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Monday, February 11, 2008

Lost 4x02: Confirmed Dead

This week’s episode largely served as an introduction to the new characters, the four Freighties that came ashore from the USS Not Penny’s Boat: Faraday (Cpl Upham), whom we met last week, the flighty and seemingly well meaning physicist, a Ghostbuster played by that guy who was the lame porcupine-y Kid Omega in X3, a female Indiana Jones, and the Lawnmower Man, a pilot who was supposed to be piloting Oceanic Flight 815 the day it crashed. Of the four, the pilot is probably my favorite right off the bat (or boat, as it is). He seems fairly down to earth and not in-your-face annoying (like the Ghostbuster) and seems to have a fairly strong connection to the Lostaways that’ll be interesting to see explored. Faraday also has a lot of potential, especially if he truly doesn’t quite know in what he’s involved himself.

We learned via the kaleidoscopic flashbacks that each of the Freighties has some connection to the island or the Lostaways (some more tenuous than others, granted). We also learned that Naomi was something of a leader to the group, and her approach to the mission, as seen in the flashback, seemed militaristic. Her job was to not get any of the team killed; does it still count as a win if they live but she doesn’t? Also, we saw Creepy Lawyer from Hurley’s flashforward giving Naomi her orders and insisting there are no survivors of flight 815: towing the company line, or reinforcing additional orders for Naomi? Either way, I think it’s clear that either Oceanic is another shadowy company with hidden agendas, or is a smaller part of a larger, shadowy-er company with hidden agendas.

Dr. Bitz pointed out that the arrival of these new island residents has setup an interesting parallel between the Freighties and the Lostaways now and the Lostaways and Others in the first two seasons. Just like the Others claimed dominance on the island and backed it up with force, refusing open dialogue with the 815 survivors, now we have Jack and company wielding weapons at the Freighties, ignoring their questions and acting with suspicion towards them. It remains to be seen if that suspicion is warranted, but I have a feeling the writers are likely to further explore this parallel as the season progresses and the Freighties further ingratiate themselves into the story.

Highlight:
The fourth wall breaking discussion about Walt between Locke and Sawyer. “It was Walt. Only...taller” and “you didn’t ask any follow up question?”

Did You Notice?
Both Ben and Locke were surprised that Hurley saw the cabin. Whatever it is that is unique about them in relation to Jacob, it appears they share it with Hurley.

When Locke and Sawyer are arguing about whether or not to kill Ben towards the beginning, Sawyer looks to Hurley, who shakes his head no. Only then does Sawyer back down.

Charlotte’s (the female Indiana Jones wannabe) initials are CS Lewis, another reference to alternate worlds.

Questions:
This episode gave us two quick answers to two different questions: yes, Naomi’s dying words were a code, and the Freighties are on the island looking for Ben. Why are they after Ben? I didn’t say they answered everything…

So why do the Freighties want Ben? Who’s his man on the boat? Anyone we know? The Internet is thinking Michael (or at least, that Michael is on the boat, perhaps providing intel on the island and the survivors, in addition to whomever is working for Ben). It’d be an interesting way to bring him back on the show outside of a flashback/forward.

How’d that Dharma polar bear get in the desert? Methinks this Dharma orientation video for the Orchid station released last summer may have some answers.

Is Ben sick of getting his face pounded yet? What’s that, three, four times in a day?

Whose eye was that at the window of Jacob’s cabin last episode? I was pretty sure it was Locke’s, but now that seems unlikely, since this episode, Locke didn’t seem to know that Hurley had seen the cabin.

This may be a nitpick, but why was Lawnmower Man so sure the other pilot’s wedding ring wouldn’t have fallen off in the course of the crash/decomposition on the ocean floor?

We know a little more about Naomi now, but we still don’t know how or why she got that picture of Penny and Desmond.

What was Faraday so upset about in the beginning? Did he know someone on the plane? Is he (being a physicist) why the Freighties were able to find the island? What was the case of gas masks for? Were they going to gas Ben?

3 comments:

  1. ok - this is the episode i MEANT to comment on... we'll chalk my error up to being distracted by the manly physique of Mr. Thomas Brady.
    So to reiterate - my highlight was the kidney comment.

    S

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  2. I enjoyed that line too, and it certainly has some implications to the whole fate/self determination argument running through the show; if Locke's lack of a kidney saved his life, than all the crap he went through w/his dad turned out to be worth something, perhaps.

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  3. Actually, I initially thought that the pilot was the same guy they were claiming was in the ocean. But did the names not match up? I should've paid better attention.
    I feel now that the pilot may have had more information as to why he knew that the corpse in the ocean wasn't the pilot. He was just using the ring theory with the Oceanic people to start with as to not reveal too much of what he really 'knew'.
    That's all just a hunch, though.

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