On Lost: "Jughead"
The puzzle pieces are coming together. While the introduction of time travel has sent some fans running for the hills, for other fans, time travel has left us on the edge of our seat, biting our fingers in delightful agony as the mystery of the show unfolds before us. Last night's episode that was somewhat ridiculously titled (until we found out why) "Jughead" gave us some major pieces to the "Lost" puzzle. There is a power play between some big titans. And although we knew that this was going on, we didn't have an explanation why. Now we know that Charles Widmore himself was on the island and it's a pretty sure bet that Ms. "Ellie" Hawking was on the island as well. We know that Richard Alpert has "always" been on the island. We know that Daniel Faraday is involved with the supposed enemies in more ways than one. Those that might be hating on the introduction of time travel are missing out on the fact that with the island jumping around we are getting first hand looks as to what happened and what's going to happen. Just like a really good book (i.e. the Harry Potter series) starts to unfold all of its secrets and mysteries and connect them to previous plot points, Lost is doing the same in its second to last season.
I don't know what it is, but I love Desmond-centric stories. I don't know if it's because I am a "Pesmond" (Penny and Desmond) shipper or if it's that maybe Desmond really is the answer to the island's problems. Is Desmond one of the top puzzle pieces that will help explain the big picture that is the story of Lost? Of course, Desmond's story in this episode wasn't the one that had us for each delicious second. The on island story was superb. Daniel Faraday has really stepped up into the leader role for the Losties. In large part, this was done by Jeremy Davies' great performance in the season thus far. Last year, Faraday was the geeky scientist. This year, he is going toe to toe with Richard Alpert and I'm loving every minute of it. You know who else is grown a spine? John Locke. In seasons past, if Richard Alpert had told him that he didn't know who he was, Locke would go find a hatch to pound, scream, and cry at. This time however, he collected himself and went right for the jugular and said, "Jacob sent me" (which by the way is the new password to get into any major dance club and or secret society). Locke is clearly driven in what he has to do, and is not doing it for himself. He is doing it for the island and the people he has been asked to protect and lead.
Questions for discussion:
Charles "Jones" Widmore: This episode featured a lot into Widmore's character. The reveal that "Jones" is actually a young Charles Widmore had jaws across the country on the floor. So now we know for certain that he was on the island and practically know why he wants to return. After all, it seems as though once you leave the island, you'll want to find it again. What was his role there and perhaps more importantly, why did he leave/get banished from the island? We could already see the tension between him and Alpert. Did Widmore break too many necks and get checked off the "good list"?
Ellie=Ms. Hawking?: The young blonde British woman on the 1954-island named Ellie screamed to be theorized as a young Ms. Hawking. Why else would Faraday make the comment, "You look familiar"? With the reveals of Widmore being on the Island in the past and that he presently knows Faraday's mother well enough to know her whereabouts, it seems that the writers are almost just leading us to this theory. And what about Ms. Hawking being in L.A. at the same time that Faraday's mystery mom is? Fans are buzzing that Ms. Hawking is actually Faraday's mom. Is Ellie a young Ms. Hawking?
Widmore/Faraday=Father/Son?: I'm really feeling that Faraday is Widmore's son with Ms. Hawking. He has been involved in Faraday's life and research for quite some time, and it begs to ask the "Are you my daddy?" question. And we all know how much the Lost writers love a good daddy-issue story.
Did Jughead give birth to the Swan Station?: Faraday exclaimed to Ellie that the Others need to bury the bomb and then cover with cement or lead. Remember way back in Season 2 when Sayid stated that the swan hatch had thick walls of concrete not seen since Chernobyl? While I am not certain that this is the cause or reason for the 108-minute countdown clock to hell, it seems like a good candidate.
In short, I loved this episode. It's one of my favorites so far. We are getting answers, which I'm also loving. We had some great Lost discussion going on here last week. Let's bring it again and put these pieces where they need to go.
If you crave even more Lost Talk check out my podcast, "The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack" or on iTunes.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
I can be a good sport and suspend disbelief for all the silliness in Lost, even time travel if I must, but they lose me when Locke is shot in the leg one week and is running around the jungle unfazed by his injury the next. Ditto Jack's appendectomy.
I have to say, I also find the time-traveling island subplot much more interesting than the Oceanic 6. I know they'll tie back in together, but Sayid as a murderer for hire for Ben, Sun taking over her daddy's reigns, Jack more-or-les losing it...a lot of that stuff is leaving me cold. I wasn't overly enthusiastic after the 2-hour premier, but this week's episode stuck the hooks back in me.
The children aspect seems to be coming together. Sun's baby girl, Aaron, Desmond's son, am certain Sawyer's daughter may appear in some future episode. Are these possibly the new generation to permanently live, and breed a new civilization on the island?
My question is, why through the whole series, have we not "met" Sayid's parents? Possibility that he is in fact a "other"?
How can the camp of others mingle and work together with mainland people? Seems there are two groups, the mysterious others, like Richard, who never seems to age, and those who die along the way. Am having a difficult time with the visions or appearances of the dead, like Ana Lucia, Charlie, and reference to Libby telling Hugo "hello". The show is really going to have to give a exceptional explanation to viewers how "spiritual people" and the "living people" of the island all ties together.
Really interesting.
That was definitely one of the best "Lost" episodes.
This season is really exciting. There's so much to take in. I can't wait for next week. Loved the child being named after Charlie. At first, I thought it was Charlie as a child, but then I realized it is the future, not the past. This show has really come alive.
Wow Jay. I just discovered you on here. Didn't know there was a whole HuffPo Lost underworld. ;-)
Widmore/Faraday=Father/Son?
If yes, then Penny = Faraday's sister! Wow. That gives new meaning to Desmond being Faraday's constant. Maybe he knows that if Desmond can be found, then so can Penny (aka Desmond's shadow), then so can Widmore. Like Father, Like Son -> keeping tabs on all the main players.
yeh it's kind of cool that right in a site devoted to the heavy serious business of politics and government.... there be smoke monsters.....
although we haven't seen Smokey this season so far....
http://www.timelooptheory.com/the_timeline.htm
http://darkufo.blogspot.com/2009/01/things-i-noticed-jughead-by-vozzek69.html
SPOILER ALERT - this doesnt 'know' but they theories are probably pretty close to the mark.
I can only echo what everyone else here has said. I knew Time Travel would be involved at some point. I just couldn't see how the writers could find any other way to explain everything that was happening. The appearance of the Army explains that "Army knife' that Goodwin had in Season 2. Remember when Ana Lucia pointed that out? Apparently there is one group that lives on the island and other groups show up and the original inhabitants absorb the best and the brightest and either kill the rest or leave them to their own devices.
I like Faraday. I was always a fan of the Beta males.
The Charlies Widmore on the island as a young man answers a lot of questions and of course raises several more. This is LOST after all.
And how cute and appropriate that Desmond named his son Charlie. Not Charles after Penny's father but after Charlie Pace who was the reason he and Penny are back together.
I kept waiting for the little guy's name and the longer it took to get mentioned the more I figured Des and Penny had named him Charlie....and a nice little reveal it was too...
I thought it was a great episode. This season has actually gotten me to watch again. One thing I found particularly interesting from last night was the H-Bomb reference. There was actually a plan to test a real H Bomb nicknamed "Jughead" just around 1954 (year the story is set in) by the US military (all of these tests had nicknames or codenames). I have an old copy of a Life Magazine which describes it. The test would have been the largest H Bomb detonation in US history. The plan was scrapped when the previous test (Castle Bravo) "ran away" due to a scientific miscalculation and yielded 300% of the predicted energy at 15 megatons (15 million tons of TNT). This test caused unimaginable havoc and a radiological disaster for scientists, neighboring islands and islanders, many of whom died or became gravely ill . It created a mushroom cloud 66 miles wide and dropped heavy fallout for hundreds of miles. If this bomb would have been dropped on the east coast of the US it would have been uninhabitable for decades. This story angle adds an ominous twist, can't wait to see how it turns out!
hey thanks for the interesting true life background....
See Jay Glatfelter's Profile
Wow great info, i'll have to bring this up on my Monday show.
Check out Castle Bravo on Wikipedia -- it connects to Bikinis and Godzilla, if you can believe it! So that (and the rest of IvyMike's good data) REALLY makes Jughead a facinating new "character" on the island....
Interesting. When the Bomb was first introduced I thought to myself, well, maybe it explodes at some point and that's what causes the island to move through time. Then I thought, no, you idiot, an H-bomb's not science fiction--it exists in real life. And we know if you blow one up it doesn't cause a dislocation in time (unless there's something the government's not telling. So, my guess is the island was somehow outside of the time-space continuum long before the bomb ended up there. However, if bomb were to blow up an island outside the continuum, what would happen? It's hard to say, but the end of the world wouldn't be a bad bet. So the need to press the button.
I wonder if Locke gets off the island via the submarine he initially blew up in season three.
since it appears next week's episode takes our time traveling heroes to a period in time after the plane crashed on the island, i wonder how any of their actions in that past will affect their future.
Could have done without the introduction of a nuclear device on or near the island. It just creates the possibility of a let-down explosive ending or development further down the road.
or it already detonated when Desmond turned the key back at the end of season 2...remember Sayid's comments about how the concrete in that station reminded him of Chernobyl....
I like the time travel story lines that have been introduced this season--and I'm also a huge fan of any story line that features Desmond! I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out that Faraday was Charles Widmore's son--the writers seem to like making family connections among the various characters.
As an aside, has anyone else noticed that when a group of survivors goes exploring on the island, the people in the group who are not regulars on the show are inevitable casualties when something bad happens to said group? I call it the "red-shirt" phenomenon--check out old "Star Trek" reruns for examples!
yeh....the writers are a step ahead....last week they put Neil aka Frogurt in a red shirt before they hit him with a flaming arrow....
these writers do like to play....
My idea (probably wrong):
Charles Widmore and Ellie/Ms. Hawking are both Daniel Faraday & Penny's parents.
I agree with the Jughead/Swan theory. It makes sense - as much sense as Lost can make!
i'm so over faraday - at least the actor - he whispers everthing - i don't know why other characters aren't going "what?" all the time. last night when he told richard he loved the redhead (who i've never liked) - she was supposed to have heard what he said. HOW????? He was whispering the whole thing to him.
over. him. over. her.
Yea, I'm with you. Faraday is quite twitchy, which annoys me...so I don't really get the Faraday love on Lost message boards. Maybe it's just fans' way of saying "Thank you! Finally some answers!" since Faraday seems to be the Go To For Answers Guy this season. Remember, Locke used to be the same guy until he started asking more questions than he answered.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
