…Had Things Been Different

9:18pm – Ford’s blind date turns out to be with none other than Charlotte Lewis, whom we last saw with a wicked nosebleed right before her time-travel-induced death on the Island. As in the original timeline, Ms. Lewis is an archeologist, a regular Indiana Jones if she does say so herself.

One wonders why she’s in L.A. I don’t recall her having any ties to the city in the original timeline, but that may just be my faulty memory. But I digress — Charlotte was looking damn fine, I must say.

9:19pm – Ford initially tells Charlotte he became a cop because of Bullitt, the 1968 film starring Steve McQueen.

The movie is also considered highly influential in many other ways within its genre. The use of a rebellious and borderline-insubordinate police officer as a protagonist operating despite interference from higher-ups was followed in many later movies, notably Coogan’s Bluff 1968 and Dirty Harry and The French Connection, both released in 1971. The idea of making the officer fairly young and cool, and equipped with a sports car, was subsequently used by Starsky and Hutch and Miami Vice. [Wikipedia]

Charlotte, not buying it, goads Ford into telling her something closer to the truth, that he was “either gonna become a criminal or a cop, so I chose cop.” Ah yes, a choice. That theme has been ever-present in past seasons, never moreso than season 6. In the X timeline, Sawyer made the “right” choice and avoided a life of crime and deception. That’s not to say everything’s sweet ‘n rosy in the X timeline, but at least he’s on the right side of the law.

9:20pm – Sexy Timez, Part II.

9:21pm – Ford has a paperback copy of “Watership Down” on his dresser, one of the many books he read while on the Island in the original timeline. A book he professed was one of his favorites, as I recall.

Watership Down is a heroic fantasy novel about a small group of rabbits, written by British author Richard Adams. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language (Lapine), proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel recounts the rabbits’ odyssey as they escape the destruction of their warren to seek a place in which to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way. [Wikipedia]

9:21pm – A once-happy family.

9:22pm – Sawyer’s visit to the Hydra cages evokes some not altogether pleasant feelings for most, I’m guessing. Season 3 seems to be widely regarded as the series’ weakest, occurring during in the limbo period before an end date was set for the series. God help us had that decision not been reached — we might have had to deal with 20 more episodes featuring Jack, Kate and Sawyer locked in cages and giving “looks” to each other.

I find it odd Kate’s dress (provided to her by Other Tom Friend at Ben’s behest long ago) was still lying in her cage after three years. I would’ve thought a resident monkey might have snagged it. By the way, have we seen a single monkey or chimp in six years or Island life? Very disappointing.

9:24pm – Claire finally attempts to exact vengeance upon Kate but is foiled by Locke/Esau, who pulls her off the latter and slaps her silly. Another tally under the “good” column for Esau.

9:25pm – So Ajira 316 appears to be in pretty decent shape after all. I’m pretty sure Frank Lapidus’ copilot was impaled by a tree, though, so there may be some window patching needed.

9:25pm – Sawyer follows the beach path to a pile of recently deceased bodies. It’s been a while, so my memory’s fuzzy, but I didn’t remember there being a whole lot of other 316 castaways.

9:26pm – Ah, a new character, apparently the “only one left” out of the 316 castaways. I find that hard to believe.

9:30pm – Charlie’s brother has arrived in LA to bail his brother out, whom we last saw in handcuffs after getting busted for drug possession onboard Oceanic 815.

9:31pm – MIRROR ALERT. Another instance of one of this season’s plot devices: one of our characters looks into a mirror and arrives at a crossroads in their life and has to make a choice, or gains some sort of visibility or relation to the original timeline. Through the looking-glass, as it were (read the recap from three weeks ago for more on this).

9:32pm – The lone survivor of 316 reveals herself as “Zoe.” She tells Sawyer she isn’t sure how the rest of the 316 castaways died, only that she heard screaming one day and they were all dead within minutes. Not buying it, Zoe. I’m guessing Widmore’s sub has docked within the last day or two.

9:33pm – After Claire’s attack, Kate is distraught and at her most vulnerable, and Smokey chooses this moment to take advantage (assuming he’s evil, of course). Esau relates how power the concept of an enemy can be in driving an individual toward a goal — he gave Claire something to hate by telling her the Others took Aaron. It drove her and kept her loyal to him. Could that hate be synonymous with the infection? And while we’re on this subject, is this really any different from what Jacob did? He gave the “good guys” the impression Smokey/Esau was their enemy to drive them toward his side and mission. More tallies for that “Esau = good” column.

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