Post-holiday greetings, patient Lost friends! Just so you know, I will be accelerating my pace to complete Season 5 of this Lost Rewatch by January 28, which is when I will be heading to Oahu for the S6 premiere on the beach! You may notice that more episodes will be combined into fewer posts, with lengthier content.
So without further delay, let's skip through time and avoid flaming arrows together...
Anagram Alert!
Appropriately enough, the name on the side of the van that Ben uses to transport Locke's body (Canton-Rainier) is an anagram for REINCARNATION.
Bloody Hell
As a side effect from the frequent time shifts, the following people get bloody noses:
- Charlotte
- Miles
- Juliet
- Sawyer
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They obviously occur in order of longest time spent on the island. Charlotte was born there and left as a young girl, Miles was born there and left as a baby, Juliet had been there for three years and Sawyer for less than a year.
Broken Arrow
In the opening scene of S5, Dr. Chang is filming a segment for an Orientation film and reveals that the Arrow station's primary purpose is "to develop defensive strategies and gather intelligence on the island's hostile indigenous population."
The Arrow has always seemed significant to me for many reasons. First of all, Radzinsky cut out important parts of the Swan film and put the excess footage into the Bible that Eko later discovered after crashing on the island.
In S4, Horace appeared in Locke's vision wearing an Arrow jumpsuit and in 1970's S5 (wearing the Arrow jumpsuit), he instructed Phil to call that station because they were on high security alert. And I can only assume that Mikhail either visited or was stationed there at one point, given that Eko also found a glass eye in the Arrow.
In S4, Horace appeared in Locke's vision wearing an Arrow jumpsuit and in 1970's S5 (wearing the Arrow jumpsuit), he instructed Phil to call that station because they were on high security alert. And I can only assume that Mikhail either visited or was stationed there at one point, given that Eko also found a glass eye in the Arrow.
Foreshadowing Dialogue
Because You Left
Dr. Chang: "This station is being built here because of its proximity to what we believe to ben an almost limitless energy. And that energy, once we can harness it correctly - it's going to allow us to manipulate time."
Dr. Chang: "There are rules; rules that cannot be broken. If you drill even one centimeter further, you risk releasing that energy. If that were to happen...God help us all."
Jack: "How did we get here - how did this happen?"
Ben: "It happened because you left, Jack."
Ben: "Obviously John's visit to you made an impression. What did he say to you to make you such a believer?"
Jack: "Everyone we left behind - John said that they'd die too if I didn't come back."
Ben: "Did he tell you what happened to them after the island moved?"
Jack: "No he didn't."
Ben: "Then I guess we'll never know."
Faraday, on the Zodiac raft after the island moved: "We must have been inside the radius."
Faraday: "Think of the island like a record spinning on a turntable, only now - that record is skipping. Whatever Ben Linus did down at the Orchid station, I think it might have...dislodged us."
Miles: "Dislodged us from what?"
Faraday: "Time."
Juliet: "So that's why our camp is gone - because the island is moving through time?"
Faraday: "Either the island is, or we are. And it's just as likely that we're moving, your people and us."
Locke: "I know who you are. Your name is Ethan."
Ethan: "Who are you?"
Locke: "My name is John Locke. I know this is going to be hard to understand, but Ben Linus appointed me as your leader."
Ethan: "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
Sawyer: "When are we now?"
Faraday: "We're either in the past or in the future."
Widmore: "You mentioned that you and I had common interests. Why don't you tell me exactly what they might be."
Sun: "To kill Benjamin Linus."
Sayid: "I was working for Benjamin Linus."
Hurley: "Wait, he's on our side now?"
Sayid: "If you ever have the misfortune of running into him, whatever he tells you - just do the opposite."
Charlotte: "Do you think he's looking for us?"
Miles: "Who?"
Charlotte: "Widmore."
Miles: "It took him like twenty years to find this place the first time."
Faraday: "You cannot change anything. You can't. Even if you tried to, it wouldn't work. Time, it's like a street. We can move forward on that street, we can move in reverse - but we cannot ever create a new street. If we try to do anything different, we fail every time. Whatever happened, happened."
Sawyer: "So how do we stop it?"
Faraday: "We can't stop it."
Locke: "It was Ethan who shot me."
Richard Alpert: "What comes around, goes around."
Locke: "When am I?"
Alpert: "That's all relative."
Locke: "When the sky lit up, where did you go?"
Alpert: "I didn't go anywhere, John - you did."
Alpert: "The only way to save the island is to get your people back here, the ones who left. You have to convince them to come back."
Locke: "How am I supposed to do that?"
Alpert: "You're going to have to die, John."
Faraday: "If it didn't happen, it can't happen. You can't change the past."
Faraday, to Desmond: "You're the only person who can help us because the rules don't apply to you. You're special...uniquely and miraculously special. Right now, me and everyone you left behind - we are in serious danger. I need you to go back to Oxford University, go back to where we met. I need you to go there and find my mother. Her name is..."
The Lie
Ghost Ana Lucia, to Hurley: "You've got a lot of work to do."
Ghost Ana, to Hurley: "Libby says hi."
Ben: "Find yourself a suitcase. If there's anything in life you want, pack it in there...because you're never coming back."
Jack: "Good."
Jughead
Young Ellie Hawking, to Faraday: "You just couldn't stay away, could you?"
Sawyer, about young Widmore: "Why didn't you shoot him?"
Locke: "He's one of my people."
Young Widmore: "Their leader is some sodding old man. You think he knows this island better than I do?"
Locke: "How did you know Richard would be here?"
Juliet: "Richard's always been here."
Locke: "Your name is Charles Widmore?"
Young Widmore: "What's it to you?"
Locke: "Nothing. Nice to meet you."
The Little Prince
Jack: "Are you with me?"
Kate: "I've always been with you."
Jack: "Ben is on our side."
Sayid: "The only side he's on is his own."
Jack, to Kate: "I can fix this. Aaron is my family too."
Sawyer: "I was close enough to touch her. If I wanted to, I could've stood right up and talked to her."
Juliet: "Why didn't you?"
Sawyer: "What's done is done."
I Can See for Miles
We start to get hints that Miles knows far more about the island than we thought. He knew that Widmore had been there before, that Charlotte grew up there, etc.
I also noticed the second time around that in The Lie, Miles takes off into the jungle to get food for his group, and he does so with an arrogant confidence reminiscent of S1 Locke. Miles clearly knows where to find a boar and how to kill it by himself...perhaps he communicates with some of the deceased folks on the island to glean such information. The man is a ghost whisperer, not a hunter.
LOST Book Club
Of course the episode The Little Prince relates to the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Besides the fact that it starts with a plane crash, there are references to a magic box, inactive volcanos, a lamp post planet and more. In addition, Rousseau's wreckage contained an item labeled Besixdouze, which is the name of the asteroid that the main character lives on in the book.
In a strange twist of fate, the author disappeared in flight one year after publishing this book.
Out of the Box
Am I the only one who is still curious about what is inside of the heavy box that Ben removed from the air vent in his hotel room before going to get Locke's body for the return flight? Longtime readers are more than familiar with my Lost box obsession; for a refresher, see the paragraph titled 'Trick in a Box.'
Outwit, Outplay, Outrigger
Exactly who was in the other outrigger, shooting at Locke and co.? It sure seems like Juliet hits someone when she shoots back at them.
Parallels
In Because You Left, Pierre Chang says "God help us all" when he thinks about what could happen if they drilled further beneath the Orchid, and at the end of The Lie, Eloise Hawking says the same thing when Ben asks what happens if he can't convince all of the Oceanic 6 to return.
In S4, Faraday rendered the gas in The Tempest station inert. In Jughead, asked to do the same with the bomb.
The Plane! The Plane!
In our first clue that the Oceanic 6 were going to return to the island after all, Charlotte discovers an Ajira Air water bottle on the survivor's beach during a time shift.
And, of course, Juliet the Latin speaking martial arts trained fertility doctor who has dislocated her shoulder four times, is the only one who has heard of Ajira.
I also noticed the second time around that in The Lie, Miles takes off into the jungle to get food for his group, and he does so with an arrogant confidence reminiscent of S1 Locke. Miles clearly knows where to find a boar and how to kill it by himself...perhaps he communicates with some of the deceased folks on the island to glean such information. The man is a ghost whisperer, not a hunter.
LOST Book Club
Of course the episode The Little Prince relates to the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Besides the fact that it starts with a plane crash, there are references to a magic box, inactive volcanos, a lamp post planet and more. In addition, Rousseau's wreckage contained an item labeled Besixdouze, which is the name of the asteroid that the main character lives on in the book.
In a strange twist of fate, the author disappeared in flight one year after publishing this book.
Out of the Box
Am I the only one who is still curious about what is inside of the heavy box that Ben removed from the air vent in his hotel room before going to get Locke's body for the return flight? Longtime readers are more than familiar with my Lost box obsession; for a refresher, see the paragraph titled 'Trick in a Box.'
Outwit, Outplay, Outrigger
Exactly who was in the other outrigger, shooting at Locke and co.? It sure seems like Juliet hits someone when she shoots back at them.
Parallels
In Because You Left, Pierre Chang says "God help us all" when he thinks about what could happen if they drilled further beneath the Orchid, and at the end of The Lie, Eloise Hawking says the same thing when Ben asks what happens if he can't convince all of the Oceanic 6 to return.
In S4, Faraday rendered the gas in The Tempest station inert. In Jughead, asked to do the same with the bomb.
The Plane! The Plane!
In our first clue that the Oceanic 6 were going to return to the island after all, Charlotte discovers an Ajira Air water bottle on the survivor's beach during a time shift.
And, of course, Juliet the Latin speaking martial arts trained fertility doctor who has dislocated her shoulder four times, is the only one who has heard of Ajira.
Significant Moments/Firsts
We learn that Dr. Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax/Mark Wickman were merely pseudonyms that Dr. Pierre Chang used in various Dharma Orientation films.
We see the DI building the Orchid and discovering the Frozen Donkey Wheel (via x-ray scan) beneath it.
We find out that Faraday was on the island during 1970's Dharma days, via time travel.
We discover that after the island moved, it had shifted in time to the 1970's.
In an unknown era during one of his first time shifts, Locke sees Yemi's yellow plane crash on the island.
Locke gets shot yet again, this time in the leg.
In that same era, we see Ethan Rom almost kill a trespassing Locke.
Charlotte gets a bloody nose, the first of many for her and others, and a side effect of the time skips on the island.
Ghost Ana Lucia makes her first appearance off island, to Hurley.
It is revealed that Charles Widmore was once stationed on the island, in a military position battling the hostiles. He reports to the ageless Richard Alpert.
We see Eloise Hawking again - this time in Los Angeles with Ben.
Desmond and Penny have a son, and they name him Charlie.
Charles Widmore turns out to have been the one financing Faraday's research. He is also covering the expenses of Theresa Spencer, a woman left in a catatonic state after one of Faraday's time traveling experiments failed.
We find out that it was Locke himself (during a time shift to an earlier era on the island) who instructed Alpert to be present at his birth two years later.
During a time shift back to 2004, Locke sees the light shine through the Swan hatch and Sawyer witnesses Claire giving birth to Aaron.
Clarie's mother Carole does not know about her grandson Aaron.
Ben's attorney is also Carole's attorney; she sued Oceanic and won a settlement.
We see young Rousseau and her crew when they first wind up on the island.
We find out that Jin is indeed still alive! He somehow survived the freighter explosion (perhaps the island was not ready for him to die), and was brought to shore by Rousseau and her team.
Eloise Hawking turns out to be Faraday's mother, also quite proficient in physics and time travel. Both Widmore and Ben know where to find her in Los Angeles.
Swan Song
In Jughead, Faraday asks young soldier Ellie in the 50's if they have access to any lead or concrete, and then instructs her to fill in the crack on Jughead's casing with lead and bury it. I interpreted that to mean that it must then be buried behind or under concrete. Faraday tells her that if she buries it, everything will be fine because in 50 years - the island is still there.
There is a section in and beneath the Swan hatch that was covered by concrete, concealing the area where 'the incident' occurred (information revealed in S2). We saw Jughead detonated at the end of S5, causing The Incident. It may have also have caused a reset.
I believe that Ellie and her people DID bury Jughead beneath the Swan under concrete; that Sayid was spot on in S2 when he told Jack that it resembled Chernobyl. Later in S5, Faraday himself tells Jack that the Dharma folks are going to accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy at the Swan site; that they're going to have to cement it in to contain it "like Chernobyl." Perhaps in an alternate reality, we will see that Jughead never detonated. It could be that although Radzinsky insisted on drilling and they did hit the energy pocket, it was contained and sealed off shortly thereafter.
Ghost Ana Lucia makes her first appearance off island, to Hurley.
It is revealed that Charles Widmore was once stationed on the island, in a military position battling the hostiles. He reports to the ageless Richard Alpert.
We see Eloise Hawking again - this time in Los Angeles with Ben.
Desmond and Penny have a son, and they name him Charlie.
Charles Widmore turns out to have been the one financing Faraday's research. He is also covering the expenses of Theresa Spencer, a woman left in a catatonic state after one of Faraday's time traveling experiments failed.
We find out that it was Locke himself (during a time shift to an earlier era on the island) who instructed Alpert to be present at his birth two years later.
During a time shift back to 2004, Locke sees the light shine through the Swan hatch and Sawyer witnesses Claire giving birth to Aaron.
Clarie's mother Carole does not know about her grandson Aaron.
Ben's attorney is also Carole's attorney; she sued Oceanic and won a settlement.
We see young Rousseau and her crew when they first wind up on the island.
We find out that Jin is indeed still alive! He somehow survived the freighter explosion (perhaps the island was not ready for him to die), and was brought to shore by Rousseau and her team.
Eloise Hawking turns out to be Faraday's mother, also quite proficient in physics and time travel. Both Widmore and Ben know where to find her in Los Angeles.
Swan Song
In Jughead, Faraday asks young soldier Ellie in the 50's if they have access to any lead or concrete, and then instructs her to fill in the crack on Jughead's casing with lead and bury it. I interpreted that to mean that it must then be buried behind or under concrete. Faraday tells her that if she buries it, everything will be fine because in 50 years - the island is still there.
There is a section in and beneath the Swan hatch that was covered by concrete, concealing the area where 'the incident' occurred (information revealed in S2). We saw Jughead detonated at the end of S5, causing The Incident. It may have also have caused a reset.
I believe that Ellie and her people DID bury Jughead beneath the Swan under concrete; that Sayid was spot on in S2 when he told Jack that it resembled Chernobyl. Later in S5, Faraday himself tells Jack that the Dharma folks are going to accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy at the Swan site; that they're going to have to cement it in to contain it "like Chernobyl." Perhaps in an alternate reality, we will see that Jughead never detonated. It could be that although Radzinsky insisted on drilling and they did hit the energy pocket, it was contained and sealed off shortly thereafter.
The Visual and the Visceral
I love that S5 opens very similarly to the previous three season openers, when we have no where or when we are (S2: Desmond in the hatch, S3: Juliet in New Otherton, S4: Jack & Hurley in LA as Oceanic Six after rescue, S5: Dr. Candle in 1970's Dharmaville on the island). I remember watching it the first time, wondering if we were getting a glimpse of Jin and Sun in the future. Little did I know that it was in fact Dr. Chang and his wife, parents of baby Miles in the 70's on the island. [sidenote: shortly before S5, I interviewed actor Francios Chau and had NO idea that he'd feature so prominently last season!]
As a nod to what Faraday reveals about the island's time travel properties later in the same episode (Because You Left), the record skips in Pierre Chang's house.
Miles emerges from the jungle with a dead boar in The Lie, just as Locke does later this season (5.15, Follow The Leader) and obviously has in the past.
Hurley
One of my favorite Hurley scenes in the entire series thus far is his tearful confession to his mother about the real details surrounding the crash and island. Jorge Garcia really did a fantastic job in The Lie.
And, of course, who doesn't love Hurley's Hot Pocket Hurl?!
Sawyer
I still think it is bizarre and a tad out of place to show us that something pierced Sawyer's bare foot. That I know of, it was not at all significant to the story or episode. Even though we now know that the 4-toed statue is Tawaret, I can't help but think that Sawyer is somehow tied to it. Perhaps we will come to find out that he is responsible for how it actually gets destroyed (although my money is on an eruption from the island's volcano).
By the way, that wasn't the first time that we've witnessed something poke through Sawyer's foot. In S3, Sawyer steps on a dart from the Swan that was in the jungle after the implosion...
Crazy Conspiracy Theory of the Week
When Ben leaves to move Locke's body to a safer location, Jack responded with "Safe? He's dead, isn't he?" And Ben did NOT answer that question. That stirred up a potential thought - what if Ben was working with Mystery Man the entire time...what if BEN is the loophole, and not Locke?
Ben went to great lengths to ensure that Locke returned to the island in a condition necessary for Mystery Man to become NotLocke. He killed Locke, knowing that he would reanimate upon arrival back on the island (reincarnation van, anyone?). He had the body stored/preserved in a meat locker at a butcher shop (Jill: "everything's moving right on schedule"), and instructs Jill to "keep him safe, because if you don't...everything we're about to do won't matter at all." At first I assumed they were referring to gathering the Oceanic 6 for the Ajira flight back, but now I'm not so sure. That Jill was expecting Locke's body in the first place is an indication that not only was Locke's 'murder' pre-meditated, Ben informed his crew in advance.
At the end of S5, in The Incident, it is interesting to think about this possibility when looking at some of NotLocke's dialogue:
Alpert: "Only our leader can request an audience with Jacob, and there can only be one leader on the island at a time."
NotLocke: "I'm beginning to think you just make up these rules as you go along. Ben is coming in with me, and if that's a problem, I'm sure Jacob and I can work it out."
NotLocke, to Ben: "Things will change, once he's gone. I promise."
Jacob: "Whatever he's told you - I want you to understand one thing...you have a choice."
Ben: "What choice?"
Jacob: "You can do what he asked, or you can go - leave us to discuss our issues."
[Insert Ben's 'what about me' speech here.]
IF Ben was MysteryMan's loophole/partner in crime, it would make sense that he insisted that Ben be the one to murder Jacob. Ben pretended it was something he was fearful of and didn't want to do, but he was tired of taking orders from Jacob and wanted revenge just as much as Mystery Man did.
---
And...scene. Finally! Again, apologies for the delay. I should be back on track now, and plan to dedicate many hours next New Year's weekend to the next big installment of Rewatch analysis.
As always, I encourage and appreciate any comments, corrections and constructive feedback! I hope that all of you enjoyed the holidays and a few days off to relax.
Namaste, and Happy New Year!
-Jo
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