"If you understood everything I said, you'd be me" - Miles Davis
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." - Bertrand Russell
"Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government." - Lenny Bruce
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

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Lost - Ep #509 -"Namaste"

"Bizzang!! Here comes THE SUN! Ow ow!!"

lost namaste lapidus

"Let's go, Frank. The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away."

lost namaste sun header

("Dad, drop us off at the end of the street. I don't want my friends at the dance to see you.")

lost namaste jackl kate van ride

There was no "Previously on Lost" lead-in this episode.

    --2008--

  • Frank has a bad feeling about this.
  • Illana doesn't look worried at all
  • "You're gonna rip us apart"
    THATS WHAT SHE SAID.
  • Now would be a great time for the vehement "nothing that already happened can be changed!" movement to explain why the original Dharma radio transmission is playing on the co-pilot's radio as he attempts his mayday call. Especially since Rousseau had changed the message in the mid-80's and had actually turned the message off about two seasons ago. Following the one time string theory, hearing that message in 2007 would be an impossibility.

    Vozzeck69 - (Were there 68 previous Vozzecks? Ah, nevermind)

    Well, not impossible, just highly improbable. Someone would have had to turn the message back on. And why would they do that?

    Hey, isn't the Looking Glass jamming gone for good? Could the "new" numbers broadcast be reaching the outside world?

  • That sounded like Pierre Chang reciting the numbers to me. This is turning into an internal "guest shot" - first Hurley, now Chang.
  • Lapidus is a damn good pilot, even without a beard.
  • Lost's Emergency Plane Landing Goes off the Runway - Popular Mechanics
  • Damon and Carlton infer that Jacob ordered the runway built. In any event, somebody had foreknowledge of Flight 316's arrival.
  • The Others had 3 years after the Island moved to finish the runway.
  • We've got one dead copilot added to the moral cost of going back to the Island.
  • Does Illana says "Sarah" or "Jarrah" when she wakes up?
  • Caesar and Illana don't seem to know each other from before the flight.
  • Sun not teleported - dead in original timeline, or work to do in 2008?. I vote for "still work to do".
  • Ben not teleported - Still full of deadpan, bugeyed snark.
  • --1977--

  • Sawyer calls him Hugo-graduated from Hurley.
  • Losties think Locke is dead
  • "Dead, how?" - "It doesn't matter" - one thing is certain about the Losties: They never pass up a chance to NOT share information.
  • It's 1977, so much for Jack's "Nothing weird is happening" schtick.
  • Good for you Kate, ask questions.
  • This finally got to bothering me: Sawyer has had 3 years to think about what to do if Locke brings back the 06 - but he doesn't have any plan ready.
  • The long awaited Radzinsky, who is a MAJOR DICKHEAD.
  • He's got some nice paintings though. No landscapes for him.

    
lost namaste flame station painting ep509

  • Radzinsky is building a model of the Swan.
  • Swan Model and Blueprint Image
  • Radzinsky (he needs a nickname) refers to the Island as "Our Island".
  • Radzinsky started the Blast Door Map in the yet-to-be-built Swan:

    The big question now is "Why", since Radzinsky should have known already known all the info on the map, and wouldn't need it, or need to go exploring to locate stations.

    Maybe the upcoming "Incident" scrambles him, like Faraday, Charlotte, and Minkowski.

  • Jin has no good story ready.
  • If Hugo hadn't told Jin that Sun was on the plane, if Jin hadn't gone running off, if Sun had just asked Radzinsky if anything was up, if Jin hadn't found Sayid-well, I think Sayid would have eaten Radzinsky's lunch, handcuffed or not.
  • --2008--

  • So much for Frank's attempt at leadership. He would have had an interesting time telling the survivors the truth.
  • Time for Ben to make his exit.
  • Freaky deadpan Ben - he's getting creepier.
  • --1977--

  • What book is Amy reading? It looks like a Bible.
  • Juliet is still baby-doctoring. I wonder how they explained that.
  • Dharma used sedatives on immigrants like the Others, or visa versa.
  • Amy and Horace's baby is Ethan Rom, who goes on to join the Others and be their surgeon. Is "Rom" Amy's maiden name? How Ethan becomes an Other sounds like an interesting story.
  • Don't play poker with Juliet - she doesn't blink.
  • Could Amy become the Other Amelia, of bookclub fame?
  • Ethan sure as hell didn't look 27 in 2004.
  • Juliet: "Timings gotta be right" - heh, like not 30 YEARS OFF.
  • Sawyer: "Everyone gets knocked out before the trip, so no one meets each other until we process 'em." -What, EVERYONE on the sub is unconscious? How does that work? Who's driving the bus? How do people really get to the Island?
  • The Looking Glass exists
  • Dharma has motion sensors (1977)
  • Rad leaves his post
  • Jin doesn't know the wink-wink signal.
  • Hurley cuts to the chase - the shit will hit the fan in 1992.
  • Sawyer: "Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here." - Are there interesting things they can do?
  • Faraday is gone? Where?
  • Blues Image - Ride Captain Ride:

    Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship
    Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
    Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship
    On your way to a world that others might have missed

  • Dharma has some interesting haircuts.
  • 14-J at the Flame - Intruder Alert.
  • And there's tonight's "Son of a bitch"
  • --2008--

  • How does Ben know there are 3 outriggers?
  • Ben actually tells the truth, he doesn't know where Jin is. He's gotten to the point that when he doesn't lie it's news.
  • Hi, I'm Ben, and I'll be your tour guide.
  • Ben: "Why are you following me?"
    Sun: "Where are you going?"
    Ben: "Back to our Island. ...You wanna come?"

    Interesting choice of words. Does Ben now consider Sun to be a rightful inhabitant of the Island?

  • Those branches covering the canoes look fresh.
  • Oh, that's why Sun followed Ben-nice move. No more "I'm a scared female" or half measures for her - she's a player now dawg.
  • Ben is injured not by crash, but by oar.
  • Where is Locke on the first day?
  • --1977--

  • Pierre Chang!
    Why is he processing lowly workmen? Doesn't he have some science to do?
    Oh, he's doing Amy's job.
  • Why is Chang wearing a Swan station logo? According to Radzinky they haven't built it yet.
  • Chang thinks the home office in Ann Arbor has their head up their collective behinds.
  • Jack's not a good liar
  • Chang: "You've been assigned to the Shed." - I believe we have another station. One without a cool name.
  • Kate is quietly freaking out.
  • That baby blue color scheme is getting old fast.
  • Juliet to save the day!
  • Will Chef Hurley arrange the Dharma food drops?
    From The Fuselage
  • Did the Losties get shots of Mystery Vaccine?
  • They haven't built the Swan yet.
  • Radzinsky is fraking OBSESSED with the Swan. Hey buddy, if you like it so much, why don't you marry it? It's not like you'll ever become trapped in it until you blow the top of your head off.
  • Sawyer: "The terms of the truce say you gotta identify yourself as a Hostile, or we got the right to shoot you."

    This makes no sense at all. Who the hell else would they be? Is there a third party on the Island they might be confused with?

  • --2008--

  • Oh Oh, Smokey time.
  • Whispers
  • Christian, Mr spooky himself.
  • 5x09: Was Smokey with Christian?
  • What, Christian was just sitting around in the dark? I think he showed up/appeared just before he turned on the light
  • Why is it that Christian Shephard can pluck Dharma photos from a wall, but he couldn't help Locke get to his feet in "This Place is Death"?

    Filmfodder - The Lost Blog
  • 5x09: Dharma Recruit Photo.
    Oh, and there's no "missing person". That guy was REALLY short.
  • 5x09: The Woman With Christian?
  • --1977--

  • Right on! Back at you, Phil.
  • Phil is wound a little too tight. He should try some brownies.
  • Phil is going to get suspicious. Those eyebrows need prey.
  • What is Sawyer reading? The damn cover is blank. Sawyer's Book - Screencaps
  • Sawyer refers to Dharma as "My People".
  • Sawyer references Winston Churchill
  • Sawyer is not going to take any shit from Jack
  • Jeezus, just tell Jack that all this ALREADY HAPPENED, so there are only so many things they can do.
  • I hope Dharma doesn't bug the houses like the Others did.
  • Mustard, what's up with no mustard? Sayid's handcuffed in a cell in 1977; lack of mustard is the least of his problems.
  • Sayid tells young Ben his name. Can you say "foreknowledge"?
  • Either Ben has been on the Island for some time, or he just showed up on the sub. If he's been there, why didn't Sawyer mention that the little fuck was there?

    A friend of mine asked a good question - how is it that a newbie on the island gets to bring a prisoner a sandwich? Ben could not have been there before because Sawyer would have known. And I want to know how Juliet didn't notice Ben's name on the list from the sub.

    Gitsie Girl

    Note: I'll cover this in more detail in the "He's Our You" writeup.

  • Young Ben Meeting Sayid Mirrors Young Ben meeting Richard: Long Hair/Dark Skin

  • Theories/Speculation/Predictions/Gripes

  • Based on his behavior, Ben Linus does not believe that the past can't be changed.

    The Facts:

    1. Young Ben Linus met Losties in the past, so Post-Crash Ben would know that time-travel had occured (1973) and would occur (sometime after the crash).
    2. Ben was leader of the Others for years. It's not an unreasonable assumption that he was aware that John Locke had/would time-travel to 1954.
    3. After Jacob made his existence know to Locke, Ben shoots Locke.
    4. Ben is not someone who takes desperate, futile actions.
    5. Despite knowing that murdering Locke would mean Locke wouldn't time-travel to 1954 (thereby changing the past) Ben tries to kill him.

    Does this mean the past can't be changed? I don't know. But Ben thinks he can change the past, and besides Richard, who else knows more about what is going on?

    P.S. Here's another thought: Did Ben convince Locke that pushing the Swan button was meaningless hoping that Locke would die when the Swan imploded?

    Of course, in doing so Ben screwed himself. Button doesn't get pushed, Swan implodes, Desmond gets flashes/becomes "special", Charlie doesn't die until the Looking Glass, jamming is stopped, freighter can land science team/mercenaries, O6 leaves Island . Ben turns FDW, Ben is exiled.

  • Was the Past Changed?

    It's not clear whether that was the real New Otherton or a place that's as ethereal as Jacob's cabin, but it's definitely not the barracks we're used to seeing. Why does New Otherton look like that? We see the swinging sign of the Processing Centre and the Dharma symbol on all of the buildings. The Dharma symbols were all taken off the doors after the Purge (at least… I've never seen one). Locke blew up the sub, so most of the dock should have been missing, but instead it still looked pretty long. Is it possible Daniel was wrong? Can the past really be changed? Is it possible the Oceanic 4 are back in 1977 to prevent the Purge, they succeed, and what we see in the present is simply the abandonment of the village?

    What Nikki Noticed


    It certainly looks as if things *have* changed. From the moment Sun and Faraday walk past the rusted lamps on the rundown Dharma dock to minute they arrive at the overly ramshackle barracks... something's way, way off. This isn't the way the Others left the barracks not-so-long ago, and it's definitely not the result of a few short years of neglect. Big trees grow way too close to the buildings, and everything looks extremely beat up. As Christian takes them inside the recruitment center, we see printed signs hanging at odd angles and the dust-covered photographs and recruitment materials used by the Dharma Initiative. We saw this place 10 minutes ago in 1977, and now we see it 30 years later... only it can't look this way because after the purge we know the Others lived here for a good decade or more. And when they did live here they kept shit neat and tidy - they kept the bushes groomed, the grass watered, and Ethan was pretty handy with a hammer and nails. It's not possible that the Others would live here without de-Dharmatizing the barracks, especially considering It would get a little creepy living somewhere surrounded by photos of people you mass murdered with poison gas. So what does it all mean?

    Vozzek69

    I've poked this question with a sharp stick at length, and in my considered opinion the buildings Sun and Frank see are NOT part of Greater Dharmaville/New Otherton/The Barracks, and are NOT evidence of a new timeline.

    They are at the "Greeting Hall" on the coast, while the Barracks are some distance inland. One source of confusion about this is the fact that there is also a dock for the submarine near the Barracks. This dock is where Locke blew up the sub and where Sawyer convinced Juliet to stay. How the hell the sub gets into that little lake is a mystery. The dock where new recruits get off the sub and Sun and Frank meet Christian is far enough from the Barracks to require a "shuttle driver".

    No Evidence For Alternate Timeline

    And just to reference one of my favorite Lost loose ends, there is the Trawler, , a large ship of the Others, which is apparently NOT docked where Sun and Frank landed. The Trawler looked plenty big enough to use to get off the Island. It's still out there somewhere.

    On the other hand:

    So the ongoing war between "whatever happened, happened" and "timeline changed" is picking up steam this week. I LOVE IT. Nothing like a good internet debate to get the blood going. I do so love how the "whatever happened, happened" believers so adamantly ridicule the "timeline changed" believers as though it were OBVIOUS that "whatever happened, happened" is true. Somehow, after 4 1/2 seasons, I don't think ANYTHING is all that obvious. Still, I do think the timeline has changed HOWEVER, does that necessarily imply that the outcome has changed as well?? I don't think so. There are many ways to travel from one point to the next and just because the elements along the way are different doesn't make the voyage less intriguing nor does the final outcome radically change...

    1. The Frenchies:

    Everything Danielle told the 815ers in the early part of the series is basically getting proved incorrect this season. From how Mortrand lost his arm, to the numbers being played at the 316 landing, we pretty much have seen that what Danielle said in the past is NOT how things are playing out this season. I know, I know, "Danielle is crazy and we can't believe her". SERIOUSLY, is that REALLY a plausible argument to defend the "whatever happened, happened" theory. I think not. BECAUSE..... to say that Faraday is dealing with a full deck is ALSO a bit of a stretch. The man is eratic, often talks to himself, and generally displays some fairly contradictory behaviour that, while not full blown crazy, is still pretty unerving. Danielle spent most of her time on the Island alone and scared, and yet managed to A) stay alive B) not become Smoke Monster food C) build a network of traps all over the Island D) build herself a nice little underground fortress. I could go on, but suffice! to say, I don't think we can simply say "oh she's crazy so forget EVERYTHING she has told us". Absurd reduction if so.
    THEREFORE,
    Due to Jin's presence in the past, the Frenchies found the Temple and Rousseau never got to the radio tower to change the numbers message. All this means timeline change to me. Does this imply that the purge never happened, or that Sawyer will have black hair instead of blond... NO. It just means that the elements from the "original timeline" have been altered. Mortrand still loses his arm, Rousseau still loses Alex but the CIRCUMSTANCES are different.

    ...

    4. Ben and Widmore:

    To me the biggest proof that the past can be altered lies in how desperate Ben and Charles are to regain control of the Island. Both men have manipulated, conned and killed several individuals in order to get people where they BELIEVE they need to be. I doubt very much they are motivated to do so to maintain the "original" timeline because they shouldn't have to.... if "whatever happened, happened" than the "original" timeline will always remain intact. By virtue of their actions, I believe each man is TRYING to change elements of the past in order to alter the overall picture.

    Timeline changed but the outcome remains the same? by John Doe
  • Other Moles

    I've read theories that Amy is a mole for the Others. A lot of her behavior supports this, with the glaring exception of her being hooded by the 2 Others and her unfeigned reaction to Paul's death and her abduction.

    But it got me thinking. The Others have shown a strong habit of infiltrating groups that show up on "their" Island: Goodwin/Tailies, Ethan/Losties, Ben/Henry Gale. It's not a big leap to imagine them putting some of their own into the Dharma Initiative ,they certainly have the motive.. And as evidenced by Jack, Kate, and Hugo, it doesn't take much to fool the DI.

  • The Foreknowledge Season

    So, much like Richard Alpert knew about John Locke and Eloise Hawking knew about Daniel Faraday for a good half a century, Ben Linus has known about several figures he would "meet" decades later since childhood.

    Suddenly, the "her" to whom Juliet bears the striking resemblance commented upon by Harper Stanhope in "The Other Woman" might not be Annie or Ben's mother after all, but rather Juliet herself. Suddenly, the selection of Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer as the group to be rounded up by Michael for the Others in trade for Walt in "Three Minutes" makes a lot more sense.

    And over the rest of Season 5, we're only going to see more and more examples of foreknowledge being given to Ben and to any other DI Purge-survivors who later become Others. I'm totally on board with the theory that elderly Other Amelia is Amy 30 years later now that we know her son—quite possible the last human actually conceived and born on the Island—would grow up to be none other than Ethan Rom.

    Looking at the Little Things
  • The Dharma/Other truce was in effect in 1973. But soon after Ben arrives on the Island their's an attack on the Barracks, an explosion, and his father drives into "a firefight". Did Ben arrive before the truce?
  • Houston, We Have Overlap

    If the Purge happened, as has been calculated, in 1992, does that mean Ben already had four year old Alex in his care on the day he killed his father? Speaking of which, why didn't Rousseau ever get run over by any of the cheery blue VW busses and jeeps rumbling all over the Island? And why didn't she ever mention any such weird occurrences when she was freaking out the Season One Losties?

    Fishbiscuitland

    Alex, born January 1989.

    The Purge, December 19, 1992.


  • Info Drop

  • Remaining Season 5 Episode Airings:

    March 18 - Episode 5.09
    March 25 - Episode 5.10
    April 1 - Episode 5.11
    April 8 - Episode 5.12
    April 15 - Episode 5.13
    April 22 - Clip Show - Working Title
    April 29 - Episode 5.14
    May 6 - Episode 5.15
    May 13 (9:00 PM-11:00 PM) - Episode 5.16 & Episode 5.17 (Two-Hour Season Finale)
  • LOST Episode 5x09 "Namaste" - Screencaps, Easter Eggs, Audio, & Analysis
  • 5x09 "Namaste" Investigations
  • Make your own Dharma Jumpsuit
  • Jacob's Well

  • Recaps

  • Dharmatopia, by Fishbiscuit
  • Things I Noticed - "Namaste" , by Vozzek69
  • My ReVIews!! Episode 5x09 - NAME the Master!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
  • 'Lost' Dueling Analysis: 'Namaste' , by Celebritology
  • 'Lost': 'Namaste' Thoughts , by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly) - Precap
  • 'Lost' Recap: The New Long Con , by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly)
  • Thoughts on Namaste, by EYE M SICK
  • Lost Friday - "Namaste.", by The C.D.P.
  • Lost Recap 5x09: Namaste, by The Ack Attack!
  • NOBODY LOVES A GIRL WITH A GIMPY HAND, The best of the Ack Attack! ongoing Lost Post
  • Key Points from "Namaste", by Filmfodder Lost Blog
  • Initial Thoughts, by Gitsie Girl
  • Episode Review - 5x09 "Namaste", by Lostpedia Blog
  • Lost 5.09: Namaste, by Nik at Nite
  • Talking LOST - 5x09 Namaste, by Sledgeweb
  • Looking at the Little Things: 5.09 "Namaste", by SonyaLynn
  • Lost: You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby, by Tubular
  • S5Ep9 - Namaste, by Long Live Locke