Lost: Not in Portland

After an excellent recap episode, the Lost Survivor Guide, we get the first of 16 episodes in the “non-stop” season of Lost. Non-stop, I suppose, if you’re only counting 2007, but I digress.

I felt like “Not in Portland” was about as dense an episode of Lost as we’ve seen in this or any other season. First, it started with a flashback, which is always jarring and it introduced a whole slew of information and connections.

I sorta felt like ZeFrank should’ve appeared in between segments to ask, “Are the new viewers gone?” because they likely were. As great as the recap episode was, I think this episode either scared them off or has them buying episodes off iTunes as I type.

On to my thoughts, disjointed as always.

  • Not in Portland
  • I’m taking it on faith that the island is the home of this “Mittelos” company.

    Now I could be wrong and “Mittelos” might be the first stop in a whole chain of Dharma Initiative/Hanso Foundation front organizations, but from now on, I’m referring to the island as either “Not Portland” or “Somewhere in Oregon”.

  • Lineage
  • So Alex is the daughter or Rousseau and Benjamin Linus/Henry Gale? I’m not convinced yet.

  • Numbers
  • A4 on Juliet’s key card; 23 as the holding cell of Carl.

  • Bonnie & Clyde
  • I loved Kate and Sawyer the “couple” this episode. Him as the comic relief (the Wookiee reference, the sassing of Alex) and her as the muscle (she would’ve shot Aldo).

  • The Spanish Prisoner
  • The more we learn about Jack and Juliet – who seem to be opposite sex versions of one another – the more I’m convinced that they are both being conned in a Spanish Prisoner-style confidence game.

    Of course, cons like the Spanish Prisoner have been run by Sawyer before but Ben’s continued promise of freedom for both Jack and Juliet has me wondering: how many of The Others are there voluntarily and how many are held against their will?

  • A Brief History of Time
  • Hawking gets a shout out in book form to those paying attention.

  • The Bus
  • Who was driving it? Ethan? Alpert?

  • Repeated phrases
  • Why do I feel like we’ve heard these lines before?

    “Whatever you think I am, I’m not” -Juliet

    “We are the causes of our own suffering” -Brainwash/Torture video

I’m sure I missed a ton, since there was a ton to see. These are my thoughts. Leave a comment.

Until next week.

UPDATE: If you want to read someone who is consistently paying attention to all the minutiae, you’d be well-served to read RSL’s blog, Ostracons. He’s on top of every easter egg and plot point and blogs each episode.

7 thoughts on “Lost: Not in Portland

  1. Minus ‘how to con a con’ episode, this has been the best episode of the season for me. Everytime I start to put the show on the back burner they surprise me with a great episode. This one was one of those episodes. nothing fancy, just good acting and good writing.

    Also, it looks like Lost’s casting diretor is raiding the Deadwood set. (Julets sis/Calamity Jane, Colleen, etc)

  2. Am I the only one that noticed that Mittelos is an anagram for “Lost Time”? (or Lost Item or Item Lost)

    Also, I don’t think Alex is Ben’s kid per se. Wasn’t Rousseau knocked up when she got to the island? I’m sure Ben stole the kid and raised her as his own. She probably has no idea Ben is not her real father. But good job on casting. Doesn’t the girl playing Alex bear a striking resemblance to Rousseau?

  3. Dave, “Mittelos” struck me as odd too, but I couldn’t make a connection to Dharma or Hanso at around midnight last night, so I went to bed.

    In German it translates (roughly) as: “in the middle of loosely”

    Loosely in the middle, perhaps? Somewhere in the middle?

    Stuck in the middle with you (w/ apologies to Steelers’ Wheel)?

  4. Aw shucks, Seth. Thanks for the high praise. Anyhow, I can’t get over the Mittelwerk/Mittelos thing. Especially with your idea that it’s a middleman [sorry] for a Hanso company. And I like that Spanish Prisoner concept. I’m doubting many if any people are on that island not against their will. At least, not against their normal, non-brainwashed wills. That movie and specifically its soundtrack was unnerving. Did you see how both Sawyer and Kate were all wide-eyed stares when they looked at it? I don’t think it was anything important but they seemed quite mesmerized.

  5. Thanks for the link, Duane. My brother-in-law actually gave me a can of tomatoes with one of those labels last Summer.

    RSL, no worries. You’re blog is always a pleasure to see and read.

  6. Lost: Dead Is Dead…

    If you’re a fan of Michael Emerson, tonight’s episode of Lost “Dead Is Dead” was for you. And me too since I love to hate/love to love Benjamin Linus.
    Excelsior!

    WHEN are the Ajira survivors?
    I’m becoming a broken record,…

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