When Bernard met Rose
S.O.S. - 2.19
Rose-Bernard Centric
Rose and Bernard got their moment in the sun with a backstory revealing how they came together, Rose’s bad timing, and how they ended up on Oceanic Flight 815. And it was okay. Review!
Occasionally during the first season, Rose was introduced as a God-fearing woman and was given minimum screen time to tell people that she had faith her husband Bernard had survived the crash and would return to her. Rose didn’t trek into the jungle to find Bernard or anything like that. As she said in this episode, she doesn’t “do” she just “lets things be.”So she waited patiently on the beach while Bernard busted his balls just to stay alive and make it back to her alive.
At the beginning of the episode, I was starting to wonder why. Bernard seems like a take-charge kind of guy and he doesn’t like just sitting around and making cabinets to store food, whereas Rose had become very comfy stocking beans on the beach. He spent most of the episode frustrated with people for giving up on the hope of rescue and set out to create a huge S.O.S. beach signal out of rocks. I rooted for his proactiveness. After they put out the signal fire halfway through the first season, you’d think someone would have had the idea to create a sign or mark for overhead passerbys, but no one did. I was glad that Bernard wanted to try.
Rose, however, was content with letting things be and her motivations were unclear until the end of the day.
Their backstory revealed little in the way of relevant information but it went like this: R & B only met a couple of months before they ended up on the island. Bernard proposed to Rose at Niagra Falls five months into their relationship, and while on bended knee she decided it was a good time to tell him that she was dying. Man, I thought Locke’s proposal to Helen was awkward. Credit Bernard for sticking with it though. After Rose revealed her cancer had come back, he went through with the proposal. The following is an exchange between a few friends and myself during that scene:
Dave: Man, I wouldn’t marry that bitch if she was going to die.
Gary: I only would if she was loaded.
Wes: Especially if she was loaded.
Gary: Let me in that will, beeyotch!
Anyway, I thought it was funny.
After the marriage, Bernard took Rose to Australia to seek out a “miracle healer” named Isaac. Thinking that the name ‘Isaac’ had some importance, I looked it up. It means “he laughs,” Hebrew origin. Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah in the Bible. So I guess there’s some Biblical connotation? I guess. Rose wasn’t keen on the idea but she saw Isaac anyway. He told her that there are certain points on Earth that have strong concentrations of energies, whether they be geological, magnetic, etc. He harnesses that energy and gives it to people to combat their illness, but he couldn’t help Rose. He told her he would refund the money but she told him to keep it because she was going to tell Bernard that she had been healed.
Here’s the point: the idea of magnetic energy was once again brought up, only this time it was mentioned in the context of having a healing power on the sick. By episode’s end, Rose came clean to Bernard and told him she lied about being healed by Isaac, but that she had since been healed upon crashing on the island and that she didn’t want to leave. Bernard told her that if she couldn’t leave, he wouldn’t leave her, and he abandoned his S.O.S. project.
There has been much speculation about the island’s healing powers. When Rose found Locke sitting on the beach, he told her he was tired of being in the hatch and was frustrated that his leg was going to be in a splint for four weeks. But Rose told him that they both knew it wouldn’t take that long. The two of them are aware of the powers of the island as both have experienced them firsthand. I think the question now is, was the island chosen for its unusual properties, or was it created that way? There is more and more evidence that much of the island is manufactured, so what of the magnetic properties? See the Outrageous Claims this week for a new theory on that.
Notes/Thoughts
It was confirmed that Eko and Charlie are building a church.
While waiting to board their plane back to the States, Rose dropped a bottle of pills and John Locke wheeled by and picked them up for her. This explains how Rose knows about the island’s healing powers because it fixed her and she knows it fixed Locke’s legs.
Jack took Kate with him into the jungle and left Sawyer on the beach. Later, she apologized to Jack for kissing him but he said he wasn’t sorry, and then they started to do the “lean in” before a strange noise distracted their attention. Would they have got freaky if not for Michael’s reappearance? Does anyone care? How long can they drag out this “will they/won’t they” stuff? Here’s what I’d like to see: put the whole love-triangle on hold until next season when things have settled down (I’m assuming things are going to get a little nutty as the season hits the home stretch after seeing the previews for upcoming episodes). Then, since everything is done in secret, have Jack and Kate conduct a secret jungle love relationship so she doesn’t have to publicly choose between he and Sawyer. That will inevitably set up even more conflict between Jack and Sawyer. It’s win-win for the writers.
Henry is on a hunger strike and also isn’t talking anymore. But he’s already gotten to Locke’s head over the hatch countdown.
Henry told Jack, “They’ll never give you Walt.” If there was any lingering doubt about HG’s origins or motives, I’d say it should be disposed. He’s an Other, and he knows a lot more than he’s letting on. Also, it doesn’t look like a trade is going to happen, they’re going to have to get Walt by force. In the previews for upcoming episodes, Michael says that they can “take” the Others and that they’re “going to get [his] son back.” Strap on your shit-kickers!
Outrageous Claims
One of the producers of Lost told an interviewer at the beginning of the season that the cause of the plane crash would be revealed by the end of this season. With all the hinting towards the magnetic properties of the island, here’s what I foresee:
Disenchanted with the hatch, Locke has or will completely give up on the button, leaving it up to other people to enter the code. This will become problematic because most of the other able-bodied people will be going into the jungle with Michael very soon to take on the Others, leaving gimpy Locke behind to watch over the hatch. He will watch the time count down to zero and then the giant magnet will become activated just like HG alluded to, and it will cause another plane crash. There may be a few survivors that will need rescuing, but the producers will wait until next season to bring them in so they can do casting over the summer. Thoughts on this theory? Leave a comment.
The end of this episode showed a lot of harmony in the beach Camp. Sun and Jin, Hurley and Libby, Bernard and Rose, even Jack and Kate all got their moments of peace and reflection next to a camp fire. This was a transitional episode because all of that is about to change. With only 4-5 new episodes left, the home stretch is upon us and I can only hope the show delivers, unlike last year. Three out of five stars.
Reminder: No new episode next week! April 26th, I believe, is a clip show. All new episodes after that.
April 13th, 2006 at 11:00 am
FYI matt little was watching last week’s Lost on his laptop while watching this week’s episode on TV at the very same time.
April 13th, 2006 at 11:40 am
That is really geeky. Geeky in that awesome type of way.
I’d so do that if I didn’t hate the show.
April 13th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
I am not sure what you didn’t like about last year’s final episodes, but this year sure seems like it should deliver quite nicely.
April 13th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I heart Bernard and Rose.
And, not that I take much stock into the previews for the next show, but I noticed that Fake HG was choking Ana Lucia… could this be her demise? I sure hope so (and I know you concur, Westopher)!!
April 13th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Colin, last year’s season finale was described ahead of time by the producers as “our version of ‘Who shot J.R.?’” When you compare your finale to the most well-known summer cliffhanger ever, you’re really going out on a limb in terms of hype. Looking into the hatch instead of going into the hatch, in my eyes, fell way short of expectations. Actually, just about anything would fall short of expectations, and it did.
Pooner, I saw that clip too and thought the same thing. I have a hard time believing that wimpy-looking Fake HG could take hardened, dude-like Ana-Lucia….but who knows? Maybe he’s been feigning wussiness, and he’s actually a karate champion. Can’t wait to see.
April 15th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Henry got exactly what he and the others set out to get—inside the hatch. That smile when Locke tried to find out if he actually punched the numbers was not because he was fooling Locke but because there is some grand scheme the others are working on and HG is in the middle of it. This makes me think the others are not affiliated with Dharma group perhaps the others are all castaways.
April 16th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Props to me for getting a shoutout in the article!
April 20th, 2006 at 7:59 am
Man, Lost is taking a break for one week and I’m already suffering from withdrawal.