5.01 "Because You Left"

Season 5 opens with a missing island, the O6 trying to live normal lives and the "Lefties" trying to figure out what's happening to them and the island.
We open on an alarm clock going off at 8:15 (hmm, 8:15, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, Oceanic flight 815…) and a baby is crying. Wish my kids slept until 8:15. A woman rolls to a man and tells him it’s his turn. He gets up, puts on a record (priorities) ala Desmond style (the song btw is Willie Nelson’s Shotgun Willie), and feeds the baby. Doesn’t seem all that interested in the kid IMO. FYI: at this summer’s Comic Con there was a video of this man doing his filming while a baby cries off camera. He stops taping and yells at a woman to get “him out of here”. It’s pretty safe to assume that “he” is the baby he has here. Next question… who’s the baby? Could it be Miles? Could it be Jin? Could it be no one we’ve met? Probably not. My official vote is Miles. On with the story…he showers, shaves, brushes his teeth and as he’s getting clothes (which all look the same btw) the record begins skipping (“if you can’t make a record, can’t make a record, can’t make a record). When he leaves we recognize his little town as Otherville (aka: the barracks). A woman walks by quickly that appears to be a few months pregnant. Looks like having babies isn’t a problem right now. “He” is Dr. Marvin Candle aka Dr. Edgar Halliwax aka Dr. Mark Wickmund aka Pierre Chang. He’s huffy and pushes away the script as it’s being handed to him. Says he knows his lines. The clapper says it take one of the second DHARMA Initiative orientation video, this time for the Arrow station. (Why is he wearing a Swan coat while filming an Arrow video?) We saw a small section of the Arrow station when the Tailies discovered it and used it for shelter. They found a box that contained a glass eye, a radio and a Bible which contained the cut out portions of some of the orientation videos. While shooting he’s interrupted by a man (Eric, according to his jumper) saying that there is trouble at the Orchid.

They pull up in what I think is the only vehicle Otherville has, the blue VW bus. We see a brand-new-under-construction Orchid which looks so much different than the Orchid Locke was just in. A worker takes him to the lower level via the elevator where he says they’ve ruined 6 drill bits (melted 1 even) trying to get through the wall (where there are only 5 holes, so I’m guessing the 6th melted before it got anywhere) and the worker is now “freaking out” (and his nose is bleeding). The foreman tells Chang that he took a sonar image of what’s behind the wall and the image reveals the “frozen donkey wheel” (this is a nickname given by the shows producers) Ben turned to move the island. Chang tells the foreman to stop drilling and tells him of the energy and time manipulation possibilities held behind that wall. The foreman cracks a joke about killing Hitler but Chang tells him they can’t do that because there “are rules, rules that can’t be broken”. He tells the worker that if he drills even 1cm further they’d risk releasing the energy and if that were to happen well, “God help us all”. As he leaves he bumps into a worker, who I knew immediately was Daniel just because of the way he was carrying himself. Now… what was Daniel doing there? My guess is that the island will ‘leap’ to this time and he’ll sneak away to see where all this time-travel stuff started. What he’ll do there… only time will tell. He didn’t look as excited as someone who’s spent his life studying time travel would be so I’m guessing he’s up to no good.

Jack stands over John’s casket. Ben asks him to close it and get him in the van. I got the vibe here that he thinks Jack might see Locke move or something. Jack tells Ben that he’ll never be able to convince the other 5 O6 to return. He wonders why so many bad things have happened. Ben coldly tells him “It happened because you left”.

At a hotel Jack shaves and asks Ben’s plan. I’m guessing that Locke is in the van now. They’re plan is to get Hurley first because he should be the easiest, since he’s crazy and all. Jack asks when the last time was that Ben saw Locke. Ben reveals to Jack that he hasn’t seen him since the day he left the island. He asks Jack what John told him. He told him that everyone they’d left behind would die too. Ben asks if he told him what happened after they left and he says no. Ben looks disappointed and says “then I guess we’ll never know”. I think though that he does know. I personally believe that Widmore put Ben in charge of the island when *he* moved it years ago.

Three years earlier… We’re now on the island, immediately following the flash of light. Locke finds that the Others have disappeared and he’s standing alone in the rain. We see Daniel, on the boat, with some Losties (including, Neil, one we’ve never met before). Daniel sees the island and notes that the must have been “inside the radius” when it moved. On the beach Sawyer and Juliet notice that the burning freighter is gone as Bernard bursts from the jungle yelling for Rose. When she emerges they tell Sawyer and Juliet that the camp has disappeared. Just like to point out here that it’s interesting how it’s only raining over Locke.

Daniel arrives back on the island to Charlotte’s joy because she thought he was on the doomed freighter. He asks to be taken to the closest man-made structure. Juliet tells him of the Swan, the hatch that was blown up. He says they should get moving before “it” happens again. Sawyer asks what “it” is and why the camp has disappeared. He tells them that the camp has not disappeared, it hasn’t been built yet.

LOST

In LA, Kate and Aaron enjoy breakfast and cartoons. The doorbell rings. It’s an attorney and his “associate” there to retrieve blood samples from Kate and Aaron to determine her relationship to him. She asks who he’s representing but he says he can’t tell her. She tells him to come back with the sheriff. Kate packs a bag, grabs some hidden money and a hidden gun and she and Aaron leave. I don’t see any reason why he can’t tell her who is client is, but I’m no lawyer. It seems to me that someone is just trying to scare her into going on the run. My personally opinion… Ben. I think he’s trying to scare Kate into going back to the island so she won’t lose Aaron.

As they head to the Swan Juliet asks Sawyer why he jumped from the helicopter. He’s says it was because he wanted to make sure she… err, they got to the freighter. “Doesn’t matter now” he says, believing that the chopper went down with the freighter. Daniel asks them to beat feet saying that they don’t know how long they have until it happens again. Sawyer tells him to hold up and tries to bully him into giving him his shirt. You’d think he’d want some shoes instead… but whatever. I thought Dan might cave here since he’s such a nerd but he tells him they have more pressing matters right now. Sawyer tells him to explain himself, he says he can’t. Sawyer bitch slaps him and threatens to do the same to Charlotte after she yells at him. Suddenly Daniel *can* explain it. He tells them that either they or the island is skipping through time because of what Ben did. He suggests that it’s probably them. I’m confused here, no surprise considering the show, but why would the island disappear from view if it’s just skipping through time? It’s not like they’ve gone so far back that they island wasn’t there at all… if that were the case, they’d be underwater right? Des and even Daniel’s rat way back at Oxford didn’t physically disappear when they leapt through time, why has the island? Anyway, Daniel then asks if they’re whole group is accounted for. Sawyer says Locke is missing what about Claire?).

Back to Locke… and no more rain. He’s climbing a hill which immediately reminded me of the hill the group climbs in the first season to try to get a signal on they’re sat phone only to pick up Rousseau’s message. He sees something in the distance and narrowly misses being hit by a low-flying plane. He watches it crash in the jungle and notices a Virgin Mary statue on the ground where it’d passed. Could it be? Interesting. LOVE THIS SHOW BTW! Being the super-tracker he is, he finds the plane and it’s the very Beechcraft that he and Boone had found… years after it’d initially crashed. He calls up to it and climbs to search for survivors when he’s suddenly being shot at from the ground. He gets hit in the leg and falls. Side note… if you’ll remember when he and Boone were here, he was unable to walk, believing the island was making him paralyzed again for not “believing” in it. Could it have been that he was suffering the pain from the Locke that was shot there years earlier? The shooter reveals himself to be Ethan! LOVE THIS SHOW, OMG! Locke is stunned. I’m excited! As Ethan threatens to kill him Locke tells him he knows him, and tries to explain who he is. When he tells him that Ben has made him leader of the Others, Ethan claims that “that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard” and prepares to shoot him. Just then the white light appears, though Ethan doesn’t appear to notice it, and time shifts again, saving Locke’s life. It’s now night.

It is night with the beach group as well. Sawyer asks “when” they are. Daniel brilliantly deducts that they are “either in the past (long pause) or in the future”. Duh. *Now* is when you should slap him, Sawyer.

In London airport, Sun is leaving for LA. She’s trying to make a call but there is no answer. After presenting her passport she’s detained by security. She comes to find out she’s been detained at Charles Widmore’s request. Widmore tells her not to bother trying to get out “they do what I tell them”. (Does this mean he *owns* Oceanic? That’d explain how one of their planes got to the bottom of the ocean.) He’s angry with her for approaching him in broad daylight and showing him no respect. He asks what, exactly, their “common interests” are. She tells him “to kill Benjamin Linus”.
Snore.

In their hotel room Jack and Ben see a news report about Hurley’s escape from Santa Rosa and the dead man found outside that they believe he killed. Ben believes getting them back to the island is going to be a bit more complicated now.

Hurley has Sayid stop for lunch at the Rainbow Drive-In (a real place in Hawaii btw). That Hurley sure loves his chicken. Speaking of the chicken, the sign on the building is reflected in the puddle on the ground but it’s not a reflection at all. Take a look at this screencap…











What could this mean? Is it some kind of clue?

They then head to the safe house. Hurley asks Sayid who the guy outside the hospital was. Sayid says he doesn’t care, he was armed and he’s not taking any risks since Bentham died. Hurley says “you mean Locke?” Oh, *now* they can say it? Pfftt. Hurley then says he needs cool code name. LOL Dude’s funny stuff. Hurley asks Sayid why he’s so paranoid. He tells him that he’s been working for Ben. When Hurley asks if he’s on their side now Sayid tells Hurley to never, ever trust Ben and always do the opposite of what he says. Sayid then notices that the piece of tape he placed over the hotel room door has been broken meaning someone’s inside. He’s then attacked by a man from inside the room and quickly tosses him over the balcony. Inside the room another man attacks. Sayid kills him as well (and shows us all why knives should be put in the dishwasher handle up!) but not before being hit by 2 darts. Outside the room Hurley picks up the gun on the ground a looks over the balcony. Some people that have noticed the dead body of the first man see Hurley with the gun and take his picture. Hurley runs inside and helps Sayid out to the car just before the dart kicks in and renders him unconscious. As they stumble out Hurley notes that they “never should have left that island”.

It’s still night and the beach group has arrived at the Hatch, which is nothing more than a crater. This leads them to conclude that they’ve already blown it up. Sawyer and Juliet try to argue that they could stop the helicopter from leaving now and save their friends. Daniel explains to them that they can’t change anything. If it’s happened, there’s no way to stop it or change it. Sawyer asks him how he knows so much about it. Daniel pulls out his journal and tells him he’s studied the DHARAM Initiative and knows all about space/time travel. Sawyer asks how to stop it, Dan says they can’t. “Who can?” Sawyer asks.

The Beechcraft is on the ground now, indicating that it’s after Boone’s death. Locke climbs in and takes a seatbelt to tie around his wounded leg. He sees someone approaching carrying a torch. I SO wanted it to Charlie sneaking to the plane for a fix but no… it’s Richard. Somehow he knew exactly where Locke would be (I’m guessing, in the future Locke will tell him of this moment and Richard will act accordingly). Locke tells him of the bullet, Richard says he told him, or will tell him. Locke says Ethan shot him, Richard says “what comes around, goes around” because Charlie ends up shooting Ethan. Richard removes Locke’s bullet and tells him that the next time they meet he won’t know Locke. He gives him a compass and tells him to give it to him the next time he sees him. Locke asks what it does, Richard simply states “it points north, John”. Legitimate question if you ask me. (You may recognize this compass from when Richard visits John as a child and “tests” him.) He tells John that the only way to save the island now is to get back those who left. So why the hell did you and Ben let them leave? *shakes head* Locke asks how he’s supposed to do that, Richard says he’ll have to die. Another flash, unnoticed by Richard, and it’s day again. The Beechcraft is again atop the cliff and smoking. You’d think Ethan would still be there searching the plane since that’s where he thought Locke came from…. but he’s not. He probably freaked out when Locke disappeared before his eyes and ran straight to Ben.

The beach group now finds that the hatch is intact. Sawyer bolts into the jungle, telling the group that he’s going in through the back door to get Des to give them some supplies. Daniel tries to tell him that he can’t talk to Desmond. It didn’t happen before, it can’t happen now. Sawyer knocks, no one answers. They decide to head back to the beach. Why did they come out here to begin with? Wasn’t Daniel all frantic about finding something man-made? I’m confused again. Maybe it was just to try to get a better idea of “when” exactly they were. Juliet, Sawyer and Miles leave as Daniel notices that Charlotte’s nose is bleeding. She tells him that she hasn’t had a nosebleed since she was little. Daniel knows what’s going on. Do we? We know that those that time travel need a “constant”. Something that’s there, past, present and future, that you recognize. If you don’t have one, you’ll suffer a brain aneurysm and die. The nosebleed it the first sign that it’s happening. Only catch here is that when Des was time traveling it was only his consciousness, not his physical body. Could just the actual movement be causing this nosebleed? Would a constant really help her? Daniel tells Charlotte that he forgot his pack and will be right behind them as soon as he gets it. Alone with the back door, Daniel tries knocking on it himself after looking at his journal. Desmond answers dressed in his protective gear (remember, he stayed in there because he was told that the air outside was not safe) and toting a rifle. Des asks Daniel if he’s “the one”… his “replacement”. Dan says no. Des asks if he knows Daniel and he tells him “sort of”. We begin to hear the hum sound indicating that the island is about to move again. Odd thing is, Des hears it too, unlike Ethan or Richard. Generally, only those that are actually moving with the island hear the sound and see the light. Quickly Daniel tells him that he’s special and “the rules” of the island don’t seem to apply to him. He tells him that when he leaves the island on the helicopter, those he left behind will be in grave danger and only he can save them. Daniel instructs a confused Des to go to Oxford and find his mother. The flash occurs before he can give him her name.

Desmond awakes with a start to find Penny at his side. He says he was on the island. Penny notes that he’s been off of it for 3 years now; it was just a bad dream (she’s wearing a wedding band here, leading me to believe they’re now married). Des says it wasn’t a dream, it was a memory. He runs outside to raise the anchor. When Penny asks where they’re going Des tells her, to Oxford.

LOST

This time leaping thing is AWESOME! We can learn so much if they keep up with it. Who are the skeletons found in the caves (aka: Adam & Eve)? How did the Black Rock get to the middle of the island? What happened to Rousseau's people? What s that 4-toed statue we saw once for a brief moment and then never saw again? This is going to be so cool!