What can you tell from looking at the rear end of a statue? How is this episode different? What's up with people now getting pregnant and living? Why does there seem to be a DHARMA logo for everything these days? And since when was Horace the big DHARMA boss? All this and more, as we delve into 5x08.No random writer this week - your usual simpleton heads it up with surprising ease. At first glance, this episode seemed very character centric as opposed to mythology (though of course a good Lost ep uses both well) - Sawyer moving on from Kate to Juliet, and the whole Horace jealousy theme a shape of things to come. But when actually reviewing now, one almost forgets just how much happened in this ep, and how it is actually quite special. Firstly, it's nice to see a Sawyer centric - it seems to have been a while since we've had one of those (someone said not since Season 3... that can't be right, can it?). But really, the whole notion of 'centric' seems to have gone down the well with this being one of the first clear episodes where there is no "main story, flash to certain event, main story" - the whole "present" of either being three years earlier or three years later was blurred with the opening - "three years earlier" taking place immediately after the episode 316, which one was tempted to call "present time". Now that we're three years later, it does kind of feel like time on the show has had its last nail in the coffin - and we're completely disorientated from now on. Will we get back to 2007 (assuming that is "normal time"... and have I now just contradicted myself by saying there is such a thing as "normal time" anymore)?
Let's start reviewing significant events with the point in time Sawyer and the gang initially went to... way back in time as Miles suggests. I'm guessing it's safe to assume that enormous statue will soon become just a four-toed one at some point in the future? Or is it another statue (I think it's kinda obvious it's not though)? But what do you think about it? Egyptiany? Very tall for a start - some kind of Collossus of Rhodes deal? Except Rhodes held up an arm, and this one seems to be wearing some kind of headgear, and also hands by the sides holding... snakes... weapons... the right hand item looks like the top of an ankh to me (which would fit with Paul's necklace)? And I dunno why... but the left hand item makes me think "gun". Whatever's there... it's at a time when there was the statue, but pre the well - which seemed odd as they commented how old the well was. So that would imply there was the statue time folk who used sandy stone, then another age who used dark stones to build a well, and then the military, and then DHARMA.... Sounds like the Island has just ALWAYS had people there. Let us know your theories.Let's move to the DHARMA Initiative - which is great to see in full swing, and even funner to see that Sawyer has suddenly become the Island expert on DHARMA stations and what not. I didn't like how there was a sheriff logo, and then a maintenance logo - I preferred when the logos evoked mysterious and elusive meaning rather than "spanner means we fix cars". Wish they had a "Spanner" station though - that'd be quite amusing (doesn't really have the same ring as "I'm heading to the Orchid!"). One thing striking though was how Sawyer used his chance to talk to Richard, and how he sort of spread the legend of John Locke. When Richard et al constantly say how Locke is special, is it true or is it just manufactured by a series of events and testimonies? Does it matter either way though... let's just bask in the writers listening to us by mentioning Alpert's eye liner - very cool shout-out to the dieharder fans.
Finishing up, a big deal in this episode was how Amy managed to have her baby on the Island. It was good to see that the writers didn't just gloss over this for us to speculate, Juliet and Sawyer actually said what we were all thinking when they theorised that pregnancies might not be terminal yet. But why isn't it? Does it have anything to do with electromagnetism, radiation, maybe the sickness even? It could be anything, but it sounds like a single event triggers this phenomenon. It'll be interesting to see what changes on the Island.
Will we stay in the 70s permanently now, with flashes over to Locke and his band of new dour Losties (c'mon Caesar, glass half full dude)? Or will the arrival of Jack and co somehow lead to them jumping forward again? What's certain is that sparks are bound to fly... as the old love triangle with a stray Juliet now firmly becomes a love square. Will fists fly? Will Kate be fine with it and just get with Jack? Don't they have bigger issues to be worrying about right now!!!
