Daddy and mommy issues are nothing new for the tortured souls on Lost, but the Sawyer-centric “Recon†maxed out this recurring theme in every possible way. Flocke’s paternalism toward Claire, alt-Sawyer’s quest to avenge his parents’ deaths, Smokey talking about his crazy mother, another look at the dreaded Squirrel Baby, and even the wise words of Michael Landon on Little House on the Prairie — everything this week was related to the relationship between parent and child. As always, we tapped into the Internet pipeline to check out the latest theories from our favorite Lost fanatics and our very own commenters. See what they had to say about everything from what mean daddy Widmore is doing on the island to who’s in that locked room (hint: almost everyone, including our commenters, thinks it’s Desmond).
• Sawyer may think he’s an expert con man, but he’s probably not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes here. Notice how Widmore never said anything about wanting to kill Locke and just sort of smirked through that whole conversation. And as for Smokey, who called Sawyer “the best liar I’ve ever met,†he’s got to know that the former con man is in this for himself and has no loyalty. [Magic Lamp]
• Tom and Lorenzo, while getting a little bored with the Sideways stories, think that the writers have set up how everyone will come together: through Sawyer. He’s just run into fugitive Kate, talked to Charlie’s brother, and works with Miles. Sayid and Jin look like they’re in some trouble, and if Sawyer’s looking for Anthony Cooper, he’ll probably find his son, John Locke, who’s already made connections with Hurley and Rose. But how do Jack and Sawyer meet? Well, if Juliet is Jack’s ex-wife, and Sawyer goes dutch on coffee with her … [Tom and Lorenzo]
• How do we know we can trust Sawyer to help Kate and Jin, and not just look out for himself? Because he’s been the clutch hero all along: Remember when he bailed from the helicopter, and how he kept the time-traveling Losties safe in Dharmaville all those years? This writer also spots a key difference in the Sideways timeline: It doesn’t look like Sideways-James ever wrote a letter to Sawyer. Is that because Jacob wasn’t there to give him a pen at his parents’ funeral? [Lost Blog/Filmfodder]
• Was Charlotte really looking for a T-shirt when she went looking through Sideways-Sawyer’s drawers? She was hunting pretty frantically in there and looked like she was digging for something specific. Did she have her own agenda, or was she snooping for Miles? Either way, it didn’t look like the “Sawyer†file was what she was expecting to see. [Celebritology/WP]
• Jack Shafer, having already theorized that the creation of the island will be tied to the creation of the universe, expands on that after seeing Smokey’s speech to Kate. “Is his ‘mother’ really Gaia?†Shafer wonders. [Slate]
• At least one more person is buying into the theory that Jacob and Smokey are brothers, since the latter’s speech to Kate about his crazy mother at first seemed like a blatant rip-off of Locke’s true life story, but then seemed to evolve into a commentary on the history between the two foes. As for the Sideways world, it’s funny how Charlotte works for Miles’s dad, assuming the three of them would have lived on the island together before they left. And how did Sawyer find out about Anthony Cooper, since he originally didn’t make the connection until he met the man in person? [Inside Pulse TV]
• Examining Claire’s erratic behavior, Vozzek69 wonders what exactly the symptoms of her sickness are. Either it exercises variable levels of control over a person, allowing for moments of clarity, or it simply reduces a person to a childlike state, which might explain Claire’s mood swings, not to mention the way Flocke scolded her like a little girl. Also, Little House on the Prairie may have seemed just as cheesy as the other elements of the cop-show Sideways timeline, but Voz thinks lines like “knowing that people aren’t really gone when they die†offer clues to what will happen in the remaining episodes. [Dark UFO]
• The bit of business between Smokester and Claire — the slapping following by the private conversation — was certainly suspicious. Is it possible that the Man in Black is conning Kate and just told Claire to hold off on stabbing her until he can use Kate to his advantage? [Mistaking Coincidence for Fate]
• This blogger wonders if there’s a significance to all the bunnies we’ve been seeing on the island: Watership Down and A Wrinkle in Time feature them, and Kate was having rabbit for dinner toward the end of the episode (not to mention all the times we’ve seen them in previous seasons). Do they harbor some sort of special meaning? [Crave Online]
• Taking a stab at what we’re supposed to learn from the alternative timeline, TV critic James Poniewozik suggests that the characters’ story lines are building toward one last moral decision that will define them as good or bad and be influenced, somehow, by their actions in the island’s war. Noting that Ben seems to have already reached that decision and made a choice for good in the alternate timeline, Poniwozik speculates that Ben days are numbered on the island. [Tuned In/Time]
• Now that we know that Sideways-Sawyer is a cop, we have to wonder why he helped Sideways-Kate escape at LAX. He definitely saw those handcuffs. Was it because he recognized her somehow? Or just because she was hot? Also, what’s the deal with the pylons? Perhaps Widmore’s team is planning to imprison Smokey on Hydra Island with them to keep him away from the main island. [Televisionary]
• Up until now, we’ve assumed that the Others were building the runway on Hydra Island on Jacob’s orders. But considering Flocke plans to use the plane to leave, could it have been his plan to get it there all along? Did he manage to give that order to the Others under the guise of Jacob? If so, Jacob may have known, and put his people on that flight to counter Smokey’s plot. Bonus: Widmore definitely didn’t kill the Ajira 316 redshirts. All those flies mean those bodies have been dead quite some time. [Zap2It]
• Smokey’s spent the last few episodes reminding us that he was once a man like everybody else. But who? Doc Jensen thinks he’s Daniel Faraday — a “disembodied mutant hybrid soul†version of Faraday that’s grown tired of its possibly spiritual role and just wants to be human again. This would explain why Widmore came back to the island: to take charge of his son. And to neutralize Smokey Faraday, Doc thinks Widmore’s got Theresa Spencer, Faraday’s old girlfriend, in that locked room. On a less crazy note, remember when Sawyer, Juliet, et al were time traveling and got shot at while in the boat? Doc has a feeling it’s going to be present-day Sawyer who shoots at his time-traveling self — and that there may be some unfortunate casualties. [Totally Lost/EW]
• Commenter Pennyhume wants to know how Sawyer is going to get off that island. Did he take sub-commandeering lessons while with Dharma?
• JReese3 thinks Sawyer will try to kill Anthony Cooper at Locke and Helen’s upcoming wedding.
• Like_shootin_fish_in_a_barrel thinks Smokey’s mom is Cleopatra, based on all the Egyptian stuff we’ve seen and some Googling.
• Smokemonster thinks we might already know Miles’s girlfriend. Could it be the other cop we know, Ana Lucia?
• Dignell asks an interesting question: What if Smokey’s “home†isn’t a “where,†but a “when?â€