The Ed Zone

Lost – ‘Eggtown’ – 4.4

Friday February 22, 2008 | 13 comments (now closed)

Before I dive into this week’s analysis, I thought I’d provide a little public service announcement and point you to this week’s edition of Entertainment Weekly which provides a pretty illuminating talk with Lost producers – Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Although JJ Abrams created the show, it’s Cuse and Lindelof who have really shaped the narrative (along with expert support from a stable of excellent writers). Cuse and Lindelof have inked a number of scripts – usually the more mythology heavy installments. These guys are ‘show runners’ in every sense of the word and what they have to say about what they plan on revealing this season and the seeds they’re planting for the next two are thought provoking. They also shoot down some wild Internet theories. As they explain, “sometimes a bracelet is just a bracelet”. Anyway, it’s a good read so check it out on newsstands or at EW.com.

On with the show.

1.   I’ll start right off with this. I have no freaking idea what the title ‘Eggtown’ means. In fact, this is the first time in this entire series’ run that I haven’t been able to tie the title to the episode in any cogent way. Does anyone have any guess (and don’t tell me that it opened with Locke making Ben breakfast)?

2.   I view this episode as one of those episodes of necessity that Lost typically doles out a couple of times a season. I’m reminded of the Hurley-centric ‘Tricia Tanaka is Dead’ episode where the only apparent thing of significance that occurred was Hurley went for a joyride in the Little Miss Sunshine van. Of course, that episode was all about laying the groundwork for things that would payoff later. Both the van and Roger Work Man would come back in a big way in Ben’s creepy flashback. In ‘Eggtown’, the importance of this episode is to answer the question of how Kate, a fugitive, could be free to see her on-again/off-again crush in Jack’s flash-forward and not be starring in her own version of Chained Heat. Just surviving a plane crash doesn’t indemnify one from a litany of charges including first-degree murder. So this episode was necessary to check that box and eliminate a major plot point for this character. That said, by episode’s end, we got a big twist that I’ll get to later.

3.   There were two major subtexts being woven in this episode that I think set the table for things to come. The first is the aforementioned Kate stuff – specifically as it relates to her relationships with Sawyer/Jack and her avoidance of ‘playing house’. Again, I’ll get to this in a moment.

4.   The other thread is Locke’s emerging dictatorship. Once upon a time I was a huge Locke fan. By that, I mean, I considered him the hero of the piece and Jack the jerk. Well, Jack can still grate (I don’t mean that as a criticism of the role – in fact, I think it’s necessary to the plot for Jack to be colored in shades of grey). But it was Locke and his interconnectedness with the island’s secrets that I grooved to. I thought his back story, where he has suffered a never-ending series of cons and grief, was fascinating. Here was a true, tragic hero.

5.   Now he’s just a bully and I’m starting to hate him. But I think that’s a good thing. From a dramatic standpoint, we’re witnessing the second coming of Ben. In fact, I think Ben is secretly manipulating Locke as one big test to groom his replacement on the island. We all know Ben gets away. Echoing a theory I read elsewhere, I think everything Ben has done to Locke has been one big, elaborate test to insure he could take his place as Ben retreated to the “real world” to tie up business there. That explains why he took Locke to Jacob’s shack. He had to be sure that Locke could see Jacob – that he truly was connected to the island as Ben is. Also, Ben shot him but shot him in an area where he knew Locke wouldn’t immediately die (thanks to his missing kidney). This too was a test to see if the island would heal Locke – meaning Locke was meant to live. That Locke had unfinished business. Now, with talk of the freighter people coming to harm the island, Ben has infested Locke’s mind in a bid to get Locke to put the island above all else. At one point in this episode, Locke says to Kate – “I’m responsible for the welfare of this island.” He never says “these people”. He holds the island above all else and I think this feeds in to Ben’s experiment. Therefore, I don’t think Locke is in that coffin. I think Locke is the new Ben. And this episode served to underscore Locke’s obsessive drive to cast out anything he perceives as a threat to the island. So, while I don’t like Locke much any more, I am no less fascinated in him as I am Ben. Devious (not evil) characters are always the most compelling and these two remain guys to watch.

6.   I liked the levity in this episode even if I thought I had finally ridden my brain of Xanadu. Thanks, Hurley!!!

7.   What’s the deal with Mile’s very specific demand of 3.2 million? I liked Ben’s response. “Why 3.2 exactly? Why not 3.3 or 3.4?” That is the question. There’s something more there.

8.   Although it was quick, that little sequence with Daniel and Charlotte was pretty compelling. It’s obvious that they are testing each other for psychic abilities. This implies that they know quite a bit about the island as it appears they are testing each other to see if exposure on the island is bringing about latent psychic abilities. Daniel gets 2 out of 3 cards right. He seems a bit disappointed (as if chalking it up to coincidence) but Charlotte sees this as confirmation that some mysterious power is at work. I think this scene explains why Daniel and Charlotte stayed behind. They have more to do there than just locating Ben.

9.   I’m not sure if it’s a clue or just a little wink to the audience but the book that Locke gives Ben from his bookshelf is VALIS by noted sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick (whose works always revolve around altered realities and have served as the basis for Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and others). Anyway, the key line was when Ben said he’d already read it, Locke suggested reading it again. “You might catch something you missed before.” That’s either a call to those obsessive Lost fans to seek out their local library and bone up on Dick or it might just be a wink to the fans to keep re-watching these episodes for the hidden clues.

Note:   I pulled this description of VALIS off Amazon.com. There’s some interesting parallels to some of the themes Lost has floated out there.

“The first of Dick’s three final novels (the others are Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). Known as science fiction only for lack of a better category, “VALIS” takes place in our world and may even be semi-autobiographical. It is a fool’s search for God, who turns out to be a virus, a joke, and a mental hologram transmitted from an orbiting satellite.

The proponent of the novel, Horselover Fat, is thrust into a theological quest when he receives communion in a burst of pink laser light. From the cancer ward of a bay area hospital to the ranch of a fraudulent charismatic religious figure who turns out to have a direct com link with God, Dick leads us down the twisted paths of Gnostic belief, mixed with his own bizarre and compelling philosophy. Truly an eye opening look at the nature of consciousness and divinity.”

10.   Another set-up that should pay-off next week revolves around the helicopter. When Charlotte reached the freighter, they say the helicopter has not arrived even though it left the day before. Here’s what we know. Lapidus is an expert pilot but was instructed by Faraday (after his time experiment) to follow the exact coordinates to the letter. Also on board is Desmond, who we know has temporal issues (having been blasted back to the future following the hatch explosion). It looks like next week’s episode picks up where these three left off.

11.   And now the big reveal. Kate is the surrogate mother to Aaron. What? What? WHAT??? I think this clearly implies that Claire is dead. If it came down to Kate being able to leave the island and Claire not being selected, I can’t see Claire willingly giving up her child just so he could get back to society – unless the island that Claire was staying back on was just too dangerous. Kate’s last comments to Jack – saying that they will not “have coffee” until Jack can face “her son” implies that something Jack did (i.e. calling the rescue) ultimately caused Claire’s death. So, is she killed by the freighter folk and Jack feels that weighing upon him? I think that, coupled with who knows what else has befallen the survivors, could be the straws that are breaking his back, leading to the suicidal Jack we saw in last season’s finale.

12.   But does this make Aaron part of the Oceanic 6? Technically, he was on the plane even if he wasn’t born yet. What do you think?