Lost

Thursday, April 24th @ 10 PM

ABC

Lost - Season 4 - Episode 9 - "The Shape of Things to Come"

"The smoke monster attacks Major Nelson."

The team from the ship attacks Locke's camp looking for Ben, with Alex as a hostage. Meanwhile, the doctor from the ship washes up on shore at Jack's camp, and Daniel Faraday provides some distressing news to Jack.

Manatee: So I know I am new to Lost, but my biggest concern with this week's episode was this "Smoke monster"... I know I was not around Season 1, but what's up with the supernatural element being introduced here?

Marmot: Team Darlton (Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) have gone on record as saying that everything on the show is based in some sort of real science and there is nothing supernatural about it. That being said, no one knows what the smoke monster is. It's made a number of appearances through the show's run and this isn't the first time we've seen it kill. However, this is the first time it's (seemingly) been summoned.

Manatee: OK, supernatural aside, how do you feel about the use of this "smoke monster?" When the characters are in a jam, they run into a secret room and release a monster? I think it was lazy writing... just a way to get the characters out of the situation.

Marmot: It was a glaring example of deus ex machina, but there's a lot more there than a simple "rescue". Smokey has been around since the show's beginning and no one knows what it is, where it comes from, where it came from or what it does. The only thing that's ever been said about it is that it's the island's "security system". So while it may seem (and may be) a bit lazy, writing-wise, it opens up another aspect of the story; a larger piece of the puzzle, if you will.

Manatee: Hmmm... interesting. I got the sense that there were a lot of puzzle pieces on this episode. How or why did Ben end up in the desert?

Marmot: That is a great question. Earlier this season, the redhead from the boat (Charlotte Staples - or "CS" - Lewis) was seen in a flashback digging for a skeleton in the Tunisian desert, Indiana Jones style. She found what she was looking for: a polar bear with a Dharma collar on it.

Manatee: So that means, the desert is a sort of point of entry? Is there a weird time travel thing going on? Or another dimension?

Marmot: That's what I'm thinking. For the last season or so, there have been signs pointing that LOST centers around some kind of time travel/wormhole theory, but of course, no one knows. What was really interesting was the fact that Ben was wearing a Dharma-brand parka when he woke up in the desert. Much like you would wear somewhere a polar bear lives. Hmmmmm?

Manatee: What's Dharma?

Marmot: Oh boy.

Manatee: What?! I'm new!

Marmot: The DHARMA Initiative is a research project that was founded by two scientists from the University of Michigan, Karen and Gerald DeGroot, and funded by Alvar Hanso. The project focused on different fields, psychology, parapsychology, electromagnetism, zoology, etc. and was based on the island. In the first season, Locke and Boone stumble upon a hatch in the middle of the jungle. In Season Two, we learn that the hatch was the entrance to the Swan, one of at least 6 Dharma stations located on or around the island. This is the station that focused on electromagnetism and the one that had the infamous "button".

Manatee: And you had a hard time following along with Gossip Girl!

Marmot: Here's where it gets crazy. Benjamin Linus came to the island with his father, who signed up for the Dharma Initiative. Over time, he grew to hate his father and his life in the Dharma camp. Around this time, he discovered that there was already a group of people living on the island. With their help, he led what is known as "the purge" or "the incident", which refers to the mass extermination of the Dharma people. IE, Ben gassed them all and buried them in a mass grave.

Manatee: Wow, he is evil! He killed his own dad! So who were the people already there? And did Ben become their "leader" post gas?

Marmot: That's what so great about Ben's character. You start to feel pathos for him, like in last week's episode, and you forget that he killed dozens of people, even if it was 20 years ago. As far as the people that were already on the island go, no one knows where they came from. What's interesting about them is that when Ben met what is to be assumed their leader at the time, Richard Alpert, he was the same age in the flashback as when we had seen him previously in the season in real time, even though 15 years had gone by. So towards the end of last season, Ben's leadership of this group, The Others, was being challenged by a new "chosen one" - John Locke. We haven't seen Richard Alpert or the other Others at all yet this season, but I have a feeling that they're coming back soon.

Manatee: I think I'm more confused now, then before I watched this episode.