LOST Thoughts – S5 E11

Here are my thoughts on the eleventh episode of Lost (season five), “Whatever Happened, Happened”:

1. It sure didn’t take long for Sawyer’s ex to see right through Kate’s lie.  Boy, nothing gets past Sawyer’s baby mama, does it?  Well, except Sawyer.  Oh, snap!
2. I never thought Hurley would serve as a better comedic foil than when partnered with Sawyer, but the debate he had with Miles on the quantum physics of time travel was absolutely hilarious – especially Hurley’s “checkmate” moment when he rendered Miles incapable of explaining why adult Ben doesn’t remember being shot as a child by Sayid.  Hurley hasn’t looked that satisfied since he was given the key to the Dharma pantry a couple of seasons ago.
3. By the way, Hurley obviously cribbed off my list of LOST Thoughts from last week when he made the Back to the Future disappearing reference.  Now that I know he’s reading this, maybe I should start planting cryptic suggestions for what he should do in the next episode.  ickKay ilesMay in the utsnay.
4. Seems like it’s only a matter of time before LaFleur is exposed.  Horace definitely is suspicious of both Kate and Jack, so much so he probably thinks Jack’s the janitor who set free Sayid.  I predict it won’t be long before LaFleur gets force fed one of Oldham’s sugar cubes of truth.  I only hope when that finally does happen, Sawyer lets loose with all of the hilarious nicknames for Horace he’s undoubtedly been struggling to supress the past three years.  Vegas has set the odds at 4-to-1 that the first one will be “Wavy Gravy.”
5. Nothing more perfectly illustrates the difference between Juliet and Kate than how Jack was confronted during his shower.  Kate would have been so furious with Jack she would have stripped naked in a huff, stormed into the shower and made steamy passionate love with Jack – all the while scowling on the inside, of course.  Whereas it was all Juliet could do not to flush the toilet and scald Jack until every last one of his tattoos was unrecognizable.
6. Speaking of chemistry, was it just me or did it seem like there might have been a spark between Ben’s Dad and Kate?  His empathy for her job misassignment seemed to make her completely forget the fact that he not only fathered Ben, but abused him mercilessly for years.  Didn’t she turn her own father into a human bottle rocket for similar transgressions?  Can anybody say “Daddy issues?”
7. That whole scene with tween Ben being handed over to Richard, who very creepily declares Ben will never be the same before whisking him away to the dark and isolated temple for mysterious (and likely nefarious) reasons, gave me the heebie-jeebies and then some.  I’m starting to wonder if in addition to his duties with The Others, maybe Alpert might also be President of the South Pacific chapter of NAMBLA.  He and Gary Glitter do appear to wear the same shade of eyeliner.
8. The other thing very notable about that scene was Alpert’s response when one of his Other henchmen suggests he tell Widmore and Hawking about wounded tween Ben being delivered by Sawyer and Kate.  It was such a childish “THEY’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!” moment, it should have been scored by They Might Be Giants.  Life is unfairrrrrrrrrrr…
9. I’m an emotionally hardened middle-aged man who rarely, if ever, sheds tears.  But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t getting choked up at that scene where Kate kisses Aaron goodbye while he sleeps two hotel rooms down from Grandma Littlefield.  It was like Brian’s Song, Old Yeller and the “THEY TOOK THE BAR!” scene from Animal House all rolled into one.
10. Adult Ben’s expression when awaking to shockingly find the resurrected John Locke sitting at his bedside was priceless.  It was a complete role reversal between Ben and Locke – the first time in the entire series where it finally seemed like Locke had the upper hand on Ben.  I think the only thing that could possibly have freaked out Ben even more would have been if his Dad came by and asked to change out his bedpan.