Lost 5x04: "The Little Prince"

[DeafPoet]

Above Average.

Much like last year, Episode 4 is Kate-centric (so to speak) and not as good as the three that preceded it.

Don't get me wrong though. It's light years better than "Eggtown."

I'll admit that I'll probably be eating crow from a couple weeks ago when I thought there was no way they'd do that thing with Dr. Chang's baby that was spoiler-coded upthread. Indeed, given the time-line of killer nosebleeds, it seems very likely.

Jack may end up being completely wrong about trusting Ben, but it's good to see him getting back to being a little decisive and not quite so much of a whiner. Sawyer continues to be one of my favourites this season and his stuff with Juliet was really good. Then again, you could put Juliet in a room with a potted plant and I'd call it great TV. I may be biased.

Sawyer also had the same thought I had when I saw the hatch light in a promo picture. Why doesn't John go over there and tell himself to fucking man up?

Anyway, it's true that nothing of huge consequence really happened in the episode, but rather than the stall eps of old, it was pretty clear that this is a set-up episode and it's actually going somewhere good.

Couple of thoughts:

- They kind of cheated on Jin if his circumstance is what it appears to be at face value. After all, that was a pretty serious explosion. Then again, within the rules of of the show it may not be cheating at all. Maybe the island still has a few errands for Mr. Kwon to run.

- I was spoiled that Young Rousseau was going to be showing up at some point this season but even if I hadn't been I think I still would have been disappointed with how they revealed it. It was telegraphed like ten minutes before she actually said her name and then they played ominous music like it was supposed to be shocking. I'm happy that she's there though. Now that they've got the clumsy reveal out of the way they can get down to the business of doing some cool shit. Did Jin flip out and cut off Montand's arm? I can't wait to find out.

- Ben retaining Dan Norton is pretty cool, I just don't know what he's driving at. What's the point of taking Aaron away from Kate? They all have to go back, unless there's some weird rules as to how that we're not aware of. Also, Jack has a good point: It's gotta be more than a coincidence that Norton is also Mrs. Littleton's lawyer.

- Finally, not a lot of Hurley love this week, but his one brief scene was gold. Hurley in an orange jumpsuit using his one phone call on Jack and looking thrilled to be there was great! Dude has an odd love of being incarcerated

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

good episode, although im strill trying to figure out one thing. The scene where they were getting shot at, and then it flashed and they went back in time, while on the boat, how did the boat also go back in time with them? I thought only they could travel back and forth. So when they jumped thru time, wouldnt they just end up in the ocean during that storm, kayak-less?

Also during the scene where Claire was giving birth, during that very scene wasn't Jin and Charlie there as well to witness Aaron's birth? Yet they were nowhere to be found here, Charlie for obvious reasons, but Jin I'm sure to wait and show for the reveal.

They could have easily chose another time and place for Sawyer to see Kate.

 

[DeafPoet]

good episode, although im strill trying to figure out one thing. The scene where they were getting shot at, and then it flashed and they went back in time, while on the boat, how did the boat also go back in time with them? I thought only they could travel back and forth. So when they jumped thru time, wouldnt they just end up in the ocean during that storm, kayak-less?

They haven't explained how it works but they've established that stuff that's on you during a flash goes with you. Like Daniel's zodiac, Locke's compass or their clothes. Daniel mentions something about it in "Because You Left."

Also during the scene where Claire was giving birth, during that very scene wasn't Jin and Charlie there as well to witness Aaron's birth?

Charlie and Jin were off finding help and supplies, IIRC. For the moment of truth I think it was just Kate. Which jives, since most of the footage from tonight's scene was stock.

They could have easily chose another time and place for Sawyer to see Kate.

Well yeah but then you can't do the cool hatch light thing from "Deus Ex Machina" which was happening at the same time. I thought it worked pretty well.

 

[Brent]

CHarlie and Jin were there while Clair was pushing the baby out, BUT, they were standing far back during the original episode. When Sawyer was watching in tonight's episode they were just probably simply out of his line of sight. But in the original episode yes they were there during the birth sequence.

 

[Aragorn]

Is it weird that I'm loving this ride Lost is taking me on, but I wish they hadn't gone all sci fi?

 

[DeafPoet]

CHarlie and Jin were there while Clair was pushing the baby out, BUT, they were standing far back during the original episode. When Sawyer was watching in tonight's episode they were just probably simply out of his line of sight. But in the original episode yes they were there during the birth sequence.

I stand corrected. You've seen it more recently than I have so I defer to your call, sir.

So yeah, I guess Sawyer couldn't see them from where he was standing. Anyway, I feel it's a minor gripe. The whole point was Sawyer being gutted by seeing Kate again. Josh Holloway played it great and anything else would have been kind of a distraction.

 

[Mallet]

Who are the new mystery attackers? We never learned what time period this was.

Well, we know it was the future since the Losties camp was there but deserted and all the food stuff used up. So it had to have been after the Oceanic Six got off the island. How far in the future was it? Well the camp was still standing, but it looked in bad shape... So maybe 3 years?

Is it possible that those boats "were/are/will be" the ones the Oceanic Six use to return to the island? Somebody that was in them flew on that Indian Airway before paddling to the island. My money is on it being Jack, Kate & the rest who made it off.

Imagine this scenario... Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Aaron, Ben, Sun, Desmond, Frank and Locke's body paddle up to the Island in those two boats. They get out and begin exploring trying to find everyone they left behind. Meanwhile Sawyer and the Others show up and take one of the boats.

Jack and the others return to the beach and see someone paddling away in one of their boats. They don't know who so they give chase.

Not likely I know, but it could happen.

 

[chrisspringob]

Um, I just realized something.....Walt totally has to get in on this time-travel stuff at some point so he can "drop in" on Shannon and Locke.

Same thing could explain appearances by several of the supposedly "dead" characters, like Christian Shephard.

 

[chrisspringob]

Yeah, I've had this theory for awhile. The Swan sat on a micro black hole that existed in equilibrium within the Island due to its weird properties. Dharma, in its finite wisdom, decided to poke a hole in the dam so to speak, hoping harness the energy from a pinpoint hole in the black hole. This is why if you don't push the button it will destroy the world; it periodically vents the released energy harmlessly. If you don't push the button, the black hole escapes its captivity and devours the planet. The fail safe key permanently seals the Dharma hole in the barrier, so that no more energy can escape, but this also means Dharma could never hope to harness that energy for good (hence why they didn't just seal it in the first place).

Hmmmm......could be, but I still think the nuke from "Jughead" is going to play into the craziness of the island somehow, possibly the radiation leaking from the nuke interacted with some pre-existing craziness about the island, which led to all the time travel, or something like that.

I just think the nuke is going to come up again in a big way. It wasn't just an accident that they made a big deal out of showing it in that ep.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Desmond is en route to LA. Given that he has a sail boat he will most likely dock in the very same marina as the group of Ben, Sun, Aaron, Kate, Jack are gathered explaining how they'd cross paths. Or will they cross paths after they leave dock and they are en route. Didn't see them meeting up at marina but makes so much sense for this show. Doesn't feel contrived but is plausible.

Hard to imagine a boat sailing from England to Los Angeles after sailing through the Panama Canal (or going around the Horn) in such a short time.

 

[stj]

Below average.

Much as I like Jin/Sun, his return is kind of lame.

I was unfortunately thinking "really bad case of jet lag" as a joke aimed at the show---and then Faraday actually said it.

And, actually, nothing really happened. The revelations that Kate is weepy and Ben is manipulative didn't wow me.

 

[Mallet]

So if the longer you were on the island the sooner the nose bleeds and negative side-effects happen then I wonder about the people on the freighter last season. Like Miloswki(?) the radio operator. Was he also from the island? All that same stuff happened to him when he got close to the island.

 

[TheGodBen]

While I normally begin an episode being neutral and consider it average until something happens in the episode to make me re-rate it, I devised a rule in mid season one that any Kate episode starts out as poor and has to work its way up. Thus this episode gets an average score from me.

The Kate story was completely pointless, Ben was utilised badly, and Jin encountering Rousseau was not worthy of a cliffhanger since it was obvious to everyone that it was Rousseau the moment she appeared on screen.

That being said, the on-island story was interesting and I liked the fact that they were hinting about the future when they got to the camp. The shot of light from the hatch also helped this episode out because Deus Ex Machina was such an awesome episode that anything which references it is automatically given a few extra points.

Does anyone else think it would be funny if it turns out that it was Sawyer who drank all the beer, making his angry look at finding all the empty cans ironic?

 

[Gertch]

Like Miloswki(?) the radio operator. Was he also from the island? All that same stuff happened to him when he got close to the island.

While it might have been a similar cause, his traveling was solely with his consciousness. Our Losties are physically moving in time (or the Island is).

Jin encountering Rousseau was not worthy of a cliffhanger since it was obvious to everyone that it was Rousseau the moment she appeared on screen.

As soon as Locke said there was wreckage on the beach we knew it was going to be her. So yeah, it really wasn't a cliffhanger but it was great to see Jin's expression and you could see she noticed it as well. That was neat.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

So if the longer you were on the island the sooner the nose bleeds and negative side-effects happen then I wonder about the people on the freighter last season. Like Miloswki(?) the radio operator. Was he also from the island? All that same stuff happened to him when he got close to the island.

That seemed to be a separate issue (they gave a theory for that, iirc, Desmond's problems had to do with the hatch).

 

[Mr Light]

The Season Four problem of people being mentally unstuck in time and needing to find their constant was a problem only related to passing through the Island's outer shield barrier. The Season Five problem of our characters physically jumping around in time is because of the Donkey Wheeling, and is a separate (though doubtlessly somehow connected) issue.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Desmond is en route to LA. Given that he has a sail boat he will most likely dock in the very same marina as the group of Ben, Sun, Aaron, Kate, Jack are gathered explaining how they'd cross paths. Or will they cross paths after they leave dock and they are en route. Didn't see them meeting up at marina but makes so much sense for this show. Doesn't feel contrived but is plausible.

Hard to imagine a boat sailing from England to Los Angeles after sailing through the Panama Canal (or going around the Horn) in such a short time.

Who's to say Desmond didn't get his vision/memory of Daniel weeks (or even months) before the current events of the Oceanic 6 timeline? That would give him plenty of time to get to LA.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

That's possible (more than a bit confusing since I figured they wouldn't want to complicate keeping track of time more than they already do, but possible). Nothing would contradict that, so maybe that's what they'll do.

Either that or he'll just hop on a damn plane and be there next episode.

 

[jamestyler]

Ben hiring the lawyer to get Aaron was a surprise, but that was it.

I thought of that a while ago, when they released the clip via email. though I wrongly assumed it was a ploy by Jack as he knew the truth behind it all. Foolish though as its way more Bens thing.

Did we know this? Does this mean the time-flashes are going to last for three years on the Island, or just that when things get settled the 06 will be three years in the future as far as Sawyer et al are concerned?

I'm thinking they'll travel to the 'current' time frame and it'll all stop, maybe thats where the whole 70 hour window comes into play - in 70 hours the timelines will converge and the two groups will be at the same point.

I'm hoping startrekwatcher is right and the part we're seen with Faraday in the past is part of the time travel, though he'd need to be a damn good liar to sneak his way in and interact with people who'd never seen him before. If it were me I'd avoid being underground though as the Island could transport to a point where theres no underground cavern which means he'd be stuck in rock... unless the caverns always been there - which would make sense as thats where the wheel is. It just depends who put that there and when. I thought it might have belonged to the Black Rock byt he look of it. But who knows.

So if the longer you were on the island the sooner the nose bleeds and negative side-effects happen then I wonder about the people on the freighter last season. Like Miloswki(?) the radio operator. Was he also from the island? All that same stuff happened to him when he got close to the island.

That was already explained, if I recall, with Desmonds 'quantum leaps'. Unless you enter the Islands perimeter without going a specific route, you suffer the effects of time travel. The radio op had been travelling just as Desmond had, but Desmond used Penny as his constant and survived. The Radio op didn't have that knowledge and died.

Though I might remember it wrong. Desmond first started travelling and having the Final Destination type visions after the hatch exploded, then somethign went wrong on the route home... so I think my memory may be off as Sayid and Frank never travelled. Might be something more to it but.. definatly a similar but seperate issue.

saying that - definatly is not a word I can say with confidence about Lost

Anyway... general thoughts...

I was reminded of the earlier seasons shispers in the jungle and am now wondering if thats related to the time travel.

I'm also curious to see whats going on with the future camp, who the other boat belongs to, if its Jacks, why they're travelling physically instead of previously seen conciousness, if that even comes up and what'll happen when the timelines converge - though thats an assumption.

I'm curious to see the bomb in the past come back into play, the logic behind Faraday in the past, more about the woman working with Ben/sorting out Desmond when he quantum leaped a while ago and a few other things.

The Claire/Christian thing seems to be out of the equation for now, I'm hoping they go back to that when the timelines are sorted. I'm glad to see Jin back and happy to see Danielle's entry to the Island. Hopefully the travel will fill in more of the blanks in her sixteen years, the truth about her and the others and more tid-bits from Richards camp and Jim robinson.

Plus we know it's likely Miles was born or raised on the Island, though Charlotte spent more time there if she was first. And the possible spoiler on page one seems almost confirmed by that.

It was slower this time round, kind of transitional with hints of whats to come but overall I enjoyed it and can't wait 'till next week I quite like the connection Juliet and Sawyer are building and enjoyed Johns "I needed my pain" line justifying the non-interference in the time lines - which a lot of non-SF fans on other boards seem confused about.

So far this season it's shown me why I enjoy Lost, all the bits and pieces coming together in no particular order. Good stuff for me

 

[McCoy]

I had a thought about Sun. She's become super-vengeful over the last three years. It seems out-of-character and over-the-top. Like something happened in those years that we don't know about yet, something that explains the incongruity of it all.

And I thought about that picture she had of her daughter, still as an infant rather than the near 3-year-old she must be now, how it seems odd that a loving mother that seems to travel a lot wouldn't have recent pictures of her child.

I wonder if maybe her daughter died within her first year of life. Something like that, coupled with the loss of her husband, could push a mild-mannered woman like Sun over the edge and turn her into a avenging angel who could pull the trigger on Ben, and even Jack.