Wednesday, January 28, 2009

LOST Jughead, first thoughts

As always, SPOILERS if you haven't seen the episode yet.

Let's start with the big one, Charles Widmore was an Other.

I have to admit, I thought it was a possibility that "Jones" was Widmore, A. because he had an English accent while wearing a US Uniform, so that meant it probably wasn't his and B. because he said "my Island" in a very similar way to old Widmore, but I was a little shocked by Widmore being an Other.  I wondered if at some point he was the leader of the Others similarly to Benry and John, that he had been chosen by the Island to lead the inhabitants, but was somehow ousted and that's why he called it "my Island", but didn't think he would be an Other subordinate.  Very interesting.

The episode also served to tie him to Dharma, however.  He has been tied to Dharma previously by bidding on and winning the journal of the first mate of the Black Rock (the slave ship in the middle of the Island with the Dynamite in it), the ship of course was owned by Magnus Hanso, the great grandfather of Alvar Hanso who helped set up Dharma.  In this episode, there is a hanging on his office wall, which we don't get a great look at, but which clearly has "Namaste" written atop it.  Namaste, of course, is a common Dharma greeting.
So, while we have learned that Widmore was at one point an Other, I think we should also keep in mind his ties to Dharma.

Faraday's mother

Widmore gives Desmond an address he says belongs to Widmore's mother.  I, along with most everyone else I've talked to or read theories of, believe Faraday's mother to be Ms. Hawking, the woman who Desmond met in the episode Flashes Before Your Eyes, when he tried to buy Penny's engagement ring from her and she told him that it wasn't the way it happened.  We learned at the end of The Lie last week that Ms. Hawking is indeed in LA (since that's where Benry is, and they interacted at the end of the episode), so this strengthens the theory that Ms. Hawking is in fact Faraday's mother.  (Also there is the fact that Faraday tried to tell Desmond his mother's name but was unable to due to the time shift.  His inability to say the name to Desmond as well as our inability to hear it leads me to believe it would be a name we would know, hence Ms. Hawking).  So the question is, does Widmore actually know that Ms. Hawking is in LA or is he trying to mislead Desmond.  And if he does know that Ms. Hawking is in LA, does he know that she is working with Benry?

Widmore tries to warn Desmond to keep Penny safe.  This is important because of events in The Shape of Things To Come when Benry came to Widmore in his penthouse suite.  Benry told Widmore that he would kill Penny since Widmore killed Alex.  And, of course, at the end of this episode, Desmond and Penny are headed towards LA where Benry awaits.  Not good.

Faraday's Research

So, Widmore also funded Faraday's research.  Probably because of having run into the castaways in the past (including Faraday, although we haven't seen them meet yet) and hearing of their tales of time travel.  My guess is that their travels and interactions with the Others directly leads to Widmore leaving the Island and subsequently trying to get back.  He also is apparently covering up Faraday's research.  I have to assume that the "fumigator" works for Widmore.

Meanwhile, Theresa Spencer (or maybe Spenser) appears to be suffering from the same thing that afflicted Desmond in The Constant.  She appears to be unstuck from time.  Her sister Abigail Spenser (or Spencer, but I like Spenser) is watching over her (and, of course, it is all payed for by Widmore).

Why do I think it is Spenser and not Spencer?  Because of the poet Edmund Spenser.  He wrote the epic poem The Faerie Queene as well as a book called A View on the State of Ireland in which he talked about ways to subdue Ireland (an Island) and it's natives (sound familiar?) and one of the ways was the destruction of the land to cause famine, an idea he got from something the English had done to Ireland earlier which in what was known as (get this) The Desmond Rebellions.  Not sure where the Theresa or Abigail come from, but I'm feeling pretty confident about the Spenser.

Speaking of ruining land and causing famine, a pretty effective way to do that would be a Hydrogen bomb, which begs the question, how important is the bomb?  Faraday tells Ellie how to deal with it, so theoretically, the issue could be over.  If Richard believes them (and why wouldn't he when they disappear in a flash of light so theatrically) then surely he follows Faraday's advice and buries the bomb, rendering the bomb into merely a MacGuffin device.  However, if it is a MacGuffin device, then why is the name of the episode also the name of the bomb?  That seems to add a little more importance to it.  So I shan't be surprised if the bomb comes up again, and at the moment am inclined to believe it will (sorry Hitch).

Of Interest



I loved the quote that young Widmore gave us...
"Follow me? Their leader is some sodding old man. What, you think he can track me? You think he knows this Island better then I do?"
Hilarious.

I also loved, loved, loved that Desmond named his son after Charlie.  Awesome, and I totally buy it.

Until Next Time, I'm off to watch Life on Mars now, because it is awesome.  I hope that you all watch it also, because I am tired of awesome new shows getting canceled way before their time.

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