Lost, Season 5, Episode 9
Namaste

Sawyer: Three years in the Dharma Initiative (DI) has gotten James (and Juliet/Jin/Miles) deeply entrenched in their culture, so don't expect James to concede any power to "act-without-thinking" Jack. Remember that during his time with the Losties when they first crashed, Sawyer's attempt to lead was always quashed by either Jack or John Locke. Not anymore. Dealing with the introduction of Jack, Kate and Hurley into the DI is Sawyer's focus, although Sayid's appearance does create problems. Sawyer, still known as LaFleur (French for 'the flower') to the DI folks, tells Jack that he likes to read because it gives him time to think, something Winston Churchill once claimed to do. Tells Jack that Jack's "act without thinking" philosophy always got people killed and so now he'll just have to concede that it's Sawyer who is now running things regarding whatever it is they have to do.

Jack: Jack is introduced to Dharmaville by Sawyer as an arrival on the submarine. Funny that Sawyer sets it up so that Jack's aptitude results dictate that he should be a Workman. HILARIOUS! Jack, however, does not appear to be happy knowing that it's Sawyer calling the shots now. If Jack tries to wrest this control from him, it would blow Sawyer's three years of infiltrating the DI. Jack's going to be busy as the Island's janitor so that should keep him occupied for a while! haha! But you just know that Jack is somehow going to screw all this up. And I wonder if he'll be seeing his father again on the Island? Maybe his father is not there in 1977...or is he?

Hurley: Points out to Sawyer that the Dharma Initiative gets wiped out by Ben in their future. Wonders if Sawyer has a plan for that.

Pierre Change: aka Marvin Candle. He's seen in this episode in the welcoming video that is playing to the recruits arriving from the sub, and also assists in checking the recruits in, including Jack. He's complaining that he got pulled out of his lab to assist with checking people in and that things are out of sorts. He still has full use of his left arm, so the 'incident' he has referred to previously in the hatch-videos has not yet happened.

Sayid: He's also returned to 1977, but he's still in the handcuffs he was escorted onto Ajira 316 wearing. Since the FBI Agent (Illana) ended up in 2007, I guess he's hoping someone has a cuff-key, eh? Until then, he's labeled as a hostile and Sawyer has to treat him as such until he figures a way to get Sayid out of this situation. Until then, Sayid will be kept in a jail cell and monitored. Phil has already got it in for Sayid because of the whole hostile-thing, and Phil will likely be a problem in the future. Or past. You know what I mean.

Sun: Still lying and manipulating, Sun in 2007 gets Ben to divulge where on the Hydra Island (the Island where the Others live/lived) she can find the dock and then whacks him on the head with an oar. She and Lapidus then row to the Island where they are met by Christian. Sun, as per Christian, will have a long journey to find Jin (who is 1977).

Ben: Time-hopped back to the Island in 2007, begins to head over to the Hydra Island where the Others were originally settled. Convinces Sun that this would be the place to look for Jin (not aware that Jin is back in 1977). Once he gives up the location of the dock on Hydra she wallops him with an oar. Ben falls unconscious and is left on the beach near the outriggers, one of which Sun and Lapidus take. Knowing that Ben is eventually in the hatch with other injured people from Ajira crash, it's likely that it's this incident of Sun whacking him that injures him and lands him in the hatch where Locke will identify him as the man who murdered him. And what is it with Ben...is he superhuman? He's been shot, beat up numerous times, kicked, tied up, and now whacked in the head and yet he is still alive. Mr. Indestructible.

Frank Lapidus: While piloting Ajira 316 you could just tell that Frank was nervous. He handles the plane well through the time-hop and takes it to a runway on the Island (it's almost like he knew it would be there) and is able to land the plane. Follows Sun while she is tailing Ben, and accompanies her to the Hydra Island.

Caesar: Points out after the Ajira crash that there is another island across the water (the Hydra Island) and there are animal cages. He wants to go search the buildings and try to find a radio or food. He's obviously planted here for some purpose, but it's not clear yet which side he is playing for.

Christian: For whatever reason, I believe that Christian has now taken over for Jacob. Jacob's name is still being used by the Others who are not aware that this change has occurred. Maybe Locke will be the next to take over? But, take over what??

Other characters

--Juliet: Interacts with both Jack and Kate as they are being checked-in as new recruits. Not much else except to establish to Kate/Jack that Sawyer and her are now an item after having spent the three years on the Island

--Radzinsky: We heard about him from Kelvin, who was the other person in the Swan Hatch with Desmond. Just as a reminder: Kelvin had told Desmond that Radzinsky was the one who started the glow-in-the-dark drawing on the back of the hatch's blast door, but later Radzinsky blew his brains out

--Phil: one of Sawyer's security team. Phil is anxious to do something with Sayid

--Ben as a child in 1977 (about 12 years old): brings sandwich (no mustard) to Sayid in the cage he's been locked up in. The way that Ben looks at Sayid makes me think Ben as a child already knows adult Sayid

Double Take

--Crash/time-hop of Ajira 316 was awesome. Yikes for the co-pilot who didn't handle the birch-tree piercing too well, being dead and all

--The Muppet Show was playing on one of the televisions in the Flame Station

--Radzinsky (the former Swan Hatch partner of Kelvin before Desmond arrived) in the Flame Station working on the plans for the Swan Station

--The look on Juliet's face when Amy tells her that they've named their baby Ethan. The look on Sayid's face when the kid says his name is Ben

--It's been three years that Sawyer/Jin/Miles/Juliet have been living with the DI, and it's also three years since Jack/Kate/Hurley/Sayid/Sun returned to the mainland. It's crazy with the time travel because this means that Sawyer et al have had their three years covering 1974-1977, while Jack/Kate/Hurley/Sun have had their three year period from 2004-2007. Funky stuff, that time travel

Funny
--"Ohhh...what??" Hurley to Sawyer when he finds out their on the Island but in 1977

--"I actually missed that." Hurley to Sawyer in reference to the nicknames after they greet and Sawyer calls him Kong

--"So the woman who told you how to come back, did she mention that it would be thirty years ago?" Kate to Jack regarding Eloise Hawking and their landing on the Island in 1977 instead of 2007

--"I vote for not camping" Hurley answering Sawyer as to whether they want to go to Dharmaville with him or camp

--Ride Captain Ride (by Blues Image) playing after the recruits have been dropped off from the sub dock to be checked-in at Dharma Initiative. (Ride captain ride, on your mystery ship....)

Interesting
--It's interesting to note that all of the problems associated with all of the characters and stories in this show have to do with the fact that everyone is lying about something. Lying about how the O6 survived the crash, the lies they told of the other people from Oceanic 816, the lies about their pasts, the lies about their plans and schemes.... Hurley told his Mom he didn't like that they were all lying, so I think that the lying somehow plays into all of this

--Also interesting that Sayid is captured and labeled a hostile then locked in a room in the Flame Station by the DI in the same way that Ben was captured and labeled an Other (by Rousseau) and then locked in a room in the Swan Hatch by the Losties (Season 2)

--The word 'list' is used often in this episode, referring to the lists of names for the recruits who came in on the sub. There's also the updated list that Juliet has. Lists lists lists. Speaking of which, whatever became of Jacob's list?

--The whispers could be heard when Sun and Frank arrived at Hydra Island and walked into the abandoned Dharmaville. Right after the whispers subsided, Christian comes out of the building

--The picture that Christian shows Sun and Frank shows Hurley, Jack, Kate as new recruits from 1977, and he tells Sun that Jin was back in 1977 with them

--Hurley is assigned as a chef. Couldn't see what Kate's coveralls said her role would be. Not sure Hurley as chef is such a good idea...

--Loved how Sawyer told off Jack saying he preferred to think about the situations before acting, the way Jack did. Sawyer points out that Jack's ways always got people killed, and the fact that he has thought about the current situation he's been able to save Jack's/Kate's/Hurley's and Sayid's asses so far

--Part of the truce requires a "hostile" to identify themselves as one

Questions Answered:
1. Ethan is the son of Horace & Amy Goodspeed

Questions:
1. Why was there a runway on the Island? Was it built because at some point in time someone knew that the Ajira 316 flight would need to have a place to land?

2. Hey, here's one for you: who has been doing the food drops onto the Island? We saw that one parachute delivery happen in Season 3, but we never find out who was actually coordinating the drops.

3. Where is Daniel during all of this? Is this the point where he is working in the future Swan Station with Marvin Candle, aka Pierre Chang? Sawyer mentioned to Jack that Daniel wasn't there and he had a lot of theories about what's happening, but doesn't say where he is - or when. He must be on the Island somewhere, right?

4. Why do people who take the submarine to the Island have to be sedated first?

5. Was that the SMonster off in the distance that rattled the trees when Sun and Frank stepped onto the dock on the Hydra Island?

6. What is Desmond's role in all of this? Why is he "special"?

7. Where is Claire?

8. I still want to know who Ben got into it with before they went back to the Island? Who pummeled his face?

9.  Separate question:  do you think that the Black Rock ship ended up on the Island because it had the misfortune of being at sea in a place where the Island time-hopped?  I think this may be the case because of the ship's location is so far inland on the Island and nowhere near the shore.  The Island essentially just appeared under the ship.

Just a note: for those of you who get a chance, rent/buy/steal a copy of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 5) episode called Cause and Effect. Check out the synopsis at wiki. I said this to some friends a couple of years ago and now I'm sharing this with you: I think the LOST-story is going to be similar to the story of this ST:TNG episode. If so, WICKED AWESOME!

My thinking? We are watching an ongoing loop of a specific timeline. For whatever reason not yet explained, the Losties/Others/Widmores etc. are stuck in an ongoing loop that will forever be a battle for the Island between whomever is deemed good and whomever is deemed bad. Like backgammon...black vs. white...good vs bad. For us as viewers, the writers had to drop us into their story at some point, and they chose to drop us in at the crash of the Oceanic 815 flight and we've followed the story from that perspective. For this battle, Widmore is always going to send people back for his side, and Ben is always going to be sending people back for his side.

Tune in next week for Lost, Season 5 Episode 10 "He's Our You". Until then, right on! Enjoy some free Dharma hamburgers and punch!

What'd I miss? Feel free to share your views, theories, money....