Tonight’s “Last One Minute” for TiVo’ers:
[ul]
[li]Flashback Locke crying in the car[/li][li]Cut to Present Locke in the jungle, kneeling over the hatch. He’s angry and crying, and says (to the hatch. or the jungle) that he’s done everything asked of him, why did you do this?[/li][li]A light comes on inside the hatch, shining through the hatch window. End on Locke looking into the light (Stay away from the light! Don’t go into the light!)[/li][/ul]
Next week’s previews:
[ul]
[li]Boone is carried on a stretcher, looking pretty banged up[/li][li]Claire gives birth (or starts to, anyway)[/li][/ul]
An interesting episode. Not exactly the thriller I was hoping for a long hiatus, but still good. Yet more mysteries for the heap o’ questions. Next week looks a bit more interesting - less mysteries, more of a character-driven episode (which I like).
I was hoping that the Mary statues full of heroin meant that Charlie was somehow the key to the hatch. May just be my desire to see more Charlie, though.
If this is “the big death” that they were talking about for so long, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed. I don’t mind so much it being Boone that dies (if he does die of his wounds) but the way it happened…just seems too trivial. Like Captain Kirk falling off a bridge.
I am so happy there was a new episode but as someone else commented we get about one answer and then 10 new questions.
Re: Boone
If he is the one to die it could fit with the spoiler that someone lies and that leads to someone else’s death. Locke didn’t exactly lie but he didn’t tell the entire truth either. I wondered if Boone would end up all bloodied after the way he looked in Locke’s dream. Boone doesn’t seem to fit with the “much loved character dies” spoiler. However I thought he was rather likeable this episode. He seemed more competent and capable.
Possible interpretations of the title, “Deus Ex Machina”:
There’s the crashed plane, with a radio, whose location was revealed to Locke through a dream.
There’s the hatch lighting up, apparently communicating with Locke in some way.
And finally, Locke’s mom showing up appeared to be a deus ex machina type moment, that turned out to be false and bad. Hmmm… Could it turn out that the other developments, while apparently good, will turn out to be bad?
I think it’s interesting that Locke’s legs gave out just long enough that it forced Boone to be the one to climb the tree to the plane, so he was the one to get injured. Once that was done, Locke was fine again. If Locke was mobile at the plane, he would have been the one to climb up there, most likely.
And I don’t think Boone will be the one to die. I don’t see them giving that away so obviously and so early. They’ll make The Big Death a surprise. My personal theory is that we’ll think someone’s about to die, Hurley will blame it on his bad luck, feel terrible, and kill himself (a la the other guy with the numbers), at which point we’ll find out that the other person is going to be OK. Just a WAG.
It never even crossed my mind that Boone would die. Rather, I’m wondering if he’ll come out of this paralyzed, as the price Locke had to pay in order to find the plane/ get his own legs back/ open the hatch.
Count me amoung those who thought Locke’s paralysis would be from donating the kidney.
I THINK the plane was a model 18 (was hoping it was one of the magic numbers)
Anyone catch the tail number? (I usaully pay atatention to that but didn’t think of that untill now)
So evil. So twisted. I like it. Both of these ideas seem like a good fit with what we’ve seen so far. Plus, with guilt and redemption being a fairly common theme, it sounds like a good setup for Locke giving up his legs so Boone can walk again.
I think Locke may have known Boone was going to fall. He may have suspected from his dream that The Island would want a sacrifice. So he had to set up and betray his “son” the same way his father had set up and betrayed him. This would tie together the main story and flashback, it would add another layer to the religious imagery, it would tie in with the Theresa story, and it would explain the final scene of Locke despairing at the hatch and saying he’s done everything it asked.
I know I thought that the detective was in on it. He did get a sample of Locke’s DNA. Here’s my thinking:
Locke’s “dad” bribes a private investigator who helps adoptees find their parents. He (the dad) sends out the crazy woman to different people who are in the right age bracket. She claims to be their long lost mom. The adoptee has their DNA tested to see if it matches the woman, but it’s really being tested against the man’s. All the other times, it didn’t match, which makes it really convenient to have a crazy woman make the first contact. The PI says “sorry, no match” and hunts for the next likely donor.
I’m doubting Locke knew. He never gave any hint of supsecting anything regarding Boone as a sacrifice. I think the “I’ve done everything you ask” was a combination of the hatch and his father. He felt the hatch and the island betrayed him just like his father did…
Option # 1:
Locke was showing a little kid about the game Mousetrap at the very beginning. He said something along the lines of slowly assembling all the pieces during the course of the game, and if everything works out right you can trap your opponent when he reaches the cheese.
I think the island is luring Locke into some sort of trap. The hatch is his cheese - he keeps going back to it, trying to get in, and the island is waiting for the right moment to spring the “mousetrap”. The light going on inside that hatch is the island turning the first crank of the trap.
Of course, he was also trapped by his parents and their kidney scheme, which was set up so well he didn’t even see the cage come down.
Option #2:
Locke also said in this episode that “Anything breaks if you apply the right force”. Locke knew the island’s power, knew it was in control, before he found the hatch. While working on it, he forgets that and wants to open that damn hatch at all costs. He’s obsessed. The island takes his legs back to remind him who’s in charge. When he finds the plane and believes again, his legs come back and the hatch may open.
So, island as evil force trying to trap Locke? Island as egocentric force requiring worship and respect to prevent vengeful outbursts? Or just an island and we’re reading too much into it?
Perhaps the doctors didn’t remove Locke’s kidney while he was under anesthesia, but instead did something else to him. Perhaps Swoosie Kurtz’s line about the “immaculate conception” was the truth, not in a religious sense, but in the sense that he was genetically engineered.
Do Boone and Locke sleep in the same area? Perhaps Boone was talking in his sleep about Theresa and that’s how it ended up in Locke’s dream. A stretch, to be sure, but every other possibly metaphysical event so far has had a rational alternative, I had to think there was one for this, as well. And I’m still hoping they won’t take the metaphysical easy route.
