Mostly dead or kidnapped (juveniles) by “Others”
-Have uncanny pre-crash connections to one another
The Dharma Initiative
-Built the hatches
-Doing some kind of research
-Probably brought the polar bears
-Betrayed by Ben (who grew up with them) and killed by “Hostiles”
“The Hostiles”
-Until recently had ongoing contact with outside world by radio and submarine, even bringing in new recruits.
-Live in old Dharma facilities
-Led by spectral “Jacob” via Ben.
-Jacob may not actually talk to Ben, has spoken to Locke
-Cannot reproduce
The freighter crew
-Looking for Ben, who obviously doesn’t want to find them
-But infiltrated by his agents
-May have hostile intent towards the 815ers.
-Oddball crew backed by shadowy guy that reminds me of the Haitian from Heroes.
-Who asks Hurley “are they still alive” after Hurley leaves island.
Rousseau’s crew
-Got “sick” and she killed them.
-Infant Alex stolen, raised by Ben
Desmond
-Crashed alone on island
Penny.
-Looking for Desmond, detected island after hatch blew, talked to Charlie briefly
-Not affiliated with freighter crew
No way. Very few people who ‘die’ on “Lost” stay dead. She’ll be up and around pretty soon.
Further evidence that all the activity seen on “Lost” takes place on another planet. No way a TV news show in America will show long lingering close-ups of the decaying corpses of plane crash victims, even with the voice-over caveat that it is being done to comfort the family. Whu?
I have to say, after all the non-revelations in last week’s episode, this one was pretty great. Perhaps the two were originally conceived as a single, 2-hour premiere?
Quick Thoughts:
Miles is interesting; like the actor. The pilot who realized the crash footage was faked is interesting.
Archaeology chick is obnoxious as is the head case Daniel.
Apparently Dharma wants to take revenge on Ben for the mass murder of the Dharmites. or is that too obvious?
This episode was indeed an OMG episode. Much better than last week’s.
Relevant name trivia, if it hasn’t already been noted - obnoxious archy chick’s name is C. S. Lewis - like the Christian apologist. (oops - just saw that was already noted).
Call me naive, but I’m only now starting to believe that they’re really making it all up as they go along.
I mean, before I thought that they did have the overall answers and a big overarcing metaplot. It was in translating that to seasons and overall episodes and allowing for the realities of filming screwing with their plans (losing actors, etc) that presented the make shit up factor.
But now… The freighter crew just seems more out of left field than the previous factions (and did this show really need *more *characters?). The ancient Tunisian polar bear just doesn’t get with what we knew about Dharma, and they seem to be returning to the “it’s the afterlife” theory, which I thought we’d discarded (albeit in a more interesting way than “they’re all dead and this is purgatory”). I’m having trouble seeing any big coherent picture.
Now, I could be wrong. And I enjoyed this episode and still enjoy this show. But it’s a bit like finding out there’s no Santa. Some of the magic is gone.
FWIW, I don’t think the freighter comes completely out of left field. I agree with well he’s back: I think they’re tying it back to Dharma. The freighter crew and Oceanic Airlines–represented by Matthew Abaddon–are all in cahoots with the Dharma people (the Hanso Foundation led by Thomas Mittlewerk, if they manage to get The Lost Experience in).
But it was set up back in season 2 that the Island became visible to the outside world because of Desmond’s failsafe key, and that the outside world would intrude on the Island at some point after that. Naomi’s freighter seemed perfectly logical when she first arrived, and Ben’s insistence at the end of season 2 that “we’re the good guys” played into the whole situation just right.
The island is getting pretty crowded. But some backstories of the main characters are getting played out–Claire’s, for example, and even Locke’s–and even with the new flashforward format I think it’s good to shift the emphasis to new characters, like Juliet and Desmond and Ben and maybe even the freighter people, than retread the same stuff in older characters’ flashbacks.
Not sure how the polar bear’s going to go down.
What makes you think they’re going back to the ‘afterlife’ theory? curious
Oh yay, more people on the island to learn about and keep track of! I was getting totally bored with the people we’ve been following for four years…
Charlotte’s middle name is “Staples”, as in Charles Staples Lewis. :rolleyes:
Speaking of her, why didn’t she react to seeing Ben, the dude they were sent a zillion miles to “find”? Maybe only Miles was told what the real mission is, because if there’s one thing people on this show do, it’s keep unnecessary secrets from people who could function a lot better if they were given a clue.
What was the deal with Locke being on that hippie farm, from the beginning of last season? That was really strange, and I have a suspicion that they actually will not go back to that. But I could be wrong.
Same goes for the season 3 premier: the flashback in that one was odd and seemed almost out of place in this overall story. I feel more confident, however, that they might go back to more on that and delving into whom Jack’s wife was sleeping with.
IMO, this episode and last week’s were both very bland. I loved last season’s finale, and I’m beginning to wonder if this Lost, for me, hit its peak in the final scene, when you discover that it was all a mistake for them to have left. I certainly hope I’m wrong, though.
More interesting name connections, too, by the way: Abaddon
I’m not convinced that the freighter was sent by Dharma (or the remnants of it), but that’s a distinct possibility. I do think that Daddy Widmore is connected with it somehow. Naomi having Desmond’s picture and using the “I’m part of a rescue operation hired by Penelope Widmore” line last season – too convenient a cover, considering that Penny didn’t know about her. I think Daddy’s involved, but he doesn’t have such loving plans for Desmond.
Heh – and Naomi was using a duress code. Special ops girl leading a team of misfits, and she’s the one who gets killed off quickly. She mentioned (in her assignment flashback) the rest of this little team of 4, so if this was the specific team she was to lead, I’m wondering how many people are actually ON the boat, and part of the “mission”.
I found the separate flashbacks interesting – seemed to relate, at least for 3 of the team members, some incident or moment that led them to where they are now. For two of them, seeing the faked “finding of Flight 815” on TV; for the archeologist, finding the polar bear remains with the symbol matching the kind that Dharma used. The only one that didn’t seem to fit for me was Miles – finding the little cache of cash (and drugs?) and making off with the cash, and so generously “refunding” the extra $100 to the old lady. Didn’t seem to have anything to do with 815 or Dharma.
So now that I’m reminded of the faking of finding the Flight 815 wreckage, I’m back to wondering who faked it? (Or on whose command was it done). And it seems to me that one of the more likely culprits is Ben – since at the time he had contact with the outside world, and probably many connections, and he knew where 815 really was and didn’t want them going anywhere. So maybe the pilot realizing that the Flight 815 footage was being staged – maybe he tipped off other people about it, and that led to this mission to find Ben? Somebody realized what Ben was up to?
Nice little bit with the gas masks. “What are these for?” “Uh… I don’t know, I’m not in charge of… packing…” A little reminder of how Ben and the Others wiped out Dharma. Maybe the boat folks had the same plans for the Others?
I really liked this episode, a lot more than the first one.
I was thinking some sort of “afterlife” or “paranormal” thing through most of the episode, seeing the plane (the entire thing) on the bottom of the ocean. We all know that the plane was not in the ocean but on the island. I have a feeling the writers wanted us to think that too…and then the moment with the Drunk Pilot telling the Oceanic people that the body DEFINITELY was not the real pilot we were all to say “aha! So there is indeed a fake wreck!”
Also, the fact that there was a team doing a very planned dive in that location makes it seem more likely that whoever faked that wreck purposely planted it where it would be found.
mshar253 … I seem to recall that the “hippie farm” sequences were important for us to get to know the “internal struggle” that is John Locke. I honestly do not remember the specifics but I do remember that we learned something important about him during those sequences.
Kytheria - what do you mean about Claire’s story getting played out? I feel like I am missing something…
BTW, Daniel Faraday is a “science” name and Lapidus (Drunk Pilot) might be an important name too.
Who’s Charles? The author was Clive Staples Lewis.
As far as name connections go, my thought was that Daniel Faraday was a reference to Michael Faraday, but perhaps this is just seeing images in clouds. Not that the references ever seem to be terribly substantial.