Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

(Episode: The End. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

It was a satisfying ending, relative to what the show had become.

The flash-sideways eventa are actually a future situation: the "Lost" universe's afterlife, where people exist in a sort of limbo vaguely resembling their former lives, mixed with their hopes and frustrations. When they realize that they're dead and remember their previous lives - something triggered by contact with people with whom they shared their most intense moments in life - they are ready to move on to the undisclosed next phase. (Maybe they're each given their own hatch-riddled island to rule.) Desmond has been arranging for many of the Losties to gather in one spot - Jack being the last to come around - before moving to Phase 2.

In the earthly timeline...

Richard and Miles are on their way to Hydra Island to blow up the plane, but plans change as they discover Frank Lapidus alive in the sub flotsam. Instead of blowing up the plane, they now plan to fly it.

Desmond had been rescued from the well by the Nadlers. They had been avoiding all other human contact, but broke their Prime Directive for this one occasion. MIB and Desmond arrive to collect Desmond upon threat of MIB-inflicted knifely death; Des complies.

They meet up with Jack and his party. Ben secretly lets Jack's people know he's been in radio contact with Richard and his pals, and that they're fixing the plane for flight. They go to the cave. Jack, MIB and Des go in.

Desmond is the only one who can approach the "cork" in the Cave of Light and survive. He does MIB's bidding. The light goes away, the island slowly begins to crumble, and MIB is mortal again.

Jack battles it out with MIB at the cliff and is critically wounded by a knife to the abdomen. MIB struggles to finish the task, but Kate shoots him with a single rifle shot. Jack invokes captain Kirk in Star Trek III and kicks MIB down the cliff.

Sawyer and Kate take the sailboat MIB planned to board and head out to Hydra Island, in radio contact with Miles, Richard and Frank. They catch their departing flight just in the nick of time.

Meanwhile, Jack passes the Guardian torch to Hurley. He has to go in the cave and restore the light, invoking Spock from Star Trek II. He drags unconscious Desmond to the rope, restores the "cork," and Hurley and Linus pull up what they think is Jack but is Desmond. Hurley offers Ben the job as his Number Two.

Jack survives his knifely and electromagnetic injuries long enough to leave the cave, either at a different exit point or some time after Ben and Hurley have left. He collapses among the bamboo, sees the Ajira plane flying safely overhead. Trusty Vincent the Dog comes to be with him at his last moments. Jack dies in joy, accomplishing something that really mattered.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: What The Died For. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

On the island, Jacob leads Hurley to a campfire, and are joined by Sawyer, Jack and Kate. It's time for Jacob's replacement to step in. The job was forced on Jacob, Jacob is asking for a volunteer. Jack takes the job. Jack figures out that he has to find a way to kill MIB; Jacob doesn't know if there's a way, but he concurs.

Miles, Ben and Richard go to the Barracks to get plastic explosive from Ben's secret room. Widmore and Zoe find them. Words are exchange, and they discover that MIB is about to happen on the scene. Miles runs for it, Widmore and Zoe hide in the room, Richard goes to talk to MIB, and is promptly attacked by the Smoke Monster (we do not know if he was killed or not).

Ben approaches MIB expecting to be killed. MIB asks Ben to lead him to Widmore, Ben complies. MIB kills Zoe, demands to know what Widmore's up to. He won't say in front of ben. MIB had Widmore whisper in his ear. Ben shoots Widmore in cold blood, but not before MIB gets his info.

They go to the well where Desmond was left, and he's gone; someone had dangled a rope for him to get out. My bet's that Claire did it; I doubt Richard (if he survived) or Miles could have gotten there that early. MIB plans to use Desmond's unique resistance to electromagnetism to destroy the island.

In the flash-sideways, Desmond is at work. He goes to the school to beat up Ben (the latter sees flashes of the other timeline when Des beat up Ben as Ben was plotting to shoot Penny), and delivers a message for Ben to relay to Locke: "He [Desmond] said he was trying to get you to let go, not to hurt you, and for some reason I believed him." Locke had heard Jack say somethign nearly identical, and takes it as a sign to go through with the operation that might restore his ability to walk.

Des gets himself arrested, and is located in a holding pen between Sayid's and Kate's. The three are released to be transferred to another facility - but they go to the waterfront instead. Somehow, Des had arranged for Hurley to bribe the paddy wagon driver - Ana-Lucia Cortez, no less - to release the prisoners. Cortez takes her bribe, Sayid leaves with Hurley in a Hummer, and Des hands Kate a formal gown and says they're going to a concert.

Seems that Desmond is gathering the final seven Candidates (plus Kate) into one spot. He's got three in direct cahoots: Kate, Sayid, Hurley. That leaves the Kwons, Sawyer, Jack and Locke. Is Mrs. Hawking (Mrs. Widmore in this timeline) in on all this?

We still don't freakin know why Charles Widmore returned to the island. What in the hecking heckity heck was he after there?

Do those sonic pylons offer a clue as to how to kill MIB? How did Widmore - or DHARMA - find out about their effectiveness as a barrier against Smokey?

Ben seems willing to do Smokey's bidding. Is he really, or does he have something up his sleeve?

The big 2.5-hour finale is next week.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Across The Sea. Spoilers ahead. Lostpedia synopsis here.)

So, Jacob and his twin brother were originally mere mortals, their mother killed by the island's then-guardian to keep humanity from discovering what Lostpedia calls The Source. Twin Brother discovers others (Romans, apparently - their mom and the Guardian speak Latin) who discovered the electromagnetism and have been digging to find its source.

MIB's entry into the cavern of lights either transformed him into the Smoke Monster, or released Smokey from imprisonment. I buy the latter theory, because MIB's vision of his birth mom is consistent with Smokey's well-known masquerades.

Why can't Smokey kill off candidates? Why does Jacob lure people to the island when the previous guardian tried to keep outsiders from discovering it? My head hurts.

The Thinklings have live-bloggage of the episode.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Candidate. Spoilers ahead.)

See Wikipedia and Lostpedia for synopsis.

MIB has been maneuvering to have all the Candidates killed off, and that appears to be a priority over his other desire, escape from the island. Perhaps he has considered the possibility that his imminent avenues of escape might be cut off in the process, and is willing for the next band of hapless island crashers to get him off. Which means his freedom can't be complete unless he ensures that Jacob doesn't have a successor.

Sayid's cryptic message from Desmond "It's going to be you" suggests that the successor will be Jack.

The death toll in this series is maddening and depressing.

Four more episodes to go.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Last Recruit. Spoilers ahead.)

I'm not in the mood for a lengthy synopsis tonight - check out the Wikipedia link or Lostpedia for the rundown.

In one scene Hurley suggests that Sayid and Claire could be turned from the "Dark Side," their sell-out to Fake Locke. Looks like he's right; Kate is gaining Claire's trust, and Desmond may have given Sayid some cause for second thoughts.

MIB wants off the island. Widmore wants to stop him, and take control of the island for himself for some purpose. Sawyer wants to leave those two to duke it out and flee the island. Jack has decided to stay, and to seek some way to keep MIB from leaving. Richard and Ben have the same intention - but what are they up to? And Desmond? If he's still alive (I'm confident of that), what's his next move?

In the flash-sideways storyline, will all the Losties show up at the hospital? Looks like that's Desmond's goal.

Only five more episodes to go.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Everybody Loves Hugo. Spoilers ahead.)

In the flash-sideways, Hurley won the lottery (with the same numbers?), bought Mr. Clucks, made it an international franchise, became a philanthropist - and to his mother's chagrin, he never married.

Mom sets up a blind date that never shows. Instead Hurley is approached by Libby; she has faint memories of the two on the island. Her chaperon Dr. Brooks breaks up the meeting - she and several patients from the Santa Rosa sanitarium are at the restaurant on a day trip.

Hurley drowns his sorrows in a bucket of chicken. Desmond finds him. Hurley tells him about Libby; Des says go after her. Hurley does just that; he visits Santa Rosa, bribes Dr. brooks with a generous donation for the rec room to arrange a visit with Libby. They chat, Hurley sets up a date, a beach picnic.

On the beach, she kisses him, and he has memory flashes on the island. And Desmond watches from a distance - you can just see the "Mission Accomplished" banner lighting up in his mind.

Des has another mission. He parks in front of the school where Ben works. Ben questions him, Des gives a story about moving into the area and checking out schools for his son Charlie. Ben walks away, Des sees wheelchair-bound Locke crossing the street - and he runs Locke down.

Back on the island, Hurley is met by the ghost of Michael, the man who shot Libby. Michael tells him that blowing the plane will get a lot of people killed. Hurley tries to stop Ilana (who has retrieved dynamite from the Black Rock) and Richard, who are adamant in their plans.

In a later meeting Michael tells Hurley the island whispers are all ghosts like himself, people who died on the island and are trapped there.

Ilana accidentally blows herself up, in an accident similar to Leslie Arzt's in Season One. Richard doesn't take that as a sign of being on the wrong path. They head to the ship for more dynamite. Richard will handle it himself, because he knows Jacob's gift of immortality will protect him.

But Hurley gets to the Black Rock first - and he blows up the ship. He confronts Richard, bluffing that he's in direct communication with Jacob at that moment, and that Jacob wants the group to meet with Fake Locke. Richard calls his hand, asking Hurley to ask Jacob what the island is. Hurley says he doesn't have to prove anything.

Ben and Miles continue to follow Richard;Jack, Lapidus and Sun join Hurley. Hurley confesses his bluff, Jack says he knew Hurley was lying, but trusts him somehow.

Meanwhile, Sayid returns to MIB's camp, and leads him away in private to meet Desmond. MIB instructs Sayid to return to camp, and takes Desmond to an ancient well. The well sits on top of one of the island's unique magnetic pockets. Some ancient saw the effect on his compass, and dug to find the source of the power. Others throughout history have made the same discovery - and Charles Widmore is the latest.

MIB senses that Desmond exhibits no fear, and asks why. Desmond says he sees no point in it. MIB pushes him down the well. Back at the camp, he tells Sayid they don't have to worry about Desmond anymore. And then Hurley and company arrive!

I am confident that Desmond is not dead. He is in tune with the island, in much the way the real Locke was. The island will heal Des' injuries as it healed Locke's.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Happily Ever After. Spoilers ahead.)

In the normal timeline, Widmore has brought Desmond Hume to the island because for some undisclosed purpose. He needs someone who can survive an intense electromagnetic field normally lethal to humans. Hume had survived such an event before - the Swan Hatch implosion.

Widmore tests his theory without telling Desmond what's going on. Unfortunately a technician gets fried when the generator assembly is turned on prematurely. Des is strapped to a chair, the generator is turned on, he loses unconsciousness momentarily, and all of a sudden he's cooperative with Widmore.

Zoe and a Widmore flunky escort him through the jungle afterward, where Sayid, armed with pistol, knocks out the flunky, tells Zoe to run, and tells Desmond to follow him. Desmond clamly and cheerfully complies.

What happened?

The alternate 2004 timeline folks are sensing the present-day timeline. Jack seemed to be showing signs of deja vu on Flight 815 at the beginning of the season. Sawyer might have gotten a whiff when he saw Kate after the flight and after her escape from her Fed escort Agent Mars.

Alternate Desmond works for Widmore, who is based in LA, married to Eloise, and happy to share his prized MacCutcheon scotch whiskey with Des. George Minkowski, who we know as the communications officer of Widmore's freighter, is Des' limo driver.

Des is tasked with babysitting a self-destructive rock musician, Charlie Pace, whose band is scheduled to perform at an event hosted by the Widmores. They chat in a bar, where Charlie tells of his near-death experience in the plane (he had swallowed his stash of heroin to prevent its discovery, only to have it lodge in his windpipe when the plane hit turbulence). Charlie caught a glimpse of a blonde woman who he had loved dearly - the real-timeline Claire, evidently.

They leave the bar in Desmond's sports car, with Des driving. Charlie grabs the wheel and forces the car into the marina. Des gets glimpses of Penny and the "Not Penny's Boat" message that the regular-timeline Charlie had written on his hand when they were at the underwater DHARMA hatch. At the hospital, Des prepares for an MRI. The visions return, more vividly. He tries to get answers from Charlie, who will only say that he needs to find Penny.

Des goes to Eloise Widmore and tells her Driveshaft won't be able to make the gig. She takes rock band recklessness for granted and is quite unperturbed. But Des overhears some of her servants mention a Penny who's on the guest list. He asks about Penny, and Eloise is quite mad. She tells him he's not ready - this Eloise knows something.

And so does her son Daniel - who in this timeline carries his birthname Widmore and not the alias (or stepdad's name?) Faraday. Overhearing the confrontation, Daniel privately approaches Des and confides a couple of things. First, Penny's identity. Second...after experiencing a deja vu moment over a cute redhead (Charlotte Lewis, obviously), Daniel had subconsciously drawn up a bunch of equations in his journal. This Daniel is a musician, not a scientist. He had shown a college friend the notes; friend says that they're the product of someone who'd devoted a lifetime to quantum physics. Daniel says that a nuclear explosion has altered the reality that everyone is experiencing, and is somehow aware that he set it off.

On a tip from Daniel, Des goes to meet Penny - she's jogging at night at a stadium. They meet, shake hands, and Des passes out. He asks her out for coffee. They agree to meet in an hour. He goes to his limo, tells about the coffee destination, and requests George to acquire the Flight 815 manifest.

There seems to be a connection between the electromagnetic experiment and Alternate Desmond's passing out at the stadium. Did the two Desmonds make contact?

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Package. Spoilers ahead.)

In the flash-sideways storyline, Jin had not declared his suitcase full of $25 grand, so Customs is seizing it. That puts him in hot water with Keamy, the man Mr. Paik had told him to deliver it to.

Keamy and his goons take Sun and Jin to separate locations - her to the bank, where she has a bank account with the sum promised, and him to the restaurant. The goon accompanying her is multilingual Mikhail Bakunin. They learn that her account was drained by Mr. Paik - he had evidently surmised her scheme to "run away" from her dad's influence.

At the restaurant, Keamy tells Jin what the money was for: a payoff for Keamy to rub out Jin. Keamy leaves him the freezer, and he and his goons have a meeting with Sayid with unpleasant results. Sayid finds Jin and decides to leave him there, with a razor in his hand to give him a chance to cut himself free. Jin accomplishes this when Bakhunin and Sun arrive. He gets the drop on Bakhunin, shoots him dead, and finds Sun bleeding. She tells him she's pregnant.

On the island, FakeLocke tells Jin about the cave with the names on the wall - and that one is Kwon. He has to take the remaining names with him. It seems obvious that the purpose is to make sure none of the Candidates take Jacob's place. Sayid remarks to FakeLocke that all his emotions have vanished. MIB says that's not necessarily a bad thing.

While MIB takes off on an errand, Widmore's commandos attack the camp with tranquilizer dart guns - and grab Jin.

FakeLocke tries talking Sun into joining his camp. She refuses, despite the fact of Jin's presence. She runs away, hits her head and suffers from aphasia, which scrambles her ability to speak English but not her knowledge of the language.

On Hydra Island, Widmore tells geophysicist gal Zoe they carried out the order prematurely. He gives Jin a digital camera found on the Ajira plane - it's Sun's, with pics of their daughter. Widmore says that if MIB gets off the island, everyone's futures come to an end - something to that effect. He's also got a surprise - a package...

When MIB returns, he and Sayid prepare to go to Widmore's camp. Before they leave, Claire asks about the conversation with Jin. She wants to know if her name is on the wall - it isn't. He also says Kate's name is not on the wall, but he needs both her and Claire for unstated purposes. (Kate's is probably to pry Jack's complicity, and to secure Sawyer's.) He implies that he will not interfere with anyone's plans once they get off the island, which sounds like a hint that she's free to dish out all the revenge she wants against Kate once they escape.

MIB arrives on the island. Sonic pylons are set up; Widmore knows more about MIB than he lets on. The two meet on opposite sides. Widmore denies having Jin present.

Meanwhile, Hurley and Richard return. Richard intends to blow up the Ajira plane to prevent MIB's escape. Sun objects; she finally consents when Jack breaks the temporary language barrier with a writing tablet and assures her that he will reunite the Kwons. So the beach gang plans to head out to Hydra Island.

MIB returns to his camp without Sayid, who has stayed behind to lurk in the water to discover what Widmore's "package" is. He sees Widmore's gang lead a drugged Desmond Hume from the sub. Well now, Mrs. hawking was right that the island wasn't done with ol' Des...

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Ab Aeterno. Spoilers ahead.)

The title is Latin for the phrase "from eternity." The Lostpedia article on this episode notes that the phrase begins the Latin Vulgate translation of Proverbs 8:23 (double Hurley Number reference!) - "I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth" (NKJV).

Proverbs is the 20th book of the Bible - no Hurley number there - but get this: the first Hurley number is 4, the fourth book of the Bible is...Numbers.

Indeed, as predicted we see Richard Alpert - Ricardo - in a previous century. He is a Spaniard, from the Canary Islands circa 1867. He rode a long journey to get a doctor for his critically ill wife Isabella. The doctor refused his services due to insufficient co-pay; Ricardo struggles with him and accidentally kills him.

He's imprisoned. The priest denies absolution on the basis of insufficient time for penance; Ricardo is told he's going to be hanged the next day, and he is destined for Hell.

(If any Catholics are reading this, drop me an email and tell me if the producers got the Catholic theology right. I haven't gotten around to dealing with the comments issue. My comments provider Haloscan was assimilated by was acquired by JS-Kit when I was too busy dealing with probate issues to know what was happening. I don't know if comments work at all; all I know is I have to pay a subscription fee if I want to be able to manage comments, and I didn't sign on for that. I'd like to be able to migrate everything to Blogger's newfangled comments machinery. This is a mess.)

An English-speaking fellow shows up at the prison; he's heard from the priest, who learned of Ricardo's self-study, that one of the inmates speaks English. Ricardo is freed, sold into slavery to Magnus Hanso, captain of the Black Rock. We see that all the other slaves are Spaniards; I figure Hanso thought a bilingual fellow would be worth more. That the slaves are chained means they're strictly merchandise and not coerced crew.

The Black Rock is caught up in a lightning storm and rough seas - perhaps also in a tsunami, unless Jacob has the power to move the island several stories underwater (which isn't so weird for this show). The ship collides with the statue and goes well inland to its final resting place.

An officer kills off the surviving slaves one by one, rationalizing that provisions are slim and captives would eventually turn on captors. As he threatens the last slave, Ricardo, Smokey attacks. Richard Alpert is the sole survivor.

While working at his chains, he is visited by his dead wife (actually the Man in Black in disguise). "She" convinces him that they're dead and in Hell. Smokey interrupts, she flees and is attacked. Later as Ricardo sleeps (was he dreaming the encounter?) MIB wakes him up, unshackles him with keys he found. He tells Ricardo they're in Hell, the Devil has captured Isabella, and Ricardo must stab Ricardo to free her. He is warned not to allow the "Devil" to speak - just as Sayid was warned not to allow "Locke" to speak when Dogen sent him to stab MIB.

Ricardo is ambushed by Jacob and disarmed. Jacob explains the island and MIB - it's a cross between Pandora's Box and Job 1:6-12 (my observation). MIB is a malevolent force who would vastly multiply the world's evil; the island keeps him bottled up. Jacob and MIB have an ongoing argument; MIB says all humans are corruptible, Jacob supplies an occasional Job to prove him wrong.

Ricardo goes back to MIB, says he's joined Jacob. MIB says he'll welcome him if he changes his mind. He also gives Richard Isabella's cross necklace, found in the wreck. Ricardo buries it, a sort of proxy funeral for her, I guess.

A brief Ilana flashback, set in the crude hospital where they met before, shows Jacob gaining her promise to protect the Candidates.

In the present, Ilana tells her campmates that Jacob told her Richard would know their next move. He's shocked to learn this. He takes off in the jungle, ready to defect to MIB. Before he leaves, Hurley speaks in Spanish with someone unseen. He tells Jack it has "nothing to do with you."

Richard arrives at the place where he buried the cross. He calls out for MIB. Hurley arrives - he was sent by Isabella's ghost. He convinced Richard that they must stop MIB from leaaving the island, or "we all go to Hell." At a distance, MIB watches.

Next week's episode focuses on the Kwons. Will Sun and Jin finally be reunited?

Update: Forgot to mention a critical plot development. At their initial meeting, Jacob offers to grant Ricardo a wish.His first two wishes Jacob cannot grant: the return of dead Isabella, absolution for his sins. The next thing he thinks of: he doesn't ever want to die. Jacob can arrange that.

Update: A question concerning last week's episode just crossed my mind - how did DHARMA discover the sonic-fence defense against the Smoke Monster?

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Recon. Spoilers ahead.)

In the 2004 timeline, James "Sawyer" Ford is a cop (who never assumed that nickname), and "ghost buster" Miles is his partner.

Miles sets him up on a blind date - with Charlotte Lewis. The two go to his place. While he's in the bathroom she searches his dresser drawer, and finds a folder labeled "Sawyer." James catches her and kicks her out. He tries making up to her later, but she sends him away.

Privately he tells James he had tracked his credit card usage - discovered he went to Australia instead of Palm Springs as he had told all his friends. (I suspect the blind date was part of his personal undercover investigation of his partner.) Later, James confesses, handing over the "Sawyer" folder - he's looking for Anthony Cooper, the man whose con provoked the murder-suicide that claimed the lives of his parents.

They are interrupted by a car that slams into the side of James' car. Merely dented, he chases the driver, who goes on foot. He nabs the perp - it's Kate.

On the island, Kate is having it worse. Claire tries to kill her as Sayid watches motionless and uncaring. Fake Locke breaks them up, later tells Kate that he'd been feeding Claire with propaganda that the Others had Aaron, something to "give her something to hold on to." Claire later reconciles with Kate.

Fake Locke also tells Kate about Sawyer's absence. At the beginning of the episode MIB's gang assembles at Claire's camp, where they meet Sawyer and Jin (who, beforehand, both express their knowledge that "Locke" is an impostor). Sawyer and the Man in Black speak alone. MIB reveals he's the Smoke Monster. He sends Sawyer on a recon mission to the small island with the Hydra station.

Sawyer takes an outrigger. He finds a bunch of dead bodies and one purported survivor, Zoe. They're about to take his outrigger back to the main island when Sawyer, tipped off by her remark about the Ajira flight's destination, pulls a gun on her. Men in the bushes pull rifles on Sawyer.

"Take me to your leader," Sawyer says. He's led to the sub where Widmore awaits. Sawyer makes an offer: he'll tell "Locke" the coast is clear, and lead him into whatever trap Widmore sets up so he can kill "Locke." In return, he wants safe passage for whomever he's with, and escape from the island.

Sawyer goes back to the main island, tells MIB everything, including the deal - and the construction of sonic pylons like the ones that kept Smokey away from the Barracks when they were in operation. He tells MIB that they'll act like they're walking into the trap and then surprise Widmore with a sudden change of plan. MIB likes the idea - at least he says he does.

Privately, Sawyer tells Kate his plan. Widmore and MIB will fight it out, and while they're occupied with each other they'll escape the island - on Widmore's sub.

Next week's episode focuses on Richard Alpert. I hope we finally learn his origins. If the "fractured" timeline is a life-without-being-touched-by-Jacob scenario, then Richard would never have gained his immortality. Will we see him in a previous century?

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Dr. Linus. Spoilers ahead.)

This episode adds to the theory that the "flash-sideways" segments illustrate what the lives of the Losties - and the island's other non-indigenous population - would have been like if they hadn't been manipulated by Jacob. Ben Linus, Ph. D. is a history professor at a Los Angeles-area high school. The first season's Leslie Arzt is one of his coworkers, a science teacher as we remember him. Alex Rousseau is a promising student who he's been tutoring. It's mentioned that Danielle (not seen) works two jobs to support her family; we don't know the status of Mr. Rousseau.

Ben also cares for his ailing father. The two mention their brief stint on the island; Roger Linus voices regret over leaving. Perhaps in this timeline Roger's initial disillusionment with his work, a sort of custodial assignment, had led him to quit DHARMA.

Ben represents the higher ideals of the teaching profession. He wants the school to put pore resources into building young minds. Principal Reynolds (the first major flash-sideways character we haven't seen anywhere else before) doesn't share that view; he just wants to do what will "get by."

Ben learns from Alex that Reylonds had been fooling around with the school nurse on school property. He talks Arzt into hacking emails to see if the two had shared any incriminating correspondence. Arzt finds the evidence. Ben attempts to blackmail Reynolds into resigning and recommending Ben for replacement. Reynolds says he'll torpedo Alex's college aspirations if he goes down; Ben relents. Ben backs down - and in the end Reynolds submits a positive letter of recommendation for Alex.

In the real timeline, Ilana gives to Miles a bag containing Jacob's ashes. She wants the truth abotu Jacob's death - and gets it. When they get to the old Lostie camp, she forces Ben to dig his own grave at gunpoint.

Fake Locke shows up later and gives him the means to escape - he magically disconnects the makeshift shackle Ilana fashioned from airplane parts, and tells him there's a rifle waiting for him in the jungle. Fake Locke leaves, and Ben goes for it.

He gets to the rifle in time to get the drop on Ilana. He then confesses his frustrations with Jacob and his regret that he gambled with Alex's life to protect the power he gained from the island. He plans to go to the Man in Black because MIB is the only person who'll take him. Somehow, Ilana offers to take him into her camp.

Meanwhile, Jack and Hurley head back to the temple. Hurley had been trying to delay Jack's journey, but did not want to mention that his apprehension is rooted in something Jacob said. They meet Richard, who tells them of the temple aftermath, and that he did not see any of the 815 gang among the dead.

Richard has plans of his own - he wants to die. He had been gifted with agelessness by Jacob, who had told him of a special purpose that he would one day reveal - but would not live to reveal. Richard feels his decades (centuries?) on the island have been a waste.

(Perhaps, in a sense, Jacob wasn't lying about telling him some day. He may have wanted Richard to figure out things for himself as he said he wants of Jack.)

The two follow Richard to the Black Rock. Richard finds a stick of dynamite and asks Jack to light a fuse long enough to allow Jack and Hurley time for escape. Accepting Jacob's gift makes it impossible for Richard to kill himself - but others can kill him.

Jack lights a long fuse, and sits down to talk as Hurley scrams. Jack doesn't think the dynamite will go off. Mentioning what he saw in the lighthouse mirror, Jack says Jacob went through a lot of trouble to get Jack to the island, and from the grave will somehow protect his investment. The fuse fizzles just short of the dynamite.

The three find the party at the old Lostie camp. Before they arrive, Ilana says to Sun that she will help her find Jin. Ilana knows that Kwan is among the names of the six candidates to replace Jacob. Recall the names and their associated numbers:

8 - REYES
15 - FORD
16 - JARRAH
23 - SHEPHARD
42 - KWON
51 - AUSTEN (seen at the lighthouse)

Note that the name Littleton (#313) is crossed out, but Jarrah isn't. Hmmm...is Sayid still a canddiate? Or has that been forfeited, and Ilana counts both Kwons separately?

On another note...I have considered an utterly dreadful possibility. Jack will finally get the chance to ask Jacob (or his replacement) for a wish. He will wish that Jacob had left everybody on the island alone - and the flash-sideways are showing us that wish fulfilled.

If yer 401Ks are flexible enough, put it all on ibuprofen.

Update: I forgot to mention the final-seconds plot twist - Widmore's found the island by sub! What will the death of Jacob do to his plans? How much does he (or ANYBODY, for that matter0 really know about Jacob and his Locke-impersonating nemesis?

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Sundown. Spoilers ahead.)

In the fractured timeline, Nadia has married Sayid's brother Omer, and they have two children. Sayid still loves her but, feeling guilt over his career as a torturer for the Iraqi Republican Guard, he felt that he didn't deserve her.

Omer owes a debt to a loan shark. Sayid doesn't get involved - until his brother winds up in the hospital, and the loan shark's goons pick up Sayid the next day. The shark is Martin Keamy, who in the real timeline was the commando leader who, among other things, murdered Alex Rousseau.

Keamy and the goons meet in a restaurant kitchen. After a little banter spiced with veiled threats, Sayid gets the jump on them - grabbing one goon's gun, using him to absorbn the other goon's bullet while firing back. Keamy begs for mercy, but Sayid shoots him dead. He then hears banging in the freezer, and finds someone else who got on Keamy's bad side - Jin Kwon. Keamy is either associated with Paik's organization, or an enemy of it.

Blogger just erased everythign following this point. I'm steamed. Read the Wikipedia article, or read Lostpedia for the island chain of events. I'm not typing five paragraphs all over again.

I'll just sty this: where'd Jin go? We last saw him at Claire's camp.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Lighthouse. Spoilers ahead.)

This is episode 108 - the sum of the six Hurley numbers.

In the fractured timeline, Jack has a teenage son, David - and an abdominal scar that puzzles him for some reason. Jack picks him up for visitation (remember, Jack is divorced). Jack leaves the boy alone for a while to help his mom find his Dad's will (which happens to mention Claire Littleton, a name unknown to both), and returns to find David gone.

At the wife's house Jack discovers through David's answering machine that he's enrolled at a music conservatory. He goes, listens in on David's piano recital. Later the two talk; David didn't want his dad to know he'd taken up piano again because he was afraid of his father seeing him fail. Jack's dad had always been overly critical with his son, telling him he didn't have what it takes; Jack assured David he would not carry on that tradition.

In this timeline, the Japanese leader of the Others has a son at the conservatory.

In the island timeline, Jack admits to Sayid that the pill he was instructed to administer was poison. Meanwhile, Hurley has a mission, to bring Jack on a journey. He goes off by himself and is almost thwarted by Dogen. Jacob (unseen to Dogen) tells Hurley to say he's a candidate. Dogen walks away cranky, muttering something in Japanese.

Hurley had taken off by himself, believing that Jack would never agree to the trek. But Jacob insists. Hurley approaches Jack, who initially resists, but Hurley says Jacob told him to say that he has what it takes. Jack knows what that means, and agrees.

On their way they see Kate. Jack invites her, but she declines, and Hurley is relieved because he wants to follow Jacob's instructions to the letter - which mention nobody other than him and Jack.

They find a lighthouse. At the top is a set of four mirrors and a wheel to position the array. Hurley's notes from Jacob says to swing it to 108 degrees. Jack sees that every degree setting is marked with a name; most are crossed out, a few are not. They are the same names that Sawyer saw last week - but there are notable differences, listed here. One such different is the inclusion of the name Austen, which is number 51. It's not a Hurley number, but since Kate's birth dad is military and that number has rather famous military significance...

Number 108 is the name Wallace; in this image you'll see that the name is crossed out.

As the mirrors turn, Jack sees reflections of inland locations. I recall seeing a Japanese pagoda. Jack then notices the names - and sees his at 23 degrees. He tells Hurley to turn it there - and Jack sees the house of his boyhood in the mirror. Jack surmises that they've been being watched from the island. In a fit of age, Jack smashes the mirrors.

As Jack broods alone, Jacob shows up. He's not disturbed by the destruction of the mirror. He says the true mission was to give Jack a hint about his importance to the island. He also needed to get the two as far away from the temple as possible, because a villain is about to arrive...

Meanwhile, Claire has shot Jin's assailants, and takes her old pal to her camp. She's been living in the jungle for three years, with a "friend." She later captures the black Other, named Justin; he had either survived the gunshot, or faked getting show when she fired on him

She interrogates Justin about Aaron's whereabouts, wielding a long-handled hatchet. Jin interrupts, says Kate had been raising the baby, who is three by now. She's got her answer, so she kills Justin with a single axe blow to the stomach. (That kind of wound would be a slow death by bleeding.)

Jin later says he lied, that he didn't want Justin to die, that Jin had seen Aaron at the temple. Claire is pleased, because she would "have to kill" Kate if she'd been raising him.

Shortly, Jin sees a familiar face arrive in the little camp. Locke? Claire says, "This is not John, this is my friend."

Jacob and the Man in Black have both been keeping track of "candidates." Here's a theory: the lighthouse ain't Jacob's. One thing we know about MIB is that he's trapped on the island. Jacob (before death) could travel to the outside world. He doesn't need the magical mirror to see off-island - but MIB does.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Substitute. Spoilers ahead.)

In 2004, Locke gets fired from his job - his immediate supervisor had discovered that he skipped the Sydney, Australia conference the company paid for him to attend. On his way out he meets Hurley, who owns the box company.

Hurley writes a note for one of his other companies to find Locke a new job. The supervisor of that firm happens to be Rose Nadler. Locke requests a construction foreman's job, but Rose convinces him to seek something more realistic - hinting loud and clear that a wheelchair is too great an impediment on a construction site. He agrees to work as a substitute teacher; on his first day at the job he meets another teacher in the teacher's lounge - Ben Linus.

On the island, the real Locke is buried in the Lostaways' cemetery - where Ben confesses to murdering him. Earlier he denied killing Jacob - he lied and said the fake Locke did it. (Maybe he sees his answer as half true.) After the burial, Ben, Ilana, Sun and Lapidus head for the temple.

Two interesting details: Ilana has gathered some of Jacob's ashes into a pouch, and she says that the Man in Black (how he is known in Lost lore - he wore black in the Season 5 finale) is "stuck" in Locke's visage when in human form.

After a chat with Richard Alpert, the fake Locke heads to the Barracks and talks Sawyer into going out for a walk. Sawyer can tell he's not really Locke, because he could always sense the original's fear.

They both see a boy in the jungle; "Locke" had seen him earlier, when talking with Richard. He chases after him, and finds the boy alone, who warns him that the "rules" prevent him from killing Sawyer. Meanwhile, Richard finds Sawyer alone. Before "Locke" can return, he warns that "Locke" wants all the Lostaways dead.

Later on, Sawyer threatens the imposter with a gun, alluding to the finale to Of Mice And Men. "Locke" says Steinbeck is after his time. He also says that he was once a normal man; Sawyer doesn't believe it.

They descend bamboo and rope ladders - Sawyer having a close brush with death as his ladder breaks - and find a cave, where names prefixed by numbers are scribbled on a ceiling. All but the following have been crossed out:

4 Locke
8 Reyes
15 Ford
16 Jarrah
23 Shephard
42 Kwon

The Man in Black crosses out Locke's name. He claims that Jacob is responsible for the writings and for killing off the Lostaways.

He tells Sawyer he has three choices: do nothing, replace Jacob as the island's guardian, or leave the island with the Man in Black. Sawyer picks Door Number Three.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: What Kate Does. Spoilers ahead.)

In the fractured timeline, Kate's hijacked a cab, which the cabbie eventually flees, leaving her and Claire. Kate takes Claire's bag and tells her to get out, and drives to a metal shop where she gets the proprietor to cut off her handcuffs. She discovers in the stolen bag that Claire is an expectant mother. She goes back to where she left her, and takes Claire to the couple who had planned to adopt her baby.

But when they get to the couple's home, they find the missus, who says that her husband left her, and that she can't adopt the baby. Claire goes into labor. Kate takes her to the hospital, where she is attended by Dr. Goodspeed - who we know from the true timeline as Ethan Rom.

During an ultrasound exam, Claire blurts out the name Aaron, triggering a sense of deja vu in Kate. Later, cops come by Claire's room and ask about Kate. Claire makes up a story that she left for parts unknown, while Kate is actually in an adjacent room. Kate comes out of hiding, says her goodbyes, and takes off for real.

In the true timeline, the Others administer a test on Sayid that involves blowing a powder over him, and administering painful electric shock and a hot poker. Jack is privately given a pill meant for Sayid. He meets privately with Sayid, who agrees to take the pill, but Jack goes back to the leader Dogen - he won't hand over the pill until he knows what's in it.

Jack puts the pill in his own mouth. Dogen quickly does a Heimlich maneuver and forces out the pill. He says it's poison. Sayid has been infected with a "darkness" that will eventually consume his identity.

I think it's the illness that drove Rousseau's team to madness.

Dogen tells Jack that Claire was infected too.

Earlier, Sawyer managed to grab a gun to escape the temple. Two of the Others leave with Kate and Jin to track him; the Others want to protect him from Smokey. The team discovers one of Roussseau's old traps, a tripwire that triggers a bag of rocks like a wrecking ball. Kate uses the trap to overpower the Others.

She and Jin go their separate ways. Kate finds Sawyer at the Barracks. He's grieving over Juliet, blaming himself for her death; Sawyer had convinced her to stay on the island. Kate eventually leaves him at the Barracks and reenters the jungle.

Meanwhile, those two Others grab Jin. The white guy is about to kill Jin over the black guy's objections, but the two are shot - by Claire.

Her demeanor reminds me of Rousseau's. Did Rousseau have the illness too?

Over at Jen's I offered a bit of plot analysis, some of which has already been stated here.

Remember when Mrs. Hawking rounded up the Oceanic Six to prevent some unstated calamity from happening? And when her son theorized that it really is possible to change history?

I think the calamity she was trying to prevent was the changing of history. Jack and his friends had to go back to the island to prevent that. They were part of the real history of the island. They had to go back and join the DHARMA Initiative and create the Incident that caused the magnetic anomaly’s instability, which forced DHARMA to add a feature to the Swan hatch that would contain the anomaly, which would eventually be neglected, thus bringing down Oceanic 815.

What happens if history is changed? The fracture in time we’re seeing now. So what went wrong?

Speculation: what went wrong is that Aaron didn’t go back to the island.

Whether this or something else is the culprit, I predict that Mrs. Hawking will round up the Lostaways, starting with Jack, and prod them into fixing the time rift.

This week I think we’re learning what happened to Rousseau’s team. They got infected with whatever infects Sayid and Claire. Claire’s demeanor seems a lot like Rousseau’s - and makes me wonder if the French chick was infected too.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episdoes: LA X, Parts 1 and 2. Spoilers ahead. Refer to my review of the Season Five finale)

Jack's plan to change history has unexpected results. Two contradictory timelines have emerged - the "real" timeline, in which nothing has changed, and one in which Oceanic 815 never crashed in 2004, landing at LAX on schedule.

The 2004 timeline has some historic anomalies, as the Wikipedia article (first link) explains:

Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) is returning to Los Angeles without his step-sister; Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) claims to be the luckiest man alive; Locke claims to have participated in his walkabout; Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) is a passenger and Rose Henderson (L. Scott Caldwell) reassures Jack while experiencing turbulence.

One more difference: after the plane passes through the turbulence with little incident, we see that the entire island has completely submerged.

Afterward, a stewardess calls Jack to the restroom where Charlie Pace has been for an unusually long time. Sayid comes by and kicks the door open. They find Charlie on the floor, choking on something, which happens to be a bag of cocaine in his windpipe. Charlie tells Jack he was supposed to die. Was this something Charlie would have attempted in the original 2004 timeline, or is this connected to Jacob's plans?

After landing, Kate manages to escape from her federal marshal escort and hijacks a cab, which Claire Littleton happens to be in. Meanwhile, Sun and Jin have to go through some red tape as the customs agent finds an undeclared wad of cash in one suitcase.

Segue to 2007, the "present" timeline. All the Losties that had been sent back to the old DHARMA days are now back in the present. They find the familiar Swan hatch wreckage - and Juliet is in the middle of it. Sawyer digs her out while Jack forgets to tell Sawyer about the part of his medical training that says not to move someone who fell from a considerable height without a stretcher. Juliet dies from her injuries.

Hurley is met by Jacob's ghost; Jacob tells him to bring Sayid to the temple so his bullet wound can be healed. Sawyer and Miles stay behind while the others proceed. From the grave Miles learns from Juliet that Jack's plan actually worked - how and why it was successful is not disclosed.

Both groups eventually get captured. Hurley has a guitar case given him by Jacob. He gives it to the Japanese leader Dogen, who finda a giant ankh in the case and a note in the ankh. The note warns of dire consequences if Sayid is not healed. Sayid is taken to a pool; the attempt to heal him fails - but at the end of the episode Sayid comes to. Miles appears to sense some disturbance in the force - maybe that Sayid's spirit isn't around when it should be.

Prior to that, Hurley blurts out that Jacob is dead. They surround the grounds with a powder identical to that surrounding Jacob's cabin - a defense against The Monster. The Others launch fireworks - perhaps a call for all Others to return to the temple for safety?

A third plot thread takes place at the statue. Jacob has been killed, and "Locke" tells Ben to bring in Richard Alpert. Ben obeys, but the armed gang from the Ajira flight object. Bram leads a few men and Ben into the base of the statue. We discover that Jacob's nemesis, the man posing as Locke, is really the Smoke Monster! Smokey kills Bram and his men.

In Locke form he later tells Ben that he wants to go home. He emerges with Ben, and pummels Richard into unconsciousness and begins to take him into the statue base - but not before seeing the fireworks...

Predictions: In the 2004 timeline Jack will be recruited by Mrs. Hawking to fix a timeline that's not supposed to exist, and Locke will somehow become an obstacle to this plan.

Labels: Lost, Television

The Antonucci family reenacts pivotal scenes from the last 5 seasons. Great special effects.

Labels: Humor, Lost, Television

(Episode: The Incident. Spoilers ahead.)

Instead of a full-blown review I'll link to this seven-page article that one of my churchmates sent. I do have a few musings, though.

The Flight 815 survivors got caught in the middle of a war between DHARMA and the Others, and between the Others and renegade Charles Widmore, who in turn had been caught in the middle of a war between Jacob and Nameless Guy. Cue the Twilight Zone music...

Something I just out: "Jughead" is yet another Hurley number reference. The bomb is Mark 16 nuclear bomb. But wait, there's another! According to the Operation Castle Wikipedia entry, "Jughead" yielded 8 megatons.

Stuff we don't still know: Alpert's origins. (Was he on the Black Rock?) Jacob's and Nameless Guy's origins. How DHARMA found the island. Clues as to why Radzinsky will doctor the Swan orientation film.

Stuff we do know: Radzinsky and Chang are not on good terms. Chang indeed loses his arm in the Incident. Eloise Hawking of 1977 is pregnant with Daniel. (Gad, I hope it's Daniel and not some sibling he's never been told about.) The "Locke" who rose from the dead is an impostor. Jacob has traveled to and from the island many times. Jacob wanted Hurley on Ajira Flight 316. Ilana's people are working not for Widmore or DHARMA or the Others but for Jacob!!!

Stuff we can guess: Chang will stick Radzinsky into mind-numbing Swan duty as reward for his recklessness.

Wild speculation #1: If "Jughead" is one of those bombs where a conventional explosion triggers the thermonuclear explosion, I'm speculating that Sayid tampered with it to disable the latter but not the former. That would carry out Miles' prediction that Jack was fulfilling history instead of changing it.

Wild speculation #2: The real Locke isn't going to stay dead. In this episode Ben recalls what the Monster, in the guise of Alex, had ordered: to do everything that Locke says. I think Smokey knows the real Locke from the fake, and that Ben will find himself taking the real Locke's lead in the final season.

Update: Two more things we don't know - Smokey's relationship with Jacob and Unnamed Guy, and how the Black Rock got marooned in the missle of the island.

Update: Jay Manifold informs me that nuclear bombs come with a failsafe self-destruct mechanism that blows up the bomb without triggering a nuclear explosion. I think Sayid rigged this mechanism - and that the combination of scattered radioactive elements and the electromagnetic anomaly will cause the phenomenon that affects pregnancies on the island.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: Follow the Leader. Spoilers ahead.)

So, Faraday did die from the gunshot wound. I'll have to change my prediction: Jack will cause The Incident, in his attempt to carry out the mad time scientist's mission.

Kate will have none of it and tries to leave. A Hostile is about to shoot her, but Sayid kills the guy first. Alpert, Mrs. Hawking, Jack and Sayid head for the tunnels where the hydrogen bomb has been hidden. Kate goes back to the Barracks, where she is captured and put on the sub with Sawyer, Juliet and the evacuees.

Earlier, Dr. Chang had located Miles, Hurley and Jin, and got from them the truth that they're from the future. Chang takes their counsel and orders the evacuation. But Radzinsky is armed and insists on carrying out the drilling that's supposed to release that electromagnetic energy that will trigger the Incident.

Present-day Alpert says he had witnessed the deaths of Sun's friends in the past. (Not necessarily all of them, as three are handcuffed inside a sub.) But does what he thinks he sees really happened? What will become of Hurley, Jin and Miles? And Jack?

Locke is a man with a mission. He first leads Alpert to the place where Past Locke had met Alpert during the time shifting, to fulfill the history of that encounter that Locke remembers. Next he's rounded those Others at the beach and has talked Alpert into leading them all to Jacob. Locke confides to Ben that he intends to kill Jacob.

The two-part season finale is May 13. I can hardly wait.

Labels: Lost, Television

(Episode: The Variable. Spoilers ahead.)

Daniel Faraday had long told the Lostaways that history can't be changed. But now he thinks it's possible. He plans to detonate the hydrogen bomb that had been buried years ago. This is intended to destroy the energy release that will accidentally be triggered several hours after his return to the island. Earlier in the episode Faraday tried a Plan B, to convince Dr. Chang of the threat his construction crew will trigger. Didn't work, of course.

If Faraday is successful the Flight 815 crash will have never happened, which means Widmore's freighter team will never be sent, which means Charlotte will not die on the island. Faraday feels cranked-to-eleven guilt over his experiment that permanently incapacitated a female test subject.

But the producers told us long ago that time paradox will not be introduced to the show - and I think they're sticking to their promise. This will not be a six-year episode of Star Trek: Voyager. I'm sticking with my prediction that Faraday will inadvertently cause the Incident he's trying to prevent, in which case he'll wind up Hurley's old room at the Santa Rosa asylum.

For this to happen, he has to survive a gunshot wound...

Why did he go into the Hostiles camp brandishing a gun? Doesn't he know that it's a really bad idea to look threatening amidst a bunch of heavily armed folks? Did he never watch The Day The Earth Stood Still?

And when and how and where and why did Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore become a couple???

One piece of the puzzle falling into place is Radzinsky. He's the one who doctored the Swan orientation film - obviously against DHARMA wishes. Something will weaken his loyalty to DHARMA and/or his trust in its competence, and his prisoners Sawyer and Juliet will play a role. Maybe out of desperation they'll tell him the truth, and scramble for a way to convince him of it.

With Jack, Kate, and Daniel in the jungle, that leaves Hurley, Jin and Miles at the camp. What's their next move? Sayid is somewhere in jungleville. And whatever happened to Rose and Bernard? Did they and a few others manage to survive?

Labels: Lost, Television