Other than the obvious reason for the episode title – it was the name of the bomb – are there any other touchpoints for “Jughead” in the episode. A 50’s commentary on Archie & Jughead comics? A reference to that character as a kind of Maynard G. Krebs-a-like (and isn’t there some amount of internet research that relates Archie/Jughead to Dobie Gillis/Maynard G. Krebs.) and that the bomb couldn’t even do its job/”work”?
Anyhow, I digress. On with the recapping and pontificating.
- Charles Widmore
- Charles (Charlie) Widmore Hume
- Redshirts
- Time like a piece of string
- Theresa Spencer
His jumpsuit was labeled “Jones” for the record.
Here’s my big jumping-off point: I think (and I have no empirical evidence of this) that what we saw in the travel-back to 1954 actually pre-dates the Dharma Initiative.
Now we know for certain that the “Others”/”Hostiles” get more feral around the time that Ben Linus is a young man because of the tactics and appearance of Richard Alpert, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how the Other/Dharma Initiative connection gets sorted out.
I will say this, I think that the Swan station contains the buried hydrogen bomb “Jughead”.
If Chang/Haliwax was directing the construction of the other hatches around sources of energy, they might have known about the presence of the bomb and planned around it. Or they could have been forced to do so because Alpert’s “Others” hadn’t buried it correctly (hence the numbers/button-pushing OR the “Others” did a shoddy job on purpose, but I can’t figure why.
I’m off on a big tangent here, but the key is this: I think from a very early point (at least 1954) the “Others” were co-opting things from interlopers to the island an making them their own, a strategy Ben employed when Flight 815 crashed and an explanation for Widmore being “Jones”: they’d put on the fatigues of the fallen soldiers.
I’d also like to point out that in Widmore’s present timeline office he had two pieces of art. The one closest to the door I couldn’t make out, even in HD, but the other had the word “NAMASTE” at the top and contained a polar bar, a mountain range and what appeared to be numbers along the bottom.
I love the people behind this show for giving us a son for Desmond and Penelope whose name means he is simultaneously named after his Grandfather and the man (Charlie Pace) who gave his life to save his father (Desmond).
Charlotte marked for death (not a surprise given last week’s episodes) by her clothes. Well met.
I’m gonna take another detour off into speculative land, but it seems to me that while time is described as being linear – in as much as past actions can’t be undone and the future cannot be changed – the past, present and future can all interact with one another.
If time is a piece of string – linear by it’s very design – it can also be folded or tied or laid on top of itself to create intersections and the show is showing us the beautiful and intricate patterns and paths that will lead all these people back to the island.
They are there “now” – if that even has meaning – because they were there before.
Certainly we now know why Alpert met with John Locke when Locke was a child and we’re getting the barest of glimpses as to why the people on Flight 815 were somehow thrust together on that island. It wasn’t chance. It was a coordinated effort by Widmore, Alpert, Linus or Jacob. Or potentially someone we haven’t met yet. But they were/are/will be there because of the fact that they were/are/will be there.
It’s circular logic to be sure but it’s also a transitive property and, apparently, time obeys it.
So I think we’re to assume Faraday experimented on her just as he experimented on the rats. Did he also experiment on himself.
And, given all the time-shifting you’ll forgive me if I ask: did the Faraday of the “past” know about the crash of Flight 815 before it happened? Even I’m a bit confused at this point.
I do know that I’m pretty well convinced that Faraday’s mom is, in fact, Ms. Hawking. You guys?
I’m sure I’m missing a boatload of stuff, but I’m just happy to have caught the Widmore/Jones thing and the Namaste artwork, I leave it up to you, gentle blog reader to comment on the rest.
Oh, and John Locke’s birthday is May 30, 1956 in Tustin, California. Anyone want to crunch the “numbers” on that one and/or find the historical relevance?
Lastly, the Physics lab bore the title “Claredon 142-08” if things like that interest you.
Until next week.
Total guess here, but I think the young woman holding Daniel at gun point is Mrs. Hawking/his mother. I’d have to go get the exact quote but Daniel said like; “There’s something very familiar about you….”
But Widmore’s appearance on the island confuses me, especially considering his line from the last season’s finale; “That island’s mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again.”
Excellent call on Ms. Hawking.
Oh and May 30?
Voltaire’s deathday
I thought the same thing about Daniel’s mom being the woman holding at gun point and also being Ms. Hawking.
I really doubt this theory of mine – but do you think there is any chance that Widmore is Daniel’s father? If “Blondie” is his mom and was on the island at the same time as Widmore…you never know. Stranger things have happened. Plus Widmore was paying for Daniel’s experiments, the health care of Theresa and had Daniel on his boat.
The more I think about it though, Widmore probably isn’t his father…but I do think “Blondie”/Ms. Hawking is Daniel’s mom.
It’s so interesting to be at the point in LOST where we are starting to get answers. I read in TV Guide that we are going to find out why Christian Shepherd is always wearing those white tennis shoes and more about the four toed statue. It also said that Ms. Hawking was more important than we could imagine and is very crucial to the overall storytelling of LOST. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds!
The blond woman as Faraday’s mother? Intriguing.
As far Charles Widmore claiming the Island was always his, but being there in 1954, let’s not forget that Widmore has a prior connection to the Black Rock, too — perhaps it’s “always” been his because he inherited it from an ancestor. Or perhaps sometime between 1954 and the present(-ish), he went back in time and discovered it, even though he’d been there in his own youth once already. I love time travel.
How old is Desmond’s son? Just when is his confrontation with Widmore and search of Faraday’s derelict lab?
Re: The painting: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Paintings_(Widmore)
Ms. Hawking’s name is supposedly “Eloise” at least according to Lostpedia: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ms._Hawking
The young woman “hostile” in this episode is listed as “Ellie” on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1153215/ & Lostpedia: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ellie
Desmond in his biohazard suit saw the light that made Faraday disappear. Richard Alpert must have seen the light that took Locke. When Ellie reported back to Alpert that her prisoner disappeared, Alpert would have asked about a light. Ellie would then have become comfortable enough to reveal that Faraday and two strangers claimed to be from the future and had ordered her to bury the bomb. Ellie was unaware of Locke’s visit (just as Sawyer is always unaware of new characters with his “Who the hell are you” to the Expose girl and recently to Faraday as each one does his part in separate stories that run at parallel times).
Now armed with the bomb burying order, the hostiles set about doing just that (as in Travolta’s “Broken Arrow” mineshaft and the resulting underground nuclear explosion) perhaps in a pre-existing cave which was later taken over by and expanded upon by Dharma’s mining team (seen working the Orchid station last week). A Chernyobel incident occurred (possibly from Daniel Faraday’s visible leak that 1954-Hostile-With-Radiation-Burns tried to fix) resulting in concrete being poured as an impromptu radiation shield.
Why magnetic enough to attract Jack’s key around his neck is still a question since EM pulse normally releases only after an explosion, and why have a man work a temporary 108-Minute-Button valve-release or cooling mechanism (like the silent movie “Metropolis” with the worker tending the giant coolant control dials before THAT went boom) instead of a more permanent unmanned automatic mechanism — unless they were about to do that when Ben killed off Dharma?
On a highly technical note, homemade EM pulse thumpers are plugged into a 110 volt outlet to charge several capacitors removed from ordinary disposable flash cameras. Throw a switch and all that stored energy goes into an inducer (the wire spool of a VCR head) to send a coin flying up into the ceiling. If no one is around to throw that switch, could those capacitors pop? Or in the island’s case send a naked sailor running around after the Hatch blows up?
Ellie and Widmore somehow get booted off the island but not before at least a young Ben meets them both. Ellie remains on friendly terms with Ben, but might Ben’s ascension to leader of the Others have offended a rash, knee-jerk-kill-a-fellow-hostile-who-won’t-shut-up-even-after-a-stern-warning-in-Latin, and ambitious young Widmore (who has to be told twice by his leader Alpert to put down the M1 pointed at Locke)?
Widmore as Daniel’s father entered my mind as well there (good point, Stephanie). Since children cannot be born on the island and these two already know each other from the island, perhaps an ever so temporary romance existed post-island until they settled into their new lives (Widmore to power and money, Ellie to physics). Hence their keeping in touch over the years so that Desmond was given her address in L.A. although the funding of Faraday’s research would have been greed driven for Widmore.
Also, it was SO touching (and I wasn’t sure if I heard it right so I rewound it three times) to find Desmond named the baby after a friend he dearly loved (somehow, I don’t think either Penny or Desmond intended to name him after the much-hated Charles Widmore), peanut butter Charlie. Wow.
Anyways, can’t sleep. Overworked. Just thinking out loud.
Don’t even get me started on the writer’s anvil that they dumped on our head. It would have been clever to say, “Widmore” as an aside, but no, they had Locke say it again — and loudly — so that they 10 year old crowd watching the show couldn’t miss it. Subtlety, thy name is not “Lost.”
Anne, I don’t think subtlety would’ve worked there, anyway. Locke is repeating the name because he’s as surprised (and sort of delighted) to hear it as we are. We knows the name from Ben. The point of that reveal isn’t just to let us know that’s Widmore, but to show how differently Locke is reacting to time-travel than, say, Sawyer. Locke’s clearly having a good time.
If you want to talk about subtlety in the Widmore reveal, how about the fact that Widmore is only alive to torment everyone because Locke didn’t pull the trigger when Widmore ran away in the jungle after breaking his comrade’s neck. I thought that was a nice touch, and another reason that Locke had such a big smile on his face.