"Recon" Discussion and lots more!
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the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 8, "Recon" and briefly review points from two Season 4 episodes, and discuss at length the revelations from this week's Official LOST Podcast.
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We'll get into "Recon" in just a moment. First, I had the opportunity to rewatch Season 4 Episodes 9 and 10 this past week. I chose those episodes because I was looking for any indication about when Claire became infected before she went off into the jungle with (who she thought was) her father, Christian Shephard. Although I didn't notice any obvious indications of whether Claire was already infected before she walked off in the middle of the night, I ended up making some interesting observations about the smoke monster, who we now know is the Man in Black. Here are some of my thoughts:
Season 4 Episode 9 - "The Shape of Things to Come"
How is it that Ben can summon the smoke monster to do his bidding? How did Ben know it would only attack Martin Keamy's goons and not himself? At the time, Ben (and the viewing audience) had no idea that the smoke monster was another form of the Man in Black, Jacob's nemesis. So unbeknownst to Ben, he called on Jacob's nemesis for help—right before going to try to get help from Jacob to know what to do next.
Season 4 Episode 10 - "Something Nice Back Home"
Hurley said Charlie said that someone would visit Jack (referring to the apparition that looked like Jack's father, Christian Shephard). Jack had already seen "Christian" in a crowd at the hospital before that, and the second time he saw his father was after hearing the smoke alarm's low-battery warning beep at the hospital. The smoke alarm led a lot of fans to believe that Christian was a manifestation of the smoke monster. Christian being the smoke monster is corroborated by Damon Lindelof's remark in the March 11, 2010 Official LOST Podcast about the smoke monster no longer being able to take on any human form other than Locke; the form of Christian was specifically mentioned by both Damon and Carlton as a form that the smoke monster could have been able to take prior to Jacob's death. Additionally, in "Something Nice Back Home" we also saw Christian luring Claire into the jungle, after which she left her baby behind and eventally degenerated into an infected Rousseau-esque version of herself who considered the Man in Black to be her friend. It would make sense that she came to be the Man in Black's friend because she originally got to know him when he had taken the form of her father. At this point I think it's safe to assume that the manifestations of Christian Shephard have been the smoke monster taking Christian's form. But if that's the case, how in the world did Charlie know that the smoke monster was coming to visit Jack? Hurley's ability to see and speak with dead people is supposedly a gift from Jacob. So did Jacob tell Charlie to tell Hurley to warn Jack about the smoke monster apparition of Jack's father?
- "charlie was smokey visiting hurley maybe" -jennielyn
Season 6 Episode 8 "Recon":
2007 on the Island:
- Sawyer at Claire's hovel with Jin
- Jin wakes up and says they need to leave before the man who looks like Locke gets back, and
- Sawyer says he's with "Locke"
- Sawyer agrees to not leave the Island unless Sun can go with them
- I wonder if this deal will come back to haunt him later
- Sayid, Claire, and the rest come to the hovel, and Kate says hi to Sawyer, who replies "Hi yourself"
- Sawyer seems to be pulling a typical con, but it turns out he's actually a cop—and working with Miles!
- Claire checks on her "squirrel baby" and Kate asks about it
- Claire seems agitated and angry about this. Does Claire still want to kill Kate?
- The Man in Black tells the surviving Others—including Cindy, Emma and Zach from the Oceanic Flight 815 tail section—that "the black smoke" killed those who stayed behind at the temple, but he promises to take care of them
- Detective Ford is trying to track down Anthony Cooper
- The Man in Black tells Sawyer the truth, that he's "the smoke thing"
- Man in Black: "It's either kill or be killed, and I don't want to be killed."
- If he's concerned about being killed, he's either lying or else he must have a weakness. If he has a weakness, what is it?
- Can sawyer kill him since he's following orders from the Man in Black, similar to how Ben who followed Jacob's orders was able to kill Jacob?
- "he is trying to con sawyer by telling half truths" -jennielyn
- "Sawyer is a better conman then Smokey" -baileybear
- The Man in Black sends Sawyer to the Hydra island to do some recon at the Ajira plane
- The date Miles hooked James up with is Charlotte Lewis, who is still an archaeologist
- Before seeing Charlotte's face, I thought that James would connect with Juliet and Juliet would give the same line about "going dutch" that she said on the Island before she died
- An alternate theory about Juliet: "i am saying juliette will be on a date with jack" [when she gives the line about going dutch] -jennielyn
- A theory from diesel929 (admittedly unfounded) about Charlotte: "she is jack's ex wife, David's mom"
- Jim says he got to the point in his life where he was either going to become a criminal or a cop, so he chose to become a cop
- Books on the dresser: Watership Down, A Wrinkle in Time, Lancelot (screenshot)
- All of these are books that Sawyer read on the Island
- Charlotte finds a photo of Jim with his parents and a newspaper clipping about it, and Jim yells at her and makes her leave
- In a later flash-sideways scene, Jim is watching Little House on the Prairie (which he told Kate in Season 3 Episode 10, "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" that he watched as a child)
- Michael Landon's character tells a little girl that when someone dies, they're not really gone; you still have your memories of them that you can hold onto until you see them again someday
- Jim seems to be touched by this insight and seems to relate it personally to his own loss of his parents
- Afterward, Jim goes to Charlotte's to apologize, but she turns him away and says he blew his chance
- Sawyer finds the dress that Kate wore at the polar bear cage when they were together
- Kate talks to Sayid, asks "Are you all right?"
- Sayid says No, and then Claire attacks and tries to stab Kate
- The Man in Black pulls Claire off, smacks her in the face, and tells her what she did was inappropriate, almost treating her like a child (with the exception of smacking her of course)
- Sawyer finds the Ajira plane wreckage, then a pile of dead bodies, and a woman runs by
- Sawyer catches the woman and she says she's the only one left
- Charlie's brother Liam is trying to find Charlie, who has apparently gotten in trouble with the law because of his drug use
- Miles questions what Jim was doing in Australia instead of Palm Springs like he claimed
- Miles says he's no longer Jim's partner, and Sawyer puts his fist through a mirror
- "the mirror in this ep sawyer broke what do you make of that" -jennielyn
- "he doens't like his image in this world?" -baileybear
- There have been a lot of mirrors and reflections in the flash-sideways: "ben in microwave, kate in mirror" and Sayid's reflection as noted in the script — they all seem to be seeing relections of themselves; what is the significance of this?
- Perhaps this is a reflection (pun intended) of the way in which the two realities coexist, à la Through The Looking Glass
- "i think that the breaking of the mirror/glass is probably important." -baileybear
- The woman Sawyer caught says her name is Zoe, and in explanation of the dead bodies, she says she heard screams and when she got back everyone was dead (seemingly implying that the smoke monster killed them)
- Sawyer offers to take her back with the other group
- MIB apologizes to Kate and explains that he told Claire that The Others had her baby; he gave her something to hate
- Kate asks where Sawyer went, and MIB says "I'll show you"
- It turns out that Zoe isn't alone; a bunch of other people pop up out from behind bushes with big guns and make Sawyer surrender his weapon
- Sawyer: "Take me to your leader."
- The Man in Black says to Kate on the beach: "I know what you're going through because my mother was crazy. ... She was a very disturbed woman and as a result of that I had some growing pains, problems that I'm still trying to work my way through, problems that could have been avoided had things been different."
- Kate: "Why are you telling me this?"
- MIB: "Because now Aaron has a crazy mother, too."
- Does he want Kate to take care of Aaron?
- Or does this mean Aaron is going to become the next MIB?
- Sawyer is led to a sub; Zoe is part of Widmore's team (and it seems Zoe is her real name)
- "again I think our losties' friendships are really going to define the end of this show - the line at the end of season 5 "they come they destroy" — MIB is going to be wrong and their friendships run deeper then he thinks and it will start all over - new game" -jennielyn
- Very insightful theory: "Remember when Claire came to Kate and said don't bring him back to the island? Do you think she was smokey? if you think that Smokey wants a normal Aaron that would make sense." -baileybear
- Sawyer asks what's locked up behind a door in the sub (screenshot) and doesn't get an answer
- Charles Widmore introduces himself to Sawyer
- Widmore claims he didn't murder all the Ajira people
- Who really killed them? Widmore's people or Smokey?
- Sawyer makes a deal with Widmore to bring the Man in Black to Widmore so Widmore can kill him, and in return Sawyer get to take his friends unharmed off the Island; they shake on
- So who will Sawyer ultimately decide to follow? He has two ways off the Island, potentially:
- Widmore's way seems more certain since we actually know he has a working sub and knows how to get to the Island from the outside world, but as Saywer points out Widmore may not be trustworthy because he sent the freighter with mercenaries to the Island
- On the other hand, the MIB's plan seems pretty weak if he really expects to fix and refuel the Ajira plane. How on earth could they do that? Maybe Sawyer will go with the more logical exit
- Claire hugs Kate and apologizes sincerely, saying she knows Kate just cares about Claire and Aaron
- Sawyer tells MIB that they're setting up pylons "like the ones at New Otherton" that "can keep out that smoke thing"
- Sawyer gives MIB a lot of information; it seems at this point in the episode like he really is sticking with MIB's deal
- Jim hands Miles a book that says Sawyer on it, and Miles asks "Who's Sawyer?"
- He explains what happened to his parents
- Jim was in Australia (and on Flight 815) to find the man responsible, and that's where he heard the name Anthony Cooper
- He says he's going to kill Anthon Cooper when he finds him
- Someone slams into their car. It's Kate! Jim seems pleased to see her again
- Now we know how Sawyer knew that the code on the walkie-talkie in the airport meant that Kate was an escapee
- Someone in the chat pointed out that perhaps the reason why he didn't turn in Kate at the airport was that he might blow his cover and Miles might have found out that he had been in Australia
- Sawyer tells Kate about Widmore and that they're here for Locke
- Sawyer says he's going to "let them fight it out, and while they've got their hands full of each other, you and me are going to get the hell off this Island"
- Kate asks about the plane, and Sawyer says he intends to take the sub
Following is a detailed discussion about several points from the latest Official LOST Podcast, some of which may be considered by some fans to be spoilers. If you're very spoiler-sensitive, you may want to stop reading now.
Notes from The Official LOST Audio Podcast, May 11, 2010:
Carlton Cuse: "The big question that's hanging over the season is how are these two timelines going to reconcile and what are we to make of what's going on in the sideways. But...there's more information about those things coming as the season progresses."
Damon Lindelof: "Do you think that Charles Widmore is perhaps the person that Jacob was referring to back in 'Lighthouse' when he said someone is coming to the Island?"
Carlton: "Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good chance he could be referring to Charles Widmore. ... That would be my educated guess."
Carlton: "What does 'Recon' mean?"
Damon: "Technically, it means that reconnaissance, which is basically sort of sending someone behind enemy lines to figure out what's going on. But it could mean 'to con again.' Like 're-con.' And he is a conman."
Carlton (reading a fan question): "In the episode 'Lockdown' who was responsible or behind the dropping of the palette of DHARMA food that lands on the Island?"
Damon: "The answer to the question is, we have every intention of answering where the palette came from. However, it might not happen in the actual show itself. That's all we're willing to say at this point."
- This makes me wonder whether the writers and producers are planning to make some sort of special podcast, book, or documentary that resolves a lot of the loose ends and mysteries that don't get answered by the end of Season 6.
Carlton said that we're going to learn more about the volcanic and/or seismic activity of the Island "before all is said and done."
Regarding Kate's name not being crossed out in the lighthouse but being crossed out in the cave, "the show speaks for itself." When the Man in Black brings Sawyer into the cave, is he telling the truth? Damon feels that there's strong evidence on the show that Jacob wrote the names in the cave. So why write in both the caves and the lighthouse? "Is it possible, Carlton, that maybe he wanted his nemesis to find the cave, and that there's a little bit of misdirection going on here? That maybe he crossed off Kate's name in the cave to throw the monster off his scent?" Carlton: "I'm going to say that theory could live. I think that is a possibility. I think this kind of speculation is actually good speculation."
- Based on this, it sounds like Jacob might have secret plans for Kate to be the one who will ultimately replace him, and he doesn't want anyone—especially his nemesis—to know that.
- But does Smokey somehow know she's a candidate anyway? He seems very protective of her and friendly with her in this episode. Perhaps he's trying to get her to become a candidate to replace himself.
- Since Christian Shephard was specifically mentioned (first by Carlton and then repeated by Damon), I think it's fair to assume that the post-mortem Christian Shephard sightings have been the smoke monster in disguise, if there was still any doubt in anyone's mind about this.
- Richard: "You want to know a secret? Something I've known a long time? All this? It's not what you think it is."
- Narrator: Now his incredible story will be revealed.
- 8 episodes left until the series finale
- Richard: "I've seen things on this island that you'd never imagine."
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_DoGTxgHj4
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Labels: chat, episode commentary, official lost podcast, rewatch, spoilers, theories
posted by Josh Long at 2:22 AM
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