On this episode of Lost, Sawyer (aka Jim LaFleur) continues to play heroic leader by scrambling to convince his Dharma buddies in 1977 that Jack & Co. are new recruits rather than time-travelling Lostaways. Meanwhile, the rest of the passengers on Ajira Flight 316 sort out their situation — including Ben and Sun, who both find reason to head back to the main Island. Throw in some Lost mythology, the naming of Amy's baby and some new Sawyer nicknames, and you've got one packed — if a little less blockbuster — hour. Let's get to it.
Hey everyone, Mickey, your regular guide through all things Lost, had a few too many pints for St. Patty's yesterday and slurrily informed us that he was going to look for the Smoke Monster. We haven't seen him since. (Just kidding, he's on vacation this week.) So I, Adam Bryant, will do my humble best to step into his Dharma jumpsuit until he returns next week. Now, on with the recap.
Bumpy Landing
The episode opens onboard Ajira Flight 316 just before it flashes/crashes. Lapidus' copilot recognizes Hurley as one of the Oceanic 6 and is impressed by his "nerves of steel" to fly through the South Pacific again. "Maybe he believes lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place," Lapidus says with a wink to the audience. After again seeing the screen go white, we learn just how Frank put the plane down on Hydra Island: After losing engine power, recovering and landing on a sandy runway, the plane crashes into some trees, killing the copilot. (Did anyone hear the transmission the copilot was picking up? Sounded an awful lot like an all-too-familiar repeated string of numbers to me.)
As many of us have assumed, Jack, Kate, Hurley — and Sayid, we learn — did not crash with the plane. Lapidus finds Sun and Ben basically uninjured and immediately wonders where the others have disappeared to. Ben plays dumb (and may actually be in this case), but I have to think that Sun is the one scratching her head the most. Why didn't she, just as much an Oceanic 6 member as Jack or Kate, flash along with them? Does the Island not "need" her in the way it does the others? Is she being punished for successfully delivering a baby that was conceived on Miscarriage Island? With all the talk of fate and destiny this season, my guess is she has her own mission to carry out. (More on that later.)
Welcome to Dharmaville
In the continuation of Sawyer's reunion with Jack, Kate and Hurley, it's all smiles, hugs and nicknames — at least at first. (Aside: Sawyer was unable to resist a Hurley jab, calling him Kong, but failed to call Kate by his pet name Freckles. Maybe Juliet has won his heart.) Things get a little less than cheery when Jack informs Sawyer that Locke is dead, but that news is trumped by the fact that they are all being happily reteamed in 1977. They do manage to piece together the on- and off-island timelines, and they sync up at three years each. All of which leads me to believe that the first time the frozen donkey wheel was turned (unsuccessfully), the Island was programmed to go to 1974 in preparation of this reunion. But of course, there were a few hiccups along the way.
Sawyer tells Juliet that Jack & Co. are back, and she quickly gives him the answer he's been looking for: Sawyer can bring his friends into the Dharma Initiative as some of the new recruits coming in on the submarine that afternoon. (Convenient, huh?) Juliet alters the manifest that she gets from Amy to include the new names and work assignments, and Sawyer's plan pretty much works without any problems. Juliet did have to swoop in and save Kate when her name didn't make it on the list, but no one seemed too suspicious. (I honestly thought for a second Juliet had sabotaged Kate to keep her away from her man. Then again, maybe Juliet made a "keep your enemies closer" move by putting Kate with her in the motor pool.) And what about Jack Shephard the janitor? Gotta watch out for those aptitude tests, doc.
Sawyer's real problem comes from none other than Sayid, who is captured by Dharma and believed to be a hostile. Sawyer and Jin have no choice but to play along to keep their cover from being blown. So, after a brief interrogation, Sayid ends up in Dharma jail for the time being. P.S. Sayid's reaction to seeing Sawyer was priceless.
Remembering Radzinsky
Follow me, if you will, back to Season 2, when Kelvin Inman (Desmond's Dharma buddy in the hatch) frequently mentioned Radzinsky. He's the guy with photographic memory who drew the map of all the Island's Dharma stations on the hatch's blast door. He also edited the Swan orientation film and ultimately met his demise by putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
In any case, tonight we meet Radzinsky, as Jin — after learning that Sun may have crashed on the island — seeks his help in searching the radar logs. We see Radzinsky building a model of the Swan station (again, the hatch he would later inhabit), only to be interrupted by Jin's insistence about the radar. He checks it out and even calls around to other stations, but to no avail. And aside from helping Jin capture Sayid and having a war of words with Sawyer about killing their "prisoner," this mythological character doesn't do a whole lot of mind blowing. (Guess they all can't, right? Just one of the let downs of this episode.) Here's hoping we get some more payoff from Radzinsky down the line.
Bad Sun Rising
While Lapidus tries to calm down the 316 survivors, Ben sneaks off into the jungle, with Sun in hot pursuit. When Sun confronts Ben, he tells her that he is heading to the main Island, and convinces her that that's probably where Jin will be. She goes along with him to the boats, despite warnings from Lapidus, who has now caught up to them. At the beach, Lapidus again pleads with Sun to not trust Ben, pulling out the old "my freighter was here to kill Ben" card. Just as Ben makes his pitch to Lapidus that he has a way to get aid and supplies to the survivors, Sun lays Ben out with an oar. Guess we know how he ended up unconscious on a cot a few weeks ago.
Sun and Lapidus hop in the boat and follow Ben's directions to the dock on the main Island. Once there, things get a little creepy, with some Smokey-like tree rustling and even some of that spooky whispering. Nevertheless, they press on, making it to New Otherton, which has been boarded up and abandoned by everyone. Everyone except Christian Shephard, that is. He tells Sun that Jin is with their friends, and takers her to a room which has photos of all the Dharma recruits, including a dusty picture all of Sawyer's recruits in 1977. "You have a bit of a journey ahead of you," Christian says. Um, yeah. (Aside: Was the house Christian came out of Ben's old house? Some believe Christian is the Smoke Monster, and we did see some tree-shaking going on. Plus, remember the episode where Ben "controlled" Smokey in his secret room? Pieces falling into place for you?)
As suspected, the rest of the Ajira 316 crew are in present day on Hydra island. If we're to believe Daniel Faraday (for the record, I think he is completely full of crap) and the notion that whatever happened, happened, then are we to assume that this picture always existed? Or did our time-travelers indeed change the future? Someone call Doc Brown if anyone in that picture suddenly starts to disappear!
Sawyer = Winston Churchill?
Jack goes to "LaFleur's" house to find Sawyer, but is more than a little surprised to find Juliet answering the door. They hug and exchange awkwardness before Jack and Sawyer get down to business. Jack is worried about Sayid — and the fact that Sawyer is just sitting around reading a book — but Sawyer is in control here. After likening himself to Churchill (who read everyday, despite stressful situations) Sawyer takes Jack down a peg. "I think," Sawyer says, contrasting his leadership style with Jack's reactive tactics that got a lot of people killed. Now that Jack is back at Square 1, Sawyer makes it clear that he's running the show, and that his cool head will save Sayid the same way he saved Jack. Not sure where heroic Sawyer has been hiding all this time, but I gotta say I like it.
But is Sayid safe in prison? He gets a late-night visitor who brings him a sandwich. The young lad is a little too interested in Sayid's hostile-ness, but when we learn he is a young Benjamin Linus, that all makes sense. After all, he was seen communicating with Richard and the hostiles at a young age in an earlier Ben flashback episode. Pretty disappointing that the young Ben reveal — which was easily seen miles away — was the night's big thump. For me, it was mini-thump-worthy at best.
Stray Nuggets
• So, Amy's baby is named... Ethan. (Sigh). I guess that makes sense, but I was really hoping all this time it would be somebody a little more significant. (Like the other reveals in this episode, it was just less than exciting.) I guess the significance could be in knowing that the purge didn't kill everyone. True, it would be heartless to exterminate a kid, but if Ethan survived, might others have been spared? This scene also gave us a little glimpse of Juliet's shattered dreams, though. When asked when she and Jim were going to have a little one, Juliet fake smiles her way through saying "when the time is right." That time isn't now anymore.
• I know Sawyer said the recruits on the sub were drugged (and that Juliet said a couple had cancelled, which allowed him to bring in his friends to be processed in their place), but before Sawyer knew about the cancellations, what was his plan? To just send them back to the mainland? Kill them? Also, a jumpsuit in Hurley's size? Must have been destiny. At least it's slightly more flattering than the one he wore in prison.
• Sawyer and Kate. Lost 'shippers are all in a fuss about how this is going to work out. "Suliet" (or is it "Jawyer"?) fans want Kate to stay on the sidelines, as do "Jaters." But "Jacket" and Kate-Sawyer fans surely disagree. Like it or not, this is going to be drawn out, as evidenced by Sawyer's wave and long gaze from his front porch.
• Two great little throwaway moments in the van ride back to Dharmaville. When Jack asks about Faraday being with the group, I was intrigued by Sawyer's "not anymore" response. He's gone a little crazy, for sure, but I'm convinced he's safe working down in the mines as we saw in the season premiere. Also, Hurley's fear of joining Dharma because of the coming Purge was funny, but also a great reminder of what's at stake for the Lostaways. Were they brought back to this point in time to stop the Purge from happening, and thus prevent Ben from ever coming to power? Might the Island be course-correcting its mistake in choosing Ben as a leader? It's crazy, but I like the idea.
What did you think of "Namaste"? Share your theories below and check back next week for Mickey's return and what looks to be an explosive episode.
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On this episode of Lost, Sawyer (aka Jim LaFleur) continues to play heroic leader by scrambling to convince his Dharma buddies in 1977 that Jack & Co. are new recruits rather than time-travelling Lostaways. Meanwhile, the rest of the passengers on Ajira Flight 316 sort out their situation — including Ben and Sun, who both find reason to head back to the main Island. Throw in some Lost mythology, the naming of Amy's baby, and some new Sawyer nicknames, and you've got one packed hour. Let's get to it.
Hey everyone, Mickey, your regular guide through all things Lost, had a few too many pints for St. Patty's yesterday and slurrily informed us that he was going to look for the Smoke Monster. We haven't seen him since. (Just kidding, he's on vacation this week.) So, I, Adam Bryant, will do my humble best to step into his Dharma jumpsuit until he returns next week. Now, on with the recap...
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