Lost: Season 5, Episode 13: "Some Like it Hoth"

Lost:
Season 5, Episode 13: "Some Like it Hoth"
Grade: 8.0
I have gone from finding Miles pretty freaking annoying to really truly adoring him. Honestly I just think he’s boss. We were supposed to get character back stories to the “freighter people” way long ago but because of the writers’ strike, they are just now getting to them (poor Charlotte misses out and I guess Frank has not really become a significant enough character to garner an episode to himself). This week we get the first of two, this one being Miles. We find out two things that we basically already knew. One was that Miles’ father is Pierre Chang. That rumor had been going around for months now. It was still very satisfying to see their interaction and to see the scene when Miles watches his father read to adorable baby Miles. The second thing we already figured was that Miles was motivated to go to the island purely by money. Wow big shocker that Miles likes his dinero. Let us discover what else was found out for us other than Hurley is attempting to write the screenplay to Empire before it is made. Seriously. Not joking.

Flashbacks:

- We see infant Miles who happens to be the cutest child of all time. His abilities started very early in life.

- Later in life a younger Miles looks basically the way he did in X3. He also tries to unsuccessfully find out information about his father.

- We next see how Miles will lie about talking to dead people if he does not have the access to the body that he needs as long as money is being offered to him. We also see Naomi again which was very cool.

- Naomi tests Miles’ abilities’ out by providing him with a dead body and asking him to figure out stuff. He declines the offer to go to the island but agrees when 1.6 million is offered to him.

- Then Bram, the one who with Ilana had the guns in the previous episode take Miles, who was just about to eat a lovely fish taco, in a van and is asked for the second time on the series (not Miles, just the show’s showing of the question in general) “What lies in the shadow of the statue”? He has no clue. Miles is then offered information about his fatherand his abilities but at this point in his life, Miles just wants money and when they won’t give him twice what Naomi offered, they throw him out of the van. This was the most interesting sequence in terms of a scene that I think is going to be very very important later in terms of the question and Bram’s presence in the episode. Again, “teams” are mentioned. I am very excited to officially find out what these teams are. I guess its Ben vs. Charles but it must be more complex than that right?

- Personally in terms of the character study of Miles, I found the last scene to be the most moving. I still think he should have assured th guy that he did in fact have abilities and was not a sham because well it’s what I would do if I were him but whatever. It’s a very obvious parallel to Miles’ own situation but it really worked and I found myself really fascinated just because we were getting to see Miles finally take center stage for an episode in the story. Ok; 70’s stuff.

The Seventies:
Ugh while I love Miles, he really is the idiot that caused all of this subsequent shit to go down by not erasing that damn tape! Can I just explain how fucking creepy I find Horace and Radzinsky and the whole ultra secretive, cult-y vibe they have going for them? :Shiver:.

Speaking of people causing trouble; seriously Kate? Seriously? You really needed to butt into everyone’s business yet again and try to comfort Roger? I know she felt bad and I would have the same urge to do that as well if I had established the weird slight interaction she had with Roger at that point but honestly putting yourself in the middle of things is the absolute last thing Jack, Kate and Hurley want to be doing right now. Jack gets that at the moment; Kate not so much.

Anyways Miles gets a package (dead body; subtle Dharma). Hurley gets roped into this excursion because he is so blissfully unaware sometimes when something is actually happening. Basically the body was a guy named Alvarez who had his tooth filling ripped out through his head because of the electromagnetic stuff they were working with.

Roger figures out that Ben is missing. Roger’s solution is to understandably freak out but more importantly doe a typical Roger and drinks some more beer. Jack tries to calm Roger down. It’s so cute that he was covering Roger’s work shift. Phil in the meantime finds out about the tape and Sawyer pulls a typical Sawyer and knocks Phil out.

I had never thought about Hurley and Miles each having different abilities involving dead people. I wonder why they each have them and whether we will find this out. Since Lindelof and Cuse have stated they are not going to address the Libby story, I find myself questioning immediately what else are they not going to answer? I get that they really don’t have time to being back a thread that has been totally cut off but does this mean the same thing about Walt? Walt, Hurley and Miles have abilities and I wonder if they will be explained to us? So anyways to see Miles and Hurley compare abilities was funny but also very insightful.

The ride in the van between Hurley and Miles and Chang was classic. While I definitely think it’s a bit over the top for Hurley to be prying into something that truly is none of his business and something that Miles is so adamant about ignoring I see where Hurley is coming from. Who the hell gets that sort of opportunity? Hurley is sort of right to egg on the situation when he sees such a unique chance passing by voluntarily. I also loved the way Hurley brought up his own situation with his father. Cheech and Hurley are adorable.

Then of course we get the poignant Miles watching Baby Miles and Father Chang scene. And then we have the end which last week I was extremely excited about in fact I was flipping my lid. Now looking back I’m just totally depressed as we see the end of the episode which will be the beginning of next week’s episode which will be the start of the devastation, the tragedy, the horrifyingly depressing thing that is “The Variable”