Wow. Is it just me or is Season Four shaping up to be a brilliant season already?Within just four episodes, we've learned some tangible answers to some intriguing propositions and Damon & Carlton have managed to parcel out bits of future reveals while keeping the pace on the island moving fast and furious. This week's episode of Lost ("Eggtown") was yet another stunning installment, which gave us some insight into the status of Kate in the future and answered a question that many fans have been pondering since last year's jaw-dropping finale ("Through the Looking Glass").
Just who was the "man" that Kate told beardy-weirdy Jack was sleeping at home when she reluctantly met up with him at the airport? Why none other than baby Aaron, that's who. Which makes a lot more sense now (why she snuck out, why she had to get back) than if it were a lover/husband. But why does she have Claire's baby and why is she passing him off as her own son? I'm not entirely sure. But her tears as she watched Aaron wake up speaks to Kate's feelings about her adoptive son, especially contrasted with her behavior on the island... when Claire asked her to pick him up and Kate refused.
I had an inkling that Kate's baby may have been Aaron based on this scene (though what happened to Claire having to raise the baby herself?) and I am glad to know that I'm still suspicious enough of everything on this series to pick up on the clue and not on the red herring of Kate's pregnancy. Kate too reveals this to Sawyer in a slaptastic scene that finds her refusing his sexual advances and leaving him for the beach and Jack.
Speaking of Jack, it still doesn't seem like he knows in the future that Claire is his sister and therefore Aaron his nephew... or he feels so guilty about leaving his lil' sis on the island that he can't bear to see his nephew. (Only time will tell on that front.) Also intriguing: Jack's oft-repeated story about there being only eight survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (and Kate's heroism in saving them), another attempt of the castaways to conceal the truth about what happened after the crash. Looks like they are keeping up the pretense of that downed plane in the Sunda Trench in order to divert everyone's attentions from the island. But who were those two other survivors... who are either dead or not considered part of the Oceanic Six? My guess: Michael and Walt.
Sayid and Desmond seem to have encountered another example of "lost time" as they attempt to fly with Frank to the freighter... and have disappeared altogether. Nearly a day goes by between them taking off and Regina revealing that they haven't been in contact. Cue Twilight Zone music... So have they slipped out of the timestream? Have they gone off the course that Daniel indicated to Frank? And why isn't Minkowski answering the phone?
On the subject of the Losties' "rescuers," why can't Daniel remember the three cards? And was this connected to him being in a professional nurse's care in his flashback? Just what is wrong with Daniel, a man Naomi dismissed as a "head case"? And how is his remembering two cards "progress," according to Charlotte?
Loved the scene between Miles and Ben in the basement while Locke went on a wild goose chase back to the boathouse. Clever girl, Freckles. Not entirely sure why Miles tries to extort exactly $3.2 million from Ben in order to lie to his employer about Ben being alive, but the figure seems (A) pretty damn specific and (B) possible for Ben to pull together in such a short time. We know Miles is the very definition of mercenary (as seen in his flashback by the way he casually charges that poor woman $200 and only hands back $100 after he waltzes off with a wad of blood money) but I was surprised by the way he was willing to flip so easily. As for taking care of Charlotte, that made my blood run cold. He's clearly willing to sacrifice any of his team in order to achieve his own agenda.
Still, I was amazed at how quickly Locke is pushing himself into the role of the brutal dictator, exiling Kate without so much as an explanation (after all, he's done far worse in his time than she did) and--in a oh-no-he-didn't twist--placed the pinless grenade in Miles' mouth. Miles opens his mouth to talk, he goes boom. I didn't expect Locke to be so ruthless, especially as his buttons are still so easily pushed by his other prisoner Ben (again, with the throwing of plates, John?). Still, when the chicken isn't producing any eggs, the beast needs to be slain, and that's just what John does with Eggtown's golden goose. As they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs...
As for the episode's title, Eggtown is a historical term from the Great Depression about bartering, which seems to be going quite a lot in this episode, from Miles trying to extort Ben to ensure his silence, Kate's mom bargaining with her in order to see her grandson, Locke cooking the Barracks' last two eggs in an attempt to butter up Ben during his interrogation, to the deal that Kate finally accepts, one which makes it legally impossible for her to return to the island.
Lost Literary Allusion of the Week: Sawyer reads "The Invention of Morel" by Adolfo Bioy Casares, which is about a fugitive hiding out on a deserted island; Ben declines Locke's offer of a book, which in this case is "VALIS" by Philip K. Dick. The title's acronym stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System. Hmmm, could that be what the island is?
Lost Guest Star of the Week: Big Love's Joey Henrickson himself, Shawn Doyle, here playing Kate's attorney in the future. And nice to see that Beth Broderick's character, Kate's mom, is still alive four years after she found out she had six months to live. (Curious, that.) So just how much time has past then since the crash and Kate's trial? Judging by Aaron's size, two years maybe?
Best line of the episode: "You just totally Scooby Doo'd me." - Hurley, to Kate after she got him to fess up to Miles' location.
Next week on Lost ("The Constant"), Desmond and Sayid experience some severe turbulence during a stormy flight to the freighter, but that pales in comparison with Desmond's strange side-effects. Lost time, anyone?
Comments
So much great stuff, can't wait to see what's next.
As to Aaron being one of the Oceanic 6, or not, didn't we get a promise in last week's coming attractions that one more of the 6 would be revealed? Technically he was a passenger on Oceanic 815.
My friend guessed aaron about halfway through. I thought it was a great guess. My only other guess was that Kate lied to Sawyer - she WAS pregnant, and her son was Sawyer's, which is why Jack couldn't see him. The Aaron thing is definitely interesting. I am already picturing a scene of a dying Claire begging Kate to "keep my baby safe.!"
I damn near fell out of bed laughing so hard. And it wouldn't have sounded half as funny if anybody else had said it.
3.2 million is certainly an odd number. I was trying to run it through my head, but.. all I could think is it was somehow related to his "profession" as a ghost-talker, or whatever you may call it. I guess we'll find out.
Not sure you commented on this -- but who is on the boat? C'mon. This is easy: MICHAEL. Totally. Michael and Walt.
The grenade thing was ... quite frankly one of the scariest things I have seen on this series. Locke is going down a very dark path -- perhaps the same path Ben took? Hm.
Loving it. Can't wait for Thursday!
(Until then I'll keep watching Doctor Who. Glee!)
Seeing Kate's mom again was equally as scary. I will never forget that scene in the hospital where she was screaming. (Totally a Twin Peaks moment.)
This season has been incredible. I just hope they keep it up!!!
The book is all about insanity. Philip K Dick had at the point in his life when he wrote the book gone through pretty much a complete mental breakdown (he had been doing uppers and hallucinogens his whole adult life), and he wrote about his going in and out of hospitals, and about his friends and their own personal demons. It's also about his personal religious views, full of super-obscure gnostic theories and science fiction, but I think even he recognizes that as insanity (even though he believed it).
That's what's so great about it. It's an autobiographical book very much about sanity and insanity written while he himself was (clearly) insane. And yet, it's surprisingly lucid. It's like he's two people, one sane and one insane, and the voice of the book switches between them. It's a tough (but great) read.
Honestly, I was a little surprised that the book didn't appear during Hurley's episode, with him being in the nut-house and all.