Lost: One of Them

Seth

A very disturbing and introspective episode of Lost tonight with the episode One of Them. The main narrative on the island is of a captured “other” (or not) being interrogated by Sayid, who is the focus of the flashback as well.

No big exposition this week, just your friendly neighborhood bulleted list:

  • Hurley’s stash

    • Ok, so one of the supposedly unresolved issues on the island, Hurley’s weight, gets brought to the forefront. He hasn’t gotten thinner because he’s sneaking food, probably stolen when he oversaw the inventory earlier this season.

    Plus, we get this awesome exchange between Hurley and Sawyer:

    Hurley: This is how people get killed in scary movies.
    Sawyer: If it were a scary movie, I’d be with a hot chick, not you Barbar.
    Hurley: It’s Babar.
    Sawyer: Why don’t you shut up, Hammo or your Ranch Disorder’s gonna be the lead item on the coconut internet!

  • Kate’s dad in Iraq

    • Kate’s photo is only on-screen briefly, but the commanding officer who initially interrogates Sayid and sits in on the questioning of Tariq is Kate’s dad. Yet another brief, indirect encounter between characters now on the island.

  • Harry Gayle Henry Gale

    • I can’t find the actor in IMDb yet, but I’m sure there’s a reason for the name. No good reference in WikiPedia either, but I’ve got a hunch.

    Oh, and I think he’s an “other” in the same way as Ethan was.

    See UPDATE II below.

  • Sayid

    • Sure, he was forced to torture one of his superiors and he betrayed his loyalties, but he tried to do the honorable thing and tell the American commander he would never be like that, but war (and torture) changes people.

    Two sub-points:

    1. The terror/torture lecture

      2. How creepy is it that an Iraqi character could lecture a British character on the cruelty and determination of a potentially terroristic enemy as an excuse for torture on the same day that more photos of the disgraceful incidents at Abu Ghraib are made public? Very eerie and ironic.

    2. The “others”

      3. Locke’s point that we are all “others” in relation to one another seems exemplified by Sayid. He’s set apart from his own people, from the American soldiers, from the other survivors on the island. But so is everyone else. All of these people , on some level, are out only for themselves. Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack – they all have an agenda.

  • The Computer

    • Locke hits “enter” after the time has expired, but we get a sneak peek of the action that would ensue. Three red squares, two black. Left to right there was some kind of snake symbol, a blank space, a burning log or rocket (depending on perspective), a bird of some kind (penguin?) and a needle or crutch. Someone will have a photo soon of the “dharma clock” and the strange symbols on it [UPDATE: TV Squad has it.], but there’s meaing there even if it’s only of the red herring variety.

My other warm/fuzzy came when Locke confronted Jack about his “army” and the state of war. I’m not the biggest fan of that metaphor, but I think this show is using it to good effect (see the lecture comment above), but I wonder how thin it can stretch.

Next week’s female-centric stoyline and Claire “lost time” story (and additional Dharma Initiative bunker) should be fun.

Until next week 2 weeks from tonight (thanks, Greg)!

UPDATE: “Gale” was Dorothy’s last name in the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard/Professor travelled to Oz via a hot air balloon.

Does this information refute Harry’s story of crashing on the island? Is he an “other” like Ethan? Is it a clue from the producers that the island is Oz (or a strained Australia reference)?

Something to think about.

UPDATE II: Henry Gale was his name. Also the name of Dorothy’s uncle (Auntie Em’s husband). I think it’s clear that we have either a refutation of Henry as an “other” or a red herring that the island is Oz.

17 thoughts on “Lost: One of Them”

  3. Nick says:

    I’m no genius, but my theory is the symbols are hieroglyphs. I’m trying to find a good conversion chart. The only one of come across has the first symbol as S and the fourth as A. I thought that’s what they were when I first saw the episode and getting a chance to see the picture helps. I’m sure millions of people around the world have deciphered the message, but it’s fun to try anyways. Well, if I’m right about them being hieroglyphs x.x

  4. im really liking the hieroglyph thing.. they are no doubt hieroglyphs. someone posted on the security system board that it means “cause to die” but thats still up to debate.

    another lost fan! rock.
    i wrote a time travel lost theory in mine.

  5. I think the Henry Gale thing is a clear indication that he is indeed an “Other”. The wizard [who got to Oz via the balloon] wasn’t what he presented himself as, so I’m guessing Henry probably isn’t either. I cited you on my post about all this [on my own site].

  6. VAG says:

    Before last nights episode i believed that the numbers situation and the countdown was part of tim travel. (I gained this conclusion from listining to the pod cast presented on http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index.html)

    But know after seeing last nights episode i have concluded smething else. The simbles that you saw on the count down scroll were not hieroglyphics but something else.

    Now if you really paid attention to what those pictures were (to look at them check this website out http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/02/15/lost-one-of-them/) (it will show the symbols) you would have seen a (finger), (blank), (rocket), (dove), (missile).

    Now what do you think of when you see those symbols.

    !!!!!!SPOILER!!!!!!!

    Now what i have concluded was that these symbols stand for as in (finger to press a button), (rocket wich is activated by a butten), (dove stands for sentimental reasons of death and hat it has to offer), (missile another form of destruction done just by a butten)

    Now if you can understand what I said this does mean alot.

    A couple of other facts:

    -Remember when Micheal noticed the doors to that dome room were high impact thach doors (bomb protection doors)
    -Also why would a station like this be so well protected under ground with thick steel structure.

    But over all these are my thoughts.

    Respond on what you think.

    LOST

  7. Mostly Muppet in the AJC!…

    Thanks to Phil Kloer for including me in his article, TV’s latest phenom is awash with theories, questions and very few answers. The article won’t appear in the print version of the paper until Sunday’s Arts section, but you can read …

  8. VAG says:

    Above i made a m istake.

    Instead of the last simbile being a missile it is actually a cructhes for paralizing after tyhe bomb is set off!!

    LOST

  9. Henry Gale’s name is a riddle, and so was Ethan Rom’s. I’m not sure that’s conclusive, but it’s a point in favor of the theory that Henry’s an Other.

    It’s also pretty clear, I think, that the symbols were Egyptian heiroglyphs. That they could give us that clue and then back away from it so quickly, restoring the clock, was just brilliant work. A great trick in a great episode.

  11. Nick says:

    I popped Hergy Gale into an anagram finder (too lazy to try and find one in the name myself) and found a couple interesting results.

    Angry Heel, kind of describes the “others.” Ethan was a pissed off bad guy.

    Gray Helen, thought it was interesting because of Locke’s Helen.

    Hal Energy, there is a very strange power source on the island.

    There were a couple other decent ones, but those seemed to be the closest to anything I’ve seen so far.

  12. Lacenaire says:

    The hieroglyphs mean “TO die”.

    I got a question, please advice reply to my email with subject as: “Hammon explanation”.

    Sawyer says: “Why don’t you shut up, Hammo or your Ranch Disorder’s gonna be the lead item on the coconut internet!”

    What is that “Hammo” reference?
    Another fat guy from a tv show, like “Re-run” (Sawyer called him that earlier in the episode”)

    If you can help me with that term I’ll appreciate it.
    Thanks.

  14. Mason says:

    Little Robert Ford laid Jesse James in his grave….any connection to James Ford (aka Sawyer) being from Nashville, TN? That is where the James families settled down.

  17. Charlie says:

    It is possible to get an idea of the shape of the missing symbol if you play it in slow mo. It almost forms as the symbols fly past.

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