I've decided to join the thousands who are already blogging about LOST. I might occasionally include a theory, but I mostly want to highlight what I perceive to be the most interesting elements after each new episode.
Season 5—Episode 3: "Jughead"
Wow, this episode was a doozy. I'm glad I chose tonight to start typing up facts and quotes that intrigued me while watching the show.
There were so many jaw-dropping moments. My eyes bugged out and my mouth dropped open when Richard Alpert said, to the young punk telling him he shouldn't trust John Locke, "Put the gun down, Widmore."
Wow! Just, wow! But more on that in a bit.
Daniel also confessed his love for Charlotte...to Richard Alpert, with Charlotte and Miles Straume there, too. Romantic, no? But I suppose it's a good thing he didn't wait any longer, since Charlotte collapses at the end of the episode—after they flashed backward (or was it forward?) yet again—with blood running from both of her nostrils.
When he wasn't confessing his love for Charlotte, Daniel was marching across the island, held at gunpoint by Ellie, a feisty young woman whom I'm convinced we'll learn a lot more about. Daniel's destination: oh, just a large wooden platform/scaffolding that happens to be supporting a dangling hydrogen bomb (property of the U.S. government).
Daniel realizes how volatile this bomb is (it's leaking something—hydrogen? or whatever a hydrogen bomb leaks)and before they flash forward again, he insists that The Others use lead or concrete to neutralize this bomb and then bury it.
We didn't see much (if any) of the Oceanic 6 in this episode, and I couldn't have been happier about that. For me, the most compelling storyline (or should I say "timeline") is taking place on the island, not Los Angeles.
Only slightly less interesting than the events on the island are Desmond's adventures as he and Penny steered their boat back to Great Britain—and Desmond set out to find Daniel's mom, as Daniel had instructed him to do in his dream/memory.
We learned so many things through Desmond's story. Here's a snippet of the new information:
—Oxford has no record of a Daniel Faraday ever working there
—Faraday's old laboratory had a sign on it claiming it was closed for "fumigation."
—When Desmond broke into Daniel's old facilities, a man caught him in there and he said Desmond "wasn't the first to come poking around," and he asked Desmond to tell "his mates" that all he found was "rubbish left behind by a man" (whatever that means...)
—We also see a picture of Daniel with a girl, which we can presume is the same girl who the man in the lab refers to when he says, commenting on the fact that Oxford has removed all records of Faraday, "Do you blame them? After what he done to that poor girl?"
—Speaking of "that poor girl," Desmond goes to the address given to him by this helpful laboratory man and he meets a woman named Abigail. She has a sister, Theresa Spencer, who is bedridden. Theresa's consciousness seems to be jumping to and from different time periods, and Abigail suggests that Daniel "left her this way" when he "ran off to America."
—We learned Widmore is not only paying for the medical care for the bedridden Theresa, but he was also Daniel's benefactor—and he had been funding Daniel's research
Then Desmond burst into Widmore's office. And he demanded that Widmore tell him where Daniel Faraday's mom is.
Widmore, strangely, does comply. Which makes me think it's in his (Widmore's) best interest. Surely he knows why Desmond is looking for her...
If we weren't already convinced that Daniel's mother is Mrs. Hawking, who's first name just so happens to be Eloise, which just so happens to be the name Daniel chose for his time-traveling rat in Season 4's "The Constant," I think we should be pretty darn convinced now. Especially since we know Mrs. Hawking was just seen in Los Angeles in episode 2.
When Widmore gives her address to Desmond he says, "I suspect she won’t be pleased to see you; she’s a very private person."
I can't help thinking there is something more to that quote. It almost seems as if Desmond's agenda (which is Daniel's agenda...and on some level, is most certainly Widmore's agenda) will conflict with her plans (which also seem to be Ben's plans...)
.Widmore also implores Desmond to finish delivering this message and then to get away from "this mess," suggesting that what he's going to do will affect many lives (or history, or time, or however he phrased it).
And so Widmore says, "Wherever you were hiding, go back there.”
Desmond then seems reluctant to carry out his mission, or maybe he just feels bad hauling Penny and their young son (another new revelation in this episode) across the ocean to L.A. Penny knows he's lying when he claims that Daniel's mom is dead. And she tells him that they'll go together...but only after we learn that their boy is named Charlie (after the late Charlie Pace, I'm sure—rather than the child's grandfather).
Now let's flash back to the end of the 1954 island scene. John Locke comes out of the island calling for Richard Alpert, and then he claims that Jacob sent him—and I still can't figure out if that's true, or if it was Locke's strategy for claiming the leaderhip role he believes is rightfully his. Eventually Locke shows Alpert the compass (just as Richard had instructed him to do) and Locke also tells him that he's their leader. Richard says that they have a very definite process for selecting their leader—saying that it starts at a very young age.
Locke, in response, suggests that perhaps Richard should go to California in two years—to witness Locke's birth. And, we know, if we remember our past seasons, that Richard did just that. (So that's how Richard knew to be there!)
As for the revelation that Widmore is one of the young kids living on the island...that just made my night. It confirmed some of my suspicions. But it also made me wonder whether we should recognize any of the others (the other Others, as it were). Is Mrs. Hawking there somewhere? Maybe a paren
t of another character we've come to know? Matthew Abaddon? Christian Shephard? Richard Malkin, the Australian psychic? What about Brother Campbell, the monk at the monastery where Desmond temporarily lived...after all, he did have a picture on his desk of him and Mrs. Hawking.It's also interesting to note that Locke could have shot Widmore before they knew who he was. They had captured him and another Other, and when the other one started revealing the location of the Others' camp, Widmore broke his neck and ran off through the jungle. Sawyer screamed for Locke to shoot him, but Locke hesitated, and then did nothing. Sawyer grabbed the gun, fired once, and missed. When he asked Locke why he didn't shoot, Locke said, "Because he's one of my people."
Which brings me to...the most notable quotes. I had planned to only include 5, but there were too many good ones. So...
The 11 most notable quotes:
Desmond, after Penny asked him to swear he'll never go back to the island: "Why would I ever want to go back there?"
Richard Alpert, to Daniel: "I assume you've come back for your bomb."
Miles, after Daniel rushes over to ask Charlotte if she's okay: "Yeah, me too. I'm great, too."
Desmond: “You're my life now, you and Charlie.”
Richard: “Put the gun down, Widmore.”
Locke: "Nice to meet you, Charles."
Widmore: "I suspect she won’t be pleased to see you; she’s a very private person."
Locke: "How did you know Richard would be here?"
Juliette: "Richard’s always been here."
Locke: "How old is he?"
Juliette: "He's very old, John."
Locke: “Because he’s one of my people…” (turns out it was Widmore)
Daniel: "I'm in love with the woman sitting next to me…"
Locke: "Jacob sent me."
Despite all the great quotes, alas, there was still nothing that could match Hurley throwing his Hot Pocket into the wall in Episode 2. Maybe next time...
Things to ponder:
1) Why does Daniel tell the woman who is walking him at gunpoint (Ellie?) that she looks familiar? Why does he seem to recognize her?
2) Who is the Jill character who is working in the butcher shop, the one Ben is confiding in? Is that character going to become more relevant, or was she just introduced to show that Ben has cohorts off the island?
3) What is Sun up to? Is she really in cahoots with Widmore? Can she be trusted?
4) Can Sayid be trusted?5) Why is Charlotte the only one being affected by the time-jumping?
6) Is Ben's childhood friend, Annie, going to emerge in one of these scenes as the island leaps along its timeline?
7) Will Danielle Rousseau and her team of scientists factor in to one of these episodes?
8) What about the Black Rock, the slave ship that was wrecked on the island?
9) What's Pierre Chang's role with the Dharma Initiative? And could Miles be his son, the crying baby in the Comic-Con video (and the baby from the beginning of Episode 1)?
10) Is there something significant about the picture that shows Brother Campbell and Mrs. Hawking together?
11) In "The Constant," Mrs. Hawking told Desmond that fate has a way of "course-correcting," and she told him that he can't change things. Yet Daniel seems to think Desmond has the ability to change things. And the fate of those on the island (especially Charlotte, at the moment) seems to be riding on Desmond's ability to change things. So if this is true, who else is special (like Desmond), able to change things? And did Mrs. Hawking know Desmond was special? She once told him that pushing that button was the only truly great thing he would ever do. Was that a lie to get him to fall in and do what she wanted?
12) Is John Locke going to be presented as a Christ figure—sacrificing his life to save the others (and his beloved island)? I'm hoping not. I think LOST can be more innovative than that.
This isn't a point to ponder, but I just realized that Mrs. Hawking's name is clearly a reference to Stephen Hawking. And I'm not sure how I could have missed that before.
Overall, I think "Jughead" was one of my favorite episodes from any season. It answered a lot of my questions, and it got me even more excited about where we're going next...
—Thanks for Reading
12 comments:
This episode confirmed one of my suspicions. I think Widmore was one of the leaders of the Others, and then was replaced by Ben, which is why Widmore told Ben last season that everything Ben had, he'd taken from Widmore. And also explains why Widmore wants to go back.
I like that thought, Patrick.
But why do you think Widmore left? And how?
Think it's possible he had to move the island, too?
Oh, and Patrick, since you're a chemist...what does a hydrogen bomb leak? (I can't remember what Faraday said.)
And are there any other implications there that chemistry-morons like myself wouldn't have caught?
Could a buried hydrogen bomb have an impact on the island as we know it when Flight 815 first crashed? Could it be connected to any of the Dharma stations?
As to why Widmore left...I don't know, I had wondered if he had to move the island at one time as well, but that's as far as my hypothesizing got.
What do hydrogen bombs leak? That's more of a question for a physicist. But I believe they should not be leaking anything. The core of the bomb would contain the fissile material (uranium, plutonium, etc.) and should be pretty safely stored in the interior of the bomb. The nuclear material would then explode when neutrons collide and start a chain reaction. The stuff that was leaking looked like a foam coming out of the bomb, I have no idea what that was, but they implied that it was radioactive. I have worked with plutonium before, and it is a hard, brittle, silvery metal. I'm not sure what uranium looks like, but you could google that, but I'm sure its not a foam. I think that is where the science "fiction" comes into play.
If a bomb was buried, or if the nuclear stuff was wrapped in lead and buried under the island, it shouldn't have implications for Flight 815 or Dharma stations. But who knows what they will come up with, they are pretty creative. Lead does a good job at absorbing nuclear radiation, and nothing should get past the lead.
I'm trying to remember the first episode of this season when they were building a DHARMA station and they were drilling below ground. I can't remember, was it radioactive, or was there just a lot of "energy" that was making things difficult? That could be a result of a buried H bomb...
Oh yeah...in that first episode, I think their drill bits kept breaking.
And when they asked if they should keep trying to drill through it, Pierre Change's response was something to the effect of..."Are you crazy? A little farther and you would have killed us all!"
So maybe the hydrogen bomb is buried there. At the time, I wondered how drilling into something could have killed everyone.
If they sealed it with lead, I suppose that could explain the breaking drill bits...?
If the bomb is buried where they were drilling, underneath the Orchid Station, maybe it's the energy source that allows them to build their little time travel booth (the one Ben crammed full of metallic objects at the end of Season 4).
So three more questions about that:
1) Would a hydrogen bomb provide a measurable amount of energy (even when it's buried deep underground and encased with lead)?
2) If it's the H-Bomb buried under the Orchid, Pierre Chang's response seems to imply that he knew it was there...so is that why he had those guys digging there in the first place?
3) That massive wheel that "moved the island" was also beneath the Orchid Station. When Ben turned that wheel, it must have triggered something...is there anything scientific (or, more likely, sci-fi) that would connect that to o a buried atomic bomb?
I also think it must be notable that Daniel was one of the men drilling underneath that Orchid Station in 1970, or whenever year that scene from Episode 1 occurred.
I'm not sure why yet, but I think it means something.
If nothing else, maybe that's how Daniel knew to tell Ellie and the others to bury the bomb.
This link provides specific information about the type of H-Bomb depicted in the episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_16_nuclear_bomb
You scientific types might be able to make sense of the descriptions (and identify possible implications). But this is just gibberish to me:
"because it was the only deployed thermonuclear bomb which used a cryogenic liquid deuterium fusion fuel"
I don't think there are any implications in this type of bomb, other than that it said something of the year that they were on the island, in the 1950's (since all of these bombs were retired after that).
Deuterium is just an isotope of hydrogen, instead of no neutrons which is typical, it has one neutron, making it weigh twice as much. (we use deuterium oxide, D2O or heavy water, in our lab all the time) The cryonization of the deuterium would have just made it into liquid form, since it would normally exist at room temperature as a gas. So since this is a fusion bomb, they blasted these deuteriums together in order to create heavier atoms such as helium, and in the process releasing tremendous amounts of energy (and destruction). But again, I wouldn't read into the make of the bomb other than to put it into proper decade.
As far as a buried bomb encased in lead releasing energy...First of all, deuterium isn't radioactive. A third isotope of hydrogen, tritium is. But if this is a fusion bomb utilizing deuterium, then unless there are other radioactive materials in there for whatever reason (I don't know how fusion bombs work), then there shouldn't be any need to even wrap it in lead, as there is no radioactive energy being released. As I said before, I work with deuterium all the time. Fission nuclear weapons on the other hand do contain uranium/plutonium which are radioactive. Deuterium does not release energy...
I would guess that Pierre Chang knows whatever is buried underneath, and which is why he had them drilling there to begin with. Although, you would think that he would give them the head's up as to what they are working with, because it sounds like they came pretty close to killing everyone.
Not sure where that wheel fits in, because that was there before Pierre's crew was digging there.
And yes, I'm sure Daniel Faraday being there is important as well.
I had a thought a few days ago regarding another character that could have previously been on the Island. It seems very obvious so I'm not sure why I didn't realize it instantly.
Anyway, I'm guessing the young Ellie on the island could be Eloise Hawking. Ellie=Eloise It also could explain why Daniel says Ellie looks familiar. It's his own mother.
My wife is smart...
...and I hate that I didn't think of that Ellie/Eloise connection first.
Mmm, Dad & I were thinking of that Ellie as Daniel's mom thing, too, Barbie--so we are also prone to think that you are very smart! Meanwhile, since Tyler covered the island action so well, here's our thoughts on what's been interesting
in LA!
Having loved how it seemed impossible at the end of season 4 to get all the O6's in the helicoptor, scattered and busy as they were, we are looking forward to seeing how plausibly they can pull it off this time in the 70 hour time frame, particularly since Hurley is taking Sayid at his word to do the opposite of whatever Ben says. (even to the point of ignoring the warning from dead cop AnnaLucia to stay away from the police! I like her better dead, I guess, as this was one of our favorite scenes, and I never enjoyed her much before!)
Kate will be persuaded, I imagine, inspite of the dream/vision of MIA Claire telling her NOT to take Aaron back. But Sun? What if she were really playing WITH Ben and truly blames Widmore. (his freighter after all) That's the only way I see her cooperating with Ben now!
We are also looking forward to more of what Dad calls "Hurley Highlights" as he does time or gets away from the police, though it will be tough to top the Hot Pocket moment! And then there's Locke. Dead? (or only mostly dead?!) Or dead in what time period? Can he return to the island before he dies and change that? Jack questioned Ben about why he was worrying about protecting Locke's dead body and Ben responded with his usual knowing grin, then took him to the butcher shop (to keep him in the meat cooler?) run by an in-the-know stateside "other".
And if Ben does succeed in getting the 6 to return, didn't he say that anyone who moves the island has to leave? I got the impression that meant can't return, but maybe not. If so, perhaps Ben and Widmore have exile in common now. We heard a commentary where "Ben" was saying that the evil freighter guy (was it Keamy?) made Ben look like he's not such a bad guy after all--like he's just someone's spooky uncle-- and there's some truth in that, as we are being persuaded that Ben IS on the side of the "good guys", compared to Widmore and others... while at the same time we agree with Sayid that Ben cannot be trusted, master manipulator that he is!! (At least he seems to be honestly preparing Jack for a one-way trip to the island--unlike his dealings with Juliet.)
Advice from the dead has been varied--whose side are they on?! And, if going back to the island is good, not just for the island but for those who return, I think Walt deserves a ticket back, too! He didn't want to leave in the first place, and surely his powers are more interesting than just being able to summon birds to their death! They could use his help!
Wednesday will be fun, even though we may not see much of the island this week,as it is probably LA's turn. I'm hoping this will be the week Desmond and Daniel's mom meet up and the two parts start tying together! We'll be thinking of you two while we are getting LOST, and look forward to the next post!
Karen,
I loved your post. Thanks for shifting my focus back to the Oceanic 6, especially since they'll most likely be the ones we'll be watching tomorrow night.
I wanted to draw your attention to one of the things you wrote:
"Kate will be persuaded, I imagine, inspite of the dream/vision of MIA Claire telling her NOT to take Aaron back."
I read a really interesting theory by Doc Jensen on Entertainment Weekly's website, and he suggests that Claire wasn't referring to Aaron when she said to Kate, "Don't you dare bring him back."
If you'd like to check it out, click here.
And then it carries over to the next page.
I like his theory, but he reveals in a separate article who he thinks the "him" is, and I disagree with that. But I think the theory is solid.
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