After three quieter, character building episodes in “House of the Rising Sun“, “The Moth” and “Confidence Man“, “Solitary” ups the ante by introducing key elements that would continue throughout the season, as well as the series.

Let’s start with the lighter stuff first.

Fore Eight Fifteen Sixteen Twenty-Three Forty-Two
How awesome was building the golf course? Now that we know what happened to Hurley after the finale (no spoilers), one wonders how the Island turned out after the events in a finale. Maybe they had a full-sized Disneyland!

Hurley and Charlie

Udders Udders! (I can make fun of Jin’s pronunciation because I’m Asian so it’s not racist)
Seriously though, this episode marks our first real confirmation that there are other people on the Island in the forms of Ethan and Danielle Rousseau, and a lot of the groundwork is laid, or at least introduced, for some big mythological aspects of the series like the Black Rock, Whispers and the Sickness. Most of these questions are answered eventually, some as late as Season Six, and it’s nice to think about it and realise they’ve been planted right at the beginning of the series.

The French Science Team
Why did the French team land on the Island? We’re told when Danielle meets Hurley that they were investigating the source of the Numbers being transmitted, but does it go further than that? Is Danielle, or other members of the Science Team, a Candidate? Lostpedia says #20 on the Lighthouse wheel is “Rousseau” but we’ll never for sure if it’s Danielle. If it is, did Jacob bring her to the Island? Were the other five members mere sacrifices? Why did the Man In Black and the Others leave her alone on the Island for 16 years? Not big enough questions to be a “Mystery”, but interesting to bring up nonetheless.

If anything in this episode was a letdown, it was the Flashbacks. They weren’t bad per se and I suppose it was essential to provide this layer of depth to Sayid’s character in the show, but arguably it doesn’t do much, at least not as much as his second Flashback, I don’t think.

Season One Rankings

1. Walkabout
2. White Rabbit
3. Pilot
4. Confidence Man
5. Solitary
6. The Moth
7. House Of The Rising Sun
8. Tabula Rasa

I’m not really sure “Solitary“, “Confidence Man” and “The Moth” are actually distinguishable from each other in terms of quality. They each bring a different tone to the show, but are pretty good episodes in their individual ways. “Solitary” is one of those episodes in which the on-Island action far overshadows the Flashbacks and the mythology introduced in this episode really keeps it riveting. I particularly loved the sequence at the end when Sayid hears the Whispers for the first time. Easily as spooky as when Jack sees Ghost Christian.

I absolutely love “Walkabout“. I think the big twist at the end of this episode (and what happens in the next episode with Jack chasing his dead father around the Island) was what really got me to sit up and take notice of LOST. The episode opens so innocently with Locke putting on his shoes and getting to his feet, but that’s soon to change.

Locke

This is the episode where we discover boars on the Island and Jack makes the decision to burn the fuselage and the bodies inside instead of burying them saying “any bodies we bury are not going to be buried for long” – how true that would turn out to be!

Introducing.. John Locke
This is Locke’s first episode, where we are introduced to a pathetic man playing at being a colonel during his lunch hours, calling chat lines at $89.95 an hour and desperately looking for meaning and purpose. Although we see Locke becoming a much more confident character as the series progresses, in the end we know he dies as he lived – a pathetic man. This makes his origin all the more sadder.

Jack also sees Christian for the first time, though the full effects won’t be revealed until “White Rabbit” but it certainly acts as a hook for the next episode.

Kate, thinking Locke got killed by the Monster says “Locke’s gone. It was going in his direction” – and of course eventually we learn that the Man in Black was going in Locke’s direction all along.

I think the episode is even better because although the main focus is on John Locke and the huge reveal that he’s in a wheelchair at the end, there is quite a bit of character development here as well between Michael and Walt, Michael and Sun, Hurley and Charlie going fishing, Boone and Shannon and Jack and Rose.

Mystery One
Locke encounters the Monster and he tells Jack later that what he saw was “beautiful”. Well from our experiences looking at Smokey, he certainly is anything but “beautiful”, so what exactly did Locke see?

Season One Rankings

1. Walkabout
2. Pilot
3. Tabula Rasa

“Walkabout” was truly a jaw-dropping episode that stands the test of time even six seasons later. Brilliant writing to introduce us to one of the best characters on LOST and perhaps television history.

Ahh what a “treat”, a Kate-centric episode firmly wedged between brilliant episodes like “Pilot“, “Walkabout” and “White Rabbit“.

Continuing The Polar Bear Party
Here’s the beginning of a theme that would frustrate many watching the show: the Losties not telling each other what happens on their various trips throughout the jungle, specifically Danielle Rousseau’s transmission and the polar bears.

Convict Kate
We get our first Flashback of Kate in Australia in the farm of Ray Mullen, who eventually gives Kate up to Ed Mars for a promised bounty of $23,000. He says he sees her wanted poster in a post office but you have to wonder, if Jacob has been watching our Losties – his Candidates – his whole life, would he have had an agent in play to push Ray Mullen to recognise Kate when he did and engineer her arrest?

Waaaaalt Is Speeecial
It’s not explicitly said but the scene definitely plays out for the audience to believe Walt somehow had an influence on the rain stopping. Later in the series we see Walt being able to “summon” birds both in a future episode and in one of the mobisodes, but we never really get an answer to what he can do. Bummer.

RIP, Ed Mars
The rest of the episode revolves around the Marshall, Edward Mars getting worse and thoughts of putting him out of his misery. The one thing I didn’t like about the scene was how everyone felt they needed a gun to do the job, especially when Edward Mars himself tried to strangle Kate. Eventually, after Sawyer wastes a bullet and fails to kill him, Jack finishes the job seemingly by strangulation anyway.

Tabula Rasa
Jack says “It doesn’t matter who we were, what we did before the crash. We should all be able to start over” and we realise later, in many episodes but cumulating in “What They Died For“, that that’s exactly what Jacob brought them there to do.

I loved the finale montage with the Losties and Hurley on his headphones. Good times. What’s interesting is the slightly dark note that the episode ends on, with Locke looking at Walt with an omnious look on his face. Oh how true that would come to be. Watch this from 3:10 and notice in particular how the music changes when the camera pans on Locke.

Season One Rankings

1. Pilot
2. Tabula Rasa

No surprise here, “Tabula Rasa” didn’t quite live up to the “Pilot” and will continue to be overshadowed by many other episodes in Season One.

I’m beginning on my LOST re-watch and I haven’t decided if I really want to write something for every episode, and if I want to post that here. Nevertheless, the Pilot is such an iconic episode, how could I not post thoughts on it?

The purpose of the re-watch is part nostalgic, part to look back and see how the show looks in hindsight now that it’s complete, and part to see which mysteries were left hanging even after the ending. I was and still am happy with the ending of LOST, but I also loved the greater mythology of the series and want to see which questions and mysteries were left unanswered, and if those unanswered questions matter in the greater scheme of things.

Again, remember I’m posting this with the end of the series fully in mind, so there will be spoilers for the subsequent episodes and seasons.

The Opening Sequence
At just about 20 minutes, this is perhaps one of the longest, uninterrupted sequences LOST has as a series before the Flashbacks, Flash Forwards, Time Flashes and Flash Sideways began. The now iconic scene of Jack waking up in the bamboo is even more poignant because we know that’s where he’s going to die. Right here, mystery one for the episode appears (more on that in an instant).

We see the tennis shoe which was also in place and worn out at the end of the series and Jack makes his way to the Oceanic 815 plane crash, going into full-on Hero mode and saving the first of many poor victims who would become pinned under something heavy. Michael Giacchino’s music really adds to the tension here and Boone’s tragic character is defined in his first scene in the show – destined to be a sidekick.

There was a twinge of nostalgia when the “starring” credits came on and it hits home how far the series has gone from Season One to Season Six, and how many of our characters/actors we’ve lost (and gained) along the way with Walt, Michael, Charlie, Boone and Shannon.

Soon enough we see glimpses into things to come: Charlie inscribes “fate” on his hand, a theme that runs through most of the series, Hurley gives out food just like he would in Dharmaville in 1977, Jin and Sun’s tense relationship that would evolve, given a second chance on the Island, and Kate saying “if you’re thinking of looking for the cockpit I’m going with you”, beginning the many scenes in which she tags along like baggage.

Interestingly she also says “I saw some smoke just through the valley” but when we finally reach the cockpit it wasn’t on fire (granted, it was raining), but one wonders if she saw Smokey instead.

Locke – A walking Sunkist advertisement

One of my favourite shots of the entire series.

The Cockpit Sequence
This was such a horror-esque sequence and even though I’ve watched Pilot Part One at least four times, it still keeps me on the edge of my seat! It’s raining by the time Jack, Kate and Charlie reach the plane, and of course in LOST, rain is rarely a good thing.

Seth Norris, the pilot (played by Greg Grunberg) gets killed by Smokey and we have to wonder why this happened. Why Seth Norris? The most likely reason I can think of is Seth wasn’t a Candidate. He filled for Frank Lapidus as pilot at the last minute, so it could well be that he was never meant to land on the Island. Would this be something within Jacob’s control? One wonders.

We then have the first of many “run through the jungle” sequences and as soon as the Smoke Monster leaves, the rain stops and all is seemingly well again. The episode ends with Jack, Kate and Charlie looking up and the bloodied, mangled body of Seth Norris up in a tree.

So from Pilot Part One, I have three Mysteries that are still unanswered by the end of the series.

Mystery One
This is the big one – what happened in the LOST Mobisode “So It Begins“? If you didn’t watch the episode, which is considered canon, here it is:

I remember watching this Mobisode and I was so freaking excited because it seemed like Christian Shepard had a big role in the series. Now that we know from Season Six that Christian’s body was used by the Man In Black the way he used John Locke’s, what does this scene mean? Why would the Man In Black (if it is indeed him), refer to Jack as his son? Why would Vincent be friendly with the Man In Black? And what “work” did Jack have to do for the Man In Black, since arguably all the work Jack did on the Island was for Jacob? Big questions.

Mystery Two
What happens to Cindy? Not just in the series, but what happens to her from the time she gets taken from the Tallies in Season two, to being at Richard’s camp talking to Locke, to being in the Temple with Dogen? How integrated was she into the Others, together with Zach and Emma?

Mystery Three
What’s with Smokey and water? In Season Six he seems to confess to Sawyer that he can’t go all “Smokey” over water, and when Jack pushes him into the water when they’re getting onto the submarine in “The Candidate” he certainly seems like he’s restricted to his Locke form, but in the Cockpit Sequence he clearly can go all Smokey on Seth Norris. So what exactly is his connection to water?

That’s it for Pilot Part One. Pilot Part Two coming up in just a few days…

Wow. What an ending. First, I have to say that I got it wrong on my pre-finale LOST thoughts. I made the mistake of thinking about the finale in terms of the mythology – about who will die for who, who will sacrifice for who and how the Man In Black will eventually meet his demise. The finale reminded us that from the beginning LOST has been about our beloved Losties and their journey moreso than the greater mythology, and ultimately what we got was an ending that made sense for our characters, and that’s what matters. Does that mean there are no quibble points? Not at all, but at least for me, they pale in comparison to how the series stands.

I don’t want to make this another two thousand word post and really, words aren’t enough to describe the finale (or the series) at this point so I’ll make this as tight as I can instead of taking an in-depth look like I usually do.

Island Action
First, it’s great that this show can still surprise me. As I wrote in the pre-finale thoughts, all our characters have been accounted for, so who rescued Desmond? Well of course it was Vincent, Rose and Bernard. First surprise of the night.

I loved the two Star Wars references in the space of a minute. Jacob being “worse than Yoda” and Hurley saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”.

Non-surprises were great too. From the minute Jin told Sun in the Flash Sideways that a doctor was coming, I knew immediately it was Juliet (remember I was covering the credits), and it was great to see her again. That meant we knew the “coffee” scene was going to come up, and though the writers teased us with this, we finally got it even though we knew it was coming, and it was amazing.

Second surprise of the night: Frank being alive! I honestly thought he was dead.

When Jack meets the Man In Black and talks about killing him, what tension! I think this is definitely one of their better scenes together to date. Great fight scene too.

Desmond finally comes into play in a little bit of a disappointing way, for me. Ultimately, his fate from pushing the button and being brought back to the Island was to unplug the Light? Was that Jacob’s intention as well? If Jack and the Candidates failed, to use Desmond to destroy the Island, taking Smokey along with it? And of course, even the finale had to raise more questions, like who was the skeleton that Desmond saw when he was looking for the Light? Also, Mother told Jacob that going down the Light would be a fate worse than death. Didn’t look too bad for Desmond and Jack.

We see that after Desmond unplugs the Light, the mystical force protecting the Man In Black is gone. At first I thought it was because Jacob was gone and so Mother’s particular rule about hurting each other was over. But as the series went on and Kate shot MIB, it seemed more likely to coincide with the Light going on. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy that Kate was the one who shot MIB and that Jack didn’t win the fight by himself, but oh well, one of those things. I think there will be some speculation as to why Smokey couldn’t turn into Smokey, for me, I think it might have been the rain. We know water seemed to be a weakness and it was storming heavily as the fight was going on, perhaps that’s why he could take his smoke form.

Jack now has to go back to plug the Light in again and Hurley goes with him. I did think it weird that the writers made a point of Hurley saying “glad it’s not me” in the previous episode when Jack became the Island Protector but didn’t blog about it, now it seems like such an obvious hint. One thing I did call right was that Jack was going to be the Island Protector for less than a day. He had completed his transformation and his purpose on the Island, culminating in his death, and now Hurley takes over.

Hurley becomes the new Jacob and Ben becomes the new Richard (nice touch). Miles, Frank, Richard, Sawyer, Kate and Claire manage to get off the Island and there’s effectively where the Island story ends. We don’t know what Miles does with his diamonds, how old Richard lives to, who takes care of Aaron and what happens to Sawyer and his daughter. But ultimately, does it matter? No. Because of the Flash Sideways.

Flash Sideways
I – and many LOST reviewers – have been saying this throughout the season: the Flash Sideways really need to have an impact to convince us all that it was worth spending precious minutes on them in the final season of the series. Minutes that could have been better spent on the Island with our Losties. Or so we thought.

I loved Everybody Loves Hugo because it showed us the potential the Flash Sideways had. And I think it’s fair to say all that dormant potential that had been bubbling under for 16 episodes (well, 14, minus Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea) was paid off in full, and then some.

We finally realise that the Flash Sideways did exist to be like a “purgatory” – which our Losties had made for each other to hang on until they were ready to move towards The Light. To Let Go. I thought it was a nice touch that even though the final scene takes place in a church, the stained glass had five other religions (including Islam which Sayid was a part of) on it simultaneously.

The Flash Sideways showed us why Dominic Monaghan is absolutely wasted on a crap show like FlashForward, it gave us the one final glimpse of John Locke as John Locke that we could have, provided a happy ending for Sawyer and Juliet (I was elated) and gives us answers that we needed, or in this case, that Jack needed. We didn’t need to know what happened to Kate and the rest when they left the Island, because Christian Shepard tells us that even though some died earlier and some later than Jack, they’re all there now. And ultimately, that’s what’s important.

At the end of the day, am I happy with the Flash Sideways and time spent? Yes I’m satisfied. I feel like the time spent on them felt very precious, but after watching the finale, there’s no way to have cut down that time spent, without taking away from the final reveal.

That said, I do have very minor quibbles with some issues, and not all of them are related to the finale. For one, did Jack and the rest conveniently forget how Ben just switched allegiance to the Man in Black again? Also, I still have to gripe about Richard’s story. From the unshakable “spiritual advisor” to the Island to suicidal lunatic, to finding he has to stop the Man In Black and ultimately not contributing to Team Jacob at all… it just seems a little bit of a waste of a character, and a waste of Ab Aeterno. If that was all Richard was going to do after his origin episode, then they really could have just shrunk it down and have him tell it verbally like Dogen did.

The series did not end as it began with Jack waking up in the bamboo field, as many of us thought it would from the beginning. But instead it ended in an opposite manner, with Jack dying in the bamboo field after making the final sacrifice, seeing his friends get away to safety and being accompanied by Vincent. I thought that was a really nice touch. We always hear of dog owners bringing their dogs to the vet when they’re too old and need to be put to sleep and how their owners are right next to them through it all. It was a nice role reversal and great message from the LOST writers reminding us what we have always known all along: dogs are awesome.

It’s been six years. From thinking it was going to be about Island survival and finding hatches, to worrying about our poor Losties under threat from the Others, to pushing buttons, to the introduction of the Flash Forwards, to the Oceanic Six finally getting off the Island, to coming back and time travelling and realising this is a big war between two godlike entities. It’s really been one heck of a ride. And one that no other show may ever come close to capturing again.

September 22nd, 2004 was when Oceanic 815 crashed and May 23rd, 2010 is when Ajira 316 got off the Island and finally everyone, including us, has to let go. (But not until I rewatch the entire series from beginning to end again).

For the last time, the immortal words of Desmond David Hume “see you in another life, brotha“.

The last new episode we’re ever going to get before the finale in just five days. Was it as exciting as the penultimate episodes of previous seasons (like Season Three and Four)? No. But it seemed like a good “calm before the storm” episode for a few final chess moves and a few revelations, just in time.

This episode breaks up quite nicely to Team Jacob, Team Smokey + Team Widmore + Team Alpert and the Flash Sideways, so let’s get to them in that order.

Team Jacob
After taking some time to catch their breath, Kate ends up being the one mentioning Ji Yeon (after everyone noticing that neither Jin nor Sun mentioned her while sinking in the sub). My thoughts: stop obsessing over other people’s kids, Kate! You’ve done enough! Jack gathers the Team and tells them they’re going to find Desmond, especially since the Man In Black wants him dead. That’s gotta make him valuable right?

Taking a short trek through the jungle (with a nice moment between Jack and Sawyer where Jack admits he’s been “wrong before”, a seeming direct acknowledgement of his role in Juliet’s death), Hurley sees Young Jacob who demands for his ashes back. Why Young Jacob instead of regular Jacob? No idea. But soon enough Hurley finds Jacob with a little ghost fire, and Jacob asks Hurley to bring everyone to him. How the fire came about, I don’t know, because last I checked in most ghost stories, they’re fairly incorporeal and unable to rub sticks together…

Team Jacob arrives – Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley – and to Hurley’s surprise (and probably the audience’s), they can all see, talk and interact with Jacob. For once, Jacob is being surprisingly upfront about his motives, what needs to be done, and who needs to do it. The big reveal, that has been bubbling under since Season One is answered – why our Losties? I liked the way the reveal was done – Sawyer goes off in his Sawyer-manner asking Jacob who gave him the right to pluck him from his life where he was doing just fine, and Jacob interrupts and says he wasn’t. None of them on Oceanic 815 were. They were each flawed and alone, just like him. And they were all searching for something out there, but something they couldn’t find. They needed the Island as much as the Island needed them.

This makes a lot of sense especially if you think of characters like Boone and Charlie who were reborn on the Island and were pretty much instrumental in getting our Losties to where they are today. Some characters may have slipped through the cracks (Rose, Bernard, Waaaaalt and Vincent), but we’ll see what happens in the finale.

Jacob explains what happened in Across The Sea, and now it makes sense that Across The Sea was shown this late in the season, this late in the series. More on that later when we talk about Richard and Ab Aeterno. Jack, being the Man of Faith that he is now, understands and volunteers to take over the “job” of protecting the Island. I think Jacob plays it pretty straight-faced here and doesn’t really show whether he’s happy with this or not. Kate, her fragile pride wounded, asks why her name was crossed out, to which Jacob says she became a mother (to Aaron), I suppose the implication being that she wasn’t alone anymore and had someone to care about other than the Island. Okay if that’s the case, why bring Claire to the Island at all since she was going to be a mother on the Island? Point for another day.

Jacob also says something which may or may not be significant. Although Kate’s name is crossed out, it’s just a line of chalk and the job can be hers if she wants it. Lots of thoughts on this but I’m going to save it for my pre-finale post because we’re already at 650 words and counting.

Team Smokey + Team Alpert + Team Widmore
Team Alpert (Miles, Ben and Richard) are on their way the New Otherton to get C4 that Ben has stashed away. They get into his secret room behind his wall and Miles notices the place to summon the Smoke Monster. Ben makes a comment that that was where the thought he could summon the Smoke Monster, until he realised it was summoning him. I’m wondering why Richard is keeping quiet at this point. Clearly, Richard has always known about the existence of Smokey. From the week he landed on the Island. Now if he knew that Ben has a little Smokey Summoning Chamber in his room while they were supposed to be serving Jacob, shouldn’t he have said something, oh I don’t know, years ago?

Zoe and Widmore appear, as does MIB. Zoe and Widmore decide to hide in Ben’s secret room, Richard and Ben decide to meet MIB straight on, and Miles conveniently runs off into the jungle. Smokey appears and takes out Richard (did he die?) before coming to talk calmly with Ben, obviously wanting him to kill the remaining Candidates just like he used Ben to kill Jacob. (Sidenote: How come Smokey could kill Eko and Seth Norris?). Ben gives up Zoe and Widmore and Zoe dies before you can say “Tina Fey” and Widmore gives up his information about Desmond a little too easily before MIB makes a deal with him. Tell him what Desmond’s use is, and Penny doesn’t die. Unfortunately, Ben is still holding a grudge over what happened to Alex and shoots Widmore. Two quick deaths for two worthless characters in two minutes.

First, I want to say that it’s great that Ben’s holding a grudge and that he got his revenge. However, to be brutally honest, this episode showed us why Team Alpert and Team Widmore was such a waste of time. What did any of them do this season besides have a little crisis of faith and run around the Island (Richard) and say cryptic things, bring high tech equipment that didn’t work and get your team killed (Widmore)? I probably need to watch the whole season again to see how this unfolds if watched continuously, but right now, Widmore was a complete waste of space in this season, except to bring Desmond back to the Island. For all of the theories of him being “bad” and the rules between him and Ben and his meeting with Sun and more theories that he and Mr Paik might be in cahoots, it was disappointing to see how little his character brought to the table in the end.

Ben and MIB go to the well where Desmond was last seen and we learn that Desmond is Jacob’s fail-safe. What that means, we don’t yet know. But someone helped Desmond escape and we don’t know who it is. Everyone seems to be accounted so far and couldn’t have had the time to go off running in the jungle, right? MIB then tells Ben that he’s gong to use Desmond to destroy the Island, which makes me wonder what’s in it for Ben, since earlier he promised Ben the Island when he leaves. I can’t tell if Ben has turned bad or has his own agenda, but we won’t have to wait long to find out. At this point, I need to bring up Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea.

Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea
I am quite appalled that people seem to think that Ab Aeterno is the second coming of The Constant while Across The Sea is brushed off. First, the “revelations” in Ab Aeterno were nothing compared to those in Across The Sea. Sure we learned that Richard didn’t age because of Jacob, yes we learn he came on the Black Rock. But is that really significant compared to learning that Jacob and MIB are brothers? And finding out about their struggle and how that has ultimately trickled down to our poor Losties?

The absolute kicker for this is how Richard has been treated this season, including being swiped away by Smokey in this episode. This is the guy who has been built up as the “Ageless” one and has seen it all on the Island. He worked with Ben to bring about the extermination of the Dharma Initiative on the Island. He has been their “spiritual advisor” and he knew how to come and go from the Island when he needed to check on John Locke. And in the end, what are the implications of letting us know his origins? Close to nothing. Unless he comes back to save them all in the finale, Richard has been really underplayed this whole season. Contrast that to Across The Sea, which really set the stage for us to understand how this “battle” began and let us know what Lost has been about since Oceanic 815 crashed. The fact that the remaining Candidates can listen and understand Jacob now puts things in perspective and highlights why Across The Sea had to come this late in the series, but Ab Aeterno? Should have come in Season Three, when the Others were a huge part. It’s just too underwhelming to be in the final season. But I could be wrong, let’s talk after the finale. Back to the episode and the Flash Sideways.

Flash Sideways
We see Jack looking at himself in the mirror and a mysterious cut (much like the one in LA X) appears on his neck. He has a nice breakfast with David (his son) and Claire, a reminder of what Jack and Claire could have had as family. Creepy Desmond is back, pretending to be an Oceanic staff leaving a message for Jack on the phone, and we get a sense everyone’s paths are going to cross. Creepy Desmond looks ready to run down Locke yet again when Ben interrupts and quickly gets beat up for his effort. We see that unlike the others, Ben isn’t triggered by love, he’s triggered by violence.

Ben gets a huge chunk of the Flash Sideways, and a lot is given to emphasise on the relationship he and Alex have, the opposite of what’s going on back on the Island, and a reminder of the grudge he has against Widmore. Nice to see Danielle Rousseau one for what will probably the last time, and she doesn’t look all jungle-y and crazy too! Finally, Creepy Desmond is thrown into jail upon confessing he ran over Locke, which is right where he wants to be – sharing a cell with Sayid, next to Kate. They get sprung thanks to a well-placed bribe to Ana-Lucia, and off goes Desmond and Hurley, who seems to be fully activated, to save the world, Sayid and Kate in tow. Did anything happen here? Not really. Is the Flash Sideways going to get the Nikki and Paulo reception or the FlashForward (Lost style, not the other show) treatment? We’ll know in five days.

Parallels
Again, just a quick mention of a few parallels that are nice additions but don’t add very much to the story this late in the game. Ben and MIB looking down the well just like Jack and Locke looked down the Swan Hatch in the Season One finale, Rousseau talking about kidnapping Ben when we know on the Island it was he who did the kidnapping, and Jack sewing up Kate on the beach just like she did for him back in Season One.

Next Episode
It’s the big one. Six years of following this show will come to this for better or worse. I have lots of thoughts on this and I’m going to have a pre-finale post, so check back for that in a day or two. Nothing to talk about since the trailers are just recycled scenes, so whatever happens, happens.

How the season ranks so far:

1. Across The Sea
2. What They Died For
3. Everybody Loves Hugo
4. The Substitute
5. The Candidate
6. Sundown
7. Dr. Linus
8. LA X
9. Ab Aeterno
10. Happily Ever After
11. The Last Recruit
12. The Lighthouse
13. The Package
14. Recon
15. What Kate Does

While not a lot happened and some storyline weaknesses were shown particularly in the Team Widmore, Team Alpert storyline, I think this was a solid episode and we got the meeting between Jacob and the Losties that we’ve been waiting for and both Team Smokey and Team Jacob are bringing their A game. You can’t help but feel that the Flash Sideways is hindering this episode like it did in “The Candidate“, but we’ll see if we were right or wrong about that.

Five days, hold on to your seats.

Okay first: Do not read another word unless you have watched this episode. I promise you do not want to know what happens in advance.

Still here? Right, let’s get to it.

So many things happened this episode I feel I should watch it a second time before writing this post but I don’t have the time today. This was one of the episodes which has decent Flash Sideways, but unfortunately they were majorly dwarfed by the action on the Island.

Flash Sideways
We open with a defeated-looking Locke and it’s just sad to realise that the writers were playing a cosmic joke on all of us this whole time. Locke never was an important character in the series but was always meant to be a tragic loser. We can a neat glimpse of Bernard as well as a nice half-sibling moment with Jack and Claire before Jack goes full on “fixer” mode and tries to find out what’s wrong with Locke. We find out Locke did have a good relationship with Anthony Cooper and it was in fact his fault that Cooper ended up in a wheelchair.

One of the most interesting scenes was an unconscious Locke mumbling “push the button” and “I wish you believed me” while Jack was in the room. Channelling his inner Island Locke? Or something else?

Finally, we see that unlike what many of us thought from the first episode of the season LA X, no matter which universe they exist in, Jack and John aren’t going to be friends. Possibly a significant nugget of information for the show.

Now for the meat of the episode, the Island.

On-Island
Continuing the capture of our Losties, it’s clear that Widmore knows about the list and uses it to threaten Sawyer. We see Team Smokey is decimated and down to SmokeLocke, Jack and Sayid – so much for gathering his tribe in Sundown.

We re-live some of Season Three with our Losties in the cage and a little more time spent on Sun and Jin after last week’s brief reunion which had me write down “Yay! Sun and Jin reunion!”. Oh how short lived that would turn out to be.

Smokey has everything figured out. From the watch to the C4 to the stealing of the sub, he’s one step ahead of the Losties, or at least, one step ahead of Sawyer.

All our Losties (except Claire) are in the sub after Kate gets shot and sharp-eyed viewers would have noticed Locke swapping packs with Jack (just like how Jack did with Kate and the dynamite back in Season One). They finally find the C4 and even though Jack says not to do anything, Sawyer goes ahead and pulls the wire which results in the death of four of our Losties (well, three of them and one of the freighter folk). Let’s look at the deaths in some detail.

Sayid
We see Sayid going from zombie Sayid to redeeming himself in the span of about seven episodes, doing nothing much in the middle except for capturing Desmond. Do I buy it? It was a little rushed. Could they have done more with Sayid given his kick-assery in Season Four and Five.

Frank
Frank didn’t have a very satisfying death as far as I’m concerned. From being a sympathetic pilot in Season Four, to being identified as a Candidate in Season Five, being knocked out by a blast door and drowning was pretty disappointing. That said we didn’t see a body, so you never know.

Sun and Jin
I think most Lost fans knew one of them was going to go after their early reunion, but I did not see the death of both of them coming. Their deaths definitely hit our characters the hardest, and it’s probably the same for our viewers. It’s sad because they’ve spent most of the last two and a half seasons apart, and they get reunited to die. Given how their characters have progressed since Season One and the birth of Ji Yeon, drowning wasn’t the way to go. It wasn’t as heroic as Charlie or poignant like Daniel and I feel these two characters deserved better.

The Candidates
Everything is heading for a close but we still don’t know what Widmore’s plans are, except to be a pain in everyone’s ass. Three Candidates left and my money’s on Sawyer dying before the end of the season. He’s come full circle as a character and he’s every bit (if not more) guilty as Jack is when it comes to deaths. Sure he can blame Jack for Juliet’s death at the end of Season Five, but Sawyer single-handedly caused the death of four Losties. That’s a lot of grief to recover from.

Hurley has pretty much shown time and time again that he’s safe, so I’m not worried about him. All signs point to Jack being the new Jacob, although some part of me thinks Kate was kept alive for a reason. Given that her name wasn’t scratched out in the Lighthouse, she could still be a secret weapon that takes over Jacob’s role and allows Jack to get off the Island to raise Aaron and Ji Yeon. I sincerely hope that is not how things turn out to be because Kate has been a weak character ever since Season One and does not deserve to be the hero of the story.

I find it terribly unfair and unsatisfying that Kate, who is not even a Candidate, is still alive when Sun, Jin, Sayid and Frank are offed. Seriously.

Getting Here.
Looking at where the season has brought us, I once again find myself wondering if the season could have been much tighter. Did we really need to spend all that time with Dogen and the Other Others in the Temple, especially given that in the end it comes down to our Losties, Smokey and Widmore anyway? Could Desmond and Widmore have come into play earlier and move this along? I don’t know. We’ll have to wait till the end of the season to see whether all that time was wasted, or not.

Edit:

One thing I forgot to add in my thoughts was a little more elaboration on why I felt this Season has been disappointing – For the longest time, us LOST fans have had to defend the Flashbacks. Why show their past when the Island is (arguably) more interesting? And we know that’s because we needed to know who they were to understand who they are, and who they will become. We needed to know Sawyer had a terrible history with cons and trust issues but he grew to care for people and even jump off the chopper so the rest could get off the Island. We needed to know Jack was a Man of Science to cheer when he comes round to embrace Faith. We needed to know Charlie was an addict who hit rock bottom so that when he was “reborn” in The Moth and eventually had a relationship with Claire and sacrificed himself, we could appreciate that and mourn his loss. The list goes on.

Now, outside of Jack needing to see the Lighthouse, did any of our Losties NEED to go where they went for us to appreciate where they are today? Did they need to hang around the Temple with Lennon and Dogen? Did they need to have a chat with Richard only to be separated a few episodes later? Did Sun need to lose her speech? My answer to most of these paths is no.

I could go on about the parallels we’ve seen in this season and all the seasons before. Jack giving Sawyer the “faith” spiel instead of Locke telling Jack. Kate held at gunpoint outside the cages instead of Sawyer (a parallel that even Sawyer acknowledges), Jack buying an Apollo bar, the earlier mention of the backpack swapping and numerous others. These were fun easter eggs to watch out for when we were first watching the show, but in Season Six, they really do take a backseat.

Next Episode
Titled “Across The Sea”, this is supposed to be the episode with none of our main characters – meaning it’s probably a Jacob and Man In Black flashback. When I first heard about this episode I was psyched, but given how disappointing Season Six has been, I’m lowering my expectations. After this episode it’s the finale which has just been extended to two and a half hours from the original two. Let’s hope it gives us a satisfying close to the show, coming off the harsh deaths of our beloved Losties.

How the season ranks so far:

1. Everybody Loves Hugo
2. The Substitute
3. The Candidate
4. Sundown
5. Dr. Linus
6. LA X
7. Ab Aeterno
8. Happily Ever After
9. The Last Recruit
10. The Lighthouse
11. The Package
12. Recon
13. What Kate Does

I placed The Candidate above Sundown because I think an episode with four major deaths deserves to be recognised as a good one, and also because whatever happened in The Candidate pretty much cancelled out what happened in Sundown. Redundancy? I don’t know.

Finally, what the heck has Team Alpert been up to this whole time?

As the cowboys Jet and Cord (from The Amazing Race) would say: Oh. My. Gravy. My jaw literally dropped and was left gaping twice in the episode, and that’s a first for any television show. This episode got me so excited I’m typing this after viewing the episode just once, so pardon me if I’ve missed stuff. Where to start:

Hurley X (Flash Sideways)
The episode starts off with Pierre Chang narrating a tribute to Hurley (what a distinctive voice) and we definitely see that Hurley X’s life is the complete opposite of the Hurley we know and love. We soon see Libby meeting him and I immediately thought this will be the love connection that Hurley X needs to remember. However we have to wait a little longer for that to happen as Hurley finds out Libby isn’t quite in the pink of mental health and starts eating a huge tub of chicken to get over it. Desmond comes (order #42) and is clearly pulling strings to get our favourite Losties remembering their “real” lives.

It’s hard to continue talking about the Alternate Timeline without bringing in Desmond in some detail, so let’s switch back to the Island for a little bit

Team Jacob (less Illana)
Hurley hears the whispers and meets Michael who tells him not to follow Richard’s plan, or lots of people are going to die. First, let’s get things straight Hurley. How many season finales have you been in? How many have avoided one catastrophe or another? Be it Juliet dying most recently, the freighter exploding in Season Four, Charlie dying in Season Three and Hurley yourself driving a Dharma van into the Others? People are going to die! Anyway I thought Michael was really the Man In Black, after all he comes back as people who have died, but it seems not to be this time.

First jaw-dropping moment: Illana exploding. Granted, she hasn’t had a lot to do this season, but given she didn’t go the way of Bram, Dogen or Lennon, I thought she would bring more to the table and would be “protected” by Jacob and the dynamite would not explode. Alas, not to be. Hat tip to Jun here who mentioned last week that Jacob doesn’t really treat his followers very well and uses them as pawns. Illana was preparing/training all her life to protect the Candidates, but as Ben says, as soon as the Island is done with her, it kills her? That’s a pretty shitty job. And might I hasten to add, I don’t think the Candidates are safe and/or protected by any means.

Eventually we find out Hurley is channelling his inner Sawyer to con Team Jacob for him to blow up the Black Rock, which promptly sends Richard into a frenzy and surprisingly, Jack’s the embodiment of calm. Richard is still insisting on blowing up the Ajira plane so Ben and Miles go with him, while Hurley thinks they should talk to Smokey and gets Jack, Sun and Frank’s support. Jack and Hurley, I can understand. They weren’t at the Temple in “Sundown” and didn’t experience Smokey first hand. Sun and Frank did, so why would they think talking is a good idea? This late in the game, I don’t like the idea of separating Team Jacob and I think Ben and Miles in particular have been underutilised characters this season (Sun has been so underutilised they don’t even write speaking lines for her anymore) and I don’t know why they’re going on a wild goose chase. In any case, it seems like a convenient way to get the rest of the Oceanic Six to Smokey.

They head to find Smokey and we get another huge revelation about The Whispers which have been plaguing our Losties since Season One. Michael (who apparently is also one of the Whispers and not in fact the Man In Black) are souls who can’t move on. I don’t know how consistent this is with The Whispers we’ve heard in the past five seasons, but I’ll leave it at that for the meantime. We have to talk about Desmond.

Desmond and Smokey
Sayid brings Smokey to Desmond and Smokey is clearly disturbed by the electromagnetism that Desmond mentions. They take a walk and Desmond can see the boy apparition that Smokey sees. Is it the same boy as in The Substitute? I think this boy’s hair is less blonde, but I can’t be sure. In any case this has Smokey spooked (again). Finally they reach a well and Smokey spews some exposition but really wants to know why Desmond isn’t scared, to which Desmond says “what’s the point?”, after which Smokey promptly throws him into the well. A few things: first, this is the first time we see Smokey actually attack a Lostie (I think). Though maybe Desmond doesn’t really count. Second, if Smokey has Locke’s memories, perhaps he would remember when Ben shot him and threw him into a ditch and he came out alive. If you want someone dead, kill them properly. Third, I almost got the feeling Smokey did exactly what Desmond wanted him to do. We shall see how this plays out (slight mention of next week’s promo later on).

Now, we can finally head back to Hurley X

Hurley X (again)
So we knew from “Happily Ever After” that Desmond was going around finding our Losties and making them “see” the other reality. Libby kisses Hurley (after Desmond prompted Hurley to pursue looking for her) and Hurley remembers too. Jaw drop moment number two. At this point, again I’m not completely sold on the Flash Sideways. No doubt as part of Season Six the Desmond story works well. He’s almost an agent of the Island (like how Abbadon was), gently nudging our Losties into position. Is this going to fit into the grand tapestry of LOST when the series is over and we watch Season One to Six? Or is it going to stand out as a plot device? Time will tell.

In any case, Desmond is satisfied at Hurley remembering and moves on to his next Lostie… John Locke. As this was going on, I thought to myself, of all the Losties, John Locke is the one who is reunited with his “love”, Helen, going as far as to be married to her. But clearly unlike Charlie, Daniel, Desmond, Libby and now Hurley, he isn’t struck by this love and doesn’t remember. I don’t know if there’s any significance, but perhaps it’s worth noticing.

Desmond’s reason for looking up John Locke is nothing like the reason he had for finding Hurley. He wants for Locke (in his wheelchair) to cross the street – and runs him over. Unfortunately, much like how Smokey just threw Desmond down a well, Desmond should have made sure the job is done. Now this does make one wonder, how much does Desmond (in both worlds) know? Is he gunning for Locke because he knows Smokey is evil and has thrown him into a well (ie his mind is simultaneously processing both timelines) or is there a larger force at play? No idea.

Team Smokey, meet Team Jacob
Finally, the two Teams meet and Jack looks… concerned? Apprehensive? Scared? Smokey ignores everyone else and only greets Jack. Does he do that because he knows Jack is the most likely Candidate to succeed Jacob? Or are old John Locke’s memories reminding him of his old adversary? My explanation for Jack’s look is that he’s never seen Smokey as Locke before, and the last time he saw him, he was putting on shoes on Locke’s corpse for the Ajira flight. Can’t blame a man for being shocked. He also does seem to have the look of a man who knows he’s staring into the eyes of his eventual nemesis and knows he has to bring it to whoop his ass.

Next Episode
Probably one of the spookiest promos/trailers yet. I don’t believe for a minute Sayid is going to manage to kill Desmond (a) he saved his life in The Constant (b) he’s shooting a gun into an electromagnetic pocket. Both Desmond on the Island and John Locke in the Flash Sideways are still alive, so there’s going to be a reckoning yet. I don’t know what else is going to happen but it’s definitely building to the finale from here on out. One thing’s for sure, especially after the Hurley-Libby love connection – Love and Constants is what this show is all about.

How the season ranks so far:

1. Everybody Loves Hugo
2. The Substitute
3. Sundown
4. Dr. Linus
5. LA X
6. Ab Aeterno
7. Happily Ever After
8. The Lighthouse
9. The Package
10. Recon
11. What Kate Does

No hesitation from me. Everybody Loves Hugo jumps right to the top of Season Six. Wonderful hour of television and a wonderful hour of LOST. “The Constant” is probably my favourite episode for the character moments it brought, but I think Everybody Loves Hugo is my favourite episode from a greater mythology perspective. If the rest of the series continues at this pace, we’re going to have a hell of a last few episodes on our hands!

Going to have to bang this out quick before I head out today. Overall I thought Happily Ever After, while not revolutionary was a solid LOST episode. One that no doubt lays the groundwork for what is going to happen with the Flash Sideways and sets Desmond up to be the hero of the series. Is everything explained? No. Does it show promise? Yes.

There’s not much else to talk about except Desmond, so let’s get to it in chronological order.

Desmond, On-Island (part 1)

Desmond’s eye appears and we’re finally treated to our favourite “brotha” and we see a whole lot of lab stuff going on, including rabbits and I for one was wondering “what the eff is going on?”. At this point I need to mention that Michael Giacchino’s music really is awesome and adds that extra layer to the show that not many other shows benefit from. Weird scienc-y stuff takes a break for us to meet… Desmond X

Desmond X  (Flash Sideways)

First we get the confirmation that Desmond X is real and was on the plane, and it wasn’t just Jack imagining him. We then need George Minkowski (nice touch) and they go see Charles Widmore. In this universe, Widmore actually gets along with Desmond and lets him have some of that 60 year old whiskey, which in the actual universe, he wouldn’t waste of Desmond. At this point I’m thinking I still want something more from the Flash Sideways other than these cute reversals and chance meetings.

Desmond is sent to pick up Charlie and Charlie tells him about “spectacular, consciousness-altering love” (kinda like the type Desmond experienced in The Constant). Charlie causes Desmond to drive into the sea and for a second Desmond remembers the “not Penny’s boat” scene from The Looking Glass station and we know that Desmond knows what’s going on. Or at least suspects.

After the crash in the hospital, we see Desmond’s shirt the way it is on the Island. Unbuttoned down by two buttons. That’s the beginning of him getting back to his “old” self. Charlie tells Desmond “This doesn’t matter, none of this matters” which simultaneously feels like the writer’s telling us to be patient, and also rubbing it in that the Flash Sideways ultimately won’t mean anything. I don’t know what to think.

Widmore sends Desmond to talk to Eloise Hawking and it’s immediately apparent that she recognises him. Perhaps she has to maintain order no matter which universe or timeline she’s in. She says to stop chasing after whatever he is chasing after because he finally has what he wants most – Widmore’s approval.

Daniel Faraday (or Widmore) appears and is now a musician instead of a physicist but is definitely channelling his “real” self with his diagrams and quantum mechanics. And he’s still the wearer of the skinny ties. He repeats Charlie’s exposition of lost love (Charlotte for him, Claire for Charlie) and knows Desmond feels that lost love too (for Penny). Now this is interesting because could it be that when our Losties get to the Flash Sideways… they lose love? Sayid no longer is with Nadia, Sawyer hasn’t met Juliet, Jack and Kate aren’t getting it on, Sun and Jin aren’t married (but involved) but what about Hurley? Unlike our other Losties, Desmond doesn’t look in a mirror this episode (I think), but he does see his reflection in a glass door. Significant? Maybe.

We finally see the lovely Sonya Walger (aww Penny) and wonder if this is the final time they meet. All I can say is Sonya Walger is waster on Flash Forward. So in the Sideways Universe, Desmond meets Penny at the stadium instead of Jack and then…

Desmond, On-Island (part 2)

Desmond flashes back to the Island and suddenly knows his “purpose” and doesn’t fight Widmore anymore. Sayid appears and takes Desmond away and Desmond gives a funny little smile almost as if he knows what’s going to happen, or what he’s meant to do.

Finally we see Desmond X again asking for the flight manifest and wanting to “show” the other passengers something. Will he show them lost love the way Charlie showed him? Or something else? Whatever it is, it’s clear that while one of the Losties is going to be the Candidate, none of this is going to be possible without Desmond as the linchpin and it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Next Episode

Titled “Everybody Loves Hugo”, the promo already shows us Michael so we know he’s going to appear. I pray hard this isn’t going to be another setup episode because after a strong start, Season Six is beginning to lose some steam.

How the season ranks so far:

1. The Substitute
2. Sundown
3. Dr. Linus
4. LA X
5. Ab Aeterno
6. Happily Ever After
7. The Lighthouse
8. The Package
9. Recon
10. What Kate Does

Happily Ever After goes hand in hand with Ab Aeterno as a solid episode on its own but one that doesn’t necessarily move the story forward. They may look good in the eventual tapestry that is Season Six (or LOST as a whole) but at this point, I’m not feeling it and we’re going to have to wait and see.

Another week, another episode of LOST: thoughts as follows!

Flash Sideways – Sun X and Jin X

So we finally get confirmation on what the internet picked up from LA X, that Sun and Jin aren’t married. Everything else is the same though, they still love each other and Jin seems less of a jerk. So it seems Keamy X is still a bad guy, working for Mr. Paik to assassinate Jin, that’s just cruel. Any connection to him working for Paik in the Flash Sideways like he did for Widmore in the main story to kill people? Hmm.

As always I’ve been covering the bottom half of the screen when the guest credits come on so I had no idea we’d be seeing Patchy again (or Keamy for that matter). But the minute the brawl between Patchy and Jin started and the gun went off, you knew Sun had been hit. Some poetic justice that Patchy X loses his eye too. Again, while the Flash Sideways had an interesting interaction between Sayid and Jin this week, I think there needs to be more than these coincidental meetings and reflections of the real world (like Patchy losing an eye).

Let’s get on to the Island talk.

Team Widmore

Finally we see Widmore in play. His team brings Jin back to Room 23 (shame on me for not recognising it as such when it was shown) and the Widmore plot definitely thickens. We know he’s interested in the Island’s electromagnetic properties (like the Swan) and that’s why he has his geophysicist, Zoe, but what does he want with our Losties? And why does he refer to Desmond as “The Package” when he can just as easily be Desmond??

One thing that seems pretty clear from this episode, Widmore is not on Team Smokey, but I’m not convinced he’s on Team Jacob either, simply because Ben is on Team Jacob and these two are not going to play nice together.

Team Smokey

Smokey has a little chat with Sawyer and apparently he can’t go all Smokey and billow across the sea. I wonder if this has something to do with the whole “water” theme that has been with LOST since day one.

Man in Black also freely admits to Claire that her name is not on the cave wall, but still makes her feel needed. He also lets her know Kate’s name is crossed out from the wall, thus setting up Reckoning #2 between Claire and Kate (which I’m rooting for Claire, of course). Now here’s the thing – we get confirmation that Man in Black thinks Kate’s name is crossed out, but we know it in fact is not crossed out on the dial at Jacob’s Lighthouse. Is this a simple mistake by the Man in Black, or is Jacob being sneaky? I don’t know yet but I really hope the “Kate as Jacob’s secret weapon” doesn’t turn out to be true because Kate hasn’t done anything to deserve being the hero(ine) of the series.

Team Jacob

Not much really happens here as everyone waits for Richard and Hurley to get back. However, SmokeLocke does find Sun in her garden (weirdly, no Smoke Monster sounds) and tells her to go with him, and she’ll be reunited with Jin. He also says “I would never make you do anything against your will” which is pretty consistent with how he’s gathered his Team. Then comes a jungle chase reminiscent of Season One days and Sun bumps her head and… can’t speak English?

Okay of everything that happened in this episode, this is what I don’t get the most. Why take away her ability to speak English? She still understands it, but can only reply in Korean, and by the end of the episode she can write in English, so why bother with this little “problem” at all?

The final bit with Jack and Sun on the beach made two lines jump out at me. The first is Keamy X’s remark to Jin X “Some people are not supposed to be together” in contrast to Jack’s finding of a tomato “no one told it it was supposed to die”. I don’t know if either/both of these lines are foreshadowing things to come, but I can’t believe Jack’s line is just talking about a tomato. When Jack promised Sun that if she went with them he would help find Jin, I immediately thought “don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jack”. Best case scenario they meet Team Widmore and Jin is still there, worst case Jin is dead by then and Sun has to go through losing him again. Jack’s putting a lot of uncertainty behind that promise.

On the episode

On the whole, this felt like an episode or two before the season finale. We finally have all Teams headed to the Hydra station, and all it took was ten hours of tv. Could it have been done in seven hours? Eight? Probably, if we didn’t have the Flash Sideways, so there better be a big payoff for that. Also, it was nice to see everyone (or at least all the regulars) in one episode.

One thing that popped back in my mind when Zoe meets Jin in Room 23, is the Dharma Initiative. We know they were conducting all sorts of experiments with sharks and polar bears and pushing buttons and making people write down observations that were never even read. But why? Was this part of Jacob bringing people to the Island in a bid to show Man in Black that people were good? If indeed so, why did he (through Richard) exterminate them using Ben? If Jacob’s philosophy was for them to live simply in the Temple or in shacks, why did they end up taking over the Hydra station and the Barracks? And why leave Desmond in the Swan? I know we’ve gotten to know the Dharma folks a little better in Season Five, but these questions still bug me. My mind could be fuzzy here – so feel feel free to weigh in on this with me.

Next Episode

Titled “Happily Ever After” – unfortunately it’s too early in the season for any happily ever afters but it seems we’ll get our dose of Desmond (finally!). There are really only two happily ever afters that would mean anything to me. Sun and Jin, Penny and Desmond. I don’t see neither happening this early in the season (and after the happy ending Penny and Des had at the end of Season Four, I don’t think they’re going to get a second).  Of the season regulars we haven’t seen a Flash Sideways for Hurley, Desmond, Miles (sort of in Recon), Frank, Illana (sort of in Ab Aeterno) and Claire (sort of in What Kate Does). There aren’t many episodes left, so I hope we get our mileage out of these characters.

How the season ranks so far:

1. The Substitute
2. Sundown
3. Dr. Linus
4. LA X
5. Ab Aeterno
6. The Lighthouse
7. The Package
8. Recon
9. What Kate Does

As always, “Recon” and “What Kate Does” is where the line truly is. If I weren’t ranking them in order (and giving As Bs and Cs) then Ab Aeterno, The Lighthouse and The Package would all get the same grade. But because this is such a “setup” episode and the Flash Sideways was really kind of boring, it falls to the bottom of the “good” episodes, but still way above Recon.