LOST Chance To Answer Questions??

If I don't get some answers I'm gonna smash this bottle

It’s almost here. This will be my last post before the Series Finale and I wanted to quickly recap last week’s episode and then leave you with questions I would like answered in Sunday’s Answer-palooza. Let me start by saying I LOVED “What They Died For”. It answered a bunch of questions and it had a story that moved. Timeline X has become really compelling although I still have no idea what’s going on there. Well no time for love Dr. Jones, onto the quick hits:

• Check, check, check! Got 3 things right this week! Jack is the new Jacob, Kate was crossed off cause she became a mommy & Jacob was communicating with Widmore off-island. Hello getting things right, oh how I’ve missed you
• After putting in all that hard work to redeem himself, did Other Ben undo all that or does he have some master plan with the walk-talkies? The last thing Smokey  said was that he is going to blow up the island, which means he’s going back on his word to leave the island to Other Ben. Shocked huh?
• Could Other Ben end up killing both protectors of the island? Watch out Jack, he’s coming for ya…
• So everyone in Timeline X is going to end up at this recital huh? Are they all going to have a “holy shit” moment and remember each other? Kumbaya, we’re alive and much happier people! Somehow I don’t see it…
• It’s Interesting that Hurley from Timeline X seems to remember everything since he recognized Anna Lucia
• You know my policy, until I see Richard’s body, he ain’t dead
• Is Jack going to learn all the secrets of the island from drinking the magic water? Jacob wasn’t told the secrets but he learned them somehow

I think the entire series comes down to this question: who is the better con man, Jacob or Smokey? Both seem pretty omnipotent and can see several steps ahead but only one of them is going to win this game. For instance you could say Jacob was dumb because he let the info about his Desmond-failsafe plan fall into Smokey’s smoke-hands via Charles Widmore. BUT you could also argue that maybe that was all part of Jacob’s master plan, we just haven’t seen it come to fruition yet. Jacob really gives me the impression that he knows all the moves Smokey is going to make, so the fact that ALL of Jacob’s plans seem to go wrong only convinces me that it’s on purpose. I think Jacob is pulling the ultimate long con on Smokey and we’re about to learn his full mind blowing plan on Sunday night.

For those of you who have been with me from the beginning, you know that I love to make bold predictions, so here goes nothing (and I really mean that):

• Desmond will destroy the island which will destroy Smokey. Jacob purposefully gave Widmore bad info because he knew Widmore would cough it up to Smokey
• The frozen donkey wheel will allow Hurley & Kate to leave the island. Claire & Sawyer will die and I will weep like a little girl
• We will learn a lot about Eloise Hawking. Maybe a centric episode?
• Juliet is the mother of Jack’s son and will finally get that coffee with Sawyer. This one is a slam dunk at this point right?
• The regular timeline will become Timeline X when Desmond blows up the island. The nuke just got the Losties back to their normal time
• Eloise Hawking will turn out to be the host from Tales of the Crypt. I’m serious about this one

If only I knew what the island had in store for me

Finally, I wanted to end this entry with a list of questions that I would like answered in the upcoming 2.5 hours. I know most of my readership hates commenting but I’d love to hear what questions you’d like answered that I missed. Here’s my first crack:

• Why did the Losties plus Juliet jump through time but not Richard and the Others? Why did only Jack, Kate, Hurley & Sayid blast back in time when 316 crashed/landed on the island?
• Why was the island on the bottom of the ocean in LA X?
• What will really happen if Smokey gets off the island?
• Why does turning the frozen donkey wheel put you in Tunisia?
• How does Eloise Hawking know so much?
• What is the origin of the source and how did Jacob & Smokey’s mom learn how to use it? How does the source let you make rules?
• Why did Jacob’s cabin move?
• Why do ash and sonar fences keep Smokey at bay?
• Why did pregnant mothers all of the sudden start dying on the island?
• Why did Other Ben tell Widmore, “you know I can’t kill you”. What rules govern the leader of the Others?
• What did The Others believe they were doing? What is their mission statement?
• Who was friggen shooting at Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, and Charlotte when they were bouncing around in time?
• The island moves but there is still a Dharma food drop?
• Why was Walt so friggen special?

So there you have it, nothing left to do but wait! See ya in another life brotha!

What will you do after LOST ends?

Did I ever mention I'm obsessed with maps?

As much as we don’t want to admit it, tuesday night was our last tuesday night LOST episode ever! If your weekends are anything like my weekends, then they are finished faster than Hurley’s bucket of McClucks chicken, so Sunday night’s finale will be here before you know it. So the question becomes, what will YOU do when LOST is finished? Will you find another show to fill the void? Will you revel in all the free time you’ll get back when you won’t have to spend your Wednesday mornings & afternoons reading Doc Jensen’s blog and discussing how the color of Claire’s roots is a clue that she is really on Jacob’s side?

As someone who has only been a LOST fan for 6 months, I feel like a guest at the LOST funeral. I cannot express enough how much respect I have for those of you who have hung in there since season 1 or 2. I know I couldn’t have made it. I would have jumped off a building when you got LOST-screened after Locke blew the hatch. You mean I have to wait HOW long to find out what’s in there? Or what if I had to wait 6 months to find out what was going on with the Flashforward, or even worse, who was in that coffin!?! As I said much respect for all you and better you than me.

In order to best answer the question posed by this blog, I am posting my answers to my week 13 LOST Blogging Collective and am also posting Animosity Pierre’s latest Previously On Lost video which does hilarious justice to answering this question. A must watch for sure. Loyal followers will know that Animosity Pierre has already done a video exploring what happens to someone who decides to watch all the LOST videos for the first time without sleep or pee breaks (no truth to the rumor it was based on yours truly) and a second video on how to bring 2 LOST newbies up to speed in 5 minutes before the Season 6 LOST premier (my personal favorite). So as promised:

1) What are your post-Lost plans? Will you continue writing about Lost, or is that it, over, done, finito?

Assuming the finale is in the same mind-blowing stratosphere that “The Incident” was, I plan on re-watching the entire series to see what I missed the first time around. After that, rumor has it that Dr. Drew is going to setup a LOST rehab facility for those of us who need our weekly fix, so I plan on signing up along with celebrity fans Jimmy Kimmel and Mary Carey.

2a) How do you rate the following character’s chances of surviving the finale : Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Claire, Frank, Ben, Richard, Miles, Desmond, Cindy, Zack, Emma, Charles Widmore, “Smokey”.

In the original timeline, I believe only Jack will survive. It seems to me that whoever controls the island tends to purge the the people living on the island whenever they discover too many answers. I just hope the LOST writers don’t take a page from their own book and try to purge us LOST fans “The Ring Style” once we watch the finale and learn all the answers.

2b) How do you rate the following character’s chances of appearing in the finale : Walt, Penny, young Charlie, Rose, Bernard, Vincent.

I believe all of the above will appear in the finale except Walt. Walt is probably 6 foot at this point and that growth is probably too difficult to explain even on this show. The show began with Vincent waking up Jack so I think it would be poetic if Jack became Jacob’s successor and slipped Vincent a drink of the ageless wine so they can protect the island together. Then we can have a LOST followup series depicting Vincent’s attempt to find a loop hole so he can die because he can’t stand an eternity of Jack’s crying.

And without further ado (because Animosity Pierre hates ado):

The source of all confusion

If you go inside you will reset The Matrix

So after my christmas-day like excitement, “Across the Sea” turned out to be a disappointment of Matrix Reloaded proportions minus the creepy dance scene. Much to my (our) frustration, the writers chose to explain Jacob’s origins with new mysteries, mythologies and rules. There is a golden light on the island that seems to be the source of all the strange things that happen on the island. Somehow Psycho Mom knows all about this source and can use it to prevent Jacob & Smokey from killing each other. She also attempted to use it to make Jacob & Smokey immortal but she must have missed a decimal place because Smokey found a loop hole around that rule. Sure there was no explanation on the origins of Psycho Mom or “the source” but hey, the writers have plenty of time to wrap up those small mysteries…

Do I sound bitter? Well I wanted a Harley but all we got was this Moped. I think the consensus on this episode was that while it was nice to get some backstory on our favorite Island Twins, the episode could have aired at the beginning of this season. Did the writers really think it was a good idea to drop all these new mysteries on us with 2 episodes to go?? I’m getting nervous that the finale is just going to be Jacob answering Hurley’s questions in a Dharma classroom. Maybe Sawyer will convince Jack & Kate to cut class and take out Hurley’s Dharma van for a spin all while catching a ball game with the remaining Others. Smokey will no doubt have to prove that Sawyer is playing hooky and isn’t really sick, while wearing a blindfold because that’s how arbitrary the rules are on this island.

I digress. With 3 LOST hours left, “Across the Sea” didn’t give us enough answers and only provided us with new questions. However, let’s talk about what we did learn:

• Adam & Eve were Psycho Mom & Smokey! I’m mad at myself for not guessing Psycho Mom after Smokey informed Kate of her existence. Putting the white & black stone at their grave should have also clued me in more
• Smokey doesn’t age because he lost his body! On the plus side, he can take on the appearance of any dead person on the island. This explains why he can’t be killed with conventional means. Jacob doesn’t age because he drank the wine of youth. I’m assuming Richard Alpert toasted with Jacob’s wine to freeze his age as well
• Jacob protects the source and he has the ability to set rules. While this explains why Smokey can’t kill the candidates, it doesn’t explain how the source can magically set rules
• Jacob & Smokey are twins! Did this come as a shock to anyone??

Now onto my new questions/theories:

• How did Smokey know that installing a wheel at the source could remove him from the island? And why does turning the wheel remove you from the island? I don’t like that they made Smokey “extra special”. I liked the fact that everyones specialness could be explained by a J-Touch. Now it seems as if there is another mysterious player making everything happen
• On the topic of Smokey being “special” it seems like he has the power to see dead people while Jacob doesn’t. Did Psycho Mom give him that power? Clearly this is why Smokey was surprised that Sawyer & Desmond could see boy-Jacob. Are they are special too??
• Why did the light go out when Jacob threw Smokey into the source? Does Smokey now hold the source’s power? Is that why his departure from the island would mean the end of man-kind? If Smokey enveloped the “warm light” that would explain why the wheel is now frozen
• Why did Psycho mom thank Smokey for killing her? Was she looking for a loop hole all this time too? Did she only raise Jacob & Smokey so they would one day kill her?
• I think the Temple is built on the site where the source was located. Under the Temple seems to be where Smokey “lives” and it would make sense that people would worship the area.
• Does Smokey have a name? I think he’s more menacing without one. Sort of how people would’t say Voldemort’s name

So where do we go from here? Somehow the two timelines must merge and a candidate must be picked. Smokey also has to regroup because it’s going to be much harder to kill the candidates now that they understand the rules. Since Hurley is playing the part of Whoopee in this ghost-story it only makes sense that he will pass on the wine of life to Jacob’s successor who I believe will be Jack. I don’t have a clue what this has to do with the alternate timeline but it’s interesting that Smokey possesses the source and Juliet nuked part of the source. I’m beginning to think the alternate timeline is Smokey’s version of The Matrix, although I don’t know what his motive is (how many Matrix references can go in one blog?)

Well that’s all for this week, I’m excited about tomorrow’s episode if for no other reason than it can’t be more disappointing than “Across the Sea.

Other Ben, meet Dr. Linus

Come on, she's only my daughter in another alternate reality

After a barrage of action-packed episodes, “Dr. Linus” was a much needed return to the character driven episodes that filled Seasons 1-3. Don’t get me wrong, I love a smoke-filled mass killing episode as much as the next guy, but LOST was a show built on character development ,so I was happy to see it return to its roots. This episode was written to perfection. It had a great character-centric arc, all while finding time to develop a non-centric character (Jack I’m looking at you). in addition, we got confirmations about Richard’s history, big answers about Jacob’s touching (that’s what she said) and a Nikki & Paolo throwback compliments of everyone’s favorite grave digger, Miles. If all that wasn’t enough, Alex looked so smokin that Flocke should have jumped timelines and asked HER to take his place instead of her surrogate dad.

I’ll get straight to the point, I loved that Ben was redeemed in both timelines. After complaining that Ben never displays human motives or emotions, he became a character this week. I think Mile’s insight into Jacob’s last thoughts cut Ben pretty deep and I really believed that Ben was both sorry for killing Jacob and grief-stricken over his daughter’s death. In the flash sideways we get a glimpse of what kind of person Ben could be if there was no island and no pool of resurrection (more on this later). Have I mentioned that everyone but Kate is happier in Timeline X?? Damn you Jacob!!

Lastly, I think it’s ironic that the episode hyped to be the demise of Benjamin Linus, turned out to be the episode that saved his character. As my watching-buddy noted, no one was going to be that heartbroken over a Ben Linus death at this point in the season because he was already character-assassinated by poor writing. Now, however, he is a redeemed character. Welcome back to the land of the living Dr. Linus, unfortunately for you, the LOST writers tend to kill characters after making them likable (see Charlie & Shannon).

Now the quick hits:

• THE GIFTS!! So Jacob can give someone a gift/power if he touches you. He gave Richard the power of agelessness and I’m assuming he gave Walt & Miles their abilities as well. Remember when Miles was thrown into a truck and Jacob’s body guards told him they could explain where his power comes from? They must have known he was J-touched
• Did Jacob give Locke the power to self-heal?? He shouldn’t have survived that fall. Did Jacob give Jack the power to heal people?? Clearly Sawyer got perfect-man-scruff power and Kate got a great rack for a woman so petite (mmm)
• I find it very interesting that Jacob was hoping that Ben didn’t kill him. Jacob knew about the plot but didn’t want to die. Hmmm. And yes we all noticed Ben was J-touched
• Smokey offered Ben his place as the island’s “defense system”. If Smokey was telling the truth then maybe my theory that says Smokey is trapped on the island by Jacob isn’t so bad. Hold that thought…
• We never found out how Ben got off the island dammit! What’s even more interesting is that it appears that Ben & his father left before the incident occurred. I don’t know the nuke going off could have changed things previous to the incident going off. My brain hurts thinking about the implications…
• During the re-showing of “Sundown” there was a pop-up that said Charles Widmore told Locke that “a war was coming to the island and if he (Locke) isn’t on the island, then the wrong side will win”. That made me think that Widmore was on the sub. Stupid pop-up foreshadowing/spoilers
• If Widmore has been working with Smokey, how have they communicated?? Maybe Widmore & Eloise have been working together to get the O6 (Jacob’s candidate’s) back on the island so they can replace Jacob
• Why did Smokey leave the Losties on the beach alive? Even if he has to spare the candidates, why not kill Miles and Jurassic Pork (Ilana, thanks Franny)?
• Move aside John Locke, Jack is the new Man of Faith. The dynamite scene was kinda bad-ass and the coolest thing Jack’s done since getting Sawyer to admit he banged lots of prostitutes in front of Kate

Finally, make sure your seat back and tray tables are in their full upright position because it’s PREDICTION TIME!!

I think that Smokey AND Jacob have to be replaced before Smokey can leave the island. That’s why I think Smokey can’t kill the candidates, he needs to keep the potential replacements alive! I think Smokey killed Jacob because Jacob was being too picky about his replacements. After waiting more than a thousand years for Jacob to take his sweet ass time, a pissed off and island-fever induced Smokey decided to kill Jacob to speed up the replacement process. Jacob said, “It only ends once, the rest is just progress.” I think he is talking about finding a replacement. Maybe Smokey thinks Jacob’s replacement criteria is too tough to fill because fighting get’s a candidate removed from the cave/lighthouse list. Clearly these two are in desperate need of Monster.com

And yes, I believe Jacob wants Jack to be his replacement while Sawyer is Smokey’s number one stunna (along with many women). Interestingly enough Sawyer has been on a island a long time and I think he’s more attached to it than he knows.

Thoughts??

A15–you sunk my island!

Hey guys, I wanted to do a separate blog entry on each of last week’s Q/A questions from Steam of Consciousness, but I ran out time so you’re getting it in all one blog. One of last week’s questions really got me thinking about how the island ended up underwater while Ben was able to get off the island, and I wanted to post my theory before tonight’s episode, because based on the title, this question might be answered (Engelhardt keep your mouth shut!) Unfortunately the condensement means I won’t be able to post my favorite non-Finally Lost answer, but we’ll get back on track next week.

– What is Jack’s “mission”?
Jack’s mission is to go back-to-back episodes without shedding a tear. I think Jacob’s plan has been to get all the crying out of the way early on so Jack has no tears left. This plan is foolish because like the energy pocket he destroyed, Jack’s tears are practically limitless, and unfortunately there are no nukes left on the island to stop them.

On a serious note, I think Jacob wants Jack to kill someone Unfortunately it is probably Sawyer. FYI if Jack is responsible for the deaths of Sawyer and Juliet I am going to be in the market for a new flat screen TV because metal objects will be thrown into my screen like I forgot to type in the hatch code…

- In the ‘alt’ timeline, do you think Ben, Ethan and Dogen are just regular people, or are these some undercover Others?
In order to answer this question you must first answer whether you think the nuke sunk the island. Unfortunately I flip-flop on that issue worse than Juliet deciding whether to stop/help Jack detonate the nuke (tear). Today is a “nuke sunk the island” kinda day so I’m going to work with that.

In addition to sinking the island, I think the nuke fractured time and sent our Losties back to Timeline Prime’s present, while warping everyone left on the island to Tunisia. This could explain how Ben, Dogen & Ethan all got off the island. Assuming this crazy theory is true, then I think it’s safe to say that Ben and Dogen are retired Others, while Ethan is just a regular creepy man. Dogen strikes me as someone who was an Other before 1977 and as Richard said about Ben, “He will always be one of us now”, thus they become ex-Others. Ethan was obviously too young to be an Other but he’ll always be creepy.

——– PREDICTION TIME ——–

Yes Mr. Bookie, put me in for $15,428 on the nuclear explosion causing the island to sink and jettison all the 1977 non-Losties to Tunisia. While I concede that there are surely better answers, this is the theory I’m going with because it’s the only way I can explain both the nuke sinking the island and Ben getting off the island. Sure it’s possible that the island was sunk later but that seems like a copout doesn’t it?? The nuke almost HAS to be the cause of the island’s subterranean state, right?? Just like I believed that the writers would have cheated us if the nuke didn’t reset the timeline, I also believe it would be cheating us if some other event sunk the island. Thus I’m sticking with this theory for another 12 hours until it is proven wrong. Which brings us to some interesting questions/thoughts:

• If the island sinks what happens to Jacob & Smokey? Do they die? Deviating from my theory for just a second, I believe another way the island could have sunk sans the nuclear bomb, is Smokey leaving the island. That would fit really nicely with his promise to Sayid, AND maybe Smokey leaving the island kills Jacob for good!! Hmmm, another day, another topic…I digress…
• Why is Tunisia the exit point? Widmore & Ben both seem to know about it, so what gives? Maybe Tunisia is another one of those unique pockets of EM that Eloise was talking about
• Let’s assume for a moment that the island’s titanic grave kills Jacob. Then is Jacob’s death the catalyst for all the changes we’ve seen in Timeline X? This would be proof that Jacob has done more than just “a little” touching here and there (that’s what she said). Or the catalyst for the changes might be the absence of The Other’s not implementing Jacob’s off-island instructions. Remember when a bus “just happened” to run over Juliet’s ex-husband? Was this The Other’s doing, or Jacob’s doing?
• Finally, what was the hatch “failsafe” that Desmond set off in the season-finale of season 2? It sure seemed like a nuke didn’t it? It generated an EM Pulse around the island which is a movie/TV consequence of setting off a nuke (only certain types of nukes set off EMPs in real life). So why didn’t the failsafe nuke sink the island?

I think that’s enough to think about for one entry and I’m all but certain I’ll be disproven in a just few short hours, I just hope we get an answer tonight!

Finally, I’ve continued my re-watch of LOST and I’m a third of the way through season 2 and have noticed a few more items of interest:

• Kate’s New Kid’s on the Block Lunch Box that Jacob paid for became the time capsule that Kate & Tommy Brennan used! You know the one that contained the toy airplane and their tape recording?? Am I the last one to notice this or is this new to people?
• The writers made a mistake in season 5! When the Losties are bouncing around in time, Locke sees the light from the hatch and knows it’s the night that Boone was injured. Sawyer then sees Kate deliver Claire’s baby. In season 2, Claire has have the baby one day after the hatch-light incident. woooops
• Jin and Frenchy (Russo) don’t have a scene together but they are on the beach at the same time. This occurs when Frenchy warns Claire that The Others are coming for her baby, so it’s not a huge deal that she doesn’t notice Jin. I’m keeping an eye on the Jin/Frenchy situation though…

Answers and Questions

So I decided to take full advantage of what Hulu has to offer and began re-watching all the episodes from Season 1 to see what I missed from my first marathon viewing back in December. 18 episodes later and I was really surprised that I understood everything going on in season 1. When I first watched season 1 I was completely confused, and even after I finished the first couple seasons, I was still lost. Five seasons clearly is the charm because now we’re in the know! That thing in the jungle? It’s really black smoke that is a person trying to kill this dude name Jacob. The Hatch?? Oh let me tell you all about the Dharma Initiative. Why did Ethan kidnap Claire and who are The Others?? Let me introduce you to smoking hott Juliet Burke who’s trying to solve the island’s fertility problems. Granted I still don’t know why Walt always wins at backgammon and why dead birds fly into his house, but when last seen he was certainly old enough to beat AC security, so I’m thinking I should just leave that question alone and take the kid with me to the AC craps table…

After my initial shock about how much has been answered, I was once again shocked by how little I missed from the first viewing. I thought I was going to have a Bruce Willis-Sixth-Sense moment where I was kept saying the LOST equivalent of, “Ahh his wife didn’t acknowledge him!” but no such moment came. I guess we as fans pick apart every detail during the first run so there isn’t much that is missed in the end. Despite my best Lostapedia readings, I was able to gleam a few interesting tidbits and thought I’d share what I missed the first time around:

• Locke’s 1-900 sex operator lady friend was also named Helen. Was this intentional by the writers or did they change the story later on? I’m guessing they changed their mind later on and were able to write around the 1-900 storyline
• In Claire’s first flashback, her baby’s father mentions that her mother has practically disowned her, however, her mother should have been in a coma at that point. Another writer post-re-write??
• When Sayid escaped Frenchy’s (Russo) lair he stole a gun from her and later tried to use it on her but it didn’t fire. Frenchy made a comment that her husband didn’t notice the trigger was broken either. It is cool we got to see that referenced scene in season 5
• I didn’t connect the dots the first time around when Hurley’s accountant told him that he had just gained 51% ownership of “some box making company”. It’s more consistent that Hurley owns that company in both timelines. I still don’t understand how Hurley found out about the numbers in Timeline X since they weren’t broadcasted until 1988. For that matter, who decided to START broadcast the numbers in 1988?? The Dharma Initiative would have been wiped out by then and I don’t see The Others doing that sort of thing. I also don’t understand why Hurley was on that flight since he only went to Australia to earn about the origins of the numbers. In Timeline X he seems much happier.
• Michael is SO much more annoying the second time around. I had to fast forward parts of his flashback because I couldn’t deal with it. I seriously had to watch his death scene in season 4 just to cleanse my pallet. Side note, Hurley owed Walt $83,000 in backgammon loses and you would have thought that he would have paid his debt off during his 3 years off the island. Thumbs down for the writers for missing such a great comedic opportunity. How great would the Locke/Walt scene in Season 5 have been if Walt said the only person he saw was Hurley because he was paying him his backgammon winnings? WAAAAAAAALT

I think my Season 1 partial re-watch just reinforced what we all know about LOST, all our questions will be answered with new questions. In honor of that I would like to finish this entry by listing the top 5 questions I need answered before ever traveling on a flight named Oceanic Flight 815 or AA316:

1. What are the true significance of the numbers?
2. What the hell are Jacob & The Man in Black?
3. What is the mission statement of The Others?
4. What is the island & why does it move through space and time?
5. Why couldn’t Charles Widmore get back to the island if Eloise Hawking had that nifty moving phallic needle determining windows of opportunities for the island?

I know I left out a few such as”Why are Walt & Miles Special” & “Why can’t women bring babies to term on the island anymore”, and YES we all want the Libby storyline tied up, but I can LIVE without those. I however, NEED the above 5 questions explained before LOST ends or I may never sleep well again…

Did I miss any??

Ben Linus is not allowed to speak at my funeral

I thought I’d start blogging my initial thoughts after each new episode.  Eloquent, in-depth theory laden blogs can wait until later in the week, I just want to get the discussion started…

This episode was FANTASTIC. It was exactly what the Doctor Jack Shepard wouldn’t have ordered (because he’s always wrong) after the subpar filler that was “What Kate Does”. We got answers, we got questions, we got numbers, we got a drunk Sawyer and we got a Benjamin Linus eulogy.

First the eulogy. I believe that Other Ben is really remorseful over killing Locke. I still think jealous was a weak motive but I really do buy Ben’s remorse. In typical Other Ben style, however, he just couldn’t help himself from lying to Booby-Fett (Ilana) about killing Jacob. I suppose I would have lied to her to. Side note, did anyone else crack up after Frank’s reaction to Ben’s eulogy?

Because this episode covered so much ground I’ll give you my thoughts bulletized:

• I do think the young boy was Jacob. I’m interested in seeing if people can date the boy’s age based on his clothing.
• Why can’t Smokey change forms anymore? What happened between him posing as Slingshot (Alex) and now that keeps him stuck as our favorite bald ex-cripple. I assume the answer is killing Jacob?? It’s interesting that all of the sudden Jacob is the one playing shapeshifter.
• Do we believe Smokey about what a candidate is? Has Jacob been trying to choose a successor all this time? That doesn’t seem to jive with the conversation he had when he brought the Black Rock to the island in the Season 5 series finale. Maybe proving Smokey wrong is finding a successor. Maybe that’s what only ends once!!
• Does the island really need protecting if no one can get to the damn thing without Jacob leading them there? Clearly Jacob didn’t do such a bangup protection job in Timeline X since the island is at the bottom of the ocean. That leads me to another though…
• How the hell did Ben Linus get off the island to become a school teacher?? If the nuke blew up in 77 and sunk the island how did Ben get off?? He was in the temple taking a healing bath. I was able to explain away Ethan on the mainland because I assumed he was put on the sub with the rest of the nonessential personnel, but I can’t explain Ben. Maybe the nuke isn’t what sunk the island, maybe it happened later and Ben happened to not be there.
• How many things have been changed by the 77 nuke going off?? Locke is still with Helen and has a relationship with his dad. Hurley is a happy millionaire? Sticks (Shannon) stayed in Australia, Rose works for Hurley, Kate kill the wrong man,  Desmond may or may not have been on the plane etc, etc.
• Don’t you love how Smokey threw the white rock away because of an “inside joke”
• There is no Kate and no Walt on Jacob’s chalk list. Clearly Walt has been completely written out, but Jacob visited Kate. Interesting…

Finally in case you missed it here is a recap of our Losties and their Jacob assigned numbers compliments of Sledgeweb’s Lost Stuff. I’m really anxious to hear people’s thoughts…

[UPDATED WITH MORE NAMES]

Oceanic
Alive
8 – Reyes
15 – Ford
16 – Jarrah
23 – Shepard
42 – Kwon (Jin or Sun? Both?)
313 – Littleton (Claire? Aaron?)

Dead
195 – Pace
4 – Locke

Others
10 – Mattingley
317 – Cunningham
117 – Linus (Roger? Emily? Ben?)
55 ? – Burke

Dharma
??? – Goodspeed (Horace? Olivia? Ethan?)
134 ? – Chang

French Team
? – Lacombe

Freighter
Lewis
Faraday
171 ? – Straume

US Army
233 – Jones

Undetermined
222 – O’Toole
291 – Domingo
346 – Grant

Partial
33 – XW?
20 – Rouf…
62 – …?
90 – Tr(oup?)
…? – …ersen
285 – Jen…
49 – …chan
30 – …la
195 – …?
?? – Reyno(lds?)
27? – …?
1? – Sullivan
…? – …zki

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…

Top 5 men of Lost Island (guest blog)

Another entry from a guest blogger, please give a warm welcome to Franny DiGiulio…

Ben did a nice job of summing up the Top 5 Hottest Chicks from Lost (although I think some Sun was missing, I can get on board with his criteria for each selection), so now it’s my turn to tackle the guys (and in some cases, tackle, get caught in a net, etc.). I used similar criteria for the guys as Ben used for the ladies. First, a quick note about some of the ones who did not make the cut-off that I think some people may include in their own lists:

• Not big into old dudes, so Christian, Widmore (even young Widmore), and mid-old dudes Locke and Ben do not make it. All intriguing characters, but not ones I dream of being locked in a polar bear cage with.
• I gave consideration to Sayid and especially Jin for their good physiques, but ultimately they just didn’t make the top 5. Bad Jin is a plain ass, and good Jin is more ‘cute’. Sayid may be a badass, but that hasn’t really helped out any of the women in his life, just ask Nadia, Shannon, and the Economist’s employee. Heck even friends Rousseau and Ana didn’t last long. Ilana, you’ve been warned.
• I have to give an honorable mention to Richard Alpert. A very handsome man, natural guy-liner and all, but like Ben I’m a sucker for an accent, so Richard just doesn’t measure up to the hotness of Luis from Suddenly Susan.

OK, so here it goes:
5) Hugo “Hurley” Reyes. I know, if I’m using Ben’s criteria then this was the one exception where personality carried someone to the Top 5 over pure physical superficiality. The giant Teddy bear with a sense of humor and heart of gold that every girl SAYS (translation: lies) she wants, but never goes for because she’s chasing some of the bad boys in spots 1-4. His personality outweighs (bad pun) what he lacks in 6 pack abs. And who’s heart didn’t completely melt when he said “Sorry I forgot the blankets”? Added bonus – he can help you catch up with an old friend over a friendly game of chess (checkmate Mr. Eko).

Fat guys finish 5th

4) Boone Carlisle. Oh Boone, wish we’d gotten to know you longer before Locke sacrificed you to the island. Sure, he was a bit whiny and the obsession with his self-absorbed step-sister was a little weird, but those eyes….let’s just say I’d be tempted even if I were his full sister. Luckily for me he has re-surfaced hotter than ever as a Vampire on the CW.

Already has the right pigment for a vampire

3) Jack Shephard. No debating he is one fine Doc..some say he cries a lot, but nothing wrong with a hot man who’s also in touch with his emotions. It’s worth noting that probably through Season 3, Jack would have been in a tie for 1st place. Early on he was often able to get the best of his main competition (the eye exam from season 1 being a classic example), and his arrogance was pretty hot. If I were Kate, I’d do my best to string that triangle out for as long as possible as well. But somewhere, Jack lost a little of his mojo for me. It might have started with that awful beard and the paranoia that grew in with it. I think it was sealed when he was willing to give up ever knowing the love of his life (side note – is any woman Jack gets with not immediately the love of his life? He’s pretty intense with his relationships) by setting off a nuclear bomb. Hey Jack, do you know how many men would have killed for a desperate, “I just gave up my son, but don’t ask questions” romp with Kate? And you are OK with just erasing it? I’m hoping he regains some of his mojo this season (Time for a tangent prediction: I think Jack might have a tragic ending in store for him this season).

Cry me a river

2) Desmond Hume. Let me just get this out of the way now: Desmond could motorboat me any day of the week in exchange for a “see ya in anotha life brotha”. As I mentioned earlier, like Ben, I’m a sucker for a hot accent. If I were Penny, I’d have sat by that phone for 8 years as well just to hear some of that pornography for the ears. And in comparison to Brotha Jack, you know Des wouldn’t go setting off any nuke’s to erase his memory of Penny….Hot Body, Hot Accent, and true dedication to his 1 true love, there’s only 1 guy who can top all that………

V-necks are all the rage on the island

1) James “Sawyer” Ford / Jim Le Fleur. Was this ever in question? I could write an entire blog about how hot he is (and in fact, I’m pretty sure if you take some of Ben’s statements about Sawyer from all his blogs, they might compose an entire blog as well). He drives women and men alike wild with his bad boy swagger, intelligence, and of course his perfect scruff. As the good men of Animosity Pierre so aptly put it, he makes no shirt look like a tux (although even fully clothed, he’s a force to be reckoned with). I think the women of the island would agree as he’s gotten the most on-island action (2 of which are in the Top 3 Hot women). His hotness is so powerful, he was purposely shirt-less for the early Time travel episodes to help balance some of the craziness for the fans (wonder if Faraday included that force as one of his variables). Just in case you’re not entirely convinced of his rock star status yet, check to see if you have a pulse, and then check out the montage and reaction he received at Comic Con when the producers announced a special un-named guest (and notice the difference in reaction when at first the crowd was led to believe it was Jack, then when they saw it was actually Sawyer). Yes, I was one of the women squealing uncontrollably like a tween at a Jonas Brother concert.

We got ourselves a situation