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- TV Series: Lost
- Episode: Some Like It Hoth
- Starring: Ken Leung, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Francois Chau, Brad William Henke
- Written By: Melinda Hsu Taylor & Greggory Nations
- Directed By: Jack Bender
- Network: ABC
- Series: Lost
Lost: Some Like It Hoth
Those damn Ewoks must go! By Joe Oesterle
April 16, 2009
Source: JoeArtistWriter
Miles (Ken Leung) must deal with his family issues in LOST: Some Like It Hoth(2009).
© Mania.com/Robert Trate
Greetings fellow LOST junkies. I wondered all week how “Some Like it Hoth” was going to compare to last week’s Ben-centric masterpiece, ‘Dead is Dead.” I admit it didn’t wow me as much, but it was still a very enjoyable hour, and we finally got a little back story on Miles.
While last week gave us struggles for political power, religion vs. government, the new improved John Locke, the new but somehow slightly used Benjamin Linus, a fresh riddle to ponder and a peek at Smokie’s crib, this week provided us a look inside a character we knew next to nothing about, and we got to explore some of his Daddy Issues.
Of course we can’t fairly compare an episode like “Some Like it Hoth” with “Dead is Dead.” It’s like comparing apples to oranges, or to take a cue from the last night’s title, it would be like comparing the blue milk Luke Skywalker drank on Tatooine with that granola bar/taquito thing Luke Skywalker ate on Dagobah. They’re both tasty in their way, but found on entirely different grocery aisles.
The Real Housewives Of Orange County Wouldn’t Settle For This
For the ex-wife of a doctor, Mrs. Chang didn’t get much in the way of alimony, although the place did come with it’s own microwave oven. The apartment manager isn’t supposed to let kids in, but for two months in advance, Mr. Crotchety is willing to look the other way. Perhaps Lil Miles learned his code of questionable ethics from this crusty complex chief.
No sooner has the bargain been struck than the precocious child is making friends with the neighbors – well the dead ones anyway.
Lil Miles is “called” to apartment number 4 (as in the first of the mysterious numbers) and finds a hidden key beneath the white rabbit (as in Alice in Wonderland and the famous experimental white bunnies) and he lets himself into the late Mr. Vonner’s sad pad. Now, I know this episode was supposed to target Miles’ problems with the fact his father abandoned him as an infant, but I’m telling you right now, his mom ain’t gonna win to many Mother of the Year trophies either. The woman finds her impressionable son conversing with a lifeless corpse inside this squalid residence - and then she signs the rental agreement? Surely there’s an apartment complex somewhere in the Los Angeles Valley area with less dead bodies for young boys to play with…. Eh, scratch that. I guess that place is as good as any other.
Can You Get Milk From My Nipples Miles?
Sawyer/LaFleur no sooner talks Miles into erasing the surveillance tapes than Horace busts into the room before Miles had a chance to comply with SawFleur’s request. Now Miles has joined Gaylord Focker inside Dharma’s Circle of Trust. I sure hope he doesn’t try to get milk from Horace’s nipples.
Man that Radzinsky is wound tight. I mean, I know he’s in a forbidden part of the island, but the guy is just itching to shoot someone, and I get the sense he may get his chance soon. Anyway, Miles shows up, and Radzinsky has a couple goons bring out the body of a freshly dead Dharmite named, Alvarez. They load him in the back of the van. Miles is confused as to how a man can die from an internally punctured skull, while digging a ditch and since Radzinsky is not giving up any secrets, Miles goes straight to the source. He finds dead ditch-diggers are way less anal than the living breathing Heads of Research. Maybe Radzinsky will loosen up a little after he kills himself.
Let me take this opportunity to tip my hat to the subtle but powerful acting ability of Ken Leung. I know last week I was taking some shots at 54 year- old Michael Emerson playing 25 years-old, and how visually disturbing that was, but this week, I really believed Leung was convincing as a troubled teen when he visited his cancer-riddled mother on her death bed. (Was this illness brought about by overexposure to a certain H Bomb?)
Daddy Issues, Mommy Issues
Mrs. Chang was still living in #7 of the Lonely Loser Towne Homes when Miles came calling. Miles needed answers as badly as his mother planned on keeping them from him. She obviously has an idea of why Miles has this power, but she wasn’t talking. She still seems a tad upset at the as of yet unexplained events that upended her happy home life on the island. Finally she admits to Miles his father died years ago. I suspect she kept that secret from him because she feared Miles might make it his life’s mission to search for the body of his dead father and have a chat with him. Here’s something to think about; Mrs. Chang might go to the grave with some secrets, but she might accidentally spill the beans to her ghost whispering son unless she has herself cremated.
Back in 1977, thinking his mission was complete; Miles is tentative at the prospect of delivering the body to Dr. Daddy. Why does Chang want Alvarez’ cadaver? Well one reason is to conduct a proper autopsy, but I get the feeling Chang may try to conduct some unorthodox experiments. Time travel perhaps?
Miles and Hurley’s Next Movie
Hurley is really enjoying life back on the island. He prefers it to playing chess with dead buddies in the insane asylum, and he even prefers it to life as a multimillionaire celebrity. Hurley’s a simple guy. Put him in charge of the food, give him a 70’s van, and throw him in the middle of a mystery and Hurley is content. Damn, Hurley is a fat Shaggy from Scooby Doo.
Before Miles can talk him out of it, the big guy is loading his specially treated garlic-mayo topped sandwiches next to the lifeless Alvarez. Along the ride we are treated to greatest oddly aromatic van-riding Hispanic/Asian comedy team since Hurley’s dad Cheech and his pal Chong snorted laundry detergent.
By the way, thank God the odor emanating from the vehicle was just a dead body in there and not one of Hurley’s ass blasts. My guess is one silent but deadly from Hurley would have not only killed Miles at the wheel, but may have actually brought Alvarez back from the dead, only to slay him again.
Miles must unconsciously trust Hurley on some level, because Miles is too bright to let little bits of information out if he doesn’t want them out. Hurley quickly deduces that Miles has the power to speak to the dead. Hurley tries to put Miles at ease by assuring Dr Chang’s little grown-up boy that he also has similar powers.
Girl Power
Next we see Miles back in the real world. He’s in the backyard of the grieving father of a high school football player. The man is desperate to contact his son and find out if he realized his father always loved him. Miles all but confesses his inability to contact with the cremated remains of the dead, but quickly changes his story when he realizes there’s a fistful of dollars in it just to make the old guy feel less guilty.
As he heads back to his car, he is greeted by our old friend, Naomi – who is looking a lot like the lesser-known 6th member of the Spice Girls - Mercenary Spice. Using her girl power, Naomi entices Miles to what he assumes might be an intriguing dinner. It turns out to be an abandoned restaurant. One reason the restaurant doesn’t do much business anymore is probably due to the unsanitary habit of keeping dead bodies in the food prep area.
At Naomi’s request, and another wad of cash, Miles gives the stiff a quick exit interview, and reveals the poor guy’s name is Felix. This impresses Naomi who would like to keep the audition moving. His head convulsing in involuntary spasms, Miles relates that Felix was on his way to deliver some photos and paperwork and the purchase order of an old airplane to (what sounded to me as) Mr. Whitmore, but maybe the dead guy doesn’t enunciate well enough to pronounce the “d” in Widmore. This of course begs the question; who killed Felix? Circumstantial evidence points to Mr. Friendly since he was in possession of very similar paperwork.
Without singing a single note, though spending 1.6 million notes, Mercenary Spice is able to convince Miles to join Team Widmore.
If Miles is this episode’s Han Solo – the morally ambiguous character who (hopefully) realizes the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good, then the question we should be asking ourselves is who is Jabba the Hut? Is it Widmore, or someone else?
They Could Have Planned a Little Better
Back on 70’s island, the ladies are making a bad situation worse. It’s hard to believe Juliet didn’t cook up a better story for Ben’s dad Roger. Did she really think, “I don’t know, he was just here” was going to pacify a father whose kid was shot and then subsequently kidnapped? Kate didn’t help the situation any when she interrupted Roger’s liquid lunch, with a neighborly “everything’s going to work out” speech. Roger’s no idiot. He may be a drunk, and an abusive father but he senses something about Kate, and it’s not sitting well with him.
It is interesting for Kate, a girl with some serious Daddy Issues of her own, to be so concerned with a man who clearly physically and mentally abused his son. I can’t help but think this man should repulse Kate, so why is she trying so hard to comfort him? Seriously, if any of you armchair psychiatrists out there have an answer, please clue me in. Is this plausible behavior for a woman like Kate?
And speaking of plausible behavior, Go With The Flow Jack is almost completely on cruise control. It was nice of Janitor Jack to take Roger’s shift, but Roger’s not having any of it. He’s never been impressed with the hierarchy above him, so he doesn’t have a lot of faith his son will ever be found. Plus if Jack is going to do Roger’s work then Roger won’t be able to appreciate his after work beers, or his lunch beers, or his 15-minute break beers. Work makes beer taste better. (Though unemployment beer is not without its charms.)
Roger makes it clear to Jack he doesn’t want his help as Jack is erasing the days’ Egyptian language lesson from the blackboard. After Roger questioned Kate’s interest in Ben, Jack defended his former fiancé’s motives by trying to calm Roger down, and telling him he’s a rough day. This seemed to work, but then Jack went a little further and stood up for Kate as a personal friend. This only raised Roger’s feelings of mistrust. Jack may have looked like the Alpha dog, but Roger is now skeptical of the newbies.
Dr. Hurley is In
Speaking of armchair psychiatrists, Hurley makes a mighty fine one. After his first encounter with his father, the usually confident Miles is a bit shaken. Again, Leung played the moment brilliantly. Ol’ Hugo properly addressed Miles need to talk about his father, and manages to get Miles to open up a little. Miles reveal of how he figured out Chang was his father was both comedically restrained and compellingly realistic (given the unrealistic nature of their meeting)
After Miles and Hurley drop the body off, Douche Daddy Chang hitches a ride back with the comedy duo. Hurley delights as much in making Miles uncomfortable as he does mentioning the coincidence that Miles the security guy has the same name as Miles the 3 month old.
One Island, Two Chinese Miles
Now I don’t have to be conducting time travel tests to get my antenna up if two Chinese guys named Miles are on the same island. Of course in his defense, Dr Chang’s first name is Pierre, and while I’ve never actually met a Pierre, I would assume a Pierre rides a bicycle everywhere, wears a beret, and always has a fresh baguette in his backpack. He’d also constantly be humming “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” and the only time he gets off his bike is to do a little walking against the wind miming in the park.
I do not assume a man named Pierre is a Chinese Time Travel Doctor, but I guess that’s why a Chinese guy named Pierre can accept two Chinese Miles on one tiny island of vaguely magical powers. It’s just my own baggage I guess.
Miles is none too amused at Hurley’s backseat playfulness or worse yet, the realization that his father is a fan of country music. He’s relieved when he finally dumps the good doctor at the secret construction site. Suddenly it’s Hurley who becomes all quiet and intrigued as he realizes he’s literally on the ground floor of the assembly of the hatch. What’s worse is those damn numbers are back to haunt him again.
Vantastic
These writers love their vans huh? So the burly dude with Ilana grabs Miles before he can finish his fish taco, and promises him answers about his powers, answers about his father, but does not offer 3.2 million dollars. All he offers are answers, and Miles assumes 3.2 mil buys enough answers.
I suppose many of us thought Ilana and Bram were working for Widmore, but this scene blows that theory to hell. Of course it doesn’t prove whom they are working for. It could be Ben, but let’s not rule out Mr. Paik or even Mrs. Hawking.
Well the public school system has let us down once again. Hurley can’t spell “bounty hunter” or “furry,” but he does feel he’s qualified to improve on what a certain segment of aging virgins concur is the finest movie in the history of cinema. Now I’m all for Hurley preventing the Ewoks from appearing in Return of the Jedi, and I’d go him one further and throw George Lucas into the Purge Pile before he can introduce the world to Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace.
No Freaking Ewoks!
Miles is incredulous that Hurley would think to use his time traveling advantage to give Chewbaca more lines. Remember Hurley, with great power, comes great responsibility. With that quote in mind, I’m hoping Hurley can stop Peter Parker from his dancing scene in Spiderman 3, prevent any sequels to The Matrix, and for God’s sake just write one definitive Mall Cop movie.
Here’s something I noticed. Hurley, in an attempt to persuade Miles into having a relationship with his father, tells him about the Ewoks, and Boba Fett, and Luke losing his hand during his battle with Vader. But we see in Dharma movies it’s the elder Chang, not the son, who loses his hand in some future (past) incident.
Look at Jack not taking the bull by the horns. He almost delights in doing as little as
possible. Sawyer felt obliged that Jack at least is falling in step, but he can’t believe Kate screwed the pooch. So is Jack going with the flow, or has Jack found the Force?
Nice to see Phil get knocked out though. That c@ckblocker had it coming since he ruined the Dharma Pot Brownie Party between Jerry and Rosie.
Dharma Pot Brownie’s may be one trip, but it must be an entirely different experience to watch your dead father read a 3 month-old you a bedtime story. I enjoyed the title of the book too. “Me and My Polar Bear.”
It was nice to see a more sentimental, human side to Dr, Chang, and it obviously touched Miles. Again, Leung’s interpretation of the line, “You do?” after his father tells him he needs him was beautifully acted. Bravo Mr. Leung.
Oh yeah, and a nice OMG moment when Faraday returns on the sub.
A Little Help?
By the way, I need some help this week. Usually I pride myself on making the connection between the music and the theme of the show, but I am blanking on both “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “Love Will Keep Us Together.”
I’m also wondering if the book Dr. Chang read infant Miles is real. I Googled “Me and My Polar Bear” but to no avail. Is that a real book? Anyone?
Also, who thinks Miles will let his dad know he’s his son, AND if Chang was so freaked when two of the same bunnies were in the same room, will he be prompted to make sure his baby (and wife) leave the island for fear of a disastrous two Miles chance happening?
And one other thing, Miles giving the money back to Mr Gray was a nice touch. Not so much because it was the right thing to do, but the intent seemed to be, tell him you love him while he’s alive. Here’s to hoping Miles takes that cue. His dad clearly loved Miles, now it’s Miles turn to tell his dad that he loved him. Miles may be more comfortable admitting it to his dad’s corpse, but he’ll do the right thing and make his dad aware. I’d bet 3.2 million on it.
So until next week, fire up your Hi-Def TV, (Imperative if you’re expecting to make out the latest fashions in shark tee shirts by Dharmacrombie and Fitch.) make sure you hit the record function on your TiVo, (For multiple viewings, and freeze framing purposes immediately after watching the show the first time.) keep your laptop nearby, (You’ll never know when you might need to Google the name of a potentially real children’s book- to no avail.) load up that bong, (For some of us, LOST isn’t our only drug of choice.) and get ready to get LOST.
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Does anyone remember how much money Miles asked Ben to bribe him with last season? It was a very specific amount and I don't think it was as high as 1.6 million.
Joe, I've gotta ask: what's your writing background? You use some awesome imagery and verbage in your Lost reviews. Makes me wonder what the other writing is like.