Lost: A Tale of Two Packages

By Dan Birlew | Posted March 31, 2010 in Television | Comments Off

Again, please forgive the lateness of this post. Not that everyone’s standing around waiting on it, but still. With V returning to prime time right after Lost and Justified burning a hole in my DVR hard drive, Tuesday night is just too darn busy for blogging.

You’ll also forgive me if I don’t recount the show on a scene-by-scene basis. Last night’s episode wasn’t terribly complex in the plotting anyhow. “The Package” actually involved two very simple stories set in two mirror-image universes. What was really important were the small nuances and bits of throwaway dialog that might evade a lazy viewing of the show, so that’s what I’d like to focus on.

In the Island universe, Sun has become fed up waiting around for Ilana to help her find Jin. Frustrated, she decided to tear up her old garden, which she planted way back in 2004 soon after Flight 815 crashed on the island. Without three years of care, the tomatoes have all died, and Sun starts tearing up the plants.  This isn’t the first time she’s taken out her frustrations on her garden; she previously tore it up when she couldn’t find her wedding ring in the Season 2 episode “…And Found”. She also had to replant it once when Jin destroyed it following her attempted “kidnapping” by Charlie and Sawyer in another Season 2 ep, “The Whole Truth.” Jack showed us still more of his sudden interest in being a candidate and fancying himself as Jacob’s replacement in trying to share this information with Sun. However, she just didn’t care.

While Sun was still cleaning up her garden, the Locke-ness Monster appeared to Sun, just like Satan appearing to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Hand outstretched as if he meant her to take it, he told her that he had Jin back at his camp and wanted to take her to him. There were two things implied in his statements; he wanted her to take his hand, and he wanted her to go with him right then and there. This mirrors Locke-ness’s attempt to get Kate to take his hand two episodes ago (“Recon”), so I’m thinking there’s more than just symbolism in clasping paws with the Man in Black. Just like Jacob conveyed Richard’s gift with a touch, and obviously imparted some gift through touch to the six candidates (plus Kate) in last season’s finale, I’m thinking that the touch of the Man in Black also has supernatural significance. Only whenever he extends his hand, it’s because he wants something. So when the Man in Black touches you, perhaps he takes something rather than gives. Even if I’m wrong, keep an eye on the touching thing for significance in future episodes.

Desperately running from the Man in Black, Sun banged her head on a tree. Now I don’t know whether there’s an actual medical precedent for a head injury causing someone to forget only one of the two languages they know, but let’s all admit we’ve seen weirder stuff happen on this Island. While her loss of English seems to serve no purpose at the moment, at least it provided an excuse for Jack to bond with Sun again, regain her trust, and… let’s face it, gain her support for his candidacy. That’s not to say that Jack doesn’t like Sun, because I think he’s always considered her a friend. But Jack’s promise to get her and Jin off the Island (in spite of Richard’s plan to blow up the Ajira 316 plane) carries with it the odor of a promise made by someone campaigning for office… a very different kind of “candidate,” I realize, but probably no less relevant.

The Man in Black as Locke returned to his own camp to find everyone covered with tranquilizer darts and Jin missing, taken by Zoe and Widmore’s men over to Hydra Island, where Widmore himself has docked his submarine and set up camp. I have to admit that I share Sawyer’s confusion over why the Man in Black can’t just cross water as smoke. Of course, traveling as smoke wouldn’t allow him to ferry Sayid halfway over to Hydra Island so that that he could jump out of the boat in preparation for his intended submarine infiltration. But Locke’s retort about Sawyer accepting a magic explanation left us in stitches.

One bit of dialog nuance that might slip past some people: when Claire asked the Man in Black as Locke whether Kate was a candidate, he said “Not anymore.” Just a quick, off the cuff remark almost. This may explain why Jacob appeared to Kate as a young girl, but then her name did not appear in the Man in Black’s cave nor the Lighthouse mirror wheel. Obviously it was one of the names that was crossed off, they just didn’t show it to us or her number. So why is Kate no longer a candidate? Well, at first guess, I would think that the way she killed her stepfather-who-turned-out-to-be-her-real-father probably got her demoted. After all, like we discussed in the comments of last week’s post, Jacob is a bit old school in his thinking… as in Old Testament old school. Or maybe it was something more recent. And if she has a chance to make amends for that offence, would that make her a candidate again? We’ll see.

Then came the Man in Black’s arrival on Hydra Island, alone since Sayid had obviously jumped out of the boat during the commercial break to go swim over to Widmore’s sub. I like how he regarded the sonar pylons Widmore set up on the beach with almost comical wryness. I don’t doubt that now that Jacob’s dead, the pylons mean jack squat to the Man in Black. But as he spoke to Widmore he walked along his side of the pylons anyway, as though he wanted Widmore to think that the pylons were keeping him out. But he could just as easily knocked one of those free standing things over and the black smoke would have held sway over all. Watch for something like that to happen in future episodes. Also recognize the nuance in the last thing Locke-ness said to Widmore: “A wise man once said that war was coming to the island. I think it just got here.” The wise man he is quoting is Widmore himself; Widmore said these words to the real John Locke after he moved the Island and zapped himself to Tunisia, where Widmore intercepted him and patched up his broken leg. So just like his adoption of Locke’s catchphrase (“Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”) and his memories of being murdered by Ben (as stated in the season opener “LA X”) we can see that Locke’s personality is in there, somewhere. Now we just have to wonder if he can do anything to override the Man in Black, or if his memories have only been “stolen” for use by the monster.

Widmore returned to the Hydra base to find Jin asking for him by name. Zoe’s team had locked Jin inside Room 23, which we saw previously during the Season 3 episode “Not in Portland.” It’s a kind of brainwashing room used by the Dharma Initiative to test subliminal messages, as Zoe said, but it was also used by the Others to torture “bad” Others, like Alex’s boyfriend Karl. Widmore introduced himself to Jin, though he obviously needed no introduction. Nice touch, giving Sun’s camera to Jin so that he could see pictures of their daughter, Ji-Yeon, whom Sun gave birth to off the Island and Jin has never seen. Widmore explained that he would like to reunite Jin with Sun, but that their reunion would be cut short if that “Thing” ever got off the Island; “Everyone we know and love would simply cease to be.”

Chilling words indeed, because that’s kinda what we’re seeing in the Sideways universe: with the island gone, Widmore is also gone, and so is Penny. That’s why Desmond was seen flying Oceanic Flight 815 without a care in the world, especially not for Penny, who doesn’t exist. You know who else doesn’t seem to exist in this sideways universe? Daniel Faraday, who is Widmore’s son with Eloise Hawking. So what Widmore is saying is probably more about himself than anyone else. Meanwhile the castaways are still around in the Sideways universe, but they’re not with the people they care about like they are in the Island universe. And this could be something Widmore is indicating as well.

This idea was demonstrated in the episode’s Sideways story involving Jin and Sun, who it turns out are not married at all, but having an affair. And because of that, Sun’s gangster father has sent Jin on an errand to the US to give a watch and $25,000 to madcap mercenary Martin Keamy, who without Widmore to work for has obviously settled for the next-vilest person around. The payment Jin was to give Keamy was his own death contract; Keamy was supposed to kill Jin. Thus, Jin ended up being the real “package” to be delivered. When Jin didn’t go to see Keamy immediately, Keamy came calling.

That of course triggered the most telling event of the Sideways story; as Sun prepared herself to answer Keamy’s pounding on the door, she checked herself in a mirror. And like we’ve seen with several other Sideways candidates this season, she saw something there that confused her. In past episodes this season we saw Jack become confused by cuts on his neck and his appendix scar, which happened on the Island. We saw Kate stare in the chop-shop mirror for just a little too long with an odd look on her face. Immediately afterward she had a change of heart and went back for Claire, whom she’d dumped pregnant on the side of the road. We saw Sayid staring at his own reflection in Nadia’s glass front door when he went to visit; although he could have been trying to see inside, it looked more like he was staring at himself. We saw Ben staring into several microwave ovens, both of which had reflective glass doors. An analysis of screen captures from that episode may conclude that he was staring at himself instead of what he was cooking. And of course we watched Sawyer stare at himself in a mirror only briefly before smashing it. Obviously there’s something about reflections in the Sideways universe that “bothers” the protagonists, and so it should also bother us. In my opinion the whole mirror thing is the most telling sign that the Sideways universe is a “false” universe, much like you’d find in a Philip K. Dick novel such as The Man in the High Castle. But unlike that book, it’s starting to seem doubtful that the protagonists will realize they are living in a false universe. I don’t see anyone consulting the I-Ching about it, anyway…

Which brings me full circle back to Widmore’s point. He makes it sound that if the Man in Black is able to leaving the Island, then reality will forever change. As we saw last week, Jacob implied that if the Man in Black were to get free of the Island, then darkness would spread across the world. So in this Sideways universe it’s possible that what we’re seeing is not an alternate timeline where Flight 815 never crashed (the producers have already stated that it’s not) but we’re seeing what life would be like if the Man in Black escapes the Island. So in essence, we’re seeing a kind of false reality epilogue to Lost. What we have to hope is that the events on the Island allow the heroes to prevent the Sideways universe from ever occurring. Keep that in mind as you’re watching each Sideways story.

Yet what bothers me now is how would Widmore know that the Man in Black could change reality so? Perhaps he’ll admit to previously chatting with Jacob on this topic at some later point in the series. Or perhaps it has to do with Desmond, who we saw being taken off the sub in a somewhat brutalized and drugged state at the end of the episode. For those of you who don’t remember, he’s the guy who pushed the button in the Swan Hatch for three years to discharge vast quantities of electromagnetism building up below the station. When he failed to get back to his post in time, the station released a pulse that brought down Flight 815 and started this whole mess. Desmond later time-traveled to an earlier point in his own life, where he tried to change his own future by staying with Penny. He was stopped by Eloise Hawking, Penny’s own mother, who convinced him he couldn’t change his fate. He also time-traveled in Slaughterhouse Five style to 1996, where he set up a phone call with Penny to take place in the present (2004), leading to their eventual reunion. Now Desmond is “the package”  that Widmore has locked up on his boat. Beaten and drugged, it’s unlikely that he’ll do Widmore’s bidding willingly. After all, these guys have history. But the preview for next week’s show makes it seem as though we’ll get a Desmond-centric episode, perhaps explaining how Widmore got a hold of him and what he purpose he and his strange time-traveling abilities may serve in thwarting the Man in Black. It probably has to do with the pockets of electromagnetism that Zoe is looking for; perhaps Widmore thinks that if he gets Desmond close enough to one of these electromagnetic pockets, he can make Desmond time-travel to the past and undo the Man in Black’s killing of Jacob. We’ll see!

Tags: Lost