Join me for another Virgin Diary entry on my favorite stranded castaways. This time I’m taking on the Season 4 finale (“There’s No Place Like Home”) and the first half of Season 5, from Episode 1, “Because You Left,” through Episode 10, “He’s Our You.”
I really liked Daniel Faraday’s comparison that the island is like a record spinning on a turntable that is now skipping. That seems about as good as an explanation as any for the island and its inhabitants travelling through time this season. Quite frankly, they’re making my head spin so much I’m surprised I don’t have a nosebleed yet.
With each episode I watch, it seems like the island and its sequence of events is rapidly – and dangerously – spinning more and more out-of-control. I assume everything that happens is meant to happen even if I can’t fathom it, but it has felt on more than one occasion as if everything is headed on a crash-collision course that results in everyone’s death. I’m just not sure how I feel about this. It’s like witnessing a train wreck and not being able to turn away out of wonderment. Yes, that’s kind of how I feel about watching the rest of Season 5 and the last season. But surely it will all make sense in the end?
The last thing I watched was Sayid shooting 12-year-old Ben Linus in the past! Has Sayid just significantly altered the past course of events or was this all meant to happen? It’s like The Terminator in which the guy has to travel back in time to father the man who sends him back in the first place … which event happened first? It boggles my mind.
I don’t know who I trust anymore. I can’t tell if Charles Widmore or Ben is more villainous and manipulative. They’re both fiendishly clever and power-hungry, that is for sure. I’m hoping Ben ends up being the good guy all along, but I have doubts. I certainly feel more pity for him seeing how horribly his father treated him.
Locke being dead in the casket was a startling image I can’t shake from my mind no matter how hard I try. And yet, there he is walking about and talking on the island after the crash as if nothing had happened. I think it’s funny that my first nickname for Locke was “The Prophet” when I had difficulty keeping track of everyone’s names the first season. Is the island saying, “Sacrifice yourself and I’ll reward you by resurrecting you?”
If Locke died and was brought back to life, was Jack’s father also brought back to life? I keep thinking about the image of his empty casket in Season 1. I thought the island was just using his image to get Jack and Claire to follow last season, but now I’m wondering if he’s been resurrected, as he keeps popping up “to speak for the island.” It feels like maybe he has been the key to everything all along, since so many of the survivors had a connection to him. And what happened to Claire? Is she still alive? I can’t figure it out.
“When” are the second plane crash’s survivors and Sun, Ben and Frank? “When” is Daniel Faraday? “When” are Bernard and Rose and the rest of the original survivors? Did Michael survive the freighter’s explosion like Jin? Why did the island separate everyone into different time frames? Is this a divide-and-conquer tactic? Does the island intend to let any of them survive the final showdown? I’m going to be really disappointed if nobody survives, unless it really did all happen in one person’s mind like I guessed during the first season. I’m left with mostly questions until next time and as an impatient and curious person by nature, it’s driving me crazy! Kudos, show.
WTF Moments (Season 4 Finale & Season 5, 1-10):
Memorable Quotes:
“Lie to them Jack. If you do it half as well as you do it to yourself, they’ll believe you.” – Locke
“It’s a place where miracles happen.” – Locke
“Maybe if you ate more comfort foods, you wouldn’t go around shooting people.” – Hurley to Sayid
“Time travel’s a bitch.” – Sawyer
“This place is death!” – Charlotte
“Jack, I wish you had believed me.” – Locke’s “suicide note”
Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Jul 31, 2012 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
You must have felt a little sympathy for 12-year-old Ben when Sayid shot him, right? By the way, saying Ben is my favorite character doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t evil, or at least a bad guy. His arc by the end of the series is the most satisfying for me.
It sounds like all the time flashes are confusing and disorienting you. I found them charming, clever, and envigorating, like a roller coaster you didn’t know you were on until it was going full speed. The 5th season was by far my favorite one.
And no mention of Sawyer in “LaFleur”? All responsible and good-guy-ish, sporting those glasses? I found his pairing with Juliet one of the most believable and welcome of the series. If you feel the same way, you’ll know by the end of the 5th season finale.
Totally agree about Juliet and Sawyer. Loved them together. Maybe not as much as Penny and Des, but close.
*POST AUTHOR*
See, I didn’t like Sawyer and Juliet together so much but then again, I never really could like Juliet. She was too cold when I was first introduced to her and she played the fence one too many times for my tastes. Ben, on the other hand, is a very multi-dimensional character, so I enjoy seeing what cruel plan he has set in motion from episode to episode. I liked Juliet more in Season 5 and I was sad to see her go, but I just couldn’t bring myself to completely like her…sorry. I liked Sawyer with Kate better. They made the most sense to me. I don’t like Kate with Jack either. I LOVE Des & Penny though!
I meant to mention I did enjoy seeing the Dharma Initiative in its heyday. I agree it was like a roller coaster with so many twists and turns that I never knew what to expect. I loved Sawyer as LaFleur, and I think if anybody should replace Jacob as the island’s protector, it should be Sawyer this last season … that’s just a guess :)