Lost, Season 5, Episode 6

316

This episode was originally scheduled to air after the episode we’ll see next week. This episode was good, but not the best one of the season. Once next week’s episode airs we’ll see if the Lost’s Powers That Be should’ve kept the order as they originally planned.

The Lamppost: Not all of the Dharma Initiative hatches are on the Island, it turns out. The Lamppost is a station in Los Angeles under the church where Eloise Hawking has been seen previously. The Lamppost, we learn, was built years ago and is over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy. These pockets exist all over the world including on the Island. A very clever fellow, according to Eloise, found a way to use that electromagnetism to locate the Island: not where it’s been, but where it will be. This is the station that has been used to find the it and to figure out where it will appear when it moves.

The Island: Turns out that the Island is not a stationary object, but has always been moving. This is the reason that the Losties could not be found and rescued…the Island was never in the same spot.

Eloise Hawking: She has been working in the Lamppost station and she is the one who tells Jack, Sun, Desmond and Ben about the reason for the station and what its properties and function are. She also tells them that they need to recreate the initial crash (Oceanic 816) as closely as they can or the results would be unpredictable. Tells them Ajira Flight 316, from LA to Guam, is the flight they need to be on in 36 hours in order to intercept the next window that will be opening to the Island’s location. Tells Jack to get something of his father's to put on Locke's body, which later turn out to be a pair of Christian's shoes that Jack gets from his grandfather.

Jack: While he continues to grasp the extraordinary events that are happening to them, he learns from Eloise that returning to the Island will not be all there is for him. In his apartment, Kate shows up. After asking her where Aaron was, she doesn’t tell him but says to never ask about him again (huh? And he doesn’t? This is one of the few unbelievable parts of this story that I can’t grasp.) Anyway, they make out and likely hook-up since she spends the night. Kate confirms that Jack is going back to the Island and says she’ll go with him.

Ben: Tells Jack the story of Thomas the apostle, who followed Jesus to Judea and told other followers that they should go that they might die with him, but Thomas doubted the resurrection until he was able to touch the wounds of Jesus to believe. Once Thomas did this, he believed. Ben is using this part of the Bible story to tell Jack that he needs to stop doubting what will eventually be happening to Locke. Ben goes to keep a promise to an old friend, a loose end that needs to be tied up. Later, he calls Jack from a marina, all bloody and beat up, telling Jack that he’ll have to retrieve Christian’s body and take it to the airport for the flight. Ben continues to try to find out what Eloise told Jack, but Jack won’t tell him. Ben claims to not know that Locke killed himself.

Sayid: Sayid is escorted onto the Ajira 316 flight by a Federal Agent. It’s curious that he’s on this flight because he was not in the room when Eloise told Jack that they needed to recreate the original crash as closely as possible, so how did he know to be on the flight? Why is he being brought to Guam?

Hurley: Hurley is at the airport; apparently Ben’s lawyer (Norton) did get him released from prison. Not only is Hurley going to be on the Ajira flight (again, how did he know? He was not in the room when Eloise talked about recreating the Oceanic flight…another visit from Charlie-vision that we haven’t been show yet, perhaps?) Anyhow, he has used his money to buy all of the remaining empty seats (78 total) on the plane. He doesn’t want to have anybody on the plane that could be lost in the upcoming return to the Island. While waiting for the flight to board, he is reading a comic book, Y – El Ultimo Hombre. Hurley is NOT happy to see Ben get on the flight. Ben to Hurley: “Who told you to be on the plane?”

Locke: Has committed suicide off the Island and wrote a note that Eloise gave to Jack. The note read “Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL”. Locke’s body has to be the substitute for Christian Shephard’s body that was on Oceanic 816. Jack puts his father’s shoes on Locke’s body following Eloise’s instructions that something of Christian’s had to be put in the casket. Jack must take a “leap of faith”, something Locke has been trying to get him to do since they first crashed on the Island.

Desmond: Can’t believe that Jack and Sun are willing to return to the Island. He blames Eloise for ruining 4 years of his life, the 4 years associated with the time he spent on the Island. He says it was she who told him that it was his purpose to go there (remember, Des saw her in the pawn shop when he was searching for an engagement ring for Penny). However, after Eloise tells him that the Island isn’t done with him yet, he says that he is done with it. I’m guessing that she’s more right than he is. Also, things don’t look good for the family he started with Penny since returning.

Sun: Sun was not told that the crash had to be recreated, but she too shows up at the airport for the flight. “If there’s any chance that Jin is alive, I have to go.” But, what happens to Ji Yeon? I guess that Ji Yeon will be growing up without parents. Presumably she’s still with her grandmother in Korea.

Frank Lapidus: Whoa! Frank is the pilot of Ajira 316. Upon seeing Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid and Ben on the plane, he realizes that this flight will not be going to Guam. Will he survive?

Ajira Flight 316: During the flight from LA to Guam, there is a flash, a time hop. On the Island, however, Jack, Kate and Hurley are not near any wreckage, and none of them remember a crash. Where (or when) are Sayid, Sun, Frank and Ben?

Jin: Jin drives up in a blue Dharma Van and music can be heard coming from the speakers, but I can't figure out the song (maybe it's by Geronimo Jackson? haha) The van is just like the one that Hurley found, but this one is new, implying that Jack/Hurley/Kate have landed in the 1970s after their Ajira flight went through the time-hop. Jin is wearing a brand new Dharma uniform carrying a rifle, suggesting he's part of a security team. Has he, along with others/Others infiltrated the Dharma Initiative? Does he recognize Jack, Hurley and Kate?

Numbers:

1. Desmond wasted 4 years of his life on the Island.
2.Jack is sitting in row 8.
3. Frank Lapidus has been flying the LA to Guam route for about 8 months.

Funny:

--Jack to Eloise after Ben says he never knew about the Lamppost station: “Is he telling the truth?” Eloise: “Probably not.”
--Jack has to go see Jill to get Locke’s body. Jack and Jill. Cute. Ain't no pail of water, here.
--Jack to Ben on the plane (as Ben is reading Ulysses by James Joyce): “How can you read?” Ben: “My mother taught me.” (which is a lie since he never knew his mother)

Double-take:
1. Episode opens with a close up of someone’s eye, this time Jack’s. We’ve seen this lots of times before.
2. The computers and flipping-numbers in the Lamppost station are very reminiscent of the ones in the Swan station.
3. The white rabbit at the magic show.
4. They were told to recreate as close as possible their return to the Island. So, we get:
a. Hurley with a guitar case (originally, Charlie had the guitar case)
b. Sayid being escorted by a federal agent (originally Kate was the one in shackles)
c. Ben rushing to get on plane (originally it was Hurley rushing to get on the plane)
d. Kate...okay, I’m going out on a limb here based on her night with Jack that she’s pregnant (Claire was the pregnant one in the original)
e. Sun...okay, I got nothing for her other than she was on the Oceanic flight.

5. Ajira Flight was #316. Bible verse 3:16 from the Christian mythology is something like “For god so loved the world that he gave his only son and whoever believes in him will have eternal life”. (Locke will resurrect on the Island I’m guessing and the Losties will live forever there, like Richard Alpert et al)

6. Comic book that Hurley was reading is the story of Yorick, the survivor of a plague that killed all of mankind on the planet. However, three astronauts (2 males and one female) who were in orbit when the plague hit returned to Earth, but only the female survived. The female astronaut was pregnant when she returned to Earth but didn’t know which of the two was the father.

7. Oceanic Airlines is alive and well, judging from their logos seen in the airport.

Questions Answered:
1. The Island has always been moving. (This would explain how the original Henry Gale and his balloon landed on the Island: he must’ve inadvertently flown through one of the windows that opened up when the Island moved. Reminder: Henry Gale was the man whose license Ben originally used when the Losties captured him.)

2. Locke’s death occurs because of an un-yet seen suicide. (that’ll be revealed next week, apparently)

3. The Ajira Airlines water bottle that Sawyer/Juliet etc. found on the beach will be from the crash of the flight that Jack, etc. were on. But, Jack/Kate/Hurley landing back on the Island and finding Jin in the Dharma van and work clothes, the implication is that they’ve landed in the past, so the water bottle found previously would have put them in a past timeline in the previous episode(s).

Questions:
1. Who is the guy that gave his condolences to Jack at the airport and was on the Ajira flight? What role will he play?

2. Who is the 'clever individual' Eloise referred to? Alvar Hanso?
3. Though I think we all know the answer already, who was it that Ben beat up/killed that left him all bloody? (More than likely Penny Widmore, keeping his promise to “an old friend” – Charles Widmore – that he would get even with him for having Alex killed.) And if it was Penny, what happened to her & Desmond’s son, Charlie? I don’t even want to think of what he may have done with Charlie. Unless Ben found a way to get Charlie to the Island, though that seems unlikely.
4. If the answer to the question above is Penny (being killed by Ben), is this the key to Desmond being brought back to the Island? (We learned earlier in the season from Daniel that Desmond is ‘special’, so this is likely the set-up to find out what exactly that means.)

5. Ben had told Locke that once he left the Island, he couldn’t return. So why is Ben on the flight to return? (No surprise if Ben was lying, or maybe he never thought he’d be able to get back?)
6. When have they returned? What is the timeline they’ve landed in on the Island? With the Dharma Van being new, the assumption would be the 1970s. But more importantly, why? Do they return to become part of the Others that overthrow the Dharma Initiative? Could they be stuck in some sort of loop that constantly refreshes people on the Island to ensure that the people from Dharma can’t take control of the Island?
7. Since we’ve only seen that Jack, Kate and Hurley landed near each other and they are in a 70s timeline, is it safe to assume that Sayid, Sun and Ben also landed in the same timeline?
8. What did Kate do with Aaron? Since returning to the mainland, she was visited by a Claire-vision who told her not to bring him back, so she has apparently followed through with this wish. Did she bring him to the couple who were going to adopt him originally from Claire?

9. Where is Vincent? Where is Claire (though the answer is most likely she's dead from the when her house was blown to bits by Keamy's men on the Island)? What were the roles of past Losties such as Boone, Shannon, Michael and Walt?

10. Going back to Season One flashbacks when Jack’s mother sent him to Australia to retrieve the body of his father: Was she in on the whole plan to get Jack back to the Island too? And also, did Christian Shephard have to commit suicide in order to return to the Island? Has he been playing a role in all of this the whole time?

Tune in next week for “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” (episode 7 of Season 5).

Until then, watch out for white rabbits.

(PS...sorry for the effed up formatting in this post, blogger is working like shit today)