... and it's hard to choke a grenade down. (Just ask Miles.)There have been two times since Lost premiered when I have gotten chills at the end of an episode. The first was in "Deus Ex Machina," when Locke ran back to the hatch (as Boone was dying) and started banging and crying "WHYYYYY?!?!!?" on the little window, and then all of a sudden the light came on. The second was at the end of "Eggtown," when Kate's "son" was revealed to be Aaron. I did not see that one coming! I'm enjoying my spoiler-free status more and more with each episode (although some of my other spoiler-free friends did call the ending--they're way more clever than I am).
From what I can tell on the message boards, this was a love-it-or-hate-it episode, and I am happy to report that I am on the "loved it" side. Which is amazing when you consider that it was mostly about Kate. The Kate Hate Train has therefore not pulled out of its station this season--yet.
I'm going to get the Island events out of the way first this time around, as the majority of things to theorize over happened in the flashbacks. And for those of you who are new to my write-ups, if you roll your mouse over the pictures, you can see their captions.
I BREAK THE YOLKS, MAKE A SMILEY FACE
The episode kicked off with Locke making what looked like a damn good breakfast for Ben. In my opinion, all that was missing was a nicely brewed cup of Earl Grey. But alas, Ben was ungrateful and not only refused to eat, but also scoffed at the book Locke had chosen to bring him to help pass the time. Further, he then got under Locke's skin by saying just the right things to drive The Bald One crazy--picking at his insecurities about being the group's new leader. Talk about déjà vu (which Ben noted as well)... when Locke left Ben and then smashed the tray against the wall in frustration, it was just like when he threw silverware and plates in anger back in the hatch (in "Maternity Leave") when Ben was initially being held prisoner. Don't let him get to you, Locke!
And what should we make of the book that Locke picked to give his prisoner? It was VALIS by Philip K. Dick. You can click the link in the previous sentence if you want more details about its plot, but here's Amazon.com's description: "a fool's search for God, who turns out to be a virus, a joke, and a mental hologram transmitted from an orbiting satellite." I immediately wondered if there were parallels we were supposed to draw with Locke's search for Jacob. The other thing of interest about the book is that there is a child, Sophia, in the story who is supposed to be "the messiah incarnate." Considering that baby Aaron has been thrust back into the spotlight in this episode, I thought that perhaps that was a hint as well. More on Aaron later, though. If nothing else, after reading about Philip K. Dick, I think I would like his books. Score another point for Lost encouraging people to read...
One last comment on this scene... didn't you love Locke's shout-out to all of us rewind/slo mo/freeze-frame-crazy fans: "You might catch something you missed the second time around." Ain't that the truth.
NOW THAT I'M HERE, NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE
Wasn't it hilarious to see all the Losties settling into their new digs in the Barracks? I need one of those Dharma mugs that Kate had on the porch ASAP. When Kate came over to visit Sawyer, I seriously almost peed my pants when Hurley popped in Xanadu, as it is one of my all-time favorite movies. Yes, it is awful, but it is so awful that it is also AWESOME. It just so happens, God's honest truth, that I am going to see Xanadu on Broadway in a few weeks. You can bet that I will write up the experience on According to e afterward. But for now, what you need to know is that Xanadu is about Greek muses who get transported from another time and dimension to southern California, circa 1980, via a "portal" of sorts that exists on a nearby mural (don't ask). One of the muses, Kira (Olivia Newton-John), falls in love with this studly artist dude, Sonny, but their love is not meant to be, as Zeus (her father) wants her back where she belongs. There is also a lot of rollerskating and singing, a random cartoon scene, and Gene Kelly. Yeah, I said it! GENE KELLY.
Just as Cuse and Lindelof drew comparisons between the Island and Narnia, Oz and Wonderland in their 2/18 podcast, I believe Xanadu was meant to be an additional hint about what's going on overall with the Island. Shout-out to one of my readers who speculated that perhaps Ben's secret room contains a portal off the Island, just like the wardrobe transports the children to Narnia in the C.S. Lewis series. Maybe Hurley's choice of Xanadu, with its focus on a portal between worlds, was meant to be similar clue to the real purpose of Ben's secret room. Overall, Xanadu is yet another story specifically mentioned during the show that is connected to the real world, but that also has a supernatural element. Not to mention a rockin' soundtrack--ELO forever, baby! There's even a song called... are you ready? "Suspended in Time." BAM!
Xanadu is also the title of a famous poem about a tropical paradise. But that's not quite as interesting as the movie.
But let's not let my enthusiasm for Xanadu overshadow what was by far the funniest moment of the night, which took place while the theme song from the movie was playing in the background... Sawyer pulling out the Wine In A Box for his lady love. I was dying.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Despite Locke's warnings, Kate follows through with her plan to visit Miles. (One quick side note--I'm not so sure that Locke was all bloody because he just killed a chicken. But I don't even want to think about what else the blood could be from.) Kate succeeds in getting precious time alone with Miles... and all she cares about is whether or not the freighter peeps know what she had done back in the real world? That seemed kind of lame to me, but I guess if she was really struggling with the decision to either stay on the Island or leave, she would want to know if Sawyer's prediction (that she would be hauled off to jail upon her return) had any merit.
There were tons of other strange things that went on during the scenes with Miles. For example, why did he say that he was "exactly where he wanted to be"? Some assume that Miles is Ben's mole, and is fine with being held prisoner because he's getting to learn more about Locke, Ben's new nemesis. Others believe that Miles is happy with his situation because he is still in fact trying to capture Ben, and now he's at least closer in proximity to The Sneaky One than he was before. I'm not sure what to make of his comment, personally.
Next was the bizarre Miles/Ben confrontation, during which Miles said he would tell his employer that Ben was dead if Ben gave him $3.2 million. What?
So, do we believe that Miles is just purely in it for the money, and will convince his employer that Benry is six feet under in exchange for the millions? Right now, this is the way I'm leaning, for two reasons: 1) We saw in Miles' flashback how he just wanted to find the drug money during his ghostbusting of the grandson. Money is a major motivator for him, and he's not necessarily the most ethical of people. So I don't think it's a stretch to believe that he will do what's best for himself. If he can convince his employer that Ben is dead, he'll probably still get paid for the Island mission, in addition to getting $3.2 million from Ben. 2) We know that Ben is still around in the future and is still fighting the good fight against "the bad guys," with Sayid's help. So perhaps Miles succeeds in convincing everyone that Ben is dead. That would explain why Elsa's group couldn't figure out who Sayid was working for--they truly believed that Ben had been killed.
Others fans think, as I mentioned earlier, that Miles is Ben's mole, and that the conversation they had was in code. I agree that this is at least a possibility. "$3.2 million" is a pretty weird number, and it could have meant something specific to Ben, who then covered by saying "Why not $3.3 or $3.4?" Never underestimate the trickery of Ben! Miles also then told Kate everything that he knew about her, and that he got the information from files his team pulled together on everyone on the Flight 815 manifest. Who else is known for gathering information on people? Ben. So there is a chance that Miles has been working with Ben all along and that only he knows the information about all the Lostaways, whereas the rest of the freighter crew does not.
Also remember that Ben claimed to know who Miles' employer was, which could either be interpreted to mean that Ben knows Abaddon, or knows the overall organization for which Abaddon works. Or it could've been a complete lie.
The question that still remains, however, is why Miles was chosen for the mission in the first place. Whoever his employer is must know something about the properties of the Island and figured that Miles' special abilities would be needed. But they must not have realized what a sketchball Miles is and how he would throw the mission for his own benefit if he got the chance.
One last thing we can glean from this scene is that Ben is indeed an international man of mystery---yeah, baby! Miles made it clear that, unlike the Lostaways, he knew all about Ben's background, and what Ben "can do." There's no way Miles would be asking for that much money if he didn't think Ben could get his hands on it. And at the end, sure enough, Ben caved and said he would need a week to get the funds in order. I guess that means Ben's pretty sure he can bust out of his cell in the near future...
THERE'S ANOTHER NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. Y'ALL BEST GET USED TO IT.
I pledged last week that I would stop doubting my man Locke. So I'm not going to... but I can't lie and say it's been easy after this latest installment of madness. While Locke claimed to Kate that he was running something in between a democracy and dictatorship, it sure seems like he's leaning more toward the latter. As always, however, a deep insecurity belies Locke's tough-guy exterior. He let Ben's mocking words get to him at the beginning of the episode, he appeared to be overly concerned with what Sawyer and others thought about his leadership abilities,
and he was completely duped by Sawyer shortly thereafter because at his core, Locke's still pretty naive (it's clear that Locke never caught on to the fact that Sawyer was helping Kate the whole time).
While I don't agree with Locke's "iron fist" mentality and don't like that he banished Kate from Othersville, you can bet good money that I was thrilled when he gave the smack-down to Miles. Even though it was a little too over-the-top for my taste (a live grenade in someone's mouth!?!), at least it happened to Miles, right? He looked pretty freaked out--maybe it will scare the ghostbusting abilities right out of him!
I am not doubting Locke anymore, though. It's pretty clear from all of the flash-forwards to date that everyone who left the Island is either miserable, or is involved in a huge cover-up that is wearing on them. So even if Locke does end up causing something unfortunate to happen in the near future, as I keep dreading, it's only because the others didn't listen to his warnings in the first place.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
Sun is starting to realize that Locke may be right, too. After a strange scene with Jin where she talks about where to raise her baby (rather than their baby, as Jin points out), she begins to question the intentions of the freighter team. Did you catch that guilty look down at the ground that Daniel had when Jack said, "They can make arrangements to get all of us off this Island." D'oh! Sun follows up with asking why Kate would stay with Locke, if Locke were in fact as crazy as Jack claims him to be.
The fact that the group is getting restless helps motivate Jack and Juliet to push Charlotte to call the emergency number they have for the freighter. It's extremely strange that no one's been answering on the main line, isn't it? (Charlotte specifically said, "Minkowski's not answering.") Charlotte agrees to put the call on speakerphone, and we learn that the helicopter has not arrived at the freighter, even though it left the previous night. Frank said they didn't have much fuel left... so what in the heck is going on? Some think that the helicopter's delay has to do with the time differential that Daniel noticed... and so what should normally be a twenty-minute flight to the freighter may end up being a significantly longer trip.
Others swear that Regina must be lying and that the team has in fact made it back to the freighter. If the crew on the ship is up to no good, they would know that Daniel and Charlotte would understand what is going on, whereas Jack and the others would freak out that they'd either been stranded, or that the helicopter went down and killed Sayid and Desmond. Others think that Frank might be Ben's mole, and has taken Sayid and Desmond to another location where they'll be safe. I would love if that turned out to be the case--Frank is the last person I would've suspected.
SO IF YOU DON'T MIND ME SAYIN', I CAN SEE YOU'RE OUT OF ACES
Speaking of the mysterious helicopter team, what was up with that weird scene between Daniel and Charlotte where he was trying to either guess or remember three playing cards she had turned face down? At first I thought that we had received some insight into Daniel's head case-ness... that he had some sort of bizarre memory issue and that Charlotte was trying to do exercises with him to help him. I figured that he had originally seen the three cards, and then she turned them over and then he had to repeat back what he had just seen. After all, his namesake, the scientist Michael Faraday, had memory issues brought on by a battle with mental illness. And Charlotte looked sympathetic and sad for Daniel when he couldn't get all three right. She tried to cheer him up by saying that he had "made progress."
But upon watching the scene again, Charlotte also clearly says "time," like they were supposed to wait a certain amount of time before Daniel made his guess. Now, that could still fit with my original theory. Maybe he has some sort of memory problem where after a specific period of time elapses, he has recall issues. Or similarly, maybe Charlotte didn't want him to take several minutes to try to remember what he saw.
Other ideas are that he never saw the cards in the first place, and was trying to use some sort of psychic power to guess what the correct cards were. Yet another possibility is that the original cards she turned over actually switched to new cards because of some weird property on the Island. Or maybe the cards switched because Daniel willed them to switch? Remember back in Season One where Hurley commented that Walt ALWAYS rolled sixes when they played backgammon? Perhaps Daniel is also "special" like Walt and can somehow cause the cards to change?
All I know is that even though that scene was a short one, it was important. Finally, did you catch that one of the cards was the Queen of Diamonds? Or, a Red Queen. Like in Alice in Wonderland...
WHY GO HOME? WHY GO HOME?
Back in Othersville, Kate walks in on Sawyer reading The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, which is about (ironically enough) a fugitive hiding out on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. Kate tells Sawyer that she is definitely not pregnant, and that Locke has banished her from the Barracks. Sawyer's like, "Um, do you honestly think that I can't take Baldy? I'm insulted!" For reasons unknown, Kate still chooses to leave. How many of you fear that we witnessed the last time Kate and Sawyer ever see each other? I do. And I, for the record, never even cared about who Kate "chose," because both Jack and Sawyer are way too good for her, in my opinion. But I still think she's crazy to leave the Island of her own will, now that she knows she won't die from a pregnancy, and that she is still deemed a fugitive to the outside world. I hope and pray that they give us a better reason for her leaving the Island than, "Locke told her to go away."
Some think that there is a possibility that Kate is lying to Sawyer about not being pregnant, and after testing him to see what his reaction would be, she realized that she did need to leave the Island because he didn't want a child. But since she never mentioned having more than one child in the flash-forwards, and since we know that the child she did have in the future was not hers biologically, I don't think she was lying to Sawyer.
OK, that wraps up everything that came to pass on the Island in this episode. Oops, I thought of one last thing...if you were thinking that "Eggtown" referred to the fact that Locke cooked Ben the last two eggs for breakfast (as I did), you may be interested in another interpretation of the episode's title. You can read the full story behind the term here, but in short, it is used to describe "a deal with undesirable outcomes in either case." Fitting, no?
OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
Right away in Kate's first flash-forward, we got confirmation that she is indeed one of the Oceanic Six. Many had wondered if, since her meeting with Jack was on the down-low in the Season Three finale, she had escaped the Island but wanted to avoid being captured for her past crimes, so therefore it was not made known that she was one of the famous survivors. Now we know that what actually happened is that she was indeed put on trial, in spite of her new notoriety. The fact that she was charged, however, wasn't what was interesting. The details we learned through seeing her trial were.
The first shocker was that Clean-Shaven Jack was called as a character witness. The second shocker was what he said:
- There were originally eight survivors of the crash (implying that two died)
- Kate took care of everyone while they struggled to survive on an island in the South Pacific.
- He no longer is in love with her.
All of these statements are worth analyzing a bit...
Eight Original Survivors: There is definitely a reason that the Oceanic Six have been told to say that two people who initially had survived the crash ended up dying. Those two people must have been responsible for doing or knowing something that the other six couldn't have done or known on their own--either in order to survive or in order to be rescued. I personally have no idea who the two survivors in question might be.
One theory is that since we now know that Aaron made it off the Island and that Claire seemingly didn't, and that there may be too many witnesses who knew that Kate was not eight months pregnant when she got on Flight 815, maybe they said that Claire died after giving birth to Aaron, and so therefore the rest of the world knows that Aaron is not Kate's biological son. But if that were the case, would Kate's mom still want to see the baby so badly? I would hope that she still would, but others think that it is clear that everyone thinks that Kate is Aaron's birth mother.
An Island in the South Pacific: I think this may just be a writing goof, but since it's my job to report what's been said out there on the message boards, I should point out that some people have noted the inconsistency between the news report about the Flight 815 wreckage that we saw in the season premiere (which said that the plane was found in the Indian Ocean), and Jack's statement (which said that they were in the South Pacific). The theory is that Jack screwed up what he was supposed to say and that someone's going to latch onto it and start unraveling the mystery, leading to the situation that causes Jack to become so distraught in the future. I didn't think twice about this discrepancy, but if you have any other theories, let me know.
Jack No Longer Loves Kate: While he later told her that he didn't mean it when he said "Not anymore," what really is confusing is why the lawyer would ask Jack about his feelings for Kate in the first place. To me, this means that the story that was concocted for the O6 specifically mentioned something about Jack and Kate being romantically involved. Otherwise, why would a lawyer bring that up if she wasn't positive that it had already been substantiated that Jack was at one point in love with Kate? Granted, all of the trial scenes were absolute crap in the sense that they would never happen in real life (ask a lawyer to explain this to you, all of the lawyers on the message boards are upset!), but I'm positive that this line of questioning was there for a purpose.
Some people think that the world at large believes that Aaron is Jack's baby. Seeing as how the kid has blond hair and both Jack and Kate have dark hair, that seems like a stretch. Also, why would Jack be brought as a character witness if he doesn't even display the good character to want to see his own kid? All I know is that the lawyer asked him about his love for Kate for a reason, and it has something to do with the made-up story that the O6 told to the media when they returned home. (But this theory does make me wonder who Kate is claiming the father to be...)
One last comment on this particular trial scene... why did Kate cut Jack off? He was doing a good job making her out to be the hero, and she's never had major issues with bending the truth in the past. Can she perhaps not bear it when it's Jack who's lying for her?
I'M A BITCH, I'M A LOVER, I'M A CHILD, I'M A MOTHER
In another unexpected scene, Kate's sickly mother comes to talk with her, and says that she does not want to testify against her. It is the first time they've spoken or seen each other since Kate visited her mother in the hospital, only to have the policed summoned. But, ah, the power of grandchildren. Kate's mom is desperate to see this latest member of Austin clan, but Kate will not hear of it.
The big question is: WHY? Is Kate still that angry at her mother, especially when her mom was the key to Kate avoiding a jail sentence, or is there a specific reason she doesn't want Mrs. Austin to lay eyes on Aaron?
On another note, many fans are assuming that this sentence from Kate's mom is a clue about the overall timeline: "I've had six months to live for the past four years." I didn't read too much into that statement... I think it was just meant to help us understand her mother's motivations for wanting to finally make peace and move forward. But once again, if you have reason to think otherwise, by all means, clue the rest of us in!
LOVE ME, LOVE MY BAY-BEE
Kate going on and on about her son in this episode reminded me of Claire going on and on about her "bay-bee" all the time in Seasons One, Two and Three. At least the two women have that in common. So much so that Kate will not hang out with Jack in the future unless he comes to visit Aaron. Jack doesn't seem up for that just yet. Chalk up another "Say What?" moment...
Why would Jack want to avoid visiting Aaron? The possible answers hint at why Kate even has Aaron in the first place.
Theories include:
- Claire was killed in the escape from the Island and Jack feels so guilty about it that he can't bring himself to see Aaron.
- Aaron was forcefully taken from Claire and Jack can't bear to reminded of it.
- Claire is either dead or still on the Island, but either way, Aaron reminds Jack of his own time on the Island, which he wants to forget. Kind of like how he was so adamant to Hurley that they would never go back and stormed off once Hurley mentioned it.
- Jack found out that Aaron is his nephew (remember, Christian Shephard was a mack daddy and fathered Claire, too) and seeing him would bring back bad memories of Zombie Dad, and/or intensify any feelings of guilt over whatever happened to Claire.
- Aaron has special powers that freak the hell out of Jack. (On that note, how many of you thought the baby was going to be either an alien or a little wizard or have a strange appearance? I did.)
I also was bracing myself to see a 15-year-old, or something weird like that, because of the possible time differential on the Island. This was when I had been thinking that the baby was obviously Sawyer's. This show makes me love being wrong.
ABSENCE DOES NOT MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER
There was a lot that drove me crazy (in a good way) in this episode, but one of the things I'm now wondering about the most is what happened to make Jack and Kate go from friendly, out-in-the-open meetings and talks of rendezvousing for coffee to the strained state their relationship was in during the final scene of "Through the Looking Glass?" At that point in time (which many believe to be April 2007, based on the newspaper clip Jack had), Kate had told Jack not to call her anymore, and when he finally did reach her, they had to meet late at night in the middle of nowhere outside the airport. Something must have caused a rift between the time of Kate's trial (which I'll speculate on in a second) and Jack's "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" plea.
Perhaps shortly after Kate's trial, Jack started being haunted by visions, as Hurley had been? Perhaps others of The Six had been killed after slipping from the agreed-upon story? All that is clear is that Kate didn't want to go back to the Island at either point in time in the future. She agreed, without hesitation, to a 10-year probation where she needed to remain in-state. In her airport scene with Jack last season, she mentioned that "he" was going to wonder where she was. There seems to be some level of agreement among viewers that the "he" is indeed Aaron. Off-Island Kate is the exact opposite of On-Island Kate: she wants to stay put.
GUYS, WHEN ARE WE?
Not only do we now know that Kate's son is none other than Aaron, but we also know that Aaron's old enough to talk and sleep in a bed rather than in a crib. Lostpedia reports that according to the script, Aaron is two years old. I have consulted my baby expert, DY, and she concurs with this assessment. Aaron is believed to have been born on November 1, 2004. We know that right now on the Island, it is around Christmas Day 2004. If Aaron is now 2 years old, that would put the current time of Kate's flash-forward to be around November of 2006. That leaves less than six months for her relationship with Jack to fall apart (not to mention for Jack to descend into drug-addicted madness and grow a huge-ass beard).
Someone commented to me that they had heard that the producers said that the April 2007 date on the newspaper Jack had in "Through the Looking Glass" was a mistake... but I have not seen that anywhere. If someone actually has PROOF that the April 2007 date on the newspaper clipping in the Season Three finale was a production error, please post it. Otherwise, I'm going to continue to assume that that date is correct.
Back to when Kate's trial is... I know that the judicial system is slow and everything, but doesn't it seem strange that her trial wouldn't get underway until nearly two years had past since she returned from the Island? And that she would still be that famous at that point in time? We all know celebrity is fleeting! It makes me think that the Oceanic Six returned home much later than we may have previously assumed. Meaning, if it's near the end of 2004 on the Island right now, they're probably not being taken directly home from the freighter. It's possible that another whole year may pass where the chosen six are re-programmed or something--where they're offered a financial deal and given a story to memorize and whatnot. At the time of Kate's trial, Jack seems to have no problem reciting the lie, whereas Kate says (paraphrasing): "I've heard you tell that story so many times, I'm beginning to think you believe it." She doesn't appear to be comfortable with the front they're putting up.
Another possibility is that, because time on the Island may be passing more slowly than it does elsewhere, the three months the Lostaways have been gone may in fact be much longer. I don't really know how that would affect Aaron's age and growth, and I don't even want to think about it because it's so confusing!
NOW LET ME BLOW YA MIND
So... many... questions... left! But for whatever reason, the multitude of questions raised in "Eggtown" didn't depress me like they did with "The Economist." Yes, it was freaky as hell when Kate said "Aaron," and it's depressing to think that Claire might have kicked the bucket. I was never a big fan of Claire (because of the whole "bay-bee" thing I mentioned earlier), but it's a little too dark for my taste to have the mother of a newborn baby killed on this show. I hope that's not what happened. So until we know for sure what went down, I will try to think positively and will focus my attention on everything else I've already discussed, as well as these remaining issues:
The Aaron Cover-Up Story
If the rest of the world thinks Aaron is Kate's biological son, then one of three things must have happened:
1) Assuming that there's no time difference on the Island and that the age Kate claims Aaron to be (which they haven't officially told us yet) is actually the age he is, there were either no witnesses to the fact that Kate was not eight months pregnant on the flight, or "they" got rid of all the witnesses who would've known this. There were also people who knew that Claire was pregnant on the flight who may have been able to put two and two together, and therefore those witnesses would've had to have been silenced. Because someone should've been able to figure out that if Kate wasn't eight months pregnant on September 22, 2004, there's no way she could have come back from the Island with a newborn.
2) As mentioned above, perhaps time moved more slowly on the Island. The Six would've been clued in that it's much later in time than they thought it was, and therefore Kate could easily pretend that Aaron was hers, as she didn't have to be pregnant (or at least not showing that she was pregnant) during the flight in order to come back home with a baby, if she was gone for significantly longer than nine months.
3) Kate could just be lying about Aaron's age. Like I said above, even though Lostpedia listed the boy as two years old, on the show Kate never mentioned his actual age (and even if she did, we couldn't trust that that is his real age until we are able to more confidently piece together the overall timeline).
Desmond's Vision
The whole reason Charlie accepted his suicide mission was because Desmond said he had a vision of Claire and Aaron getting into a helicopter and leaving the Island. Since Des hasn't given us reason to distrust him, I believe that we will see this scene unfold. Which may mean that whatever causes Kate to end up with Aaron happens after they're off the Island but before they return home. Or Des was lying and we're going to find out that he's a total prick.
Devil Baby Possibilities
One of the trippiest Lost episodes to date was "Raised by Another," in which Claire finds out that some bad stuff would go down if she was not the one to raise her child:
MALKIN (psychic): It is crucial that you, yourself, raise this child.
CLAIRE: You mean with Thomas? Is he..
MALKIN: The father of this child will play no part in it's life, nor yours.
CLAIRE: So what exactly are you saying?
MALKIN: This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you -- danger surrounds this baby. . .
CLAIRE: Danger?
MALKIN: Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child.
CLAIRE: If Thomas and I don't get back together I'm putting this baby up for adoption. I just wanted to find out what would give the baby the happiest life.
MALKIN: There is no happy life -- not for this child, not without you.
CLAIRE: I don't. . .
MALKIN: It can't be another. You mustn't allow another to raise your baby.
CLAIRE: Okay, great. Thanks for taking my 200.
MALKIN: Oh, no look, take it. Ms. Littleton; I am begging you just to consider...
CLAIRE: I can't raise this child by myself.
MALKIN: You have to listen to me.
CLAIRE: Thanks for your time, and my money back.
MALKIN: Ms. Littleton, please. The baby needs your protection. Ms. Littleton, please.
Now we know that, at least for some period of time, if not for the rest of his life, Kate is raising Aaron. I am really scared that this kid is going to unleash some demonic powers on the world at any moment!
Does Aaron count as a member of the Oceanic Six?
They didn't exactly spell it out for us. If there is something weird going on with time and if "the story" is that Kate got pregnant with Aaron and delivered him all while on the Island, then he wouldn't count as a Flight 815 passenger. And even if it was known that he was adopted by Kate after his birth mother died, Aaron still wasn't on the flight manifest and wasn't born at the time of the crash.
We ALL KNOW how cheap the airlines are... do you really think they're going to pay a settlement out to someone who hadn't even purchased a full-fare ticket?
Hee hee, I kid, I kid. There are arguments for both sides of this issue. Many people think it's extremely obvious that Aaron should be counted as one of The Six because, although he wasn't born yet, he was alive in the womb during the crash... and then suffered the hardship of spending his first few months of life on a deserted island. I can see The Powers That Be over at CBS getting all sorts of bad ideas now. Survivor: Newborns vs. Toddlers!
The Rest of The Six
Depending on how Aaron is counted, there are either one or two remaining members of The Six to be revealed. I had always assumed that Sun would get off because of her pregnancy. Now I'm not so sure. There has been absolutely no rhyme nor reason for the first four confirmed members of the group, so I have stuck to my oath made a few weeks ago to not try to figure it out.
I Need a Bushy Eyebrow Fix!
Why the hell haven't they shown Ageless Richard, Cindy, all of the kids and all of the other Others over at the Temple yet? I think we're supposed to forget about them so that when they do show up it will be a big surprise. But who can forget about those ridiculously long eyelashes?
No More Food?
Locke mentioned that he had used up the last two eggs. Then he claimed to have killed a chicken (which would seem foolhardy if there were no more eggs). All of this made me think about the food drop we saw in the past. I believe those food drops were linked to the Countdown Clock O' Doom in the original hatch, which was one of many things Locke blew up. So are they now running out of food? But even more importantly, wouldn't the group who was performing the food drops have realized that something had gone wrong on the Island? Could the organization behind the freighter team have been involved in the food drops before? Or were the drops something that Ben had arranged through some of his contacts off of the Island?
Whew, that's it. See what happens when I like an episode? The length of the write-up increases exponentially.
BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
Kate: You got blood.
Locke: I just... killed a chicken.
Hurley: No, I moved him to the boat house--[pause]--You just totally Scooby-Dooed me, didn't you?
Kate: Sorry.
[Jack grimaces at another busy signal]
Juliet: Maybe we should try a number other than the boat... like 911?
Sawyer: I know it's in a box, but... pretty damn good wine! I tested it.
Sawyer: She talked to that guy... Bruce Lee from the freighter.
PARTY ALL THE TIME
I hosted a party at my place ("The Hatch") for "Eggtown." If you'd like to see just how crazy I am, click here for the pictures.
Until next week,
- e
I'm going to get the Island events out of the way first this time around, as the majority of things to theorize over happened in the flashbacks. And for those of you who are new to my write-ups, if you roll your mouse over the pictures, you can see their captions.
I BREAK THE YOLKS, MAKE A SMILEY FACE
The episode kicked off with Locke making what looked like a damn good breakfast for Ben. In my opinion, all that was missing was a nicely brewed cup of Earl Grey. But alas, Ben was ungrateful and not only refused to eat, but also scoffed at the book Locke had chosen to bring him to help pass the time. Further, he then got under Locke's skin by saying just the right things to drive The Bald One crazy--picking at his insecurities about being the group's new leader. Talk about déjà vu (which Ben noted as well)... when Locke left Ben and then smashed the tray against the wall in frustration, it was just like when he threw silverware and plates in anger back in the hatch (in "Maternity Leave") when Ben was initially being held prisoner. Don't let him get to you, Locke!
And what should we make of the book that Locke picked to give his prisoner? It was VALIS by Philip K. Dick. You can click the link in the previous sentence if you want more details about its plot, but here's Amazon.com's description: "a fool's search for God, who turns out to be a virus, a joke, and a mental hologram transmitted from an orbiting satellite." I immediately wondered if there were parallels we were supposed to draw with Locke's search for Jacob. The other thing of interest about the book is that there is a child, Sophia, in the story who is supposed to be "the messiah incarnate." Considering that baby Aaron has been thrust back into the spotlight in this episode, I thought that perhaps that was a hint as well. More on Aaron later, though. If nothing else, after reading about Philip K. Dick, I think I would like his books. Score another point for Lost encouraging people to read...One last comment on this scene... didn't you love Locke's shout-out to all of us rewind/slo mo/freeze-frame-crazy fans: "You might catch something you missed the second time around." Ain't that the truth.
NOW THAT I'M HERE, NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE
Wasn't it hilarious to see all the Losties settling into their new digs in the Barracks? I need one of those Dharma mugs that Kate had on the porch ASAP. When Kate came over to visit Sawyer, I seriously almost peed my pants when Hurley popped in Xanadu, as it is one of my all-time favorite movies. Yes, it is awful, but it is so awful that it is also AWESOME. It just so happens, God's honest truth, that I am going to see Xanadu on Broadway in a few weeks. You can bet that I will write up the experience on According to e afterward. But for now, what you need to know is that Xanadu is about Greek muses who get transported from another time and dimension to southern California, circa 1980, via a "portal" of sorts that exists on a nearby mural (don't ask). One of the muses, Kira (Olivia Newton-John), falls in love with this studly artist dude, Sonny, but their love is not meant to be, as Zeus (her father) wants her back where she belongs. There is also a lot of rollerskating and singing, a random cartoon scene, and Gene Kelly. Yeah, I said it! GENE KELLY.Just as Cuse and Lindelof drew comparisons between the Island and Narnia, Oz and Wonderland in their 2/18 podcast, I believe Xanadu was meant to be an additional hint about what's going on overall with the Island. Shout-out to one of my readers who speculated that perhaps Ben's secret room contains a portal off the Island, just like the wardrobe transports the children to Narnia in the C.S. Lewis series. Maybe Hurley's choice of Xanadu, with its focus on a portal between worlds, was meant to be similar clue to the real purpose of Ben's secret room. Overall, Xanadu is yet another story specifically mentioned during the show that is connected to the real world, but that also has a supernatural element. Not to mention a rockin' soundtrack--ELO forever, baby! There's even a song called... are you ready? "Suspended in Time." BAM!
Xanadu is also the title of a famous poem about a tropical paradise. But that's not quite as interesting as the movie.But let's not let my enthusiasm for Xanadu overshadow what was by far the funniest moment of the night, which took place while the theme song from the movie was playing in the background... Sawyer pulling out the Wine In A Box for his lady love. I was dying.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Despite Locke's warnings, Kate follows through with her plan to visit Miles. (One quick side note--I'm not so sure that Locke was all bloody because he just killed a chicken. But I don't even want to think about what else the blood could be from.) Kate succeeds in getting precious time alone with Miles... and all she cares about is whether or not the freighter peeps know what she had done back in the real world? That seemed kind of lame to me, but I guess if she was really struggling with the decision to either stay on the Island or leave, she would want to know if Sawyer's prediction (that she would be hauled off to jail upon her return) had any merit.There were tons of other strange things that went on during the scenes with Miles. For example, why did he say that he was "exactly where he wanted to be"? Some assume that Miles is Ben's mole, and is fine with being held prisoner because he's getting to learn more about Locke, Ben's new nemesis. Others believe that Miles is happy with his situation because he is still in fact trying to capture Ben, and now he's at least closer in proximity to The Sneaky One than he was before. I'm not sure what to make of his comment, personally.
Next was the bizarre Miles/Ben confrontation, during which Miles said he would tell his employer that Ben was dead if Ben gave him $3.2 million. What?So, do we believe that Miles is just purely in it for the money, and will convince his employer that Benry is six feet under in exchange for the millions? Right now, this is the way I'm leaning, for two reasons: 1) We saw in Miles' flashback how he just wanted to find the drug money during his ghostbusting of the grandson. Money is a major motivator for him, and he's not necessarily the most ethical of people. So I don't think it's a stretch to believe that he will do what's best for himself. If he can convince his employer that Ben is dead, he'll probably still get paid for the Island mission, in addition to getting $3.2 million from Ben. 2) We know that Ben is still around in the future and is still fighting the good fight against "the bad guys," with Sayid's help. So perhaps Miles succeeds in convincing everyone that Ben is dead. That would explain why Elsa's group couldn't figure out who Sayid was working for--they truly believed that Ben had been killed.
Others fans think, as I mentioned earlier, that Miles is Ben's mole, and that the conversation they had was in code. I agree that this is at least a possibility. "$3.2 million" is a pretty weird number, and it could have meant something specific to Ben, who then covered by saying "Why not $3.3 or $3.4?" Never underestimate the trickery of Ben! Miles also then told Kate everything that he knew about her, and that he got the information from files his team pulled together on everyone on the Flight 815 manifest. Who else is known for gathering information on people? Ben. So there is a chance that Miles has been working with Ben all along and that only he knows the information about all the Lostaways, whereas the rest of the freighter crew does not.
Also remember that Ben claimed to know who Miles' employer was, which could either be interpreted to mean that Ben knows Abaddon, or knows the overall organization for which Abaddon works. Or it could've been a complete lie.
The question that still remains, however, is why Miles was chosen for the mission in the first place. Whoever his employer is must know something about the properties of the Island and figured that Miles' special abilities would be needed. But they must not have realized what a sketchball Miles is and how he would throw the mission for his own benefit if he got the chance.One last thing we can glean from this scene is that Ben is indeed an international man of mystery---yeah, baby! Miles made it clear that, unlike the Lostaways, he knew all about Ben's background, and what Ben "can do." There's no way Miles would be asking for that much money if he didn't think Ben could get his hands on it. And at the end, sure enough, Ben caved and said he would need a week to get the funds in order. I guess that means Ben's pretty sure he can bust out of his cell in the near future...
THERE'S ANOTHER NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. Y'ALL BEST GET USED TO IT.
I pledged last week that I would stop doubting my man Locke. So I'm not going to... but I can't lie and say it's been easy after this latest installment of madness. While Locke claimed to Kate that he was running something in between a democracy and dictatorship, it sure seems like he's leaning more toward the latter. As always, however, a deep insecurity belies Locke's tough-guy exterior. He let Ben's mocking words get to him at the beginning of the episode, he appeared to be overly concerned with what Sawyer and others thought about his leadership abilities,
and he was completely duped by Sawyer shortly thereafter because at his core, Locke's still pretty naive (it's clear that Locke never caught on to the fact that Sawyer was helping Kate the whole time).While I don't agree with Locke's "iron fist" mentality and don't like that he banished Kate from Othersville, you can bet good money that I was thrilled when he gave the smack-down to Miles. Even though it was a little too over-the-top for my taste (a live grenade in someone's mouth!?!), at least it happened to Miles, right? He looked pretty freaked out--maybe it will scare the ghostbusting abilities right out of him!
I am not doubting Locke anymore, though. It's pretty clear from all of the flash-forwards to date that everyone who left the Island is either miserable, or is involved in a huge cover-up that is wearing on them. So even if Locke does end up causing something unfortunate to happen in the near future, as I keep dreading, it's only because the others didn't listen to his warnings in the first place.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
Sun is starting to realize that Locke may be right, too. After a strange scene with Jin where she talks about where to raise her baby (rather than their baby, as Jin points out), she begins to question the intentions of the freighter team. Did you catch that guilty look down at the ground that Daniel had when Jack said, "They can make arrangements to get all of us off this Island." D'oh! Sun follows up with asking why Kate would stay with Locke, if Locke were in fact as crazy as Jack claims him to be.The fact that the group is getting restless helps motivate Jack and Juliet to push Charlotte to call the emergency number they have for the freighter. It's extremely strange that no one's been answering on the main line, isn't it? (Charlotte specifically said, "Minkowski's not answering.") Charlotte agrees to put the call on speakerphone, and we learn that the helicopter has not arrived at the freighter, even though it left the previous night. Frank said they didn't have much fuel left... so what in the heck is going on? Some think that the helicopter's delay has to do with the time differential that Daniel noticed... and so what should normally be a twenty-minute flight to the freighter may end up being a significantly longer trip.
Others swear that Regina must be lying and that the team has in fact made it back to the freighter. If the crew on the ship is up to no good, they would know that Daniel and Charlotte would understand what is going on, whereas Jack and the others would freak out that they'd either been stranded, or that the helicopter went down and killed Sayid and Desmond. Others think that Frank might be Ben's mole, and has taken Sayid and Desmond to another location where they'll be safe. I would love if that turned out to be the case--Frank is the last person I would've suspected.
SO IF YOU DON'T MIND ME SAYIN', I CAN SEE YOU'RE OUT OF ACES
Speaking of the mysterious helicopter team, what was up with that weird scene between Daniel and Charlotte where he was trying to either guess or remember three playing cards she had turned face down? At first I thought that we had received some insight into Daniel's head case-ness... that he had some sort of bizarre memory issue and that Charlotte was trying to do exercises with him to help him. I figured that he had originally seen the three cards, and then she turned them over and then he had to repeat back what he had just seen. After all, his namesake, the scientist Michael Faraday, had memory issues brought on by a battle with mental illness. And Charlotte looked sympathetic and sad for Daniel when he couldn't get all three right. She tried to cheer him up by saying that he had "made progress."
But upon watching the scene again, Charlotte also clearly says "time," like they were supposed to wait a certain amount of time before Daniel made his guess. Now, that could still fit with my original theory. Maybe he has some sort of memory problem where after a specific period of time elapses, he has recall issues. Or similarly, maybe Charlotte didn't want him to take several minutes to try to remember what he saw.Other ideas are that he never saw the cards in the first place, and was trying to use some sort of psychic power to guess what the correct cards were. Yet another possibility is that the original cards she turned over actually switched to new cards because of some weird property on the Island. Or maybe the cards switched because Daniel willed them to switch? Remember back in Season One where Hurley commented that Walt ALWAYS rolled sixes when they played backgammon? Perhaps Daniel is also "special" like Walt and can somehow cause the cards to change?
All I know is that even though that scene was a short one, it was important. Finally, did you catch that one of the cards was the Queen of Diamonds? Or, a Red Queen. Like in Alice in Wonderland...
WHY GO HOME? WHY GO HOME?
Back in Othersville, Kate walks in on Sawyer reading The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, which is about (ironically enough) a fugitive hiding out on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. Kate tells Sawyer that she is definitely not pregnant, and that Locke has banished her from the Barracks. Sawyer's like, "Um, do you honestly think that I can't take Baldy? I'm insulted!" For reasons unknown, Kate still chooses to leave. How many of you fear that we witnessed the last time Kate and Sawyer ever see each other? I do. And I, for the record, never even cared about who Kate "chose," because both Jack and Sawyer are way too good for her, in my opinion. But I still think she's crazy to leave the Island of her own will, now that she knows she won't die from a pregnancy, and that she is still deemed a fugitive to the outside world. I hope and pray that they give us a better reason for her leaving the Island than, "Locke told her to go away."Some think that there is a possibility that Kate is lying to Sawyer about not being pregnant, and after testing him to see what his reaction would be, she realized that she did need to leave the Island because he didn't want a child. But since she never mentioned having more than one child in the flash-forwards, and since we know that the child she did have in the future was not hers biologically, I don't think she was lying to Sawyer.
OK, that wraps up everything that came to pass on the Island in this episode. Oops, I thought of one last thing...if you were thinking that "Eggtown" referred to the fact that Locke cooked Ben the last two eggs for breakfast (as I did), you may be interested in another interpretation of the episode's title. You can read the full story behind the term here, but in short, it is used to describe "a deal with undesirable outcomes in either case." Fitting, no?
OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
Right away in Kate's first flash-forward, we got confirmation that she is indeed one of the Oceanic Six. Many had wondered if, since her meeting with Jack was on the down-low in the Season Three finale, she had escaped the Island but wanted to avoid being captured for her past crimes, so therefore it was not made known that she was one of the famous survivors. Now we know that what actually happened is that she was indeed put on trial, in spite of her new notoriety. The fact that she was charged, however, wasn't what was interesting. The details we learned through seeing her trial were.
The first shocker was that Clean-Shaven Jack was called as a character witness. The second shocker was what he said:- There were originally eight survivors of the crash (implying that two died)
- Kate took care of everyone while they struggled to survive on an island in the South Pacific.
- He no longer is in love with her.
All of these statements are worth analyzing a bit...
Eight Original Survivors: There is definitely a reason that the Oceanic Six have been told to say that two people who initially had survived the crash ended up dying. Those two people must have been responsible for doing or knowing something that the other six couldn't have done or known on their own--either in order to survive or in order to be rescued. I personally have no idea who the two survivors in question might be.
One theory is that since we now know that Aaron made it off the Island and that Claire seemingly didn't, and that there may be too many witnesses who knew that Kate was not eight months pregnant when she got on Flight 815, maybe they said that Claire died after giving birth to Aaron, and so therefore the rest of the world knows that Aaron is not Kate's biological son. But if that were the case, would Kate's mom still want to see the baby so badly? I would hope that she still would, but others think that it is clear that everyone thinks that Kate is Aaron's birth mother.
An Island in the South Pacific: I think this may just be a writing goof, but since it's my job to report what's been said out there on the message boards, I should point out that some people have noted the inconsistency between the news report about the Flight 815 wreckage that we saw in the season premiere (which said that the plane was found in the Indian Ocean), and Jack's statement (which said that they were in the South Pacific). The theory is that Jack screwed up what he was supposed to say and that someone's going to latch onto it and start unraveling the mystery, leading to the situation that causes Jack to become so distraught in the future. I didn't think twice about this discrepancy, but if you have any other theories, let me know.
Jack No Longer Loves Kate: While he later told her that he didn't mean it when he said "Not anymore," what really is confusing is why the lawyer would ask Jack about his feelings for Kate in the first place. To me, this means that the story that was concocted for the O6 specifically mentioned something about Jack and Kate being romantically involved. Otherwise, why would a lawyer bring that up if she wasn't positive that it had already been substantiated that Jack was at one point in love with Kate? Granted, all of the trial scenes were absolute crap in the sense that they would never happen in real life (ask a lawyer to explain this to you, all of the lawyers on the message boards are upset!), but I'm positive that this line of questioning was there for a purpose.Some people think that the world at large believes that Aaron is Jack's baby. Seeing as how the kid has blond hair and both Jack and Kate have dark hair, that seems like a stretch. Also, why would Jack be brought as a character witness if he doesn't even display the good character to want to see his own kid? All I know is that the lawyer asked him about his love for Kate for a reason, and it has something to do with the made-up story that the O6 told to the media when they returned home. (But this theory does make me wonder who Kate is claiming the father to be...)
One last comment on this particular trial scene... why did Kate cut Jack off? He was doing a good job making her out to be the hero, and she's never had major issues with bending the truth in the past. Can she perhaps not bear it when it's Jack who's lying for her?
I'M A BITCH, I'M A LOVER, I'M A CHILD, I'M A MOTHER
In another unexpected scene, Kate's sickly mother comes to talk with her, and says that she does not want to testify against her. It is the first time they've spoken or seen each other since Kate visited her mother in the hospital, only to have the policed summoned. But, ah, the power of grandchildren. Kate's mom is desperate to see this latest member of Austin clan, but Kate will not hear of it.The big question is: WHY? Is Kate still that angry at her mother, especially when her mom was the key to Kate avoiding a jail sentence, or is there a specific reason she doesn't want Mrs. Austin to lay eyes on Aaron?
On another note, many fans are assuming that this sentence from Kate's mom is a clue about the overall timeline: "I've had six months to live for the past four years." I didn't read too much into that statement... I think it was just meant to help us understand her mother's motivations for wanting to finally make peace and move forward. But once again, if you have reason to think otherwise, by all means, clue the rest of us in!
LOVE ME, LOVE MY BAY-BEE
Kate going on and on about her son in this episode reminded me of Claire going on and on about her "bay-bee" all the time in Seasons One, Two and Three. At least the two women have that in common. So much so that Kate will not hang out with Jack in the future unless he comes to visit Aaron. Jack doesn't seem up for that just yet. Chalk up another "Say What?" moment...
Why would Jack want to avoid visiting Aaron? The possible answers hint at why Kate even has Aaron in the first place.
Theories include:- Claire was killed in the escape from the Island and Jack feels so guilty about it that he can't bring himself to see Aaron.
- Aaron was forcefully taken from Claire and Jack can't bear to reminded of it.
- Claire is either dead or still on the Island, but either way, Aaron reminds Jack of his own time on the Island, which he wants to forget. Kind of like how he was so adamant to Hurley that they would never go back and stormed off once Hurley mentioned it.
- Jack found out that Aaron is his nephew (remember, Christian Shephard was a mack daddy and fathered Claire, too) and seeing him would bring back bad memories of Zombie Dad, and/or intensify any feelings of guilt over whatever happened to Claire.
- Aaron has special powers that freak the hell out of Jack. (On that note, how many of you thought the baby was going to be either an alien or a little wizard or have a strange appearance? I did.)
I also was bracing myself to see a 15-year-old, or something weird like that, because of the possible time differential on the Island. This was when I had been thinking that the baby was obviously Sawyer's. This show makes me love being wrong.
ABSENCE DOES NOT MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER
There was a lot that drove me crazy (in a good way) in this episode, but one of the things I'm now wondering about the most is what happened to make Jack and Kate go from friendly, out-in-the-open meetings and talks of rendezvousing for coffee to the strained state their relationship was in during the final scene of "Through the Looking Glass?" At that point in time (which many believe to be April 2007, based on the newspaper clip Jack had), Kate had told Jack not to call her anymore, and when he finally did reach her, they had to meet late at night in the middle of nowhere outside the airport. Something must have caused a rift between the time of Kate's trial (which I'll speculate on in a second) and Jack's "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" plea.Perhaps shortly after Kate's trial, Jack started being haunted by visions, as Hurley had been? Perhaps others of The Six had been killed after slipping from the agreed-upon story? All that is clear is that Kate didn't want to go back to the Island at either point in time in the future. She agreed, without hesitation, to a 10-year probation where she needed to remain in-state. In her airport scene with Jack last season, she mentioned that "he" was going to wonder where she was. There seems to be some level of agreement among viewers that the "he" is indeed Aaron. Off-Island Kate is the exact opposite of On-Island Kate: she wants to stay put.
GUYS, WHEN ARE WE?
Not only do we now know that Kate's son is none other than Aaron, but we also know that Aaron's old enough to talk and sleep in a bed rather than in a crib. Lostpedia reports that according to the script, Aaron is two years old. I have consulted my baby expert, DY, and she concurs with this assessment. Aaron is believed to have been born on November 1, 2004. We know that right now on the Island, it is around Christmas Day 2004. If Aaron is now 2 years old, that would put the current time of Kate's flash-forward to be around November of 2006. That leaves less than six months for her relationship with Jack to fall apart (not to mention for Jack to descend into drug-addicted madness and grow a huge-ass beard).Someone commented to me that they had heard that the producers said that the April 2007 date on the newspaper Jack had in "Through the Looking Glass" was a mistake... but I have not seen that anywhere. If someone actually has PROOF that the April 2007 date on the newspaper clipping in the Season Three finale was a production error, please post it. Otherwise, I'm going to continue to assume that that date is correct.
Back to when Kate's trial is... I know that the judicial system is slow and everything, but doesn't it seem strange that her trial wouldn't get underway until nearly two years had past since she returned from the Island? And that she would still be that famous at that point in time? We all know celebrity is fleeting! It makes me think that the Oceanic Six returned home much later than we may have previously assumed. Meaning, if it's near the end of 2004 on the Island right now, they're probably not being taken directly home from the freighter. It's possible that another whole year may pass where the chosen six are re-programmed or something--where they're offered a financial deal and given a story to memorize and whatnot. At the time of Kate's trial, Jack seems to have no problem reciting the lie, whereas Kate says (paraphrasing): "I've heard you tell that story so many times, I'm beginning to think you believe it." She doesn't appear to be comfortable with the front they're putting up.Another possibility is that, because time on the Island may be passing more slowly than it does elsewhere, the three months the Lostaways have been gone may in fact be much longer. I don't really know how that would affect Aaron's age and growth, and I don't even want to think about it because it's so confusing!
NOW LET ME BLOW YA MIND
So... many... questions... left! But for whatever reason, the multitude of questions raised in "Eggtown" didn't depress me like they did with "The Economist." Yes, it was freaky as hell when Kate said "Aaron," and it's depressing to think that Claire might have kicked the bucket. I was never a big fan of Claire (because of the whole "bay-bee" thing I mentioned earlier), but it's a little too dark for my taste to have the mother of a newborn baby killed on this show. I hope that's not what happened. So until we know for sure what went down, I will try to think positively and will focus my attention on everything else I've already discussed, as well as these remaining issues:
The Aaron Cover-Up Story
If the rest of the world thinks Aaron is Kate's biological son, then one of three things must have happened:
1) Assuming that there's no time difference on the Island and that the age Kate claims Aaron to be (which they haven't officially told us yet) is actually the age he is, there were either no witnesses to the fact that Kate was not eight months pregnant on the flight, or "they" got rid of all the witnesses who would've known this. There were also people who knew that Claire was pregnant on the flight who may have been able to put two and two together, and therefore those witnesses would've had to have been silenced. Because someone should've been able to figure out that if Kate wasn't eight months pregnant on September 22, 2004, there's no way she could have come back from the Island with a newborn.2) As mentioned above, perhaps time moved more slowly on the Island. The Six would've been clued in that it's much later in time than they thought it was, and therefore Kate could easily pretend that Aaron was hers, as she didn't have to be pregnant (or at least not showing that she was pregnant) during the flight in order to come back home with a baby, if she was gone for significantly longer than nine months.
3) Kate could just be lying about Aaron's age. Like I said above, even though Lostpedia listed the boy as two years old, on the show Kate never mentioned his actual age (and even if she did, we couldn't trust that that is his real age until we are able to more confidently piece together the overall timeline).
Desmond's Vision
The whole reason Charlie accepted his suicide mission was because Desmond said he had a vision of Claire and Aaron getting into a helicopter and leaving the Island. Since Des hasn't given us reason to distrust him, I believe that we will see this scene unfold. Which may mean that whatever causes Kate to end up with Aaron happens after they're off the Island but before they return home. Or Des was lying and we're going to find out that he's a total prick.
Devil Baby Possibilities
One of the trippiest Lost episodes to date was "Raised by Another," in which Claire finds out that some bad stuff would go down if she was not the one to raise her child:
MALKIN (psychic): It is crucial that you, yourself, raise this child.CLAIRE: You mean with Thomas? Is he..
MALKIN: The father of this child will play no part in it's life, nor yours.
CLAIRE: So what exactly are you saying?
MALKIN: This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you -- danger surrounds this baby. . .
CLAIRE: Danger?
MALKIN: Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child.
CLAIRE: If Thomas and I don't get back together I'm putting this baby up for adoption. I just wanted to find out what would give the baby the happiest life.
MALKIN: There is no happy life -- not for this child, not without you.
CLAIRE: I don't. . .
MALKIN: It can't be another. You mustn't allow another to raise your baby.
CLAIRE: Okay, great. Thanks for taking my 200.
MALKIN: Oh, no look, take it. Ms. Littleton; I am begging you just to consider...
CLAIRE: I can't raise this child by myself.
MALKIN: You have to listen to me.
CLAIRE: Thanks for your time, and my money back.
MALKIN: Ms. Littleton, please. The baby needs your protection. Ms. Littleton, please.
Now we know that, at least for some period of time, if not for the rest of his life, Kate is raising Aaron. I am really scared that this kid is going to unleash some demonic powers on the world at any moment!
Does Aaron count as a member of the Oceanic Six?
They didn't exactly spell it out for us. If there is something weird going on with time and if "the story" is that Kate got pregnant with Aaron and delivered him all while on the Island, then he wouldn't count as a Flight 815 passenger. And even if it was known that he was adopted by Kate after his birth mother died, Aaron still wasn't on the flight manifest and wasn't born at the time of the crash.
We ALL KNOW how cheap the airlines are... do you really think they're going to pay a settlement out to someone who hadn't even purchased a full-fare ticket?Hee hee, I kid, I kid. There are arguments for both sides of this issue. Many people think it's extremely obvious that Aaron should be counted as one of The Six because, although he wasn't born yet, he was alive in the womb during the crash... and then suffered the hardship of spending his first few months of life on a deserted island. I can see The Powers That Be over at CBS getting all sorts of bad ideas now. Survivor: Newborns vs. Toddlers!
The Rest of The Six
Depending on how Aaron is counted, there are either one or two remaining members of The Six to be revealed. I had always assumed that Sun would get off because of her pregnancy. Now I'm not so sure. There has been absolutely no rhyme nor reason for the first four confirmed members of the group, so I have stuck to my oath made a few weeks ago to not try to figure it out.
I Need a Bushy Eyebrow Fix!
Why the hell haven't they shown Ageless Richard, Cindy, all of the kids and all of the other Others over at the Temple yet? I think we're supposed to forget about them so that when they do show up it will be a big surprise. But who can forget about those ridiculously long eyelashes?
No More Food?
Locke mentioned that he had used up the last two eggs. Then he claimed to have killed a chicken (which would seem foolhardy if there were no more eggs). All of this made me think about the food drop we saw in the past. I believe those food drops were linked to the Countdown Clock O' Doom in the original hatch, which was one of many things Locke blew up. So are they now running out of food? But even more importantly, wouldn't the group who was performing the food drops have realized that something had gone wrong on the Island? Could the organization behind the freighter team have been involved in the food drops before? Or were the drops something that Ben had arranged through some of his contacts off of the Island?
Whew, that's it. See what happens when I like an episode? The length of the write-up increases exponentially.
BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
Kate: You got blood.Locke: I just... killed a chicken.
Hurley: No, I moved him to the boat house--[pause]--You just totally Scooby-Dooed me, didn't you?
Kate: Sorry.
[Jack grimaces at another busy signal]
Juliet: Maybe we should try a number other than the boat... like 911?
Sawyer: I know it's in a box, but... pretty damn good wine! I tested it.Sawyer: She talked to that guy... Bruce Lee from the freighter.
PARTY ALL THE TIME
I hosted a party at my place ("The Hatch") for "Eggtown." If you'd like to see just how crazy I am, click here for the pictures.
Until next week,
- e
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