Lost 504: The Little Prince

[vilakins]

Lost continues to be excellent and intriguing.

Lots of interesting stuff in this one! The surprises for me were: Claire's mother not being the one after Aaron, but Ben; Miles having been on the Island before, though he either doesn't remember, or is lying (is he the baby he see in the opening scene for the season?). I was not surprised by Danielle being on the French team (I knew she would be as soon as I heard them talking), and Jin being alive (I suspected that too back in the last season; you don't see a body, they're probably not dead). I do wonder who the 'Ajira Airlines' lot were chasing them in the other outrigger canoe, and when.

I'm not sure whom the title refers to. Ostensibly it's Aaron as he features quite a lot, but I own the book and I don't see the parallels apart from his blond curly hair. The Saint Exupery story deals with a child who comes from Earth from his home asteroid (B612, and the French boat appears to be called that with the "be six douze" on some of the wreckage) and finally goes home by appearing to die while his soul returns, so I'd say that's more Locke than Aaron. Other themes are survival after crashing (the pilot who meets the Prince crashes in the Sahara, perhaps near where Charlotte found the Dharma stuff), and perhaps resurrection, which seems to happen on the Island in some cases (Christian, maybe Claire, and maybe eventually Locke).

If nosebleeds happen to those who lived on the Island before, I'm guessing that Miles and Charlotte were both children there. Charlotte seems to remember but not say, going by her reaction when she first arrived; I'm not sure if Miles remembers. Do they know each other from before? Why does Juliet have a nosebleed then? If it's merely crossing one's own timeline (never cross the time streams!) then why doesn't Sawyer? Or did he? I saw him wiping at his mouth at one point. Locke also seems immune (so far).

I'm sure the guy who tried to take Sayid in the hospital said "Sun Paik" when Sayid asked who sent him. But why?

They all seem to be at the waterfront except for Hurley. Will they soon be able to go back to the Island?

As for other literary connections, I just finished reading Kipling's Kim and noted that the Tibetan 'rosary' has 108 beads (the numbers added together, and the number of minutes before System Failure). Apparently it's an important number in Buddhism, and we know Buddhism features in the show with the Dharma Initiative. Hmm. Reincarnation and resurrection for Locke and others, perhaps?

Any other observations and comments are very welcome.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I do wonder who the 'Ajira Airlines' lot were chasing them in the other outrigger canoe, and when.

I have no idea, but I'm kind of hoping that we eventually get an episode where we see those canoes as part of the story and one of them mysteriously disappears, doubtless at the most inconvenient possible time for Our Heroes.

Playing with time travel is fun. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They'd remember--I hope! Actually I was surprised that the canoe stayed with them; I half expected them to end up floundering in the water. It's odd what moves in time: Jin did, but the freighter he must have been near didn't, and neither did the helicopter which must have been close by as they looked for him, didn't they? Perhaps only the things attached to the Island in some way do.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

They'd remember--I hope!

I rather like the thought of them suddenly remembering and swearing loudly at their inconsiderate past selves. :)

I half expected them to end up floundering in the water.

So did I. Maybe it's because they were all in physical contact with the boat?

Jin did, but the freighter he must have been near didn't, and neither did the helicopter which must have been close by

It is possible, I suppose, that the freighter and the helicopter were just outside the radius of the effect, and Jin was just inside. But who knows?

[ianmcin.livejournal.com]

My suspicion is that the Ajira airlines canoers are actually the Oceanic Six, not realizing who's in the canoe ahead of them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's what Astro thought. I think Juliet shot one, too. IN that case they must have forgotten about the incident, or maybe they're trying to catch themselves up to warn them about something.

[ianmcin.livejournal.com]

Nonono, I don't think the other canoe was populated with later versions of Juliet, Locke, Sawyer, Charlotte, Miles, and Daniel. I think it was Jack, Kate, and Sayid's party.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes, that would make sense. But I wonder why the camp is deserted.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Nosebleed of doom: wee_warrior has a great theory, referring to Daniel's "length of exposure on the island" theory. Say both Charlotte and Miles were on the island as children, Charlotte longer than Miles, as he can't remember being there, but still, years - Charlotte perhaps five or six, Miles, if he was the Asian baby we saw in the season opener, perhaps three or four. Then the person who spends the next longest time on the island is Juliet, who was there for three years. Whereas all the castaways have only been there for months. So, W's theory is - the longer you are on the island, the faster the time-travelling will get to you, health wise.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. By the time the Six get back though, they'll all be having nosebleeds--and the first three may be dead.