Welcome to the Lost rewatch project.
I am currently rewatching all 121 episodes of the TV
series which aired for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. This is very much a
rewatch thread, with the show watched with knowledge of what is to come in later seasons. If you've never watched Lost before, you definitely do not want to read this blog series.
Without further ado, let us continue after the jump.
This isn't quite right.
601: LA X
Written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, directed by Jack
Bender
Airdate: 2 February
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Characters: Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley,
Charlie, Jin, Sun.
1977: As the
DHARMA Initiative "Incident" takes place at the site of the Swan
Station, Juliet manages to detonate the Jughead nuclear device. A tremendous
white light engulfs everyone present.
Flash: When the
light fades, Jack is back on Oceanic Flight 815 as it flies over the Pacific
Ocean. He strikes up a conversation with air hostess Cindy and
then fellow passenger Rose, as he did before the crash. The plan experiences
turbulence but this then halts and the plane continues on its way to LA X
Airport in California. It appears
that the attempt to change history has succeeded: as the plane continues on its
way, the Island is revealed to now lie at the bottom of
the ocean, suggesting it was destroyed following the detonation of the Jughead
bomb.
On Oceanic 815, most of the characters' situations remain
the same: Kate is still being transported in custody of U.S. Marshal
Edward Mars; Jack is transporting his deceased father; and Locke is still paralysed. However, there are significant
differences as well: Boone is returning to Los Angeles without his stepsister Shannon; Hurley claims to be the luckiest man
alive; Locke claims to have participated in his walkabout; Desmond is
a passenger; and Rose reassures Jack while experiencing turbulence
rather than vice versa. During the flight, Jack is called upon to save Charlie,
who has asphyxiated while attempting to swallow a small packet of heroin. Jack,
with the help of Sayid, resuscitates him; Charlie is arrested
for drug possession.
After the plane lands safely at LAX, Jack is informed that
the airline has lost his father's coffin. Kate escapes custody of the marshal
and hijacks a taxicab in which Claire
is also a passenger. Jin is detained after he fails to declare a
large amount of cash on his customs form. His travel partner, Sun,
who claims she can't speak English, does nothing to help the situation. Jack
speaks with Locke, who notes that his own luggage has also been misplaced. They
discuss Locke's condition, which Locke tells him is irreversible. Jack responds
that nothing is irreversible, reveals that he is a spinal surgeon, and offers
Locke a free medical consultation.
On the Island, 2007: When the
light fades, Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Jin and Miles find themselves
at the site of the Swan Station after it imploded. Sayid is still dying from
his gunshot wound. The DHARMA personnel have vanished. Sawyer realises that the
plan did not work and that Juliet's death was for nothing. He hits Jack, but is
stopped by Kate, who can hear noises from under the wreckage of the Swan
Station. They realise that Juliet is still alive and dig her out. They use the
DHARMA van, which travelled forwards in time with the group, to help clear the
wreckage. The survivors eventually free Juliet and Sawyer comforts her but she
dies soon after. She tries to tell Sawyer something important but passes before
she can do so.
Hurley tends to Sayid. Jacob appears to Hurley and explains
that he (Jacob) has been killed and that Hurley must take Sayid to the Temple
in order to heal him. Hurley must also bring the guitar case that Jacob previously gave him.
The survivors split up, with the majority going to the Temple
while Sawyer and Miles stay behind to bury Juliet. Sawyer forces Miles to use
his medium skills to talk to Juliet. Miles relays her message: "It
worked", which leaves Sawyer confused.
At the Temple
the group encounters the remaining members of the Others. Those present include
Flight 815 stewardess Cindy and the two abducted children, Zack and Emma, who
have been missing since they were taken in by the Others. The survivors are
captured and brought before two men, Dogen, a Japanese man and apparently the
leader of the Temple Others, and his translator, Lennon. Hurley tells them that
Jacob sent him, and offers the guitar case as proof. Inside is a wooden ankh, which Dogen breaks
open, revealing a note that tells the Others they will all be in trouble if
Sayid dies. Sayid is brought to a pool inside the Temple,
but the Others are concerned that the water (usually clear) has turned dark and
murky. Sayid is held underwater until the time of an hourglass passes and
apparently drowns. The Others restrain the rest of the group when they try to
intervene. Jack administers CPR, but Sayid does not respond and is
apparently dead Sawyer and Miles are brought into the Temple,
having been captured after burying Juliet. Dogen questions Hurley in a separate
room, where Hurley reveals Jacob is dead. Shocked by this news, the Others sound
an alarm, prepare their defences, and send fireworks into the air in
preparation for an attack. Lennon insists on speaking with Jack privately. Jack
refuses, leading to an altercation, when suddenly Sayid comes back to life.
Inside the pedestal of the statue, the Man in Black, who has taken the form of
Locke, sends Ben to get Richard Alpert. Richard, however, refuses
to go inside and instead shows Locke's body to Ben. Bram and his team from
Flight 316 enter the statue with Ben. The Man in Black transforms into the Smoke Monster and easily kills Bram and his
men, but spares Ben. The Man in Black then tells Ben what Locke's final
thoughts were ("I don't understand!"), and explains that his own true
goal is to return home. The Man in Black finds this ironic because Locke wanted
desperately to stay and live on the Island. Outside,
Richard sees the fireworks from the Temple.
The Man in Black then confronts Richard, who knows who the man is, but the Man
in Black quickly knocks him out and announces that he is disappointed in the
Others as he carries Richard into the jungle.
Major WTFery: There was a lot going on at the time, but it's a little bit harsh that no-one thought that changing history would condemn Rose to death from cancer.
Alt-Desmond is wearing a wedding ring, but Happily Ever After confirms that he is a bachelor. This is either a continuity error or the producers changed their mind.
The destroyed Swan Station looks rather different to its previous appearances from the start of Season 3 onwards. In those scenes the imploded hatch was CG, and it has to be said that it was not very well-designed or implemented CG. In this episode an actual set was built for the cast to interact with.
Hindsight: Maggie Grace was set to reprise her role as Shannon in this episode but her schedule clashed. The aircraft scenes were rewritten to account for her absence.
Jack says that he finds Desmond familiar. At first it was speculated that Jack had still met Desmond at the stadium when he went running in 2001 (as seen in the opening episodes of Season 2), but in this timeline Desmond had never met Penny and never went on the round-the-world boat race, so didn't need to train. Whilst it's still not impossible he met Jack, it may be that this some memory of their association in the main timeline bleeding through.
The customs official calls Sun "Miss Paik" rather than "Mrs. Kwon". The Package confirms the Jin and Sun are not married in the alt-world, but are having an affair.
This episode sees Emilie de Ravin (Claire) restored to the regular cast, having sat out Season 5 (aside from a brief guest appearance).
This episode indicates that the Others were previously divided into two groups, a more spiritual group led by Dogen and based at the Temple, rarely leaving, and a more materialistic group led by Ben. Both groups were guided by Jacob, through messages delivered by Richard.
Jacob tells Hurley to take Sayid to the Temple even after he is dead. This suggests that Jacob planned for Sayid to be put in the murky water and become "evil". Or it might be that Jacob was unaware of this consequence.
It can be presumed that the young and dying Ben was also taken to the Temple and put in the (then presumably clear) water to be healed in Season 5.
Bram protects himself from the Smoke Monster using a circle of salt. The Monster then weakens the wall so it collapses on him instead. This confirms that salt can be used to repel the Monster. That suggests that the salt circle around the cabin was either keeping the Monster imprisoned or it out. If it was keeping the Monster imprisoned, clearly there was a break somewhere in the line as we saw the Monster at large on the Island in the very first episode of the series.
The water seems to be a reflection of the state of the Island: pure and clean when a protector is in place (like Jacob and presumably later Hurley) and murky and dark when not, perhaps due to the influence of the Man in Black and the time his body floated in the water. From this we can assume that the Temple was built around the spring, and the spring taps into the Heart of the Island.
The Man in Black says he only wants to go "home" but Beyond the Sea confirms that he was born on the Island. His definition of "home" is therefore open to question.
Review: A busy opener for the final season which covers a lot of ground. The Sawyer-Jack animosity is restored (even if not for very long), a whole new timeline is introduced and we meet a new branch of the Others. It's all interesting stuff, justifying (if barely) the double-length runtime, but the foreknowledge that the "alt-timeline" is completely irrelevant to the on-Island story makes it feel redundant, with the time perhaps better spent on the Island storyline. However, it is fun to see Charlie and Boone again. Overall, a promising start to the season. (****)
Claire after going Full Rousseau. Never go Full Rousseau.
602: What Kate Does
Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, directed by Paul
Edwards
Airdate: 9 February
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Kate
Flash: Kate flees
LAX in a taxicab she has
hijacked, in which a pregnant Claire
is a passenger. The cab driver flees at the first opportunity and Kate lets
Claire go, keeping all of Claire's possession in her haste. She drives to a
chop shop, where a mechanic frees her from handcuffs. While searching for a new
outfit in Claire's luggage, Kate learns that Claire is pregnant. She returns to
where she left Claire, returns her luggage and offers her a ride. She drives
Claire to the house of Lindsey, the woman who was supposed to adopt her baby,
but Lindsey's husband has left her and, devastated, she no longer wants the
child. Claire goes into labour on the doorstep and Kate takes her to the
hospital, where Claire's doctor is Ethan
Goodspeed. The police later come looking for Kate in the hospital,
but Claire covers for her, allowing Kate to escape.
On the Island: Sayid reawakens
in the Temple after apparently
dying. He is confused by what has happened. Dogen and Lennon, wish to speak
with Sayid privately. Jack wishes to go with them and starts a fight.
Sawyer seizes the opportunity to obtain a
gun and announce his departure from the Temple,
explicitly telling Kate not to follow him. The Others send Kate, Jin
and two of their own to bring Sawyer back. Meanwhile, Dogen brings Sayid to a
room, where ash is blown on him, followed by being given an electric shock and
then burned with a poker. Dogen later explains to Jack that he has diagnosed
Sayid as being infected and gives Jack a pill for Sayid to take. Jack refuses
and takes the pill himself, which Dogen hurriedly forces him to regurgitate,
revealing that the pill is in fact poison. He explains that the infection, upon
reaching Sayid's heart, will remove any trace of the person he once was, and
adds that it has happened to Jack's half-sister, Claire.
In the jungle, Kate, Jin and the Others come across a trap;
Kate activates the trap and overcomes the Others. Jin and Kate split up; Kate
follows Sawyer's trail, while Jin begins to search for his wife, Sun. Kate
finds Sawyer at the DHARMA Initiative's barracks, in the house where he and
Juliet had previously lived for three years. He retrieves an engagement
ring he had hidden. He explains that he planned to propose to Juliet
and that he blames himself for her death, saying that he convinced her to stay
on the Island with him because he was lonely. He throws
the ring into the sea in grief. Meanwhile, Jin is recaptured by the two Other
escorts, who want to kill him instead of taking him back. A wild and unkempt
Claire suddenly appears and shoots both Others.
Hindsight: Sayid's claim not to be a zombie is both a reference to "The Zombie Season" (which producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had been joking about since the start of Season 2) and also part of a running joke to get respected, serious actors in the cast to say extremely silly things. Nestor Carbonell's later claim of "I am not a cyborg!" to explain how Richard doesn't age is in a similar vein.
This episode marks the first on-Island appearance of Claire since Cabin Fever in Season 4, nineteen episodes earlier.
Some of Claire and Kate's scenes were reshot. Due to actor availability, they could only be reshot in Los Angeles, making these only the fifth time the series had shot outside of Hawaii. The previous occasions included two scenes in Season 4 filmed in London and the Oceanic 815 scenes for the pilot episode, which were also shot in Los Angeles.
Aldo, one of the two Others who goes with Kate and Jin, previously appeared in Not in Portland in Season 3, during the events of which Kate knocked him out (when she went with Sawyer and Alex to rescue Karl). He reminds her of this in this episode - to her bafflement - just before she knocks him out yet again.
This episode marks the final appearance of Ethan Rom and Edward Mars, having both intermittently appeared since Season 1 despite both dying very early on in the lifespan of the show.
Review: A middling episode, enlivened by Hiroyuki Sanada's wonderfully stoic performance as Dogen. However, I do feel we are a long way past the adventures of "Kate Austen, Fugitive" at this point and revisiting them is a little tedious. However, Josh Holloway's performance as the grief-stricken Sawyer is very impressive. (***½)
After two thousand years imprisoned on the Island, the Smoke Monster decided to take up cave painting.
603: The Substitute
Written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Melinda Hsu Taylor,
directed by Tucker Gates
Airdate: 16
February 2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Locke
Flash: Locke arrives at his home after returning from Australia
on Flight 815. He is greeted by his fiancée, Helen, whom he is set to marry
shortly. Locke returns to work, where his supervisor, Randy, confronts Locke
about Locke's failure to attend a company conference while in Sydney.
Locke attempts to apologise, but Randy abruptly fires him. As he leaves the
building, Locke comes into contact with Hurley, the owner of the company, who
refers Locke to a temp agency that he also owns. At the temp
agency Rose sympathises with Locke's handicap because of her own battle with
cancer. Rose denies his request to work at a construction company because his
handicap will make this impossible and eventually finds him work as a
substitute teacher at a school where Ben Linus
also works as a history teacher. In addition, Locke tells Helen why he lost his
job and admits that he went to Australia
to go on a walkabout, but was not allowed to take part.
Helen encourages Locke to call Dr. Jack Shephard,
who previously offered to evaluate Locke's condition at the airport. Locke
declines to do so because he doesn't believe in miracles and wants Helen to
love him for who he is; they reaffirm their love for one another.
On the Island: The Man in Black, in the form of Locke,
attempts to recruit both Richard Alpert and Sawyer for his quest to leave the Island.
Sawyer realises that the Man in Black is not Locke, because Locke was always
scared and the Man in Black is not. He separately promises each of them answers
about the Island; Richard refuses and Sawyer agrees to
travel with him. While in the jungle, they both see a young boy (the Man in
Black is surprised that Sawyer can see him as well), whom the Man in Black
chases. The boy tells him, "You know the rules; you can't kill him."
At this, the Man in Black becomes angry and loudly declares "don't tell me
what I can't do," a phrase that the real Locke frequently used in the
past. Taking advantage of the distraction, Richard speaks with Sawyer, claiming
that the Man in Black's true intention is to kill everyone on the Island,
but is forced to leave before he can explain further. Locke leads Sawyer to a
cave, inside of which is a set of scales holding one black and one white stone.
Locke takes the white stone and throws it into the sea, referring to it as an
inside joke. Locke leads Sawyer deeper into the cave, where there are several
surnames written on the ceiling and walls. The names include his own, Jarrah,
Shephard, Reyes and Kwon. Several other names are scratched out and the Man in
Black crosses out "Locke". Additionally, six names correspond to one
of the Numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 for
Locke, Reyes, Ford, Jarrah, Shephard and Kwon, respectively. The Man in Black
says that Jacob had "a thing for numbers". He explains that the
survivors were brought to the Island by Jacob as
candidates to replace him as the guardian of the Island.
The Man in Black claims that Jacob has manipulated the lives of all of the
candidates in order to bring them to the Island. Sawyer
now has three options: to do nothing, to accept the job and protect the Island,
or to leave the Island with the Man in Black, who claims
that protecting the Island is pointless; Sawyer agrees
to leave with him.
Meanwhile, at the remains of the statue, Ilana and Ben discuss what happened to her
companions; Ben tells her that the Man in Black killed them all, including
Jacob. Ilana, who is visibly upset, takes some of the ashes of Jacob's body and
informs Ben that the Man in Black is now "stuck" in the form of
Locke. Outside, she tells Sun and Frank
that they must travel to the Temple
for protection. Sun insists that they must first bury Locke's body and travel
to the survivors' original campsite at the south beach to do so. They hold an
impromptu funeral, where Ben delivers a short eulogy and apologises for
murdering Locke.
Major WTFery: It seems "unlikely" that the Barracks would
still have functioning electricity after three years of being left in
disrepair shortly after being shot up with machine guns and bazookas.
Ilana says that the Smoke Monster is now "stuck" in the form of Locke, despite the fact we've seen him shift into his Smoke Monster mode several times. Presumably she means that Locke is the only other appearance he can take on, not Christian or the horse or anything else.
Hindsight: The group at the statue travel quite quickly to the original beach camp. This is actually in keeping with the previously established geography, which puts the statue only a few hours north of the camp along the west coast of the Island.
Thirty-four episodes elapse between the earliest mention of Locke's death, in the Season 3 finale (although we didn't find out it was Locke until the Season 4 finale), and his body finally being buried.
The Man in Black says that he was trapped so long ago he barely remembers what it was like to be free. Across the Sea reveals that he has been in the Smoke Monster form for approximately two thousand years. He is presumably referring to this rather than being stuck on the Island, as he has spent his entire life on the Island and has never been anywhere else.
Jacob is said to have had "a thing" for numbers, suggesting that the values in the Valenzetti Equation are arbitrary as Jacob assigned them to the candidates almost randomly.
Review: A solid episode, even if the excursion to the cliff cave feels a bit pointless. However, we get a fresh insight on the Numbers (and more in the following episode), Terry O'Quinn delivers yet another killer performance and Michael Emerson sells Ben's moment of self-realisation at the beach tremendously well. (****)
The visit to the lighthouse leads to - surprise! - more questions.
604: Lighthouse
Written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, directed by Jack
Bender
Airdate: 23
February 2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Jack
Flash: Jack arrives
late to pick up his son, David, from school. Returning home, Jack is asked by
his mother to visit her house and help her find his father's will, leaving David alone. While
there, they discuss David, who was quite upset when his grandfather died, but
never showed it to Jack. She suggests that perhaps David is "terrified"
of Jack, just as Jack was afraid of his father as a child. Finally, they find
the will, but Jack's mother is surprised to see that someone called "Claire Littleton"
is included on it. Jack returns home to find that David has sneaked out. Jack
goes to David's mother's house, where he learns that David is at an important
piano recital. Jack goes to the school, where David performs a stunning
interpretation of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu on the piano. Jack also
runs into Dogen, another proud parent at the event, who praises David's skill
and believes he has a gift. Afterwards, David admits that he didn't tell Jack
about the recital for fear of disappointing him. Jack explains his complicated
relationship with his father and reassures his son that he can never be a
disappointment to him.
On the Island: At the Temple,
Hurley is approached by the deceased Jacob,
who sends Hurley on a mission. Someone is coming to the Island
and Hurley and Jack must travel somewhere in order to aid their arrival. Hurley
has free rein to complete the mission because he is a candidate and even Dogen cannot stop him.
Hurley uses the phrase "you have what it takes" to recruit Jack.
Along the way, Jack and Hurley encounter Kate,
who tells them that she will neither return to the Temple
nor go with them, but continue her search for Claire. Jack and Hurley
eventually pass through the caves, rediscovering Jack's father's coffin and the
"Adam & Eve" skeletons.
Hurley speculates that due to time travel, the skeletons could be someone they
know in the present.
Jack and Hurley arrive at a lighthouse, at the top of which
is a large dial and a series of mirrors lined up. Jack is puzzled how they've
never seen the lighthouse before, but Hurley suggests that they were not meant
to find it before now. Each notch on the dial has a name listed next to it,
corresponding to the surnames and numbers seen in "The Substitute". Hurley begins to
move the dial to 108 degrees as instructed by Jacob, but Jack turns the dial to
the 23 mark, where his own surname is listed, revealing Jack's childhood home
in the reflection, causing Jack to become extremely upset as he realises that
Jacob has been watching and manipulating all of them. He angrily interrogates
Hurley, who is unable to answer any of his questions, leading Jack to destroy
the mirrors. Outside, Jacob reappears to Hurley, congratulating him on bringing
Jack to the lighthouse. Hurley realises that Jacob did not want them to send a
signal from the lighthouse, but instead needed Jack to see into the mirror and
realise that he is important to the Island. Jacob also
divulges that he needed to get Jack and Hurley away from the Temple
because "someone bad" was coming there.
At the same time, Jin is rescued by Claire from her trap,
taking him and an injured Other, Justin, to her hideout. She treats Jin's leg
injury and then threatens to kill Justin unless he tells her the location of
her son Aaron. Justin helplessly says that he has no idea where Aaron is and
the Others never kidnapped him. Claire believes that the Others have her baby
because both her father and "her friend" told her so. Jin informs her
that Kate has been raising Aaron off the Island. Claire
murders Justin, regardless, claiming he would do the same to her given the
chance. Jin, wary of Claire's apparent instability after living on her own in
the jungle for three years, then claims that he was lying about Aaron earlier. Claire
is relieved, as she would have killed Kate if it were true. Later, Claire's
"friend", who turns out to be the Man in Black, shows up as Jin and Claire
discuss how to return to the Temple.
Major WTFery: Claire
discusses "her friend" and "Christian" as working together
rather than being the same person. Since Claire can identify the Man in Black in whatever
form he takes, this suggests that she might be really having visions of her father. This accords with the Season 4 premiere where Hurley sees Christian in Jacob's cabin and also another man (presumably the Man in Black). Later on in Season 6 the Man in Black confirms that he did take Christian's form to lead Jack to the caves and water but doesn't mention any of the myriad later appearances on the Island (or Christian's appearance to Jack in LA, which would not be possible for the Man in Black).
Hindsight: This is Jack's last-ever solely centric episode.
This episode sees the return of the Adam and Eve skeletons for the first time since House of the Rising Sun, a massive 101 episodes earlier. This episode is also the first time we see the caves since Adrift, 76 episodes earlier. However, the caves were still being used as a source of water for the survivors at the beach camp until the end of Season 4 (the Swan Station took over the job for a while, but the survivors started using the caves again after the destruction of the Swan) according to dialogue.
Hurley calls Dogen "a samurai", likely a reference to actor Hiroyuki Sanada's frequent appearance as a samurai in films such as The Twilight Samurai and The Last Samurai; during the filming of the latter movie Sanada almost decapitated Tom Cruise when the mechanical horse he was riding failed to move as anticipated. After Lost, Sanada would play a similar role in 47 Ronin.
Jack asks how they never found the lighthouse earlier and Hurley suggests that they were never meant to find it until now. However, the survivors were stuck on the Island for only 100 days and spent a lot of that time clustered around the beach camp and later various DHARMA facilities. They never conducted a circumnavigation of the entire Island. Various trips by boat also failed to completely circle the entire Island. Fan maps and in-episode dialogue also place the lighthouse in the far south-eastern corner of the Island, at the opposite end of the Island to the Temple. This area has not been explored in prior episodes, with the tail section survivors cutting across the Island well to the north of it. It is therefore plausible that the Oceanic 815 survivors never found the lighthouse before. Less plausible is that the Others or DHARMA Initiative never discovered it either.
This episode confirms that the Numbers were assigned to certain people who could be candidates to replace Jacob. This suggests that the idea behind using the Valenzetti Equation to save the world was correct but DHARMA's failure to change the value of the equation was down to them not knowing that the numbers referred to specific individuals rather than scientific principles. By successfully replacing Jacob and saving the world from destruction, Jack (#23) and Hurley (#8) (and arguably Sayid (#16), who sacrifices himself to save the rest) would fulfil the role the equation was created for, just not in the way anyone could anticipate.
Review: An episode of two halves: the stuff on the Island with the lighthouse is interesting but Jack's off-Island storyline is, as usual, sleep-inducing. Do we really need to see how good (or not) Jack would be as a dad? (***½)
Sayid joins the Dark Side.
605: Sundown
Written by Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland, directed by
Bobby Roth
Airdate: 2 March
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Sayid
Flash: Sayid arrives
at the home of his brother, Omer, and Omer's wife, Nadia. Late one night, Omer
tells Sayid that he recently borrowed a substantial amount of money from a loan shark
but has paid it back. Nevertheless, the loan shark has told Omer that he will
owe interest forever. Omer asks Sayid to help with his problem. Sayid refuses
because he no longer wishes to be a violent person. The next day, Omer is
severely beaten and Nadia begs Sayid not to get involved. Nadia and Sayid
discuss their feelings for each other, leading Sayid to tell Nadia that he
doesn't deserve her. Later on, Sayid is taken to see the loan shark, Martin Keamy;
after a short conversation, Sayid kills him and his men, including Keamy's
henchman Omar. While leaving the scene, he stumbles across Jin,
who is tied up in a freezer.
On the Island: Sayid angrily
confronts Dogen about the poison pill. Dogen claims that Sayid is evil. They
get into a struggle and Dogen beats Sayid but refuses to kill him, instead
banishing Sayid from the Temple. At
the same time, the Man in Black sends Claire
into the Temple to ask Dogen to parley.
Dogen refuses to leave the Temple
and imprisons Claire. He then gives Sayid a dagger and instructs him to kill
the Man in Black, in order to prove that he is still a good person. To kill him
successfully, Sayid must strike before he speaks. Sayid does as instructed, but
the dagger has no effect; the Man in Black did have time to say "Hello,
Sayid," first. The Man in Black explains that Dogen never expected Sayid
to succeed, only to get himself killed in the attempt. He then says that if
Sayid cooperates, he can have anything he wants, including the return of a dead
loved one. Sayid is sent back to the Temple
with a message for the Others: any who do not leave the Temple
before sundown will be killed. This causes a panic among the Others, most of
whom, including Cindy, decide to leave. Amidst the chaos, Kate
returns to the Temple. She
confronts Lennon, who takes Kate to Claire. Kate explains that she has been raising
Claire's son, Aaron, for the past three years but is unable to continue
speaking with her due to the chaos.
Meanwhile, Sayid confronts Dogen, who reveals how he came to
the Island: several years ago, he was a businessman in Japan
who became drunk one night and caused a car accident that killed his
12-year-old son. Jacob visited them in the hospital and offered to heal Dogen's
son in exchange for Dogen coming to the Island and never
returning. After Dogen finishes his story, Sayid tackles him into the spring
and drowns him. Afterwards, he kills Lennon by slitting his throat. Dogen's
death allows the Man in Black to enter the Temple
and attack the Others in the form of the Smoke Monster.
Ilana, Sun,
Frank and
Ben arrive
at the Temple shortly after the
attack begins, searching for the other candidates. While there, Sun learns that
Jin is alive. Ben goes looking for Sayid, but flees when he sees that Sayid has
killed Dogen and Lennon and no longer seems to be himself. Kate is separated
from the group and goes after Claire. Ilana, Sun, Frank and Miles flee
through a secret passage. After the attack, which leaves almost everyone dead,
Sayid, Claire and Kate join the Others with the Man in Black outside the Temple.
Major WTFery: In one of the more obvious continuity errors in the show, a man is shown being thrown against a wall as if by the Smoke Monster in the background of the scene where Miles and Kate split up, but the Monster itself is not CGIed in. Either this was a goof, the episode went over-budget or the presence of the Monster in the shot would have made Miles and Kate's escape more implausible.
Hindsight: Sayid fails to kill the Man in Black. It is possible this is because, contrary to Dogen's instructions, Sayid was unable to stab him before he spoke (although he only had time to say "Hello, Sayid").
According to Lennon, Dogen himself was keeping the Smoke Monster from entering the Temple just by being alive. This suggests that Dogen had something done to him by Jacob to achieve this result.
Review: A very strong, creepy and unusually violent episode. Seeing the Smoke Monster cut loose on the Others is impressive but it's Naveen Andrews's performance as Sayid that makes the episode. His horrifically creepy smile as Ben finds him standing over Lennon and Dogen's dead bodies is chilling. Sayid going evil is a tiresome trope (especially given his problematic path towards redemption over the course of the season) but Andrews plays it excellently. (****½)
Ben confronts his school principal, Mr. Dickless.
606: Dr. Linus
Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, directed by
Mario van Peebles
Airdate: 9 March
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Ben
Flash: Dr. Benjamin
Linus is a history teacher at a Los Angeles
high school. One day in the teachers' lounge, he has a particularly loud
conversation with fellow teacher, Leslie Arzt, in which they complain about the
lack of funding at the school, especially since Principal Reynolds has made Ben
watch over the kids in detention, instead of chaperoning the school's history
club. John Locke, a substitute teacher, suggests that
Ben become principal instead. While tutoring his star pupil, Alex Rousseau,
Ben learns that the principal is having an affair with the school nurse. Ben
enlists Arzt's help in hacking the nurse's email account to prove this and
tries to blackmail
the principal with this information and take his job. However, Reynolds says
that he will write a negative letter of recommendation for Alex's college
application if Ben makes good on his threats. Ben, unwilling to sacrifice
Alex's future, backs down. He does, though, use his new leverage with the
principal to get out of covering detention and restart the history club. Ben is
also seen at home caring for his sick father, Roger, who says he wishes he and
Ben had never left the Island and the DHARMA Initiative.
On the Island: Ben, Ilana,
Miles,
Sun
and Frank flee
from the Temple. Ilana discovers
that Ben killed Jacob, after Miles examines Jacob's ashes using his ability to
read the last thoughts of human remains. After the group returns to the
original beach camp, Ilana ties Ben up and forces him to dig his own grave, so
that she can exact revenge. The Man in Black arrives and attempts to recruit
Ben, stating that he wants Ben to take over the Island
once the Man in Black leaves with his followers. He frees Ben and tells him of
a rifle standing against a tree about 200 yards in the jungle. As Ilana is
trying to recapture him, Ben finds the rifle and gets the drop on her. But Ben
only wishes to explain why he killed Jacob; he was afraid of losing his
leadership position on the Island and felt rejected by
Jacob, was angry because he chose the Island over his
daughter's life and was unable to forgive himself for letting her die. Ilana
allows Ben to rejoin their group.
Jack and Hurley head back to the Temple,
but Hurley tries to take them in a different direction after Jacob's spirit
informs him of the massacre. They come across Richard Alpert, who leads them to the Black Rock. Richard has become suicidal
since Jacob's death because he believes that his life on the Island
has been meaningless. He attempts to kill himself using dynamite. Jack even
helps, knowing the Island won't let him. When the
dynamite fuse goes out, Jack convinces him that they are on the Island
for a reason; they have a purpose. They travel back to the beach and reunite
with Ilana's group. Meanwhile, Miles has dug up some of the diamonds from Nikki and Paulo's grave, having
located them thanks to his ability to speak the dead.
The periscope from a submarine is then shown to be spying on
the beach. Charles Widmore is revealed to be in command of the sub. He is asked
if they should intervene on the beach but Widmore tells the crew to proceed as
originally planned.
Major WTFery: Nothing too extreme, although Jack placing his trust in the dynamite not detonating feels like possibly a step too far. Although the Island won't let harm come to Jack, it might well let it come to Richard and find a way of letting Jack live whilst killing Richard.
Hindsight: Principal Reynolds is played by the excellent William Atherton, best-known for his antagonistic roles in 1980s movies such as Ghostbusters and Die Hard.
Due to scheduling, it was not possible to have Paulo or Nikki appear in Season 6. The producers included Miles's grave-robbing as a shout-out to the characters instead. Miles knows that Paulo and Nikki were buried alive by their unaware fellow survivors but chooses not to share the information with the others.
Richard indicates he has been to the Black Rock before and may have come to the Island on it, a supposition proven correct in the very next episode.
Review: An outstanding episode, probably Michael Emerson's strongest moment on the show and probably the finest of the flash-sidewasys stories. I would quite happily watch a full TV series about Ben, Locke and Arzt as teachers standing up to the dastardly Principal Reynolds. There's some great performances and the way the two storylines feed into one another emotionally is very well-done. Ben has veered back and forth between good and evil but in this episode he firmly comes down on the side of the good guys, seeking (and gaining) Ilana's trust and rejecting his old methods of gaining power through manipulation and murder. (****½)
Alt-Sawyer putting the moves on Alt-Charlotte.
607: Recon
Written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jim Galasso, directed by
Jack Bender
Airdate: 16 March
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flash-sideways Character: Sawyer
Flash: Jim Ford
is a detective for the LAPD,
along with his partner Miles. He is searching for Anthony Cooper, the man who conned his parents,
causing his father to kill his mother and then himself. He has recently
traveled to Australia
in his search, telling Miles that he was instead in Palm Springs.
Miles arranges for Sawyer to go on a blind date with a British woman named Charlotte. The two hit it off rather well.
However, after having sex, Charlotte
discovers Sawyer's folder containing information on Cooper, leading Sawyer to
angrily throw her out. Miles confronts Sawyer the next day for lying about
going to Australia
and decides to stop being Sawyer's partner. After realizing how lonely he is,
Sawyer visits Charlotte, who turns him down. Sawyer decides to open up about
his past to Miles, right when a car being driven by Kate, a fugitive, crashes
into his own. He chases her down, leading him to recognize her from their
encounter at the airport.
On the Island: The Man in Black leads the Others
he has recruited, along with Sayid,
Claire and Kate, to rendezvous with his other
recruit, Sawyer, who is tending to an injured Jin.
The Man in Black sends Sawyer on a reconnaissance mission to the smaller Hydra Island to spy on the survivors of Ajira Airways
Flight 316. Back at the camp, Claire attempts to kill Kate while
Sayid watches impassively, forcing the Man in Black to break up the fight. The
Man in Black later explains to Kate that he told Claire the Others took Aaron
in order to give Claire something to "hold on to". He also compares
himself to Aaron, stating that his own mother was crazy. Claire later
apologises to Kate and thanks her for taking care of Aaron.
On the Hydra Island,
Sawyer finds all the passengers dead and encounters a woman named Zoe, who
claims to be the only remaining survivor of Flight 316. Sawyer realises she is
lying; a number of armed men appear and escort him to their leader, Charles
Widmore. Sawyer makes a deal with Widmore: he will lead the Man in
Black into a trap in exchange for safe passage away from the Island.
Sawyer travels back to the main Island and tells the Man
in Black about the deal he made, stating that he is loyal to the Man in Black.
Sawyer later reveals his true plan to Kate: to turn both sides against each
other and escape on the submarine while both sides are distracted.
Major WTFery: It's a bit unclear why or how Widmore knew to show up right at this very moment on the Island. Or why he helped Eloise and Desmond organise the massively over-complicated Ajira plan if he could have simply taken everyone back to the Island on his sub. Or why he did the freighter plan in Season 4 if he could have simply gone back on the sub. Or why he waited this long before returning (the only possible reason I can think of is because he couldn't go back whilst Jacob was still alive).
In a very pedantic continuity error, Sawyer is shown using Word 2007 in a scene set in 2004. Of course, the revelation of the nature of the sideways existence in the finale renders this moot. Maybe Word 2007 ended up being Sawyer's favourite word processing software in his lifetime.
Hindsight: The parallels between Claire and Rousseau are strong, right down to Claire's feelings for her missing child leading her into making questionably violent decisions.
Review: This is a good episode for Sawyer's talents, as he double-crosses and betrays his way through the Island story and then has to make a life as a policeman work in the flash-sideways. Josh Holloway is always great and pairing him up with Charlotte is a nice idea. Also, there obviously needs to be a Sawyer-and-Miles buddy cop spin-off movie at some point (as these guys clearly agree). If the episode falters a little it's that Widmore showing up feels a bit random and inexplicable at this point in the story. (****)
In the subsequent 140 years, Richard would discover the benefits of grooming.
608: Ab Aeterno
Written by Melinda Hsu Taylor and Greggory Nations, directed
by Tucker Gates
Airdate: 23 March
2010
Survivor Count: 16
Days on Island:
Flashback Character: Richard
2007: Ilana
is visited by Jacob in a Russian hospital, where he tells her to protect his
remaining candidates. Ilana explains to the group of
survivors at the beach that Jack, Sun and
Hurley are candidates to replace Jacob. When asked what to do next, she says
that Richard Alpert knows. Richard, who has
become suicidal since Jacob's death, says he does not know what to do and
leaves the camp in frustration.
1867: In a
flashback from 1867, Richard Alpert, known as Ricardo, lives in Tenerife
with his dying wife, Isabella. He travels to a doctor in order to obtain
medicine, but the doctor refuses Ricardo's meagre payment, and Ricardo
accidentally kills the man when they struggle over the medicine. Ricardo returns
home to find that his wife has died, and he is subsequently arrested for
murdering the doctor. In prison, he is visited by a priest, who, after learning
that Ricardo has been learning English in preparation for beginning a new life
in the New World,
tells him that he cannot be forgiven and will be hanged. The priest, however,
accepts a bribe and allows Ricardo to be taken as a slave to the New
World aboard the Black Rock,
a slave ship commanded by Magnus Hanso. The ship is caught in a violent storm
and a tsunami sweeps it inshore onto the mysterious Island,
first crashing through the statue of Taweret
and smashing it to pieces.
The next day, the Smoke Monster kills everyone onboard except
Ricardo. As he works to free himself, a vision of his wife appears and tells
him that they are in Hell. She is then apparently seized by the Monster. After
six gruelling days, the Man in Black, who unbeknownst to Ricardo is
the human form of the monster, frees Ricardo from his shackles, and tells
Ricardo that he must kill Jacob, whom he refers to as the devil, in order to
get his wife back and leave the Island. Ricardo attempts
to kill Jacob, but is easily outmanoeuvred. Jacob explains the function of the Island,
using a wine bottle as an analogy: the Island acts as a
cork that "is the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs."
Without the "cork", the darkness would escape and spread. As the Man
in Black sees it, people are inherently evil, while Jacob believes they are
inherently good. To this end, Jacob brings people to the Island,
so that they may disprove the Man in Black; however, he does not believe in
telling people what to do, since this would negate their free will to choose. When
Ricardo points out that the Man in Black will corrupt them as he himself was
corrupted, Jacob suggests that Ricardo become his representative to the people
he brings to the Island. In return, Jacob will offer him
a reward of his choice. He eventually grants Ricardo immortality, after Ricardo
reacts to Jacob's inability to bring back his dead wife, or absolve him of his
sins. Ricardo returns to the Man in Black, who states that his offer is still
open should Ricardo change his mind. He gives Ricardo the cross
necklace that Isabella gave him just before she died, and Ricardo
buries it on the Island.
2007: Richard
visits the site where he has buried his wife's necklace on the Island,
shouting that he has changed his mind and wishes to join the Man in Black;
“Does the offer still stand?” Instead, Hurley arrives and, using his ability to
communicate with the dead, acts as an intermediary
between Richard and his wife Isabella. She explains that Richard must stop the
Man in Black from leaving the Island, or else "we
all go to Hell." The Man in Black, in the form of John Locke, is watching them from a distance.
1867: Jacob
visits the Man in Black and tells him that he will never let him leave the Island.
The Man in Black insists he'll kill Jacob some day, but Jacob retorts that
another will just take his place; the former responds that he will simply kill
them too. Jacob then gives him the aforementioned corked wine bottle, which the
Man in Black breaks by smashing it against a log.
Major WTFery: In the Season 5 finale it is implied that the sailing ship on the horizon is the Black Rock, although it is seen in daylight under bright, sunny skies. In this episode the ship crashes into the Island at night in a heavy thunderstorm. Although it could have been another ship (with Jacob bringing people to the Island repeatedly over many centuries), the producers confirmed it was the same vessel: the Black Rock passed the Island during the day and was thrown back towards the Island the following night by the storm.
The Black Rock was sailing from Tenerife, in the Atlantic Ocean just off the north-western coast of Africa, to the New World (presumably South America or Mexico). This suggests that one of the access windows to the Island was located in the North Atlantic in 1867. Although this is plausible, it does make it trickier to understand how Alvar Hanso and the DHARMA team located the Island, unless something in the boat's disappearance helped them understand the nature of the Island and how to locate it using the Lamp Post Station.
The reason for not giving the Man in Black/Smoke
Monster a name appears to be feeling that this would humanise the
character rather than leaving it as a mysterious force for destruction.
However, it is a bit silly by this stage (and gets really stupid in Across the Sea). The Biblical-sounding name "Samuel", which was used as a cover during casting sessions for the character, would have been fine.
There are substantial inconsistencies between this episode and previous accounts (both in Lost itself and in The Lost Experience spin-off project) given of the Black Rock's origins and where it disappeared. According to The Constant, the Black Rock set sail from Siam (Thailand) in 1845 and was believed lost at sea in the Indian or Pacific Oceans. In Exodus Locke theorises the ship was a slaver headed east from Mozambique. The Lost Experience claims that the Black Rock disappeared in 1881 and may have been looking for the Island deliberately, using a gold mining mission to Papua New Guinea as a cover. Ab Aeterno is regarded as the canonical answer to the mystery, although it does retain the name of the captain, Magnus Hanso, from The Lost Experience.
The Black Rock demolishes the Statute of Tawaret when it is swept ashore. Assuming the statue was indeed of Egyptian construction, this isn't too implausible, as it would be well over two thousand (and maybe closer to three thousand) years old and likely suffering from weathering and erosion. However, the shot of the collision shows the bow almost level with the statue's head, dozens of feet in the air. This suggests that the storm that carried the boat onto the Island wasn't just a storm but a tidal wave or tsunami. Yet the rest of the Island does not show the damage associated with a tsunami. The Black Rock also ends up on the far side of the Island's central valley in thick tree cover, a dozen miles or more from the Statue on the far side of a mountain range. This seems excessively unlikely, even given the Island's general level of weirdness.
Hindsight: The episode title means "From Eternity" in Latin, which makes sense.
Richard asks Jacob if he is the devil, to which Jacob replies negatively. This may be a tip of the hat to actor Mark Pellegrino's then-recurring role as the devil on Supernatural. The fifth season of Supernatural aired simultaneously alongside Lost's sixth season and saw Pellegrino appear alongside Titus Welliver (the Man in Black), the latter playing one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War.
This episode marks the first time that someone calls the Man in Black, "The Man in Black". The name was retroactively applied to his previous appearances. The name is a reference by massive Stephen King fan Damon Lindelof to Randall Flagg, the ultimate villain of King's novels (most prominently in The Stand, Eye of the Dragon and the Dark Tower series) who is often called "the Man in Black". Matthew McConaughey will play Flagg in the forthcoming Dark Tower movie.
This is the final episode of Lost to have a traditional flashback device; Across the Sea is also a flashback, but the entire episode from start to finish is presented as a linear story. Ab Aeterno is the final one which features the standard structure of having on-Island material and then the flashback.
This episode is Richard's first (and only) flashback episode, taking place 52 episodes after the character's introduction in Not in Portland. This is the largest gap between introducing a character and giving them a flashback in the history of the show.
This episode explains both how the Black Rock was shipwrecked on the Island and how the Statue of Tawaret was destroyed, both long-standing questions that fans had been theorising about for years.
Review: This is a very fine episode, centred on an excellent performance by Nestor Carbonell (one of Lost's more unsung but still very fine performers) and explaining long-standing Island mysteries whilst telling a good story and keeping some element of mystery in play. This is dramatically at odds with the later episode Beyond the Sea, which tries to do a similar thing with Jacob and the Man in Black's backstories and fumbles in the attempt. This episode blends tragedy and religious horror together superbly and is the highlight of the final season of the show. (*****)
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