Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 17/18 The End

It's almost 2 in the morning, so my main excuse is that I can hardly think let alone write. For an expansion of my review, check back in 18 hours when I have time to think things over and get some sleep. For now, here's a gut reaction (and the series finale certainly deserves more than that).

I never had any illusions about the series finale. Due to the weight of 6 years of heavy mythology, a bunch of random twists and turns, there wouldn't be a real central tie to everything and many worthwhile aspects would never be fully explored. I pretty much resigned myself to not knowing answers or really understanding things in the end, and with that mindset, I was able to enjoy the series finale.

In a flurry of information in the last 10 minutes, we learn, through a dead Christian, that they are all dead, Jack and the rest of the flash-sideways people in the church. My first reaction was  a big "Huh?" Desmond gathers everyone, so they can move on from their purgatory. Basically, the flash-sideways had been their own construct, bridging time and space, where they remember the best part of their lives--when they were together--and allows them to enter Heaven. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, and I don't think it's because I'm tired that it doesn't all fit together.

So the ending didn't make sense whatsoever and even in a rewatch of the season I doubt it will. My response is "Answers schmanswers!" The great thing about Lost is that even if the mythology doesn't quite fit together or make sense, there's far more. I watched the show, originally, more for the mystery and mythology, but as the series progressed the characters became just as central and that's really what separates Lost from the pack.

"The End" displayed the uncanny and truly amazing ability of the writers to combine a deep mythology with many compelling characters. And it's not just one or two characters, it's all of them. The episode is full of emotional, tear inducing character moments that made the episode work.

My philosophy about series finales is this: Series finales tend to disappoint and are only one episode out of the series. Therefore, the finale could be the shittiest episode ever and the series could still be excellent. In television, the journey is far more important than the destination and that holds true for Lost. In a week, a month, or a year, I'm not going to trouble myself over the finale just like I don't care about the Battlestar Galactica finale or the Sopranos finale. I'll always be impressed and mesmerized by Lost.

Does the the mythology hold together? No. Does it matter? No.

Anyway, those are some of my quick thoughts written in the dead of night. After writing a bit, my brain is warmed up and the ending still doesn't make sense to me. I guess we'll need Doc Jensen to clear things up.

Score: 8.9/10

• I liked the open-ended ending with Hurley taking over and the plane just flying off while Jack lay there dying. There's something wonderful about the perpetual nature of the Island, constantly changing and moving on as the bond between the characters is so strong they must come together in purgatory. Really lovely stuff.
• Rose and Bernard! They're awesome!
• Sawyer and Juliet! They're awesome too.
• Sayid and Shannon? It was so long ago I don't care anymore, and what about Nadya?
• Boone? Come on... He's Hurley's little helper?
• Michael? Nowhere to been seen. Haha.
• I don't even want to go into the light/plug/Desmond business right now. Maybe later. Part of me sees the Smoke Monster, light, and all that stuff as superfluous.
• Faraday and Charlotte? They were kind of shafted.
• I'm rambling now. Time to get 3 hours of sleep...

Preview of Week 05/23/10 - 05/29/10

Lost - ABC, Sunday, May 23, 9:00pm ET

This is THE television event of the year. If you miss it, you're a loser. Nah...but in all seriousness, even those who don't watch the show should watch the series finale. The episode could suck and make no sense, and the show would still be remembered years from now not for the ending but the journey.

24 - Fox, Monday, May 24, 8:00pm ET

Lost (get it?) in all the frenzy about Lost is that 24 will end the very next day. While this season has been rather weak, 24 has had a long 8 season run and is a seminal show in its own right.

Chuck - NBC, Monday, May 24, 8:00pm ET

The third season finale is here and we don't have to worry about a fourth season; the shows already been renewed.  To be honest, part of me doesn't care much because the writers don't have a plan for the Ring, having spent most of the season with the Ring doing random things, but I've read about a mini-gamechanger at the end of the episode.

Law & Order - NBC, Monday, May 24, 10:00pm ET

Another show coming to an end! It doesn't look like the writers wrote the episode as a series finale, so it'll probably be average, but it wouldn't hurt to watch either.

NCIS - CBS, Tuesday, May 25, 8:00pm ET

At the end of last episode, Gibbs was in Mexico with a gun to his head. How will he get out of the shooting he did over 10 years ago and the current situation he is in?

The Good Wife - CBS, Tuesday, May 25, 10:00pm ET

I've said this many times already, but The Good Wife is the best new drama of the year and possibly the best new show of the year. The characters are compelling, the acting is top notch, and there is a perfect balance between the main story arcs and individual stories.

FlashForward - ABC, Thursday, May 27, 8:00pm ET

So the series kind of sucked after the pilot, but I kept watching. FlashForward was another one of those post-Lost shows whose sole intent was to have a big mystery and a large ensemble cast that flopped due to writer incompetency. This should be a cautionary tale to networks at writers that no matter the promotion or initial premise, the show has to work down the stretch and not just in the pilot to be successful.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 16 What They Died For

The series finale is in 5 days! Wait, what? Yes, the time is upon us and it'll all be wrapped up in less than a week. "What They Died For" provided huge plot movement, setting everything up for the finale with a flurry of events.

Jack, who has insisted the entire season that he and everyone else is there for a reason, sees this as the exact reason, the reason for him being there and now, the reason for his existence. He takes Jacob's mantle, drinks the imbued water, and heads of for the light in hopes of stopping Flocke and saving the world.

There were a bunch of quick deaths in the episode similar to the demises of Ilana and Lapidus. Richard gets thrown to kingdom come by the Smoke and I'm pretty sure he doesn't survive, Zoe gets her throat slit when Flocke realizes she is a nobody, and Widmore is shot to death by Ben after telling Smokey what he knew. Just like that, two integral characters and a nobody are gone.

I haven't really taken to the flash-sideways storylines not offering some kind of skewed parallel to the real world, because there hasn't been a real solid plot threading continuously throughout the flash-sideways stories. In setting up for the finale, "What They Died For" offered the concert as the focal point of the flash-sideways, where all the characters will merge as the people on the Island battle Flocke.

Desmond goes back to the school and after Ben confronts him, he quite literally beats Ben's head back to the Island, forcing him to remember beating Desmond on the dock. It's all part of Desmond's grand plan, which is rather hazy right now.

He turns himself in to the police and ends up with Sayid and Kate. On the way to county lockup, Desmond offers to get them out as long as they go along with his plan. Ana Lucia (!), still a cop, lets them out for a hefty sum. Hurley pulls up driving a Hummer and they're set to go.

Also in the flash-sideways, Locke meets with Jack and after hearing that Desmond wanted to set him free, he realizes there are forces are work greater than his self-hatred. Fate is an odd beast, once again bringing to believer in Locke out and pushing him towards walking again.

The episode ends with Flocke telling Ben that he'll use Desmond to destroy the Island. And it's fitting, isn't it? The Island can been the center of the Lost universe for six years, through invaders and time, always there and never vulnerable. It was the wild expanse that allowed imagination to run free and the most incredible events happen. Now Flocke is out to destroy the Island--in my mind, the essence of Lost itself.

I know there are spoilers floating around on the internet and I'm usually one to look voraciously for spoilers, but this is the one time I refuse to spoil myself. The ending of Lost probably won't satisfy everyone nor will answer everyone's burning questions. Speculation isn't worth much at this point, but if I can to guess, I'll predict that the Island will survive, but something else catastrophic will happen, merging the flash-sideways and the Island.

As usual, I'll post my review after the episode airs of Sunday night. I'm pretty busy next week, but if I have additional thoughts about the episode or show, I'll try to make another post by Thursday, Friday at the latest.

Score: 9.2/10

Preview of Week 05/16/10 - 05/22/10

The Pacific - HBO, Sunday, May 16, 9:00pm ET

The final part, based solely back in the United States, I think will be the defining part of the series. OK, the Marines went through Hell on the islands and were altered substantially. The question is once they come home, will they be able to resume everyday life?

Chuck - NBC, Monday, May 17, 8:00pm ET

In the penultimate episode of the season, Chuck's father comes back and from the previews, he's not happy what Chuck is up to.

House - Fox, Monday, May 17, 8:00pm ET

The season finale features an enormous crane crash which brings the team into help. Also, there's some more blatant Huddy stuff for all the naysayers. (By now, just take the hints the writers are giving you.)

Castle - ABC, Monday, May 17, 10:00pm ET

Castle or Demming? That's the choice Beckett has to make.

Lost - ABC, Tuesday, May 18, 9:00pm ET

This is the last Tuesday episode--ever! The series finale is in exactly one week. Given the rather disappointing episode last week, I don't think we'll be satisfied in the end in terms of actual answers, but it's fine. The series will be great regardless of what we do or do not know.

Bones - Fox, Thursday, May 20, 8:00pm ET

What will Hart Hanson offer up this time? A pile of steaming dog crap like the previous two season finales or something worthwhile? Here's my prediction from my review last week: Brennan will quit her job at the end of the season, and Season 6 will start with a time skip. Once again we can berate Hart Hanson for lying and prolonging the sinking sink that is Brennan and Booth. Given the trajectory the show has taken, I'm guessing the series finale will be them getting married. Yeah, it's boring, predictable, and for Hart, great television.

Fringe - Fox, Thursday, May 20, 9:00pm ET

The first part of the season finale was kind of a letdown, but now that everyone is in the other universe, the action is going to be ramped up and the twists will start coming.

The Mentalist - CBS, Thursday, May 20, 10:00pm ET

This season has been pretty dull and sometimes quite stupid, but when it comes to Red John, the writers raise the bar very high. That's about what you can ask for these days with The Mentalist.

Legend of the Seeker - Syndicated, Check local listings

The series finale is here (*sniff*) and it looks like things will get wrapped up. The rift will be sealed and Richard and Kahlan will have their happy ending. First, there's a big predicament Zedd and Kahlan are in. Here's my prediction: The alternate universe will be wrapped up in the opening act. After a fight, Kahlan will confess a Mord'Sith, have her use the Breath of Life to revive Cara. Zedd will perform the spell, bringing them back to the world we know.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 15 Across the Sea

The episode begins with Jacob and MiB's mother saying "Every question I answer will simply lead to another question." I wonder if that was the way it would be, and I was right. There is one episode left before the series finale 12 days away and if that's the origin story, I hope we'll learn a lot more before the end.

"Across the Sea" provided some answers, but ultimately came up short in providing viewers something to hold on to. All good things must come to an end, and with everything than has gone on during the six seasons, the answers won't be satisfactory. The writers tried to capture the expansive narrative crafted over the years and at the same time work in a manageable story in the time alloted. For the most part, I liked the episode even if there was much to be desired.

The origin story does the opposite of the origin of our more worldly characters, Jack and Locke, in that Jacob and MiB don't have daddy issues; they have mommy issues. Their real mother is killed right after they are born, and their mother's murderer raises them as her own. We see Jacob, the lighter of the two, grow up to believe in the good of people, while MiB, the darker, grows up seeing the evil in people. MiB also looks across the sea despite his mother's insistence there is nothing out there. Soon, their mother's lies come crashing down and MiB joins the others who have crashed on the Island

Possibly the biggest reveal was the Light, symbolic for whatever you want it to be. The writers were so vague it could mean anything to anyone and still make sense. That's kind of what Lost is build on, except it's the end. I actually want to know the whole truth. One thing we know for sure is that out popped Smokey and the Light disappears.

A big problem I have is the arbitrary nature of the Island which forces characters into tiny corners without much explanation. Why can't MiB leave? Who was Jacob and MiB's second mother? What is the Light? How does this tie into Flocke's plan in present day? Why can't MiB kill Jacob directly when he killed his mother?

Part of me is also confused about MiB sitting on the beach with Jacob before the Black Rock arrives. By then, MiB was already plotting to kill Jacob, which would put the time period after Jacob sent him into the light. If that's the case, MiB can go from smoke to his original human form. I thought he couldn't, but that's the only explanation.

Going back to that one time Flocke tripped and seemed genuinely frightened of kid Jacob standing in front of him,  there didn't seem to be anything in the past that would make him act that way. It wasn't until much later when the tensions between the two were heightened.

Anyone want to estimate a time period? If I had to guess, they were Romans. Perhaps Jacob and MiB are a perverted form of Romulus and Remus. The other guys on the Island could have been barbarians.

None of the regular characters showed up except for the quick and way overdone replay of the Adam and Eve discovery back in Season 1. "Across the Sea" was dedicated to Jacob and MiB and it's about time there was an episode about them, but what is the significance on the Islanders (not the hockey team). Does Jacob have any bigger plans for bringing people to the Island to prove that humans are good and/or pick a candidate? From what I can tell, he doesn't.

Score: 8.9/10

Preview of Week 05/09/10 - 05/15/10

The Pacific - HBO, Sunday, May 9, 9:00pm ET

I'm guessing this is the last time we will see the crazy intense fighting that have made the miniseries so good. This time, it's at Okinawa.

Breaking Bad - AMC, Sunday, May 9, 10:00pm ET

After last week's episode, I can't even imagine what will happen next. One Cousin is dead, the other was injured by Hank's car, and Hank has two bullet holes. Do we even care what Walt, the main character, is doing?

Lost - ABC, Tuesday, May 11, 10:00pm ET

Finally, finally an episode specifically about MiB and Jacob. Will we get answers about the nature of the Island? I hope so. There are only two episodes left before the series finale.

Supernatural - CW, Thursday, May 13, 9:00pm ET

The final showdown of the Apocalypse is upon us. I'm guessing Sam and Dean will win, but will there be any surprise twists or deaths?

Fringe - Fox, Thursday, May 13, 9:00pm ET

Walter and Olivia go to the alternate universe, and the long-coming confrontation between Walter and William Bell occurs.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 14 The Candidate

After this week there are two more episodes left before the extended 2 hour and 30 minute series finale, and it hadn't really set in until this week, when the unthinkable happened. So I don't get called a dick again, I'll discuss it in more details later in the review. "The Candidate" was an inconsistent episode, landing it in the middle of the pack for this season.

For the first half of the episode, the the plot accelerated faster than it had in any other part of the season with lots of action and running around, ultimately amounting to nothing substantial and served to bring everyone into the submarine. Widmore throws Sawyer, Kate, and the rest of them into the cages and as fast as they are in their, Flocke and Jack save the day, breaking them out. They make a beeline towards the airplane where, for a brief moment, they believe they'll fly out. Flocke comes out with C4 and claims that Widmore wanted them all there, in an enclosed space, so he could kill them all. The C4 was in the plane, but did Widmore leave it there? We don't even know why Widmore is on the Island except he is testing something.

Since the plane doesn't pan out, their next move is the take the submarine which they do so without much of a fight. The episode really begins after Jack pushes Locke into the water under Sawyer's orders. Widmore's people pop up of nowhere and start shooting. Kate is shoot immediately and Jack helps her in the submarine. Locke takes out Widmore's people as Sawyer orders the sub to dive. They do so, leaving Flocke and Claire behind and beginning their descent into the watery tomb.

In a brilliant turn of events that save the episode from being a dud, Jack goes to pull a shirt from his bag to stop Kate's bleeding, and instead finds the block of C4 and a timer. Jack postulates that Flocke can't actually kill them but needs to in order to leave the island, arguing that the C4 should be left alone, touched only by Flocke who can't hurt them. Sawyer, now taking Jack's old role as the man of science, pulls the wire on the C4. It stops for a few precious seconds, letting everyone breathe a sigh of relief until the timer starts going even faster. Sayid shouts out where Desmond is, the first real proof he still is alive, grabs the C4 and detonates it a few compartments away. First death and a quick one at that. He isn't given much of a requiem before the greater issues completely overshadow his death.

It is of course just a submarine, so it starts breaking apart. Water rushes in and the larger issue is that all of them could die. Through fast action, Hurley is able to get Kate out safely. Sun, however, isn't as lucky. A large container is trapping her and Jin, Jack, and Sawyer are able to move it off her. They're safe now, right? No...the writers had to do more. Sun's legs are completely trapped and there's no chance she'll be saved. Jin stays behind with her as the sub goes down in the most brutal scene of the season. Absolutely brutal and mind-numbing. My exact quote: "Oh my God, they killed Jin and Sun! You bastards!"

And, by the way, Lapidus also went down with the sub. Did anyone care? I sure didn't. Maybe it's because Sayid hasn't been himself this season, but I also didn't care much about his death.

As much as I like the season and the episode, the flash-sideways never clicked for me, and seems less and less important as the season goes on. The Island is and will always be the center of Lost. Nothing is relevant until the Island comes into the discussion--except in the flash-sideways. The flash-sideways tied loosely together by Oceanic Flight 815 and the characters in slightly different places in life. Sure, it's cool and all, but what's the relevance. There have been far too few hints to really hang onto something and say "Aha!" And even those moments of crossover are laced with more questions. Outside of love, the bridge between the Island and the flash-sideways, shows up when Sun hits her head and when Jack wonders about his appendix. Both are definite indications but neither mean anything whatsoever other than a pure hint at something we can even yet fathom.

This week, Jack learns that Claire and Bernard were also on Oceanic Flight 815 and dives into Locke's past, a distinctly different one than the kidney-stealing one we're use to. Jack is becoming aware that the flight is more than just a flight. It may be a big coincidence that all these people are converging, but it's like the flash-sideways characters all have something in the back of their minds that something isn't right. The situation is likely to resolve itself as Lost never goes on FlashForward-esque investigations, and procedural-Jack would be terrible.

The main plot of the flash-sideways was Jack's continued urging of Locke to take a treatment. Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn are always great together and their scenes rocked as usual. Instead of Anthony Cooper being a monster, he was actually a decent person. Locke was the one who sent them both into wheelchairs by crashing his plane.

This completely changes the situation and his probably the greatest change from reality. No longer is the specter of an evil, slick Anthony Cooper looming over Locke, but a feeble, old, decrepit Anthony Cooper, maimed from Locke's own mistakes. All the guilt and all the blame can be put squarely on Locke. Locke, to his credit, does not become kidney-stealing Anthony Cooper, and run away. He accepts his fault and in a true act of repentance, refuses to get better. His burden is not physical. It is his mental block, his inability to see past his actions and move on.

Next week's episode is an MIB/Jacob episode. Needless to say, I'm incredibly excited.

Score: 9.0/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 13 The Last Recruit

As we approach the series finale, there was large movement in "The Last Recruit" towards a resolution for the island plot. The writers have been holding back for a while and finally unleashed the narrative potential of the show, driving forward with many decisive decisions from everyone. The episode itself didn't have much mystery or revelations, but it did set the scene for the final 4 episodes. Looking ahead, The flash-sideways still remains rather shapeless, but the coincidental meetings of the characters does lend itself to some nice moments.

The two camps come together for the first time since the Temple and the plot kicks off. Jack talks to Flocke who gives him the usual spiel about getting off the island together and lets talks to Claire who also knows they are siblings. Jack asks her about Flocke and her one and only definitive answer is that Locke has already spoken. There is no other truth. If she wasn't crazy, I'd be more likely to believe her.

Did anyone else think Flocke would think smarter? To begin the invasion of Hydra Island, he sends Sawyer and Kate, alone, to take the boat and meet them on the other side of the Island. Is Flocke arrogant enough to think he has everything under control or is he just dumb in this situation? Of course Sawyer is scheming. His plan is to get him, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Lapidus over to Hydra, leaving the rest of them behind. Yeah, forget the rest of them, even if some are 815 survivors that aren't zombies or nuts.

Flocke again is off twiddling his fingers while Jack leads the group away. They reach the boat and Claire pops out to stop them. Kate manages to talk her down and even convince her to come along. On the boat, Flocke's words are still resonating with Jack. He questions what he's doing and remembers what happened last time he left the Island. Not wanting the same thing to happen, he talks to Sawyer who offers him two choices: jump or stay. Jack chooses the former, jumping in the ocean to Kate's dismay. He swims back to shore where Flocke and a bunch of Others with guns are waiting for him. Jack originally started off as the man of science, the one who bucked Locke's fanciful ideas of the Island, but now, he too is the man of faith, believing that the Island holds something for him and everyone else.

The boat lands on Hydra where Zoe and a bunch of henchman with guns are waiting for Sawyer and the rest of them. Sun and Jin see each other and have their belated reunion. For a second, I was worried the sonic fence would still be on and they would crumple to the ground inches away from each other. Good thing it didn't happen, because there reunion was quite nice. Zoe stops them after about a minute--far too short for all the time they've been apart--putting everyone at gunpoint, and from Widmore's orders, shoots a missile towards Flocke and Jack.

Sayid is given a side task to kill Desmond who is still sitting there at the bottom of a well. Apparently, Desmond has been doing lots of thinking down there about his own situation and sees how it could apply to Sayid's life. He asks Sayid what he had to do to get his woman back, and goes further, asking Sayid what he would tell her after she did come back. Sayid realizes that getting Nadia back at all costs wouldn't be the right thing to do if his souls is already lost. He returns to the camp, and assuming he didn't kill Desmond (not that big a leap), lies to Flocke about killing Desmond. I haven't touched on this for a while, but I was kind of right about The Last Supper cast photo. Flocke, in the Jesus position, will be betrayed by Sayid who is Judas.

The flash-sidways was mostly a disjointed hodgepodge of situations tied together by the common thread of familiar faces. I have no clue where anything in the flash-sideways is going nor do I much care.  The main narrative remains on the Island. The novelty of seeing the characters in different roles is enough so I don't dislike it, but my opinion, 13 episodes into the final season, is mostly of indifference.

Sawyer has Kate back at the police station where they engage in a flirty conversation sort of like the ones from the earlier seasons. Miles soon breaks in with information on a shooting; he has surveillance footage of Sayid exiting the restaurant. Just as quickly as she enters the episode, flash-sideways Kate is gone and isn't seen for the remainder of the episode. At the same time, Sayid returns to tell Nadia he is leaving, but before he can do so, Miles and Sawyer show up. On the Island, Desmond's poignant question strikes him and he decides not to follow Flocke. In the flashsideways, without Desmond's sage words, Sayid has already gone as a far as humanly possible, killing many men to protect Nadia. The end result, however, is just as lonely and separated from Nadia as Sayid is arrested.

The main feature of the flashsideways this week was the interplay between Desmond, Claire, and Jack. Having knocked over poor Locke, Desmond is going about his business as if nothing happened. He goes into creep mode (he seemed a little too suave and pushy), guiding Claire towards his own lawyer for adoption advice. His lawyer is Ilana! At least she's not exploded in a messy pulp in this world. And to make his huge coincidence (or shall we say "fate") bigger, Ilana has been looking for the very same Claire Littleton. Hmm... It's like everyone else in the world doesn't matter.

Later, Jack and David come by to have Christian's will read. The lawyer in charge of the estate is...also Ilana! Everyone's converging on her. Is this some kind of recompense from the universe for exploding her so abruptly? Ilana introduces Jack to his sister, Claire and like the reunion between Jin and Sun on the Island, it's cut short by a call from the hospital. Jack comes in to operate and it's Locke. Jack is far more surprised than the viewers.

Locke and Sun are both taken to the hospital and as they are taken in, Sun is scared Locke, showing the blending of the Island and flash-sideways. It wasn't love that set it off, but rather an accident that somehow jarred her brain into thinking that Flocke is evil.

I'm looking forward to what happens on the Island after all the the developments on the Island. The flash-sideways, not so much. The writers are in a difficult place with the flash-sideways. On one hand, the Island is te center of the show and needs enough screen time; on the other, the flash-sideways hasn't been developed to the point where it is compelling, at least to me.

There's no new episode next week and "Ab Aeterno" will air instead.

Score: 9.0/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 12 Everybody Loves Hugo

I was really busy tonight and it's midnight, so if this review is way shorter than previous ones, that's why.

Including the two-hour series finale, there are now 5 episodes left. Everything is becoming that much clearer and the end is in sight. I like "Everybody Loves Hugo" to the point where the storylines are finally moving in the right direction. Ultimately, there aren't many story developments, but rather several shocking scenes that jumped out before the episode went back into a general malaise.

Was Ilana a wasted character? We barely learned anything about her after 12+ episodes and I thought there was tons of potential in where her character could go. She is instinctively devoted to Jacob, so she should be intertwined in the fate of the island. At least the explosion was cool.

Locke throws Demons down a well on the island and in return, Desmond runs down poor ol' Locke in the wheelchair in the flash-sideways. Fair? Probably not since it's actually Smokey that was using Locke.

Hugo is still primarily a comedic character, but his scenes with Libby weren't bad at all. The love conquers all theme is back and appears to be the only connection between the island and the flash-sideways. Be honest. If Lost didn't have such a great track record, wouldn't we be balking at the sappy love stuff already?

The whispers were finally explained as ghosts of people who can't move on. Does anyone actually care? It wasn't shocking and didn't seem particularly relevant. Thankfully, Michael didn't say "Walt" once in his brief return as a ghost, and he turned Hugo around, directing him not to blow up the plane.


I don't know if it is my fatigue, but "Everybody Loves Hugo" wasn't really my thing. There wasn't much to complain about the solid episode, but there wasn't much to see either.

Score: 8.9/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 11 Happily Ever After

If there is one episode this season that needs rewatch after rewatch, it's "Happily Ever After" and not just for those amazing Desmond and Penny scenes that can melt anyone's heart. In true Lost fashion, we probably learned more about the flash-sideways in one episode than in the previous 10 episodes, but the picture is still unfocused and blurry, leaving many answers still floating out in the nebulous land of the TV gods. I've resigned myself to the fact that the writers possibly will never be clear about anything, and even after the series finale, the viewers will be left in the dark. With that mindset, the episode was a good as it gets. If definite answers were the ultimate goal, "Happily Ever After" should have been named "Confused Forever More." Viewers looking for answers were probably frustrated beyond belief from all the hints and suggestions that, in the end, amounted to just that--hints and suggestions.

I've never thought of Lost as primarily a love story, rather a mix of everything. However, if this week's episode was any indication, love plays a vital role in unraveling the flash-sideways. It has been a component of the show since the beginning, and whether Penny was important because of their love or her being Desmond's Constant is yet to be seen. Maybe someone's Constant is based on the love between them. Since love is one part of the show, my guess is that it is one piece of the flash-sideways, and other themes will play an equally prevalent role.

Coinciding with the furthest advancement in knowing what the flash-sideways was about, approximately three-quarters of the episode was devoted to the alternate world. The brief Island story was needed to set up Desmond being placed between two solenoids and seemingly shocked into the flash-sideways. Desmond, according to Charles Widmore, is special for surviving strong blasts of electromagnetic energy, so he's a perfect test subject.

Desmond is still Desmond Hume, except he is Charles Widmore's lackey, and other than being a stoic worker, does no posses any interests or a life outside of his job. He has money and travels to exotic places, but there's a hole in his life. The common theme among the flash-sideways characters is that while their overall situation may be better, there is a missing element. We don't know exactly what the flash-sideways is, but it's not a perfect world, the future world, but a parallel world that is incomplete. Somehow this will tie into the Island, Smokey, and the rest of the crew.

Widmore has Desmond pick up Charlie at the jail. The plan was to get Driveshaft and his son, a classical pianist, to play together at his wife's charity event. Desmond and Charlie talk at a bar, and Charlie describes the one instance he saw Claire, a piercing moment of clarity which pushed his current existence aside with impunity. As they are driving to the event, Charlie takes control of the wheel and sends the car into the bay, recreating the ending of "Through the Looking Glass." When Charlie places his hand on the car window, Desmond sees the message "Not Penny's Boat." It's the first time a character has actually seen something from the Island rather than get a tingly feeling.

At the hospital, the MRI triggers more memories and now it has Desmond's full attention. He knows something is up. He even lets Charlie escape from the hospital. Desmond goes to the event and apoligizes to Eloise Widmore for not having Driveshaft, and is about to depart when he hears the name Penny on the guest list. His interest is piqued and he requests to see the guest list. Always the mysterious person with vast amounts of knowledge, Eloise stops him, telling him he's not ready yet. What does that mean? Who knows.

As soon as he is about to get into the car, Desmond is approached by Daniel Widmore who gave the biggest hint of the episode. He, like Charlie, saw a woman and that set off something inside him. She was a beautiful woman with blue eyes and red hair. Clearly it's Charlotte. The same night, he wrote quantum mechanics equations about stopping a catastrophic event. That already happened in the form of a nuclear detonation which changed things and created a different life for everyone. Daniel informs Desmond that Penny is his half-sister and tells him where he can find her. She's running up and down the steps of a stadium, much like Desmond was when Jack first met him. Desmond goes up to her and shakes her hand. Immediately, Desmond is back on the Island, scorched but alive. Desmond agrees to help Widmore, but before Zoe can take Desmond to wherever they are supposed to go, they are ambushed by Sayid, who dispatches everyone except  Zoe, who is sent running, and Desmond, who quickly agrees to go with Sayid. Back in the flash-sideways, Desmond asks Penny for coffee and she agrees to meet him in an hour. With that happy note, the episode ends.

I don't even have an inkling of what the big picture is, so I have no grand theories about what the series is about. Desmond has bridged the gap between the Island and the flash-sideways and appears to being up to something on both sides to get Penny back. I'm way too tired to think, so if anyone has a genius theory, feel free to share it.

Score: 9.2/10

Preview of Week 04/04/10 - 04/10/10

Chuck - NBC, Monday, April 5, 8:00pm ET

This episode marks the initial season finale of the 13 episode order. Since NBC increased the order to 19, there will be more episodes after a one week break, but I'm sure there will be a resolution to the Shaw storyline, which unfortunately did not turn out as well as I hoped.

Lost - ABC, Tuesday, April 6, 9:00pm ET

Last week, Damon Lindelof tweeted "In one week, the conversation is going to change." Does this mean we'll finally get a clue what the flash-sideways are about? It's a Desmond episode, so we may learn why he is the package as well.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent - USA, Tuesday April 6, 10:00pm ET

The original Law & Order has undergone many personnel changes, but this episode marks the end of Goren and Earnes who have been on the show since the beginning. The show will survive, but I doubt it will be the same.


Southland - TNT, Tuesday, April 6, 10:00pm ET

This is probably be the last episode of the series unless the ratings are huge. Just watch it.

Criminal Minds - CBS, Wednesday, April 7, 9:00pm ET

CBS has done backdoor pilots for all the spin-offs in the past decade, and they proved to be huge successes. They will try again, this time with Criminal Minds. Forest Witaker will be the star of the spin-off, an indication CBS has high expectations for the show. I'm not a fan of the idea of a CM spin-off, but we'll see.

Bones - Fox, Thursday, April 8, 9:00pm ET

The 100th episode brings Brennan and Booth back to the very beginning where they meet for the first time. It also means Zack will be back. We miss you, Eric Millegan.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 10 The Package

After the stunning episode last week, Lost came back down to earth with "The Package," a run-of-the-mill episode that wasn't big on everything, but moved the story along enough to keep it from being a total disappointment.

The flash-sideways returned with Jin and Sun as the protagonists. I've never been a big fan of their flashbacks like I am for Locke's, Sayid's, and Ben's, so I came into the episode already inclined to not be a big fan of the episode. The slight deviations were again in play. Sun and Jin are still in love, but they aren't married yet and Jin is a thug for Mr. Paik. He's is more carefree and not weighed down by the dirty tasks Paik would have him do. The uptight Jin disappears as he and Sun have a playful love scene. From there, it all goes downhill. Keamy comes looking for the $25,000 which was confiscated at the airport. He invites his buddy in and gets Jin to come out. Since neither Jin nor Sun can speak English in the flash-sideways, they get Mikhail to translate.

We finally figure out how Jin ends up in the freezer. Keamy ties him up while Mikhail takes Sun to the bank. Sun has secret bank accounts with enough money to pay Keamy, but her powerful father has already reached the bank account and closed it, knowing she is with Jin. The $25,000 was for Keamy to kill Jin.  Then, Sayid comes in and the story picks up where Sayid's left off. Sayid is reluctant to free Jin, but hands him a knife. Jin gets out as Mikhail comes in. They fight, and Mikhail gets shot in the eye (I'm guessing he'll need more than an eyepatch for that.), and Sun is shot in the stomach. She reveals she is pregnant. The flash-sideways ends there without a conclusion. Obviously, the story will get picked up later which dampened the entire episode. Another ongoing flash-sideways plot makes the flash-sideways less like vignettes that compliment the island plot and more like a standalone story, one that I don't care much, because these aren't the same people we've been following for five seasons.

The biggest question (in my opinion) is whether Keamy said something about the island. Here's the clip and what I think I heard. Call me crazy, but there is no doubt in my mind he said island. Either that's the case or we can blame Kevin Durand and Paul Edwards. If the flash-sidways and the island are coming together, a slip of the tongue would be a good place to start. It doesn't make sense in context and I can see how "island" sounds like "to ya" the way it was said, so there's a decent chance I'm wrong.

Back at the island, Jin is captured by Zoe, the geologist with Widmore, and brought to a station to confirm pockets of electromagnetic anomalies which he signed off on back in his Dharma days. Widmore shows him a picture of Yi Jeon, and Jin breaks down, melting my heart in the process.

Flocke has an interesting talk with Claire. Claire asks Flocke about the names on the wall and learns she and Kate are not on it. Kate is only there to help get the three necessary people off the island. After that happens, Claire has to go ahead from Flocke to do whatever she wants.

At the other camp, Flocke shows up to draw Sun into her circle, but she runs off and crashes into a tree. When she wakes up, she can't speak English, but she knows what is going on and can understand English. Could this be the intersection between their world and the flash-sideways? Even if it's not, Jack has a touching scene on the beach where he tells her to write down what she has to say.

The big reveal of the episode--Desmond in the locked room--came at the end as Sayid approaches the sub by water. Why does Widmore need Desmond? Widmore knows more about Flocke than he's letting on, but how much does he know. It doesn't seem like he cares much about Jacob either.

Along with "What Kate Does," "The Package" was my least favorite episode of the season. Other than the brief action with Mikhail, there was no action and mostly non-twisty dialogue. We are now past the halfway point in the season, and half our questions have not been answered. Is time running out?

Score: 8.8/10

Lost 6x10 - Did Keamy reference the island?

He was mumbling, but I hear him say the word island. I swear I'm not deaf.

Here's what I heard: "I'm going to strap you in here...just in case you figure out what's about to happen at the island. I can't have you freaking out."

Title of Lost series finale

The title is finally out, and if you don't want to know, immediately stop reading and close the page. It's not a big deal since it's a generic, cookie cutter title anyways.

The title is..."The End." I'm sure there will be essays dedicated to the title, so have at it.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 9 Ab Aeterno

For at least one week, there was no worrying about the flash-sideways, its implications, or any of the other characters. "Ab Aeterno" felt like a reprieve from everything going on, telling a straight story which revealed answers to many large questions and continued the mystery of Jacob and the Man in Black with minor clarifications. Structurally, it was the most different episode on the season and possibly the series. With only two flashes during the entire episode, a huge chunk of the episode was dedicated to telling the story of Richard, a character shrouded in mystery for most of the series, but as we saw in "Dr. Linus," also a character wallowing in past grief.

After a brief introduction by Ilana recounting Jacob telling her that Richard would know what to do and the revelation by Richard that they are in Hell, the story begins on Tenerife, Canary Islands (the place Walt mentioned during his disturbing speech in the Breaking Bad season premiere) in 1867. Richard is now Ricardo, a simple man with a very modest cottage. He returns home to his sick wife and vows to bring help. His wife, Isabella hands him her cross as payment to the doctor. Already, I'm way into the story. Nestor Carbonell was incredible in his authenticity and anguish.

Riding through the pouring rain, Richard arrives at the doctor's house at the dead of night. The doctor, unwilling to ride in the rain, offers to give him medicine--but for a price. Richard's meager living doesn't afford him much, and despite giving him the cross, the doctor tosses it to the ground. Needing the medicine, Richard struggles with the doctor, and in the process, kills him accidentally. He takes the medicine and rides off. Upon his return, Richard finds Isabella dead, and soon thereafter is brought to jail.

He asked the priest for absolution, but there is no redemption for him, or at least for someone with no stature. He is condemned to hanging the next day. An opportunity arises when an Englishman comes looking for an English speaker. Richard jumps on the chance and becomes the property of Magnus Hanso, interestingly, the great grandfather of Alvar Hanso, the founder of the Hanso Foundation.

They set sail, and in a huge storm, Richard peers out into the ocean only to see the Devil, the stature of Tawaret. The Black Rock slams into it, destroying the top portion and answering the question of what happened to it. Richard awakes only to find himself chained to the ship. An officer arrives and starts stabbing people because they'll die anyways. He doesn't make much sense which makes me wonder if he had the disease? Probably not, since the Smoke Monster swoops down and kills everyone, leaving Richard alone and still chained. Isabella shows up to save him from the Devil. They hear sounds of the approaching Smoke Monster and Isabella runs off. Presumably she is killed or taken somewhere.

A man enters the ship and it's none other than the Man in Black played by Titus Welliver. That's where the episode starts becoming interesting. MiB conveniently has a key, and the manipulation begins. He tells Richard he must kill the Devil by stabbing him in the chest, echoing Dogen's words in "Sundown." MiB paints Jacob as the bad guy, and Richard, having being saved by this seemingly nice man who wants to be free, goes along. Richard approaches the foot of the statue, knife drawn, and is immediately taken down by Jacob who isn't Zen-like as we've previously seen him. To show Richard they are not in Hell, he dunks Richard into the ocean several times. I wonder if the writers decided to make Jacob seem like the Devil because he is Lucifer on Supernatural. It seemed like a big coincidence.


Finally, Jacob tells Richard what everything is about. It's his version of the truth, but I'll take it. Using a bottle of wine as an example, Jacob flips it over to show the cork keeping the wine from exiting the bottle. The island severs a similar purpose, keeping Hell/win/MiB from reaching the rest of the world. MiB thinks everyone is corruptible because it is their nature to sin, and Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong. The answer doesn't seem complete, but it scratches the surface of whatever battle has been waging between Jacob and MiB. We learn how Richard became immortal and ageless. Jacob offers him a job as an intermediary, and in return, Richard asks for his wife back and then for his sins to be absolves so he won't go to Hell, both tasks that Jacob cannot grant. His last request, the power to never die, is granted. Richard goes back into the jungle with Richard's white rock to MiB who leaves the door open for Richard to return to him. He also has Isabella's cross which Richard buries.

We go back to the present where Richard is digging up the cross and saying out loud that he changes his mind. Hurley arrives to Richard's dismay with a message from Isabella. They have a final, beautiful scene together where they reaffirm their love for each other. Hurley has one final message: Richard must prevent MiB from leaving the island or they all go to Hell. We know Hurley can see dead people, but could Jacob be playing a trick on both Hurley and Richard by pretending to be Isabella?

The episode ends on a slightly tacky note. Jacob comes to MiB and they talk for a while. It appears that this was the start of the 120+ year battle which ended with MiB killing Jacob. Jacob gives the bottle of wine to MiB who flips it over and smashes it. Along with the slow down and the obvious reference to him escaping the island, the ending wasn't strong at all.

I have an idea about MiB and the Swan. It's random, but hear me out. The Swan was designed to discharge excess electromagnetic thingies and keep it from exploding. In a way, it is similar to the island and MiB. It keeps MiB from leaving. Is there a relationship like the electromagnetism as a physical manifestation of MiB's darkness?

The episode makes you wonder what the series would be like if there were no flashing of any sort. The episode worked brilliantly to spin a tale of love and redemption that spanned across time. "Ab Aeterno" will be a Lost episode that will be remembered. The writers proved themselves to be capable of writing an interesting plot without too many fantasy elements, so I think a similar show without the flashes could have worked almost as well. Enough with the speculation. "Ab Aeterno" was amazing and my favorite episode of the season.

Score: 9.8/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 8 Recon

We're one episode away from the halfway point of the season, and we still have no more information about the flash-sideways. At some point during the season whether it is the next episode or the last, we'll learn why the flash-sideways are significant. On a rewatch, I'm sure everything will make perfect sense, but since the audience is watching new episodes week to week, I'm not convinced the writers are making the right decision. This is the final season and we're expecting something grand and expansive that completely demolishes the flashbacks and flashforwards as legitimate ways of flashes. Instead the flash-sideways works much like the flashbacks did, reflecting on the characters without revealing any new information. In a way, it does retread on what we already know. Despite this, I enjoy the way the writers are using the flash-sideways.

There is a pattern emerging through each episode, but there are thousands of explanations and theories floating around the internet--none definite and none without shortfalls. In a majority of the flash-sideways, the characters are in different places than before and have different relationships. However, they are still unmistakably the same people. Jack is yearning for something he can't have though to a lesser degree, Sayid has those violent tendencies, and Kate is still annoying. From there, the writers use the characters in Los Angeles to mirror the events on the island, showing that it's not the circumstances that determine what happens. This puts the emphasis on the characters, and since the characters are so good for the most part, the flash-sideways work well.

The flash-sideways begins much like the episode "Confidence Man." Sawyer is in bed with a woman, and before leaving for a meeting, loses hold of a suitcase, revealing the money he was about to steal. Again, the differences of the flash-forward are there. The side of the bed they are on is flipped, the woman is brunette, not blonde. After that, everything changes. The woman pulls out a gun, knowing that Sawyer is pulling a scam on her. Sawyer, still the ever so charismatic sweet talker, tells her to put the gun down, because there are police outside. Another part of the scam, right? No! It's Detective James Ford! The police swarm in as Miles comes in and gives him his badge. Back at the police stations, Sawyer makes a call looking for Anthony Cooper AKA original Sawyer AKA Locke's dad. It looks like Sawyer's issues are still intact. Although he's a detective now, Sawyer's dark past and it's outcome remains a crucial part of his being. This is another example of the flash-sideways shuffling jobs, but keeping the core of the character.

Miles has a date for Sawyer, and it's Charlotte! It's nice to know that the Widmore hires are sticking together in the flash-sideways. The problem with reading spoilers is that I already knew Rebecca Mader was coming back tonight, so I probably wasn't as shocked as some people. The date goes very well, and quickly they are in bed together. Afterwards, Charlotte requests for a shirt, and goes digging around in the cabinet. Call me a cynic, but she was poking around a little too much for comfort--much like she was hired to find the island. Charlotte finds a file with news clippings of Sawyer losing his parents, and he kicks her out after seeing her with the file.

Is it me or did Miles in the flash-sideways seem to have a stick up his ass? Ok, James lied about going to Palm Springs. He really went to Australia. Big deal. People are allowed to have secrets, but Miles goes ballistic and says they aren't partners anymore.

After watching bit of Little House on the Prairie, Sawyer learns the lesson of living life without feeling afraid and shows up at Charlotte's apartment with a flower. It's too late; the bridge has been burned and Charlotte closes the door.

Sawyer and Miles sit in a car together. Rather than spilling his soul to Charlotte, Sawyer chooses to reveal everything to Miles (there's already one new SawyerxMiles story on fanfiction.com). Before they go any further, a car slams into them and someone gets out running. It was pretty obvious who it would be, so I wasn't too surprised it was Kate.

Sawyer's flash-sideways was weaker than Ben's and Sayid's though stronger than Kate's. Other than Charlotte coming back and Sawyer and Miles as cops, there's wasn't much else. If wish we could have seen Sawyer do more police work after the initial bust.

On the island, Sawyer is sent by Locke to the Hydra Station to find the people on the plane and learn as much about them. Locke sounded ominously like Ben did when Oceanic Flight 851 crashed. "Recon" largely set up for the impending conflict, so there wasn't too much happening. There seemed to be an abnormally large number of callbacks. At the Hydra, Sawyer finds the dress Kate was wearing when they first did it. I thought that book had been closed, but maybe not.

Sawyer finds the plane, and supplies strewn all other the place. He follows a trail and finds a rotting pile of bodies. They don't look too severely hurt, except for the fact that they are dead. A woman named Zoe comes out of the brush. She seems genuinely scared, and Sawyer goes with her until they reach the beach. Sawyer pulls a gun on her, but in a reversal of what happened in the flash-sideways, several men pop up with guns trained on him. They take him to the docks where the submarine is waiting, passing men erecting those darn sonic fences. Sawyer climbs in, noticng a locked compartment along the way, and meets with Widmore.

Here’s where Sawyer’s conman charm kicks in. He says he will lure Locke to him, so Widmore can snatch him. Under this pretense, Widmore lets him go. Sawyer arrives back on the beach, and his sly, tricky mind has a plan to turn the island upside down. He tells Flocke what he told Widmore. While the advantage is now on Flocke's side, Sawyer doesn't really care. He tells Kate that they'll take the submarine and leave the island. Small problem: how will they pilot the submarine? It's probably easier for a newbie to pilot a submarine than a plane, but it's still impossible without instructions.

Sawyer was the focus of the episode, but what went on between Kate and Locke was far more revealing. Claire attacks Kate after finally comprehending what happened. Flocke pulls Claire away, slapping the sense back into her. Kate is upset the entire episode and cries a lot. I can't blame her since the whole reason why she came back to the island just got ruined. At least she not off running around in the jungle being stupid.

The greatest revelation of the episode came a bit past halfway into the episode. Flocke and Kate are at the beach, and Flocke begins to tell of his origins before he became what he is now. His mother was crazy, and Flocke had "growing pains" and "problems" he continues to work through. You mean the urge to kill people? Locke tells Kate that Aaron has a crazy mother too. He has to be referring to Claire, but what does that have to do with anything? Aaron isn't with Claire right now. And why does Widmore oppose the Smoke Monster? I'm confused as hell.

I wasn't as entranced by the flash-sideways as I was with the previous two episodes. Sawyer is great character to work with, so I was kind of disappointed with the result.The episode was still very solid with great acting by everyone. I think I've resigned myself to not worrying how the flash-sideways relates. It'll make sense in the end, and the stories aren't bad at all.

Score: 9.0/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 7 Dr. Linus

Ben has always been a unique character, lying at every turn, backstabbing people left and right. Michael Emerson has played his character with the tenacity and creepiness that makes Benjamin Linus such an amazing character. Since Season 5, Ben has been an outcast of sorts, crushed by the death of his daughter and not being in control anymore. His power, directly related to the appearance of great power and knowledge, has dissipated along with the mysteries of the island he understands. There are many aspects of the island he has no clue about, and without the ability to harness that knowledge, he appears incapable and useless which is his true self. His transition a character has been slow, but in the final season, his road to redemption has been started.

Along with Ben's decrease in mystique and stature is a decrease in the action he can produce. There's no longer those spectacular twists where Ben does something unexpected or sets the Others upon the islanders. From Ben's story, there was hardly any action or any real tension until the end. That's not to say the episode was bad in any regard; Ben used to reliably be the foremost character for twists and head-spinning.

Ben meets up with Ilana and the others running through the jungle. Ilana has Miles do his magic on Jacob's ashes, and somehow, he is able to divine that Ben killed Jacob. We've never had a clear indication of what Miles's power was, but his ability to recover memories from ashes puts a new spin on things. His ability is completely metaphysical and doesn't come from latent electrical impulses from the body. It also calls into question where Jacob is. Is Jacob in the ashes? How else could Miles know from essentially dust? Is Jacob's presence on the island confined only to his physical remains?

Ilana, angered, chains Ben to a tree once they get to the beach. She explains that Jacob was like a father to her. We know so little about her, so a bone here and there is welcome. She has Ben dig a grave for himself. One of the big problems I had with the sequence was a lack of reason for Ilana to wait for Ben to dig a grave. It seemed the writers were more intent on providing the visual of Ben digging his grave than anything beyond that. Flocke shows up, and unshackles Ben, giving Ben an opportunity.. Flocke offers Ben leadership of the island after he and his groupies leave. All he has to do is run away and take the gun. Ben chooses to run, and Ilana gives pursuit. Ben ends up with Ilana at gunpoint.

I don't have enough praise for Michael Emerson for what happens next. Ben gives a convincing and moving speech of Jacob's betrayal, the death of Alex, and diffuses the situation. Ilana understands and offers to have Ben. Ben goes back to the camp, and they accept him for who he is. Ben has rejected FLocke, and adds to the ranks of those opposing Flocke. Is anyone expecting a tragic end to this reformed man?

The flash-sideways is perhaps the most problematic thread this season, because there is no clear definition of what it is.The flashbacks and flashforwards were known and directly related to the present. These flash-sideways, however, seem to be in completely different universe. There's a group of characters we've been following for 5 seasons, and this season, a new group, similar but not the same, appears. Which group do we care more about? The ones most familiar of course. The writers are fine using the flash-sideways to comment on the island and the characters. The events in the flash-sideways often end as they do on the island, but in very different circumstances. This allows us to see the characters both on the island and in another setting where their personalities and traits win out. There are separate narratives, but clearly one more prominent. It seems unnecessary, and until we know what's going on, the weight of the flash-sideways is diminished.

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have said that the flash-sideways is related to the island. The biggest indication of the relationship to date was Ben talking with his father about what might have happened if they hadn't left the island. It still doesn't shed that much light on the situation, and the incremental build-up each week does little to clarify what's going on. Again, there's those differences between the characters. Ben has a good relationship with his father, and isn't off killing anyone. Looking back on the season, everything will probably make more sense. I'm still looking for the gamechanger that will reveal everything.

In the flash-sideways, Ben has a PhD in European History, but settles for teaching high school for no stated reason. Alex is his prized student, and she is eager to learn more from him. The principle is a douche, so the Ben we knew slowly comes out. Interestingly, it is Locke who sets Ben down the path by suggesting he become the principle. Arzt gets some sordid emails of the principal, and Ben is prepared to take him down. Unfortunately, the principal also has to write Alex's letter of recommendation, and leverages this against Ben. Like on the island, Ben has a difficult choice. He can attain the power he's always wanted, or he can settle for friends and acceptance. And like on the island, Ben chooses to keep his humanity over power.

The huge twist in the end--Charles Widmore on a submarine--brings up many questions. Where exactly does Widmore fit in to Jacob vs. Smokey? We know Ben wrested power from Charles which is why he's been trying to find the island, but that was before we knew about Jacob or Smokey. I have difficulty believing Lost will end up being as simple as good vs. evil or choosing one side. When Jacob popped up two weeks ago to direct Hurley to guide someone in, he was mum in the end about if he really wanted someone to come. Would Jacob want Widmore to go to the island?

Richard all but confirms he was from the Black Rock. Jacob has kept Richard alive for all this time, but never told him anything. Now that Jacob is dead, Richard feels useless and betrayed, vowing to kill himself. Jack lights fuse to the dynamite, but it goes out, showing them that they can't die. Similarly to all those other times dynamite was carried around there was no way the dynamite would explode. Richard, who was once seen as all-knowing, is in the dark along with everyone else. His reliance on Jacob for the eternal answers to everything can only get him so far.

The episode wasn't as action-packed as hope, but it's a Ben episode. There's no way a Ben episode can't be good. Ben, changed as he is, is still as captivating as ever. We've nearing the halfway mark of the season, and the story still hasn't picked up much, but maybe the arrival of Widmore will change that.

Score: 9.2/10

Lost 6x06 - Sayid and Dogen fight

First big fight of the season.

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 6 Sundown

Wow. So much happened in the last 5 minutes, the rest of the episode almost seems irrelevant, and it was brilliant. Lost is always topping itself, and with an episode as good as "Sundown," I couldn't care if there were zero answers or a hundred answers.

The duality of this season allowed this explore Sayid in both the flash-sideways and on the island, simultaneously showing the darkness inside of Sayid and the impossibility of redemption in both situations which were pointedly different from each other. Naveen Andrews again showed off his acting skills, and really did a great job on all fronts. I've been tepid with this whole concept thus far, but with the exploration of Jack last week and Sayid this week, I'm warming to the idea even if there is no indication whatsoever if there is some connection. The writers can take certain themes, and enhance them by showing them from two angles which can dramatically improve the episode. Instead of one story on the island which is also part of the bigger story, the flash-sideways story doesn't have the pretense of the big picture, but the themes are identical. I still want to see a real connection, but if this is all we're going to get for the next couple episodes, I'll live.

Sayid confronts Dogen, and learns that the shock machine measures good and evil. In Sayid's case, it tipped towards evil. Dogen attacks Sayid, and they have a lengthy fight ending with Dogen telling Sayid to leave after a rather awkward shot of a baseball falling on the ground. Claire arrives, telling Dogen to go outside to meet Flocke. It's obviously a trap, so Dogen has a task for Sayid. He is to find the person who is supposed to be dead, and stab a knife into him. Sayid does so, stabbing Flocke squarely in the chest, but nothing happens. Somehow, Flocke doesn't even get hurt from a knife while Jacob dies. I keep thinking Jacob is still alive, because he died so easily and didn't put up a struggle. It makes no sense that he wouldn't have any defenses.

Flocke's seductive powers draw Sayid in. First, he tells Sayid that Dogen knew the knife would do nothing, and Flocke would kill Sayid, thus completing what he and Jack couldn't do. Sayid still doesn't care, but Flocke ups the ante. He offers to bring back to only thing Sayid ever cared about: Nadia. This begins Sayid's journey to the dark side. Out of selfishness, he is willing to sacrifice anyone to get her back. At this point, Sayid doesn't even care if Flocke can do it or not. It's not like he has anything better to do.

Sayid returns to the Temple, and dutifully carries out the dastardly deed. First he warns everyone to leave before sundown of be killed, and then he kills Dogen and Lennon. Before this, we learn the deal with Dogen. He used to pick up his son from baseball practice every week, and got into a car crash after drinking too much. Jacob offered to save his son as long as Dogen went to the island and never came back. It's very similar to what Flocke offered Sayid. Bring back a love one in exchange for subservience.

What I don't get is how the infection plays into this. Does the infection bring out Sayid's evil, or does it make him evil? Was Claire evil? Is Sayid acting on his own accord?

Dogen was like the last barrier to the Temple, and Smokey floods in, killing Others left and right. It seems like the end of the Others in the Temple. I'm hoping Dogen will come back, because Hiroyuki Sanada portrays his character so well, and because it feels like his story is unfinished. Sayid comes out, and finds Flocke with a bunch of followers. They look like Others, but where did they come from?

Ilana, Sun, and Lapidus come in and with Miles, hide in a hidden thing in the wall which Ilana discovered by pushing on the shapes on the wall. Who the hell is Ilana? How does she know everything?

Kate learns that Claire is there, and forces Lennon to bring her to Claire.. He tells Claire that she raised Aaron, and Claire is immensely confused. Once she understands, I'm sure she'll go into psycho killer mode. When Smokey comes, Kate rushes to Claire who is very calm. After the assault, Kate gets out and finds all the dead bodies.

Jack and Hurley are still off in the jungle or at the lighthouse, but their absence was noted several times. Would they have made a difference if they were at the Temple? Maybe there's a Captain Planet thing with the candidates.

In the flash-sideways, Sayid comes back from his trip, and opens the door to find Nadia. That's about right with the various discrepancies, but there's an even bigger change. Nadia is married to Sayid's brother, Omar, not Sayid. They share those forlorn looks, and you know they're meant to be together. Sayid even carries Nadya's photo with him. Omar is in trouble with loan sharks, and asks Sayid to use his Republican Guard interrogator skills to solve the problem. Sayid insists he cannot. That part of his life is over, and he can't go back there. Even after Omar ends up in the hospital (the one where Jack works), Sayid doesn't swear vengeance. He goes about his business as usual. Nadya talks to him, and asks why he pushed her towards Omar.

His answer pretty much sums up his character. He's been trying to wash his hands of all the terrible things he's done, but even still, he doesn't deserve her. His bad deeds in the past aren't the only thing he tries to wash away. Sayid's instinct towards evil and violence is ingrained in him as are the memories of what he's done. He doesn't deserve Nadia, because he knows there is part of him, deep inside, that can erupt terribly. Self-reflection by Sayid is so sad, because the burden he puts on himself is not irrational and can't be solved through normal means. He does have those violent tendencies he can't shed.

A few guys show up, and tell Sayid to get in a car. He is brought to a restaurant (why do bad guys always have one?), where he meets none other than Martin Keamy. They start talking, and Sayid reaches a breaking point. He takes out everyone including Keamy, who dies much easier this time around. A noise is coming from somewhere, and Sayid opens the door to find Jin(!) with duct tape on his mouth and stuck to a chair. Last time we saw Jin, he had a boatload of cash. So which side is he on?

Although Sayid's motivation on the island and real world was different, it all goes back to Sayid and his inescapable past. He can't give up on his past. Whatever he may try to do, he goes back to his days in the Republican Guard. His past continues to haunt him on the island and in 2007. When pushed to do something and given the proper reason, he turns to violence.

Looking ahead, Flocke will probably have more difficulty getting another victory as easily. Sayid was compliant with the reward dangling out there. Sawyer doesn't care about anything, but you have to wonder why Flocke doesn't offer to bring back Juliet. He may or may not be able to bring back Nadia, but Sayid bit anyways. With Sayid's betrayal, everyone will be seen with suspicion, so the Others won't make the same mistake.

I was surprised by all the things that were happening. I definitely didn't expect Flocke to take action so quickly and demolish the Temple resistance so fast. Flocke has his followers, Sayid, Claire, Sawyer, and Jin, who probably won't go crazy and start killing people unless Flocke offers to bring Sun back.There was plenty of action with the extended fight scene between Dogen and Sayid and Sayid with Keamy's men. The writers poured on the dark, and created an underhandedly chilling episode.

Score: 9.3/10

Review - Lost Season 6 Episode 5 Lighthouse

There's still 13 episodes left. Don't worry, there will be good stories and answers eventually. That's my hope at least. "Lighthouse" was a great episode for penetrating the character of Jack in a new way, but aside than that, the episode was lacking in all other departments other than humor, which Hurley generously contributed to.

Jacob pops up, like Obi Wan as Hurley puts it, giving Hurley a list of instructions. There's a lot written down, but all we know is that he needs to take Jack to a lighthouse. Jacob tells Hurley that he needs to guide someone to the island. They leave through a secret exit, and make their way to the lighthouse. Hurley knows exactly what's on the mind of the audience and suggests that it is very old school. It's two guys wandering through the jungle, talking about anything. Reinforcing that, they even find their old caves. The bodies dubbed Adam and Eve by Locke make another appearance and Hurley makes a theory about whether it could have been them. Maybe we'll discover the real truth one day. They also see Christian's coffin and Jack explains the significance to Hurley.

At the top of the lighthouse is a mirror, but it isn't a normal mirror as Jack discovers. It's a mirror from hell! Well, not really, but it might as well be, because Jack destroys after seeing what the mirror does. The degrees on the compass correspond with the names in the cave. Like the names on the cave, there are a number of crossed out names. Hurley pulls the so the mirror lands on Jack's names. To Jack's shock, the mirror shows Jack's childhood house, albeit a bit distorted, but the fact remains the same. Jacob has been spying on them since their youth. From the screengrabs I have, I can't find find the name 'Kwon,' but it would stand to reason that Jin is the candidate. Sun's surname was Paik as a child, so if Jacob was spying on all of them as youths and not just Sawyer, Kwon would have to refer to Jin. You also have to wonder why there are two sets of the same numbers and names. The names on the compass are organized and orderly while the names in the cave were all over the place. Did Jacob brainstorm in the cave before writing names on the compass?

Outside, Jacob appears without rhyme or reason to talk to Hurley. Hurley is worried, because the plan failed, but Jacob always knows what to do, and isn't concerned at all. It was all part of his bigger plan. Even when Jack tries to circumvent the devilish plot of Jacob, it still works in Jacob's favor. Jack is more laid back and passive after his failure to save the world, but he quickly sets off with Hurley. He still wants purpose to his life, and take an opportunity, whatever it may be, to do something useful. Becoming the new Jacob would fulfill that. He would be able to fix anyone at anytime with new powers and responsibilities.

I had a weird thought just now that may pass muster. There were references to Alice in Wonderland with the actual book showing up, and the key under the rabbit, so I thought the mirror in a way acts as a looking glass, echoing Alice's sequel Through the Looking-Glass. I know the season 3 finale was already named that, but it wouldn't hurt to revisit that. The mirror acts a looking glass, reflecting images back, exposing what makes people who they are. A simple surveillance device for Jacob seems too simplistic, so maybe it shows what makes people who they are. For Jack, it shows his childhood home which is where he was terrorized by his father and where he developed the need to save people when he can't even save himself. Maybe it shows something different for everyone else. We'll never know. That's my two cents anyways.

Jacob is just doing things and we really don't know what he's doing. Jacob gives cryptic statement after cryptic statement, and he's not only stringing the islanders, but also the viewers. It may make sense later, but Jack and Hurley visiting a lighthouse is pretty weak. We already know about the numbers, and that Jacob was watching them, so what else did we learn? The mirror is shattered, so it's nothing major also. The episode is named "Lighthouse," but who cares about the lighthouse? Not me.

Jack has a son named David who looks like he's in his teens. It's unclear who the mother is, but I don't think Sarah (Julie Bowen's character) fits. She and Jack would have met much earlier, and since she was with someone else when they met, the timeline would be radically changed. I don't think she'll be a new character, so what other options are there? Juliet, Shannon, Libby, Ilanna, or any other female that is Kate, Rose, or Claire. What I don't want to see is constant hinting at the mother; we already have HIMYM.

Jack and David have the father-son problem that runs with the Shephards. They don't communicate, and despite the effort from Jack, David doesn't want anything to do with his father who he sees once a month. Unlike Christian and Jack whose relationship was built on fear, David and Jack don't talk because Jack isn't there. As the season goes on, we may see a closer similarity, but from the Jack we know, he doesn't intimidate kids. He makes a discovery that borders on the ridiculous. He's so disconnected with David's life he has no clue David is an amazing piano player. After David goes missing, he finds a voice message from a conservatory. He arrives and finds David playing beautifully. Jack gives a typical I'll always be proud of you speech and things seem to be good. Dogen shows up with his own son and talks about the pressures the children have.

There was a small hint at how the island and flash-sideways are related. Jack in the flash-sideways sees a scar from getting his appendix removed, and he asks his mother about it. She tells him he got it removed when he was 7, but Jack clearly isn't convinced. On the island, Jack had appendicitis and Juliet removed it. The connection is so direct there has to be significance. But I'm still expecting more. Dropping hints here and there doesn't cut it. It's the final season and with an entirely different story structure, I'd like to know what I'm watching before the end of the season. We knew for certain there were flashbacks, flashforwards, and time jumps, but this is completely different and from the look of things, a lot more complicated.

The best part of the episode was feral Claire and Jin trapped with her. She seems fine at first, taking the trap off Jin, and acting normally for the most part. Jin wakes up in her beaver den (seriously, check out the screengrab), and everything goes wrong. Claire brings in the black Other, ties him up, and demands to know where her baby is. This starts an awesome sequence where Jin is trying to figure out what's going on while Claire threatens to kill the Other. She has a menacing look on her face that changes in an instant when she's dressing Jin's wounds. She's riding on the edge of sanity that Jin saw before with the French, but doesn't realize. To save the Other, Jin blurts out that Kate raised Aaron for three years. Claire kills the Other anyways and moves on to Jin. She asks him why Jin said that about Kate, and Jin smartly says that he lied to save the Other. Kate shows up briefly, and says her goodbye to Jack as her sets off to find Claire. Could this be the last time Jack sees Kate alive? Their scene was awfully long for such a passing instance.

Throughout the episode, Claire references a "friend," and Flocke steps into the camp. Jin recognizes him as Locke, but he's just Claire's "friend." There's even more evidence of the close tie between the Smoke Monster and the disease. Jacob tells Hurley that he can't return to the temple because someone is going there. Presumably, it's Flocke with Sawyer and Claire in tow. Maybe we'll get a showdown next week...and answers too.

Score: 8.9/10

I decided to add pictures this week, so I threw a bunch out there. Here's one more of Hurley's arm with the instructions. Where did he get a pen?