Quad Blogs

Tonight’s episode reminded me of something Bodhi once said to his fellow ex-presidents in Point Break: “All this does is UP the stakes of the game.” I enjoyed this one. I loved the stuff on Hydra Island. I loved the fact that NotLocke referred to the island as Hydra Island. I like how Sawyer doesn’t really trust NotLocke or Widmore. I really enjoyed the Sideways story as well though I kept waiting for Juliet to show up. The stakes are raised. There’s going to be a war. I’m glad Jack and crew are pretty much away from all of this insanity. HERE WE GO!

Sideways Sawyer did not choose the life of crime he chose in the Island narrative. The backstory is relatively the same for James Ford. A con man conned his father out of everything he had, slept with his wife and his father reacted by killing his wife and his mother. The con man seems to be the so and so Anthony Cooper. What we saw with Sawyer in the Sideways was a man who has not dealt with this trauma (obviously). He did not have Anthony Cooper waiting for him in the brig of The Black Rock nor Locke burning his file (symbolism for burning the past/letting go etc and just go back into the archives and read the episode of the day for The Brig!). But he’s actively seeking Anthony Cooper because he wants to kill him. He went to Australia to follow a lead and found the lead Anthony Cooper. Silly me, I actually thought Sawyer really was just clearing up an unclaimed property thing with Cooper but nope. This raises the question about the person Helen referred to when she told Locke that their wedding should be small and that his father could be there. A photo in Locke’s former office was of him and Anthony Cooper. HMMM. I digress though. It’s nice that Duckett did not lose his life in the wee hours outside of his shrimp stand in the driving rain. I’ll tell you though: Sawyer’s Sideways story reminded me a bit of Ana Lucia’s (we even had Miles in the role of Mrs. Lucia when Sawyer actually told Miles why he lied about Palm Springs, the reason for the Sawyer file and for traveling to Australia). Am I digressing? Maybe. The seach for the real Sawyer is not corrupting his life as it did in Island narrative. He’s a man of the law. Instead of pulling cons, he is STOPPING CONS! The teaser of the episode tricked me. For a moment I thought we were getting a retread of what we saw in Sawyer’s flashbacks from “Confidence Man” and “The Long Con.” But no. The lady was wise to his tricks, admitted that her husband was a con man so she knew the tricks; however, he told her the room was bugged, that she was the stupid one and that he only needed to say the magic word (LaFleur) to call the cops in. She didn’t believe him. He was telling the truth. The night didn’t end well for her.

Besides trying to exact revenge on the man who took his parents from him, he decided to give in to Miles and meet his female friend. Miles doesn’t want Sawyer to die alone which is why he suggested setting Sawyer up with a friend of his. The lady in waiting? Charlotte Lewis. No Faraday to be found. Maybe Theresa and Faraday are enjoying a happy relationship with eachother. I digress. Within minutes of meeting eachother, he and Charlotte were getting intimate. Charlotte did manage to get a glimpse into the real Sawyer. She didn’t buy his Steve McQueen Cop movie line regarding Sawyer’s career choice. He told her he reached a point where he could’ve chosen a life of crime or a life or become a cop. After some fornication, Charlotte asked to borrow a t-shirt. She also wanted to snoop or, at least, it seemed like it. Sawyer flipped when he saw her with the Sawyer file and kicked her out at 3AM. He later attempted to make things right by bringing a six pack of beer and a gigantic dandelion. She wasn’t impressed and sent him on his way. The final scene was of Sawyer telling Miles the truth about his recent behavior and then a car crashed into his. Sawyer and Miles pursued this person as this person fled on foot. They eventually trapped her and we saw it was Kate. Sawyer was intrigued.

ON THE ISLAND, Sawyer is hell-bent on getting off of the Island. The episode opened as he boiled water for Jin to take. He and Jin were hanging out in Claire’s shelter (possibly babysitting Squirrel baby? I kid). Jin wanted to flee as fast as possible but Sawyer gave him his word that he won’t let Jin leave unless Sun is with him. Of course, the end of the episode made it seem as he’s concerned with only getting himself and Kate off of the Island on that submarine. Anywho, Sawyer got a bit angry when NotLocke told the group they’d be spending a few days hanging out on the Island. Sawyer wants to leave immediately so NotLocke explained why they couldn’t leave yet and gave Sawyer the task of exploring the new arrivals to the Island. Sawyer did just that. He found a woman who called herself Zoe. She pulled an Ana-Lucia on him. He saw through her lies and, eventually, those who with her showed themselves. He was brought to the man in charge, Mr. Charles Widmore. To be honest, I don’t think either of them were being very honest with the other. I’m not sure if it’s possible for NotLocke to be fooled. We’ll see though. Sawyer is the expert con man. He pretty much told the truth to NotLocke AND Widmore. I’m sure Widmore’s waiting for the metaphorical shoe to drop.

As for Widmore, he claims that he and his people did not kill the remaining survivors of Ajira 316. He didn’t expect Sawyer to believe him. I don’t really believe him. I don’t trust NotLocke either so there that is. Widmore’s the same dude who hired Keamy! COME ON!

Claire tried to kill Kate in this episode. Besides the knowledge that Kate took Aaron and raised him for 3 years, the breaking point might’ve been when Kate wondered what Claire was doing with squirrel baby. Kate begged Sayid to intervene but he just sat there. NotLocke came over and threw Claire off of Kate. He yelled to her that she had wandered off and Kate had no choice but to take Aaron off of the Island because she could not be found. He even slapped her and then told her to sit down. NotLocke wanted some bonding time with Kate. He told her that he once, a long time ago, had a crazy mother and that his mother gave him some issues. Hm. To digress a moment: I’ve been seeing some parallels to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This reminds me of Caliban and his mother Sycorax. Prospero killed Syrcorax and made Caliban a slave. I see a lot of Prospero in Jacob and some in Ben. End digression. The story seemed to say “Kate, you might have to kill Claire.” It seemed to suggest that NotLocke feels Claire is beyond saving and that she’s a lost cause for Aaron. Kate’s desire to rescue Claire seemed to go away following the attempted murder. Who could blame her? Kate didn’t seem to trust NotLocke at all. Near episode’s end, Claire apologized to Kate and hugged her. Kate seemed completely confused. We never heard what NotLocke told Claire. Claire seemed genuine enough but I’m a softie for Claire. I’d totally forgive her. I’m glad Sawyer’s there with Kate because he won’t let anyone harm her.

Time for some other thoughts:

–Interesting that Sawyer seems to have set his sights back on Kate after 1 day of grieving for Juliet. He clutched the dress Kate once wore in the cages. Not sure how I feel about this. It’s been 1 day since Juliet died. He clutched that dress in a way that suggested it was not simply thinking back to the good ol’ days when Pickett wanted to murder him, Ben messed with him psychologically, being forced to do hard labor, etc. She’s Juliet, Sawyer!

–Sayid, Sayid, Sayid. Damon Lindelof said a mighty interesting thing in the latest Official Audio Podcast about the turn Sayid has taken. It gave me hope for Sayid but then tonight took away some of that hope. Essentially, Lindelof talked about whether or not being told you’re evil means you’re evil. Would Sayid have chosen a different path if Sayid was told the opposite of what Dogen told him? We’ll never know. Kate asked Sayid if he was allright and he said “no.” He didn’t do anything when Claire tried to kill her. I’m sad about this, folks. I’m a huge Sayid fan. He’s just completely different, now. But, he’s not beyond saving. We’ve got Jack, Hurley and the rest of the good guys coming to save the day. I assume so. At least Sayid knows something is very, very wrong with him. Self-awareness isn’t terrible.

–LIAM! It’s been nearly 3 years since we last saw Liam, Charlie’s brother. It was good to see him again as he tried to bail his brother of prison.

–I’ll explain my comment about Zoe going Ana Lucia on Sawyer. Remember season two’s “Orientation”? In that episode, Eko throws Sawyer, Jin and Michael into the pit. A little while later, Ana Lulu is thrown in as well. She completely fooled all three of them. She pulled some recon herself. This time, Sawyer wasn’t fooled by Zoe because he’s seen it before. He also didn’t seem too invested in doing good recon because he was completely honest with Widmore. I just found the parallels interesting even if I still dislike Ana-Lucia immensely.

–I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a fan of Man in Black slapping Claire. He’s a dude who can become a pillar of deadly black smoke and she’s a girl whose become this way BECAUSE OF HIM. At least he took some blame about making Claire the way she is. He gave her something to hate so that she could keep going after being separated from Aaron by him. A few questions: why exactly did Smokey need Claire? Why couldn’t she simply get on a helicopter with Aaron like Desmond saw in his flash? I did think the scene between Claire and Kate, when Claire asked for forgiveness, was touching. Again, I’m a softie for Claire so I pretty much take everything at face value with her. I would totally hug her and forgive her even if she did try to stab me in the neck. Also, shouldn’t that have been the time to tell Claire that your mother is with Aaron, Kate? Did that slip your mind? There’s nothing that would take the crazy out of Claire more than hearing that Aaron’s with her mother. Why? Claire DOESN’T KNOW SHE’S OUT OF THE COMA! That would’ve been an awesome thing for her to hear. But alas, Kate did not mention it. I also thought that Emilie de Ravin conveyed Claire’s sadness about losing Aaron really well. I thought it was a terrific scene.

–I wonder what’s locked up in that sub. As I told the world last week, STEVE thinks Widmore has destructive plans for the Island. Could a LIVING MAN be locked up in the sub? I doubt it though it’d remind people of Anthony Cooper and the metaphorical magic box that fans couldn’t accept was simply a metaphor. Oh, LOST fans. You do create some stupid theories. The living man would be Desmond. I don’t think there is a man in there. I think Widmore got the message after Desmond left his office in “Jughead.”

–I did enjoy Sawyer’s concern for Hurley and Jack. Perhaps he has forgiven Jack. If he’s moved on to Kate, he should forgive Jack. It’d be fair.

–I thought it was nice of Smokey to comfort Zack and Emma. I still don’t trust Smokey but it was nice of him to think of the kids and reassure them that harm would not come to them. It was a very Locke thing to do. Locke usually hung out with Walt and played backgammon with him or he would teach Walt how to throw knives. Interesting. It’s not the first instance of true Locke shining through in some way in Smokey.

–I still think Desmond’s coming to the Island. Do I really think Jacob wanted Hurley to assist Widmore in finding the Island? But then again, he didn’t want Hurley to assist. It was something for Jack to experience. My point: Desmond’s coming. He’s too cool to stay on the sidelines.

–Jodi Lynn O’Keefe guest starred as the woman in the teaser. Who is she you ask? She used to star in a bunch of teen comedies in the late 90s/early 00s. She was Freddie Prinze Jr’s ex in “She’s All That,” the object of Shane West’s desire in “Whatever It Takes,” and she made an appearance in Halloween H20.

–I thought Evangelline Lilly was wonderful in this episode. Terry O’Quinn also brought his A-game yet again. Holloway was no slouch either.

–Jack Bender directed this one. Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jim Galasso wrote it. Good work by all.

–I’m looking forward to next week’s Richard centric episode. It’s been a long time coming. The season’s also really mobilizing to insanity. As Bodhi said, this episode has upped the stakes of the game. One could argue that Man in Black represents Bodhi and Jacob is the Johnny Utah figure. But who is Pappas? Sayd could conceivably be the Rosie figure. I think I’ll stop with the Point Break stuff now.

TO THE RANKINGS!

A pretty quiet week of rankings. STEVE has put Smokey in to the Top 5. I have Jin at 6 now. Claire’s been moved to 7. Miles down to 8. STEVE has a new no. 18. My top 5 remains the same. Not much more to add except CHECK IT OUT.

AFTER EPISODE 8

RANKED: 3/17/2010

CHRIS

1. Jack

2. Desmond

3. Ben

4. Locke

5. Hurley

6. Jin

7. Claire

8. Miles

9. Sayid

10. Kate

11. Sawyer

12. Richard

13. Frank

14. Sun

15. Ilana

16. Jacob

17. Man in Black

18. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Kate

4. Miles

5. Man in Black

6. Ben

7. Sawyer

8. Sayid

9. Jin

10. Frank

11. Sawyer

12. Sun

13. Jacob

14. Claire

15. Ilana

16. Locke

17. Widmore

18. Hurley

“Dr. Linus” is a great example of what I love most about LOST. An excellent character driven story dominated this one: the redemption of Ben Linus. I felt all kinds of seasons one and three during this one, folks. I really, really loved it. I think it’s my favorite of the season thus far. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

We all know the history of Ben Linus. His father wished to Ben that they had stayed on The Island because Roger would’ve liked to see how Ben would’ve turned out there. Of course we know what Ben has done on The Island and for The Island. He sacrificed his daughter. He kidnapped pregnant women. He killed Locke because Locke threatened his power on the Island. He even killed Jacob, out of frustration, anger and sadness. He kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer. He kidnapped Walt and eventually used Michael to kill for him so that he could be free. He did whatever it took to return to the Island. He manipulated (somewhat) Sayid into killing for him. More succinctly, Ben has a checkered past to say the least. When he returned to the Island, there was a noticable shift taking place in Ben Linus. When he awoke to an alive John Locke, he was terrified. He didn’t say it at the time. He told Sun, as they sat on a porch in New Otherton, that he was terrified that Locke was alive because dead is dead on the Island. When he did awake, after being knocked out by Sun, the thing wanted was punishment for killing his daughter. He traveled to the some area of the Temple and sought punishment from Smokey. Of course all that led to was Ben being manipulated into killing Jacob. This episode he had to deal with the consequences.

The episode opened with a frantic Ben running through the Jungle after Smokey went all The Book of Exodus on The Temple. What an opening! I think LOST has the greatest teasers ever and I’m a huge “Buffy” and “Angel” fan (their teasers were usually spectacular) but LOST just owns the teaser. Even the teaser of “What Kate Does” when Lennon’s walking quickly through the Temple is epic. Anyhow, Ben saw Ilana, Frank, Sun and Miles walking through the jungle. He immediately caught up with them. Ilana was amped up to get answers. She didn’t believe Smokey had killed Jacob. She knew Miles could communicate with the dead and find out how and who killed Jacob. Miles did his thing and ratted Ben out. As Miles said, “Uh-oh.” We also found out Jacob’s dying thought was that he was wrong about Ben and Ben wouldn’t kill him. Shouldn’t have responded with “What about you?”, Jacob.

Anywho, the fivesome went to the beach (oh how I’ve missed the beach) and Ben was gently trying to save his own ass. He offered to help Ilana with anything but no dice. The others were gathering supplies. Later on, Ilana marched over to Ben, forced him to Boone Hill and locked him to a makeshift rope tied to a tree. Ben had to dig a grave because Ilana was going to kill him for killing Jacob. So Ben began digging. As he dug, he tried to bargain with Miles to cut him loose but Miles had no interest in Ben possibly getting 3.2 million for him since Nikki and Paulo are buried with over 8 million in times (of course Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz would throw that in). Ben did get his chance to escape though. Crazy ol’ evil NotLocke showed up and told Ben he went back to the statue to retrieve Ben but Ben wasn’t to be found there. NotLocke freed Ben and told him to flee, that a rifle was sitting at a tree 200 feet away and that he could meet up with him and his group on Alcatraz Island. Ben ran, reached the tree, grabbed the rifle, and pointed it at Ilana. Ilana dropped her gun and Ben told her that just wanted to explain himself. He wanted to explain why he had killed Jacob. He told her that he sacrificed everything including his Alex and that he killed Jacob out of anger and frustration. After he finished, he told Ilana he was going to find Locke. She asked why. He said because “he is the only one who will have me.” Ilana softly told Ben that she would have him and walked back towards the beach. Ben followed. It was a small act of kindness that reminds me of what Angel tells Kate in the ANGEL episode “Epiphany.” “The smallest act of kindness can be the greatestest thing in the world.” I really liked the image of Ben putting down the rifle and then asking Sun if she needed help with her tent. The redemption of Ben Linus is on.

In the Sideways narrative, Ben felt like a loser. We found out he earned a doctorate in Modern European History but was stuck monitoring detention. He wasn’t the only one. Good ol’ Dr. Arzt was unhappy with the work conditions he had to deal with. Ben was frustrated because the principal was unconcerned with the kids, telling Ben that it was no big deal to cancel the History Club because only 5 people were in the club. Ben didn’t agree with that assessment. He cares about the kids. Recall the scene when he took Alex for Rousseau and the unhappiness of Widmore that the baby wasn’t killed. Ben was so earnest when defending why he didn’t kill baby Alex. The Sideways story dealt with Alex. Ben was able to make up for what he did to her in “The Shape of Things to Come.” But before I focus on that, I have to mention what leads to his Alex moment. In the teacher’s lounge, Locke has the idea that Ben be the principal. Ben asks Locke, “who will listen to me?” Locke raises his hand and says that he’s listening. Ilana later echoes such a sentiment. Now, what one would expect is a massive power-play for principal that involves the manipulation we’ve grown to love from Ben Linus. He finds out the principal and the nurse have been fornicating in the nurse’s office during school hours (shades of what got Widmore banished and put into the Island). He enlists Arzt to hack into e-mail for some dirt. He gets said dirt and approaches his boss with the information; however, the principal knows that Alex is a favorite student of Ben’s and she’s just e-mailed him for a recommendation. If Ben forces the resignation, the principal promises to ruin Alex’s academic future. Ben does not go through with it. He chooses to preserve Alex’s academic potential. It’s a lovely scene when Ben tells Alex that he had nothing to do with the recommendation letter when, in fact, he had everything to do with it. As she walked away and Ben walked the other way, it was such a great moment. She has the chance for a marvelous life. I thought the scenes between Ben and Alex were so moving. He treated her with such fondness. It was very fathlerly.

Speaking of fatherly, the relationship between Ben and Roger isn’t toxic. Ben is taking care of his sickly father. He prepared an organic meal for him to help keep him alive. Of course one must recall the scene in “The Man Behind The Curtain” when he kills his father. Such juxtaposition. The scene between them was rather nice. Roger had comforting words for his son because he saw his son was frustrated with the school and the limitations he felt. I do like this Sideways world quite a bit for all of these great stories we’re getting.

There’s one piece of information that I’ve yet to mention: Roger had joined the Dharma Initiative and brought Ben with him to the Island. I find it significant that they had been to the Island and left. We all know the Island exists underneath the sea (New Otherton, Ezra James Sharkington and all!) because we saw it in that epic ‘LA X’ teaser. The obvious questions regard why Ben and his father left the Island. I could speculate and speculate but I’m not going to. It’s funner to wait for the show to reveal that stuff.

And boy did it get a little dusty when Hurley and Jack returned to the beach (of course I’m going to write about that! hold your horses! I’m not finished with Benny Linus’ story!). I was reminded of season one. It was overwhelming how happy I was to see that. I was also reminded of season three. Specifically, “One Of Us.” The Juliet centric episode that began her intergration into the Losties camp. In the end of that episode, Jack, Kate and Sayid enjoy a nice reunion with the camp. It’s so great and then Sawyer notices Juliet standing there. She’s not accepted. At the end of “Dr. Linus,” as Sun hugs Jack and Sun and joy is felt, Ben stands in the distance watching, sheepishly and lonely. But Jack did look his way. I think Jack, like Ilana, will have him too. After all, it is Ben who helped bring Jack to the Island. And Jack now knows he’s back for a reason.

Gazing out at the ocean and thinking has helped Jack. I knew it would. Tonight, Jack became a true Man of Faith. He told Richard about the lighthouse, the image of his childhood home, and how Jacob had watched him for his entire life and that if he was so important then there’s no way he OR Richard would die in The Black Rock. I think Jack gave purpose back to Richard. Richard was suicidal. He desired death. He felt as if his entire life had been a waste. Since The Black Rock he had given his life to the Island. I imagine since Jacob got him out of those chains. Jacob had told Richard that everything happens for a reason and that he would one day reveal his plan to Richard but then Jacob died. Richard felt utterly hopeless. He reminded me of Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy believed suicide was the only option if life was without meaning and purpose (another thing reminded me of Tolstoy but I’ll get to that). Richard knew he couldn’t kill himself because of Jacob’s touch but he wanted Jack to light the fuse for him. He really wanted to die. Hurley urged Jack to not do it but Jack said he couldn’t talk Richard out of it. Oh that sneaky man. Jack must have restored Richard’s life with purpose and meaning again in that slave ship. There was so much symbolism, allusion and meaning in this episode that I fear I won’t be able to address it at all. Jack then told Richard that it was time to go back to the beginning so he, Jack and Hurley returned to the beach. Their story was all about faith in an episode that dealt with forgiveness and renewal, rebirth.

Before the season began, I had wanted to write an epic essay on LOST and Finnegan’s Wake but I felt overwhelmed by the massiveness of Finnegan’s Wake. But I was tempted to write the essay because of the themes of circularity, resurrection and rebirth in Finnegan’s Wake. Jack’s line about going back to the beginning spoke to those ideas. Jacob and Man in Black can be seen as Shem and Shaun figures. Shem and Shaun are twins, often opposed against the other. Jack sort of personifies Tom Finnegan. He falls from Ajira to the Island when he returns. In Wake, Finnegan falls from a ladder and there’s the famous sentence “hohohoho you’re going to be Mister Finnagain!” I hope you get the gist. As dark as it got last week (and oh it got dark) there was mostly light in this episode after the darkness had lifted. Even Hurley was seen awaking from a night’s slumber.

The final image of the episode is of Widmore in a sub making his way to the Island and he’s indeed very close. I wonder if he’s going to Hydra Island or going to the Pala Ferry docks and heading to the beach.

Time for even more thoughts:

–Michael Emerson probably won himself another emmy for his performance in this episode. He was tremendous. The scene with Ilana alone should be enough to win the emmy.

–We saw Ben teaching his class about Napoleon’s exile. Napoleon nearly took over Russia if it wasn’t for that pesky deadly winter of Russia. Napoleon’s exile clearly paralleled the Ben Linus we’ve known for nearly 5 seasons on the Island. Once upon a time Ben was banished from the Island, put into exile. Also, whenever I hear about Napoleon I always think of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. What a book.

–No one seemed too concerned that Ben was about to be murdered by Ilana but Ben has done some shady deeds over the years. Sun once wanted to kill him because she thought he had something to do with Jin’s death. Frank and Miles were on a freighter whose sole mission was to extract Ben from the Island. So it’s understandable.

–I wonder if NotLocke really thought Ben would kill Ilana without hesitation. I think Ben’s learned his lesson though. He was genuinely repentant to Ilana when explaining why he killed Jacob. It was the same repentance he had when he said his last words about John Locke. Will Smokey be pissed? Most likely. Smokey doesn’t handle things not going his way too well. Ben is safe with Ilana but I imagine Smokey is not done with Ben. His offer to Ben appeared to be the same offer he has made to Sayid and Claire. There’s just no way he can deliver on those promises. I do think he can deliver on getting them off the Island but is that really his endgame? Conceivably he can reunite Claire with her son but that lying so and so promised her she was in the Temple. But she’s very confused so I don’t blame her for going back with Smokey after Smokey went all biblical on the Temple. The same thing goes for Sayid. Nadia died. I just think Smokey’s a manipulative so and so. I think Jacob’s fairly manipulative as well but Jacob seems to have better intentions. Of course he left most of The Temple, minus Hurley and Jack, to die. I digress. Back to The Smokeness: Do these promises and the Sideways world reconcile in some way? Who indeed knows. We shall find out, at some point, in the final 11 hours of the show.

–NotLocke is pretty clever hiding away on Hydra Island but at least he’s far away from the beach camp. But Jack’s definitely going to go to Hydra Island to get Kate, Sayid, Jin and Claire. I think he’ll be calm about it though and let Ilana do her thing. Ilana’s also great. So much better than Ana-Lucia.

–Dare I hope Desmond is somewhere on the submarine? Dare I? Henry Ian Cusick’s name has been in the credits ALL season. The last time this happened with Harold Perrineau in season four. He didn’t show up until the end of episode 7 and then he got episode 8 all to himself. We saw no signs Desmond’s with him. I don’t even know why he’s be with Widmore because he HATES Widmore. But, Darlton, we’ve got 11 episodes left. We’ve had one scene with Desmond. Desmond’s one of the greatest characters ever. He’s gotta show up.

–I was so excited to see The Black Rock again. I mentioned this earlier but this felt so much like season one and season three. I adore both seasons. I think season one is as close to perfection television will get. Season three had so many excellent episodes. The scenes in The Black Rock felt like “Exodus” all over again with the dynamite. During that episode, Locke and Jack argued about why they were here. Jack was then the staunch man of science but in this he became the man of faith. We also saw Dr. Arzt in the Sideways. Hurley even mentioned Arzt when cautioning Richard about the dynamite. Hurley told him he was cleaning Artz out of his shirt for two days. You know, I’ve always liked Arzt. I enjoyed his appearances in season one and I get a kick out of the webisodes he’s in. Miles referenced “Expose” and Nikki and Paulo. Fittingly enough, some fans expressed frustration about the lack of answers provided in the episode (though I’d argue answers were given. Plenty actually.). “Expose” suffered from criticism even though it provided some fun answers as well. We even got the great scene when Charle confessed to Sun that he had been behind the fake kidnapping of Sun in “The Long Con.” I digress. As I noted already, the end mirrored the end of “One Of Us.” I hope it was intentional. I believe it was. The beach camp goes without saying. It was so prominent in season three (the construction of the beach camp as we saw it was in progress during season two). How I wished adorable, not homocidal Claire was there too in her cute designer clothing. But Feral Claire is pretty cool and Emilie de Ravin gets something to do other than hold a baby. I’m digressing.

–We found out a number of things: Jacob’s touch prevents people from dying. Richard did in fact arrive on The Black Rock. Why he was brought here is another story. We found out Ilana’s role on the Island. She’s also done her homework on everybody.

–Imagine if instead of Widmore being revealed on the sub it was AARON AND WALT. I joke about that scenario with STEVE and STEVE’s comment: “I’d kill myself.” STEVE’s prediction for Widmore’s gameplan? Sinking the Island.

–I got a kick out of Sawyer’s stash. I noticed a few things but I’d have to go back and pause to catch everything. I imagine Lostpedia’s all over it anyway so head over that way for all that Ben found.

–Great exchanges between Hurley and Richard in the jungle as Hurley asked Richard about not aging. Hurley wondered if he was a cyborg or a terminator. What a great scene.

–There was a nice little scene between Ben and Frank. Ben said it felt like yesterday Oceanic 815 broke apart above New Otheron. Frank told him he was supposed to pilot the plane but he overslept. Ben commented on Frank winding up on the Island still.

–As Ben tutored Alex, he spoke of the 19th century East India Trading company. Not the first time it’s been mentioned (see Season Four’s The Constant when Widmore wins the bid for The Black Rock materials written by the first mate. The same ship Richard was on).

–I keep thinking of what Ben says to Michael in “Live Together, Die Alone” about being the good guys. Is that a long a set-up or what by Lindelof and Cuse? Goodness!

–Three weeks of no Sawyer. Very surprising indeed. I’m leaning towards getting a Sawyer episode next week. I feel fairly sure that we’ll be joining His Smokeness and his recruits next week on Hydra Island which means CLAIRE! will be there. Listen, I love her australian accent so much. Emilie’s delivery and inflections this season have been different from the previous four seasons she’s been in the show. I’m even more attached to the accent because of those inflections and her delivery. The way she speaks in “Lighthouse” is great. I’m digressing again. The point: things will get more intense next week.

–Once again, I have to mention how much I loved the montage at the end. The hugs, the happiness. Giacchinno’s score (The Oscar winner for the score he wrote for “Up”) was beautiful. I nearly fell off the couch with excitement when I realized we were getting a reunion/montage. I LOVE THIS SHOW!

–Overall, I think this is the episode of the season to date. I loved everything about it. Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote it. Mario Van Peebles directed. Season Six has been a blast so far.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

Per the rule, Dogen and Lennon are no longer being ranked. Jack is now no. 2 on STEVE’s ranking. STEVE likes it when Jack is intense. Jack remains in the top spot for me. Miles dropped out of the top 5 for me. He’s number six. Hurley’s the one who bumped him because, you know, it’s time for Hurley to be in the top 5. He’s always hovering around the top 5. Man in Black keeps rising on STEVE’s list. Will he one day claim the top spot? Desmond remains number one for STEVE and number two for me. Desmond rocks. But enough talking. Here’s the rankings in all of their glory:

AFTER EPISODE 7

RANKED: 3/10/2010

CHRIS

1. Jack

2. Desmond

3. Ben

4. Locke

5. Hurley

6. Miles

7. Jin

8. Claire

9. Sayid

10. Kate

11. Sawyer

12. Richard

13. Frank

14. Sun

15. Ilana

16. Jacob

17. Man in Black

18. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Kate

4. Miles

5. Ben

6. Sawyer

7. Man in Black

8. Sayid

9. Jin

10. Frank

11. Sun

12. Jacob

13. Claire

14. Ilana

15. Locke

16. Richard

17. Hurley

18. Widmore

Dear lord I love this show.

I think Desmond is coming to the Island. Why? It’s a gut feeling. I’m writing this nine minutes after “Lighthouse” ended so I have not yet gone back to look at the first building seen in the mirror but it reminded me of Desmond. As Faraday has told us and Desmond, Desmond is special. It HAS to be Desmond. I’m feeling it. I AM FEELING IT.

As for the mother of Jack’s child? I have no guesses. But I’ll get there. I’ll also have many, many words to offer about good ol’ Claire. All in good time. Let’s start with Hurley and Jack.

Hurley said it best: an old school Island adventure. WE EVEN SAW THE CAVES AGAIN! I was thrilled. I missed the caves so much once season two dropped them from the mix. But I digress. I’ll return to the caves in a bit. Anywho, after a game of Temple tic-tac-toe with Miles, Hurley was off to find the kitchen when he came across Jacob, who was kneeling by the spring. Interestingly enough, Jacob was running the water through his hands. Jacob had a task for Hurley. The task: go to the lighthouse because someone is coming to the Island. But this wasn’t about the lighting up the lighthouse at all. It was about Jack. Hurley told Jacob that Jack wouldn’t agree to go so Jacob gave Hurley some helpful words to get Jack to go: you have what it takes.

Jack told his son, David, how he’s been carrying those words with him all of his life. And he has. That’s why he was so determined to bury his father in “White Rabbit.” But Jack has burying his feelings for his father all of his life. David really is his father’s son. But I shall get into the Sideways in a bit.

Back to Island Jack, after he lost his shit when he saw his childhood house in the looking glass, he sat on a cliff and stared out at the ocean. Jacob arrived and told Hurley that some people need to stare out at the ocean in order to know what they need to do and Jacob needed Jack to know how important he is because Jack has to do something very important. Jack told Hurley, on their way to the lighthouse, that he came to the Island because he was broken in Los Angeles and he hoped the Island would fix him. Jack referred to the hope of being fixed as stupid. He wanted to detonate Jughead because he wanted to erase the past, start anew, be reborn. He had destroyed his engagement with Kate. He was popping pills, drinking excessively, and he wanted to die. “Through The Looking Glass” opens with Jack on an airplane, hoping it will crash (as he tells Kate later) and then he was going to jump before a car crash saved his life. This dude was a shattered shell of himself. You want symbolism? How is Jack literally shattering his past with a hard object? And he’s also dealing with the fallout of Jughead. Juliet’s dead. Sawyer is off on his own. Things are as they’ve always been (but not really–SIDEWAYS). But he’s not like how he was in 2007 off-the-Island. He’s in more control than, possibly, ever. He lost it but then he was sitting quietly, thinking. He did what Jack usually does which is react but then he contemplated afterwards. Perhaps he did learn a little thing or two from Sawyer in “LaFleur.”

As for that important thing he’s going to do but doesn’t know yet? I think it begins with saving his sister. Oh my does she need some saving. But I’ll get to her in a little bit.

As for Sideways narrative, I think we’re seeing how Jack can work through his father issues. He told his son how he never wants to be how Christian was to him. But he was doing his best Andy Brown impression. He barely interacted with his son. His son seemed to hate him. But he managed to repair some of the damage by Sideways end. He just wants to be part of David’s life which I thought was very nice.

As for the other stuff in the Sideways narrative, we had another bathroom scene. In this, Jack looked at himself in the mirror and noticed the scar from having his appendix removed. Recall “Something Nice Back Home” in which he had his appendix removed and the flash-forward. Yes, the very flash-forward that spells the end of he and Kate. It’s the second time Jack has noticed something as he looked at himself in the mirror. He even asked his mother about getting his appendix removed (age 7). But Jack still perceives something to be off. As he sorted through Christian’s files with his mother, he denied a drink from his mother. And then his mother asked him about Claire Littleton. He’s gotta save his sister.

Speaking of Claire, she is no longer the sweet peanut butter craving girl, eh? She’s a character I adore because of how Emilie’s portrayed her, and how she’s been written, throughout the first four seasons. The sweetness is sort of there (am I reaching? she was pretty nice to Jin if you ignore the fact he was TERRIFIED of her) but she’s massively mentally unbalanced, hates the Others as much as Rousseau did, refers to NotLocke as her FRIEND, has quite the crib set up because of missing Aaron but I still love the character and I badly want her to be rescued/saved.

What seems to have happened the last three years for Claire is a lot of manipulation. I don’t have much to write about that yet. She was taken by the Others, put through what Sayid was put through, and then escaped. She was once seen hanging out in the Cabin (i assume before her time with the Others) and she thinks the Others have Aaron when, in fact, he was left in a tree. Kate did what needed to be done. DON’T KILL HER, CLAIRE! And she’s set up tons of traps in the jungle and stuff. I covered this in “What Kate Does.” I knew she wouldn’t hurt Jin. Did I fear for his safety? A bit, especially when he got involved in the Aaron business. But she took care of him. She apologized for the trap, cleaned out the wound, and stitched him up. She still loves Jin. Why wouldn’t she, you know? He was there when she gave birth, helped her catch migratory birds, hung out with her and stuff. It’s JIN!

My ol’ soft, fragile heart broke for Claire when Jin told her about Aaron and Kate and Claire realized her son was three years old. Oh, Claire. She had no mercy for Justin. She put axe into his gut. Jin later told Kate that The Others had her baby. Claire said she would kill Kate for taking Aaron. Jin is trying to save lives but he’s in a bad, bad situation because NotLocke showed up. Claire’s friend. They are on their way to The Temple to cause some chaos which is why Jacob got Hurley and Jack out of dodge. What about Miles and Sayid though?

I think it’s time for the other thoughts:

–Great scene when Jack listened to his son’s answering machine and heard himself calling, hoping to talk to his son after the death of his father. Matthew Fox played that scene so well.

–This episode had so many callbacks to past episodes. “White Rabbit,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “Something Nice Back Home,” “Confidence Man,” “Solitary,” “Numbers,” “Orientation.” The episode was penned by none other than Darlton. They know us fans so well. Allow me to breakdown said callbacks.

–We had Jack tell Hurley how he found the caves: “chasing the ghost of my dead father.” Jack told Hurley had smashed the coffin because his father wasn’t in it. And there was the caves. Oh, how I loved the caves. I know I wrote this already but it bears repeating. They were so awesome. Season one really is a fantastic season. “White Rabbit” also introduced the issues Jack had with his father which were a key theme in tonight’s episode.

–The skeletons returned! Hurley voiced the fans when he thought that maybe the skeletons are one of them. Rose and Bernard? I may be reaching here but Jin was in a bit of helpless situation in “House of the Rising Sun.” I might be jumping the gun too because season six has been following season one so I imagine Jin/Sun’s episode is next week.

–I mentioned the “Something Nice Back Home” stuff already.

–Hurley came across Shannon’s inhaler. In “Confidence Man,” Sawyer gets tortured because people suspect he has them and won’t give them up. Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowtiz mentioned that a scene was cut from ‘Expose’ in which Paulo throws the inhalers into the jungle which explains why Hurley found it where he did. Sun saves the day for Shannon in “Confidence Man.”

–Jin wakes up much like Sayid does in “Solitary” and he looks around much like Sayid does.

–”Numbers” has the great Locke-builds-a-crib-for-Claire’s baby story. NotLocke shows up in Claire’s shelter at episode’s end.

–108, the numbers, etc reminds me of “Orientation.”

–Love the lighthouse and the idea of the lighthouse.

–Hurley was fantastic this episode. He had some great lines like the one about ink on his forehead, Obi-Wan. The scene with Dogen was great. Dogen was none too pleased.

–Speaking of Dogen, the scene between he and Jack in Sideways narrative seemed pretty important. His words carried a whole lot of significance.

–Loved how Mr. Friendly was once a candidate to replace Jacob. I hope we see Tom once last time. What a character.

–I’m still not sure about this whole infection stuff. I still don’t think a darkness has consumed Claire. We know what happens when Aaron’s taken from her. In “Exodus,” she’s a bit like current Claire when Aaron’s taken from her. She became completely detached. So, yeah, I don’t think there’s an infection. She’s just changed. Oh my how she has changed.

–Miles and Sayid! Don’t leave them there at the Temple! COME ON! I wonder, on a scale from 1-10, how uncomfortable Sayid is in The Temple. He hates Other. He just died and then was put through annoying tests. Everyone thinks a darkness will consume him. The Others want him to die for good. At least he’s got Miles there.

–Kate was so nice this episode, hoping Jack and Hurley find what they’re looking for. I love her desire to find Kate. Hopefully Claire’s not insane enough to do something stupid. She’ll need to listen to Kate carefully because Kate will tell her: ‘look you wandered off into the jungle, no one knew where you were, THE ISLAND DISAPPEARED WHEN WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK TO LOOK FOR YOU, someone had to raise Aaron, Jack YOUR BROTHER helped me and took care of him as well, he is now with YOUR MOTHER who is OUT OF THE COMA AND ALIVE, and they are waiting for you.”

–I’m enjoying the openness of the characters. They are telling each other stuff. Jack told Kate that Dogen informed him that something happened to Claire. Jack told Sayid that the Others wanted Jack to kill him. Hurley and Jack discussed why they came back to the Island. Jack told Hurley how he found the caves. I loved it. How dare The Sports Gal fall asleep during this!

–I have a feeling The Temple stuff might be wrapping up in the next few weeks or so. If LOST has taught me anything, it’s that there’s a first half and then a second half (of the season). Jacob doesn’t seem too interested in preserving The Temple. I don’t think whoever is coming is coming to save The Temple. Stay tuned.

–Emilie de Ravin was a pearl in the episode. She sold this new Claire very well. I was a bit nervous and on guard like Jin. A bit of an aside, how underrated is Jin? What a character. Daniel Dae Kim is the man. I thought Matthew Fox knocked it out of the park.

–I think Jorge Garcia and Mark Pellegrino work great together. More Hurley and Jacob!

–Darlton and Jack Bender, the Tim Lincecum/Roy Halladay of the show, pitched a complete game YET AGAIN.

–Last, but not least, I can’t forget about Alice In Wonderland showing up (was that an annotated version?). In “Something Nice Back Home,” Jack was reading it to Aaron (a favorite scene of mine). Alice in Wonderland popped up all over this episode. The Looking Glass, Sideways, etc. Here’s what he reads to him:

”Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”

I think it’s great to think about in the context of season six and I’m thinking Darlton want us to think about it with that context. My mind immediately goes to the Sideways, the scenes with Jack looking in the mirror, wondering if he, too, has been changed in the night (and he has). The final two sentences are so significant to LOST right now. That’s the most important question I want answered in this final season: who, in fact, are these characters. It’s going to be amazing, people.

The Official LOST Rankings will be posted a little later. I’ll tell you now that Jacob has been ADDED to the Rankings! It’s very exciting. Until then, have a happy Wednesday.

This is it. Tonight is the night. The sixth and final season of the greatest show ever begins tonight. With it comes great excitement but a bit of sadness because this is the end of the final hiatus. There will be no more excrutiating 8 month hiatuses (which isn’t the worst thing in the world considering the intense cliffhangers and then all that time in between). This is the last season premiere. But, believe me, it’s pretty much all excitement here in The Foot. I’m so excited to see the opening of the final chapter of this mesmerizing story. My fictional friends are returning tonight. Yes, my fictional friends. I’m totally aware that I’m a geek. I’m going to be so glad to see all my favorite characters again tonight, to find out what the heck happened when Jughead went off, and to immerse myself back in this world that I love.

Jeff Jensen and the other LOST fantatics over at EW.com discussed the possible viewership of the final season. Will old fans that gave up on the show return? That’s a good question. I think everyone in the world will tune in to see the final two hours of the show in May. I’m not sure people hop on board now and, if they do, they might be a bit confused. But I hope people who once enjoyed (or even loved) the show do return but I hope they understand what LOST is now. I also hope, as some EW writers said, that the writers write this season for those who never strayed and I think they will. If there’s any indication of that, it goes back to last season’s premiere when good ol’ Neil Frogurt showed up just in time to be killed by a flaming arrow in the ’50s and the writers trusted the viewers with all of the time-travel they were set to do so, yes, I absolutely think the long-time, loyal fans will be rewarded and it all begins tonight. I’ve been ready since “The Incident” ended to begin the final journey of LOST so I simply cannot wait for “LA X” to air at 9PM.

As for the pre-season rankings, I hope that this doesn’t disappoint anyone but the pre-season rankings are only a repeat of the rankings for “The Incident.” I copy and paste what me and STEVE wrote for “The Incident.” It’s been this way for a few years. Hopefully, these rankings serve as a reminder for where each character was last season. Before I copy and paste the rankings in, I’ll put a reminder out there that the recap will be posted tomorrow.

TONIGHT!

THE OFFICIAL LOST PRE-SEASON SEASON SIX RANKINGS!

CHRIS

1. Desmond-He’s been missed

2. Sayid-he’ll survive that bullet wound or land safely in LAX

3. Jack-The most bad-ass Jack has ever been was this finale

4. Richard-the coolest Other ever

5. Hurley-No one drives a dharma van like Hurley

6. Sawyer-what a goodbye with Juliet.

7. Jin-Only dude taking care of Sayid.

8. Ben-Probably my favorite Ben season yet

9. Juliet-I’ll miss her. I really warmed up to her since she first appeared.

10. Miles-The second most logical character on the show plus agreed with me about Jack causing the Incident

11. Kate-Good ol’ Kate

12. Sun-Poor Sun.

13. Frank-Always liked Frank. Just doesn’t get enough screen time.

14. Daniel-Did he, in fact, make time?

15. Widmore-Nature of the Rankings Beast

16. “Locke”-No idea how to rank this dude now

STEVE

1. Desmond-Please come back

2. Sayid-Alive or dead at numba 2

3. Kate-Sexy

4. Miles-Miles is jaboy for using his head at times where no one else would

5. Sawyer-We loved his emotion in the last episode

6. Ben-Mans up and stays at 6

7. “Locke”-R.I.P. John Locke

8. Jin-Didn’t get enough exposure this season

9. Richard-Wild for not aging

10. Frank-Frank’s a good guy. He means well and he needs more airtim.

11. Sun-poor Sun, stuck with a dead locke, a real locke, a man who doesn’t age, and a man she doesn’t trust.

12. Jack-Jack

13. Widmore-We don’t know enough about him yet I feel

14. Hurley-Only reason he was ranked that high is because of last week’s laugh he gave us.

15. Daniel-Last time he’ll be on the rankings hopefully.

16. Juliet-She is dead last for trying to control Sawyer and being a famous 5 letter word that begins with B. She deserved to die.

IT IS FEBRUARY! ONE MORE DAY! ONE MORE DAY! ONE MORE DAY!

The frenzy of the beginning of season six has overwhelmed the internet and media. The first four minutes of the premiere are available, a screening of the first hour of the premiere happened on Saturday night, every print publication has or will have a write-up on the premiere looming, every online publication has or will have a write-up on the premiere looming. I am glad we are at this point. However, I’m not in support of the first four minutes of the premiere being available. I haven’t watched and will not watch. I will you tell why: many moons ago (September 2005), MSN.com offered a few sneak peeks at some scenes for the season two opener “Man of Science, Man of Faith.” The scenes: the exchange Hurley has with Jack about the numbers and being cursed, Kate’s descent into The Hatch, and I think that’s it but those two early glimpses ruined the premiere for me. No context, no fun. I also had trouble enjoying all of season two for reasons that include an insane re-run/new episode schedule. Did it all begin that fateful day when I previewed two scenes possibly? All I know is that I’ve waited patiently for 8 months to enjoy the experience of the premiere in its totality and enjoy in its totality I will! This time tomorrow…9PM…the wait will finally be over and it will be glorious. 8PM is the recap of course.

This leaves some time for the last pre-season six meaty entry of Jacob’s Foot. Tomorrow I will deliver the pre-season rankings. Wednesday I will deliver a recap of (FINALLY!) a new episode. But those last two sentences are for the future. Now, it’s time for the episode of the day:

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY

The episode: White Rabbit

Original Airdate: October 20, 2004

Written by: Christian Taylor

Directed by: Kevin Hooks

Content: The survivors begin to struggle as they realize they are running out of fresh water. Meanwhile, Jack continues to see his dead father’s figure on the Island. Flashbacks in this episode show a little bit of Jack’s childhood and also what Jack was doing in Australia.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: I think it’s safe to say Jack’s story will be a critical part of the final season. After all, the man decided to detonate a hydrogen bomb as a way to try to erase the last three years, as a way to ‘fix’ the last three years. As the series progressed, the flawed nature of Jack became more and more evident. In this episode, Jack is struggling with the fact everyone wants him to be their leader but, as we see from the flashback, he has been scarred a whole lot by his father. After saving Boone from drowning and choosing not to save Joanna, Boone yells at Jack for the decision. Around him, people are becoming more hostile, highlighted by the water problem when people begin looking to assign blame.

The bulk of this episode, for Jack, takes place away from the fuselage and camp because Jack is following, what John Locke describes, as the white rabbit–his father. We find out Jack’s father died in Sydney. And now we know how truly difficult his relationship was with his father and he still hasn’t properly grieved or coped with his father’s death because Jack must have some emotional guilt since he became the catalyst for Christian falling off the sobriety tracks and disclosing Christian’s inebriation to the medical board. His father’s death is fresh, painful wound in this, the fifth episode of the series, and it explains his reluctance to participate in the memorial service Claire put together in “Walkabout.” One of the episode’s most powerful scenes is when Jack remembers confirming his father’s dead body followed by Jack crying as he sits by the fire. I think the whole sequence is terrific. This is when Jack discovers the caves. And yes, I do think the Island led him to the caves. The photography is beautiful. The score is mesmerizing. Here it is:

Another powerful scene is when Jack pleads with Oceanic to process the coffin so he can bury his father. Unfortunately, I can’t find a YouTube clip to link of the scene.

Anywho, there’s a terrific scene between Jack and Locke in this episode. In fact, it’s fun to re-watch Jack/Locke scenes before “Do No Harm” because the two aren’t, well Jack isn’t, ready to strangle Locke to death. Jack is wary, though, of Locke before the Boone stuff happens. In “Hearts and Minds,” he asks Charlie about Locke to which Charlie responds that he’d put his absolute trust in Locke to save them all. I digress though. The scene between them in “White Rabbit” is very significant. They engage in their first Man of Science/Man of Faith discussion though it’s not hostile nor is it overt and Jack actually seeks some insight into why the heck he sees a man that cannot be there and contemplates what lostaways view him as: their leader. It’s the first instance of the key theme of predeterminism. Here is the scene:

And, while I’m on this scenes kick, I can’t leave out the speech from White Rabbit:

I’m a big Jack fan. There are some fans who dislike the character very much but I’m not among them. I think he’s a fascinating, complex character. Naturally, I’m very excited for the final chapter in Jack’s individual story. He’s more lost than any other character perhaps. He’s more together and focused in “White Rabbit” than he is when he’s off the Island and he’s still searching for…something once he returns to the Island. Carlton Cuse spoke about the possibility of redemption as a key theme that will be explored in the final season. Other than Sayid, I’m most interested in the possibility of Jack’s redemption in the final chapter of this show.

As for the other happenings in the episode, Claire bonds with Kate and Charlie. Specifically, she’s glad Charlie isn’t afraid of her like most of the other lostaways. Oh, Claire. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a good subplot that involves lack of water.

This is an absolutely terrific episode of LOST. It’s the only episode of the show Christian Taylor wrote (though I’d love to know which scenes Damon wrote since I bet he wrote at least one) but bravo sir! Kevin Hooks directed this one. Michael Bonvillain DPed the episode and the entire cast & crew did a tremendous job.

That does it for (possibly) the last EVER episode of the day. Check out the latest issue of The Quad (wcuquad.com). And check back here TOMORROW afternoon for the season six pre-season LOST rankings.

ONE MORE DAY!