Lost 5.8: La Fleur

As much as I wanted to see a flashforward/back/present day story about Sayid…uhm, I don’t think there could be anything better than an Island story about Sawyer!! And it turned out better than I could have hoped—Sawyer is HAPPY. That’s all I’ve wanted–a happy Sawyer! The last scene has me a little worried about someone else’s happiness though. But we’ll get to that.

This is going to be a fun one to recap because there were only two main time periods. Imagine that. Well, actually, there was a brief scene…

IN ANCIENT ISLAND-TIME
Remember when Locke disappeared down the well? And the flash of light came leaving Sawyer holding a rope buried in the ground? We picked up our story here and once our soft-hearted Sawyer stopped trying to dig Locke out of the ground, Miles points out a giant statue in the distance—the 4-toed statue from Season 2. Only now it’s completely intact. And looks frighteningly Egyptian…possibly the body of a man, head of an animal—and maybe holding an ankh in each hand. But before they can contemplate this disturbing image further the biggest and worst flash of light occurs. They comment on how terrible it was and Juliet says, “Locke did it.” Which means the time skipping has stopped and little do they know they have landed in…

1974.

Our new Lostie Five decide (after a little arguing) to head back to the beach. Miles is miffed that Sawyer has taken the lead. But Juliet is backing Sawyer up. As they trek through the jungle, they hear a woman screaming. They come upon a man and woman who apparently were having a picnic—but two OTHER men have just killed the man and are putting a bag over the woman’s head. Juliet shoots one of the OTHER men when he pulls a gun on Sawyer. Then Sawyer finishes off the second guy. When they take the bag off the woman’s head…I was expecting a big reveal like Penny or Charlotte…instead who is it? MICHELLE DESSLER! From 24?! Tony Almeda’s wife?! *sigh* I guess when you die on 24, you get to come to The Island. Anyway, Michelle…I mean, Amy talks them into burying the dead OTHER guys and carrying her dead husband Paul to her camp…which is oh yeah, the Dharma Initiative camp. (*happy dance*)

On their way they encounter the giant sonic fence. Juliet demands that Amy turn it off. She pretends to do so and our Lostie Five fall to the ground. We see Sawyer wake up on a couch and is greeted by Horace Goodspeed. Remember him? He was the one that helped deliver baby Benjamin Linus into the world and also got Ben’s dad a job at Dharma. He’s also the freaky apparition that Locke met when looking for Jacob—and the first guy we saw with a nosebleed. (I think.)

Horace asks what they’re doing on The Island. Sawyer gives a long (and ridiculously good) story about them searching for The Black Rock ship and then hitting the reef and getting stuck on The Island. Horace seems to believe him. He tells Sawyer that they have to be on the submarine in the morning. Sawyer doesn’t want to leave because he is determined to wait for Locke and The Oceanic Six.

Horace leads Sawyer back to Miles, Faraday, Jin and Juliet who are sitting in the middle of the Dharma camp. Juliette tells them that she used to live in this camp. Miles is surprised, thinking she was part of the Dharma Initiative. But before they can continue this conversation, Daniel sees a little red head toddler running through the camp. He stares at her and trance-like says, “Charlotte?” (Hmmmm…)

But an even better cameo is about to happen. An alarm sounds, the Lostie Five are ushered into a DI house. They look out the window and see a man (!!) holding a torch. He plants it in the ground, then walks to the middle of the camp. And who is it? No, not Tony Almeda. It’s Sexy Eyes himself, Richard Alpert! Wheee! He’s looking as young and sexy as ever. And also sporting a very nice and un-70’s outfit in my opinion.

Horace approaches Sexy Eyes and they argue about “the truce”. Apparently, killing his two men (the Others/Hostiles) has broken the truce and Richard wants the bodies back. Horace runs into the house and talks to Sawyer about where the bodies are buried. Sawyer dismisses Horace and walks out to speak to “your buddy with the eyeliner”. (<–best line of the night!)

Sawyer approaches Sexy Eyes and says, “Hello Richard.” Richard says, “Do we know each other?” Sawyer then tells him he killed his two men because they fired first. It was self-defense. Richard tells him to tell “his people” that the truce is still broken. Sawyer claims they aren’t “his people”. Richard is confused then Sawyer asks if he buried the bomb and if he remembers John Locke busting up into his camp twenty years ago—because “I’m waiting for him.” Richard doesn’t seem especially concerned by this news. He still wants the bodies of his men back.

Next we see Amy crying over Paul’s body with Horace and Sawyer standing by. Horace asks her if she will give Paul’s body to Richard. (Wait, I missed this. Richard wants ALL their bodies? What is he going to do with it? Offer it as a sacrifice to the four toed statue? Weird.) Michelle, I mean, Amy says yes because Paul would want to protect them. She then leans over and takes Paul’s necklace off—it’s an Egyptian ankh. As they leave the room, Horace tells Sawyer the submarine will be back in two weeks–he can stay till then.

Sawyer and Juliet are sitting on the submarine later that night. Sawyer talks about how they need to wait for Locke and the Oceanic Six.  Juliet doesn’t want to—-she wants to go home, even if it is 1974. Sawyer sweetly says, “Well, who will have my back?” Juliet practically giggles and promises to stay for two weeks.

Now, you were not lucky enough to see this all at once. The episode flipped from 1974 to three years earlier…

1977. (just happens to be the year I was born…fyi.)

Two random and cheesy Dharma guys are arguing over a girl and some brownies, when they see a crazy guy by the sonar fence–he’s got some dynamite and is blowing up trees. They say, “We have to tell La Fluer!” So, they run to LaFluer’s house and when the door is opened we see SAWYER. He pulls on his Dharma Initiative jumpsuit and see that he is the head of security. (LOVE THIS.)

Sawyer grabs Miles, they jump in a Dharma van and grab Horace. Sawyer brings him home to Horace’s wife…Amy. Amy who is verrry pregnant. Amy says they had a fight and that must be why Horace was drunk. Just then, she has a contraction and goes into labor.

Soon we see Amy screaming in the infirmary. The doctor tells Sawyer the baby is breech and there is nothing he can do since he’s not an obstetrician. He says women usually go to the mainland to have their babies. (Interesting…) So, Sawyer runs to ye olde mechanic shop in the DI compound and finds Juliet under a van. He asks her to help Amy. She is afraid because every baby she’s delivered on The Island has resulted in death. Sawyer believes she can do it. She agrees.

Soon they are back in the infirmary and Juliet shifts into doctor mode. While Sawyer waits outside, Jin approaches and says they haven’t found anyone while searching a certain grid. Sawyer says they will continue to search. Just then, Juliet appears—she safely delivered Amy’s new baby–a boy!

Next we see Sawyer walking through the DI compound, he grabs a flower from a nearby bush and brings it home—to Juliet who is making dinner for the two of them. He tells her she was amazing today. They kiss and BOTH SAY, “I LOVE YOU.” *sigh*

Then, in a reversal of roles, Sawyer is waking Horace up on a couch. Sawyer tells Horace that Amy delivered a baby boy. Sawyer just wants to know why Horace was too drunk to miss it. He says he was looking for some socks in Amy’s drawer and found Paul’s ankh necklace. He wonders if Amy might not be over Paul–it’s only been 3 years.

Sawyer then gives a heart-wrenching, but totally believable speech about a girl he used to know. A girl he regretted not pursuing. A girl he wondered if he’d ever get over. But now he can’t even remember what she looked like. He says, “Three years long enough to get over someone? Absolutely.” (YAY!!!)

The next morning a naked but sheet-wrapped Sawyer and Juliet sandwich are awoken by a phone call from Jin. Sawyer jumps up and gets dressed. When Juliet asks what it is, he says, “I have to go.” (And to me this sentence was dripping with meaning.)

He meets Jin in “the north valley”. Jin drives up in a Dharma van—where Hurley, Jack and duh, duh, duh Kate get out. The episode ends with Sawyer staring at Freckles. *sniff*

Stuff To Talk About

1. SAWYER AND JULIET. I love them together. When Sawyer first thanked Juliet for siding with him about going back to the beach, I knew there was something about her “having his back”. They mentioned it several times during the episode. It seemed to me to be a parallel conversation to Jack and Kate’s conversation on Penny’s boat when Kate said, “I’ve always been on your side”. And conversely on the plane when Kate says, “Just because we’re on the same plane doesn’t mean we’re together.” (Not exact quotes, of course.)

You know I have no love for Kate. I only wanted her for Sawyer because it would make him happy. But now he’s had Juliet for THREE YEARS. That’s much longer than his relationship with Kate. He needs to be with Juliet! Kate and Jack can go have their crazy dysfunctional trysts. I want JULIET and SAWYER.

2. I love that our new Lostie Five are Dharma Initiavie. It’s just so funny and ironic. What must they be thinking? How weird to show up and start living in a time thirty years before!

3. Amy. Hmmm…I saw on imdb.com that she will be in several more episodes. So, why is she so improtant? I wonder if her baby boy is someone we know?

4. The ankh. What’s up with that? It’s an Egyptian symbol for fertility and life. Is that why Amy had her baby successfully? Is that why the giant four toed statue was holding it—to guard the women of The Island? And once he was destroyed (or at least his civilization) the protection of mothers was gone? Do you think we’ll see more of ancient Island-ness? I hope so.

5. Sawyer and Juliet. *sigh* Sorry, I had to come back to them. I’m slightly concerned that Sawyer is going to choose Kate. When he told Juliet, “I HAVE TO GO.” It sounded like a final good-bye. The same as when Sun told her daughter good-bye. Please no!

6. What’s up with Horace? I had to go back and read about him on Lostpedia. He was originally married when he first met Ben. But not to Amy. So what happened to his first wife? And why did he seem to be the leader of the Dharma Initiave? I didn’t catch that when he brought Ben and his dad to the Island.

7. Richard Alpert. Remember when he frist met young Ben in the jungle? He looked terrible—long hair, crazy clothes. Was that just a costume? Because here—a few years before Ben arrives, he looks clean and dapper. And the relationship between the “hostiles” and Dharma seems to have changed, too. Wonder why?

Conclusion
This didn’t seem to be an episode full of answers or even of big questions…just a nice continuation of everything we pretty much knew. Of course I’m ecstatic about Sawyer and PRAY TO GOD he stays with Juliet. But how great was it when Hurley, Jack and Kate all got out of that van? And what must it have looked like to them to see Sawyer standing htere? Oh, I can’t wait for next week…the title of the episode is “Namaste”. Yay! I’m sure it’s Dharma-centric!

OK, my hsuband didn’t watch last night, so I have had NO ONE to talk to about this! Please leave a comment! I’ll try to respond in the comments to continue the conversation!

(i’m at ohamanda.com or on twitter @ooamanda)