“The Economist” –Episode 4.03–

Greetings!

I hope this message finds you all well. I apologize for the delay on this analysis. It has been a busy few days and I’m feeling a bit under the weather. However, I’m happy to say that I’ve been cured of my spoileritis. That’s right, I gave up spoilers cold turkey and after watching this episode, I am happy with my decision.

I wonder how long it will last… Aaanyway……

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“The Economist” –Episode 4.03–

1) Sayid, present/future — So let’s begin with the opening scene. There was something strange going on with Sayid and Naomi. Some people are saying that Sayid was so concerned about Naomi simply because of his respect for the dead, but at certain times throughout this episode, it almost seemed as if Sayid knew Naomi. (Now I know this theory may seem off the wall right now, but each week The Powers That Be (TPTB) are popping theories in a second and leaving hints for new ones at the same time.) What was the significance of Naomi’s bracelet? As soon as Sayid took it off of her wrist and read it, he immediately wanted to know how he could get off the Island. Did he recognize something about this bracelet? Maybe the initials R.G.? Or was he simply reminded of his love, Nadia?



Sayid’s first flashforward was…woh. I figured if it was a flashforward then Sayid would be struggling as we’ve seen most of the Oceanic 6, but I was still naïvely holding onto the hope that at least one of them would have a normal life. Not so. The two men shot the breeze on the golf course and things were peachy…until Sayid mentioned he is one of the O6. Obviously, this guy’s name was on the list Sayid received from his boss, so this guy had to have some idea that he was in trouble. But I loved how calm Sayid remained through the whole encounter, and that was topped off by him walking through the sprinklers after the murder.

2) Locke — So Locke was looking for someone to tell him what to do next. He thought a trip to the cabin would prove the power he believes he has. But I think Locke is different these days. At first, I thought he might been returning to his roots of Island shaman, but he seems to be a power-hungry leader that is not willing to compromise. And, of course, Jacob does not want a house party. John is naïve to think Jacob would entertain an entire crew of folks. Ben was visibly nervous just bringing one person to the shack, so how could Locke think Jacob would meet him with his party?

I would not be surprised if a Locke/Hurley power struggle begins to emerge after their encounter at the cabin site. I can definitely see people following Hurley, even if he is not sure what he is doing. I don’t see anyone really trusting Locke’s motives at this point.



And I’m still struggling with Hurley’s cabin vision from earlier this season. It seems that the cabin he saw was not even near where the circle of ash is, and Locke was surprised to find that Hurley had seen it. We did see Locke’s eye in Hurley’s cabin vision, right? So does this mean that it was simply a Hurley hallucination? Or did Jacob give that vision to him? Can the cabin manifest anywhere it pleases?

3) Faraday’s experiment — Some sort of time difference between the “real world” and the Island has been confirmed in this episode. However, the nature of this is yet to be explored. There are a few things we can deduce from this experiment though. First, I don’t think the time of 31+ minutes is a constant. Based on Daniel’s advice to Frank about staying on that specific bearing no matter what, I’d say that the time dilation depends on how one enters/leaves the Island. Second, I think this is a recent development that resulted from Desmond turning the failsafe key. If you recall, Des confirmed that the plane crashed on September 22, 2004, so at that point, time between the two worlds was moving at the same pace. However, after the failsafe key was turned, time began going crazy on the Island. Is it possible that time on the Island is slowing down (or speeding up) significantly because of Des? Another thing that is interesting though, is the real-time conversation between people on the Island and those off the Island. Any ideas what is happening with time?



4) Ben’s revelations — Ben’s secret room: possibly the biggest “What the???” moment of the episode. Yes, it happened fast and might not have seemed that important, but I think this implies that Ben can come and go from the Island as he pleases. This is a BIG reveal! What’s even more important is the work he is doing off-Island. I hope we learn soon what exactly that is. I am always surprised at how deep Ben’s character goes. I thought he might be pretty low on the command chain, but it’s turning out that Ben may be one of the BIG players.

Okay, okay, I was mistaken. The biggest “What the???” moment was the Ben reveal at the end. Even though his voice was altered (for what reason?), I could tell almost immediately that it was Ben. But when they showed his face, he looked as creepy as ever. The dialogue in this scene was very strange. Ben said something about “these people” not deserving their sympathies and then something about “remember what they did the last time” Sayid thought with his heart and not his gun. Sayid replies, “You used that to recruit me into killing for you.” Whaaaaaa???

When did this (forced) partnership between Sayid and Ben begin? Could it have been on-Island? I believe there was a very important off-camera encounter between these two when they were locked up as prisoners of Locke.

5) Miscellaneous — Just a few random observations. First, the opening Locke scene (when they were looking for the cabin) solidified the fact that (at least some of) the 815ers have become the Others. When Sawyer was talking about shooting off some of Ben’s toes, it reminded me so much of Pickett, and Locke’s response was very similar to how Ben would have handled the situation, no?

Also, I think there is more to the Locke/Sayid deal than we know. I mean, Locke already had Miles captive, so how would that have been any leverage for Sayid? Was there something else Sayid gave/promised him?

And lastly…Sayid got played, man. I thought he had that chick wrapped around his finger, but she was more ruthless than he was! And the conversation (in German) with her boss after she shot him was creepy. I’m SO glad they translated that for us.

By the way, who do you think her boss is?

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Favorite moments/lines/exchanges:
*Frank’s face when Jack tells him Sayid was a torturer
*Sawyer talking about sending Ben’s piggy to market
*Hurley — “Oh, awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer.”
*Frank (talking about Daniel) — “Half the stuff he says goes way over my head. The other half goes way, way over.”
*When Desmond mentions the name “Widmore.” They may not know Penelope, but they do know Widmore!
*Sayid — “I’m not going to hurt you, Hurley.”
Hurley — “I saw you break that guy’s neck with the breakdancing thing you do with your legs.”
*Ben — “I lost a dollar, ya know.”
*Sayid’s face as the helicopter took off
*the Ben reveal at the end

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That’s all, folks. Wish me luck in my pursuit of being spoiler-free! (It’s a long, tough road, my friends.)

Until next time…

Namaste, and good luck.

SFO

“Confirmed Dead” –Episode 4.02–

Greetings!

Well this was indeed an exciting and telling episode, but what has me more excited right now is the latest news about the writers’ strike! Both Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse have reportedly returned to work today and expect to churn out at least three more episodes for this season. Hopefully, if they can get everything moving soon, we could see up to six more episodes! There has been no news about if they will squeeze the rest of the season into whatever they can finish this season, or if there are still going to hold episodes as planned. Either way, we should have more LOST than originally expected!

But I digress, back to the matter at hand…

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“Confirmed Dead” –Episode 4.02–

1) Opening ROV Scene — If it wasn’t for the “Previously on LOST…” montage, I would have been very confused at the beginning of this episode. For a second, it almost did not look or feel like LOST. However, that feeling is usually a good sign that we’re in for a treat of an episode…and we got a doozy, folks…



The first time I saw this scene, I did not think much of it. I thought it was meant to simply confirm that there has been some extremely large and intricate cover-up regarding the crash/disappearance of flight 815…which it did. But as I watched it again, I wondered what exactly they were looking for. Was this part of the “815 salvage team?” It’s interesting that the man who discovers the plane is so surprised when he finds it. “It’s…it’s an airplane… It’s Oceanic flight 815!” If they were looking for 815 then there would be nothing shocking about that discovery. If there weren’t looking for the plane, what were they doing down there? It certainly seemed as if they were looking for something. Was this video a setup? A way to fake the surprise of finding the missing plane?

2) Naomi’s Flashback (?) — This was one of the best scenes of the episode. Here we see Naomi in an unrecognizable location speaking with Matthew Abbadon (Whaaaaa??? The creep formerly known as Oceanic Pres?). We learn that she was responsible for getting the crew in and out safely, but she reeeally did not want to babysit, “a head case, a ghostbuster, an archeologist and a drunk.” For Naomi, this seemed like a ridiculous crew to bring into this “hostile” situation, but according to Abbadon, they were all chosen for a specific function.

I definitely think that Ben is NOT their main mission. It is certainly a key part to their being there, but if it was just a kill/capture Ben deal, then they would have used someone with military experience or training, as Naomi mentions. But no, this group is there specifically for something else. What do you think it could be?

3) The Newbies — Ah, doesn’t it feel good when the LOST creative team introduces characters the right way? I was immediately drawn to these newbies and their flashbacks…something I didn’t feel when Paulo and Nikki were introduced last season. This episode really represented how quickly we are moving, seeing as how we got flashbacks of characters before we really even see them on the Island.

Daniel Faraday: A physicist? A “head case?” Both? This is the first of the freighties we are introduced to (besides Naomi, of course) and I think I like him the best (of the bunch). He genuinely thinks the survivors are good people and seems almost too innocent to be involved with the true mission of his colleagues. Faraday also notices something interesting about the way light scatters on the Island, which I think tells a little about his mission. I think he was brought there for a reason other than Ben, but I do not know exactly what that is yet. Any ideas?

Dan’s flashback is also worth noting. Is he really unstable enough to where he cries just hearing about the plane crash? Or is there something…deeper…some foreboding feeling that overwhelms him because of what is to come? I do believe he didn’t know why he was crying, but he might have some special connection to the Island that we do not know about yet.

Miles Strom: The second of the helicopter folks that we see. Quite different from Daniel, no? Fiery, skeptical and…a ghostbuster? I think his mission on the Island is clearer than Dan’s. When I saw his flashback, I immediately thought of Jacob. Does he know about Jacob? Is that why he was sent there?

There were/are a lot of theories out there claiming that the house he visits in his flashback is Walt’s grandmother’s house, but there is no evidence to support that at this time. There were no pictures of Walt or anything, and for some reason, I don’t think Walt is into the drug scene. However, I do think he was hanging out in Room 23 at some point…

Charlotte Staples Lewis: C.S. Lewis? Yes yes, a cool reference but way too contrived. I prefer the subtler nods… I mean, Staples? C’mon, they could have used Sally, Sarah, Susan, anything. But I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. Any mention of C.S. Lewis is a good thing, right?

I know I’m not the only one to notice that Charlotte seems to know more about Dharma and the Island than anyone else aboard that helicopter. When she dropped into the water, she looked like she finally had achieved what she had been searching for for so long. And in her flashback, she was definitely looking for some sign of Dharma.

Her flashback was the head-scratcher of the episode for me. A Dharma polar bear skeleton in Tunisia??? Weeeeeird… Is this evidence of some sort of Island portal that leads to other parts of the world? Or could this have been a plant to further manipulate Charlotte into joining the mission?

Frank Lapidus: So the most interesting thing about this new character is revealed in his flashback when we learn that he was supposed to fly 815 on September 22. Was the other pilot a plant? Or was Lapidus let go because of his drinking/appearance? Either way, he had some interesting info for the Oceanic employees when he called that hotline. (By the way, did you try the number? If not, give it a ring: 1-888-548-0034)

I was very surprised to find out that Frank was able to land the helicopter safe and sound on the Island. Must be a damn good pilot…he’s the only one that we know of to successfully land a flying machine on our Island, right? However, he also said there wasn’t much fuel left to get back and that they would have to wait to take Naomi on the next trip. How do the Oceanic 6 get back then? Multiple trips? A helicopter-hijack suicide mission?

4) The New Others — Yeah, that’s right, our beloved LOSTies have taken a turn down a familiar road. Have you noticed how our 815 crew has become more and more like the Others? I have had a feeling like something wasn’t quite right with them, and it wasn’t until this episode where it started to dawn on me. There are two scenes that really stick out as indications of this.

The first is when Jack, Kate, Dan and Miles are trekking through the woods to find Charlotte and Jack tells them to put down their guns down. He tells Dan and Miles that his friends are aiming guns at them and Miles responds with, “How stupid do you think I am?” *GUNSHOTS* “I don’t know, Miles, how stupid are ya?” Does this not remind you of Locke, Sawyer and Jack meeting Mr. Friendly & Co. in the woods so long ago?

The other scene was when Charlotte arrives on the Island. She is so happy to be there and to be alive but then…Locke & Co. emerges from the jungle and they look as creepy as the first time we saw the ragged Others. And Locke’s line at the end of that scene really sums up their transformation: “We don’t want to be found.”

5) Ben — Seems like there’s enough material in each episode to have a Ben section in these notes. I have a feeling Ben will end up being one of the saviors of the Island. But for now, he is continuing his wonderfully captivating manipulation of anyone who speaks with him. He finally confesses what he knows about their newbies and why they are there. And the most interesting nugget of info comes in his last line: “Because I have a man on their boat.”

Ben says this almost matter-of-factly, like everyone should have figured out by now that he is WAY ahead of them. So who is this spy? The first thought that came to my head was Michael. We know that character is coming back this season, and it would be great to see Michael working for Ben on the boat. But I’m not totally convinced of this yet. Another possibility is Minkowski, the guy who everyone talks to when they call the boat. Wasn’t it strange that he wasn’t available to speak to Miles when he needed to tell him something important? Maybe he was found out by the other freighter people and was being questioned? One last suggestion is Charlotte. Could Ben and Charlotte be working together to perform an excellent rendition of we-pretend-we-really-hate-each-other-but-really-we-are-both-messing-with-your-minds?

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Well that’s all I have for now, my fellow LOSToholics. There are a few other things I wanted to get to but since writing this recap isn’t my full-time job, my time is limited. However, I trust that you will respond with your musings on the show! I look forward to hearing what you think!

Until next time…

Namaste, and good luck.

SFO