Monday, May 28, 2007

Finale post is in the works...

Hello my dear friends -

I just wanted to remind everyone that as I mentioned at the very end of the "Greatest Hits" recap, I intend to have the finale post up by the night of Tuesday, June 5th. I promise you that it will be worth the wait!

In the meantime, I am posting frequently to According to e, so please check it out!

Have a nice Memorial Day,
- e

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

S3Ep21 - Greatest Hits (Charlie's fourth flashback)

You can kill me but you can never kill my hoodie!Hello my dear friends -

So here we are, at the second-to-last write-up of the season. It seems like only yesterday the hatch was imploding. How time flies.

I knew that "Greatest Hits" was going to be a Charlie flashback, and therefore I had extremely low expectations for the episode as I feel that Charlie's previous three flashbacks have been the weakest of all other characters'. I also mistakenly thought that he had already had a flashback episode this season, but I was wrong - the last time we had a Charlie-dedicated hour was in the middle of Season Two - so I guess we were about due, especially since Desmond's visions of his death have become such an integral component in the show.

While this episode was exactly what I thought it was going to be - a set-up for the season finale - I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I actually teared up many times and was amazed at how they were able to make me root for the same character that as recently as two weeks ago I'd been hoping would get killed off. This sentiment was echoed across every message board I visited (people admitting to crying and being confused because they usually think that Charlie sucks). Very nicely done, writers, very nicely done.

Having said all that, there actually wasn't a whole lot that happened in "Greatest Hits." I liken the episode to a chess game where all the pieces were being moved into position for the final play. Perhaps TPTB were trying to give all of us bloggers a rest before hitting us with the WHAMMY that is sure to be the season finale. I didn't even have any centipede scares, so I feel like last week was the proverbial calm before the storm. Just as the finale is about to air, swarms of angry centipedes will start dropping from the ceiling and invading my place, I'm sure of it.

On to the episode discussion... Let's start with Charlie's Greatest Hits list. If you are tempted to skip through a re-hash of these five, I will forewarn you that some of them actually did have small clues hidden in the scenes. You know that they like to drive the nerds nuts!


A LOOK BACK

Since there has been SO MUCH HYPE about the possibility of Charlie dying, as soon as I saw him start to make his list I knew that it was going to be a record of his life's best moments. What I did not figure out until the end (when he wrote "The night I met you") was that he meant for the list to be given to Claire. That realization choked a few more tears out of me. I was pretty much a sniffling mess during the whole show - but I think a lot of that stemmed from this sinking feeling about what's going to happen in the finale. I just sense I'm not going to like it and it's starting to freak me out to the extremest (not a word, I know) of extremes. But I digress.


# 5 - NAME THAT TUNE

Yeah, yeah, Charlie... you are a self-absorbed rock star who loves to hear himself on the radio. WE GET IT and WE ALREADY KNEW THIS.

Bor-ing.



# 4 - HE'S NOT THAT STRONG A SWIMMER


Seriously, how pitiful is it that this one made the list? Your dad doesn't let you drown and that's one of the highlights of your existence? A sad commentary on Charlie's life.

I know you! I know you!A few tangential things to note on this one:
- People noted that this is probably the only time we've seen someone's father NOT be an ass on this show.
- VERY interesting... a child off-camera in the scene can be heard yelling, "Desmond, come on!!!" I heard it upon my first viewing, it is in the transcripts I referenced, and I watched it again to be sure. What does it mean, if anything? I have no idea.
- Many people remembered that in Season One when someone drowned off of the beach, Charlie remarked that he couldn't swim. So everyone thought they made some huge goof considering the fact that Charlie swam to the Looking Glass...
- ... But what those people are forgetting is that he basically SANK - he had that bunch of stones Desmond gave him to help him drop down. And even Desmond called him out at the end:

DESMOND: So how long can you really hold your breath for?
CHARLIE: Does it matter?

His previous statement to Sayid about being a champion swimmer was obviously just a lie to ensure he would be able to go on the mission.



# 3 - ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL

My precioussssWait a second, that ring was totally supposed to go to Frodo! Oh, wrong role.

A few people with MUCH better memories than mine recalled this scene back in the PILOT that they nicely tied in with this most recent episode:
KATE: May I ask you something?
CHARLIE: Me? I'd be thrilled. I've been waiting.
KATE: Have we ever met, anywhere?
CHARLIE: No, that would be unlikely.
KATE: Hum.
CHARLIE: I look familiar, though, right?
KATE: Yeah.
CHARLIE: Can't quite place it?
KATE: No, I can't.
CHARLIE: Yeah. I think I know.
KATE: You do?
CHARLIE [singing]: You all everybody... You all everybody! You've never heard that song?
KATE: I've heard it. I just don't know what the hell it has--
CHARLIE: That's us. Driveshaft. Look, the ring -- second tour of Finland. You've never heard of Driveshaft?
KATE [incredulous]: The band?
CHARLIE: Yeah, the band.
KATE: You were in Driveshaft?
CHARLIE: I am in Driveshaft. I play bass.

And in this latest episode we got to see the band on their second tour of Finland.

But still... talk about retro-fitting something... that ring is very obviously a rock star-looking ring which Charlie has been wearing since Season One (and which I have a replica of in my TV room - it came with the Charlie action figure). And now all of a sudden we're supposed to believe that it was some family heirloom belonging to "Dexter Stratham" and they named the band Driveshaft so it would fit with his initials??? I felt this one was very forced, but not quite as forced as the next one. Before moving on to that, however, I did tear up at this scene even though the ring part was goofy. Because ironically, Liam was the one to clean up his act and get married and have kids whereas Charlie ended up becoming a drug-addicted loser.

CHARLIE: Liam, no. Mum gave you that. You're the first born. It was her father's and his father before that...
LIAM: And it's a family heirloom, and that's why we named the band after Dexter bloody Stratham. I know. But Charlie, let's be honest, we both know I'm a sodding mess. But you, you're different. You're gonna get married, have a family, a baby. I'll be lucky if I hit thirty.
CHARLIE: Don't say that, Li.
LIAM: The ring has to stay in the family, Charlie. So please, take it. Mum would have wanted it this way. Pass it on to your little one someday. I need to know it's safe.

Now I don't have to deal with being called Turniphead anymore!The ring needs to be safe? Oh, oops! Too bad Charlie left it in the baby's crib without telling anyone! SO many people on the boards were unnaturally concerned about baby Aaron's safety (try telling them that these characters aren't real!) - apparently a lot of people think he's going to end up choking on the ring. Many others think that when they set off the explosives in the tents during the big show-down, the ring is going to get blown sky-high. These people could obviously never write a TV show. Those of us who could (or think we could) know that what is going to happen is that Charlie will end up dying, and then some time later when word of his death reaches the beach, Claire will poignantly find the ring and begin sobbing. "He knew! He knew what was going to happen to him! Who will help look after my bay-beeeeee!??" And she will henceforth wear the ring as a sign of her love for Charlie until Aaron is old enough to be the ring-bearer. DUH! You heard it here first!


# 2 - NADIA IS BACK, AND I DON'T MEAN PATCHY'S CAT

Now THIS one was forced. Charlie saves Sayid's true love, who is now randomly in London, and she deems him a hero? Nadia is starting to pop up all over the place just like Jack's dad! Remember when Locke was fixing her home in California in one of his flashbacks?

There are two reasons why I feel this scene was included, besides the fact that they needed to make Charlie have had five good things happen to him in his life:

Really, I'm just a mugger.  I'm no one else from the show, deal with it.1) Many people think the mugger was someone we've seen before - ideas include Liam (Charlie's brother), one of the other guys in the band, or other random no-names that have popped up in the background in other flashbacks. This scene is believed to have occurred before Driveshaft became famous, so even if it was one of Charlie's band members, he may not have known them at that point in time. I personally don't think it's anyone we know, and if it is, it's just one of those "connections" that are interesting but don't mean anything overall in the show.

Don't tell Sayid that I called you a hero or he will get jealous, and we KNOW how he gets when he's jealous...2) One thing I think WAS meant to mean something major in the show is that this scene was obviously meant to be compared to the scene from Desmond's trippy flashback where he confronted Charlie whilst he was singing "Wonderwall" and then it started to pour. I was POSITIVE that they were the same scene and that therefore the biggest revelation of this episode was that Desmond did indeed go back in time and slightly alter things. Because Charlie's memory would be the way that that day originally happened for him, but Desmond going back in time could have changed things later so that the Charlie who is on the Island would've never remembered the other version (you have to believe that there are multiple simultaneous parallel universes to "get" this).

However, an inspection of the two episodes shows that Charlie was wearing different outfits and the background buildings were also different. He also had a cardboard sign with his name propped up against his guitar case in Desmond's flashback, whereas in this one he didn't have the sign, but instead had an EXTREMELY curious sticker on the guitar itself.

What did the sticker say?

Is that a hint or is that a HINT?!?!


"I was here moments ago." (Shout out to Dark UFO for the screencap and inset)

SAAAAAAYY WHHHAAAAAA?

So here are my thoughts. I think this scene was intentionally put in to be a clue that there are multiple parallel threads of time going on and that Desmond went back to one of them and most likely changed a few things by buying the engagement ring (even though he still broke up with Penny), confronting Charlie, telling his professor friend about his time-travel suspicions and then getting hit by the mad patron (instead of the guy that was supposed to). I strongly believe that during one of his time-jumps that we never saw or may never see, Desmond found a way to get a message to Penny about the fact that he would eventually come to be stuck on a remote island as a result of a storm during his sailing race. That is why Penny knows to look for him now. Once again, just my theory, but that's how I think this all fits in. They would not have put this scene in Charlie's flashback unless they wanted us to realize it was similar... yet... different. Unless the actress who plays Nadia just really, really needed some work.


#1 - BAY-BEEE MOMMA

The kiss of death.If you didn't guess that Charlie's favorite life moment was going to have to do with Claire, then, well... I don't know how else to say it:
you are dumb.

What was cool was that we actually saw how they met (I went back through the first few Season One episode transcripts and confirmed that we never saw this scene, believe it or not). While I felt that Charlie's "good-bye" to Claire was anti-climactic (which it may have had to have been since she technically didn't know he was going on the Mission o' Doom), most people felt that his parting scene with baby Aaron (even calling him "Turniphead" one last time for good measure) made up for it.

I sure hope Desmond water-proofed the Greatest Hits list...

Now on to on-Island events.


YEP. HE HAS SNAPPED.


I'll never rule the universe with YOU![Alex is skinning a rabbit in the Others camp as Ben arrives back]
ALEX: Hey! When'd you get back?
BEN: Just now.
ALEX: Where's Locke?
[Ben pulls out a gun]
BEN: [Coldly] Here's your gun back.
RICHARD: Ben, what's going on?
BEN: Where's Ryan?
RICHARD: He's at his tent, are you....
BEN: It's time to get them.
RICHARD: [Mumbles] But you said tomorrow.
BEN: Jacob wants it to happen now.
RICHARD: Look what happened out there, did John see...
BEN: John had an accident. Ryan!
RYAN: Yes sir.
BEN: If you leave right now, how long will it take you to reach their camp.
RYAN: Well, if I take my ten best, we could set up to hit 'em by nightfall.
BEN: Then you'd better get going.
RICHARD: No no, Ben, wait, moving at this schedule, Juliet may not be ready, what if she hasn't had time to...
BEN: Then we'll take all their women. And we'll sort out the ones we need later.
RYAN: And the men?
BEN: If any of them are stupid enough to get in your way, kill 'em.
RYAN: Alright.

Our time with the Others was brief but important nonetheless. Check out everything we can gather from those fleeting moments:

- Benry DID steal Locke's gun and shot him with it, as he now returned it to Alex (who in turn gave it to Karl). This corroborates with the observation on the boards that when Locke falls into the Skeleton Pit, you can see that he had reached for his KNIFE, but it had fallen out of his hands and landed a little ways away from him. He didn't appear to have the gun anymore.

- Ryan's only bringing TEN people?!?! If the Lostaways don't take them down, that's going to be embarrassing.

- Alex was skinning a white rabbit. This is at least the fourth time that a white rabbit has been referenced in this series:
1) Jack's first flashback in Season One was entitled "White Rabbit" (when he saw his Zombie Dad). At first he thought he was just having hallucinations from being too tired, but then Locke clued him in as to how special the Island was. From Lostpedia comes this take on that episode and the significance of its title:
"In this episode, Jack's father was said by Locke to reflect the "white rabbit" that Jack was chasing. Since Locke also mentioned Alice in Wonderland this is a clear reference to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. In this story, Alice was led into a cave-like opening by the White Rabbit. If this parallel is kept in mind, it is interesting to note that Jack followed his father to find fresh water, while Alice followed the ever-elusive White Rabbit to find Wonderland."
I would think that the fact that young Benry's Zombie Mom was dressed suspiciously like Alice in Wonderland and led him into the jungle where he came upon Ageless Richard could be another allusion to the same story.

2) Benry seems to have had white rabbits around him his entire life... he ensured that the sonic fence was off by coaxing a white bunny across its boundaries when he was younger, and was shown again with a white rabbit (with the number 8 on its back) when he tried to fake Sawyer out about the Pacemaker of Doom.

3) As mentioned above, Alex was shown skinning a white rabbit that she intended to take to Karl for food.

4) The logo of the Looking Glass underwater hatch is a white rabbit (more on that later).

I will NOT have time to brush my eyebrows if we leave a day early?!?!- Richard's immediate concern when Benry returned was whether or not Locke was able to see Jacob, confirming to me that the fact that Locke was at least able to HEAR Jacob means something major and gives me hope that he will make a triumphant return. Since Benry completely blew off the question, Richard is probably starting to become suspicious about Benry's renewed motivation to attack the Lostaways. He did not seem comfortable with the plan to move up the raid by a day - citing Juliet's unpreparedness as well as the complications if Lostaway men should get in their way. However, another contingent, led by "Ryan," seemed to be gung-ho to follow Benry's orders. I smell a mutiny brewing...

- Not only had Alex tried to help Locke, but she is now trying to help all of the Lostaways by sending Karl to forewarn them. In addition, Sayid's words to her from a few episodes ago ("You look just like your mother") seem to have been percolating in her mind:

KARL: If I get caught, your father's gonna kill me this time.
ALEX: Is he my father?

Here's to hoping for a Rousseau/Alex reunion in the finale! And to hoping that Rousseau doesn't accidentally blow Alex up with all the dynamite!



THE WARNING

I just do what Alex says. Hey, who's that lady who looks just like her?In the preview for this episode (meaning the previews that were shown at the end of "The Man Behind the Curtain"), you could hear someone shouting "My people, they're coming... they're coming RIGHT NOW!"
I figured it was either Alex or Karl that would be giving the Lostaways a heads up about the impending raid. However, in that opening scene with a guy with dark hair jumping into the boat frantically, for a split-second I thought Boone had come back to life, and I was MAD. Luckily, that was not the case.

While the Lostaways were forewarned that the Others were making their way over to start the raid a day early, they were not going to have enough time to set up their traps properly. Which leaves a sinking feeling in my stomach. I am NOT happy about Sayid, Jin and Bernard being "the three shooters."


DY-NO-MIIIITE!

While the mystery of why Danielle was taking dynamite from the Black Rock has been solved, another major question has been raised.

Tree go BOOM!WHY IN THE HELL DID THEY USE SOME OF THE PRECIOUS DYNAMITE TO BLOW UP A TREE?!?!?

That was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen on this show, and as we all know, there have been some pretty ridiculous things on this show. However, none of us should have been surprised that the Mad Doctor (totally back in top form - meaning completely insane) had to ENSURE that everyone knew he was in charge by demonstrating the power of explosives. Like they wouldn't have thought that using loads of dynamite would blow up the Others unless they had proof.

Fear me, for I am the Mad Doctor AND I have befriended Frenchy!Despite how silly that scene was, I liked it just because I would take Crazy!Jack over Annoying!Jack any day. He was back to the spastic, unpredictable mode he was in during the fall cliff-hanger when he botched Benry's surgery, grabbed the walkie-talkie and yelled, "Kate, dammit, RUN!" So even the Jack-haters have to admit that it was fun to watch him deliver this line last week:

"So tomorrow night, we stop hiding, we stop running, we stop living in fear of them. Because when they show up... We're gonna blow 'em all to hell."

AWWWWWWwwwwwww, yeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Regardless of Jack's tough talk and current "plan" to defeat the Others, I still think the Lostaways let him and Juliet off WAY too easy. I'm still uneasy about trusting either of them.



SUSPICIOUS MINDS

Does it freak you out that I'm telling you your funeral was really great?NAOMI: You having a laugh?
CHARLIE: No, of course not. I'd never disrespect a fellow Mancunian.
NAOMI: You're from Manchester then?!
CHARLIE: I am. My band got its start at the Night and Day bar on Oldham Street.
NAOMI: [Laughs] What band?
CHARLIE: Oh ,we're called Driveshaft.
NAOMI: Yeah yeah, I know you.
CHARLIE: We had our moment in the sun...
NAOMI: No not that, the crash. You're the dead rock star. They made a big deal out of you when they found the plane. Huge memorial service, new album.
CHARLIE: There's a new album?
NAOMI: Yeah, God it was everywhere... a greatest hits thing.
[Charlie smiles but then sees Desmond in the distance]
NAOMI: Hey, look on the bright side. You're not really dead, right?
CHARLIE: Yeah, right.


We learned two things from this exchange:
1) Naomi is from Manchester, and
2) The Flight 815 that was supposedly found in the ocean near Bali did indeed have the same passenger list as the "real" 815 that crashed on the Island. I still say the whole thing is an elaborate set-up. Many people think that when Benry asked Patchy to work on profiles for the survivors, it was both for the Others' own information AND for the cover-up.

And no, they're STILL not dead. The producers confirmed this ONE MORE TIME in the recap episode that aired last Thursday (and that will air again before the finale).


BERNARD? ROSE? WHO ARE THEY?

How classic is it that Bernard and Rose show up in the second-to-last episode of the season?!!?
That's one reason why I'm really nervous that Bernard is one of the shooters.



SPEAKING FOR MILLIONS OF FANS

JACK: No. And there's no reason to do this now, we're going to focus on the Others, and then we'll deal with this.
SAYID: Wait a minute, we have the chance to signal for a rescue.
JACK: Look, for ninety days I've been asked to make decisions for this entire camp. There you go, I just made one.


Viewers around the country simultaneously groan, "You @#()*#$*#(@@#$!!!"

Then, later...

JACK: You better get going. Rousseau says its about a day's walk up to the radio tower.
SAYID: I'm not taking them to the tower. You are.
JACK: Excuse me?
SAYID: You're not staying behind.
JACK: This was my idea.
SAYID: And I'm perfectly capable of executing it.
JACK: I owe them!
SAYID: What are you more concerned about, killing the Others, or getting our people off this Island? This afternoon you said you were our leader. It's time for you to act like one.

BOO-YA!

However, even though I am glad Sayid finally put Jack in his place, I actually wish it was him leading the group to the tower and not Jack. Let me state it again: I AM NOT HAPPY THAT SAYID IS ONE OF THE SHOOTERS!!!! He is always doing all of the hard work! Plus, who else is going to know how to get Naomi's phone working again? I am bitter.



WHAT TO BELIEVE?

You can't GUESS what I saw by now, brotha?A post I found on the message boards sums up what I fear may be the case regarding Desmond's latest visions: "Anyone else have the very strong suspicion that Desmond was lying his ass off? I don't think he had a vision of Claire and Turniphead getting rescued, I think he saw himself getting killed trying to get in contact with Penny again and so he made up the story about it being Charlie so that Charlie would take his place. And that's why he performed the fake-out about taking Charlie's place there at the end so it could be false nobility on his part, offering to do what he was tricking Charlie into doing. He clearly knew that it wasn't as simple as flicking a switch underwater."

I had a slightly different thought... I thought that Desmond DID see Charlie flipping the switch and drowning, but did NOT see Claire and baby Aaron getting rescued, but rather saw himself together with Penny again (like in other recent visions). Since Desmond would know that the only way to ensure Charlie would sacrifice himself would be to say that it would result in the rescue of Claire and Aaron, he used that tactic this time around instead of telling Charlie the truth.

However, since it does appear from the previews that Desmond ends up in the Looking Glass (can't tell for sure), perhaps he isn't really eeeevil. Maybe he senses that something went wrong, or maybe he has a flash of Charlie being held prisoner, and goes down there to save him and/or finish the job with the switch. There's also the possibility that Desmond DID see Charlie turning the switch and dying as well as Claire and Aaron getting rescued, but did NOT see the part about Charlie being held captive by bizarre Amazon women.

Even if Desmond turns out to not be completely on the up-and-up, I will say that I would still prefer Charlie dying over Desmond, despite the fact that I was really feeling it for the hobbit again last week. But not enough to not yell out, "OH, #($)*#%(_@)#!!!!" when I honestly thought for a few seconds that Desmond might jump in the water instead of Charlie. Desmond remains my #2 most favorite character and unless he does something totally awful, I don't see my sentiments changing.

Swim, rocks, swim!To cap off this part of the episode... A lot of people seemed surprised that Charlie didn't end up dying. I guess they thought that if he was going to die, he would drown while trying to make it to the hatch. However, I expected that he would at least make it to the hatch, because Desmond made it clear that he would die AFTER flipping the switch. As in, he wouldn't be able to swim back out. After seeing what it took for Charlie to get in the Looking Glass in the first place, I think Desmond's vision is very much still in play. While I called that I didn't think Charlie was actually going to die in the last episode, I do now think (and rest assured that I remain spoiler-free on this issue) that he will die in the finale. They've just done WAAAAY too much set-up at this point with his good-bye scenes with Claire, Aaron and Hurley as well as his Greatest Hits list. He can also die knowing that the "real world" truly mourned him per his conversation with Naomi. Plus, if he does flip the switch and if any of the Lostaways really do get rescued because of it, he can die a hero (much moreso than for just helping Nadia out in the alley!). Let me put it another way - if Charlie does NOT die in the finale, then he can never die during the rest of this series, because the build-up to his death was just too much to throw out and keep stringing us along.


NOT SO FAST

After Charlie emerged from the water, gasping for air, he immediately started rejoicing that he was still alive. As soon as he started laughing at his good fortune (quite loudly), I cringed and thought, "Oh Lord, he's not going to be alone down there..."

Sure enough, two pissed-off looking women were shortly upon him, guns drawn. Who are they? Theories include:

Killed by Amazon women? Des didn't mention this?!?!- They are left-over Dharma members and think Charlie is a Hostile
- They are Others that Juliet didn't know about
- They are Others that Juliet DID know about (see below)
- They are part of Danielle's research team (people noted that they dressed very similarly to Danielle)
- They are some other group that we are not familiar with yet


Juliet claimed to not know much about this hatch:

[Further down the beach, Sayid, Jack and Juliet examine files obtained from the Flame station]
SAYID: Now this is The Looking Glass. It's an underwater DHARMA station. Please, can you tell me anything you might know about this place?
JULIET: I've never been down there. I don't know anyone who has.
JACK: Why not?
JULIET: There was some accident. Ben told us that the station was completely flooded.
JACK: Well if it's flooded then how does it still work?
SAYID: How it still works is irrelevant. The question is, how do we get it to stop working, so we can use the satellite phone. The diagram shows that The Looking Glass is connected to the Island by a cable. I feel sure that this is the very same cable down the beach which runs into the ocean. So if we follow the cable, it should lead us to the station.
JACK: So how are we gonna get in?
SAYID: We swim in. There's a moon pool. A room with an open floor at the base if the station, big enough for a submarine to dock. Even if the station's flooded, I think I'll be able to find the relay switch and disable it.

The question of the day is, "Was Juliet lying?" Does she truly know nothing about the Looking Glass, or was she setting Desmond and Charlie up to be captured? My hunch is that she actually knew nothing. She DOES want to get off of the Island and as far as we can tell, she is completely on the Lostaway's side right now, having told them what Benry's plan for her was. I don't think she would have any reason to want to prevent the disabling of the signal that's jamming all communication with the Island.


DON'T GET EXCITED, IT'S NOT THE BUNNY YOU THINK IT IS

Naughty, naughty! Get your mind out of the gutter - Hugh Hefner isn't paying off the producers of Lost to get a little more advertising!

However, a white rabbit looking curiously like the Playboy Bunny IS the logo of the Looking Glass hatch - it could be seen briefly on the outer part of the hatch when Charlie was swimming, as well as on the files Sayid saved from The Flame. Note that there is something very bizarre about the logo, though. The rabbit appears to have a black hole in its neck.

Or does it?



Why did Benry shoot that bunny through the neck?
I will spare you a recap of the EXTREMELY LAME debate over whether or not that was just a hole-punch hole in the rabbit's neck from the binder Sayid had. IT IS NOT. Because upon closer inspection, you may see that little lines appear to be in the black circle. Here's a hint: They look like the hands of a watch or clock or... timepiece (like the White Rabbit would always carry so he would know he was late).

Look here to see the important details on the rabbit logo.

Here's another hint: The timepiece hands appear to be at the time 8:15.

D'AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! What does THAT mean?!?!?! Does it mean ANYTHING?!?!?! Probably not, but it's still cool.

In case we're totally off track with this whole Alice in Wonderland thing, here are other pop culture nods to white rabbits:

- In "The Matrix," Neo (Keanu "Whoa!" Reeves) is told to follow the white rabbit, and he does so by trailing a woman with a white rabbit tattoo to a club where he meets Trinity for the first time. This movie included other allusions to Alice in Wonderland, such as when Morpheus told Neo that he could take one of two pills if he wanted to "stay in Wonderland" and see "just how deep this rabbit-hole goes." Man, I loved that movie. Too bad the sequels were poop!
- In "Jurassic Park" (another great movie whose sequels were mostly poop!), Newman used the command "white.rabbit.obj" to override the park's security system.
- It's the name of a Jefferson Airplane song that was popular with hippies and is all about drugs. Blue Man Group has used this song in performances I have seen.
- It's a character in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" that bites the heads off of people.


A LITTLE FINALE PREP

What would Lost be if it didn't have all its literary and pop culture references?

We've covered the significance of the multiple times that white rabbits (both literal and figurative) have popped up in the series. But the finale itself gets its name from a lesser-known Lewis Carroll book, "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There." I highly encourage you to skim this Wikipedia entry on the book and observe all of the themes that are completely relevant to Lost.

If I were a betting woman, which I'm not, but IF I WAS, I would bet that the finale's name is a hint that we will learn that the Island is indeed caught in between parallel universes, and that the Looking Glass is the "port" of sorts between moments along the space-time continuum. If I were to list out all of the hints that we've seen in the past three seasons about something funky going on with the space-time continuum, I would have a bulleted list that ran the length of one of my typical posts. If something is NOT revealed about time-travel or multiple universes in the finale, I'm going to be extremely mad, because what in the heck were all the subtle references since 2004 for, exactly, then? To make all us nerds go insane?

One last reason to defend my theory - on the beloved hatch map, there is an area that references a subterranean conduit (the cable, I'm assuming). Near that is a phrase that has been translated to mean, "A mouse does not rely on just one hole."

WORMHOLES!!!!

I LOVE IT. MAKE IT SO, MAKE IT SO!!!



THE OFFICIAL PODCAST DEBRIEF

I should note that I write this entire post BEFORE listening to the podcast so as to not be influenced by what is covered, so you may notice that they rehash a few of the same issues I've addressed above and give answers that kind of negate some of my thoughts. So be it!

As it has been and forever shall be, in transcript form (CC is Carlton Cuse and DL is Damon Lindelof):

CC: So Damon, what is the Looking Glass station, who are the women in it, and why did Juliet think it was flooded?

DL: Well, the Looking Glass station, or, the Looking Glass hatch, as it is called in the blueprints - our people [the Lostaways] aren't the only ones thinking of things as hatches - we really don't know much about it. I hope we learn more about it in the finale, because there are a lot of questions... who are those women? Are they Others? Are they stationed there? If this station is jamming communications, did Juliet really think it was flooded, or is it just another lie in her web of lies? Why do you think it is called the Looking Glass, Carlton?

Psychodelic, man!CC: I think it is an allusion to Alice in Wonderland.

DL: Is the Looking Glass the underwater station that was referred to in Kelvin's hatch map?

CC: I believe it is. But the first time we had a hint about this hatch was in Season One, when Sayid found the cable on the beach. And everyone was wondering, what's up with that cable, where does it go? So now we have an answer, the show gave us an answer, thank God!

DL: So can I ask a fairly obvious question, then? Why don't they just get some hedge trimmers and clip that cable, if that hatch is what is causing all the problems? Would that do the trick?

CC: Well, it's possible. But that cable may not be the sole source of power to the hatch.

DL: But more importantly, though - Charlie's alive! Phew, I thought *for sure*... since it was his flashback episode, and since the flashbacks were so sentimental... that he was gonna die.

CC: But he didn't, because, you know... that's kinda how we roll in Lost. So what do you think, is Jack's plan going to work with the Others, even though they've pushed it up a day?

DL: Well, in the previews we did see an explosion, so I think *somebody's* going to get blown up... but we've seen how well all of Jack's plans have worked in the past, uh, they tend to not always work out.

CC: What do you think is worse, Jack's plans, or Jack operating on you?

DL: Hmmm, well, let's see. So far the only person that Jack has managed to save on the Island is BEN. So I guess if you're a bad guy, he'd be enormously successful in saving your life. But if you're a good guy, you're a goner. However, I will say, off the record, because no one's listening to this, that if Jack's plan WERE to work, it would probably have horrible repercussions for him personally. And I'll leave it at that. If anyone can snatch failure from the jaws of success, it's Jack Shephard.

CC: Yeah, I'm kind of... I don't know. All I know is that we promised the audience that they will get a definitive answer about Desmond's precognitions before the end of the season.

DL: As in, if Charlie is going to live or die?

CC: Yes.

DL: So... if he lives, he's going to LIVE and Desmond's going to start having flashes about Vincent or something, right? You won't keep yanking my chain about Charlie?

CC: That is correct.

About the finale...

CC: We're really going to let the finale speak for itself. We're going into radio silence about it now and will let you think what you will about it.


Fan Questions & Answers

Q. I was in a cab in Manhattan and heard the Monster sound!!! CONFESS that this is where you got the sound that accompanies Smokey/Cerberus?
A. You are correct! The sound for Smokey is indeed the sound of the receipt printing machine in New York City cabs. However, this has nothing to do with the mythology of the show.



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS


- The biggest surprise? CHARLIE MADE ME GODDAMN CRY! Of all people! For so long I was focused on “Kill Charlie, kill Charlie please” and when we finally seem on the threshold of it (though I of course remain very very skeptical such a blessed event could ever happen), he reveals that his list of favourite moments is not for his own catharsis, but in fact a letter to Claire (which, HOW did I not see that coming? I’m normally kinda smart) and what do I do? BWUH HUH HUH BLUBBER BAWL! Damn you Monaghan! Was it just me, or did Dominic act roughly 400% better than he did in all the rest of Season 3?
- I'd like to give some credit to Dom's acting chops for making us viewers loath Charlie for almost this entire past season, and yet he can BRING.IT. it in these last few episodes to make us all misty-eyed and liking Charlie again.
- Well Sayid said what the entire fandom has been thinking for the whole season ("You claim to be our leader, start acting like one"), so that was enough to please me, but even besides that, I teared up a little. The Vans, the ring, the list, Nadia! Aww, Charlie, you almost make me sad about your impending death.
- I saw two minutes of the show tonight: Jack standing in the middle of a circle of Losties, yelling at them. "I'm the decider!" What an ass.
- Even though this was supposed to be a touching Charlie episode, the thing that got me the most was the idea of Jin staying behind.
- The whole episode, I'm tearing up, saying (aloud, sadly) "No, I don't want Charlie to die." Then, Des starts talking about taking his place, and I'm all "Hey, wait. I really don't want Des to die!"
- Still a bit teary-eyed after Charlie and Hurley's Sam and Frodo moment (although granted, Frodo never told Sam that he couldn't come with him because he was too fat. Yeah, I know, it was just to drive Hurley away - I'm just glad they shared a good-bye hug at the end) and the letter to Claire.
- I'm surprised nobody's pointed out the big reveal tonight - Charlie is the only known Lostie with a non-evil dad. He was actually pretty cool.
- Loved Charlie! Hated Jack. Missed Locke!
- The person who said the last few scenes reminded them of Super Mario Brothers levels is spot on, only Charlie didn't have any 1-UPs in sight. Maybe Desmond does though......Hey new theory, what if this is merely a video game? No chance, you say? Well, Charlie's ring reads DS, as in Nintendo DS. OK, I've lost it.
- Sayid better not die, Desmond better not die, and Locke better not be dead! [e: my thoughts exactly!]



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


CHARLIE: Anyone want to venture a guess as to what Jack's going to be showing us out here in the middle of nowhere?
HURLEY: I dunno. Stuff. Probably secret stuff.



SAYID: We need to talk about Naomi's phone.
JACK: Not now.
SAYID: If you're angry, I doubt that you'll be happy to make a sincere apology later, but now we have a means of...
JACK: Look I'm a little bit busy right now, Sayid...
SAYID: And I am trying to get us off this Island, Jack!



[In realtime, the entire group have surrounded Karl, with Jack pacing around him]
JACK: Is that everything?
KARL: Yeah.
JACK: [To Kate] You trust him?
[Kate shrugs]
KARL: You don't trust me, what about her!
[He points at Juliet]
KARL: She's a spy. She's supposed to mark the tents of the pregnant women with white rocks so they can take them.
JULIET: They know, Karl, but thanks.



JACK: Everyone's gathering down at the South end of the beach. No one's staying behind but the shooters.
ROSE: Says who? You wanna give me your word that nothing's going to happen to my husband, then I go.
JACK: I'll give you my word that if we don't kill everyone that shows up here in about an hour, it's not gonna matter where Bernard is.
ROSE: I like you better since you got back, Jack. You're almost an optimist.




Try not to die, dude!HURLEY: Dudes, wait! I heard. I heard what you're doing. I wanna come with. Everyone, they're all going to the radio tower and, I'm sick of trekking and, you know, explosions. I think I can help you guys out. I'm a really good paddler.
CHARLIE: You can't go, Hurley.
HURLEY: Why not?
CHARLIE: Because, you're too big! You won't fit in the boat.
HURLEY: That's uncool, man.



ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

5/23 - Through The Looking Glass US preview, and the different Canadian preview

***Note that "The Answers" recap show will air the hour before the finale, and that the finale itself is 2 hours and starts at 8 PM Central time.


SOME IMPORTANT HOUSEKEEPING NOTES



The finale post
Since not only is the finale two hours (thus it will take me twice as long to write it, I figure) but we also have a holiday weekend immediately following it (Memorial Day, for those not in the U.S.), I'm going to need two weeks to get the post up. Meaning that you can check back the night of Tuesday, June 5th and rest assured that the finale write-up will be there.

RSS feeds
If you use RSS feeds, you could also incorporate the link below into your feeder so that you will know if I post it earlier than the 5th. This will also help you to know when I start up posts again for Season 3 (assuming Locke lives) next winter, because it's going to be a loooong 8 or so months until we next see our beloved Lostaways.

http://longlivelocke.blogspot.com/atom.xml


According to e rises from the dead!
Now that I don't have to spend 12 hours a week working on the Lost write-up, I can finally pay more attention to my other blog, According to e. I am slowly but surely starting to get back into the groove of posting to it again, so you should get yourself into the habit of checking it out! 'Cause you really can't wait until 2008 to hear from me again, now can you?


Final words before the finale
Enjoy the finale - it's sure to be a doozy. I have seen one short scene from it (don't ask me how) and I was already in tears. I am going to be an absolute MESS for those two hours, I guarantee it. One entire gallon of ice cream may end up being consumed by me in one sitting on Wednesday night. However, if they are able to top the Season One finale when I was bawling my head off because Vincent tried to swim out to Walt leaving on the raft, I will be impressed. That's in my Top 5 Sad-But-Yet-Still-Awesome TV Show Moments of All Time. As I stated before, I am just extremely nervous about this season's finale as I have heard too much about it being a "game changer." I like the game they're playing, so I don't want them to change it, dammit! And I don't even expect that we will learn Locke's fate this season, so my anxiety doesn't have to do with him anymore (for now). I just hope that the producers didn't decide to do something extremely stupid with the series. We will find out soon enough.

Until then,
- e

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Breaking Tradition

I can't wait until next Tuesday night to let you all know:

"NO, I'M *NOT* FRICKIN' OK!!!?!?!"

If there's no write-up for "The Man Behind The Curtain," I'm sure you'll all understand. My heart is heavy as I attempt to go to sleep tonight, and I don't expect it will get any better throughout the next seven days.

: (

- e

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

S3Ep19 - The Brig (Locke's seventh flashback)

He's not heavy, he's my father...Hello my dear friends -

When I sat down to begin this write-up, I realized that while watching the episode itself, I was completely wrong when I marveled that this was the first time outside of the pilot that they didn't do a character flashback. It wasn't until I had to entitle this post that I realized it was actually Locke's flashback (of all people!), and that it was just an on-island flashback of events from only a few days prior. Very similar to Claire's episode in which we saw what happened when she had been abducted by Ethan. How could I have NOT realized that the show was centering around my main man? Probably because of the series of unfortunate events leading up to my viewing of the episode. If you read this blog frequently, then you know how crazy I am about the show, and therefore ONLY for you, my dear friends, I will re-live the horrible pain now and tell you what happened to make me come thisclose to missing "The Brig" (which obviously affected my mental stability). If you would rather not hear about my personal dramas, then skip ahead to the first bold heading. And shame on you for not caring!

As mentioned in the previous two write-ups, I had been traveling in between "D.O.C." and "The Brig," and returned to Chicago in the late afternoon of Monday, April 30th. While I was gone, the plumbing went awry in my condo, and nasty brown water had backed up into my dishwasher, my kitchen sink wouldn't drain on either side, and my master bathroom sink had lost water pressure. It wasn't until the day of "The Brig," Wednesday, May 2nd, that I got someone to come look at the problem. I will sum up my Wednesday afternoon and evening as follows:
I came home from work in the afternoon, only to have the plumber who was scheduled to come at 2 pm not show up until 4:30 pm. After 1.5 hours of half-hearted attempts, the approximately 97-year-old plumber said that he was going to have to come back the next day with someone else from his company. I then spent an hour sopping up the smelly standing water in my dishwasher with sponges, wringing them out into a bucket and then repeating the process over and over again. I didn't even attempt to turn on the TV until 9:30 (a half-hour past when Lost comes on in Chicago) since I wanted to be able to forward through commercials via Tivo.

I don't know how to quit you!I was looking forward to the show probably more than I actually ever have, just because I had had a few crappy days in a row and was therefore even more excited about my blessed hour of escapism. I headed into the bedroom, opened up the TV hutch, and my eyes came very close to popping out of their sockets. The Sacred Red Light on the Tivo box was NOT on, meaning that the show was NOT being recorded. I turned on the TV to see if perhaps the show had a different schedule that week, but there was Sayid looking at the parachutist's phone! I yelped and shielded my eyes with my hand and quickly flipped the TV off. Then, cursing, I ran downstairs to our other TV, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the Sacred Red Light was on for that Tivo box. While I hadn't really wanted to watch the show downstairs, I had no choice. So I flipped the TV on, and... it was just a snowy screen with the words "No Signal" across the bottom. I'm sure about 5 years came off of my life at that very moment. I tried to remain calm and pushed all of the usual setting buttons on our various remotes, but to no avail. Nothing was working.

I frantically called my husband, who was conveniently golfing in Arizona the entire week. He was at a cocktail party and could barely hear me.

"WHAT DO I DO?!?! WHAT DO I DO?!!?!" I shouted.
"I don't know. I'm not going to be able to figure it out unless I see it. This hasn't happened before."
"Please, PLEASE!!! Just think. Think! Are you SURE you didn't do anything that could be causing this? I have had the sh-ttiest day ever, this is all I've been looking forward to," I pleaded.
"We haven't watched TV down there in a while, I don't know what to say."

It was frightening to even post this!  Aaaahhhh!I hung up in frustration and then looked up and my eyes met with a gargantuan centipede on the wall in front of me. I HATE bugs, and every time I have to kill one, especially one that is the size of my outstretched palm and all scary-looking, I cannot help but let out a huge shriek. So THAT happened, and when I was throwing away the remains of the Mighty Centipede, I was struck with a glimmer of hope: "Hey, this is the year 2007, I can go watch the episode online!"

So I ran back upstairs, and went to abc.com. But guess what, they don't post an episode online until the day after it airs.

GAAAAHHHHH!

"Wait, wait - I can buy it on iTunes. Long live Apple!" I yelled happily to my dog, who by this time could definitely sense that something was wrong.

But alas, it was the same situation on iTunes - the episodes were not posted right away.

I had no choice but to try to figure out the TV downstairs again. So I went back down, had another fruitless phone conversation with my husband, hung up and then just crumpled down onto the rug, head buried in my hands, and sobbed. I sobbed for a good 5 minutes.

I emerged from the cry even more determined to find a way to watch the episode while it was still technically May 2nd. I took another look at the TV, this time going behind it to inspect all of the ten million wires. Another spark of hope - one Calm down, e, I'm gonna make it all better.colored wire looked suspiciously UNplugged. I plugged it back in. I turned on the TV, and there was Locke!

Bald had never been more beautiful than at that moment.

It was 10 PM, and the "live" show was just about over. I flipped to the beginning of the show and paused it, went up and got a huge bowl of ice cream and called my husband to tell him that he HAD been responsible for my nervous breakdown (the cord that was unplugged is where he plugged in the digital camera to show pictures on the TV), and then went back downstairs to settle into my recliner and watch the show.

So that is why my mind was in such a whirl that I didn't really even realize what was going on in the episode half the time, and ended up re-watching it later.

Funnily enough, that same afternoon I had received a voicemail from my past boss and good friend, JW. He is actually the person responsible for my nickname of "e," which is a shortened version of the moniker "egrrrl" which he donned for me back in the Web day. He and his wife read the blog, and he was calling to let me know that they enjoyed it, but to also ensure that I knew that "these characters aren't real people."

WHAT!?!

OK, I'm kidding. I know they're not real people. But, having said that, I also know that all of my Lost action figures come to life at night and help kill stray centipedes. So there!


They're alliiiiive!

Now that all remaining specks of my sanity have been destroyed, let us move on to the actual episode. Once again, there wasn't a lot of "hidden" stuff, and if I had to sum the episode up in one word, it would be: weird. Having said that, there were still major steps taken toward what is sure to be a pivotal season finale.

And now, on to the freak-show that was "The Brig."


BAD DOGGY!

I'm just going to put it out there: I still don't believe that was really Locke's dad. Don't you think he was acting really bizarre? He was provoking everyone around him after they did him the favor of removing the gag from his mouth. When he BIT Locke after they were first reunited, many people thought this was a hint that Papa Locke really was Smokey (because remember that we think that the real name of Smokey is Cerberus, a three-headed DOG...). And for Papa Locke to be acting like such an ass despite the fact that he was tied to a column awaiting execution, or facing an obviously stark-raving-mad Sawyer, just seemed to be too forced... like he was specifically trying to incur wrath. Remember that when Eko saw his brother Yemi on the Island, Yemi also seemed to be acting strangely. Sure, perhaps if Papa Locke really, truly thought he was in Hell (which I don't blame him for thinking since it does seem that both he and Locke "should" be dead), he would just be acting like a madman because he wouldn't think that there could be any consequences he could face that were any more dire.

And no, he didn't explode in a poof of black smoke like I was expecting him to after he took his last breath. And Locke did seem to be having a tough time carrying him over his back at the end. Hmmm, I'm almost convincing myself that it was really him.

If it WAS really him, then isn't it quite sick that Benry wanted Locke to kill him in front of everyone (including the kids, mind you)? It seemed to be so opposite of what The Others keep claiming ("We're not the bad guys," etc., etc.).

Some people thought that Benry actually wanted to ensure that Locke wouldn't kill his father, thereby proving that Locke was truly "good." These people think that all of Benry's harsh words for Locke were an act. But since Bushy-Eyebrows-Long-Eyelashes-Guy ALSO seemed to think that Locke needed to rejoin The Others only after Papa Locke had been killed, I'm not so sure that Benry was bluffing. The whole thing just seems SO bizarre to me. If Locke's father had never been brought to the Island (and everyone knows that it's extremely hard if not impossible to get to or from the Island at this point), and if Papa Locke would never have any reason to come seek Locke out again (which he wouldn't, as he thought he was dead from the plane crash), then wasn't Locke technically already "free" from his dad? To force someone to commit murder as part of a bizarre initiation ritual seems extremely dark and strange to me. Perhaps we will learn more in the next episode about why they felt it was so important for Locke to get rid of his father.


IT'LL BE A COLD DAY IN...

They are NOT DEAD. Get it out of your minds!!!!

I truly, honestly feel that the creators were intentionally messing with hard-core fans in this episode, because they KNEW that by introducing the one-two punch (Naomi claiming that all passengers on Flight 815 were found dead and Papa Locke stating that they were obviously in Hell because of his car wreck and Locke's doomed flight), it would rile up all of the less-sophisticated fans who are still convinced, despite repeated assurances otherwise, that the Lostaways are in Purgatory.

For approximately one milli-millisecond (which is barely measurable) right after Papa Locke said he had been in a car wreck and repeated that Flight 815 had been found with no survivors, I caught myself wondering if maybe they ARE all dead and just in Hell rather than Purgatory. Because the creators only ruled out Purgatory, not Hell, technically. But then I caught myself, because that's exactly what the writers were trying to get people to think.

Unfortunately, the boards are now ablaze again with this "Are they or aren't they really dead?" debate, and I will take no part in it. They are NOT DEAD. If they were dead, then how could Bushy-Eyebrows-Long-Eyelashes-Guy come on and off of the island? How could Juliet's arrival on the Island be explained? Why would they specifically show Penny's guys in the arctic at the end of Season Two? Why would women still be getting pregnant, and why would they care if the babies couldn't be carried to term? Why would Ben get cancer and be desperate to have it removed? And most importantly, why would they give the audience the answer to one of the biggest questions about the show (ie: "What in the heck is going on?") at only the half-way point of the entire series? They wouldn't. Which is why the Lostaways are not dead, and if any of you mention this to me, I will come find you and beat you down Pickett-beating-Sawyer-down-style!

So we're through with that subject. But there is still something curious about Papa Locke's claims...


I'M NOT A BETTING WOMAN, BUT I BET I KNOW WHO'S LYING...

LOCKE: Dad? What is this?
BENRY: You tell me. You brought him here.
LOCKE: I didn't bring him here.
BENRY: I'd be careful about getting too close to him, John.
[Tom holds a taser as John steps nearer]
LOCKE: (Mumbles) Where did you find him? Why did you bring him here?
BENRY: I already said. We didn't.


... a few days later...

BENRY: ...You're still crippled by the memories of the man you used to be before you came to this Island. And you'll never be free, until you release the hold that your father has over you. Why do you think you brought him here?


... and later still...


LOCKE: Moving, where are we going?
BENRY: *We* are not going anywhere, John. *You* are going to stay behind. You both are going to stay behind.
LOCKE: What? You're not taking him?
BENRY: [As he leaves] He's your mess, John. Why would we clean it up?



It is very obvious that Benry is trying to convince Locke that it was Locke's 'will' that brought Papa Locke to the Island, via the metaphorical magic box (notice how they had to actually have Benry say that the "magic box was just a metaphor" to shut down the debate about it). But Papa Locke didn't exactly claim to have whisked through time and space to end up on the Island, now did he?


SAWYER: How did you get here, to the Island?
COOPER: Island? OK. I'm driving down I-10 through Tallahassee when bam, somebody slams into the back of my car. I go right into the divider at seventy miles an hour, the next thing I know, the paramedics are strapping me to a gurney, stuffing me into the back of an ambulance and one of them actually smiles at me as he pops the IV in my arm. And then, nothing. Just, black. And the next thing I know I wake up in a dark room tied up, gag in my mouth, and when the door opens, I'm looking up at the same man I threw out a window, John Locke.

So who do you think is lying? Papa Locke's explanation seems much more plausible than Benry's insistence that Locke had anything and everything to do with his father's appearance on the Island. Granted, it does seem hard to believe that Papa Locke could survive a head-on collision at 70 mph, but then again, all of the Lostaways survived the plane crash somehow (that is, if they really were in a crash... more on that later).

My bet is that once The Others gathered intelligence on all of the Lostaways and found that Papa Locke was also The Original Sawyer, they figured that he could definitely come in handy on the Island no matter what - he was like a two-for-one special! And since Locke seems to be an especially important person to The Others, they wanted to have Papa Locke around before they let Locke hang out with them for too much longer, so that they could see if Locke passed their initiation.

What I can't figure out is why Benry wouldn't realize that Papa Locke would just tell Locke about how he thinks he got to the Island. Even though Papa Locke kept claiming he was in Hell, if he actually told the story about the car crash to Locke, Locke would know enough by now to know that The Others were capable of finding someone in the "real world" and whisking them off to The Island. So he would probably be able to piece the truth together. But Benry didn't seem too concerned about that:

LOCKE: You want me to ask him how he got here?
BENRY: Be my guest.
[Locke pulls of the gag and Cooper bites his hand violently]



KICKIN' IT OLD SCHOOL


BENRY: ... We're leaving first thing in the morning, all of us.
LOCKE: Where are you going?
BENRY: We're going to a new place. Well, an old place, actually.


The ancient ruins give me hope that perhaps a Cyclops will turn up!The majority of people on the boards believe that the ancient column that Papa Locke was tied to is somehow connected to the four-toed foot statue that Sayid, Sun and Jin saw from the sailboat previously.

I still have no idea on what all the ruins seem to be about, but since next week's episode appears to be dealing with the history of the Island, perhaps we will get more information. Although, I actually think they'll be covering this mystery next season rather than in the remaining three episodes of this season. We shall see...



BENIPULATION

A witty post from the boards explains the focus of this section:
"Since Ben and manipulation are so often paired in statements, can we save some effort and combine them into "Benipulation"? For example, "Locke was a real bastard last night with how he benipulated Sawyer.""

LOVE it!

There are other instances of Benipulation in this episode that are covered elsewhere in this write-up, so the one I want to analyze here is Benry's flagrant use of the audio recorder right in front of Locke, and his subsequent explanation of Juliet's role:

[Benry turns off the tape and Locke enters]
BENRY: Hello, John. Thanks for coming.
LOCKE: [Looks at the tape] What's that?
BENRY: Juliet is gathering information for us at your former camp. She's determining if any of the women are pregnant. Then we're gonna go in, and... take them.
LOCKE: Take them?
BENRY: This is not the first time we've done this, John. Trust me, no one will get hurt.


Now, come on! Benry doesn't do or say ANYTHING without a reason. He very blatantly tossed the recorder into a drawer in front of Locke. There are two main theories about this scene:

1) Benry was trying to make Locke feel like he was "one of them" by telling him some of The Others' secret plans. He may have thought that this would make Locke even more desperate to fully join their group - the equivalent of dangling a carrot in front of Locke. Kind of like, "I just told you what we're going to do... but you still have no idea WHY we are doing it." Remember that right after this scene, Benry told Locke that he was not yet ready to learn the secrets of the Island. However, since Locke did end up stealing the recorder, Benry's plan may have actually backfired on him for once.

2) Or... Benry wanted Locke to do exactly what he did. Now, this theory gets tricky because you have to assume a lot of other things to make it work. First, remember that this scene was before Benry asked Locke to kill his father in front of everyone. Perhaps Benry knew that it would play out with Locke not being able to go through with it, but I don't see how he could've been sure. Then, you need to believe that Locke took the recorder BEFORE Benry packed up to leave with the rest of the group, which actually caught Locke off-guard. Locke would've had to have stolen the recorder pretty closely after he saw Benry with it in the tent. But at that point in time, he would've had no reason to think he would be going back to get Sawyer, because Bushy-Eyebrows-Long-Eyelashes Guy didn't give Locke Sawyer's file until shortly before The Others took off. So Benry would've had to assume that for some reason, Locke was eventually going to go back to the beach and encounter one of the other Lostaways and spill Juliet's secret. I also can't figure out why Benry would want to do that, since he's so gung-ho about figuring out the pregnancy problem. So to believe this theory, you would have to think that Benry wants Juliet ratted out, or wants the Lostaways to be prepared for the invasion.

What I'm trying to say is, I actually think Benry screwed up this time around. I think he's grown overconfident in his abilities and is overestimating how connected Locke feels to The Others, and therefore did not figure that Locke would've ever forewarned the Lostaways about Juliet's plan.


HEAL THYSELF!

Benry stated that it was only after Locke showed up that his healing process accelerated, thus implying that it was something about Locke himself that helped people to heal. Later in the episode, we saw Locke marvel at how the bite from his father from a few days earlier had completely disappeared (by the way, you may remember in my "Left Behind" write-up, I mentioned that many people were curious as to why Locke had a bandage on his right hand when he approached Kate in the game room before telling her 'Buh-bye.' Well, now we know why!).

However, Patchy was revived from his near-death-experience, Rose thinks her cancer is gone, and Naomi's punctured lung is apparently going to heal in 1.5 days, and Locke wasn't around for any of those things. I believe that this is another Benipulation. I think the Island itself, and specifically certain areas of the Island, have extraordinary healing properties. As Benry started moving away from the barracks, his healing process sped up. Yet he is trying to once again stroke Locke's ego and ignite his curiosity by telling Locke that his mere presence is the reason for the rapid recovery.


CAN YOU DIG IT?

Back on the beach, drama of soap opera proportions was starting to unfold. Jack made a point of asking Darth Hoodie to invite him along for the next male bonding trip. Darth Hoodie mumbled something like "Sure..." and then headed into a tent containing none other than the fallen parachutist. The fearless foursome had decided that they couldn't trust Jack, but they could trust Sayid. FINALLY the light bulb goes off?!?!

However, before Sayid was brought into the fold, he was shown digging on the beach as Hurley approached him. A lot of people either totally missed this, or didn't think anything of it. But no one digs on that island for no reason! What was he up to?


RING RING...

HURLEY: So is that like a radio?
SAYID: It's like a radio, yes. But I've never seen equipment this sophisticated.
HURLEY: You can still make it work, right?
SAYID: I hope so.

There has GOT to be some nail clippers on that island?!?!What? Sayid suddenly lacks confidence in his ability to fix something? He specifically mentions that he's never seen anything that sophisticated? Hmmm... sounds like another notch in the ol' "time warp theory" belt to me! I'm not going to keep explaining this theory over and over again because I covered it in detail in the "Flashes Before Your Eyes" write-up and the "One of Us" write-up, but if time on the Island is perhaps moving at a different pace than it is back in the "real world," the Lostaways could still be stuck in, say, the year 2004, and the rest of the world could be years ahead. Which would explain why Naomi is carrying technology that Sayid has never seen.

That, or, maybe she just has really cool gadgets. It does sound like she works for some sort of spy-like agency that was hired by Penny.


THE KATE HATE TRAIN HAS BEGUN ANOTHER JOURNEY

Those of you who have been reading these write-ups since the beginning know that I really used to despite Kate with the power of one thousand burning suns. Then Ana Lucia usurped Kate's status as Most Hated, and now Juliet has. But Kate nearly won back her title when she so stupidly spilled to Jack and Juliet that Naomi was in Hurley's tent. It seemed like she was doing it just to prove the point to Jack that the other Lostaways have lost faith in him, when she herself should have started thinking that something was off when he absolutely refused to talk to her unless Juliet was present. Hellloooooo, idiot! He doesn't like you, he chose her, get over it! Don't put everyone else in danger because you need to have the last word?!?! I was tearing my hair out when she blabbed everything.

But then I stopped mid-tear when Jack and Juliet started their "We should tell her..."/"Not yet..." banter. Say whaaaa? The Kate Hate is brought forth once again because she did not resort to physical violence to get them to spill what they are hiding from her. I mean, how insulting was that, it was like they viewed Kate as a little child:

Look at these abs?!?  How could you choose her?KATE: Yeah you know what you should stay. Seems only fair considering she's the reason that no one wants to tell you that there's a woman in Hurley's tent who parachuted onto the Island yesterday.
JACK: What?
KATE: A woman. She jumped from her chopper before it crashed, she says that the boat that she took off from is about eighty miles off the coast and that if she can find a way to contact it, we'll all be rescued.
JACK: Why didn't anyone tell me this?
KATE: Well they didn't tell you, because they don't trust you.
[Jack looks to Juliet]
JACK: [To Kate] How?
KATE: How what?
JACK: How is she supposed to contact her boat?
KATE: Did you hear what I just said? Hurley, Charlie, Sayid... your friends - are afraid to...
JACK: Kate! How?
KATE: She had a phone radio thing, Sayid's trying to get it to work.
JULIET: We should tell her.
JACK: No.
KATE: Tell me what?
JULIET: We should tell her.
JACK: [Whispers] Not yet.


So we are left to wonder what exactly they are keeping from everyone. Some people think that Juliet has told Jack about her plan to take the pregnant women in a planned raid in three days. While I do think Jack has turned fairly selfish, I still do not think there is any way that he would go along with that scheme. And I don't think that Juliet would've told Jack about the planned raid anyway, because it seems to be her exclusive deal with Ben and she wouldn't want to put her possible escape from the Island at risk (even though we never saw him promise her that).

I personally think that Juliet has told Jack something about the Island itself, about how communications with the outside world no longer work, or perhaps even more than that... like perhaps the Island is invisible to the outside world. Notice that Jack seemed to focus on the communications aspect of things when he reacted to what Kate said. He wasn't like, "Oh crap, I gotta go see this chick!"... he was more, "Now, tell me more about this part about her communicating with her boat. I don't really buy that."

Once again - weird!!!


LA BOOM!

First off, this section's title is a shout-out to anyone who was ever unfortunate enough to go to "La Boom!" in Cancun on Spring Break. Apparently the place shut down a few years ago, and I can't say I'm surprised.

But seriously, the section title is actually referring to Rousseau and her quest to get dynamite from the Black Rock. I loved the scene in which she encountered Locke, who was obviously up to something très shady. She was like, "Hey, whassup?" and he was like, "Nothin' much, just holding two hostages in the back room there, wassup wit' you?" and she was all, "Just gonna blow up some stuff..." and he was all, "Word!"

Why was Danielle getting dynamite? Did it have anything to do with Sayid's digging on the beach? Is she planning her own attack against The Others? Is she working with The Others?
We are not meant to know just yet.


UN GARÇON TRÈS MAUVAIS

If this Island thing doesn't work out, now I know all the con man secrets!Speaking of the French, a lot of people jumped all over the fact that the paper that Locke was reading from Sawyer's file was in French. Possible explanations are:

- Sawyer pulled a con at one point in France, and the police report write-up on it was therefore in French [this is what I think as well]. This has led people to wonder if perhaps he crossed paths with Sayid in the past (as we know Sayid was living in Paris).

This sucks, I never learned French! thinks Locke.- The official language of many international intelligence agencies is apparently French (once again, always learning with this show!). If The Others were using one of these agencies to gather their information, it would explain why things were in French:

French is one of the two official working languages (English is the other; 6 total official languages) of the United Nations, and is the traditional European language of diplomacy. Wiki states that every U.N. Secretary-General has spoken French until the current S-G, Ban-Ki Moon. French is also the official language of Interpol.

- Rousseau was one of The Others (or still is) and she wrote the report on Sawyer.

Speaking of Sawyer's folder... one can only assume that it was the same folder Locke burned at the beginning of the episode. When I first watched it, I thought that The Others must have given Locke his own file, and he was burning it ceremoniously to represent the "new Locke" or something. But upon my second viewing, the only folder he was ever given was Sawyer's. And we never saw him coming upon everyone else's files. So I would assume it's Sawyer's file, but then I can't figure out why he would destroy it. Perhaps he didn't want proof around that Bushy-Eyebrows-Long-Eyelashes Guy gave it to him? Or perhaps he also felt that Sawyer needed to start afresh? I'm not sure on this one.

Locke asks if he can borrow some eyebrow hairs.And finally, while we're still on the subject of the folder... why exactly was Bushy-Eyebrows-Long-Eyelashes Guy buddying up to Locke? Was he trying to genuinely help Locke? Was he trying to undermine Benry? There definitely seemed to be more than just a hint of frustration toward Benry... it seems that many of The Others want to move on from trying to solve the pregnancy issues and focus on other mysteries of the Island. It also seems like there's reason to believe that Benry could be feeling threatened by Locke.


IT'S NEVER A GOOD THING...

This is how it's done!... when your death is compared to Jabba the Hutt's. Yet, that is exactly what all the geekity geeks on the message boards where comparing Sawyer's strangulation of Papa Locke to. Admit it - they were both on "ships," they were both strangled by chains, they were both pretty evil. The only small difference is that Sawyer was not in a skimpy bikini à la Princess Leia.

OK, I'm going to slip back into reality for a second and say that Josh Holloway (Sawyer) deserves major props for his scenes with Papa Locke. Now back to Escapism Land. I was so tense watching their interactions after it became obvious that Leia puts me to shame!Sawyer knew he had finally found his namesake. And while we had all suspected for a very long time that Papa Locke and the Original Sawyer were one in the same, I don't think the confrontation scene was any less powerful for me. In fact, I would say that the entire episode was much better for people watching who had figured out the connection, because they knew what Locke was most likely leading Sawyer to do (I never thought it was really Ben that he had kidnapped). Which, admittedly, did make Locke seem that much more dastardly when he kept asking Sawyer questions about his past during their jungle hike.

So what does it mean now that Sawyer has killed his and Locke's nemesis? For Locke, we know that he is carrying out Benry's orders, and the completion of the task should lead to more answers about the Island. Locke can also probably fool himself into not feeling guilty about what happened, even though in my book he is just as responsible as Sawyer is for the murder. Regarding Sawyer... I don't know what it means for him. There has been a lot of speculation that "redemption = death" on the Island, so if you buy that, then Sawyer should be around for a long time because I don't think his killing another person is going to get him on to Jacob's infamous list of "good people" any time soon.

I just still can't get over the fact that he forgot his shoes yet had the letter on him??? That's dedication! "I better keep this crumply old letter in my back pocket everywhere I go, even on this island in the middle of nowhere without any sign of rescue, because I *just may* run into the Real Sawyer one day!" It paid off.

And here's a question for everyone... we know from the previews that Sawyer is going to share the audio tape with everyone. But does anyone think he will tell any of the other Lostaways about what else transpired out in the jungle? I think it is *possible* that he may tell Kate, if anyone, but I have a feeling he may stay mum.



UNDER THE SEA

I've left the two biggest issues for the end of the write-up. Number One is: So what really happened to Flight 815?

As I covered in the last write-up, the leading theory is that The Others, DHARMA or whomever is really controlling the Island had enough money, power and influence to fake the crash. Meaning that the plane they found deep under the ocean off the coast of Bali was an elaborate set-up. The Lostaways really were on Flight 815, and after they crashed on the Island, this powerful group staged another crash so that no one would come looking for the Lostaways. This could be because they don't want the Island to be found, or because they wanted to use the Lostaways for experiments (or both). A slightly different twist on the same general theory is that the Lostaways were never on the real Flight 815, they were brought together on to a different flight (that they thought was 815) on purpose... they were specifically chosen unbeknownst to them... and that flight was manipulated to crash on the Island. I think the first version of this theory is more likely.

Another theory is that there never even was a crash. They could be in a group-based virtual reality game that they forgot signing up for (because part of the game IS that they forget their real lives). They could have had memories of the flight and subsequent crash implanted into their memories, but really were brought to the Island some other way which they don't remember. Their plane could have slipped into a wormhole of time and disappeared from the real universe. And on and on and on. Once again folks, I don't think we're going to learn THIS big answer until, oh... 2010 (more on that later, but for now, cue the weird 2010 movie music).

One last thing - where Naomi claims that the wreckage was found... off the coast of Bali, is in the completely wrong direction that a flight going from Sydney to L.A. would have traveled. It is also way north-west of where the pilot said (in the, um, pilot episode) they were trying to make an emergency landing:

PILOT: 6 hours in. Our radio went out, no one could see us. We turned back to land in Fiji, by the time we hit turbulence we were 1000 miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place.

No one thinks that the writers would be that messy with the details, so everyone's expecting an explanation for all of this. But not for a while. If *I* figure out how to time travel like Desmond does, I will go to the year 2010, watch the series finale, and then come back and share it with you all, how's that?


TEAM LOCKE

Big Issue Number Two: "So what are we to make of Locke?"

On one hand, he helped out the Lostaways by telling Sawyer that Juliet was a mole, and by stealing the audio tape and giving it to Sawyer for proof. Some also may argue that he did Sawyer a favor by setting him up to kill his ultimate nemesis. Let's face it, they wrapped up two major characters' story lines in one fell swoop. Now both Locke and Sawyer can move on with their lives (although some would argue that they should've found a way to do so without killing anyone, even if the person they are jointly responsible for killing was really eeeevil).

Yes, I DO own this shirt.But on the other hand, Locke is rejoining The Others. Some don't think he did Sawyer any favor, but rather just manipulated him (using Benipulation techniques) to do his dirty work for him. It is very clear that Locke needs constant reassurance from Benry that he is "special." And he has returned to being Season One Locke, who is desperate to uncover "the secrets of the Island." As he himself stated to Sawyer, "I'm on my own journey now."

So, much like both Jack and Juliet, I feel that Locke is only on Team Locke. I don't think he would be above trying to overthrow or undermine Benry if it furthered his position on the Island. And while he hasn't ever done anything (that we can prove - since we still don't know what happened to the submarine for sure) that has HURT the Lostaways, he hasn't necessarily gone out of his way to protect or fight for them, either. But I personally still feel that he is, at his very base, a good person. He may be a very deeply confused person, but who isn't, really? Right? You all know I'm always going to stick up for him!


PODCAST DEBRIEF

As before, in transcript-style... the podcast with executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.

Anthony Cooper (Papa Locke) is indeed the Original Sawyer.
We knew for a very long time that Locke's father was in fact the same con man who was responsible for Sawyer's parents' death. We thought it fairly obvious... the fact that Anthony Cooper was using the word "con" for so long, and when Locke asked Sawyer a long time ago why he called himself Sawyer, and on and on. We are glad we waited to officially reveal it, because it's really going to propel the narrative for the rest of the season.

The scene where Richard Alpert talks with Locke, he's kind of subverting Ben a little bit. He actually gives Locke the file. He tells Locke that he's special. Why do you think he would do that? He seems to be trying to manipulate the power structure of The Others. Either that, or he really believes Locke is special. We're going to see Alpert again next week in "The Man Behind the Curtain."

"The Man Behind the Curtain" is a reference to The Wizard of Oz where everyone thought the Wizard was this majestic thing, but in reality it was just a small man literally behind a curtain, who says, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Fan Questions & Answers

Q. Can you confirm if Zeke was quoting Alvar Hanso back in "The Hunting Party" (Season Two, scene when The Others had kidnapped Kate and Zeke told the Lostaways not to cross "the line" again) when he said, "Somebody much smarter than anybody here once said, "Since the dawn of our species, man has been blessed with curiosity."" Does that mean that The Others do indeed have a connection to DHARMA?
A. Yes indeed, that was very similar to the quote posted on Hanso's web site, wasn't it?


Q. I was just thinking that this island lacks monkeys! Most islands have monkeys. Where are all the monkeys?
A. There actually is a monkey, Joop. He has been referred to in the podcasts before, and was in The Lost Experience. He's really old, like 150 years old. He may eventually show up.


Q. Will Lost run January through May next year?
A. It is our hope that the show next season will run much like it did in the second part of this year. [e: this podcast aired before the official press release (covered below) came out]



Q. I was just wondering if the bird that called out Hurley's name is Smokey? How does it relate to Hurley, has he seen it before in his lifetime? [e: that bird has not been shown on the show for a looong time]
A. We don't know if the bird is actually saying "Hurley" or not... or if its call just so happens to sound like Hurley's name. The bird has shown up in previous finales, maybe it will show up again in this one, maybe not. I will say that the bird has never shown up in Hurley's life before he landed on the island.



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

Thanks again to my brother for pulling most of these for me...

- So Locke is on "Team Island", and apparently, the Others want to be on this team as well, but Ben is doing his best to show them that 'he is not who they think he is.' Locke appears to be the Others' chosen one, we may find that there is some prophecy in the culture of the ancients about him. He may be destined to take over the Others and put them back on their path. Ben wants to discredit him so that he can keep his position, but he's delaying the inevitable. I'm starting to believe that the Others are good, but Ben is corrupt. I think Alpert had a strong case in that all the fertility research is going the wrong way. Science isn't going to solve these problems or cure Ben, the Island is. The Island could trump any science that you throw at it, the way to solve the infertility issue is to make amends with the Island.
- I think the Jack/Juliet secret isn’t anything big – just related to the communications problem and/or that the Others can hear any and all communications to/from the island. Jack focuses on the “how” too much for it to be anything else. There’s a chance that he and Juliet don’t want any contact to occur...
- You know what I thought in this episode when Naomi said she was given a "set of coordinates"? Did you all think the same thing I did? I thought: 4 8 15 16 23 42!
- First Ben went by the alias "Henry Gale." And now, did anyone pick up on the Oz parallel/reference when he told Locke, don't come back until you bring me your father's dead body? It reminded me of when the Wizard of Oz told Dorothy not to come back until she brought him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. In many ways, Cooper (Papa Locke) is like the Wicked Witch of the West (!), but more interestingly, I think in many ways, Ben is like the Wizard of Oz. He is all smoke and mirrors, and pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
- I don't think Ben wants to get rid of Locke, or wanted him to kill Cooper. I think this was Locke's initiation to Otherdom. He has now manipulated another person into committing murder to serve his own purposes. The same kind of thing Ben has been doing since we met him. It seemed to me like Ben would rather Locke get Sawyer to kill Cooper than have Locke do it himself.
- The Others don't like flawed, bad people. People like Kate (murderer), Sawyer (murderer), Sayid (torturer) were not on Jacob's list. I think Ben put Locke's dad out there to make sure Locke wasn't a bad guy. Ben wanted to make sure Locke isn't a murderer. Maybe Jacob told Ben to give Locke that test.
- Cooper was awesomely creepy. He really acted like a man who thought he was already in Hell. Being tied up and tortured, and meeting all the people you wronged in your life wanting revenge. No wonder he thought he was in Hell.
- Is there anything cooler than the fact that Sawyer, who didn't even remember to bring his SHOES with him on the trip, brought the letter? There is a man obsessed.
- What/where/when-ever the island is, I am starting to truly think that once upon a time it played nice with DHARMA and then rejected them (most likely a science vs. faith issue, an early theme of the show). It embraced Ben and his 'Others' for whatever reason. Now THEY are being rejected (the whole good vs. bad that they seem obsessed with?) in favor of the survivors of 815 in general and Locke in specific (I suspect Sun is NOT in any danger, the island likes her now, perhaps). I bet there is a pattern of keepers/inhabitants getting side tracked with petty/personal/small-picture issues only to be replaced with new folk in the search for those most worthy? It seems to have happened at least twice.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

KATE: I can't sleep if I'm not in my own tent.
SAWYER: Fine, let's go to your tent.
KATE: [Pauses] Erm... its nothing personal, it's just... old habits, you know?
SAWYER: Fine, scram.
[He pushes her off his bed and she laughs]
SAWYER: You want me to walk you home?
KATE: It's five tents, I think I'll make it.
SAWYER: Sure? I gotta pee anyway.
KATE: That is so romantic.



SAWYER: The hell are you doing here?
LOCKE: Looking for you actually.
SAWYER: OK Tarzan, so now that you're back from your blow-up-everything-that-could-get-us-off-the-Island tour, how 'bout you tell me why you joined up with the damn enemy?




WHAT LIES AHEAD

The future is here!  And yet still no Jetsons-ish jetpacks.While it is still unclear if Lost will be staying in its later time slot next season (10 pm EST), the rumors about when the series is slated to end have finally been laid to rest. Lost will run three more seasons, but each season will be shortened (16 episodes instead of the normal 24), and they will run back-to-back starting in January. I was thinking that they would only go two more full seasons, so I guess this means that you have to deal with the ramblings of a crazy chick until 2010! Can you imagine how insane I will be by that time? I shudder. Even worse, I'm totally going to have the worst case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome EVER by then. Near the end of the series, my write-ups will dwindle to: "That was crap." or "It was OK." or "Find the hidden stuff yourselves, my fingers hurt!" You have been forewarned.

Here is the official press release about it.

And to those of you wondering if they will end with a total of 108 episodes... they won't (which I think is crap!). I believe it will be around 119 or so. Which seems kind of like a lost opportunity, no pun intended.



THREE... TWO... ONE!

5/9 - The Man Behind the Curtain
5/16 - Greatest Hits (previously called 'The Truth About Lying')
5/23 - Through the Looking Glass - TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE and special episode afterward

Sometimes, when I get in bed at night, I have these weird giddy moments like I had when I was really little, when I was excited about going to Cedar Point or Disney World or somewhere like that. And I will kind of squeal and wiggle around on the bed violently for a few seconds until I suddenly realize I'm not 8 anymore and doing that kind of thing really tires me out on top of killing my back. But that's how the promise of the remaining three episodes makes me feel - they are going to ROCK!

- e