5.6 316

Summary and Spoilers

Eloise Hawking brings the survivors into a secret subterranean room where a huge pendulum swings back and forth over a floor map of the earth. For some reason, I kept expected to see Homer Simpson suddenly appear on that pendulum, swinging and shouting, "Woo hoo!". This doesn’t happen; instead, Eloise explains that the room is a Dharma station called The Lamp Post. At least, that’s what it sounds like she says. Dharma created it to pinpoint the location of the island, which moves through time and is connected to other electromagnetic time portals.

Desmond delivers his message from Daniel, then storms from the room. Eloise says the island is not done with him, but he says he is done with the island.

Eloise has modified her stringent conditions that all survivors must return to the island. Now she says that if they all do not attempt the return, the results could be unpredictable. She says that if they get on flight 316 leaving for Guam in a few hours, they will get back to the island.

Finally, Eloise takes Jack aside and tells him he must give something belonging to his father to Locke. She gives him an envelope containing Locke’s suicide note. Jack doesn’t open the envelope.

After meeting with Eloise, Jack returns to his apartment and finds Kate in his bed. She has agreed to go back to the island, but refuses to answer any questions about Aaron, and makes Jack promise never to ask. This seems like a bad way to start a relationship – with an important question that must never be asked or answered – but maybe they are not starting a relationship – maybe it is just an elaborate one-night stand.

Jack gets a call from a nursing home where his grandfather has made his fourth attempt to escape. It’s only a brief visit, but a fateful one – his grandfather had packed a pair of Jack’s father’s shoes in his bag. Jack identifies them and takes them back with him.

Ben, badly beaten up after a visit to someone he said was an old friend, rings Jack to ask him to pick up Locke’s coffin and bring it to the airport. Jack takes this opportunity to puts his dad’s shoes on Locke, and to slip the unread suicide note into the coffin. Like a bad penny, it turns up again when airport personnel find it during a routine scan of the coffin. Finally, Jack reads it on the plane – its one line reads, "I wish you had believed me."

It seems unlikely that Sayid or Hurley will make the flight, but they both magically show up at the airport. A mystery surrounds how either of them found out about the flight.

Fittingly, the pilot of the plane is Frank Lapidus – who better to take them into the time portal. Sure enough, turbulence increases, there is a white out, and Jack wakes up much like he did on his first trip to the island – face up in a grove of bamboo trees, with a camera trained on his eye. He rushes to calls for help and rescues the drowning Hurley and his guitar case from a pool beneath a waterfall. Along the shore, Kate opens her eyes – she’s okay. Before they have a chance to look for the others, the Dharma van drives up, and Jin emerges, rifle drawn. Jack says his name, and there is a glimmer of recognition on Jin’s face – but the rifle isn’t lowered.

Comments

If you love  Jack, you’ll love this episode – he’s in every scene!

After a slow start to season five, the last two episodes of Lost have returned strongly, reaching entertainment levels that approach those of the first two seasons. Aside from too much exposition from Mrs. Eloise, everything else about the episode clicks.

Jin arrives in a Dharma van that looks to be brand new. Does this mean that we have arrived in an earlier time period, and has Jin been stuck here long enough to get a job with Dharma?

What has caused Kate to do such a stunning reversal regarding Aaron? One moment, she was fiercely protective of him, and she had no intention of going back to the island. The next moment, she has ditched him, and she is going back to the island.

This is one of the rare episodes that was shown out of original order. Originally, the next episode (The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham) was supposed to be shown before this one.

Memorable Moments

·          Jack’s almost-happy expression at finding out he is back on the island amid the bamboo

Nits

The scene where Jack find Hurley and Kate at the waterfall is shown twice, and the second time, what Kate says is different. Was this a simple continuity error, or are the creators inferring that the scene actually did happen twice, and Jack is caught in a time loop?

Quotable Quotes

Jack: Did you know about this place?
Ben: No, No, I didn't.
Jack: Is he telling the truth?
Eloise: Probably not.

Ben: Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably be murdered there, Thomas said to the others, "Let us also go, that we might die with him." But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later... when he refused to acknowledge the resurrection. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. The story goes... that he needed to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced.
Jack: So was he?
Ben: Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack.

Jack And the other people on this plane - what's gonna happen to them?
Ben: Who cares?