Lost 5.3: JUGHEAD

I have absolutely no idea what happened on Lost last night. But I loved every minute! Time travel is one of my favorite devices and last night’s episode was chock-full of it. I’m pretty sure this is how the rest of this season will be. A confusing mass of skipping ahead and back and crossing over and under the time of the last four seasons! (Bad 1955 anyone?) So, let’s get right to it. I’m sure this recap will make no sense whatsoever but I’ll do the best I can.

Ready?

Begin.

The “Real” World
We begin with Desmond running through a cramped sweaty village looking for a doctor. When he finally finds (the cramped sweaty) doctor, they run to  Penny’s boat to see (and help) Penny deliver a child, a little boy. (And as a side note: childbirth is much harder and longer than that. Just sayin’.)

Our time transition music plays and we see Des snuggling with a cute curly haired little preschool aged boy (the aforementioned baby) and talking about an island (lowercase “i”), Great Britain. Penny and Des then have a conversation typical of every married couple–he wants to do something and she doesn’t want him to do it. Per the Desmond/Faraday “memory” of last week, Desmond is going to Cambridge to find Faraday’s mother. Penny is not happy about it—or about being in proximity of her dear old dad, Mr. Charles Widmore.

When Desmond arrives at Cambridge, the people-librarian (seriously, what was her job?) has no idea who Faraday is. She convinces Desmond that there was never a Faraday in employment. But after a little breaking and entering, Des finds Faraday’s lab dilapidated and covered with cloths. He has a little chat with a maintenance-janitory type guy and discovers that Faraday’s absence is because of  something bad he did to a girl.

(When they couldn’t find Faraday on the computer, I *so* thought that when Desmond originally visited Faraday in “The Constant” it must have been waaay in the future! Wouldn’t that have been cool?!)

Desmond heads to this girl’s home and is greeted by her sister. It is obvious she has nothing but distaste for Daniel Faraday. And we soon discover why–her sister is lying in a hospital bed, a vegetable being supported by machines. The sister tells Desmond that she’s only alive because of the support from none other than Charles Widmore. (Yes, the same Widmore who wants to kill Desmond and everyone on The Island.) Apparently Widmore had supported Faraday’s work and when this happened, Widmore continued to support the results of Faraday’s experiments.

Oh, Brotha’!  Desmond is ticked and runs straight to Widmore’s office. (Exactly what wifey, Penny did NOT want!) He demands that Widmore tell him where Faraday’s mom is. Widmore is surprisingly cooperative and not remotely scary–he tells Desmond to protect Penny by going back into hiding because this business has been going on for many many years. He then gives Desmond Faraday’s mother’s address in…wait for it…LOS ANGELES!

Is it possible Widmore is not a complete baddie? Or is he glad that Faraday’s mom is going to break bad on Desmond in Los Angeles?

And oh, we also discover the name of Penny & Desmond’s offspring—CHARLIE. *sniff, sniff*

The Island

We really have two converging stories here…

First is the Faraday crew. They are attacked by the military-ish guys we met last week. They are taken to the military camp where we meet their leader, none other than Sexy Eyes himself, Richard Alpert! The way Richard talks to Faraday, I thought Faraday had already been to this time. Instead, we realize Sexy Eyes and his team thinks Faraday is American Military.

The American Military are on The Island to test out some atomic bombs. You know, the usual. Sexy Eyes’ group has already killed the rest of the Americans and the only reason they are leaving Faraday’s crew alive is so Faraday can disarm the bomb. Ellie, a gun-wielding member of Sexy Eye’s crew (let’s just call them the Originals, shall we?) leads Faraday to “Jughead” the atomic bomb that is precariously hanging from a platform in the middle of the mesa.

Ellie is very distrustful of Faraday and his ability to disarm the bomb. When Faraday discovers the bomb is leaking (?) he tells Ellie they must bury the bomb. Ellie doesn’t believe him and for some unknown reason Faraday tells her he’s from the future. And as any good sci-fi fan knows, this NEVER works out well.

About this same time, Locke, Sawyer and Juliet are talking to their own attackers—some more Originals. These Originals begin to speak in Latin which is apparently the international-Other language. And Juliet begins to speak to them, too. (I’m sorry, but Juliet has only been on The Island for a couple of years and she’s already learned LATIN?!) They discover that Richard Alpert is back at camp and when one of these Originals hears Richard’s name, he decides to lead them back to camp. Well, our second Original doesn’t agree and breaks his co-hort’s neck then darts into the jungle.

When he arrives back at the Original’s camp Sexy Eyes is ticked. He says, “You think they couldn’t follow you?” The Bad-to-the-Bone Original says, “Their leader is an old man! You think an old man knows The Island better than me?” (heh, heh, heh.)

And sure enough, just as Ellie is about to shoot Faraday for his sci-fi confession, Locke, Sawyer and Juliet show up. Sawyer and Juliet head off to save Faraday while Locke barges into the Original’s camp.

Locke demands to talk to Sexy Eyes. Mr. Bad-to-the-Bone draws a gun on Locke. But when Locke tells Sexy Eyes that Jacob sent him, BadtotheBone is told to stand down. And here is the REVELATION OF THE NIGHT: Sexy Eyes says, “Put the gun down, WIDMORE.” As in Charles. As in Penny’s dad. As in CHARLES WIDMORE IS AN ORIGINAL.

Sexy Eyes and Locke have a conversation about uhm…the previous/future conversation they had in the jungle. Sexy Eyes is doubtful but very thoughtful about the compass that Locke shows him. And here we discover the year: 1954. TWO years before Locke is born. And two years before Richard shows up at Locke’s birth. EEK!

Locke demands that Richard tell him how to get off The Island. And just then, a flash of light and they are in a different time. But before we can figure out when, CS Lewis crashes to the ground, her nose spewing blood.

THE END

Questions Answered
1. Faraday’s mom is Mrs. Hawking! I mean, I guess they didn’t REALLY answer this question but we do know Mrs. Hawking is in LA. It just *has* to be her!!

2. The YEAR! Oh lovely day! I can’t wait to see how this conversation between Locke and Richard brings Richard to the 1956 to see Locke. So, MAYBE Sexy Eyes isn’t so much a time-traveler as he is immortal. He just got off The Island in a very normal–non-time-travel way to speak to Locke during his growing up years. That actually makes sense. What a first!

3. CHARLES WIDMORE LIVED ON THE ISLAND. Oh my good lord. That was great. GREAT!  I wish I could have transcribed that whole Sexy Eyes-Locke-Widmore conversation. Locke was just awesome, “Nice to meet you.” *snort*

Questions, Theories and OMG’s

1. WHO IS PENNY’S MOTHER?! Was SHE born on The Island? Is that why she’s attracted to Desmond—he’s got some kind of Island-ness about him? Is that why Widmore was SO against Desmond—because he knows something about Desmond’s abilities? or maybe even his past?

2. Sexy Eyes tells Faraday they “had to” kill the Americans. He says he takes orders from someone else. So, he’s already taking orders from Jacob. SO, where are they from?! How did they get there? And who the heck is JACOB?

3. Who is Ellie? Is she the girl Daniel hurt in the “real world”?

4. When young-Widmore sees Locke, does old-Widmore wake up and remember Locke the way Desmond remembered Faraday? Or has this whole time Widmore known about the crash and the Losties? The pretend-plane-crash-in-the-ocean would work well for that theory…because he’d have time to set it up. Widmore MAY know more about The Island than Ben. But I wonder if The Losties will soon know more about The Island than anyone? Hmmm…

5. I’m still wondering about Faraday in the Dharma outfit. Is the bomb buried under The Orchid? Are they in Dharma-time now? Are our Losties going to become Originals? Or Others? Or Dharma-ites?

Conclusion
This episode was just lovely. I can’t tell you how many times I said, “I LOVE THIS!” Time travel is just so interesting to me. I love seeing the story unfold a millimeter at a time. And so many good questions answered. Last week, I said I needed more Widmore story and they delivered! How great was that?!!

I’m still unsure of the Sexy Eyes/Locke/Jacob/Ben connection. But am so looking forward to any and all Island-backstory.

And surprisingly I didn’t even miss the Oceanic Six! OK. What did you think? Let’s talk!!

(I’ll be dreaming about Sexy Eyes and Whidmore this week at my daily blog ohamanda.com!)