BEWARE THE SPOILERS

This week dashed yet another of my hopeful predictions. Unless the story suddenly jumps weeks ahead, which Lost has never done, it looks like the present will not catch up to the flash forwards this season, as I’ve been hoping. That’s really a shame to me, because I was hoping to see Oceanic Six get off the island and then try to get back when they realize they shouldn’t have left in the first place. I still think this will happen, but the show is going to drag it out at least two seasons. I don’t like that at all, but so far the stories have been more gripping and the mysteries more fun to speculate than any previous season, so I’ll continue giving Lost the benefit of the doubt. However, if something screwy happens and it turns out we can’t trust this future, I’m going to feel pretty jerked around. But so much of the plot and mystery is in the flash forwards that at this point, there’s no reason not to trust them.

Aaron is at least two in the flash forwards, if not three, which means it probably isn’t just a couple of weeks that people get off the island as I originally predicted. Considering only about 100 days have passed since the initial crash so far, I really wonder how long it will take before the Six finally get off. Desmond and Sayid aren’t even at the boat yet, most likely due to whatever strange time-delay effect the island had on that rocket from last week, so it may be that it’s hard or impossible to leave the island by anything but a submarine, under the ocean. What’s especially frustrating to me is not knowing when any of the flash forwards occur, or when they happen in relationship to each other. We do know they’re presented completely out of order. Jack’s flash forward with the beard obviously happens after Hurley’s and after Kate’s, because he’s clean shaven in both and tells Hurley he’s thinking of growing a beard. That makes me think Kate’s flash forward probably happens before Hurley’s– the exchange she and Jack have after her trial probably helps to propel him into his depression. Sayid’s is harder to track because it’s the only one with no connection to any of the others, so far. My guess is that he hasn’t been working for Ben for very long by the time we see him and it’s probably very soon after he returned from the island, so maybe his is before the other three. But again, none of this is especially useful in figuring out when people get off the island because there aren’t any clues as to how long they’ve been back, at least none I’ve noticed.

Good the know Kate isn’t pregnant– that’s a plot-arc I could have done without. A lot more fun Sawyer-Kate stuff can happen if she’s not pregnant, and it makes the Aaron thing in the future especially interesting. Why is he with Kate, and more importantly, why is she pretending he’s her son? What the heck happened to Claire? Is she dead? My fiance’s theory is that Jack is somehow responsible for her death and that’s why he refuses to see Aaron, not because he thinks Aaron is Kate’s son. It’s also possible, I think, that somehow Jack doesn’t know Aaron isn’t Kate’s son, but he would have had to be out of contact with her for a full nine months to know she wasn’t pregnant, and somehow not know about whatever happened to Claire… and Kate would need some really good reason to hide this from everyone. That’s a lot of ifs and is extremely unlikely.

But there’s a third possibility, brought up by the false story Jack tells in the court room about how only eight people survived Oceanic 815’s crash. Maybe only the Six make it and everyone else on the island dies, but as I’ve said before, it’s a lot more likely that most of them are still there, on the island. If they are, then why do those who make it back to civilization pretend they died in the crash? Maybe that time-displacement thingy make it possible for only the Six (or eight and two died, or whatever) to get off. Or maybe everyone except those who leave don’t want to leave. Maybe everyone else eventually sides with Locke and swears Jack and the rest to secrecy, not wanting anyone to know they’re on the island because they don’t want to be found. Perhaps Claire is one of them (since she’s already sided with Locke) but for whatever reason decides to send her baby with Kate and asks her to raise it.

Meanwhile, back in the present, the expedition is looking even more screwy. What is with this Miles guy? Is he really just in this for 3.2 million dollars? His flashback a couple episodes ago would lead us to believe he’s telling the truth, since he seems to have gone ghost hunting in that lady’s house just to steal some money out of the bedroom. But like Ben intelligently observed, why not 3.2 or 3.4 million? This guy has gone through a whole lot for what seems to make like a pretty small amount of money, considering. That’s a little like Dr. Evil’s ransom demand in Ausin Powers. What is this guy, from the sixties?? We still don’t know why the expedition needed a ghost hunter, but it’s looking more now like he just has no idea what he’s gotten himself into. Or it’s possible we’re being faked out again and Miles is the most important part of the expedition. I do think it’s interesting to have a character on this island so interested in money since it’s worthless there. It felt kind of strange watching someone making that kind of demand when I’ve gotten so used to thinking like one of the crash survivors– the most valuable things there are food, medical supplies, and weapons.

Oh, and I have to say that Locke is getting creepier by the episode and is now definitely off the right track. He seems to be turning into Ben, though he doesn’t realize it, and I think that’s nicely presented by the fact that he’s operating out of Ben’s old neighborhood. Sticking a hand grenade without the pin in Miles’ mouth is a form of torture I have never, ever seen before, and a nice but scary piece of writing.

And while we’re talking about Miles, he did introduce a valuable piece of information: there is a mysterious HE who sent the expedition, not simply some anonymous company now. The way it was so deliberately scripted, I’d wager HE is someone we’ve met before. Josette (a frequent reader of this blog and a good friend of mine) has suggested that the man behind the expedition and probably behind Dharma originally is Sun’s father. I tend to agree with that idea. We’ve seen him in far too many flashbacks for him not to be connected, especially since Jack and Locke’s fathers have become so important to the show after all their screen time. And we don’t really know the nature of his business; the big building he works out of is probably some sort of front for what he really does. The fact that Miles mentioned this HE means that Ben has an arch nemesis, and it’s probably Sun’s father. That also means that Ben has probably frequently been off the island.

That makes me wonder if he gets off the island with the Six or if he has some other way to leave besides the submarine Locke blew up that we don’t know about…

Lastly, do we have all the Six now? We shouldn’t, because I assumed a person would have to be on flight 815 to be called a member of the Oceanic Six, but the previews said we’d have a new member this week. Was it Aaron? Surely they weren’t talking about Kate– we already knew about her. And if Aaron is a member than does that make Ben one too? Or is anyone aware of his presence?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m hoping there’s at least one more. We still don’t know who that other mysterious HE is Kate mentioned to bearded Jack she had to get back home to…

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

BEWARE THE SPOILERS

There was a time when I thought Lost was moving fairly slowly in its storytelling. Now, I’m impressed at how many issues it can deal with in a single episode.

Where or where to begin this week??

“The Economist” pretty much confirms that Jacob’s cabin is indeed moving all over the island. Ben took Locke to it last season, then Hurley found it in a totally different place, and now Locke can’t find it again. I think this is further evidence for my theory that Jacob is all the hallucinations people have had on the island (Jack’s father, Kate’s horse, Ben’s mother, etc.) Whatever Jacob is, he must have the ability to appear as whatever he wants, which explains both the cabin and the fact that when Locke “met” Jacob, he couldn’t see him but Ben could. Perhaps Jacob wouldn’t let Locke see him, for whatever reason. There’s a good chance Jacob is also a ghost; the expedition came to find Ben and they brought a ghost hunter. I can’t imagine what else he’s for. I really didn’t call Sayid as being one of the Oceanic Six. He had about as good a chance as anyone else from Jack’s side and there weren’t any clues pointing to him that I saw. He’s working for Ben—which was a great, if not slightly predictable reveal—which naturally brings up a lot of questions. What power does Ben have over Sayid’s “friends?” I’m assuming he was referring to the others who got off the island, and if Sayid doesn’t kill everyone Ben wants him to, they’ll be in danger. I just can’t imagine how Sayid got himself into this situation or how Ben got into such a powerful position again. What really drives me nuts is that we have no idea how long after the Six get off the island that this flash-forward is happening, nor do we know how long it’ll take them to get off. I really thought it would happen within a couple of episodes, but now it’s looking more and more like it won’t be until the end of the season. But at least Sayid gets into the helicopter at the end, which helps propel the plot toward the flash-forwards.

Sayid’s predicament is more evidence for both Jack and Hurley’s belief that they should never have left the island in the first place. The flash-forwards seem to be getting progressively worse, and I wonder if this is the logic behind placing them in this particular order. Jack is depressed and wants to kill himself.

Hurley gets thrown back into a mental institution—that’s a little worse. Sayid is an assassin working for Ben. That’s WAY worse! Will the forth be even worse than that? Is that even possible? We know Kate’s one of the Six but she hasn’t had her own flash-forward yet; how bad is her situation?

I’m also wondering if any of the Six other than Sayid know Ben is watching them (assuming they were the “friends” Ben mentioned). Maybe Ben was the “he” Kate mentioned in Jack’s flash-forward when she said “he’ll be wondering where I am.” Obviously, this rules Ben out as the man in the casket Jack went to see. And there are really no good clues to back up this prediction, other than the fact that Sayid’s flash-forward doesn’t connect to the other two unless I’m right… but I think whoever is next on Ben’s list, whoever Sayid was about to kill, is whoever’s in that casket. But now I have no idea who that person is.

The flash-forwards are starting to tell as much plot as the stuff in the present. In fact, the present in this episode almost served as flashbacks to Sayid’s flash-forward. So it’s looking more and more like the present will catch up with the future; my guess is, by the time we get there, most of the future stuff will be revealed and the plot will then focus on whoever’s left of the Six trying to get back to the island.

Locke is taking prisoners, setting up his old friends, and he can’t find Jacob to tell him what he’s supposed to do. Has John fallen off the right path once again? I guess we’ll find out, but the fact that he couldn’t find Jacob is a good sign that he’s messed up again. Unless he shouldn’t be listening to Jacob, either…

Hurley faked us out! I thought for sure John tying him up and leaving him behind was how he would get back with Jack’s people so he could get off the island. But no, he’s being loyal to Locke, even though he’s obviously not sure about it. That’s a great conflict and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. I don’t especially like watching John and Jack at war, but John and Hurley at odds is really interesting.

In one of their best scenes together, Sawyer finally asked Kate why she wanted to get off the island. Sawyer says he’s not looking to leave and she shouldn’t be either—she’s just going to go to jail. It looked like Kate wasn’t sure why she wanted to leave either and that she was just doing what was expected of her. I’m not sure she had even really thought about it before. Neither of them, and frankly no one on the island, has anything to go home to.

We’ll see if any more of this stuff with Ben in the future is explained next week… but that was such a big reveal they’ll probably leave us hanging for a while.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan