Lost Episode Review 5.13, "Some Like It Hoth"

"Dude, they're building our Hatch."

Well, well, well. Looks like we've got another Lostie with Daddy Issues. Thing is though, this Daddy actually seems to be a pretty good guy, at least when he's with cute Baby Miles. Seriously, Miles-in-diapers is by far the cutest child we've seen on the show. Of course, since Miles doesn't remember Pierre at all, we know his mom bails on him relatively soon, even though Pierre doesn't die until the Purge - remember he states that he does in the comic-con video.

And I loved the interaction between Miles and Hurley - this was really one of the best character episodes we've had in a long, long time. Miles' flashbacks didn't tell us much that was new or that we hadn't guessed already, but it had some great character moments, especially the opening scene in the hotel and the final flashback with the young football player's father. Nice to see Naomi again too. And I got chills when Hurley saw the Swan being constructed - you knew it was coming eventually, but it was still so cool to see on screen. And hooray for Daniel! I guess the fact that he "was gone" didn't mean he was gone in somewhere in time. Just went to Ann Arbor instead.

One of the things about the Swan that still confuses me is how much did Ben know about it? Long ago, I thought the writers explicitly stated that Ben didn't know about the Swan until Locke stumbled across it. Now obviously the Swan was a secret project in DHARMA that Pierre didn't want the general population to know about, janitors included. From that standpoint, you wouldn't expect that Ben knew about the Swan pre-Purge at all.

However, it seems hard to believe that once Ben kills everyone and has access to their records that he wouldn't find some mention of the Swan somewhere. Not to mention, DHARMA is supposedly building this in "Hostile Territory" right under their nose? Just doesn't seem to add up there. But we should be getting answers to this fairly soon (see below).

So who's flashbacks will we get next episode? It looked like it was in 1977 again, so that would suggest one of the time traveling Losties. We've already gotten one from Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Sayid and Miles. That leaves Hurley, Daniel and Juliet (unless it's someone totally different, but ABC probably would have hyped it up). My initial inclination was Hurley because we still don't know how he got Charlie's guitar, but maybe we'll get a Juliet episode - she hasn't really had a whole lot to do this season, except for boinking Sawyer and saving Ben's life. :)

Five questions:

1) So what's going to drive Miles' mom away?

The short answer to this is I guess it's going to have something to do with the Season Finale, which if you haven't heard by now is called "The Incident." But according to the Blast Door Map, the incident didn't happen until 1985. Now, of course, the map could be totally wrong about the date since it was written by Kelvin (who didn't seem to know a whole lot about DHARMA) and, allegedly, Radzinsky (allegedly, because I'm thinking more and more that it was an impersonator in the Swan calling himself Radzinsky because the real Radzinsky wouldn't have needed the Blast Door Map). Not to mention, they seem to be setting everything up to have The Incident take place in the very near future.

Alvarez, the dead guy Miles was delivering to Pierre, who was killed by electromagnetism from the Swan, seems to suggest that the Incident could easily occur before the Swan was finished, and cost Pierre Chang an arm (and possibly an eye, though that could have been Mikhail's). Not to mention, it eventually leads to the construction of the computer in the dome. So it seems like the Incident is a likely candidate for them leaving.

But remember the comic-con video. Pierre made it with Daniel, but during filming he yells at his wife and you can hear Miles in the background, so they hadn't left yet. In it, Daniel had obviously warned Pierre about the future and told him he couldn't change anything. But given that, it seems possible with this advance knowledge, Pierre sends his wife and son away to try and save their life from the Purge and/or Incident. If that's the case, it's kinda noble, really. Miles may have Daddy Issues, but I don't think he has Bad Daddy Issues.

2) That being said, did Pierre and the Island have anything to do with her death and Miles' powers?

Miles' mom looked like she was suffering from some form of cancer when he visited her on her deathbed and the first thing that ran through my mind was "Hmmm... had she been exposed to some weird type of radiation?" And then my follow-up thought was "Hmmm... I wonder what Pierre was working on when Miles was conceived?"

If Miles and his mom didn't leave before the Incident and it turns out to be something like the Discharge, perhaps that could be a unique reason behind both phenomena. But if Pierre sends them away before the Incident, then maybe something he was working on in the past affected them both. I think it's looking more and more like we're getting Pierre Chang flashbacks in the finale, which would mean a Daniel episode sometime before that, more likely than not.

Speaking of which...

3) So what exactly was Daniel doing in Ann Arbor?

All we know about Ann Arbor is that that's where Pierre Chang was from. Since Daniel returned with a group of scientists, I assume he was doing research there and now he's returned to work on the Swan and Orchid stations. Remember we saw Daniel in the Orchid with Pierre in the season opener.

4) Who is Bram working for?

This is really the $64,000 question. Bram is the guy who was with Ilana on the Hydra Island beach with the guns. Since we now know they're not working for Widmore, who the heck are they working for? Certainly doesn't seem to be Ben, so is there a third party involved?

My crazy theory for this one: They're actually working for... Jack! The elderly Jack who's now thirty years older in 2007 than he was in 1977 and now knows he has a mission to accomplish once his younger self goes back in time on Flight 316. See this post, if you're confused by that last statement. :)

I suppose a more serious answer is Alvar Hanso. We know he's still alive in 2005 or so at least, thanks to Rachel Blake. Sun's father, Mr. Paik, could be another possibility. Granted, he doesn't control his company anymore after Sun bought it out from under him, but he probably still has considerable money and influcence. But of course since they're not working for Widmore, the other obvious choice is Ben - perhaps he told them not to show any recognition of him at all on the plane? But that just seems weird. Not to mention, a third party just seems more likely because we still don't know who sent that orderly to subdue Sayid back in "The Little Prince." It could have been Ben, for sure, as another smokescreen, but it seems to fit better if there was a third party involved instead.

5) What's going to happen to all the time travelers now?

Now that Sawyer's gone and tied up his greasy-looking underling, seems the ****'s going to hit the fan next episode. You could see this coming a mile away because it seems that something eventually spurs the Losties to leave DHARMA behind. Question is, where do they go? Off the Island? To the Others?

And, this is really the big question on my mind, does one of them end up causing The Incident? Seems to me like that's where they're heading right now. Very cool.

Tidbits:

* Lots of Numbers this episode, not including the ones on the Hatch. The microwave in the beginning was on 3:16. Miles want into Apt. #4 and was offered $1.6 million dollars (I had forgotten about that).

* The key to the dead guy's apartment was under a rabbit statue. :)

* The Swan is in Sector 334, Hostile Territory.

* "Circle of trust" - isn't that from "Meet the Parents?"

* Loved the shark t-shirt Miles was wearing in one of his flashbacks.

* Also loved the Apple and Books DHARMA logo on Hurley's notebook:



* Matt, by e-mail: "The look Miles gave his dad when he said he 'liked country' was awesome." Agreed.

* I agree with Sawyer, Kate took her stupid pills this episode.

* The dead guy Naomi had was Felix, who was on his way to deliver some papers to Widmore on empty graves and the purchase of an airplane.

* I said it before and I'll say it again, love the new laid-back Jack.

* Lots of Egyptian writing on the chalkboard Jack cleaned off.

* Miles ate at La Vida Tacos.

* Loved everything Hurley said about Star Wars. Much more inspired than I originally thought that plot was going to be.

* Other quote contenders:

"You on some kind of secret mission?"
"Polar bear poop, got it."
"And let's face it, Ewoks suck, dude."
"That dude is my dad."
"Hey Miles! Long time, no see."

Summary:

Pretty good as the season winds down. Didn't tell us an awful lot of new stuff, but it did move things right along and was entertaing from start to finish. 4.5/5.0. So now we have to wait two weeks for some new Lost? Sheesh. What happened to showing the season straight through? :P

I'm jumping on a plane in a couple hours and will be gone for a few days. Probably won't get a chance to respond to e-mails and questions until I get back. Have a great weekend everyone! :)