With “LOST,” can there ever be too much of a good thing? The return of the smoke monster. The return of Christian Shephard. A glimpse of Rousseau’s early madness. Jin’s reunification with the left-behinders. Sun’s reaction to Jin’s wedding ring. Charlotte’s death. Ben being his sneaky self but with a flash of emotion. And yes, Mrs. Hawking, Eloise, and Daniel’s mother are one and the same. If this were season two, we would’ve had to watch three, four episodes to get such a bounty of plot twists and clues.
I was dizzy with glee at the closing thud, but Jen was a little less impressed. “It felt like a connecting piece,” says she. “The kind of touch-all-the-bases episode that usually came before a season finale.” And I can see her point. When once we lamented how the show dragged out the mysteries, I actually think we now miss some of that indulgent meandering and dramatic depth as we cover so much ground so quickly.
In terms of mythology, two characters’ last words carry the most promise.
First, Robert, speaking as a believer to a skeptical Danielle, explaining that the smoke monster is not a monster, just a security system protecting “the temple.” So the temple and the smoke monster are interconnected… and when the smoke monster isn’t on a murderous rampage, it has some pretty persuasive mojo. How awful, yet wonderful, was it to see just how Montand lost his arm (and Jen certainly didn’t feel bad for the guy)? What a delicious twist that Robert turned his gun on Danielle first? And that it jammed, as guns on “LOST” are wont to do, when the target still has work to do?
Secondly, Charlotte, flashing back to her youth on the island, suggesting a rushed departure with her mother as a child, and an early encounter with a scary man that was probably Daniel Faraday. I’m confident we’re going to meet a young Charlotte soon, reciting the very same lines about Hannibal and chocolate. The question is whether we’ve met Charlotte before? I still don’t believe Charlotte is young Ben’s doll-making Annie, but her final scene is certainly tantalizing. We’re pretty crushed that Charlotte died, as usual, just as she was getting really interesting: but we’re also confident her story has some missing chapters left to be told.
As for Christian Shepherd? Talk about leaving science behind. I loved it, though. “Since when did listening to him get you anywhere worth a damn?” And Locke was supposed to turn the wheel, not Ben. How would things have turned out if Locke woke up in the desert? I especially liked how Christian said he couldn’t help Locke to his feet. He is, after all, but a vision.
Jin’s sudden exposure to the flashes was well done, his reunion with Sawyer was heartwarming, and his demand to Locke to tell Sun he’s dead was especially intense. And Jen loved that his wedding ring went with Locke as proof of his death, but was ultimately used by Ben to convince Sun of his survival. How that ring came to change hands remains a mystery, and as Ben wiggled his way out of explaining, I got the distinct sense that he knows quite a bit more about Locke’s death than he’s let on.
Ben had some great lines. “I didn’t account for traffic,” or, “That’s true, Jack. I went to see him.” But his brief outburst in the van was great. His frustration with everyone trying to kill him was palpable, and the weight of his mission was clear. Whatever the moment, Michael Emerson is pitch perfect. He totally sold Ben’s surprise at learning Mrs. Hawking was Daniel’s mother, even if we weren’t surprised.
Other favorite lines: Miles bristling at the assumption he can translate for Jin, saying “He’s Korean, I’m from Encino.” Sawyer’s many quips, including, “Expecting a subway?” Or Charlotte’s love of Geronimo Jackson and fluency in Klingon.
But to us, little things gave “This Place is Death” some dramatic heft, despite all the mythological reveals. Danielle and Robert arguing about Alexander versus Alexandra. Jin pausing to get water from a leaf, and the reappearance of Danielle’s music box, which Sayid fixed in Season 1. And the almost too disarming smile Locke — or Terry O’Quinn — sneaks in just before he descends down the well. Go back and watch it. Golden. The magic is still there, and we love it.
What did you think? Please comment below, e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or call the LostLine at (808) 356-0127 by Friday, Feb. 13.
Love the pod casts just discovered a pretty newbie to lost but am totally addicted have all 4 season on dvd! Any way have read rumores that people think charlotte is bens friend I think annie is charlottes mother
Thanks Kira –
I was starting to think about Faraday and how he has looked the same since we have seen him. So, back in the 70s, he looked exactly the same as he does now. Why do some people not age at all? And if that is the case, wouldn’t Juliet have seen Faraday before at some point? Ben knew who all of the team was when they landed on the island – shouldn’t Juliet know some of them??
btw “The Ruins” is by Scott Smith
To Dave: All we got by way of Danielle is that what she said was true. That last scene with the two dead bodies and the showdown with the guns was interesting but the whole thing was too quickly dispatched.
I attempt to balance out all the LOST fans who scream OMFG! at the end of every episode. Let’s face it, some episodes serve the purpose of merely tying up ends and setting up others. They can’t all be The Constant.
ppl, faraday isn’t like richard. what you saw in the begining of the season hasn’t happened yet. it’s from a future time jump in which all of them get to work for dharma, stuck in thier time when the jumps stop. if you listen to jen and ryian’s spoilers you should know more about that….
here are two things no one mentioned which seem pretty important to me:
1. in the past i got the feeling jacob was imprisioned. we thought it was by ben when he told lock “help me” but now i’m thinking there’s a bigger conspiracy as yet unrevealed in which shephard who pretends to speak for him hold him prisioner. those forces that want the 06 back want to correct the timeline, but jacob doesnt’ want them back. the dead world on lost is devided – some apparitions help the mission and once in a while some escape the imprisionment to warn and try to prevent: kate’s drean on claire or charlotte’s screams in korean to not bring sun, followed by the “correct” agenda – helping guide lock to the orchid by pointing the well. charlotte couldnt’ have known that, not even as a girl on the island. it’s a ghost war. widmore might turn out a good guy, trying to help the imprisoned jacob, it would make sense after jughead.
2. remember that important season 1 episode in which lock and boone find the nigerian plane because lock dreamt it and than lock looses his walking ability right where in the future/past ethan shoots him? so this episode when lock falls into the well, he has this knife stuck in his leg outta nowhere, the same knife that appeared outta nowhere in his leg near the hatch and boone pointed it out, john never felt it. i think that as john turned the wheel and went through the black warmhole, time bended – as clsoe as you are to the warmhall, future and past fold and touch for a glimpse. that made those incidents possible, thier proximity to the time of wheel turning.
does anyone else think that Miles might be the son of Dr. Marvin Candle? Farady keeps asking him if he’s sure he’d never been to the island before, and then there was that scene a few episodes ago w/ Dr. Marvin and the baby…
@Carmel – When John first got injured near the hatch, John’s leg had shrapnel from the trebuchet he built. Down in the well, that wasn’t a knife. That was his bone sticking out. He suffered a compound fracture.
“1) Sun is going to threaten to kill Jack, not Ben. I think it’s fair to say that Jack is most responsible for not allowing the helicopter to stay/return for Jin. (This, based on my imperfect and likely unreliable memory of that scene).”
Sun was going to kill Ben because Ben was the person who stabbed Keamy to death directly after Keamy said that if he died, the boat will blow up. When Locke told Ben he had just killed all the people on the boat, Ben’s reply was “So?”. It’s safe to assume that Sun found out about this and therefore wanted to take revenge on Ben.
I’m not convinced that Christian Shephard is simply a vision. A vision couldn’t pick up Aaron, could it? Even with Charlie appearing to Hurley: why could other people see Charlie as well?
Ryan, Robert’s gun didn’t jam. Remember Danielle removed the firing pin. She told Sayid that when he had her at gunpoint and she said Robert didn’t notice the firing pin was removed before she killed him. I can’t wait to find out why Robert wanted to kill her. At first I thought she was saying “you’re not Robert” because he had the temporal displacement “sickness” and was talking what sounded like nonsense to her (much like Charlotte telling someone to crank up the Geronimo Jackson song or that she couldn’t have chocolate before bed… speaking of chocolate, young Annie told Ben the Dharma kids could have all the Apollo bars they wanted… hmmmm?). But I don’t think that was the sickness Robert had. He was manipulating her, telling her he loved her and their baby, but as soon as she lowered her gun, he raised his. Why!?!? We better find out. And I was really disappointed with the way Montand lost his arm. That’s been a mystery to us since season one and I thought the answer to it would have been a little better!
Also, after Cabin Fever I told every one who I know that watches Lost and I also posted it in theories at Lostpedia, that Christian told Locke he had to move the island and he didn’t mean for Ben to do. Every one told me I was wrong and that I was just looking too deep into his words but I was right! Yay! I love Lost and I love your podcast. Keep up the great work!
do you really think christain sheperd is just a vision, i think he a full body man,but appears to people in time of need. he couldnt help locke because
this is his jounry,he he could have helped he could have just moved the island himself.
the number playing on the radio that montand had at the beach, i believe
that with all this time traveling we’ll find out that hurley,started the whole
number thing in the past.not me but some one said the voice speaking the number sounded like hurley.
it was kind of a weird sence at the end where they all just showed up at the church,did des just walk up at that time or was he waiting for something. and he didnt seem happy to see the lost crew. i dont think they
have seen each other in awhile.
what did sun mean when she said she found a new playmate for her daughter,it seemed creapy,and wierd.
what ever happen to tom (mr friendly) is he off island still.
I had to laugh when Montand said, “Next he’ll say there’s a submarine!”
What if injured Locke time travels to Los Angeles, finds Ben, tells him that Jin is alive and that he doesn’t want Sun to return or Locke says he promised Jin he would not bring back Sun. Why didn’t Locke (Bentham) tell Jack, Hurley, and Kate that Jin was alive? Or did he hide it from them?
Perhaps Locke dies either because Ben lets him die or Ben kills him in an argument about whether all the Oceanic Six have to return; or Locke is not really dead, just tranquilized into looking dead. Ben plans to resurrect Locke so that Locke can convince the others to return, but before that happens, Jack opens the coffin (as seen in previews) and discovers Locke really is alive, but comatose… or Locke wakes up when Jack opens the coffin and proceeds to try to eat Jack’s brain (less likely, but funny if it were true).
I didn’t like episode 4 as much as episode 3 but the ending was pretty good, though I would have liked it if Locke said to Christian (whom I believe is really Jacob reincarnated), “Why didn’t you tell me only I could move the island and no one else?” If Locke would have moved the island himself, then perhaps the island would not have been time skipping and the fountain of blood would not flow so much. How would Locke have become the new leader of the Others if he time traveled upon moving the island? Or did Ben only time travel upon moving the island because the island wanted him off of it?
I also guessed that Charlotte and Miles were born on the island and I do believe Miles is Marvin Candle’s son.
Daniel Faraday has memory issues, as we’ve seen during last season, so it is no wonder he cannot remember how long he’s been on the island or he won’t reveal his history with the island because he has a bigger role in why they are in this helluva jam.
The island is not really death, but the history of the people that inhabited the island treat the island as if it has power over whether they live or die. Rules, to them, appear to be different on the island than in any place on Earth. Respecting the island, protecting the island and never leaving it will keep them alive because their life force supports the island. The island suffers when it is abandoned and bad things come to people who kill anyone thought to be valuable to the island.
It looks like we finally saw this dark territory where Danielle and her team started to have bad things happen to them. Why did the gun not fire, on the beach, at Danielle? Was she protected from being killed by some unnatural force because Alex is a new life force that will help the island thrive?
Is Ben bringing back the Oceanic Six to help the island or to help himself so he can continue living on the island? Are the Oceanic Six to be sacrificed for the island once they get there? Then will he be permitted to stay on the island?
when c. sheperd said that locke was told to move the isalnd, he seemed upset because ben did it.did jacob and ben have a falling out and what if
ben kill’s locke after getting the info he need,or has sayid do it that way
sayid seem pissed off at ben.
Great episode! I really loved seeing some of the pieces fall into place.
I think that Locke in a sense was keeping his promise to Jin–he did not tell Sun Jin was live, but neither did he tell her he was dead. He instead handed the ring off to Ben so that he could do what needed to be done. I figured that Ben would have the ring to give to Sun as proof Jin was alive. I’m surprised that Sun did not immediately wonder if Ben was lying and that Jin actually was dead and Ben removed the ring from his finger, but I suppose she wanted to believe he was still alive.
I think the island must now have skipped to a time of the Dharma Initiative. I wonder if it will be stuck there for awhile since Locke turned the wheel. Daniel is on his own now since Charlotte died so I figure that now is when the first scene of the season fits. Daniel will “join” the DI, meet young Charlotte and warn her not to ever return to the island.
It will be interesting to see how the other O6 make it back into the fold. I know that Eloise Hawking said they could start without them, but I don’t think Kate, Aaron, Sayid and Hurley are off the hook. I wonder what will happen to Desmond? Will he also return to the island?
OH, and I think the Smoke Monster somehow possessed or took the form of Danielle’s crew. I do think there was something wrong with them, but I’m not really sure how that works.
I was awesome to see that scene though. I hope we’re not done with Rousseau and baby Alex’s story.
I thought I better go back and check the history of Carthage and Hannibal and see if it might get us anywhere in the world of LOST.
Carthage was an empire in what is today now Tunisia (wasn’t Ben Linus there once?). Founded by Queen Elissa/Dido (the wanderer), the Carthaginian empire (at one point ) held most of the western mediterranean. According to the Aeneid, Dido fell madly in love with Aeneas the Trojan while he was passing through on his way to establish what would become the Roman empire. When Aeneas announced he wasn’t sticking around, Dido apparently committed suicide and simultaneously put a curse on the departing Trojans. This is believed to have established the ongoing enmity between the Romans and the Carthaginians.
Hannibal was a renowned military strategist from Carthage(son of a famed military commander), a statesman, and one of the most formidable foes the early Roman Empire ever faced. He is also credited as being the invocation of the “avenging spirit†that Dido called upon in her dying words. According to Wikipedia, he is also the originator of the saying “We will either find a way, or make one.â€
Eventually the Romans crushed the original Carthage, raised it, and created their own Carthage on top of the ruins. They also sold the remaining Carthaginians into slavery, for good measure.
But don’t feel totally bad for the Carthaginians, they are said to have sacrificed children to their god Ba’al Hammon…but maybe it is just a rumour.
Also important to note that Carthage (the newer one of course) was the center for early Christianity, and a lot of important people who are now Catholic saints hung out there.
*
All this puts me in the mind of The Purge, and what happened afterwards. Also thinking about the temple and the four toed station and who the islands earliest inhabitants might have been….and whether they had any enemies.
Just one question… how is it that Sun knows that Jin “dying” was Ben’s fault? She wasn’t there to see Ben shoot Keamy, and she apparently never spoke with Locke, so… ??? Help me out here. I thought for awhile that she was playing Widmore and trying to get on his good side to help the Losties, because that would make a lot more sense, her hating Widmore, after all, he sent the freighter full of explosives, not Ben.
Also looked up Hannibal in John Locke’s Two Treatise of Government and came across this (in this section he is talking about the organization of people after the dispersion of Babel)
“Hannibal in his army, consisting of diverse nations, kept those of the same language together; therefore fathers were captains of each band, and Hannibal was careful of the fatherly authority…”
*
In this first treatise (which is mostly just a big tome against monarchy and divine right), Locke argues against the idea that Adam from the Bible “possessed unlimited power over his children” (wikipedia) throughout the generations or that Adam possessed/s absolute authority over any of them at all.
This makes me think about how both Hannibal and John Locke (philosopher) followed in their fathers footsteps and then surpassed them. So all the daddy issues on LOST came flooding back into my brain.
I’m waiting for the big Charlotte’s dad reveal. Give us Miles (pretty obvious) and Daniel’s dads too. I am eagerly awaiting more rebellious sons (and daughters too!)
OK, end of ramble.
Christian is Jacob or Jacob’s assistant. Thought it was great when he told Locke, “say hello to my son.” Locke’s face, “WTF?” Not sure Christian was originally intended to be Jacob, but they wanted to bring his character back to do something.
I really thought Nadine (in Rouseau’s party) would turn out to be Charlotte’s mother. Was probably just a cheap trick.
Locke never died — remember the Nikki and Paulo spider venom?
So how did Charlotte and her mother simply leave the Dharma Initiative, leaving her father behind? Still betting the coma/time traveling woman Desmond recently visited in the UK is Ben’s childhood friend Anne.
Liked Desmond showing up in LA. Liked Miles’ (yeah, he’s Baby Candle) “I’m from Encino” and Charlotte’s, “…and Klingon.” Sad to see Charlotte go, as I was with (great legs) Shannon. Nikki had great legs, too (but I don’t miss her). Razzle dazzle!
OK, a little etiquette here in the forum if I may…
It is frustrating to see the same questions asked, and/ or points made over and over as you read people’s posts. Please for the sake of all of us, do a little reading before posting. Wednesday, your question about the gun and Rousseau can be answered above several times for one example. Secondly, and more importantly, @ Caramel, you must post SPOILER before you talk about anything dealing with future episodes. I just recently became spoiler-free, and so don’t listen to the forward cabin at the end of the podcast in order to avoid spoilers. Feel free to talk all you want about the current episode as soon as it airs, but please don’t throw out talk about future episodes without a spoiler warning.
Now that that’s out of the way, the thing that intriques me is, if Locke HAD been the one to originally turn the wheel, he would not have been bouncing around in time back on the island, and would not have been able to go back in time and tell Richard when he would be born, yadda yadda. That seems like it was kinda of important to have happened.
Will be interesting to see what supernatural forces are really at work on the island, and who is linked to the good ones and the bad ones, because AS MENTIONED ABOVE, there seem to be both at work.
What an amazing episode – one of the best ever, definitely the best of the season so far.
Suddenly the island seems full of ancient ruins – signs of an ancient civilization ?
By the way where is Claire?! No signs of her till now. I wonder what happened.
And where is Rose and Bernard?
I love your podcast, i listen to it since 2006. You are so so great!!!
Danielle took the bullets out of the gun, she told us so earlier. Which given what we saw means either Robert thought she was too crazy to be allowed to live (doubtful) or he is “sick” and Danielle is telling the truth (whatever that is). I’m guessing the “monster” took them over while they were in the temple. Anyone notice how Nadine died like the Pilot did in the first episode… then someone got dragged off with that weird gear clanking sound… granted the arm getting ripped off was new.
I like the Rose and Bernard as Adam and Eve theory, been thinking that for a while now. The Locke spider venom idea sounds solid to me too, see Nikki and Paulo had a purpose. I’ve been wondering if the whole “bring back those who left” thing is more of the island tying up loose ends, than anything else.
Monster wants those people who know too much squished but good.
I’m disappointed about Jin time jumping. There’s no way that he was thrown by the blast into the radius of the island, the helicopter should have been much closer and it didn’t make it into the radius. Remember the doctor from the freighter who washed to the island dead before he was killed be Kemmy on the freighter. I was hoping the same happened to Jin, floating to the island sent him to the past with Rousseau where he was stuck, 16 years away from his wife. As we saw with Dan and Charlotte not every love story can end happy and I thought that would have been a good twist, o well.
Did Locke stop the time skipping or did he just find a way off the island?
I’m still waiting for the Black Rock story and I thought the time skipping was the best chance for that.
Did everyone hear the car screaching behind Sayid’s voice when he was telling Ben he wanted nothing to do with him? That was really strange. Was that possibly Michael crashing his car last season?
Paintergirl 1-I like your thinking about the connection of the Smoke Monster with the Temple. If you remember, the Temple is where all the Others hid out after they abandoned Othersville and Ben and Locke joined up (whereupon Ben promptly shot him and left him for dead in the pit). I am wondering if an encounter with Smokie is some kind of hazing ritual or rite of passage. Your name gets put on a “list” upon arrival to the Island. If Smokie chooses you for indoctrination, you become an Other and enjoy all the benefits of Otherhood: immortality, time travel (maybe), a life in paradise, etc. In return you must defend the Island with your life against all invaders and potential threats, thus, Robert and the French team, having been turned into Others, see Danielle as an”un” Other and want to kill her. There are other examples: “This is OUR Island!”, the killing of the US military in the ’50s, the attack on the Dharma Initiative, the separation of the “good” Tailies from the bad, etc. Whew! Gotta go back to work, ugh!
I’m not sure this is a priority in terms of what we’d like to know what with everything else going on, but what about the Others? They have to be time shifting too right?
Greg,
Thanks for bringing etiquette into question. PLEASE, please, please folks … read the previous posts before posting your own. It does become frustrating and redundant after a while to see the same “original” thoughts over and over. I think we can all agree that the Podcasts are fantastic and that we enjoy this forum. The only reason I haven’t posted yet this season is that many of my own “brainstorms” have already been discussed thoroughly, thanks to many of you guys out there who beat me to it! No need to beat the dead horses. 🙂
I thought this episode was good but not great. It gave us some clues but not many answers. More of a transition episode.
But I do have a theory on why Miles didn’t seem to know that he had met Charlotte as a child on the island. I think that maybe Miles hasn’t been there yet. It is in his future. When Locke turns the donkey wheel, maybe they land up in the Darma land of the 70s. Miles meets Charlotte as a child and know she comes back and dies so he tries to stop her.
The big questions,\: who are Charlotte’s parents. Maybe Ben and Annie and Ben makes them leave before the purge. Was Annie’s hair red? I can’t remember. The Smoke Monster is a little bit better understood but more questions than answers. What was Christian doing down there. Is he Jacob? Is he tryig to destroy Jacob? So many questions, so few answers!!!
Hey Jen and Ryan (ladies first this time!)-
I really need to re-watch the episode to post a cohesive thought, but I agree with those above, that Ben is out only for Ben and needs to right the wrong he caused when HE activated the frozen polar bear wheel (I’m trying to phase out ‘donkey’… what do you think?) instead of Locke.
PS: The screeching tires we hear under Sayid and Ben’s exchange, is Kate driving away with Aaron.
@ Nels
“Interestingly enough, Rousseau remembers Jin after flashing from the temple that Smokey was protecting. So, they’ve been affecting the future memory of the people they’ve run into, after all?”
If that is the case then why the heck doesn’t Danielle remember Jin when the gang meets her way many episodes back (season 1 or 2?) ? Or am I not remembering correct? Did Jin & Danielle ever meet pre-timeskipping?
Great podcast R&J thx for making my workdays bearable 😛
Andreas in Sweden, long time listener!
Is it just me, or does the Smoke Monster’s noise not remind you of a ticking clock? I figured it was a ‘clockwork’ mechanism in the past, to give you the impression that it was a mechanical device, but now feel it’s being used to correct the timeline in some way. Can’t think why it would need to scrap Nadine and Montand though.
Re: Daniel and CHarlotte – I’m assuming that Daniel travels back to the island in the past AFTER the events of this episode in an effort to save Charlotte – that’s why he is surprised that she was from the island. That being the case, much of what we have seen on Daniel in the past (with Marvin Candle etc) must have happened after the point that we are at now.
I think my nose just started bleeding…
re: etiquette – I agree, but reading through ALL these posts *sheesh* 😉
Sorry for the multiple posts. Just had a thought about the wheel.
When Ben turned the wheel, was it not frozen in place? He had to ‘break’ the ice to get it turning again. At this point was it not true that the island was frozen in time, and the world was moving on normally off island?
When Locke saw the wheel this time, it was jittering around (much like the group left on the island) – his efforts put a stop to the jiggling, and by turning it he moves off the island.
By that logic, do you think that the wheel will be turning ‘normally’ now, so wherever the losties have ended up, they will progress normally through time? Perhaps this is how the dharma initiative finds them and gets to work (the island is synched with the real world again)
AngelafromMA mentioned the severed arm was mentioned in season one. Can someone remind me when that arm was seen before? Thanks Alot! Love the comments!
@ Chris : I think Tom ( AKA Mr. Friendly ) was killed when Hurley saved the day w/ the DHARMA van.
I’ve transcribed the hieroglyphs as requested :
1. Concentrate…feel the Force flow. Yes. Good. Calm, yes. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future…the past. Old friends long gone.
2. “Clear your mind must be, if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.â€
3. “Help me John Locke. You’re my only hope.â€
OK…so there actually Star Wars quotes I Googled. But…some of these quotes seem to have some meaning maybe?
Last bit because a lot of good ideas on here:
I think another reason that Ben turned the wheel was because he wanted to get revenge on Widmore for killing Alex as much as he wanted to be ‘special’ like John.
But, in the end this was ‘supposed to happen’. He was ‘supposed to break the rules’. If he had not done so then the losties would not have gotten there, and Rousseau would not have been saved by Jin, and etc., etc. Heck, Ben may not have ever stolen Alex in the first place if Rousseau had been allowed to follow her companions into “The Temple”…enough of this thought for now…till next week!
Oops…I mean “they are actually”. I hate bad grammaere. Haha…
@ mikeinmaine : The only arm I remember was Vincent ( the dog ) had one in his mouth…but I thought that was Ben’s dad’s arm from the DHARMA van?
Haven’t seen this mentioned yet but according to a recent article in Entertainment Weekly, character centric episodes return with 5.12 which will be Kate-centric.
Love your blogs and podcasts, jen & Ryan!
@nuckinfits & mikeinmaine: Didn’t Marvin Candle only have one arm in the Swan orientation video? Recurring theme’s in Lost – missing limbs/eyes…
It’s 8am in Scotland, i’m flying to Berlin in a couple of hours, i should be sorting out my bags but i can’t get This Place is Death off my mind.
Now that i’ve fully digested it i keep thinking that the most important information gleaned from the episode involves the crew of the Bésixdouze.
The crew are attacked by Smokey, and Montand (i assume it’s Montand) is dragged away, into the ruins of an ancient building. The result being that Montand loses his arm, and the rest of the crew GAIN his arm.
Now, when the Losties make their way to the Black Rock i’m sure Danielle mentions it being where Montand lost his arm – but i don’t recall seeing the ruins in that scene, and i don’t recall seeing the ship in the scene with Montands arm. The Black Rock should have crashed there long before, so are we to assume that the island will move quite considerably into the past and pick up the ship then?
The rest of the crew then pop down into Smokeys hole and we shift through time, to find that Danielle has dispatched most of them and now has Robert at gunpoint. I was very excited to know whether the story she tells the losties is true or not – will Robert try to kill her? And yes, he does.
So what do we assume? Is she correct when she says that they’re not the same? Montand in the hole didn’t sound like someone who’s just had his arm ripped off. Does Smokey bring people back? Jacks fathers body was lying around on the island, and now that seems to be wandering around.
That takes me onto Charlies visit to Hurley, that didn’t seem much like one of Hurleys imaginary friends. He was wearing different clothes, someone else saw him, and he slapped Hurley. Was it a “possessed” body? If i’m right about this then it also relates to the recent official podcast comments about reincarnation, and the anagram on the side of Bens van.
It was also interesting to hear Robert refer to the smoke monster as “security for the temple”, Danielle reiterates this when asked by the losties later.
I love when things come full circle.
When Jin asked someone to translate, the rest of the group thought he was talking to Miles. But, it looked to me that he was addressing Charlotte directly. Like he knew Charlotte spoke Korean.
Since LOST producers seem to cast ethnic characters accurately, I’m thinking Miles Straume is supposed to be Chinese. And, Jin could plainly see he wasn’t Korean.
Does anyone remember last season, if Jin had an opportunity to speak with Charlotte?
@Theresa (and others)- In the episode last season “Something Nice Back Home” (episode 4 – 10), Jin and Sun go with Daniel and Charlotte to the medical station and Jin notices that Charlotte smiles when he says something to Sun in Korean. He later confronts her and forces her to admit that she knows Korean and demands that she ensure that Sun gets on the helicopter (otherwise he will hurt Daniel).
So it wasn’t just a lucky guess this season.
I’m watching ? (an Eko-centered episode) from Season 2, and a red headed woman (I think called Mrs. Malcolm) comes into the church and tells the monsignor and Priest Eko (Father Tunde) that her daughter Charlotte slipped, drowned, and died and then the next day came back to life. She tells them it is a miracle and that the Vatican should be alerted. Eko looks into it for the church. Is this our Charlotte?
I just had a brief comment. i really like how the producers have managed to make time travel, a theme that has been done ad nauseum in sci-fi, seem fresh in that they’ve introduced the possibility that time travel can be fatal. Or maybe it’s not the time travel itself but the method of time travel that’s fatal. In either case, it puts a new spin on a tired formula. I guess I’m wondering why some people die while others just stay in comas. Perhaps it’s the frequency of time travel, i.e. Theresa is stuck in one point in time, so she’s not in danger of dying, but the islanders are continually shifting through time, so they’re in danger. Looking forward to the next podcast!
The “?” question mark episode I recently watched myself and as soon as the name Charlotte was mentioned I skimmed to the end of the episode to see this Charlotte.
She looked similar to Daniel’s Charlotte, but I would have to say it was not The Island Charlotte. My reasons are 1) Eko and her conversation happens right before he gets on the 815 flight so therefore only 2-3 months go by between when we would see this Charlotte in the airport and Island Charlotte. They two girls just looked to dissimilar to be the same person considering the the short amount of time where you could account for aging. It is just another name that has appeared
in more than one instance
RE: Eko’s Charlotte–it’s so confusing that the producers reuse names! I know that in real life you might know a lot of people with the same name, but I think they just like to mess with us! I agree that it seems impossible that the two Charlottes are the same.
Why is it that Danielle did not go flash along with Jin when he flashed, but Daniel, Charlotte and Miles do?
Also, could the sickness be related to time travel? Danielle shouts to Jin, “You disappeared, you must have the sickness to!”
Can’t see how to edit posts, so I will have to post again.
Include Juliet in the group that is flashing but seems more akin to the Others than to the Losties.
The more I think about the flashing through time, the more confused I become. I just don’t understand how some people do and some people don’t and what the distinction is.
I wanted to add that I thought the amount of screen time given to the Rousseau was adequate for what they were trying to do. We had basically been given most of Rousseau’s story when she told it to Sayid (and from what we heard on the transmission). I think too much time to show us what we’ve already heard would have been a bit dull. It would have been like Rose and Bernard telling their story to Jack in season one, and then watching the episode SOS in season two.
What they did show us was important, even though it wasn’t much of a surprise. For one, they showed us (or heavily implied) that Danielle was telling the truth which was previously up for debate, and that entering the Temple somehow changed her team and gave them the “sickness”. I doubt it was an actual sickness, but from her perspective, it was. I think this will be revisited when we see the Temple again with the main characters.
We can assume that after Jin flashed away, Rousseou’s story continued as she described. They kept treking towards the radio tower, and she began to notice the “sickness” in her team when they were near the Black Rock. They could have shown this drama to us as well as whatever happened at the radio tower, but it probably isn’t that important, since we basically know what happened. Two weeks later she has killed her team, she kills Robert and sees Jin once again.
The only other piece to Danielle’s story that really matters and is shrouded in some mystery is how Ben ended up with Alex. I’m sure we will see this from Ben’s point of view at some point down the road.
Anyway, another great episode and can’t wait for the podcast Ryan and Jen. You guys do an excellent job and keep us all quite entertained!
Theresa: in the episode “Something Nice Back Home” Charlotte smirks when Sun and Jin are speaking to each other in Korean which tips off Jin that she speaks the language. He confronts her about it and after lying at first, she admits that she does speak Korean fluently.