2009 Emmy Awards: Predictions, Results, and Reactions September 20, 2009

The 2009 Emmy Awards have come and gone. How did Neil Patrick Harris fare as host? Which stars were best dressed, and which ones were worst? And most importantly, who took home awards? This year’s Emmy Awards ceremony was Mad Men themed, from the opening images of the stars’ arrivals with voiceover narration, to Neil Patrick Harris’s old school opening number, to the comic book page set up of the various camera views before commercial breaks. They also had Jon Hamm be one of the first presenters, along with Tina Fey. This show isn’t shy about playing favorites!

Speaking of 30 Rock, it won for Best Writing in a Comedy Series, with Matt Hubbard accepting the award for the episode “Reunion.” The Office, not to be outdone, won in the Best Directing for a Comedy Series category (Jeffrey Blitz for “Stress Relief”). When the show shifted gears to Reality Programming, I was initially irritated to see two dancers from Dancing with the Stars, but then some of my favorite SYTYCD performers appeared on stage, including season four winner Joshua, in a routine choregraphed by Tabitha and Napoleon. It was also nice to see Hugh Jackman’s excellent opening number from the Oscars win for “Best Original Music and Lyrics.” After that, the show settled into a dreary sea of cliched banter between presenters, and boring acceptance speeches. The awards that pleased me most were all of 30 Rock’s wins and Michael Emerson’s win for Best Actor in a Drama. The most disappointing category was Jon Cryer beating out everyone else for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

As for the fashion, or lack thereof, my pick for Worst Dressed goes to Patricia Arquette, who appeared to be wearing a black “Hefty trash bag” as a dress. Vanessa Williams’ aqua blue dress was pretty unflattering as well. Gabriel Byrne was looking rather unkempt with his loosened tie and wrinkled shirt (at least by the time they showed him in the crowd late in the show). On the other hand, my picks for Best Dressed go to Kyra Sedgwick, Alyson Hannigan (who looked great in a classic black straplessdress), and Justin Timberlake. I didn’t pay close attention to all the dresses and tuxes, though, so I am sure there are other good and bad choices I could have gone with.

NPH didn't win an Emmy, but he was a fun host.

So how did Neil Patrick Harris do as host? Sure, there were some awkward moments, but also some funny ones. I liked how every presenter was introduced by naming some obscure show or movie they appeared in. I double-checked the authenticity of some of them on IMDB because they sounded so ludicrous. Best moment of the night, though: Dr. Horrible interrupting the token Ernst and Young “Emmy vote tabulation process” explanation to proclaim that television is dead and Internet is the new king of entertainment. It was a clever and creative diversion, with bonus points for appearances by Nathan Fillion and other Dr. Horrible cast members, and a few musical moments.

Read on for a list of nominees in the major categories, as well as my predictions about and reactions to the winners.

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy

Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock

Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock

Kevin Dillon, Entourage

Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

Rainn Wilson, The Office

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

• Who I wanted to win: Neil Patrick Harris – please, please, please let him win this year! He has totally deserved it for the past two seasons, so I am hoping that the third time is the charm, especially since, as host, he will already be up on stage to accept his award.
• Who I thought would win: Since Emmy voters tend to like over the top comedy, they might award Rainn Wilson, but I really think NPH has a good shot at it.
• Who actually won: Jon Cryer. That is just outrageous. There are no words. At least it provided ample material for a funny running bit for NPH.

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy

Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live

Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live

Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

• Who I wanted to win: Kristin Chenoweth – Wouldn’t it be nice if Pushing Daisies could have one last moment of recognition? I don’t think it will happen, though.
• Who I thought would win: Elizabeth Perkins – I’ve never seen an episode of Weeds, so I can’t give an opinion on whether or not Perkins deserves the award, but she seems to fit the Emmy voter bill.
• Who actually won: Kristin Chenoweth! Hooray! What an excellent start to the evening. Her acceptance speech proved that she was totally surprised by the win.

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama

William Shatner, Boston Legal

Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal

William Hurt, Damages

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

Michael Emerson, Lost

John Slattery, Mad Men

• Who I wanted to win: Michael Emerson – He was so perfect last season as Benjamin Linus that it almost causes me physical pain to imagine him not winning in this category. Well then, I guess I should plug in my heating pad, because my muscles and joints are bound to start aching when the actual winner is announced.
• Who I thought would win: If Emmy stands by its old, boring, and infuriating habits, William Shatner will win. If that happens, I will be furious. If the voters decide to mix things up, they might award John Slattery instead, since Mad Men is the trendy show du jour. (I’ve never watched it, so again, my opinion doesn’t really count.)
• Who actually won: Michael Emerson!!! I am so thrilled that he won. He earned it, and it gives Lost the respect it deserves. He gave a very sincere, if creepy, acceptance speech. (It’s that voice of his!)

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama

Cherry Jones, 24

Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy

Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy

Dianne Wiest, In Treatment

Hope Davis, In Treatment

Rose Byrne, Damages

• Who I wanted to win: Back when I watched Grey’s Anatomy, I always liked Chandra Wilson’s performance, so I guess I’d be happy for her to win. Even though 24 is the only show in this category that I watch, I don’t think that Cherry Jones’ performance as the President makes her deserving of the award over these other women.
• Who I thought would win: Dianne Wiest – Just a wild guess, but she does arguably have the most impressive track record among these nominees.
• Who actually won: Cherry Jones. Ok. Good for her.

Outstanding Actor, Comedy

Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Steve Carell, The Office

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords

• Who I wanted to win: Alec Baldwin – He is always pitch perfect as Jack Donaghy and so is completely deserving of this one. It’s also nice to see Jemaine Clement nominated for his hilarious work on Flight of the Conchords, but he’s up against some heavy hitters in this category!
• Who I thought would win: Alec Baldwin – Amazingly, Baldwin seems to be as popular with Emmy voters as with the viewing public. As long as Charlie Sheen doesn’t win, I’ll be happy.
• Who actually won: Alec Baldwin. I’m mainly just relieved that Rob Lowe didn’t call Charlie Sheen’s name. Alec gave a very polished and efficient acceptance speech.

Outstanding Actress, Drama

Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Glenn Close, Damages

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Holly Hunter, Saving Grace

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

• Who I wanted to win: I don’t feel strongly about any of these nominees.
• Who I thought would win: Glenn Close – She plays a powerful character on a risk-taking show, and that makes her quite a one-two punch to Emmy voters.
• Who actually won: Glenn Close. Predictable.

Outstanding Actor, Drama

Simon Baker, The Mentalist

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Hugh Laurie, House

Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

• Who I wanted to win: Michael C. Hall! This is an extremely strong category, and it is highly doubtful that the Emmy voters will reward someone for playing a serial killer over some of the more noble characters represented. However, I think he does an amazing job as Dexter Morgan, and beyond that, that Dexter more accurately represents the human psyche than many of the other nominees.
• Who I thought would win: Hugh Laurie. He’s always an Emmy favorite, but then there’s the trendy choice of Jon Hamm. As much as I love Simon Baker, he seems out of his league in this group. But I am setting all my hopes on Michael C. Hall winning. Fingers crossed!
• Who actually won: Bryan Cranston. Come on, Emmys, how about letting someone else win? Then again, maybe I need to check out this show.

Outstanding Actress, Comedy

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine

Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?

Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Toni Collette, United States of Tara

Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program

• Who I wanted to win: Tina Fey
• Who I thought would win: Tina Fey. She and the whole cast, as well as the writing, have been so good. They deserve to sweep most of the comedy categories (except for NPH’s category, of course).
• Who actually won: Toni Collette. I’m okay with this. Spread the love a little beyond 30 Rock. Strangely, I know absolutely nothing about the show she was nominated for, United States of Tara. Perhaps I should check it out.

Outstanding Series, Comedy

30 Rock

Family Guy

Entourage

The Office

Flight of the Conchords

Weeds

How I Met Your Mother

• What I wanted to win: 30 Rock
• What I thought would win: 30 Rock. Like I said above, it’s the funniest, most consistently well done comedy on tv right now.
• What actually won: 30 Rock. Yeah, this show’s gonna be on for many seasons to come.

Outstanding Series, Drama

Breaking Bad

Damages

Dexter

House

Lost

Mad Men

Big Love

• What I wanted to win: Lost or Dexter, but I think Lost’s ship sailed a long time ago. Even though it just had its best season ever, I think the Emmy voters have already forgotten about it. I also think that season three was Dexter’s best season yet. So fascinating and well executed (pun intended – can’t help myself).
• What I thought would win: House? Well, I wouldn’t award this medical drama for the uneven season it had, but then the Emmy voters don’t judge a show by an entire season so much as the one episode that is submitted. I don’t know much about the other four shows that are nominated, but if I were to pick one of them as the winner I would go with Mad Men.
• What actually won: Mad Men (Excuse me while I roll my eyes. Then again, maybe I need to see what all the fuss is about with this show.)

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program

Ryan Seacrest, American Idol

Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars

Heidi Klum, Project Runway

Jeff Probst, Survivor

Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race

Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio, Top Chef

• Who I wanted to win: Well, I wanted Cat Deeley to win, but she wasn’t nominated.
• Who I thought would win: Jeff Probst. But do I care? Not really. I don’t watch any of these shows. As long as it’s not Tom Bergeron…
• Who actually won: Jeff Probst

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Late Show with David Letterman

Real Time with Bill Maher

Saturday Night Live

• What I wanted to win: The Colbert Report
• What I thought would win: The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert is so great on that show.
• What actually won: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program

The Amazing Race

American Idol

Dancing with the Stars

Project Runway

Top Chef

• What I wanted to win: Don’t really care
• What I thought would win: The Amazing Race (doesn’t it win every year?)
• What actually won: The Amazing Race

Outstanding Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow

Dirty Jobs

Dog Whisperer

Intervention

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List

MythBusters

• What I wanted to win: Dirty Jobs. I do love that Mike Rowe. He should be rewarded for what an easygoing, entertaining host he is.
• What I thought would win: I honestly have no idea. Maybe Intervention, since it’s the most serious on the list?
• What actually won: Intervention

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Brenda Blethyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Carol Burnett, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Ellen Burstyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Sharon Lawrence, Grey’s Anatomy

CCH Pounder, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

• Who I wanted to win: N/A
• Who I thought would win: Sharon Lawrence
• Who actually won: Ellen Burstyn

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Edward Asner, CSI: NY

Ernest Borgnine, ER

Ted Danson, Damages

Michael J. Fox, Rescue Me

Jimmy Smits, Dexter

• Who I wanted to win: Jimmy Smits, please! He was simply amazing as Miguel Prado, and I have spoken at length about it in previous posts.
• Who I thought would win: Jimmy Smits (wishful thinking, perhaps, but he really was that good!)
• Who actually won: Michael J. Fox

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Jennifer Aniston, 30 Rock

Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory

Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live

Gena Rowlands, Monk

Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock

Betty White, My Name Is Earl

• Who I wanted to win: Tina Fey
• Who I thought would win: Tina Fey
• Who actually won: Tina Fey

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Alan Alda, 30 Rock

Will Arnett, 30 Rock

Beau Bridges, Desperate Housewives

Jon Hamm, 30 Rock

Steve Martin, 30 Rock

Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live

• Who I wanted to win: Jon Hamm
• Who I thought would win: Jon Hamm. He was terrific as Liz Lemon’s perfect guy, Dr. Drew.
• Who actually won: Justin Timberlake. How about SNL getting some recognition in the guest acting category?

So, what were you happy or disappointed about on this year’s Emmy Awards? Or, did you not even watch?

Lost: Season Two Revisited May 22, 2009

Upon my second viewing of Lost’s second season, I came away with a similar opinion to the first time around: it wasn’t as all-around amazing as the first season, but it introduced some interesting new twists. Knowing all that we know now, the developments of season two don’t seem as earth shattering. That being said, there was still a lot to enjoy.

The Characters

• The Original Cast – We didn’t spend as much time with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and the other “cool kids” (and the writers continued poking fun at the fact that everyone acted like the other survivors didn’t exist or matter). We continued to piece together their back stories: the dissolution of Jack’s marriage, the truth about Kate’s criminal past (she murdered her “step” father), the stranglehold that Locke’s despicable father had on his life and relationship, the not so innocent side of Sun, the softer side of Sawyer’s nature, the crazy side of Hurley, etc. Over the course of the season, we saw Sayid mourn and recover from Shannon’s sudden death, Kate and Sawyer develop more of an attraction for each other, Jack and Locke clash over leadership direction, Sun and Jin celebrate over the news that she is pregnant, etc.
• The Newbies – Ah, the now infamous tail section survivors of Flight 815: Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Libby, Bernard, and that other chick who got taken by the Others before we got to know her. Ana Lucia was always super annoying, but she didn’t bother me as much this time around – probably because I felt sorry for the gruesome death for which she was headed. Mr. Eko was actually more annoying this time. He was always speaking in cryptic, mysterious ways, and wandering around looking creepy. I’m still bugged that we never got all of Libby’s back story before she died. The fact that three of these survivors died within a season of first appearing makes them feel like an after thought, or like filler until the writers could get to the good stuff. Sure, initially it was fascinating to think that there were other survivors, and it was heartwarming to see Rose and Bernard’s reunion. But introducing this group didn’t give us any clues about the mysteries of the island.
• Desmond – With a skipping record player, we met the beloved Desmond. In the beginning he was a bit loopy from being closed up in the hatch by himself for so long. And then he disappeared for the whole season! The writers redeemed themselves by centering the season finale around him and his back story. We learned that he arrived on the island during a boat race around the world. He had embarked on that race to regain his honor (after being dishonorably discharged from the Queen’s army), and to win back Penny. Instead, he ended up stuck in a hatch pushing a button every 108 minutes to, presumably, save the world. He is one of the more fascinating characters on the show, and we saw a lot more of him in season three.
• Henry Gale/Benjamin Linus – We didn’t learn his real name until, I believe, the beginning of season three. But from the very beginning, he was uber creepy! The scene where he is eating cereal at the table with Locke, and laughingly talks about what he would do if he were an Other (lead them to a secluded spot, have my people ambush them…), perfectly demonstrated Ben’s manipulative, disturbing personality.

The Mythology

• The Hatch – We learned that the Hatch was one of many stations set up by the Dharma Initiative, a group who lived on the island and performed scientific and sociological experiments. I liked how we were introduced to Dharma via the warbled, unsettling Orientation film strips. All season we wondered along with Locke and the rest whether or not it was really necessary to push the button. We found out it was in the season finale, when the electromagnetism went berserk when Locke didn’t push the button and destroyed the computer. Thankfully, Desmond seemed to save the day by turning a failsafe key – but we had to wait until the next season to find out what happened to the Hatch and everyone in it. The Hatch’s main purpose was to set up Locke’s struggle between reason and faith. After his temporary skepticism, the incident at the Hatch made him a believer once more.
• The Others – We only saw them lurking around the jungle, barefoot, wearing ragged clothing. And then we saw them living in huts on the beach. But, we also had some hints that they were pretending to be savages: the medical station where they treated Claire, the fake beard and stage makeup in the locker, and the civilized people (Ethan, Goodwin, and Ben) who infiltrated the survivors’ camps. We didn’t know how long they had lived on the island, but we pieced together that they thought of themselves as Good, and they were taking the Good people from the flight survivors and leaving the Bad ones behind.
• The Dharma Initiative – At this point we weren’t sure if the Dharma people and the Others were different groups, although it seemed to be so. We did know that they were studying the electromagnetic qualities of the island, as well as sociological experiments on the people living in the Hatch.

Random Observations and Questions:

• Visions of Dead People – By the end of season two, Jack had seen his dead father, Mr. Eko had talked to his dead brother and the just deceased Ana Lucia, Kate had been spoken to by her dead step father (who had, it seemed, momentarily possessed Sawyer), etc. These instances, except maybe for the Sawyer/Kate’s step dad one, are like the more recent visitations (Alex telling Ben to do what Locke says, Jack’s father guiding Locke, Hurley’s conversations and chess matches with his deceased friends). But what about Shannon’s visions of Walt, and Hurley’s conversations with his imaginary friend Dave from the mental hospital? We knew that Walt had telekinetic abilities, so that probably explains why Shannon and Sayid saw him. And Hurley was going through some major stress related to his overeating and his crush on Libby, so his hallucinations of Dave were probably not island related as much as in his head. The vision that doesn’t make sense to me is from season four, when Kate saw Claire in Aaron’s bedroom, and Claire told her not to bring Aaron back. We don’t know if Claire is dead or alive, but since they didn’t show her die, I have to believe that she is alive on the island. One of the latest theories is that not-Locke (aka Jacob’s nemesis) has the ability to appear as anyone who has visited the island and who is dead: Jack’s father, Mr. Eko’s brother, and more recently Locke. So Kate’s vision of Claire could mean that Claire is dead and that was actually not-Locke in Aaron’s room. Or, it could be some other force at work, regardless of whether Claire is alive or dead. That’s a head scratcher.
• Why did the Others dress in ragged clothes and pretend to be savages, when they were really living in a civilized community? And why did they abduct the “good” survivors? How did they determine who was good and who was bad? The answer to the good/bad part of this question seems to lie with Jacob. He chooses people for a list, based on how worthy they are to remain on the island as an Other. And I guess the Others could maintain more control over the island visitors by creating a sense of mystery about themselves. Had the Flight 815 passengers known that the Others lived on a commune and had book clubs, they would have been less likely to cooperate. But still, it seemed like an awful roundabout way to distract.
• “What Kate Did” – This episode answered the burning question of what Kate did, but it also raised a couple of lingering questions for me. What was with the black horse? Can not-Locke appear as animals, too? The appearance of the horse doesn’t fit with the rest of the mythology. Another question: Why did someone cut part of the Dharma film out and hide it in a book? Who did that? Was this question ever answered?
• “Maternity Leave” – Claire, Rousseau, and Kate discovered the truth about Claire’s abduction. She was held captive and sedated, and was told that her baby needed a continued treatment of a vaccine to prevent him from getting sick. This could have just been a ruse, to convince Claire to let the Others keep Aaron, just as Desmond injected himself with the vaccine and stayed inside the Hatch to avoid “the sickness.” However, Rousseau thinks Aaron has the same sickness that infected her crew. In season five we saw her crew turn on one another from whatever sickness they contracted. I wonder now if their sickness is related to Not-Locke. Something else in this episode that reminds me of Not-Locke is when Ben, then known as Henry and being held captive in the Hatch, asked John whether he’s the genius or the guy living in the shadow of the genius (a comparison at the time between Locke and Jack, and Hemingway and Dostoevsky). If Ben has been involved in not-Locke’s plan all along, then perhaps he was already planting seeds of desire for leadership in Locke’s mind, to position him to a place where Not-Locke could get to him. I mean, think of all the times Ben tried to kill Locke. Maybe he was always following orders of not-Locke!
• In “Two for the Road,” Locke asks “Henry” why he tried to kill Ana Lucia but not him. Henry/Ben answers that the man in charge (Jacob, we now know) is a brilliant man, but not a forgiving one, and he wouldn’t be too happy that Ben failed in his mission (when Rousseau caught him), which he claims was to bring Locke back to their camp. I wonder if Jacob really wanted Ben to bring Locke back to the camp. Probably not. This was more likely Ben’s way of manipulating Locke, either for his own purposes or perhaps for not-Locke.

• Season finale: “Live Together, Die Alone” – Desmond’s backstory. We see that his Hatch partner, Kelvin, was the man who asked Sayid to torture his commanding officer. Then, we learn that Radzinsky was Kelvin’s partner. He’s the one who came after Sayer, Juliet, etc. We saw many connections like this in season two. When Desmond turned the failsafe key, what happened to the hatch (did the electromagnetism reset, did destroying the Hatch negate the effects of the magnetism, etc.)? Why did the sky turn bright white like during the time flashes? And why did this flash seem to only affect Desmond, who ended up going on a journey through time? I don’t have any good answers to these questions.
• I liked how the finale developed Desmond’s character more and introduced us to his relationship with Penny. Their love story is so much more epic and touching than the Jack/Kate/Sawyer stuff, which has always seemed juvenile.

Best Episodes

• “Man of Science, Man of Faith” – This episode had the single greatest opening scene of any season, and perhaps of any show! We didn’t know who this man was who was going about his morning routine. Our first assumption was that it was one of the crash survivors, and we were seeing a flashback. But then, with a skipping record and a loud “BOOM,” we realized this man was living in the Hatch! The rest of the episode introduced us to Desmond, to the Hatch, and to Jack’s struggle between science and faith.

• “The Other 48 Days” – Despite all my complaining about the addition of the tail section survivors in season two, I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating episode that showed what was happening at their camp while Jack and company were creating a near tropical paradise on their side of the island. The question remains, why did the tail section folks have such a horrific time of it in their first 48 days, while the other group survived relatively unscathed? For one thing, they must have had more “good” people in their camp, since the majority of them were taken, whereas only a couple were taken from Jack’s group. Whatever the case, this episode, which consisted entirely of chronological flashbacks starting with the crash of Flight 815, gave us yet another new perspective of the island and its inhabitants.

• “Lockdown” – This episode was the first one in which Michael Emerson was really given a chance to be super creepy, plus show off his acting abilities, as Henry Gale. It was fascinating, especially the second time around, to watch him manipulate Locke and bide his time, rather than escaping when he had a clear shot. This episode also gave us clues about the greater scope of the Dharma Initiative, when Locke discovered the mural when the hatch doors closed. Psychologically gripping, plus plenty of exciting plot development, this was a great episode.
• “S.O.S.” – I really enjoyed this episode, which finally gave us a Rose and Bernard flashback. Their backstory was very touching, from the way they met when Bernard helped Rose get her car unstuck from the snow, to his romantic proposal at Niagara Falls that turned into Rose tearfully telling him she had terminal cancer. I’ve wondered over the years why these characters weren’t given more screen time. My guess is that they both have either family obligations, or other television or theater work, that prevents them from having more active roles on Lost. Whatever the case, their episode was probably my favorite in terms of the flashbacks of season two.
• “Live Together, Die Alone” – Two hours of Desmond flashbacks! How great is that? He disappeared for most of the season, so I was thrilled when he showed up on his boat. I just said that Rose and Bernard’s flashback was my favorite of the season, but Desmond’s was great as well. But, I liked the parts of his flashback on the island more than the off-island parts. It was interesting to see how he came to be on the island, and how he ended up pushing the button in the hatch for three years. Meanwhile, the current events on the island were interesting as well. It was tense watching Michael lead Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley into a trap, and wondering what was going to happen when Locke didn’t enter the numbers and push the button. And we got our first glimpse of the giant four-toed statue that was so pivotal in this season’s finale. How strange that we didn’t hear anything else about it for three years.

I’ve now moved on to season three, but I’m slowing my pace a bit. I need to make these episodes last awhile, since I have to wait so long for season six!

Lost 5.16: The Incident May 14, 2009

Jacob is Paul (Mark Pellegrino), Rita’s ex-husband from Dexter! He visited all the Losties at some point in their lives, thus weaving them into his grand island tapestry! Locke isn’t Locke?! Real Locke is dead in the cargo box, and not-Locke is manipulating Ben into stabbing Jacob?! Jack drops the bomb, but it doesn’t detonate. But wait, Juliet falls to her death at the Swan. But wait. She’s still alive and detonates the bomb herself! These were only some of the developments on the crazy good, fast-paced, fully loaded Lost season finale.

Making Sense of the Madness – I’ve divided my post into sections, based on the various threads of the finale’s plot: the flashbacks, the events of 1979, and the events thirty years later. For each section, I’ve tried to establish what we already knew, what we learned, and questions we still have.

In the beginning – In classic Lost fashion, the finale opened by taking us back to the beginning, at least the beginning of what we know about the Island. As the Black Rock approaches from a distance, we meet the mysterious Jacob, who seems to be an ordinary guy who likes to eat fish and weave fabric on a loom. He has a cryptic conversation with some guy in sackcloth about how he keeps bringing people to the island in the hope that one day things will end differently than with “they come, fight, destroy, and corrupt.” Jacob says that “if it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress.” At that point the other man turns to him and says, “Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?” Jacob says he does. The other man continues, “One of these days, sooner or later, I’m going to find a loophole, my friend.” Jacob responds, “Well when you do, I’ll be right here.” The camera then pans up to reveal the four-toed statue in all its alligator snout, cat-eared glory. The exchange between Jacob and this man set up the theme of this whole episode, and gave a larger perspective to the series as a whole. Come. Fight. Destroy. Corrupt. That’s kind of what has happened over and over again, and now everyone is coming to some end point at which the cycle can either continue or be broken.

• What we already knew: Jacob is in charge of the island. The Black Rock is a ship that wrecked on the island, which has been referred to at various times during the five seasons of the show.
• What we learned: Jacob is real, not an apparition, and he apparently has the same anti-aging solution as Richard. Jacob “brought” the Black Rock to the island, as part of his plan. He weaves together the fabric of the island and its inhabitants just as he weaves his baskets and wall hangings. Not everyone loves Jacob – this unnamed man wants to kill him. And the giant statue was still standing when the Black Rock arrived.
• Questions we still have: Where did Jacob come from, and why is he conducting this social experiment? Who is the unnamed man, and why does he want to kill Jacob? How did such a huge statue get demolished?

The Flashbacks – This week’s flashbacks took us back to earlier times in the Losties’ lives, at the moments they encountered Jacob. I loved the shout outs to previous seasons in these scenes: Patsy Cline playing during Kate’s failed attempt to shoplift a NKOTB lunchbox, a young Sawyer writing his vengeful letter to the man who destroyed his life, Jack freaking out while performing the surgery he talked about in the pilot, Locke being pushed out of the window by his father.

• What we already knew: We already knew the circumstances in which we saw the characters – we just saw them from a different perspective.
• What we learned: It wasn’t just “fate” that led these people to the island – it was Jacob himself. Apparently, by visiting each of them at some point in their lives, and touching them, he made them part of his grand plan, and from that moment on they were attached to the island, and being woven into its tapestry. It was suggested that Jacob healed Locke by touching him, after Locke fell to an almost certain death. We finally learned how Hurley ended up on Ajeera Flight 316 – Jacob told him to get on it, if he wanted to. Jacob is all about free will and giving people choices. Not all of Jacob’s visits were friendly. He orchestrated Nadia’s death, and it’s horrible to know that Sayid witnessed her being hit by a car, when moments before they were happily discussing their anniversary.
• Questions we still have: Why did Jacob cause Nadia’s death? Was that the only way to get Sayid to return to the island? And what made each of these people so special that he wanted to draw them to the island?

Thirty Years Later – Locke leads Richard, Ben, and the Others on his quest to see Jacob, but only Ben knows that he plans to kill him. We should have known something wasn’t right when Locke lied to Richard, saying he only wanted to thank Jacob for bringing him back to life, when he had already told Ben that he wanted to kill him. Another clue that something was amiss was when Richard said he’s seen a lot of things on the island, but had never seen someone brought back to life. Add this to Benjamin’s statement from a previous episode that “dead is dead; there’s no coming back from that,” and we had major signposts that all was not what it seemed to be. Despite all of that, I was completely shocked when we learned what was in the cargo box!! But we had to wait until the end of the episode to learn that a very dead Locke was in the box. Leading up to that moment, we got some more hints about Ilana, Bram, and the other Ajeera passengers that were also on a mission to visit Jacob.

• What we already knew: Jacob is in charge of the island, and there’s a constant rotation of island leaders who answer to him, through Richard. These leaders have included Widmore, Eloise Hawking, Ben, and Locke. Until now, as far as we know, only Richard has interacted with Jacob, so not-Locke is bucking the trend by meeting Jacob face to face, and by bringing Ben with him.
• What we learned: The biggest revelation of the whole episode is that born again Locke isn’t Locke at all. He’s the man who was talking to Jacob at the beginning of the episode. Apparently he found a loophole and was able to return to the island, or at least jump into Locke’s body, so he could challenge Jacob’s position as island head honcho. Not-Locke made it into the foot of the statue, and easily convinced Ben to kill Jacob. Meanwhile, Ilana and the gang looked for Jacob at the cabin and determined that he hadn’t lived there for some time, and then continued on to the site of the statue. They called themselves the “good guys” and brought Frank along because he might be a “candidate.” Speaking of Ilana and her friends, it seems clear that they weren’t on Flight 316 by accident. Jacob probably told them to get on it. I suppose they aren’t crazy after all – they are just on a mission. We saw a brief flashback of Ilana, her face bruised and bandaged, and Jacob paying her a visit asking for her help. We’ll have to wait until next season to learn more about this newest group.
• Questions we still have: This part of the episode was interesting to me and suggested a few things. One, if Jacob hasn’t lived in the cabin for several years, who or what did Locke and Ben encounter on their visit there, when things were flying through the air and a disembodied voice cried out “help me”? Two, when Ilana arrived on the beach where the Others were camped out, she asked to speak to Ricardos. When she asks him what lies in the shadow of the statue, he responds in Latin, saying “He who will protect/save us all.” I still believe that Richard arrived on the island via the Black Rock. I am still hoping for a Richard-centric episode next season. Bram told Frank that what they (the Others) are up against is something a lot scarier than Locke’s dead body. So then, who is not-Locke, and why is he so scary? When not-Locke’s group came across the old Losties’ campsite, Sun found Aaron’s crib, and Charlie’s ring inside it. This reference to our favorite family trio suggests that Claire and Aaron will play a role next season, and that perhaps that Charlie’s death wasn’t pointless.

Back in 1979 – Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate easily made their way off the sub and back to the island, while Jack and Sayid transported the bomb through the Dharma village (with the ultimate goal of detonating it at the Swan, to change the future), but ran into some gunfire before they could make it into the jungle. Sayid got shot, but Hurley, Miles, and Jin showed up in a blue VW van to save the day. Several frantic moments later, Jack and Sawyer faced off and had a fist fight in the jungle. They were interrupted by Juliet, who changed her mind and decided rather than try to stop Jack, they should help him. Why? Because he was right. But I think more than saving the lives of hundreds of people in the future, Juliet was trying to save herself the pain of the rejection she believed she would receive from Sawyer eventually. I thought it was a pretty weak explanation, for her to say that she knew what they had wouldn’t last, just because of how Sawyer looked at Kate on the sub. But, I suppose the flashback about her parents splitting up was an okay explanation for her way of thinking.

• What we already knew: We knew that some sort of incident took place at the Swan around this time – we’ve known that since Season One, when Dr. Chang basically said as much on the Dharma Orientation video. We also knew that Daniel came back to the island to try to prevent this incident from happening, and that Jack wanted to continue his plan after Eloise shot and killed Daniel.
• What we learned: Thank you, writers, for finally letting us know what became of Rose and Bernard (and Vincent). It turns out they decided to “retire,” and they’ve been living happily in a hut just off the beach for three years, since the day that Sawyer’s crew fled the flaming arrows to join the Dharma Initiative. I liked their outlook – that their would always be something to worry about, so they just chose to let it go and be thankful that they were together. If only Sawyer and Juliet had shared their philosophy and taken that sub off the island… Instead, the electromagnetism pulled Juliet down into the hatch, where she survived long enough to detonate the bomb. (What a horribly sad scene it was when she let go of Sawyer’s hand.)
• Questions we still have: What happened when Juliet detonated the bomb?! The writers cruelly will make us wait until next January or February to find out. It seems clear that it killed Juliet, but did Jack, Kate, and Sawyer have time to get out of the blast radius? What about Hurley, Miles, and Jin? What will be the implications of the bomb? Is it going to change the future, or was the bomb the incident in the first place?

The Big Questions

• Not-Locke and Ben vs. Ilana, Bram, and the Others: Not-Locke promises Ben that things are going to change after Jacob is gone. The question is, how will they change? A more interesting question related to this one is, who is or will be on whose side in this battle?
  • Ben – What if Ben was in on the plan to bring not-Locke back as Locke all along? Maybe that’s why he killed Locke. He reemphasized this week that he’s a liar, that that’s what he does. So it’s strange that he would suddenly be this naive, broken man. That being said, his speech to Jacob about his years of service to the island, was quite touching. Who can blame him, that when Jacob’s only response to his question, “What about me?” was “What about you?” he wasted no time stabbing him. Even so, I don’t think we can ever trust Ben, so maybe making a deal with not-Locke is his final power play after all the failed moves that came before. I’m not sure how his encounter with Alex and the smoke monster would fit into this equation, but it’s something to keep in mind.
  • Richard – Richard is the advisor to the island leader, but since not-Locke isn’t technically Locke (who is the current rightful leader), and since Locke is dead in a box, who will Richard side with? Will he work with Ilana and Bram, will he support not-Locke, or will he branch out in his own direction?
  • Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking – They have both spoken of the coming war. We can now assume they were referring to the war between not-Locke and Ilana’s group. So which side are they on? I need to go back and watch this season and last to refresh my memory on who told who to go back to the island, and why. That may give us some clues about the two sides.
• What happened after Juliet detonated the bomb? - Miles made a good point that perhaps by detonating the bomb, they would simply be causing “the incident” they were trying to prevent. However, they chose to ignore his advice that “maybe the best thing to do is nothing.” What does this mean for the final season? Here are a couple of scenarios:
  • The bomb demagnetizes the Swan, but doesn’t cause a time flash – In this scenario, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and the others who are stuck in the ’70s stay stuck in the ’70s. This doesn’t seem likely. I think the whole “stuck in the ’70s” story has been played out.
  • The bomb caused the incident that led them to the island in the future – If this is true (that the detonation of the bomb was the incident), then Flight 815 would still land on the island, in which case perhaps when the bomb went off, they were time flashed back to the present, where they will meet up with not-Locke, Richard, Ilana, and everyone else about to go to war by the four-toed statue. I kind of like this scenario, and I think it’s the most likely.
  • The bomb changes the future, and Flight 815 never crashes on the island – This scenario gets too complicated. Why? Because some of the Flight 815ers are still on the island in 2000-whatever. Surely the writers are going to show us how all of that resolves. It would be anti-climactic if we just saw Flight 815 land in L.A. and all the passengers go on their merry way. I mean, there are still 16 episodes left? The only way this scenario would make sense is if they had some memory of their past experiences, and were drawn back to the island. But if Flight 815 never crashed, then that makes most of what happened over the past five seasons pointless, which would be sad. Charlie’s sacrifice, Sawyer and Juliet’s relationship, Miles reuniting with his father, etc.

• How and when did not-Locke jump into Locke’s body? – This question could drive me crazy. I tried to think about it last night, but I got confused thinking about present Locke, time jumping Locke, etc. One thing that I think I understand is this: not-Locke had Richard tell real Locke that he had to die to save the island. We saw that scene again last week, where Locke was shot by Ethan, and then flashed into the future, where Richard came over and doctored his wound, and told him that he had to die. So, not-Locke orchestrated the circumstances of Locke’s death. What I can’t figure out is how there can be two bodies that look like Locke. Someone needs to explain this to me next season!

That’s all I have for now. Any thoughts, theories, disappointments, etc. that you’d like to share?

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Lost 5.15: Follow the Leader May 8, 2009

Why did Kate have to show up on the sub and mess up Sawyer and Juliet’s happily-ever-after? How annoying! Sorry, I just had to start with that because of all the developments in this week’s episode, that was the one that stuck with me the most. This will be a scattered post because I don’t have the benefit of my Tivo to review the episode (I’m in a DVR-less hotel room in Los Angeles).

This episode’s dominant theme was leadership, thus the title “Follow the Leader.” The question is, who is the rightful leader, and who’s leading who? We have Locke as the new leader of the Others, with Ben as his sidekick and Richard as his advisor. Then there’s Jack unofficially declaring himself leader of the 1970s gang, while Sawyer throws in the towel to run off into the sunset with Juliet. There is also tension between Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore in the ’70s, as they argue over what’s best for their people. And perhaps most intriguing, Locke has positioned himself to challenge the ultimate island leader: Jacob.

A Role Reversal:

• In the past, it has always been Jack who made rational decisions and seemed to act in the best interest of everyone on the island, while Locke was the one putting too much trust in the Island’s mystical forces, relying on faith rather than reality to guide him. In this episode, however, their leadership roles are shifting. Kate even told Jack that he was beginning to sound like Locke, when he told her his plan to detonate the bomb to change the timeline of island events. Has life really been so miserable for Jack that he’s willing to risk everything to reverse all the events they’ve been through? I must say that I agreed with Kate when she said it hasn’t all been bad. Regardless of his motivation, Jack is now looking crazy-eyed, as he swims through underwater tunnels to what appears to be the same subterranean passages in which Ben was confronted by the Smoke Monster. Eloise said that the bomb was located right under the Dharma camp, so I’m guessing that the pool of water under Ben’s house drains to that area.

• While Jack is talking crazy and hypothetically, Locke is suddenly Mr. Straightforward. He somehow knows exactly when to lead Richard to the old crashed plane (from season one – the one that was Boone’s deathtrap), so that Richard can treat other Locke’s gunshot wound and tell him that he has to die to save everyone. (I was glad they explained that encounter that we only had half the story of before now – interesting that it was in the future). Then he demands that Richard take him to Jacob without delay. Not only that, but he takes the entire camp of Others with him, and tells Ben that he plans to kill Jacob! Some of this is crazy talk, but Locke is certainly taking matters into his own hands and seems more grounded in reality than in the past.

I Wash My Hands of It:

• I thought it was realistic that Sawyer was ready to be rid of the island, when it became a choice of protecting the whereabouts of Jack, Kate, and Daniel, or preventing Radzinsky from torturing Juliet. He made a reasonable decision to tell Radzinsky what he wanted to know so that he and Juliet could go back to living a life of domestic bliss. After all, he has nothing to go back to in 2009, but has a woman who loves and respects him in their 1970s present. It seems like Juliet would want to make it back “home” to see her sister and her sister’s child, but perhaps at this point she cares more about just getting off the island.
• Of course, all of these plans for happiness and freedom are moot, since Kate shows up just before the sub leaves the island. Boo! Based on the preview for the season finale, it looks like she’ll convince Sawyer and Juliet to go back to the island to rescue everyone from Jack’s crazy plan.

A Happy Answer to a Lifelong Question:

• One bright spot in this episode was Miles’ semi-resolution with his father. Dr. Chang basically interrogates Hurley about current events until he caves and admits they are, indeed, from the future. This frees up Miles to admit to Chang that he’s his son. And then later on, in an even better moment, he watches from afar as Chang verbally assaults (in a display of impressive theatrics)Miles’ mother as she waits to board the sub. Miles realizes at that moment that Dr. Chang wasn’t really a deadbeat, uncaring dad. He cared for Miles and his mother so much that he did what was necessary to make her leave the island, so she wouldn’t be in danger. It’s really sad that she lived the rest of her life thinking that Chang didn’t love her and didn’t want to be a part of their family, but at least now Miles knows that the truth is more complicated, and that Chang was a decent man.

Crossing Over to the Dark Side:

• Sayid made his first appearance (that I can remember) since shooting Ben. It is appropriate that he is dressed in black, as he seems to have resumed his remorseless, amoral attitude. He has no qualms about killing two of the Others (albeit to protect Kate), and he sounds similar to Jack in his belief that he has already changed things by (as far as he knows) killing Ben. Kate broke the news to him that he didn’t succeed. So now Sayid is willing to ally himself with Jack, most likely for another chance to reunite with Nadia, no matter how small the likelihood of success is. I can’t blame Sayid for his willingness to destroy the island. It’s been nothing but bad news for him, as I discussed in my review of this season’s episode “He’s Our You.”

The Mysterious Mr. Alpert:

• When the episode opened with Richard working on a model of a ship, I was momentarily excited, thinking that maybe we would finally get a Richard-centric episode! I am dying to know his back story. We got a couple more hints in this episode. One is the fact that he has a ship in a bottle that resembles the Black Rock. This reminds me of the episode a couple seasons ago when young Ben encountered Richard in the jungle. At that time, Richard looked very old school, with longer hair and a ruffly Pirate-esque shirt (reminsicent of Seinfeld’s puffy shirt, actually). Could it be that Richard arrived on the island via the Black Rock, when it wrecked years ago? Ben did say that Richard has had the role of island advisor for a very long time. Hmmm…

Collision Course:

• There seem to be four paths headed toward one another as we come to the season finale: Jack and the Others who are trying to detonate the bomb, Radzinsky and the Dharma-ites who are trying to apprehend them, Locke and the modern Others who are going to confront Jacob, and newcomers Ilana and Bram (with Frank as their captive) who are seeking what lies in the shadow of the statue. The variables in this recipe for trouble are Sawyer, Kate, and Juliet; Hurley, Miles, and Jin; and to a certain extent, Ben, since he probably wants to do anything in his power to prevent Locke from gaining even more power. Will Rose and Bernard play a role somehow? And will Claire reappear? So many questions, so little time for answers!

I look forward to next week’s season finale, but at the same time I know that it will leave me with tons of questions that I’ll have to wait months and months to have answered! Thank goodness I have five seasons to enjoy rewatching until next January.

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Lost: Season One Revisited May 5, 2009

Plane crash. Mysterious island. Smoke monster. Life. Death. Survival.

That’s what season one of Lost boils down to. I’ve been loving the show so much this season that I decided to rewatch from the beginning. So over the past two weeks, I made my way through all 24 episodes of season one. If only there were eight more episodes this season – I’m sad that there are only two left! Season one was far less complicated than this season has been. There was only one known camp of people on the island – our Oceanic Flight 815 survivors – plus that crazy lady Rousseau and creepy Ethan. Time travel hadn’t even crossed most fans’ minds yet, the Others were only mentioned in passing, and the fateful connections among the survivors had only been hinted at. All the elements I just listed have become integral to the show over the past two seasons, so in their absence, what was season one all about? Well, the characters. To borrow from Rodgers and Hammerstein, “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.” So what were our favorite (and not so favorite) characters all about in the beginning of this fantastic show?

The Characters

• Jack – Jack had a lot of screen time, and more flashbacks than anyone else, as far as I can tell, with Kate running a close second. (I always find myself feeling disappointed when I learn that it’s a Kate or Jack episode, even though some of those are really good.) We learned about Jack’s troubled relationship with his father, about his hero complex (which led him to marry the girl he managed to “fix” after her car accident), and about his refusal to accept failure as an option.
• Kate – We quickly learned that Kate was being transported by a U.S. marshall and that she had been a fugitive. We had to wait awhile longer to learn exactly why she was in trouble with the law. The writers portrayed Kate as someone who fears commitment, preferring a nomadic existence over settling down and dealing with sometimes difficult circumstances (she wandered back and forth between the beach and the caves, and flirted with both Jack and Sawyer). She also appeared somewhat devious and untrustworthy, traits that the writers have put on the back burner since season one. You’d hardly know now that she was a fugitive and a murderer.
• Sawyer – He has probably changed more than any other character on the show. The first several episodes he was the stereotypical bad boy, hoarding food, stealing stuff off of dead bodies, and using his stash as bargaining tools to get more things that he wanted. But before long, we saw the softer side of Sawyer, and he has continued to transform over the past five seasons. He was plagued by guilt over becoming a con man, when his original goal had simply been to exact revenge on the con man who destroyed his family. The episode in which Kate discovered and read the letter he had written to Mr. Sawyer was heartbreaking. Once we learned why Sawyer was the way he was, we cared much more about him. One of the stand-out moments of the entire series for me is from the episode”Exodus: Part I,” where Sawyer finally tells Jack about his encounter with his dad in Sydney. That’s the moment that Sawyer really started to become a good guy. He had nothing to gain from telling Jack that his father was proud of him and loved him, but he did it anyway. In addition to giving us insight into both characters, and developing their relationship into something more than a rivalry, it was simply a very well done, powerful scene.
• Locke – I think Locke has the best back story on the show. We had to wait so long to find out the whole story! His first flashback episode revealed that he had been paralyzed before the plane crashed, which explained why he was so excited about being there. The contrast between his job at a box company and his adventureous spirit on the island was so drastic. It was as if the island not only took away his physical paralysis, but also his emotional/psychological paralysis. On the island, his tendency to be passive and ineffective was replaced by an almost super human ability to solve any problem, hunt any animal, and face any fear. He was also kooky sometimes, with all his talk about “the island will tell us what to do” and “it’s a sacrifice that the island demands.” In season two the writers would develop Locke as a man of faith even more, in contrast to Jack’s man of science. The back story about his father conning him into giving him a kidney was so horrible (horrible for him, but fascinating to watch). No wonder this man has issues.
• Sun – It’s weird how mysterious the writers made Sun and Jin out to be in the early episodes. I guess that’s how the others would have perceived them, since they couldn’t communicate with them. What a surprising twist it was that she could speak near perfect English! Sun and Jin’s imperfect, yet loving relationship was one of my favorite things about season one. Seeing the flashbacks about their courtship, followed by the struggles that came along with Jin’s job for her father, and finally their separation and reunion on the island, were all so emotionally engaging.
• Jin – Like Sawyer, Jin has come a long way since the first season. In the beginning, he came across as a stern, insensitive man who ruled over Sun with an iron fist. Over time, though, the experiences on the island softened him, and he loosened up a lot. The episode where he pummels Michael over the misunderstanding about the watch was effective in revealing what made him tick (pun intended – sorry). We’ve had to wonder about his fate several times over the seasons, and the first time came in the season one finale, when he went overboard from the raft during our survivors’ first encounter with the creepy Others. Thank goodness he is still with us, not to mention speaking perfect English now!
• Charlie – Of all the people who have died or disappeared, it is saddest to see Charlie, knowing what eventually happens to him. He was so laid back and fun loving, a breath of fresh air in a group of so many Debbie Downers. It was hard to watch him go through the ups and downs of his heroin addiction, but was sweet to see his relationship with Claire and Aaron develop. He always tried his hardest to protect them, but didn’t always succeed. One of the most heart wrenching scenes of the series was when Jack and Kate discovered Charlie hanging from a tree, and it seemed that all efforts to revive him would fail. We really thought he was dead that time, and just when we were starting to mourn the loss of this great character, Jack beat on his chest one more time, and with a great gasp, Charlie breathed again! Those pesky writers, playing with our emotions!
• Hurley – I was surprised during my rewatch that Hurley only had one flashback episode in season one. In that episode, we learned that he won the lottery using numbers that he heard a guy repeat over and over again at the mental institution he stayed in for awhile. We didn’t know why he was there, though. Hurley was mostly comic relief, and still is, but his discman also provided a great soundtrack during most of the first season. I guess ipods weren’t popular yet.
• Sayid – Sayid’s season one flashback episodes weren’t my favorite, even though I really like his character. I always had trouble believing that he would be attracted to, much less get involved with, Shannon, especially since at the time of the plane crash he was so focused on reunited with his true love, Nadia. The writers played up the tortured soul angle in season one. Here was a man who strived to do what was right and good, and to play by the rules, but whose training as an interrogation specialist would lead him down dark paths from time to time. I am still hoping Sayid can have something go his way before the show ends, because so far he always seems to get the bad end of the deal.
• Claire – Claire was a sweet character – probably the only female character that I would describe as such. Here she was, a young woman, on the brink of becoming a mom to a baby she was about to give up for adoption, and now she was stuck on an island, with a recovering heroin addict as her new closest friend, and with plenty of time to sit and ponder the warnings that the psychic gave her that it was imperative that only she raise her child. I miss her presence on the show now (although I’m sure she will resurface at some point), because I think her kind, softer personality would balance out some of the more abrasive, dominating female personalities that still remain.
• Michael and Walt – I haven’t missed these two very much, but their season one back story was sad. I felt sorry for Michael, over how Walt’s mom manipulated him into giving up his parental rights. It was ridiculous how controlling she was, and I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want Walt to know his father. We got some hints that Walt had some psychic abilities, and Michael’s temper led to some run-ins between him and other survivors. It was sad to see these two again, knowing what Michael was willing to do later on to get his son back.
• Shannon and Boone – I’ll lump these two together, since that’s what the writers always did with their flashback episodes. They always kind of grossed me out. Boone was in love with his step sister, and Shannon used this to her advantage time and time again. Neither of them was as annoying after they developed a healthy distance from each other, when Shannon started hanging out with Sayid and Boone became Locke’s apprentice. As much as these characters didn’t interest me, Boone’s death was so tragic and sudden, that those episodes left their mark. Watching them for a second time, they were just as devastating. I always liked Shannon more after Boone died.
• Rose – As held true in the following seasons, Rose only made an appearance a handful of times in season one. This has always been a frustrating aspect of the show, but I always enjoy seeing her. In the early episodes, we thought she was in denial about Bernard’s fate. Surely he died in the crash! But then we started getting clues that maybe he and some others in the tail section had managed to survive, clues that turned into huge revelations in season two. We didn’t have a Rose-centric episode until season two, so we didn’t know much about her until then. But one particular episode, Rose reached out to Charlie, who was hurting over his failure to protect Claire from Ethan. This came across as a “pay it forward” gesture, since Jack had approached her in a similar way shortly after the plane crash.

Wow. There are a lot of characters on this show! Thank goodness the writers chose to devote individual episodes to developing each person, rather than try to cram information about everyone into every episode. That would have gotten way out of hand. Like I said before, the primary focus of the first season was on developing the characters’ back stories and their role on the island. But we did get a taste of the island mythology that we know and love. It’s hard to believe that we didn’t meet Ben until well into season two, and that Juliet and Richard didn’t appear until season three. It was a totally different show back in season one!

The Mythology

• The Smoke Monster – I had forgotten that Rousseau referred to it as the island’s “security system” later in the season. Thinking of it as something designed to patrol the island takes away some of the creepiness of it, but there’s still something unsettling about the humming, clicking, and crashing noises that it makes.

• The Black Rock – This ship supplied the gang with the dynamite they needed to blow open the Hatch. But it also suggested that it wasn’t a coincidence that planes were crashing on the island. First this slave ship wrecked there, then Rousseau’s crew met the same fate, and finally Flight 815 crashed on the beach. Something must have been drawing these vessels to the island. We would get confirmation of this in season two.
• Strange Visions – Our first hint that this island was inhabited by a supernatural force is when Jack’s father (who was supposed to be dead and in a coffin) started appearing and leading him into the jungle. By the way, I’m not clear on one thing. When Jack discovered his father’s coffin at the caves, his body wasn’t in it. Are we to believe that he actually came back to life, or was the absence of his body just meant to frustrate Jack – since if his father’s body had been in there, he could have shrugged off his visions as just “seeing things”? The next time I recall someone having a vision is when Shannon saw Walt appear in the jungle, shaking, wet, and telling her to be quiet, when the audience knew that he had just been taken by the Others from the raft. As I recall, I think that vision foreshadowed Shannon’s tragic fate in season two.
• The Others – We had no clue that these people had an organized civilization with book clubs, full kitchens, and indoor plumbing! Our first glimpse of them was via Ethan, when we learned that he wasn’t on the flight manifest, and he tried to abduct pregnant Claire (presumably because he wanted the baby). And then came the big introduction to the Others, in the season finale: “the thing is, we’re gonna have to take the boy.” What?! That has to be the most famous line from this show. I was so creeped out the first time I heard it. One moment Walt, Michael, Sawyer, and Jin were celebrating, thinking they had been rescued, and the next, they were encountering these strange people, dressed in tattered clothing, and speaking so matter-of-factly about abducting a child. At the time we also associated them with the plume of black smoke. They seemed very primitive, violent, and super creepy! And they always went around whispering in the jungle.
• The Hatch – For most of the season, the hatch was little more than a mysterious door in the ground. The only question we had was what, or who, is in there?! We had to wait an entire summer break to find out, but it was totally worth the wait. (The opening of season two is the best opening sequence of the series!) Our heads were spinning as season one came to a close, with Locke staring down into the freshly opened hatch. Were the Others down there? Was there really a reason that it didn’t have a door on the outside? Would it provide safety or danger? By climbing into the hatch, Kate, Locke, and Jack ushered the show into its first of many shifts in direction.
• Glimpses of things to come – In the episode “The Numbers,” Sawyer was reading Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, which is a book about travel through time and space. I had forgotten about this little hint of things to come, if I ever noticed it in the first place. Another major clue came when Boone made contact with someone on the Nigerian plane’s communication system just before it fell down the cliff. When he said “We’re survivors of Oceanic Flight 815,” the voice on the other end answered, “We’re survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.” Between that exchange, Rose’s belief that Bernard was alive, and Jack’s airport bar encounter with Ana Lucia, we had some pretty big indications that there were other survivors on the island.

Best Episodes

• “Pilot” – I was blown away by the pilot the first time, and I’ve enjoyed it just as much every time I’ve watched it. I’d never seen anything like it on tv, and its recurring use of flashbacks added so much insight into the characters. We didn’t have any idea where the show was going, and it’s hard to believe it has taken us so far now (Dharma Initiative? 1970s?…)

• “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” – Jack’s daddy issues made for good tv in this episode. He sets out with a search party looking for Charlies and Claire, who had been abducted by Ethan. Jack’s discovery of Charlie’s seemingly lifeless body, and his subsequent refusal to give up on saving Charlie, is brutal to watch. (At least it ended well.) Meanwhile, we were also introduced to the hatch.
• “Do No Harm” - This episode, where Boone dies and Aaron is born, is one of the best of season one in terms of drama and emotion. It still made me cry all this time later. The contrast between Boone’s life draining away, and Claire’s struggle to give birth to Aaron, followed by the celebration of the survivors over Aaron’s arrival, while in the background Jack broke the bad news to Shannon that Boone had died, was all so well done and moving.
• “Exodus” – The season finale brought us full circle, showing us flashbacks of all the survivors on the fateful day they boarded Flight 815. The plot also progressed quickly, as one group set sail on the raft in hope of rescue, while another group sought a place to hide from the Others, and while Locke and his gang worked to finally open the hatch. The only unnecessary part of this episode was Dr. Arzt’s ramblings about dynamite, followed by his explosive death, and Hurley’s off the cuff remark to Jack, “You have some Arzt on you.” I suppose this was all meant to provide comic relief, but I found it distracting from the otherwise intense happenings.

It was hard to compose all my thoughts on season one into one post. Did I skip over any of your favorite moments or forget to mention a key character or plot point?

Lost 5.14: The Variable April 30, 2009

This week, we learned the tragic history of Daniel Faraday, a history that was non-linear, and that included betrayal and deception by his own mother. It turns out that Mrs. Hawking is quite devious, and willing to sacrifice just about anything in the name of the Island. Somehow, she always knew that by sending Daniel to the Island, she was sending him to his death. It’s hard to wrap my head around the implications of this time travel conundrum. Rather than making you suffer through what would certainly be my rambling thoughts on the scifi/time travel aspects of the episode, I’ll refer you to this well written post that I came across:

• Recap: “Lost” Season 5, episode 14: “The Variable”

The Facts about Daniel:

• Mrs. Hawking is his mother, and Charles Widmore is his father (although Daniel isn’t aware who his father is). I wasn’t surprised by this revelation. It had seemed pretty clear that Widmore was his father since we first learned that he just so happened to fund his research.
• Daniel could have been an excellent pianist, if only his crazy mother hadn’t forced him to spend all his time focusing on developing his mind for science. This minor detail of the episode made me sad, because it reminds me of real life kids who miss out on countless hours of childhood fun because their parents force them to put all their effort into one area, in the hope that their child will achieve greatness as a gymnast, a football player, a spelling bee champion, etc. Don’t believe me? Rent the movie Spellbound.
• His mother gave him the journal that he’s written all his notes in as a graduation present.
• Daniel was romantically involved with Theresa, the woman who was also his research assistant whose mind was destroyed by his experiments with time travel.
• Daniel’s mind was also affected by these experiments, but apparently going to the Island healed him, just as Charles said it would.
• After the gang traveled back to the ’70s, Daniel left the Island to do research at the Dharma Headquarters in Maryland. While there, he saw the picture of Dharma recruits that included Hurley, Jack, and Kate. He returned to the Island to tell them that they didn’t belong there, that his mother had made a mistake. He proceeded to attempt to find and speak to his mother (the young, Other-dwelling Ellie), so that he could detonate a hydrogen bomb that would reverse the chain of events that led Oceanic Flight 815 to crash on the Island (if there was no need to push the button in the Hatch to control the energy, then Desmond wouldn’t have missed entering the numbers that one time, which led them to crash…) What would have happened to all the people on the Island in 1977 if Daniel had succeeded in detonating the bomb? That didn’t sound like a good idea to me.
• Daniel’s main motivation for changing the past seems to be saving Charlotte’s life. He loved her and didn’t want to be responsible for causing pain/death to someone else he loved (Theresa being the first).
• Before Daniel could do much, his mom showed up and shot him. He certainly looked dead, after he uttered his last words, “I’m your son.”

Other Developments:

• Mrs. Hawking apologized to Penny for Desmond getting shot, explaining that she believes it is her son, Daniel’s, fault. Is it his fault because he told Desmond to find his mother in L.A., which put him on a collision course with Ben?
• Sawyer made the mistake of calling Kate by her old nickname, “Freckles,” which didn’t sit too well with Juliet. I hope those two work things out!
• Daniel told Dr. Chang that Miles is his son, but Miles denied it. I guess he’s not ready to have a heart to heart with his dad.
• While Jack and Kate wandered into the jungle with Daniel to find the Others, Sawyer and the rest of the gang prepared to leave the Dharma commune to start over on the old beach. Before they could leave, some of the Dharma folks showed up, figured out something was up, and are now holding Sawyer and Juliet at gunpoint.

Questions:

• What made Daniel think that his mother was wrong for sending the Oceanic Six back to the 1970s Island?
• Why was Daniel crying while watching the news coverage of the discovery of the fake Flight 815 wreckage? Is it because he was having subconscious memories of his past on the island? Certainly it wasn’t just because he was crazy.
• Why did Mrs. Hawking send Daniel to the Island, knowing that this would lead to her younger self killing him? Is there a chance that he will come back to life, a la Locke, or was his death necessary for the upcoming battle that everyone’s been talking about? I guess we’ll start to get some answers about that next week.
• What was the purpose of showing Penny and Desmond in the hospital? It made me very nervous to see Mrs. Hawking lurking around there, with her shifty eyes. I was afraid she might finish the job that Ben started! As it turned out, it was sweet how Desmond told Penny he would keep his promise to never leave her again. Is this the end of the story for them, or will they go back to the Island together?
• And I continue to ask, where are Rose and Bernard? Not to mention the other unidentified Oceanic 815 survivors. Did they stay in the present when Locke turned the wheel? Did they join the Others? Someone needs to say something about this.

Lost 5.13: Some Like It Hoth April 16, 2009

What does lie in the shadow of the statue?! Why is Dr. Dan returning to the Island on a sub? Why is the Circle of Trust so secretive about the building of the Hatch?! These are the intriguing questions that came out of this week’s Miles-centric, Star Wars-tinged episode.

Quick Recap: Miles dealt with his daddy issues with Dr. Pierre “Marvin Candle” Chang while driving around a dead guy and listening to Hurley talk about recreating the Empire Strikes Back screenplay to save George Lucas some time. Meanwhile, Kate’s heart being in the right place makes Roger Workman very suspicious, and Sawyer resorts to knocking out and tying up Grumpy-faced Dharma man after he is confronted about the surveillance tape that shows Sawyer and Kate leaving the perimeter with kidnapped little Ben. In the flashbacks, we learn more about why Miles is a jerk, how he communicates with the dead, and how he ended up working for Charles Widmore. Finally, back on the Island, Miles and his dad go to pick up a group of visiting scientists, and one of them turns out to be Daniel.

Getting to Know Miles: I’ve always thought of Miles as nothing more than a self-centered jerk who talks to dead people. It was nice to get some insight into his motivations and personality. He is bitter because the one person who loved him, his mother, died of cancer, and his father wanted nothing to do with him. All he was left with was an ability to “feel” the final thoughts and experiences of dead people. (How creepy was the scene where he stumbled upon the body in Apt. 7?) Since coming to the Island, and being transported back in time, Miles has softened up a bit. He has learned to be more of a team player, working with Sawyer and Hurley in particular. And he’s finally starting to deal with his bitterness toward his father, thanks to a little encouragement from Hurley. And I’m loving the comic relief provided by those two. The Star Wars discussion was hilarious. So, after this episode I like Miles more than I did before, but I still think he lacks certain noble qualities. And shame on him for leaving that surveillance tape right where anyone could find it!

Meet, Bram, leader of the Shadow of the Statue cult: How sneaky of the writers. We figured this guy was just another extra to take up space on the Island, when we saw him last week hanging out with Ilana. Turns out, he intended to go to the Island all along (as opposed to being an innocent passenger on Flight 316). Bram is played by Brad Henke, who most recently played a desperate hostage taker on Life on Mars, but who I mainly recognize as Tony Tucci, the amputee survivor of the Ice Truck killer on season one of Dexter. Henke has the sort of face that looks kind and gentle at first glance, but upon closer inspection looks slightly devious or troubled, and that’s the type of character he is playing now. We don’t know much about Bram yet, other than that he was a passenger on Flight 316, he belongs to a group (or is it a cult?) who claims to know what lies in the shadow of the statue, and he tried to convince Miles not to take the job of going to the Island for Widmore.

Trouble Brewing at the Hatch: So apparently the Hatch’s electromagnetic properties caused problems even before it was built. How else can you explain Alvarez’s tooth filling dislodging and flying out through his brain? What a weird way to go. It was also eerie to watch “The Numbers” being etched into the hatch door. Hurley hadn’t had to think about them in a long time.

The Circle of Trust: Horace, Sawyer, Radzinsky, Dr. Chang, and now Miles and Hurley are in the so-called Circle of Trust. Why the secretiveness? Are they trying to cover up that people are dying during the construction of the Hatch, or are the trying to cover up the fact that they are infringing upon Other territory? My guess is more for the second possibility. It’s interesting to think that if the Dharma-ites hadn’t built the Hatch, and had stayed in their territory, all these planes and ships might not have crashed on the Island. Richard and his people would have lived in relative obscurity and had a much easier time of protecting the Island.

The Return of Daniel: Er? I was so confused when Daniel hopped out of that submarine. I’ve been wondering where he was. I guess Sawyer (or whoever it was) was telling the truth when he said Daniel was “gone.” Perhaps in the season opener, when we saw Daniel lurking around the Time Wheel in the Orchid, he was actually plotting his escape from the Island. Or, maybe he left the Island on a sub with Charlotte and her mom, then decided to return to continue his research and to help his friends. Regardless of how he left in the first place, the real question is, what has he been doing? I’m ready for a Daniel backstory now.

What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue?: We don’t have an answer to this question yet, but I’m picking up a cultish, religious vibe. We had another hint of an Egyptian this week, when Jack was wiping off the chalkboard in one of the Dharma classrooms. The notes he was erasing related to various phases of Egyptian culture and language. My guess is still that the Temple lies in the shadow of the statue. But I’m wondering how Bram and his other cult members know about the Island’s secrets. Bram seems to think whatever lies in the shadow of the statue can fill the empty hole inside Miles, and he claims to have the answers to Miles’ questions about his gift and his father. In addition, Bram claims to be playing for the right team, the one that’s going to win. How many teams are we dealing with here? Widmore’s, Richard’s… Are we to think that Bram is aligned with Ben or with Richard and the Others? Or is his group completely separate? This show is highly skilled at driving us crazy with questions, and at slowly spoon-feeding us snippets of information that both answer small questions and create bigger ones.

Related Posts:

• Lost 5.12: Dead is Dead
• Connections between Lost and Star Wars – For all you Star Wars fans, an interesting collection of Lost dialogue, themes, and other references to Star Wars.

Lost 5.12: Dead is Dead April 9, 2009

A young adult Ben with bad hair, unexpected shootings, potentially crazy castaways, and that mysterious smoke monster were at the heart of this week’s episode. We took a break from the Dharma era, and instead focused on the modern era happenings on the Island, as well as some glimpses into Ben’s past as Alex’s father and Charles Widmore’s adversary. Based on the new information we have about Ben and the Island, there are some interesting ideas to discuss.

Plot Synopsis

• In Ben’s flashbacks, we see him as a young adult (with the aforementioned bad hair, and not looking young at all – why couldn’t they cast a younger actor who resembles Ben?). He and Ethan sneak up on Rousseau’s tent, hold her at gun point, and take her baby, Alex. Ben tells Rousseau that if she wants her child to live, she’ll never try to find them, and she’ll run the other way whenever she hears whispers. Back at the Others’ camp, we learn that Widmore had ordered Ben to kill Rousseau, so he isn’t pleased that Ben not only let Rousseau live, but that he brought a baby back with him. Charles wanted Ben to kill it, but Ben adamantly refused, saying that it was a child, not an it. Perhaps Ben and Charles’ main conflict with one another stems from this moment. If Ben’s one decent trait is his love for children, then he would despise Charles for suggesting such a thing as exterminating a child. Perhaps the entire Others’ camp lost respect for Charles in that moment, since they have always shown a reverence for children.
• Ben tries to regain Locke’s trust – a difficult task since he killed him – by agreeing to go face the potential wrath of the Smoke Monster with him. As a show of good faith, he shoots and kills leader wannabe Ceasar. (Didn’t see that coming!) Once they arrive at Ben’s old house on the main island, they run into Frank and Sun, who are surprised to learn that Locke is alive again. Frank opts to return to the other island, while Locke, Ben, and Sun go in search of the Others’ Temple. When they get there, Locke and Ben crawl into a series of tunnels that run beneath the Temple, so that Ben can be judged by the Smoke Monster. And so he is judged. His life with Alex flashes before his eyes, including the horrible moment when he chose to let her die rather than leave the Island. Because of his genuine remorse, Smoky forgives him, but that doesn’t mean he’s off the hook. Alex appears to him, and she’s not too happy. She warns him not to kill Locke again, but instead to do everything that Locke says. It looks like the Island has put Locke in charge now and made Ben one of his minions.
• Meanwhile, Frank returns to the other Island and finds that things are spiraling out of control. Ilana and some other guys found a stash of guns and are obsessed with the question “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” They knock Frank out as they decide to take him with them, wherever they are going.

Ben’s Quest for Power

• In a flashback, we saw Charles and Ben meet for the first time, when Ben was a child recovering from whatever healed him in the Others’ Temple. He told Charles he didn’t want to go back to the Dharma Initiative. Charles tells him, “Just because you’re living with them, doesn’t mean you can’t be one of us.” We can assume that Ben returned to the Dharma camp shortly after this, and stayed there until the time came for the purge. This flashback showed us that Charles was never happy about Ben becoming an Other. He protested to Richard, even though he knows “the Island chooses who it chooses.” So from the beginning, Ben and Charles were at odds with one another. This flashback also reminded us that Ben always wanted to be with the more powerful Others, rather than with the Dharmaites. Somewhere along the way, this desire to belong to a mysterious group evolved into a consuming lust for power.
• Ben finally attained his position of power with the Others when Charles is banished, presumably for “leaving the island regularly,” “having a daughter with an outsider” (that answers the question of whether or not Penny ever lived on the Island), breaking the rules, and being selfish. Doesn’t sound like the kind of leader the Island would want. Then again, most of those things describe Ben as we know him. Ben claims he “would do anything to protect this Island.” Charles points out that Ben wasn’t willing to kill Alex to protect the Island. So as Charles leaves, Ben is left with the looming question of whether or not the Island wanted Ben to kill her, or if it was Charles that wanted her dead. Charles’ prediction actually does come true: that if the Island wanted her dead, then one day she will be dead, and Ben will be the one being banished. “You cannot fight the inevitable.” Of course, it’s easy to see why Ben blames Charles for Alex’s death. He could easily believe that Charles sent the commandos to the Island to finally follow through on the order to kill Alex, which would be a case of Charles manipulating Ben. And so it comes back to a power struggle between these two men. Charles, still embittered over his banishment, forces Ben to leave the Island, which leaves them both in a situation where they are clamoring to be the first one back to reclaim their position. Looks like it won’t matter now, though, since Locke is the new king of the castle.
• Ben’s constant manipulation of those around him is all part of his quest to maintain control, and to attain, keep, or regain his position as someone who has power over the Island’s inhabitants and who can speak for the Island. We have seen this power struggle time and again. Ben vs. his father, Ben vs. Charles, Ben vs. Jack, Ben vs. Locke. In this week’s episode, Ben told Locke what he thought he needed to hear, that he returned to the Island “to be judged,” and that he killed him because he knew that he would come back alive on the Island. He was lying in at least two ways in that conversation: 1) He didn’t want to be judged for killing Locke; he wanted to be judged for causing Alex’s death. 2) He didn’t consider that the Island would actually bring Locke back to life. He later tells Sun that he’s scared to death that Locke is alive because he didn’t know the Island was capable of resurrection. That leads me to believe that a dead Locke was simply his ticket back to the Island.
• It was disturbing to see Ben manipulate Ceasar, making him think that Locke was no more than a crazy man who was already on the Island when they arrived. And then, he handily eliminated this marginal threat to his leadership by stealing Caesar’s gun and killing him, right in front of everyone. That was unexpected and jolting. Never has Ben been so obvious with his evil deeds. Usually he acts in secrecy.

Ben’s Weakness: A Fatherly Love for Children

• Ben may be evil, and he may have an obsession with obtaining power, but his one soft spot is his love for his adopted child, Alex. Perhaps because of his own troubled childhood, he feels a need to protect and nurture other children. When he confronted Rousseau in her tent and saw the baby, all thoughts of completing his mission to kill her vanished, and his focus turned to Alex, and claiming her as his own daughter. Based on what we know of their relationship, it seems that he raised her in a loving home, kept her safe, and genuinely loved her. Everything was just peachy until Ben’s two worlds collided: Island leader and doting father. When forced to choose between saving his daughter’s life and leaving his position of power on the Island forever, he made the regretable decision to let her die. Now he feels great remorse for that decision, and it cost him everything: he lost his daughter – the one person he truly cared about other than himself, and he lost his place of importance on the Island.
• Ben’s paternal feelings for children also prevented him from carrying out his threat to kill Penny, out of revenge for Alex’s death. He makes a cruel phone call to Charles, telling him that he’s about to kill Penny, and then has no qualms about shooting Desmond, who is unloading groceries from a car. But, when he has Penny trapped, he hesitates because little Charlie comes out on deck. That was a tense moment, but thankfully Ben’s soft spot for kids won out over his desire for revenge over his adversary. That moment of hesitation was enough time for Desmond to tackle Ben, break his arm, pummel him with his full strength, and throw him like a sack of potatoes into the water. Hooray, Desmond! (It’s no wonder Ben asked Sun to deliver a message to Desmond that he is sorry. How horrible that he was about to kill Penny right in front of him.) It’s interesting that Ben felt justified in his attempt to kill Penny because, as he told her, “Your father is a really terrible human being.” In his mind, Charles is a worse person than he is because he entertains the thought of killing children. In the end, Ben can’t pull the trigger (even if Desmond hadn’t attacked him) because in doing so, he would become just the sort of heartless monster he sees Charles as.
• In the end, it was Ben’s remorse for the trauma he caused Desmond and Penny, and for his responsibility for Alex’s death, that made the Smoke Monster spare his life.

The Smoke Monster

• Our first clue that Ben had lost his status as a powerful Island leader was when he failed to summon the Smoke Monster. Apparently all it used to take was draining the pool of murky water in the secret passageway beneath his house and muttering, “I’ll be outside.” Didn’t work this time. Instead, Locke suggested that they go to the Smoke Monster.
• Ben’s journey into the bowels of the Temple brought him to an ancient wall painting that showed a wolf-person kneeling before the Smoke Monster. He catches on and kneels before a grate, from which the Smoke Monster emerges and treats him to a “This is your life” montage. He experiences the excruciating pain of his choice to let Alex die. Amidst his tears, the Smoke Monster dissipates, leaving him with his guilt, and a visit from Alex.
• It seems clear that this isn’t actually Alex paying a visit from the Great Beyond, but the Smoke Monster appearing in a form that Ben will most respond to. This is similar to when it appeared to Mr. Eko as his brother. So it is Smoky who warns Ben that it already knows he’s planning to kill Locke again, and says that if he so much as touches him, “I will hunt you down and destroy you.” Smoky’s not messing around! In addition, Ben is instructed to listen to every word John Locke says and follow his leadership.
• So in one way, Ben came out of his encounter in a positive way – “It let me live.” On the other hand, he has failed in his quest to regain a place of importance on the Island, and he’ll have to continue living with his guilt over Alex’s death.

Locke – The New Leader

• It seems like death made Locke wise up. He doesn’t believe anything that Ben says, but has instead started telling him what’s going to happen.
• Locke also tells Sun that he has some ideas for how to find Jin. Might he pay Jacob a visit, or go turn the wheel again?
• Now that Locke is calling the shots, we’ll get to watch Ben squirm.

The Crazies from Flight 316

• “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” – Um, excuse me?
• Ilana seems to be the new queen of crazy, taking over Rousseau’s old position. Apparently, she is leading the other castaways on some mission to discover whatever lies in the shadow of the statue. I’m guessing she’s talking about the big foot, which is all that remains of the Egyptian looking statue that once stood tall over the Island? Could the answer to that question be “The Temple?” If she is leading a group to the Temple, perhaps it will play a pivotal role in the reunion of the 1970s castaways and the modern-day ones. Or, maybe Ilana and her comrades have been inflicted with the same sickness as Rousseau’s team, in which case Frank is in trouble, since the next phase would involve them killing each other off.

The Temple

• Whether or not Ilana is headed for the Temple, it seems clear that it will eventually play a crucial role, just as the Hatch did in season two.
• All signs point to the origin of the Others as an ancient civilization, or maybe even something extraterrestrial. Whatever the case, the Temple is a source of healing, as it is where Richard took young Ben to be healed. It also seems to be where someone can “become” an Other. Maybe the Smoke Monster does some hocus pocus to mark you for life.
• I know all this Temple, ancient civilization, smoke monster stuff is too weird for some people, but I’m still loving every minute!

Related Post:

• Lost 5.11: Whatever Happened, Happened
  

Lost 5.11: Whatever Happened, Happened April 2, 2009

This week’s Kate-centric episode provided us with an answer to the question, “What happened to Aaron?” and gave us a peek into Ben’s origins as an Other.

Synopsis

• On the Island in 1977 – Juliet does her best to save Ben’s life after Sayid shoots him, and she gets no help from a cold-hearted Jack. Eventually, Juliet, Kate, and Sawyer decide to do what is necessary to save the life of this child, regardless of what kind of monster he becomes as an adult, and they hand Ben over to the Others. Apparently the Others’ motto is “Once an Other, always an Other.” Meanwhile, Miles and Hurley provide comic relief with their discussion of the implications of their time traveling. Initially, Miles exudes confidence and expertise, until Hurley points out a flaw in his logic. (I like how the writers worked this into an episode, since as viewers we could get bogged down in the details of the time/space continuum.)
• Kate’s three years in L.A. – Kate keeps her promise to Sawyer (before now the details of which were unknown to viewers, since Sawyer whispered his request in Kate’s ear before he jumped out of the helicopter) to visit Cassidy (Sawyer’s old flame), and take care of Clementine (his daughter). Kate and Cassidy, who already knew each other from when they traded criminal favors, strike up a comfortable friendship (which apparently continues for the three years Kate is in L.A., based on Clementine’s greeting at the door three years later of, “Hello, Auntie Kate!”) After Kate tells Cassidy the truth about what really happened to Flight 815 and then feebly talks about her pregnancy, Cassidy, being the great con artist she is, immediately recognizes that Kate is lying about Aaron being her son. So although the Oceanic Six agreed not to tell anyone the truth about their time on the Island, Kate now has a confidante. Skipping ahead three years, Kate runs by the grocery store with Aaron after leaving the docks (where the confrontation between Ben and Sun went down), and she suddenly loses track of him. Before long, he turns up holding hands with a Claire lookalike. Spooked by this experience, Kate visits Cassidy, who helps her realize her true motives for “taking Aaron.” And so we come to the answer to that burning question, “What happened to Aaron?” As I expected, Kate decides to tell Claire’s mom the truth about Aaron’s parentage, and leaves Aaron in her care while she goes back to the Island to find Claire.
• On the Island in 2000-something – At the end of the episode, we jump straight from Richard carrying young Ben’s body into the Temple, to John Locke sitting at grown up Ben’s infirmary bedside. Locke says to Ben, “Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.” The implication is that what happened to Ben in 1977 had some affect on Ben in the 2000s. Or maybe this was just a nice segueway into next week’s Ben-centric episode.

Thelma and Louise

• I enjoyed the vibe of Kate and Cassidy’s surprising friendship. You would think two women who love the same man would hold some animosity toward one another, or at least see each other as competition. But it is their common ground as “ditched women” that brought them together. I don’t know if I buy Cassidy’s theory that Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter just to avoid a real-world relationship with Kate, or her theory that Kate just kept Aaron as a crutch to help her get over Sawyer. But, it seems that Cassidy struck a chord with Kate since they stayed in touch over those three years.
• We can also guess that in an episode last season, it was Cassidy that Kate was talking to on the phone, which led to an argument and break-up with Jack. It was pretty sneaky of Kate to keep a whole friendship with Sawyer’s ex a secret from Jack, her fiance. Not a great way to build trust.

Losing Aaron

• As soon as Kate let go of Aaron’s hand to check her cell phone, I knew he was going to disappear. I was horrified at first, wondering if that was the last time she saw him, wondering if he just disappeared similarly to Claire on the Island, or if he was taken by one of Ben’s cronies. I was relieved when he turned up after Kate’s momentary panic. How creepy was it that he was holding hands with a Claire lookalike? First of all, it must have been a jolt to Kate (not to mention a guilt trip), but also, it makes you wonder if Aaron possesses some special abilities, assuming he sought out someone who looked like his real mom (when he shouldn’t be able to remember what she looks like or that Kate isn’t is mom). It wouldn’t surprise me, based on the psychic’s belief that he is special, and on his family’s significance on the Island.
• The scene where Kate tells Claire’s mom, Carole, the truth about Claire surviving the crash, giving birth to Aaron on the Island, and then disappearing into the jungle, was difficult to watch. I couldn’t imagine finding out so many revelations at once: “So your daughter survived the plane crash. Oh, and she had the baby. Oh, and she’s still alive, but missing. And one more thing. Your grandson is waiting a couple rooms down, and I am handing him over to you now so I can go back to the Island that it was so hard to get off of in the first place. Which means you might have a whole lot of responsibility for the next 15 or so years. See ya!”

• Even harder to watch was Kate’s teary-eyed goodbye to the sleeping Aaron. Regardless of Kate’s motivations for raising Aaron as her son for those three years, she obviously developed maternal feelings for him. It took a lot of resolve for her to walk away from that hotel room, knowing she might never see him again. I shed a tear or two along with her. I really do hope she finds Claire, and that the Littleton family can be reunited. And if that happens, I hope that Aaron will be young enough to not be too scarred by the revelation that Kate isn’t his real Mommy.
• Watching Kate’s trauma over leaving Aaron to go back to the Island got me thinking about Sun. For years, Sun and Jin tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant, and when they finally did on the Island, they were overjoyed. So it seems that with all the anticipation for this child, Sun would be very hesitant to leave her to go back to the Island. Then again, Sun’s trauma over witnessing Jin’s supposed death, and her subsequent grief, have hardened her and changed her. She seems more bent on revenge now than anything. Plus, the revelation that Jin is still alive on the Island would be quite the motivation to return (Ben knew this). I hope the writers will address this whenever a Sun-centric episode comes around.

Best Line of the Night

• “That’s why I’m doing this. I’m doing it for her.”
• That was Sawyer’s answer to Kate’s question, “Why are you helping me?” when Sawyer drives out to the Dharma/Other border to meet her to deliver Ben to the Others in the hope that they can save his life. As he explained to Kate, he wondered the same thing until Julet told him, “No matter what he’s gonna grow up to be, it ain’t right to let a kid die.”
• Kate was probably secretly hoping that Sawyer would say he was helping her because he wanted to be where she was, or thought he couldn’t stand to stay away from her… Instead she got a wake-up call to reality. When Sawyer told Kate he was doing this for Juliet, it was a clear indicator that he’s not even thinking about Kate. It wasn’t about Kate at all. Kudos to the writers for throwing in a simple line of dialogue that holds the weight of the trust and love that Sawyer and Juliet have built during their time at the Dharma Initiative. Loved it.
• I also enjoyed Sawyer and Kate’s other conversation about “what might have been.” Sawyer told Kate they would have never worked out as a couple, and that he couldn’t have been a good father to Clementine. However, he says he’s “done a lot of growing up these past three years.” Indeed, he has. Let’s hope that Kate doesn’t make him fall off the wagon.

Ben’s Transformation from Dharma-ite to Other

• The key to saving Ben’s life, as Juliet and Kate see it, is to deliver him to the hands of the Others. They must be able to tap in to the Island’s healing properties. And Kate and Sawyer successfully transfered Ben over into Richard’s care. Their encounter led to some interesting new information about Ben.
• “If I take him, he’s not ever gonna be the same again… He’ll forget this ever happened… His innocence will be gone… He will always be one of us.” There’s a lot of connotations packed into these statements, which were Richard’s answer to Kate’s question of what would happen to Ben if Richard took him. At the moment Richard took Ben and healed him (presumably by way of the Island’s supernatural ability to bring new life where there is death or injury), Ben became an Other. When Ben had this encounter with the Island, he became forever linked to its destiny. Apparently, he can’t remember how he developed this connection, since as Richard said, he would forget about this experience. The part that I don’t get is “his innocence will be gone.” By becoming an Other, does one gain forbidden knowledge, similarly to eating an apple from the tree of Life? I don’t get it. Not all of the Others seem to be evil or even just manipulative. Why Ben? Why did this experience change him into the conscience-challenged, self-centered, slightly crazy man that he is today? Perhaps we’ll get some answers to these questions next week, or eventually.
• Richard’s exchange with Kate and Sawyer also revealed that at this point in the ’70s, Charles and Ellie were still on the Island, and had some sort of leadership role among the Others. Although, Richard said “I don’t answer to either of them.” It still seems that Richard has a special connection to the Island that no one else possesses. Will we ever have a Richard-centric episode? I hope so!
• Returning to the question of whether or not Ben being carried into the Temple by Richard somehow altered his condition in ~2000. I don’t think so. I think the writers just used the abrupt transition to reflect how that moment in 1977 was the moment that Ben became the person who we know now. Not an innocent, if slightly messed up litle boy, but a conniving, not-to-be-trusted manipulator of everyone around him.

Random Thoughts on TV: April 1, 2009 April 1, 2009

Here’s some juicy scoop I’ve heard about tv developments for next season:

• In an effort to profit from the popularity of The Office, NBC has decided to turn the show into a franchise, following in the footsteps of CSI and Law & Order. So, in addition to our favorite office mates in Scranton, next year NBC will introduce two spin-offs – The Office: Winnipeg, and The Office: Miami. The Winnipeg edition will feature some characters who are fluent in both English and French, and since the boss will be a transplant from the U.S., they will speak in French when they are messing with him. In addition, the Winnipeg office will be involved in an inter-office hockey league, with much hilarity to ensue. The Miami edition will be quite a contrast to the cold landscapes of Winnipeg and Scranton. In Miami, the paper supply company will have a beach front office, and the employees will often take breaks to play volleyball with beautiful women in bikinis (in an effort to draw more male viewers). But to appeal to a wide demographic, Miami will also introduce a couple of retired, part-time employees – Gertrude and Herbert – who are grouchy, full of one liners, and start an office romance of their own. Look for a few cross over episodes among the three Offices next season.

• With the renewed interest in the fantasy/supernatural genre inspired by the Twilight book series and movie, CBS has decided to take Beauty and the Beast, it’s late ’80s television series, out of the vault and give it new life. In the original series, Linda Hamilton played a beauty who was attracted to Vincent (Ron Perlman), a man-beast. In a bold (but potentially disastrous) move, CBS has decided to “pull a Starbuck” by having the beast be played by a female lead, none other than Britney Spears, who will attempt a career in television as a replacement for her waning music career. Spears will play Vivian, a beast-woman who leads a clan of social outcasts who live in a web of intricate tunnels and caves beneath New York City. After saving a beautiful man, Cavan, from a pack of wild dogs in Central Park, they begin a transforming relationship. Cavan sees past Vivian’s freakish appearance to her inner beauty, and the pair begin a magical journey into love. Casting calls are still underway for the role of Cavan, but rumors are circulating that it will go to Robert Pattinson, who may always now be type cast as “the beautiful man” after nabbing the role as the most beautiful man in the world, Edward Cullen.

• Not all of CBS’ plans for the fall are as daring as Beauty and the Beast. One of its most successful sitcoms, The King of Queens, which ran for nine seasons and ended in 2007, is being resurrected… kind of. In the original show, the title character, Doug (Kevin James), and his wife Carrie (Leah Remini), lived in Queens, NY, and experienced the ups and downs of marriage, complicated by having Carrie’s dad living with them. The reincarnation of the show, entitled The Queen of Kings, finds the couple living in small town Kings, IL, where they moved when Carrie became the mayor due to a bizarre request in her great uncle’s will. Now, Doug is a stay-at-home dad with their adopted child, while Carrie takes on the adventures of leading the citizens of a small town. Part Gilmore Girls, part Mr. Mom, this show is sure to please audiences looking for empowered women, incompetent dads, and all around feel-good tv.

• Not all the news is about new shows, however. Lost has decided to add some melodrama to its story by turning the love quadrangle involving Sawyer, Juliet, Jack, and Kate, into a love hexagon, by throwing newbies Horace and Amy into the mix. The complications that ensue require the show to add a bundle of new episodes, which means that for the next two summers, Lost fans who also happen to be ’shippers will be treated to special summer episodes entitled Lost: Hexagon of Love. No matter which pair you are hoping to see together, the writers promise that no one will be disappointed, as there will be plenty of budding romance, break-ups, and make-ups.

• With all the reality cluttering the television landscape these days, you’d think there isn’t room for much more. But wait. Fox, the king of reality, has greenlit a new reality show called Death by Reality, in which network executives are forced to endure marathon viewing sessions of the very reality shows that they agreed to put on the air. Most of these men and women will have never seen a single minute of reality tv before they enter the “Boardroom of Boredom.” Viewers won’t be able to look away as Clay Aiken, the host, describes (sometimes through song and dance, sometimes by simple narration) the rapid mental deterioration that they suffer, the deeper and deeper they go into the reality vault. Joe Millionaire, The Swan, Hole in the Wall… No show is off limits as these head honchos get a taste of their own medicine.

That’s all for now. By the way, happy April Fool’s Day!