LOST Speculation

Last night's season finale of LOST, the long-awaited story of "The Incident," was awesome. Just, awesome. I was so riveted I didn't take notes, and I'm gonna have to watch it again to even pick up on all of the different little twists, turns, and great dialogue.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER (Is that enough of a warning?)

I am pretty happy that just a few hours before the show, I called 2 of the major plot twists that I *think* happened:

- I was pretty darn sure that something bad was gonna happen to Juliet. LOST doesn't like to let happy couples be happy couples (ah, let's remember Juliet and James here in happier times), and the more that they showed Sawyer being the one who wanted to work through their problems and Juliet having all those terrible doubts, I thought she was a goner. Is she actually dead? Who knows on this show. But it seems her storyline could end here, and her final act was a bit, um, definitive. Then again, a year ago, I was pretty darn sure Jin was dead, and you can see where that got me.

- Also, I had a strong suspicion that it was gonna turn out that the resurrected John Locke was NOT John Locke. I thought maybe he was an Island manifestation like Christian Shephard or Yemi, maybe Smokey gone corporeal or something. And I *think* what we saw was slightly something different -- his body 'possessed' or reanimated by that spirit of the ancient/original guy that was Jacob's enemy. Is that the same thing we've been seeing all along? Is Jacob the one behind Smokey and the Island ghosts, or is it the other guy? Does this new John Locke have any of the real Locke's memories or is he just completely that other dude in Locke's body? Or not even IN his body, since that was what was in the box. Who knows.... but Terry O'Quinn's been acting the hell out of this storyline.

VINCENT!!! Rose and Bernard were awesome. I forgot how much I really loved Rose's way to cut through all of the other 815er's b.s.

Okay, so here's my thought on one night of bad sleep and cold medicine.

Yes, Juliet triggered the bomb. But, I think that was the "Incident" they've been talking about all along, and I *don't* think it reset the clock and means that none of the last 5 seasons happened. I'm not sure what we'll find a year from now when season 6 premieres, but I don't think we're just going to wind up at LAX and they're all strangers and just go their own way. Many of my reasons are just practical:

- If none of the last 5 seasons happened, that means next year would bring 'em back alive - Charlie, Libby, Ana Lulu, Eko, Boone, Shannon, Nikki and Paolo, Michael - they'd all have to be back. Unless there's some super-secret casting deals going on, I don't see that happening. (Though I had heard spoilers that Claire would be back in season 6.)

- If they're all strangers when they land at LAX, then there's no real story to tell, at least not one I can see right off. They just get off the plane, grab their bags, and go their separate ways. What's the story for a whole other season?

- Most importantly, if the last 5 seasons didn't happen, then there would be NO BEN LINUS. And I just can't imagine a LOST-Verse without that awesome, crazy, sad, pathetic, manipulative genius. (How freakin' good was Michael Emerson last night, by the way?)

So.... I don't think Faraday's reset plans works. I think Jack was wrong (surprise, surprise), even though he did manage to get everyone else to support him. (After an awesome scene between Jack and Sawyer - before the brawl, that was a great alpha dog showdown.)

What does happen? I don't know... maybe it's enough to kick our 1977 and our 2007 people back into the same time period. Remember, Richard said at one point that he "saw them all die," and Richard was not there at the Swan. So they've got to all reconnect somehow, and there's got to be some central conflict that continues to drive the story in Season 6 - which may be that war between the Jacobeans and the Fake-Lockesters. I think the Incident did do something -- but that we're going to end up returning to a LOST World that we already know, one in which the Swan is completed, Radzinsky and Kelvin and Desmond spend years pushing the button, little Harry Potter Ben grows up to lead the Others, and 815 crashes. Whatever happened, happened, right?

Then again, I could be totally wrong.

LOST - "The Variable"

Just a quick post tonight, cuz I'm exhausted after the air-raid siren incident this morning (yes, seriously) and have to be up really early tomorrow to go to a conference. And I still haven't packed - eep!

Anyway, good episode all around. Not in the list of all-time faves, but this point in a LOST season is usually when the action starts to ramp up, plot details are filled in, and things are put into motion for an explosive finale. Check, check, and check.

***Spoilers***

Lots of good Daniel Faraday stuff, all very well acted by Jeremy Davies. We filled in a lot of his bio, with confirmation that Ellie = Eloise Hawking = Daniel's Mom. And I blinked so I may have missed it, but did Widmore say "he's my son, too" ???

We learned that in 2004, after years of Widmore-funded research with early time travel experiments, Daniel was suffering from a terrible memory sickness, forgetting everything almost right away. That's the point at which we first met him, nearly 2 years ago our time, as he started to cry watching the footage of the fake-815 crash on the bottom of the ocean. And that's when Widmore came to him and offered the job on the freighter, with the promise that the Island would help his sickness. Which it did, apparently.

But, then Daniel had to start mucking around in 1977, giving people ideas about being able to change the whole timeline, talking about blowing up with Swan with Jughead (introduce a gun in the first act, someone will shoot it by the third?), and demanding to be taken to the Hostiles to visit Eloise. Well, alas, that proved to be a tragic move -- as his Hostile/Other Mother didn't know who he was, since she wasn't briefed on the whole time travel thing yet, and shot him dead. Whoa! Such a sad ending for Daniel, but Davies killed that last scene with his "You knew... and you sent me anyway!" dialogue.

All the other LOSTies are lining up, Jack and Kate off on their own again, Sawyer and Juliet (the latter of whom seems to think the bloom is now off the rose, which I hope Sawyer convinces her otherwise on soon), Miles and Hurley are all making for the beach to try and catch the sub and leave Craphole Island asap. There were lots of references to "6 hours from now" - which must mean that the next several episodes are all going to take place in a very short time frame, leading up to the 2-part finale entitled "THE INCIDENT, PARTS 1&2"

And - back in our time, we see that Desmond has survived his gunshot wound, with beloved Penny and cute Charlie by his side, and both Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore were checking in on him. So, readers, does the news of the sexual harrassment allegations against Henry Ian Cusick make you look at beloved Des any differently? I did, kinda. :-(

LOST - Some Like It Hoth

I actually don't have much to post tonight... this was a nice little LOST episode, but it mostly focused on filling in some character story and didn't really move the action or mythology forward much. As Damon & Carlton promised in the podcast, this one was just a bit lighter and easier after the couple of heavy ones we've had and before the crazy ramp-up to the season finale that's sure to come.

What's the deal with no new ep next week?!?

Instead of my usual summaries, here's just a list of some of my favorite things of this ep, spoiler-ific-y:

-> Little Miles, who has always seen dead people. At least as long as he knows. (What caused it? I'm still gonna bet on The Incident being the cause of just about everything freaky-deaky.)

-> Sensitive Goth/pierced teenaged Miles.

-> Yep, we all guessed it, Pierre Chang is his dad! Everyone, EVERYONE, on this show has daddy issues.

-> The mysterious dead body, Alvarez, was shot from inside by his own filling. That's always been some mighty powerful magnetism down in the Swan.

-> Hurley himself got to witness the creation of the Numbers - serial numbers stamped on the Hatch?!?

-> The Miles & Hurley buddy comedy stuff is golden.

-> Love Hurley, once again trying to figure out this time travel stuff in the way he can -- in this case, by "writing" the script to the Empire Strikes Back to send to Lucas. Hilarious!

-> Naomi's dead body "audition" revealed to us it was indeed Widmore who staged the fake 815 crash with all the dead bodies in the Sunda Trench. The dead do have a lot of info to share, it seems.

-> Now we know why Miles asked Ben for $3.2 m - he was just trying to double Widmore's fee.

-> Mainland Miles kidnapped by creepy Bram and the "what lies in the shadow of the statue" people. Well, now we know they're not from Widmore.

-> How creepy-strange that Miles was just watching his own baby self, with his supposedly deadbeat Dad very lovingly reading him a story. Loved that on his 3rd day there, Miles recognized his MOM getting behind him in the cafeteria line. But Hurley's suggestion that Miles go change his own diaper? Not so much.

-> Love Hurley as the family therapist.

-> Jimmy from Mad Men busted Sawyer for being the one to take Ben... "Get some rope." Um, okay Sawyer, whatever you ask!!! :-)

-> FARADAY!

LOST - "Dead Is Dead"

Well, tonight's episode reconfirmed 2 things for me: I freakin' love Ben Linus, and Michael Emerson deserves that Emmy, pronto!

***Spoilers Ahead***

We got a lot in tonight's episode -- filling in the backstory, answering a major plot cliffhanger from this season, showing us a little Island mojo, a little "Lord of the Flies" action among the new crash survivors, and - best of all - scene upon scene of Ben Linus and John Locke, together again.

Felix and Oscar
I would watch "The Odd Couple, Island Version" with Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn for an entire season itself. Those 2 actors are so well-matched, and they bring out the best in each other. When they're together, every glance, every pause, every twitch of the eyebrow or lip - it all is so loaded with feeling, with tension. The scenes just crackle! Terry got his Emmy, now it's Michael's turn!

Alex's Story
Now our biography of Alex is complete. Ben did indeed kidnap the infant Alex from poor, crazed Rousseau on the beach --but not intentionally. Charles Widmore (rather dashing back in Ben's childhood days, but looking haggard in this middle-Island-years) ordered Ben to kill Rousseau, and was furious that he didn't and brought back the baby instead. Ben seems to have a soft spot for children... and facing Widmore's disapproval, in what seemed to be a turning point in their relationship, Ben raised the little girl as his own. Perhaps the happiest we've ever seen Ben was when he was playing with his daughter on the swingset - cute! And tragic, of course, because we know what happens to poor Alex... our mastermind miscalculated and had to watch in horror as Keamy, instrument of Widmore, killed his little girl.

But -- was it really Ben's fault? There was a whole lot of hinting tonight, by none other that Widmore himself, that it was the Island that wanted Alex dead, one way or the other. Was she just living on borrowed time for 16 years? Or was it really Widmore (or creepy-hot Keamy) who caused her death?

The Fall of Charles Widmore
So, that brings us to Widmore... I think we've still got a lot to learn about this mysterious Aussie. (Or is he supposed to be British?) The scene we saw tonight, as Ben said goodbye while Widmore was led off the Island, via submarine, in handcuffs just didn't seem like enough explanation. He was banished from the Island for traveling off-Island and having a whole mainland life? We know that Ben traveled off the Island a lot, too, in later years -- why was he allowed to do so if Widmore wasn't? More to the story, I'm sure.

I was glad they made reference to Widmore having fathered a daughter off-Island, cuz the math was just driving me nuts that we had Alex around as a small child (Alex, who was 16 in 2004) but no Penny, who is clearly older. I wonder if we'll learn more about Widmore's family life, or if in the interest of limited time left that's just gonna be all we'll get?

All of our Other flashbacks tonight seemed to happen pre-purge, and they really did look to be just living in tents out in the jungle. Where did the Others come from? Still a big mystery!

At the Marina
With so much focus on Widmore, and all the talk of fathers and daughters, I had a *strong* sense we were going to be seeing Penny again... and boy, did we. Finally, in an edge-of-your-seat set of scenes, we got to see what happened when Ben went to the marina before getting on Flight 316. Oh boy, was I scared for our lovely Penny... how chilling that Ben actually called Widmore to say he was going to kill his daughter!!! And I really believe he would've done it, maybe even killed Desmond too, if Ben's surprising soft side hadn't gotten in the way. Seeing the sweet, innocent face of little Charlie, Ben dropped the gun - only to be tackled and walloped by our favorite Scot, thus explaining all those bloody injuries.

This felt very right -- not just because having Ben actually kill Penny and destroy such an epic love story would be horrifying, something I could never forgive of him -- but because of the nice parallels in the story. Penny's story does match Alex's, but not in Ben's intended "eye for an eye, daughter for a daughter" way. Instead, the parallel lies in Ben's inability to hurt a child, and his refusal to harm a mother in front of her child. Penny actually parallels Rousseau, and in that moment Ben seemed to be giving little Charlie a chance his own Alex never got -- the chance to be raised by his own loving mother.

And, with this scene, I think I've finally leaned fully in one direction... Ben is not the ultimate bad guy here. He's got a twisted view of the world, he's a power-hungry narcissist, sure. But I think he's got nothing on Charles Widmore -- as Ben himself cried to Penny, her father is an "evil" man. We may never know which one of these two men has the better intentions, but I'm siding with Ben in that coming Island war.

Judgment Day
And, back on the Island, Ben gave himself over to be judged by the Island spirit, old Smokey itself. In a very "Indiana Jones" scene (with some questionable CGI, but I'll let it go), Ben was confronted with his memories of Alex and his guilt over her death... only to then be confronted by Alex herself, at least the Island manifestation of her. Ghost-Alex was furious, blaming Ben for her death, and threatening to hunt him down and kill him if he fails again... I admit, I was on the edge of my seat again, just slightly afraid that they just might kill off Ben Linus... they wouldn't do that, right? Right.

Ben's task now? To follow John Locke, his every instruction. In our final scene -- we see Ben returning to Locke, explaining what happened -- "It let me live," he said, with an almost tangible sense of despair. Our Ben now seems to be a broken man, while the resurrected Locke might be just now coming into his power. It's going to be fascinating to watch that new dynamic take shape!

LOST - "Whatever Happened, Happened"

We had another old school-style LOST episode tonight, back to the kind of character-centric, flashback episodes that we all thought would be the norm back in seasons 1 - 3. Is it just me who's now a little disappointed when we have these eps now, since we've seen them do so much more interesting things with their storytelling style? Or perhaps it was just a sigh tonight when I realized it was a Kate episode... but, it did turn out to be a relatively good one. Blog Note: I'm a little tired tonight, so this'll be more of a highlights review than my usual, more verbose LOST posts. :-)

***Spoilers ahead***

Tonight's episode did for Kate what last week's did for Sayid, filling in the remaining gaps of her Oceanic 6 time and showing the lead-up to her decision to get on the Ajira 316 flight and head back to the Island. Not many surprises here, but it was nice to see things fleshed out and learn the answer to her current big mystery - where is Aaron? The answer? As it should be. Even though I fell for the mid-episode hinting about Cassidy, Aaron is actually with his grandmother Mrs. Littleton. Kate, with Cassidy's prodding, realized that was the right thing to do, so even though it broke her heart she turned the boy over. She also gave a good answer for why she came back -- if her true feelings were that she wanted to go back to find Claire, to do that for the child she'd grown to love as her own, I'd be totally happy with that. I'm glad she didn't come back for Sawyer, cuz it's looking more and more like Sawyer doesn't want her back at all. And that all feels right, too.

Back on the Island... the central drama was the aftermath of Sayid shooting Ben. Sayid didn't appear in this ep at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's wandering around in the jungle unseen for a few more weeks. But our fearsome foursome had some mighty decisions to make about what to do for the wounded young Ben. Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate were all firmly in the "we've gotta save him" camp... in fact, Sawyer's great line tonight was:

"No matter what he's gonna grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die."

But, it was ye olde Doc Shepherd who refused to play along this time, and he had a great line of his own in an argument with Kate:

"I've already saved Benjamin Linus once, and I did it for you, Kate. I'm not gonna do it again."

In the end, Sawyer and Kate (with Juliet's encouragement) broke the truce in order to ask the mysterious Richard Alpert to heal young Ben. By this time, Ben's already become an Others-groupie, so Richard knew the child. (But I *think* Richard hasn't been time-traveling yet and so doesn't know who Ben turns out to be.) We don't know what the magical Island HMO plan is, so who knows how he is healed. But Richard's eerie warning, and Sawyer and Kate's agreement to it, set Ben on the path to grow up to become the bug-eyed mastermind. Sawyer and Kate basically agreed to let Ben become Ben. Heavy!

One thing I loved about tonight's on-Island story was that it allowed for some pretty amazing conversations between our characters. I think we can also call this episode "Clearing the Island Air." Everyone got a chance to tell everyone else just exactly what they're feeling -- Jack told off Kate "You didn't like the old me" -- Kate told Juliet she didn't want to cause problems between her and Sawyer -- Sawyer told Kate that the two of them were never meant to be -- and, the best, Juliet taking Jack down a few pegs. Elizabeth Mitchell plays pissed off really well. It felt like each of them needed to have these conversations to get a little closure on the Love-Rhombus, and hopefully we can all put that to bed. So to speak. ;-)

More highlights:

- We learned that Sawyer had indeed asked Kate to check in on his daughter Clementine, leading to her reunion with Cassidy and, finally, giving Kate a true friend she can talk to about everything.

- Speaking of that... Kate has now told both Cassidy and Mrs. Littleton the truth of the Oceanic 6. Think this might ever cause some probs in the present day, or will they keep mum?

- Loved LOVED Hurley and Miles replaying the same conversation that millions of LOST fans have been having for weeks, as Miles tried to explain to Hurley the closed loop-time travel theory. I myself have tried a few times lately, so I'm glad the show did it so articulately and with a good Back to the Future reference. :-)

- Hurley stumped Miles with the key question -- why doesn't grownup Ben remember being shot by Sayid? Well, Richard answered that easily -- the "healing" will cause Ben to forget the whole thing. Mighty conveeeeeeeenient, writers!

- Some nice humanizing stuff with Roger Linus, Ben's dad. But do you ever look the other way with an abusive parent, even if they admit they're struggling and lost? Tough call, but I was feeling much more sympathetic towards him tonight.

- Wow, Cassidy is some kind of bitter over old convict / con man Sawyer leaving her behind. Sorry, Cass, I like you, but you were not meant to be with him either.

- In that scene where Kate and Sawyer were risking their lives to save young Ben by crossing into Others' territory, it was pretty easy to see how much they've each grown in 3 years. He now understands responsibility and looking out for people other than himself. She's become a mother and learned what it's like to be nurturing and to need to protect someone helpless. Nice character evolution.

- Apparently, in 1977, Ellie and Charles are both still important to the Others' camp. You couldn't tell if they're physically still on the Island or not, but one of the Others was very concerned Richard wasn't checking with them first. If Charles is still on the Island, I'm gonna need some explaining on when and where Penny is born. She is not 27 in 2004, right? She seemed at least mid-30's....and would remember if she'd grown up on a strange tropical Island!

And... the big final scene? Cut to grownup Ben, back on Hydra Island, being watched over in the dark by a very creepy and menacing John Locke. "Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living." Must be pretty scary to see the guy you killed, huh????

Next week appears to be a BEN episode! Bring it!

LOST - "He's Our You"

Wow. This almost felt like an extended episode tonight, cuz there was SO MUCH going on. And, since we're at that point in the season, it ended with a crazy, mind-bending little cliffhanger that's gonna keep me up at night trying to figure out.

*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****

Hooray, we finally got another Sayid episode! I think it was right around this time in Season 3 when a Sayid episode, "Enter 77", pushed the accelerate button on the plot line and sent the whole rest of that slow-starting season into overdrive. I'm guessing that at the end of Season 5, we just might look at "He's Our You" in the same way. Sayid is such a great character, and all of the amazing things about him were explored tonight - his dual nature of being a trained and often willing killer at the same time that he has tremendous regrets, his kick-ass fighting skills, his skill with the ladies, and, for all his strategic nature, his too frequent tendency to just trust the wrong person.

Before I get to much more about the plot development, I have to thank the lost writers outright for giving us not one, but TWO, of my new all-time favorite LOST lines tonight:

"A 12-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?" - Sayid to LaFleur/Sawyer

"Three years, no burning buses. Y'all are back for ONE day....!" - LaFleur/Sawyer to Jack and Kate

Those just made me giggle! Okay, back to the story.

Sayid Jarrah, this is your life...
We certainly saw some of the highlights, from way back in Tikrit when an adorable little Sayid first showed his killer tendencies (and showed us that like so many characters in LOST he has a domineering father), to the return of the fluffy-haired Oceanic 6 assassin and the repentant charity homebuilder in the Dominican Republic. And, perhaps most importantly, we learned more about the mysterious and slightly-scary Ilana and why Sayid was her prisoner on the Ajira flight. Retribution catches up with him... or does it?

A lot of holes were filled in, including the many key conversations between Sayid and Ben. Once again we see that Ben is a master manipulator (forcing him to become an assassin then just dropping him with no next plan, lying to him about John Locke's death and always threatening that his friends were in danger) and his words often helped shape Sayid's motivations and in some ways helped define who he had become. Let's not forget that key moment when Ben, who has been the scourge of Sayid's life, pushing and pulling him to his own needs for years, reminded him "You're a killer." It's reached the point where even Sayid believes that is what he truly is. (Although I want to believe he still knows he has a good heart in there... like all sexy but vulnerable bad boys...)

Back in DharmaLand, circa 1977...

In the midst of the glimpses of Sayid's past (which is, of course, in the future on this show), we had a very tense storyline that revolved around the question of "what do we do with the prisoner?" Sound familiar???? There's some great blog writing out there that theorizes that the seasons of LOST will end up paralleling each other. That 4 was a parallel to 3, and now that Season 5 is nicely lining up with Season 2 (and thus that the final season would echo the first). Our Survivors integrating themselves in Dharma, dealing with the Hostiles, learning all these Island secrets, feels very similar to Season 2 with the Hatch and the Tailies and the Others. And what mysterious prisoner first appeared in Season 2? Why, that would be none other than Henry Gale, aka our introduction to the inimitable Benjamin Linus. At first, that's what I thought they meant by "He's Our You," which still seems a good parallel.

But that title was actually a line from LaFleur/Sawyer (I really am starting to think of LaFleur as almost a different character, well played Josh Holloway). After numerous attempts to try to get his old friend to play along with the charade, LaFleur/Sawyer was outvoted on being patient and Sayid was subjected to the Dharmites' interrogator -- Oldham. This creepy old dude - played by William Sanderson, who looked so familiar to me it was driving me nuts until I realized I was used to seeing him with his brother Darryl and his *other* brother Darryl - living out in his teepee in the jungle fed Sayid some crazy truth serum. And boy oh boy, our trained Iraqi Republican Guard guy was not immune. He started talking like a crazy little child, telling them the whole story, much to LF/Sawyer's chagrin. I think he almost had Horace (aka Eugene Tooms of X-Files fame) and crazy Radzsinsky believing him, until he went a little too far by shouting "I am from the future!" :-)

The Dharmites don't buy this story (would you?) and instead calls for a very "civilized" house meeting and vote on Sayid's fate. Radzinsky is still all crazy about the Swan, which apparently hasn't been named yet, and is sure that Sayid is a spy. LF/Sawyer seems to be putting up a good fight on exercising caution and giving him another chance to talk until new mom Amy chimes in (damn you Michele Dessler!) about worrying about baby Ethan (creepy little bastard) as long as Sayid's around. So the group votes to kill Sayid, and LF/Sawyer is pressured into making it unanimous.

Trying yet again to save his friend, LF/Sawyer visits Sayid... offers him a chance at escape... but Sayid refuses and gives a very resigned speech about waking up back on the Island and finally knowing what his purpose was. Here, I thought, Sayid's finally seeking redemption and thinks dying is the only way to make up for his life of sin. I was afraid for a few moments there that the show might actually kill Sayid... that would've been shocking, but the moment *almost* felt right. Instead, we got another shock... which brings me to...

"If I Only Had a Purpose"
The real meat of this episode..... the relationship between Sayid and Ben. For the last 3+ years of his life, Sayid has been totally dominated by Ben Linus. He hates him, thinks he's evil, but has still worked for him and often follows his lead. What is this power Ben has over him? What made Ben this way?

Well.... we got to see a little start of that tonight. Cuz after last week's big reveal of that 12-year-old and his sandwich, tonight we saw how young Ben looked up to the prisoner Sayid, how he was humiliated by his father in front of him (more LOST daddy issues), how he begged to be brought over by Sayid to the Others. And at some point, Sayid realized his true purpose... at least the way he saw it upon returning to the Island back in 1977... in the moment, I thought he meant his purpose was to CREATE Ben Linus.

But, with that final, shocking scene.... after little Ben let Sayid go and finally had a leader, a mentor to take him into the jungle and help him escape his wretched Dharma life... after lying to Jin and then knocking him out... Sayid did the unthinkable. HE SHOT LITTLE BEN.

Hominawhat?!?!?!?!?

Put that in our closed time loop and smoke it! Where's Daniel Faraday when we need him??? If he shot little Ben, can he kill him? You can't kill 12-year-old Ben when we know damn well Ben lives into his 40's, right? Set aside dates here, this is about linear age... Ben grows older. We know that! So either that was a non-fatal close-range gunshot wound to the chest, which means adult Ben will know all along that Sayid shot him back in 1977, or we just saw something that will SERIOUSLY screw with the LOST time-space continuum. Bring it!!!

In other Craphole Island news...

- The 'shipper stuff was on a back burner tonight, and I'm okay with that. It still seems like Sawyer wants it to work out with Juliet, but she's a smart gal and realizes that having the others back will change everything. But the various Juliet-Kate, Kate-Sawyer, Jack-Kate, etc. scenes were all relatively straightforward and low on the longing-glances scale, and that's fine with me.

- Hurley both as a Dharma cook AND as the "hub" of info makes me happy!

- So now we've seen more of the stories of the Oceanic 6 getting back on the plane. I can't wait to see Hurley's!

- A reference to Ann Arbor! Could the deGroots be far behind?

It looks like next week's ep is going to be all about the aftermath of Sayid's escape. I can not wait to find out what happens to little Ben!

LOST - "Namaste"

Another really strong episode from Season 5! After the amazing "LaFleur" 2 weeks ago, which was such a rich, emotional, historic episode, tonight's "Namaste" felt a little more like one of the "moving the chess pieces" hours, but it still had some really great little nibbles of tasty goodness and ended with one of those great scenes that has me screaming "Omigod omigod omigod!" at the screen.

****Spoilers Below****

So, all of our 1977 Losties have reunited. Sawyer's still the man in charge, with Jin and Miles on his security team and Juliet a mechanic/Sawyer's gf. Now, Jack, Kate, and Hurley are new Dharma recruits, even showing up in the 1977 class picture in their silly jumpsuits. Sayid's been mistaken for a Hostile/Other, but Sawyer's promised to take care of that little problem. Hail, hail, the gang's all... wait a minute. Where's Daniel Faraday? We still don't know, but Miles hinted that he's gone... does that mean gone in space and time, or did tragedy hit our Dan yet again?

And, back in 2007, we finally learn (though I've been doubting it lately, so other bloggers have much better ESP than I do) that Sun did stay in the present. Why??? What did she do or not do to prevent the time jump? Ajira 316 did indeed land on the runway on Hydra, Caesar and that new woman whose name I've forgotten seem to be rallying as the leaders of the new Socks, and Ben, Sun and Frank headed off into the jungle. For once, that bug-eyed genius Ben fell victim to the old villain trick of telling his master plan a little too soon, and Sun - proving she's still a badass - clocked him so that she and Frank could head off in the outrigger back to the main Island alone.

Once there, they found the usual creepy Island quirks like Smokey and the whispers along with the dilapidated camp and the always-spooky (ghost of?) Christian Shepherd. Ghost Dad clued Sun and Frank into the time warp scenario, with that aforementioned 1977 class photo as a prop, and then with some spooky wind effects told Sun and Frank they have quite a journey ahead of them. So -- the race for the rest of this season will be to reunite all of our characters, hopefully in 2007... so we can all stop scratching our heads every week trying to figure out all these time loop questions!

Some of my favorite moments from "Namaste:"

- Sawyer (LaFleur) having to explain to Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they were now in 1977. Loved that awkward conversation!

- Radzinsky, he of the Flame and the itchy trigger finger, making a live appearance! Remember, he's the possible last-remaining Dharmite, Inman's partner who draws the blast door map and who kills himself in the Swan station (aka the Hatch) sometime shortly before Desmond arrives. Yeah, seems a volatile guy. But we know he survives the purge somehow...

- Holy crap! The little Dharma baby that Juliet helped deliver last ep is Ethan! Creepy, creepy, Claire-kidnapping, Charlie-attacking, super-strength Ethan!!! So, he survives the purge, too.

- Jin was a total man with a mission trying to determine if Sun, too, had magically appeared on the Island. I loved his determination. Hopefully it will all be rewarded soon.

- It was so nice to see Sayid smile, when he first recognized Jin. I'm hoping things with Sayid work out well, he's had a really rough path.

- LOVED LOVED Hurley asking Sawyer questions about his Dharma life -- and, dude, how come you're not telling them they're all gonna die in the purge? I love that we can rely on Hurley to finally get to the heart of so many things.

- So, how did Ben know that the outrigger boats would be on the Hydra where they were, covered in branches? And, this relates back to that runway... I'm guessing that the time travel-closed loop thing will end up explaining all of this. That somehow the Others knew to build the runway and put the boats out cuz one of our people from the future told them to. How much else of what we've seen was all conveniently planned by the future characters, knowing they would eventually need it?

- This was an idea a few weeks ago, too, but now especially after seeing Jack, Kate, and Hurley get processed as Dharma recruits, I'm SURE this is all going to connect back to the 3 of them plus Sawyer being the ones on "Jacob's list" and taken by the Others at the end of season 2.

- Sawyer made Jack a janitor!

- I really, truly loved the scene between Sawyer and Jack. Yes, because I love Sawyer and hate Jack, but I also thought it was so well-written and true to their characters. Sawyer's reference to Churchill reading a book every night, and comparing their styles of thinking vs. reacting, was so on the nose. At least I hope it is! I'm trusting in Sawyer to pull them all through this, though from the previews it looks like there's going to be some rocky times ahead.

- I was very worried at the end of the last episode. Sawyer and Juliet's relationship has instantly become so precious to me, I want to protect it! I think they had a good ep tonight, as Sawyer was more upfront with Juliet, seemed to keep his (tortured) distance from Kate, and Juliet was steely-strong but nice enough in her own interactions with Kate. Plus there was that strange emotional moment when Jack saw Juliet again and figured out their relationship. But, looks like there are some troubles ahead for all of us 'shippers. I'm totally in favor of Sawyer/Juliet and Jack/Kate being the final result. Let's just settle that and move on!

- And, finally, the reason why I was screaming at my tv.... in a much-anticipated scene, we finally got the answer to one of the major continuity questions that's been bugging the heck out of me. Cuz which awkward little adolescent boy was so fascinated by the idea of a prisoner that he just had to bring him a sandwich? None other than BEN LINUS!!! And it was so perfect that Sayid was the first to see him, Sayid who has spent at last part of the last 3 years under Ben's thumb doing dastardly deeds all around the world, Sayid who just saw the adult, scheming Ben on the Ajira flight, who knows all too well the horrors that this small child will grow up to create... Awesome!!!

Since I'm not going to work tomorrow, I've got lots of time to surf the blogs and see what kinds of things people are saying about this season so far. I know it's about time for that 2/3-mark where they flip the switch and it becomes all action from here on out. I can't even imagine what they have in store for us next! But, where's Daniel? Did Ben kill Penny? And where are Rose and Bernard? :-)

----------------------
Oooh, my favorite tv blog had some of the text of Sawyer's great speech up:

"It's how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't mean that much to you, because back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn't think, Jack, and as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead." -Sawyer

LOST - La Fleur

Okay, I loved LOST tonight, and not *just* because it was a Sawyer-centric episode. (Although that did have something to do with it!)

After two parallel episodes in a row ("316" and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham") that focused on John Locke getting the old band back together on the mainland, with mostly present-day action among the Oceanic 6 leading to their return to the Island, tonight's episode took us back to the Island itself to check in with the Skipping Survivors and what happened after Locke turned that darn Frozen Donkey Wheeler.

And while many fans, myself included, felt like those last 2 eps were more process-oriented in terms of getting the right people in the right place, etc., tonight's ep for me was a real return to both LOST's emotional heart and its central mythology. A welcome return, in my book.

**Spoilers Ahead, Ye Mateys**

So, when Locke turned the wheel and disappeared... it worked! The Island Survivors (Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Dan, and Miles) stopped time-skipping and the nosebleeds went away. Locke's plan worked, but the group was stuck back in time at the moment when the flashes stopped.. which turned out to be 1974. The Dharma Initiative if in full swing, under the not-so-able-bodied leadership of good old Horace Goodspeed, and they're living on the Island under a tense truce with the "Hostiles" (who we now know as the Others), led by good old Richard Alpert.

Our Survivors stumble upon a fateful scene as 2 Hostiles appear to be attacking 2 Dharma folks (Dharmites?), and when the Dharma man is shot Sawyer can't handle seeing a lady in distress so he steps in. (That lady being one of the notable new cast members of the season, Reiko Aylesworth, aka Michele Dessler Almeda from 24.) The Hostiles are killed when they turn their guns on our gang, and now they're pulled in to an Island War, '70's style, that they never planned to get involved in. Through a series of jumps from 1974 to 1977, we see that our Survivors integrate themselves fully into the Dharma world, under pretense, and seem to be fairly accepting that they're going to live out their lives 30 years ago.

James Ford, aka Sawyer, aka Jim La Fleur
This was a fantastic Sawyer episode. If I'm not mistaken, this was his first real showcase since the back half of season 3, and Josh Holloway did a great job tonight. Setting aside how happy I was that in the Dharma barracks he finally found a shower, our Sawyer was really starting to show his true potential tonight.

If you're of the camp that the series-long arc of LOST will be to show the long-term redemption of all of its original troubled characters (which I think I am), then you've probably been noticing Sawyer's character development over the last 5 years. He started out the villain of the group, the surly, nasty con man who was only out for himself and didn't care about anyone else. Remember back when he hoarded everything in the camp and Sayid tortured him to try and find Shannon's inhalers? Well, even then we learned Sawyer's bark was worse than his bite. But over time, and with some notable help along the way from Hurley, Sawyer's been finding his redemption in learning to not only care about others but to actually start emerging as a real leader. Tonight, with crazy charismatic Locke gone, Sawyer was clearly the man in charge of his group - with Juliet as his #2, but more on that later - and even 3 years later he appeared to be in a real position of authority within Dharma and close to Horace, the camp's leader. I was proud watching him take action and take responsibility for the group, cuz he's really come a long way since those first days on the beach. And, I mean, just look at him! Doesn't he melt your heart? ;-)

What I loved the most about Sawyer's take-charge role tonight? The con man has found his redemption in being a leader, and as that leader he's had to con everyone in the Dharma Initiative to help protect his group. He was great thinking on his feet, convincing Horace Goodspeed that he was the leader of a shipwrecked salvage crew looking for the Black Rock. Of course, he knows that ship quite well, considering what he had to do in that brig. But that was just another great little moment of the writers pulling a thread together -- not all of the Survivors knew of the existence of the ship, but Sawyer does and he used that knowledge like a good con man would. He's putting his formerly dastardly skills to good use.

Sawyer and Richard Alpert
And speaking of thinking on his feet, Sawyer knew that he was the one who could diffuse the escalating tension between Richard Alpert and Horace over the apparent breaking of the truce. Seizing his moment in an electric scene, Sawyer left all pretense behind and convinced Alpert by using the truth - revealing his purpose in waiting for John Locke to return, just like Alpert is. What I loved so much about that scene was that, I think for the first time, we saw the tables turn as one of our Survivors had the upper hand in a conversation with one of the Others. Sawyer knew more than Alpert did about Locke and their history, and probably at this point still knows more about the Island's time slips than Alpert does. What a great moment to see "our guy" get the upper hand over the previously omniscient-seeming Alpert. (Or, as Sawyer called him, "your buddy with the eyeliner.") This may be a real sign for how our Survivors will continue to have an advantage over the Hostiles/Others and the Dharmites thanks to their time travel and their actual experiences of knowing their history from the perspective of 2004.

The Dharma Initiative
Which raises all sorts of questions for me, by the way. I *loved* getting more glimpses of Dharma back in its prime, though we still really don't know much about their experiments or what they were trying to prove. But we learned more about the truce and their leadership. And, perhaps most importantly, we see that in 1977 it was still possible for a woman to give birth on the Island. I'm thinking more and more that "The Incident" is coming soon and that it's what causes the pregnancy problem.

Anyway, what I kept wondering about as we watched our Survivors become regular Dharmites was how they kept up their pretense of not only who they were with their assumed names/backgrounds, but also how they could keep from interfering. They *know* that all of these Dharmites will be killed in a few years, but they can't change the past so they can't do anything about it. Talk about a moral quandary.

And... the boogeyman is around! According to LostPedia, Benjamin Linus was born in the early 1960's. And he and his father Roger came to the Island in the early 1970's. So, even though we didn't seen him, I'm guessing adolescent Benjamin Linus is running around on that Island *right now* WITH our Survivors! Have they met him? How would THAT interaction go??? But, in keeping with the rules of time travel, they aren't supposed to do anything to change who he is or what he does... but might we see some encounters that shape the future bug-eyed maniacal mastermind? I'm so curious about this, and I really hope they don't make any continuity gaffes and leave it unaddressed. I have faith in the writers! Show us young Ben!

Tasty Tidbits

A few quick hits...

- That was a touching moment when grieving Dan Faraday saw adorable little red-headed toddler Charlotte.

- The giant statue!!!!! So, WHEN were they in that quick flash? Way back in time? (Part of me was saying to myself "please don't let it be a dinosaur, do NOT go Jurassic Park on me!" so I was very glad to see that statue.)

- Sawyer got new glasses. Nice.

- Jimmy Barrett (Patrick Fischler, in real life) from Mad Men was in Dharma?!?

- The security fence -- Amy wore ear plugs and walked through? And Richard Alpert can get through? So was it really just to protect the barracks against Smokey?

And, finally, Sawyer and Juliet.. aka a 'Shipper's Dream... aka the Love Rhombus
Ah, the 'shipper heart of this episode. They've been building to a relationship between Sawyer and Juliet ever since they started sassing each other in late season 3. Early in tonight's episode, I was enjoying their growing friendship so much and Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Holloway have *great* chemistry together, so I was really happy when they showed in "three years later" that Sawyer and Juliet are a couple. A sweet, romantic couple, from the looks of it! But how strong will that be? Sawyer gave a convincing answer to Horace about how you really can get over someone in 3 years' time, and he seemed really happy with Juliet.

But, alas, the moment of the big reveal that we all knew was coming... when Sawyer learned that the Oceanic 5/6 (3?) had finally been found on the Island, he *lied* to Juliet about what was going on. And that look on his face, when he finally saw Kate again? He's so not over her. (Though he and Juliet are such a better match!) And I guarantee you that once those 4 people are all together again - Sawyer, Juliet, Jack, and Kate, the love rhombus is going to make for some pretty tense emotional scenes. What are their true feelings? Who really belongs together? I'm afraid Juliet, who's my favorite woman on the show, might get the short end of the stick here... but as is my typical (and as of yet unsuccessful) personal tendency, I'll still believe that bad boy has a heart of gold and will make the right choice. Jack and Kate should be together, and Sawyer should realize he's found something real with Juliet. That'd make this 'shipper very, very happy.

Phew! TWO WEEKS to go until a new episode!!!

Best LOST Blog Ever

I don't know when or if I'll get to posting about this week's LOST episode. It was great, it just came right in the middle of my 5-day-sick and I haven't been up for much blogging.

But, in the meantime, enjoy... this is the best blog I've found in ages! "Dispatches from the Island" is the blog of none other than Jorge Garcia, aka our beloved Hugo "Hurley" Reyes.

He's hilarious! It's a blog just like anybody else's, where he tells funny stories about life - sometimes about being on the set, but mostly just the funny little real-life stuff that keeps the days interesting. Like getting a water bottle stuck in the toilet, or funny pictures of his dog Nunu, or the adventures of buying toilet paper in bulk. He's so charming and funny. Try it, you'll like it!

LOST - The new numbers, 316

Wow. Holy Moley Wow. Spoilers ahead...

First, since I've already shared with you the fact that I take notes while watching LOST, here's an indication of just how SUPER-HUGE an episode this was tonight:


Yes, I took THREE PAGES of notes. Good thing my mother taught me to read, just like Ben's. :-)

Okay, lots of vitamin-fortified goodness tonight. Where to start?

The Opening Scene: Brilliant reference back to the Pilot. Loved it, loved it, and believed it for a moment until I suddenly yelled out, "Wait, he's BACK ON THE ISLAND!" Beautifully done.

The Island: Is always moving, always. Does that mean in both space *and* time? I believe so -- Ms. Hawking gave a quick Island 101 class in the Dharma Lamppost station - located in LA??? - describing the quick history of how the Island was and still can be found.

Finding the Island: It's about looking for it where it will be, not where it should be. Or something like that. I believed all of Ms. Hawking's (Daniel's mom's) army intelligence - physics - Foucault's pendulum stuff as she was saying it, but now I can't remember it well enough to explain. Basically, she told Ben, Jack, Sun, and Desmond that in order to find the Island in the next 36 hours, they had to take the Ajira Airlines (Ajira!) flight 316 from LA to Guam. That would put them in the right place at the right time. And they had to "recreate the circumstances" of when they first crashed on the Island, meaning the same people had to be involved. Lots of work to do to get those Oceanic 6 back together! (And does this mean it's our 6'ers shooting at our Island gang in the outrigger canoes???)

Desmond: Called a big "Lemon out!" and finally let loose on Ms. Hawking, which was great. He basically told her she ruined his life, or 4 years of it, by sending him off to the Island and the time loop in the first place. Great scene for Henry Ian Cusick. So Des is out of the picture for now, but I sure do believe we'll see him again soon. It looks like the potential close encounter between Penny and Ben didn't happen -- or did it??? -- so Des's ladylove should be safe.

Jack: Y'all know Jack has never been my favorite character. (He's never been my least favorite, either - that's Ana Lulu hands down.) BUT -- I was liking him a lot more tonight. I think it's because he was shaken, doubtful, unsure of what they were all doing. It's his certainty and self-righteousness that have always aggravated me the most, so seeing him transformed to becoming the new "man of faith" complete with doubts, rather than the hard-headed "man of science," was refreshing. Locke wished he had believed, and I think it will be this journey that finally makes it so. Matthew Fox always does good work, and tonight I really appreciated seeing those doubts and vulnerabilities play over Jack's face.

Kate: What is UP with Kate??? Did you notice how different she looked tonight? No more polish or makeup, she looked almost haggard - like a tired and worn version of Island Kate. And what in the heck happened to Aaron??? Who took him? Something terrible must have happened, for her to say she never wanted to talk about him again. Another ghostly visit from Claire? Or a very real kidnapping? Something scary, for sure. And does Aaron not need to come back to the Island?

Ben: So, biggest thing first, even as I was writing the Des part above I thought "Oh, we never saw Penny so Ben must not have gone after her" until it clicked for me... his "loose end" that he went off to pursue, and he ended up at the marina with the crap beaten out of him??? What if he went after Penny and Desmond kicked his ass??? I would love that!!! As long as it means Penny's safe. But if Ben tried for revenge and failed, that could be an even bigger motivator for him to get back on the Island. The other big scene in this ep was his beautiful discussion of Doubting Thomas. Well played by Emerson and Fox. So now good old Ben Linus is making his way back to the Island the castaway way -- did he make it??? He must, cuz I can't imagine this show without him. (Other than season 1, of course.)

Circumstances: It was pretty way cool to see all the eerie little ways that the "circumstances" recreated themselves as the 6-minus-1-plus-2 made their way to the Ajira flight. So much deja vu! The biggest kick was seeing Sayid in handcuffs with a brand new marshal as his escort. THAT wll be interesting. Jack has Locke's body on board, as the proxy for Christian Shephard -- what will that end up meaning? (We'll definitely see more next week.) Is this proxy status just for the flight, or is that some hint that Christian has been a proxy for Jacob all along? It was cool seeing Jack's granddad in order to get the shoes needed to set Locke as the proxy - but why did the granddad look to be the same age roughly as Christian? Weird. And.... LAPIDUS! I loved it, and his "We're not going to Guam, are we?" was my 2nd favorite line of the night. :-)

The Big Reveal: And that glorious last scene, as Jack, Kate and Hurley try to figure out where they are - and don't even know that they have to figure out when they are - seeing that Dharma bus drive up with none other than Dharma Jin in it??? Fabulous!!!! I can't WAIT to see the time skips that bring that about!

The Storyline: Along with many others, I'd been saying lately that I thought the real-world O6 storyline was dragging, and that the main action was really on the Island. We didn't see any of our Island survivors tonight, but this ep was a roller coaster! I think it's because from the very first moment we *knew* that they were going to end up back on the Island, and the explanations and actions came very fast. So -- now we're midway through the season, and they're already back on the Island. Just a few weeks ago I figured this would take until the end of the series. So what in the heck do Damon & Carlton have planned for us?? They need to stop the time skipping, and figure out more of the Island's mysteries, but now I have absolutely no idea what the Island's end game will be. And that's how I like it!

LOST - "This Place is Death"

I'm a few days behind my regular viewing schedule, but that means that today on my day off I got to watch LOST the way I like best: completely commercial-free. Thanks, iTunes. It really keeps the suspense level up when you don't have to hear about auto manufacturers' apr or the absorbing power of the ShamWOW! every few minutes.

So, spoilers ahead on this week's installment, the grimly-titled "This Place is Death" ---

Things are moving, moving, moving along at the usual mid-season pace. The main action of the show right now is trying to get all the people in the right places for the Ocean 6 to return to the Island. That means our Skipping Survivors, now happily reunited with Jin, had to make their way to the Orchid station and, back in real time, Ben has to get the O6 gathered together without killing each other to make whatever mysterious journey will take them back.

So far -- mission half-way accomplished. The Survivors, minus one, made it to the pre-Orchid frozen donkey wheel and John attempted to put it back on its axis. So is that what was causing the time skips? The wheel was off its axis and jumping around? Hopefully they're done with the skipping and the horrible pain of being unstuck in time. It's a bit late for Charlotte, though. More on that below.

I imagine (because I don't want to see scenes from next week) that we'll now see John/Jeremy Bentham making his way among the Oceanic 6 a few months/weeks before the current timeline trying to make his case for their return. I'm guessing that he takes the name of Jeremy Bentham because he's trying to hide the fact that he's an 815 survivor, which would destroy the O6 cover story and alert Widmore to what's going on.

Alas, Ben's not having much success so far convincing the O6 -- and it seems John didn't do a great job either. Sayid and Kate have both taken off, Kate along with Aaron, disgusted with Ben and Jack. Hurley's still in jail but Ben will probably bust him out quickly. This is not a merry band just looking to relive the old days. Sun's convinced though, as she is now starting to believe that Jin is still alive, which was a nice emotional storyline to watch as Yunkin Kim is doing a great job this season.

And, in the final moments, our favorite Scot appeared to help draw two storylines together -- and from what I could tell, shocking Ben with the info that Eloise Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother. Did Ben, our man who always has a plan, not know that??? Well, creepy/cool Ellie/Mrs. Hawking seems to be the lady in charge, and she's disappointed in Ben for not bringing the whole group together. But I'm very intrigued that she said they should get started anyway -- with only Sun and Jack representing the 6, plus Ben and Des along for the ride, what in the heck could she be planning? Something scientific, some strange Druidic ritual, a groovy Others dance party? I just can't imagine what we'll see next!

Charlotte & Dan
So, big news for the Freighter Folk... poor Charlotte has proven to have a tragic storyline. The woman who was just trying to return to the fantasy Island of her childhood did so, only to learn it would be the cause of her death. Since she left the Island as a girl with her mother, and since she did meet Ben on the Island in season 4, I think that lays to rest the theory that she was Ben and Annie's daughter and that Annie died in childbirth and the baby was whisked away. She grew up knowing her mother, who refused to talk about the Island. But if she was old enough to remember her Dharma days and the location of the frozen donkey wheel at the well, she should have been old enough to recognize her father, too. So -- was she just a random Dharma girl?

And, in a way showing themselves to be the sad opposite of Desmond & Penny, it turns out Daniel and Charlotte were star-crossed/time-crossed lovers as well. For Charlotte remembered that there was a crazy old man in Dharma who warned her never to return to the Island or she'd die, and that crazy old man turns out to be a time-skipping Daniel Faraday. So, perhaps we shall soon see Daniel back at the Dharma Initiative, like in the season premiere, warning a little girl of her fate. How very Time Traveler's Wife! Poor Charlotte, and poor Dan. I'd grown to like them both a lot.

Christian & John & Ben
We saw the return of the spectral Christian Shephard tonight, in what I still believe to be some manifestation of the Island spirit. Is that because Christian himself was involved, or just because there was the available dead body on the plane? Who knows. I imagine that'll be a Season 6 problem. But his appearance tonight was pretty revealing - as he scolded John for basically abdicating the responsibility he'd been given. Christian told John to move the Island, and he meant JOHN should move the Island. But, pretty typical for our flawed Locke, he let Ben take charge followed his lead. With such a scolding from the Island, I'm guessing John won't do that again, which should make for an interesting interaction whenever Ben meets up with Locke/Bentham on the mainland.

Jin
What a great episode for Daniel Dae Kim! We've missed you, Jin buddy! He quickly figured out who Rousseau was and that he was somehow lost in time, then upon regrouping with the other Survivors he became singly focused in trying to protect his wife and the daughter he's never met. His willingness to let Sun believe he was dead rather than have her come back to the Island was touching, especially juxtaposed with the off-Island scenes of a Sun hell-bent on revenge for thinking was dead after all. Will their inevitable reunion be happy, or bittersweet? And, at this point, it looks like Ji Yeon will remain safe in grandma's arms while her parents figure out when and where they are.

Rousseau
We finally got almost all of the holes filled in on Rousseau's storyline tonight. We've seen the sweet, innocent young mother-to-be as her crew crashed on the Island, then watched as two of them were taken by the awesome return of the Smoke Monster. When the rest of the crew, including her cute-patootie French hubby, fell for what must have been the Monster's eerie projection/manifestation of the voice of their fallen (jerky) friend, something happened to them. At least, that's what Rousseau believes. What was the "sickness" that led the sweet girl to turn her gun on the crew, including said hubby? Were they really possessed somehow? It was not what I expected - not the nosebleeds, not any medical illness that we could see. Instead, Danielle believed that somehow her friends had changed and perhaps were trying to kill her -- which we saw ourselves in that tense scene with her husband. And had he changed that much, or was he just know initiated in the Island's mysteries? He knew the Smoke Monster was a security system for the temple -- very interesting. But poor Danielle, she's now suffered a lot and still doesn't know that crazy Ben Linus is going to steal her baby.

Tidbits

- How freakin' cute is little Ji Yeon???

- And how creepy was it when Sun told her daughter that she'd found her a new friend? I was half-expecting Sun to peel out of that parking lot with Aaron and never look back.

- It feels like we are going to see some "ancient" Island culture soon -- there've been so many hints lately, especially with this ep's view of the temple with its cuneiform writing and guard dog Smokey.

- When Christian yelled "say hello to my son!" John didn't know what he meant. I'd forgotten that Sawyer's the only one who knows what Jack's dad looks like, and so far Sawyer hasn't seen Christian walking around. Claire (alive or dead) doesn't know that her dad is also Jack's dad, right? And no one else who's seen him would know who he is. More for that Season 6 wrap-up story, I'm guessing.

In many ways, this episode reminded me a lot of good old school Season 1 LOST, with the return of the smoke monster, the brief clip of THE NUMBERS being broadcast over the Frenchmens' radios, the mystery and confusion about the physical surroundings of the Island, and most of all with Locke's unwavering faith in the Island's mysteries even as everyone questioned the weakness of his logic. Locke often turned out to be right in his instincts, but we've also seen him be pretty darn wrong. Hopefully we'll soon see if all this Richard- and Christian Shephard-influenced faith is leading them all in the right direction.

Wowee. What did everbody else think??

Brief Programming Note

Heads up -


Due to a major work event Wednesday night, and a party-hardy night on Thursday (feliz cumpleanos to me!), I will probably not watch this week's LOST until Friday!

Please don't spoil it for me, pretty please????

Little Prince LOST

In my view, LOST episodes tend to be good, really good, great*, or "Stranger in a Strange Land." Last week's episode, "Jughead," falls somewhere between really good and great in my book, and so that makes any episode that follows it seem a little slow in comparison. Often the "good" episodes are the ones that focus on moving the action/storyline from Point A to Point B, filling in gaps and setting up the next major plot point, and that's what tonight's episode felt like. Still, I'd rate "The Little Prince" as a good episode, especially because of all those 4th-quarter reveals.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Quick hits:

- Things are still moving a lot faster this season than I expected - 4 eps in and John is already talking about leaving the Island to go get the 6 back? Will we meet Jeremy Bentham soon?

- The dad from My So-Called Life can totally play a jerk lawyer.

- I was glad to see some continuity re-established, as Jack got in trouble for bringing Sayid to the hospital since he was suspended for being a crazy-bearded addict.

- I still love a good Sayid kick-ass scene when he goes all Jason Bourne using found objects as weapons. Beware of IV tubes.

- They focused a lot on Sawyer's heartbreak tonight. I'll never claim Josh Holloway is the best actor on the show, and my dear Sawyer is really looking in need of a shower, but he played that pain well. You could see the hurt in his eyes, and his scenes with Juliet really made me believe they're becoming friends. She's got a little heartbreak of her own going on, too.

- Oh, the nosebleeds! I'm now definitely thinking Miles is Candle/Wickman's baby that we saw, and he's suffering now cuz he's had more exposure to the Island than he knows. Charlotte also must have lived there as a child, but I can't remember if she knows or not? With Juliet's nosebleed after 3? years on the Island, it probably won't be long before our 815ers show symptoms, too. Those O6 better get back fast and stop the time-warp soon!

- Who the heck were the Ajira Airlines folks in the black getups, shooting from the canoe??? And when was that??

- I loved Sawyer's pre-post warp exclamations: "Thank you Lord!" "I take that back!"

- Where are Rose & Bernard???

- Harold Perrineau's got a new show. Don't really care.

Now, those reveals:

--> After a big fakeout with Claire's mom that totally had me fooled, thinking sneaky Sun was behind the custody case for Aaron, we learn that BEN was behind the legal threat to take Aaron away. I give big points to Kate, finally showing us again those street smarts she has deep down, for figuring it out the instant she saw him. It was his way of putting Kate on the run again, if she thought someone was after Aaron, which would give her the reason to actually want to go back to the Island. Can't wait to see how this plays out, cuz Mama Kate does not look like she's gonna let Ben win without a fight.

--> After all of those promises early on, Damon and Carlton kept their word. It's not a flashback, it's actually a time skip, but we're gonna get to know the young Danielle Rousseau!!! I was so excited when they found that French wreckage on the beach and showed us the raft -- I was chanting "Rousseau! Rousseau!" at my tv. :-) I'm shocked by how young, soft, and sweet she seems. Pretty soon Ben Linus is gonna steal that baby and her whole crew is gonna die, so she'll start becoming that hard-bitten survivalist we grew to love.

--> And, finally, JIN!!!!!!!!!! He's alive!!!! And he's skipping in time along with our other castaways, so its only a matter of time before they meet up again. Last season, I really, really thought he was dead, but this year I've been wavering a bit. I love the idea of him still being alive, cuz it creates an urgency for all of us, knowing that Sun is trying to avenge his death and wondering how she'll learn and believe that's he's really alive. They'll have to be reunited, and hopefully he can meet his little girl. I don't know how that will work, though -- once the 6 return to the Island, can they ever go back to the real world? Will Sun and Jin be separated from Ji Yeon forever?


*All of the "great" episodes I can think of happen to feature Desmond prominently. He's such a great character, and the writers seem to love him. "Flashes Before Your Eyes," "The Constant," and the season 4 finale (I'm blanking on the name right now) are all so strong, and they all focus on Desmond, Penny, and time travel. It could practically be a show all on its own.

The Mysterious Men of LOST

Okay, friends, I'm back for a full post on all kinds of crunchy LOST goodness, as I just finished watching episode 5.3: Jughead.

***SPOILERS ABOUND -- Consider yourself warned***

First, I thought you all might find it amusing (and I just wanted a good excuse to use my new scanner) to see how I watch an episode of LOST. I take notes! For example:

(Look closely, you can see where I exclaim "future Des is hot!" Excuse the tense there, cuz "future" in this case really means "present," but you get my drift. He looks GOOD.)

There was a whole lot of stuff going on in this episode, and I think it really boiled down to fleshing out the stories of 3 of the more mysterious characters of LOST. While they may have been on the sidelines or be brand new, these 3 are shaping up to be very central to the resolution of the story. And, in typical LOST fashion, for every new tidbit we learned we have a whole slew of new questions.

Daniel Faraday
Well, he just gets more and more interesting, doesn't he? And Jeremy Davies freakin' rocks in the role. So Faraday's been studying this time travel stuff for roughly a decade, funded by none other than Charles Widmore (see below - all these stories are gonna link back to each other like they do). He started with rats like Eloise, but apparently moved on to sending a poor cute British girl back and forth in time, or at least in her mind, and now she's frozen in that loop and has all her medical bills funded by... none other than Charles Widmore. Seems like Daniel may have had a thing for the girl, too, which makes his on-Island crush on Charlotte, who now also seems to be suffering from the time travel side effects (Rousseau's sickness???), even more poignant. Whatever happened, it was bad enough that Oxford has stricken all record of him ever being a professor there and his old lab is sealed up.

What was his original connection to Widmore? Did Widmore look him up in the yellow pages under "brilliant but slightly crazy physicist willing to explore possibility of time travel in pursuit of mysterious time-hopping Pacific Island" ? Perhaps.

And, though we haven't seen it on screen yet, we pretty much got the big hint that Mrs. Hawking will turn out to be Daniel's mother, who - according to Widmore - is a "very private person." Intriguing!

Richard Alpert
Hooray for Nestor Carbonell's show getting cancelled last year so he can be back with us more regularly! Richard has been one of my favorite side characters since he was introduced, and I'm glad they're starting to give us more details. Tonight, they confirmed that Richard is very old, and he's been on that Island a very, very long time. Could he be somehow connected to the presumed "ancients" that built the 4-toed statue? Are the Others speaking Latin because that was Richard's language? I'd love to find out he was maybe the priest of the Black Rock or something - speaking Latin by trade, not because he's actually 2000 years old - a few hundred years sounds better. :-)

The other (Other?) big thing we learned tonight a little Island history: as of 1952, when Richard seemed to be the leader of the Others, Dharma has not yet arrived; the Army had come to the Island to do an H-bomb test but the Others killed all of the soldiers; Richard was following Jacob somehow; and - most importantly - Richard had NOT started time traveling yet. He didn't know John, and he didn't seem to believe his story. Does this mean time travel didn't start on the Island until during the Dharma years?? That could fit with the original orientation film and its reference to "the Incident."

But, what John said resonated with Richard enough for him to follow his instructions and seek out the young Locke as we've seen him do before. In those previous scenes, I'd thought Richard was time traveling and that's how he never aged. But, now I'm changing tack and thinking that Richard still wasn't time traveling yet -- that at least in the beginning he is just traveling off the Island some normal way to track down and visit Locke -- and that he doesn't age because Richard is, somehow, immortal. Or close to it. He did make an interesting reference to choosing the leaders of the Others in a very specific way - which I'm sure we saw part of back when Richard visited young Locke and gave him the "Dalai Lama/reincarnation" test that I loved so much. We still don't know why young Locke was drawing pictures of the smoke monster, though.

Charles Widmore
Well, we had a big reveal tonight! Not only did we get a tasty confrontation scene between Des and Charles Widmore circa 2008 (I think that's the present storyline, right?), but we learned that... drum roll.... young Charles Widmore was once an Other!!! There he was, the eager young foot soldier trying to shoot John Locke. How did he get there? Was Widmore born on the Island, an actual Other? Or will we learn he somehow came to the Island as a young man? Either way, he did something just like Ben did to get himself banished from the Island and unable to find it again, and he still really wants to find his way back. That must be why he was funding Faraday.

Come to think of it, now that Desmond and Faraday have had so many ties, I'm even more sure that Widmore set up that sailing race around the world specifically to put Desmond on a boat headed toward that Island. Could Faraday have told his benefactor about his strange visitor at Oxford talking about the Island???

I still can't figure out who's really the "good guy" if there is one in all of this. Should we be rooting for Ben and the Oceanic 6? Or for Locke and the Others with their Island traditions? Or Widmore with all of his resources trying to find his way back? And how does Richard fit, having known and aligned himself with both Widmore and Ben over the years? Time will tell -- but I did really appreciate Widmore's warning to Des to keep Penny safe. Widmore knows Ben Linus, and he knows Penny is in extreme danger if he ever tracks her down. It's too bad Des didn't heed that advice. But then again, this story will fuel another 2 seasons of LOST!

More tidbits:

* Des and Penny's supercute little boy is named Charlie!

* Juliet must be a very quick study - she wasn't on the Island very long, comparatively, and she can speak Latin fluently? Yeah, 3 years of it in high school and I couldn't pick up a thing.

* I still really like both Miles and Charlotte and can't wait for them to get fleshed out a bit more. I have faith Charlotte will be back, in some form or another, cuz she must have some juicy Island backstory to tell. (Side note: Although I loved Veronica Mars, I am actually really glad Kristen Bell turned down this part on LOST and went on stupid Heroes instead. Charlotte just wouldn't work as an enigma with such a known actress playing her.)

* I think I'm enjoying the Island storyline a little more than the real world/Oceanic 6 storyline right now. That may be just cuz of which characters are where -- and Kate and Jack will never be in my favorite storyline. I did miss the presence of Ben Linus tonight, but I loved the chance to spend more time with the very interesting group still on the Island.

* And, oh yeah, I loved that there was a commercial for Nathan Fillion's show. I know he has a tendency to fill his career with equal parts crap to his share of genius material, but he's so darn tasty I'll watch anyway.

Okay - I think I've said enough. What did all my fellow LOSTies think???

************************

Required Reading. Any fellow fans of LOST, or of tv in general, really should be reading tv critic Alan Sepinwall's blog - especially his fantastic post about tonight's episode.

LOST and Loving It

It's baa-aaa-aaa--aaaack!

With a three-hour extravaganza tonight, featuring a clip show followed by 5.1 "Because You Left" AND 5.2 "The Lie," Lost has come back in full force.

I'm tired and it's been a long day, so I'm not gonna do a usual post -- starting next week, though, the show will end at 10 pm and I should have plenty of juice left to do my traditional verbose Lost blogging.

Suffice it to say for tonight, I love the way they're handling the time travel, I love the intrigue and alliances among the Oceanic 6, I love the possibilities of all the old mysteries they could uncover with the new "unstuck in time" device, I love Mr. (Cheech) and Mrs. Reyes, I love my (and Alli's) new theory about the whispers, I love Mrs. Hawking, I love Hurley and Sayid and Daniel and Miles and Desmond and Juliet and Sun and Locke and Ben and, of course, Sawyer.

I'll probably even rewatch this weekend just to keep up with all the blogs. What did you all think?

January 21!

Return from Narnia

Over the last few weeks, I've witnessed great battles, journeyed across the sea, traveled in a frightening underground kingdom, trembled at giants and witches, seen the birth and death of an entire world, and cheered for a talking warrior mouse. Yes, I have managed to read the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

(Note: There will be story spoilers ahead.)

The Books

First up, as I mentioned last month there is debate about in which order these books should be read. Though they were published in a different sequence, Lewis himself is attributed as saying that you should read them in the order that matches the chronology of Narnia - when the stories take place - rather than the order in which they came out. So, even though I have a box set that has them numbered by publication date, I read them in this order to follow Narnia's tale from its beginning to its end:

- The Magician and His Nephew (Book 6) - tells the story of the creation of Narnia by Aslan himself, and we meet the young boy and girl who grow to become the Professor and Aunt Polly in the later tales.

- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Book 1) - the most familiar story to most of us, as the 4 Pensevie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy - discover Narnia, free it from the evil reign of the White Witch, and become the great Kings and Queens who rule over a lasting peace.

- The Horse and His Boy (Book 5) - takes place during the reign of the 4 Kings and Queens, with the story of a slave boy and a talking war horse in a neighboring kingdom trying to break their bonds and journeying towards freedom in Narnia with the help of several key companions.

- Prince Caspian (Book 2) - brings the 4 Kings and Queens back to Narnia to find that nearly a thousand years have passed and their beloved kingdom is in the grip of an evil tyrant, so they band together with the rebel prince to reclaim the land in the name of all that is good.

- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Book 3) - a few years into Caspian's reign, he is joined by Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace (and perhaps the greatest Talking Animal of them all, Reepicheep) on a sea voyage to find the lost Lords of Narnia and explore the mysterious Islands beyond the known world.

- The Silver Chair (Book 4) - as the aged Caspian is near death, Eustace and his schoolmate Jill return to Narnia on a quest to find his long-lost and enchanted son Prince Rilian, joined by their memorable guide Puddleglum, encountering scary new lands and an evil witch that wants to conquer the kingdom.

- The Last Battle (Book 7) - it has been many years since Aslan and the mysterious children have appeared to champion Narnia, and it is nearly torn asunder by manipulative and greedy forces from within. The Last Battle brings the heroes back to Narnia to end their adventures where it began.

So, now that I've read them all.... how do I feel about them? Overall, I loved the series, and loved spending the past month absorbed in this quick-reading adventures. Lewis - like his real-life friend Tolkien and their heir apparent Rowling - has created such a rich, structured, believable alternate world that you have to admire his imagination and ability to maintain such a continuous story thread. And talking animals? Brilliant.

My two favorites, by far, are what I consider the best of the "journey" stories - The Horse and His Boy and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The Silver Chair is also a journey/quest story, but it wasn't quite as filled with the wonder and joy of discovering new lands or the same strong character development as my 2 favorites.

Both The Lion, the Witch and Prince Caspian are what I'd call "battle" stories - like Shakespeare's royal plays - and while both are strong on adventure and story development, TLTWATW is a lot more fun than PC.

Finally, in chronological order the series is bookended by what could be considered two "creation" stories -- and while I loved The Magician and His Nephew for the ways in which it introduced so many things that were incredibly new, I really didn't like The Last Battle. It tied things up in several ways that I didn't like, and had some inexplicable character development... I just have to think Lewis was trying to wrap it up and wasn't sure how.

The Allegory

This series is widely known for having strong Christian themes, and the allegory and symbolism are strong throughout all of the books. Regardless of my own agnostic/deist/secular way of looking at the world, the old religion major in me really loved exploring Lewis's interpretation of God through the powerful presence of the mighty and majestic Aslan.

Especially in the earlier books in the series, Aslan appears to embody each of the elements of the Christian Trinity... he is the Creator, the Sacrifice, and the Spirit that guides all of the characters in their quest for truth and goodness. He is stern but loving, supportive but scolding, and he can give as well as take away. Sounds a lot like Sunday School, doesn't it? The Lion - who is not a tame lion - just may be one of the best characters ever created in fiction, and Lewis manages to make him fit perfectly into either a child's adventure story or an adult's contemplation of the divine, however you want to read these books.

While Aslan's great sacrifice and resurrection in The Lion, The Witch may be his best-known allegorical scene in the series, I highly recommend anyone interested in exploring the religious themes in Narnia check out The Horse and His Boy. I think that's where Lewis does it best.

And.... how does it relate to LOST?

As this reading assignment came from our Lost and Gone Forever Book Club, it's important to note that the series does share a lot of things in common with our favorite show. Not only is there a new character on the Island named for Mr. Lewis, but it seems D&C and the team of fearless writers must have at least a little bit of the Narnia story on the mind. You see, time in Narnia passes differently than time in the real world, and it can be hard to keep track of just how many hours, days, or years have passed in Narnia while not a moment has gone by back in England. And there are mysterious portals between the "real world" and Narnia, and while some can plan their journeys often you just don't know when you're going to be pulled into the mythical land. And, oh, all of those mysterious Islands.... with their mysterious creatures... and shipwrecked pirates creating their own civilization? I think I've said too much. :-)

Summer Reading List

Now that I'm almost done unpacking and decorating the new place, I can really dig in on my major summer assignments. Yes, like back during my school days of yore, I actually have a summer reading list! There are a lot of pages I have to read this summer, so let's get started:

First up, I'm happy to report that my fellow Losties and I on my favorite message board, Lost and Gone for a While, have started a "Lost Book Club" of our own. We're reading a wide variety of books said to be influences on our favorite tv show, and our first major project is (re)reading the full series of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. As I've just recently learned, there's a bit of literary controversy over which order Lewis intended people to read the books - whether by publication date (the most common way they're packaged) or by the "chronology" of the Narnia story. We're reading it the chronological way, so I'm going through my old childhood set of books out of order.

So far, I'm midway through the 3rd chronological book. I read how Narnia began in The Magician's Nephew, how our four heroes conquered the White Witch and became Kings and Queens of Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and now I'm reading a story about a peasant boy who - I think - will soon acquire his own throne of a neighboring land during the reign of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy next door in The Horse and His Boy. I'm loving it, getting so much more out of these books than I did as a child. I'll probably give you all a full report once I've finished the series.

At the same time, I'm working my way through Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts. Since I am woefully underinformed about the subject, I'm finding this to be a great way to learn a little more about the founding era by focusing on the strong and fascinating women "behind" the Founding Fathers.

Cokie has a very light, breezy, and entertaining writing style that reports on the ladies very much from a modern perspective, so it's an enjoyable read. There is a brand new sequel out, Ladies of Liberty, that follows the story to the next generation of early American women, and hopefully I'll be able to get to that one sometime later this year, as well.

My book club friends here in DC have started in on an epic reading project, the 588-page (in paperback) American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I haven't started it yet, but I'm hearing great reports from people who are making their way through the story. It's also gotten a great author quote from Michael Chabon... and since I truly loved his Kavalier and Clay and truly hated his Yiddish Policeman's Union, I'm bound to have a strong reaction one way or the other to this one.

While the length of this one is a wee bit intimidating, I am still racking up lots of vacation time these days, perhaps I should do the trendy thing and schedule a "staycation" just to have a few free days to immerse myself in the book so I make sure I can read it on time for our August deadline!

And, finally, another "history geek" assignment for myself... in my continual self-education about the Civil War, I now have a copy of James McPherson's Pulitzer Prize winner Battle Cry of Freedom. I've been told by experts that if you're going to read only one book about the American Civil War, this is the one to read. (Of course, I've already read several... but I'll appreciate a big, comprehensive overview as more than a refresher!) For work purposes, I need to have this 952-page paperback read by mid-September.

So, you can see I've definitely got my work cut out for me! I've got to log off and start reading!

Lost - There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3

Season finale time, folks.

And for now, the most resounding thought bouncing around in my mind?

WHOA.

***Spoilers Galore***

It's hard to judge which was the bigger shock/revelation of the evening, cuz we had two:

1. The Island freakin' DISAPPEARED. With Ben, Locke, Charlotte, Miles, Juliet, Richard, the Others, and SAWYER on it. Just GONE. Whoa. And now Ben can never get back?

2. Penny found Desmond!! WHOA!!! I really didn't expect this to happen until the series finale. I love them! What a great scene that was, cuz the ship with the searchlight out on the water was such a callback to the season 1 finale, I half expected to hear Tom yell out "we're gonna need to take the boy!" But, no, it's so much better, as our grand romance rekindles. Now, Des needs to keep her save from the vengeful Mr. Linus.

In other news, both major and minor:

The Oceanic 6 got rescued, and the lies begin. Whoa. And why oh why do these people still trust Jack to be their leader??? Seems like everything he touches gets screwed up.

Michael Emerson. Whoa. Give that man 2 Emmys, just for the amount of work he's done in this 3-part finale.

Sun. Whoa. She's kickin' ass in the future, and joining forces with Widmore? To do what - find the Island, get revenge on Ben, or both? I felt awful for her... Jin's death was about as excruciating to watch as any tv show has ever done.

Charlotte. Mini-Whoa. She was born on the Island? Could she be Ben and Annie's daughter?

And finally... Jeremy Bentham is dead, that mysterious man in the coffin. Mr. Bentham is none other than John Locke, whom we last saw assuming his "rightful place" as the Island's Chosen One. But somehow, after the Island moves, Locke makes it to the real world in the future, and has been visiting the 6 trying to convince them that they need to go back. Ben agrees, and explains that they all must go back together - bringing along the apparently dead John Locke / Jeremy Bentham.

And so there we have it. The only main question I have that's still unanswered is what happened to Claire. Is she really dead?

As I see it, the remaining 2 seasons will be about the Ocean 6, probably under the tutelage / manipulation of the always-awesome Benjamin Linus, trying to find the Island to get back. I'm guessing we'll still have on-Island storylines, exploring what happens with Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Richard, Miles, Charlotte, Daniel and the Others, and seeing all those "horrible things" that happen after the 6 leave.

I can't wait! Too bad we've got to wait until 2009!