Well, Michael as the mole might not have been a surprise to the hardcore fans, but "Meet Kevin Johnson" was a fantastic "missing pieces" type of flashback that answered the much harder question, "what happened to Michael between leaving the island and meeting Sayid and Desmond on the freighter?" Of course we still don't know how they were rescued, but that may just not be significant. Clearly, what happened to Michael after he got back is.
Distraught over what he's done, he confides in Walt, who subsequently wants nothing to do with him. This drives him into a deeper depression, leading to his suicide attempts. These suicide attempts lead to two reunions of sorts: Libby and Tom.
Libby is an interesting case, especially the first time, in the hospital, because it could easily be explained as a guilt induced dream. The fact that he sees and hears her again when he's wide awake on the freighter leads me to believe that even if he was asleep or unconscious in the hospital, the vision was still "sent" by whatever force was at work during the freighter appearance.
But what is that force? Now, I have generally assumed that the apparitions are working for the good of the island, or maybe even manifestations of the island itself, but for the time being, I'm going to assume that not all "apparitions" are on the same side nor from the same source. Libby says, "Don't do it, Michael," when she appears on the freighter. If she is speaking on behalf of the island, that means that the freighties are the good guys, and Ben the bad guy, right?
Ben might be selfish and possessive, but I don't believe he wants any harm to come to the island. It's also very difficult to believe that Widmore wants anything other than to exploit the island. So for whom is "Libby" speaking, and why does that entity not want Michael to set off the bomb?
The question of who is the good guy, Ben or Widmore, has been hotly debated for a while now, and of course TPTB are deliberately keeping us guessing. We now have the two sides explicitly blaming the other for the freckage. Who to believe?
In "Ji Yeon", Captain Gault tells Sayid and Desmond that Ben is responsible for the freckage, and the fact of the 324 dead bodies that were necessary is part of why they want to talk to him.
This doesn't ring true to me, for a couple of reasons. One, Widmore definitely does not strike me as a humanitarian. I doubt he cares about people being killed or dug up. And even if he does, why is it his business to track down the perpetrator?
On the other hand, can Tom be believed? He at least has documents to back up his claim that Widmore is behind the freckage, but a picture of excavated graves proves nothing, and the purchase order for the plane could easily have been faked by people with the Others' resources.
The bottom line is they both have the same motivation: keeping other people from finding the island. However, I am still more likely to believe Ben over Widmore. Ben has demonstrated some sense of morality, whereas Widmore hasn't.
Miles also didn't deny that the orders were to capture Ben and kill everyone else. Even Daniel, the most trustworthy of the freighties, has indicated that rescue of the Losties is not part of the plan. If the 815 survivors are not worthy of saving, or even keeping alive, then why would Widmore care where the bodies on the freckage come from?
I think at this point, Ben is more trustworthy than the freighter folk, excepting Ben's "innocent people", which I'm guessing includes Daniel and Frank. Therefore, for the time being, I'm going with the freckage being planted by Widmore, although the "trustworthiness" of Ben doesn't really disprove that he was behind it. However, we are supposed to know for sure by the end of the season!
This leads me back to Libby. Why does she say, "Don't do it"? Is it possible that her appearance on the freighter is just a guilt induced hallucination? Some people have reported hearing the whispers right before her appearance. I've watched it twice, and I don't think you can really hear whispers, which as far as I'm concerned would prove a relationship to the other apparitions. You do however hear the Mama Cass song that was playing on Michael's car radio when he crashed.
I think it makes more sense that she is an apparition, but I have no idea why she tries to dissuade Michael.
In other news, we finally get confirmation that Tom "Kate, you're not my type" Friendly is the gay character TPTB told us about. Not that important, but definitive answers are hard to come by on this show. ;-)
Also, the Temple is apparently another Dharma station? I guess (and I know I'm not alone) I originally thought the Temple was really a temple, not necessarily used as such by the Others, but maybe by the creators of the four-toed statue. But on the map, the spot is clearly marked with a Dharma logo, although the picture isn't clear enough to make out the station-specific picture, and I haven't seen any enhanced screencaps or anyhting to shed light on that particular detail. Nevertheless, it now seems like the Temple might be a sealed environment, safe from the gas that might have been released from the Tempest.
In the OMG department: They shot Danielle! Is she really dead? Carl, we don't care about so much. He seems nice enough, and we're sorry for Alex, and we'd like to know why he was in room 23 and what happened to him in there, but ultimately, not a central character.
Danielle, on the other hand, has always been kind of mysterious and definitely interesting, and we've always wanted to see her backstory. So far, dead characters have shown up as apparitions, in dreams, or in flashbacks, but none have ever been fleshed out any more than they already were when they died.
And yet, TPTB promised us a Danielle flashback. Were they lying? I suspect she's not really dead. We saw Carl's wound; we didn't see Rousseau's. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I have one word for you: Mikhail. How many times did he "die"? And what about Locke and his gunshot? We know the island heals, we also now know that it prevents the death of anyone with "work to do". (Locke, Jack, Michael, and maybe... Danielle?) And plus, we were promised a flashback! She can't be dead!
So anyway, we now enter the five week hiatus, during which we will have a lot to discuss and disseminate. So I'm going to leave it there for now, but as always,
Namaste!
4 comments:
I think Libby was speaking on behalf of the innocents aboard the ship. Michael has already killed enough innocents for one lifetime, and I can see how she would be the champion of those innocents, at least in his mind. Is she an actual apparition? Possibly, but like you mentioned, I'm becoming kmore uncertain of just exactly what each apparition might be. Did you listen to The Official Podcast? They play a little game where they throw out names of apparitions, and then Damon reveals whether they are ghost, monster, hallucination, etc. I take it all with a grain of salt, but it does indicate that they're not all the same thing.
I know we just got actual confirmation, but please, who didn't know Tom was gay? I knew it the second he uttered the "you're not my type" line! SO obvious! And I still think he might have had a little thing for Ben. Although obviously, his taste runs more toward the Paolo type. I would really love to know a bit more about Tom. I'm sorry he's dead because we'll get no flashback of his life. Although hopefully, we'll get more info on him in other flashbacks. I'd love to know who he was before becoming involved with the Island. Was he recruited? Was he a member of the Black Rock crew? I'd love to know someday before May 2010.
Interesting that there is debate as to whether Widmore is a good guy, or Ben. I firmly believe neither is a good guy. One of them is responsible for the wreckage, and does it really matter which? The reason for it is the same: keep people from getting too close to the island. IS Ben telling the truth about Widmore's intentions? Maybe, maybe not, I'm not sure. Widmore does not come across as a good guy, but you never know. Is Ben all bad? I don't think so, but to refer to an earlier analogy of mine, he's definitely the Magneto type. His methods are questionable, but he is working towards a goal with good intentions I think.
It hadn't occurred to me until I just read J. Wood's blog (any reason we can't know this guy's first name btw?) but the temple being The Temple Station is quite an interesting idea, and likely very true. I too expected it to be an actual ancient temple, because of the the four-toed statue, and perhaps there still IS a temple as well. Why else to name a station near it The Temple? But it makes sense that there would be a reason Alex et al would be safe there, namely a sealed Dharma station. Although, another reason I believe there to be a real temple there is that Ben said only Others could go there. Does that mean it is a place only for members of Jacob's list? If so, doesn't it stand to reason there might be more there than a Dharma station? Like an ancient holy place that could only be people by the chosen ones?
I'm also hoping Danielle isn't dead. It would be far too bleak to have her finally reunited with her kidnapped child, only to die a few days later. And like you said, they promised us a Danielle flashback! I like Carl, but I can deal with his death. Anyway, I have a feeling dead or not, we'll see him again.
Who are the shooters? I don't think it is The Others. Not sure if they have silencers for their high powered sniper rifles or not, but it seems harsh even for them to shoot people in cold blood, especially Carl. More likely that it is Keamy and some other dastardly freighter mercenaries, who are there quite obviously for one reason only. To kill Islanders. We already know they have high tech machine guns, it would stand to reason they alo brought some high powered sniper rifles of their own, perhaps even silenced weapons? We know Frank left the ship, and we didn't see any of those jackasses on it during Michael's episode. I think Frank flew those a-holes to the island so they could start taking care of business. And it stands to reason there is a reason for Alex to start shouting that she's Ben's daughter. I think we're about to see another of LOST's trademark hostage situations.
I hadn't noticed until I read J. Wood that there were more background instances of freighter craziness. The axe in the wall, more bloodsplatters on walls. Some crazy weird shit has been going down on the ship, and I think it's fitting that Wood called it a floating Overlook Hotel! So, why are the covering up the ship's name? And what are those symbols??? Something to do with the ancient culture of the island? The Lemurians? Will it help the ship approach the island? Can I wait five weeks for the answers??? Aaaaargh!
I think Libby was speaking on behalf of the innocents aboard the ship.
This would indicate she's just in Michael's mind, because otherwise, wouldn't she know that the bomb is fake? I guess that's not a given, but I tend to think the apparitions, whatever they may be (see below), are strongly connected to the island itself, which exhibits an apparent omniscience.
Did you listen to The Official Podcast? They play a little game where they throw out names of apparitions, and then Damon reveals whether they are ghost, monster, hallucination, etc. I take it all with a grain of salt, but it does indicate that they're not all the same thing.
I had the same thought. I didn't necessarily think Damon was giving "real" answers, but I did think it was interesting that he said "monster" for some, but not all. I've always mantained that they're not all manifestations of Smokey.
I would really love to know a bit more about Tom. I'm sorry he's dead..hopefully, we'll get more info on him in other flashbacks.
Ditto that. MC Gainey was great in this episode though, eh?
Regarding the shooters, I don't believe the Others had silencers, and I agree, sniping more or less innocent people doesn't seem to be their style. It does seem likely that it's Keamy, et al. I hope Frank doesn't know what the "errand" is, cause he seems like a decent fellow, but then again, if Daniel knows the freighter is not benevolent, then why wouldn't Frank?
I think Libby was not just in his head, and I don't think the bomb is fake. I could be wrong, but since it said "not YET," I thought it was just that they wanted him to save it for later. Because had he detonated it right then, he would have killed innocents, but perhaps at a later time he won't? Or perhaps at a later time, Widmore will be on board? I'm sure ben would like him to catch some of that blast. Actually lots of it!
At this point I'm not sure ANY of the apparitions are Smokey manifesting into images of people's memories. Yemi seems like the most likely example of that, but perhaps Smokey is just the henchman, if you will, of whatever entity IS manifesting himself into them. Like maybe Jacob or whoever decides that they are guilty and then sics Smokey on them?
M.C. Gainey was fantastic in this episode, but he always is. He just had some exceptionally great lines in this one.
I would imagine Frank flew the Keamy team onto the island, but might not necessarily know what their mission is. He may of course have an idea that the people behind the freighter aren't cool. But he does seem like a good guy. But maybe not good enough to put himself in harm's way for someone else, eh?
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