Lost: Season 4 Episode 8
Ooops. At least I didn’t jump the gun. But anyway, meh, not bad. The entire episode was one big answer to…
…where has Michael been? So I guess it was good for something.
I noticed in the “last seen on Lost” section that Michael was to take the boat on bearing 325. Does that match the number for the helicopter’s exit?
During Michael’s first suicide attempt, Mama Cass Eliot came on the radio. Remember the last time Lost featured a song by her? That first morning we saw Desmond wake up in the hatch!
During Michael’s second suicide attempt, with the pistol in the hotel room, a game show was playing on the television. Right after the gun clicked, there was a ding and then a contestant answered, “Kurt Vonnegut”.
Whoa for a quick second I thought Tom was back alive, until I remembered it was a Michael flashback.
Another theme tonight: redemption. Last week, Jin came clean with himself and his past husbandly ways, and some time after that (presumably) died. Now Michael is on the freighter to redeem himself for the cold-blooded murders. The island won’t let him die because there’s more for him to do, perhaps, more that will wash his slate clean?
Another button!
Benjamin said he won’t kill innocent people during this “war” of his. So perhaps we can use that to gauge who is “good” vs. “bad” for the remainder of the show. And even look back at past episodes too.
The “NOT YET” flag was hilarious. The writers definitely put that there to break the fourth wall and tease us about teasing us. Think we’ll tell you if Jin is dead? Think we’ll tell you who really is good? Think we’ll tell you who Alex is yelling at? NOT YET.
Comments
After for Kurt Vonnegut, they said “do you know the name of the character in the book?” Undoubtedly it was going to be Kilgore Trout. Or the other dude in Slaughterhouse 5 who gets unstuck in time.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure they were near the temple at the end, they were shot by the rest of the others holed up there, and Alex was shouting to them so they could let her in.
The helicopter’s bearing was 320.
Still, we need to know how the hell Michael got back to New York.
John said:Ben totally sent another male he was jealous of off to die! I guess Rousseau wasn’t an “innocent” either.Anyway, I’m pretty sure they were near the temple at the end, they were shot by the rest of the others holed up there, and Alex was shouting to them so they could let her in.
More interesting ending if it turns out some freighties had gotten a toehold on the island, found the temple, and wiped out the remaining Others… they had two helicopters, so why not three? But Ben wouldn’t have sent his daughter there, I guess, if there was danger.
Unless he wanted to kill Rosseuau and allow his daughter to be used as a bargaining chip. I like that the show is twisty enough to allow me to entertain both theories.
The show’s always been about redemption, so it’s fun to see characters post-Island completely screw up their second-chance. Michael can’t break his cycle of depression, myopia, and guilt… so, of course, the Island isn’t done with him yet.
I agree with you, John, the little “NOT YET” note felt very much like the writers tweaking our noses.
Hey, I said that!
Nuh uh. It was me.
Whoops. I forgot which of the two threads I was in. Sorry, Paris, I guess it’s just very tempting to steal your ideas.
Hutch should plagiarize for McSweeney’s.
YO, question from my friend Pete at work:
Was the place that asian-psychic-dude exorcised in his first flashback with the black lady and the kid and the money he found, that wasn’t Walt’s mom’s house, right?
John – no, that wasn’t Walt’s grandmother haha.
And one of the more interesting things last night to me was that Tom said the island wouldn’t let Michael die because he still had “work to do.”
When Ben shot Locke and Locke was ready to lay down and die, Taller Ghost Walt came and told him he still had work to do. So I think it’s safe to say that wasn’t Walt using some kind of crazy telekinesis, it was the island taking form as Walt.
Also: ARTURRO. HAHAHA Man up indeed.
I also don’t think Danielle’s really dead. She still has a story to tell, and considering she was the only one there to report what happened, she’ll live.
I loved the line about pound cake.
I really liked last night’s episode, it was classic Lost. And I loved that so many dead people came back. Damon and Carlton always say Season 7 will be the Zombie Season, but last night was a preview haha.
I thought it was a good episode. Also, one of the few things keeping me thinking that Ben may be a bad guy is the fact that he shot Locke. But if he did so knowing that Locke can’t die then that changes the equation. I’m pretty much ready to declare Ben one of the most well written and well acted characters in the history of television. The ambiguity given to him both in terms of character development as well as the skill of the dude playing him to make it believable is absolutely awesome.
Ben is my favorite villain ever. He is so twisty and deliciously evil. I love that he’s part Stewie Griffin and part Hannibal Lector and part nerdy loser who is obsessed with POWAH.
I think Ben is bad AND good. This whole show is about good vs. evil, but Ben is definitely both. He always has good reasons for the things he does, whether or not the things he does are ridiculously destructive.
I’ve always thought Ben kidnapped Alex because that little girl Annie from his childhood was his wife/girlfriend/what have you, she got pregnant and died on the island, and grief stricken, Ben took Alex. So on one hand you would feel kind of bad for him because that’s a terrible thing to go through, but at the same time he’s got enough eeveeel in him to go ahead and steal someone else’s kid. But then he went and loved her as his own. Good AND bad. And also kinda crazy.
I don’t know about Ben knowing Locke would survive that gunshot. Obviously some people CAN be killed on the island, it all just depends where they are in their spiritual development, I guess. Maybe Ben just hoped Locke was enlightened enough to bite it.
I love that last night Ben could deliver such a crazy ultimatum…while in his PJs. Michael Emerson wins.
Ohhh and something else one of my internet minions pointed out:
Perhaps Sayid turning Michael over to the captain like that was what Ben referred to in “The Economist” when he said last time he acted with his heart and not his mind it got people in trouble.
I’m hazy on my back episodes. Did Ben kidnap Alex? Was it ever explained how she’s his “daughter”? If he kidnapped her from Rouseau why does she not get more mad when he says he’s her father? I’m getting to the point where I’m forgetting some of these minor plot points.
We still don’t know how exactly Ben got Alex, but Danielle said way back in Season 1 that her daughter was taken from her. I’m not sure if that was before or after she killed the other people in her party (they had the “sickness”), but someone came and stole Alex and then Ben raised her.
I think she doesn’t get more mad because she had Alex for all of 2 or 3 weeks when she was taken, and now she’s 16. After 16 years, Ben is as much a parent to Alex as Danielle ever was, despite the fact that she gave birth to her. Danielle and Alex don’t know each other.
Not to mention Danielle’s a little touched in the head.
i’m pretty sure it was established that tom was gay during the season that kate and sawyer were locked in cages. when she went to change her clothes from a shower she got all shy and he was like “sorry sweetie, you’re not my type” or something along those lines. so that’s not new.
okay and about the ben/danielle/alex thing. there is every possibility that he is her real father – there was some sort of understanding and truce-like emotion passing between ben and danielle’s eyes when they decided alex should leave. HOWEVER if that is true, that means danielle must have gotten prgnant on the island and both her and alex DID NOT DIE. hmmm…
ben rocks. i’d do him.
also, i watched both last week’s and this week’s episodes back to back and holy fuck did i cry at the end with hurley and sun and deadjin. moreso than when desmond and penny had a little phone make-out session.