Lost... In Translation pt. 5

Well, folks, we didn't quite get all our casting for 'Youngblood' done yet, so that will be the next post, not this one, as previously promised. It's Wednesday, so it's time for another 'Lost' post, and this one is all about Jack and his bis'ness.

*ahem* moving on:

This episode really upped the quality and power of the season, in my humble opinion. It was definitely the best episode since the season premiere, and I think a large part of it is the reunion of several of the major cast members. They're finally reconnecting a little bit, instead of all doing their own personal crap. They're still not necessarily all friendly, mind you, but at least they're together. Overall, the episode was generally just more entertaining and fun than the previous ones, even though Sayid doesn't beat anyone up.

Another thing that I loved about this episode, (and, it appears the next episode) is that the show returned to it's storytelling structure of focusing on a single character and showing their story in a linear (well, mostly linear) fashion. This show followed Iron Jack, so I'm not complaining.

The first thing Jack-O does is open one eye, and send us down memory lane right from the start as he comes to in the forest, already back on the island. Of course, this is a flash forward, but as flash forwards go, it isn't bad. The first thing he does is pull a note out of his pocket which is half destroyed. The only legible words are 'I wish-'. Before we have much time to ponder over this little tidbit of information, however, Jack hears Hurley screaming for dear life across the jungle. Jack throws himself through the forest, following the cry for help. Seeing Jack act this way is almost like reuniting with an old friend, and it brings a tear to your eye.

Upon arrival, we see Hurley floating in the same river where they found the halliburton, and he's surviving by staying afloat on an inexplicable guitar case. No sooner has Jack rescued Hurley than he sees Kate, seemingly dead on a pile of rocks to the side. However, Jack manages to revive her, and we're left wondering how the fuck did they convince Kate to come back to the island... perhaps we'll find out-

46 HOURS EARLIER!

Now we pick up where the last episode left off, with Iron Jack, Sun Damage, Ben, and Desmond going into the church to meet Eloise Hawking a.k.a. Faraday's mom. She takes the group down into the basement, where she has her very own Dharma Hatch. It is apparently called 'The Lamp Post', and it's point is to find the island when and where it will be next, and determine the windows of opportunity to get there. It does this by using a giant swinging pendulum, that scratches a map of Earth as it rotates, pinpointing a location. Somehow Desmond manages to walk blindly through the center of the room several times mid hissy-fit, and never gets hit by the pendulum, which absolutely amazes me. He blows up on Eloise, blaming her for stealing four years of his life, and claims that since he has relayed his message from Faraday, he is washing his hands of the island forever before storming out.

After this episode, things are a little awkward, but Eloise continues with business, telling the other three that their window to the island will be closing soon, and that they need to get on a plane from L.A. to Guam tomorrow to make it. Ajira Airlines Flight 316. If the name Ajira is familiar to you, it's the airline who's water bottles Sawyer and Locke's group found in the old boats near their destroyed camp when they were time-jumping. If the numbers 316 sound familiar, you are thinking of what wrestler Steve Austin says right before some jacked-up nimrod (sic) gets Stone Cold Stunned.

It's from the bible. (The correlation is obvious, is it not?) The verse is:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16

Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass! -Austin 3:16

Come to think of it, that verse sounds like it could relate to Locke or Aaron or even Ben in some way. The John one. The Austin one is obviously referring to Sayid. Of course, whether the number has any significance whatsoever is questionable.

Eloise leaves her audience with a last piece of advice, and a warning. She tells them that they need to try to recreate the original plane ride as closely as possible. This means that the more people who go back, the more likely they will get the results they desire. If only Jack, Sun, and Ben go, the results could be... unpredictable. She also tells Jack she has something she needs to talk to him about in private.

Eloise brings Jack into her private office, and gives him an envelope with his name on it. It is a note he left for Jack... right before he hung himself. Hrm... That kind of answers the question of how Locke died. (More details in the next episode, named 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham'.) Eloise also tells Jack that Locke will act as a proxy on the plane. (A stand-in, if you don't know the term) Jack has to get something that belonged to Christian, and give it to Locke. This will increase their chances somehow, so Jack has to find something that belonged to a man over three years dead, and give it to a corpse. Sounds fun.

After the meeting, Ben treats us and Jack to a little biblical history, namely the story of Thomas the apostle. Read all about him here.

The next scene is long and elaborate, and for the most part a pointless story showing how Jack gets ahold of Christian's shoes from his grandfather in the old folk's home. From what we can tell in the scene, Jack's grandfather is A: Awesome and B: An outlaw. On a related topic, Ray is my new favorite character.

After we are introduced to that awesome old geezer, Jack goes home and finds Kate looking drugged out and laying on his bed. He rouses her, and interrogates her about Aaron, or rather, a lack thereof. She flips out as only a distraught wanna-be mother can, and tells him that she will come to the island if, and ONLY IF, he never asks her about Aaron again.

Then they totally make out.

The morning after, Jack and Kate talk about their coming up travels, and the only real point of interest here is finding out Jack put the white jogging shoes on Christian because he didn't have the time or motivation to get him some real dress shoes.

After this harrowing confession, Kate bails out and Jack receives a phone call from Ben, who has apparently been in a rather violent encounter. Seems like he was more on the receiving end of things, but it makes you wonder who could just beat up Ben and walk away from it... hmm. Ben tells Jack to go get Locke's body, because he's going to have to move it. Jack agrees and heads off to meet Jill at the butcher shop.

Jack decides to pull a Kansas City Shuffle and switch out Locke's shoes with Christian's, and just like that, he has a proxy. He also leaves the unopened suicide note in Locke's coat, then calls the corpse crazy before taking it to the airport so the plane can crash right. Jack's so awesome.

At the airport, while Jack is arguing with another airline employee about trying to bring yet another body on board a plane, we are introduced to what will probably become a new character, a young latino man with a beard. We also see Sayid coming into the airport... in handcuffs, Kate style. Hurley's there, too. When asked why, he says it's not important, he just heard that he should be there. I wasn't paying much attention in this scene because Hurley was reading Y: The Last Man, and I was thinking about how the story of Y could relate to 'Lost', and if it had any significance beyond being written by Brian K. Vaughan.

In the end, everyone from the island is on the plane, with the exception of Desmond. Ben shows up last minute, and even Frank Mothafuckin' Lupitus is flying the plane. Of course, there are a few hiccups, i.e. Hurley freaks out on Ben upon seeing him, Lupitus didn't even know that there was a plan to crash the plane, and some asshole gives Jack his suicide letter back.

Oh, and deviating a bit, Ben has my favorite quote of the season so far. Ben is reading a magazine, while Jack is just sitting there being terrified.

Jack: "How can you read?"
Ben: "My mother taught me."

After Ben busts his balls a little bit more, he tells Jack to read the damn suicide note, and then leaves him to it. Jack eventually mans the fuck up and reads it. It simply says 'Jack, I wish you had believed' No sooner than the note is read, the car starts going through it's crashing motions.

From here on out, the end of the show is a repeat of the beginning, right up until the end, after Jack manages to revive Kate. As soon as they stand up, they hear the sound of a vehicle approaching, and look up to see the old van (the one Hurley fixed up) back in it's glory days approaching. A figure jumps out and points a rifle at the group. First we see it's someone from the Dharma Initiative, but when it scans up to the person's face, we see it's:

Yeah, I don't really get it either. Although I have a new theory as to who Adam and Eve might be, seeing Jin all decked out in Dharma colors...

Well, aside from that, I have no idea why Jin is with dharma or anything, so I won't even try. Although now that he's been with Rousseau's group, and now Dharma, Jin is officially an 'Other' at this point, I think. The next episode is where we find out all the mysteries around Locke's time in L.A. Looks to be a good one.

'Til next time.