Covered in bacon grease

Jin/Sun episodes have not been all that interesting to me for awhile, not since Sun thought Jin to be dead and was going to be all payback time on Ben for his death (remember that short-lived plot?)
But "The Package" was a relatively decent episode, at least in terms of Earth 2 characterization. Even though we knew Jin was ending up tied up in the restaurant and rescued by Sayid, getting there was somewhat interesting. I guess the point being that the two are eventually to be together and with child, no matter what reality we happen to be in.
Meanwhile, we got some Island Mystery advancement.
To wit:
- We know getting off the island will require another lineup of Losties, just like getting on did. The question being who now is part of that required group and why is Kate now not part of it. (Anyone got any guesses on this? My bet is that it has to do with the fact on Earth 2 she's still a fugitive on the run, not showing any ability to transcend her mistakes of the past, and thus ruling herself out as a Jacob candidate).
- We got a clearer sense of the sides shaping up. So there's Smoke Locke and his crew looking to get off island (seemingly a big no-no since everyone will 'cease to exist.') There's Richard and our ragtag folks trying to stop him. And now there's Widmore and his knockout dart shooting army of geophysicists (armed with a heavily drugged Desmond) also there to stop Locke. Though one has to imagine Widmore's motivations are more than just pure altruism (I mean, the guy also sent soldiers previously with the sole intent of whacking off Ben, so he's not exactly a Jain).
- So how the heck is Desmond supposed to be a secret weapon?
- Sun knocked the English right out of herself? Laaaaame.
- Sayid is now an emotionless automaton doing the bidding of Smoke Locke. Awesome. Ditto too Locke basically throwing meat Kate to crazed dog Claire. And ditto that actor who plays Martin Keamy. That guy should be a heavy in every movie - I get the feeling he can't even go to the dry cleaner without scaring the crap out of people.
After last week's reveals, of course this episode was going to feel a little light, as it was more about getting pieces in place than really revealing much. Like Sun taking Jack's hand on the beach, I'm still giving this show some trust that we're heading to some fun stuff.

Covered in bacon grease

New kid in town

TV Guide also has an interesting interview with the actress who plays Zoe (the chick who tried to convince Sawyer she was a survivor of the second plane, but really is a Widmore homie).

TVGuide.com: Well, what is she there to do?
Kelley: She is there on the island looking for somebody and she's looking for something. She will know who it is when she finds that person. She also believes she has the answer.

TVGuide.com: How did she come to work with Charles Widmore?
Kelley: She is a geophysicist. I think that she's very brilliant and loves what she does. She is a maverick in her field and believes there are more answers than the status quo is willing to buy into. So she wants to bring the concrete world of physics and geology into much more esoteric happenings, like time travel and the energy of the island. She's bridging the gap between science and belief. It's a strong theme throughout the whole show.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Lost-Sheila-Kelley-1016540.aspx

My only friend, The End

So what's the name of the episode of the series finale? "The End," according to the fine folks at TV Guide.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/End-Near-Lost-1016637.aspx

Welcome to Sunnydale

If you've never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV series, not the movie). I feel bad for you, son. While ostensibly a show about a group of high school (and, several seasons in, college-aged) kids who go around fighting vampires and demons and monsters, really it's a metaphor for modern teen life set against a backdrop of chop-sockey and wooden stakes. And the fictitious Calif. town of Sunnydale was always beset with these horrible monsters and plagues of vampires was because it sat on the Hellmouth - literally, the earthly entrance to Hell.
Turns out that the kids of Sunnydale High and the Oceanic survivors have similar real estate.
Wow. So now we have some meat to sink our teeth into in terms of the overarching island mystery. It's literally the lid on Pandora's box, with Jacob and Man in Black being the Goofus and Gallant eternally sparring over keep the lid closed.
Given that it was such a big reveal, and Richard (a fine Nestor Carbonell, who will to me always be 'Batmanuel' from the short-lived live-action Tick series) has been such a mystery, I can see why the episode was so Richard-centric and 90 percent about his flashback.
But honestly, this one seemed a little slow and clogged. Which is a shame considering how important this episode was to the canon. We now understand the struggle. We know why the Oceanic folks were brought to the island (Jacob basically trolling for damaged goods who can demonstrate that people can change for the better). Which raises a question - the Oceanic survivors are supposed to be a demonstration of the fact people can rise above their evil ways, right? But Hurley? Jack? Sun? Claire? What are their sins? What misdeeds are they supposed to have grown from? Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, like Ricardo they all are killers. But what was Locke's sin when the jet crashed (perhaps one could argue pride, in a sort of Seven Deadly Sins kind of way, but that seems weak.)
My other slight disappointment was with machinations of the Smoke Monster guy. He kills all the ship survivors because that's what he does. He spares Richardo presumably because he sees how he could manipulate him into killing Jacob. He impersonates Isabella to solidify that manipulation. All very smart and dastardly. And then he frees Ricardo and ... proceeds to sound like the worst salesman one could imagine. "Wait, YOU killed all the people on the boat?" "Look, forget about that, just go stab someone. Just do it. Do it." And because Richard's not so bright, he goes right along with that plan.
So now we're heading to a climactic confrontation about keeping Locke/MiB/Smokey from leaving the island. I presume Richard is not a candidate for the Jacob job for the very reason that Jacob didn't seem to have brought him specifically there (remember the whole fight on the beach and Jacob saying 'who are you?') I dunno, my money for now is going to stay on the team with the guy who can turn into a homicidal cloud of smoke. Hurley's amusing stoner vibe is not much of a counter weapon to that.
One interesting tidbit:
- The captain of the Black Rock ship, Magnus Hanso, is the great grandfather of Alvar Hanso, who went on to help found the Dharma Foundation, which as we know set up shop on the island eventually (brought there I assume by Jacob at some point).
One gripe:
How many Haley Joel Osments are we going to have on the island? Miles and now Hurley are talking to the dead?
Interesting mysteries we'll likely never get fully solved:
- So what happened to the statue? It was full sized when the Black Rock was in the storm, and now it's just rubble except for the feet.
- So how is it that the Black Rock ended up in the interior of the island? Am assuming that has to do with the constant moving of the island (same with how a boat heading from the west coast of Africa - the Canary Islands - to North America - ended up hitting the island that was, at least for a time, in the South Pacific too)

Anyone else hungry?

I have no idea what this is or what it's about. But I've watched it three times now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hILqMGb2u2w

Nobody's perfect

How excited am I right now? I am very excited. Why? Because the clips for next week's ep. indicated we've got a Richard-centric one coming up, including flashbacks. He's the Rosetta Stone of this show, and next week could provide some big answers to questions about the island. Hopefully.
Meanwhile, we've got the chess pieces being put into some interesting configurations on the Island. Widmore and the Smoke Monster are at odds and seemingly heading to a climactic conflict. Sayid is a shambling zombie - seemingly far more messed up than Claire actually might be.
My pet theory that Earth 2 is where this series is heading, and that it is some kind of place where the Losties get some kind of wish fulfilled received more ammo. Sawyer and Miles as LAPD cops? Isn't this just a reworking of the lives they lived in the 1970s as Dharma security? A time when Sawyer was demonstrably happy? Wouldn't it be natural for him to want a return to something like that? (the one hiccup in my theory - where's Juliette? Unless the fact he and Kate keep running into each other represents what he - or both of them - both want as well).
- So what killed the Ajira survivors? Smoke Locke is a far more likely suspect, since the sub just arrived on the island. And having the jet without all these pesky survivors would make leaving earlier, I imagine
- Reasons to like the episode: a cameo by Charlotte. And Sawyer getting wisdom from watching a rerun of 'Little House on the Prairie.'
- Reasons we should've hated the episode: Sawyer punching the mirror. Oh please. That old TV/movie chestnut?
All in all, a decent, middle of the pack episode. Sawyer's always interesting to watch.

And now for something completely different

Exclusive! 'Lost Talk' has obtained footage of a flash-sideways version of 'Lost' that was to actually air on 'Lost' as a show-within-a-show. But it got cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAAmVd5enWU
I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Better Late Than Never

Sorry for the delay this week. Technical difficulties delayed the watching of the episode. Specifically, SOMEone broke my looking glass that I settle in front of each week in the lighthouse, with my cup of hot cocoa, to catch 'Lost.' I'm not pointing fingers, but the story about a raccoon getting in doesn't hold water. For one thing, they're nocturnal.
Anyhoo, on with the discussion.
First off, continual big ups to actor Michael Emmerson. His work as multilayered Ben - dastardly Ben, deceiving Ben, powerful Ben, powerless Ben, sad victim Ben, scurrying through the jungle in desperation Ben - never ceases to be top notch.
The evidence is increasingly strong that our flashes to Earth 2 are also to Fantasy Island, where our island folk get that one thing they want most in life (Sayid - Nadia is alive, Jack - over his father issues, Ben - choosing to help Alex over his power trip). Are we heading to a conclusion where this life is the reward to our Losties?
In the same vein, applause to the writers who have given us the evolution of Jack. Remember the Jack who was so certain Locke was wasting his time punching in the numbers that there blowups about it? Remember the Jack who was so certain by setting of a nuke everything would be all right that he actually made that happen? Now we've got Jack so certain that he's part of some great Manipulation in the Sky. If the series is, at least in part, a mediation on issues of rationality and belief in destiny, he's charted an interesting course.
More and more, I'm thinking the show is heading to a scenario where we get some indication that the conflicts and roles here have been going on forever. Jack maybe is the new Jacob? Locke as Man in Black? And Kate - who came to the island a captive - is the new Richard (who also seemingly came to the island in chains, perhaps as a slave or prisoner aboard the Black Rock). And why is it that Locke is telling different island stories to different folks (to Sawyer: "Man, this place sucks and there ain't nothing here to protect, let's jet." to Ben: "I need to leave someone in charge of the island. You."
And speaking of Richard, does Jacob's touch automatically confer some kind of quasi immortality? Are our Losties also like Richard in that regard, since we've seen Jacob had physical contact with them at some point in their past? (One hiccup to that - how'd Sawyer age from little kid to adult?) Or perhaps there are different gifts to different Losties.
Some random thoughts:
- OK, a nuclear bomb went off on the island, sinking it, right? So why would Ben's dad suggest their lives would've been better off staying there. Curiouser and curiouser. I think we'll find at some point that something is going on with the island other than it just being a submerged wreck like the season opener indicated.
- Please, can we do something with Illana? Either kill her off or give her some fleshing out? Right now she's like Ben or Richard in earlier seasons - seemingly knowing lotsa stuff but never divulging - but without the fun or dimensions.
- Ditto Sun. I miss the off-island Sun who was going to be all Charles Bronson on Ben for, she thought, killing Jin. But instead since last season she's been this housefrau running around the island with one line of dialogue - "I have to find my husband." The only thing worse likely will be when they in fact reunite and then Sun doesn't even have that to do.
- So why does Fake Locke need followers to come with him? Is the Widmore sub going to rendezvous with Locke and his crew? Or is Locke wanting them to take it from the seamen?
- Lovin' the Nicki and Paolo shout out.

Now why'd you go and do that?

I've never been a huge Sayid fan myself. While Jack or Locke or Ben have, over the course of the series, shown surprising layers or evolution and the actors - Matthew Fox in particular - have demonstrated some serious acting chops, Sayid/Naveen Andrews has always been, to my eye, a little static as the quiet-but-deadly guy, the suffering killer archetype that we've seen in movies and TV before.
But props to last night's Lost, which again provided an slam-bang solid hour of kick-butt entertainment, even if I remain as lost (pun!) as ever.
So in terms of answering the Big Questions, what'd we learn? Not much. There were again indications that the underlying theme is the battle of Good and Evil. But given Jacob's past manipulations and Lost's yin/yang themes, am still not sure that we can say he's unequivocably Good either. (Insert here musings on a Janus-like situation where Jacob and Man in Black are not two characters but flip sides of the same coin/the same character in some kind of 'Fight Club' scenario.)
And speaking of themes, the series' musings about people being able to transcend their innate natures got a swift kick of harsh reality in the form of both Earth-1 and Earth-2 Sayids being stone-cold killers, seemingly disproving what Sayid himself said to his brother ("I'm not that man anymore.") Was that a departure from what we've seemingly seen in recent eps with Earth-2 Jack and Locke having indications of transcending the baggage they've carried around (father issues, handicap issues)? Mebbe so. Though the latest killings - Dogen and Hippie Dude - seem to be not by the Sayid we all know. That smirk at the end, a sign of the Sickness inside him that maybe also has claimed Claire? Sayid never seemed quite that callous about killing before.
Highlights of the episode:
- Sayid in some nice Republican Guard-fu with Dogen. Then later on Smoky Flocke going on a temple killing spree. I'll give this to Lost, if they're not going to give me answers, they're at least going to throw me a nice bone of action.
- I love the 'everyone running into everyone in Mayberry' vibe going on on the island, with Miles and Kate and Sayid all bumping into one another. Five years ago, this island seemed the size of Ohio, with endless miles of green hiding secrets and tribes and all sortsa freaky stuff. Now you can't walk five minutes without tripping over somebody else.
Big question:
- So given that Flocke is talking about having Whatever You Want if you follow him, am wondering if the Earth-2 flashes sideways are not actually alternate timelines but the future/present for our Losties if they in fact do something in particular on the island. Not sure what yet. But what if these alternate life clips we're seeing are in fact what the Oceanic Bunch are heading toward. You've got an off-island life where Nadia is alive, where Locke and Hurley and Jack all are somewhat less troubled.
So, your thoughts?
Big question 2:
- In other Earth 2 flashes sideways, the Losties have bumped into Others in some fashion or another. In Sayid's case, he runs into Keamy, from Widmore's boat. Is there some significance to that discrepancy? Or is the idea merely that life is full of interconnecting lines? To quote Keanu Reaves, 'whoa.'