LOST Thoughts - Week 2

"Confirmed Dead"

Now THAT was a good episode of Lost. New mysteries, forward narrative motion, and character development. Speaking of characters, I'll start by looking at each of the four newcomers (EW's Jeff Jensen makes a great comparison between them and the Fantastic Four).

Daniel Faraday


Who is he?
He's a physicist. He's married. According to Naomi, he's a "head case". He appears to be more trusting and sympathetic than the other three newcomers. In the episode's first brilliant flashback, he watches a news report on the discovery of Flight 815 on the ocean floor, and finds himself crying, completely inexplicably. Is he just emotionally unstable, as Naomi seems to believe? Or is there some kind of time-travel going on here? Compare it to Desmond's experience in Flashes Before Your Eyes, when he recognized his microwave's alarm, but couldn't consciously remember why (it was the sound of the Swan's timer).

Best Line of the Night
"The light...it's strange out here, isn't it? It's like it doesn't...scatter...quite right."
Could he be alluding to an artificial light source? Is the Island really in a bubble on the bottom of the ocean? On a space station? In Truman's dome?

Why was he chosen?
Considering his profession and his name (see Michael Faraday), I'd say for his electromagnetic expertise.

Miles Straume

Who is he?
He's a con-man like Sawyer, and apparently a Ghost Whisperer like Jennifer Love-Hewitt. His name is a homophone for maelstrom, a Nordic word for a swirling body of water, and the name of that creepy boat ride in the Norwegian part of EPCOT that scared the crap out of me in 1993.

In the weirdest part of last night's episode, Miles used a cold-air device to bring out the ghost of a dead drug dealer. I have to admit, I wasn't too hot about this turn of events. So far, Lost has at least been ostensibly grounded in reality. But talking to ghosts? Off the Island? Here's my theory that may hopefully explain Miles' ability in another way:

Could he be pulling a 'Desmond'? Maybe he's not talking to any spirits. Maybe he uses the space/body of the deceased to re-experience the past like Desmond did. I like this idea better than Ghostbusting.

Best Line(s) of the Night:
"I collect soil samples."
and...
"You guys were on Oceanic Flight 815? WOW."
Why aren't they surprised to see survivors? Abbadon assured Naomi that there were none.

Why was he chosen?
Well, we know that dead people make quite an impact on Island events (Jack's Dad, Yemi, Ben's Mom, Boone, etc.), so Miles may be useful for communication purposes. Some people think Jacob is dead as well.

Charlotte Staples Lewis

Who is she?
A British cultural anthropologist. From her flashback, she appears to be pretty tough. However, what is a cultural anthropologist doing with polar bear bones? She's not a paleontologist! She did, however look very happy to find that Hydra Station collar. Is she familiar with Dharma? And as Jeff Jensen points out, her name, Charlotte Staples Lewis, is very similar to Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis.

Speaking of the polar bear, the fact that she found it in Tunisia brings me back to a theory about the Island that I've had ever since the Black Rock popped up in season one. Ever heard of the Vile Vortices? They're nine Bermuda-Triangle-esque areas across the globe where ship/planes purportedly disappear. There's one in the South Pacific, where the REAL 815 could have flown into; one off the Eastern Coast of Africa, right where the Black Rock was last noted sailing; one off the Western Coast of the U.S., near Portland (where Juliet was taken en route to the Island). There's one at each pole, where the wintry listening post could have been in the Season 2 finale. And there's one in...Tunisia, where the biplane carrying Yemi was headed, and where this polar bear turned up.

Maybe these Vortices are the doorways to and from the Island, which acts as a sort of dumping ground. Perhaps the Island doesn't exist in regular space-time, but on a closed time-like curve, and can only be accessed via these nine gateways. After all, a vortex is a whirpool (a maelstrom), and Richard told Juliet that the trip to the Island would be too intense without a sedative, and both Naomi and Frank's helicopter seemed to have a lot of trouble in the air.

Best Line of the Night
"Is that your baby? Did you have him here on the Island?"
It sounded innocent, but I think Charlotte knows about the Island's prohibition on procreation.

Why was she chosen?
My best guess is to investigate the cultural presence on the Island, such as the Others, or the Black Rock survivors and even earlier inhabitants (the four-toed ones). Of course, all of the earlier Island inhabitants are probably part of the Others now.

Frank Lapidus

Who is he?
A washed-up pilot who should've been on 815. Not much more to his character as of yet, other than Naomi's belief that he's a drunk.

Best Line of the Night
"She's a native."
Just what kind of intel did mastermind Abbadon gives these people about the Island?

Why was he chosen?
Well, it looks like he may be the only person who doesn't believe that the plane wreckage is real. Maybe sending him to the Island will keep him quiet? And why wasn't he on the plane as planned? Was he manipulated by the Temporal Police(another post, I promise), or was he too drunk to fly that day?

Other Observations

Ben
How about that picture of him that Miles had? Was it taken off-Island? The giant CRT monitor behind Ben suggests the photo is at least 5 years or so old. Why are they there for Ben? It certainly suggests that Matthew Abbadon, the creepy recruiter of the newcomers, has some kind of connection to Dharma. Perhaps they want their Island back from the man who destroyed the Initiative!

And who is Ben's man on the boat? Minkowski? My guess is that it's Michael. We know he's returning this season. My guess is that Ben sent someone into the real world to manipulate Michael into getting on that freighter and working for him.

Jack's Heroic Moment
I loved the scene where he tells Miles and Dan to put their guns down because they're being sniped, to which Miles replies, "How stupid do you think I am?" When Sayid and Juliet, two of my absolute favorites (along with Locke and Desmond) popped out with guns, I was PRAYING that Jack would say, "I don't know, how stupid are you?" And he did.

Locke's Providence
I totally called this last year! Locke pointed out that if he hadn't been missing a kidney thanks to his terrible father, Ben's bullet probably would have killed him.

Next Week's Episode
"The Economist", written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (D.O.C, Greatest Hits), directed by Jack Bender (the season one finale, the season two and three premieres and finales). Does the title refer to the news publication, or the profession?

The episode features a flash-forward. Another one of the Oceanic 6 is revealed. Dan performs some kind of experiment on the Island. Locke and company head for the Barracks. Jack and company try to fix the chopper. Can't wait!

In other news, Disney drop-out (or kick-out rather) Michael Eisner is claiming that the Writers Strike is over. For perhaps the first time ever, I'm hoping that Eisner is right about something.