After two rather intense episodes in “Walkabout” and “White Rabbit” the focus of “House of the Rising Sun” tightens back on the characters for a bit, fittingly with yet another fist fight between Jin and Michael.

The Caves
Continuing from “White Rabbit“, Jack, Kate, Charlie and Locke head back to the caves and thus starts the beginning of the Locke/Charlie dynamic that pays off in the next episode, “The Moth“. We see the discovery of Adam and Eve and at this point all we know is the skeletons are one male, one female and we see the black and white Senet pieces from “Across The Sea“.

The First Lostie Split
The first (of many) camp splits occurs in this episode when Jack suggests moving to the caves, while roughly half of the survivors opt to stay on the Beach including Kate, Sawyer, Michael and Sayid. Of course this would be a recurring theme throughout the season.

Sun and Jin

Sun and Jin
The focus on this episode is very much Sun and Jin’s struggling relationship, with the surprise revelation that Sun actually speaks English, as she reveals to Michael in this episode. It’s fitting we see that Sun didn’t leave Jin at the airport and boarded Oceanic 815, and at the end of their story, in “The Candidate“, Jin doesn’t leave her either.

Season One Rankings

1. Walkabout
2. White Rabbit
3. Pilot
4. House Of The Rising Sun
5. Tabula Rasa

The list makes “House Of The Rising Sun” look worse than it is with it coming in second from last, but in truth the split is really between “Tabula Rasa” and everything else. While the episode certainly toned down the intensity especially coming off the last two episodes, there were enough well-executed beats to keep this episodes up there with the best of them.

Continuing my thoughts from LOST S01E01 – Pilot Part One, the episode resumes with reminders of much simpler times like Charlie being a junkie and the mystery of the handcuffs.

Character Moments
More in-depth introductions are made particularly with the fist fight between Sayid and Sawyer and a tense moment between Sun and Jin, in which I loved Sun’s silent defiance and resentment.Yunjin Kim is an awesome actress. Meanwhile, Kate decides to… go… on.. another.. hike… yawn…

Shannon, just like Boone in “Pilot Part One“, has a scene that sums up her character’s role for as long as she’s alive, “being worthless”. Of course, to prove she isn’t “worthless”, she decides to go for the hike as well, resulting in the party consisting of Sayid, Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, Boone and Shannon. At this point I need to say once again that Michael Giacchino’s music is magical while they’re climbing the “hills”.

Locke makes his bigger appearance this scene and tells Walt about Backgammon with his now-famous scene.

Locke Backgammon

“Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark.”

How true those words would be by the time we reach Season Six.

The Polar Bear Party
Before long, our little party comes across the polar bear (I’ll list this as a mystery later) which Sawyer shoots pretty dead. And so the gun bickering begins.

Danielle Rousseau’s transmission is also picked up and the Losties are understandably shaken up when they hear that something “killed them all” and that the transmission has been going on for 16 years… A puzzle that would be solved later in the season.

The second half of the Pilot was definitely more character driven and you got to know the characters rather quickly from the few scenes they shared together. Not much in the larger mythology was introduced, but that would quickly be rectified in the subsequent episodes.

Mystery One
The polar bears – where did they come from and what was their role on the Island? We know of course they were kept in the cages on Hydra Island in Season Three, and that the Dharma folk were using them for experiments. But how did the remains of one end up in Tunisa, where people appear after turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel? Were they used for that purpose or is there some other reason?

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…

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?

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.

Wow so much happened this episode and though there wasn’t a lot of direct answers, we did get a really intense final 10-15 minutes of the show! So much stuff, where to start? I suppose with Sayid.

Sayid

First, Dogen is pretty badass. Thinking of all the people who have been killed at Sayid’s hands throughout the past seasons, few have been able to go toe to toe with Sayid (and won).

So after all the talky stuff in the Temple with Dogen, Sayid agrees to go meet (and supposedly, kill) Man In Black outside the Temple. This is where it gets interesting – Man In Black tells Sayid he could see Nadia again. This could be the first inkling we’ve gotten as to what purpose the flash-sideways are here to serve. I think ultimately it’s going to come down to choice.I think the irony in this is Jacob allowed Nadia to be killed with Sayid made it back to the real world, only for Sayid to come back to the Island, fall prey to Man In Black and go back to an alternate timeline with Nadia? Talk about gong in circles!

Will our Losties choose to be with the Man In Black and perhaps choose to “live” their flash-sideways lives? Or will they choose to follow their own (or Jacob’s) path and stick to their existing timeline?

Anyway Sayid heads back to the Temple (and it’s raining, sure sign bad things are going to happen) and tells the remaining other Others that they can join Man In Black, or they’ll die.

Sayid makes his final turn to the dark side and kills both Dogen and Lennon and I think that cements his place on Team MIB (at least for now).  Even Ben knows to leave him alone after seeing his crazy, creepy eyes. Speaking of Ben, where is he? Miles, Frank, Sun and Illana make it to the Temple (and do a piss poor job of saving anyone) but Ben is seemingly left behind, or at the very least missing.

So who’s with who?

So at the end of the on-Island story, the Others seem to be decimated and Team MIB looks to have a few other Others (red shirts), Cindy, Zack and Emma, Sayid and Claire. I still think Sawyer has an agenda so I won’t say he’s squarely on that team, Jin isn’t there by choice, and Kate looks to be following blindly so I won’t include them either. I still think a Claire/Kate showdown is going to occur and someone is going to die because of it. Not necessarily one of them, but someone will die (maybe Sawyer when he tries to intervene).

In the other corner of the ring, we have a severely depleted Team Jacob – no more Others, Illana, Frank, Miles, Sun, Jack and Hurley. I presume Richard will meet up with them in the end, and probably so will Ben. Of course they do have a secret weapon, which I believe to be Desmond.

This episode definitely moved all the chess pieces into play (which we usually see only towards the end of the season) and hopefully, it’s going to be breakneck speed from here.

The Man In Black aka Flocke aka SmokeLocke aka Smokey aka Anti-Jacob aka Nemesis

Let’s talk a little about the Man In Black. Dogen essentially confirms that everytime we’ve seen someone who’s dead, he’s been the Man In Black (or Smokey). So we’ve seen that happen and end in tragedy (with Eko and Yemi) but also end in good (with Jack following Christian and finding water to save them in Season One). So what is Man In Black’s deal? Why did Locke see Smokey back in Season One and find it beautiful (I forget his exact wordings now)? The writers have said they’ve known all along what was going to happen, so I hope all this fits in somewhere.

Off-Island fun with Sayid

Okay now the off-Island stuff. We’ve begun to have a hint at the purpose of showing us their sideways lives and Sayid’s isn’t all that different. He’s still a hard core killer, though it seems he didn’t torture Nadia, but neither does he have a happy ending with her (as yet). I could care less about his “Oh I’m a bad man I don’t deserve you” nonsense though. When we say Keamy X I thought “Oh looks like his sideways life is better – like at least he has a life” but of course, Sayid took care of that quickly before finding…. Jin?!

So if indeed the Man In Black and choices theory plays out, I’m going to find it a little weird. So only our Losties are given a “better” life? How about the other 6 billion people in the world? Do the just exist for the sake of molding reality to fit our Losties? For example Claire, who has seemingly taken Man In Black’s offer and is indeed still with Aaron in the sideways-life. She chose that so that’s fine. How about the others who she met (say, Ethan) or even others like Arzt? Or for Sayid’s sideways-life, how about Nadia? What choices did she make? Or do only our Losties matter?

Great episode, here’s how I’m ranking the season so far:

1. The Substitute
2. Sundown
3. LA X
4. The Lighthouse
5. What Kate Does

Before I start I feel the need to comment on how hokey Lost can be for people who haven’t been watching since Season One. My sister was behind me watching for the first ten minutes and when they showed the Temple she was like “That’s not an Island” and when they showed the Spring she said “they have a jacuzzi?!?” Absolutely blasphemy to us Lost fans but if not for the fact we are so invested in the characters and mythology, this show really would be ridiculous.

As usual: If you haven’t watched this week’s Lost (The Lighthouse), please don’t read further than this line.

Let me attempt to be a little more organised this week and separate my thoughts, I haven’t read anything online yet so some observations might be waaaaay off, but anyway.

Hurley, Jacob and Jack
Okay seriously, can the other Others keep anyone in the Temple?! Basically everyone but Sayid and Miles has left by now! I loved Hurley standing up to Dogen, and Jacob’s reappearance is awesome. So Hurley and Jack take a trek through the jungle like “good times” as Hurley says. They make a short stop at the Caves with Adam and Eve and arrive at the Lighthouse (which at first glance I thought was the Dark Tower) where the names and numbers we saw in last week’s episode appear again, and Jack realises that Jacob has been watching them all along. Since Jacob isn’t around to answer his questions, he freaks out and smashes the mirrors that were watching him. As the episode was unfolding I wrote down “did Jacob know Jack would do that? (break the Lighthouse mirror)”

Towards the end of the episode we realise Jacob’s true plan was just to get Hurley and Jack away from the Temple and it didn’t really matter if they set the Lighthouse to 108 degrees or not.

So this brings me to Jacob. I think we can safely say that it’s the “real” Jacob. He knows about the Candidates and he genuinely wanted to keep Jack and Hurley safe. However he still manipulates them and doesn’t give anyone a straight answer (guess Ben had no choice but to be a manipulative freak when his boss is the ultimate manipulative freak!). So if Jacob is still “alive” through Hurley, it’s safe to say the War is still on. Is it going to involve a new faction as Jacob alluded to both this episode and when he died? (”they’re coming”). My mind is on Widmore – but who knows. Jacob’s mention of the Candidates seems to back up what the Man In Black said to Sawyer last week – but I’m still not willing to put that much faith in what either of them have said, yet.

Claire and Jin
Three years on the Island and Claire is now badass. She says she was “branded” which is probably the same “test” the other Others gave to Sayid and subsequently “claimed”. When Jin tells Claire that Kate took Aaron I was hopeful that Claire would make her one contribution to the show and kill Kate later in the season. At the end Jin tells Claire he’s lying but I think there’s definitely a storm coming between the two of them. Now I really don’t know what’s going on with Jin and Claire. Why does Jin feel the need to tell the truth to save the other Other (I think his name is Justin) but then lie about it later? Probably because he doesn’t want Claire to kill him but is it just that? So now we know for sure Claire and Flocke are in league with each other, so that’s at least one other person on “Team Flocke” – but hey where’s Sawyer? Wasn’t Flocke last in the cave with him?

Flash Sideways
Okay I’m still not seeing the point of the flash sideways. Sure it’s interesting to see that Jack has a son and all that, but I’d much rather the time be spent on-Island right now. The most interesting thing is that he can’t remember his appendix being removed and I wonder if that has anything to do with there being different versions of Jack (one off-Island one on-Island).

Two other points:

Desmond
Where is Desmond? Is Henry Ian Cusick just enjoying life in Hawaii somewhere? Because it sure doesn’t seem like he’s filming any episodes of Lost. I think Desmond is important to the series – he has been since Season Two and some of the best episodes (Flashes Before Your Eyes, The Constant) have been Desmond-centric. I think we need to bring Mr Hume back into play (and get Penny back too, not like Sonya Walger is being put to good use in FlashForward anyway)

The Dark Tower/The Man In Black
I’ve been reading the Dark Tower graphic novels over the last two days, and that combined with the observations of Robz888 convinces me that Flocke/Anti-Jacob/Man In Black/Smokey/etc is Lost’s version of the Man In Black. Like the Man In Black, Flocke has many names, many faces and many shapes. Like the Man In Black he’s pretty much pure evil. I did enjoy what I’ve read of the Dark Tower series and it would be cool if the Man In Black’s real name turns out to be Walter or Randall (he’s known as Walter O’Dim in the Dark Tower books and Randall Flagg in The Stand).

That’s it from me – much longer than usual – thoughts?

Okay so I watched the season premier and within 4 minutes it was obvious I was going to have many MANY reactions to the show, so I figured I’d write them down. Skip this post entirely if you’re not a Lostie.

If you are though… here we go:

The plane is fine?
Desmond on the plane?!
The island sunk?
Dharma shark!!
Familiar eye scene – this time it’s Kate
And wait, she’s in a tree?
Here’s Miles.. where’s everyone
Credits show Dominic Monaghan – Hello Charlie!
Wait here’s Jack, wasn’t he just on the plane?
Boone!! (Ian Somerhalder’s name appears in the credits)
Back on the plane?
Arzst!!
I wonder if Hurley and Sawyer really sat in those two seats for the original Oceanic 815
Wait not Hurley’s lucky instead of unlucky?
Juliet’s alive?!?!
Jacob! Go Team Jacob!!
Wow they’re really wearing the same clothes for the Oceanic 815 shots
Damn you old Jin!
Hmm wonder if Locke can walk
You can’t kill Jacob!!
And hheeeerrree’’s Charlie!!
Why is Jack’s pen gone?
I never thought I’d be happy to see Juliet!
Best. TV. Couple. Ever.
SMOKEY!!!!!!
WHAT?!?!?!?!
How is Juliet even still alive?
: ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
This makes the Season 5 finale even sadder.
Greg Grunberg! (okay his voice) – you should’ve stayed on Lost instead of Heroes!
Nooooo!! Charlie is supposed to be redeemed!!!!
Nope. Locke’s still in a wheelchair
Christian’s coffin is missing?
New Others!
Why an ankh?
Again with the Lists?!!?
Sayid!!
Claire!!
After 4 seasons we see Zack and Emma again
Holeeeeshieeeettt what’s going on?!?!
Let’s not resort to name-calling!
DON’T YOU MOCK LOCKE!!!!
Terry O’Quinn is badass.
Miles knows something.. I’m thinking Sayid isn’t dead
Wow in the “other world” could Jack and Locke have been friends?
Maybe Jack even fixes Locke?
OMGWTFBBQ?!?!?!?!?! (Is it too easy to predict Jacob’s back in Sayid’s body?)

And that’s that. This show has really done everything. Time travel and now possibly alternate universes. So awesome. I definitely missed some thoughts on the new Others and on the Richard/Fake Locke interaction but those I wrote were those that really caught my attention.

John Locke Lost

I’m not so much concerned about where things are going right now and how two Jacks and two Lockes and two Kates can exist. I think Damon and Carlton know the story they want to tell and what will make the fans happy. At this point the big question I wanna know is what happens to Locke. I know some people hated the early character focus in seasons 1-3 but to understand where Locke IS you have to understand where Locke HAS BEEN. And this is true for any of the characters whether it’s Jack’s transformation, Sun and Jin’s relationship or Sawyer’s redemption.

On one level I want to believe that Damon and Carlton will give us Locke back and not let his entire life be a tragedy after all the signs of him being “special”, but some part of me wonders what if this is truly going to be the biggest tragedy of Lost – that Locke has indeed that sad and pathetic life who died confused and never amounted to anything?

Next Wednesday cannot come soon enough.