Lost ~ Recon

First off, let me say this to all of those people out there complaining that this episode was only filler, and that it was “bad” and “useless” since it didn’t reveal the answers to at least one of the series’ burning questions: Calm the F down, y’all. Just because we are in the last season doesn’t mean that every episode has to be exploding with answers. Where’s the appreciation for the journey, and for great story telling? Let the writers do their jobs. If it’s something truly awful (I’m looking at you “Stranger in a Strange Land”) then by all means complain, but otherwise how about a little faith? That being said, I thought this was a perfectly enjoyable episode with plenty to like both on island and in the Sideways-verse. If you strongly disagree please feel free to discuss in the comments. So, as usual I warn you to go watch this episode if you haven’t already. If you’re all caught up, paddle your way down to the rest of the blog.


Sideways-verse: Sawyer and Miles Star in Their Own Buddy Cop Show

We start off with James in bed with a woman named Ava, who tells him he’s going to be late for a meeting. He hops out of the bed and grabs a briefcase which spills open on the bed to reveal boatloads of cash. Oh no! It’s his con! And we were so convinced that he was going to be a good guy in the Sideways-verse! He says that the money is for an investment opportunity, and that she wasn’t supposed to see that, etc. Ava, however, is no fool. She pulls out a gun and says she knows a con when she sees one, after all her husband in a con man. James tells her that he is a cop and the room is under surveillance. They are after her husband  and she was supposed to take the case (which has a tracking device) to her husband so they could catch him. She isn’t buying it. James says that if he says a code word the cops would bust in. She thinks he’s still conning her and calls his bluff. James says “La Fleur” and cops immediately enter the room, including James’s partner Miles (hey guy!!!!).

At the station we see James calling a list of “Anthony Cooper”s and asking if they were in Alabama in 1976. No luck so far. When Miles overhears a call James says he was trying to get in touch with an old buddy he ran into at Palm Springs last weekend (when we know he was in Australia). Miles reminds James that he’s set him up on a blind date this evening with a friend who works with Miles’s father at the museum.

“Do you want to die alone?” ~ Miles (this made us laugh out loud)

James starts to spin a lie and Miles stops him to say that James can tell him anything and asks if he’s lying. James asks why the hell would he lie? Later that evening he meets up with his blind date, Charlotte (hey girl!). Over dinner we learn that Charlotte is still an archeologist in this timeline. She’s just like Indiana Jones, whip and all. She begs to know why he became a cop and he says there was a point in his life where he could have become either a criminal or a cop, and he chose cop. This date, as I expect all of James’s dates do, ended up in bed. She asks to borrow a t-shirt and he tells her to grab one from the drawer. While he is out of the room she accidentally stumbles upon a folder labeled “Sawyer”. A family photo had fallen out, and when she went to replace it she found newspaper clippings about the murder. James comes back into the room, sees her with the folder, and completely freaks out. He kicks her out.

The next day at the station James passes by Liam (Charlie’s brother) who is trying to get info about his brother who was arrested at the airport. Sorry, not his department. Miles grabs James and drags him into a locker room. Miles is furious.

At first James thinks it is about his treatment of Charlotte, but apparently that news hasn’t gotten back to Miles yet. The current reason for Miles’s rage is that he ran James’s credit card and found out that he was went to Australia and not Palm Springs like he had said. He wants to know what he was doing in Australia but James says it is none of his damn business. Miles says they are no longer partners. James looks in a mirror and smashes it.

At home that night James heats up a TV dinner and watches a rerun of Little House on the Prairie. Little Laura Ingalls seems to be having some problem accepting death, that she’s terrified of it, or something like that. I don't know – someone must have died I guess. Pa has some reassuring words. He tells her what life is about: laughing and loving each other, and knowing that people aren't really gone when they die because they live on in memories. He also says that if you live your life based on what's going to happen, before you know it your life is over. They are moving words – literally. James gets off his butt and heads over to Charlotte’s with a sunflower and a pack of beer. She, however, doesn’t want any part of his sad sunflower and that she doesn’t know if he’s lonely, mad, or guilty. Rejected.

Things go better with Miles. The next day he catches Miles outside the station and asks him to hop into his car. James gives Miles his “Sawyer” file and tells him all about how his father had killed his mother and then shot himself. He says that Sawyer/Anthony Cooper is the one responsible and that he was shaking down a lead in Australia. He says that when he tracks down Anthony Cooper he is going to kill him. He didn’t tell Miles because he knew he would try to stop him, which of course he would. Despite the thirst for vengeance James has, something tells me he wouldn’t be able to finish the deed. We may very well find out. Just as he and Miles seem to be making up, sirens approach and a car hits James’s. The passenger makes a run for it and James follows, with the sirens right behind him. He catches the hooded passenger in the alley and it turns out to be Kate (duh). “Son of a bitch” is right, James. Even though he let her escape at the airport (not his department?) there is no way he’ll let her go this time around. Not only did she wreck his ride, but there are cops in pursuit right behind him. Let’s take a moment here to acknowledge that Kate was in a car chase with cops and drove directly toward the police station AND managed to hit a cop car. Epic Fail.

Original Timeline: To Con or Not to Con?

Back in Claire’s crazy hut Sawyer makes a cup of tea (really, she had that laying around?) and wakes up Jin. He says that Claire and Locke will be back soon and Jin says that they have to escape. Jin says that he isn’t Locke, which Sawyer knows but tells Jin he is following him because he says he can get them off the island. Jin says he won’t leave without Sun and Sawyer gives him his word that if Sun is alive on this island they won’t leave without her. MIB and his followers, including Claire, Kate, Sayid and the surviving Others arrive at the hut. Claire packs up a few things and tucks in her creepy skeleton fur baby and Kate asks what it was. Claire responds that it was all she had. MIB addresses the group and says he knows they have a lot of questions which he will make himself available to answer – just not right this second. He wants to keep moving to take advantage of the daylight. Cindy and the kids want to know what happened to the people who stayed at the temple. MIB says that the black smoke killed them. The kids are upset and MIB tells them that whatever happened is over and he is going to take care of them. Claire takes Kate’s hand and Kate is understandably uneasy.

Once they are on the move Sawyer asks Kate if Jack, Hurley, and Miles made it out alive. She assures him that she saw Jack and Hurley leaving the temple on her way back but that she didn’t know what happened to Miles. When Kate asks if Sawyer is “with Locke now” he says that he’s not with anybody. Oh Sawyer, you always have to be the lone wolf don’t you?

MIB tells everyone that they will be making camp in a clearing for a couple of days. Sawyer interrupts him and wants to know when they are getting off the island. MIB asks to speak to Sawyer privately and tells him that he wishes Sawyer hadn’t interrupted him in front of the group. He accepts Sawyer’s sarcastic apology. Sawyer then asks how he saved those people from “the smoke thing” and MIB reveals that he is “the smoke thing”. When Sawyer starts to get angry at the realization that MIB killed all of those people, MIB says that he gave them all an opportunity to leave peacefully but they didn’t take it.

“They are convinced they are protecting the Island from me, and all I want to do is leave. It is either kill or be killed.” ~ MIB

MIB leads Sawyer to the beach where the Hydra island can be seen. He says that he needs Sawyer to take the conveniently located outrigger over that island and do some recon work. He believes that some of the surviving passengers from the Ajira flight might mean to do them harm (THANK YOU for someone finally mentioning the Ajira redshirts!). He says that he isn’t worried about Sawyer’s safety because he is the best liar that MIB has ever met. He just needs to say whatever he has to in order to gain their trust, find out what he can, and report back. Oh, and by the way, there’s a plane over there which apparently isn’t too destroyed and they can use that to get off the island. With some reluctance Sawyer sets off on his quest.

When he reaches the Hydra island he quickly stumbles upon the cages where he and Kate were held captive. He finds the dress they made Kate wear and holds it, reminiscing. Okay, enough with that Skate crap – Juliet’s body isn’t even cold yet! Whatever, I choose to believe he was actually remembering how awesome those fish biscuits were. Yeah, that’s the ticket. He finds his way to the Ajira plane, which is at the very least in one piece. He examines the remnants of a fire, and notices a conspicuous path where something has been dragged. He follows the path and discovers a giant pile of dead Ajira passengers.

They seem to have been there for a while (meaning at least more than a day, but it can’t be for too long because they honestly only crashed like a week ago – or less even). He then sees movement in the distance and chases after someone. When he catches her she says her name is Zoe and that she is the last survivor. She says she was collecting wood when she heard screams and when she got back they were all dead. She asks a lot of questions about him, his group, and whether they are armed – all of which he answers with complete honesty. He takes her all the way to the outrigger before taking the opportunity to pull his gun on her. She drops the act and summons her very armed people from the jungle. Sawyer asks her to take him to their leader.

They lead Sawyer to the submarine. Along the way he sees that they are erecting mini pylons similar to what makes up Dharmaville’s sonic fence. Trying to keep out smokey, I see. Once on the submarine Sawyer passes a locked door. I expect that what (or who) is behind this door will be enormously important in the coming war.

He is delivered to Widmore, who asks if Sawyer knows who he is. Sawyer responds that Widmore is the one who sent the people on the freighter with orders to kill everyone. Yup, sounds familiar. Widmore says it is sad how little he knows. Widmore denies killing the Ajira passengers, but doesn’t expect Sawyer to believe him. Personally, I’m on the fence. Those bodies seem to have been there for longer than Widmore has been on the island. Maybe MIB? We’ll have to wait and see. Anway, Sawyer tells Widmore about the mission that MIB sent him on and says that he’ll go back there and tell MIB that the coast is clear. He’ll bring “the old man” right to Widmore’s doorstep. In exchange he wants guaranteed protection for himself and anyone he brings back on his boat and safe passage off the island. He and Widmore both acknowledge that they have no reason to trust each other. Widmore agrees anyway.

When Sawyer returns to the main island he tells MIB about everything that he had seen on the Hydra island, including Widmore and the arrangement he has made. MIB says he appreciates Sawyer’s loyalty.

“You said you could get me off this Island. A deal's a deal.” ~ Sawyer

After nightfall he meets up with Kate. She asks why he has been doing errands for “Locke”. He says that he isn’t running errands for anybody and tells her about Widmore. He says that his plan is to let MIB and Widmore fight it out, and while they have their hands full with each other he is going to get them off the island. No, not with the plane, silly. Sawyer doesn’t know how to fly a plane. They’re leaving by submarine! Oh wait, Sawyer doesn’t know how to do that either? Ummm, I guess he watched someone in Dharmaville do it or something? Maybe they all had to go through emergency submarine training. Or, you know, he just figures it’s not too much different than a raft. We’ll see how that goes.


Original Timeline: Girls Just Want to Have Fun Kill Kate

While Sawyer is off doing important Sawyer things, Kate tries to catch up with Sayid. His accent is wicked sketchy, so we know he’s still evil. Suddenly pure awesomeness:

Note how Sayid makes absolutely no move to help Kate, and is temporarily our hero.

MIB comes in to break up the fight. Spoil sport!

He yells at Claire, telling her that Kate did what she had to do by taking Aaron because Claire had disappeared.

He slaps Claire and tells her she is behaving inappropriately and that he’ll deal with her in a minute.

He asks Kate if she is alright, and she said that she really isn’t. He goes and talks with Claire. Later we find Kate crying alone in the jungle. MIB comes and apologizes for Claire’s behavior, saying that he has to take responsibility. He says that he told Claire that the Others had taken her baby.

“Have you ever had an enemy, someone that you needed to hate? Very powerful isn't it? Claire was devastated without Aaron, she needed something, something to keep her going, so I gave her something to hate. And then when you told her the truth, all those feelings, all that anger that she'd been holding onto for so long, it had to go somewhere.” ~MIB

She asks where Sawyer went and he says that he would show her, offering his hand. She gets up without his help. He leads her to the beach with the view of the Hydra island. She says that he could have just told her that he went to the island where they kept them in cages – he didn’t need to drag her all the way out there. He says if he had done that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to talk. He tells her that he is not a dead man, and that a long time ago he had a crazy mother.

"My mother was crazy. Long time ago before I looked like this, I had a mother just like everyone. She was a very disturbed woman. And as a result of that, I had some growing pains. Problems that I'm still trying to work my way through. Problems that could have been avoided if things had been different." ~ MIB

When Kate asks why he told her this he says it is because Aaron has a crazy mother too. So basically, he’s saying that Aaron is better off without Claire. Afterward, back at the camp, Claire comes to Kate and makes a teary apology. She sobs and thanks Kate for taking care of Aaron, hugging Kate tightly. Eventually Kate gives in to the hug. I was very tense during this, convinced Claire was going to make a move for Kate’s gun and be all “Gotcha! You’re dead!” *Bang*. But that didn’t happen. Has Claire really come to her senses? What exactly did MIB say to her when they were alone? Is this all an act – part of the master plan?

Easter Eggs, Questions, and Sidenotes:

• The clock in Sawyer’s hotel read 8:42.

• The cup Sawyer used for tea at Claire’s hut is the same cup used by Richard in the 1970’s when Faraday was shot. It’s held up well!

• I am pretty sure this is the first episode this season where Jack did not appear. Can anyone confirm?

• The books on Sawyer’s dresser are Watership Down (Sawyer has read and referenced this on island), A Wrinkle in Time (Sawyer read on island), and Lancelot (Sawyer read on island).

• Who is Miles’s girlfriend? Is it someone we already know?

• Miles’s father (Pierre Chang) is still alive and working with Charlotte at the museum. What kind of work is he doing there? Does he remember Charlotte from the Dharma Initiative? Are they still working for the Dharma Initiative in some way?

• Other examples of children with “crazy mothers” include Alex Rousseau and John Locke. Both were separated from their mothers.

• What, or who, is locked behind the door on the submarine?

• How exactly does MIB expect to get the Ajira plane up and running? If it was perfectly fine don’t you think Frank might have mentioned that they could take off at any time? Plus they're going to need a pilot, so expect a visit from MIB soon, Frank.

• Well, Widmore is definitely not Team MIB, but I don’t think he’s team Jacob either. Just team Widmore?

• Who else thinks that Sawyer’s safe people boat is going to end up being the one used from last season’s time jumping outrigger shoot out? Who do you think will get shot?