Awwwww… Lost, you’re so cute.
LOST SEASON 5, EPISODE 4 SPOILERS
I wasn’t planning on writing a Lost post next. Partly because I don’t want this blog to get too Lost-heavy. If I piss off any of the writers with my theories, that could seriously hurt my chances of being cast Season 6 as Chad, the head Atlantean engineer. But alas @mattmansfield, your evil peer pressure did me in.
To be honest, I don’t have much new to talk about. I didn’t really notice any clues pertaining to my previous theories. Did I miss something?
The stuff with Rousseau is the closest thing. I guess it does qualify as old. But not real… friggin… old. And it came so late in the episode. I think most of the clues in that one are yet to be dropped.
I am curious to find out what “sickness” ends up killing her people. They’ll be heading to The Black Rock eventually. After that it should start taking them one by one. I suspect it’s a mental illness caused in some way by all this time distortion. Maybe something like the Charlotte seizure. Hopefully without that bulky FX device they shoved under her lip.
Also, I have a feeling the canoe chasing Locke and crew is just a future time loop of themselves. The way they were obscured, it just seemed like that was setup for another episode. It was the same boat as theirs… also had one gun. I suppose it could also be Bernard and crew. He’s decent with a gun, right? Or maybe it’s some of the Oceanic 6? Clearly that was supposed to be the future, so my hunch is they arrived back to the island in those canoes. Either way, I think it’s safe to assume the person Juliet shot is someone we care about.
But mostly this episode felt like a much needed return to character. I know a lot of fans were disappointed by the lack of emotional depth in the last few episodes. Fair enough.
In this one, the time traveling was mostly a series of short flashes… not enough to be too confusing… but also not a lot for the puzzlers to work with. Even that initially cryptic shaft of light was demystified by Locke moments later in a VERY clear explanation for Sawyer and the audience.
Basically, the episode got us a little closer to finding out who Kate is gonna choose. Which I think is cool. It doesn’t drive my interest in the show, but I was genuinely moved by most of it.
Particularly when Sawyer saw Kate delivering Aaron. That was some serious Doctor Zhivago shit. I’m not embarrassed to admit, I got a little teary.
Okay, you know what?… I’m gonna say it… I hope she chooses Sawyer!… Ah, that felt good.

Kate on 05 Feb 2009 at 8:15 am #
I hope she chooses Sawyer, too! I also can’t wait to see what happens with Jin, and how the whole scene goes down with Sun next week when she finds out that he’s still alive!
Rae on 05 Feb 2009 at 8:39 am #
Finally! A post about who Kate is gonna choose.
DJSmackMackey on 05 Feb 2009 at 1:23 pm #
I didn’t think so for the first 3 seasons, but by season 4, I realized she and Sawyer are the best match, and Jack and Juliet are a good match.
As for last night, my favorite parts were:
Sawyer seeing Kate
Seeing Jin is alive!
Sayid being a badass
My least favorite:
Sun with the gun. (I like her when she’s sweet)
I saw it coming that the lawyer was working for Ben. They gave us too much time to figure it out for ourselves.
Tanya on 05 Feb 2009 at 1:34 pm #
I posted this on twitter but I will ask again… When the flashes happen and Sawyer and company disappear. What do the Others/French People think just happened to the person they were just with?
But as for the episode last night, I am so excited to see what happens with Jin, and I agree about your theory of it shooting someone we care about but hopefully it turns out to be Ben.
Greg on 05 Feb 2009 at 1:36 pm #
Yeah, last night’s ep wasn’t a huge “EPIC REVEAL”r, but you are correct, the show needed to get back some of the emotion that was present in earlier seasons.
As for Rousseau and her people, seeing how they die will be interesting. I could be completely making this up, but when future losties met Rousseau for the first time, didn’t she kind of flip out? Didn’t she say something about seeing people she knew were dead? Perhaps they start flashing around time as well.
I still like your old island theories, and I last night we were finally going to learn about the four-toed statue when Sawyer and co. set out on the boat after they flashed away from the pursuers. Alas, it wasn’t meant its time, I guess.
One thing you didn’t mention though… Jin!! He’s alive (something I think most of us expected), but how did he end up floating out in the ocean on a piece of picket fence?
James Gunn on 05 Feb 2009 at 1:39 pm #
Dude, she totally should choose Jack. That was a fucked up thing to say.
John Cabrera on 05 Feb 2009 at 2:16 pm #
Greg, I didn’t mention the Jin thing because it wasn’t as awesome a moment for me as I know it was for others. We all knew he was coming back this season. But yeah, that dudes a good actor… and that character is cool when they really use him. I’m glad he’s back.
James, you’re the worst kind of enabler.
Johnny Hugel on 05 Feb 2009 at 2:24 pm #
Sometimes I just need to reflect on when shows do exposition well. This episode initially may have felt flat to some who have come to expect WTF moments ever 20 minutes, but on reflection, it’s nice to see a show that can, as you say, get back to the emotional connections while still advancing the plot.
I did think the Danielles crew looked a little too fashion forward for the mid 80′s, even if they are European.
SamanthaJackson on 05 Feb 2009 at 2:55 pm #
I actually hope (since the pilot), that Kate is gonna choose a cliff and will jump in it, leaving Sawyer AND Jack alone!
Other than that (yeah, Kate character is the only one who bores me and I hate her with a passion), I liked this episode more than the others so far this season.
I’m so happy Jin is alive, but I’m afraid they are turning Sun in a revenge-woman who I won’t like.
I think they are showing us really important things in those short flashbacks/flashforwards, but we can’t really grasp them now, and frankly I’m too lazy to over-examinate any single scene, detail, sentence. So yeah, I’ll enjoy the show, I’ll enjoy some theories I’ll read, but I just can’t wait for season 6 to be over, and to watch again Lost from the pilot, giving the right meaning to everything.
I’m lazy like that.
John Cabrera on 05 Feb 2009 at 3:56 pm #
Ha! Johnny, I though the same thing about their clothes!
Steffany on 05 Feb 2009 at 7:12 pm #
Johnny…
I know there is a lot to get confused, but I was thinking… did Danielle ever say what year she shipwrecked? We assumed mid eighties, because of her daughter’s age. Maybe she didn’t though. Maybe Oceanic didn’t crash in 2005, at least not on the Island’s 2005.
Does that even make sense? I would love to know if the LOST writers have a timeline wrapped around the walls of their room as they write. I sure as hell need one right about now.
John Cabrera on 05 Feb 2009 at 8:32 pm #
At the beginning of Season 1, the survivors hear a looped radio recording made by Rousseau’s team. Based on the number of itterations, they calculate that it’s been looping for 17 years.
Rachie on 05 Feb 2009 at 11:33 pm #
Kate doesn’t need to choose James because he isn’t good for her and won’t take care of her like Jack will.
John Cabrera on 06 Feb 2009 at 2:13 am #
Hmm, I don’t know.
The way it comes across to me, Jack is struggling to keep up the appearace of being a provider. But underneath, he’s a mess. He’s driven to take care of people in such an obsessive way that it seems less about the people he’s helping, and more about some selfish need in himself. After a while he’ll start to put this need to help others in front of his and Kate’s relationship… she’ll eventually feel abandoned like his first wife did. And when the going gets really tough, he might even turn to drinking and drug abuse.
Sawyer on the other hand struggles to keep up the appearance of being a selfish asshole… because he’s so afraid of being abandoned. Deep down, though, he has a natural instinct to care and protect those he loves… and a true sense of loyalty and responsibility that I think far exceeds Jack’s misguided obsession.
That’s just my opinion.
Pauline on 06 Feb 2009 at 11:53 am #
I’m getting a bit tired of all the time jumping. It’s annoying me like the episode of Star Trek: TNG “Cause and Effect” did. This arc even has shades of similarity to that ep when Charlotte started feeling the effects of the time jumping (as La Forge had been dizzy due to the time anomaly).
But enough of my geekary… Locke mentioned that whatever Ben by turning that big crazy space agey ship’s wheel to start the time jumping is also what got him off the island. What the heck? We were told the only way off the island was the submarine that Locke destroyed back when Kate and Sawyer were in bear cages. But we were so gullible then… it was a simpler time. But last season we saw the need for ‘direct coordinates back to the ship’ supplied happily by Faraday. But then, the oceanic 6 made it off the island with the aid of a helicopter and the tides of the ocean. And what was the deal with all the dudes going wacky and getting sick on the good ship Whitmore? And why did the island disappear? And how has tripping around in time going to muck things up in the present? Why is hot hot hot Richard Alpert always wearing perfectly applied eyeliner? Was Ben aware that turning the wheel would start time jumping? Was that his intention or was he really just trying to escape Whitmore’s military goons? I’m just waiting for Marty McFly to show up on the island in a DeLorean.
Yes, yes… I’m over thinking. But I feel like the writers have turned me into a cat, tossed me in a gunny sack and tied the tip with bailing wire. I’ve been trapped by the writers in a time traveling jail something akin to Buffy Summers in ‘Life Serial’ only that was much more fun.
Oh… and Kate should TOTALLY hook up with Sayid. That guy has been kicking ass hardcore lately and deserves a little love.
James Gunn on 06 Feb 2009 at 12:17 pm #
She shouldn’t choose Sayid because he’s three feet tall.
And Sun is driving me fucking crazy. I haven’t believed her for a second in any of the episodes yet.
John Cabrera on 06 Feb 2009 at 12:30 pm #
Dude, the picnic scene with Sayid and Shannon in Season 2 still gives me nightmares. I think the FCC dropped the ball on that one.
Pauline on 06 Feb 2009 at 12:42 pm #
Wow. That is hardcore. I mean, even George Costanza had tall girlfriends… and he was 5’3″ AND GEORGE COSTANZA. Sayid is 5’8″ and well, totally hot.
I agree about Sun though. She is totally unbelievable as Whitmore’s henchwoman.
Baneen on 06 Feb 2009 at 1:33 pm #
So I finally watched this week’s episode. Not nearly as head scratching as I thought it would be. I totally guessed that was Danielle as soon as I heard them speak French.
They should have killed off Charlotte when she passed out, or made her completely lose her memory, something major, that way the nose bleeds would have felt more ominous. As it is they are just annoying at the moment.
As for those who’re in LA. Gah I hate Kate and Jack so much, I just want to slap him and kick her. I hope they never get back to the island and Sawyer and Juliet hook up instead.
Not my favourite episode, not keen on so much exposition, would rather have more wtf moments.
Manos Torgo on 06 Feb 2009 at 4:20 pm #
Well, I those canoes probably came from Others from the OTHER island that we haven’t talked about. Is THAT island jumping in time too? Oh wait…the writers seem to have forgotten they dreamed up that island. Hmm dreamed or dreamt?
Whatever, I loved Jack asking Kate to meet him without explaining why! Or asking HER questions and then dodging when she asked him a few. But the best was “No Kate, Ben is with us.” “Uh actually Jack, yah I was trying to take the kid” OH SNAP!
I miss the first season Jack. He’s become such a tool that Sawyer does indeed deserve Kate. Although, put THIS on for size….Kate has had 3 years of no Sawyer (with at least some shower time with Jack), but to Sawyer they’ve only been gone for a few days!!
kelseroo on 07 Feb 2009 at 1:28 pm #
“Why is Richard Alpert always wearing perfectly applied eyeliner?”
Pauline, my thoughts exactly. LOL
viv on 08 Feb 2009 at 3:20 am #
ok, so i waiting til tonight to see the last LOST and didnt come read this til now. I gotto say.. i REALLY dislike ben.. why the hell do people even trust him? or give him chances to be trusted?? that guy is such a manipulative ass!!! UGH!
I actually thought Sun was gonna take Aaron, but it appears that she is just out to kill ben.. but you know that ben is gonna convince her to go back to the island by telling her that Jin is alive. So i guess his plan is gonna work out overall.. all they need now is to get Hurley out of the slammer.
and yeah, i wish they explained the whole nosebleeds a bit more.. cause now Juliette and the asian dude are getting them too. is it based on how long someone is at the island??
John Cabrera on 08 Feb 2009 at 4:21 pm #
Yes, it seems to have to do with how long they’ve been on the island… or how long they’ve been exposed to this time shifting thing. I have a feeling there’s gonna be a big surprise reveal this season dealing with how long Miles and Charlotte have actually been on this island. If you remember, Charlotte came to the island to find the place where she was born.
Robbie on 09 Feb 2009 at 9:03 pm #
In an interview with the actor who plays Richard Alpert he was asked the eyeliner question. He said that he’s not wearing any, it’s just very dark eyelashes. He gets that question all the time.
Vanessa N. on 16 Feb 2009 at 5:44 pm #
LOVE the theory about the people chasing them in the canoe. Whether or not it turns out to be correct, I really like the idea that it’s another version of themselves in that other boat.
I’m also happy that Jin’s back. I didn’t really think he was dead though, because isn’t that one of the “rules”: if you don’t see them die, they aren’t really dead.
I suppose I’m one of the people who’s been hardened a little bit by all of the reveals, since that episode wasn’t really my favorite. That’s probably because I’ve never been a fan of the episodes that have much to do with Aaron being older. I was so annoyed when I found out he was being counted as one of the Oceanic 6 since he wasn’t on the original passenger list. When is he going to start being an evil child already (since the fortune teller said that he was supposed to be raised by Claire only)?
And wait…did you say that you got a little teary? You mean, you didn’t find “the emotional stuff a bit too contrived and writery”?
Love it that you weighed in with your opinion on the triangle even though that’s not one of your big interests in the show. I completely agree with your assessment of Jack’s and Sawyer’s characters (in the comments section). For those reasons, and also because Jack is simply more boring and makes Kate more boring, I think Sawyer’s the better choice.
Jules on 27 Feb 2009 at 12:04 am #
okay, i have to say (sorry i’m still catching up with your blogs when i have the chance [read: avoiding writing papers] so obviously am behind…) that as a psychology major, i particularly appreciated your analyses of Jack’s and Sawyer’s characters, and thought they were completely in line with my interpretations.
sadly, as with all of life, am behind on Lost… i think i’m a season behind. someday i will catch up on everything. maybe when Cody’s in college. that should only be… 11 or so years.
haha, um. back to my papers….
take care! xo