So I missed the original airing of the episode because I’m attending a medical conference in D.C. with my wife. I sit now in the lobby of our hotel, looking out from the Maryland side of the Potomac onto our wonderful capitol city. But no matter where I am, I am grateful for the opportunity to write about the show that has become an integral part of many of our lives. “LaFleur” again reminded me why I love this show. There was great chemistry between characters, new reveals and, of course, a few “WTF” moments.
I hope you enjoy my caffeine-fueled rant…
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1) Mr. Jim LaFleur, Head of Security — Darlton told us at the beginning of the season that Sawyer fans would be very pleased with his role this season, but even if you are not a Sawyer fan, you had to enjoy his interactions with everyone in this episode, Lefties, Dharmites and ageless wonders alike.
Sawyer has finally come into his role as leader and it was refreshing to see him take control in this episode. It seems like it has been a while since James has flexed his con muscle, and I liked watching him in his element. I mean, he has come a long way since he was stealing meds from the wreckage back in Season 1, but he still has his “edge”; he is just channeling that towards keeping everyone safe now, even those he does not know.
He also seemed very comfortable after living with the Dharma Initiative for three years. The scene with the two Dharmites showing their fear of waking “LaFleur” in the middle of the night was golden. Of course any scene with Sawyer wouldn’t be complete without his trademark, “Son of a bitch…” (I’m very curious to know how many times he has uttered this frustrated phrase throughout the series. Any guesses?)
It makes sense now why we haven’t seen too much of the Dharma Initiative up until now. It looks as if our LOSTies have a major role to play in the history of the Island, so we couldn’t exactly see Sawyer running around New Otherton during Ben’s childhood flashback. Although a brief cameo would have had our heads spinning back then.
I’m not one who is too into the romantic relationships on the show, but the chemistry between Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell in “LaFleur” was refreshing. Much better than any Jack/Kate moments of late. Of course we should have known that as soon as James forces himself to believe he is over Ms. Runaway, she shows up and challenges everything he just said. Our love triangle has just become a quadrangle.
And how about that discussion between Alpert and LaFleur? I agree with masses that this was the best scene of the episode. Who ever thought one of our clueless LOSTies would one day put ol’ guyliner in his place? (By the way, Nestor Carbonel, who plays Richard, does NOT wear makeup. He just has really, really dark eyelashes.) Many think Richard looks Egyptian and that may be precisely why he was chosen to play this role…
2) The Four-Toed Statue — FINALLY!!! We got a glimpse (albeit brief) of the infamous four-toed statue. There are two major theories as to who this mysterious character is…well, besides the “out there” theories stating it is Jack or Locke. Both point in the direction of ancient Egypt. Are we finally getting a clue as to how old the Island is? Or at least how long it has been on Earth?
There are a few distinct characteristics of this statue: pointed ears, four toes and that strange crown on the head.
The first theory names Anubis as the inspiration for the statue. Anubis is the “jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology.” This certainly seems to fit with many of the unfolding themes of the show. The purpose of Anubis was to protect the dead and lead them into the afterlife. Are any of the known characters serving as our own Anubis?
Another defining characteristic of Anubis is the ankh symbol of eternal life; you know, the symbol that Amy took from around Paul’s neck after he was murdered by the Others.
The other theory, which I first read on the Long Live Locke blog (an AWESOME blog, which I recommend that everyone read: http://longlivelocke.blogspot.com/), names Taweret as the identity of the statue. Taweret is the Egyptian goddess of fertility, another major theme that has taken shotgun in our car ride to the Island. Ms. Long Love Locke gives some great points as to why this may be a better choice than Anubis and so I’ll leave it up to you to check that out.
Either way, I think this statue is meant to confirm our suspicions that LOST Island has been around for a loooong time. I’m not sure if we’ll get much more specifically about the statue. I think it was just an introduction to the deeper history of the Island. Although I wouldn’t mind learning exactly how this grand statue was reduced to a foot.
3) “His brain is already fried…” — Man, ol’ Danny Boy was a wreck in the episode. What was he mumbling when they found him? Something about how he won’t tell her, he won’t tell her not to come back? Well, my bet is that Daniel is going to do just that. He is going to try very hard to “break the rules” by not telling young Charlotte that she will die if she leaves and comes back, but seeing how emotional he got when he saw the alleged young “Ginger,” he won’t be able to control himself and will end up being that creepy dude Charlotte described.
One point that has been brought up numerous times regarding this episode is the seemingly false information Ben spewed last season when rambled off Charlotte’s history Vince Vaughn style. According to Ben’s info, Charlotte was born in 1979, but we saw her in 1974 and she was clearly older than a zygote. I believe he also said she was born in England, so we can assume that whatever intel he received was not accurate. This is all assuming of course that whoever Daniel saw was actually Charlotte…
I read a theory that Charlotte’s body disappeared during the last flash because she could not exist in two places at once. Since she existed as a little girl on the Island in 1974, her 2004 body could not be there as well. However, we did see the Lefties flash to 2004, when Locke, Sawyer and Juliet were on the Island and that did not have any significant consequence that we know of. Maybe they cannot come in contact with their dead selves? Hmm, any thoughts?
4) Horace Goodspeed, “our fearless leader” — We got a much more intimate look at this previously periphery character. We knew he was part of the Dharma Initiative but he also has some connection with the Island and Jacob, since we saw him building Jacob’s cabin in Locke’s dream last season. He also is on speaking terms with Mr. Alpert, even though their relationship might not be the closest.
What I am very interested in is the truce they mentioned. Was this similar to the attempted agreement between 815ers and the Others when bearded Zeke told Locke, Jack and Sawyer not to cross “this (invisible) line?” Is that why Paul and Amy were attacked by the Others…because they broke the truce? Or does it have to do with something completely different?
I’m also curious to see if Horace and Amy’s son is of any significance. Whenever a name is purposely not given to us, it makes me think it’s important. But that could just be the writers driving us crazy as they like to do. I have a hard time believing that the son of a major character like Horace is meaningless though. I can’t wait to see more LOSTie-Dharmite interactions!
5) Um, why do the O6 need to return? — Okay, so Locke turned the frozen donkey wheel and everything is just peachy on the Island. No flashes, no headaches, no bloody noses. Soooo, why exactly do the O6 need to come back? Seems like life is relatively good on the Island these days.
I think, as I have mentioned before, that the O6 and Lefties’ purpose has yet to be fulfilled. They have a major role to play in upcoming events on the Island and so the Island/universe/fate made a significant course-correction in bringing the missing pieces back to the Island. The rest of this season will be about exactly that. What did the LOSTies do in the past? Were they responsible for the Purge? The Incident? Will things turn out differently this time around??
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Unfortunately we have a break next week, but I can’t complain too much because it could be a lot worse. Remember the awful scheduling of Season 3?? Thank God we won’t have that anymore. I’d much rather have an eight-month break and a relatively solid run-through than the new-episode-new episode-two-weeks-off-new-episode-rerun-three-weeks-off-new-episode fiasco we saw before.
As I mentioned last week, I think “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” was our final setup episode and we are finally getting to the meat of this season. I’m excited to see all of our characters in the 70s during the Dharma heyday, and believe we’re about to see some mind-blowing developments in the overall story.
So hang on, I think it’s about to REALLY wild…
Until next time…
Namaste…and good luck.
SFO
