Someplace Better Than Here: The Castaways Take a Leap of Faith on "Lost"

I don't know about you but I am very, very worried about Penny.

Last night's episode of Lost ("316") seemingly achieved the impossible: sending the castaways back to the island on a wing and a prayer, something that I thought may not have happened until much later on this season. Trust Team Darlton to pull a bait and switch on us and actually start this week's episode with Jack, Kate, and Hurley surviving yet another plane-related mishap and waking up on the island.

I thought that this week's episode, written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, was absolutely brilliant, offering us some new mysteries to ponder (more on that in a bit) while fulfilling viewers' wishes (just like Jack's!) that the Oceanic Six return to the island. And while I still have some head-scratching questions, I thought that the return to the island was handled beautifully: a bit of haunting mystery, a wallop of blind faith, and a flash of white light.

So what did I think of the revelations of the aptly-titled "316"? Let's discuss.

Before we begin, just a note of caution: I don't traffic in spoilers nor do I enjoy them. The below thoughts are based on my theories and feelings about last night's episode and do not express any knowledge of future (or, ahem, future past) events on Lost. Whew.

The Lamp Post. Absolutely loved the reveal that the computer lab beneath the church was actually a Dharma station called The Lamp Post, a very fitting moniker for the station, which acted as a conduit between pockets of a specific type of electromagnetic energy. By tapping into these energy sources and using a Foucault pendulum, Eloise Hawking (and previously Dharma scientists) are able to predict where the island, which is in constant motion, will next appear. It explains why rescue never came for the castaways as they weren't long enough in one place for people to locate them, why the island is ALWAYS notoriously difficult to find, and why Penny had scientists looking for a specific type of electromagnetic energy up in the Arctic. So did the US military discover the island in 1954 (as shown by the surveillance photo on the chalkboard in the Lamp Post) because they were looking for it specifically? Or was it an accidental discovery?

And, given the complex equations and use of the Lamp Post, how did Captain Gault of the Kahana know to be in the right place at the right time then to find the island at the end of Season Three? Hmmm, that's an interesting question. And the only likely answer that springs to mind is that Hawking had to have given the coordinates to Widmore. Which does make me question Eloise's allegiances just a wee bit.

So why the Lamp Post? A clever homage to C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, where a lamp post acted as a landmark for the bridge between Narnia and the real world. (If you remember your "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," it's where little Lucy Pevensie meets Mr. Tumnus for the first time.) Therefore, it's a fitting symbol of a beacon in the night sky, a lighthouse pointing the way to the correct path. Unfortunately, for the Oceanic Six, they won't have the luxury of traveling to the island via an old wardrobe...

Ajira Airways. I'm glad that the clues about Ajira Airways have finally paid off with such deliciousness: the episode's title refers to a particular flight (316) that travels between Los Angeles and Guam, which will put the Oceanic Six (or, well, Five plus Ben and a few others) in the right position for the next event window. However, it's still very much up in the air (heh) whether or not Flight 316 actually crashed or whether Jack, Kate, and the others were pulled out of the timestream when the white light materialized. So far, there's no sign of the downed plane on the island but, as it's likely that Frank Lapidus will also wake up on the island, I do hope that the plane had an able-bodied co-pilot... (BTW, how awesome was it that Lapidus ended up piloting the flight, as he was originally meant to fly Oceanic Flight 815? Only wish ABC hadn't put Jeff Fahey's name in the credits!)

I'm very curious if this was the same means that Ben continually used to return to the island following his frequent off-island jaunts (as seen through his cache of passports and foreign currency). Did he often take Ajira and vanish off the plane in order to reach the island from various points in the world, based on knowledge gleamed from Eloise Hawking? It certainly seems that way, anyway.

Penny and Desmond. Speaking of Ben, I'm very, very nervous about how he ended up bloody on the docks prior to the flight and then turned up in the nick of time for the flight with his arm in a sling and his face covered in cuts. Could he have followed through on his promise to Charles Widmore that he would kill Penny in recompense for Alex's death? I certainly hope not but right now my mind is definitely fearing the worst: that Ben brutally murdered Penny (and possibly Baby Charlie too) and that she fought back with every ounce of strength at her disposal... and that we'll have to wait a few weeks in order to learn just what happened.

As for Desmond, I'm glad that he said that he was finished with the island, even if the island hadn't finished with him yet. Just how will he get back to the island? And what if Ben had rigged things so that he didn't have any choice in the matter? Color me very worried.

The Proxy. I was a little skeptical when I first heard Eloise say that they had to approximate the same circumstances as the original crash but I love the symmetry of Jack transporting Locke's body (wearing Christian's shoes) and that of Christian's body on Flight 815. I've been waiting for that payoff since I first heard of Ben's plan. And just like Christian, Locke will be resurrected once he returns to the island... but will he have corporeal form? Or is that what makes Ben so special, so unique? That he can literally transcend death, not in spiritual form, but in the flesh?

Still, I came round to Eloise's way of thinking: after all, life can be explained as a mathematical equation, so it does make some sense to try to keep whatever variables you can in place... otherwise the end result can be very "unpredictable." So then, we get echoes of Charlie's guitar (carried this time by Hurley), a Spanish-language comic book, a prisoner and a federal agent (Sayid and his female companion, played by Rome's Zuleikha Robinson), a wedding ring (Sun toys with Jin's band, just as Rose did with her own in the pilot), and a last-minute attendee on the flight (Ben, echoing Hurley's mad dash to the plane). Loved that Hurley bought out 78 seats on the plane, in an attempt to minimize any, er, collateral damage from their journey back to the island.

Hurley. So how did Hurley know about the flight to Guam and make it out of jail? For one, we know that Ben's lawyers at Agostini & Norton were getting the charges against him dismissed, so it's easy to make the logical leap that he was released from custody. But how did he know about that exact flight? Easy: Hurley is in constant contact with the island itself, as evidenced by his frequent conversations with dead people. I believe that "Charlie" appeared and told Hurley that he had to get on Ajira Airways Flight 316 and carry a guitar with him, possibly one that Charlie himself had used in the past. Loved that Hurley was reading yet another Spanish-language comic book, this time a translation of "Y: The Last Man," written by Brian K. Vaughn... who just happens to also be a writer on Lost. (Nice shout-out, that.) But why is Hurley so visibly upset at Ben's appearance on the plane? And why is Ben "not supposed to come" back?

Aaron. It's clear that Kate has been through hell by the time she gets on the plane, making a decision that will likely haunt her for the rest of her life. So where is Aaron then? I believe that she went back to the motel to see Claire's mother... and left Aaron with her. It's perhaps the most difficult thing Kate has ever had to do and it makes me believe why Ben arranged for Kate and Jack to see Carol Littleton in the first place. Still, given Aaron's uniqueness, I'd be surprised if that's the last we see of the little one. And, as he was one of the Oceanic Six, shouldn't he have had to return to the island as well? Especially as we're told that Desmond will need to at some point. But then again: I've been wondering for a while now why Walt doesn't have to go back to the island...

Sun. Out of all of the castaways, I thought Sun would be the hardest to convince of this plan, given her hatred of Ben and desire to kill him in order to avenge Jin's death. Yes, she learned that Jin wasn't dead but would she really leave behind Ji-Yeon in order to return to the island without once questioning if they'd ever come back again? It was perhaps the one thing that frustrated me about last night's episode: that no one ever thought to ask if the trip to the island was permanent, if they'd ever be able to leave again, and if there was any going back. Yes, Sun wants to see Jin but at the cost of her daughter? I at least wanted to see some questioning going on. (But then again, no one even asked Ben how he got shredded in the few hours since they last saw him.)

Sayid. Just how did he end up in protective custody? And what makes me think that this federal marshall isn't all that she appears to be? Hmmm... I'm confused why a federal marshall would be taking Sayid to Guam, of all places, but it is possible, given the US military presence on the island, that he could be en route to a federal detention center there. Still, I think there's definitely more to this arrangement than meets the eye, especially as Sayid doesn't seem all that surprised to see everyone on the plane. So is the the first trip to the island for the marshall and the man who offers Jack his condolences? Or is it a return trip for them too? Curious.

Jack. Love that Jack woke up in the jungle (love that eye effect), clutching a shred of Locke's suicide note with the words "I wish." Just like fate, no matter how hard Jack tried not to read that note, it had a nasty way of materializing again and, just like Thomas the Apostle's final acceptance of the resurrection, it does make Jack believe. Is it that moment more than the others--the willingness to return, the placement of Christian's shoes on Locke's corpse--that allows them entry to the island? Does all it take is being in the right place at the right time and believing? Is that what allows a wardrobe to become a portal to another realm, a flight to be a pathway to the island? Is it the acceptance of destiny, the erasing of skepticism? Opening up one's heart to the possibilities of magic?

Saint Thomas. It's interesting that reference is made to Saint Thomas the Apostle, who dictated that Jesus' disciples should follow him to Judea, even if their deaths were all but certain, yet disbelieving the resurrection and needed physical proof of Christ's wounds. Just like our own doubting Thomas, Dr. Shepherd, no? When he opens the coffin and stares at John Locke and replaces his shoes, it confirms the fact that Locke is dead. So when Locke does spring back to life on the island, it will provide concrete evidence that Locke did cheat death somehow. Think of it as one larger-than-life proof.

Jin. Love that it's a Dharma-jumpsuit wearing Jin who encounters Kate, Jack, and Hurley at the lagoon. He appears to be wearing a station emblem that sort of resembles a five-pointed sheriff's star, which makes sense as he seems to be patroling the island and responds to some sort of alert to their presence. The Dharma VW van also points to the fact that they are now all clearly in the 1970s period in the island's history and have caught up to the timeline established in "Because You Left."

Lost Literary Allusion of the Week: In addition to C.S. Lewis, there's also the use of James Joyce's "Ulysses," which Ben reads ("my mother taught me") on the Ajira flight. Joyce's novel is about a single day traveling through Dublin, seen through the eyes of the book's protagonist Leopold Bloom, itself an allusion to the travels of Homer's mythological hero Ulysses, who finds himself fighting to return home to his dutiful wife Penelope. (In the novel, Molly Bloom subs in for Penelope.) How apt then that the Ulysses story could also relate to Desmond and Penny (Penelope Widmore)?

Best line of the evening: "We're not going to Guam, are we?" - Frank Lapidus

What did you think of this week's episode? Why was Ben all bloody? Just what do the castaways have to do now that they are back on the island in order to save the world and those they left behind? And will they be trapped in the past forever? Or is there a way for them to return home to the present day and their everyday lives? Discuss.

Next week on Lost ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"), Locke's fateful mission off the island as Jeremy Bentham is finally revealed.