Its funny to think that there was a time when people used to complain about nothing happening on this show, isn't it? This week continued with the pedal to the floor mentality and gave us what may be the first great Kate-centric episode ever.
We started on Penny's boat, with Kate agreeing to lie and going a step further, volunteering to claim Aaron as her own child. Of course, that lie would come crashing down on Kate in the present, with the evil lawyer turning down her deal. So, with Aaron safely in the care of a revenge-crazy Korean billionaire with a loaded weapon hidden under candy, Kate set about her plan of waiting for the lawyer to lead her to his client.
Meanwhile, in awesomer corners of Oceanic 6 world, Sayid got to kick some ass before reuniting with his one time employer: Benjamin Linus. Sayid doesn't seem thrilled to see him but, for whatever reason, he's willing to go along with this for the time being. I'm hoping for an answer about what Sayid was doing between The Economist and now and why he hates Ben so much. Jack splits off from them to go see Kate while Sayid and Ben learn that Hurley will probably be released soon because of a lack of evidence (since its not like there's a picture of Hurley holding the gun used to murder one of the victims or anything...).
Jack and Kate followed the evil lawyer right to Claire's mother, who was staying a hotel. However, it turns out that she wasn't the client after all. Ben was! Not to brag, but...CALLED IT. Actually, to be fair, if I had to guess before tonight, I'd have actually gone with Sun, but what as everyone knows, it doesn't count if you don't blog about it! My favorite O6 moment of the night? Jack rushing to Ben's defense, only to be shot down immediately by Michael Emerson's deadpan, "I did it." Ben is my hero. Of course, his minutes may be numbered since Sun is waiting with the aforementioned loaded gun. However, if I had to guess, I'd say the show's best character just might find a way to get out of this one. Especially given what we know happened on the island.
Charlotte did indeed survive the flash from last week, but her condition is deteriorating, and Miles and Juliet are also being victimized by the Nosebleed of Doom. This week flashed out heroes to three different times, each awesome in its own way:
First, they went to the recent past, specifically the night Boone died. Locke realized this when he saw the shiny light beam coming from the hatch, and he got all misty and nostalgic for the days when the hatch seemed cool and mysterious, like one of those Lost-haters who quit after season one. However, the more powerful scene from this time period, indeed what would have been the emotional highlight of the episode were it not for a certain appearance we'll get to later, was Sawyer seeing Kate again. It was heart-wrenching to watch him fight the urge to say something to her and then to see him realize that this may be the last time he ever sees her. I tend to be less interested in the Love Triangle and I don't want to seem too biased, but I think its worth noting that almost without exception, the Kate-Sawyer scenes are more powerful than the Kate-Jack scenes.
Then they flashed to an unknown time, but given the abandoned camp, I'd bet that they're in the near future. What of those canoes? And the Ajira Airways branded water bottles (they fly everywhere!)? Well I'm betting that the time they jump to is after the return of the Oceanic Six. And those people shooting at them in the other canoe. Its Jack et al. Why? How? I have no clue and that will have to wait until later, because we still haven't gotten to the greatest part of the episode.
Time, like fate, is a fickle bitch and, while it rescued the team from the people shooting at them, it dropped them right smack into the middle of a raging storm. So, Locke leads the team to a shore that features some wreckage with writing in French? At this point, the heart of every Lost fan began to beat a little faster. Could it be!?!?! Yes dear friends, it could. We are in the 1980s, and the wreckage belongs to a science expedition who counts Danielle Rousseau among its members. And they had a little extra cargo: the still-alive Jin-Soo Kwon!!!!!
This episode managed to make the Oceanic Six exciting again, while being packed with awesome moments, stunning twists, and a few very moving emotional beats. Making Sawyer/Kate the heart of this episode grounded it in a way that was missing from the first couple episodes. In a way, Lost viewers are in a similar predicament as the characters. Jumping from place to place with things moving so fast and the familiar rhythm of the last four years out the door, we need a constant that we can emotionally ground ourselves in. Tonight delivered that, and it enabled the mind-bending shifts and twists to go down smooth.
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The Theory-Down
5. I failed to mention the moment where Daniel dropped a truth bomb on Miles, but damn. Has Miles been to the island before? Does that explain his ghost whispering powers? And is he, as many have speculated, the child of Pierre Chang? I wasn't sold on that one, but tonight's episode certainly seems to help that case.
4. Assuming Locke gets to the Orchid, I imagine his plan is to turn the wheel again and get himself off the island, but assuming that's what happens, where and when would that leave the people on the island? Would they lock themselves into a single time? Would it get worse? I guess I'm trying to say that the plan seems ill-conceived to me. Also, we still need to see a polar bear turn that wheel.
3. Changing the Future, week 4! So, if the future can't be changed, then how did Rousseau's expedition have that extra passenger? This week didn't really bring us any closer to resolving whether the Lostaways are changing things, or if they were simply there the first time around, but I imagine Rousseau would have mentioned the disappearing Korean they found washed up on shore if it had happened.
2. My longstanding theory on what happened to Rousseau's team was that "The Sickness" is the time travel thing that took down Minkowski and is affecting Miles, Charlotte, and Juliet. But given Daniel's theory about the sickness being related to the amount of exposure to the island, that would seem to not be the case. However, I don't want to give it up that easily, so maybe what's happening to our heroes is slightly different from what happens if you travel to the island using the wrong coordinate. After all, instead of being sent to different points in their lives, like Desmond was, Locke and the gang are traveling through different points in the island's life. Therefore they'd experience the sickness at a different rate.
1. So I touched on this a little in the recap, but what do we make of the prominent Ajira Airlines namedropping and that whole sequence with the canoes. My theory is that we've just gotten a major clue about how the Oceanic Six is getting back to the island. I think, in order to come back, the Lostaways are going to have to get on another plane and go through another crash (just like Jack wanted). Maybe its even important to have some kind of dead body on board, like Christian Shepard/Locke. I'll admit this doesn't explain the canoes. Or the shooting. But I'm working on it.
P.S. I forgot to say that this has been a very good week for Lost actors popping up in other places. First, Charles Widmore extended his Reach of Evil by appearing as the Australian ambassador on Flight of the Conchords. Then, the sleazy lawyer showed up as the heroic plant worker on 24.
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