Thursday, January 22. 2009
LOST: Because You Left [RECAP]
Well, its been a long time since we've seen new LOST. Too long! Anyway, the first two episodes of season five proved no less intriguing, mind-blowing, and head-scratching as previous premiere events. We'll start with a rundown of the first, "Because You Left," which of course refers to the reason that all the strange and terrible things are occurring off the island... and off.
Be sure to check out the analysis post, and the recap and analysis posts regarding the second episode, "The Lie."
Ah, but how to do this... Given the direction we're going, I can't think of a decent and understandable way to separate everything into compact sections with the separate stories, since there were so many of them, so I guess I'll have to run this down "as it happened." I don't think I'll be going into as much detail as I have in previous recaps, either.
As always, there be spoilers here. That should be obvious!
Be sure to check out the analysis post, and the recap and analysis posts regarding the second episode, "The Lie."
Ah, but how to do this... Given the direction we're going, I can't think of a decent and understandable way to separate everything into compact sections with the separate stories, since there were so many of them, so I guess I'll have to run this down "as it happened." I don't think I'll be going into as much detail as I have in previous recaps, either.
As always, there be spoilers here. That should be obvious!
The alarm goes off at 8:15, there's a baby crying (remember this) and someone gets up out of bed. He puts a record on the turntable and goes to warm a bottle of milk. "Shotgun Willie" plays from the speakers, until finally it begins to skip at "if you can't make a record.." (remember this, too.)
The mystery man is none other than Dr. Marvin Candle, as we've come to know him from the DHARMA orientation films, or as he's called here, Dr. Chang. This morning the DHARMA initiative is filming the orientation for "The Arrow" station, which as you remember was the empty shell the tail section survivors found, save for a hollowed out book, which contained this film....
The filming is interrupted, and Chang is led to a construction site, where they are building "The Orchid" station. The workers have stumbled upon something they can't seem to break through, and one of the workers was injured. (I think they dwelled a bit too long on the worker in question, but I wasn't able to recognize him, anyone?) Chang is perfectly aware of what they've found, and orders them to stop, before they destroy the island.
They are building "The Orchid" to harness this unknown energy, and a sonar scan (a bit advanced for the day?) reveals the "frozen donkey wheel" where we last saw Ben (on the island.) He lets slip that this energy could be used to manipulate time. He also lets sliip that there are "rules that can't be broken."
On his way out, he bumps into another worker, which turns out to be our favorite shaggy physicist, Daniel Faraday. (Quite "BONK" deserving in itself don't you think?)
Return to the future, where Jack and Ben are inside the funeral home, musing over Locke, er I mean Jeremy Bentham's casket. Ben seems to already have a plan to get everyone back to the island. Jack muses that "they're not my friends anymore." "How did we get here, how did all this happen."
"It happened because you left, Jack. Lets get started," Ben says as he slams the lid.
A bit later, Ben and Jack exchange stories about the last time they saw Locke. For Ben it was on the island, in the Orchid station. For Jack, it was apparently later, off the island. Unfortunately Locke never told him what happened on the island after that.
Three Years Earlier
We get a replay of events surrounding the island at the end of last season, as Ben turns the wheel, the noise, the lights, and the island vanishes.
Locke finds himself in the rain, still on the island, calling out for anyone. Elsewhere, the remaining losties find themselves in a similar situation, but it doesn't seem to be raining, and the sky is clear as a bell. Sawyer and Juliet notice the pillar of smoke from the burning freighter is gone. The raft contigent also returns. Bernard appears looking for Rose, who shows up a minute later. The camp is gone.
"It's not gone," says Faraday. He argues with Sawyer for bit and searches for something manmade... "It's not gone, it just hasn't been built yet."
Forward again to Kate and Aaron. A pair of lawyers from Agostini and Norton knock on her door with a court order for a blood test to determine Aaron's true lineage. After she gets them to leave, she frantically packs a bag, a huge wad of cash and a large hand cannon. "We're going on vacation, baby."
Back on the island, the gang is hiking through the jungle. Sawyer smacks Faraday and gets him to talk. "Time on the island, its like a record, skipping (remember?), whatever Ben did, he 'dislodged' us in time. Either we're traveling in time, or the island is." They remember that Locke is the last of them unaccounted for...
...and we find him climbing to the top of a hill, perhaps looking for Jacob? An airplane, trailing smoke behind it, buzzes him and crashes into the jungle. He picks up something that's fallen from the plane, a statue of the Virgin Mary... Yep, its Eko's brother's plane. He makes his way to the crash site, and attempts to climb the roots to get up to it. Suddenly gunshots ring out and the bullets start hitting all around. He's hit in the leg and falls to the ground.
The responsible party emerges from the bush, it's our old psycho other friend, Ethan. Locke tries to explain his way out of it, but in the process, the island takes another jump....
Sun gets cornered at the airport on her way to LA, by none other than Charles Widmore, who is none too happy about Sun disrespecting him (ala her father I might add.) Seems she and Charlie have a common interest, to kill Benjamin Linus.
Divert yet again (this is getting confusing, isn't it?) to Sayid and Hurley, who are now on the news for their escape from the asylum and the death of the dude in the car. They're catching some food at the "Rainbow" drive in. Sayid discusses his work for Ben, "If you ever run into him do the opposite of what he says." From there they head off to one of Sayid's safe houses, which has been compromised. Sayid shoots one of the intruders who sails off the balcony after getting ketchup all over Hurley. The second shoots a tranquilizer dart into Sayid, who dispatches him over the dishwasher before nearly passing out. Hurley picks up the gun, and has his photo taken by a bystander. "We never should have left the island."
Back in the jungle, Juliet is on point this time. They come across the wreckage of the Swan station. Faraday further explains that they won't be able to change anything that's already happened. That it doesn't work that way. "You can't stop it." "Then who can?"
Locke is still lying on the ground, bleeding from his gunshot wound. The airplane is back on the ground, grown over significantly. He manages to climb into it, and uses one of the belts to tourniquet his leg. He sees someone with a torch coming through the trees, pulls his knife and...
...its Richard Alpert. "We need to get the bullet out." "How'd you know..." "You told me. Well, you will." "When am I?" "That's all relative."
Alpert doesn't have time to explain what's going on, why he apparently is being affected differently by the island's moving through time. "We need to go over a few things, the island will do the rest. I won't recognize you next time, give me this..."
He hands Locke a compass. (Note: I can't recall ATM if this was one of the items he presented to Locke when he was a child, in the 'which of these things is yours' moment...guys?)
"The only way to save the island is to get them to come back, the ones who left. They're home, you're going to have to go to them. You're going to have to die, John." (BONK-worthy again...)
Meanwhile Sawyer and the bunch are still at the hatch spot when the last flash occurs. The hatch is now there, but very grown over. Sawyer goes off to the back door, against Faraday's advice. Charlotte starts bleeding from the nose (curious) and Faraday seems to know why. He's hiding something, and makes up an excuse to get his pack as the rest return. He bangs on the door of the Swan, "please let this work."
Desmond opens the door in full protective gear. "Are you him?"
Faraday starts to rattle on, "I need you to listen. The rules don't apply to you, you're special." The noise starts up again, as does the light, only this time it builds gradually. "If you got home, my name is Daniel Faraday, everyone you left behind is in trouble. Go back to Oxford, find my mother, her name is...." And the flash happens again.
Desmond suddenly wakes up next to Penny onboard a sailboat somewhere in the Mediterranean by the looks of things. "It was only a dream, Des." "No, it was a memory." He starts rigging up the boat, "We're leaving, for Oxford."
BONK.
Whoa! A couple of tasty hints dropped there, wouldn't you say? A couple of missing pieces revealed? Eh, maybe, more like clues to where those pieces are... Check out the analysis thread for my take on it.
Overall it was a nice intro of things to come, but I'm still not sure I like the deviation from "the format" of previous seaons. Especially trying to cover so many different angles in one episode. It's like they've got all the story written now, and they're trying to cram it all into the last two seasons.... I don't know. Seems I said something like that last season, but it all worked out in the end.
The mystery man is none other than Dr. Marvin Candle, as we've come to know him from the DHARMA orientation films, or as he's called here, Dr. Chang. This morning the DHARMA initiative is filming the orientation for "The Arrow" station, which as you remember was the empty shell the tail section survivors found, save for a hollowed out book, which contained this film....
The filming is interrupted, and Chang is led to a construction site, where they are building "The Orchid" station. The workers have stumbled upon something they can't seem to break through, and one of the workers was injured. (I think they dwelled a bit too long on the worker in question, but I wasn't able to recognize him, anyone?) Chang is perfectly aware of what they've found, and orders them to stop, before they destroy the island.
They are building "The Orchid" to harness this unknown energy, and a sonar scan (a bit advanced for the day?) reveals the "frozen donkey wheel" where we last saw Ben (on the island.) He lets slip that this energy could be used to manipulate time. He also lets sliip that there are "rules that can't be broken."
On his way out, he bumps into another worker, which turns out to be our favorite shaggy physicist, Daniel Faraday. (Quite "BONK" deserving in itself don't you think?)
Return to the future, where Jack and Ben are inside the funeral home, musing over Locke, er I mean Jeremy Bentham's casket. Ben seems to already have a plan to get everyone back to the island. Jack muses that "they're not my friends anymore." "How did we get here, how did all this happen."
"It happened because you left, Jack. Lets get started," Ben says as he slams the lid.
A bit later, Ben and Jack exchange stories about the last time they saw Locke. For Ben it was on the island, in the Orchid station. For Jack, it was apparently later, off the island. Unfortunately Locke never told him what happened on the island after that.
Three Years Earlier
We get a replay of events surrounding the island at the end of last season, as Ben turns the wheel, the noise, the lights, and the island vanishes.
Locke finds himself in the rain, still on the island, calling out for anyone. Elsewhere, the remaining losties find themselves in a similar situation, but it doesn't seem to be raining, and the sky is clear as a bell. Sawyer and Juliet notice the pillar of smoke from the burning freighter is gone. The raft contigent also returns. Bernard appears looking for Rose, who shows up a minute later. The camp is gone.
"It's not gone," says Faraday. He argues with Sawyer for bit and searches for something manmade... "It's not gone, it just hasn't been built yet."
Forward again to Kate and Aaron. A pair of lawyers from Agostini and Norton knock on her door with a court order for a blood test to determine Aaron's true lineage. After she gets them to leave, she frantically packs a bag, a huge wad of cash and a large hand cannon. "We're going on vacation, baby."
Back on the island, the gang is hiking through the jungle. Sawyer smacks Faraday and gets him to talk. "Time on the island, its like a record, skipping (remember?), whatever Ben did, he 'dislodged' us in time. Either we're traveling in time, or the island is." They remember that Locke is the last of them unaccounted for...
...and we find him climbing to the top of a hill, perhaps looking for Jacob? An airplane, trailing smoke behind it, buzzes him and crashes into the jungle. He picks up something that's fallen from the plane, a statue of the Virgin Mary... Yep, its Eko's brother's plane. He makes his way to the crash site, and attempts to climb the roots to get up to it. Suddenly gunshots ring out and the bullets start hitting all around. He's hit in the leg and falls to the ground.
The responsible party emerges from the bush, it's our old psycho other friend, Ethan. Locke tries to explain his way out of it, but in the process, the island takes another jump....
Sun gets cornered at the airport on her way to LA, by none other than Charles Widmore, who is none too happy about Sun disrespecting him (ala her father I might add.) Seems she and Charlie have a common interest, to kill Benjamin Linus.
Divert yet again (this is getting confusing, isn't it?) to Sayid and Hurley, who are now on the news for their escape from the asylum and the death of the dude in the car. They're catching some food at the "Rainbow" drive in. Sayid discusses his work for Ben, "If you ever run into him do the opposite of what he says." From there they head off to one of Sayid's safe houses, which has been compromised. Sayid shoots one of the intruders who sails off the balcony after getting ketchup all over Hurley. The second shoots a tranquilizer dart into Sayid, who dispatches him over the dishwasher before nearly passing out. Hurley picks up the gun, and has his photo taken by a bystander. "We never should have left the island."
Back in the jungle, Juliet is on point this time. They come across the wreckage of the Swan station. Faraday further explains that they won't be able to change anything that's already happened. That it doesn't work that way. "You can't stop it." "Then who can?"
Locke is still lying on the ground, bleeding from his gunshot wound. The airplane is back on the ground, grown over significantly. He manages to climb into it, and uses one of the belts to tourniquet his leg. He sees someone with a torch coming through the trees, pulls his knife and...
...its Richard Alpert. "We need to get the bullet out." "How'd you know..." "You told me. Well, you will." "When am I?" "That's all relative."
Alpert doesn't have time to explain what's going on, why he apparently is being affected differently by the island's moving through time. "We need to go over a few things, the island will do the rest. I won't recognize you next time, give me this..."
He hands Locke a compass. (Note: I can't recall ATM if this was one of the items he presented to Locke when he was a child, in the 'which of these things is yours' moment...guys?)
"The only way to save the island is to get them to come back, the ones who left. They're home, you're going to have to go to them. You're going to have to die, John." (BONK-worthy again...)
Meanwhile Sawyer and the bunch are still at the hatch spot when the last flash occurs. The hatch is now there, but very grown over. Sawyer goes off to the back door, against Faraday's advice. Charlotte starts bleeding from the nose (curious) and Faraday seems to know why. He's hiding something, and makes up an excuse to get his pack as the rest return. He bangs on the door of the Swan, "please let this work."
Desmond opens the door in full protective gear. "Are you him?"
Faraday starts to rattle on, "I need you to listen. The rules don't apply to you, you're special." The noise starts up again, as does the light, only this time it builds gradually. "If you got home, my name is Daniel Faraday, everyone you left behind is in trouble. Go back to Oxford, find my mother, her name is...." And the flash happens again.
Desmond suddenly wakes up next to Penny onboard a sailboat somewhere in the Mediterranean by the looks of things. "It was only a dream, Des." "No, it was a memory." He starts rigging up the boat, "We're leaving, for Oxford."
BONK.
Whoa! A couple of tasty hints dropped there, wouldn't you say? A couple of missing pieces revealed? Eh, maybe, more like clues to where those pieces are... Check out the analysis thread for my take on it.
Overall it was a nice intro of things to come, but I'm still not sure I like the deviation from "the format" of previous seaons. Especially trying to cover so many different angles in one episode. It's like they've got all the story written now, and they're trying to cram it all into the last two seasons.... I don't know. Seems I said something like that last season, but it all worked out in the end.
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#1
Seana
on
2009-01-26 10:38
(Reply)
I think you are right, the compass was one of the items that the (child) Locke was asked to identify as his.
