Follow along! The episode guide for “316” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 68-79 (followed by my epic 20-page summary of Ulysses. Damn you, Ben… you couldn’t have brought along a People magazine to keep you occupied on the plane?)I love this episode (I think I start out every summary of the S5 episodes with this line, but this season was simply STELLAR). The opening is brilliant, reminding us of the pilot. But on a rewatch, after having seen the finale of S5, it made me think: was this a hint that a do-over simply isn’t entirely possible? I mean, landing on the island a second time was a do-over of sorts, but even when they’re given a second chance, things play out the same. Jack will always be the hero, racing to rescue the others. There will always be that spark between Sawyer and Kate. These people have very entrenched personalities – screw a hydrogen bomb: I don’t think a nuclear holocaust would make things different the second time around.
Fun things I noticed:
• I know that in the flashback of “Dead Is Dead” I commented that Ben had Pee-wee Herman hair when he stole Alex, but I think he kind of has it already in the church. Is it just me or is his hair really creepy after the donkey-wheel turn? He needs to lighten it slightly. The island needs to give that guy a hairdo makeover.
• I’ve always liked the significance of the church being a front for the Dharma Initiative, as if it’s a subtle comment on God becoming simply a front for man’s relationships to each other and to the Earth, which is what the DI was connected to.
• I commented in the book that the army photo is 09/23/54, meaning it’s 50 years less a day before Oceanic crashed. I wonder what the significance is of September 22? I’m assuming the Army landed on the 22nd, and took that picture the next day, right before they were obliterated.
• That scene with Desmond STILL drives me nuts. Does anyone else think that while Des is talking, Eloise somehow has the ability to put the others in a trance or something? Notice no one says anything to him, and he tells them that A) Eloise is Daniel’s mother, B) she’s the one who sent Des to the island and it turned out to be nothing but a waste of time, C) the island is sending him signs, and D) they’re all nothing but game pieces being played by larger forces at work… in other words, pretty freakin’ significant stuff! And they all stare at him, slack-jawed (watch closely: there may actually be drool coming out of the corner of Jack’s mouth) and say nothing, and the moment he’s gone they all give a big, “ANYway…” and get back to business. Like… HUH?! Did you somehow miss the part of the crazy Scotsman explaining this is nothing but a cosmic joke?
• By Jack putting his father’s shoes on Locke, Locke in a way becomes his father, which is a crazy twist in the greater scheme of things, especially since we just rewatched four seasons of them despising one another.
• Notice how many times in the ep Jack tries to have a drink and is interrupted. The island apparently wants him sober this time around.
• Hurley’s reading Y: The Last Man, which is the best book I read this year (I also review that in Finding Lost Season 5, but it’s after the Bentham entry, simply because I couldn’t have it follow Ulysses or readers would wonder if I’d ever get back to the actual episode guide in the thing!)
• You know, watching this again, perhaps in light of the terrorist scare a few days ago, I wonder why Hurley didn’t raise alarm bells. Why exactly is this guy buying 78 seats? Does he know something the rest of us don’t? Could he have an inkling that the plane is going to go down and he doesn’t want too many people going with him? And how could he know that? Is he a large, curly-haired terrorist?
• Just watching the plane take flight gives me the heebie-jeebies. The Oceanic 5 are truly brave people. I would have been curled up in a fetal position.
• “How can you read?” “My mother taught me.” BEST. COMEBACK. EVER.
• Matthew Fox is SO fantastic as he reads Locke’s note. I think I said this in the book, but he really looks like Locke just punched him in the stomach.
Things that have new meaning:
• We were discussing in light of “This Place Is Death” the curiosity of the island reacting so violently to Rousseau’s team, and in this ep I was reminded of Caesar and how he’s going to die, too. Could the island have something against the French? (I don’t mean that as a joke, actually… I wonder if there’s some underlying symbolism of the French Revolution or something, especially with Locke and Rousseau hanging about.)
• Does Ben bring down the plane? He goes to the bathroom and doesn’t return? Remember that thing he pulled out of the vent in “Because You Left”? Could it have been something he used in the bathroom? Was it hidden in his sling?
41 comments:
From now on, whenever I see beat-up Ben Linus with his arm in a sling, I’ll think of the Ben Linus bobble-head doll that’s causing a sensation right now. :)
In the opening scene, Hurley was floundering and splashing and calling for help like he was drowning, but the guitar case was floating and he was, in fact, holding onto it. I guess this is an example of what panic can do. We’ve seen Hurley swim before, as Nikki pointed out in her S5 book. So, the only explanation I can come up with is that the alarming and freaky experience of thinking your plane is about to crash, only to get miracled out of your seat and landed in deep water is enough to cause panic and forgetfulness of a basic thing like how to tread water. Also, we still don’t know what’s in the guitar case, but it was so floaty, I suspect there is only air in it.
I love the set with the giant pendulum swinging back and forth, but I don’t understand how it can draw lines on the floor and not have that little bit of drag cause it to slow down and eventually stop. And I know that, for the filming of this scene, there were crew-members pushing it like a child in a swing to keep it going. But I mean in real life, how could a giant pendulum like that keep itself going?
It’s hard to realize that we’re seeing the inside of Jack’s home, because when we saw it before, in his crazy drinking and drug days, it was a cluttered mess. Did you notice the reel-to-reel tape deck in Jack’s bedroom? That’s quite a relic from the 70’s, which I suppose is the reason the set dressers included it. Some of our characters are about to settle down in the 70’s for quite a long time.
We already knew that Hurley was a good guy and a sweetheart, but to buy 78 tickets on Ajira flight 316 so that lives would be spared was a saintly thing to do. Contrast that with Ben’s callous “Who cares?”
How on earth could Jack not look at a suicide note addressed to him? I think just about everyone else on the planet would be consumed with curiosity in a situation like that. But not Jack. I like how the note follows him around until he gives in and reads it.
When I first saw this episode, I got distracted and missed seeing Jeff Fahey’s name in the opening credits. So it was a huge, fun surprise when we found out that Frank Lapidus was the Ajira pilot.
Jack to Ben: “Did you know that Locke killed himself?”
Ben: “No. No, I didn’t.” This is not a lie, but it sure feels like one, because Ben knows exactly how he himself strangled the life out of John Locke. To respond so calmly and sincerely to Jack’s question is an indication of the ice water flowing through Ben’s veins. If I live to be 100, I’ll never be able to tell a lie like Benjamin Linus!
And I loved the surprise of Dharma Jin at the very end.
With the opening of this episode, I thought: Jeeze Jack, wouldn't you think attire like Crocodile Dundee would more appropriate than suit and tie? And Kate even gave him the heads up when she saw Jack's father's shoes.
I began to think that Hurley brought the guitar back just so he could use it as a floatation device. If that's the case, then Desmond's realization that they are all pawns in a game makes sense, and is a cruel realization of the facts. Remembering Daniel wondered about why Locke should be wanting to bring them back, to what purpose it served. And we've seen that the whole thing starts with who???? Richard tells Locke about needing to die and get the Oceanic 6 back. But Richard was told that by the revivified Locke, who would have heard it from Richard (in another life, brother). And Locke had it even reinforced by Christian in the antechamber to the frozen wheel. So where did the idea begin, or did it ever begin (like the numbers being repeated, the idea of returning with the Oceanic 6 is on an endless loop--as some fans here have noted, that numbers loop itself may be part of a cicrular loop itself as to its origins).
Nice ideas on the role of religion in the DI, Nikki. Visually, when Jack returns from his private talk with Ms. Hawking, Ben is framed by the window behind him, lending a halo effect to his appearance. This religious element is reinforced when Ben sidesteps Jack's questions concerning Ms. Hawking by telling of the story of Thomas and the resurrected Christ. I've always wondered what we were to take away from this? Ben eventually leaves Jack to attempt to kill Penny (she is saved when little Charlie appears on deck). So is Ben one of the good guys, or does his appointment with Penny undermine his assertions and appearance (as with the halo, are appearances ironically used, or should we put some faith in them--if only we had believed)?
On the plane talking with Jack, notice Ben lies twice. Once about his mother teaching him to read, then about Locke's death. The one thing he says that is true, is that Jack's is not responsible for Locke's death. (Incidentally, would the island have let Locke commit suicide? I doubt it, as it didn't let Jack or Michael. But that doesn't mean someone else can't kill Locke, or Michael or Jack, off island. In fact the island protects against suicide, which is the unpardonable sin).
Ben going to the bathroom is like Charlie going to the bathroom. Did Ben hide something in the bathroom? Unless we aren't done with the plane, we'll never know.
Maybe Ben went to bathroom to do some herion...proxy theory style. Maybe someone had to stand in Charlie's place when the plane crashed?
Is that stretching it too far?
I have to agree, Nik, Desmond's little speech just seems weird given the lack of reaction by the others. It seems like an excuse to get him out of the episode. "Hey, everyone, here's important information about this lady and what you're all about to do. What? Not interested? Fine, I'm off to get shot, away t'hell wi' alla ya!"
With all the excellent moments in this season, I don't think I was more excited than when I saw Hurley reading Y: The Last Man. I yelled at the TV REAL loud, expressing my delight, and got clouted over the head by Batkitty for scaring the bejesus out of her. And Nik, I think you placed your chapter on Y in exactly the right place in FL5 (it's a brilliant write up. After I read that chapter I re-read all of Y for about the seventh time), simply because of the parallel between Mathew Abbadon and Three-Fifty. But that's a discussion for another episode.
Batcabbage, I think the only reason we saw Desmond at the Lamppost was for Ben to identify him as a lead to Penny. But does that really make sense. It seems a bit clunky as a plotting device. Enter Desmond. Ben recognizes him (how?, since he's never seen Desmond, unless he saw him from the Pearl monitor) and knows Desmond can lead to Penny. But Ben sure waits a long time before going after Penny. Plotting device keeps creaking along. Desmond saves Penny from Ben, who gets thrashed and tossed in the drink, thus allowing significant moment between Jack and Locke's body, while changing shoes. After Desmond heals, you know he will take Penny and little Charlie away, and ... wait for it, .... end up on that friggin island, again. The island just won't be done with Desmond, like Ms. Hawking's said. On the other hand, I can see their storyline being dropped for much of the Season, while Desmond recuperates in hospital.
Nikki, in the scene with Desmond, you have to remember who his audience is. Jack is now narrowly focused on returning to the island, and Sun just found out Jin is alive on the island. So both of them may not really care what Des has to say.
How did Kate get on the plane, considering she is on probation?
BEST LINE EVER: "We're not going to Guam, are we?"
I think Ben has a little jealousy when Jack gets to "stay after school with Ms. Hawking." Now that we've seen the whole season, I tried to see if Eloise shows in her reaction that she has already met Jack in her past.
Another tearful reunion for Jin -- this time with Jack, Kate, and Hurley.
@Susan: How did Kate get on the plane, considering she is on probation?
You weren't supposed to notice that! ;)
Every time an episode comes up I'm like, oh! This is a good one. Then I realized that I can't think of a single dud of an episode in season 5. Please let season 6 be the same.
Side note - I just discovered 2 new Lost fan co-workers! Season 6 will be so much fun with all of you, plus all of them to hash over things with.
@Susan: How did Kate get on the plane, considering she is on probation?
Island magic of course1 ;P
I want to know more about Ray! Seriously. I think he is important. I mean, who "accidentally" packs someone else's dress shoes in a small bag when they're running away? It's not like he grabbed a pair of socks or a shirt or something. I love Ray and hope we get to see more of him.
When Jack showed up to get Locke's body and the woman at the butcher shop introduces herself my Dad said, "Ha! Jack and Jill!" snicker, snicker. It made me wonder if they named her that just for those few who might put that together.
They seemed to focus on the fact that the coffin would have to be "opened for screening". Is that when they took his body out and put it in the container? If not, when/how did that happen?
I think everyone mostly ignored Desmond because they were a) in awe and b) intensely focused. They had just been taken to a frakkin' DHARMA station in a church basement in LA, for cryin' out loud! And inside is this hugely impressive pendulum device mapping exactly where the island is, and an "evil Mary Poppins" (as you put it so hilariously, Nikki) explaining that they have to be on a certain flight at a certain time, and everyone in that room is anxious to get back and hanging on her every word...
...and then suddenly Desmond starts whining about how she sent him to the island to waste his life away, that Faraday sent him to ask her to help (which she already is, so that's irrelevant), and that he wants nothing to do with them, and then he rants rather wildly to Jack about not trusting her, etc. etc., which is completely NOT what Jack or any of the others want to hear, because they all have their own reasons to get back to the island and nothing is going to dissuade them, especially not some crazy Scotsman with a chip on his shoulder because he had to push a button for "four" years. I'm sure they were all relieved when he finally left and they could get back to business. And the fact that Eloise is Faraday's mom shouldn't have surprised any of them at that point, considering all the other bizarre coincidences they've experienced.
I always thought that the others lack of interest in Desmond was weird,and interestingly enough the one person who does seem shocked by his revelation that Eloise is Faraday's mother is Ben. Ben, the man who usually knows everything.
@Fred You mentioned that Ben has probably never seen Desmond before except on a monitor, has Desmond ever seen Ben before?
Another thing I wondered was how Eloise became part if the DI when she was an other? When she mentions how the station was created by a 'clever man' I thought of Dan straight away, perhaps he desinged the lamp post while he was at Ann Arbour?
I too would also like to know more about Ray. They can't have just created his character for one episode, could they? The scene with Ray's shoes on the table, when Kate comments on them just reminded me that new shoes on table are bad luck, although the shoes weren't exactly new...
When I first watched the epsiode I speculated that the scene of Kate from the last series when she sees Claire who tells her not to bring him back, happened between the dock scene and Kate appearing at Jack's. I thought her apology to Aaron may have been because she knew she had to go back so she was saying sorry for leaving him. Of course that was not what happened, but I thought it seemed quite likely at the time.
KATE: So why don't you get rid of 'em? Why hold on to something that makes you feel sad? Me: TOY AIRPLANE!
Season 5 was extremely tight - every episode was packed full.
When Jack drops the last bit of Locke's suicide note, I have a weird feeling we are going to see it again.....
I think the Desmond appearance is so weird, the only purpose it has in this episode is so Ben can follow him and get to Penny. Maybe it will become relevant in S6, but really, it has no impact on the rest of the season.
Locke is a substitute here, which foreshadows his use as a substitute on the island.
One other thing that is interesting about What Ben says about the resurrection, and that we are all convinced sooner or later is that is exactly what happens to him with Locke on island.
Furthermore, why did Daniel need Desmond to contact his mother? He didn't really accomplish anything for him - Eloise and the gang already knew what Daniel would have needed them to know. As our esteemed colleague mentioned earlier, this is looking more and more like a plot device.....
I'm torn on this episode. The Lamppost scene is (IMO) the clunkiest and worst exposition scene Lost has ever done; if that's how they're going to provide answers, I'd almost rather they didn't. The stuff with Jack+Ray and Jack+Kate felt sort of filler-y to me, like they didn't really have enough of a Jack story for a full episode. Locke being a proxy for Jack's father is interesting and thematically very important, of course, but it didn't require the stuff with Ray to get the point across. And the Jate stuff has always bored me, regardless of its importance. Finally, much has been made of this episode completing Jack's transition from "man of science" to "man of faith", but I think we pretty much saw "man of faith" Jack as early as "Through the Looking Glass", and this episode didn't really provide anything new on that front.
On the other hand, the scenes on the Island and in the airport and plane are great. Frank appearing as the pilot was probably the biggest delightful surprise of the season for me.
@Annonymous: What I liked about the Jack and Ray interchange was the way they shot Ray, and how his eyes just seemed so black at the very end. He goes from being this jovial, cantankerous grandfather, to something more sinister and knowing. The other thing that struck me, though not part of the scene, is that Christian is Ray's son, and briefly I could imagine him as a young boy, like we saw with Jack in flashbacks. Ray seems to talk to Jack about Christian in a somewhat distant manner, a rather unusual nuance.
I loved this episode. It's interesting how the writers are able to switch almost seamlessly between religious ideologies in their storytelling.
The scene in which Ben tells Jack the story of Doubting Thomas is very important. It becomes the defining thematic arc for him in season 5. He's like Thomas when Locke comes back from the dead; this adds extra depth to the scene in which Locke asks him if he knew resurrection was going to happen. "I thought it might..." Ben says. Did he really? Maybe he really did, which is why he's meditating on another resurrection the night before.
Great thought, Nikki, about Ben carrying something in his sling. My 12-year old son, Matt, told me the other day that he thought it was weird Ben was wearing a sling in the first place. "I didn't remember seeing Desmond break his arm," Matt said. Apparently he's more observant than his old man.
Happy new year, everyone!
Oh boy, my first blog after watching my spankin-new s5 DVD set!
Only one problem though, I received a copy of s1-2 Finding Lost instead of s5. But that's ok, since I eventually would like to get them all, I just dont have a companion for s5. But now I get to read about how it all started, and I am NOT complaining!
What a great ep! Love the contrast of the opening scene with the pilot. Jack is so sure of himself here. He has a purpose-he's not 'Lost'hehe. But I'd only give about a 1.5 for that dive!
I can't believe The Lamp Post couldn't have updated their computer system. What's up with that? Do they really need 30yr old tech to find the island? But that pendulum is way cool!
If the equations on the blackboard are detremental to finding the island, than why aren't they written on something a little more permanant. One trip and a fall, and we're all screwed!
Love the Doubting Thomas scene.
Ben-"Made a promise to a friend-just a loose end to tie up". Right!
Love Jack's explaination to Kate about his fathers ratty old shoes.
I hadn't notice it before, but when Ben calls Jack from the payphone the next morning, his hair is all wet! More significant in hindsight!
Jack and Jill...hahahah
Jack-"Wherever you are, John, you must be laughing your cheeks off!"
Jack-"How can you read?" Ben-"My mother taught me." Even in his offhand remarks he lies! I don't think he knows how to tell the truth anymore.
Ah, Hurley and his beloved Spanish comic books.
Jack looks like he wants to give Sun a hug when they meet up at the airport, he's so thrilled she actually came! But he doesn't.
I was watching the blooper reel on the s5 DVD, where Jack and Hurley meet up at the airport-hilarious!
Jack-"The others on the plane, what's gonna happen to them? Ben-"Who cares." Ben in a nutshell.
Yay! It's Lapidus! Gotta love Frank! "We're not going to Guam, are we?"
And then a Dharma van-w/Jin??!!
word verif-'ragon'-what you use to 'wax-on'
@EvaHart-" When she mentions how the station was created by a 'clever man' I thought of Dan straight away, perhaps he desinged the lamp post while he was at Ann Arbour?"
Wow, what an interesting idea. But if it was Daniel, wouldn't he, having knowledge of the future, have designed it a little more 'updated'? Or does it just 'look' like a '50's computer but with a 2007 hard drive inside?
crazyinlost I'm glad you brought up Jack's dive, I had something to say but forgot about it.
First time around we all thought he was crazy for diving into an unknown body of water. But it occurred to me that just because we didn't see Kate and Sawyer tell everyone about it, doesn't mean they didn't tell. After all Nikki and Paolo were able to find it too (sorry Nikki!). So maybe it's familiar to Jack and he was confident he would survive the dive.
@ JS: Yeah, nice little touch they threw in by having that one section of Jack's note flutter innocently to the ground. i always wondered why & how it even ripped; things don't usually get destroyed during time jumps, do they? Is the rip significant?
I hope we see more of the Lamp Post, and the "brilliant man" who built it. I think it totally could be Daniel, seeing as how his trip to Ann Arbor is supposedly significant in some way during Season 6.
@Question Mark:I hope we see more of the Lamp Post, and the "brilliant man" who built it. I think it totally could be Daniel.
Why would Daniel build it, when the Dharma Initiative seems to be coming and going to the island on a regular basis throughout the 70s? Even from the time Daniel first landed in 1974, the DI was already there and had been for some time (Horace says the sub comes to the island in a week). It would have have to have been before, like in 1950s, when the US Army was trying to get to the island (hence the photo of the island with the Army identification). I think its Alvar Hanso who built the Lamppost, not Daniel.
@Sonshine: I'm so happy for you, since you've found some fellow Lost fans at work. I used to have that, until I got laid off over a year ago. Now I have all of you Nik-at-Niters!
@Susan: I enjoyed your reference to the toy airplane. Of course, maybe Kate said that to Jack because she had learned that lesson the really hard way.
Verification word: nubmbe - the phonetic pronunciation of numb, the way a person whose mouth is numb would say it.
Just a few thoughts from a first timer:
Jack has Christain's/Ray's watch which was given to him in the first Mobisode. Did he really need the shoes?
Why did Jack (or Paulo previously) have to dive into the water? Wouldn't it have been safer to simply jump in?
Acoustic guitars, with or without their cases, fair miraculously well in this series. Charlie had his strapped to his back while hiking though the jungle during a downpour (when he didn't take an arrow to the neck), as well as when he was caught in the rain on the street corner. It also survived the original crash. Now Hurley is floating in a lagoon with a guitar case that may or may not contain a guitar.
Those are some pretty amazing guitars and cases.
What if Des had bumped into the pendulum and altered its swing?
@paleoblues: Welcome welcome! Glad you could join us, and what a great way to kick off a new year!
I totally agree with your comments about the rugged guitars in the show surviving lots of abuse. It reminds me of some fun YouTube stuff, if you're in the mood for some quality entertainment just now. The first is "United Breaks Guitars". Then, "Hitler Finds Out United Breaks Guitars". (Be advised, it contains adult language, which some might find offensive.) Moving on, have a look at "United Breaks Guitars Song 2", and finally "United Breaks Guitars, Corporate Response Parody". They're all pretty choice!
Varification word: Demism - a religious doctrine originally based on the inebriated ruminations of a dude named Dem.
paleoblues-"What if Des had bumped into the pendulum and altered its swing?" hahahaha
Also, welcome to the (Santa Rosa Mental Institute) Lost rewatch! Sojourner beware! There will be laughter, witty comments, and lots of irreverence from the other (inmates) bloggers. (Psychotherapy) Discression advised.
@crazyinlost - just got my s5 dvd also, on thurs, and have been frantically trying to catch up and have so much i 'need' to say! ha!
@marebabe - i got to see one example of the foucault's pendulum in the science museum in valencia, spain - it's really cool but no, it can't swing indefinitely in real life. i loved how dez was walking back and forth between the swings!
@nikki - yeah, seems like hurley buying so many tickets would cause alarm but airport security doesn't seem to be that tight - look at the guitar case occupying the seat next to hurley - and it's not even wearing a seatbelt.
@jenn - was ben charlie's proxy and doing heroin in the bathroom? hahaha!! so if locke in the casket is christian's proxy then who is john's proxy? is it ben since he is in a way disabled?
@nikki - i never thought about ben going to the bathroom just before the crash and carrying whatever was in the vent in his sling - interesting!
@sonshine - ray does seem like he should have some significance, especially the way jack calls him 'ray' several times then shocks us with a 'granddad'. 'accidentally' packing christian's shoes is just too weird to not have importance. he seems like he knows something! and like paleoblues points out, jack already has the watch from his wedding - wouldn't that have worked? they needed to find a way to fit ray into the story line further implying that he is important. the home paints ray as a cooky old guy who keeps trying to break free but he doesn't seem crazy or all that old to me. maybe his escape attempts are the only way to get jack to the home to find the shoes.
@js - yeah, i agree jack dropping the note will become significant - he already tried to get rid of it once and it found him again.
jack about ben - "is he telling the truth?"
eloise - "probably not". ha!!
@evahart - good question about ben and dez meeting before - i'd like to hear that answer! looked briefly on lostpedia cuz i thought i remembered a section where they listed what characters had interacted with each other, but i didn't see it.
@batcabbage - your first paragraph about the dez nonevent - hahaha!!
@everyone-maybe Jack likes his watch and doesn't want to give it up!
work verif-clock-something that tells time (that one was no fun!)
Nikki: I wonder if there’s some underlying symbolism of the French Revolution or something, especially with Locke and Rousseau hanging about.
I'm not sure that I ever mentioned this, but I've often wondered if John Locke's name is a bit of a red herring. "Jack" is a familiar version of "John" and ties those two characters together, sure. And "Shephard" is significant. "John Locke" certainly wasn't an accident. There's no historical Danielle Rousseau, however; the philosopher's name is Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- John, Jack, Rousseau: Perhaps the three are meant to be part of a triumvirate, incomplete and thus not entirely effective until their traits are combined. With John and Rousseau apparently dead, that leaves the integration of their personalities or perspectives and any fulfillment of destiny that might come from it up to Jack.
At the time I was so distracted by Desmond's ridiculously effortless avoidance of the pendulum that I could barely concentrate on what he was saying, but now I think he makes his way through it (without even noticing) because of his weird future-sight ability.
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Verification word: zedal -- Of or relating to the letter Z.
Marebabe: I know that, for the filming of this scene, there were crew-members pushing it like a child in a swing to keep it going. But I mean in real life, how could a giant pendulum like that keep itself going?
Oh, The Dharma Initiative perfected a frictionless perpetual-motion machine right after curing cancer and the common cold. If only Ben had waited a couple of days before offing the DI contingent on the Island, he could've saved himself lots of grief down the road.
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Marebabe: When I first saw this episode, I got distracted and missed seeing Jeff Fahey’s name in the opening credits. So it was a huge, fun surprise when we found out that Frank Lapidus was the Ajira pilot.
Had they not had him mention his name over the intercom, I wouldn't have recognized him without his freighter-era facial hair; in fact, he still looks weird to me in the pilot uniform and clean-shaven. (I know that Jeff Fahey is supposed to be from some cult-fave show, but since I keep forgetting which and don't know him outside of Lost it must be one I haven't seen.)
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Marebabe: And I loved the surprise of Dharma Jin at the very end.
I can't resist repeating my terrible excursion into Weird Al territory from the first time around, with apologies again to Elton John. Sung to the tune of "Goodbye Norma Jean": Hello Dharma Jin / Though you never thought you'd see the day / You have a daughter now / Well, you will in thirty years...
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Verification word: dingated -- A fancy-schmancy way of describing what happened to your car. "I'm glad we're insurified, 'cause that gentleman dingated our left bumpular area."
Fred: So is Ben one of the good guys, or does his appointment with Penny undermine his assertions and appearance (as with the halo, are appearances ironically used, or should we put some faith in them--if only we had believed)?
I can't help but associate Ben with the Scorpion in one of the varations on Aesop's fables: He may pretend to help the castaways... He may even try to co-operate with them genuinely, for mutual benefit, as the Scorpion does with the Frog (or Tortoise)... But ultimately, he will sting them, because it's simply in his nature. And if it's in his nature, well, that may place him on the side of Destiny rather than Free Will, which only further serves to equate him more with Judas -- who, like Doubting Thomas and the apostle Michael, shouldn't really be blamed too heavily for their actions; after all, by doubting, denying, and betraying Jesus they were only playing their prophesied parts.
EvaHart: I always thought that the others' lack of interest in Desmond was weird, and interestingly enough the one person who does seem shocked by his revelation that Eloise is Faraday's mother is Ben.
Didn't their time on the Island overlap? She killed Daniel not long after Ben was Temple-healed. I don't recall if we saw Ellie in the camp in 1989 when Ben was freelance kidnapping for the Others in his Hitler wig, by which time she'd not only given birth to Daniel but presumably become convinced by his journal or other factors than the guy she shot was indeed her son. When Ben is smugly bidding farewell to Charles Widmore years after that, I know we're supposed to figure that his off-Island family is the one with Penny as opposed to Eloise and Daniel, because Daniel never knew that Widmore was his father, but you'd think that a knowledge-is-power maven like Ben would have uncovered their little secret whether or not someone like Richard shared it with him.
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Verification word: bilieshi -- Hay ta pruh-naynce John and Jim Belushi's leest noim weeth a beed Ustralyeen eeksint.
@Blam: I enjoyed reading all your thoughtful comments just now. The cult-fave show with Jeff Fahey is 1992’s “The Lawnmower Man”, a fascinating sci-fi film based on a Stephen King short story from 1975. I recommend it! (When I Googled that movie just now, I was rather amazed at Jeff Fahey’s filmography. He’s been in lots of TV and movies!) I totally agree about Ben’s wig. I’ve been calling it his Hitler wig since the first moment I saw it. Your last entry here reads like a recap for a daytime soap opera. I love it! And finally, I really, really enjoyed your verification words, dingated and bilieshi. I’m thinkin’ that if Nikki includes a “Blog Silliness” chapter in her S6 book, your name will come up over and over!
@Blam-being a fan of both Wierd Al and EJ, I loved your rendition of "Hello Dharma Jin"! Can't wait to hear the rest (no pressure).
@Marebabe: Thanks! I'm still playing catch-up, so it's nice to know folks are reading what I have to say even if I'm not contributing much to ongoing discussion.
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Your last entry here reads like a recap for a daytime soap opera. I love it!
How can you not sound like you're describing the world's craziest soap opera when recapping Lost? (Just think of Hurley finally spilling it to his Mom...!) About 17 years ago, yikes, I did a cutesy little piece on the tortured road to the wedding of two characters in the X-Men comic books that led to one of my first outside-the-industry writing gigs. If you can intelligently, let alone wittily, digest Lost or X-Men, you can probably write about anything — which I don't mean as either the self-adulation or the backhanded compliment towards Nikki that it might seem. 8^)
@crazyinlost: Thanks to you! No pressure and probably no full rendition coming... I've done a few full-on song spoofs over the years, but I find it much more satisfying to just rattle off a verse when one comes to mind. Which either makes me the Borgés of song parodists or decidedly unambitious; your call. Actually, lately I find it most enjoyable to come up with totally stream-of-consciousness alternative lyrics, especially to songs that I might not exactly hate but end up in my head too often to want to hear over and over. And then I have to make sure not to sing them out loud when the actual songs come on the radio and there's company in the car. I haven't really kept up with Weird Al, by the way, but he's done some brilliant stuff; I still get even the original songs from in 3D in my head, and his "Polka on 45" medleys are genius.
Hi all... just thought I'd put this up here (since it's the more appropriate place).
If anyone remembers in Finding Lost - Season 5, when Nikki asked 'what are the odds that Locke and Christian have the same shoe size?'; if you wondered about that too, well look no further (and if you didn't, go look it up and wonder).
In anticipation of the premiere (and since I do stats stuff), I thought I'd try to answer that question: no spoilers, no debate, no point... pure fun.
At least that's ONE question answered!
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B55IyvjVb8dtZmQ5NzZhMmQtZWI0OC00MWQyLWE0NWQtYTQ4ZmQ3MGY4MDYx&hl=en
T-minus 4hr 30 min (3:30 for the recap).
again... my bad:
http://tinyurl.com/yblbxx5
So in light of the finale of LOST. This episode, similar to White Rabbit, probably gave us one of the most essential foreshadows in the show's history.
The 'doubting Thomas' scene with Ben and Jack. Not only is Ben describing the journey Jack is taking and almost done, yet he is doing it in the very same spot where Jack will end it. The very same seat in the very same church! Holy hell, this show is fantastic!
Hi Keegan! Great observations! I was actually just rewatching this scene the other day so I could add it to my finale analysis in the last Finding Lost book. Another thing I noticed: In the Doubting Thomas painting, the wound that Thomas is sticking his finger into is exactly the same spot where the smoke monster stabbed Jack in the finale!
I adore this show. ;)
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