I love this show, I do, but sometimes I really just want to yell “Stop being so damn cryptic!”
At least Sayid is alive. Infected and doomed to darkness, but alive. I assume this is the same infection that got Rousseau’s team. Maybe we’ll finally get an explanation…?
My KateHate continues to burn brightly. In one reality, she hijacks a pregnant woman, points a gun in her face and still manages to be forgiven and allowed to escape. In the other, she follows Sawyer and is all up in his grill while he’s trying to mourn Juliet, who isn’t even cold in the ground. I swear she was looking at that ring like “Well, can I have it then?” Hate her. Haaaaaaate. Her.
O hai, Ethan and Claire! Welcome back!
ETA is it just me or are they setting it up to have Jack and Sawyer as the next Jacob and Esau, two enemies trapped together on the Island?
Did you notice Kate’s brief moment of recognition when she looked back at Jack? I mentioned this in the frak party but I’m betting that we’re going to see other sideways characters have similar moments in their centric episodes. This is just a guess, but maybe only the people who Jacob touched will have the deja vu moments of recognition because of what Jacob did to them in the primary timeline.
I’m also still sticking with my theory that we’re not seeing the result of the incident in the flash-sideways scenes. Instead, something else the on-island people will do in the finale will actually change the past and sink the island somehow. Thus the S6 sideways timeline will turn out to be sort of an epilogue for the Lost story and a continuation of the on-island part of S6.
I agree Kate can be really annoying sometimes… though I didn’t find her as annoying in this episode. She helped Claire. She tried to help Sawyer. Even if she made things worse in the end, it’s better than watching her and Jack look at eachother going “hey” all the time.
Josh Holloway really busted out his acting chops in this episode. I thought he really did a great job.
Crazy theory: Smokey is the spiritual embodiment somehow of what we know as ‘The Black Death’ that almost wiped out Europe. He was trapped on the Island, maybe Jacob was his jailkeeper.
In fact, maybe Europe was an example of a time when he ‘got loose’ until Jacob could recapture him, and Richard is related to this somehow. Sayid’s “infection” is how we’re introduced to this gradually.
Yeah,that was a nice throw-back to ‘Maternity Leave’.
There was also great interaction between her and Rousseau in that episode. It’s interesting that now that she seems to be sharing her fate.
ETA is it just me or are they setting it up to have Jack and Sawyer as the next Jacob and Esau, two enemies trapped together on the Island?
Should I get a ruler?
I like it. I can’t imagine a conclusion with the characters we’ve become emotionally invested in, and a separate conclusion with a “new” set of characters. There has to be a convergence at some point.
I thought so too, especially the scene at the dock.
There may be a connection between Smokey and the sickness, but it seems unlikely that Jacob is keeping the Bubonic Plague at bay since we have modern medicine to thank for that. Your guess is better than mine though because I got nothin. I’m still mulling over that cryptic statement “I want to go home”.
And it seemed like she also had a deja vu when Claire used the name Aaron. Maybe even additionally when she saw the whale (you know that whale that Aaron was holding in his hands when Jack screamed at Kate that they both weren’t even related).
Dammit! We really have to start the “hey” drinking game.
Agree. In the last few seasons he got to show us what great an actor he is even more. I wonder what he’ll do after LOST.
I can see only three places what “going home” could mean.
a) The Temple (obvious, but possible)
b) leaving the Island wandering around the Earth (one Smokey to rule them all)
or c) Heaven/Hell/Purgatory (to leave Earth, as the two fallen angels tried in Dogma)
Do you have an idea, what the poison could be? So far I’m going to go with highly enriched ash in the pill.
Hee! I totally did. It’s like reliving the beginning bits of S3 again. The Others!!! shakes fist Though I did enjoy Jack’s backbone/willingness to risk death - because he screwed everything up and probably wants to die just a little - and stood up to the Dojon (what’s his name again?) dude.
I still wonder about last season where the Oceanic 6 got back and somehow Kate, a FUGITIVE, was deemed a ‘hero’ and somehow didn’t have to serve her sentence and gets a ton of money to live in a big house and do nothing. UGH. But anyway, back to this episode. I guess I don’t hate her as much here as I don’t find her character story all too compelling (yeah, we get it, she’s a born runner). Sure she helped Claire, but Claire is kind of an idiot too for jumping right back into the cab with someone who just pointed a gun to her head, all so she could save some cab fare? Um.
Agreed, Sawyer breaks my heart too. Sigh. Poor guy.
Though, one thing of interest in the flash sideways/diagonals I noticed (Kate episodes tend to make me notice things in the background because I don’t concentrate as much on her story, heh), and is pretty big - there’s a date on Claire’s sonogram (in the left hand corner), and get this - it’s October 22, 2004, the day when 815 landed safely. NOT September 22, 2004, the day when the same flight crashed onto the island. We’re missing one whole month. What does this MEAN?
I don’t know if the infection meant something to do with the plague or more like the dead ‘claiming’ bodies (like Claire,who’s now a bit like Rousseau, for now), but for some reason I found it hilarious to think of this scenario:
The templars were expecting their leader Jacob to ‘claim’ Sayid. When Sayid wakes up and they do all those ‘tests’, which he failed, they’re afraid that it’s Smokey who claimed Sayid instead. Then when Sayid turns, he turns into …Shannon (well, she was dead on the island, and Sayid did have that sexual connection with her), who’s completely useless to everyone on either side.
Anyway, I miss Locke/Smokey (and Locke too…Poor guy)!
Huh, you’re absolutely right. My first thought is that this is an accidental goof, but everyone at the show knows people will obsess and nitpick on every detail of the show so it must be intentional. I can’t even think of a theory that would explain why the flight would be a month later in sideways land.
I’m going with goof on the sonogram thing, there have been a couple of similar mistakes on their part before. (The worst was when Juliette looked at her sister’s file and it is clearly labeled as belonging to someone “Male”. I think there was a flashback scene with a clearly seen calendar for a completely wrong date one time too.)
Was the mechanic who helped Kate out of her handcuffs someone we should recognize?
The episode does remind us that setting off the bomb in 1977 has changed things for people other than just those on Flight 815. Ethan is a doctor in the new timeline, not a creepy guy kidnapping pregnant women. Had the couple planning to adopt Claire’s baby in the original timeline divorced, or were they still together there? We’ll never know.
For that matter, Kate tells Claire that she is innocent. We know that in the original timeline she did kill her father. (You can argue about how justified she was, but she did kill him.) Did she kill him in this timeline?
Also, in the latest official podcast Cuse and Lindeloff said that we shouldn’t be thinking of the landing timeline as an “alternate” timeline; they say that “both timelines are real”. Not sure what they mean by that though.
I agree. Coincidentally, I just saw a spoiler for next week’s episode that would seem to imply that it was a goof and that the flashback scenes we’ve seen so far were not in October. If you’re willing to be spoiled on the name of the next episode, it’s centricity, and a few differences of the centric character in the sideways timeline, see below. But even if you don’t want to be spoiled, trust me when I say this is pretty convincing evidence we’re not in October yet in the sideways universe.
Was the mechanic who helped Kate out of her handcuffs someone we should recognize?
I don’t think so.
For that matter, Kate tells Claire that she is innocent. We know that in the original timeline she did kill her father. (You can argue about how justified she was, but she did kill him.) Did she kill him in this timeline?
Excellent question! It’s definitely possible she was wrongly accused of murder in the sideways timeline.
Also, in the latest official podcast Cuse and Lindeloff said that we shouldn’t be thinking of the landing timeline as an “alternate” timeline; they say that “both timelines are real”. Not sure what they mean by that though.
That’s the $10,000,000 question right now. Most theories I’ve heard fall into one of two camps:
A) The incident caused the split into two parallel timelines that we’re flashing “sideways” in between, but sometime in season 6 the two timelines will somehow “merge” back together.
B) The incident did not cause the sideways timeline because the losties were the ones who had always caused the incident (i.e. whatever happened happened). However, something they will do on-island at the end of season 6 will actually change the past, sink the island, and create the new timeline.
My money’s on B, but I doubt we’ll find out for a while which is right.
Was the mechanic who helped Kate out of her handcuffs someone we should recognize?
Nah, that’s just character actor Jeff Kober. He usually plays a baddie (a vampire and the warlock Rack in Buffy) but he was also very good in China Beach.
It seems to me that the single greatest “power” of the island is its ability to prevent people from asking the obvious question and make ambiguous answers to straightforward questions seem acceptable. Example “What’s in this pill? What’s he Infected with?” – “The pill will prevent the infection from spreading.” – “Good enough for me!” WHAT!? HOW!? If it weren’t for his propensity to wear suits and lab coats while off the island, I’d never believe Jack was a doctor.
And have we seen Juliet at all yet in the alt-timeline? Or Ben? Of all the cast, I’m most curious where they are.
I’m peeved at Kate. She’s abandoning everyone, again, for her selfish reasons. I swear, I wonder sometimes if Jacob only visited Kate and Sawyer as kids because that was the last time they were innocent at heart.
I’m sticking to my theory of multiple timelines where the island is the only nexus point. Were these others (flight attendant especially) kidnapped by the others from the tail section because they were “good” people or are they from a different timeline that Jack A-Bombed everyone into. How the hell could Juliet even survive a detonation unless that was a diff. Juliet.
Aldo kept shutting down the other guy because clearly he didn’t want them to know too much information so I wonder if they know this isn’t their timeline and when the stewardess said they were the other flight that maybe she didn’t mean Ajira, but meant a diff. 815.
Aldo kept shutting down the other guy because clearly he didn’t want them to know too much information so I wonder if they know this isn’t their timeline and when the stewardess said they were the other flight that maybe she didn’t mean Ajira, but meant a diff. 815.
Well, according to the “enhanced” episode they showed before the new one, Cindy was referring to the Ajira flight. And btw, I’m so happy they’re showing these enhanced episodes again because they’re really helpful.
I’m guessing the list of Jacobites is what was inside the ankh. In that case, someone other than Jin needs to care where Sun is since she was also visited by Jacob in the past.
And have we seen Juliet at all yet in the alt-timeline? Or Ben? Of all the cast, I’m most curious where they are.
Good point. We’ve seen that Ethan is a doctor in LA, so maybe he and his mum Amy left on the sub in '74 never to return. With Hurley having good luck and Shannon staying in Australia, there’s no telling where some of our favorite characters might be. Although fate will probably cause them to cross paths at some point. I hope.
Question: Does Jack know that Claire is his half-sister? I can’t remember for sure, didn’t he meet Claire’s Mom at his dad’s memorial and figure it out?
^ Yes. And Kate was there at the time so that’s how she knew to return Aaron to his grandmother. How Dogen knew that is anyone’s guess, unless Patchy did some really exhaustive research for the Others.
I love this show, I do, but sometimes I really just want to yell “Stop being so damn cryptic!”
No…kidding…! Definitely one of my least favorite aspects of this show.
Is anyone else like me in being completely sick of the Others? After a strong start out of the gate with “LA X”, to be subjected to more vague, coy “Otherspeak” for the jillionth time in this series was infuriating! Come on, guys! We’re on the final season here - time for more jaw-dropping reveals like the big Smocke (Smokey-Locke) reveal last week!
I’m intrigued to see where they’re going with Claire’s storyline (Claire, the new Rousseau?). Also looking forward to Sawyer and Smocke meeting…
Anyone else think that the whole thing with giving the pill to Sayid was not Dogen and the others wanting to off Sayid (they had more than enough chances and guns to do that if that was all they wanted) but because they were testing Jack?
