Lost Rewatch on VHS: 316

 

VHS Notes: Not as much that wasn’t repeated from last week. The most significant trailer is another ad for a ‘reboot’ of Friday the 13^th that, ironically enough, ended up killing the franchise. There’s also ads for films such as Quarantine and the DVD release of Ridley Scott’s interesting (albeit flawed) Body of Lies. The biggest concentration is on the Oscars which were going to air the following Sunday. Hosted by Hugh Jackman, it was one of the most enjoyable ones both to watch and in presentation in the 21^st century, next to the ones that Steve Martin would host.

 

The episode begins in media res for the only time in Lost’s history and mirrors the opening minutes of the series. In it the inevitable has happened Jack has returned to the island. The episode then flashes back 46 hours earlier (a trick more common to J.J. Abrams’ earlier series Alias) shows us how the Oceanic 6 finally reunited, what was going on in the church and focuses entirely on Jack.

So clearly the place to begin is with Desmond. Yes I know: Henry Ian Cusick is only in the episode for ten minutes (the opening credits aren’t even finished when he storms out) and he disappears for the rest of the series save for two very brief (but critical) flashbacks in the second half of the season. And as we all know Desmond does not get on the plane and does not appear as central to the action until late in the final season. But I think there’s a big argument to looking at what’s happening from Desmond’s perspective.

First, a refresher course on Desmond. In all the Desmond-centric episodes we’ve seen, it’s been clear that he’s always believed in destiny, and it’s almost always led him wrong. He left his fiancée a week before the wedding because he thought it was calling to become a monk and then he was ‘fired’, promptly running into Penny. From that point on, he was sure Penny was his destiny but the disapproval of her father (and perhaps the guidance of Ms. Hawking) led him to think he was unworthy of her. After a stint in the military and possibly military jail, Widmore tried to convince him Penny had moved on and in order to get his honor back, he determined that he would win Widmore’s race around the world. Which led him to the island.

For three years, he was stuck in the Swan pushing a button because he had been told by sources he wasn’t sure of that it had to be done ‘to save the world’. It’s not clear if it was that accurate, but he found out the consequences when he failed to push the button – which led to the crash of Oceanic 815. A few weeks later, the hatch got blown open and he met Jack again. Then the computer was destroyed and he spent time and energy trying to fix it because he was sure if the button wasn’t pushed ‘they were all going to die’. Locke believed him because he believed in destiny and Jack thought it was ridiculous, but Desmond didn’t stick around to find out. He was determined to get off the island as fast as he could.

Except he couldn’t. He ended up back on the island and found out that Locke no longer believed in the button. He decided to help Locke – and then remembered what went wrong. Locke’s crisis of faith led to the destruction of the computer and then Desmond realized he did have a destiny – to blow the dam. Knowing that it would probably kill him, he said his last words: “I love you, Penny” and turned the key.

He spent Season 3 dealing with conflicting destinies. He’d seen that Charlie was going to die and he spent the season trying to save him, even though he knew eventually it would be futile. Then his desire to see Penny led them to the freighter and he believed that rescue was coming. He dove into the Looking Glass to save Charlie one more time, learned that Penny was looking for him – and then had watch Charlie sacrifice himself. The last image of him in Season 3 was acknowledging Charlie’s last words: “Not Penny’s Boat.”

In Season 4 Desmond’s beliefs started to change. He told everybody Charlie’s last word meant the freighter wasn’t safe. But when the time came to choose between hiding and going to the freighter Desmond chose the latter. Furthermore, even knowing the freighter might be dangerous he went with Sayid back to it – and the journey itself nearly killed him. Despite the danger Desmond stayed on it all season. At one point he told Sayid he was never going back to the island. Then rescue came and he was reunited with Penny.

There’s a reason I’m going through everything that Desmond went through the last three seasons and it has to do with the opening scenes of the episode. Jack, Sun and Ben are talking to a woman who says she can lead them back to the island. They follow her down a winding staircase to another Dharma station called the Lamp Post. Eloise Hawking speaks in vague terms about what the island is and how they can find it without actually telling them any details at all.

The old Jack would have been shouting questions at her, calling her ridiculous, saying this is crazy. The only question he asks is whether Ben knew about this and when Ben answers he asks Eloise if she’s telling the truth. (Eloise says he probably isn’t, but like everything else in this episode this doesn’t seem to ruffle her.) Everyone is in a position to get more information then they’re getting and they just gawk.

Now watch Cusick’s face during this sequence. He says nothing either, but it’s not due to lack of surprise, it’s a dawning sensation of increasing horror. Which is completely understandable given the circumstances. He’s come to find Faraday’s mother and he learns that she’s the same woman who convinced him not to marry Penny – and she seems indifferent to his presence. Then he’s climbing down a staircase and sees that goddamn logo again. He opens a door and finds himself in yet another station that, even though it’s on land in 2007, looks exactly like the one on the island and barely looks like its been taken care of any better. You can tell he’s looking for another timer somewhere. Finally he gets another vague message about the importance of the island.

Finally his patience snaps and its magnificent. I can only imagine the indifference Sun shows when she finally asks him what he’s doing here is just as maddening. But that’s nothing for when he tells Hawking why he’s here, that he got a message from her son, that she not anyone else can save them – and she doesn’t seem to even care. Then she tells him: “The island isn’t done with him” which is the last straw.

Desmond directs his speech to Jack, and his tone and behavior are a mirror image to their first meeting in Season 2. Desmond no longer believes in destiny; he thinks it’s all a crock. He tells Jack that everything that is going on ‘is a game and we’re just the pieces. Whatever they tell you to do, just ignore it.” Then he storms out. And everyone just pretends that Desmond wasn’t even there.

What makes this all the more agonizing is, of course, the fact that Desmond is right. Desmond, it’s worth noting, has a greater track record for being right than even Locke does – his faith never wavered about the button even when Locke’s did.  And unlike Locke, Desmond was always willing to put his well-being above that of the group and certainly that of the island. Desmond is wrong about who the major players are in this grand game (though at this point we assume he’s right about that too) but he is right about everyone being just pawns in it. Three years ago, Jack thought Desmond was insane. Now Desmond has every right to believe Jack is.

The interesting thing about Matthew Fox’s performance in 316 is how indifferent Jack seems to be about almost everything. I’m not just talking about Desmond’s reaction, or even his appearance, but his behavior throughout the last thirty-six hours he spends before getting on Ajira 316. It’s not until after he’s left Eloise’s office afterwards that he actually bothers to ask Ben who she is and how she knows anything. Ben answers with a parable, which every time Locke said it drove him crazy and Jack never revisits the question.

There’s a part of me, even now, that Jack thinks that when he gets on the plane he’s going to die. Some part of him hears all this nonsense and just is getting on this plane the same way he’s gotten on so many others for the weeks leading up to this. We already knew Jack wanted to die in Through the Looking Glass, maybe he thinks this is a way of killing himself in a noble cause.

He goes to see his grandfather, who seems to have tried to ‘escape’ from his nursing home. We have no idea of their past relationship (though in their scenes together Jack seems more comfortable with Ray then he ever did with Christian) but I think that Jack is there because he wants to say goodbye to a loved one and he can’t face his mother. He spends most of the episode thinking about getting drunk; then we gets home and finds Kate there, equally despairing and saying she’s going back to the island, he doesn’t ask any questions either. people who loved each other and now they can barely stand to be in each other’s presence.

There’s a similar level of indifference at the airport, not just from Jack but from almost everybody. We don’t know why Sayid is a prisoner or about the woman whose holding him, but he says nothing during the episode. There’s a look of resignation on Andrews’ face on the plane, as if he knows what is happening and is powerless to stop it. Kate is as broken on the plane as before; she doesn’t believe that the five of them being on the same plane means anything and she knows that they’re not ‘together’ any more. Sun has decided to go and see if Jin might be alive, and even though that means she may never see Ji Yeon again, she makes the sacrifice. (We never find out what Sun did in the intervening 36 hours and that’s the first domino in Sun’s increasing irrelevance to Season 5.)

The only one of the survivors who genuinely seems to still give a damn is Hurley. We don’t know yet how he managed to go from someone determined not to go back to the island to getting on the plane but he doesn’t seem shocked (or for that matter, thrilled) to see Jack again. He’s also appalled that Ben showed up (understandably) but when Ben asked, “Who told you to come?” Hurley for once keeps his mouth shut. And it’s worth noting he’s still the same old Hugo. He buys up the last 78 available seats and makes it very clear no one else is getting on this plane who doesn’t have too.

Much has been said that when Jack asks Ben about what will happen to the rest of the people on the plane, Ben looks surprised and says: “Who cares?” I’d like to remind you Jack has been flying planes for weeks, hoping for a crash ‘not caring what happens to anyone else on board’, according to his own words. It’s only when it’s too late for all the other passengers that he bothers to ask at all.

Indeed the only time that Jack really gets upset or angry all the way up until he gets on the plane is when he is told they have to bring Locke back and that he has to put something of his father’s with him. That this is the bridge too far for him probably has more to do with his old antagonism to Locke than anything else. Ever since Through the Looking Glass we’ve gotten the sense that Jack has finally come around to Locke’s way of thinking about everything but he still can’t let go of the rage he held towards Locke for four and a half seasons. The scene in which he stands over Locke’s grave tying his father’s shoes on it shows that Jack can’t bring himself, even after John’s death, to admit that Locke’s been right all along. He’s spent the entire episode trying to avoid Locke’s suicide note, and it’s likely because he’s tired of listening to him. And then of course Jack does read it and it’s message is simple: “I wish you had believed me.” The look on Matthew Fox’s face is brilliant. Jack had another argument with John – while Locke was in his coffin – and John still got in the last word.

The only person who can speak honestly about what’s going on is Frank. As the flight takes off, Jack hears Frank’s voice over the intercom and goes up to speak with him. Frank comes out, clean shaven and with a haircut, and then looks over the seats. Jeff Fahey is wonderful as the look on his face becomes frozen and he utters the immortal words: “We’re not going to Guam, are we?” You honestly wonder if the moment he got back in the cockpit he got on the horn and demanded to reroute back to LAX. It might have been the smart play.

I know I haven’t said a lot about Ben in this episode but honestly we spent much of it wondering what happened after he left the church. The moment he saw Desmond he knew that Penny had to be close behind. And we knew what he meant when he said he was ‘keeping a promise to an old friend’. But whatever happened clearly didn’t go according to plan because he’s calling Jack frantically, soaking wet, covered in blood and in pain. When he manages to make the flight, his arm is in a cast and his face is clearly bruised. Instantly we are terrified because we know that there is an excellent chance that the Desmond-Penny love story might have ended abruptly before he got on the plane.

We also know that we may not find out what happened to them for a while, maybe not even this season. Because near the end of the episode, Ajira begins to experience turbulence. In the shots of the Oceanics Jack’s face is the only one who looks happy: which in itself is frightening.

Then we get back to the beginning: Jack awakening in the jungle, pulling people out of precarious situations. But there’s no sign that a crash happened this time. Jack, Kate and Hurley woke up in the jungle. There’s no sign of Sayid, Sun or Ben. Jack is trying to figure out what to do next – and then a Dharma van pulls up with an A-Track playing. We see the driver get out and cock a rifle at them. All of them look up -  and we’re as stunned as they are. They’re surprised because they all thought he was dead. We’re stunned because he’s the last person we ever thought would wear a Dharma jumpsuit.

 It looks like those left behind aren’t the only one who’ve done the time warp.