I don't understand why Ilana's flashback to her at the hospital with Jacob - again - was in this episode. All it gave us was a few extra seconds as a lead in to the Losties' campfire discussion about being candidates. It does not seem useful in any other way. Anyone figureout a reason that it was revisited?

If this weren't completely a Richard episode, it wouldn't bother me so much...

I also felt that this was a very out of place scene and I don't get why they put it in.

I think it was simply a matter of storytelling. The writer's needed a reason for the Jack camp to need Richard. The short FB scene with jacob and Ilana simply provided us with the necessary expostion.

It was, after all, a better way to convey that info than simply having Ilana tell us the info at the fireside chat.

This seemed rather pointless to me as well. It freaked me out at first because I thought the epi wasn't going to be Richard-centric.

Seems odd that Jacob would give her a literal list of people to protect and not specify something as simple as whether she needs to get to Jin or Sun.

I do hope we get more Ilana flashbacks down the line though, because I'd still like to know why Jacob chose her in particular for this task.

Assigning someone to protect the candidates seems to be a departure from the hands-off approach he explained to Richard...

For me it shed a little more light. She was on the brink of dying and didn't seemed phased by the thought of being healed so she could live healthy again. It was almost like a chore for her to have go another round at life for Jacob.

Ilana seemed VERY reluctant to me in this flashback. Very much like Dogan's attitude. Bet you a nickel that Ilana also lost a loved one that Jacob is promising to keep alive or heal in return for her service.

Either way, I think the scene pointed again towards Jacob's manipulative nature that seems to contradict his stance towards free will.

I honestly admit to needing my memory refreshed as to why she was in the hospital in the first place. I know last week people were talking about her bandaged arm... and why that was so.
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Injuries unknown. (Plane crash?)
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ilana

I honestly admit to needing my memory refreshed as to why she was in the hospital in the first place. I know last week people were talking about her bandaged arm... and why that was so.

We don't know why she was in the hospital. We don't see her arms in the scene in AA as they are under the covers. Her arm seems to have been injured in the fight with Sayid. That is the most logical assumption.

We don't know why she was in the hospital. We don't see her arms in the scene in AA as they are under the covers. Her arm seems to have been injured in the fight with Sayid. That is the most logical assumption.
I thought she was injured from 315's rough landing not the fight with Sayid.

Maybe I am off base or being redundant but I felt this flashback really emphasized that Ilana was going back to protect those 6 particular people and that Jacob knew he was going to be killed and would need a replacement.

I am pretty sure the flashbacks whole importance was the line that "Ask Ricardus, he knows what to do". That was the lead-in for Richards back story plain and simple.

With a Richard flashback in this episode, maybe this scene is foreshadowing an Ilana flashback. I wonder why Ilana was in that hospital. I get that she is russian and that she has been preparing for this task. So I guess she is a soldier. Was this scene taking place in a russian military hospital at the border of Chechnya? Or maybe during the russian occupation of Afghanistan? I'd like to know how old Ilana is. And I want to know how Jacob knew the names of the candidates. It seems that the reduction of the number of candidates is not a steady process. Why was Ben not a candidate anymore, nor Richard? Did Jacob know far in advance that it would come down to these 6 people? (strangely, Ilana is meant to protect 6 people -yet, there are at least 7 names left: Locke, Jarrah, Shephard, Kwon, Austen, Reyes, Ford).

I thought she was injured from 315's rough landing not the fight with Sayid.

Yeah that works too.
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Maybe I am off base or being redundant but I felt this flashback really emphasized that Ilana was going back to protect those 6 particular people and that Jacob knew he was going to be killed and would need a replacement.

Good point. A lot of people thought Jacob knew ahead of time, but this shows it more definitively. I guess the lighthouse as well though too, because he has been looking at these candidates for a long time.

I think we are assuming that Ilana ages normally and so that scene is relatively recently, after Jacob has found out with 6 names would be left and critically need her help.

I wonder what Smoke Thing protection detail training looks like. Would love to see a Youtube Clip of Ilana's prep.

I thought the flashback was annoying but somehow relevant. It set the stage for her protection of the 6 and asking Richard... and why we call him Ricardos! :) (Sort of... ha.)

I was wondering about the timing of when this flash back occured as well. Wasn't Locke still alive when Jacob approaced Llana? If so, why only 6 candidates to protect (unless of course Locke was never a candidate). Maybe this alludes to the fact that Jacob knew all that was going to occur. It explains why he instructed the others to build a run way so that 315 would have a spot to land.

It reminds me of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi telling Luke that things are unfolding just as he foresaw.

jacob was like a father to me. That's what Ilana said, What does that mean? Since we had a flashback that we'd already seen, why not show us how Jacob became her father-figure? Or what hold Jacob has over her/ Getting her father back? Jacob was probably the one who got him killed with his free will.
They show us things we already have figured out, but don't show us things that might help us make sense of what the show has become.

I am pretty sure the flashbacks whole importance was the line that "Ask Ricardus, he knows what to do". That was the lead-in for Richards back story plain and simple.

And then, he actually doesn't know what to do, until Hurley tells him. Why not just tell Ilana to ask Hurley?

I am pretty sure the flashbacks whole importance was the line that "Ask Ricardus, he knows what to do". That was the lead-in for Richards back story plain and simple.Why not just have Ilana say it over the campfire?

Ilana's flashback was another way to finish telling the story as to why Ilana was there to protect the candidates other than her explaining it while sitting with the Losties around the camp fire.

What really stood out to me was when Jacob told her this was what she had been preparing for and she let out a loud "gasp".

What had Ilana been preparing for is the bigger question? Jacob must have known that eventually MIB would find his loophole and he would be killed. Jacob has to find a replacement. If there is no replacement for Jacob, does this mean the destruction of the world and mankind?

Perhaps Smokey is from Hell and that is his home. Is Lost a take on the Apocalypse/Armageddon mythology?

Still Lost! :confused:
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I am pretty sure the flashbacks whole importance was the line that "Ask Ricardus, he knows what to do". That was the lead-in for Richards back story plain and simple.

ITA! What will Ricardus do? RA seems to be falling apart right now. :sweat:

Why not just have Ilana say it over the campfire?

There's so much deception in LOST, it is non-trivial to hear something from the horse's mouth. If they didn't have the flashback, people would wonder: did Ilana make that up? Is she being truthful? And then we'd have a few threads on the Fuselage speculating about how Ilana is actually Satan/MIB/Randy Nations.

What if Ilana is actually meant to take over Jacob's role, and the candidates are meant to take over some other role? (Don't ask, I haven't thought it through...)
I'm also guessing that when Ilana's arm bandage comes off, it will reveal some strange, ancient tattoo...

I'm also guessing that when Ilana's arm bandage comes off, it will reveal some strange, ancient tattoo...
I don't think so
Ilana and Sayid 1 (http://www.losttalk.net/gallery/fullpicture_76793_o.html) 2 (http://www.losttalk.net/gallery/fullpicture_76783_o.html)unless she got it after arriving on the Island. Ilana with arm bandaged (http://getlostpodcast.iimmgg.com/image/c3278f3cced79d440154001a7cbc5540).

Ilana was badly bandaged in the hospital. Head, eye, multiple injuries. When she agrees to help Jacob the next time we see them in the Hospital she has fully recovered from her injuries with no marks whatsever!

What if Ilana is actually meant to take over Jacob's role, and the candidates are meant to take over some other role? (Don't ask, I haven't thought it through...)
I'm also guessing that when Ilana's arm bandage comes off, it will reveal some strange, ancient tattoo...

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/03/losts_zuleikha_robinson_on.html#comments

I put this here for the photo only...her left arm is hidden for some reason

Ilana was badly bandaged in the hospital. Head, eye, multiple injuries. When she agrees to help Jacob the next time we see them in the Hospital she has fully recovered from her injuries with no marks whatsever!
Yes she was but that was before she met Sayid and brought him on the plane.

Yes she was but that was before she met Sayid and brought him on the plane.

Watch it again dude. Jacob heals her at the hospital right after she agrees to help him.

Watch it again dude. Jacob heals her at the hospital right after she agrees to help him.
Hey dude,
First of all there is no reason to be so rude. Second you got that wrong in the first place and third watch "He's Our You" again.
Sayid leaves the Lamp Post he goes to a bar and picks up Ilana:
"He's Our You"
BEN: Sayid, where are you going?
[Kate retreats to her car and drives away. Sayid turns away.]
[car door closes, engine starts]
SAYID: I don't want any part of this. [tires sqealing]
SAYID: [Pointing at Ben] And if I see you again, it'll be extremely unpleasant for us both.
[Sayid walks away.]



[Sayid is sipping a whisky in a bar.]
SAYID: Ahh.
WOMAN: Do you have a menu?
BARTENDER: There you go. [To Sayid] Sir? Another MacCutcheon?
SAYID: Please.
WOMAN: [The woman is Ilana] What's that run you?
SAYID: Excuse me?
ILANA: That scotch. What's a glass of that run you?
SAYID: Whatever it is, it's worth it.
The nexr day they got on 316 and landed on Hydra.



So as I said Ilana and Jacob met before Ilana's arm got injured. It was not injured when Ilana was with Sayid it must have been injured during the rough landing on Hydra.


If Ilana met with Jacob right before "316" then were was Sayid? Do you think Ilana took Sayid with her to go and meet with Jacob so she could get her arm tatooed?

This time around I saw it a bit differently.. when Jacob asked her to protect the candidates, she was clearly very, very saddened, as it showed that it clarified to her that Jacob was going to die and he was there to tell her.
(like someone you know and love telling you that they need to write their will soon)

The impression I got was that the Losties were sitting around talking and Ilana told them about Jacob's visit with her. Rather than show us them talking and have people wonder if that really happened they showed us. It also answered a questiont hey couldn't answer before. We never knew what was the favor Jacob asked of Ilana and they couldn't reveal what the favor was until we knew all about the candidates. I thought she came to help stop Flocke until now. I don't see what the big deal is. She could have told us the same info but its always better to see for ourselves what happen then get it second hand.

Ilana was badly bandaged in the hospital. Head, eye, multiple injuries. When she agrees to help Jacob the next time we see them in the Hospital she has fully recovered from her injuries with no marks whatsever!

I noticed this too. In the first cut we see Ilana heavily bandaged, and Jacob (sporting his coat and gloves) says something along the lines of "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here". The next time we cut back, Jacob is wearing the exact same outfit, but Ilana is without the bandages. I really don't think its a stretch to say that these two scenes occurred during the same visit, during the span of the same conversation, and that Jacob somehow healed Ilana.

I was just thinking that one of the reasons for showing this flashback is to illuminate just how far Richard and Jacob have become from one another - and perhaps that Jacob doesn't even realize the consequences of his distance. When Richard first meets Jacob and Jacob gives him his assignment, they are close, they are of one mind. Now, 150 years (right?) later, Jacob believes that Richard will still be totally aligned with him (and conveys that to Ilana in the FB), but Richard's crazy laugh after Ilana looks to him demonstrates otherwise. So in this way, it is definitely also a Jacob FB, in a heavy Jacob episode.

Ilana's flashback was another way to finish telling the story as to why Ilana was there to protect the candidates other than her explaining it while sitting with the Losties around the camp fire.

What really stood out to me was when Jacob told her this was what she had been preparing for and she let out a loud "gasp".

What had Ilana been preparing for is the bigger question? Jacob must have known that eventually MIB would find his loophole and he would be killed. Jacob has to find a replacement. If there is no replacement for Jacob, does this mean the destruction of the world and mankind?

Perhaps Smokey is from Hell and that is his home. Is Lost a take on the Apocalypse/Armageddon mythology?

Still Lost! :confused:
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ITA! What will Ricardus do? RA seems to be falling apart right now. :sweat:

Watching again. "This is what you have been preparing for" definitely stuck out to me. It is a big deal. It's the big battle and she knows it.