Ab Aeterno “A Very Long Time Ago, or the Beginning of Time"(Lost episode 6.09) Recap and Analysis

A long time coming, and as many fans have theorized Richard is indeed from the Black Rock, and we have more information on the Black Rock, probably all we will ever get also,with only 7 episodes left until the Lost finale.

 Tuesday’s episode answered Richards back story, and added to the aspects of game play within the show. Man in Black / Smokey, and Jacob were making their play for Richard and Jacob won giving MIB the white rock.

 No flash sideways, very little island time – mostly Richards flashback

 Ab Aeterno

Opens with Jacob visiting Illana in the hospital telling her she needs to protect six people that are candidates to replace Jacob. He mentions this is what she has been preparing for and it seems to be very upsetting to her. The scene picks up later after Illana is healing in mid conversation. Jacob then tells her she needs to ask Richard (Ricardos) what to do next after they are at the Temple.

When she asks him this on island as they are all sitting around the campfire, he goes a bit crazy laughing about how he doesn’t know what to do next, and tells them they are all dead, and this isn’t an island, that they are in hell. “This isn’t what you think it is, we are not on an island we never were” He believes Jacob is telling lies and it’s time to go listen to somewhere else, so he marches off into the jungle to find FLocke. Illana wants to go off after him because she believes he does know because I guess Jacob would never lie to her.

Suddenly Sun has all the answers? Sun fills Jack in that Richard is going off to talk to Locke, who is not exactly Locke as Ben points out.

  

Picture it Tenerife the Canary Islands, 1867

Richard riding on a horse back to his “house” to his wife Isabella who appears to have consumption / TB. He rides off to the wealthy ignorant doctors house who would not go help but would give him medicine for a price ( which Richard just didn’t have enough) Richard offers to help work off the debt, but this guy could care less (must be a republican) and in a heated moment and minor scrabble, Richard kills the guy by accident. Once he returns home his wife is already dead and he is taken to prison moments later.

The priest who visits him can not absolve him of this mistake, and says only penance will help which he cannot do since “he doesn’t have time to do anything” since they are about to hang him. Richard is reading the bible, Luke, 4 37 ( which is about Jesus asking a demon to come out of a man, and the demon does without harming the man, the reports of Jesus spread throughout the land) Richard though is teaching himself English and lets the guy know he and his wife wanted to travel to the new world. Mr. Whitfield comes as a representative of Magnos Hanso and purchases him from the priest.

Through a rainstorm much like the one Rousseau’s crew experienced when they crashed on the island, the black Rock was hurled onto the island breaking apart the statue and crashing about a mile into the jungle. The mystery of why the ship was in the middle of the jungle now solved. Before the crash one of the slaves below deck believed the statue was the devil seeing it all ominous off in the distance, and it was guarding the island. Interesting since we originally were told Smokie was the security system of the island, and has also been referred to as evil incarnate by Dogen.

The crew awakens to discover most including the Capitan are all dead. Then things get even better for Richard when those not dead were slain by Whitfield, because he fears its kill or be killed, “if I freed you it would only be a matter of time before you killed me” due to being shipwrecked with no supplies or fresh water. Smokey comes in and takes out the remaining crew and Whitfield before he gets to kill Richard, whom he must of found interesting, took some photos of him as usual and was gone. Maybe he took pity on because he was also trapped, or he figured he would be a candidate for the game him and Jacob are playing. Hard to say what are the intentions of a pillar of black smoke.

Richards Life Sucks the Big one, Should Make you Feel Better about Yours

 All of this must be weird enough for Richard whose life just went into the shitter before he wound up there, with the death of his wife, going to prison and about to be executed to be saved by being sold into slavery, now they crash which he survived, next he is about to be killed, but is spared four times now, I guess when your destined to live, your destined to live. He survives trying to get himself free from his chains, he can’t reach the water that is pouring in the ship, and if being around a bunch of dead bodies isn’t bad enough, here comes a boar to come eat some of his fellow traveling companions all while he is trying to loosen the nails from his chains.

He is first visited by his dead wife who believes they are in hell, saying she has seen the devil and when she looked into his eyes all she saw evil. While she is trying to free him, we hear Smokey coming, so thoughts on her being Smokey kind of evaporate. We hear here scream and Smokey leaves so Richard gets to lose her all over again.

I Fell into a Burning Ring of Fire..and now I am Just the Smoke from the Fire

 Sometime later the man in black(MIB) appears with some water and he has been here (in hell) and that he has been there a long time. He also says he doesn’t know where Richard’s wife went and believes “he has her now”. The Man in Black tries to strike a deal with Richard, he frees him and just asks for the small favor of killing the devil in return, since this is the only way to get out of hell. This will also allow him to be with his wife again. He warns him to not let the devil speak or it will already be too late, since he is very convincing. Very reminiscent to what Dogen told Sayid in Sundown about the man in black, with the same looking dagger.

 Richard is confused how a dagger could kill some black smoke, then MIB confesses he is the black smoke, and Isabella was not running from him, but from “him”. He couldn’t do anything to stop him, and he interrupts Richard to tell him he is not the only one who lost something. The devil betrayed him and took his body, his humanity. Of course it doesn’t dawn on Richard why this guy would want him to go kill the devil, why didn’t he do it after all, or why not go with him. What is he really concerned about his welfare?

“Still Think Your Dead!”

 Jacob though jumped Richard once he saw him and the poor guy was still very confused and believed he was dead and was in hell and he is just looking for his dead wife. Which Jacob tells him that it wasn’t his wife he saw. Jacob proved to him by trying to drown him in the ocean he was not dead.

 He also tells him about his own rules on visitors.No one comes inside the foot of the statue unless he invites them in. He says he is not the devil but is the one who brought the ship to the island. Sure he wants to prove the MIB wrong, but why?

 One of the most important moments of the show happens when Jacob explains to Richard a little bit about where they are. Explaining that evil is like the wine in the bottle swirling around and the island is like a cork that is holding hell, darkness unable to get out because it would spread. Cork is the only way to keep the darkness where it belongs.

 He goes on to explain that the man he met believes people are corruptible because it is in their very nature to sin. Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong. He says everyone there gets a fresh start, their past doesn’t matter. When he finds out everyone before him has died Richard asks "well, if you brought them here why didn’t you help them?" Jacob wants them to help themselves if he intervenes then they don’t learn anything, knowing the difference between right and wrong is meaningless if he has to step in. When Jacob asks Richard why he thinks he should step in, Richard points out if he doesn’t MIB will…and thus seals the deal on the job. Jacob gives a look like, “well I never thought about that.” Richard can be the intermediary to people he brings to the island, his representative.

  

Jacob Cannot Bring the Dead Back to Life on Request, he can not Absolve Anyone of their Sins, but Eternal life? Gotcha Covered!!

Jacob gives Richard a white rock to return to the Johnny cash,i mean Man in black(lol) I imagine as a token of his “win"; in the inside joke of a game they are playing.  MIB’s offer still stands if Richard ever changes his mind, and he gives him the necklace of his wife, that he must have dropped on the ship. Richard buries it and when we get back to our time he is digging it up. It took Richard 140 years to change his mind and admit he was wrong, he starts yelling to get MIB to come out, but only Hurly does. Because Richards wife sent him. She finally after all this time tells him it wasn’t his fault that she died and he has suffered enough. The main reason she found hurly was to tell Richard to not let the MIB leave the island. Otherwise they all go to hell.

Nah Nah I won Richard!!

The episode closed with a flashback of Jacob giving the MIB the bottle of wine for him to “pass the time”. They discuss that MIB wants to leave but Jacob can’t let him while he is alive, and MIB states he will kill anyone who keeps him from leaving. Jacob gloats that MIB got his present of the white rock, and is slightly gloating. Jacob leaves him with the wine and MIB smashes it. (Another way to get the liquid out).

Could be that this moment fueled MIB's plan, it is not fully clear still what these rules are, but it is very clear there is a game going on as we have all noticed with all of the games referenced throughout the show. Answers were given more or less, but the big one of WHY is still elusive.

Questions Answered

• Richard came to the island in 1867 on the Black Rock as a slave
• Jacob gave Richard eternal life in exchange for being his go between
• The island is a cork keeping out the darkness
• The Statue was destroyed by the Black Rock crashing into it 
• Everyone that has been there before then is dead

 New Questions 

•  Why did Isabella think they were in hell, was that even her?
• Who took her, MIB or Jacob?
• Why does Jacob have to prove MIB wrong? Is he playing this game to keep him entertained?

More answers than questions finally! No rabbits to report either for Rabbit Watch, but if I missed something please comment. Overall great episode, alot of game play, alot of repeating of things we have heard. and always I have said, Life is a circle and a circle has no point, thus is Lost.

ReCon (Lost episode 6.08) Recap & Analysis

ReCon (LOST episode 6.08) – Recap & Analysis

Sawyer –centric episode featuring his flash sideways and his current whereabouts. I have to say this episode was ok, but not as exciting as last week even though it was full of action, still with only eight more episodes of Lost left before the final season is over I want to enjoy all I can.

Sawyer is pissed off and banging chicks


Sawyer, excuse me, James Ford in the X universe is now on the other side of law & order, because at one point in his life he knew he had a choice to be cop or a criminal and chose cop. However he is still kind of pissed off. His partner in this X reality is Miles (cute) the flash sideways begins with Jim in bed with a woman and the whole, oops look at all this money you weren’t suppose to see con trick goes down. Only this woman doesn’t buy it and pulls a gun on him, and does not believe him when he tells her he is a cop and they have the room surrounded. So he says his “safe word” La Fleur (nice) and in bounces the cavalry.


His parents are still dead, still conned by Anthony Cooper Locke’s dad, but this time he knows the correct name, and was able to obtain that in Australia. We don’t know how he got the name or if he ran into Frank Duckett, and if he possibly killed him by accident. The bigger mystery though is, what is the deal with Cooper? In Locke’s flash sideways we find out his dad is still in his life, and he even has a photo of them hunting or fishing. So what could be different that makes Cooper still have a relationship with Locke?


Miles fixes Jim up with Charlotte who works with his dad at some museum. Which is nice to know Pierre made it off the island, wonder if he is up to at the “museum”. Charlotte and Sawyer seemed to be an unlikely pair, with their animosity towards each other on the island, and who knows, maybe in some weird twist this is why. After dinner and romp with the love machine, Charlotte looks for a T shirt and stumbles upon his “Sawyer” file, which he promptly freaks out about and tosses her out on her ass at 3 in the morning.

The next day after breaking up with Miles, breaking a mirror and watching some Little House, Jim makes his way back to Charlottes with a sunflower ( must be his flower of choice, since he gave the same type of flower to Juliet before)where she is not forgiving and tells him he had his chance.

Since things didn’t work out with Charlotte he tries to patch things up with Miles by doing something that rarely happens on LOST, telling him the truth and filling him in on what he is hiding. During their heart to heart a car slams into the car they are sitting in and the driver runs away from the scene. Miles and Jim catch the crasher to find out it is Kate where he explains with amused surprise one of his tag lines” son of a bitch”.


On Island



The episode began with no previously on LOST, and we see Sawyer heating some water to bring to a sleeping Jin in Claire’s tent. Jin is a bit freaked out, and tells Sawyer Locke is not Locke and he is not leaving without Sun. Sawyer assures him, they will not do so.



Fake Locke has Sawyer go survey /on a recon mission, where Sawyer does find the plane, a pile of dead bodies, and a chick (who he does not sleep with, yet). As they go walking off to the beach to head back to the main island, Sawyer starts to become suspicious of all her questions and demands to know who she is. Much like his sideways, she whistles and out pops some goons with guns. They take him to their leader which is Widmore and his new shiny sub. There is also a mysterious locked closet on the sub, and the last time there was a mysterious metal object holding something, it was Illana’s trunk with Locke’s dead body. Maybe Widmore finally found Christian’s body, either of them? I do wonder if it is a person though, and probably alive. But if not, then I vote Christian, or closet full of shoes. Widmore and Sawyer have a little sit down and Widmore finds it sad about how little Sawyer actually knows, but doesn’t tell him anything, so I guess he doesn’t feel too bad about it. Sawyer basically tells Widmore what he wants to hear, that he will march Fake Locke to him and they are not to harm his people, and let them leave. He relays the info to Locke when he returns. He is basically working with Locke, but also knows these people need to fight amongst themselves, and Sawyer is ready to go home via the sub when they are all distracted by it.


Our only interaction with Sayid is through Kate when they are taking a rest on a log in the jungle. Sayid is very much in zombie mode, very out of it and when Kate asks him if he is okay, he says “no” in a creepy way. They get interrupted though by creepy Claireso when she tackles Kate and puts a knife to her throat.


Crazy on you, going go crazy, crazy on you


Kate and Claire have a bit of a cat fight, and Fake Locke intervenes before Claire kills Kate by slapping Claire and telling her she is being inappropriate. Kate goes off to cry and Fake Locke goes to talk to her and explains why Claire went all crazy. He acknowledges his accountability and that he needed to give her something to keep her going, so he lied that the others had Aaron, giving her an enemy. Kate should know what this is like, because her enemy has been the others, and was her step-father before she ever got on this island, and also had a lot to do with the circumstances that sent her there, the first time. Fake Locke puts it simply that when Kate told her the truth all that anger, all those feelings, had to go somewhere. Kate pretty much knows at this point, she is not talking to the real Locke, since he was off the island and is a “dead man”. He tells her how his mother was crazy and that it influenced how he turned out, the issues he has had to work through, that he is still working through them, and it didn’t have to be that way. Kate asks him why he is telling her this, and he responds “Because Aaron now has a crazy mother.” Claire and Kate kiss and make up later, and she said she was grateful, though I was waiting for her to grab Kate’s gun off her back.



Fake Locke, A.K.A Man in Black, A.K.A Black Smoke Thing


The more I see of him, the more I notice how determined he is, and how he wants to be free. This week though he reminded me much of real Locke, and I have to say I am still not convinced he is the bad guy. Between his conversation with Kate, the way he handled Claire, he speech to the Others he has displayed wisdom, humility, honesty and deceit, determination, and a sense of order and calmness that just changes how the Black Smoke Thing is perceived. Though I don’t forgive him yet for Eko, at least he forgave Sawyer for his rudeness.

I am also wondering how and if Illana knows he can’t change into anyone else, since he did change into Alex back in Dead is Dead last season? Why could he change then, but not anymore?



Rabbit Watch


Because I have a minor obsession with Watership and Down and its connection with LOST, I decided I will dedicate a small section at the end of my recaps of any Easter egg bunnies. Feel free to leave comments on any you may have picked up that I have missed. Oh and I finally watched the movie Watership down again, still creepy, can’t believe my parents had me watch that as a child.


When Charlotte is looking for a T shirt she picks up the book Watership Down (knew I would see that again) off of the dresser.
At the end of the episode, Kate and Sawyer are sitting by the fire that Kate is cooking rabbit for dinner.



Questions Answered



1. Sawyer is a cop in the flash sideways

2. Miles is also a cop and his partner and has a girlfriend

3. Miles Dad is alive and works at a museum with Charlotte

4. Kate is still running

5. Sawyer is looking for Anthony Cooper, and is still angry



New Questions



1. Who or what is in the closet on the Sub

2. Are those Pylons to kill Smokie/Locke? How does that work?

3. Why is Widmore there?

4. Is Kate innocent of her crime in the X universe?

5. Who is Miles girlfriend?

6. Is Fake Locke trapped or not in that form, if so why?

Dr. Linus (episode 6.07) That is Dr. Linus to you…if you don’t mind, really if that is okay with you.

Dr. Linus (episode 6.07) That is Dr. Linus to you…if you don’t mind, really if that is okay with you.




First of all I just loved this episode, it lived up to the expectations the producers have been placing on LOST all season so far. It did answer questions and it did have a more similar feeling to season one with the roaming through the jungle. (But truly, nothing will be like season one, but season one). It was very reminiscent to Season 3 when any of our lost friends came back from being captured by the others, when Jack, Hurley and Richard came around that familiar hedge of the beach while Sun was fixing her tent.



Back to the start



This was a Ben centric episode and featured his– sideways –flash. Dr. Ben Linus the teacher is much different than the Ben we know on island. He does not share the Machiavellian talents of his island self, he tried too, but he did not have the confidence that Ben Linus on the island has. Much of the episode was set in jungle, the abandon beach camp and Boone Hill, and as a bonus we did get to see the Black Rock again, nice!



Those who can do, those who can’t teach, those who can’t teach, teach Gym



Ben the teacher is very passionate about his job and cares about his students; he has a doctorate in European History and is teaching to High School students. Today’s lesson was about Napoleon and when he was banished to the island of Elba. “He had his title but to be banished with no power he would have been better off dead.” I don’t think the Ben we have known all this time would actually feel this way, since he was banished, and he didn’t wind up dead. Ben in the X universe seems frustrated in the fact that this is all there is, and it never seemed to dawn on him that he could strive to be the principal until Locke mentioned it at lunch. Ben on the island would likely already have become the principal, and thought of some scheme on how to do that. This Ben through the tutoring of his favorite student (who happens to be Alex) came upon some information he could exploit. Ben Linus on the island would have found a way to use this information better to have achieved entirely what he wanted, including getting his Alex into Yale. But this Ben is a bit wet behind the ears, and not so good at it, so when it came down to a choice, he did the right thing. He still got part of what he wanted, he got his club back, and he got to help Alex. Since the principal basically turned around and manipulated him.



The rest of Ben’s life looks also disappointing. He is living with his father who looks ill and is on Oxygen. Their relationship looks much better which is a definite plus, and Roger looks to be less of a douche. Probably the whole dying thing and trying to get in to heaven, but who knows at this point. No sign of any potential Mrs. Ben Linus anywhere. I wonder when was the last time Ben had a date? No indication that he has any kind of love life, or any kind of life outside of school and taking care of his dad. During this we found out Ben is trying to keep his dad healthy by feeding him organic TV dinners, and that they had regrets about leaving the island. Because who knows what Ben would of became. Well, he would not feel that way if he saw what he did become when he was on the island.



Back to the Island



Ilana seemed to have suspicions on how Jacob died and had Miles do his thing on Jacob’s ashes. Where he let Ben’s lie out of the bag. They decide to go back to the main beach camp where the survivors, had survived for those three months years ago, because it is familiar and they could have their backs to the ocean. I imagine Smokey can’t cross the water for some reason. This also puts them near the place they buried Locke, hopefully it will serve some purpose in the future. (No pun intended) Ilana didn’t take the information about Ben killing Jacob too well and eventually had Ben chained and digging his own grave. She was obviously distraught between her job there to protect the candidates, that is not going well; and since she felt Jacob was the closest thing to a father, he was just killed by Ben, not a good day.



Richard wants to go out with a bang



In the Jungle, Hurley and Jack are on their way to the Temple, which Hurly really does not want to head too since Jacob warned him that someone bad is heading there and they should stay far away. But Jack not knowing where else to go decides that is where they should head back. Until Richard shows up from nowhere and tells them everyone there is dead. And he did not see any of their friends so he assumes they made it out. They follow Richard over to the Black Rock in the jungle and he tells us he hasn’t been there since he first arrived on the island. So as many have speculated, Richard is from the Black Rock.



Richard is only going there to blow himself up with the dynamite that was in the ship. He is also fed up with the fact he has devoted all of his life (possibly 200+ years) to service of Jacob, because Jacob told him there was a reason for everything with this and he had a plan. Unfortunately he never told Richard what that plan was, and since he is now dead, Richard feels like he wasted his life and now wants to die since he has no purpose. He confirms for us that he is not a vampire, cyborg, or time traveling and that Jacob made him the way he is, by touching him and giving him some gift, which now feels like a curse. No matter what he does he can’t kill himself (island won’t let him) and this is very similar to what happened to Michael when he was off the island and everything was going wrong. Perhaps this shows some part of “the rules” since Jacob has touched many of our Losties this may explain why they didn’t die when the plane blew apart so high above the island, why so many (Locke, Sawyer, Sayid) have survived gun shots, why Rose is cured of her cancer and any number of other scenarios that did not end in death. Well except for those that it did end for. Jack’s communication skills have improved and with a bit of a gamble he shows Richard that he is special too, and though Richard wanted to blow himself up, he wouldn’t be able to if Jack was there. He explains about the lighthouse and seeing his childhood home, and luckily for Jack the dynamite does not go off.



The Chosen



Locke shows up while Ben was digging his own grave, and Ben was really doing a very terrific job, it was so uniform! Locke lets him know he didn’t want him dead and was returning for him. The relationship between these two has been complex and deep throughout the show. The role of leading and following has changed over a few times, and now even though this Locke is not OUR Locke, he still seems to need Ben for something. He tells Ben he is leaving the island with some other people and of course Ben is the natural choice to take care of the island while he is gone. He does some magic to release Ben from his chains and lets him know he will be at the Hydra station on the other island. Ben escapes, and Ilana fallows in hot pursuit, he could of just done away with her but he had the opportunity to put things right and choose that as opposed to killing, good for him he learned something after all.



But he is the only one that will have me.



Ben’s speech to Ilana was very moving and cry worthy in my opinion. He fully explains his regrets about what he has done with Alex and Jacob, and pretty much that all of his choices were for a man that didn’t care. He also tries to show Ilana he understands the pain she has right now. He didn’t expect her forgiveness because he doesn’t forgive himself. But what proved to me that she is a good person was her response to what he explains too her and that he was going to go to Fake Locke because he is the only one that will have him. The best moment in the episode for me was Ilana’s response “I will have you”. And Ben was surprised and returned back to camp.



They were all reunited at the end of the episode, Jack, Hurly, Sun, Lapidius, Miles, Ilana, Ben and Richard. And while they were hugging or longing for hugs on the beach. (It really looked like Ben and Richard could both use a hug; maybe they should hug each other.) A submarine is approaching with Widmore and crew; I guess he found the island again. I wonder about Widmore’s comments to John Locke last season that he would do everything in his power to prevent John from dying because he needed him on the island or the wrong side would win. Braum mentioned to Miles he was on the wrong side also, which was Widmore’s side. He could have meant that Locke being there was going to help his side win because he is so super awesome, or he could of meant that his mere presence would of allowed his side to win, because Locke really sucks that much. Kind of like having the worst player for a sport being stuck on the opposing team, it’s good for your team. Not saying that as fact, just trying to understand what he meant, and who the hell Widmore really is.



Regrets, I’ve had a few, well on this show too many too mention



One of the things that LOST has always done, is showcase a connection between the island story and the off island story, focusing on an attribute about the character that the episode is centered around. In this show, it was about Ben Linus, his regrets, his choices. This carried over brilliantly to an overall theme of this episode. What would have happened to Frank Lapidius if he flew the plane? I guess he would have been eaten by the smoke monster and someone else would have piloted in Ajiria 316. Roger had regrets about them leaving the island and wondered what would of become of Ben if they stayed on the island (oh just a manipulative mass murderer, who killed his own dad, and chose his power and an island over his daughter) so guess it was for the best…not that they would know that. Richard seemed to regret his choices to the point he wanted to be blown up, well at least he wanted to go out with a bang. Ben though had the biggest of regrets, not just because of what happened to Alex, but for what he did to Jacob. He seemed most regretful to what that did to himself.





Answers given/confirmed

• Richard touched by Jacob gave him this gift

• Richard came from the black rock

• Jacob touches you, you can’t kill yourself

• MIB plans on leaving with people

• there are 6 candidates left ( hurly, kwon, jack, sawyer, Kate, X)

• MIB wants Ben to be in control of the island

• Widmore is the person coming to the island

• Ilana also has daddy issues.



New questions:

• Widmore is coming to the island, how did he find it?

• What wouldn’t we believe about where Richard just came from, when he ran into Jack and Hurley?

• Is Sayid still a candidate or is there someone else since Locke is also dead, leaving 4 names..plus Kate.





So maybe the Flash sideways – could be what happens from the bomb, people leaving the island and never coming there to begin with – a version of what happens when the plane doesn’t wind up there…



OR



Could it be what originally happened, before Jacob intervened…this can explain the connections we have seen throughout the show that seems to make no sense, a few sure, but as many, no way. Makes sense though if they lived in the same town and what not…we get to see their lives, and how they have regrets and wonder what would have happened if they made different choices…Ben staying on the island…which we have seen all along.



If you go to ABC’s site, they plainly state the flash sideways are not a flashback, flash forward (or epilogue to the story) or an alternate timeline and it posits what would of happened if the plane landed in LA. This is false already, since it is not what happened, things are different; the people on the plane aren’t same in both who is physically on it, and how they are as people. It is not as if the plane just landed there and we are taking the story on. I will write up a separate article about this topic.



And one final thought about Jacob and the MIB, maybe they are two halves of the same person (or twins) since Jacob touching someone means they can’t kill themselves. Maybe Locke tossing the rock off the scale as an inside joke was literally an inside joke. Or maybe they couldn’t kill each other because of some Other Code, that has to do with the springs, and this is why Widmore and Ben cannot kill each other either. One thing I do know is this show has consistently shown us the light and dark sides of all of our characters.

Sun Down ( 6.06) The Trouble with Bunnies and Baseballs, Recap and Analysis

Sun Down (episode 6.06) – The trouble with Bunnies and Baseballs – Recap and Analysis




So after watching this episode my sister and I concluded that rather than giant hamsters powering the island, from its underground lair as referenced by Ben in Season 5, that perhaps he was telling a half truth and it is bunnies instead. Sounds crazy, well no more than anything else from this show.



We started thinking bunnies because of the fact that Keamy ( hate that guy) showed up to cook some eggs for Sayid, and his awful grin reminds my sister and I of the teeth of a rabbit. But before I go on about the ridiculous amount of comparisons to bunnies in the show, let’s recap what just happened, or what we think happened.



This was a Sayid centric episode, beginning in the flash sideways with Sayid visiting his brother and kids, and guess what; his brother in this world is married to Nadia, the love of Sayid’s life. Sayid may or may not be working with the CIA. He told his family he was translating documents and this was why he was in Australia for an oil company, maybe so, maybe not. I figure this does make a good cover story, which fits with working for the CIA as he was in the original timeline. One thing we do know is he knew where Nadia was already in this time line, so he was not on the plane to go find her, but he was to go see her.



Omer, Sayid’s unable-to-break-a-chicken’s-neck-brother had gotten into some mafia-style trouble and wanted Sayid to “take care of it” since he was formerly an “interrogator for the republican guard” in this reality. He even mentions that he was trying for the last 12 years to forget it, and he also reminded us again “that he is not that man anymore” He really wants to believe this, but the whole rest of the episode he lives up to being “that kind of man”. He should just stop saying that. The next day Sayid’s brother is taken to the hospital from being stabbed outside his store, while Sayid and Nadia are rushing through the hallways of St. Sebastian hospital, they pass Jack.



I am not 100% certain, but I also thought the scars that Nadia had on her arms previously seemed to not be there. So was she never captured and tortured?



Later on another Omar from Widmore's crew approached Sayid before he was to go pick up the kids and took him to one Martin Keamy at the restaurant we previously had seen Naomi take Miles to prove his talents in season 4. Keamy offers to make Sayid some eggs, denies being involved in the stabbing of his brother and just talks about how his brother owes him some money.



Sayid is one lean, sometimes mean, killing machine



Something sets Sayid off, at the restaurant and just like that, he kills everyone. Next he hears some banging in the refrigerator/ freezer to find a tied up Jin.



Back on the island Sayid and Dogen get into a big kung fu fight after Dogen answers a few of Sayid’s questions, (so I guess if they tell you anything they have to kill you). Because Dogen goes crazy and starts trying to beat the crap out of Sayid only to stop from killing him because his baseball fell to the floor. Which was probably his sons baseball, he tells us later this was how he came to the island. One night after drinking from celebrating he went to pick up his son from his baseball game and caused a car accident. Jacob came to him and told him if he came to the island his son could live, but he would never see him again. I think Dogen didn’t kill him then (this time) because the baseball was a reminder of how he was responsible for the loss of someone else’s life. He then calls Sayid evil and to get the hell out..



Sayid is banished but only for a few minutes, because now Fake Locke and Crazy Claire-so are here and wanting to see Dogen, so Dogen sends Sayid out with a sword and tells him, this monster will show up as someone Sayid knows but is dead and he will have to stab him in the chest before he says anything. And this of course will prove that Sayid really has some goodness in him, and he will somehow I guess be saving the day. Sayid does this and Fake Locke just kind of looks at him with pity, takes the knife out and offers it back to him. Since it didn’t work, he wonders why they sent Sayid out to kill him when it wouldn’t have worked so they must have figured that he would kill Sayid. And since they have already tried to do this three times now but only succeeded once, Sayid believes him and goes to deliver his message. Right afterwards, Dogen and Sayid have a heart to heart about the baseball and Sayid decides to drown Dogen. He finishes off his killing spree with Lennon. Total Sayid killing machine body count for this episode 5.



I think we sympathize with Sayid despite his killer instincts because everyone is manipulating, using or just plain lying to him. Dogen told him to prove how good he is by killing someone who was coming to cause harm, and he attempts to do this. Then FLocke uses him to go back and kill Dogen and Lennon and promises him the one thing that matters to him. Ben used him to go on a killing spree, to eliminate all of “Widmore's people” to protect his friends. The CIA used him to tell on his friend by promising him Nadia, and because his friend killed himself and no one was going to claim his body. Sayid stayed in Sydney and extra day to take care of it, thus winding up on the island to begin with. The way I see it, Sayid is someone you want on your side, he is as loyal as they come. He has willfully given his life for these people he just met to help them find rescue. I think as long as you don’t threaten harm to people he cares about, Sayid is a good guy.



Get the F out of Dodge if you want to live, otherwise Smokey is cleaning house, seems like a fair deal.



Sayid tells everyone that Jacob is dead and that they didn’t have to stay there anymore, and they need to leave the temple before sundown and can leave the island. Otherwise those remaining will die. Most of the others take this pretty seriously and decide to take this offer and get out of dodge. It seems that with Dogen dead, the magical ash isn’t so magical anymore.



Kate has come back right before Sayid meets up with FLocke, and finds out Claire is there in the hole, which was kind of ironic since she left to go find her, but if she just waited, Claire would of come to her. Claire did not look too pleased about Kate raising her boy which really proved Dogen to be right about how she is confused. She genuinely seemed glad to see Kate up until that, and Kate did explain they couldn’t find her, and now she is back to rescue her so she can be with Aaron. Claire didn’t seem too grateful at all, which she should be or the real Claire would be, and then she just laughed that she wasn’t the one that needed rescuing. Kate didn’t get to mention how Claire’s mom has Aaron, and that she is now out of a Coma…might have melted her poisoned heart?



Meet the X Sayid, Same as the other Sayid



Sayid in X is very much the same as Sayid on the island. He is still the tortured torturer, still killing people, still longing for Nadia, only now she is alive and has kids with his brother. This really is just a different kind of hell. Kate was much the same to me in X also, just like she is on the island, it was mostly Jack and Locke that seem different somehow.



The lines of evil and good are still blurred, here in this episode alone Sayid was asked by Dogen to go kill someone to “prove he is good”. And we know, killing isn’t really considered a bad thing on this island as the others have picked off plenty of our crashers over the past seasons. Sayid killing the men that obviously had no regard for any life that tried to kill his brother doesn’t seem bad, or good. Protecting his family is good but killing people who kill seems kind of hypocritical also. We don’t know if FLocke asked Sayid to kill Dogen, but there is a chance he did, which doesn’t make him look so good either. In fact, I have a real problem with both groups being so judgmental as if they are somehow the ones that are right, but if they were, then they wouldn’t need all this trickery, manipulation and well being so judgmental.



Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket



The song originally was something sweet that Claire’s father (Christian) had sung to her when she was a child and it was also the song that played on Aaron’s mobile in his nursery at the Dharma station. But here at the end of the episode it was cryptic with Claire’s crazy sounding voice and slow rhythm of the orchestra, giving it a new and scary meaning. And for the first time in a very long time, it rained. I don’t think we have seen any rain on lost since the time skipping. It never seemed to rain when they were in 1977, and it hasn’t rained since they were back.



As people scatter and panic to get out of the temple, Miles meets Illana for the first time when she beats down a door in a room he was attempting to hide in. Miles is at least reunited with Lapidius. Ben goes off to get Sayid whom was sitting by the spring with the bodies of Lennon and Dogen floating below. Ben tells him it’s still not too late, but and Sayid said it was for him in a creepy way (guess the infection reached his heart- oh yes I guess it did because FLocke brought up Nadia)

Kate tried to get Claire when the smoke monster thundered across the hole Claire was in, across it like a locomotive with people screaming. After the dust cleared, everyone was separated, Kate followed Claire out of the temple and saw FLocke for the first time, he seemed curious on seeing her. As Kate follows them out of the temple and the eerie sound of catch a falling star is playing in the background, she picks up another gun from one of the many dead bodies lying around.



“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and your people will never be destroyed.” – from the book Watership Down



The smoke monster came through and slaughtered whoever was left, and left a mess much like when the dog came in and tore apart the bunnies in Watership Down. Which I loved as a book but as a film scared the crap out of me when I was a child, I still haven’t re-watched it



Sawyer was reading Watership Down, “a book about bunnies”, way back in season one. And it has been referenced in at least 3 different episode. The story is about the exodus of eleven rabbits from their warren because one of the rabbits has a vision that “danger is coming”, they go on a perilous journey full of danger, death, and trickery. During their journey they come across a utopian warren but find out it is a trap full of snares and traps and they would basically just become the farmers dinner.



As far as other references to bunnies we have the time traveling rabbits of Dharma, Ben’s pet rabbit, the rabbit he uses to trick Sawyer when the pretended to put a pacemaker in him that would explode his heart if he got too excited. And Ben also references the rabbits from Mice and Men during this same episode. Just 2 episodes ago, Sawyer pulls a gun on FLocke and brings up the same book, and how it didn’t have a happy ending. The looking glasses Dharma logo was also a rabbit, and truly everyone in this show has been following their own white rabbit off in the jungle and down the rabbit hole.



And the angel of death in Watership Down that is a monster of sorts that kills off the “evil pursuers” and protects the “good rabbits”…it’s a black cloud in the shape of a rabbit.



Coincidence?