504 Recap

LOST 504 - "The Little Prince"
Regarding the Episode title - According to Sparknotes: The [book’s] narrator, an air-plane pilot, crashes in the Sahara desert. The crash badly damages his air-plane and leaves the narrator with very little food or water. As he is worrying over his predicament, he is approached by the little prince, a very serious little blond boy who asks the narrator to draw him a sheep. The narrator obliges, and the two become friends. The pilot learns that the little prince comes from a small planet that he calls Asteroid 325 but that people on Earth call Asteroid B-612. [the label on the metal can overturned by Locke on the debris-strewn beach]
The little prince took great care of his planet, preventing any bad seeds from growing and making sure it was never overrun by baobab trees. [Note that the Little Prince is a Farmer and not a Hunter] One day, a mysterious rose sprouted on the planet and the little prince fell in love with it. But when he caught the rose in a lie one day, he decided that he could not trust her anymore. He grew lonely and decided to leave. Despite a last-minute reconciliation with the rose, the prince set out to explore other planets and thereby seek a cure for his loneliness.
While journeying, the narrator tells us, the little prince passes by neighbouring asteroids and encounters for the first time the strange, narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone and are overly consumed by their chosen occupations.
Shortly after arriving on Earth - in the Sahara desert - the little prince meets a snake - who speaks in riddles and hints darkly that its lethal poison can send him back to the heavens if he so wishes. The little prince politely declines the snake’s offer - for the time being.
Some time later, he befriends a fox, who teaches him that the important things in life are visible only to the heart, that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love makes a person responsible for the beings that one loves. The little prince realizes that, even though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique and that he is therefore responsible for her. Despite this revelation, he still feels very lonely because he is so far away from his rose.
It is now the narrator's eighth day in the desert, and at the prince's suggestion, they set off to find a well. The water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies, and the two share a moment of bliss as they agree that too many people do not see what is truly important in life. The little prince's mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the snake to head back to his planet. The narrator is able to fix his plane on the day before the one-year anniversary of the prince's arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to the place where the prince landed. The snake bites the prince, who falls noiselessly to the sand.
The narrator takes comfort when he cannot find the prince's body the next day and is confident that the prince has returned to his asteroid.
So ... The Six - having learned that Worldly Concerns are less important than returning to The Ones You Love, embrace/will embrace Ben-the-Snake’s offer to send them Home ... OR ... Little Prince Aaron (along with Princess Ji-Yeon and Bonnie Prince Charlie) will be going "home" to their Island/Asteroid, forsaking the narrow-minded world of self-absorbed adults.
It seems to me that the underlying message here is that the Return of The Six will make the World a Better Place ... certainly better than Total Destruction of All Human Life, in any case.
The disappearance of the Little prince’s body after having "died" would appear to be another hint that St John may in fact be "dead" but that he will soon be reborn. Yay!
Recap:
1/05 - on board The Searcher - the night before the discussion/vote about The Lie:
Kate suggests that she should pose as Aaron’s Mum and Jack asks for Kate’s support in favour of The Big Lie. Kate tells him that "I have always been with you" [except for when she’s with James]. Awww
"Three years later" - Kate prepares to meet Dan Norton (the Lawyer) while Auntie Sun looks after Aaron - just like the Good Old Days on the Island. Just as Kate leaves, Sun receives a Delivery, including surveillance pix of Jack and Ben at the back of Hoffs/Drawlor. The accompanying notes appear to be quite detailed - which implies that they’re being tailed by Professionals - but whose? Obviously, this package was sent by Widmore. But notice the result - by the end of the Ep, Sun and Aaron are on the same Pier as Sayid, Jack and Kate - with Hugo due for release the next morning. If Desmond sails into Slip 23 of the Long Beach Marina "tomorrow", he can join the Reunion without even needing to see his Mum. To me, this supports the idea that Widmore and Ben are co-operating to get The Six (plus maybe a few more) back to the Island. If Ben has to die to achieve this goal, this would appear to be a point in the Story where his death might make sense. We’ll just have to see if The Island agrees.
Lawyer Dan reveals that his client seeks a quiet "exchange of custody" and that he will be seeing him/her later that day. As Kate stakes out the Law Office, Jack arrives and together they follow Dan (is there a name shortage on this Show?) out to a motel where we learn that the "client" is Carole Littleton (for some reason made to look like "Elsa" from "The Economist"). We then learn that Carole is in town to collect her Oceanic settlement. Despite having made a comment at Christian’s funeral about how beautiful Kate’s son was, Carole professes - when Jack brings up Aaron’s name - not to know who Aaron is. I guess Carole hasn’t paid much attention to the world-wide news about Kate’s son. Whatever. The most puzzling aspect about Carole’s involvement is: why would Ben want Jack and Kate to know that Carole was in town, but that she has no intention of "taking" Aaron away from Kate? I’m just shaking my head. In any case, the next place J&K go is to the Marina.
Before hopping into Kate’s car to chase Dan the Lawyer, Jack had been in the process of unhooking Sayid from his IV - just as Evelyn Ariza - Director of Clinical Services interrupts and drags Jack into the hall to point out to him that he’s under suspension and that his actions in treating Sayid pose a liability risk to the Hospital. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Hugo to Jack during which we learn that Hugo is in the LA County lock-up - safe from Ben the snake. We don’t see Evelyn again, but as soon as Hugo hangs up on Jack, Ben shows up.
During those few minutes when Sayid was alone, an "orderly" entered his room under the pretext of giving Sayid some more meds, but Sayid figured him out in 10 seconds and during their scuffle, retrieved a note - containing Kate’s address - which was supposedly the address of his "Employer" - Huh? Note the clockwork timing of Jack’s departure from the room and the entrance of the "orderly". Somebody’s got good eyes and ears at St Sebastian’s. It would seem that Dr Ariza works for The Enemy.
A moment later, Jack and Ben join Sayid and they leave the hospital. Given the implications of the Kate note, Jack announces that he’ll track her down, while Ben and Sayid decide they’re going to look into the Hugo scenario. Note that Sayid does not attack Ben, nor accuse him of anything vile. His attitude seems to be cautious distrust. Evidently, his break with Ben was not about Nadia’s murder.
What Ben does say is: "You have friends in trouble. Let's get them to safety and save the dirty linen for later." Judging by Sayid’s subsequent comment that Ben is on nobody’s "side" except his own, it would appear that this dirty linen involves Sayid feeling betrayed, misled and used by Ben in the recent past. However, aside from snatching the van keys and announcing that he’ll drive, Sayid rejoins Team Ben readily enough - for Hugo’s sake. Note that the name on the side of Ben's van, "Canton Rainier" is an anagram of "reincarnation."
Their next stop is an underground parking garage where we learn that Hugo will be a Free Man the following day and that Dan the Lawyer works for Ben. I took some satisfaction out of having predicted this. I wonder what Gabriel and Jeffery are up to? The next stop for the Locke Reincarnation van is Slip 23.
Meanwhile, back on the Island, Charlotte is not dying. In fact, after some initial (temporary) memory loss, she recovers quite readily and Daniel’s theory is that:
"I think it's neurological. Our brains have an internal clock, a sense of time. The [time-skipping] Flashes... throw the clock off. It's like really bad jet lag." The fact that subsequent nose-bleeds (without worsening Charlotte’s previously deteriorating condition) occur with:
2) Miles and
3) Juliet
seems to imply that Charlotte’s Island experience is longest/farthest back, followed by Miles’ (unremembered) childhood (?) stint and then Juliet’s "three years". Beyond this shallow conjecture, I’m just rolling with the Show.
John’s strategy to return to the Orchid strikes me as a reasonably good one. Ben’s left a "wreckage" trail leading from the vault to the FDW - which presents its own obvious invitation. The trick will be for John to enter the Orchid at an appropriate point in time - shortly "after" Ben’s "most-recent" turn of The Wheel. Until then, however, there’s so much we have yet to learn about the Island’s history.
Note that John is NOT spending any time with Family Richard. He’s been snatched away from them - and won’t be returning to them and their Family mysteries as long as he and/or The Island keep Time-skipping.
Note also that we haven’t seen nor heard from Rose, Bernard and the remaining Lostie red-shirts - who are presumably skipping in synch with the A Team and are no longer the prisoners of 1955 Family Richard.
As soon as Charlotte’s recovered enough, Team Locke head back toward Lostie Beach to retrieve the Zodiac. En route, they spot the S1 light-column - (date: 11/1/04) and "detour" around it. John doesn’t want to bump into himself. They then hear screams - and James stealthily approaches the source of the screaming - Claire giving birth to Aaron - just before the next Whiteout.
A little while later, James and John discuss his reason for avoiding the Hatch:
James: So why'd you turn us around then? Don't you wanna go back there?
John: Why would I wanna do that?
James: So you could tell yourself to do things different, save yourself a world of pain.
John: No, I needed that pain to get to where I am now. [Sounds Enlightened to me]
Next up: Return to Lostie Beach. James’ immediate reaction to Juliet’s observation that "Camp’s back" is joy: "Finally! Anybody for a DHARMA beer? Hello? Anybody here? Rose? Bernard?" The camp’s abandoned and seems dishevelled, with a number of the structures in disrepair and all the supplies either stolen or consumed. There’s no "Kitchen", no Losties and no Vincent. But there are a couple of outrigger canoes. Much bigger than the Hydra Island/Karl outrigger. Even stranger - inside the canoe’s a water bottle. Not an Oceanic bottle, not a DHARMA bottle - but a completely new (to us) brand name: Ajira Airlines. Note the following comments about the canoes:
CHARLOTTE: Where did these come from?
FARADAY: That's a good question. They're pretty old.
MILES: Not that old. So ... Miles is implying that these canoes are not as old as they look? What’s up with that?
There’s still some ambiguity because this beach scene apparently dates to late 2005 or later - after the departure of the O6 - but this may be the type of Significant Change From Previous Iterations of Lostie Beach Reality that I’ve been predicting for years. The biggest Change - if that’s what it is - would be the suggestion that in this particular Iteration, the airline responsible for the crash was Ajira.
The Zodiac’s gone - possibly with a handful of the surviving Losties in it.
Shortly after Team Locke jump into one of the canoes, (conveniently large enough to accommodate 6 paddlers) they are pursued and shot at.
Miles: These your people?!
Juliet: No! Are they yours?! Note that before they took Canoe #1, James had asked Juliet: "Who came in these? Other Others?", her reply was: "Don't look at me."
To me, this implies that until they started shooting, Juliet didn’t know who owned the canoes but after they started shooting, she knew they were not her "we’re not killers" people - and that it was OK to shoot back. - which she did.
The final Whiteout of this Ep seems to have sent the entire island back to 1988 - the year that Rousseau’s boat crashed. It’s raining at sea and the A team paddle for shore, where they discover some debris from Rousseau’s boat - apparently named B612 in honour of The Little Prince - written, after all, by a Frenchman. Team Locke must be getting mighty hungry.
Off-shore, the French-speaking survivors of the B612 are in a round life-boat and spot Jin floating face-down on a table or door:
ROBERT: Je t'ai bien dit! On n'aurait jamais du suivre ces maudits chiffres! (I told you so! We never should have followed those damn numbers!)
MONTAND: C'est pas ma faute, Robert. Brennan devait tenir le sonar! (It's not my fault, Robert. Brennan was in charge of the sonar!)
BRENNAN: Mais je le faisais, Montand! Je vous l'ai déja dit, les instruments ont mal fonctionné! (I was watching, Montand! I told you already, the instruments malfunctioned!)
ROUSSEAU: Un homme á la mer! (Man overboard!)
(Man) Quoi? (What?)
Mais je pensais qu'on était tous lB! (I thought we were all there!)
On est tous la! il n'est pas des autres. Alors qui est-ce? (We ARE all here! He's not one of us. So who is it?)
Pagaie! Pagayez! Allez (Paddle! Paddle! Come on!)
"pointez la lampe de poche sur lui" (focus the light on him) "il faut tenir la lampe torche" (We have to hold the light)
"brennan (?), aidez a pagayer" (brennan, help paddling)
"allez depechez vous! nous derivons avec le courant" (come on! hurry up! we are moving with the stream)
"non, il n'y a que lui! pas de bateau, rien" (no.. There's only him! no boat! nothing!)
"les vagues vont nous amener (rapidement ?) sur la côte, le vent ( ?) par ici" (the waves will bring us (quickly ?) to the coast, the wind ( ?) over here)
"nom de dieu brennan! ta gueule!" (for godsake brennan! shut up!)
"allez, montez le dans le radeau" (come on, bring him in the raft) "il est lourd ! » (he’s heavy) "aide moi" (help me)
"Il respire encore" (He's still breathing)
My best guess is that Jin was outside the FDW Time-shift "radius", but close enough to it that he was tossed into 1988. Maybe Rousseau’s 1988 shipwreck was caused (?) by the 12/30/04 FDW activation



Final Scene:
AUTOMATED VOICE OVER RADIO: 4... 8...
MONTAND: Robert... Regarde, le signal vient de l’ile. (look, the signal comes from the island)
ROBERT: Tu peux déterminer la source ? (can you find the source ?)
AUTOMATED VOICE OVER RADIO: 15... 16...
MONTAND: Bien sur que oui. Regarde. (yes of course, look !)
ROBERT: Tu crois qu’elle est habitée ? (do you think it’s inhabited ?)
ROUSSEAU: Ça va ? Comment tu te sens ? (how are you ? how are you feeling ?)
JIN: No understand.
ROUSSEAU: (French accent) You speak English?
JIN: (Panting) Little.
ROUSSEAU: Are you okay?
JIN: Yes.
ROUSSEAU: How did you get here?
JIN: Boat.
Robert surement : Qui est-ce? (who is he ?)
Montand : On s’en fout qui c'est. Qu’est ce qu’il fait ici ? (I don’t care who he is. What is he doing here ?)
ROUSSEAU: Il dit qu’il est venu en bateau. (he said he came by boat)
ROBERT: (French accent) What boat?
JIN: It's gone. Sink.
ROUSSEAU: It must've been caught in the same storm as ours.
MONTAND: Who are you? How long you in the water?
JIN: I don't know.
MONTAND: How do you not know how you wound up in the middle of the ocean, hein ?
ROUSSEAU: Montand ! Laisse le, il est en état de choc. On a de l’eau B lui donner ? (leave him alone, he is shook up, do we have water for him ?)
Robert : Ouais. (yeah) (comes back with the water) Tiens. (Here)
ROUSSEAU: Merci, Robert. (thank you Robert)
JIN: (Exhales deeply) Thank you.
ROUSSEAU: What is your name?
JIN: Kwon Jin-su. Jin.
ROUSSEAU: Hello, Jin. I'm Danielle. Danielle Rousseau.
The End

So ... 1988 Danielle met 2004 Jin (although she doesn’t yet know when he’s from).
I’m guessing that Team Danielle, Jin and the A Team will soon meet in 1988. Team Locke will remember Jin, but will he remember them? Based on him being able to tell Danielle that he was on a boat which sank, it would seem that his 2004 memory’s intact. My advice would be that Jin should hug Charlotte tightly until the next Whiteout - even if it takes weeks and months.
Danielle watching Team Locke disappear before her eyes could tip her into some kind of madness ... OR ... might explain her subsequent strange 2004 behaviour upon re-encountering Jin and his colleagues. She’s always struck me as knowing much more than she let on. Ah ... I’m so looking forward to learning more about Danielle’s Story.
If, however, Team Locke cannot "interact" with Jin and Team Rousseau, they could at least see Jin, enabling John to relay this info to Sun.
Assuming that Locke, after leaving the Island, tracked Sun down and told her that Jin was alive and hanging out on the Island with James, Juliet and the gang ... why would she be all "Kill Ben" right now? Unless she isn’t.