Season 5, Episode 9: "Namaste"
So there is an interesting theory out there explaining how this year's episodes should have been sequenced. It is thought that because of last year's writer's strike, the shortened Season 4 was actually supposed to end with what ended up being this year's 6th episode: "316." As you'll recall, "316" was really the beginning of the O6's trek back to the Island, and ended with all of them successfully on the flight, ready for whatever destiny had in store. Then, in typical Lost fashion, the episode would have ended with Jin's astonished look after seeing his friends alive and on the Island once again...a fitting cliffhanger for a show that has produced some of the best around. Months later, Season 5 would have started off with the stellar "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," then moved into last week's "Lefluer" before finally revisiting this week's 316 crash again in "Namaste," for what should have been the third episode in Season 5.
The only reason I say this is because both "Lafluer" and "Namaste" had the recognizable feel of what I'd call "season building," or set-up episodes. Meaning, that we as an audience needed a base of knowledge to build upon for the shows ahead. However, because of the accelerated pace of the first half of this season due to last year's delays, we are getting these "seminars" at a funny time in Season 5 - about half way through. Because of this, I think these past two episodes felt a bit out of place, but now that we have them out of the way, we can focus on what's to come: the final arc of the series. Sure, we will be thrown some curves along the way, but I have a feeling that we are approaching the final stretch, and many answers are to come.
But just because "Namaste" may have seemed a bit mellow, it doesn't mean that there wasn't anything to discuss. First off, let's talk about that runway, shall we? Not only do we have confirmation that it was indeed used to land flight 316, but we now know WHY the Ben had the Others building it in back in 2004. Simply put, Ben knew that he would need the runway to get back to the Island at some point in the future. And how did he know that? Because in 1977 little Ben has already encountered a time jumping Sayid and Sawyer and will no doubt cross paths with the rest of the jumpers (Kate, Hurley, and Jack) in due time. Now, I'm not saying that he figured out that a future version of himself was essentially exiled off the Island and needed a way back to it overnight, but I do think that he will figure out who these new additions to the Dharma Initiative are and eventually will be able to exploit that knowledge for his benefit. Don't forget, little Ben was or is going to be approached by Richard Alpert around this time in his life (as seen in his flashback episode "The Man Behind the Curtain") , so he at least has access to some sort of Other/"This is a Special Island and you are a special boy" type of information. And, as we've seen countless times in the past, Ben always seems to know what is going to happen next. The fact that he's meeting people that he will meet again in 30 years is a huge clue in how he became so powerful.
To further prove this point, how do you think he knew to seek out Juliet to come to the Island when they were having fertility issues? Is it not possible, as I mentioned here a couple posts ago, that he likely recruited Juliet to the Island based on her successful delivery of baby Ethan in 1977? She seemed to be able to break the fertility issue then, why not again in 2001? So for now, I'm going to assume that it was this same type of foresight that led Ben to build the runway on Othertraz...he learned at some point in the past from one of the O6 that he would need a means to return to the Island, and the runway was the way to get there.
Confused? I know, me too. Let's move on to Sun. The big question is why didn't she - and Ben for that matter - flash back to 1977 with the rest of the O6? Well, one theory is that Ben is simply not allowed back and that Sun did not follow proper protocol. She didn't "recreate" the circumstances of her initial flight well enough to convince the Island that she deserved entry. On top of that, she's been manipulative: she's playing both sides with Widmore and Ben, and she hasn't been entirely truthful with anyone since their initial return to the real world. In short, we still don't know what her motives are. Maybe the Island recognizes this, and deems her intentions murky at best.
Another more off the wall thought is that Ben and Sun could not return to 1977 because they both exist on the Island in that time as children. Meaning, that they can't occupy the same time as their child-selves. I know this makes no sense but hear me out. Now, we already know that Ben is alive and well in 1977, but how about Sun? Well, remember the first scene of this season where Dr. Pierre Chang (Marvin Candle) wakes up to the crying baby in Dharma-ville? While many including myself have assumed that baby to be Miles, it could also be Sun. Don't forget that Sun's father's company - Paik Industries - has had ties to both the Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative...could there have been a shake up that landed Sun with Mr. Paik instead of Dr. Chang? And if this happened soon enough after her birth on the Island, she would have no recollection of her time spent there. I'm pretty sure I'm way off here, but I can't come up with anything else at the moment. Regardless, Christian tells Sun that she's got a "bit of a journey ahead" of her, so the likely scenario is that the Island has other plans for her...for now.
Moving on, I especially dug the scene between the former leader Jack and new leader Sawyer. As mentioned last week, we really see how Sawyer has grown over the three years since he's been with Dharma. He's a "thinker" now (good for him!). But what's ironic about his "you're a thoughtless reactionary" speech to Jack is that Sawyer himself acted exactly the same way for nearly 4 seasons. He once immediately declared that Sayid was a terrorist just because he was an Arab; he found shit on the beach that could have been useful for all and but instead stole it for himself; and the list could go on and on. But the Sawyer of Dharma times shows that he has learned not only from both his and Jack's mistakes, but from following in the footsteps of his pseudo-mentor John Locke to adopt a more philosophical approach to problem solving. And for what it's worth, it's working out. So far.
Finally, let's break down that extra special creepy scene with Sun, Frank, and Christian towards the end of the episode. A couple things are happening here. First off, Smokey is around. Not only is he hopping through the trees as Sun and Frank approach the village from the dock, but he's letting himself in the Dharma cabin to join the group for story time.
What's the deal with that? Do we revisit an old theory and assume that Christian is a manifestation of the Smoke Monster - similar to other Island ghosts (Yemi, Horace, Dave, etc). And did anyone catch the quick cut of a blond in the background of this scene? Check out the pic below...is it Claire? Is it a mistake?
But I think the biggest clue we got from the scene was the setting of the camp itself. Think about this. Sun and Frank are entering what was initially Dharma-ville in the past and then was transformed to Other-ville after the Purge in the early 90's. The Others lived in the camp up until about 2004 when the shit hit the fan with the freighter folks and had to retreat to the Temple. So let's assume that it's been abandoned for three years. But the camp that Sun and Frank walked into looked like it had been abandoned for WAY longer than three years, didn't it? The lamp posts were rusted over, the signs were all crooked...sure I know that no one's been around to keep the place up, but something's not right. And how about this: why would Dharma recruiting pictures still be up on the wall? Wouldn't you think that the Others would have trashed that stuff when taking over the barracks after the Purge? If you buy a house, do you leave pictures of the former family up on your walls? No, you don't.
One more thing: when 316 was going down in the beginning of the episode, the co-pilot puts out a Mayday call over the radio only to get a familiar transition back. Listen closely and you'll hear the old numbers broadcast coming through the cockpit's radio. What's strange about the transmission though is that in the 2007 we know, the "old" numbers broadcast - meaning the one that navy pals Leonard and Sam heard in the Pacific in the 50's - had been substituted with Rousseau's broadcast in the late eighties. Meaning, that in the 2007 we know, the pilot's never should have heard the old numbers transmission. But they did.....
So what is going on here? Could it be that the time that Sun, Frank, and the 316 survivors are in an alternate version of the present? What if Faraday is wrong and the O6 have done something to change the past? What if Sawyer and company did something to stop the Purge? What if the war Widmore speaks of has come and gone...leaving the Island in a state of devastation? I don't know the answers, but SOMETHING has happened to change the course of time and I'll bet that we learn what that something is over the next few episodes.
Some extra tidbits:
-Radzinsky: Not only is he a muppet lover (reruns of the Muppet show were playing on his surveillance screens), he was the guy who worked with Kelvin before blowing his head off in the Swan Hatch. He was also the guy that started drawing the map of the Island on the blast door. He was also the assumed the architect of the Swan Hatch, as he had a nice little model going in this episode and was concerned that Sayid may have seen it and therefore compromising it's security. Remember, the Swan Hatch was built later in Dharma time and likely in Hostile territory (outside the Sonic Fences). Why is Dharma interested in this area? Probably because it's showing high levels of electromagnetic properties, most likely because it's where "Jughead" the hydrogen bomb was buried. Dharma wants to exploit the area and therefore build a secret hatch, underground, so to not alert the hostiles to what they are up to.
-Did anyone else catch Sawyer saying that Faraday got sent away? What's the deal there? Did someone get a little too creepy with a little girl or did Dharma realize that they had a wealth of time traveler knowledge in that little head of his?
-This isn't a revelation by any means, but I thought the quick shot of Jack tapping his broken watch after being told in the scene prior that they had traveled 30 years back in time was nothing short of classic. Gotta love the writers adding in stuff like that...also the "Ride Captain Ride" song playing while they were signing in on recruitment day. ("Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship/Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip"). Perfect.
I swear, he's checking his watch
Anyways, as usual, this is much longer than I had anticipated but hopefully there is a lot to chew on. Looking forward to this week's episode but for the first time in a long time, I will NOT be seeing it during it's regularly scheduled time so I will have to wear a blindfold and ear plugs to work on Thursday to avoid getting spoiled. So if you see me, please be kind. Thanks!
So there is an interesting theory out there explaining how this year's episodes should have been sequenced. It is thought that because of last year's writer's strike, the shortened Season 4 was actually supposed to end with what ended up being this year's 6th episode: "316." As you'll recall, "316" was really the beginning of the O6's trek back to the Island, and ended with all of them successfully on the flight, ready for whatever destiny had in store. Then, in typical Lost fashion, the episode would have ended with Jin's astonished look after seeing his friends alive and on the Island once again...a fitting cliffhanger for a show that has produced some of the best around. Months later, Season 5 would have started off with the stellar "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," then moved into last week's "Lefluer" before finally revisiting this week's 316 crash again in "Namaste," for what should have been the third episode in Season 5.
The only reason I say this is because both "Lafluer" and "Namaste" had the recognizable feel of what I'd call "season building," or set-up episodes. Meaning, that we as an audience needed a base of knowledge to build upon for the shows ahead. However, because of the accelerated pace of the first half of this season due to last year's delays, we are getting these "seminars" at a funny time in Season 5 - about half way through. Because of this, I think these past two episodes felt a bit out of place, but now that we have them out of the way, we can focus on what's to come: the final arc of the series. Sure, we will be thrown some curves along the way, but I have a feeling that we are approaching the final stretch, and many answers are to come.
But just because "Namaste" may have seemed a bit mellow, it doesn't mean that there wasn't anything to discuss. First off, let's talk about that runway, shall we? Not only do we have confirmation that it was indeed used to land flight 316, but we now know WHY the Ben had the Others building it in back in 2004. Simply put, Ben knew that he would need the runway to get back to the Island at some point in the future. And how did he know that? Because in 1977 little Ben has already encountered a time jumping Sayid and Sawyer and will no doubt cross paths with the rest of the jumpers (Kate, Hurley, and Jack) in due time. Now, I'm not saying that he figured out that a future version of himself was essentially exiled off the Island and needed a way back to it overnight, but I do think that he will figure out who these new additions to the Dharma Initiative are and eventually will be able to exploit that knowledge for his benefit. Don't forget, little Ben was or is going to be approached by Richard Alpert around this time in his life (as seen in his flashback episode "The Man Behind the Curtain") , so he at least has access to some sort of Other/"This is a Special Island and you are a special boy" type of information. And, as we've seen countless times in the past, Ben always seems to know what is going to happen next. The fact that he's meeting people that he will meet again in 30 years is a huge clue in how he became so powerful.
To further prove this point, how do you think he knew to seek out Juliet to come to the Island when they were having fertility issues? Is it not possible, as I mentioned here a couple posts ago, that he likely recruited Juliet to the Island based on her successful delivery of baby Ethan in 1977? She seemed to be able to break the fertility issue then, why not again in 2001? So for now, I'm going to assume that it was this same type of foresight that led Ben to build the runway on Othertraz...he learned at some point in the past from one of the O6 that he would need a means to return to the Island, and the runway was the way to get there.
Confused? I know, me too. Let's move on to Sun. The big question is why didn't she - and Ben for that matter - flash back to 1977 with the rest of the O6? Well, one theory is that Ben is simply not allowed back and that Sun did not follow proper protocol. She didn't "recreate" the circumstances of her initial flight well enough to convince the Island that she deserved entry. On top of that, she's been manipulative: she's playing both sides with Widmore and Ben, and she hasn't been entirely truthful with anyone since their initial return to the real world. In short, we still don't know what her motives are. Maybe the Island recognizes this, and deems her intentions murky at best.
Another more off the wall thought is that Ben and Sun could not return to 1977 because they both exist on the Island in that time as children. Meaning, that they can't occupy the same time as their child-selves. I know this makes no sense but hear me out. Now, we already know that Ben is alive and well in 1977, but how about Sun? Well, remember the first scene of this season where Dr. Pierre Chang (Marvin Candle) wakes up to the crying baby in Dharma-ville? While many including myself have assumed that baby to be Miles, it could also be Sun. Don't forget that Sun's father's company - Paik Industries - has had ties to both the Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative...could there have been a shake up that landed Sun with Mr. Paik instead of Dr. Chang? And if this happened soon enough after her birth on the Island, she would have no recollection of her time spent there. I'm pretty sure I'm way off here, but I can't come up with anything else at the moment. Regardless, Christian tells Sun that she's got a "bit of a journey ahead" of her, so the likely scenario is that the Island has other plans for her...for now.
Moving on, I especially dug the scene between the former leader Jack and new leader Sawyer. As mentioned last week, we really see how Sawyer has grown over the three years since he's been with Dharma. He's a "thinker" now (good for him!). But what's ironic about his "you're a thoughtless reactionary" speech to Jack is that Sawyer himself acted exactly the same way for nearly 4 seasons. He once immediately declared that Sayid was a terrorist just because he was an Arab; he found shit on the beach that could have been useful for all and but instead stole it for himself; and the list could go on and on. But the Sawyer of Dharma times shows that he has learned not only from both his and Jack's mistakes, but from following in the footsteps of his pseudo-mentor John Locke to adopt a more philosophical approach to problem solving. And for what it's worth, it's working out. So far.
Finally, let's break down that extra special creepy scene with Sun, Frank, and Christian towards the end of the episode. A couple things are happening here. First off, Smokey is around. Not only is he hopping through the trees as Sun and Frank approach the village from the dock, but he's letting himself in the Dharma cabin to join the group for story time.
What's the deal with that? Do we revisit an old theory and assume that Christian is a manifestation of the Smoke Monster - similar to other Island ghosts (Yemi, Horace, Dave, etc). And did anyone catch the quick cut of a blond in the background of this scene? Check out the pic below...is it Claire? Is it a mistake?
But I think the biggest clue we got from the scene was the setting of the camp itself. Think about this. Sun and Frank are entering what was initially Dharma-ville in the past and then was transformed to Other-ville after the Purge in the early 90's. The Others lived in the camp up until about 2004 when the shit hit the fan with the freighter folks and had to retreat to the Temple. So let's assume that it's been abandoned for three years. But the camp that Sun and Frank walked into looked like it had been abandoned for WAY longer than three years, didn't it? The lamp posts were rusted over, the signs were all crooked...sure I know that no one's been around to keep the place up, but something's not right. And how about this: why would Dharma recruiting pictures still be up on the wall? Wouldn't you think that the Others would have trashed that stuff when taking over the barracks after the Purge? If you buy a house, do you leave pictures of the former family up on your walls? No, you don't.
One more thing: when 316 was going down in the beginning of the episode, the co-pilot puts out a Mayday call over the radio only to get a familiar transition back. Listen closely and you'll hear the old numbers broadcast coming through the cockpit's radio. What's strange about the transmission though is that in the 2007 we know, the "old" numbers broadcast - meaning the one that navy pals Leonard and Sam heard in the Pacific in the 50's - had been substituted with Rousseau's broadcast in the late eighties. Meaning, that in the 2007 we know, the pilot's never should have heard the old numbers transmission. But they did.....
So what is going on here? Could it be that the time that Sun, Frank, and the 316 survivors are in an alternate version of the present? What if Faraday is wrong and the O6 have done something to change the past? What if Sawyer and company did something to stop the Purge? What if the war Widmore speaks of has come and gone...leaving the Island in a state of devastation? I don't know the answers, but SOMETHING has happened to change the course of time and I'll bet that we learn what that something is over the next few episodes.
Some extra tidbits:
-Radzinsky: Not only is he a muppet lover (reruns of the Muppet show were playing on his surveillance screens), he was the guy who worked with Kelvin before blowing his head off in the Swan Hatch. He was also the guy that started drawing the map of the Island on the blast door. He was also the assumed the architect of the Swan Hatch, as he had a nice little model going in this episode and was concerned that Sayid may have seen it and therefore compromising it's security. Remember, the Swan Hatch was built later in Dharma time and likely in Hostile territory (outside the Sonic Fences). Why is Dharma interested in this area? Probably because it's showing high levels of electromagnetic properties, most likely because it's where "Jughead" the hydrogen bomb was buried. Dharma wants to exploit the area and therefore build a secret hatch, underground, so to not alert the hostiles to what they are up to.
-Did anyone else catch Sawyer saying that Faraday got sent away? What's the deal there? Did someone get a little too creepy with a little girl or did Dharma realize that they had a wealth of time traveler knowledge in that little head of his?
-This isn't a revelation by any means, but I thought the quick shot of Jack tapping his broken watch after being told in the scene prior that they had traveled 30 years back in time was nothing short of classic. Gotta love the writers adding in stuff like that...also the "Ride Captain Ride" song playing while they were signing in on recruitment day. ("Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship/Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip"). Perfect.
I swear, he's checking his watchAnyways, as usual, this is much longer than I had anticipated but hopefully there is a lot to chew on. Looking forward to this week's episode but for the first time in a long time, I will NOT be seeing it during it's regularly scheduled time so I will have to wear a blindfold and ear plugs to work on Thursday to avoid getting spoiled. So if you see me, please be kind. Thanks!
posted by Rutherford at
8:28 PM
7 Comments:
There is an assumption that Radzinski is building the model of the Swan in preparation of building it. But do we have any evidence that the Swan and/or the rest of the hatches aren't already built? Isn't Chang wearing a Swan coat in the Welcome video? That would imply that it is built. The Swan model is seen in the Swan Hatch Orientation film, maybe he was building it for that reason? During the purge, Radzinski could have taken refuge in the Swan and for that reason would think he needs to be Quarantined in there, just like all of the following Swan captives thought. Do we have a definitive date when the Swan was built?
Maybe the reason Sun and Ben didn't flash back to 1977 is that Locke was the one who actually made it happen? Locke promised Jin he wouldn't bring Sun back, so this was the way he made good on that promise, even from his coffin. Ben was never in the group he was trying to bring back, plus there was that small matter of Ben killing Locke...
Great post. When I watched I picked up Muppets - that's about it.
What do you all make of the "night to day" flash of Flight 316? This is where they switched to an alternate reality perhaps? A reality that has the runway but where the transmission never got changed?
All great points.
Monty B: we do have evidence that some of the hatches are built. In this episode we obviously see that Radzinsky is holding down operations in the Flame, and in "Lefluer" we see that the dude and his lady friend are in another surveillance hatch. I don't think the Swan has been built yet though, as it seems that in 1977 Dharma is still getting off to its start. But your theory of Radzinsky quarantining himself after the Purge is great (remember, the Purge happened in the early 90's, so even if the Swan is not built in '77, they had plenty of time to build it before the Purge.) Other hatches that may not be built: The Pearl (surveillance hatch for the Swan), and the Orchid...but from that scene in 5.01, we can assume that they are currently building it (since Daniel is part of the construction team in a Dharma suit in the season opener).
Jeff...like the "promise" idea. Certainly makes sense...and if Locke is truly "one" with the Island then he could "disallow" her passage to reunite with Jin.
Brian...the day/night thing I think can be explained by a smaller time jump after crossing into the Island's radius. If you remember, we've seen similar jumps with Daniel's rocket experience lagging (31 minutes), and during one helicopter trip from the Island Frank and Sayid experienced a similar day/night type of jump when going back to the freighter. As for the "alternate reality," I'd like to think that the alternate version of the present was created by a change in the past caused by the Losties presence there, but who knows!
Didn't the losties dismantle Rousseau's broadcast before they left the island?
Yeah, Rousseau herself turned it off. But I don't think they replaced it with anything else? Maybe it automatically reset to the numbers broadcast?
Yeah, I think the reason they dismantled it was so that they could keep the line open to be able to communicate with the frieghter (since her message was jamming communication). That would lead us to believe that there was nothing broadcasting out from that point on....but in "Namaste" the original numbers broadcast is still going out.
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