The Economist

A week until we get more Lost, so before that I have to share some thoughts on the first 8 episodes of the season. I've tried to break them down according to episodes so as to keep the time line in tact. Yeah, and I do know how moronic that sounds trying to keep the Lost time line in order. Anyway here are some thoughts, observations, and, feelings:


The Beginning of the End

The season starts with Hurley's a la Dukes of Hazzard crash into a pile of papayas with his father's old Camaro as we begin this one how we ended the last one, with a flash forward. Hurley is happy to check himself back into the mental institute in an attempt to flee from Charlie's ghost. Or is it Charlie's ghost? The two even discuss it very cryptically. Hurley: "You're dead dude." Charlie: "I know, but yet here I am." It's also interesting to note that one of the other patients also sees Charlie. Hurley seeing Charlie was nothing like Hurley seeing Dave two seasons ago. It’s hard to explain, but there’s a different feel to it now. Charlie came forward very logically, placidly, hands raised as if to say "I know, I know, it’s kinda freaky but just hear me out". So a ghost that is able to be seen by everybody or something else? I'm thinking something else. Maybe Smokey can come to them in the forms of their dead friends or perhaps, on the island Charlie is dead but off island he isn't. There is obviously some sort of time anomaly involved as well as time travel but does it go this far? Charlie also tells Hurley; "They need you Hugo". Just who are "they"? Are some of the survivors still alive on the island. Also, what is the "thing he isn't supposed to tell"? Possibly the same secret Jack meant at the end of last season when he told Kate he was "sick of lying". Denying knowledge of Ana Lucia was Hurley’s way of trying to forget ... but his eyes betrayed his sorrow when her name was mentioned.

Jack’s totally through with diplomacy! I thought he was done with it last season, but watching him flat out kill Locke by pulling the trigger of the gun this episode – WOW. And while Jack did just see Locke murder a seemingly innocent woman shooting Locke in the face is a far, far cry from where Jack used to be. Ben’s extremely wise-ass comments continue: "Well, technically he didn't kill her ... yet." and "Better tell them she's getting a lot of wood.". He's resigned to the fact he doesn't have control anymore but he isn't letting go quietly. Danielle's backhand to the mouth is a good way for her to come back this season although more from her has been promised (guess there will be more for her even though she may be dead after the last episode before the hiatus).

Christian Shephard rocking in Jacob's chair doing his best Whistler's Mother impression was pretty freaky. I was probably not the only one excited to see Crazy Jacob’s haunted cabin pop up this episode. This time Hurley stumbles across it, although of course he doesn’t really stumble across it at all. "Jacob is not a man you go to see – you are summoned by him". For some reason this episode, Jacob wants an audience with Hurley. As Hurley runs from Jacob’s cabin, it appears ahead of him again – only this time, the door swings open invitingly. This is reminiscent of Desmond’s description of how he tried to leave the island in his boat, only to be returned to shore again and again no matter which direction he sailed. What’s interesting here is how Hurley can break the island’s cycle of events by willing something his way. After repeating "There’s nothing here" a few times, the cabin is gone. Later on in the episode Hurley counts to five and gets rid of Charlie’s ghost exactly the same way (mirroring Jack's 5 second rule with fear). Perhaps his faith is growing, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. Why does Jacob seek an audience with Hurley? It could be because of the faith thing I just mentioned, but it could also be because Hurley is one of the few constants the island can’t touch. At least twice, Hurley has stated "I’m not supposed to be here". In Locke’s sweat-tent dream vision Hurley is the only 815’er not making his way on board the plane. In season one he arrives at the gate and the stewardess says "I don’t think you’re supposed to make this flight, hon". Without going into this too deeply, I’ll repeat my assertion that Hurley has always been untouchable – both on and off the island – because he was never part of the original equation. Maybe the island would rather just have him gone. Maybe this is why Hurley is later allowed to leave as one of the ‘Oceanic Six’.

Sinister Abbaddon asking "Are they still alive?" (''abaddon'' being a Hebrew ''place of destruction,'' or hell). Hurley started raging at not-yet-bearded flash-forward Jack about some ominous ''it'' (''I don't think we did the right thing, Jack! I think it wants us to come back! And it's going to do everything it can...''). Might the fact that Charlie is appearing again, and that Christian Shephard is seen all over the island, have something to do with the leaked DHARMA Initiative orientation video for the Orchid Station? Dr. Edgar Halowax (i.e. Marvin Candle/Mark Wickman from the previous orientation videos) is seen holding a white rabbit with the number 15 painted on it. He mentions how the island's unique properties creates a kind of Casimir effect that allows them to — and that's when another version of that rabbit falls into the room behind Halowax, and the good doctor has a minor fit, yelling to keep the two rabbits away from each other. It's two rabbits, but they're the same rabbit. We don't find out what the Casimir effect allows them to do (yet). Are we really dealing with ghosts, or are we dealing with the same Charlie and the same Christian, but from some other space time, like the same rabbit appeared from some other space time? If the above corollary holds, perhaps Dr's. Marvin Candle, Mark Wickman, and Edmund Halowax are not the same person as we think of it, but three versions of the same person from different space times.

Good lookin’ out Sawyer. I think it said a lot for Sawyer’s character the way he looked out for Hurley on that dark jungle path. Offering support for his grieving friend reflected the huge amount of character development he underwent last season. And when Hurley politely turned him away, Sawyer understood. Hugo needed to hold off on releasing that grief – he needed to keep it inside him until he could let it out with the one person he needed to: Claire. He owed that to her, Charlie, and himself.

Confirmed Dead

Ben’s mind games with Sawyer aren't purely recreational - as with anything Ben does, there’s always some kind of agenda. At this point, Ben’s resigned himself to the fact that at least some of the 815’Er's are going to leave the island. Needling Sawyer about not really having anything to go home to, and riding him about Jack/Kate, Ben was planting seeds in an effort to make him stay. Sawyer will stay, leaving Kate forlorn and depressed and bitchy in the flash forwards. But… that’s a good thing. Sawyer will be the one reason Jack and Hurley will eventually convince Kate ‘to go back’. She loves him. It’s obvious at this point that ‘going back’ is inevitable, and most likely not possible unless ALL of the Oceanic Six use their golden tickets in the same plane. End of season finale? Possibly.

We have met the enemy… and we are him. "Light em’ up!" - Miles standing in the jungle, Jack telling him he’s surrounded by guns. Seeing him smirk at Jack, non-believing until a bullet whizzes by, a mirror-image of Jack – a mirror image of the situation the 815’Er's encountered all those episodes ago. It was funny to watch, but it was alarming too. Look how easy it was for our main characters to become the very thing we all hated so much – the simplest of questions unanswered, the disparaging looks, the sarcasm, the jadedness… The 815 survivors have cool jungle moves. The 815 survivors have rifles and guns. The 815 survivors have a camp, a really weird agenda (some of them anyway), and about half of them have no desire to leave the island. Sound a little familiar? You bet. Our beloved 815’Er's have come full circle. They have executed their own purge, but the Others are not truly gone: the 815’Er's have become the Others – without even knowing how. THAT’S HOW SLICK THE ISLAND IS.

Locke and Sawyer display a dynamic partnership as the leaders of their new faction. Sawyer helps balance Locke’s fanaticism by questioning him every step of the way. The two men also share an almost brotherly bond, which centers on the man who created both of them, Anthony Cooper. Although The Brig already seems like ancient history, it was only a week ago on the island that Locke lured Sawyer out into the jungle with the promise of killing Ben. Cooper's execution seems like mere practice now, as they debate whether to kill a far more dangerous foe. Sawyer knew what needed to be done then, and he knows what needs to be done now. When the moment of truth arrives in this episode, though, Ben exercises that same power over Locke that Cooper once did. Cooper controlled Locke time and again with the promise of fatherly love, and now Ben assumes Locke's puppet-strings by promising him answers. Now Sawyer may be "brave, daring, handsome" (oh, Ben you sweet talker), but he's also very often the one who says the things we're thinking ourselves. And in this episode, he had one line that I don't think anyone doubts could turn out to be true: "It's only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny, and I bet he's already figured out how he's going to do it."

The five people who made it to the island are no more in the loop about what’s really going on than the fools who sat in the Pearl hatch launching marble notebooks mindlessly into the jungle. Miles, Dan, Charlotte, Frank – they might believe their objective to be Ben Linus, but in my opinion that’s just secondary. I don’t think they could reach the island without the four people in that chopper. Abaddon knows this. Naomi’s out of the loop too, she thinks the team is absurd – but he doesn’t have to explain it to her. Frank the drunken pilot was already supposed to be on the island. Fate swapped places with his friend Seth, but his connection is most evident. Putting him in command of that chopper might well have been the only way for them to find the island (or metaphorically, to let the island find them). In short, Abaddon’s tricking his way in. Dan’s got some type of connection too – he’s crying when he sees the crash footage and doesn’t have a clue why.

Locke asks Ben "what is the monster?" And for a second, I almost thought we’d get an answer. But then of course we didn’t. But then a few more seconds passed, and I realized we DID get an answer… and the answer was important. The answer is that Ben really doesn’t know what the smoke monster is (think I was gonna take Juliet’s lying-ass word for it last season?), which means that Locke doesn’t know what it is, which (drumroll…) means that Jacob wants to know what it is. And to me, that’s pretty damned important. After that Locke cocked the gun, and with no choice but to come clean, Ben blurted out Charlotte's complete résumé. How does he know so much about Freighter Girl? ''Because I have a man on their boat!'' As we later found out was Michael or in some cases already knew.

What exactly does it mean when Daniel notes that the sunlight ''doesn't scatter quite right'' on the Island?

If you go back through my blog you can find the post for episode 3 "The Economist". "Eggtown" and others coming soon.