5x05 This Place is Death Review
Pictured: First Ellie, now an almost exact same promo shot of young Rousseau. Looks like she doesn't change her clothes much over the next sixteen years. Gross.
Another great episode in a brilliant season of suspense and craziness. This episode in particular is a long time coming, with us finally learning a little more about Rousseau and the science team. Furthermore, we see the temple - which we can probably say with confidence is "the temple" we believed to be a DHARMA station that Ben mentioned (and where the Others are now supposedly).
Beginning with Rousseau and the team - connecting the dots was incredibly exciting, and also learning more about "the sickness" Rousseau kept mentioning... not a sickness with physical symptoms like many of us believed... but an infection in the style of horror movies. Very freaky. When we first see Rousseau and Robert standing off, I think we all thought "oh dear, Danielle really WAS crazy, and killed them all in paranoia". But then when she lowered the gun, Robert tried to kill her. And not just her - he was willing to kill off his own unborn children! Did the "infection" come from the Monster? Was the Monster controlling Robert? Is it really just a security system guarding the temple? Did Montand get "the sickness" while in the temple and spread it? Or all three get it at once? Why would that make Robert want to kill a pregnant woman? It's all absolutely insane, and looking forward to hearing your theories. But things do now make sense - such as why Rousseau was trapped in the radio tower by Brennan (as per her distress signal) - Brennan turned evil thanks to the sickness. The one thing that doesn't add up though is in Season 1 episode "Solitary" where Rousseau said about the Others, "it was them. They were the carriers". It opens up an alternative theory that Robert and co weren't actually sick, they were just turned by the Others (to the point of murdering your wife and kid though?!). Or, the Others did give them this "sickness" thing rather than the Monster. Many, many possible confusing explanations out there... but awesome nevertheless!
Now turning the attention to the old architecture featured in this episode. The temple itself - the house of the Monster? If the temple is in the Dark Territory, that would make sense. But the blast door map referencing a number of Cerberus Vent points - which I had always assumed were where the Monster came from... so either there are multiple temples or the blast door map CV points mean something else. Speaking of the temple though, much love to DocArzt and friends who have a translation screencap of those hieroglyphs here! Nothing stands out as amazingly revelationy though, I'm afraid.
Next up is the Orchid and well. I'm glad Sawyer pointed out how going into the Orchid and experiencing a flash could be deadly, and it was good to see it happen on the well (still confused about the whole raft thing not vanishing last week). It was cool to see the white flash come FROM the well though - again pushing the importance of that wheel room being the center of energy on the Island. Hopefully, Locke putting the wheel back on track will correct things on the Island... as I don't think the guys can take many more! (Though we sure can... otherwise we won't see more of the science crew!)
Finally, discussing our dear Losties... who have effectively fallen on the backburner from our minds this week. Sympathy to Charlotte, who could be Annie? Her dying words are about chocolate... and when we first meet Annie in Ben's flashback she's offering him an Apollo bar. It's a stretch of a theory, but one might think Charlotte's mom would make her change her name after they left (though this theory doesn't work when Charlotte is much younger than Ben). Last and I mean last - Ms Hawking, Faraday's mom. Well done to everyone who predicted it. But how does she know how to find the Island? And will she in next's week's ep pull a Joop and suddenly explain every detail about what the Island is? Hmm, the likelihood of that on this show....
30 comments:
Awesome episode, another squeal-with-glee-a-minute affair for me!
In regards to the temple that our Islanders ran into this episode: I'm thinking that it could also be the ruins that Ben's house was built upon in New Otherton. ...but more than likely could be 'The Temple' Alpert and the Others fell back to last season like Nick mentioned... either way I'm freakin' stoked!
I was somewhat disturbed by how Charlotte was killed off - very deus ex machina: suddenly we learn all about her past and she of course dies. Not atypical with how this show operates, though. I don't think, however, that we have necessarily seen her with Dharma in flashbacks, nor is she Annie. The timeline doesnt match up, and it wouldn't signify anything if she was. I still think, however, that the baby we saw with Dr. Pierre Chang/Halliwax/Candle may very well be Miles....
also let us take a moment to wonder *when* our islanders are considering that they jumped to a time BEFORE the well existed. Then again Locke fixed the wheel/moved the Island after the fact so who knows...
Danielle shouted at Jin as she tried to shoot him, "You're a carrier!" She also told Sayid when she first met him that she heard the others whispering in the forest. So what if Danielle meant our time-traveling heroes when she said 'the others', and our castaways mistakenly applied that name to Ben and Ethan's people?
I always felt that our castaways' fear of the 'others' was prejudiced on Danielle's ravings.
i think you are 110% right about annie/charlotte!
There's something wrong with DocArzt's translations of the hieroglyphics. Looking at the guide he used for translating, http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hiero_alpha.html, he appears to be translating the symbols using the words which are meant solely as pronunciation hints. For example, the symbol he translates as "saw" is not that, but according to the table represents "folded cloth", as well as a letter that sounds like 's' as in "saw".
i'm thinkin that ben, richard, jacob and most others are bad (cuz they're possessed by the island demon) and they're super manipulating the oceanics, and widmore and hawking are good...
Well the "sickness" could be the Monster taking control of a body. That would put Robert on a possible par with Christian Shepherd and Yemi Tunde.
In terms of "who else" - the obvious candidate would be Richard Alpert. If the Monster is controlling the dead like the above two examples, it would explain why Richard doesn't age.
However, one should consider what the sickness involves. Does it just make you amok killer, or does it just make you do the Island's bidding? Was there a reason for "Robert" trying to kill Rousseau? Did the Island think she was evil (after its experiences with the Army and the Initiative), or that she'd bring more humans if the science team lived and escaped?
I really don't think Charlotte is Annie for one reason: Ben shot her last season! He knew exactly who she was and he shot her in the chest to kill her. I think he is afraid of who her mother is. He knows Charlotte teamed up with Widmore and is afraid of her motives on the island.
Charlotte can in no way be Annie. Charlotte wasn't born (in 1979) when we meet Annie. Theory: Charlotte is Annie's daughter, which would make Charlotte's father... you guessed it: Ben. Somehow Annie was able to leave the island while Charlotte was still young. That is why Ben wouldn't recognize Charlotte. Annie then apparently moved to England and tried to cover up her Island past... falsifying some records so that Ben's dossier on Charlotte in season four wouldn't reveal her to be his own daughter.
Maybe that's a stretch, but I can see it. I'm not sure how that matters, how it related to the larger mystery of the Island.
Still, one can imagine that whatever happened with Annie really screwed him up good. And the loss of Annie and their daughter led to his kidnapping of Alex.
Other theory: the church in which Eloise Hawking operates in L.A. is a Dharma station.
Another idea: when Locke turns the wheel, WHEN are Sawyer and company? Will they be stuck in the past for a time? (Is that why Faraday is scene during the construction of the Orchid station?)
So many questions...
Motive behind killing Rousseau: she was pregnant.
Due to the age I agre, Charlotte is too young to be Annie. She was probably a very very young girl.. probably around 2 or 3? She doesn't seem that much older than Miles, and he was an infant.
So the Others had latin and (because of Chang -- assuming he was Korean and not Chinese?) the Dharma Initiative had Korean?
Brian - well, when Ben last visited Hawking she had an old computer in the backroom much like the one in the Hatch that Michael used and that Desmond punched numbers into.
Nickb123 - about the kayak from last week - anything the time travellers appear to be touching, holding etc. seems to travel with them. The rope from the well for example, or the compass that Richard gave to Locke. Therefore it's possible that the kayak (and the paddles) could time travel as well.
I think every time something not in the correct time course make the Island to try to correct to the correct course, since there were some things that happened that make the light to appear more often.
rousseau isnt sick like the rest b/c shes preggers.. the island treats preggers ppl special... the sickness - could it be time flash related? maybe they're all flashing and getting paranoid... but rousseau is protected b/c shes preggers...i guess w/o nosebleeds we cant know... its possible they are in a lord of the flies style paranoid delusion... her clarity is due to her hormones?
Rousseau isn't sick because she didn't follow the others into the monster's hole
My theory is the monster is jacob. He can take control of people (even those dead to do his work-jacks dad, perhaps Claire). they no longer age once under his control (alpert). and it can be summoned by ben in times of need in its monster form. (when ben used it to kill the mercs after they shot his daughter)
I agree with MerLud 100%. Charlotte should've spoken up earlier than right b4 her death, tho i accept it b/c the writers still have so much to explain on this show - its like "we gotta get some of it out anyway we can."
I also think the annie / charlotte thing is a "red herring." it would have no significant impact on the show. with this season, we have officially moved on from the character's individual importance to the overall show's mythology and the character's importance in it. Charlotte obviously aint that important because she died all wack and un-meaningful-like. If you're like me, and are trying to figure out as many important answers as you can before season 6, let's move on from charlotte and focus on this whole "Widmore used to be an Other" thing.
1.I have the crazy idea that mrs. Hawking is Widmore's sister(she talks to her on the island and about her at Desmond as she was his sister)..!
2. I actually think that Miles IS Marvin Candle's son..!
3. Sharlotte's mind after all these flashes was so confused that she actually lived her memories(that's why every time she asked Faraday who he was and when he insist in then she understand that what she was seeing was just a memory)..anyway,right before her death her mind was so confused that she saw one of her memories while she was on the island and she remembered her past and seeing the same man that she is seeing in the present(Faraday) remind her that he had told her to go off the island.
4. Ben works for himself ONLY. he wants always to be the leader and he wants thiw island for himself. But..if something isn't right he will help other people(if that doesn't get him off the leadership.)I was sure that he is so dark person because of his father but it could be and because something happened between him and Annie.
5. Widmore wants the islnad for himself(really?).I think that something happened between him and Ben and Richard that make him to beleive that he was chosen and not Ben to be a leader.
6. Richard is only picking up a leader for the "Others". I can't understand it,why he do EVERYTHING Jacob wants?
7. I think Jacob (as he spoke to Locke-HEEELP MEEE--)spoke to the french and make them actually think that his ideas were theirs..But why Jacob wants Danielle and Alex dead?Anyway, it seems that Smokey is the dog that guards the Temple, an automatic machine that protects the Temple, Ben must do something to make Smokey kill someone else far from the Temple..I think Jacob can actually see with the eyes of Smokey but he only can stop Smokey if he wants alive the man that Smokey is after.
8. I think that Ben and Widmore played a little game which had some rules(they won't kill each other and eagh other's families--Alex)or they want each other alive to be the other man's constant..
I am sorry for my english if it is some wrong,i LOVE this show,thanks from Greece..!
I don't get why the raft is confusing. (I assume that by "raft" you meant the outrigger canoes they were in last week.) They explained that a long time ago. Anything they had with them at the time of the flash goes with them as well.
Charlotte is much too young to be Annie. She's a good 10 years younger than Ben.
We didn't see nearly enough to learn what the "sickness" was that Danielle thought had taken over her friends.
I'm not sure why some are jumping to the conclusion the smoke monster made them sick- Smokey's shown very little interest in anything but pummeling people to death.
It's possible that Rousseau thought they were sick because they were spouting things about the island and what they'd seen that she considered "crazy." So she does what she feels she has to do - and Robert, though he really does love her and doesn't want her or their baby dead, wants to live too! So he does what he feels he has to do.
It was interesting how they presented the French group's story - but though we get to see events that have been foretold unfold, we don't get any clearer explanation for them and that seems a little cheap to me!
Both the story of the French troupe and Charlotte's death were rushed because of the limited number of epiodes they have in which to get things done. As much as the "cap" has been called a good thing, I think we just watched the downside.
You all seem to be assuming that Charlotte is dead as opposed to in a coma like Theresa. What am I missing? It seems to me that the character of Charlotte is too important for them to kill her off.
I don't think we have seen the end of the island time travelling. Obviously Faraday has to, at some point, met the young Charlotte and tell her not to come back, which has not happened yet. Plus the producers said that we would hear more about the Black Rock, and I can only imagine that we will find out about that by flashing back to that time period.
Israel:
I was under the impression that the well still existed (after all, the bottom part of it was still there, otherwise Locke would have been buried in dirt rather than falling in open air), it just was filled in at the top. Thus I put them at the time of the DI, which would make sense since we saw Farraday snooping around the DI Orchid in episode 1 this year.
Now, who filled in the well, DI or the Others (attempting to hide it from the DI when they arrived on the island), is a question that I would like the answer to.
What about the young Charlotte who was the "daughter" of Claire's Australian psychic in Season 2? The "resurrected" girl who talked to Eko at the airport. Could her mother be Annie who has moved off the island, changed her name and remarried? Maybe Charlotte Lewis will resurrect too.
You do bring up a good point of the well existing and that the DI or Others covered it up. Poor Locke has to be in some kind of well-esque compartment!
Also remember that Locke moved the Island one more time (after the time-jump that eliminated the top of the well) by putting the wheel back on it axis; I totally agree with the idea that they are now effectively in the time of DHARMA though. Good watching out!
How did Faraday get back in time when the doc had to leave his dharma inititive. I think it was 5-2 or 2. I dont remeber how he even was down there. they dont explain that. And how did they find the arch if it was blocked by the wall. Dont you remember the guy that was taken out from a nose bleed just like the time travler's. I think that jacob is locke in body form. Maybe locke was the old ship cap. I think The island makes those who bleed as a warning to let them know that they are going to die. It takes out the least important ppl first.
Maybe Alpert is the captian of the old ship. Isnt that weird that it is a wheel they turn. It kinda looks like a ship wheel. Maybe it is the fountian of youth and alpert is just throwing everyone for a loop just to keep it safe.. just some Idea's
I loved your review, good first attempt. I really think the reason they didnt speak to each other on the plane is since they were re-creating flight 815 and they didnt know each other then, they shouldnt know each other for this flight.........cant wait for tonight's episode.
The question is, who told Sayid to go the plane? It is pretty obvious that Hurley got there because Charlie told him, since he brought a guitar too.
Brian - I think Charlotte could be Annie for the reason that obviously time passes at a different pace on the island as it does in the rest of the world. Especially in light of recent episodes we know that time seems to travel much slower on the island. Three years have passed for the Oceanic 6 while almost no time has passed for the survivors still leftover on the island. If Charlotte/Annie left the island when she was a child and Ben stayed the entire time it would make sense that she would have aged much faster than he did. I don't know if they necessarily are the same person, but it makes sense and I do think it is possible.
Post a Comment