5/14/2009

Lost 5.16 / 5.17 - The Incident: This season of “Lost” has been one of the best (if not the best) in the history of the series. The season finale? Not so much. While we’ve been hearing for weeks that the finale would prove to be a game changer – prompting many to even wonder how the show could go on – I just don’t see how anyone could come to that conclusion. Was tonight’s finale really better than the flash-forward of Season Three? Hardly, and though it may have changed the series more than we think, we still won’t know anything until Season Six starts up in 2010. After all, the show may have ended with a literal bang, but it felt more like a whimper with that fade to white.

Tonight’s episode also had way too much going on for me to even attempt my usual format, so instead, I’ve decided to break my recap down into more general ideas so that I can discuss each one in a little more depth. Hopefully it’s not too difficult to follow along and will make it easier for commenters to address certain topics without having to go into too much detail. I apologize in advance if it does the complete opposite.

1. Jacob – He certainly wasn’t at the top of my list of questions I was eager to see answered, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed by the lack of explanation we received for Jacob. Apart from the fact that we know he has some kind of magical power (including Richard Alpert-like immortality and the ability heal), Jacob remains shrouded in mystery. Oh yeah, and now that Locke’s convinced Ben to kill him, we may never find out who he really is, where he’s from, and how he was able to leave the island so frequently throughout the last 30 years. Which brings me to…

2. Jacob’s Flashbacks – Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have always had fun trying to connect each character to one another, so it was cool to see Jacob pop up throughout the Losties’ history. Even more important, however, was that he seemed to always do so during a crucial moment in their lives. Okay, so I’m not exactly sure what significance paying for a stolen New Kids on the Block lunchbox has for Kate, but the others all made perfect sense. The funeral of Sawyer’s parents; the death of Sayid’s true love; Sun and Jin’s wedding; and the list goes on and on. The most important of the bunch, however, is Locke’s crippling fall from the apartment building. Many people called in to question how someone could possibly survive such a fall around the time that original episode aired, and now we know the answer – Jacob revived him. Which brings me back to my first point: just who the hell is Jacob?

3. Rose, Bernard and Vincent – The writers have been promising all season that we’d eventually get to see what happened to the beloved secondary characters, and as it turns out, they’ve been time jumping with the rest of the survivors all this time. That was pretty much a given, but the fact that they were able to do so without anyone the wiser is pretty impressive. Apparently, they’ve not only decided to retire in a nice beach house since the “flaming arrows three years ago,” but they’ve also become hippies in the process. I could have done without the whole “All We Need Is Love” speech that Bernard delivered, but seeing as this is probably the last time we’ll ever see him or Rose again, it was an admirable send-off for a couple that could have easily been excised from the series after Season Three.

4. The Hydrogen Bomb – We all knew this was going to play a big role in tonight’s finale, and though it didn’t really change as much as some of us might have expected, it was still the most entertaining part of the episode. Everyone had a hand in the execution of getting the bomb from the tunnels to the Swan station – from Sayid’s removal of the plutonium core (thanks Faraday) to Juliet’s last gasp detonation of the bomb. Granted, Jack played the biggest role of all, but I shudder to think what he may have caused by doing so. In fact, Miles was the only person to even question the possibility that Jack could be the cause of the titular incident, and while I don’t think that’s true, he’s done much worse, directly affecting the (potential) deaths of Sayid (who was shot by Roger of all people) and Juliet. Of course, what if Jack’s plan really works and the explosion does negate the Oceanic 815 crash? If the Losties truly are connected and destined to come to the island, won’t it just happen some other way?

5. Jack vs. Sawyer – I’m not certain how many times these two guys have tussled (if anyone’s keeping count, I’d honestly like to know), but tonight’s brawl had to be one of the best. Between his fight with Sawyer and the blood from Sayid’s gunshot wound, Jack looked like he’d just walked out of a horror movie. The guy was drenched in blood, had just gotten his head smashed in by a rock and a tree branch, and yet he still was able to sharp shoot his way through the Dharma defenses at the Swan. Very impressive, Dr. Shephard, but that doesn’t make your death any less inevitable.

6. Juliet’s Death – Juliet, on the other hand, needs to survive, because if she doesn’t, the show will likely slip back into Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle mode, which as we all know, was one of the major reasons why the first half of Season Three sucked. It’s not likely that she will, however, after being getting caught in a chain and pulled into the hole by the electromagnet, but a guy can dream, can’t he? Juliet is easily one of the show’s best characters (you know, like Charlie and Faraday – oh shit), and it would be a shame to see her go, even if there only is one season left.

7. Locke’s Doppelganger – I saved the best for last, despite the fact that I still don’t exactly know how it happened or how it necessarily changes things. All I know is that when Locke was inside the four-toed statue speaking to Jacob, and then Ilyana opened that giant box on the outside to reveal Locke’s dead body to Richard and the rest of the Others, my jaw dropped to the ground like an old Looney Toons cartoon. There are now two John Lockes wandering around the island, and get this, they’re both legit. Jacob congratulated him on finding a loophole, but just what exactly is he talking about? If Locke never returned from the dead like we assumed, how did he get back to the island, and from what time period does he hail? The only possible explanation I can think of is that New Locke is actually the smoke monster in disguise, and that the smoke monster was also Jacob’s “friend” from the beginning when they saw the Black Rock approaching. It’s definitely a theory in progress, but it’s worth thinking about as you construct your own opinions about the episode.

Now begins the long wait to 2010. With the series coming to a close next year, it’ll be interesting to see just what kind of endgame the “Lost” writers have planned. The door is certainly open for a number of possibilities, so feel free to unload any theories (along with any thoughts, comments or complaints about the finale) below. Was tonight’s episode as big of a letdown for you as it was for me, or was it the perfect topper to a near-perfect season?

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5/7/2009

Lost 5.15 - Follow the Leader: Typically, the second-to-last episode of every season of “Lost” has never really been the calm before the storm, but rather the storm before the storm, which makes tonight’s episode difficult to write about. It’s not that it wasn’t good, but that when compared to past seasons, it just wasn’t quite as spectacular. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have always done a great job with getting all of their ducks in a row before the big two-hour finale, but while they’ve done that here again, it was unusually mediocre.

I mean, sure, we now know that Faraday is officially dead, but couldn’t they have at least pretended to try and revive him? I find it hard to believe that a little kid that was shot twice by a trained soldier can be miraculously resurrected hours later, and yet Faraday dies within seconds of being shot once in the back. Perhaps it’s just my disappointment over his death, but for a show that has done a relatively good job with logic, that has got to be one of the most illogical things that has ever happened. Obviously, it had to happen or Eloise would have never agreed to help Jack blow up the island’s electromagnetic power source, but it sucks nonetheless.

Thankfully, the episode had some really cool moments as well, the best of which included the return of Sayid when he popped out of the bushes to save Jack and Kate from a mob of angry Others with guns. Sayid’s been gone in the wild for so many weeks that I nearly forgot he was even absent in the first place, but it’s nice to have him back. And if anyone was going to help Jack detonate Jughead, you can bet your ass it was going to be Sayid. Aside from Jack during the early years, Sayid has been the number one supporter of all things anti-island, so it isn’t at all surprising that he’d jump at the chance for a clean slate. Of course, the chance that it’s actually going to work is pretty doubtful because, well, there’s a whole another season left to go. (Then again, wouldn’t it be brilliant on the part of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof to end the show a year earlier than expected?)

Okay, maybe not, but Sawyer clearly knows that his time is up on the island, and instead of sitting around to wait for the Others to commit Dharma genocide, he’s decided to play things smart by trading information on the Others’ location for his and Juliet’s ticket off the island. Judging by next week’s preview, that isn’t going to last long, and it’ll be curious to see how the other Losties take Sawyer’s selfish decision to save his own skin. At least, Hurley seemed to thing he had a backup plan anyway, but with Dr. Chang rushing to evacuate the island, that should really be the least of his worries. Get on the damn submarine Hugo, and while you’re at it, make sure to grab Jin and Miles too. Lord knows the last thing we need is for another fan favorite to kick the bucket.

I’d be remiss to end things here without any mention of Locke, but his story tonight was sadly little more than a teaser for the finale. There was a lot of talk about Jacob – heck, Locke even invited the rest of the Others to come meet him – but we still don’t know who exactly he is. Ben claims he never actually met him, but there’s no way he doesn’t exist, so what’s the big secret? Whatever it is, Richard is definitely starting to think twice about handing Locke the keys to the leadership. I don’t think he ever thought he was actually capable, but now, Locke plans to murder the one man that gives Richard and the rest of the Others a purpose on the island. In the words of Ben Linus: “Why do you think I tried to kill him?”

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4/30/2009

Lost 5.14 - The Variable: It’s not very often that we welcome back a character the same night we say farewell, but if the end of tonight’s episode is to be believed, Daniel Faraday is no more. To which I say, fuck you Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Killing Charlie was bad enough, but if this death sticks, I’m going to be pretty pissed. Okay, maybe not. It’s kind of hard to stay mad at you when you continue to deliver top-notch episodes like this, but that doesn’t mean I’m not upset. Nevertheless, just like Charlie’s last few episodes at the end of Season Three, Faraday’s last hurrah was one for the ages.

First, we find out that Eloise is Faraday’s mother, and then we find out that Widmore is his father, but honestly, anyone that didn’t see that one coming hasn’t been paying attention these last few years. Still, Faraday’s connection to the island certainly has to be the most interesting of all the characters, and the fact that Eloise willingly sent her son back knowing exactly what was going to happen takes serious guts. Of course, if the Others were able to save Ben Linus from a gunshot wound, what’s to say they won’t be able to do the same for Faraday? It seems plausible, and wouldn’t it explain Faraday’s memory loss in the future/present?

Speaking of which, Faraday’s flashbacks weren’t quite as revelatory as some might have hoped, but it was fun to revisit key moments (like his reaction to the Oceanic 815 recovery footage) knowing more about his journey after those events. The same goes for the opening scene from the season premiere, where we saw Faraday passing Marvin Candle/Dr. Chang in the Swan station, but nothing more. Now we know that Faraday not only spoke with Candle about evacuating the island, but also broke several of his own time travel rules by telling Candle that he’s from the future and that Miles is his son. Candle didn’t seem to buy into either claim, but how could he not? The only Chinese guy on the island with the name Miles? Yeah, it seems like a pretty airtight argument to me too.

Whatever Faraday was expecting Candle to do, he seemed to believe that he was going to do it after their little talk, and let’s hope that he does, because Faraday’s ultimate plan is explosive to say the least. Some of the commenters on this blog were insistent that ‘ol Jughead would rear its head again in the future and, well, they were right. Personally, I completely forgot about the hydrogen bomb between all the time jumping during the middle of the season, but once Faraday mentioned blowing up the Swan’s mysterious power source using the bomb, it suddenly made a lot of sense. Of course, Faraday’s plan doesn’t exactly work under his initial theory that “whatever happens, happens,” but since the Losties currently are experiencing their present, they still have the power to change their future. It’s a pretty cool theory for sure, and it’s really the only way the writers could have gotten out of the hole they conceivably dug themselves into.

Now that Faraday’s dead, though, who will carry out the plan? Jack and Kate are probably stuck in Others territory, Sawyer and Juliet have been outed by Radzinsky, and Hurley and Miles are stuck in the middle of it all. Plus, with three more hours left to go, there’s still more than enough time for a couple of wild cards to be thrown into the mix – namely Locke, Sun and Ben, who will no doubt play a role in all of this before the season is over. Oh yeah, and there’s no way the Losties erase the past by blowing up the Swan. At least, not with an entire season still to go. Can this show really get any better? God I hope so.

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4/16/2009

Lost 5.13 - Some Like It Hoth: First thing’s first: tonight’s episode must had one of the coolest titles in the history of television. It’s exactly this kind of geek humor that makes the “Lost” writing team one of the best in the business. (Check out Will Harris’ interview with executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof for further proof.) In fact, I liked it so much that it wouldn’t have even mattered if it didn’t make any sense in the end, but as it turned out, it did, and suffice it to say that it led to one of the biggest laughs of the night. I thought for sure Hurley was scribbling something in his journal a little more important than a script for “The Empire Strikes Back,” but then again, that’s Hurley for you. His scenes with Miles have helped fill the void ever since the big guy became friends with Sawyer, and though tonight’s episode was all about Miles, it was a great to have Hurley along for the ride.

Along with Faraday, Miles has been one of my favorite characters since his arrival in Season Four, so it was nice to finally get some backstory other than the brief bits we saw in the episode featuring his first appearance. I believe Cuse and Lindelof intended to address Miles’ past at some point last year, but had to cut the story when the season was shortened by the strike. Whatever the reason, it actually worked for the better now that the Losties have travelled back in time. We always knew that his sixth sense was the reason he was recruited by Widmore, and some of us have even had the hunch that Marvin Candle (or Pierre Chang) was his father when it was suggested that he had previously visited the island, but I don’t think anyone realized that Miles knew as well.

As it turns out, he’s known ever since his third day as a member of the Dharma Initiative when he spotted his mother in the lunch line at the cafeteria. (At least he didn’t hit on her à la “Back to the Future.”). Heck, he even saw himself as a baby later on, which begs to ask the question: is Miles’ special ability a product of his time on the island or is it just sheer coincidence? I don’t think we’re going to find out the answer to that just yet, but one thing we do know is that Miles is adamant about not wanting to meet his father. He’s more or less forced to, though, when Horace gives him a special assignment to deliver a package (read: dead body) to Candle at the Swan station.

It’s there that we learn that Candle really is Miles’ father (“Dude, that guy’s a total douche.” “That douche is my dad.”), so leave it Hurley to try and help Candle make the connection while pretending to ask questions about his family nonchalantly. Candle didn’t bite, but he does seem to trust Miles more after their day together (which included a stop off at a mysterious location that happens to be the future site of the hatch, numbers and all), and he even requested his company on the way to pick up some scientists from the submarine. Of course, when Faraday walks off that very submarine seconds later, it’s hard to care about anything that happened in the 59 minutes prior to that. What has everyone’s favorite physicist been up to this whole time? Or perhaps more importantly, where? My money is on his being at Oxford doing his time travel thing, but if that’s the case, why wouldn’t he remember his past with Dharma before?

On an unrelated note, there were a couple of other interesting bits in tonight’s episode that are certainly worth mentioning. For starters, the Egyptian lesson on the blackboard that Jack was cleaning is probably worth mining for info. Bonus points to anyone who can post answers in the comment section below. The other item had to do with Miles’ drive-by kidnapping during the final flashback sequence, where he was warned by a group of guys to stay away from Widmore’s freighter. The interesting part of this exchange is that the leader of the group, Bram, is the same guy who has just taken control of the present day island with Ilana, the one person who didn’t appear phased during the second plane crash. Could Ben be planning a takeover? And if so, is it Locke he’s after, or Richard?

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4/9/2009

Lost 5.12 - Dead Is Dead: Ever since his introduction in Season Two, Ben Linus has fast become one of the most compelling characters on “Lost,” so it isn’t much of a surprise that tonight’s episode was one of the best of the year. While much of the allure of this season is due to the recent boost in science fiction-heavy fare like time travel, the last few weeks have really emphasized the strong relationships between the people on the island. And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that Ben has some of the most fascinating relationships of them all. Oh yeah, and Michael Emerson deserves an Emmy nomination.

Ben’s ongoing feud with Charles Widmore has made for some great moments in the past, but it was nice to finally see how that feud came to fruition. Both men have always been viewed as villains, but based on the flashbacks from tonight, it’s clear that Widmore is the worst of the two. He didn’t seem to have any logical reason for wanting Rousseau and her baby dead other than the fact that they were outsiders, but Ben’s decision to stand up to Widmore and protect baby Alex showed a side of him that we always knew was there but rarely saw. Of course, that was before Ben became the monster he is today, but it was apparently enough to prove to Richard that he was worthy of taking over leadership after Widmore was booted off the island for breaking the rules.

One of those rules was having a child with an outsider, and as we all know, that child grew up to be Penny. What we didn’t know, however, was what had come of Penny now that Ben had left the island. Many seemed to believe that his brutal beating was a result of killing Penny on her boat (after all, he made that call to Jack from a dock), but as it turns out, that wasn’t it at all. Well, not exactly, anyway. It turns out Ben did intend on killing Penny (he even shot Desmond in the shoulder for trying to interfere), but the minute he saw Penny’s son, he decided against it. Of course, that didn’t stop Desmond from beating him to a pulp, but like I said before, it just goes to show that Ben isn’t nearly as bad of a guy as people once believed him to be.

In fact, now that he’s back on the island, Ben has thrown himself at the mercy of the powers that be to be judged for breaking the rules, and in order to do that, he has to make an appointment with the smoke monster. There are a few obstacles standing in his way – like Caesar, who believes Ben is being taken to the main island by Locke against his will – but he takes care of that situation rather swiftly when he blows Caesar away with a sawed-off shotgun. Surely that deducts a few karma points with old Smokey, no? Then again, maybe not, because even Locke is prepared to put the past behind him as long as he gets an apology.

Second maybe only to Sawyer and Hurley, the relationship between those two is one of the best things about the show. Not only are they formidable opponents, but their scenes together often result in quite a bit of comedy – like when Locke first addressed his rebirth (“Well Ben, I was hoping we could talk about the elephant in the room.” “I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you.”) or when Ben tried to summon the smoke monster (“It’s not a train, John. It doesn’t run on a schedule.”). That does bring up a good question about why the monster attacked the mercenaries so quickly, and yet failed to show itself to Ben, but my guess is that it wanted some privacy, because if Sun and Locke had also been present, there’s no way it could have assumed the form of Alex and scared the living shit out of him in quite the same way.

On a related note, the idea that the island is somehow tied to Egyptian mysticism seems to have been all but confirmed by the hieroglyphic on the wall depicting the smoke monster (not to mention the many other clues scattered throughout this season), but if that’s the case, then I think I’m more lost than I originally thought. It certainly makes sense for Richard Alpert’s character (he kind of reminds me of an Egyptian pharaoh, and it would at least explain the eyeliner), but I’m still having trouble with how that would exactly fit in with the rest of the story. I mean, what exactly does Egypt have to do with electromagnetism and an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

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