LOST - Answers and questions

 

Seriously.  This episode was a like ten pounds of awesome stuffed in a five pound bag.  It was bursting at the seams with awesomeness.  Its cup runneth awesome.

I’ll explain why I’m so excited.  “No Place Like Home” was the ironic title of this week’s LOST episode.  It is part one of the two-part season finale.  Actually, it’s part one of three parts because on May 29^th ABC is airing a two-hour LOST, which is actually broken up into two episodes.  Anyway, my point is this week’s LOST worked both as the set-up for the big finale and on its own merits.  Lots of stuff happened and all of it was, yes, awesome.

One of the satisfying things about LOST this season is that the creators have found the right balance between satisfaction and anticipation, between resolving lingering questions and posing new mysteries.  It’s like finding a couple of pieces that fit in a huge puzzle, and then a monkey comes and steals some pieces from you.  On one level you’re happy that you’re making progress on the puzzle, and on another level, damn you monkey!

Anyway, with the return of the Oceanic Six tonight we finally saw what implausible cover story the five of them (I’m assuming Aaron wasn’t involved in the planning) came up with to explain their reappearance.  A lot of the reporters didn’t seem to buy it, which may prove troublesome in the future.  But why the elaborate cover story in the first place?  What happened to everyone else?

I’m assuming that in the season finale they will show the circumstances of the Oceanic Six rescue, which may be naïve of me. I’m still trying to figure out how Sayid, Jack, Kate, Aaron, Sun, and Hurley are all going to end up on a Coast Guard plane together since in this episode they’re scattered to the four winds.  Jack is running through the jungle with Sawyer instead of resting after his surgery.  Hurley is with Locke, dangerously close to a pack of psychotic mercenaries.  Aaron is with Sun on the freighter, which is rigged with a metric ton of plastic explosives.  Kate and Sayid are visiting with Richard Alpert and The Others at gunpoint.  How these people all end up in a raft is beyond me, but I’m eager to find out.

I’m also eager to have some questions answered, as usual.  Who was Ben signaling with the mirror?  What is Ben’s plan, aside from “Get tortured by Keamy”?  What does the Orchid station do?  Something space/timey I’ll bet.  Who put all the C4 on the boat?  Why?  Just to be mean?  Who was messing with the odometer in Hurley’s wicked camaro?  Was Cheech just trying to psych him out? Is Locke really going to move the island or is that just some New Age metaphor?

So many questions, and only two hours left in this season to answer them all.  Then:  BRUTAL CLIFFHANGER!  I am so there.

--Dave Campbell

Comments

[Kevin]

I think you mean how Kate (not Claire) ends up on the cargo plane, but I'll let that one go. This time.

Anyway, I loved this episode with the exception that Faraday wasn't getting more gas for that boat. It drove me crazy, for real. All I could think was "You don't want to run out of gas halfway there!"

Also, BKV's cliffhanger is going to kill me. I know it.

[David D. Campbell]

Thanks Kevin, fixed it.

[Dylan]

While I loved this episode, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was backstage at a play five minutes before the curtain goes up.

This week and last have been a lot of shuffling into place, setting stuff up for the big pay-off two weeks from now.

Still, it's awesome stuff and I can't wait for whatever mindblowing twist smacks me upside the head with this season's finale.

I loves this show to bits.

[Mike Tattoo]

That was a great use of the slow motion montage. Both at the start with Oceanic 6 reunion with their families and at the end with Ben’s reunion with the mercenaries that want to kidnap him. I know I’ve talked a lot of smack about the Lost slow motion montages over the years, but I gotta admit that was a great use of it last night. Got me all kinds of choked up.

Is it just me, or did it look like the Oceanic 6 had a table at the San Diego Comic Con? Yeah. Probably just me,

And you know who I think Ben was signaling to in the hills? Snake Eyes. Maybe it’s just all the automatic rifles and commando action, but Lost is becoming more and more like a classic Larry Hama GI Joe issue every week. I think I even remember a specific issue where Snake Eyes is ambushed in his cabin in the woods and was either signaling, or being able to identify his attackers from the reflection in their rifle scopes from miles away. Chances are Ben was probably communicating with The Russian, or some equally bad ass new character, but I’m just saying it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Snake Eyes and his wolf popped up and started taking fools down.

“Jesus Christ is not a weapon” Great line and great imagery. Remember when Locke hoarded all the heroin in the Virgin Mary statues. “I’m a superstitious man, I’m not going to break 13 Virgin Marys.” Great line.

I liked the “others whispering voices” effect in Hurley’s house before his surprise party. I suspect we will be seeing more of the “others whispering voices” off island for the Oceanic 6 next season.

I wonder if Hurley’s new car is going to get all Christine on him. Nah. I’m probably reading too much into that.

They’re really playing up the Jedi “There is another / An Other” angle with long lost siblings that hang out for a few movies / seasons before figuring out that they are related. Kind of odd that pre trial Jack didn’t want to hang out with Aaron when at that time he knew that he was biologically related to him at that point. What a dick.

I like the evolving Hurley Ben relationship and those moments where people ask Ben point blank questions about what is going on. If I were filming right now, I would do an extended bonus feature scene, as a DVD extra or internet exclusive bit, where Hurley and Ben are walking through the woods and Hurley asks Ben point blank the top 10 internet Lost questions, one right after the other, and Ben gives a simple, straightforward but not necessarily honest answer to each one. “What’s the smoke monster? How come you didn’t just leave the island and go to a Blue Cross to go get spinal surgery? What was the real deal with the hatch and the button? What’s up with the numbers?”

Besides that, I’m just really digging the GI Joe meets A-Team angle of Locke, Ben, Hurley, and mystery guy in the woods. “Trust me John, I love it when a plan comes together.”

[Barbara]

I assumed Ben was contacting the Others, led by Richard, when he used the mirror.

[Barbara]

I assumed Ben was contacting the Others, led by Richard, when he used the mirror.

[HP]

didn't Ben say he always has a plan? Isn't it strange that suddenly there is this huge amount of C4 on the boat in a so close to the deck?

[J-S]

I also assume Ben was contacting Richard. I think that if his goal is to not lose the island to what's-his-rear (Penny's dad), then he wants to make sure his plan is always the only plan. He probably figured some of the other survivors might come looking for Hurley and Locke, so the signal was to Richard to round up anyone behind them so that Ben's "plan" wouldn't get too messy (like how it did with Danielle and Alex). Ben doesn't like surprises, you know.

I was also glad one of my hunches came true; that the reason Jack separated from Kate and began drugging himself more and more heavily wasn't just his "father" reappearing, but also that he would learn that Aaron was his nephew and he couldn't say anything because it would go against the cover story they created.

Didn't they say in (at the very least) the episode where they showed Sayid as an assassin in Germany, that Ben was on the island, holding the other survivors hostage or something? So I would be apt to believe that they made up the cover story so that nobody comes looking for the island (and the other survivors) because Ben threatened them. Dunno...

The gas part bothered me also, Kevin. I wonder if the "running out of gas" scene will be next.

And Claire? Are we to assume that if she is with her/Jack's dad now that she is dead??? I'm sooooo confused.

[Admiral Neck]

J-S, IIRC Ben had Sayid doing his bidding to help protect the islanders from being discovered by Widmore, and not that he was intending to do them harm. At least, that's how I read it, especially now we know Sayid is on the rampage as well, following the death of Nadia. He definitely seems to be willing to do what Ben does, even though he seems to be stuck in a cycle of violence he has tried to escape in the past. Poor sexy Sayid.

[mudge]

here is my dilemma. i just "found" Lost about 5 weeks ago. i watched seasons 1, 2, 3 and now 4 in order. my problem? i had the luxury of watching an episode any time i was curious enough to see what happens next (didn't take me long to watch it all) and now i am caught up. what am i going to do now? be like everyone else and have to wait a week just to get another hour? and then the season is over! i have to be sure i live another two seasons! good grief! i don't think i can make it. it's not like a book where you have the end in your hands..they have to create and produce it first! egads! i'm doomed.

[Jason]

Followed you here from the Long Box. Sad to see you not talking about comics anymore, but I love that you're writing on LOST! :)

Well, we know that Ben certainly must have a plan since he eventually ends up in the Tunisian desert wearing Edgar Halliwax's DHARMA parka. And I'm guessing that the Orchid is where Ben's mysterious "magic box" is being held.

As for how they're going to move the Island - I'm guessing the magic box moves it through both time and space. Probably why Ben doesn't think Charles Widmore will be able to find
it.

[winterteeth]

Actually, the C-4 is almost certainly connected to that device Keamy had strapped to his arm (thus the transmission aspect). I am guessing that, if anything goes wrong, he can blow the boat.

[Stefanie]

Is lost over or is this just a season finale? I heard rumors that it is set to air until 2010, but it is not on the ABC lineup for fall.

[David D. Campbell]

Not to worry, Stefanie! Lost will be back mid-season, which is why it's not showing up on the fall schedule.