Lost: Season Four

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's so hard to keep track of everything, when there is so much to remember and they keep interrupting the flow of things with preemptions and reruns, but I don't remember when Locke's father was supposed to have died before.

How dead Christian Shepherd is supposed to be, after being seen on the island and Jack's remark during his flash-forward, continues to puzzle me.

Sometimes the show makes me think of that line in The Princess Bride about the difference between All Dead and Mostly Dead.

At other times I hear a munchkin chorus singing in my head, and wonder how many of the characters are "not only merely dead, but really, most sincerely dead."

 

[Raalix]

We never saw Lock'es father die the first time. When he and Locke were reunited on the island, he talked about some catastrophic road accident in which he died and then found himself on the island.

 

[TK-421]

Well, after last weeks outstanding episode, they are building this week's as the most dramatic this season. Go to ABC.com and check out the video preview on the Lost page. (you have to wait until after the short commercial...I hate those). Anyways, "the island will claim another survivor".

 

[Steve Jordan]

Well, last night's episode gave us lots of drama, and some nice (finally) answered questions, but no "claiming another survivor," really.

The more we see, the more we get from the flash-forwards to build a timeline of how the Oceanic 6 dealt with getting back, and what they had to give up to get back in the first place. They seemed to adjust to their resumed life at first, but as time went by, their demons came back to eat away at them. We still don't know why no one else came back, or even if any of them are still alive back there. And unless Aaron counts as one of the Oceanic 6, we still don't know who the sixth was, and if the sixth was in that coffin.

 

[Wiggum]

Kate can suck the life out of any episode. The beginning was alright, but I don't know why they keep emasculating, in turns, Locke and Jack. The ending redeemed the episode a bit.

Now, my question is, if you remember back to waaaaaay early in the first season, when Claire was going to give her baby up for adoption the psychic she went to told her in no uncertain terms that she ABSOLUTELY MUST be the one to raise her child.

Do you think that's going to be addressed in some way, or just dismissed as a way to get her on the plane?

 

[Steve Jordan]

It could have been forgotten by the writers by now... on the other hand, Jack seems to be getting messages "from the dead" telling him that he shouldn't be raising the child, and when he hears that, it seems to upset him no end. It suggests that something really bad has happened to Claire, and that Jack hasn't come to terms with it. (It may be the single thing that seems to be driving him to drink, pills, and self-destruction, though Kate's mention of Sawyer obviously didn't help.)

Anyway, I think the Psychic's warning is still in play. I suspect that the sudden ghost-appearance of Jack's dad somehow impacts (or exacerbates) this situation of who takes care of Aaron... especially now that we finally have confirmation of his relationship with Claire.

 

[Wiggum]

Well, the island and Jack obviously aren't play buddies. Like Rose said, there's no way he should have gotten appendicitis while on the island if it's able to cure her cancer.

And you'd figure, considering Jack and Claire's relation, he would be the one to raise Aaron.

 

[Steve Jordan]

Well, the island and Jack obviously aren't play buddies. Like Rose said, there's no way he should have gotten appendicitis while on the island if it's able to cure her cancer.

And you'd figure, considering Jack and Claire's relation, he would be the one to raise Aaron.

The island's "curing" abilities are clearly not as cut-and-dry as Rose would like to believe. Possibly Jack's many tough decisions, some of which have led to a lot of grief, and even some deaths (the ambush plan), may have some impact on whether the island can cure him.

More likely, his ability to be healed by the island may have a bearing on how pure he himself feels he is in his heart... his "purity of soul." Rose and Locke, both feeling essentially pure-hearted and guilt-free, get cured... Jack, whose soul is guilty and damned by his decisions, has lost the connection to the island that will cure him.

Jack's lack of a "pure soul" might also be why he is considered the wrong one to care for Aaron.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Any ideas on the favor Kate is doing for Sawyer? My husband and I were watching the show with two family friends last night, and everyone agreed that it probably had something to do with Clementine.

 

[Steve Jordan]

Any ideas on the favor Kate is doing for Sawyer? My husband and I were watching the show with two family friends last night, and everyone agreed that it probably had something to do with Clementine.

Seems likely... but I'm not sure, because I'm wondering how something like that could upset Jack as much as it seemed to (unless, of course, in typical Lost fashion Kate has never told Jack about Clementine, or whatever the favor is about, which seemed to be the case, so Jack doesn't know why Kate would need to do anything for Sawyer).

Of course, Jack obviously still feels jealousy regarding Sawyer, who was his competition for control over the Losties (after Locke flaked out), and over Kate. And he's obviously messed up inside over Aaron, his father's ghost, Hurley's warning (notice, also in Lost fashion, he wouldn't tell Kate about that?), and whatever happened to Claire. So he's not quite right in the head at this point. (Or that point. The flash-forward point.)

Drives ya nuts, trying to figure out what happened, doesn't it?

 

[socialcrawl]

this is such a good season. I think the best so far. I heard they only have a contract for 5 seasons though. Any truth to that?

 

[Steve Jordan]

That seems to be what I've heard... though the shortened 4th season (because of the strike) will mean fewer than 5 seasons' worth of episodes. They are supposed to be wrapping it all up next year.

 

[Wiggum]

There's two more 16 episode seasons after this one.

What about Claire being in the cabin?

That about floored me.

 

[TK-421]

Does that mean she's dead? She did suffer quite a knockout when the house blewup. Something the writers/producers said that death does not always mean dead as we know it on the island. Hence, why Christian Shepherd is the msot recurring "dead" character on the island and why Jack never found his body when he found the coffin. This is the 2nd time Christian was seen in the cabin.

Another point that has been bugging with regards to the time travel, which Ben can obviously perform as is evident when he woke up in the desert in a parka and asked the year of the two men he killed on the horses. In that episode, when he goes to see Charles Whitmore at the end and tells him that because he changed the rules and killed his daughter he will kill his in turn. Charles asks him if he was there to kill him. Ben says "You know I can't do that." To me, that meant that Charles is Ben's constant just like Penelope is Desmond's constant and we saw what happened to Minkowski when one does not have a constant. So, is Desmond the constant for Dan?

 

[Steve Jordan]

Does that mean she's dead? She did suffer quite a knockout when the house blewup. Something the writers/producers said that death does not always mean dead as we know it on the island. Hence, why Christian Shepherd is the msot recurring "dead" character on the island and why Jack never found his body when he found the coffin. This is the 2nd time Christian was seen in the cabin.

Apparently, something (or someone) on the island manages to sustain or return life to "dead" people (though not all of them, as we've seen plenty of people die on that island). So maybe Claire is dead, which would explain why she doesn't leave the island, and Kate ends up with Aaron.

Another point that has been bugging with regards to the time travel...

I think Ben's inability to kill Whitmore has to do with something other than their being each other's constants... some other "demand" from the island that means Whitmore, maybe Ben too, can't be attacked without doing severe damage to... I dunno, the space-time continuum, or something. Maybe in light of that demand, they agreed to leave each other's family alone out of respect, and now that Whitmore's soldiers have broken that agreement, Ben feels he can break his end too and attack Penelope for revenge.

If they were just constants of each other, Ben could still kill Whitmore, even if it meant losing his connection to that time. But if he was avenging his daughter, I think he'd be okay with that (knowing his penchant for finding other ways of doing what he wants, he'd probably figure out how to get another constant).

Finally, Desmond's time-travel was apparently mental only, jumping back and forth in his own body... that's why he needs a constant. Ben's travel was apparently physical... he just popped in from somewhere. In fact, we don't know for sure it was time travel... we really only know it was teleportation (probably from somewhere other than the island, given the parka). So I don't think Ben needs a constant.

 

[TK-421]

Two-hour season finale on May 29. See the Oceanic 6 get rescued. Locke and Jack confront each other again. Someone dies. And Ben (now my favourite character!) plays a big role again. abc.com has the preview.

 

[TK-421]

What a great ending for a really good season. SPOILERS BELOW.




So, we finally know who was in the coffin. I was hoping it wasn't Locke but was expecting it.

Seeing Walt even for such a brief moment was great.

Desmond: What happens to him after he is reunited with Penny and will Ben follow through with his promise tto Whitmore to kill her.

Frank: I hope to see more of him in the upcoming seasons.

Sun: Seeing Jin die was sad but the way I read her approaching Whitmore with her offer of help could be either: she told her father she blamed 2 people for the death of Jin, and her father was one of them. Was the other Ben since he killed Keamy and thus the boat blew up and how would she know unless either Ben or Locke told her. The other person could be Whitmore himself since he sent the boat and mercenaries out to kill them in the first place and this could be aruse on her part to gain the trust of Whitmore and then doublecross him in the end. She certainly can be devious and could also be working for Ben like Sayid.

Kate: I was shocked to see the dream with Claire and the warning not to take Aaron back to the island.

Jack: Now that Ben told him that they all need to want to go back in order to get back, it will be hard since Kate had the dream and we don't know of Sun's plans. Hurley and Sayid want to go back. Also they played the Jack/Locke thing very well with Jack who kept denying until the very end the possibility of what Locke was saying was true. He then did exactly what Locke told him to do and lie about the island.

Micheal: Why did Christian Shepherd appear to him right before the boat exploded and told him it was time for him to go? I figure it was the island who was not letting him die despite his attempts to kill himself now telling him that he served his purpose and did what the island wanted him to do and now it was time for him to die. Why did Hurley lie to Walt and tell him his father was still on the island?

Claire: Is she dead? All of the people who have appeared to others are dead (Christian, Yemi, Horace, Libby, Charlie, Eko, Harper) except for Walt who appeared to Locke and I think Kate. So is Claire dead?

Charlotte: She was born on the island??? I thought nobody could be born on the island if they were conceived there anyways. Aaron is the only baby we know of that has lived. Was she a Dharma baby?

Daniel: What happens to him and those people on the zodiac now that the island has been moved?

Richard: I have a suspision that he is more than is put on. Could he be the true leader as he has shown some glimpses of being in charge. Could he be Jacob?

Sawyer: The guy never ceases to amaze me. The jump out of the helicopter to save the others on it. What Jack said to Kate in the flashforward after she went to do what he asked her to do was petty on him. Sawyer is one of the most interesting characters with incredible depth and a constant conflict between being decent and compassionate and being a bad guy.

Miles: I did not understand why he wanted to stay.

Juliet: It did not seem to me like she really wanted to leave and her promise to get everybody else off was more of an excuse.

Did I hear Jack or Kate say the name Alvar Hanso in the flashforward at the beginning?

I see now where the series will go for the next 2 seasons:
-They will show us all the bad things that happened on the island after the 6 (or really 7 if you include Desmond) left. It was alluded to by Hurley, Ben and Jack
-They will show what happened to those who made it off during this time
-And they will show flashforwards of them trying to get back
-Will it end when they get back???

 

[Steve Jordan]

Wow... don't you have a question or two?

I expect a great deal of the next season will be involved with everyone finally being convinced to go back... and then, of course, they have to figure out where to go back to. (I loved Hurley's discussion with Jack about the island being moved!) Then the last season will be on the island again, and hopefully all questions will be answered.

I didn't expect Locke in the coffin... especially after that other name was dropped (spent half the episode wondering, "who the heck is Jeremy Bentham? Have we seen this guy before?").

At this point, we already know that the island has strange powers over life... so I'm not assuming anyone is dead anymore! They could all be brought back before the end, right down to the pilot and copilot in the plane! We'll see.

 

[ambershadow]

I must say this was the best episode yet. For some reason Locke in the coffin surprised me . I just didn't see it coming. Sawyer has become my favorite character because of his depth and you never know which way he will go. Good Guy Bad Guy or somewhere in between. Can't wait for next season to start.

 

[Bibliophile]

I don't think that Jin is dead. His death didn't have enough "oomph" for a major character. Plus it had no purpose. Michael dying (if he did) could be seen as noble redemption of past sins. Jin just missed the copter. Tragic, but not enough of an impact for me to believe he is dead.
In addition, him surviving is the perfect reason to get Sun back to the island. Why else would she go? Jack obviously wants to. Sayyid will probably go along if he believes it's "right." Hurley will go with the flow with enough pressure. Kate may out of guilt regarding Aaron. But why would Sun? If she was told Jin was alive she would return to be with/rescue him.
And does anyone else think that Locke will spring to life once he returns to the island?