[This Place is] Death on a Redheaded Perm

So Charlotte, Lost’s most annoying on-island (for Season 5) character is dead, and I’m supposed to care.

I don’t mean to sound callow, but ever since she showed up on the island (“Don’t you people want to be rescued?”), she annoyed me, and I’m just not sad to see she’s gone.  Or, as The Civee put it, “I’m glad Charlotte’s dead, because this plot is boring.”

I wouldn’t entirely put it that way–her last few minutes established that Faraday tried to break his “don’t do it, because you can’t change it anyway” rule, which should mean he gets into some interesting situations during his next jump.  Speaking of which, if he meets Charlotte back in the day, then shouldn’t he be, like, her Constant?

Perhaps the most interesting revelation in tonight’s episode comes from a different story thread: John Locke can’t follow orders.  When he meets Christian at the bottom of the well, Christian emphasizes the fact that Locke was supposed to move the island.  But Ben moved it instead, causing the whole mess the island has gotten itself into.  Well, a few seconds later, Christian tells Locke he has to push the frozen donkey wheel.  And what does Locke do? Well, permit me to illustrate:

In the above screen capture, we see Locke with the wheel.  The blue arrow represents the direction Locke would have had to go to push the wheel.  However, Locke moves in the direction of the yellow arrow, pulling the wheel.  

And this is the guy they expect to save the island?

A few other thoughts:

The above sarcasm aside, I enjoyed this episode.  There are still loads of questions, and not much else answered, other than seeing a few more parts of the story of the French Science Expedition.  We saw Smokey‘s home, and if the crazy French guy is to be believed, it’s job is to protect that temple (which may or may not be the same temple the Others hid at last season).  But in the standoff of the crazy French guy versus an equally crazy French woman, I’m not sure who entirely to believe.

At the very beginning, they played a few snippets of the numbers broadcast.  The numbers were actually done in a normal voice.  I thought they would have been playing in a robotic voice, like the “Iteration” sequence we’ve previously heard.  Anyone else think we’ll eventually hear the person who started reading off the lucky numbers? Or is that just chasing a red herring?

-I didn’t think with his limited knowledge of English that Jin would be able to explain time travel.  I guess we’re just lucky he only had to explain it to the people who were going through the same experience.

-Sawyer and Jin’s reunion (The third one, if my count is correct) was somewhat touching.

-In that scene at the dock where Sayid and Kate left Ben but Jack stayed, I couldn’t help but think that Jack’s the only one who realizes how horrible his life is off the island.

-I think everyone was thinking what Sawyer said outloud when he told Juliet (after the flash) that she “just had to say something.”

-I was thinking when Locke “promised” Jin he wouldn’t tell Sun he was still alive, that Locke had his fingers crossed.  But it looked like he kept his word.

-Christian hinted that Locke was a sacrifice the island demanded.  I wonder what was supposed to happen had he turned the wheel, instead of Ben.  I’ve been thinking for the past few years that the lostaways were destined to live on the island for the rest of their lives (they “weren’t supposed to leave”, etc.).  And I don’t know why, but I’m still hoping that’s the case, even if they’ve said things weren’t supposed to happen the way they did.

-To the audience, Mrs. Hawking being Faraday’s mother wasn’t a surprise.  But to me, Desmond showing up in the final scene was.

What did you think?

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5 thoughts on “[This Place is] Death on a Redheaded Perm

  1. First of all, I have to say that I’m sorry Charlotte is dead, mostly because – unlike a lot of people – I like Faraday, and now he lost his love. As you know, though, people are never truly dead on this show, so we might see her again.

    Second, I don’t think Locke pushed/pulled the donkey wheel the wrong direction at all. Christian said all he had to do was “give it a little push” and motioned screen left. Locke didn’t push it, but he did pull it screen left.

    I thought it was a great episode. Not up there with “The Constant” which is by far my fave, but it was solid to the core.

  2. I like Faraday too, but I also think he’s not such a nice guy. I think one the problem with this show is that they really don’t make that many likable female characters.

    Maybe because the females are the focus of relationships, while I’m more into the show because of the story.

    But you’re right Dave, it was a great episode.

  3. They really need to let us know what all the time travel rules are, though. That’s the only thing bugging me right now. I’m sure they’ll get there in time, and if they don’t it’s not a deal-breaker for me, but Faraday seemed genuinely perplexed at Charlotte’s revelation that he told her to leave the Island and never come back. And how does future-Jin not remember Rousseu and vice-versa?

    So many questions still. Still… best… show… ever!

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