S5E9 - Namaste

Happy Belated St. Patrick’s Day…

If four-leaf clovers were turned into a rating system against which to measure episodes, I’d give this one two leaves. I don’t know, just kind of ho-hum, don’t you think?

Unfortunately, the only Irish-American actor in the cast, Terry O’Quinn (born Terrance Quinn), is not featured in this episode so I will have to assign an Irish alter-ego for the other characters…

Jack McShephard
If the island has a “reason” why everyone had to return, it has yet to show its hand. I feel like Jack, Kate, and Hurley were just dumped in the past and there’s a sense of, “Okay, now what?” Jack, of course, hopped on board the destiny train presumably to “protect” everyone, so must feel pretty out of sorts now that he’s back to see that everyone’s fine and dandy. Oh, and he’s now a janitor with a degree in spinal surgery. That probably sucks too.

Caitlin Austen
I thought for a moment that Juliet intentionally left Kate off the sub’s manifest. Who knows, she could have seriously considered it. Definitely potential for tension there. Kate must feel out of sorts too, but it seems like her main focus is to get Aaron back (if, presumably, that is why she decided to return).

Hugo “O’Hurley” Reyes
Same thing with Hurley. I feel like he and Kate, especially, are in a holding pattern motivation-wise until we find out why they decided to come back.

James Ford
(known to some LOSTies as “Sawyer”)
(known to the Dharma Initiative as “LaFleur”)
(known to his Irish mother as “Jimmy Flanagan”)
Sawyer had to think quick on his feet to slip his three friends in unnoticed. I thought it was especially harsh what he said to Jack about how when Jack was in charge a lot of people died. Anyway, I don’t blame Jack for showing up at his house with questions. Traveling back in time and living with the Dharma Initiative for three years definitely warrants at least a catch up chat. One of the most interesting things he mentioned in this episode was how Faraday was no longer with them. I’m looking forward to seeing what happened to him.

Sayid Fitzpatrick Jarrah
Unfortunately, Sawyer’s quick thinking couldn’t quite save Sayid, though he’s at least safe for now. I’m also assuming Sayid has figured out by now that they’re in the past, especially after meeting young Ben, which was perhaps the only surprise of the episode and one I kind of figured would come at some point anyway considering Ben grew up during the Dharma Initiative. Of course, the time travel again bothers me because surely Ben is old enough at that point to remember these people that he’s meeting. Then again Ben is very mysterious and deceptive so it wouldn’t surprise me if he has always remembered Sayid or any of the other LOSTies and has known all along that they were “destined” to be in his past/future.

Sun McKwon
So, it is confirmed that the rest of the plane survivors are indeed in “the present.” Which begs the question of why did only certain people go back in time, but for now I’ll chalk that up to the “unpredictability” that Eloise warned them of. Very funny when Sun finally knocked out Ben, which we knew would happen since we saw Locke discover him mixed in with all the other hurt or unconscious crash survivors. Good for her for not trusting him. But just what exactly is she supposed to do now? The picture Christian showed her bugs me. If I understand how time travel “works,” that picture should have been there since the 70s, therefore when some of the LOSTies followed Locke to live in the abandoned Dharma barracks, there were plenty of opportunities for someone to have seen it. Are we just to believe that no one happened to notice a picture with Jack, Kate, and Hurley hanging on a wall dated 1977? Sheesh. Anyway, I suppose Christian will help her travel through time to rejoin everyone? Double sheesh.

Not much else to say. Wasn’t wild about the episode to tell you the truth. Just sets up an awful lot of tension for Jack/Sawyer, Kate/Juliet, Sayid/Dharma and not to mention sets up whatever crazy stuff Sun/Frank will have to do to “go back” if that’s what they need to do.

Ho-hum.