“Whatever the Case may Be”. “Born to Run”. “What Kate Did”. “I Do”. “Left Behind”. “Eggtown”. Yes, in the long, storied history of Lost, it’s no secret that Kate-centered episodes have been, for lack of a better word, crappy.
But that was before season 5, friends. The season of hope. The season of change. The season of answers and accountability. It’s the Barack Obama of Lost seasons, really, if that’s your bag.
To be quite frank, I dug this episode. A lot. One might argue that this outing succeeded in spite of Kate rather than because of her, but I think we’re nitpicking there.
Like last week, this episode conjured several emotional hotpoints that just cut right to the heart of what the show is all about, all the while consistently delivering mind-melting, neck snapping “WTF!?!” Moments. So, let’s get into it.
The Oceanic Six storyline centered on finding out exactly who sent those rather intimidating lawyers to Kate’s house looking to take Aaron away. Kate had set up a meeting with one of the aforementioned lawyers and borrowed a snappy suit from Auntie Sun for the occasion. Also, am I the only one who is starting to get really creeped out by Aaron? He’s got those ice cold blue eyes that cut right into the nether regions of my very soul. (shudder)
Anyway, Sun also got a delivery right as Kate left for her meeting. It would appear she’s been keeping tabs on Jack and Ben’s whereabouts. very detailed tabs, too, complete with documented logs of their activity as well as photographs of them emerging from the funeral parlor. She also got a gun, too. More on that later.
After learning that the lawyers absolutely will not let her meet with his client, Kate decides to tail him and raise some hell. Jack meets up with her, determined to keep her safe from whoever Sayid’s hospital assailant is working for. The scenes between Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly worked well in this fast-paced episode, particularly the opening scene on Penny’s boat, where they made a pact to keep everybody in on the lie. When they meet again to tail the lawyer, it’s the first time they’ve interacted since Jack’s infamous “We have to go back!” diatribe out by the airport. The two actors played the “this is awkward, but there’s more important stuff at stake here” very well, and it of course led to the absolutely insane reveal that Claire’s MOTHER is the one who wants Aaron for herself.
But…not really. This is the one real glaring issue I had with the episode. Jack goes in to confront Claire’s mother and convince her to call off the lawyer, only to find out that she doesn’t know anything about Aaron. She’s just suing Oceanic for the death of her daughter. It felt like it was just filling time until we actually found out that Benjamin Linus himself sent the lawyer to get the little blonde menace.
Enough about them for a while. The real action took place back on the island. When we last left our heroes, they had flashed to some unknown point in time just as Charlotte collapsed in a bloody heap.
Locke took Sawyer aside from his brewing lover’s spat with Juliet (those two are going to hook up very soon.) to give an empassioned speech about travelling to the orchid station so he can save everyone else. Locke was determined to do it, “Even if it kills me.” I’m sure I was not the only one thinking. “It’s going to kill you, Locke.”
We quickly learned precisely where they had flashed to. November 1, 2004. Aaron’s birthday. Also, the day Locke pounded on the hatch demanding an answer to his cosmic island quandry, and the hatch lit up before his very eyes. Now, Future Locke saw the light from a distance and chose not to investigate it further.
Also, Miles joined the ill-fated bloody nose club. While Charlotte seemed to be recovering from her “really bad jet lag”, Miles seemed to be starting the process anew. Faraday hypothesized that it is happening to Charlotte and Miles because they have been exposed to the island for a very long time, lending creedence to my “Miles is the baby in the season’s opening scene” theory.
Next, a very familiar scream eminating from deep within the jungle. Sawyer went to investigate, and what ensued was one of the most beautiful scenes in recent Lost history. And half of it was comprised of a scene we’ve already encoutnered. Sawyer looked on as Kate delivered Claire’s baby. The emotion in his eyes as he saw the woman he loved again was completely genuine, and you couldn’t help but think as you saw Kate and Aaron together for the first time, about the mess they had gotten themselves into off the island. It was so great on so many levels.
But of course, as is becoming a trend this season, the island flashed right at an emotional fever pitch. Locke and Sawyer discussed what they had each seen and Locke explained a lot of what this time travel business represents.
Some fans have expressed confusion over the direction the show has gone with time travel and wonder about the inevitable points at which the castaways might interact with themselves. When Sawyer asks Locke why he didn’t tell his past self all that he knows to save himself some pain, Locke said very simply…”I needed that pain. To get to where I am now.” This works on not only a deep emotional level, but also a logical one. Locke cannot go up to confront himself because that DID NOT HAPPEN. It’s how he has gotten to this point. As viewers, I think we all need to sort of except that same mindset when pondering the shows noodle-cooking physics.
Back on the main land, the Oceanic Six, minus a certain portly detainee, convened at a Marina to discuss how to get the family back together. Except Sun, who seems to have every intention of using that aforementioned gun to pop a cap in Ben’s omnicient ass. I’m willing to bet she doesn’t get around to that. Also, did you notice what was written on the side of Ben’s van as he and Sayid went to meet with that shady lawyer? “Rainier-Canton” We know how Lost loves its anagrams. That little number unravels to “reincarnation”. So do you think Locke is just going to spring right back to life when they get back or are they going to have to perform some sort of incantation?
Our merry band of survivors got back to their camp, which looked positively abandoned. It’s my guess that they had flashed far into the future. There they found two canoes, one of which had a water bottle labeled Ajira Airways in it. They comandeered one of the boats so as to get Locke to the Orchid quickly so he can clean up this whole time traveling mess. Before long, they took gunfire from some unknown assailants in a boat behind them. I’ve got three theories as to who these people were.
Somw faction of Hostiles/Others – This seems logical, yet very boring.
The Oceanic Six – They had, in fact, flashed to a point in the future after the O6 have already returned. Ajira Airways is part of this season’s ancillary media campaign, and the internet is abuzz that this mysterious airline will bring our friends back. When Juliet returned fire, is it possible she could have shot one of the Oceanic Six?
Themselves – I’m not sure if this works out, But I think it’s possible that they were being pursued by either past or future versions of themselves. I don’t think I have the brain capacity to wrap my head around that. Of course, our friends flashed to another time before we could find out if any one of these goofy theories s correct.
All this would be enough for your average Lost episode, but in the last fifteen minutes we found that they had flashed to 1988. I know it’s 1988 because they found equipment from a certain French expidition team. Even more shocking than that, this team found the one and only JIN SOO KWON floating on a piece of driftwood in the ocean.
The scene with Jin and Rousseau’s team was chock-full of some classic Lost mythos. You heard the transmission of the infamous cursed numbers, heard he drop names we’ve heard before: Robert (her lover), Montand (the man who will eventually lose his arm) and you saw her totally preggers with everyone’s favorite rebellious teen, Alex. Also the look Daniel Dae Kim’s face as he took in all this information as absolutely priceless.
So who do you think was shooting at Sawyer, Locke, Juliet et al? Why does Juliet also have a case of the nosebleeds? How hilarious was Hurley in that orange convict outfit? How in the holy bejeezus are the O6 ever getting back that damned island? Are you glad we officially got an awesome Kate episode since “Tabula Rasa”?
I. LOVE. LOST.
