Sundown

I'm jumping right in...nothing like the night before a new episode to write a recap of the previous week....what can I say? I likes to takes my time...
Sundown was a Sayid centric episode, taking us into the Side Flash life of Sayid Jarrah, jet setting oil man and uncle to his former love Nadia....wait, Uncle?!?

That is correct because as we see in the Side World, Sayid is still beating himself up for not being a good person early on life and therefore can't have anything substantial in his life, because he doesn't deserve it.... Sayid is one of the few 815ers that truly has not found peace in his journey... we thought he did earlier with Shannon but I think he is a lot like Locke, in that he is destined to be alone... and as a man with certain talents in torture, he's a natural born killer and those kind of folk rarely ever find peace....
So it really came as no surprise that Sayid would return to his old ways when his family was threatened by a Mister Martin Keamy....It was sooo cool to see Keamy again...and the way he played the scene was straight from the Christopher Walken School of Cool... cooking the egg, trying to be all nonchalant bad ass... it turns out that Sayid is just a pure weapon of destruction, dispatching the 2 goons in a matter of seconds and then turned stone cold when he shot Keamy... so we know that there really is no redemption for Sayid in the Side Flash... he's still a killer, no matter the situation. You could claim that his hand was forced but he really could have walked out of there, called the police and let them take care of business. Or at the least let Keamy live and bug out.... but he chose to pull the trigger, returning to his natural instincts.
So it should not have been a surprise to see him turn on Dogen in the end.... My theory is that Sayid was always tilted toward the "dark side" of man, off balanced in evil...I don't know how much the "infection" is really influencing him.... but obviously Fake Locke had some doing in bringing him back to life, so maybe it's the infection, maybe its just life for Sayid..

Let's talk about one of my pet peeves with LOST...they go through all of this trouble of introducing characters and get really good high quality actors to play the roles.... then they go and kill them off!!
Hiroyuki Sanada is the actor that plays Dogen, who was most likely named after Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan.... we learned that Dogen was brought to the Island by Jacob, on the indentured servant program...I'll save your kid, the payment is your undying servitude...anyone else think that Dogen doesn't like to speak English because Jacob is a white dude that bought Dogen's soul and is holding it captive on the Island? yeah...me too... but Dogen didn't kill Sayid because Sayid is protected by Jacob... but that didn't stop Dogen from sending Sayid on a suicide mission to kill Fake Locke..
But my point is that they introduce Dogen and give him one of THE best fight scenes ever on LOST, get you all excited to see what else this cat has up his sleeve and then BOOM, they drown him in some old dirty dish water... it was a cool scene but I still wanted more from this actor and character..
And don't even get me started on John Hawkes.... They bring in this high quality actor, give him about 7 lines and then quicker than greased lightning, they slash his throat and like Kenny Power's "He's f***ing out!"....

Now El Prez, why would you reference Eastbound and Down, the HBO series starring the amazing Danny McBride? Cause John Hawkes plays Kenny's brother....
My point is why not bring in some low budget actors to fill these poo poo roles? Hell, I'll fly to Hawaii and film a few spots... I'll take a knife to the throat for a dang autograph from Evangeline Lily.... I'm just saying....
This episode was by far my favorite of the year so far, mostly because of the non stop action and the freight train killing machine of Fake Locke Smokey... from his arrival in the jungle to confront Sayid to the sweeping through the Temple, straight wrecking shop, it was an amazing display...

This scene was classic... once again, Terry O'Quinn delivers a solid performance...seriously, this guy has GOT to win an Emmy this year...

So between telling Sayid that he could essentially bring Nadia back from the dead and telling Claire he could get Aaron back for her, I think we have some major insight into how Fake Locke works...I read a VERY INTERESTING comment over the weekend on some LOST chat rooms..what if the Side Flash we are seeing is the world according to Fake Locke? Sayid is back with Nadia in some capacity and Claire is essentially with Aaron. Jack is a father and a good one starting with the episode we saw and Locke is happily marrying Helen...Hurley is a man of good fortune and seemingly happy.... so all the other stuff we've seen the last 5 seasons is the world according to Jacob...pain, loneliness, despair.... it made me stop and think...I like the idea that we've been watching someone we think is good(Jacob) but in reality he might actually be the bad guy... pretty interesting, no?
No? okay...then get your own damn theory.... hahahaha...just kidding...
Last but not least I wanted to give a shout out to the writers of LOST for referencing one of the seminal movies of our generation: Apocalypse Now... if anyone's seen that movie and also watched the last scene of Sundown, they know exactly what I'm referring to...

Colonel Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness... now this makes me think that Fake Locke is indeed the bad guy... or at least a product of his circumstances... that's what I love about this show...just when you think you've got it figured out, they throw something into the mix that makes you really question everything....brilliant.....
Well that's all for this week....enjoy the show tonight...it looks like the end for Ben...lord knows they are all but telling us he's about to be killed.... I hate promos like that...
Later!
EP

Lighthouse

The title of this episode was "Lighthouse", which is also the name of a Canadian rock band that formed in 1969. What do these 2 things have to do with each other? Nothing...I just thought it was interesting... I wish it had been called 'Firehouse" because then I could have linked it to THIS, which, had I been held back one more year in high school, would have been a sweet jam to slow dance to at the prom...
But alas, I was too smart to be held back...mostly because I used words like alas..
All of this reflecting back to the old days allows me to draw a direct reference to ALL of the reflecting that was going on in this week's episode... it opened with Jack staring at himself in the water.... then there were some shots of him staring into a mirror in his side flash bachelor pad...
Which leads me to point #1: Jack's appendix scar... he couldn't recall when that happened and his mom told him that when he was 7, he collapsed and his dad wanted to do the surgery but they wouldn't let him... Let me hypothesize this: Let's say Jack was born in 1970... In 1977, a hydrogen bomb exploded on an island in the South Pacific, blowing up a time traveling 37 year old Jack Shepard...at that same moment, a 7 year old Jack Shepard's appendix burst... hey, color me crazy but that's where my mind went...
But let's stick to the facts as they were presented to us....

Jack has a BOY!! Hey, congrats! A bouncing, bright, bushy haired malcontent who likes mint milano cookies and Pepsi....named David... now I don't want to get all Biblical on you guys...aw, who am I kidding... DAVID SHEPHARD..CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD... JACK SHEPHARD...oh wait...that last one wasn't in the Bible..but if you think Jack is a nickname given to a dude named John, well then...JOHN SHEPHARD.... I guess what I'm severely hinting at is that these Shephards are the chosen ones... to do something... be excellent doctors, piano players... Island protectors... but let's stay on course...

Another reference to "candidates"... SO I guess the stuff we've been seeing all this time is Jack's audition to become Jacob's replacement...but before we get there let's deal with the son of Jack..

Much like Locke's self realization and acceptance of his lot in life, Jack and David were able to rectify their situation and go share some pizza, making Jack Dad of the Day...which was a direct contrast to his on Island statement about being a terrible father... the old Jack would have been a terrible father, with the drugs and drinking and obsessive control freak things he had going on...but not new and improved side flash Jack..naw, this dude's got it together... which is nice to see... for once...
So if you ask me, we've seen Locke doing ok and now Jack is doing ok...now if this is the life they should have led without Jacob's "influence", then it looks ok to me... Or is it Matrix perfect? Everything settled nicely and neatly without much mess?
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist".... I've always liked the idea that what we see isn't what we get... especially with this show.. and I feel like this side flash is way too nice and neat... is it real?
Again I am getting off track...How cool was the courtyard meet up of Jack and Hurley? I think they should get their own spin off Odd Couple show...

Jacob gave Hurley the words to get Jack motivated, the opposite of what Jack's dad used to tell him.. You have what it takes... that was all Jack needed to get the old adventure juices flowing... of course, all this did was set Jack up once again to be toyed with, versus being told exactly what he should be doing..no...he had to see "how important" he was to the whole story...
So without rehashing the coolness of the Lighthouse and the names on the dial, here's the cliff notes in pictures:


Big wheel with names...

This doesn't seem to be doctored at all... check out number 20: Rousseau...

When the dial hits the corresponding person, then you get a peep show into their houses...in this reflection, its where Sun and Jin got married....another shot looked like the church where Sawyer's parents funeral was...and then there was Jack's house, which lead to this great shot:

HAHAHAHAH I love high definition! You wouldn't get this great a shot with some old VCR...hahaha
It all ended with Jacob telling Hurley that some guys you can just tell the truth to, and some guys need to trek across the jungle through time and space and blow up a hydrogen bomb, which killed an old girlfriend he kissed who took his appendix out before they realize what they need to do... it's really that simple....
But before I forget, this episode had some other developments, although I have yet to see the importance of this but in fairness to all readers, I wouldn't be doing my job without mentioning Claire..

I don't particularly care for this part of the story line...why wait until the last damn season to address this "infection" stuff? It better have a good payoff... does it explain why Desmond shot himself with those drugs before he went outside the Hatch? Are we going to see this stuff play out?
And what about Claire and the time jumping? Did she jump all those times that everyone else did? It doesn't sound like it, if the Others were hunting her all that time....and she was imprisoned at the Temple at some time as well, which makes me wonder how she got out of that...did her "friend" save her? How did he get in?
And who was her "friend"?

This smiling crazy guy right here... how do you think Sawyer's going to react when he sees both Jin AND Claire?? Something is bound to go down...
All this storyline does is add more mystery...and it's time to tone that stuff down and start answering some other questions....like where the hell is Vincent? Was that him in the crib in Claire's tent? Did she eat him?? WTF?
That's all I gots peeps.... too many questions raised.... crazy....

The Substitute

First thing about this episode that I want to put out there is Terry O'Quinn is an acting juggernaut... He's like Obi Wan Kenobi...kill his character and he only becomes more powerful than before... Can you imagine what it's like to be an actor and read the scene where your character, the guy you gave blood, sweat and tears portraying for 4 years, is laying dead in a coffin at the end of the 4th of 6 seasons? I'd feel a little jipped! But my dude TO'Q just brought that much more to his love of acting and is right now playing a part that should win him an Emmy....
His portrayal of John Locke Side Flash is brilliant....To go back to playing the guy who doesn't have hope or a clear life path, stuck in a wheelchair, while also playing the newest most evil bad guy on the Island is sheer acting genius.
Ok...enough of my bromance with TO'Q.... let's get into it, shall we?
Hey LOOK! It's Helen!!
Aw sweet Peg Bundy... or if you are a fan of SAMCRO, you'd know her as Gemma Morrow, one bad mama...but I'm just bragging about other shows I like...

The Side Flash is starting to take a little shape..and the reason that might be will be explained later...for now, let's just embrace the fact that in this reality, John Locke is still a box man, lying about his walkabout, who's still bound to a wheelchair....but he's also got the love of his life, Helen with him...and they are getting married! Yay!!
And I know EG was beside herself during Locke's tub scene...that's a sweet shout out to an LFC Original! Hey E, you still have that toy Locke next to your bed?? LOL... she's gotta crush ya'll...
Again, I digress... The point was that Side Locke isn't that much different..still tired of people telling him what he can't do... and I don't know what to make of how he arrived in the wheelchair in this reality...the fact that Helen even suggested that his father come to the elopement was an indicator to me that his dad did not throw him out the window....so how was Locke injured? Will we find out?
Honestly, does it matter? It's just another mystery and this season is already short to begin with.. I think what the side way flashes are trying to tell us is that these characters are seeking their own redemption or acceptance of their lives...
So my gal Rose comes on the scene and basically tells Locke that he needs to start getting real...

That's life, she explained... If she was Clint Eastwood she would have said Either get busy livin', or get busy dying.... and Locke finally came clean with Helen that he was tired of waiting on a miracle, cause they don't exist... and she didn't leave him when he came clean either... She just told him she loved him and that's all she cares about, which is SO different than what we are used to seeing on this show...an actual resolution.. no weird looks or ominous music...an actual happy ending of sorts...

That is until Locke got his new job as a substitute teacher and now he's gotta deal with this SOB

HAHA I TOLD you guys that Ben would show up as a teacher... wow..it was like seeing Darth Vader bitching about who left the seat down... To see Ben complaining about the coffee and NO ONE was even giving him the time of day was a nice change of pace.. I hope we get to see more of this story... because if life changed for our LOSTIES in 1977, it sure changed for Ben as well... how is still to be determined..
A nice segue back to the island time is to mention the heartfelt eulogy Ben gave to Locke... seriously, that had to be the best line of LOST in a while...these guys are really packing a lot of one liners in this season that are cracking me up...

But while it was nice to see Locke finally looking like he wasn't getting the stinky end of the stick, this episode really wasn't about all of that...it was about Fake Locke, the Smoke Monster/Man in Black leading a recruiting party and swallowing up one of our fair heroes, James "Sawyer" Ford..

Seriously, how cool is this screen shot? I need this on a t shirt!
Sawyer knew he wasn't dealing with the same John Locke this time around...either he was drunk and playing it extremely cool or he really doesn't give a flip anymore... it was interesting to see the similarities of this episode in comparison of the episode where Sawyer followed Locke to the Black Rock and killed the real Sawyer Jabba the Hutt style... except this time Sawyer had shoes on...and a bad attitude.. demanding to know what was going on and getting a semi answer was actually pretty cool... but the Smoke Monster could have just as easily killed Sawyer than to deal with him, so why didn't he?

Because of this little dude.... who when first spotted by Fake Locke, had blood all over his hands... I dipped into my symbolism 101 handbook and came up with my take on that scene: Fake Locke knew that he had blood on his hands for Jacob's murder...seeing this vision reminded him that he messed up.. then when both he and Sawyer saw the boy, he appeared to be real, since Sawyer could also see him... which makes me think that Jacob was able to communicate with the boy and was using him to remind Fake Locke of the "rules".. "You can't kill him, you know the rules"... to which Fake Locke screamed out like the real Locke with a "don't tell me what I can't do!".... I love the little nuances this Fake Locke is picking up with his new body..The grasp of the machete, the taste of the bourbon Sawyer poured for him.. the yelling out of Locke like sayings... anyway..
So what are the rules?
Apparently the cast aways have been "chosen" by Jacob to take his place in protecting the Island, making them all "candidates"...I love when we finally get an answer to something that's more complicated than the question was in the first damn place...
But as Fake Locke put it, what if Jacob hadn't interfered in their lives? What if they had never been touched by him? What would their lives be like?
Well I think we are seeing this in the Side Flashes... and Locke's story so far has lead him to a happier place.. I think it's too early to see Kate's but it looks like we could say that the fact that she went back for Claire and helped her to the hospital was a sign of some redemption...may be more to come on that one...
So now Fake Locke has recruited Sawyer into helping him leave the island..and something tells me he has to get ALL of the "candidates" to choose to leave or else he won't be able to leave his trapped existence... Man, I CAN'T wait to see how his story plays out!!
Well that's my time!! See you on the flippidy flip, kiddos!

What Kate Does

It took me a minute to process this episode...It's kind of typical Lost fashion to have the second or third episode kind of be a little softer in tone...a kind of "let you catch your breath" story after a thrilling season opener...and this particular story fit the bill... a little bit of action, a little bit of mythology, a little bit of comedy.... while this episode didn't set off any bells and whistles for me, it was still pretty damn good..
Let's start with the title character, our dear sweet fugitive Kate...in the flash sideways world she's still on the run but with a heart of gold...just not for the Marshall assigned to bring her back....she's messed that dude up in every version of the LOST realities... if I was him I'd ask for another gig..

no, Kate saves her love for other people she life threatens, who just happen to be pregnant... if you noticed the biggest thing about this episode is that it's starting to reflect the back stories we've already seen... which makes me think that these people are indeed destined to be together... We've seen Jack and Locke interact, and pleasantly at that...making plans to do some life altering surgeries...maybe some coffee... jenga... and now we see Kate and Claire like some modern day Thelma and Louise...and who's playing the Brad Pitt role in this fantasy? why, it's Ethan!!

How funny was the line where he said he didn't want to stick her with a lot of needles?... Haha...considering that was almost an entire episode back in Season 2 or 3... But now our old friend Ethan is going by his given name, Goodspeed....the son of Horace and Amy Goodspeed, whom, if you'll remember were key members of the DHARMA initiative...but instead of growing up on the island and cavorting with Ben Linus on baby stealing missions, Ethan has grown up to be a nice young man with a gentle bedside member.....but, he's still kind of creepy... but I think it's another sign of what this "flash sideways" is really all about, which seems to be life after DHARMA...
Something happened after Juliet blew up the bomb but I don't know if that's what sunk the island... I think that happened later... so maybe there was some other event that caused the island to sink, thereby destroying the DHARMA initiative... I don't know the answer to this yet, but my brain is cooking something up...
Either way, I think we should expect to see more folks popping up...who knows? Ben might even turn up as an English teacher or something.... Maybe Mr Friendly will turn up as cop.... I'll let that one marinate next to the destruction of the island...so there are 2 pots cooking on the stove for those keeping track...

Back to the episode...Kate on and off the island is trying to do right by Claire and by Sawyer... I feel bad for that rascal...he had a good thing going and that stupid frozen wheel in the Island totally screwed up his life with Juliet....but he was living on borrowed time anyway and he knew it...we found out that he really blamed himself for Juliet dying...and now he's off to who knows where to do who knows what...but hell hath no fury like a man who buried a ring in the floorboards of a house he previously occupied 30 years earlier and then crow-barred open 3 days later after a hydrogen bomb detonated, blowing him back to 2007 and killing the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, that he just buried in a god forsaken jungle.. I mean, that's some real crap....
Along with this whole mind bender is our good torturing hitman kid shooter, Sayid... I've always like Sayid...yeah, he tortured people...yeah, he shot Ben when he was a boy...yeah, he shot some other cats who were trying to kill him...and yeah, he shot some other cats who he was hired to kill.... but come on! To go out like that was kind of weak... and just like Michael, the island isn't done with Sayid, so it brought him back to life..with a twist...
Yes, The Darkness is on its way to claim Sayid's heart... which will turn him into an evil crazed something or another... I Tweeted the other night that he could eventually turn into the members of Danielle's team...remember the "Sickness"?.... yeah, apparently if you experience death on the Island AND come back to life, you are susceptible to possession of an evil Darkness... just another fun layer to add to the LOST mythology...I don't see it as any other function of the story, other than to explain what happened to Claire when her house blew up with her in it...She died and when Sawyer rescued her, the Darkness brought her back to life...this according to Dogen, the island's Last Samurai, who told Jack that his SISTER was infected... someone asked me if Rouseau was Jack's sister...I think this show is so confusing that people forget that Claire and Jack have the same father...and this sort of explains why she was in the cabin with Christian 2 years ago... but not really.. I mean, there's still a LOT of explaining to do... and we'll see what happens with Sayid, as he battles the Darkness...
Jack turned into the hero we've kind of been waiting for... the kind that doesn't have all the answers but still feels the responsibility of his actions and has a leadership role that's starting to become defined...
It was great to see Dogen telling Jack that he was brought to the island, same as the Oceanic 815ers...when Jack said what brought you to the island, Dogen replied "You know what brought you here", meaning Jacob of course... but Jack doesn't really know that so we are probably going to see some more angst out of old Jackie boy... I think we are also starting to make more sense of the hierarchy that's going on with the Others...you have to keep in mind that these folks have been kind of ambling along for 3 years with no leader... as Aldo(that guy from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia) was saying to Kate, 3 years had passed since they had been there last...which means life was still happening for the Others... hopefully we will get that story sooner than later....
A couple of things I wanted to touch on:

• Aldo and the other fella referred to Jin as "one of them"....that statement in itself reminds me of what Sayid called Ben when they first discovered him in the jungle.... and it was a title of another episode, where Juliet joined the Oceanic survivors... I'm curious as to what the "them" means....obviously it's important that Jack and company stay alive, even at the expense of the Others, as Aldo said that Sawyer shot one on his way out... so they will sacrifice their own people to keep Jack and Co. alive....I'll add this to the current cooking pots....
• Kate spotted Jack when she was escaping from the airport...Did she recognize him from the plane or was there a deeper connection, like she recognized him from a past life? Also she gave him a great look on the Island when he told her to be careful...it was the good Jack she fell in love with...not the crazy drug addled drinky jealous Jack who grew that weird beard...


• Hurley asking Sayid if he was a zombie.... I nearly spit up my pop when I heard this line...if you know anything about the behind the scenes writers, they have often jokingly referred to season 6 as the "zombie season"...this was obviously a nod to the die hard fans...
• Sayid's reaction to being tortured..I knew something was up because my man was crying and screaming like a lunatic... I know he was being electrocuted and burned with a poker, but my man has been tortured before... he's a tough ass.. he wouldn't have cried like that, unless he was possessed... by a little baby..
• The killer whale stuffed animal that was packed in Claire's bag was just like the one Kate had for Aaron when he was with her...did Kate recognize it as something she gave him in a past life?
  
• The guy driving the cab played a villain on Heroes...he acted better as the cab driver in the 2 minutes he was on screen than the 5 episodes he was on Heroes....which is proof that a minor role on LOST is better than a starring role on Heroes... quality writing...look it up..

Lastly, I want to talk about Desmond being on the plane... I think we have to assume that Desmond is still "special"... I don't think he appeared on the plane and then disappeared mid flight... LOST has never really been about that kind of magic...but I do think he booked a flight on the plane so that he could still influence these certain people... I think he has become like Faraday's mom, helping people stay "on course"...
Keep in mind that the past we have seen on LOST is not the same in this new flash sideways world... so Desmond would also be changed in that...maybe he still has an interest in these people but he might not be with Penny.... and if he's not with Penny, then he's going to be free to do other things... maybe help others get where they need to go?? And where is that?
I don't know....for now the stove is full of cooking pots... and I'm tired...
See you on the flippidy flip..
EP

LA X

GOOD EVENING, LOSTIES!!!


Let's jump right in shall we? We have LOTS to cover.... last we saw, Jack wanted to detonate the bomb and reset the whole damn thing, as if it never happened. He got all Gap Band and dropped the bomb down the Swan hole and nothing happened... But as we saw, Juliet came through for the team and beat that SOB bomb with a rock and poof.... transported them back to Oceanic Flight 815, mid air....except now, things were a little different...the same but not quite...
For example:
Rose was the one telling Jack to stay calm...
Jack only got one bottle from flight attendant Cindy....
Boone went to get Shannon, but she didn't want to come home...
Hurley was calling himself "lucky" and that nothing bad ever happens to him...
Sawyer actually seemed happy, not at all like a man who had killed the wrong guy...
Kate was still a fugitive...now this one requires a little more back story: At Comi-Con this past summer, they played an America's Most Wanted video of Kate Austin, who had killed an apprentice plumber, when she meant to kill her evil, abusive stepfather...
Sayid appeared unchanged...

So what's my point? Well something worked or rebooted these guys and it goes back to one over all theory: In 1977, Jack was hell bent on blowing up the island and starting over. But that was 1977... there were other people living on the island... as we saw in the Big Reveal, the island had been sunk...

so while the overall themes are still the same(Kate's fugitive, Hurley won the lottery), the details are different. So if they are different for these folks, what does that mean for people like Ben? Or Widmore? Where was Mr Eko? Still on the plane? What about Ana Lucia? Libby?
I think this will play out in what is being referred to as the "side-flash"... not a flash back or a flash forward... a side flash...and the creators are saying that it isn't an alternate reality, because that would indicate that one of the versions we are seeing is not real...no, they wanted to see how both scenarios played out and how they will eventually connect...
There are some slight comparisons that remind of us of season 1...
For example:
Jack is bleeding

This reminds me of him discovering his cut in his side, that Kate helped him stitch up... of course it could also mean he was shot with a dart gun and left in suspended animation but I'm getting tired of trying to come up with these larger, more sinister reasons for something as simple as a shaving cut...
Jack saves Charlie

Very reminiscent of Season 1, when Charlie also died of asphyxiation after Ethan hung him from a tree.. the only thing missing was Jack pounding on his chest...all he needed this time was some long fingers to dig out that heroin bag... if you were wondering why Jack couldn't find his pen to perform a tracheotomy, it was because Kate had pick pocketed him so she could break out of her cuffs..more on that in a second... the other eerie thing here was Charlie telling Jack he was supposed to die... Which was Charlie's life story basically... its gotta end tragic...
Back to Kate...when she escaped from the Marshall, she knocked his head against the sink, which resulted in the same bump on his head that he got when the plane initially blew apart... coincidence? I think not...
Boone tells Locke that he's "sticking with him, if we go down"

Weirdly enough I thought this was sweet... it kind of validates that Boone would follow Locke anyway, as he did on the island...until he climbed into the teetering drug plane, resulting in yet another plane crash... but that's not the point.. check out the picture...that's Frogurt, aka Neil, the dude that was killed by a Flaming Arrow after Locke turned the wheel... pretty funny...also good to see Dr Arzt, who had THE best death on Lost...
Moving on, yet staying with the side flash
Claire and Kate together again!!!

Is she pregnant? I think so...is she going to have the baby in the cab and Kate will have to help her? I'd be willing to bet YES... good to old Claire Bear back... I look forward to this one..
I'm not going to comment on Jin and Sun...their pre Island life is BORING to me... I like them a lot better once they had to fight for their love... just remember that Sun was going to leave Jin in Australia but backed out and Jin was going to get them away from her father, which would explain the large bag of cash...
Sawyer meets Kate

I like that Sawyer played a part in Kate's great escape... and he did it with his usual charm...so the question is, is he still a con man with a vengeance? Or just a con man?....
Just really quickly in relation to Sawyer and the bomb working... When Juliet was dying, she said something about getting coffee and "going Dutch"...then she said she had something very important to tell Sawyer...and then she died...which lead us to this happening:

A terrible still shot of Miles reading Juliet's last thought "It Worked"....so my theory is that Juliet saw this "side flash" and I would be willing to bet dollars to rubles that Sawyer will meet Juliet in this side flash and ask her out for coffee... I'm putting it out there now...
Lastly on the side flash thing is my guy, John Locke

Once again there is a parallel to Season 1...remember when Jack went tearing through the jungle chasing after his "dad" and Locke ended up telling him that the Island was special? At that time, jack was pretty receptive to Locke's words of encouragement... and we saw the same exchange last night...Similar to Jack opening the coffin and his dad's body not being in there, in the side flash, the airline "misplaced" Pops... but Locke was there to assure Jack that his father wasn't missing, just his body...
I also liked the fact that Jack said "Nothings irreversible", which is basically the theme of the show... and it seemed like Jack had faith in science... or he was his usual Mr Fix It self... either way, a connection was made...
And give it up for Terry O'Quinn, who played old John Locke and new and EVIL Smoke Monster Locke!!!

I mean, just look at this picture!! Damn!!! Straight up bad mofo!!
Which brings me to the biggest theory that I tweeted about last night... "I want to go HOME"...this implies that the Smoke Monster is not of this world....and Jacob is not of this world...so what world are they from?
I'm proposing heaven and I'm sticking with the movie Dogma as my sticking point... The argument there was that some cast out angels where trying to get back into heaven...their method of getting there was killing the earthly body of God and then walking right back through the gates of heaven...of course, this would mean the end of existence as we know it...
So is Smokey trying to get back to heaven? And what does that mean for the people on the island? If its not heaven and he's just a straight up alien, does he need to hijack the Temple and fly that hooptie back into space?
I don't know...
But I watched Jimmy Kimmel Live and Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were answering some questions...They confirmed that Smokey is now in Locke's body, but they hedged a little on confirming that the Dark Shirt Guy that was on the beach with Jacob is Smokey.. but 2 things are working against them: 1. Jacob told Hurley that he was killed by an old friend who had tired of his company and 2. When Smokey Locke showed up to kill Jacob, Jacob said "You found your loop hole", which referred back to the conversation on the beach with the Dark Shirt Guy...and he confirmed that he did find his loophole....So I think that Smokey and DSG are the same fellow...
But as we know on this show, nothing is cut and dried... but if you find yourself in the presence of a Smoke Monster, make sure you are standing in a circle of ash... always, always carry ash with you! Let that be a lesson... reference poor Bram, who was impaled on some wood... much like Dracula..and who wrote Dracula? Bram Stoker.... WHOA!!!
And lastly, we saw the Temple and the healing spring of life... which was muddied, most likely due to Jacob being killed... but they still stuck Sayid in there and apparently it worked...now the question is: Is that really Sayid? Could it be Jacob in a new kick ass body? What are the consequences to bringing Sayid back to life?

I don't know but we won't have to wait long to find out...I mean, they only have 15 more weeks!!!
And finally, Mr Dark Eyes himself, Richard saw a ghost from his past that scared the beejesus out of him...and then punched the beejesus out of him...Smokey is bad dude!!

I look forward to seeing Richards back story this year...the reference to being in chains was interesting, to say the least...
Well that's all from me... I'm worn out... See you on the flip side...
El Prez

PS. I'll get to Desmond next time... that was a whole nother mind bender

The Incident

So I wrote the below blog the night of the season finale... I was really blown away by what we saw and I immediately set out to get my thoughts down and try to make some sense of all of it... and then I didn't post it... I wanted to sit with it for a bit and see if it still made sense a couple of days later...well, as you all know, days turned into weeks... but here it is, un-edited and straight from the mind of a loon... there's a post mortem note at the end.

This very well could be the shortest of all the blog entries. And that may only last a day.... But I have to put this pen to paper and get this out.
Tonight's episode was EPIC. By far one of the most action packed, heart wrenching 2 hours of television. It literally had it all and a giant statue.
But the entire episode, for me, will live in that first 5 minutes.... The reveal of Jacob.
And not just that, the reveal of another character: Dark shirt guy.
You don't have to be a Bible scholar to see what's going on here. You also don't have to know ancient history or know how to speak Egyptian hieroglyphics.... no, the only thing you need to know is this:
Good versus Evil
This show has been about that from the beginning( remember Locke teaching Walt about backgammon? "There are 2 sides: one is light, the other is dark") and now it's all culminating into one final showdown. Or is it?
The scene at the beginning with Jacob and Dark Shirt Guy(DSG) is obviously supposed to remind of us of God and the Devil, Good vs. Evil...
Jacob is wearing a white shirt, an allusion to the light, while DSG, well, he's a little more of a brooder, if you will.
Now let me just set the record straight: I don't mean to offend any religions or beliefs you all might have. My purpose is to explain a show that is truly a mystery but quite possibly, the answer has been in front of us all along. And it has STRONG religious undertones, or in tonight's case and in my opinion, strong overtones as well. It was almost too literal.
SO Jacob brings people to the island, basically to prove a point: That all people are good inside.
DSG doesn't buy into this theology at all:
"Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?"
"You are wrong"
"Am I?... They come, fight, They destroy, They corrupt. It always ends the same."
"It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it's just progress."

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote that the Island is the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve. The Tree of Knowledge, or Good and Evil, whatever you want to call it. God created and the Devil tempted. Ultimately Eve had the choice to eat of the tree and she made the choice. The rest is history.
This conversation between Jacob and DSG is just a continuing play on that dichotomy. This whole episode just screamed free will and faith and love and death and all the crazy things that happen in life.
And tonight LOST finally revealed it's face. The question you have to ask yourself is: Who's right? Jacob or DSG?
Apparently these two have been going at it for quite some time, with Jacob luring people to the island in the hopes that humanity will make improvements and stop fighting one another, stop succumbing to temptation and restore itself back to that perfect creation, living in Utopia, peace, Namaste. In short, Jacob has faith.
But DSG is growing tired of Jacob constantly proving DSG's own point. That man is fallible and will never return to that perfect creation. No matter how many you bring to this Island, they will all fail. They will all fight. They will all destroy. Which one has more compassion: the one who keeps setting these creatures up to fail, or the one who is resigned to the fact that evil is inherant?
That's a pretty deep question for a show about plane crash survivors. And one we may have to explore once again.
Tonight's episode was EPIC. That's really all I need to say for now.
Stay tuned for the FINAL blog of the season.... there was A LOT that happened tonight and we still have to talk about my girl Juliet becoming the hero of the day.
And one last note: surely, everyone noticed that for the first time in 5 seasons, LOST didn't end with the normal black background, white LOST logo. It switched to a white background, Black LOST logo. A change in power?

So that was it...not a lot of exact details but definitely a simplified theory... you know, The Matrix followed the same themes and a lot of people didn't like the way that trilogy played out but it's hard to satisfy everyone when you are dealing with an epic story.. our minds conjure up a larger answer than some can produce... I feel very comfortable tho, in the fact that the LOST writers will deliver a great ending next season....
That's it for me...I think I'll be handing the reins back to the old man next year, let him finish what he started...besides I have to learn how to walk...
Later peeps!
L Prez OUT

Follow The Leader

Hello, my fellow Losties!
Well here we are, one week away from the finale of Season 5! It's hard to believe that next week is it for this season... but there's no time for tears, as we still have 3 more hours to dissect, starting with tonight's episode, entitled: Follow the Leader.
So who is the Leader? This guy?:

Or This guy?:

Tonight, they were on very specific missions.... Locke, or a thing that resembles Locke, is on his way to expose Jacob, an entity that apparently, no one has ever seen...and by expose I mean kill... so now that begs the question: Why?
Jack is on Faraday's mission to blow up the energy pocket that the Swan is currently being built upon.. By negating that energy, the Swan won't need to have a button that needs to be pushed every 108 minutes and the non pushing of that button won't cause planes to fall out of the sky... again, this is where the time paradox issues arise... I know Jack is technically in his own "present" and Locke is in his own "present"... do these 2 "presents" coincide?
The reason I wonder is because Richard remembers Jack and gang because he saw them die. He tells Sun this in 2007 that he saw them die in 1977. He didn't date it but you have to assume that THAT is what he means..
I can't really dive into more of this time stuff...it literally makes my head hurt...it's like a roller coaster: Instead of enjoying the ride, I'm worrying about how the dang thing stays together and people don't fall out... so in terms of the rest of what's left of this season, I'm going to sit back and throw my hands in the air and just yell "WHEEEEEEE!!"... and with my little baby arms and toothy smile, that will be a cute picture..
Moving on...

OUCH! Jack got a beat down in this episode... we haven't seen Jack this bloody since his tattoo on the beach of Thailand flashback.... some might say this was well deserved, considering Jack's been a big dummy the last 3 years, off island.. by the way, in pro wrestling slang, Jack has the "crimson mask"... Dusty Rhodes was the King Of crimson masks... not to be confused with King Crimson, a progressive rock band out of the 70's....

But a crimson mask beats this, which is just straight up dead.... and dead is dead, right? I have a feeling we will see Miles one more time but only in a flashback of some sorts... perhaps they will dive into what exactly he was up to in Ann Arbor for those 3 years with the DI...

Anyone notice this scene last night? Specifically the hand of Charles Widmore on the stomach of Eloise Hawking? Like Richard said, love is a complicated thing... but I would think shooting your unborn child that has time travelled back to the past is a pretty complicated thing... but whatever..WHEEEE!!!!

Let's eat!! Locke comes bearing gifts... now I don't want to stir a great political debate BUT, isn't it odd that these Others have been following the same rules of protocol for 50 plus years and now this Locke guys comes back from the dead and presents the notion that they as a group have a right to see where their leadership actually comes from.. It's like Mr Smith goes to Washington! Or in this case, Mr Locke goes to Somewhere... do we think the cabin is going to be seen again or is Jacob actually somewhere in a physical state? Is Jacob the answer to "What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue?" Hmmm....

Let's insert a little humor for a second...Anytime Hurley is on screen, I smile... this guy is a terrible liar..which is a great thing...when he said there was no such thing as the Korean War, I peed a little in my diaper..the look on Jin's face was hilarious... And so Dr Chang came face to face with his grown son from the future... WHEEEEEEEE!!!

This isn't humorous at all really... Kate is a big ol 3rd wheel... And Juliet has got to be the most insecure woman on the Island... she's been shacking up with Sawyer now for 3 years!! Come on woman, own your spot!! Don't let that scrub put you out! That's YOUR man, girlfriend!! And Kate is no homewrecker.. she's a home blower upper, as we saw when she killed her dad but we have to trust that she's on a much bigger mission right now and that's to find Claire somehow... So Juliet, get a grip...

"Good Riddance"... right.... I don't buy that for a second... but I had to laugh about Sawyer's plans to become rich.."We'll buy Microsoft and bet the 78 Cowboys to win the Superbowl"... haha...great plan, Biff.

I thought this was one of the biggest Island mysteries of all..at least top 5. The tunnels. We often wondered how Goodwin could have made it to the Tail end of Flight 815 in record time....turns out, he took the subway.
And when Jack asked Richard if they pulled the Bomb thru the under water tunnel, the look on Richard's face was priceless and his response was even better... "Yeah, dumbass, we pulled the most deadly, gigantic weapon of the middle century thru an under water tunnel"... Stick to doctoring Jack and leave the science to real ageless guys... and does anyone else think that Richard wears waterproof eyeliner?

The old ship in a bottle hobby.. I always wondered how this was done... as if it isn't hard enough to build a mini Black Rock replica, Richard has to show off and stick one in a bottle... This is what a lot of immortals do..they always have to take it one step further... That's always been my biggest beef with vampires: They're arrogant.

My boyfriend's back and your going to be in trouble, hey now, hey now Sayid is BACK!! And he's shooting people once more.. this dude is ice water!!!
And where has he been? Eating fruits and berries in the jungle, eluding the smoke monster and improving his ninja skills? Whichever it is, I'm glad he's back in the mix.. and Kate had to put him in his place in regards to shooting kids and that not being cool... it wouldn't surprise me to see a recovered young Benjamin Linus seek his revenge and ingratiate himself into the Others camp by killing our dear friend Sayid... that might be close enough to reality to be a spoiler but who knows...
And finally:

That's right Ben...I'm going to kill the man you've been blindly following ALL of these years... That's got to really get your underroos in a wad, huh? But guess what? You can't do anything about it or else Smokey will come back in the form of Alex and kill you dead.
I just have the feeling that there a million different agendas at work here, a shell game if you will...follow the ball but the ball is constantly changing... I think the overall "war" that's coming is between Jacob and the Island. Everyone that we've seen is going to be divided between the 2 and that's going to be the war.
Think of it this way: The Earth was first, then Man. And since that time, they've been at odds. But the Earth has a natural way of healing itself and returning to it's original state, when left untouched by man. There is no further proof than in our backyard here at Casa El Prez. My dad hasn't mowed in a week and I swear there's a forest that's grown in it's place.
So we could be seeing the same reclamation of power. The Island has had enough with Jacob and his machinations and time is up. Locke swears the Island tells him what to do.... but the weird part is that Jacob asked Locke to help him.... I for one, have no idea how this is going to play out but like I've said before:
WHEEEEEEE!!!
Later
L Prez OUT