5.03 "Jughead"

Surprising discoveries are made when the "Lefties" learn who's attacking them. Desmond goes in search of Daniel's mother in hopes to help those he left behind.
I’m going to do this recap a little different. Rather then jumping around like the show does, I’m going to recap by “year”.

Flashback, about 1 year after the O6 are rescued.

Desmond runs frantically though a village in the Philippines (based on the “Mabuhay” sign, which means “Welcome” or “Long Live” in Filipino). He’s searching for a doctor named Efren Salonga. He finds him and the two rush back to Des’ boat to find Penny in active labor. I wish they hadn’t shown this in the previews because it would have been a sweet surprise. The doctor helps her deliver her baby boy. Des and Penny kiss and profess their love for one another as they gaze upon their bundle of joy.

Off the island in 2007

Des and his son, now about 2 years old, are sitting on their sailboat. They’re headed to Oxford. Des tells his son, Charlie (who could be named after Penny’s dad, but I believe he’s named after our Charlie. How sweet is that?) of the island he used to live on but hasn’t visited in many years. He’s hinting to “the” island but in reality he’s speaking of Great Britain. He tells Charlie about Scotland where his mommy and daddy fell in love. Penny joins them and tells Charlie that that’s also where daddy broke her heart (totally uncalled for, if you ask me). She also mentions how Des left out his grandfather that sent a boat load of people to the island to kill him. It’s funny here how it sounds like she’s talking about the same island. She doesn’t say “that other island” she just says “the island” like she’s still talking about the same one. I don’t think there’s anything to her comment more then just bad writing.

Des defends his choice to go back to Oxford and promises that after he’s done, he’ll be done with it for good. Penny doesn’t understand why he just remembered what Daniel asked of him 2 days ago. Des can’t explain it but knows he has to do it to save everyone left behind. Penny asks him to promise that he’ll never go back to the island. He replies “Why in God’s name would I ever want to go back there?”

At Oxford (looking quite Charlie-esque himself with the scarf and glasses) the receptionist uses her computer and tells Des that there is no record of a Faraday ever working at the university. This receptionist, Moira according to the credits, is played by the same person that played Jenna, an Oceanic employee that was working at the boarding gate of Flight 815. Coincidence? Des argues with her and says that he visited Daniel while he was working here. She asks if he remembers when that was but since it was during his time jumping, he doesn’t recall. She asks why he’s inquiring, Des just excuses himself.

As he’s leaving Des takes a detour up to the physics lab where Daniel was working. Side note… the sign for the physics lab has changed since Des’ last visit. Before it read “Physics Department Clarendon 142-08” now it reads “Physics Department Claredon 142-08” (with no “n” in Clarendon). Typo? When Des reaches Daniel’s lab he finds the door sealed with a fumigation sticker. Des breaks in anyway and finds Daniel’s lab dilapidated and abandoned. Everything is covered with tarps. He finds a broken picture frame on the floor. The photo is of Daniel and a blonde woman. As Des is looking at the maze Daniel’s rat Eloise ran, a custodian arrives. He tells Des that Oxford is covering up Daniel’s work because they’re ashamed that he was using a human subject, a young woman. The same young woman from the photo maybe?

Des tracks down the woman, Theresa. She appears to be in a coma but her sister, Abigail tells him that she’s just “away” right now. She's not unconcious but unaware of her actual surroundings. Des knows what’s happening to her, that she’s stuck time jumping like he was. Abigail tells him that Daniel abandoned her this way and that Charles Widmore has been paying for her medical support. It’s then revealed that Widmore funded all of Daniel’s research at Oxford.

Des barges into Widmore’s office and demands to know where he can find Faraday’s mother. He tells him that he knows that he funded Daniel’s research and that he’s supporting Theresa. He refuses to answer any of his questions, just wants the address. Widmore gives it to him and asks about Penny’s welfare. Side note… Widmore finds the address in the back of his book, leading me to believe that the woman’s last name falls at the end of the alphabet (more on this later…). Des takes the Los Angeles address from Widmore as he warns him that she won’t be happy to see him because she’s “a very private person”. Widmore then begs him to take Penny and go back to where ever they were hiding as this business has been going on for “many, many years” and he wants Penny to be safe from it. Really? Or do you want to follow Des so you can find Penny? I hope not. He actually seems sincere that's why I'm suspicious.

Des returns to the boat and tells Penny that Faraday’s mother has died so there’s nothing more to do. She can tell he’s lying (yeah, he’s really bad at it!) and asks for the truth. He tells her about LA but says it doesn’t matter because he promised her that this was it. He says he’ll just forget about it and any other memories he may have. She knows he can’t and tells him that she and Charlie will go to LA with him.

On the Island in 1954

Miles, Charlotte and Daniel, along with two redshirts that survived the arrow attack head to the creek to meet the remaining Lefties. Dan asks Charlotte how she’s feeling and she says that she still has a headache. I noticed here that the tank she’s wearing under her shirt is red… could this be a sign of what’s to come for Charlotte? He asks if she has blurred vision or dizzy spells. She says both, surprised that he’d know that. She asks if he knows what’s wrong with her just as the redshirts tell them they’ve arrived at the creek. No one else is there. Miles notices a trip wire and visually follows it to explosives. He shouts a warning but the redshirts trigger it and are killed. Miles, Charlotte and Daniel recover being tossed through the air by the explosives to find a group of people dressed in Army fatigues standing over them. A young blonde woman, Ellie, asks who’s in charge and Miles tells her that Daniel is. This appears to come as a surprise to Mr. Faraday. She puts her gun on Daniel and says “you just can’t stay away can you?”. At first I thought she meant Dan personally but now I’m thinking she just meant the military as a whole, since she believes that's who they are. She asks where the rest of their group is, noting that 20 survived the beach attack. Miles says that their landmines probably killed them. She says they didn’t put them there, blaming Miles’ group for planting them. Ellie and her group then begin walking the 3 to their camp.

Meanwhile, Locke, Sawyer and Juliet debate what to do with the 2 attackers they’re captured. Locke notes that they’re guns are M1 Garand that look brand new despite being 50-60 years old. Sawyer doesn’t care, he just wants to know where Locke’s been. Locke says he should be asking when he’s been. Ala a classic Back to the Future quote. Sawyer then notices that Locke’s leg and asks who shot him. Before he can answer Juliet cuts him off and reminds them that they have more important things going on now. Side note… Juliet’s a doctor. She should have been a little more concerned with Locke’s wound. It almost felt like she was trying to change the subject. I’m wondering now, did Ethan go back to the barracks and tell them of John Locke? Did Juliet already know who shot him? Does she know more? When the 2 attackers begin speaking to each other in a foreign language, Juliet reveals that she knows it. Latin. They’re Others. The Others are required to speak Latin because it’s the “enlightened language”. Juliet asks them to take them to their camp and notes that they are not enemies. She asks if Richard Alpert is at the camp. Locke recognizes Richard’s name. Just as “Cunningham” is about to give them directions, “Jones” breaks his neck and runs. Sawyer directs Locke to shoot him but he freezes. Sawyer takes the gun and shoots but misses. Locke tells Sawyer that he couldn’t shoot him because he’s “one of my people”.

As Miles, Charlotte and Dan are taken to the camp Dan notices bandages on one of their captor’s hands. Just then Miles begins to act erratically and tells Daniel that they just walked over a fresh grave that’s less than a month old. Four US soldiers; three were shot and the fourth died of radiation poisoning. Daniel asks if the soldiers told him what year it was. He didn’t get to answer because they arrived at the camp. They are introduced to an ageless Richard Alpert. He believes the 3 to be US military who’ve come to retrieve “the bomb”.

They’re shoved into a tent where Daniel tell Miles and Charlotte to play along. Richard comes in and asks where the rest of their squad is. Daniel says he won’t tell because Richard will just kill them. Richard tells Dan that he didn’t start the attacking “their” people did. Dan says that they’re just scientists and noting the burns on one of the Others, says he believes that the casing on the bomb is cracked and they need him to fix it so it doesn’t detonate. Richard asks how he knows he’s not just on some suicide mission and plans to detonate the bomb and kill them all. Dan tells him that he’s in love with Charlotte and would never do anything to hurt her. After Richard leaves, Charlotte tells Dan that he didn’t have to lie like that and he tells her that he wasn’t lying. Just then, Ellie comes to take Dan to the bomb.

Outside of the tent Richard explains to Daniel that they were living peacefully on the island when they found 18 members of an Army battalion in the jungle. He gave them the opportunity to leave but they refused. He was forced to kill them. Dan emphasizes “forced?” and Richard tells him that he gets his orders just as Dan does. Just then “Jones” comes running into the camp and says “Cunningham” and I (what about the guy that Locked knifed down?) were outnumbered and captured. Ellie makes a snide remark about being outnumbered and “Jones” tells her to "shut up Ellie". (Remember this because I’ll be referring to it later…). Richard asks how he got away and how he was sure he wasn’t followed. He tells Richard that they’re leader is an “old man” that couldn’t track him and doesn’t know the island as well as he does.

Right up above the camp, we see the “old man”, who DID track him and DOES know the island better then him. He asks Juliet how she knew that Richard would be there and she tells him that “Richard has always been here”. When he ask just how old he is she tells him (ala One-Word-Ben) “old”. Locke tells Juliet that he’s going down to the camp to have a chat with Richard. He tells her about they talk they were having before the island moved. Sawyer notes that Daniel is being “death marched” into the jungle at the moment. Locke tells him that he can take care of Dan; he’s going to talk to Richard.
As Dan and Ellie walk to the bomb he notes that “you look so much like…someone I used to know” (remember this too…). Ellie tells him that she doesn’t believe that him, “a British woman and a Chinese man” are US military (keen eye on that one). She asks who they really are and he tells her that he’s her best chance at disarming the bomb. She tells him to get to it as he turns and sees a HUGE bomb.

Daniel climbs the firing tower where the bomb hangs to inspect it. Ellie stays below, gun on him. He inspects it and sees a crack. He climbs down and instructs Ellie to step back. He tells her it’s dangerous and warns her of the outcome should she shoot him. He tells her that the bomb needs to be buried and asks if they have access to any lead or concrete. Immediately I thought of the hatch. Yes, “the” hatch. Read this bit of transcript from “Everybody Hates Hugo” where Jack and Sayid are poking around the Swan station (aka the hatch) after Desmond ditches it…

SAYID: I believe we're under the area where we began. They poured concrete all the way down here, too.
[Sayid starts hitting the wall with the piece of metal.]
SAYID: Just as thick.
JACK: Maybe there's a way around it.
[They crawl forward though what looks like pipes.]
JACK: What is all this stuff?
SAYID: My best guess? There's geothermal generator behind this wall. That's the power source. Careful with these pipes, they're very hot.
[They come to the end of the tunnel.]
JACK: That's it -- nothing -- it's blocked. So what do you think, Sayid?
SAYID: What do I think about what, Jack?
JACK: This place -- the computer? What do you think is going on?
SAYID: The last time I heard of concrete being poured over everything in this way was Chernobyl.

I’m guessing that that’s where this bomb was buried. I bet, somehow, pushing the button every 108 minutes kept it from detonating. That fail-safe that Des turned detonated it and the rest is history. Anyway, on with the story… Ellie asks why he thinks burying it will keep it from detonating and he says he just knows. Finally he blurts out that he knows because the island is still there in 50 years. He explains that that’s where he and his friends are from just as Sawyer comes out of the jungle, armed, and tells Ellie to drop her gun. Juliet follows, and tells everyone to drop their guns. Ellie drops hers and Juliet picks it up just as Sawyer notices the bomb. Ellie asks “are they from the future too?” Sawyer can’t believe he told her.

Back at the camp Locke barges in and yells for Richard. “Jones” sees him and pulls his gun directing him to stop. Richard appears just as “Jones” puts his gun in Locke’s back. Richard asks who he is. “John Locke”. After a short pause, and no expression, Richard asks if that should mean something to him. This is interesting because Richard has known John since, literally, the day he was born, as we’ve learned from flashbacks. John tells him “Jacob sent me”. Boy is he lucky here. He has no idea “when” he is. What makes him so sure that Jacob is the leader at the time? With that Richard orders “Jones” to put his gun down. When he doesn’t Richard walks over and slaps the rifle down and says “I said put the gun down… Widmore”. LOVE THIS SHOW! Locke turns to Widmore and asks if it’s “Charles Widmore”… “What’s it to you?” he asks. “Nothing.” Locke says, “Nice to meet you”. Side note….it’s pretty safe to assume that these men got their military outfits off the 18 dead soldiers. Hence, “Jones” is not a “Jones” at all but rather a “Widmore”. Why then does he refer to his friend as Cunningham when his uniform DOES say Cunningham? Did he really get that lucky and kill a soldier with the same name?

And now for all those things I asked you to remember… I think that Ellie is Daniel’s mother and that’s why he recognizes her. At first I thought that maybe Widmore was his father since he was funding all his research and then took it upon himself to care for the woman it harmed. But after hearing the way they talked to one another I think they may be brother and sister, making Daniel Widmore’s nephew. To further prove my theory, Widmore got her address for Desmond from the back of his address book, leading me to believe her last name was more likely Widmore then Faraday.

On with the story… Inside a tent at the camp Locke explains to Richard how he came about his compass, explaining to us how Richard knew where to be. Richard is having a hard time swallowing his time-travel story which means that this is the first he’s learned of the islands capabilities. Locke tells Richard that he was about to tell him how to get off the island when it last moved. Richard tells him that he doubts that since that’s “very privileged information”. Locke says he’d tell him because he’s his leader. Richard scoffs and says that the have a very specific process for selecting they’re leaders and it starts at a very young age. Locke asks what year it is and tells him that he’ll be born in 2 years… “I suggest you come visit me” he tells him. LOVE THIS SHOW! That explains why Richard doesn't know him, he hasn't been to his birth yet.

Just then Locke hears the humming indicating that the island is about to move again. This time Richard does not hear it. He asks Locke what’s wrong, he tells him that it’s about to happen again and he needs to tell he how to get off the island. Flash… island moves. I’m sure Locke disappearing before his eyes has now convinced the 1954 Richard that he was telling the truth. Guess that's why he wasted no time giving him that "very privileged information" so quickly during their future encounter.

Locke now stands in an open field, no tents. Nearby Miles and Charlotte stand with their hands tied as they were in the tent. Approaching, Daniel calls out the Charlotte and asks if she’s ok. She says she is while Miles notes he is as well, even though he wasn’t asked. Just then Charlotte collapse with another bloody nose. Daniel holds her and cries as though she’s died.

Now, when Richard comes to Locke’s aid and removes the bullet and tells him that “privileged information” on how to get off the island. He has to die. What Locke really needs is more details. Does this mean that every time Richard leaves, he has to die? When he went to recruit Juliet, did he have to die? When he went to see Locke’s birth, did he have to die? Are the Others that live on the mainland there to revive him? Does this mean, like I said before, that Jeremy Bentham can be revived? Locke is NOT dead people! LOVE THIS SHOW! Have I mentioned that?