And they're coming up on the ramp. The shark is circling...
"I'd say 'I hope that box is big enough to imagine yourself up a new submarine'."
And ladies and gentlemen, you will be relieved to learn that no sharks were jumped. The jump has been waved off. This week.
A magic box? Ben can't be serious, can he? Really? I hope not. I was just diggin' the sonic fence because it seemed pretty science fiction-ee. Add a magic, wish fulfilling box and we're into territory I have a hard time reconciling with my vision of Lost. I hope that this is just another one of Ben's attempts to manipulate Locke and not an actual object that we will see.
John lets Ben know that he's angry because by using electricity, running water, guns, communications gear and the like, they're cheating. They aren't living as he feels the island inhabitants should. He even calls Ben a "pharisee" which is a word used to describe a sanctimonious, self-righteous, or hypocritical person and that derives from a specific sect of the Jewish religion that differed from and was more strict than the mainstream in its practices. An interesting word choice for a man like Locke. The derivation ultimately comes from an Aramaic word meaning "to separate". Locke probably feels that by using technology the Others really allow themselves to be separated from the island and its special nature.
When Ben asks him how it is that he, a man only 80 days on the island, could know it better than Ben who was born on the island, Locke's answer is as simple as it is damning:
"You're in a wheelchair, and I'm not."
Alex returns with Sayid's pack and Locke takes her with him as a guide, trusting that Ben will not raise the alarm because of her presence.
As they head out the door, Ben tells Locke much the same as what Bakunin told him previously. The communications gear is down, so once the sub leaves, it will never be able to return. Alex seems troubled by this revelation.
(*Continuity side note: Jack tells Kate that he's leaving "First thing in the morning" but Ben tells Locke that the sub is leaving "in less than an hour". Is Jack trying to deceive Kate or is this just some inconsistent writing?*)
As they head to the sub, Alex tells Locke, "You know he's manipulating you right?"
"How's that?"
"That's what my Father does, he manipulates people. He makes you think that it's your idea, but it's his."
"I'll have to keep that in mind." And you should too, because it's a concept that is about to become VERY important.
Locke lets Alex go, apologizing for involving her, then heads to the sub. As she heads back to the compound, in the shadows Rousseau watches her go and the look on the French woman's face tells us that at the very least, she believes that Alex is her daughter.
In a very "Season 1 Cliffhanger-esque" moment, Locke opens the sub's hatch and peers down into the darkness. He then enters the sub and flips the lights on, apparently looking for a good place to plant the explosives.
Ben is tidying up after his visit with Locke, putting the leftover chicken back in the fridge when Jack and Juliette walk in.
Jack has come to ask for one last favour.
Ben's typical atypical response? "You don't knock?" The man is consistent. Never answer a question or offer information when you can ask a question instead.
Jack ignores the jibe and asks his favour. He wants Ben to let his friends go. Ben agrees to let them go, giving his word that he'll let Jack's friends go "Just as soon as you've left the island." What was that Alex was saying about manipulating people being what Ben does?
Juliette thanks Ben for keeping his promise. Little does she know that Mr. Blow-Stuff-Up-Every-Week is down at the submarine as they speak...
Locke gets caught coming from the dock and he's soaking wet. When Jack sees him, he wonders what he's doing there.
"I'm sorry, Jack."
"Sorry for what?"
Naturally, John doesn't have to answer, since the C4 does all his talking.
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Comments (36)
Gimp. Tee hee.
Interesting theories, Greybishop. Never thought of "Lost" that way.
And yeah, that "magic box" thing had better be explained soon (and by soon, I mean November), because magic doesn't exist. Miracles happening due to technological feats/failures/messups/KABOOOOMs I can take, but put Frodo and Gandalf on the show and I'm heading for the hills.
1 of 36 | Posted by JohnEDowney
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Posted on March 22, 2007 3:28 PM
so... there have been several references to time travel, etc, and increasingly recently. Especially within all the Dharma stuff... lots of references to philosophy that is one wikipedia page removed from 'Brief History of Time' and the like... which means that the "box" is likely some donnie Darko-esque portal. Which... I don't know, I feel like space portals could be more science than hobbit (referencing the post 2 above mine), and so that could be a direction that works for the show. And, it could kind of explain the impossibility of getting back to the island, somehow. Does this post even make sense? I wish I could remember more specific examples of the time travel references, help me out here if you can.
I'm really into your "he sunk the submarine" theory.
Also, you made no reference to something that I think is DEFINITELY important. When Jack was playing the piano they showed, briefly, the side of his head and he had these cuts around his ear. Then when he was going in to talk to Kate, Tom (?) said "be careful in here" and sort of pointed to the side of his (own) head... I'm thinking there's definitely something that's been implanted or whatever, so that he can't tell Kate stuff... like it's regulating his actions in some way. That's pretty vague, but I'm almost positive it's right.
2 of 36 | Posted by mallory | Posted on March 22, 2007 3:46 PM
whoa, ok clearly I have nothing to do at work right now, but if you google "Ben Linus" look at the ads that come up... HansoAdoption. So... Dharma IS the others? Isn't that what we all thought originally (like season 1)?
3 of 36 | Posted by mallory | Posted on March 22, 2007 4:11 PM
ok, I found what I was originally looking for...
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Literary_works
so Brief History of Time was actually in THIS episode, in Ben's room. Other time-travel centered books that have been shown/referenced include Hindsight and A Wrinkle in Time. Interestingly enough, these were both shown with Sawyer, which makes it seem like he's pretty important... which we knew, cuz the others wanted him. this show is so weird.
4 of 36 | Posted by mallory | Posted on March 22, 2007 4:19 PM
Gre4at recap.. love your sidenotes!
I thought this episode was amazing.
The Locke/Ben convos were the best.
As for the magic box... I dunno... it's interesting and I can't wait to see what Ben was talking about.
5 of 36 | Posted by Shollia
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Posted on March 22, 2007 4:21 PM
Love the screencaps! Especially the fact that you make no effort to conceal that you downloaded the episode (from not so legal sources) :)
Thx for the fast recap!
6 of 36 | Posted by jairocon
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Posted on March 22, 2007 4:32 PM
Another great recap, Greybishop. And a terrific episode, as well. Lost is back on track for a wonderful season.
I think that the actors who play Locke and Ben deserve an Emmy nomination for this week's performances. They were both great! Wow!
7 of 36 | Posted by Lady-in-Gray
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Posted on March 22, 2007 4:38 PM
I love your sinking the sub, blow up the dock theory.
8 of 36 | Posted by chooch850
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Posted on March 22, 2007 5:21 PM
uh, people, the "magic box" is what Locke's father was in...it was a square room, hence, "box", and it contained someone who Locke was surprised to see, hence, "magic"....at least that's what i gathered
9 of 36 | Posted by motonehi | Posted on March 22, 2007 8:03 PM
I`m sure,Locke`s Dad was not coming from a magic box,because Ben said bring me the man from Tallahasse...that means,Cooper has already been on the island....
btw,"Anthony Cooper,Adam Seward" is an anagram for"Sawyer,the con man,a poor Dad"...
The Scene where Locke told Ben that he was a navy commander was great.Remember the Show "Jag"?In that Show O`Quinn WAS a navy commander^^
10 of 36 | Posted by Henk | Posted on March 22, 2007 10:17 PM
OMG - the anagram is brilliant. I really liked this episode. I was thinking the whole time that Lost is now back on track. I also did not piece together that perhaps Locke did not blow up the Submarine. If he did not, then he has just won back a load of respect from me. If so, then not a surprise, because it looks like he has been on a downward spiral to delusional world this entire season. Basically, he has been acting like a moron - or has he... Great recap, I am looking forward to the next episode based on the scenes. Looks like Sun is going to get a little crazy. I can't wait!
11 of 36 | Posted by goobs | Posted on March 23, 2007 5:23 AM
Anonymous -
For "non-shark jumping" recaps, I refer you to my previous recaps here. This was the first time I applied the phrase in a recap, and let's be honest, a magic box?
If that doesn't worry fans, at least a little...
12 of 36 | Posted by Greybishop
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Posted on March 23, 2007 5:38 AM
Henk-
Nice work on the anagram.
Never occured to me to put the two names together like that!
13 of 36 | Posted by Greybishop
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Posted on March 23, 2007 5:41 AM
GB I love the theory about Locke not blowing up the sub, I too wondered why he was soaked when they got to the dock but it was more of a passing wonder for me. In a way it makes sense from Locke's perspective because he wants to take his turn at manipulating Ben who has done his fair share of manipulating Locke.
As for Locke's, I don't believe his father came from the magic box. The most obvious explanation for his presence is that he was also on the plane, probably in the tail section and was captured/removed before anyone was aware of his presence on the island.
As for the magic box the simplest explanation for this in my eyes is that either the magic box is where the smoke monster lives or perhaps were a portion of the smoke monster that was somehow captured or contained exists, or vice versa where the portion of the smoke monster running about the island escaped from. We've seen it change shapes once into Eko's brother and from the images we saw when the camera passed through it it's obvious it can read minds so it could easily be what is contained in the magic box. In fact if that's the case it goes a long way towards explaining the appearances of Jack's dad, Kate's horse, and maybe even Dave. I'm sure there are more strange sighting that I'm forgetting. Also given what happened to Eko it's likely that if the magic box contains the smoke monster it's fair to say that the magic box is really a trap of sorts, unless of course you take the viewpoint that Eko wanted to die at that time and the smoke was just further granting his wishes.
14 of 36 | Posted by wniffene
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Posted on March 23, 2007 7:10 AM
.... or, how about this, wniffene? It was Smokey's kidnapped (by the Others) child posing as Locke's dad....
15 of 36 | Posted by Lady-in-Gray
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Posted on March 23, 2007 7:32 AM
i don't understand why everyone is talking about the magic box so literally. when i saw the episode i assumed the magic box was the island, and anything you want appears in some way (locke standing, kate's record doesn't matter, charlie is off drugs, michael and walt bonded)...the island obviously exists to help the survivors face things they haven't been able to face or obtain before! COMON PEOPLE!
16 of 36 | Posted by isthisawkward
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Posted on March 23, 2007 8:51 AM
I thought Locke submerged sub and then swam out thru a sealed hatch, leaving the sub intact and ready and explaining why Locke was wet.
17 of 36 | Posted by Tiger | Posted on March 23, 2007 9:03 AM
who knew that the lost forum was comprised of a bunch of submarine experts! i feel my iq rising just from being in your company ;-)
thanks for the recap b/c i totally missed the whole box conversation b/w ben and john when i was watching the episode so at the end i was like, WTF?!?
missed the cuts on jack's ear as well, i'll have to check again.
luv this show!
great recap GB
p.s. are you canadian or british? i always have to catch myself when spelling behaviour/behavior
babeblue
18 of 36 | Posted by babeblue | Posted on March 23, 2007 12:02 PM
I think the box has to do with quantum theory that you referred to in the last recap.
I was just glad that Locke at least asked where the power came from which is a close to an intelligent question that anyone has ever asked on the show.
19 of 36 | Posted by Duggan | Posted on March 23, 2007 1:00 PM
Greybishop,
nice work. my first time reading your recaps, and i love the editorializing you do.
-the government official who is taking away Locke's benefits..... totally realistic! She is EVERY woman i used to work with when i worked at a VA
-did anyone notice Sayid's long manicured fingernails, as he clutched at the childrens' swings he was chained to? didn't know they had time to file and give each other french manicures in the jungle
-when the guard hit sayid in the legs after he told Alex about her mother....
sayid just crumpled to the ground - seems he's come a long way from his days as an iraqi soldier
i'm not ready to call jump the shark yet, but i appreciate your thoughts on the matter. it is eventually pertinent to EVERY show isnt it? but i still like to hang on till the bitter end
20 of 36 | Posted by lovedoctor
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Posted on March 23, 2007 1:20 PM
sooo.... am I the only one who thought that cut on Jack's ear and Tom pointing to his ear and saying "be careful" was pertinent? Maybe I am associating things that don't go together... but I feel like that could be big for Jack.
21 of 36 | Posted by Mallory | Posted on March 23, 2007 3:35 PM
When Locke fell through the window, could he have been the body falling outside when Hurley was having a meeting with his financial advisor in one of the flashbacks? I'm not sure if it fits in with the timeline, but that could be yet another connection between the losties.
22 of 36 | Posted by katybee
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Posted on March 23, 2007 4:25 PM
katybee,
nice connection! creative thinking! i'll be interested to see....
greybishop,
i am totally with you regarding your use of jump the shark. no worries!
i'm still waiting for the creepy reappearance of hurley's girlfriend that psychologist, wonder if she'll show up blair witch style inside the box as well
23 of 36 | Posted by lovedoctor
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Posted on March 23, 2007 5:23 PM
I know that Jack has the tattoo on his left shoulder, but it looked like in this episode he had a new tattoo on the inner left forearm - anyone else see?
Katybee - that was a nice catch - funny if it is true
Lastly, when we saw Locke's father on the Island, my first thought was JUMPED THE SHARK - but we'll see where they are going with this - I think that Locke's dad may be with Ben and the others and they are pretending that his Dad is a prisoner in order to con/control/manipulate Locke.
24 of 36 | Posted by Lestat1966
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Posted on March 23, 2007 10:18 PM
Lestat -
I noticed the tat the first time I watched but forgot to comment on it when doing the 'cap.
It's pretty colourful and fresh looking. Didn't see what it was, but anyone who knows tats will tell you that the underside of your upper arm is one of the MOST painful spots on the human body to get tattooed.
25 of 36 | Posted by Greybishop
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Posted on March 24, 2007 5:45 AM
Nice episode for us former Lost fans to come back into the fold with. Gettin to some serious action here now. I've always admired Terry O'Quinn's characters. He's quite the psycotic actor and fits in real good with our cast here.
26 of 36 | Posted by Fred | Posted on March 24, 2007 7:38 AM
Uh I was thinking that Locke did blow the sub up, but it was serveral feet away from the dock, so he had to swim back to it. Maybe it was just a really long dock, but I thought the explosion was pretty distant.
27 of 36 | Posted by capostat | Posted on March 24, 2007 9:36 AM
Lestat: Unless Ben paid Locke's Dad a lot of money to con Locke, I don't believe that they are working together. Besides, if Ben is "one of the good guys", as he claims, Ben and Locke's Dad could NOT be on the same side....
28 of 36 | Posted by Lady-in-Gray
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Posted on March 24, 2007 10:55 AM
Great recap! I did some Googling about the new brightly colored tattoo & apparently it's always been there. Here's a screencap from the first episode: http://gallery.lost-media.com/albums/ep-caps/season1/1x01-pilot/normal_normal-1x01-209.jpg
Weird.
29 of 36 | Posted by gillian | Posted on March 24, 2007 1:02 PM
fantastic ep, fantastic recap, fantastic new theories to think about. TErry O'Quinn is really one of the best actors on tv. i loved it.
30 of 36 | Posted by Leah3t
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Posted on March 25, 2007 10:28 AM
isthisawkward, thank you! I'm pretty sure Ben was using the "magic box" idea as a METAPHOR. We already kind of knew that very personal things appear to people - it's no big revelation. The producers have already promised that everything on the island can be explained with science or at least pseudo-science. I don't think they pulled Locke's dad/Sawyer OG/Tallahassee Man out of a damn magic wormhole. Now if I'm wrong, and they were lying, and there really is a magical box, the Dharma sharks will be leaping and I will eat my hat.
31 of 36 | Posted by carol | Posted on March 25, 2007 12:06 PM
O'Quinn was an Admiral on JAG, not a commander.
Great recap!
32 of 36 | Posted by Pappy44 | Posted on March 26, 2007 7:39 AM
Where were the cuts on Jack's ear? Is it near his earlobe or the top of his ear? I just rewatched the piano scene a few times & can't see anything & now it's bothering me.
33 of 36 | Posted by gillian
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Posted on March 26, 2007 9:05 PM
It didn't even occur to me to take "magic box" literally. He even introduced it that way, "Imagine you have a magic box..." As a way of trying to describe whatever the island's secret is. I don't think we're getting in to like, Hellraiser territory or anything. It's all good. I like how the stories are coming together lately. And Locke was a lot more Locke-y than he'd been in a long time. I liked it.
Where's my Danielle flashback episode?
34 of 36 | Posted by BucketHead Wendy | Posted on March 27, 2007 9:18 PM
Locke's dad is obviously the original "Sawyer" who was the con man that ruined James Ford's (present day Sawyer) life. Can't wait 'til present day Sawyer sees him. That'll be great!
35 of 36 | Posted by Darth Wader
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Posted on March 29, 2007 7:54 AM
Love this recap and site...just wanted to say, I don't get all the jumped the shark stuff? His dad showing up is no weirder than anything else, no?
36 of 36 | Posted by NiNny | Posted on April 15, 2007 4:28 PM