Lost: Season 5, Episode 9: "Namaste"

Lost: Season 5, Episode 9: “Namaste” Grade: 8.2

First of all let me just say that I think the thing I liked most about this episode was the way it felt. The 70's vibe, all of the characters having to interact in a different and discreet way, the outfits, the music, having Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid see Sawyer and company living a different life and having our characters interact with different characters from Lost lore such as Pierre Chang and little Ben Linus was just so completely weird. But in a really great way. It’s the feeling I’ve always gotten from anything involving 70's Dharma. Just a creepy surreal feel. And this amplified that feeling quite a bit. Overall while not a lot seemed to happen (which is still saying that more happened in this episode than in single episodes of most tv shows) this episode was more about setting the stage for the rest of the season and setting in that strange feeling that the situation gives off.

While I said they have found a way to keep a slight character focus in each episode they had none here.

Going through the episode we can see a lot of the predicaments that the show is setting up. I love Hurley and Sawyer, so to see their reunion was adorable. Even Jack and Sawyer seemed happy to see each other. The happiness between the characters was short lived though as we will see later. I love how the characters basically accepted that it was the 70's pretty quickly. These people will believe anything at this point. I mean while they have little time to process that information, they still have little reaction outside of Hurley’s “uh...what?” Sawyer essentially works his ass off the entire day to unsure that the three of them are able to be accepted into Dharma, by getting their names on the manifest for the submarine that was coming in that day, the last one for 6 months.

I loved Jin’s reaction to hearing Sun was on the plane. Immediately left. The immediacy was adorable.

We meet Radzinsky, creator of the Hatch Door Map and the Swan, he worked with Kelvin Inman in the Hatch typing in the numbers before he killed himself leaving Inman alone to type them in until of course Desmond arrived. So that was interesting. I wonder how much more of the show he will be in.

We learn that Amy’s baby was Ethan. So it looks like more than one (Ben) survived the eventual purge that was to happen years later. Juliet’s reaction to the baby being Ethan was priceless. When you stop to actually think about that, Juliet holding a baby that she knows as a grown up, knows what happens to them etc, it so bizarre, contributing to the many bizarre aspects of this episode which makes it so good.

So Sayid got the shit end of this deal. Really and truly. While Jack, Kate and Hurley are stuck in the most insane situation, they should thank God that they are not in Sayid’s position. I really liked the way Naveen played this episode; its exactly what Sayid would do. He observed, stayed silent, tried to figure things out in his head; the whole episode he just basically took mental notes. So Sayid is now considered a Hostile. This brings up a very interesting predicament. Sawyer is obviously going to do everything he can to get Sayid out of this situation. But I do not think he is going to risk what he has to do it. He will have to give up at a certain point pulling the “I did what I could” card. Jack will certainly not stand for this when the time comes and sparks will fly. But since Sayid seems to be on the run on the next episode judging by the summary, I guess we won’t have to witness that particular predicament.

On the way to the processing center, Sawyer tells Jack, Kate and Hurley that Daniel told him some theories about what is possible and impossible after time traveling and says that Faraday is no longer there. Well whoop de do. Awesome. Except not. I cannot wait to see where he is.

Can I just say how fucking cool it is that the guy who plays Phil is the one from Mulholland Drive in the masterpiece of a scene that is the diner scene? It just completely lends itself to the feeling of the episode.

Ok the Processing Center scene. Part of me was hoping Juliet would totally fuck Kate over and leave her hanging. But she did not. Whether purposely or accidentally she almost did though which gave me a “I’m calling the shots” vibe from Juliet that ruled whatever the intension was.

So Jack is inducted by Pierre Chang. Weirdest part of the episode. Jack will be doing janitorial work. This is so hilarious. Is Lost becoming a comedy?

The sense that we get from Jack, Kate and Hurley is that they are going to have a really tough time just sitting around. I definitely feel bad for their predicament. If you think about it, Jack and company have no idea why they are even back. We have no idea still why Kate and Hurley came and honestly thinking back its sort of hard to pinpoint why exactly Jack went. So now they are in the 70's working for Dharma and...doing what? They have no idea what their purpose is. And I would imagine their would be a big “Ok now what?” feeling of frustration, anger, confusion and impatience between them which you can already completely see is something that they are saddled with. Jack will have the hardest time and I will talk about that when we get to the scene between Jack and Sawyer which is now.

Juliet and Jack’s reunion was really sweet even if I don’t want them together. But his thinking that he had the wrong house was just a little amusing. Just a bit. Basically this scene has reignited the power struggle between Jack and Sawyer except this time Sawyer is calling the shots and Sawyer sure as hell makes sure that Jack understands that he is no longer in a position of power. Something I loved about the episode was how they really are driving home that fact that is has been 3 years. These people are different now. They are not the same people as before. The two groups of people have completely different priorities now. Sawyer and company want to keep their life that they have built and keep each other safe, including Jack and them. Jack and companies priority is well they don’t even have an idea. To figure out why they have been sent back I suppose. But their priority is certainly not to become comfortable living the Dharma lifestyle. The problem is that I understand where both Jack and Sawyer are coming from in this scene. Jack has no idea about anything that is happening so his frustration is valid. They have no idea why they came back and they are frustrated that they are out of the loop. Understandable. However Jack really has no right to criticize Sawyer for reading a book. Excuse me did he not just spend all day freaking working his ass off just so you could be safe within the community. I mean come on Jack, he’s been working all day risking everything just to make you guys safe so don’t insult him for sitting around at home reading after a long day’s work. He did all he could do at the moment. I understand where Sawyer is coming from as well and ultimately am on his side for this one even though I understand Jack’s frustration and impatience and even though Sawyer decided to go on a massive and sort of douche if not somewhat deserved power trip in this scene. Why should Sawyer have to give up everything for these people? He shouldn’t have to is the answer. I mean Jack is being stupid to begin with by visiting him at his house the first night. I understand his curiosity but hugging Juliet in the front door is ridiculous. So Sawyer takes the opportunity to tell him that Jack as a leader simply reacted to things and that he himself was a thinker and thinks through things and thus he is better or some such crap like that and blamed Jack for stuff that I honestly do not even think he is to blame for. I don’t know. It was schmucky even if he was in the right in terms of reacting to what Jack said and to the situation in general. So this has set up the two sides that we will have and it is going to be so interesting to see how this all plays out and quite uncomfortable since I love all of these characters except Kate and do not want to see them pitted against each other.

And then Sayid interacted with Little Ben Linus who is of course totally fascinated by the Others (since he thinks Sayid is one). I love the kid who plays little Ben; I think he is perfect so I am really excited to see how everyone interacts with him. It looks to me like Sayid has already figured out that its little Ben after hearing what his first name is and seeing what he looks like. So have Sawyer and co. already interacted with Ben? I hope we get answers to that. I really do.

On the 2007 front, we basically saw everything in between the events of the crash and Locke waking up. Frank landed the plane safely thanks to the partially built runway that the Others had apparently been building at some point. The big question I have is why did Sun not disappear with the rest of the Oceanic 6 and land on the correct island? I want an answer for that; if they just did it for plot purposes without giving an explanation I will be very upset. We learn that Caesar and Ilana have not met before and that Caesar is taking the Jack leadership role within this group of survivors. Sun follows Ben, Frank follows Sun, Ben is as creepy as is humanely possible not even trying to hide it anymore. Sun knocks Ben out before they are about to travel to the main island. I really do not think that this was the best idea just with how much Ben knows about the island. I really think Sun should have just gone with him and taken the chance. The smoke monster makes an unseen appearance and there are whispers and everything is abandoned and Christian Shepard appears competing with Ben for the Biggest Creeper Award. She asks where Jin is and he tells her to follow him. After a big lead up, Christian shows her Jin...in a picture. Whoop de freaking doo. Talk about underwhelming. Oh well. Oh and apparently she has a bit of a journey ahead of her. WTF? What the hell is with Christian and these supposed journeys for people? God there is so much on this show that I cannot wait to be explained.

Overall this was a great episode, but not mainly because of the content, which was good, but ultimately was more set up than anything, but for the feel of the episode and they way that they did set up the predicaments and the next portion of the season in an intriguing way. Anyways...until next week’s “He’s Our You”...