. Faraday says he needs to find the Hostiles so he can have Ellie help them get back where they belong.

Essex, Mass., 2004:
Daniel is crying watching the news footage of the faked plane crash. The woman helping him, Caroline, opens the door and Charles Widmore is there. Daniel’s memory is shot, but Widmore offers him a new opportunity. He tells him that he put the plane at the bottom of the ocean and he needs Daniel to go to the island to further his research and heal his memory condition.

Geek alert: There was an issue of Wired Magazine in Daniel’s house from 2003 with cover stories on super powers, including time travel and a story about “The End of Cancer as We Know It” – on page 108, naturally.







Island, 1977:
“Your mother…is an Other?”, asks Sawyer. Daniel says they met her when they were in 1954. (Hurley: “Like Fonzie times?”) Sawyer wants them to all stay where they are but Jack’s now on Faraday’s side. Jack asks Kate is she can take them. Sawyer tries to convince Kate to stay and calls her Freckles, and then Juliet, realizing their game of house is over, tells them the code for the sonic fence. Kate, Jack and Faraday leave to get a van, and Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Hurley all ready their escape before Phil is realized missing.

Daniel takes a detour and goes to see little Charlotte on the swing set. He tells her that Dr. Chang is going to tell everyone to leave and he wants to make sure she goes. Rather than crying for her mommy at the strange man, she tears up.

Geek alert: Charlotte says “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner,” which was what she said right before she died in Daniel’s arms.

Jack, Kate and Daniel are at the motor pool when Radzinsky and a couple of others confront them. They see the guns they were taking and a shootout ensues, followed by Jack shooting a barrel of fuel and causing an explosion allowing them to escape in the jeep. Both Daniel and Radzinsky were shot.

?, 2004:
Mirroring the scene earlier in his life, Daniel is playing the piano and Ellie enters the room, looking sad. She tells Daniel that it’s important that he accept Widmore’s job offer. Daniel says he can’t do it, but she convinces him to go because it could heal him. And she reluctantly says it will make her proud of him, at which she wells up.

Island, 1977:
Kate turns off the fence and Jack bandages Daniel’s wound – just a graze. He reiterates that this is their present and any of them can be wounded or die.

Sawyer and Juliet are packing and right as they are about to acknowledge the elephant in the room – Sawyer’s feelings for Kate – the Hostiles siren starts to sound. Radzinsky breaks into Saywer’s house and they hear Phil in the closet and they make Juliet and Sawyer get down on the ground.

Daniel tells them that they Dharma folks are about to release the energy at the Swan station – the Hatch – that they will have to cement over, like Chernobyl, requiring them to have to “press a button” every 108 minutes for 20ish years to keep the energy at bay. And one day, Desmond will not press the button, causing Flight 815 to crash, and the freighter to be sent. But Daniel hadn’t previously considered variables when he said that what happens, happens. He says he’s going to explode the “Jughead” H-bomb to neutralize the energy.

Long Beach, 2007:
Ellie explains that Desmond was a casualty in a war that is bigger than any of them. A nurse comes into the waiting area and says that Desmond is in recovery and doing well. She visits him in his room and they kiss.

Question: Another nurse stayed with sleeping toddler Charlie when they left. We hope, of course, that this was just a nurse, but is little Charlie safe with her? Or is he taken in an effort to get Desmond and Penny to the island? Doesn’t hurt that Charles was right outside the hospital.

Ellie leaves the hospital and Charles is there. She tells him Penny is upstairs and to see her, but he said he had to sacrifice his relationship with her. She laughs, saying that she has to sacrifice by sending Daniel back to the island. He says Daniel is his son too, and Ellie slaps him and leaves.

Island, 1977:
They approach the Hostiles’ camp and Daniel runs off. He demands to see Elloise, and Richard confronts him. He asks where the H-bomb is and Eloise shoots Daniel in the back. She comes over and he says “You always knew this was going to happen…and you sent me here anyway. I’m your son.” And then Daniel appeared to breathe his last breath.


So what did you think? Enjoy it? Comment below?

-Sean Salo

Ewoks suck polar bear poop, dude.

Dental work proves deadly. Miles converts the Dharma van to a hearse. Roger Linus blows his chance of getting Kate’s digits. Phil finds the tape of LaFlawyer and Kate – no, not that kind of tape. Hurley works on that screenplay he always wanted to write…if only he knew how to spell “furry”. And Daniel somehow got on a sub to the island.

Lost 5x13: Some Like It Hoth

Last night’s LOST premiere gave us Miles Straume’s back story and confirmed at least one not so well-kept secret. They seem to have further confused the issue of who is working for whom. Do Ilana and Bram work for Ben? Are they a faction separate from Ben and Widmore? Also, we got to see more daddy issues reveal themselves. Big thanks to Phil and Katie for working out a lot of the points in this entry.

What did you think? Comment below with your thoughts.


Miles’ Flashbacks:
Young Miles’ mom (guessing he’s about is renting an apartment – we can assume in Encino, where Miles said he was from – when he somehow finds a key for the apartment and opens the door, finding a dead Mr. Vonner on the floor. He says that Vonner was calling out for Kimberly and was talking to him.

Geek alert: Miles finds the key for the apartment with Mr. Vonner in it under a rabbit with the number 8 on its ear. And the apartment he was found in was number 4.

Geek alert: Probably reading too much into it, but the “No Lifeguard on Duty” sign on the pool fence was a nice touch with Miles speaking to the dead.

Geek alert: There’s some interwebs chatter that Mr. Vonner looked like an older Roger Linus, but since Roger was killed in The Purge by Ben, seems unlikely.

A grunge-era Miles goes back to the apartment in Encino to visit his now-dying mother. He begs to know why he can speak to the dead and why she never speaks of his father. She says he’s dead, he asks where the body is and she says, “somewhere you can never go”.

Question: Is the island somewhere he can never go because they were banished, like Widmore? Or does she just think he’ll never find it? Good guess seems to be that Future Miles told Pierre about The Purge and he forced them to leave.

Adult Miles visits a grieving father who asks if his late son knew he loved him. Miles demands more money and tells him the son always knew he loved him.

Bad-wigged Naomi convinces Miles to go with him to a restaurant for a request from her employer. The go into the kitchen and she throws him a wad of cash to listen to a corpse. Miles says his name is Felix and he was bringing Widmore photos of the empty graves and a purchase order for a plane. She invites Miles on the expedition to try to get information from a number of corpses on the island for $1.6million. Miles greedily agrees.

Geek alert: Naomi says that “a bunch of dead people reside on the island”. Is she talking about the dead in the pit, or the dead people who seem to be walking around like Christian, Jacob, perhaps Claire and Richard? (Thanks Phil for this one.)

Miles is at the La Vida (“Life” – Ahem) Taco stand and he gets abducted by a group of men that tries to talk him out of working for Widmore. A man named Bram says he can’t go. Bram asks him, “Do you know what lies in the shadow of a statue?” Miles can’t answer and Bram says that if he doesn’t go, he’ll learn everything – why he has his gift and about his father. Miles says he’ll do it for double – $3.2million – and they throw him out of the van and say that he’s on the wrong team and that their team is going to win.


Geek alert: Bram is the guy that was on the beach with Ilana when Lapidus came back to the Hydra Island, when she asked him “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”

Geek alert: Bram was in a black van, Ben had been in a white van. Could this indicate the sides of good and evil? Let's hope that Bram - as in Stoker - isn't a clue about impending vampires.

Later, he revisits the father, Mr. Grey, gives the money back, says he didn’t speak to the son and that he should have told his son he loved him while he was alive.



Island, 1977:
Sawyer radios to Miles to tell him to erase the security tapes from the Pylons to cover up their Little Ben transfer. As he’s about to erase the tape, Horace walks in and sends him to make a delivery and pickup to Radzinsky, bringing Miles into the “circle of trust”. However, Miles questions why they’d be going to sector 334 since it’s hostile territory.

Geek alert: The Sports Illustrated with Tommy Lasorda Miles is reading is from March 14, 1977. Its headline, “After 23 Years New Boss in L.A.” Coincidence on the number, I’m sure, but it is a number.

Turns out the delivery was a body bag, whick a couple of workers fill with a corpse whose head has a hole in it. Miles goes back to listen to the body to see what really happened.

Horace is on the phone with Radzinsky who is talking about the corpse. Whatever killed him may have been caused by the electromagnetism and they’re sending the corpse to Pierre Chang to determine the cause of death. Miles protests, but with LaFlawyer not back yet, he has to go. Hurley is going to the same place and Miles reluctantly takes him with him.

Roger gets to the infirmary as Kate returns from the mission and Juliet covers up by saying she was out for 10 minutes and Ben disappeared.

In the van, Hurley forces them to stop the van to check the foul odor, thinking it’s his sandwiches for the Orchid workers. Hurley sees the body back and Miles tells him that the guy’s name was Alvarez, that he was digging a hole, thinking about a woman named Andrea, when a filling from his tooth was yanked out and blew right through his skull.

Geek alert: They’re saying that the electromagnetism on the island – specifically near the Swan – did this, though it seems a stretch since fillings aren’t made of steel or iron and aren’t significantly magnetic.

Roger is getting drunk and Kate tries to console him. But Roger gets suspicious and tells her to mind her own beez wax.

Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” is on the van’s 8-track player when they arrive at the Orchid. Chang gets upset that Hurley knows about the corpse. He threatens Hurley with weighing polar bear feces if he tells anyone. Hurley properly calls him a douche, and Miles says, “that douche is my dad”. Whoa! Surprised?! (Not really.) Chang tells Miles they need to go to Radzinsky. He tells Hurley to keep quiet.

Roger shows up at the school to clean it and Jack’s filling in, but Roger tells him to leave and that he’s suspicious of Kate. Jack tries to stop Roger and tells him to calm down.

Geek alert: The blackboard had a lesson on Egyptian languages on it, including the phrase, “Writing the words of God”.

Hurley tries to make a connection between Miles and Chang on the trip to the Swan building station.

They get into the Swan construction site and they see the hatch being built and stamped with the “serial number” on it. Hurley completes the numbers (“42”) and explains to Miles that it was The Hatch that crashes Oceanic 815. Hurley tells Miles on the drive back about the numbers and pushing the button, and Miles laughs it off. He says that it’s awesome that Miles can meet his dad. Miles gets angry and says that his father is dead and there’s no reason. Hurley pushes more and Miles grabs Hurley’s notebook. Turns out that he’s been writing a screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back – “with a couple of improvements” – to send to George Lucas.

Jack tells LaFlawyer that Roger is suspicious about Ben. Phil of the Eyebrows shows up at LaFlawyer’s house with the tape Miles didn’t erase, and LaFlawyer knocks him out and they go to tie him up.

Hurley and Miles return, and Hurley says that reconnecting with his dad was the best thing he ever did. Miles says he doesn’t want to know his dad. Hurley pulls out a Star Wars reference saying that if Luke had just connected with his father, we wouldn’t have gotten the Ewoks. Miles goes to Chang’s house and sees him reading a book to Baby Miles.

Geek alert: Chang is reading the book Me and My Polar Bear to Baby Miles.

Geek alert: Hurley makes the Star Wars analogies specifically re: Luke getting an arm cut off in Empire. In some of the training films, Chang had a prosthetic arm. We shall see if he loses an arm at some point in the future. (Montand from Rousseau’s crew also lost an arm. And Vincent was carrying around a skeletal arm with the key to the Dharma van that Hurley fixed in Season 3.)

Chang walks out of the house and tells Miles they need to head to the docks to pick up scientists from Ann Arbor. And who is emerging from the sub as they arrive? Daniel Faraday. “Hey Miles, long time no see.”


Potential Geek alert: Might be a stretch, but the episode title, Some Like It Hoth. Hoth was the frozen planet in The Empire Strikes Back where the Rebel Alliance relocated until the Empire discovered them. The Rebels were able to stage a successful escape, even though they lost the Battle of Hoth. Thoth (SOME LIKE IT HOTH) was an Egyptian God of who was a mediator between good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other, credited with inventing writing and hieroglyphics, and was present at the judgment of the deceased.

Potential Geek alert: The man Young Miles found dead was named Mr. Vonner. In the Blade series, there was a doctor of obstetrics named Vonner who selected young women and implanted them with virus incubators instead of babies. He also ran a vampire test lab. A stretch as well, most likely, but interesting that there's a second potential reference to vamps, with Bram (Stoker).

Post below with your comments/thoughts/input/calls of BS.


- Sean Salo

Move over Judge Judy - Make way for Judge Smokey

Locke kicked Ben’s ass. Desmond kicked Ben’s ass. The Temple’s floor kicked Ben’s ass. Smokey, strangely, showed Ben some home movies. And then Alex kicked Ben’s ass. And somehow, although this weasely mofo deserved an ass whupping more than anyone – ever – I wound up feeling a little bad for him. He’s a manipulator, and he manipulated me from the screen. Bastard. Someone get Michael Emerson an Emmy. Pls.

Lost 5x12: Dead is Dead

Island, 1977:
Charles Widmore, looking more like a Mediterranean soap opera star than a conniving Brit, fumes as he enters what looks like it could be an encampment in any time. In fact, I think it was intended to appear that it could have been Black Rock, native inhabitants, or earlier. However, it’s 1977, and Richard has just returned from The Temple with Little Ben. Charles accuses Richard of potentially blowing their cover, but he says that Jacob wanted it that way.

Island, 2007:
John gently wakes Ben, who looks a little panicked – “Oh God! You’re alive!”. He says, “because it’s one thing to believe it, John. It’s another thing to see it.” He says he was going to the main island to be judged – by the smoke monster – for breaking the rules. (Judge Smokey, coming to ABC, Weekdays at 4pm.)

Ben makes his way out to the beach, and some of the Ajira survivors are trying to carry a metal crate. No idea what is in the crate.

Guesses from the interwebs and friends on what’s in the crate:
• John Locke’s unopened coffin
• Nuclear warhead
• Ammunition for the “war” that’s about to come to the island
• The body of Charles Widmore
• Marcellus Wallace’s soul
• Gwyneth Paltrow’s head
• Obama's stimulus package for the island

Caesar approaches Ben to ask what he knows about Locke. Ben denies knowing him. (Like Simon denied knowing Jesus before he was crucified? He did look at John when he woke up and said, “My God!”)

Island, 1988:
Ben with an era-appropriate new wave ‘do (and looking frankly a little Pee Wee Herman-esque with dark hair) and young Ethan are poised to go after Rousseau – apparently on orders from Charles. When he enters her hut, though, he’s startled to see she has a baby. He takes Alex and says, “If you want your child to live, every time you hear whispers, you run the other way.”


Question: Why would she need to run away from the whispers to keep Alex – and not herself – alive? Would the whispers somehow otherwise reunite her with Alex?

Island, 2007:
Ben is in his office, looking at a picture of him and Alex. He folds it and puts it into his pocket. (Call back to Desmond and his pic of Penny. John chides Ben for being a little corporate for leading from behind a desk, and then looks badass as he sits in Ben’s chair and demands they talk about the elephant in the room – why Ben killed John. Ben pauses. It seemed to me that he was trying to come up with the answer. He says it was the only way to get John back to the island, that otherwise the rest of the O6 wouldn’t have gone back. He stopped him from killing himself because he needed the information. He seems like he’s nervous and coming up with the story on the fly. Not like Ben really. John says he’s going to help Ben be judged and is going with him.

Geek alert: On and behind Ben’s desk are some unusual items – including an animal skull, a stuffed bird (a hawk? Hawks were commonly associated with the Egyptian god Horus, who had a hawk's head), and a what looks to me, anyway, like a leather-bound ledger (Could this be Tovard Hanso’s ledger from the Black Rock that Widmore won at auction?).

Back on the beach, Ben shoots Caesar for trying to stop them from taking the outrigger. Ben shoots Caesar when he demands more answers and then throws John the shotgun. Ben is back. As they reach the dock, John methodically puts on his – Christian’s – shoes. I assume he took them off because they had to walk the canoe out into the surf, but it seemed very pointed.

Question: Wasn’t the dock destroyed when Locke “blew up” the sub?

Island, 1988:
Charles is frustrated with Ben that he didn’t kill Rousseau, but he shoots back that Widmore didn’t tell him that she had a baby. Widmore says he should have killed her too, and Ben offers the baby to him for him to do it. Charles walks off and he and Richard look at each other knowingly.

Island, 2007:
Locke and Ben make their way up to New Otherton. John questions why they moved up there in the first place instead of living in the jungle – that it doesn’t seem like something the island would have wanted. Ben says, “you don’t have the first idea what this island wants.” John replies, “Are you sure about that?” John is Ben now. He seems in control and connected to the island and with a deeper understanding of the island than Ben has.

They see a light in Ben’s old house and he enters. Sun and Lapidus are inside. Lapidus shows them the photo Christian gave them and Ben seems genuinely surprised to see it. She says that Christian told them to wait there for John Locke. Ben tells them to look outside.

Geek alert: The Risk game was still on the table where it’d been left, and the portrait of Ben’s mom, Emily, was on the bedroom wall.


Locke explains his presence to them as best he can, and Lapidus is dumbfounded and says he’s going back to the plane to try to get help. But Sun stays to have Locke help find Jin. Locke tells Ben to “get to it” and on with the judging. Ben reveals his secret hieroglyph-adorned chamber and descends into it. He comes upon what looks like a murky cesspool and uncorks it. The muddy water drains and Ben says he’s waiting.

Island, 1988:
Ben’s pushing a young Alex on the swing. I’m guessing she’s about 4 years old. Richard says Charles is about to leave. Widmore is being escorted to the sub in cuffs. He’s being banished because he broke the rules – having a family off the island. But Ben says he’ll protect the island at all costs. Charles says that the island may want Alex dead one day. And then he leaves with a dismissive, “I’ll be seeing you, boy.”

Island, 2007:
Sun says that Jack must have lied about John being dead. Ben says Locke was indeed dead, but then lies and says that he had no idea John would come back to life- that he’s never seen anyone come back to life here.

John emerges from the jungle and Ben says the monster hasn’t come – it’s not a train – but John says he knows where to find it. Ben’s bug eyes bug even further.

Island, 2007:
Ben asks how John knows, and Locke says he just does. Locke says that Ben doesn’t to blindly follow others on faith and Ben agrees. They arrive at the wall surrounding The Temple. Locke says they’re not going in, they’re going under it. Ben asks Sun to tell Desmond he’s sorry if he doesn’t make it back. Ben descends into the hole.

Los Angeles, 2007:
Desmond sees Ben on the dock and Ben shoots him. He approaches Penny and says "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." “Hello, my name is Benjamin Linus,” as he's about to shoot her. But Ben is surprised to see little Charlie. He hesitates and appears to re-think it, but Desmond jumps him and beats the crap out of him and dumps him into the water.


Island, 2007:
Lapidus makes it back to the Hydra Island and he confronts Ilana. She says, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” He doesn’t understand the question and she cold cocks him with the butt of her rifle. She tells one of the other Ajira survivors that they’re all going.

Question: Ilana’s “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” question. Was this a security question/test, like Desmond's “What did one snowman say to the other?” joke.


Under The Temple, Ben tells Locke that he killed Alex – that’s what he will be judged for. Ben walks ahead, but falls through the floor and lands in a chamber below. Heiroglyphs abound. He walks up to what looks like it might be an altar and looks at a glyph of what appears to be the Egyptian god of the afterlife, Anubis, staring down the smoke monster. Just then, Judge Smokey enters the court and surrounds Ben. He sees scenes of his life and primarily of Alex, including the betrayal of her. And just as mysteriously as it entered, Smokey disappears.








Geek alert: Rather than subtle and hidden, the effects played out almost a little cheesily. Could this be them paying homage to The Wizard of Oz, and the scene with Dorothy in the tornado, when people fly by Dorothy's window? After all, Ben did name himself Henry Gale, Dorothy's uncle's name, when he was still lying about his past, and said he arrived on the island in a hot air balloon.

Geek alert: I have the internets and a poster on Ack Attack's page to thank for this, but could Smokey be Ammit, Egyptian bringer of divine retribution, a creature that devoured those heavy with wrongdoing.


Suddenly Alex appears. Ben apologizes and she grabs him by the neck and demands that he listen to and follow John Locke. Ben starts to cry and Alex is gone. Locke arrives with some vines to pull him up he tells John, “it let me live.”



So what did you think? I was thrilled with this episode. Awesome story, tons of mythology, and lots of Ben getting his ass kicked. Post below with your thoughts.

- Sean Salo

Back to the Future, man.

Little Ben gets a makeover at the Richard Alpert School of Everlasting Beauty. Kate gets chummy with Roger Linus. Aaron gets lost, but a Claire-alike takes care of him. Saywer’s big helicopter secret is revealed – “take care of my daughter.” Jack gets all Lockey. Locke practices his bedside manner. And Hurley plays the part of the audience and gets the time travel situation explained…in pretty good detail.

Lost 5x11: Whatever Happened, Happened

What a great episode of LOST last night. Not a big surprise, since this one was written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. We didn’t move any of the mysterious mythological questions forward, but we did get a killer plot-driven episode. Not a whole lot of geek alerts here. But perhaps some questions worth discussing.

Jin wakes up to a call on the radio and he says that the hostile has attacked him. Little Ben says “Help, please help”, sounding vaguely reminiscient of Jacob asking John Locke to “Help me”. Jin drives off.

Geek alert: Last week, the wound was on Little Ben’s left. This week, his right. Huh? Continuity error or is there something we don’t know yet about this?
He’s Our You:












Whatever Happened, Happned:














Los Angeles, 2007:
Patsy Cline’s “I’ve Got Your Picture” is on the car radio. Kate is driving with Infant Aaron in the car. She sings “Catch a Falling Star” to Aaron as they walk up to the door of Cassidy’s house. Cassidy, Saywer’s ex/scam victim and Kate’s accomplice in an earlier scam, as well, is home and Kate spills the beans on the truth about what happened on the island and with the rescue after giving her some cash for Clementine.

Geek alert: Patsy Cline is a common artist played in the background of Kate scenes. Patsy died at 30 in a plane crash.

Geek alert 2: The song Kate was singing to Aaron is the song that Claire used to sing to him and she said her mother sung to her as a baby. Did she ever tell Kate this? I don’t think so.

After leaving the dock in Long Beach where Ben confronted them all, Aaron asks for milk. Kate’s walking in a supermarket with Aaron looking for milk. He somehow gets separated from her and Kate is frantic until she sees him walking holding a woman’s hand. The woman is Claire! No, wait, it’s a Claire-alike…about 20 years later. She was walking him to the front to make an announcement.

Question: Was it just me, or did it look like she was walking Aaron to the exit? And we were clearly meant to think it was Claire. How did Aaron go missing in the first place?

























They arrive at Cassidy’s house. Clementine greets them at the door. Cassidy comforts Kate who’s still upset about losting Aaron in the store. She tells Kate that she needed Aaron because “Sawyer broke your heart. How else were you supposed to fix it?”

Questions: Wasn’t she supposed to live in Albuquerque? If so, that’s a big trip from LA. And what was up with the big “No Soliciting” sign next to Cassidy’s doorbell?

Kate visits Claire’s mother, Mrs. Littleton. She fesses up about Aaron and Claire being alive on the island. Kate tells her that she didn’t come to her first because she needed him. Kate tells her she wants to leave Aaron with her to go back to the island and find Claire. And then in a teary goodbye, she leaves him.


Island, 1977:
Kate tries to get Saywer to help with Ben. Horace comes to check out the cell, they see Roger’s keys and Sayer goes to question Jack. Saywer stops first at the infirmary and confirms it was Roger’s keys. Little Ben’s injuries are too severe and Sawyer goes to Jack to see if he’ll help.

Miles and Hurley are talking about time travel and it’s the conversation that every casual and hardcore fan have had. Rather than paraphrase it, here it is:



Though Miles wasn’t able to answer why Ben didn’t recognize Sayid in the future, this was explained later.

Saywer begs Jack to help, but he refuses. He says that he already helped save Ben once – for Kate – and if he dies, he dies. Kate tries to convince him to change his mind. But Jack gets all Lockey and says that he’s been trying to fix things all this time, but maybe the island wants to fix things for itself and he’s been getting in the way. Kate says that she doesn’t like the new Jack, but he quips back, “you didn’t like the old me, Kate.”

Kate goes to the infirmary to donate blood. She tells Juliet they were engaged off-island, but then Roger bursts in. He and Kate get cozy as she tries to calm Roger down. Juliet sends him to get medical supplies and she tells Kate that the Others might be able to help him.

She and Kate put injured Little Ben in a Dharma van and Kate takes him into the jungle.

Kate arrives at the sonic fence, and Little Ben tells Kate to apologize to Roger for stealing his keys. Sawyer shows up and helps her take Ben across.

Kate’s helping with Little Ben’s broken heart. She and Sawyer carry him into the jungle.

Juliet confronts Jack as he gets out of the shower. She says she needed Jack, and he says he wasn’t going to save Ben, but he came back to save them. “We didn’t need saving”, she says. Jack says he came back because he was supposed to, but he’s not sure why yet.

Sawyer tells Kate that the two of them wouldn’t have worked out. But she says he was doing well with Juliet and he replies that he’s grown up in the past 3 years.

The hostiles surround them and Sawyer demands to see Richard to save Little Ben.

They come upon Richard in the jungle. They tell him that he’s been shot and want Richard to help Little Ben. He says that if they take him, “He won’t ever be the same again…He’ll forget that this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us.” Beardie Other says that he shouldn’t do this without asking Ellie, and if Charles finds out… He says he doesn’t answer to either of them. He and Ben enter the Temple.

Question: So what is the process he’ll be going through? Why would he forget what happened to him? And why didn’t he forget his father if he would forget Sayid. And is this why Ben has said he was born on the island, when we know he was born in Portland? Is he re-born in the Temple?

Island 2007:
Ben wakes up in the Ajira 316 infirmary and Locke is sitting at his bedside. Ben looks at Locke a little incredulously and Locke says, “Wakey, wakey, hands off snakey.” “Hello Ben, welcome back to the land of the living.”

The juxtaposition of this scene with the one of Ben being carried off by Richard was great. A lot of speculation exists on whether Ben’s tumor could have been related to where he was shot.


So what did you think? Comment below with your thoughts.

Don’t forget to try the dipping sauces, they really bring out the ham.

Last night on LOST, we went to Tikrit, Moscow, Los Angeles, Santo Domingo and the island... not bad for an hour, minus commercials. Oldham ("I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl") feeds Sayid’s sweet tooth. Juliet thinks it’s time to stop playing house. Little Ben serves Sayid a chicken salad sammich; and Sayid serves Ben up a dish of cold revenge.

Lost 5x10: He’s Our You

Last night’s episode of LOST was a strange one. We’ve come to see Saywer in the last few episodes as in control. That control seemed to be on the verge of falling apart with both his love life and “playing house” with Juliet because Kate is back, and with his control of the island’s security between not getting Sayid to comply, a flaming DHARMA bus and barracks fire. And we saw Sayid go from confident, strategic and suave alpha male to captured (by a woman), imprisoned, emotional and vengeful. It’s an uncomfortable place as a viewer. But LOST is certainly known for challenging our comfort.

Putting the big questions of the episode up front. Comment with your thoughts/answers below.

Questions:

We don’t really believe Little Ben is dead, do we? Seems that would create a paradox which Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have been adamant would not be the case. Faraday’s assertions that the future is the future – how can the future for all those folks move forward without Ben?

So did Ben HAVE to die? In order to lead the Others, even to go to the Others, did Ben have to die, like Locke or perhaps others before him (Christian, Jacob, Richard)? And if so, did Richard tell Ben that he had to die during that initial meeting four years earlier?

------
Tikrit, Iraq (early 1970s?):
A father pushes his boy to slaughter a chicken, and his younger brother, Sayid, comes to his brother’s aid and breaks a chicken’s neck. His father praises the act as that of a man. An honest to goodness early character flashback!

Moscow:
Post-Oceanix 6 Sayid pulls off one last kill for Ben. Andropov, the target, offers Sayid cash, but he shoots him. Meeting Ben afterwards, Ben tells him he’s done – they’ve eliminated everyone in Widmore’s organization. Sayid is seemingly distraught and asks Ben what he should do now and Ben tells him he’s free to live his life. (Call backs to when Ben told Walt and Michael they were free, or when he told Juliet she was free to leave the island.)
Geek alert: Russian license plate was E608PC 158.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:
Sayid’s working for Build Our World after being set “free” by Ben. Ben shows up there and says that Locke’s been killed and they’re in danger. He says that Widmore’s worker has been waiting for Ben or Sayid outside of Hurley’s hospital. Ben entices Sayid to kill the man and says that it’s in his nature to be a killer. Sayid says he’s not a killer, but manipulator Ben knows what buttons to push.

Los Angeles 2007: Sayid is at a bar drinking $120/glass MacCutcheon whiskey. He says he’s trying to change, but she says that when you are good at something, people will always try to convince you to stay the same.

Sayid and Ilana are in a hotel room and she thwacks him and reveals she’s a bounty hunter working for the family of Peter Avalino, the man Sayid shot on the golf course in the Seychelles. She has been hired to bring him back to Guam.

At LAX, Sayid sees Hurley and Kate, and flips out. We see Ben walk onto the plane, and Sayid asks if Ilana works for Ben. She says no, and Sayid’s emotions continue to take over.

Geek alert: A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but does the Ajira logo looks like Eye of Horus? (Thanks, Phil, for this one.)





Island, 1977: Phil of the Eyebrows is cleaning a gun at his security post outside the cell where Sayid is being held. Little Ben shows up with another sandwich. Little Ben asks Sayid if Richard sent him. He tells him that he met Richard four years ago and he promised to help Ben. He offers to help Sayid if he’s patient.

Geek alert: Ben offers Sayid a book by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda called A Separate Reality. The allegedly non-fiction book details Castenada’s apprenticeship under a sorcerer named Don Juan Matus while under the influences of peyote and a smoked form of mushrooms. The purpose of these trips was to allow him to “See”, or “perceive energy directly as it flows through the universe”. Castenada also claimed that Don Juan had identified him as having the aura of a “nagual” who could become a leader of a party of “Seers”. This realm was referred to as nonordinary reality, a reality that was a different state than those of humans going about their everyday lives. (Sounds a lot like what Locke went through in the sweat lodge he built in season three.)

Horace and Radzinsky question Sayid. Sayid, master at interrogation, gives up nothing.

Juliet realizes she and Sawyer aren’t going to be able to play house any more. (A call back to Kate’s conversation with Sawyer before the Oceanic 6 were rescued.) Horace tells Sawyer that he’s going to have to turn Sayid over to Oldham for answers.

Sawyer goes to the jail cell and head butts Sayid hoping that he will pretend to be a hostile defector. Sayid says no, threatening Sawyer’s con. Sawyer’s game of house/house of cards is falling.

At the commissary, Chef Hurley has served up some waffles and ham with delicious dipping sauces. Hurley metaphorically kicks Kate in the gut by clueing her in to the painfully obvious fact that Saywer and Juliet were living together, like not as roommates.

Geek alert: Geronimo Jackson poster in the background of the mess hall. Also, go to iTunes to download a free track from Geronimo Jackson that’s rumored to actually be by a California retro rock band called the Donkeys.

Roger Linus, Ben’s father, is mopping outside Sayid’s cell and taunts him that he wasn’t smart enough to not get caught, not realizing Sayid could shut down that argument by pointing out that he was mopping up the floor. Little Ben walked in with a sammich for Sayid and Roger flipped out.

Saywer zaps Sayid and they take him into the jungle where Oldham - a creepy old dude played by William Sanderson who played Larry, of Newhart’s Larry, Darryl and Darryl fame – has Sayid restrained to a tree. He gives Sayid a sugarcube dosed with a truth serum.

Sayid’s truth serum has kicked in. He starts spouting out the truth and they seem to think they overdosed him. He reveals what he knows about The Flame, The Pearl and The Swan stations and that they are all going to be killed in the future.

Juliet’s talking to Kate in the auto shop when they bring Sayid back. A DHARMA panel converges to decide what to do with him and they agree – unanimously, including Sawyer – to kill Sayid.

Sawyer tries to free Sayid, who refuses. Sayid says he is fine there and he knows his purpose there. (Sayid's sugarcube incident seems to have given him clarity about the island and his purpose - like the sweat lodge experience. Did he encounter anyone (Jacob? Richard? Christian?) while he was tripping?)

Sawyer reluctantly goes to seek the help of Jack, but Kate answers the door. He asks her why they came back and before she can answer, a flaming DHARMA van goes careening into building 15.

Little Ben set up the diversion so he could free Sayid. Ben had been beaten by Roger and he frees Sayid when he promises to take him to the Others.

Little Ben lets Sayid out of the jail and they run. In the jungle, Jin finds them and Sayid knocks him out, takes his gun and shoots Little Ben. Sayid was a prisoner and feels he's a prisoner of his own destiny, as spelled out by Ben.

We got hamburgers. We got punch.

Sawyer tells Jack to step off. The flash mysteriously gave Jack a 1970s ‘do. Sun gives Ben a smack upside the head. Sawyer says "what's up?" to Kate. Ethan hangs out in a hammock. Phil the Dharma guy has wicked eyebrows. Harry Potter Ben serves up Sayid a sammich.

Lost 5x09: Namaste

Ajira Flight 316, 2007:
Frank Lapidus is flying the Ajira 316. The co-pilot notes that Hurley, an Oceanic 815 survivor, is on the flight. Lapidus doesn’t let on that Hurley’s not the only one, joking that lightning won’t strike twice in the same place. Then the turbulence hits. Flash. Suddenly it’s daylight and the island is in front of them. Sully Lapidus safely lands on runway (the runway that the Others had Kate and Sawyer help build when they were being held back in season 3). Poor co-pilot dude got a branch through the windshield.

Geek alert: As the plane is going down, we hear the numbers being broadcast on the radio. The numbers wouldn't have been broadcasting in 2007. Danielle replaced them at least 19 years ago and then that transmission was stopped by the 815ers so Charlie could get the signal in the Looking Glass station.

Caesar wakes up Ilana (she says “Sarah” or “Tara” when he’s waking her). Frank sees Sun there and asks where the other 815ers are. Ben, creepy as always, says “They’re gone.” Lapidus asks where, and typical Ben replies, “How would I know?”

1977:

Sawyer meets the Dharma van at the North Point, as we saw at the end of LaFleur. Sawyer and Kate hug. It’s clear he was lying to Horace when he said that he’d forgotten her. The question is whether he puts his feelings for Juliet behind him.

They tell Sawyer that Locke is dead (typical Lost – when asked how he died, Jack says it doesn’t matter).

Jin says they have to radio back or the Dharma folks will be suspicious. Hurley plays the part of the viewer and says, “Dude, your English is awesome.” Sawyer says that they’ll bring them back. Hurley asks what about everyone else and Jin learns that Sun was on the plane too. He rushes off to find Radzinski to find out if a plane landed on the island. Sawyer tells them to stay put until he can figure out how to get them back to the Dharma barracks safely. Oh, and by the way guys, it’s 1977. Hope you’re ok with that.

Geek alert: In the future, Radzinski was one of the numbers’ button pushers partnered with Kelvin Inman. Radzinski was also the person who started the map of the island and the Dharma stations on the blast door. He person who edited the orientation film for the Swan station, splicing out what we can be sure was important information. Kelvin stated that he committed suicide by shotgun (there was a blood stain on the ceiling of the Swan) and was buried in the time between button pushings by Inman. Desmond took over for Radzinski after he encountered Inman after Des was marooned.

Juliet suggests to Sawyer that they process Kate, Jack and Hurley as if they’re new Dharma recruits coming in on the sub.

Jin visits Radzinski at the Flame and demands to know if a plan has landed on the island. Radzinski sends out a system-wide broadcast asking for info, but no one else has seen the plane.

2007:
Back on the beach on the smaller island, Frank takes the leadership role. He says that they need to “stick together” (echoing Jack’s “live together, die alone” line). Caesar says that there are buildings on the island and Ben walks off to find them. Sun and Frank follow him.

1977:
Juliet goes to get the sub manifest from Amy, who’s recovering after delivering her baby. Amy wakes up and Juliet says that she doesn’t want Amy working in her condition. Amy says they named the baby Ethan. (‘Twas Ethan, as speculated. Though why he was named Ethan Rom in the future and not Goodspeed is a question we don’t know yet.) Amy tells Juliet that she and LaFleur should have a baby too, and she replies, weepy, “timing’s gotta be right.”

Sawyer returns with 1970s clothing for them. They are supposed to act as though they were coming in on the sub. They agree to do it as there won’t be another sub for six months.

Back at the Flame, Radzinski gets the final report and no one at any of the stations has any indication of a plane landing. A motion sensor alarm goes off inside the Dharma perimeter and Jin runs off to look for whoever it is. Turns out it’s Sayid. There’s almost a happy reunion until Radzinsky shows up. Jin figures it’s easier to pretend that Sayid is a hostile and take him prisoner than try to explain it and blow his, Sawyer’s, Juliet’s and Miles’ covers.

Geek alert: Among other things, the Muppet Show was showing on one of the TV screens (top left). To the right of that was a newscast. Not sure who...Cronkite? Anyone confirm?

Sawyer’s taking Hurley, Jack and Kate to be processed and they’re trying to wrap their heads around this. Hurley reminds Sawyer that all of Dharma were killed in the future and their bodies dumped in a pit and asks if Sawyer is going to warn them. He says “ain’t here to play Nostradamus” and that Faraday told them they can’t change the future anyway. Jack asks about Faraday and Sawyer only replies that he’s not here…anymore.

They arrive at the Dharma new recruit processing and Sawyer tells them to just play it cool. Miles shows up and sees Jack and Hurley. Miles tells Sawyer there’s a hostile caught at the Flame. Jin tells Sawyer on the radio that it’s Sayid. Radzinski has held him in the storage room.

Question: How did Sayid make it past the sonic fence?

2007:

Ben tells Sun he’s heading to the other island and that’s likely where Jin would be. He’s going to use an outrigger to get there. Sun tells Lapidus that they should go despite the fact that a freighter was sent to retrieve him…she believes him because he may be able to help them find Jin. They make it to the outrigger, Ben throws off his arm sling (mama island kissed it all better) and says that they’re going to go to the sub dock on the island. Sun clocks him with an oar.

Question: Why did Sun go back to 2007 and not 1977? There was some speculation that perhaps baby Sun was on the island in 1977 and there couldn’t be two Suns on the island, but her passport stated she was born in 1980, so that’s not likely. Could it be because she left Ji Yeon home? Thoughts?

1977:

Dr. Pierre Chang is processing Jack because Amy is recovering from giving birth. He gives Jack his assignment – his aptitude test showed that he was up for janitorial work. A man with creepy eyebrows, Phil, says that Kate is not on the list. Juliet saves the say with a new manifest with Kate’s name on it. (Phil is one suspicious dude.)

Potential Geek Alert: Is this a continuity error? Did the baby, when she was handing it back to Amy look more like a doll than the baby she was handed?

At the Flame, Radzinsky is freaking out to LaFleur that Sayid “the hostile” might have seen the model of The Swan and the survey of the island. He recommends shooting Sayid. They question Sayid who realizes that he has to play along. He says he’s “a hostile” and LaFleur takes him back to the barracks.

2007:

Lapidus and Sun arrive at the dock. (It’s pitch back out even though they only had a half mile to paddle across to the other island.) They hear the black smoke monster noice and then trees start to rustle. They make it to the Dharma processing center that, in 2007, has been destroyed by Keamy’s crew. A light comes on in the abandoned building and Christian emerges. He tells them to come in.

He shows them a picture of the Dharma “freshman class of 1977” and Jack, Hurley and Kate are in the picture. He says they have quite a journey ahead of them.

What’s up with the person standing behind Sun in the dark? Looks like red hair. Could it be Charlotte? Jacob? If not, then who?

1977:

Phil of the Eyebrow is taking the picture that Christian shows Sun. Phil tells them to get settled into their new digs and get used to the safety protocol. And they can have hamburgers and punch. LaFleur and Jin show up with Sayid and they bring him down to the brig. LaFlawyer tells Phil to bring him food.

Jack asks Phil where to find LaFleur and Juliet answers the door. They hug, and Jack comes in to talk to Sawyer. Jack questions why they’re not doing more. And Sawyer tells Jack to step off. He tells Jack that he thinks, unlike Jack who just reacts…that he saved Jack’s ass and he should go back and wait for someone to figure it out for him. Sawyer took great pleasure in putting Jack in his place.

Outside, Katie is pacing and she and Saywer wave to each other.

Sayid gets his sandwich delivered and it’s by mini-Ben! Ham and cheese with extra creepy and a side of bug-eyes.

Overall, a great plot episode. It didn’t have the twists or mythologies that leave me scratching my head. But it was certainly necessary to advance the plot. What did you think? Drop me a comment below.

-Sean Salo