Why I loved the series finale

A friend and I were sitting around the house lamenting over our LOST withdrawal when we decided to watch the finale again. Full disclosure: I have the series finale permanently saved on my Sally TiVo (yes that’s my TiVo’s name) and I’ve watched it 5 times prior to this latest viewing. Something about this viewing gave me the closure I finally needed to begin blogging about the finale.

The first time I saw the finale I was *extremely* upset that the writers did not answer some of our most pressing questions. Subsequent viewings made me appreciate the finale more but I still didn’t want to admit it was over and there were no more episodes left to answer my questions. I even dreaded blogging about the finale because writing about the episode meant it really was over. Well step aside Smokey Anger and Jack Denial because I’m flash-forwarding to acceptance.

For the most part I really liked the series finale but I still have some Mr. Eko-size issues with it. I think the only fair way to deal with my dual feelings is to give both my good and bad feelings their own blog. Let’s start with what I loved about the episode, or the white blog.

I loved how the “real” timeline was wrapped up and how things were tied up on the island. Jack sacrificing himself for the island was the perfect ending to his charter arch. Jack started as the reluctant leader, became the d-bag man of science who wouldn’t listen to reason, then became the blind follower of faith to finally become the man that finally figured everything out. The irony is that over the course of the series Jack was both the man of science (not admitting there was anything out of the ordinary about the island) and the man of faith (blowing up the nuke because it seemed like his purpose) but it wasn’t until Jack understood that there was a science to the island’s magic (figuring out that the island wouldn’t kill Richard) that we began to love Jack again. Dear Jack, congratulations on the character rebound, on saving the world, and for crying twice in the finale and it not pissing me off.

Believe it or not Jack’s perfect character wrap-up wasn’t even my favorite part of the “real” timeline ending…how bout’ that Hurley!! Part of me was really suspicious when we were told who Jacob’s successor was one episode before the series finale. To the fellow answer-cynics in the crowd it probably didn’t come as a huge surprise that Jack didn’t remain the final protector of the island. That being said, Hurley is the perfect island protector because he was the only character on LOST that didn’t have an agenda. He wasn’t trying to get back to anyone off-island, he wasn’t trying to fulfill an ambition and most importantly he was always looking out for everyone else. Ben becoming his number 2 was also the perfect ending for that character. Ben finally became more than magic-island middle management and a Hurley-Ben leadership allows us to debate whether that would be a better spin-off than the Sawyer-Miles buddy cop show.

And speaking of Timeline-X, I loved that all my questions about that timeline were answered. Yes I have problems with that timeline being purgatory and not meaning anything to the real timeline, BUT I never imagined in 10 Jacob lifetimes that all my Timeline X questions would be answered. All the differences and unbelievable Sun-survivals were explained by the fact that the timeline was completely made up by our Losties. What’s better is that Alt-X gave us insight into our favorite character’s regret’s. Desmond regretted that he was never accepted by Charles Widmore. Eloise Hawking wished that she didn’t stop her son from playing the piano and regretted pushing him to a fate where she would eventually kill him. Jack wished he had a kid. Locke wanted to be with Helen and on good terms with papa con man. We also finally understand why most of the Losties was happier in this alternate reality. Some people have asked me to explain why the island was at the bottom of the ocean in this alternate reality and I usually reply that I think most Oceanic Flight 815 passengers wouldn’t have shed a tear if that island was sunk, especially the ones that didn’t make it off the island.

Finally, it wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t bullet-point many of the things I loved about the finale:

• Richard Alpert get’s gray hair!
• I like that *some* of the original losties finally got off the island. I wonder what the season 1-vegas odds were those particular characters making it off the island.
• Turns out what happened, happened after all. The Losties caused the incident all along. Again, who could have called that back in season 2?
• I’m man enough to admit I teared up during some of the flashbacks.
• Kiss me James. You got it blonde…
• Once Hurley had his awakening you could see that the character was played as though he was the island protector for a bunch of centuries, great touch.
• Sawyer telling Smokey that there’s a new Jacob in town.
• Frank FINALLY reminding those idiots that he’s a pilot and having him fly the plane off the island is a much better plan than blowing up their best escape route.
• Sun saying “I remember” while getting her ultra-sound. Really any scene with Sun, Jin, Sawyer and Juliet was great.
• Kate telling Jack that she really missed him. That line is so much more powerful the second time you watch it because you realize that Kate escaped the island and likely lived a long life where she missed Jack, while Jack died shortly after they parted.
• Jack and Smokey arguing over whether John Locke was foolish or not.
• Ben apologizing to Locke for killing him. Awkward much?
• And finally, Jack’s eye closing was the perfect way to end the series. In addition to that, how about season 6 beginning with Jack appearing in purgatory on the imaginary flight 815, akaJack’s first moment after his death, and season 6 ending with Jack closing his eyes which would be his last moment of life and would occur moment’s before Jack appears on the imaginary flight 815. Nice touch.

In closing, I like that we got one more moment with all our favorite characters and we got to see them in a little bliss. I mostly liked the finale and happen to like it more and more every time I watch it. I will post my black blog soon detailing all the problems I had with the finale. Stay tuned.

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!

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.

Bring on Richardus!

Mr. Dotted Line

Finally the very late recap of Recon! This season, the writers have really impressed me with the titles they’ve come up with. I haven’t seen such multi-layered titling since the last time I was in Excitement Video (Robin Head, The Screwman Show, I’m looking at you). So Smokey sends Sawyer on a recon mission and back in good ol’ Timeline X, a pen-less Sawyer has turned in his cowboy boots for a police star. Little does his partner Miles know, Mr. Ford is on a secret mission to find and kill Sawyer aka Anthony Cooper aka Locke’s kidney-stealing pappy. No matter if James is rockin facial scruff or a wire, he’s the same old con man. Recon.

I think I’ve kept my man crush on Sawyer as well hidden as a Plaxico Burress 9-millimeter so I know you are all thinking that I loved Recon. Believe it or not, Recon was not one of my favorite episodes of the season. The only thing that was on my mind after Recon was, “Ooooh my god, we are FINALLY getting a Richard Alpert-centric episode!” Sawyer banged Charlotte and used my the Indiana nickname I gave her…I’m sorry did they really just say Richard Alpert!! Dr. Chang is off the island…um how many minutes till next tuesday?!? Ironically after a Sawyer-centric episode, I was only left with Dick on my mind.

Because I was a slacker, aka worked too much in my other jobs, I didn’t get a chance to blog last week, however, I wanted to get my Alpert theories posted before they became disproven. I think the Richard episode will be more about the island than the Man in Eyeliner himself. More than any other character, save Smokey & Jacob, I believe Richard’s backstory is tied to the island itself. I really hope we learn why the island has magical healing properties or what the island actually is. I’m fully prepared for my island-is-a-spaceship theory to go down in smokey flames but I’m going to give it one last donkey-wheel turn before abandoning it. Richard HAS to know SOMETHING about Jacob and the island. Hell he dropped the jewel about a J-touch giving you powers a few weeks ago, so I’m expecting a magic island tell-all this week. The real question for Richard is why is he always a bridesmaid but never a bride? Why was he good enough to be the advisor to the leader of The Others but never good enough to be a candidate? And will we ever learn how the Black Rock ended up so far inland?

OK, I’d be really remiss if I didn’t write something about last week’s episode, so here are the quick hits:

• Mile’s hooked Sawyer & Charlotte up via his dad through the always hott science love connection. So, Dr. Chang got off the island too! I’ve finally given up on having this explained. I’m just going to patiently wait until the writers are ready to explain this to us (they’d better explain it to us)
• Did I find the Charlotte/Sawyer romp a bit indecent because of my feelings for Juliet? A little. The writers have really taken advantage of us in an ironically Sawyer-like fashion in the relationship department. Most of us want Sawyer and Juliet to end up somehow no matter how many times she shows up in the V previews (does that show ever actually air?)
• Last sex note, I gotta give Sawyer props for banging 2 chicks in the same week, one while undercover. Mr. Ford, I salute you for getting a job while on the job!
• In Timeline X, Mama Ford was still hanging with Mr. Cooper but somehow not having a pen is the difference between a career as a cop and criminal. Damn you Jacob!
• Add Miles & Dr. Chang to the list of shinny and happy people in Timeline X. Gun to my head I’ll even say Sawyer is happier. I’m really starting to hate this Jacob guy
• Miles displayed no dead person talking ability. Props to my theory that the J-touch gave him that power
• You know an episode is going to lack reveals where there is no “Previously On Lost” intro. I’m betting Richardus’ episode has one
• The Smokey/Kate talk was annoying because it gave us an answer to a question no one asked. I now, however, think that  Smokey & Jacob are brothers.
• I did NOT like the scene where Crazy Claire attacked Kate out of nowhere. There were plenty of other times when she could have post-prego-struck, why then? It was interesting that Smokey revealed his motived for lying to Claire about Aaron
• In the same scene Sayid looked creepy! I will be pissed at the writers if they’ve ruined one of my favorite characters

Only a couple of hours to tonight’s episode, I don’t have much more to say other than bring it on!

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…

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…

Candidates and Richard Alpert

As many of you know, Finally Lost participates in a weekly Q/A where many of the top bloggers from DarkUFO to the The Four Toed Foot all answer 2 questions per week. In addition to posting my answers on this site, I will post and give props to my favorite non-Finally Lost answer. You of course can see all the answers to the weekly questions at Stream of Consciousness.

The questions were:

1. Do you think any of the candidates (Hurley, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Jack, Locke) will become the next ‘Jacob’?
   
2. Who/what is Richard?

Finally Lost:

1) I think Jack is destined to become the next Jacob. The show has clearly been all about Jack from the start. He was the original leader, he has had the most “centric episodes” and all the connections seem to go through Jack. If you’ve read my blog then you’ve witnessed my painful Jack-Journey and you understand how difficult it is for me to anoint Jack as the next Jacob. During the course of 5 seasons, Jack has done a Sawyer/Jin-like turnaround only in the wrong direction! He went from, “Cool it’s Charlie from Party of Five” to “Why isn’t he leading??” to “Why doesn’t he listen to anyone??” to finally, “Damn he cries too much and I’ll never forgive him for killing Juliet!”. Despite his shortcomings this show has always been about Jack and I think convincing everyone to allow him to set off the nuke solidified him as Jacob’s number 1 stunna.

2) Clearly Richard Alpert is the former top model for the island’s Maybelline Eyeliner Contest. Jacob chose Richard but the Man In Black thought Dogen was the better choice. In the end Jacob’s man edged out Dogen in the voting by a score of 16-15 and a bitter MIB has been trying to kill Jacob ever since. QED. This is Lost so anything is possible, however, I think the right answer is that Richard was a prisoner on the Black Rock while Dogen its captain. For whatever reason Jacob decided Ricardus would be his dotted-line advisor (*cough* admin) leaving Jacob enough free time to spend the next two centuries looking for a successor. A friend of mine once noted that he’d love to see an Island Org Chart and I think it would be a great exercise to put one together.

Paul Burrows @ Room 23:

1) Well when Flocke said “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” it made me start thinking that just maybe MIB taking the form of Locke is having a detrimental effect. What if Locke’s personality is going to slowly take control of MIB and there will be an eventual war of emerging personalities with the original Locke eventually being reborn in the Flocke body and vanquishing MIB. Then eiher Locke or Jack will take Jacob’s role and the other will take Richards role.

2) Well we know that Richard has been a recruiter for the Others/Jacob. He met with little Ben on a few occasions and even saved his life in the Temple Pool. He recruited Juliet and he made a number of attempts to recruit Locke.

Lostpedia says on Richards page: “In the Season 3 DVD commentary for “The Man from Tallahasse”, Richard Alpert is described as someone who is not interested in leading the Others but is very influential in finding and selecting a leader. He is described as being similar to a Panchen Lama choosing the next Dalai. He and Ben keep each other in “check” by having the power to pick/veto each other’s replacement on the Island. Ben’s role would be to pick the next Panchen, should the need arise. This keeps the two in a sort of balanced power relationship. They are allies, yet they have some measure of control over the other should one get out of hand.”

I would assume that he had the same relationship with Widmore and Eloise and if Locke had not flashed he would have had the same relationship with him.As for Richards’s origins I would assume that the Black ship that Jacob and MIB saw was the Black Rock and that Richard was probably the captain of the ship. He probably was given the gift of immortality after agreeing to be Jacobs’s advisor and go between to the current leader of Jacobs people (The Others).

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Well that’s all I got until tonight’s episode, I have a feeling it’s going to be a great one. Before I go I’d like to share with you the top key words people are googling to find this blog. It’s hilarious and while I’m not sure what it says about my blog, clearly I am the subject matter expert on all things mr. echo, red sox and all things ben…

• finally lost
• mr echo died in season 3?
• no one to cry to
• mr echo lost
• how the hell is ben linus a teacher
• i hate sayid
• why didn’t ben linus get surgery on the
• lost mr. echo
• ben avicolli
• lost island is a spaceship
• lefleur folder richard alpert
• why did echo die in lost
• that’s why the red sox never win the world series
• lost how can ben linus become a teacher
• lost+red sox theories
• she wasn’t really at ben’s funeral
• why did ben get stuck in the net lost
• “ben bernard” toys
• lost how can benjamin linus be a teacher

Aww he’s got his daddy’s cries!

Full disclosure, my TV Forecast widget lists when all my shows are going to be new and what the title of the show will be. So last week I kept asking myself, Lighthouse?? There’s not a lighthouse on the island… it must be an off-island reference. WRONG. Not only is there a Lighthouse on the island but it’s less than a days walk from the temple. “Dude, I guess we never really looked for it.” Oh yea Hurley?? Ok professor, do you also care to explain how everyone is bouncing from one side of the island  to the other in less than 15-show-minutes when those same journeys took 4 episodes in season 1! I digress. There is a lighthouse on the island where the degrees correspond to candidates and it allows Jacob to play peeping Tom on just about anyone. Any thoughts on why it showed Jack’s house from when he was 8? I thought for sure it was going time show Timeline X…

Now onto Daddy Jack. Not Christian (I’m going to have to come up with a new nickname for him now) but Crying Jack is a dad! Clearly setting off a nuke in 1977 can setoff a chain of events where Jack knocks up some yet-to-be-named chippie and causes his appendix to burst at age 7 or 8. Interestingly enough Jack would have been about 7 or 8 around 1977…maybe the explosion ruptured his appendix!?!? Despite his initial shortcomings as a father, I was really rooting for Jack to repair his relationship with his son. Rooting for Jack isn’t something I’ve done since season 3 and it’s something I thought I could never do after he caused Juliet’s death. Amazing how the writers own my emotions….

As interesting as the differences are between Timeline Prime and Timeline X, I think the most interesting fact is that the majority of the Losties are happier in Timeline X. Hurley is clearly  happier, Locke has Helen and has accepted his benched fate (also being alive is better than being dead), Jack has a son and despite crying just as much, seems to be a little better off, Prego (Claire) is going to keep her baby and I bet if you took a poll of most folks on Oceanic Flight 815 they would prefer to life over island death. I’m not going to judge anyone who hasn’t had a centric episode but I will concede Kate is worse off and I’m sad that Rose will likely die.

Speaking of the centric episodes, have most people picked up on the fact that we are following the same character centric-order as the season 1? I completely forgot that Jack got a second centric episode so early on and thought that this week would be all about Sun. Woops. I’ve posted the season 1 order and my guesses for the season 6 order. I have listed candidate replaces for those centric episodes that seem really unlikely to occur (Charlie, Boone, I’m looking at you).

Episode	Season 1	Season 6
Pilot (1/2)	Jack/Charlie	Various
3	Kate	Kate
4	Locke	Locke
5	Jack	Jack
6	Sun	?Sun?
7	Charlie	?Ben?
8	Sawyer	?Sawyer?
9	Sayid	?Sayid?
10	Claire	?Claire?
11	Jack	?Jack?
12	Kate	?Kate?
13	Boone	?Richard!?
14	Michael & WAAAALT	?Jacob?
15	Charlie	?Smokey?
16/17	Sawyer/Jin	?Various?

And a few quick hits:

• My Lost viewing buddy, Franny, described me as positively “giddy” when Jack and his son were tearing up at the same time. If only Christian was there to complete the trifecta, although he doesn’t really strike me as a crier.
• I believe the most popular theory is that Juliet is Jack’s baby’s father??
• Is it just me or does Jacob seem way more smug now that he’s dead? I’m sure the writers don’t want to give away who’s bad and who’s good but I liked Jacob more last season.
• Both Jacob & Smokey lied and manipulated people this week. Jacob lied to Hurley about the lighthouse and Smokey’s been lying to Prego about Aaron living with The Others. Smokey’s lie is definitely bigger, which makes me still think he’s the baddie, HOWEVER, given all that has changed in Timeline X, it’s clear that Jacob has been pulling Michael Corleone-like strings. If I’m right about Timeline X being the happier place for our Losties, then maybe Jacob is the baddie after all…
• I wonder how different Sawyer’s life will be if he never wrote that letter to Sawyer
• Since Dogen was at David’s piano tryout I guess I was wrong about him being captain of The Black Rock. Come on, dude looks like a captain of a ship called The Black Rock!
• I guess Prego doesn’t know that Christian & “her friend” are the same person? P.S. Did she shop at Russo-R-Us for her trap and camp gear?

Next up on Finally Lost, I’ll post my answers to this week’s Stream of Consciousness Q/A (Who will be the next Jacob and Who/what is Richard Alpert) along with my favorite answer from another blogger. I’d also like to finish my island org chart and explore the Timeline X changes a bit more…

p.s. While I try to limit the number of theory blogs I read in order to keep this blog as theory-independent as possible, I am undoubtably influenced by the Wednesday morning quarterbacking I do with some of my Lost friends. This is my once and future shout out to Franny, Brian and anyone else who may have influenced my thoughts which resulted in me posting it as a theory or thought. The humor, however, is all mine 😛

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