One of the things I love about Lost is that the writers never forget a thing. The room where they work at ABC must be covered in post-its of character genealogies and flashback crossovers, not to mention all the weird tidbits they’ve dropped on us over the past five years.
For example, remember that strange four-toed statue we caught a glimpse of way back at the end of Season 2? You know, the one they’ve never referenced ever again? Well it came back with a vengeance in the latest episode, “LaFleur.” The statue appeared to be completely intact, but in typically teasing Lost fashion, we only saw it for a split second before the island time-jumped again, and only from the back! Dammit!
The geeks didn’t let that deter them, though, and the unanimous opinion is that we were looking at a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis. Decide for yourself.
Now I know this might seem to make the show even wackier than before, but think about it for a moment and you’ll realize it makes a weird kind of sense. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen evidence of Egyptian culture on the island. Remember the countdown clock in the Swan station? Remember what happened when you didn’t punch in the numbers and a system failure occurred?
We know that the island was populated by an indigenous people long before the Dharma Initiative showed up. Who’s to say they weren’t Egyptians? I can’t say how they got to the island, but since it can hop around time and space, it doesn’t seem that unlikely a theory.
“LaFleur” was probably my favourite episode of the season so far. I nearly spit out my green tea ginger ale when I saw Sawyer in a Dharma Initiative jumpsuit. And head of security no less! Ahh, the irony. Jack’s going to have kittens when he finds out.
Something I liked in particular was seeing Sawyer return to what he does best: conning. We haven’t seen Sawyer pull off a really decent con since he stole all the guns from the Swan. At the same time, it’s nice to see Sawyer developing as a character, because he’s only using his conning this time around to save his friends. Let’s face it, if Sawyer wasn’t around, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Daniel probably would’ve been hunted down, either by the Dharma Initiative thinking they were Hostiles, or vice versa.
It actually makes a strange sort of sense that Sawyer, a former con man and murderer, would end up in charge of protecting everyone in the Dharma Initiative. Part of the show’s theme is that people who end up on the island have a chance to atone for past mistakes and change their lives.
And how cool was it to see Sawyer chitchatting with Richard Alpert? Loved that line about “buddy out there with the eyeliner,” a reference to fan comments regarding Alpert’s unusually dark eyelashes. Almost an Egyptian look, wouldn’t you say? I won’t even go into my theory about Alpert. Want a hint? Take a look at his initials.
Then we come to the truce and the protocol of dead bodies.
At first, when Amy said that they had to bury the bodies of two dead Others, I was thinking only that she was trying to cover up their murder and preserve the truce. Maybe that’s all it was, but a part of my mind also went to Christian Shepherd. Jack was taking his body back to L.A, and although he found his coffin, it was empty, meaning that Christian’s body was never buried on the island. So what if something happens to dead bodies that aren’t buried on the island? What if they become… ghosts?
Think about it. Christian Shepherd and Mr. Eko’s brother, Yemi. Both of their bodies ended up on the island, but neither was buried. What if that caused their ghosts to wander around freely? Does this have anything to do with Alpert demanding Phil’s body as compensation for his own dead men? Hmm.
I wasn’t expecting Sawyer to hook up with Juliet, but strangely it makes sense, considering the way they’ve been interacting this season, and I have to say I like it. They make a good couple. Mr. and Mrs. Dharma Initiative. And I love that Juliet, a gifted fertility doctor in her old life, is now a grease monkey. Here’s hoping Kate doesn’t screw it all up (although I know she will).
Other things I’ve been thinking about:
I’m curious to know if Horace, the leader of the Dharma Initiative, is living in Ben’s future house. If so, then he has access to that secret room that allows one to summon the smoke monster. I imagine Richard Alpert and the Others didn’t appreciate the DI setting up their barracks on this particular site.
Also, Richard Alpert may have been the one to show up to talk to Horace, but he’s not and never has been the leader of the Others. During this time period, Charles Widmore is supposed to be their leader (if we’re to believe the man himself). He doesn’t get exiled by Ben for another ten years or so, which got me wondering where he was during all of this. If he’s their leader, how come he wasn’t the one talking to the DI about the breaking of their truce?
Did anyone give any thought to that rope left sticking in the ground way back in the island’s early, statue-erecting history? Maybe it’s this unusual artifact that causes the original inhabitants to dig the well in the first place. I kind of like the idea of Sawyer having a large stake in the island’s history. Isn’t time travel fun?
And finally, was I the only one creeped out at the thought of Charlotte’s dead body floating through time? I guess she might have been left in the time period where she happened to die, but I can’t shake the image of her flashing throughout the island’s past, present and future. Maybe popping up just long enough for someone to trip over her on their way to the Orchid, or maybe in an even less opportune time, say, while running away from Smokey.
It would make for a helluva special guest appearance, though.
