Thoughts on Lost

Well, Damon and Carlton said that starting this season we would be seeing episodes that provided more answers than questions, and I think "Jughead" may be the first episode that has fallen into that category. Let's get to it...

- The scene with Desmond describing the "special island" to his little boy was a great scene. Henry Ian Cusick, as most actors on this show, doesn't get enough credit. To me, there was a real sense of longing as he described his homeland to his son, knowing that he would never be able to raise his son there, or in any other type of "normal" setting. It's been about 6 years now that Desmond has either been living on the Island or on this boat, and the uncertainty as to what kind of existence his son is going to be able to live is what lent a bit of melancholy to the scene.

Not to mention the fact that, as my friend Brent (the father of a 16-month old boy) said...can you imagine trying to raise a little boy on a boat? It's hard enough to keep them from sticking their head in the toilet, how are you going to keep him from running off the edge?

- When the British chick with the rifle told Daniel, "You couldn't stay away, could you?" I don't know if she meant him personally or just who she assumed was his group, but Daniel sure did have a guilty look on his face.

The reason I don't think she meant him personally is because later, when they were walking to the bomb, she never mentioned knowing him and in fact seemed to have figured out that he is not even with the US military, as she originally thought.

- Speaking of which, very interesting that the US military has been on the Island in the 1950's. I don't think the US military would set up an operation on an island that they can't travel back and forth to. Perhaps that means that the Island hasn't always been so hard to find and get to, and maybe something happens that "hides" it? Maybe by dislodging it from time-space?

- Several blog posts (including Vozzek's, which I posted on Thursday) have mentioned that the library archivist at Oxford is the same girl who helped Hurley get on Flight 815 (as we saw in Exodus, the season 1 finale) and wondered if this was some sort of clue. According to this article, however, she just appears to be an extra who happened to get picked for two different parts. Darn it, I thought we were on to something!

I do agree with Vozzek that the guy who came in and caught Desmond sniffing around Faraday's office was not just a janitor. Somebody has been keeping an eye on that place and waiting for someone to come.

- Faraday has turned into quite the playa, hasn't he? First there was the picture that Desmond found in his lab of him and the blond, and then there was his profession of undying love for Charlotte. Let's look at both of these ladies:
- Teresa: This was the girl in the picture, who I believe is the girl now laid up in bed with some sort of time travel sickness (more on her in a minute). My theory is that this was in fact Daniel's love at one time, and perhaps he was trying to help her talk to her Dad (who has been dead for 5 years, according to her sister). Regardless of the reason, he was obviously experimenting on her and things went wrong, which is why she is in her current catatonic state. Her sister said that Daniel bolted to "the States" as soon as her condition deteriorated, abandoning her. I believe that Daniel instead "bolted" to the Island, where he is trying to find a way to bring her back.

Of course, if Teresa turns out NOT to be the girl in the picture, this all goes down the tubes. Except that I do believe that Daniel left to find a way to help her, rather than abandoning her, and maybe he is motivated by guilt over what happened to her, rather than by his love for her.

- Charlotte: If my above theory is true, then I'm sure it's making it double difficult for him to watch what is happening to Charlotte. Here is another woman he loves who is succumbing to some sort of time travel sickness. I still don't believe that Charlotte is going through the same sickness that Desmond and Minkowski went through, since we have seen no evidence of her consciousness time traveling, but she may very well be going through what Teresa did. If Daniel can figure out how to save Charlotte (which....yeah, Rebecca Mader did LOTS of the pre-season media, so I don't see them killing her off anytime soon), then maybe there is hope for Teresa.

- Think we were supposed to draw any conclusions from the fact that they are supposed to bury the H-bomb? I went back and checked the transcript on Lostpedia, and Daniel says "bury it" 5 times in about a 20 second span. Let's see...surround the radiation-leaking H-Bomb with concrete and then bury it. Build a hatch around that, and you might have the Swan station, no?

- Another theory that is rapidly making its way around the blogosphere: Let's assume that Mrs. Hawking is Daniel's mother (which I think is pretty safe at this point). Her name is Eloise Hawking. The young British lady with the rifle trained on Daniel...her name is Ellie. Hmmm....more on all that in a minute.

- Yeah, "Jones," I do in fact think that the "sodding old man" can track you and he DOES know this Island at least as well you do...don't you even WATCH this show?

- How awesome is it that Desmond and Penny named their son after Charlie? That actually brought a lump in my throat.

Of course, I admit that for a split second I thought that with all the time travel trippiness going on that this was in fact CHARLIE. Until I remembered that he actually has parents. Oh, this show...I believe it has broken my brain.

- Desmond really is a bad liar, isn't he? He was looking everywhere in that cabin other than at Penny when he was trying to convince here that Daniel's mom is dead. She is, instead, in Los Angeles, which is where Ben is, which is another clue that she is in fact Mrs. Hawking.

- We, of course, know that Richard DID, in fact, visit John when he was born, as John suggested. Last week we got more insight about the later meeting when Locke was a boy, and this week we found out what Richard was doing at the hospital when John was born.

Something I thought of, though...Richard is obviously the leader of the Others in the 50's. What happened that caused the Others to start looking for a NEW leader (first Ben, and now Locke), especially since Richard never ages (as Juliet said, "Richard has ALWAYS been here").

My working theory is that Richard has ALWAYS been the true leader of the Others, even when Ben and now Locke have been named "leaders." In fact, Richard may even be Jacob....regardless, I think he is really the one in charge. A friend of mine (hi, Amanda!) theorized that maybe Richard knew that someone would have to turn the Donkey Wheel and never be able to come back, and that somebody else would have to die in order to get all of the Oceanic 6 back and save the Island. So maybe Richard appointed these two as leaders so that they could be "sacrificed" like pawns, for the good of the Island, while he was able to stay on the Island and continue in his current role. Just a theory, but it makes sense to me.

OK...on to some of the most important stuff we learned last night. We got quite a bit of insight into Charles Widmore, some of which (of course) may lead to some other questions.

- Widmore was on the Island in the 1950's as a member of the Others. Something obviously happened that caused him to leave the Island, and now he is trying to get back.

- Remember, in the conversation that Ben and Widmore had, they both acknowledged that Ben could not kill Widmore. Wonder if that means the Island is not "through" with Widmore, similar to what we have seen with Michael and Jack?

- Also, some of what we've seen is adding some shades of grey to the heretofore totally evil character of Charles Widmore. He is paying the medical expenses for Teresa, and he is genuinely concerned for Penny's safety. Remember, last time he talked to Ben, Ben promised to kill her...that was two years ago, and he hasn't had any contact with Penny since then. He is willing to let Desmond take Penny away from him again, as long as he promises to keep her safe.

This is similar to what the writers have done at times with Ben...paint him as 100% bad for a while before humanizing him a bit to add shades of gray to his character.

- Many believe that Widmore and Ellie get together on the Island, with the result being Charlotte. I'm not sure how the timing works on that...the events we saw on the Island occurred in 1954. Charlotte looks to be in her early 30's, which means she wouldn't have been born until around 20 years later. Of course, that is plausible, with all of the time jumping going on.

Another interesting theory...Widmore and Ellie are in fact DANIEL's parents, which would be supported by the fact that Widmore has been funding Daniel's research and is now paying for the medical expenses of Teresa.

One reason I wouldn't be surprised to find that Daniel and Charlotte are at least HALF brother and sister...that storyline (man and woman begin to fall in love, unaware that they are in fact half siblings) is very reminiscent of the Luke and Leia storyline, and Damon and Carlton are serious Star Wars fans.

- Another interesting aspect to the Daniel story...Mrs. Hawking, his mother, is working with Ben. Ben's mortal enemy, Charles Widmore, has been funding Daniel's research for the past 10 years and put him on his freighter to get to the Island. So, whether Widmore is Daniel's father or not, Daniel certainly has ties to both sides of the Widmore/Ben struggle.

Some of my favorite lines of the night:
MILES: Four U.S. soldiers, dead just under a month. Three of them were shot. One died of radiation poisoning.
FARADAY: Miles, hey, hey. Did any of them happen to mention what year it is?

SAWYER: I hate to bust up the "I'm an Other, you're an Other" reunion, but Faraday--the guy that's actually gonna save us--is being death marched into the jungle right now.

FARADAY: Whoa. Take it easy. I can explain myself a little better. I know how this sounds. Believe me, it's... oh, it's hard to explain. 50 years from now, me and my... me and my friends--that's where we're from, okay? And--here's the key--everything's fine. I'm not saying it's perfectly fine, but there hasn't been any atomic blast, all right? (Yeah...I would say it's not PERFECTLY fine. Way to clarify that, Daniel)

SAWYER: You TOLD her?

*****SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading now if you want NO info about next week, even if it's just from the previews that we saw*************





Next week looks AWESOME...from the looks of the previews (stop reading NOW if you don't want to know)....

It looks like our time travelers actually jump into a period of time that they are on the island. You can see the light coming from the hatch window in one scene (reminding me of when Locke was banging on the hatch door), and Sawyer told Juliet he saw Kate in the jungle. Also, we get back to the Oceanic 6...with everything happening on the Island this week, I can't say that I missed them all that much!