Lost Episode Review 6.10: "The Package"

"The heart wants what the heart wants."

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

Man, I nearly struck out on my predictions this week. And even the one I got right, I still got totally wrong, since Widmore's locked room really did have a person in it. But to be fair I did speculate that if it was someone, it would either be Eloise or Desmond. Charles seemed to give Desmond an offer he couldn't refuse. Desmond was certainly going to get back to the Island one way or another. I guess this was the quickest way for the writers to get him there.

And I have to say the teaser for next week made me about as excited as I've been. Not only do Desmond episodes rock, but we really need to find out what's going on with his Alt self - that story could very answer any lingering questions as to whether the two universes are related at all.

Of course, next week might not be a Desmond episode yet, since we do need to see the events that led up to Desmond becoming The Package. And probably the best way to get that story is with some Charles Widmore flashbacks, right? I guess either way we win! :)

Despite not being quite as good as last week, there was lots to love this episode. Some of my faves:

- The night vision camera view at the beginning.

- Seeing Sun's garden again.

- Sun and Jin's relationship, as always.

- Seeing Patchy again (and his death was probably the eye-light of the episode). ;)

- The return of Room 23! Have to get a look at those screencaps. Was it the same movie Karl was watching? Looks pretty similar.

- Smokey serving up Kate's brain to Claire on a platter.

- Jin viewing Ji-Yeon for the first time. Three hanky scene for me.

- Alt Sun getting shot. As soon as Patchy dragged her into the kitchen I knew something bad was going to happen.

- Loved, loved, loved Jack's "stubborn tomato" talk to Sun, though the more he acts like he's going to be the next Jacob, the more I think we're going to get a curveball and it'll end up being someone else. Like Kate.

This week's questions are slightly less metaphysical, but what they are, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple. Onward!

Five questions:

1) Why is Widmore interested in the Island's pockets of electromagnetism?

I really liked how this subplot tied in Jin's time travel as well. Charles kidnapped Jin because he wanted some questions answered on where DHARMA was investigating pockets of electromagnetism on the Island back in the 70's. But why is Widmore interested? Will this help him stop Smokey?

Electromagnetism has always been the blanket explanation for just about everything mysterious happening on the Island: Healing properties, why it's hard to locate, why it's hard to leave, time travel, etc. And EM was a major interest of DHARMA which constructed stations to investigate two such pockets of energy: The Swan and The Orchid.

Now if you remember, Smokey seemed to have a very vested interest in keeping the button in the Swan pushed and the energy there contained. He appeared to Eko in a dream and told him that Locke had "lost his way" and that the button had to be pushed. Then, when the Swan was destroyed, Smokey went ballistic and killed Eko.

At first, I thought all of this was part of Smokey's grand plan to find a loophole - i.e. his original plan involved the Swan staying intact, but its destruction forced him to turn to Plan B (The Orchid). But now I'm thinking that maybe there's something more going on here. Perhaps the reason Smokey got so mad when the Swan's energy was released is because if all the Island's energy is released with him still on it, he can die!

Now we know that the Swan energy is gone, but the Orchid's energy still seems to be there, at least it was when Locke put the wheel back on its axis and stopped the Island from skipping through time. But looking at Jin's map, we can see at least three distinct areas on the Island with electromagnetism that DHARMA was interested in. Take a look:




Two of them are most certainly The Swan and The Orchid, but what is the third? I'm guessing that there's at least one more DHARMA station we haven't seen yet and that Widmore wants to release the energy from it (and the Orchid as well), in hopes it will kill Smokey once and for all.

The catch? I'm betting the third and final pocket of energy is going to have to be destroyed manually, meaning someone's going to have to stay behind to get the job done and that someone is going to have to die. Welcome to your destiny, Jack.

2) Does Smokey really have to take all the candidates with him? Is he allowed to kill them?

Back in "The Substitute," the mysterious young blond kid, presumed by most to be either Aaron or Jacob, told Smokey he couldn't kill Saywer because it was against the rules. Now we learn that all the remaining candidates have to leave the Island with him or else he can't leave. This leaves Smokey with only a few choices here:

1) Convince them all to leave with him.
2) Get someone else to kill them instead.
3) Bring them all along by force.

I'm thinking #3 might be against the rules as well, y'know, free will and all that, which leaves him with only two options. I do wonder if Infected People count as someone else? If so, Smokey could simply unleash Claire and Sayid on them. If not, he's going to have to manipulate someone else into killing recalcitrant candidates, and there aren't too many of those left. Thus methinks Smokey's going to have really turn on the charm the next several episodes.

But the downside of all this is that it's really easy to stop Smokey from leaving. For all Richard's huffing and puffing about going to Hydra Island to stop Smokey, all he really has to do is keep one of Hurley or Jack away from Smokey (Sun may not be an actual candidate). Probably the worst thing they can do is take them to Hydra Island... where Smokey's going... where the plane is.

*sigh*

Don't you think Jacob should have briefed him on all this at some point?

3) Why is Desmond so important?

Let's go back in time for a moment. Daniel, traveling through time himself, arrives at the Swan sometime between 2001 and 2004. Desmond leaps out of the Swan in his biohazard suit and holds him at gunpoint. Daniel says to him:

What is important, Desmond, is what I'm about to say to you. I need you to listen. You're the only person who can help us because, Desmond... the rules... the rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special.

He was, at that time, obviously referring to Desmond's time travel abilities. But I think there's something more to that. Widmore brought Desmond along for a very specific purpose. Could it be time travel? Could Charles want Desmond to try and change the past - prevent Jack's phone call or prevent the Incident altogether? Possibly?

But what if Desmond has some mysterious rapport with the electromagnetism on the Island? Remember that Isaac of Uluru told Rose some people are specifically attuned to energies in the Earth. Maybe Widmore plans to use Desmond as a dowsing rod to try and find the final pocket of energy on the Island. This could also explain how Desmond's boat ended up on the Island in the first place - maybe he was drawn there by the electromagnetism.

4) What did Widmore mean by "the world would simply cease to be?"

We've gotten so many vague references and metaphors to what would happen if Smokey would escape: "we all go to Hell," "we all die," and now "the world would simply cease to be." All of these still reasonably fit in with my hypothesis from last week, but I'd really like to see some concrete consequences (in the Alt). Obviously since there is an Alt, the world hasn't completely disappeared

BTW, did anyone else get a bit creeped out when Sayid told Smokey he "didn't feel anything" and Smokey responded "Good. It'll help you get through what's coming." I imagine if one was literally going to Hell, it would probably be kinda nice not to actually feel anything.

5) Is Smokey wrong about Kate?

Smokey's certainly convinced that Kate's not a candidate, but I'm still not so sure since her name clearly wasn't crossed off the lighthouse list. If Smokey is indeed wrong about Kate being a candidate, wouldn't it be amusing to see him turn her over to Infected Claire only to have to later save her after he realizes he can't leave the Island without her?

Yeah, yeah. It probably wouldn't be as amusing as whatever Claire's got planned for her...

Tidbits:

- So ladies, was Jin Beefcake > Sayid or Sawyer Beefcake?

- I loved the quiet, subtle Smokey noise in the background as Locke returned to camp and found everyone unconscious.

- Note to ABC: The big, red "V" in the corner was really, really annoying and does not make me want to watch the show (though I did anyway because the remote was too far away and I had typing to do). My thoughts: Monica Baccarin and Elizabeth Mitchell are very easy on the eyes. Everything else was "meh."

Actually, scratch that. The ending was good. And by good, I mean humorous, campy sci-fi schlock. Y'know, like the original "V"...

- So the Tina Fey clone is a Geophysicist? Who would have thunk it?

- Lots of good quips this episode:

"Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease I'm not sure Hurley can track anything." - Looks like Miles has taken the king of the one-liners title from Sawyer.

Ben: "Why do you think I'm lying?" Illana: "Because you're speaking." Ha!

"Whatever happens, happens." - Not only is this a nice play on a previous episode title, I loved Claire's look and head nod afterwards. It was totally like, okay, I like this plan. Kate's brain will taste goooooood. Her heart will taste gooooooood.

"That's one stubborn tomato." - Thought this was a very touching exchange, though I imagine next episode Jack's going to start feeling a strange compulsion to wear all white. ;)

- So the purpose of the watch and the money in the Alt universe was as a payment to Keamy for killing Jin because he was banging Sun. Did Paik plan to have Jin killed in the regular universe too? On one hand, Jin and Sun are actually married in the normal timeline. On the other hand, Paik did send a henchman to threaten Jin at the Sydney airport before Flight 815 took off. Would Paik have killed Jin if he ran away with Sun?

Summary:

A solid episode that certainly moved things along, tied together a few lingering Alt subplots and gave us a very solid cliffhanger leading into next week, brutha! 4/5. So what do you think? Will we have a Desmond or Charles episode next week. I'd be totally happy with either.

Fearless Predictions...

...on tonight's episode "The Package"

1) Assuming it's a Jin/Sun episode (which it kinda looked like from last week's preview), we're going to see lots of people popping up in their Alt story. Sayid and Keamy for sure, but I'm betting we'll see both the MiB and Desmond too (remember him)

2) "The Package" will refer to whatever Widmore has in that locked room

3) We'll finally learn how Jacob's replacement is chosen (holdover from last week)

4) Smokey will offer not to kill everyone if Frank flies him off the Island

5) Ben will finally explain to someone how the "Magic Box" works

6) Hurley will set up a ping-pong tournament with all the ghosts on the Island and win by default when they can't pick up a paddle.

I'm 100% certain all these things shall come to pass.

Enjoy the episode! Review up tomorrow morning! :)

Can You Resist?

EW's Doc Jensen has an interview up with Darlton where apparently they reveal the title of the LOST series finale.

I've resisted clicking on it so far - a bit too early, I think, to learn something so potentially spoiler-ish (think about the title of last season's finale), but I figured some of you might be interested.

I'm so very curious, but no reveals in the comments, please. :)

Fearless Prediction: "What It Takes"

Lost Episode Review 6.09: "Ab Aeterno"

"You have to stop the Man in Black, stop him from leaving the Island. Because if you don't, we all go to Hell."

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

Halfway there. We're now officially at the halfway point of the final season - only nine total hours of LOST left and we're building up to the endgame. It makes me a little sad to think about it.

But boy the first half ended with a bang, eh!? I loved that nearly the entire episode was flashbacks and, even though we didn't quite get everything on my prediction list (no DHARMA), we certainly got enough Jacob and MiB to make up for it.

Once again, I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the metaphysical turn the show has taken in the last season or so, despite the fact I love Jacob's and MiB's basic conflict and their philosophical differences on human nature. That being said, the writers have still managed to create one of the richest, deepest mythologies ever seen on the small screen, of which Richard's story is now a central part. So let's review what was confirmed this episode:

1) The Island is basically a prison for Smokey with Jacob as the warden.

2) With Jacob gone, Smokey is free to leave as long as another one isn't installed.

3) Smokey believes mankind is inherently corrupt, Jacob believes even the most corrupted individuals can redeem themselves. Themselves being the key word here since "it's meaningless if he tells them what to do."

4) Jacob brought the Black Rock to the Island in 1867 during a storm. A tidal wave washed it ashore and it is responsible for shattering the Statue.

5) Richard is basically the Jacob's Metatron, taking his word to the people he brings to the Island. This way Jacob can indirectly guide the people he brings here.

6) Ilana was tasked with protecting the six final candidates and confirmed that Hurley, Jack and Sun (maybe) were all candidates. She did not, however, mention Frank at all, despite calling him a candidate last season. This means the final three candidates she was tasked with protecting are likely Sayid (oops), Sawyer and, I believe, Kate (not to mention Jin). I still think the sixth is Kate rather than Locke, because we never saw Locke's name on the lighthouse list, but we did see AUSTEN and it wasn't crossed out.

7) If Smokey leaves the Island, everyone goes to Hell. *evil trombone*

Lots to digest here. I'll try and keep this from becoming overly philosophical if I can. :)

Five Questions:

1) What exactly is this Hell you speak of?

The question I really wanted answered the most this episode was "what would the consequence be of Smokey escaping the Island?" And we got the answer, sort of. "We all go to Hell" can mean a lot of things, depending on the way you take it. Given the fact Jacob and MiB appear to be deities of a sort, you could take it literally; Smokey really is the literal devil and Hell is his literal "home" he's been talking about. If he escapes into the world, he kills everyone on the Island and drags them home with him. But I don't think it's quite that simple.

First of all, the heavy Christian imagery the writers gave us this episode was, I think, more because that's what Richard and his wife believed than what Jacob and Smokey really are. The MiB needed to manipulate Richard into killing Jacob. If he told him Jacob was really the evil Egyptian snake god, Set, Richard might have just laughed at him. Not to mention, the metaphysical concepts of God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell are present in nearly every religion. So really if everyone on the Island is literally going to Hell when Smokey escapes, it's probably not necessarily the Hell of Christianity.

But I'm thinking that "Hell" on the show really means something else: The corruption of all mankind by Smokey. When Jacob presented his wine bottle metaphor to Richard (which I absolutely loved, by the way), he spoke of Smokey as "a darkness" or "evil" that would spread if he escaped. Jacob is concerned with having humans redeem themselves, believing even the most evil person is capable of good when given a choice and left to his or her own devices without any outside influence. To test this, he brings corrupt or flawed individuals to the Island to see if they can do so. Think about all the people who've landed on the Island: All the flawed individuals (and outright criminals) of Flight 815, the drug runners from the beechcraft, the slave traders of the Black Rock, Danielle and Desmond. All brought to the Island for a clean slate, to see if they can make a new start of things and show Smokey the error of his ways.

Smokey, however, not only disagrees with Jacob, he really has no desire to even let him test the concept. He'd rather just kill everyone that lands on the Island unless he perceives they can help him escape or, barring that, corrupt them, let his evil seep into them and spread. Also Jacob wants no part in convincing people, despite the fact he could be the Second Coming if he put his mind to it. Smokey, on the other hand, actively wants to corrupt people and has absolutely no qualms about doing so. He also happens to be very, very good at it too. And once Smokey corrupts someone, they're gone, beyond saving, beyond redemption. That's why Dogen wanted Jack to kill Sayid - there was nothing left he could do.

So when Jacob said that if the evil escapes from the bottle it will spread, this, to me, meant that MiB will actively corrupt everyone on Earth, thus making them incapable of redeeming themselves. Everyone will be damned, either literally or figuratively, depending on what you believe.

Of course, we really haven't seen evidence of this yet in LA X - things seem rather normal there, right? But now I think Smokey's going to start popping up in the Alt and sending everyone there down a dark, evil path.

2) Did Smokey spare Richard because he's a murderer? Is that why he spared Eko too?

When Smokey found Richard in the Black Rock, he was in a fairly hopeless situation, one where he could easily be manipulated. But it seemed to me Smokey did the mind read flash on Richard when he came across him, likely discovering his murderous past (even if it was an accident).

And I think that's the reason Smokey scans people: He's looking for someone to kill Jacob for him. And who better to do his dirty work than someone who's already killed before. I used to think the reason Smokey spared Eko when he first came across him was because he knew Eko was trying to atone for his sins. But now I think the reason he spared him was because he really knew Eko was a murderous, violent person at heart who could never change and hoped to use him in case his Locke plan fell through.

This also brings Eko's death scene into a whole new light. The reason Smokey asked Eko whether he repented or not is because he knew Eko wouldn't repent at all, and that's the answer he was looking for since it confirms his theory on the nature of mankind.

I wonder if Smokey sent Jacob a black rock after he killed Eko, eh?

3) How does the Island contain Smokey?

What exactly keeps Smokey from simply flying off the Island himself and what exactly does he have to do to get around it. Since he's planning on taking the plane, I have to think that just like he needed to convince someone to kill Jacob for him, he needs to convince someone to take him off the Island.

Interesting too in that this comes back to the concepts of free will and choice. Evil won't be released into the world unless someone actively chooses to do so. And I do wonder whether an Infected person counts. Can Sayid fly a plane?

4) Why can Hurley see ghosts and where are they coming from?

I know this has been going on for a long time now, but why can Hurley talk to ghosts? It supposedly started back in "The Beginning of the End" after Hurley left the Island with the O6. He saw Charlie, Eko and Ana-Lucia for sure. At the time, I thought these were either manifestations of the Island or Smokey (or his own mind), but now it seems they probably really were the ghosts of these people and they seemed genuinely trying to help him. Jacob told Hurley that being able to see ghosts was "a blessing" - is that the gift Jacob gave to Hurley? Seems like the most probable answer.

Of course, now that the concept of Hell has been introduced to the equation, what does this mean for all the ghosts Hurley sees? Are they in some sort of limbo? Can they only pass on to the afterlife if a new Jacob arises? When Isabella told Hurley "We all go to Hell" was she really referring to the spirits of everyone that had passed away already? Maybe the real consequence of Smokey escaping is that Heaven will cease to exist and everyone who's already in the afterlife will be condemned.

I'm probably reading a bit much into this, but Isabella's presence makes it clear that it's not just people who died on the Island that can appear to Hurley. That's a large pool of dead people to draw from.

5) How will the final candidate be chosen?

Jacobi says Richard should know what to do next, even though he denies it. Whatever it is it's probably going to involve a trek somewhere across the Island to another mysterious location we haven't seen yet. But how will the Island decide which candidate will replace Jacob. Couple choices here:

1) Process of Elimination: Smokey kills everyone. Last candidate standing is the new Jacob by default.

2) Weighing of the Heart: All the candidates hearts are weighed. The one who deemed the most worthy is chosen.

3) Free Will: A candidate has to volunteer to become the new Jacob, even though it means spending an eternity on the Island as warden to Evil Incarnate who will forever repeatedly try and kill him.

Right now, I'm leaning towards #3, although it could be a combination of both #2 and #3. The candidate has to be worthy and has to volunteer. But who will it be?

My guess: Jack's going to take the job, and Kate's going to volunteer to stay with him.

Tidbits:

- Ab Aeterno is Latin for "from eternity."

- Richard used to live in Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1867, which is a bit of a continuity correction since the Black Rock was supposed to have set sail on March 22, 1845 and the ledger that Charles Widmore purchased was found in 1852. One explanation for the change: Dynamite wasn't invented until 1867.

- Anyone else think that if a wooden ship were to meet a stone statue at high speed, the stone statue would win? Jacob must live in a pretty shoddy home.

- The passage in the Bible Richard was reading in his cell:



And what does Luke 4: 31-37 say?

³¹And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

³²and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴"Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!"

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.

³⁶And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, "What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out."

³⁷And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

Neat, eh? Kudos to the writers for the selection.

- Nice to see a couple eye shots again too. Got Richard's and Ilana's this episode.

Summary:

This was the best episode of the season and one of the best of the entire series. I think the Man in Black my go down as one of the best villains in TV history when all is said and done and this episode was simply a classic. Was it the best Lost episode of all time? Was it better than "The Constant?" Hard to say. Was it better than "Walkabout?" Maybe. Was it better than "The 23rd Psalm?" Yeah, I think so. Probably a Top 3 contender in my book. Nestor Carbonell and the writers deserve an Emmy here too. 5/5.

Fearless Predictions...

...for tonight's Richard-centric episode we've all been waiting for! Be sure to double check your DVR's because it runs an extra four minutes long tonight! :)

1) We will finally get to see the Black Rock land on the Island

2) We will get some more history into Smokey and Jacob's conflict

3) We will get to see DHARMA coming to the Island for the first time (and Richard negotiating the treaty with them)

4) We will learn from Ilana how the official candidate to replace Jacob is chosen

5) Smokey will appear at the end and offer to trade Jin for Frank

6) Claire and Sayid will get hungry and decide to roast Zach and Emma over a fire on a spit

I'm 100% certain all of these shall come to pass. Enjoy the show! Review up tomorrow morning! :)

Mmmm... Cake

This is really weird, but strangely hypnotic. Is there anything Michael Emerson could say that would NOT come across as creepy. ;)

Explanation here, though that video link doesn't work anymore.

Lost Episode Review 6.08: "Recon"

"Well, I guess I got to a point in my life where I had to choose between being a criminal or a cop. I chose cop."

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

Didn't this episode feel like a big tease?

It started off soooooooo promising. After last week's Smokey-less episode, I was looking forward to a heaping, steaming portion of Flocke, filled with juicy reveals and surprises. We got the first part, not so much the next.

There were a lot of good scenes here: The Alt twist of Sawyer being a cop was entertaining, as were all the Alt cameos: Miles, Charlotte and Liam. The mass grave on Hydra Island was chilling (though not unexpected). Widmore's crew erecting sonic pylons was neat to see too. And the best scene of the whole episode, Infected Claire going all Fatal Attraction on Kate, was everything I had hoped for and more.

But the second half of the episode was filled with predictability. Of course Zoe was working for Widmore. Of course Sawyer is playing Smokey and Widmore against each other. Of course Alt Kate was going to show up in Alt Sawyer's final flash. And, of course, Sawyer's going to take the sub. The ending was by far the weakest of this season, and I think that led to a great deal of the let down here for me.

But "Recon" did provide us with a few tasty morsels to digest.

Five Questions:

1) What's Widmore's motivation for coming back?

Widmore told Sawyer, "It's amazing how little you actually know." Well, then tell us something, Charles! That scene was so uneventful - maybe the writers were all hungover and just decided to phone it in that day.

But Charles, to me, is exactly like Ben; two sides of the same coin, if you will. During the pop-up repeat of "Dr. Linus" that aired before, when Charles appeared at the end the caption read something along the lines of:

"This is Charles Widmore, a man who will stop at nothing to possess the Island."

This was essentially the crux of the Ben-Charles war. They both wanted the position of power with the Others. Ben won, but Charles never gave up trying to get it back. Now obviously from the pylons (and Sawyer, I suppose), he knows that Smokey's going to be a problem. But I'm really starting to think that he really doesn't care what Smokey does as long as he doesn't interfere with him getting "his Island" back. If Smokey gets in his way, he'll deal with him. But I wouldn't be surprised that if Smokey and Charles ever have a face-to-face chat, Smokey would tell Charles he can have the Island so long as he lets him go free and Charles would smile and personally escort him away.

Eliminating Smokey, to me, seems incidental to Charles real motivation: Getting his Island back. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Charles "helped" Locke when he landed in Tunisia is because he knew all this would end with Jacob being killed and Smokey trying to escape. That way, once all the chaos was over and Smokey was gone, he'd have the Island all to himself once more.

2) What's Widmore got in the locked room?

Now this was the most intriguing bit of the episode, considering how interested Sawyer seemed in a nondescript locked door. Now one could speculate whether Charles was hiding someone - say, Eloise or Desmond - rather than something, but why would you padlock someone in from the outside? No, to me it definitely seemed to be a storage locker of some sort, filled with something Widmore didn't want Sawyer to relate to Smokey. Here's my theory: Widmore has a Smoke Trap in there. Something along the lines of one of the ghost traps from Ghostbusters, but one specifically created to trap and contain Smokey.

We saw from Sayid's attempt that doing physical harm to Flocke really doesn't do a whole lot of good, so all those guns Widmore's crew has are pretty useless. In addition, the sonic fence is a defensive measure, not an offensive one, so I'm not really sure Charles even knows how to kill Smokey. But I'm guessing Smokey, despite his protestations this episode, isn't scared of death; I think what really keeps Smokey up at night is the thought of being trapped again. So Widmore devised a way - imagine, say, a portable sonic sphere of sound - that can encase Smokey and hold him. Once he's trapped, Charles can then either negotiate with him - i.e. "leave me and the Island alone or you'll stay in there forever" - or, perhaps, take him to and dump him in some Other-y Island containment system for permanent storage - "the light is green, the trap is clean."

But, who knows, maybe Eloise is really in there. She is feisty after all. ;)

3) Was Smokey talking about his mom, or Locke's mom. If it's the former, who is she?

The conversation Smokey had with Kate on the beach was the most interesting of the episode. Something along the lines of:

"My mother was crazy. I had some growing pains, problems that could have been avoided. Now Aaron has a crazy mother too."

It could have just as easily been the real John Locke saying those lines. And since Smokey has all of Locke's memories, perhaps the writers were trying to indicate that the longer Smokey stays in Locke's body, the more he becomes like Locke. After all, didn't Smokey already use the "Don't tell me what I can't do" line? If Smokey by inhabiting Locke's body also gains his weaknesses, that adds an interesting new wrinkle to the show's endgame. After all, Locke, at least the Locke in this universe, is a pretty pathetic, gullible guy, something someone like, say, Ben could easily exploit.

But let's say that Smokey was really talking about his own mother. Who could she be? If it's Egyptian dieties we're talking about here, I'd have to guess Isis. Really one of the only possible choices out there. But I kinda like the Smokey-becoming-Locke idea better.

4) Is Infected Claire going to try to get all stabby with Kate again?

When Claire hugged Kate and broke down, I was so bummed. Didn't that scene seem to ameliorate the intensity of her previous attack?

But what I'm really hoping here is that Smokey said something to Claire along the lines of:

"I need her right now, Claire. Let me get what I need, and when I'm done with her you can stab her 'til your heart's content... and eat her kidneys."

BTW, the creepiest part of Claire's knifing scene was Sayid sitting by and vacantly watching her do it. Creeeeeeepy.

5) Is Smokey really planning on escaping in the plane?

Honestly, I find this idea kind of lame. I was hoping Smokey was going to use something along the lines of the Donkey Wheel to get off the Island, but instead he tells us he needs to use a plane? Really?

But who knows, maybe since he already has a flight attendant in his crew he just wants to escape the Island in style. If that really is the case, however, I'm guessing Smokey's going to need Frank to fly it. And to get Frank, I'm guessing he's going offer to trade Jin to Team Good if they hand him over, an offer Sun would readily accept.

Tidbits:

- Loved the homage to Confidence Man in the beginning of the episode. I initially thought the woman he was in bed with was the same one from that episode, Jessica, but I guess I was wrong. The cop angle was a really well executed head fake. Having Miles as his partner and using "LaFleur" as his signal work were also nice touches.

- Nice seeing Claire's Creepy Aaron Doll again. Anyone else think its lower body is made out of black smoke? If that's the case, it kinda looks like this sketch on the outer Temple wall when Smokey "judged" Ben, don't you think?





- Also nice seeing Zack still had his teddy. I was thinking it was weird seeing the kids be older, but I guess they're supposed to be three years older at this point, given it's 2007.

- Miles asks Sawyer if he "wants to die alone"

- "I am the Smoke Thing" was simply awesome. I would so love to say that to someone sometime. :)

- Anyone else disturbed by the Outback Steakhouse commercial to give a free Bloomin' Onion to each of our troops, considering Men's Health named it one of the worst foods in America? "Thanks for your service, have a heart attack on us." Yeeesh.

- The scenes with Sawyer and Charlotte were great. As soon as he brought up Indiana Jones, I'd knew he'd ask her if she had a whip. :)

- Watership Down was one of the books on Sawyer's dresser and A Wrinkle In Time, one of my all-time favorites was right below it (I even own that edition). And though you can't tell, the third book is Lancelot, according to Lostpedia. I also liked that Sawyer's fridge had nothing but juice and beer, the same beer he took over to Charlotte's place. Classy.

- I was hoping to see a fish biscuit when Sawyer visited the Polar Bear Cages. Instead we got Kate's dress. Disappointing. But was that left there from when Kate and Sawyer had nasty, dirty cage sex three years ago? Yuck.

- I wonder if Widmore's sub is called the Galaga II?

- Nice seeing Liam, Charlie's brother, again. He looks pretty much the same since last we saw him.

- Sawyer's apartment number was 245.

- Sawyer's alarm clock read 8:42

- Anyone know which episode of Little House on the Prairie Sawyer was watching? Kudos to the writers for finding such an excellent scene, which was also an homage to the fact Sawyer once mentioned to Kate he used to like watching "Little House."

- Despite the fact that Alt Kate meeting up with Alt Sawyer was predictable, her car crash made me jump. Interesting too that Sawyer the cop let fugitive Alt Kate go back in the airport. Must have been the freckles.

Summary:

This was a really promising episode that just fizzled out at the end. I loved every scene with Smokey and Infected Claire with the knife was excellent. But the ending was, by far, the weakest of the season. I know this just sets us up for next week's Richard episode, but I think I was hoping for a few more surprises and less predictability. 3/5.

Word Play

Tonight's episode is called "Recon," which according to the dictionary means:

re·con ¹ (rkn)

n.

The smallest genetic unit capable of recombination.

Huh. As a biologist (albeit not a geneticist), I've actually never heard recon used in that way before. But it also naturally means:

re·con ² (rkn)

n. Informal

Reconnaissance.

i.e., the definition most of us are familiar with meaning "to scout." But what if the title is actually a pun? Given we haven't had a Sawyer episode yet this season, the title could actually stand for "re-con," to con again. Sawyer's already pulled the Long Con on Kate and Locke once, perhaps tonight we'll get to see him do it again.

Enjoy the show! Review up tomorrow morning! :)

Top 108 Moments in Lost...

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to what I thought was a fairly poor list of the Top 25 moments in Lost. The top of the list isn't terrible, but some of the inclusions are kinda weird, given all the great moments we've seen.

With that being said, I'm currently compiling a list of the Top 108 moments (scenes) the show has to offer. I've gone through every episode summary on Lostpedia and my tally is up to 99 favorites with ten episodes to go.

The way I'm structuring the list is as follows - the top of the list will be for iconic moments only, the ones you'll think of immediately when thinking back over the series. Shannon translating Danielle's message, Locke and his wheelchair, "We've got to go back," Jacob and Smokey on the beach, Desmond and Penny, etc.

As the list progresses it gets less exclusionary. One of my favorite scenes from Lost is Eko telling Michael a parable as they wipe up Libby's blood in the Swan (starts at the end of the clip, goes right into Part II). Is it one of the absolute best moments from the show? No, but it is probably one of the best character moments the show has to offer. Most of the humorous scenes fall into this category too: Hurley and Ben with the candy bar (and with the burrito), Miles and Hurley talking Star Wars, Jack spiking the football. Great scenes all, but I don't think they belong at the absolute top of the list.

I'm not going to start counting things down until the series ends (since there certainly will be more between now and the end of the season), although I'm starting to write up the ones I do have in the meantime.

My question to y'all is what is your favorite lesser-known scene from Lost? I think most of us can come to consensus on the top of the list, but is there a personal favorite scene you love like Eko parable - something not as momentous, but a great scene nonetheless? Put it in the comments - I'll start counting down shortly after the show ends. :)

Link Dump 3/10/2010

This is more of a random thought post than a true link dump, but eh, what can you do. :)

- I'm sure y'all have heard about the Lost Promo Contest ABC is running for the finale. I might try fiddling around with it if I have the time. Anyone tried ABC's editing tool yet?

- We'll probably get an answer to this once Jin gets a sideways flash, but Dark UFO noticed Keamy was wearing a watch when Sayid shot him. Was Jin supposed to be delivering it to Keamy himself?

- An interesting point from Doc Jensen:

THE BEN/WIDMORE CONFLICT OVER ALEX
Shortly after Rousseau had finished off the rest of her fellow French scientists and given birth to Baby Alex, Chief Executive Other Widmore ordered Ben to ''exterminate'' both of them from the Island. He coldly dismissed baby Alex as an ''it,'' as if she were an animal that would just be a drain on Island resources that needed to be devoted elsewhere. Yep: definitely sounds like a guy that ain't about ''taking care of the kids.'' So Ben balked. He couldn't bring himself to murder. Ben clearly had developed a different vision for how the Others should be managing the Island and living their lives. Widmore dismissed Ben's ''idealism'' as sentimental and self-serving — about him needing to feel needed. But he didn't stop Ben from taking on the project of raising Alex alone. Ben's victory inspired him to dream bigger. And when he uncovered the truth about Widmore's off-Island slick willying, he staged his coup and forced him into exile. He also moved the nomadic Others out of the wild and into Dharmaville. But Ben's dream of settling down and playing house — modifying Others culture in such a way to service and fulfill his own desires and needs — was surely antithetical to the Others' true purpose, and was most likely what earned the Others' their baby-making curse from the Island/Jacob. Richard Alpert said as much when he encouraged Locke to make a play for Ben's job. ''Ben has been wasting our time with novelties like fertility problems,'' Richard said. ''We're looking for someone to remind us that we're here for more important reasons.''

Emphasis mine. Really interesting idea behind the Island baby issues and kind of ironic that Ben spent so much time looking for answer to them when he might have been the cause all along. I also forgot to comment in my review on how weird it is how Ben refused to kill Alex because he didn't want to murder, but then turned around and Purged DHARMA just a few years later. Yeah, you can talk about the Island and the greater good there, but Ben's character (at least his on Island character) has always been murderous except in Alex's case.

- And one more thought on Ben and Richard - how much of Jacob's plan do you think they knew? Ilana seems to be the only one who knows about the candidates (I guess Dogen and Lennon did to before Sayid got to them), but Ben and Richard to me seem completely in the dark about all this. Doesn't that seem weird? Seems they'd have to know something about random people becoming the new Jacob, right?

- So we have nine episodes left before the big finale and the question is what centricity will they be? First off, of the "normal" main characters left we still haven't gotten episodes on Sawyer, Jin/Sun and Hurley, so you have to imagine each of them will get one, plus Desmond, who we've only seen a glimpse of this season (but I can't imagine him not getting an episode and the longer we go without seeing him, the more I think he's really, really important. That's four, and I imagine they'll all have Alt flashes (though Desmond's might be weird ala Flashes Before Your Eyes or The Constant).

But then we have Ilana and Richard, both of whom it would probably be more interesting to get a full flashback from rather than an Alt Flash, but let's say they both get an episode to themselves. That brings us to six. We could also conceivably get a Claire episode, though we did get quite a bit of her Alt story with Kate. Her Island story would probably be more interesting anyway though. Frank and Miles are also candidates (HA!) for episodes, as well as (I hope) Charles Widmore.

There's also the possibility that someone, like Jack and Locke, could get a second episode, but let's discount that for now given all our options. Here's my best guess (and I know I could probably look this up somewhere online, but no spoilers here, please):

6.08: Sawyer
6.09: Jin/Sun
6.10: Ilana
6.11: Claire
6.12: Frank
6.13: Charles Widmore
6.14: Hurley
6.15: Richard
6.16: Desmond

What then for the finale? How about Jacob and Smokey flashbacks where we learn 1) How Smokey orchestrated the loophole and 2) the history between these two on the Island. Now that would be cool. Guess we'll know in a little under three months! :)

Lost Episode Review 6.07: "Dr. Linus"

"Right up until the second the knife went through his heart, Jacob was hoping he was wrong about you. Guess he wasn't."

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

Looks like I hit either two or three of my fearless predictions yesterday, depending on whether you consider this episode to be the best of the season or not. I think if it's not, it's really really close behind "The Substitute." Michael Emerson was simply fabulous and I think he likely will be in the running for another Emmy next year for his work here. The scene with him and Ilana in the jungle was awesome, but I think the shot of Ben on the beach, standing alone miserable and broken while everyone embraced, was even better.

I actually feel a bit sorry for Ben, despite all he's done.

Other likes loves:

- Jack's leap of faith
- Learning Richard's "chains" were from the Black Rock
- Miles with the diamonds
- Smokey giving Ben an option
- Alt Alex and Alt Roger
- Pencil Neck as Ben's principal! Could that casting have been more perfect?
- Charles! And he brought a sub!

This episode seemed to have just about the right mix of everything and I liked that we got a bit of everyone except for Sawyer, Jin and the rest of Smokey's crew (which it looks like we'll get next week). I really liked Ben's Alt story too, despite the fact Alt Locke wasn't featured more prominently.

Was Alt Ben happier than he would have been on the Island? Seems both of Ben's possible lives are rather bittersweet. On one hand, on the Island Ben enjoyed a position of power for years, got to raise Alex himself and certainly has had a more exciting life than that of his Alt (and even now, at his lowest point in his Island life, he still claims to have a network of people and influence in the outside world).

But consider that Alt Ben 1) appears to have a better relationship with his father, given that Alt Roger isn't rotting inside a 70's era DHARMA van and 2) has a better relationship with Alex, given that she's not rotting in the Barracks and appears to be on her way to Yale. Would Alt Ben have traded his life for his Island life, knowing everything that would happen? It's essentially the same choice he had when he weighed being a principal vs. Alex's future and I was heartened and touched when he chose the latter. I have to think he would do so again weighing the two options.

Of course, if we're talking about Ben's choices here, he really has no one to blame but himself. In some ways, he was more of a pawn than Locke was. Think about all the things he did - the Purge, stealing Alex, getting Widmore exiled, kidnapping Walt, getting Sayid to kill for him, killing Locke, killing Jacob - to put himself in the miserable predicament he's in right now. Is it really any wonder why Jacob let Alex die? In some ways, her life was the price for all the horrible things Ben's done.

So what happens now for Island Ben? When Ilana forgave him and allowed him to stay, he still did have a choice to go with Smokey - tempting, given the Island has nothing left for him and he still probably could have cobbled together a nice life in the outside world, not to mention no one on the beach would have cared if he'd gone. But the fact he chose to stay, I think, gives him one last chance at redemption, one I hope he gets before the series comes to a close.

Five Questions:

1) What is Charles' plan?

So it looks like I was right that Charles was the person Jacob said was coming to the Island. But what's his plan? Considering that Jacob seemed to want Charles to arrive safely, I think it's safe to conclude he'll be working with Team Good.

But what can he really do? If he's knows what he's up against in Smokey, he's got his work cut out for him. Smokey could kill everyone on board that sub in the blink of an eye, so I imagine Charles knows something that can either stop him or slow him down.

It was curious that he didn't stop to pick up any of the beach dwellers - you would think he would have needed them unless he was carrying out a mission for Jacob himself (which very well might be the case).

I'd love to get a Charles Widmore episode before the series ends.

2) Is everyone Jacob touched immortal?

It doesn't seem that way, given that Locke is dead, but that fact alone begs another question: Why did the Island allow Ben to kill Locke in the first place? You would think that if everyone Jacob touched lived "charmed" lives that didn't allow them to die, Ben wouldn't have been able to strangle Locke at all (all the more reason I think the six candidates are NOT the six Numbered candidates on Smokey's wall and the lighthouse had the true list - see #3).

But this episode we found out that Richard came to the Island on the Black Rock and the "chains" Smokey referred to in the season opener appeared to be the ones Richard was examining in the ship. Since the Black Rock disappeared in 1845 and presumably Richard was an adult back then, that makes Richard around 180-200 years old. Richard's another one who needs a full flashback - be nice to see him arrive on the Island, eh?

Richard doesn't seem to age at all, but the two candidates Jacob touched in childhood - Kate and Sawyer - certainly did. Interesting to think that perhaps all the candidates would have lived forever had they not come to the Island. But really I think Jacob's touch merely offered them all a bit of death protection up until the point where they could fulfill their destiny on the Island.

3) Who exactly were the six candidates Ilana was referring to?

This, to me, was the most interesting question of the show. The simple answer is that we take the six names from the cave at face value - Locke, Reyes, Shepherd, Jarrah, Ford, and Kwon - and assume that Smokey was right (for more on the idea that Smokey lived in the cave, check out Bigmouth here). But three things puzzle me:

1) Ilana called Frank a candidate last season
2) "AUSTEN" wasn't crossed off the lighthouse list.
3) If the six cave names were the six candidates Ilana was referring to, she should know there aren't six candidates left now, since Locke and Sayid are gone.

This makes me think that the true candidate list really is the lighthouse list and that Frank and Kate are both on it (Lapidus isn't on either the wall or the lighthouse list, Miles is crossed off the wall, but isn't seen on the lighthouse either). Interestingly too, Locke's name is NOT shown on screen on the lighthouse list (neither is Hurley's), meaning Jacob could have already eliminated them as candidates. Smokey was probably trying to work out for himself who the true candidates were and, while he was certainly right on a few, also got a few wrong. Personally I think Frank would make a great new Jacob. :)

So who would the real six candidates be then if we assume the lighthouse list is the true list? Shepherd, Jarrah, Ford, Kwon and Austen were all seen not crossed off the lighthouse, meaning these five were likely five of the six. This leaves one unseen candidate - possibly Hurley, but I definitely think Frank could be one as well.

4) Why is Smokey on Hydra Island? Is there something there that will help him leave?

My first thought when I heard Smokey was going to Hydra Island was "is he going to fix the plane and fly away? How boring." But I wonder if there's something else there - maybe underwater - that he can use to escape. Of course, Smokey could know that Charles is coming to the Island and is merely bringing his troops to an easily defended location.

Maybe Smokey just had a hankering for fish biscuits. :)

5) So when was the Island destroyed in the Alt?

The fact Roger and Ben actually went to the Island to join the DI then left was a really interesting bit of info as well. It means the Island existed in the Alt up until the mid seventies at least, increasing the possibility it existed right up until the Incident itself. And the fact that Alex is alive and well in the real world means Danielle never crashed on the Island in 1988, suggesting it was almost certainly destroyed by then.

This also suggests that Ben's birth happened pretty much the same way as it did in the present day timeline, given that Horace seemed to at least offer Roger a position in the DI that Roger checked out before returning to LA.

Tidbits:

- The book that Ben appeared to pick out of Sawyer's stash seemed to be a biography of Benjamin Disraeli titled "Justice and Truth in Action." I'm not entirely sure if it's a real book or not, given that Google doesn't come up with much, but one of Disraeli's most famous quotes was "Justice is truth in action."

Sawyer's magazine is pretty hilarious too:



- The other book Ben found was "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok.

- I liked how Ben was eating sushi for lunch. Brave keeping it in the community fridge.

- Also liked how Ben was quizzing Alex on the East India Trading Company, an obvious reference to the Black Rock, and his personal parable on Napoleon losing his power.

- Did Nikki and Paolo "tell" Miles about the diamonds themselves? Loved the reference.

- I loved the reunion montage at the end, as I always do on LOST. And even though the show is to the point where it's seems a bit cheesy now given how many times they've done it before, I still find it touching because I love all these characters. Nice to see Richard joining up with Team Good as well, which has now gathered together four possible candidates if you include Frank.

- The importance of Jack's leap of faith can't be understated and while I would have liked to see a less metaphysical resolution to the show, I really loved that scene with him and Richard in the Black Rock. More good Jackface there too - New Age Jack is a lot more likable than Determined Hero Jack, though both would make excellent band names.

Summary:

Even though not a whole lot happened this episode - really most of the plot movement was just in getting Jack, Richard and Hurley to the beach - I loved it, largely thanks to Michael Emerson's performance. If that was the last Ben episode of the show, it was a terrific one to go out on. 4.5/5.

Fearless Predictions

1) Tonight's Ben-centric episode will be the best of the season so far

2) Alt Locke will make another appearance in Ben's sideways flashes

3) We'll see Sawyer and Jin again

4) We'll find out who's coming to the Island

5) Smokey, Claire and Sayid will kill Kate and feast upon her heart

I feel very confident that all these things shall come to pass tonight.

Maybe.

Enjoy the show! Review up tomorrow! :)

Greed, For Lack Of A Better Word, Sucks

It seems I'm now officially caught in the crossfire of yet another Cablevision dispute, only this time it's unfortunately with ABC, meaning I may not be able to watch LOST on Tuesday night if this isn't resolved between now and then. Anyone know how soon after a show airs it goes up on either ABC.com or Hulu? If it's right afterward, I might be able to get my review done my the next day, if not it won't be going up until Thursday this week.

Can't we all just get along? :P

Edit: Crisis averted. ABC back on my airwaves. *phew*

Too Awesome For Words

Michael Emerson in a 1992 Prison Training video. Hilarious. Via New York Mag.

Lost Episode Review 6.06: "Sundown"

"For every man there is a scale. On one side - good, the other - evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced... Yours tipped the wrong way."

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

Several years ago when Harrison Ford made "Air Force One," he went on David Letterman to promote the film and throughout the show Dave made a running gag about Ford being the "Kick-Ass President." So seeing Sayid as the "Kick-Ass Infected Candidate" this week made me laugh.

This was probably the most action LOST has ever packed into an episode. The last fifteen minutes with Smokey's rampage through the Temple and Jacob's intrepid band of rebels trying to save everyone was simply fabulous. So much happened in that short space of time, Infected Sayid goes completely over to the Dark Side, killing Dogan and Lennon in the process, Miles joins the rebels while Kate ends up with the evil recruits, Sun finds out Jin is alive somewhere and Ben discovers Sayid is lost to them. The chaos of the scene was very well done, I thought, and the aftereffects of everything look to be very, very interesting.

Lots to like this episode, including the Alt which is becoming very interesting. We're building to the climax now. I imagine things are only going to get crazier from here.

Five questions:

1) So what's Smokey's overall plan and what will happen to all his recruits?

Now that the Temple dwellers have either been recruited or killed, one would imagine that the only thing left for Smokey to do is to go home, wherever that is. But how simple is that going to be? I imagine there's probably only one way Smokey is allowed to leave and I strongly suspect it involves killing more people. Dogan said Smokey once killed every living thing on the Island which certainly doesn't bode well for his recruits and I'm sure he has no intention whatsoever in granting them "anything they ever wanted."

My guess is if there is a literal "magic box" on the Island, Smokey's going to want to use it to go home. But I also suspect that he can't use it directly - he needs one of his recruits to use it for him. Now this is a scenario where I can see Sawyer totally pulling the Long Con on him.

2) How did Dogan's presence in the Temple keep Smokey out? Wasn't that the ash ring's job?

So what exactly kept Smokey out of the Temple? In LA X, we saw the Temple dwellers pouring ash around the Temple perimeter, but Lennon said that Dogan himself was the only thing that was keeping Smokey out.

I really liked Dogan's backstory that he told to Evil Sayid (right before ES drowned him). I imagine the bargain Jacob made Dogan went something like this:

"I will save your son's life by taking him to a sacred place, a Temple, after which he will be returned to his life in Japan just as before. In return, you must agree to never leave the place where he is healed and, yes, this means you will never see your son again. By agreeing to this, you become the protector of the Temple - it is your presence and your presence alone that prevents evil from taking it over. As long as you are inside, evil cannot enter."

It explains why we've never seen Dogan before - he had to stay inside the Temple to keep Smokey out (Lennon probably just came along for the ride). The ash ring, easily broken by any of his followers, was probably just a second (ineffective) layer of protection. It's interesting that Jacob always seems to ask people to sacrifice something in return for something - you can't use the spring without being "changed," I'll heal your son but you have to help me in return. Smokey doesn't do that at all - it's follow me or be killed, but if you follow me I'll make your wildest dreams come true. Smokey's offer is probably more persuasive (if not seductive), but most Faustian deals are, right?

3) Is Dogan's "scale" the same one used in the Weighing of the Heart ceremony?

I've long thought that the Island's purpose was the ground for the Weighing of the Heart ceremony in Eygptian Mythology, with Jacob as Osiris, the Nemesis as Set and Smokey as Ammit. I discarded this theory after Smokey and the Nemesis were revealed to be one and the same, but Dogan's scale analogy makes me rethink this. The reason I discarded the theory is that Ammit really isn't on the same level as Osiris, more of a servant (or a pet) to the gods rather than a god himself. Take a look at this Wikipedia entry on Ammit and tell me if this sounds familiar:

In Egyptian mythology, Ammit (also spelt Ammut and Ahemait, meaning Devourer or Bone Eater) was a female demon with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile. A funerary deity, her titles included “Devourer of the Dead,” “Eater of Hearts,” and “Great of Death.”

Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against Ma'at, the goddess of truth, who was sometimes depicted symbolically as an ostrich feather. If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgement was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. Once Ammut swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time". Ammit was also sometimes said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the unworthy hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the same concept of destruction.

Ammit was not worshipped, and was never regarded as a goddess; instead she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, threatening to bind them to eternal restlessness if they did not follow the principal of Ma'at.

Ammit has been linked with the goddess Tawaret, who has a similar physical appearance and, as a companion of Bes, also protected others from evil.

Didn't Dogan say that once Sayid's infection reaches his heart he will be gone? Perhaps the reason Smokey is trapped on the Island is that he's a servant of Jacob rather than a true rival. That's why he could be summoned to protect the Island and that's why he judged people - it was his job when Jacob was around. But now that Jacob's gone, he's free to devour all the hearts his little black heart desires. And I imagine in the Alt verse he's been feasting for decades.

4) Where the heck were Sawyer and Jin during all this?

Claire mentioned Sawyer and Jin before she went into the Temple, but where were they? Off on some super-secret Smokey mission? I'm looking forward to Kate's reaction when she sees Sawyer again, provided Sayid or Claire don't kill her first. Assuming she survives though, I do wonder if she'll pick up on the fact that Sawyer's probably conning Smokey and play along.

The fact Jin is with Smokey and Sun is with the rebels makes me think Smokey's going to eventually use him as leverage to recruit her. After all, you have to think Smokey will be taking out every potential candidate he can - would be a shame to have his jailbreak ruined by a Jacob resurrection, right?

5) Are all the Alt storylines starting to converge?

Given the cliffhanger for this week's Alt installment (Sayid finding Jin in his brother's restaurant's cold room), I have to imagine we'll be seeing some of the Alt storylines come together since I can't imagine they'd leave this one dangling. And if next week's episode is as Ben-centric as the preview suggested, I have to imagine we'll see some more of Alt Locke in his flashes.

But now it seems to me that outside of Flight 815, the lives of all the people on the flight would have been connected even if they hadn't crashed on the Island. Here's a list of the familiar faces we've seen in the Alt verse storylines so far:

Kate - Claire, Sawyer, Ethan
Locke - Jack, Hurley, Rose, Ben
Jack - Dogan, and likely Jack's mystery wife
Sayid - Jack (in a background cameo), Keamy, Jin

So should we have an Alt Jin episode, we'll probably get more of Alt Sayid. Alt Sawyer might bring more of Alt Kate, Alt Hurley might bring us more Alt Locke, etc. And the fact the lives of these people are so involved without Jacob's influcence makes me think that might be the reason he chose them - since they were all going to be linked anyway, why not just bring them all along? Regardless I'm greatly looking forward to next week - I just hope present day Ben doesn't die - we really haven't seen much of him this season and his absence is felt.

Tidbits:

- When last we saw Sayid's brother, Omer, he was refusing to cut off the head of a chicken.

- Miles said Sayid was dead for two hours. Really? I don't remember that much time passing in the opener - seemed like he died then came back two minutes later.

- Speaking of Miles, he was great this episode. More please. Sayid's fight with Dogan was awesome too. Looks like it was probably fun to film. In fact, I imagine all the people playing infected characters are having a blast this season.

- Another theory on what the symbol on the Temple wall was, the one marking the secret door: Ouroboros. I don't quite see it personally, but we have seen Ouroboros in LOST before.

- From Matt, via e-mail: "That look between Smokey Locke and Claire augurs ill for Kate." Agreed. But was anyone else a little disappointed Claire didn't attack Kate right away? Seemed a bit out of place when she just kinda let it slide - I suppose she can savor it this way.

- Nice that Cindy, Zack and Emma went with Smokey. That way we get to see more of them this season.

- I LOVED how Claire's creepy lullaby was softly playing as we were shown the Smokey's carnage from the Temple. Also I loved the entire scene with Keamy - best cameo ever. "I make good eggs" was awesome.

- Sayid once again said he's "a good man." Not anymore. Also really like the parallels between the Alt verse and the present day verse this season. Thought Sayid's was very well done.

- Guess Jin still doesn't learn English in the Alt (unless he's pulling a Sun and faking it).

- I really, really hope Evil Sayid wishes for Nadia to be alive again, not Shannon.

Summary:

Seems Act I of the final season is done. The Temple is destroyed and factions have been created. On one side, we have Smokey, Sayid, Claire and his recruits. On the other, we have Ilana, Frank, Miles, Sun and Ben. And then there are the wildcards: Kate and Sawyer with Team Evil and Jack, Hurley and Ghost Jacob for Team Good. I imagine Act II is going to involve Team Good trying to keep Smokey from escaping the Island. Loved this episode from start to finish - 4.5/5.0. Better than "The Substitute?" - if not, it comes really, really close. :)

Action-Packed Review...

...coming soon. Got to get something quickly started in lab first. Last night was a fun episode, eh? :)

TV Fest Musings

*minor spoiler alert*

In case you haven't seen it yet, there was some nice Lost info revealed at the Paley TV Fest over the weekend. The key dirt:

On the filming status of the series:

The Lost writers are in the process of breaking the series finale, which will be penned by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender. The penultimate episode will be written by producer/writers (and fellow panelists) Elizabeth Sarnoff, Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Meanwhile, on the island, Bender has just wrapped episode 14 and is currently shooting 15. After being bombarded with questions about the show for six years, Cuse said they do not plan on commenting on the series finale after it airs.

The answer is “yes” to the following:

Will Richard and Ilana exchange some words soon? Will we see another painting by Bender? Do some of the characters’ last names have significance, particularly Jack’s? Is Jack married to someone we’ve met before? Was Jacob telling the truth when he said someone was coming to the island? Will we learn more about Hurley and Libby’s connection? Will we see Vincent and Charlie again? Will we learn if Desmond was really on the plane?

(emphasis mine)

The answer is “no” to the following:

Will we get a conclusion to the story of Ben’s love, Annie? Do the purple circles in Bender’s mural mean anything? Did Juliet’s ex-husband get killed by a smoke bus? Will there be a DVD release of the show in chronological order?

The answer is “maybe” to the following:

Will the Hurley bird be explained? Will we see Walt again?

The answer is “no comment” to the following:

Will we learn why women can’t have babies on the island?

Final spoiler from Lindelof:

“Water.”

Some general thoughts on all of this:

First off, the fact we know Alt Jack's wife makes me think that it's Juliet even more. Again there aren't that many choices floating around out there since it wasn't anyone we saw on the plane (which definitely eliminates Kate and Cindy). Libby and Ana-Lucia are still possibilities since we didn't see them on the plane, though they were supposed to be there (and theoretically could have been).

And speaking of Libby, I am dying to see more of her, even if it's only in the Alt (BTW, did anyone else know her last name was Smith)? I imagine she might be rich, lucky Alt Hurley's significant other (pun intended). But more than her relationship with Hurley, I really want to know who hired her to give Desmond the Elizabeth - I really don't think their meeting in the coffee shop was coincidence or fate. I think probably Eloise or someone similar hired her to make sure that Desmond enters the race and ends up on the Island.

I figured Desmond's appearance on Alt Flight 815 was important, but I never thought about the possibility that Desmond was merely a figment of Jack's imagination. That would explain his sudden disappearance and it does kinda make sense, since we've been given the impression so far that Jack is the only person outside of the disappearing Desmond who seems to have any sort of connection to the present day timeline.

A little disappointed that Annie won't be appearing in the Alt at all, but not entirely surprised. Likewise it's no surprise they won't comment on the pregnancy issues, given what a big reveal that would be.

As for the final clue, I have no idea. Maybe Alt Jack will have to dive down to the sunken Island? Maybe Smokey's only real weakness is water from Jacob's spring that's now been polluted? Maybe there will be a drought on the Island and everyone will get really, really thirsty? I guess we'll see!

"Sundown" tomorrow! Review up Wednesday morning! :)

Oh, one more thing. This has been mentioned elsewhere, but I do like how the episodes this season have paralleled Season One:

Tabula Rasa ---> What Kate Does (Kate)
Walkabout ----> The Substitute (Locke)
White Rabbit ----> Lighthouse (Jack)
House of the Rising Sun ----> Sundown (Sun, ????)

I do know for a fact that this week is NOT a Sun episode, though I do still like the parallel with the episode title. Of course, that doesn't mean something significant won't happen to Sun in the episode, does it? :)