LOST - "Namaste"

Another really strong episode from Season 5! After the amazing "LaFleur" 2 weeks ago, which was such a rich, emotional, historic episode, tonight's "Namaste" felt a little more like one of the "moving the chess pieces" hours, but it still had some really great little nibbles of tasty goodness and ended with one of those great scenes that has me screaming "Omigod omigod omigod!" at the screen.

****Spoilers Below****

So, all of our 1977 Losties have reunited. Sawyer's still the man in charge, with Jin and Miles on his security team and Juliet a mechanic/Sawyer's gf. Now, Jack, Kate, and Hurley are new Dharma recruits, even showing up in the 1977 class picture in their silly jumpsuits. Sayid's been mistaken for a Hostile/Other, but Sawyer's promised to take care of that little problem. Hail, hail, the gang's all... wait a minute. Where's Daniel Faraday? We still don't know, but Miles hinted that he's gone... does that mean gone in space and time, or did tragedy hit our Dan yet again?

And, back in 2007, we finally learn (though I've been doubting it lately, so other bloggers have much better ESP than I do) that Sun did stay in the present. Why??? What did she do or not do to prevent the time jump? Ajira 316 did indeed land on the runway on Hydra, Caesar and that new woman whose name I've forgotten seem to be rallying as the leaders of the new Socks, and Ben, Sun and Frank headed off into the jungle. For once, that bug-eyed genius Ben fell victim to the old villain trick of telling his master plan a little too soon, and Sun - proving she's still a badass - clocked him so that she and Frank could head off in the outrigger back to the main Island alone.

Once there, they found the usual creepy Island quirks like Smokey and the whispers along with the dilapidated camp and the always-spooky (ghost of?) Christian Shepherd. Ghost Dad clued Sun and Frank into the time warp scenario, with that aforementioned 1977 class photo as a prop, and then with some spooky wind effects told Sun and Frank they have quite a journey ahead of them. So -- the race for the rest of this season will be to reunite all of our characters, hopefully in 2007... so we can all stop scratching our heads every week trying to figure out all these time loop questions!

Some of my favorite moments from "Namaste:"

- Sawyer (LaFleur) having to explain to Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they were now in 1977. Loved that awkward conversation!

- Radzinsky, he of the Flame and the itchy trigger finger, making a live appearance! Remember, he's the possible last-remaining Dharmite, Inman's partner who draws the blast door map and who kills himself in the Swan station (aka the Hatch) sometime shortly before Desmond arrives. Yeah, seems a volatile guy. But we know he survives the purge somehow...

- Holy crap! The little Dharma baby that Juliet helped deliver last ep is Ethan! Creepy, creepy, Claire-kidnapping, Charlie-attacking, super-strength Ethan!!! So, he survives the purge, too.

- Jin was a total man with a mission trying to determine if Sun, too, had magically appeared on the Island. I loved his determination. Hopefully it will all be rewarded soon.

- It was so nice to see Sayid smile, when he first recognized Jin. I'm hoping things with Sayid work out well, he's had a really rough path.

- LOVED LOVED Hurley asking Sawyer questions about his Dharma life -- and, dude, how come you're not telling them they're all gonna die in the purge? I love that we can rely on Hurley to finally get to the heart of so many things.

- So, how did Ben know that the outrigger boats would be on the Hydra where they were, covered in branches? And, this relates back to that runway... I'm guessing that the time travel-closed loop thing will end up explaining all of this. That somehow the Others knew to build the runway and put the boats out cuz one of our people from the future told them to. How much else of what we've seen was all conveniently planned by the future characters, knowing they would eventually need it?

- This was an idea a few weeks ago, too, but now especially after seeing Jack, Kate, and Hurley get processed as Dharma recruits, I'm SURE this is all going to connect back to the 3 of them plus Sawyer being the ones on "Jacob's list" and taken by the Others at the end of season 2.

- Sawyer made Jack a janitor!

- I really, truly loved the scene between Sawyer and Jack. Yes, because I love Sawyer and hate Jack, but I also thought it was so well-written and true to their characters. Sawyer's reference to Churchill reading a book every night, and comparing their styles of thinking vs. reacting, was so on the nose. At least I hope it is! I'm trusting in Sawyer to pull them all through this, though from the previews it looks like there's going to be some rocky times ahead.

- I was very worried at the end of the last episode. Sawyer and Juliet's relationship has instantly become so precious to me, I want to protect it! I think they had a good ep tonight, as Sawyer was more upfront with Juliet, seemed to keep his (tortured) distance from Kate, and Juliet was steely-strong but nice enough in her own interactions with Kate. Plus there was that strange emotional moment when Jack saw Juliet again and figured out their relationship. But, looks like there are some troubles ahead for all of us 'shippers. I'm totally in favor of Sawyer/Juliet and Jack/Kate being the final result. Let's just settle that and move on!

- And, finally, the reason why I was screaming at my tv.... in a much-anticipated scene, we finally got the answer to one of the major continuity questions that's been bugging the heck out of me. Cuz which awkward little adolescent boy was so fascinated by the idea of a prisoner that he just had to bring him a sandwich? None other than BEN LINUS!!! And it was so perfect that Sayid was the first to see him, Sayid who has spent at last part of the last 3 years under Ben's thumb doing dastardly deeds all around the world, Sayid who just saw the adult, scheming Ben on the Ajira flight, who knows all too well the horrors that this small child will grow up to create... Awesome!!!

Since I'm not going to work tomorrow, I've got lots of time to surf the blogs and see what kinds of things people are saying about this season so far. I know it's about time for that 2/3-mark where they flip the switch and it becomes all action from here on out. I can't even imagine what they have in store for us next! But, where's Daniel? Did Ben kill Penny? And where are Rose and Bernard? :-)

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Oooh, my favorite tv blog had some of the text of Sawyer's great speech up:

"It's how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't mean that much to you, because back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn't think, Jack, and as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead." -Sawyer