Last night's penultimate (my bad on calling last week's that word, although I was technically right), took us back to the future -- the start of the Oceanic 6's future.
We begin with the Oceanic 6 -- Aaron, Kate, Sun, Jack, Sayid and Hurley -- aboard a cargo plane heading to an island (ironic, eh?) off of Honolulu (another island) where their families, and media, await.
The six are all cleaned up, and we soon learn about their "story." While I'm sure the details of their fake story will come of import, I didn't take well enough notes to fully relay them back. Essentially, the media story goes like this:
The plane crashed into the ocean just south of Indonesia. After spending a day in the water, on seat cushions, eight people survived and made it to a small inhabited island called Membata. From there --102 days later -- the survivors got hold of a washed-ashore fishing boat that had a raft on it. The six remaining survivors, two apparently died on Membata, used the raft to get to the island of Sumba and eventually picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard. Kate birthed Aaron on The Island and they all stayed pretty well fed.
All lies, I tell ya. Or are they?
Dialogue to note from trip to Hawaii:
Jack: "We all know the story, we get any questions we don't want to answer or we can't answer, let's just keep our mouths shut. It's OK, they'll think we're in shock."
Sun: "We are in shock Jack." -- Sun
Jack: "Well, then, this should be easy."
One reaction to shock is fight or flight. We happen to be on a plane. Just saying.
Before we get too far into the nuts and bolts of the episode, let's go over a couple things.
The episode is part of a three-hour season finale called There's No Place Like Home. The two-hour finale finale will happen on May 29. The title makes reference to The Wizard of Oz, which wouldn't be the first time we've had titles linking Lost to TWOO. Ben's season 3
flashback episode was called The Man Behind the Curtain and Ben's original alias was Henry Gale, the uncle to Dorothy. And of course, Ben, Locke and Hurley go off to see ... the Jacob.
We're also introduced to The Orchid station, well, sort of. It appears The Orchid station is not what the name implies, or is it? I think the significance of calling this station The Orchid is that orchids inhabit every continent on earth -- from the Arctic Circle to southern Patagonia. Why is this significant?
Because The Orchid station appears to be our time/space traveling center of The Island. Here's the Orientation video, which, I imagine we'll be seeing in two weeks.
So if that's the case, it would probably be important (as Faraday has taught us) to have constants (like orchids) when space/time jumping. So if orchids are everywhere, they could serve as a control for the volatile business of defying the laws of space and time.
Back to the story.
The Oceanic 6 fabricate their recovery, including Aaron-as-Kate's child (why?) and Sun telling the media Jin died. Sayid is reconnected with now-torture-free Nadia and Hurley has renounced his fortune.
Why the cover up? I'm sure we'll find out.
In the future, we learn that Oceanic Airlines paid the survivors a hefty settlement. And guess what Sun's doing with that mullah?
Why she bought a controlling interest in daddy's company, Paik Industries. That must be one heckuva settlement. Makes you wonder how this airline is still operational.
Why did she do this? Because her dad ruined her life, and is one of the two people responsible for her husband's death (I don't think that was part of the Oceanic 6 lie). Sun is also pregnant with child.
Future Hurley is doing OK, that is, until he sees his restored Camaro Z28's odometer. Guess what the mileage is.
On the car: 48151:6
On the trip: 234:2
Otherwise, those numbers are known as: 4 8 15 16 23 42. (somebody please give me something on this)
You give me a restored '71 Camaro with under 50,000 miles, I'll be pretty happy. But not Hurley, those dreaded numbers seem to be the catalyst to his future meltdown.
Of note in the Hurley-birthday-bash sequence. How about those Island-like whispers. His "why am I doing this" lines and the coconut on the floor? Yes, his madre has poor taste in birthday themes, but those seem to be Island remnants -- maybe Island remnants haunting a drugged-up institutionalized Hurley?
Jack finally serves up the eugogoly -- the only good thing about a wake is the free booze, daddy used to tell me -- he headed to Australia for, and after the funeral Jack learns about Claire's relationship to the Shepherds. Turns out Mama Claire wasn't dead on arrival after the Aussie car crash like we all thought. She's alive, and telling Jack about his half-sister, who just happened to be on the same plane as him. And in Kate's arms a few feet away. How close was the vein in Jack's forehead from rupturing?
Back to The Island. Hurley, Locke and Ben are off to The Orchid.
Ben: It's a greenhouse.
Hurley: Why are we going to a greenhouse?
Ben: According to John we're going to move the island.
Hurley: How are we going to do that?
Ben: Very carefully.
Hurley: If we could move it whenever you wanted, why didn't we do it when those psychos with guns got here?
Ben: Because doing it is both dangerous and unpredictable, it's a measure of last resort
Hurley: Awesome
Amen. As Ben has proved, time/space traveling has been pretty much mastered by humans. So you'd have to think that the D.I./Hostiles would kick it up a notch by trying to move much larger mass. Like an island. However, you probably don't do that too often, so it's safe to say the practice hasn't been mastered.
Start with a rabbit (say, label it No. 15). Move on to a human (say, Ben). Move on to ... an island.
Fully subscribing to The Island as hub of space/time travel, it would make sense that Faraday would tell his gal Charlotte that "we must get off this island."
Not because it's going to be torched. But because Kearny is going to do something bad to the time traveling apparatus. And if that happens, time-traveling Faraday is SOL, or rather, stuck in the wrong dimension.
Regardless of what the true nature of The Island is The Orchid is what Ben and Widmore are really clashing over.
And it would seem The Orchid is what The Hostiles protect, or maybe, simply live near. Richard Alpert intersects Kate and Sayid, who were off to help Sawyer and Jack, who were off to rescue Hurley. I think Alpert (our Robin Hood of the Lost-ingham Forest) and his merry band will either do two things: A. help Kate and Sayid help Locke or B. stop Kate and Sayid from screwing up Locke's Orchid mission. Yep, I still think Alpert's a good guy.
We cut back to the freighter where Sun and Jin realize Michael is still alive. We also find out the freighter is strapped with C4. Is it just me or since Die Hard, has C4 been the plastics explosive of choice for all explosions in Hollywood?
Back to The Orchid. We get Ben's line of the show, "how many times do I have to tell you, I always have a plan."
And that's what this episode is all about. Plans. Jack has a plan for the survivors. Sun has a plan to get back at her father. Michael has a plan to help his old Island friends. Sayid has a plan to get people off The Island. Kearny has a plan to torch The Island. Locke has a plan to move The Island...and so on. Lots of converging plans.
I have a feeling that in two weeks, many a plans won't go according to, uh, plan.
Thoughts on the episode, analysis, theories? Let 'em rip.
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Klick of the Day
My usual Friday reading, although, I've yet to read it as of this posting. Doc Jensen's Lost recap. (EW.com)
wasn't alive, is, well, very much so alive.
Kobe Bryant passed up shot opportunity after shot opportunity in the quarter he's supposed to single handily takeover. This was a close game, mind you. Drive after drive, he would go to the basket and dish out to Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic or Vlad Radmanovic. It was bizarre to watch.