503 Recap

LOST 503A - Jughead - aired 1/28/09
Some more Time-Travelling Goodness, including some new head-scratchers
In 501, Daniel, having "skipped" to some time between 2001 - 2004, spoke to pre-crash Desmond - apparently on his own in the Swan - and urged him to contact his mother in Oxford whose name is ... Eloise Hawking (as we learned from the "enhanced" edition of 502 we saw just before 503 aired).
Desmond "receives" this message "3 years later" than the Ben/FDW date of 1/2005 - which would be 1/2008. The first time we see him receive this "memory", he wakes up beside (an apparently un-pregnant) Penny - after which Desmond ups anchor, not-pregnant Penny asks him where they’re going and he replies: "Oxford"
The first scenes of 503 show us a Flash-back of Desmond frantically racing from gambling den to gambling den in search of Doctor "Efron Salonga" - whom he eventually finds. As the two of them run back to Penny’s Boat, Des asks: "Are you sure you know what you’re doing? There’s a lot of blood". En route to the boat, they pass a flag and the word "Mabuhay" - which is a Tagalog greeting - so ... we’re in the Philippines. When they get to the boat, we learn that Penny is giving birth - Emily Linus-style - to a "beautiful " boy. Judging by the sub-par quality of Sonya Walger’s acting, I’m guessing that she was having a Really Bad Filming Day.
In the next scene - back in the "Present", we meet their new son Charlie - named after the ex-hobbit who brought them back together - and also the man who (for a few years) kept them apart. Young Charlie Hume appears to be +/- 3 years old as Desmond tells him about a very special island - called Great Britain - whose most special part is Scotland, a land of mountains, glens, deep Lochs (deep Lockes?) ... and Monsters.

Before going ashore in search of Faraday’s mother, Des promises that he’ll be back by dark and that he will then be "done" [with helping the Losties] forever - including never going back to the Island. Never say "never", Dude.
Having arrived at Oxford, Desmond learns that there are no records of any Faraday ever having worked there. We also learn that Des can't remember when he met Professor Faraday. Is Somebody tampering with the Past and erasing Daniel and Desmond's memory of him? After locating and breaking into Faraday’s former lab above the Physics department, having ignored a "Danger - Fumigation" sticker, we can see the blackboard, the maze, the purple-light gizmo, some papers strewn on the floor - and a pic of Des with a blonde. We are interrupted by a caretaker from whom we learn that Des is "not the first one to poke around here asking about [DF] and his work". So ... my best guess is that the folks who had earlier poked around are the Real Bad Guys - not Widmore and not Hawking/Linus.
Why would Widmore - who’d funded Faraday’s research - not round up and stash all of Daniels’s papers and equipment? Only the LOST writers know.
We also find out that Faraday did something to "that poor girl".
Now armed with a name and address, Des knocks on the Spencer door and we meet Abigail, Theresa’s sister. Theresa is presumably the blonde in the Daniel/Blonde pic. She’s also a long-term patient who’s currently being hand-fed by a Home Care worker. It seems that Theresa is (mentally) "away right now".
Like Minkowski, Theresa is prone to "Consciousness-jumping": "Sometimes she wakes up and thinks she's three, wants to know where her dolly is. Yesterday she was talking to our dad. He died five years ago." Unlike Minkowski, she’s been in this state for years. Daniel having abandoned her, Abigail is grateful to Mr Widmore for having looked after Theresa "ever since this happened to her" - a scenario similar to Christian Shephard looking after (comatose) Carole Littleton for years. I wonder what Carole was dreaming all that time.
So ... CW, whose 20-year search for the Island included funding Faraday’s research - the success of which was enabled by Desmond’s "Constant" mind-travel (Desmond having been selected, trained and motivated by CW and Ms Hawking to go to the Island) ... as I’ve been speculating for some time ... it would seem that CW and Hawking (and therefore Ben - who enabled the Swan destruction via Desmond’s turning of the fail-safe key) have been working (to some extent) together - consciously or otherwise.
Desmond’s next Port of call was CW’s office - where Des breezed past Melanie the receptionist to barge into the Great Man’s office. Note that The Bodyguard seemed to materialise very conveniently. Where the hell is his office? OR did he teleport in from somewhere OR was he Manifested by CW? Note that CW waved Mr Muscle (and Melanie) away in much the same way as he did to the Southfield Auctions usher in "The Constant"
I was impressed by Desmond’s bold stance during the ensuing conversation, during which he asked for (and received) the address of Faraday’s Mother - "currently" in LA - and a "Very Private Person" - more evidence that the two of them work together. I was touched by CW’s seemingly tender concern for the safety of his daughter. It seemed to me as genuine as Ben’s love for Alex. CW’s concern for Penny extended to his parting request:
"Desmond, deliver your message, then get out of this mess. Don't put Penny's life in danger."
"Danger?"
"You're putting yourself in the middle of something that goes back many many years. It has nothing to do with you or my daughter. Wherever you were hiding, go back there." I’m guessing that CW remembers his last ("I’m going to kill your daughter") conversation with Ben. But it also sounded to me as though CW was appealing to Desmond’s "cowardice" and that Desmond picked up on the tone of his "go back there" suggestion.
"Thanks for the advice." He leaves. Desmond’s relationship to his Father-in-law has certainly evolved since 1995. I’m avidly looking forward to this Hawking/Hume meeting!
Meanwhile, back on the Island:
Miles, Charlotte and Daniel plus a couple of Red-shirts are en-route to The Creek. Charlotte’s symptoms have worsened to include dizziness and double vision. Daniel (either foolishly or fatalistically) promises her that he "won’t let" anything happen to her. Since she can’t possibly die yet, maybe Daniel actually knows something about Charlotte’s upcoming not-demise.
Upon arrival at the Wet Part of the creek, there’s no one there to meet and Daniel lectures Miles about his Bad Attitude (very similarly to his Charlotte Attitude Adjustment speech). Miles notices the wires and the Claymore mines, but warns the red-shirts too late to save them. Another couple of dead Living Persons. Multiple explosions! Capture by Flaming Arrow guys! We then meet Ellie, their rifle-toting Leader whose cutely-deceptive line is: "You just couldn’t stay away, could you?"
Note that the Claymore explosions sounded and looked (to me) similar, if not identical to the "Tree-exploder" aspect of Smokey.
It turns out that (according to Richard in a later conversation): " A month ago we found 18 members of an army battalion right here in the jungle, setting up this camp. We gave them the opportunity to leave peacefully. They weren't willing to do that, so I was forced to kill them. All of them." And dress up in their clothes.
"Forced," Daniel says. "By whom?"
"You answer to someone don't you? You follow a chain of command?"
"Yeah."
"Well, so do I." It would appear that Jacob (and possibly therefore Richard) doesn’t subscribe to the "no killing" Good Guy rule.
I’m thinking that the reason to dress up in the clothes of the Enemy - is to better infiltrate them. To me, this is connected to Team Ben dressing down in Hillbilly clothes in order to impersonate the other Others.
Ellie knows that of the 20 Beach Losties, there are still 15 unaccounted for - and wants to know where they are. We now learn that it was the American Invader Soldiers who set up the Claymores. I expect that Rose and Bernard are among the prisoners - whom we did not see during his Ep.
Meanwhile, Locke, Ford and Juliet discuss "Jones" and "Cunningham". Locke shows off his so-far-unaccounted-for Military training/knowledge by pointing out that their rifles are new-looking M1 Garands. It also turns out that "Jones", "Cunningham" (who looks to me a lot like Karl) and Juliet all speak Others 101 (not very good) Latin. Another example of someone secretly knowing a second language.
There’s something to all these people who resemble each other - Juliet/Sarah/Annie ... Ellie/Theresa ... "Cunningham"/Karl ... My best guess is in order to allude to "different versions" of the same "thing" - be it repeating lines, repeating scenarios and repeating/reincarnated people as well. Another hint relating to the whole Buddhist Dharma-wheel cycle comes when Juliet describes Latin as the "language of the Enlightened". Add in the fact that Juliet believes in Karma and we can conclude that the Others are aware of the circular nature of their existence and are therefore that much more "accepting" of their "fate", including death. Note that The Goal of Buddhist existence is to escape the Wheel of Life (through Good Deeds) and to attain Enlightenment, also known as Nirvana.
As Ellie marches her three captives to Richard’s camp, Miles announces that they’ve just stepped over the graves of four dead American soldiers, one of whom died of Radiation Poisoning and three of whom died of Lead Poisoning. Upon arrival at Camp Richard, Daniel learns that the Americans had brought a bomb to the island. A Hydrogen bomb. Which is leaking radiation (that word again). During a brief Time-Out in a tent, Daniel announces that, until "the next flash", the three of them will just go along with the notion that they’re out-of-uniform American soldiers. More plausible (for now) than The Truth, I guess.
Brought before Richard again, we learn that: "We didn't start this, friend, your people attacked us. You come to our island (how?) to run your tests. [Any non-military tests included?] You fire on us and you expect us not to defend ourselves?"
"I don't know anything about that. We are scientists."
"So, what, so they sent you here to recover?"
"You mean our hydrogen bomb? Then yes. I'm guessing from this man's radiation burns that the housing has been compromised. Is that right?" They both look at the bandages on a man's arm. "You need to listen to me. You have an unstable device that is capable of destroying this entire island and it's broken. If you don't allow me to render it inert, all of us are going to die. All of us."
Note that, like the Tempest Threat - also genocidal - that Daniel’s mission is to "render it inert". Different time period, different incarnation of the same threat/solution.
Meanwhile, Locke, Ford and Juliet learn from "Cunningham" that "the rest of your people are either captured or dead" because James didn’t give his orders in a Secret Language.
Juliet’s Diplomacy persuades "Cunningham" to volunteer that Camp Richard is a couple of km’s East of their present location - just before he’s murdered - Goodwin neck-twist style - by "Jones" - who then bolts. Locke aims his Garand but doesn’t shoot, because, well, Jones is one of his people.
Just before Daniel leaves to "disarm" the Bomb, we are reminded that the US Military tested H-bombs (among others) in the South Pacific. What we don’t know yet is how the original Jones, Cunningham etc "found" the Island. Just before Daniel heads out to disarm The Bomb, Charlotte tells him (in a scenario similar to Kate and James at Hydra) that he didn’t "have to " say that he loved her. He asserts that he said it because it’s The Truth.
Before Daniel and Ellie head out, "Jones" arrives and we find out that he’s considered a coward: "Cunningham and I, a group of them surprised us. We were outnumbered, but I escaped."
"Outnumbered, eh?" Ellie smirks as "Jones" tells her to shut up.
"How did you escape?" Richard asks.
"I ran."
"Did it ever occur to you that they might follow you?"
"Follow me? Their leader is some sodding old man. What? You think he can track me? You think he knows this island better than I do?" A coward, a merciless killer and an immature Punk/Bully.
By this time, Locke, Juliet and James have spotted camp Richard as well as Daniel, who (according to James) is being "death-marched into the jungle". Locke wants to have a Word with Richard. Juliet decides to help Ford rescue the Geek, having confirmed to John that Richard is old. Thanks for that, Jules.
As they march toward The Bomb, The Geek keeps looking at Ellie - who reminds him of Theresa. We finally get to see The Bomb, named "Jughead" - and Daniel quickly discovers that the casing is cracked as per his previous theory - and he hurries back to Ellie to warn her to keep her distance, patch the crack with lead, encase Jughead in concrete and bury him. Dubious that radioactive land-fill is Green enough for the Island, Ellie questions the wisdom of "just bury it". So ... Daniel tells her that he knows this is a good-enough solution because he knows that 50 years into The Future, "this Island is still here".
As Ellie chews on that for a moment, Ford and Juliet arrive and the four of them return to Camp Richard, Ford asking: "You told her"? I’m guessing that Ellie remembers this conversation for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, Locke strides into Camp Richard - to the consternation of "Jones" - who promptly points a rifle at his back. When John tells Richard (who doesn’t recognise him per his prediction during their 2001 First Aid conversation) that Jacob sent him, Richard orders "Widmore" to lower his rifle. The fact that John knew Widmore’s first name probably helped support his credibility - and led to the John/Richard conversation during which John gave Richard The Compass and suggested that Richard visit his birth hospital in a couple of years.
We also learn that: "... we have a very specific process for selecting our leadership and it starts at a very young age." Similar to how the Dalai Lama is selected.
"Alright," Locke says, "what year is it right now?"
"It's 1954." As opposed to: "Well, John, that’s all relative"
"Alright, May 30th 1956, two years from now, that's the day I'm born. Tustin, California. If you don't believe me, I suggest you come and visit me." Whiteout
Note that Charlotte’s wrist bindings and Ford’s Garand stick with them through the Jump. Unfortunately, it looks as though this Jump is one too many for Charlotte as she drips blood out of both nostrils and collapses.
So ... prior to the 1950's arrival of the US soldiers, Family Richard were peacefully hunting boar, fishing and picking mangoes? I don’t think so. Getting off the Island is already in 1954 a Trusted Secret - well before the arrival of DHARMA. Jacob is already a ... God? The Four-toed Statue, the "kill your Father" Pillar and (presumably) the Temple are already old. Can’t wait to meet the Statue-builders.
Assuming that Desmond plans to sail to LA - across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and then up the coast of Mexico to California - his departure from London must have occurred weeks before the Hawking/Linus 70-hour deadline. I’m guessing that he really does have to Go Back with The Six ++. After all, Ms Hawking, Ben and the rest of The Six don’t really need Des to tell them how dire the situation is/was/will be on the Island. Assuming he takes Penny and Young Charlie along, it seems to me that Young Charlie might just grow up to become a Musician.