LOST 6x11: There's always a choice, brother

Desmond gets all magnetic and does a little flashing before our eyes. Charlie (!) uses the skills learned in years of playing Frogger and darts across several lanes of LA traffic unharmed. Minkowski doesn’t have the sickness, but offers to help show Des a sick time in LA. Widmore convinces Desmond to play along…then Sayid breaks some necks and convinces Des to follow him instead. On the downside, some guy named Simmons gets electromagnetized to death. On the upside, he points due north no matter which way his coffin is positioned.

Lost 6x11: Happily Ever After

Desmond episodes never disappoint, and Happily Ever After was certainly no exception to the rule. There was a bit of gratuitous exposition and over-explanation in this episode, but as we wind down, I’m sure the pressure is on for them to clearly vs. ambiguously answer questions. (Here’s a question I’d like answered: Why is Zoe getting so much screen time?) The merging of the timelines is spelled out more clearly now. And it’s great.

Did Happily Ever After leave you smiling or scratching your head?

2007, On the island:
Desmond wakes up in the infirmary on the Hydra Island and it takes a minute for him to realize that Widmore is telling him he’s on the island. (Maybe the dingy room, annoying nurse, Charles Widmore by your bedside and jungle sounds outside your room were a clue?) He smacks Chas with an IV stand.


Demanding to know why Desmond is there, Widmore tells Jin it’ll be easier to show him. He barks at Zoe that they’re doing the test now and Zoe freaks out saying they’re not scheduled until tomorrow. And then Chas corrects her American pronunciation: “it’s SHED-you-uled, you poor man’s Tina Fey! And we’re doing it now.”

They pass a giant box with coils leading to it and Zoe tells Seamus, the gunman guy who used to be the kid on Kate and Ally, that they must start the test. Seamus protests, saying they haven’t used the generator in 20 years, but they have no choice. They try to power up, but cannot. Seamus tells random dude, Simmons, to check the contacts on the solenoids. In a cage on the desk is a bunny rabbit named Angstrom who he says is going next.

Nerd alert: Angstrom is a measurement equal to 0.1 nanometers used in electromagnetic radiation, named after Swedish physicist, Anders Jonas Angstrom.


As Simmons is poking around the giant box with the solenoid coils, Worker-bee Dude said that he figured out that it was a bad breaker on the generator and flips the switch. Poor Simmons gets electromagnetized to death as they try to flip the switch back up.


Nerd alert: Probably just a continuity error, but Worker-bee Dude flips the switch down in both cases. Should have been UP to turn the coils off.

Down in the giant box, they pull out a crispy Simmons. Unmoved, Widmore asks if they’re ready to start the test. Two goons strap Desmond to a chair in the box. Widmore says once this is over, he’s going to ask him to make a sacrifice. Desmond balks, and asks what he knows about sacrifice, and Widmore replies, “my son died here for the sake of this island. Your wife, my own daughter, hates me. And I’ve never even met my grandson. But if you won’t help me Desmond, all of it will be for nothing. Penny, your son, and everyone else will be gone forever.” Desmond tries in futility to free himself.

Jin tries to stop them from the test, but Chas says that Desmond is the only person in the world who can survive this, and they flip on the machine. Charles turns it up to 11 and we see Desmond looking like when you accidentally put a fork in the microwave. (Or is it just me that?)


2004, Los Angeles:
Flash to LAX, and Hurley tells Desmond to go to carousel 4 for the baggage from Oceanic 815. There, he meets Claire and tells her she’s having a boy. Desmond’s picked up by a limo driver, and it’s George Minkowski, the communications officer from the freighter. Minkowski offers to arrange a little female companionship for Desmond, but Des is all biz and just wants to go to the office. There, he goes to his boss’ office, and in this timeline, he is Charles Widmore’s right-hand man. He tells Des that his son wants to mix modern rock with classical music at his wife’s event, but the rock band’s bassist was just arrested at LAX.


Nerd alert: At Widmore’s office, Desmond is staring at a sailboat on the wall (like the one he bought from Libby and used in the solo race around the world?), and there’s a painting on the wall of a scale with a black rock on one side and a white rock on the other. The scales are even in the painting.


Breaking out the MacCutcheon Whiskey for Desmond, Widmore tells him that he’s indispensable and nothing’s too good for him. (Nothing’s too good for him in this reality, but he wasn’t good enough for anything, certainly not Penny, in the original timeline.) Charles sayd that Des is lucky he doesn’t have any family commitments.

Desmond arrives at the Superior Court, out walks Charlie, who just keeps walking right past him and into traffic. Not hurt, he walks straight past him and across the street into a bar called Jax, with a picture of a kangaroo on it.


Nerd alert: Building on the mirror theme from last week’s blog recap, Desmond stares at his reflection in the courtroom glass doors.


Nerd alert: Charlie walking into traffic reminded me of either Juliet’s husband walking into the street and being hit by the bus, or Sayid and Nadia walking into the street and Nadia being struck and killed. Charlie obviously makes it across the street safely, though.


Desmond joins him in the bar. Charlie asks if he’s ever been in love – “spectacular, consciousness-altering love”? Charlie tells him how he was choking on the bag of heroin on the flight, when he “saw” her (Claire) and that he knew he loved her. Desmond tells him he has a choice on whether or not to cooperate with him and Widmore – “there’s always a choice, brother” – and Charlie agrees to go to the hotel with him.

Nerd alert: There's an unlit neon sign behind Desmond that says "Surdut Exceptional Island Colors". Looked this up, and it seems someone named Beth Surdut did a story for Hawaii magazine in 1992 with this title. Guessing just something that was in the bar they decided not to cover up.


“You All Everybody” comes on the radio in the car, and telling him that he’s going to show him what he experienced, Charlie grabs the wheel and steers them into the marina. In the car, as Charlie is drowning, he holds up his hand to the window, complete with the “Not Penny’s Boat” message, and Desmond gets another flash of his other reality. He manages to swims with Charlie to the surface, saving him, unlike in the timeline we all know and love, where we mourned Charlie Pace.



Now in a hospital, a doctor is asking Des if he’s had any hallucinations, and she tells him that he’s going to need an MRI. (MRI is a big magnet, of course.) The MRI tech asks for an emergency contact, but Desmond tells him to put Charles Widmore down, as he’s strapping him in. The tech hands Des a button for him to push – d’oh! – if he panics. The MRI kicks in and the noises are similar to the noise of the countdown clock in the hatch, though they are the actual sounds of an MRI.

Nerd alert: The tech tells him not to push the button, or they’ll have to start all over again – a nod to the fact that this timeline has started over, but also to the fact that the timelines appear to be merging.


He has a flash of Charlie’s hand again, and then begins to remember more of his life with Penny and baby Charlie. He wigs out and hits the panic button. Looking for Charlie, he runs into Jack, just as Charlie bolts past in just a hospital gown and down a flight of stairs. In pursuit, Desmond corners him and asks to see Charlie’s hand, and with that, Charlie knows he’s seen something too. Charlie tells him to stop worrying about him and to start looking for Penny.




On the phone, Widmore is telling Des that he needs to bring Charlie to the event or face telling Mrs. Widmore that he isn’t able to bring him there. Minkowski wishes him luck dealing with Mrs. W, who turns out to be Eloise Hawking. Eloise is relatively calm, at first. She says it’s not a big deal that Charlie isn’t there. “Whatever happened, happened.”

As Des is heading back to his car, he overhears the reading of guest names, including a Penny Milton and stops dead in his tracks. He asks to see the list, and Eloise pulls him aside and tells him to stop looking – that whatever he’s doing is “a violation.” He already has Widmore’s approval, which she says is what he was looking for. He heads back to the car and pours himself a drink when Daniel Faraday (aka Daniel Widmore) knocks on the window and invites him to talk.


Nerd alert: Milton is Penny’s sideways last name. John Milton was the English author of Paradise Lost, an epic poem about the Fall of Man and Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve to sin.

Faraday asks him if he believes in love at first sight, because he fell in love with a redhead eating a chocolate bar (“Daddy says not to eat chocolate before dinner.”) and it was as if he already loved her. He shows Des a notebook with a scientific equation in it that he wrote, but doesn’t understand how he would have known this. (In this timeline, he’s a musician.) He asks Desmond: what if this wasn’t supposed to be their lives and there’s another reality where they were happy or in love? Des says it has nothing to do with him, but Daniel calls him out and asks why he wanted to see the guest list for Penny’s name otherwise. Desmond dismisses her as just an idea, but then Daniel fesses up that she’s his half-sister and can tell him where and when to meet her.

Question: Was the phrase “exactly where and when you can find her” a nod to Daniel’s sideways knowledge of different realities and time being fluid?

At the stadium where he first met Jack, Penny is running up and down the stairs. She’s strangely un-creeped out when Desmond approaches her – alone…in a dark, empty stadium. He introduces himself, and as he shakes her hand, he wakes up back in the magnetic box.


Question: Did Desmond touching her hand cause him to flash to the alt timeline?

2007, On the island:
Widmore tells him he wasn’t out for more than a few seconds and helps him up, apologizing. But Des doesn’t need to hear any of it – he understands he’s there for an important mission. To me, he looks vaguely zombie-like here – like a happy version of Sayid –vacant, though happy and obedient.


Speaking of Sayid, Sayid shows up out of nowhere and knocks out (kills?) one of the henchmen, kills another and tells Zoe to run while pointing a gun at her. He tries to explain that Des needs to go with him, but Des doesn’t put up a fight and heads away with Sayid, smiling.

2004, Los Angeles:
At the stadium, Desmond is being woken up by Penny – he’d fainted. He asks her to coffee, and she says yes. Back in the limo, Minkowski asks if he found what he was looking for and if there’s anything else he can do for him. Des asks him to get the passenger manifest from flight 815, because he just needs to show them something.

And cut to black.

Nerd alert: He asked Minkowski for a list of passengers, just as Ben asked for a list of passengers after the crash, and just as Jacob asked for and created lists of people.

Question: Was this a nod to Juliet’s dying words to Sawyer were that they were going Dutch on coffee? Or will they perhaps meet for coffee and see Sawyer and Juliet having coffee as well?


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

-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

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

That 70s Show: Lost Island Edition (with hints of Egypt)

The record stops skipping. Sawyer gets his groovy on. Horace pulls a Butthead (“Fire…Fire!”). Juliet went to Apex Tech to learn a new trade. Jin finished his Hooked on Phonics course. Sawyer blows Alpert’s mind…like totally. And Jin picks up some hippie hitchhikers. Oh yeah, we see a wicked old statue and we’re like, “FOUR-TOED STATUE!”

Lost 5x08: LaFleur

After two weeks of feeling a little underwhelmed, I was energized and psyched after last night’s premiere of “LaFleur.” Finally some things we weren’t spoon-fed. Super geek alerts below, so make sure to read through!

1974:
We open with Sawyer holding the rope at what used to be (or one day will be) the well, and Juliet says it was before the well was built. They look up and they see a massive stone statue from behind.

Geek alert: This is the full four-toes statue, we can assume. And it appears to be old. In the right hand, the statue is holding something. Take a look at this picture and see if you think it could be a match.

The name of this Egyptian god? Horus. (Horace? Horus!)

More on this one below.
























Locke fixes the broken donkey wheel and Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Jin do the final jump. They lose their headaches and realize they are done with skipping; that John was successful and fixed the island and time.

1977:
Jerry, a security guard with kickass pork chop sideburns, had a girl named Rosie in the security station and Phil is giving him crap about it. Then they see Horace Goodspeed (the guy Locke saw in the jungle with the nosebleed chopping wood last season) on their security monitors blowing up trees. I’m guessing he was using the explosives from the Black Rock. They debated whether to alert LaFleur, but then realize they have to. They knock on his door and LaFleur is … Sawyer!

Geek alert: Rosie was wearing a Geronimo Jackson jersey.

Sawyer and Miles drive out to get Goodspeed, who’s passed out at this point, and they bring him back to his house. The woman in the house, Amy, is pregnant and goes into labor.

1974:
Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Jin are walking through the jungle and find Daniel. He’s in mourning over Charlotte. Sawyer takes over, declares they’re going to the beach, and Miles asks, “Who put him in charge?” This is a great callback to season one when Saywer asks that about Jack.

They hear gunfire and Sawyer and Juliet kill two men who were tying up a woman. The woman Amy, whose husband Paul was killed by the gunmen, says they have to bury the two and that they have to bring Paul’s body back. They agree to help and as she’s leading them back, they come upon the sonic fence. Juliet tells her to turn it off, but Amy dupes them and walks thru with earplugs in. The rest are immobilized by the fence.

1977:
Amy’s in the infirmary and her baby is presenting breech. Sawyer gets Juliet, who’s working on a Dharma van, to help. She reluctantly agrees.

Sawyer talks to Jin who’s mastery of the English language is now better. Juliet manages to deliver the baby safely. It’s a boy.

Question: Who is the baby? Odds are on Ethan Rom.

1974:
Sawyer wakes up in the camp. It’s Othersville when it was still Dharmaville. Horace is questioning him and Sawyer (Jim LaFleur) says they were on a salvage vessel looking for the Black Rock. Horace tells them they need to leave on the sub the next day and that he can’t stay to look for the rest of the crew because he’s not Dharma material.

Miles, Faraday and Juliet are talking. Daniel confirms that the island is done skipping. James says that LaFleur is a creole name. (Why he couldn’t just use Sawyer is unclear.) A siren goes off and they’re ushered into a house. The hostiles have breached the camp. It’s Richard Alpert looking guylinered and young as always.

Potential Geek Alert: Alpert breached the camp. The baby was breech. Different spellings, ut it’s interesting. So if the baby was Ethan, who later works for The Others/hostiles, that means the breech baby was on the other side in the Dharma/hostiles war.

Horace goes out to greet Alpert and he apologizes for not having turned off the fence. Alpert laughs it off and says it doesn’t bother them, that the only thing keeping them out is the truce that has now been broken by the men having been killed. Sawyer goes out to discuss this with Alpert and he proves he knows Richard from 1954 and the meeting with John Locke.

Alpert agrees to maintain the truce if they get justice by taking Paul’s body back. Amy very reluctantly agrees, after taking Paul’s necklace.

Geek alert: The necklace is an ankh, the Eyptian symbol for eternal life. The image of Horus, and the statue of Horus (if in fact it is Horus), also appears to be holding an ankh.

More on this below.









Horace agrees to let them stay for two more weeks and look for the rest of the crew. Juliet says she wants to go the next day, but Sawyer convinces her to stay. And the first spark of romance - or at least lust – is there.

1977:
Sawyer goes home to a romantic dinner with Juliet. They are living together after three years together on the island.

Sawyer goes to Horace’s cabin and tells him that he’s a daddy. He says he was initially set off that he found Paul’s ankh necklace in Amy’s drawer. He wasn’t sure if Amy was really over Paul. Sawyer says it is. That he doesn’t even remember what Kate looks like.

Sawyer wakes up in bed with Juliet and he goes to meet Jin in the North Valley. Jack, Hurley and Kate emerge from the Dharma van and… nothing except a look.

Millions of Skaters hearts broke at the idea of having to wait at least two weeks (Lost is off next week) to find out what happened.


Super Geek Alerts! Super Geek Alerts! (Thanks to my brother Phil for helping me with a bunch of this.)

Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris and had a man’s body and a falcon’s head. There was certainly a bird, perhaps a falcon, in the hieroglyphs on the countdown clock in the Swan station.











The Eye of Horus is an Egyptian symbol of power, because Horus was injured in battle and the eye was healed by Hathor – healing the eye was a symbol of renewal. (Later, the name became Hor.)





The image could be said to look not unlike John Locke’s injured eye from the initial crash, no?






Horus was said to rule Lower Egypt and to have battled Set for conftol of Upper Egypt. Horus was deemed the winner by the gods, though Set was given rule over the desert, which was infertile. But the war continued, and after 80 years of fighting, the gods grew tired. They were challenged to a boat race, where they were to race in boats made of stone. But Horus’ boat was actually made of wood, and he won. Set stepped down and won the throne of Egypt except for the desert.
Hor, as Horace was later known, and Set together are an anagram for Others.

Also, there are some very interesting parallels, archetypes, in the full mythology of Horus and that of Jesus Christ.

• Both births were attended by wise men or angels
• Their births were signaled by a star
• Born of virgins
• Born on Dec. 25th and under poor conditions
• Were of royal decent
• Both aught in temples at 12
• Both had 12 deciples
• Were baptized with water
• Disappeared at young ages and returned, preaching, in their early 30s
• Performed miracles
• Walked on water
• Gave a sermon on the Mount
• Transfigured on the Mount
• Died on a cross
• Died on a cross between two thieves
• Buried for three days
• Resurrected from the dead

Some other cool potential parallels to the Egyptian thing now that the door has been opened (thanks again Phil):

Hawking - Hawk King
Faraday - Pharoah Day


So what did you think? Hit me up with your thoughts below with a comment.

Locke Fell Down and Broke His Crown

John fetches a pail of water and then walks like an Egyptian in the hieroglyph-covered Orchid. Smokey plays fetch with some French folks. Charlotte’s not allowed to have chocolate before dinner. Desmond shows up uninvited to Ben’s party – awkward. Christian gives Locke a D-minus in “follows instructions.” Sun puts the gun down reluctantly. Jin apparently took a crash Berlitz English class while floating in the ocean. Daniel’s been stalking Charlotte for decades. Rousseau develops some serious issues with men. And Ben does his best road trip-dad impression with an: “I will turn this car around right now!” Yet another all-killer, no filler episode of Lost last night!

Lost 5x05: This Place Is Death

In Los Angeles:
Sun gets a call from her mother and the unbearably cute Ji Yeon. She wants to know when Sun is coming back. Sun replies, “I’ll be on a plane tomorrow.” That she will, though it’s not the plane she thought it would be, I’m sure. She hangs up and leaves Aaron in the car to confront Ben.

Sun has her gun sights on Ben for causing Jin’s death. But he drops the ‘Jin’s alive’ bombshell on her and can prove it. He’s got Jin’s wedding band. She agrees to let him take her to someone who can prove it. Kate and Sayid fume off and it seems the plan is falling apart. Sun and Jack are discussing and Ben has a hissy fit, stops the van and says everything he’s done has been to keep them and their friends safe. (It will be quite the mindf--- if it’s revealed at the end of this that Ben actually is a good guy.)

Ben, Jack and Sun arrive at a church to meet the woman who can prove Jin’s alive. At the same exact moment, Desmond pulls up! Made for some nice drama. Ben looks freaked out. (Question: Is this because he knows Widmore sent him or because he wasn’t expecting Des there? Or did he not know that Daniel is Faraday’s son?)

They enter the church and – not-so-big reveal – the lady they’re both there to see is Mrs. Hawking. (The use of the filmed-from-the-back-or-in-the-shadows-and-reveal surprise is getting a bit overdone on Lost, no? Michael, Christian, Mrs. Hawking, Jin, etc…)

Somehow, despite her decree of “God help us all” if Ben didn’t get all of the Oceanic Six to the church in 70 hours, Hawking says, “I suppose it’ll have to do for now. Let’s get started.” Not sure where on the 70-hour timeline they are, but perhaps they have more time to convince Kate (with Aaron), Sayid and Hurley to come along too.

On the island:
Danielle and crew talk to Jin, who says he needs to look for the camp and the helicopter. ‘Planes, helicopters…Next it’ll be a submarine’, Montand jokes. Danielle says that they sailed from Tahiti and that it’s November 15, 1988. Robert, Danielle’s baby daddy, is listening to the radio broadcast with the numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) that has been broadcasting and asks Jin if he knows if there’s a radio antenna on the island. Jin says yes and then they convince him to take them to the tower before he looks for the camp. They set off and immediately Nadine goes missing. They hear the clickety clack of the smoke monster and they’re looking for Nadine when Smokey crashes up through the ground and Nadine comes crashing down from above – dead. They run and Montand is scanned (?) and then caught by Smokey and dragged. The crew and Jin chase after him and grab hold of him as he’s about to be pulled into the ground. (This is just like the scene when Locke was almost pulled under by Smokey in Season 1.) Just as it seems they might snag him back, Montand’s arm is torn off and the rest of him goes down the hole. Gnarly!

The hole is in front of the Orchid station. The building is covered in hieroglyphics, similar to those on the countdown clock in the Swan station and below the Orchid when Ben went into the frozen donkey wheel room.


Geek alert:


They hear Montand call out for help, saying the monster is gone. Jin warns them not to go, but Robert, Brennan and Lacombe go down the hole. Jin convinces Danielle not to go for the safety of the baby. And suddenly the sky turns purple and Jin is in the future with the decayed arm in front of the temple still.

It’s the near future and Jin makes his way back to the beach, sees Brennan and Lacombe dead, and hears Rousseau and Robert fighting. They are fighting about the monster. Robert says it’s a security system for the temple. Danielle says he’s sick and changed. But he charms her and says he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her or their baby and he tries to take a shot at her. Too bad…no ammo. Rousseau hits him right between the eyes. Did it seem to anyone else that Robert had been brainwashed or maybe replaced with a new Robert, like an Invasion of the Body Snatchers pod person?

Geek alert: The music box Jin finds is Rousseau’s which Sayid later fixed in Rousseau’s hideout when he was held captive in 2004.


Geek alert: Why did Rousseau’s team need explosives?






Jin steps out and Rousseau accuses him of having the sickness too. He runs into the jungle and the island skips again. Jin shows up back in the present and runs into Sawyer, Locke, Juliet and the rest of that group. It’s an “awwwww” moment when Sawyer and Jin hug. They set off again together for the Orchid and the island flashes numerous times. Charlotte’s near death and Daniel stays behind to help her. She tells Daniel that she was born on the island and lived there until she moved away at 16 with her mother to England. She was also warned by an old man not to go back to the island – and she thinks that man was Daniel. (So much for him not altering the past, huh? Though it seems the universe course corrected and killed her anyway.) More flashes, more nosebleeds, Charlotte dies. The reaction to her hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive, but I will miss her. It is interesting that she’s a person of science and died. More on that later.

At the Orchid Station:
They make it to the station and Juliet remarks, “what are the odds we’d end up in the same time as this thing.” And then Sawyer called her out for jinxing them as time jumped again and the station disappeared. (Question: In such close proximity to the station, shouldn’t some piece of it have remained when they jumped, like their clothes, their backpacks, the canoe, etc.?)

They go to look for the well that Charlotte had tipped them onto and find it. Like Alice in Wonderland, Locke decides to go down the well in a scene reminiscent of John going into the hatch in season two. Sawyer says they should lower him, Locke asks, “Where would be the fun in that?” Time flashes, light emanates from the bottom of the well, Locke goes plummeting down the well and Sawyer is left playing tug of war with several tons of topsoil.

John fell down and broke his crown…er…leg. Locke’s got some revolting bone protrusion when someone walks up, lights a lantern and reveals (again with the secret reveal) himself as Christian Shephard. He’s tells John he’s there to guide him. He also chides John for not having been the one to move the island as he told him to in Jacob’s cabin. He has to do it, but Christian can’t help him. (Seems to me this is because Christian is an appartition and not physically there.) Christian tells John he has to go to Los Angeles and look for Mrs. Hawking to help get the others back to the island. John says that Richard said he was going to have to die, and Christian says “that’s why they call it sacrifice.”

Locke manages to hobble up and into the frozen donkey wheel room. The wheel is skipping around, seemingly the cause for the island’s frequent jumping. John manages to push the wheel and Christian looks on approvingly.

“Say hi to my son,” says Christian. Of course time flashes right before he can say who his son is…

---
Question: Locke & Faraday are the only ones who don’t have bloody noses yet. Why not them?

Half-baked theory: My brother brought this up, so credit to Phil. But it’s interesting that Charlotte, a woman of science, died. Could this mean that it all comes back to faith. There’s quite a possible religious parallel:

• Jacob is God. Christian is Jacob? Or at least a messenger for Him?
• John Locke is Jesus – the son of God who has to sacrifice himself to save the world
• Ben represents Lucifer or Satan, the fallen angel who was cast down from Heaven, the island.

We'll see...

Killer episode last night. It really propelled the storytelling ahead. What did you think? Comment, debunk, debate.