To revert to my Ohio roots, yee-haw, son, that was a heckuva ride. The "Everybody Love Hugo" episode (only five left!) was a heaping mess of TV fun. You had Illana go kablooey. You had the return of Michael and Libby. You had Fake Locke cold bloodedly take out Desmond (ahades of when Ben shot Real Locke and left him for dead in that pit of dead Dharma folks back oh so long ago). And interestingly, you had the scenes from next week's Lost, "The Last Recruit," accompanied by a snippet of dialogue from the uber creepy, out of control boat ride in the 1971 classic "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Which is a nice parallel in some ways to the direction the show is taking this season - Willy Wonka being all about finding a replacement and testing recruits as they go through this psychedelic, increasingly elaborate freakshow of a place. And like that boat ride, where the boat seemingly is speeding out of control heading to doom while increasingly disturbing images flash in the background, the climax of Lost seems to be heading in the same direction, with things spiraling out of control and heading to disaster before, soon, they pull to a stop and all is revealed.
And speaking of reveals, so now we know those whispers are the spirits of dead folk caught in an island limbo (thus making those protestations from the show creators a couple seasons back that the Lost folks are not dead and in the afterlife technically true but a bit misleading).
We see the evolution of our Earth 1 Losties, as Jack is embracing his new role as Not the Guy In Charge Fixing Everything, a mantle Hurley is picking up.
I think Ben hit the nail on the head when he said that the island seemingly was done with Illana, and thus she got a big sendoff. Interesting sidebar question - is the Island some kind of entity like Smoke Locke or Jacob? Is it a consciousness as well? Whose side is it on?
Another side question - we see Chang at the opening of Hurley's wing at the natural history museum in Earth 2. Wasn't he killed by the nuke going off back in 1977? How exactly can he be here?
Favorite scene, though, must be Earth 2 Hurley drowning his sorrows not at a bar but over a bucket of fried chicken. Can't be any worse for you than a bottle of bourbon, one supposes.
A close second was Desmond's relative calm serenity whether he's deep in the jungle in what should be an "oh fudge" kind of moment when someone gives the equivalent speech of the "we're miles from where anyone could hear you scream" chestnut or whether he's running down a handicapped guy in a wheelchair with his car. And was that move supposed to kill Earth 2 Locke (and if so why) or to trip his memory of Earth 1 (and if so, surely there's an easier way to do it. I mean, near death worked for him and Charlie in bringing back their memories, but criminy, it only took some kissing or a TV commercial for Hugo and Libby. Seems a wee bit unfair in a grand scheme of things kind of way, no?)
So once these Earth 2 Losties all realize what's up, what then? Hop another Oceanic 815 flight perhaps simultaneously as some big electromagnetic pulse is being unleashed on Earth 1 by Widmore and crew?
What'd I miss? Your thoughts?
4 comments:
You know – this is a lot like eating in a restaurant that has one of those big dessert palates that’s laid out with all the goodies – the brandy cheesecake, the tiramisu, the traditional slice of pie, and some kind of brownie concoction that is so chocolaty and gooey, only menstruating women can appreciate the tooth aching sweetness. It’s all of that, and it’s so close it almost makes you want to skip to the end, but the waitress is showing it at the table next to you and you’re still eating your appetizer.
LOST is like that right now. It’s almost over and each episode has been filled with so much chewy fun, with each new revelation being doled out at just the right time, that it makes one appreciate just how finely tuned this whole meal has been.
No, I’m not ready for dessert. Not just yet. But I expect that when I am, it’ll be worth the wait.
PS - best part of last night's episode - Desmond plowing over wheelchair Locke with his BMW, and watching Locke spin through the air like a human shuriken before splattering on the pavement, although somehow I imagine he'll just stand up like the cyborg that he is and walk away from it.
Matt, I think you nailed it in one of your comments from last week: Earth 2's Desmond is gonna 'get the band back together' on a plane and it'll crash land so the series can end just the way it began in the pilot. That said, what happens between then and now is gonna be an awesome ride. I've been assuming the series would use that same comforting Circle of Life/Things Go On Endlessly message to position things and leave us on Earth 1 with a new Jacob, Smokey, and Richard (while the rest of the characters at last get free of the island). As to who those lucky three candidates will be, I keep changing my mind. Sayid seems to be just about the souless evil entity that everyone seems to think Smokey is. Is Jack ultimately going to be the new Jacob? And maybe Ben Linus will choose an immoral life of playing consigliere on the Island to leaving? But then again neither Sawyer nor Kate have much to go back to either.
The big question for me after last night's episode was why Desmond ran over Locke and what the results of that will be. Is it tied to the scene by the well when Flocke asks Desmond if he knows who he (Smokey, presumably) is and Desmond replies, "You're John Locke." Does Flocke's response to that answer tell us anything about his motives? If so, what? Is Flocke afraid of Desmond?
Does Desmond run Locke over because of the Smokey/Locke connection or is it, as you said, to jar Locke's memory? Is it possible that this new horror for Locke will turn out for the best? Will this latest injury somehow counteract the former, and will he walk again? Will Jack make good on his promise to evaluate Locke (remember when they met while trying to track down their luggage?) and will he operate and provide a cure?
The mind is boggled!
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