The Blot thought this week’s episode of Lost, entitled “Jughead,” was excellent. It didn’t have any crazy twists or turns, but it gave us a few answers and really started to connect some dots as we inch ever so close to the series finale next season. The best part of “Jughead” is that it was a Desmond-centric episode. In many ways Henry Ian Cusick’s Desmond has become the heart and soul of Lost. Des is an altruistic character in the truest sense of the term who only wants to help his fellow castaways and find his one true love, Penelope Widmore.
What was kind of shocking to The Blot was how great an episode “Jughead” was considering it didn’t feature a single member of the Oceanic 6. This just reiterates to me how strong Lost’s ensemble cast really is. The additions of the Freighter Folk and Nestor Carbonell’s Richard Alpert to the main cast this season has definitely breathed new intrigue and excitement into the craziness of life on the island.
I felt like there were two huge reveals this week and one truly heart whelming moment. The first big reveal is that we now know what Charles Widmore meant when he yelled at Ben Linus about how Ben stole the island from him but that it would be his again one day. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected Widmore to have once lived on the island as an Other. I always guessed Widmore to be the financer of the Dharma Initiative and that Ben "stole" the island from him when Ben helped the Others wipe out (i.e. murder) the members of Dharma Initiative. But now that we know Widmore was once an Other, it’ll be really interesting to see what eventually drives him away from a place he holds so dear.
The second huge reveal wasn’t as much of a reveal as it was a tease about what’s to come surrounding Daniel Faraday. We learned more (although not enough) about Dan’s life before coming to the island, including the very interesting fact that his research was financed by Charles Widmore. It was also revealed that his experiments left a woman in a semi-comatose state and it was alluded to the he performed his time travel experiments on her, as well as on himself. How else do you explain Faraday’s travels to the island’s past? Although, I guess his time travels could be explained in a future episode as a byproduct of the castaways current time traveling experience because of Ben's "moving the island."This week's big shocker to me was Desmond's going to Charles Widmore for help in finding Daniel’s mother! I just couldn’t believe he would turn to a man he despises that much for help. It just goes to show you what kind of man Desmond truly is, that he would put Penny and himself in such danger to help his friends. As it turns out, not only did Charles help Desmond by directing him to LA, but Widmore also showed real compassion for Des and Penny in warning them to stay away from the island. This was obviously a warning meant to keep Penny away from Ben, who has sworn to kill her as payback for Widmore having Ben’s adopted daughter murdered.
The saying use to be "all roads lead to Rome," but in the instance of Lost it seems more appropriate to say all roads lead to Los Angeles as the Oceanic 6 (and Desmond) all seem to be making their way to the City of Angels. This doesn’t bode well for Penny as she is sure to have an eventual run in with Benjamin Linus. Any guess as to what significance Faraday’s mom will play in all this? I have a pretty good hunch it’s no coincidence that it’s Desmond looking for her.
This is a potential spoiler, but my guess is Faraday’s mom is none other than Desmond’s friend from the antique store and the time traveling police woman, Ms. Hawking! It just makes sense, right? She deals with time travel, which fits into Faraday’s time experiments, she knows a lot about the island and what Desmond was doing on it, and in last week’s episode she is shown to be working with Ben in LA on locating the new location of the island. If she turns out to be Faraday’s mom this would be another great example of a minor character having a huge impact on the course of the show.The heart warming part of the episode came in the reveal that not only have Desmond and Penny had a child in the three years since the Losties got off the island, but they named him Charlie! What a sweet and fitting tribute to a friend Desmond tried so desperately to save from all but certain death. Here’s hoping we get a Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) appearance in a forthcoming flashback or a mysterious reappearance of a dead Charlie on the island in the future.
That’s it for The Blot’s weekly Lost Episode Review, sorry there was no Lost Wednesdays yesterday but there was just too much good stuff going on in the world of pop culture. Make sure to be here again next week as The Blot Says... delves further into the mysteries of Lost.