4 stars though I was so close to giving it 5!! But then I remembered some of the upcoming episodes and had to step back a little.
Dammit, this episode made me cry like, three separate times. Just when I was starting to get over the emotional loss of Charlie, something else would happen. First with Hurley asking where Charlie was, then with him telling Claire, then with Hurley saying that he's gonna listen to Charlie cuz it was the last thing Charlie did; warn them about the people on the boat. And they just had to throw in the flashback to that scene.
All that with the suspense of that cabin and these mystery people, it was quite the emotional rollercoaster.
Oh, the police officer that was talking to Hurley, we already saw him in season 2. That's Ana Lucia's partner.
I think maybe you hadn't been watching TWD yet? But boom, we have another character connection! Even into the future, paths are still crossing. It's sad that Hurley had to lie about not knowing Ana Lucia.
Question is, why does it seem like they're lying about what really happened? Matthew, who came to visit him, asked "are they alive?". We totally know he means the other survivors. Why would he want to know that and why would he even suspect they were?
We now know that apparently only six of them made it back, that the public is aware of. They are referred to as the Oceanic 6, which we learned from when Hurley was shouting, "I'm one of the Oceanic 6!" to the police officers.
So who are the six? We already know some of them:
1. Jack
2. Kate
3. Hurley
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
We also know there's someone going by Jeremy Bentham. But my guess is that this Jeremy is not one of the Oceanic 6, otherwise he'd have gone by his real name. He could even be someone they got to know once they got back or maybe someone from the freighter? I'm sure we'll find out eventually.
The whole Charlie appearing to Hurley in the future thing, I don't think it's Smokey. I think Smokey can only exist on the island. Something about the supernatural aspects of the island. In all the flashbacks, we've never seen anything supernatural-like off-island.
Well, actually, I guess you could consider Charlie appearing to Hurley as supernatural. Unless it was just Hurley seeing things. Remember his pal Dave, who was supposedly coercing him to do all those things? Obviously Hurley thinks they should go back, so maybe his subconscious created the whole thing. But then again, there was that other crazy dude who had pointed out Charlie to Hurley when he'd said to be careful because that guy is watching you. You could argue that the other crazy dude was, well, crazy. Lol. So if Charlie was there in some way, then it could have been him who convinced Hurley that the other survivors need their help. So then I guess it COULD be plausible that Smokey or another version of Smokey is appearing in a location other than the island.
And round and round we go with theories!
I totally agree that Sawyer has become a MUCH better person. Playing out the season 1 stuff in the RPG when he was a complete asshole really brings the change into light. He was so good with Hurley here. So caring and thoughtful and just genuine. It's such a wonderful growth for that character.
Omg, I agree with Claire. When the other couples were running toward each other and hugging and Claire's walking over, searching the crowd for Charlie with this ghost of a smile on her face like she was so happy that she was going to see him again. My heart just broke and I started crying again.
Yup, Naomi was still alive! For like 5 more minutes, lol! At least she trusted Kate in the end, even though we don't know if we should be trusting these people from the freighter.
I agree with the
reaction to the cabin scene! Scared the bejesus out of me. That damn cabin just comes and goes as it pleases, doesn't it? He runs away only to find it in front of him again. *shudders* And in the rocking chair, that was Jack's dad! Or at least someone taking the form of Jack's dad. The eye kinda looked like Locke's. I'm wondering if he was there, visiting Jacob?
I was totally shocked, too, when Jack pulled the trigger. Man, has he changed also!
I also enjoyed Jack and Ben's conversations. Lol, I wondered why Ben was totally staring at Jack and Kate while they were hugging with this funny look on his face. I thought it was creepy the way he watched them. Then he reveals later that he saw Kate take the phone off Jack when she hugged him. Lmao! That's my Kate! XD
I totally don't trust the alleged rescuers either. But I still think I would have stayed with Jack. Locke is unhinged. Bad or not, he killed Naomi in cold blood and as they pointed out in this episode, Locke has thwarted all attempts to get them off the island, even before there was some freighter with sketchy people. But you mention that any way to get back home is great, but these people on the freighter might be there to make sure they DON'T get back home. Remember we found out the crash was faked in another location, complete with, what, a couple hundred corpses? Who the hell would go to those lengths and why? And if they'd go to those lengths, I don't think there's anything they wouldn't do.
There's endless reasons the people on the freighter could be there. Maybe they are just there to help. Maybe they're there to permanently silence the survivors in case a means of rescue stumbled across them. Maybe they're there for Desmond since Naomi had had a picture of Desmond and Penny, but if it wasn't Penny's boat, then who else would be looking for him?
Again, there are an endless amount of possibilities and we just don't know enough yet. It's like they opened up an entirely new world mysteries! I love it!
So those were my thoughts so far going off what you wrote. A few other things I had jotted down whilst watching:
Fun fact, at the beginning, when the car chase ends, you can see a guy holding a handheld video camera. They show him a couple times. He's videoing the crash and then Hurley getting cuffed. Lol, it's Randy! Hurley's old boss from Mr. Cluck's and Locke's old boss from the box company!
When Hurley is alone in the interrogation room and hallucinates Charlie swimming up to the glass, if you pause it, you'll see that instead of "Not Penny's Boat" written on Charlie's hand, it says "They Need You" which is what Charlie says to Hurley at the psych ward.
So why is it that survivors need them? Why are they even still on the island? Why didn't they return with the Oceanic 6 and why are they keeping the fact the others are alive a secret? Could it have to do with the freighter? Well, the simple fact that the crash was faked must be connected. Only someone or a group of someones extremely powerful could pull off something like that. Either it was safer to leave the rest on the island or they weren't able to get them out for one reason or another. But obviously something's not right because Hurley, then later, Jack, says they need to go back.
That Matthew guy showing up at the ward could definitely have gotten the ball rolling on that. If the Oceanic 6 thought the others were safe if they were thought to be dead, well, that safety is gone now because Matthew and whoever he's affiliated with are suspicious or know something.
Okay, I'm going to stop now. I know this is crazy long. It was impossible to keep short with the huge shift and ginormous amount of new mysteries to discuss!
Favorite quotes/moments:Ben: (after Naomi's disappearance) Better call the boat. Tell them she's getting a
really big pile of firewood.
Hurley: What about Charlie? Charlie went down to that place so we could all be rescued. And whatever he did down there, it worked. But then something must have happened. He must have heard something before he... [Pauses] I don't know why, but he changed his mind. Because the last thing he did was to warn us that the people on that boat are not who they said they were. So I'm not listening to you. I'm listening to my friend. I'm listening to Charlie.
When Rose said something like she'd better make sure to treat Charlie really good when they were back, it felt like a knife in my heart. Even more when we later saw everyone meeting up again, everyone hugging their beloved, and Claire watching out for him. *sobs*
I think maybe you hadn't been watching TWD yet? But boom, we have another character connection! Even into the future, paths are still crossing. It's sad that Hurley had to lie about not knowing Ana Lucia.
reaction to the cabin scene! Scared the bejesus out of me. That damn cabin just comes and goes as it pleases, doesn't it? He runs away only to find it in front of him again. *shudders* And in the rocking chair, that was Jack's dad! Or at least someone taking the form of Jack's dad. The eye kinda looked like Locke's. I'm wondering if he was there, visiting Jacob?