Like the Tom Hanks movie Castaway and the Beechen/Bello graphic novel Dugout which both have dual-meaning titles (Hanks’ castaway character had been “cast away” from society, while the prison-baseball book had the guys in the dugout actually digging out of jail), last night’s Lost ep “Recon” underscores the dual nature of the narrative. Overtly, the Locke-Dressed Monster sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra Island, while “the best liar I ever met” pulls out his confidence man bag of tricks and re-cons nearly everyone he talks to.
A lot going on in this episode, so let’s just get to it, shall we?
1. WOKE UP, FELL OUT OF BED; DRAGGED A COMB ACROSS MY HEAD: You can tell things are getting close to the end when they give up being subtle with the cute dual-meaning titles and the black/white/balance/alpha/omega stuff and just come out and tell you it’s 8:42 — the first and last numbers of the Valenzetti equation.
2. YOU’RE SOAKING IN IT: I love how when Ilana said the smoke monster was stuck in his present form, she really meant it. The Locke-Dressed Monster has been walking all around in the same ragged T-shirt Sayid stabbed him in, complete with stabby-stab hole right under his heart. I don’t know what it is, but that just cracks me up.
3. I’M JUST A SOUL WHOSE INTENTIONS ARE GOOD: Have you noticed how all-Old Testament Fake Locke is being? There’s usually one bibical-sounding statement from him an episode. If it’s not “I am very disappointed in you all” it’s like last night’s sort-of-but-not-really out of context “I forgive you” to Sawyer. Who later says to fake Zoey: “Trust me; God’s got nothing to do with it.” Which is driving me mental. We get it! The dual Nature of Man! The Dichotomy of the Soul! Everybody staring into mirrors! Pick a pitch and swing, already.
4. GOOD NIGHT CLEVELAND! Did you notice the hand motif last night? Fake Locke offers his hand to Kate, ostensibly to help her get up, but she just turns and looks away. Because they cut to the Ajira plane, they don’t show her getting up on her own. That’s not some sort of feminist spurring of aid, that’s someone who’s been touched by jacob not wanting to inadvertently switch sides. And speaking of Flight 316, did you notice last night’s episode aired on 3/16? I love stuff like that.
But getting back to the hand thing, I thought that was pretty cool when Widmore offered Sawyer his hand, but he didn’t take it until he re-conned him thinking he was on his side.
5. EVWEYBODY BE QUIET! I’M HUNTING WABBITS: Yes, yes, we all know Watership Down is a metaphor for the 815ers, having to find a way of living together or dying alone, and Miles asking Sawyer “Do you want to die alone?” and Kate cooking rabbits, and Sawyer watching a Little House on the Prairie rerun, when he told kate he was a big fan of the show back in that episode where the meteor hits Hurley’s chicken shack, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, spotting all the Easter eggs and references and whatnot is starting to make me think the writer’s room has a big Mad Libs-style template for these guys to crank out these scripts.
6. OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA: That’s Desmond behind the locked door in the submarine.
7. ATTENTION HARRIS O’MALLEY: Not only is Walt the “Wallace” mentioned at the all-important number 108 on Jacob’s wheel, indicating he’s the one who’s going to bring them all together at the end, but I have another one that’ll flip your lid. We’ve been hearing all along that the kids are important, that Walt is special, that Aaron needs to be raised by his mother, and on and on. And with the angel kids appearing and putting the fright on Fake Locke, and my little joke about a follow-up show a week or so back, it really got my headmeat working: the six candidates aren’t the 815ers at all. They’ve been out in front of us the whole time: Aaron Shephard, Clementine Ford, Walt Wallace, Ji Yeon Kwon, and Zack and Emma. Whose last names we don’t know, but are probably either Haasara, Grimwault, or Kysea, the three names not crossed off the real list at the Lighthouse. You can thank me later.
9Comments
Usually when someone sends me something good, I’ll wait until next week to incorporate it, but I couldn’t sleep last night what with the full diapers and the raccoons and all, so I checked my email and I had got this from our good pal Betsy Warren: “… it just dawned on me today that the Dharma stations map to the star constellations (Cygnus the Swan, Hydra, etc.); they are the constants for “orientation” (from the orientation training tapes)-when time traveling. I don’t know if there is any significance, but those star constellations or constants have been there since the beginning of time, so the ancient people (ie Jacob and MIB) could have used the star constellation patterns as constants themselves. Not sure if it is relevant but I feel as though it is just another piece of the puzzle I have just discovered hidden under the sofa!”
I admit that at three in the morning I immediately pooh-poohed and pish-toshed this note. Come on, Bets; how does that explain The Arrow? Better look it up on the goog. Hmm. There’s a constellation called “The Arrow.” OK, that’s a pretty good co-inky-dinky. Then I started to think: If The Arrow Station = The Arrow constellation, and The Swan Station = Cygnus, then The Hydra Station = Hydra and… well, dang! You might as well say The Looking Glass Station = Lepus, The Hare. It starts to get kind of a reach after that. You could make the case that the Flame Station = The Furnace and The Orchid Station = Bird of Paradise. And maybe… MAY-beee, if you were feeling generous, you could equate The Tempest Station with the original Argo Navis, which is the Keel, the Stern, and the Sails in the present day. But I can’t find an analogue to The Pearl and the Lampost.
But I have to say after doing a bit of reading, I have to give it to Betsy on that one. That seems like the kind of thing I should have come up with my ownself. Nice work!
I think it’s important to note that I am currently wearing pants where the crotch is literally being held together with packing tape and shoe string. It was my own arrogance to assume they had one more day in them. Such a fall from grace, indeed. Man, I dont want Flocke to be good. But, He’s only ever speaks the Brutal truth. Cats and Dogs..
Ok, the clock reading 8:42pm. Man, How did I miss that? I will say, when the suitcase opened up and the cash fell out. I let out the loudest “Booooo” ever. So Damn predictable. Then, I got a rabbit punch to the Kidneys when Miles shows up with a Badge. What a Twist! Forgive me doubting, if only for a second! Were their hints about Miles still being able to speak to the dead? Why did Sawyer help Kate in the airport?
The Pearl station could easily represent the sun. Round. Bright. But, if that’s the case. Such an important name for a worthless station that simply observed another one. Maybe the stations help the stargate work?
Like I said, We now know who the superior glass breaker is on the island..
There
I’ve been racking my brain on those last two stations – I can’t quite make anything stick, but what if the Lamppost is simply the North Star? There aren’t many constellations that evoke light sources, but if you had to pick something in the night sky to be a Lamppost, that would be what you’d pick.
The Pearl, well, that one’s still baffling. Though I’m struck that the Pearl Logo is blank. I mean, it’s a big white circle, but all of the other logos are an image inside a big white circle. I suppose if something doesn’t have a constellation, it’s appropriate that it’s the one that doesn’t even have an icon. That one’s going to make me crazy…
Awesome as usual. The North Star works for me, and, upon reflection, The Pearl was just a faux station, anyway. They get no logo… THEY GET NO CONSTELLATION!
Great job guys! I just threw that theory out there…you made it stick!
Now for a second challenge, if you superimpose the map of the Dharma stations with a map of the constellations, would they align?
You instigator! I’m not sure how we’d make a 3D map of the sky fit a 2D map of the blast door that shows the station layouts, especially since some of constellations we’re throwing in are Southern Sky ones.
But it’s still a trippy theory you got going there. 🙂
Pingback: UH, OH | Spectacularry.com
Hmmm, the Pearl makes me think of the medieval poem of the same name, and its use in the film, “The Rapture.” Here, it may foreshadow a main character’s choice to refusal to “cross the water” to rescue and stay behind, just as Mimi Rogers did, in the movie.
Comments are closed.