Letting Go: 6x17 & 6x18: The End (Post #2)

Our first Tuesday night without LOST.

It's been over a week since Christian Shephard let the light in, and it feels like so much longer.

This is part two of my reaction to "The End." Yes, I've been taking my time. Basically, I've been collecting my, and others', thoughts, which I will share here for as long as I'm able to stay conscious. Two things before I get back into it:

First, as you may have already heard, there will be an epilogue to the finale on the Season 6 Special Edition DVD set! Apparently, it will be about Hurley and Ben's time on the Island as #1 and #2, and will be either 15 or 30 minutes long (I can't remember which). I guess Michael Emerson (Ben) has given more details about it, but I'm staying spoiler-free - even after the show has ended! I have no idea what place it will have in the story, but since it's an epilogue, I don't think it will greatly affect anything in the actual series. Who knows.

Second, this interesting post appeared over at the Doc Artz website, supposedly from a Bad Robot employee. (It turns out that it was written by an intern who left the company three years ago, but no one is really sure how accurate it really is.) If factually correct, there are some interesting "behind the scenes" comments on the story, none more so (to me, at least) than the following paragraph. Again, I read it with skepticism, but it's a really interesting idea:

But, from a more “behind the scenes” note: the reason Ben’s not in the church, and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it. The writers always said (and many didn’t believe them) that they knew their ending from the very first episode. I applaud them for that. It’s pretty fantastic. Originally Ben was supposed to have a 3 episode arc and be done. But he became a big part of the show. They could have easily changed their ending and put him in the church — but instead they problem solved it. Gave him a BRILLIANT moment with Locke outside the church … and then that was it. I loved that. For those that wonder — the original ending started the moment Jack walked into the church and touches the casket to Jack closing his eyes as the other plane flies away. That was always JJ’s ending. And they kept it.

It works. Whether true or not, it does seem to fit.

Okay, on to more reactions!

Just like my first post about "The End," this is going to be a random assortment of things I've thought about or heard elsewhere. It is not a recap. No, I still haven't rewatched it. They rebroadcast it on Saturday - I had no idea they did so until I was flipping through - and I caught it just as Jack said, "I'm dead, too?" to Christian. I felt the tears coming and had to change it! I need to sit down and watch it all the way through from the beginning. That will be when I do an enormous recap.

So, not really knowing where to begin with my collection of sticky notes I have here from the past week (I seemed to get the best ones while shaving - was it because of the cut on my neck? The mirror?), I'll begin with something I mentioned at the end of the last post: Desmond. By traveling into the flash-sideways, Desmond also traveled beyond the bounds of life itself into the realm of the dead

It's been an interesting week of reactions to the finale, to say the least. People who seem like they never actually watched the show have been crowing about the "fact" that "they were all dead from the beginning! Ha ha!" People who sure seemed like they watched the show but didn't seem to understand the meaning of the finale have been carrying on about how it was a "cop-out," or that Damon and Carlton always said it wasn't purgatory, but it really was. Uh, it wasn't. Or isn't required to be, at least. Purgatory commonly denotes suffering, depending on your belief system, as well as being a place of purification. You can argue it either way, whether you think they were all suffering or not, or whether you think they became purified by remembering each other or not. Let's take Hurley, for example. Was he suffering? He was single and maybe a little lonely, had an overbearing mother, ate when depressed...would you count this as the type of suffering associated with purgatory? In what way was her purified by meeting Libby and remembering through her, other than maybe to fulfill the need to recognize where he actually was? I don't know. I just don't think the alternate place that they created, however they accomplished that, has to be purgatory. It's certainly an otherworldly stop on the way to the other side, but again, it will be argued forever about it's standing as a literal purgatory.

Anyways, Desmond. His ability to exist in this unearthly place as a living consciousness among the dead - is this his true "specialness"? Maybe it wasn't just his ability to "consciousness-jump" through time, but it was to enter the realm of the dead while still alive.

This brings us to a topic I'm not sure I'm fully prepared to talk about it, but I'd like to touch on it here, and I know this will be one of my favorite subjects to talk about because it gets to the crux of the show: the light. I have so many questions about it myself, but let me throw this out there: on the one hand, science says that it was electromagnetic energy. Faith says that it's birth, death, and rebirth, or that it's the heart and/or soul of the Island. Is it both? Is the light in the well of light on the Island the same light as in the church? What "beautiful" light did John see when he first faced the Monster (or what we thought was the Monster...was it?) in Season 1? We always associated what Des could do with the electromagnetic energy, the science aspect of it, because of his life and actions in the Swan and Pierre Chang's explanation in the Swan Orientation film. But what if it was really the more spiritual aspect of this energy that made the difference? Maybe Des was brought to the Island and put in the Swan, near the energy, so that he'd be able to visit the Losties after their death and help show them the way to the end? One of the biggest questions that I want to look into is what exactly Dharma was all about. I understand it on the surface, but were they brought there, and if so, by whom?

The "waiting room" to "heaven" (quotes strongly intended) is interesting case of fate versus free will. We are all fated to die at some point, but the Losties willed this meeting place to be created so they could all wait for each other and move on together. They had to die, but they moved on on their own terms.

There have been a lot of people - including me, to a certain extent - who are upset that Sayid was with Shannon in the flash-sideways and not Nadia. Throughout the entire series, we were told that Nadia was the love of Sayid's life. So then why would he move on with Shannon instead? I had a few thoughts, and I heard a pretty good explanation in a podcast. My initial thought was that Sayid had to move on from Nadia, which he basically did on the Island when he met Shannon. Nadia wasn't dead at the time - she only died once Sayid returned with the Oceanic 6 - but for all intents and purposes at that time, he was dead to her, as he was stranded on an unknown Island, a thousand miles off-course, and presumed dead. In the "waiting room" world, he had to do the same thing. It's the why of it that I can't quite explain. Were they just never meant to be together? Did he not deserve her because of the terrible things he had done, which is actually the lesson he learned in the flash-sideways? Jorge and Beth of the Geronimo Jack's Beard podcast had a great idea, I thought: the entire flash-sideways was Jack's story, and so everything would be based on his experiences. He remembered Sayid and Shannon together. He never really knew Sayid and Nadia as a couple, and so that's how it went in this flash-sideways. Also, thinking again about how Christian said that Jack's time on the Island with the Losties was the most important time in his life, Nadia was never on the Island.
The problem with this theory is that Jack never really knew Penny, either. He knew her as little as he knew Nadia, and Penny was never on the Island, either. And yet, there she was in the church with Desmond. So I don't know what conclusion to come to. It's an interesting exercise to look at who was in the church and who wasn't.

The opening scene of the finale, of Christian's casket being unloaded off of the Oceanic plane, had airport baggage stickers all over it for BWN (Brunei International Airport), GUM (A.B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam), HKG (Hong Kong International Airport, China), and LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). (Thanks, Lostpedia.) I get Guam and LAX, but why Hong Kong and Brunei? Why not Korea (Sun and Jin) and Baghdad (Sayid)? Maybe they don't have major commercial airports?

Finally tonight, why was the Island underwater? I think I have this one figured out. It was underwater - buried, if you will - in the flash-sideways, where the Losties didn't remember it until they were helped to remember, and where they were dead. So how else do you bury an island, but to put it under the ocean? Just like when Rose said, "You can let go now," to Jack in that opening scene of the flash-sideways on the plane, after the turbulence had passed, what the flash-sideways was all about was there right from the beginning. The Island was underwater, hidden, but it still had evidence of all of the events that took place there, showing that they had actually happened. It was just that no one could see it.

I will be back with a third and final "initial reaction" post for "The End." Until then, if you have any comments, please post them!

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

Things In Life That Are Not Fair

I thought I'd pass this along, although it is very sad (it involves tragedy and pets, so if that's not something you want to read right now, then tune out here): as Jorge Garcia and his girlfriend Beth were leaving for the airport to finally depart Hawaii from their experience filming LOST, their little chihuaha, Nunu, was struck by a car and died in Jorge's arms. You can read their brief account of it at Jorge's blog here:

Dispatches From the Island - Nunu, the Greatest

If you find yourself in Hawaii, Nunu would love a toy or treat at her plaque.

For those who don't know (I didn't say much at the time because I wasn't handling it well), my family had to say goodbye to our beautiful dog, UConn, about three weeks ago now (God, it seems like both forever and yesterday somehow), so I've been especially affected by this tragic story (read: I cried when I read Jorge's post on Facebook). And now you know why the scene with Vincent laying next to Jack still makes me cry and always will, since the finale was so close to UConn's passing. It meant so much to me to see that, and I will be forever thankful to the writers of LOST that somehow they knew I needed to see that. I really, really wish they had put Vincent in the church with the Losties, too, because it would give me some sort of peace about that issue that I'm not exactly getting from "official" channels - ahem, Catholic dogma, no pun intended - but then again, I've decided that it's such an integral part of my belief system, I don't need approval for it. (I need to start doing that more often.) Sorry to share some of my personal issues - letting go, moving on...

Although we knew UConn was sick and getting worse, it didn't make it any easier, and we had to put her to sleep so quickly one morning while I was at work that I didn't get to be there to say goodbye. I can't even imagine what I would do if she was healthy and died by accident, so I can't fathom what Jorge and Beth are going through, and all while they are about to move across the ocean.

So, keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and give your pet a little pat on the head for Nunu.

She appeared in the episode, "Everybody Loves Hugo" - that's the screencap at the top of this post.

Rest in Peace, little dog : )

Remember - 6x17 & 6x18: The End

It worked.

"The End" worked. At least for me. There are many, many, many other people out there over the course of the last 3 days who have come out to say that it didn't work. Do I care about those people? Nooooo. I mean, they are entitled to their opinion, but the majority of them didn't seem to get it. I'm not trying to sound superior when I say that, but the points they make are based on personal expectations. No, demands. "It was a terrible finale because Walt didn't come back," or "It ruined the entire series because they didn't give us any answers."

'They didn't give us any answers.' Have they been watching the show for the past 6 years?

Look, I agree that there were some things I was hoping to get more information about, but if you went into the finale with a checklist of all the things they "needed" to resolve once and for all, then why are you watching this show? This show was never about giving answers; it was about finding them. Finding them in your own life. Finding them amongst the friends and co-workers you talked with. Finding them by observing and thinking and feeling. Finding them through listening to podcasts or reading discussion boards, if that's your thing. But for them to simply tell us everything would go against everything that this show, as true fans know it, was about.

What was the light in the well? What do YOU think it was? How was the flash-sideways created? How do YOU think it was created? What did Jughead actually do? What do YOU think Jughead actually did?

~ ~ ~

This is actually not the way I intended to begin this post, the first of what will be several about LOST's grand finale, "The End (Part 1 & 2)," but I'll go with it. Boy, have I heard some spectacularly lazy people who just couldn't open their minds enough to understand what the writers and producers of LOST accomplished. And I believe what they accomplished is nothing short of perfection.

As I get into the actual episode (finally!), I guess I'll begin with my interpretation of it. Let me tell you that I have not watched it again after Sunday night, partly because I don't feel I'm ready. Sound strange? Yeah, it is. There were a lot of emotions flowing as I watched it, and it's almost like I'm afraid to go through all of that again. I've listened to half of one podcast about it (granted, it's a 5-hour podcast) and have barely been able to get onto the Fuselage, my discussion board of choice, so I've honestly had little outside "influence," so to speak. The best feedback about the episode that I've heard came from the people I watched with at our finale viewing party. I'll talk about that in a future post. I've also just been trying to process all of it on my own. I finally feel like things have settled in my mind and I can post about it, but be forewarned, this will not be a comprehensive, detail-packed, quote-laden post. This is purely an initial reaction.

Here's my take on "The End": this was a story about Jack, both on and off the Island. On the Island, after being made the new protector, he faces off against the Monster. After Jack and the Monster, for their own very different reasons, help Desmond get into the well of light, where he removes a plug (or should I say a "cork"...?) that changes the light from a glowing golden color to a red, menacing one, the Island starts shaking and crumbling. Is the oft-rumored volcano on the Island finally making its presence known? While the Island begins to literally fall apart, Jack follows the Monster to the edge of the cliffs above the cave with the names inside. They have a very dramatic knock-down, drag-out, until Jack hits the Monster in the face. And he bleeds. He is no longer immortal, and they both realize it. The Monster gets the jump on Jack, and is trying to plunge a dagger into Jack's throat - in the same place he kept having a cut appear in the flash-sideways - until a shot rings out: Kate shoots the Monster in the back, telling him, "I saved a bullet for you," in reference to a scene earlier in the show. Jack decides that he must go back to the light well and undo what Desmond has done. Hurley and Ben help him down, where he finds Desmond's unconscious body, and ties the rope around Des. We knew that Jack would sacrifice himself, but here is where it hits home that he really will. He puts the plug back in, and the water flows back as well as the light, and Jack collapses on the ground, laughing as he is enveloped by the water and light.

In the flash-sideways, our Losties continue to cross paths, especially at the Driveshaft/Daniel Widmore concert, but this time, those that hadn't fully remembered their Island life did. Claire gives birth to Aaron with Kate by her side, just like on the Island, and Charlie wanders in from the stage to experience it as well. This dramatic event causes them to remember the Island. Hurley drives Sayid to a seedy ally where Shannon walks out and is promptly hit by a douchebag, which naturally causes Sayid to run out and protect her. When they meet, they remember. As they kiss, Boone is there, smiling with Hurley over the scene, and it's clear that he knows what Hurley knows.

Now I will mention the three reunions that hit me the strongest. First, after all of my comments about how the death of Sun and Jin didn't affect me to much, their scene in the hospital, when they see Ji Yeon on the ultrasound and remember everything, made up for it. Wow. And a later scene as they both calmy and happily refuse Detective Ford's protection and leave the hospital was one of the first things I picked up on about what we would find out at the end.

Juliet and Sawyer. Spectacular. What a scene. Their realization about their Island past was exhilarating, and it also revealed why Juliet said "we should get coffee - we can go dutch" in the season premiere before she died.

But the one that surprisingly touched me the most was when Kate and Jack met after the concert. The way Kate walked slowly toward him. The way she took his face in her hands. The way he was struggling to understand what was going on, and how we could tell that he was sensing something. But the part that killed me was when Kate told him, "I've been waiting for you for so long." At the time, before I had figured out what was actually happening, it had a sentimental impact, but after the episode ended, it was one of the scenes that really stuck with me. I just felt this weary joy that Kate must have felt, and it was beautiful. From then on, she was his guide, helping to lead him to what he needed to see. Instead of tagging along and following him as she did throughout the series, now she was leading him.

The flash-sideways, according to Christian Sheppard, was a place that had no time, and was created by the Losties so that they could meet up in death. My take is that they didn't sit down one day and consciously create this place; it was created in their hearts, though the deep connections that bound them together because of their experiences on the Island. And I'll say this now - the Island was real. It happened. There is no doubt about that.

The flash-sideways was, for some, a playground (Hurley); for others, a place to resolve outstanding issues (Sawyer), or to come to terms with things they struggled with in life (Jack). But most of all, and this is how I keep thinking of it, it was a waiting room for the "other side" (which is yet another thing that people had a negative reaction to - "it's heaven, that's so lame." Who said it was heaven? What do YOU think it is?). This was especially apparent when Jack entered the room in the church with the casket. I will get into this scene in much more detail in a future post, but here are my quick thoughts: I love that the casket was empty. I love the conversation they had. I love all of the religious symbolism, especially the stained-glass window. It's a scene I want to watch over and over again.

Once Sun and Jin realized what was happening in the flash-sideways, from that point on, I was a mess. Tearing up. Joyful. Sad. So what got me to finally break down? When Vincent came out of the bamboo forest and laid down next to a dying Jack, it was all over for me. That pushed me over the edge. I know why it did personally, but even if it didn't have a personal meaning, I think I still would have been devastated by it. I'm tearing up as I type this just thinking about it, that's how hard it hit me. With no exaggeration or hyperbole, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

The reunion in the church was a blur for me at that point. I vaguely remember which characters were there. I remember Kate looking back at Jack and leading him to a seat in the pew. I remember Jack sitting down in the church as he collapsed to the ground on the Island. I remember Christian opening the doors and letting the light in.

The Ben and Hurley scene outside the church, as well as Locke's rising from his chair, was, at the time, really jarring for me. I still hadn't fully figured out what was going on, so Locke simply getting out of his chair and walking with no struggle was wonderful. And the conversation Ben and Hurley had, I'm looking forward to listening to again. Ben wasn't ready, he knew it, and for the first time ever, you believed what he said. He knew he still had issues to work out, and had the perfect opportunity to do something good with his life in having a family with Danielle and Alex. I guess even though he knew he was dead and that where he was wasn't the "real world" (though I'd argue it's as real as any other life), he still wanted to "live" his life.

The eye closing was crushing, satisfying, fitting. It was perfect.

My thoughts are going to be all over the place in these posts, so forgive me for not being that organized. When I recap the show and comment on each scene, that should be easier to follow, at least. For now, I'm just trying to get what's on my mind out there, and to see what you think about everything.

Some things I plan to touch on in future posts:

My finale party experience.

The Island's light.

Why the Island was underwater in the flash-sideways.

How the "waiting room" demonstrates fate and free will.

Was Shannon really Sayid's true love, and not Nadia?

What "the rules" were all about. Or maybe there were no rules...

When Widmore exposed Desmond to the electromagnetic energy in the shed near the Hydra, he traveled into the flash-sideways. Now that we know what the flash-sideways really was, think about what that means.

Let me leave with you this until next time:

Crashing in the Island is a metaphor for life. Depending on your religious leanings, you might say that we don't set a course for this place, we are brought here, and for a reason. Or, scientifically, we are an accident. We crash here just as much as the Losties crashed on the Island. We end up here. We are the only living things (that we know of) in our little corner of the universe, and we don't know why. We are strangers when we arrive here, and we leave our lives with connections to other people who we have grown to love throughout our lives. We go through trials and tribulations as we learn to survive on this Island of life, and we experience joy, discovery, pain, enlightenment, disappointment, betrayal, and resolution. It's through these experiences that we make connections, which, in "The End," is what it's all really about.

What do you think? You will have plenty of opportunities to comment when I get more specific about the episode, but what I'm really interested in is your take on the finale, and what questions you still have. I'd like to take a shot at answering them for you, so send 'em in!

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

He Has Work To Do...

...and he's trying to get as much of it done as he can!

No, this is not my post about the finale. This is a post to say that I will be posting about the finale. I have grades due tomorrow morning and I still have some correcting to do, which is what I'm up to now. Is it going a lot more slowly since all I can think about is LOST? Absolutely.

I have this other strange thing going on today: I have this urge to not talk about LOST, to throw all of my memorabilia in a box and put it away for awhile. It's not because I didn't like the finale - that will be extremely clear in my actual post: I absolutely loved it, especially after thinking about it so much - it's almost like I can't handle it being over. Which I can't. I am genuinely sad that we will never see our Losties, or discover new Dharma secrets, or set foot on the Island, ever again.

A lot of people, including some of you, have asked for my thoughts, which, number one, is extremely flattering, and two, I will certainly do very soon. There is so much I want to say, so much I want to ask, and it will take me a while. I will probably have more than one post about it, too. I'm also thinking about what's next for this blog, if anything, and I want to talk about that, too.

I just have some things to take care of first (including needing to process "The End" a bit more). Keep checking back...

Namaste

"We're Very Close To The End" - 6x16: What They Died For

Okay, I'm starting this post at 12:49 a.m., so if it's brief, forgive me, but I'm keeping my eyes opened with toothpicks at this point.

I just finished watching tonight's penultimate (how rare is the occasion to use that word?) episode of LOST, "What They Died For," and I have to tell you two things:

1. I loved it.

2. I was a little emotional throughout the entire episode because I think it's finally hitting me: this wonderful universe we've been living in, this ultimate escape from our lives, this mysterious Island that we've spent the last six years on in our minds and hearts, will only exist for five more days. That's it. Five days. There's no telling how it will end, or what kind of life it will take on after the final "LOST" appears on our TV screens, but I do know that this excitement we feel, these discussions we have, the anticipation, confusion, wonder, anger, sadness, and every other emotion one can feel from watching this show will never be experienced again. No other show will be like this.

I've been thinking about loss quite a bit lately, and among the many, MANY thoughts and emotions, good and bad, that come out of that process, one that I felt so strongly tonight is appreciation. Losing something like this makes you appreciate it in and of itself, but also the role that it has played in your life, and how it has changed your life. I know that some of you out there have had a similar experience of this show coloring, and sometimes even clarifying, your life, as it has with me. If you haven't had that same experience, I suppose this all sounds awfully hokey, but hey, it's my blog.

So, before Sunday, I hope you all have a chance to appreciate this show for what it has done for you, whether it has provided you with entertainment, or whether it has quite literally changed your life. Either way, this journey we have been on which is quickly coming to an end was worth it. And hopefully, the destination will be just as worthwhile and satisfying.

So, my post tonight will be written through the lens of someone who had a big smile on his face throughout the episode, who shouted "Holy shit!" at least twice, and actually is having trouble remembering all of the details of the show because I was just so thankful to be sitting on my couch on a Tuesday night at 9:00pm watching LOST. Because it will never happen again.

So I guess my biggest point, and I'm not quite sure why it's coming up first, was my biggest "Holy shit!" moment: Ben blowing away Widmore! WTF?!?! Yeah, we knew he'd been wanting to, but what happened to 'you know we can't kill each other, boy'? What's changed? What did I miss? Was that all b.s.? As shocking and somewhat frustrating as it was, I have to say that as a Ben fan, it was also a little satisfying, especially after he says that he didn't want Widmore to have his daughter back.

Is Ben reeeeeaaaally helping the Monster out now? "Who else can we kill?" Really, Ben? What's his endgame? Will he be the one to eventually kill the Monster? Or, now I'm thinking that he will be the new Richard Alpert...

...who apparently was thrown into a tree and was killed by the Monster? But he can't die...right? Since Richard's apparent demise happened right in front of Ben, and based on their history, it's sort of poetic that Ben would be the new advisor. He and Richard are both responsible for a death that they are truly sorry for. We know Richard is (was? I'm really trying to figure this out...) immortal, and suspect that maybe, since he was healed in the Temple pool when he was a child, Ben is, too. Maybe he doesn't even know this. Regardless, when the Monster freight-trains Richard, they way that Ben calmly looks around and then sits in a patio chair was priceless.

The other great moment was the meeting around the campfire. This will probably be one of those scenes that some fans will complain about as being forced, like the entirety of last week's episode, or the reveal of what the whispers are, but I thought this scene was very natural and weighty. We know why Kate was crossed off the list in the cave (but again, not in the lighthouse - are only the dead crossed off that one? I'll have to look back and see if maybe that's the explanation): she's a mother to Aaron. She has someone at home off the Island to be responsible for, so she is not the ideal candidate - but of course, Jacob gives her the choice to be the protector if she wants to. We know why he brought them to the Island: because their lives weren't good, because they were lonely, and because they all needed to be fixed. I found that part of the conversation especially touching, and was getting some pretty strong religious vibes going on. And we know who the new protector will be: again, whoever chooses to be the protector. And it came as no surprise that Jack speaks up, and that he agreed to drink the blessed water to officially become the new Jacob........so we think...! I still have a feeling that there's going to be more to it than that, but we'll see.

Another interesting thing about that scene is that Jacob, in his child form, takes the ashes from Hurley (why he had to be his 13-year-old self, I have no idea), and then puts them into his campfire. Once the fire burns out, Jacob will be gone. I'm not sure what to make of that at the moment - I'm sure there's something there of significance, but I'm not getting it right now.

I'm almost beginning to think that there is no magic to being the protector. A lot of fans have been pondering if there is any magic to Jacob at all. The only thing I could say to confirm that he is magical, if you will, is that he hasn't aged (or is this due to time travel? Have the years that have passed for him been a lot more brief than we assume because the Island has been time-traveling? Could he have actually killed Brother last year in Island time?), and that he only appears to those he chooses to appear to.

Oh, another great scene was Hurley showing up to help Ana Lucia - Ana Lucia! - break Des, Kate, and Sayid out of the transfer to the county lock-up! It was a lot of fun. Hurley apparently remembers everything after his moment on the beach with Libby - including Ana Lucia! - and they're all going to the museum for the Widmore's concert for Daniel. (Sorry, but I have to say this - I cannot wait to see Kate in that dress Des chose for her - I'm biting the palm of my hand like Lenny as I type this ; )  ) David, Jack's son, mentions a concert that he wants to make sure Jack goes to, too - it must be the same one, right?

My mind is already working on how a scene will play out with all of our Losties in one place, suddenly remembering their Island lives, and then............poof? Flash? What will happen?

I literally cheered out loud when Alex told Ben to let her and her mother drive him home, and Danielle got out of the car! I was so excited to see Rousseau again! And they hit us over the head with it, but obviously a Ben - Danielle relationship is in the offing. Creepy, yes, but in this alternate story, very appropriate.

Finally, yet another Jack and Locke scene that I loved. Locke has finally come to the realization that it's fate that he keeps crossing paths with Jack, even if Jack warns him not to "mistake coincidence for fate," and he decides he wants to do the surgery.

And the great thing is that we now know that if they're going to give us answers, they have to do it in the next episode, because it's the last one!

(See? That's thinking of it positively, right?)

What did you all think of this episode?

Well, tonight was the kick-off of my own LOST finale week. On Thursday night, I'm going to the Quick Center at Fairfield University to see a simulcast of Damon and Carlton being interviewed live by the New York Times. Then, unfortunately, on Saturday night, I'm working, so I will miss the re-airing of "Pilot," the first episode of LOST, which I means I will miss watching it for the 7,435th time. I am DVRing it, just in case they do something special.

And then on Sunday is the big finale party! Again, if any of you that didn't get the Evite and would like to come, please comment on this post and let me know! You are more than welcome to join us.

That's all for now. I'm assuming I will likely post one more time before the finale, but this week is jam-packed for me, so I may not get the chance. Either way, until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

Sorry...

...doesn't put the delicious Triscuit crackers in my stomach now, does it?

What else can I say, besides a Billy Madison quote? 

Life hit hard last week, so I honestly haven't had the chance (or, sadly, the motivation or focus at times) to post about last week's episode, "Across the Sea." Obviously. I will try to post something tomorrow evening before the next episode, but in case I don't, some quick, quick thoughts:

Why did Brother turn into an evil smoke monster when Jacob threw him into the Well of Light? Was he really a bad person? Is bad, as we have learned with some of our characters, a relative term? Is he "bad" because he chose to associate with humans? And if he was human to begin with, as we know he was, does that make him inherently evil in Mother's eyes? 

Raised by another, indeed. It's been there all along.

Mother was totally a smoke monster. I'm convinced.

I think Mother was running a long con, but on whom, I'm not sure. I thought this out a few days ago, but I'll have to go through that again. Basically, I think she wanted Brother to end up in the Well, but there's more too it (including an explanation why).

This episode was HUUUUUUGELY controversial amongst fans. People either liked it or absolutely hated it. Where do I fall? Well...I definitely didn't hate it, and I always love the Island mythology. I could watch it all day. I've decided that my indecisiveness about this one was it's timing, or placement in the season. I understand it - once they've revealed that the Monster is truly the antagonist, they give us this episode to again make us question if he is evil, and to tell his story, which is something we've been begging the producers to show us. But still, this close to the finale, it just felt very odd.

People who hated it thought the acting and writing was wooden, the Well of Light was hokey, and most of all (and I think I'm with them on this), showing Jack, Kate, and Locke at the Caves from Season 1 insulted the intelligence of hardcore LOST fans. Once Jacob laid them both down in the cave, we knew that they were the skeletons. Along with that, Jack said in that original scene that their clothing had only decayed for about 40 years. Um, haven't they been there for 2,000 years? (That's according to Jorge Garcia's script reading on the "Geronimo Jack's Beard" podcast.) Damon and Carlton explained their inclusion of that scene this way: they wanted to show that our Losties, when they found "Adam and Eve" in the cave, had no clue back then what had happened on the Island, and that so much had happened. To them, this was some deserted island that they had accidentally crash-landed on. But now we know that an entire universe of people and events that actually affected them thousands of years later occured at that very place. To the producers, it was a way to put the Jacob/Monster story in perspective for the overall story of our Losties. I like that explanation.

So for now, that's all, but again, I really, truly will try to post a little more tomorrow. We'll see how things go.

Until then,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

2.5 Hours!

No, don't worry - that's not a countdown to the finale. But ABC (?) announced this week that they are adding even more to the finale on May 23 - a half-hour more. So as it stands right now, you will be watching two-and-a-half hours of LOST goodness for the last time.

I really wish they were doing a live, Cheers-style cast Q&A afterwards, but we all know how that turned out for the actors who played our favorite Bostonian barflies. (Hint: alcohol was involved. Lots of alcohol. Allegedly. On live national television. Which was totally appropriate for a show about a bar if you ask me, but some people - NBC - got a little upset at said actors' behavior.) I guess Jimmy Kimmel, which will now immediately follow the finale at 11:30, is going to have cast members on, but I've also heard reports to the contrary, so who knows at this point.

Some of the actors - Michael Emerson for sure, as well as at least one more that hasn't been named yet -will be at the LOST Podcast with Jay & Jack finale party at the Orpheum Theater in L.A., so they will be in the L.A. area (which is where Kimmel films) at least, so it's possible they'd make an appearance. My guess at the other actor who will attend the Jay & Jack event would be Jorge Garcia; Jorge and Michael in particular have been very giving to the fans over the years by appearing on various podcasts, giving interviews to fan websites, etc.,  - they seem to have as much fun with the show as we do, with Jorge even having his own LOST podcast this season co-hosted with his girlfriend, Beth - so I could see them being involved. I don't think any of you listen to the podcasts out there, but I think it's amazing what Jay and Jack have accomplished in their five years of podcasting about LOST: a father and son team from North Carolina that simply started talking about the show on the internet have built a little fan empire, have befriended actors and producers of the show, are having a finale party at a major theater in L.A. with said actors and 2,000 fans, and have a now-annual 30-hour podcasting marathon which raised over $20,000 for Autism Speaks just this past March. It's incredible how much of a presence they have had. Ahhh, if only I had gotten the blog started earlier... ; ) 

Enjoy this week's new episode!

~ Matt

"You're The One" - 6x14: The Candidate

Oh, no way. No way.

Did that all just happen in one episode?

After weeks of slower, more "setup" episodes that got the characters where they needed to be, things finally began going into motion. Make no mistake - tonight was part one of the series finale.

Let me try to put it all in some kind of order, because it's all flying through my head right now.

The cages revisited. I was with Sawyer there: no way would I get in there again! But what pissed me off even more was when "doughboy" hit him in the gut with the butt of his rifle. He got what was coming to him, though, courtesy of ol' Smokey. I still love when he shows up! And all of a sudden, they're out of the cages. I have to say, for a multi-millionaire (billionaire?), Widmore hired the most incompetent group of fumbling idiots to run his missions for him. Seriously, Sayid just turned off the power at will? Really? Bang-up job, guys! I'm almost beginning to think that maybe Widmore wanted it to happen this way, but...why go through all that trouble? If you're really in on it with the Monster, why not just let them go with him and let him do his thing? Or is it more of a Mrs. Hawking "course-correcting," or Faraday "what happened, happened," thing?

So they get to the Ajira plane, only to find that the Monster has snapped the neck of one incompetent idiot and shot the other, and (after he takes one of their digital watches...hmmm...) he's discovered that the plane has four blocks of C4 explosive wired to the electrical system. So, on to the sub. Again, Sawyer is whispering to Jack about secret plans and such and "ya gotta do me this one last favor, Doc," you know, even though he kicked him off the boat and all. (I'm not a fan of what they've done with Sawyer this season. The writers seem to have taken all of his cleverness away from him, and that makes him a shell of the character we love. Maybe it's just me. He just seems like he's a dupe for the Monster at every turn now.)

Oh man, the sub - apparently, this was the Monster's plan all along (of course): get all of the candidates in one place, and kill them. I'm giving myself props for being half right: he was planning to kill them all, but since Widmore compromised Ajira (and why wouldn't the Monster just use the explosives-laden plane? Probably because he knew Jack wouldn't get on it), he used the sub instead. He was never going to take the plane off the Island. So, again, what exactly does he want? The Island all to himself? No, because he has always said that he wants to be free, but has that been a ruse all along? While Jacob has been busy finding ways to keep him on the Island, he's been plotting to simply kill everyone so they'll leave him alone. Nah. It's far more interesting to think about what he'd do it he escaped into the world.

Kate is shot. Matt is shocked. But not too much. Once I saw that it was just her shoulder, I yelled, "Just count to five and shake it off!"Total plot device, but I can respect that. I mean, did she seem all that bothered by it later when they washed up on the beach? Did you even remember she had been shot in the first place?

I might be wrong, but I think Sayid tells Jack, "you're the one" - right before he runs off with the bomb to blow it up in a distant section of the sub. (More on that later...) He gives them a chance to survive. Is his sacrifice, finally, his absolution?

Jack's speech on the sub was legendary...except that he was wrong, for the most part. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't have gone off if Sawyer hadn't pulled out the wires, but again, keep repeating to yourself, "Whatever happened, happened..." Just as Jack believed that their destiny was not to be killed on the sub, what actually did happen on the sub was supposed to happen that way, for reasons that we don't know of yet. I really, really like Jack as a believer.

Now we know why Sun freaked when she saw Locke in the hospital. Did she see her fate on the Island at his hands? Did she not speak of it to Jin because she's okay and happy in the Alt. 2004? And what does this possibility mean for what the flash-sideways are? If Sun and Jin are truly okay in the Alt. timeline, can it still be something the Monster created to (sort of) grant their wishes if they came with him? Especially after tonight, that theory seems to have, ahem, sunk.

And was anyone else less than touched at the demise of Sun and Jin? As they were speaking their last words, I was actually going back through seasons past in my mind and remembering them fondly, but there they were dying, and I couldn't muster up too much sadness for them. As much as I wanted Jin to escape because he could, I knew he would never leave Sun. By the way: Titanic much? "I'll never let go, Jin - I'll never let go!" Toniann and I were texting about this, and I heard a really good explanation about this lack of emotion on a podcast: they were apart for so long, and Sun was repeating "Have you seen my husband?" to everyone in earshot for so long, and it took them thirteen episodes just this season to finally reunite them - complete with a really cheesy line from Frank - that we just completely lost any interest in them. By this time, they sort of became caricatures of themselves, and in the face of a far more emotional story like Penny and Desmond's, Sun and Jin sort of fell by the wayside. Toniann had a good point, though, that I as a single man didn't consider and she as a mother of twins did - what about Ji Yeon, their daughter? Couldn't Jin have saved himself for her? So now there will be a child in South Korea with mommy and daddy issues...

Where I did lose it was after Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate washed up on the beach. When Hurley realized that he lost his friend Jin - friends since the early days of Season 1 - and he broke down, so did I. God, I love Hurley.

I was convinced that once the Monster acknowledged that the sub sank (but didn't blow up - no smoke, eh?), and Claire was like "WTF?" that he was going to simply kill her. I thought Claire was done for in an episode that we already had to deal with the death of Sun and Jin, but of course, she's not a candidate, so why would he waste his time? Besides, as he says, not all of them are dead, and he has to go finish the job. So does he sense that the four remaining Losties made it to the beach? Is he referring to Miles, Richard, and Ben?

Hey, wait a minute, I just realized - did Frank die on the sub? Oh man, that suuuuucks! I get it - now that the ruse of flying the plane off the Island is over, he has no purpose, and they wasted no time offing him. I loved Lapidus, too bad.

Okay, on to the flash-sideways. 

First, Dr. Bernard Nadler makes an appearance! This is the first "hey, we were both on Oceanic 815 - what a kawinky-dink!" moment of several in the episode. He gives him the name of Anthony Cooper, who - shocker! - was in the same accident that paralyzed Locke. So now we know they seemingly had a truly good relationship in this Alt. 2004.

About the Jack and Claire scene - hey, um, do you guys maybe, um, want to, um, exchange phone numbers or something? I get that it's awkward, but still, you are family. At least Jack finally offered to let her stay with him. 

Jack still has not flashed, and neither has Locke, but he seems to be close. (More on that later...) Does it have something to do with what happens on the Island? When Jack and Claire were looking in the mirror at the same time, it still didn't break through to Jack. Claire apparently had her moment in the hospital with the panic about Aaron in "LA X" and that's all she needed to have. But Jack, besides a few inklings, has yet to have that major breakthrough that I'm expecting him to have due to his importance in the story. They keep tempting us with a connection to Locke, but tonight, yet again, John balks at the chance for surgery and leaves.

The Jack and Locke conversations in this episode were classic LOST. This was Season 1 caliber Jack and Locke. John was just throwing out lines from episodes past as he slept in the hospital: he said "push the button" and another line that I can't remember, and Jack busted out with "whatever happened, happened" and "I wish you would've believed me," which is what Locke wrote to Jack before he attempted suicide and then Ben killed him. Who's going to flash first? Or will they still need each other to do so, and it will happen at the same time? Jack still can't convince Locke to have the surgery because Locke is punishing himself for his father's vegetative state as a result of crashing a John-piloted plane. I couldn't help thinking of Locke's responsibility in Boone's death, also from a small plane falling to Earth.

Anthony Cooper is in a wheelchair, too, but is in much more dire circumstances than his son. That's karma for you. He can't smooth talk his way out of things this time.

So in reference to the title, who is the candidate? I have two main contenders (besides Hurley, who I still think is going to have a major part to play, but it doesn't seem like they're setting him up to be the candidate). These will come as no surprise to anyone:

1. Jack. Based on what Sayid said in the sub before the bomb went off, and his total Jacob-like attitude, and that he's the hero of LOST, and that this episode, "The Candidate," was centered on him, they are almost telegraphing that he's the man. But...

2. Kate. Sawyer tells her (and notifies those in the audience that hadn't read about this on various blogs) that her name was indeed on the cave wall, though it was crossed out. We know her name is on the lighthouse wheel, and it's not crossed out. This seems to mean that Jacob, who most agree was in control of the lighthouse, has Kate as a candidate, and the Monster, who controls the dark cave, has her off the list. Which means that maybe Jacob knows something that the Monster does not. I've said on the blog before that Kate could be Jacob's wild card - that she is in fact the #1 candidate. Is this likely? I dunno. Is the Island where she has been running to all her life? Is this where she proves that she is a good person? Do we take into account "behind the scenes" facts about the show such as how Jack was originally supposed to die in the Pilot episode, and Kate was going to be the main character/leader of the Losties?

What do you think?

I'm off to spend a few minutes on the Fuselage to see what others are talking about. (Or not - I just tried to check on something and the site is getting hammered right now - the page won't even load. Oh well...)

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

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