LOST Revisited: Season 5, Premiere – “Because You Left” & “The Lie” (Jan 22)
After another shift, the Hatch is intact again. Faraday and Sawyer butt heads again, with Sawyer unwilling to accept the rules of time travel. Also, Charlotte has a nosebleed. We saw this happen last season with Minkowski, who was unstuck in time. It also happened to Desmond before he found his constant. That’s a bad sign. And now, it gets even more messed up. Faraday sees something in his notebook, probably the “Desmond Hume will be my constant” page.
OK, Desmond can skip through time on his own. And not only is he aware of the skips, but he can rewrite his own past. We saw this a couple of times last season. So it stands to reason that the rules don’t apply to Desmond. So when Faraday meets him in the past, that changes Desmond’s history and the 2008 version of Desmond remembers meeting Faraday years ago. (Why Desmond is a special case, we don’t know yet.) Now, this past version of Desmond comes from after Kelvin died, since that’s when he went a little crazy. Unfortunately, Faraday doesn’t get all the information out before time jumps again.
But sure enough, in 2008, Desmond now remembers this brand new past event, and he’s headed to Oxford. And doesn’t it make you happy to see Desmond and Penny together? I really want them to have a happy ending.
Jumping into our second hour, it’s a flashback to just after Penny picked up the Six (plus Desmond and Frank). Hurley doesn’t want to have to lie about what happened, but he’s outvoted. That takes us back to 2008, with Hurley evading police yet again.
You know, I heard Ana-Lucia was going to show up this season, and I was still surprised. For just a second, I tried to figure out when this scene could possibly happen, but it’s Hurley seeing ghosts again. It turns out, I like Ana-Lucia best when she’s a figment of Hurley’s imagination. As for the gas station scene, let me just that I laughed really hard at “I (Heart) Shih-Tzus”.
Kate and Aaron are on the run, which is not unusual for Kate. She’s happy to hear from an “Unknown Caller”, which we pretty quickly figured out had to be Sun. But that comes later.
You know what’s funny? The idea of Jack and Benry sharing a hotel room. You just know Benry’s all gassy in the mornings, and it’s got to be rough. Also loved that Benry flushed Jack’s painkillers. And even better, Benry won’t actually come out and say that Locke is dead. Hope lives!
Cheech Marin is back as Hurley’s dad, and the show he’s watching on TV is Expose, which was the show that Niki starred in before she got buried alive. I like his line when Hurley and Sayid show up “Are you wanted again?” It takes a lot to phase Cheech.
Benry stashes Locke at a butcher’s shop. We’ve never seen Jill the Butcher before, but clearly she and Benry go way back. By the way, when Benry takes a number, it’s “342”. Those are the last three digits of Hurley’s numbers.
On the Island, Charlotte admits that she can’t remember her mother’s maiden name. People on this show have suffered from scattered memories when they become unstuck in time. Also, I seem to remember that her parents were mentioned last season, possibly by Benry. I’ll look that up before next week. Miles found a dead boar, which is probably easy for a guy who communes with spirits. Who knew that psychic powers were helpful in a survivalist situation?
Now, you knew that Neil was going to die as soon as he got a name. When they suddenly start talking to a new Lostaway, it never goes well. Sure enough, flaming arrow to the chest! I’m assuming the Others are the ones with the flaming arrows, but I might be way off. I mean, they never did that before. Depending on when we are in the timestream, it could be somebody completely different. (Hey, Vincent is in this scene! Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?)
I’m not sure what to make of the scene with Sun and Kate. Like, I think she might blame Jack and Kate for Jin’s death. She was oddly unconvincing when she told Kate that she made the right decision. Sun’s got me a little nervous right now.
Cheech and Jack meet up to deal with the still unconscious Sayid. This is notable because it illustrates that Jack still doesn’t realize the gravity of his situation (What could possibly go wrong by taking him to the hospital, right?). Also, when Jack calls Sayid a “good man”, Cheech says “A good man doesn’t kill three people. A good man doesn’t kill anybody.” Back in the old days, the Monster and Jacob both seemed to judge whether or not anybody was “good” based largely on whether or not they had killed anybody. Nice little reminder there. And back at home, Hurley’s summary of the entire series to date is really funny.
Getting near the end here. While walking with Juliet, Sawyer steps on a nail. I’m going to assume that’s important later. Then they’re attacked by three guys in military uniforms. From what I can tell, they’re not Dharma. The one we can see clearly has a nametag reading “Jones”, and the Dharma uniforms always showed the first name, not the last name.
In 2008, Jack revives Sayid, who’s not on board with Benry’s plan. Then Benry shows up at Hurley’s, and gets a Hot Pocket tossed in his direction. (Hee.) Hurley chooses jail over Benry, which really complicates things.
Back to the Island, I love when Jones threatens to cut off Juliet’s “other hand”. Because “The first one is non-negotiable.” But when they’re saved by some expertly tossed knives, you know it’s got to be Locke. Yeah, Locke! I mean, it makes me nervous whenever he kills somebody, as he clearly does here, but this was an extreme situation.
And now, the last big jolt of the episode. Somebody is working in a computer lab where a monitor reads “Event Window Determined”. (By the way, that crazy pendulum marking up the map is really cool.) She climbs the ladder and comes out in a church, 
where Benry’s waiting. And the woman in the computer lab is none other than Miss Hawking, or as we call her in these parts, White Oracle. Remember her from Season Three, when she explained to a time-lost Desmond that he couldn’t change destiny? She’s working with Benry! I did not see that coming.
where Benry’s waiting. And the woman in the computer lab is none other than Miss Hawking, or as we call her in these parts, White Oracle. Remember her from Season Three, when she explained to a time-lost Desmond that he couldn’t change destiny? She’s working with Benry! I did not see that coming.Benry has 70 hours to assemble everybody (Or in Lost terms, 4+8+16+42), and if he doesn’t, “God help us all”. Well, good thing nobody is going along with his plan, eh?
We opened with Dr. Marvin Candle, ended with White Oracle, and everything in between was awesome. Welcome back, Lost!
*** All images are courtesy of our friends at http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/ ***
