Lost 5.06 - 316

tanstaafl · February 19, 2009, 11:44am

So what did everyone think of this episode? I was a bit unhappy myself and thought it was the weakest this season. I couldn’t help but think that we were missing some scenes somewhere; some things just didn’t completely add up. Some specifics…

Ms. Hawkings shows us the Lamppost station (Narnia reference?) and tells this is how DHARMA finds the Island. So apparently the Island does move around. OK, fine. Desmond realizes that they are planning to go back to the Island, gets mad and leaves.

So… why did he have to come here again? Daniel told him to contact his mother. But Ms. Hawkings was already looking for the Island even without Desmond’s contact. They could have ignored him completely and not changed anything which makes it look like the entire subplot with him was just to give Desmond something to do.

Also, Widmore is looking for the Island and can’t find it. He knew where to find Ms. Hawkings and told Desmond. So Widmore must know where the Lamppost is. Why can’t he find the Island?

Then there was the entire subplot with Jack’s grandfather (who has never even been mentioned before). Jack could just as easily have pulled the shoes from a closet somewhere (or, since he just needed something of his father’s, use the watch his father gave him back in one of the mobisodes; that would have at least made the mobisode scene meaningful). Apparently the entire subplot was just so they could explain why Christian Shepherd is wearing tennis shoes on the Island. Weak.

Kate and Sayid were both pretty adamant last episode about wanting nothing to do with going back to the Island and Hurley had made it pretty clear he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Ben. What changed their minds? Hurley is convinced enough that he buys all the remaining seats in first class and buys a guitar to match Charlie’s (so they can more closely match the original flight 815). Who convinced him (or even told him about the plan) and how?

Sayid was there under arrest. Was this real or just more stage setting to match 815? Who is the marshal escorting him? (And why would a marshal be taking a prisoner to Guam anyway?) Is Sayid going along with this willingly or did Ben really have him arrested somehow? (A lot of people have tried and failed to catch Sayid over even the last few episodes. If his arrest is real and his presence is unwilling, how did Ben’s people manage to catch him? Is that how Ben got beaten up?)

And what about Kate? She was concerned about Aaron, now she’s suddenly sleeping with Jack again. Who or what changed her mind? And didn’t everyone have to go back? That doesn’t include Aaron?

Here’s a thought on Kate… They are trying to match flight 815 as closely as possible. Flight 815 had no baby but did have a pregnant Claire. Did Kate sleep with Jack in hopes of getting pregnant?

It just bugs me that for the past few episodes they have been hammering home that Kate, Hurley and Sayid wanted nothing to do with going back to the Island and now Kate and Hurley (at least) seem to be enthusiastically supporting the idea. I don’t mind mysteries (I watch Lost after all) but this just seems more like bad writing to me.

Finally, what happened to Ben? I am assuming that the promise he was talking about was when he told Widmore that he would kill Penny. Did he or did he try and get beaten up by Desmond?

A few other questions. If they are trying to match Oceanic 815 as closely as possible, why are they in first class. Weren’t most of them in coach the first time around. There was at least one other person in first with them (the guy who talked to Jack). Who is he and is he on the Island now? What about the marshal with Sayid?

Did Ajira Airlines flight 316 crash on the Island or did the Losties just get “shifted” to the Island somehow? Remember, when the left-behind survivors found the dugout canoes on the beach there was an Ajira Airlines water bottle in one of them.

Was it just me or has Locke’s beard been growing while in the coffin. Is he really dead?

What was the deal with Locke’s note and why did it seem to be following Jack? One thing I did catch; Jack reads a note from John on flight 316 that says “I wish you had believed me”. From the bible, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

It appears that the Losties have travelled in time, back to when DHARMA was active on the Island and Jin apparently works for them. (Presumably the time skips stopped with the left-behind survivors in the 1970’s and they have infiltrated the DHARMA group.) What will Jin do when he finds that Sun is back? (Locke didn’t bring her back, I note; Ben did.)

Anyway, I hope they give us some more information somehow on the big missing chunks from this episode. Given the way they are structuring this season though, without the normal flashbacks/flashforwards, I’m not sure how they are going to do it.

Mr_Lister_Sir · February 19, 2009, 12:49pm

I think the biggest problem with thie episode was that it came a week early. Supposedly next weeks episode was supposed to air first. I think that will clear up most things.

Ms. Hawkings shows us the Lamppost station (Narnia reference?) and tells this is how DHARMA finds the Island. So apparently the Island does move around. OK, fine. Desmond realizes that they are planning to go back to the Island, gets mad and leaves.

So… why did he have to come here again? Daniel told him to contact his mother. But Ms. Hawkings was already looking for the Island even without Desmond’s contact. They could have ignored him completely and not changed anything which makes it look like the entire subplot with him was just to give Desmond something to do.

Also, Widmore is looking for the Island and can’t find it. He knew where to find Ms. Hawkings and told Desmond. So Widmore must know where the Lamppost is. Why can’t he find the Island?

That is most definatly a Narnia reference. In the Narnia world the Lamppost is the one thing from our world that exists in Narnia. Its also one of the gateway markers. I think its the inverse here. The Lamppost station is the one thing from the Island that exists in our worlds and is a gateway of sorts to finding the island. As for Desmond i think know his story is not over. I think we will see him going back to the island but he will have to go by boat. He has to go back the same way he went in originally.

Then there was the entire subplot with Jack’s grandfather (who has never even been mentioned before). Jack could just as easily have pulled the shoes from a closet somewhere (or, since he just needed something of his father’s, use the watch his father gave him back in one of the mobisodes; that would have at least made the mobisode scene meaningful). Apparently the entire subplot was just so they could explain why Christian Shepherd is wearing tennis shoes on the Island. Weak.

Again i think we will find out more next week. But i think has much more than just explaining Jacks dad in tennis shoes. But his grandfather did seem randomly put into the storyline.

Kate and Sayid were both pretty adamant last episode about wanting nothing to do with going back to the Island and Hurley had made it pretty clear he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Ben. What changed their minds? Hurley is convinced enough that he buys all the remaining seats in first class and buys a guitar to match Charlie’s (so they can more closely match the original flight 815). Who convinced him (or even told him about the plan) and how?

Sayid was there under arrest. Was this real or just more stage setting to match 815? Who is the marshal escorting him? (And why would a marshal be taking a prisoner to Guam anyway?) Is Sayid going along with this willingly or did Ben really have him arrested somehow? (A lot of people have tried and failed to catch Sayid over even the last few episodes. If his arrest is real and his presence is unwilling, how did Ben’s people manage to catch him? Is that how Ben got beaten up?)

I have a feeling over the next few eisodes we will get flashbacks now that show how each person got to the plane. I think Sayid is in custody of someone working for Ben. Or at the very least set up by Ben to be captured. Probably for some of the murders he did.

Hurley was probably convinced by Ghost of Charlie or maybe Ghost of Libby to go back. Or on a long shot it might have been Walt. (on a side note i think the guitar case might have food in it :D)

I think Bens story will have him running into some of Widmores people. Another thot i had was that the maybe went and killed Penny like he threatened to. That would give Desmond cause to go back to the island to exact revenge on Ben.

And what about Kate? She was concerned about Aaron, now she’s suddenly sleeping with Jack again. Who or what changed her mind? And didn’t everyone have to go back? That doesn’t include Aaron?

Here’s a thought on Kate… They are trying to match flight 815 as closely as possible. Flight 815 had no baby but did have a pregnant Claire. Did Kate sleep with Jack in hopes of getting pregnant?

I think Kate did something drastic with Aaron. The regret she seemd to have was much more than just giving him to someone. I think she perhaps gave him to Desmond to bring back to the Island. Or maybe she gave him to Widmore. But it was obviously something very drastic.

It just bugs me that for the past few episodes they have been hammering home that Kate, Hurley and Sayid wanted nothing to do with going back to the Island and now Kate and Hurley (at least) seem to be enthusiastically supporting the idea. I don’t mind mysteries (I watch Lost after all) but this just seems more like bad writing to me.

I think we are slowley getting back to a more traditional Lost episodes with On island stories and off Island Flashbacks.

Finally, what happened to Ben? I am assuming that the promise he was talking about was when he told Widmore that he would kill Penny. Did he or did he try and get beaten up by Desmond?

Sorry i didn’t read this far down before i started responding but we seem to have same ideas

A few other questions. If they are trying to match Oceanic 815 as closely as possible, why are they in first class. Weren’t most of them in coach the first time around. There was at least one other person in first with them (the guy who talked to Jack). Who is he and is he on the Island now? What about the marshal with Sayid?

Did Ajira Airlines flight 316 crash on the Island or did the Losties just get “shifted” to the Island somehow? Remember, when the left-behind survivors found the dugout canoes on the beach there was an Ajira Airlines water bottle in one of them.

Was it just me or has Locke’s beard been growing while in the coffin. Is he really dead?

What was the deal with Locke’s note and why did it seem to be following Jack? One thing I did catch; Jack reads a note from John on flight 316 that says “I wish you had believed me”. From the bible, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

It appears that the Losties have travelled in time, back to when DHARMA was active on the Island and Jin apparently works for them. (Presumably the time skips stopped with the left-behind survivors in the 1970’s and they have infiltrated the DHARMA group.) What will Jin do when he finds that Sun is back? (Locke didn’t bring her back, I note; Ben did.)

Anyway, I hope they give us some more information somehow on the big missing chunks from this episode. Given the way they are structuring this season though, without the normal flashbacks/flashforwards, I’m not sure how they are going to do it.

Yea those are the big questions. I think Locke off the island was really dead but will be back once he gets back to the island. I likened him to Aslan (which would also be a Christ image) last night during the Frak party. I do not think that the plane crashed. Just he people in first class dissapeared. For some reason it took the Marshal and the random guy. I really don’t want new characters at this point in the game but i have faith in the writers. I also think Frank went with them so that means that the plane also was down one pilot.

I also now think i know what the “Incident” was that the Dharma folks always talked about. I think it was the Losties turning the wheel once again to get back to their proper time line. I think that is what we will see when we finally get to see what Daniel is doing in the Orchid station at the beginning of the season.

tanstaafl · February 20, 2009, 8:16am

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that Hurley was visited by either Charlie or Libby (given the guitar I’d say Charlie) and they convinced him to go back and told him what plane to be on. Then Hurley may have turned Sayid in to the authorities himself. Not sure how he managed to convince them to put Sayid on that particular plane to Guam though.

My theories on Kate… It was pretty clear that Kate did not want to be on the plane and she didn’t seem too happy about being with Jack either (it really looked like she had been crying when she was lying on the bed and she was very uncomfortable when Jack was trying to make breakfast for her). Maybe someone (Claire?) appeared to her too and told her what she had to do. Maybe this person told her she needed to get pregnant too, since her attitude when with Jack seemed to be pretty much “Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible”. Still doesn’t explain what happened to Aaron. (Maybe she took it to Claire’s mother?)

wavilyem · February 22, 2009, 5:02pm

I see your point tanstaafl’s about feeling like a lot of things were missing from the last episode but I’m sure we’ll get a good chunk of the holes filled in soon, possibly as early as next week’s episode (which was in theory supposed to come before 316). But think about it – when have we ever gotten the full story about what was going on at the time the story was taking place? Over the first three seasons, we got the back stories of each characters filled in piece by piece. For all you know, in the second half of the season they’ll go back to the island being the center of attention and having off-island flashbacks of the Oceanic 6 in the time they were away from the island.

avoidswork · February 22, 2009, 9:37pm

I think that’s exactly what happened to Aaron. Kate decides to come back but will heed Claire’s instructions to not bring Aaron back to the Island. She knows that Claire’s mother is in Los Angeles. She tells Carole Littleton that Claire survived the plane crash had the baby, and (possibly) that she died in childbirth or shortly after giving birth to Aaron.

As for the new characters, I’m all for Caesar. He’s played by a fantastic French actor, Saïd Taghmaoui (loved him in Three Kings).

Chadster · February 25, 2009, 11:46am

Exactly. It’s not weak story telling… it’s simply a style of storytelling that’s been used on the show since the very beginning. And it’s one of the reasons I love this show so much.