Episode recap in 150 words: On the island, Michael tells Hurley not to destroy the Ajira plane. Shortly thereafter, Ilana blows herself up and so Hurley blows up the Black Rock and all the dynamite to prevent anyone from detonating the plane. As a result, Richard, Miles, and Ben separate themselves from the crowd to continue the plane-demolition plan while Jack, Sun, and Lapidus follow a semi-clueless Hurley to Locke’s camp. Before they got there, Smocke took Desmond on a walk to an old well dug over an electromagnetic pocket and tossed him in. In the flash-sideways, crazy Libby approached rich Hurley because she remembered him from another life and he asked her out on a date. On their beach picnic, they kissed and memories of the island flashed back to him. Des also visited Hurley, spied on his date with Libby, and then ran over Locke with his car in the school parking lot.
So Hurley is a leader now. Unlikely choice, and one that he clearly does not feel comfortable in. But he is filling the shoes well, going with his heart and trusting his dead friends’ advice. And his living friends are trusting him and following him every step of the way.
Even Jack, who admitted to Hurley that his current back-seat attitude is hard for him to keep up, is following him. The doc told him that since he can not fix what happened to Juliet, which he feels responsible for, that he is going to try letting go, something he has never been able to do before. Jack’s acknowledgment that he can not fix everything is a huge step for Mr. Fix-It, but, as Hurley, said, maybe not a step forward if it means everyone will die. I appreciate Jack as a leader, but I think he needs this time as a follower and, more importantly, a truster, to truly rise as the leader he needs to be to save everyone.
Someone who was not keen to following Hurley was Ilana. She wanted to go blow up the plane. Hurley voiced his opposition to the idea, and then she blew herself up by not listening to Hurley’s advice about the unstable dynamite. Very intriguing – the island does seem to be helping Hurley out in his rise to leader. I am kind of bummed she is gone because I want to know more about her back story and why she has been training her whole life. Everyone else should presumably be pretty bummed as well since she was their personal bodyguard. But no one really shed a tear at her explosion.
We had another death last night, or so they want us to believe. Smocke chucked Des down a well hole for unclear reasons. Could it be because he showed no fear of the Black Smoke Power? Or because he appeared to be cheeky when he was saying Smocke was Locke? I am not positive if he knew Smocke’s real identity, but I think he does not care either way. Des has a higher mission on the island now, and is determined to complete it. But he also knows the island will help him. After all, the island has it out for him…but maybe not in as bad of a way as everyone thinks. Anyway, there’s no way he’s dead. The previews showed him alive but I am interested to see how he gets out of the hole.
Only one interesting flash-sideways appearance this week: Pierre Chang gave the keynote address at a ceremony commemorating Hurley’s philanthropic gifts. We did, however, have a revealing appearance from Michael on the island. He sent Hurley a message, helped him find Locke’s camp, and confirmed that the island whispers were all of the people stuck on the island after death, like Michael. He said his past deeds were keeping him on the island in a sort of purgatory.
With Michael’s revelation we have now seen the island represented as the Garden of Eden (or, the closest thing to heaven on Earth), hell, and Purgatory. I am hesitant to say the island will ever be represented as heaven because it would have to be perfect to be so, but perhaps it could be if we saw a flash-back to the island before MIB got there. I am glad that we are given this other aspect of the island so that the hell theory that Richard gave us in episode nine can be debunked. Perhaps the island exists as a heaven, purgatory, earth, and hell wrapped in one, like its own universe.
About that little boy, we saw him in episode four and it looked like he scared the shit out of Smocke then, too. Last time he appeared, I said that I do not think he is Jacob, but that he could be a descendent of Jacob’s. Assuming this kid is the same one we saw the other time, and presupposing that the time between the sightings can not be more than a week, this kid has aged quickly! Smocke obviously recognizes him, and is scared of him, so perhaps this weird child is Jacob after all. Maybe Jacob is cyclical, so that when he dies he just comes back to life in baby form and grows up and then becomes a man. I do not really buy it but anything is possible on this island. The kid’s devilish smile definitely has me intrigued, however. He must have some power, or will have some power, that threatens Smocke.
My theory about love has gotten more backing in this week’s episode! It was a kiss from Libby that brought Hurley’s memories about the island back to him. How happy was everyone to see Hurley finally get some more lovin’ for Libby? I was especially glad that they finally got to have their picnic date! But back to the Love Theory: I am very interested to see how this plays out with the rest of characters.
I was speaking with my best friends and weekly Lost viewers Travis Grubbs ’10 and James McCulla ‘10 today at lunch about Desmond’s sudden changes of heart in last week’s episode. After the whole electromagnetic box thing, Des decides to help arch nemesis Widmore, and then changes his mind again to go with Sayid. The framing of the flash-sideways within the period that Desmond is passed out, coupled with his statement to Zoe, “A lot can happen in 20 minutes,” leads the audience to believe that Desmond lived out or flashed to the flash-sideways action. I am not convinced of this, exactly, however. For one, no other characters have shown evidence that they are cognizant of the flash-sideways. Second, I do not see why the flash-sideways would convince Desmond to follow Widmore or Sayid. I think Des was happy with where his life brought him (that is, husband to Penny and father to little Charlie), and would want to go back to that rather than change history to end up in the flash-sideways. The only possibility I am willing to accept at this moment is that the electromagnetic energy restored Desmond’s future-telling powers. This theory also backs up my long-held hypothesis that the flash-sideways are events that are coming in the future. Desmond saw the future flash-sideways as a result of the electromagnetic waves in the box and thus decided to do something about it (what, I do not know…yet).
I think people are still confused about my flash-sideways-as-the-future theory so I am going to play Lost out for you from Desmond’s point of view starting after this episode to help you understand. Desmond helps Widmore release the electromagnetic energy on the island which 1) sinks the island under the ocean and possibly destroys MIB, and 2) sends all of the characters back in time. The characters then live out their lives WITHOUT the interference of Jacob or MIB or electromagnetic energy pulling them to the island and they become the people we have met via the flash-sideways. Before releasing the energy, though, the characters are granted one wish for how they want their new lives to play out. Their wishes, however, are granted but with certain caveats and unexpected plot twists and they are still generally unhappy. Furthermore, they still retain some consciousness about their island lives and with the help of Desmond, they all reunite to…do something. So that was long and possibly vague but that is what I’m envisioning for the rest of the show.
Good friend, and former Flat Hat staffer, Jeff Dooley ’09 sent me an interesting theory this week. “LOST theory for you (completely my own, by the way, came to me in a DayQuil-induced haze yesterday): the mystery ‘Kwon’ on the contenders list is neither Sun nor Jin, but rather, wait for it … Ji-Yeon!” I have seen this theory mentioned on a few blogs and it would be a nice twist. However, she is completely ill-equipped to run an island, being that she is three years old. King Tut was at least nine when he came to power.
Keep sending me your thoughts and theories!
See ya in another week, brotha!
