I really hope there’s a good, in-story reason why the guy in charge had to be Japanese. Having to hear him always talk through the translator is annoying, as far as we know at the moment, they could easily have made the guy in charge be an English speaker. All of the Others whom we’ve met so far are.
I’m sure it’s been mentioned, but Boone specifically said that he “failed” in his mission to bring Shannon home. Ergo, she’s not on the plane.
Sorry if this has already been covered, but are we supposed to know or presume that ATL flight is in 2007, and not 2004? So everyone had 3 extra years before the flight, but the storylines are still pretty much the same as to why they went to Australia (3 years later)?
I think the presumtion is that the flight we saw this week was the original 815 in 2004. Or rather, an altered version of it, but still taking place in 2004. While the island scenes were 2007.
He’s a Jedi.
The character speaks English. He’s just a dick.
I think they made the leader of the temple Others Japanese in keeping with the multi-national nature of the cast.
That possibly wasn’t a “fire” but some sort of a mystical thing that only looks like a “fire” to mortal humans.
Related: Why did water cause the Wicked Witch of the West to melt? 
Regarding broadcasts in Australia…
Thanks GuanoLad!!
middleman:
I know that, but from the viewers’ perspective (an audience overwhelmingly made up of Anglophones), can’t and won’t are equally annoying. I hope there’s a real, in-story reason the producers saddled us with the wasted time of speak Japanese/translator speak English. I mean, we’ll be putting up with this all season long, I imagine.
Also, the actress who played Shannon is now filming a movie and couldn’t work the first part of season six filming into her schedule, although they’re hoping to get her into later episodes.
Why don’t they subtitle Japanese guy’s dialogue? I realize there’s a translator, but we’re obviously not getting everything; we know they’re not subtitle-averse because we’ve had plenty of subtitled Korean, with a smattering of Russian, Arabic, and probably other languages I’m forgetting as well.
I think you have your answer right there.
I’m pretty sure that in the past, foreign languages have not be translated if they were speaking to English speakers… If the characters (Jack, Kate, et. al.) are in the dark as to the meaning of what the character is speaking, we the viewers are generally left in the dark too.
Yeah I’m really surprised at the amount of animus with regards to the Temple. The Temple (and current status of Cindy and the kids) is one of the long standing mysteries! It’s like being annoyed in the previous season’s finale about this new character Jacob they are introducing… Any “new” thing that is the answer to one of the mysteries isn’t really “new”.
And given all of the episodes with Jin and Sun and Sayid flashbacks, I’m doubly confused at the animus for a foreign language.
Some people just like animus, jackdavinci. I agree wwith you - it’s a little late to get bummed about foreign languages. and I wanted to know about the temple & I’m intrigued by what part the stewardess plays.
By the way, the transcript for the episode, including most of the translation for the Japanese, is up at lostpedia. (Windows users: Ctrl+F for Dogen and it will bring you down to that part)
I’m probably more confused now than at any point in the series. Based on what we have seen so far I think we are looking at 2 timelines, which most of us seem to agree with. I am trying to get the 2 timelines straight in my head. I may turn out to be wrong but what I have so far seems to fit with what we have been shown, at least as it relates to the timelines.
Timeline 1:
This timeline is what we have been watching since season 1 and follows everyone currently on the island. They were on a plane (episode 1) and it crashed. Everything that happened to them since then has only happened to them. Their counterparts in timeline 2 did not have any of these experiences. They go back in time to 1977(?), and the bomb explodes. I think this is the point of divergence and timeline #2 is created. The Losties are transported (Back to the Future!) to 2007(?) in timeline 1 and that is where we start season 6. They think the reset did not work, but it did, however THIS timeline apparently did NOT change or reset. The reset kicked off another timeline.
Timeline 2:
The bomb goes off, the Losties get sent to the future in timeline 1 and the island sinks in timeline 2. How can an island sink? I don’t know! It hasn’t been revealed yet but the island is clearly not normal so who knows what is possible. Time moves forward normally for the next 30 or so years in this alternate timeline and we pick things back up to see most of the Lost characters on the plane that would have crash landed in timeline 1 episode 1 but since the island has been underwater for almost 30 years the events that cause the crash never happen. Charles Widmore most likely drowned when the island sank and so never had Penny and she never met Desmond and Desmond never tried to sail around the world to prove himself and never ended up on the island and therefore never caused the original plane crash. Why was Desmond briefly shown on the plane? No idea.
Most of the Dharma folks on the Island at the time of the explosion are probably dead in timeline 2, except for those that may have been near the sub when the bomb went off. Since this is an alternate timeline many of the characters lives will be slightly different here and there. Hurley thinks he is lucky, Jack’s hair is slightly different, etc. Some will never meet. I would guess, for example, that in this timeline, since most of the Others have been dead and underwater for 30 years, Juliet will never have been to the Island because Ben will not have talked her into going to the island to do research. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Ben around anyway having somehow survived the explosion. And if he survived maybe Richard did too.
So where does that leave us? I don’t know. Maybe we will see events moving quickly forward in timeline 2 until they converge with timeline 1 in 2007. Some characters from each timeline will die heroically (or not) to correct the timelines and we’ll end up with a new single timeline with elements of both.
Btw, I hope they show Juliet’s ex-therapist (Godwin’s wife) at the temple. That’s where she’s assumed to be, and I liked the actress.
Oh, and the smoke monster did to the ash encircled bodyguard what Green Lantern should always do to yellow colored foes. Attack indirectly.
jackdavinci:
I don’t have an inherent animus for foreign language, if being foreign is integral to the character. If Sayid wasn’t in the Iraqi army, a lot of the tension in the first season regarding his character would have been missing, as well as his torture skills and his reason for being in Australia to start the series. If Jin and Sun weren’t foreign, much of the plot in the first season surrounding Jin’s frustration at being unable to communicate, as well as the big secret that Sun knew English but didn’t want him to know she knew…that was important to the plot, and the rough nature of big business and class structure in Korea was important to Jin’s and Sun’s characters. Rousseau was French, but spoke accented English. Mikhail was Russian, but he also spoke accented English except when he was deliberately being secretive.
My issue here is that we’re getting the guy’s dialog translated, so there’s no language barrier from him to the Losties (unless the translator is not faithful to his meaning, in which case there’s a plot reason for the device - I don’t mind that, but we have not been given any reason to believe the translator is unfaithful, and the transcript on Lostpedia seems to indicate the translator is faithful), and he understands English, so there’s no language barrier from the Losties to him, so…why do we, the viewers, need to hear him speak Japanese and then have the hippie translate? Is there something being accomplished here by the leader of the Temple Others being Japanese that could not have been accomplished with an English-speaker in the role? Widmore and Richard and Eloise and Ilana and all Others we encountered speak English without difficulty or discomfort.
one minor nitpick about when our Losties were giving their names to the Japanese guy and translator.
Jin should not have said Jin-Soo Kwon. should have been Kwon Jin-Soo. I’m pretty sure Koreans still have last name first and given name second.
Another thing, where was the Japanese part that wasn’t translated by the translator dude. I thought I remember hearing the Japanese dude say something that wasn’t translated and we have no idea about.
i think i found the part and it wasn’t translated the bolded part. from Lostpedia
"[Dogen, others, and Losties walk to spring]
LENNON: The water isn’t clear - what happened?
**
DOGEN: [speaks Japanese] [he goes to spring, cuts his palm with a knife]**
KATE: What is he doing?
JACK: I don’t know.
[Dogen dips his bleeding hand into spring, bringing it out still bleeding]
DOGEN: [speaks Japanese while pointing at Sayid]
LENNON: [pointing at Sayid] Who did this to him? "