5.05 "This Place is Death"

Jin and Rousseau's team meet up with Smokey. Locke sacrifices himself for the island and the "Lefties". Ben fails to collect all the O6 but does end up with a member that was completely unexpected. On the island – 1988

Jin asks Danielle her name again and where she came from. She repeats her name and tells him that her team sailed out of Tahiti on November 15, 1988. Jin is confused. How could this be Danielle and how could it be 1988? He tells her he needs to get back to his camp. She and the rest of the team are surprised to learn that he’s been on the island before. As he walks away Robert draws a radio tower in the sand, asking Jin if there’s one on the island. He tells him that there is.

He and the members of the science team argue about what to do next. Jin wants to go back to his camp; Robert wants to follow the transmission to the radio tower. Danielle asks Jin if he knows where his camp is from where they are. He doesn’t. She then asks if he could find it from the tower. He says yes. (I’m not sure how since when the rest of the survivors went to the tower he stayed behind at the beach with Sayid and Bernard setting up the trap for their ambush of the Others.) Danielle tells him that if he goes with them to the tower he can then find his way to his camp. He agrees. Why do they need his permission? Can’t they just go without him? *shrug* As then leave, Danielle stops Jin and asks who he’s hoping to find at his camp. “My wife” he replies.

As they walk, Danielle experiences some pain and stops. Robert asks if she’s ok noting that she’s seven months pregnant. She tells him that “she just gave me a little kick”. They flirt back and forth about the gender of the baby and whether it’s an Alexander or Alexandra. Danielle insists that it’s a girl. Robert suggests that they rest and she drink some water. Brennan tells them that Nadine has the canteen. They turn to notice that Nadine is missing. Suddenly a deep growling sound emanates from the jungle. Immediately Jin recognizes it. Robert asks him what it is and he replies “monster”.

They back track to find her even though Jin tells them they need to go. They find her backpack and begin yelling for her. Just then they hear the roaring again and the monster uproots a tree. The group twists and turns looking for the source of the growling. Just then Nadine’s body falls from the sky. Danielle is hysterical as she cradles Nadine’s body. Just then the growling returns and Jin yells to everyone to “RUN!”.

They reach a clearing where the monster and Montand come face to “face”. The monster grabs him and drags him through the jungle. The rest of the group chase and grab him just as the monster pulls him into a crack in the ground outside an old ruin. The group all pull together as the monster snakes up Montand’s body. It then pulls with such force that Montand’s left arm is severed at the shoulder and the group is left holding it.

A little about Smokey: Remember that map that Locke briefly saw on the back of the hatch’s blast door? There were several notations on that map describing a “Cerberus system” as well as 4 instances of the initials “CV”. The produces have since confirmed that Cerberus is what they use when referring to the monster. Cerberus is the mythological 3-headed watchdog of Hades used to allow spirits to enter the underworld and keep them from leaving. They also confirmed that “CV” stands for Cerberus Vents which are underground passageways used by the monster. According to the blast door map, there are 4 of these on the island. This one at the ruins being one of them. The hole that he tried to pull Locke through in “Exodus, Part 2” is another (or could be the same one if the ruins are gone in “Locke’s time”.)

As they stand and collect themselves they hear Montand calling from the hole for help. He seems calm considering his arm has just been ripped off. I think that he’s already been “infected” by the monster. They begin to climb down the hole to Jin’s dismay. As Danielle goes to join them, Jin stops her and tells her she needs to protect her baby. Looks like Jin may have saved her from being infected. She agrees and waits outside the hole with one of the rifles. Just then Jin notices the bright light and humming. Danielle notices only that Jin’s acting erratic. She asks what’s wrong just as Jin vanishes. This makes it more confusing to me as to why Danielle wouldn’t recognize Jin in the future. You don’t forget a guy that disappears before your eyes.

On the island - 1988 or early 1989

Jin opens his eyes to find that Danielle has vanished. He steps forward towards the ruins only to trip on Montand’s rotting arm. He wanders the jungle, drinking water from a large leaf. He then sees a column of smoke in the distance and heads towards it. He comes out on the beach and sees a small camp with a fire burning out. There are various items spread around the camp including the music box that an older Danielle will give to Sayid to fix for her. As he looks around, he’s being pestered by flies. He turns and sees where they’re coming from. The bodies of Brennan and Lecomb are lying on the beach with bullet holes in them. They look (and smell) to have been dead maybe a couple days. Just then Jin hears arguing and peers through the brush to see Robert and Danielle in a heated argument. Both have rifles, Danielle’s trained on Robert. Danielle tells him that the monster has changed him. He says it’s not a monster but rather a security system for the Temple. He asks her to lower her gun because he loves her and doesn’t want her or their baby to be harmed. As she lowers it, Robert quickly raises his and fires. The gun doesn’t go off however. Danielle sadly shoots him in the head and kills him. Just then Jin bursts from the bushes. Danielle turns her gun on him yelling that he too is sick because he disappeared before her eyes. He runs into the jungle with her in chase. He trips over a log just as a flash occurs and as he lands he’s moved to a different time.

So this is the “sickness” Danielle spoke of. Not your run of the mill sickness but more the Exorcist sort of “sickness”. At first you believe, wow, she really was crazy but when she lowers her gun and Robert tries to kill her *and* her unborn baby you gain a whole new respect for one Danielle Rousseau. Why does Smokey want her dead? Is it because she’s carrying a baby?

Side note: In the episode “Exodus, Part 1” where members of the beach group and Rousseau trek through the jungle to the Black Rock, Danielle finds a piece of black fabric hanging from a branch and announces to the group that they’ve entered the “Black Territory”. She tells them that is was there that “it all began – where my team got infected – where Montand lost his arm.” This leads me to believe that Montand didn’t die during this incident. If so she would have phrased it as “where Montand died”. If this is the case, where is he now? Why wasn’t he one of the bodies on the beach? Has he already died or been killed somewhere else? Can Cerberus only inhabit one body at a time? Did it bounce from Montand into Brennan/Lecomb, then to Robert? Why didn’t it “infect” Danielle?

Also, regarding the pillar of smoke that Jin saw in the distance… Also in “Exodus, Part 1”, Danielle tells the survivors that a pillar of smoke appeared just before the Others took Alex from her. She says that the pillar of smoke is a warning that the Others are coming.

Another thing. The ruins themselves. Could this be (or at least be part of) “The Temple” that Ben sent Richard and the Others to and then Danielle with Alex and Karl? It seems rather dilapidated to be a “Temple”. And what of the hieroglyphs? We’ve seen glyphs in multiple places so far in the island. First was on the countdown timer when it reached 108 minutes. The producers confirmed these to mean “underworld”. The next were in Ben’s secret room that he visited just before Cerberus attacked Keamy. These have been translated to mean “to summon protection”. Could Ben have a CV right in his own home? We then saw them on the walls surrounding the frozen donkey wheel. Those translate to “resurrection”. I’ve come across a few attempts at deciphering these new ones but so far nothing that makes any sense. Maybe we’ll have something by next week.

And lastly, in the episode “Solitary” when Rousseau captures Sayid, Sayid tries to escape and gets a hold of Danielle’s rifle. He holds it on her, threatening to fire. When he does, it doesn’t go off. She tells him that “The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him.”

On the island – unknown time

Jin moves to get up and hears a gun cocked behind him. A voice tells him to turn slowly. He does to find that he’s face to face with Sawyer. They’re thrilled to see on another and hug. Sawyer tells him that he thought he died on the freighter. Jin tells him that he’s been in the water. As the rest of the Lefties happily join them, Jin asks where Sun is.

If Jin is leaping with the other Lefties, wouldn’t they have seen or at least heard Danielle shooting at Jin? Also, how does Sawyer know this isn’t someone from another time that he’s interfering with? When he sees that it’s Jin, how does he know it’s “now” Jin if he thinks “now” Jin is dead?

As they rest by a stream, they try to explain to Jin what’s been happening to them. Jin doesn’t understand and is getting frustrated so he turns to Charlotte (who’s sitting beside Miles) and says “translate!”. Sawyer assumes he’s talking to Miles and tells him to translate. Miles tells him that he doesn’t speak Korean and that he’s from Encino. Jin turns to Charlotte and beings speaking Korean. She turns to Locke and translates, to everyone’s amazement. She tells Jin that Locke plans to bring Sun and the others back to stop the time flashes. Locke tells Jin that she never should have left.

As they move Jin tells Locke that he’ll go with him to get the others. Locke tells him he can’t. Jin asks why. Locke says it just is but he promises to bring Sun back.

Daniel asks Charlotte if she needs a break. She tells him that she just wants to get there. She looks horrible. She’s pale(r then usual) and has dark circles around her eyes. She asks if Locke’s plan will work and Daniel tells her that it makes sense that they could stop what was started by returning to where it began. Charlotte starts to stumble as the sky lights up. With each time shift everyone seems to be experiencing more and more pain.

One the island – unknown time

Immediately yet another flash begins. Charlotte seems to be suffering the most pain.

On the island – unknown time

Charlotte collapses. As Juliet attends to her Sawyer points out that her nose is bleeding again. She tells him that his is too. Daniel asks Charlotte if she can hear him. As she regains consciousness she turns to Jin and beings to frantically speak Korean. As Sawyer asks what she said, she repeats it in English to Jin. “Don’t let them bring her back. No matter what – don’t let them bring her back. This place is death!” Could she be referring, not to Sun but rather, Ji-Yeon? Will Smokey kill her too?

Charlotte rests with the others surround her. She keeps speaking gibberish.

“Why can’t Daddy come with us?” in a childish voice.
“You know what my mum would say about you marrying an American”
“I know more about ancient Carthage then Hannibal himself”

Note about Carthage: After she said this I thought “there’s got to be something to that” so I did a little internet research. Carthage is now known as Tunisia. This is where Charlotte found the polar bear and where Ben “landed” after he turned the frozen donkey wheel. I found that the Carthanginians were searfaring people (Black Rock ring a bell?) that were into child sacrifice. Yeah, you heard me. This is a quote from Wikipedia.com:

Accounts of child sacrifice in Carthage report that beginning at the founding of Carthage in about 814 BC, mothers and fathers buried their children who had been sacrificed to Ba`al Hammon and Tanit there. The practice was apparently distasteful even to Carthaginians, and they began to buy children for the purpose of sacrifice or even to raise servant children instead of offering up their own.

This just had my mind buzzing! Could Cerberus be taking the unborn children of the Others as sacrifices? Is that why they can’t carry to full-term? Is that why these Dharma children keep popping up? Miles? Charlotte? Were they sent away to protect them but something pulled them back? Something like Cerberus? Were the Others protecting Aaron? Protecting Alex? Was Ben protecting Walt when he sent him off the island? Was he protecting Locke when he turned the wheel instead of him? Oh, I think I have a whole new theory of what’s going on here!

Sawyer asks what she’s talking about and Daniel says he has no idea. Locke tells them that they have to keep moving, without Charlotte because she’ll just slow them down. Daniel refuses to leave her and says he’ll stay with her. Suddenly Charlotte appears to be coherent and tells Dan to leave her but he refuses. Suddenly the sky lights up again.

On the island – unknown time

Locke says that they have to move “NOW!”. Charlotte’s incoherent again and mumbles “Oh, oh, turn it up! I love Geronimo Jackson!” Dan tells the others to go, he’ll stay behind. Sawyer asks what happens if they get to the Orchid and it’s not built yet. Charlotte tells them to look for “the well. You’ll find it at the well.” Sawyer looks at her likes she’s nuts and says that they’ll be sure to do that.

Geronimo Jackson has popped up a few times on Lost. First was when Hurley and Charlie were looking through the records in The Swan. The hitchhiker turned undercover cop, Eddie, was wearing their t-shirt. 16 year old Locke had their poster in his locker and one of their albums was at Hurley’s surprise party. What could a (possibly fictitious) 70s band have to do with Lost?

As they arrive at the Orchid Juliet notes that they’re lucky it’s there. Just then, another flash.

On the island – unknown time

The Orchid is gone. Sawyer chastises Juliet for saying something. Locke notices something behind them and pushes by. He comes to an old stone well with a rope hanging down the center to an unseen bottom. Miles asks how Charlotte could have possibly known it was there.

How indeed? Could it just be a childhood memory? Could Jacob be speaking through her to lead Locke in the right direction? Can Jacob infect people as Cerberus does? Could Jacob and Cerberus be one in the same?

Daniel tends to Charlotte as she confesses to him that she’s been on the island before. Daniel asks what she means. She tells him that she grew up here. She says she was there during “this thing…this… Dharma Initiative” but doesn’t say whether her family was part of it. She says that when she was little she moved away with her mother and never saw her father again. When she got “back to England” (had she been to England *before* she went to the island? Or maybe her “mum” went home to England to give birth to her since babies can’t be born on the island.) her mother told her that the island wasn’t real, just something Charlotte had made up. She confesses that that’s why she became and anthropologist, so she could find the island again. Dan asks why she’s telling him all of this. She says that she’s just remembered something. She remembers a man, “a crazy man” that scared her. He told her that she had to leave the island and never come back. He told her that if she did, she’d die. She tells Dan that she thinks that man was – him.

First of all. Who do you think Charlotte’s parents are? My guess is Ben and his little girlfriend Annie. I think that either Ben made them leave before the purge or Annie noticed Ben going mad with power and just left. And my thoughts on Dan is that he’ll flash forward to when Dharma inhabits the island, and even though he knows he can’t change what’s done, he’ll go to a young Charlotte and try to keep her from coming back to the island. I’m sure his crazy talk, and just the way Dan carries himself, would totally freak out any small child.

Back at the well, Jin tells Locke that he doesn’t want him to bring Sun back. Locke says that the all *have* to come back. Jin grabs Locke’s knife and holds it to the well’s rope. He tells Locke to promise that he won’t bring Sun or his baby back to the island. Locke reluctantly promises but asks what he’s supposed to tell Sun if she asks about him? Jin gives Locke his wedding ring and tells him to tell her that he washed ashore, dead, and they buried him. Locke takes the ring and nods. Funny how Juliet and Sawyer don’t ask Locke to keep Jack and Kate safe huh? He climbs up onto the rope to climb down. Juliet tells him that if what he’s doing actually works, she wants to thank him. Just as he beings to climb, there’s another flash. It emanates *from* the bottom of the well. As the flash occurs, Locke falls.

This scene was reminiscent of the one in “Man of Science, Man of Faith” when Locke and Kate entered the Swan hatch for the first time. As Locke lowers her, one of the trees holding his harness breaks and he nearly drops her. Then he lowers her the rest of the way when the flood light fills the hatch and Locke pulls at the cable and Kate’s no longer tied to it.

Suffering even more from this last flash, Charlotte coughs up blood. Dan tells her that he’s sent Des after his mother who will save them. Charlotte stares at Dan who asks “What?”. She tells him “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner….mm..” and then she dies (did Cerberus get another sacrifice?). Daniel cries over her body. Looks like I called this last week when I noticed her red shirt huh?

On the island – unknown time

Sawyer struggles to hold the rope, Juliet tells him he can stop. He looks down to see that the well is gone and that the rope goes directly into the ground. He begins to dig, begging for help. Juliet tells him that there’s nothing they can do for Locke now.

On the bottom of what was once, or will eventually be, the well, Locke screams in pain. He’s broken his leg right through is shin. He yells up to Sawyer but gets no answer. He hears footsteps and sees a shadow approaching. Christian Shepard comes around the corner and says hello. Locke immediately recognizes him as the man from the cabin. He asks what he’s doing here. Christian tells him that he’s here to help him the rest of the way. He tells him that when he came to see him in the cabin he told him that *he* had to move then island but then he let Ben do it. He tells him that Ben told him he knew how to do it and that John had to stay to lead his people. Christian asks him when listening to Ben has never gotten him anywhere. He says that the good news is that he’s here now and asks if he’s ready. Locke says he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. Christian tells him that Eloise Hawking, in Los Angeles will know exactly how to get them back, he just has to get each and every one that left. (including Des, Frank, Walt, Ji-Yeon?) Locke worries about what will happen if he can’t get them all to come back, Christian says he has faith in him. Locke notes that Richard told him that he’d have to die. Christian tells him that’s why this is called sacrifice. Christian tells him that he just has to get the “frozen donkey wheel” back on it’s axis with a little push. Locke asks for help standing but Christian says he must do it alone. Locke struggles to get up and walk to the wheel. He pushes it and light fills the room. As the flash occurs, Christian asks John to say hello to his son. He vanishes before he finds out who his son is.

I’m still not sure if this is “Christian” or if it’s Jacob in a Christian suit (when I typed that all I could hear is “Edgar-suit” in my head LOL). If it’s Jacob, who IS his son? Ben? I’m pretty confident that we’re going to learn that all of the O6’s parents were either Others or Dharma, like Widmore and Ellie.

So, has the island stopped leaping now that Locke turned the frozen donkey wheel? Will it continue to leap until the O6 return?

Off the island – 2008

Sun sits in her car, about to get out with her gun, as her cell phone rings. (Continuity error! At the end of “The Little Prince” Sun was half out of the car with her gun and her cell hadn’t rung.) It’s Ji-Yeon. She answers and tells her that she misses her. She also tells her that she’s met a new friend for her in America, referring to Aaron. (Ok, creepy. Is she planning to kidnap Aaron?) She tells her she loves her and hangs up. She pulls out the gun and gets out of the car. She approaches Ben and orders Kate to get out of the way. All Kate cares about is the whereabouts of Aaron. Sun tells her that he’s in the car. She goes to get him. Sun holds her gun in Ben’s face, threatening to kill him when Ben tells her that Jin’s alive and he can prove it. He explains to her that someone in LA has the proof; she just needs to take a quick 30 minute ride to see it. He notes that this same person knows how to get them back to the island. Why didn’t he just have everyone meet at the church rather than the marina? *shrug*

Kate puts Aaron in the car and yells at Jack for pretending to care about her and Aaron again only to manipulate them into going back to the island. He insists that he wasn’t pretending. Kate leaves with Aaron. Sayid also leaves, warning Jack and Ben that if he sees either of them again that it’d be unpleasant for them all. Not me! I love Sayid's ass-kicking scenes!! Sun tells Ben to take her to the proof, Jack joins them.

In the car Jack tells Sun that if she doesn’t kill Ben, he will for what he did to Kate. Don't make me pull this van over... Ben screeches the van to a halt and tells them that if they had any idea what Ben has done for them, they’d actually be thanking him. He gives Sun an ultimatum. Shoot me or don’t and we’ll go get your proof. She tells him to drive.

They arrive at a church and get out of the car. Ben pulls Jin’s ring from his pocket and hands it to Sun. He tells her that he got it from Locke and that Jin gave it to him before he left the island. Sun asks why Locke didn’t tell her that himself and he says he doesn’t know. Jack notes that Ben told him Locke didn’t come see him. He tells him that he didn’t; Ben went to see Locke. (Someone has to drug… err kill him right?) Ben apologizes for waiting until they got to the church to give her the ring but he needed them to come here to get back to Jin and the others. Again, why meet at the marina? Just then Desmond arrives. He asks them what they’re doing there and Ben tells him probably the same thing he is. He asks if they’re looking for Faraday’s mother too and Ben looks at him with a puzzled look. There are numerous reason Ben could be looking at Des oddly. a)He didn’t realize that Des was off the island too, b)he knows Des can lead him to Widmore’s daughter (Penny), c)he didn’t realize that Hawking was Faraday’s mother or d)he didn’t realize that Des *knew* Hawking was Faraday’s mother. Or maybe he wasn’t making a face at all and that’s just the way his bug eyes looked at the very moment. Who knows with this show.

They all follow Ben into the church. Eloise is lighting a candle (for Charlotte maybe) and turns to greet them. Does Des recognize her? I’m sure she recognizes him. She sees that not all of them have returned. Ben tells her it’s the best he could do with such short notice. “Alright! Let’s get started” she says. What happened to “God help us all”?

LOST

Why the 70 hour time limit? Will Hawking know where the island will be at the 70 hour mark? Will it be in 2008 at that moment so the O6 can make just an even leap?