4601

I must have missed that comment…

4602

When Jack, Kate and Hurley come back and Sawyer picks them up, Sawyer is talking about Daniel’s time travel theory. Jack asks if Daniel’s here and Sawyer says, “not anymore”.

4603

It was fairly recent, when Jack and the gang are being driven to the Dharma Orientation. When Jack asks where Daniel is, Sawyer says that Daniel “caused trouble” and then not around anymore… Personally I was hoping we’d learn about him last night, since he’s probably my favourite character on the show right now and I don’t give two craps about Kate.

4604

See, I took that comment to be that while he was physically present, he wasnt quite sane.

I dont know why I was thinking of it that way.

4605

I’m confused about the whole “Ben won’t remember any of this” angle. Not just that it was unnecessary (I liked it better when I assumed he would remember everything, and that just added to his ability to dominate and manipulate the Losties in the future), but I thought the throwaway comment in the old Juliet flashback about how Ben has a crush on her because “she looks like her” was referring to future-Juliet reminding Ben of his Florence Nightingale, past-Juliet taking care of him in his hospital bed as a little boy. I guess not.

ETA: I really don’t like the resolution to the Miles-Hurley discussion and the having to come up with a reason why Ben doesn’t remember Sayid. Where was it ever shown for a fact that Ben didn’t recognize Sayid, or any of the Losties? I mean, he had extensive files and full names and histories for all of them. Am I not remembering a key scene in which Ben specifically states he doesn’t know Sayid? Because instead of Miles acting all confused by Hurley’s amazing logic, he should have just said “who said Ben didn’t recognize Sayid in the future?”. My memory kind of sucks, though, so maybe I’m forgetting something…

4606

I thought the scene overall was great, I just didn’t like the part where they reinforced the idea that Ben had to lose him memory since I think that decision was a bad one. Perhaps the writers will surprise me though by taking it somewhere better than I was imagining… tbd.

4607

Miles had quietly assumed a place in my “Top 5 LOST characters” list, last night’s episode cemented him in the Top 3.

While a few liberites have been taken, I do very much appreciate that they’re trying very hard to tie everything together in a way that makes sense. Personally I loved that Jack’s newfound “fuck it” attitude, adopted to prevent him from making bad decisions, actually led to the worst decision he’s made yet which ends with “Ben” becoming Ben. Awesome.

4608

Juliet is an other, so she probably knows the story of how Ben became Ben, but I think the look she gave Kate when she suggested taking him to the Others was her realization that they’re currently living that process (and the cause of it).

Which is probably why she’s so mad at Jack for not helping.

4609

I wonder if Juliet really is an official “other” though. Because she would be the only one we have ever seen ever do anything ever against the cause ever. I wonder if they didn’t just bring her over as a contractor and not indoctrinate her into the Mystery of the Full Time Employee, with the whole Others Pension Plan and Insurance Benefits package.

It’ll be hilarious when the only thing that happens when you go in The Temple is you watch a short film about the organization and then fill out a shit ton of forms.

4610

I think Daniel went time traveling. Recall what Charlotte said about remembering seeing him, as an adult, when she was a child on the island. Also, we see Danial underneath the Orchid when the worker’s drill melted and the Marvin Candle was interrupted from filming one of the many orientation videos.

Did anyone catch the names one of the Others said to Richard before he took young Ben into the ruins? Something about what will Charles and Ellie think about what Richard was doing.

So Charles Widmore and Ellie (Faraday?) have contact with the Other’s in 1977.

4611

I believe the implication is that Charles is their King. Possibly he is shtupping Ellie.

4612

Not just contact with, but they are “Others”. Both were there in the 1950s and it is implied (but not confirmed) that they are both still there in 1977. I’d guess they don’t leave the island until whatever happens when this whole 1977 arc they are working on plays out.

4613

Also, I don’t think Daniel has to go time traveling beyond what they already did for that to happen since he already saw Charlotte at the Dharma camp when they went to 1974. That wasn’t the big meeting she discussed, but they are both there in that time period, so no need for him to time-jump again. He may have to come back from whereever he is though since it seems like the shot of him in the Orchid and the video he made with Candle would be somewhat after the current 1977 events. My guess is he has self-exiled himself away from the Dharma camp so he can’t accidentally interact with Charlotte in the vain hope that if he stubbornly avoids her, she can’t possibly have remembered him in the past and that will somehow change her future and her untimely death.

4614

HORRENDOUS episode.

Already the last one was a fraud (with Ben being shot, but yet still alive. And it was Sayid to shoot, one who knows how to kill when he wants, but now can’t kill a child). This one has once again people doing things just because they feel they should (better than saying, ‘the writers made me do it’).

This whole season is irrelevant to the plot and incoherent on a large scale.

4615

After the series is done, I want someone to recut everything in chronological order.

4616

Oh, the episode was fine.

About Sayid: You can see that he’s torn up about what he’s doing as he struggles to shoot the child, so I don’t think it’s ridiculous that it wasn’t a clean kill.

4617

I was initially annoyed by Ben surviving what looked like a bullet to the heart but I think they did a decent job of making what happens to him after getting shot interesting… so it didn’t ruin the episode for me.

I think it would have been more interesting if he was just straight dead and they had to explain what happens beyond that, but I also like the way they’re filling out the fiction of the others. So it’s all trade offs.

What really annoys me about the show in this season particularly is that the underlying story seems very obvious (“Losties go back in time and become Dharma Initiative”), but they’re taking as complex a path to deliver that story as they possibly can. Every chance they get to insert some kind of “surprise” they’re taking. Every chance they get to convolute scenes and obfiscate to create “mystery” they’re taking. I’m getting sick of it.

It’s time for the show to stop being mysterious and start being straight because there’s enough “mystery” built up from the previous seasons that the rest of the show could be powered purely on reveals and the character drama that emerges from them. I don’t see why they need to break up dramatic scenes into a thousand little vignettes anymore.

4618

But whose chronology?

4619

You guys are making some assumptions about Sayid and his motives and purpose that might be a bit of a jump.

Is it possible he was trying to wound Ben and not kill him? Is it possible that he either divined or was told that his purpose was to hurt (but not kill) Ben?

A long shot, but all this “Ben should be dead” talk is presumptuous.

4620

This articles summarizes perfectly all that was wrong with the episode: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/04/lost-whatever-happened-ben-aaron.html

In fact the worst part is Kate and Sawyer having a chat in the middle of the forest about their relationship while the kid dies, and the forced relationship between flashbacks and the rest (Kate feeling guilty for leaving behind Aaron and so deciding to save Ben: more convoluted and artificial is not possible).

The other episodes were bad, but at least written and executed well. This one had a bad plot AND was written and executed badly.