Completely 'Lost'

Damon Speaks

Great fan interview with Damon Lindeloff on Season Six, the season poster, his least favorite episode ever (he wrote it) and other items of interest re: Walt, Mike, Libby, et all.

 Click here to read all about it...

AND SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Above: The Egyptian god Set. Is he Jacob? Or, is he just Jacob's satellite dish?

(FOR SEASON SIX FINALE OVERVIEW AND ADDITIONAL COMMENTS SCROLL DOWN TO PREVIOUS POSTS.)

Egypt on our minds

 A few of you have written to ask about the “Egyptian theory” floating around (notably on Dark UFO) and whether it was worth posting here or not, since it could be a spoiler. I don’t believe in spoilers, since my primary goal with this site was to kick around theories, and I’m proud to say that (LOL) I’ve been right about 3 percent of the time. But, I don’t mind. Coming up with this stuff is good exercise and keeps me off the streets at night.

 Most of the Egyptian material has been run around the block a few times, ever since we tripped over our first hieroglyph, and then began prowling around the ‘net, mostly in Wikiville, tracking down anything we could find with an ankh attached. This material is obviously there for a reason, but so is a lot of other stuff.

 Years ago, I saw a great documentary on Hawaii, about how it was one of the most unique spots on earth -- because it was so far from everything else -- and how succeeding “invaders” mucked it up by introducing their own particular beliefs (like killing scores of colorful birds for their feathers) and bringing in rats, wild boars and other life forms that would eventually upset Hawaii’s delicate ecology with “progress.”

 In the finale, we saw that Rose and Bernard had given up on the never-ending chaos, and sought out the sort of peaceful existence that most of us say we want but never actually find, because we get caught up in everything else going on around us.

 There seems to be no question that the island has an ancient Egyptian connection. But, there are so many others to chew on. We have no idea who arrived before the Black Rock, but we can guess that the slaveship contained at least some practitioners of voodoo, hinted at in our earliest glimpses at the cabin. Dharma brought in their own post-hippie blend of Buddism and Hinduism. And many of the 815’ers seem to have a Christian-based belief system. While certain other characters (such as Desmond) seem to be inspired by classic Greek mythology.

 While I don’t reject the Egyptian theory (Jacob as Set, Richard Alpert as Ra, “Esau” as Apep, etc.) I don’t think it goes far enough, because it would be too simple and there is an even larger conflict inherent in our plot. That conflict is specifically about science and faith, and it is the sort of yin/yang that has propelled us through five seasons of temples and computers, funeral pyres and H-bombs, and the inexplicable coincidences of people’s lives, which seem to reach into both of those realms. Is destiny about faith or is it about science? Do even the most seemingly random events in our lives occur because some higher power is controlling them, or because there is an order to the chaos that we’re simply unable to grasp?

 Apep and Set were both godlike figures linked to chaos. Much of what we see on “Lost” relating to physics, time travel, and even the seemingly random (but inter-related) group of passengers on Flight 815, references chaos theory and its various conditions, including the butterfly effect.

 Today, thanks to the Internet, its possible to go online, track down someone you haven’t see in 30 years and find out that he or she lives five miles away from you. Perhaps you’ve passed each other at the grocery store and not even realized it. Sat three cars away from each other in a traffic jam. Or, even have some mutual acquaintances -- a la six degrees of separation.

 Similarly, it’s possible to Google the number 108 and find all sorts of coincidences, from the number of Penelope’s suitors (after Odysseus was lost at sea) to the number of beads on a mala; the number of Gopis that dance with Krishna; the number of sins in Tibetan Buddhism;
the number of Chakras that converge to form the human heart; and on and on and on. It’s also connected to Euclidian space, since each of the interior angles of a pentagon measure 108 degrees. (Wiki '108' and you’ll be there all afternoon.)

 I’d venture to say that most of us watch “Lost” for the drama, the generally strong writing, and characters that move and involve us. Some of us can’t get enough of searching for clues and hidden meanings in everything, and that’s always been part of the fun for me.

 Still, even as the element of Egyptian myth moves into the forefront, there is so much else going on, so many overlapping themes and that is what keeps us guessing and moving forward. From ancient myth to quantum physics to “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland,” the writers pull from everywhere and somehow manage to weave it all together into something that is highly entertaining and, occasionally, makes us feel that all that “junk” we learned in school has finally come in handy.

 Many purists consider Season One to be the masterpiece, but for me it was the second season, the introduction of Desmond, and that first moment when the camera seemed to pull back and make us realize that we were thinking too small, that there was something larger and far more complicated going on. Then that season ended and the camera moved back again, to reveal (finally) our first real-time glimpse of life off the island and the notion that someone was actually looking for them.

 As the camera continues to move back -- or, if you prefer, as the onion continues to peel -- we’re finding more and more layers to contemplate. Like many of you, I constantly worry about where the writers are heading and how they will handle all of this, but they continue to amaze me with their ability to jump around this way, to give us the action, the romance, the terrific characters, but also the great creepy moments that make us realize we should never assume. (One of my favorites was when they discovered the pile of reports, sent from the Pearl station, which were lying, unread, in a clearing in the jungle.)

 These moments make us realize that we, too, are compelled to move forward and that the characteristics that make us repellant to “Esau” are how we make -- and eventually realize -- progress. That’s also what we do as fans of this show. Whether you love Jack or hate him; whether or not you’re still angry about certain characters leaving the fold; whether you found certain twists to be poorly executed or brilliant.

 Nothing upsets me more than hearing someone who didn’t watch regularly say the show is stupid or impossible to follow. Nothing entices me like the person who has never watched a single episode but is willing to borrow my Season One discs and give it a shot.

 I take off my hat to the Powers That Be for another terrific season. I’ve been with them since Day One and I’ll be there (well, hopefully) on through the final episode.

 And, while those last three words feel like a knife through the heart, I suppose I’ll deal with it. Besides, I’ll have my discs to keep me company, if and when I decide to pop in the pilot and start all over again, and perhaps even notice things I never saw before.

 And, won’t that be fun?

ON SECOND THOUGHT...

Has He Been ALL Our Dead Characters?

 After thinking some more about last night’s finale and discussing it with some co-workers, I now have to ask: Has everything we’ve seen so far -- in five long seasons -- been a game between Jacob and the enemy some Losties are now calling “Esau?” A game like...oh, you know...backgammon?

 Has Esau been the dead Yemi? The dead Boone? The dead Alex, who manipulated Ben into Esau’s “loophole” scenario? Is he the smoke monster, too? (Or, is the smoke some manifestation of Jacob? Or, another character yet to be revealed?)

  Does Jacob make lists of the “good people” he knows will work to protect the island and him? Did he confer eternal life on those he touched: Kate, Jack, James, Hurley, Sun and Jin? Did he do this ages ago for Richard and Ilana? (I have to leave out Locke, because it now seems that John died in his fall and that Jacob revived him.) Does he do this to certain people to insure that they won’t die and that Esau will never get control of them? 

 Come to think of it, we also had a Juliet flashback. Why? Was Jacob there, too? (He was in all of the others.) And if he was, does that mean that she, too, will somehow survive the explosion?

 Has Jacob also managed to keep alive certain other characters -- such as Michael -- until their work for him was done? And was Jacob finally "ready" to die because the people he entrusted with this gift are now all on the island? (I'm not sure who dead Christian is. But, since he seems to have been working in service to the island, I'm guessing Jacob brought him back to life as he did with Locke. Or, some sort of life. Lest we forget, Christian's empty coffin was found on the island a long time ago, with no trace of his body.)

 There are endless possibilities here, and I think they take the sting out of  what seemed liked a jolt-free ending. (They may even allow us, in Season Six, to see an entirely new dimension to Miles's gifts.) 

 If this is the case, it raises the stakes dramatically. And it could explain the REAL reason Charles Widmore wanted to return, to unravel the island’s greatest riddle and find the secret to eternal life, which Jacob has apparently only conferred on a select few. 

 I’m still kicking this one around the block, but please feel free to weigh in. 

SEASON FIVE/ FINALE

THE INCIDENT, PARTS 1 AND 2

Da Bomb

 EVERY LOST SEASON FINALE is like New Year’s Eve at my house -- the anticipation, the high hopes, and that silent prayer: Please don’t disappoint me.

 “The Incident, Parts I and II” was almost everything we expect from a season finale, even if it ended with an odd thud. Were the writers sending us a message the same way David Chase did in the final moment of “The Sopranos?” In the HBO series, the screen went black, weeks after Tony said that was what death was like. At the conclusion of “The Incident,” the screen went white. 

 And, if you’re anything like me, you were waiting for that One More Jolt that never arrived. 

 Oh, no! Is that it?

 The episode had a couple of other quasi-disappointments. It’s main plotline, the delivery of Jughead to the Swan, was always confusing. We were never quite sure what Daniel hoped to accomplish by detonating it, but I guess the writers didn’t want us to know, either. It’s a cliffhanger and we’re just going to have to wait -- Egads -- another eight months or so to find out.

 I also wasn't quite sure what to make of Jacob, I guess because I thought I had him all figured out and he wasn’t at all what I expected. In fact, I got the feeling that he wasn’t what the writers were expecting, either, when they first introduced his name into the “Lost” mythology. I can’t say I wasn’t intrigued by THIS Jacob, though. I was. But, I don’t think anything we’ve seen thus far about this character prepared us for what he turned out to be. 

 These weren’t small matters to me, but they didn’t take away from everything else. This was a SPECTACULAR episode that -- like Jacob’s loom -- integrated so many threads, beautifully and seamlessly.

 All of Season Five has been risky, and a bit of a rollercoaster ride. It’s also utilized flashbacks, and other small dramatic moments, in a way that managed to touch us deeply. On these same counts, “The Incident’ was in keeping with the season it capped. The action was never ending. The drama was effective and first-rate. We gasped, sat glued to the edge of our seats, and had to stifle a tear or two as our quadrangle of star-crossed lovers grappled with their feelings for each other.

 THE FLASHBACKS: I had a feeling that we would see some evidence linking Kate (and perhaps James and Hurley) to the island, but those eerie Jacobean visitations weren’t at all what I had imagined. In the past, Jacob interacted with -- AND TOUCHED -- Kate, Jack, Locke, James, Sun and Jin, Sayid and, most recently Hurley. He also provided Hurley with the guitar case, although we still don’t know what is in there, or even if we’ll ever find out. We might assume it was something that could have been taken through airport security, although, considering the powers at play here, that probably didn’t matter. 

 The guitar case hasn’t played an important enough role for it to be a Hitchcockean MacGuffin -- a plot device that motivates the action, even though the item itself is unimportant. We could agonize over this for months: Was it something Jacob couldn’t bring back himself? Did it have anything to do with who was and wasn’t transported to 1977? Was it merely another prop needed to replicate the conditions onboard Flight 815? I don’t think we should drive ourselves crazy with this one. 

 Apparently, the most important thing about Jacob’s visits were his touching (anointing?) of key characters who heretofore had no pre-815 link to the island. And, no, we have no idea what that means, but it seems a lot grander than anything we’ve seen thus far from Charles or the Dharma Initiative.

 LOCKE IN THE BOX: The revelation that Locke was in Ilana’s crate was a dandy surprise, along with the implication that the New Locke is actually the man we saw in the episode’s earliest moments, an unnamed stranger who wanted to kill Jacob, but was in need of a “loophole” to make it happen.

 This puts an increased focus for us on Jacob’s identity, who he is, where he came from, and what particular powers he has. We’ve assumed for a while that there was something “magical” going on in Lostville, beyond the various scientific anomalies that have made the island so mysterious and powerful.

 Ilana’s referring to Richard as “Ricardis” -- or something like that -- harkened back to the ancient Egyptian connection. There’s obviously something about Richard that can’t be explained scientifically, and, clearly, the same goes for Jacob. As I’ve said, I wasn’t particularly thrilled by THIS Jacob, and I’m further baffled by the fact that he (and Richard) have been portrayed as such “contemporary” men. 

 If I’m recalling correctly, Anne Rice made connections to the ancient Egyptians in her Vampire Chronicles. (These characters lived forever, roamed the earth and "adjusted" to their times.) I don’t want to heap more confusion onto all of this, though. If you think you have a clue as to what’s happening in the Jacob plotline, feel free to -- ahem -- take a stab at it. 

 I’m baffled -- in a nice way -- and curious where this is going. But, if Jacob is magical, he is apparently not immortal. Or, is he? Perhaps like Gandalf and Obi Wan Kenobi, killing him just makes him stronger. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, although -- as far as most of us are concerned -- the fate of John Locke is more urgent. If the real John is, indeed, dead, then...

 Oh, I don’t know.

 Of course, this twist would give us a chance to realize at least one other suspicion, that Jacob’s successor is Jack. In fact, during a moment in the tunnels, I almost thought that Richard was going to pull out the magic compass and see if Jack recognized it.

 THIS Jacob and his mysteries came out of left field for me, but I’m trying not to be too disappointed, because all of his scenes were intriguing and well-played. Whatever was happening (in seasons past) at the cabin, the ghostly old man in the chair, and the connection (real or otherwise) to Christian seems to have not been as important as we thought it was.

 DEAD & DEADER: In addition to the maybe-still-dead John Locke, we have eight months to ponder the fates of Sayid and Juliet. It’s probably outside the realm of possibility for Juliet to have survived, and she certainly had a long, wrenching goodbye.

 Since she was introduced, burning her muffins to “Downtown,” Juliet has been a terrific character. We can understand James falling in love with her, because so did we. Strong but vulnerable, smart and beautiful -- but unlucky in love -- she was a welcome addition to the cast, and we’d rather not lose her, although the same could be said of so many characters who have left us through the years.

 Sayid, a less interesting character, is still very much a part of our storyline and his crucial connection with Ben (as an assassin) has yet to be fully explained. The show can survive without him -- it has chugged along nicely despite the loss of folks who were far more exciting. But, we’re guessing he will survive into Season Six.

 THE FUTURE: Although we’re hard-pressed to imagine the relationship between Jacob and Ilana, it is now obvious that they have known each other well enough for her to promise to help him from her sicker-than-sick bed. And, that implies he knew what was ahead for him and that he thought something could be done about it. 

 The possibility that our time-trippers would somehow blast back to their own time zone in this episode was dashed by that abrupt ending. It’s indeed possible that they’re back where they belong -- even if we don’t understand why -- but that possibility carries with it too many unknowns to contemplate.

 Did Jack & Co. prevent the incident from occurring or cause it? Did they remove the reason for their plane crashing, or create some new chain of events that will bring Flight 815 down, anyway?

 There are so many variables to this equation that, once again, there’s no way we can figure it out.

 ODDS AND ENDS: The return of Rose, Bernard and Vincent provided the biggest yuks of the night. The idea that no one could find them because they didn’t want to be found (“We’re retired...”) never occurred to me. It was quite funny though.

 If nothing else, the incident did explain what happened to Chang's hand. And Charlie's missing Drive Shaft ring. 

 The exchanges between Jack, James, Juliet and Kate were all nicely played and affecting. They made this double episode better than most on the dramatic end of things. Well written, nicely acted and wholly believable, they were uniformly excellent.

 The book Jacob was reading, Flannery O’Connor’s collection of short stories called “Everything That Rises Must Converge” was probably more important for its title than its content. The phrase is borrowed from the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, a controversial Jesuit priest and paleontologist who believed that evolution had a creative component and was not solely subject to Darwinian theory. 

 His notion of a “noosphere” has parallels in the concept of “collective consciousness” and this may be pivotal, since the collective consciousness and Jung’s collective unconscious have, for some people, been the REAL answer to what has been happening on the island. (The collective unconscious is a term coined by Jung and has been used to describe Alice in Wonderland, a recurring Lost reference.)

 OVERALL: A thrilling two hours with almost everything going for it, “The Incident” would rate an easy A-plus from me were it not a season finale. I have to take the plus away, though, because I wanted just a little more, and was a bit let down when I didn’t get it.

 I suppose when you come down to it, that’s my only real complaint. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Just wanted a little more at the end. 

PREVIEW: The Incident

 

Now what? It's hard to imagine that this season has already whizzed by -- it seems like the fastest one yet. Still, it was a remarkably good one, considering it was Season Five, and that the recurring motif -- time travel -- provides way too many shark-jumping possibilities.

 From what we've seen, one of the main conflicts in "The Incident" will involve Jughead. Since Kate seems to think that detonating the bomb will be a mistake we're even more anxious to see what happens. But, either way, we seem destined to get some sort of explosion, either from Jughead or the events at the Swan site.

 Will we reconnect with Jacob? Probably. Will we experience multiple character flashbacks? (Or flash-forwards?) Since this is a two-hour episode, we will most likely flash around with several characters, and perhaps connect the dots on some of the people (such as Kate) who, as far as we know, don't seem to have the same link to the island that Jack does.

 Will we learn more about the Ajira flight? Why Sun was left behind? Why Hurley was carrying the guitar case? What was going on with Sayid and Ilana? Could be.

 And some sort of shocker? But, of course. Each season seems to move the camera back a bit so we can see another entirely new dimension of what this show is about, and what is going on at the island.

 Is the war Charles predicted to Locke still imminent? Will the events leading up to the crash of Flight 815 be erased? 

 I also have to wonder how what's going on right now -- in 1977 and "the present" on the island -- will also allow the writers to bring in Desmond, Penny and Charles. (I'm imagining Eloise piloting a speedboard with the others on board, but I doubt we'll see that.)

 What's in the crate? Who is Jacob? Has Ben lost control for good? Does Locke really know what he's doing, or is he just playing by ear?

 And what about our time trippers? Will they be sent back to where they belong? Will Sun and Jin be runited? Will Rose and Bernard emerge from the jungle? And where the hell is Vincent?

 Oh, what a night. I can't wait. And I can't wait to hear what the rest of you have to say about it. I'll be posting as soon as I can. Post comments below or wait until very late (or tomorrow) to weigh in.

SEASON FIVE/ Episode 15

FOLLOW THE LEADER

A Bloody Mess

OUR BIG DISAPPOINTMENT was that our first (supposedly) Richard-centric episode didn’t tell us all that much about Richard, although the action (which seemed to revolve around him in two different time periods) was fast and furious and took us all over the place, from the Barracks, to the sub, to the Flame, to the jungle, to the tunnels, to the...

 Oh, yet get the idea.

 We hoped that “Follow the Leader” wouldn’t be just another set-up episode -- an hour whose sole purpose is to move key characters around so they would all be where they were supposed to be in time for the season finale. 

 But, while it made more sense than previous set-ups, it was still a hodge-podge of scenes piled on top of each other -- kind of like a paisley tie, on top of a plaid shirt, under a checked jacket. 

 We can’t complain too much, though. Almost all of those scenes were solid and had an urgency about them that held our interest, and let us know that next week’s double episode will be as explosive as we’ve hoped it would. 

 Frankly, I’m still not sure what Dan hoped to achieve by detonating Jughead -- unless his desire was to create a big enough diversion to prevent the drilling at the Swan. If the detonation is supposed to serve some other purpose, such as counteracting the energy that the drilling will release...well, I don’t know. Sometimes, I can’t quite be sure if I’m being dense or simply missed something. But if you any of you can help me out here, be my guest.

 Meanwhile, on to other matters....

 WILD AND CRAZY: Our two wild cards returned this week with a vengeance. First came Radzinsky, who appears to the be the madman we always assumed he was. And then came Sayid, who rescued Jack and Kate (by shooting an armed Hostile) and then joined Jack, Richard and Eloise for a refreshing swim.

 Sayid’s appearance accompanied the night’s biggest gasp -- when we THOUGHT Kate had been shot. It also allowed what may prove to be a pivotal set-up moment: Kate leaving Jack and returning to the Barracks. We’re going to assume they were separated for a reason, although that uneasy moment on the sub -- when Kate joined James and Juliet -- was one of this season’s great sad/funny moments, as it re-ignited, one more time, the extreme discomfort these three characters seem to experience whenever they’re in any sort of proximity to each other.

 LOCKE UNLEASHED: The hour also gave us the new and improved John Locke, who provided two of the episode’s most memorable lines. The first (“The island told me...”) came about when he led Richard to his time-flashing, injured self in the jungle. The second (“So I can kill him...”) was in response to Ben’s question about why he needed to see Jacob.

 On second thought, let’s make it THREE memorable lines: “I have a purpose now.” 

  

John is clearly on a mission, and it’s one that seems to be a growing concern for both Ben and Richard. Their brief conference on the subject reminded us of Jack’s whispered aside to Kate on the night they blew open the hatch. (“When this is over, we’re gonna have a Locke problem.”) And it was paralleled, in a way, by Kate's unease when Jack began talking about destiny the way John did back in the Hatch era

 I’ve often believed that Locke was a born loser who couldn’t lead a horse to water. But lately I’m not sure what to think.

 THE CABIN CONUNDRUM: When we first saw Jacob’s cabin, I researched certain voodoo rituals, after taking note of the bottles of liquid inside the cabin, and the ring of ash that surrounded it. Soul jars can keep the spirit of a dead or dying person earthbound, and the ring around the cabin could prevent him from leaving.

 Considering the connection that already exists between Jacob and Locke, and the latter’s insistence that he is taking his marching orders from the island itself, my guess is that Jacob WANTS Locke to kill him and free his spirit once and for all. 

 I’m always happy to be wrong, it makes things more exciting. But whether I am or I’m not, I have no idea what would happen if and when Locke accomplishes this particular feat, although it will most likely affect the balance of power among the Others. (And, if Locke is, in fact, their true leader, it could cement his position. I'm still not convinced, though, that he is.)

 SAY WHAT? Another of the evening’s most memorable lines came from Richard, when he told Sun, “I watched them all die...” in reference to Jack, Kate, Hurley and the other time-trippers. 

 Unless Richard was just making up dialogue as he went along, this implies that Richard will re-encounter the 815’ers in some sort of group situation. And this would involve all sorts of action, since by the end of “Follow the Leader,” they were either underground, in the jungle, or on a submarine headed back to civilization.

 THERE WAS NO SIGN of our third wild card, the high-kicking Ilana, who was last seen in front of a massive crate on the Hydra island. When we last discussed her, we weren’t sure if she was working for Charles, or Dharma, or Ben or some other outside party. (Though I’m still hoping it’s Chang.) 

 It would make nice sense, script-wise, if whatever happens next week finally puts everyone back where they belong. We’re assuming it will also introduce some new perhaps even grander plotline that will set the stage for Season Six. And we're guessing that Ilana will somehow be involved in making one or both of these things happen.

 

 BEST MOMENTS: For sheer giggles, it was hard to top that Aveeno commercial (“What if you could rewrite your hair’s past?”), but we also laughed at the Hurley/Chang conversation (“What year were you born?” etc.) and the sight of Hurley once again stocking up on Dharma grub.

 The split between Jack and Kate was interesting and not something I found predictable. Although, again, there seemed to be some finale-related reason to separate them, and I suppose it worked.

 That uneasy reunion on the sub was a terrific touch -- and a nice reminder amid all the action, that we still have a love quadrangle to sort through. I’ve been concerned that Juliet would die before this season ended, but I hope that’s not the case. I like her a lot and the tension between Jules, James, Jack and Kate is too good to break up.

 Another nice moment was Miles witnessing the “break-up” between his parents. It was a tiny little scene, but completely in keeping with the “Lost” way of doing things. (Remember, back in Season One, when we all thought what a creep Jin was? And how drastically our perception changed via flashbacks?)

 ODDS AND ENDS: We watched intently as Richard worked on his ship-in-a-bottle, yet another hint that he may have arrived on the Black Rock, since this little hobby is so popular with sailors and ship’s captains.

 And then there was the deal James made with Radzinsky: “Let us on the sub and we’ll tell you whatever you want to know.” (So? What did James tell him?)

 One thing I did find strange, was the Others opting to follow Locke, without taking any cue from Ben or Richard. There was something disquieting about that, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. For a moment or two, I felt I was watching extras from the fuselage following Jack to the caves. It just didn't seem right -- or very Otherly -- to me.

 I was also confused about the placement of the bomb, and how it got there. If you have any insights about that particular twist, please pass them on. Additionally, I'm not sure why a bomb that needed to be buried -- because it was unstable -- would somehow be just fine sitting in a tunnel.

 Oh, and what about the compass? Richard says "it still points north." Did it ever?

 OVERALL: I didn’t really dislike this episode, because it had so much to offer, but in that regard it was kind of like a calorie-fest that leaves you unsatisfied. Still, it was better than previous set-ups, and we’re guessing (and hoping) that it will lead us into our best season finale to date.

 

PREVIEW: FOLLOW THE LEADER

 In what promises to be our first Richard-centric episode, ABC has provided us with only this: “Jack and Kate find themselves at odds over the direction to take to save their fellow island survivors, Locke further solidifies his stance as leader of ‘The Others,’ and Sawyer and Juliet come under scrutiny from the Dharma Initiative.”

 We can probably assume that, since Jack and Kate were last seen at Richard’s camp, there will be some sort of alliance between them, particularly in light of Dan’s warning. Obviously, some sort of showdown is imminent. But even though Richard remains one of the island’s most mysterious characters, he has shown himself to be a voice of reason when need be, and he has always put the island’s interests ahead of everything else.

  Although we know little about Richard, we suspect he arrived with the Black Rock -- unless he even predates that ship’s arrival. He doesn’t seem to age, and although he is highly intelligent and physically strong, he has never appeared to be in charge of the island. We saw him as being a captain of some sort for Jacob in the 1950s, before deferring, years later, to Ben.

 And despite his display of some scientific aptitude in “Not In Portland” (where he presented himself to Juliet as a recruiter for Mittelos Bioscience) Richard also seems to embody the island’s ancient rituals and superstitions, from the gods of ancient Egypt to -- judging from Jacob’s cabin -- voodoo.

 As such, Richard may be the only major “Lost” character who embraces both sides of the man of science/man of faith theme that we have been pondering since the end of Season One.

 After two really solid episodes, here’s hoping tonight doesn’t disappoint. I’ll be posting my thoughts by midnight. If you care to comment sooner, do so below.

SEASON FIVE/ Episode 14

THE VARIABLE

My Mother, the Hostile

Filled with the sort of creepy foreshadowing we love to ponder and the kapow-kinda ending that leaves us feeling physically exhausted, “The Variable” was a well-structured episode that succeeded on every level.

 It told us, via Dan, that almost anything can happen -- or not happen -- from this point on, including the plane crash that started all of this in the first place.

 It reminded us that even characters we’ve grown to love can suddenly disappear. (Although, let’s not forget that Richard saved young Ben after the boy was shot. Can he work some similar island miracle to rescue Daniel Faraday?)

 And it once again let us know that connecting the dots on this show often involves connecting the bloodlines.  We suspected that Charles could be Dan’s father, after we realized that young Charles and young Ellie were co-Hostiles, back in the day. But, now that Charles has admitted his paternity, we’re forced to wonder: Who is Penny’s mother?

 Are (or were) Dan and Pen full or half-siblings? And where, oh where, does Desmond fit into all of this? I’ve been asking this question over and over again for years, but I’ll ask it again for old times sake: Haven’t Penny and Des EVER discussed the bizarre coincidence that caused him to be shipwrecked on the island that her father has been searching for -- relentlessly -- for some 30 years?

 Some other notes:

 AT THE HOSPITAL: The scenes were crisp and believable, until that odd moment when Penny was told to leave her son with a nurse. I suppose we can buy a woman doing this in any ordinary situation -- children are rarely allowed to go into the rooms of seriously ill or injured patients, and Penny desperately wanted to see her husband. But, with everything that had happened in the last few hours, we did find it a little hard to fathom how Pen would rush off and leave Charlie with a stranger.

 To later see that Grandpa Charles was lurking outside gave us an additional gasp, or two. We can’t imagine that the old man would harm the child. But, doesn’t something have to happen to him?

 IN THE JUNGLE: I kept replaying -- like 60 times -- the exchange between Kate and Dan in which he made mention of the hydrogen bomb. Were any of you able to understand what he said? [For some reason, when I re-played the scene on my TiVo on Thursday morning, I heard the line perfectly: "I'm gonna detonate a hydrogen bomb."] 

 Obviously, he wants to know where the bomb is, but I’m not quite sure how he planned on using it to stave off “the incident.” 

 And, since we don’t know if Dan is alive or dead, or dying, or save-able, will he at least be able to communicate what he WANTED to do to Richard?

 THE FLASHBACKS: The scenes of young Dan with his “two” moms, revealed a gifted child with an overbearing parent who seems to be pushing him further and further into the situation that may well have caused his death. But, for what purpose?

Sacrificing one’s son for the greater good sounds dandy on paper. We’re not sure, though, what Dan accomplished on the island, unless his warning to Richard filled the bill. If he was indeed the “variable” -- and we doubt that he would have been given the time to explain what that means if he wasn’t -- then, he did manage to alter the future.

 But, what if he didn’t? 

 Or, did Dan do his greater good off the island? Was he of some crucial help on Ann Arbor? 

 We’ll probably have to wait until the finale, though, to see if that happened, and what it will mean for our already wacky -- but thoroughly engrossing -- storyline.

 

 One thing I am not sure I understand -- maybe you can help me out here -- was how Dan knew, precisely, what was going to happen over at the in-progress Swan in the next few hours. Where did he acquire all of these details, from the dumping of the concrete, to the pushing of the button, to the result of Desmond not pressing the button and bringing down the plane?

 And, just to further complicate matters: If it wasn't part of some grand scheme -- beyond Desmond's error -- to bring down 815 on the island, was it just some coincidence that SO many people with connections to the island (or each other) happened to be on the plane?

 Uh...me confused.

 AT THE BARRACKS: Between the drama unfolding in the home of James and Juliet, to that gunfight at the OK Garage, things were truly hopping. And with Phil in the closet, Radzinsky at the front door, and Kate and Jack going commando, it seems as if The Great Lie has finally unraveled.

 As for what’s next, well, that seems to be anyone’s guess. We’re going to assume that the Hostiles will have to offer the 815’ers some sort of safe haven. Kate, Jack, James and Juliet can’t take on the entire island, can they?

 The encounter between Dan and young Charlotte was touching and gave us even more to ponder. Did Dan tell her never to return to the island? And if he did manage to change the future, does this mean she’ll survive? 

 MS. HAWKING: We enjoyed the slap across Charles’ face. (Haven’t we waited years for someone to do it?) And we enjoyed the various time references she made. First in response to her young son’s promise that he could “make time” for his piano lessons. (Her reply: "If only you could.") And, later, in the hospital, when she said to Penny, “For the first time in a long time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

 We still don’t quite understand the extent of HER gifts, going back to her first meeting with Desmond. But since HOW she knows what she knows seems tied in to all of of this time travel business, it’s hard to guess precisely what she’s capable of. (As Dan noted, "She is the only person who can get us back to where we belong." She can? OK. HOW?)

Dan’s last gasp -- “You knew this was going to happen...” -- brought us right back to the heart of this whole time riddle. If its possible to avert the incident, and if that "correction" is why Eloise and Charles conspired to send Dan back in time, why wasn’t it also possible for them to figure out a way to do it without Dan being shot?

There were an assortment of Easter eggs and such -- as well as the re-introduction of the not-yet comatose Theresa -- but I’m sure you caught most of them. This episode was a solid A for me. It moved things along nicely, had a rollercoaster feel to it, and delivered a solid punch. (And a solid slap.)

 So what did you guys think?

PREVIEW: The Variable

 

 We are going into tonight’s Dan Faraday-centric episode with so many questions that only Dan -- with, perhaps, some help from Dr. Chang -- will be able to explain to us. The “moving” of the island; the time flashes; the anomalies (Why did The Others not flash?); and the mystery over why some Ajira passengers wound up in 1977 while the rest did not, are all subjects that have been confounding us for weeks.

 We know from the outset that there are at least two types of mysteries going on here. One involves the realm of the supernatural and/or ancient religions. The other has to do with physics. Dan is the person to address those particular mysteries and on the island, it will seem likely that Chang will also be involved.

 Perhaps we will also see some interaction between Dan and his mother -- Ms. Hawking -- who has also been confounding us this season. We really don’t know whose side she is on; what her relationship is/was with Charles Widmore; why she was helping Ben -- if in fact she WAS helping Ben; and her strange insistence that the Oceanic Five board this specific Ajira flight.

 Unlike Dan, Ms. Hawking -- who has some obvious understanding of physics -- seems more wired to terms like “destiny” which seems at odds with her son’s more scientific view of the world.

 Since we first saw her in a Desmond episode, and since that was a pivotal connection, we’re also hoping to see some additional explanation of the role of Des and Penny in all of this. (And, lest we forget, Des is Dan's constant.)

 I’ll be at a concert tonight and won’t get home until late, so I won’t have my post up before midnight. But unless my TiVo has a nervous breakdown I’ll be up writing into the wee hours. If something goes wrong -- and there’s always a “variable” in everything -- I guess I’ll have to hit ABC.com in the morning.

 HAVE A GOOD NIGHT. Post early comments below...

Resemblance?

I've been wondering if Grandpa Shephard was part of Dharma because he looks like a cult leader, doesn't he? In fact, he looks like Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven's Gate cult. 

THE CLIPS

 "The Story of the Oceanic Six" consisted of fairly obvious clips that most of probably would have chosen to tell the story of the O-6's departure from the island and the events leading up to the crash of Ajira 316, with some notable additions.

 There were no new scenes that I noticed, but I couldn't help but feel that undue emphasis was placed on a couple of things that will most probably amount to something soon.

 The first was the inclusion of the scene in which Jack visits his grandfather, and retrieves the shoes. The inclusion of this scene was a helpful reminder of Jack's old man's old man and suggests that granddad may be back soon.

 Also, the entire business of the shoes seemed to be stressed here. There was a British film (recent) called "Dead Man's Shoes" as well as a classic "Twilight Zone" episode of the same name. In the latter, a vagrant puts on the shoes of a dead gangster and is taken over by the gangster's spirit. I'm not sure if there is also some voodoo connection, but I'm lookin' into it.

 I also was surprised to see the scene in which the airline clerk tells Jack that the coffin will have to be opened and scanned because of new security measures. Was something else going on before Jeremy Bentham was approved for takeoff?

 Since other, more recent developments (concerning young Ben and Sun's encounter with Christian) were left out, I was also interested to see so much made of Sayid's assassinations, including the now-most-central murder of all, Peter Avellino's.

 We know that Ilana said she had been hired by the dead man's family, although we don't know how true that is. Still, whether she is working for Widmore or some other third party, it seems significant that she knows anything about the dead men and the person who killed them.

 Apparently, those killings were more important than we originally thought, and they are obviously tied into Ilana's backstory.

 I really wasn't taking notes here, these are just the things that stand out to me now. Anything else seem to get more attention than you thought it would?

TONIGHT: The Story of the Oceanic 6 (Special)

The "Lost" cast celebrated next week's 100th episode with a party (pic above), and hopefully it put them in the right mood for what promises to be a killer Dan-centric ep that we hear will serve as the counterpart to last season's "The Constant." In the meantime, we will be getting a clip show tonight that is designed to get viewers up to the speed on the Oceanic 6 and time-flashing storylines.

These clip episodes can be helpful because they're kind of like hour-long "previously" segments, which draw our attention to key plot turns that we need to pay special attention to.

 I doubt most of you reading this need this sort of reminding, but if tonight's presentation is primarily to stretch out the season by a week, then it's better than no "Lost" at all -- or one of those yucchy pop-up reruns.

Since I have birthday dinner plans tonight with a friend, I'm probably not going to make a separate post about this "special" -- but if anything catches your eye and you want to note it, please do so in the comments section of this post.

 Namaste.

 

SEASON FIVE/ Episode 13

SOME LIKE IT HOTH

I deliver dead people

 WHEN IT WASN’T REFERENCING (hilariously) the twists and turns of the “Star Wars” canon, “Some Like It Hoth” was providing us with a whole new bunch of twists and turns, in grand style, and with the sort of classic “Lost” flashback that we’ve come to miss.

 Episodes that begin without a “previously” intro have often been very special -- I think “The Other 48 Days” was the first -- and this Miles-centric hour was a monument to precision.

 What we now know: Dr. Chang (Marvin Candle) is, indeed, Miles’ father. And, unless that segment at the end was some sort of trick, we also know that our characters can run into themselves at different ages.

 Additionally, we learned that Miles’ psychic gifts blossomed at a young age. (He appeared to be about 10.) And, while we don’t know the precise reason that he and his mom left the island, Mrs. Chang wasn’t exactly filled with good will toward her ex.

 What we think we know: That Charles Widmore was behind the phony 815 crash footage that Frank Lapidus saw in the episode in which he and Miles were introduced. And, as we theorized last week, there seems to be another faction with an interest in the island -- one that includes Ilana and, now, Bram.

 Additionally: Though it was way too good to be a mere “set-up” episode, it provided us with some nicely-executed set-ups. Specifically: the suspicions surrounding Kate; the discovery (by Phil) of the video that implicates Jim/James/Sawyer in the disappearance of young Ben; and the return (Finally!) of Dan Faraday.

But, there was more, more, more:

 RECURRING THEMES: The white rabbit in front of the dead man’s apartment, which hid the keys to his front door; Hurley’s pop culture obsessions, which seemed to reach a zenith with his plan to write (in long hand) “The Empire Strikes Back”; the numbers which were being engraved onto the as-yet unbuilt Swan hatch; the scene of yet another long-suffering woman who (we believe) was wronged by a man who also happened to be a harsh father figure; the light/dark parallel between two major characters (in this case, Hurley and Miles who, like Locke and Eko, seem to have great similarities and great differences); and the coup de grace flashback moment, in which Miles returns the money to Mr. Gray because the older man’s pain speaks directly to the younger one’s deep feelings of parental loss and abandonment.

ODDS AND ENDS: The glyphs and references to Egyptian phonics on the classroom blackboard suggest that Dharma kids were schooled in the symbols that line their temple walls (and, eventually their Swan station timer).  

 The book Chang read to baby Miles had “polar” in its title -- although I couldn’t make out the rest of the cover. (At another point in the episode, Chang mentioned cleaning up after the polar bears at the Hydra station as a punishment for Hurley.)

 The snippet of the telephone conversation overheard between Horace and Chang, in which the former says, “If it was caused by the electromagnetism, we need to know...” suggests some small incident that may be a precursor to the much larger one we know is coming. 

 It is later explained that Alvarez (the dead worker) was killed by a filling in his tooth that went on some magnetic anomaly rampage, although we’re not sure if that was the case or not. But, whether it was or it wasn’t, the Dharmans are obviously convinced that the electromagnetic situation is something that needs to be controlled.

 The not-very-even $1.6 million figure offered to Miles (via Naomi) is one in a long line of odd amounts going back to the reward for Kate (wasn’t it $23,000?), although it does explain why Miles offerred to let Ben escape for $3.2 million, the same amount (Widmore’s figure, doubled) that he requested from Bram. (Of course, $1.6 million and $23,000 incorporate THE NUMBERS, but they still sound weird.)

 Perhaps this has something to do with the exchange rate between Australian (U.K.) and U.S. currencies. Or, maybe...I dunno...

 THE MUSIC: The 1972 Albert Hammond song “It Never Rains In Southern California” concerns a man who seeks success (and fails) as a musician in Hollywood. The Neil Sedaka/Howard Greenfield song “Love Will Keep Us Together” was written in ’73 and was a big hit for The Captain and Tennille, one year later. Both songs are the type of soft pop that the Dharma Initiative folks all seem to be hopelessly addicted to. 

 I like a little of everything, but I’m beginning to think that many of the Dharmans seem to be a bit simple and passive. Chang, Radzinsky and a handful of others are obviously BIG personalities. But so many of the supporting crew (from Roger and Phil to Amy and a few of the others we’ve seen) appear to be on the dim side and are clearly “followers” who seem incapable of an original thought.

 It also occurs to me that when Juliet was brought to the island, she was a brilliant but thoroughly passive individual. This took place in another era, of course, but I find myself wondering if many of the Dharmans are either sedated in some way, or were chosen to come to the island because they are such beta (as opposed to alpha) types.

 Phil’s decision to go to “LaFleur” with the video seemed stupid (for most people) but believable (for Phil). He lacked the guile to get more information before revealing what he knew (to someone who is obviously stronger than he is); and he was dopey enough to bring the evidence with him and even show it to James. 

 As for Roger, well, let’s face it, even “janitor” is a step up for this guy. 

 BEST SCENES: I don’t think there were any I didn’t like. The opening sequence, with young Miles discovering the corpse of Mr. Vonner, harkened back to “The Shining” and just about every other movie in which a youngster first begins to cope with supernatural forces. 

 Vonner seemed like an odd surname to me, but I Googled it and came up with this on cousinconnect.com: “id like to locate my aunt luzviminda vonner which is married to an officer of the USAF officer name richard vonner and has sibblings name kimberly the eldest and a boy dont remember his name. hope i can get result asap.”

 Did one of the writers happen across the same site while dreaming up a name? Kimberly is the name Miles said Mr. Vonner was “calling.” Just seemed like an odd coincidence to me that the first reference I found on the Internet to “Vonner” was this one.

 I had a bit of a hard time believing that Hurley would play so fast and loose with Chang or push the father-son connection from the back seat. But, hey, I enjoyed every second of it. And his “Star Wars” soliloquy was a hoot and a half.

 Still, I would give the funniest moment of the night to Miles, when he heard his father “loved country” music. (Second place: Miles noting, “That douche is my Dad.” Third: Hurley’s “Let’s face it, Ewoks suck dude.”)

 Other small but terrific moments: the engraving of the hatch serial number; the “Well, here we go...” muttered by Juliet when the lie about Ben began to unravel; the sudden appearance of Naomi and the subsequent, creepy scene in the restaurant basement; the details “provided” by the dead Felix of empty graves; and that brief bit of kidnapping in which Bram asked “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” and indicated that he wanted Miles to join the team that was going to win.

 I also enjoyed the scenes between Miles and Mr. Gray, whose son was killed over Labor Day weekend by a drunk driver. (We might want to think that the driver was Christian, but I’m not sure it matters.) The later scene, in which Miles sees his father holding him was quite touching and effective. So...what will that lead to? Sooner or later the two of them have to sit down and chat, no?)

ONE FINAL QUESTION: Did Chang really die? Or, is it possible that HE is the mastermind giving Bram and Ilana their orders?

 

Actually, I can’t remember an episode that incorporated so many characters and did so with such flair. Even the return of Daniel (from Ann Arbor?) was played perfectly. And, yeah, I needed a Ben break.

 This one rates a solid A, and it has me panting for the next new episode in which it appears as if all hell is going to break loose.

PREVIEW: SOME LIKE IT HOTH

 

WE'RE GETTING OUR FIRST Miles-centric episode tonight and who isn’t jazzed about that? Supposedly we will be receiving background on how he got to the freighter. Perhaps we will also discover -- as most of us already expect -- that he is the son of Dr. Chang/Marvin Candle.

 Of course, if that IS the case (and we don’t know for sure) then we will have the strange case of someone being born into the Dharma Initiative, who then winds up in the employ of Charles Widmore.

 As near as I can recall, Miles has never let on that he has had some previous connection with the island. So, has he simply been holding out on us? Or, is he just clueless about his own early years and his father’s life?

 When Naomi griped about the “team” Abaddon had put together, he said they were chosen for a reason. We already know that Charlotte was on the island as a child, and -- assuming Ellie is Ms. Hawking -- that Dan Faraday also has an important connection to the island’s past.

 Since Miles is now in 1977, and since Chang knows about the donkey wheel, he (Chang) may be one of the few Dharmans of that era to actually believe the whole time travel story. 

And, since Miles has that unique talent of communicating with the dead, we’re guessing that he’ll put that to good use tonight -- perhaps even revealing something MAJOR about the island’s past.

 Also in 1977: It’s only a matter of time before the lies begin to unravel at The Barracks, and hopefully we’ll see some of that -- or all of it -- in this episode. Horace is no fool. And Radzinsky is about as paranoid as any “Lost” character we’ve seen before. Between Sayid’s bizarre “I’m from the future” admission, and the assorted other strange happenings that have taken place since Jack, Kate and Hurley arrived, the lead Dharmans are sure to be feeling antsy right about now.

 Ditto for Jack, who seems to be growing increasingly impatient with the entire situation. He declined Kate’s plea tto save young Ben, and said he was concerned that his past, pro-active role was probably a mistake. But, we’re guessing that was a temporary lapse. Jack is Jack, and in this situation he is our surrogate. Unlike James, Juliet, Miles and perhaps even Hurley, WE are anxious to move on to whatever the next step in this journey may be. Sayid put that into motion two weeks ago. We can probably expect Jack to take it from here.

 The title of this episode references Hoth, the glacial base of the Rebel Alliance in  “The Empire Strikes Back.” This could just be some inside joke that will come out during the hour (from Hurley, most probably), or it could be a bit more literal if the 815’ers leave The Barracks and set up their own “rebel” camp somewhere. 

 I’m not sure how the latter would work, unless someone from 1977 decides to help them, but it will fun to see what happens, since time’s a-wasting and we’re counting on our time trippers to be back where they belong by (or during) the finale.

 I’ll do my best to post before midnight. If you want to comment before then, do it here....

SEASON FIVE/ Episode 12

DEAD IS DEAD (AND SO IS CAESAR)

Et tu, Ben?

 CONFUSED YET? “Dead Is Dead” was a hodgepodge of so-so writing, uneven performances and really bad hair. And yet, it was loaded with information and a memorable scene or two - notably the showdown on the pier between Desmond and Ben, which went off like clockwork and generated a rather loud gasp in my living room. (And Ben lying to Caesar about Locke was, well, classic Ben.)

 For me this was one of those “set-up” episodes designed to get everyone in place before the finale. Weeks ago, we kind of looked the other way when Lapidus decided to leave his Ajira passengers behind and journey to the main island with Sun.

 But it was a lot harder to believe that he would then desert Sun at the Barracks -- leaving her with a murderer and a “dead guy” -- to head back to the Hydra.

 I also couldn’t believe that, even at gunpoint, Rousseau wouldn’t lunge at the stranger taking her baby. 

 A 15-second exchange between Frank and Sun (with her ultimately insisting that he SHOULD leave) could have taken care of that first scene. And, had Rousseau been knocked out, shot, or even sick and feverish when Ben arrived, we would have bought that scene, too.

 But, as written, they didn’t quite ring true, anymore than that HAIRDO on Ben that was apparently supposed to make him look younger -- but seemed to have the opposite effect.

 These lapses were small potatoes, though, in an episode that was otherwise drowning in twists and turns and brought us nearer to the truth about the island’s really distant past.

 ILANA: On the smaller island, Ilana -- with the aid of accomplices -- got her hands on some guns and a rather large cache of something or other. (What was in that huge case, anyway? More guns?) Then, in a showdown with Lapidus, she posed the evening’s big question, which sounded as if it was lifted out of some old movie serial: “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”

 It was an exchange that reeked of Indiana Jones’s after shave, but perhaps that was the point since the next scene brought us to the Temple of Doom.

 Whoever Ilana is, it’s now a safe bet that she was sent there by some rather powerful person or organization and is on a mission that may make Naomi’s look like a bake sale.

 Previously, we assumed she must be working for Widmore. And, perhaps, she is. But, if that’s the case, it seemed odd for her to be asking Lapidus anything -- least of all background info on the statue. (For that matter, it would also seem odd that she would let Ben out of her sight long enough for him to get to the outrigger with Sun.)

 Whoever sent her, though, (and she may even be her own agent), this twist indicates that Ilana could be around well into next season. The fact that she has any knowledge of the statue should tell us that she’ll be instrumental in unlocking the riddle of the island’s origins and whatever connection it has with ancient Egypt.

 As for Caesar, shot abruptly and unceremoniously by Ben, can we assume he’s dead? And, that he and Ilana were not in cahoots? Your theories on Caesar would be most welcome right about now, because I really didn’t expect him to disappear so quickly.

 THE TOMB: Ben falling through the floor into the hidden whatever-it-was, was a bit hokey, but at least this scene moved forward and came with a payoff. We’re not sure what to make of him staring at all those hieroglyphics as if he couldn’t quite believe them, since they appear to be all around the temple area.

 The room’s central artwork suggested Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the Egyptians, who oversaw the afterlife. He is seen crouching opposite a satanic looking monster on what looked like a primitive thunderbolt, but also suggested the smoke monster, which just so happened to be waiting under a creepy looking grate.

 Anubis protected the dead as he escorted them to the afterlife -- although over time he evolved into the guardian of the underworld. Considering that this is an island where spirits appear to roam around at will, his presence has to make us wonder just how “magical” things are going to get from this point on. (I have read the theories that Richard Alpert is Ra, the Egyptian sun god known for his constant rebirth and renewal, and that the glyphs on the Swan timer said "underworld," so I suspect we'll be seeing more of all this in the weeks to come.)

 As some have suggested, the monster may well be the Cerberus of the island -- the three-headed dog from Greek and Roman mythology -- that guarded the gates of Hades and prevented those who had crossed over from returning to the land of the living.

 I guess we could chew on that one all night, but while we’re obviously being nudged in this direction, we don’t really know what’s what.

 CHARLES: We now know that the adversarial relationship between Charles and Ben goes back to when the latter was still a child. Saving the boy’s life inflamed Charles for reasons we’re still not sure of, although it is likely that Richard passed along the information that young Ben appeared to be able to see the dead.

 Richard’s pronouncement -- “The island chooses who the island chooses...” -- implies that young Ben already had some rarefied status among the Hostiles, and we’ll assume that Charles immediately perceived the threat.

 Later, we see the older Ben rush to the sub shortly before Charles was to begin his exile. In the course of this confrontation we learned that Charles left the island regularly, had a child with an “outsider,” and, in Ben’s words, “broke the rules.”

 We’re not sure about this mysterious outsider, but that does make us suspect that Penny’s mother isn’t Ellie, unless there’s a whole lot more to her back story. 

 Any guesses about who IS Penny’s mother?

 We're also dying to know the evolution of Charles on the island, from being a foot soldier under Richard to some sort of head honcho who saw the isle as his own. 

 ALEX: Apparently, death becomes her. She looked great in the underworld and was a rather integral character all night long.

 As I’ve already said, I didn’t quite buy the scene in which she was kidnapped. I also didn’t understand why Ben didn’t kill Rousseau, since that was why he’d been sent there, and he had to know that, sooner or later, she would pose a threat to him. (Of course, that scene was later paralleled on the pier, with the implication that motherless Ben has a soft spot for young moms, although he's never particularly struck me as having a conscience when it comes to anything else.)

 To a lesser extent, I’m also wondering why, all those years later, even in her “wacky” period, Rousseau (who captured Ben in Season Two) didn’t recognize the one and only “Other” she had ever seen before.

 Later, when Ben and Charles are chatting at the sub, Charles notes that if the island did want Alex dead she would die, eventually. And so she did, which adds another level of magic to the proceedings. Is Locke alive merely because the island WANTS him alive, whereas Alex’s life was unimportant? 

 Assigning so much power to the island explains a lot about who has died, who has survived and so on and so forth. But it’s not terribly satisfying, since it undercuts our ability to unravel these mysteries. Boone, Shannon, Ana (and Alex) died because the island didn’t care about them? Everyone else who has been shot at, sick, or seriously injured and survived did so because the island wanted them to hang around?

 BEN: When he enters his house again, Ben passes a table which I believe had the game of Risk laid out on it. (I’ve never played it, so correct me if I’m wrong.) I do know that the game is about dominating the world, so that may have told us a lot more about Ben than anything else we saw. 

 All of this business about being judged didn’t grab me, but I went along for the ride, anyway. By letting him off with a warning, the monster -- via Alex -- may have been telling us that Ben’s “we’re the good guys” assertion to Jack, may not have been too far from the mark. 

 Is he a good guy? Or, was he simply given a reprieve because he still serves a purpose to the island?

 His warning to Rousseau about the whispers in the jungle had to push her even further over the edge, but I still wish that scene had been a bit more believable.

 We did LOVE the scene on the pier though and the subsequent shot of Ben underwater. (I wonder if we'll ever see what happened next, because I find it hard to believe that Des, shot or not, would have let him get away.)

 Lest we forget the boat was called Our Mutual Friend, the name of the Dickens book Des had in prison and a phrase that has long seemed like a symbolic reference to the show's many interlocking relationships.

 LOCKE: After seasons in which he appeared to be going through one long nervous breakdown, the resurrected Locke reminded us of the outsider/warrior we first encountered in Season One. 

 Strong, single-minded, in control and completely self-aware, this is the sort of Locke we COULD imagine as the island’s leader, and it was nice to see him come back so splendidly.

OVERALL: This could have been a much more effectively creepy hour, and for me, it was riddled with too many things I just didn't buy. On the other hand it seemed to get quite a bit accomplished and set us up for what lies ahead. For me this was a disappointing episode but so many of you have already written to say how much you did enjoy it, so I'll let you thrash out the hour's artistic merits among yourselves...

PREVIEW: Dead Is Dead

For Whom the Ben Tolls

 We know from various sources that a major (as in major MAJOR) death is heading our way, and even though the title of this episode sounds like as good a place as any for that to happen, the scuttlebutt is that this important (and lovable) character will bite the dust in the season finale, which just so happens to be called “The Incident.”

 What we know from the official promos is that tonight’s ep will center around Ben and his desire (or WHATEVER) to be judged by prime time television’s favorite smoke monster. If you’ve been looking at spoilers, perhaps you can figure out what that means, but the rest of us -- who prefer a non-spoiled existence -- are going to have to sweat out the details.

 Among the pivotal questions we’d like to know right this very second about Ben: Did his shooting (by Sayid) in 1977 somehow alter the course of the future? Did he confront Desmond and Penny before getting on Flight 316? And, perhaps most pressing, where (and when) is he now? 

 The creepy scenes we’ve seen so far involving Sun, Lapidus and Christian hinted that perhaps the “present” on the main and Hydra islands may not be the same present the 316’ers were living in before the crash.

 Certainly, we have no explanation (yet) as to why certain passengers were plucked off that flight and dropped off in 1977, while so many others were not. We also don’t know why Ben was delayed getting on the plane and what sort of trouble led to the bruises we saw when he finally did.

 Since we saw a peek of the young Rousseau in the promo, it’s possible that this episode will shed new light on Ben’s role in Alex’s life, and that would make sense, since the Penny/Alex parallel will eventually prove crucial in the ongoing, bizarre battle between Ben and Charles Widmore.

 Ben has vowed to kill Widmore’s daughter as revenge for Alex’s slaying. Of course, we don’t know if there is another daughter lurking around somewhere -- and wouldn’t that be a fun surprise? -- but we’re guessing that the Penny/Des relationship, though it didn’t emerge until Season Two, is still a pivotal thread in the “Lost” story. And, to be perfectly honest, we think she’s a lot more interesting than her father is, even if he is one of the major players in our still-unraveling back story.

  At the moment, I don’t see any point in offing Penny -- whose romance with Des is really the purest love story that exists on this show. Whatever happens between Jack, Kate, James and Juliet is of great interest, of course, but if there is any couple we expect to see holding hands in the very last episode, it is Des and Penny.  (And, honestly, I’ll be very disappointed if that doesn’t work out.)

 The relationship between Ben and Jacob is also crucial to our understanding of Ben’s ascendancy to all-out leader of The Others. (Mostly Hostiles, but also some Dharma Purge survivors, such as Ethan.)

 We’re also not sure exactly how Ben managed to become an international figure, pulling strings in countries all around the world, with a submarine at his disposal and the ongoing Dharma food drops to keep him and his people in Apollo bars and Ranch dressing.

Whatever takes place between Ben and the smoke monster tonight (assuming they ever do hook up in the jungle) should provide us with some important information about at least some of these lingering questions. If the monster “reads” Ben as it did to Eko, this could also be the starting point for some helpful flashbacks.

 We’ve never quite understood what the monster is doing out there, why it seems to want certain people and not others, why it kills, why it doesn’t. Does the monster have something to do with Jacob and all those blasted lists? 

 We should find out more tonight. I’ll be posting before midnight and those of you who wish to comment before then can do so below.

 

 

SEASON FIVE/ Episode 11

WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED

Let Me Get This Straight...

Hurley did his best to unravel the ins and outs of time travel, as “Whatever Happened, Happened” unfolded around him.

 This was a good but not great episode. It did answer a couple of questions, but it also stretched credulity as it did.

 Much of the episode had a soapy, chick flick vibe beginning with the uncomfortable reunion between Kate and Cassidy and ending with the uncomfortable reunion between Kate and Mrs. Littleton.

 Along the way, two songs made a comeback: Patsy Cline’s teary “She’s Got You” -- which popped up previously in the Kate-centric “Eggtown” and “Catch a Falling Star,” heard previously in “Maternity Leave.” (It played as part of the plane mobile that was hanging above the crib in the Dharma nursery.)

 For the first time, the men appeared to be confined to subordinate roles as Juliet and Kate moved the action along in 1977, committed to the notion of saving young Ben’s life. Then, in post-Oceanic Six flashbacks, we saw Kate carrying out James’s last wish (before he leapt from the copter) and, ultimately, present Aaron to Carole (Claire’s mom) who finally learned the truth about the child, her daughter and the Great Lie surrounding Flight 815.

  By confiding in both Cassidy and Carole, Kate has left open the possibility that the real story of Flight 815 may eventually become public. We can’t imagine that Carole is going to sit on all of this forever, especially since Kate told her (perhaps incorrectly) that Claire was still alive on the island.

 If and when Carole hears that Ajira Flight 316 has disappeared -- well, what YOU do? (In fact, now that we think about it, how is the media back home covering this story? The Oceanic Five get on ANOTHER plane that disappears? Unless all of them were registered under aliases, that would seem to be Page One news.)

 The evening’s other Hot Tip: An armed hostile (who looked like a young Mikhail) says, “If Charles finds out...” to Richard, suggesting that Charles Widmore is STILL on the island in 1977. Does this mean that Penny is there, too? (There was such a hub-bub over Charlotte’s date of birth, so I don’t want to dwell too much on this. Although, we’ve long wondered what Penny knows about the island, and the various strange events that led Desmond there.)

 Now that present-Ben has regained consciousness, it may be time for us to find out how he got those bruises before getting onto the Ajira flight. We assumed at the time (or, at least some of us did) that he had been involved in an altercation with Des after vowing to murder Penny. But, alas, we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for that to work itself out.

 Anyway, on to other matters:

 FIRST AND FOREMOST: The delivery of young Ben to Richard made some sort of sense, although the events leading up to it, were rather baffling. For starters, I seemed to remember the gunshot being closer to the boy’s heart. But in tonight’s episode, it seemed to have shifted lower, and to the left. (This may just be my perception, but it seemed a bit irksome. So did the fact that he managed to survive for SO LONG despite being moved around incessantly.)

 The almost-campy time travel conversation between Hurley and Miles was capped with the pronouncement that older Ben would have remembered Sayid as the man who shot him when he was a boy. But this concept was conveniently swept under the rug by Richard, who later told Kate and James that Ben would “forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He’ll always be one of us.”

 Well, OK, whatever.

  Richard then appeared to take Ben into a stone structure that I am assuming was the temple, but I wasn’t really sure.

 Whatever means Richard will use to save young Ben’s life will most likely involve some sort of island hocus-pocus, unless the Hostiles have a full-fledged hospital down there.

 While we’re on the subject, we didn’t quite understand the explanation that the Dharma doctor was at the Looking Glass Station and couldn’t return to save Ben.

 MISS CASSIDY: I don’t know about you, but I was a little put off by Cassidy’s analyses of Kate’s “broken heart.” And even though I suppose it’s possible for a woman scorned to talk this way, I didn’t quite get her drift. (Or, HER explanation of why James departed the helicopter.)

 On the flip-side of this, though, I did get that pointed encounter, in 1977, between Kate and Jack. When he tells her, “You didn’t like the old me, Kate...” 

 Well, yeah, he had a point there, didn’t he?

 I’m guessing that, like Carole, Cassidy has been reintroduced for a reason. And the fact that she now knows at least part of the real 815 story, she, too, may alter the events in the “Lost” present.

 JACK SAYS NO: As difficult as it was to believe that young Ben could be shot, taken here, there and everywhere with inadequate medical attention and still manage to stay alive, we DID buy Jack’s simple explanation for not getting involved.

  Sure, some part of us was thinking, “He’s a surgeon! He has to save this kid’s life!”

But then, Jack got all metaphysical on us, and guess what? It worked. At one point, he admitted that he came back to the island because he was “supposed to.” At another point, he surmised that his actions on the island were perhaps not in keeping with the island wanted him to do. (“Maybe I was just getting in the way.”)

 These two statements were short and sweet, but they got the job done. And they -- along with Jack’s statement to Kate about not liking the “old” him -- hint that we’re about to see a new Jack who (like Ben and Locke) sees the island in grander terms than his former “man of science” viewpoint allowed him to.

 THE GROCERY STORE: That moment where Kate “loses” Aaron played really well, even though we weren’t quite sure what was going on. Kate’s panic was something that really got to us and it was a believable lead-up to Kate deciding to give Aaron to Carole.

 Interestingly, the woman walking with Aaron looked like a combination of Carole and Claire, although that may have just been a coincidence.

 So, what do you guys think? Was she trying to help the boy find his mother or was she kidnapping him? (It’s hard to believe that Aaron could have wandered off, so far from his mother, in such a short period of time. But, it’s also hard to believe that he wouldn’t have called out to Kate if the blonde woman was, indeed, stealing off with him.)

 In any event, it was a good scene, nicely shot and acted -- including that weird moment when the clerk said, "Your son?" as if, in grand movie mystery tradition, no one noticed Aaron before he disappeared and had no idea what Kate was talking about.

 LOOSE ENDS: The same Hostile who mentions Charles, also mentions a name that sounded like Ely. There was a reference to a character named Eli in “The Other 48 Days” -- a tail-end passenger kidnapped by The Others. But it was most probably Ellie (aka Eloise Hawking) said with a British accent.

 The keys left in the jail cell provided a nice little clue for Jim LaFleur, but I did find it a little hard to believe that Ben and/or Sayid would leave it there. It was just another one of those things that didn’t quite ring true to me.

 I was also struck (temporarily, anyway) by Miles knowing about Ben turning the wheel. I guess this was all explained by Locke during those time-flashing trips back to the Orchid. But it makes us wonder, once again, what happened to Dan Faraday. We know he’s aware of the wheel, we know he was in the Orchid at some point during this time period, but we don’t know what he’s up to.

 Since Dan is the likeliest person to bring our stranded Losties back to the future, we’re assuming he will turn up shortly. And I suppose we have to just accept the fact that no one is talking about him.

 So...ugh...what did you think of Roger sort of coming on to Kate? In an evening filled with awkward encounters, that one gained a special rating on our creep-ometer.
 
 And then, of course, there is Sayid. Where is he? And when (and where?) is he going to turn up again? The Dharmans assumed he was a Hostile and we’re guessing the Hostiles will assume he’s a Dharman -- no matter how hostile he acts. So...will he somehow fall in with Charles? We’re sensing there’s no love lost between Charles and Richard. And, since Richard seems to think young Ben is “special,” we’re guessing that Charles won’t like little Ben anymore than he likes the older version.

 Finally, I’m also having a hard time understanding why Jack, Kate and Hurley  seem to have little or no interest in finding out what happened to the rest of the people on the Ajira flight. Have they just accepted all of this as some sort of strange island-phenomenon? I realize their movements are limited and that the Flame picked up no plane crash. Still, it seems odd that they’re not talking about this and wondering what happened to Sun, older Ben, et al.

 OVERALL: I want to give this another viewing, to see what else I might have missed. The bulk of the episode seemed to be setting us up for future twists and turns and that’s fine. I was hoping for a bit more, though, and so I’m gonna be B-ish about it.

 WE HEAR THAT M. Night Shymalan has been hired to direct the finale. Sounds like a good fit to us, especially since “Flashes Before Your Eyes” (with its psychic plotline and all that red, red, red) seemed like a mini-homage to “The Sixth Sense.”

(Screencaps courtesy Lost-Media.com)

PREVIEW: Whatever happened, happened

 What next? At the moment, it’s hard to predict where our 1977 story line is going because it does seem as if the 815’ers have, indeed, changed the past. The official one-line promo for tonight’s episode tells us that “Kate will use drastic measures to save Ben’s life after Jack refuses to help.”

 All that tells us is that young Ben IS still alive, but will he be for long? As far as we know, Ben was NOT shot when he was a boy, and while there is always a chance that Jack, the island or some combination thereof will save his life, not everyone in Lostville who has suffered life-threatening injuries or diseases has survived them. And Ana, Libby, and Shannon (among others) have all died of gunshot wounds in seasons past.

 

 If Jack does perform a surgery, it will be the second time he has had to intervene to save Ben. But, whether he does or doesn’t act to keep young Ben alive, we’re guessing that even a hint of Jack’s surgical background will begin to unravel the lie that he, Kate and the other 815’ers are living out in 1977.

 I suspect there is also some sort of “magic” going on, although we’re not quite sure what it involves. Certainly, there is no easy explanation for why (and how) certain people were removed from the Ajira flight, but whatever other force is at work here, it is most probably linked in some way to Jacob.

 

 I think it’s reasonable to expect that everyone will wind up where they belong (time-wise) by season’s end, and it’s just as reasonable to believe that the mystery of Jacob will move front and center. 

 The presence of the voodoo symbols in and around Jacob’s cabin implied that Ben was somehow holding the old man’s soul prisoner on the island -- using a form of magic that may have arrived on the island with the crew of the Black Rock. 

 Is it possible that the souls of the island arranged all of this to prevent Ben from growing into adulthood? If young Ben does die, will everything he did as an adult be erased? And if he doesn’t die...

 Well, that’s as good a reason as any to watch tonight.

 

 Any ideas? I’ll be posting around midnight. But you can file early comments below.

Nice NEWS

LOST has been named among the winners of the 2009 Peabody Awards, which will be presented in New York City on May 18. From the Peabody Awards website: Breezily mixing metaphysics, quantum physics, romance and cliffhanger action, the genre-bending series about a group of air-crash survivors on a mysterious island has rewritten the rules of television fiction.

For the complete list of winners, click HERE