Daddy issues are no new thing with LOST. It is a theme of the show. The first father/son relationship was introduced in season 1's 'White Rabbit.' The fifth episode of season one revolved around Jack following his father in the jungle. His father led him to water but that's besides the point. In fact, the second Jack episode of season one is entitled 'All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.' In season one we saw these father/son difficulties: Locke, his father, and the con of the kidney transplant; Jin and his own shame of his father's life as a fisherman; Michael and Walt. In season two, the show revisited Locke and his father as well as Jack and his father. In season three we saw Hurley and his dad, their issues as well as Ben's daddy issues with Roger. We even saw Locke purged of his anger at his father in 'The Brig.' In season five, we saw Sayid and his father as well as the focus of tonight's episode: Miles and his father.
The long-awaited backstory finally happened tonight. Miles was introduced in the show as such a brash person. Maelstrom and his name Miles Straum is intentional. But anywho, we never knew how Miles got involved with Naomi and Widmore, and it all began when he was a young boy and he heard voices from a dead man. Once again, death is involved in a season five episode. And death has been a theme in this season. The very fact that Dharma will eventually be killed is always in the back of minds. Miles doesn't know how to deal with his ability to communicate with the dead. He makes a profit from it, of course, but he doesn't understand himself and why he is the way he is as we learn in the scene with his dying mother (and there's also a theme of mothers and death in the show which may be written about). I think that's something the story will be returning to.
It wasn't a shock at all to learn Miles is Dr. Chang's son. Every fan figured it out in the season premiere. I can't help but think of Locke, in The Orchid, when he tells Jack that the Island is a place of miracles. It relates to what Hurley said to Miles about Miles having the chance to be with his Dad in the present. The Island can be a place of miracles. Throughout the episode, Miles dealt with, essentially, abandonment issues. He's been angry at his father for years. In 1977, he doesn't want to see him or talk to him. Luckily, Hurley's there. Hurley brings out the best in every character on the show. He and Miles have the communication with dead people in common as well as the daddy issues. As Hurley told Miles: if you have the second chance, you have to take it. And Miles does. In a classic LOST scene (and really this episode is what is special about LOST: their character-driven episodes), Miles watches his father read a story to 3-month-old Miles, and in that moment he saw that his father truly loved him. I think Pierre had a very good reason for sending his wife and son away. Now, it looks like Miles will get to spend, at least, a little time with his father. Overall, a good episode with nice character development and also some set-up for the remainder of the season. LOST is king.
Some other thoughts:
--Did we see the first electromagnetic-related death? I'm surprised Hurley didn't put things together with what he knows. Speaking of electromagnetism, I really dug the scene with The Hatch Hole. Jorge Garcia did a great job with the scene and, especially, the line to Miles about this Hatch being the reason why the plane crashes in 2004.
--’Who is the Shadow underneath the statue?' has got to be Smokey. I really thought we were going to see good ol' Tom in that scene. But I still think Ilana, and the thugs with Miles are with Ben. And, also, big guy is ON the Island. Thanks to TwoP for that since I didn't connect the dots.
--As the great Jim Ross says, business is about to pick up. Sawyer's holding Phil captive. Roger is suspicious of Kate. Meanwhile, in 2008, Ilana is ready to start taking names. I'm excited to see what happens.
--Very interesting that Dharma does some work in Hostile territory. Horace Goodspeed is still awesome, by the way.
--I really enjoyed the scene between Jack and Sawyer. Sawyer looked genuinely grateful for the information Jack told him. And I always like the presence of Juliet.
--You know...Kate told Claire's mom that she was going back to the Island to find her daughter. Maybe Kate should get on that. But, of course, I doubt Claire is in 1977. I'm going to move on from this...
--I got a kick out Sawyer's line about lying and being the head of security. I felt like that was a shot at our government. Very enjoyable.
--The cover-up of Alvarez's death lends to that Utopian society of the Dharma Initiative. I wonder if that will be re-visited.
--No Jin again. Bummer.
--Loved the line Miles had about standing in front of his mother in the lunch line.
--I was glad to have more Hurley around. I got a kick out him writing The Empire Strikes Back. Hurley's just awesome in general.
--Faraday has returned. I thought we'd see him at the Orchid but I should've known Faraday went on some crazy adventure. He returned with scientists from Ann Arbor. I am extremely excited for the Faraday episode. I'm thinking it gets the 2 hour season finale. But I was very, very glad to see Daniel Faraday again. You can bet your cadberry egg that he's moving up in the rankings. Faraday looked like a new man too. No longer broken. Very excited in case I didn't express that yet.
That's all for 'Some Like It Hoth.' No new episode next week so I'll be back in two weeks to discuss THE 100TH EPISODE! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
And here's a transcript of a scene between Sayid and Hurley from season two's episode 'The Long Con.' It's always been one of my favorite scenes.
[We see Hurley sitting by a fire reading a manuscript entitled "Bad Twin" by Gary Troup. Sayid enters carrying a pole and the radio.]
HURLEY: Hey, check this out. I found a manuscript in one of the suitcases. It's like a mystery book.
SAYID: I want to show you something.
HURLEY: Cool, you fixed it.
SAYID: We'll see. [handing Hurley the radio] Hold on to this. Don't expect anything. The chances of getting a signal are slim at best.
[Sayid plants the pole in the sand and turns on the radio. We hear static.]
HURLEY: Static's good, right?
SAYID: No, reception is good.
[Sayid changes the dial and we hear Danielle's transmission.]
HURLEY: Wait, what's that?!
SAYID: It's Rousseau's signal.
HURLEY: Oh, crap.
SAYID: [changing the dial] But this radio has a wider bandwidth.
HURLEY: Hold it, stop! Do you hear that!
RADIO ANNOUNCER: [spotty reception] That was the old classic "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, featuring Cootie Williams on the trumpet. Up next on WXR, the Glenn Miller Orchestra with Moonlight Serenade.
[The song begins to play with good reception.]
HURLEY: Whoa, you hear how clear that is? It's got to be close, right?
SAYID: Radio waves at this frequency bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel thousands of miles. It could be coming from anywhere.
HURLEY: Or, any time. -- Just kidding, dude.
THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS!
| Another exciting weeks for the rankings. Kate dropped 9 spots in my rankings. Jack moved back into the top five. For STEVE, Kate moves up even further and Miles cracks the top 10. AFTER EPISODE 13 RANKED: 4/16/09 CHRIS 1. Locke 2. Desmond 3. Sayid 4. Jack 5. Sawyer 6. Ben 7. Daniel 8. Jin 9. Hurley 10. Juliet 11. Richard 12. Sun 13. Miles 14. Kate 15. Frank 16. Widmore STEVE 1. Desmond 2. Sayid 3. Kate 4. Sawyer 5. Locke 6. Ben 7. Jack 8. Jin 9. Miles 10. Frank 11. Richard 12. Sun 13. Juliet 14. Widmore 15. Hurley 16. Daniel |
1 comment:
Now that Faraday is back, I wonder if Charlotte will be back. Or is she already there...
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