Episode 5.8 "LaFleur" – Initial Thoughts

My wife said this was the "craziest and best episode yet". The jury's still out for me as far as "best ever" goes, but it was a great one. Let's look at the new revelations, starting with the most awesome one:


THE STATUE! THE STATUE! But, of course, it's from the back so we can't see it fully. Ok, so my first thought was that it looked like a girl, and possibly Kate. But if so, what is she holding in both hands? (Click on the pic to enlarge.) Also, it appears she's wearing a crown on her head. Examining the statue further, however, I'd say that the statue is holding an Ankh in each hand, the Egyptian symbol for life – which would make sense a little because we also saw an Ankh this episode on deceased Paul's necklace (possibly a clue from the writers?). To further that theory, there is some speculation on the internet that the statue is of the Egyptian God Horus, who holds an Ankh in most depictions. I think this is very possible. A brief glimpse into Horus's wikipedia page has some striking LOST connections. First, Horus is often connected to the eye, the Eye of Horus being an important Egyptian symbol of power. And Lost loves showing close-ups of eyes. The show started that way, and keeps repeating that motif, memorably so with Jacob's eye flashing on screen during the first scene in Jacob's cabin. Second, Horus is often represented by a Falcon, and on this Wiki page, a green one at that. Remember the Hurley bird from Season 2?

Weird. Also, we've seen hieroglyphics all over the island, including a symbol of a bird not unlike Horus's symbol on his Wiki page. Read up on Lost's heiroglyphics here. Plus, Richard wears a lot of eyeliner, as Sawyer pointed out this episode, and what's more ancient Egyptian than that? So, if the statue is Horus, what does it all mean? Well, I'm not sure, but Horus been considered by some an early, pagan version of Christ. Meaning, he died to save his people – a common theme lately with Locke's resurrection. However, the connections between Horus's story and Jesus's story have apparently been exaggerated Da Vinci Code-style by folks who don't mind fiddling with the truth and are pretty easily debunked. The creators of Lost have often said that the island and the show are all about redemption and getting second chances, so to me this statue suggests that many people have seen the island in that light, even in its ancient times. And maybe some early Egyptians found the island, discovered its redemptive, life-giving powers and built a statue on it. Maybe it goes even beyond redemption... maybe somewhere on the island is the secret to Everlasting Life? Richard seems like good proof to that. Maybe he was one of the first to find it. And now does Locke have Everlasting Life? Lots to speculate here.


NEW DHARMA CHARACTERS: We meet two new doofus-y 70s characters right off the bat in the Dharma Pearl security station. Jerry... and Phil. Their first names suggest a subtle 70s Grateful Dead tribute. (As do the "brownies" their friend Rosie brings.) So, Dharma folks are basically hippies... with lots of guns. Hmm. One small fun easter egg: Rosie is wearing a Geronimo Jackson shirt.


HORACE LIKES BLOWING UP TREES: With Dynamite. Dynamite from The Black Rock perhaps? The Black Rock he pretended not to know about when Sawyer said his crew were looking for it? Also, Horace is okay with wearing his wife's socks if his are all dirty. Which is kinda funny.

DANIEL'S GONE OFF THE DEEP END: They find him whimpering "I'm not gonna tell her." Meaning, we can assume, that he's determined not to tell young Charlotte to leave the island and never come back. I don't like Daniel to be crazy, so hopefully he'll recover soon. Interesting that we didn't see him in the 1977 "Three Years Later" scenes. And, we know at some point he heads to the frozen donkey wheel site in the Orchid (from this Season's opener.) Does he use it to go back in time somehow and start a rogue trip to try to save Charlotte?


BABY CHARLOTTE: Excellent casting, by the way. So, we see Charlotte briefly with what I assume is her mother, speaking in an English accent. Although, Daniel's the only one that sees her, so could it have been a hallucination on his part? Maybe, but I doubt it, I think it was real.


AMY AND HORACE HAVE A BABY: So, first off, I guess I was wrong about Charlotte being Horace's daughter since Amy gave birth to a boy. Who is this boy? I have no idea. At all. Any guesses? But I will say... If Horace is a ladies man, he could still somehow have been Charlotte's dad as well as the mystery boy's dad. We did see him at Ben's birth in Season 3 with a different woman, the teacher Oliva, who lostpedia claims is his wife. Hmm. Maybe they were married or together first, then broke up after having Charlotte? I'm sticking with my original theory. Horace will turn out to be Charlotte's dad, too, somehow. Dharma has commune written all over it.

WAIT, YOU CAN HAVE BABIES ON THE ISLAND IN 1977? Apparently. So, I think that means the babies stopped being able to be born after "The Incident". Which, as I've theorized before, is when someone turns the wheel (Widmore at Ben's prompting?) and causes time skips to start up (reuniting Sun & Locke in the future with the Losties in the past?) To stop the time skips, Dharma builds the Swan Hatch, which fixes the time skips but for some reason prevents babies from being born? Causing the Others to have to kidnap children because they're dying out?

WHERE'S YOUNG BEN?: So, 1974 to 1977. Is Ben on the island yet as a part of Dharma? He was somewhere between 8 and 12 when he joined Dharma with his father in the episode The Man Behind the Curtain. And The Purge, where he killed Dharma folks en masse, didn't happen until 1992, when he looked to be about 35 or so. So if Ben was 8 when he came to the island, and about 35 in 1992, that would mean he came to the island in the 60s and would be there in 1974-1977 with Sawyer and the others. Hmm. And to that point-

IS WIDMORE CURRENTLY LEADING THE OTHERS? Widmore claimed last episode to have led the Others for 30 years before getting conned off the island by Ben. He was 17 when we saw him in Jughead, according to him. And that episode occurred in 1954. So that would mean even if he started leading the Others right after the Jughead episode, 30 years later would be 1984. So, yes, I guess he's there and leading Richard and The Others. Weird.


RICHARD AND SAWYER: Have an interesting conversation. Richard, of course, doesn't know Sawyer because he hasn't met him yet. (Side note: How come Richard always has modern looking clothes on, even in 1954? Except for that one time when he met young Ben, he's always been wearing this outfit.) I liked the way Sawyer handled this – and that we learn Richard DID bury the Jughead bomb. I'm sure we'll see that thing again. My question is... Does Richard know about the island's time travel capabilities? It looks like not. Because he had no idea what Locke was talking about in 1954. And if he had figured it out in the years between Locke's disappearance and Sawyer's arrival he would not have been so confused to meet Sawyer now. So, I think he's protecting the island for other reasons than it's time travel capabilities. Maybe it's resurrection and renewal powers?

SUBMARINE TO TAHITI – I get why Juliet doesn't end up taking the submarine, but what about Miles? Why didn't he ditch the island when he had the chance?

And finally, the shocker of the episode:


SAWYER... AND JULIET? Poor Juliet. Every time she gets something going with a guy, Kate shows up and scowls her way back into their hearts. Maybe next episode will pick up right where this one left off, and Juliet will suddenly yell "I've got your back" from behind Sawyer and shoot Kate before they can embrace. But I doubt it.

One more thing:

WHERE THE HECK ARE ROSE AND BERNARD? I mean, I barely care, but you just can't stop writing about two characters without explaining something about them, even if they are really, really boring. Did they get stuck way back in time somehow, playing backgammon on the beach?

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW: Looks like Sayid shows up and blows everybody's cover. But if he shows up in 1977, what has he been doing the last 3 years? And it looks like Sun is stuck in present time. Will a 70 year old Jin be waiting for her in the Barracks? Or will they find a way to travel in time again, restoring the divided Losties? We'll find out in two weeks, with episode 5.9, entitled "Namaste".