Team Jacob or Team Smokey??

Dear LOST writers, thank you for one of the best non-season-premier/season-finale episodes of LOST ever, sincerely, Finally Lost.

WOW What an episode! So many things to question, so many things to debate. Once again I will dispense with the well thought out theories and go with raw emotional first-gut-instincts: Jacob is a huge jerk! While Smokey has been trapped on the island, Jacob has been allowed to prance around off-island giving people candy bars and NKOT lunch boxes resulting in the ruination of their lives! Don’t worry Jacob fans, I’ve got issues with Smokey too! I think the above picture is PERFECT for this debate. Thanks to my friend Maria for noting that the table is almost perfectly divided along Teams Jacob and Smokey. Richard and Ilana seem to be on the wrong side but there’s still time for them to swap. Damn those writers are good! But before before we talk discuss sides, let’s talk about last night’s episode, starting with the new DAD: Dogen.

For those of you who are OG on this blog, you’ll remember that I use to call Michael DAD for Dumb-Ass Dad. Now I happen to like Dogen and am in no way implying that he’s as annoying as Michael, but goddamn he was a DAD last night! Dear Dogen, if you thought Sayid was so bad, then why didn’t you kill him? Instead you let him live, give him a reason to have a gripe with you and then send him into your enemy’s camp so he can later turn against you. THEN when he returns from a mission you know he should have died from, you allow him back into the temple and let him kill you! Saaaayid whaaat?? Dogen, you were the only thing keeping Smokey out, why would you let yourself be killed so easily? Furthermore, I don’t understand why the story about your son made you spare Sayid’s life. Finally, what power did Jacob give you that kept Smokey out of the temple? Is it related to the ash? I don’t know if Smokey is now immune to ash or if Claire dug him a pathway before she rolled into the temple. Speaking of which…

Why did Smokey send Claire into the temple? Did she serve a purpose that I missed? And if The Others think Claire is so bad then why didn’t they kill her? Time for the bullet points:

• Did Smokey dangle the Timeline X carrot to get Sayid to join his side? It would be interesting if Smokey knows about Timeline X and if he could send Sayid there.
• Props to the writers for calling this episode Sundown. They played me for a fiddle with that episode name and a Sun-centric episode due up in the Season 1 order
• Why did Jacob tell Hurley to bring Sayid to the temple to save his life? What was on the note that Dogen read? Clearly Jacob knew that Smokey was going to kill Dogen and get into the temple because he told Hurley he wanted Hurley and Jack as far away from the temple as possible. If he foresaw that, then why did he save Sayid? Jacob might put Ben to shame with his manipulation skills…
• I FINALLY got one right! I’ve been on a Cleveland-like losing streak with my predictions for a while, but if you recall I predicted that Jacob’s death meant Smoke is free to leave the island. The second half of that prediction is that Jacob isn’t really “dead” but takes Smokey’s place as the island prisoner.
• Sayid is a badass in any reality. I was so happy to see Slingshot (Alex) killer, Kreamy, killed again! That guy sucks!
• Jin was the last person I expected to be trapped in the walk-in. It makes sense, but I wasn’t expecting it.
• It was great to see Ben so afraid of Sayid. Has Sayid’s heart been infected now?
• How much can change by setting off that damn nuke?? Which leads me to…

The case against Jacob

Add Sayid to the list of people who I believe would rather live in Timeline X. Hell he just let Smokey butcher all The Others in the temple for the promise of Nadia being alive again. If you’ve lost count at home that’s Jack, Locke, Hurley, Claire, Dogen, everyone on the plane and most of The Others. Kate has it worse and Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Desmond, Miles, Rose and White Bernard are to be determined. There is a strong case to be made that Jacob needlessly toys with these people’s lives for no reason what-so-ever. Why did he let Nadia get hit by that car? Why did he save Dogen’s son but only if Dogen promised to come to the island? Jacob is not making it easy to defend him. My friend Cav keeps saying that Jacob is like the devil because he is constantly telling you have a choice (free will) all the while he is manipulating you.

The case against Smokey

All that being said, I should warn you that I am a card carrying member of Team Jacob. It bothers me that Smokey is using Claire by lying to her about Aaron’s location. I’m surprised Smokey didn’t kill Jin & Kate to keep the truth from Claire. And while Jacob has killed and made things worse via his Jacob-whammy skills (manipulation), there is something to be said about how Smokey went in and slaughtered everyone at the temple and in Jacob’s house. Let’s also not forget he enjoyed picking off our Losties during Season 1. He has displayed a pessimism for people since the Black Rock arrived and he killed Mr. Eko! I think that’s a formula for baddie, however, It’s a shame he’s got all the cool people on his side (Sayid, Sawyer I’m looking at you!)

Finally I’ll leave you with my thoughts on next week’s episode, please stop reading if you don’t watch the previews for the following week! Clearly next week is going to be a Ben-centric episode (check) and I will go on record that I think he will die. The alarm clock has gone off and someone major needs to die…

Finally Lost Finally Back

As some of you who know me in the real world know, I just went through a rough stretch of starting a new business while working my regular 40 hour a week job. Unfortunately this left me very little time to blog about our favorite islanders, however, rest assured Finally Lost will be back and will help you question all your answers from now until the end of the season.

Now I wasn’t completely unproductive during my hiatus, Finally Lost was recently chosen by Chris Kelly of Stream Of Consciousness as one of the top 23 Lost sites on the Blogosphere and was asked to participate in a weekly Q/A session. Every week Chris sends us 2 questions and posts our answers on his site. Please check out Stream Of Consciousness when you get a chance and see how Finally Lost is dong in comparison to the best bloggers out there. Chris has a lot of great stuff on his site including a Cafe-Press T-Shirt Contest to the person who writes the best Lost ending.

As to not leave you completely hanging, I am posting my answers to the first 2 weeks questions which I think will start some good debate. Already I’m being told the writers have hinted the alternate theory isn’t true but I plan on blogging soon to flesh out my theory.

WEEK 1

What is going on with the LAX scenes? Do you believe we are experiencing an alternate timeline, or is it something else entirely?
I know a common theory out there is that the X in LA X means we have a parallel universe on our hands (that’s multi-verse for all the fellow comic geeks out there). Since the “What happened happened” tenant of the show has been evicted from the show like it Walt going through puberty, I find myself clinging to another faithful tenant: Course Correction! Yes I believe LA SPACE X means we are in an alternate timeline and yes I believe we will course correct, the interesting question, however, is which timeline will win? Wouldn’t it be wild if the Losties got to choose which timeline became reality? Does Sawyer choose to be the pre-island conman with a hard-one for Kate or a post-island rebuilt man with a Juliet sized broken heart?? Time will tell, literally…

Smokey / NotLocke / ManInBlack says he wants to “go home”.  Where/what is “home”?
I’ve been convinced for sometime now that Jacob & Smokey are aliens/gods (it’s all the same to us agnostics) who have been exiled to earth on a broken down space ship, aka the island. The fact that the island has a wheel that can move it through time and space has always made me think spaceship. If Jacob and Smokey really are exiled then I think Jacob was totally the kid that convinced Smokey that one joint won’t kill ya, or whatever alien crime is punishable by an Earth exile these days, which is why Smokey wants to kill Jacob so badly. It is interesting that Jacob has no problem leaving the island but Smokey is land locked. In the end, I think E.T. want to go home and be reunited with Mrs. Smokey…

WEEK 2

Games have been mentioned continually thoughout the series – from Locke’s backgammon allegories, to Jacob’s talk of a “loophole”. This week, Sawyer described Sayid’s ressurection as him earning “another go around“. Do you believe the Lost characters are taking part in some kind of game/test, and if so, how can they possibly win/pass this scenario?
Absolutely! Locke and pre-puberty Walt set the tone for the entire series during their backgammon scenes. At first we thought the Losties were the pawns of The Others with Ben pulling all the strings, but as the wise Richard Alpert says, “Everyone has a boss”, and clearly Jacob and Smokey are the Tony Danza on this island. The writers keep telling us not to prejudge which of our mysterious “friends” are good/evil but I’d throw my hat in the ring with Jacob. Besides the fact that he pals around with my boy Hurley, Jacob has done a much better PR job simple by not randomly turning into black smoke and killing Losties (will we ever learn why Smokey did that??) Now just because we know who the players are doesn’t mean we understand the game, this IS Lost after all. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end of the series Jacob pulled out a dollar bill and handed it to Smokey “Trading Places” style and said, see I told you Kate would go for Sawyer!!!

On a lighter note, Kate just can’t stop following Sawyer around!! I know it is a question that a large part of the fandom love to ask (and an equally large number loathe to hear), so let’s get it out of the way – who will Kate finally “end up” with?
On the “Official Lost Video Podcast”, Evangeline Lilly (Kate) said she thought that Aaron is really the man in her life and her Jawyer relationship was almost moot. If you look at Aaron being the reason Kate’s returned to the island and Aaron being the crutch she leaned on to mend her Sawyer-induced broken heart, then I think it’s clear she’s right. I don’t any of us think it’s a coincidence in the flash-sideways that Kate ended up in that cab with Claire and helped her out with an Aaron problem. Aaron is the reason Kate stopped running and Aaron is the reason Kate doesn’t have room in her heart for Jack or Sawyer. In an Aaron-less world I think Kate would have picked Sawyer, like any sane woman that’s seen him without a shirt. Unfortunately for Kate, in timeline Prime (where the island is still above the ocean) Sawyer’s known 3 years of a life with a woman who didn’t constantly lie and who wasn’t bouncing between men like a employee at the Vegas Bunny Ranch. That unfortunately leaves her with a consolation prize of Jack “the crying man” and we all saw how those off-island romances work out…

Whatever happened, happened

Based on the results of the latest poll most of you seem to agree…whatever happened happened dammit! That is at least what 75% (58%+17%) of you believe, however, you have disagreements on what exactly will happen to the Losties in the past. So to recap the question: What happened at the end of season 5:

58% of you said it was always the incident and the Past Losties got pushed back to the present. Simple and straight forward. I would contend that if this is true then we wouldn’t really need a Season 6, just give us a really long epilogue and tells us what the whispers mean, who Jacob & Smokey are and why the Dharma heli-droppings have continued. All that being said there is a lot of evidence to support this theory.

• First there is Faraday’s statement that you CAN’T change the past and what happened happened. In addition to raising some paradoxical questions, it would be poetic if our Losties caused the incident all along which eventually forced them to crash land on the island.
• Also some people believe Dr. Chang had a prosthetic arm in the Swan video and it was noted that he crushed his arm during “The Incident” serving as circumstantial evidence that whatever happened, happened (WHH)

While the majority of you find solidarity in the WHH camp, you disagree what will happen to the Losties because 17% of you think they will stay in the past. It would be very interesting to see how the Losties in the past would continue to affect the island’s future. There is a popular theory that Rose & White Bernard are really the “Adam & Eve” skeletons and I think that would be a great ending for those characters. Again, I would have to question “what is the point?” if this were the outcome. Plus how is everyone going to survive the radiation fallout if they somehow survive the blast!

17% of you said screw time and the screw the incident, Juliet reset everything and it’s gonna be a whole new ball game. While I REALLY don’t want this to happen, this is what I think is going to happen. I also think the nuke was always the incident so I’m currently fighting a civil war with myself. Clearly they CAN’T erase all the consequences of the previous 5 seasons but I think the writers will toy with us for a while. Jacob said, “it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress”. Was he referring to a time loop?? Did Jacob orchestrate the nuke so he could save his own life as I’ve previously predicted?? I don’t know any other way to explain why those particular 5 Losties got sent back in time when the rest of the AA flight crashed on the island. It is also curious why the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors, the boat survivors AND Juliet were jumping in time but The Others stayed put. Also if you remember in season 3 The Others were building a airstrip that AA316 just happened to land on. Last thought on this, I do believe Faraday changed time when he visited Desmond in the hatch which completely negates WHH. He also had the power to change time when he talked to Charlotte and I hope we find out id he did.

Finally, 8% of you are delusional and think the nuke never went off! Come on people, pick a side here!! Juliet smacked the thing 8 times, what more proof do you want?? This theory hurts my head because we will no doubt pick up where we left off and there’s no chance for a Juliet survival thus I can’t get onboard with it…

So there you have it, we are 1 day  away from seeing the Season 6 premier of Lost and I’m DYING right now. Why didn’t I wait until the show ended to start watching it?? Now I’m going to have to go insane week after week waiting for the next episode. I really believe answers are coming but it’s going to be a long season but at least we have each other…

P.S. At the end of every season something blows up. I think the island will blow up at the end of Season 6…

P.S. 2 Full disclosure: There is a video going around of what is supposed to be the first 4 minutes of the premier that ABC released to a lucky bunch of 815 fans and surprisingly one of those fans uploaded to the net. At the time I wrote this article I had not seen the video so this article has not been tainted by any spoilers. That being said I have since watched the 4 minutes and if that video is real…OMG…

See ya in Los Angeles

All episodes complete! 42 agonizing days until the Lost Season 6 premier, and like you I am completely lost.

Now that was one hell of a finale. Lost fans what did you do on your summer vacation? “Um we argued back and forth if the timeline of the show was reset when Juliet blew up the nuke”. I have a very strong opinion on what happened (surprised?) but I’m hoping to hear all your theories since you can now comment without fear of spoiling me. But first the recap:

We see Jacob & an unknown “friend” (being called nemesis in some circles) enjoying a typical 1800s day by the fully erect statue by the beach. There is a boat on the horizon (presumable the Black Rock) and Nemesis asks Jacob why he brought the boat to the island when people always end up fighting and killing each other. Jacob says until the final end everything is progress. Nemesis remarks that  he will someday find a loophole and kill Jacob. Next we see flashbacks of almost every significant Lostie and how Jacob interacted with all of them at some point. Jacob payed for the lunchbox kid-Kate stole, lent Sawyer the pen he used to write the letter to Sawyer, prevented Sayid from being hit by the car that killed Nadia, brought Locke back to life after his father pushed him out that window, congratulated Jin & Sun at their wedding, picked up Hurley outside the police station and convinced him to get on AA Flight 316 and left him a guitar case, and finally visited Boobie-Fett in the hospital and asked her to do him a favor. Interestingly enough, Jacob was not in the flashback where Juliet found out her parents were getting a divorce. Back on the present day island Locke tells Richard to take all The Others to see Jacob and tells Other Ben he has to kill Jacob. Other Ben agrees because Dead SlingShot (Alex) told him to do everything Locke said and because he feels slighted that Jacob never met him in all his years as leader of the Others. We find out Jacob lives at the bottom of the four-toed statue (what lies in the shadow of the statue…the one that can save us…apparently Jacob) and Other Ben and Locke going in for a quality time visit. While Locke and Other Ben are in the statue it it is revealed that Boobie-Fett and her pals were carrying around  real-Locke’s body the whole time, making everyone wonder who is in the statue with Other Ben! Cut to inside the statue, Jacob congratulates fake-Locke on finding a loop hole thus revealing him to be Nemesis. Nemesis’ plan works and Other Ben kills Jacob and for just for giggles, Nemesis kicks Jacob’s body into the fire.

Back in 1977, Kate, SawFleur & Juliet break out of the sub and go back to stop Jack (they also run into Rose, White Bernard & Vincent who have been living happily ever after for the last 3 years). Juliet changes her mind several times but eventually decides the right thing to do is to help Jack reset the future by blowing up the atom bomb down the chamber of the unbuilt hatch. Sayid who was likely given a fatal gun wound from an earlier gun fight, sets the atom bomb to detonate on impact. Ghostbuster then wisely asks the question: “How do you know blowing up the nuke isn’t the incident??” No one has an answer for him and they decide to blow up the nuke anyway. There is a big gun fight but the Losties win and Jack throws the nuke down the hatch hole but nothing happens. Meanwhile the drill hits the pocket of energy and everything metal begins to be pulled towards the pocket of energy. Juliet gets tangled in a chain and in a heartbreaking moment Sawyer loses her hand and she is pulled down to the bottom of the hatch hole. Juliet wakes up badly injuried at the bottom of the hatch hole and sees the nuke is still intact. Using a rock next to her, she slams the nuke 8 times and it explodes and we get LOST WHITE-screened. End of season. AHHHHH!

I am sure time is reset. It has to be. There is no way the writers would tease us with the possibility of a reset and then not give it to us. Based on the name of the first episode in season 6 plus the fact that everyone and Aaron’s mom is on the season 6 promo cover (welcome back Boone, Sticks, Mr. Eko), I believe 815 is landing in LAX. The question is how do the events of the island converge with the new present? The past 5 seasons can’t all be for nothing, that would be horrible! The writers would have a revolution on their hands! We’d take to the streets, shoot fire arrows at the writers and send the black smoke monster at ABC! It’s possible the nuke was “the incident” all along and somehow that flashes forward all the Losties into the present where life is happy for everyone, but I just don’t see it. Obviously everything would change if 815 lands safely in LAX starting with the passengers not knowing each other. Here are a few other not so obvious changes in history:

• Jacob is alive. If 815 never crashes, Nemesis’ plan can never use Locke. I bet that’ll piss off Nemesis
• What will Desmond do with himself on the island? If the hatch is never built, how does Desmond occupy himself? Does he become an Other or is he killed by The Others? He also won’t meet Faraday in Oxford and who knows what the consequences for that are.
• Ethan is never born. Sawyer saves his mother in the future. Also who knows all the consequences that will occur from the Losties not traveling back in time!
• Other Ben might die from his back tumor. On one hand Jack won’t be on the island to save him (neither will Ethan), but on the other hand if the hatch doesn’t blow up then the electrocal systems on the island will be intact meaning Other Ben can leave the island on the sub Locke will never blow up to see a real doctor
• Desmond will never tell Penny to call him on christmas eve.
• The freighter may never find the island. I think the 815 crash gave Widmore a good guess on the island’ location and without the crash, he might not have been able to find it.

And there are the obvious consequences. The bad: Sawyer is still a conman, Rose, Locke & Faraday will continue to have their physical ailments, Prego (Claire) gives up her baby, Charlie remains an addict, Jin is still a bad person and Michael is alive. But there is some good: all the passengers will survive, Sayid will be reunited with Nadia and Indiana will live because they probably never find the island. Like Sawyer, I was voting for Jack NOT to blow the nuke. Tear.

Now my theory can totally be shot to hell because in someways it doesn’t make sense. IF the Losties never crash on the island then the nuke is probably never contained and it’s certainly never blown up near the hatch which means time can’t be reset!!! Ahh paradox!!! This is and endless loop and can’t be explained and is the best evidence that time will not reset. I wonder how the writers will respond. It’s also worth mentioning that just because the hatch doesn’t rip flight 815 in-half doesn’t mean the plane won’t have electrical problems and crash land on the island just like AA 316. In fact this is the most likely scenario.

With all the other topics going on, I’ve avoided Jacob & Nemesis. I doubt I am alone in thinking that Nemesis IS the black smoke and it can take on the appearance of any dead person on the island. Since it hates humans, black smoke seems to enjoy killing them after judging them (it judged Mr. Eko the same way it judged Other Ben). I also think Jacob & Nemesis are aliens who somehow got punished and are placed on the island which is serving as a prison. Nemesis blames Jacob for the imprisonment and that’s why he wants to kill him. Makes sense to me…

Finally, I need to talk about Juliet & Sawyer. I loved them as a couple and was heartbroken when she let go of Sawyer’s hand. You really felt Sawyer’s pain in that scene. Even before that scene I was pissed at Juliet for giving up on Sawyer just because he looked at Kate. Let it go!! Kate ain’t all that and you’re almost as hott and you’re way more together. Juliet, you disappointed me…

Next up on Finally Lost…I’ll recap season 5 and formally list my Season 6 predictions. I know many of you have been reluctant to comment on the blog for fear of dropping spoilers (thank you for this, and amazingly enough nothing was spoiled!) but I’d like to hear your thoughts and theories on the upcoming series. What’s going to happen??

The rules have changed

Completed: 4-8 Meet Kevin Johnson, 4-9 The Shape of Things to Come, 4-10 Something Nice Back Home. 21 episodes left, 52 days to go. As you know, I don’t know anything that is to come and like the survivors I am completely lost.

It looks like I jumped offsides a little early on taking credit for my Kate/Sawyer prediction but I bulls-eyed Mr. Charles Widmore’s role, here’s the recap: We get almost a full episode flashback of Dumb-Ass Dad’s (Michael) time away from the island and it’s nothing too surprising. After all the annoying screaming “WAAALT”, DAD(Dumb-Ass Dad) leaves Walt with grandma because he can’t get over the guilt of killing Ana Lucia & Libby (good, F him!) After telling Walt what he did to save him, DAD tries to kill himself via car and gun but Other Tom shows up to tell him the island won’t let him die because it ain’t done with him yet. DAD is convinced by Other Tom to save the Losties on the island by blowing up Charles Widmore’s boat but instead of blowing up the boat, DAD is Other Ben-Whammied into becoming Other Ben’s spy. Back on the island Other Ben gives Slingshot (Alex), Frenchy (Danielle) & Karl a map to the temple but Frenchy & Karl are killed en route while Slingshot is taken prisoner Slingshot is then used as bait to get Other Ben to give himself up but Other Ben tries to call the bluff. Sadly the bluff ain’t a bluff and Slingshot is killed right in front of Other Ben causing him to say, “The rules have changed” and unleash the black smoke monster on the boat brigade. Other Ben, Locke & Hurley then go off to see Jacob while Prego (Claire), Devil baby (Aaron), Ghostbuster (Miles) & Sawyer head to the beach. Prego sees her father, Daddy Jack and follows him into the woods and we are left hanging while Sawyer calling out for Prego while holding an abandoned Devil Baby. Flash forward to Other Ben alone in a desert, kicking 2 armed guard’s ass, whamming Sayid to work for him after he reveals Charles Widmore is behind his wife Nadia’s death (check) and then having a face to face with Mr. Widmore in which Other Ben reveals he is going to kill his daughter Penny as payback. Back on the beach, Jack’s appendix is about to burst and has Kate hold a mirror so he can backseat-operate until White Bernard decides enough is enough and knocks him out leaving the Ice Princess (Juliet) to finish her work in peace. Flash forward to Kate & Jack living happily together, raising Devil Baby until Jack visits Hurley and is informed Charlie is continuing his post-mordem visits and left a message for Jack: someone will be visiting you soon. Jack seeing a flash of his father combined with Kate trying to cover up a favor she is running for Sawyer makes Jack explode and yell, “He’s not even related to you!” Weird, Kate keep a secret??

Wow, season 4 is a bloodbath! I had a feeling Frenchy was going to be the next to go (although I was half hoping for a flashback) but I didn’t expect Karl & Slingshot to die as well. I almost had to put the DVD in the freezer after they killed Slingshot Other Ben’s moment with his dead daughter was the first time during the series in which I knew he was completely sincere and despite the death being his fault, I really felt for him. I’m going to miss Slingshot and not just because she was my favorite self-made nickname. Other Ben’s flash forward was AWESOME. The end scene between he and Widmore was fantastic because, finally, Other Ben has an equal. I was very distraught to hear that Other Ben’s new plan is to kill Penny since my rooting interest is a Desmond/Penny happy ending. I’m especially frustrated because Other Ben always seems to get what he wants. It’s also curious that Other Ben said he can’t kill Widmore. Is this in the same way that DAD couldn’t kill himself? Does the island prevent normal life death until it’s done with you? It sounds like Widmore was on the island before, but then why can’t he get back to it? And why did he say Other Ben would never find Penny when as of xmas eve she was in her house? Is she hiding or did she finally make it to the island? So many questions..

Now between Other Ben’s flash forward and Jack’s second flash forward it looks like we can piece everything that’s going to happen to the Oceanic 6 when they get off the island. Hopefully that means we will start to learn HOW they get off the island and why the rest of the Losties chose/had to stay. I also loved how protective Sawyer was of Hurley & Prego. Clearly he is ready to step in as the leader of the Losties and I think he will be better leader than Jack & Locke.

And finally, some quick hits:

• Clearly I am a stupid pathetic moron, because I COMPLETELY forgot that Prego and Jack were haflsies! Is there something special about Jack that he keeps seeing Daddy Jack or is there something special about Daddy Jack?
• I’m starting to think Other Ben is in the coffin because all of the O6 seem to live and Other Ben is the only person to get off the island
• Did all the Losties get a choice to leave or not? If there were only 6 spots it seems odd that Kate and Jack went. At least it makes sense why they made up the Kate story and told the rest of the world everyone else was dead. How on earth though, did they account for the extra bodies at the fake crash site though?
• Ha I knew Other Tom is gay. During the Ice Princess’ flashback about Goodwin, Tim told her that she wasn’t his type. I forgot to note it in the blog
• Indiana speaks Korean. There’s no way all 3 scientists and the pilot all live to see season 5
• Sayid should have known better than to talk to DAD, it obviously would have blown his cover. I guess it didn’t matter since he then told the captain that DAD was the spy. Why did he do that?
• I know I didn’t say much about DAD’s flashback but after you find out he got back to NYC and Walt hates him I didn’t find the episode particularly revealing. Obviously the best part was the “Not Yet” note attached to the bomb

Next up on Finally Lost…another Jacob encounter and I hope we get to find out how the O6 leave…

Back to the Future

Completed: 4-3 The Economist, 4-4 Eggtown, 4-5 The Constant. 26 episodes left, 54 days to go. As you know, I don’t know anything that is to come and like the survivors I am completely lost.

One right, and a few wrong. I predicted that time flows differently on the island (check) but I thought Sayid & Devil Baby (Aaron) would stay on the island (wrong). For partial credit I said that the man Kate had to get back to was a powerful man that got her out of prison. Well one could argue that Aaron was a big reason she got off…

On to the recap: We start with a Sayid flash forward and learn he is a hit man that is whackin people with connections to Oceanic Flight 815. We then watch Sayid seduce a woman (Elsa) whose boss is an “economist” in order to get close to him and presumably whack him, but the tables are turned when she shoots him after he warns her to leave the city. This being Sayid, he eventually gets the upper hand, kills her and goes off to find his doctor/boss to fix him up. Oh by the way his boss is Other Ben! In real time Sayid hostage swaps the Ghostbuster (Miles) for Indiana (archeologist name?) so he and Desmond can helicopter back to the boat. Next, Kate gets a flash forward and we watch pre-bearded Jack lie under oath and say that Kate pulled most of the 8 survivors out of the water and onto the beach. Kate’s dying mom shows up and decides not to testify for the fee of seeing her new grandchild. Kate denies this request but her mom still declines to testify and the case against Kate falls apart. Kate is given 10 years probation and is restricted to travel in the state (I’m not sure what state they are in). Back in real time Kate brings the Ghostbuster to see Other Ben while Sawyer runs Locke interference. The Ghostbuster tells Other Ben he will tell his employer that Other Ben is dead for $3.2M Euro and Kate gets banished from Camp Locke for this ruse. Back at Camp Jack there is concern because no one has heard from the helicopter in over a day and the trip should have only taken 20 minutes. They survivors haven’t been told that time flows differently on the island and if you recently had exposer to electromagnetism there could be some side effects. We then watch a disoriented Desmond jump back and forth between present time and 1996 while he tries to follow 1996-Daniel’s advice, which is to communicate with a constant in both times: Penny! In 1996, Desmond pleads with Penny to keep her number until christmas eve of 2004 when he will call her. Once Sayid fixes the communication equipment he talks to Penny and he is fixed like brand new.

There was so much going on in these episodes that I can’t cover them all, however, I will bullet what I think are important notes so I don’t totally ignore them:

• When Sayid looks at Naomi’s bracelet it looks very much like the one Elsa is wearing when she dies. This probably means R.C. is the economist and might be the main bad guy. Who is R.C.??
• I would have thought the first thing Sayid would do after he left the island is find Nadia. Maybe Other Ben was referring to her when he made reference to how the people on the list hurt those closest to him
• The payload shot from the ship to the island was the first conclusive proof of how time flows differently on the island
• Mr. Widmore bought the diary of the captain of the Black Rock, very interesting…
• Why even bother to say there were 2 plane crash survivor’s that died on the island? Does that really make the story more believable?
• Kate isn’t allowed to leave the state? That’s a very interesting demand. If she goes back to the island she could end up in jail and if they rescue the rest of the survivors Jack could end up in jail for perjury

Now the big stuff. Why did Kate take Devil Baby off the island? I doubt it was by force. Either Prego (Claire) dies or she wanted Kate to give her baby a non-island life. This begs the bigger question: why did the 6 who got off the island lie about everything?? I can understand why they made up the story of Kate’s heroics but why did they decide to leave everyone else on the island? If they were forced into it then what sort of deal did they make? I’m guessing that one by one, the 6 are going to decide they have to go back to the island and that’s how season 6 is going to start (LA X). Do all of the 6 know Other Ben is not on the island? It doesn’t seem likely because you would think Jack would use him to get back to the island…unless he’s in the coffin! Other Ben clearly has the necessary skills and passports to pose as someone from Oceanic Flight 815!

Time travel! Check! Is it just me or does a sci-fi time travel theme all of the sudden seem so out of place on this show? You have such normal everyday people like Sun, Jin and Sawyer and then you throw time travel into the island waters and everything seems off. Somehow I don’t see Prego & Rose sitting around the camp fire discussing electromagnetism and how the island-time flows compared to the rest of the world. The big question if course is can the future be changed? Every sci-fi movie/TV show that deals with time travel must answer this question before creating their time rules. I don’t know what the answer for Lost is but I suspect the future can be changed because Desmond kept saving Charlie and he got Penny to keep her number for 8 years. The physicist didn’t seem to recognize Desmond right away but he of course he could have been acting. This time traveling business will no doubt get more confusing before it becomes more clear…

Next up on Finally Lost…maybe we’ll find out who the 6th survivor was!

p.s. Hurley and Sawyer as roommates, pure gold! It’s like the writers are reading my mind!

Flash Forward

Completed: 3-21 Greatest Hits, 3-22/3-23 Through the Looking Glass.  31 episodes left, 57 days to go. As you know, I don’t know anything about the show that is to come. I use to think they got off the island but I think the flash forward I just saw got me off the hook of that spoiler.

Flash Forward!?! Now there’s a wrinkle. Recap: Desmond sees a flash forward of Charlie turning off a blinking light and then drowning. At Slingshot’s (Alex) request, Carl goes to the beach to warn the survivors that The Others moved up their previously scheduled kidnapping appointment a day early. The survivors break into 3 teams: Charlie (dead ppl get more respect) & Desmond go off to knock out the jamming signal at the underwater hatch, Sayid, Jin & White Bernard stay at Camp Survivors to shoot the dynamite planted in the fake identified tents, and Jack leads the rest of the survivors to disable Frenchy’s (Danielle) S.O.S signal at the radio tower which is also jamming the satellite phone. You know what happens next…the dynamite boys kill 7 of the 10 Others before being captured. Not to worry because Hurley saves the day with Other Ben’s father’s truck and between the truck, Sayid’s legs and Sawyer’s gun they kill the 3 Others (including Tom, check!). At the underwater hatch Charlie gets captured by Others guarding the hatch but is rescued by Desmond. Charlie uses previously un-exhibited manipulation skills to find out there is a jamming code and to convince one of the dying guards to give him the code. Charlie disables the jammer and talks to Penny but sees Left Eye (Mikhail) pulling a grenade in an attempt kill him and Desmond. As Desmond rushes to talk to Penny (who now knows Desmond is alive), Charlie closes the watertight door and with his last bit of life lets Desmond know the ship 80 miles off shore is not Penny’s (very sad check). At the radio tower the survivors rejoice when they learn Sayid, Jin & White Bernard are OK and Other Ben attempts one last time to convince Jack not to phone home because Bi-ling (Naomi) is from a group trying to destroy the island and claims her crew will kill the survivors. Locke shows up and kills Bi-ling with his knife throwing skills (after a “hey you damn cripple get up and walk” speech from a mid-puberty-voiced Walt) and implores Jack not to phone the ship. Jack doesn’t listen and phones the ship and help is coming at last! Time for the series to end except…Jack’s flashback was really a flashforward and he’s using his Oceanic gold pass in hopes of crash landing back on magic island. Future Jack tells future Kate that he made a mistake and they have to go back. Clearly Future Jack is having rescue remorse…

I really beat up on Charlie a lot in this blog. I called him boring, the hobbit and I even dreaded his flashbacks. I’m feeling really guilty because Charlie redeemed himself in the end. I thought the “5 best things of my life” flashback was one of the most powerful flashbacks to date (connection: Charlie saves Nadia from a mugger in an alley). Charlie showed up as a hero when it counted most and it was hilarious to watch him toy with his 2 Others guards because he knew the future and the future said he was going to turn off the yellow light. The only good thing that can come of all this is that Penny knows Desmond is alive and maybe she can now rescue the survivors. Left Eye killing Charlie was quite poetic since Desmond let him go free when Charlie wanted to kill him. Charlie, you grew on me and you will be miss. Long live Drive Shaft…

All 3 of my favorite characters got to kill some Others together: Sawyer, Sayid & Hurley. Poor Hurley, no one wanted to pick him in gym class but he showed everyone the why the fat kid shouldn’t sit on the bench. Despite the fact that I liked Tom, I LOVED when Sawyer killed him in cold blood for taken Walt. Guess that thing between them is finally finished. Back at the radio tower, I only have one thought…Other Ben could you PLEASE just explain things. Maybe if you did then Jack wouldn’t have phoned the ship filled with new bad guys. Or if you didn’t pretend-kill Jack’s friends! Arrrg. Maybe Jack was really Other-Ben-whammied because Other Ben really wanted Jack to phone the ship (unlikely). Either way the Others future isn’t so bright since most of their best warriors died (save Left Eye) and the survivors captured their guns. Throw in the fact that Other Ben’s leadership was already shaky and you have the makings for a revolution. Maybe Locke will take over now to help combat the new threat. Well at least Slingshot got to meet her mom, I’ve been waiting for that for like 3 seasons…

Now the flashforward. Just when I’m think I’m getting out…My biggest question is can the future change or is that future set in stone? Based on Desmond’s flashbacks one would think the future is set but the future seems too grim to definitely happen. Jack seems like the last person to want to get involved with all the island mumbo-jumbo so something big must have happened for him to want to go back. Who was in the coffin? The most obvious guess is Sawyer since he has no one and Kate would certainly care, but I suppose it could also be Locke. And who is Kate going back to and how did she get out of her legal troubles? I love that the survivors got gold passes, and I would think they are famous now. I think this flashforward really sets a new tone for season 4 and it will be much different than the previous seasons. Before I started season 3, I was told that season 1 was about the survivors, season 2 was about the hatch and then I was asked what I thought season 3 would be about. I guessed The Others and I think I was right. My guess is that Season 4 is going to be about the people not on the island but who are pulling the strings. We’ll see…

Next on Finally Lost…I’ll review the poll (last chance to vote), tally my abysmal prediction record and make my season 4 predictions.

A con man goes by many names friend

Completed: 3-16 One of Us, 3-17 Catch-22, 3-18 D.O.C., 3-19 The Brig, 3-20 The Man Behind The Curtain.  34 episodes left, 58 days to go. As you know I don’t know anything about this series except that I’ve seen previews that suggest that the survivors get off the island at some point.

So much happened in these 5 episodes and I’ll try to get to it all. Recap: We learn that the Ice Princess (Juliet) was recruited to figure out why mothers who get pregnant on magic island die during their 2nd trimester while Other Ben used her sister’s remergent cancer as leverage to keep her on the island. We also learn that the Ice Princess is really a mole and activates Prego’s (Claire) implant to make her sick so Ice P can gain the survivor’s trust by curing her. Elsewhere after Desmond sees a future-flash, he leads Hurley, Jin & the Hobbit (Charlie) to find a helicopter crash survivor and with the help of Patch Adams (the russian Other) he returns her back to health. The conveniently hidden ultra-sound machine reveals that it was Jin who knocked up Sun and the Ice Princess explains that the sperm count of males on magic island is 4-5 times higher than on normal deserted islands. Locke returns to find Sawyer and brings him to the Black Rock so he can kill Daddy Locke for him because it turns out Daddy Locke is con man Sawyer! After revealing to Sawyer that Ice Princess is a mole, Locke returns to the Others with the body of Dead Daddy Locke and proclaims he and Other Ben are going to see Jacob. Locke hears a voice that says “Help me” but believes Jacob is a figment of Other Ben’s imagination and after an argument, Other Ben shoots Locke and leaves him for dead in a pit filled with deceased Dharma workers that Other Ben had betrayed years before. Back at Camp Survivor, Sawyer reveals that the Ice Princess is a mole but Jack says he already knows and they are trying to come up with a plan to counter the coming Other attack.

I think I know what’s going on with the Others now. The original Others are native to the island and put great value on anyone that can communicate with the island; they call these people “special”. For whatever reason they got into a long war with the Dharma folks and finally exterminated them with Other Ben’s help. Other Ben likely rose to the tops of the Others food chain because he was very special as demonstrated by his ability to see his dead mother (this must mean Jack & Mr. Eko are special too). The Others serve this Jacob fellow and would probably be content to live on the island except they can’t reproduce because mothers that conceive on the island die during pregnancy, so they need to kidnap kids and perform tests on pregnant moms. When the plane crashed Other Ben wanted a list of 4 names, this was either a list of 4 special people or potential knocked up ladies. To serve knocked-up ladies soup (a magic island specialty) simply add horny men with abnormally high sperm count with mediocre to hott -looking women on a deserted island place setting. I always wondered why The Others let Kate & Sawyer “get stuck in a net” while imprisoned in the cages but they must have wanted Kate to get prego’d. It also must be one of the reasons The Others didn’t want to help the survivors of oceanic flight 815 get off the island.

Now that we have The Others solved there are a few other topics that need to be looked at. Daddy Locke is Sawyer!! I received comments from a friend about something that was starring me in the face since season 1! I should have guessed this since his favorite character is Locke. Great plan by Locke to use Sawyer to kill his dad…How do The Others have some great info on all the survivors?? Someone is definitely pulling the strings…I like that Locke told Sawyer he is on his own path and I believe him. Locke only cares about the island, he’s not with The Others nor the survivors. It was also great to see Locke manipulate Other Ben into taking him to see Jacob. At first I was inclined to agree with Locke that Jacob is made up but now I think he is real. I don’t however,  know why Jacob needs help from Locke.

Then there was Other Ben’s flashback. I could write a whole blog just on that. He was NOT born on the island! His mother died giving birth to him 2 months premature and his father was none-other-than Roger the Workman, supplier of the beer & truck fun! Young Ben was recruited to betray his Dharma brethren by hasn’t aged a day Richard. I would attribute this a magical island property but Other Ben and SlingShot (Frenchy’s (Danielle) daughter) have clearly aged. After I finished season 2 I was given a link by a friend to a synopsis of the Lost Experience game that took place during the season 2/3 summer break. The synopsis explained what the numbers were and referenced Dharma’s work on life extension so I wonder if that’s what’s going on here.

Then there is Penny. With enough money and determination you can find anyone! Penny recruited Bi-lingual chick (Naomi) to track down Desmond but her helicopter crashed as she got close to the island. I don’t know why her helicopter failed because clearly some electronic equipment works on the island. Maybe the hatch blowing up changed the dynamic or maybe it’s only planes & ships that go bomb which is why The Others use a submarine. In either case Bi-ling revealed that the world found the wreckage of 815 and all bodies were accounted for. Dun dun dun. I think this is the CEO’s work and he wants these people with all these connections on the island. How he got them there all at the same time is beyond me.

Finally a few quick hits to keep this entry from going on forever:
- I love Sun flashbacks and it was heartbreaking to find out either she was going to die or the baby wasn’t going to be Jin’s. I’m glad it’s Jin’s baby.
- I don’t think Locke’s dead, he will Wolverine heal. I would like to go back through the episodes and see how many hints there are to the wolverine-like healing speed on the island. Makes me wonder why Boone & the marshal died.
-  The survivors don’t trust Jack anymore but I think he’s still trust worthy. The Ice Princess on the otherhand is a snake and I wouldn’t trust her. She’ll do anything to get off the island and I think she believes using Sun as a lab rat will be her ticket.
- Sayid, fix that satellite phone before The Others get it!
- Desmond almost sacrificed the Hobbit to find Penny. A ballzy move my friend.
- Deaths: The Hobbit won’t make it to season 4 and neither will Other Tom.

Next up on Finally Lost…I’ll finish Season 3! I hear that the last 15 seconds are a mind blower.

Vaccines, spontaneous healing, and imaginary friends…

Completed: 2-15, Maternity Leave, 2-16 The Whole Truth, 2-17, Lockdown, 2-18 Dave, 2-19 S.O.S. 59 episodes left, 65 days to go.As you know I don’t know anything about this series except for I’ve seen previews that suggest the survivors gets off the island at some point. Recap: Prego (Claire) goes searching for the vaccine when devil baby (Aaron) gets sick and begins to remember what happened to her while she was kidnapped; Henry gives 5-0 (Ana) and Sayid a map to his ballon but they discover he killed and took on the owner’s identity; Henry tells Locke he didn’t enter the code in the computer; food drops out of the sky; we learn that Hurley had an imaginary friend; and Rose and White Bernard have an argument about making an S.O.S sign.

Just when I stopped wondering what happened to Prego when she was captured, they pull me right back in…we got answers! So in addition to being an impersonator and tracker, Ethan is also a part-time doctor. A drugged up and giddy Prego decides The Others really have her baby’s best interest in mind and she decides to leave devil baby with them so it can continue to receive the already sparse vaccine. I’ve ignored the island sickness plot so far because like on every other plot point, I’m clueless. The existence of a vaccine suggests there IS something about magic island that gets you sick and The Others have a protection against it. If we accept that as fact then The Others must not want new recruit devil baby sick, however, they unfortunately decide that Prego isn’t worth the secret stash and plan to kill her. Prego then gets good-drugged by Frenchy’s daughter and is left out in the woods to escape. Prego, still drugged up, tries to screw up the rescue attempt but Frenchy the mom shows up and knocks her out (giving Prego amnesia) and completes the mother-daughter rescue. Why haven’t The Others come after devil baby since? Maybe they decided Walt was the better quarry. If there is a sickness on the island then why haven’t any of the survivors gotten sick yet? Maybe you can only contract the sickness at a certain location on the island, and let’s face it, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 have not exactly been great magic island explorers (Locke being the exception).

The rest of the episodes I watched were great character drivers but didn’t move the main plot forward much. Before we learn that devious Henry was impersonating someone he killed, he tries to fulfill Locke’s request of putting the numbers into the computer. After Henry is discovered as a fraud, he tells Locke that he didn’t enter the numbers into the computer after-all which shakes Locke to the core. Is this true? Henry had less than a minute (the last-minute alarm sound had started) to get through the vent and enter the numbers so I don’t think he did. Do The Others already know about the computer? I think they do. And what was that crazy octagonal (NUMBER) design on Star Wars blast door? I paused my DVD and stared at it for a while and I think it’s a design of all the Dharma facilities out there. Maybe when combined they form…a time machine! I told you I’d use that theory. I’m also thinking that time travels differently on the island and when/if the survivors get off they will find that a lot more time has passed in the real world than on the island. Maybe this contributed to how Locke and Rose got healed. Time will tell…

Now on to the character front. We find out Hurley went crazy because he broke a dock and killed 23 (NUMBER) people and now sees Charlotte’s husband from Sex and the City in Beautiful Mind style (Was it obvious to everyone he wasn’t there). Hurley is told by his imaginary friend to jump off the cliff so he can wake up because it’s pretty ridiculous that the numbers he heard in the loony bin contributed to him winning $130M, that they shouldn’t have survived the plane crash and no pretty girl is going to be interested in him. Tear. Because of all the strange things that have happened to Hurley he is the perfect character for the “this island is all in your dreams” plot line. Once Libby saves Hurley from himself we find out SHE was in the hospital with Hurley. AHH! Why won’t these people talk to each other about their pasts!!

Can’t forget about Sun and Rose! Turns out Sun is pregnant (don’t worry, everyone is keeping their current nicknames) and learned english from suave hotel owner. We also learn that Jin’s boys can’t swim but like everything else on this island he is magically healed and he was able to knock Sun up. And speaking of healed, Rose claims she healed for real for real this time despite lying to White Bernard after he took her to some great healer in Australia. It’s great that Rose seems to be the only person that knows Locke was in a wheelchair on the plane and they share a common bond of being healed. Thinking that Rose will only be healed on the island (because time flows differently there?), White Bernard and Rose decide to stay and play Gilligan no matter what happens. It will be interesting to see if they actually stay when/if the survivors are rescued.

Next up on Finally Lost…The return of the dumb-ass dad! Forgot to mention that Jack wanted to prisoner-swap Henry for Walt but found Michael instead!

p.s. I almost peed myself in the one scene when Sawyer used every nickname he had for Hurley…Stay Puff, Jaba, Pillsbury, Rerun…

Lovers, Tailgaters and Others…

3 more episodes down (“…And Down”, “Abandoned” & “The Other 48 Days”) and so much to talk about. First we get a Sun & Jin flashback episode centered around Sun losing her wedding ring. While nothing really happened this episode I still thought it was a great episode. No main plot revelations were needed because Sun and Jin carried the episode like it was Sawyer with a gun shot wound. And speaking of gun shot wounds…I’m sorry, Sticks, I think I’ve jinxed your family. One episode after I declared no main characters would die in Season 1 Boone took a nose dive in a tree-parked plane. Incredibly  only 2 episodes following my latest dumb prediction that no main characters from Season 2 will die, you get shot. There is nothing I hate (or love) more than hott on hott girl crime. On the bright side you’ve given Sayid an out and he can now go back to pining over a much more worthy gal.

Now it’s in poor taste to mock Sticks after she was given a semi-tragic death scene and a spectacular flashback episode. First we find out Stick’s dad was the person Jack’s wife killed in the car crash (we even see Jack in the same room). Then I remembered Jack viewed her dad as a lost cause and didn’t even bother to work on him. Next we meet a mother-in-law so mean that we actually feel bad for Sticks. Really? You’re not going to feel even a little bad after taking all her inheritance? Well I hope Sticks gets back at you someday and pretends to get beat by her boyfriends just to con you out of money. Dammit, now I’m even OK with that behavior!  And for a cherry on top, Shannon (got to give her some respect) selflessly runs off to chase ghost Walt resulting in her own demise. Sticks, I’ll miss you in a bikini and I’ll miss you because I think given time you could have really redeemed yourself and turned into a productive citizen on magic island.

And now to the meat of it. The Tailgaters!!! The beach scene was AWESOME. The plane looked like an asteroid falling to earth which keeps me wondering how all those people survived the crash. We also get a great parallel between the tailgaters and tribe prime. Great writing to show how the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 continued to live their affluent first class existence. They got all the luggage, they got all the skilled survivors and they even landed on the beach instead of the water. The folks in the back of the bus were literally in the back of the bus. Those second class citizens were awarded beach front property right in the lair of The Others. They got no resources from the plane, no doctor and not enough good people to help them survive. I thought the symbolism of Ana letting gimpy-leg guy die in order to save resources was so striking verses Jack (at the same exact time across the island) spending too many resources to save the doomed US Marshall. Then The Others come and turn the happy-to-be-alive Tailgaters into an untrusting band and cause Mr. Ed to give up speaking for Lent. Very interesting that The Others were able to infiltrate both sides and they are a bit obsessed with kids. NEW PREDICTION: The island is really Michael Jackson’s super secret Neverland 2 ranch(too soon??). If that prediction doesn’t work then I suppose they kidnap the kids so they can retrain them while they are young so someday they can grow and be child kidnappers and killers just like their Other parents. Oh and before I forget, how about the fact that Boone was talking to Bernard when he was in the plane! The monumental events that followed made me totally forget thinking…who the hell is answering the plane radio?? The range can’t be so good, it’d have to be somebody really close…you know like Rose’s white husband (love that they made a half joke about it on the beach). All in all great episodes and I don’t hate Mean Bitch half as much. She is almost a product of her magic island environment…notice I said almost. Jack would have saved gimpy-leg or cried trying…

Next up on Finally Lost…On Day 48 (NUMBER) the two tribes converge and we get to see how Sayid reacts to Mean Bitch killing his girlfriend. I predict he will fix a transceiver and shove it where the sun don’t shine…

p.s. I think it’s very interesting that while Shannon saw ghost Walt the other survivors heard the strange whispering. What is going on there…