Coming back from the 1 week break I'm really excited for tonight. Namaste is a greeting used in India. Looking at wikipedia really quickly it seems like they're going to be traveling crazy places tonight and there may be some religious (probably Hindu) undertones. It's gonna be sweet.
Also, I'm looking forward to some tense love parallelogram action going on tonight.
Loved it.
ReplyDeleteOk, LOST has done it again. Just when it seemed like things were going to make sense, they did the ingenious move of having Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley flash to 1977 and the plane land in 2007--so, in their whacky way that the entire show is built on (including dualities), the time of that same activity, the new plane crash, split in TWO.
*The runway theory from a few weeks ago proved to be true, and it was awesome how it linked back to Sawyer and Kate working on the railroad while prisoners back in 2004.
*The 2007 island stuff from two weeks ago, when Locke appeared alive, was awesome--as Ben was knocked out then and now we know why. So, without us even realizing it, that episode with Caesar snooping around was actually a flash forward. So good.
*Based on the previews, the love triangle between Sawyer-Juliet-Kate is going to be intense. Awesome how the triangle shifted from Jack as the guy involved, and it works because now Sawyer is 'the leader.'
*That Sawyer reading-the-book scene with Jack was one of my favorites of any episode. Yet again, the duality of two leaders: now Sawyer vs. Jack
*Ben meeting Sayid was excellent, not only because the kid who plays Ben looks like the adult who plays Ben (!), but also because you can see in the kid's face his interest in and fascination with the hostiles, and we have the dramatic irony of knowing that this is the beginning of the end of the Dharma Initiative
*The way they did the 2007 scene with Christian Shepherd was great, I thought, with the swinging, decrepit sign (after we'd been seeing shiny new Dharma stuff) and Christian appearing in the shadows.
*So many questions: why did Sun not flash when the others did? What exactly IS the island in 2007, as in 1977 there is no sign of supernatural life like Christian? What is the purpose of Jack et al going back to the island? What is the deal with Farraday's 'you can't change the past' when all this is going on in the past? What happened to Farraday?
*I loved the 1977 'New Recruit' photo with the Oceanic people in it, and it would be amazing if in some episode in a past season, that picture was on the wall in the barracks for a glimpse. I don't think so, but that would have been awesome if they did that.
*Finally, Juliet has never looked better than she did throughout this episode.....................
Oh wow. I need time to think about this one.
ReplyDelete2 quick notes:
1. The whispers in the background are people talking in another time....I think. Crazy, but it explains a lot. It seems probable though; Makes all of the early season 1 whispers really interesting.
2. Camp, I'll give it to you. Juliet was looking much better than usual in this episode. The eyebrows and hair are much closer to matching-look what a difference it makes! She still sucks.
Liz, I thought the same thing about the whispers. Crazy cool. Of course, you'd think there'd be a constant cacophony... maybe it gets filtered somehow... some moments may be "closer" to each other than others....
ReplyDeleteI don't know why Sun didn't sync up. Nor where (/when?) Faraday went--off-island? Another time? Dead? Yes, it's kind of cool that this filled in the gap between the crash and what we'd already seen of Cesar and Locke and co. And I loved the runway, and Sawyer with the book, and the recruits photo.
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Re: "you can't change the past"--I think everything we're seeing is already set in stone. Everything they do now, they "had already done" back when they were in 2007 or whatever. But since past, present, and future are all relative, *EVERYTHING* is set in stone. Free will is an illusion, or, if it's not, it's at least already known (from the right point of view) what you will freely choose.
In the pilot, then--as of the very first episode, that is--Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and the rest had already been on the island, in the past. But while the events we're now seeing, taking place in 1977, exist in the island's past (indeed, in the world's past), they exist in the individual characters' futures.
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I feel lost without [adult] Ben (in the 1977 scenes). What's the point? Why, exactly, did they come back? They're on their own.
And, ahem, I think DIEGO has something to say about Ben... don't you, Diego?
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This site has instructions for viewing everything in chronological order. Pretty cool! But I hope one day there's an easier way to do it...
http://www.chronology.org/lost/
Fun episode! Some comments and questions:
ReplyDelete1. Yeah, Juliet looked fine, but only because she's finally happy. Everyone looks better when they're smiling. Except for Ben-- he's creepy when he's happy.
2. When Christian opened the door and also picked up the 1977 photo, I think that's the first time we've seen him manipulate non-imaginary physical objects. Weird. Maybe he could have turned the wheel after all, and there's some other reason why he didn't?
3. Okay, so there were 3 outrigger canoes in 2007. Sun smacked Ben and took one with Lapidus. That leaves two canoes, which is what the Miles/Faraday/Sawyer/Juliet crowd find in 2008. Presumably, Ben isn't dead. How come he didn't take the 2nd canoe when he woke up? Maybe he did, and one of the canoes has been returned? Or maybe Ben was just manipulating Juliet into taking a canoe to the big island.
Easily my favorite episode of this season--so much smart stuff going on in there.
ReplyDeleteA few thoughts:
--Ethan's whole life story is pretty interesting. If Sawyer doesn't save Amy, Ethan might never be born. If Juliet doesn't help with the delivery, Ethan might never be born. His whole existence seems to depend on the time travel of other characters. Then, Charlie kills him in the end, making the Losties (possibly) responsible for both his life and his death. He seems like a much more important character than he did back in Season 1. And I like the idea that Ethan and Ben grow up together on the island, with Ben (maybe) acting like Ethan's big brother.
--While I'm not all that interested in the "love parallelogram" (go Liz!), I loved the moment when Kate nearly got busted at the processing center, then Juliet appeared with Kate's file at the very last moment. I couldn't help thinking that Juliet purposely let that happen as a way of making it clear to Kate that Juliet is the one in power. Of course, that dynamic lines up perfectly with the way that Sawyer has power over Jack.
--Ben almost always seems to have info that gives him an advantage over everyone else. I loved the way that he knew where the outriggers would be AND the way that young Ben gets himself in there to talk to Sayid. (Nice twist there, by the way, since Sayid will end up talking to a locked-up Ben in the future.) Ben also might have saved his own life by making sure that the Others built the runway that allowed 316 to land somewhat safely. Ben's plans might not always work out perfectly, but he does always seem to be several steps ahead of everyone else.
--The scene with Christian was great. I'm still thinking about the idea of "imaginary space and time" from Faraday's journal. The scene with Christian seemed like it took place in that "imaginary space"--you've got the smoke monster, the whispers, a setting that's dark and abandoned AND a mysterious figure in the background during one shot (if you missed it, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk3UmtoNWH0). I say it's dead Claire.
I too genuinely enjoyed Juliet coming in at the last minute she seemed so sincere in her apology which made it all the more spiteful I think. What I liked most is that Christian was finally seen by more than one person, making him more real and not just imagination of one person. Unless it's a shared hallucination the island brought on.
ReplyDeleteImaginary time & space is certainly very intriguing. I bet if you cross Christian Shephard and Dead Claire you get a negative number.
ReplyDeleteOK, since Diego's a no-show, I'll share his theory: Adult Ben knows so much in part because he's been chatting with the time travelers. Maybe he's known bits and pieces of the future all along.
I'm definitely in support of that theory--if he'd been absorbing info from time travelers since he was a kid, and if he'd put some effort into piecing things together, then he would have inevitably built up some serious ammunition for psychological warfare.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused, though. Sawyer, Juliet and Jin have been living with young Ben, and Dharma is small enough that they must be aware of that fact, especially since they've heard older Ben talk about growing up on the island. So far, we've got no evidence that they're even aware of young Ben's presence. They ought to be concerned about him, even if they're buying into the "you can't change the past" philosophy. It's a really weird dynamic. Maybe the answer is just that the writers wanted to avoid any mention of young Ben in order to preserve as much drama as possible for that great scene with Sayid. If that's right, then we ought to get lots of info about young Ben in the next episode.
Yeah. I would assume that young Ben will be appearing as much as, if not more than, old Ben in some of these episodes.
ReplyDeleteIn explanation of the whole "not noticing Ben" thing, I think he may have only recently showed up on the island. Perhaps he was on the same sub that the Losties were supposedly on.
Also, I can't decide where Sawyer will go with the whole his whole love triangle. I think I may be leaning towards Juliet, but you never know. I'm not big into the whole romantic plotlines, so maybe someone else has a better idea of what's going on.
I can't really think of anything else that hasn't been covered. See you all tomorrow then.
Ah yes, hmm... his hair looked longer, so I thought he was a bit older. But the Lostpedia timeline just lists his arrival as "1977 or earlier." Anyone feel like re-watching it and looking out for he and his dad in the arrivals scene?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe we'll go back and see the first time Sawywer/Jin/Juliet/Miles meet Ben.