After aligning herself with the minority in being disappointed in last week’s episode, Jen said tonight that she loved “Some Like It Hoth.” We both agreed it was hardly a deep, rich exploration of characters and mythology. It was a generous helping of fan fodder, chock full of little epiphanies and truly golden one-liners to keep us grinning throughout. Wrapped in the comfortable and traditional flashback structure, we finally get some of Miles’ backstory. We cross a few items off the “mystery” checklist. We get a glimpse of the coming “war” and the likely collapse of our survivors’ DHARMA ruse. And at the closing thud, Dan Faraday returns, likely with a hell of a story to tell… in two weeks.
First, the fun stuff. The unlikely buddy team of Hurley and Miles was as great as we’d imagined (and as was hinted during the time travel debate a couple of weeks ago). Miles was the straight man, but still wickedly wry. And Hurley was in top form. From stopping global warming to pre-writing “The Empire Strikes Back,” from possibly bringing us the closest to a “fart joke” we’ve ever seen on this show to his gleeful meddling between Dr. Chang and Miles, Jorge Garcia has never been more funny, and perfectly in sync with “LOST” fans. Was it a bit much? A touch of pandering? Jen doesn’t think so… though I can see how a grumpier fan looking for more forward motion might have felt a bit annoyed.
I thought Miles’ journey was well presented, though necessarily compressed. Tortured by his ability as a child, he grew to exploit it. He was also, like just about everyone on “LOST,” simmering with daddy issues. (Jen and I agreed, young punk Miles was wonderfully depicted.) Bram’s pitch in the black van didn’t penetrate his armor, but Hurley’s “Star Wars” metaphor at the DHARMA van did. And the scene where he sees his father reading to him was powerful. Dr. Chang has consistently been depicted as a grouch (and a “douche”), a reputation that even guarded Miles must have been familiar with. So to suddenly see him genuinely happy, perhaps only when he’s with baby Miles, said a lot. When Dr. Candle comes out to tell older Miles that he needs him? When Miles’ voice falters? Yeah, they got me.
Did Dr. Candle throw his wife and son out, or off the island? I’m thinking no. Perhaps she fled with baby Miles. But from what?
As for the reveals? They were doled out with great efficiency. Miles is Dr. Chang’s infant son. It’s possible to see yourself in the past (but physical contact may still be a problem). Miles wanted $3.2 million from Ben as he was trying, for the second time, to double his money from Widmore. Widmore was genuinely investigating the faked plane wreckage… though whoever was behind it is still unclear. And is that mysterious person or group behind trying to talk Miles out of joining Naomi’s expedition? Because that entity is also behind Ilana’s mission in 2007 (linked by the brilliantly-named Bram).
“The Reconstituted DHARMA Initiative” of the futurepresent is as good a theory as any.
It was a fun ride. But the path ahead looks to be a deliciously treacherous one. First of all, Kate is back to form, flapping her gums and toppling the first domino of doubt that’ll likely lead to our survivors’ expulsion from the DHARMA Initiative. And, yes, Daniel Faraday is back, returning from Ann Arbor as a Swan-assigned DHARMA scientist. How and why he ended off island will be almost as interesting to explore as what he’s ultimately up to. We only know he arrived, broken, in Othersville in 1974, and sometime later got inside The Orchid just as the frozen wheel was discovered. Is he trying to change something? We’re told “whatever happened, happened,” but if anyone’s going to break that particular rule, it’s him.
- Favorite Hurley moment? His interaction with Dr. Chang where they discus polar bear feces. Favorite Hurley line? “It all could have been avoided if they just… communicated.” No truer words are there for “LOST” — or for just about any dramatic story.
- I can’t wait for Jack to find his moment, to be “activated” a la Ilana… because his shuffling around is seriously getting on my nerves. The scene where he delivers his intel to Sawyer then quietly walks out left me scratching my head. And his defense of Kate to Roger was pretty weak. What could he have said to chill Roger out? How about, “She had a son, but lost him. She doesn’t ever want to talk about it. She just feels deeply for Ben, and for you.”
- Lots of numbers in this episode, including (finally) the numbers, being stamped into the hatch. There was the $1.6 and $3.2 million, of course, and the 3:16 on the microwave in the opening scene. Mr. Vonner was found dead in apartment four. They also clearly showed Miles’ older, bedridden mother lived in apartment 7… but earlier it seemed as if she came running from an apartment a few doors down from apartment 104.
- Music was prominent in this episode, too. Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains In Southern California” and Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Plus a reference to Miles Davis. Dr. Chang loves country (hence “Shotgun Willie” in the opening scene of Season 5).
- Locations: The apartment complex and the taco stand are both in Aiea, makai of Pearlridge, next to Pearl Kai Shopping Center.
Please comment below, e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or call the LostLine at (808) 356-0127 by Friday, April 17.
OK, I did remember an example of Desmond changing the future. Charlie. Desmond kept having visions of how Charlie would die and kept preventing it. Sure, fate finally caught up with Charlie, but this proves that Desmond is at least immune to “Whatever Happened Happened”.
And what about his timejump that Mrs Hawking was part of. She seemed a bit surprised when Desmond tried to deviate off course from the time she knows.
Hmmmm. So Desmond finds Faraday. Faraday tells Hawking about Desmond. Hawking moves in time to check out if this Desmond fellow is for real. And she catches him nearly altering time before she intervenes.
So how did she time travel? Faraday only knows how to do it mentally. I suppose she might look pretty much the same back then and could jump into her own body just as Desmond does.
Oy! My head hurts. But in a good way. 🙂
I’m with Yann, John and the rest of the posts that think the ComicCon video is revealing. In the video, Chang is asking whoever is watching “this” to help, “find a way to change the past.” If the person speculated to be holding the camera is Faraday, then Pierre Chang should know that you cannot change the past…he must have told him – unless you can and everything Faraday said previously is wrong. I’m not sure, since the person off scene tries to stop him once he starts talking about changing the past. Faraday?/Chang obviously wants the work of the Dharma initiative to continue either by changing the past or continuing the effort in the future.
Theory – Faraday comes to the Island from Ann Harbor as a scientist. He is key to the incident and is probably 100% DI now (brainwash). Probably been sent from Ann Harbor on a mission to the Island. Possible…look at how comfortable James and Juliet are. Who’s to say Faraday doesn’t have time invested in the DI now.
A couple of things do not make sense in the time line though. The Swan, aka the hatch, has to be completely built in order for Chang to make the training videos for the stations, before the Purge happens. Ben is also grown when this happens, right? In the Chang CominCon video, you hear a baby crying, that cannot be Miles if the Purge is near. But how far away is the Purge from when we see Hurley and Miles with his Dad in the van?
Back to the Theory – Not sure how Faraday got to Ann Harbor in the first place, but I think he has interests of some sort that align with Dharma. We saw him just get off of the sub in the last episode. I think he’ll befriend Chang and tell him about the future. He must have some convincing evidence of the Purge for Pierre Chang to want to record himself.
Theory – As Ben has said, He didn’t cause the Purge, perhaps someone from the DI/Ann Harbor wanted it and made a deal with the Hostiles? After all, I do get the feeling from Radzinsky that some of the people will be killed after the stations are built. Perhaps the Purge is an abort mission from Ann Harbor.
…the hell do I know!?
Glenn:
The purge is not going to happen before a very long time (Ben’s growth, the swan’s “button” to counter the “incident”…). Pierre Chang looks at his arm during the comiccon video probably knowing his going to loose it.
The important thing here is that Faraday laws are RIGHT for now, whatever happened happened. Pierre Chang and Dharma ARE going to die and everything that has happen until the return of the Oceanic 6 (because he met one telling them when they came back) can’t be changed.
But what Daniel will try is bring back the Dharma Initiative because they work is “valid”. And the only time that can come back is with the Ocean 6.
Why Daniel will he help the DI after working for Wildmore? Well… we don’t know Daniel’s agenda yet.
Ho. And the purge, Ben didn’t do it… Widmore did (he was the leader at the time) (just go to the Dead is dead and read my “what did Ben do”?)). Took him sometime to prepare and the help of Ben but I think the truce being broken and discovered during “the incident” will lead to that.
Does anyone have a link to that Comiccon video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdWLYVRiin8&feature=related
good lookin out.
Just listened to the podcast — great job. I have a comment about your complaints about the writing re: Kate talking to Roger:
I hear what you’re saying, but you’re completely wrong.
Yes, Kate messed up, but I thought it was completely plausible that she would react in this way. She had just lost a son that she raised for 3 years, so of course she identified with Roger and wanted to comfort him. Since she knew Ben was OK, she was trying to give him some piece of mind. I have absolutely no qualms with the writing here; the writers set this up beautifully in “Whatever Happened, Happened” and earlier episodes.
Yup, that taco stand where Miles was abducted is Miki’s in Pearl City. Here’s some pics of the LOST crew setting up there.
http://www.pulpconnection.net/2009/01/lost-at-mikis/
Rich in Cleveland, The writing for episodes up through Dead is Dead was done before the season even started, they had to take a real leap of faith this year, because they couldn’t change things due to the filming schedule. I think the one big change that was made due to fan outcry was nikki and Paolo and that was well deserved. They were horrible.
Carol: In their 04/06/2009 podcast Damon and Carlton said that the death of Nikki and Paolo was scheduled from the begining even before the audience responded.
Lets get this strait
The Hostiles/Others are crashing on Sawier and Kate when they are merely walking in the jungle with dying young Ben
but they would be unaware of the Swan construction site that has cranes and banging on metal …
Yah right
Now if Cahng had become friend with Dan
wouldnt they be saluting each others when they bump in the Orchid gallery
Was Cahng just too absorbed by the FDW finding to are ?
It seemed that Dan was sneeking in this gallery
Intersting comments about Widmore being behind the Purge
Makes sense
Then why would the DI need a poisonous gas station which seemed to be in Hostile territory ?
Maybe they had thoughts of exterminating the Hostiles
but were just beaten to it
Another postie commented how gentle Bram’s gang was with Miles
The DI had some peaceful tone to it but again were surprinsingly belliquous on other aspects
Bram and Ilana’s group didnt seem too peaceful on the Hydra …
Somethig doesnt add up there
The only way they knew about A316 is through Hawking who is not part of DI but is taking care of a DI station in LA
Contradictions here too…
Mirepoix:
The hostiles (your right they are not “others” yet) probably don’t want to come near the Swan station because Jugghead is probably there and they don’t want to stand near an atomic bomb… and Sawyer working for Dharma for a long time know probably knows quite well where to find the hostile teritory.
The Orchid was in construction/being dugged when Faraday met Chang. We have seen in last episode that the Orchid station has been nearly completed. So Faraday did some digging before going to the mainland.
The Arrow had been build to develop defensive strategies against the hostiles… maybe the plan has been to develop a station with a killing gas and wipe out the Island. But the quantities had to be uged so it took time, and the hostiles found it before and killed Dharma with it. And the location: again, who would want to live next to a killing gaz station???
If Pierre Chang is the leader of the D.I. maybe they don’t want to be too harsh toward his son.
I posted how I think they knew about A316 previously: “Yann From France Says: April 17th, 2009 at 11:37 am” it’s just a bit higher on the blog. No contradictions there
I just thought of something on the way to work this morning — and I didn’t see that this has been said yet. But Pierre Chang loses his arm just like Darth Vader loses his arm. I think that was mentioned for a reason.
I believe Miles will be responsible for Chang losing his arm. I don’t know how or why. Perhaps Miles opens up the cages and releases the polar bears and they attack Chang. Or, more likely, Chang loses his arm somehow related to getting baby Miles and his wife off the island. Either way, I think Miles will play a role in this a la Luke and Darth Vader.
Also, the building of the Swan Station in “Hoth” reminded me of the construction of the Death Star in “Empire.”
Naomi’s exact words to Miles when describing the mission to the island… there are a lot of dead people that “reside” on the island. Dead people do not reside.
Did anyone else think that this particular wording was weird or at least thought provoking?
Holy cow! I think Charlotte is what lies in the shadow of the statue!
Hear (or read) me out! When the flashes were happening, there was a flash to ancient times, and Charlotte was having terrible nosebleeds, etc. Then the last flash was to 1974. But her body stayed in the ancient times, and is possibly LYING in the shadow of the statue. So maybe the official answer is something like “Faraday’s Love”.
I was thinking about the possibility that Faraday might have spent the last 3 years at Ann Arbor, and as a Dharma scientist (1974-1977.)
If the new group is Dharma-backed it could be an old clue from when Faraday was Dharma. Maybe he will stay in that time and never jump again, meaning he is now 30 years older than the character we are seeing, and perhaps is isolating himself to geographic locations he know he cannot possibly run into the version of himself prior to the time jumping.
I know it’s crackpott-ish all the way, but I just had to post it since one day one of my random theories will pan out. Law of averages.
Charlotte lies in the shadow of the statue.