S5E6 - 316

ON SECOND THOUGHT… DON’T SHOW ME THE MONEY
I want to start by saying I loved this episode, but it’s hard to say why. If you think about it, not that much happened. They all boarded a plane and woke up on the island. Done. Maybe it was what they DIDN’T show us that hooked me. First and foremost, the lack of time travel. Outside of a skosh there at the end, everything happened in real time. No skipping about. No bright flashes of light. No potential paradoxes. Just good old linear story-telling. Second, it was the missing details of everyone’s last day off the island that make you really wonder what happened to change their minds or force them on that flight. Anyway, on with the recap.

SHOUT OUT TO SEASON ONE
I really liked how the opening was a throw back to the pilot episode. Jack wakes up in the jungle in his suit, hears a commotion and runs blindly through the jungle. At first, I thought it was yet another classic LOST fake out where you think they’re on the island, but they’re not. But you know what happens when you make assumptions, right? Anyway, turns out Jack, Hurley, and Kate at least made it back. Cool beans.

THE LAMPPOST
46 hours earlier we are back at the church which turns out to be an off-island Dharma station used to track the island’s whereabouts… or shall I say whenabouts? Ha! Just a little time travel humor there. Eloise Hawking makes her spiel about how the lamppost works and how they need to recreate the crash as accurately as possible… yada yada yada. Best line of the night is when Ben claims he didn’t know the Lamppost existed and Jack asks Eloise if he’s telling the truth to which she replies, “Probably not.” I always chuckle when people slam Ben’s moral compass.

“THE ISLAND’S NOT DONE WITH YOU YET”
Talk about an ominous warning. Eloise tells Desmond his part in all this isn’t over, but he thinks otherwise. We’ll see about that, Dessy. And was it just me, or were you also waiting for him to get knocked out by that big pendulum?

DEARLY DEPARTED
Eloise has a one-on-one with Jack and drops two bombs. First up, she delivers Locke’s suicide note. This is our first clue into his death. Interesting. Second, she explains that part of the return is recreating the original crash as closely as possible, right down to the transportation of a dead body. Locke is essentially a substitute for Jack’s dead father and he must give Locke something of his dad’s. In a rare LOST moment, Jack asks the obvious question and says what the viewers are likely saying to their TV screens. “Why? That doesn’t make any sense.” But Eloise (likely speaking on behalf of the writers of the show) says, “It’s not about whether or not it makes sense, it’s whether or not you believe it will work.” TRANSLATION: “Hey, America, stop whining about how weird this show is getting and just enjoy the ride.”

JESUS AND PALS
Ben gives Jack a mini-sermon about Thomas the Apostle. Perhaps foreshadowing Locke’s resurrection in the upcoming episode? At any rate, Sun left with no explanation and Ben says he made a promise to an old friend and has some loose ends to tie up. Also, he seems pretty pissy about not being able to sit on his little pow-wow with Eloise. Sheesh… what a crybaby he’s become in the past two episodes.

GRANDPA SHEPHARD
Jack gets phoned that his grandpa has tried to escape from his retirement home. The man looks great for whatever age he’s supposed to be. Anyway, he conveniently has a pair of Christian’s shoes.

WTF?
Jack returns home only to find Kate in his bedroom. To me, the greatest mini-mystery they set up in this episode was Kate’s change of heart. What convinced Kate she needed to go back after being so adamant to the contrary? What happened to Aaron? It had to have been drastic for her to make Jack promise to never ask her about it. Wow.

NICE SHOES
Jack and Kate have a little “morning after” OJ. Kate notices his dad’s shoes and recommends a pair of hiking boots instead. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Ben. He is at a pay phone at a marina and looking pretty bloody and distraught. Says he’s run into a little snag and needs Jack to pick up Locke’s body. Jack goes to the butcher shop where Locke is being held and switches out his shoes for his dad’s commenting the whole time how crazy it is. I couldn’t agree more. Here’s the part that I didn’t catch last night, but watching this section I missed really drove it home. Do we think that Ben’s “loose end” was to kill Penny? That certainly qualifies as a promise he made to an old friend, and by “promise” I mean “threat” and by “friend” I mean “mortal enemy.” I bet Desmond is the one that beat the crap out of him. Revenge is something that definitely would motivate Desmond to return to the island, though he swore he was done with it. Geez, Ben, that’s just… wrong! Hopefully that’s not what happened, but for now it fits the best.

ISLAND OR BUST
So, we finally see the airline that was mentioned a few episodes ago when Juliet saw the Ajira water bottle in that abandoned kayak. I’m still looking forward to that scene being replayed later on from the perspective of whoever was chasing and shooting at them. Anyway, Kate walks in as Jack is checking in Locke’s body. He runs into Sun, who says if there’s any possible way to see Jin again she has to try. About that time Sayid is escorted through security in handcuffs (a parallel to the original crash when Kate was the one in handcuffs.) Finally at the gate we see Hurley, who has bought up as many of the seats as he could in fear of what might happen to the other passengers. At the last minute, Ben rushes in, almost missing the flight (yet another shout out to the original Oceanic flight where Hurley was the one that nearly missed the plane).

“WE’RE NOT GOING TO GUAM, ARE WE?”
After the plane takes off, Jack goes to sit with Kate saying how crazy it is that they’re all “back together.” She makes the heavy comment, “Just because we’re on the same plane, doesn’t mean we’re ‘together.’” Ouch. The pilot makes an announcement and it is none other than Frank Lapidus, chopper pilot from the original freighter folks. Once he sees Jack and the others he makes the second best comment of the episode. No, Frank, you ain’t going to Guam.

“I WISH YOU HAD BELIEVED ME.”
Ben claims he didn’t know Locke committed suicide. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I don’t believe a single word out of Ben’s mouth these days. He let’s Jack read Locke’s suicide note in privacy. It’s both succinct and sad. Can’t wait for next week where it looks like we’ll get to see what really went down after he left the island.

DON’T COME A KNOCKIN’ IF THE PLANE’S A ROCKIN’
They hit some turbulence and pretty soon there’s that all-too-familiar flash of light and they wake up on the island. Or at least Jack, Kate, and Hurley for now. Surely Ben, Locke, and Sun made it back as well so we’ll see what’s up with them soon. For some reason, I had it in my mind that the O6 wouldn’t get back to the island until the end of this season. So, much to my surprise, they’re back with still half of the season left to play out. Also, I’m guessing Frank is probably along for the ride, not to mention the lady marshal accompanying Sayid plus that one guy that gave his condolences to Jack at the airport that they made a point to show over and over. Just like the freighter folks from last season, it’s always nice to introduce a few fresh faces and potential storylines. Not that we need more mysteries and backgrounds to dig through, but with only a season and a half left, it seems their introduction might be key to tying together some of the unresolved mysteries still out there.

WORKIN’ 9 TO 5
Jack, Kate, and Hurley find each other and guess who finds them…? Jin! Driving a beetle bus and sporting a Dharma jumpsuit no less. We know at some point that Daniel winds up in the Dharma timeline, helping build the orchid. Looks like Jin came along too and is working security detail. It will be funny if we later see Juliet working as a midwife and Sawyer scrubbing pots in the kitchen. Looks like the LOSTies left behind were stranded in the past for a bit and had to settle in for the long haul. I wonder how long they’ve been “waiting” for the O6 to get back? I wonder if they’ll have flashbacks to fill in the gaps between when Locke left and when the O6 returned. Interesting set up for the rest of the season.

Like I said before, the greatest part of this episode was the mini-mysteries behind everyone’s last day before returning to the island not to mention what Daniel, Jin, Sawyer, and Juliet have been up to. Things that obvious will surely be revealed and I’m beside myself with curiosity.