'Lost Untangled:' Some Like It Hoth

I adored Star Wars films when I was a kid. I flocked to the theaters with fellow Gen Xers when the three original films were re-released in the mid-90s to gin up excitement about the three new prequels.

But I'm not so much a fan of mixing the simplistic fun of Star Wars with the dense, intelligent, symbol-heavy opus that is Lost. Starting with the silly title of this latest Lost episode, I think the writers went a bit too far with the deluge of Star Wars references. If writers wanted Hurley to mention Star Wars once, maybe twice, I could deal with that, because there's a quirky beauty to Hurley. However I think they went too far with the Luke-Darth thing to the point that it almost felt forced, although the bit about Hurley writing the script for The Empire Strikes Back before the actual screenwriters got to it was mildly amusing.

That being said, there was one "oh my God" moment. Maybe two:

1) Learning that Miles' father is Dr. Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle/He of the creepy Dharma videos and love for white rabbits. (Miles got to see his own father fawning over his 3-month-old self.)

2) Daniel Faraday left the island and then returned. (Where did he go? And what's up with the new black Dharma jumpsuits?)

The number 316 got a long screenshot during this episode, this time on the microwave oven inside the apartment a young Miles and his mother were thinking of renting. Remember that the number 316 was also the name of the best episode thus far this season -- the episode where our Losties' return to the island on a flight numbered 316. Plus there was the Biblical reference from that same episode to John: 316, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

In "Some Like It Hoth," yet another in a string of soured/strained/difficult relationships with someone's father was invoked, this time with Miles and Dr. Dharma. Hurley spent a good chunk of time repeatedly urging Miles to communicate with his dad because Hurley said a lack of communication was what led to the tragic outcome of the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader relationship.

We also got a glimpse of what will be The Hatch/The Swan and its 108-minute computer keystroke requirement, along with Hurley's numbers being punched into a Hatch door. Why those particular numbers? Still don't have a clue.

Thoughts on "Some Like It Hoth?" ABC's Lost Untangled staff had some fun with the Star Wars/I-see-dead-people themes from this week. (Link to video here.)