Fish Biscuits

The End - First Thoughts

2010-05-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jack is the only one who died at the end. When Jack realizes he has died, he asks Christian if everyone else out there is dead now, too. Christian tells him, "There is no now. The most important time of your life, you spent with these people. Some of them died before you, some of them died after you, but this is the place you made together, so that you could all be together." This is further backed up by Hurley talking to Ben at the end, inviting him in, and when Ben declines, Hurley says, "You were a great number two, Dude." "And you were a great number one," Ben answers, which means they clearly spent time together protecting the island as Jack left them.

Jack saved the island and by saving the island he saved everyone. His last sight was the Ajira flight getting off the island while Vincent laid down to comfort him in the very bamboo field where he first woke up in season one. The last shot, of Jack's eye finally closing, was poetic.

What we witnessed tonight was Jack's entry into heaven, where there is no "now" and everyone that meant the most to him, at the most important time of his life, was there with him. The sheer joy on each character's face as they remembered their lives and rediscovered each other was sheer joy.

And so very, very comforting.

No, the meaning of the numbers was not answered, but the story was so beautiful, touching, hopeful and meaningful, I loved it. Full write up to come, in which I may find more unanswered questions to be annoyed about, but for now--for right now, for me---the questions this show answered and the way in which they were answered was nothing short of wonderful.

Bravo.

What they died for SE6 EP16

2010-05-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

Care to join me outside to wait for the inevitable?

After last week’s mythology episode, it was great to get back to business. I thought this was an excellent episode, tying together all of the mythology elements from last week and setting us up perfectly for the final conflict of Jack vs. Locke. Especially delicious was the return of Ben the master manipulator. Even defanged, Benjamin Linus is simply one of the best characters ever written for television, but last night Michael Emerson positively shined.

Mistaking coincidence for fate
In Alt LA Jack wakes up to find a cut on his neck that he does not recall getting. Over cereal, his son, David is there and wants to know if he’s coming to his concert that evening. “Is mom coming too?” Jack wants to know. Cue patented teenage eye roll. “Don’t get weird, Dad.” Claire joins the family for breakfast when the phone rings. It’s a man claiming to be from Oceanic Airlines. They found Jack’s father’s coffin and it will be arriving at LAX tomorrow. “We at Oceanic are very sorry for your trouble,” says Desmond.

We next see Des stalking the recovering Locke at the school where Locke is subbing. Ben spots him and delivers the line, “I’m making a citizen’s arrest!” with absolute fussy perfection. Unfortunately for Ben, Desmond has other ideas about how he is going to be arrested. “I won’t let you hurt Mr. Locke again!” Ben says. “I’m not trying to hurt him, I trying to get him to let go.” “Who are you?” Ben asks, which is the wrong question, because it prompts Des to start beating the crap out of Ben while yelling, “You want to know who I am?” During the beating, Ben flashes on Desmond beating him up in the other life.

Which prompted a side discussion between my daughter and I in which we wondered exactly when Ben was beat up by Desmond. I mean, it goes without saying that Ben gets a beating in just about every episode and has been beat up by just about every cast member on the show, with the exception of Hurley, but neither one of us could remember the beating at Desmond’s hands.

So following the unsuccessful citizen’s arrest, the school nurse patches up Ben. “This may sting a bit, Mr. Linus,” she warns. “It’s Doctor Linus, actually,” Ben corrects. Enter Locke who is concerned to see his new friend somewhat worse for wear. “Are you all right?” he asks. “I got into a fight. I saw the man who ran you down, Mr. Locke. While he was beating me I saw…something. He wasn’t trying to hurt you. He was trying to get you to let go. Does that mean something to you?” Locke ponders this.

Desmond reports the hit and run and the assault at Washington Tustin High School and then turns himself in as the suspect for both crimes to LAPD detectives Strom and Ford. He is thrown into a holding cell with Sayid and Kate. Detectives Strom and Ford continue their discussion about the evening’s plans, which involve Miles attending a concert for his father’s museum. “Do you want to go?” Miles asks Sawyer. “Is that redhead going to be there?” Sawyer asks. “Charlotte? Yeah, she’ll be here.” Sawyer’s “Pass.” Is classic.

Meanwhile, back at Washington Tustin School, Alex runs across the injured Ben and insists her come for dinner at her house with her and her mother. Ben begs off, but Alex convinces him and a radiant Danielle emerges from the car and makes him promise to join them. At dinner, Danieele tells Ben how much he means to Alex, how her father died when she was two and how Ben is the closest thing she has to a father. Ben is touched, and sparks begin to fly between Danielle and Ben.

Locke, perhaps somehow convinced by Ben’s conversation coupled with the ever mounting incidences of weird coincidences, arrives at Jack’s office. “I still don’t want to be fixed.” Locke tells Jack. “The man who ran me down beat up a teacher in the parking lot. He said he was there to help me let go. Which is the exact same thing you said to me the last time I spoke to you.” Jack thinks maybe Locke thinks that Jack had something to do with this turn of events. Locke puts him at ease. “Maybe this is happening for a reason.”

“You’re mistaking coincidence for fate,” says Jack channeling Mr. Eko.

Locke smiles, “I think I’m ready to get out of this chair.”

Meanwhile, back at the police station, Des speaks to Kate and Sayid about bustin’ out of the joint. Sawyer comes in and announces that they are getting transferred to county. Kate tries to flirt with Sawyer into letting her go, and while he thinks about it, he decides against it. “I think it’s time to leave,” Desmond tells them. “Are you ready to get out of here? I’m gonna ask each of you to do something, and you’re going to have to promise to do it.” Kate and Sayid agree readily. Too readily, I think. The driver of the police van stops at a wharf. The cop that Desmond is bribing to let them go is Ana Lucia. She uncuffs them and asks where her money is. “On it’s way,” answers Des. We then see Hurley drive up in his Hummer. “Dude, you didn’t tell me that Ana Lucia was going to be here.” Ana Lucia is all WTF? “Do I know you?” she asks in that way she has that makes you feel like whatever answer you give her is going to be wrong. Then she pockets the cash and takes off. Hurley asks Des why she didn’t know him. “She’s not ready yet, brutha.” Des directs Sayid to go with Hurley and tells Kate she’s with him. He opens Hurley’s Camaro and pulls out a dress. “Ready to go to a concert?”

The return of Benjamin Linus
Richard, Miles and Ben are on their way to New Otherton to pick up Ben’s supply of C4. Upon arriving back at the compound, Miles starts getting that old wonky dead body feeling. Before Miles can say anything else, Richard tells Ben, “It’s Alex. It’s your daughter. After you left I buried her.” “Thank you, Richard,” says Ben. They arrive at Ben’s house and Ben goes into his secret closet, then into what Miles calls, “a secret-er room.”

Ben tells them, “This is where I was told I could summon the monster…that’s before I realized that it was the one summoning me.” Hmmm…..that sounds like a significant line.

“Well Richard, are we looking to cripple the plane or blow it to hell?”

“Blow it to hell.”

“Then we better take it all, then.”

Wait a moment! Who’s that hiding in Ben’s house? Tina Fey? What the WHAT? Guns on her, but Widmore is behind them. “Hello Ben. May I come in?”

After the commercial, Ben has his gun trained on Widmore, who orders Tina Fey to go out to the jungle and scout for Locke. Widmore knows Ben will not shoot her, or him either: “If you shoot me, then your last chance of survival will be gone,” Widmore eyes Ben’s C4 and figures out his plan pretty quickly. “I’ve had that plane rigged with explosives for days,” he scoffs. “As usual, you are a step behind me.” “How did you get back here?” Ben asks. “Jacob invited me. He convinced me of the error of my ways. If you don’t want to die we need to hide.” Tina Fey walkie’s in from the beach and reports that Locke has landed with the second outrigger. Widmore orders her to run back to the house. Widmore, Tina Fey and Miles decide to hide. Ben decides not to. “He’s going to find me sooner or later. Care to join me, Richard?”

Smokey arrives and takes out Richard immediately. Ben, meanwhile, has a seat n the porch. Having transformed from smoke, Locke walks up and greets Ben, “Just the man I was looking for.”

“Well you found me. Can I get you a glass of lemonade?”

“I need you to kill some people for me Ben. Because once I leave this island, you can have it all to yourself. Who’s outrigger is that?” Ben dimes out Widmore. “Where can I find Charles Widmore?”

“He’s hiding in my closet.”

So Locke goes into the closet but tells Ben, “Wait out here, you don’t need to see this.”

“I want to see this.” They walk into the secret-er room and see Tina Fey and Widmore. “Sorry Charles,” says Ben, but he’s not really sorry. Locke wants to know why Widmore brought Desmond to the island and he starts questioning Tina Fey, who starts to answer, and then Widmore stops her, “Don’t talk to him,” Widmore says, and Locke slashes her throat. “You told her not to talk to me, and that made her pointless. Soon this will all be over. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, the first thing I’m going to do when I get off this island is kill your daughter,” Locke threatens. “If you want to save your daughter, you’d better talk.”

Widmore relents, “I brought Desmond back because his unique resistance to electromagneticism. I’m not saying any more in front of him,” Widmore says, indicating Ben, so he whispers into Locke’s ear and Ben shoots him.

“He doesn’t get to save his daughter,” Ben says.

“Fortunately he already told me what I needed to know,” Locke says.

Ben asks one of those questions that has been bothering us all season. “If you can turn into smoke, why do you walk?” “I like to feel my feet in the ground. It reminds me that I was human.” They come upon a well, which is now empty. “This is the well I put Desmond in,” Locke says. “Desmond was a failsafe for Widmore. I’m going to find Desmond and I’m going to use him to destroy the island.”

Stories around the campfire
Jack sews Kate up which is a nice parallel to the first episode where Kate stitches up Jack. A weeping Kate tells Jack about Ji Yeon and how Jin had not even met her yet. “Locke did this to her,” Kate says. “We need to kill him.” Jack agrees.

Jack tells Kate Sawyer and Hurley that they need to find Desmond because Locke wants him dead. As they are walking through the jungle, Sawyer mentions that Jack said Locke couldn’t kill them. “I’ve been wrong before,” Jack admits.

But Sawyer isn’t looking to place blame on Jack. “I killed ‘em, didn’t I?” Sawyer is hearsick.

“No. He killed them,” Jack says.

Suddenly, Hurley sees Little Jacob. “Gimme the ashes that you took from Ilanah’s things,” Little Jacob says.

“Why?”

“Because they’re mine,” Little Jacob says, snatching the satchel. Hurley chases him through the jungle and comes across Jacob sitting at a campfire. “Dude! Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you to show up. You see a little kid running through here with your ashes?”

“My ashes are in that fire,” Jacob says. “When it burns out, you will never see me again. You better get your friends, Hugo. We’re very close to the end.”

Kate, Sawyer, Jack and Hurley arrive at the campfire. “You wrote our names on the wall,” Kate says. Jacobs says yes. “Sun and Jin Kwon. Sayid. I want to know why they died,” Kate yells.

“Come and sit down and I’ll tell you what they died for,” Jacob says. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know about protecting the island. Because by the time that fire burns out, one of you will have to do it.”

“I brought all of you here because I made a mistake, and now there’s a very good chance that every single one of you, and every person you care about is going to die. I made the monster. Ever since then he’s been trying to kill me. And when he did, someone would have to replace me. “

“Why do I have to replace you?” Sawyer wants to know. “I was doing just fine before you messed with my life.”

“No you weren’t. None of you were. You were all flawed. I did not pluck any of you out of a happy existence. You were all like me. All alone. Looking for something you couldn’t find.”

“Why was my name crossed off?” Kate asks.

“You became a mother,” Jacob explains. “It’s just a line of chalk in a cave. The job’s yours if you want it.”

“What is the job?” Jack asks.

“Make sure the you must do what I couldn’t. What I wasn’t able to do.” Kill Smokey. “I’m not going to pick one of you. I want you to have the one thing I was never given.”

“If none of us chooses it?” Kate challenges.

Then this ends very badly,” Jacob warns. Then Hurley is about to ask, “Dude, what’s the significance of the numbers?” and Jack jumps in and says, “I’ll do it. This is why I’m here. This is what I’m supposed to do.”

“Is that a question, Jack?”

“No.”

“Good. Then it’s time.”

Hurley breathes a big sigh of relief, having never really found out about the numbers, Hurley says, “I’m just glad it’s not me.”

Meanwhile, Jacob tells Jack where to find the cave of wonders. “The bamboo field you woke up in on the day you crashed? Beyond that is the heart of the island.”

“There’s nothing there,” Jack says.

Jacob pours some water into Jacks cup and chants over it. Jack drinks. A change happens. “Now you’re like me,” Jacob tells him.

Thoughts on this episode:
Every line uttered by Michael Emerson is sheer perfection.

Every.

Single.

Line.

Again, kudos to the writers that this late in the game, we still don’t know what side he’s working for. I’m not ready to assume Ben has thrown in with Smokey just because he killed Widmore. And the alternate timeline for Ben is absolutely heartbreaking, watching him interact with Alex and Danielle.

In fact, the alternate timeline is really quite intriguing and well done. As that storyline comes together, it's becoming obvious that what happens in Alt LA matters to the characters in Real Island time. But more on that below. Seeing Ana Lucia last night was am awesome surprise, even though it was just a short scene. I am still waiting for Shannon.

The scene between Jack and Sawyer, when Sawyer blames himself for the deaths of the others and Jack reassures him, is my favorite scene of the night. Who do I love more at this point, Jack or Sawyer? Tough call.

Where are Miles and Claire? And when are they going to show up? Also, I wanted to mention last week that Hurley seems to have a talent in common with MIB in that they can both see dead people and talk to them, as in MIB's back story last week, he saw his dead mother. Hurley's reaction that everyone could see Jacob at the campfire was priceless.

Widmore’s death seems a little anti-climactic. I don’t think we’ve answered everything we need to know about him. Richard’s death by Smoke Monster also seemed a little too quick. Though the mystery and romance surroundig Richard was answered a few episodes ago with that Richard-centric episode, I still think he's earned a more meaningful death than just being slammed against a tree by Smokey. Of course, it's always possible Richard is really not dead, anyway. Tina Fey’s death was rather quick too, but I don’t really care about her and was glad to see her go. She was clearly miscast and does not have that inner toughness that every other woman in Lost seemed to have; even though she tried really hard to pull off the Betty Bad Bitch character, I wasn't buying it. At all. Watch her be the only one who is actually still alive next week. That will piss me off.

Which concert are Kate and Des going to? Jack’s kid’s concert or the concert at Miles’ Dad’s museum? Or are they one in the same, thus getting everyone in the same place at the same time? And will Juliet show up and ask James for coffee sometime? And where are Sayid and Hurley heading off to?

It looks like the result of Jack’s operation on Locke’s back in Alt LA is going to be directly tied to what happens on the island.

Finally, does it occur to anyone else that the one question that was promised to be answered tonight—that is, "what they died for"--the TITLE of the Episode for Pete's sake!---was not really answered at all?
Next Week:
Ok, just to reiterate: The finale is over at 11:30. No way in HELL that the write up will be done Monday morning. And I want to do it justice anyway. So be patient. And get psyched.

Wrap up delay

2010-05-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

A long day at the polls and some news on the personal front conspired to prevent me from getting out the blog last night. I have copious notes which need to be cleaned up, and quite frankly, some escapist television is therapy I could use right now. Needless to say, last night's episode was great, setting up the final battle between Locke/Smokey and Jack.

It's my goal to get the wrap up finished before the end of the week. Oh, and fair warning: since the finale isn't over until 11:30 Sunday night, don't think for a minute that you'll be seeing that wrap up next Monday morning.

Life after Lost

2010-05-17T17:30:00.001-07:00

H/T to Sig's Facebook Page

Across the Sea SE6 EP 15

2010-05-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

"Every question I answer will simply lead to another question."

Boy, does that quote just about sum up this whole series or what?

In the beginning
A very pregnant Claudia washes up on the beach and makes her way inland to fresh water. She is found by a woman speaking Latin (?) who claims she is the only inhabitant of the island. When Claudia asks how she got there, the woman answers, “The same way you did. By accident.” Claudia goes into labor and delivers a baby boy, who is wrapped in a white swaddling cloth. “His name is Jacob,” she pants, just before the labor pains begin again and she gives birth to a second boy, who is wrapped in a black swaddling cloth. “I only have one name.” So the second baby remains, to this very day, nameless. “Can I see them?” she asks. “I’m sorry,” the woman answers and kills her with a rock.

Lil MIB finds a game on the beach and asks Jacob to play. There are black and white pieces. Young Jacob is the boy we’ve seen haunting MIB in Lostie time. Jacob returns home and Mother asks where his brother is.
“Staring at the ocean.” As if this is something he does often.

“Do you love me Jacob?” Mother asks.

“Yes.”
“Then tell me what happened.” Even though Lil MIB told him not to tell their mother about the game, Jacob tells her anyway.

Lil MIB sees this right away when Mother finds him on the beach.

“He told you about the game, didn’t he?” MIB asks.

“Jacob doesn’t know how to lie. He’s not like you. You’re special.”

“Can I keep the game?”

“Of course you can, that’s why I left it for you. Where else would it come from?”

“Across the sea,” MIB says. “Somewhere else.”

“There is no place else,” Mother tells him.

Then MIB launches into that series of questions that children usually ask when they are about six. “Where did we come from?” He wants to know. Mother explains that they came from her mother, who is dead.

“What’s dead?” MIB wants to know.

“Something you will never have to worry about.”

Jacob and MIB are hunting boar when they come across a group of men who kill the boar they are chasing. The boys stay out of sight and observe, then run back to their mother to report. “Mother! We saw people, Men. They killed a boar.” Mother is concerned, “Stay away from them. They are not like us,” she warns. “We are here for a reason. They come, fight, destroy and corrupt. It always ends the same.” Lil MIB is intrigued. “If they can hurt each other, does that mean we can hurt each other?”

“I’ve made it so that you can never hurt each other,” She says, while leading them through the jungle. “We’re here,” she announces. They have arrived at a cave with yellow light pouring out of it and water pouring in. “What is it?” The boys want to know. “It’s the warmest light. A little bit of this light is inside of every man. But they always want more. If it goes out, it goes out everywhere. I’ve protected this light, but I can’t do it forever.”

“Who’s going to do it, then?” asks MIB.

“One of you.”

Later, the boys are playing the game when Claudia appears to MIB, but Jacob cannot see her because she is dead. “Come with me,” Claudia says. “I want to show you where you came from. A place you’ve never seen.” They come upon a little makeshift village. “They came 13 years ago. They are your people. You come from across the sea. She’s not your mother, I am.”

MIB wants Jacob to go with him to the other people. “They are your people too.” MIB tells Jacob that Mother killed their real mother. Mother catches up with them as Jacob is pounding on MIB for saying such things about Mother. MIB tells Mother he wants to leave, go back to his people, go across the sea and leave the island.

“Whatever you have been told, you will never be able to leave this island.” Mother tells him, but MIB leaves anyway.

Later on the beach, Jacob asks Mother, “Do you think he will come back?”

“No.”

“He said you killed our mother. Is that true?”

“Yes. If I let her live, she would take you back to those people. And those people are bad. Very, very bad. And I needed you to stay good.”

Jacob ponders this, then asks the question that has been on his mind. “Why do you love him more than me?”

“I love you in different ways,” she cries, practically admitting that what Jacob has said is true. “Stay with me, Jacob?” Jacob agrees.

Thirty years later, MIB is still living amongst his people, and he and Jacob are once again playing the game. “Does she know you visit me?” MIB wants to know.

“She never asks about you,” Jacob answers.

“Then I’m sorry I asked about her.” Jacob is curious about the people. “Are they bad?” he wants to know. “Worse than she told us,” MIB says. “Greedy, manipulative, but smart. I think we’ve found a way off this island.” And he takes out a dagger and throws it at a well, where the electromagnetic force sticks it to the side of the well. Jacob is fascinated. “There are places like this all over the island,” MIB tells him. “Whenever we find one, we dig.”

Jacob reports this back to Mother, who then goes to seek out MIB. She finds him in a well, where he is building the donkey wheel, and tending some stones on fire in a pot. MIB is caught by surprise to see her. “I’ve walked this island from one end to the other and I’ve never been able to find that place you showed us with the waterfall and the light. But I figured if the light is underneath the island, there must be a way to find it by digging.” He removes a rock from the wall and the warm yellow light pours forth. Mother is saddened by MIB’s determination to leave, tells him goodbye, then slams his head against the rock and knocks him out.

Mother approaches Jacob. “Jacob, it’s time,” she says. “I had to say goodbye to your brother.” “You’re letting him go?” Jacob asks. “You’re going to protect it now,” Mother says by way of answering. She leads him back to the cave of wonders. “What’s in there?” Jacob asks. “Life, death, rebirth. It’s the source. The heart of the island. Promise me no matter what you do, you will never go down there.” “What about when I die?” Jacob asks. “It would be worse than dying. Much worse.” Mother pours some wine and chants and gives it to Jacob. “Drink this.”

“Why?”

“It symbolizes that you accept this responsibility. The responsibility to protect this island.” But Jacob doesn’t want it.

“It has to be you,” Mother insists.

“No it doesn’t it. You wanted it to be him,” Jacob cries.

Mother looks at Jacob, acknowledging that he is right. “It was always supposed to be you. I see that now. Please, take the cup and drink.” Jacob does it. “Now, you and I are the same. You will protect the island until you can find a replacement.”

Later, MIB wakes up and sees his well filled in, and his village burned. Amidst the wreckage, he finds the game. He realizes he is now trapped on the island again, and he is enraged.

Mother and Jacob are walking through the jungle. “There’s a storm coming,” Mother warns. “You should go. Get some firewood before it rains.” Jacob turns to go. “And Jacob? Be careful.”

“I’ll see you back home,” Jacob says. Mother goes forward reluctantly. She finds the game in MIB’s cave. She sees the two stones, the black and the white. She’s holding the black stone, admiring it in the light when MIB stabs her from behind.

“Why wouldn’t you let me leave?”

“Because I love you,” she says. “Thank you.” For killing me.

Jacob comes in just as she dies. He is enraged, beats MIB and then drags him to the waterfall and the cave of wonders. He throws MIB into the cave. MIB goes over the waterfall and seconds later, the smoke monster emerges.

A short while later, Jacob finds the body of MIB on some rocks. He carries it back to the caves, lays it next to the body of Mother. He links their hands and places the bag with the two stones with them.

Many years later, they are found by Jack and Kate in the caves. “Our very own Adam and Eve.”

Thoughts on this episode
Good back story on the mythology, if a little, teensy bit hard to swallow. I was expecting this kind of an episode about now, knowing we would have to go deep into mythology territory and away from any kind of real life, scientific explanation. I am willing to take that leap of faith, providing the next three and a half hours of this show tie it in neatly. Until then, I will give the writers the benefit of the doubt and accept what they are telling us.

Jacob and MIB parallel Cain and Abel to some extent, though I defer to my Biblical expert Sig for further elaboration on this. The island could very well be a stand in for the Garden of Eden, however, I’m pretty sure that Eve was not a single mother.

Didn’t Jack and Kate find “Adam” and “Eve” wearing Dharma jumpsuits? I could have sworn that was the case. In any event, the question of Adam and Eve is now answered, in a tidy way.

The monologue about “it always ending the same” is something MIB said to Jacob in the season five finale episode.

The various wells around the island are explained by MIB’s digging. Also, it could be that along with Jacob, MIB may be bringing people to the island as well. MIB’s contingent could be the Dharma initiative; people who come to the island to use its power for their own ends while MIB is using their knowledge to get him closer to leaving the island. This could be why Jacob ordered Ben to exterminate the Dharma initiative.

The question on whether MIB is truly evil personified was not necessarily answered in this episode; in fact I believe that the waters were muddied a bit. MIB seems a creature driven by rage, not evil, unless his trip through the cave of wonders changed all that. Since we did not get a look at a post trip down the rabbit-hole MIB, I guess that will be answered in the next three and a half hours.

The Candidate SE6 EP14

2010-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

“And…we’re dead.”
Holy CRAP! This episode was totally worth the repeat of last week’s episode. I thought the first half was by turns dull, predictable and cheesey. But the second half? My, my, my. The second half of this episode is what is called TELEVISION. Buckle up buttercups because we are in for a hell of a ride.

Crash
Jack is standing over Locke’s bed in AltLA. Locke has just come out of surgery. “I think you’re a candidate for a new type of surgery,” Jack tells him after explaining to Locke what he saw of his previous injury during surgery. “I think I can fix you.”

“No thanks,” answers Locke.

Jack is baffled by Locke’s unwillingness to undergo a surgery that could let him walk again, even though there is virtually no risk to him. So Jack tracks down the doctor who did reconstructive dental surgery on Locke following his accident. It just so happens to be Bernard Nadler. Of Oceanic 815 Bernard puts it together first: “I sat across the aisle from you. You were flirting with my wife Rose.“ Doctor patient confidentiality and a plethora of HIPPA laws will not allow Bernard to disclose to Jack the details of Locke’s accident, but Bernard does agree to direct him to the other man who was in the accident with him: Anthony Cooper. “I hope you find what you are looking for.” Bernard tells Jack.

Jack shows up at a nursing home, looking for Anthony Cooper. At first he finds Helen. “What do you want with Anthony?” Helen wants to know. Jack explains about the surgery for Locke and how he wants to find out how Locke was originally injured. “Leave this alone,” Helen begs him with tears of pain in her eyes. “You saved John’s life; why can’t that be enough?”

“Because it’s not,” Jack explains. Helen walks over to a table and turns Anthony Cooper around. Cooper is a vegetable.

Jack returns to Locke’s hospital room. “Mr. Locke, can you hear me?” Locke is unconscious, talking in his sleep. “Push the button. I wish you believed me.”

Jack sees Claire pass by the room and runs out to catch up with her. She was at the hospital looking for Jack. “My father wanted me to have this,” She says, pulling out a music box. “But I’m not sure why. I thought maybe you could help?” Jack is puzzled by the gift of the box as well. Claire asks how he died. “He was found in an alley in a bar outside of Sydney. I flew down to bring him back. The Airline lost the body.” Jack and Claire realize they were on 815 together. Claire opens the music box and “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket” begins to play. I Jack asks Claire to come and stay with him. Claire protests and says they are strangers. “We’re not strangers,” Jack says. “We’re family.”

Jack catches up with Locke as he is leaving the hospital. He tells Locke that he went to see Anthony Cooper to find out how he was crippled. “I was in a plane crash,” Locke tells him. “I had just got my pilot’s license. And this man who I loved more than anything in the world, who was scared to death to fly, I looked him in the eye and I told him he could trust me. I don’t remember what I did wrong. It was my fault.”

“When we first met, you told me that my father was gone. Your father is gone, too, Mr. Locke. What happened, happened, and you can let it go.”

“Whoever said letting go was easy?”

“I never said it was easy. I can’t even do it myself. I was hoping you would go first.”

“Goodbye, Dr. Sheppard.”

“I can help you John. I wish you believed me.” This gives Locke pause, but he leaves anyway.

Sub Standard
Jack wakes up on Hydra Island where Sayid has paddled them over. Meanwhile, the other Lostaways are being frog-marched into the cages. Sawyer tries to take control, but Widmore pulls a gun on Kate (of course, because they ALWAYS pull the gun on Kate) and Sawyer thinks he’s bluffing at first, until Widmore explains that Kate is not on his list of names that includes Sawyer, Hurley and the Kwons. Sawyer recognizes that Widmore isn’t bluffing about this and submits. As Widmore closes the cage door on them, he tells Sawyer, “Believe me. I’m doing this for your own good.”

Jacks wonders where everyone else is, and Sayid tells him they have scattered into the jungle. “Its’ just the three of us now,” Meaning Jack, Locke and Sayid. Locke returns to camp with instructions. “Your friends got themselves captured and now we have to rescue them. Don’t worry, Jack. We’ll get your people back and get off this island.”

“They’re not my people and I’m not leaving the island.”

Locke grins. “I’m hoping you will change your mind about that. I need you to convince them to trust me.”
“Why should I trust you?” Jack wants to know, and Locke’s answer is as convoluted as anything we’ve ever heard on this show. “Because I can kill them and you, but I didn’t. I saved you.”

Back in the cages, Kate tells Sawyer he should not have fallen for the Widmore guy’s bluff, “He wouldn’t have killed me,” she insists. Sawyer breaks the painful truth to Kate: “That cave with all the names on it that I told you about? Your name was on there too, but it was crossed out. He doesn’t need you, Kate.”

We interrupt this drama for more Kwon cheesiness as Sun and Jin tell each other how much they love each other and admire their wedding rings. The music swells and….

Then the power goes off and we hear the trademark Smokey sounds of chaos and destruction. Smokey makes short work of the Widmorians and the one with the keys falls just outside Kate’s reach. Frank starts kicking his way out, Smokey is swirling all round and Jack shows up to let them out.

“What are you doing here?” Kate asks, shocked to see him.

“I’m with him.”

“Thanks for coming back for us, Doc,” Sawyer says, which come to think of it, is a pretty darn nice thing of Jack to do after Sawyer kicked him off the boat. Locke, meanwhile, has made it to the plane and walks through the hail of bullets from the two Widmorians waiting for him. He breaks one’s neck, takes his gun and shoots the other one. Before he boards the plane, he rips a watch off of one Widmorian’s wrist. Once on the plane, he finds a rather clumsily camouflaged bomb hidden in one of the overhead compartments. Meanwhile, the rest of Camp Locke shows up and Locke explains how they can’t go on the plane because he just found the bomb. “If Widmore really didn’t mean for us to board this plane, he would have had the pylons set up. Widmore wants to get us all in a confined space where we can’t get out and kill us all at once. We have to get to the sub. I need all of you to help.” Jack agrees to help, but he’s not leaving the island.

Sawyer hangs back and asks Jack to keep Locke off the sub. “Get him in the water. He can’t do anything from there.” There is no one guarding the sub, so they get on rather quickly. Locke gives Jack his pack and they take off. Locke asks if Jack won’t change his mind. “The man who told you that you needed to stay was wrong.”

“It was John Locke who told me I needed to stay.” Jack says, and knocks Locke into the water. Then Widmore’s people come up from behind and start firing on them. Claire, Jack and Locke return fire from up front; everyone else from the sub. Kate is shot, Jack grabs her and puts her on the sub. Sawyer sees Locke out of the water and heading for them but Claire has not yet gotten on the boat. Sawyer makes an executive decision and slams the hatch shut and tells the captain of the U-boat to dive. Claire runs after the sub, telling them to wait, but Locke holds her back. “You don’t want to be on that sub.”

Kate needs medical attention and Jack directs Hurley to find a first aid kit, which Hurley can’t locate. Jack tells Jin to hand him his pack because he is sure that he has something that will stop the bleeding in there. Jack opens the pack and finds the bomb wired to the watch Locke ripped off the Widmorian.

“We did exactly what he wanted us to do,” Jack says. There’s about three and a half minutes on the watch and they tell the sub captain to surface. It’s going to take five minutes to surface which is not enough time. Sayid looks at the bomb and starts to try to figure out how it is wired. Jack tells them all to stop.

“Leave it alone. Nothing is going to happen. It won’t go off. He can’t kill us,” Questioning looks all around lead Jack to elaborate. “He didn’t need us to leave the island, he can’t leave the island unless we’re all dead. He wanted to get us all together in an enclosed place where we couldn’t get out and kill us all at once.”

Sawyer isn’t buying it. He grabs the bomb from Sayid and starts to remove the wires. Jack stops him. “He can’t kill us, James. But he can get us to kill each other. You’re going to have to trust me.”

“Sorry, Doc, I can’t do that.” And Sawyer grabs the wires and pulls them out. The watch stops counting down…then restarts twice as fast. Sayid grabs the bomb and runs out, telling Jack to close the door behind him. The bomb goes off, blowing away Sayid and blowing a a hole in the sub. The sub starts to sink. Frank gets pummeled by the door blowing off, Sun is trapped behind equipment. Jack tells Hurley to get Kate out and the men work together to free Sun. Sawyer is bonked on the head by falling debris and soon Jin tells Jack to get Sawyer out. Jin struggles in vain to get Sun free, but she is trapped. Sun begs Jin to save himself, Jin refuses.

“I will never leave you again,” Jin tells her in Korean.

Jack and Sawyer, Hurley and Kate make it back to shore, but Sun and Jin never make it off the sub. The last we see of them is their hands linked even in death.

Back on the dock, Locke informs Claire that the sub has sunk. “Are they all dead?” asks Claire.

“Not all of them,” he says, suiting up.

“Where are you going?” Claire asks.

“To finish what I started.”

Thoughts on this episode
The fact that Sun and Jin die and that their death is so poignant makes me almost regret how harsh I was last episode about how cheesy their reunion was. Almost. It was still a cheesy scene, though, and totally unworthy of the writing this show is capable of, so no apologies. As evidence, the final scene between Sun and Jin is a true tear jerker. We almost forget that Sayid has died, too.

I think Sayid dies redeemed. When he was working on trying to diffuse the bomb, it was the first glimpse we had of the old Sayid since his soulless conversion to the Smokey side.

Since I did not see Frank on the island with Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer, I assume that he died when the hatch door hit him.

When Hurley bursts into tears at the news of Sun and Jin’s deaths, I lose it with him.

I love the scene in the sub when Jack tells everyone that the bomb is not going to off and why it is not going to go off. Jack’s transformation to the man of faith is complete.

The AltLA backstory tonight shows us that John Locke’s alternate life is just as, if not more sad than his original storyline. The raw emotion on Terry O’Quinn’s face as he is explaining to Jack how he crippled the man he loved more than anything was heart wrenching. His self loathing and self imposed prison of the wheelchair is almost as horrible as his pathetic life before. I truly hope that the writers give John Locke a happy ending in some way.

Godspeed Sayid, Sun and Jin.

Next week:
There are two sides to every story; one dark, one light.

The Last Recruit SE6 EP13

2010-04-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

“So nice to have everyone back together again.”

Nifty little episode with the alternate timeline paralleling the island timeline nicely with themes of reunion, redemption and faith.

The Gang’s all here
Ben is riding in the ambulance with Locke after he has been hit by Desmond. Ben doesn’t know Locke’s first name or anyone he can contact; all he knows is why Locke’s lower extremities are not responding. “He was in a wheel chair. Where is it?” Ben asks, “Smashed to pieces,” the paramedic answers. “That thing probably saved his life.” Locke comes to enough to tell them that they should call Helen Norwood, the woman he was going to marry. “You’re still going to marry her, Mr. Locke,” Ben reassures him. “John,” Locke answers.

Sun arrives at the hospital at the exact moment from her gunshot trauma. As they wheel her in beside Locke, she looks over and recognizes him. “It’s him! It’s him!” she tells Jin.

Sawyer is questioning Kate, reading her rap sheet. Kate seems unimpressed and is giving nothing up. “Is there something you want?” She asks, annoyed. Sawyer remarks how strange it is that they were on the same flight, met up in the lelvator and what a remarkable coincidence it is that she crashed her car into his. “It’s like someone was trying to put us together,” he says. “Are you hitting on me?” Saywer laughs and shakes his head no meaning yes, and says that it would never work since he’s a cop and she’s a murderer, which Kate denies. Kate wants to know why he didn’t arrest her in the elevator and totally calls him out on knowing that she had handcuffs on. When Sawyer tries to blow it off, Kate says, “You know what I think? I think you went to Australia and you didn’t want anyone to know you were there.” Caught, Sawyer smiles and says, “Oh, I like you.”

Miles interrupts with a multiple homicide. They have a picture of the perp from a surveillance character. “There’s our bad guy,” Sawyer says looking at the image of Sayid.

Claire arrives at an office building and Des is there as well. What a coincidence! He notices that Claire is going to an adoption agency and talks her into going to see his lawyer, who happens to be Illanah. Des introduces Ilannah to Claire. “Claire Littleton? From Austrialia? This is quite a coincidence. We’ve been looking for you.”

Sayid is packing up his stuff from Nadia’s. “Everything will be ok for you now. I took care of it.”

“What did you do, Sayid?”

“Nadia, I’m never going to be able to come back again.” LAPD rings the doorbell and Sayid tells Nadia to stall them. It’s Detective Strom. Sayid has gone out the back, but Sawyer is waiting for him and trips him up with the hose. “Sayid Jarrah, you are under arrest.”

Jack and his son show up in the same building that Claire just went into to hear his father’s will read. He shows up in Ilannah’s office, who tells him, “I’ve got a surprise for you. Do you believe in fate?” Ilannah introduces Claire to Jack and they find out that they are brother and sister. Jack is having trouble with the news when he gets a phone call with an emergency surgery. “I’m so sorry, there’s been an emergency. We’re going to have to reschedule.”

Sun wakes up in the hospital to find that she and the baby are both ok. It appears that Sun and Jin are going to live happily ever after now that they have escaped her father. The camera pans outside the room to Jack walking into the hospital with his son discussing the eventful meeting they just came from and how Jack’s father didn’t mention that he had a daughter. Jack starts scrubbing, looks at the films and says confidently, “I got this.” He goes in to begin operating and recognizes Locke from the airport.

Hello Jack. I was hoping you’d come.
Jack and Not Locke sit down to catch up. Jack questions “what the hell” Not Locke is, and why he takes Locke’s form. “Because he was stupid enough to believe he’d been brought here for a reason. Because he pursued that belief until it got him killed, and because you were kind enough to bring him back here in a nice wooden box.”

“So, he had to be dead before you looked like him?” When Not Locke verifies, Jack asks who else Not Locke has looked like. “Three days after we landed here, I chased my dead father throught he jungle. Was that you?”

Well it was him, and it seems that ole MIB has had a soft spot for Jack all along. He just wanted Jack to find water and all he’s ever wanted to do was help him. Help him leave the island. And since Jacob chose him, Jack, and all the rest of them, were trapped on this island before they ever crashed there. None of this is adding up for Jack (you’re not alone there, buddy).

“John Locke was the only one who believed in this place and he did everything he could to keep us from leaving.”

This statement kind of pisses MIB off and he says, “John Locke was not a believer, Jack. He was a sucker.”

There’s some noises in the jungle and Claire reveals herself. MIB wants to know why Claire was following them. “Cuz he’s my brother.” How did Claire know this? I think that despite MIB’s plain talking, forthrightness, he’s lying. The only way Claire could know that Jack was her brother is if Christian, whom she was hanging out with, told her. But since MIB just finished telling Jack that HE was Christian, clearly something isn’t adding up here and I think it’s MIB. When Locke first goes to the cabin to get instructions on how to save the island, it’s Christian who tells him first that he is not Jacob, but that he can speak for him, and secondly, to move the island. This is also the first time we see Claire hanging with Christian. And when Christian appeared to Locke when he turned the donkey wheel, he told Locke to tell his son he said hello. Unless MIB also takes the memories of the deceased, he has no way of knowing what Christian’s memories are. Again, I am reminded of The Stand and the similarities between MIB and Randall Flagg, who was a “plain spoke truth teller” and had much the same way about him as MIB.

“Did he tell you that he was the one pretending to be our father?” Claire asks. While Claire is all happy about reuniting with Jack, Jack’s a little put off by her overall creepiness and probably her stinkiness as well. “I’m just glad you’re with us,” she says. “Well, I haven’t really decided yet,” Jack protests. “Oh yeah. You have. You decided the moment you let him talk to you. So you’re with him now, whether you like it or not.”

Meanwhile, Sawyer continues plotting to get the Oceanic survivors, except Claire and Sayid, off the island. Hurley wants to know why they can’t take Sayid. “Because he’s gone over to the dark side, man.” “People can come back from the dark side. Anikin…?” Sawyer dismisses this theory (which I happen to think is correct based on what happens later) when Claire comes up looking all crazy and grimy and smelly. “Hi Claire,” Hurley says. “You look…great.”

Kate tells Jack that Sayid is different; Jack says they all are. Jack tells Kate that MIB wants to leave the island, but they all have to leave together. Jack isn’t sure if he believes him.

Tina Fey is frog-marched into camp, demanding that MIB return what he took from camp. She calls on the walkie asking if they have a fix on her position. “Show them what we’re capable of.” And a missile explodes just beyond the edge of the camp. “You have until nightfall to return it to us.” We assume she’s talking about Des, who’s still down in the well, but why be so coy about it? “Call me when you’re ready for us to pick him up,” she says, tossing him the walkie and walking off. MIB promptly crushes the walkie.

And as a little aside here, I am totally not buying this chick as some kind of Betty bad bitch. After Kate, Juliet, Charlotte, and even Claire—seriously, was Tina Fey the best they could come up with? What the WHAT?

MIB gathers the troops and tells them they have to get moving now. He tells Sawyer to take a small group and go and get the boat and meet them on the beach, using some contrived excuse about how a large group moves slower. Sawyer, meanwhile clues jack in on the plan and tells him to break away from Locke with Sun, Hurley and that pilot guy who “looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie” and meet them at the boat. Claire’s out for trying to kill Kate and Sayid is a zombie.

MIB tells Sayid to go kill Desmond in the well. “You don’;t have a problem with that, do you? You do still want what you asked me for…?” MIB asks Sayid. Sayid says yes. “Then go do what I told you to do.” Desmond in the well and Sayid is pointing the gun at him:

“What did he offer ya? If your gonna shoot me in cold blood, brutha, I think I have a right to know what you’re getting’ in exchange?”

“Offered me back the woman I loved.”

“And where is she now?”

“Dead.”

“And you think Locke can bring her back?” Desmond asks, skeptically.

“I died and he brought me back.”

“So what will you tell her? This woman, when she asks you what you did to be with her again? What will you tell her?”

Sawyer and Kate make it to the boat and Sawyer tells Kate, “We’re gonna ditch Locke.” Sawyer tells Kate about taking jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank off the island. Kate is pissed. “You didn’t say Claire.” “The Claire you came back for is gone,” Sawyer tells her. Kate looks unconvinced, since coming back for Claire was the only reason she came back.

Meanwhile, MIB’s party is trekking through the jungle and Jack asks Claire, “How long have you been with Locke?” Claire tells him that she’s been with him since they all left. She trusts him because, “He’s the only one that didn’t abandon me.”

MIB falls back and asks Sun, who still can’t speak, if she’s seen Sayid because he should be there by now. When Sun doesn’t answer, MIB accuses her of giving him the silent treatment and she accuses him of doing this to her. “I’m sorry Sun, but I didn’t to anything to you.” MIB decides to go back for Sayid and Jack sees his chance to make a break for it. “I think we should stick to Sawyer’s plan,” Hurley says. “This is Sawyer’s plan,” Jack says.

MIB catches up with Sayid and asks him where he’s been and if he’s done what he asked. “Of course I did. Go and check if you like.” Liar! Desmond has turned Sayid from the Dark side just like Anikin!

Meanwhile, Jack, Hurley, Frank and Sun make it to the boat and they are all set to leave when Claire walks up on them and wants to know what they are doing and why they aren’t waiting for John as she points the gun at Kate’s chest. Kate explains that they are leaving because, “That’s not John Locke. Whoever he is, he’s not one of us. Come with us. I can get you back to Aaron.” Sawyer starts to object, but Kate tells him to shut up. “Either she’s coming or I’m not. Come with us, Claire.”

“He promised me…”

“I’m promising you. I was there when he was born. And I never should have raised him. I came back to get you so you could be with him again. It’s the only reason I came back to the island. SO please come with us. Let’s go home.” And with that Claire gets on, and surrenders her weapon.

“If he finds out we’re gone, he’s gonna be mad.”

Frank delivers his contracted one line of dialog in this episode by asking what Sawyer’s plan is. Sawyer tells Frank that his plan is to get to Hydra Island, put a gun in someone’s face and make them take them off the island in a sub. Everyone but Sawyer, Kate and Jack goes below afterward. Sawyer notices that something’s not quite right with jack and goes over to hash it out with him. Jack tells Sawyer it doesn’t feel right leaving the island “We were brought here because we were supposed to do something, James. And if that thing really wanted us to stay , he wouldv’e made sure we did. Maybe he’s afraid of what will happen if we stay. The island’s not done with us yet.” Well this is CRAZY TALK, thinks Sawyer and tells Jack that if he wants to take a leap of faith, then to get off his damn boat, which Jack does by jumping overboard. But before he jumps, Jack tells Sawyer, “I’m sorry I got Juliet killed.”

Kate is freaked out and wants to know what Sawyer said. “We have to go back and get him.”

“We’re done goin’ back, Kate.”

Jack swims to shore and meets up with Locke who figures out that Sawyer has taken his boat. Meantime, Sawyer and the gang land on Hydra Island and Tina Fey and company pull guns on them. She radio’s back to Widmore for further instructions. Then Jin comes wandering out of the jungle and…

THE CHEESIEST SCENE IN THE HISTORY OF LOST COMMENCES.

The music swells. They embrace. They kiss. Sun’s first words of English are “I love you.” “Looks like someone got their voice back,” chuckles Frank. “We’ll never be apart again,” Jin says. Seriously, this scene was so absolutely barfy I threw up in my mouth a little bit watching it.

Tina Fey, having received instructions from Widmore, pulls guns and and puts the gang on their knees. They launch a grenade at MIB’s camp and Jack is tossed and disoriented. Locke grabs him and takes him into the jungle before the next grenade hits. He asks tries to get Jack oriented.

“Jack! You’re ok. You’re with me now.”

Thoughts on this episode
The dialog between Kate and Claire before Claire gets on the boat and the dialog between Desmond and Sayid before Sayid "shoots" Des demonstrate every characteristic of being “significant” dialog. Remember it.

I loved the nice closed loop of the alternate timeline how everyone met up with each other and their lives were still intertwined. I especially dug how they got Claire and jack together. Everyone saw Jack operating on Locke from a mile away, but the meeting in the lawyer’s office was cool.

Seriously, can I say it again? the Sun and Jin reunion was over-the-top cheesey. What a disappointment. I had hoped for a stronger emotional response. Instead of gettiing misty, I was all like "Give me a break! Make it stop!" It was a relief when Tina Fey pulled guns on them.

Next week
Is there a next week? All I kept seeing were scenes for the finale over a month away.

Everybody Loves Hugo SE6 EP12

2010-04-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

“How do you break the ice with the smoke monster?”

Two awesome explosions, answers, Michael, Libby , bittersweet love story and a reunion. After two so-so episodes where it felt like the writers were either getting lazy or rushing things or both, this episode was tight: pitch perfect, paced well, great story construction, fabulous dialog and above all, satisfying. Even the title, "Everybody Loves Hugo" parallels a season 1 episode entitled "Everybody hates Hugo." Let’s dive in.

That Libby Chick is like totally awesome, dude.

Hugo is the great philanthropist introduced for yet another award by Dr. Marvin Candle. Dr. Candle works at the anthropology museum where he is awarding Hurley the Humanitarian of the Year award for donating a large sum of money to the museum for a new wing. We know that Dr. Candle also works with Charlotte, which is how Miles knows her to set her up with Sawyer. So kudos to the writers for fitting those pieces together so neatly.

After the awards ceremony, Hugo’s mother starts berating Hurley to find a girlfriend and informs him that she has set him up for a blind date with her neighbor’s daughter, Rosalita. Hurley is less than thrilled, but agrees. He’s sitting in Mexican Johnny’s Restaurant waiting for the date to show up, when:

“Hugo?”

And there’s Libby. “I wasn’t expecting someone like you,” Hurely says. “You know. Someone so…pretty.” Libby quickly clears up Hurley’s misconception that she is Rosalita. Then she explains that she just saw him from across the room. “Do you believe that two people can be connected? Like souls mates?” She asks, taking his hands. Hurley is ready to agree to anything she says,when his old Doctor Ed Begley Junior, comes over and apologizes. “I’m sorry for the intrusion. She just wandered off.” Hurley follows them outside to see Libby climb into the Santa Rosa Mental Health Facility van.

Hurely is a little upset at the way his blind date turned out, so he goes into the nearest Mr. Cluck’s and orders himself a family size bucket. He’s in the midst of drowing his sorrows, when he spots Desmond, who is giving himt he hairy eyeball. “What?” Hurley demands. Desmond introduces himself by way of saying that he recognizes Hurley from Oceanic 815. “That’s a lot of chicken, brotha,” He remarks. “I eat when I’m depressed!” Hurley says. “Ah. What’s her name?” Des says knowingly. When Hurley explains that the chick was totally awesome, but also, unfortunately, full on nuts. “She said we knew each other. And tha, I would totally remember.”

“Let me ask you something,” says Des leaning in. “Did you believe her when she said she knew you?”

Hurley considers. “Yeah. Kinda.”
“Then I say go wit yer gut! You shoud try to find out where she thinks she knew you from before you give up on her.” Then the number 42 is called, which is Desmond’s number, and Des takes his leave.

Hurley meets with his old therapist, Doctor Ed Begley Junior. He wants to see Libby and when the doctor balks, Hurley buys his way in. When Libby sees Hurley, she is relieved because she thinks he remembers when they met before. Libby explains that when she saw Hurley’s commercial, “It’s like I was hit over the head. All these memories of my life came back. But it was a different life.” She explains about the plane crash and the island. She tells him how they knew each other and liked each other. And then, it was like she was at Santa Rosa before and she has a memory of Hugo being there too. Libby explains that when she saw Hugo in the restaurant, she just had to talk to him, “Because if you remembered me….” Then she wouldn’t be crazy. Hurley realizes he doesn’t care if she is crazy. He likes this Libby chick. “Can you get out on a day pass and…do something?”

“You mean, like, a date?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d love that.”

Hurley and Libby’s date is the exact picnic on the beach with six different kinds of cheese that they were supposed to have on the island. Libby realizes this and says that everything is ok, just “off.” Then she shakes her head, realizing the craziness of that statement. “Why do you even want ot be with me?” She asks. Hurley can’t believe it. “Why do YOU want to be with ME? I mean, c’mon. LOOK at me.”

“I want to be with you because I like you.”

“Yeah, but you like me because you’re delusional.” Libby leans over to kiss him and Huirley remembers it all. He tells her she’s not crazy. And Des watches from the road.

When Des takes off, he drives to the school where Locke, Ben and Arzst are teaching. Ben mistakes him for a pedophile and Des, spotting the reason for his visit here, makes a lame excuse and takes off. He steps on the gas, and having a wheelchair bound Locke in his sights, floors it and runs him down. Des drives off, unconcerned.

I see dead people
Hurley is at Libby’s grave, talking with her, when Ilannah arrives and announces she’s going to the Balck Rock to get some dynamite so that she can blow up the plane. “Dude, you sure that’s the right move?” Hurley asks her. “It’s the only move we have,” Illanah answers. So she takes off and we hear the trademark “Other” whispering and Michael appears. Hurley isn’t too happy to see him, here at Libby’s grave. “What are you doing here?” Hurley asks. “I’m here to keep you from getting everyone killed.” Michael points out that the fact that he murdered Ana Lucia and Libby doesn’t matter, but that he needs to stop them from blowing up the plane. “Why are you telling me this?” Hurley asks. “Because people are listening to you now.” Then Jack comes and the spell is broken.

Illannah arrives back from the Black Rock with four pretty corroded sticks of dynamite. She starts barking orders to get everybody moving on the mission to destroy the airplane: the mission Richard dictated. Hurely’s still trying to talk her out of it, but Illannah is having none of it, saying the Jacob said Richard would know what to do and that she’s been training her whole life for this. Clearly, however, Illannah has not trained with Dr. Arzst on the properties of old, corroded dynamite, because she’s packing that bag like its not the most unstable explosive substance in the world. Right in mid-tirade:

BLAMMO!

And it’s bye bye Illannah.

Hurley starts going through Illanah’s stuff and singles out a book whose cover I can’t make out and the drawstring bag carrying Jacob’s remains. Richard, meanwhile, is freaking out, hell bent on tromping back to the Black Rock to complete the mission that Illannah carried out so….unsuccessfully. Jack tells Richard to slow down, that he promised Sun he would get her off the island. Richard says that he’s awfully sorry about that, but they we meant to blow up the plane. Jack says maybe Illannah’s vaporization is a hint that they shouldn’t be messing around with the dynamite. “it’s the only choice we’ve got,” Hurley says.” Trust me, Jack.” And just like that, they are off to the Black Rock.

“Kinda makes you wonder doesn’t it?” Ben asks by way of making conversation as they walk through the jungle. “What?” answers Jack. “Illannah. Hand picked by Jacob, trained to protect you candidates. And as soon as she tells you who you are, then she blows up. The island was done with her. Kinda makes me wonder what’s gonna happen when the island is done with us.”

Upon arrival at the Black Rock, Richard starts organizing things and tells everyone that no one but him can handle the dynamite. Then they discover Hurley is missing. As they are trying to locate him, they hear him yell, and see him running away from the Balck Rock telling them all to run. Then:

BLAMMO!

The Black Rock explodes in one of the most awesome explosions of the series.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Richard cries.

“I’m protecting us,” Hurley answers. The only one who doesn’t seem all that upset about the Black Rock exploding is Jack. Miles wants to know why Hurley did that. Hurley explains “Michael told me.” “Who?” Miles asks. Oh, you might know him better as Kevin Johnson. “He’s one of the people that comes back and yells at me after they die. He told me to stop everyone from blowing up the plane.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“It happens enough.”

“And you just listen to whatever they say.”

“Dead people are more reliable than live people.”

Richard is still hell bent on blowing up the plane, so he’s up for a trip to New Otherton to score some explosives. Hurley says, “No. Jacob wants us to go talk to Locke.” Richard and Ben think that this is crazy talk: talking to Not Locke will get them all killed. Richard isn’t buying that Hurley is talking to Jaacob, so he asks Hurley to prove it by asking Jacob what the island is. Hurley walks up to Richard. “I don’t have to prove anything to you, Richard. You can either come with me, or keep trying to blow stuff up.” Interestingly, Jack has absolutely nothing to say about the decision being decided right now and is perfectly content to let Hurley and Richard hash it out. Richard calls Hurley’s bluff. “He’s lying. Jacob never tells us what to do. It’s over. I’m destroying that plane and I can use all the help I can get. Who’s coming with me?”

“I am,” Ben volunteers, quickly followed by Miles who has seen Smokey in action. Sun and Frank stay with Hurley.

“Sorry Richard,” says Jack. “If Jacob says we talk to Locke, then we talk to Locke. I’m staying with Hugo.”

“Really?” Hurely is surprised. This band of survivors makes off for the jungle. Sun, who hasn’t gotten her English back yet, jots a note to Frank: “Do you think we made a mistake?” “Probably,” Frank answers.

Hurley asks Jack what they should talk about when they get to Locke. Clearly uncomfortable with his bluff, he spills the beans to Jack that he didn’t see Jacob back there and they could all get killed. “I know,” Jack answers.

“Ever since Juliette died, ever since I got her killed, all I’ve wanted to do was fix it. But I can’t ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is for me to sit back and listen to other people tell me what I should do, but maybe that’s the point. Maybe I’m supposed to let go.”

“Unless letting go gets us killed. Going to see Locke was my idea, not Jacob’s”

“Hurley, you asked me to trust you. This is me trusting you.”

“It’s a good thing you do, dude, because I have no idea where I’m going.”

The whispering starts again, and just as they are are about to jump out of their skins, Hurley says, “Wait! It’s cool, dude. I think I know what these things are.” And he walks off into the jungle for some privacy. He calls for Michael. “You’re stuck on the island, aren’t you?”

“Because of what I did,” Michael answers

“And there are others out here like you, aren’t there? That’s what the whispers are.”

“We’re the ones that can’t move on.”

Hurley asks Michael where Locke is and then if there is anything he can do to help Micheal. “Don’t get yourself killed,” Michael says. “And Hurley, if you ever see Libby again, tell her I’m very sorry.”

Our mutual friend
Over at Camp Locke, Sawyer and Kate are getting a little impatient with Not Locke. Possibly because Kate has not changed her shirt yet this whole season and she’s really looking for a little grooming time and not all this mopey sitting around and waiting for Not Locke to turn into the Smoke Monster again.. Anyhow, they want to know why the Camp is not trying to get Jin back from Widmore. “There’s a difference between doing nothing and waiting.” “So what are we waiting for?” Kate asks. “You were only able to come back to this island because you did it together. If we’re going to leave it has to be the saem way. I’m waiting for your friends to get here: Hugo, Sun, Jack. That’s the only way we’re going to get off this God forsaken rock.” Kate is skeptical: “Well, I don’t see that happening.” And with the old Jack, she’d probably be right. But new Zen Jack is a little more mellow and completely unpredictable. “Let’s just hope you’re wrong, Kate,” Not Locke answers with a big scowl.

Just then, Zombie Sayid returns and asks to speak to Not Locke in private. Sawyer looks at Kate in a Lando Calrissian “This deal is getting worse all the time” sort of way, and Sayid and Not Locke tromp off into the jungle.

Not Locke asks Sayid if he found what was behind the locked door, which of course he has. Not Locke seems a bit surprised that Sayid let the rest of Camp Widmore live, but Sayid simply tells him he didn’t see the point in killing them. Sayid doesn’t seem to see the point in much these days and indeed it seems like Camp Widmore is only alive because Sayid just didn’t feel like expending ht effort required to kill them.

Not Locke hunkers down and apologizes to Des about Sayid tying him up. Des is pretty chilled out, too, and says to Not Locke, “That’s ok, because as I explained to him, I’ve got nowher to run to, brutha.” So Not Locke cuts him loose. Not Locke wants to ask Des a few questions. IS that ok?

“Why did Charles Widmore bring you to this island?”

“Considering I was kidnapped, you’d have to ask him.” Sayid confirms that Des was kept under armed guard. “They threw me into a wood shack and blasted me with a massive amount of electromagnetism.”

“If you don’t mind my asking Desmond, how can you be sure what it was that they blasted you with?”

“Experience.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Of course. You’re John Locke.” Locke reacts strangely to this strangely given answer and tells Sayid to head back to camp while he takes Desmond on a walk to show him something.

Desmond is not afraid because he saw the future? Does Desmond really think Not Locke is John Locke or is he only telling him that to throw him off? Whatever the reason, it’s what decided Not Locke to throw Des in the well.

Not Locke is commenting to Des about pushing the button for three years and how ironic it is that now he’s back here. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this island has it in for you.”

“Do you know better?”

“Scuse me?”

“There’s nothin’ special about me, brutha. This island has it in for all of us.”

“Yes it does.”

Then Des and Not Locke spot the boy. Des wants to know who it is. “Just ignore him,” Not Locke is clearly rattled. “Do you know that boy?” Des asks. “I said, ignore him!” Not Locke barks. The boy seems quite pleased that he has gotten under Not Locke’s skin and smiles a great big SEG.

Not Locke takes Des to a well. He explains that it’s a very deep, very old well that was dug by hand. “That’s a lot of work for water,” remarks Des. “Oh they weren’t lookingfor water. They were looking for answers. The well you’re standing at now made compass needles spin. That’s why the dug.”

“Did they get the answers?”

“No. The reason I brought you here is because Charles Widmore is not interested in answers, he’s only interested in power. And he brought you back here to help him get what he’s looking for. After all, this isn’t the only well.”

“And that’s the reason you wanted me to see this?”

“Why aren’t you afraid? You’re out here in the jungle, not a soul alive knows you are here. Why aren’t you afraid?”

“What’s the point of being afraid?” answers Des. Then Not Locke pushes him down the well.
Not Locke returns to camp where Sayid wants to know how our friend is: “We won’t have to worry about him anymore,” and Sawyer is questioning where he’s been, “I’ve been for a walk, James.” Then Hurley walks out of the jungle: “Ummm. Hey. I don’t know who you are dude. Or what you want. But we need to talk to you. But I don;’t want anyone to get hurt. Or killed.” So truce being agreed upon, Jack, Sun and Frank come out and confront Locke. Sawyer and Kate smile at seeing their old friends, but Claire and Sayid are just creepy and unresponsive. Locke however, only has eyes for Jack.

“Hello Jack.”

Thoughts on this episode
First, I must reiterate how totally awesome this episode was. Last week’s episode felt rushed and the week before’s episode felt disjointed . Tonight’s episode felt like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece. Ben’s monologue about what will happen to them when the island is through with them; Jack’s monologue about “fixing” things since he caused Juliet’s death; the interaction between the unflappable Desmond and the now-slightly-off balance Not Locke; the nod to the numbers (Des’s order number in Mr. Cluck’s was 42); the tightly constructed sideways story incorporating Dr. Candle in Hurley’s humanitarian of the year award; and the absolutely perfect Hurley and Libby date scene on the beach: it all felt exactly RIGHT.

Though I'm shedding no tears at the departure of Illannah, I do hope that the writers will explain who she is and why she was and how she got so close to Jacob. Additionally, Hurley's little explanation of the whispering in the jungle, while pat, doesn't quite explain how the Others use those "stuck" souls to communicate, as Ben did when he used Harper to get to Juliet back in season 4 when Charlotte and Daniel went up to render the poison gas harmless. So, Lindeloff and Cuse? Thanks for answering, but you aren't quite done yet.

Color me intrigued with Desmond’s new role in the alternate timeline. Since the revelations of Charlie and Daniel in last week’s episode (both of whom are dead in the real timeline), it seems our Des has taken it upon himself to show the light to as many Oceanic 815ers as he can—or else, Des is simply the messenger this week. Perhaps Hurley will be the messenger next week, much like Charlie and Daniel were last week. Although, I get the distinct impression that Des’s role in the alternate timeline has a direct relationship to his unflappable cool in the real timeline. I also would like to pose the theory that Des is not afraid of Not Locke because he has seen the future. Or he's now Jacob. See below.

The character of Frank exists solely to fly the Ajira plane and selected characters off the island at the end of the series (Sun and Jin will leave; I will make no further predictions). If anyone here can think of any other reason he exists in this show, speak now or forever hold your peace.

The story of the date of Hurley and Libby that never happened but should have was a great scene. I loved the way they paralleled the original story and that it opened with Hurley spreading the blanket—the blanket he forgot back on the island, which Libby went back to get when she ran into Michael. Libby’s affection for Hurley, and his genuine surprise that someone like her would be interested in someone like him, never fails to get to me. Hurley is such a genuine good guy and we can’t help rooting for him.

Were Kate and Sawyer smiling when Jack, Sun and Hurley came into camp because they were glad to see them, or because they were glad they could finally get moving off the island because that's who Not Locke said they were waiting for, or because it's now finally starting to seem like Not Locke knows what he's doing? Again, I can't help but draw a parallel here with The Stand when Larry, Glen and Ralph finally make to to Vegas, but Randall Flagg has already begun to show he has feet of clay.

Who is the boy???? And why does he piss Not Locke off so much? And why was Not Locke so annoyed when Desmond said, "Of course I know who you are; you're John Locke." Additionally, I think it's worth noting that while Not Locke commented tonight on Desmond's distinct lack of fear, when Not Locke first recruited Sawyer, Sawyer knew immediately that Not Locke was not John Locke because "John Locke was always afraid. And you're not afraid." Is it possible that Jacob has taken over Des?
Next Week:
It looks like a Locke story and it looks like Desmond hit John Locke just hard enough that he’s a candidate for the near death experience that triggers the memories of the real timeline. The question is, what does Des hope to accomplish with this act? Is he just trying to get Locke to see the memories like Charlie did to him? Or is he trying to undo John Locke’s death so MIB is never able to posses him?

Happily Ever After SE EP11

2010-04-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

“There’s always a choice, brotha”
Testing 1, 2, 3
Des wakes up, disoriented and confused. “Where’s my wife. I want to see Penny.” What he gets instead is his father-in-law. “You were shot by Benjamin Linus. I brought you back to the island.” Des starts beating him with the IV stand, which is really a shame because Widmore did seem almost apologetic about kidnapping Des. So please discard theory number forty seven, to wit: “Des came back to the island willingly.” Des is carrying on about being taken back and Widmore yells, “I can’t take you back. The island isn’t finished with you yet!” The role of annoying foil who asks the questions we are all asking and only succeeds in getting supplied with a more confusing narrative from the main character of the story is played by Jin tonight and he wants to know why Desmond is there. Widmore says it would be easier to show you than to tell you. He barks at Zoe to take him to the generator room so they can do “the test” and Zoe starts some urgent whining about how the test isn’t scheduled until tomorrow. Widmore is clearly a man who has one of those “No Whining” signs posted all over his company. “Get them ready NOW.”

Zoe tells a red shirt kid to go down to the box and check for a faulty connection. The kid goes into the box (and what exactly is that box? A recreation of Jacob’s Cabin?) to check it out, but one of the guys figures out that it was a loose breaker and switches the generator on while the red shirt kid is down in the box. The kid is toasted, but Widmore is unconcerned. He just wants to know if they are ready to throw Desmond in there. They strap a struggling Des into the chair, and Widmore offers a half-assed apology: “I know how this looks, Desmond, but if everything I’ve heard about you is true, then you will be perfectly safe. Once it’s over, I’m going to ask you to make a sacrifice, and I hope for all our sakes, you’ll help me. “ Desmond, quite appropriately, wonders why Widmore thinks he will make a sacrifice for him. In answer, Widmore offers this, “My son died here, for the sake of this island. You’re why my own daughter hates me. And I’ve never even met my grandson. But if you won’t help me Desmond, all of it will have been for nothing; Penny, your son, and everyone else, they’ll all be gone. Forever.”

It doesn’t really matter whether Des is buying this or not, because right after that, Widmore walks out of the box and lockes Des in. Satisfied that Des is not getting out of the box, Widmore strolls back into the control tower and tells them to turn it on. Jin demands an explanation, but of course, none is forthcoming. “That man is the only man in the world who has survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event. I need to be sure he can do it again. Turn it on.”

Des is caught in what looks like a warp bubble, the kind that Beverly Crusher was caught in when Wesley ran his experiment. Des is screaming to let him out and then….

LAX
…where Hurley helpfully tells him that the baggage can be found on carosel four and Des assists Claire in baggage claim. Des offers Claire a ride, because he knows a car is coming for him. But he does not recognize his drive, who is George Minkowski, the radio operator from the freighter and one of the very first casualties of the time shifting sickness. George is making small talk, asking Des what he was doing in Sidney. “Closing a deal for the boss.” George notices that Des is not wearing a wedding ring and asks if he’d like some companionship. “I’m here to work,” snaps Des. “I guess that’s why you’re the bosses right hand man and I’m the driver.”

Des arrives at the office to a warm greeting from his boss. “Welcome to Los Angeles, my friend.”

Des is working for Widmore.

Des is admiring Widmore’s boat while Widmore is barking orders on the phone about having Charlie arraigned and let out of jail. He explains to Des that, regretfully, he’s going to have to cut the Sidney celebrations short because his son, who is a musician, got a crazy idea to combine classical and rock music together for one of his wife’s charity balls. Grasping the situation immediately, Des volunteers to babysit Charlie, whom Widmore has flown in special for this event. “I know this is beneath you, Des, but I need someone who I can trust to get the job done right. If that bass player from Drive Shaft doesn’t show up, my wife will destroy me.” Des says, “No problem at all.” “You really do have the life, Desmond. No family, no commitments. Ah, to be free of attachments. I am blessed to have you in my employ. A drink to you indispensability.” “That’s a 60 year old scotch, Charles.” Yes, Macutcheaon, to be exact. “Nothing’s to good for you.”

Des heads over to the courthouse to pick up Charlie. He introduces himself and tells Charlie that Mr. Widmore sent him. Charlie proceeds to simply walk away, into traffic, and into a bar. Des agrees to have one drink with Charlie.

Charlie asks him, “Tell me mate, are you happy?” Des says he is. “No you’re not,” Charlie answers.

“Good job, lots of money, travel the world. Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Des counters.

“Ever been in love?”

“Thousands of times.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, mate. I’m talking about spectacular, consciousness altering love? Do you know what that looks like?”

Charlie the proceeds to relate the near death experience he had on the plane—he was slipping into the abyss and he saw a beautiful blond woman (Claire) and a feeling of love came over him. He knows her. They’re together. He’s always known her. “Just for a moment, I saw what it looked like.”

Des blows him off by suggesting he write a song about it. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you’re thinking,” Charlie answers. “Poor, suicidal rock star. But I’ve seen something real. I’ve seen the truth.”

Des tells Charlie that he has a choice. He can keep drinking and end his musical career, or he can come with Des and in 20 minutes he can be in one of the finest hotels in the city.

“It doesn’t really seem like a choice,” Charlie says.

“There’s always a choice, brotha.”

Once in the car, Charlie gives Des a choice. “You can see what I’m talking about or you can get out of the car.”

“Why would I want to get out of the car?” Charlie answers that by reaching over and jerking the wheel, running the car off the road and into the Harbor. They go into the water; Des gets free, but when he goes back to recue Charlie Charlie sitting in the front seat puts his hand on the window:

“Not Penny’s Boat” is written on his hand.

Or is it?

Des saves Charlie, goes to hospital. His doctor examines the bump on his head and asks him if he’s had any hallucinations. Des can’t really answer that with any certainty, so his doctor orders an MRI. But all Des wants to do is find Charlie, the man he came in with.

Now I have extensive knowledge of MRIs due to my early viewings of ER and my passion for House. An MRI is short for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Thinking back to the beginning of tonight’s episode, while we have no idea what an MRI of Des’s head will show, we can pretty much guess that’s the procedure is going to have a profound effect on our Des. And we’re right.

Before the operator insert Des into the machine, he give him “the button” and tells him to push it. “Push the button?” Des asks. Uh oh, this is already going south. “Yes, the panic button. In case you get claustrophobic.”

What’s interesting is once Des is in the machine, we hear the familiar MRI knocking and somehow we are ALL reminded of the sounds in the Swan Hatch. Des goes in and suddenly, his whole other life, the life he never lived with Penny, starts flashing before his eyes. He freaks out, presses the button and gets released from the machine.

Now he can begin his quest for Charlie anew. He runs into Jack and asks for his help. He tells Jack that he’s looking for someone on his flight. Even Jack thinks that this is a freaky coincidence.

But not quite a freaky as Charlie booking down the hall in his hospital gown.

Des finally catches up with Charlie. “Why’d you run?”

“They can’t help me here,” Charlie explains.

“Why’d you try to kill me?”

“I didn’t try to kill you. I was trying to show you something.”

Des wants to see Charlie’s hands and asks him who Penny is and Charlie realizes that his stunt worked. Des has seen something, felt something. “I’m not going to play a rock concert now.,” Charlie says. “ None of this matters. All that matters is we felt it.” Charlie walks off and Des wants to know where he’s going. “If I were you, I’d stop worrying about me, and start looking for Penny.”

Widmore is not pleased that Charlie escaped. So now as punishment, Des is tasked with breaking this news to Widmore’s gargoyle wife. We know she’s a gargoyle, because we know it’s going to be Eloise Hawking. Even Minkowski knows she’s a gargoyle and almost feels sorry for Desmond having to tell her bad news.

We see Eloise doing her best Leona Helmsley setting up the tables for the ball. Desmond introduces himself to Eloise and she looks shocked at first, but recovers quickly. “Of course, Mr. Hume. It’s a travesty we haven’t met before. It’s about time.” She says, insisting that he call her Eloise.

Des breaks the unfortunate news about Drive Shaft being unable to play with her son and she waves it off without really caring about the explanation, nor Desmond’s shouldering of the responsibility. “Don’t worry about it. There’s a certain amount of unpredicitability that comes with rock stars. I’m sure my son will understand. “

“So, you’re not angry?”

“Oh, not at all dear. What happened, happened. Thank you for coming and telling me in person.”

Des is leaving when he hears Penny’s name on the guest list, and then asks to see the list, that’s when Eloise freaks out. “You ABSOLUTELY may not see that list. It’s confidential.” Desmond tries to reason with her, but the gargoyle is here. As Des is trying to rationalize this irrational request, Eloise grow exascerbated. “Come with me,” she hisses.

Des follows her off to a corner as Eloise orders everyone to leave and tells him to shut up and listen to her. “I want you to stop. Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. It is, in fact, a violation. Whatever it is that you think you are looking for, you need to stop looking for it.”

“Do you know what I’m looking for Mrs. Widmore?”

“I don’t see the need for you to look for anything. You have the perfect life. And on top of it all you managed to obtain the one thing you wanted most of all: My husband’s approval.”

“I need to see the list. Or you need to tell me why I can’t.”

“Because you’re not ready yet Desmond.”

“Ready for what?” Des asks, but doesn’t get an answer. He’s about to leave wwith George when Daniel knocks on the window.

“My name is Daniel Widmore. We need to talk.”

In this life Daniel is a musician, not a quantum physicist (or whatever kind of scientist it was) “Do you believe in love at first sight?” Daniel asks. He starts waxing poetic about seeing Charlotte in the museum. “It was like I already loved her. And that’s when things got weird. That same night, after I saw that woman, I woke up and I wrote this.” Daniel shows Des some Quantuum mechanics drawing and equations in a notebook. “So what are they?” Des asks. “I don’t know,” Daniel answers. “I’m a musician. So I took them to a friend of mine at Cal Tech. He tells me that they are Quantum mechanics. That these equations are so advanced, that only someone who has been studying this for their entire life would be able to understand them.”

“So what do they mean?” Des asks.

“Imagine something terrible is about to happen, something catastrophic. And the only way to stop it is by releasing a huge amount of energy. Like setting off a nuclear bomb. What if this wasn’t supposed to our life? What if we had some other life and for some reason, we changed things? I don’t want to set off a Nuclear bomb, Mr. Hume. I think I already did.”

Des tries to blow this all off, saying he doesn’t know what it has to do with him. “Why did you ask my mother about a woman named Penny?” Daniel challenges. “It happened to you too, didn’t it? You felt it?”

“I don’t know what I felt.”

“Yes. You do. You felt love.”

“That’s impossible, because I don’t even know if this woman exists. She’s an idea.”

“No, Mr. Hume. She’s my half sister. And I can tell you exactly where and when you can find her.”

Back to the stadium, where its’ Penny is running the steps. Des introduces himself, they smile and shake hands, and Des passes out.

Docile Des
Des wakes up in the island in the box. He’s ok. He’s only been unconscious for a few seconds. Widmore apologizes again, sort of, in the brisque Widmore way of his, and explains that Desmond’s talent is vital to the success of their mission. He’s just about to explain it all to us, when Des interrupts him and says, “It’s ok. I understand. You told me you brought me here to do something very important. When do we start?”

Zoe thinks Des’s brain has been fried and they are happily walking through the jungle when from out of nowhere, Sayid takes out all of the other Widmorians, tells Zoe to run and tells Desmond that he doesn’t have time to explain, but these people are extremely dangerous and we have to leave right now.

“Aye. Of course. Lead the way.”

Have we met before?
Des comes to and asks Penny to have coffee with him. “So,” George asks, “Di d you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes,” answers Des. “Corner of Melrose and Switzer, please.”

Thoughts on this episode, which are brief and muddled:
Did you notice the painting in Widmore’s office was a scale?

Penny’s last name is Milton. Anyone have any ideas on who her mother could be? Does it matter?

“Whatever happened, happened.” Is what Daniel said when he first appeared on the island and told the Losties about changing the timeline. The bit about Charlotte eating chocolate was a nice touch considering her last words on the island were about how she’s not supposed to eat chocolate before bed.

Fionnulla Flanagan as Eliose is awesome.

Seriously, I’m starting to get scared. There are five more episodes and this episode brought up more questions than it answered (wait, did it answer any questions at all? I don’t think so) The alternate timeline somehow appears to be less ---I don’t know----real than the original timeline. And it’s like every flash sideways story we saw this season, the main characters somehow knew it, especially when looking into the mirror. Is it really happening? I don’t know. I am reminded of yet another Star Trek episode in which the crew stumbles upon a class M planet inhabited by agorophobes. They want to kill all the people on board the enterprise, but the crew convinces them to just wipe their memories and pretend they are in a wormhole. The crew wakes up, but clues of what actually happened to them leads them back to the class M planet full of agorophobes who really want to kill them now….look, it’s late. If you’ve seen this episode, I’m sure you’ll get the point: it’s like a fake alternate reality has been imposed on these characters and it’s starting to seep through. Eloise apparently realizes this and is trying to put a stop to it. In any event, I get the distinct feeling that this episode is super duper critically important in the scheme of things, but I’m just too tired to sort it all out.

Next Week:
People are going to die and it's Hurley's fault. And Michael is back.

The Package SE6 EP10

2010-03-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

“The heart wants what the heart wants.”
After last week’s luxurious extended narrative, tonight’s episode was a disjointed series of vignettes designed to set up the pieces for the endgame. The Sun and Jin alternate timeline story was particularly effective.

The Gift of the Magi
We pick up Sun and Jin’s alternate timeline as customs let’s Jin go, gives him back the watch but confiscates the $25,000 dollars he was supposed to deliver with the watch. Sun wants to know why Jin has to deliver these items Jin explains that he doesn’t ask questions, he just follows her father’s orders. They go to the hotel where they are staying and check in under separate names into separate rooms: Paik and Kwon. Sun and Jin are NOT married. It soon becomes obvious that even though they are not married, they still involved romantically. Or at least sexually.

Ok. Romantically and sexually. The morning after, Sun is giddy. She suggests to Jin that they run away. She has an account in America. They can stay there out from under her fatehr’s gaze. Jin is leery at first, then seems excited about the idea. “You want to be with me, don’t you?” Sun asks. “Of course. I love you.” Jin answers. Then we hear a knock on the door.

It’s Martin Keamy and his fabulous arms and his chicklet teeth and unfortunately, we are only privy to the teeth tonight. “Your bodyguard is supposed to give me some money. Where is Mr. Kwon?” Keamy asks. He’s so politely creepy. “No English.” Sun answers. Keamy tells his Arab sidekick to go get that guy who speaks like eight different languages. “Mikhail?” “Yeah. That guy.” Sure enough, Mikhail appears and he has BOTH of his eyes, which is really weird since I just finished watching season three over the weekend and I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed Mikhail’s character. So it was good to see him again. Mikhail translates Sun and Jin’s sad story about the confiscated money and Sun volunteers to go to the bank and withdraw the money for them. Mikhail goes with her and Keamy takes Jin to the restaurant.

Unfortunately, when Sun gets to the bank, she finds that her account has been closed and furthermore, that it has been closed by her father. “Why would he do that?” she asks Mikhail. “Why do you think?” Mikhail answers. Meanwhile, Keamy has Jin tied up in the pantry and is explaining in English that the $25,000 was Keamy’s fee to kill Jin for sleeping with Sun. “Everyone who knows Mr. Paik knows it’s hands-off the daughter. Everyone but you.” Of course, Jin understands none of this.

Then we see Jin in the pantry alone, hear the gunshots outside and Sayid bursts throught he door. Sayid won’t free Jin, but he does hand him the razor so that Jin can cut himself free. Mikhail arrives with Sun, finds Sayid’s signature carnage and rolls Keamy over to ask what has happened. Jin gets the jump on Mikhail, and a second shootout ensues. Mikhail appropriately gets shot in the eye, which was a very nice touch. But Sun is also shot. Jin lifts her up and runs out of the restaurant as Sun tells him she is pregnant.

Island Setup
We observe the Not Locke Camp on the island through some Widmorian night vision goggles. \ Not Locke explains to Jin about the names on the cave wall and the candidates. He tells Jin that Kwon is one of those names. “Me or Sun?” Not Locke says that he is not sure, but If all the names that haven’t been crossed off leave together, they can get off this island. “But Sun is not here,” Jin protests. “I know,” Not Locke answers. “I’m working on it.”

Meanwhile Zombie Sayid gets creepier with each passing episode. “I don’t feel anything,” he tells Not Locke. “Anger. Happiness. Pain. I don’t feel it anymore.” “Maybe that’s best,” Not Locke suggests. “You have to get through what’s coming.”

Jin’s had about enough of creepy Camp Not Locke what with crazy Claire, Mopey Kate and Zombie Sayid—Sawyer is the only one of the original party who is even remotely like himself. Jin is about to leave when tranq darts start flying all over the place, hitting everybody in Camp Not Locke. Tina Fey and another Widmorian find Jin, and he’s the one they’ve been looking for. They take him.

Meanwhile, over at Camp Ilannah, the good guys are playing cards and debate about a.) whether or not Richard is coming back, and b.) if he does come back, that he will know what to do. Ilannah proclaims that they are waiting for Richard and that’s it, which pisses Sun off. She stomps off to her old garden. Jack follows her and tells Sun about the lighthouse, the names and the places he saw. “There is a reason we’re here,” he insists. But Sun doesn’t want to hear it. “I don’t care about destiny,” she says. “Leave me alone, Jack.”

Right after Jack leaves, Not Locke finds Sun in the garden. He tells Sun that Jin is with him. “I can take you to him right now.” Sun hesitate. “I don’t believe you,” she says. “Come with me, Sun,” says Not Locke holding out his hand. “I’ll never make you do anything against your will.” Remembering all those people Smokey killed back at the Temple and connecting that with Not Locke, Sun runs away and Not Locke chases her on foot, when it seems it would be much more efficient to change into Smokey and simply take her out. She falls and for some reason, he doesn’t take her. When she wakes up, she is babbling in Korean.

Meanwhile, over on Hydra Island, Jin wakes up in the Carl Brainwashing Room, aka Room 23. He is a prisoner. Tina Fey comes in (seriously, does it even matter that her name is Zoe in the show? They should have just named her Tina and made it easier for all of us.) and tells Jin that the room was used by the Dharma Initiative for subliminal messaging. Jin is agitated and Tina Fey tells him, “Relax, you’re safe,” and then she tases him, bro. When he is coherent, she breaks out a map and starts asking him about the pockets of electromagnetic energy that he marked on it. “Get me your boss. I want to talk to Widmore,” Jin says, refusing to deal with Tina. Tina Fey says, “That’s good, because he wants to talk to you, too.” At which point we are all wondering if Jin is going to be talking to Widmore or Jack Donaghy.

Locke comes back from his unsuccessful pursuit of Sun and finds that his camp has been attacked and Jin is missing. He’s pissed off about it, but is wondering what’s bothering Claire, other than the fact that she could really, really use a shower. And a brush. And probably some deodorant. Claire is glaring at Kate and asks if her name was on the cave wall. Not Locke tells her it wasn’t. “Then you don’t need me. If I go back, I’ll be a stranger to my own son,” she says. Nodding at Kate, she asks, “Is her name on the wall?” “Not anymore,” Not Locke tells her. Then he strikes a bargain with her. “Kate can help me get them on the plane. But once she does, whatever happens, happens.” In other words, you are free to kill her once she has served my purpose.

So Not Locke approaches Zombie Sayid and asks him if he can swim so that they can go on a mission. Sawyer wants to now wy they are taking a boat. “Can’t you just turn into smoke and go over there?” “If I could do that, I wouldn’t still be on this island,” explains Not Locke. “Right. Because THAT would be ridiculous,” Sawyer says.

Back at Camp Ilannah, Ben is once again whining. “For the fourth time, I was gathering mangoes and she was already knocked out. Why won’t you believe me?” “Because you are speaking,” Ilannah answers. Jack diagnoses Sun’s sudden loss of English as Aphasia, which, because I was a loyal viewer of As the World Turns, I know is a selective form of amnesia. Richard and Hurley return to the camp and it appears Ben has lost the bet on both counts. “Pack your bags,” Richard says. “We’re leaving.”

Not Locke gets to Hydra Island but can’t advance beyond the sonic fence. Widmore comes out to meet him. Not Locke acknowledges that he knows who Widmore is. “Do you know who I am?” “Myths, ghost stories and jungle noises in the night,” Widmore answers. “You know a bit more than that,”Not Locke says, acknowledging the sonic fence. “You took one of my people. I want him back.” “We don’t have him.” Widmore says. Not Locke clearly doesn’t believe him. “A wise man once said that War was coming to this island,” Not Locke says. “I think it just got here.”

Back at Camp Ilannah, Sun is freaking out in Korean, telling them that she isn’t going anywhere to destroy the Ajira plane because that’s her only way off the island. She doesn’t care about saving the world, she only cares about finding Jin and getting off the island. Then she storms off. “This is your fault.” Miles says to Hurley. “Kinda,“ Hurley agrees. “Uh, I don’t think she wants to come.”

Back in Hydra Island, Widmore orders Tina Fey to get the package and bring it to the infirmary. He then goes to Jin and hands him a camera that they found on the Ajira plane in the luggage. It is, of course, Sun’s camera and Jin sees pictures of his daughter Ji Yeon for the first time. Widmore explains to Jin, “If that thing that looks like John Locke gets off the island, you, me, everyone we ever loved and cared about would simply cease to be. I am here to make sure that doesn’t happen.” “How?” asks Jin. “I think it’s time you saw the package.” “What is it?” “It’s not a what, it’s a who.”

Back at Camp Ilannah, the chip on Jack’s shoulder has completely dissolved and in it’s place is a wonderful bedside manner that he’s always been lacking. He hands Sun a pad and pen. “Just because you can’t speak doesn’t mean you can’t write. Can you do it?” Sun writes “Yes.” “Now you have your voice back. Look what I found in your garden.” He holds up a tomato. “This is one stubborn tomato. No one told it it was supposed to die.” Sun writes “Sorry.” Jack smiles. “It’s ok. You’re not the first person to tell me to leave them alone. What did Locke say to you?” “He said he had Jin.” “Why didn’t you follow him?” “I didn’t believe him.” “Do you trust me?” Sun nods yes. “Come with us and I’ll help you find Jin. I’ll get you both off this island. I promise.”

Back at Camp Not Locke, Kate wants to know, “Why aren’t you worried, James?” “I am worried,” Sawyer says. “I’m just really good at hiding it.” Not Locke returns alone, which means that Sawyer’s plan of Widmore taking care of the Not Locke problem has not only not worked, but Not Locke hasn’t even gotten Jin back. When Sawyer asks Not Locke about the lack of Jin and Sayid, Not Locke reminds Sawyer of the guarded room on the sub. “I don’t like secrets. Sayid is taking care of that.”

Sayid is swimming up to the sub and we see Tina Fey and the other Widmorian struggling with a sedated person. “Let’s go Mr. Hume.”

Desmond!

Thoughts on this episode
Although this was a tough episode to follow, what with no real continuous narrative except the Sun and Jin alternate timeline story, it still served to move the players into place for the finale.

Interesting that Kate’s name was on the wall but isn’t anymore. Why was it crossed off?

Love love love the new Jack. Even better than the old original Jack.

Is Widmore one of the good guys? Was his power struggle with Ben what allowed the island to be compromised?

Next week:
Desmond!

Ab Aeterno SE6 EP9

2010-03-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ricardo. Get up. We need to talk.
The Wiki entry for the translation of “AB Aeterno:”

Literally, "from the everlasting" or "from eternity". Thus, "from time immemorial", "since the beginning of time" or "from an infinitely remote time in the past". In theology, often indicates something, such as the universe, that was created outside of time.

Awesome mythology episode with some more pieces of the island mystery revealed and a nice advance to the story. Questions were answered and just about all the dialog was meaningful. After last week’s tasty, but rather dull episode, this one moved quickly and was jam packed with information. It was one of those episodes that I know I will find a ton of things upon a second and third viewing. And some excellent acting from Nestor Carbonell, whose character Richard's story was more heartbreaking than I expected. Oh, and a tough episode to blog, since I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, lest I miss the subtitles. So here we go:

Alannah needs direction
The episode opens with Alannah in the same hospital that Locke ending up in after leaving the island. Her face is bandaged. Jacob visits. “Sorry I couldn’t make it sooner,” he apologizes. “I have six people I need you to protect. The remaining candidates.” Jacob gives her some instructions that we are not privy to. Then Alannah asks, “After I bring them to the temple, then what do I do?” “Ask Ricardus,” says Jacob. “He’ll know what to do.”

Back in the present, Alannah is explaining the whole “candidate” thing to Jack and the others around the campfire (apparently everyone is a candidate there except poor Frank, a fact Sun seems more than happy to rub in) but Alannah admits, “I have no idea what to do next. I am supposed to ask Richard.” Richard wants no parts of Jacob’s instructions anymore. He looks wildly at Jack. “Didn’t you tell them about my crisis of faith? My big meltdown at the Black Rock? I was trying to kill myself! I’m not listening to Jacob anymore. Everything he ever said was a lie.” Richard has worked himself up into quite a lather at this point “Do you want to know a secret Jack? Something I’ve known for a long time? You’re dead. You’re all dead. All this is not what you think it is. We’re in hell. Not, I repeat, NOT purgatory, but Hell. I’m not interested in what Jacob says. I think it’s time to stop listening to him and start listening to someone else. That’s what I’m gonna do.” And Richard stomps off into the jungle.

Back at the campfire, the new man-of-faith-Jack suggests they go after Richard since he knows what to do. Ben is cynical about Richard knowing anything, since Ben has known him since he was 12. “Ohhhh this should be interesting,” he scoffs. “Going after him is a waste of time.”

Meanwhile, Hurley is off to the side talking in Spanish to someone that we can’t see. Jack assumes it’s Jacob and insists Hurley tell him what Jacob is saying. Hurley says that it has nothing to do with Jack.

Tenerife, Canary Islands
For a point of reference, the Canary Islands are a Spanish colony off the west coast of Africa, right between Morocco and the Western Sahara. I missed the date, but it was somewhere back when they were still calling America “The New World” so I’m thinking colonial times. I’m sure one of you caught it.

We see Richard racing towards somewhere eon his horse. He arrives home to find his wife, Isabella coughing up blood. Because I’ve seen “Moulin Rouge” at least ten times, I can state with some authority that coughing up blood is generally an indication that the character is dying of consumption. Determined to save her, Richard rides out to get the doctor. “I’ll be back before dawn,” he promises. Isabella removes her cross and hands it to Richard. “Give this to the doctor,” she says. Richard takes this as Isabella giving up on life and he breaks down, confessing he doesn’t know what he would do if they weren’t together. “We’ll always be together,” Isabella says. “I will save you!” Richard promises and leaves. After riding hard through some nasty storms, he finally arrives at the doctor’s house, but the doctor is not willing to help. “I’m not going out in this rain!” he proclaims. He tells Richard that he has medicine that will cure his wife, but it’s very expensive. Richard gives him the money. “Is this all you have?” Then he hands the doctor the cross. “Now you have everything.” The doctor looks down at the cross and says, “This is worthless.” Richard gets upset and he and the doctor exchange blows. In the course of the altercation, the doctor falls, slamming his head against the table and dying. Richard takes the medicine and rides off to save Isabella, but it’s too late; she is already dead.

The law catches up with Richard and he is thrown into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World. A priest visits him and asks if he is ready to make his confession (shades of Eko and Yemmi) Richard confesses to killing the doctor and asks for father’s forgiveness. But the priest refuses; he cannot absolve murder. “Do your penance,” He advises. “Because they are going to hang you. The devil awaits you in hell.”

A Mr. Whitfield arrives just before they hang Richard and because he can speak English, the good news is that he’s not going to be hanged; the bad news is he’s being sold into slavery. “You are now the property of Captain Magnus Hanso of the Black Rock.” For those of you that have forgotten, it’s important to point out here that Magnus Hanso is the ancestor of the mysterious Alvar Hanso, benefactor of the Dharma Initiative.

So the Black Rock encounters the typically stormy seas that surround the island and Richard asks his fellow slave if he can see outside. “I see the devil!” Which is really the big Anubis statue that is still standing when the Black Rock wrecks.

We next see the Black Rock in it’s old familiar place in the middle of the jungle. Mr. Whitfield comes down into the slave cargo hold and begins killing the slaves because they have run aground with no food, or fresh water and since there are only five officers left, it is better to kill the slaves and conserve resources. Whitfield systematically begins skewering the slaves who are begging for their lives. He is about to kill Richard when we hear the telltale ticka ticka and Smokey appears and cleans house, leaving no one but Richard alive. It’s important to note, I think, that the chain sound that accompanies Smokey is very pronounced.
Richard is stuck to the floor for an untold period of days, hungry and thirsty. Suddenly, he hears a voice: “Is there anyone here?” It’s Isabelle. Or maybe not, since she has some strange news for Richard. “We are dead and in hell. I have seen the devil and looked into his eyes and saw nothing but evil. “ The signature Smokey sound is heard and Richard tells her to run, which she does, right into the mouth of Smokey, and Richard is devastated over the loss of his wife all over again.
Some time later, MIB finds him and gives him water.

“Who are you?” Richard wants to know.

“I am a friend.”

“Am I in hell?”

“Yes, I’m afraid you are.”

“Have you seen my wife?”

MIB is a little ambiguous on this point. “She hasn’t come back? That probably means HE has her.”

“Who?”

“You know who.” Seeing Richard’s desperation to find his wife, MIB makes a proposition: “I want to be free too. But I need to know that you will help me before I free you.” MIB frees Richard. “It’s good to see you out of those chains. Get you on your feet. You’re going to need your strength if we’re going to escape.” “Escape?” Richard is confused. “There’s only one way to escape from hell,” MIB tells him. “You’re going to have to kill the devil.”

Time out here for a timely observation: Can anyone tell me what this scene bears a strong resemblance to? Anyone? That’s right: This scene is eerily similar (and I’d bet intentionally similar to) the scene in Stephen King’s “The Stand” when Randall Flagg, the Walkin’ Dude, sets poor Lloyd Henried free. Lloyd has been doing time in prison for murders that he accidently got caught up in, but his jailers, and fellow prisoners have all died. He is hungry, thirsty and desperate for escape when Flagg appears with the power to set him free in exchange for loyalty.

MIB gives Richard the ceremonial knife and tells him to walk due west, and when he sees the ocean, he should look for the statue. “That’s where you’ll find the devil. Put this in his chest. Do not let him speak. If he speaks, it will already be too late.” Instructions similar to those that Dogen gave to Sayid a few weeks ago regarding killing Not Locke. Richard is not sure a knife is going to kill him. “He is black smoke.” MIB smiles, “No. I am.” Richard is confused again, since he knows it was Smokey that was pursuing Isabelle. MIB explains that he was only watching that, that Isabelle was actually running from the devil. “My wife was running from him?” “I saw him take her,” MIB lies. He explains, “The devil betrayed me, he took my body. You must kill him so we can get off this island.” Richard knows that killing is wrong; in fact it was killing that landed him on this island, so he balks at MIB’s instructions. “My friend, we can talk all day about right and wrong. You are going to have to kill him. The question before you remains the same: do you ever want to see your wife again?”

So Richard sets off with the promise of seeing his beloved Isabelle ringing in his ears and Jacob ambushes Richard and kicks his ass before he has time to stick that knife in his chest. “What are you doing here? Who gave you this?” Richard explains his mission to Jacob, who now gets how this situation has come to be: “Did you meet a man in the jungle dressed in black?” Richard nods yes and asks, “Where is my wife?”

“Did she come with you on the ship?”

“No, she’s dead.”

“Then why would I know where she is?”

Now Richard is distraught, because he is starting to see throught he lies of MIB. “He said you were the devil… He said the only way I would see my wife again was to kill you. I know I am already dead and I am in hell.” So Jacob takes him to the ocean and waterboards him until Richard admits he wants to live. “That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say,” Jacob says.

The most important scene of the episode
Jacob brings out a bottle of wine and he sits next to Richard on the beach. Richard nods toward the statue. “What is inside?” he asks.
“No one comes in unless I invite them in,” Jacob says by way of not-answering.

“Are you the devil?”

“No. My name is Jacob. I’m the one who brought your ship to this island.”

“Why?”

“Think of this wine as hell or anything like it: malevolence, darkness, evil. The cork is this island. It keeps the evil contained. Because if the cork came out, it would spread. The man you met in the jungle thinks it is in man’s very nature to sin. I bring people here to prove him wrong. I wanted them to help themselves. To know the difference between right and wrong without my showing them. If I show them, it’s all meaningless.” When Richard points out that MIB isn’t exactly NOT interfering, Jacob gets an idea. “Do you want a job? I don’t want to step in. But you can be my intermediary with the people I bring here.”

“What’s in it for me?” Richard wants to know.

“What would you like?”

“I want my wife back.”

“I can’t do that,” Jacob admits.

“Can you absolve me of my sins so I do not go to hell?”

“I can’t do that either.”

“Then I never want to die. I want to live forever,” Richard decides.

“Now that I can do,” Jacob says, laying his hands on Richard.

Richard heads back into the jungle, where he runs into MIB. MIB can see what’s gone wrong right away: “You let him talk to you didn’t you?” Richard acknowledges that, then hands MIB a white stone. “He told me to give you this.” MIB takes it, rather good naturedly and shakes his head with regret. “If you go with him, you’ll never be with your wife again. I understand. He can be very convincing. But if you ever change your mind, ever, you can come with me.” He hands Richard a gift of his own. Its Isabella’s cross. “I found it on the ship.” Richard buries it back at the temple..

Back in present
Richard digs up the cross he just buried a couple minutes ago. He calls out to MIB, “I’ve changed my mind. I was wrong. You said the offer would stand. Does the offer still stand?” We hear some jungle rustling and then, “What offer, dude?” Hurley appears. “Your wife sent me,” Hurley explains. “Isabella. She wants to know why she buried her cross.” Richard is all ??? “She just told me, dude. She’s standing right next to you.” Hurley and Isabella exchange some Spanish. “He doesn’t believe,” Isabella says. “Sometimes it takes people a while,” Hurley explains. “She says your English is awesome. She’s right there.” Richard is starting to believe. “Are you really there?” he asks Isabella. “Close your eyes. It wasn’t your fault. You tried to save me but it was my time. You’ve suffered enough.” “I miss you,” weeps Richard. “ I would do anything for us to be together.” “My love,” Isabella whispers, “We are together.” And somehow Richard knows she is gone. “Thank you,” Richard says to Hurley. “Uh, dude, she said one more thing. She said you have to stop the Man in Black. You have to stop him from leaving the island. If you don’t well all go to hell. Not, I repeat, NOT purgatory.”

Back in time
MIB greets Jacob at a campfire. “Good morning. I see you got my present.”

“Don’t gloat, Jacob,” MIB remarks. “It doesn’t become you.”

“You tried to kill me,” Jacob observes.

“I want to leave. Let me leave,” MIB explains.

“As long as I’m alive, I will keep you on this island.”

“That’s why I want to kill you.”.

“Even if you kill me, someone else will take my place.”

“Then I’ll kill them, too.”

“Here,” Jacob says, handing him the corked bottle of wine. “ Something for you to pass the time. See you around.”

MIB smashes the bottle against a tree. “Sooner than you think.”

Thoughts on this episode
First a disclaimer: I know I’m missing a ton in this episode. Also, I’m fading from consciousness fast, so if something occurs to me, I’ll include it in next week’s writeup.

Jacob brings everyone to the island, but it seems that everybody gets there by killing someone. At least the ones that are candidates. Further, since MIB announced his intention to kill anyone who would replace Jacob, does it follow that that is why so many people were killed by Smokey? And were the ones killed by Smokey decoys of Jacobs, with the only real candidates being the ones who belonged with the “numbers”?
Deep, deep disappointment that the mystery of Richard’s eyeliner was not explained.

I loved "The Stand" parallel scene and liked the way this episode was just so forthright about everything revealed. No coy little clues, no new mysteries, just a bunch of straightforward information. How refreshing—indeed, as hard as it was to take notes due to the subtitles, one thing that made this episode easier to analyze is the fact that it was pretty much a chronological episode.

Next week:
Seven episodes left and not a single teaser. Sun and Jin? Jack? Or the mystery of Claire?

Recon SE6 EP8

2010-03-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

“You are the best liar I ever met.”
Insert string of colorful “sentence enhancers” here for class ran over and my VCR was not set. I came in at Camp Locke. FWIW, land speed records were set between Villanova and Oaks tonight.

Camp Not Locke
Not Locke is holding court, explaining the plans for the survivors of the Temple massacre and what that “the smoke thing” killed those left behind, conveniently leaving out the fact that he is the smoke thing. Claire smiles creepily and takes Kate’s hand, which Kate is clearly uncomfortable with. When Claire finally lets go, Kate wipes the crazy off on her pants leg and takes Sawyer aside. “So are you with Locke now?” she wants to know. “I’m not with anyone, Kate,” Sawyer says. Not Locke tells everyone to fill up on water because where they are heading, they might be there a couple days. Sawyer does not like the sound of that. “A couple of days?” he complains. “I thought we were getting off this rock.” Not Locke is annoyed. “Let’s talk in private.”

They move off away from the others and Sawyer asks him, “How’d you know to rescue them from the smoke thing?” Not Locke tells Sawyer the uncomfortable truth about himself: “I didn’t rescue them. I am the smoke thing.” “Are you telling me that you killed all those people?” So Not Locke explains his reasoning regarding the Others to Sawyer: “They are convinced that they are protecting the island from me. It’s either kill of be killed and I don’t want to be killed.” Sounds reasonable. So Not Locke asks Sawyer to take a boat ride over to Hydra Island so that he can relive his fond memories of the hottest sex scene in a cage on network television, visions of Dr. Bunnykiller and his triumph with the Fish Biscuits. Oh, and also to do some recon. “The Ajira flight is over there, “ says Not Locke, and that’s how they are going to get off the island. “But I have reason to believe that there are people over there who want to kill me.” you “So why me?” Sawyer wants to know. “Because you are the best liar I ever met. Gain their trust. Then we get on that plane, fly off this island and never look back.”

Sawyer arrives at the cages on Hydra Island, where he relives his fond memories of the hottest sex scene in a cage on network television, visions of Dr. Bunnykiller and his triumph with the Fish Biscuits. Wait, what am I here for again…..?

Meanwhile, back on the main island, Kate is talking to a clearly unhinged Sayid. “Do you believe Locke can get us off the island?” “Yes. I believe,” Sayid answers flatly. Kate picks up on his near catatonic state. “Are you all right?” she asks. “No,” Sayid answers. Then out of nowhere, Claire jumps Kate and tries to cut her throat all the while Sayid is calmly watching while Kate begs for help. Finally, it’s Not Locke who pulls her off, and slaps her. “Kate was only trying to help you Claire, and your behavior is completely inappropriate.”
Well Kate is pretty upset about Claire turning feral on her, so she goes off to sob alone in the jungle. Not Locke finds her and explains, “I need to take responsibility for her actions. I was the one who told her that the Others had her baby.” Kate wants to know why he told her that. “Have you ever had an enemy, someone that you needed to hate? Someone that you needed to hate? Claire was devastated when she lost Aaron. She needed something to keep her going. All that anger had to go somewhere.” Sounds reasonable. “That’s very insightful coming from a dead man,” Kate retorts. “Nobody’s perfect,” Not Locke responds. “Look, I promised I would keep everyone safe. That includes you, too, Kate.” Not quite buying it, Kate decides to change the subject. “Where did Sawyer go?” Offering his hand, Not Locke says, “I’ll show you.”
Having completed his reverie, Sawyer finds the Ajira plane and a trail through the sand, which he follows to a bunch of actively decomposing bodies. He hears a noise in the jungle and spots a girl running through the woods. Sawyer tackles her. “Who the hell are you?” He wants to know. “I’m Tina Fey. You may know me as Liz Lemon. I’m the only one left.”

Tina Fey introduces herself to Sawyer as Zoe. “What killed all those people?” Sawyer asks her. “I was collecting wood. We were all just waiting for someone to rescue us. I heard screaming. When I came back they were all dead. I spent the last two days dragging their bodies up here.”

Zoe, exhibiting relief at being found, starts asking Sawyer about how he got there, how many are in his party, where they are, blah blah blah. Sawyer is not fooled. “You’re good, sweetheart, but you ain’t that good,” Sawyer says pulling his gun. “Where are the rest of your people?” Zoe whistles and her team appears with guns trained on Sawyer. “Your name even Zoe?” “Is yours Sawyer?” Sawyer looks around him, gets on his knees and puts his hands on his head. “All right, all right, you got me. Take me to your leader.”

Meanwhile, Kate wants to know why Not Locke went to the trouble to get her alone just to show her the island where her and Sawyer had the hottest sex scene in a cage on network television and dined on Fish Biscuits. “Because I wanted to talk to you, Kate,” Not Locke explains. “I am not a dead man. My mother was crazy. A long time ago before I looked like this, I had a mother. She was a very disturbed woman, and as a result of that, I had some ‘growing pains’. Problems I’m still trying to work my way through. Problems that could have been avoided had things been different.” Kate’s not getting it, so Not Locke breaks it down for her: “Now, Aaron has a crazy mother, too.”

Back on Hydra, Sawyer spots Zoe’s people are setting up the sonic border as he is being frog-marched to the the sub. “Get in, he’s waiting for you,” Tina Fey says. Walking past a locked cabinet, Sawyer asks, “Whatchs got in here?” “None of your business,” she snaps. “Keep moving.” She delivers him to Charles Widmore. Widmore knows who Sawyer is and greets him. “Hello Mr. Ford,” he says, looking at him with those black eyes. You know, that’s the thing about Widmore… he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces….ehhhh…oh. Right.

Anyway Widmore asks Sawyer, “Do you know who I am?” Sawyer knows the answer to that question: “You’re the guy that sent a freighter to murder all of us.” Widmore tsk tsks and shakes his head. “It’s sad, really, how little you know.” Sawyer tells Widmore that he is with John Locke. “John Locke’s dead,” Widmore says. “We both know that the guy we’re talking about is not really John Locke.” Sawyer is ready to cut a deal with Widmore: “I’ll tell him the coast is clear. I’ll bring the old man right to your door and you can kill him.” “How do I know I can trust you?” Widmore asks. “Same way I know I can trust you,” Sawyer counters. “Do we have an agreement?” they shake and Widmore’s eyes roll over white and we hear that awful high pitched screaming….

Ahem.

So back on the main island, Kate is returning to camp when Feral Claire confronts her in the jungle. “I want to apologize,” says Feral Claire as she starts weeping the crazy tears. “You only did it because you care about me and you were taking care of him. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Was anyone else expecting her to stab Kate in the back with a knife she had hidden?

Sawyer arrives back and tells Not Locke, “You didn’t send me over there to find passengers from that plane, did you?” Sawyer tells Not Locke that the passengers from Ajira 316 are all dead. “That’s terrible!” says Not Locke. “What happened?” As if he didn’t know. “Widmore is over there with six armed men. They are setting up pylons—like the kind they used to keep you out of New Otherville.” “What did you tell them about me?” Not Locke wants to know. “I told them I’d tell you that the coast was clear. Now we can change our plans and you can get the jump on them.” “I appreciate your loyalty, James.” “You promised to get me off this island. A deal’s a deal.”

Later that night, Sawyer comes across Kate at her campfire. “What are you doing running errands for Locke?” Kate wants to know. Sawyer explains that he’s not running errands for anyone. “There’s a guy named Widmore set up on the beach over there. Guys with guns, they’re here for Locke. I’m gonna let them fight it out. And while they have their hands full with each other, we get off this island.” “How are we going to fly the plane?” Kate asks. “We ain’t takin’ the plane freckles, we’re taking the sub.”

Sawyer Five-O
Detective James is trying to track down Anthony Cooper. Miles is his partner who wants to know who Anthony Cooper is. “An old partner I ran into in Palm Springs Trip last weekend,” Sawyer lies. “You got a date tonight with a friend of my dad’s who works at the museum,” says Miles, announcing the blind date he set Sawyer up with. When Sawyer protest, Miles asks him, “Do you want to die alone?”

Sawyer shows up at the bar and calls Miles on his cell phone. “What’s this girl look like again?” As soon as Miles tell him she has red hair, we know it’s going to be Charlotte. Charlotte looks good with makeup. She tells Sawyer that she’s an archeologist, which Sawyer thinks is boring. “I travel quite a bit to far off and romantic places,” she says, defending her choice of profession. “Why did you become a cop?” Sawyer starts with what sounds like his standard Steve McQueen/Bullitt story. “Do me a favor and don’t act like I’m like all the other girls. Tell me the truth.” Sawyer relents, “It got to the point where I was going to be a criminal or a cop, so I chose cop.” After a quick sex scene that pales in comparison to cage sex, Charlotte asks to borrow a t-shirt while Sawyer uses the bathroom. We see the book Watership Down, Sawyer’s book about….bunnies. Digging through the drawer, Charlotte comes across a blue dossier with some pictures and newspaper clippings: “Local man kills wife, self. Survived by 9 year old son.” Sawyer catches her looking through it and screams, “Get out!”

Back a the station, Sawyer is walking through the reception area where we see Liam Pace, Charlie’s brother. He tries to get some answers from Sawyer, “I’m waiting for my brother, he’s here on a drug charge..?” But Sawyer blows past him, right into Miles who is mightily ticked off. At first Sawyer thinks it’s because of his treatment of Charlotte, but it turns out Miles ran Sawyer’s credit cards and found out he lied about his trip to Palm Springs.”I want to know why you were in Sydney.” “None of your damn business,” Sawyer retorts. It’s a trust issue for Miles. “Then I’m not your partner anymore.”

Sawyer is back home at his pathetic apartment, with a frozen dinner, some beer and OJ and watching Little House. Pa is explaining to Half Pint, “You can spend your whole life worrying about what’s gonna happen. Laughin and loving each other, that’s what life is all about. People aren’t really gone when they die, because they live in our memories.” Sawyer is so inspired by this episode of Little House that he decides to try and patch things up with Charlotte. But Charlotte is having none of it. “You can’t just show up here with your puppy dog eyes and a sad sunflower. You blew it.” Dejected, Sawyer leaves the sad sunflower at her door, which is now somehow, that much sadder.

Having struck out with Charlotte, Sawyer decides to make amends with Miles. Miles gets in Sawyer’s car and Sawyer hands him the Sawyer dossier. “Who’s Sawyer?” Miles wants to know. “When I was nine years old, my father shot my mother and then killed himself. Sawyer was the reason why. He was a grifter. I chased down a lead in Australia and that gave me a name: Anthony Cooper. I’m gonna find him and I’m gonna kill him.” Miles is dumbfounded. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “Because I thought you’d try to talk me out of it. I’ve been hunting him down since the day I left the academy.”

Suddenly, a car slams into them and the occupant gets out and starts running. Sawyer and Miles pursue; Sawyer tackles her and removes her hood. He recognizes Kate from the airport.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

Thoughts on this episode:
Not Locke’s enemy speech about Claire needing someone to hate was pretty significant. In fact, he could have been easily talking about the Others, who set him up as their object of hate. As creepy as Not Locke is, and as much as his friendliness and seeming straightforward friendliness seemd designed to get you to trust him, it only makes you more leery of him. I am still not completely convinced that he’s evil, but more on that below.

I absolutely love the Sawyer/Miles partnership. Interesting that they were in charge of security on the island, and end up as police partners in the alternate timeline.

Come to think of it, Sawyer recognized Kate from the airport, but he also noticed she was wearing handcuffs in the elevator at the airport and even though he’s a cop, he not only let her go, but kind of covered for her with airport security. And got a big kick out of it, too.

Sawyer wants to get off the island pretty badly, doesn’t he? Almost as bad as Not Locke. I’m finding myself liking his alternate timeline so much I’m hoping that the fate I think that is in store for him will not come to pass.

In fact, now is as good a time as any to float my next “It’s Hurley in the coffin” theory of everything My apologies to those of you who read this already.

My Next “It’s Hurley in the Coffin” Theory of Everything
Here are the names that were written on the cave wall, the "candidates":

4-Locke
8-Reyes
15-Ford
16-Jarrah
23-Sheppard
42—Kwon

In last week's episode, Sun asked Alannah who the candidates were, and Alannah answered she wasn't sure if it was Sun or Jin, but she unmistakably said that there were six candidates left. Now, I think it would be pretty lame to have "Kwon," or even "Sheppard" for that matter, count for more than one candidate so my guess is that there are indeed still six candidates and Locke is still in the running--remember, Jacob didn't cross off Locke's name, Not Locke (MIB) did. So, I think we will get to see our beloved Locke again--and I hope to God they give us a happy ending for his story.

The story of Ben is the story of power corrupting. Ben did everything for the island, but mostly he did everything for the island because it furthered his own selfish goals of exercising his power. In the pivotal scene with Alex and Keamy, Ben could have given himself up to save Alex, but instead thought his own importance to the island was more important than her life. In the scene this week where Roger expresses regret over how far Ben could have gone if only they had stayed on the island is even more ironic, considering that in leaving the island, and denying Ben that absolute power, that choice has made Ben a better, more selfless person.

I think that Kate will die, which will set up the next eternal struggle between Jack, who will take Jacob’s place on the island and Sawyer who will step in for the MIB, who only wants to get off the island he’s been “trapped” on for several lifetimes. I will also go on record now as saying the last scene of the series will be similar to the opening scene of last season's finale: with Jack cooking fish on the beach offering some to Sawyer, looking out at another wreck on the island, talking about how it always ends the same but there is progress and ending with Sawyer saying he would kill Jack if he could find a loophole.

I really don't think it's a reward to take Jacob's place--I think that Jacob must have been just as "trapped" on the island as MIB--only that Jacob understood this as his duty and exercised it selflessly for the
greater good--the island.

Remember, in the alternate timeline, the one we are assuming is the "Jacob never existed" timeline, the island was at the bottom of the ocean. The existence of and well being of the island must have profound beneficial effects for the whole world, which is why Jacob dedicates his life—an eternity to it--selflessly. MIB would rather live his own life and to hell with the island.

The big question is what effect on THE WHOLE WORLD does the island (or the absence thereof) have that would make anyone want to basically live there for all eternity, which is essentially what Jacob has done willingly and MIB has done unwillingly. Jack and Sawyer are picked as the new yin/yang of the island. It's not a reward, it's a duty and Jack—the great leader who “walks among us but is not one of us” understands duty while Sawyer is a bit more selfish and only feels trapped by this duty.

Immortality is often seen as both a blessing and a curse in literature, and therefore, I can see why Jacob was constantly searching for a replacement for himself. I am reminded of the scene at the end of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, when Indy finds the last Knight of the Crusade in with the Holy Grail and the knight is so happy that his replacement has finally come so that he finally can leave and die? Parallel that with Desmond's joy when the Losties finally break into the hatch--he thinks his replacements have arrived.

Locke's reward for his faith in the island is getting off the island and living a happy life. The island is a metaphor for the fountian of youth or the Holy Grail, or both, which is why it needs to be protected.

And always, always remember when reading my theories: It’s Hurley in the coffin.

Definitely.

Next week:
Richard Eyeliner.

Dr. Linus SE6 EP7

2010-03-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

You nearly had me fooled with that sweater vest, Linus. You’re a real killer.

Quite simply, this was one of the most powerful Lost episodes I remember in a while. Maybe I’m going all mushy, but honestly guys and gals, I was pretty misty throughout this whole episode. I loved it from beginning to end –despite the unwelcome reappearance of Arzt (whose annoying presence was actually used effectively in this episode)---because this episode brought home to me an important point: with only nine episodes remaining and still a ton of questions to be answered, Lost is still so very satisfying because of the storytelling and the characters. That I could weep for Ben Linus in one moment, laugh at Miles Strom the next and fall in love with Jack Sheppard all over again in the course of an hour speaks volumes for the writers.

History Lessons
In the alternate timeline, Ben is a history teacher lecturing on Napoleon’s loss at Elba, and how this loss was the most significant one for Napoleon because it was about his loss of power. “Without power his life is meaningless,” Ben tells the class, and he could very well be talking about himself in his role on the island. Principal Reynolds approaches Ben after class and tells him he must supervise detention. Ben protests because detention duty is in direct conflict with the history club. Principal Reynolds (who IS someone, I know it—I just can’t place him and it’s driving me crazy!!!) scoffs at Ben’s club because there are only five members. Ben needs the club more than the kids do, Reynolds says. “The club makes you feel needed, Linus.” As Reynolds walks away, Ben says rather impotently, “It’s Dr. Linus, actually.”

Ben and Arzt are talking in the faculty room about what a colossal jerk Reynolds is. “Taking care of the kids, that’s what’s important,” Ben proclaims. “Maybe you should be the principal,” saya John Locke, overhearing their gripes. “So says the substitute,” grumbles Arzt. But Locke ignores him and focuses on Ben. “It sounds like you care about the place. If the man in charge doesn’t care, maybe it’s time for a change.” And again, a nice double meaning here, as Locke could be talking about Jacob back on the island.

We next see Ben at home, living with his dad, an ailing Roger Workman. Roger seems much mellower and less angry than last we saw him. And of course, he missed being present for the great island gassing of 1978, which makes him much more alive than when we last saw him as well. Ben is commiserating with his father about his dismal career and Roger sympathizes, “I wanted so much more for you. That’s why I signed up for Dharma initiative. Imagine how different our lives would have been if we’d have stayed on the island. Who knows what you would have become?” Roger wonders, thinking about how powerful his son could have been had they stayed with Dharma. The doorbell rings and Ben gets up to answer it . It’s Alex Rousseau, and our hearts just break to see her again. It turns out in the alternate life, Alex is one of Ben’s history club’s five students and clearly his favorite. Alex is disappointed that the history club has been disbanded. She was counting on the tutoring. Ben offers to come in early to help her. Alex beams at him, showing Ben more love in that smile than I would venture she ever did as his “daughter” on the island. “You’re the best, Dr. Linus.”

During the tutoring session, Ben is going over the history of the East India Trading Company and we see a picture of a storm-tossed ship in the textbook they are perusing: The Black Rock? Alex breaks down when she cannot get the answer to the question Ben has posed; she is worried about getting into college and worried about paying for it since her mother works two jobs just to pay the rent. “How am I going to pay for college?” She despairs. But Ben is calm and confident. “I don’t worry about your future at all.” Alex is trying to get into Harvard, but she needs a recommendation from someone who went there. She grimaces in distatste, “I know someone who went there. That pervert Principal Reynolds.” Ben latches on to the “pervert” accusation and implores Alex to tell him why she thinks that. “Has he done something to you?” After swearing Ben to secrecy, Alex tells Ben that she heard Principal Reynolds and the school nurse in the infirmary. “They were doing it in the room right next to me. Isn’t that totally gross? You’ve got to promise you won’t tell, Dr. Linus.” “A promise is a promise,” Ben responds.

Ben approaches Arzt to hack into the school’s email system, specifically the school nurse’s account. “I’m curious about some of her correspondence. She might be engaged in an inappropriate personal relationship with Principal Reynolds.” Arzt agrees to do it for a good parking space and some new lab equipment.

So Ben, having procured some 30 illicit emails describing a tawdry little affair between Reynolds and the nurse on school property that Reynolds’ wife will surely be shocked to learn of, Reynolds relents to Ben. “What do you want?” “Your job,” Ben answers. “Resign and recommend me as your replacement. Do we have an understanding?” Reynolds pauses, then answers, “May I read you an email? ‘Dear principal Reynolds, Could you please write me a recommendation for Harvard?’” Reynolds smirks. “I will torch Ms. Rousseau and her future. Is my job that important to you? What will it be, Dr. Linus?”

We next see Ben in Reynolds’ office, unsure of what he chose in this alternate life: Power or Alex?

Then Alex bursts in, looking for the Principal. “Dr. Reynolds wrote me the most incredible recommendation letter!” She gushes to Ben. “Did you have something to do with it?” Ben denies it. “I just said your were an excellent student.” Reynolds comes in and wants to know what Ben is doing there. “Just dropping off the detention slips, per your request. Alex, I’ll see you at history club?” Alex looks from Reynolds to Ben. “I thought history club was disbanded.” She says. Ben shoots a meaningful look at Reynolds. “No, I believe a slot has opened up for us.” And we see that Ben has won this power struggle after all.

Digging his own grave
As Alannah leads the survivors back to the beach, she tells them that the smoke monster killed everyone. “And Jacob, too,” she says shooting a suspicious glance at Ben. Ben’s all, “Who me?” Laughing and joking and generally doing a really bad job of looking innocent. Alannah turns to Miles and asks him to do his thing with the ashes of Jacob’s body she’s carrying in a bag. “Tell me how he died,” she says. Well, we all know this is going to end badly for Ben because Miles is pretty reliable about this kind of thing. Sure enough, Miles blurts out, “Linus killed him.” “Are you sure?” Alannah asks. “He was standing over Jacob’s dead body with a bloody dagger, so yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Alannah is furious and distraught. She turns on Ben, who is still trying to pull off the “Who me?” act: “Jacob was the closest thing I ever had to a father,” she tells him. Uh oh.

Ben’s lame yammering about the reliability of psychics is not cutting any ice with Alannah. She’s ignoring him while they set up beach camp. She approaches Sun who wants to leave to find Jin. Alannah tells Sun she wants to find Jin, too. “I want to find Jin as much as you because your last name is Kwon. I don’t know if it is you or Jin I am supposed to protect, but you’re a candidate.” “Candidate?” Sun says. “For Jacob’s replacement. There are only six of you left.”

Ben waxes nostalgic about the Oceanic 815 wreck. Back when he still was somebody on this island; back right before it all changed. “I remember that plane breaking in half like it was yesterday.” Frank’s looking at him like he’s nuts. “You act like that’s a happy memory. You know, I was supposed to be flying Oceanic 815.” And then echoing Roger Workman in Ben’s alternate life, Frank continues, “ If that alarm would have gone off, how different my life would have been.” “How would it have been different?” Ben asks. “The island still got you in the end.” Then Alannah pulls the gun on Ben and frog marches him over to the little cemetery where she ties him to a tree. Then she makes him dig his own grave.

“Not exactly tearing it up on the digging front, are you?” Miles observes as he brings Ben some food. Ben tries to get Miles to free him. “Remember when you asked me for $3.2 million dollars? I can get that for you with my vast network off the island.” “What do I need $3.2 million dollars for when two people named Nicki and Paolo were buried alive over here with eight million dollars worth of diamonds?” Ben is beaten. He whines about his predicament to Miles, saying that he’s being punished for killing Jacob when Jacob never even cared about living. “He cared,” Miles answers. “Right up unti the second the knife went through his heart, he was hoping he was wrong about you. Guess he wasn’t.” Uh oh.

We hear the friendly neighborhood smoke monster ticka ticka and Not Locke appears at the side of the grave, wondering what it is that Ben is doing. “I’m digging my own grave because you talked me into killing Jacob.” “I don’t want you to die. I went back to the statue for you. Come to the Hydra station.” The tether keeping Ben tied to the tree drops from his leg. “There’s a tree with a rifle in the clearing,” Not Locke explains. “Don’t hesitate to kill Alannah, because she won’t hesitate to kill you. If you run right now, you can get the jump on her.” The chase is soon on and Ben gets the gun. He turns around and faces Alannah but does not shoot. “I want to explain that I know what you’re feeling.” Alannah doubts that, because Jacob was like a father to her. “I watched my daughter Alex die. I chose the island over her: all in the name of Jacob. I sacrificed everything for him and he didn’t even care. I thought my power was all that mattered. But the thing that really mattered was already gone.” “What do you want?” Alannah asks him. “Just let me leave,” Ben responds. “Where will you go?” Alannah wants to know. “To Locke.” “Why?” Alannah asks in disbelief. “He’s the only one that will have me,” Ben weeps.

“I’ll have you,” Alannah says, and turns and walks away.

And Ben follows Alannah.

Man of Faith
Jack is tired of hanging around the lighthouse and tells Hurley its time to start back. “We can make the Temple by nightfall.” “What’s the rush? Maybe we should take our time,” Hurley suggests. Jack and Hurley are arguing over which direction the Temple is when Richard pops out of the jungle and gives them the right direction(which is the only one they weren’t considering.. “What are you doing here?” Jack asks Richard. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Richard responds in typical Lost fashion. “Try me,” Jack says. “Not yet,” Richard replies. As they move off, Hurley is leery. “Dude, you trust that guy?” Jack shrugs. “At least he’s not stalling.”

As they follow Richard throught eh jungle, Hurley finally poses the direct question that has been bothering us about Richard for the past three years: “Dude, you look the same as you did thirty years ago. Are you time travelling?” Nope. “You a cyborg?” Nope. “Vampire?” Exasperated and unused to Hurley’s incessant inquiries, Richard finally answers, “Jacob gave me a gift.” When Hurley indicates he’s familiar with Jacob, Richard wants to know what Hurley knows about Jacob. “I know he’s dead.” When they discover that Richard has led them to the Black Rock, Jack says, “I thought we were going to the temple?” “Everyone at the temple is dead. There were no survivors,” Richard answers. “Our friends? Sayid? Kate?” Jack wants to know. “They weren’t there,” Richard says. Jack looks at Hurley. “Did you know about this?” “Jacob sorta hinted at it,” Hurley answered. “You spoke to Jacob?” Richard asks. When Hurley affirms, Richard replies, “Whatever he said, don’t believe him.” Richard begins walking towards the Black Rock. “There’s something I need to do,” he tells Jack and Hurley by way of explanation. “What’s that?” they want to know. “Die,” he answers.

We next see Richard on the Black Rockdigging through the Big Box O’ Dynamite. “I’ve been here before,” he tells Jack and Hurley. “In all the time I’ve spent on this island, today’s the first day I’ve ever come back.” Hurley is freaking out about the dynamite, reliving vivid memories of picking pieces of Arzt out of his shirt for two days after Arzt explodes. But Richard is non-plussed. “I can’t kill myself, which I why I want you to do it for me,” he tells Jack. Jack and Hurley want to know why Richard wants to die. “When Jacob touches you, it’s considered a gift, except it’s not a gift at all, it’s a curse. Everything was part of a plan. He told me that everything would be revealed. My entire life, and it has been a long one, has no purpose.” He hands Jack the fuse. “You can light it for me Jack.” Hurley can’t believe that Jack is actually going to do this. “If he wants to die there’s nothing we’re gonna do to stop him.” Uh, that’s not technically true, since Richard actually needs Jack to kill him since he can’t kill himself. Just where is Jack – the doctor who wants to save and fix everybody---going with this line of thought? Jack lights the fuse. “Now, let’s talk,” He tells Richard.

Hurley is still freaking out having Arzt flashbacks and wanting very badly to vacate the premises. “I gotta talk to him Hurley,” Jack says. “If you change your mind, I’ll be like a mile away,” Hurley says, making his escape. Jack looks at Richard and says, “I don’t think either one of us is going to die. I just came from Jacob’s lighthouse where my name was caved in wood. I saw my childhood home in a mirror in that lighthouse. Jacob wanted me to know that he had been watching me ever since I was a kid. Jacob brought me to this island for a reason and it’s not to blow up here with you.” “What if you’re wrong?” Richard says. “I’m not,” Jack is confident. The fuse burns almost into the stick and sputters out. “Wanna try another stick?” Jack offers. Richard shakes his head. “Since you seem to have all the answers, Jack, what’s next?” “Let’s go back to where we started.”

Cue beach scene with heart wrenching music (I think the actual name of this tune is “Live together die alone” and it makes me cry every time they play it) and slow-motion interaction on the island, with Ben offering to help Sun with her shelter. Rounding the corner is Hurley, Jack and Richard. Miles is happily evaluating the diamonds he has dug up and Our Losties are reunited. Jack greets the group at the island and he and Ben, who is standing apart and looking a bit forlorn, make meaningful eye contact.

Flash to camera skimming the ocean surface when a periscope surfaces. We see them looking at our beach group. “There are people on the beach, sir. Should I stop?” Pan down to Charles Widmore: “No. Keep going.”

Thoughts on this episode
How freaking awesome is Michael Emerson? I am so glad they did not kill him off. Next to John Locke, Ben Linus is one of the best characters ever written for TV. In fact, I’d put them in a dead heat. And how great was it to see Alex again?

Obviously Ben was the “leader” of the island for some time prior to the Oceanic 815 crash. But clearly, Jacob found him lacking, or weak or both, since Ben is decidedly NOT a candidate. During his reign of power, was Ben taking his orders from Jacob the whole time? For instance, did Jacob tell Ben to gas the island and his own father? What about when Ben called Smokey to wipe out the mercenaries from the freighter? Was Smokey under Jacob’s power to control, and by proxy, Ben’s control? Did Jacob tell Ben to shoot Locke in the pit of Dharma despair? Or was Ben getting his orders from both Jacob and MIB and unable to distinguish between the two? Was he already a weak leader, or did power corrupt him?

The themes of power and redemption were very strong in this episode. I’m not completely convinced that Ben is forgiven. In fact, it may be Widmore who ends up killing him, with Alannah knowing it was going to happen the whole time. Still: nine episodes is a lot to plow through with no Ben Linus.

Anybody figure out who Reynolds is yet? At first I thought it was the U.S. Marshal dogging Kate, but he’s still a U.S. Marshall and still dogging Kate in the alternate timeline, so I’m at a loss. Email me if you know. It’s bugging me big time.

Even though Jack was hardly in this episode at all, I absolutely loved every minute he was on screen. Jack, now understanding that Jacob chose him, is a man of faith. Indeed, he sounded a lot like Locke today. He’s a far more trusting and confident Jack as well. Hopefully the stupid questions and the oblique stubbornness that were such an intricate part of his character are now gone for good, because I love this new Jack.

Sundown SE6 EP6

2010-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I’m evil.

Ok Losties: I know this may be a little late arriving, primarily because of internet connectivity problems, but please, cut me a large economy sized break here: I am on vacation and still faithfully blogging for you. This was a largely satisfying episode with some juicy stuff, so let’s get to it.

My brother’s keeper
Sayid’s alternate life opens with him arriving in a cab with flowers. We are not surprised to see Nadia answer the door and two little children run up to him. But we are surprised when the children call him “Uncle Sayid: and Sayid’s brother Omar asks him why Sayid is brining flowers to his wife. Nadia has a good life, married to Sayid’s brother. Omar owns drycleaning business that he has recently expanded. Very soon after Sayid arrives, his brother gets a phone call which he explains as a business call, but it seems a little too serious to be dry cleaning business call. Sayid’s niece and nephew ask their uncle if he brought them anything from Sidney and he tells them to go look in his bag. Alone for the time being, Nadia wants to know if Sayid got her letters, and if so, why he hasn’t answered? Before Sayid can answer, the enthusiastic kids return with their awesome presents from Australia picture of Nadia they found in Sayid’s bag.

Later, Omar tells Sayid that he is in trouble. “I borrowed money from a man who says I owe him interest for every month I own my business even though I have paid him back.” Sayid wants to know what his brother wants from him. “I need you to convince them to leave me alone. I know what kind of a man you are. I know you were in the Republican guard. I know what you are capable of.” Omar has everything invested in this business and he has nothing left. When he sees that Sayid is still unwilling, he pulls his trump card: “You will do this because you care about Nadia.” Sayid denies it. “I am not that man anymore.”

For those of you that have forgotten, Sayid’s brother Omar was incapable of killing the chicken his father asked him to, so Sayid stepped up and did his brother’s duty for him. A very similar back story played out during the childhood of Eko and Yemmi.

Sayid decides the next morning to take his leave from his brother’s family and tells them he must go to Toronto for “work.” The children are unhappy that Sayid is leaving; they like it when he’s around and “Mommy likes it when he’s there, too.” Sayid puts his niece and nephew on the bus and Nadia comes out of the house crying. Omar has been attacked, he has been stabbed and his lung has been punctured. The police are calling it a mugging, but both Sayid and Nadia know that it is not a simple mugging. Nadia does not want Sayid to go after the men who are responsible; she wants him to stay at her home and wait for the kids and make them feel safe. “Whatever you are going to do, I don’t want you to do it.”

Later, after Omar has been stabilized, Nadia asks Sayid, “Did he tell you about the loan?” When Sayid acknowledges that he has, Nadia says in disgust that the loan and the mess they are in is Omar’s responsibility and he brought it on himself. She does not want Sayid to clean up his brother’s mess. “If you care about me, why would you push me towards your brother?” Sayid explains, “For twelve years I have been trying to wash my hands of the horrible things I’ve done.” He shakes his head and says with deep regret,”I can’t be with you because I don’t deserve you.”

As Sayid leaves to go pick up his niece and nephew, a van of three toughs pulls up and forces him into a van. He arrives at a restaurant where a fourth tough is cooking eggs: “Want some eggs?: He asks. Keamy makes good eggs. “Martin Keamy,” he says by way of introduction. Keamy begins monologue-ing, telling Sayid about the trouble his brother is in, letting Sayid know that he is responsible for putting his brother in the hospital without actually coming right out and saying so. “It’s a dangerous world, Sayid,” Keamy tells him. “You never know when…. “

...Sayid is going to turn the tables on you and kill everyone!!!!

Keamy, still thinking he can bargain with Sayid, tries to talk Sayid out of killing him. He says the debt is forgiven, but Sayid doesn’t buy it and kills Keamy before we have a chance to even see his delicious pumped-up arms again. Having dispensed of his brother’s debt, Sayid is going to make his exit when he hears someone struggling in the walk-in refrigerator. It is Jin, who has been worked over and held hostage. “Who are you?” Sayid wants to know. “I’m the man your man could smell like if he gave up lady-smelling body wash. Now look at me, look at your man, now back at me: No English. I’m riding a horse.” Or something like that.

The battle for Sayid’s soul
Sayid storms into what passes for Dogen’s office and demands answers for why he tortured him. Dogen answers, “For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale is good, the other side is evil. Your side tipped the wrong way. I think it would be best if you were dead.” Sayid’s not accepting this judgment without an argument, “You think you know me, but you don’t. I am a good man.” A statement that results in a kickass Sayid/Dogen fight.

Now pause for a second here and stop and think about this: Sayid honestly believes he is a good man, and as audience members, we truly like Sayid, and often find ourselves rooting for him to succeed. But is Sayid a good man? He has spent much of his life torturing people for Saddam Hussein. On the island, he tortured Sawyer and Ben. During a good part of his time off the island, he worked for Ben Linus as an assassin. He is loyal to his friends but ruthless towards his enemies and he has a certain mercenary quality to him. I think it is safe to say that Sayid is not a good man, and that’s why Dogen started fighting him, because Sayid is many things, but a “good man” is not one of them. The outrageousness of Sayid's assertion is probably what pushed Dogen over the edge into fighting him.

So Dogen gets the upper hand and is ready to kill Sayid when the baseball falls off the desk and diverts his attention. Dogen changes his mind about killing Sayid and decides to banish him instead. “I want you to leave and never come back.”

Sayid goes out into the courtyard and breaks the news to Miles that he has been banished. When Miles asks why, Sayid tells Miles that Dogen finds him to be evil, “Which is ironic, since they were the ones who saved me.” Miles clears up this misconception quickly. “No they weren’t, man. They tried to save you, but you were dead for two hours. When you sat up, they were just as surprised as the rest of us. So whatever it was that saved you, it wasn’t them.”

Outside, Not Locke is getting ready to send Claire into the Temple. “Are you ready?” he asks her. “Why does it have to be me? Why can’t you send Sawyer or Jin or do it yourself?” Claire asks. Not Locke not explains that it has to be her. “Are you going to hurt them?” Claire asks. “Only the ones that won’t listen.” When Claire looks dubious, Not Locke reminds her, “I always do what I say.”

So in walks Claire. She tells Dogen that Not Locke wants to talk to him. Dogen tells Claire to tell Not Locke to come in which he won’t do. Claire says “No you go out.” And so forth for a little while. Dogen tells Claire that Not Locke will kill him if he leaves. “Then send someone he won’t kill,” Claire snaps back. Dogen sends Claire the hole and thinks that Jack and Hurley would fit the go-out-and-talk-to-Not Locke bill nicely, but when he tells Lennon to find them, Lennon says “They’re gone, man.” Suddenly, Sayid is looking pretty good to Dogen. He tells Sayid to follow him into the Temple. Sayid of course, wants to know what’s up with Claire. “She is under the influence of an angry man. This man is evil incarnate. I want you to kill him.” He hands Sayid a ceremonial knife. “He will come to you as someone you know, someone who has died. If you allow him to speak, it is already too late.” “Why would I ever do anything for you?” Sayid wants to know. “You said there is still good in your soul. Then prove it.”

Kate runs into Sayid as he is leaving the temple and she is coming back. Kate’s confused as to why Sayid is leaving. ”What’d I miss?” She wants to know. “Ask Miles,” Sayid responds. When Kate arrives back in the temple, Miles is surprised to see her return. “Wow. I guess Sawyer sent you packing,” which is dead on, as anyone could see from Kate’s face. “Oh by the way, the Australian chick is back,” This is great news to Kate, as Claire is the whole reason she came back. “She just strolled in here acting all weird. Still hot, though.”

Meanwhile, outside the temple walls, we see the smokey wind and here the ticka ticka: Cue Not Locke. “Hello Sayid.” Uh oh, too late. He spoke. Sayid stabs him anyway, but Not Locke pulls the knife out. “Now why’d you go and do that?”

Not Locke hands Sayid the knife back. “You want it back? Take it I won’t bite.” “What are you?” Sayid asks. And again, another non-answer from Not Locke: “You seem to have some idea about that since you stabbed me in the chest without even saying hello.” Sayid acknowledges that this was pretty rude. Not Locke continues: “The man who sent you out there thought I would kill you. He knew that you would not be able to kill me. You are not the first person he sent out here, are you?” “No,” Sayid says, a little ticked off that he has been used like a pawn by Dogen. “I want you to deliver a message and it will make more of an impact coming from you.” Sayid needs a little more convincing. And like Satan tempting Jesus: “What if I told you you could have anything you wanted?” Sayid shakes his head, “The only thing I ever wanted died in my arms and I’ll never see her again.” Not Locke smiles, “What if you could?” And just like that, Not Locke has his messenger.

“There is a man in the jungle half a mile south of here,” Sayid announces as he strolls back into the temple. “He wants you know that Jacob is dead. None of you have to stay here anymore. You are free. He is going to leave this island forever. Those of you who want to come with him, can join him. You have till sundown to decide.”

Cindy asks what if they decide to stay? “Then you will die,” Sayid responds.

Kate, in that single-minded way of hers, still wants to see Claire. She strong arms Lennon who agrees to give her two minutes with Claire. When Kate sees Claire in the hole, she wants to know why she’s down there. Claire tells her that they have Aaron. Kate smiles, “I took him. I’ve been raising him for the last three years,” Kate continues to tell Claire all about Aaron and how she’s been raising him thinking that Claire is actually going to be happy about this (Claire seems to have completely forgotten the part where she abandons Aaron and walks off into the jungle without him) What Kate is completely oblivious to is that I’m-going-to-kick-your-ass-as-soon-as-I-get-out-of-this-hole look that Claire has on her face. Kate reaches down to help Claire out of the hole. “I’m not the one who needs to be rescued Kate,” Claire tells her. “He’s coming Kate. He’s coming and they can’t stop him.”

After Sayid’s announcement, Miles is all WTF. “I was asked to deliver message and that’s what I did. Now I have to return this knife.” Dogen is disappointed, he says Sayid let Not Locke speak (which is technically correct) but Sayid begs to differ: “I stabbed him in the chest, then I let him talk to me.”

Sayid asks Dogen why he is defending the temple. Dogen tells him his story: “I was a successful businessman once in Osaka. My associates took me out to celebrate. I picked my son up from baseball. He was twelve. The accident was very bad; I survived…but my son….” Died. This is the son we met last week who was in awe of Jack’s son. Dogen continues, “Then in the hospital, a man came to me. He offered me another job. I would have to come here, to this island, and my boy would live. But I could never see my boy again.” “Who was this man?” Sayid asks. “His name was Jacob.” “Jacob drives a hard bargain,” Sayid observes. Dogen agrees, and counters, “The man outside, I take it he offered you a similar bargain?” “Yes,” Sayid admits. “At sundown, will you stay or go?” Dogen asks Sayid. “I’d like to stay.” Sayid answers as he stabs Dogen and drowns him in the temple hot tub. Lennon walks in and sees what Sayid has done. “You idiot!” He yells at Sayid. “Dogen was the only thing keeping it out!” “I know,” Sayid says as he slashes Lennon’s throat.

The barriers thus removed, Smokey storms the temple and those that don’t get out of his way, get mowed down. Miles and Kate take off, Miles goes one way and tries to get Kate to follow him, but Kate goes to get Claire. Kate tries to get her out of the hole, but Claire tells her they will be safer in the hole. Just then Smokey turns the corner, Kate flips down into the hole and Smokey passes over head, while Kate watches with an expression of rapt amazement.

Meanwhile, Alannah and her party, including Ben, Sun and Lapidus, have entered the Temple. Alannah finds Miles (who on the run tells Sun he's seen her husband) and Ben has finds Sayid at the hot tub. “Sayid, there’s still time,” Ben says, offering a hand. Sayid turns around and with a small strange smile on his face tells Ben, “Not for me.” Ben backs away and meets up with Alannah, they press the secret button and escape.

Smokey’s reign of destruction having ended, Sayid, Claire and Kate walk in slow motion through the carnage. They all look strangely unaffected by it. It’s noteworthy that only Kate stops to pick up a gun from one of the fallen temple guys. They walk out the temple to join Not Locke and some of his recent converts. Not Locke does not seem all that pleased to see Kate with them.

Thoughts on this episode:
I think the alternate timeline is the life that Smokey offers them—the life without Jacob’s influence—the choice they will get to make at the end of the series will be which life they want. In Sayid’s alternate timeline, Sayid gets to see Nadia again, but she is married to his brother and he does not deserve her. Not Locke says in this episode that he “Always does what he says.” He promises Sayid that he will be able to see Nadia again, which in his alternate timeline, Sayid does, however, Sayid cannot be with her. It’s like his own private circle of hell, watching his weak brother have a normal, happy life with his true love. This is Sayid’s price for following Not Locke: he has gotten everything Not Locke has promised, but his life is a torture. It will be interesting to see Jack figure this out, since he gets so upset at the thought of things that are beyond his ability to control.

Sayid had a battle for his soul in another restaurant backroom, back in season three, when, in his backstory, a restaurant owner’s wife identifies Sayid as the man who tortures her. The restaurant owner holds Sayid hostage and tortures him until he admits to the wife that yes, he did torture her.

Jin and Sun are now on opposite sides of the battle--however, I don't recall Jin pledgin allegiance to Not Locke. The discovery of Jin in the walk-in by Sayid may be a clue as to where Jin ends up. It's interesting that both Jin and Sayid are mercenaries who do horrible things to people for the men they are working for.

Speaking of that walkin refrigerator, I loved that Sayid found Jin in the there. It is so fitting that Jin ended up there as a result of his work for Sun’s father. The roles of Paik and Widmore are two pieces of the puzzle I am anxious to see answered.

Kate, by default, is alos on the opposite side of the battle from Jack. Somehow, Not Locke's expression when he sees Kate tells me that Kate being in the middle of Jack and Sawyer is going to cause some problems for Not Locke before the end of the series.

The bargain Jacob offered Dogen is very similar to the bargain Ben offered Juliet regarding her sister’s cancer. If Ben made this offer on behalf of Jacob, it’s worth noting that Ben could have indeed been talking to Jacob all along.

Next week:
Looks like Ben’s going to meet his doom, which is unfortunate because that means there’s going to be nine episodes without one of the very best characters on television.

Lighthouse SE6 EP5

2010-02-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

Cuz….I’m a big fan of temples
Good solid episode tonight with a little more mythology reveals. I liked the whole lighthouse vehicle with the names at the degree marks. Also, I think this episode set a record with the sheer number of “dudes” in the script.

Through the Looking Glass
We see pictures of a happy Jack and his happy dad. Jack still has the scar from his appendectomy, which seems to puzzle him just as much as it puzzles us. His mother calls, freaking out about the lost coffin of Christian. After he settles his mother down, he asks her, “When did I have my appendix taken out?” “You were seven or eight. Don’t you remember? Your father wanted to take it out himself, but they wouldn’t let him.” Jack hesitates, but agrees, “I guess I do,” he then looks down at his watch and tells his mother he’s late and he has to go. Jack’s going to pick up his son.

Turns out, Jack doesn’t have such a great relationship with his son, whose name is David. David is a disaffected teen, clearly on a court ordered visitation with his father. He reads Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and hides behind his headphones and won’t engage with Jack. Jack wants to talk to him. “We see each other like once a month,” David complains. “Can’t we just get through it?”

Jack tells David he has to go over to his grandmother’s to help her with some things and he’ll be back in an hour. When he gets there, his mother is still a mess: no coffin, no will. “Want a drink?” she offers Jack. Jack declines. “Good for you,” she replies. Is jack a recovering alcoholic in this timeline, too? “How’s David holding up?” his mother wants to know. Jack says he doesn’t really know but guesses he’s fine, why? “He was really upset at the funeral,” his mother informs him. “Was he?” Jack says, honestly surprised. Jack tells his mother about how David won’t talk to him. His mother reminds Jack that Jack’s own father was was lucky to get more than one word out of him when he was David’s age. “That’s because I was terrified of him,” Jack explains. Aha. Not such a happy alternate timeline relationship with his dad. “Why would David be terrified of me?” Jack says, not recognizing his own streak of perfectionism and stubbornness. “Maybe you should ask him,”: his mother says as she finds the will. She opens the envelope and reads the contents. “Jack….Did your father ever mention a Claire Littleton?”

Well that question remains unanswered for the audience, because when next we see alternate timeline Jack, he’s arriving home with pizza for dinner. But David is gone. Jack frantically calls David’s phone. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. I’m going to drive over to your mother’s house. If you are there, just stay there.” Jack swipes the spare keys under the white rabbit on the front step to let himself into his ex-wife’s house (anyone giving odds that David’s mother is Kate?) and after looking in David’s room for David, looks around David’s room to discover who this kid that is his son is. Jack discovers his boy is a musician. He plays back David’s messages and finds out where he is: he has an appointment for an audition with Williams conservatory. The next message is Jack calling from Sidney. “Something has happened. I just needed to hear your voice. I love you.”

Jack shows up at the audition where David is truly whaling on the piano. Jack is almost in tears he’s so amazed at how wonderful his kid is. A little kid asks Jack if that’s his son, and in that way that little kids have when they are completely in awe of another kid, he tells Jack, “He’s really good.” Turns out that little kid is Dogen’s son. “They are too young to have this kind of pressure,” Dogen tells him. “Your son has a gift. How long has he been playing?” Jack is at a loss. “I don’t know.”

Jack confronts David outside and they have a Dad confronts Baby at the end of Dirty Dancing moment: “You were great in there. When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.” Or something like that. “You saw me?” David panics. “I missed a couple of notes.” Jack disagrees. “It sounded perfect from where I was standing.” Then Jack tells David that his disappearance scared him. “I didn’t even know you were still playing.” “I told Kate, I mean mom, not to tell you. You used to sit and watch me practice. You were so into it. I didn’t want you to see me fail.” Jack kind of gets it. “My father didn’t want to see me fail either. He said I didn’t have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I never want you to feel that way. In my eyes, you can never fail I just want to be a part of your life.” And with that we are left without confirmation of David’s maternity.

Jack and Hurley’s excellent adventure.
Dogen was afraid Jack left. Jack is surprised. “Is leaving an option?” he asks. “Everything is an option,” Dogen says, before he tells Jack that they’d do everything they can to make him stay. “Ford, Austin and Kwan, they are not coming back, are they?” Dogen asks. “Probably not,” Jack admits and they thank each other for their honesty. Sayid monologues his story from the last few episodes for the losers who missed it. He wants to know why they are all staring at him, thinks it’s because they know he’s infected and he didn’t take the pill Jack offered him. “They wanted me to poison you,” Jack says. “Whatever it is they think happened to you, they say it happened to someone else too.” Ok, all caught up on Sayid’s status and nice segueway to Claire.

Hurley and Miles are playing tic tac toe and it’s only making them hungry. Hurley goes in tot he temple to look for food and sees Jacob is at the hot tub. “Dude, what are you doing here?” Hurley wants to know. “I’m here to give you a long set of instructions, so you’d better get a pen, you’re going to have to write a few things down,” Jacob instructs him. “Someone is coming to the island. I need you to help him find it.” Hurley has written Jacob’s instructions on his arm and is following the symbols on the wall in the temple—presumably looking for the secret way out.. Dogen finds him and confronts him as he’s looking for the right hieroglyph. He tells Hurley he can’t be here. When Hurley’s first excuse doesn’t work, Jacob appears behind Dogen and tells Hurley what to say. “I’m a candidate and I can do what I want. Jacob said so.” Dogen is not too happy about this, but all he does is curse a bit in Japanese and walk away. Jacob, however, is a little miffed at Hurly for not following his instructions exactly. “You have to bring Jack with you,” he says. Hurley doesn’t think Jacob understands the nature of Jack, which is that telling him to do something usually has the very opposite effect. “I just lied to a Samurai, dude.” Hurley goes out to recruit Jack, but he doesn’t hold out much hope in getting Jack to listen to him. When his initial plan plays out just as expected, he uses the Jacob phrase that pays: “You have what it takes. Jacob said you’d know what that means.” Well it clearly has an effect on Jack, because he wants to know where Jacob is. “He’s kind of dead, turns up whenever he wants like Obi Wan Kenobi.” Well, Jacob’s plan works, because Jack is ready to follow Hurley into the “secret tunnel.”

Hurley and Jack are trekking through the jungle when they come across Kate. Kate almost shoots Jack. “Jin’s on his way back to the temple and Sawyer is on his own,” she tells them for benefit of the same idiots who needed Sayid’s little monologue. Kate however, just wants to find Claire. Jack isn’t thrilled with that plan. “The people at the temple told me something happened to Claire. You should come with us.” “Dude,” Hurley protests. “She’s kinda not invited.” And even though Jack does his thing where he pretends he’s actually in charge, it turns out Kate’s not really interested in coming along with Hurley and Jack anyway. “It’s ok, Jack,” says Kate by way of goodbye. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Hurley feels bad for chasing Kate off. “Sorry dude, for wrecking your game with Kate.” When Jack explains that it is already wrecked, Hurley drops the old, “I thought you guys would be married with a thousand kids.” Well, actually Hurley, only one kid in the alternate timeline, and Jack still doesn’t have his act completely together. “Guess I wasn’t cut out for it,” Jack admits. The walk a little further and step on an asthma inhaler. “Dude, it’s Shannon’s,” Hurely observes. “we’re back at the caves.” Hurley revisits the “Adam and Eve” skeletons and comes up with a theory. “Hey, what if we time travelled again back to dinosaur ages and died and these skeletons were us?” Jack doesn’t even scoff because it’s not as crazy as it sounds. “Did I ever tell you how I found this place?” Jack asks Hurley, who always thought that Jack found the caves looking for water. “I was chasing the ghost of my dead father. This is his coffin. I smashed it to pieces.” “Why’d you do that?” Hurley asks. “Because he wasn’t in it.”

“Dude, can I ask you a question?” Hurley asks Jack once they resume their trek. “Why did you come back?” Jack wants to know why Hurley came back first. “Back in LA, Jacob popped into the back of my cab and told me I was supposed to come, so I came.” Jack wishes his own motivations were so simple. He then utters the most heartbreaking line in the show tonight: “I came back here because I was broken. I was stupid enough to think that this place could fix me.” Not long afterward, they make it to the lighthouse. “I don’t understand,” Jack says. “How come we never saw this?” Hurley has the answer: “I guess we weren’t looking for it.”
They make to go into the lighthouse, but can’t budge the door. “Does it say anything on your arm about the door being jammed?” Well, of course they finally make it in, climb the steps and follow Hurley’s arm instructions to turn the mirror. “Tell me when it gets to 108 degrees,” Hurley says as he pulls the chain that spins the mirrors. As the mirror turns, Jack sees glimpses of other places that are not on the island. Jack looks down to the degrees written on the turnstile and sees that there are names written on the edge. At 23 degrees is his name. “Turn it to 23 degrees,” Jack insists.. “Uh, that’s not what’s written on my arm.” But Jack doesn’t listen and turns it to 23. We see a house reflected in the mirror. “What’s that?” Hurley asks. “It’s my house. The house I grew up in as a kid. He’s been watching us. The whole time. My whole life. Why is my name written down on this thing?” Jack freaks out and smashes all of the mirrors.

Jacob finally appears while Jack is contemplating the ocean and Hurly is giving him some space. “Dude: where were you? Mission unaccomplished. Now your people will never find the island.” Jacob is non-plussed. “I’m sure they’ll find some other way.” Slowly it’s dawning on Hurley. “Did you want Jack to see what was in that mirror?” “It was the only way for him to see how important he is.” Hurley asks if Jacob could please let him in on this stuff next time, because he’s not into secret plans and stuff. “Soemtimes you can just pop into a cab and tell people what they need to do. Other times, you have to let them sit and look at the ocean.” Hurley gets it. Then Jacob tells him that someone bad is coming to the temple. When Hurley wants to go back and warn them, Jacob says, “You can’t warn them, it’s too late.”

Creepy Camp Claire
Claire comes across Jin and frees him from the bear trap. “How long have you been out here?” Jin wants to know. “Since you all left, how long has that been?” “Three years” Jin says. “Let’s get somewhere safe,” Claire suggests, now that she is all competent woman of the island jungle. The Other other, Justin, is captured by Claire and she wants to talk to him about where he is hiding her son. So she ties him up. “Have you been out here all this time by yourself?” Jin wants to know, sensing Claire may be slightly crazy. “Oh, I’m not by myself,” she says as she walks out. Meanwhile, Justin tries to tell Kjin how crazy Claire is. “I know her, it’s ok,” Jin says. “No,” Justin insists. “I know her and she’s going to kill us both. Untie me before she comes back in. I’ll snap her neck.” Jin actually looks like he’s thinking about it. Before Jin can act, Claire returns grumbling about how she’s spent the last three years hiding from the Others. “I’m lucky I’m still alive,” she says. Then she turns to Justin. “He’s going to tell me where they’ve got my baybay.” Claire begins administering first aid to Jin’s nasty leg wound. When Jin wants to know how she is so sure that the Others have her baby, Claire asks, “How can I be so sure? My father, then my friend told me. You’re still my friend, aren’t you, Jin?” She finishes patching up Jin, picks up the ax and turns to Justin.. “Ok. So. Now it’s your turn.” Justin swears that the Others don’t have the baybay. Claire doesn’t believe him. “Your people took me to the temple tortured me, stuck me with needles and branded me,” which is a temple welcome Sayid would definitely be familiar with. Jin sees her getting worked up and blurts out, “Kate took Aaron. He’s been with Kate for the past three years.” Justin, desperate for his life agrees: “He’s telling the truth. Just untie me and let me go and I won’t tell anyone I ever saw you.” Claire considers for a few moments, then buries the ax in him anyway.

“Why’d you say that Kate was raising Aaron?” Claire asks Jin. Jin changes his mind about fingering Kate for this, even though she is, as we speak, on her way to tell Claire just that. “You were right,” Jin says. “The others have your baby. I know because I saw him there. You need me to take you there. There is a secret way in.” Claire is up for it. “I’m glad you were lying about Kate raising Aaron. Because if that were true, I’d have to kill her.” Then Not Locke steps in to camp Claire: “Am I interrupting?” he wants to know. “John?” says Jin. “Silly rabbit. That’s not John,” Claire says “That’s my friend.”

Next Week
Lots more stuff happens.

UPDATE:
Some post mortem emails from today...and a really big oops by me.
ME: The astute Mr. Campbell points out below that Kate is still a fugitive in the alternate timeline, so it is unlikely she is both mother and musical mentor to David, her avoidance fromt he law putting a big damper on those plans. Also since, duh, Jack and Kate made actual eye contact on the flight in the season opener and weren't like, exchanging parental info on David. So huge mis-step on my part. The mother of David will be SOMEBODY, just not sure who, yet.

Chris posits an interesting alternate theory: Juliet is mom to David, since their mutual background in medicine could allow them to meet. Being divorced leaves open the possibility of Juliet and Sawyer still "meeting for that cup of coffee." at a later date.

Other possibilities include Jack's actual first wife, Sarah, and maybe the Spanish chick with the sick dad from season one.

SIG: Gabriella Busoni is David's mom. You beat me to that announcement.

ME: As I was just discussing with Bobbie: The appearance of Shannon's inhaler last night indicates that we might be seeing her sometime this season (her contract allowing, of course) (Producers said on Twitter she's returning for sure now) but it's important to remember that Jack only met his wife Sarah because of her car accident with Shannon's dad, which he died as a result of. If Shannon's dad does not die, her life takes a very different turn, specifically, she does not become desperate for money and reduced to conning Boone to support herself. Though we do know Boone went to Australia to talk to his sister about a relationship in the alternate timeline, we also know she apparently "changed her mind about it." So while Shannon still ends up in Australia, it could be under very different circumstances. Also worth noting, as I dangerously approach the point of over-thinking this show: why would Boone fly coach with Locke when he can clearly afford First Class?

Also, David seems far too old (I put him at about 14) for him to be Sarah's kid, since I assume the breakup with Sarah (and her failed pregnancy test) in the original timeline occurred shortly before Jack left for Australia--the breakup of his marriage causing him to freak out on his father, out him to the hospital board and father to fall off the wagon and die in Australia. Time travelling aside, I did not get the impression that Jack and Sarah met long enough ago for them to have produced a 14 year old by this time.

SIG: Jack performed surgery on Gabriela Busoni's father. They said they heard about Jack and his miracle operation on Sarah. She also knew that Jack married Sarah. She never says how she knows any of this. Of course, Jack being Jack, never asks why. Jack does the surgery on her father, got the tumor but the patient died of a heart attack during the surgery. Gabriela later thanks Jack for trying, and kisses him and tells him she doesn't believe in miracles.

This still wouldn't put David at 14...but with this alternate reality or time line....who knows. We already know the plane landed a full month later in this time line than it would have in the original story w/o any explanation

BTW - The name Busoni is significant as are all last names are on LOST. Ferrucci Busoni was a famous pianist & composer. God bless Wikipedia and all is wonderful misinformation. Anyway, that's how I came up with Gabriella.

JESS: It's interesting that when Sawyer follows Not Locke he goes down into a cave, but when Jack follows Jacob, he goes up into a tower.

That is all.

The Substitute SE6 EP4

2010-02-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

“Well, I guess I better put some pants on.”

Oh, now let’s don’t be hasty, Sawyer my love. Let’s dive right in, because there is a lot to discuss at the end of the recap.

LA Locke
Locke gets himself home from the airport, but can’t get the wheelchair elevator all the way down, so he launches himself off, only to end up sprawled on the lawn. When the sprinklers come on and you are just about to feel sorry for him, here comes Helen (!) to help him into the house.
Helen is all a flutter with wedding plans, and she tells John she would rather just get her parents and his Dad (Seriously, Locke’s Dad? WTF? How did he get in the wheelchair then?) He shows Helen Jack’s card, explaining that he met Jack at the lost luggage area. “You should call,” Helen urges him. “He wasn’t serious.” Locke scoffs. “What are the odds that you meet a spinal surgeon in lost luggage?” Helen wants to know. “You should call. It’s destiny.”

Our old friend Randy shows up, welcoming back “the Colonel.” But, as expected, Randy is still pretty much a douche. After Randy fires Locke for not showing up for the meeting in Australia, Locke packs up his desk and makes to leave the office, only to be blocked in by a huge yellow Hummer owned by …..Hurley. Locke is angry that Hurley parked him in and is over the line so he can’t get to the wheelchair ramp. “Dude, there’s a handicapped spot right there.” Hurley points out. “Yes, but I don’t have to park there,” Locke says. Hurley is apologetic. “They are supposed to reserve a spot for me.” “Do you work here?” Locke wants to know. “I own the company.” Locke smiles and tells Hurley that his boss Randy just fired him. “Randy Nations? That guy is a huge douche.” I agree, Hurley. “I have a temp agency too. Tell them that Hugo said to hook you up with a new job, pronto.” As Locke turns to go, all dejected, Hurley calls after him, “Chin up, things are gonna work out.”

Locke soon finds himself at some kind of a Barbara Walters job interview. “If you could be any animal, what kind of an animal would you be?” Just like every American watching an Oscar night special, Locke finds these questions intolerably insipid. “Can I speak to your supervisor?” he asks. And out comes….Rose Nadler. Locke wants a job at a construction site, but Rose says if she sends him there, he’ll just be back tomorrow. “I have cancer. Terminal cancer. When they first told me, I had a hard time accepting it. But once I accepted it, I got back to living. How ‘bout we find you a job you can do?”

Later, when Locke goes home, he pulls out Jack’s card and calls him, but hangs up saying they can’t help him. Helen hears him on the phone and wants to know who he’s talking to. “I was calling Dr. Sheppard,” he says. “Good for you!” Helen says. “When are you going to see him?” “I’m not. I got fired, Helen.” Before Helen can respond to this non-sequitor, the doorbell rings. “Delivering lost luggage.” After the case is situated, Helen tells John to talk to her. “I lied to Randy. I didn’t go to the conference in Sidney. Open the case Helen.” She sees all of the knives. “What are these for?” she wants to know. “My walkabout—an adventure in the outback. But they wouldn’t let me go. I sat int hat office and I shouted at them, telling me that they couldn’t tell me what I can’t do.” Locke shakes his head. “I’m sick of imagining what my life could be out of this chair. If you need me to get out of this chair, then I don’t want you to wait for a miracle because there is no such thing.” Helen comes down and embraces John. “There are miracles John and the only thing I was ever waiting for was you.” With that she rips up Jack’s card.

We next see Locke in a high school, coaching and teaching high school. He rolls into the teachers lounge and a familiar voice is in the midst of a deliciously fussy tirade about how to change the coffee filter. “All I was looking for was a cup of Earl Grey.” “Tea? Now there’s a gentleman’s drink.” Extending a hand, he introduces himself. “Benjamin Linus.”

The funeral of John Locke
Ben comes across a weeping Alanna in Jacob’s old foot house. “Am I interrupting?” he asks. As if he cares. “Tell me what happened,” Alanna says. “All right. There’s a fairly reasonable chance that you won’t believe me. He turned into a pillar of smoke and killed all these guys.” “Did he kill Jacob as well?” Alanna wants to know. And of course, Ben lies and says yes. Alanna wants to know where Jacob’s body is. “John Locke kicked him into the fire. His body burned up. Do you know why he carried Richard into the jungle?” Ben asks. “He’s recruiting,” Alanna answers.

Alanna and Ben come out of the Foot and Alanna starts issuing orders. “We should go to the Temple.” Sun starts to protest, but Alanna knows what Sun wants. “You want to find Jin. I know that’s where he is.” Sun insists that they bury John. “Why did you need to bring him to the statue anyway?” Ben asks Alanna. “ So that people can face what they’re up against.” When Ben points out that he’s wearing John Locke’s face, Alanna says that is the face he is stuck with now.

They carry Locke’s body back to the little cemetery and dig Locke’s grave. “Does anyone want to say anything?” Alanna asks. “Didn’t any of you know him?” Ben steps forward, and for the first time in the entire series, it feels like he is telling the truth. John Locke was a believer, a man of faith. A much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him.” “This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to,” Frank grumbles.

George and Lenny
Smokey’s eye view takes us through the jungle, for a quick look into Sawyer’s house, and then to a machete, where we see Richard has been captured and suspended from a tree. Not Locke cuts Richard down from the tree. “Now it is time to talk,” He tells Richard, who is clearly terrified, and apologizes for hitting him. “Why do you look like John Locke?” Richard wants to know. “John’s a candidate,” Not Locke informs him. Richard is all “???” and Not Locke responds with questions of his own. “You’ve been following his orders for years and he never said why?” Not Locke shakes his head in disgust. “I would never have kept you in the dark.” Not Locke asks Richard to join him, but Richard declines. “People seldom get a second chance,” Not Locke offers. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Richard insists, when over his shoulders, an image of a young blond boy in the jungle unnerves Not Locke. He is gone the next minute. Not Locke shakes it off. “I’ll be seeing you, Richard. Sooner than you think.”

So Smokey returns to his first stop in Otherville where he finds Sawyer rocking out and drinking whiskey. “Hello James.” Sawyer looks up, unsurprised. “I thought you were dead.” Not Locke smiles. “I am.”
Sawyer pours big jelly jars of whiskey for Not Locke and himself. “Here’s to bein’ dead.” When Not Locke questions Sawyer’s nonchalance at his undeadness, Sawyer explains, “I don’t give a damn if you’re dead, time travellin’ or the ghost of Christmas past. I only care about this whiskey.” Fair enough. Not Locke starts waxing all philosophical, “This isn’t your house,” he tells Sawyer. “You only lived here for a while.” “Who are you?” Sawyer asks. “You sure as hell ain’t John Locke. Locke was scared even when he was pretending not to be scared. But you ain’t scared.” Not Locke owns up to his Not Lockeness and tells Sawyer that he can answer the important question: “Why are you on this island?” Sawyer thinks he already knows the answer to that question. “Because my plane crashed, my raft blew up, and the helicopter I was on was one too heavy.” Not quite. “Come with me,” Not Locke says.

As they are trekking through the jungle, Not Locke asks Sawyer where his friends are and why he is not with them, but before Sawyer can really answer, the little blond kid shows up again. Is it Little Sawyer? Little Locke? Little Jacob? “Who the hell is that?” Sawyer asks. Not Locke seems surprised by this. “You can see him?” The kid takes off and Not Locke follows him. When he finally catches up to him, the kid has a message: “You know the rules,” the kid tells him. “You can’t kill him.” This ticks off Not Locke. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”

Meanwhile, a frantic Richard emerges from the jungle and tries to tell Sawyer to come back to the Temple, and that Not Locke is going to kill him and everyone else he cares about. But Sawyer blows him off because he wants the answers.

Sawyer asks Not Locke if he’s ever read Of Mice and Men (which, you may remember, was the book Sawyer and Ben were quoting at each other when Ben had Sawyer captive on the Hydra and was conning him with the heart monitor and the rabbit). When Not Locke tells him that it’s a little after his time, Sawyer relates the story about how George takes the slower Lenny into the woods. “What would happen if we put a bullet in your head?” Sawyer wonders, drawing his gun. “Why don’t you go ahead and find out?” Not Locke dares him. “What are you?” Sawyer asks. “What I am is trapped,” answers Not Locke, which is really a non answer. “And I’ve been trapped for so long I have a hard time remembering what it’s like to be free. You are so close, James. It would be such a shame to turn back now.”

They finally reach the cliff and they both admire the view. When Not Locke insists they descend the vertical cliff on nothing but rickety ladders, Sawyer responds with some common sense: “No offense, but you already died.” So Not Locke offers to go first. And of course the ladder breaks but Not Lockes saves him. They go into a cave where the first thing we see are a set of scales with a black stone and white stone. Not Locke Throws the white stone in the ocean. When Sawyer questions that move, Not Locke responds by telling him it was an “Inside joke.” “Is this what you wanted me to see? A hole in the wall with a couple of rocks on a scale?” Sawyer wonders. Clearly there must be more. And there is. “No. That’s not what I wanted you to see. This is,” Not Locke says, lighting a torch as they go deeper into the cave. Sawyer holds the torch up to the ceiling where he sees everyone’s name is written on the ceiling: 16-Jarrah, 8-Reyes 42--Kwon. 23-Sheppard. “Jack Sheppard?” Sawyer wonders. “He’s not the only one.” Not Locke answers. Not the only name Sawyer recognizes or the only Sheppard? 4-Locke, 15-Ford “Why does he have my name on this wall. I’ve never even met this guy.” “I’m sure you did meet Jacob.” Begin flashback to Sawyer’s parent’s funeral. “At some point in your life when you were young and vulnerable, Jacob manipulated you he pushed you to the island. You thought that the choices you made were your choices. He thought he was the protector of this place. And you have been nominated. And possibly your name will get crossed out.” Not Locke explains that Sawyer has three choices: “You can accept the job and protect the island.” “Protect the island from what?” Sawyer wants to know. “Nothing. That’s the damn joke.” “Or you can walk away and you can just become another one whose lives he wasted.” “What’s the third choice?” “That we just go and get the hell off this island and never look back.” “How do we do that?” Sawyer wants to know. “Together. What do you say James? Are you ready to go home?”

“Hell yes.”

Do I have any thoughts on this episode?
Well, let me echo Sawyer and say

Hell YES!

It seems that in the original timeline, Locke was the only one who actually wanted to be on the island, who felt that the island would save him from his miserable life. Yet, in his alternate life, Locke actually has a pretty great life other than the wheelchair. But he is obviously loved by Helen and that was always the worst part of Locke’s story; that he seemed so utterly unloved. Will the ones who wanted to get off the island the most have the worst alternate lives and vice versa? The other timeline is most likely the one that happens when Jacob doesn’t interfere with or manipulate their lives, which explains the differences in our Losties lives that seem to predate the moment of the plane crash. Also, if there is no Jacob, there is no one to “protect” the island—which is why it ends up at the bottom of the sea in the alternate timeline. Another feature of alternate timelines is that we see the parallel lives run a mixture of fate and coincidence—some things are unavoidable, like Locke’s paralysis—though the cause of that paralysis seems to be different in the alternate timeline. I find it interesting that Randy called Locke “The Colonel” without a hint of irony, which leads me to speculate thusly: perhaps Locke really was military and that’s why he’s in the wheelchair---after all, it appears that he has a good relationship with his father, because he obviously would not want to invite someone who pushed him out of a window to his wedding. It is worth noting, however, that no matter how much happier Locke’s alternate life seems to be (in comparison to the one that brought him to the island) this episode really focused on showing us the pain and humiliation Locke feels due to his paralysis.

I did not see Kate’s name on the wall. I may have just missed it when I was taking notes. I’m going to have to watch this again.

One thing the writers mentioned before the beginning of this season was if you were to watch one scene, you should watch the Locke and Walt backgammon scene, wherein Locke explains how old the game is and that there are two sides engaged in a battle: white and black. We see that theme revisited with the rocks on the scale. We also see the numbers revisited in conjunction with the names on the cave wall.

How refreshing is a Jack-less episode? Seriously, his constant questioning of every little thing is exhausting.

Will Sawyer and Jack end up being the next Jacob and Smokey?

I love the alternate timeline scenes where our Losties meet each other in their alternate lives. The Rose and Hurley scenes were great, but far and away the best scene is when Ben and Locke meet under normal circumstances. You can see how they would be fast friends if this timeline continues.

I remain unconvinced that Smokey is BAD and Jacob is GOOD, especially after this episode. When Smokey is on the loose, we always hear the ticka ticka ticka, but we also hear the unraveling chains—is this an indication of Smokey’s being “trapped” as he told Sawyer? Could be. Also, he says he was once just a man, with feelings, etc., as evidenced by his “If you prick me, do I not bleed?” speech to Sawyer at the beginning of their trek to the cave.

What is the significance of the title of this episode? Who is the substitute?

I feel like there is a ton of stuff I’m missing, but it’s getting late and my fingers are failing.

Next week:
Claire.

What Kate Does SE 6 EP3

2010-02-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

You’re not a zombie, right?

The title of this episode is obviously a play off of a Season Two episode entitled “What Kate Did” where we learn what it is that Kate did to make her an outlaw. The title “What Kate does” implies present tense. Stop me if I’ve gone down this road with you guys already, but I believe two alternate timelines are playing out simultaneously this season: the timeline where they are still on the island and the timeline where they never crash at all. I believe that at the end of this season they will somehow get the choice to determine which timeline they would like to continue on. Free will and all that. I also believe that Juliet’s dying words, “We should get some coffee sometime,” will be said to Sawyer in the alternate timeline sometime before the end of the show. Anyway, some cool reveals, not the least of which was the Japanese Badass’s name, hopefully the end of the tiresome plot device which has the Hippie Throwback translating for him all the time and the return of our favorite “Other Man: in an unexpected place. We also get a more clear delineation of the Others vs. Smoke monster (for the record, I’m not convinced that Smokey is the bad guy and Jacob was the good guy yet). Oh and the fate of Clare has begun to be revealed. Let’s get started.

Taxi!
Kate hijacks the taxi, scares the crap out of the taxi driver, Clare and Arszt, who has dropped all of his stuff all over the road and is doing what he does second best, which is getting on people’s nerves (what he does best is get blown up). Kate eventually succeeds in freaking out the cab driver and Clare enough so that they both get out of the cab. Which affords us the opportunity to observe that Clare is indeed pregnant.

“Where’s your tire hammer?” Kate asks the mechanic at the first place she stops. The mechanic has a nice Tom sort of a way about him, but he’s not Tom. The mechanic eyes Kate’s gun and replies, “You need a punch press. But I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.” She lowers the gun and he removes her handcuffs. Kate asks if there is some place she can go to change. She takes Clare’s bag into the back and starts looking through it to find something to wear. Instead she finds a picture of Clare and stuff for the baby. Kate feels bad about what she has done.

So she returns in the cab to Clare takes her to Brentwood to the family that she is going to give the baybay to.

On the way, Clare tells Kate that the family who is supposed to adopt the baybay did not show up to pick her up at the airport. “Do you think they didn’t come to the airport on purpose?” Kate doesn’t know, but by the time they reach the house, they have overcome the unfortunate circumstances of their first meeting and bonded. “Will you come in with me?” Clare asks. “Are you kidding me?” Kate asks, but clearly, Clare is not kidding. A weepy woman opens the door. “Mrs. Baskin?” Mrs. Baskin takes one look at Clare and freaks out. “My husband left me and I can’t do it alone.” Kate’s pissed. “She came all the way from Australia and you didn’t even call?” On cue, Clare goes into labor.

Kate takes her to the hospital and approaches one of the white coated guys there. “Are you a doctor?” “I’m Doctor Goodspeed.” He says.

That’s right: Doctor ETHAN Goodspeed!

He gives her the choice of having the baybay tonight or he can slow down her contractions and get it put off. It’s her choice, because now that he’s not on the island in the Dharma station, he really doesn’t want to be plunging a whole lot of unnecessary needles into her. When the heart monitor loses the baby’s heartbeat, Clare panics and asks if Aaron is all right. Ethan reassures her that the baybay is fine, and that he’s going to be a “handful.”

Later, Clare is looking at an ultrasound and the police come in. They are looking for Kate. “Is Miss Hart here? Joan Hart? She signed in with you.” Clare covers for Kate. Clare wants to know what it was that Kate did. “Would you believe me if I said I was innocent?” “Yeah. Yeah I would,” Clare answers. Sucker! She digs through her purse and offers Kate her credit card. They both acknowledge that neither one of them had to go out of their way for each other. “Aaron’s a great name,” Kate observes. “I don’t know why I said it,” Clare admits. “Why don’t you just keep him?” Kate asks and Clare doesn’t answer. They wish each other luck and part ways.

Escape from the Temple of Doom
Everyone seems pretty happy Sayid is a live again. Well, everyone except Sawyer. And Kate. Kate seems a little more perplexed than happy. “How can that happen? How can he just come back to life?” she asks Sawyer. Sawyer is thinking that Sayid is back, but Jules is not. “He’s an Iraqi torturer who shoots kids. He definitely deserves another go ‘round.” Meanwhile, the rest of the gang welcomes Sayid back to life and Hurley fills him in on what happened, as in, getting caught by the Others. Again. When Sayid still looks confused, Miles offers some clarification: “As you can see, Hugo here has assumed the leadership position. So that’s pretty great.” Sayid notices that his wound is completely closed and thanks Jack for saving his life.

So the Hippie Throwback and the Japanese Badass come out and cordially invite Sayid for a one on one discussion. Jack, having learned absolutely nothing in the previous five seasons still thinks that he has some control over his life and insists on accompanying Sayid. HTB (did anyone catch his name? I know that Japanese Badass is Dogan but I missed the Hippie’s name) tells Jack that they will be happy to answer all his questions after they have talked to Sayid. “Something tells me that you’re not going to be happy to tell us anything.” Which is Jack’s preface to use force, which leads to his being subdued by the Others. Amidst all of the scuffling, Sawyer walks out with a gun, shoots an Other and tells everyone he’s leaving. Dogan says, “Please, you have to stay.” Sawyer disagrees. “No, I don’t.” And he walks out of the Temple.

Not one for sitting still in the Temple, Kate immediately offers to bring Sawyer back and make him stay. “It is very important that he comes back,” HTB tells her. “I can be very convincing when I want to be,” Kate assures him. Jin and two other Others volunteer to go with her.

As Kate goes in to pack her stuff, Jack offers her words of encouragement. I think it’s pretty significant that Kate tells Jack, “Goodbye.” Not, “See you soon,” or “I’ll be back.” There is a definite finality to her taking leave of Jack. Jack, however, is not picking up on it. “Be careful,” he tells her.

Torturing the torturer
Dogan prepares to give Sayid the Endo torture treatment, with Sayid playing the part of Sergeant Martin Riggs. He blows dust over Sayid, hooks up electrodes to him and electrocutes him. Then he burns him with a hot poker. “What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” Sayid cries. When it is all over, HTB tells him, “Sorry we had to put you through that. It was a test.” “A test for what?” Sayid wants to know. As if it really matters now that he’s been burned and electrocuted. “Don’t worry,” HTB tells him. “You passed.” HTB walks into Dogan and says, “I just lied to him, didn’t I?” “Yes,” Dogan agrees.

Sayid is released to his friends and tells Jack, Miles and Hurley that he got tortured and he doesn’t know why. Jack, being Jack, of course wants answers, so he marches himself back into the Temple to confront Dogan, because, as covered previously, Jack has learned absolutely nothing over the past five seasons. “We weren’t torturing him,” Dogan explains. “We were diagnosing him. Sayid is ‘infected’.” “Infected?” Jack scoffs. Because he is a doctor, and if anyone can diagnose an infection, it’s a doctor. Again, I point out, Jack has learned nothing in the past five seasons, and he has obviously forgotten Rousseau’s contention that her whole party became infected by the island, forcing g her to kill them all. Since Jack has forgotten all of this, and apparently where he is and all of the weird crap he’s gone through for the past however many years it is that are supposed to have passed, he offers as evidence that Sayid is not infected with this succinct diagnosis: “He’s not even running a fever.” Which causes Dogan to break into the first grin we’ve ever seen. “Did I say something funny?” “I doubt it,” HTB replies. “He doesn’t have a sense a humor.”

Dogan hands Jack a pill and explains that Sayid needs to take this pill willingly. Jack wants to know what’s in the pill. As if Dogan is going to tell him acetaminophen or sudenephrine or amoxicillin. Dogan answers with a question. “Tell me how he got shot.” “He was helping me,” Jack answers. “So it was your fault. And there have been others who have died helping you.” This is more of statement than a question, but Jack answers yes anyway. “Well, then this is your chance to redeem yourself.” Dogan hands Jack the pill. “It’s medicine and your friend needs it.” Oh. Medicine. Well since you put it that way….Jack asks, “What happens if I don’t give it to him?” (Remember: Five seasons. Nothing learned) “The infection will spread,” Dogan tells him.

Meanwhile, Hurley and Miles are questioning Sayid about his experience on the other side. “Nothing?” Miles is incredulous. “There wasn’t anything? White light? Angels singing?” Jack comes out and shows Sayid the pill. “I didn’t have anything to do with saving your life,” Jack admits. “I didn’t fix you, they did.” “I don’t care who fixed me,” Sayid says. “I only care about who I trust. If you want me to take that pill, I’ll do it.”

Jack comes back into the temple and confronts Dogan, who is idly spinning a baseball. “What’s that?” Jack asks. “It’s a baseball,” Dogan answers. You are wasting your questions, Jack. Jack asks a good question next, a question that’s been bothering us, (or maybe just me): “Why do you use a translator when you don’t need one?” Dogan replies, “I have to remain separate from the people I am in charge of. It makes it easier when I make decisions that they don’t agree with. My name is Dogan.” “How did you get here?” “I was brought here like everyone else.” When jack doesn’t quite get the meaning of this answer (five seasons; nothing learned) Dogan gives him that meaningful look that says, “I was brought here by the island, you idiot.” Then Dogan accuses Jack, “You didn’t give your friend the pill did you?” Jack refuses to give Sayid the pill until they tell him what’s in it, what it will do, any possible side effects and if it’s ok to operate heavy machinery after taking. “It will eliminate the infection. If he doesn’t take it he will die.” Aha! Jack thinks. Gotcha! “He already died! Now what is in it?” Dogan says Jack will have to trust him. “Trust you? I don’t trust myself, how am I supposed to trust you? Let’s see where trust gets us.” Jack takes the pill, Dogan gives him the Heimlich and Jack spits the pill out. “What’s in it?” Jack asks “Poison.”

Over tea, Jack asks Dogan and HTB “Why would you people want to kill Sayid?” Dogan answers, “We believe he has been ‘claimed.’” “By what?” Jack asks. “There is a darkness growing in him, and once it reaches his heart, everything your friend once was will be gone.” Dogan explains. “How can you be sure of that?” Jack asks.

“Because,” Dogan says. “It happened to your sister.”

Kate’s Jungle Mission
The other Others who joined Kate and Jin are named Justin and Aldo. “Why are you holding us hostage?” Kate wants to know. “We’re protecting you,” Aldo says. “From what?” Kate wants to know. “Didja ever see a Pillar of black smoke that makes a ticka ticka sound when it’s pissed off? We’re protecting you from that!” Aldo says. Aldo seems a little too pissed off for someone who volunteered for jungle trek duty. Soon they come across a booby trap. Justin thinks it’s the work of Rousseau. “The French woman has been dead for years,” Aldo snaps. Then he turns on Kate and we find out why he’s so angry, “You don’t even remember me, do you? I’m the guard who fell for the old wookie prisoner trick!” Which he promptly falls for again, as Kate knocks him out, takes out the other Other, and relieves them of their guns. “What are you doing?” Jin asks. “Escaping,” Kate says.

Jin wants to know where the plane landed so he can find Sun. Kate, of course doesn’t know this because she woke up in the lagoon. “Once you catch up with Sawyer, then what?” Jin wants to know. So does Kate, because she’s really not sure of Sawyer’s mood right now. Kate doesn’t answer and her and Jin part ways.

Kate arrives at New Otherton, which has been abandoned. She soon finds Sawyer looking for something in his old house, which he hasn’t been in since 1977. He finds a shoe box and takes something out of it. He hears a creak outside and threatens to kill whoever is out there. It’s only Kate. “I was worried about you.” She says. Sawyer walks out past her.

Kate follows Sawyer out to the dock. “A couple days ago you asked me why I came back to the island. I need to find Clare. I thought you could help me.“ When it becomes obvious that Sawyer is in no mood to go on some Kate quest through the jungle, she tells him, “I never should have followed you.” “Which time?” Sawyer asks. “I’m sorry. I should have never come after you one the sub. If I didn’t come, you both would have left.” Sawyer is having none of it. “It’s my fault she died. I made her stay on this Island because I didn’t want to be alone. You understand that, right? Some of us were meant to be alone.” Which is the same sentiment Juliet expressed at the end of her life. Sawyer takes out the engagement ring he intended to give to Juliet and throws it into the bay. “You can probably make it back to the Temple by nightfall,” he tells her.

Jin is found by Aldo and Justin, goes to make his escape and gets snared in a bear trap. Just as Mac/Aldo is ready to shoot Jin, he and Justin get shot by someone with a rifle. We think at first it must be Kate, then we see it is in fact Clare.

And she’s gone all Rousseau on us.

Next week:
Not Locke finds Sawyer.

LA X SE 6 EP1

2010-02-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

I ain’t followin’ nobody, Kate.

The wait is over and it did not disappoint! Themes of free will and choices hitting us over the head in the opening minutes. No, the picture has nothing to do with the episode, and in fact it is from last season. Ten points to anyone who can guess why I’m including it. Diving in NOW:

Everything old is new again
We open up this alternate timeline with Jack on the plane talking to Rose, right where season one began. Just when the plane hits turbulence and we think it’s is going to crash, the turbulence subsides, Bernard returns from the men’s room and we know the timeline has been disrupted. Jack goes into the men’s room, finds his neck bleeding, stupidly shrugs it off meaningless (seriously, doesn’t he know that NOTHING is meaningless?) and returns to his seat. At this point, we can’t be sure if he actually has any memory of the island, but it becomes crystal clear when we see who’s sitting next to him: Not only is it Desmond, but perhaps even more shockingly, Desmond is clean shaven. Now clearly, Des was never on 815 so something is up here. The camera pans outside, and down into the ocean, where it skims over the flor of the ocean and we begin to see some recognizable landmarks. The last shot we see is seaweed is growing on the four-toed foot.

So is the island Atlantis, or has the island sunk because the Lostaways never crashed on the island? All right, I’m not even going to speculate, because my track record sucks, dude.

Later on the plane, Kate and Jack bump into each other, exchange meaningful glances. Sawyer passes Kate, they exchange meaningful glances. We witness the unwelcome return of the annoying Doctor Artz, torturing Hurley about his ownership of Mr. Clucks. I braced myself for the rest of the episode for an unwelcome reprise of Nicki and Paolo, while, sadly, Shannon must have been in the rest room on the whole flight. Hurley tells Artz that he was able to buy Mr. Clucks because he won the lottery. “You shouldn’t tell people that you won the lottery,” Sawyer warns him from across the aisle. “People will take advantage of you.” “No way, Dude, Hurley replies. “Nothing bad ever happens to me. I’m the luckiest guy alive.” It’s hard to tell whether Hurley is being sarcastic here since even before he even got on that plane, he was having bad luck and thinking that the numbers were cursed.

Jin is back to being the domineering jackass.

Locke tells Boone went on the walkabout, which Boone buys, since he doesn’t know that Locke is crippled (and we are none too sure either at this point). When Locke explains how a plane can land safely on calm water, Boone tells Locke that if they crash, Boone’s sticking with him.

Cindy the stewardess pages for a doctor and Jack answers. Someone is in the restroom, has locked themselves in and they aren’t responding. Sayid offers to kick the door in. When they get it open, the first thing we see is the DS drive shaft ring and then we see Charlie, then we see Charlie not breathing. Jack determines that his airway is obstructed and pulls a bag of heroin out of his throat. “Am I alive?” Charlie asks. “Yeah, you’re alive. Charlie.” How does Jack know his name? How much does Jack know and when did he know it? Is he aware that he’s getting an alternate timeline, and if so, how many of the others are aware of it.

As Charlie gets up, he tells Jack, “You shudda let that happen, man. I was supposed to die.”

The plane lands in LA without incident.

LAX
At the airport, Jack gets paged to the courtesy desk. The clerk informs him that there was a mix-up with the cargo that he checked in Sidney. Jack is incredulous. “That Cargo was my father!” The clerk is very sorry, but he coffin was never put on the plane. Jack needs to know when the coffin will arrive, since it is the guest of honor at his father’s funeral in two hours. “We don’t know when it will arrive, because we don’t know where it is,” the clerk tells him. I think it is significant in this scene that neith man calls it “the body,” the cargo is always referred to as “the coffin.”

Meanwhile at customs, Kate is going through the gate with the World’s Most Incompetent Federal Marshal. “Anything to declare?” “Just a murderer,” He quips. Hey, pal, don’t get cocky. It’s only a matter of time before Kate gives you the slip again. Sure enough, Kate makes her play in the ladies room and gets away from the World’s Most Incompetent Federal Marshal AGAIN, by overpowering him. Again. In much the same way she has done, oh I don’t know, like ten or twelve times in the past.

Sun and Jin get detained at customs because of Jin’s poor English. He has a note explaining that the watch is a business gift, but he doesn’t have a note to explain the big bagful of money. As Jin is escorted into the dreaded customs backroom, the other customs agent tells Sun if she understands English and this is all a big misunderstanding, she should speak up now. Sun says,” No English.”

First Dr. Artz, now Frogurt and his hideous teeth are inflicted upon us as he won’t let Kate snag a cab. When the World’s Most Incompetent Federal Marshal spots her, Kate steals a cab that is already occupied by….Claire. It’s about time she showed up. It’s only about an hour and fourty minutes into the season premiere. What we can’t see is whether Claire is pregnant or not. Heck, since Des showed up on the flight, all bets are off.

Jack and Locke meet in the baggage claims area, where Locke’s big suitcase full of knives has also been misplaced by Oceanic Air. Jack tells Locke that the airline lost his father. “They have no idea where he is,” Jack complains. Locke replies, “Well, how could they possibly be expected to know where he is?” Locke asks. Jack recites the fact that they checking him in and should have some kind of tracking mechanism, and Locke smiles and shakes his head. “They didn’t lose your father, they just lost his body.” Jack smiles himself at this and asks Locke how he got into the wheelchair. “My condition is irreversible,” Locke smiles. “I’m a spinal surgeon,” Jack says handing Locke his card. “Nothing is irreversible.”

At the remains of the Swan Hatch
Our first stop on the island is of Kate is up in a tree with hearing damage. It becomes clear pretty soon that the hydrogen bomb worked to at least get them out of the groovy seventies and back into the correct time. Before long, we find all the cast members pretty much as we left them back in 1977. Sayid is still gut shot and his wound is totally grossing Hurley out.

Sawyer starts freaking out on Jack, telling him that his stupid idea to detonate a hydrogen bomb did not work when…..Wait, what’s that?

Juliet?

Is Juliet still alive? Didn’t she sign a contract with the “V” people?

While the gang is frantically digging Juliet out, Jacob walks out of the jungle over by the hippie bus and asks Hurley if he’s got a minute. Hurley panics and remembers Jacob as giving him the ticket to the Agira Air flight and the guitar case. He’s a little freaked out at seeing Jacob. “Jin will be back any minute,” Hurley threatens heim. Jacob says it doesn’t matter. “He won’t be able to see me—I died an hour ago.” “Dude that sucks. Who killed you?” “An friend old friend who got tired of my company.”

Jacob tells Hurley to take Sayid to the Temple and that Jin will know the way to the the hole in the wall where he was with the French team.

Now learning that Juliet is alive, Sawyer tells Kate that if she dies just one more time, Sawyer will kill Jack.

Using the hippie bus to remove the metal debris brought back fond memories of my husband trying to move his broken down 69 Dynahoe backhoe out of our driveway and on to a flatbed truck with his 1980 VW pickup truck. Ahhh, Oaks. Good times. Good times.

But I digress. Sawyer finally gets to Juliet, who is just as broken and bloody as she was when we last saw her. Jules tells Sawyer, “It didn’t work. We’re still here. I hit it. I hit it.” Sawyer can’t believe she hit the bomb. “I wanted to make it so you could go home, so you never came to this damn island.”

Meanwhile, Jack says there is nothing he can do for Sayid. “ There’s something I can do,” Hurley says. “I can take him to the Temple.”

Back in the tunnel, Sawyer is still digging Juliet out. Juliet, knows she is dying and asks Sawyer to kiss her. “I have to tell you something. It’s really, really important.” The Juliet dies. Again. That is just not freaking fair. I guess that V contract is really binding after all.

Sawyer asks Miles to stay stays behind with him to bury Juliet. Kate promises to leave a trail for Sawyer and Sawyer says don’t bother. Sawyer wants Miles to find out what Juliet wanted to say to him since he’s the guy that talks to dead people. Miles does, and says Juliet’s message was, “It worked.”

Temple of Doom
Hurley, Kate, Jack and Jin take Sayiddown through the hole in the wall where the Frenchie lost his arm to the Smoke Monster, only to inevitably get separated, and disoriented, in the creepy Temple Tunnels. Suddenly, after some scuffling, they are inside the wall and it’s like this whole Aztec city complete with members wearing red turbans. It’s a whole jungle city of Others. The Badass Japanese guy and Hippie Throw Back are immediately established as characters who will have speaking parts and significant roles to play this season. They want to know who our guys are. Oh hello, there’s Cindy the stewardess, and she’s gone completely native, with little red rags in her hair. She tells the Others that she knows our gang, “They were on the first plane.”

Hurley tells the Others that Jacob sent them, and when they ask him to prove it, he tells them to look inside the guitar case, where a big cheesy Ankh is in there instead of a guitar. And it only looks cheesy, because it is cheesy: the Japanese badass breaks it easily over his knee and pulls out what we can only assume to be a List, because he takes roll from it and everyone is present. They take Sayid into the Temple to the “spring”, but Hurley says, “Dude, I carried that guitar across the ocean and through time. I think I have a right to know what that says.” Hippie Throw Back tells Hurley that it says that they had better save Sayid. I’m sure that’s not EXACTLY what it said, but I’m guessing that this message was implied in the list, as if to say, hey, these guys are important in the grand scheme of things and it would be really bad if we let one of them die. You know, that kind of thing.

When they arrive at the spring, Hippie Throw Back notes that the water isn’t clear, which is clearly a significant observation. Through HTB, Japanese Badass wants to know how Sayid arrived in his present state. Jack says it is his fault Sayid is shot, but that he didn’t shoot him.. The Others helpfully explain that there are risks to the procedure they are about to perform, and even though they never even go into any detail about what those risks are, Jack says yes when they ask him if he undertsnads this. The Others submerge Sayid in the water and the Japaness Badass turn over an hourglass. Sayid struggles while our gang says that they are killing him. The sands run out, they bring Sayid out, and they call time of death. Which is always Jack’s cue to immediately begin CPR and Kate’s cue to tell Jack to stop it, that he’s gone. It is only a matter of time before Sayid comes back to life now.

Cindy has the kids that were stolen from the tail section back in season two and Zack and Emma have gone completely native, too. Soon thereafter, Miles and Sawyer are dragged in. HTBsummons Hurley for a private consulation with Japanese Badass who Hurley totally calls on this guy being able to understand English. JB replies, “I don’t like the way English tastes on my tongue.” JB and HTB want to know when Jacob is coming. Hurley tells them that that won’t be anytime soon. Jacob is dead.

After the meeting, Hurley kneels down at Sayid and says goodbye but Miles is shaking his head. Meanwhile, Kate is just itching to defend jack, and we’re all at home screaming, Let him be, Kate! But of course, she doesn’t. She tells Sawyer that Jack only wanted to help. “I ain’t gonna kill Jack. He deserves to suffer on this rock just like the rest of us.” Then they want to take Jack back, and of course, he gives them a hard time.

Meanwhile, big preparations are going on out in the Other Temple courtyard. Notably, a few of the Others are spreading out some of that gray ash we’ve seen before surrounding Jacob's cabin. They are not trying to keep anyone in; they are trying to keep HIM out.

Three Toed Statue House of Jacob
And speaking of HIM, back at Jacob’s house, where Jacob is no longer at because he’s out in the jungle asking Hurley for a minute of his time, Not-Locke and Ben are cleaning up. Ben wants to know why Jacob didn’t fight back, and Not-Locke says “He must have known he was beaten. Now go fetch Richard.” The Shadow of the Statue gang (heretofore to be known as the SOTS) is arguing with Richard, and when Ben comes out to fetch Richard he finds everyone freaking out because John Locke’s dead body is lying there on the beach. Ben gets a big “Uh-Oh” look on his face.

Instead of bringing Richard, the SOTS force Ben back in, and Not Locke wants to know where Richard is. “Richard is not coming,” Ben tells him. “Then who’s that behind you?” Surprise, it’s Bram of the SOTS. “Where’s Jacob?” Bram wants to know. “Jacob is dead,” Not Locke tells him. “You SOTS are Jacob’s bodyguards, I assume. Well, good news. You can go home. There’s nothing left for you to protect. You’re free. They start shooting at Not Locke who then disappears. Suddenly the smoke monster appears and starts kicking all of their asses. Bram, one of the quicker thinkers spreads some of that gray ash in a circle around him, but Smokey manages to knock him out of there and impales him with pieces of Jacobs loom. Smokey retreats and soon after Not Locke reenters, apologizing to Ben. “I’m sorry you had to see me that way.”

“What are you?” Ben asks. “Are you the monster?” “Let’s not resort to name calling,” Not Locke says. “You know, he was very confused when you killed him.” Ben scoffs. “I don’t think Jacob was ever confused about anything.” “I’m talking about John Locke,” Not Locke says. “Do you want to know what he was thinking when you wrapped the cord around his neck? ‘I don’t understand.’ Isn’t that just the saddest thing you ever heard? He was a victim. Weak, pathetic and irreparably broken. But he was the only one of them who didn’t want to leave. He was the only one who realized how pitiful the life he left behind was. I want the one thing that John Locke didn’t. I want to go home.”

Then Not Locke and his toady Ben leave the Three toed Statue abode and announce themselves out on the beach. Not Locke approaches Richard and says how nice it is to see him out of chains. Richard now knows who he is: “You!” “Yes me,” Not Locke says, and pummels Richard into unconsciousness, and tells the rest of the gang that he’s very disappointed in them. He loads the unconscious Richard on his back and walks right past out beloved Locke laying dead and exposed on the beach.

Thoughts on this episode
Besides the Juliet death scene, (which ticks me off a little bit because there was no reason that the writers had to rip out hearts out of our chests and hold them bloody and beating in front of us while we suffered through another Juliet death and Sawyer grief. Heart wrenching. ) there were two standout scenes in this episode:

The scene with Locke and Jack at the baggage claim and the scene at the very end with Not Locke and Ben where not Locke is telling Ben how pathetic Locke really was. The character of John Locke is one of the most powerful characters in my television memory: A thoroughly decent and thoughtful man who has been beaten down by people and circumstances his whole entire life, yet he remains strangely optimistic. As I re-watched some of the older episodes from seasons One two Three and Five, it occurred to me that Locke was only special in the eyes of the Others because of the time travel. And that broke my heart as well, because it was only his circumstance that made him chosen, not the inner light of his character.

The scene where Jack and Locke meet for the first time in the alternate timeline is touching on many levels: Locke’s offer of spiritual comfort to the stranger Jack, and Jack’s gracious acceptance of it followed by his offer to fix Locke’s crushed spine. Somehow, I should have seen this coming, but when Jack told Locke, “I’m a spinal surgeon,” something definitely clicked for me: Of course! Jack’s a spinal surgeon and Locke has a crushed spine! Regardless, it was wonderful to see these two adversaries in another timeline where they are actually working to help each other and not compete with each other.

When Not Locke describes Locke’s pathetic life to Ben, again, your heart breaks for the good man that Locke was, who, presumably, is not lying dead, disrespectfully strewn on the beach. That I am fully convinced that Not Locke is not Locke is a testament to the marvelous Terry O’Quinn.

It appears as if Hurley’s character takes on a deeper significance this season as he seems to be the one now that Jacob is appearing to. Similarly, Sayid’s sudden resuscitation may have more to do with Jacob than with anything that spring did to bring him back to life. Sayid may in fact be Jacob, but it’s too soon to make that leap. In fact, forget I made it all. It’s probably wrong.

What's up with Claire on the island? Will she show up, like Cindy, witht he Others? And I think there is real significance to the fact that Jack's dad's body was lost in the alternate timeline as well.

The alternate timeline story was awesome, revisitng some of the cast members we miss like Charlie and Boone (not Artz or Frogurt). It appears that some of the Lostaways back stories have been altered before boarding the plane and seriously, how did Desmond get on there? Looking forward to seeing Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Charlotte, Daniel and more Charlie and Boone in the future. Rumor had it that Eko was such a pain to work with, I think that they will leave him dead, rather than risk having to work with him again.

Next week: who knows? Sayid’s up for a little torture and more island mysteries. It looks like it’s going to be a hell of a ride this season. Hang on tight.

On the eve of the geek out of the century

2010-02-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right. I scheduled my Spring semester evening classes on Monday and Tuesday nights, fully anticipating that ABC would schedule "Dancing with the Stars" and "Dancing with the Stars Results Show" on these two nights respectively, leaving me blessedly free to contemplate the sweet, sweet mysteries of LOST for the entire Wednesday evening.

Alas, it was not to be.

So. I've already resigned myself to missing what I hope will be the recap episode airing between 8 and 9 pm. I am already ~~stressing out about~~ planning my escape from campus on a night with snow forecast and a home men's basketball game vs. Seton Hall at the field house. The VCR is set, the laptop is warmed up. And I have not only rewatched season 5, but incredibly, all of seasons one and two, and half of three in anticipation.

As a public safety notice, if you happen to be on the roads tomorrow night between Villanova and Oaks between 8:45 and 9:00 pm, have mercy and let me pass. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Oh, and these guys at the Onion? They are just jealous because they don't get it.

Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

LOST in five minutes

2010-01-28T04:48:00.001-08:00

"Ahahahah! Chronological order!"

H/T Preston and Steve

To warm you up on a cold January morning

2010-01-13T04:34:00.000-08:00

January is such a long, cold, dark month. So here's a little something something for my dear Lost-ettes (Sorry guys. It would be criminal NOT to share this.)

With deep gratitude to Midnight Blue.

To whet your appetite, dear Losties

2010-01-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching the season 5 DVD--episodes only, still have to check out the extras--and I have to say that this was probably my least favorite season. Possibly because the 70's were my least favorite decade. That being said, the season finale of season five was Kick-Ass. Probably the best season finale of the series. So far.

When the final season starts in a few short weeks, I have absolutely no idea where the show will take us.

Get psyched!

Q and A on Season 6 With Damon Lindelof

2009-11-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

Reprinted here in it's entirety. Above is the Season 6 promo poster.

From USA Today's Pop Candy
The countdown to Lost's final season is underway.

Are you excited? Depressed? Terrified of what awaits our beloved castaways after that insane Season 5 finale?

Last week you sent me loads of questions for executive producer Damon Lindelof, and he was happy to answer them when we met up at the Austin Film Festival. Read on for Lindelof's thoughts on the last episode, returning characters, "the numbers" and so much more.

If Sawyer doesn't make it to the final episode, there's gonna be a brawl.
CAPTIONABCMe: At what point are you in creating the final episodes?

Lindelof: We're actually writing the eighth episode right now and breaking the story for the ninth episode. We're filming the sixth episode. The blueprint for the entire season is done, but we only write the episodes one at a time, because the actual genesis of the scene-by-scene work is the fun part. So we're almost exactly halfway through.

There's been so much analysis of the this year's promotional poster. Do you have a big part in creating that?

Yeah. Everything in the design of that poster is intentional. We oversaw it -- now we know the audience looks at that stuff so closely, so we don't want there to be anything that we don't approve, especially at this point in the game.

Why is neither Walt nor Vincent in the Season 6 promo picture? -- Holly

Well, I'm not going to explain why anything is what it is, other than that everything is by design. You'll just have to watch the final season and decide for yourself. It's a little bit like, "Why is Paul McCartney holding a cigarette with his right hand when he's a lefty on the Abbey Road cover?"

Is the ending you envisioned when you first created the show still in place? -- adanzis

That's a great question. Yes, the actual ending ending is exactly the same as we'd always planned on it being, except we didn't know if we were going to get there after two seasons, four seasons or after six seasons, so the road to the ending has had to change significantly. But the ending itself? Whether people like it or not, that's the ending we've had.

Will Walt will have any major role in the upcoming season? He was important for a while because of his "gift," but that story has never been realized. -- mrhymes01

I think a lot of people are justifiably frustrated about the Walt of it all. We said he has this special ability, and the Others obviously grabbed him and studied him for awhile, then they got freaked out by him and decided to let him go.

I think that there are certain stories on the show that feel like dangling participles based on external factors. For us, we were incredibly limited by the fact that Malcolm David Kelley was growing at an exponentially faster rate than the show was progressing. So, you know, when we showed him in Season 5 and Locke is trying to recruit members of the Oceanic Six, the only way that it worked was to see him three years older. But hopefully, why Walt was special and the role he played on the show will have a new significance when all is said and done. And I'm not sure we really need the character of Walt to explain the significance.

Executive producer Damon Lindelof is busy creating the final eps of 'Lost.'
CAPTIONABCWill we ever get more on the backstory on Libby ... or at least find out her last name? -- P-D Cougar

Libby is someone we get asked about a lot, and she's another one of those cases where it's more of an issue of our relationship with the actor than it is our desire to tell the story. It's our hope that Cynthia Watros will come back one more time and finish that story, but that's up to her. We asked her last year, she wasn't interested in doing it. Hopefully she'll change her mind.

One actor definitely won't be returning for the final season, right? Can you tell me more about that?

We did ask an actor who's played a significant role on the show to come back and do some work on Season 6, and they said no. But I'm not going to confirm who that is. All I'll say is that person was never a series regular.

Damon, I have a question about my second-favorite character on the show, Frank Lapidus. Ever since he appeared on the Season 6 promotional poster, there has been a lot of speculation on message boards. So, anyway, my question is: Will Frank be promoted to main character status next season, and if so, will he be getting a -centric episode? Because that would be basically the most awesome thing ever. -- Bish-Fiscuit

Yeah. Lapidus is definitely a series regular this season. Jeff Fahey was just a recurring character up through last year. Now, whether or not Lapidus makes it until the end of the season is anyone's guess, but he's definitely one of the A-team this year.

How many people do make it to the end of the season?

You really think I'm going to answer that question? Not all of them, that's for sure.

Are we going to return to the numbers? They obviously played a huge role in the beginning. Then we got away from them and started focusing more on the characters. Will we ever come back to them? -- Tommy F.

I like Tommy's question a lot better than the way I usually hear that question, which is, "What do the numbers mean?" I can say one of the things we're really focused on doing this year is trying to make the entire season as satisfying as possible. We know if we wait until the very last episode of the show to give answers or revelations there's no way it'll be satisfying, so we're trying to give out that stuff as we go along. And all I would say is, this is the final season of Lost. We would be enormously remiss if we were to not evaluate the numbers and their significance.

Will we find out what Ben and Kate talked about on the beach when he had her join him for breakfast wearing that dress? It has been driving me crazy for so long! -- sarbarmar

This is one of those things that, no matter what we say, it doesn't matter how many times we say it. I don't know what it is about that scene where people think this really significant piece of information transferred between the two of them on the beach ... Kate is actually working undercover for Ben or something like that.

Nothing happened. That's the real answer. We never intended it to feel that way, and when we say nothing happened, they think we're lying or we originally had a plan and abandoned the plan. All I can say is, hand to God, nothing happened.

At the end of Lost's final season, will we have an ironclad, nothing-else-to-say conclusion, or will we be left with the possibility of spinoffs and feature films? -- mveedubs

I think it is our intention to end the story of Lost in the final episode of the television series. We have no desire whatsoever to make a movie or leave any threads hanging. That being said, some people will think it's enormously satisfying. Other people will think it's not satisfying enough. It all depends on the way that you watch the show. But the worst thing we could ever do is just answer some things and then say we'll answer other things in the Lost movie in theaters two years from now.

The television show is our version of Lost, and once it ends, that's the end. J.K. Rowling said she was going to write seven Harry Potter books, and she was true to her word. There are six seasons of Lost, and that's it.

It's clear that you and Carlton Cuse have formed a creative friendship on the show and will be forever linked in Lost fans' minds. Are there any plans for the two of you to use your collective genius on projects post-Lost (with or without the polar bear)? -- GoolayGirl

I love collaborating with different people. J.J. (Abrams) and I created the show together, and Carlton and I run the show together. And writing the (Star Trek) movie with Bob (Orci) and Alex (Kurtzman) ... I love finding new creative partnerships but then continuing the partnerships I'm already in. So I don't know if it will be soon or later, but I hope Carlton and I work together again on something entirely different than Lost.

I am actually curious as to the status of Damon's involvement with the Dark Tower series. Is there hope for us Stephen King fans that this project is in the works? -- Lorrie Q.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of The Dark Tower than me, but that's probably the reason that I shouldn't be the one to adapt it. After working six years on Lost, the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up.

I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me.

In today's film and television industries it seems like there are far fewer writers willing to take risks for originality's sake. What advice do you have for aspiring writers who are passionate about a particular story, even if it risks not being given a chance by today's audiences? -- Josh G.

As cliched as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story. My only advice would be you have to exercise patience. I think the freshman mistake is you feel such passion for something that you need to tell it now, as opposed to saying, "Let me establish myself, and five years from now when I'm a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit more experienced, maybe that's the time to tell that story."

Sometimes you get a present for somebody a month before their birthday and you just want to give it to them immediately. But timing is everything. So I would say it might feel like your idea is a hard sell now, but maybe in a couple years the timing will be right. Whatever you do, don't give up.

Is there any chance that once this season ends there will be a continuation of Lost through a movie, books, or website? Will you be doing anything to keep the fans alive after Lost is over? -- Shannon K.

I think the fans themselves will probably generate a lot of material like fanfic and that kind of stuff. But I feel like our story's over. We don't own Lost -- ABC and Disney do. So if they decide to generate some of that stuff, they might very well do so, but it's not going to be with our participation. As much as I want the fans to have new material, I feel like at the end of the day they'd want to kill us for it, because the whole purpose of announcing an end date is to end.

Are you sad it's ending?

I'm not sad it's ending. I'm really happy it's ending. I'm sad about the fact that we're not going to be writing it anymore -- like, the process of writing it and working on it is such an incredible thing. I don't feel sadness that the show is ending, because I feel like it's exactly the right thing to do. I can't imagine that we ever would've gotten this far if we hadn't announced an end date. It would've just gotten absurd and boring and stalling and ... it would've sucked. I'm so glad that's not the legacy of the show. The legacy of the show is going to be this instead.

Do you think more series should follow the Lost model and announce end dates?

For me as a viewer, I like knowing where I am in the book. Certainly for Battlestar, it was great to know where you were in the story. I think viewers sometimes want to know that, and it also helps them get over frustrating patches of stuff they don't like. But it all depends on the show.

Some shows sustain themselves forever. There's no reason that Grey's Anatomy ever needs to end. I remember when Heroes first came on the scene, people were asking Tim (Kring) that same question. He said, "Heroes can go on forever. There's no reason it ever needs to end, because there will always be characters with these abilities, and there will be interesting stories to tell." Heroes has a different design than Lost does. But I look at a show like FlashForward and I go, yeah, it would probably help that show for them to say it's a three-season or four-season show and then it ends, so that the audience at least gets a sense of where they are in the story.

Lost has inspired me to learn more about literature, philosophy, history, time travel and so many other subjects. What is the coolest thing you have learned about that you didn't know prior to creating the show? -- GoolayGirl

Good question. Well, we started doing research on time travel back in Season 2. ... Way back in Season 2, we found out about this thing, CERN. It's this gigantic particle accelerator that they're going to turn on, this multi-billion dollar project. 60 Minutes actually did a story on it. It's fascinating: They're trying to create anti-matter, quarks and all sorts of crazy things in there, but it keeps breaking. They keep pushing back the date they're going to turn it on. So I've become sort of obsessed with this project and the guy on the team that's behind it. Normally, that science stuff goes right over my head, but I'm fascinated.

I would love to know what song Damon thinks would best match the mood of Season 6. -- dmachado13

Wow. I'd say Visions of Johanna by Bob Dylan.

Why?

I have that song on my iPod, and when I hear it I think about the show. There are certain lyrical phrases in that song that are very well-suited to Lost.

Has the Lost team been documenting the process of creating the show since the very beginning? As a fan who loves the way the show is constructed, I hope once the show is over, we may see some sort of documentary-style feature or a book that will tell fans how the show was conceived and the creative process that occurred as the show moved through the years. -- Bryan in Cincinnati

I think there's going to be a Lost encyclopedia where we talk a lot about that stuff, but it's not like we've been bringing camera crews into the writers' room so they can see how we do what we do. A lot of the creation of the show is like a magic trick, and I think it would be like David Copperfield explaining how he made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Although I acknowledge that people are really interested in the creative process of Lost, mostly it pertains to ... it all goes back to the idea of, "Are we making it up as we go along?" That's the question that people really want to know the answer to, and they want some proof. They want us to document the fact that we weren't making it up as we went along. And, in the spirit of the show, we just have to say, "If you choose to believe us, then that's what faith is all about." If you choose to disbelieve it, then we don't blame you. At the end of the day, all that matters is the story itself. If you feel satisfied by it, it shouldn't matter whether we had it planned from Day 1 or whether we made it up as we went along.

In some places we did have to make it up as we went along, because Adewale (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) wanted to leave the show, or the Nikki and Paolo idea didn't work, or we didn't have an end date so we had to tap dance, or we went over-budget so we had to put them in cages for four episodes in a row. There are certain things where we had to adapt to whatever real-world scenario was happening with the show. But creatively speaking in general, there had to be a plan.

What is your least favorite episode of Lost?

Oh, my god. (Pauses) I think my least favorite episode is this episode that we did the first season called "Homecoming." It's when Claire comes back from having been in the jungle for a couple days after she was abducted by the Others, and Ethan comes after her. The backstory is Charlie is trying to go straight and he's selling copiers. At the end of the episdoe, he shoots Ethan. I wrote that episode, and it's my least favorite episode of the show ever.

I'm surprised by that answer. It's not an episode fans usually name as their least favorite.

The episode fans bring up most often is "Stranger in a Strange Land," which is the epiosde with Bai Ling and Jack and his tattoos. And basically, I feel like it's unfair to bag on that episode. Am I a huge fan of it? No. But at the same time, there were so many different circumstances that led to that episode that needed to be written and so many ideas that didn't work. The fact that it all coalesced ... There was a bad casting decision made. There was a bad premise decision made. There was a bad flashback story. Just everything that could go wrong did, but I don't think it was because the script was terrible. "Homecoming," I think, was flawed on almost every single level that an episode of Lost could be.

So do you think you've become a better writer since Lost began?

I hope so. I feel like I've become a better listener, and if that's led to better writing, I don't know. I'm still incredibly proud of the pilot, having written the pilot, but I'm equally proud of the Season 3 finale. But writing is like being a really good baseball player: Even really good baseball players strike out all the time. So I just have to allow myself to say, "Sometimes I write better than other times." I think I know more now than I knew at the beginning, but I don't know if I'm any better of a writer.

They said this past Comic-Con was the last Lost panel ever. That's not true, is it? You've gotta come back one last time after it's all wrapped up. Because we all know you won't answer ever single question on TV! -- Rafael J.

I think the idea of appearing on the Comic-Con panel to answer the questions the show didn't answer would be almost as bad. If we don't answer it in the show, it's because we didn't want to answer it. Would we go to Comic-Con and do some kind of retrospective at some point where we get everybody back together to talk about the show? Yeah, I think that would be cool five, 10 years from now. But certainly not next year, a month after the finale has aired.

I have lots of questions but Damon won't answer them (and I wouldn't want to spoil anything anyway). Can he at least tell us when the season premiere will be? Joshua H.

Honest to God, they haven't given us a date yet. I don't even know what night it's going to be on. We've been on Wednesday at 9 for awhile, but now ABC's comedies are actually working. And I actually like Modern Family and Cougar Town, so I'm not sure that they'll move them.

I don't know what it means for us, but all I've ever heard is mid-to-late January. We're doing 18 hours -- two-hour premiere, two-hour finale -- so if we end in mid-May, we can't premiere any later than late January.

Season 6 Promos

2009-07-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Get psyched.

The plane crashing at the end is NOT an Oceanic airlines plane.

The Incident SE5 EP17

2009-05-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

“See you in Los Angeles.”

Another theory goes by the wayside. I was wrong. Again. Let’s move on and pretend it didn’t happen. Again. This was an awesome episode and an excellent set up for the last season. Diving in now:

A long, long time ago
Two guys, one in a white shirt, one in a black shirt. The guy in the white shirt is spinning, weaving some Egyptian tapestry. We next see him on the beach fishing, with primitive equipment. He’s sitting on the beach, eating fish when the black shirt guy comes up. They’re contemplating the ship. “How’d they find the island?” White shirt shrugs, “You’ll have to ask when they get here.” “I don’t have to ask. You brought them here, didn’t you? Still trying to prove me wrong, aren’t you?” black shirt accuses. “You are wrong,” White shirt says. “Am I?” Answers black shirt. “They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same way” “But it only ends once,” White shirt says “Anything that happens before that is just progress.” Black shirt turns around and looks over his shoulder at White Shirt. “Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?” he asks. “Yes,” answers White shirt. “One of these days, sooner or later, I’m gonna find a loophole, my friend,” Black shirt promises. “Well when you do, I’ll be right here,” White shirt replies. “Always nice talking to you, Jacob,” says Balck shirt. “Nice talking to you, too,” Jacob White Shirt agrees. The camera pulls out and we see the full Statue is of Anubis, not just the four toed foot, holding the Ankh.

Flashbacks
A very young Kate gets caught shoplifiting a lunchbox (is it the lunchbox that she buried the little time capsule and airplane in from season 1? My guess is yes.). Rather than let her get in trouble, Jacob appears pays for the lunchbox. “You’re not going to steal anymore, are you?” Kate says no. But we remember that one of Kate’s first back stories shows her robbing a bank.

We see a young Sawyer at his parents’ funeral. He’s writing THE LETTER and his pen is out of ink. And Jacob appears and gives him a pen. Another adult tells James to move on and let it go. “What’s done is done.” The guy makes Sawyer promise not to finish the letter. Lil Sawyer lies and agrees not to. Meanwhile, Jacob, by offering the pen, has encouraged Sawyer to hold on to his vengeance.

Sayid and Nadia are in LA. They are crossing the street, when Jacob stops Sayid and asks for directions, leaving Nadia to get rundown in the middle of the street while Sayid remains unscathed. Jacob has just created the incident that created the bitter killing machine, Sayid.

Alana in a foreign hospital bed having suffered some kind of facial injury. She has not had any visitors, so when the nurse comes in and tells her that someone is there to see her, and she thinks it will do her good, Alanna agrees. It’s Jacob. They exchange greetings in another language then Jacob asks for Alanna’s help.

Jacob is sitting on a park bench reading a Flannery O’Connor book when we hear breaking glass and see Locke fall out of the eighth story window. Jacob comes over, squeezes his shoulder and tells him not to worry; everything is going to be alright. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

Sun and Jin’s wedding. Sun vows to “love the man Jin will become.” Jin is reading his vows, “We will never be apart, because being apart would be like the sky being apart from the earth.” Jacob comes up and in perfect Korean, says, “I come to offer blessings. Your love is a very special thing. Never take it for granted.”

Jack in surgery, living out the story he told Kate on the day they met. “Count to five.” He cuts the patient’s dural sack. Christian Sheppard is in the OR with him. “The only way you’re going to do it is to not be afraid. Close your eyes, count to five, then fix her, Jack or I’ll have to.” After surgery Jack goes to the vending machine for an Apollo bar, but it gets stuck in the machine, even though jack pounds on it pretty good. Christian comes out to tell Jack that the girl is ok, but Jack is pissed because Christian embarrassed him. “You put me in a ‘time out’ in front of my entire team. It’s like you don’t have any faith in me.” “Are you sure I’m the one who doesn’t have any faith in you?” Suddenly Jacob walks up with the Apollo Bar (the one with the cookie crunch!) “One of these yours?” Jacob asks. “I guess it just needed a little push.” IS he talking about the candy bar or Jack?

Juliet’s parents are telling her and her sister that they are getting a divorce. “Even when people love each other sometimes they don’t belong together. Sometimes, they aren’t meant to be together.” Her mother explains. “But what if you ARE meant to be together?” Juliet cries. “We’re not.”

Hurley is getting out of jail for killing the people . He comes out to share a cab with Jacob. When he finds out that Jacob didn’t just get released, Hurley wants to know, “What were you doing sitting outside the prison in a cab?” “I was waiting for you, Hugo.” “Oh. Then you must be dead.” Jaconb assures Hurley he’s not dead. “I want to know why you won’t go back to the island.” “Because I’m cursed. My plane crashed. My friends died. And now I can talk to them.” “What if you’re not cursed, what if you’re blessed? You can talk to your friends after they’ve died? I’d say that’s a pretty good gift.” Jacob gets out and tells Hurley that he has a choice. He goes to leave and Hurley calls after him, “You forget your guitar.” Jacob smiles. “It’s not my guitar.” This is the guitar that Hurley brings on the plane. Anyone want to bet it’s Charlie’s?

1977
On the sub, Kate wants Sawyer and Juliet to help her stop Jack from blowing up the island. Juliet decides for all of them that they are going back to the island. They quickly overpower the Dharma sub crew and get the sub to surface and let them out. A little Kate and Sawyer flirty banter on the raft and Juliet is feeling like her life with Sawyer is over. Kate thanks Juliet for having her back.

They land on the North Shore where Vincent runs out to greet them. Followed quickly by Rose and Bernard who are none too happy at being found. Quite frankly, I’m not too happy to see them either, at first, but since their appearance is short lived and important, we had a nice visit with them. “Why didn’t you all come in with us?” Sawyer wants to know. “Because we’re retired,” Rose snaps. Kate tells them Jack’s got a bomb, but Rose and Bernard want nothing to do with the plan. They don’t care. “You all are going to start up the fighting and the shooting again. The only thing that is important to us is that we are together.” This idea appeals to nobody except Juliet. Rose and Bernard ask everyone to stay for tea, (and perhaps a little more zen and the art of living alone in the jungle with a yellow lab) but Juliet is the only one who actually thinks that sounds like a good idea.

Jack and Sayid begin to dismantle the bomb and it is revealed that Ellie is pregnant. Richard is musing with Jack, “20 years ago a man named John Locke walked right into my camp and said he would be our leader. I’ve been off-island three times to see him and he never seemed particularly special to me.” Richard is surprised that Jack knows Locke. “Well what do you think of him?” Jack smiles. “If I were you, I wouldn’t give up on him.” They break through a wall, to reveal a passage to one of the Dharma huts. Ellie wants to go first, but Richard knocks her out and says he’s taking her back for her own protection. Jack and Sayid go on through and find Dharma on full alert. Sayid grabs a Dharma jumpsuit and they blend in to the evacuation. But Roger recognizes Sayid as “the sonuvabitch that shot my kid!” and shoots Sayid!

In a nick of time, a Dharma hippie bus with Miles and Hurley rides up. Jack and Sayid get in, but they haven’t exactly explained their mission to Miles and Hurley. Sayid is bleeding and Jack can’t stop it. He’s desperate to get to the Swan in time for the Incident so he can drop in the bomb. Suddenly Hurley steps on the brakes. “Why the hell are we stopping?” Jack wants to know. “That’s why.” Kate, Juliet and Sawyer are blocking the road.

Phil warns Radzinski about Sayid and Jack and the bomb. Why’d you make me promise to never ask about Aaron. I was so angry with you for making come back. “If the plane never lands then Claire can have her baby and raise him like she’s supposed to.” “She was going to give him up for adoption,” Kate counters. “Maybe, but it will be her choice. Nothing in my life has ever felt so right. I need you to believe that. Are you with me on this?” Yes.

Sawyer wants just five minutes in the jungle with Jack. Sawyer tells Jack the story of his parent’s death. “It’s 1977. That happened last year. I could have stopped my daddy from killing anybody.” “So why didn’t you?” Jack wants to know. “Because, what’s done is done.” Sawyer explains. “What did you screw up the first time so bad that you’re willing to blow up a damn nuke to get a do over? A man does what he does because he wants something for himself. What do you want Jack?” After a pause, Jack says, “I had her. I had her and I lost her.” As Sawyer points out, Kate is right over in the jungle, he can just go over and tell her how he feels. Jack shakes his head. He knows he’s screwed up with Kate beyond redemption. “It’s too late to get her back. Your five minutes is up.” “If what you do works, you’ll be strangers and she’ll be in handcuffs,” Sawyer says. “Nothing I can say will change your mind?” Jack says no, so Sawyer punches him. They beat the crap out of each other for a little while then Juliet walks up and tells them to stop. “Jack is right,” she tells Sawyer. “We need to do this.” Sawyer is all WTF? And Juliet says, “I changed my mind.”

Sawyer wants answers from Juliet. “What’s up with you? Why did you change your mind?” “I changed my mind when I saw you look at her.” Sawyer says, “I don’t care who I looked at. I’m with you.” Juliet scoffs at the prospect of the happily ever after “And you would stay with me forever if I let you and that’s why I love you.” Then she repeats the line her mother gave her, “Just because we love each other it doesn’t mean we were meant to be together. If I never meet you then I never have to lose you.”

Sayid has rigged to go off on impact. “Sayid,” Jack reassures him, “This is going to work and it can will you.” Sayid looks at jack with dead eyes. “Nothing can save me.” And he’s not talking about just dying, either. After jack leaves, Miles brings up an interesting point. “Has it occurred to anyone that maybe your friend is about to cause the thing he’s trying to prevent?” Then Phil’s security team rides up and Kate says if they find Jack they will kill him. Sawyer looks to Jules for guidance. She says, “Live together die alone.”

A scuffle ensues as Jack is discovered but our Lostaways handily overpower the Dharma security detail. Jack looks around for verification. Kate nods yes with tears in her eyes. Sawyer tells him to get it done. So Jack throws the bomb in……

……..

….And nothing happens. That is until the drill hits the pocket and everything metal gets sucked into the hole. We see how Dr. Chang loses his hand and we see Phil come to a nasty end. Juliet gets tangled up in some chains and is pulled into the hole. Sawyer runs to grab her, but she is barely hanging on. “Don’t you leave me!” Sawyer cries. They cannot get the chains unwrapped and Jules is sucked down into the hole and Sawyer, and the rest of us, are devastated.

Others
Richard wants to know how John is alive. Locke tells Richard that he is going to see Jacob, ”so I can thank him.” Locke then tells Richard, “We’re going to have to deal with the rest of the passengers from the Agira flight.” “Deal with?” Richard asks. “You know what I mean,” Locke says. Locke later wants to know why Ben hasn’t dimed out Locke’s intent to kill Jacob to Richard. “I thought you wanted to keep it a secret.” Ben simpers. Locke observes that never stopped Ben before. “I started thinking differently about things when my dead daughter threatened to destroy me if I didn’t do everything you said,” Ben explains. This is great news to Locke, because now he doesn’t have to convince Ben. “I’m not gonna kill Jacob, Ben. You are.”

Back at the old beach camp. “You mind if I ask you a question?” Locke asks. “I’m a Picses,” Ben quips. Ben finally fesses up about his relationship with Jacob. “You know that I was pretending.” “Why would you go to all the trouble to make something like that up?” Locke wants to know. “I was embarrassed,” Ben explains. “I didn’t want you to know that I had never seen Jacob. So yes I lied. That’s what I do.” Awkward silence. “So why do you want me to kill Jacob?” Ben asks. “Because despite your loyalty to this island, you got cancer. You had to watch your daughter get gunned down. All in the name of a man you’ve never met. Why the hell wouldn’t you want to kill Jacob?”

Sun finds Aaron’s crib and Charlie’s ring.

They come to the foot of the statue. The foot is where Jacob lives. Richard tells Locke, “If you waited, Jacob would have eventually came to you.” “What happened to the rest of the statue?” Sun asks Ben. “It was like that when I got here.” “You expect me to believe that?” Sun asks. “Not really.”

Once again, Richard tries to divert Locke from his task. “I’m beginning to think that you make these rules up as you go along, Richard.” Hey, us too, John! “Ben is coming with me and if that’s a problem, I’m sure Jacob and I can work it out.” Once they get inside the footlocker, Locke tells Ben “Things will change once he’s gone.” Locke gives Ben the knife—the same knife that Richard once said did not belong to him back when he visited Locke as a child. “Can you do this, Ben?” Locke asks. “Because once you kill him, everything will change.”

Shadow of the Statue gang
“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Frank didn’t know the answer to the question, but he might be a “candidate”. For what, we don’t know. Who these guys are, we don’t know; but they are “friends”; they are the “good guys”. At least that’s what they tell Frank. “Soooo….what’s in that box?” Frank wants to know. Bram tells Alannah that’s it’s her call to tell Frank, so she opens the box. Frank looks inside and says, “Terrific.” “We need to show it to someone so that they know who they are up against,” Alana explains. The party arrives at the cabin and Alanna goes in. She finds a printed piece of cloth stuck to the wall with a knife. She comes out and tells Bram “He isn’t there. He hasn’t been there for a long time. Someone else is using it.” “So what do we do?” Bram asks. “Burn it,” Alana decrees. And they head off to where the printed cloth directs them: the four toed statue of Anubis, carrying their Ark of the Covenant Cargo Container with the mysterious contents.

Alana arrives at the statue and asks for Ricardos. “It’s Richard, actually.” “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Richard answers in another language (Sig, get on this translation, will you?). “There’s something you need to see,” Alana tells him and opens the Ark of the Covenant, dumping out the body of Locke. WTF’s all around. Sun, our captain obvious this year, says, “If that’s Locke, then who’s in there?”

Indeed.

In the footlocker, we see Ben and Locke. Locke is admiring Jacob’s tapestry and Jacob tells them how long it took, especially since he had to make all his own thread. “I see you found your loophole.” Jacob observes. “Indeed I did,” Locke answers. “You have no idea what I’ve been through in order to get here.” “Have you met before?”Ben asks. “In a manner of speaking.” Locke tells Ben to “Do what I told you to do.” Jacob tells Ben “You have a choice. You can do what he asks, or you can go and leave us to discuss our…issues.” At this, all of Ben’s insecurities are unleashed. Ben is angry that he was ignored for 35 years but when Locke asks to see him, he gets marched straight up here “as if he was Moses.”

“Why him? What was it that was so wrong about me? What about me?” Ben cries.

“What about you?” Jacob replies. And Ben stabs Jacob. Jacob, gasping for breath, says, “They’re coming.” Which seems to alarm Locke. He kicks Jacob into the fire and he and Ben leave.

Boom
Meanwhile, poor Jules is broken and bleeding at the bottom of the hatch. All of the metal has been pulled down the shaft. She opens her eyes and sees the bomb. She picks up a rock and starts hitting it, crying and cursing. Finally….Boom.

Thoughts on the finale….
Is the Ship that Jacob and Black shirt see the Black Rock? And is Richard on it? Is that why Jacob brought it there?

The exchange between Jacob and Black shirt sounds like a discussion for the battle of men’s souls. Like they have a cosmic bet on whether man is essentially good or evil. Pretty sure the Black Shirt is betting against man, because he is very cynical as to the outcome, which always ends “the same”.

So who are Jacob and Black shirt? Jesus and the Devil? Moses and Pharoah?

This episode revisits the black and white theme first introduced over a game of backgammon between Locke and Walt.

I loved the flashback episodes tonight, which took us back to pivotal plot points for the main characters, many of which were first addressed in season one. I loved how Jacob was there to influence a critical time in each character’s life, except Juliet.

Anubis is the Egyptian god of Death, but the statue is holding the Ankh, which is the Egyptian symbol for life. “Death holds the key to life”? Hmmm… whatever. But I’ll bet the statue got blown away when the bomb went off.

Did Jacob actually bring Locke back to life after the eight story fall?

Is there any significance to the fact that Jacob physically touched every single person in the back story?

There are many issues of free choice versus destiny. Sawyer’s line “I don’t speak destiny” was great, but a little too obvious for the quote of the episode. Jack’s tossed off, “See you in Los Angeles” was a better choice, especially given the ending.

I loved the five minutes in the jungle with Jack and Sawyer. Classic LOST.

The scene with Rose and Bernard was excellent. Two characters who I thought had outlived their usefulness had a pivotal and touching scene tonight.

Juliet and Sawyer. I have no words.

Finally, who the hell is Locke? Is it still Locke? Or has our black shirted friend somehow taken Locke’s body? Locke was the one character I was always sure about his moral compass. Now I can’t even be sure if it’s Locke anymore.

My Theory of Everything

2009-05-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so maybe not the theory of everything. Maybe the theory of a lot of stuff.

Jack is Jacob.

Whatever Jack does this week to either cause/prevent the "Incident" causes him to become caught in a pocket of "non-time" whereby he is both there and not there. Jack knows enough island lore to be able to appear like he is predicting/directing the future and therefore somewhat God-like.

Jack being Jacob explains why both Christian Sheppard and Claire are with him. Hurley's relationship with Jack explains why Hurley can see the cabin.

Locke is the only one who can actually "hear" Jacob and the last time Jacob spoke, he said "help me". Helping Jacob/Jack encompasses releasing him from whatever non-time purgatory he has occupied; it also will compromise the special qualities of the island.

The Dharma hippies, the Others, the Widmore mercenaries, Ben, Richard, Widmore, Ellie, etc., are all only out to explout the island, which is why Ben and Richard see Locke as a threat. Locke is the only one who has the pure interests of the island at heart. And Locke also knows that killing Jacob also releases Jack fromn the purgatory and destroys the special qualities of the island all at the same time.

The smoke monster is the gray ash, which is metallic and can be manipulated by Jacob who controls the electro magnetic properties of the island.

By the way, I'm about as sure of all of this as I was about Hurley being the occupant of the coffin. Which I was pretty damn sure of. But wrong.

Follow the Leader SE5 EP16

2009-05-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

“If this works you might just save us all. If it doesn’t, at least you’ll have put us out of our misery.”

Who’s the leader? Jack or Locke? Or Jacob? Jack is taking his leadership mantle back on, but he’s really not much better at it in 1977 than he was in the present. He’s still stubborn and insists he’s right, except now he’s all about destiny. Locke, on the other hand, is much more confident. He’s no longer unsure and the island is giving him direction. A great episode and very satisfying build up to next week’s season finale, called, by the way, “The Incident”.

Escape from Dharmaville
We first see Jack and Kate where we last left them just before Dan gets shot. Jack,after all this time of pooh-poohing Locke’s mysticism, suddenly is a big believer in fate. “What if this is our one chance to put things as they are supposed to be?” he proposed to Kate, who ain’t buying it. Then Widmore gallops up and wallops Jack in the face with the butt end of the rifle.

Kate and jack are taken into Other custody, where Jack continues to make his pitch even though Daniel has just been shot by his mother. “If we can do what Faraday says, our plane lands in LA, and everyone we lost will live. All the misery we’ve been through -- we just wipe it clean,” Jack thinks this is fabulous, like a Bobby Ewing step out-of-the-shower do over. Kate is not so much on board. “It was NOT all misery,” She corrects him, a little peeved that he sees nothing but the bad stuff that has happened over the last three years. Including sleeping with her. And either Jack isn’t reading her signals, or he really is one of the most pessimistic people on the face of the earth because he answers, “Enough of it was.” The Ellie marches in and demands, “I need you to tell me why he needed the bomb.” Ellie remembers Daniel from when she was seventeen and he told her to bury the bomb. She knows that he was her son. “Your son came back here because he had figured out a way to change things. It was a mistake and if we do what’s written in that journal, we can change it,” Jack begins pitching to Ellie, telling her that if she listens to him, the horrible murder of her own son can be undone. “Does he know what he’s talking about?” she asks Kate, clinging to hope. “He thinks he does,” Kate says sarcastically.

Meanwhile, we find Sawyer and Juliet right where we left them last week and they are taken into custody by Dharma. Radzinski is beating Sawyer to find out the whereabouts of Kate and so far Sawyer ain’t talking. Horace does not want any violence, and Radzinsky tells him he doesn’t have the stomach for what’s next. Radzinski then tells Sawyer that he will not hesitate to kill him unless he starts talking.

Juliet begins to beg. “Juliet, don’t. Whatever you tell them they won’t believe you,” Sawyer warns. Meanwhile they’ve discovered who the last minute add-ons are on the manifest from the sub and they’ve identified Jack and Kate, then Hurley. Phil says he knows how to get Sawyer to talk and he hits Juliet, which elicits a promise from Sawyer to kill Phil.

We see Hurley taking food for the big migration to the beach and he meets up with Miles and Jin, where they are hiding out in the jungle. Dr. Chang finds them and begins questioning them about Daniel: should he or should he not evactuate the island. When none of the boys are forthcoming with information, Chang demands to know who they are, and if Daniel was right that they are from the future. “Dude, that’s ridiculous,” Hurley scoffs, lying badly. At which point Chang successfully asks questions of Hurley to which he has no immediate answers (“What year were you born?” “Did you fight in the Korean war?” “Who is the president?”) “All right dude,” Hurley relents. “We’re from the future.” This revelation means the most to Dr. Chang only in the context of Miles. “It’s true then, you are my son?” Miles says yes. “Should I evacuate?” Chang asks. “If Faraday said it, I’d do it. The guy hasn’t been wrong yet.”

Back at the Other camp, Widmore is kneeling over Daniel, “Why is it that this man looks familiar to me?” Then Ellie marches out and announces that she’s taking Jack and Kate to the bomb.

Meanwhile, the boys are still hiding in the bushes observing, like in “As the World Turns” when a character is meant to overhear a critical piece of information. The boys conveniently witness Dr. Chang yelling at Miles’ mom to get her off the island. “It’s the only way he could get her to leave<” Miles muses, Cue beam of light and halleluiah chorus, Miles has resolved his daddy issues.

Dr. Chang walks in on the Sawyer/Juliet torture session and tells everyone they must evacuate. Sawyer agrees to tell Radzinsky anything he wants to know if they will put him and Juliet on the sub.

Miles’ epiphany is interrupted by Sawyer and Juliet getting perp-walked down to the sub. Hurley isn’t worried, though. “Sawyer always has a plan.” Even though that plan may be simply him and Jules leaving the island.

Jack and Kate, Ellie, Richard and some other Others trekking through the jungle. They come to a pond and Ellie tells them they must swim under it to get to the bomb, dear. Kate says no. “I can’t go any further with you Jack.” Jack can’t believe it, “You can’t go back, they know who we are. They’ll kill you.” “And what are you trying to do?” She makes to walk away but it’s not that simple; the Others are not in the habit of just letting folks walk away and tell their secrets. A standoff ensues and shots are fired. At first we think Kate is shot, but it turns out it was the other Others who were shot, because Sayid has found them in the jungle, and he still has his gun.

Jack tells Sayid about his H-Bomb plan, but Sayid says he’s already changed things by killing Ben. Kate tells Sayid that she’s foiled his plan by taking Ben to the Others and saving him. Sayid does not understand why Kate did this. Kate says “Since when is killing kids and blowing up H-Bombs ok?” Which is a very good argument for which Sayid has no retort.

Meanwhile, Juliet and Sawyer have a nice little spring in their step as they are getting on to the sub. A touching little heart to heart ensues as they talk about how Sawyer convinced Juliet to stay with him three years ago. They reaffirm they have each other’s back and exchange affirmations of their love. Juliet wonders what will happen when the reach Ann Arbor. Sawyer is having none of this Ann Arbor crap. “Once we dock wherever we dock, we’re free. These guys aren’t cops; they don’t have any authority over us.” “The real world,” Juliet sighs.

Just when Juliet’s happily ever after is within reach, Kate gets loaded on the sub and handcuffed to her. Suddenly, the real world isn’t looking so rosy anymore.

The H-Bomb has been stored in the Temple. Richard and Ellie lead Jack and Sayid right to it.

The Prodigal Returns
Locke walks into the Other camp as Richard is raising the sail on the ship in a bottle. He seems surprised to see Locke, and not just because he’s carrying a dead boar on his shoulders. “What’s different about you? Is it you hair? That shirt is new, isn’t it? It’s a button down which is a totally different look for you…” No, Locke says, it’s none of those things. “I have a purpose now.”

Sun and Ben are standing off to the side and Sun wants to know who Richard is. “Richard Alpert, he’s a kind of an….advisor. And he has had that job for a very long time.” Sun, whose single-mindedness this season is starting to get on my nerves, has her precious photograph and asks Richard if he was on the island in 1977 and if remembers Jin, Hurley, Jack, Kate. Richard does. He remembers very clearly watching them all die.”

Locke announces that he has to run a little errand and invites Ben along with he and Richard. “What’s the matter John? Are you afraid to leave me?” Ben preens. “Are you afraid I’ll stage a coup?” Locke smiles, “I’m not afraid of anything you can do anymore.”

As they head off into the jungle, Richard asks, “John, are you ready to tell me where you’ve been for the last three years?” Which is weird, because we assume that Richard, at least, has some idea of where Locke has been. But he doesn’t. Locke is as surprised as we are. “You mean you didn’t know?” Then Locke tells them, “You’re going to take me to Jacob.” An uncomfortable pause follows as Ben and Richard exchange looks and Ben says, “Uhhh…that’s not exactly how it works, John.” While Richard begins making stammering about how John just got back. Locke is adamant. “I’m the leader. This is what I want.” The errand turns out to be a trek to Yemmi’s plane. Locke explains, “Listen closely, Richard, because you’re only going to have about three minutes to get this right. A man’s going to walk out of the jungle whose been shot in the leg. He’s going to ask how to stop what’s happening. You’re going to tell him he has to bring everyone back to the island and when he asks you how, you’re going to tell him he’s going to have to die.” A slow realization begins to dawn on Ben, “Who is this man, John?” “Me.”

“This must be quite the out-of-body experience,” Ben simpers, barely controlling his jealousy. “You’re timing was impeccable. How did you know it?” “The island told me,” Locke explains. “Didn’t the island tell you things?” Now Ben is in full on Benjamin Hissy fit, “If you were so in-touch with the island, John, you wouldn’t need Richard to show you Jacob.” That’s when Locke calls Ben on something we’ve suspected for some time, “You never saw Jacob, did you?”

When Locke, Ben and Richard get back to camp, Richard is all ready to let Locke sleep on it, hoping he has forgotten that foolishness about going to see jacob, but Locke still wants to go see Jacob right away. Richard and Ben both look uneasy at this, but Locke insists, then addresses the rest of the Others. “I know you’ve been taking your orders from someone named Jacob, but that no one has ever seen him. I’m going to see him now and I want you all to come along.” The Others think this is a fine idea, except Richard and Ben. “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble,” says Richard. “Why do you think I tried to kill him?” Ben replies.

Cue Lost trekking music as the Others commence walking down the beach to see Jacob. Ben takes Locke aside and tells him, “Richard had some concerns. He was uncomfortable as to whether you know what the hell you’re doing.” “Well thank you for bringing this to my attention.” Locke says, and he really sounds sincere. “Look, I’m here to follow you, now John. If you want me to help you reunite with your people, I’ll do everything I can to help you,” “I’m not interested in reuniting with my people,” Locke says. “I want to see Jacob.” “Why?” “Because. I’m going to kill him.”

A few quick thoughts on this episode
In spite of this closing statement, it seems to me that Locke’s purpose may indeed be to save Jacob. After all, when Locke first meets Jacob, right before Ben attempts to kill him the first time, Jacob asks Locke to “Help me,” a statement Ben clearly does not hear. Locke does hear Jacob, maybe even sees him. Perhaps every group in this little drama, Dharma, Others, have been using Jacob, somehow harvesting his power and exploiting him for their own uses. And like Locke, perhaps the only way to truly free Jacob is to kill him. I’m also thinking that Jacob may in fact be Jack, somehow caught in some awful space between two time continuums as a result of “the Incident.”

Next Week:
Ok, Sawyer and Jules obviously didn’t get far because Sawyer “don’t speak destiny.” Season finale and one more season to go, folks.

Oh and by the way, found a great site on all things LOST with some cool theories and wrap ups (courtesy Preston and Steve.) Here’s the link.

The Variable SE5 EP14

2009-04-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy.

Ok, freaking AWESOME episode with a lot of mythology addressed and a couple of big reveals. I’m quite sure I missed a ton of stuff; I was so busy taking notes. Everything was relevant; it was hard to leave anything out. Literally the only time I got a bit of a break was during the shootout. Anyway, let’s dive right in:

Daughters, sons and the fate of Desmond
The episode opens with Penny running alongside a gunshot Desmond. They take him to emergency and Penny goes to wait. As she is stroking a sleeping Charlie’s hair, Eloise Hawking approaches. “He has his father’s hair.” Maybe that’s a family trait that Brits comment on but it sounded damn odd to me. Penny’s all, “I’m sorry? Do I know you?” Eloise explains that she knows Desmond. “It’s my son’s fault that Desmond has been shot.” Penny is confused. “Your son in Ben Linus?” “Oh no,” Eloise says in disgust. “My son is Daniel Faraday.”

Eloise is there to apologize and explain. “Your husband is a casualty in a conflict that is bigger than all of us.” Penny is panicked with all this talk of Des being a “casualty.” “Is he going to be ok?”She asks. Eloise looks close to tears. “I don’t know,” she says. “For the first time in a long time I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

The nurse come out and tells Penny that Des is ok, so Penny rushes to him. Hooray! Des is ok! “I promised you,” Des says, taking her hand. “I promised you I’d never leave you again.”

Eloise is leaving the hospital and she runs into Charles Widmore. “Is he all right?” Charles wants to know, which is odd since we’ve kind of had this idea all along that Widmore could care less about the fate of Desmond. “Yes, Charles. He’s fine.” Eloise snaps. “Good.” Again, what’s up with Widmore's goodwill towards Des? “Your daughter’s in there,” Eloise offers. “Why don’t you go in to say hello.” Widmore sighs a long suffering sigh. “My relationship with my daughter is one thing I had to sacrifice.” This pisses Ellie off. “Don’t talk to me about sacrifice. I had to send my son…”

“He’s my son, too,” Widmore begins, which earns him a huge slap in the face from Ellie before she storms off. Oh yeah. Nice piece of the puzzle, even though many of us already expected that one.

Long ago and Faraday
The little kid playing the piano is Daniel. The overbearing schoolmarm mother is Eloise. “Daniel, do you know what destiny means?” Eloise asks Daniel. “If one has a special gift, it must be nurtured. How many beats has that metronome kept since you started playing?” “864,” Daniel answers like Rainman counting toothpicks. “Your gift is your mind, science, mathematics. My job to keep you on your path. There’s no more time for distractions.” “But I like playing the piano,” Daniel protest. “I can MAKE time.” “If only you could,” Eloise answers.

Eloise shows up at Oxford to celebrate some award Daniel has received. Theresa, the girlfriend we first saw last season in a catatonic state, is blown off by Eloise. It seems she wants to celebrate only with Daniel. After she leaves, Eloise scolds Daniel. “You should be focusing your energies on your work. You’re not going to have time for relationships. The women in your life will always be hurt.” Daniel tells her about the grant he has received. “Grant? From whom?” She asks. “Widmore. Charles Widmore,” Daniel answers. Eloise starts and then seems placated. She does not want to fight, “I came to congratulate you. Good luck. I do mean that.” She passes a present to Daniel and leaves. Inside the package is Daniel’s famous notebook and inside the front cover is an inscription: “No matter what, always remember that I love you.”

We next see Daniel where we first met him: watching the news of the discovery of 815 and crying. Widmore shows up, but Daniel doesn’t remember him. It seems his time travelling experiments have rendered his memory useless. “I tested it on myself first—I would never hurt Teresa,” he explains to Widmore, assuming that that is why he has come. He continues crying, looking at the scenes of Flight 815 on TV. “It’s so sad,” he tells Widmore. “I don’t know why it’s affecting me this much. All those people are dead.” “What if I told you those people were alive? That it was an elaborate fake. That I put it there?” “Why would you tell me that?” Daniel wants to know. “Because come tomorrow, you won’t remember I did. The real 815 crashed on an island with special scientific properties. It will heal your mind and your memory. You’re a man of tremendous gifts and it would be a shame to see them go to waste.” Widmore explains, pitching the idea of Daniel going to the island. “You sound like my mother,” Daniel says. “That’s because we’re old friends.” Old friends. Yeah. Right.

Eloise shows up at Daniel’s little house. “Hello Daniel. I hear you have been offered a job.” “How do you know that?” Daniel asks. “It’s my business to know. It is very important that you say Yes to Mr. Widmore. That you accept this opportunity. This place he mentioned to you, did he tell you it could make you better? What if it’s true? You could go on with your work. Think about all you can accomplish.” “Will it make you proud of me?” Is all Daniel wants to know. “Yes Daniel, it will.” “Then I’ll do it.”

Faraday is here again, the skies above are clear again
We return to 1977 with Daniel getting off the sub, and Miles wants to know why he came back. “I figured once you left for Ann Arbor, you invented the DVD or something and got rich. What are you doing back here?” Daniel pulls out the Namaste picture with Jack, Kate, and Hurley. “This is what I’m back here for. When did they get here?” And Miles takes Daniel back to Dharmaville.

The first person Daniel sees is Jack. “How did you get back here to 1977?” Daniel wants to know. “On a plane,” Jack answers. “Who told you to get on the plane, Jack?” “It was your mother.” Daniel shakes his head. “And how’d she convince you? Did she tell you it was your ‘destiny’?” “Yes,” Jack replies, still not sure where Daniel is going with this. “As a matter of fact she did.” “Well, I’ve got some bad news for you Jack. She was wrong. You don’t belong here at all.” Jack has more questions, but Daniel has an errand to run.

Jack goes to see Sawyer and tells him about Faraday. Jack is suspicious that Sawyer and Juliet are hiding something because they are not reacting with proper interest to Jack’s news. Jack wants to know what’s going on, but Sawyer starts to give him the bum’s rush. Juliet stops him. “Tell him what’s going on.” So Sawyer relents, pulls Jack inside and tells him about the tape Phil has of he and Kate taking Lil Ben to the Others. “Where’s the tape?” Jack wants to know. “The tape is with Phil,” Sawyer says. Phil is tied up in the closet. Sawyer makes the introductions.

Daniel and Miles go out to the Orchid. “Here he comes, right on time,” Daniel observes. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Daniel follows Chang into the Orchid and we recognize this scene from when the island was skipping back at the beginning of the season. Daniel overhears Chang yelling at a workman. “If you go 1 cm further you would release that energy then God help us all!” Daniel gets Dr. Chang aside. “I need you to order the evacuation of the island. In about six hours, the energy you released from drilling will release in the Swan station with catastrophic results.” “That’s preposterous,” Chang scoffs. “What would make you qualified to make such a prediction?” Daniel delivers that priceless line: “I’m from the future.” Is Daniel is warning Chang about “the incident’? Is this the “incident” where Dr. Chang/Halliwax/Candle loses his arm? This seems a safe bet.

Chang isn’t buying any of Daniel’s nonsense, though. “You heard me talk about time travel and now you’ve had your fun.” Daniel tries to tell him that Miles is his son. Miles counters this move by telling Dr. Chang not to listen to him and that Daniel must have taken a lot of drugs. When Chang leaves in disgust, Miles wants to know what Daniel is trying to do. “I’m just making sure that your father does what he’s supposed to do.”

Meanwhile, back at Dharmaville, Sawyer is having trouble letting go of his Dharma life. “This is our home. We don’t want to leave.” “Where do we go?” Hurley asks. Sawyer says there are two options: “Get back on the sub or back to square one in the jungle.” As the debate ensues and everyone seems to be opting for the jungle (since they went through all this trouble to get here anyway) Daniel knocks at the door and the whole gang is back together again. Sawyer asks Miles, “Is he still crazy?” “On a whole new level, man,” Miles affirms. Daniel is in a hurry and in no mood to explain. He apologizes for being rude to Jack then explains that he is there for a reason. “Does anyone know where I can find the hostiles?” Juliet wants to know why Daniel wants to know that. “Because one of them is my mother and she is the only one who can get us back to where we belong.”

Jack thinks they should help Daniel find the hostiles since he’s totally all about the whole “we don’t belong here” theory that Daniel has been promoting. “We belonged with here just fine until you came back,” Sawyer says. Jack looks at Kate, “You know where they are.” Kate is torn between loyalty to Jack and Sawyer and Juliet solves her dilemma for her by announcing the code to the security gate. “You should take Daniel,” she tells Kate. “It’s over here for us anyway.” Kate, jack and Daniel start to leave and Sawyer calls after them, “When you realize you’ve made a huge mistake, we’ll be back at the beach right where we started.” He looks a Juliet, “Time to go.”

As they are walking out, Daniel can’t help himself when he sees Lil Charlotte swinging on the famous Dharma swing set. “I’ll meet you at the motor pool. I need just a minute.” He tells Kate and Jack. “We aren’t allowed to have chocolate before dinner,” Charlotte tells Daniel, which is also the last sentence she utters before dying. “Listen do you know Dr. Chang? You have to leave. I tried to avoid telling you this; I don’t think it would change things. You cannot be here and you cannot come back.”

The Charlotte business having been disposed of, Jake, Kate and Daniel go to collect some guns, but they are caught by some Dharma hippies. A huge shootout occurs in which our heroes blast their way out of Mos Eisley and make their getaway in a jeep and I rest my poor, poor hands.

As Kate dismantles the sonic fence, Jack attends to the graze wound on Daniel’s neck. “This is our present, Jack. Did I have a scar on my neck when I met you? Any one of us can die, Jack.”

Meanwhile, back a Dharmaville, Sawyer, Jules et al are getting ready to fly the coop. “You called it the minute those yahoos got here,” Sawyer tells Juliet. “You still got my back?” “You still got mine?” Poor Juliet. I think she thinks Sawyer is going to leave her for Kate. They exchange pledges of love, when the alarm starts going off. The hippies who just got into the shootout with Jack Kate and Daniel arrive and want Sawyer to do something about it. In addition to the claim that, “I just got shot by a physicist!” Baldy insists they’ve been infiltrated. Phil takes this opportunity to make some noise and he is discovered by the shootout hippies and Sawyer and Juliet are in heap big trouble.

On the trek through the jungle, Jack begins to question Daniel. “Are you ready to tell me why she was wrong, why we don’t belong here?” This came at me really fast, so here’s a pretty good summation of Daniel said, if I do say so myself:
“In about 4 hours the Dharma folks are going to drill into a pocket of energy with catastrophic results. They will have to cover up the whole area with concrete like Chernobyl. (Remember back in season two with Sayid and Jack beneath the hatch and Sayid said something similar about Chernobyl???) I think you called it the hatch. The Swan hatch. They will spend the next twenty years pressing a button to keep that energy at bay. Then one day, Desmond will fail to push the button and it will cause your plane to crash. The entire chain of events is going to start happening this afternoon.”

Because of the incident.

Daniel continues, “I’ve been spending so much time thinking about the constants, I haven’t been thinking about the variables. We’re the variables: people. I think I can negate the energy and stop the entire chain of events from happening and your plane will land just like it’s supposed to.”

“What are you going to do?” Kate wants to know. “I’m going to detonate a hydrogen bomb.” Kate’s all, “Well, that seems rather harsh.” But you can see that Jack is intrigued with this whole, I-can-erase-the-past-by-blowing-up-the-island idea. Jack would rather risk vaporization by H-bomb than live through the last three years, even though he already did it.

They arrive at camp Other and Daniel leaves immediately to walk into Camp “Wish me luck.” He raises his gun and begins demanding to see Eloise. Richard, who was enjoying his second or third cup of Other coffee comes out and tries to be reasonable, saying, “I’m sorry. Ellie isn’t here right now, can I take a message?” But Daniel is having none of it. He recognizes Richard, and Richard recognizes that Daniel recognizes him. “Where’s the bomb?” He asks Richard, after a brief explanation of how they know each other. Suddenly Daniel is shot from behind and it’s Ellie who has shot him. Eloise leans over him and Daniel tells her in his dying breath, “You knew. You always knew. You knew this would happen but you sent me here anyway.” “Who are you?” Eloise wants to know. “I’m your son.”

Next week
Jack wants to erase the past using the extreme eraser...

Ben Linus reads a nursery rhyme

2009-04-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, Losties, we got totally gypped with that loser recap episode this week, however this little three minute clip may more than make up for it. Enjoy.

The Story of the Oceanic Six

2009-04-22T18:46:00.001-07:00

I must admit, I'm more than a little insulted by this special. This is season freakin' five after all! Those of us who are still sticking around have been paying really really close attention. We're following the timeline because we know it's important. We get it.

So we didn't need a Michelle-bumps-her-head-and-loses-her-memory-only-to-regain-it-by-reliving-past-episodes-while-DJ-Stef-Danny-Joey-and-Uncle-Jesse-wring-their-worried-hands episode. We needed a new ORIGINAL episode. This is like a cheat for lame part-time fans who have lives that mean something outside of this show.

Anybody get anything out of that episode that we didn't already know?

Some Like It Hoth SE5 EP13

2009-04-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

That douche is my dad.

A so-so episode filling in more of the mythology of Miles, one of the two more interesting cast additions from last year who are still with us. (The other one shows up at the end of this episode.) This was a total fanboy (or fangirl) episode in that we return to the geeking out over the numbers and of course Hurley’s awesome Star Wars dissertation at the end. Heavy themes of father son relationships have permeated the whole series and this episode was another piece in that mosaic.

The origins of the Maelstrom
The scene opens with a shot of the microwave clock showing 3:16 which is the number of the flight that brough back Kate Jack Hurley, et al. Young Miles is about five and we see his “ability" in more depth. Miles knows when an incident has occurred and the dead “speak” to him. He suspects something has happened at the new apartment complex where his mother is renting an apartment and follows his instincts to an apartment. He gets into the apartment by finding a key—that’s under the White Rabbit. He can “hear” the dead man speaking to him.

Later, we see a pierced teenage Miles looking very much like his mutant character in the X-Men. Miles is visiting his dying mother at the old apartment. He needs his mother to tell him why is the way he is. Where is his father? He wants to know. “Your father kicked us out when you were just a baby. He didn’t want anything to do with us. The less you knew, the better. He has been dead a long time.” Miles’ mother explains. “Where is his body?” Miles asks. Miles’ mother knows why he is asking. “Somewhere you can never go.”

Miles is meeting with a client to talk to his dead son. He is a bit taken aback when he finds that the boy has been cremated. The distraught father, Mr. Gray, only wants to know if his son loved knew that he loved him. After Miles tells him that it’s going to cost extra, he says, “Your son says he knew that you loved him. He always knew.” He lies. He pockets the money and walks away. As he is leaving, he is approached by our old friend Naomi. Naomi brings Miles to a restaurant where there is a dead man in a body bag. This is Miles’ “audition” to join the Widmore expedition. “What can you tell me about this man?” Naomi asks. “His name is Felix, he’s on his way to deliver something to a guy named Widmore. Pictures of empty graves, purchase order for an old airplane.” That’s enough for Naomi. “I’m leading an expedition to an island. I need you to find a man. There are many dead people on this island that he killed that may lead us to him.” Miles is not interested in looking for a mass murderer and passes. “My employer is willing to pay you $1.6 million dollars,” Naomi says. Miles is interested.

Later, Miles is eating a fish taco (and by the way, “fish taco”? Yuk!) and is jumped by some men in a van. “My name is Bram.” The leader tells him once he gets him in the van. “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” Miles does not. Bram tells him he’s not ready to go to the island and tries to convince him to work with his guys instead of Widmore. “If you come with us you’ll know. You’ll know why you have a gift, you’ll know who you are. You’ll know who your father is.” “I don’t care about my father,” Miles protests. “I care about money. So if you want me to join your team, your going to have to double Widmore’s offer. $3.2 million dollars.” Bram shakes his head sadly and dumps Miles out. “You’re playing for the wrong team.” “Oh yeah? Which team are you playing for?” Miles counters. “The one that’s gonna win.”

Before Miles leaves on his expedition, he re-visits Mr. Gray. “I’m about to go on a boat trip,” he says as he gives back the money. “I lied to you. I wasn’t able to talk to your son.” “Why are you telling me this? You could have let me go on believing,” Mr. Gray wants to know. “If you needed your son to know you loved him, you should have told him when he was still alive.”

The Circle of Trust…and Life
Sawyer calls back to Miles at the observation post and asks him to erase the tapes that show him and Kate taking Lil Ben over to the Others. Miles has just finished complying when Horace walks in asking for LeFleur. Miles covers for him so Horace has no choice but to bring him into the “Circle of Trust”. He hands something to Miles and tells him to give it to Radzinski in sector 334 and bring back whatever Radzinski gives him. “Isn’t that hostile territory?” Miles wants to know. “Just bring it back, no questions asked.” Horace tells him.

When Miles gets back from sector 334 (and after asking our man in the body bag what befell him) Horace tells Miles to bring the body out to Dr. Chang at the orchid (home of white rabbits) which Miles is clearly uncomfortable doing. What a coincidence, Hurley is going there too. He hitches a ride with Miles since he is clearly clueless at the hints Miles is giving him about his secret mission. By the time Hurley figures it out, Miles has given up and Hurley is along for the ride.

Meanwhile, Kate has returned and updates Juliet on Ben’s delivery to Richard Eyeliner. Then Roger bursts in and wants to know where Ben is. Juliet give him some lame, half finished response about how she left for ten minutes and came back to find him gone. Roger is so panicked that he doesn’t even question it—he leaves in a huff.

We next see Hurley and miles on their way out to the Orchid. In spite of fabulous dialog and interaction between Hurley and Miles in the rest of the episode, this scene felt not only forced, but contrived with Hurley “smelling something foul”. But whatever. The whole purpose of the scene was to advance the following plot points:
A) For Miles to reveal how the guy died. “His name was Alvarez. He was digging a hole when he felt a sharp pain in his mouth, which was a filling that then blew through his skull.” Working on building the Swan, are we?
B) For Hurley to discover that Miles can talk to dead people and to promise that his secret is safe with Hurley because….
C) Hurey: “I can talk to ‘em too.”

Back at New Old Otherton, Roger is getting drunk on the swingset. For some strange reason, Roger inspires sympathetic tendencies in Kate and she feels like consoling him about Ben. “I just have a feeling that he’s gonna be ok,” She tells Roger. “Wait. A ‘feeling’?” Roger is suspicious. “You know something don’t you?” Clearly, this was a big mistake. Kate starts to walk away shaking her head. “I’m just trying to help.” “Well next time,” Roger calls, “Mind your own business.”

Now we’re getting to some good Miles/Hurley dialog. Miles is incredulous that Hurley talks to dead people, but it’s not the same as how Miles talks to them. “You have conversations with them, like they’re your pals? What I can do has nothing to do with talking, it’s just a sense.” Hurley retorts, “You’re just jealous that my power’s better than yours.”

Hurley and Miles arrive at the Orchid. Dr. Chang/Candle/Halliwax is pissed that Miles is with Hurley. “You were supposed to come here alone.” “He came here to deliver lunch,” Miles explains. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about the body,” Hurley promises. Dr. Chang is still in a high state of agitation.“You stay here till I get back,” He barks at Hurley. “Dude, that guy’s a real douche,” Hurley observes. “That douche is my dad,” Miles admits.

To Hurley, this revelation is the coolest thing ever. “How weird is that your dad was in all those movies?” Dr. Chang rejoins them before Hurley can get too far into it and threatens to assign Hurley to Hydra Island where he will be doomed to weigh Polar Bear feces for his entire stay on the island if he talks. “You got it?” “Polar Bear poop, got it.” Hurley replies. “What happened to the body?” Miles wants to know. “What body?” Dr. Chang answers.

Back in New Old Otherton, Jack is having a little janitor on janitor action with Roger. “This room is on my rounds,” a drunk Roger whines. “I figured I’d cover for you on account of your kid,” Jack offers. Roger, who really never has anything nice to say to anyone tells Jack, “Kate’s got some sort of weird thing for my kid. I’m beginning to think that she’s got something to do with this. I should go to Horace and report her. What do you think?” Jack thinks it’s a bad idea and he thinks Roger is drunk. Furthermore, “I know that woman and she’d never do anything to hurt your son.”

The ride with Dr. Chang was a priceless piece of Hurley antagonistic dialog and totally overshadows that previous awkward conversation on the way out.. “So! Dr. Chang! What is it that you do you do here?” “That’s classified.” “Really, so you can’t tell your wife or your kids?” “No. And my son is only three months old.” “What’s his name?” “Miles.” “Miles! What a coincidence! Isn’t that YOUR name, Miles? Small world! We should all get together AND HAVE SOME BEERS. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Miles and Hurley drop Dr. Chang off at the Swan building site---in sector 334 where they are not supposed to be. Two workers are working on the hatch. “What’s the serial number?” We all know it “4 8 15 16 23 …”. But of course the last number is smudged. “42.” Says Hurley. “How’d you know that?” Miles asks. “Because. They’re building our hatch. The one that crashed our plane.”

On the way back to New Old Otherton, Hurley continues his wonder at the awesomeness of Miles discovering his dad on the island. ”This is kind of awesome for you. He was totally down with that beer. Maybe he’ll let you hold baby you.” Miles angry, annoyed and frustrated by Hurley, insists he doesn’t want to know his father because his father was never around. “He’s dead! He’s gone!” “Dude, he’s not gone. He’s here.” Miles has had enough of this. He steals Hurley’s copy book and starts reading what he wrote. It's the opening scene of The Empire Strikes Back. “It’s 1977, right?" Hurley explains. "Star Wars just came out and it’s a huge hit. Since I’ve seen Empire Strikes Back like a million times, I though I’d save Lucas the trouble and send him the script. With a few improvements.” Miles thinks that’s the dumbest thing ever, but I think it’s a great idea, except for the fact that Empire was the best of all the Star Wars movies. Now if he could go back in time and re-write “Revenge of the Sith”, that’s something I could totally get behind.

Sawyer reurns home after a tough day at the office. “What a day. D’ya ever feel like that little Dutch boy with his finger in the dam?” Juliet demurely clears her throat to indicate that Jack is there. Jack informs Sawyer that Roger thinks Kate had something to do with Ben’s disappearance. “She talked to him, tried to make him feel better. Her heart was in the right place.” “Thanks for filling me in doc.” Soon after Jack leaves, Phil shows up. “We’ve got a development. I know who took that kid.” “Who?” Sawyer asks. “You.” “There’s an explanation for that. Did you tell Horace yet?” Sawyer says as he leads Phil into the house. Phil, feeling like after three years of working together thinks he owes Sawyer some loyalty, never really gets to finish his thought because Sawyer knocks him out. “Get some rope.” He tells Jules.

Hurley, meanwhile , is not letting up on the dad thing with Miles. “My dad left when I was 10 Best thing I ever did was give him a second chance.” Miles says he never knew his dad and doesn’t want to know him now. Hurley begins to analize Miles in the context of Empire Strikes Back, which is priceless. “That’s was Luke’s attitude too. Darth Vader was his father and Luke didn’t want to put the light sabers down and talk it out. But at what cost? It got his hand cut off. Two Death Stars destroyed. Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlak. And we got Ewoks. Ewoks, dude. And let’s face it, Ewoks suck.” Amen brother!

Miles is observing Dr. Chang play with baby Miles through the window, contemplating the great circles of life, Ewoks and unknow fathers. Maybe Dr. Chang is NOT on the dark side, Miles thinks. Then he comes out of the cottage and asks Miles for a ride down to the dock. “There are scientists arriving from Ann Arbor.” When they arrive at the dock, climbing out of the sub is Daniel Faraday. “Dan!” Miles says, surprised. “Hey Miles!” Daniel says. “Long time no see.”

Next week:
I’m confused. Is there a new episode, or just a new “special”? Is there something more special about the 100th episode as opposed to the 99th, assuming this episode was not the 99th?

Dead is Dead SE5 EP12

2009-04-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

“I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you.”

There was a lot to digest in this episode tonight, what with Smokey’s lair, the lore of Alex and standing in the shadow of the statue. Not to mention the whole “orderly regime change” theme throughout, from Charles to Ben and Ben to Locke. Plus, we still don’t know what happened to Penny or why Ben needs Sun to apologize to Desmond, unless it’s just for shooting him through his groceries. By the way, I love Locke. Especially now with his new found confidence and power.

Daddy’s girl
Charles rides up into a rather primitive looking Otherton and confronts Richard as to why he took the boy to the Temple. “Jacob wanted it done,” Richard explains. “The island chooses who the island chooses. You know that.” Widmore does know that and goes in to the tent. Ben tells Charles he wants to stay with the Others and not go back to his dad. Charles explains that just because he doesn’t live with them, doesn’t mean he’s not one of them.

And that is how Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore first meet.

Flash forward a few years to young Ben and Ethan on a mission in the jungle. They come across young Rousseau’s tent. Ben pulls his gun on her because he is there to kill her. But when he hears the baby cry, he cannot do it. So he takes the liberty of changing the mission. “Do you want your baby to live? If you want your baby to live, every time you hear whispers you run the other way.” Ben shoots into the ground, takes Alex and walks away, leaving and insane Rousseau behind.

“Well, did you do it?” Charles asks, upon Ben’s return to camp. “We had a complication.” Benn announces, and holds up Alex. Charles is disappointed and he and Ben have an argument over the best interests of the island and who has them in mind. “Is killing this baby what Jacob wants?” Ben challenges Charles. “Then here she is; you do it.” Obviously Charles doesn’t do it because we see Ben pushing a young Alex on the swingset in the next scene.

Ben walks out on the dock, where Charles is boarding the sub. “I came to say goodbye.” “No, you came to gloat” Charles counters. “You brought this on yourself, “Ben explains. “You left the island again and again. You had a daughter with an outsider.” (oops, Jeni, scrap that “Penny and Daniel are twins” theory. It was good while it lasted.) “I’ll sacrifice whatever it takes for the island,” Ben says smugly. “You won’t sacrifice Alex. If the island wants her dead, she’ll be dead,” Charles warns. “One day you’ll be standing in my place as here as an exile.”

Ben is back on the mainland at the marina. He phones Charles. “I’m going back to the island today. But first I’m going to do one thing. I’m going to kill your daughter. In fact, I’m looking at ‘Our Mutual Friend’ right now. That’s the name of the boat, right?” Charles pleads in vain for Ben to stop. Ben shoots Des then raises his gun on Penny. Ben tells Penny who he is and why he is there. Penny begins trying to negotiate with Ben in much the same manner that Ben tried to negotiate with Keamy before he killed Alex. Little Charlie hears the commotion and comes out, which causes Ben to pause—just like he did when he was sent to kill Rousseau and just long enough for Des to revive, tackle him from behind and pound the living crap out of him then dump him in the drink.

Smoke gets in your eyes
“Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.” Locke is sitting over Ben’s bed on the mini island. Ben seems genuinely shocked that Locke is alive, then he says he knew it would happen. Locke asks the same question—if you always knew it would happen then why are you so surprised? “I’ve always believed, but it’s a whole other thing to see it.” Locke asks him why he was going to the main island. “I was going back to be judged.” “Judged by whom?” Locke wants to know. The Others apparently don’t have a word for it but we all know it and love it as the Smoke Monster.

Cesar and Ben have a little interaction wherein Ben plants just enough suspicion in the already paranoid Caesar’s head to make him dangerous with his sawed off shotgun. “I couldn’t have killed him! He must be crazy! What if he was already here?” Ben, recognizing an easy mark, works his charm on Cesar against Locke

Ben rummages through his old desk and finds a ….photograph? old report card…..? drawing…? Whatever it is, it’s sentimental. Locke seems bemused that Ben sat behind a desk and ran things from an office on the island. “I never pictured you in an office. It just seems so corporate.”

Locke then requests that they talk about the elephant in the room. “I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you?” Ben asks.

It was then that Ben launched into one of his patented lengthy monologues, babbling on about WHY he killed Lock, about it being “the only way to get you back to the island” and “in the best interests of the island.” And how Locke had valuable information that Ben needed”….blah blah blah. Then Locke interrupts him. “I was just hoping for an apology.” He smiles. “I’ve decided to help you do what you said you were going to do: be judged. If everything you said was true that it was in the best interest of the island, I’m sure the monster will understand.”

They head out to the beach to take a boat, but Cesar mistakenly thinks he’s in charge here and, suspicious of Locke because of Ben’s prior manipulation, attempts to stop them. He goes to draw his gun but –surprise!—Ben has it. “Looking for this?” BOOM! Bye bye Cesar and thank you writers. He was already 10 spoken lines past annoying.

Ben and Locke make small talk about Ben’s various injuries and who inflicted them (Ben never seems to be 100% healthy in this show; he’s always recovering from an ass beating.) Ben cryptically offers, “I’ve found sometimes that friends can be significantly more dangerous than enemies.”

Locke confronts Ben about what he is atoning for: it’s not for breaking the rules, or coming back to the island, or killing Locke. “I think you are lying. You need to atone for killing your daughter.” You can pretty much see that Locke has nailed that one just by the look on Ben’s face.

As it becomes apparent that they are making their way back to New Otherton, Locke wants to know “Whose idea was it to move into these houses? Because it just doesn’t seem like something the island would want.” “You don’t have the first clue as to what the island wants.” Ben replies prissily. “You sure about that?” Locke smirks.

A light goes on in Alex’s room and there is movement by the window. It’s Sun and Frank. She shows Ben the picture of the Lostaways in 1977. Ben is/acts shocked. “Your friends were in the Dharma initiative?” He asks incredulously. “I knew nothing about this.” Sun, bored with trying to figure out whether Ben is lying or telling the truth, sighs and changes the subject. She tells him about Christian telling them to wait there for John Locke so that they can see their friends again. “But since Locke is dead, we’re not holding our breath,” Frank grumbles. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Ben replies, indicating that they should look out the window. And there’s John Locke, offering them a friendly wave.

Frank delivers two lines here that clearly belonged to Hurley, because they totally bomb as humor without Jorge Garcia’s delivery. “As long as the dead guy says everything is ok, Your friends are somewhere in the past and we’re going to follow the dead guy.” Frank, voice of sanity and the mainland is clearly confused about the rules of the island. Frank is leaving to go back to the other island and try to fix the radio. He implores Sun to go with him. “If you leave with him, you’ll never find your husband again,” Locke tells her. That’s enough for Sun. Frank’s on his own. “We’ll start looking for Jin,” Locke promises.” But Ben has something to do first, isn’t that right?” “That’s right John.” Delivered with perfect creepy inflection “Better get to it,” Locke urges.

Ben goes down into the Smoke monster cave and pulls the plug on a muddy tub of water. He comes back up to the porch and asks Sun, “Where did John go?” “He had something to do,” Sun replies. Then she concludes that, “Jack must have lied. Locke was not dead in that coffin.” Ben assures Sun that Locke was indeed dead and he KNOWS this. “I’ve seen this island perform miracles and heal the sick. But dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living crap out of me. Now, you may want to go inside, because whatever is coming out of that jungle, I can’t control.” This is truer than Ben thinks: It’s Locke.

Locke is impatient with Ben’s penance. “It isn’t here yet?” “It’s not a train, John; it doesn’t run on a schedule.” Locke thinks if it doesn’t come to them, they should go look for it. “I only know how to summon it, not where it’s going to be.” Ben whines. “I know where it is.” Locke answers.

“How is it that you know where we are going? Did you just wake up one morning with the secrets of the universe?” Ben complains. “You don’t like this, do you?” Locke replies. “Blindly following someone, asking questions you don’t know the answers to.” Ben does not. Welcome to my world, says Locke.

They come to the temple, or rather, the wall around the temple and Locke tells them they are not going in to the temple, they are going under it, as they come upon the hole where the Frenchy was sucked down. Ben turns to Sun and tells her, if you ever get back to the mainland, find Desmond Hume and tell him I’m sorry.” “Why?” Sun wants to know. “He’ll know.” Ben replies.
Meanwhile Lapidus makes it back to the beach but Alanah and some of the other survivors of 316 have found themselves a cache of guns and it’s all Lord of the Flies back there. Alanah summons Frank and begins asking him over and over, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Frank doesn’t have the first freaking clue, of course, so for his trouble he gets a rifle butt to the head. “Tie him up. He’s coming with us.”

Ben admits to Locke that Locke was right about the Alex atonement mission. “The island gave me a choice. I could leave the island or let my daughter die. All I had to do is go with them. John, you were right, I did kill Alex. And now I have to answer for that. I appreciate you showing me the way, but I think I can take it from here.” Ben walks on and falls through the floor into the old set of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are pillars with primitive hieroglyphics all around and in front of him, a grate on the floor with a graphic of Smokey confronting what looks like Anubis, the Egyptian dog-headed god of the underworld.

Smokey comes out and much like it did with Eko, shows flashes of Ben’s life—specifically about Alex. Then Smokey retreats and Ben is left alone---with Alex. Or rather, Ben is left alone with the island in the image of Alex, like Yemmi with Eko. Ben begs Alex’s forgiveness, tells her that her death was all his fault.

Alex knows this.

Alex then gets a little ticked off and jacks Ben up against the wall. She also knows that Ben is planning to kill Locke again and she warns him not to touch him and to listen to every word he says. She makes him promise his allegiance to Locke out loud or she will hunt him down. Ben complies, falls to the floor and rises to find Alex gone.

Meanwhile Sallah has found some Nazi flags to tie together to hoist Indy out of the crypt.

“Are you ok?” Locke asks from topside. “What happened?”

Ben, with more despair in his voice than I‘ve ever heard him use, replies,

“It let me live.”

Next week
We’re back in 1977.

Whatever Happened, Happened SE5 EP11

2009-04-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

“Bye bye, Baby.”
More fill in of pieces we didn’t know. E find out more about Kate’s missing time and that she actually had a pretty close relationship with Cassidy ad Sawyer’s daughter Clementine. An ok episode with standout moments between Hurley and Miles and that devastating scene at the end with Kate and Claire’s mom.

1977 Dharma Time
Dharma CSI, consisting of the lone member Horace, is conducting an investigation, which is really more like jumping to rather obviously wrong conclusions. Horace just knows the Others, specifically Sayid, are behind the breakout and the burning hippie van. Jack, still steamed that he, the neurosurgeon, demonstrated an aptitude as a workman, asks Horace “If he was locked up, then how did he start the fire?” Horace tells him that his help is not wanted or needed. Not only that, but, “The Security cameras didn’t pick up anyone, that means it was one of us.”

Kate and Roger Workman work together to remove the hippie bus from the front of the house. They strike up an easy banter. Then Jin rolls in with the injured Ben.
Kate seeks out sawyer in his multi-TV screen security room. She wants to know whats going on. Sawyer tells her, “Keep your mouth shut and stop asking questions.” At which time Horace shows up and wants to know, “What is she doing here?” Sawyer lies to cover it up, but he knows that things are quickly spiraling out of control, so he enlists Miles to gather up the new arrivals and put them under house arrest. When Jack questions this arrangement, Miles delivers one of the best lines of the night, “No. You’re free to leave whenever you want. I’ll just have to shoot you in the leg.”

Sawyer checks in on Juliet, who is feverishly working on Ben. He’s bleeding, but Juliet cannot find the source. “He needs a real surgeon,” she tells Sawyer—meaning Jack. So Sawyer treks back to the cabin where Miles is holding the new arrivals under house arrest.

Hurley apparently read Sig’s comments last week and knows that the rules of time travel include, but are not limited to: if you go into the past and change the future, then you disappear. So Hurley is watching intently to make sure he’s not fading ala Back to the Future. Miles explains how idiotic this is because, as he says, Ben lived, “We just weren’t around to see how it turns out.”

Meanwhile, Sawyer has asked Jack to step in to help save Ben and Jack says no. Sawyer can’t believe it, “If you don’t come with me, Doc, that kid’s gonna die!” “Then he dies.” Jack says. After Sawyer leaves, Kate lays into him. Jack is unremorseful while he makes his sandwich. “30 Years from now that man is going to lock me in a cage because he needs surgery, then he’s going to send you into beg me to do it so he doesn’t kill Sawyer. I already saved Ben once for you, Kate.” Jack says, which is a good point. “Maybe the Island wants to fix things itself. Maybe I was just getting in the way.” Kate replies, “I don’t like the new you. You didn’t used to just sit around and wait for things to happen.” You didn’t like the old me either.” Jack retorts, which is also a good point.

Kate storms out without Miles shooting her in the leg and goes to Jules to donate blood. She is frustrated by Jack’s refusal to help and tells Juliet all about it. “Something happened between you two?” Juliet asks, sensing that Kate’s frustration runs deeper than what she’s letting on. “We were engaged, does that count?”

Roger comes in to see how Ben is doing and he looks genuinely broken up for a guy who was just pounding on the same kid a few hours before. Roger knows that Ben stole his keys. And he knows it’s because of him. Kate is sympathetic to Roger while he tells the sad story of Ben’s mom dying in childbirth. “I thought I was gonna be the best dad ever. But I guess a boy just needs his mother.” And you can see Kate reading the double meaning into this remark and applying it to Aaron.
One of the best exchanges of the night was Hurley and Miles discussing time travel. I was too busy enjoying it to take it down verbatim, but the general gist Miles was trying to get across to Hurley was, “All this already happened. The time line is not straight anymore” But Hurley out maneuvers him. “Sayid tortured Ben back in our time. So then why wouldn’t Ben remember getting shot by that same guy when he’s a kid?” Miles is stumped. “Good question.”

Kate and Juliet are discussing Ben’s condition. Kate seems almost desperate for Ben not to die. Suddenly, you can see the light go on for Juliet. “Maybe there’s something that they can do.” “They?” Kate asks. “The Others.” So Kate and Juliet load Ben into the hippie bus and Kate takes him out to the sonic fence. Ben tells Kate to tell his dad that he’s sorry he stole his keys. Kate looks up to see the approach of another hippie bus. It’s Sawyer. Kate thinks he’s there to stop her. “Dammit Freckles, I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to help you.”
“Why are you helping me?” Kate wants to know. “Because Juliet said, No matter what he’s going to grow up to be, its wrong to let a kid die. I’m doing it for her.” Sawyer tells her.

Meanwhile, Juliet has a bone to pick with Jack. “Where’s Jack?” she asks, barging in on Miles and Hurley’s continuing time travel discussion. Juliet walks in on Jack getting out of the shower. She’s mad because she needed his help and he wouldn’t give it. She wants to know why he came back. Jack says he came back to save them. Juliet doesn’t believe him. ”We didn’t need saving. You came back here for you.” Jack shakes his head. “I came back because I was supposed to.” “Supposed to do what?” Juliet wants to know. “I don’t know yet.”

Kate tells Sawyer that Roger knows that Sawyer knows that Ben stole his keys. “A kid will do almost anything if he’s pissed off at his folks.” “Is that why you asked me to take of your daughter?” Kate asks. “What’s she like?” Sawyer wants to know, so Kate tells him, her affection for the girl clear in every word. “When she smiles, she looks just like you.” “I’ll bet you and Cassidy had a lot to talk about,” Sawyer leads. “She had an interesting theory as to why you jumped off the helicopter. Because you were afraid of what would happen if you didn’t.” Which is true, since Ben completely manipulated Sawyer by telling him that once they got back to real life his con man didn’t stand a chance against Jack’s neurosurgeon. Sawyer had no way of knowing that Jack would become a pill popping paranoid junkie. Sawyer tells Kate he had no business being Kate’s boyfriend or Clementine’s father.
Their chat comes to an abrupt end as the Others surround them. Sawyer tells them, “This kid’s been shot and it’s both of our problems. So you’re going to take us to Richard Alpert now.”

Richard meets them in the woods and sawyer is all surprised to see him. You’;d think these strange Other powers would cease to be so surprising by now. Sawyer and Kate ask Richer to save Ben. “If I take him, he will never be the same. His innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us.” Kate and Sawyer, knowing this to already be true, agree to Richard’s terms and release him to the Others.
One of the Others scolds Richard, “You shouldn’t do this without asking Ellie. And if Charles finds out… “ he warns. Richard doesn’t care. “I don’t’ answer to either one of them.” Richard takes Ben to the Temple and disappears inside…

…and we flash to Ben in the present time, recovering from his injuries “Hello Ben,” Locke smiles.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

After the Crash
Kate shows up at Cassidy’s house right after the plane crash with a baybay Aaron. She is singing “Catch a falling star, never let it fade away.” Blah blah blah—look I know that song has some significance, but this annoying piece of Lost minutiae is eluding me at the moment. Cassidy is happy to see Kate—besides being old friends on the con game a couple months back, she’s seen Kate on TV and has told her friends she knows her. “What are you doing here?” Cassidy wants to know. “Sawyer sent me,” Kate replies.

“Sawyer asked me to take care of his daughter,” Kate tells Cassidy handing her a big wad of cash. Cassidy is having none of it; she has no romantic notions about Sawyer and furthermore, she knows Sawyer has somehow dumped Kate, too. “You got the same look on your face that I had when he dumped me.” Kate tells Cassidy the truth about the Oceanic Six, but lies about Aaron being her son. Cassidy calls her on it. “Why are you lying to me about him?” “Because I have to.” Kate explains cryptically.

Then we flashback to pivotal the dock scene. Again.

As they leave the dock, Aaron tells Kate he is thirsty, so Kate stops at the supermarket. Aaron wants a juice box. She takes her eyes off him for a second and he’s gone. She panics, looking for him but can’t find him anywhere. Then she spots him walking towards the exit holding the hand of a woman with long wavy blond hair just like Claire’s. She turns around and it’s not Claire, but man, did your heart skip a few beats like Kate’s? Don’t bother answering. You know it did.
Kate shows up at Cassidy’s house where Clementine greets her warmly at the door, “Hi Auntie Kate!”

Clearly rattled, Kate collapses on Cassidy’s couch. “I lost him. The crazy thing is, that as scared as I was, I wasn’t surprised. All I could think was, ‘its’ about time.’ Why would I think that way? Why would I expect him to be taken?” Kate wonders aloud. “Because you took him, Kate.” Cassidy answers. “But he needed me,” Kate explains. “No,” Cassidy counters, “you needed him, Kate. Sawyer broke your heart. How else were you supposed to fix it?”

We next see Kate at the door of a familiar motel. It’s Claire’s mom. Kate goes in and tells Claire’s mom about her grandson. She explains he’s sleeping peacefully two doors down. Kate hands her a picture of Aaron. “He’s so sweet and kind and good.” She says, with tears running down her face. “I told him you’re his grandmother and that you’ll take care of him until I come back.” “Where are you going?” Claire’s mom wants to know.

“I’m going back to find your daughter.”

Next Week:
Ben came back to be judged? Really? Who’s buying that? Can I have a show of hands?

Oh and that teaser about “the most dangerous man on the island?” Yeah. Don’t be so sure it’s Ben.

He’s Our You SE5 EP10

2009-03-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

A twelve year old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I’m doing?

This episode marks the return of the traditional Lost format: Real time interspersed with flashbacks focusing on one character. Tonight we see Sayid, and while this episode makes some strides in telling us how Sayid grew to hate Ben, it does not tell the whole story. A good episode with a solid ending—I truly didn’t think Sayid would go through with his “mission” until the target finally dropped to the ground. Of course, he could get thrown in a pit and Walt could come to see him, so whatever. He may not be dead.

Chicken Salad Sandwich
The opening scene is in Tikrit, Iraq. We see a young boy being told by his father that he must kill a chicken to be a man. The boy cannot do it. His younger brother (we presume) comes out, lures the chicken in with some feed and quickly snaps his neck. So I guess the writers were thinking that it was going to be some kind of “OMG” moment when they revealed that the chicken killer was Sayid, but really, was there any doubt after the neck snap?

Sayid is in Russia, pursuing his prey, which he overcomes easily. He meets Ben outside, eager for his next assignment. “Where to next?” Sayid asks. “Nowhere,” Ben replies. “We’re done. You’ve killed all the people that posed a threat to your friends. Congratulations. Mission accomplished.” Sayid is at a loss. Killing for Ben is all he has known. “What should I do now?” “Go live your life. You’re free.” Ben replies.

Sayid is in Santo Domingo at the hippie Habitat for Humanity camp, trying to turn over a new leaf and be a good person. Then Ben shows up for a heavy manipulation session. He tells Sayid that Locke is dead. “I’d say he was murdered…” Oh, would you Ben? Really? “…as retribution for the work we’ve been doing. They found him and now they’re sitting outside of Hurley’s psyche ward. You need to come back and kill them. If they can find Locke they can find you.” Then he brings out the big guns, “Every choice you’ve made in your life---murder, torture-- was not really a choice at all, was it? You’re a killer, Sayid. It’s what you are.” Sayid protests, “I’m not what you think I am.” “Then I apologize.” Ben says insincerely. “I was mistaken about you.” But you can almost hear him thinking, “No I wasn’t.”

We revisit the scene at the boatyard where Sayid tells Ben if he ever sees him again it will be very unpleasant for everyone. Got that? The writers are hitting us over the head with a sledgehammer: Sayid has a grudge against Ben. Sayid wants to kill Ben. And what’s going on in the other timeline? Oh, that’s right: Ben’s bringing Sayid chicken salad sandwiches. It’s like that episode where Michelle fell on the ice and lost her memory, so DJ, Steffi, Uncle Jesse, Joey and Danny have to tell her stories of the past two seasons in flash-back form until she gets her memory back.

Sayid is drinking McCutcheon scotch in a bar when Alana shows up and starts hitting on him. McCutcheon scotch is what Widmore drinks, but not what Desmond drinks because Widmore wouldn’t waste it on Desmond. Sayid asks Alana, “Are you a professional?” “A professional what?” she responds. And I agree. As far as pick up lines go, that one leaves much to be desired. After they get over the awkwardness of Sayid’s inept line, Alana tells Sayid that Sayid looks sad and “I like sad men. What do you do?” She asks “I’m between jobs,” says Sayid, still depressed that there are no more people to kill. “What did you do?” Alana asks. “The only thing I was ever good at. And now, I’m trying to change.” Alana understands. “I know why are sad now. When you are that good at something someone is always going to tempt you into staying the same.”

So naturally, Sayid’s lame pickup line notwithstanding (and really that should have been his first clue. I mean, wouldn’t you have thrown your drink in his face, much less go back to his room, unless you had an ulterior motive?) So it looks like there's going to be some hot sex, until Alana tells Sayid to take her boot off, and instead of just doing it, he tries to be all seductive like and gives her the perfect opportunity to kick him in the face. Damn. She WAS a professional after all.

“Who hired you?” Sayid wants to know. “The family of Peter Avellino-- the man you killed in cold blood on the golf course.” “You’re a bounty hunter?” “It doesn’t matter.” Alana says.

Sayid and Alana are getting on the plane, but when Sayid sees who else is there in pre-board, he’s like a little girl. “Can’t we get another flight?” he whines to Alana. “Man up, Sayid, “Alana responds. Once they are on the plane, Sayid asks Alana if she works for Benjamin Linus. Alana seems genuinely perplexed but God knows if she really is. “Who’s Benjamin Linus?” She wants to know. “A genocidal, manipulative maniac.” Sayid answers. “Why would I work for somebody like that?”Alana wants to know, and really Sayid, when you put it that way, it just seems so distasteful. Sayid tells her he did indeed work for someone just like that.

Then that someone gets on the plane and meaningful stares are exchanged.

Dharma Time
In 1977, which for all intents and purposes could have been the very same year as the boyhood chicken incident we just witnessed, Lil’ Ben brings Sayid chicken salad and a book. Ben’s in the mood to talk, but Sayid isn’t. But that’s ok. Ben can hold a conversation all by himself. He does it all the time, even now. “Did Richard send you? He’s your leader right? It’s just a camera, they can see but they can’t hear. Four years ago, I ran away into the jungle and told Richard I wanted to join you. He told me to be patient. And if you’re patient too, I think I can help you.”

Horace comes into the cell with some pruning shears and cuts Sayid’s bonds. Taking note of the handcuffs, Horace asks, “Either you’re in trouble with your people or you’re a spy. So which is it?” Sayid doesn’t answer, which makes Horace suspicious.

Juliet is brooding over the return of Kate, Jack, Hurley and Sayid. “It’s over isn’t it?” Juliet asks. “Us playing house?” Sawyer doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Why do women always bring up this relationship crap when I’ve got a situation on my hands? “Nothing’s over.” He tells Jules. Then Horace shows up to voice his concerns over Sayid’s silence. “I’m just going to have Oldham do his thing on him.” Sawyer, who knows what Oldham is all about, says, “Let me have a go at him. He’ll talk to me.”

Sawyer asks Sayid how he’s doing, to which Sayid responds that he’s met Ben and he can’t understand how Sawyer can live here with him. “Yeah, sweet kid, huh?” Sawyer acknowledges. Sawyer then rushes In to Sayid’s cell and head butts him (after first apologizing, of course). Sayid wants to know what he’s doing. Sawyer explains the plan:”I’m beating your confession out of you. You’ve given me some Other info and now you want to defect.” Sayid responds with his signature line, “Now why in the world would I want to do that?” Sawyer tries to explain how this plan would be helpful to both Sayid and Sawyer, like a “win-win”: “I’ve built a life here, and a pretty good one. These people trust me. You need to do everything I say.” Ok, so maybe it’s just a “win.” Sayid recognizes that and refuses to cooperate, so Sawyer tells him he’s on his own.

In the lunchroom, Kate Jack and Hurley are swapping information and trying to get together a plan. Or maybe just trying to decide how to react to everything they see. Kate thinks she can get info out of Juliet. Hurley scoffs. “Why would she tell you anything if Sawyer wouldn’t tell Jack anything?” Kate is confused. Jack and Hurley are uncomfortable. “They’re together.” Hurly explains. “I thought it was kinda obvious. I mean, who couldn’t see that coming?”

Roger Workman comes in to swab out the jail laughing at how Sayid got caught by the inept Dharma hippies. “Yet you’re the one who mops up for them,” Sayid retorts. SNAP! We then witness a lovely domestic scene when Ben brings Sayid another sandwich and Roger Workman is there to witness it. He beats Ben right in front of Sayid. Does this insight into Ben’s formative years soften Sayid’s heart? Well, no. But we don’t know that yet, do we?

Sawyer, forced into taking Sayid to see Oldham, tells Sayid, “Last chance. Got anything to say?” Sayid does not, so it’s off to Larry’s other brother Daryl Oldham. When Sayid asks Sawyer who this guy is, Sawyer answers “He’s our you. “ And viola! A title for episode 10 is born. Larry’s other brother Darryl Oldham puts a couple of drops of something on a sugar cube and forces it into Sayid’s mouth. He tells Sayid to save his energy. “Whether you struggle or not, one thing’s for sure, friend: You will tell us the truth.”

Oldham begins questioning Sayid, asking him why he is in handcuffs. “I am in handcuffs because I am a bad man.” Sayid begins babbling, almost blowing Sawyer’s cover. Then Sayid tells them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, including the uncomfortable impending doom of the entire Dharma initiative. But what freaks out Radzinski is not the fact that they are all going to die; no. What freaks out Radzinski is the fact that Sayid knows about the Swan. How does he know about that? “I’m from the future,” Sayid says. Larry’s other brother Daryl Oldham considers that he may have given too much truth serum, “Half a dropper?” He asks Horace. “No. That was just enough,” Sayid answers and cackles like a madman.

Flash to Juliet and Kate in the motor pool where we find that the “Back off” comment in the previews was a total rip-off. Here we’re thinking we’re going to get a juicy cat fight over Sawyer and instead Kate and Juliet are all nicey-nice. Juliet says, “I didn’t know how to tell you without it sounding like me telling you to back off.” Feh. What a disappointment.

Dharma big shots are gathered in a living room to discuss the fate of Sayid, whom they are still convinced is a hostile. Plus, as Radzinski incessantly reminds everyone, he knows about the Swan and all the other stations. Horace, however, is more concerned with the violation of the truce. “We kill him. Or we consult Ann Arbor.” Radzinski wants to kill him. Sawyer tries to make the case for a defector, “He obviously has problems with his people.” “He knows things.” Radzinski protests. The argument is settled when Amy makes her case: Amy wants to kill him—for the safety of the children. “We have no choice,” Horace lamely explains. They all vote, but Sawyer does not raise his hand. Horace turns around, “I’d really like to say it’s unanimous.” So Sawyer votes yes to kill Sayid.

Sawyer visits Sayid in prison on the sly. He wants to release Sayid, but Sayid is staying put. “When I woke up in the jungle, I thought there was no purpose to it.” Sayid explains. “Now I know why I’m here.”

Sawyer ‘s buggin’ over this whole returning-to-the-island-as-destiny theory, so he approaches Kate and wants to know why Kate came back. Of course, before Kate can answer, the burning hippie bus enters the scene. Sawyer’s disgusted, “3 years, no burning busses. Y’all are back for one day…” gripe is priceless and is a line you will ONLY hear on Lost.

With all the commotion from the burning bus, Sayid is left unattended, which allows Lil’ Ben a perfect opportunity to ask Sayid for a favor. We can probably safely assume that the burning bus was a device of Lil’ Ben’s to create a diversion that would allow him this particular opportunity. “What happened to your glasses?” Sayid asks, noting that they have been damaged and clumsily repaired. “Your father? For bringing me a sandwich?” Ben nods, silent tears streaming down his face. Sayid understands. “My father was a hard man too.” Lil Ben is crying openly. “I hate it here.”Ben tells Sayid that he will let him out if Sayid agrees to take him with him—to Sayid’s people. Sayid agrees happily. “It’s the whole reason I am here.”

Sayid and Ben flee to the jungle, but a hippie bus makes them. Luckily, or not so luckily, it’s Jin. Jin’s prepared to let them go, but wants to talk to Sawyer first. Sayid can’t have that, so he—what? Knocks Jin out? Or breaks Jin’s neck? Lil’ Ben is impressed. “Wow! Where’d you learn to do that?” he asks Sayid. Who doesn’t answer in a conventional way, “You were right about me." I am a killer.” And he whips up his gun and shoots.

Now right up until Ben crumples to the ground I thought Ben was not shot. It thought Sayid shot wide at the last minute because he realized he couldn’t kill Lil’ Ben for all his loser father and miserable childhood existence with these Dharma freaks. But Sayid didn’t miss. Sayid never misses. And Ben goes down. But is he dead? We don’t really know that for sure, do we?

Next week:
More of same crowd. Still no Locke, Sun, Frank or Ben.

Namaste SE5 EP9

2009-03-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

I’m sorry, but you have a bit of journey ahead of you.

And that goes double for us. A good solid episode that is worth the price of admission just for that little Jack/Sawyer there's-a-new-sherriff-in-town exchange, and of course, our "Gladiator-esque" moment at the end. Read on.

Crash
We open in the cockpit of flight 316. The plane is going down, Frank is at the controls. The flash happens, the plane comes to a stop and the co-pilot gets impaled. Frank goes back to check on the passengers and finds Sayid, Hurley, Kate and Jack are gone. Sun and Ben are there, as well as Cesar and Alana. When Frank asks Sun where they are, Ben answers, “They’re gone.” Where?” Frank asks. “How should I know?” Ben answers.

But the questions is not “where” are they. Hello! This is season 5! The question is “when” are they, because Kate, Jack, Hurley and Sayid are in 1977.

It looks like the rest of the survivors are in another time frame. They are at the hyrdra. When Ben realizes this, he skulks off and Sun follows. Cesar starts trying to take charge as Frank is telling everyone to remain calm. By the way, Cesar is pretty annoying. I vote that he should be the first casualty of the new cast. Who’s with me?

So anyway, Sun sees Ben skulk off and follows. “Why are you following me?” Ben asks. “Where you going?” Sun wants to know. “Back to our island.” Ben says as if Sun should have known. “You wanna come?”

Sun is pursuing Ben through the jungle. “Wait!” she calls. Ben predictably replies, “I’m sorry Sun, but waiting doesn’t interest me much. Over on that beach are outriggers which will get me back to the main island.” Frank wants to stop Sun from going with Ben. “You don’t think you can really trust this guy, do you?” “I have to trust him.” Sun says.

Frank doesn’t want Sun to go with Ben. “Sun, don’t go with him! The boat I came to the island on was full of commandos whose only mission was to get him!” “And how’d that work out for everyone?” Ben quips. Then Ben starts launching into his “I’m in charge of everything and I’m going to carry out my agenda no matter what you guys decide to do” bit with Frank when Sun comes up behind him and whacks him on the head with an oar. “I thought you trusted this guy?” Frank says. “I lied.” Sun replies.

Sun and Frank get to the main island and find an abandoned and somewhat worse for wear Dharmaville. Suddenly a light goes on in one of the cottages. A door slowly opens and a man comes out. “Who are you?” Sun and Frank want to know. “I’m Christian.” Sun, not realizing how creepy this is, decides to ask for directions. “I’m looking for my husband, Jin Kwon. Do you know where he is?” Christian doesn’t exactly say: “Follow me.” He replies.

Christian leads them into a room full of dusty pictures and shows them the group picture from 1977. “I’m sorry, but you have a bit of journey ahead of you.”

1977
Jin and Sawyer make plans and Hurley is amazed: “Dude. Your English is awesome.” Kate asks Sawyer, “Who else is here?” When Jin hears that Sun is with them, he takes off in the Jeep and heads to the Flame to see if anyone saw a plane land.

Radzinski is a fussy little man who runs the Flame and in his spare time there is building a model of the Swan. We also know that Radzinski was the guy whose brain stain is on the ceiling of the Swan station, as he blew his head off shortly before Desmond landed on the island and began his tenure with Mr. Krabbs. Jin comes in and begins rooting through printouts, which pisses off Radzinski good and proper. “Nobody handles any of the gear in this station except me!”

Meanwhile, Sawyer runs home to get some clothes to disguise Kate, Hurley and jack, but in the meantime, Juliet’s suspicions have been aroused. She comes across Sawyer packing his clothing care package and asks him what’s going on. Sawyer tells her that they are back: Kate, Jack and Hurley. Juliet loses her breath—is it just the impact of their return, or is it Kate? Or is it Jack? “There’s a sub coming in this afternoon. We’re going to make sure they are on the manifest.”

Amy sleeping by the sub manifest after having delivered her baby. The baby is Ethan. Not, I repeat, NOT Goodwin. I think it would have been better if it was Goodwin, but I don’t write the show, do I? Juliet plays with the baby and Amy asks her when she’s going to have one. Juliet gets that wistful look about her. “The timings gotta be right.” She says with tears in her eyes.

Time out her for a second to ask if anyone else thinks Juliet somehow knows what’s going to happen. She seems very sad as if she knows her destiny will be tragic. She is close to tears this whole episode. And next week she tells Kate to back off.

Back at the clearing where Sawyer left Kate jack and Hurley, Kate asks Jack, “So the woman who told you we had to come back, did she mention it would be thirty years ago?” “Nope.” Jack replies. “She left that part out. “ Sawyer arrives with the gear and lays out the plan. “You all are gonna be the second batch of recruits. I’ll get you jobs, you all just go along.” Sawyer is the man with the plan, but Jack is skeptical. Sawyer lays it out: either do what Sawyer says or camp in the jungle for six months. “I vote for not camping.” Hurley says. Kate agrees, “I think we should listen to Sawyer.” You can tell Jack’s not into Sawyer being in charge over him, but he goes along with it.

Radzinski sees something on his motion detector. “There’s a hostile inside the perimeter,” he tells Jin. Jin goes out in pursuit and finds Sayid. They have precious few seconds to communicate before the insufferable Radzinski shows up, at which time Jin pulls the gun on Sayid and tells him to shut up. “Say another word and you’re dead!” Sayid, no slouch when it comes to taking his cues from Jin in weird situations, does just as he’s told.

Meanwhile, Jack, Kate and Hurley are on their way back to Dharmaville. “You do realize those dudes get wiped out, right?” Hurley says to Sawyer. Sawyer tells them that he’s not there to interfere. That their friend Faraday has a whole set of rules they need to follow. “Faraday’s here?” Jack asks. “Not anymore,” Sawyer answers. Which begs the question: where is Faraday? Is he dead? Or has he gone over to the Others?

Jin calls on the walkie: he’s got a 14J—a hostile. It’s Sayid. Sawyer goes out to bring him in.

Our Lostaways arrive at intake and begin checking in. Dr. Candle/Halliwax introduces himself to Jack as Dr. Cheng, all the while bitching because the woman who was supposed to do this (Amy) had a baby last night. Jack, eager to find out what job Sawyer has “hooked him up with” is assigned janitorial work based on his aptitude tests. You can almost hear Sawyer say “Gotcha, Doc.”. Kate’s name isn’t on any of the manifests and just as the geeky Phil starts to get suspicious, Juliet arrives to rescue Kate. “Welcome to the island, Kate,” says Juliet with a smile, when she really wants to say, “Stay away from Sawyer or I’ll kill you beotch.”

Sawyer introduces himself to Sayid, “My names LeFleur, I want you to listen to everything I say. Identify yourself as a hostile so we can abide by the treaty.” Sayid, no slouch when it comes to taking cues from Sawyer in weird situations, complies. Sawyer takes him back to Dharmaville and escorts him to Dharmaville prison. Hurley sees him and says, “I guess we found Sayid.”

Jack is walking through the compound and asks Phil, “Where does James LeFleur live?” Phil directs him and Juliet opens the door. Jack thinks he is lost, but Jules invites him in. And there’s sawyer, reading his book, as usual. Juliet makes her excuses to leave them alone. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about. “ Sawyer invites jack in and offers him a beer. Jack, not ever one for patience, wants to know what’s next. Sawyer tells him he’s thinking about it. Jack says, “That’s funny. Because it looks like you’re reading a book.” Sawyer launches into the most delicious exchange of the night, “I heard once, Winston Churchill read a book a night, even during the blitz. It helped him think. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m thinking. Because thinking is what saved your ass today and thinking is what’s keeping Sayid safe tonight. But when you were in charge, you didn’t think, you just reacted.” “I got us off the island,” Jack protests. “And here you are, right back where you started. I got to this position by thinking. Now all you have to do is listen. And isn’t that a relief?” Jack seems surprised to find he agrees with sawyer. “Yeah, it is.” Jack goes off into the night and Sawyer follows him out so that he can exchange a secret wave with Kate who is standing on the porch across the way.

Cut to Sayid’s cell. A little kid comes in and says to Phil, “I’m just going to go in there and deliver him a sandwich.” He approaches the cell and tells Sayid, “I didn’t put mustard on it but if you’d like some, I can get you some.” What follows is an exchange reminiscent of the scene in Gladiator when Lucius approached Maximus while he’s in the cell before the games begin. Maximus knows who Lucius is, but Lucius does not know who Maximus is. The same dynamic is at play here. “Are you a hostile?” The kid asks. “Do you think I am?” Sayid replies. “What’s your name?” “Sayid. What’s yours?”

“I’m Ben.”

Brrrr. “Hello Ben.” Sayid says. “It’s nice to meet you.” But you know he doesn’t mean it. He doesn’t mean it at all.

Next week:
All hell breaks loose. Juliet tells Kate to back off, Sayid figures out why he’s back on the island and it’s to kill someone (or at least shoot a gun), probably at Ben.

Le Fleur SE5 EP8

2009-03-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

“The record is spinning again. We’re just not on the song we want to be on.”

A cool episode that opens the door for answering a lot more questions. Very enjoyable, especially the Juliet/Sawyer thing.

Now where were we? Oh yes...
We rejoin our Lostaways right where Locke left them. After the first time flash, we see what we presume to be the full on version of the the three toed statue off on the beach. But of course, before anyone can verify, there is a bigger flash and a bit of an earthquake. It seems that Locke did it; turning the wheel has cured the symptoms of Minkowski time displacement syndrome. ”What do we do now?” they ask the new de-facto leader, Sawyer. Sawyer says they wait until Locke comes back.

As they trek through the jungle, they come across a distraught Daniel, who tells them of Charlotte’s demise and disappearance. “I’m not going to tell her,” he mutters to himself. Daniel gets it together sufficiently enough to let them know that the time flashes are over and that wherever and whenever they are that that is where they are going to stay. Sawyer decides they should head back to the beach to wait for Locke. Miles is somewhat less than thrilled with this idea. “Oh sure. And then when we get bored with that we can head back to the Orchid. Those are the only two plans you people have.” But Juliet steps up and endorses Sawyer’s plan, and it’s off to the beach they go. Sawyer thanks Juliet for “having his back” and where there was only a hint of romance, now we see it begin to bloom.

It turns out they are in the Dharma seventies. They hear gunshots and shouting as they come across an altercation between some DH’s (Dharma Hippies) and apparent Others. The male DH is dead and the female DH has a burlap bag over her head and is being threatened. Juliet and Sawyer take out the Others leaving the frightened widow Amy alone. When Sawyer tells her she has to go with them, she tells them they first have to bury the Others—“The truce!” she worries (killing these Others has apparently broken it.) and that they must take Paul, her dead husband back to the barracks.

So after they do all this for Amy, she leads them to the sonic fence, which Daniel almost walks right into. Our Lostaways know what this is and luckily Juliet is paying attention and stops Daniel before he walks into it. “He would have fried his brain!” Juliet whispers to Sawyer. “His brain’s already fried.”They tell Amy to disarm it, and she tells them that she has, but what she’s really done is turn it down to stun setting and grabbed a pair of earplugs out of the fuse box. The Lostaways fall stunned inside the fence and are brought to the DI barracks.

Horace meets with Sawyer who tells them that his boat wrecked and he’s looking for the rest of his crew. Sawyer’s story about being on a salvage ship looking for an old slaver named the “Black Rock” is an especially nice touch. Horace tells him that he and the other Lostaways are on the next sub out. When Sawyer asks if he can stay to “look for his crew,” Horace tells him that only Dharma Hippies are allowed in this compound and he, Sawyer, is just not “Dharma Material”. As Sawyer is relaying this news to the other Lostaways, a little redhead flits by with her mummy, looks over her shoulder at Daniel and waves: Charlotte. The the creepy Dharma alarm starts sounding and the spell is broken. All hell breaks loose on the compound. They all run for cover. Richard is coming, and boy is he pissed.

Richard and Horace exchange words over the truce, Richard scoffing at Horace’s feeble little sonic fence which does not affect the Others. As things start to heat up, Sawyer insists to Horace that he be allowed to talk to “your buddy out there with the eyeliner” (YES! YES! YES! I’m so glad they acknowledged the eyeliner AT LAST!) “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Juliet asks.

Sawyer tells Richard that he killed the Others because he saw them with a gun, asked them to put it down, and when one of them took a shot at him, he defended himself. Adequately. Since Sawyer is not “Dharma Material” it was not Dharma who broke the truce. Richard still seems pissed off, so Sawyer then asks him about the bomb. “Did you bury jughead?” Now Richard is not only pissed, but intrigued as well. “How ‘bout the bald dude marching into your camp and telling you he was your leader then disappearing into thin air?” Sawyer asks. “His name is John Locke and I’m waiting for him to come back.” And an agreement is reached, but at the price of the body of Paul, Amy’s dead husband.

To keep the truce, Amy agrees to give Paul’s body to the Others, but she removes his Ankh necklace first and keeps it. For at least three years, as we find out later.

Sawyer finds Juliet sitting on the dock by the sub. He thinks that she’ll be happy that he’s bought them two weeks longer to sit on the island and wait for Locke. Juliet explains to him that she’s been trying to get off the island for three years. She’s leaving. Sawyer is at a loss. He can’t believe Juliet is going to leave him with “The mad scientist and Mr. I-talk-to-dead-people. And Jin, who’s a helluva nice guy, but not much of a conversationalist. Besides, who will have my back? C’mon. Just give me two weeks.” Sawyer grins his most charming grin and Juliet is a goner. Who wouldn’t be?

Three years later
Two Dharma hippies are watching the TV screens in the Pearl. Suddenly they see our old friend Horace drunk and lighting sticks of dynamite. They decide they must wake “Le Fleur “ and tell him. A knock on the door reveal LeFleur to be Sawyer, who is now apparently going by “Jim” as well.

Sawyer and Miles take Horace back to his wife, the woman the rescued three years before, Amy. As Sawyer is talking with Amy, she goes into labor. Unfortunately, the baby is a breach. It must be delivered by ceasarian section, but the lame internist that Dharma is using for a doctor says, “I don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies!”. So Sawyer runs to get Juliet, who is now an “Auto Mechanic”. She’s none too pleased that Sawyer is getting her back into the OB-GYN field, mostly because “every woman she’s tried to help in childbirth on this island has died.” Sawyer has faith in her—he knows she can do this, so she goes to Amy, where she immediately takes charge.

Jin comes to tell Sawyer that they have finished grid 133. “Any sign of our people?” “No.” Then I guess we go on to grid 134 then.” “How long do we keep searching?“ Jin wants to know. “Until we find them,”

A tearful Juliet emerges from the infirmary. It’s a boy and mommy and baby are doing fine.

Later on, Sawyer is returning home and he stops to pick a flower. He opens the door to his hut to find Juliet making dinner—because she lives there too. He hands her the flower and tells her how proud he is of how she delivered Amy’s baby. She tells him how much she appreciated him believing in her. They tell each other how much they love each other and embrace.

Time out here for a brief note: I know Sawyer belongs with Kate. But I have to say how happy I was to see him and Juliet together—and how happy they were together, how good they were for each other and how right they seemed together—which is exactly what the writers wanted us to feel since they bring Kate back in two scenes.

Sawyer is with Horace when he wakes up. The good news is he’s a daddy, the bad news is that he missed it. Horace tells Sawyer that the fight with Amy was about Paul, he first husband who was killed by the Others. He was looking for socks and found Paul’s Ankh necklace in her drawer. “It’s only been three years. Do you think three years is long enough to get over someone?” Sawyer gets that faraway look in his eyes and tells Horace that “I had a thing for a girl once. I had a real shot at her , too, but I didn’t take it. For a little while I'd lay in bed every night wondering if it was a mistake, wondering if I'd ever stop thinking about her. Now I can barely remember what she looks like. Her face is...she's just gone. And she ain't NEVER coming back.” Sawyer blinks and clears his vision. “So is three years enough time to get over someone? Absolutely.”

The next morning the phone rings to wake Sawyer and Juliet. We know it’s Jin and we know what he’s telling Sawyer. “Don’t bring them in. I’ll meet you in the valley.” Sawyer gets up and gets dressed and Juliet is concerned, but Sawyer tells her everything in under control.

Sawyer takes the Jeep and sees Jin arrive in the Hippie Bus. Hurley and Jack step out. They part to reveal Kate. Sawyer and Kate look at each other.

No. Three years is not enough.

Thoughts on this episode
So it's very late, my hands are numb and my brain is probably at least half as fried as Daniel's, but a couple things occur to me immediately following this episode:

--What or who is Jin searching for in the grid search?

--Who, if anyone, is Amy’s baby? If it was a girl, we could assume maybe it was the mysterious Annie, but a boy? I am without a clue….

--Am I the only one out there who loves the new Comcast commercials?

--What is the significance of three years? Not only have three years passed on the mainland, but three years have passed in Dharmaland AND Juliet was on the island for three years and wanted to go home.

--Is it possible that the “war” that’s coming has anything to do with Ben gassing the inhabitants of the Dharma Initiative? Will we see little Ben in this timeline? Will we see Roger Workman?

Scenes from next week
How do we integrate our newly arrived Lostaways into the groovy Dharma Initiative of the seventies without messing up what our original Lostaways already have.

The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham SE5 EP7

2009-02-25T20:31:00.000-08:00

“Scuse me, but am I talking to a dude in a wheelchair right now?”

Since the beginning of this show, every single Locke episode, without fail, has made me a little misty. This one was no exception. Seeing Locke captive in that wheelchair again, waving to each of his old friends with that warm smile on his face and having them each dismiss him in turn as a lonely old loser—each one that is, except Walt—well, folks, it about broke my heart. An excellent, satisfying episode. And as a bonus, another fairly linear episode ala last week.

Locke is back Home
The opening shot is of the guy I knew would turn out to be somebody last week. His name is Cesar and he’s searching what looks like the Dharma/Other’s rec room. He finds some drawings, a flashlight and a gun. Then the chick who was escorting Sayid comes in. Her name is Alanna and she asks him what he found. Cesar lies and tosses her the flashlight. Alanna tells Cesar that they’ve found someone just standing in the water and wearing a suit and he wasn’t on the plane. They go back to the beach camp where they are introduced to Locke. He is alive and indeed, he is in his burial suit.

Locke asks Alanna if she has a passenger list. Since he was dead when he got on the plane, he has no way of knowing who actually made it back to the island. Wait till he sees there are 78 Hurley’s on the manifesto. “Nobody remembers you being on the plane,” Alanna says. They ask Locke what he remembers; does he remember getting on the plane. Locke doesn’t. But he does remember something. “You asked what I remembered,” Locke offers. “I remember dying.”

The life of Jeremy Bentham
Like Ben, Locke shows up in the Tunisian desert. He sees cameras and wires, but since his leg still broken, there is little he can do besides lay there. After dark, some locals in a pickup truck come and pick him up and take him to the hospital. It’s worth noting here that the locals picking up Locke are somewhat less hostile to Locke than they were to Ben. Locke arrives at the hospital, he’s delirious with pain and probably more than a little out of it what with teleporting off the island, laying in the desert for hours then swallowing those pills.

Locke sees Matthew Abbadan in the hospital just before he passes out from the Tunisian medical specialists delicately resting his leg. Just before he goes under, Locke focuses on the faces around him. Was the woman Nadia? It certainly looked like her.

Locke wakes up to find Charles Widmore sitting bedside, acting noticeably less vile than we are used to (could it simply be Desmond’s effect on him, or is he just acting to get information out of Locke?) Widmore is talking like he knows him, but Locke doesn’t recognize him. “Do I know you?” Locke asks. Widmore tells Locke that he met him when he was seventeen and that Locke hasn’t changed a bit since then. “How long ago was it that you walked into Richard’s camp?” Widmore wants to know. “Four days,” Locke replies. “I was their leader. I protected the island peacefully for years.” Widmore starts to compare notes with Locke, telling Locke that Ben banished him just as he banished Locke. “I wasn‘t banished, I chose to leave,” Locke explains, before realizing he’s said too much. “I understand you’re lying, John. I really do.” Widmore figures out that John is there to bring the Oceanic back and vows to help him in any way he can. “Why would you do that?” Locke wonders. “Because there’s a war coming,” Widmore explains. “If you’re not back on the island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.”

Widmore then gives Locke money, Abbadan, an international phone, the whereabouts of the other Losties and a new ID. “You’re name is Jeremy Bentham. He was a British philosopher. Your parents had a sense of humor when they named you so why can’t I?” Locke accepts Widmore’s help, but he’s still leery. He remembers everything that Ben said, and everything that happened after the freighter arrived. “How do I know you’re not lying?” Locke wonders. “I didn’t try to kill you. Can you say the same of Ben?” “What about the mercs and the C4, Mr. Widmore?” An excellent question for which Widmore offers the following explanation: “I had to get Linus off of there so that you could take over. The island needs you, John. You’re special.”

Locke tells Widmore that Richard told him that he must die to bring them all back. Widmore doesn’t know why Alpert told him that and introduces him to Matthew Abbadon (again.) “Matthew will take you anywhere you need to go and protect you from anyone who intends to do you harm.” The Abbadan gets that wheel chair out and we’re cringing right along with Locke.

First Stop: Santo Domingo and Sayid
Sayid is working for some hippie dippy Habitat for Humanity outfit in the middle of the jungle. Locke shows up and makes his pitch: We have to go back. Sayid says no. “For 2 years I was manipulated by Ben into thinking that I was protecting everyone back on the island. So who is manipulating you?” Locke says no one and tells Sayid that he knows, deep in his heart that they were’nt supposed to leave. “If I hadn’t left the island, I would have missed the best 9 months of my life because I married the woman I loved.” “Where is she now?” Locke wonders. “She was murdered,” Sayid answers. “Why do you really need to go back?” Sayid asks. “Is it just because you have nowhere else to go?”

New York
Locke finally takes Abbadan up on his offer to look someone up for him. “Helen Norwood. She was living in Los Angeles.” And then, there’s Walt. “You don’t seem surprised to see me,” Locke says when Walt approaches. “I’ve been having dreams about you. You were on the island wearing a suit and you were surrounded by a lot of people. They wanted to hurt you.” “Well here I am,” Locke says. “Did my dad make it back to the island?” Walt wants to know. “Last I heard, he was on a freighter near the island.” Walt has to go and they part ways. Abbadan wants to know why Walt wasn’t invited. “The boy has been through enough,” Locke explains. “I thought everyone was supposed to go back,” Abbadan says. “And I thought you were supposed to be my driver,” Locke grumbles. “Besides, I only have to convince one and the others will come.”

Across the street, Ben is stalking.

Santa Rosa
“Hello Hugo,” Locke says as he wheels up. Hurley is nonplussed. “So you didn’t make it, huh?” “Hugo, I’m not dead,” Locke insists. Hurley takes a poll of the other crazy people and they all agree that Locke is sitting there talking to him. Locke gives his pitch to go back and Hurley says that no one will go because they all have lives now. Then Hurley sees Abbadan standing by the car and begins a classic Hurley freak. Locke insists that Abbadan is OK and that he’s with him. “That dude is far from ok. He’s evil. He said he worked for Oceanic.” Hurley begins to back away with his “Lalalala I’m not listening” act and runs into the center.

“That’s 3 visits. You may want to step up your game, Mr. Locke, or we’re all in serious trouble.” Annoyed, Locke asks, “What exactly is it you do for Mr. Widmore, anyway.” “Oh, so you’re ready to talk about it now? You’re really not going to pretend you don’t remember that I was an orderly when you were hospitalized after your fall? That I was the one who told you to go on a walkabout which is how you ended up on the island in the first place?” Locke remembers. “I help people get to where they need to get to. That’s what I do for Mr. Widmore.”

Kate’s House
Locke is giving his pitch and Kate says no. “Don’t you care about them?” He asks her. Kate responds, “Have you ever been in love John? You know, I think about you sometimes. I think about how desperate you were to stay on that island. I think it was because you didn’t love anybody.” Which is awfully presumptuous and rude, but Locke answers anyway. “That’s not true—I loved someone. Once. Her name was Helen.” “What happened?” Kate asks. “I was angry. I was obsessed. It didn’t work out,” Locke admits. “And look how far you’ve come,” Kate retorts.

“Did you find Helen Norwood?” Locke asks Abbadan. He doesn’t buy it when Abbadan says he can’t find her.

At the Santa Monica grave of Helen Norwood
“What happened to her?” Locke wants to know. “A brain aneurism,” Abbadan tells him. “She loved me. We could have been together.” When Abbadan says that she still would be dead now, Locke wonders. “Helen is where she is supposed to be,” Abbadan tells him. “No matter what you do, your path leads back to the island. Widmore says you told him you had to die. Is that fate or a choice?”

Abbadan is loading the wheelchair in the trunk when shots ring out and blood spatters the back of the car. A few more shots and Abbadan is dead. Locke jumps up front and hits the gas. He blows a red light and gets into a nasty three-car crash.

At Jack’s Hospital
Locke awakens in hospital to see Jack sitting by his bed. “What are you doing here?” Jack accuses. When Locke starts giving the pitch to go back, points out to him that of all the gin joints in all the world, Locke walked into Jack’s, and tells Jack they were meant to go back to the island, Jack, obviously hopped up on pills and booze, starts shouting at him, “Destiny?!?!” He scoffs. “It’s not destiny, John. It’s probability.” “Somebody is trying to kill me,” Locke tells him. “They don’t want me to succeed because I’m important.” “Maybe you’re not important at all. Maybe you’re just a lonely old man that crashed on an island,” stoner jack retorts. Discouraged, Locke tries another tactic. “Your dad says hello.” Locke has figured out through process of elimination that Christian is Jack’s father. “My dad is dead!” Jack shouts. “We were never important! Leave me alone! And leave everyone else alone, too!”

End of the line
Despondent, Locke heads back to his fleabag hotel and prepares to hang himself with an electrical cord. He’s about to jump, when there is a knock on the door. It’s Ben. Ben admits to killing Abbadan, whom he insists would have eventually killed Locke due to the fact that he works for Widmore. “Whatever you said to Jack, it worked. He’s booked a flight,” Ben encourages. “Let me help you.” “There is no helping me,” Locke say. “I’m a failure.” Ben tells Locke how important he is, how special he is and how much work he has to do. Ben suggests that they go get Sun, but Locke says no, he made a promise to Jin not to bring her back. Ben talks Locke down, untying the cord. Sobbing, Locke tells Ben that there is a woman in Los Angeles that can help them. “Her name is Eloise Hawking.” A funny look comes over Ben’s face. “Do you know her?” Locke asks. “Yes I know her,” Ben answers as he walks up behind Locke with the electrical cord. “And viciously strangles him.

Ben sets it up so it looks like Locke killed himself. We see him busily wiping everything down. He takes Jin’s ring and says “I’ll miss you John. I really will.”

Locke back at Home
Locke tells Cesra about Dharma and explains that he spent 100 days on the island and knows a lot except when he left and how he got back. He is asking about the manifest, which Cesar is unable to locate. He tells Locke about the injured and Locke goes in to inspect. He sees Ben and Cesar sees the recogniztion in Locke’s face. “Do you know him?” Cesar asks. “Yes, Lock answers. “He’s the man who killed me.”

Thoughts on this episode
I had just about started liking Ben again after he talked Locke down. I haven’t been sure that Ben has the best interests of the island at heart for some time, now I am convinced of it. I’m not sure that Widmore is a good guy either. The only one I’m relatively positive is good is Locke.

So how does Locke come back to life? He was very clearly dead before he got back to the island. Does this mean that Christian Sheppard is not dead either? Is Locke like him now? I would guess both Locke and Christian are unable to leave the island, due to their island-induced altered undead states. But that state also brings them closer to the needs of the island, so I think that was in the plan all along. Perhaps Richard is an undead, too.

Also, the time frame that Locke is in appears to be different than the one Jack, Kate, Hurley and Jin are in, since these plane survivors are perusing the abandoned Dharma site with abandon and there are clearly no Dharma-ites around to stop them.

Ok, it’s very late and I didn’t see any previews for next week. Great episode.

316 SE5 EP6

2009-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

We’re not going to Guam, are we?

Opening scene is episode one all over again—close up on Jack’s eye, swaying bamboo, Jack running through the jungle to please of help. The only thing that’s different is that Jack has a little scrap of paper in his hand “I wish….” it says. And this time he comes across Hurley and Kate in the lagoon, not the beach and Shannon screaming. “We’re back,” Jack tells Kate. Kate, still groggy, asks, “What happened?” Funny you should ask, because the producers have treated us to a first ever, wholly linear episode.

46 Hours Earlier
We pick up where we left off last episode, at the church with Eloise lighting candles. Still pissed off that they aren’t all there, she leads them down the cellar to the freaky lab. “Let’s ge started.” “What is this place?” Jack asks. “The Dharma Initiative called it the Lamp Post,” Ellie explains. “This is how they found the island.” “Did you know about this place?” Jack asks Ben. Ben sasy no. “Is he telling the truth?” Jack asks Ellie. “Probably not,” She answers.

School’s in and Ellie is the teacher. There is a large pocket of electro magnetic energy underneath this church. This EM energy connects to pockets of EM energy all over the world. A very clever fellow built the pendulum. The Dharmam Initiative knew about the island, they collected all sorts of evidence, but they could never find it. Then they figured out they needed to stop looking for where it was supposed to be, and start looking for where it will be. The island is always moving, that’s why you were never rescued. These calculations find windows to provide a route back to the island, but the windows don’t stay open. Yours closes in 36 hours.”

Des, meanwhile, has been listening to this gibberish quite long enough, thank you. “Ummm, hello?” Des wonders. “Are you all daft? You’re all going back to the island willingly?” In answer they all stare at Des. “Well I’m only here to deliver a message from your son, Daniel Faraday,” he says looking at Ellie. “He said they need YOUR help, not Sun’s, not Jack’s.” “But I AM helping, Desmond. The Island is not done with you.” Des freaks. “This woman cost me 4 years of my life. These people are not helping us, they are using us. We are just pawns in their game, brutha.” Then to Ellie, “The Island may not be done with me, but I’m done with the island.”

After Des’s departure, Ellie tells Jack and Sun that they must take Airlines Agira Airways, flight 316 because it is flying right through their window. Hey, I remember Agira Airways! That’s where the water bottles came from on the long boats. Ellie continues, “You all need to be on it. It must be that flight.” School is back in session. “You must do your best to create the same circumstances. This means bringing as many of the same people as you can with you.” “So that’s it?” Jack wonders. “We just get on that flight and we’re done with it?” “No, that’s not all, Jack,” Ellie says, staring at Jack with her dead black eyes. “Not for you.”

Ellie leads jack away, explaining that Ben and Sun heard what they needed to hear and this does not concern them. She hands Jack John Locke’s suicide note in an envelope addressed to Jack. “He hung himself.” Ellie tells Jack by way of explanation. “He is going to help you get back. John is going to be a proxy. A substitute.” A substitute for who?” Jack wants to know. “Jack,” scolds the school marm. “Who do you think?” Locke will be a substitute for Jack’s father in the coffin. “Get something that belonged to your father and give it to John.” Ellie demands.
Now it’s Jack’s turn to freak out. “The is ridiculous!” He exclaims. “Stop telling yourself how ridiculous it is and start asking yourself if you believe it’s going to work,” Ellie responds. “That’s why it’s called a leap of faith.”

TWe then join Jack and Ben on a nice little journey of symbolism, as Ben ponders a painting of Jesus and Thomas the Apostle, aka Doubting Thomas. “Thomas needed to touch Jesus’ wounds to be convinced,” Ben explains. Jack, who has apparently never been to Sunday school, asks if that convinced him. “We’re all convinced sooner or later, Jack.” Then Ben leaves, making the excuse to Jack “I made a promise to an old friend. I have to tie up a loose end.”

Is he going to kill Penny?

Jack is in a bar. His phone rings and he leaves to go to an old folks home, where his granddad Ray, lives. Seems ray has tried to take off again and the home needs Jack to calm the old guy down. “Where were you going to go, Ray?” asks Jack. “Some where better than here.” I found myself wishing that Jack would take the sweet old guy with him back to the island. Jack begins to unpack his grandad’s bag and finds a pair of his dad’s dress shoes. Knowing he needs something of his father’s, he asks his granddad if he can take the shoes. Jack then explains that he won’t be around to visit because he’s going away for a while. “Where are you going?” Ray asks him. “Some place better than here.”

Jack goes home after his visit to Grandad Ray, enters the apartment and starts looking through the cabinets. Pills? Booze? Pills? Booze? Booze! He begins to pour himself a drink, but hears someone enter his apartment. Instead of calling out, “Who’s there?” Jack begins to walk through the dark apartment and upon arriving in the bedroom, finds an utterly distraught Kate laying on his bed. “Are you still going to the island?” She asks. “Yes,” Jack answers. “Then I’m going with you.” Jack is confused. “Kate, what happened? Where’s Aaron?” “If you want me to go with you, you will never ask me that question again,” Kate says. “You will never ask me about Aaron again.” Kate is so messed up for the rest of this episode that she actually has me creeped out.

Jack and Kate have hot sex, but a very awkward morning after. Kate notices the shoes and comments on them. Jack tells her, “When I went to get my dad in Australia my mom wanted to have his funeral right away. He didn’t have any nice shoes, so I had these old white tennis shoes and I said, ‘Put these on him,’ because he wasn’t worth a new pair of shoes to me.” “Why hold on to them if they make you sad?” Kate asks. But she doesn’t stick around to hear the answer; she beats a hasty retreat and tells Jack she’ll meet him at the airport.

Ben calls Jack and tells him he’s been sidetracked. He’s covered in blood and calling from a pay phone at the marina, obviously upset. Has he killed Penny? Des? Little Charlie? “Pick up Locke’s body at Simon’s butcher shop. Ask for Jill.”

Jack shows up at the butcher shop where Jill gives him a moment alone with Locke’s body. Jack opens the coffin. For some strange reason, I found the whole sequence of Jack removing Locke’s shoes and replacing them with his father’s to be oddly touching. “Wherever you are John, you must be laughing your ass off that I’m even doing this. Because this is even crazier than you were.” Jack puts the suicide note back in the coffin. “I don’t need this. I’ve already heard everything you had to say. Rest in peace.”

Jack is at the airport, arranging for transport of Locke’s body. He is told it will have to be screened and that he will be the contact in Guam. As he is leaving the check in desk, a small guy offers, “My condolences, I’m sorry you lost your friend.” This guy IS somebody. We will see him again.

Kate and Sun show up at the airport, Jack is happy to see them, if a little surprised. Sun says if there is even a chance that Jin is alive, she’s going back.

We see Sayid being escorted by a female marshall—just like Kate in the original flight. BTW, that marshall IS somebody, too. We’ll see her again as well.

We see Hurley carrying Charlie’s guitar.

Hurley is at the gate and begins to freak out when the stewardess starts calling for standbys. Hurley says there are no standbys, all 78 seats are his, he bought them.. When Jack gets to the gate, he wonders to Hurley, “How did you get here?” “Dude, it only matters that I’m here.”

Ben shows up a little worse for wear just as the plane is about to take off. His face is beaten and his arm is in a sling. Hurley freaks when he sees Ben but Jack calms him down. The stewardess gives Jack the suicide note, which was recovered after their scan of the coffin. Jack just can’t get rid of this note. He settles on a seat in the back, across the aisle from Ben. “The other people on this plane, what’s going to happen to them?” Jack asks. “Who cares?” Ben replies.

N as the captain turns of the seatbelt sign, Jack moves up next to kate. “Sooo…pretty crazy, huh? How did they all get here?” Jack asks. “They bought a ticket.” Kate replies dryly. “You don’t think it means something, that we’re all together again?” jack asks. Kate rolls her eyes. “We’re on the same plane, Jack. We’re not together.”

And where is Des?

An announcement comes over the PA: “This is your pilot, Frank J. Lapidus.” Jack immediately tells the flight attendant he needs to speak to the pilot. Frank, all cleaned up, emerges from the cockpit, happy to see Jack. This is just a little gig he lined up. “Wait a second, is that Sayid? Hurley?” Frank realizes what’s happening. He’s not going to Guam

Jack, uncomfortable around Kate, goes and sits next to Ben (there’s a good measure of how uncomfortable it is to be around Kate; when you prefer Ben’s company to hers.) “How can you read?” Jack asks Ben. “My mother taught me,” Ben quips, but we know it’s a lie since Ben’s mom died in childbirth. “It beats what you’re doing,” Ben remarks “Waiting for something to happen.” Jack tells be that the suicide note is following him. “I feel like John needs me to read it.” “Why don’t you then?” Ben asks. “Are you afraid? Afraid that he blames you, that it’s your fault he killed himself?” Jack says it’s not his fault and Ben agrees and reiterates it, but neither one of them seems convinced. Ben leaves to give Jack privacy and Jack opens the note:

Jack, I wish you had believed. JL

The plane hits turbulence and then we hear the humming that indicates a flash is coming. The flash of light comes and we’re back at the beginning with Jack waking up in the jungle. Disoriented, Kate, Jack and Hurley try to get their bearings. Where are Sun and Sayid? Where is Ben? Island Jack is back and in charge. “We’ll spread out, search the jungle….” he cuts off hearing an unfamiliar sound. It’s the hippie bus—it arrives, but it’s brand new. And the guy in the brand new Dharma jumpsuit who’s driving it gets out with a rifle. Is it Roger Workman?

Dude. It’s Jin. They all went back in time.

New Questions
This episode sets up some new questions for us:
Who is the “very clever man” who built the pendulum room? Jacob? Christian Sheppard? Daniel Faraday? Charles Widmore?
Where oh WHERE is Desmond? (and Penny and Little Charlie)
What’s up with Ben? Does he have the best interests of the island at heart? Or is he the dark side of Locke’s light?
How did Hurley and Sayid get to the airport? Why is Sayid getting an escort, and did he plan it?
What are the circumstances surrounding Locke’s death (we find some of this out next week)