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Lost 5.11: Whatever Happened, Happened

Oh, Losties! Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? I missed last week’s Lost episode (my promised Sayid episode) because I was on a Disney Cruise. Let’s all pause for a moment and let that deliciousness sink in. Ahhhh.

Now, back to Lost. I honestly wasn’t in love with last week’s episode. It seemed…I don’t know, boring. This week had the same feel—in that it was retro-Lost complete with honest-to-goodness flashbacks. But I liked it. Even being Kate-centric, I liked it. When that black screen o’Lost came up at the end, I said, “Are you kidding me?!” Like I read on twitter last night, “Lost is the shortest hour on television.” (or something like that—but ain’t it the truth?)

OK, let’s get to it. Even though this was a Kate episode, it was very character heavy. But, let’s start with Kate’s flashback…

We see Kate in “the real world” driving up to a typical suburban home, she gets out of the car, grabs a really cute little Aaron (probably about 6-7 months old because he looks like my little 6 month old pirate!). So, the timing is post-Island, post-Oceanic-Six. She’s singing him a little song about “catch a falling star” which has apparently been Aaron’s song. Instead of entering the house, she rings the doorbell and who answers? Ah, Cassidy! Sawyer’s baby mama and one true love (besides Kate and Juliet, of course).

Cassidy immediately recognizes Kate because they pulled their own con on Kate’s mom years before The Island. Cassidy is excited to see her because she had recognized Kate on all the Oceanic 6 news coverage. Kate begins to tell her that Sawyer sent her. Cassidy immediately recognizes that Kate loved Sawyer (or whatever it is that Kate might feel…). As Kate tells Sawyer’s story, Cassidy is unimpressed. She believes Sawyer jumped to get away from Kate and commitment. She also recognizes that Aaron is not Kate’s. And this begins a new friendship between the two.

Next we see Kate fleeing the marina (and Ben with Sun’s gun to his head). Aaron decides he wants a milk, so they stop at a grocery store. As they are walking around, Kate loses Aaron for a second. She begins to freak out and finally finds him holding onto a Claire look-alike’s hand. (That was freeaaaaky.)

She immediately runs for Cassidy’s house where a sweet Clementine opens the door and says, “Hi Aunty Kate!”. Kate tells Cassidy that when Aaron disappeared in the store her first thought was, “Finally. I knew it was going to happen.” Cassidy (who is apparently all knowing & can see everyone’s thoughts and feelings) says, “You think he’s going to be taken from you because you took him.” (OUCH.) Cassidy then tells her that Kate needed Aaron—to fill up that broken heart. The heart broken by Sawyer, I guess?

Next we see Kate knocking on Carol Littleton’s hotel room door. Carol Littleton, as in CLAIRE’S MAMA! Kate tells her who Aaron is and that Claire is alive. (Is she?) Kate tells her that she’s told Aaron Carol is his grandma and that Kate’s going to the Island to find Claire. She leaves Aaron sleeping in a motel to wake up to his new Aussie grandma. How stinkin’ weird is that?

And that, folks, is why Kate came back to The Island. And remarkably, I like that answer. I don’t like that she left a 3 year old sitting in a hotel room to wake up to a Grandma he’s never met. But I think it’s believable that she’d finally feel like she was the one “playing house” with Aaron.

I did not mean for that to be so long...let’s jump back to 1977 and The Island-ers…

The mini synopsis:
Jin finds young Ben bleeding to death on the jungle floor. Jin brings him to Juliet. Juliet can’t save him. She asks Sawyer to get Jack. Jack refuses to help. Kate freaks. She gives blood to save Ben and meets his dad Roger while she’s there. Juliet realizes the only person that can help Ben is Richard Alpert (aka Sexy Eyes). Kate loads Ben up in a Dharma van and heads for the jungle. Sawyer catches up and helps her. They discuss themselves. The Others find them. Richard shows up. He takes Ben into The Temple.

Now, character by character:

Young Ben. I KNEW HE WASN’T DEAD. All the speculation last week was “What happens if Ben dies?!” But I knew we couldn’t get away from Ben that easily. Poor little guy was bleeding out and asking for help and apologizing to his dad for stealing the keys to break Sayid out. I almost felt sorry for the little Harry-Potter-Lookin’-Future-Evil-Mastermind-Other-Wannabe.

Jin. When Jin woke up from being kung-fu-ed by Sayid, he picked young Ben up and put him in the Dharma van. (My husband yelled, “DROWN HIM!” He’s a sensitive guy, I tell you.) But, as we will see in a minute, Jin and the other Dharma-Losties have a grasp on they whys and wherefores of time travel per their time travel guru Daniel Faraday. (Who is still TOO absent!)

Jack. What is his freakin’ problem? He has suddenly turned all John Locke on us by believing that The Island has him there for a reason. Only when Sawyer approaches him to do something only he can do, he refuses. Even after Kate tries to persuade him, he won’t. He just sits there. He obviously believes he’s saving the future by not saving Ben. Kate looks at him and says, “I like the old Jack better.” Hmph. Well, I don’t like either Jack.

Juliet. Poor Juliet. Ever since I read Heather J’s comment about Juliet being doomed because of her name (as in “Romeo and”), I get sad every time I see Juliet. Juliet just likes her life. She likes Sawyer. She likes saving babies. And now everything is unraveling. When Jack refuses to help, she runs into their house and verbally attacks him. (He, by the way, just got out of the shower and for some reason, this is not weird.) She says, “WE DID NOT NEED SAVING.” She accuses him of coming back to The Island for himself…not for anyone else. (I didn’t get this conversation. I’m not sure if she’s mad because Kate is back possibly ruining her life with Sawyer. Or if she’s upset because they are all back, ruining their life in “the real world”. What do you think?)

Kate. She is ridiculously excited to help Ben. I’m not sure if it’s her new status as “caring mom” or what. She tries to convince Jack, she gives blood, she talks to Roger Linus, she carts Ben off to The Others and she has no qualms about it. I felt a little like Roger thought she was flirting with him. (How weird would THAT be?)

Roger Linus. Poor guy. He confesses to Kate that he thought he was going to be the world’s greatest dad. You could see the fear and disappointment in his eyes as he watched Ben. Not disappointment in Ben, but in himself and their relationship. Maybe that’s why Kate wanted to help Ben so much—she connected to Roger on a parent-al level.

Sawyer. Once Kate carts Ben up, Sawyer catches up with her at the sonar-fence-thingie. Kate asks, “Why are you helping me?” He says that Juliet told him that it doesn’t matter who Ben MIGHT be, right now he’s just a kid. He says, “I’m doing this for her.” (SCORE! TWO POINTS FOR SULIET!) As they walk through the jungle, Kate brings up Clementine. Kate tells Sawyer that Clementine has his smile. Finally Sawyer says, “You and I would have never worked out, Kate.” She says, “You’re doing all right with Juliet.” (Did you totally hear a whiny kid in there?) He says, “I’ve done a lot of growing up the past three years.” I loved this from him. He recognized his selfish behavior, his (shall I say it?) lust and even his insecurities. Now he’s a much fuller man. In part (if not mostly) due to his relationship with Juliet. Their conversation is cut short because of…

The Others. They approach with guns raised and are dressed in their finest grungy native-y garb. (WHY?) Sawyer tells them they need to see Richard or otherwise Ben will die. After a few minutes of walking through the jungle, Sexy Eyes himself appears…

Richard Alpert. He is dressed in (per Doc Jensen) Banana Republic best. (WHY?) He says, “Hello James.” Then asks if the boy is Benjamin Linus. Sawyer is surprised. Kate interjects something (waaaah-waah-waaah) and Richard looks at her with disdain, “Who are you?” They ask if Richard will save Ben’s life. Richard’s response? (Wait…I’m about to transcribe it…)

“If I take him, he’s not ever gonna be the same again…he’ll forget this happened…his innocence will be gone…he will always be one of us.

(HOLY COW.)

(HOLY STINKIN’ COW.)

Sawyer and Kate look at each other and for some unknown reason, they say, “OK, Sexy Eyes, take him away and turn him into our arch nemesis. M’kay. Bye.”

Random Other protests and tells Richard to check with Ellie and Charles. (Oh, ho!) Richard says, “I don’t answer to either of them.” REALLY?!

Richard takes Ben into the jungle and then enters The Temple. (UHM. Doesn’t Smokey LIVE THERE?!)

And suddenly, it’s present day. Like 2007.

Grown up Ben wakes up in the Hydra station with a very much alive John Locke looking over his bed. Locke says, “Welcome to the land of the living.” Ben is uncharacteristically SHOCKED.

THE END.

My most favorite scene I haven’t even mentioned yet:

Hurley & Miles. Sawyer puts Jack, Kate & Hurley under house arrest while Juliet is working on Ben. He doesn’t want them to do anything stupid. While they are sitting around, Hurley begins to examine his hand. He wonders if it is going to disappear a la Back to the Future. (HA! How many times have I a-la-ed Back to the Future?!) Miles then explains that they can’t change the future or the past. This is the way it’s always gone down…they just never experienced it for themselves until now. They have several awesome conversations about this…you’d think the writers just grabbed a couple of posts from the Lost messageboard and forums because I swear I’ve uttered every word Miles and Hurley spouted! Finally, Hurley asks why Ben didn’t remember Sayid killing him as a kid. Miles is stumped on this one. But now we know why…(see Richard’s comment above.)

(Seriously, did anyone transcribe their conversations? I’d love to re-read them! Please leave a link in the comments if you’ve seen it somewhere!)

Theories & Stuff To Talk About
1. Richard Alpert. My new favorite theory about him is from ew.com’s Doc Jensen. He suggests that Richard is like a sphinx. He “guards” The Island (or The Others) and if you best him, you become the leader. He will serve you until you get knocked from top spot…then he’ll serve whoever did the knocking. I LIKE THIS.

2. The Temple. What in the world is Richard going to do to Ben?! This answers so many questions about our Island Golden Boy. BUT. Now that Locke has been resurrected is he going to “know” more about The Island than Ben? Than Richard? Is he equal to Christian?

3. Rebirth. I’ve read a few things about everyone’s “new” lives: Sawyer is the new Jack, Jack is the new Locke, Locke is the new Christian (or maybe the new Ben), etc. What do you think? Have these three years changed our Losties so completely?

4. Jack. Ha! Ha! So, Jack thinks he was saving the world from Evil Grown Up Ben, when in fact, if Dr. Jack would have intervened, young Ben would have kept his innocence and the world will be a different place. Sorry Jack and Sayid. Revenge doesn’t work–not in the past, present or the future! Whatever happened, happened. Period.

Conclusion
Whew, I think I about covered it. I wanna hear what you have to say…

(i’m at ohamanda.com all week or twittering @Oohamanda)

20 thoughts on “Lost 5.11: Whatever Happened, Happened”

  1. Pingback: ohamanda.com » *sigh* (and *double sigh*)

  2. This was a fantastic episode review, much better than my own – although it’s hard to be thorough when you’re liveblogging it!

    I’ve always been a Skate fan, and while I’m unhappy that they aren’t together, I can appreciate that Juliet and Sawyer are happy together.

    I got a really creepy vibe from that little Richard speech you transcribed. *shudder*

  3. Oh how I missed your recap last week. Awesome this week as always! Glad you enjoyed your cruise, lucky girl!

  4. Well, it’s kinda true and not true at the same time. Jack didn’t respond, so whatever happened happened. To say that IF he had saved Ben time would be different…isn’t true because “whatever happened happened.”

    That made sense, right?! LOL!

  5. The Miles/Hurley conversations were the funniest parts of last night. I couldn’t stop laughing.

    When did we previously meet Cassidy, because I don’t remember it.

    Definitely some interesting theories. We seem to be in the exposition part of the season, setting things up for a major climax.

    And I certainly want to know if Clarie is still alive or not.

    So many questions, so few episodes left. Ever.

    (BTW, this is me not speaking to you because we didn’t get your recap last week. And because you were on a Disney cruise, something I haven’t gotten to do you.)

  6. I forgive you for not speaking to me. Because the cruise was so fun it might be worth it! KIDDING.

    Cassidy was the girl Sawyer conned…not sure of the episode. They really loved each other and then she discovered it was a con. She showed up at the prison when Sawyer was in jail to show him a pic of Clementine. Kate also met her and did a little conning w/her, too.

  7. I have to agree that Lost is the shortest hour on television–how many commercial breaks were there last night?

    We’re getting roughly 42 to 43 minutes of actual show–in a time slot that’s actually running to 10:01 or 10:02 (EDT). This ratio of ads to show is getting worse, I’m afraid. At what point will the creep of more and more ad time in a 60 minute show stop? Will it get to 20 minutes? 22?

    No wonder I feel Grumpy. :-)

  8. What I liked best about this episode was that it showed that Sayid’s action of shooting young Ben and Jack’s inaction to save young Ben both contributed into making adult Ben.

    Also, we find out that both Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore are still on the island in 1977 as Richard says that he doesn’t need to talk to them when he takes young Ben to The Temple.

    What bothered me about this episode was that Ben’s gunshot wound moved from his left (heart) side to his right. Given that I don’t see Sayid missing, I would have preferred that Ben has something like Situs Inversus (organs are “reversed”)

    1. Yeah, I was thinking about Widmore’s time frame…we knew he was on The Island for 3 decades (per his convo w/Locke)…but if he just got there in 1954 (or whatever it was), that means he’d be there until the 80’s. Hmmmm….

      And yeah, Sayid shoulda/coulda been a better shot.

  9. Yes, I did miss you last week!

    I actually like Jack’s new attitude; I think he’s doing a bit of growing up and realizing that he cannot save everyone. He likes not being in charge. I also love how he dissed Kate! Then Sawyer dissed her too! Sorry Kate, you’re outta luck with the fellas. Better chase your enemies daddy. (ewwwww)

    Thought it was a good episode overall. I feel like the writers are using time travel to read our blog posts/comments then traveling back to the past to write the episodes using our very conversations in their scripts! The last two weeks felt like that!

  10. Great recap, as always. I love reading recaps, but I think I am going to layoff reading all the message boards and theories. After the last two episodes, while there were some Ah-ha! moments, I’ve felt let down. And I think it’s because I had read so much before hand that I wasn’t surprised enough. And I, too, have wondered if the writers read all the kooky and not so kooky theories to help them flesh out the script and make readers happy because they “figured it out.” Jaded idea, I know.

    When I heard Miles’ and Hurley’s conversation, I actually thought, Oh this is good! because it does echo so many of the time travel arguments. And for Hurley to have stumped Miles was the best. I am starting to like Miles now.

    At first I thought Jack was acting like a wuss, but then decided that he is just taking anew approach to the Island. What he was doing before they left wasn’t working so well, and if I remember correctly he was a reluctant leader thrust into the position in the first place. And now he’s not letting anyone push him into anything he doesn’t want to do.

    And why wasn’t he surprised to see Juliet in the bathroom when he stepped our of the shower? Even if he expected a confrontation with her (and I am sure he did), in the shower? Really?

    I thought the Ben story line worked well and answered questions. Was getting a sense of where Richard would take Ben during his conversation with Sawyer, so I wasn’t totally surprised when he showed up at the temple. But still thought it was awesome. And it makes me a little sympathetic (just a little) toward Ben because if Ol’ Smokey got to him (a la those french guys), then is it really his fault he is the way he is? I mean, has his free will been taken from him? And it also makes me wonder if the Others are really (because of Ol’ Smokey) just android-ish kind of guardians of the Island with no real significance beyond that.

    I can’t figure out if Jack and Sayid thought they were preventing Bad Ben or if they knew that no matter what they did their actions would contribute to Bad Ben. Either way, the theory behind it is cool.

    The best part, by far, was Locke’s line to Ben, “Welcome to the land of the living.” And then he grinned when he saw the shock in Ben’s eyes. I almost expected one of his creepy orange peel smiles.

    Sorry to hijack your comment section. Keep the recaps coming!

    1. I totally don’t want any spoilers! I can’t read anything about anything until I’ve finished watching the episode.

      I don’t know. I really think Jack is central to all this. But he’s such a bore. I didn’t like him as the allpowerfulkingoftheisland and I don’t really like the sensitivefaithbelieverintheisland either.

      Your thoughts on The Others/Smokey/etc are good. I want to think more about FREE WILL as it relates to all them. That’s interesting.

      “Welcome to the land of the living.” It was said dripping with meaning. I can’t wait to get back to that scene.

  11. Ok, here’s my theory on Faraday …

    “Ellie” is actually Faraday’s mom, Mrs. Hawking. (She is also POSSIBLY young Charles Widmore’s girlfriend/wife.) Faraday went a bit loopy after all the time travel stuff and defected to The Others to join his mother, who he knew would be there. Then he spends the next several years teaching her all she needs to know so that in the “future” she can send the O6 back to the island (like we saw her do earlier this season) and MAYBE even fix the timeline for everyone.

    Crazy theory or possible explanation? You decide.

    1. That is a cool theory. I hadn’t thought of that. I’d just assumed he left on the sub to try and figure out some more time travel stuff.

      1. I definitely agree with Heather that Ellie=Mrs. Hawking=Widmore’s baby mama=Farday’s mom. Now him defecting to The Others makes a lot of sense, too. He’s definitely off doing some whacky stuff w/time travel.

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