LostEpisode 513Some like it HothA Miles-flashback! I never really expected to see one as he’s so often in the sidelines, but I quite liked this episode and I liked seeing Miles’s back-story. This reminded me so much of the first few seasons when we didn’t know anything (or much) about our Losties.
This episode takes us back to when Miles was a little boy and to when his ghostbusting first starts. Next we see him as a punk youngster (maybe late teens) going to visit his terminally ill mother. He wants to know about his father, but his mother says that his dad abandoned them when he was a baby. When Miles persists with the questions, she tells him that his father is somewhere he can never go.
Sometime, much later, Miles is approached by Naomi. She’s interested in recruiting him for a mission. Miles agrees after Naomi tells him that they will pay him 1.6 million dollars. While walking down a street that night, Miles is kidnapped by a guy who tells him he’s working for the wrong side and if he joins them, he will get all the answers that he needs. Miles declines when they inform him that they will not be paying him a cent.
On the island, Sawyer asks Miles to erase the tape containing the footage of Sawyer and Kate taking young Ben over the sonic fence. Before he’s able to do it, however, Horace arrives looking for Sawyer. When he’s told that Sawyer is away, Horace brings Miles into “the circle of trust” and asks him to deliver something to Radzinsky.
A very jumpy Radzinsky takes the package from Miles and in return, sends Miles back with a body. Miles “listens” to the dead body and discovers details about the dead person. Back at Dharmaville, Horace consults with Dr Chang and Miles is asked to take the body to the Orchid.
When Miles gets back to his VW bus, he finds Hurley busy packing it with lunch for the workers at the Orchid. Miles is unable to dissuade him and they both head off for the Orchid. While writing in his book, Hurley notices a smell and after he insists on investigating, finds the body. He tells Miles that it’s ok that he can talk to dead people because he (Hurley) can also talk to dead people.
At the Orchid, Dr Chang is very unhappy that Hurley has tagged along and threatens Hurley by telling him he’ll be shoveling polar bear poop if he talks. Miles confesses to Hurley that Dr Chang is his father. Dr Chang gets a ride back with Miles and Hurley and Hurley drops tons of hints that Miles is Dr Chang’s son. Miles gets really upset with Hurley and on their way back, they get into an argument and Miles steals Hurley’s notebook.
However, instead of containing Hurley’s deepest, darkest secrets, Hurley’s notebook contains a script for “The Empire Strikes Back”. Hurley intends writing it with “improvements” and sending it to George Lucas. He also tells Miles about his relationship with his father and suggests that Miles tries to get to know his father.
Later, Miles is spying on Dr Chang who is reading to 3 month old Miles when he gets a call. Leaving his cabin, he sees Miles and tells him that he needs him to go with him. They are going to collect a new physicist from the sub. At the sub and much to Miles astonishment, the new physicist turns out to be Daniel Faraday.
In other island news, Roger Linus is upset when it seems that no-one knows where Ben went. While sitting on a swing and getting drunk, Kate attempts to console him, but Roger gets terribly suspicious of her. He goes to the school where Jack is cleaning up and in a drunken state, orders Jack not to help him out. He also asks Jack if he knows Kate as he thinks that she is acting very strange. Jack has a word with him and Roger goes off, still very suspicious.
When Sawyer gets back that evening, Jack tells him what happens. When Jack has left, Phil arrives holding the tape that Miles was supposed to erase. Sawyer invites him in and then knocks him out.
A lot happened in this episode. It may not have been quite as awesome as last week’s episode, but this provided us with some very solid answers and some very interesting insinuations.
This week’s key points are:
• Dr Chang is Miles’s father. Well, this theory has been floating around since Miles was first introduced on this show, so it comes as no big surprise that he is Dr Chang’s son. However, his trip to the island had nothing to do with finding out about his father – it had to do with money. I wonder if he even knew who his father was. Imagine him coming across his young mother with a little baby and realizing that the baby is him.
His mother tells him that his father never cared about either of them, but it’s quite clear (to me, at least) that his father does seem to cherish his little baby. I’d like to see under what circumstances Miles and his mother leave the island. Maybe it’s possible that Miles’s mother doesn’t know that the purge happened and that her husband was killed.
• It seems that Miles can only listen to dead people; he is unable to communicate with them or ask them questions…. unlike Hurley who can talk to dead people and play chess with them. But I think that Hurley’s experiences with dead people are all island related. I doubt that he can “listen” or talk to dead people apart from these islanders.
• Naomi recruits Miles for 1.6 million dollars. When he is kidnapped, he asks for 3.2 million dollars – a figure that Ben mentions to Miles when Ben was a prisoner of the Losties. This can either mean two things and the one that I like best is that the guy who kidnapped Miles (Bram) and who is now on the island – well, he works for Ben. Initially, when Ilana brings Sayid onboard Flight 316, I wondered if she worked for Ben. But then you need to wonder why neither of them recoginised Ben.
But of course, that could just be part of the whole setup. It could be that Ben wants a force on the island without the knowledge of the Others for some reason.
The other scenario is that they work for Dharma, and that Dharma has finally found a way back onto the island. Bram mentions the same question that Ilana posed to Frank “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” What that is supposed to mean, I can only speculate. My immediate answer would be “mud” but somehow I don’t think that that it the correct answer. I don’t know whether we ought to be taking this figuratively or literally. Sigh.
Anyway, Ilana and Bram and the others could be working for persons unknown, but I think that this is easier to discard than the other two scenarios. My personal opinion is that it’s far too late in this show’s history to introduce new major players in the show. Considering that this season is almost at an end, and that we only have one season left, chances are that they are working for someone we know.
• So Daniel Faraday is back on the island. Where has he been? How did he get off the island? Could it be that Daniel has learned the secret of time-traveling and has been doing a bit of traveling? So why is he back?? This guy knows so much more than he’s telling.
I think that these were the key points to this episode, but we had a number of interesting smaller points that are worth mentioning:
• I love the chemistry between Miles and Hurley. And I especially love that Hurley was trying to write “The Empire Strikes Back” with improvements (Miles: “Chewbacca: Rawwwarrr” Ha ha ha). Sadly, it doesn’t seem like his script made it to Lucas. Although a side note here is that I kindof like the Ewoks. They’re cute in a very ugly, annoying way.
It’s interesting to note the nonchalant manner in which Hurley in which Hurley refers to his “taking to ghosts”. And it’s also interesting to note that yet another character on this island has daddy-issues. Who on this island doesn’t have daddy-issues???
• Roger Linus is now incredibly suspicious of Kate and of Jack too. He may be a drunk and an abusive father, but this guy is going to cause a lot of trouble for our losties.
• Did anyone else notice all the interesting things about Egypt on the blackboard that Jack was cleaning?? More links to Egypt and ancient Egyptology.
• Sawyer has now knocked Phil out. What is he going to do with him??
• Naomi takes Miles to a body to “test” him. According to Miles, the body “tells” him about fake papers and empty graves. So Widmore is the one responsible for the fake crash site found after all.
• How cool was it that Hurley was there when the numbers were etched onto the hatch. I just think that it’s so fitting that he witnesses it when those numbers where the entire reason that Hurley was on Flight 815. I wonder if the guy who was in the mental hospital with – the one he got the numbers from – was one of the Dharma guys who maybe managed to escape the island and the purge???
• It seems that the island’s electromagnetic capabilities are growing, considering that one of the workmen is killed by a filling shooting through his brain from inside his mouth. I’m assuming that the “incident” is going to happen soon and that our Losties are going to be the cause of it!
Apparently next week is a recap episode, but I don’t recall Mnet Series broadcasting a recap halfway during the previous seasons so maybe we won’t have to watch it. I hope not, as this is just too good to make us wait for the next episode!
What we have learnt this week:• Dr Chang is Miles’s father, who supposedly abandoned them when Miles was still a baby.
• Miles’s ability to “listen” to dead people started when he was a child and is supposedly linked to the island
• Radzinky and his team are building the hatch
• Widmore is responsible for planting the fake crash site
• Bram and Ilana knew that Flight 316 would land on the island.
• Roger Linus is suspicious of Kate’s intentions
• Miles’s trip to the island was fueled by his love of money.
• Daniel is back on the island as Dharma’s new physicist.
New Questions this week:• Who does Bram and Ilana work for?
• Where has Daniel been? And how does he get himself noticed by Dharma to be their new physicist?
• And what lies in the shadow of the statue?
Interesting Trivia (from
this site)
• The time on the microwave at the beginning said "3:16". That's the number of the flight in which the Losties came back to the island. Plus, 16 is one of "The Numbers"
• When Miles is reading Hurley's script for The Empire Strikes Back he is reading the scene where Han and Chewbacca encounter the Imperial probe droid. In Hurley's script, Chewbacca shoots the probe droid with his crossbow. In the actual film, Chewbacca never shoots, he only growls to get the attention of the droid and then Han Solo shoots it from behind and destroys it. This could be a mistake or one of Hurley's "updates" to George Lucas's script and could be an allusion to the "Han Shoots First" controversy concerning changes Lucas made to A New Hope. In Hurley's updated script - Han doesn't shoot first, Chewbacca does.
The episode title also refers to this film, as it depicts the Battle of Hoth, the ice planet which was home to the Rebel base.
• The book that Pierre is reading to baby Miles is entitled "Me And Polar Bears".
• Throughout this episode it is important to remember that Dr. Chang in 1977 is known as Dr. Marvin Candle throughout the Dharma Initiative movies that are watched by various cast members from 2004 and on. Hurley even mentions this to Miles during the episode.
• Despite claiming to watch The Empire Strikes Back 200 times, Hurley does not remember that Luke Skywalker got his hand cut off before he knew that Darth Vader was his father.
• Miles was reading the March 14th, 1977 issue of Sports Illustrated. The cover of which reads, "After 23 years… NEW BOSS IN L.A. Tom Lasorda"
• Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates is a novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands. Sawyer refers to this tale when he asks if Juliet ever felt like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike.
Interesting Screencaps (from
this site)
Building the Swan Hatch
Hurley writing in his notebook
Bram the kidnapper
Jack cleaning the blackboard
Testing Miles
Alvarez - the dead guy Miles transports