As promised, the producers have returned (at least temporarily) to more character-centric storytelling. Last night’s installment, “Whatever Happened Happened” focused on Kate, our erstwhile fugitive-turned-heroine-turned-Mommy and her reasons for returning to Chez Island. We were also given an answer to one of last year’s season finale questions: What did Sawyer whisper to Kate just before he jumped out of the freighter-bound chopper?
As most of us suspected, Sawyer tasked Kate to check in on his daughter, Clementine. Of course, Clementine’s mother, Cassidy, has already been revealed as a Kate gal pal in Season 3’s “Left Behind”. Although it was nice to see Kate have an opportunity to have a “real” friendship with someone, I thought that opening scene with Kate and Cassidy was a bit forced. Kate’s around this woman for 5 minutes and suddenly she’s spilling the beans about the whole O6 lie? And she admits she’s not Aaron’s mother to a near stranger simply because Cassidy suspects that Sawyer dumped Kate, too? I don’t know. All of that just didn’t work for me.
But the rest of the episode really clicked well in my opinion. It was good to see Kate’s tipping point of guilt with regard to Aaron and her decision to go back to the Island and find Claire. But then what? Will she try and bring Claire back? Why not take Aaron with you? Is the decision to leave Aaron behind one of the reasons the O6 ended up in the 1970s? Weren’t the conditions supposed to be as exact as possible? Weren’t they all supposed to go back? At any rate, Evangeline Lilly really found the emotional center of this episode. Her tearful goodbye to Aaron was one of the season’s better moments in my opinion.
Here’s the part of the episode that fascinates me: Jack’s refusal to operate on young Ben. I’ll admit, I did a little Tiger Woods fist pump when Jack refused to perform the operation. I mean, after all the havoc our bug-eyed villain has brought upon Jack and his castaways, I don’t blame the good doc. In fact, I’m convinced he thought he was doing the future a favor by letting little Ben die. No Ben, no purge, no turning the donkey wheel, etc. Besides, like Jack said, he’d already saved his life once. But here’s the tricky part: Jack’s decision to not save Ben’s life leads Kate and Sawyer to take Ben to Richard, which ultimately puts Ben on the path to becoming the Island mastermind we’ve come to know and loathe. Whatever Richard is about to do to Ben in that Temple, I’m pretty confident it’s going to greatly contribute to making Ben who we eventually know him to be. If Jack had simply performed the surgery, what would the implications be for Ben and the future timeline?
Others may not agree, but I loved the Hurley / Miles interaction where they discussed the potential of time travel paradoxes. (Hurley’s “Back to the Future” reference cracked me up.) Miles seems to subscribe to the Farraday school of “whatever happened, happened”; there’s no way you can change the future; we’re just living out what already happened in the past. It makes me think Farraday at least spent some time with Miles, Sawyer, and Juliet in Dharmaville. We know he eventually ends up down in the Orchid station during its construction (as we saw in this season’s premeire). But this one is still up in the air, in my opinion. As several of my friends have said, if you can’t change the past / future, then what’s the point of this whole season? I still think something will happen that will lead to an alternate timeline or something. Maybe this is where the Desmond story will pick back up. Remember all of that about the rules not applying to him?
Some of my questions / observations:
- Where’s Sayid?
- Where’s Farraday?
- While we’re at it, where are Bernard and Rose? It’s been 3 years (and about 10 episodes) since we saw them last. And where’s Claire?
- When will we see the inside of that Temple?
- Are Ellie and Widmore still on the Island, leading the Others? Based on Richard’s comment last night, it would seem so. But he certainly has no regard for what they think about his decision to save Ben. Interesting.
- When will “new Jack” realize his Island purpose? And doesn’t he sound a whole lot like Locke right now?
- Speaking of Locke, I’m glad we’re finally getting back to the present timeline. I’m intrigued by what “resurrection Locke” is able to do or not do. And will he have another encounter with Christian?
already & not yet 
Why does every episode in this season go back to the scene where Jack, Kate, Sun, Ben, and Syid are all at the pier, the one where Sun has a gun pointed at Ben. Is there something hidden about this scene that is hard for viewers like me to understand. I just don’t get why that particular scene is so important.
Tara (and others),The one ODD thing about that scene is the boat anchored just off to the side of them. the name is clear on the side of the boat.The boat’s name: ILLUSIONNo idea of the significance, but it is not there by mistake. . . . but I love the way that they are making THAT scene the hub from which all their actions are understood.I expect to see it maybe a few more times. ??? . . . and maybe we will find out just what the “illusion” is all about. I am guessing it has something to do with the fact that Ben is good at creating them.
Tara,I think another reason we keep returning to that scene at the marina is because there’s so much story to be told between that reference point and the next day when the O6 rendevous at the airport and board Ajira 316. Now we’ve seen what happened with Jack, Kate, and Sayid from the moment they left the marina. I’m guessing next week we’ll find out what Ben did they left him in such a bloddy and beaten condition prior to boarding the Ajira flight. Based on his “I’ve changed the rules” statement in the preview clip for next week, my guess is that he lived up to his promise to take Penny’s life.