Lost: Confirmed Dead

Locke: "Whatever they came for, it isn't us. We keep moving forward as planned."
Sawyer: "Sure. Who are we to argue with taller ghost Walt?"

We have yet another mysterious faction on the Island. And more questions. I love Lost, I really, truly do. But having yet more questions layered on top of the already ginormous number of existing unanswered questions just bugs me. Can't we have some answers? I mean, come on.

And now for something completely different: brief multiple character flashbacks that introduced us to the Chopper Four. The Chopper Four knew that the discovery of Oceanic 815 in the Sunda Trench was a hoax. (Which indicates that the Island probably isn't an alternate universe.) They weren't there to rescue anyone; they came to find Ben. And evil, clever Ben has a man on their freighter. Why do they want Ben? Um, let me see. The mass murder of the Dharma Initiative people, perhaps? Kidnapping Juliet, and possibly others? Could be anything.

But why send a head case, a ghostbuster, an anthropologist, and a drunk? All of whom were hearing about the discovery of Oceanic 815 in the Sunda Trench in their flashbacks. All of whom were selected for a specific purpose.

Daniel Faraday, Essex, Massachuetts: Dan is a physicist with mental or emotional problems who was oddly affected by the discovery of 815. Dan was trusting and indiscreet, and didn't appear to have a lot of answers. Or he's a more effective liar than he appears to be. He was lying about the gas masks, after all. A physicist might have been included because of the weird physical properties of the Island.

Miles Straume, Inglewood California: I thought Miles was the most intriguing of the four. He is apparently a genuine medium. He really did communicate with Ms. Gardner's grandson (loved the dustbuster), and the dead Naomi told Miles that Jack and Kate were telling the truth. Miles' inclusion just has to relate somehow to the Walking Island Dead. Will Miles be able to see Jacob, too? Miles was suspicious and sarcastic. Greedy enough to keep all of the money he found, but he did refund half of Ms. Gardner's money. So he kinda sorta might have a conscience. Hard to tell.

Charlotte Staples Lewis, Medenine, Tunisia: Now, the presence of a cultural anthropologist makes sense, because of the Others. And she discovered the skeleton of a polar bear with a Dharma Hydra on its collar... in the desert. That was just fascinating. It was funny, but when Locke's group showed up and we saw them through Charlotte's eyes, our Lostaways looked strange, alien and somewhat scary.

Frank Lapidus, Eleuthera, the Bahamas: Frank knew the pilot of 815, Seth Norris (Greg Grunberg's character finally got a name) because Frank himself was supposed to be the pilot of 815. His bedraggled beachcomber alcoholic appearance and the fact that he wasn't working for Oceanic any more suggested that the disappearance of 815 affected him pretty strongly. His presence is easier to explain, since he's a pilot and he knew at least one member of the flight crew. Why isn't Jeff Fahey in the cast? Is he going to die quickly?

There was lots of fun Island action, too. I think my favorite scene was Sayid and Juliet doing the take-down. Jack commands loyalty. He may not be a perfect leader, but Locke's ineffectuality makes Jack look pretty darned good. Locke's high-priest-of-the-island leadership mysticism wasn't going over well; he's so inner-directed that he has trouble explaining himself to others. Locke was also noticeably perturbed that Hurley knew about the cabin. Can't have anyone else connected to the Island, can we? (I noticed that Ben was also perturbed.)

Locke and Sawyer were actively battling for control of the Barracks group. I think I'll back Sawyer. I just don't like Locke any more.

Character bits:

Naomi didn't have a sister, after all; it was a code phrase. Will Naomi return as one of the Walking Island Dead? I wish we knew what the Island Zombie rules were. Is it burial that stops it from happening?

We also learned that Naomi was working for Supercreepy Abaddon. And it was implied that Naomi had military training. The Chopper Four have not had military training.

It was Sawyer's turn to beat up Ben. Everyone gets their turn. And Ben still managed to shoot Charlotte. Why was Charlotte wearing a vest? That seemed pretty damned odd to me.

Ben told Locke he had answers, but then admitted he didn't know what the Monster was. Unless Ben was lying.

The only people on the freighter that have been mentioned are Regina and Minkowski. If Ben was being literal about having a man on the boat, then it's not Regina. Of course, we don't know who else is on the boat.

Charlotte was born in 1979, which makes her 29. No, wait. It's still 2004, so that makes her 25. That seems young for a Ph.D. If she is indeed a Ph.D.

Seth Norris, the pilot, married his high school sweetheart and never took off his wedding ring. Do I need to pull out my DVD of the pilot episode to see if Greg Grunberg was wearing a ring?

I think it's fun that they acknowledged that Walt looked a lot taller. It's like the fact that they keep having to cast new babies to play Aaron. Maybe they should mention that Aaron keeps looking different, too. :)

Vincent the dog inadvertently changed camps from Locke's to Jack's.

Flashback Charlotte had a roll of money. So did flashback Miles. Interesting coincidence. Daniel and Frank had an emotional reaction to the loss of 815. Are Charlotte and Miles there just because of money?

Sawyer, back in fine nicknaming form, called Ben "Yoda" and Locke, "Colonel Kurtz." Colonel Kurtz was the madman in Apocalypse Now.

Bits and pieces:

— Dominic Monaghan is out of the cast. It's funny, but I only grew to like Charlie as a character at the end of season three, and now I'm sorry he's gone. Since he's one of the Walking Island Dead, maybe we'll see him again.

— I wish we'd gotten a date for the flashbacks. But it had to be between September and December 2004, right?

— Sayid's bullet wound was nearly healed. Locke's looked pretty good, too.

— The chopper must have crashed because of the Island's unusual "properties." Daniel Faraday mentioned that the light didn't scatter quite right.

— The shots of 815 in the Sunda Trench off the coast of Bali reminded me of the discovery of Titanic. The Sunda Trench is a real place. At first, I thought it was another anagram.

— The Oceanic family member phone number was 888-548-0034. I called the number. There was a recorded message telling family members that Oceanic was sorry for their loss and that there was no more information available at that time.

Quotes:

Sawyer: "Taller? What, like a giant? Okay, what exactly did Walt tell you?"
Locke: "He said I had work to do. That I had to stop this woman, Naomi, from bringing the rest of her people here."
Sawyer: "You didn't ask any follow-up questions?"

Miles: "Like right now, Jack here would say, tell my sister I love her. Get it?" Which reminded me that Jack actually does have a sister on the Island. He just doesn't know it.

Karl: "Keep your mouth shut, Mr. Linus."
Ben: "Karl. Now, if you're going to sleep with my daughter, I insist you call me Ben."

Ben: "James. Look at yourself. Yes, on this Island, you're brave, daring, handsome. You're someone. But if you left with them, back in the real world a low-life scam artist like you could never compete with a first class surgeon."
I mean, did Ben want Sawyer to beat him up? I think he did. He wants Locke's group to implode, and Sawyer was the obvious imploder.

Miles: "How stupid do you think I am?"
Jack: "I don't know, Miles. How stupid are you?"

Sayid: "It can't hurt to try and call someone else."
Miles: "Oh, it can hurt."
This didn't make sense. Is there yet another faction out there?

Miles: "Where's the chopper?"
Frank: "I saw a cow."

Solid episode. Three out of four polar bears,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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