5.5 “This Place Is Death”
Danielle looks a little frazzled there. Courtesy the AV Club.
This season is starting to strike a sentimental chord in the typically heartless hollow of my chest, and I kind of like the way it sounds.
First of all, it’s about time us loyal Losties—who’ve toiled through countless unsolved head-scratchers and mind-bogglers, not to mention Seasons 2 and 3—were rewarded for our on-going efforts. Take Danielle Rousseau and her French crew, for instance. It was so utterly satisfying (surprise!) to see how her arrival on the island played out, an event much alluded to in the past but never fully clarified (and there are still some holes to fill… which is not so much of a surprise). And as the Lost numbers continued looping on the transmitter, I even started feeling nostalgic for the series pilot. Having just shipwrecked on the island, they are also about to encounter the same thing that terrorized the survivors of the Oceanic 815 plane crash: a warm island welcome from the smoky monster! The eerily poetic beauty of it all almost brought actual tears to my eyes. (And the best part about it is that we’ve grown so accustomed to the monster’s bizarre and murderous ways, it’s not even scary anymore; rather, we regard it with the same semi-affectionate resignation we might bestow upon a misbehaving puppy with an incurable habit of chewing on our shoes.)
And the fact that Jin may be The Reason why Danielle was the only one uninfected by the mysterious sickness (which is contracted from rubbing around in the dirt of the monster’s Temple lair, presumably)—beautiful. I love it.
Now, while some Lost moments are truly “holy WHAT”-worthy, others simply elicit a half-exasperated, half-impressed “well duh, should’ve seen that one coming” roll of the eyes. The strange man from Charlotte’s childhood memory warning her not to turn to the island, for instance, screams Daniel shenanigans before her mouth even forms around the words “I think it was you!” And Eloise Hawking, Ben’s church-lurking “God help us all” friend who supposedly holds all the secrets to relocating the island, is so obviously Faraday’s mum from the moment you realize that Ben, Jack, Sun, and Desmond are all on their respective journeys to meet one mysterious lady in Los Angeles. (Coincidence? I think not!) Also, totally suspiciousthat physicist Daniel Faraday shares the same last name as real-life physicist Michael Faraday, and now Eloise Hawking may prove to be the yin to Stephen Hawking’s yang. I’m just stating the obvious here.
Anyway. Since Charlotte is just now remembering this (Coincidence? Must I repeat that there is no such thing as Coincidence on Lost?), I’m anticipating the actual visit from Faraday to take place sometime within the next two episodes. But now that the flashes are becoming more frequent, not to mention poorly-timed, how are they going to manage to get anything done? Especially now that they seem to suspect Locke is buried under yards of compact dirt (when really he is turning the Orchid wheel as per Christian Shepherd’s request, perhaps righting the wrong of letting Ben mess up the axis? Sigh… never send anyone else to do a Locke’s job…), who’s going to serve as their newly appointed Leader of the Faith?
You know what else I’m anticipating? Hurley! I’ve missed that guy.
Until then, chew on this
Why didn’t Jin’s nose start bleeding at the same time as Sawyer’s? Does that even mean anything?
Is somebody else—Miles, or Faraday even—going to shuffle off this mortal coil before Locke can do what he’s supposed to do, which is apparently also die?
When Danielle and Jin crossed paths in previous seasons, why didn’t they remember meeting each other before (that is, later)? Unfortunately, I am fresh out of brain-rattling explanations for the day.
Is Sun planning play dates with Aaron and her daughter? For some reason the implication of her phone call really creeped me out.
And the way Ben looked (creepy, per usual) as he told Sun (creepily, per usual) that perhaps Locke just aw shucks didn’t get the chance to tell her Jin is still alive? Insidious to the extreme! I’m 99% positive he had a hand in Locke/Jeremy Bentham’s “suicide.” But that 1% is still open to other possibilities. Got any?
I’m sure we have not seen the last of baby-faced Danielle. Will we learn more about the sickness and its symptoms (other than, you know, trying to kill her) anytime soon? You can bet on it. Not saying you should. But you may certainly feel free.
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