An Announcement, and The End is Over

Hey everyone,

Two "official" things that I wanted to let you know about.

First, I mentioned last week to check your email about a special event that was happening. Well, I finally sent the Evite today - my LOST finale party is on! Now this may mean I'm a jerk, but I only sent it to those that I know still check the blog and that I'm pretty sure still watch LOST. If I left you out and you want to come, you are more than welcome to join us!
Evite says you can make a link for an invitation, and I followed all of their directions repeatedly, but I can't seem to get it to work; I wanted to post it here. If you send me your email, I can add you to the invite list so you can get the invitation.

And secondly, we knew this day would come, unfortunately: the finale is a wrap.
LOST's Last Moments Are Filmed - Damon Lindelof Twitter 

I also heard that they are re-airing "Pilot," the groundbreaking LOST premiere, on May 22, the night before the finale. I'm not sure about the time.

Remember, there is no new LOST this week, but they are re-airing "Ab Aeterno" in it's regular time slot (I'm assuming). I'm hoping it's the "pop-up video" enhanced version, but we'll see.

I hope this post finds you all well.
Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~Matt

"You're With Me, Now" - 6x13: The Last Recruit

***Quick note #1: 

Check your email and/or this blog in the next few days : )))  ***

***Quick note #2: 

I know many of you are dog/pet lovers, so if you could please send some positive thoughts/vibes/prayers to UConn, my and my family's beautiful doggie. She's been having a really tough time with some painful back problems. She could use all the help she can get, so with all of my heart, thank you!***

Okay, on with the show!

The last recruit indeed - and the last person we ever thought would be that recruit!

I'll admit right off the bat that since I'm off from school this week (no, it hasn't closed yet - that will be in June!), I was psyched to sit down and watch tonight's episode, "The Last Recruit," live, in person, with no distractions and no bedtime. And then it started...and I felt completely lost (heh heh). Wait, Jack has to double back and then meet you at a dock and...what? What boat? The Lockeness Monster (good one, Ivan!) stole something from Zoe? Oh, right - Desmond. How do they have a bearing on his position to bomb him? Was it her walkie-talkie? Wouldn't he just throw it away so they can't track him? And really, a bomb is going to scare a being made of smoke? Is Claire for real?

So I felt kind of dumb watching tonight, as if I couldn't follow everything, so keep that in mind when you're reading and constantly finding yourself saying, "Duh, it's obvious," or "Stupid, that's because..." at me through your monitor. I owe this one a rewatch.

Well, let me get into what I did get from this one:

Although we saw so many major characters - just about everyone except Charlie Pace and Charlie Widmore, really - and they were all meeting up which is something we've been waiting for all season, beyond that, nothing much happened tonight. Am I wrong? I'd like to hear your take on this.

Toniann and I discussed this during the episode: there were some great lines in this one. Many past episode titles and phrases were repeated by interesting characters. Jack saying "the Island isn't through with us yet" to Sawyer on the boat, Kate saying "we have to go back," and others. Sawyer calling Frank "that guy that looks like he stepped out of a Burt Reynolds movie."

A GREAT scene was when Sayid was getting ready to kill Desmond, who looked quite forlorn in that well (which didn't look as deep as it was shown last week...strange...). At first I thought his leg was twisted, in a mirror of Locke's fall down the well in Season 5, but he wasn't acting like it was. Anyways, it seems that Desmond found a way to get Sayid to snap out of the Monster's mojo: "What will you tell her when she asks what you did to be with her again?" He had a very small, subtle reaction when that registered with him, I thought. And when he tells the Monster that he killed Desmond, we know he's lying. Is this, finally, Sayid's redemption?

Jack and Claire are reunited in both timelines. And both reunions are kind of contentious.

Ilana is now a lawyer. +

Ilana lost her accent. -

Speaking of reunited, and it feels so good: finally, after what feels like 108 years, Sun and Jin are back together. And love fixed Sun's weird English block! (I still don't get what that was all about...)

In Alt. 2004, Sun recognized Locke, shouting, "It's him! It's him!" in a panic. Did she remember the other timeline in that moment? She doesn't bring it up when she comes to in the hospital and Jin is there with her.

Christian was the Monster? I still don't believe it. He hesitated when he said it, and it seemed very calculated. "You needed to find water?" C'mon! Christian's appearances always seemed different somehow. And the clincher for me is that Christian appeared off-Island to Jack in the hospital in Season 4. If he can get off the Island to appear to Jack, then what is the problem now? I'm not buying it, just like I'm not buying that he's taking them on a plane off the Island. He's going to kill all of you, you dummies! You are candidates to be the new Jacob, the guy who is keeping him trapped - you are all in his way!

Jack comes to the realization that the Monster wants them to leave because he's afraid of what would happen if they stay. While I'm convinced that he's going to kill all of them because they are each potentially the next person to keep him trapped on the Island, I didn't think of it in the way that Jack put it. Jack is getting the big picture: it's not about keeping him from getting off the Island, it's about the Losties role of keeping him on the Island. It's the same thing, but just put a different way, and in a way that gives much more importance to the Losties and the job they have, no matter who the new Jacob turns out to be. To quote another phrase that actually wasn't used tonight, but would've been very fitting, "Live together, die alone."

Another one I don't trust is Claire. One: she's batshit crazy. Two: she was indoctrinated and brainwashed by the Monster for three years, and now Kate takes three minutes to apologize for taking Aaron and she joins the good guys? What?!

When Locke is brought in for surgery, we know who is going to operate on him. And when Jack shows up for the pre-op procedures and he's looking at the x-rays, the nurse tells him that Locke's dural sac is ripped open. Of course it is! Now this gives us two connections: one, the mention of a ripped dural sac is from Jack's "counting to five" story that he tells Kate in the "Pilot" episode about accidentally cutting a patient's dural sac open, and which we see played out in the Season 5 finale as the point in time that Jacob touches Jack. The second connection is that he says "I got this." If I'm not mistaken, this is what he says to Sarah, his soon-to-be-wife (and ex-wife), at some point before operating on her and miraculously "fixing" her. I have a very strong feeling that we're going to see Locke wiggling his toes again before May 23.

Widmore double-crosses them. That jerk! Or is the deal off because they didn't have Desmond with them? Or, is it because they didn't have Jack with them?

And finally, another shout-out to Toniann, because she asked a question that never crossed my mind (see my opening paragraphs...): is Jack dead? After Jack is thrown from the explosion, he wakes up after being blacked out, experiences that hearing loss we've seen people have after explosions, and then the Monster picks him up and takes him to relative safety at the edge of the jungle. He tells him not to worry: "You're with me now." Nooooooooo!!! Did the Monster bring him back to life, a la Sayid and Claire, which means he'll be filled with darkness soon? Jack, filled with darkness? Say it ain't so! I hope this isn't the case, but I could see it happening.

My theory, and it's not that groundbreaking, is that the Monster is keeping Jack as bait. He knows the other candidates have been taken by Sawyer to Widmore's protected camp, and since he needs them all together (for whatever reason you subscribe to), Jack will need to convince them to leave Widmore and join him. This will give them all back to the Monster. But first, the Monster is going to have to convince Jack...

What did you think about "The Last Recruit"? Keep the comments coming! If I catch anything I missed tonight, I will post it.

Remember, there is no LOST next week (Tuesday, April 27). There might be some sort of recap show or replay of "The Last Recruit," but I haven't checked. Usually I would've heard by now if there was, but I'll keep a lookout and keep you posted.

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

"Everybody Loves Hugo" - Thoughts & Theories

Ahhhh, vacation. A time to rest. A time to reflect. A time to do lots of LOST-related activities.

There were a few things I wanted to touch on based on my recap post for "Everybody Loves Hugo."

First, the title of this episode is a play on the Season 2 episode title "Everybody Hates Hugo."

Many fans have noted that Hurley's father is no where to be seen. Is it that he never returned to the family, or is it that Cheech Marin wasn't available? I'd be surprised if either was the case. 

Should Hurley trust Michael? That was certainly a thought while watching the show, but after hearing some discussion about this question, I'm thinking about it even more. If Michael is trapped on the Island, and the Monster is trying to get off the Island, then would Michael be siding with the Monster? Does the Monster leaving the Island free all of the souls that are trapped there? Of course, this would mean that Hurley is unwittingly playing right into the Monsters smoky hands.

The consensus on the Fuselage is that the bag Hurley looked into was Ilana's bag of Jacob's ashes. I'm not so sure, but it's a possibility that makes sense. Maybe Hurley figured it out and it caused him to want to see the Monster. Is he going to try to trap him with the ashes? Has he seen or heard about this use of the ashes? Did he put two and two together from his experience with "Jacob's cabin"?

Will we ever get Ilana's full story? Why would they show her bandaged, and with a personal connection to Jacob, and never mention it again? I don't think we've seen the last of her, at least in flashback form. I still think she was suffering from leprosy or a similar disease, but I'm not sure how that would fit into the story. I wonder if we ever saw her in a hospital with modern equipment, because I always had the impression that she was older than we thought, in a Richard kind of way.

Ilana calls the Monster "that thing" at least twice. Is she unaware of his past as a person (if we are to believe what he says, anyway), or is she thinking of him/it in a more impersonal way due to his/its actions, as if she's trying to distance herself from his past humanity?

When Desmond is tied up and talking to the Monster, he says, "I have nowhere to run to, brotha." I think this could be more proof that he has seen more than we know that he has in terms of what is going to happen. I wonder if he knows what is about to happen, or even that he is going to die but in a way that will help everyone else (like Penny and little Charlie, for example), and he's made peace with it. Even in the well scene, too, he was very calm, and as the Monster noted, fearless. He has nowhere to run to because this is his last stop and he knows it.

I don't think he is dead from being thrown down the well. (I'm surprised that some people do.) I can't figure out the Monster's motivation here. When Des tells him that he was blasted with electromagnetic energy, the Monster tells him that he has something to show him - the well. He must know what the well was for, and what's at the bottom of it, and we know he does since he tells Desmond exactly that. My first thought was that he got so angry at Des for not fearing him, because that's what he thrives off of, and that's where his control comes from, that he threw him into the well in frustration. But he doesn't seem to regret it afterwards. So maybe he thinks that Des could never survive that fall. But Locke himself fell down the well and survived, and we've been given several hints that the Monster sort of has access to Locke's thoughts and memories, so he should know this. So then the theory becomes this: the Monster wants or needs Desmond at the bottom of the well to be near the electromagnetic energy for some reason. But so does Widmore - so does Widmore know that this would happen? Was he bringing Desmond to the Island knowing full well that he'd be captured by the Monster and thrown down the well? And does this mean that he is working with the Monster after all? He is setting up the sonic fence, so I don't think this is the case. What does it all mean? I don't know.

There was some unique music playing during the well scene that I don't think I've heard in other episodes. It was a chime-y, almost light tone. Since the Monster was talking about how the well was built, it gave the scene as almost magical feel. Interesting.

Something Libby says in Santa Rosa reminded me of Desmond. She tells Hurley that she has memories of another life. Who else has used this phrase? "See you in another life, brotha." Desmond said this to Jack in the stadium at the end of Season 1, and when he escaped the Swan in Season 2, and possibly other times as well. I can't even begin to reason this out, but beyond just being a catchy saying that Desmond like to say, and beyond being a clever thing the writers did way back then knowing what we'd be seeing now in Season 6, does it mean anything more? With all of his mental and physical time traveling, did Desmond know something about the alternate timeline back then? Did his proximity to the energy during his three years in the Swan give him momentary glimpses of other lives? It seems kind of a stretch to think so, but who knows.

Is the Monster keeping the souls on the Island? Is he, in a sense, building a new hell? Maybe, but if he wants to leave, why would he need to keep them there? Does he draw power from them, as if they were some sort of negative energy for him to use?

Did Charles Widmore steal Eloise away from the man that would become the Monster? Is this why he is so against Widmore? He tells Sawyer (I think) that he knows what it's like to lose someone you love. Then again, Charles and Eloise knew each other when they were teenagers in the 1950s, so this theory doesn't exactly work. But there is something there that seems much more personal between Widmore and the Monster than what they are both saying.

Is Widmore collecting or claiming all of the locations of energy pockets in the world? The Monster tells Des how Widmore brought him back to the Island to help him gain power and adds, "after all - this isn't the only well." Does he mean on the Island, or around the world? Charles is the head of a pretty extensive and powerful corporation, with a lot of financing behind it. We've seen him or his presence all over the world. It could happen.

Jack's conversation with Hurley about not fixing things anymore and "maybe that's the point - maybe I'm supposed to let go" was one of the highlights of this episode. It recalled Christian telling him to "let it go" in Season 3 (I think) when Jack crashes Christian's A.A. meeting and accuses him of sleeping with his wife Sarah, and Jack also mysteriously hears it over the supposedly broken intercom when he is held captive in the Hydra Station.

Okay, so let's get into some of the big ideas that came out of this episode, or that are supported by it.

Why did Desmond hit Locke? There are three main theories for this. One is that Des was trying to get Locke into the hospital. Since they are in LOST's L.A., we all know which hospital they'd bring him to: St. Sebastian, where Jack Shephard, spinal surgeon, works. And this meeting would cause Locke, or Jack, or both, to have their flashes of their on-Island life. A second similar theory is that hitting Locke would give him a near-death experience, which, like we saw with Charlie, would cause him to see the on-Island flashes. Now remember how they had Jack tell Hurley that he's let go of fixing things? Maybe he'll have the flashes, and Locke will be laying there on the operating table, and Jack will know what Locke becomes, and while operating on Locke, he purposely cuts open his dural sac and doesn't fix it? Extreme, yes, but such are the stakes of LOST. This doesn't quite work, though - I don't think it would kill him, and he's already paralyzed, so what would be the point? And, as with the following theories, I don't think there is that kind of connection between the two timelines. I'm not saying that it's not possible, but it seems unlikely.

The third theory is that Desmond is trying to affect the other timeline by killing Locke. Somehow, if he kills Locke, it would kill the Monster which is inhabiting his body. Since this is 2004, he thinks that if he kills Locke now, it will keep him from becoming the Monster later, in 2007. I'm not sure about this theory - I just don't see it. It might be more reasonable to say that Desmond is confused between the two timelines and believes that the Monster is in the Locke of Alt. 2004. I doubt this one, too, though. I think it's one of the first two theories. It fits much better with what seems to be Desmond's mission, which is to "wake up" all of the Losties and show them their on-Island lives.

If this is the case, then what is the end game, though? What is the point? What can they do with this knowledge? Are they going to get on ANOTHER plane and try to crash AGAIN on the Island? How's this for a wacky theory that I literally just thought of: maybe they would collide this new plane with the Monster-piloted Ajira plane leaving the Island, and their plane would fall on the beach, and the story would begin all over again! Or.....maybe not.

This is sort of an obvious theory, but I don't think the Monster intends to leave with anyone but himself. He's telling them that all of the candidates need to be together to leave the Island with him because that's how they came to the Island in the first place. But you know he's gathering all of them together to kill the last of the candidates, so that there is no replacement for Jacob, and therefore no one left to keep him on the Island. He knows how to fly the plane because he likely scanned the Oceanic 815 pilot as he mauled him in the Pilot episode. Or he could scan Lapidus to get his Island pilot's license - right before he kills him, too.

But does he need to even leave on a jet plane in the first place? Once he is free from anyone keeping him there metaphysically, I would think he could do what he wants, including leaving the Island by frozen donkey wheel. Is that why he needs Desmond in the well for some reason?

My last thought is that, as we've seen with other characters, especially in this Locke mini-flash-sideways, things seem to be going well for our Losties in the alternate timeline, but then they don't. The only two that seem to have escaped any tragic events are Hurley and Jack. In order for them to see their alternate lives, though, it seems that some major event has to happen to them. Hurley has already seen the flashes through Libby, but is he immune to the bad mojo? I wonder if something will happen to David, Jack's son. And Sayid and Claire haven't seen their other lives, either - is this because they are in the state they're in on the Island? I don't know, it's all pretty confusing, but there seems to be something there about bad things happening in Alt. 2004. I guess we have a few more weeks to find out.

And that's what I got. What do you got? Please leave a comment!

Can't wait 'til Tuesday night! (And please, I don't watch the previews or read the titles for the next episodes, so no spoilers : )  )

Until then,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

"Issues With Reality" - 6x12: Everybody Loves Hugo (Recap)

Okay, before I charge right into the episode in bullet-point form (because I reeeeeally need to go to bed), I have an announcement to make. I'm finally making it official:

LOST Finale Party

Sunday, May 23

Time TBD

"The Apple Station" (Dharma Teacher Headquarters, Monroe, CT)

Details to follow, probably in an Evite.

Mark your calendar, and consider yourself invited!

On with the show...

I'm going to just summarize the episode, "things I noticed"-style, but will post theories and explanations this weekend or early next week, so please check back before Tuesday night to read that second post. I have a few ideas that I want to get into that I won't get into tonight.

• Pierre Chang introduced Hurley at his Man Of the Year Award ceremony, which apparently was at the same museum (the Golden State something-or-other?) that he and Charlotte work at. Hurley donated money, as he has done in many, many cases according the the introductory video, to open the Hugo Reyes Paleantology Museum.
• Did Hurley really mention a "Human Fund" benefit? Because that's awesome! I wonder if it's sponsored by Vandelay Industries.
• His blind date was supposed to be Rosalita. If anyone knows any reference to that name, let me know.
• When Hurley was at Libby's grave, it never occured to me that Libby never appeared to him after she was killed. Does this mean that she was allowed to move on from the Island, unlike Michael?
• After Hurley hears the whispers, Michael appears to him to tell him not to blow up the plane, or else people will die. He also notes the "people are listening to you now."
• The restaurant he ends up meeting Libby at is Spanish Johnny's. Anyone know if that's a real place?
• It was sooooo great to see Libby again! The interaction between her and Hurley had me smiling the whole time - it's that chance with a lost love that never comes around, except that they didn't even know it until the kiss. In this scene, Libby knows him from the Alt timeline, and describes it as being "soulmates." We know it better as being each others' "constants."
• So Ilana blows up. I honestly was talking to my TV, saying that she'd better be careful with the dynamite, and she went the way of Artz, in mid-sentence.
• The plan was to blow up the cockpit and instruments of the Ajira plane with four (a number!) sticks of dynamite from the Black Rock. Hurley is against it, and then is for it, for reasons we will see later. Ilana says that they need to listen to Richard because Jacob told Richard what to do, that she's been training her whole life to protect them (the candidates), and with the plane gone, "that thing" won't be able to leave the Island.
• Locke is carving a long, straight stick when Kate and Sawyer are harrassing him about why he isn't moving or doing anything. I expect to see that stick later in some way. He says he's waiting for all of the candidates to get together, because that's the only way they can leave the Island, since it's how they got there. Sounds familiar...
• Newest LOSTBlog fan Danielle reminded me today about the bag Hurley picked up. It seemed to come from Sawyer's stash on the beach, but I'm not sure. He picks it up, looks in it, and seems to have some understanding of what's in there. So what's in the bag? Nikki and Paolo's diamonds? But Miles has those. Jacob's ashes, maybe?
• Richard wants to get more dynamite from the Black Rock, and Hurley does a 180 and agrees that it's a good idea, but again, we find out why later.
• "Gimme a bucket. Family size." In Mr. Clucks, Desmond meets up with a depressed Hurley and tells him to go with his gut about wanting to find out what Libby was trying to tell him. We know that Desmond is now definitely a puppetmaster, trying to reveal the other timeline to those on Oceanic 815. Well, a select few, I assume.
• On the way to the Black Rock, Ben points out that if Ilana was handpicked to protect the candidates, what happens when the Island is done with all of them?
• As Richard is about to enter the Black Rock for more dynamite, Hurley blows it up. Richard is not pleased. Hurley says he's protecting them. (It hurt a little to see it destroyed - that's been such a big part of the mythology of the show since Season 1.)
• Miles and Hurley have a conversation about the people that come and "yell at" Hurley after they die. "Dead people are more reliable than alive people," Hurley says.
• There is an art print - or was it a photo? - of an island in the Santa Rosa doctor's office when Hurley tries to get his permission to see Libby again. A $100k donation to the rec room does the trick. The doctor says that she has "issues with reality."
• In the lounge/common area of Santa Rosa, there is a chalk drawing of an island on the chalkboard. There are also butterfly decorations that we've seen in Santa Rosa in past seasons on the walls.
• Libby got her memories of Hurley on the Island from seeing his commercial - "memories of my life, only...another life." She remembers the plane crash, "liking" Hurley (giggle giggle!), and that they both were in Santa Rosa, too. Hurley asks her if she wants to leave - "like, on a date?" - and they do.
• The mysterious boy, who is now a teenager and is wearing a dark brown vest, appears to the Monster - but Desmond also sees him. The Monster angrily tells Des to ignore him, and the boy smiles and runs off into the jungle.
• Richard, Ben and Miles leave the flaming Black Rock to get more dynamite from the Dharma barracks, with a warning to not get in their way. Everyone else decides to stay with Hurley, who lies about seeing Jacob, and about how Jacob told them that they need to talk to Locke. Richard calls his bluff by telling him to ask Jacob what the Island is, and that Jacob "never tells us what to do."
• Hurley asks Jack, "How do you break the ice with the Smoke Monster?" He admits that he lied about seeing Jacob; he just wanted everyone to listen to him. Jack tells him that "since Juliet died, all I wanted was to fix it, but I can't ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is to sit back and listen to what other people tell me I should do. but I think maybe that's the point - maybe I'm supposed to let go." A VERY telling quote.
• Hurley has no idea where to go to talk to Locke, and it's whispers to the rescue! He goes into the jungle alone and sees Michael again, who points out where Locke's camp is. More interesting, though, is the reveal of what the whispers are. After six years of trying to figure it all out, Hurley and Michael explain:
• You're stuck on the Island, aren't you?
• Michael nods.
• And there are others out here like you? That's what the whispers are?
• Yeah. We're the ones that can't move on.
• Hurley asks Michael if there's anything he can do to help him. "Don't get yourself killed," he says. He also tells him to tell Libby that he's very sorry if he ever sees her.
• The beach scene was very sweet. It's the picnic they never got to have. Hurley brought six cheeses, because, you know, everybody likes cheese.  They begin talking about how being there feels "off" to Libby. They both talk about liking each other, and then they kiss. And then, of course, the memories of the other timeline come rushing to Hurley. Desmond has been watching them from his car, and when he sees this, he drives off. Probably to do something nice and positive, like frolic with baby kittens on top of a rainbow. Right?
• The Monster brings Desmond to the well, which, if it's the same well, leads to the frozen donkey wheel. They talk about how old the well is (very old), and the Monster explains how it had to be dug by hand ("God knows how long it took them..."), but they weren't looking for water; they were looking for what made their compass needles spin. "A long time ago, in places like the one we're standing at right now, made compass needles spin. And people holding the compasses needed to know why, so they dug." When Des asks if they found what they were looking for, the Monster says they didn't. He says that he's showing Desmond the well so he understands that Charles Widmore isn't looking for answers - he's only interested in power and he brought Des back so he could help Charles find what he's looking for. "After all, this isn't the only well," he adds. I'm not sure I get that reference, but that's something I want to get to in a later post.
• After the well conversation, the Monster notices that Des isn't afraid and asks him why. Des says, "What's the point in being afraid?" The Monster gives him a contemptuous look, then smiles...then throws Desmond down the well.
• The Monster returns to the camp, telling Sayid that they don't have to worry about Desmond anymore. Then Hurley shows up. "Um........hey," he says. He basically tries to establish a truce between them. He doesn't want anyone hurt. The Monster takes out a knife and gives it to Hurley, saying "you have my word." Then Miles, Lapidus, Sun, and finally Jack emerge from the jungle. Sun is looking for Jin. The Monster singles Jack out, saying hello to him and only him. He seemed very focused on Jack. We know there's a history between Jack and John, and though this isn't really John, it seems as though the Monster has access to John's memories, so probably knows about all of the conflicts they had. I'm wondering if he's going to try to manipulate Jack based on this knowledge.
• And in the most insane final scene in a long time, Des is in his car at Locke's and Ben's school. Ben notices this mysterious man parked for a long time and watching the kids and asks him why he's there. Des says he's looking for a school for Charlie, and then basically brushes Ben off. Then, he starts his car, punches the accelerator, and with a split-second smile, slams into Locke, who is in his wheelchair. Locke rolls over the hood, roof, and trunk of the car and lands on the pavement, convulsing but conscious. We see a close-up of his face. It seems to be the same camera shot as when he was pushed out the window by his father, and maybe even in Season 1's "Walkabout," which might have begun with an eye shot that pulled back to a shot close to the one at the end of tonight's episode.

So, like I said before, I'm saving the theories for the next few days, when I have some time to sit down, think, and explain everything.

Until then, 
Namaste & Good Luck,

~Matt 

Help!!!

Hey Losties,
Apologies, apologies. No, I haven't forgotten about you. You see, I'm presently trapped in report card hell. It's very much like being pushed down a well by a smoke monster that is posing as a dead acquaintance, in that it's painful, scary, physically and emotionally scarring (I figure I lose at least a month off my life to grade stress every marking period), and it's a loooong climb back out. So, no blog update tonight. It will have to be tomorrow night, since I'm making my first visit of the young baseball season to the Stadium (and VERY sadly seeing the little that remains of the original Stadium - I almost just don't want to see it, but I know I'll regret it if I don't) on Friday night. I did watch "Everybody Loves Hurley," and, well, I loved it. There's a lot to talk about!
So, check back sometime on Friday, there should be something far more interesting to read then.

Until then,
Namaste & Good Luck,

~Matt 

"Feel It" - 6x11: Happily Ever After

Okay, I'm doing this one cold, partly because I took no notes - I just sat back and enjoyed - and because, well, I need to watch it again to fully comprehend everything that happened in tonight's episode, "Happily Ever After." I think we are now as close as ever to knowing what the "flash sideways" are, but I'll be honest: I don't know what's going on. Still. But as I watched the UConn women win their 7th National Championship and their 78th-straight game, and the Yankees beat the Red Sox, I've had some (very happy) time to let it all sink in and to process this episode.

I haven't checked out any blogs yet, either, mostly because I just want to get the ideas I have out first before I delve into everyone else's. There's a pretty good chance someone has this all figured out on some message board somewhere, but I'll get to that (and tell you about it) later. All I'd like to do tonight is try to arrange the pieces we were given and see if I can put them together. Forgive me if it's too stream of consciousness, but I'll try my best to explain myself.

Here we go!

Desmond has been taken from the hospital in LA, after having been shot by Ben last season, by Charles Widmore, who has brought him to the Island. Charles knows that Desmond is special; he knows that he can resist exposure to large amounts of electromagnetic energy because of his experience turning the failsafe key in the Swan Station. He has a job for Des to do that apparently involves, well, large amounts of electromagnetic energy. Widmore's cronies, including Zoe, have set up some sort of device that produces this energy to test Desmond to make sure he can handle it. Widmore apologizes to him for taking him from Penny and little Charlie, but stresses how much Des is needed for something much bigger. Des fights against them as much as he can, but they eventually strap him in to a chair, lock him inside the chamber, and turn on the machine.

We next see Desmond in LAX in Alt. 2004, looking at an Oceanic flight board. He helps Claire pick up her luggage - and tells her that her baby is a boy, which is maybe why Claire calls out Aaron's name in "What Kate Does" (I have a hunch about this which I'll get into later) - and finds George Minkowski, his driver. In the original timeline, Minkowski was the guy on the freighter who was suffering from the same "time sickness" that Desmond was in Season 4; he talked about seeing a Ferris wheel. Minkowski drives him to Widmore's office, where we learn that Desmond is working for Widmore. He even lets him drink McCutcheon's now!

Desmond, who has no personal connections to anyone, a fact that is noted a few times in the episode, is tasked with ensuring that a rock star from DriveShaft, who was busted for OD'ing, makes it to his son's birthday party, or else "my wife will have my head," or something to that effect. His son is a musician, he says, and it's very important that the band performs for him. We know that the rock star is Charlie, and suspect that Widmore's son is Daniel Faraday - I mean, Daniel Widmore!

Des picks Charlie up from the hospital, but Charlie heads straight for a bar. When Des follows him in and sits down with him, Charlie tells Des that he can't be happy because he's never felt "conscious-altering" love before. (Interesting choice of words, especially as they're said to Desmond.) Charlie tells him that when he OD'ed on the flight, he experienced this love - a blonde. (Claire?) Desmond doesn't quite know what to make of this, but tells Charlie that he has two options: to stay at the bar and drink his career away, or come with him to play the DriveShaft show and stay in a five-star hotel, compliments of Widmore.

Desmond is driving (in Charlie's car? Wasn't Des being chauffered by Minkowski? I must have missed something.) to, we assume, the hotel to get cleaned up for the show. As they drive past the now-familiar marina, Charlie then gives Des two choices: he can show Des this love he's talking about, or Des can get out of the car. And before Des really answers, Charlie grabs the wheel, hits the gas, and the car goes flying into the water. The car sinks, and Des escapes, but he can't get Charlie's seatbelt loose. He comes up for air, then dives back down. He tries to open Charlie's door, but Charlie looks at him through the window, and puts his hand up to the glass, and we all recognize this as the same motion from the Season 3 finale when he dies. But the most interesting part is that Desmond remembers it, too.

As Desmond looks at Charlie's hand, he gets flashes of the "Not Penny's Boat" message, of Charlie's face as he drowns in the Looking Glass Station. He's confused at first, but goes back to getting Charlie out of the car and up to the surface for air.

We next see Desmond in the hospital. He's insisting that he sees Charlie, but they won't let him leave before they run the proper tests on him. They are testing his brain function and they put him into an MRI machine - you know, a magnetic resonance imaging machine? We know what's going to happen here. And of course, they give him a button to push, too! Once the machine starts running, he immediately gets a flurry of flashes of Penny, who he's never met before. He hits the panic button, and races out to find Charlie.

Charlie is escaping the hospital by running through the hallways in every direction. Desmond grabs him and corners him in a waiting area and asks him about the visions he's having. Charlie smiles and says, 'So you have them, too.' Des asks Charlie who Penny is, and he doesn't know, but as he walks away, Charlie tells Des that he should find out.

Desmond calls Charles to tell him that Charlie escaped and that the DriveShaft performance is off, and Charles is not pleased. He tells Desmond that he has to be the one to tell Mrs. Widmore the bad news. Minkowski drives Des to the party site at some sort of estate with a large party tent, and letting him know that Mrs. Widmore is not fun to deal with, wishes him luck. Desmond arrives and finds Mrs. Widmore, who we know as Eloise Hawking, but she isn't going by Hawking this time. (She's not the only one who has lost a mysterious surname...) She says something like, 'It's about time we met.' He respectfully tells her that Charlie Pace escaped and the concert is off. He braces for a rough reaction from her, but to his shock, she very calmly laughs it off as a mere inconvenience. At some point, we see the back of someone's head who is listening to this conversation, someone who has shoulder-length hair and...a bowler hat? As Desmond walks away, he hears two workers reading down the guest list, and they say the name Penny. He stops and asks them to see the list, but Eloise comes along and denies him the opportunity. He presses his luck by trying to convince her, and she clears out the entire tent to talk to him privately. She tells him that he needs to stop what he's doing, to stop looking for what he's looking for, because it's not his time. He has no idea what she's talking about, but gathers that she knows what he's going through. She certainly seems to.

Des gets into the limo, but the man who was listening to his conversation with Eloise knocks on the window and says that they need to talk. It's Daniel Faraday, and he's not going by Faraday; he introduces himself as Daniel Widmore. He tells Desmond that he saw a woman who he felt like he'd been in love with all of his life walk out of the museum - bright blue eyes, red hair (Do I need to spell it out for you? Charlotte!) - and that night (I think he says that night, at least), he had a dream. He then takes out his famous notebook and opens to a page we've seen before which seems to explain time jumps and alternate universes. As a musician, he doesn't know why he dreamt this, but when he showed it to a physicist friend, he told him what it was about. Daniel then explains that there could be an entire other life that they are meant to be living, that the life they are in right now is a mistake. And that it would take an enormous amount of energy - like, say, a nuclear explosion - to get them to the right life. Des visibly thinks he's nuts and asks him if he's going to set off a bomb; Dan says no, but that he's pretty sure that he already has. 

I forget why, but Daniel tells Desmond that Penny is his half-sister, and he knows just where he can find her. That night, Des has Minkowski drive him to a stadium - the same stadium from Season 1, where Desmond met Jack, who was running a tour de stade. Except now, it's Penny who is running the stairs! Des stops her and introduces himself, but when he shakes her hand, we flash to Desmond lying on the floor of the electromagnetic chamber on Hydra Island. Widmore and his people help him up, and he is no longer angry; in fact, he has a pretty dumb, dazed, but happy expression on his face. He tells Widmore that he's ready to help him.

At some point, we flash back to Desmond in the stadium with Penny. She's asking if he's okay, as he fainted when he shook her hand. He asks her out for coffee, and she accepts. He gets back into the limo. Minkowski asks if he found what he was looking for, and he happily says yes. Minkowski, who says this a few times in the episode, tells Desmond that if there's anything else he needs, to just ask him. Des says there is one more thing: he needs a flight manifest for Oceanic 815. Minkowski asks why, and Des says, "Because I have something to show them."

And maybe before that previous scene, we see Desmond, Zoe, and the other Widmore crew walking toward wherever they need Desmond to go, but suddenly they are attacked - by Sayid. He tells Zoe to run, and that Des needs to get away from these people because they are dangerous. Des, who seems to be very dazed after the exposure to the electromagnetic energy, says okay.

Cut to LOST.

So, what the hell is going on? Here's all I can offer so far at this late hour:

I think they are making it very clear that that two timelines are connected. It's not the only possibility, but it seems to be the one they are hinting ever more strongly at. I think the Daniel conversation is the key. I've had a request to try and explain multiple/alternate universes. At 12:23am, here's my best shot, which I'd like to embellish on at a later date.

Imagine two parallel streams of water shooting through the open air. They are flowing in the same direction at the same pace, and they continue on infinitely, but since they are parallel, they never cross over. They are both made of the same elements, they both contain little air bubbles, dirt particles, etc., but since they are two separate streams, they are not exactly alike. The air bubbles and dirt particles move inside them differently, but they still remain in the stream and continue to flow in the one direction. The water is like the path of life, or existence; the air bubbles and dirt are like people. Both streams have the same people, but the people might move differently in one stream versus the other. For example, in one stream, let's say Toniann decided to go to Montclair State University instead of the University of Connecticut for her higher education because it was closer to home. She's still Toniann, with the same parents and high school friends, she's still living her life, but she took one path in one stream, and a different path in another stream. So now, a year after her high school graduation, she has one set of friends at Montclair State in one stream, and a whole different set of friends at UConn. The way she moves in each stream is different - save for things like still visiting her parents, etc. - but she stays in that stream.

What seems to be happening in LOST, or at least what they want us to think, especially after tonight, is that the two streams are bleeding over. It's like someone came along and stuck their finger into one of the streams of water, and it started splashing into the other stream. Desmond is getting memories, maybe because of his time traveling consciousness experiences, of the other stream. He's remembering things that never happened to him, but only happened to him in the other stream, like seeing "Not Penny's Boat" on Charlie's hand, or all the memories of Penny, except he's never met her. For some reason, the electromagnetic energy is the cause of this, and Desmond seems particularly sensitive to it. The rules of "staying in your stream" don't apply to him. He can experience more than one version of his life. I think they showed us Minkowski again tonight to remind us of what happened to him in the original story - the crossing back and forth between streams eventually made his brain hemmorage. He, and just about everyone else, can't handle it, but Desmond can.

The interesting twist they seem to now be adding to this very sci-fi storytelling is that love is a catylist for this ability to detect the crossover of the two timelines. Charlie saw a vision of a woman and felt that "consciousness-altering" love, and now seems to want everyone to experience it. (Is that what he's up to?) Is this blonde - again, I'm assuming it's Claire - his constant? Once Des meets his constant, he goes from acting like a caged animal to being a docile, obedient helper to Widmore. Does this love help you see the bigger picture?

There's something here about a touch, much like Jacob's touch. Charlie's hands were shown numerous times. When Desmond shakes Penny's hand, he faints and it seems that it took him back to 2007. Is there a connection between what Jacob does and what we saw tonight?

Actually, how does everything we saw tonight fit with the Jacob vs. the Monster story? How does the science fit with the faith? I think I have an idea kicking around, but I don't think I can explain it yet...

Did Widmore know he was going to see these memories when he put him in the makeshift electromagnetic chamber? Was it not a test, but actually his plan all along? Did he need Des to see what he saw? Was he pushing him to Penny? Was this all an elaborate setup?

What is Eloise up to? Why doesn't she want Desmond to pursue Penny? Is it because they are not meant to be in this timeline and she's trying to manage all of these different timelines? We do know she is a course-corrector of sorts.

There is so much more to get into, but I am running out of steam. I definitely don't think I have any solutions here, or that I fit any of these pieces together, but I think at least looking at all the pieces can help.

If you have any ideas or find anything interesting elsewhere, please post it here! I'd like to post an update after I hear what other have to say, and definitely after I watch the episode again.

Until next time,

Good Luck & Namaste,

~ Matt

"Cease To Be" - 6x10: The Package

("Package"! Hee hee hee!)

Hey everyone! Obviously, I'm just getting around to posting about last week's episode, "The Package," right now as I wait excitedly for tonight's episode, which according to Damon Lindelof, will be a "conversation changer." I like the sound of that.

I always say that my posts will be short, and then I go on forever, but this one really will be. My first reaction was kind of "eh," but the more I've heard podcasters talk about it, the more I've wanted to rewatch it, but I just haven't had a moment to do so. So what follows is probably going to be incomplete, and will probably be in totally random order, but it's all I got right now.

Widmore says that if the Monster gets off the Island, it will end them all. That doesn't sound like it will simply kill them; it sounds more like 'the universe will cease to exist.' What do you think?

I really liked the Sun and Jin of this episode. Just the use of the motif (if I can call it that) of the button was well done. In Season 1, Jin kept her literally buttoned up because he was a possessive d***. In Alt. 2004, he's doing so to try to keep their romance a secret. I guess it didn't work, based on how things turned out, but it was great to see them have a healthy relationship (relatively speaking).

Not a fan of Sun's weird language amnesia. I'm sure it's a real thing and all, but it was so gimmicky. Why did it need to happen? I'm hoping it will be important down the line. It might be connected to my next point, which is...

Did Sun lose the ability to speak English because of the header she took into the tree, or was it something the Monster did to her? He was chasing after her when she pulled a "George of the Jungle" and ran into the tree, but the next thing we see (after a commercial, I think) is Sun lying on the ground alone as she comes to. Why didn't the Monster just pick her up and take her? Did he do something else to her?

Sun is shot in the gut in Alt. 2004 - and she's pregnant. Will Ji Yeon survive (if it is Ji Yeon)? Does this mean something as far as what the alternate timeline is all about? I heard a great point about this, though - wasn't Jin infertile in the original timeline? Is he all good in Alt. 2004, or is it not his baby? But I doubt that Jin isn't the father; based on their relationship, they seem pretty into each other, and I'd have a hard time believing that Sun was cheating on him. Another minor point: Sun was drinking champagne while she knew she was pregnant. Tsk, tsk!

Back on the Island, Jin sees Ji Yeon for the first time in his life, compliments of Widmore's digital camera. (Hey, how did he get a picture of Ji Yeon on his camera...?) Really touching scene, played well by Daniel Dae Kim. If that doesn't get Jin on Widmore's side, nothing will.

Mikail! So great to see Patchy again, and you knew that second eye that seemed so out of place was doomed. By the way, that shot (no pun intended) of Mikail with his bloody eye was VERY reminiscent of Frank in Donnie Darko, a movie with some really strong and interesting ties to LOST. (Time travel, plane parts falling from the sky, etc.)

Jim S., I think it's fair to say that Sun took a firm hold on the role of Cleavage Engineer for this episode. She put Kate to shame!

Zoe (which many, many people online are calling "Tina Fey") is a geophysicist. Hmmm...why would Widmore need a geophysicist on the Island? Because there's a volcano there? And he's going to sink the Island? She asks Jin (whose name is on the grid map of the Island from 1977, which was a cool touch - remember when he was mapping the Island grid box by grid box in his search for Sun?) where the pockets of electromagnetic energy are (I think), so I think there is definitely something that needs to be done to the Island to keep the Monster from leaving.

The Monster, in Locke's form, tells Widmore that a wise man once said that a war was coming, and now it looks like it's here. I. Can't. Wait.

We knew it was coming. We waited for it. When we saw the locked door in the sub in "Recon," we had a pretty good feeling...Desmond returns! Now, why? What is he needed for? How will his "special-ness" play into all of this?

A great ending, which seemingly leads into tonight's episode (I hope!).

Until later this evening,

Namaste & Good Luck, 

~ Matt