The following is a recap of the LOST series finale, entitled "The End." Elements of this article carry spoilers for the entire series. DO NOT READ if you intend on watching any of LOST, or if you have yet to finish the show.
So. That happened.
After all this time. All this fighting. All the flashbacks to horribly boring lives. It turned out to be all... connected.
During the first season, the flashbacks showed us who the show's characters were before they crash-landed on the island, and why they were in Australia. For seasons two and three, the flashbacks delved more into how miserable all of their lives were. One just assumed this was their narrative gimmick, and there was not a whole lot else to show for it. Once the narrative got shaken up for season four, the flashbacks' importance was never questioned again.
Until now.
Following Jacob's recent revelation that the reason why "the candidates" were summoned to Craphole Island was because their lives were so miserable beforehand, it would seem that the characters needed to do more to redeem themselves of a wasted life than what the island gave them.
To course-correct this, a new life was set in motion. A "sideways" look at how our character's lives may have been. If they had someone to love. If their jobs were better. If they were respected. Yet, there was still something missing from all of our character's lives. For many, it was their one true love. For others, such as Locke, they had already found true love, and needed to overcome another obstacle (physical disability) in order to move on in life.
Move on in life. What does that mean? For this show, it's about forgiveness. About letting go. About using what has happened to shape your future. Letting go is also depending upon other people. In a contemporary society where individualism is still rampant, LOST taught us to depend upon a community, a family, to get through life.
Life lived alone is worthless. Life without purpose is worthless. The show perhaps hinted at this as early as season two, where it gave us a episode showing how madly in love Rose and Bernard are, how dependent they are upon each other... and not much else other than that. They found what they were looking for. They are complete. They didn't need candidacy, an island, the Orchid station, DHARMA, or anything else. They had love. Love was all they needed.
Love was all anybody needed. Did you see how many happy couples there were at the Saint Eloise of the Lamp Post church? They learned to let go and be happy for one another. Jack learned to let go of his dad and anger issues he had towards him. Locke learned to let go of the wheelchair and be happy in everything. Everyone found their something.
With their profound happiness, they were able to move on to the great beyond. The afterlife. Purgatory was done. Their sins had been atoned for. Their lives reached their peak potential. They found each others constants. With no baggage weighing them down, they could pass to the next life.
But, the biggest shock of the entire season was, the Sideways plot didn't occur immediately after the bomb went off. In fact, it exists apart from time and space. Everyone was there, yet, in the 'real world,' they had all died at different times in different places. They all seemed to have some knowledge of their deaths, of what transpired, and yet were immensely happy at their lives. Happy for what they had become, for the different choices they had made.
Do we know exactly where and how the Sideways plot was generated? No, not exactly. We don't need to, either. Maybe the bomb did work, and it helped to create it. Maybe it didn't. What it did, though, was give us tremendous closure for our characters. We have seen them at their lowest, we now have seen them at their happiest. After spending many miserable months and years together, the main characters at some point decided they would share their happiness with one another before passing on.
BEFORE THE ISLAND... the characters lived separate lives.
ON THE ISLAND... they tried to work together, but, with mixed success.
AFTER THE ISLAND... they went back (mainly) to separate lives... and were miserable again.
BACK ON THE ISLAND... they realized that perhaps there was something else living for beyond themselves. They had to live for each other, for a greater good.
IN THE AFTERLIFE... they were able to correct all the wrongs that had come before. By getting their memories back in the end, they could see how far they have come, and see that with true love, there is nothing else on the planet more worthwhile.
When Christian Shepherd opened the doors, and the bright light engulfed everyone, their stories ended. The only thing that awaited them was the afterlife. Everyone in the church was ready for it. They found their purpose. They found their love. They turned their lives around. Now they were ready for the end.
Except for Benjamin Linus. Having hurt a lot of people, Ben felt he needed plenty of forgiveness before moving to the great white beyond. Although, having Locke's forgiveness and Hurley's friendship, seemed to be of tremendous aid and support for him on his new quest. A quest of apologizing and atoning. Perhaps even doing some "witnessing" as Desmond had done to the characters who weren't in the finale, such as Nikki, Paulo, Eko, Frogurt, and so forth.
The great thing about the finale is, it helps paint the entire series in a different light than before, but, by no means diminishes what it once was. I can still re-watch key episodes from early seasons and enjoy them as is, even knowing how they fit into the endgame. Yet, for the fans who have watched every episode at least once (...), seeing the final piece of the puzzle helps to put the entire series into perspective.
It wasn't about figuring out a magic box. (Which, could easily be a long con deception by Ben... with Mikhail surveillance everyone, they could have gotten John Cooper easily, knowing that Locke would want to show up sooner or later.)
It wasn't about polar bears... which was answered in season three, guys... seriously. DHARMA observed different animals on the island, studying how they related to it's unique properties. DHARMA got purged, animals remained. Bears kept in cool, dark caves to stay alive.
It wasn't about the history of the island, and all it's previous inhabitants. People are drawn to the island, and different people need to protect it. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Los Angelinos... anyone and everyone seemed to leave their mark on the island throughout the course of time.
It was about the characters. Learning to live together. It is that simple. It was repeatedly frequently on the show. Yet, it took until the last episode of the series to finally realize it in it's simplest, purest form.
There are many mysteries that would have been nice to get an answer to (Why Walt, Hurley and Miles are special). However? I can live without these answers. What we saw, was fulfilling and satisfying. Even weird plots, like the Sayid infection, were indirectly addressed in the sideways plot, when Hurley tells Sayid that he doesn't have to be whoever anyone tells him to be. If you are told you are evil, does that mean you ARE evil? Sayid this season seemed to struggle with that intensely. In the end, he was a "good person" by sacrificing himself for his friends. In that way, Sayid's weird infection plotline hinted at problems with self-identification, and how we see ourselves based completely on how others view us.
Speaking of viewing ourselves... I loved that in every sideways episode this season, a character looked into a mirror, but the most prominent mirror scene tonight was a broken mirror -- signaling the end of the sideways narrative.
I'm suspecting that my thoughts are becoming less cohesive as I keep typing, so, I'll end it around here for now. The more I think about the ending, and the ultimate purpose of the sideways narrative... the more I am okay with it. I expected universes to collide with each other (which I know from FRINGE is a horrible idea!), but instead, the universes complimented each other and barely crossed over.
And Desmond and Penny may get a happy ending after all. Aw, yay!
Now, if you'll excuse me, it is late. Time to close my eyes...
Showing posts with label Lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost. Show all posts
Brothers & Sisters and a Bad Robot
During last night's episode of Brothers & Sisters, sharp-eyed viewers such as myself may have noticed that the robot drawing by the "geeky magician" may have looked a little familiar. Did it ring a bell? Take another look:
Fans of a fair portion of modern television will recognize that drawing as the infamous "Bad Robot" production's signature Bad Robot.
See the resemblance? It's too uncanny to just be a coincidence, right? So what gives? Brothers & Sisters is not a J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot production. What's the connection?
To start, both Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty previously worked on Alias, a Bad Robot program. Patricia Wettig guest starred in the same show. Wettig's real-life husband, Ken Olin, is a producer for Brothers & Sisters and a guest star, and was previously a producer on Alias.
The J.J. Abrams connection continues. Sarah Caplan is also a producer for Brothers & Sisters, having previously worked on Felicity, Alias and Lost, all projects J.J. has been involved in.
Fans of a fair portion of modern television will recognize that drawing as the infamous "Bad Robot" production's signature Bad Robot.
See the resemblance? It's too uncanny to just be a coincidence, right? So what gives? Brothers & Sisters is not a J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot production. What's the connection?To start, both Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty previously worked on Alias, a Bad Robot program. Patricia Wettig guest starred in the same show. Wettig's real-life husband, Ken Olin, is a producer for Brothers & Sisters and a guest star, and was previously a producer on Alias.
The J.J. Abrams connection continues. Sarah Caplan is also a producer for Brothers & Sisters, having previously worked on Felicity, Alias and Lost, all projects J.J. has been involved in.
LOST PREVIEW THANK YOU ABC THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
The trailer ends a little week, but, the first half gave me goosebumps. I cannot wait for this show to come back. Also, the 80 second trailer nicely summarizes events from Lost, which I never thought was possible to do in such a small time limit. Even the slowest of episodes take at least four minutes to re-tell to someone else!
Check out the amazing video here:
Michael Emerson is creepily funny
I think I'm just going to be on a bit of an entertainment kick on this blog for a little while. My apologies if you are waiting for my are newspapers dying? yes, but they can be saved by following my ideas and by the way they can't be saved post, then I apologize.
I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Best Week Ever, who is about as appropriate as Television Without Pity, which is to say, they aren't. Which makes it a terrible thing that I read both sites, it really is. But I am addicted to snarky, irreverent humor. Which is why I am slightly disturbed to realize that I missed a interview with Lost's best maybe-villain portray-er, Michael Emerson. Emerson, who plays the mass-murderer with a heart maybe made of gold, Ben "Henry Gale" Linus. It is funny. You don't even have to have watched an episode of Lost to appreciate the humor, but, it certianly adds a lot more if you have.
BWE Sneak Peek: With Ben from Lost
"What polar bear?"
I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Best Week Ever, who is about as appropriate as Television Without Pity, which is to say, they aren't. Which makes it a terrible thing that I read both sites, it really is. But I am addicted to snarky, irreverent humor. Which is why I am slightly disturbed to realize that I missed a interview with Lost's best maybe-villain portray-er, Michael Emerson. Emerson, who plays the mass-murderer with a heart maybe made of gold, Ben "Henry Gale" Linus. It is funny. You don't even have to have watched an episode of Lost to appreciate the humor, but, it certianly adds a lot more if you have.
BWE Sneak Peek: With Ben from Lost
"What polar bear?"
Lost: 545877554376113 (Good Vibrations)
***MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON THREE FINALE OF "LOST". MAJOR SPOILERS.***
Oh. my. word. I, personally, didn't see that ending coming. At all. I'm just in shock! It's not like the biggest shock ever, Alias had twist that were much larger in scale and had more oomph. However, on a softer, more emotional level, this "game-changer" has huge implications for the show. Now I just don't know what is a flashback anymore. Has the entire series been a flashback and we're now just entering "real-time"? Or, was it a flash-forward? Wow. Just, wow... So, dispute the fact that my mind is racing all over the place, trying to absorb all of this information, I'll go through my notes and write down what I thought was interesting, weird or funny from the 2-hour finale, as I try to absorb what this all means... The more I think about it, the bigger, stranger and more awesome it becomes...
The Others (Main Camp)
- Richard Alpert, aka Mr. Eyeliner, will be leading the Others to "the temple." Apart from Ben, and the Others on the beach, this is as much as we saw of the Others this week, and the last we'll see of them until February.
- Ben said that he was brainwashing Karl so he wouldn't have sex with his "daughter," Alex. (For unexplainable reasons, pregnant women on the island die before the second trimester ends. This has been revealed this season and was the reason Claire was kidnapped in season one, to find out if she was at risk for dying or not.)
John Locke
- Last seen dying in a mass grave, Locke is... not dead! But he's unable to walk again; his legs just lay limp. Discouraged, he reaches for a gun and is about to commit suicide when Walt re-appears and says THIS ISN'T 24, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SUICIDE!!! Okay, not really. But Walt did appear! And boy, has the actor grown! He told John that he can walk and that he has work to do. And... that's it for Walt this season!
- Locke later appeared, having killed Naomi. He threatened to kill Jack if he made radio contact with Naomi's crew, saying "You're not supposed to do this."
The Losties (Trekking to the Tower)
- Before she left Bernard to go trekking to the radio tower, Rose made Bernard tell her "I am a dentist. I am not Rambo."
- Naomi had asked Jack what he did before he became "Moses." Ha!
- After the Losties became spooked from hearing only two explosions - not three - Jack started to give another speech. Rose immediately threatened to punch Jack if he said "live together, die alone" one more time. Heh. The FanVoice Award goes to... Rose!
- Jack kissed Juliet! Jack later told Kate that he loved Kate! Sawyer, right now, doesn't want Kate. Sawyer also did get to spend some buddy-buddy time with Juliet. And so the love square continues.
- Danielle Rousseau, the "crazy French chick," told Jack that when rescue comes that she'll be staying on the island. There's no one waiting for her at home and the island is now her life.
- Alex was reunited with her mom. Kudos to the actress who plays Alex for being able to portray disgust, confusion and a little bit of happiness during that scene. Especially the "are you serious? THAT?" look that she first had. Hee!
- In a one-on-one talk, Ben told Jack that Naomi isn't who she says she is, that she is part of the "bad guys" who are trying to find the island. So far, the only people that Ben has really referred to as being "bad" are the DHARMA folk. Could the freighter be a Lost Experience-tie-in? Is it Mittlework's folk? (Would they tie the Experience game in, though?)
- Ben also said that if they established radio communications, everyone on the island will die. Obviously that was a bluff and a lie. I think. Maybe. Possibly. I don't know!!!
- When Kate asked Jack why he tied up Ben, rather than killing him, Jack said that he wanted Ben to see them getting rescued so that he would KNOW that he failed.
- Crazy French Chick said that she recorded her message for help three days before Alex was born. I guess that means we could calculate how old Alex is, to-the-date, but that's just being geeky.
- Just as Naomi established a connection with her group, Locke threw a knife in her back. Thus ends the incredibly snarky life of Naomi. (Sadness!) Locke told Jack "You're not supposed to do this," that he wasn't supposed to save everyone. After a brief standoff, Jack went ahead and called for rescue. HELP IS COMING!!! THEY ARE GOING TO BE RESCUED!!!
The Beach Shooters (Jin, Bernard, Sayid)
- On their way to see what was up with the Beach Shooters, Sawyer asked Juliet why the Others had him and Kate break rocks all day. Juliet said that it was for a runway. "For what?" "For the aliens!" Ha! Jules then said that she's kept out of the loop a lot, too, and that she didn't know why they had to do that.
- Mr. Friendly & co. put three bullets in the sand, with the sound playing over Ben's walkie, to make him think that they killed the shooters. In fact, Mr. Friendly was debating the merits of fully going against Ben's will.
- Hurley tried to go with Sawyer and Juliet, but Sawyer told him that he's, well, too big and that he'd slow them down. It looks like Everybody Hates Hugo! Aw...
- As Sawyer and Juliet were figuring out how to save the Shooters, Hurley came speeding into the beach in the VW Van, running over a couple Others, paving the way for the shooter's rescue. Sayid, using only his feet, knocked a guard down to his knees and snapped his neck. Sayid Jarrah is now officially cooler than Jack Bauer. Hurley later sent out a message over the walkies, threatening the Others. You go, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes!
The Looking Glass (Charlie & Desmond)
- The two women in the DHARMA Station "The Looking Glass" are Greta and Bonnie. Greta's the black-haired one, Bonnie's the blonde with a short temper.
- Desmond woke up on the boat and was almost immediately shot at by Mikhail. He dove underwater and into the station, where he hid for a good chunk of the finale. (It looks like he hid in a closet. I'm not sure if that's another Lost metaphor or not.)
- Mikhail thought Bonnie and Greta were doing work in Canada. Mikhail also had no eye patch for a while this episode, allowing us to see his scarred eye, or, the lack thereof. Kudos to the makeup people!
- Mikhail asked Ben why he lied about soo much stuff. Ben said it was necessary to "protect" the island, that it's what Jacob told him to do. Mikhail is mad. Ben tells him to kill Bonnie, Greta and Charlie. Mikhail succeeds in killing Greta and mortally wounding Bonnie.
- Charlie unjammed whatever was blocking transmissions to-and-from the island after putting in this code: 545877554376113. Each number represents a musical note. When played out, it sounds out the chorus to "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. Bonnie said that the code programmer was a musician. (Or, I would guess, just a avid Beach Boys fan.)
- After communications became unjammed, whatever frequency the Looking Glass was set to immediately picked up Penny Widemore, Desmond's girlfriend! She didn't really except to get a communique from this island and had no clue who Naomi was.
- Mikhail, from underwater, used a hand grenade to blow open a window, causing the communications room to start flooding. Charlie, presumably resigned to his fate, closed the door on Desmond and leaving himself trapped inside. He quickly wrote a short message to Des, "Not Penny's boat," then drowned. Aw!
Jack Shepard (Flashback)
There's a very important reason I'm saving the flashback for last. Because, well, it's the most creative use of a flashback yet.
- Jack returned home to LA after a flight on a Oceanic Airlines plane, now having a very thick beard. He saw something in the paper and became very distraught. He tried calling someone, but they didn't answer. He pulled over to the side of a bridge, climbed up and was about to jump when we heard cars crashing and an explosion. Jack the Doctor kicked in and he killed the suicide attempt. (Please pardon my ironic use of grammar.)
- Sarah, Jack's ex-wife, came in to check in on Jack at the hospital. Apparently, she's still listed as the first emergency contact. Jack wants her to give him a ride home, but she doesn't think it would be "appropriate." She leaves the room, saying "Good-bye, Jack."
- Jack met Dr. Ben Hamill, the new Chief of Surgery at the hospital that he works at. Jack wanted to do the surgery on a woman he helped pull out of the flaming car wreckage, but Dr. Hamill laid down the law - quite politely, too! - and said "no."
- Jack has a very beaten-down car and plays very loud, annoying rock music. And has retro sunglasses.
- The funeral parlor that Jack visited was Hoffs-Drawlor. Hoffs-Drawlor is a anagram for - get this - "flash forward." Apparently, the paper clipping was a obituary. No one, not even family or friends, showed up for the visitation. There was no funeral. Jack did not open the casket and we do not yet know who died. (Not until those with TiVo and HDTV's can freeze-frame the obituary!)
- Jack is now popping painkillers like Dr. Gregory House. He can no longer get a refill on his medication, so he's now stealing drugs from the supply closet.
- Dr. Hamill told Jack that the lady he helped save from the car crash - which made him a hero in the eyes of the media - is fine. But apparently, Mrs. Arlen was driving when she saw a man about to make a suicide jump from the bridge. She was so distracted that she drove over the median and boom!, the accident happened. Jack, possibly drunk and very medicated, goes into kind of a overdosed hissy fit.
- Jack's apartment is very messy and is full of maps. He's still drinking. (Like father, like son!) He tries calling the number again and is successful. He urges the person on the other end not to hang up, that he needs to see her. "You know where," he says. At the airport! By a gate, in the dark of the night, Jack waits for his contact. Who is this lady on the phone? Kate Austen. That's right, the Kate from the island! This isn't a flashback, it's a flashforward! We just didn't realize it yet! Meaning, they are safe. And (kind of) sound. And not married. (Sorry, Jaters.)
- Kate tells Jack that he looks terrible. Apparently, Jack's been using the Golden Pass that "they" received from Oceanic Airlines and is taking cross-continental trips every weekend, hoping to be in a plane crash. (He's no longer "almost an optimist," it would seen!) He's hoping to get back to the island. "I'm sick of lying," he says. "We made a mistake." Kate isn't so sure and has to get back to someone. "Good-bye, Jack." "We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!"
And... end Season 3. That's it until February, 2008!
Final Thoughts:
Halfway through the finale it struck me that they were using Jack flashbacks to show us that he used to be a very broken mess of a man and that now, here on the island he is a very strong leader. (It's been the trend on Lost, shifting from how their lives were very similar when they first crashed, to where they are now a much stronger person.) It turns out that he was a strong leader on the island but then became a mess after he was rescued. He became a drunk again and is addicted to painkillers. He was even going to commit suicide. His life was a mess before the island, it's a mess afterwards and he doesn't appreciate how good he has it on the island when he was there. But he seems to realize it now and wants to get back, desperately, even if it means riding on airlines every week.
Without knowing an end-date to the series, having a flashforward would have seemed to be kind of a stalling tactic, something to do when the flashbacks run out. But knowing they can write everything towards the end goal now, it's a fresh blast of creativity that will help keep the show fresh, new and engaging. Kudos for having the guts to do this, Lost guys!
BODY COUNT: I counted 13 people dying, including multiple Others, Mr. Friendly, Bonnie,Clyde Greta and Charlie.
Important Questions:
- What is the Temple that the Others are going to? Where is it, who made it and what is it's function? And does it perhaps have anything to do with the 4-toed statue?
- Who was the person in the funeral parlor that nobody came to see?
- Who did FutureKate have to get back to?
- Why does FutureJack have a horrible beard?
- Why did FutureJack, in a very drunken rage (possibly enhanced by too-many drugs), exclaim "Why don't you go ask my father upstairs," telling the new Chief of Surgery to see if his dad was more drunk than he was. By this time in Jack's life, Jack's dad has been long dead. Was it the fact that his mind was not clear, or is his father alive again?
- Was Sarah, Jacks' ex, pregnant, or was that scene filmed when Julie Bowen was still preggers?
(Or, was I just seeing things? Or, am I unknowingly being really mean to Mrs. Bowen?)
- Who are Naomi's people? Who are these Other Others? (DHARMA, perhaps?)
- Evidently, Jack doesn't end up with either Kate or Juliet. But did Kate really wind up with Sawyer? Or is it someone else? (Like her ex-husband, or a parole officer?)
- When Jack exclaimed "We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!", what - or whom - does he need?
- Will next season have more flash-forwards? If so, will it be with other characters or with just Jack and/or Kate? We know Claire gets rescued, too, according to Desmond...
- When the rescue boats/bad guys come, who stays on the island and who goes?
- Who made Jack and Kate lie?
- How far into the future is this flashforward?
- Is Mikhail immortal? (Is Richard Alpert?)
- What will Des do? Will he swim back to shore immediately and try to find the Losties and warn them about Naomi, or will he explore the Looking Glass?
- How soon until every single Other finds out that they were lied to by Ben?
- Seriously, how stupid was Bonnie?
Oh. my. word. I, personally, didn't see that ending coming. At all. I'm just in shock! It's not like the biggest shock ever, Alias had twist that were much larger in scale and had more oomph. However, on a softer, more emotional level, this "game-changer" has huge implications for the show. Now I just don't know what is a flashback anymore. Has the entire series been a flashback and we're now just entering "real-time"? Or, was it a flash-forward? Wow. Just, wow... So, dispute the fact that my mind is racing all over the place, trying to absorb all of this information, I'll go through my notes and write down what I thought was interesting, weird or funny from the 2-hour finale, as I try to absorb what this all means... The more I think about it, the bigger, stranger and more awesome it becomes...
The Others (Main Camp)
- Richard Alpert, aka Mr. Eyeliner, will be leading the Others to "the temple." Apart from Ben, and the Others on the beach, this is as much as we saw of the Others this week, and the last we'll see of them until February.
- Ben said that he was brainwashing Karl so he wouldn't have sex with his "daughter," Alex. (For unexplainable reasons, pregnant women on the island die before the second trimester ends. This has been revealed this season and was the reason Claire was kidnapped in season one, to find out if she was at risk for dying or not.)
John Locke
- Last seen dying in a mass grave, Locke is... not dead! But he's unable to walk again; his legs just lay limp. Discouraged, he reaches for a gun and is about to commit suicide when Walt re-appears and says THIS ISN'T 24, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SUICIDE!!! Okay, not really. But Walt did appear! And boy, has the actor grown! He told John that he can walk and that he has work to do. And... that's it for Walt this season!
- Locke later appeared, having killed Naomi. He threatened to kill Jack if he made radio contact with Naomi's crew, saying "You're not supposed to do this."
The Losties (Trekking to the Tower)
- Before she left Bernard to go trekking to the radio tower, Rose made Bernard tell her "I am a dentist. I am not Rambo."
- Naomi had asked Jack what he did before he became "Moses." Ha!
- After the Losties became spooked from hearing only two explosions - not three - Jack started to give another speech. Rose immediately threatened to punch Jack if he said "live together, die alone" one more time. Heh. The FanVoice Award goes to... Rose!
- Jack kissed Juliet! Jack later told Kate that he loved Kate! Sawyer, right now, doesn't want Kate. Sawyer also did get to spend some buddy-buddy time with Juliet. And so the love square continues.
- Danielle Rousseau, the "crazy French chick," told Jack that when rescue comes that she'll be staying on the island. There's no one waiting for her at home and the island is now her life.
- Alex was reunited with her mom. Kudos to the actress who plays Alex for being able to portray disgust, confusion and a little bit of happiness during that scene. Especially the "are you serious? THAT?" look that she first had. Hee!
- In a one-on-one talk, Ben told Jack that Naomi isn't who she says she is, that she is part of the "bad guys" who are trying to find the island. So far, the only people that Ben has really referred to as being "bad" are the DHARMA folk. Could the freighter be a Lost Experience-tie-in? Is it Mittlework's folk? (Would they tie the Experience game in, though?)
- Ben also said that if they established radio communications, everyone on the island will die. Obviously that was a bluff and a lie. I think. Maybe. Possibly. I don't know!!!
- When Kate asked Jack why he tied up Ben, rather than killing him, Jack said that he wanted Ben to see them getting rescued so that he would KNOW that he failed.
- Crazy French Chick said that she recorded her message for help three days before Alex was born. I guess that means we could calculate how old Alex is, to-the-date, but that's just being geeky.
- Just as Naomi established a connection with her group, Locke threw a knife in her back. Thus ends the incredibly snarky life of Naomi. (Sadness!) Locke told Jack "You're not supposed to do this," that he wasn't supposed to save everyone. After a brief standoff, Jack went ahead and called for rescue. HELP IS COMING!!! THEY ARE GOING TO BE RESCUED!!!
The Beach Shooters (Jin, Bernard, Sayid)
- On their way to see what was up with the Beach Shooters, Sawyer asked Juliet why the Others had him and Kate break rocks all day. Juliet said that it was for a runway. "For what?" "For the aliens!" Ha! Jules then said that she's kept out of the loop a lot, too, and that she didn't know why they had to do that.
- Mr. Friendly & co. put three bullets in the sand, with the sound playing over Ben's walkie, to make him think that they killed the shooters. In fact, Mr. Friendly was debating the merits of fully going against Ben's will.
- Hurley tried to go with Sawyer and Juliet, but Sawyer told him that he's, well, too big and that he'd slow them down. It looks like Everybody Hates Hugo! Aw...
- As Sawyer and Juliet were figuring out how to save the Shooters, Hurley came speeding into the beach in the VW Van, running over a couple Others, paving the way for the shooter's rescue. Sayid, using only his feet, knocked a guard down to his knees and snapped his neck. Sayid Jarrah is now officially cooler than Jack Bauer. Hurley later sent out a message over the walkies, threatening the Others. You go, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes!
The Looking Glass (Charlie & Desmond)
- The two women in the DHARMA Station "The Looking Glass" are Greta and Bonnie. Greta's the black-haired one, Bonnie's the blonde with a short temper.
- Desmond woke up on the boat and was almost immediately shot at by Mikhail. He dove underwater and into the station, where he hid for a good chunk of the finale. (It looks like he hid in a closet. I'm not sure if that's another Lost metaphor or not.)
- Mikhail thought Bonnie and Greta were doing work in Canada. Mikhail also had no eye patch for a while this episode, allowing us to see his scarred eye, or, the lack thereof. Kudos to the makeup people!
- Mikhail asked Ben why he lied about soo much stuff. Ben said it was necessary to "protect" the island, that it's what Jacob told him to do. Mikhail is mad. Ben tells him to kill Bonnie, Greta and Charlie. Mikhail succeeds in killing Greta and mortally wounding Bonnie.
- Charlie unjammed whatever was blocking transmissions to-and-from the island after putting in this code: 545877554376113. Each number represents a musical note. When played out, it sounds out the chorus to "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. Bonnie said that the code programmer was a musician. (Or, I would guess, just a avid Beach Boys fan.)
- After communications became unjammed, whatever frequency the Looking Glass was set to immediately picked up Penny Widemore, Desmond's girlfriend! She didn't really except to get a communique from this island and had no clue who Naomi was.
- Mikhail, from underwater, used a hand grenade to blow open a window, causing the communications room to start flooding. Charlie, presumably resigned to his fate, closed the door on Desmond and leaving himself trapped inside. He quickly wrote a short message to Des, "Not Penny's boat," then drowned. Aw!
Jack Shepard (Flashback)
There's a very important reason I'm saving the flashback for last. Because, well, it's the most creative use of a flashback yet.
- Jack returned home to LA after a flight on a Oceanic Airlines plane, now having a very thick beard. He saw something in the paper and became very distraught. He tried calling someone, but they didn't answer. He pulled over to the side of a bridge, climbed up and was about to jump when we heard cars crashing and an explosion. Jack the Doctor kicked in and he killed the suicide attempt. (Please pardon my ironic use of grammar.)
- Sarah, Jack's ex-wife, came in to check in on Jack at the hospital. Apparently, she's still listed as the first emergency contact. Jack wants her to give him a ride home, but she doesn't think it would be "appropriate." She leaves the room, saying "Good-bye, Jack."
- Jack met Dr. Ben Hamill, the new Chief of Surgery at the hospital that he works at. Jack wanted to do the surgery on a woman he helped pull out of the flaming car wreckage, but Dr. Hamill laid down the law - quite politely, too! - and said "no."
- Jack has a very beaten-down car and plays very loud, annoying rock music. And has retro sunglasses.
- The funeral parlor that Jack visited was Hoffs-Drawlor. Hoffs-Drawlor is a anagram for - get this - "flash forward." Apparently, the paper clipping was a obituary. No one, not even family or friends, showed up for the visitation. There was no funeral. Jack did not open the casket and we do not yet know who died. (Not until those with TiVo and HDTV's can freeze-frame the obituary!)
- Jack is now popping painkillers like Dr. Gregory House. He can no longer get a refill on his medication, so he's now stealing drugs from the supply closet.
- Dr. Hamill told Jack that the lady he helped save from the car crash - which made him a hero in the eyes of the media - is fine. But apparently, Mrs. Arlen was driving when she saw a man about to make a suicide jump from the bridge. She was so distracted that she drove over the median and boom!, the accident happened. Jack, possibly drunk and very medicated, goes into kind of a overdosed hissy fit.
- Jack's apartment is very messy and is full of maps. He's still drinking. (Like father, like son!) He tries calling the number again and is successful. He urges the person on the other end not to hang up, that he needs to see her. "You know where," he says. At the airport! By a gate, in the dark of the night, Jack waits for his contact. Who is this lady on the phone? Kate Austen. That's right, the Kate from the island! This isn't a flashback, it's a flashforward! We just didn't realize it yet! Meaning, they are safe. And (kind of) sound. And not married. (Sorry, Jaters.)
- Kate tells Jack that he looks terrible. Apparently, Jack's been using the Golden Pass that "they" received from Oceanic Airlines and is taking cross-continental trips every weekend, hoping to be in a plane crash. (He's no longer "almost an optimist," it would seen!) He's hoping to get back to the island. "I'm sick of lying," he says. "We made a mistake." Kate isn't so sure and has to get back to someone. "Good-bye, Jack." "We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!"
And... end Season 3. That's it until February, 2008!
Final Thoughts:
Halfway through the finale it struck me that they were using Jack flashbacks to show us that he used to be a very broken mess of a man and that now, here on the island he is a very strong leader. (It's been the trend on Lost, shifting from how their lives were very similar when they first crashed, to where they are now a much stronger person.) It turns out that he was a strong leader on the island but then became a mess after he was rescued. He became a drunk again and is addicted to painkillers. He was even going to commit suicide. His life was a mess before the island, it's a mess afterwards and he doesn't appreciate how good he has it on the island when he was there. But he seems to realize it now and wants to get back, desperately, even if it means riding on airlines every week.
Without knowing an end-date to the series, having a flashforward would have seemed to be kind of a stalling tactic, something to do when the flashbacks run out. But knowing they can write everything towards the end goal now, it's a fresh blast of creativity that will help keep the show fresh, new and engaging. Kudos for having the guts to do this, Lost guys!
BODY COUNT: I counted 13 people dying, including multiple Others, Mr. Friendly, Bonnie,
Important Questions:
- What is the Temple that the Others are going to? Where is it, who made it and what is it's function? And does it perhaps have anything to do with the 4-toed statue?
- Who was the person in the funeral parlor that nobody came to see?
- Who did FutureKate have to get back to?
- Why does FutureJack have a horrible beard?
- Why did FutureJack, in a very drunken rage (possibly enhanced by too-many drugs), exclaim "Why don't you go ask my father upstairs," telling the new Chief of Surgery to see if his dad was more drunk than he was. By this time in Jack's life, Jack's dad has been long dead. Was it the fact that his mind was not clear, or is his father alive again?
- Was Sarah, Jacks' ex, pregnant, or was that scene filmed when Julie Bowen was still preggers?
(Or, was I just seeing things? Or, am I unknowingly being really mean to Mrs. Bowen?)
- Who are Naomi's people? Who are these Other Others? (DHARMA, perhaps?)
- Evidently, Jack doesn't end up with either Kate or Juliet. But did Kate really wind up with Sawyer? Or is it someone else? (Like her ex-husband, or a parole officer?)
- When Jack exclaimed "We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!", what - or whom - does he need?
- Will next season have more flash-forwards? If so, will it be with other characters or with just Jack and/or Kate? We know Claire gets rescued, too, according to Desmond...
- When the rescue boats/bad guys come, who stays on the island and who goes?
- Who made Jack and Kate lie?
- How far into the future is this flashforward?
- Is Mikhail immortal? (Is Richard Alpert?)
- What will Des do? Will he swim back to shore immediately and try to find the Losties and warn them about Naomi, or will he explore the Looking Glass?
- How soon until every single Other finds out that they were lied to by Ben?
- Seriously, how stupid was Bonnie?
Lost: "Greatest Hits"
Woo-hoo!! Lost set up the season finale in a big way and suddenly, everything from this season - or, well, the show to-date - is coming together in a big way. The Losties remembered the radio tower, thought of where that cable on the beach might be connected to, Alex doubts Ben is her father and Naomi is still delightfully snarky!! Naomi is Ana-Lucia without PTSD. Anyways, here are a few things I gleamed from last night's episode:
- Charlie did not die, sadly. I mean, he's Hurley's friend! We all know what happened to Libby when she became close to Charlie. We know about his past. And I'm still not 100% convinced that Hurley broke his "curse" this season.
- Danielle Rousseau, aka "Crazy French Chick" is working with Jack and Juliet. Their grand plan? To blow up the Others. Juliet's apparently so sick and tired of being with the Hostiles that she just wants to blow them all up. (That makes her... good, then?)
- The flashbacks this week were the 5 greatest moments in Charlie's life. They were:
5. When he first heard his band, DriveShaft, being played on the radio.
4. When he first jumped into a pool.
3. When Ian gave him a family heirloom.
2. When he helped a lady who was being mugged and she called him a hero.
1. When he first met Claire. (Aw!)
- The lady Charlie helped save was, apparently, Nadia. Nadia was Sayid's love interest, a woman who he longs to meet again.
- Naomi told Charlie that, back home he was memorialized in a big way when he "died." DriveShaft released a "Greatest Hits" album and all the papers wouldn't stop talking about his death. He was pretty much canonized into the Book of Saddest Celebrity Deaths, right there with Princess Di and Aaliyah.
- Remember the radio tower that's transmitting Rousseau's cry for help? WAAAAY back in season one? The Others are blocking that signal at the underwater DHARMA station, the Looking Glass. (It's a Alice in Wonderland reference, which is wrong, because they did those on Alias. Lost is supposed to be about Wizard of Oz references, folk! Get it right!!)
- Desmond had a vision of Claire and Aaron leaving the island via a rescue helicopter.
- Rose and Bernard still exist. Rose, I don't think, likes Jack so much; she snarked "You're almost an optimist" when they were talking about the attack plan.
- Remember Alex Rousseau's boyfriend, Karl? He's alive and not brain-dead. He's still seeing Alex. Alex, after hearing Ben tell everyone to move up the attack to today, had Karl run to the beach to warn everyone. She also made a quip about not trusting that Ben is her real father.
- Sayid pretty much told Jack to shape up and ACT LIKE A LEADER ALREADY!!!
- Charlie didn't die at the Looking Glass. At least, not yet. It's not flooded, but well protected... He was immediately captured by a few gun-toting women.
- This was the first episode that I can remember that had a character flashback for both island life and pre-island life.
NEXT WEEK: The finale is from 9-11 pm ET. Some people are captured, stuff probably blows up, and Ben runs into Jack and all the Losties. Uh-oh... Also, we've been promised that some people will die and then there's the "game-changer" that even the SPOILER WRITERS are telling people to not spoil, because it is much more enjoyable that way. Reaction to the cliffhanger ranges from "pretty good" to "FANTASTIC!", so it shouldn't be bad, right?
- Charlie did not die, sadly. I mean, he's Hurley's friend! We all know what happened to Libby when she became close to Charlie. We know about his past. And I'm still not 100% convinced that Hurley broke his "curse" this season.
- Danielle Rousseau, aka "Crazy French Chick" is working with Jack and Juliet. Their grand plan? To blow up the Others. Juliet's apparently so sick and tired of being with the Hostiles that she just wants to blow them all up. (That makes her... good, then?)
- The flashbacks this week were the 5 greatest moments in Charlie's life. They were:
5. When he first heard his band, DriveShaft, being played on the radio.
4. When he first jumped into a pool.
3. When Ian gave him a family heirloom.
2. When he helped a lady who was being mugged and she called him a hero.
1. When he first met Claire. (Aw!)
- The lady Charlie helped save was, apparently, Nadia. Nadia was Sayid's love interest, a woman who he longs to meet again.
- Naomi told Charlie that, back home he was memorialized in a big way when he "died." DriveShaft released a "Greatest Hits" album and all the papers wouldn't stop talking about his death. He was pretty much canonized into the Book of Saddest Celebrity Deaths, right there with Princess Di and Aaliyah.
- Remember the radio tower that's transmitting Rousseau's cry for help? WAAAAY back in season one? The Others are blocking that signal at the underwater DHARMA station, the Looking Glass. (It's a Alice in Wonderland reference, which is wrong, because they did those on Alias. Lost is supposed to be about Wizard of Oz references, folk! Get it right!!)
- Desmond had a vision of Claire and Aaron leaving the island via a rescue helicopter.
- Rose and Bernard still exist. Rose, I don't think, likes Jack so much; she snarked "You're almost an optimist" when they were talking about the attack plan.
- Remember Alex Rousseau's boyfriend, Karl? He's alive and not brain-dead. He's still seeing Alex. Alex, after hearing Ben tell everyone to move up the attack to today, had Karl run to the beach to warn everyone. She also made a quip about not trusting that Ben is her real father.
- Sayid pretty much told Jack to shape up and ACT LIKE A LEADER ALREADY!!!
- Charlie didn't die at the Looking Glass. At least, not yet. It's not flooded, but well protected... He was immediately captured by a few gun-toting women.
- This was the first episode that I can remember that had a character flashback for both island life and pre-island life.
NEXT WEEK: The finale is from 9-11 pm ET. Some people are captured, stuff probably blows up, and Ben runs into Jack and all the Losties. Uh-oh... Also, we've been promised that some people will die and then there's the "game-changer" that even the SPOILER WRITERS are telling people to not spoil, because it is much more enjoyable that way. Reaction to the cliffhanger ranges from "pretty good" to "FANTASTIC!", so it shouldn't be bad, right?
Is "Lost" About Nothing?
On a philisophical level, is Lost about, well, nothing? Entertainment Weekly's resident Lost geek laid out a very interesting 5-page theory about all the numerous philosophical references on the island and how they may mean nothing - and that's the whole point. It's kind of complicated, but, kind of cool.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20038700,00.html
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20038700,00.html
Ben's Birthday Gift
Lost is almost done for the season. Time now for some explosive answers, right? No! Then what would they do until 2010? But we did get a glimpse at more answers, plus there seems to be strong hints that many island inhabitants have superpowers. Locke? Healing. Desmond? Foresight. Ben? Puppet master. Alpert? Eternal youth. Anywho, here's some of what I took out of last night's episode:
- Remember when Mr. Eko used his last breaths to warn Locke that he was "next"? And remember hearing that there'd be a bunch of deaths on Lost during the month of May? And remember seeing how Ben kind of KILLED LOCKE and left him in a mass grave? You know, despite all of that, I don't believe he's dead. Could be, and it'd be a sweet way to kill him off. (He lived and died a gullible, too-trusting person!) And, quite frankly, his backstory is pretty well tied up. Not his island life, but we know his previous life pretty well. I dunno. I think he's alive, but, boy, I don't know!
- Nothing to do with this season, but apparently the 4-toed statue won't be dealt with until next season. So said the main dudes themselves. Also, Smokey will be one of the last mysteries to ever be solved on the show. Sad!
- Ben's parents were Roger and Emily Linus. Emily died after giving birth in a very clear allusion to the paternity problems on the island. (And/or, it was just a plain awesome - and tricky! - opening sequence.) The Linus family was picked up by some (unbeknownst to them at the time) DHARMA workers while 32 miles outside of Portland. It's such a huge Easter egg, my brain is about to explode!
- Jacob... exists? Ben took Locke to a remote house, where Ben began talking to a empty chair. Locke was bemused (so was I, Michael Emerson deserves an Emmy for that performance!), but when he left to go away, he heard a DEEP voice saying "Help me," then the room caught on fire, plates broke and the editor vomited up a bunch of images of stuff going wrong. However, the episode was a little heavy on the Wizard of Oz imagery, which could mean that there may or may not be a Jacob and that Ben can create the dog-and-pony show like Locke was saying. Or, Jacob's power may be Invisibility. Although, did anybody else notice those 3-4 glass bottles with oddly-colored stuff inside when they walked in? I don't think they were drinks... Maybe it helps keep Jacob, well, Jacob? Or maybe Ben is the man behind the curtain after all. Stupid episode, it "shows" us Jacob and we still don't know anything about him.
UPDATE: I blinked. They showed Jacob.
- The DHARMA Initiative people really did like saying "Namaste" to everyone.
- DHARMA and the island's creepy natives didn't exactly get along at all. BUT... How did Alpert get modern-ish clothing? After all, the submarine was at first DHARMA's, until the natives "purged" (ie Mass Murder!) them all. We came to understood a lot about DHARMA, but now, I'm really curious about the history of the "natives," of which Alpert was one. And Alpert? May not age at all. I'm not sure about that yet. (He loses hair, though. So maybe not.)
- There's a dormant volcano somewhere on the island. We learned that through flashbacks and Locke may have found a trial of old, ashen lava earlier. Either that or a trail of sand. At any rate, Ben was super mad that Locke noticed it.
- It was Ben's birthday. Happy birthday, Ben! Only Alex, his "daughter," remembered.
- Roger, the corpse in that VW van that Hurley found? Was Ben's dad. Also, Roger? Not a nice man.
- Without commercials, I'm pretty sure this particular episode was only 23 minutes long.
- Ben used to be in love when he was young, with a Annie. Whether she survived the purge or not, I don't know.
- Jack and Juliet reveal that the Others are coming for Sun. Why didn't Jack tell them all earlier? Because he wasn't sure what to do yet. Does he know what to do now? Does he? Wait a week to find out!
- Ben was quite the tricky person. At a young age he conspired with the "natives" to join them. He didn't like living with his drunk dad at all, and, by extension, the whole DHARMA initiative. After all, he grew up to be a janitor, too! What evil mastermind wants to make oodles of money as a work man?
- Next week, apparently, Charlie dies. Desmond says so. It's sweeps, after all. So why not?
- We saw another DHARMA orientation training video, explaining the barracks and the pylon fence. It is a real fence, and thankfully for Mikhail, the potency can be adjusted.
FUN FACT: The first DHARMA video seen was filmed on the set of Alias.
- Here's a teaser about the season finale from TVSquad: Try to interpret Damon Lindelof's teaser for the season finale: "It will make you realize that the house you are standing in actually has a lot more rooms than you thought when you came into it."
- Remember when Mr. Eko used his last breaths to warn Locke that he was "next"? And remember hearing that there'd be a bunch of deaths on Lost during the month of May? And remember seeing how Ben kind of KILLED LOCKE and left him in a mass grave? You know, despite all of that, I don't believe he's dead. Could be, and it'd be a sweet way to kill him off. (He lived and died a gullible, too-trusting person!) And, quite frankly, his backstory is pretty well tied up. Not his island life, but we know his previous life pretty well. I dunno. I think he's alive, but, boy, I don't know!
- Nothing to do with this season, but apparently the 4-toed statue won't be dealt with until next season. So said the main dudes themselves. Also, Smokey will be one of the last mysteries to ever be solved on the show. Sad!
- Ben's parents were Roger and Emily Linus. Emily died after giving birth in a very clear allusion to the paternity problems on the island. (And/or, it was just a plain awesome - and tricky! - opening sequence.) The Linus family was picked up by some (unbeknownst to them at the time) DHARMA workers while 32 miles outside of Portland. It's such a huge Easter egg, my brain is about to explode!
- Jacob... exists? Ben took Locke to a remote house, where Ben began talking to a empty chair. Locke was bemused (so was I, Michael Emerson deserves an Emmy for that performance!), but when he left to go away, he heard a DEEP voice saying "Help me," then the room caught on fire, plates broke and the editor vomited up a bunch of images of stuff going wrong. However, the episode was a little heavy on the Wizard of Oz imagery, which could mean that there may or may not be a Jacob and that Ben can create the dog-and-pony show like Locke was saying. Or, Jacob's power may be Invisibility. Although, did anybody else notice those 3-4 glass bottles with oddly-colored stuff inside when they walked in? I don't think they were drinks... Maybe it helps keep Jacob, well, Jacob? Or maybe Ben is the man behind the curtain after all. Stupid episode, it "shows" us Jacob and we still don't know anything about him.
UPDATE: I blinked. They showed Jacob.
- The DHARMA Initiative people really did like saying "Namaste" to everyone.
- DHARMA and the island's creepy natives didn't exactly get along at all. BUT... How did Alpert get modern-ish clothing? After all, the submarine was at first DHARMA's, until the natives "purged" (ie Mass Murder!) them all. We came to understood a lot about DHARMA, but now, I'm really curious about the history of the "natives," of which Alpert was one. And Alpert? May not age at all. I'm not sure about that yet. (He loses hair, though. So maybe not.)
- There's a dormant volcano somewhere on the island. We learned that through flashbacks and Locke may have found a trial of old, ashen lava earlier. Either that or a trail of sand. At any rate, Ben was super mad that Locke noticed it.
- It was Ben's birthday. Happy birthday, Ben! Only Alex, his "daughter," remembered.
- Roger, the corpse in that VW van that Hurley found? Was Ben's dad. Also, Roger? Not a nice man.
- Without commercials, I'm pretty sure this particular episode was only 23 minutes long.
- Ben used to be in love when he was young, with a Annie. Whether she survived the purge or not, I don't know.
- Jack and Juliet reveal that the Others are coming for Sun. Why didn't Jack tell them all earlier? Because he wasn't sure what to do yet. Does he know what to do now? Does he? Wait a week to find out!
- Ben was quite the tricky person. At a young age he conspired with the "natives" to join them. He didn't like living with his drunk dad at all, and, by extension, the whole DHARMA initiative. After all, he grew up to be a janitor, too! What evil mastermind wants to make oodles of money as a work man?
- Next week, apparently, Charlie dies. Desmond says so. It's sweeps, after all. So why not?
- We saw another DHARMA orientation training video, explaining the barracks and the pylon fence. It is a real fence, and thankfully for Mikhail, the potency can be adjusted.
FUN FACT: The first DHARMA video seen was filmed on the set of Alias.
- Here's a teaser about the season finale from TVSquad: Try to interpret Damon Lindelof's teaser for the season finale: "It will make you realize that the house you are standing in actually has a lot more rooms than you thought when you came into it."
Lost: Daddy Issues
For such a understated episode of Lost, I guess stuff did happen. It just didn't really feel like it, necessarily. At the least, they wrapped up two character's major past-life grievances, seemed to confirm that the outside world believes the survivors of Flight 815 died and why they may not be rescued at all. Some highlights:
- Anthony Cooper was the "real Sawyer," the man who conned Sawyer's mom, which resulted in a murder-suicide on the part of his dad.
- Locke knows the life story of James, read the file, but burned it.
- When Locke found his dad on the island and he said "Dad?" If that doesn't turn out to be an intentional shout-out to the famous Alias "Mom?" cliffhanger, I'll be sad.
- If the men are more fertile on the island, I'd say that it's a pretty good chance that Kate will be pregnant. (Yeah...)
- Cindy, the mysterious-but-so-friendly stewardess made another cameo.
- When discussing how Cooper got to the island, Locke mentioned the "magic box" that can apparently give anyone anything. Ben, enraged, corrected John that the term "magic box" was just a metaphor. This was so obviously a shout-out to Lost fans who spent days debating the "magic box" and whether or not it was an actual box.
- Ben also connected the dots for those who didn't do so already that Juliet is on the beach to figure out who is pregnant and who isn't. Then, later, the Others will be swarming the beach to "take them."
- The mystery jungle person is named Naomi Dorrit, who once again confirmed that Flight 815 was found in the ocean, off of the coast of Bali. They used robot cams to go in and check all the bodies. She wasn't looking for the survivors, though. She was looking for Desmond, and is part of a company used by Penny Widemore. She had no clue she would stumble upon an island - all the coordinates showed was water. (She mentioned thinking it was a "fool's errand.") The helicopter took off from a freighter. When she started to see the island, all the instruments went crazy and the helicopter crashed. Assuming Naomi is telling the truth, this triple-confirms that the island is invisible to the outside world and that the survivors have little-to-no hope of being rescued. Unless the Widemore-commissioned freighter comes in...
- Danielle Rousseau, the "crazy french chick," went into the Black Rock to get some more dynamite. Apart from a very funny scene with Locke, this is actually very monumental. In season one, she wouldn't go back inside the ship, saying it was the source of evil or something like that. (She had been on it before.) Evidently, knowing that the Others have her daughter changes things a little.
- How did Locke's dad get on Mystery Island? According to the Coop-man himself, he was driving along when he was rear-ended. He was on a gurney, being placed in an ambulance and was having an IV put on. Next thing, everything went black. When he woke up, he was on the island - and very surprised to know that Locke was alive and didn't die in Flight 815! His story, though, sounds more like a kidnapping, especially with the IV tube. But, if it was kidnapping, did it happen before or after the sky turned purple?
- Juliet misses cheeseburgers when living on the beach. A lot.
- Jack and Juliet know something... After Kate spilled the beans on the Naomi story, Juliet said that "we should tell her," but Jack said "not yet." It was very creepy and non-descriptive.
- Locke warned Sawyer that "Juliet is a mole," and that there will be a raid on the beach to get the pregnant women in threeweeks days. So far, we know Sun is pregnant and that Kate is at a high risk for pregnancy. So, they're going to have a full-fledged assault to take two people? Best sweeps stunt ever!
- Cooper theorized that the "island" was actually hell. "A little hot for heaven," he said. But, if that were so, then what's up with the smoke monster killing people who commit grievous sins, like pride, arrogance and stealing? (And if Smokey is so self-righteous, I wonder what the pilot's sin was...)
- Anthony Cooper was the "real Sawyer," the man who conned Sawyer's mom, which resulted in a murder-suicide on the part of his dad.
- Locke knows the life story of James, read the file, but burned it.
- When Locke found his dad on the island and he said "Dad?" If that doesn't turn out to be an intentional shout-out to the famous Alias "Mom?" cliffhanger, I'll be sad.
- If the men are more fertile on the island, I'd say that it's a pretty good chance that Kate will be pregnant. (Yeah...)
- Cindy, the mysterious-but-so-friendly stewardess made another cameo.
- When discussing how Cooper got to the island, Locke mentioned the "magic box" that can apparently give anyone anything. Ben, enraged, corrected John that the term "magic box" was just a metaphor. This was so obviously a shout-out to Lost fans who spent days debating the "magic box" and whether or not it was an actual box.
- Ben also connected the dots for those who didn't do so already that Juliet is on the beach to figure out who is pregnant and who isn't. Then, later, the Others will be swarming the beach to "take them."
- The mystery jungle person is named Naomi Dorrit, who once again confirmed that Flight 815 was found in the ocean, off of the coast of Bali. They used robot cams to go in and check all the bodies. She wasn't looking for the survivors, though. She was looking for Desmond, and is part of a company used by Penny Widemore. She had no clue she would stumble upon an island - all the coordinates showed was water. (She mentioned thinking it was a "fool's errand.") The helicopter took off from a freighter. When she started to see the island, all the instruments went crazy and the helicopter crashed. Assuming Naomi is telling the truth, this triple-confirms that the island is invisible to the outside world and that the survivors have little-to-no hope of being rescued. Unless the Widemore-commissioned freighter comes in...
- Danielle Rousseau, the "crazy french chick," went into the Black Rock to get some more dynamite. Apart from a very funny scene with Locke, this is actually very monumental. In season one, she wouldn't go back inside the ship, saying it was the source of evil or something like that. (She had been on it before.) Evidently, knowing that the Others have her daughter changes things a little.
- How did Locke's dad get on Mystery Island? According to the Coop-man himself, he was driving along when he was rear-ended. He was on a gurney, being placed in an ambulance and was having an IV put on. Next thing, everything went black. When he woke up, he was on the island - and very surprised to know that Locke was alive and didn't die in Flight 815! His story, though, sounds more like a kidnapping, especially with the IV tube. But, if it was kidnapping, did it happen before or after the sky turned purple?
- Juliet misses cheeseburgers when living on the beach. A lot.
- Jack and Juliet know something... After Kate spilled the beans on the Naomi story, Juliet said that "we should tell her," but Jack said "not yet." It was very creepy and non-descriptive.
- Locke warned Sawyer that "Juliet is a mole," and that there will be a raid on the beach to get the pregnant women in three
- Cooper theorized that the "island" was actually hell. "A little hot for heaven," he said. But, if that were so, then what's up with the smoke monster killing people who commit grievous sins, like pride, arrogance and stealing? (And if Smokey is so self-righteous, I wonder what the pilot's sin was...)
A Lost Recap
Here's some highlights from Lost, presented like few other blogs have, I'm sure...
JACK: Sun, you dead yet from being pregnant?
SUN: You creep... are you working with the others?
KATE: Nope, but Juliet is! Because, you see, she's an other.
JULIET: You're pregnant? Aw, congratulations! You might die very soon, though. Pregnant women on this island tend to do that. Often. Let's go to the medical station!
SUN: Alright, but this faux-kidnapping thing isn't exactly making me happy, considering I've been kidnapped before on this island. Thanks for inducing PTSD flashbacks, JULIET.
JULIET: *stares*
SUN: Hey, the medical station was empty last time we saw it!
JULIET: Yeah, but ABC coughed up some money for props and this secret room! It's where we kept the dying moms, so it'll be perfect for performing an ultrasound.
SUN: Boy or girl?
JULIET: Too soon. But it's healthy! Unlike you. You've got about 2 months to live.
SUN: The baby is Jin's! Aw... Thanks, Juliet. If we were on the mainland, you'd be in my Top 5 for sure!
JULIET: Excuse me a second while I conspire to commit evilness... Ben? I'm going after Kate next. And, I hate you. Still.
PERSON: *cough* *cough*
DESMOND: She's not Penny!
HURLEY: Dude... I shot off a flare.
CHARLIE: I'll just hog a bunch of screentime, so you won't miss me when the island eventually course-corrects my life.
MIKHAIL: Someone call for a multi-lingual field medic?
CHARLIE: Hey, aren't you the one who died?
MIKHAIL: So?
PERSON: "jsdgksgpkopkgfh"
MIKHAIL: She said, shut up Charlie. Now stand back as I perform surgery so gruesome it makes season one seem tame!
PERSON: *GURGLE*
EVERYONE ELSE: Gross...
MIKHAIL: Bye!
JIN: Radio, gone. Beat him up!
MIKHAIL: Um, here's the radio...
DESMOND: Leave. I'm a ex-monk, I can take a higher road, even if it means not getting answers. Just leave! Penny, where are you?
PERSON: Hey, Hurley, you survive Flight 815? Because they found 815, and the passengers, and ya'll were dead.
HURLEY: Dude...
FLASHBACKS:
JIN: I love you!
SUN: I love you!
JIN: I love you, madly!
SUN: I love you, madly!
WOMAN: Give me $100,000 or else I'll disgrace Jin.
SUN: Freakin'... Fine. Whatever.
JIN: Don't ask me about my father until I get my story straight...
JIN'S DAD: Sun! I recognized you from the paper!
SUN: I love you, father-in-law!
JIN'S DAD: Same here. But, Jin's mom was a "hired help" and dumped the baby on me. And that'll bring shame upon the family if he ever knows. So leave now and never return!
SUN: 'Kay. Hey, dad, can you spare $100,000?
PAIK: HARUMPH! I'm the Asian Mr. Scrooge! Of course I can't.
SUN: It's to prevent shame...
PAIK: Jin, eh? Fine. Have the money. But, Jin will work for me now. And that job requires lots of stain removers...
JIN: What's this money?
SUN: Oh, I just thought it'd be nice to buy $100,000 worth of furniture...
JIN: Hon, I'll make the money, okay?
SUN: Yes, dear...
WOMAN: Got the money?
SUN: I do. But next time, just say you're Jin's mom. And, never cross my family, because we are powerful. And we can ruin your life, or end it.
JACK: Sun, you dead yet from being pregnant?
SUN: You creep... are you working with the others?
KATE: Nope, but Juliet is! Because, you see, she's an other.
JULIET: You're pregnant? Aw, congratulations! You might die very soon, though. Pregnant women on this island tend to do that. Often. Let's go to the medical station!
SUN: Alright, but this faux-kidnapping thing isn't exactly making me happy, considering I've been kidnapped before on this island. Thanks for inducing PTSD flashbacks, JULIET.
JULIET: *stares*
SUN: Hey, the medical station was empty last time we saw it!
JULIET: Yeah, but ABC coughed up some money for props and this secret room! It's where we kept the dying moms, so it'll be perfect for performing an ultrasound.
SUN: Boy or girl?
JULIET: Too soon. But it's healthy! Unlike you. You've got about 2 months to live.
SUN: The baby is Jin's! Aw... Thanks, Juliet. If we were on the mainland, you'd be in my Top 5 for sure!
JULIET: Excuse me a second while I conspire to commit evilness... Ben? I'm going after Kate next. And, I hate you. Still.
PERSON: *cough* *cough*
DESMOND: She's not Penny!
HURLEY: Dude... I shot off a flare.
CHARLIE: I'll just hog a bunch of screentime, so you won't miss me when the island eventually course-corrects my life.
MIKHAIL: Someone call for a multi-lingual field medic?
CHARLIE: Hey, aren't you the one who died?
MIKHAIL: So?
PERSON: "jsdgksgpkopkgfh"
MIKHAIL: She said, shut up Charlie. Now stand back as I perform surgery so gruesome it makes season one seem tame!
PERSON: *GURGLE*
EVERYONE ELSE: Gross...
MIKHAIL: Bye!
JIN: Radio, gone. Beat him up!
MIKHAIL: Um, here's the radio...
DESMOND: Leave. I'm a ex-monk, I can take a higher road, even if it means not getting answers. Just leave! Penny, where are you?
PERSON: Hey, Hurley, you survive Flight 815? Because they found 815, and the passengers, and ya'll were dead.
HURLEY: Dude...
FLASHBACKS:
JIN: I love you!
SUN: I love you!
JIN: I love you, madly!
SUN: I love you, madly!
WOMAN: Give me $100,000 or else I'll disgrace Jin.
SUN: Freakin'... Fine. Whatever.
JIN: Don't ask me about my father until I get my story straight...
JIN'S DAD: Sun! I recognized you from the paper!
SUN: I love you, father-in-law!
JIN'S DAD: Same here. But, Jin's mom was a "hired help" and dumped the baby on me. And that'll bring shame upon the family if he ever knows. So leave now and never return!
SUN: 'Kay. Hey, dad, can you spare $100,000?
PAIK: HARUMPH! I'm the Asian Mr. Scrooge! Of course I can't.
SUN: It's to prevent shame...
PAIK: Jin, eh? Fine. Have the money. But, Jin will work for me now. And that job requires lots of stain removers...
JIN: What's this money?
SUN: Oh, I just thought it'd be nice to buy $100,000 worth of furniture...
JIN: Hon, I'll make the money, okay?
SUN: Yes, dear...
WOMAN: Got the money?
SUN: I do. But next time, just say you're Jin's mom. And, never cross my family, because we are powerful. And we can ruin your life, or end it.
Lost: Catch-22
One thing I love about Lost is how the episode titles make absolutely no sense until you've seen the episode. For instance, this episode title, Catch-22, is a clear reference to that foreign book that the parachutee had in her backpack with a title that translated to Catch-22. Oh, in retrospect, that was such a spoiler-ish title! Anywho, here's what happened this week on Lost.
SPOILERS ABOUND!!!
The A-Team: The love square continues to become more complicated, if only in Kate's mind. We start off with Sawyer going up to Kate, who then asks if she told Jack that they, well... Kate says that she didn't tell him, but that it turns out there were working surveillance cameras, so yeah, Jack knows. Sawyer then asks, "How about a little afternoon delight," to which Kate abruptly exits stage right. At night, Kate's eating oatmeal at the Losties Buffet Bar when Jack comes up. Kate tells him that the "oatmeal is awesome," but Jack just makes very awkward small talk with Kate. He hurries back to Juliet, where he becomes very outgoing and sociable again. He even starts laughing. Kate, hurt and jealous, runs into Sawyer's tent and they, well... But not before Sawyer points out that Kate is crying!
The next morning, Sawyer informs Jack that something happened while he was away for the first part of the season. Would that be finding the Pearl Station? Mr. Eko dying? Nikki and Paulo dying? Nope, they can play table tennis again! While playing a very competitive game, the guys talk a little bit about Juliet and Kate and Jack let's it slip that he talked to Kate last night for a little bit. Later, Sawyer comes up to Kate and asks if their makeout session was because she saw Jack and Juliet together. Kate, not all that convincingly, says that it wasn't. Sawyer sees right through it, but then adds that "all you need to do is ask."
The Flashbacks: This week focused on Desmond. When we start, I could have sworn he was in prison. It looked just like a cell. But it turned out to be a monastery, whose living quarters are probably about the same. Brother Campbell tells Desmond that his very long vow of silence has won the other brothers over and that he is now a full-fledged Monk-in-training. "Welcome, brother," Campbell says, without a Scottish accent. In fact, he says the "-er" instead of making it a "-ah," which is what Desmond does so well. Anywho, while Desmond works in the Moriah Winery, some guy named Derek comes up to Desmond, punches him and leaves. The monks look disappointed in Desmond and do not even stop to question the man who punched him. Which, I don't know what the monastery's policy is on assault and battery, but, that's kind of weird.
Derek turns out to be the brother of Ruth, a woman whom Desmond left before their wedding. After being together for six years. Ruth really does not Desmond there, but he insists on explaining why he left. He says that he started having doubts about what he was supposed to do, so he looked up to the heavens and asked, "Am I doing the right thing?" The next thing he knew, he was lying down in the street and was helped up by a monk. So right then and there, Des knew that his calling was to be a monk. Ruth snits that she's glad he wasn't helped up by a Shepard, or else he would be herding sheep right now.
Back at the monastery, Desmond drinks his sorrow away with Moriah Wine. Campbell comes in and is very disappointed. In fact, he fires Desmond! From being a monk! He is no longer Brother Desmond. Ouch! Campbell says that God has much bigger plans for him than just being a monk, but that Desmond spends too much running away to realize what he is running towards. Desmond gets up angrily and says Curse you, Dr. Phil and runs away. He later hands in his robe to an older monk, who convinces Desmond to help load a truck full of wine in order to get a ride into town. (NOTE: Apparently, in this scene, there is a photo of Mrs. Hawkings, the jewelry lady whom we last saw in Desmond's back-to-the-future episode.) While loading the truck, Des hears that this driver's father has made a sizable donation to the monastery. Now, who on Lost is rich and in the United Kingdom? That's right, the Widemores. And the driver? Penny. Desmond and Penny awkwardly-but-awesomely flirt right away. Penelope laughs that Desmond was fired from being a monk, because she didn't think that monks could be fired. Aw, it's love at first sight!
Team Desmond: Now to the juicy part of the episode. We started off by having Jin, Charlie, Hurley and Desmond walking through the jungle while Hurley and Charlie debate whether or not Flash or Superman would win a footrace. (It's pretty funny.) Charlie accidentally trips off one of Rousseaou's Random Death Traps, gets an arrow to the neck and dies. We all applaud. But then we get weird flashes and then we see that this was all just one of Desmond's visions. Desmond, after thinking about the vision for a minute, goes up to Hurley and demands to know where the wire is that connects to the underwater sonar that's been shown a few times in seasons past. When asked why he needs to know, Desmond replies, "Someones Coming." So Hurley and Des get a First Aid kit from Jack and waltz on off, convincing Jin to go "camping" with them. Desmond lies to Charlie that he won't be dying on this trip, so Charlie's all gung-ho to join them. Desmond explained that he needs everyone from his vision, to help insure that the future is exactly as he saw it to be. He's not trying to change it this time! But first, he needs to endure everyone else whistling the Colenel Bogey March. Heh.
They find the wire and Desmond decides to make camp, saying it'll be dark soon. Except, I always feel they film these scenes at about noon, so I'm like, "it looks like you have another 8 hours!" but I'm always wrong; it's dark within two minutes. Stupid television. After some funny ghost stories with Jin, Charlie talks to Desmond, who confides in him that he loves Penelope. Suddenly, there's a strange noise, one of a helicopter!! But, it stutters, spins and whirls around, all the things a helicopter should not do. Desmond looks sad, because he saw a flashing light in the vision, but there's nothing. And he heard a splash in the water! A minute later, though, there's a flashing red light in the sky. Which, oddly enough, none of the A-Team pointed out. But they were the C-plot this week, so, whatever.
In the morning, the team goes into the jungle to find whoever was in that helicopter. Charlie finds a bobble head and picks it up right away, without even thinking that it might be a Rousseau Random Death Trap. Desmond looks up and sees a backpack that includes a non-functioning satellite phone and a book called Catch-22 that includes a photo of Desmond and Penny! Oh, it's got to be Penelope on the island for sure!
While trekking along, we get to relive the whole first part of the episode again with the whole superhero footrace debate. (Click here to read more about this TV technique.) But Desmond, stricken by his conscious, saves Charlie's life, but only very, very reluctantly.
As they approach a clearing, Jin/Hurley split off to look for the survivor, while Des/Charlie go another way. Charlie is ticked off, because Desmond knew that he was going to die right from the beginning. Desmond is even more mad, because what's the bloody use? He's been cursed to die from the beginning. He's saved his life 3-4 times now. What if it's a test to see if he'll let Charlie die? Like Abraham and Issac? If so, Desmond just failed, and he's pretty upset. This also means that he changed what he saw, which is exactly what he did not want to do this time. Eventually, all 4 trekkers find the survivor, all suited up and in a helmet, being suspended in the air, thanks to a parachute caught in between the trees.
They get her down safely and Desmond is estatic to take the helmet off. He keeps saying Penny's name over and over again. He takes the helmet off and the person says "Desmond." Except, it's not Penelope, it's Marsha Thomason, previously from Las Vegas on NBC! After taking Michael, Mr. Eko and Ms. Klugh off the island, I guess Lost needed to up the diversity quota again. (Especially after killing off two Latinos a few weeks ago!)
On a bit of a sidenote... If this week's episode doesn't get Henry Ian Cusick another Emmy nod, there is no justice. Not to mention Elizabeth Mitchell's superb acting last week, this show has once again become a terrific showcase for character development and stellar acting.
SPOILERS ABOUND!!!
The A-Team: The love square continues to become more complicated, if only in Kate's mind. We start off with Sawyer going up to Kate, who then asks if she told Jack that they, well... Kate says that she didn't tell him, but that it turns out there were working surveillance cameras, so yeah, Jack knows. Sawyer then asks, "How about a little afternoon delight," to which Kate abruptly exits stage right. At night, Kate's eating oatmeal at the Losties Buffet Bar when Jack comes up. Kate tells him that the "oatmeal is awesome," but Jack just makes very awkward small talk with Kate. He hurries back to Juliet, where he becomes very outgoing and sociable again. He even starts laughing. Kate, hurt and jealous, runs into Sawyer's tent and they, well... But not before Sawyer points out that Kate is crying!
The next morning, Sawyer informs Jack that something happened while he was away for the first part of the season. Would that be finding the Pearl Station? Mr. Eko dying? Nikki and Paulo dying? Nope, they can play table tennis again! While playing a very competitive game, the guys talk a little bit about Juliet and Kate and Jack let's it slip that he talked to Kate last night for a little bit. Later, Sawyer comes up to Kate and asks if their makeout session was because she saw Jack and Juliet together. Kate, not all that convincingly, says that it wasn't. Sawyer sees right through it, but then adds that "all you need to do is ask."
The Flashbacks: This week focused on Desmond. When we start, I could have sworn he was in prison. It looked just like a cell. But it turned out to be a monastery, whose living quarters are probably about the same. Brother Campbell tells Desmond that his very long vow of silence has won the other brothers over and that he is now a full-fledged Monk-in-training. "Welcome, brother," Campbell says, without a Scottish accent. In fact, he says the "-er" instead of making it a "-ah," which is what Desmond does so well. Anywho, while Desmond works in the Moriah Winery, some guy named Derek comes up to Desmond, punches him and leaves. The monks look disappointed in Desmond and do not even stop to question the man who punched him. Which, I don't know what the monastery's policy is on assault and battery, but, that's kind of weird.
Derek turns out to be the brother of Ruth, a woman whom Desmond left before their wedding. After being together for six years. Ruth really does not Desmond there, but he insists on explaining why he left. He says that he started having doubts about what he was supposed to do, so he looked up to the heavens and asked, "Am I doing the right thing?" The next thing he knew, he was lying down in the street and was helped up by a monk. So right then and there, Des knew that his calling was to be a monk. Ruth snits that she's glad he wasn't helped up by a Shepard, or else he would be herding sheep right now.
Back at the monastery, Desmond drinks his sorrow away with Moriah Wine. Campbell comes in and is very disappointed. In fact, he fires Desmond! From being a monk! He is no longer Brother Desmond. Ouch! Campbell says that God has much bigger plans for him than just being a monk, but that Desmond spends too much running away to realize what he is running towards. Desmond gets up angrily and says Curse you, Dr. Phil and runs away. He later hands in his robe to an older monk, who convinces Desmond to help load a truck full of wine in order to get a ride into town. (NOTE: Apparently, in this scene, there is a photo of Mrs. Hawkings, the jewelry lady whom we last saw in Desmond's back-to-the-future episode.) While loading the truck, Des hears that this driver's father has made a sizable donation to the monastery. Now, who on Lost is rich and in the United Kingdom? That's right, the Widemores. And the driver? Penny. Desmond and Penny awkwardly-but-awesomely flirt right away. Penelope laughs that Desmond was fired from being a monk, because she didn't think that monks could be fired. Aw, it's love at first sight!
Team Desmond: Now to the juicy part of the episode. We started off by having Jin, Charlie, Hurley and Desmond walking through the jungle while Hurley and Charlie debate whether or not Flash or Superman would win a footrace. (It's pretty funny.) Charlie accidentally trips off one of Rousseaou's Random Death Traps, gets an arrow to the neck and dies. We all applaud. But then we get weird flashes and then we see that this was all just one of Desmond's visions. Desmond, after thinking about the vision for a minute, goes up to Hurley and demands to know where the wire is that connects to the underwater sonar that's been shown a few times in seasons past. When asked why he needs to know, Desmond replies, "Someones Coming." So Hurley and Des get a First Aid kit from Jack and waltz on off, convincing Jin to go "camping" with them. Desmond lies to Charlie that he won't be dying on this trip, so Charlie's all gung-ho to join them. Desmond explained that he needs everyone from his vision, to help insure that the future is exactly as he saw it to be. He's not trying to change it this time! But first, he needs to endure everyone else whistling the Colenel Bogey March. Heh.
They find the wire and Desmond decides to make camp, saying it'll be dark soon. Except, I always feel they film these scenes at about noon, so I'm like, "it looks like you have another 8 hours!" but I'm always wrong; it's dark within two minutes. Stupid television. After some funny ghost stories with Jin, Charlie talks to Desmond, who confides in him that he loves Penelope. Suddenly, there's a strange noise, one of a helicopter!! But, it stutters, spins and whirls around, all the things a helicopter should not do. Desmond looks sad, because he saw a flashing light in the vision, but there's nothing. And he heard a splash in the water! A minute later, though, there's a flashing red light in the sky. Which, oddly enough, none of the A-Team pointed out. But they were the C-plot this week, so, whatever.
In the morning, the team goes into the jungle to find whoever was in that helicopter. Charlie finds a bobble head and picks it up right away, without even thinking that it might be a Rousseau Random Death Trap. Desmond looks up and sees a backpack that includes a non-functioning satellite phone and a book called Catch-22 that includes a photo of Desmond and Penny! Oh, it's got to be Penelope on the island for sure!
While trekking along, we get to relive the whole first part of the episode again with the whole superhero footrace debate. (Click here to read more about this TV technique.) But Desmond, stricken by his conscious, saves Charlie's life, but only very, very reluctantly.
As they approach a clearing, Jin/Hurley split off to look for the survivor, while Des/Charlie go another way. Charlie is ticked off, because Desmond knew that he was going to die right from the beginning. Desmond is even more mad, because what's the bloody use? He's been cursed to die from the beginning. He's saved his life 3-4 times now. What if it's a test to see if he'll let Charlie die? Like Abraham and Issac? If so, Desmond just failed, and he's pretty upset. This also means that he changed what he saw, which is exactly what he did not want to do this time. Eventually, all 4 trekkers find the survivor, all suited up and in a helmet, being suspended in the air, thanks to a parachute caught in between the trees.
They get her down safely and Desmond is estatic to take the helmet off. He keeps saying Penny's name over and over again. He takes the helmet off and the person says "Desmond." Except, it's not Penelope, it's Marsha Thomason, previously from Las Vegas on NBC! After taking Michael, Mr. Eko and Ms. Klugh off the island, I guess Lost needed to up the diversity quota again. (Especially after killing off two Latinos a few weeks ago!)
On a bit of a sidenote... If this week's episode doesn't get Henry Ian Cusick another Emmy nod, there is no justice. Not to mention Elizabeth Mitchell's superb acting last week, this show has once again become a terrific showcase for character development and stellar acting.
Frazzle Dazzle!
RIP, Nikki and Paulo. Because your deaths must have been difficult to go through. But, considering you turned out to be very angsty, tricksy cons and thieves, I don't feel too bad. The pride of greed can kill on an island like this! The Lost producers promised that these characters would be iconic. I disagree. The only thing iconic after this episode was the brief glimpse we had of Exposé, the cheesy strippers-as-detectives TV show that Nikki guest-starred in. I now wish more characters on Lost exclaimed Frazzle Dazzle! before beginning an action scene.
Oh, and if Billy Dee's fictional character is any indication, we'll be finding out who the leader of the Others, Jacob, is in the fourth season. And it will probably be someone we know, but would least suspect. I'd speculate about who it is, but considering they can still introduce characters before that big reveal next season, it may be pointless. Nonetheless, my money's on Bernard the Dentist. He's old enough, we don't know anything about his life when he was younger, and he's someone that we can currently trust. And since we hardly see him, "they" wouldn't have to worry about continuity or anything. And that could be why Goodwin risked revealing himself as an Other to rush out of the jungle to get survivors to save Bernard, because he's his boss.
Ay, but that makes about 5% sense. So it'll be someone like Jack's Dad.
Oh, and if Billy Dee's fictional character is any indication, we'll be finding out who the leader of the Others, Jacob, is in the fourth season. And it will probably be someone we know, but would least suspect. I'd speculate about who it is, but considering they can still introduce characters before that big reveal next season, it may be pointless. Nonetheless, my money's on Bernard the Dentist. He's old enough, we don't know anything about his life when he was younger, and he's someone that we can currently trust. And since we hardly see him, "they" wouldn't have to worry about continuity or anything. And that could be why Goodwin risked revealing himself as an Other to rush out of the jungle to get survivors to save Bernard, because he's his boss.
Ay, but that makes about 5% sense. So it'll be someone like Jack's Dad.
Another Unexplained "Lost" Mystery
DHARMA, Alvar Hanso, the shape-shifting smoke monster... There are plenty of mysteries on Lost that people become obsessed over. Sun's pregnant, but who's the daddy? Will Kate chose Jack or Saywer? Will Juliet and Jack hook up? Will Charlie die? Can everyone see their own flashbacks? But there's only one mystery that I really care about... Claire's hair. This first photo, shown below, is how Claire has looked like ever since Flight 815 crashed on the island. She even looked like this while she was giving childbirth. (Another island miracle?)
But then, in a recent episode, Claire was drowning in the ocean. After she recovered from the shock, she went up to thank her rescuer, looking like this:
Did she visit an underwater salon? Perhaps the mysterious Nikki will turn out to be a hair stylist. Or, worse yet, the loathsome Paulo may be a stylist himself. Whatever the reason, it's still a little jarring to suddenly see Emile de Ravin with a brand new hair style, on a remote island, for no apparent reason.
That said, if I see ABC heavily promoting a upcoming episode that promises to answer "big questions", I can expect an answer to this. Because if the origin of Jack's tattoos can be considered a "big mystery," so can Claire's hair.
But then, in a recent episode, Claire was drowning in the ocean. After she recovered from the shock, she went up to thank her rescuer, looking like this:
Did she visit an underwater salon? Perhaps the mysterious Nikki will turn out to be a hair stylist. Or, worse yet, the loathsome Paulo may be a stylist himself. Whatever the reason, it's still a little jarring to suddenly see Emile de Ravin with a brand new hair style, on a remote island, for no apparent reason.
That said, if I see ABC heavily promoting a upcoming episode that promises to answer "big questions", I can expect an answer to this. Because if the origin of Jack's tattoos can be considered a "big mystery," so can Claire's hair.
How to Enjoy Watching "Lost"
Newsweek's Devin Gordon wrote up a funny little article, talking about how fans can enjoy watching Lost. And he, in part, eludes to elements of the First Season Curse that I talked about. He points out that the show was groundbreaking, but, it's kind of hard to keep being groundbreaking every. single. episode. So he offers these three helpful hints:
1. Stop clamoring for answers in every episode. You haven't gotten them, why would they start now? They come slowly, bit by bit. Enjoy what you get, but don't expect answers often. Especially not in a post-Twin Peaks world!
2. Stop trying to figure it all out. He points out that X-Files fans are still trying to figure out everything. Do you really want to be like an X-Files fan? Do you?
3. Just WATCH THE SHOW. Even if it's not revolutionary, it's still pretty good television.
I must say, it is kind of a testament to the show itself that fans are this obsessive over every single minut detail on the show. They raise some questions in the show itself, like, why don't the Others just fly off of the island and go to Rio or someplace? I, personally, would suggest sticking with over-arching questions like those and not questions that you have to piece together before you can ask it, like "What is Alvar Hanso's role in the assembly of all the passengers on Flight 815?". That's going waaaay too deep into the mythology and isn't going to help your blood pressure at all. But if the storytelling and writing were even a few levels lower, it probably wouldn't have this massive cult following.
My own personal advice is just to take any show, any episode, based on what it is, without setting it to any other standard. It's tough to do sometimes. I mean, I'm watching this current season of 24 and I'm sitting there thinking, 'This was cooler when the show was called Alias'. And it's tough to judge a show by itself sometimes if the episodes just downright suck and you don't want to admit that the show is having a bad season. It happens! But be careful: Sometimes, the storytelling is too good for television. When you "binge" on a full season on DVD, different over-arching story lines become apparent, some characters become less annoying and you can better pick up on how a character or plot is developing, because you don't have to wait a week or more between episodes.
That all said, Lost better explain why the Hatch seemed to explode, but actually imploded. Hhhmmm...
1. Stop clamoring for answers in every episode. You haven't gotten them, why would they start now? They come slowly, bit by bit. Enjoy what you get, but don't expect answers often. Especially not in a post-Twin Peaks world!
2. Stop trying to figure it all out. He points out that X-Files fans are still trying to figure out everything. Do you really want to be like an X-Files fan? Do you?
3. Just WATCH THE SHOW. Even if it's not revolutionary, it's still pretty good television.
I must say, it is kind of a testament to the show itself that fans are this obsessive over every single minut detail on the show. They raise some questions in the show itself, like, why don't the Others just fly off of the island and go to Rio or someplace? I, personally, would suggest sticking with over-arching questions like those and not questions that you have to piece together before you can ask it, like "What is Alvar Hanso's role in the assembly of all the passengers on Flight 815?". That's going waaaay too deep into the mythology and isn't going to help your blood pressure at all. But if the storytelling and writing were even a few levels lower, it probably wouldn't have this massive cult following.
My own personal advice is just to take any show, any episode, based on what it is, without setting it to any other standard. It's tough to do sometimes. I mean, I'm watching this current season of 24 and I'm sitting there thinking, 'This was cooler when the show was called Alias'. And it's tough to judge a show by itself sometimes if the episodes just downright suck and you don't want to admit that the show is having a bad season. It happens! But be careful: Sometimes, the storytelling is too good for television. When you "binge" on a full season on DVD, different over-arching story lines become apparent, some characters become less annoying and you can better pick up on how a character or plot is developing, because you don't have to wait a week or more between episodes.
That all said, Lost better explain why the Hatch seemed to explode, but actually imploded. Hhhmmm...
Are "Lost" spoilers found in the Bible?
I love reading theories about Lost. Some are downright stupid, others are very, very imaginative. Like, the theory that the show is all playing out from Vincent's imagination. Vincent, of course, being the island dog who becomes a close pet to someone a few episodes before the character is written off the show. And despite all the Lost executives denying this is the case, the most popular theory is that the island is some form of purgatory. After all, characters like Jack and Kate have had to wrestle with their demons and come out stronger, and live. Mr. Eko, who wrestled with his demons but in the end remained unapologetic for his sins, was killed by the island. Those allusions are pretty hard to ignore!
But this is perhaps the most clever theory I've read, to date. It's less about the island as a whole, but more about certain characters. Characters who mirror Biblical characters. Here's the really juicy part:
And the theory that Paulo could be an Other makes me happy, because that would give me one single reason to like his character. He's pretty much like a human Jar-Jar Binks: he's useless, a screen hog and could be edited out of the show with zero impact on the story. Same goes with Nicki, I guess, but at least that actress can act every now and then. Gggrr!
However, we probably won't get more clues about Jacob and Paulo for a while when the show returns in February; there's that whole coup thing happening on the small island. And if Jack weren't staging a coup, Juliet would be. And if they weren't, Juliet and Benry would be standing around for a full hour giving each other death stares until they burn a hole into the other's skull. (Juliet would win, BTW. Because here eyes are that powerful.)
But this is perhaps the most clever theory I've read, to date. It's less about the island as a whole, but more about certain characters. Characters who mirror Biblical characters. Here's the really juicy part:
Jacob, in case you don't pay attention to every. single. word. in this show like you should be doing, was referenced by Pickett in a recent episode. "He wasn't even on Jacob's list!" he said. And, Lost execs have confirmed that the actor did not misspeak, and that there is a character named Jacob, who was named so for a reason. (Just like they named characters Locke, Rousseau and [Desmond] Hume for a reason.)According to the Bible, most of Jacob's sons weren't exactly the nicest kids. After all, they got so jealous of their brother Joseph (think: Desmond), they threw him into a pit (think: The Hatch), told Dad he had been killed, and sold him into slavery. (Theory: Mr. Widmore, hatching schemes and telling lies to keep Des and Pen apart.) By the way, Joseph turned out just fine, as he became tight with the ruler of Egypt thanks to his... supernatural ability to interpret the future from weird dreams. (Again, I say: DESMOND!) By the way, that oversized tie dye T-shirt that Hurley gave Desmond in the third episode? ''Technicolor Dream Coat,'' don't you think? (Another Joseph reference for ya, in case you didn't go to Sunday school like I did.)
But besides Joseph, there was another Son of Jacob who was a pretty good egg. In fact, he was Joseph's favorite brother. His name?
BENJAMIN.
And the theory that Paulo could be an Other makes me happy, because that would give me one single reason to like his character. He's pretty much like a human Jar-Jar Binks: he's useless, a screen hog and could be edited out of the show with zero impact on the story. Same goes with Nicki, I guess, but at least that actress can act every now and then. Gggrr!
However, we probably won't get more clues about Jacob and Paulo for a while when the show returns in February; there's that whole coup thing happening on the small island. And if Jack weren't staging a coup, Juliet would be. And if they weren't, Juliet and Benry would be standing around for a full hour giving each other death stares until they burn a hole into the other's skull. (Juliet would win, BTW. Because here eyes are that powerful.)
Is Microsoft part of the Hanso Foundation?
The first image is the welcome page for the Hanso Foundation. The second is a screenshot from the new Windows Vista. I'm not positive, but I don't think Vista's default wallpaper and color schemes and Hanso's color scheme are a coincidence... I think Vista may just be one Lost big tie-in. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you'll have to put in "the numbers" (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) every 108 minutes, or else your computer will implode.
What we learned in the Lost mini-series (Now with pictures!)
After six weeks on the air, ABC's Lost is taking a break for a while. When it returns, it'll remain on the air for the rest of the season, uninterrupted. And when it comes back, we're supposedly going to learn more about Desmond, and Uncle Drosselmeyer is supposed to play a bigger part. (ie, he'll be in for more than three seconds. Thanks, ABC promo monkeys, for ruining that big old shocking scene for us!) While the mini-series moved at a pretty slow pace, we did happen to learn quite a big about the characters, and a whole lot about the Others. So we present to you a brief recap of most of what transpired in season 2.5. Seriously, it's brief. This show covers a lot of material.
Needless to say, SPOILERS lay ahead if you haven't seen any of Season 3 yet.
The Others: They live in nice suburban houses. They have a book club. And most of them don't like horror stories, apparently. "Henry Gale" is actually Benjamin Linus and he is indeed the leader of this little clan. He may not, however, be the leader. But he's someone of great importance. The Others temporarily abandoned their posh lifestyle after they saw the plane crash, and sent various people to investigate and assimilate into the different survivor groups. The leaders of those groups were to make "lists" of people to bring back.
After kidnapping Jack, Kate and Sawyer in the season two finale, the Others stuck Jack in a locked cell underneath an aquarium. Kate and Sawyer both got outdoor cages in the old zoo, where they are monitored 24/7, unbeknownst to them, by Benry. Ben offers Kate a very, VERY nice breakfast, handcuffs her and warns her that the next couple weeks will be very, very unpleasant. He makes her wear a dress, so she'll "feel like a lady again". Next time we see Kate, she's dishevelled and won't talk about what happened. Later on, when Jack asks Kate if they hurt her, she bursts into tears. Yeah. They're not exactly cool like that.
The Others, who love psychology and science, trick Sawyer into thinking that he has a pacemaker that will kill him if his heart rate goes above a certain level. Which, personally, sounds like a very lame plot in Alias, but whatever. After an episode of Josh Halloway looking angry, the Others tell Sawyer that it was a trick (duh), but then reveal to him that they are on a separate island, a few times bigger than Alcatraz. They can see the main island - where the other Lostaways are at - but they'd have to swim through shark-infested waters in order to get back.
As for Jack, the Others took him as part of a big old master plan to manipulate and break him so he'll want to remove a tumor from Benry's lower back. Instead of asking, they lock him up and befriend him with new blonde vixen Juliet, who looks way too much like Jacks' ex-wife that when they first showed her in the show, I thought she was Jack's ex. She's not. But that's just me.
Anyways, Jack has to perform emergency surgery on a wounded Other, he catches a glance of some x-rays and surmises that they belong to Benry. Juliet and Ben figure out that Jack figured that out on his own, and Jack eventually agrees to perform the surgery. But not after rupturing something else in Ben on the table and pretty much takes the entire Others compound hostage, demanding that Kate (not Sawyer) be allowed to get to safety. Except that Jack doesn't know he's on Alcatraz. And he doesn't know that his plans usually don't end well, at all. Oh well, it made for a fun cliffhanger!
The Lostaways: We met two new characters, named Nikki and Paulo. And they were abruptly introduced, like they were always a part of the show. Only, we don't care about them. At least, not yet. Nikki shows potential for being a cool team member, but Paulo is useless. Seriously, his character is like Ray from Everyone Loves Raymond. I expect him to whine that he's on a desert island. (For those who are wondering, Paulo is on the right in that picture and Nikki is in the middle. On the left, of course, is Desmond.)
Sun, Jin and Sayid enjoyed an episode together, making it the first time ever on TV history that an Iraqi and a Korean couple has shared an entire boring episode together on a island mystery-drama-thriller. I know! It's quite an accomplishment. Anyways, nothing really happened there, except that Sayid and Sun lied to Jin, and he's kind of ticked about that. And, Jin might know more about Sun's secrets than she thought. Maybe.
Meanwhile, Charlie didn't go searching for Locke at all following the hatch explosion, which wasn't really an explosion, but an implosion, which explained the explosion that we saw, and it explains the hatch door being thrown a mile or two across the island. Why, that must be another island mystery! Anyways, Locke comes back to camp as a mute (thank you!), but then gives himself narcotics, much to Charlie's chagrin, and regains his voice after a creepy vision involving Boone, the airport and a polar bear. Locke can speak again and is suddenly, magically Season 1 Locke, and he realizes he has to look for Mr. Eko. DUH!
Mr. Eko, it turns out, had been dragged around by a polar bear and was being kept in it's cave as a back-up dinner meal. Locke saves Eko from the polar bear, but not from the big bad smoke monster, who apparently is a shape-shifter. After Eko was unrepentant for his past actions shown to us in his flashback episodes, the smoke monster got angry and took his life.
Oh, and Desmond? Can see the future. Or, has the ability to watch ABC's promos and figure out what's going to happen from there. Like, when ABC promised us somebody was going to die, then showed us in the commercials that it would be a Eko-centric episode, it wasn't exactly rocket science to piece it all together.
The Flashbacks:
Jack Shepard: Jack is creepy. After his wife filed for divorce, Jack kind of stalks her, hoping to find out who it is that she's dating. She won't tell him a name. At all. And it drives Jack INSANE. Seriously, he's willing to do anything, just so he'll know what this guy's name is. It's not just a mild fascination, he is obsessed with knowing who has stolen his wife's heart. And Sarah just won't tell him. Which, considering Jack's kind of crazy when he's mad, I don't exactly blame her. Jack's actions drive his recovering-alcoholic dad to drink again. Because Jack ruins lives that much. You know, for a doctor, he's not very good with people at all. Oh, and we had to pretend for a short while that Sarah may have been having an affair with Jack's dad. Yeah, like Sarah's that desperate!
Jin and Sun: Sun had an affair with the guy who taught her English. We suspected as much, but it was kind of saddening to see just the same. He encourages her to leave her marriage, not so much because Jin is doing SunDaddy's dirty work, but because he wants her. SunDaddy finds out about the affair, and tells Jin that this man has "disgraced SunDaddy", and that a message should be delivered. Jin was never told that he was cheating on his wife. But he left a clear message, one that drove English-speaking-dude to jump to his death. The major unresolved question for this couple is: Who's the daddy? Because Jin's sterile, but doesn't know it, but hey, the island has magical powers. But Sun had the affair with this one dude, and had a crush on Michael. Suddenly, the most grown-up, sophisticated plotline became a lot more mainstream. And actually, a little bit like one of the telenovelas that we get snippets of during an episode of Ugly Betty. All I'm saying is that Jin better hope Sun is actually pregnant and that she won't be wearing a soccer ball underneath her clothes for a few months!
John Locke: We saw a completely new side of Locke this time. In fact, it was like a completely different story! Following Helen leaving him, and his con-man dad, Locke joins a commune where they grow fruits, veggies and pot. He befriends an undercover cop who's looking to bust this operation, and Locke's gullible enough to fall for him hook, line and sinker. Leaving Locke even more confused, frustrated and angry in his past life. No wonder he loves the island so much! (Incidentially, there are promotional pictures of what seems to be a unseen flashback from this episode, after Jack let the cop go. Spoil at your own risk.) It is interesting to see how much relational abuse Locke has recieved in his lifetime. He went from foster home to foster home, met his real mom, which lead to his real dad, which lead to him pretty much stealing a kidney, he lost his girlfriend, and now after making another friend, he turns out to be an undercover cop. And he'll soon work at a box company. His life pretty much sucks.
James "Sawyer" Ford: He's a con man. But we knew that already! After doing the long-con in season 2, he's spending time in prison. But he's working with authorities to help con the location of a couple million bucks out of a fellow inmate. He does that, gets released and gets a share of the loot. Only, he puts the money in a bank account for the lady that he long-conned, because it sounds like he had a daughter by her. Sawyer, Sawyer... Incidentially, this episode featured Bill Duke, who was completely and thoroughly creepy and frightening in this episode. I'm not positive, but I think his eyes can kill. Anyways, unlike Sawyer's past flashbacks, this one was kind of boring. It showed us another layer of his character, yes, but it felt kind of dry.
Mr. Eko: Eko is not a nice man. Granted, he's an AWESOME character and would LOVE to see a Mr. Eko movie, but he's not a nice man. Eko returns to the town, posing as a priest taking over for Yemi. Eko, in the one week he's there before he goes to London, manages to kill a couple of trouble-makers and killers who were taking most of the town's vaccine. Which should make everyone happy, right? Except they kind of sense that Eko's kind of not right. Would it be the fact that he's a notorious murderous, cheating drug lord? Because that would raise a red flag in my mind. This episode was bittersweet, with it being Eko's last episode. Now who will beat up people with a Jesus stick? Who?
Kate Austen: This flashback resolved a revelation made way back in season one: Kate used to be married. After finding a very nice hiding spot in Florida, Kate hooks up with a police officer and falls head-over-heels for him. They marry, very quickly, and Kate settles down as a housewife. Despite the fact that she wants to live a normal life with her husband, she can't stay put. Especially after she has a "pregnancy scare." She has to keep running from her past. So she confesses her sins to her hubby before she runs away, again. Also, she confesses that she "doesn't do Taco night," showing us that she just does not enjoy cooking at all.
We did learn a lot from this mini-series. But in typical Lost fashion, even big answers were delivered in a very understated manner, while new mysteries get the strings-of-danger playing on the soundtrack. Will Drosselmeyer visit Camp Castaways? Will Paulo become useful? Will Desmond join Heroes, where his powers actually belong? And how will Jack, Kate and Sawyer get back to the mainland? Those mysteries will have to wait for February for resolution.
Needless to say, SPOILERS lay ahead if you haven't seen any of Season 3 yet.
The Others: They live in nice suburban houses. They have a book club. And most of them don't like horror stories, apparently. "Henry Gale" is actually Benjamin Linus and he is indeed the leader of this little clan. He may not, however, be the leader. But he's someone of great importance. The Others temporarily abandoned their posh lifestyle after they saw the plane crash, and sent various people to investigate and assimilate into the different survivor groups. The leaders of those groups were to make "lists" of people to bring back.
After kidnapping Jack, Kate and Sawyer in the season two finale, the Others stuck Jack in a locked cell underneath an aquarium. Kate and Sawyer both got outdoor cages in the old zoo, where they are monitored 24/7, unbeknownst to them, by Benry. Ben offers Kate a very, VERY nice breakfast, handcuffs her and warns her that the next couple weeks will be very, very unpleasant. He makes her wear a dress, so she'll "feel like a lady again". Next time we see Kate, she's dishevelled and won't talk about what happened. Later on, when Jack asks Kate if they hurt her, she bursts into tears. Yeah. They're not exactly cool like that.The Others, who love psychology and science, trick Sawyer into thinking that he has a pacemaker that will kill him if his heart rate goes above a certain level. Which, personally, sounds like a very lame plot in Alias, but whatever. After an episode of Josh Halloway looking angry, the Others tell Sawyer that it was a trick (duh), but then reveal to him that they are on a separate island, a few times bigger than Alcatraz. They can see the main island - where the other Lostaways are at - but they'd have to swim through shark-infested waters in order to get back.
As for Jack, the Others took him as part of a big old master plan to manipulate and break him so he'll want to remove a tumor from Benry's lower back. Instead of asking, they lock him up and befriend him with new blonde vixen Juliet, who looks way too much like Jacks' ex-wife that when they first showed her in the show, I thought she was Jack's ex. She's not. But that's just me.Anyways, Jack has to perform emergency surgery on a wounded Other, he catches a glance of some x-rays and surmises that they belong to Benry. Juliet and Ben figure out that Jack figured that out on his own, and Jack eventually agrees to perform the surgery. But not after rupturing something else in Ben on the table and pretty much takes the entire Others compound hostage, demanding that Kate (not Sawyer) be allowed to get to safety. Except that Jack doesn't know he's on Alcatraz. And he doesn't know that his plans usually don't end well, at all. Oh well, it made for a fun cliffhanger!
The Lostaways: We met two new characters, named Nikki and Paulo. And they were abruptly introduced, like they were always a part of the show. Only, we don't care about them. At least, not yet. Nikki shows potential for being a cool team member, but Paulo is useless. Seriously, his character is like Ray from Everyone Loves Raymond. I expect him to whine that he's on a desert island. (For those who are wondering, Paulo is on the right in that picture and Nikki is in the middle. On the left, of course, is Desmond.)Sun, Jin and Sayid enjoyed an episode together, making it the first time ever on TV history that an Iraqi and a Korean couple has shared an entire boring episode together on a island mystery-drama-thriller. I know! It's quite an accomplishment. Anyways, nothing really happened there, except that Sayid and Sun lied to Jin, and he's kind of ticked about that. And, Jin might know more about Sun's secrets than she thought. Maybe.
Meanwhile, Charlie didn't go searching for Locke at all following the hatch explosion, which wasn't really an explosion, but an implosion, which explained the explosion that we saw, and it explains the hatch door being thrown a mile or two across the island. Why, that must be another island mystery! Anyways, Locke comes back to camp as a mute (thank you!), but then gives himself narcotics, much to Charlie's chagrin, and regains his voice after a creepy vision involving Boone, the airport and a polar bear. Locke can speak again and is suddenly, magically Season 1 Locke, and he realizes he has to look for Mr. Eko. DUH!Mr. Eko, it turns out, had been dragged around by a polar bear and was being kept in it's cave as a back-up dinner meal. Locke saves Eko from the polar bear, but not from the big bad smoke monster, who apparently is a shape-shifter. After Eko was unrepentant for his past actions shown to us in his flashback episodes, the smoke monster got angry and took his life.
Oh, and Desmond? Can see the future. Or, has the ability to watch ABC's promos and figure out what's going to happen from there. Like, when ABC promised us somebody was going to die, then showed us in the commercials that it would be a Eko-centric episode, it wasn't exactly rocket science to piece it all together.
The Flashbacks:
Jack Shepard: Jack is creepy. After his wife filed for divorce, Jack kind of stalks her, hoping to find out who it is that she's dating. She won't tell him a name. At all. And it drives Jack INSANE. Seriously, he's willing to do anything, just so he'll know what this guy's name is. It's not just a mild fascination, he is obsessed with knowing who has stolen his wife's heart. And Sarah just won't tell him. Which, considering Jack's kind of crazy when he's mad, I don't exactly blame her. Jack's actions drive his recovering-alcoholic dad to drink again. Because Jack ruins lives that much. You know, for a doctor, he's not very good with people at all. Oh, and we had to pretend for a short while that Sarah may have been having an affair with Jack's dad. Yeah, like Sarah's that desperate!
Jin and Sun: Sun had an affair with the guy who taught her English. We suspected as much, but it was kind of saddening to see just the same. He encourages her to leave her marriage, not so much because Jin is doing SunDaddy's dirty work, but because he wants her. SunDaddy finds out about the affair, and tells Jin that this man has "disgraced SunDaddy", and that a message should be delivered. Jin was never told that he was cheating on his wife. But he left a clear message, one that drove English-speaking-dude to jump to his death. The major unresolved question for this couple is: Who's the daddy? Because Jin's sterile, but doesn't know it, but hey, the island has magical powers. But Sun had the affair with this one dude, and had a crush on Michael. Suddenly, the most grown-up, sophisticated plotline became a lot more mainstream. And actually, a little bit like one of the telenovelas that we get snippets of during an episode of Ugly Betty. All I'm saying is that Jin better hope Sun is actually pregnant and that she won't be wearing a soccer ball underneath her clothes for a few months!
John Locke: We saw a completely new side of Locke this time. In fact, it was like a completely different story! Following Helen leaving him, and his con-man dad, Locke joins a commune where they grow fruits, veggies and pot. He befriends an undercover cop who's looking to bust this operation, and Locke's gullible enough to fall for him hook, line and sinker. Leaving Locke even more confused, frustrated and angry in his past life. No wonder he loves the island so much! (Incidentially, there are promotional pictures of what seems to be a unseen flashback from this episode, after Jack let the cop go. Spoil at your own risk.) It is interesting to see how much relational abuse Locke has recieved in his lifetime. He went from foster home to foster home, met his real mom, which lead to his real dad, which lead to him pretty much stealing a kidney, he lost his girlfriend, and now after making another friend, he turns out to be an undercover cop. And he'll soon work at a box company. His life pretty much sucks.
James "Sawyer" Ford: He's a con man. But we knew that already! After doing the long-con in season 2, he's spending time in prison. But he's working with authorities to help con the location of a couple million bucks out of a fellow inmate. He does that, gets released and gets a share of the loot. Only, he puts the money in a bank account for the lady that he long-conned, because it sounds like he had a daughter by her. Sawyer, Sawyer... Incidentially, this episode featured Bill Duke, who was completely and thoroughly creepy and frightening in this episode. I'm not positive, but I think his eyes can kill. Anyways, unlike Sawyer's past flashbacks, this one was kind of boring. It showed us another layer of his character, yes, but it felt kind of dry.
Mr. Eko: Eko is not a nice man. Granted, he's an AWESOME character and would LOVE to see a Mr. Eko movie, but he's not a nice man. Eko returns to the town, posing as a priest taking over for Yemi. Eko, in the one week he's there before he goes to London, manages to kill a couple of trouble-makers and killers who were taking most of the town's vaccine. Which should make everyone happy, right? Except they kind of sense that Eko's kind of not right. Would it be the fact that he's a notorious murderous, cheating drug lord? Because that would raise a red flag in my mind. This episode was bittersweet, with it being Eko's last episode. Now who will beat up people with a Jesus stick? Who?
Kate Austen: This flashback resolved a revelation made way back in season one: Kate used to be married. After finding a very nice hiding spot in Florida, Kate hooks up with a police officer and falls head-over-heels for him. They marry, very quickly, and Kate settles down as a housewife. Despite the fact that she wants to live a normal life with her husband, she can't stay put. Especially after she has a "pregnancy scare." She has to keep running from her past. So she confesses her sins to her hubby before she runs away, again. Also, she confesses that she "doesn't do Taco night," showing us that she just does not enjoy cooking at all.We did learn a lot from this mini-series. But in typical Lost fashion, even big answers were delivered in a very understated manner, while new mysteries get the strings-of-danger playing on the soundtrack. Will Drosselmeyer visit Camp Castaways? Will Paulo become useful? Will Desmond join Heroes, where his powers actually belong? And how will Jack, Kate and Sawyer get back to the mainland? Those mysteries will have to wait for February for resolution.
"Nutcraker" invades "Lost"?
The above image is a screen grab from a commercial for an upcoming episode of Lost. While snooping around in decades-old bunkers, the castaways come across a surveillance room. And apparently, a man with an eyepatch decides it's the perfect time for his beauty shot in front of the camera. Convenient!As anybody who's ever done so much as read an article on Lost knows that the show is very big into books and literature. Books shown or alluded to in the show play on the island's mythology, often times providing key clues or hints as to the direction of the show. There are even Lost book clubs, where they discuss the books read on the show. (So it's no coincidence that the show itself briefly showed a book club discussing what was worth reading and discussing!)
Anyways, all I wanted to say is that I'm nicknaming the eyepatch dude Herr Drosselmeyer, from The Nutcracker, until we learn his true identity. Which in true Lost fashion, we'll probably barely learn in the season finale cliffhanger.
"Lost" DVD menus are scary
There are few modern television shows around that are as deep, dramatic and interactive as Lost. Beyond the obvious mysteries of the island and the characters, the subtle religious, philosophical and mythological overtones hint as to what the writers and producers have planned for the overall series, which results in a perpetual guessing game of what did THAT mean?, a game that can leave your head spinning in every direction. Not to mention the two leadership figures on the island - Jack Shepard and John Locke - have polar opposite worldviews. One is a professed man of science, while the other is a "man of faith". There is so much tension, drama and mystery behind everything that no episode can be viewed in the exact same mindset twice.
That all said, there is one mystery about Lost that remains at the top of the pack. A mystery that every true fan boy and fan girl should be wondering about, questioning what on earth the team was thinking. On the DVD menus for the complete seasons, why on earth do we get the Scary Strings of Imminent Doom playing whenever we move from the welcome screen to the episodes menu? It'd make sense if we were moving from a peaceful scene to a really scary one. But most often, we don't. We move to another nice and peaceful screen, but with this scary music playing as we transition between menus! Why on earth must we feel tense when selecting an episode?
I have a video clip down below here of one of the menu transitions, so you can decide for yourself if the Scary Strings of Imminent Doom are really that necessary.
That all said, there is one mystery about Lost that remains at the top of the pack. A mystery that every true fan boy and fan girl should be wondering about, questioning what on earth the team was thinking. On the DVD menus for the complete seasons, why on earth do we get the Scary Strings of Imminent Doom playing whenever we move from the welcome screen to the episodes menu? It'd make sense if we were moving from a peaceful scene to a really scary one. But most often, we don't. We move to another nice and peaceful screen, but with this scary music playing as we transition between menus! Why on earth must we feel tense when selecting an episode?
I have a video clip down below here of one of the menu transitions, so you can decide for yourself if the Scary Strings of Imminent Doom are really that necessary.
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