Some Like It Hoth

I SEE DEAD PEOPLE

This is the first episode to focus on one of the members of the freighter team. Also it doesn’t contain a “previously on LOST” blurb at the beginning of the episode either. The first thing we can do is count how many times we see some familiar numbers show up in the episode. There’s 3:16 on the microwave, that’s one. The woman looked familiar to me but for some reason I didn’t recall her as being Miles’ mother even though I knew it was going to be a Miles flashback. Did anyone not know that the boy was Miles until after the woman called his name? The door Miles goes to is number 4. 4 is considered a bad luck number in Japan, Korea and China, as it is a homonym for the word "death" in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. On the rabbit statue there is a number 8 on the ear. I thought I knew what Miles’ ability was but this scene confused me a little. Did Miles know the man was inside the room dead because he could see through the door because it looked like they tried to show he could or was it just a voice coming from behind the door and we were shown what was inside before Miles went in? When Miles freaks out and says that the man is still talking to him you had to feel bad for the kid.



I SEE GOTH PEOPLE

Yes, I’m doing the new recap format for this episode so we will continue with the flashback parts. A very pierced (somebody actually counted and they say that Miles had 15 piercings in his ears and face) and very Goth looking Miles shows up years later at his mothers’ house. Miles' spiky hair with a white line through it resembles Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys from the movie Hook. Miles’ mother has a nurse and doesn’t look very good. She would appear to be dying of some sort of cancer if I had to offer a guess because it seems that she is showing signs of having had radiation treatments. Or is it radiation that is killing her? Where would she have gotten that? Oh yeah, that's right. Miles wants to know why he is the way he is and he asks about his father. His mother tells him that his father never cared about him and that he kicked them out when Miles was still a baby. She also tells him that his father is dead and his body is somewhere Miles can never go. They made it fairly obvious where this story was going didn’t they? There are some that say it is possible that Miles' mother was already dead in this scene and he was talking to her corpse. That would explain the respirator and the IVs that were in the room but not hooked up to her. The other side of the theory is she was disconnected from them and was about to die and that is why they are not being used but still in the room.

I SEE DUMB PEOPLE

Miles, a few years after his visit with his mother is now making money with his ability. A man asks him to contact his son to see if his son knew that he loved him. Miles tells the man that he needs a body to do what he does. Then he tells the man that it will cost double what he said because the boys body was cremated. We’ve seen this side of Miles before. He likes to charge double for his help it seems. Miles takes the man’s hands into his own and a few seconds later tells the man that his son did know he loved him and he leaves. I didn’t believe Miles for a second, did you? Naomi shows up and introduces herself to Miles and says that he is being recruited by her boss to work on a job with her. In "The Economist" Miles said that he first met Naomi on the boat, while in this episode she is seen recruiting him prior to the expedition. It is possible he simply lied about it or is it just a simple error?

I SEE GREEDY PEOPLE

Naomi takes Miles to a restaurant were there is a body back in the kitchen. She tells him that this is his audition and he is to tell her all he can about the dead man. This time we see that Miles really is getting some messages from the body. The man was carrying pictures of empty graves and a purchase order for an old plane to Charles Widmore. Are these the same pictures that Tom Friendly showed Michael? If so, we know how the man died and is it in fact Widmore who really did make the fake plane crash? Or is it possible Widmore thought Ben was behind it and he was getting proof but the man was killed before delivering the evidence. It's possible neither was behind it and the new player in the game (The New DI) is behind the graves and the fake plane crash site. After the audition, Miles turns down the job but quickly changes his mind when Naomi tells him he will be paid 1.6 (16 another of the numbers) million dollars to do the job. Now a quick word on this; I don’t think that Widmore ever intended to pay anyone 1.6 million dollars. I think that he figured Miles and whoever else would be quite expendable and would never make it back in order to claim the money. Of course I could be wrong and Miles was paid up front, after all Widmore certainly seems like he would have that much lying around anyway.

I SEE … A TUNA TACO? WAIT … WHA? REALLY?

Miles is grabbed and thrown into a van. The guy who talks to Miles is Bram, the dude on the island with Illana in 2007 or whenever it is. Bram tells Miles he is being watched and they know he works for Charles Widmore who Miles says he doesn’t know. Miles says he doesn’t know what lies in the shadow of the statute and Bram tells him he is not ready to go to the island. Bram tells Miles that if he goes with them he will get all the answers he is looking for: who he is, why he has a gift, and he will know about his father. All of that will be answered if Miles doesn’t get on the freighter. Miles tells Bram that he doesn’t care about his father that all he cares about is money and for 3.2 (23 backwards) million he will not go on the boat. Bram tells him they aren’t going to pay him anything and then tells the rest of the goons to toss Miles out of the van. Bram leaves as he tells Miles that he is on the wrong team and that Bram is on the team that is going to win. So if they wanted Miles to not get on the freighter why didn’t they just keep him for however long it would have taken for him to miss the freighter? Many have theorized this is part of the people needing to want to do something (like Jack wanting to operate on Ben’s back tumor) and not being forced to do something. Here’s my thoughts real quick on who these people are; Bram is one of the new and improved Dharma Initiative members. If you remember I posted a video several months ago before the new season began featuring Pierre Chang calling for the Dharma Initiative to be reformulated. I think they have been and this is where we are headed.

I SEE DUMB PEOPLE REVISITED

Miles returns to the man who wanted to know if his son knew he loved him. Miles gives him his money back and tells him he wasn’t able to communicate with is son. The man says he would have rather not known Miles had lied. Miles tells him it would not have been fair to his son and that if he wanted his son to know he loved him he should have made sure to tell him when he was alive. Seems like Miles does have some Daddy issues. The fact that Miles gives the man his money back, something he tells Bram that is all he cares about but tells the man about loving his son shows he does care about his past and how his father fits into it. I don’t think Miles knew the island was where he would find his family history or see his father but it seemed to show that lack of a fatherly influence was something that Miles did indeed carry with him no matter how much he claimed to be the opposite.

SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPES

OK, maybe just lies and videotapes. The Sports Illustrated cover that Miles is reading states: "After 23 (#) years ...NEW BOSS IN L.A." Sawyer calls Miles and tells him to find the tapes from the monitors and erase them to cover Kate and his tracks. Watch Sawyer reset the sonic fence before going through it but remember I pointed out he didn’t reset it when they went through back in “Whatever Happened, Happened”. Ha, hey TPTB, what’s up with that? Pretty small detail I guess really but still they are getting sloppy. Monitor 4 (#) is the tape Miles is to erase, the same number of the room where he found the dead guy when he was a child. Sawyer tells Kate to go back to the infirmary and see Juliette. Sawyer reminds Kate that he is head of security. Something that may not carry much weight before long. Horace enters the security office and tells Miles that he has an important errand for him to do. Miles is brought into “the circle of trust”. Miles is to go to sector 334 and give something to Radzinski and wait for Radzinski to give him something back. Miles questions the sector as they are not supposed to be in sector 334. Miles leaves without taking the tape.

CALL ME THE DEAD BODY MAN

Miles finds Radzinski who doesn’t seem to be as impressed with Miles being in the “circle of trust” as Miles is impressed with being in it. Turns out it is a body bag Miles gives to Radzinski and sure enough, Radzinski and his Dharma buddies fill it up. Radzinski tells Miles that the man had an accident, more specifically he fell into a ditch. Miles asks if the body has a bullet wound. Miles is fast becoming a big favorite of mine, contrary to a lot of other peoples feelings on him. “The ditch had a gun?” is one of the best lines of the episode. After Radzinski and his cronies put the body in the van and go back into the jungle, Miles does his Ghost Whisperer act. So, we now know the Swan hatch was in hostile territory. That is a big piece of information that we never knew before.

ROAD TO SINGAPORE

Miles returns to the security center and Horace is on the phone with Pierre Chang. He tells Chang “if it was caused by the electromagnetism, we need to know”. Horace gives Miles his next task which is to take the body to the Orchid for Chang to see. Miles doesn’t want to do it. Hurley is putting coolers into the van that contain lunch for the workers at the Orchid. Uh, garlic mayo? That’s either really good or really bad. The Hurley/Miles traveling road show is about to take off for parts unknown. Hurley tells Miles they can carpool to help stop global warming which hasn't started yet. Al Gore would be proud and I knew this episode was gonna be funny last week when I saw the previews.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Kate makes it back to the infirmary right before Roger gets there. He wants to know where his son is and at first thinks he is dead. Juliette tells him that she left the room for ten minutes and doesn’t know what happened to Ben. Roger bolts from the room as he tells Juliette he is going to go to security. Juliette looks at Kate and comments; “Well, here we go.”. Listen for the big wet splat noise that is sure to be coming soon when the shit hits the fan.

SIR, HOW DARE YOU FART BEFORE MY WIFE. I’M SORRY I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS HER TURN.

As the Dharma van rolls on “It never rains in southern California” plays on the radio. Hurley wants to know how to spell bounty hunter and instantly I wondered how Hurley knew about Illana. One of the funniest scenes of the episode. Hurley smells something foul and thinks it was Miles. Miles tells him it could be his sandwiches. Miles pulls over so Hurley can check on the food. Hurley finds the body bag and the body. Miles tells Hurley about the corpse. Alvarez was digging a hole when he felt a sharp pain in his mouth. The pain was from a filling in his tooth being yanked out and then it was blown through his brain. Hurley asks Miles how he knows all of this. Hurley asks Miles if he can talk to dead people like he can.

Back in Dharma Ville, Roger is on the swing drinking away his troubles. Kate walks up and tries to comfort him but makes it a little too obvious she knows more than she should. Roger tells Kate she should mind her own business. When will Kate learn?

ROAD TO ZANZIBAR

Hurley and Miles continue their discussion about communicating with dead people. Miles tells Hurley that talking to the dead, having conversations with them, playing chess with them like Hurley does is not how “it” works. Hurley jumps all over this and then goes on to tell Miles that he is jealous that his power is better than Miles’ power. They arrive at the Orchid and Chang is not happy to see Hurley with Miles. Hurley tells Chang that he won’t say anything about the body. “If you wanna keep a secret, don’t tell the fat guy!”, remember that? Chang warns Hurley that he will be on the Hydra island weighing turds for their silly experiments if he says anything about the body. See even Chang admits most of the Dharma experiments are silly. Remember the tube that the Pearl people had to send their little notebooks up? Hurley says that Chang is a douche. Miles says that douche is his father. Was anyone surprised by this fact at this point? Hurley asks Miles about his dad. Miles says he doesn’t want to talk about it. Hurley comments that if Miles didn’t want to talk about it he wouldn’t have brought it up. Hurley’s right about that one. Miles tells Hurley that his first clue that Chang was his father happened on the third day he was in the DI. Miles says his mother was in line behind him at the cafeteria. Chang comes back and says that Miles it to take him to see Radzinski. Miles asks about the body and Chang asks; “What body?” Is that a Geiger counter in Chang’s hand or is he just happy to see us?

DR. JECKYL AND MR. LINUS

Jack realizes real quick that Dharma erasers suck and that Roger Linus is a dick when he is drunk. Egyptian history and hieroglyphics are on the chalk board. Roger tells Jack to get out and then kicks the bucket. For once kicking the bucket means just that; actually kicking a bucket. Roger is not very likeable when he is drunk but is sort of ok when he is sober. We get that point! Jack can relate I guess. Roger questions Jack about knowing Kate. He believes that Kate had something to do with Ben’s disappearance. Jack tries to cover for Kate. He tells Roger that he knows Kate and she wouldn’t do anything to hurt his son. His explanation to Roger actually made Jack look guilty instead of helping clear Kate because I don’t think Roger has changed his feelings about Kate one bit.

ROAD TO UTOPIA

Hurley questions Chang about the Orchid station, his family, and his musical interests. Miles knows what he is doing. Hurley is so smooth and subtle. Not! Chang says his wife is a fan of Miles Davis but he likes country which explains why he listened to Shotgun Willie. When Miles says that he and Chang don’t run in the same circles, Chang says he is unaware that there are circles that people ran around in. This tells me that Chang has been a good father and husband. It would seem that he has no knowledge of the social scene on the island. Chang would of course know about the circle of trust I assume. Chang tells Miles to stop and he gets out of the van and opens a camouflaged fence. Is that really supposed to fool anyone? Hurley sees the workers putting the numbers onto the hatch door and he knows they are building the Swan station. Hurley gives Miles a quick history lesson on the Swan hatch. Hurley continues to push the envelope as far as Miles and his father is concerned. Miles still balks at the idea and steals Hurley’s notebook. Hurley had been writing Empire Strikes Back. Guess the bounty hunter he mentioned earlier in the episode was Boba Fet.

ANYBODY UP FOR SOME DIKE FINGERING?

Sawyer returns home and tells Juliette he feels like the little Dutch boy trying to stick his finger in the oh, hey Jack, how’s it going? Jack tells Sawyer about Roger Linus and his suspicions about Kate. Jack leaves and Sawyer thanks him for the heads up. Vozzek69 sums up this scene the best and I quote:

“Jack helps Sawyer out this scene with some vital information, letting him know that he's still got his back. Sawyer shows genuine appreciation of Jack's help, too. This was good to see, because both of them are powerhouse LOST characters from the shows inception. They've also always been out of sync with each other: as one of their stars is rising, the other one seems destined to fall. Just as Jack and Locke argue Science and Faith, Jack and Sawyer's power and popularity are stuck in their own kind of Ying-Yang balance, going all the way back to supremacy of the ping-pong table and ending with the battle for Kate's panties. I for one am looking forward to them forming the dream-team again, both finally getting back on the same side like they did when they kicked some Other ass a few seasons ago. Each of them are good, but together they're worth more than the sum of their individual parts. I think we're all ready to see another 815 rally, and I hope it comes soon. And maybe somewhere along the lines, someone should mention to Juliet that she's wearing a red shirt.”

Phil is next up and tells “Jim” that they need to see him in the office as there has been a new development. Phil shows Sawyer the video tape and says he knows it was him that took Ben. Phil tells Sawyer that he has not told Horace about it yet and thought he deserved a chance to explain himself. He tells Sawyer he gives him the benefit of the doubt. BITCH SLAP! Or maybe it was a punch, but it sounded like Phil was taken down with an open hand. “Get some rope”, Sawyer tells Juliette. Ok, I gotta say I think this was a huge mistake on Sawyer’s part. I think Phil could have been taken into Sawyer’s “circle of trust” if he had tried. He had just said he deserved the benefit of the doubt so he was open for an explanation. I think Sawyer could have handled this an entirely different way and came out better for it. Only time will tell.

STRANDED ALL ALONE IN THE GAS STATION OF LOVE AND I HAVE TO USE THE SELF SERVICE PUMP

Hurley just won’t let the Miles and his father topic go. This time he has taken the simpatico approach telling Miles about his relationship with his own father. Hurley compares Miles to Luke Skywalker. Hurley says that Luke overreacts and ends up getting his hand cut off. Will Chang overreact and get his hand cut off? Hurley actually does get through to Miles, somehow, even though I don’t think the Ewoks sucked. That’s one of the first things I have ever disagreed with Hurley on. Miles walks past Chang’s house and he sees that his mother was wrong. It doesn’t seem that Pierre didn’t care about his son at all. He seems to be caring for him fairly well. Reading to him (a book about polar bears no less!), kissing him, even smiling which it seems is not something Chang does very often. Miles is touched by this and begins to walk away as Chang comes outside and says “Miles I need you.”. For a second Miles was Changs’ son and acted as such when he turned towards Chang and asked “You do?”. The child from the beginning of the episode came back for a few seconds as Miles did get some of his answers regardless of what Bram told him. Or his mother for that matter. Chang tells Miles they are to go to the dock to pick up some scientists that are arriving from Ann Arbor. We see Daniel Faraday getting out of the sub and Miles is surprised to see him. Dan sees Miles and says “Long time no see”. For a second I thought that maybe Dan was going to look at Miles and say; “I’m sorry do I know you?”. Since it seems that Dan has been off of the island, is it possible that he is the one that invented the pendulum at the Lamp Post station that was used to find the island? Also notice that Dan, when we last saw him, was an emotional mess. Right after Charlotte died he fell apart. Sawyer told Jack a few episodes ago that Dan was not with them anymore. Has he been gone for almost three years? Whatever he has been doing in the time he has been gone, one thing is for sure, this is a different Dan than the one we last saw. He looks confident, almost seemed a little bit cocky even. Perhaps while he was gone he found out his statement “Whatever happened, happened” isn’t as accurate as he once thought and he is back to save them and Charlotte as well. Especially when you consider the next episode is called “The Variable”. A little bit of info about that - TPTB described The Constant as being a bunch of pebbles in a stream. They are there but they don’t disrupt the flow of the stream. The Variable, however is described as something large being placed into the stream and not necessarily stopping the flow but definitely changing the course of it. Sounds like a change is gonna come!

FINAL THOUGHTS

First of all I don’t think Chang kicked his wife and baby off of the island because he was a horrible person. He got them off of the island the only way he knew he could. He had to make his wife think he hated them in order to get them to safety. It ended up hurting less for him and he felt it would be more successful than to tell her the truth. Maybe his wife wouldn’t have left if she knew the truth. It was a sacrificial act not a selfish one that ended up sending Miles and his mother away from the island.

In case you are wondering, the episode title is also a reference to the movie Some Like It Hot. In the movie, the two main characters are a comedic duo and witness a mob murder - The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. This is similar to Miles and Hurley's situation when they become aware of the death of Alvarez. In the movie, the two main characters disguise themselves to avoid retribution from the mob after witnessing the murder just as Miles and Hurley continue to conceal their true identities from the DHARMA Initiative to protect themselves. They best not be dressing up as women anytime soon though.

OR - Since we are always talking Egyptian Mythology and it was seen on the blackboard, consider this for a minute: "Some Like I, Thoth" as in The Book of Thoth, the book buried in the City of the Dead. Thoth's role as mediator is well-documented. It is he who questions the souls of the dead about their deeds in life before their heart is weighed against the feather of Maat. He is the great counselor and the other gods frequently went to him for advice. Just puttin’ it out there and thanks to Lostpedia.org for that.

Something else pointed out by Vozzek69 is that it is sweet irony that Radzinsky is overseeing the digging of the Swan Station. He is actually digging his own grave.

Super props to Lostpedia and DarkUFO for the screen caps as well.

No episode next week. Oh the withdraws!!