Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lost Feb. 18

Lost
abc
Wednesdays
Bad Robot Productions
Final season
Feb. 18 episode

This episode also leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Let me say unequivocally I would never under any circumstances return to the island unless I could be assured of rescue. The Oceanic Six returned to the island with no such guarantee--in fact, they were hoping for a plane crash. (The chances of one person being involved in more than one plane crash are almost infinitesimal.)

Who beat up Ben Linus? Why? Obviously the person he was supposed to meet. But we don't know any other details.

Hurley seemed to want to prevent Ben from boarding the aircraft. But he could have prevented all from successfully returning simply by refusing to board the flight himself.

The bright light in the aircraft, and Jin's operational Volkswagen truck and crisp new Dharma uniform suggest a time warp to the mid-80's. I guess we'll see.

Locke killed himself to guarantee the others would return to the island? He really did believe it was bigger than any one person's life, including his own.

2 comments:

Esther Kustanowitz said...

I think it's clear (although it could be an intentional misdirect) that the "promise" Ben alluded to was his promise to Widmore that he would kill Penny as retaliation for Widmore's goon's killing Alex. But the scene juxtaposition of Ben's calling Jack right after his night of reunion with a Kate who warned him never to ask what happened to Aaron, might mean something too. Ben seems shaken in his phone call, which rarely happens to him - that makes me wonder what piece of news or personal encounter could lead to that kind of rocking of his fiber.

We don't know how Hurley got to the plane. But there were a couple of facts mentioned that weren't proven visually, and visual cues that weren't explained: that Locke had hanged himself (we saw no ligature marks on the neck) is an example of the former, while Hurley's toting of a guitar seems a callback to Charlie, and Sayid's accompaniment by an officer recalls Kate's arrival on the island basically in handcuffs. I think these notes are about trying to replicate as much as possible the circumstances of the first crash. Does Ben also represent an element that was on the first plane? We know he was surprised to see the plane fall out of the sky during "Others Book Group." But perhaps someone related to him was on that first Oceanic flight?

Jin's presence is pointing to the possibility that he got stuck in a time period, and that perhaps the people on the plane were sucked into different times and could remain there for some time, setting up a life and acclimating as if it were their natural time. (Think Doc Brown in Back to the Future 3, when he's sent back to the 1880s and sets himself up in the old west.)

But in any case, I think we're beginning to see the effect that the time travel can have, not just on the physiological health of the castaways, but on the story that we think we know. I think it's a great show. ;)

Ken S. said...

WOW! Thanks for your comments, Esther. I think you put a lot more time into Lost than I have. I didn't notice the subtleties or didn't give what seemed to be minor details--the guitar--much thought. I suspect you're much more insightful in that regard.

Forgot about Ben's bloodlust. Thinking back to Oceanic 815: someone related to Ben was on the flight, you surmise? Who?

BTW I neglected to mention it strikes me as odd and a bit creepy that Danny and Charlotte had been on the island many years before.