S5E04 - The Little Prince

Guess Who's Back!
Hey, everybody! Jin's alive! And even crazier than that-- he was rescued by a very young (and very pregnant) Danielle Rousseau!!! I think now might be a good time to do a quick recap on what we "know" about Rousseau...

In 1988, she was travelling by boat on a science expedition when they intercepted a signal with a voice repeating the infamous numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42). When they went to investigate the signal, they got caught in a storm which slammed their boat into the island leaving her and her team stranded. And if that wasn't bad enough, she was already 7 months pregnant. Her team explored the island for a couple months, and things didn't exactly go well. When they reached the Black Rock (remember, the slave ship in the middle of the jungle), somehing happend to Montand (who we also met last night) causing him to lose his arm. Everyone on her team (including her husband Robert, who we also met last night) ended up "getting sick", and in the end Rousseau was had no choice but to kill them all. She then gave birth to her daughter Alex, who was later stolen by the Others and raised by Ben as his own daughter. And (fast-forward 16 years) while the Losties were being rescued by the freighter folk, she was shot dead while leading Alex and Karl to the Temple.

Ok... now that you're caught up, realize that most of that was told to us by Rousseau, so we don't really know how much we can trus. The "sickness", I would guess, is probably the same thing we're seeing the Losties go through with all this time travel. I wonder if we'll see Robert and Montand with bloody noses soon.

Canton-Rainier
Recognize that name? It's the logo on the van that Sayid and Ben were driving in when they met up with the lawyer. And, as we all know, the Lost producers are big fans of anagrams, with "Canton Rainier" translating to "Reincarnation"-- a possible sign of what's to come in Locke's future? I can't help but think that Locke won't be dead for long.

BESIXDOUZE
The wreckage from Rousseau's team that Locke (and Sawyer and Juliet) found said "BESIXDOUZE" (B-SIX-DOUZE) on the side, which translates to B612, the name of an asteroid. The title of this episode ("The Little Prince") is also the title of a novel about a little boy who lives on this asteroid. You can read about the story at The Little Prince wiki page.

The Order of the Symptoms
Why was Charlotte the first person to show side-effects from the time-travelling? And why Miles next? Trust me... there's a reason why. It appears that the symptoms are showing in order of how long those people have spent on the island. Charlotte believes that she was born on the island... Faraday seems to think that Miles was also born on the island (Dr. Cheng's baby, right?). Beyond them, the next person to show symptoms was Juliet (who has spent 3 years on the island). In no time, we should start seeing all of the losties start showing symptoms.

Ajira Airways
In what's believed to be the first on-island flash-forward, we see a run-down beach camp with 2 boats (pontoons?). We also see this water bottle bearing an "Ajira Airways" logo. Instantly, we think that this must be how the Oceanic 6 will get back to the island... but I've got to offer an alternative theory. When Desmond starting seeing flashes of Charlie dying, he wasn't able to avoid it, but he was able to postpone it. Essentially, according to LOST Law, if we tried to change something in the past, the universe would course-correct to assure that the future won't change. So while you can't change the destination, you can always change the journey. What if the islanders flash back to when Desmond caused Flight 815 to crash, and they were able to prevent it. But the universe course-corrected by getting the Losties on another flight (through Ajira Airways) to crash on the island.

Born Again
While trekking through the jungle, Sawyer and Locke see a light shooting up into the sky. They then hear a familiar scream-- it's Claire! And Kate! It's their first cross-timeline encounter with the other Losties. Then again, who's to say that we haven't already seen some cross-encounters? How do we know that the Locke we've been seeing this whole time isn't Locke from the future?

Ben's Evil Plan
So, Ben is the one that hired the lawyer to get Kate on the run? It makes sense... but does that mean that he's also behind all these people trying to kill Hurley and Sayid? It only makes sense that Ben's way of convincing them to go back to the island is just to drive them to feel like they're in danger, and to make the island feel like the only place they can be safe. Then again, wasn't there a giant dangerous smoke monster on the island? It seems like Jack (specifically) forgot about smokey and wants to go back. I'd love to see them finally get back on the island and then for smokey to come and kill one of them, at which point Jack looks up and says, "Dammmit! I forgot about that!" and then he looks at Kate and says "We have to go baaaaaaccck home." Maybe they're saving that for the season finale.

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The Poll
Votes last week were split almost 50/50 between Penny being killed by Ben (my vote too) and Penny ending up on the island. This week's poll comes courtesy of my wife. When do you think they'll make it back to the island? (For reference, this week's episode was Episode 4.)