Friday, May 16, 2008

There's No Place Like Home for the Wizard of Orchid

Let's start with the obvious...the title of this episode ("There's No Place Like Home") is yet another homage to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Just as Dorothy wanted to get home more than anything, the survivors of Flight 815 dream of the same.

Here is where the famous tale has also popped up previously on Lost:
  • Other episode called "The Man Behind the Curtain" (Ben or Jacob is the Wizard; the man in charge behind it all)
  • The real Henry Gale from Minnesota (Dorothy's uncle)
  • Gale's hot air balloon (Wizard goes to Oz in one; this one was branded with Widmore Labs)
  • Red shoes (i.e. wicked witch under Dorothy's house in ruby red slippers; man wearing red tennis shoes is crushed in construction accident in Desmond's first flash forward, while with Ms. Hawking the ring lady)
  • Australia's nickname is Oz (flight 815 departed from there)
And now, onto the theories and questions...

BEN

He gave Locke his magical black stick before turning himself over to Keamy and the mercenaries at the Orchid. Is that club the key to teleporting or stopping time? The only other time we've seen it was in Tunisia, when little Ben beat up the bad guys with it.

Ben was wearing a parka with the Orchid logo on it when he 'landed' in Tunisia. Does his trip there begin at this point in time? And if so, why travel a year into the future in search of Sayid at that very moment?

Was Ben monitoring all of the Oceanic 6 immediately after rescue, or just Sayid?

CLAIRE

Is she dead or just stuck on the island? If she's alive, you know that Jack wanted to tell her mom but couldn't.

DANIEL FARADAY

Perhaps this is just nit-picking, but Daniel didn't even gas up at the freighter after taking a full load round trip. Seems to me that the raft and that engine would need far more fuel, especially given that Frank made such a big deal about needing to refuel after one trip to the island...in a helicopter.

So Desmond is his Constant. Not sure what I was expecting when they met again briefly at the freighter, but Daniel is certainly not giving any indication one way or another how he feels about Desmond.

Why is it that of the Freighter Four (him, Charlotte, Miles and Frank), he seems to be the only one with all of the information about the island? He knew how to shut down the gas at the Tempest and he knew that the 2nd protocol related to the Orchid, mass murder and island torching? Was he under Widmore's employ before this mission? We were led to believe that Widmore and Ben were the only ones with all of that intel...

Do he or any of the Freighter Four live? If so, will they interact with the Oceanic 6 after rescue?

DESMOND

Did he really ever have a vision of Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter to rescue, or did he know that Charlie needed to unjam the signal in the Looking Glass station because he knew he'd reunite with Penny? All of Desmond's previous flashes came true. Seems fishy that this one didn't.

HURLEY

Did his parents inherit and spend his millions after he was assumed dead?

What does Hurley do with his new Oceanic funds?

He is obviously still aware of 'the' numbers, but are they still cursed?

JACK

Does he ever tell Kate about his relation to Claire and Aaron? You'd think that Kate would either hand him over or be more persistent about his involvement with the baby if she knew. In the flash forward, we see Jack yell at her because she's "not even related" to Aaron. Clearly his guilt stems from the fact that he is, and now dead Charlie is telling him that he's not supposed to raise him.

JACK & SAWYER

My, how the tables have turned. Sawyer wouldn't let Jack 'die alone' and Jack used Sawyer's favorite phrase, "son of a bitch." And it may turn out that although Jack promised everyone that he'd get them off of the island, Sawyer will be your unlikely hero.

JACOB

Ben intimated that he was communicating with Jacob via mirror. Another lie, or is that where he relocated to?

Will Locke finally meet him face to face at the Orchid?

JIN

Does he die on the freighter with Michael and Desmond? Do they sacrifice themselves to save everyone? Is that the last time that he sees Sun?

Sun said that TWO people are responsible for Jin's death. Is he really dead, or just stuck on the island and she has to lie about it for Oceanic? If Daddy Paik is the first person, is Widmore the second? And if so, will she wind up working in some capacity for Ben as well?

KATE

She sure adapted fast. She went from "I don't do well with babies" to maternal in an instant.

Was her mom too ill to travel? Or did she not come after Kate was rescued because she knew that Kate wouldn't want her to?

Was she not immediately arrested upon rescue because of sympathy and circumstance? Was Aaron allowed to remain in her care through the trial for the same reason?

MILES

Where the hell did he disappear to? Jack and Sawyer went to rescue Hurley, and Kate returned to the beach with Aaron.

OCEANIC AIRLINES

Who was responsible for creating the fake story about the crash and rescue that the Oceanic 6 had to maintain?

Why the lies? Obviously they are covering the real reason that Flight 815 crashed, as well as the location and details of it. And what are they holding over the heads of the Oceanic 6 (besides buckets full of money) to make them stick to the story?

Does Matthew Abbadon truly work for Oceanic, and if so, does he remain behind the scenes? It seemed like Hurley had never met him when he first appeared at the mental institution in the future.

The Coast Guard brought the Oceanic 6 home. Was that arranged by Oceanic?

Where were the Oceanic 6 before boarding that plane? They were all cleaned up and had new clothes. Were they in yet another classified location, getting debriefed and/or threatened?

ORCHID STATION

How is it that Widmore knows about it? Was it indicated in the original Black Rock journal that he purchased at an auction?

Why is it the only place on the island that is safe from torching?

Can the Orchid move, like Jacob's cabin?

If it was so safe, why didn't Ben send Alex there instead of the Temple?

According the Orientation film for this station, it is a fake greenhouse and appears to be a cloning facility as well.

RICHARD ALPERT

We haven't seen him yet on the island this season. He was dressed in island native clothes again and with a new team of others. Is he still on Ben's side?

Are Richard's people also ageless? Could they be original 'hostiles' or refugees from the Black Rock?

SAYID

Did he break apart from the Oceanic 5 only after someone killed Nadia and he went to work for Ben? Was there a funeral for her in America (in addition to the one in Iraq), and if so, did the O5 attend? Besides Hurley, they certainly didn't show for Jin's supposed burial.

SUN

Love the new and improved Sun! That she bought a controlling interest in Daddy Paik's company with the Oceanic payout indicates that the airline paid an obscene amount of money to the Oceanic 6. Love the irony of the situation too; Daddy used to have a controlling interest in Sun's life and marriage...

After Ji Yeon was born, why wouldn't he be referred to as the Oceanic Seventh?

DID YOU NOTICE...

Sawyer referred to the abandoned Other village as New Otherton; the producers always call it that on their podcast.

Ben used a mirror to communicate with the Orchid station, which could be a nod to the mirror/cloning theories.

Hurley got takeout from his old fast food stomping ground, Mr. Clucks...even though it was bad luck before the crash (his franchise was hit by a meteor and blew up).

Even though it turned out to be a surprise party, the island whispers seemed to appear at Hurley's house.

Both the rescue pilot and Hurley's dad had 'lucky' rabbits feet; the pilot was holding his during the flight and Mr. Reyes handed over the keys to Hurley's car with one on the keychain. In the Orchid Orientation film, the stars of the show were cloned white rabbits....

CRAZY THEORIES OF THE WEEK

  • That device attached to Keamy's arm will detonate the explosives on the freighter...and perhaps be the end of Michael, Jin and Desmond.
  • We witnessed a flash forward long before they were implemented on the show. In the Season 2 finale, when Penny was contacted by her team in the snowy listening station...it was because they discovered an electromagnetic anomaly when the island moved (and not when Desmond blew up the Swan hatch as previously thought). So even though Penny had talked to Desmond on the freighter, she wasn't able to pinpoint his location until her team did. And I'm not sure how or why, but because that listening station was set up somewhere very cold, I believe it relates to why Ben was wearing that parka.
  • Richard Alpert is Jacob. He's ageless and everywhere. He was present at Locke's birth because he believed that Locke was the chosen one who would eventually take over his leadership of the island. That is also why he was trying to recruit Locke to the island (through Mittelos), and why he was visibly disappointed when Locke failed his test as a kid.
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I apologize for the short post. Although I'm heading out of town this weekend, I plan to post additional theories about this episode on Sunday or Monday.

Have a great weekend! Let me know what YOU thought of tonight's episode...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Faraday obviously has something massive to do with the whole time travel (or not)/moving the island thing. There's something odd about him knowing the second protocol, almost as if he's moved his consciousness to the future - and unfortunately suffers from memory disfunction as a result.

i too was like "what he's not filling up for gas?" given that the freighter is more than 5 miles off the island. but hey we only have 42 minutes of precious Lost time

Unknown said...

I just wanted to put my 2 cents in on some of these:

I don't think there's anything magical about Ben's baton. It's just your stock standard retractable baton. He obviously likes having it, which is why he handed it to Locke for safekeeping.

Also, like I guessed on my site (bleepinggeek.com) I think Daniel's consciousness is traveling from the future backwards to the present (like Desmond did) and leaving himself information in his journal. That's why he seems to know so much, and always looks surprised when he finds the entries in the journal. Just a guess, though.

There are rumors that yes, Claire does get on a helicopter with Aaron. However, she may not be there when it lands.

Also, I don't think Ben intimated that he was signaling Jacob. I got the impression he meant he was signaling the Others. I'm also guessing that's how they knew Sayid and Kate would be behind them.

As for the Orchid Station, it's got to be the way that they teleport off the island, and travel through time. That's why there are two bunnies in the orientation film - they're the same rabbit in different times. He yells "don't let them see each other" because he doesn't want to impact the whole time-space continuum.

As always, I could be dead wrong, but that's what I took away from last nights episode.

Anonymous said...

Really great recap, as usual! I totally missed Ben giving his baton to Locke. I guess I was too focused on the Keamy situation to catch it!

I'm wondering about Desmond's vision too. It does seem fishy.

I don't think Hurley's folks got his inheritance that quickly. I think he gave all the lottery money to them after he returned because he doesn't want to spend the Numbers money personally. (But I could be wrong, lol.)

Anonymous said...

Was anyone else so touched by the wonderful Nadia and Sayid moment? I thought that was so wonderful.

I got super nervous when Hurley heard all the whispering too!

I am so impressed with Sun. She really has changed since the beginning of the show. Way to take charge. I love it.

Also, My friend pointed out to me, the conversation the men are having with Daddy Paik when Sun shows up they say something along the lines of “They used 5 bank accounts.” Sounds like the Oceanic 6 (minus baby Aaron) were all part of the buy Paik Enterprises plan.

Anonymous said...

First of all, for some reason that shot of Daniel in the boat makes me think of "Magnum P.I.". I have no idea why.

Honestly, if Claire really is dead & Jack had something to do with it...can a guy take on any more guilt? He is like the Titanic of Guilt.

I think our boy Richard is on his way to help Ben.

I also think that thing on Keamy's arm is a detonator now! That guy sucks!!! AHHHH!!!

Even if Sawyer doesn't turn out to be the show's hero...he & especially his hair is my hero.

Anonymous said...

I think that Richard is Jacob too! I've been saying that for awhile now.
I think that Des & michael & jin blow up saving everyone else. I have a feeling that the 3 of them put Sun, Aaron & the rest of the people on the freighter back in the raft & send everyone back to the island bc of the C4 situation. Just a thought....

Reylloc said...

Keamy's device is most definitely a detonation device for the frieghter - the Q is, do Michael/Desmond disarm it before Keamy takes the dirt nap? He's just too evil to last much longer...
The question of fuel quantity for Daniel's Zodiac may be explained away by the time differential between frieghter & island, and he may have a full tank again.
The question you really want answered is this: Sun & Aaron are on the ship, Jack winds up in the Orchid with Locke & Hurley, and Kate & Sayid are with the Others. How do they all get together to be "rescued" w/o anyone else being around, and where does it actually occur? I mean, the ship's either toast or dead in the water, so Sun & Aaron have to get back to the shore, and Jack/Kate/Sayid/Hurley have to reunite with Sun & Aaron, at the same time avoiding Keamy's Krew & dropping all the other Losties, simlutaneously. We don't know if Jin/Michael/Des make it or not, but it's apparently not earth shaking either way, as far as the O6 are concerned. If they DO get away via chopper, who's the pilot? Sayid? Hurley? Aaron?
Many, many questions are in place for the finale to hopefully answer, but not about what, but about HOW.......

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great recap - I think the "passing the baton" is kind of symbolic, even if very informal.
I was surprised as well that there was no acknowledgment of any kind between Desmond and Daniel. Not even a nod?!
Daniel has to be going back and forth in time somehow, to have all the info, but not know the intentions right from the start.
Ugh - a two week wait now...

Unknown said...

You say that Hurley is the only one who went to Jin's funeral - I could be wrong, but I don't recall a funeral for Jin. I believe you are thinking of Hurley being the only one to come see Ji Yeon after her birth. Hurley accompanies Sun to Jin's grave so that he may "meet" Ji Yeon for the first time.

So yes, this still indicates some sort of falling out between the O6, but I just wanted to point out that I don't think we've seen anything regarding Jin's funeral.

That Girl said...

Crazy prediction:
The reason that the oceanic 6 lied about the island is that in exchange for their freedom, the remaining losties would not be killed. My follow up guess is that some losties will die (specifically the ones who we know nothing about but appeared to take that first boat ride to the freighter). And that the ones who stayed don't know the agreement the oceanic 6 made to save their lives.

Anonymous said...

A quick note, in season 2 (I believe) we see Ben use the baton when he visits Sawyer in his cage, beats him up with it, and then pulls his pace-maker con to keep him from running.