"Well then, this is your chance to redeem yourself..."
(Thanks to Dark UFO for the screencap).
Pretty decent Kate episode, though the bar there is set pretty low. I actually found myself digging the alt timeline stuff and *gulp* even the Kate-Sawyer stuff didn't bother me this episode. It also helped that Evangeline looked fabulous this episode, best she's looked on the show in quite some time. Maybe it has something to do with her shilling for L'Oréal now.
The pacing here was a bit slow and I do think the episode suffered a bit from a lack of Zombie Locke and Ben. No Desmond appearances this episode either. Boo.
Five Questions:
1) So I guess "The Sickness" is real, eh?
As I stated last week, for the longest time I really thought The Sickness was a hoax. Not only did the Lost Puzzle Clues say so, but also 1) None of the Losties got sick during their stay on the beach and 2) the whole episode with Desmond and Kelvin in the Hatch seemed like the Sickness was merely an elaborate ploy by DHARMA to keep the Hatch dwellers from leaving and allowing the button to go unattended.
On the other hand, Danielle's guy who survived Smokey's attack certainly seemed "claimed" when she shot him down, much like Dogan described to Jack. It's certainly possible that both things are true - DHARMA used the rumor of the Sickness to keep everyone contained and made a fake vaccine for it to boot (the stuff Desmond shot himself up with), but never encountered anyone who was "claimed" before.
2) So what's claimed Sayid?
*Em and Missie both raise their hands*
Ahem. Seriously it must be something related to Smokey, if not Smokey himself. Is this really the start of the Zombie Season? o_O
3) Okay, if it is Smokey, can he only claim unburied dead bodies?
The Others started freaking out about Sayid after he had mysteriously come back to life (yeah, I'd freak out too). But does the Sickness only infect dead bodies? And, more specifically, do they have to be unburied to infect them? Claire likely died somewhere in the jungle after the explosion at the Barracks. And remember that Christian's body was unburied when the coffin crashed on the Island too. Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby and Nikki & Paolo were all buried and we haven't seen them walking around the Island ala Christian.
But if Smokey is the one claiming them, can Smokey only assume the forms of unburied bodies? He's appeared as Christian and Yemi to be sure (both unburied, Yemi's body was burned and later disappeared). He's also appeared as Alex, whose body I believe was left at the Barracks in the aftermath of the attack (Ben said goodbye, but I don't think he buried her).
I wonder if this has anything to do with the theory that Smokey really is one of the Egyptian Gods of the underworld. Of course, since we now know that the Nemesis = Smokey, Smokey's got to be a more important god to rival Jacob. If Jacob is Horus, Osiris, or Ra then Smokey is Anubis, Set, or Apep. Regardless, I think this is definitely worth keeping in mind.
4) So what does Jacob bring people to the Island for?
Redemption, most likely. Giving everyone a blank slate, a chance to start over. Interesting Dogan said he was brought to the Island by Jacob too.
Jacob believes people are inherently good, Smokey believes people are inherently evil. The Island seems to be a testing ground for these theories. I do wonder what the rules between Jacob and Smokey are though?
Let's say that unburied bodies on the Island go to Smokey, period. What about Smokey judging them? Do unrepentant people get killed by Smokey, rather than claimed (like Eko)? Does Smokey have to give them a chance to repent before he kills them? That doesn't seem really likely, given how Ben used Smokey as a weapon against Keamy and crew. But it certainly does seem that now that Jacob is dead, Smokey can do whatever the heck he wants. Really looking forward to catching up with Zombie Locke and Ben next episode.
5) Why are the time travelers so important to the Others now?
Dogan panicked when Jack tried to swallow the poison pill and seemed really desperate to get Sawyer back. We know they're all special because Jacob touched them in the past, but what exactly can they do to set things right on the Island? Doesn't seem like they have the power to stand up to Smokey, though boneheaded Jack would still probably try and take Smokey on by himself. Seems like a mismatch to me, but I suppose Jacob must have a plan, right?
Tidbits
- Several past episode parallels this time around. Ethan giving Claire the ultrasound had shades of "Maternity Leave" and Sawyer threw an engagement ring into the water just like Desmond did in "Flashes Before Your Eyes"
- I guess Claire wasn't being adopted by Jack's family after all. Anyone catch her name or the name of the street she lives on? Sounded to me like Langdon St. and Mrs. Baskin. Hard to catch with Claire's accent.
- I really thought Josh Holloway’s acting was terrific this episode.
- I'm really digging Jack getting his ass kicked every show this season. And it seems to be working too - seemed a bit more like normal Jack this episode. And for once he was actually right about something too (the pill being poison)!
- Funny seeing Dogan spinning a baseball. Not as funny when you realize a baseball has 108 stitches.
- "Hugo has assumed the leadership position. Pretty sweet." Lawl
- Kate clocked Aldo with a gun when they rescued Karl from Room 23 back in "Not in Portland"
- Sayid after being tortured: "They didn't ask me any questions," ala Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back
Summary:
Pretty good Kate episode, probably the best since the first season, though that's not saying much. But I really enjoyed the alt timeline and the Island stuff moved things right along. Greatly looking forward to next week. 3.5/5
10 comments:
Do you think the shots they gave to pregnant Claire back in Season1 have anything to do with the sickness? Is the problem with women and pregnancy on the Island tied into this?
They did a fantastic job of making Claire look just like Rousseau!
I like Lost too much to say I didn't like this episode. It was kinda slow but I know episodes build into others like in the first season. They had to explain about Claire since that has been a question we all have had and I am glad they did. It's just that with only 15 episodes left or so it makes you want each one to just knock you off your feet.
I liked your post, raised some good questions for me.
I also liked getting creeped out by Ethan.
And I agree Josh's acting was good. I really felt how much he loved Juliet.
About Sayid....on the one hand, I guess it is a good "Losty" twist to the show. It's just that we all like Sayid so much and to see him turn to the dark side, unwillingly and what will likely follow is going to break my heart!
My husband said, why is Sayid acting so wimpy now? And I said the guy just died, give him a break! ;)
Carly,
Clearly your husband has "Sayid envy". :) This is not to be confused with "Sayid covetness" - something of which I have a raging case.
Hehehe Sayid envy!
I always thought that the "sickness" was the mind time travel that we saw in "the constant". With people getting nose bleeds. Though it seems like it could be the smoky influence too. I am looking forward to finding out.
I think this episode sort of retroactively answered a lot of questions about the Sickness. Obviously it has something to do with the black smoke, and I would guess the DHARMA vaccine protected people from the negative effects of exposure to the island. (The vaccine was labeled with CR, and the C probably stood for Cerberus). Ethan must have been injecting Aaron with the serum in order to protect the fetus from the influence of the monster. I really like that just by answering one or two questions, we can extrapolate the answers to many other questions from previous seasons.
Hated this episode. Hated Kate. Hated the bad acting. Hated the music (which has become increasingly overwrought in Lost's final seasons). Hated the return to MOI BABY MOI BABY MOI BABY!
Although, for the record, the real Australian accent isn't quite like Claire's. The actress who plays Claire has always had the sort of awful mid-Pacific hybrid that Australians develop after living in the US for a while. The Australian doctor on House is the only Australian I've ever seen on American TV with a proper Aussie accent.
So yeah, it was a pretty bad episode, but hey, it was a Kate episode, may as well get it over and done with early in the season.
Oh, also (that was me above, didn't sign in proper) I was reading your thoughts on the end of Season 3 when I was watching the end of Season 5 (went through your archives) and became driven to read the Dark Tower series before Season 6 premiered. Didn't quite make it (finished the last book a few days before this episode), but close enough.
I can definitely see the parallells. The interesting thing is that the Losties are rocketing down an alternate timeline, whereas Roland is forced to relive the same one - I did like the ending, but the hope of him somehow being able to change his fate because he suddenly has the horn made no sense. Where did he get the horn? He was sent back to a point in time that was still many years after he lost it.
Also, while the ending was good, the last few books absolutely sucked. And it was entirely that goddamn van driver's fault.
Paula - that is an awesome point, so awesome I commented on it in an entirely new post. :)
Mitch - I saw you were reading Dark Tower VII, but didn't want to comment until you finished. I totally agree with you that the last few books were pretty bad, especially in comparison with the first four and you're right that it all stems from his accident.
And, yeah, the horn thing was kinda a deus ex machina, but I think what King was trying to show is that with each iteration things have the potential for change. Would have been nice if he tied it together logically, but I chalk that one up to the van too.
But when Jacob gave his "everything else is progress speech" that ending was the first thing I thought of. What if the Losties made some different decisions on and off the Island? What if Locke kept pushing the button? What if Desmond married Penny and never joined the army? What if Jack never made the phone call? What if Eko repented when confronted by the Smoke Monster? What if Juliet never detonated the bomb?
Roland had many choices along his path too and kept making the same mistakes over and over again. Is it the same for the survivors? Is Jack destined to always screw everything up by making that phone call? Or will he be given another chance to make a different choice? I think if Lost does this, it will be a sacrificial cut, likely Jack (or Desmond, perhaps) giving himself up to save everyone else. And perhaps Kate (or Penny) will choose to join him and they'll become Adam and Eve. :)
I actually really love the last few DARK TOWER books, though I think they have some majorly clunky pacing and really could have been better developed. (Did the fifth book really need to introduce seven and a half different ways for the characters to travel between universes?) But although the mythology really fails to completely gel, the payoff for the characters in the final book is so rich and moving that I wouldn't have it any other way. Honestly, even the first four books are wildly inconsistent at times (though better paced and not as all over the place as the last three), and I would love to see King do some touch-up work on all seven volumes and give them the consistency the story really deserves.
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