When Lost ended its third season with a flash-forward, fans were buzzing with excitement. Would every flashback now be replaced by a flash-forward? How else can Lost tell its characters’ stories?
As we’ve seen so far this season, flash-forwards seem to hit for characters we already know and flashbacks are implemented for the ones we don’t (Juliet, Faraday, Charlotte, etc.) But last night’s Locke-centric time-jump flashback worked pretty well—it revealed sides to Locke that we didn’t know, and inserted new questions into the mix. It felt a lot like the old Lost from seasons one and two, before complicated story lines started to make things murky.
Lots of spoilery stuff in the episode, so no more here. Make the jump for some thoughts.
- Alan Sepinwall over at the NJ Star-Ledger has an interesting thought on Richard: Is he immortal, or can he travel through time? When he showed up both at Locke’s baby bedside and again later on, he looked the same—as he did when he recruited young Ben a while back. Thus, many people’s first thought was to assume that he doesn’t age, and that the island has a sort of timeless quality to it, devoid of the normal aging rules of the real world. Or, maybe its healing properties means no signs of aging (bottle that, Women’s Product Company!). But consider that Ben’s been messing with some time traveling, and perhaps Richard knows how to do the same. He used to be the leader, right? That’s what Ben meant last night when he said he wasn’t always in charge, I think?
- Perhaps the most shocking revelation: What did Christian do to Claire to make her all lobotomized and stuff? And if Christian isn’t Jacob, who/what is?
- Seeing the leader of Widmore’s gang (Lt. Daniels on The Wire) with Locke last night had me wondering: Is he also an Other? Did Widmore recruit him to helm the extraction (or, as we know now, burning) mission because he used to be on the other side? I just couldn’t fathom that Widmore would send him to talk to Locke the way he did—cluing him in to the island’s healing properties. Widmore would want that kept secret.
- I was also racking my brain trying to remember if we knew for certain that Locke’s con man dad was actually his father. Because we found out he actually wasn’t, but then they later hinted that he was. But then they hinted that he wasn’t. I guess if we’re to assume that he is not, then Locke’s father is still at large, and is possibly someone we already know. So he’s an older man to Locke’s teenager mom in the 1950s. No one springs to mind, unless the dad is another one of the Others traveling through time.
- Locke drawing the smoke monster as a little kid? Aaaaah!
Anyone else have some thoughts?
FINALLY!!! been waiting for the blog :-) I told you yesterday that Claire is dead and I think this episode just proved that theory even further. The Claire we saw last night is A. A Ghost B. Jacob C. Smoky D. All of the above
As far as Locke’s dad goes, it has to be his dad because he was a match to donate ( I have no idea how donations work but I would imagine everyone is not a match for everyone). I do like the theory that someone from the island impregnanted his mom though…interesting
Very interesting theory on Richard.
-Yep, at the moment, it feels like the Orderly is on both sides (recruting for Widmore but also recruiting for the Island). I have no idea how to reconcile that.
-Maybe this is a pretty obvious observation, but whenever one of the Island’s visitors shows up in “real” life, there is always a smoking reference…have you noticed? There’s a “no smoking” sign behind Hurley when Charlie shows up. The smoke alarm goes off in the hospital–prompting Jack to head into the lobby where he sees his Dad, Locke’s grandma lights up before Richard shows up at the window. Is this just the Lost-creators having fun with viewers, or a bigger clue (smoke…smoke monster…y’know?).
-Question: Is Locke really meant to be the leader? I know he wants to be (he even did as a kid, right? with picking up the knife??), but maybe it isn’t his destiny. This theme keeps popping up and it did again last night. His science teacher says he can’t be the quarterback.
-My head hurts thinking about the time diff b’twn the island and everywhere else. The fact that Daniel calls the boat to ask what happened to the (slit-throat) doctor and that the boat peeps get the call BEFORE the doc is killed (and well before the time it’d take for him to wash up on shore). Weird.
-Steve, good thought on Locke’s “real” Dad. Could it be…Widmore? He’s the only guy we’ve seen who’d be old enough?