5 stars from me as well!
I watched this a week ago and got too busy to post about it, and then got sick again! Gorrammit!
That dream Eko had was eerie! He had no idea Ana Lucia was dead or had even been shot and yet, there she was in his dream/vision giving him a message. It's definitely the island doing its thing. Remember Locke had dreams that were premonitions as well, of Boone and finding the hatch and Boone saying "Teresa falls up the stairs, Teresa falls down the stairs" and when he asked Boone who Teresa was, Boone was totally surprised and asked how Locke even knew about Teresa.
So yes, this mysterious island can speak to you through dreams if it wants! Well, the island or something on it. Trouble is, how do you know if you can trust where this vision is leading you or the thing giving the message? You saw Boone all bloodied like he looked after falling from the cliff so the vision giver definitely knew what it was leading Locke to. But was it a message to tell him what to do or a warning that he shouldn't do what he's about to do because it'll lead to that?
Ana Lucia tells Eko that he has to help Locke (if I remember correctly). Now I don't know if it's the island or something on it but I'm just gonna say "the island" to make it easier. So the island knows Locke is losing faith in it and goes to someone else whose big on faith. Eko sees Ana Lucia looking exactly as she had in his dream, same bloodied areas, so he believes it and volunteers to go with Locke to track down Henry.
But Eko has no intention of trying to find Henry. I don't think he flat out lied to Jack just so that he would have an excuse to get Locke alone and ask him about a question mark. Eko is very smart and he knows that trying to find Henry when he had such a head start and when the Others know the island so well is a complete waste of everyone's time and will only lead to more people in trouble, hurt, or killed.
I thought it was so neat how the next dream/vision, we assumed it was Eko again but it was actually Locke dreaming he was Eko talking to his brother Yemi. So crazy! You could see that spark of faith again in Locke but once they make it into The Pearl station and see that orientation film and then saw Jack in one of the cameras spying on the Swan station, it appears that whatever faith Locke had left was completely squashed.
I wonder what Eko saw in the Pearl station orientation film and in this whole situation that Locke didn't? It turned Eko into a full believer and he even said that he thinks that what they are doing is more important than ever. Really? It seems like the inhabitants of the Swan station were nothing but lab rats. Let's see how long we can get people to push a button. Let's see how long we can convince them that it's important and that they're saving the world. Is that why their replacements never showed up? Is that why the food drop still happens when it seemed like the project had died without word reaching the people involved on the island? Or is Eko right? Is the button more important than ever? Gah! What's real and what's a lie?
How about you, Ilona? After seeing that, do you think they should still push the button or do you think the button does nothing? Remember when not-Henry told Locke that he didn't really push the button and that the timer just reset? Do you think he was telling the truth or lying? Remember that one time when they almost missed it and weird sounds and shaking was happening? Do you think that was all effect to scare the people who seemed like they were about to stop pushing it?
I don't know about you, but I think I'd keep pushing that button anyway. I'm just too scared to find out what would happen if I didn't because if you're wrong, you can't travel back in time and push that button. I think I would take the "better safe than sorry" route.
I agree, it was so funny how the roles have changed! This time, it was Eko asking Locke if he wanted to watch that again, like Locke did to Jack but this time, Locke has the same look of ridicule and disbelief on his face that Jack had.
Did you notice something else about The Pearl station orientation film? It was that same guy but he used a different name. In the first, he was Dr. Marvin Candle. Here, he introduces himself as Mark Wickman. Now why would he give different names? Were either of the names even real? Is it possible it's two different guys? Twins? If so, wouldn't they have the same last name? Nah, I think it's the same guy and being a harcore Lostie, I noticed something else. We all noticed in the first orientation film for The Swan that he never moved his right arm. It just hung there so we knew it was a prosthetic arm. I don't think it's really spoilery to say that it was later confirmed by the writers. Here though, he's moving both arms just fine so this orientation film must have been shot before the Swan station film. Not sure if that really matters but in case it does, we can keep that information in the back of our minds.
You have an interesting theory about the island being the one playing a trick on Hurley's mind with Dave showing up! I can't remember if I thought that at first. I might have. So many years ago. Either that or I just thought that since Hurley had issues with depression and creating this imaginary person in the past, then the stress and drama of what he's been going through, again with the trigger or closet eating, that he was just having a mental relapse. This time though, it was so real. I think in the flashbacks, you never see Dave touch Hurley or move anything. On the island, Dave throws a coconut at Hurley when Hurley tells Dave he's just imaginary and Hurley seemed really surprised at how much the pain of being hit by it seemed real. Maybe it was his imagination but strengthened by either whatever gives these visions or by the island itself; it's magnetic healing powers or whatever it is.
Oh my gosh, I didn't feel hope when I saw that Libby was alive. I was horrified! She was gut-shot three times. It's hard to come back from ONE gut shot when you have a hospital with the technology and meds needed to get through that but THREE times on an island with no medical tools and only random types of prescription meds, that's horrible. Poor Libby. She looks like she was suffering immensely.
That made me cry to see her like that and when she tried to tell them who did it with her dying breath by barely managing to say "Michael", Jack assumes Libby is asking after Michael's well-being. The expression on her face of fear when she sees that Jack has no idea the danger they could all be in was heartbreaking. Can you imagine trying to convey such an important message as you die in hopes of saving your fellow survivors but to utterly fail and go out of the world knowing that they could very well be joining you again when one of your own stabs you (or shoots you) in the back? Absolutely gut wrenching horrible. Such great writing but so evil of the writers to think this up!
I agree. I also hate Michael. I have this twinge of this twinge of sympathy for him for what he's gone through with Walt and how what he did will haunt him the rest of his life and make him question everything. It just has to. Think back when we first met Michael. Think back to his flashbacks. He wasn't a bad man and he never showed any tendencies toward harming others, let alone murdering people. This whole thing just has to haunt him the rest of his life. And the way you saw him react at the very end of the last episode, that amazing acting, the expression on his face when he shot Ana Lucia and then Libby and then at the end where his teeth were chattering with the adrenaline of fear and shock over it all was amazing.
Oh man, it was crazy though when he found out Libby was still alive. He was so worried she'd say something that I was scared of anybody leaving him alone with Libby!
I agree, when Hurley asks Kate "Hey, have you seen Libby?" and was taking about how they were going on a picnic and Libby was getting blankets.... yah, I started crying again. Omg, how do you even tell someone that? And then when Hurley was sitting with her and apologizing for forgetting the blankets, yup, more tears.
Eko's flashback scenes were crazy! That Charlotte girl definitely did have this air about her of someone who had this deeper knowledge of someone who experienced the beyond. You didn't mention it so I'm guessing you didn't recognize her dad! That was Richard Malkin, the psychic Claire saw!
Richard Malkin with Claire:
Richard Malkin with Eko:
Knowing that, what did you think of Richard's claims to Eko that he was a fake? That he just pretended to be psychic? Is that the truth or was he just trying to get rid of Eko or both? Honestly, I think he's the real thing psychic. The way he talked to Claire and how he knew things just didn't make me think that he was trying to con Claire because there's no real payoff in that. Claire wasn't rich or anything. What exactly would he be trying to gain in conning her? I think he just quickly wanted to get rid of Eko because he knew what happened to his daughter was real and he didn't want her to become entangled in some big to-do, claiming she was this miracle child and start having all these people showing up or trying to take her away or hurt her.
I agree, that recording was so creepy! The screaming was so intense and knowing that someone randomly came to life just as you were getting ready to cut them open is scary!
Wow, I've written so much already but that was all in response to the things that you've already touched on! I have a few that you didn't bring up that I had noted. Here we go on those!
So when Jack tells Sawyer to get the heroin, he demands that Kate will accompany him. Sawyer knows exactly why; so that Jack will know where the stash is. If Sawyer refuses, he's letting Libby suffer. Wow. That was very cold and calculating on Jack's part but a very smart move. He knows Sawyer is a jackass but he also knows Sawyer isn't as heartless to let Libby go on in agony over a stupid stash. Can you believe he was hiding it right there in his shelter the whole time? Lol!
The second vision we see in the show where we assume it's Eko having it but then it turns out it's Locke dreaming he was Eko talking to Yemi? If you watch it again, you'll see that during that whole dream, Eko is limping so that's a huge clue that it was really Locke dreaming as if he was Eko! Very clever writers.
Hurley talking to Michael at the end, oh man. When he says, "I'm glad you're okay, dude." You can see a bit of the guilt on Michael's face. Can you imagine how they would all feel, especially Hurley, if they ever find out Michael was the one who murdered Ana Lucia and Libby? And to think back and wonder, how could he just sit there and let me tell him that I was glad he was okay when he was the one who did all this?
The Pearl Station, station 5 orientation film mentioned the DeGroots again. They seem to be the brainchildren of the Dharma Initiative, which I believe the narrator says in both videos. Did you also hear what he said in this orientation film? As part of the instructions, they were to be down there for a certain amount of time and then at the end of their shift, leave and go to the Pala Ferry. So first of all, what is the Pala Ferry and second of all, the people assigned for shifts at the Pearl station weren't made to live there like the Swan station. The Swan station people were told that they couldn't leave and there were quarantine signs posted on the doors. However, the Pearl station people came and went each day. They went to Pala Ferry. Now a ferry is usually a boat that transports you to another nearby location or a dock area. Well, we know the Others have a boat. But again, are the Others the same as the Dharma Initiative people or a different group?
Also, the Pearl station orientation film, Mark Wickman says that the Swan station is an experiment. Like I said above, I'm paranoid and would still keep pushing the button. But in addition, someone is being lied to. Who though? The people in the Swan station or the people in the Pearl station?
My heart kinda broke for Locke when he had that breakdown talking about how there was no meaning in his pathetic life. It was so sad. He really has had such a soul crushing life that the fact he's been able to smile and be in such good spirits up until now is amazing.
On their way to the Pearl, Locke said that creepy "a sacrifice the island demanded" line again regarding Boone.
Last thing, in Eko's flashback, you mentioned Libby met Eko at the airport which was awesome but the circumstances leading to that were crazy! Charlotte secretly went there to deliver a message from Yemi from the beyond. How crazy was that? Even off-island, Eko had a run-in with the supernatural and with his brother giving him messages accept in the island, his brother seems to be directly able to give him messages now. I think that's why Eko is having so much faith now. Already off island, Yemi gave him a message. Charlotte said, "He wants you to know that he will see you soon. He said that even though you don't have faith in yourself, that he has faith in you." I think it's that message that makes him believe here that what they are doing is more important than ever. After all, it was Yemi that led them to the Pearl station.
Favorite quotes/moments:
Yemi: (to Eko in a dream, sitting at the hatch computer) The work being done in this place is important, Eko. It is more important than anything. And it is in danger. You must help John. He has lost his way.
Jack: Kate is going with you.
Kate: What are you talking about? Why would he need me to go with him?
Sawyer: Jacko here knows his heroin's in my stash with the guns. So, I can either show you where it's at, or let poor Libby suffer. That pretty much it, Doc?
Jack: Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
(after orientation film)
Eko: Would you like to watch that again?
Locke: No. No, I've seen enough.
Locke: I was never meant to do anything! Every single second of my pathetic little life is as useless as that button! You think it's important? You think it's necessary? It's nothing. It's nothing. it's meaningless. And who are you to tell me that it's not?
Eko: (shows his cross to Locke) This cross was worn by my brother, Yemi. Yemi was a great man, a priest, a man of God. And because I betrayed him, he was shot and died. he was placed on a plane which took off from an airship in Nigeria half a world from here. Then, the plane that I was on crashed on this island. And somehow, here, I found my brother again. I found him in the same plane that took off from Nigeria, in the same plane that lies above us now, that has concealed this place. And I took this cross from around Yemi's neck and put it back on mine, just as it was on the day I first took another man's life. So let me ask you. How can you say this is meaningless? I believe the work being done in the Hatch is more important than anything. If you will not continue to push the button, John, I will.