Completely 'Lost'

TAKE YOUR PLACES

By BILL ERVOLINO

By hour’s end, the first installment of our two-night, three-hour Season Four finale resembled the backstage area for a school Christmas pageant. Cast members rushing this way, cast members rushing that way, and everyone trying to take their places before the curtain goes up.

We’ve realized for months now that whatever went down in this season’s final two hours was going to be a logistical nightmare. Only six are leaving, as far as we know. But, they’re six people who have barely been within spitting distance of each other all season long.

Getting them together is obviously a key to how the Oceanic Six make it onto that Coast Guard plane. And watching the pieces fall into place was a bit distracting, particularly if you were trying to keep track of poor little Aaron, who got tossed around like the basketball at a Harlem Globetrotters game.

James handed him off to Kate; Kate handed him off to Sun; Sun took him to the freighter and then stared out into the ocean.

Now what?

Claire should have named the kid Alley Oop.

This wasn’t a great episode, but it didn’t have to be. It was certainly good enough. And as set-ups go, it was briskly-paced, had a decent amount of humor and emotional heft, and it was appropriately confounding.

As those who have seen the Orchid video know, there were some strange experiments going on there with rabbits, so we took special note of the rabbits foot that the Coast Guard co-pilot was rubbing between his fingers in the episode's opening moments and, later on, the other one dangling from Hurley’s keychain.

The White Rabbit himself -- Christian Shephard -- was seen only in the “Previously...” segment, but he was celebrated at a memorial service, an event that also cleared up how (and if) Jack would ever discover his relationship to Claire and her son.

The scene Jack shared with Claire’s mother was a potent one, and one which also underscored the incredible pressure that Jack is under to lie about the crash, the rescue, and everything else that happened from Season One to the present.

It is the same near-agony that the Coast Guard co-pilot appeared to be under, as he clutched his rabbits foot. He knew the circumstances

PREVIEW: "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME"

By BILL ERVOLINO

The first hour of the Season Four three-hour-long finale airs at 10 p.m. on Thursday, and then leaves us hanging for a week. (The two-hour "Grey's Anatomy" season finale grabs the night on May 22, and then "Lost" resumes at 9 p.m. on May 29.)

After some new "Alice in Wonderland" references this season, we return to "The Wizard of Oz" for the finale, which is called "There's No Place Like Home."

As we already know, there's a bit of irony in the title, since home isn't all it's cracked up to be for the Oceanic Six. Hurley has another mental breakdown; Sun is raising her child as a single parent; Kate is raising someone else's child; Jack is depressed and over-medicating; and Sayid is facing the death of Nadia and a tentative partnership with Ben.

Someone told me that a character we saw in the S-3 finale will be appearing again. I'll guess that means the undertaker, since I think the mystery of who was in the coffin will most likely be resolved sometime this month. Which leads us to a bunch of other questions we'd like answered:

1. Who was in the coffin, and how did he (or she) get there?
2. Is Claire dead?
3. What happened to Jin and if he is still alive, why doesn't he go home with Sun?
4. Who pulls off the rescue? Since the freighter people are no one's idea of saviors, who will intervene and bring the Oceanic Six back to civilization?
5. Will any other characters who weren't on 815 (Desmond, Juliet, the four new characters, Ben, etc.) also go home?
6. What is the status of Christian's...uh... life? Is he dead?
7. Will Locke take over the island even if Ben remains there?
8. Will we get any new information on Jacob?
9. Will the rest of The Others be seen before this season concludes? (And how about the 815'ers they kidnapped?)
10. Will something HUGE happen that will cause a permanent rift between Kate and James? (We still think he's the guy for her, and can't quite understand why she will leave him behind, or he will let her leave without him.)

I was late posting last week -- there was just so much to absorb -- but hopefully I will get my act together faster this week. In any case, you can always post your comments below.

Excited???

Is she or isn't she?

The sight of Claire in Jacob's cabin, having a gay old time with her dead father, has led to bemusement and endless speculation. Is she dead? (And, while we're at it, is Christian dead?)

There is a moment early in "Close Encounters" where we see a kind of hillbilly-ish family waiting for the spaceships to come 'round the mountain. The first time I saw the movie, I had to wonder, "Are these people zombies?" There was something incredibly eerie about them, and that's kind of how I felt when I saw Claire last night. But, the folks in CE were not dead, and perhaps Claire isn't, either.

As we've seen in episodes past -- and even in last night's episode -- Locke has had some ghostly encounters, but not in his "normal" waking hours. The dead (or near-dead) have appeared to him in dreams or (as in "Further Instructions") when he was dazed or in some kind of drug-induced trance.

Certainly, Claire COULD be dead. She was in an explosion before she wandered off into the jungle with Christian. But, unless I'm blocking some particular incident out of mind, last night was the first time we saw Locke interact with a dead character (Christian) and another possibly-dead one while he was awake and not under the influence of island herbs.

I don't think any of the 815'ers has spent more alone time in the jungle than Locke has. And with so many spirits wandering around, wouldn't he have encountered more of them by now?

I think it may be significant that Locke had another "visitation" last night -- with Horace -- during a dream, before he ran into Christian and Claire. This may just have been coincidental, but I think the writers were subtly trying to point out that Horace really is dead, and that Christian and Claire are in some other category altogether.

I'm just curious, though, about where you guys stand on the matter. Is Claire dead, or isn't she?

If she did die in the explosion, but continued on into the jungle with Miles and James, then they were also communing with a dead person. Miles does this all the time, but James (as far as we know) does not.

Another possiblity: Claire survived the explosion (barely) but then died when Miles and James were sleeping. Not sure that makes sense, though. You tell me.

Como se Lama

By BILL ERVOLINO

So many revelations, so little time.

In fact, there was so much going on in this episode, I’m not even sure where to start. But, a not-so-subtle reference to the Dalai Lama seems as good a place as any.

In “Cabin Fever,” the forever-young and dark-eyed Richard Alpert returned, one more time, in a flashback not his own, in an effort to claim the pre-pubescent John Locke as the once-and-future crowned prince of Lostville.

The scene paralleled the discovery of Tenzin Gyatso who, at the age of two, was found by a search party and proclaimed the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Then called Lhamo Thondup, the child was presented with an assortment of toys and other relics. And, according to the search party’s reports, he correctly chose all of the items that were owned by the previous Dalai Lama.

Gyatso began his monastic training four years later, and assumed his role as the spiritual leader of Tibet at age 16.

John Locke’s ascent was a bit more complicated. Despite Alpert’s obvious displeasure, the young John insisted that a hunting knife was among his possessions. (The other items he claimed were a compass and what appeared to be a vial of sand.)

Alpert left in a huff, although the man we first came to know as the creepy recruiter from Mittelos Bioscience -- he courted Juliet for her fertility-related medical expertise in “Not In Portland” -- apparently continued to keep a watchful eye on Locke.

This may be the first time we’ve seen evidence that people associated with the island -- Alpert and, later, Abaddon -- may have directly influenced one of the survivors of Flight 815 to get on that plane in the first place.

In Season One, we heard Locke lecture Jack about destiny and insist that “the island brought us here.” In “Cabin Fever,” Ben re-enforced the role of destiny in Locke’s life.

Elsewhere in John’s flashback, we received a couple of other hair-raising references to S-1, and specifically, conversations Locke had with his boss Randy. As a teen, John tells a teacher, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do...” which is

PREVIEW: "CABIN FEVER"

By BILL ERVOLINO

After two strong episodes, we're fearing a letdown, but let's keep our fingers crossed, anyway.

We've been told there would be at least one flash-BACK this season (remember them?) and since tonight's episode is Locke-centric, this would probably be the week to go backward rather than forward.

My least favorite moments this season have involved Michael and -- with the exception of "The Constant" -- almost all of the intrigue onboard the freighter.

We seem to be returning to the Kahana tonight, judging from last week's promo reel. And that implies we are inching ever closer to explaining what these people are doing here and how they will be persuaded to return with the Oceanic Six. (My original theory, that some other rescue party brings back The Six, sounded good on paper, but I don't see any evidence that this will come to pass. Yet.)

At any rate, the fate of the Six remains the central mystery of this season, and since all seasons end with some mind-blowing shockeroo, I guess it's going to take a couple more weeks to work all of this out.

If this is a Locke flashback, it does not appear to have anything to do with his days on the pot farm, and there is no sign of Helen in the credits, so I'm not sure where we're heading. If this does turn out to be a flash-forward, it will be the first one to (presumably) show us the future on the island, after the Six departed.

I'll be posting my recap and observations after midnight. As always, you guys can post all day and night...just click on COMMENTS.

Visionaries

By BILL ERVOLINO

If we think about who has seen whom on this island, it’s really quite interesting. So many of our survivors -- as well as Ben -- have managed to conjure up or actually somehow materialize people from their pasts with whom they have unresolved issues.

Jack, of course, has seen his father, Christian Shephard. And now Claire (Christian’s daughter) has done likewise. Jack has always felt somewhat responsible for Christian’s death, just as Mr. Eko (who saw his brother) felt responsible for Yemi’s death.

Kate did kill her father, and was “visited” by him (through James/Sawyer) when he was semi-conscious in the Swan bunker. In the same episode, she also saw the black horse who helped her escape from the marshal who had captured her.

Locke has conjured up Boone who died because of injuries sustained when he was helping Locke; and he was also reunited (as was James) with Anthony Cooper -- the real Sawyer who ruined both Locke’s and James’s lives. (We believe James killed Cooper, but what if he was ALREADY dead?)

Hurley saw Dave -- the (possibly) “imaginary friend” who has always symbolized his mental instability. And Ben saw the mother who died giving him life.

Early on, the creators denied the popular theory that the main characters were in purgatory. But, what if it is these OTHER characters who are in purgatory? Wandering the island -- and beyond it -- until they resolve their OWN issues?

Other main characters struggled with guilt feelings about other survivors: Shannon saw visions of Walt who she felt she had let down by “losing” Vincent; Charlie had visions of Claire and Aaron.

Jin, Sun, Sayid and Michael had no such visions that we can recall. Desmond, on the other hand, has had visions of the future (after the Swan implosion) and experienced “out of time” memories in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”

Still, the island’s dead inhabitants -- and that probably includes Jacob -- remain one of the show’s most enduring mysteries. How do you explain them?

Into the Woods

By BILL ERVOLINO

A few oohs, a couple of ahs, and some nice dramatic moments helped to make “Something Nice Back Home” a welcome departure from a season filled with non-stop bloodletting and machine guns.

We’re still stumped, though. Generally, episode titles refer to what’s happening in both island time and in the flashes. This week, we saw a few versions of “home” -- the beachfront, where most of the 815’ers have resided since the crash; the house Jack will someday share with Kate and Aaron; and the mental hospital where Hurley is still haunted by visions.

But, was “something nice” waiting for us in any of those locales?

In fact, all of the Losties seem on the verge of having the courses of their lives altered suddenly and, perhaps, irrevocably by inexplicable ghostly visions. Interesting, then, to study the entire passage -- from, once again, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” -- which Jack was reading at Aaron’s bedside:

"Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I have been changed in the night"

The quote comes at a pivotal point in the story when Alice shrinks back to normal size and must swim through the pool of tears she created after she had grown to 9 feet in height. She washes up onto the banks of a strange place, and is confronted with an entirely new set of characters and challenges.

THE PLOT: In the future, Jack has grown close to Kate and Aaron (after her trial), but is shaken by a visit to the hospitalized Hurley. Jack asks Kate to marry him and she says yes, but what seems to be a the picture-perfect resolution to their on-again off-again romance quickly unravels as he experiences new visions of Christian Shephard. Old fears resurface, he turns to drugs and alcohol, and the paranoia we saw in the S-3 finale begins to bubble up.

Meanwhile, on the island, Jack’s appendicitis worsens and he requires surgery at the beachfront, which is performed successfully by Juliet and Bernard. Heading for that same beach, James, Claire, Aaron and Miles discover the buried bodies of Danielle and Karl and narrowly avoid a confrontation with Keamey and the Freighter mercenaries.

That night, Claire awakes to find Aaron being cradled by Christian, and calls out to him. When dawn comes, James wakes to find that Aaron is gone. (Lured into the darkness by the White Rabbit?) James and Miles then discover Aaron placed by a tree, in a scene that suggests Jesus (or some other messianic figure) and/or the sort of special child described in popular legends and myths, who will grow into an adult of great power and significance.

OF NOTE: This was the first episode in a long time that did not begin with a “PREVIOUSLY” recap.

Hurley’s doctor at Santa Rosa is Dr. Stillman -- a named shared by a famous diet doctor. (Ha-ha-ha.)

At the medical bunker, when Dan asks Charlotte, “Where do you suppose all of this power comes from?” she replies, “Add that one to the list.”

When relaying Charlie’s message to Jack -- “You’re not supposed to raise him, Jack...” -- Hurley seems (oddly) unsure what the warning means. So, is

PREVIEW: "SOMETHING NICE BACK HOME"

Apparently Jack's medical problems -- and we've had more than a suggestion that his appendix is the cause -- will take center stage tonight in what we're being told is a Jack-centric episode.

Who will come to his aid? As far as we know, Juliet is the only person even remotely qualified to help him tonight, although perhaps another doctor will climb out of a hole, somewhere.

If it is Juliet who performs the necessary surgery, the procedure will most likely give us another glimpse into the tentative romantic relationship between Jack and Jules. It may also test the tension that continues to exist between her and Kate.

Oh, who knows?

We're being told that this is a Jack-centric episode , and since it will most probably be a flash-forward, there is a possibility that we will gain some new insight into future-Jack's depression and drug abuse.

If it isn't a FF -- and a flashback would be nice, right about now -- then we should keep our eyes open for Christian, who was spotted in Jacob's cabin (however briefly) and who has been away for so long, we kind of miss him.

In any event, I so enjoyed last week's episode that I'm afraid this one can't possibly measure up. Hopefully, they will surprise us.

I'll be posting my junk around midnight, but you guys can post here anytime during (or immediately after) the show.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

By BILL ERVOLINO

Do the words wowie-kazowie ring a bell?

“Lost” returned like gangbusters on Thursday night with a dazzling siege on the barracks, two notable deaths, and, just when you thought all the stops had been pulled out, the return of the smoke monster.

All we needed to make this a perfect episode was Desmond, but he was always in our thoughts -- especially in that final two minutes.

“The Shape of Things to Come” -- like “The Economist” -- gave us a glimpse into the series’ super-spy future. But as both episodes showed us, if “Lost” is going to get all James Bond on us, it had better do it with style, strong writing, and solid acting.

This was a Ben-centric episode. But the sight of Jack in the opening scene -- ooh yeah, I forgot all about him -- served to remind us that, like it or not, the NEW star of this show is played by Michael Emerson, not Matthew Fox.

Nowadays, even when Ben barely shows up in an episode, his presence is inescapable. And, in his flash-forward, this was underscored when he used the alias of Moriarty -- the arch-nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.

Although Moriarty appeared (or was merely mentioned) in only a handful of the Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, he always seemed to be lurking around every corner -- a super-foe who, in additional to being a globe-trotting mathematical genius, appeared incapable of being killed.

The name was later appropriated by Jack Kerouac for a character in his classic “On the Road.” Kerouac’s real-life friend Neal Cassady became “Dean Moriarty” in the book -- and that is the same name Ben uses when he is on the road.

(If you’ve never read the book, give it a shot. I re-read it a few months ago and was blown away.)

Anyway, let’s get down to business:

PLOT: Keamy and a group of other mercenaries from the Kahana eventually make it onto the island, take Alex hostage, and use her to get to Ben. They storm the Barracks with some serious firepower, and murder Alex, before they are assailed by the smoke monster, which Ben apparently controls. After that noisy confrontation, James decides to head back to the beach with Miles, Claire and Aaron; while -- at Ben’s insistence -- he, Locke and Hurley set out for a pow-wow with Jacob.

FLASH: In 2005, we see Ben pop up (inexplicably) in the Sahara before heading for Tunisia and, eventually, Iraq, where Sayid has returned for Nadia’s funeral. When their paths cross, Sayid tells Ben that he married Nadia, and that she was killed in Los Angeles. Ben, who appears to be trailing her killer, finally confronts him with a “message” for Charles Widmore. But before that message can be delivered, Sayid shoots the man. In the end, Ben makes his way into one of Widmore’s residences, with revenge on his lips. In a nutshell: you killed my daughter, so I’m going to kill yours.

MYSTERIES: Ben’s abrupt arrival, somewhere in the Sahara desert, suggested that he was teleported there. He is wearing a Dharma jumpsuit with the name Halliwax on it. (If you’ve seen The Orchid Video, you know that this is another alias of Marvin Candle. If you haven’t see the vid, you can watch it HERE.

In the opening sequence, Bernard finds a body on the beach which

PREVIEW: "THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME"

By BILL ERVOLINO

So, what do you think, Lostlings? Will the crew of the Kahana rescue the Oceanic Six? Or, has some other group found it's way onto the island? Did Alex seal their fate a few weeks ago when she announced that she was Ben's daughter?

From the looks of things -- James isn't the only one seen holding a gun in promotional photos -- all hell is about to break loose. But, who will be shooting at whom?

And, while we're at it: Is Karl dead? Is Danielle gone for good? Is ABC intent on keeping me up all night for the rest of the season with the move back to 10 p.m.?

Will Jin die tonight? Will Claire die tonight? Will Aaron split into two -- one for Claire, one for Kate?

Whatever happens, let's give ourselves a pat on the back for coming back for more and to The Powers That Be for keeping us intrigued -- STILL -- as Season Four resumes and roars to a close.

I'll be posting my thoughts and comments around midnight. But you can post your comments (below) whenever the mood strikes.

Recap

By BILL ERVOLINO

This was supposed to be the season that no network programmer could tear asunder. The writer’s strike changed all that, but the powers that be in Lostville have assured us that Season Four, which resumes at 10 p.m. on Thursday, will continue pretty much the way they intended it to.

The new episode, entitled “The Shape of Things to Come,” is either Ben-centric or Sayid-centric, depending on your source. But, since these two characters have already intersected this season in one flash-forward, perhaps we’ll get additional information this week about the nature of their relationship and how it came to be.

The notion that Sayid would one day work for a man he despised and tortured, was just one of the new mysteries heaped upon us this season. The others...

THE OCEANIC SIX -- As we’ve learned through our other fast-forwards, Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Aaron are the six members of our rambling cast who will make it back to civilization.

Our presumption at the beginning of this season was that they would be going home on Naomi’s freighter. But, the Kahana -- as we’ve seen during our assorted brief visits there -- makes the wackiest ship in the army look ship-shape by comparison.

So, will the freighter be the Six’s salvation, or is another twist heading our way? Does the freighter even belong to Charles Widmore? And, whether it does or it doesn’t, how did Penny -- who has been radioing the freighter repeatedly -- discover its existence?

DEAD OR ALIVE?  We realize that death is only a state of mind on this cunning isle of ours. Still, we’ve had some corkscrews tossed in our paths this season that have left us pondering the fate of several characters.

Will Claire die? And if she doesn’t, why will Aaron leave without her? And what about Jin? We saw Sun and Hurley at his grave, but were given no additional information. We can’t imagine he would separate from his pregnant wife. But the sketchiness of that flash-forward has us assuming there’s some sort of a catch.

Karl and Danielle appeared to bite the dust a few weeks ago, but we don’t know for sure. Certainly, Karl was expendable. But Danielle’s “demise” seemed a bit too pat for such an important recurring character. We’re thinking (and hoping) that she’s going to jump back up again. No one is Lostville dies that easily, do they?

RUMORS: The big rumor during the hiatus -- although there has been no solid information to back it up -- is that Alex is pregnant. Perhaps this all started because, while he was still being held captive, Ben said he feared the possibility. Since carrying to term on the island is impossible, it will be interesting to see if this is true.

Another rumor was that Libby would return this season, beyond the few snippets we’ve seen of her. We’ve long assumed that she worked for Widmore, but unless she pops up again in the next couple of weeks, we’re going to have to wait another year to find out.

DANGLING THREADS: There are so many other things we’d like resolved ASAP. Among them is what happens in the future that makes Jack pop pills and refuse to see Aaron? Who was in the casket in L.A.? What happened to Michael and Walt when they left the island? Who ambushed Karl, Alex and Danielle? Who, what and where is Jacob -- and why did we see a quick image of Christian Shephard in his chair?

In February, the show got a nice shot of adrenaline with the addition of four new characters, each with a valuable cache of knowledge and/or expertise that could benefit the castaways. And, of course, we’re curious about all of them, too. Will they survive this season?

PROGRAM NOTES: Since “Lost” will now occupy the timeslot after “Grey’s Anatomy,” the two shows will air their two-hour finales on alternating Thursdays. “Grey’s” will take up both hours on May 22. And “Lost” will return for its two hour season-ender on May 29.

Time travel

It's a favorite subject of mine and it appears to have some bearing on our island and its inhabitants. THIS NEW THEORYis kind of all over the place, but you may want to read it. I think there are some valid points in here, but also a bit of over-reaching.

Eye, Robot

You don't need me to tell you that some LOST fans go over the deep end in their endless quest for clues & such. At Lostisagame.com there's lots of interesting material, including a whole buncha stuff about the color of the main characters' eyes.

Do the colors change from episode to episode? And if so, why?

Read all about it HERE.

AN OFFER HE COULDN'T REFUSE

By BILL ERVOLINO

There were moments in “The Godfather, Part III,” in which you almost thought that Francis Ford Coppola was going to pull it off. But then, reality set in. The characters may have been the same. The actors may have been the same. But something wasn't quite right.

That’s kind of what it felt like watching “Meet Kevin Johnson,” which has to rank among the worst “Lost” episodes ever.

NUTSHELL: While Ben is urging Alex to flee to The Temple for safe haven; Sayid confronts Michael (aka “Kevin”) on the freighter, demanding to know what he’s up to and how he got there.

In a semi-recent flashback -- most of it achingly awful -- Michael attempts suicide only to discover, via Tom (the late but apparently still alive “Mr. Friendly”), that he cannot die, and that he has to join the freighter’s crew and kill everyone on board if he wants to save his fellow 815’ers.

This is Michael’s big shot at redemption, although from the looks of things, he doesn’t have anything else to do back in New York. He’s guilt-ridden and miserable. His mother has Walt and won’t let Michael near him. And he is haunted, in his dreams, by his betrayal of his fellow castaways and his murder of Ana Lucia and Libby.

All of this sounds like the stuff that wonderful episodes are made of, but for me “Lost” may have finally jumped the shark.

I could believe Sayid as 007 a couple of weeks ago, because the writing, action and performances did the heavy lifting. But seeing Michael knee-deep in a sloppy “Mission: Impossible” was just plain awful, in large part because none of it was believable.

Have the creators completely deserted this show?

What the hell is going on around here?

In a totally predictable moment, Karl was killed. And in a moment we wished had never happened, Danielle also appeared to have bought the farm.

I know part of my job is looking for Easter eggs, cleverly-hidden clues and obscure -- but pertinent -- references, but I didn’t have it in me. Still, a few notes, questions, etc:

WHO KILLED WHO? It was hard to know precisely what was going on in the final moments when Karl and Danielle were seemingly killed by someone (or

Preview: "MEET KEVIN JOHNSON"

From its title alone, we can guess that "Meet Kevin Johnson" will be a flashback episode that will explain how Michael wound up on the freighter.

Did he -- and Walt -- make it home, as Ben promised they would? Or, did they wind up someplace else? And how on earth did he manage to find his way back?

The explanation for this should give us a better understanding of what Ben is capable of OFF the island, and will possibly involve characters we've seen briefly in the recent past -- most notably Minkowski, since we're still puzzled as to why Fisher Stevens would sign up for what has so far been such a miniscule role.

I'm going to be out late on Thursday, and not sure when I'll be able to file. But, as always, you can post your comments here, before, during and after the show. (Bill Ervolino)

WHAT DO YOU THINK...?

...of Season Four?

We have one more episode in this cycle on Thursday, a few weeks off, then another five episodes heading our way.

My favorite season will always be TWO -- that's a hard one to top. (Although I know many of you still think ONE is the best of the bunch.)

In three, we really began to feel the strain of all the plotlines and the pressure to incorporate the off-the-island stuff. This season, we're ALL OVER THE PLACE.

i don't mind. The show is still a must for me. But I do think that some of its original power has been diluted by the sheer volume of characters, plots and -- something I've become aware of this season -- the overall style of the show which seems to change from episode to episode.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

PANDA-monium

By BILL ERVOLINO

From its opening moments, something about “Ji Yeon” didn’t seem quite right. Sun, back home in her native South Korea and in the midst of what appeared to be a troubled labor, nervously called for an ambulance, while her devoted spouse ran around in search of a giant stuffed panda.

That’s the sort of thing a dad does AFTER his child has been born, not while his wife is being rushed into a delivery room in distress. And the tone of the two scenes didn’t seem to jibe: Sun’s scene was serious-scary-frantic, while Jin’s had a wacky almost comical edge -- as when a man sneaked into the taxicab and took off sitting next to the first life-sized panda that Jin had purchased.

As we eventually learned, though, there was a very good reason for the discrepancy. Sun’s scenes were taking place in 2005, while Jin’s were taking place five years earlier -- or thereabouts. (The man in the toy store indicated that it was the year of the dragon, which began on Feb. 5, 2000.)

Overall, “Ji Yeon” was a satisfying episode, even if it seemed relatively sedate by recent standards. (Actually, much of it reminded me of Season One, before life in Lostville became such a tangled web of hatches, Others and time-shifting parallel universes.)

NUTSHELL : In real time, Juliet persuades Sun and Jin to stay at the beach, insisting that Sun’s life depends on her leaving the island ASAP; while on the boat (The Kahana) Sayid and Desmond meet up (at last) with Capt. Gault and the rather busy Kevin Johnson -- a crew member who, upon closer inspection, turns out to be the long-missing Michael.

Meanwhile, in the flash-forward, Sun goes into labor and delivers a baby girl. And, in the other seemingly interconnected off-the-island story (which we eventually learn is a flashback), Jin’s attempts to get to the hospital with a giant panda are repeatedly stifled. (When he finally DOES arrive at the hospital, we realize Jin is bringing the panda to the daughter of the Chinese ambassador, who Jin’s father-in-law hopes to do business with.)

THE KICKER: In the episode’s final moments -- Sun’s flash-forward -- Hurley arrives in South Korea, greets Sun warmly, holds the baby and then goes with Sun and the child to “visit” Jin -- at the cemetery.

Confused? Good. Apparently, we’re supposed to be.

Whether Jin is dead or not has yet to be established. And it certainly...

PREVIEW: "JI YEON"

For weeks, Sun and Jin have made brief token appearances in other people's episodes. But tonight it's their turn to take center stage. The title, Ji Yeon, is a Korean name. Could it be the name of a relative we've yet to meet, Sun's unborn child, both -- or neither?

Last week's "The Other Woman" reminded us that time may be running out for Sun on an island where pregnant women do not survive their second trimesters. We're assuming that she is one of the Oceanic Six, but teasers said last week that the last member of that group would be revealed tonight.

So...is Sun leaving and Jin staying? Is something just plain awful going to happen? Or, are we jumping to conclusions here?

Frankly, I'd hate to lose either of these characters.

I'll be posting my rundown sometime around midnight. Those of you who'd like to comment during or after the show, can do so in the comments section. (Bill Ervolino)

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

By BILL ERVOLINO

“The Constant,” it wasn’t. But, that’s OK. Thursday night’s Juliet-centric “The Other Woman” was a fast and furious return to life on the island, filled with some welcome flashbacks in a season that has been more concerned with looking ahead.

We’ve enjoyed the flash-forwards, even though they’ve raised more questions than they’ve answered.

Flashbacks, on the other hand, have always helped us to fill in the blanks. And Juliet’s -- which were limited to her time on the island -- fleshed out her uncomfortable relationship with Ben, and gave us some new insights into her short-lived affair with Goodwin.

The episode also gave us some long-awaited revelations, made an oblique reference to the as-yet-unseen Orchid station, and set us up for what will hopefully be a pivotal encounter between Claire and Miles.

PLOTWISE: After receiving a message from Ben -- via her island shrink Harper Stanhope -- Juliet sets off in search of Charlotte and Dan, who are headed for the Tempest station. Meanwhile, back at the Barracks, Ben connives Locke into setting him free in exchange for information about the freighter and its mission.

WHAT WE LEARNED: Ben tells Locke that -- as many of us suspected -- the man who owns the freighter is Charles Widmore. (Although, Ben has lied before, so who knows?)

And, although we didn’t get a name, Ben tells Locke to sit down before he will reveal who his spy on the boat is. The implication, of course, is that it is someone Locke knows. But, since we ALL suspect it’s Michael, we’re now kind of hoping it will be someone else.

In revisiting Juliet’s romance with Goodwin, we learn that he was married (unhappily, it seems, to Harper), and that the affair ticked off Ben who had his own “crush” on Juliet.

The scenes between Ben and Juliet were among the creepiest we’ve seen to date, and not cool-creepy, either. To see Ben -- who is generally in total control of his emotions -- be so head-over-heels in love with Juliet had an almost yucchy phoniness to it. His taking her to see Goodwin’s corpse in the jungle, also didn’t ring true.

In yet another flashback, we had the island’s baby problem reiterated to us: In the second trimester, the mother’s immune system kicks in and treats the fetus like an invader. Cause? Unknown, although it only happens when conception occurs on the island. And this, of course, is about to become a pressing concern for Sun.

WHAT WE DIDN’T QUITE GET: Ben’s admission to Locke that, “If my people still wanted me, John, they would have stormed this camp long ago.”

Did he mean that, or was he just playing another mind...

Preview: 'THE OTHER WOMAN'

By BILL ERVOLINO

Tonight's episode is Juliet-centric, according to programming information, so we can probably assume that the real-time action will move from the the freighter back to the island.

At the same time, though, we need to move forward with the "rescue" plotline, if only to understand why six Oceanic survivors will leave and the rest will remain. (Perhaps Miles, Charlotte and Dan will provide us with additional information tonight. We should pay close attention to everything they say and do.)

I'm still leaning toward Sun and Jin as the other two members of the O-6, in part because they have been given small and rather unnecessary scenes during the last few weeks -- as if to remind us that they exist and that she is pregnant.

I suppose it's possible that Juliet and Desmond could also go home on the freighter. Since they weren't passengers on 815, they wouldn't count as part of the Six. But, obviously, there is something devious going on as far as this rescue mission is concerned. So the matter of who stays, who goes, and WHY the boat people even bother to take them home is probably going to be stretched out over a few more episodes.

Many of us suspect that Michael is on the boat, and that he opened the door. We kind of like the idea of that. It also plays into the notion that Ben is the "good" guy, or at least the lesser of two evils. We've seen Sayid working for him in the future. Does Michael work for him, too?

Since this is a Juliet episode, we should probably look for an "other woman" in her flashback or flash-forward. (As well as any other recurring characters.) In real-time, Juliet is also the other woman (of sorts) in the Jack-Kate relationship, so we may also see some of that tension going on.

The most interesting thing about Juliet is that we can never seem to figure out if she's with us or against us. I've liked all her episodes so far. Hopefully, this one won't disappoint.

I'll be posting after midnight. Before then, I hope you'll post your early comments below.