LOST, Episode 5.13 - "Some Like it Hoth"

Last summer at Comic-Con, they unveiled this video. It is now more relevant than ever. So I encourage you to watch this before reading my initial theories about this week's episode.



Here are my thoughts about "Some Like it Hoth"...

BEN

Last season, we saw Tom show Michael the empty grave photo and purchase order for the old airplane (when he was trying to convince him to join the freighter crew to work secretly for Ben). So it is clear that Ben (or his henchmen) killed that man Felix en route to deliver those documents to Widmore.

I look forward to when Little Linus reappears after healing from his injury under the care of Alpert's Hostiles, to see how he/they explain his absence. We know that he starts leading a double life at some point, working with Dharma and Dad by day and roaming the jungle with the Hostiles by night.

I still want to know what he stored in the hotel vent before returning to the island, and if he brought it with him...

BRAM & ILANA

Now we can connect the dots between Ben, Ilana and Bram. Many of us wondered if she was hired by Ben, instructed to seduce then arrest Sayid to get him on Ajira 316 and bring a cache of guns (presumably in that large metal crate), and now that seems to be the case. In addition, it now makes sense that Miles attempted to blackmail Ben last season in the amount of $3.2 million dollars, because he told Bram that was the price to bribe him into NOT going to the island (and why Ben answered 'yes' when Miles first met him and asked if he knew who he was).

Ben's secret island password is the phrase "do you know what lies on the shadow of the statue?" so I'm guessing that the snowman joke is Widmore's...

THE CHALKBOARD

I wasn't able to catch all of the hieroglyphic images and text from the chalkboard that Jack was cleaning, but it clearly contained information about Old, Middle and Late Egyptians, and the progression of their communications tools. According to this site, ancient ideograms are signs the represent exactly what they mean (i.e. the bird symbol on the chalkboard signifies an actual bird; insert Hurleybird theories here). And phonography is very early form of script.

That the Swan hatch is being constructed during this time and will contain a hieroglyphic countdown clock is not a coincidence. I find it fascinating that the Dharma folk would be teaching their children about Egpytian history during an era when the sacred Temple was used solely by the Hostiles...even though it will become future safe sanctuary for the Others.

THE CHANG FAMILY

First of all, we need to discuss whether or not Miles was born on the island or if Mrs. Chang was sent via sub to deliver back in the real world. If he was born on the island, it would be interesting to find out if he was also conceived there; that we know of, only Amy has successfully conceived and delivered on the island thus far (baby Ethan). If Miles was born off island, why do they bring mother and child back so quickly?

Mrs. Chang seemed to be dying slowly and prematurely. Did she become ill as a result of something on the island? Given that Widmore wanted get Miles on that freighter to go to the island and speak with the dead...could or would Widmore have poisoned her or someone been the cause? I've always assumed that Ben had Nadia killed to get Sayid back to the island; who's to say that Widmore isn't just as evil in his intentions.

[And did anyone else immediately think about Theresa Spencer, Faraday's comatose mystery woman in England, when they saw Mrs. Chang on her death bed attached to various wires and machines? I thought for a moment there that she too was a time shift experiment gone wrong, perhaps resulting from her island departure.]

It struck me as odd that Miles said his mom appeared in line behind him in the Dharma cafeteria, because as he explained to Hurley, he speaks with the dead but does not see them. Not sure how to explain that discrepancy, but perhaps he also sees and speaks with ghosts like Hurley does. {IGNORE! Thanks to Brad and many others who reminded me that at that point in time, Mrs. Chang was alive & well on the island!}

Bram refers to Miles' 'gift' and alludes to knowing how and why he has it. Walt shares a similar gift of clairvoyance, which is probably why Ben had Walt kidnapped back in Season 1; he wanted to use Walt for the same reasons that Widmore hired Miles.

We hear baby Miles crying in the background of the Barracks video above as Chang warns about the 'purge' he believes he will die in. Is it safe to say that he learns about the future from either Mature Miles or Faraday (whom most assume is the voice behind the camera)? Chang appears to be sitting in the Swan hatch during this video, so we should see the completed hatch before the end of this season.

In both the Swan station film and Flame station computer video, Dr. Chang has a prosthetic left arm, but in the Orchid, Pearl and Barracks video above, he has two functional arms. So he must survive the purge he references, but lose the arm in the process and then appear in the Swan and Flame videos.

DHARMA/HOSTILE RELATIONS

In a previous episode, Radzinsky seemed hell bent on preventing the Hostiles from finding out about the Swan hatch. But there is no way that the Dharma folk have created such a huge construction site without Richard Alpert knowing. So is there an agreement between the two factions, and if so...what do the Hostiles receive in return for allowing them to use that space?

FARADAY

Logistically, how and when did Faraday leave the island during that three year period in Dharmaville? If he'd turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel and exited in Tunisia, we would have seen the island affected via time shifts. But they stopped, for at least these three years.

We know that Faraday's research is funded by Widmore. Did he go see him or his mom Eloise when he left the island? Something tells me that mommy dearest had something to do with how he left in the first place...

I have to say that when I heard that "scientists from Ann Arbor" were arriving in Dharmaville, I was excited to finally meet the infamous DeGroots. Of course that statement implies more than one person, so Faraday won't be the only one to emerge from that sub.

THE FREIGHTER FOUR

We now know why Charlotte, Faraday and Miles were specifically chosen by Widmore (via Matthew Abaddon) for their mission to the island, so I'm hoping that we'll find out the real reason that Lapidus was sent there...

HURLEY

I love that he is continuously evolving and filling various roles; tonight he was both therapist and screenwriter.

HYDRA ISLAND & POLAR BEARS

There are two ways to interpret Dr. Chang's threat to "ship" Hurley over to Hydra Island to work as a polar bear pooper scooper; either he is literally just sent there, or there is a method of transportation aside from the sub that we have yet to see. I realize that it is only 1.5-2 miles away, but I just don't see Dharma sending people back and forth frequently via outrigger canoe.

Given that we saw Charlotte uncover a polar bear skeleton with a Dharma collar in the Tunisian desert (which is the island's time shift exit), I am assuming that Dr. Chang is referring to the polar bears on Hydra as "ridiculous experiments" because he does not believe that they should be used as guinea pigs to push the Frozen Donkey Wheel and wind up in Tunisia. It seems that at this point in time, the polar bears are being stored and prepped over on Hydra, but not yet subjected to the Frozen Donkey Wheel. But because we've seen that the wheel is located in probably the only locale on the island at that temperature, it makes sense that they'll bring the polar bears over at some point to acclimate and become more comfortable in their normal cold environment.

NAOMI

She serves a similar purpose to Eloise Hawking; getting specific individuals to that island. Obviously Naomi becomes more of a physical presence in that process, as opposed to a metaphysical one.

THE NUMBERS

We see 'the numbers' being imprinted on the Swan hatch quarantine door. Let's travel back in time to Season 1...we learned that Leonard Simms (Hurley's mumbling acquaintance in the mental institution) first heard 'the numbers' from Sam Toomey, and they were both in the Navy. We witnessed a military presence on the island, during the early Widmore era, so I would not be surprised to see young Leonard and Sam in a future episode. My guess is Leonard went crazy after exposure to the electromagnetic field while building the Swan; that is where he first saw the numbers. And let's face it, if a man's filling can be pulled out of his tooth and through his head...anything is possible at that location.

Side note: Toomey's widowed wife allegedly lost her leg in a car accident. Given that we know Dr. Chang injures his arm (potentially during pending 'incident'), that Montand lost his arm to Smokey, etc., I now believe that she was possibly on the island as well. And let's not forget that our favorite statue is merely one stump of a leg...

THE ORCHID

There are two reasons I came up with for why they send deceased bodies to the Orchid station. The first is that there is cold storage beneath it, near the Frozen Donkey Wheel. I cannot explain how or why that area exists at that temperature, but it is probably connected via underground passageway to The Temple, as both contain walls of hieroglyphics.

ROGER LINUS

Both Kate and Jack have major daddy issues, so their initial sympathies toward Roger are not a huge surprise. But I had to laugh when the recently shaved and sober Jack lectured Roger about drinking.

And the scene with Kate and Roger on the swing set reminded me of young Annie with Little Linus in the same exact location, when she gave him the wood carved dolls.

TIME SHIFTS & "THE RULES"

Are there rules about crossing paths with actual relatives and selves in previous eras? We saw Faraday meet his young mother Ellie in 1954, but not only is Miles seeing his father in 1977...he is interacting with him and also existing as a 3 month old at the same time.

THE WAR

It is coming, and Ben believes that he's overseeing the winning team, opposite Widmore. That is probably why he had Ilana bring the ammunition on Ajira 316. I certainly hope that Daddy Widmore somehow returns to the island for this showdown, and that it relates to 'the incident.' Because of the title of this episode and the many other Star Wars references therein, I started pondering whether Ben's or Widmore's empire will strike back...

DID YOU NOTICE...

There were two statements uttered in this episode which apply to many characters: "that douche is my dad" and "if you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should have told him when he was still alive." Miles & Pierre Chang, Ben & Roger Linus, Jack & Christian Shephard, Walt & Michael.

Animals:

• The white rabbit which Miles knew hid the apartment key.
• The book that Dr. Chang was reading to baby Miles was about a polar bear.
• The horses in the paintings above Mrs. Chang, off island.

I couldn't help but think about Little Miss Sunshine as Miles put the body in the trunk of the VW van.

Oh, and in their tan jumpsuits, ghost whisperer Miles and the I-see-dead-people dude Hurley comprise (mentally and physically) 1/2 of the Ghostbusters.

New Dharma logo alert: there appears to be a Dharma school or library logo, as evidenced by Hurley's journal notebook.

Yesterday was 4/15 and today's date is 4/16, all of which are 'the numbers.' :)
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I have to publish this now, because my blog host site is scheduled for a maintenance outage in less than an hour - doh! And although I seem to say this after every episode, I really do have more to elaborate about and plan to post further thoughts and theories this weekend!

As a pop culture sponge and sci-fi fan, I loved tonight's episode. Kudos and shout-out to "Some Like it Hoth" co-writer Gregg Nations, whom I had the pleasure of meeting (and bowling with) a few weeks ago at Lost Weekend in LA.

By the way, I had no idea that when we saw live filming in Oahu earlier this year of episode 14 (which airs on 4/29 after a brief hiatus next week) that is was the milestone 100th episode of Lost! And what we witnessed there is finally starting to make sense. I will make sure to highlight and compare what we saw in the post following that episode ("The Variable").

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave comments; I will respond to all by next week!

- Jo