Namaste

I wish I could find another way to begin these Lost posts other than "Wow," but this season is making it tough. Each episode keeps wowing me! "Namaste" was no exception and I feel the story picked up a bit after the slower pace of "LaFleur."

Seeing Flight 316 go down recalled the first episode of the show; the turbulence followed by the sudden plunge toward the ground. The copilot even says "You're going to rip us apart!" when Lapidus struggles to pull the plane up. Lapidus was supposed to be the captain of Flight 815 - I wonder if the plane would still have broken apart if he had been the one flying it?

One of the biggest questions I had was why the returning Losties arrived at different points in time. Why did Jack, Hurley, Sayid and Kate all go back to 1977 when Sun and Ben did not? Here's one theory. Maybe Ben couldn't go back to 1977 because he was already on the Island in 1977 as a kid. Sun wasn't there that we know of, but in a past episode we did see Pierre Chang feeding a baby - could it have been her? It's a stretch I know, but I kind of like this idea.

Another question is, *when* are Ben and Sun? I'm guessing it's not in 2007, since we saw a time flash as the plane was crashing (it was night, then after the flash it was suddenly day.) Could it be even farther in the future? Or even more out there - could it be an alternate future? We've seen a lot of the Dharma barracks on the show and they never looked the way they did when Sun and Lapidus found them; dilapidated, and with obvious Dharma relics still around. When the Others lived in the barracks, there was very little evidence of Dharma ever having been there (not that I can remember anyway) - and definitely not signs that said "Processing Center" or group photos of DI recruits. So alternate future? Maybe.

Did anyone else TOTALLY see it coming when Ben brought the sandwich to Sayid? I loved the role reversal in this scene. When Sayid meets Ben in the future, Ben is a prisoner falsely claiming not to be one of the Others; this time, Sayid is the prisoner and falsely claiming to be one of the Others. In the future Sayid "questioned" Ben, now young Ben is questioning Sayid, albeit much less violently. I predict that Sayid will try to kill young Ben; now that he knows that Ben is the one who killed Nadia I can't imagine him just letting him be. I don't think he'll be able to do it (à la Michael trying to kill himself) but I think he'll try.

Another juxtaposition that I thought was cool was the Juliet/Jack/Kate/Sawyer love square. When Juliet first joins the Losties, she's an outsider vying for Jack's affections and Kate has the upper hand. Now the roles are reversed, but it's Sawyer, not Jack they both want. Jack seems to have learned some humility (or maybe it's just been forced upon him) since Sawyer is now running the show and he has to be a Workman. Poor Jack. Although I am proud of him for going a whole episode without crying.

The ultimate irony is that the Losties (especially Jack and Hurley) were motivated to get back to the Island largely because they were tired of living a lie. And now that they're back...they're still living a lie. It remains to be seen what going back will actually accomplish.

Shocker of the night - Christian Shephard appearing to Sun and Lapidus. (Although once again, I do wish they wouldn't display the guest actors' names during the opening credits, because that gives it away.) Just who/what is Christian Shephard? How was he able to come back from the dead? And what is it about him and Locke that made it possible? I think this is one of the last questions that will be answered on the series. I won't complain if the show doesn't end with everything all neatly tied up, but I really hope they will answer this one. I don't have any theories that make sense. During this episode they seemed to be implying a connection between Christian and the smoke monster, and there is definitely a connection between him and Jacob (whoever Jacob is!)

Bring on next week! I'm hoping for more Sayid/Ben drama and more Locke. Lots more Locke.