So That's What Happened?
Hurley, Hurley, Hurley, the audience stand-in, what would we do without you? In the first season, when some wondered what's the deal with the Monster, Hurley asked the same question. In the second season, when vieweres were wondering if the island wasn't all someone's dream, Hurley dealt with that. And in the latest Lost episode, "Whatever Happened, Happened" Hurley asks a bunch of questions about time travel, the very ones fans have been pondering the past few weeks.
The episode was Kate-centric, showing how she got on the flight to Guam, and what happened to Aaron. The first Kate flashback, early on in the first season, was pretty good. Since then, most Kate flashbacks have been disappointing, and are often rated amog the least favorite by fans. This wasn't a great episode, but at least it's getting us on track, and catching us up. We also found out what Sawyer wanted--for Kate to watch out for his kid (whose mother, Cassidy, Kate already met--that's Lost for you).
Kate's motivation to get on the plane and give up Aaron (to his real grandmother) is a little weak. I figured Ben would be more involved. There's even a fake-out in a supermarket where you figure Ben or someone is about to kidnap Aaron. (And the woman looked like Claire, to get both us and Kate thinking.) But it's more her feelings of guilt, which she's had for a long time, about the lies she's told since she got off the island (that she admitted to Cassidy from the start) which send her back. I can buy it, but I think it's like Jack, the first one who knew they had to go back. You have to accept inner turmoil that's been growing a long time for her to make such a huge decision--a feeling that her life isn't right since she left, and she needs to return to the island to fix things. The question then is was Ben such a master psychologist that he understood that Kate, like Jack, would see the light? (For a while I figured since Ben already knew the future--since it was the past--he knew who'd be on that flight, but this episode makes that assumption questionable, to say the least.)
On the island, in 1977, we're dealing with the aftermath of Sayid's escape and young Ben Linus's shooting. Sawyer is investigating and quickly discovers what happened--Ben stole his dad's keys and let Sayid out, who then attacked Jin and shot Ben. Sawyer, of course, understands everyone's motivations far better than leader Horace does.
Ben is not dead--that would have been quite a game-changer. I was hoping for it, in fact, but Faraday is right, whatever happened, happened. Except for Desmond, who doesn't have to play by the rules. This leads to dialogue between the comedy duo of Hurley and Miles. Hurley brings up Back To The Future, which a lot of fans were thinking about--if they kill Ben, will they disappear? Miles tries to calmly explain how things work, but Hurley stops him dead with the one question that has been bothering fans--why didn't Ben seem to notice that the guy who tortures him a few decades later, is also the guy who shot him when he was a kid? Miles doesn't know, and while I had theories (either Ben was able to keep quiet, or getting shot affected his brain), the episode actually dealt with this quandary.
Juliet tries to save Ben (her past/future enemy/lover), as does Kate and Sawyer. But Jack, still passive, won't play along. He states, with impeccable logic, that Ben will survive no matter what he does. Besides, he's already done this scenario (in the future), and it wasn't fun. Kate says she doesn't like the new Jack, and Jack replies she didn't like the old Jack. Good one.
Juliet later reproaches Jack. He's not helping, so just why is he here? She didn't need to be saved, after all. (In this episode, both Juliet and Kate have trouble with Jack, while both admire Sawyer. Score some points for the con man. He's gotta end up with one of them--will the show kill the other to make it easier? If I were Juiet, I'd watch out.) We can see, with Locke dead (as far as Jack knows), that Jack is now the man of faith. He knows he needs to come back to the island, he just doesn't know why. Though I don't think his pissy mood is helping him find out. I'm starting to think ultimately he's meant to be the one leading the island, not Locke. After all, he's special--as his tattoo says, he walks among us, but he is not one of us.
Ironically--or perhaps it was meant to be--Jack refusing to save Ben is the move that sets the boy on the path to become the creepy man we all know and are repulsed by.
Meanwhile, screw-up Roger Linus meets Kate, and gets a chance to redeem himself a little. Didn't see that coming. Doesn't matter, he'll still be gassed to death by his son.
Anyway, the return of the new Losties to the old Losties at the Dharma Initiative is causing trouble, and I can't see the whole charade lasting much longer. Still, it's a fun dynamic, with former lowlife Sawyer being respected and in charge, while these new recruits seem surpisingly familiar and fairly presumptious. Also, the show does a good job making the DI a dangerous place, where the personal radar is always set at high suspicion. (You'd be that way too if surrounded by murderous Hostiles.)
Juliet suggests to Kate only the Others can help Ben now. (Juliet was an Other, though apparently she didn't go all the way--she learned fighting and Latin, but didn't go through the brainwashing that's their hallmark.) So Kate goes out, helped, surprisingly, by Sawyer, into Hostile territory, where they're taken to Richard Alpert, who's always an interesting presence. He's ageless, but he's never clearly the leader. He seems to always be searcing for a leader, in fact. At present (in 1977), the leaders seem to be Ellie and Widmore, both around 40, but Richard doesn't seem that happy about it. He takes in Ben, whom we know will replace them--and whom we know Richard will later complain about to Locke. Hard to please, Richard.
Alpert knows Ben, which surprises Sawyer. (Last time, Sawyer got to surprise Richard.) In fact, he's had his eye on him. He's willing to take Ben in, and make him one of their own, but he explains what that means--the kid will be a new person, not remembering anything (take that, Hurley!) and not be innocent any more. Alpert, as expected, takes Ben to the Temple, where, presumably, he'll come out with what Rousseau called the "disease"--which means, if nothing else, a fanatical devotion to the island. (Assuming it's Ben who comes out--who knows, maybe they'll pull a Starbuck on us.) What I didn't know is the Temple could also cure bullets to the heart.
Ben will be gone from the DI for a while, but I don't suppose he can stay away too long. We know he will return, grow up there and then kill everyone. Which makes you wonder how much he's forgotten, since he'll have to be Roger's son again, and all that. Is he faking?
All this bodes ill for Sawyer and his ilk. There's a lot of suspicion in the air, and I'd assume they'd know that LaFleur, with that strange new girl, Kate, took Ben out to the Hostiles. Back in camp, both Phil and Horace are also highly suspicious of the new guy, Jack. (Juliet is now apparently accepted as a doctor. After three years in the motor pool, I'm surprised how smoothly this transition went. If Jack had helped out and gone from janitor to surgeon in a day, I wonder what they'd have thought of that?) The episode also laid such obvious foreshadowing I'm surprised the shoe didn't drop within the hour--Horace figures a janitor let out Sayid, and it's hard to believe Jack won't be the main suspect (with Roger Linus perhaps helping to frame him). Assuming Kate and Sawyer return, the whole gang may be in trouble next week and have to make their move. Actually, they can't stay around much longer anyway, since they've pretty much got to be out of there before Ben returns to camp. (Ben will apparently never look closely at the photos in the processing station, either.) Perhaps they'll be on the run and meet up with Sayid. (Or Sun?)
I was starting to wonder if we're ever going to see Locke and adult Ben again, and the show gave us a snippet at the end. Ben awakes from his injuries, and staring him in the face is Locke, the man he killed. Since Ben is probably wondering if he's dead, Locke has a wonderful line--"Hello Ben, welcome back to the land of the living."
The episode was Kate-centric, showing how she got on the flight to Guam, and what happened to Aaron. The first Kate flashback, early on in the first season, was pretty good. Since then, most Kate flashbacks have been disappointing, and are often rated amog the least favorite by fans. This wasn't a great episode, but at least it's getting us on track, and catching us up. We also found out what Sawyer wanted--for Kate to watch out for his kid (whose mother, Cassidy, Kate already met--that's Lost for you).
Kate's motivation to get on the plane and give up Aaron (to his real grandmother) is a little weak. I figured Ben would be more involved. There's even a fake-out in a supermarket where you figure Ben or someone is about to kidnap Aaron. (And the woman looked like Claire, to get both us and Kate thinking.) But it's more her feelings of guilt, which she's had for a long time, about the lies she's told since she got off the island (that she admitted to Cassidy from the start) which send her back. I can buy it, but I think it's like Jack, the first one who knew they had to go back. You have to accept inner turmoil that's been growing a long time for her to make such a huge decision--a feeling that her life isn't right since she left, and she needs to return to the island to fix things. The question then is was Ben such a master psychologist that he understood that Kate, like Jack, would see the light? (For a while I figured since Ben already knew the future--since it was the past--he knew who'd be on that flight, but this episode makes that assumption questionable, to say the least.)
On the island, in 1977, we're dealing with the aftermath of Sayid's escape and young Ben Linus's shooting. Sawyer is investigating and quickly discovers what happened--Ben stole his dad's keys and let Sayid out, who then attacked Jin and shot Ben. Sawyer, of course, understands everyone's motivations far better than leader Horace does.
Ben is not dead--that would have been quite a game-changer. I was hoping for it, in fact, but Faraday is right, whatever happened, happened. Except for Desmond, who doesn't have to play by the rules. This leads to dialogue between the comedy duo of Hurley and Miles. Hurley brings up Back To The Future, which a lot of fans were thinking about--if they kill Ben, will they disappear? Miles tries to calmly explain how things work, but Hurley stops him dead with the one question that has been bothering fans--why didn't Ben seem to notice that the guy who tortures him a few decades later, is also the guy who shot him when he was a kid? Miles doesn't know, and while I had theories (either Ben was able to keep quiet, or getting shot affected his brain), the episode actually dealt with this quandary.
Juliet tries to save Ben (her past/future enemy/lover), as does Kate and Sawyer. But Jack, still passive, won't play along. He states, with impeccable logic, that Ben will survive no matter what he does. Besides, he's already done this scenario (in the future), and it wasn't fun. Kate says she doesn't like the new Jack, and Jack replies she didn't like the old Jack. Good one.
Juliet later reproaches Jack. He's not helping, so just why is he here? She didn't need to be saved, after all. (In this episode, both Juliet and Kate have trouble with Jack, while both admire Sawyer. Score some points for the con man. He's gotta end up with one of them--will the show kill the other to make it easier? If I were Juiet, I'd watch out.) We can see, with Locke dead (as far as Jack knows), that Jack is now the man of faith. He knows he needs to come back to the island, he just doesn't know why. Though I don't think his pissy mood is helping him find out. I'm starting to think ultimately he's meant to be the one leading the island, not Locke. After all, he's special--as his tattoo says, he walks among us, but he is not one of us.
Ironically--or perhaps it was meant to be--Jack refusing to save Ben is the move that sets the boy on the path to become the creepy man we all know and are repulsed by.
Meanwhile, screw-up Roger Linus meets Kate, and gets a chance to redeem himself a little. Didn't see that coming. Doesn't matter, he'll still be gassed to death by his son.
Anyway, the return of the new Losties to the old Losties at the Dharma Initiative is causing trouble, and I can't see the whole charade lasting much longer. Still, it's a fun dynamic, with former lowlife Sawyer being respected and in charge, while these new recruits seem surpisingly familiar and fairly presumptious. Also, the show does a good job making the DI a dangerous place, where the personal radar is always set at high suspicion. (You'd be that way too if surrounded by murderous Hostiles.)
Juliet suggests to Kate only the Others can help Ben now. (Juliet was an Other, though apparently she didn't go all the way--she learned fighting and Latin, but didn't go through the brainwashing that's their hallmark.) So Kate goes out, helped, surprisingly, by Sawyer, into Hostile territory, where they're taken to Richard Alpert, who's always an interesting presence. He's ageless, but he's never clearly the leader. He seems to always be searcing for a leader, in fact. At present (in 1977), the leaders seem to be Ellie and Widmore, both around 40, but Richard doesn't seem that happy about it. He takes in Ben, whom we know will replace them--and whom we know Richard will later complain about to Locke. Hard to please, Richard.
Alpert knows Ben, which surprises Sawyer. (Last time, Sawyer got to surprise Richard.) In fact, he's had his eye on him. He's willing to take Ben in, and make him one of their own, but he explains what that means--the kid will be a new person, not remembering anything (take that, Hurley!) and not be innocent any more. Alpert, as expected, takes Ben to the Temple, where, presumably, he'll come out with what Rousseau called the "disease"--which means, if nothing else, a fanatical devotion to the island. (Assuming it's Ben who comes out--who knows, maybe they'll pull a Starbuck on us.) What I didn't know is the Temple could also cure bullets to the heart.
Ben will be gone from the DI for a while, but I don't suppose he can stay away too long. We know he will return, grow up there and then kill everyone. Which makes you wonder how much he's forgotten, since he'll have to be Roger's son again, and all that. Is he faking?
All this bodes ill for Sawyer and his ilk. There's a lot of suspicion in the air, and I'd assume they'd know that LaFleur, with that strange new girl, Kate, took Ben out to the Hostiles. Back in camp, both Phil and Horace are also highly suspicious of the new guy, Jack. (Juliet is now apparently accepted as a doctor. After three years in the motor pool, I'm surprised how smoothly this transition went. If Jack had helped out and gone from janitor to surgeon in a day, I wonder what they'd have thought of that?) The episode also laid such obvious foreshadowing I'm surprised the shoe didn't drop within the hour--Horace figures a janitor let out Sayid, and it's hard to believe Jack won't be the main suspect (with Roger Linus perhaps helping to frame him). Assuming Kate and Sawyer return, the whole gang may be in trouble next week and have to make their move. Actually, they can't stay around much longer anyway, since they've pretty much got to be out of there before Ben returns to camp. (Ben will apparently never look closely at the photos in the processing station, either.) Perhaps they'll be on the run and meet up with Sayid. (Or Sun?)
I was starting to wonder if we're ever going to see Locke and adult Ben again, and the show gave us a snippet at the end. Ben awakes from his injuries, and staring him in the face is Locke, the man he killed. Since Ben is probably wondering if he's dead, Locke has a wonderful line--"Hello Ben, welcome back to the land of the living."
posted by LAGuy @ 12:05 AM
7 Comments:
I've seen every episode of "LOST" and am still on board...
...but last night's episode was, in my opinion, the worst of the season.
It started, right off the bat, with The Classic Idiot Plot Point.
Sayid shoots young Ben at the end of last week's episode. First thing we see this week? Uh, he's not really dead.
Really?
Really. Sayid "the professional killer" doesn't bother to waste a second bullet to make sure the job is done. Yet in the very same episode from last week, we see him pump TWO bullets into the Russian he assassinates in the Cold Opening. Why 2 bullets? Because just like every special forces trainee in every branch of every military of the world knows and practices and trains for, you put one bullet into your target to fell him, then put a second into the head to make sure he's dead. Immediately. Bang-bang. Well done, Sayid.
Except, I guess, when it comes to what he must consider the most important person he will ever kill.
"Well, I shot him in the torso, I've got a loaded gun in my hand with my finger on the trigger and I'm heading in that direction, but... what the heck, I'll just assume he's dead."
If this beat seems somewhat familiar, it's because we've seen it in every bad movie that doesn't know how to get around "The Classic Idiot Plot Point".
This includes one of the most recent and egregious offenders, "REVENGE OF THE SITH": "Hmmm, this Anakin kid is the most dangerous threat facing the entire universe, I'd better-- Ah, what the heck, why bother walking a few steps and flicking my wrist with my light saber - I'll just assume he'll die in a few minutes."
Actually, this reigns as The Classic GALACTICALLY Idiot Plot Point.
Although the one on "LOST" comes close.
So what am I suggesting? Sayid pump young Ben's head full of bullets?
Yes.
That's what I'm suggesting.
The writers on "LOST" have proven themselves to be the best on TV. If they can't get out of that corner, then they shouldn't have painted themselves there in the first place.
After that, it was hard to warm up to the episode. Frankly, I couldn't understand anyone's motivations, particulary Kate, who seemed so hell-bent on saving Ben. Why? Because he locked her in a cage? Because he tried to take Aaron away from her? I didn't get/buy her motivations at all.
The only decent beat (besides the excellent comic relief Hurley/Miles provided) was when Jack said "No". Why? Because it was both a surprise and still logical. The best kind of beat.
Too bad it was so lonely in this week's episode.
Todd
Todd: I thought that the episode implied that Kate's motivation to save young Ben was because of her guilt and love for Aaron, which have heightened her maternal instincts. At least, the timing of the Kate flashbacks seemed to suggest that.
LAGuy: You suggest that Jack might someday lead the Others. Based on how they "initiated" both Ben and Locke, it appears that one of the Others' criteria for being their leader is that you must kill your own father. One would think this would tremendously restrict the pool... and yet, several of our heroes qualify: Locke, Kate (who killed her biological father), and arguably Jack (whose actions led to his father's death). Equally as odd, this makes Sawyer the ultimate Anti-Other, since he has killed only to avenge his father's death.
I agree with your comments about Kate and Juliet. Very sad; Juliet is one of my favorite characters. In fact, Juliet, Libby, and Sun are the only female characters whom I really really like. So my fingers are crossed that, if they do kill Juliet, they don't do it for a long time.
Despite the fact that the Others and the DI appear to have divided the island between them, there are a bunch of "independents" in 1977 still wandering around in neither camp: Faraday, Rose and Bernard and the redshirts, and now Sayid. Maybe they'll meet each other next?
Lawrence: Maybe "understand" wasn't the right word to use when I said, "I couldn't understand anyone's motivations, particularly Kate..."
I should have said "buy".
I understood what the episode meant to imply about Kate's maternal instincts, I just didn't buy it.
To use the classic (and probably overstated) analogy: Kate runs into Hitler as a youth. "I know he's a bad guy and all, and is going to be responsible for the worst genocide in history, but... he's hurt and I'm feeling SO maternal..."
"You know what? Screw the six million Jews, he's just too darn cute right now. I must risk my own life to save his."
Don't buy it.
Todd
Lawrence: I'm not sure if you literally have to kill your father to lead the Others. It could be you have to generally make some major act of retribution to show you're willingness to do what's necessary. (By the way, this show is all about daddy issues. Also, should we rack up an extra death for Jack when he killed Shannon's father through inaction?)
As to Juliet versus Kate, I've grown to like Juliet more, but I've never hated Kate like a lot of fans do. (The show has systematically killed off its less popular characters, but it's been stuck with Jack and Kate, the two leads who can't be killed.) I expect Juliet is likely to die not only because Kate is too central, but because she and Sawyer are happy together, which is dramatic death and must be ended. (While we're at it, I'm waiting for the return of Libby, since she gave Desmond a boat and was in a mental institution with Hurley.)
We don't know where Faraday is. He might have gone rogue, as Miles suggested. But we know for a fact that he was part of the DI, working at the Orchid, so it's possible he's still out there, far away from the barracks. We will definitely see him again, and soon. Bernard and Rose's return this season is less certain. They're less important than Claire and we haven't seen her (except in a time shift flashback).
Todd: I agree that the necessary plot point of Ben's near death is weak, but it's not impossible. In fact, it's even buyable the writers meant it to work in the way I'm about to describe, considering what leads up to the final scene.
Early on we see Sayid killing a Russian with professional dispatch. That's to show us how well he does the job when his mind is set on it. But when Ben cuts him loose, he goes through tremendous personal doubts (just like Kate in the next episode). He questions himself--am I the killer that everyone thinks I am, which my actions seem to show, or is there a good person struggling to get out? I'll go build some houses and ponder that. That's really what the whole episode is about--the struggle for Sayid's soul (mostly an internal struggle).
When he's put on truth serum, he shows he believes he's a "bad man." Finally, he decides what he must do--kill young Ben--which is part of why he's a "bad man" in his mind. He knows Ben will be this horrible person who hurts people and uses him (and he also hasn't heard Faraday's speeches about not being able to change the past) so he figures here's his chance to redeem himself. But he also knows that it means doing this thing will be the equivalent of one last hit, the worst Benjamin Linus could ever make him do--taking out an innocent child.
He lets Ben help him out, knocks out Jin (so he can't stick around forever), and is ready to do the deed. Inside, however, he's feeling sick. He shoots Ben, and it's the hardest thing he's ever done. It's so painful, in fact, that he can't face what he's done, and, not following (or forgetting) the code of the killer, has to run away at that moment, leaving Ben to die. Maybe he'd even like to stick around and finish the job to be sure, but can't force himself to.
As to the rest of the Losties regarding Ben's shooting, your reaction--essentially agreeing with Jack--is interesting. Because I read some other commentaries on this episode and a number said they can barely stand to watch the show any more since Jack is so hateful for refusing to operate on a sick child.
By the way, the hardest thing for me to buy is that the reborn young Ben will conveniently forget everything he needs to forget. I'm certain that when the writers had Sayid torture Henry Gale in season two, they had no expectation that this fix would be needed.
LAGuy: I appreciate the thought and effort you put into your response...
...but its very length suggests how far you have to go to apologize for this lame beat.
"...the worst Benjamin Linus could ever make him do--taking out an innocent child."
Don't buy it. Sayid, the guy who has tortured and killed how many people? In cold blood and at point blank range? And he's agonizing over killing someone he knows is evil and is going to hurt Sayid and everyone he presumably cares about?
Don't buy it.
And who are these people who can "barely stand to watch the show any more since Jack is so hateful for refusing to operate on a sick child"? I mean, let's forgo the question of why a child's life is apparently and automatically worth so much more than an adult - are these people confused because it's a different actor playing Ben at a different age? Would it help if we changed his name to Adolf?
Let's personalize it for these people. Let them imagine the child they care for most in the world being brutally murdered. Then, they go back in time and get a chance to stop the murderer by killing him first. But wait! The murderer is just a kid - hey, he's even cute! No dice. Can't do it. Let him brutally murder my own kid in the future.
Don't buy it.
Todd
P.S. BTW, I also believe there are ways out of the "assume he's dead" conundrum - both for "LOST" and "REVENGE OF THE SITH". But they went forward without consulting me! Bastards!
P.P.S. BTW#2, it's still the best written show on TV and I will watch it to the end. They've certainly earned my loyalty.
LAGuy wrote: By the way, the hardest thing for me to buy is that the reborn young Ben will conveniently forget everything he needs to forget.
In season one, both Claire and Charlie had memory losses after being kidnapped by Ethan. In hindsight, I don't think this can be explained consistently. Maybe Claire's can (she was prisoner for twelve days). But did Ethan really have a drug that induces selective amnesia that can be administered to Charlie while he is being dragged and chased? The Others never showed any such sign of such a miracle drug at any other time.
I don't buy the season one amnesia, or the season five amnesia.
Some other Other inconsistencies: 1. Once we learn what Richard is, I suspect that it will seem inconsistent for him to have spent so much time off the island -- recruiting Juliet in Florida, for example. 2. In the Juliet flashbacks, she seems to have spent her time in a cozy yellow house with the Others for three years, and found it somewhat relaxing. When did she find the time to learn how to move through the jungle stealthily, etc.?
I've got no problem with Claire's amnesia. It's not like classic Hollywood hit-on-the-head amnesia. She was drugged the whole time. It's not an aamnesia-inducing drug, it's simply that you're not aware of what's going on while you're drugged.
Ben's "amnesia" will be different--he'll become an Other, which definitely changes your personality. But we've seen no indication it makes you forget your past, rather than it makes you act very differently. Jack and Rousseau have both run into people with these changes, and they were still recognized (I think).
I don't know what Richard's place is, but we know he's able to get off the island any time he wants, and he's willing to do it to meet with people he thinks are important for the island.
As for Juliet, she liked her job at first, but eventually she wanted to go back, and realized she wasn't going to be allowed to do that. By the time Jack came into her life she was willing to double cross Ben. As far as her learning jungle ways, etc., we know she learned to speak Latin, and she also seemed to learn a fair amount about hand to hand combat, so it's not hard for me to buy she spent some time we didn't see learning jungle survival tips. In fact, the biggest complaint I've seen on the boards are why doesn't Juliet tell Sawyer more secrets about the Others now that she has all the time she needs. My guess is she only knows so much--they always kept her at arm's length, as we can see know--she didn't get the Temple treatment.
In general, I'm willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt, not only because it's well done, but because we can recognize the characters are heightened, and, we also don't yet know how everything ties in. I remember a friend who thought it was ridiculous when Libby met Desmond that she had a boat for him, but by then I figured there's generally something going on behind the scenes, even if it's fairly obvious once they explain it.
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