Posted by Mike and johnnysweeptheleg
johnnysweeptheleg’s Lost in a moment:
Instead of flashing forward, we have a flashback (not of the ’70s drug era variety) of Daniel Faraday watching the “discovery” of Oceanic 815 at the bottom of the ocean. He’s crying. And he doesn’t know why. We call that a two-for-wuh?
Back in the present, one by one like the frogs in Magnolia, the remaining rescuers fall from the sky and land all over the island. Jack and Kate haven’t completely labeled Locke’s words as bat crazy, as is evident in their obvious suspicion of Faraday. It doesn’t help when Miles, another rescuer, pulls a gun on Jack rather than complimenting him on his beard. I blame jetlag and stubble envy.
But Miles is also a ghostbuster. Or a traveling Dirt Devil salesman. I couldn’t tell from the flashback. So he can somehow tell that Kate and Jack are telling the truth about how Naomi died. This builds some trust while quelling his anger and stubble envy long enough to find Frank, the helicopter pilot who moonlights as Dennis Hopper’s twin brother on weekends. The pay’s good, but the nights on the road get lonely. Oh, and he was supposed to be the pilot on Oceanic Flight 815. Could his love of the sauce be the reason he didn’t fly that day?
Meanwhile, when Locke isn’t blowing things up and trying out for the knife-throwing carnie gig back home, he’s taking hostages. Meet Charlotte, another rescuer. Charlotte is Locke’s new obsession. She appears sweet. She’s red-headed. And after Ben steals a gun, she’s also pumped full of more lead than 50 Cent and Tupac combined.
This affords Sawyer to take his “Son of a …” series tally from 27 to 28, as he takes a turn playing the “Hit A Ben, Win A Prize” game.
Between the final flashback and Ben’s own bloody words, it’s revealed what the rescuers are really doing there. A rescue isn’t the primary mission. One Ben Linus, is. Abaddon is the Bobby Fischer of this chess match and has put all of the pieces and players into place to make this happen.
What he doesn’t realize is that Ben has his own man infiltrating Abaddon’s boat.
We can only hope it’s Richard Alpert and his guyliner. Game on.
Questions Answered:
Who are the rescuers? Daniel Faraday (physicist), Miles Straume (ghostbuster), Charlotte Lewis (anthropologist) and Frank Lapidus (pilot; was supposed to have flown Oceanic 815).
Why are they really coming to the island? They have been sent by Matthew Abaddon to get Ben.
Who are the members of the Oceanic 6? (Confirmed members: Jack, Kate and Hurley) The preview at the end of the episode tells us that we’ll find out the identity of one more member next week. Our guess: Sawyer. Our caveat: We’re almost always wrong about these things.
Who is Matthew Abaddon? Confirming what everyone already knew, he is not a lawyer for Oceanic Airlines. We still don’t know exactly who he is, but he’s our new favorite character. Everything he says is so delightfully creepy.
New Questions To Be Asked:
Why does Matthew Abaddon want Ben captured?
How did the rescuers get a picture of Ben, if he hasn’t been off the island and they haven’t been on it?
Who is Ben’s man on the freighter? (Richard Alpert? Michael? Most of Ben’s men are dead after last season’s finale.)
Why did Matthew Abaddon choose the members of the freighter team?
Is Abaddon calling the shots or is he working for someone? (Perhaps Charles Widmore?)
In her flashback, Charlotte finds the Hydra symbol and the remains of a polar bear wearing a collar in Tunisia. Um, what’s up with that?
Why did Seth Norris pilot Oceanic 815 instead of Frank?
How did the fake Oceanic 815 wreckage end up at the bottom of the ocean?
If you’ve got questions of your own, send them in and we’ll add them to the list. Check back Thursday for a preview of the next episode, “The Economist.”
Photo Credit: Mario Perez/ABC
Or are the masks protection against another potential gassing by Ben? Or simply something to link the freighter team to the Dharma Initiative? And has there ever been a better rock/rap collaboration than Biohazard and Onyx’s “Slam”?
What was up with the gas mask and biohazard stuff that was dropped from the helicopter? Is Hanso looking to gas everyone on the island as revenge for Ben gassing everyone in the Dharma Project years ago? (Does anyone have Biohazard in their iTunes?)