Quad Blogs

I want the world, the whole world, to stop and listen to me. Oh, allright. I’m quoting the opening lyrics of The Jackson’s “Living Together.” Naturally, the song makes me think of LOST but I’m digressing.

The Emmy Ballot was released a few days ago. It’s not the final Emmy ballot. All the ballot is is a list of the official entrants for different categories. Soon the Emmy crew will boil it down to the final nominees. There’s a good chance that every thing I write about here will not be included on the final ballot. Today, I return to the bullet points in order to write about each thing swiftly and concisely. I’ll share my opinions on why a certain series/writer(s)/director/actor/actress should be on the final ballot and, perhaps, why they should win and vice-versa.

–Many, many shows entered for Best Drama series. Not all can be nominated and only one can win. LOST, obviously, should be nominated. My old Official LOST Rankings partner considers the sixth season the best season of the show. Season 1 holds that honor for me though. They haven’t won the award since season one. I do think they’ll be nominated considering it was their final season. I think they’ll win many awards but I don’t think they’ll win Best Drama.

–Here are the other shows that I think will be nominated for Best Drama besides LOST: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Mentalist and, eh, Smallville (that means I have no thoughts on the final Drama to be nominated). I’m working my way through Mad Men so I have zero idea what kind of season they had. I hear Breaking Bad has been out-of-this-world GOOD this season and I have no reason to doubt it. I could’ve put Treme in the final spot (are there just five nominees? have I gotten the numbers wrong) but I think the show will be ignored like The Wire was. The last epiosde of Treme has been their best, in my opinion. I digress. I know CBS promotes the heck out of The Mentalist so it seems like they’d get a Best Drama nod. I have no idea. If I were a betting man, I’d bet Breaking Bad to win.

–Best Drama Director is a category that excites me. There’s so many entrants and so many episodes by these directors that I haven’t seen. But I’m one of those geeks who recognizes a director’s name. I’ve seen zero episodes of Breaking Bad. I have to make that clear once again. I noticed Rian Johnson is an entrant for this category. He directed an episode titled “Fly” of Breaking Bad. Rian Johnson directed Brick and The Brothers Bloom. The challenge of any television director is entering a show with an established look while adding a certain touch yourself. On name alone, I’ll predict Rian Johnson gets nominated. Allison Liddi-Brown directed a really good FNL episode entitled “The Son,” about the death of Saracen’s dad; however, FNL is always ignored so I doubt she or any of the other directors get nominated and that includes Peter Berg. Again, based on name alone, Greg Yaitanes could get a nomination for his “Help Me” episode of House. I’ve never seen the episode so consider this a hunch or a gut feeling. Nathaniel Jay Goodman directed “Once Upon a Time in Texas”–a HEROES episode. The writing was never a particular strong point of the show but the direction was always solid. Goodman’s episode accomplished a lot because it was an episode that, literally, went back to season one. There’s no way he’ll be nominated but I felt compelled to say one good thing about Heroes even though I hate that show so much.

–This is all just a preamble so I can talk about Tucker Gates and Jack Bender of LOST. Tucker Gates directed “Ab Aeterno.” In my review of the episode, I demanded an emmy for Tucker Gates. The scope of the episode was so gigantic. Jorge Garcia (Hurley) had a podcast called Geronimo Jack’s Beard. He mentioned that Tucker Gates directed “The Substitute” because he said Tucker used a lot of lenses that was different from the norm of LOST. But then Jack Bender comes along with directing the series finale–basically a full-length movie shot in two weeks. I think both should get nominted. I think Bender is a lock for a nomination and I think he could win it as a way of not only celebrating the work he did on “The End” but for the work he did throughout LOST. He’s responsible for the look of the show. Anywho, there’s my two cents for Best Drama Director. Wait. Some Mad Men directors deserve a nod. I just haven’t seen the episodes to specify.

–Best Writing. Once again, many episodes entered I have not seen. But again, I’m a geek and I recognize television writers. While I have never seen In Plain Sight, I hope Lynne Litt (writer of Claire’s first LOST flashback story) gets nominated just because she wrote an episode of LOST six years ago. There’s so many entrants in this category. Of the LOST writers, I would nominate Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for “Dr.Linus” as well as Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for “The End.” Once again, I hear Breaking Bad is mind-blowing so use this ________ to insert a writer’s name and the episode they wrote for that show. I’m a huge Jane Espenson fan so her episode of Caprica deserves considerable consideration. Of course, I’ve never seen Caprica. David Fury’s been entered for a 24 script. Eh. Nah. I haven’t seen. The creator of Spatacus: Blood & Sand is Steven S. DeKnight. The episode he wrote for the show (Kill Them All) has been entered. DeKnight is jaboy from the ANGEL days.

–Best Supporting Actress. Yeah, Yeah. I know I’m skipping several categories. But I want Emilie de Ravin to get nominated and win. She won’t though because people don’t appreciate her Australian-ness nor her talent.

Good day.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF DAY

Jack stitches Kate up

I’m already getting teary eyed, or dusty as I like to describe it. It’s really coming to an end. Only two and half hours remain. Tonight, in “What They Died For,” the final pieces were set for the final hours of LOST. It’s an episode that dealt with ideas of fate, purpose and destiny. Threads became tighter in the Sideways. The Island is a living memory, an actual place in the minds of our survivors. The seemingly final hours or day of the Island seems to be nigh. Jacob finally revealed himself to those he had brought to the Island. He told Hurley to bring his friends because The End is near. Let’s begin there.

In Jacob’s final hours, in the night as a fire crackled with the last of Jacob’s ashes, as Jacob awaited to cease from existence and disappear into the world of death, he told Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer why he had brought them to the Island. Jacob was a lonely man. Sure he had all of those Others who followed his orders but he was a lonley man. He was flawed just like the survivors of Oceanic 815. He, too, human and fallible. He made a mistake when he sent his brother into the cave of light because his brother became a pillar of black smoke. This creation could not leave the Island and was trapped in its smokeness, for lack of a better description of the situation. One has thought (allright me since no one comments but still in messageboards this hasn’t been discussed) that the Man in Black was trapped on the Island, seemingly trapped by something Jacob did. He couldn’t left whenever he want when he had a body but the smoke changed everything. He told Sayid that he doesn’t want to die. One wonders: what exactly constitutes freedom for the Man in Black? He assumed the form of John Locke but he is still Smokey. Death is the constant of this show at least in the Island timeline. There is no difference between NotLocke destroying the Island and him leaving the Island. We’ve learned that it only ends one way: death, nothingness. Kate wanted to know why they were chosen and brought to the Island and especially wanted to know what her friends have died for. Contextually, she referred only to Sun, Jin and Sayid but mostly all of their friends have died on the Island; perhaps, for thinkers sake, for the Island. Kate really wanted to know that her friends did not die for nothing. Nothing, nothingness has been a subtle theme this season but it was introduced in “The Substitute,” an episode that presented a true nihilistic world perspective through NotLocke. All three options he presented to Sawyer all, in the end, required that nothing be done. Last week, the mother’s final word was “nothing” after MIB killed her. Damon and Carlton have spoken about water as a key word for the finale. Perhaps they were joking. One never knows with them. Jacob’s Foot submits another key word: nothing and then will gently JUMP cut to the Sideways. Water, Nothing and Sideways. Perhaps I’ll have more to write on this after the finale.

Back to the scene of discussion, Jacob explained the candidacy to those present. He told them he needed someone to replace him as protector of the Source and he needs them to kill his brother. Even Jacob is unsure that The Smoke Monster can be killed. Jacob has represented choice. He told each person he visited in “The Incident” that they had a choice. Jacob told Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurley that he wanted them to choose among themselves who wanted to assume the role of protector because he wanted them to choose. Jack stood up and stepped forward. His voice broke when he told Jacob that the job is what he’s supposed to do and that the job is why he thinks he needed, or was destined, to return. Jacob told him “it’s time.” And in the darkness of the Island, with his friends watching on, Jacob passed on his role to Jack. Jack asked him how long he’d be protecting it and Jacob said sincerely and with empathy and sympathy, “for as long as you can.”

The opening scene of “What They Died For” was quiet and mournful. Jack stiched Kate up to prevent her wound from being infected while Sawyer looked out as the wreckage of the submarine washed up on the shore as “Credit Where Credit is Due” played, the iconic song that played as Jack observed the carnage and wreckage of Oceanic 815 in the “Pilot.” The first shot was Jack’s right eye opening, just like in the “Pilot.” Afterwards, after she had been stitched up, Kate and Jack joined Sawyer and Hurley. Kate silently comforted Sawyer, silently telling him not to blame himself for the deaths in the submarine. She rested her head on his shoulder. Jack suggested they go get Desmond from the well. Along the way, Jack mentioned something about the rules to Sawyer. Sawyer openly blamed himself for Sun, Jin and Sayid’s death because he theorized the rules prevented NotLocke from actually killing them and that is true to an extent. Jack only told Sawyer not to blame himself because NotLocke killed them. It wasn’t quite the moment between the two in “Exodus Pt 1″ when Sawyer told Jack about his father in the Sydney bar but I think Sawyer is better for what Jack said.

I felt strong “Dead Is Dead” vibes in the early part of this episode. Recall the presence of Alex in “Dead Is Dead.” Ben went to the basement of The Temple to be judged by Smokey because he felt responsible for his daughter’s death because he chose the Island. It’s an episode that set up what Ben would eventually decided to do in The Foot. Smokey took the form of his daughter and threatened him with death if he did not follow everything John Locke told him. Of course, it was massive manipulation by Smokey. Ben, Miles and Richard reached New Otherton and as they passed through the yard Miles heard from Alex. Richard had buried her body after Ben had left the Island. What she said we do not know only that Alex triggered that devasting grief in Ben and the anger when he saw Widmore again. We also know that Miles chose to run in the jungle and be far far away from Smokey once Zoe radioed in that His Smokeness had returned from Hydra Island. As far as Ben has come in the latter part of season five and the entirety of season six, he has not been able to get past his daughter. It’s unfair to think he would because no parent ever recovers from losing their child. With the word of NotLocke coming, Zoe quickly returned and she and Widmore hid in Ben’s old house. Miles fled. Richard thought he could convince the Monster to leave with him and give the others a chance while Ben was going to wait for him. He expected death but Smokey needed him again. Smokey showed up and demolished Richard and then told Ben that he needed him to kill some people. First: Widmore. Widmore and Zoe had no chance especially Zoe. She made the mistake of speaking to him and her reward was her throat sliced. Widmore had to tell Smokey why he had returned. Apparently, what Widmore told Smokey, is that Desmond is a failsafe (yes yes Desmond and failsafe are forever linked). Ben quickly shot Widmore because Ben didn’t feel he deserved to save his daughter. Ben then asked NotLocke about the more killing thing. Ben seems game. But Ben is also a smart smart dude.

In The Sideways, Ben came to the aid of Locke again when he saw Desmond; however, all he got was his Island memories, his awakening. Desmond told him he wanted to help Locke let go and Ben believed in the purity of the idea and he convinced Locke that something bigger than all of them was in play. Sure Jack told Locke to not mistake coincidence for fate but in this case it is fate. It’s the total opposite of the scene between Eko and Locke in season two and why Eko told Locke to not mistake coincidence for fate. But destiny and fate are in play in the awesome Sideways. As he left school for the day, he ran into Alex. Alex was concerned about his arm and told him that he shouldn’t drive and offered him a ride with she and her mother–Danielle Rousseau (more on her later). Rousseau asked Ben over for dinner as a way to give thanks for everything hes done for Alex. He accepted. After dinner, Ben and Rousseau shared a moment. They were her parents pretty much in the Island. In the Sideways, she looks at Ben as a father figure and admires him because she never had such a figure in her life. Ben choked up after Rousseau told him that. With all of the “Dead Is Dead” references and vibes, I thought Ben’s death was imminent. But no. His story continues.

And the mission of Desmond continues. He turned himself in only to share a cell with Sayid and to be jail neighbors with Kate. His plan: to take them where they needed to be. Hurley met up with him after ANA-LUCIA (Ana Lu-Lu as I call her in my head) set them free for 125,000 dollars. Before they were free, Desmond made Kate and Sayid promise to do him a favor. They promised. Sayid was sent with Hurley (who has ALL of his memories now) and Kate was going with Desmond to the concert that was mentioned by David at the beginning of the episode. The concert where Dr. Chang, Charlotte, Faraday, David’s mother, Miles and probably Sawyer will be. It’s all coming together. I imagine Claire’s been invited too.

And, for good measure, Locke told Jack that he’s finally ready to get out of his chair.

MORE THOUGHTS:

–Oh my GOODNESS is Emilie de Ravin adorable. Holy Smoke Monster did she look as cute as ever in her only scene in the Sideways. Her happiness to be with Jack and his son was so awesome. CLAIRE! I do wonder where she is on the Island. I hope that she is with Desmond. Maybe she’s asking him about that vision of his that never came true. I think she’s cured her own infection and is back to being Claire bear. I hope she meets up with the gang soon and hopefully she doesn’t kill Sawyer.

–We’re going to see the boxes in the outrigger again. Just sayin’ don’t forget about them. Also, I’m merely assuming we’re going to see them again. The first sentence is in no way fact.

–DANIELLE ROUSSEAU! I got teary when I saw her. I know I’m a sap but I’m a sucker for any original season one character. Mira Furlan looked beautiful. It was just great to see Rousseau happy and active in her daughter’s life. So wonderful.

–Jack awoke with a new scar in the Sideways. It’s happened before. What does it mean? Who knows. I imagine we’ll find out in FIVE DAYS when the finale airs. David mentioned that his mother would be at the concert and wanted to make sure his father knew because he doesn’t his dad to act weird. I’m telling you this: if it’s Juliet, it’s going to get dusty. I remember the days of Jack and Juliet. I remember Elizabeth Mitchell and how she portrayed Juliet during those days. I always liked Jack and Juliet together. Of course, I have a feeling Juliet’s final words about going dutch is in relation to Sawyer and that we might see this and it’ll get dusty with that too. I want to see Juliet again! I’m also excited to see how the two timelines reconcile.

–I thought the end of Jacob was very poetic and poignant. He’s the guy who we’ve anticipated meeting since season two and last week we learned he really never had a choice about how his life unfolded. People have criticized Jacob because of the way the show built him up because of what he turned out to be but I was really satisfied with Jacob’s story. I thought Mark Pellegrino was outstanding tonight. He hit the right chord.

–It seems like Richard is dead. Jacob did give him the gift of eternal life so maybe he just got a massive bump on the head because Smokey effing WALLOPED him. Hopefully he’s not dead because Richard’s always been cool. We’ll see.

–Widmore is most definitely dead. Never was a fan. Never will be. Jacob vistited him and convinced him of the error of his hiring Keamy ways. But still, Widmore is a true BLEEP.

–I love the Sideways theme–as in music. Michael Giacchino is amazing and has a lot to do with the specialness of LOST. The music he composes for the show is absolutely amazing. The Sideways theme is just out of this world good.

–I really enjoyed the reappearance of characters who left us in past seasons especially in an episode entitled ‘What They Died For.’ I’ll be honest. I accidentally stumbled upon this title two months when researching Tucker Gates’ IMDB page. He didn’t direct this episode as the damn page said he did. I digress. I’ve never been a big Ana-Lucia fan but I was glad to see her. She had such lousy luck when Michael killed her. It was really a sad death because she realized murder wouldn’t solve anything and then Michael shot her. She was a very sad character and it was a sad death. Perhaps I’ve been too hard on the character. I loved her small appearance and Hurley’s line to her. She’s not coming with the other Islanders though because she’s not ready. Desmond is

–Ben got beat up one last time. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen that.

–Jacob explained the names on the wall as simply that: names on a wall, a form of a list. He had nothing against Kate but she became a mother. He told her she could have the job if she wanted it. After all, he said, it’s just chalk on a wall.

–Seems like we got a confirmation on who inhabited the cabin after Ben said that Smokey had been summoning him. I miss that cabin.

–DL & CC have said in the past that the penultimate episode is really the beginning of the finale and this was a fantastic penultimate episode and a great set up for the series finale.

–Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Elizabeth Sarnoff wrote the episode and longtime camera operator and director of LOST, Paul Edwards, directed. I wonder why Stephen Williams left the show but Paul Edwards definitely deserved directing the penultimate episode of the season and the series. Eddie and Adam have been with the show since season one and Elizabeth Sarnoff joined the show in season two. I’d like to thank them for all their years working on last. The same goes for Paul Edwards.

–Only one more left. “The End” airs May 23 at 9PM. Before that, you should watch Damon and Carlton present the Top Ten on Letterman TONIGHT. They will be on Kimmel friday night. It will be their last appearance before they go into radio silence. ABC will be re-airing the full Pilot on Saturday night. I’d encourage going back to the very beginning as The End nears. Tomorrow night, Damon and Carlton will be doing a live interview that’ll be aired live in hundreds of theaters across the country. Finally, television wise, the LOST series finale event begins at 7PM EST with a two hour recap. Everyone who gave up on LOST and is returning for the finale should watch the 2 hour finale. Just know you won’t appreciate the end of the show as much as me or any of the fans who have been loyal for six years. As mentioned above, the season and series finale itself starts at 9PM EST. It’s a two and a half hour epic. After the local news, Jimmy Kimmel’s post-LOST finale will air and he’ll be joined by the bulk of the cast. You know I’ll be watching. Holy moly it is really coming to an end.

–As for the remaining days of Jacob’s Foot, I’ve carefully thought about how to handle finale week. After careful thought, I’ve decided to simply write only recaps/reviews/whatever-you-wanna-call it for the final two episodes. Most the reason lies in the fact that my series finale entry/post/whatever-you-wanna-call it will probably cover anything I would have written about in the five days between now and Sunday. It’s going to be an immense entry. The plan is to have it up Monday afternoon along with the final season six LOST rankings as well as the All-Time LOST rankings.

–And it’s finally hitting me that it is ending. There will be no more episodes after Sunday. I’ll really miss the excitement, joy and fun I experience watching an episode and writing one of these. I’ll be re-watching the series for the rest of my life because that’s what I do with television I love but this is how it needs to happen. Damon and Carlton made a very concious decision to end the show three years ago. It’ll be rare if a network show chooses to end their story on their own terms. I doubt it ever happens again. Savor every scene on Sunday. Savor every character interaction. Just savor EVERYTHING in the finale because it only ends once. Also, I’m so excited for the final chapter of LOST. I think it’s going to be absolutely amazing. Remember, the show has never been about answers and never will be. It’s always been about the characters.

I shall return Monday with the final Jacob’s Foot along with final rankings for the season and the series.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

THE TOP 50 ALL-TIME GREAT CHARACTERS RANKINGS LIST

Yes. The official list of characters for the all-time rankings is being released in this very entry. STEVE suggested it be the 50 greatest characters on LOST. I came up with more than fifty and went through an exhaustive process in which I whittled it down to just 50. You’ll see that Lennon did not make the final cut. He’s the only one who was once ranked (I’m pretendingt that we never ranked Zoe) but we had no idea he’d be killed off so quickly. I didn’t really like Lennon and he’s in no way deserving of being ranked with the great characters of LOST. This list consists of every character we’ve ranked (minus Lennon and Zoe of course) and some characters we were never able to rank but have played a huge role in the show’s story. Come Monday, each character will be ranked from 1 to 50. Here is the list:

Jack

Kate

Hurley

Claire

Michael

Walt

Boone

Shannon

Sawyer

Sayid

Rousseau

Sun

Jin

Mr. Eko

Ana-Lucia

Libby

Rose

Bernard

Ben

Desmond

Widmore

Charlie

Tom

Alex

Karl

Juliet

Ethan

Aaron

Nikki

Paulo

Faraday

Charlotte

Miles

Frank

Keamy

Dr. Chang

MIB

Jacob

Mikhail

Ms. Hawking

Dogen

Ilana

Richard

Dr. Arzt

Mr. Reyes

Mrs. Reyes

Christian

Naomi

Penny

Vincent

Adam Adam and Eve revealed, and not so much Adam and Eve as mother and son who had a very dysfunctional relationship. But it got dusty in The Foot. The story of Jacob, his twin brother and their “mother.” An effective hour of storytelling.

“Across The Sea” is a story about brothers trapped by fate essentially. They had no choice in what they eventually became. They grew up together and loved one another. They looked out for each other. MIB was very hurt when Jacob refused to accompany him to the place where their mother’s people were. Did not Jacob understand he and MIB did not belong his brother seemed to wonder. Their mother spoke with hatred about mankind and how they behaved. MIB echoed those sentiments in this episode when he described them as manipulative and selfish; however, she was just as manipulative. She took away their freedom. As she and Jacob walked to the cave that light emanated from (the source of the Island: life, death, rebirth), she told Jacob that she couldn’t stop his brother. But MIB wasn’t free. He was knocked out. The well he spent years digging because he knew he would be able to find the light underneath the ground was covered up when he awoke with a nasty gash on the back of his head. The camp where he had been living for thirty years was destroyed and the people killed. His mother took away his freedom yet again.

Jacob and his brother were once human. They were born to a woman who crashed on a boat with other people who created a village. They wanted to know what was across the sea. In fact, going across the sea was a major theme throughout the episode. Jacob and his brother didn’t know a world existed outside of their Island. I really should’ve written that Finnegan’s Wake/LOST essay. I digress. We met the crazy mother and boy did she have a screw loose. What she did was take away the free-will of her two children. She did not want her two boys (they of course only became hers after she murdered their mother) to be like men. She told them that it always ends the same. They come. They corrupt. Her son echoed those words in “The Incident” as Jacob enjoyed some fish before MIB rhetorically asked his bro, “do you know how much I wanna kill you?” “I do,” Jacob responded. Well, now we ALL know. It’s because he turned his brother into a pillar of black smoke. I’d be mad too. The war sort of began because of Jacob. He felt unwanted and unloved by his mother. He believed his mother loved his brother more than she loved him. She didn’t deny it. She told him: “I love you both in different ways.” In fact, Jacob believed his mother wanted his brother to become the protector of the Island. Maybe she did. She told him that it was always going to be Jacob; however, before those words, she said “it has to be you.” I interpreted those words to mean “I wanted your brother but now it has to be you. I’ve lost him.” I think Jacob felt it too. The ever-present sadness in his eyes and his demeanor were finally made clear. I felt a level of sympathy for both of the brothers. I felt tremendous amounts of sympathy for Jacob as he became emotional when reminded his brother that the Island is their home. He can’t leave. I felt sympathy for Jacob when thinking about all of the years he spent alone on the Island, protecting it. Like his mother, he seemed to invite the knife into his chest that night in The Foot. His mother thanked MIB for killing her, freeing her from this responsibility. Does Jack really want this job? I digress.

I mostly came away from this episode with a newfound sympathy for Jacob and his brother. Answers have never been very important to me with LOST. I appreciated the character development in this episode and the focus on telling this story about a loony woman and the two boys she raised. We were finally allowed the opportunity to understand why MIB is doing what he is doing. It’s almost a microcosm of the show: people brought to the Island by circumstances beyond their control. Jacob believed in staying. His brother wanted to leave. They were other people that they feared at first. We learned that not even Jacob totally understands what this Island is. His mother either didn’t understand or didn’t want to truly explain the significance of the light. Should it go out, the universe (she claims) will cease to exist, as she implied by saying all lights go out if this light goes out. But I like the mystery that is the Island and that will remain a mystery. I like that it is a place of healing and renewal and rebirth. LOST has always been a show rooted in spirituality. The first season is the most spiritual of the six. It’s a season about rebirth and renewal. Damon and Carlton spoke about how season six is mirroring elements of season six but, perhaps, the most fundamental mirror is the revival of rebirth and renewal. The Sideways seems to be a manifestation of that idea. After all, those who have died live in the Sideways. I digress.

The most emotional scene of the episode took place at the end when realization swept over me. The skeletons were the mother and Jacob’s brother. Jacob lost control of his temper and emotions when he saw that his brother killed the woman who raised them. He dragged him to the Cave of Light. He set him free by sending him down the tree. Their mother warned to never go in. MIB’s body floated in and soon The Smoke Monster emerged. Awhile later, Jacob found his brother’s dead body. He brought him to the Caves where his mother’s dead body lay and he put them together with the bag containing one white stone and one black stone. There was circularity in that moment. To quote Giles from “Buffy,” ‘There’s a certain dramatic irony attached to all this. A synchronicity that borders on predestination, one might say.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

More Thoughts:

–MIB created the donkey wheel which would eventually become the frozen Donkey wheel. That scene was fantastic. Titus Welliver was outstanding especially when he hugged his mother and cried.

–Contrary to negative nancys on LOST message boards, there were a plethora of answers yet again tonight. Don’t like them? Oh well. Stop watching for the answers. It’s always going to be about the characters in the end. Damon said it himself: it’s about lost people on a lost island. I’d like to think Monday’s entry was the last of my “stop hating EVERYTHING, fans” rant but maybe this is the last rant. There are now just 2 episodes left. 3.5 hours. If you’re not happy, write a LOST fanfic that answers every question you want. LOST has never been about answers. I think this is the final rant about fans.

–This episode was a nice break from the intensity and darkness of last week’s episode. But you know? I think next week’s episode is going to be very, very dark and intense. Damon said that it’s a dark time on LOST. I’ll believe him.

–Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof wrote this episode! I’ve always wanted to ask them about the order of their names in the credits. Sometimes, it’s Damon’s name first. Other times it is Carlton. Do they just switch it up evenly? I’d also like to ask them why writing teams have dominated the writing staff since season three. The last episode written by a single person was season two. Interesting. Also, with just two episodes left, I’ve now just realized Stephen Williams left the show. He was an awesome director. Oh well.

–Tucker Gates, the man who helmed “Ab Aeterno,” directed this one. Mark Pellegrino, Titus Welliver and Allison Janney did a some nice work. And I loved seeing the skeleton scene from “House of the Rising Sun” again.

–Overall, a solid episode of LOST. I became more and more invested as the hour went by. Next week: the penultimate episode of the series. We’re almost there.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

No real decision has been made about the four deaths last week since this episode featured no one from the main cast and it would be unfair to rank archived footage from “House of the Rising Sun.” STEVE suggested doing no rankings for the episode but I had some changes to make so we ranked. MIB moved up to 13 for me and Jacob to 14. Richard’s all the way down at 15 which I’m not a fan of but it’s a numbers game. STEVE switched around Jacob, Locke and Sun. But again, no concrete decisions have been made about the four characters who died last week because of the Sideways. Assume they all stay since we’ve been ranking Locke all season and he’s been dead since the end of season three technically. Anywho, ENJOY!

AFTER EPISODE 15

RANKED: 5/11/2010

CHRIS

1. Jack

2. Desmond

3. Hurley

4. Jin

5. Claire

6. Kate

7. Ben

8. Sayid

9. Locke

10. Sawyer

11. Miles

12. Frank

13. Man in Black

14. Jacob

15. Richard

16. Sun

17. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Man in Black

4. Jin

5. Richard

6. Ben

7. Kate

8. Sayid

9. Frank

10. Sawyer

11. Miles

12. Locke

13. Jacob

14. Sun

15. Claire

16. Widmore

17. Hurley

I have even more to write about “The Candidate” and other LOST things including the awesome LOST podcast. Let’s go:

Sayid’s death had the right amount of closure. In the flurry of the emotion of the episode and admist attempting to strike a decent balance between the shocking deaths and the important John Locke/Jack story taking place, one can forget to ruminate on the totality of Sayid’s personal narrative, his own arc. In “LA X,” he was broken, scared and full of fear. He asked Hurley what he thinks happens after death. Sayid was convinced he’d go to a place quite unpleasant. What he didn’t know was, upon his resurrection or whatever you want to call it, that unpleasant place was inside himself. Sartre, in his play No Exit, had one character exclaim that Hell is other people. Hell is sometimes your own self. Sayid made a deal with His Smokeness that infected him. He felt nothing. He did what he was told. “You’re evil,” Dogen told him. Sayid accepted that. “What will you tell her you did to bring her back?” Desmond asked. Sayid didn’t respond. We saw him on the beach of Hydra Island, telling Jack where they were. It seemed like he had more to say before MIB interrupted. Before Desmond was thrown into the well by NotLocke, NotLocke tried to rattle him, to scare him. Desmond wasn’t scared. What’s the use of being afraid he asked NotLocke. Perhaps, the profoundness of Sayid’s talk with Desmond lies in the not being afraid. We didn’t see how the conversation ended. We only saw a renewed Sayid. Perhaps Desmond told Sayid why it’s useless to be afraid. We won’t see the end of their conversation but I’ll bet we see the full scope of Desmond’s influence in the final three episodes so we’ll be able to understand how he saved Sayid’s soul.

Fans on various LOST messageboards have theorized about Jack offering Claire an Apollo candy bar as well as her rejection of the candy bar because that’s exactly what Jacob did with Jack after the dural sac incident that Jack eventually fixed (as told to Kate in the Pilot episode). My own humble opinion is: sometimes a guy offering a girl a candy bar and her not wanting it is just a guy offering a girl a candy bar and her not wanting it.

Fans have been clamoring for the Outrigger mystery to be revealed. I’d like to see that resolved as well. There wasn’t a huge chance of seeing that mystery solved because everyone is on Hydra Island. Why bring this up? I don’t know. It’s not a good segue but it’s a seque. Fan outrage has been more evident after this week’s episode. I can’t recall a more vocally angry internet outrage than the outrage about this episode because of the characters who died. I don’t agree with the naysayers. In fact, I probably wrote about how I wish they’d stop watching the show if they find so much wrong with it. It’s television and free. Chuck Klosterman wrote something, I imagine as a retort to all of the LOST naysayers he’s been dealing with, on Twitter. In fact, Klosterman did an awesome job on a BS Report podcast with ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons of defending the show. Simmons was in the majority of fans who felt that the show going to be a train wreck until it ended after seeing the first six episodes of the season (I wasn’t and remain a part from that community of fans). Klosterman essentially told Simmons that LOST is what it is and he suggested to just roll with it. He considers it, as do I, to be one of network television greatest shows of all-time. Klosterman describes LOST as ‘the most exclusionary show ever.’ I totally agree. He also compared it to reading a Russian novel. I’ve read a few in my life and I’d agree.

The point he essentially made then and made outright on Twitter is: “If you continue to watch a serialized TV show you actively dislike, you completely deserve your unhappiness.”

Listen, in less than two weeks, there’s going to be a 250,000 word recap of the series finale that at least one person will be reading besides myself (and I’m the author!). There’s less than 2 weeks to go now. Maybe after tomorrow’s episode, “Across The Sea,” the negativity and bitterness will cease. I hope it does so that the fan community, the loyal community who have been watching for six seasons without ever leaving, can enjoy the ultimate unwrapping of the Christmas gift (as DL and CC have said). LOST is a great Russian-esque novel. NotLocke, in “The Substitute,” told Sawyer that he’s so close (to the Number Caves in the context of the episode). We’re so close, fans. Embrace and savor the final three episodes because there’s never going to be a show like LOST again.

Other Things to Address:

–I forgot to add this in “The Candidate” entry. Lostpedia noted that only six season one character remain in the Island timeline: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Claire and Walt. It’s wild and sad.

–I listened to the penultimate podcast episode of The Offical LOST Podcast on Saturday afternoon. The penultimate podcast. Amazing how time flies. It seems like yesterday they announced their three-year deal that would end LOST in its sixth season on a podcast. But I shall save the podcast memories for the entry I write after the final podcast has been listened to. It’s coming this week as there won’t be any prehasing for the series finale. Expect the “Goodbye, LOST Podcast” entry sometime this week.

I’ll be back Wednesday with thoughts on “Across The Sea” as well as the LOST rankings.

Jack and NotLocke discuss stock options.

What an hour of LOST, folks. Goodness gracious, this felt like the penultimate episode of the series but we still have four left. We had the Sideways stories connecting and some serious plot movement on the Island. That was fantastic. I need a cigarette. AND I DON’T EVEN SMOKE! No singular character was focused on. It mixed in every lovable character from the six seasons of this magnificent show. I hope that this is how the remaining four episodes play out. I think it will. Did MIB just meet the new Jackob? EH? See what I did there?

Speaking of Jack, this episode did have a main focus: Jack and Locke. They are the most iconic characters on the show. Their relationship personifies the Man of Science vs. Man of Faith battle that has dominated the series since the first season. But, of course, this wasn’t Jack and John Locke because Locke’s been dead for a bit of time now. Jack finally got to meet The Smokness/His Smokeness/Smokey/NotLocke/The Man in Black. The writers aren’t playing around anymore. The teaser featured their conversation. THE TEASER. They had a heavy mythological conversation. Just how could Smokey take the form of John Locke? That is what Jack wondered. NotLocke downloaded a bit of information for him. John Locke had to be dead (which seems a given considering the rampant speculation since NotYemi reared his ugly head in “The Cost of Living). NotLocke scolded Locke again, telling Jack that Locke was a sucker who thought they were really there for a reason. Jack wondered whether or not NotLocke took the form of his father, Christian, in “White Rabbit.” NotLocke says he did. Jack wondered why. NotLocke explained that Jack needed to find water. He added that he’s always tried to help them. He didn’t want them trapped and he told Jack that he had been trapped by the Island even before he arrived to the Island. One could argue with NotLocke. The show wants the audience to debate that: fate vs. free will. What constitutes destiny? I believe we’re going to get more of that as we progress.

Their conversation ended when NotLocke brought Claire, who had been following them, out of the darkness. She just wanted to see her brother again. It was a moment four seasons in the making. I loved Jack’s first words to her: “I’m so sorry.” I digress though. Jack had a decision to make in an episode entitled “The Last Recruit.” Of course, Jack is the last one. Like Locke attempted for five seasons, even in death, NotLocke wanted to do: make a believer out of Jack. Of course, Jack’s been a believer since Locke’s death, since that meeting with Hurley in Santa Rose, since he had a vision of his father late at night in the hospital. Jack’s not going to buy it. He followed Sawyer’s plan to keep his promise to Sun. He wanted to get everyone off the Island but he doesn’t want to leave the Island. Not again. We all know what happened to him. A miserable, suicide beard man. Pill-popping and drinking alcohol. He didn’t come back just to leave again. He told Sawyer, during another heart-warming chat, that if NotLocke wants them all to leave then they should probably stay. Sawyer told Jack to get the hell off of his boat. Sawyer had no interest as Jack told his Lockeisms. Jack admitted he felt a piece of himself missing once he left the Island. He looked at Kate for possibly the last time. He apologized to Sawyer for getting Juliet killed and he jumped into the ocean. On the shores of goody Island, he found the waiting NotLocke. Of course, seconds after he arrived, Widmore’s crew had NotLocke’s position locked in. More explosions. This is rivaling John Locke’s great Island Explosion Tour of Aught Four, folks. Jack went FLYING. The familiar post-explosions sounds were heard. NotLocke rushed to get Jack. He carried him on his back to safety. “You’re with me now,” NotLocke told Jack.

Meanwhile, Sawyer successfully eluded NotLocke for the time being with Desmond’s ol boat that Libby gave him. Jack brought Sun, Frank and Hurley with him as planned. Sawyer explained to Jack that Claire and Sayid weren’t invited. Sayid’s a zombie and Claire’s nuts is how Sawyer summed it up. Jack went along with it. It was a bit cruel. Moments before Jack fled, he had a little talk with his sister about the trust she’s put into NotLocke. Claire put it simply: he was there for her when everybody else had left her. What she didn’t know is that the Island started throwing characters back in time. Of course, Jack immediately abandoned her again. She didn’t take kindly to that. She approached the boat with a gun, ready to shoot. She yelled that NotLocke would be mad. Poor Claire. She doesn’t want to be alone. Kate came through in the clutch. She finally told Claire why she came back to the Island. She apologized for raising Aaron. She told her she would not leave without her. It was enough to make a grown man dusty in the eyes, folks. She got on the boat but not before warning them that NotLocke will be mad if he finds the boat. HE’S A PILLAR OF BLACK SMOKE! OF COURSE HE’LL BE MAD! Sawyer’s Widmore-Submarine plan didn’t go as planned. We got one heck of a Jin/Sun reunion. I didn’t expect it. I yelled out loud and I command absolute silence during LOST. But we were left with the group of six on their knees. I assume Widmore, that bastard, wants them killed. Zoe told Sawyer that the deal was off. Someone name ONE thing that Widmore’s done to make him likable. ONE.

Also, NotLocke assigned Sayid another assignment: kill Desmond. You see, Zoe showed up to show off the power of her crew. NotLocke didn’t really care and wasn’t scared. After all, he IS black smoke. Widmore wanted Desmond back. NotLocke acted ignorant. Later is when he told Sayid what to do. Sayid arrived at the well and pointed the gun down. Desmond began talking to Sayid, his old buddy. They once traveled with one another to the freighter, had each other’s back. Desmond wanted to know what Smokey promised Sayid. Sayid told him about the return of the love of his life. Desmond wanted to know how Smokey could pull that off. Sayid explained that he died and was brought back by Smokey. Desmond then went for the heart. He asked Sayid what would he tell his love about what he did to get her back. Such sadness conveyed in this scene. Shades of what Michael did to get Walt back. It was brilliant. We didn’t see Sayid kill Desmond. The next thing we saw was Sayid tell NotLocke that he killed him. Hope for Sayid? I think I write those words every week.

In the SIDEWAYS, the threads began to merge. Sun and Locke were taken to the hospital. Sawyer had a chat with Kate about their little meaning. Sawyer made a big fuss about fate bringing them together. Kate assumed Sawyer didn’t want anyone finding out he had been to Australia. She’s very good. Claire ran into Desmond as she was arriving for her adoption appointment. Desmond told her he could help her with the legal stuff of adoption. Claire obliged though she seemed a bit freaked. They were both going to floor 15. There, she met Desmond’s lawyer friend Ilana. Yes, the very same Ilana who got Arzted last week. Ilana seemed to be waiting for her because she had Christian’s will. Later on, Claire and Jack met. Claire told him that she was his half-sister. Jack had a tough time dealing with that bit of news. He received a phone call from the hospital. He was needed for emergency surgergy. Also, Sayid got arrested for murdering Keamy and his friends. HOW’S THAT for a succinct recap of the Sideways? Listen, you can go to Lostpedia for a thorough detail recap of the Sideways. I do have more to say about the Sideways.

A fascinating bit happened very early when Sun and Locke were side by side. She said “no…no…no…it’s him.” HMMMMM. In the ambulence, Ben tried helping the paramedics as much as he could with the little info he had. Locke told them to contact Helen, his fiancee. “I was going to marry her,” he said. The way Terry O’Quinn delivered the Helen line was enought to make a grown man dusty in the eyes as he recalled the lousy life of John Locke. The man who believed when no one else believed and was rejected for his belief. The man whose own father conned him, who was left alone by Helen when he couldn’t and so on and so on. John Locke was so awesome. I digress. Jack arrived for surgery and noticed the man he was about to do surgery on was none other than John Locke, the man he had a nice chat with in the airport. Of course, I had a flashback of the season three spinal surgery storyline with Benjamin Linus. Do I think we’re going to see part II of that? Not really. But it sure was a familiar scene. About Sun’s line, maybe she was having memories like we’ve seen the characters having. She was bleeding, traumatized from being shot. I think John Locke is absolutely the original John Locke. In the Sideways that is. Sun’s lines are matter of the worlds slowly, slowly becoming…one…maybe…or bleeding into eachother. How they reconcile will be amazing I’m sure when we finally learn how they reconcile.

Time for some other thoughts:

–Of course I’m going to begin this by complimenting Emilie de Ravin’s beauty. She looked gorgeous in the Sideways. Absolutely gorgeous. I really enjoyed her reunion with Hurley. I especially enjoyed Hurley’s reaction. I felt quite bad for Claire. No one wanted her. People were afraid of her. She just wanted to be with her friends again. She even told Jack that she never had much family and was glad that he was back. All she needs is a little love. I thought Emilie was wonderful in this episode.

–Best scene of the night goes to Desmond and Sayid. Henry Ian Cusick is a hell of an actor. Great writing, great performances. That scene ranks among some of LOST’s best.

–Sayid, Sayid, Sayid. It’s been a rough season for him. I keep writing that there’s hope for Sayid’s redemption. Is there? If Hurley believes people can be brought back from the dark side, there is hope. He’s not giving up on Claire. I don’t think he’d give up on Sayid either.

–I feel a bit bad for getting angry at Richard, Ben and Miles for going off on their own. I now LIKE their plan. Hopefully, we catch up with them in two weeks.

–Who would’ve thought when watching seasons 1-4 that Claire would one day be a real threatening presence? I didn’t think she was going to shoot Kate but it wouldn’t have surprised me. That’s good writing and good acting.

–As I wrote earlier, this episode felt like the penultimate episode of the series. The final four are going to be astounding.

–Speaking of that, I can’t believe there’s only four episodes left. This season has flown by. I’m really going to miss this show.

–The Jin/Sun reunion was well worth the wait. Yes, I applauded when it occured. I thought I even saw Sawyer choke up.

–I must mention: there’s only 3 audio LOST podcasts left. The Official LOST podcast has been a favorite of mine ever since it debuted in late 2005. Damon and Carlton are awesome in every podcast. Yep. There’s only 3 podcasts left. I’ll probably give a recap and thoughts on the final podcast.

–Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland wrote this episode. It’s probably their last LOST episode. Tremendous job by them. Graham Roland, a new writer this season, has some potential. I’m looking forward to what he writes after this. Same for Mr. Zvbyszewski. Stephen Semel directed this one.

–I enjoyed this one a whole lot. I had so much fun watching it. The pay off is truly beginning. Every actor and actress was wonderful. The entire crew was fantastic as always. There was so much going on in this episode. I’m so excited to watch the final four episodes of the series.

–No LOST next week so I’ll be back in two weeks. Enjoy the re-run of “Ab Aeterno” next week.

–And yes, this is being posted a mere 2.5 hours after “The Last Recruit” aired!

TO THE RANKINGS!

Good times with the rankings. There’s some movement in both. STEVE moved Jack to 2 and MIB to 3. Kate was demoted in STEVE’s. Frank made it into the top ten. Sayid fell out of the top ten. As for my rankings, Claire remains on the cusp of the top 5. Will she make it? My top 5 remained the same. I moved Kate up because of how awesome she was with Claire. Sawyer got demoted for his plan backfiring and kicking Jack off the boat. Check ‘em out for yourselves:

AFTER EPISODE 13

RANKED: 4/20/2010

CHRIS

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Hurley

4. Jin

5. Ben

6. Claire

7. Kate

8. Locke

9. Sawyer

10. Miles

11. Sayid

12. Frank

13. Sun

14. Richard

15. Jacob

16. Man in Black

17. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Man in Black

4. Richard

5. Ben

6. Miles

7. Kate

8. Jin

9. Frank

10. Sawyer

11. Sayid

12. Jacob

13. Claire

14. Locke

15. Jacob

16. Hurley

17. Widmore

Michael gives Hurley some advice.

The last thing I needed to see was Sideways John Locke being run over by a car as he simply was wheeling himself to his car but I suppose it’s a case of the end justifying the means. Why do I have a feeling I’m going to write more about John Locke than Hurley when it was a Hurley-centric episode? I can tell you one thing: I’m going back to the old way I wrote recaps STARTING NOW.

Hurley is a beloved individual. Both in the fictional world(s) in which he lives and in the fan community that celebrates his character. He’s been the heart of the show since episode one and, now, he is the leader. With Sayid the BFF of Smokey and Jack deciding that it’s time to let it go and to stop fixing things and with John Locke dead, it’s time for Hugo Reyes to take on the role of leader. If I’m any of them, I would trust Hugo with my life. This arc began when he first met Jacob in a cab outside of the prison. After his encounter with Jacob, he no longer felt like he was crazy because Jacob provided him with some perspective. What if he wasn’t crazy? What if the deceased people who visited him and talked with him was a gift? What if he wasn’t curse? Jacob left with a guitar case with an ankh in it that would get him into the Temple where he would take the next step. He stood up to Dogen, with some helpful ‘you can do it!’ from Jacob. He was tasked with a mission: to bring Jack with him to the lighthouse where Jack himself would be given some perspective. Jack realized quickly, after the death of Juliet and the own weight of responsibility he carried with him about her death, that he needed to let it go. He needed to let go of his anger, let go of his need to fix things he even though he sitting back and letting others tell him what to do kills him. I digress though. Hurley has assumed the responsibility for people now. Sun, Frank and Jack trust him with their lives.

Hurley never actively desired the leadership. It’s just in him. It comes naturally to him. For the first few seasons, Hurley was the man who wanted everyone to forget about how terrible a situation they were in. He wanted to provide them with pleasure and fun every once in awhile, just to relieve the depression they felt. There was the golf course in “Solitary.” There was the ‘let’s fix the van!” from season three’s “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead.” He had the idea for a census so that everyone would know eachother. Sure Boone had a problem with it but he was way liberal. I digress. Hurley also wanted to help. He volunteered for the trek to the Black Rock in “Exodus.” He witnessed the explosion of Dr. Arzt. I digress again. Hurley is nice to everybody. The Others used him to frighten the rest of the Losties or The Others loved him so much that they let him go and spared him from the good time in the cages and the Hydra station. He never wanted to hurt anybody. He would offer to carry Aaron for Claire. He wanted to comfort Sayid and suggested fixing a radio after Sayid lost Shannon. He didn’t want to lie when he and the rest of the Oceanic 6 left the Island. The lie killed him. He sought the comfort of his mother when burdened and tortured with the lie. He wanted to go with Charlie when Charlie volunteered to swim to the Looking Glass. After Ilana died suddenly from not being careful enough with the dynamite, he decided he was done with that. He destroyed the rest of the dynamite along with The Black Rock. No one else would blow themselves up. Of course Richard was on a mission to blow up that plane so he, Ben and Miles began their journey to New Otheron to get grenades and other explosives. But I digress. Hurley’s ultimate act of leadership was deciding to not use violence. The old leaders have used violence. Not Hurley. He went the Leo Tolsoty/Ghandi route: resitance through non-violence. He suggested talking with NotLocke. That’s why everyone loves Hugo.

In the Sideways, he was the same man only he didn’t feel cursed as he did for much of his post-lottery life. In fact, the episode opened with a speech given by good ol’ Dr. Pierre Chang at an event that celebrated Hurley’s donation to the Museum. As we learned earlier this season, he went to Australia for business reasons. He didn’t go to see Sam Toomey’s wife about the numbers he used in the lottery. Presumably, his grandfather Tito did not die of a heart attack shortly after he won the lottery. Presumably, his friend Johnny did not run off with the girl of his dreams Starla. No, Hurley was afraid of even saying hello to a girl. Hurley still possessed the altruistic and good-natured, caring and loving personality we’ve loved since episode one. He hooked Locke up with a job when he learned Randy Nations had fired Locke after seeing an angry Locke yell at Hurley’s car. When his mother set him up on a blind date, he went and was approached by Libby, the love of his Island life. She swore she knew him from somewhere but she couldn’t quite place it. Soon, Hurley’s old doctor from the Island took her away and apologized for the intrusion. The thing is, Hurley thought for a moment she was Rosalita, the woman Hurley’s mother arranged for Hurley to meet. He remarked that she was so pretty. He was so taken aback by her beauty. He didn’t react freaked or anything. He watched her wistfully as she was taken into the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital van. He became depressed and went to Mr. Cluck’s to eat a family size bucket of chicken. One wonders if his father returned in the Sideways. Probably. I assume he still left the family for awhile which is where Hugo’s depressive eating habits begun. At least that’s how it began in the Island timeline.

In Mr. Cluck’s, he met Desmond. Desmond was awaiting his order when he recognized Hurley from Oceanic 815. He sat down and they began talking. Hurley told him about Libby and what she told him. Desmond asked whether he had any memory of Libby. Hurley said he sort of did but didn’t quite believe himself. Desmond suggested looking for her so that he could talk to her. Hurley went to Santa Rosa, spoke with the Doctor who informed him that Libby’s mental illness involved confusion about realities. Hurley donated generously to the hospital so that he could speak to her. Libby told her about what she remembered, that there was a plane crash and that they liked eachother. Hurley couldn’t remember but he asked Libby out anyway. Those writers in Room 23 are pretty crafty and sneaky, too. Hurley recognized Libby but couldn’t quite place her in his head. She told him that he knew her because he stepped on her toe; that wasn’t true since Hurley remembered her from the mental hospital. We finally got confirmation on that matter when Libby told him, in the Sideways, that she remembers him being in Santa Rosa.

The relationship between Hurley and Libby produced one of the saddest moments in the show when Hurley sat beside her dead body and apologized tearfully for forgetting the blankets. She saved him from doing something very stupid when Dave tried to convince him that the Island was just part of his “crazyness.” It ended before it began when Libby ran into a desperate Michael who had just shot Ana-Lucia in the gut. Libby was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The two finally were able to have their picnic in the Sideways. Hurley even remembered Libby after a kiss as a satisifed Desmond drove off to rundown poor wheel chair bound Locke. The episode opened with Hurley speaking to Libby’s grave. The first act of of Act I in ‘Tricia Tanaka Is Dead” is Hurley talking to Libby. He explained that crazy things were happening but he mostly wondered why she hadn’t spoke to him like the others do. Ilana came by for some exposition and then left. Soon, Michael showed up to tell Hurley that they would all die. He was there to warn Hurley. It’s quite interesting that Michael was the guy to show up. I don’t mean interesting in regards to Island craziness. I just mean interesting in regards to the narrative they were telling. I was anticipating Hurley telling Michael that he forgives him in their last scene together but I think he did without saying after Michael told Hurley to apologize for murdering her.

Hurley, Jack, Sun and Frank arrived at NotLocke’s camp. Before Jack, Sun and Frank showed themselves, Hurley wanted to make sure no one would get hurt or die. NotLocke told Hurley that he would not harm anyone. And then the three came in. Kate smiled widely when she saw Jack. Sawyer looked sort of relieved. And then we got to the end of the episode when Sideways Locke was rundown by Desmond.

Time for more thoughts:

–As I’m returning to my recapping roots by focusing on the central character of the episode and NOT spending so much time trying to recap every iota of the episode, I devoted about 5 sentences to the end. I didn’t devote any words to the Desmond/NotLocke subplot. I will because that’s what this section’s all about: the subplots. NotLocke was rather offended by Desmond’s non-fear about everything. NotLocke could not get to Desmond. It was very, very interesting when NotLocke explained the origins of the wells. People dug for answers to the wonky compass issues. And there are multiple wells on the Island. Yes, I think there’s going to be a major electromagnetic event in the series finale. Desmond was eventually pushed into the well because NotLocke grew frustrated. Did Desmond get pay back in the Sideways? I’m not so sure. I’ll wait and see like I’ve been doing for the last six seasons. Could Locke be making his heroic return? Could he somehow from another world thwart the Man in Black? One can hope. Also, the final shot of the episode was of Locke lying on his back, bloody. Yes, it indeed mirrored the shot of Locke after he fell 8 stories. Perhaps Desmond just wanted to trigger some memories. He is a man on a mission after all. Also, how about Ben rushing to save John Locke’s life when, in Island timeline, he’s the man who ended Locke’s life.

–Loved Jack’s scene with Hurley when he explained why he trusted Hurley and went with him. It was a moment six seasons in the making. Matthew Fox was outstanding during that. Bravo, Mr, Fox.

–When I saw the shot of the dynamite in Ilana’s bag, I had a brief thought about how long it’s been since the unstable dynamite did anything. Well, I guess the writers did as well. Ilana got Arzted. Ben wondered what the Island has in store for them once It’s done with them all. Ilana, who trained for years and years to protect the candidates, dies as a result of handling the dynamite too casually. I think, like Hurley thinks, it was a case of not handing the dynamite carefully enough.

–I think it’s wonderful that everyone is pretty much together now. Hopefully every character is involved now. I hope I’ve seen the last episode that focuses on one group of characters and ignores another group. I long for the early season one episodes when everyone was invovled. We’ve still got Jin (Poor Sun) on Hydra Island, hanging out with Widmore’s crew, but this is as close as we’ve come to everyone being together since “The Beginning of The End.” Of course Richard, Ben and Miles are off to blow up the plane but they weren’t part of the season 1 magic anyway.

–NotLocke saw another kid in the jungle, smiling demonically at him. Desmond saw him too and NotLocke told Desmond to IGNORE HIM. This kid has dark hair instead of blond hair. It seemed like the same kid NotLocke saw in “The Substitute.” Who knows. NotLocke wasn’t too pleased. It certainly didn’t help when he made the decision to throw Desmond down a well. Am I fearful that Desmond is dead? No. The previews solved that problem. Plus, the well didn’t seem too deep when NotLocke dropped the torch.

–I was very disappointed in Sayid. Perhaps the most disappointed I’ve ever been in the character. Tying up Desmond to a tree? Do you not remember Ana-Lucia doing the SAME thing to you in “Collision”? Probably not since he is a ZOMBIE and BFFs with NotLocke. Of course Sayid probably thinks NotLocke can actually bring Nadia back to him and back to life. Bad times for Sayid fans.

–Sawyer continues to grow impatient with NotLocke. He wondered why NotLocke was carving himself a spear. NotLocke told him to sod off. Not in those words of course. NotLocke claims everyone needs to leave together just as the Oceanic 6 needed to be together to return. What if it turns out that NotLocke was telling the truth all of this time? I’m not sure he is telling the truth. I think he mixes truth and lies as he sees fit. I think NotLocke is like the Hatch. The Hatch was destroyed to prevent the end of human existence. NotLocke needs to be destroyed to prevent the End of All Things. I wondered internally about whether or not the Island’s Volcano would come into play at all this season since DL and CC said the volcano introduced in ‘The Man Behind The Curtain” would be important but I’m thinking there’s going to be a major electromagnetic event to destroy The Smokeness NotLocke.

–The mystery and intrigue of Libby wasn’t there in this episode. We’ll never know the backstory of Libby. Does it really matter though? I don’t think so. I was glad to see the Sideways Libby the way she was. Cynthia Watros looked beautiful.

–How about the answer to the whispers? They’ve been a favorite of mine since “Solitary.” The Island does have Purgatory qualities to it. I wondered who else is lingering on the Island. I also think Hurley’s line about dead people being more reliable than alive people is heavy foreshadowing.

–My face is going to be all kinds of red if Man in Black turns out to be a good guy. I also really enjoyed Hurley’s nervousness when thinking about his upcoming disucssion with Smokey.

–I want to see a 6’7″ Walt return and DUNK on The Smoke Monster.

–Lostpedia reports that this was the first episode directed by Daniel Attias since Hurley’s first flashback episode ‘Numbers.’ How fitting that he returns to direct the final Hurley episode. Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowtiz wrote this one. I really enjoyed this episode. It’s never a bad hour when Hurley’s at the forefront. Jorge Garcia was terrific. It was great seeing Harold Perrineau again and the beautiful Cynthia Watros. Kudos to see Terry O’Quinn and Henry Ian Cusick as well. It was great seeing Francois Chau again too.

–Damon Lindelof had a great tweet about not switching over to Glee because LOST would feature copious amounts of Madonna songs in the second half. By songs, he meant EXPLOSIONS. There was a lot of that in “Everybody Loves Hugo.” Also, just because I feel like it: season two’s Hurley episode title was “Everybody Hates Hugo.”

TO THE RANKINGS!

After a week of no changes, my rankings have gone wild. I’ve moved people all over the place. I’m not too happy that Richard, Ben and Miles went off their own and ignored Hurley. Ben remains in the top 5 but he’s at 5. Richard’s down to 14 and Miles is now 10. Sayid, after his actions, is no. 11. I moved Sawyer to 8 and Kate to 9 because they’ve been solid and loyal all season. Jin moved into the top 5. Claire is on the cusp of the top 5-dom. Will she make it before the rankings take their final bow? Also, I’d like to announce there’s a very special rankings me and STEVE will do once the series finale is over. Anywho, STEVE’s rankings are the same for the most part. There’s the usual switcharoo he does for the lower ranked characters. Also, we removed Ilana and Zoe. I made the mistake of wanting to rank Zoe. In the past, we usually gave a character who died one more week and we still might. Who knows. But the series is coming to a close quickly and we’ve got to rank the characters who really matter. CHECK ‘EM OUT:

AFTER EPISODE 12

RANKED: 4/14/2010

CHRIS

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Hurley

4. Jin

5. Ben

6. Claire

7. Locke

8. Sawyer

9. Kate

10. Miles

11. Sayid

12. Frank

13. Sun

14. Richard

15. Jacob

16. Man in Black

17. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Man in Black

3. Jack

4. Richard

5. Kate

6. Ben

7. Miles

8. Sawyer

9. Sayid

10. Jin

11. Frank

12. Claire

13. Locke

14. Sun

15. Jacob

16. Widmore

17. Hurley

Desmond has some fun with electromagnetism

Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final act of the final season has begun.

Does patience pay off? It does because we just got a huge progression in the tale of the sideways. Our characters are having vivid memories of their Island lives. Charlie saw his life with Claire as he lay dying on the Oceanic 815 Faraday felt love the first time he saw Charlotte as he walked in her museum and he had never met her but, that night as he slept, he dreamt about her and awoke to write a complex equation and Desmond kept seeing Penny throughout and began searching for her. In the end, he awoke from the electromagnetic event Widmore put him through with a sereneness about him and purpose. He asked Charles, “when do we start?” We don’t know what Widmore told him. The next thing we saw was Sayid attack two of Widmore’s men and allow Zoe to run. Sayid invited Desmond to come with him and Desmond said, “lead the way.”

Desmond is, indeed, special as Faraday told us last year in “Because You Left.” He is the connection between the sideways and the Island. This episode mirroed “Flashes Before Your Eyes” but mixed in a little bit of “The Constant” with some “Through The Looking Glass,” “Further Instructions,” “The Variable,” “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” and “Live Together, Die Alone.” The two most important episodes to remember while thinking about “Happily Ever After” are “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant.” Desmond was our introduction to time-travel (although Hurley teased it during season two). Desmind is OUR constant. He’s been a man trapped by fate as Ms. Hawking told him in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Desmond wanted to change things, to propose to Penny but Ms. Hawking told her that wasn’t going to happen because his purpose was going to the Island and pushing the button so the entire world didn’t go bye-bye. In this episode, he seemingly has full control of his destiny and it looks as if it will come down to choice in the end. Allow me to dive into an episode that didn’t have one insignificant scene.

The opening of the Sideways story mirrored the opening of “what happened after Desmond turned the key in the Hatch” in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” No, Desmond wasn’t on the floor surrounded by red paint. Instead, he stared at his reflection as he searched for baggage claim for Oceanic 815. Luckily, Hurley came by and directed him. As Desmond approached the baggage carousel (is that what it’s called?) he found Claire trying to get her bags. He helped her and they talked. He asked about her pregnancy but apologized for asking since he was, you know, a stranger. They had a nice talk. Desmond offered her a ride but she wanted to take a taxi. Before they parted, he told her that her child would be a boy. NOW how would he know that? (I ask knowingly with a gleeful grin).

He found his driver, George Minkowski. Minkowski, if you recall, was the communications guy on the freigher and was the suffering from the sickness of mind time-travel and eventually died. He and Desmond bonded during that time. Anywho, Desmond was the right-hand man of Charles Widmore. Ms. Hawking (or Mrs. Widmore in this case) told Desmond, later at the concert set-up, that he got what he always sought: the approval of Charles Widmore. That’s debatable but it’s worth mentioning. Their scene was full of references to old episodes. The most symbolic part of the scene was when Widmore shared a bottle of McCutheon whiskey with Desmond as that bottle of whiskey represents the how beneath Desmond is to Widmore in the Island narrative. Widmore had a job for Desmond: get Charlie Pace, the junkie rockstar of Driveshaft, and take him to the concert where Daniel was going to mix classical music with rock n’ roll.

Desmond did just that only Charlie walked right past him, across the street, and into a bar. Desmond caught up with him and they drank together. In the bar, we got additional context for why Charlie told Jack that he was supposed to die. On February 2, it seemed like a nod to fate, a nod to what happened in the Looking Glass station. But no, it wasn’t. He told Desmond a story about love. We were misled to think that Charlie fell in love with Kate but, no, the marshal merely motivated Charlie to go to the the bathroom to get rid of his stash of heroin through swallowing. He told Desmond that he swallowed it and that darkness overcame him. In that darkness, he saw the most beautiful blond girl (“rapturously beautiful” is how Charlie described Claire). He loved her and it was like they had been together for all of time and would be together for all of time. Just as he was about to be engulfed in it, Jack saved him. The experience convinced Charlie that he was living in a reality that wasn’t all real and he became suicidal because of his experience. Charlie became motivated to show Desmond the falseness of the reality in which they lived because he saw the truth. Charlie didn’t believe that Desmond was happy with his life even though he was successful. Couldn’t be. He didn’t see the truth.

They left the bar and entered a car. On the road, they continued to talk. Charlie told Desmond that he’d show Desmond what he meant. Charlie grabbed the wheel and soon he and Desmond found themselves in the boat harbor where Desmond was shot by Ben in Island story. He escaped, surfaced to catch his breath and then went back down to save Charlie. As he attempted to open the door, Charlie opened his eyes and put his hand to the window (“Through The Looking Glass” parallel) and Desmond began having flashes of Charlie’s death in the Looking Glass station. He did pull him out eventually. I think it’s right to assume that Charlie experienced that experience as he lay dying in the airplane bathroom because he died with the thought that the love of his life and her son would fly safely away from the Island. I think Charlie definitely felt that.

At the hospital, the doctor was concerned about his head while Desmond was concerned about finding Charlie. The doctor wouldn’t let Des find anyone without undergoing an MRI first to figure out if there’s anything wrong with his head. At the MRI, he was given a panic button. Desmond was alarmed by the word button because of his history with buttons. He entered and saw flashes of his Island timeline that was all Penny. He saw every important moment including the birth of his son. He pushed the button. The doctor freed him and then Desmond went looking for Charlie. He ran into Jack while looking for Charlie. They exchanged pleasantries. Jack expressed incredulousness when he heard that someone from Oceanic 815 was in the hospital (shades of old man of science Jack). Charlie appeared, running through the hospital and away from nurses. Desmond followed him and, after descending a stairwell, cornered Charlie. Desmond immediately asked about Penny. Charlie was glad that Desmond had felt it. Charlie told Desmond that he wasn’t going to play the show because it didn’t matter, that none of it matted and that the only thing that mattered was that they felt it. Charlie told Desmond to find Penny. I think Charlie was the MVC of this episode. His characters seems to have set-up the final arc of this sideways narrative. Desmond echoed the words of Jacob in the bar as he talked to Charlie, “there’s always a choice.”

Desmond quickly updated Widmore on the Charlie news. Desmond was tasked with telling Mrs. Widmore. He went to the house and told her. She reacted kindly like she knew that it would happen but she grew perturbed when Desmond wanted to look at the list of guests. She told Desmond that he wasn’t ready to find who he was looking for and that he had gotten the approval he sought for his entire life from Widmore. Her son, Daniel, listened to the entire conversation. Desmond left, entered the limo, poured himself a glass of alcohol and told Minkowski to just drive but Daniel knocked on the window and wanted to talk with Desmond.

Daniel talked about love at first sight and proceeded to tell him the story about Charlotte that I described at the start of the recap. He also talked about dream. Daniel then pulled out a journal which he wrote in after the dream: a complex quantum physics equation. He didn’t know how considering he was a musician and not a physicist. It would take years and years of study but he brought the equation to a friend. Daniel learned that the problem was of a new reality being created as a result of something catastrophic happening, of a huge bundle of energy being released, like a hydrogen bomb being detonated (JUGHEAD!). Desmond asked Daniel does he want to detonate a hydrogen bomb. Daniel said he thinks he already did. Daniel asked about Penny, the girl he’s been seeing flashes of and searching for. Desmond said that she was just an idea. Daniel said that she was not just an idea, that she was his half-sister and that he knew where and when he could find her.

Turns out that she likes to run up and down stairs in an empty stadium just like Jack and Desmond did in “Man of Science, Man of Faith.” Desmond introduced himself after she confirmed that she was Penny and they shook hands. Also, that stadium was where Desmond saw Penny for the last time before his race around the world. He was the one preparing to run up and down the stairs.

And then he awoke in the Island timeline. Seamus and Zoe were stunned that he survived all of that electromagnetic energy. Not Widmore. He knew that Desmond would survive because he survived the Hatch explosion. He needed Desmond to be prepared to sacrifice for the sake of his wife and child. He needed Desmond to be on the same page. Desmond was game to do what needed to be done. He had purpose and he believed in Widmore. We don’t know what Widmore told him or if Desmond saw something that we didn’t see. He eventually wound up with Sayid as mentioned earlier.

And then we were back in the sideways. He had fainted upon shaking Penny’s hand. He asked to have coffee with her. He made his case by saying he had just fainted in front of her. Penny was swooning. It was adorable. She agreed to meet him in an hour at a coffee shop. He went back to the limo, all smiles. Minkowski told Desmond that he would get whatever he wanted after Minkowski had asked Des whether or not he found what he was looking for to which Des said yes. Desmond had one request. He wanted the manifest for Oceanic 815 because he had something to show them. I think it’s certain he possesses the knowledge of both timelines, both realities. We do not know what the plan is yet.

This episode has really brought a new level of meaning to the flash sideways. I followed the advice of Damon and Carlton so I didn’t dive into much speculation. I noted the differences here and there but I mostly waited for the sideways to reveal themselves a little more and, now, we have some real information. New context has been given to the previous sideways encounters. I’m thinking of Kate and Jack specifically. They both shared looks outside of “LA X.” I wonder did Jack and Kate experience or, rather, feel their other life experiences? Jack seems to have felt his other life but, like his encounter with Desmond, might be shrugging off as something insignificant. More than any other character (not counting the characters in “Happily Ever After”), Jack seems to have been remembering. As we are now in the third and final act of the season, we’ve gotta see more characters experiencing or feeling their other lives. I think I can see the ultimate conclusion of this show forming in the distance. I can see the various plot threads and narratives forming into what seems to be an extremely emotional and heartfelt finale.

The episode blew my mind. It’s one of the great LOST episodes. I got goosebumps during various scenes. I had a lump in my throat during various scenes and I felt quite emotional as I realized the threads of the story are slowly being pulled together as this show nears its conclusion. I was overjoyed that the endgame really is going to focus on these characters that we’ve spent six seasons with. I’m excited. I’m ready.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse penned this episode and it was FULL of references to episodes past. So full that I’m going to wait until the “More Thoughts” section to detail every single one FROM MEMORY. I am a geek. I wrote an entry earlier today about my feeling that there would be some sideways revelations. I feel vindicated. I also argued for patience. Well, hopefully, people learn to settle down and just roll with the show with only 7 hours of the show left. But, anywho, let me dive into the central story of “Happily Ever After.”

Time for MORE thoughts:

–This episode most clearly mirrored “Flashes Before Your Eyes” as I’ve stated. Here’s the references I caught to that episode as well as all of the other references to past episodes:

Hurley was the first person to see Desmond in the airport after his conciousness shifted to the sideways. In “Further Instructions,” Hurley was the first person to see a naked Desmond running in the jungle after he turned the failsafe key.

In “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” Desmond can hear Claire calling for help from a mile away as she nearly drowns in the ocean. Desmond helps her with her luggage in baggage claim. The last time

Desmond was in a limo was “Live Together, Die Alone” where we also met Widmore for the first time. Widmore told Desmond that Des wasn’t good enough for his daughter and asked him to leave without a trace. In this episode, Widmore got a limo and a personal driver for Desmond.

Desmond’s task in this episode was keeping track of Charlie Pace. Of course, one of the big arcs of season three was Desmond trying and trying to prevent Charlie’s death even though he knew the universe has a way of course-correcting itself. In this episode, Charlie was suicidal and hell bent on dying because of what he saw as he lay dying.

His dual conciousness occured in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant.”

Desmond attacked Ben Linus and sent him into the harbor in “Dead Is Dead.” Charlie made sure they went into the harbor.

I think everybody noticed the “Through The Looking Glass” parallel/reference.

The only other significant bar scene in LOST that I can recall off the top of my head is the scene between Sawyer and Christian in “Outlaws.” The bar scene with Desmond and Charlie is pretty damn significant. Christian expressed regret that he couldn’t pick up a phone to tell his son that it’s allright. Charlie was obsessed with what we saw. Christian spoke about fate and destiny using the Red Sox. Charlie felt that he had witnessed his fate and destiny.

Desmond collapsed in a stairwell in “The Constant.” I expected that would happen as he chased Charlie in the hospital but it didn’t happen.

When Faraday knocked on the Hatch door in “Because You Left” and told Desmond that everyone was in danger and that he needs to find his mother, he awoke in bed with Penny. Penny asked him if he had a dream. Desmond said no. He thinks he just got a memory. In this episode, the characters dreamed these things they experienced but they aren’t dreams at all. They are memories.

Desmond and Faraday spoke about constands and time-travel in “The Constant.” We got a huge download of info in that episode. The same thing happened in this one with Faraday, once again, explaining complex stuff with simple terminology. I’ve missed Faraday. Jeremy Davies owns that role.

Widmore exposited the events of “Dead Is Dead” for the audience when Benny Linus shot Desmond. It’s sort of a reference.

–Dominic Monoghan was great in this episode. My favorite scene of the episode is Charlie telling Desmond about Claire. I almost forgot how big a fan I was of the two of them together. The music was very moving and the way Dom Monoghan played it was outstanding. Dare I believe there’s a happy ending for Claire, Charlie and Aaron together? That would make The Foot very dusty.

–I just re-watched the scene between Desmond and Ms. Hawking (should I refer to her as Mrs. Widmore?) and I believe she’s just as knowing. She told Desmond to stop because he has the perfect life. Is she, perhaps, trying to prevent the sideways from maybe crumbling? Who knows. We shall soon see.

–I’m a big fan of Seamus. He seems like a nice fellow. He hesitated with maximizing the electromagnetic energy. He looked relieved that Desmond was okay. I’m a fan. I don’t have much else. I also love the name. The name is a big reason why I’m a fan.

–I just re-watched the end when Desmond tells Minkowski, with clarity and purpose in his eyes, that he needs to show the people of Oceanic 815 something. Oh the goosebumps. The music is amazing. It’s going to be an immense final 6 episodes and 7 hours.

–Sayid was pretty nice letting Zoe go. I imagine Zoe has an important role to play. I don’t mind her. She’s better than Ana Lucia.

–It was cool seeing another old Dharma project. There’s no way Widmore brought that fancy contraception with him on the sub. Fun fact: electromagnetism was first introduced on the show in season one’s “Hearts and Minds.” Sayid theorizes about electromagnetism when trying to figure out the wonky compass.

–”Happily Ever After” is an episode that proves the creative masterminds always had a gameplan. Was it sketchy at times because of the fact that they are a network show? Sure. But it’s been there. I have the quotes and podcasts to prove it. Don’t believe me? Carlton gave away Tawaret IN THE “LIVE TOGETHER, DIE ALONE” REHASH PODCAST! Damon mentioned the possibility of flash-sideways in season four! Anywho, Desmond’s specialness was introduced in “Furthers Instructions” when he first saved Charlie’s life. His specialness became evident more so in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and The Constant.” And then I’ve mentioned the other instances. My point: bravo, Darlton!

–This has nothing to do with the episode but I’m curious about what exactly was going on in that cabin that Jacob was not using.

–Widmore seemed taken aback when Desmond was on the same page with him. Could it be because HE HAS FLASHES OF THE FUTURE?!? Come on, Widmore! (I know he doesn’t know that but he knew Des is special). I also failed to mention Desmond’s beat-down of Widmore with an I-V stand.

–Desmond received two eyeball scenes. The first was when he awoke in the hospital bed. The second when he awoke…in a hospital bed in the sideways.

–I’m really excited to see how the two storylines will reconcile. I think it’s going to be tremendous.

–Last night, Damon accidentally retweeted a fan’s observation about Desmond’s missing wedding ring and wondered if it’s a result of the worlds bleeding into one another. Remember in “Recon” when Liam showed up to bail his brother out? Where in the world did Liam go? It could just be a case of Desmond beating Liam to the station. Also, last week, it sounded like Keamy told Jin he would freak if he told him what happened to the Island. Some people have opted to chalk that up to a sound glitch. But with the knowledge we got in “Happily Ever After” it might be very intentional.

–Henry Ian Cusick, Dom Monoghan, Sonya Walger, Jeremy Davies and Alan Dale were great. Damon and Carlton wrote one of the series best episodes (no surprise there). Jack Bender did an outstanding job. The ace team of LOST delivered yet again.

–Next week looks very, very good as well. It’s gonna be Hurley’s hour and it looks like some familiar people will be showing up.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

We decided to add Zoe to the rankings. I tried to add Seamus but no one even knows his name really so it’s understandable. So Zoe enters the fray with just 7 hours left in the show. But besides that, there were pretty much no changes at all in either rankings. Save for Zoe and the usual switcharoo STEVE does with Widmore and Hurley, it’s exactly the same as last week. Take a look regardless:

AFTER EPISODE 11

RANKED: 4/7/2010

CHRIS

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Ben

4. Hurley

5. Sayid

6. Jin

7. Claire

8. Locke

9. Miles

10. Sawyer

11. Kate

12. Richard

13. Frank

14. Sun

15. Ilana

16. Jacob

17. Man in Black

18. Zoe

19. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Man in Black

3. Jack

4. Richard

5. Kate

6. Ben

7. Miles

8. Sawyer

9. Sayid

10. Jin

11. Frank

12. Ilana

13. Locke

14. Sun

15. Jacob

16. Claire

17. Zoe

18. Hurley

19. Widmore

HE’S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DESMOND HAS RETURNED TO THE ISLAND! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Patience is indeed a virtue, folks. Do I like the fact that Widmore kidnapped him and brought him back to the Island against his will? Hell No I don’t. Do I like that the previews hinted that someone would be sacrificed and that it seems like, according to Widmore and the secrecy of Desmond, Desmond will be the one sacrificed to somehow prevent Smokey from leaving the Island and destroying the world? No. But with that second question I posed for myself to answer, I now am thinking about the button, the hatch, saving the world and how Desmond’s purpose for three years was saving the world. I promise I’ll detail a bit later. Also, do I like Damon Lindelof’s cryptic tweet minutes after the episode ended after being, I assume, flooded with DESMOND!!! tweets? No. Anywho, this was Sun and Jin’s episode and that is where I shall begin.

“The Package” is an episode that really advanced the plot as we head towards the series finale. We found out why Widmore came to the Island. Richard is now a man with the plan and is ready to launch an assault on the Man in Black. For Jin and Sun though, the fate of the world/saving the world is secondary to them. In the scene between Jin and Widmore, Widmore pretty much sums it up: for Jin AND Sun, it’s about Ji-Yeon and being. It’s about getting off the Island to be with Ji-Yeon, to finally be a family. In the Sideways, we saw that same theme play out just a little differently.

I gave a chuckle when the first flash sideways ended with the revelation that Sun and Jin are not married in the sideways world. I know that the sideways world have their differences yet I am always surprised when I find out about the differences. I loved it though. Sideways Jin doesn’t have the anger of pre-Island non-Sideways narrative Jin. Sideways Jin is the man he was before Mr. Paik caused havoc in his life. He’s the man we saw in “…And Found” and “D.O.C.” He’s not the overbearing, controlling husband we knew from “House of the Rising Sun” etc. He was working for Mr. Paik and Sun had nothing to do with it. Is Jin’s father still a fisherman? Perhaps not. I doubt Jin is the son of a whore in the Sideways but I doubt his origins are important with just 8 episodes left to go. Or maybe it’s essentially the same. Who knows. The Sideways story filled in the blanks from what we saw at the end of “The Substitute.” What happened was a whole lot of fun (for the viewer). Customs confiscated the $25,000 and sent he and Sun on his way. The only problem? Jin had to deliver the 25 grand along with the the watch to good ol Martin Keamy. At the hotel, following the airport, we found out Jin and Sun are not married. Jin asked for separate rooms. What we didn’t know is that they were involved in a secret relationship. At around 11:30PM, Jin stopped by Sun’s room, preparing to go to the restauraunt. Sun told him to stay because no one would be there. Jin teased her by saying she’s only here for shopping and that the watch delivery is of little interest to her. He also told her that he does what her father tells him and does not ask questions. Anywho, in the hotel room, she unbuttoned her top button and asked Jin whether or not he’d tell her to button it. He said no. He explained he only told her to button the shirt on the plane in case someone was watching. Sun continued to unbutton her shirt, asking Jin whether or not she should button each button that become unbuttoned. Jin said no. She eventually removed her shirt, they kissed, and you know…

The following morning, they awoke. Sun told Jin that she wanted to run away with him (which is of course another difference) and Jin wondered whether or not this was her plan all along. She told him she had her own account and that they could run away. Jin reminded her that it was forbidden. Soon, Keamy showed up. Jin hid when they first heard the knock on the door. Keamy came in, got the watch. He asked about the money and Sun said ‘no English.’ Omar soon arrived after checking Jin’s room and finding no one. They looked in the bathroom and found a shirtless Jin. Soon, Sun and Jin were on the bed. They discussed what to do about the money. Sun suggested paying Keamy the 25 grand herself; however, Keamy and Omar couldn’t understand a word because they don’t speak Korean. Keamy made a Gozilla joke because he’s a so and so. The two of them put their brains together (Omar and Keamy) and decided to bring in the Russian dude who speaks a bunch of languages. The russian guy? NONE OTHER THAN MIKHAIL! Mr. I-Killed-Charlie Mikhail returned. He translated for Jin and Sun. Keamy decided to take Jin with him to the restaurant while Sun would go with Keamy to get the $25,000.

At the restaurant, Omar and Keamy put him into the fridge. Omar bumped Jin’s head and Keamy told Omar to be more gentle. I took this to be part of Keamy’s twisted sense of humor considering his job was to kill Jin. In the fridge, Keamy told him exactly that. Keamy got a kick out of it too. Little did he know that, when Omar returned with Sayid, he’d be laughing no more. He told Jin that Mr. Paik found out about Jin/Sun because Keamy told Paik (Keamy is a bastard). After all of that, Jin simply said thank you for Keamy cleaning up the cut on his forehead. Keamy then put a piece of tape over his mouth. Sayid soon arrived, did his thing we saw in “Sundown,” and he gave Jin the tool to set himself free. Once free, Jin met Mikhail where the dead bodies were. They had a brief fight and then Jin shot Mikhail in the eye. Mikhail shall always remain Patchy! But uh-oh. A bullet hit Sun. As Jin carried her off, she told him she was pregnant (yet another difference as Jin was sterile pre-Island). I wonder will Claire and Sun be giving birth at the same time. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, in the Island narrative, Jin was taken by Zoe and Seamus. But before that happened, NotLocke of The Smoke sat down to talk with Jin. He asked Jin about his leg. Jin told him that it still hurts. NotLocke suggested removing the bandage to the wound some air. Jin continued wrapping. He told Jin that about the candidates and admitted that he didn’t know whether he or Jin was the candidate but he told Jin that he was working on getting Sun back because he can’t leave the Island unless he has all six candidates with him (he did tell Jacob that he’d kill ALL of the candidates so he can leave…don’t forge that). After his talk with Jin, Claire sat down with NotLocke. She overheard NotLocke telling Jin about the caves and the names written in the caves. She asked if she was on there. He told her no. I wanted to hug her. I digress. Claire seemed closer to the Claire we knew from seasons one through four. They discussed Kate. NotLocke told Claire that he needs Kate to get three more people but after that “whatever happens, happens.” That bastard. Claire also talked about how Aaron wouldn’t even recognize her if she got off the Island and how he thinks Kate is her mother. Anywho, when they finished talking, NotLocke went to Sayid. NotLocke told Sayid that he was in charge of the camp while he was gone and that he’d be a gone for a day. Sayid told NotLocke that he doesn’t feel anything–not pain, not anger, not happiness. Nothing. Very powerful scene.

NotLocke soon left. Jin mobilized. He wanted to leave while NotLocke was gone. Sawyer tried to stop him. Of course Widmore’s people stopped Jin from going. Everyone is hit by darts. When they are all down, Zoe arrives with the team and they take Jin with them.

Meanwhile, at the beach, everyone is pretty much relaxing. Ilana has no plans to move forward until Richard returns with a plan because Jacob said Richard would know what to do next. Sun grows frustrated and walks off. She goes to her garden. Jack follows her there. He tries to assure her that they are on the Island for a reason by telling her about the lighthouse and the names. Sun tells Jack that she doesn’t care about destiny or the lighthouse. She just wants to be left alone. When alone, NotLocke shows up and tells her that he can bring her to Jin but she doesn’t trust him and she runs away. She eventually runs into a tree and knocks herself out. She awakes with a concerned Ben over her. She tells him that she is allright but in Korean. She is able to tell Ben that she was running from Locke.

Back at the beach, Jack examines her and tells her she might be suffering from aphasia. She still understands English but cannot speak the language. Only Korean. There’s a funny exchange between Miles and Frank when Miles wonders if they’re supposed to buy this. Frank says “this coming from the guy who communes with the dead.” That was great. I wonder when Sun will regain the ability to speak the English language or will Jin be her translator now. That would have a rather circular feel. Anywho, a bit later, Richard and Hurley returned from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ilana was relieved as was everyone else except for Sun when Richard finally spoke. Ben tells Richard that NotLocke planned to go to Hydra Island and Frank confirms to Richard that the plane is on Hydra Island. Richard plans to destroy it and that’s when Sun takes issue because Richard will be destroying their only way off of the Island. After all, Sun only returned to the Island to bring her husband home. Once Ben convinced her of Jin’s survival, her only goal has been to find Jin. Not to save the world. She figures that, since she is candidate, she is important and needed and will refuse to go with them.

Later, at night, Sun sits on the beach and stares out at the ocean. Jack approaches her once again and sits down. He tells her about a patient he had who, after surgery, wasn’t able to talk and grew frustrated. What Jack did for the patient was provide a notebook and a pen. He does the same for Sun so that she can still have her English voice. He tells her that he went back to the garden to look for Locke but he didn’t find him. Jack did find a fresh, healthy tomato even though all of the vines were dead. Jack says to Sun, “No one told the stubborn tomato that it was supposed to die.” Sun tells Jack that she didn’t go with Locke because she doesn’t trust him. Jack asks if Sun trusts him. Sun smiles, tears up a little and writes yes. Jack tells Sun to go with him and the others because he’ll do whatever it takes to reunite Sun with her husband and get them on the plane. Jack offers her his hand and she takes it. Recall the scene when Sun did NOT take NotLocke’s hand. I thought this scene was lovely. I loved the score. I love the season oneness of it all. I’ve been thinking about the transformation we’ve seen of Jack from the pill-popping man we saw at the end of Through The Looking Glass to right now. I’ve thought about that intense scene when Locke shows his face after throwing a knife into the back of Naomi and Jack pulling the trigger on an empty gun and the look on his face. That man is gone. This might be Jack’s best season. More on Jack/NotLocke later.

We must return to Jin now. Jin awoke in Room 23. He made the mistake of accidentally turning on the video we saw poor Karl watching in season three. Zoe told Jin that Dharma used Room 23 to experiment with subliminal messaging. Zoe, the geophysist, had a map with her of the electromagnetic hotspots on the Island. The signature looked like Jin’s and Zoe told him that whoever signed it could really help her out. Jin had no interest giving answers to her. He wanted to talk to the Big Cheese: Charles Widmore. Zoe had no problems with that.

Meanwhile, Widmore was a tad busy. On the main Island, NotLocke got Sayid to travel with him to Hydra Island because Widmore took one of NotLocke’s people. Sawyer has a great line about The Smokeness and the ability to travel over water. NotLocke says it’s not that simple. He and Sayid take the outrigger over to Hydra Island. When they arrive, well when NotLocke arrives, since Sayid’s doing his stealth thing that he likes to do, Widmore meets him by the pylons after Seamus and crew go ballistic once they see the Walking Smoke. Widmore tells NotLocke that he knows that he’s not John Locke. NotLocke inquires about Widmore having one of his people. Widmore claims he has no idea what NotLocke is talking about. NotLocke responds with: “A wise man once said that war is coming to this Island. I think it just got here.” That wise man? Charles Widmore, of course, who told John Locke that war was coming to the Island in “The Life and Death of Jeramy Bentham.” He also told Locke that he needed to return to the Island or else the wrong side would win. NotLocke left soon after that conversation. He returned to camp without Sayid. Prior to his arrival at camp, Sawyer and Kate had a nice conversation. Kate asked Sawyer why he’s not worried. Sawyer says that he is worried but he’s just good at hiding worry. Sawyer hopes that Widmore had gotten NotLocke but one second later NotLocke wanders back into camp. Sawyer asks about Jin. NotLocke tells him that they said they don’t have Jin but it’s not to be believed. Sawyer asks about Sayid and NotLocke tells him about the locked door in the sub and how Sayid’s spying on that because NotLocke is not a fan of secrets.

Back to Jin, he’s finally able to talk to Widmore himself. Before their conversation though, Widmore has a very interesting exchange with Zoe about a timetable.Zoe tells Widmore that she should’ve hired a mercenary. Widmore doesn’t respond really. It looks like he’s thinking “I DID HIRE ONE AND HE’S DEAD!” But anywho, the great part of Jin/Widmore was the camera Widmore brought for Jin. Jin was finally able to see his daughter Ji-Yeon. He saw pictures of Ji-Yeon on a playground and pictures with her mother at her birthday party. Daniel Dae Kim was great during this scene. Widmore then told Jin about the Man in Black and about the need to stop him. Widmore tried to relate to Jin, explaining that he is not allowed near his daughter or grandson. Widmore told Jin that if the Man in Black leaves the Island then everyone will cease to be. It makes the Man in Black seem like the physical embodiment of the electromagnetic energy bottled up and if the button’s not pushed every 108 minutes then the world as we know it will be destroyed. If he leaves the Island, bye bye world. He’s a clever bastard though that Man in Black. It seems like anyone going with him will die so all of Jacob’s candidates will die. Claire talked about her fear of Aaron not knowing her. Well, he will know her in the Sideways. I believe the Sideways are going to bleed into the original Island timeline. How that happens? I don’t know. But I’m thinking this season gets even more intense and I think the Island will become a place of death again. We shall see.

And then, at episode’s end, we got the return of Desmond David Hume. One of the greatest characters ever created in all of fiction. Widmore wanted the package put into the infirmary. He told Jin that the package was a who. We soon saw, after the final sideways part and NotLocke returning to camp, Desmond emerge from the sub all drugged up. He fell down on the deck and saw Sayid in the water, looking up at him. And then he was taken away. End of episode.

Time for even MORE thoughts:

–I don’t trust Charles Widmore. I never have. I don’t even like the dude. He was a bastard to Des in every Desmond flashback. He was a bastard in Desmond’s time-traveling fun (Flashes Before Your Eyes and The Constant). He sent a freighter to kill everyone. The last time we saw Desmond and Charles was in “Jughead” when Desmond finally had the upper-hand. He told Charles to stay the hell away from he and his family. Desmond also didn’t want to go back to the Island. Ms. Hawking told Desmond that the Island’s not done with him though. The last time we saw Desmond was as he recovered from the gunshot wound. He also beat the daylights out of Ben for trying to kill Penny. Between then and now, Widmore kidnapped him and brought him back to the Island. Why? We shall soon find out. Desmond is special though as Faraday told us. Please use him for good, Widmore. It’s still great to have Desmond back.

–I really enjoyed the tiny scene between Sayid and NotLocke because it seemed like another tomato moment. Hope for Sayid. Hope for his redemption. Just hope. I really want to see a Jack-like Sayid transformation. HE’S SAYID! He’s the same guy who needed to leave camp after he tortured Sawyer, telling Kate “What I did today I swore I’d never do again.” Sure he’s done those acts quite a few times since that day but it’s not too late to shake himself out this…whatever is going on with him…and start on the path to redemption once again. Angel the vampire has been trying to atone for his past for over a century. There is hope for Sayid Jarrah. He’s just very, very lost right now. He’s been very, very lost since Nadia was killed.

–The Aphasia storyline is something I certainly did not expect. I’m interested in where it goes. I don’t have much else to add about it. We also got a mirror scene with Sun as she took a long look at herself.

–There were some terrific lines tonight. I loved the exchange between Ben and Ilana when Ben was pleading his case about NOT being behind Sun’s bump on the head. Recall when The Others were blamed for Sun’s kidnapping in “The Long Con” when, in fact, it was Charlie doing the kidnapping. Sawyer hatched the idea. Anytime Miles and Frank are together is always a good time. Miles had a good line about Hurley’s ability as a tracker, saying that unless Richard was covered in bacon Hurley wouldn’t be able to track anyone. Ilana believed in Hurley though.

–There was quite a lot of exposition early in this episode. I wonder why. This is LOST after all. No one’s going to suddenly decide, in the middle of season six, to begin watching the show without watching all of the show before. Of course, everyone will watch the finale without seeing the entire series. I digress though. Perhaps Lindelof and Cuse and Room 23 just wanted to point out the most important plot points as we begin the final part of the season and the series.

–I expected to see a Michael cameo just because he was an integral part of the Sun/Jin dynamic in season one and for most of the series except for when he yelled about Walt. Oh well.

–Speaking of Walt, there are some LOST fans on thefuselage.com that refuse to believe Desmond is the package and that Walt is, in fact, the package. WIDMORE AND WALT HAVE NEVER MET IN THEIR LIVES! COME ON!

–Keamy said that Mikhail’s friends name is Danny. Is that Danny Pickett? Also one of the top 9 so and sos of LOST (I did a whole top 9 early on in the hiatus. It was fun).

–I do wonder what’s up with locating the electromagnetic hotspots on the Island. What is Widmore’s gameplan?

–I think Terry O’Quinn knocked it out of the park yet again this week. Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim did a great job as well. This was a different kind of Sun/Jin episode though. We got a heck of alot of Island story

–Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland wrote this one. They also wrote “Sundown.” Veteran LOST crew member Paul Edwards directed it. Applause all around.

–Only six episodes left until the series finale. 8 hours in total. I enjoyed “The Package” a lot. I got a kick out of the Sideways story, seeing Mikhail again. It was a fun episode. It had a lot of heart and make it moved things along. Well done, LOST.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

Exciting week for the rankings I dare say. Desmond has returned to the top spot for me. Sayid has also returned to my top 5. Sawyer’s no. 10 now. Kate got bumped to 11. Those are the big exciting changes. As for STEVE, his top ten stayed same pretty much. He switched Ben and Miles. But check them out for yourselves:

AFTER EPISODE 10

RANKED: 3/31/2010

CHRIS

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Ben

4. Hurley

5. Sayid

6. Jin

7. Claire

8. Locke

9. Miles

10. Sawyer

11. Kate

12. Richard

13. Frank

14. Sun

15. Ilana

16. Jacob

17. Man in Black

18. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Man in Black

3. Jack

4. Richard

5. Kate

6. Ben

7. Miles

8. Sawyer

9. Sayid

10. Jin

11. Frank

12. Ilana

13. Locke

14. Sun

15. Jacob

16. Claire

17. Widmore

18. Hurley

Richard and Isabella

I’m going to use the word sweeping to describe the first twenty minutes of “Ab Aeterno.” That was epic. Tucker Gates, the director of this episode, deserves an emmy. How they did shot that in 8 days, and produced the episode as we saw it in 3-4 weeks is astounding. I’m telling you: if I could create 44 minutes of fiction on screen that’s a little bit as quality as every episode produced by this show (particularly this one) I will be very, very happy.

ANYWHO, Heaven vs. Hell. Hm. Of course those two concepts can take on many meanings. This episode finally gave us the story of how Richard Alpert arrived to the Island and it provided a whole lot of light on Jacob vs. The Man in Black. The episode was jam-packed with religious themes. We even had a long shot of a specific bible passage. That passage? It’s from the Gospel of Luke and I saw something about a prophet. Significant? I rather think so. I rather think a lot of this episode is significant. You too? Good! We’re on the same page. Let’s dive into this heaven and hell thing while we’re at it.

Flashback to the teaser of “The Incident” when Jacob and Man in Black are talking about, essentially, nature vs. nurture. Jacob refreshed our minds when he told Richard that The Smokeness believes all men are corruptable and cannot avoid sin while Jacob believes men are not corruptable. He believes in free-will and choice. He brings people to the Island to prove Man in Black wrong. Something’s off about the both of them and the way they approach proving their personal philosophies and beliefs to be true. While Jacob told everyone he touched in “The Incident,” that they had a choice, he also brought them to the Island which is, in no way, a choice of anyone BUT he does allow them to be free of their past, as he told Richard on the beach; however, he does bring them to the Island without asking for their permission and makes it fairly hard to leave the place.

Man in Black seems to strive to corrupt individuals but he does so by promising them what they desire most in the world. He promised Richard that he would see his wife again if he killed Jacob, if he could assist him in leaving the Island. In fact, the scene between Smokey and Richard mirrored the scene between Sayid and Dogen. Intentional? I think so. Mirroring the two scenes made everything more ambiguous (and hell yes THAT’S intentional). Smokey’s desire to corrupt makes sense because he’s obsessed with proving Jacob wrong and it seems that all of Smokey’s declarations of Jacob being false and fraud are merely deceptions disguised as truth. He is OBSESSED with leaving the bottle and spreading darkness and evil to the world (if that is indeed the case).

I now think back to words Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse shared regarding the battle between good and evil we’d be witnessing during the final season. They spoke of the battle that exists within each individual character and that will probably continue to play out in the weeks to come as sides are drawn and whatnot. What about Jacob and MIB? I’m still leaning towards the idea that the two exist in a shades of grey though Jacob and MIB perceive eachother in absolutes. Smokey told Richard that Jacob was the devil and that they were in hell while Jacob obviously believes Smokey to be evil incarnate. We don’t know why this is. We know MIB couldn’t leave the Island on his own, that Jacob kept him entrapped but we don’t know why. MIB also mentioned something sort of MAJOR when he said his body was hijacked by Jacob. Hm.

What is to be made of all this heaven and hell talk? Let’s see. Smokey did his thing when he came into The Black Rock which means he scanned Richard’s soul, the essence of Richard. Richard was petrified of hell. His wife laid dying in their home in Spain and Richard sought a doctor’s help. At the doctor’s home, he did not have the money to afford the medicine, became upset, and accidentally murdered the doctor (shades of Desmond killing Kelvin? Maybe I’m the only who was reminded by that). He returned to find his wife, dead and then he was quickly arrested and put into jail. In jail, a priest visited him and asked for his confession after Richard told him that he and Isabella wanted to move to the New World. Richard tearfully confessed, explained that it was an accident, and begged absolution and the forgiveness of God but the priest told Richard that he could not absolve him from sin, that he would hang in the morning and would spend eternity in hell. On the day of his hanging, he was bought by Magnus Hanso and became a slave of his. He was chained in The Black Rock, that slave ship out of Portsmouth destined for the New World. But the ship shipwrecked on The Island (Jacob brought them there AND the ship also destroyed the statue thus creating Jacob’s Foot. I’ll take that as a shoutout!). Once shipwrecked, the ship captain went crazy and murdered every slave except for Richard. Smokey saved Richard from death. He killed every Black Rock officer. He did not kill Richard as mentioned above because he did his thing, looked at Richard’s life and decided Richard was not worth death. As mentioned above, Smokey saw the essence of Richard and felt he could use him to kill Jacob.

Before the Man in Black saved him from death in The Black Rock, Richard became a Job figure. In the biblical story of Job, The Devil tells God that Job would no longer pray to him or worship him if he suffers and suffers, that the suffering would cause Job to believe God did not exist. So God tested him and tested him. He took everything from Job and even gave him diseases but Job did not stop believing. Richard suffered for many days inside of The Black Rock as he was chained to the wall. It took him weeks to loosen up a screw in hopes that he could free himself. When it rained, he was far enough from the rain that he could not get on water on his tongue. He tried killing a boar with the screw/nail but could not get the nail back when the boar ran right past him so his hopes of freeing himself were lost. He was surrounded by the dead. His wife appeared to him and told him that they were in hell and must be freed from the devil; however, the sounds of Smokey were heard and Richard told his wife to run because he promised that he would save her but it seems as if she was eaten by The Smokeness (of course I think that was Smokey doing his manifestation thing). After this, the Man in Black finally showed up all Titus Welliver (the actor who portrays him) and freed him. He gave Richard water. He confirmed that they were in hell. He told Richard that the devil took Isabella, not the Smoke. He told Richard that the devil must be killed in order to be free. MIB picked Richard up and moved him out of the hell of The Black Rock and into the sunshine of the Island. The Man in Black took Richard to a place underneath a large tree that would remind some people of the Garden of Eden and the tree of knowledge and good and evil. The Man in Black and Richard sat on a stone pew and MIB proceeds to go Dogen on Richard. He instructs Richard to kill him with the knife given but that he must not let Jacob speak, must not hesitate because Jacob can be persuasive. He tells Richard that, along with his body, Jacob or the devil also stole his humanity.

Richard, after a walk, arrives at the Foot of the Statue but is quickly twarthed by Jacob himself. Jacob opens a can of whoop ass on Richard. When Jacob learns that Richard believes he’s in hell, Jacob rushes him to the ocean and waterboards him until Richards believe he is alive and declares that he wants to live. With that taken care of, Jacob wants to talk to Richard. They talk. Jacob gives Richard a plethora of information (and to the audience quite naturally) about the Man in Black when Jacob learns that Richard met the Man in Black in the jungle. The most significant exchange in their conversation revolves around why Jacob brings people to the Island (which I’ve addressed). Jacob tells Richard that he wants people to know the difference between right and wrong but does not want people to be told what is right and what is wrong because that defeats the purpose. It goes back to the essence of being, the battle that exists within each individual and figuring out the difference between good and evil. Damon Lindelof offered some really interesting words in the most recent podcast. Here’s a transcript of that:

CARLTON CUSE: What are we to make of Sayid’s condition coming out of Sundown, Damon?

DAMON LINDELOF: What I love about “Sundown”—and that script was written by Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland and directed by Bobby Roth—is, there’s this kind of cool thing in play which is if you tell somebody that they’re evil, is that an excuse for them to act evil? Ben Linus says last year, “Hey, you’re a killer no matter what you do,” and now Dogen, who basically tried to kill this guy based on whatever they hooked him up to, he says “You’re a bad dude, too, and if you’re not a bad dude then prove it,” but it seems like when he gives Sayid that knife to kill Locke, he’s actually setting Sayid up to have Locke do his dirty work for him, so there’s an argument to be made for the fact that Dogen sort of got what was coming to him.

It’s a slippery slope these characters walk. Returning to Richard now, Jacob offered Richard a job: to be the go between between the people Jacob brought the Island and Jacob. Richard accepted it. Jacob asked Richard what he wanted most and Richard told him that he wanted to be with his wife again but Jacob couldn’t bring her back. Richard asked to be absolved of his sins but Jacob could not do that either. Richard then said he didn’t want to die, that he wanted to live forever. So Jacob did that for him. Richard returned to MIB after receiving the gift of eternal life from Jacob. Man in Black accepted it and told him that his offer stands forever: to reunite Richard with Isabella. Richard gave the Man in Black the white rock. MIB wasn’t too happy with that, folks. The Man in Black handed him Richard’s cross. The same cross the doctor said was worthless to Richard, which incited Richard’s rage and ended in accidental murder. The Man in Black disappeared. Richard decided to bury the cross.

CUT TO a sunny day in 2007 and the place where the Man in Black and Richard first talked. Richard has returned. He immediately digs into the dirt where he buried the cross, takes it out and puts it around his neck. No doubt a lot of symbolism about re-birth and resurrection. But before I dive into the conclusion of “Ab Aeterno,” I have to go back to the beginning (that was a sort of play on the episode title).

The episode opened with Jacob visiting Ilana in the hospital, as we saw in “The Incident.” The new footage we saw was Jacob telling Ilana that she had to protect six candidates on The Island. The next scene we saw was Ilana asking Jacob what she’ll do after she has the six candidates under her protection. Jacob tells her that Ricardus will know what to do.

On the beach, at night, the beach group sit around and fire and talk about what they need to do next. My favorite part of this whole scene? Jack’s reaction to being told that a John Locke is walking around this Island. I digress. Ilana made it clear that Richard was the one who would know what to do next. Richard seemed baffled and bamboozled by her words. He told her that he just tried to kill himself because everything he believed was a lie. Jack asks for Richard to explain and Richard tells Jack that the whole Island is not what they think it is. Richard claims that the Island is hell and that everyone on the Island are actually dead. Richard says he’s done listening to Jacob, grabs a torch and is off to listen to someone who can morph into a pillar of Black Smoke (not in those words). As Richard wanders in the jungle, the rest talk about him. Ilana’s ready to go after him but Jack tells her that Richard’s lost his mind. Jack goes over to Hurley who is speaking in Spanish to the air (but it’s not the air). Hurley tells Jack that whoever he’s talking to has nothing to do with Jack. At the fire, Frank wonders how the hell someone can not age after Ben tells Frank that he’s known Richard since the age of 12 and that Richard has always looked the same.

Back to daylight now and the tree and the digging and the cross around Richard’s neck. Richard starts yelling ‘does the offer still stand?’ and then Hurley shows up. Hurley has been talking with Isabella. Richard does not believe Hurley but eventually does. Hurley speaks for Richard’s wife, asking Richard why he buried her cross. He tells Richard to close his eyes and then Isabella does the talking. Isabella tells her husband that it wasn’t his fault that she died and that he’s suffered enough. Richard tells her how much he misses her and that he just wants to be with her again and that he would do anything for that to happen. Isabella tells him that they are together and after a kiss, she disappears. Richard looks content and at peace but Hurley has one last thing to tell Richard. He says his wife told Richard that he must stop Smokey from leaving the Island because if he does…everyone goes to hell. The last thing we saw was NotLocke watching from the distance. Uh-oh?

I don’t think the assertion that they all to hell is about the literal place. Think of the magic box that had people, for some reason, baffled in season three. I think it’s a metaphor. What it seems to mean is that people will lose the ability to decide for themselves the difference between right and wrong. The Man in Black will tip the scales the wrong way for many, many people. But who indeed knows. That is something for the show to resolve in the final 2 months.

The final scene of the episode was between Jacob and the Man in Black. Jacob asks why MIB tried to kill him. MIB explained that it’s because he wants to leave the Island. Jacob says that he’ll never let happen while alive and explains that someone will take his place if he’s killed so MIB explains he’ll kill every single candidate. Jacob gives MIB the bottle, tells him he’ll see the Smokeness around and leaves. Man in Black then SMASHES the bottle and the wine spills everywhere. “Sooner than you think,” the Man in Black says to himself.

Here’s some MORE thoughts:

–I really enjoyed Richard’s entire flashback. I particularly want to focus on the metaphorical cross Richard’s been bearing for over 100 years: feeling responsible for his wife’s death. The final scene between he and his wife freed him of his cross. He sought forgiveness for his wife’s death. I think the doctor he killed was never the source of his anguish. I think it was feeling guilt for not saving his wife when he promised that he would. He wanted absolution for his sins. He wanted tabula rasa but no one granted that to him really. Jacob sort of but he told him he could not absolve him of his sins. He just wanted to forgiveness and he finally got it which I thought was one of the great LOST scenes in a series packed with so many.

–I mentioned how the bible passage we saw was from the Gospel of Luke. Well, in that gospel, Jesus spends 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. While out there, he is tempted by the devil. The devil offers him all of the kingdoms in the world. MIB comes off a lot like the devil as he tempts Claire, Sayid and Richard with whatever they want. Even Sawyer. And they believe him and follow him. It’s never good when you resemble Satan himself.

–It’s worth noting that Ab Aeterno translates to: from the beginning.

–I really want to know why Man in Black is imprisoned by Jacob on the Island. I’d like to know the whole history. I imagine we’ll get that answer at some point before the series takes its final bow.

–This whole episode had me thinking about the sideways as well. Mostly about the nature of the sideways and why they exist. I have no theories to offer. I’m remaining patient, not thinking too much into them as Team Darlton recommended.

–This episode makes one wonder about The Purge and Richard’s role in it. Of course we still need more information about The Purge and why it happened. Obviously, Dharma loosely followed the truce and were using Hostile land when building the Hatches. Also, Richard told Locke that his father needed to go in “The Brig.” But the death of Anthony Cooper was about freeing Locke from that. Hm. Intentionally ambigiuous as always. Richard’s one heck of a fascinating character though.

–I wonder about the nature of the apparitions on the Island. Smokey can assume the form of some people but the people who talk to Hurley are not dead. I wonder about Christian Shephard and the nature of his appearances. The same goes for Ben’s mother, the boy we saw in “The Subtititute,” Dave, etc. Wet Walt is also still a mystery.

–I also wonder if Jacob vs. Man in Black will be resolved in 3-4 episodes. Am I insane for thinking such a thing? Perhaps. But I know this season is a three act season. We’re in the middle of act two and act three is to come. Hm indeed. I doubt it’ll be resolved in 3-4 episodes. This battle will be with us during the final act of the final season. I feel sad typing those words.

–This was one of the few episodes with no B plot, folks. I usually reserve this spot in the recap for the B plot but this episode was all Richard. It was quite a linear story as well. This quite the different recap to write.

–Nestor Carbonell deserves an emmy for this episode. He was outstanding. Tucker Gates’s directing was astounding. The First and Second Unit crews deserve emmys. If this episode doesn’t win some emmys, I will be speechless.

–Melinda Hsu-Taylor and Greggory Nations wrote this one. Gregg Nations is Lostpedia of the writer’s room. The dude keeps track of everything. Tucker Gates, the director, did a marvelous job. Jean Higgins deserves some props from The Foot too. She does so much for the show but I never mention her by name. The whole crew deserves many free milkshakes for this one.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

An exciting week for the rankings. STEVE has a different looking top 5 with the Man in Black getting the number two spot and Richard getting the number 4 spot. My rankings aren’t too exciting. Hurley moved up one spot in the top 5. Richard nearly cracked the top ten but I didn’t want to demote Kate or Sayid. I didn’t even move Jacob or MIB from 16 and 17. Perhaps I’ll explain. Unless your Charles Widmore, I’ll leave characters in the cellar of the rankings if I’m not sure what to make of them. Remember the NotLocke bombshell in “The Incident”? Locke had been in the top spot for weeks and then I found out that Locke never resurrected and it was the Man in Black. I was floored. I didn’t know what to make of it. It’s like that. Plus, MIB hit Claire. Not cool. Jacob seems cool and all. But yes, Locke dropped to no. 5. Me and STEVE discussed whether or not sideways Locke should be ranked. We’re still not sure. Anywho, check the rankings out for yourselves:

AFTER EPISODE 9

RANKED: 3/24/2010

CHRIS

1. Jack

2. Desmond

3. Ben

4. Hurley

5. Locke

6. Jin

7. Claire

8. Miles

9. Sayid

10. Kate

11. Richard

12. Sawyer

13. Frank

14. Sun

15. Ilana

16. Jacob

17. Man in Black

18. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Man in Black

3. Jack

4. Richard

5. Kate

6. Miles

7. Ben

8. Sawyer

9. Sayid

10. Jin

11. Frank

12. Locke

13. Sun

14. Jacob

15. Claire

16. Ilana

17. Hurley

18. Widmore