I have a very bad feeling, somewhat similar to the feeling I experienced last night as I watched Sun and Lapidus walk into the dark and deserted Dharma compound that was mere seconds ago filled with laughing Dharma hippies under a bright 1977 sun, that this LOST post is going to end up as erratic and chaotic as last night's story. So, mystified LOST fans, keep up if you can and read on if you dare...
If the episode "LaFleur" from two weeks ago was akin to a romantic and leisurely boat ride across a still and quiet lake, last night's episode, "Namaste", was akin to sitting shotgun next to Speed Racer as he drives for the ultimate win (Ok, yes, I used that handy analogy because our own boy Matthew Fox was in the recent film...and no, it wasn't good). Anyhow, this feeling of fate ruthlessly shoving our characters forward at an alarming speed was supported and personified in Sawyer as he runs back and forth and up and down and all around the Island, trying to dodge bullet after bullet and keep everything from falling apart around him and his newly united friends. Despite the feeling of chaos that Sawyer brought with him to every scene, we cannot help but marvel yet again at what kind of man he has become; a true and confident leader, fiercely loyal to the life he has made over the past three years and oddly, still very loyal to his newly reunited fellow castaways. However, it seems that next week will reveal to us which one he is more loyal towards, his new life in Dharmaville with Juliet or his old life amongst the castaways with Kate. Something tells me that Jim LaFleur will be the one to make the end decision, and not Sawyer.
Speaking of one-of-a-kind, totally kick-ass dudes, Frank Lapidus is and will always be, da man. Yeah, that's right, I said "da man". There are seriously no other words to describe how awesome this guy is. Or, if there are, I'm not an experienced enough writer to know them. Anyway, our new crew of castaways, including Ben and Sun, would have been nothing more than sticky red spots on the side of Mt. Hydra if it weren't for Lapidus, Pilot Extraordinaire! And of course, we can't forget the unknown runway engineer, who thoughtfully planned ahead so that Lapidus and his poor, doomed (but totally adorable) co-pilot had a clear and neat place to land the plane.
It was wonderful to watch as one of the LOST mysteries was resolved (even though it had been suspected for awhile), but we still don't know who kindly thought ahead (seriously, who has the crystal ball?) and started work, with the unwilling help of captured Sawyer and Kate, on the runway. If it was Ben's idea and he somehow knew that one day his life would depend on having a runway on Hydra Island, how in Ra's name (see how I did that? With the Egyptian god? Like our 4-toed statue? Huh, huh?) did he get that information? Or was is Jacob or even Christian Shepard that made the call? My money is on Ben. He's always looking out for Number 1. And let me just say, only Michael Emerson, genius that he is, can make the question "You wanna come?" so very sinister. As if Sun would EVER trust him. Creeeepy!
Ok, let's WHOOSH flashback to 1977, where Kate, Jack and Hurley are joining Dharma, all with ironically comedic job positions: Hurley as a cafeteria worker, Kate in the motor pool (with Juliet) and Jack, poor confused, demoted Jack, as a janitor. If that positioning doesn't have Sawyer written all over it, I don't know what does. Paybacks a BITCH! Maybe Jack can make friends with Ben's daddy, knock some fatherly sense into him and save them all a lot of Ben-related grief. Honestly shocking note, when Pierre Chang showed up in front of Jack to give him his assignment, I got the impression that something BIG happened. It felt important that they had finally met, but I'm not sure why. As it went, it was hard for me not to imagine their conversation going a different way....
Dr. Chang: Namaste, Mr. Shephard, it's nice to meet you.
Jack: Ohmigosh, it's you! It's really you!
Dr. Chang: I'm sorry, do I know you?
Jack: No, but I know you! I'm such a huge fan of your work! Your Orientation films changed my LIFE! Especially the one for the The Swan station. Can I get your autograph?!!
Dr. Chang: Ummm...The Swan doesn't exist yet...Something isn't right here...GUARDS!!
Honestly, I don't know why LOST doesn't just hire me as a senior writer. I could really bring something new to the show.......Anyway............And...WHOOSH...back to "present day", where we get one of the creepiest, horror movie-esque scenes ever from LOST. Sun and Lapidus glance around in the dark, a light turns on in one of the abandoned Dharma houses and the door ever so slowly, creaks open to reveal a shadow figure framed in the doorway. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, ok, it's just Christian Shephard. Being the BA that she is, Sun takes it all in stride, even as I'm still trying to get my racing heart to slow, and politely asks the Ghost of Shephard's Past if he knows where her wayward hubby is. He is unusually helpful as he guides them to the 1977 picture of Dharma's new recruits and ends the creepy meeting by telling them they have "quite a journey ahead of them". Gee, ya think? Oh, and as a side note, did anyone else think that was Jacob, invisible as always, that shoved open the door open as Sun checked out the picture? Yeah, that was TOTALLY Jacob. As I said before, CREEEEEPY!
And let's...WHOOSH (all this WHOOSHing is giving me a nose-bleed), back to Dharmaville. I'm going to skip over the Sayid/Jin/Sawyer story for now and go straight to the heart of things: Sawyer and Juliet's love-nest. My breaking heart now expands to envelop, not only Sawyer and Juliet as their peaceful and loving world falls apart, but now also to cover Jack and Kate, who are also dealing with too much in such a short time, more than any normal human can stand without suffering a major breakdown. Even as Sawyer stands up to Jack, bringing up the ugly past and reinforcing his leadership status, my heart breaks for Jack as he deals with stepping down from his leadership role, learning about the relationship between Juliet and Sawyer and being utterly confused with the whirlwind of events that has brought him back to the Island and into Sawyer's care. And my heart breaks for Sawyer, who has to make all the hard decisions and has to come to terms with living next door to Kate while he lives his shiny new life with Juliet. And my heart breaks for Juliet and Kate, who are stuck between these two dominating men and yet have more important things to deal with than romantic tangles. Hats off to each and every actor, who sell their characters' internal turmoil with such grace and poise that you can hardly tell anything has been disturbed at all.
But we know it has.
Ok, let's throw out some quick questions and comments and call it day.
- Why did only some of the passengers on the Ajira plane get flashed off and the rest stayed? Why wasn't Sun taken, but Sayid, Kate, Jack and Hurley were? Did the Island choose who it wanted and who it didn't want or is this just about Sun? Are Sun and Jin not supposed to meet? Is the Island keeping them apart from each other for some unknown reason?
- A couple of new character impressions: Radzinsky - total dick, Caesar - total dick PLUS something is totally going on with him. Ohhh...what is it???! Dharma Phil - total dick PLUS he knows something is up and is totally going to be a problem in the future.
- Where in the world is...FARADAY? My adorable, absent-minded professor, where are you?!
- BABY ETHAN! Oh no, she didn't! Notice how as soon as Amy said the name, Juliet acted like she had a poisonous snake in her arms and made like a tree and split. I wouldn't want to hold that baby either, ick.
- Even with the crazy, madman sprint of events, it's not hard to pause and take in the total hotness of Jack in a tight, blue shirt. Yummmmmmy.
- Thanks to Jackson for his insight - but does anyone else think that the "whispers" that our castaways have been hearing throughout the whole series are actually the echos of past people, crossing over the same place, but in a different time? Yeah, that's good right?!?!
Ok, and I know I said I would get back to the whole Sayid thing, but let's just leave that for another time. Obviously, of all people, Sayid should understand the position that Sawyer & Co. are in and that he needs to keep his head down for awhile. Also, it looks like if Jack can't become buddy-buddy with Ben's drunkard father, then Sayid might take matters into his own hands. And by "matters" I mean pre-creepy Ben-boy.
Dat's all, folks! See ya next week for "He's Our You". Anyone want to take a guess at who "He" might be?
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