ABC/MARIO PEREZHey, remember when we thought Lost was about the Zoo of Death or purgatory? Things were simpler then. All we had to cope with was tropical polar bears and jungle mechanosaurs...
These days, Lost is about everything from love and charismatic leadership to reanimation and electromagnetism, and it would be patently exhausting to follow if it weren't so rocketship fast and so fraught with thrills, chills, spills and just damn compelling feelings...
Are you ready to tackle this week's Sawyer-centric outing, "LaFleur," and get our exclusive dish on which favorite character from the past is getting a four-episode return engagement? Grab your girlfriend's brownies, gas up the blue Volkswagen and get in here...
SAWYER = AWESOME
Ladies and gentleman, meet James "Sawyer" Ford, aka James "Jim" LaFleur, head badass in charge of Dharma security and de facto leader of the surviving Left-Behind Losties (Jin, Juliet, Miles and Daniel).
After four seasons of wrassling the rest of the Lost A-Team for power, Sawyer is finally in charge. (And it's about bleeding time, too.)
Furthermore, Sawyer has finally gotten in touch with his sensitive side, trying to save old bald friends who jump down wells, rescuing women and babies, inspiring anxious doctors, sympathizing with the drunk and despondent, and last but not least, picking daisies to give to nice ladies. How far we have all come!
All these Sawyer character developments are right and good, with one notable and very important exception: Clean-shaven Sawyer sucks. (Fix please!)
CRAAAAZY MYTHOLOGY AND EASTER EGGS
- John Locke locked down the frozen donkey wheel and stopped the flashes, so the Left-Behind Losties now exist in the late 1970s. (Sawyer & Co. started out in 1974 and worked their way up to 1977.) As Daniel put it, the skipping record has stopped skipping, but it's still not playing the right song—the gang needs a tune from the early 2000s, not the 1970s.
- The Hostiles are led by Richard Alpert. Two Hostiles killed Paul and were threatening Amy (Reiko Aylesworth). Sawyer handled the situation, but Amy tearfully insisted that they bury the two Hostiles and take her husband back to Dharmatown. Then, to reestablish the truce between Dharma and their Hostile frenemies, Amy had to hand Paul's body back to the Hostiles, which she did because she believed her man "would want to keep us safe." Huh? What did the Hostiles want with Paul's body? Admit it, Darlton: This just a setup for the zombie season, right?
- The sonic fence keeps out shipwrecked survivors, Dharmites and smoke monsters, but not Hostiles. Hmmm...
- Horace Goodspeed is the boss (for the time being) of the Dharma Initiative.
- The Dharma Initiative has a Star security station. James LaFleur (see above), the head of security, wears a Star logo on his chest. Awhile back in "The Long Con," Sawyer said, "There's a new sheriff in town, boys. Y'all best get used to it." Well, it looks like the new sheriff finally got a proper star to replace that marshal's badge he surrendered to Kate in "White Rabbit."
- James put his time in the Black Rock's brig to good use and used his knowledge of that ship to concoct a cover story about being a treasure salvor. (Side note: Could the Black Rock's dy-no-mite stash be the source of Horace's tree-destroying explosives?)
- That monumental statue from the Island's ancient past appears to be Egyptian. (The miniskirt is a dead giveaway.) Paul's talisman was an ankh, the symbol of ancient monotheistic Egyptian cult. And remember how the kablooey countdown in the hatch was red hieroglyphics? These clues suggest this place's power has an Egyptian connection. OK, that's cool, but the Island better not turn out to be a Stargate.
WOULDN'T IT BE LOVERLY?
OK. Deep breath. Romance update:
- Regular-Character Romance: After some prefatory chemistry, got-your-back-having and situational stress, Dharma-brand Sawyer and Juliet fell in love, moved in together and established what appears to be the most functional and positive relationship in all of Lost history. Late in the episode Sawyer reminisces to Horace about a girl he once loved (presumably Freckles). According to Sawyer, he no longer remembers what that other chick even looks like anymore and he's like totally over her. For reals. No seriously! But then again he's also sent Jin on 133 different missions over three years looking for "their people" and refusing to give up hope for recovery and reconciliation, despite the fact that "their people" are quite clearly long gone and, by his own declaration to Horace, "never coming back." Then, of course, Freckles actually shows up and Sawyer appears to be making goo-goo eyes at her all over again. (So much for her forgettable face.)
- If we were to become Suliet (Sawyer-Juliet) fans, and we're not committing either way, we would be especially devoted to that little slap Juliet gave Sawyer with her washcloth when he was asking her to help save Amy's life. 'Twas cute. Just saying.
- Guest-Star Love Triangle: The Dharma-brand love triangle between Horace, Amy and Paul could appear (to the jaundiced eye) to be a none-too-subtle analogy for the love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Amy/Kate loved Paul/Sawyer; Paul/Sawyer died(ish) to save Amy/Kate; Amy/Kate moved on with the other guy, Horace/Jack; Horace/Jack remained insecure about Amy/Kate's feelings for him despite their having a child together; Horace/Jack then drank too much and was generally crazy, self-destructive and disappointing. What does it all mean? What happens next? No clue, but someone will explain in the comments, right?
IT'S JUST NOT NATURAL
Is it just us or is it discomfiting in the extreme to see the Losties consorting and sympathizing with Dharmites? (It's like Mensheviks suddenly hanging out at the Bolshevik clubhouse! Madness!)
For that matter, Sawyer and Juliet living in Dharma-branded connubial bliss just seems dirty and compromised, separate from any preexisting love-polygon loyalty issues.
Trust us: Dharma-Oceanic is an unholy alliance!
QUESTIONS
- Are we in agreement that the wee redhead in the Dharmatown Commons was young Charlotte (Rebecca Mader)? Or could that have been someone else?
- Could Amy's baby grow up to be someone we already know, like perhaps Alex's boyfriend and latter-day Island orphan Karl (Blake Bashoff)?
- Why the frak was Miles (Ken Leung) on the Freighter? (We're not just asking this because we have a nice picture of him, honest.) At this point we understand Daniel, Charlotte and Frank's backstory in detail and they all had clear-cut roles to play on Widmore's freighter mission, but why did Widmore hire a laid-back medium to come on the mission? Does Miles' power have a specific relevant use? Was Miles just interested in the money? Or does he have a larger role to play in the Island's mythology? Miles seems perfectly comfortable on the Island and has no obvious desire to get on with his life, and that just seems fishy.
- Mechanic Juliet was adorable in her little head kerchief, right?
REJECTED SUBTITLES FOR THIS REDUX
- Lost Redux: Now we just need Kuliet and Jawyer hookups and then everyone will have finally done it with everyone else
- Lost Redux: Raise your hand if you're a fangirl and you don't have a broken heart right now
- Lost Redux: Suliet's not a half-bad pairing—am I right?
- Lost Redux: I don't get it. Is Sawyer over Kate or not?
- Lost Redux: No, I quit. I'm shipping Pesmond from here on out and that's it!
- Lost Redux: If Kate is preggo with Jack's baby à la Horace-Amy-Paul, I swear to god, Damon…
- Lost Redux: The to-and-fro on this freaking show is giving me a whiplash headache. ("And if it's not a headboard it's just not worth it." —Rachel Green, Friends)
WHAT'S TO COME
Lost is moving again—going back even further into the past to explore a terrible incident that changed the course of the Island (and its people) forever. When Lost returns in two weeks, the charming and talented young actor Sterling Beaumon (the kid's 14 and he's recording an album) reprises his role as "young Ben" for what will be a four-episode character arc.
Sterling tells us exclusively that the story is "very major, and it's going to change Ben forever." Sterling, as per usual for Lost castmembers, is sworn to secrecy about exactly what happens, but he says this very major thing "involves himself and yes, it is a trauma…Before the change Ben's a nice, good kid…and then one second will change his life forever."
According to Sterling, over the course of this arc, "Ben will [come to] know everything about every little bit about the Island. We're not going to learn more about the past with Dharma, we're going to learn more about the past of the Island." Say it with me people: Holler!
What do you want to know about the Island's past? Post in the comments along with all your thoughts about "LaFleur."
(This Redux was brought to you by Flo Rida's "Right Round" and Starbucks-brand soy lattes. Later gators!)