Lost Episode Review 6.11: "Happily Ever After"

"It's okay. I understand. When do we start?"

(Thanks to Dark UFO for all the screencaps).

If there was ever an episode in need of a second watchthrough, it's this one. I loved it from start to finish, but I'm still not 100% sure of what I just saw. We certainly learned a few things about the Alt, but I can't quite figure out how all the pieces fit together. So what do we now know for certain?

1) All the Flight 815ers in the Alt have buried memories of the original timeline and it seems they can be brought out spontaneously with a traumatic event (Charlie choking to death, Desmond nearly drowning) or through dreams (Daniel).

2) Seems many of the Flight 815ers have been given "the thing they wanted more than anything," as Eloise said to Desmond. Jack's a good father, Hurley's lucky and everyone likes him, Locke has Helen (and possibly a relationship with his dad), Sawyer's a cop instead of a criminal, Desmond has Charles' approval. Even Eloise has it pretty good - married to Charles with Daniel alive again. More on that last one later.

3) Desmond seems able to mind shift between the Alt like he did in Flashes Before Your Eyes. And I think it's neat that he flashed back at the moment he ran into his constant.

In fact, this entire episode was really just an alternate reality echo of Flashes Before Your Eyes, but in Flashes, didn't Eloise say that time has a way of "course correcting?" This is clearly not how things were meant to be and it seems that everyone regaining their memories is the key to setting everything on its proper course again.

This review was probably the hardest one for me to write so quickly. I might do a follow-up review in a few days after it's had time to marinate a bit more in my brain.

Five Questions:

1) So what exactly is the Alt Universe?

All of a sudden the Alt looks a lot less like an alternate timeline and more like a pocket universe to me. The difference? An alternate timeline is where something changes at a critical juncture in time creating a branch in the time stream. Think Back to the Future when Marty saves his Dad from getting hit by the car. But the bottom line is that alternate timelines are usually connected at some early point. Up until now, this is what I thought the Alt was, but now it seems more like a combination of that and a pocket universe.

A pocket universe doesn't necessarily have to be part of the original timeline at some branch point - it can be a totally separate entity, existing in its own rules. The best illustration of this is in Marvel Comics' Age of Apocalypse and Onslaught storylines. But one of the most common characteristics of a pocket universe is that the latter often can be created by a separate (powerful) entity and used as a prison to contain people in a way so that they don't realize they're being contained. Kind of like the Matrix and Liddleville from the Fantastic Four comics, but in this case the Losties don't just have their memories transported - they are in the pocket universe, at least that's what Jack's appendix scar and cut on his neck seem to suggest.

Doesn't it strike you as odd that the Alt universe is so... comfortable for so many of the Losties? As I mentioned before, Eloise pointed out that Desmond was given the thing he desired the most, Charles Widmore's approval. In fact, just about everyone was given lives that make them relatively content and free of the angst that plague them in the regular universe. Yes, they still have problems - Charlie's still a druggie, Kate's still a fugitive, Sayid's still a killer, but they're all in lives that seem to keep them docile and contained. This really suggests to me that Smokey is using the Alt to prevent things from changing back and prevent the time stream from course correcting itself like it normally would.

So what is the Alt, how was it created, where does it exist and what is its relationship to the regular universe? Here's my current theory - Remember that Juliet detonated the bomb on the Island in 1977. In doing so, it seems the Island was destroyed, likely freeing Smokey to wreak havoc upon the world. But the universe doesn't want the bomb to go off - ideally it wants the Incident to happen so that the Swan is created and Flight 815 crashes, but it doesn't want to destroy the Island. So the way to correct all this is to send all the time travelers to 2007 present day timeline before Juliet detonates the bomb. But let's say that Smokey, at that moment, somehow created a pocket universe to contain all the time travelers, altering their memories and preventing them from reaching 2007. They still have memories of the normal timeline buried deep down, but they're buried as long as they're kept happy and content.

So what happens now? I think the time travelers will eventually escape from the pocket universe with the help of Desmond and will end up in the present day. Thus when we saw them all in LA X at the destroyed Swan site, they basically had just emerged from the pocket universe. Yes, this would mean that the sideways flashes are actually flashbacks if we take them in chronological order. None of the present day time travelers have any memory of the pocket universe anymore, but I think the Alt storyline is going to end with all the time travelers (meaning Jack, Kate, Hurley, Jin, Sawyer, Miles, Sayid and Juliet) returning to 2007. Obviously Smokey would prefer to keep the pocket universe intact - that way there's no risk of one of the candidates becoming the new Jacob. However, at least Smokey has his loophole as a backup plan in the present day timeline.

And it's also possible that the only way to collapse the pocket universe is for all the time travelers to choose to come back. This may be a very difficult thing for many of them to do, especially since one 1) it would mean many people who are alive in the Alt - (Charlie, Daniel, Charlotte, Nadia, Alex, Helen and possibly Juliet, who I still think is Jack's ex-wife) would die again and 2) it would mean returning to the misery of their former lives. But I think many of them would still choose to do so, even if their lives are less "perfect."

Is this right? I have no idea. I think I'm going to have to reserve the right to revise this theory after another viewing and some sleep and caffeine. :)

2) Did the two Desmonds mind-switch? Do both of them have all their memories?

Given that Alt Desmond fainted in the stadium, it seems almost certain that Desmond mind-switched with his Alt counterpart, but his reaction when he returned to the present day universe was odd. I still don't quite understand why Desmond simply ran off with Sayid (or why Sayid let the Tina Fey clone live for that matter). Seems to me that the Hydra Island experiment sent Desmond's mind into his Alt counterpart where he experienced everything in the episode then returned. That's fine.

But if he has clarity about what the Alt universe is now, why would he go with Sayid so willingly? The only thing I can think of is that he knows what he has to do to change things back and he can accomplish it by going to see Smokey.

Why spend the effort searching him out when Dark Minion Sayid would gladly lead the way? :)

3) Is Eloise working for Smokey?

At first glance, it certainly seems Eloise has no desire to upset the status quo in the Alt, but does this mean she's in cahoots with Smokey? I don't think she's exactly working for him, per se, but I do think she has a vested interest in keeping the Alt intact. After all, of all the people we've seen in the Alt, she has pretty much has the best life of them all. She's married to her one true love, who happens to be the most one of the most powerful men in the world while her son, Daniel, is still alive (instead of dead by her hand) and is a talented classical pianist. What more could anyone ask for?

I think Eloise is simply looking out for herself, an dark twist given how tirelessly she worked to keep the normal, traumatic timeline (where she shoots Daniel and sends Desmond to the Island) in place. Smokey gave her everything she ever wanted in the Alt. All she has to do in return is help keep it intact, which brings us to...

4) Why would Desmond regaining his memories be a "violation?"

I think it's a violation of the agreement Smokey made with Eloise. I think he gave her everything she wanted in exchange for helping keep all the Losties in check. That's why she didn't blast Desmond for losing Charlie - she wants to keep him placated and happy.

Question now is, what happens when Alt Smokey finds out the Losties are regaining their memories and that Desmond is actively helping them do so? Will he step in and take matters into his own hands? I've been expecting this for several episodes now - I do hope this was the breaking point that will draw him out into the open.

5) What's the sacrifice Desmond's going to have to make?

Desmond can survive "catastrophic EM events." I'm guessing Charles needs him to release another pocket (or pockets) of EM energy on the Island because he's the only one that can do it. But I'm also guessing that, like the Donkey Wheel and the Failsafe Key, there's a side effect of releasing the energy. And maybe that side effect is that Desmond gets sent though a wormhole to another time and/or place where he never gets to see Penny and Charlie ever again, but he also can take comfort in knowing that they will be alive and safe.

I wonder if Charles has an extra copy of "Our Mutual Friend" lying around anywhere? :)

Tidbits:

- I loved all the warped nods to previous episodes we got. My favorites:

1) Desmond saves Charlie from drowning, a successful version of "Through the Looking Glass"

2) Charles shares his MacCutcheon whiskey with Desmond after denying him a taste in "Flashes Before Your Eyes"

3) Daniel becomes a classical pianist, instead of Eloise pushing him into science ala "The Variable"

4) Eloise basically tries to prevent Desmond from fulfilling his destiny in "Flashes Before Your Eyes

- Got two eye shots of Desmond this episode - both right, I believe.

- Flight 815's luggage was on Carousel 4.

- The rabbit was named "Angstrom," a unit of atomic measurement and a nifty literature reference to boot.

- Penny's last name is Milton? Paradise Lost anyone? Think this is a subtle hint that Desmond and Penny are really Adam and Eve? Don't know how Penny would get back in time though at this point, unless she comes out of the Magic Box.

- Great seeing George Minkowski again too. Hope we get more of him.

- Desmond did seem to have a wedding band in LA X, a blooper, it seems. Thus I think that's why the writers went out of their way to have George point out that Desmond wasn't wearing one here.

- Loved the Watchmen reference (to Dr. Manhattan's creation) when Desmond was trapped in the velociraptor crate.

- Loved the pic of the scales in Alt Widmore's office. Is it a Jack Bender original?



- I've never been a big Charlie fan, but I did enjoy Dominic's performance here - seemed like he was having a lot of fun with the role. It was funny seeing him run around in that hospital gown too.

Summary:

After Season 3 ended, my #1 favorite episode was Flashes Before Your Eyes. If I did my Top 10 list today, I think it would be The Constant. Is "Happily Ever After" better than either of those? I don't think so at this point, but this might well be an episode that looks even better in retrospect after the season is over. Either way, it's the most thought provoking episode we've had this season. 4.5/5

Fearless Predictions...

Because our mutual friend, Desmond, is finally back on the Island, I have exceedingly great expectations for tonight!

1) Tonight's Darlton-penned episode, "Happily Ever After," won't be quite as good overall as Ab Aeterno, but it will have the most shocking reveals of the season and the best episode cliffhanger.

2) We will find out whether Widmore arranged for Libby to give Desmond the Elizabeth or not.

3) We will find out whether the Alt timeline is in any way connected to the present day universe.

4) Smokey will freak out in some way when Sayid tells him Desmond is back on the Island

5) Jack, Ben and Hurley will suddenly burst into song at some point as a way of promoting next summer's greatly anticipated "Lost: The Musical"

Bonus (Serious) Prediction: At some point in the season, maybe even tonight, Desmond will know he's about to die (probably by sacrificing himself in some way) and will pull out "Our Mutual Friend" and start to read.

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

Enjoy the show! Review up tomorrow morning! :)

They Feel Our Pain...

This is great from Letterman and Colbert. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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.