Lost Watch: Unleashing The Proverbial Beast

Episode Title: The Shape of Things to Come
Air Date: April 24, 2008

Wow.

Seriously, wow.

Last night's episode of "Lost" was mother effing epic.

I'm going to split the three different parts of last night's out of this world episode, because damn, a lot happened. A friendly game of Risk (in which Hurley cryptically tells Sawyer and Locke that "Australia is the key to the game,") is interrupted when Charles Widmore's mercenaries attack Locke's camp in an attempt to bring Ben in. Sawyer runs to rescue a sleeping Claire from one of the houses, running into a group of non featured characters... who all get picked off one by one. Note to any characters who want to survive on "Lost..." if you have a speaking role, your odds of survival are much better.

The mercenaries reveal that they are holding Ben's daughter hostage, and threaten to kill her if he doesn't come out. Talking to the lead mercenary over a radio, Ben told him he wouldn't come out, confident that they were bluffing and would never shoot his daughter.

Then they shoot his daughter.

A stunned and hurt Ben uses the last bit of defense he can on the surrounding assault team.

He calls out the smoke monster.

Let me repeat that: Ben calls out the smoke monster.

Seriously, ol' smokey is apparently like an attack dog that Ben can use whenever he feels like it. Which means he lied about not knowing anything about it when Locke asked him.

After smokey takes out the mercenaries- because guns are very ineffective against a monster made of smoke, Ben stops to "say goodbye to his daughter."

Locke's team runs into the woods, where they hope to find Jacob's creepy ghost cabin. After all the insanity, Sawyer decides he's finally had enough of Locke's crazy man shenanigans and decides to head back to Jack's camp with Claire, Aaron, and Hurley. But Benjamin and Locke won't let Hurley go... because he is the only one who can find Jacob's cabin. Hurley mans up and says he will stay with Locke and Ben to avoid anymore bloodshed, and Sawyer touchingly promises to kill Locke if he hurts even one of Hurley's curly hairs. And Locke's response, after a bit of a beat, is priceless... he looks Sawyer in the eye and says "fair enough."

Back on the beach with Jack's crew, things get tense when a body washes ashore on the beach. It turns out to be the doctor from the freighter, whose throat has been slashed (clearly he didn't heed his own warning about "not pissing the captain off.") Jack wants an explanation and gets Daniel to use the broken satellite phone to transmit a signal to the ship in morse code... and then Daniel tries to lie about the freighter's mysterious response. Unfortunately for Daniel, old Bernard knows morse code and calls him on the lie. When Jack asks if the freighter crew ever had any intentions of bringing the survivors back from the island, a freaked out Daniel admits that they never did plan on rescuing them, giving legitimacy to Ben's claims that the crew plans on slaughtering everyone on the island once they have Ben in their possession.

Oh, and Jack is getting sick... which is clearly going to lead to an episode where somebody who isn't a doctor must operate on the doctor. This kind of story turn seems a bit lame, considering all the game altering twists and turns in the last episode, but hopefully the writing team is going somewhere with the subplot.

Anyway, on to the last but certainly not least of the three parts of the episode... Ben's flash forward. The first time we see him, Ben is waking up in the middle of the Sahara Desert, where he quickly kills two men on horseback who discover him. He heads into town and checks into a hotel (where he is a preferred customer who travels under an alias,) and asks the desk clerk the date... and needs to confirm the year.

So somehow Ben got off the island and ended up right smack in the middle of the desert... but is unsure of the year. More time travel stuff, it looks like.

Ben arrives just in time to show up at a funeral... for Sayid's dead wife. Turns out Sayid finally found the woman he had been searching for before he crash landed on mystery island, married her, and less than a year later, had to bury her. She was murdered, and Benjamin claims he is at the funeral to find the assassin who killed his wife. He shows him a picture of a man who was seen driving away right after Sayid's wife was murdered in Los Angeles... at the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica, which is just three blocks from where she was killed. And also my exact neighborhood, which is spooky/ awesome.

Ben tells Sayid that he got off the island using "Desmond's boat." Now, waking up in the middle of the desert probably implies that he didn't use a boat... but Desmond may have something to do with it, since it seems like Ben might have jumped through time somehow.

Sayid, angry and mournful, helps Ben track down and kill the assassin... then asks Ben who is "next" on his list. Ben tries to talk Sayid out of helping him, telling him it's "not his war," but Sayid insists, telling him he has nothing to live for other than avenging his wife's murder. Benjamin finally relents, but when walks away from Sayid, he smiles his evil Ben smile. And we witness how another one of our poor islanders is manipulated by Ben Linus.

At the end of the flash forward, Ben sneaks into Charles Widmore's hotel suite, where the two men finally confront eachother face to face. Ben tells Widmore that he "changed the rules" when his men murdered Alex. Widmore tells Ben that "everything you have you took from me," implying that Widmore was probably behind the Dharma Initiative work that Ben disrupted... by murdering anyone who worked for them. When Widmore asks Ben if he's going to kill him, Ben tells him that "both you and I know that I can't do that." Ben then promises to hunt down Widmore's daughter and kill her as revenge... that's right, Benjamin Linus has a personal vendetta against Desmond's true love, Penny. Widmore tells Ben that he'll never find Penny, while Ben tell Widmore he'll never find the island... and the game is on.

So why can't Ben kill Widmore? What are these "rules" Ben speaks of that Widmore broke? How far back does their association go? How the hell DID Ben get off the island? And just where does one buy food for your pet giant smoke monster anyway?

This was an episode where the patience of "Lost" fans really paid off, as mind blowing reveal after mind blowing reveal added up, all of them building to what promises to be an absolutely explosive finale where more than one of our favorite islanders will probably not make it. It was a fast paced hour with tons of new information that left fans with even more intriguing questions than ever, and most excitingly, it really did hint at the shape of things to come for the show now that the writers have the freedom of knowing just how long the show will go on and that they have an idea of where their endpoint is... we're gonna get more and more answers as the show goes on. Which will lead to more and more questions.

Lost Watch: In The Future, When All's Not Well

Episode Title: Eggtown
Air Date: 2/21/2008

So another week, another last minute blog post about "Lost" before the new episode airs. You should have seen what it was like when I wrote essays in college. I started one fifteen page term paper the night before it was due. And got like a B+ or an A- on it. ANYWAY. On to last week's Kate-centric episode.

On the Island, We Learned
-Kate needs some info from the Asian Ghostbuster guy.
-Locke has become batshit crazy.
-Benjamin is still fucking with his head all over the place.
-Asian Ghostbuster guy wants to talk to Ben
-Kate springs Ghostbuster and takes him to Benjamin
-Ghostbuster asks for $3.2 million to lie and tell his employers Benjamin is dead
-Benjamin says yes and tells him he can get the money (hmmmm...so Benjamin is even more than just a guy whose lived on the island forever, as was made clear by the amazing Sayid episode.)
-Bat shit crazy Locke kicks Kate out of their weird little suburban island community because he's losing control of his minions

And in the future, we learn:
-Kate is on trial for the crime she committed before they landed on the island.
-Her mother decides she won't take the stand against her daughter...and asks to see her "grandson."
-Jack testifies on Kate's behalf, telling a cooked up tale of eight survivors of the Oceanic crash- leading one to speculate that two of the "survivors" died before Jack and co. became the Oceanic 6, and one of the dead is probably Claire
-Because Kate's "son" is none other than Claire's baby, little Aaron.

Woah.

And, oh yeah, the helicopter with Sayid and Desmond on it heading for the freighter?
Missing.

We're already halfway through the initial eight episodes of this shortened by the Writer's Strike "Lost" season. Thank god the producers have promised five more episodes after the initial eight, with a four week break between episodes. But seriously, thanks a lot writers. Was your residual fight really as important as a full season of "Lost?"

(Yes, it was.)

Lost Watch: The New Hotness

Episode Title: Confirmed Dead
Air Date: 2/7/2008

I hate to short change my Lost post, but it is Thursday as I write this, and the next episode is on tonight...and there is also an Indiana Jones trailer to discuss. Being a geek is fucking exhausting.

Episode 2 of this shortened season was completely kick ass. We got quick intros to our four new islanders, all of whom seem interesting, complex, and not the bad guys out to kill everyone Ben claimed they were. But they might be working for bad guys out to kill everyone.

And why was Ben so intent on keeping them off the island?

Because the fuckers came there for him.

Oh shit.

Ben's storyline is getting more and more intriguing with every episode of "Lost." His baiting of Sawyer was so great because you knew Sawyer realized he was being manipulated into beating him up even as he did it. Brilliant shit.

Meanwhile, John Locke is trying to act like a leader...and quickly learning Jack's job is not so easy. As Jack said towards the end of season one, (I'm paraphrasing because I'm far too lazy right now to actually look it up,) "I think we've got a John Locke problem."

Mr. Ghostbuster, with his weird dust buster paranormal communication machine thing, is about to blow the roof off the house with the whole Jacob thing too.

And tonight's episode is supposed to be a Sayid story. Fuck yes.

Lost Watch: Welcome Back, Hurley

Episode Title: The Beginning of the End
Air Date: 1/31/2008

And, we're back.

After a long hiatus, "Lost" kicked off season four, to big ratings during a time when America is so desperate for new, non-reality based content that they even stuck around after the episode aired to watch the absurd looking "Eli Stone."

The new "Lost" wasn't a mindblower, at this not the way that previous season premieres have been. Obviously, we didn't get anything as spectacular as our first look at the inside of the Hatch in season two or the revelation of the creepy Other-town in season three. But what fans were treated to last night was a lot of setup for what promises to be a wild ride in season 4.

Surprisingly, last night was a Hurley episode, and right away, in the new flash forward structure, we realize that he was one of the people taken off the island, along with only five others (The Oceanic 6.) So far we know half of the people who made it off-island- Jack, Kate, and now Hurley. The flash forward began dramatically, with Hurley in a high speed car chase on the LA freeways (as common a sight to Los Angelenos as rain in Seattle.) But it turns out that Hurley was being chased by the cops- because he ran out of a convenience store after being spooked by something. He didn't rob the place at gun point, he just ran off. I mean, even if Hurley run out with some HoHos and Twinkies without paying for them, would there really be a high speed chase with multiple cop cars pursuing him?

So Hurley gets himself committed, where he is visited by a creepy bald black dude who asks him if "they're still alive." As Jack made clear in the season finale, the Oceanic 6 have made some sort of hush hush deal in which they've promised to keep quiet about whatever happened to them on the island. Hurley's second visitor is more disturbing...none other than poor dead Charlie. The Drive Shaft singer tells Hurley that, yes, he's dead...but that he is there, right in front of Hurley. Charlie tells his old friend that "they need him," presumably referring to the other crash survivors he left behind on the island. When a pre-bearded Jack visits Hurley, he tells him that "it" wants us to come back. It, probably, being the island itself, which has turned out to be one of the most demanding land masses in the history of narrative fiction.

Back on island, in "the present" part of the story, Hurley has to deal with Charlie's death- and begins to think that his friend's warning that the people coming are not Penny's people means that Locke might be right, and they could be hostile. On his way back to the rest of the survivors, he runs into Locke himself...but not before he sees Jacob's creepy shack. Yes, Hurley can see the shack- and a person inside it, in the scariest moment of the season premiere. When he turns away from the little shanty, it's in front of him again. So Hurley's in tune with whatever crazy wave length allows Locke and Benjamin to see Jacob.

When the survivors finally reunite, Hurley has seen Locke's point of view, and decides that staying on the island might be the best option- because that's what Charlie died trying to tell them. The islanders split into two teams, with Captain Jack and Captain Locke being the leaders. Hurley, Claire and baby, the tied up Ben, and, shockingly, Sawyer, join team "stay on the island," while Kate and Sayid stay with Jack. The funniest moment of the episode was when Bernard, who promised to stay on the island with his ailing wife, asks Rose if she wants to go with Locke and she responds "I'm not going anywhere with that man." Probably a good call. He did put a knife in the back of the new arrival before they got a beat on whether she's a good guy or not.

One more note on the flash forward stuff- Hurley tells Jack "I should never have joined up with Locke," so he clearly regrets his decision...though we don't know what exactly went wrong with it. A weirdly upbeat Jack tells Hurley "it's water under the bridge, man," as if joining Team Locke was just a social faux pas, so who knows?

The episode ends with Naomi's friends parachuting onto the island, starting with Jeremy Davies, 90's indie film actor who starred in "Spanking the Monkey" and "Saving Private Ryan," and has always specialized on awkward bordering on creepy characters. When he takes off his helmet, he tells Jack "we're here to rescue you." Time will tell if he's lying.

So, on to theories.

Hurley can see Jacob and his house because of his "insanity" that landed him in the loony bin in the first place (which is where he was in flash backs and the new flash forward.) He either really is insane, or really can see dead people (which is why Charlie comes to him in the flash forward,) an ability he shares with Ben and Locke.

Hurley's igloo drawing at the loony bin has something to do with the arctic hatch from the end of season 2.

The creepy bald black guy is working for an organization looking for the island, and it's going to become very clear how important the island itself is to a lot of different people very soon.

Davies' character works for such an organization. They're not really there to rescue Jack or anyone. (This one is easy to guess, seeing as there are already promos for this season that give that away.)

Letting Ben go with Locke is a really bad idea. Like, really bad.

Jack will look weird with a beard, like Hurley said, but only because it will look fake as all hell. (I guess this isn't a theory, more of a statement on the beard from last season's finale- which, in my mind, is really the only thing I can criticize about that amazing episode.)

This season is going to kick a lot of ass once it gets going, and blow a lot of minds.

Let's Get "Lost" Tonight (You Can Be My Black Kate Austen Tonight)

First off I apologize for the awful Kanye reference in the title. Oh wait, I don't. Because it's awesome.

Anyway, "Lost" returns tonight (and along with it, my long and rambling post-episode blog posts,) and I'm fairly excited. As in, "it's all I think about now that the college football season is over" excited.

So here are my totally 100% guaranteed to be accurate predictions for the fourth season.

The Smoke Monster Will Finally Reveal Itself
In a stunning cross promotional move between JJ Abrams franchises, it's gonna be the monster from Cloverfield, hereby referred to as Cloverfield. Which makes him less scary. As in, "look out, it's Cloverfield!" It just doesn't have the same ring to it as Godzilla, King Kong, or even Mothra, who, as his namesake implies, is...a giant moth. Anyway, Cloverfield will turn out to have drinking problems, get arrested with a DUI after shooting one day, not get along with the cast, and go the way of Mr. Ecco and Ana-Lucia. In a spiral of self destruction, Cloverfield will become addicted to pain killers, write a tell all book that reveals Mathew Fox to be a racist, and pose nude in Maxim.

In Another Cross Promotional Coup, The Cast of "Juno" Will Crash Land On the Island.
And about the first time one of them says "honest to blog," sings a Moldy Peaches song, or stops narrative progress to talk about hipster bands and obscure Italian horror movies that a former stripper screenwriter thinks would be cool for a sixteen year old girl to like...Sayid will kill them all.

Hurley Will Still Not Shed Any Weight.
This is a real prediction you can take to the bank. I've always loved how the writers have tried to address it, especially when they revealed that Hurley has a secret stash of Ranch dressing he hid from his fellow survivors. I'd probably do the same thing. Ranch is fucking good.

Despite Predictions Of An Upset Or At Least A Close Game, The Patriots Will Massacre The Giants
As long as I'm doing predictions, why not?

The People Jack Talks To On The Radio Are...
The Harlem Globetrotters! Didn't you ever see that episode of "Gilligan's Island?" They promised them that they'd send help back. They promised them!

In The New Flash Forward Structure, We'll Learn More About The Near Future
Though clearly, in the future, fake beards don't look anymore convincing.

Charlie Is Not Dead
But he will have amnesia.

Locke Will Get Engaged To The Island
But after a stormy six month engagement, Locke will break it off, saying that the two have grown apart.

If the Writer's Strike Doesn't End Soon, All The Lost Fans Out There Are Going To Be Pretty Pissed Off In Eight Weeks
Especially when the eighth and final episode that has been produced before the strike began turns out to be about Nicki and Paulo.

Check out which of my predictions come true tonight on "Lost." I'm pretty sure the "Juno" thing is going to happen. I know I'd love it if that movie and everything about it crash landed on a remote island (except for Michael Cera. He must be protected, as he is a national treasure.)


Jack To The Future

Lost Watch: Like, Woah

Episode Title: The Looking Glass Air Date: 5/23/07

There's just so much to talk about.

"Lost's" third season finale was an absolute stunner. Everything is different after last night. And now we're supposed to wait nine months until we get a new episode? It's just not fair.

So, the most important thing we learned last night? They get off the bloody island. At least Jack and Kate do, and probably Claire and her baby, if Desmond’s vision was accurate (as Charlie’s death would imply.) And we learn all this through an all new “Lost” storytelling device. In what has been described as a "game changer" by the producers, last night's Jack flashbacks were not flashbacks at all...they were flashFORWARDS.

Our first clue of this is when we see a depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, pharmaceutical addicted Jack with a very fake beard flying on an Oceanic Airlines flight, then stumbling around LA, a lost soul with nobody to turn to. He reads a newspaper clipping about a dead man and breaks down in tears, leaves a distressed voicemail, then steps to the edge of a bridge, ready to kill himself. Until a car crashes behind him, and Jack has to go back into hero mode, saving a woman and her eight year old child from the burning wreckage.

Immediately, this doesn’t seem like the Jack Shepherd we’re used to. Jack’s an alcoholic? Just when in his past did he become like his dead (or is he?) father? But the writers don’t let us in on their storytelling trick just yet.

Jack also attends the funeral of…someone. He is the only mourner who shows up, and doesn’t ask to view the body. So who is the deceased? We’ll get to that in the end…sort of.

On the island, in the “present” (or past now?) the showdown with The Others is imminent. Sayid, Jin, and Bernard (of all people) stay behind to blow the tents when Ben’s goons show up as the rest of the survivors head off to the radio tower to shut off Rousseau’s distress call, while Charlie is being held prisoner by some a couple hot Lesbian Others in the underwater hatch.

So yeah, a lot is going on.

When The Others show up, the plan almost works perfectly…almost. Sayid and Bernard hit their targets and blow two of the tents. But Jin misses, tries to run to closer to get a better shot, and is captured. Sayid and Bernard try to run and fight, but both end up surrendering.

The big survivor party sees that only two of the planned three explosions went off, and Kate wants to go back to the beach to help their captured friends, while Jack insists on pushing forward.

In the underwater hatch, Charlie tells his captors that the survivors are heading to the radio tower and that he is there to turn off their jamming signal. They radio Ben, who is surprised to hear them “break radio silence.” Apparently, the rest of The Others believed the two women were no longer on the island and that the underwater hatch was flooded and inoperable. Ben sends the eye-patch sporting Russian to the hatch to investigate, and decides to go to the survivors and “talk them out of” turning Rousseau’s distress call, and allows Alex, his daughter, to join him.

A shaken Sawyer, who is still upset after the events that went down in “The Brig” a few weeks ago, decides to go back to help Sayid, Bernard, and Jin, even though he is unarmed. Kate wants to go too, but he doesn’t want to bring her. Jack is worried about allowing him to go unarmed, but Juliet volunteers to join him and tells them that there is a hidden cache of guns that they can arm themselves with before they head back to the survivors’ camp…after Juliet kisses Jack passionately, raising more than a few eyebrows.

A distressed Kate doesn’t understand why Sawyer wouldn’t let her come and Jack explains that, duh, it’s because he’s trying to protect her. When Kate asks why Jack is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack tells her “because I love you,” in a matter of fact admission that Kate had to have known all along.

Poor Hurley, feeling left out and unsure of himself, asks if he can come along with Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells him he’d be useless and get them killed, in an honest moment that cuts Hurley deeply but had to be said anyway. And oh yeah, Juliet admits that there is no gun cache…she only told Jack there was so he would let them go help their friends.

So the stage is set for three epic showdowns, none of which disappoint.

Ben meets up with Jack and the two of them have a little chat. Ben tells Jack that if he uses the Satellite Phone, the people he summons to the island will kill everyone. He tells him Naomi works for a group of people who have been trying to find the island, who will ruin it. Jack (with reason) thinks he’s bluffing, so Ben radios in to Tom, who is holding the three survivors at the beach hostage, and tells him to kill them if Jack doesn’t relent. Jack won’t budge and hears three gunshots, thinking that he’s doomed his friends to three bullets through their heads.

Meanwhile, Desmond wakes up in the boat above the underwater hatch, with a whopping headache and Charlie’s goodbye note to Claire in his pocket. Before he has time to think what to do next, Eye Patched Russian guy starts shooting at him, so he dives down and enter the underwater hatch. Charlie tells him to hide before his captors catch wind that he’s there, but then Eye-Patch shows up. Charlie informs him that Ben’s been jamming any radio signals to the mainland through the hatch, and Eye Patch decides to radio his boss to decide how to deal with it. Ben convinces him that he’s doing the right thing, and tells him to kill Charlie- and the two unsuspecting female Others.

Eye patch shoots the chicks, but before he turns the gun on Charlie, Desmond pops out and shoots him with a harpoon gun. One of the dying Others tells Charlie the code to stop the jamming signal- the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” tapped into the keyboard (it was programmed by a musician, she says with her last breath.) So Charlie gets to have his big moment and turn off the jamming signal, which will finally get the survivors home. He taps the Beach Boys classic in the keyboard, the yellow light turns off, and a signal comes through…from Penny. An excited Charlie asks Penny about Naomi and the boat off the island, but she tells him that she doesn’t know anything about a boat…Naomi and her crew were not hired by Penny. Before Desmond can talk to his lost love, Charlie sees a terrible sight through a porthole…Eye Patch survived the harpoon through the stomach and is holding a grenade up to the hatch window.

Charlie locks himself in before Desmond can enter, the porthole blows, and water begins to rush in. Thinking quickly, Charlie scrawls a message on his hand and puts it up to the window, telling Desmond that it’s “not Penny’s boat.” Then he dies.

This is a “Lost” first…an original character and fan favorite is killed off. Yeah, they killed Shannon and Boone off…but nobody liked those characters anyway. Charlie’s death is hard to take, and Dominic Monaghan’s performance last night was the best he’s given in the series’ three year run. Charlie Pace, you will be missed.

Back on the beach, Sawyer and Juliet are trying to figure out how they’re going to take out the Others who have their friends at gunpoint…until Hurley zooms in, driving the Dharma VW bus into the action. Hurley! He hits one of the Others with the car, while Sawyer sneaks around and knocks one of them out with a branch. In the scramble, Sayid kills one of them with his legs, Jack Bauer style, and Sawyer takes Tom’s gun. When Tom surrenders, Sawyer still kills him, telling him “that’s for taking the kid.”

Hurley radios in and tells the survivors that they saved their friends and loved ones, a relief to Jack who believes he allowed them to die. At the same time, the jamming signal is off, and Jack and crew turn off Rousseau’s distress call.

We have cell phone reception, people. As Naomi tries to make the call with the satellite phone, she suddenly falls down dead.

Guess who? It’s none other than Mr. John Locke, who was summoned out of what would have been his grave by none other than Walt, or a figment of his imagination in the form of Walt, or the smoke monster in the form of Walt, who tells him “you’ve got work to do, John.”

Jack picks up the phone, and Locke points a gun at him, telling him he’s not supposed to make the call. Jack stands strong, telling him that “I’m done letting you keep us on this island.” Locke relents, unable to shoot Jack, and a desperate Ben yells out “you don’t know what you’re doing!” But the call is complete, and the man on the other end of the line tells him they are coming. And soon.

Cut to the last scene of the “flashforwards.” Jack meets up with someone at the airport…it’s Kate. A distressed Jack tells her that he’s been flying all the time with his “gold pass” that Oceanic gave him, hoping that the plane would crash and take him back to the island. He tells her that “we weren’t supposed to leave,” and that “we have to go back.” Kate leaves, saying she has to go back to “him” (Sawyer?) and leaves Jack to his misery.

WOAH.

So at least Jack and Kate got off the island, and presumably a lot of the survivors have. Charlie’s sacrifice has made it possible for the survivors to be rescued…but the people it’s not clear if the people on Naomi’s boat are the ones who will be doing the rescuing. And a haunted Jack clearly has decided that coming back to the real world was the wrong move…that Locke, and maybe even Ben, were right the whole time.

Mindblowing. The finale implied that “Lost” may be done with the flashbacks, and the “flashforwards” might just be the new way the show will tell its labyrinthine story. Which sounds amazing to me. I can’t wait to see where this baby goes next.

As always, the episode has raised a whole lot of new questions. Who was in the casket at the funeral that Jack attended? He said he was neither family nor friend of the deceased, and nobody else showed up. When he asked Kate why she didn’t come, all she said was “why would I?” So who was it? My money’s on Michael. He betrayed the survivors and murdered two of them, so why would they go to his funeral? But it always could be Ben, or even Locke. His bizarre behavior would imply that not many people like him much anymore. And if he had to leave the island, he might be inclined to kill himself. This would also explain Jack’s guilt and remorse for leaving the island.

And what about Jack talking about his father as if he’s alive in the future? Christian Shepherd is dead. How can Jack tell the hospital’s new chief of surgery to bring his father down and see if he’s drunker if he’s dead? And how can Jack try and get prescriptions for drugs from his father if he’s dead? Did Jack come home to another timeline where his father never died? Is he just delusional at the point that he asks about him?

What are they going to do about Ben? What is Locke going to do? And who the hell did Jack talk to on the phone…are they coming to rescue the survivors…or slaughter them?

Anyone who doubted the show, anyone who turned away from it, gave up on it…it’s time to come back. The show is better than it’s ever been on every level, and it’s time for you to come back to “Lost.” If you thought the show had lost it’s way, you’re wrong. Just get over your fanboy pride and get back on the “Lost” train.

Season 3 ended with a note perfect episode. It was exciting, funny, emotional, and satisfying on every level. Almost every story beat planted earlier in the season has paid off, including the seemingly stupid VW bus episode. The only thing that didn’t pay off was the “Jack’s Tattoo” episode…everything was working in their favor last night to the point that I thought it was going to be the key to killing the smoke monster. The confidence in the storytelling on the show at this point is astounding, and I can’t wait to see how they bring the show to a close over the next three seasons. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I really think they’re going to pull the whole thing off and actually have satisfying ending for loyal fans. If they can equal what they achieved last night, then “Lost” is going to go down as one of the all time great shows.

Nine months is a long time.

Lost Watch: Ghosts in the Machine

So that’s why the still have the flashbacks.

After weeks of showing back-stories that don’t actually reveal any new information about the show’s main characters, this week’s “Lost” was a Ben Linus-centric episode, and it delivered, hard style.

The first thing we learn, right off the bat, is that Ben has been lying to everyone about being born on the island. He was born in Oregon (near where Juliet was flown to when she was first recruited…hmmmm) and his mother died in childbirth. The man who pulled over to help Ben’s panicked father ends up getting him a job on the island, working for the Dharma Initiative…as a “workman” (or janitor, which Ben’s daddy doesn’t take well at all.) The creepy little boy version of Ben sees his mother, or his mother’s ghost, or the black smoke monster posing as his mother, or whatever it is…and follows her out into the woods. Where he meets the slimy Other Richard, who looks like he is the exact same age as he is in the present- and this is supposed to be twenty something years earlier. Richard tells little Ben to be patient, and that he can join what The Dharma bums call “the hostiles” and we’ve been referring to as “The Others.” Cut to a few years later and Ben gets his chance, murdering his father while the rest of the hostiles murder the Dharma people, and then take over their little suburban town. So now we know how they came to live there, before Kate, Sayid, and company crashed the party.

The flashbacks were nice, but there’s no time like the present, and the new episode proved that rule to be very, very true. Locke shows up with his father’s dead body slung over his shoulder and demands answers. When Ben tells Locke that he’s not really the man in charge, that he takes orders from a man named Jacob, Locke demands that he take him to the real head cheese. Ben tries to weasel his way out of hit, but Locke has alpha maled his way into the hearts of the rest of The Others, so Ben agrees, to save face.

Meanwhile, back at the survivor’s camp, the crud is hitting the fan hard as Sawyer brings back the recording that Locke gave him that proves Juliet is still communicating with Ben. When everyone finds out about the injured parachutist, the group wants to know why nobody told Jack. An angry and intense (is there any other kind) Jack shows up and decides it’s time to talk. He admits he knew The Others were coming to take the survivor’s pregnant women folk. And that he was waiting to tell everyone until he had figured out what to do. Then, in super dramatic Jack fashion, he tells everyone “I guess we have a lot of catching up to do.” Thus setting up what might actually be an interesting Jack flashback season finale, and not, y’know, the boring story of how he got his tattoo while banging a weird Thai chick during a vision quest.

When Ben takes Locke to “Jacob’s” hidden cabin, there is nobody in the room. Ben begins to coverse with an empty chair, and for a minute I thought the writers were gonna go all Norman Bates with us and have Ben tell Locke “a boy’s best friend is his mother.” But then Locke hears a hoarse voice creak out “help me,” the room starts to move and vibrate, and Locke realizes, “crap, we might actually have a real ghost giving Ben orders.”

“Lost” easter egg fun fact…go through the scene where the cabin is going crazy to find a couple frames where you can see a man sitting in the previously empty chair.

After Locke’s creepy close encounter, Ben takes him to the pit where all the Dharma Scientists were gruesomely deposited after they were gassed by the hostiles. He tells Locke that he made a choice to join “the original natives of the island” (funny most of The Others seem pretty, I dunno, Caucasian, to be native Islanders) and that he was smart enough to do so and not “end up in that pit.” Then he tells Locke that’s what makes him smarter than him as well- and shoots him.

Ben asks the wounded Locke what Jacob said and tells him “I had to shoot you, because you could hear him.” Clearly, Locke is too powerful, or as everyone thinks he is, “special” to let Ben keep him alive. He’s a threat to his power.

So going into next week’s season finale, we have a new, huge mystery on our hands. A ghostly figure gives Ben all his orders? And Locke can hear him? I don’t wanna give anybody any spoilers, but I don’t think Locke will die. In fact, hopefully we’ll see him swoop in next week, Han Solo style, and save our survivors from the upcoming Other attack. And if Locke gets there in time, he’ll probably replace Ben as the one the Others look to. Once Ben’s is out of the way, maybe there will be more communication between the Hostiles/ Others and the survivors. Because no relationship can survive without communication. And then maybe we can go even deeper into the island’s mysteries.

With this week’s announcement that “Lost” has a set enddate (which means the writers can plan things out in advance and not stall their storytelling for fear that they won’t have enough material to make it into season nine or something awful like that,) this week’s amazing episode, and promises of a great season finale, “Lost” is on fire.

Lost Watch: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Not Knowing What the Hell is Going On

Episode Title: Left Behind Air Date: 3/4/2007

A pretty standard episode with a few interesting elements, last night’s Kate-centric “Lost” didn’t reveal too much that we didn’t already know about the Others, the monster, or Kate’s back story, even though major portions of screen time were spent on all three subjects.

The most interesting developments from the episode last night came from The Others abandoning their idyllic Other-town. Before they left, Locke came in to say goodbye to Kate, because he was going to somewhere with them.

That’s right, John Locke has joined team Others. We’ve always known that something was going to snap with him, but now he’s gone off the deep end and disappeared with the show’s main villains as they withdraw further into the island. At least the defanged and whiny Locke is gone. That guy sure hasn’t learned from his constant mistakes, but I’m sure that going off with the Others will have no terrible consequences.

The other big development from last night was the fact that they left Juliet behind along with Jack, Sayid, and Kate. Juliet did betray Ben when she told Jack to let him die in surgery, and was trying to leave on the submarine with Jack. But did they really leave her with the survivors because she was banished from the Others or is this just another one of Ben’s many manipulations, with Juliet meant to infiltrate the group?

Juliet already admitted to one deception last night- after spending time in the jungle handcuffed to Kate, and evading the big ol’ smoke monster all night, Juliet admits that she was the one who handcuffed them together, to try and win Kate’s sympathies after being abandoned by the people she’d spent the last three years of her life with.

Juliet does a pretty poor job of ingratiating herself with Kate after bringing up Jack, which leads to a vicious fight between the handcuffed women. For a few minutes, “Lost” devolves into a women’s prison picture. I had to check the credits to make sure Quentin Tarantino wasn’t behind the episode, because it felt a bit like a self conscious B-movie homage for a moment there.

When the women get back to Other town, Juliet chases the smoke monster away by activating the big metal security fence. She tells Kate that they don’t know what it is, but know that “it doesn’t seem to like our fence.” When they reunite with Jack, Kate apologizes for her part in ruining his hopes of leaving the island, but he seems more concerned with Juliet than Kate by that point.

Burn.

Jack decides it’s time to head back to camp with the rest of the survivors, bringing Juliet along. Sayid seems displeased, but Jack insists, because she was left behind, just like them.

Which means Sayid is gonna go all Jack Bauer on Juliet next week and interrogate the sh#t out of her, hopefully finally revealing a lot more about The Others than we already know.

Kate’s flashback story was weak- she wants to talk to her mother even though she is heavily guarded by US Marshals trying to arrest her. She enlists the help of the woman Sawyer conned in one of his flashbacks almost two seasons ago. Yawn. I just hope these connections that all the Survivors have actually add up to something and are not just “cool coincidences.”

The “B story,” (as it’s called in the TV biz,) took place back at the survivor’s camp with Hurley telling Sawyer that the group was planning to take a vote on whether or not to banish Sawyer from camp. Sawyer is convinced to act nice to the rest of the survivors, talking to Claire about the baby, helping Desmond hunt for boar, and cooking up a nice meat roast after the hunt. The whole time Hurley is talking him through it, acting as like the angel in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” if the angel was trying to tell Jimmy Stewart to stop being such a jackass to everyone.

After Sawyer has won over the crowd, Hurley admits that he made the whole banishment vote up to teach him a lesson- that most people are looking to Sawyer to be a leader and that he needs to stop acting selfishly. Hurley owned him, proving again that he's the real GURU of the island. The slightly amusing subplot ended with one of those weird, slo-mo montages set to a bad pop song that “Lost” resorts to once in awhile, with a smiling Sawyer learning that, aw shucks, it’s okay to be nice.

Overall, “Left Behind” was more of a transitional episode, setting stuff up that should pay off nicely in the next few weeks. It will be good to see the whole crew (sans crazy Locke) back together again for the first time this season, and it will be really nice to see what Juliet has to reveal about The Others- and if she’s really been banished or if she’s still working with them. And maybe there will be more awesome catfights between her and Kate.

One can dream at least.

Lost Watch: Saving a Sinking Ship

After months of teases and subplots that have gone nowhere, declining ratings, and bloggers and critics mercilessly slamming season 3 of “Lost,” is the show finally turning a corner and turning back into the exciting show that America couldn’t turn away from a mere two years ago? Last night’s episode, while flawed, was a step in the right direction.

Spoilers are ahead, so don’t read this if the episode is waiting for you unwatched on your TIVO.

When I heard the focus of this episode’s flashbacks was going to be Claire, who may be the most boring character on the show, I wasn’t thrilled. But to my surprise, for the first time in what feels like months, the writers actually revealed some new information through the flashbacks- after a gothed out Claire with dark hair (very hot by the way) gets into a car accident that puts her mother into a coma, her absentee father shows up to Australia to help- and it turns out to be Jack’s dad.

On the island, Claire gets an idea to try and catch one of the birds flying by- because she sees that they are “tagged” and will eventually be studied by scientists. Claire decides she wants to catch one and put a note in it that could lead to the rescue of the islanders. Conflict arises when Desmond tells Charlie not to help her- because he has another vision in which Charlie dies by slipping on a rock as he tries to catch a bird for Claire. The whole mess leads to Desmond explaining his creepy psychic powers to Claire- who, to her credit, accepts them and tells Charlie she will help him get through it.

More interestingly, Kate, Locke, Sayid, and the scary French lady continue their search for Jack, with the eye patched Russian Other in tow as a prisoner. When they approach a giant perimeter of huge metal pylons, the group doesn’t know how to proceed- until Locke pushes the prisoner between them to see what happens. In one of the more bizarre and cool scenes of the year, the Russian is killed by weird sonic wave, foaming from the mouth, bleeding from his ears- and smiling the whole time. Creepy and cool, just like “Lost” should be.

The murder also leads Kate and Sayid to question Locke’s decision to use the Russian as a guinea pig. Locke shrugs it off, but is unable to explain why he has a bunch of C4 explosives in his bag. Clearly, our man Locke is looking for a little revenge after head Other Ben humiliated him last season.

Finally, team badass team decides to chop down a tree and use it to climb over one of the pylons. When they get into Other territory, they find the creepy little on-island suburb that was revealed in the stunning opening episode of season 3- and discover a smiling Jack (which might be a first for the series) playing football with the Others.



WTF?

So has Jack been brainwashed? Is he trying to trick The Others so he can escape? Or, as they continue to claim, has Jack discovered that The Others are "not the bad guys?" And what will Claire and Jack's newly revealed brother/ sister relationship mean to the show? Overall, the episode revealed enough info to whet the appetites of an audience that has grown impatient with the show, but more importantly promised greatness to come on next week’s Locke-centric episode. It looks like “Lost” is back, right when many fans were ready to write it off for good.

Theories and Conjectures:
*JACK HAS BEEN BRAINWASHED: The Others claim that they're "not the bad guys," but after killing, kidnapping, and generally terrorizing the crash survivors, I think they can be pretty easily categorized as "villains." After seeing the zobmie-like behavior of the kidnapped survivors when they were "watching" Jack in the animal cage a few weeks back, and seeing the kid in the creepy "Clockwork Orange" like theatre, there is clearly some kind of mind control going on- and we'll find out more next week.

*THE OTHERS ARE DHARMA: The Russian Other was just toying with team badass when he told them he was a member of Dharma and the Others weren't- and told them about "the purge" in which the Others wiped out Dharma scientists. It's all a fucked up psychological experiment by Dharma- whatever Dharma is.

*CHARLIE IS NOT GOING TO DIE...BUT CLAIRE JUST MIGHT: Charlie won't die. He's one of the most popular characters on the show, and the fact that he's been told he will die just proves he won't- the writers wouldn't give out the info that he might die if they actually intended to kill him. It's just meant to build tension. My money is on Claire biting the dust- she is a boring character, and Charlie as a single dad raising her baby would be kind of interesting- in a generic Hollywood comedy sorta way (Charlie, Hurley, and Sawyer could star in a remake of "Three Men and a Baby.") But the new relevation that Claire is related to Jack suddenly makes her a bit more interesting, which leads to...

*JACK AND CLAIRE'S NEWLY REVEALED REALTION TO EACHOTHER IS GOING TO PAY OFF: I'm not sure how, but most of the little connections between the main characters last year turned out to be nothing more than coincidences. I don't have much to go on, but I feel like the writers revealed the big connection between Jack and Claire for a reason- especially now that Jack has become a Zombie-Other.

*THE LOCKE EPISODE NEXT WEEK WILL ROCK FOR MANY REASONS, NONE OF WHICH INCLUDE THE FLASHBACKS: This week's reveal notwithstanding, the flashbacks have become really tedious. I know next week's Locke episode is going to reveal how he ended up in a wheelchair- and to be frank, I don't care at this point. But I do care that Locke's behavior has become increasingly bizarre, and I want to know why. I miss the crazy/ weird/ slightly creepy Locke of season one, and I'm glad to see he's back. And I can't wait to see him confront manipulative lead Other Ben.

*"HEROES" AND "LOST" FANS ARE GOING TO BELIEVE TALK OF "THE LIST" MEANS THE SHOWS ARE CONNECTED: This is a silly theory based upon the fact that the show shares a few writers, creative consultants, and producers. The shows are on two different networks, have a very similar demographic but not the exact same audience down to each viewer, and...a crossover between the shows would be horribly stupid and lame.

Lost Watch: Lost Forever?

It's been a long time since I've discussed "Lost." In fact, my previous post on the show was back in the middle of the six episode "mini season." There were three more episodes before a long break, and then the show returned, with ads promising that this season would deliver like no other show.

So far, this promise has not been kept.

The latest episode, "Enter 77" was a mild improvement after two episodes that can only be described as utter trash. To recap- Sayid and Locke join Kate on her quest to save Jack from the Others. In last week's episode, they recruit the crazy loner Rousseau for their mission. On their way, they find another Hatch station, where a Russian man with an eye patch is apparently living alone. The man tells them that he is "the last living member of the Dharma Initiative" and that the station he lives in, "The Flame," is meant to communicate with the outside world- though his sattelite is inoperable. He also tells them that The Others (or as he calls them, "The Hostiles,") killed the rest of the Dharma Scientists during a "purge," and that he was left alone because he agreed to stay at The Flame and not encroach upon any other part of the island. Sayid and Kate can tell the Russian lying and realize he is one of The Others and call him out on it- leading to a struggle in which he is tied up as a prisoner. Sayid discovers a hidden doorway to the basement of the building, and Locke is left to guard the Russian while Kate and Sayid explore the basement- where Sayid finds a map of the island that shows them the location of the other hatches. As they head back up, they are attacked by and then subdue a female Other who was hiding from them- and who was on the docks when Kate, Jack, and Sawyer were kidnapped at the end of Season 2.

While Kate and Sayid explore the basement, Locke becomes distracted by the Russian's computer chess game and wins a match against the computer- which triggers a message from the creepy Dharma guy we saw a lot of last season. Before Locke can follow the instructions on the computer, the Russian, who has escaped his bindings, takes Locke hostage.

Kate and Sayid emerge from the basement to find a standoff- the Russian promises to kill Locke if they do not release the woman they have taken prisoner. The two others then shout at eachother in Russian- and the Russian shoots the female Other, then tries to take his own life- before Sayid knocks the gun out of his hand and subdues him.

Rousseau, who conveniently leaves for the whole episode ("I have survived this long on the island by avoiding this type of confrontation,") comes back and demands to know why Sayid will not kill the Russian. Which is where this episode’s edition of "repetitive flashback weekly" comes in. Sayid's flashback is to a time when he was living in France as a chef, when he is kidnapped by a man who claims Sayid tortured his wife when he was in the Iraqi Republican guard. The man beats Sayid severely, but he will not admit that he "interrogated" her. Finally, the woman comes to Sayid and he admits that he did torture her, and he apologizes deeply. He forgives her and releases him, saying she does not want to become a monster who would torture or kill, despite her justified anger. And the woman’s words explain why Sayid can't kill their prisoner.

Or whatever.

Oh yeah, and Locke exits The Flame last, saying played another chess game- and admitting he entered "77" into the keyboard when the creepy Dharma guy instructed him to do so if "the hostiles" had encroached upon the building. And then The Flame blows up. So much for that hatch, and so much for “communicating with the outside world.” This is the second Hatch that Locke has caused the destruction of after displaying some questionable decision making.

And that is what brings us directly to what is currently wrong with "Lost." After three weeks of episodes that took us completely off the main storyline, right as things are getting interesting (something the Lost writers did a lot in Season 2, which frustrated me to no end,) we finally get back to our heroes trying to figure out what is going on with The Others. But at the same time, we still get flashbacks that regurgitate plot points and character development we already understand. I don't need another episode about how Sayid is haunted by his past as a torturer anymore than I need another episode about Hurley thinking he is cursed. And, at this point, I certainly don't care what Jack's tattoos mean (in an episode which will go down as the worst in the show’s history, despite the hilarious fact that the woman Jack was sleeping with was a former Power Ranger.) These are all things that I understood by the end of the first season, or that should have been answered then- and are not relevant at all at this point. The flashback structure, though very clever in the first year of "Lost," has really proven to be redundant at this point. The only flashback story I really enjoyed this season was about a new character. Juliette's episode was fascinating because it showed more of how she was recruited by Dharma- or maybe by The Others. But more on that later.

I love the main cast of "Lost," and the character development on the show has always been strong overall. But at this point, I don't need to have things I fully understand about these people hammered home to me again. I get who these people are, now lets get on with the show. And another thing- with all this character work that the show emphasizes, it's annoying how inconsistent the behavior of the main cast can be. I mean, Locke just stopped paying attention to a dangerous prisoner so he could play a game of video chess? I know he was obsessed with punching in the numbers in the first Hatch, but you'd think he'd learn. I just don't believe he'd let his guard down that overtly to play a game- even if he did believe it would unlock some secrets. I thought we had badass tracker John Locke back from Season 1, not fate obsessed loser John Locke from Season 2- but I guess we'll just have to keep hoping for that. But just wait a few weeks- we’re going to find out how he lost the use of his legs before he got to the island and was magically cured- another thing that could have been cool to learn two years ago but seems irrelevant at this point.

It's become very clear that there is a lot of stalling going on in the storytelling of "Lost," and it’s made the show kind of boring to watch. It's become less mysterious and more tedious as the third season has dragged on. I mean, a whole episode was devoted to Hurley getting a VW Bus to work- I already saw "Little Miss Sunshine," and I didn't like it then. But I have faith in the writers of the show- these people are clever, and I believe they have an idea of where they are going with this behemoth of a story, they are just having a bit of trouble getting there. But the recent news that the producers of "Lost" have talked to ABC about creating an endpoint for the show, deciding that it will go five or six seasons and then be finished, is great news. Now they don't have to string us along. Now they can decide when exactly things can happen, and not be afraid of hiding their cards for fear of blowing their load too early. Hopefully, it means they can get season 3 back on track, but it should at least mean that Season 4 will rock. I just don't want to wait too long for the show to compelling again.

So after all those complaints, there were a few cool things to be pulled out of "Enter 77." I was glad to see more Sayid, even if his flashbacks were repetitive. He has become the most underutilized member of the very large "Lost" ensemble, and it was nice to see him back- and know he'll be around to kick ass as the hunting party gets closer to the compound of The Others. Some of the information The Russian gave to Kate and Sayid was interesting, despite the fact that he was lying through a lot of it. Did he basically tell them that The Others are definitely not Dharma? The Creepy Dharma guy seemed to reiterate the fact when they talked about "The Hostiles" encroaching upon The Flame. But what about Juliette being recruited to work for the Project- was she being recruited by The Others instead? Or are they one and the same after all, and they just want the Oceanic Flight Survivors to think otherwise? If they are not Dharma, who are they and why are they living on the island? Once again, it was an episode that raised more questions without answering many- but at least they were intriguing questions.

So here we are, deep into Season 3. Kate, Sayid, Locke, and Rousseau are getting closer to the compound of the Others, where hopefully some real questions will be answered. It really is time for the writers get on with it, because they are testing the patience of a lot of their audience- ratings are down, fans are complaining vocally, and critics are questioning the direction of the show. It's time to get on with the storytelling, or they are going to lose their audience forever.

Sayid by Jeaux from "All My Heroes Have Day Jobs."