Lost 5.1 Because you left and 5.2. The Lie
Oh show of islands and polar bears, thou art back!
First of all, I loved it that we started with a Dharma Initiative scene. I have a serious soft spot for Dharma craziness and am hoping for lots more this season, what with all the time travelling. It also tickled me that we saw a bit of them shooting these earnest instruction videos. And the use of the record was neatly done, considering Daniel's analogy later, plus of course the reveal of Mr. Farraday at the end of the teaser.
In the first episode, we caught up with everyone since last we saw them, which unfortunately included a downer for me when Ben mentioned he hadn't seen Locke ever since their goodbye in the s4 finale. I hope he's lying (as, you know, he's been wont to do now and then) because the thought of no more Emerson/O'Quinn scenes is too hard to bear. If he's not lying, I'm pinning my hopes on the moving-through-time gimmick. Scenes with Jack ARE NOT A REPLACEMENT, show. Not that those aren't good, mind.
We also learn that Sayid must have left Ben's employ since his last flash forward (or should we know call the island scenes flashbacks instead? Guess we should), which isn't exactly a shocker, but I'm still having no sympathy for Sayid presenting himself as misled by the Tiny Evil One, because he signed up for this and explicitly asked Ben for the job (and for targets), knowing exactly what Ben is like. And without being blackmailed like Michael was. Complain about the existential angst of an assassin career elsewhere, Sayid, as far as I'm concerned, you had it coming the moment you said "Benjamin - who's next?" This being said, of course the assault-and-escape scenes were thrilling and tense. Sayid really excels at those. And they included another inventively gruesome death, featuring the best black humour use of kitchen utensils since the Gremlins got microwaved.
I was wondering how they'd plausible get Kate to join them, but Kate being forced to go on the run on her own, with Aaron, is an inventive plot twist in preparation of that. Considering the timing, I wouldn't put it past Ben to have tipped someone off about the non-relatedness (because it sure wasn't any of the other Oceanic Six). This scene also filled me with hope that Kate will actually get a plot line this season that has nothing to do with the most annoying love triangle this side of BSG. I really liked her here, and it reminded me that Kate alone, sans Jack or Sawyer, is a good character. Also competent at escapes. Go Kate! Though not far, as in the next episode she hooks up with Sun, who is my other suspect as to who sent these lawyers. Given the flashbacks, I think Sun is lying when she says she doesn't blame Kate. She might or might not be planning something for Widmore (though I think she has it in for him now, given his treatment), but as far as wanting to kill Benjamin Linus first - that sounds sincere. (Though how does she know Ben is responsible for the freighter blowing up? It must have been Locke mentioning it, if he visited her the way he visited everyone else, othwerwise I'm stumped.)
Meanwhile, everyone left on the island finds out they've become an updated version of the Flying Dutchman. I must say, the only problem I had with this is that Daniel is a lousy liar and I wouldn't have expected a) Charlotte to believe the "I'm just going back for my backpack" story and b) Juliet or even Sawyer not to have figured out there was a reason why he wanted to go to the hatch to begin with. Tsk. Also, Daniel knows that Ben moved the island via the Orchid which he actually can't know (Jack and Hurley would have been able to, having seen Ben and Locke at the Orchid, but Daniel was busy ferrying people when the whole Orchid plot happened), but I'll wave it aside. He did some time travelling of his own even before he came on the island, after all, due to all those experiments. And hey, the reunion (from his pov) with Desmond was simultanously amusing and touching. Though I immediately went from those feelings to wanting to slap Desmond when he didn't take the trouble to explain to Penny first and then make the dramatic gestures.
Apropos gestures: Ethan continues to prove that death is no impediment to showing on on this show far more often then when your character was alive. I had a huge grin on my face when he showed up. Also, loved that what tips Locke off to what is happening with the island is watching the smuggler plane crash - this is something so connected to his personal story, and to his first fall from grace (i.e. leading Boone to his doom) as well as some attempts at redemption (trying to save Eko). Richard handing him the compass was great, too - going back to their first encounter (the compass as well as the sand were the items child!Locke picked correctly, before insisting on the knife instead of the law) and symbolic for the whole quest motif in Locke's life. "You have to die" to save the island - fascinating that he puts it like this, and not "you have to leave". And of course it means that the "suicide" in the off-island timeline might actually have been a suicide, instead of a murder as Sayid and Ben assume, though not out of despair. Or it might have been murder but one Locke expected/invited. At any rate, it figures that being ready to offer his life for the salvation of the island would be Locke's ultimate test, due to the Locke/Island OTP. I'm still betting on my theory that his death is a case of "only mostly dead" and will end in him becoming an avatar for the island and/or Jacob once his body is back there, btw.
Hurley's parents go a long way of breaking the "bad parents except for Jin's father" curse of Lost; so far, they're coming through for him. As to who Ben's current allies are, hm, but I can't help noticing they're all in the same age class, the butcher lady and our aquaintance from Desmond's season 3 time travel episode both. And she has a Dharma type computer. Which would argue they might be Dharma Initiative types who weren't on the island at the time of the purge, though in this case, why their alliance with Ben (unless he left out that bit where he allied with the Others in the grand massacre)? Also, I feel smug that my theory Ben is vulnerable towards middle-aged women who can order him around is proven true. (When I speculated about a Ben versus Angela Petrelli match, that's what I saw as her advantage.)
Speculation: the Others Locke was with when the time travelling started didn't travel with him because they, not just Richard, are all immortal - that would be Others as in original Hostiles, not Others as in later recruitments like Juliet or Ethan. This means they can't exist in two places at the same time, hence no time travel for them.
First of all, I loved it that we started with a Dharma Initiative scene. I have a serious soft spot for Dharma craziness and am hoping for lots more this season, what with all the time travelling. It also tickled me that we saw a bit of them shooting these earnest instruction videos. And the use of the record was neatly done, considering Daniel's analogy later, plus of course the reveal of Mr. Farraday at the end of the teaser.
In the first episode, we caught up with everyone since last we saw them, which unfortunately included a downer for me when Ben mentioned he hadn't seen Locke ever since their goodbye in the s4 finale. I hope he's lying (as, you know, he's been wont to do now and then) because the thought of no more Emerson/O'Quinn scenes is too hard to bear. If he's not lying, I'm pinning my hopes on the moving-through-time gimmick. Scenes with Jack ARE NOT A REPLACEMENT, show. Not that those aren't good, mind.
We also learn that Sayid must have left Ben's employ since his last flash forward (or should we know call the island scenes flashbacks instead? Guess we should), which isn't exactly a shocker, but I'm still having no sympathy for Sayid presenting himself as misled by the Tiny Evil One, because he signed up for this and explicitly asked Ben for the job (and for targets), knowing exactly what Ben is like. And without being blackmailed like Michael was. Complain about the existential angst of an assassin career elsewhere, Sayid, as far as I'm concerned, you had it coming the moment you said "Benjamin - who's next?" This being said, of course the assault-and-escape scenes were thrilling and tense. Sayid really excels at those. And they included another inventively gruesome death, featuring the best black humour use of kitchen utensils since the Gremlins got microwaved.
I was wondering how they'd plausible get Kate to join them, but Kate being forced to go on the run on her own, with Aaron, is an inventive plot twist in preparation of that. Considering the timing, I wouldn't put it past Ben to have tipped someone off about the non-relatedness (because it sure wasn't any of the other Oceanic Six). This scene also filled me with hope that Kate will actually get a plot line this season that has nothing to do with the most annoying love triangle this side of BSG. I really liked her here, and it reminded me that Kate alone, sans Jack or Sawyer, is a good character. Also competent at escapes. Go Kate! Though not far, as in the next episode she hooks up with Sun, who is my other suspect as to who sent these lawyers. Given the flashbacks, I think Sun is lying when she says she doesn't blame Kate. She might or might not be planning something for Widmore (though I think she has it in for him now, given his treatment), but as far as wanting to kill Benjamin Linus first - that sounds sincere. (Though how does she know Ben is responsible for the freighter blowing up? It must have been Locke mentioning it, if he visited her the way he visited everyone else, othwerwise I'm stumped.)
Meanwhile, everyone left on the island finds out they've become an updated version of the Flying Dutchman. I must say, the only problem I had with this is that Daniel is a lousy liar and I wouldn't have expected a) Charlotte to believe the "I'm just going back for my backpack" story and b) Juliet or even Sawyer not to have figured out there was a reason why he wanted to go to the hatch to begin with. Tsk. Also, Daniel knows that Ben moved the island via the Orchid which he actually can't know (Jack and Hurley would have been able to, having seen Ben and Locke at the Orchid, but Daniel was busy ferrying people when the whole Orchid plot happened), but I'll wave it aside. He did some time travelling of his own even before he came on the island, after all, due to all those experiments. And hey, the reunion (from his pov) with Desmond was simultanously amusing and touching. Though I immediately went from those feelings to wanting to slap Desmond when he didn't take the trouble to explain to Penny first and then make the dramatic gestures.
Apropos gestures: Ethan continues to prove that death is no impediment to showing on on this show far more often then when your character was alive. I had a huge grin on my face when he showed up. Also, loved that what tips Locke off to what is happening with the island is watching the smuggler plane crash - this is something so connected to his personal story, and to his first fall from grace (i.e. leading Boone to his doom) as well as some attempts at redemption (trying to save Eko). Richard handing him the compass was great, too - going back to their first encounter (the compass as well as the sand were the items child!Locke picked correctly, before insisting on the knife instead of the law) and symbolic for the whole quest motif in Locke's life. "You have to die" to save the island - fascinating that he puts it like this, and not "you have to leave". And of course it means that the "suicide" in the off-island timeline might actually have been a suicide, instead of a murder as Sayid and Ben assume, though not out of despair. Or it might have been murder but one Locke expected/invited. At any rate, it figures that being ready to offer his life for the salvation of the island would be Locke's ultimate test, due to the Locke/Island OTP. I'm still betting on my theory that his death is a case of "only mostly dead" and will end in him becoming an avatar for the island and/or Jacob once his body is back there, btw.
Hurley's parents go a long way of breaking the "bad parents except for Jin's father" curse of Lost; so far, they're coming through for him. As to who Ben's current allies are, hm, but I can't help noticing they're all in the same age class, the butcher lady and our aquaintance from Desmond's season 3 time travel episode both. And she has a Dharma type computer. Which would argue they might be Dharma Initiative types who weren't on the island at the time of the purge, though in this case, why their alliance with Ben (unless he left out that bit where he allied with the Others in the grand massacre)? Also, I feel smug that my theory Ben is vulnerable towards middle-aged women who can order him around is proven true. (When I speculated about a Ben versus Angela Petrelli match, that's what I saw as her advantage.)
Speculation: the Others Locke was with when the time travelling started didn't travel with him because they, not just Richard, are all immortal - that would be Others as in original Hostiles, not Others as in later recruitments like Juliet or Ethan. This means they can't exist in two places at the same time, hence no time travel for them.