501/502 Recap

LOST 501A - "Because you left"
What a treat the S5 Premiere was, especially for hard-core "mythology Fans" like me.
For me, the most important revelation in the Two-Ep Premiere was that Ben, Ms Hawking, her son Daniel Faraday, Richard and Whoever keeps sending Hugo Imaginary Friends are all on the same side - trying to push The Six to Go Back. Moreover, Ms Hawking, Ben, his colleague Jill plus several others are all part of a precise Plan the failure of which would seem to be "God help us all" Catastrophic.
It’s still a mystery why anyone would be opposed to the Hawking/Linus save-all-human-life Plan - but I’m thinking that Widmore is not the Bad Guy he seems to be. There seems to be a connection between him, DHARMA, Brother Campbell’s Abbey and therefore to Ms Hawking herself. Note that Tom - who had an Ouroboros tattoo on his chest, seems also to have been connected to either Widmore and/or the Hawking group.
The opposition to the Plan seems to emanate from Someone who wants to delay/defer the Return of The Six - hence the "stay-put" strategies deployed to lock down Kate, Hugo and even Dr Jack. Note that Sayid’s attacker didn’t want him dead - only immobilised - possibly for no more than "70 hours" - after which the Event Window would be closed.
Recap:
Pierre Chang (Dr Candle) wakes up at 8:15 (in the 1970's) and his first (New Otherton) mission is to feed the baby. So ... who is the son/daughter of Pierre and (also Asian) Mrs Chang? - Sun? Note that the record ("Shotgun Willy") he plays as soon as he gets up, skips ... another reference to Time Loops.
Wearing his Swan lab jacket, "Dr Candle" sits for the filming (not taping) of the Orientation Film for Station 2 - The Arrow. It seems that the purpose of this Station was to develop Defensive Strategies (as in the Sonic Fence?) to deal with the hostile indigenous Island inhabitants. Note that the Arrow Station we saw was "abandoned" - except for a few choice Mystery Objects.
The filming is interrupted by an Orchid worker who bursts in with news of Trouble. Upon arrival at the (under construction) Orchid Station, we learn that a worker has been injured - a nose-bleed plus headache and confusion/terror.
The local Foreman shows us a Sonar image of the "open chamber" about 20 meters behind the drill-face - and we can see the FDW! ... before the Orchid was completed!
Despite not having "yet" sent any Orchid bunnies anywhere, Dr Chang seems to know about Time and the Rules of Time Travel. Maybe he acquired this knowledge at The Swan.
He’s hoping that the "almost limitless" energy source inside the rock will - if "harnessed correctly" - permit the "manipulation" of Time. If, however, the "energy" inside the rock were to be released, the results would be "God help us all" catastrophic. Note that getting too close to the buried Energy Source resulted in five broken carbide drill-bits, followed by one melted bit plus (apparently) some Constant Cabin Fever for the affected Worker ("grabbing his head and freaking out" - plus a copious nose-bleed). During the last few moments of this scene we discover that Daniel Faraday - looking the same age as ever - was a member of the 1970's Orchid work crew. It would seem that Daniel uses the same Fountain-of-youth product line as Richard.
Note that as dangerous as the FDW "Energy" was, it was "tamed" (how?) by the time DHARMA sent the PB to Tunisia and when Ben Moved The Island.
Funeral Parlor ("Present Day" - 1/08)
Ben asks Jack to help load Locke’s body into the Van he has out back. Maybe Ben didn’t Teleport into Hoffs/Drawlor. Bentham apparently told Jack that Ford, Juliet etc would die if The Six didn’t go back - implying that at the time he left the Island, they were still alive.
"3 years earlier" - just prior to the "Whiteout" of the FDW Island Move - which implies that the above Funeral Parlor scene is dated 1/08 +/- - which more-or-less agrees with my 3/08 or 4/08 FF Timeline
Just prior to the above Whiteout, Locke had rejoined Team Richard. Immediately after this Whiteout, he finds himself alone - during a rainy down-pour. The whole Island has skipped backwards through time to around 2001 - the (approximate) year that the Beechcraft left Nigeria. John is alone because Team Richard wasn’t at that Island location in 2001. Maybe the Whiteout created a wormhole which allowed the limited-range Beechcraft to take off in Nigeria and land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean using similar technology/physics to whatever enabled Ben (and the PB long before him) to travel from the Island to Africa.
John climbs some hills, sees the (2001) Beechcraft crash - and goes to investigate. Instead of approaching the plane from above, he somehow ends up at the base of the Crash Cliff and as he climbs up the same tree-roots climbed "previously" by Boone and Eko, Locke is shot at - by (2001) Ethan. As Locke fell backwards off the cliff, my first thought was that he’d broken his back a different way, possibly explaining Mikhail’s "fleeting memory". Wrong. He was just suffering from a bullet-wound to his right leg. Note that 2001 Ethan was very cautious/belligerent towards Locke. It would seem that the Ben/Ethan Family in 2001 had reason to be wary of strangers. How do you say other Others?
Ethan, sent to investigate the Beechcraft crash, asked John (at the point of his rifle) who he was. After informing Ethan that he knew his name - which John could have parlayed into a cease-fire - he then told him: "My name is John Locke. I know this is going to be hard to understand, but, Ben Linus appointed me as your leader"
Ethan: "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Good bye, John Locke." - as he started to squeeze the trigger - Whiteout.
Note that Ethan, when he subsequently "met" John in 2004 didn’t (as far as we know) remember this 2001 meeting. Note also that this Whiteout may have been triggered by John - his anxiety sufficiently attuned to The Island OR his Wish-Fulfilment Power
sufficiently potent to bring on the next Skip ("Jump 2")
Jump 2 - Night-time. John sees the downed Beechcraft. He hops over to it, peeks inside, sees Yemi’s body and grabs a strap to use as a Tourniquet. The date is after Boone’s death and before "?". Let’s say 11/15/04
After applying the tourniquet, with his back leaning against the Beechcraft fuselage, Richard emerges from the jungle, torch (and First Aid kit) in hand.
"How did you know there was a bullet in my leg, Richard?"
"Because you told me there was, John."
"No, no. No I didn't."
"Well, you will." Richard remembers a future event
"It was Ethan who shot me."
"Well, what comes around, goes around." Karma. Richard pours alcohol on Locke's leg.
"When am I?"
"Well, John, that's all relative." Not really. A date is a date. It’s 11/15/04 +/- Richard prepares to remove the bullet.
"Wait. The noise, when the sky lit up, where did you go?"
"I didn't go anywhere, John. You did." Why do The Losties jump around, but Team Richard’s members do not?
"This is going to hurt. It'll be a lot worse if you move, okay? Hold still." Richard uses tongs to remove the bullet. Previous bullet removals include Ford on the raft and Mikhail/Sayid.
"All done."
"I don't understand. How did you know I was here? How did you know where to find me?"
"I wish I had time to explain it, John, but you're going to be moving on soon, and we need to go over a couple things before ..." Richard remembers a future event.
"Moving on?" Locke moans in pain as Richard dresses his wound.
"First, you're going to need to clean out the wound every couple of hours. Keep as much weight off the leg as you can. The island will do the rest, John. Secondly..."
"But I don't understand-"
"No, no, pay attention, John. The next time we see each other I'm not going to recognize you." Why not?
"You give me this," He hands him a compass.
"What is this?"
"It's a compass."
"What does it do?"
"It points North, John. Hey look, I wish I had time to be more sensitive about this, because it's a lot to swallow, but you need to know it in order to do what you need to do so I'm just going to say it. The only way to save the island, John, is to get your people back here, the ones who left."
"Jack, Kate? But the chopper was headed for the boat, the boat..."
"They're fine, John, and they're already home. So you have to convince them to come back."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"You're going to have to die, John." - Whiteout
Jump 3 - It's daytime. The plane is back up on the cliff. The date is 8/04 (see below)
Locke looks into his bloody right hand at the compass Richard had given him. The next time we see John it’s night-time and Juliet’s about to get her hand chopped off.
Meanwhile, back at Lostie Beach:
Whiteout - Ben’s just turned the FDW, sending The island to (approximately) 2001.
In the Zodiac, Neil ("Frogurt") asks: "What happened?" Not that it matters, but I doubt that we saw him jump into the Zodiac at the end of 412.
We discover that the Camp is gone because it "hasn’t been built yet" - the whole Island, including the Losties - has been shifted 3 years into (its) "past" - to 2001. Note that the 3-years backwards Island Shift bears no correlation to Ben’s 10-month "forward" Spacetime jump to Tunisia.
It turns out that the Zodiac made the Shift, but the Beach kitchen, tents, water containers and utensils - including knives - did not. Daniel, who knows more than he tells us, asks to be taken to a man-made structure (other than the Tempest), Juliet tells him that the (Swan) hatch is within 15 minutes of Lostie Beach - so off goes the new "A" Team, including Shirtless James, Juliet, Miles, Charlotte and Dan. On the way to the Hatch Crater, Team Ford encounters Jump 2 - into the darkness of a night in 11/04. James: "Great".
When they reach the crater "blown up, just like we left it" in 11/04, Ford decides to return to the (presumably functioning Beach Camp) for some food and supplies. Note that Bernard, Rose, Frogurt and various Red-shirts did not follow the A Team to the crater. As far as we saw, Bernard was trying to light a fire, with Rose nagging him all the way. So ... what do they encounter after Jump 2? A "restored" Camp, complete with 11/04 copies of themselves? I doubt we’ll ever find out.
After James and Juliet suggest that they could Change The Past by warning the Losties not to fly to the Kahana, we learn some more LOST Time Travel Rules:
Daniel: "That's not the way it works,"
"Who says?" asks Sawyer.
"You cannot change anything .... you can't. Even if you tried to, it wouldn't work." To me, this sounds like Tom telling Michael "it won’t work" ... that the Island’s Will is indomitable.
"Why not?".
"Time is like a string. We can move forward on the string. We can move in reverse. But we cannot ever create a new string. If we try to do anything different, we will fail. Every time. What happened, happened." This is basically Mummy’s Universal Course-Correction" theory - which she also is trying to circumvent.
"How do you know so much about this, Danny boy?"
Daniel takes off his backpack. "I know about this," he pulls out his journal, "because I spent my entire adult life studying space/time. I know this because this journal contains everything I've ever learned about the Dharma Initiative. This is why I am here. I know what's happening." And yet ... Dan is going to try to change The Past/Present/Future anyways.
Based on Juliet’s apparent cluelessness, it would seem that she does not know what’s coming. Hmmm. After the "son-of-a-bitch" shift into Jump 3 daylight, Juliet finds the camouflaged 9/04 Quarantine lid - James (towing the A Team) marches off to the Swan back door to pound on it for DHARMA food, beer and clothing.
After some "Brig" and Ben’s Secret Room-style door pounding, including: "Open the damn door" and "You open up. It's the ghost of Christmas Future.", James is finally persuaded ("If it didn’t happen, it can’t happen") to return to Lostie Beach with everyone except Daniel - who stays behind for a little door-pounding of his own.
Just before Charlotte marches off towards Lostie Beach, we see that she has a nosebleed. Desmond suspects that Charlotte has Eloise Syndrome - but seems unable/unwilling to help her find her Constant. Yet.
When Desmond finally opens the Swan Back Door, he’s in his Haz-Mat suit, complete with respirator and air-tank. So ... Kelvin is ... dead? (otherwise, he’d have come to the door) or Kelvin is ...sleeping/sick/comatose/drunk? Or Kelvin is ... outside somewhere?
Desmond is wearing his crisp, new-looking Haz-Mat gear. It’s not yet 9/22/04, since the Lostie Beach Camp is still unbuilt ... Whatever. Let’s say it’s 8/04.
Daniel: "You are the only person who can help us, because The Rules, Desmond, The Rules don't apply to you."
Different Rules, I guess, but note that The Rules didn’t apply to (Hydra Station) Juliet either.
Daniel: "You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special."
"What are you talking about?"
Daniel starts to hear the Whiteout noise. "Okay, listen to me, listen! If the helicopter somehow made it off the island, if you somehow made it home ..."
"What helicopter? What are you talking ..."
"Listen! I need you to listen or people are going to die. My name is Daniel Faraday and right now me and everyone else you left behind, we're in serious danger and you're the only one who can help us. I need you to go back to Oxford University." The light is getting brighter and Desmond looks up. More insistent now, Daniel says, "Go back to where we met and find my mother. Her name is ..." As soon Daniel said these words, I wrote down: Ms Hawking. I’m proud of that little insight. Note that Dan "sent" 2008 Desmond a "memory" from his "past". I’m guessing that The Good Guys (possibly Team Hawking) sent Island Desmond a series of Charlie Dying memories from his Future.
Having received this message, Desmond decides to act on it by upping anchor and travelling to Oxford to see Ms Hawking - who is connected to his former "boss" Brother Campbell - and to Daddy Widmore. Yikes.
Back at Lostie Beach (circa 8/04), Bernie the Dentist almost succeeds in lighting a fire. Miles announces that he’s going to scrounge up some food. I’m guessing that he’s just sensed the death (how?) of a boar.
Charlotte has found a couple of mangoes and gives one to Daniel as she tells him some more about her head-aches and memory losses. Daniel lies to her (why?) And suggests that she’s suffering from stress
Miles returns with a dead boar draped over his shoulder. He says he "found" it dead but that it’s safe to eat, because it’s only been dead for three hours. We know that Miles can commune with the dead and learn from them the circumstances of their deaths. Maybe the Island killed that boar for the hungry Losties. Not that they’re going to be able to enjoy their Raw Boar that night.
Just as Frogurt launches into his whining rant about how the Losties are all screwed because they have nothing and can’t even "get fire" - he gets a fire-arrow in the chest!! Island Karma at its finest.
Lostie Beach is suddenly a Battle Zone! Fire Arrows fly in! Red-shirts die! Sawyer yells out that everybody should split up and get to the creek!
Note that on the evening of 9/22/04, the freshly-arrived Losties were not attacked by these fire-arrow-wielding Hostiles or the rifle-toting overall-clad Hostiles (who might or might not be the same Bad Guys) either. It would seem that my long-ago theory of Lostie Beach having been Protected by The Monster is/was correct. Note also that the Night One Tailies were attacked (though not murdered). As I’ve said before, I believe these Night One attackers are/were the other Others - the on-Island Bad Guys.
Having fled Lostie Beach, James and Juliet are captured by "Jones" - a murderous Hater wearing Not-DHARMA overalls. He wants to know how many Losties there are, how they got there and what they are doing. Instead of approaching our unarmed, obviously civilian Losties peacefully, their approach is to shoot first and ask questions later. It would seem that Jones and his friends have their own on-Island enemies.
To illustrate his seriousness, Jones threatens to unconditionally cut off one of Juliet’s hands, the second one optional, depending on the quality of her intel.
Just before his machete-wielding underling can complete his hand-chopping-off blow, he is hit by a not-bullet - possibly a thrown rock, possibly (??) an invisible punch - which is what it looked like to me.
Jones is similarly felled by an "invisible punch", then James tackles Underling #2, while Juliet picks up Jones’ rifle and points it at him. Meanwhile, Mr Machete recovers and is about to slash at James when he’s killed by a thrown knife. Enter Locke. It’s still 8/04. I think.
Note that the Losties can skip through Time and keep their memories - like Richard (except when he can’t).
Meanwhile, back in the Real World, Aaron is watching a cartoon train on TV and says: "Choo-choo, tunnel." Kate replies: "Oh I think choo-choo knows better than that. He goes into that tunnel, he's never coming back out." Never Coming Back. We’ll hear those words again.
At the door, some "lawyers" tell Kate they have a Court Order authorising them to "take" blood samples from her and Aaron in order to determine her relationship to him. Oh, sure. Since when do Lawyers have the medical expertise to withdraw blood? IMO, the only purpose of this Lawyer Visit is to herd Kate and Aaron (using him to influence her) out of her comfy house and back to the Island. It seems to me that the "lawyers" are on the Ben/Jill team. Note that Matthew Abbadon also posed as a Lawyer - and his mission seemed also to be to herd Hugo out of his comfy "home".
As Kate and Aaron said "Bye-bye" to their home, we get to see a photo of Jack playing with Aaron on a swing. Awww.
London airport: Sun, using her Oceanic Golden Pass is briefly detained by Widmore who (sounding curiously similar to Daddy Paik) seems to have been offended by Sun’s earlier "lack of respect" in accosting him in public, in front of his business associates. Huh? Anyways ... she tells him that she’s willing to help kill Ben. I’m guessing he’s the Second Person she blames for Jin’s death. This (9:20) meeting is short enough that she does not miss her flight to LA.
Ben’s LA motel room: Ben watches the news report describing Hugo’s murder-enabled escape from Santa Rosa murder. Oops. Change of plan. Ben is not omniscient.
Sayid’s car: Hugo offers Sayid some fries and says: "You know, maybe if you ate more comfort food you wouldn't have to go around shooting people." Sweet. A few minutes later, Sayid tells Hugo that for the last two years (11/05 to 11/07) he’s been working for Ben and if Hugo should meet Ben, he should do the opposite of whatever Ben suggests. Hugo listens and remembers. So ... some time after the Elsa hit, Sayid lost faith in Ben.
A few minutes later, Sayid kills two would-be captors, but is himself rendered unconscious by a trank dart. I’m guessing his assailants didn’t want to kill Sayid, but only to immobilise him long enough to miss the Event Window - described below.
502 ( "The Lie" ) begins "3 years ago" (1/05) on the Searcher - where the Six (plus 2) are discussing The Lie. All are reluctantly in favour except Hugo who’s sceptical that Lying is necessary - or even possible. No wonder Jack - in TTLG - visits Hugo at Santa Rosa to check up on whether Hugo has blabbed.
Frank tells Jack that he’ll "just roll with" whatever they decide - and that’s the last we see of him. He doesn’t stick around with Des and Pen ... and he’s not a member of The Six. So ... maybe he’s wasting away in Margaritaville ... or Eleuthera.
Penny now hears from The Six that her Daddy is a Lying, Genocidal Power Freak - which may or may not be true. She does know, however that he can’t be "called off".
When Sayid chooses not to support Hugo’s Tell The Truth strategy, Hugo threatens that at some point, Sayid will need Hugo’s help - which he’ll withhold.
Cut to Sayid’s "Present Day" car - Hugo is driving, Sayid is slumped unconscious in the passenger seat. Hugo’s erratic driving attracts the attention of a Traffic Cop - who turns out to be "AL". She instructs Hugo to ditch his Santa Rosa duds and to take Sayid somewhere safer than Sayid’s Safe House. Her parting advice is to avoid cops and not to get arrested. Hugo ends up doing the opposite of this too. Oh yeah ... Libby says "Hi".
Note that Hugo now seems to have accepted the "reality" of various Dead Friends including Charlie and Eko - and has come to understand that he is not crazy. Allrighty, then. Note also that "Charlie" and "Ana Lucia" are trying to "push" Hugo to Go Back, which aligns them with the Hawking/Linus Team.
Acting on AL’s advice, Hugo pulls into a Gas Station/Souvenir Shop and buys an XXL T-shirt (into which he changes between the shop and the car - I’m so glad we didn’t get to see that). As he pulls out of the parking lot, Kate pulls into the same parking lot [small world, eh?] and considers calling Jack. She changes her mind, but is then immediately called by Sun - who’s by now in LA and would like to see Kate while she’s in town.
Ben’s Motel Room:
Ben is removing a ventilation grille, behind which there’s a bag. Ben places this bag inside another bag as Jack enters. They’re temporarily splitting up - Jack to go pack "anything in this life" that he wants, because he is Never Coming Back, Ben to stash JL’s corpse. When Jack asks: "He’s dead, isn’t he?", Ben gives him no reply. I’m guessing that John may not be quite as dead as Christian was in the Australian morgue. They agree to meet again in 6 hours.
Carmen’s House:
Cheech (er David) is fixing himself some comfort food, the better to watch the latest Ep of "Expose" - which gets interrupted by Hugo’s arrival at the (side) sliding door - with Sayid slung over his shoulder.
The Main Point of the following few minutes is that Cheech wants Hugo to Tell Him The Truth. They decide that Cheech will take Sayid to Dr Jack.
Hotel Lobby:
Kate and Aaron march across the lobby to an elevator - and Aaron wants to Push The Button. Definitely an Island Child.
Butcher Shop:
Jill chops up some meat at least as well as Charlie’s Dad ever did.
After Ben tells her that he’s got something for her to look after, she says: "He'll [not "it"] be safe with me."
Ben looks around. "Have Gabriel and Jeffrey checked in yet?"
"Yeah. Everything is moving right on schedule. How's it going with Shephard?"
"He's with us."
"Really? What'd you do, bribe him with some pills?"
"Cut the man some slack. He's been through a lot. We all have."
She looks down. "Right ... of course ... sorry."
"So keep him [not "it‘] safe, Jill, because if you don't, everything we're about to do won't matter at all." This is our first-ever hint that Ben is part of a Plan and has honestly confided (at least some of) the details of this Plan to respected colleagues. Despite what D&C have to say, I still believe that Ben really is a Good Guy.
Carmen’s House:
As Hugo tries to placate his Worried Mother, the LOST writers send us a sly message:
"Everything’s going to make sense. I promise." I almost believe them.
Sun’s Hotel Room:
Kate tells Sun about the Lawyers and Sun shrewdly concludes that they were not interested in exposing The Lie, but that they were interested in taking Aaron away. This can’t be correct. If they wanted to take Aaron away, they would just snatch him. She then advises Kate to "take care of them"!! Wow! Sun’s showing the same cold-blooded resolve that she showed to Jin’s Prostitute Mother, her Daddy and Charles Widmore.
Parking Garage:
Cheech hands Sayid over to Jack ands asks him to "stay away" from Hugo "when this is over". Yeah, well ...
Carmen’s House:
Carmen tells Hugo that a Good Guy doesn’t kill 3 men. A Good Guy doesn’t kill any men. Aside from his Father and the murderer of his "daughter", this appears to be exactly Ben’s creed.
As Hugo (finally) tells his Mother a disjointed, funny and completely crazy-sounding honest account of his Island Adventures, she tells him: "I believe you. I don’t understand you, but I believe you." I’m sure Hugo feels so much better, now.
While Jack is reviving Sayid at the hospital, Ben drops in for a chat with Hugo. Did he teleport past the Cop Stake-out?
Had it not been for Sayid’s earlier warning, Hugo might very well have accepted Ben’s offer to "go back to the Island. Come with us, Hugo, and this will be over. You can stop hiding. You can stop worrying about the stories and the deceptions. If you come with me, you won't ever have to lie again."
Note that Ben knew exactly what was emotionally eating away at Hugo. How could he know? I think Ben learned it telepathically. Be that as it may, Ben did not anticipate that Hugo would "do the opposite" . Now that Hugo’s been re-arrested, he’ll be locked up somewhere much more secure than Santa Rosa. Maybe he’ll meet MA there.
A Church (Oxford?)
Ms Hawking is scribbling scientific formulae on a blackboard while a large sweeping pendulum marks a circular tablet with a series of chalk lines all intersecting at the same central point. Her computer shows an "Event Window Determined" World map - with 8 or 9 Pacific Ocean matching marks displayed. She climbs some narrow circular stairs into an upper room, in which Ben is lighting a candle. If this is Oxford, it would appear that Ben teleported himself from LA.
He watches her unroll a cloth bundle and asks: "Any luck?"
"Yes," she says.
"Really?"
"Really. What about you?"
"I'm having some difficulties."
"You’d better get busy, because you only have 70 hours."
"What? No, no, that's not enough time! I need at least..."
"What you need is irrelevant." She turns to face him. "What you've got are 70 hours."
"Look, I lost Reyes tonight."
She looks worried. Ben says, "So what happens if I can't get all of them to come back?"
"Then God help us all."
The End
So ... Ben appears to believe in some form of God - as does Ms Hawking and Brother Campbell - possibly Daniel’s brotha
Sun has offered to help kill Ben, Kate will need lots of persuasion and Hugo’s on his way to jail or Max Security Nut-house. Sayid has turned away from him. Ben has a lot of Work To Do in the next 70 hours.