LOST: I Don't Care What You Believe, Just Believe It

It all began with an eye opening. Anyway, let me say this right now so you aren't trying to figure it out for yourself based on what I write: I LOVED "The End." I certainly have questions that I wish had been answered (I'll get to them in a bit) but I think that LOST ended in a very emotionally satisfying way, and I feel like the six years I spent watching it (at 24, that's a quarter of my life) were enriched because of it.

The show has always been a science fiction show (you can't watch the pilot, learn about monsters and tropical polar bears and not think something is up), but it has also always been a science fiction show that is about human relationships. Over the past six years (three for the characters), we've watched the characters confront larger-than-life situations, but it has always been about how they collectively react to these situations. They are stronger as a group, but they couldn't help but fracture themselves. Sawyer was bound by feelings of ownership, which kept him an outcast in the group. Kate couldn't let herself get close to anyone due to fear of a past that didn't matter on an Island. And Jack and Locke, who could have been best friends in another life, were always at odds because they couldn't just listen to the other (or take the time to explain themselves). Even though the series pretty definitively came down on the side of faith, Locke still wasn't just "right" because he, like the Man in Black, tried to force his views and beliefs on others, especially those who didn't believe his ideas when he couldn't give a reason for them. Maybe Jack should have had faith, but Jack had to realize it himself.

So what was left for everyone to do in these final two and a half hours? Band together. Every single character worked together to defeat the Man in Black. Ben tricked the Man in Black into trusting him, and relayed information back to Miles, Richard, and an alive-and-well Lapidus, who went to Hydra Island to repair Ajira 316. Rose and Bernard saved Desmond, and Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer went to meet and destroy the Man in Black. When their group converged with the Man in Black, Ben, and Desmond, Jack and Desmond decided to "help" the Man in Black in his plans in order to turn them on him and destroy him. I think the only other time the entire cast was working for a common goal was the Season 1 finale (though here, Locke was against them and Claire wasn't doing much of anything, but still). Watching everyone work together was amazing, because they finally learned that they had to live together, otherwise they would be dying side by side very quickly. Oh, and it turns out that my "Ben and Hurley: The Series" wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.

While the Island storyline was very action-packed, the alternaverse story was all about slowly getting everyone together, both physically and mentally. Desmond and Hurley slowly caused everyone to "wake up" and remember their on-Island lives... and their entire lives. Each time someone woke up, we got a quick flash of moments from the show featuring the character, reminding us of some of their greatest hits (to steal from the series). I think it would have been cool to see the lives of those who survived the series, but that would have revealed the truth of the alternaverse too quickly. It's funny, you see. I think that, after seeing 2 episodes all the way back in Season 1, my dad announced that all the characters were dead and that the Island was purgatory. I disagreed, stating that such a twist is now a cliche and the writers were smart enough to know not to do something like "they were dead all along" or "it was just a dream." For something like that to work, it has to mean something (for example, in Neil Gaiman's Sandman, even if something was a dream, it wasn't just a dream, it had real-world consequences). And I was right, the Island was real. They all survived the crash of Oceanic 815. It was the alternaverse that was death. And somehow, the writers made it work. The characters were all lost souls before they came to the Island, and they helped save each other. The alternaverse was a kind of waystation for the souls of the castaways to find each other again in the afterlife. Lovers were reunited, friends got to see each other again, and people were able to apologize to those whom they had wronged. The last 10 minutes or so, featuring about 75% of everyone who has ever been a regular on the show in the church, interspersed with Jack's final moments on the Island, was absolutely incredible.

As for the message of the show, as I said, faith clearly won out over reason. Had I known that would happen at the beginning of the season, I would have been slightly upset. I am a man of reason, and I have always favored Jack over Locke, even though both have made some very poor decisions over the course of the show. But I ended up enjoying the way the show dealt with faith. It didn't tell us what to believe, just to believe something (the church has a stained glass window with symbols relating to various major religions; by the way, does the wheel represent Hinduism because of the cycle of reincarnation, or was it supposed to be the frozen wheel that Ben turned?). Jacob had his way of running things that still caused people to follow him, but that doesn't mean that Hurley couldn't do things differently. And there will always be things beyond our comprehension, and although I think that we should always try to understand as much as possible, sometimes it's better to take a chance.

Speaking of things beyond our comprehension, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't slightly disappointed to not learn the answers to a few questions. I really liked that the writers gave us just enough information about certain things to draw our own conclusions and make our own interpretations for various aspects of the show, but there were a couple things I feel needed to be definitively answered (although I have theories on them). I came into the finale with four questions that I wanted answered. The first was really the only one that truly mattered: Why couldn't women give birth on the Island if the baby was conceived there? The whole crux of the Others' storyline in the first three seasons was that they were taking children and people like Juliet because they couldn't repopulate. The second and third didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things: Who shot at Locke, Juliet, Sawyer, Miles, Daniel, and Charlotte while they were on the outriggers in Season 5 and why didn't Sun go back in time to the 1970s in Season 5? Finally, my last question wouldn't have been answered because it was the product of factors beyond the writers' control: What would have happened with Mr. Eko if he hadn't died (read: if Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje hadn't wanted to leave the show)? There is a great video on College Humor in which Jeff Rubin lists every single lingering question. Some of them I would actually have liked to learn, some are trivial, and some are the results of the television-making process, similar to my Mr. Eko question. Like I said, I have some theories about some of the questions based on the evidence we are given, though more of the answers I've come up with than I'd like to admit are "Jacob is magic and did it" (the big one is I think that because Jacob didn't like Ben, he punished the Others for putting him in charge by making it so that women couldn't give birth; we know that Jacob can "make" things happen, such as immortality, so why not inability to give birth?).

So this is "The End." Like I always say, it wasn't perfect, but then again nothing is (except Mad Men). But we got to look into the hearts and minds of these characters, and what we saw was beautiful.

Up next: Hopefully starting Rome before moving on to The Wire, and then a twin series on Band of Brothers and The Pacific...

LOST: The Final Countdown to 108

"The End" is nigh. Jack is the new Jacob. Not-Locke wants to blow up the Island. Ben is an asshole again. And in the alternaverse, there characters are going to converge at Jack's son's concert.

I have no idea how this is all going to end, but I'm excited as hell.

Up next: The end of an era...

LOST: How We Met Their Mother

If there was ever an episode of LOST to argue for being upfront rather than cryptic, this is it. The lies and not-quite-answers of one person led to immeasurable suffering not only by the two people she raised as her sons, but by nearly everyone to come to the Island since their birth. "Across the Sea" was the origin story of Jacob and, as we definitively learned (though many guessed this), his brother, the Man in Black (I guess I should just start calling him that instead of Titus). Their mother, who looked like she came from ancient Rome, washed ashore on the Island, and was "rescued" by a Woman, played by Allison Janney. After helping deliver Jacob and his brother, the Woman killed the twins' mother and raised them as her own.

As the boys grew up, she treated them differently, nurturing different aspects in each of them. She taught them that there was nothing outside the Island and that there are no people aside from the 3 of them. Of course, the boys learned the truth when they came across their real mother's people (I want to go back through the series and count how many times groups are referred to as someone's "people"). The Woman informs Jacob and the Man in Black that she wanted to protect them from the others (not to be confused with the Others, unless they are the precursors to the Others) because humans are corrupt and she is keeping them safe from such corruption (and yet one of the first things we saw her do was commit murder). She then showed the twins (and the audience) why the Island is so special: It contains the essence of life, death, and time, as represented by a glowing light. But she doesn't exactly tell this to the twins right away. She just gives them a cryptic answer. Soon after, the Man in Black (at this point the Boy in Black) learned that he has powers similar to Hurley and saw the ghost of his mother, who told him the truth about his origins. He decided to live with his people, but Jacob stayed with the Woman.

Decades passed. Jacob and the Man in Black remained in contact, and we learned that the Man in Black's goal was to leave the Island and see his home and other things that were across the sea. He confirms that the people are corrupt (greedy, violent, dishonest), but he stays with them because he needs them to get home. The create a plan that involves digging a well to get to the light and installing a wheel, which will eventually become the wheel used by Ben and Locke to get off the Island. When the Woman learned of this, she brought Jacob back to the light source, explained a little bit more of its importance, and asked him to become its new protector. She also told him never to enter the cavern that housed the light, because horrible things would happen. But she doesn't explain the horrible things that would happen.

The Woman also massacred the people to keep the Man in Black on the Island (yeah, she's totally not corrupt). In response, he killed her. But in response to THAT, Jacob knocked him out (she did something to prevent them from killing each other) and tossed him into the stream leading to the cavern so that the "horrible things" can happen to his brother. And that impulsive act of vengeance created the Smoke Monster. If the Woman had told Jacob what would happen, he would never have sent his brother in to be smokified. If she had been honest to her "sons," the Man in Black might never have rebelled. If only...

Up next: The penultimate peril...

LOST: Race to the Finish

Well damn. The final season of LOST has had its missteps and pacing problems, but I think it's safe to assume that we've entered the final countdown. "The Candidate" proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Titus is an evil, evil being, and must be stopped. There is very little room for moral ambiguity left, and the rest of the characters (I'll explain why I used "rest" soon) need to find a way to contain him.

At long last, Sawyer's plan to hijack Widmore's submarine was executed. After the group (minus Ben, Richard, and Miles, who are off trying to find a way to keep Titus on the Island) reached the Ajira 316 plane, Titus informed them that it was no longer an option because Widmore had placed explosives on it. So they go to the docks and take the sub by force. Jack, whose new zen outlook on life has convinced him to stay on the Island, awesomely knocked Titus into the ocean, allowing Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Hurley, Lapidus, and Kate to get on the sub. However, Kate got shot, so Jack had to get on as well to treat her. And poor Claire got left behind, again, with Titus. Though she actually got lucky because of this.

When Jack reached into his backpack to get his med kit for Kate, he made the horrifying discovery that Titus planted a bomb to get rid of the Candidates once and for all. But Jack, although scared, thinks that they are safe. He believes that Titus cannot directly kill them, and that, if they do nothing, the bomb won't go off, similar to how Titus couldn't kill Jacob and how the dynamite in the Black Rock didn't ignite when Jack and Richard were inside. But Sawyer, who has very good reason not to listen to Jack's crazy theories anymore, didn't listen to Jack's crazy theory and tried to diffuse the bomb, only to make the countdown clock tick faster. Sayid, likely ashamed of having helped Titus for the last 8 episodes, sacrificed himself to try and save the rest of the group by taking the bomb and running as far away from his friends as possible. Still, an explosion on a sub is never a good thing, and the group needed to get off the sub as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Lapidus was knocked out by a hatch blown off its hinges by the water pressure outside, and his current fate remains unknown (I really hope he made it out, but it's unlikely). Jack ordered Hurley to help the injured Kate off the sub, while he, Sawyer, and Jin tried to save Sun, who was trapped behind some debris. Unfortunately, she was also entangled in some metal beams, and no amount of effort by the rest of the group could free her. After Sawyer got knocked out by some falling metal, Jack brought him to shore, leaving Jin struggling to save his wife. Knowing that her death was imminent, I'm surprised that she didn't try to persuade Jin to leave her by telling him that Ji Yeon, their daughter, needed him, especially because the writers reminded us of her earlier in the episode. But now, both Kwons drowned, leaving the world holding hands.

In the course of one episode, three lead characters died for sure, and one most likely did as well. All that remain of the Candidates are Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer. Kate is with them, while Ben, Richard, and Miles are elsewhere on the Island. And Claire is stuck with Titus, who is plotting the deaths of his final three nemeses. Hope for the 815 survivors and their friends is nearly gone. And so we come to the last 4 episodes of LOST. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

EDIT
Wow, I totally forgot to talk about the sideways universe, which surprises me because I had something that I really wanted to point out. The alternaverse plot was good, but what really got to me was how "sideways" the relationship between Locke and his father is in that universe. In both the Island world and the sideways world, Anthony Cooper was present when Locke lost the use of his legs, but his role couldn't be more different. In the Island universe, their mutual disdain for each other led to Cooper pushing Locke out an 8th story window. But in the altneraverse, it was their love for each other that brought them to the same place where Locke lost his legs and Cooper lost everything but his physical life. In this world, Locke got his pilot's license, and he wanted his father, possibly the most important person in his life aside from Helen, to be his first passenger, despite Cooper's fear of flying. Unfortunately, soon after takeoff, the plane crashed (Locke can't seem to avoid those, I guess), taking Locke's legs away and leaving Cooper in a vegetative state.

Up next: Origins...

LOST: Whither Must We Wander

Now that's more like it. Things finally look like they are moving toward the final conclusion of the show, in both the Island universe and the alternaverse. With the exception of Desmond, Ben, Richard, and Miles, the entire cast was in 1 location tonight (and Desmond's location was a direct result of Titus). Meanwhile, in the alternaverse, all the characters started to get drawn to a select few locations. So let's start there.

In another showing of near-death experiences "waking up" the alterna-characters, when Sun and Locke are both brought to the same hospital (Sun was hit by a stray bullet), a conscious Sun
reacted in terror to seeing a man who she knew was dangerous, but didn't quite know why (note: 2004 Sun would have no reason to fear 2004 Locke, so altera-Sun's (who is living in alterna-2004) memory of Locke is likely influenced by her 2007 Island self, which is probably good evidence that the existence of the alternaverse is a direct result of the Jughead explosion (as if we didn't have enough of such evidence, which goes against, to the best of my recollection, some things the writers were saying before the season started). Meanwhile, Desmond was able to guide Claire to the office of Ilana Verdansky, attorney-at-law (and yes, I did consider writing alterney-at-law... I have a pun problem). Turns out that Ilana is the estates attorney for the Sheppard family, and she reveals to Jack and Claire that they are siblings. But before they can talk about this, Jack gets called into surgery for a hit-and-run victim: John Locke. A nurse tells Jack that Locke's spine was already pretty messed up (how did he become paralyzed in this reality?), and we see a shot of a surgical mirror showing Locke's face, and then Jack's (more on this later). Finally, Sawyer and Miles interrogate Kate at the police station, and later arrest Sayid.

On the Island, Titus and Widmore both decide to execute their plans. When Zoe (Liz Lemon's twin sister) displays that the Widmore camp has missile capabilities, Titus begins his move to overtake Widmore and commandeer the Ajira plane. But Sawyer also decides the time is right for Operation: Sub Escape. He gets Jack to separate Hurley, Sun, and Lapidus from the group and have them meet up with him and Kate at a boat to take them to Hydra Island. Claire and Sayid aren't invited because they have turned to the Dark Side. However, unbeknownst to the group, Sayid might be on his way back after speaking with Desmond. Titus sent Sayid to kill Desmond, and we are reminded why Sayid is so willing to follow Titus: he promised to revive Nadia. But Desmond pointed out that what Sayid wants comes with a high cost, and points out that Nadia may not be able to accept what Sayid paid for her life. Also, Claire begins to show that she can be redeemed through Aaron, when Kate promises to reunite the 2 of them. Unfortunately for them, upon arriving at Hydra Island, Zoe takes the group prisoner. Except for Jack.

Jack jumped ship midway to Hydra Island, because he started to doubt leaving the Island again, stating that he felt such a deep feeling of emptiness after leaving it the last time. Ever since learning about the purpose of the Candidates, my two prime suspects were Jin and Jack: Jack because he's the de facto protagonist and Jin because he would have to choose between his wife and his duty (by the way, I was so happy to finally see them reunited). This development has given a lot of evidence to Jack being New Jacob, because he is the one who is being pulled the strongest to stay (and return) by the Island. And so we come back to Jack and Locke; Titus was waiting for Jack on the beach, and was ready to continue the trek to confront Widmore when a missile was sent to the beach, killing many of Titus' followers. It also sent Jack flying through the air and landing hard against/near a tree. We saw this minutes after Jack was preparing to operate on Locke in the alternaverse, which led me to believe that the episode was going to end with Jack saying that he couldn't feel his legs, and the camera panning down to his foot, for a similar shot of Locke's foot from Season 1 when he learned his legs had been restored. Instead, Titus told him that Jack was "with him now," and picked him up and slung him over his back. So my theory could still be true. We'll just have to wait 2 weeks to find out. (Most people I've told this to also said they thought Jack got paralyzed in the explosion, but one person who didn't come to that conclusion had an interesting theory of her own: Desmond, the man to whom "the rules don't apply," is Jacob's son...)

Up next: 5 to go...

LOST: Moving the Pieces

I am usually fairly patient with LOST. People complain that the story moves very slowly and that things don't happen in certain episodes. I respond that the show builds over the course of a season, and little things that are not important in one episode come back later to be very relevant. However, this is the final season, and (as of the time I'm writing this), there are 5 episodes (taking the finale as 2, because it is 2 hours) left. I'm starting to get a tad impatient.

Did things "happen" in "Everybody Loves Hugo"? Most definitely. Ilana died when she overzealously dropped a bag containing Black Rock Dynamite. Titus tossed Desmond down a well after realizing that Desmond has no fear left. And Ben, Miles, and Richard split off from the rest of their group when Hurley convinced everyone else to go talk with Titus' camp. And in the alternaverse, Hurley and Libby were (re)united, while Desmond, in an attempt to give Locke a near-death experience, ran him down with a car. But it was another episode with very little actual plot momentum.

Like I said, I would be much more ok with this if we were not in the final season. There are so many story elements to wrap up that I am worried that things will get rushed in the final episodes. I love that this show knows that character development is important, because it is. But sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing, and I feel like LOST doesn't always know how to balance between character and plot.

Oh well. I'm sure that, once the season is over and I know this episode's place, I will be able to see it in a different light.

Up next: Jack vs. Locke...

LOST: What Dreams May Come

Has anyone here read Marvel Comics' House of M? It was a crossover event from a few years back, in which the Scarlet Witch created an alternate reality in which various characters' deepest wishes were granted. Peter Parker was married to a very-much-alive Gwen Stacey, Tony Stark's father was alive, Wolverine has all of his memories, and Magneto rules a world in which mutants are the majority, while humans are the oppressed minority. You can get a good enough (and hilarious) summary from Matt Gardner's 4-part series here. The reason I bring this up is because I was reminded of M while watching "Happily Ever After"; in M, just because the characters had their dreams come true didn't mean they were happy. And here, although Desmond had the thing he sought after most in his off-Island life, the approval of Charles Widmore (he had Penny for the relevant times he sought Charles' approval), he was only superficially happy. He soon realized that not knowing Penny was the worse alternative to being a rich playboy who had everything. And looking back on the alternaverse, the characters' lives have been strange inversions that aren't exactly better than the crash universe. Locke and his dad have a good relationship and he is married to Helen, but he's still in a wheelchair and has not learned to be his own man. Jack has a son, but has troubles with him and his ex-wife. Daniel got to pursue his musical talent, but never got to formally meet Charlotte. Sawyer is an honest cop, but is still haunted by the actions of the real Sawyer. Hurley is a lucky person, but I'm sure he isn't as happy as he passes himself off as (I guess we'll find out in a few days).

Also, in House of M, Wolverine having his memories was the alternate universe's undoing because he had the memories of his life as it should have been, not as it was in the new reality. In the LOST alternaverse, Eloise Hawking Widmore seems to remember the world in which 815 crashed... and in which she killed her son without knowing it. And Charlie learned how to access those memories, by nearly dying. And when his suicidal nature (he wants to see Claire again) help Desmond see Penny, Desmond embarks on a quest to find her in that world. He and Daniel, his half-brother-in-law in the 815 universe, talk about the possibility of alternate worlds and nuclear bombs creating split timelines (when Daniel saw Charlotte in a museum, he saw visions of her on the Island). When Desmond and Penny finally meet in the alternaverse, at the stadium where Jack and Desmond first met (and where Desmond and Penny were reunited after Desmond got out of prison), alterna-Desmond got a full-on view of the regular universe.

Meanwhile, the episode began and ended on Hydra Island, with Widmore subjecting Desmond to some weird experiment to see how well he can stand up to a large dose of electromagnetic energy. Desmond survived the Swan explosion, and he was able to survive something that fried an unfortunate Widmore crew member. And when he came out of it, he knew what he had to "do" (apparently, Widmore needs to do something with electromagnetism to kill Titus). But just as Desmond agreed to help Widmore, Sayid showed up to "rescue" Desmond. The suddenly zen Desmond agreed to go with Sayid back to Titus. Is this all part of Widmore/Desmond's plan?

Up next: Alterna-Hurley...

LOST: In Translation

It appears that my post last year about what the lives of the Oceanic 815 survivors would have been had the plane never crashed was even more pointless than if the writers had decided not to do flash-sideways. Each week, the differences between the universe we've watched for 5 years and the alternaverse seem to get bigger and bigger. In "The Package," we are led to believe that Sun never learned English. Oh yeah, and she and Jin never got married.(!) Also, they're happy in this universe (also, Mikhail never lost his eye). At first, I thought the show was telling us that the two of them were not meant to be, but we soon learned that they're having a steamy affair (sexy buttons!) that Mr. Paik would be very angry about if he knew about it. After all, you don't screw the bosses daughter. Unfortunately for the star-crossed lovers, he does in fact know about Jin, Sun, and their forbidden unbuttoning. Turns out, Keamy had Jin locked up because Paik hired Keamy to kill Jin. Fortunately for Jin, the money that got tied up in customs was Keamy's fee. Jin was eventually able to escape, but in doing so, Sun ended up getting shot by a ricocheting bullet, and as Jin carried her away, she announced she was pregnant.

So let's transition to the other universe on that note. Widmore's people kidnapped Jin so that he could explain his mapping system from his days in DHARMA to them, and to convince him to help, Widmore showed him photographs of Ji Yeon, the daughter he is aware of but has never seen. The reminder of her existence led many people to believe that SHE is the Kwon referred to on Jacob's lighthouse and Titus' wall, rather than Jin or Sun. For the past few weeks, I've been thinking that the Kwon is Jin, and that he will end up being the candidate, finally cementing the fact that Jin and Sun aren't meant to be together. Now, this would make me sad, because I like seeing them together (and would want them to get at least a goodbye before Sun is forced to leave Jin behind), but it would make for a good sacrifice story. But what if Jin and Sun had to give up their daughter, knowing that they likely would never have another one? After all, off the Island, Jin is sterile.

Speaking of reuniting Jin and Sun (they haven't been together in the present time of the original universe since the end of Season 4), Titus tried to get Sun to go with him by telling her that Jin was with him. She declined, and ran away from him, and in doing so, hit her head hard against a tree. When she woke up, she could still understand English, but was no longer able to speak it. Jack concluded that she struck the language center of her brain, and that he ability to speak would likely return soon. Miles and Lapidus made a joke about how crazy this development was, as did many in the fan community, but I've heard a story (don't remember how reliable the source was) that an American man who had been unconscious from a car accident woke up speaking in a French accent, so this definitely isn't the craziest thing to happen on this show. In addition, this development will make for an interesting turn on events WHEN (not IF) Jin and Sun are reunited, because, for most of the series, Sun had to be Jin's interpreter. By the way, did Jack and Hurley tell Sun that Jin now knows English?

This was very much a relationship episode rather than a plot episode. We looked at how far Jin and Sun are willing to go to see each other again, even if that means not doing everything possible to stop Titus, who both Widmore and Richard assure us is bad news. But we got a big twist at the end with the return of Desmond Hume to the Island.

Up next: The Island's not done with you yet...

LOST: Time Immemorial

This week didn't present us with visions of the altneraverse. Instead, we saw how Richard Alpert came to the Island, and what a story it was. As was basically confirmed two weeks ago (and long predicted by one of my friends), Richard (or Ricardo as he was known back then) was on the Black Rock, a slave being brought to the New World. He was a peasant from the Canary Islands (so what part of the New World were they going to if they went from the East Atlantic to the South Pacific?) who accidentally killed a rich and uncaring doctor while trying to save his wife's life. Poor Ricardo didn't have the money to pay for expensive medicine from the doctor, and when the doctor tried to force Ricardo to leave, Ricardo grabbed onto him and threw him into a table. His wife died, and he was arrested. The prison priest refused to absolve him for murder but was fully willing to sell him to the Hanso family.

Upon reaching the Island, Titus, in the form of the smoke monster, killed the remaining members of the crew, leaving Ricardo chained up and alone. Eventually, Titus returned in the form of Ricardo's wife, explaining that they were both dead and in Hell. Finally, Titus appeared as himself (assuming Titus Welliver's body is his true form), and explained that Ricardo could get his wife back if he killed "the Devil": Jacob. After giving Ricardo the same warning that Dogen gave Sayid upon sending him to kill Titus (don't let him speak, or it will be too late), Ricardo set out to kill Jacob. However, Jacob used some amazing fighting skills (where were these when Ben attacked him?) to subdue Ricardo, and explained his view of the world. Jacob believes in letting people figure out right and wrong for themselves, because it would be pointless to tell people how to think. He also explains that the Island is a kind of cork, keeping malevolence at bay. Is Titus a special kind of malevolence? Because the world is not a nice or innocent place, even with Titus on the Island. Jacob made Ricardo his new lieutenant, gave him immortal life (which Ricardo asked for so that he would never have to die and go to Hell for murder), and gave Ricardo a white rock to give to Titus (many have said that it represents Jacob claiming another soul for his side; when Titus threw the white rock off the scale in "The Substitute," it was probably his way of claiming Sawyer for himself).

In 2007, Richard tried to return to the good graces of Titus, believing he was the only one who could get them out of Hell. But Hurley brought him a message from his wife (not the Titus incarnation, but her actual spirit), stating that failing to stop Titus would be what would send them all to Hell. The final scene of the show was another conversation between Jacob and Titus, ending with Titus smashing a bottle of wine. Jacob had earlier used the bottle as a metaphor, stating that the wine inside was malevolence that could not escape, and the Island was the cork. In his review of this episode for the AV Club, Noel Murray referred to this act as symbolic of Titus contemplating alternatives to merely escaping the Island. That, along with a friend's statement about Titus being present in the alternaverse, led me to this theory: Maybe Daniel died in Ann Arbor in 1977, and the the Daniel who told Jack about detonating the hydrogen bomb was really Titus. After all, he went against everything Daniel ever said; he said that they could change the future and he broke his promise to Charlotte to never tell her not to return. The purpose? He knew that setting off the nuke would destroy the Island, allowing him to escape. If the cork/bottle is destroyed, he will have free reign.

Up next: Hopefully a reunion...

LOST: The Other Side of the Law

With the end near for LOST, talk of spin-offs has been running fairly rampant. I came up with an intentionally absurd idea about Ben Linus going on missions every week that don't quite make sense, but fully allow Michael Emerson to be creepy. And Hurley is his sidekick. Why? Comic relief. Many people want a Locke/Ben spin-off (which apparently may happen... sort of). But with the episode "Recon," the creators presented us with a spin-off idea that has been embraced as THE spin-off of LOST: Sawyer and Miles: Officers of the Law. You see, in the alternaverse, Jimmy Ford and Miles Straume are detectives for the LAPD. AWESOME! The first alternaverse scene is a variation on a sequence that we have seen three times now, with Sawyer sexing up a hot woman, realizing he is late for a "meeting," and "accidentally" opening his brief case full of cash. The first time, the woman fell for it. The second time, the woman knew what was happening and asked to be his partner in crime. This time, the woman knew what was happening and threatened to kill him, stating that her husband was a con man. Which is why Sawyer was there. He was setting up a sting to capture the bastard. And when she didn't believe him, he said the magic word (LaFleur), and his partner Miles, as well as a group of other officers, busted in and took control of the situation.

Although Sawyer's alternalife is pretty sweet - he and Miles make a good team, he gets set up on a date with Charlotte, who works with Miles' dad (Dr. Cheng) at a museum - he still had to suffer the loss of his parents when Anthony "Sawyer" Cooper conned them out of their life savings. But in this world, he channeled his rage into a pursuit of justice rather than taking on the mantle of the man he was pursuing. But he isn't a saint; he still wants to find and kill Cooper, and he is close to tracking him down. The question is, what will it mean in the alternaverse? In the other universe, Locke was the one who brought Sawyer and Cooper together, knowing full well that Sawyer would kill Cooper. And that's how Locke wanted it. But in the alternaverse, Locke and his dad have a good relationship (as does Ben and his dad; too bad Jack and Kate still hate their fathers this time around).

Back on the Island, Titus is marshaling his troops after their attack on the Temple. Kate, Sawyer, and Jin clearly don't want to be associated with him any more than they have to. For Sawyer, Titus is a means to an end (getting off the Island, where he has been for 3 years). Kate was brought to him in order to keep living, while Jin is only there because of his hurt leg. Otherwise, he'd be off looking for Sun (assuming Titus didn't stop him). Sayid, on the other hand, seems to have lost all motivation and faith in anyone; when Claire attacked Kate for "stealing" Aaron, Sayid stood by and watched with a blank look on his face. Titus eventually sent Sawyer on a mission to Hydra Island to find any remaining Ajira 316 survivors. Instead, he meets Tina Fey... I mean Zoe, who is one of Widmore's sub crew members. She takes him to Widmore, and Sawyer promises to lure Titus over to the Island so Widmore can kill him, in exchange for passage off the Island. But when Sawyer gets back to Titus, he tells Titus of his bargain with Widmore. But then, Sawyer reveals to Kate that he is working his greatest con ever: He is pitting Widmore and Titus against each other so that, while they are preoccupied, he and the other 815 survivors can take Widmore's sub and finally get off the Island for good.

Up next: The next episode can't come fast enough...

LOST: Redemption

Wow I'm cutting it close to not getting this up before the following episode. "Dr. Linus" was a fairly strong episode that was slightly marred by an implausible plot element meant to aid in creating a thematic moment. I'm always up for learning more about Ben Linus, and this episode showed both his Machiavellian side and his true, scared self.

On the Island, Illana learned from Miles that Ben killed Jacob, so she chained his leg to a tree and forced him to dig his own grave. Rightfully fearing Illana and her rifle, Ben decided to dig, hoping that in the interim, he could appeal to Illana's humanity to spare him. But Titus showed up and offered him a place in his camp (I don't think they ever explained how Titus was able to undo the chain on Ben's leg, which I think we're just supposed to see as another of his powers). Ben decided to take him up on his offer by running to take a rifle that Titus provided. But instead of killing Illana, as Titus wanted, Ben tried to explain himself. He talked about killing Alex and how he hates himself for doing so, and that the only reason he's going to Titus is that he believes no one else would want him around. Illana says she will accept him, and he returns with her. But when Jack, Hurley, and Richard reunited with Sun, Miles, Lapidus, Ben, and Illana, Ben is left out of the happy reunion.

Before the reuniting, Richard explained a little bit more about his origin, and went back to the Black Rock, where he said he'd been before (most likely as a slave), so that he could use dynamite to finally end his life. He asked Jack and Hurley to light the fuse, because, due to Jacob's "gift" of life (though he calls it a curse), he can't end his own life. However, Jack talks him out of it by explaining that he has finally accepted that he is on the Island for a reason, and Jacob still has a purpose for Richard. Looks like Jacob was right about Jack needing to sit and think about things.

In the alternaverse, Ben has a doctorate in European history, but sadly goes through his life teaching high school history to people who could care less. The bright spots in his life are his ailing father and his history club, attended by his brightest students... including Alex Rousseau. Ben hates the principal, who has forgotten what it means to be a teacher, as well as the joy of teaching students who want to learn. When he discovers that the principal may be doing some things that could get him fired, he takes the opportunity to blackmail him for his job. Here's where the episode falters: Alex wants to go to Yale, but Yale will only accept a recommendation from an alum (bullshit), and the principal is the only alum she knows. The principal tells Ben that if he makes his move for the job, he will write Alex a poor letter. But all Ben had to do was tell him that he'd release the info if the principal failed to write a good letter. Ben had all the power right there. But the writers wanted Ben to have to "save" Alex after he failed to do so in Season 4. They sacrificed believability for a theme, and I think it hurt the episode (also, in another example of my well-documented fictional character sadism, I almost would have liked to have seen Ben make his move and the principal write a bad letter, to show that no matter what, Ben cannot save Alex, no matter how hard he tries).

Still, overall great episode. Especially because, at the end, we saw a submarine approach the Island, containing none other than Charles Widmore.

Up next: Time permitting...

LOST: Evil Incarnate

What is good? What is evil? Can there be evil without good or good without evil? "Sundown" concluded the first third of LOST's final season, and although the show continues to frustrate with its lack of answers (or rather, the frustration increases because there are 45 fewer minutes in which to wrap everything up), the episode presented an extremely interesting idea. Dogen tried to tell Sayid that Titus was the incarnation of Evil, which would likely make Jacob the incarnation of Good (although this was part of a plan to trick Sayid into trying to kill Titus, which Dogen hoped would end in Sayid's death, so he may not have been completely sincere). He also told Sayid that every human has a balance of good and evil, and that it is possible to discern if someone has too much evil in them. So my thought is, what if Jacob and Titus do not represent good and evil. What if Jacob stands for a black-and-white worldview, while Titus represents moral ambiguity? It is clear that Titus has done some bad things, but could it be possible that he does these things because he feels that he is serving a greater good? Or that he has his own sense of what is right and wrong? Still, he has killed a lot of people.

In the alternaverse, things were crazier than ever. Sayid's brother is married to Nadia! Keamy is a mobster/loan shark! Boomerangs break stuff! Anyway, I enjoyed the philosophical aspect of the episode, but am starting to get antsy about the speed with which things are being revealed.

Up next: ABC or HBO?...

LOST: Go Ask Jacob

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with these posts, but dammit, I'm going to do it. This week's episode showed us Jacob's system for keeping track of the names and locations of the candidates (I'm guessing that the cave was Titus' method of keeping tabs on Jacob). Jacob has a magic lighthouse that he can use to spy on the lives of his candidates, and the numbers refer to the degree at which he positions the mirror to see a given person (Jack is at 42 degrees, out of 360). Interestingly enough, someone new might be coming to the Island, someone who is at 108 degrees (108 is the total of the numbers). Is this person going to have the sum traits of Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer, Locke, and Jin/Sun? Will it be Desmond, the person who "the rules" don't apply to?

Across the Island, Jin and Claire got reacquainted, and Claire is even crazier than Rousseau. She is convinced the Others have her baby, and no one can tell her otherwise. Jin briefly convinced her that the possibility of Kate taking her baby was remotely possible, but he quickly reassured her that he saw Aaron at the Temple when he realized what she might do to Kate (or himself) if she came to believe Kate had Aaron. Couple other things about the new Claire: she has a (very professional, factory-massed produced looking) cradle in her tent, which is home to the creepiest skull baby thing I've ever seen. Also, she's been hanging around with Titus, which might explain some of the "darkness" inside her that Dogen referred to (did anyone else think of Sweeney Todd when she referred to Titus as her "friend" in that really creepy way?).

In the alternaverse, Jack is still divorced (most likely from Sarah, although she did not appear, and they never mentioned his wife by name, so he could have ended up marrying Libby for all we know), but he has a son. A son who sees Jack the way Jack sees Christian. David Sheppard is a genius pianist who hides this from Jack because he can't stand the pressure that Jack was unknowingly putting on him. Fortunately, good things happen in the alternaverse, and instead of continuing to live through a poor relationship, the two talk things out and Jack explains that he will always be proud of his son, and promises to be less intense. If the characters in the Island universe could do this, who knows what kinds of troubles they could have avoided?

Up next: Most likely next week's episode, but there is some HBO show I've been talking about...

LOST: Candidacy

Austen. Littleton. Hume. Straume. Lapidus. Linus. Kwon. I'll get to what these names mean soon. Needless to say, "The Substitute" does what LOST does best, answering questions with more questions, and these names have to do with said answer. However, the episode was great, and although we have more questions, the answers we were given have been hinted at and alluded to throughout the series, so they made sense and do not open up brand new areas to explore (unlike learning that the Others are stealing kids because women die during pregnancy).

The flash-sideways this week focus on Locke, who, despite being in a wheelchair, is living a rather good life, all things considered. Locke in the alternaverse is much better off than the real Locke: He and Helen are engaged, neither of them are angry at the world, Locke and his dad have a good relationship (which means that he ended up in a wheelchair some other way), and he has made peace with his condition. But, Locke being Locke, he just can't seem to avoid screwing things up. He gets himself fired from his job at the box company because he tried to go on his walkabout when he was supposed to be at a conference (what do box companies have conferences about?). But in this reality, he ends up on his feet (not literally). Helen understands why she lied and Hurley, the owner of the company, comes along and hooks him up with a substitute teacher job... at the same school where alterna-Ben teaches.

On the Island, Sun, Lapidus, Illana, and Ben bury Locke's body and begin their trek to the Temple. Meanwhile, Titus-Locke, after thoroughly scaring the crap out of Richard (it was interesting to see Richard showing fear), tried to recruit Sawyer to join his quest to get off the Island. Sawyer followed Titus (reluctantly and as snarky as ever) to a cliffside cave that Titus claimed to hold the answer to why everyone was on the Island: It was one of Jacob's old hang-outs where he scrawled the names of various people on the walls and ceiling (all of which were accompanied by one of the numbers). Many names were crossed out, but those that weren't included Sheppard, Ford, Reyes, Kwon, and Jarrah. The are the names of the candidates for the position of Island protector (i.e., the new Jacob).

The show reminded us that in last year's finale, Jacob visited most of the major characters, including Kate and both Kwons. However, Kate's name is not on the wall, and there is only one Kwon (Titus mentions that Jacob didn't know if Jin or Sun was the special one). Other people not on the wall are Desmond, Frank, Miles, Illana, or Ben (though the bigger surprise would have been if his name had been on the wall). So now we know why they are there. The question becomes, what was Jacob looking for in a replacement? In a substitute?

Up next: Empty promises...

LOST: The Darkness

Three episodes down, fifteen to go. Overall, this was definitely not one of my favorite episodes, but it had some interesting scenes between Jack and Dogen. It also reintroduced the 2007 version of Claire (after briefly seeing her for the first time since Season 4 last week). In this episode, we saw what happened next with the alternaverse Kate and Claire (is every flash-sideways going to begin at LAX and show the characters' immediate journey, or will we pick up months later with a few of them; for example, showing Sayid after a few months of futilely looking for Nadia would be interesting). The pair start off on bad terms when Kate hijacks the cab Claire is in, but they end up as buddies when Kate (foolishly) takes Claire to the hospital even though she is a fugitive. Claire's doctor is none other than Ethan Rom, but in this reality, he goes by his family name of Goodspeed. And when Claire mentions the name Aaron, Kate seems to recognize it, similar to the way alterna-Jack seemed to realize something wasn't quite right last week.

Back on the Island, Sawyer escaped the Temple and Kate and Jin went after him. They told Aldo (played by Rob McElhenny of Always Sunny fame), but each had their own motives for leaving. Jin wants to find Sun, and Kate wants to apologize to Sawyer before fulfilling her intention of finding Claire. The scenes with Sawyer in the Barracks and on the dock are some of the better aspects of this episode.

Back at the Temple, Dogen and Lennon perform torture on Sayid to see if he is "infected." I liked how, eventually, Dogen gave up a bit of information (are we finally going to learn about the sickness?), but why did he not just outright tell Jack? Also, it's pretty clear now that I was wrong about Sayid; his body is not a vessel for a reincarnated Jacob. The question now is, why did Jacob tell Hurley to bring Sayid there? And why did the ankh contain a message instructing the Others to heal Sayid? I would say that Hurley's dead people are manifestations of Titus, but it appears that (1) he can't leave the Island (and Hurley was seeing people off-Island), and (2) Titus can only be in one place at a time (as opposed to the First Evil from Buffy, who is everywhere). Finally, Claire returned in 2007, sporting a rifle and some messed up clothes/hair. The show treated this like a big revelation, but they have been hinting at (if not outright confirming) this plot point for a while now.

Sadly, Ben, Richard, and Titus were not in the episode, but next week's episode is most likely based on Locke/Titus (it's called "The Substitute," which is how Eloise Hawking referred to Locke's body when she told Jack he needed someone to stand in for his father on Ajira 316).

Up next: I swear I'm going to talk about Rome at some point...

LOST: Changes

Because this is LOST's final season, I may try to do one post for each episode. Whether I follow through on this will depend on whether I think each episode fully merits its own post and when I can get access to the episodes. I forget whether or not I've said that I have a class the runs through the first half of the episodes' run time. I wanted to get to this sooner, but life is hectic. Anyway, like I predicted, the scenes of the alterna-verse take the place of flashbacks/forwards (the producers refer to them as "flash-sideways," so I will as well until I get tired of that word). The teaser segment this week shows Flight 815 successfully getting through turbulence. But this is just one of many changes to the timeline in this alternate reality. We also learn in the opening segment that Desmond never crashed his sailboat onto the Island when we see him ON THE PLANE. Also, the Island is underwater.

After the first commercial break, things pick up on the Island, with the characters who were at the Swan site in 1977 back in the present (2007). The characters try to reorient themselves (also, Sawyer kicks Jack in the head (!) and yells at him for being "wrong"). Juliet survived being at ground zero and called for help, but died shortly after Sawyer was able to dig her out and give one final goodbye. Throughout this, Jack sat dejectedly off to the side, realizing that his plan to avoid all the pain and suffering caused by coming to the Island simply resulted in the death of Juliet and the very likely death of Sayid, who obviously did not have long for the world. But when all seemed lost for Sayid, Jacob's ghost appeared to Hurley (are what Hurley sees "ghosts"?) and told him to bring Sayid to the Temple.

At the statue, Titus-in-Locke's-body continued to rock as he explained some of his plans to Ben, including his master plan of "going home." He also explicitly revealed himself as the Monster (let's not resort to name-calling) when he took out Bram and a bunch of the Shadow of the Statue guys (so is Illana the only one left?) in front of Ben. In another great instance of one character man-handling another, Richard threw Ben around and showed him Locke's body when Ben lied about the situation inside Jacob's home. When Titus-Locke emerged, he expressed his "disappointment" with Richard and the Others, knocked Richard out, and started a trek toward the Temple. But first, he said something to Richard that lent credence to one of my friend's theories: My friend stated that he believed that Widmore was a crew member aboard the Black Rock, while Richard was one of the slaves in transit. Titus-Locke commented that it was good to see Richard out of his chains...

At the Temple, the characters encountered various Others, including flight attendant Cindy as well as Zack and Emma. They also met Dogen and Lennon, who seem to be the Others in charge of the Temple. Using a strange spring inside the Temple (whose water had mysteriously changed from clear to murky), the Others were (eventually) able to revive Sayid. The question is, did they revive Sayid, or did the reincarnate Jacob in Sayid's body? I immediately thought the latter, but an interview with Lindelof and Cuse gives evidence for the former. They pointed out that the spring is what allowed the Others to revive young Ben in Season 5. On the other hand, they said that Ben wouldn't be the same. On that note, I'd like to point out how upset with myself I was that I did not make the connection between the spring and young Ben's revival. The producers have said that many answers will have to be inferred, including why Sun did not end up in 1977; they will give us the means to figure things out, but we have to connect the dots ourselves. We also learned two other things about Jacob and Titus this episode: The ash surrounding Jacob's cabin creates a barrier that is impenetrable by Titus (which is why Illana was so concerned when they noticed the circle of ash was broken). In addition, it appears that the ankh is one of Jacob's symbols. To have Jacob represent life and Titus death is a bit simplistic, but that may provide a starting point through which to view their alignments.

Finally, the flash-sideways. Like I said at the end of last season, the plane crash had an aggregate positive effect on the characters. We already see that Charlie is much worse off for not crashing, while Kate continues to make life hard for those she encounters. After getting off the plane, she was able to escape from Marshal Mars and ended up commandeering a taxi containing Claire. But even more strange is the fact that there are differences between the alterna-verse and original timeline that are not a result of the plane not crashing. Shannon was not on 815 in this reality, leading to Boone sitting near Locke in coach, instead of in business class. Hurley sees himself as the luckiest person alive. And check out this rather large difference that occurred years before 815 took off:



My theory on the flash-sideways is that Titus can see both realities and will be able to merge the consciousnesses of the characters with their alternate selves. He will try to explain that their actions were short-sighted and self-centered because they thought that by changing the past, they would be the only ones affected. Why he wants to show them this, I'm not sure yet.

As I said, I will try to do a post for each episode, but in between, assuming I have time, I will continue the stuff about Rome and The Wire.

Up next: All roads...

LOST: Final Pre-Season Predictions

Wow I have been busy. I swear that I will get back to Deadwood and Rome (and The Wire, which I am nearly done with). However, with the premiere of LOST's final season debuting in less than 5 days, and a certain other thing (see below), I wanted to get this out sooner rather than later. First, I always wanted to put out this post so that I could detail a few of my pre-season predictions. In addition, The A.V. Club posted a "leaked" clip from the Season 6 premiere, "LA X." One of my friends told me about it and pointed out that it ends with an ABC ad, so it was released by ABC themselves. At first, I simply assumed that it was misdirection by them, so I watched it, believing that Lindelof and Cuse were screwing with us, but my friend and I came to the conclusion that it could in fact be real. Anyway, the question is definitely whether ABC is messing with us or not, rather than whether some random person got a hold of it. In addition, it is only 4 minutes long, and the first minute and a half or so is footage from "The Incident."



Anyway, my predictions. Ever since Comic Con, when they released the Mr. Cluck's commercial featuring a Hurley that never crashed on the Island, it has been pretty apparent that the writers were going to do something with alternate realities (see my old post about the characters' would-be fates). However, they cannot simple reset the timeline because that would negate the past 5 years and would probably end with a geek riot. My theory on the subject is that the visions of the alternate reality will be in place of flashbacks/forwards, and that the alternate characters will be vaguely aware that something is not quite right with the world (kind of like Buffy in the episode "Superstar," when Jonathan's fantasy world didn't sit right with her). Daniel and Eloise have pointed out that "the rules" of time travel don't apply to Desmond, so he will likely have a very important role to play in setting things right (even if he won't have a starring role this year). Some kind of sacrifice, maybe?

I'm sticking with my prediction from last year that Titus (who I will soon be referring to by a different name) and the Smoke Monster are either the same entity or principal and agent, respectively. The Huffington Post predicted that Rose and Bernard end up as "Adam and Eve" from the caves, and I'm going to agree with them. Assuming the producers make good on some old promises, if we see the adult version of Annie (young Ben's friend from the DHARMA barracks), I believe that she will be played by Elizabeth "Juliet" Mitchell. The producers have said that Annie will play a "seismic" role in Ben's story, and in Season 4, Juliet's therapist commented that Ben took a liking to her because Juliet "looks just like her." Who's the "her" in that sentence? I'm guessing Annie.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Illana and Bram are agents of Widmore. The commando approach (come back, Keamy!) failed, so maybe this is his attempt to retake the Island through a small infiltration? They clearly have knowledge of the Island and currently oppose Ben while supporting Jacob. However, they only oppose Ben because he is with Locke (though maybe Widmore knows that Ben has been unable to actually see Jacob). In addition, Widmore does not seem like the kind of guy Jacob would grant an audience to any more than Ben. As for the "magic box" from Season 3, I think that, like Ben said, it is just a metaphor. The Island is a place of miracles, and if someone wants something bad enough, it will be granted (though there is likely a price). People get healed (Locke wanted nothing more than to be a hunter, and suddenly, his legs were restored and he was the designated hunter/tracker), Jin and Sun's marriage was restored, Michael and Walt became close, Sawyer settled his score with the "real" Sawyer, Kate became free. On the other hand, the Island was a source of strife for people like Jack, Juliet, and Desmond. I think the magic box is as subjective as it is not a box. It is for believers like Locke and Ben, and rewards the righteous (Locke was healed) while it punishes the wicked (Ben contracted cancer). I have competing theories about it, which is why my analysis here is so scattered.

Anyway, I really need to get back to work. I'll probably do a final Dollhouse post before getting back to Deadwood (I didn't realize that I haven't spoken about the Attic or the founder yet!). The final episode airs tonight! Until then, here's a neat little video:



Up next: Where mind and body are as one, forever...