Juliet is looking for Sawyer. She asks Miles, down in the security office, if he’s seen him. Miles turns on the video monitors, and there, in black-and-white, they see — The Visitors! Oh no! Lizard people! Run!
I keeed, I keeed. Just watch:
The video clip is a sneak peek from the Season 5 DVD set
Miles and Jin watching the people get on the submarine
Although the episode title refers to a “leader” in the singular, there are actually two leaders in this episode who set out on parallel treks in different times — Jack in 1977 and Locke in 2007. Each is convinced that he is finally acting out his destiny. And each has Richard Alpert tagging along, as fresh and dewy-looking as ever.
Jack wants to carry out Faraday’s plan to explode the bomb, in order to put things back the way they were. Kate’s not interested. If everything is undone, she will just become a fugitive again, and will never have met Jack. Besides, she thinks, not unreasonably, that it’s irresponsible to go around detonating hydrogen bombs.
Ellie, though, is glad to show Jack where the bomb is. She knows she has just shot her future son and of course would want to see that undone. Not to mention that the bomb is right under the village of her enemies, the Dharma Initiative.
Sayid pops up (I had forgotten about him!) and rescues Kate from being shot by a Hostile. Kate takes the opportunity to head back to Dharmaville, where she is captured and put on the submarine in the impromptu prisoner’s quarters already occupied by Sawyer and Juliet. They were gazing into each other’s eyes and reveling in their sweet Suliet-ness until being rudely interrupted by Kate’s arrival.
Jack, Sayid, and Ellie, accompanied, for some reason, by Alpert, enter some very cool-looking underground tunnels and find the bomb, which apparently was not encased in concrete after all.
Meanwhile, Hurley, Miles, and Jin are in the hills above Dharmaville. Poor guys! Sawyer, who was supposed to lead them to the beach, is on the sub, apparently not caring that he was leaving them behind.
Miles, though, learns something important about his past. He watches his father, Dr. Chang, yelling at his mother, who has baby Miles in her arms, telling her she has to leave. Grown-up Miles understands that his father is yelling not because he is cruel, nor because he wants to get rid of his wife and infant son, but because he knows that yelling is the only way he will get his wife to leave — and save herself and baby Miles. And so the Island, once again, seems to have healed one of its character’s painful lifelong Daddy issues!
Thirty years later, in the Hostile’s camp, John Locke is glowing with alpha male energy. Alpert (who John aptly describes as a kind of adviser who has had that job “for a very, very long time”) and Ben appear submissive, but seem to harbor mutiny in their hearts, as they follow John on a trek to find Jacob, who no one has ever seen before.
Alpert had told Sun that he had seen all the 1977 Losties die. Locke told her that Jacob can bring them back. But Locke told Ben that he really wanted to find Jacob in order to kill him.
There’s a mind-bending scene where Locke tells Alpert that his time-tripping self is going to appear in the jungle with a bullet in his leg (just as we saw him earlier this season). Locke tells Alpert to tell the other Locke that he has to bring everyone back to the Island, and that in order to do that he will have to die.
So Locke’s instructions came from …. future Locke. So it’s all a big circle? Excuse me while my head explodes.
Screencap from Lost-Media, (c) ABC
Posted in 5x15 Follow the Leader, Ben (Michael Emerson), Daddy issues, Destiny versus Free Will, Dr. Chang (Francois Chau), Ellie in 1977 (Alice Evans), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Jack (Matthew Fox), Jack versus Locke, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Miles (Ken Leung), Recaps and reviews, Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Suliet (Sawyer and Juliet), Time travel, Widmore in 1977 (David S. Lee)
Faraday, saying, "She was wrong."
An amazing episode.
After we’ve heard Jack wail so many times, “We have to go back! We have to go back!” it turns out that no, they didn’t have to go back after all.
Faraday’s theory about how you can’t change the past is turned on its head.
We see Mommy issues that are just as twisted as the show’s ubiquitous Daddy issues.
The episode starts with a fabulous beginning, quickly flipping through scenes we’ve seen before — Faraday telling space-suited Desmond to meet him in Oxford, Eloise saying “God help us all,” Ben shooting Desmond.
Then new footage of Desmond in the hospital, Penny and baby Charlie. Eloise Hawking shows up! Says this was her son’s fault.
30 years earlier…. Faraday is coming out of submarine hatch, which we saw at the end of the last episode. Faraday asks Jack why he came back. Jack says Faraday’s mother told him it was his destiny. Faraday tells Jack, “She was wrong.”
Flashback to young Daniel playing the piano. His mother asks him if he knows what destiny means, and says it’s a special gift that must be nurtured. His gift is his mind, his talents in math and science. So he will have no more time for the piano! “I can make time,” Daniel says, but Mom Eloise is unyielding.
Meanwhile in Dharmaville, Jack finds out that Phil is in Sawyer’s closet.
Faraday goes to the Orchid. Dr Chang says “God help us all” — we saw this earlier this season in Episode 1. Faraday says that there will be an explosion in the Swan station 30,000 times more powerful than the one in the Orchid. Dr C asks, how do you know? Faraday says, I’m from the future. Faraday tells Dr. C that Miles is his son. Miles is not pleased.
Flashback of Daniel graduating, getting his doctorate. Mom Eloise is horribly rude to Daniel’s girlfriend Theresa, then whisks him off to lunch alone. He tells her he has a grant from Charles Widmore! Her expression is unreadable. She gives him a gift, and then leaves. It’s the book that we always see him writing in, his constant.
Dharma time. All the Dharma losties are meeting, talking about skipping town, debating whether to get on the sub or go into the jungle. Knock on door. It’s Miles and Faraday. Sawyer, to Miles: “He still crazy?” Miles: “It’s on a whole new level, man.”
Flashback to Daniel freaking out while watching the news on TV about Flight 815 being under the sea. (We’ve seen this part of the scene before.) He’s in terrible shape from having sent himself through time, which destroyed his mind and his memory (and messed up his girlfriend and cost him his job). He doesn’t even know why he’s so upset by the broadcast.
Charles Widmore shows up! Tells Daniel that he had faked the Flight 815 crash. Offers him a new opportunity — to go to the Island. Tells him it will heal his mind. Says he shouldn’t be wasting his gifts. Faraday says, “You sound like my mother.” Widmore says that’s because they are friends.
Dharma Losties argue about whether to go to the Hostiles to find Ellie, Faraday’s mother. Jack wants to, Sawyer doesn’t. They both appeal to Kate, but it’s Juliet who tells them the fence combination. They split up — Kate, Jack, and Faraday take off. Faraday sees little Charlotte, tells her she has to leave. They have a shoot-out with Radzinsky.
Flashback to messed-up Faraday playing the piano. Mom Eloise comes in, tells him he should accept Widmore’s offer. She echos Widmore in saying that the Island will heal him. Faraday, pathetic, asks Eloise if taking the job will make her proud of him.
Dharma time. Faraday says, this is our present. Any one of us can die.” Well, there goes my theory.
Radzinsky finds Phil in Sawyer/Juliet’s closet. Uh oh!
Faraday explains to Kate and Jack that after the explosion goes off in the Swan, then the hatch will be built, the button will have to be pushed to keep the energy contained, Flight 815 will crash, and he himself will be on the freighter, and so on. All of that will be the result of the explosion that is about to happen.
He says he thought that you couldn’t change the past, but that’s because he was thinking of the constants. But what about variables? He says THEY are the variables. They CAN change their destiny.
And he intends to do that by detonating the H-bomb.
Back to Penny and Eloise, who says she has come to apologize. For once, she doesn’t know what is going to happen next. But Desmond is fine! He tells Penny, “I promised I’d never leave you again.”
Eloise walks out of the hospital. Widmore creeps out of the shadows. She tells him he should go inside and visit his daughter, Penny. He says that relationship was one of the things he had to sacrifice. She says, don’t talk to me about sacrifices. I sent my son back, she says, knowing full well what would happen.
Widmore says, “He’s my son too!”
Eloise slaps him.
In Dharma time, our trio creeps up on the Hostile’s camp. Faraday confronts Richard Alpert. Then young Eloise shoots Faraday! He says, “You knew. You always knew this would happen.” But young Eloise has a blank expression. Is she faking?
And is Faraday dead?
Screencap of Faraday (lightened/cropped) from the DarkUFO sneak peek video #2 in my previous post, (c) ABC
Posted in 5x14 The Variable, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Destiny versus Free Will, Dr. Chang (Francois Chau), Ellie in 1977 (Alice Evans), Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Miles (Ken Leung), Penny (Sonya Walger), Penny and Desmond, Recaps and reviews, Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Suliet (Sawyer and Juliet), Time travel, Widmore (Alan Dale)
Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday
The Variable, LOST’s 100th episode, is going to focus on Daniel Faraday, showing his flashbacks for the first time.
In the April 23, 2009 official audio podcast, Damon and Carlton confirm (as I had guessed in an earlier post) that the title “The Variable” is a reference to “The Constant” from last season, and there is indeed a connection between the two episodes — in an interview, Damon calls the new episode a “companion piece” to the previous one.
We will also see Desmond tonight, and find out if he survived being shot by Ben.
In the podcast, Damon and Carlton say they think The Variable came out as one of the best episodes of the season, and they’re excited to see what we think of it.
Here are three great clips from the episode, courtesy of DarkUFO. Don’t watch if you want to remain completely unspoiled! Otherwise … enjoy!
Sawyer and Juliet:
Faraday, Jack, and Miles. Wow. This clip literally gave me chills! –>
Faraday and Dr. Chang:
This episode looks like it’s going to be AMAZING.
Darlton confirm on the April 23, 2009 official audio podcast that the reason Miles demanded that Ben pay him $3.2 million last season was because it was double Widmore’s $1.6 million fee.
Mystery solved.
(And I was so sure there was more to it!)
Case Closed stamp graphic (c) Internet Detective
Kate demanding answers from Miles
We just saw, in Some Like it Hoth, that Naomi offered Miles $1.6 million to join Widmore’s expedition to kill Ben. Then Miles told Bram he wouldn’t go to the Island if Bram paid him $3.2 million, which Bram declined to do.
We’ve heard the number $3.2 million before. Remember? Back in Season 4? Miles told Ben that for $3.2 million, he would lie to Widmore and tell him that Ben was already dead.
The scene contains this classic exchange:
— Ben, in a shocked tone: “You’ve arranged this meeting so you could blackmail me?
— Miles: “It’s extortion, if you want to get technical.”
Ben goes on to ask, “3.2? Why not 3.3 or 3.4?”
Which is exactly the question that I have. What is the significance of 3.2?
We know that $3.2 million is double what Widmore was paying Miles, and we know that $1.6 million contains the number “16,” which is one of the numbers. But there has to be more to it than that.
Miles never answers Ben’s question about why it’s 3.2. Miles just looks at him. His not answering gives the question even more significance. So does the echo of the number, over a year later, in Some Like it Hoth. 3.2 means something — but what?
The scene where Miles confronts Ben starts at 4:12 in the video below. I’ll think you’ll enjoy seeing it again. I found it interesting to go back to the time when the Losties still thought of Miles as their enemy. And he does seem a bit menacing here, not yet the cuddly wise-cracker that we’ve come to know and love (even though he does get off a couple of very funny lines):
Editing to add 4/27/09: This mystery has now been solved!
Planet Hoth from Star Wars
Writing my first impressions during the show’s commercials …
9:07 Starts with a powerful scene showing Miles, as a boy, already having the ability to communicate with the dead. Back in Dharma time, Horace sends Miles on an errand, welcoming him to “The Circle of Trust.” Miles picks up a dead body (Hostile?) from Radzinsky, then opens the body bag and asks the corpse, “So … what really happened?”
I’m liking this episode very much so far.
9:15 Multiply-pierced Miles, in flashback, visiting his dying mother. He wants to know why he is the way he is, and he wants to know about his father. His mother says that his father is dead, that he left them, and that he never cared about Miles. (Daddy issues!!) Miles wants to know where the body is. His mother says that it’s somewhere he could never go. (Like on a remote Island, perhaps?)
Miles has to take the body to the Orchid. Hurley comes along, with a funny line about how global warming hasn’t happened yet. Meanwhile, Roger, Ben’s dad, freaks out when he finds Ben is missing. He storms off. Juliet to Kate: “Well. Here we go.”
I am still really liking this episode!
9:28 Hurley finds the body. Says to Miles: “You can talk to dead people!” Says his secret his safe, cause he talks to dead people too.
Flashback: Miles conducts seances for hire. Tells a Dad that his son always knew he loved him. Is this a real message, or is he making it up for the money?
Naomi!!
Back in Dharma: Roger, drinking. Kate tries to comfort him. Roger senses that she knows what happened.
Hurley and Miles have a wonderful dialogue. Hurley tells how he talks to dead people. Miles says “That’s not how it works!” Hilarious. They are arguing about how communicating with the dead really works! Hurley: “You’re just jealous because my power is better than yours.” So funny!
Hurley says that Dr. Chang is a douche. Miles: “That douche is my Dad.”
Wow.
I am loving this episode!
9:40 Flashback to Miles and Naomi. Miles “reads” body, gets offered job for 1.6 million dollars. (This number came up in an earlier season. (Editing to add: Actually it was the 3.2 million dollars that came up before.)
Jack and Roger have an encounter. Then back to Hurley, Miles, and now also Chang in the WV. Chang’s 3-month old baby (the one we saw in the opening scene of the first episode of this season) is named Miles!! Wow.
Secret construction site — cool! They’re building the hatch! With the numbers on the cover!
I am totally loving this episode!
9:51 Flashback. Miles kidnapped by guys in a van. They say they want to talk him out of working for Widmore. One asks, “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” Ooooh!
Who are these guys? They tell Miles that they can tell him about his powers and about his Dad — the things he had asked his mother about on her deathbed — but Miles says he no longer cares, he only cares about money. They toss him out, tell him he’s “playing for the wrong team.”
Back in the van in Dharmaville, Miles grabs Hurley’s notebook. He’s writing the sequel to Star Wars — ha ha! — which hasn’t come out yet, and which he hopes to sell to Lucas! (There’s the tie-in with the title.)
Underling Phil tells Sawyer he knows Sawyer took Little Ben. Sawyer punches him, tells Juliet to get the rope.
I’m still totally loving this episode!
10:01 Miles goes back to see his client, says he wants to give him his money back. So he was faking after all! I’m thinking it is his conscience prompting him to return the money because he didn’t do the job he was hired for but, instead, Miles says “If you needed your son to know you loved him, you should have told him when he was alive.”
More Daddy issues!
Back in Dharmaville, Hurley talks about how he gave his Dad a second chance. Then he makes an elaborate Star Wars analogy, which goes way over my head, as I’m not a big Star Wars geek, but the gist of it is that he is trying to tell Miles that he should talk to his Dad.
Big Miles watches his Dad and Baby Miles!
Then Chang and Big Miles go out to meet the sub. And Faraday gets out!! And says, “Long time no see.”
Love, love, love this episode. It has so many of my favorite things — flashbacks, humor, Hurley and Miles riffing off each other, Daddy issues, and even the Hatch and the numbers!
Screenshot from The Empire Strikes Back (c) Lucasfilm, via Wikipedia
Also available for men.
