A Case of the.... Lost - Episode 5-3

I just want to remind everybody to send me their thoughts, theories, and observations (either by e-mail or by visiting my blog) about tonight’s episode for my Lost: Revisited column, which will be posted next Tuesday. Remember – no spoilers!

Speaking of my Lost: Revisited column, one topic I discussed was my fascination with how certain characters are impacting by the island time jump (as in, their present day body and consciousness travels through time along with the island), while other characters are not. Specifically, it seems (for lack of a better word) inconsistent. Sure, Oceanic survivors like Locke, Sawyer, Rose, and Bernard are affected, but the tail-end survivors that ended up joining the Others were not (remember, all of the Others that Locke was with had vanished). So why was Juliet impacted, while the rest of the Others weren’t? And why were the freighter folks, for that matter?

Anyway, one of my blog readers asked if we know for sure that the Others aren’t impacted by the time jump (since Alpert seemed aware that it was happening), but I think that this episode solidly confirmed that they are not.

Now, onto tonight’s episode (click the "Read More" link):

Discovering that Penny was pregnant – and later seeing Desmond with his son – was one of those rare genuinely sweet, happy moments that this show often deprives us of. I also appreciated the island-story tease. That being said, we’ve also waited so long for them to be happy that it was a bit unsettling seeing such tension between them.

I must say, it’s pretty remarkable that, despite everything they’ve gone through, Daniel is still rocking that tie. Bravo to him. I also loved how Miles immediately assigned Daniel as their leader the first sign that they were in danger.

When we first saw the soldiers, and they were evidently being led by a woman, my first thought was: This is Rousseau’s doomed science club! Then I realized she didn’t have a French accent. I must say, though, that the explosions that killed the two Red Shirts looked suspiciously like the Smoke Monster.

The revelation that the Others all speak Latin was pretty awesome. I also love it when Juliet teases Sawyer about the inner workings of the Others. One thing to consider, though: Juliet clearly does know a lot more about the Others than she’s thus far revealed to her new friends. The question is, why hasn’t she told them about anything? She’s repeatedly killed Others in order to protect the Oceanic crew, so there’s really no question about where her allegiances lie.

Of course, the REAL revelation of the episode was that Charles Widmore was originally a young and cocky Other, an underling to Richard Alpert. Alpert is an increasingly intriguing character. Even if you look beyond his whole ageless thing, I find it interesting that he was far more modern looking during this episode than he was when he first met Ben. I also really enjoyed Alpert’s discussion with Locke, which was very telling. In my Lost: Revisited column, I noted that perhaps the survivors going back in time has a direct impact on the drama they later experience. We got a glimpse of that this episode, as we learned that Alpert’s frequent visits and attempted recruitment of Locke throughout his life were actually suggested by Locke himself (kinda like how Fry is his own grandfather on Futurama).

In closing….I may go as far as to say that I enjoyed this episode even more than the two part premiere. It was actually THAT good. I think one of Lost’s greatest strengths is that it doesn’t feel the need to include every single character into every episode (unlike, say, Heroes). Anyway, remember to send me your thoughts on tonight’s episode!