LOST Episode 6.08: "Recon" (Initial Thoughts & Theories)

Good evening, LOST friends. I appreciate your patience - below are my initial thoughts and theories about this week's episode, Recon. I have to admit that it was delightful to have several hours during the day to contemplate, research and write about the episode rather than staying up all night for once. :)


To be honest, while I loved all of notLocke's scenes and dialogue, I was a little disappointed in Recon and Sawyer's flash sideways. That being said, I need to watch it again because I am a bit distracted and focused on other shows while here on location in Vancouver. 


My biggest gripe is that there was potential for more relevant crossovers in the flash sideways; Ana Lucia or her mother working for the LAPD with Sawyer and Miles rather than Charlie's brother Liam appearing, for instance. My second biggest issue is that it was a waste of opportunity to have Charlotte merely reappear as one of Sawyer's conquests. Rebecca Mader may have been thrilled to return, but I believe she and her character deserved better. 


Obviously certain aspects of the show depend on the availability of the actors, but I rarely address what I do not like about episodes and I am no longer going to keep it to myself. 


My plan is to re-watch the episode this weekend and post a second round of analysis, as I will be traveling yet again and anticipate plenty of time both up in the air and while in Atlanta.


Ajira 316





I know that the presence of this plane is not new, but I can finally reveal what I saw during our private press set visit in January; this video and these photos were considered spoiler-ish until now, as no one really knew that the plane would come into play again. The very talented construction team on LOST built this to-scale half of a plane from scratch specifically for S6, whereas all previous footage of Ajira was CGI.

By the way, I don't know if Widmore's crew killed the remaining 316 passengers or if notLocke took a quick side trip to the Hydra and took care of them himself. Although Zoe pretended to be one of them, I don't necessarily believe that she and Team Widmore were the ones who did the deed. Although that scene reminded me of the Other Purge in the early 90's, this one had far more of a creepy zombie vibe.

Cage Match, Part 2

Detective Ford pins Kate, but this time Sawyer is arresting rather than caressing her (S3, I Do). 

Episode Parallels


The Long Con (S2)


Just as Cassidy saw right through Sawyer's attempted con after sleeping with him, in the flash sideways Ava was also onto his game. Of course the tables have turned in this version, as does the outcome.


Ana Lucia and Jack discussed forming an army, just as the war between notLocke and Widmore seems to be taking shape.


Sawyer lied to both Jack and Locke, took the guns from the Swan hatch and hid them, declared on the beach that he was the new sheriff in town and that he was not taking orders from either Team Jack or Team Locke. Sawyer is certainly playing both teams right now, but is not truly part of either. Every man for himself, indeed. 


Sawyer told Kate that "you run, I con; tiger don't change its stripes." It seems, at least for now in the flash sideways, that he is a tiger with alternate stripes.  


Although he was referring to Charlie at the time, Sawyer said that "it looks like Johnny Locke's got himself a nemesis." In addition to Widmore, notLocke appears to have an army of enemies now.


Sawyer told Charlie that "I'm not a good person - never did a good thing in my life." 


Locke took responsibility for teaching Michael how to shoot a gun, much like notLocke took responsibility for Claire's behavior.


Every Man for Himself (S3)

In Recon, there were two great visual parallels back to the S3 scene when Ben first shows Sawyer that he is on Hydra Island; one between Locke and Sawyer, and then between Locke and Kate.

Tricia Tanaka is Dead (S3)


Sawyer told Kate that when he was sick as a child, he watched Little House on the Prairie. As seen in this episode, some things never change. It was touching to see adult Sawyer still so affected by Mr. Ingalls' talk with his daughter, including Lost specific statements like "people aren't really gone when they die; we have all the good memories to sustain us until we see them again."


LaFleur (S5)

Dharma Sheriff Jim LaFleur and his deputy Miles are now LAPD Detectives Ford and Straume. 


In his flash sideways, Sawyer's magic word is LaFleur. {love that, nice touch}


Horace informs Sawyer that there is a sub ready to take him and his friends off of the island in 1974. In this episode, Sawyer plans to use Widmore's sub to do just that.

Sawyer brought Juliet a single flower in their Dharmaville home (S5, LaFleur), just as he brought Charlotte a single flower after he botched their first date.


Growing Pains


Medically speaking, it is my understanding that growing pains primarily refers to pain the legs of growing children. I just love how notLocke described it, because John Locke loses the ability to feel his legs at all.


I Want to Feel the Car Crash

I do love lists, and now we have yet another car crash to add to the collection:


CLAIRE

• She and her mom got into an accident after arguing, resulting in her mother's coma (Par Avion)

HURLEY

• Hurley crashed his beloved car after fleeing from Ghost Charlie and being chased by the LAPD (The Beginning of the End)

JACK

• When Shannon's father and Sarah were in a head on collision, Jack chose to operate on and save the life of his future wife (Abadoned)
• He was about to jump off of the bridge when a car crashed after spotting him there; he saved the driver's life (Through the Looking Glass)

JULIET

• Her ex husband was hit and killed by a bus in front of her...after she made a snide remark about it happening (Not in Portland)

KATE

• While on the run with the help of her childhood ex Tom, they crashed and Tom was killed (Born to Run)
• While driving in the rain, the Marshal crashed their car after veering away from Kate's infamous black horse (What Kate Did)
• Farmer Mullen, who was pretending to help Kate, crashed down the side of highway after being chased by the Marshal (Tabula Rasa)

LOCKE

• Emily Locke was hit by a car, causing her to prematurely deliver baby John (Cabin Fever)
• Locke was hit by a car confronting his mom in a parking lot (Deus Ex Machina)
• Locke's dad Anthony Cooper was in a car accident and woke up on the island (The Brig)
• Locke was hit by a car after speeding away from Abaddon's murder (The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham)

MICHAEL

• Michael was hit by a car in NY before flight 815 (Special)
• Michael tried to kill himself by crashing his car (Meet Kevin Johnson)

SAWYER

• Although not a crash, Christian Shephard opens his car door into Sawyer in Sydney (Two for the Road)
• Kate crashes into his car as he was talking with Miles (Recon)

SAYID

• Nadia is killed by a hit and run in front of Sayid as Jacob distracts/saves him (The Incident)

The Land of Submarines

There are myriad possibilities for what or who is behind the locked door on Widmore's sub. My first thought was that it was yet another 'magic box' metaphorical storage locker holding someone significant to the past of someone on the island (a la Anthony Cooper to Locke). 


My second guess was that perhaps Widmore needed Desmond to finally return to the island but once Des' information proved to be correct...Widmore locked him up and gagged him. However, given that Des is his grandson's baby daddy, I doubt it.


My third guess was that Widmore used his son Faraday and his baby mama Hawking to return to the island, and that one of those two were locked up. 


And then I gave up guessing, because all of those options are rather ridiculous.


LOST Book Club


We saw Sawyer read Watership Down on the island, but there are some very interesting parallels to the current power struggle.  A group of rabbits are seeking safety and a new home after avoiding death (including, yes, via poison) and are lured to an oasis of sorts that proves to be a trap. Ironically, they rely upon the female rabbits to ensure their future as a society...something that the island has prevented for many years.


And frankly, some of the lines from the book speak volumes in terms of comparisons to and influences on Lost:

• "He felt that the darkness itself was alive and hated him, and it never changed, never slept, never spoke. All it had to do was wait for it to go mad, to break down, to give up and surrender. Then he would have lost, and the implacable darkness would have won."
• "Rabbits need dignity, and above all the will to accept their fate."
• "They altered what rabbits do naturally, because they thought they could do better."
• "We all have to meet our match, sometime or other."

LOST Movie Club

In addition to the obvious Indiana Jones analogies, I was amused by Sawyer's reference to Bullitt. For one, the lead character is a police lieutenant who purposely misplaces a deceased body (Christian Shephard) and chases a female suspect who uses various aliases (Kate). In addition, a significant character in the film is Walter Chalmers...Charles Widmore's initials in reverse. 

Mirror Moments

Although the producers have been insisting that the flashes sideways are NOT glimpses into a Parallel Universe, there have been purposeful nods to mirror images of each character thus far. In addition, each moment takes place after interacting with a very specific person in each of their flash sideways lives that affects their moral compass in a more redemptive direction...

• 6.01: Jack in the airplane bathroom, after meeting Desmond on 815
• 6.03: Kate in the mechanic shop bathroom, after dropping off pregnant Claire on the side of the road
• 6.04: Locke in his bedroom bathroom, after Helen referring to him meeting a spinal surgeon  as "destiny"...and right before tearing up Jack's card
• 6.05: Jack in his hallway, after noticing the appendix scar AND Jack in his son's bedroom, looking at photos of them together and deciding to go to his performance
• 6.06: Ben in his microwave, making dinner for his ill father, whom he is looking after
• 6.07: Sawyer in the locker room, after being confronted by Miles for lying...and before punching the mirror

No Man is an Island


When notLocke explained to Kate why he killed people in the Temple ("They're convinced that they're protecting the island from me, when in fact all I want to do is leave. So it's either kill or be killed. And I don't want to be killed."), I started thinking about the two sides in the pending war. 


Charles Widmore has finally returned to the island, although I am still not sure whether or not he aims to truly protect/rule it or sink it. And then there are two other categories: 

• those who want to leave the island: Frank, Hurley, Jack, Jin, Kate, Miles, notLocke, Sawyer, Sun 
• those w/unknown intentions and wishes: Alpert, Ben, infected Claire, Ilana, infected Sayid

I strongly believe that this entire war and its outcome will determine whether one lives the life we see in the Flash Sideways or whether one is forever stuck on the island; regardless of who is on opposing teams, they will ultimately side with either Jacob (Free Will/Choice) or the Man in Black (Fate/Force). 

War Games

The instructions that notLocke gave to Sawyer before sending him to Hydra Island seem to be key to the game that both he and Jacob have been playing all along: "You tell them whatever you need to tell them to gain their trust. Find out everything you can about them and then get back here."

Also of significance to the larger picture in this pending war was notLocke's question to Kate: "Have you ever had an enemy, someone that you needed to hate? Very powerful, isn't it?" as well as his admission that he gave Claire "something to hate" to "keep her going." 

ANTHONY COOPER


In the flash sideways world, Locke and his father have a good relationship, but obviously he is not aware of his dad's criminal ways. 


By the way, one of my favorite Lost anagrams combines Anthony Cooper and (one of his other con names) Adam Seward: Sawyer, the con man, a poor dad.


CHARLES WIDMORE


I am very conflicted about Widmore. On one hand, I'd like to believe that he has finally returned to the island to save the remaining 815 crew because his son Daniel Faraday pleaded with him to do so (after all, it is Faraday's fault that Jack detonated Jughead, setting off a series of events that brought them back there)...as did his son-in-law Desmond.  Now that Widmore is a grandfather, is it possible that his perspective and agenda have changed?

All credit to Alan Dale - it is hard to get a read on who's side Widmore will land. The obvious choice is that he has been working with the Man in Black the entire time. And it would be strange if he winds up being one of the Good Guys, an assertion that his nemesis Ben has always made claim to. 


CHARLOTTE


It was nice to see Red again, and not as a zombie. But her comment about getting to "travel quite a bit to far off and romantic places" made me wonder if flash sideways Red was born on the island and still searching for her roots. 


CLAIRE

"Now Aaron has a crazy mother too." Squirrel Baby Mama, Party of One.

All joking aside, I am really enjoying Emilie de Ravin's performance this season. Although I was scared that she was actually going to stab Kate in the back when she went in for a hug after a teary apology, I was quite touched by that scene. 


EMILY LOCKE


I was riveted, listening to notLocke reveal that in his former shape - as the Man in Black - his mother was mentally ill: 


"I know what you're going through because...my mother was crazy. A long time ago, before I looked like this, I had a mother just like everyone. She was a very disturbed woman, and as a result of that, I had some growing pains; problems that I'm still trying to work my way through, problems that could have been avoided HAD THINGS BEEN DIFFERENT."


This is quite significant, given that John Locke's mom Emily spent time in Santa Rosa Mental Institute for schizophrenia. 


Of course I have to wonder who the Man in Black's father is. 


I am also very curious about exactly how old the Man in Black might be, and if his mother's mental illness was never treated or cured because remedies/treatments for such conditions had not yet been created or were available in earlier centuries.... 


JIN and SUN


I really hope that their flash sideways episode will be extraordinary, because like most of you - I've grown tired of Jin and Sun merely being on screen to unnecessarily remind us that they're searching for one another.


KATE

Given that Kate was married to a police officer in her previous life, I find it ironic and very entertaining that flash sideways Sawyer turns out to be a police detective. 


MILES


We found out that in the flash sideways, Miles has a girlfriend. My first thought was Ana Lucia, given that he works for the LAPD. But I simply cannot picture them together. And this is probably not an angle to focus upon at this point in the Lost game anyway. 


Do we know if Miles has his I Speak With Dead People abilities in the flash sideways? If so, that would be one way to cut corners to finding clues and solving investigations. 


Seeing Miles as a detective, I was reminded of his comment in S4 (Confirmed Dead) about having a buddy at the police station. I'd always speculated that it was Big Mike, Ana Lucia's former partner. Alas, Michael Cudlitz is busy on Southland now...but I will never give up such silly speculation about trivial comments and characters.


notLOCKE


Terry O'Quinn had some of the best lines ever as notLocke in this episode, including:


"I'm the Smoke thing."
"Well, nobody's perfect." (in response to Kate's "very insightful...coming from a dead man."

Creepy Cult Leader notLocke (with Emma and Zach) and Stern Father notLocke (with Claire) were equally disturbing.


PIERRE CHANG


Miles mentioned that Charlotte worked at the museum with his father. So are we to glean that Dr. Chang has a PhD in art history rather than theoretical astrophysics? If so, I have a feeling that he is an expert in hieroglyphics interpretation...


SAWYER


Just as Claire declared that "I'm not the one who needs to be rescued" in Sundown, Sawyer stated that "I don't need saving." 


In addition to simply wanting to get the hell off of the island on a sub, you know that Sawyer must be thinking about how he talked Juliet into staying for two more weeks rather than getting on that sub in 1974...which turned into three years and ended with her death.

Although Sawyer obviously still has very strong feelings for Kate - evidenced by his reaction to her dress in the cage - I believe that he really feels that "some people are meant to be alone" (What Kate Does) and that "I ain't with anybody" (Recon).


I got goosebumps when Miles asked Sawyer "do you want to die alone?" because both Kate (S3, Every Man for Himself) and Juliet (S5, The Incident) have uttered the infamous "live together, die alone" statement to him. Sawyer also told Jack that "you don't get to die alone" in the S4 finale (There's No Place Like Home). 


I love that although notLocke admitted that Sawyer was "the best liar I ever met," he seems to actually believe him after the Hydra recon. Perhaps the part of Locke that was "amenable for coercion" still exists in notLocke. 


Although he is clearly still a tortured soul pursuing the man responsible for his parents' death, I am fascinated by his admission that "I got a point in my life where I was going to become a criminal or a cop...so I chose cop." This is yet another redemptive flash sideways, and I am excited to discover which version of James Ford will be the last. 


Best Sawyer line of the epsiode: "Take me to your leader."


SAYID


I don't even want to address my favorite character, as I feel like we are now simply awaiting his death because every possible storyline and outcome has been presented. I hope I am very wrong.
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Thank you so much for checking back in this week, and for not spoiling me at all on Facebook and Twitter! I always appreciate constructive feedback, so feel free to leave Comments below. 


I encourage all of you to tune into Jay and Jack's 30 Hour Podcast for Autism Speaks this weekend. Beginning Saturday at noon and running continuously until 6pm on Sunday, Jay and Jack are raising money for a fantastic cause by auctioning off items and speaking with a great variety of Lost and pop culture friends in the process. You will be able to make donations, listen and watch the Podcast streaming live online for the entire 30 hours. I will be a guest from 11pm EST - midnight on Saturday, if you care to follow along or participate at that time. 


Happy St. Patrick's Day!


-Jo