The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ season 5 premiere
January 22, 2009 at 12:19 pm by Allison Keene in A&E
CALL WAITING: “I’m kinda alive … I’ll have to call you back.”
Oh boy, oh boy, where to begin? Season 5 picks up exactly where season 4 left off, with Jack and Ben looking at who everyone and their mother now knows is Jeremy Bentham John Locke. I wish I could pinpoint a specific theme of tonight’s episode, but it wasn’t about getting one’s bearings so much as losing them completely. Just as many of us speculated, Ben (looking particularly reptilian this week, no?) “moved” the island out of time. As Faraday explains it, “like a record spinning on a turntable, except now it’s off its rotation and skipping.” Uh-oh!
As if that wasn’t disorienting enough, tonight’s updates on our heroes were no less confusing. It seems everyone’s favorite felon Kate is on the run again — this time taking Aaron with her — and meeting up with Sun who has some suspicious “unfinished business.” Hurley, too, is on the run thanks to International Badass Sayid, who “rescued” him from Santa Rosa, killing a few folks along the way. And I’m pretty sure Ben (and new BFF Jack) are keeping Locke’s body in a meat freezer for the nonce. Back on the island, Juliet, Sawyer, Bernard, Rose and “Frogurt” (RIP), plus the Freighties, wandered around through space and time and were eventually attacked by some flaming arrows and … hang on, let me catch my breath.
Holy nosebleed … put on your conspiracy caps and grab your constants!
As I penned this episode recap, I realized all of my shorthand notes ended with exclamation marks: Yemi’s plane!! Ethan!! Ana Lucia fake out!! Let me tone down the fangirl for a moment and attempt to make some cohesive commentary here, even though the episode left me with a time travel-induced headache. I’ll have to watch these back-to-back episodes again, because it was altogether too much to take in one sitting.
Basically, we learned that it’s going to be terribly hard to bring the Oceanic 6 back together to the island (which we knew in season 4), that Ben has 70 hours to do it, and that these facts are non-negotiable. Frankly, the gathering of the Six is the least intriguing of the scenarios. Far more riveting is what’s happening back on the island and why. The premiere episode was a great recap of prior seasons because it reminded us that everything’s connected. We revisited the Orchid station, the hatch, a pre-discovered Desmond, Yemi’s plane, the Mary statues (each one reminding us of “Lost” cast members of yore … Boone, Charley, Mr. Ecco, and others), bouncing us through time and setting up some exciting revelations that I would be foolish to even try and contemplate at this point.
Next week: Everyone has to go back to the island, dammit! Desmond leaves Penny … again. And Charlotte gets a killer nosebleed!
Musings and Miscellanea:
- Back to that Ana Lucia fake-out: Was anyone else fooled? I couldn’t remember if Hurley had traveled in time or if she had or the island had or Farady …. Ah! My nose is bleeding!
- “He is my friend … who has this crazy double life where he does ninja stuff.” Ah yes, thank goodness for Hurley. I love how, generally, Hurley is the spokesperson for the viewers, asking questions, expecting answers and tellin’ it like it is.
- Speaking of, Hurley’s summation of the first 4 seasons is amazing and should be used to catch up new viewers. I’d quote it but it all went by too fast … “we did crash and then there was a smoke monster and some bad people we called the Others and then more bad people on the Freight and …” etc, etc.
- I enjoyed Sawyer’s bout of insecurity: “Can I please borrow somebody’s shirt?” O hai thur bb … you don’t need one.
- How is Jack allowed to walk into a hospital and use its equipment without suspicion to revive an unconscious Sayid? Details…
- “That chick likes me.” Definitely not enough Miles in this episode.
- So who was that mystery woman at the end? Did I miss something? Are we supposed to know who she is?
(Photo courtesy Abc.com)
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I also forgot to mention how Locke gets shot right at the place where his leg gives out in Season One … ehhhh??
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
The mystery woman at the end of the episode is the London shop owner who refused to sell Desmond the engagement ring he wanted to give Penny. (Remember, he threw the ring in the Thames in a move that most certainly was a nod to J.R. Tolkien.)
Anyway, back in Season 3 the woman portended the death of the pedestrian in the red shoes while sitting on a park bench rambling on about Desmond’s destiny.
OK, I’m a total dork.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
The ladies name is Mrs. Hawking by the way, I’m kind of ashamed that I know that much about her.
I think Jack is still employed by the hospital. Remember in the Season 3 finale,(the first time we saw Jack with the beard)he was still apparently working at the hospital, because he went in and had the exchange with the other doctor when he was trying to get some pills. This episode occurs only a few days after that.
I agree, definitely not enough Miles in this episode. Whether on Sopranos or Lost, that guy is golden
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Regarding “Lost,” am I the only one who finds Charles Widmore an uninteresting, standard-issue villain? The guy in the Dharma Initiative training videos seizes my attention better than the actor playing Widmore does: he’s like a sub-”24″ evil industrialist. I’m finding it hard to get motivated about “Lost” if he’s going to be the Big Bad for the rest of the show. Maybe I’ll just focus on the remaining episodes of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and catch up with Lost later.
I’d be willing to bet that Mrs. Hawking/mystery woman is Faraday’s mother. Because when Desmond catches up to her, he’ll have a big “It’s you!” moment.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I like the theory that Mrs. Hawking is Daniel’s mother. But if she is near LA in 2007 (where Ben met her before meeting back up with Jack in that 6 hour window) Desmond is not going to find her in Oxford (where Daniel told him to find her). Desmond “remembered” the memory in 2007. The present for Daniel at that time was 2004 – so he must not have known she moved to LA by 2007. (Or that is not his mother).
I also like the theory that the British guy who wanted to cut off Juliet’s hand was a young Charles Widmore. We will see.
Lastly I am still trying to figure out why the island moved in space (disappeared to the people on the helicopter) when they are all behaving like it only moved in time. Hmmm.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
islands traveling in time and space?
people seriously get into this? i’m confused.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
wesley, I was completely anti-Lost until I caught the ep “the Constant” and went though the first 4 seasons in a few weeks. It gets crazier and more addicting!
I thought Mrs. Hawking might be Dan’s mother but forgot about the ring, thanks Mara for reminding me!
I LOVE the idea that the guy wanting to cut off the hand is Widmore. I agree with Curt though that Widmore’s character is pretty lightly sketched. I’m hoping to see more Ben vs Charles flashbacks. And definitely need more Dharma video guy (Dr Chang?)
I read on another blog (who got the press screeners) that next week’s ep answers some of the bigger questions from these first two, so I’m pretty excited. Upon reflection, not a ton was revealed in these episodes that moved us forward
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
i was totally bummed when sawyer put a shirt on. who do you think is trying to get kate’s blood? i was thinking maybe claire’s mom caught onto some shadiness at christian’s funeral.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
I kind of think the guy that tried to cut off Juliette’s hand might have been part of Rousseau’s crew. Nothing really to base this on, just sort of a hunch.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Reena – I totally had a shirtless pic of Sawyer for this week’s header, but thought it was too shameless. that man should just go shirtless constantly. Faraday clearly agrees since he had a problem giving him one of his two shirts
dekalb – yeah, I remember Jack was back at the hospital but I guess my overexposure to Grey’s leads me to think that it’s hard for anyone to take an unconscious person into the ER without at least nurses buzzing about. but whatevs, small point. Good thought about Rousseau … I forgot about that crazy woman and the whole Alex subplot.
I’ll link to this again next week, but this gif of Hurley throwing the Hot Pocket is amazing:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/scottnonstop/GIFS/hurleypocket.gif