Lost: Some Like it Hoth

Before I begin my recap, here’s a very useful Lost timeline via ABC.com. It works both episodically and chronologically, but doesn’t shed too much light on the whole “when is it now” of the Ajira survivors, though I like what Will had to say about that last week.

On to the bullets:

  • Numbers!
  • 3:16 (Ajira Flight number) on the microwave in the opening scene that gets echoed in the timecode – 3:17 – of the beta recorder in the next scene.

    The original numbers – 4 8 15 16 23 42 – being built upon the strange magnetic source of The Swan.

    I also really dug the reference to the Flight 815 crash cover-up when Miles identifies what Felix knew at the time of his death. What a great “test” by Naomi and it’s awesome that the documents discussed end up on the boat with Miles et al.

  • Bram!
  • The burly gentleman who abducted Miles prior to his taking the boat journey was also present in last week’s episode, at Ilana’s side brandishing a weapon.

    The fact that he was anti-Widmore in the past makes me completely re-think my prior judgement of Ilana. Maybe she works for Ben (or the island? the others?) and is on the island to counteract the effects of the boat people/Ben’s island movement/Locke’s island movement.

    Maybe – just maybe – she works for Locke?

    In any event, things are more complicated than even I had initially thought.

  • Empire!
  • If Hurley hadn’t waxed poetic about Luke discovering the truth about Vader in Empire I was going to draw the comparison of Miles to Luke and Dr. Chang to Vader, but one of Hurley’s roles on the show is to act as the
    voice of the audience, so it probably wouldn’t have seemed so groundbreaking/earth-shattering.

    I will give Lost props for referencing the best movie of either trilogy and for trashing on Ewoks. Ewok trivia: the word “Ewok” is never spoken in Return, which means all of us who grew up with the films and especially the toys are victims of the marketing machine that is George Lucas. None of us should have that wasted brain cell storing the name of this furry little bastards!

    But I digress.

    I’m thinking there’s something to Naomi’s description to Miles that the island has many “deceased individuals residing on it”. Not sure what this has to do with Lost canon OR Empire, but it does bear repeating.

  • Ann Arbor!
  • Another Michigan reference and hopefully we’ll get to see the DeGroots soon, but we did get to see the return of Faraday.

    We knew he was coming back since one of his flashes sees him working directly on the construction of one of the stations (it could have been The Swan but I think it was The Orchid).

    Which makes me wonder about time travel and whether this is Faraday’s past (pre-boat) or present, but he did know Miles so maybe the events are happening for him AFTER Charlotte’s death/Locke’s island movement?

    I really don’t know. You tell me.

    Also: Dr. Chang was reading a book on polar bears to a young Miles. I love all the small nods to early season touchpoints.

  • Songs!
  • It Never Rains in Southern California by Albert Hammond
    Love Will Keep Us Together by The Captain and Tennille

Random links to end the post:

Hope you enjoyed this week. Leave a comment and I’ll see you next week.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the summer camp-style “color war” from the preview of the coming weeks’ episodes, but isn’t it interesting that the scientists (like Radzinsky and Faraday) get black jumpsuits while everyone else has on khaki? Also, why the disdain from Chang for the polar bear experimentation and some of his Ann Arbor (DeGroot) colleagues?

Curious to hear what you have to say.

5 thoughts on “Lost: Some Like it Hoth

  1. E says:

    I never really bought into the whole “Ilana works for Widmore” idea, mostly because, when Sayid showed up on that Ajira flight, there was obviously more to it than him being deported to Guam. Someone wanted him there, and I’ve always assumed that it was probably Ben. But “Maybe – just maybe – she works for Locke?” You just blew my mind, my friend. I like that idea.

    The island is certainly filled with deceased individuals, Christian, Locke, and Jacob(?) alone are a good start. Not to mention what would happen if someone took Miles to the pit of bodies. Although, I guess it’s not there yet.

    Where are Bernard & Rose? Did anyone else survive all the time jumping?

  2. Why can’t I find that gosh-darn preview online?? I had to catch up on the show after the fact, and can’t find anywhere on the ABC website with the preview… I continue to feel certain that it’s there, and that they hid it from me on purpose. šŸ˜›

    I’m confused by the idea of Ilana possibly working for Locke… he seemed fairly clueless being carted around by Widmore’s henchman up until the car chase and all… I guess I just don’t know why he would have been trying to kill himself if indeed he had this “bounty-hunter” card up his sleeve. PLUS (and I just thought of this so I’m thinking as I type…) the “shadow of the statue” guys in the black van accosted Miles when Locke was still stuck on the island, so at least part of Ilana’s little club is definitely not working for him. A couple of people have suggested that maybe Ilana and the others work for Faraday’s mom… that seemed possible to me just because she actually did know how to get back to the island etc. Anything on this topic though is guessing for me lol; I don’t feel like I’ve picked up on any good clues myself.

    Also, I guess I didn’t figure that Faraday had done any time traveling in the past other than the island/flashes thing… am I forgetting something that indicated he had? I’m pretty sure that this is the same Faraday who was distraught to run into the young Charlotte in Dharma-ville, and he just left the island via the sub on some assignment for the Dharma-ites in the three years since that point.

    My other big questions are definitely still around that dang statue, and its stupid shadow… just watch it be the end of *next* season before we get any answers about that one. šŸ˜›

  3. Locke as Ilana’s “employer” is mostly a lark; I just like the idea.

    As far as Faraday timetraveling, I think it was one of his “flashbacks” early in this season that showed him working on The Orchid station and catching a glimpse of Dr. Chang.

    I’m just curious if that was truly in *his* past or if it was a flash forward in his *experience*.

    At what stage of Faraday’s journey is he seeing Miles when he exits the sub?

  4. The season premiere, this year, opened with Chang’s morning leading into an incident underground and the appearance of Faraday, in the 1970s, looking full of subterfuge. The question we’re left with, for sure, is whether that happened between the creation of La Fleur and Faraday’s departure for Ann Arbor, or if it is going to happen for “real” (or again?) in an upcoming episode, now that Faraday is back knowing whatever it is he learned in Ann Arbor. My guess is that the Faraday/Chang scene is still in our future (if you will), and that Faraday was down there because of things he learned with the De Groots in Ann Arbor.

    That… or Faraday IS De Groot. Or something.

    Something else to consider for Ilana and her rough buddy: What if they work for Hanso?

    Or, since they’re into the statue and its shadow (literally?), maybe they work for Richard Alpert, and are thus Others, and thus DO work for Locke.

    Isn’t it curious that Widmore (and Ben?) have gotten in trouble for leaving the Island, but we’ve seen Richard and Ethan Rom leave the Island to do things like, say, recruit Juliet? Hmm.

  5. Will, I think I agree with you on the timing of the Faraday flashback, in that I believe we’ll see him working on one of the hatches and stealing glimpses at Chang in a coming episode arc (this season?).

    I like your points about Ilana. The easy answer, obviously, is to say “they work for the island” but I resisted that urge until just now.

    I brought up the point about Alpert & Ethan leaving the island last episode when we saw Ben getting all haughty about Widmore flouting the rules and not speaking for the island. Funny how Ben came to do some of the same things himself.

    I’m beginning to wonder how pure the island’s interests really are and if *any* person can reasonably/reliably speak for it without becoming corrupted somehow.

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