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Lost: Whatever Happened, Happened

Locke: "Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Geez, Sayid. Heart and head! What sort of half-assed assassin are you?

So young Ben was supposed to get shot so he would end up in the Temple with Richard. Adult Ben is a creepy, manipulative killer, and he was always destined to be a creepy, manipulative killer. (Poor kid.) And conveniently, whatever happens in the Temple involves memory loss, so adult Ben won't remember Sayid shooting him. Perfect. Exemplary writing, and it all made sense.

(Although part of me really wanted to see Ben vanish from the timeline and the chaos that would have ensued. Miles lecturing Hurley on how time travel works and Hurley waiting for his fingers to vanish was, of course, my favorite part of the episode.)

Two mysteries solved. Back in the helicopter, Sawyer asked Kate to take care of Cassidy and Clementine. (Was he counting on Kate getting a settlement and not going to jail?) And Kate told Claire's mother the truth and gave her Aaron. It doesn't explain that "never speak of it again" drama on the plane, though. Except that she was probably so upset that she just couldn't talk about it. But Jack is Aaron's uncle and should know. Really. Kate throwing herself at Jack that very night has just gotten more interesting. Maybe she was subconsciously trying to get pregnant.

Obvious parallels with Kate and Aaron in the flashbacks, and Kate and young Ben in 1977. Kate mea culpa'd all over the place, and told Carole Littleton she was returning to the Island to look for Claire. I doubt that, somehow. I still think she came back for Sawyer.



The love rectangle has become a freaking pentagon. Or would that be a pentagram? There was another parallel thing going on with Kate dealing with Sawyer's past love, Cassidy, in the future, and his current amour, Juliet, in the past. (Time travel tenses are a killer.) We didn't hear Kate and Cassidy comment on the unbelievable coincidence that they were both involved with the same man. That's a conversation I would have enjoyed.

Personally, I really liked that Jack refused to operate on Ben again. Jack has changed. He's calmer, less driven, not trying to save the world any more. I don't think Jack even knows what he actually wants. I also found it interesting that Juliet deliberately walked in on Jack in the shower. I mean, really. She couldn't knock on the door and wait a few seconds? Yes, she was angry and yelling at him, but I think that she might have also wanted a good look. Maybe I was right about Juliet still caring about Jack.

I also thought it was interesting that Juliet tried frantically to save the same man she once wanted Jack to kill. It's all different when he's only twelve, huh? Note that no one has said anything about Juliet from the Motor Pool operating on young Ben, either. The thing with Juliet saving Amy must be common knowledge by now, but how did they explain it? I suppose things would have gotten a whole lot weirder if one of the Dharma janitors had operated on Ben, too.

Character bits:

Loved (adult) Ben's expression when he woke up to see Locke welcoming him back from the dead. Lucy, you have some 'splainin to do.

The woman who found Aaron in the supermarket looked like Claire. Kate sang "Catch a falling star" to Aaron, too. That song has been mentioned a couple of times in relation to Claire. If Aaron has been written out, what about "Raised by Another"? Will Aaron turn into Rosemary's Baby if Claire doesn't raise him?

Lots of questions about Sawyer's abrupt departure from the helicopter. Yes, he saved them all, it doesn't take anything away from his heroism, but why was it easy for him to commit to Juliet and not Kate? Why hasn't he had a baby with Juliet by now?

Richard said he doesn't answer to Ellie (Hawkins?) or Charles (Widmore). Let's see. It's 1977, and Charles Widmore is still on the Island. Penny must be alive by now. How old is she?

Richard seemed to be bracing himself before taking Ben into the temple.

In the later flashback, Clementine was about six, maybe. Which helps establish the timeline for season three's "Left Behind."

Roger was flirting with Kate. Like that would happen. But after her obvious shock when she heard his last name, Kate flirted with Roger deliberately to get info out of him.

Speaking of Roger, it never ceases to amaze me that people who abuse their kids still get upset when something happens to those same kids. It's like, I can beat him up as much as I want, but don't let anyone else do it. His sadness about what a lousy father he had become? Not anywhere near enough.

Miles started encroaching on Sawyer's territory as nickname champ; he called Hurley "Tubby" and "Dingbat." And Sawyer finally called Kate "Freckles" again.

Bits and pieces:

— Sayid, yes, I get that Ben won't remember Sayid. But what about Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Jin, who have been around for three years? How far back does the memory thing go? Will young Ben return a total amnesiac?

— Is what happened (will happen) to Ben in the Temple the same as what happened to Danielle's crew? I assume it is. That's probably a stupid question.

— More Patsy Cline, and it was relevant: "I've got your picture, [she's got you]." Patsy Cline (who of course died in a plane crash) has been used numerous times on Lost. Has it always been in Kate episodes?

— Josh Holloway sounded like he had a cold.

-- Kate left Aaron alone in the motel room without actually introducing him to his grandmother. That bothered me. On second viewing, though, I noticed that Kate did say she'd told Aaron that she was leaving and that his grandmother would come and take care of him. So he knew he'd be waking up to a stranger.

Quotes:

Jack: "You're telling us we're under house arrest?"
Miles: "No, you're all free to leave whenever you want. But I'll shoot you in the leg."

Jack: "Did you ever think that maybe the Island wants to fix things itself, and I was just getting in the way?"



Hurley: "But... when we first captured Ben and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?"
Miles: "Huh."

Roger (to Kate): "I guess a boy just needs his mother."
That was an unintentional low blow.

This feels like yet another four polar bear episode.

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

13 comments:

  1. I thought it was interesting that when Jack made a stand about not operating on Ben, perhaps in an effort to prove that nothing is predetermined and he can change the "past", he actually sent Ben directly into the arms of the Others. So because of Jack's "choice", exactly what happened, happened.

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  2. p.s. Billie, I really enjoy your blog. thanks for the hours of enjoyment you provide.

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  3. About Sawyer & Juliet not having a baby: probably they thought it would kill her, until Amy showed them otherwise with Ethan.

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  4. Something still doesn't sit right with Aaron. We never heard Claire's mother agree to wanting to see him much less keep him. Kate said "when you are ready" and she never replied to that. We see Kate leave but still not 100% certain whom Aaron was left with.

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  5. As much as I love your blog, I really have to disagree with your review here. Ben is the best part of the show, an excellent actor and fascinating, scary, sympathetic character.

    Jack is currently striking me as deeply selfish and confused, although I think he also knew somehow that Ben wouldn't die. Kate's the same inconsistently written idiot she's been since season 2. And I hope that Juliet doesn't go for Jack. I've only recently started to like Sawyer, and right now, Jack isn't good enough for her, and I really hope that the love pentagon-thingy doesn't become too active.

    I kinda want more Ben. He might be the best character on television right now.

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  6. I have to say I'm enjoying the amount of Richard we've gotten this season. He's turned out to be somewhat of a neutral character...I'm interested to learn more about him. Is he a good guy? I'm inclined to think so.

    This season has been so amazingly better than seasons 3 and 4. My faith in the show has been restored!

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  7. Ellie is Elizabeth Hawkins? That's not a farfetched idea, considering that Daniel Faraday mentioned to her how much she looked like someone he knew. Perhaps he was talking about his mother?

    "Did you ever think that maybe the Island wants to fix things itself, and I was just getting in the way?"

    Has anyone noticed that Jack's attitude toward things is slowly becoming like that of Locke's?

    I'm actually surprised that Ben's surprised at seeing Locke alive. The conditions of the Oceanic 815 were reproduced exactly to match Ajira 316. Which means, Locke's resurrection is analogous to Christian's, albeit less eerie.

    Then again, this is just another dramatic irony. Ben may not have known about Christian's resurrection in the first place.

    But why on earth would he insist on taking John's body back to the Island? His actions implicitly stated that he knew John would return to life. Maybe by way of the Temple. This may explain his surprise to seeing John alive without the Temple's assistance.

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  8. No Chops. I don't think that Ben knew John could be brought back to life. Otherwise he would have attempted to resurrect his "daughter" when she got shot by Widmore's man. There is the Jacob factor to consider. He was the one giving instructions to Ben etc.. and holds a strong influence over Richard too. The Others also have a thing for dead bodies too - as they demanded to have (whatsherface's) dead husband's body.

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  9. I really enjoyed this episode and i think that the main reason for that was a combination of Josh Holloway's acting and Sawyer's actions. He really has grown and moved forward since season one. Jack just seems confused and stuck and ever so slightly childish in comparison.

    I also really enjoyed Hurley's time travel confusion, probably because it sort of mirrors my own. And i found it really interesting that Ben apparently grew up to be the man he became because of the combined actions of Sayid, Jack, Juliet, Kate and Sawyer.

    I have no idea where the writers are going with all this (which i really like) but it really does seem like they themselves do which i'm very happy about.

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  10. I always read your blog reviews for lost after every episode I am currently watching and I must say your format of reviewing is simply fabulous

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  11. It was for Claire. I think her guilt over keeping Aaron from his grandmother finally overcame Kate and she decided to finally do the right thing by handing Aaron over to Carole Littleton. I think this finally led her to return to the island and find Claire. Kate was never really in love with Sawyer to begin with. I think he finally realized this either in Season Four or Season Five.

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  12. I have to disagree with the other comments' views on Jack. IMO he's completely justified in his behavior: he spent a hundred days trying to help the other survivors (and he wasn't really rewarded for it), then Locke came back expressly to ask him to return, and when he does, he gets Sawyer treating him like he's a nuisance and telling him to do nothing, which he does and then, just a few days later, he's suddenly asked to save the life of a literal mass murderer (sure, he's not a murderer yet, but still!) and when he refuses, Juliet (who, let's not forget had asked him to kill Ben in S2) comes to berate him for it? Seems really unfair to me.

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