Belated Lost Watch: "Take Me to the Question Mark"

So E3 kinda delayed my post about the latest “Lost.” So sue me! I was in a three day haze of video games, and got to play the Wii. There is only so much blogging one man can do. This is not to say that I missed the episode- in fact, I had a friend from work over who is only caught up through the end of Season One and I made him hang out in my room while I watched with my girlfriend and my roommate,(as a way of saying I'm sorry, I'll give him another plug. If you want to see his awesome “Lost” caricatures, check out his "All My Heroes Have Day Jobs" blog.) Anyway, in honor of my friend, who probably had to cover his ears when we were yelling loudly at the TV, and for anybody else who is not caught up yet, I humbly offer this one and only SPOILER warning.

With that out of the way, it’s good to see that the show is really rolling now- y’know, with three hours left in the season. Last Wednesday, we got to see another Hatch- even though Locke has turned all emo on us. After Henry Gale’s creepy and cryptic announcement that he never entered the numbers, Locke’s been one moody guy. Even after sweet ol’ Rose gave him a little pep talk, assuring him that the Hatch still loves him, you just need to learn to love it for what it really is, Locke is still feeling morose. Too bad he can’t get any Cure albums out on the Island- all they have are those creepy, old-timey records in the Hatch.

We got to see another part of the “Orientation” film- this one on VHS, which was much easier than trying to string together the 16mm film that the previous installments were on. We learn that the “Swan,”(the first Hatch, and the one that will always be nearest and dearest to our hearts,) is under constant observation- by someone. Well, not exactly constant- when Locke and Mr. Ecco find “The Question Mark” hatch, it’s totally empty. But they can watch Jack running around, trying his best to be a good guy and help people (what a bore.) We learn that the people of “The Swan” are only led to believe that entering “The Numbers” is important, and that the observers in “The Question Mark” are supposed to- well observe them, and record all their actions- then send their recordings through one of those creepy old tubes that sucks documents up to- some unknown location. The video upsets Locke even further and makes him feel like a big fool, but it just makes Ecco seem more intent, telling Locke that this proves to him the work that is being done on the island is “more important than ever.” So Locke just feels like a lab rat while Ecco sees something deeper, saying that they must continue to enter the numbers.

Back in the aforementioned “Swan,” Ana Lucia is toast and Libby struggles for her life- poor, poor Hurley says goodbye to her, leaving us all a little choked up (I love Hurley, and I just want to see the boy happy.) Before she passes on, Libby is able to croak out Michael’s name- but instead of implicating him in the shooting, Jack just thinks she is asking if he made it out okay. So Michael gets away with killing the two tailies without scot-free- for now. Based on the promos, it looks like good ol’ Sayid has our boy Mikey pegged though. The question remains- what happened to him? Did The Others brainwash him? Or did they just blackmail him by threatening his son? What kind of trap are our heroes going to walk into next week?

That’s a lot of questions, and there are plenty more that the episode raised. With Libby’s death, we are also clearly never going to get an answer to a few more big ones- why was she in the same institution as Hurley? As with every episode, we get a few answers and even more questions. But I’ve got a good feeling that we will get some of the big questions answered before the season ends- if only to be left with a bigger list of head scratchers to debate for a whole summer until we start it all again in the Fall.

With the new “Lost” viral marketing game a few weeks in, everyone involved in the show has done a fantastic job of keeping us all intrigued. Let’s just hope these people actually do know where they are going with this whole thing and don’t blow it, “X-Files” style. I just hope it doesn’t turn out Sawyer is Jesus or something like that.

My theory for how “Lost” will end? Bob Newhart wakes up in bed, turns to his wife and says “honey, I had the strangest dream…"