Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 16 - The Incident, Part 1 & 2)

Holy Smoke Monsters, Batman....what a season finale! From a quick glace around the internet, it appear that the vast majority absolutely loved how Lost closed out the season. However, a few people hated it. I can somewhat understand, as the show took us in some radically unexpected directions this week, but if it didn't shock and surprise us, then it wouldn't be Lost.

For me, my head is absolutely spinning trying to comprehend what we saw. As such, this is likely to be my longest blog entry as I try to work through what I think this all means. So fasten your seat belts, bring your tray tables to the upright and locked position, and leave your sanity at the Sydney airport....the Island awaits.

It would be impossible to discuss this episode starting anywhere other than the opening scene. I expected we would see Jacob this episode, but I was floored to meet him in the first few minutes. Obviously my "Jack is Jacob" theory has been H-bombed....then again, I think everyone's Jacob theories are shot. Now I'll get to the statue and the boat later, but let's first focus on the conversation between Jacob and the other man on the beach. It seems apparent that Jacob has been bringing people to the island for a long time and according to his "friend", the results are always the same..."they come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt". Jacob and this other man appear to disagree on this...so much so, that the other man says he will find a loophole and kill Jacob. This is clearly significant, as is Jacob's comment that, "it only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress." There is much to chew on here, so let's break things down a little.

Jacob and his "friend"

First, let's talk about who/what these two men are. If one man is Jacob, there has been suggestion on the internet that the other man is Esau. In the bible, Jacob and Esau are the twin sons of Issac and grandsons of Abraham. It is written in at least two bible passages that God loved Jacob, but hated his brother Esau. Ironically, Jacob used deception to receive Esau's birthright to become spiritual leader of the family, leading to protracted animosity and conflict, including Esau's vow to kill Jacob. With that said, I don't believe the men on Lost are literally the brothers Jacob and Esau. However, the parallels are indisputable, and may provide clues as to where things are heading. Jacob and Esau, become the leaders of Israel and Edom, respectively. In the Book of Obadiah (Hebrew Bible and Old Testament), Edom is destroyed with no survivors at the "end of days". So, if you believe in the Jacob/Esau allegory, Jacob's side will win the coming war.

More importantly though, I think we are seeing the definition of the "black and white" conflict that has been alluded to in the series. Several weeks back, I wrote a non-episode specific entry on good and evil using Stephen King's "The Stand", Star Wars, and Harry Potter as similar archetype stories. Jacob and "Esau" are representative of the two sides...as Locke explained Backgammon to Walt in Season 1, "Two players. Two sides. One is light - one is dark." I believe we've now met the players, the real question is which one is "the good guy"? Maybe we got a clue in the opening scene where Jacob was wearing a white shirt and "Esau" was wearing a black shirt, but I caution everyone that looks can be deceiving.

Locke explains "light" and "dark" in Season 1

That is a good lead in to the person that appears to be John Locke. So who guessed Locke's body was in the crate? Put your hand down! Last week, I said that Locke's new-found knowledge/communication with the island didn't feel right and that something weird was going on. I guess I was right, but damn, I didn't see that one coming. It was so much like "The Sixth Sense" where you smack yourself on the head and say, "of course that wasn't really Locke...it was there all along." So here are a few thoughts/questions on this:

1) Why was "Esau" off the island (or was he off the island)? I get the sense that "Esau" is somehow connected to Widmore. Remember it was Widmore that was insistent that Locke return to the island. Maybe Widmore believes "Esau" taking over the island will enable him to return.
2) What was the "loophole" "Esau" found in order to take over Locke's body and kill Jacob? I haven't the foggiest clue on this one, but clearly he couldn't be the one to do it (so the killer is "Mr. Linus with the knife, in the foot chamber").
3) Why does "Esau" appear to be omniscient? I've got a theory that "Esau" is the Smoke Monster (or aligned with the Smoke Monster)....and the Smoke Monster is Death or an agent of Death. See my comments below regarding the statue that relate to this.
4) I opened my commentary on the episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" with a brief review of the tragic life of John Locke. After this week it is clear that John was just a pawn in a bigger chess match. It is even sadder to look back on last week's episode and realize that "Esau" was really the one having Richard tell Locke that he must die to return to the island. Poor Locke...always the victim.

Before we leave the opening scene completely, we were now able to get a better look at the statue. I have previously been on the record as stating the statue is Anubis, Egyptian guide to the Underworld. Well, I was wrong (although, I think Anubis will be a factor in the story). It appears that the statue is more likely a representation of Taweret, Egyptian deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. This provides an interesting juxtaposition of Taweret (birth) and Anubis/Cerberus (death). If my above conjecture that "Esau" is the Smoke Monster (death) is correct and Jacob lives at the statue (birth), then perhaps we are again seeing the dark-light connections. Remember too that fertility (or lack there of) has been a long running theme on the show....Juliet was brought to the island because of women dying in pregnancy. This is clearly significant.

The statue

Taweret

Speaking of the statue, remember that Ilana and Bram have posed the question to various characters: "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Well, this week Richard finally had an answer: "Ille qui nos omnes servabit", which translates to, "He who will protect/save us all." Jacob is literally in the shadow of the statue, so he is the savior (at least from one point of view).

At this point, we don't really know what Jacob's motivations are, but let's talk about what we do know and this was mostly revealed during the flashbacks. It is interesting that at key moments in each of characters lives, he appears and touches them (touched by the hand of God?)...but is he helping them, saving them, recruiting them, or something more sinister? Let's look at each of these:
- He enable Kate to get away with a crime. Does this change her moral center, allowing her to execute her father, participate in a bank robbery, and flee the police/federal agents?
- He provides young James a pen to finish writing his revenge letter to "Mr. Sawyer", a letter that will haunt him until he ultimately kills the man responsible for his parent's deaths.
- He wishes Sun and Jin well at their wedding and to never let go of what they have together....in perfect Korean. Remember that Charlotte also spoke Korean (coincidence...maybe...maybe not)
- He appears to bring Locke back from the dead after he is pushed from a 5-story window. The giver of life?
- He stops Sayid from crossing the street at the moment Nadia is hit by a car and killed. The bringer of death?
- He gives Jack a candy bar that was stuck in the vending machine and says, "just needed a little push". This happens just after Jack experiences his first surgical challenge (as he recounted to Kate in the Season 1 pilot) and argues with his father about it. Hmmm....remember that Christian still plays some part in all this.
- He shares a cab with Hurley and suggests that his ability to speak with the dead is a blessing and not a curse. He then is the one to advise Hurley to get on Ajira 316. Finally, he renounces ownership of the guitar case in the cab, which Hurley brings to the island. What the hell is in that case? Interestingly, Hurley is the only one of the original Oceanic 815 survivors to receive a straight encounter with Jacob in the real world.
- He also has an encounter with a heavily bandaged Ilana in which he asks for her help. She already knows who he is and agrees. Note that Jacob does not touch her.

There was one other flashback...Juliet's. However, this one did not involve Jacob. Keep that in mind later when I discuss Juliet.

Let's continue on the Jacob analysis, because there is another item that deserves attention. I think some of the minority fan disappointment is that the Jacob that appears in this episode, seems incongruous with the Jacob we've "seen" in the cabin. To date, "cabin Jacob" has appeared as a mysterious bearded man in a rocking chair, a disembodied voice saying "help me", a maniacal eye, a technology averse spirit, and even Christian Shepherd (claiming to speak for Jacob). What I am wondering is if "cabin Jacob" is really Jacob after all. Remember that the cabin had a circle of ash around it. Maybe that circle had something to do with keeping something or someone in. Maybe "Esau"? That would blow the Smoke Monster theory....but it certainly is possible. If the ash circle was recently broken, then maybe that is why "Esau" has come on the scene. Two things to think about:

1) Why did Ilana and Bram go there first if that wasn't where Jacob could be found? Since Jacob could move on-off the island, it seems unlikely he would be trapped in the cabin. And Ilana and Bram were disturbed by the broken ring of ash. If Jacob did live in the cabin, was the ring of ash protecting him there?
2) What is the significance of the cloth picture of the statue on the wall? They also knew that someone else has been using the cabin....Christian? "Esau"? Or, maybe Ilana and Bram aren't really on Jacob's side after all. I know we had the flashback scene with Ilana in the hospital, but maybe she was in the injured condition BECAUSE of Jacob. I know this is flimsy, but just store it away in the back of your head as this plays out.

I don't have any great answers here, but I don't think the producers suddenly changed their mind on the depiction of Jacob. Whatever was in the cabin before, is not the Jacob we've seen this week.

Jacob as seen by Locke in Season 3

Jacob as seen by Hurley in Season 4

Burning down the house

Earlier I referred to Locke as a pawn. Well, I think it is clear that he wasn't the only chess piece in play. Benjamin Linus has been massively manipulated by the Jacob and "Esau". He has given everything he has to the island and yet he was never given an audience with Jacob....yet "Locke" has. I was reminded of this exchange from "The Godfather Part II":

Fredo Corleone: I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!
Michael Corleone: That's the way Pop wanted it.
Fredo Corleone: It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!

When Ben asks Jacob, "What about me?" Jacob responds, "What about you?", I can take this one of three ways:

1) Jacob has never respected Ben and never viewed him as a leader.
2) A man of faith doesn't need to be shown God to believe.
3) Jacob was challenging Ben to make this his defining moment.

I think it might be the last of these....but where do Ben's motivations lie. He has been manipulated by "Locke/Esau" and "Alex/Smoke Monster" into believing he must kill Jacob (further evidence that "Esau" and the Smoke Monster are one-in-the-same or at least aligned). But maybe...just maybe...Jacob wants Ben to kill him. Remember that Jesus needed to die in order save man...just as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Harry Potter needed to die in order to win the struggle between good and evil. "If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Maybe Ben is fulfilling his destiny and his duty to the island. As "Esau"/Locke says, "things will change once he is gone." I think he is right.

Fredo Linus?

That brings us to Jacob's last words...."They're coming." So, the obvious question is who? You could make an argument that he means his Ilana-led team...but I don't think so. I believe it has to be the Oceanic survivors from 1977. So let's go back to the groovy seventies to talk about what happened there.

Starting underground, Jack and Sayid remove the warhead from the bomb and get ready to transport it to the Swan. Richard sledgehammers a doorway into Dharmaville via Horace's basement, but coldcocks Eloise, and tells Jack and Sayid they are on their own. A very cool shootout transpires, Sayid is shot, but a daring escape is made thanks to Hurley, Jin, and Miles. Meanwhile underwater, Kate convinces Juliet, who convinces Sawyer that they need to blow this popsicle stand and row back to the island. They run into Rose, Bernard and Vincent, who don't want anything to do with any hair-brained schemes and are perfectly content to let whatever happens, happen.

Shootout at the barracks

OK, so that brings us to the showdown between the bomb squad and the love triangle (or square or whatever polygon you choose). Sawyer and Jack "take it outside". At first they are civil and Jack reveals his real reason for wanting to blow up the island (Kate), but it eventually degenerates and we finally get to see the rumble that we've all be waiting to see. I loved that it was brutal and they really went after each other...5 seasons of anger and resentment spilling out. Ultimately, Juliet stops Sawyer from beating Jack to death and convinces him that they need to help Jack. Last stop for Jack is convincing Kate, which he does and then it is on to mission impossible....blow up the Swan.

The gunfight at the Swan was great. Here are a few things to note:
- Phil got a nice steel bar through the chest...that's what he gets for hitting a girl.
- Dr. Chang turns a gun on Radzinski.
- Chang's arm is crushed....remember that in some of the DHARMA videos Chang has a prosthetic arm.
- Radzinski escapes the scene.
- Miles leads Chang away from the scene.

Now, let’s talk about Juliet. First and foremost, lets note that Juliet was wearing a red shirt. Star Trek fans know that anyone who beams down to a planet with a red shirt, ain’t coming back. In fact, the Lost creators are well aware of this phenomenon and often refer to some of the background characters as “red shirts”, because they are expendable. So, when she was struggling to hold on to Sawyer, you just knew she was going to be pulled down. I’d also like to refer to the above section on flashbacks that hers was the only one not to feature Jacob. I think this was another indication that she was going to die. Ultimately, she did let go and fell. But, what’s this...she’s still alive? Trust me, this was ONLY so that she could detonate the bomb.

So, let me give you my thoughts on what happened. I think the bomb was detonated and vaporized Juliet. But above the surface, it only released the electromagnetic anomaly and will send Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Sayid, Hurley and Jin back to the future. So, when Jacob, says “They’re coming.” This is to whom he is referring. The bomb did not destroy the island, nor did it kill anyone above the surface. Radzinski will finish the Swan station as a containment project and Dr. Chang will continue making orientation videos. And Miles, will help his pops with time travel experiments in the Orchid station.

Here are a few more interesting thing:

- Bram asks Ilana if she thinks Frank Lapidus is a “candidate”? For what, student body president? I’m guessing they want him on their team.

- The tapestry in the chamber under the statue (the one Jacob wove) has greek writing on I that translates to: “may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires”....which comes from Homer’s “The Odyssey”

Jacob’s tapestry

- The ship seen in the distance at the beginning of the show is likely the Black Rock (I’m starting to think maybe this really is where Richard came from). So how did the Black Rock end up in the middle of the island? Also, it appears the statue was still standing in the 1800s, when the Black Rock arrived. Although, perhaps the Black Rock didn’t come to the island at the right bearing and was transported to an earlier time in history. So if Richard came from the Black Rock, he may have been on the island longer than 150 years.

- When Kate is caught stealing, she takes a New Kids on the Block lunchbox. No self-respecting criminal steals a NKOTB lunchbox.

- How about Radzinski’s line: “If Edison was only concerned about the consequences we’d all be sitting in the dark. I came to this island Pierre to change the world and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.” How prophetic he might turn out to be.

- Richard tells us that Jacob is responsible for his not aging.

- Speaking of Richard, he has an interesting exchange with Jack where he asks him about Locke. Richard says that when he visited Locke off the island “he never seemed particularly special”. Jack advises Richard not to give up on Locke. This may be part of how Richard is duped into bringing “Esau”/Locke to Jacob.

- We saw some vintage Sawyer when he shoots the radio in the sub and quips, “You ain’t home.”

- I know a lot of people didn’t like the characters flip-flopping on whether or not they should stop Jack, but upon a second viewing, it is clear that Juliet’s change of heart is influenced by her visit with Rose and Bernard. You can see it on her face that dying with Sawyer is better than living apart...and this was clearly in her all along from her flashback. And Kate is in love with whomever is within 10 feet...so you can’t be surprised by her.

- The book Jacob is reading on the bench as Locke falls from the building is Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rise’s Must Converge”. It is a collection of short stories, in which human weaknesses are exposed and important moral questions are explored through everyday situations.

- So great that they showed Sun finding Charlie’s “DS” ring in Aaron’s cradle. I thought this is one of those things that would be forgotten. I have to believe this is important.

Charlie’s ring

- Sayid’s last line is a great one....”Nothing can save me.” Sayid is without question the most tortured soul on the island (ironic for the torturer) and believes he is being punished for his sins. I believe he will live to die another day.

- Ben makes reference to “Esau”/Locke being marched to Jacob like Moses. While I don’t think this is a clue, it is kind of an interesting characterization.

- The episode ends with the screen exploding to white and then “LOST” appears in black on the screen. This is the exact opposite of every other episode. So, was this just for effect or was it symbolic that everything is going to be different. We’ll see.

Inverted Title Screen

So where do I think we are going next season? As I mentioned above, I think all of our Oceanic 815 survivors will return to 2008. And I think if we look at the blueprint provided by “The Stand”, I think we can surmise that we will leave science fiction behind and move more into a journey of mysticism and morality. The battle lines will be drawn between good and evil. This is the war that will play out and result in the some form of The End of Days. In the words of Ms. Hawking, “God help us all.”

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 15 - Follow the Leader)

Some episodes are character based. Some episodes are action oriented. Some episodes are mysterious. Some episodes are funny. And every once in a while, we get an episode that finds the perfect balance between all of these.....this week was one of those episodes.

If you didn't love this week's episode, then you might as well stop watching. "Follow the Leader" was probably the best episode of the season, and can easily be mentioned in the same breath as some of the all-time great episodes. As I start to formulate my thoughts for this week's write-up, I'm not sure I really know what is going on. And that is one reason this show is great....a dork like me can study every minute detail and then still come away questioning the direction of the show.

While I would stop short of saying this was a Richard-centric episode, the ageless wonder had more screen time than in any other episode. But, oddly, while Richard was present and integral to the story (post-Daniel discussions with Jack/Kate, guiding a group through the tunnels to Jughead, and late night adventures with Ben, Locke and Locke), he wasn't the focal point. Then again, Richard isn't a leader....as Ben explains, "He's a kind of... advisor. And he has had that job for a very, very long time." This isn't the first time we've heard that Richard has been around for a long time, but what does that mean? Previously, I've speculated that Alpert is from the time of the statue (presumably Ancient Egyptian era), and that the internet theory about his initials R.A. indicate he is the Egyptian god Ra may be correct. But then this week there was a curious little scene where Richard is building a ship in a bottle. Seems like an odd thing to do. When you take a look at the ship in the bottle and compare it to the painting of the Black Rock from last year's episode, "The Constant", I think you can make a reasonable case that the ship in the bottle is the Black Rock (yes....I note the additional mast in the model). So, this raises a question....is Richard a former crew member of the Black Rock? This would mean that Richard arrived on the island in (or about) 1845. While this is indeed a long time, I'm still inclined to believe that Richard predates the Black Rock's arrival. Puzzling, none the less.

Richard with the Black Rock?

Portrait of the Black Rock from "The Constant"

The Black Rock on the island

Now let's turn to Mr. Locke. The scene where he had Richard treat his gunshot wound at the Beechcraft plane was fantastic. I was reminded of the scene in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" where future-Ted reminds past-Ted to wind his watch and says "That conversation made more sense this time." For both Locke and me, the wisdom of Ted rings true. However, I share Ben's confused amazement as to how Locke knew when and where to be. According to Locke, "the island told him". I find this as disquieting as Ben does. Since his death and resurrection, I've been operating under the assumption that Locke is "special" and not the same as the other island apparitions (like Christian Shepherd). Now I'm not so sure. Is he really alive? Or maybe just some form of undead? The additional knowledge and/or communication with the island just doesn't feel right. Something weird is going on.

No way. Yes way.

This brings me to the final scene. I was somewhat surprised to see that scene tacked on after the bomb scene. It seemed out of context...a morning march along the beach to some of the signature Lost music. Then John drops the real bomb....he wants to kill Jacob. Again, this is causing me to question some of my previous theories....namely that Jack is Jacob. I'm wondering if maybe Locke is Jacob and the he is on his way to be imprisoned in the cabin. Since time seems to be a variable on Lost, it could be possible that Locke/Jacob are in the cabin at all times regardless of when he enters it. Recall our first encounter with Jacob, where he says to Locke "Help me"....maybe that was really a message to himself. I think this is a little too far out there...even for Lost, but this whole Locke/Jacob thing has me thrown for a loop. I think it is possible, however, that in next week's finale, we may learn the identity of Jacob (how about that for a season ending cliffhanger....Jacob revealed to be Jack or Locke or Hurley or Bernard or Vincent).

Next is the Jack vs Kate debate. It was interesting to see Kate challenge Jack's newfound faith in his ability to change the future. Where Jack argues that they can put things back the way they are supposed to be, Kate believe he is nutty as Locke. Jack's confidence in his convictions again makes me waiver on my belief that the past can't be changed. But Kate's line, "I'm going back to find the rest of our people, because if I can't stop you, then maybe they can", makes me think that somehow the course of history will remain unchanged. Jack may try, but whatever happened, happened....at least I think so. Throw on top of all this, Richard's line, "I watched them all die", and I have no clue how this is all going to play out.

But with all the doubt this episode has cast on my theories I'm sticking to them:
- Richard is of ancient Egyptian origin
- Locke is "special"
- Jack is Jacob
- Whatever happened, happened

Now for stuff that isn’t quite as epic as the above, but interesting:

1) I am not much of a Juliet fan, but even I had to feel a little bad for her. There she was ready to take off for a new life of betting on Super Bowl winners and buying Microsoft stock with her beloved James, when who should come down the sub hatch, but her arch nemesis....Freckles. The look on Juliet’s face when Kate was handcuffed next to her was just priceless...I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
2) Be honest...when Sawyer let Juliet get on the sub first, didn’t you think he was going to close the hatch and send her off the island without him? Maybe he really does love her. However, if I have to bet on one character dying next week, Juliet is it.
3) Speaking of Sawyer and Juliet, who didn’t see Phil hitting Juliet coming? I knew that guy was an ass from the first time we saw him. And also in that scene, Radzinski took his dickiness to a whole new level. Who the hell does this guy think he is that he can just assume control? Alexander Haig?
4) Submarine CGI effects were not so good. Looked pretty fake.
5) The funniest moment of the episode was Dr. Chang interrogating Hurley....and watching him crack. Even funnier was that when Hurley first arrived in 1977 and expressed concern about joining DHARMA, he asked Sawyer, “What if they start asking us questions we can't answer, like, uh, who's president in 1977?” To which Sawyer replied, “It's not a damn game show, Hugo.” Well, this week’s episode, it was Hugo Reyes come on down, you’re the next contestant on The Time is Right. That exchange with Chang was great stuff.
6) Great to see Sayid make his return....nice way to make an entrance too. The show just isn’t the same without him. Let’s hope he survives to the bitter end (although he’d be a perfect candidate to go out in a blaze of glory).

I am Sayid Jarrah....and I am a torturer

7) That not too subtle rub of Eloise’s tummy was a pretty clear indication that Eloise was preggers with Daniel at the time of his shooting.
8) Speaking of the shooting, I like that Eloise was quick to believe that Daniel was her son....it would have been annoying to drag that out. I hope we get to see what happens to cause her to leave the island to better understand what drove her to send the Oceanic survivors back via Ajira 316.
9) Very cool when Richard/Jack/Eloise/Sayid had to swim into the tunnels.
10) What is the deal with The Others on the beach? They just sit around like lemmings waiting for someone to tell them what to do....seems kinda weird...oh thanks John, we never thought to find Jacob....let’s go.

Keg party at Jacob's!

11) And lastly, you had to love Richard saying to Ben, “I'm starting to think John Locke is gonna be trouble.” To which Ben replies, “Why do you think I tried to kill him?” Reminded me of Jack’s line from the season 1 finale, when he says to Kate, “...if we survive this, if we survive tonight....we're going to have a Locke problem.”

We head into next weeks two-hour finale with a lot of momentum. And you know that the finales never disappoint....every season ender has some shocking and/or huge event that changes the course of the series:

Season 1 – Walt’s abduction and the opening of the hatch
Season 2 – The capture of Jack, Kate and Sawyer
Season 3 – The death of Charlie and the flashforward
Season 4 – The moving of the island and Locke in the coffin

Something big is coming and I’m guessing there will be a game-changing surprise in the mix. Either way, next Wednesday can’t get here fast enough!

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 14 – The Variable)

WARNING – Heavy Time/Space analysis ahead.

Last season, Lost gave us an episode entitled “The Constant”....a mind-bending Desmond-centric episode that gave us a glimpse at Lost time travel. So, it stands to reason that this week’s episode, “The Variable” should be a counterpoint to “The Constant”.

In “The Constant”, Desmond needed to find someone who was anchored in both the past and the present....Penny was his constant. So if one is not traveling through time, they are a constant. Daniel assumes in this episode that the time travelers are variables. They are the ones that can change the equation.

The real question is: Is Daniel correct? My response is “Not yet”.

Prior to this week, Daniel’s mantra had been, “Whatever happened, happened.” Now, suddenly, he believes he can change the future (which for the losties is their past). Let’s take a look at Daniel’s actions and results:

1) He tells Pierre Chang that there will be an accident at the Swan station. Dr. Chang doesn’t believe him and proceeds with Swan development....still moving toward an accident.
2) He tells Dr. Chang that Miles is his son. When Miles denies this, Chang blows Daniel off. What this probably did is ensure Miles and his mom (as well as Charlotte) are sent off the island before the accident...as they always have been.
3) Daniel tries to save Charlotte by telling her to leave, and thus ensuring she follows the same path. (By the way how cool was it that Charlotte says to Daniel “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner”?....the exact phrase she says with her dying breath.)
4) He goes to find his mother on the island and she shoots him, fulfilling the “sacrifice” she referred to when talking with Widmore. (more on this below)

Regardless of Faraday’s contention that he is a variable, every action that he takes ensures that history remains unchanged...he is a constant.

"I'm from the future"

So, clearly Daniel was wrong....or maybe not. I’m going to tread carefully here as, to date, I have been firmly in the whatever-happened-happened camp. If Daniel was wrong about the time travelers being variables, then what was the purpose of telling Jack that if they can set off the Jughead bomb, Oceanic 815 will land safely in Los Angeles?

One answer is that Jack is the variable that can change the equation and erase everything that has happened. Let me be clear that I don’t buy this for one second, because it would set off a time paradox. If they blow up the island, the crash will never occur, but then Jack won’t be able to go back to 1977 to set off the bomb, so everything resets and the crash DOES happen. There would be an endless loop of bomb/no-crash and no-bomb/crash. Can’t and won’t happen.

Another answer is that Jack is the variable and changes something, but history course corrects and island survives. I think this is possible. I could come up with a million wild theories on this, but I’d rather not speculate too much and just leave it open as a possibility.

Yet another possibility (and the one that I subscribe to) is that Jack BELIEVES he is the variable, tries to change the course of history and ultimately ensures whatever happened, happened.

"You're a variable Jack"

I haven’t wandered around the blogosphere yet, but I’ve got a nagging feeling that I’m missing something....and it might be something big.

Let’s move on to my nominees for Mother and Father of the Year....Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore. We’ve known that Eloise was Dan’s mom, but this is the first week that we’ve received confirmation on the Widmore paternity. I don’t think that should be too much of a shock for anyone as they were both on the island from the 50s through the 70s. I thought I had mentioned Widmore was likely to be Faraday’s dad in a previous post, but I couldn’t find it (guess I don’t get credit). Both of them have been pulling their son’s strings his entire life. What I find interesting though is that while Charles and Eloise don’t seem to be working together on the outside, they appear to be pushing Daniel in the same direction....learning about time travel and returning to the island. This tells me that Daniel’s death is important. It is a critical event that must happen. This is why you could see the pain on Eloise’s face when she encourages Daniel to return to the island and the anger when she slaps Charles and refers to her “sacrifice”. Sacrifice is an interesting word to use, because it implies that she is giving up Daniel’s life for something of greater value.

"How bout a little snog for old time sake, Eloise"

I think if you couple this idea of sacrifice and her insistence for the Oceanic 5 to return on the Ajira 316 flight, it points again to Jack taking some important action related to the island. Jack may be the variable, but Hawking and Widmore are trying to ensure he is a constant.

Let’s go on to the final scene. One of the things I love about Lost is how they can deliver such shocking surprises and then leave you asking yourself “How did I not see that coming?” I always love when Richard is in the mix. For a split second I thought Daniel was going to shoot Richard and we would see how immortal he really is. Then BANG...Daniel is shot and I got that sick feeling that I knew who was the shooter....then, indeed, Ellie is revealed. The pain on Daniel’s face (emotional and physical) is heartbreaking as this exchange occurs:

FARADAY: You knew. You always knew. You knew this was gonna happen. You sent me here anyway.

ELOISE: Who are you?

FARADAY: I... I'm your son.

Epic.

"Don't shot me in the eyeliner"

Here are a few misc observations:

1) Gotta love young Daniel’s line: “I can make time.” Maybe some foreshadowing if Daniel survives (but I don’t think he will)?
2) Speaking of good lines how about Hurley: “You guys were in 1954? Like... Fonzie times?” and Sawyer: “Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy. Good to see you again. Pound cake's in the kitchen. Help yourself to the punch.”
3) It was good to see the meeting at the LaFluer residence....this is the first time ALL the 1977 Losties are in the same place together.
4) Ms. Hawking gives Daniel the journal that he keeps his time travel notes in.
5) Did you notice the “Wired” magazine Widmore moves to sit on Daniel’s couch? On the cover it refers to “Time Travel” and “The Impossible Gets Real”.
6) Radzinski is a complete tool. It was great though to see him in a shootout with Jack, Kate, and Daniel. Over the last 2 episodes it looks like Jack is finally growing a pair again (I guess the island can heal that too).
7) Hurley was carrying his guitar case again when getting ready to leave the DHARMA Barracks. We have yet to get Hurley’s back story for boarding Ajira 316. Its gotta be coming soon.
8) Desmond’s survival is important to both Widmore and Hawking. As was said previously, “The island isn’t done with you yet.” What I can’t figure out is what will bring him back there.

As we head to the final 2 weeks (this includes the two-hour finale) of the season, I think I share Ms. Hawking’s sentiments: “For the first time in a long time, I don't know what's going to happen next.”

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 13 - Some Like It Hoth)

Well, this week's episode, was somewhat of a letdown coming off last week's epic Linus-palooza. If you listen to closely, you can hear the uber-geek population screaming "Filler episode!" While I didn't love "Some Like It Hoth", it was one of those episodes that if you look carefully enough you can pull out just enough nuggets to make it worth while.

Let me start by going on the record that I now only care that two characters survive for the end of the series....I am holding out hope for a spinoff series entitled: "The Hurley and Miles Supernatural Comedy Hour". When you get lines like:

"Why don't we carpool? It'll help with global warming, which hasn't happened yet, so maybe we can prevent it..."

and

"You're just jealous my powers are better than yours."

and

"That douche is my dad."

...it is pure gold.

My new favorite couple

But lets get into the specifics of the episode. We finally got to see a full Miles-flashback episode....and I for one was glad. We got a little bit of a better sense of what Miles is all about. The major thing here is that Miles is indeed Pierre Chang's (aka Marvin Candle's) kid. But those of you who remember back to my first blog entry already knew that was the assumption I was under since we first saw Pierre's baby in the opening scene from season 5. We also learned that his ability to talk to dead people has been both a curse and a blessing to him since childhood. I also enjoyed seeing Miles' first encounter with Naomi Dorrit. What is significant about this meeting is that Miles gets out of the corpse information about Widmore, open graves, and an old airplane. This clearly dispels an internet theory that Widmore didn't fake the Oceanic 815 wreckage, the plane at the bottom of the ocean was the real 815, and it arrived there due to someone mucking with the past. So that is one theory we can toss in the trashcan.

Naomi makes a return appearance

Now, lets move to what I believe to be the most significant thing in this episode. In one of Miles' flashbacks, he is abducted in a van. The guy riding shotgun introduces himself as Bram. Please note that this is the same guy that was Ilana's sidekick on the island working on that massive crate I mentioned last week. Bram tells him that he doesn't want to get on Widmore's boat and then asks, "Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?" This is the same thing Ilana asked Lapidus last week. Bram also said that if Miles joined them, "all those things you've spent your life trying to find out? You'll know. You'll know who you are, Miles--why it is you have a gift, and most of all, you'll know about your father." If Bram and Ilana aren't working for Widmore and they don't appear to be working for Ben, then who the hell are these two? I'm going to guess that they are a third faction. Actually, I am starting to believe that the Widmore and Ben battle is really just an internal power struggle and the "war" Widmore spoke about a few weeks back will be with this new group. However, I don't think this new faction is really new (I don't believe that an entirely new organization is being introduced this late in the series)....I'm going to hazard a guess that they are representatives of the DHARMA Initiative....or whatever is left of it. And given Bram's comments above, I also believe that Pierre Chang is alive and perhaps leading this new group. So, do you still think this was a throw away episode?

Miles meets Bram

That covers the main stuff, but here are a few short hits on other things I found interesting:

1) Miles' mom appears to have been dying of cancer. Could it be due to exposure to radiation on the island (remember that nuclear bomb from the episode "Jughead" that is likely to end up under concrete in the Swan Station)?

2) Sawyer's...I mean LaFeur's island paradise is starting to come apart at the seams, between Juliet's lame excuse to Roger about Ben being missing, Kate being a sap around Roger, and LaFleur taking one of his security guards captive. This thing should come to a head in the next episode.

3) Did you notice the stuff on Egypt on the chalkboard in the DHARMA classroom? Nothing really revealed, but it underscores that Egyptian stuff is significant.

4) When Pierre Chang says, "I wasn't aware of any circles", that was kind of a cool reference to him not realizing he is sitting next to his son in a time loop.

5) Great to see Hurley watch the numbers being stamped on the hatch. I am starting to believe that the numbers are less mystical, and more just caught in a time loop with Hurley.....I don't have time to explain this one tonight, but I'll try to expand on this in a future post.

6) With all the making up with your daddy stuff Hurley was talking about, was one of the "improvements" he was going to write into "The Empire Strikes Back" a reconciliation of Luke and Vader? Would it go something like this:

Darth Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No. I am your father.
Luke: No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!
Darth Vader: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
Luke: No! No!
Darth Vader: Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.
Luke: OK....but can I borrow the tie-fighter tonight.

7) A threat to Kate finally seemed to momentarily awaken the old Jack. Let's see if this continues.

Jack is back....sort of

8) When Miles and Chang are heading to the sub to get Daniel, Chang says they are getting a scientist from Ann Arbor. Since this is the home of the DHARMA Initiative HQ, it is likely Daniel has been hobnobbing with Gerald and Karen DeGroot.....from orientation film fame.

9) Another popular internet theory is that Ben, Sun, and Locke couldn't go back to 1977, because there was already a younger version of them there (with the only real example being little Ben). Since we saw Miles and baby-Miles in the same scene, I think it is safe to assume that this is another theory that can be safely trashed (two in one episode).

That's all I've got. Next week is a clip show, so I probably won't post.

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 12 - Dead is Dead)

Wow! I had high expectations for this week's Ben-centric episode and boy, did Lost come through! Probably the best episode of the season.

Again, this week I don't have a ton of time to write this, so let me get right into it.

The jury has reached the verdict and Benjamin Linus is found GUILTY....guilty of being the best friggin' character on TV. Anytime Ben is given an opportunity to stretch his legs, he shows us why he is The Man.

Let's start with his mission to kill Danielle Rousseau. Ben and Ethan (note that he is already an Other at a young age....I think I need to re-visit my initial instincts that his mom Amy is an Other spy) are sent to eliminate the French madwoman. However, when Ben enters her camp, he notices baby Alex and can't close the deal.....but decides on a little baby-napping instead. Gotta love Ben cradling the baby and firing a round into the sand to silence the French infection rantings. Here as in many other moments we see the dichotomy sundae of Ben....a scoop of ruthless bastard with compassion sprinkles.

So then Ben carries little Alex back to the Others camp, where Charles Widmore lets him know how displeased he is that Ben didn't kill both mother and child. So Ben calls CW's bluff and says, if Jacob wants it done, you do it. Charles retreats out of check, but its clear the chess match goes on between the two. Eventually, Ben has Charles exiled. There's got to be a lot more to the Ben and Chuck saga, but at the very least we at least know that Ben is responsible for Widmore's banishment from the island and he didn't leave via the frozen donkey wheel (as that has been a popular internet theory).

OK, so now let's skip ahead to the present. I could spend all night blogging about the Ben/Locke dialogue...it is always great when those to share the screen...but let me focus on what I think is important and that is that clearly their roles have been reversed. Locke is now the self-assured master of the island and Ben is the one who seems confused and surprised. However, some things about Ben don't change....like being a two-faced liar. So which of these statements is true?

- Ben believed Locke would be resurrected if he was returned to the island.
- He had no idea Locke would be resurrected and it scares the hell out of him (dead is dead).

He is lying to someone. And speaking of lies, how about Ben lying to Caesar that maybe Locke was already on the island. Not that the lie matters now, as Ben shockingly filled Caesar with a shotgun blast (raise your hand if you saw that coming....put your hand down you little Ben wanna be)...."consider that my apology."

So off Ben and Locke go the main island (home sweet home) in search of the monster. But first a little spookiness in Ben's old house that turns out to be just Sun and Lapidus (nice job Frank leaving Sun with a murderer and a zombie). I was totally psyched that we got to see the inside of the secret room where Ben summons the smoke monster. I always imagined the summoning device to be computer based, but I think it is so much cooler that it was a primitive system of draining some muddy water. But alas smokey doesn't show. So after Locke emerges from the jungle (what the hell was he doing out there? Maybe chatting with his old buddy Christian?), he leads them off to find the monster at the Temple.

Calling the Monster

OK, let's talk Temple for a few minutes. Number one, I am really amped up that what we have seen so far only turned out to be the wall surrounding the Temple (as Ben says the actual Temple is a half mile inside the wall). This means that the Temple remains a locale that we are likely to see at some point (I am guessing next season). Number two, it is really cool that Locke takes Ben down the same hole in which Montand got his arm ripped off (how is the island telling Locke where to go?). Number three, is the hieroglyph depicting Anubis and the smoke monster.

Cerberus and Anubis

Now, if you recall a few weeks back when we got a glimpse of the statue I guessed that it was Anubis....Egyptian god that protects souls on their journey to the Underworld. I am not 100% convinced that the statue is Anubis, but Anubis is clearly significant. In that same posting, I talked about Radzinski referring to the smoke monster as Cerberus, the watchdog of Hades in Greek mythology. Now we have a hieroglyph that links these two. So, I believe my theory that the island is a gateway to the Underworld is looking a lot stronger.

(By the way, it has been speculated a lot on the internet that Richard Alpert is the Egyptian sun god, Ra (Richard Alpert...RA). I think this is a strong possibility, but I'm not sure how that ties in to the Underworld piece)

So, anyway, back to the main story....Ben falls down, gets up and meets Smokey. And, as he mentioned earlier by Ben, the monster does indeed judge Ben for being responsible for Alex's death. I'm not sure exactly what to make of this, but here are a couple of ideas: 1) maybe Ben's sin was saving Alex in the first place and he was supposed to kill her; 2) maybe when you stand before God to be judged, you are actually the one to decide your fate. Then things get even crazier when Alex shows up. She accuses Ben of planning to kill Locke again and demands that he promise to follow Locke's every command....to which he agrees. So, here is my question: Does the smoke monster conjure the dead or just take the form of the dead? I like the idea that these are indeed the dead we are seeing acting of their own volition for the good of the island...but we shall see.

Ben's Judgement

When Ben emerges from his encounter with the Smokey and Alex he looks completely defeated and seems almost disappointed that the monster didn't kill him. I think this is because he has been given a worse fate....subservience to John Locke.

That covers the man story, but here are a few other observations that I found interesting.

1) There is MUCH MORE to Ilana than was originally revealed. First of all, she is moving a crate with "necessary supplies". That is a hell of a big crate for water bottles and airline peanuts. Second, she later asks Frank, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" There can be no doubt, she is talking about THE statue....so how does she know about it? My guess is she was sent by Widmore. If so, was this a secret code to identify Others? Or maybe there is indeed something literally in the shadow of the statue. Can't wait to find out.

More than meets the eye

2) As I guessed previously, Ben went to the docks to kill Penny and was stopped by Desmond. Ben would have succeeded, but again his soft spot for a mother/child caused him to hesitate. My guess is that Ben's longing for his own mother is at the heart of these lapses in ruthlessness. Here is an interesting note though....Desmond could not have been in too much of a hurry to find Eloise Hawking. He took a SAILBOAT from London to Los Angeles. "Everyone on the island is counting on us, I'd better hop in my boat and I'll be in LA in 2 months tops."

3) Locke has "some ideas" how to get to 1977. So where did these ideas come from? Is he thinking Frozen Donkey Wheel? Is the island communicating with him? Were these thoughts implanted in him when he was dead?

4) Ben's Dharma house is built on top of the smoke monster summoning hole. So, who built the house (it was there before Ben)? Someone in the DHARMA Initiative must have known about the chamber. I'm thinking maybe Pierre Chang (aka Dr. Marvin Candle). Would be nice to find this out before the end of the season.

That's all I've got for now. Until next week....

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 11 – Whatever Happened Happened)

As mentioned last week, I’m in an intensive training this week, so I need to write this up in 1 hour (it usually takes several). So bear with any shortcomings from previous weeks.

So, in the interest of time, let me do some quick hits before I get into the big stuff:

- Hurley and Miles discussing time travel, had to be the greatest, most self-referential thing I have ever seen on a TV show. That dialogue could have been lifted directly from the internet discussion forums. The “Back to the Future” reference was classic. For what its worth, I am solidly with Miles....whatever happened.....ALWAYS happened.

Battle of the time geniuses

- Interesting to see Roger Linus (Ben’s dad) with actual feelings for Ben. Gives just a bit (a very small bit) of sympathy for him when Ben later kills him in “the purge”.

- Nice fakeout in the grocery store, with the woman walking away with Aaron having hair like Claire. I would have preferred Kate losing Aaron to giving him to his grandmother....but whatever....I never really cared that much about that story anyway.

- The Cassidy/Clementine storyline was uneventful, but I guess it was somewhat obligatory to close out (I hope) the Sawyer-baby story.

- Interesting that we now know that Kate went back to find Claire....and not for Sawyer.

- Sawyer calls Kate “Freckles” for the first time since she returned...and then promptly dumps her. Personally, I don’t get Sawyer and Juliet (I still think there is something dark yet to be revealed about Juliet), but whatever. I’m all about theories....not shipping (that is internet speak for interest in character romantic relationships).

- Based on the comment of an Other to Richard, both Charles Widmore and Ellie (whom I have previously affirmed to be Mrs. Hawking) are still on the island in 1977 (interesting....)

- It was a very convenient continuity error that last week, Ben was shot in the dead center of his heart (left side of the chest) and this week the would is on his right side....what is this a silent movie serial?!?!?!?

So far so good...got that done in 15 minutes.

Now, I what to talk about 2 things. First Jack. Then Ben.

This week, the internet theories have been running wild with speculation that Jack would operate on Ben and save him. Seemed reasonable, but I love that Jack refused to do in. In the past, Jack (the Man of Science) would have jumped into action without a second thought. The new Jack (the Man of Faith) lets the island decide if it is necessary to save Ben.

Think about this....if Jack did save Ben, would he have grown up wishing to join the hostiles? The only hostile, he ever met (besides Richard) shot him in the jungle....wouldn’t that push Ben away from a life with them? Now, due to the actions of Kate (‘bout time she actually did something this season) and Sawyer (upon the urging of Juliet....hmmmmmm), Ben will be “saved” by the Others. Now I don’t think it really matters, because Jack NEVER saved Ben.....it was always Richard (I’m right there with you Miles).

But now....did Richard really save Ben? Before taking him, he warned Kate and Sawyer, that he would “never be the same again”. What on Earth does that mean? Well, lets think about where Richard took Ben. He brought him into the Temple....the same place where the smoke monster ripped off Montand’s arm and Rousseau’s crew were “infected”. I’ve previously hypothesized in previous editions that the island may be a gateway to the Underworld, and the smoke monster is Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. I’ve also speculated that the four-toed statue is Anubis, the Egyptian god that guides souls to Underworld. Perhaps, Richard is Anubis. And maybe his face is what we will see if we ever get a look at the front of the statue.

Gate to the Underworld?

I think another point that reinforces this is just after we see Richard bring Ben into the Temple, the scene switched to a waking Ben finding Locke sitting over him. Locke says, “Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.” I think that is about a big of clue as we could be given as to what is really going on.

Welcome back to the Land of the Living

I don’t have time to write much more. Next week’s episode (a Ben-centric, called “Dead is Dead”) looks absolutely EPIC! Can’t wait.

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 10 - He's Our You)

The alternate title for this week's episode could have been: "Sayid is a Stone Cold Badass". Our favorite Iraqi is indeed an intriguing character. I've always found Sayid-centric episodes to be among the best. He is rarely the focus of the main story, but when his character is given a chance to stretch his legs, I find him fascinating.

Badass Sayid

I mentioned a few weeks back that we were likely going to see flashbacks again and we indeed got them started this week. Some people were glad to see them gone earlier this season...but I think they are an important component of the series that adds depth to the story. In fact, the flashbacks are one of the things that made Lost special when it first came on the scene. Admittedly, before the introduction of the flash-forward, the flashbacks were feeling forced. But now, after a little break, I, for one, am welcoming them back.

What was great about this week's episode was that the flashback filled in important keys to the story. We now know that Sayid was capable of taking a life at an early age ("choking the chicken" will never be quite as funny as it used to be). We learned that Sayid's hatred for Ben was due more to Ben showing Sayid his true nature...a natural born killer. We found out how Sayid came to be in handcuffs, escorted by Ilana onto Ajira 316. And finally we have been told that Ilana doesn't work for Benjamin Linus (unless she is lying....but I am inclined to believe her). Entertaining and informative...that is the way all flashbacks should be. I expect we'll flashbacks about Kate (where is Aaron?), Hurley (how did he get out of jail and here did that guitar come from?), Jack (did he have a second meeting with Locke?), Sun (what is she really up to?), and Ben (if he isn't dead....what happened at the pier).

Now I know everyone is waiting for me to get to the final scene, but first I want to take a little detour to a line that probably slipped past most people. When Horace was conducting his DHARMA Initiative Town Hall Meeting, Radzinsky says "Either we make a decision, or I call Ann Arbor...and they make a decision for us". Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan....where DHARMA Initiative founders Gerald and Karen DeGroot were based in the 70s. The DeGroots are one of those pieces of Lost lore that have been the subject of much hardcore fan speculation. The only thing we know about the DeGroots is the little that is told to us in the orientation films for the Swan and Pearl stations. Gerald also appears briefly in the Room 23 film (If you remember back in season 3, Karl, Alex's boyfriend, is being brainwashed by the Others in Room 23 where he is forced to watch a movie with a bunch of weird images and music playing). The mention of Ann Arbor tells me that we are likely to see the DeGroots in the near future. I am really pleased that this season pieces of the backstory are coming into play (the statue, Danielle's team, the DI, the DeGroots....and maybe before long The Black Rock).

Karen and Gerald DeGroot from the Pearl Orientation Video

OK, now let's talk about the episode's final scene. Last week, I said that either Sayid will attempt to kill Ben or he will align with Ben and join the Others. Well, they teased us into thinking it was headed toward the latter, then suddenly Sayid pops a cap in lil' Ben. If it wasn't for last week's preview showing Sayid shooting at someone in that final scene (I was really pissed that they did that), it would have been as shocking as Michael shooting Libby and Ana Lucia. None-the-less, I was still somewhat surprised to see Sayid shoot Ben point blank in the heart.

Dead Ben?

So what does this mean?

I believe one of three things will turn out to be true: 1) Ben isn't dead OR 2) Ben is dead and this has changed everything OR 3) Ben is dead and the island resurrects him via the smoke monster (ala Christian).

I'll take them one at a time. In any other location, a shot like that would kill Ben...but they are on the island. The island has miraculous healing power, but others who have been shot on the island (save Locke) die and stay dead. However, if the island isn't done with Ben yet, he won't die. Also, I believe in what Daniel has told us: "whatever happened, happened" (interestingly enough this is the title of next week's episode). So, in order for Ben to be a presence in the future, he must live in the past. I believe this to be the most likely case.

Now option two is that Ben is indeed dead. The one case you could make for this is the mystery I mentioned last week regarding the seemingly alternate future the Ajira crash survivors appear to be in. If Ben is dead, then there was never a purge of the DI and who knows how many other things would be different (then again Ms. Hawking has said "the universe has a way of course correcting"). Let me make one thing perfectly clear...if this is indeed the way it plays out I will be pissed off beyond belief. For one it would mean everything that we've seen in seasons 1-4 never happened and second it sets up a million time paradoxes. I just cannot believe the writers, who have been planning the show so meticulously, would allow something like this to occur.

The third option is that Ben dies and is resurrected through the smoke monster (or some other island means) and becomes the walking dead like Christian. This could explain why Ben appears to be omniscient and detached. However, I don't buy this either. It just isn't consistent with the rest of the show. I don't see how Ben could spend so much off island time if he is a part of the island.

So, I'll stick with Ben is alive....for now.

Oh...and by the way, when the DHARMA torturer came out of his tent, how many of you said, "Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl."?

Oldham (or Larry?)

That is all I've got for this week. Next week I start a 4-week intensive training course. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write blog entries, but I'll do what I can.

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 9 - Namaste)

In comparison with the rest of season 5, this week’s episode was a little pedestrian…but I think that is more a testament to the great episodes we had so far (Jughead, 316, L&D of Jeremy Bentham and This Place is Death...to name a few), rather than a condemnation of Namaste.

This week was entertaining and it had a few good moments here and there, but I think this was more of a set up for the rest of the season. And that isn’t a bad thing....just a necessity to tell the rest of the story. They needed to make it clear that Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Sayid are in a different time than Locke/Ben/Sun/Frank. Done. Team Sawyer needed to introduce the Ajira 316 survivors to the DHARMA initiative. Done. Everyone needed to say their hellos. Done. Sun and Frank needed to get to the main island, while Ben remained on Hydra Island. Done.

Before I get into my major discussion topics, let me throw out a couple of little nuggets that I thought were interesting. First, we not only got to meet the never-before-seen Swan Station button-pusher Radzinski, but learned that he was the architect of said station….the one he eventually blows his brains out in. Second, Jack was made a DHARMA “workman”….got to believe he will be working with or for Ben’s dad, Roger (“Roger Workman” as Hurley once referred to his skeleton).

Radzinky working on The Swan model

So now lets get into some analysis…starting with the crash of Ajira 316 (I called landing on the runway back before episode 316….I have to pat my self on the back when I get one right, since I’m more likely to blow my predictions….see below). Did you notice that after the flash took Jack/Hurley/Kate/Sayid to 1977, it turned from night to day outside the plane? Also, as the plane is going down, you can hear “4...8...15...16...” over the radio. If this is being broadcast from the island, it raises a continuity issue....Daniel Rousseau changed the radio broadcast (from the “numbers”) some time after her arrival in 1988. The other odd thing was when Sun and Frank arrive at the main island, the barracks appear to be in complete disarray….not like they were when we last saw them (when Keamy and company attacked the Losties last season). And then, when Christian tells Sun that Jin is with her friends, he says she has a “long journey” ahead of her. Seems like an odd thing to say. My initial reaction was that they aren’t in 2007, but then I remembered during the opening scene change, the caption said “Thirty Years Earlier”. So if Team Sawyer is in 1977, then the Ajira folks are in 2007. However, something is definitely not kosher here. I don’t want to speculate too much about this, but is it possible that the Ajira flight has entered an alternate timeline (or parallel universe)...one in which the Oceanic 815 crash never occurred? I’m reluctant to go down that rabbit hole (its like the smoke monster hole...once you go in, you are never the same), but it is an intriguing idea.

Night turns to day outside the plane

But here is another question. Why is Sun the only one of the Oceanic 5 survivors that didn’t flash to 1977? I’ve read some speculation that since Ben is already on the island in 1977, he can’t flash back there....so this would imply that Sun is already on the island in 1977. The theory being two of the same person can’t exist in the same place/time. In my opinion that is load of fish biscuits...we’ve seen earlier this season when the Losties were time skipping that they were existing at the same time as when they were already there (Locke saw the light from the Swan and Sawyer saw Kate helping Claire give birth). Here is a much better explanation: Sun left the island pregnant and needed to return with her child (matching the entity that left) in order to flash to 1977. And Ben simply was not supposed to return.

I mentioned Christian’s encounter with Sun above....and that was quite unusual. It was obvious that the smoke monster was moving the trees around prior to seeing Christian. Then there was smoke coming in the processing building door after the wind blew it open (and right after that if you look over Sun’s left shoulder, you we see a woman in the shadows...possibly Claire). Now the obvious conclusion is that Christian is actually a manifestation of smokey. However, I you recall from one of my previous posts, I talked about the smoke monster’s moniker of Cerberus....and its potential role as the guardian of the underworld. Maybe the smoke monster can retrieve the dead (we’ve seen dead people on the island when smokie is around....Yemi, Ben’s mom, Harper).

Who is behind Sun?

Now, let’s get this over with....Amy’s baby. Well, it turned out to be Ethan (damn I was wrong about it being Hurley)….which makes him island born....this could explain why he is an Other. I had another theory that Amy is actually an Others/Hostiles spy that has infiltrated the Dharma Initiative. It wouldn’t be the first time the Others have done this....but I’ve talked myself out of this theory. I don’t have much about Ethan...and I can’t think of a reason to care....yet.

No more talking about Ethan

But what I do care about is....where in the world is Daniel Faraday? When Sawyer mentions Faraday, Jack asks, “Faraday’s here?” To which Sawyer replies, “Not anymore”. So where is he? I’d say one of two things has occurred. Either Daniel spun the Donkey wheel (not very likely) or he took Charlotte off the island (ding, ding, ding). I think Faraday has vamoosed with Charlotte and is doing some time/space tinkering in the outside world. Only a guess though.

Last, but not least, how could I not talk about the Ben-Sayid meeting. While it wasn’t too much of a shock that at some point we would run into young Ben....I really liked the way the scene played. The kid who plays young Ben has really stepped up his acting game since his first appearance in season 3. I thought his mannerisms and facial expressions (even the eyes...those horrible eyes, as Widmore once said) were spot on. I see the rest of this season playing out one of two ways. Either Sayid will attempt to kill Ben or he will align with Ben (as he did after returning to the real world) and join the Others. Since he can’t kill Ben without violating the space/time continuum rules, I think the latter may turn out to be true. Remember that Widmore said a war is coming. Maybe the war will turn out to be different factions of the Oceanic survivors.

Growing into his creepiness

That’s all I’ve got for this week. Namaste and good luck.

One last thing. I want to put in a little plug for The Lost Initiative from Sky One. These guys do a very entertaining webcast twice a week. Their theories and analyses are weak, but it is still very fun to watch. You can find them on facebook or google them.

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Bonus Blog - The Epic Mythological Saga)

This week we don't get a new episode of Lost (I'm jonsing for more). So to fill the void, I am writing a blog entry takes a different look at Lost in the context as one of the great epic mythological sagas of our time.

The series has influences and/or parallels to works of literature and cinema as diverse as: Watership Down, The Wizard of Oz, The Brothers Karamazov, and Lord of the Flies ("sucks to your ass-mar"). For the purposes of this discussion, though, I am going to draw comparisons to three pop-culture epics:

The Star Wars Saga

Stephen King's The Stand

The Harry Potter Series (the books)

Each is a sprawling saga with a huge cast of richly-drawn characters, a complex mythology, overflowing with religious imagery and themes of: good vs. evil, redemption, and self-determination vs destiny. Sounds a lot like a certain island adventure I know. They also have another attribute shared with Lost...damned good storytelling. If you're a fan of Lost it is impossible not to enjoy these three.

Star Wars and The Stand are both major influences on Lost...references to both permeate Lost. Harry Potter is less of a direct influence, but has similar themes to Lost and spawned comparable fan analysis and debate. Also, prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof wrote an op-ed piece in the NY Times entitled, "The Boy Who Died" that included the following passage: "She (JK Rowling) can't whack Harry because there are rules that must be followed when it comes to how one ends a grand mythology. Good triumphs over evil. Hope overcomes despair. Paper covers rock. Harry wins. Voldemort loses. The Ewoks sing."

Back during Lost's original pilot, Locke explains Backgammon to Walt as "Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark." I think it would be foolish to overlook this as anything but an analogy for the epic struggle we are witnessing on Lost. In Star Wars there is the Dark Side of The Force, balanced with the implied "light side", as well as the battle waged between the rebels and the Empire. In The Stand, there are two groups of post-apocalyptic survivors, one following Mother Abigail (the representation of good) and the other following Randall Flagg ("The Dark Man"). In Harry Potter, the battle lines are drawn between Harry and the Order of the Phoenix and Lord Voldermort and the Death Eaters.

Locke explaining Backgammon

The interesting thing is that in each of these examples, the epitome of evil is clear: Darth Vader (or arguably The Emperor), Randall Flagg, and Voldemort are the bad guys. They wear black, they offer the weak power to follow them, and they kill the innocent. Conversely, Lost has bucked this convention, shrouding the identify of the villain in mystery. Clearly, the likely candidates are Benjamin Linus or Charles Widmore (you could also make an argument for Richard Alpert, Jacob, or Christian Shepherd....although wouldn't it be fantastic if someone like Bernard turned out to be the villan?). But which one is the bad guy?

Lost has blurred the line between good and evil. If Ben or Widmore is the villain, does that make the other one a force of good? If you remember back to the season 2 finale, when Ben is letting Michael and Walt leave the island, Michael asks Ben, "Who are you people?". To which Ben replies, "We're the good guys Michael..." Now coming from Ben, you need to take that with a grain of salt, but it is an intriguing line none-the-less. Both Ben and Widmore are cold, calculating bastards. It is hard to imagine either one truly being on the side of good, even if they think they are. Both may believe themselves to be on the side of right. But an unwavering belief in one's convictions can lead you to down a dark path (just ask Anakin Skywalker).

We're the good guys Michael

What about a hero? Luke Skywalker, Stuart Redman, and Harry Potter each represent the hero, respectively, in the comparative pieces I’ve listed above. In Lost, you could make an argument for several characters: Sawyer (nahhh....more Han Solo), Charlie (nope, he was modeled after The Stand’s Larry Underwood), Kate or Sayid (Mikhail once described them as “flawed...because you are angry, and weak, and frightened”...a great Jedi once said: “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”) There really is only one choice: everyone’s favorite tattooed spinal surgeon, Jack Shephard.

Jack has his demon’s, but they are internal, like Harry Potter's. He is a reluctant leader, like Stuart Redman. He has daddy issues, like Luke Skywalker. But he is the leader of the Oceanic survivors....he is the “shepherd”. I’ve postulated before that I believe Jack to be Jacob. Beyond the obvious similarities in first name, Jacob could be described as the “shepherd” of The Others. Additionally, Judeo-Christian and Islamic teachings, all contain references to “Jacob’s ladder”....a bridge between the worlds of God and Man. I speculated in my last blog entry that the island was an entrance to the underworld or afterlife. I think Jacob and his ladder, play well with this interpretation. Note that Christian (Jack’s father, with a not too subtle name) and Claire (Jack’s half-sister) have both been seen in Jacob’s cabin. Maybe Jack is the one to shepherd (or Shephard if you prefer), the dead into the next world (“see you in another life brotha”).

Jacob

In epics of good vs. evil, there is often a Christ-figure. By the time we made it through the last Harry Potter novel, Harry’s role as a Christ-figure could not be more clear (I won’t go into the details in case you haven’t read the series). In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi says to Vader, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can imagine." Vader then does indeed light-saber him and Obi-Wan disappears into the Force only to reappear as Luke’s spiritual guide. Obi-Wan dies to save the world from evil...just as Christians believe Christ died for the sins of man. In Lost, if you had asked back in the first couple of season who the Christ figure was, I would have said Walt. But as the series has progressed, we’ve learned that others are “special” too. I think it is clear that recent episodes have cemented Locke as the Christ-figure. His death and resurrection are the perfect Christ parallels. He dies to get everyone back to the island (the entrance to the underworld....or perhaps opening the gates to heaven).

Another theme related to the religious symbolism, is redemption. In Return of the Jedi, Vader finally makes amends for his evil deeds by killing the Emperor. You could make an argument that this one act does not make up for decades of mass murder...but many religions believe that all sins can be forgiven. Similarly, in Harry Potter, Snape is a figure who seeks redemption, if not in the eyes of others, at least in his own soul. In The Stand, Larry Underwood, is the character of redemption....atoning for his drug addiction and becoming a member of the new society. As I mentioned earlier, Larry is a parallel character to Charlie on Lost. But Charlie isn’t the only character the island brings redemption to: Kate (murderer and fugitive), Sawyer (con man), Sayid (torturer), Jin (ashamed of his roots), Sun (infidelity), etc. In fact you could make an argument that each of the Seven Deadly Sins are represented in the Oceanic 815 survivors:

Lust – Sun or Boone
Gluttony - Hurley
Greed - Sawyer
Sloth – Charlie or Shannon
Wrath – Kate or Sayid
Envy - Jin
Pride – Jack or Michael

Once on the island, each of these characters transcends these “sins” and finds redemption there. Think of each of these characters and try to find one who has not found more happiness and meaning to their life on the island than in the real world.

Sinners one and all

The last theme of the great epic that I’ll touch on is choice. As Dumbledore once told Harry, “It is not our abilities that show what we truly are...it is our choices.” In all of these stories one could debate self-determination vs. destiny as the driver for a character. But I would say that self-determination fulfills a character’s destiny. It is Vader’s choice to turn to the Dark Side, but if he does not make this choice, he can’t fulfill his destiny as “the chosen one” to be the one to destroy the Emperor and return balance to The Force. In The Stand, survivors must choose between the hope of Mother Abigail and power of Randall Flagg. Lost’s characters must also make choices to fulfill their destiny. Locke chooses to leave the island to save it. The Oceanic 5 choose to return to the island. They have their choices, but are their choices ones made of free will or are they just fulfilling a predetermined destiny? Or maybe they are doing both.

In this entry, the examples I’ve used are three great works of popular fiction: the film series that reinvented the science fiction film genre, the best work of the most popular horror writer of the last 50 years, and the book series that elevated children’s literature to never before seen heights. All of them employ the common themes of epic mythological sagas. The greatness of Lost, is that it too embraces, yet toys with, these mythological archetypes....taking them in new and different directions. Long after Lost is complete, I believe it will be viewed as a seminal work....taking television to places never gone before.

I know I talked about writing a couple of blog entries this week, but this one took a lot out of me. I’m going to take a break and relax until next week’s episode, “Nameste”....you know it is gonna be great.

Lost Analysis and Commentary (Episode 8 - LaFluer)

This week’s episode is one that I loved, but my guess is that not everyone will agree (the same can be said for this blog entry....it's long....buckle up). The DHARMA Initiative has long been one of the great mysteries of the series since its introduction in season 2. When it was clear that the episode was to be based in the DHARMA period, I was expecting this to be the Rosetta Stone episode for the DHARMA puzzle. Instead we got a story about a kinder, gentler Sawyer set in the DHARMA period. Now, we learned some interesting things about DHARMA, but it still left many questions unanswered (damn you Lost creators Damon Lindelof and Cartion Cuse). But more on DHARMA later.....

....what I really want to talk about is the episode’s first 30 seconds. For a few short moments, Team Sawyer was propelled into the distant past and we finally saw one of the things I have been dying to know more about: the four toed statue (you could almost hear the collective gasps of Lost geeks around the country). But in true Lost fashion, we were only given a partial reveal.

Back of the statue

We only got to see the back of the statue, but I think there are enough clues to draw some significant conclusions. My immediate reaction when I saw it was that it (well...immediately after jumping up and down and yelling "Four toed statue! Four toed statue! Four toed statue!") was that it was an Egyptian statue . As the episode went on, a couple of things confirmed the Egyptian origin. First and foremost was the appearance of the ankh necklace. The ankh is the Egyptian symbol for eternal life (paging Richard Alpert....Richard Alpert to the four toed statue please). I also believe the prominence of Horace Goodspeed (more on Horace below) was also a clue. Horace is a homophone for Horus....Egyptian god of the sky. Looking back to last week’s episode, Hurley was painting a picture of a Sphinx when he was visited by Locke. Going back even further, Egyptian hieroglyphics have been seen in 4 different locations on the island: the temple (when the smoke monster ripped off Montand’s arm...still super cool), the secret door in Ben’s house, a pillar in the Frozen Donkey Wheel chamber, and the countdown timer in the Swan DHARMA station. So I feel very confident that the statue is Egyptian.

Ankh

Hurley's sphinx drawing

That begs the next question....what exactly is the statue a representation of? As soon as the episode was over, I was off to wikipedia to start investigating Egyptian Gods. I checked with some of the major Gods I know: Ra, Osiris, and Horus. But none of these seemed like the right fit. Then I came across Anubis: protector of the dead and guide to the afterlife. Anubis is a part-man, part-jackal. He is typically portrayed with long hair and in a tidbit I found on the internet is often portrayed as having four toes...ding, ding, ding. It is also common to see artistic representations of Anubis holding an ankh. Each of these appear to be consistent with the statue. However, while the statue appears to have pointy ears, they are not as pronounced as typically seen on Anubis. I believe the body of evidence, though, strongly supports Anubis (if you are totally fascinated by this subject, also look up a couple of other possibilities: Sekhmet and Taweret).

Anubis

So, assuming the statue is a representation of Anubis, what does this mean? I don’t have a fully formed theory, but I think there have been enough clues dropped that are driving in a general direction. And I think that direction is death and the underworld. Anubis’ role in Egyptian mythology varies, but he is generally considered to be the god of “dying” (as opposed to the god of “death”). He protects souls as they pass to the underworld and determines, by weighing the heart of the dead, their worthiness to enter the underworld.

Now let me turn from the statue/Anubis to another aspect of the Lost puzzle: the smoke monster (bet you didn't see that coming....one of my own little Lostian twists). If you remember back to season two, when the blast doors were lowered in the Swan Station (onto Locke's legs...that poor bastard gets a lot of leg injuries), a diagram was shown representing a map of the island (more of a functional map than geographic). The map was drawn by DHARMA members (the unseen) Radzinsky and Kevin Inman (the guy Desmond was with in the Swan). On this map was a reference to a “Cerberus system” and four references to “CV”. The Lost producers have confirmed that “Cerberus” is the name Radzinski/Inman have used to refer to the smoke monster and CV = Cerberus Vents. So what is the relevance of this? In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed watchdog of Hades (the underworld) that permitted spirits to enter the underworld and prevented them from leaving. Hmmmmm......

Blast door map

Death has been central to the series. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to put aside the many deaths that have occurred in the course of the series, as think they are largely plot driven. However, it is impossible to ignore the appearance of dead characters on and off the island: Charlie, Christian, Claire (I’m in the Claire is dead camp), Anna Lucia, Libby and of course Locke. I also think Charlotte’s declaration of “This place is death!” during her dying delirium is particularly telling.

So I am drawn to the conclusion that the island is linked to the entrance to the underworld or afterlife. However, I think anything beyond that, goes from supported by evidence to speculation. A popular theory is that the Oceanic 815 survivors are dead. I’m not sure I buy this, but it plays well with the death/underworld theme. It could explain why the Oceanic 6 were not supposed to leave the island. However, I think there is something much larger going on that we don’t have enough information to conclude. More to come on my theories related to this as this season progresses.

At this point you are in one of three categories: 1) completely fascinated by the above analysis, 2) bored to tears for turning your favorite show into a PhD thesis, 3) pissed off that I’m not talking about the rest of the episode. So if you are still with me, let’s move on to the rest of the episode.

Personally, I enjoyed jumping back and forth between Team Sawyer’s introduction to DHARMA and showing them fully integrated in the Initiative. I was not overly surprised to see Sawyer (or LaFluer if you prefer) hook up with Juliet. However, as a character LaFluer (Head of DHARMA Security, respected member of the community, and loving significant other) is a bore compared to Sawyer (wise-cracking, self-centered, redneck, con man). We can only hope that the return of Kate will bring back the Sawyer we all know and love. More nicknames please!

Now let’s talk a little about DHARMA. Here is what I learned:

1) From at least 1974-1977 Horace Goodspeed is the on-island leader of the DHARMA Initiative. So who is Horace? Horace arrived on the scene shortly after Ben’s birth and tried to help get baby-Ben and his folks to a hospital. Horace also brought Ben and his father, Roger Linus, to the island to work for the DHARMA Initiative. According to his DHARMA jumpsuit, he is a mathematician. We’ve also seen him in Locke’s dream that helped him find Jacob’s cabin. Now, in this week’s episode, his role was revealed to be very significant. We’ve also learned he was married to Amy (this was her first appearance) and fathered a boy (more on this in a moment).

2) While the Hostiles (aka others) and DHARMA, have been in conflict, it appears they have had periods of peaceful coexistence. I loved Richard Alpert’s arrival at the DHARMA barracks and his interactions with both Horace and Sawyer. I found it telling that Richard was puzzled by Sawyer’s comments about the 1954 encounters. This, coupled with his compass discussion with Locke, tells me that Richard is not orchestrating the big picture. In my mind, this puts him in the same league as Ben, Widmore, and maybe Ms. Hawking....an important player, but not the big kahuna.

3) A small red-haired girl was wondering around the DHARMA barracks and Daniel thinks it is Charlotte. And it probably is.....but that child was seen in 1974 and according to Ben Linus (from last season) Charlotte Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis by the way) was born July 2, 1979. May mean nothing because she may have left the island in a way that shifted her into the real world at a later time.

On a more character driven vein (for all you shippers out there) we are about to move from a love triangle (Jack-Kate-Sawyer) to a love square (Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet). Here's how I think it will play out: Sawyer and Kate will ultimately end up together; Juliet will end up dead; and Jack has bigger things in his future (cough....Jacob....cough).

And now to the baby boy. There was a big deal about the birth of Horace’s and Amy’s baby. So, is this just a plot device to get Juliet to be a hero or is the occurrence of an island birth significant? And more importantly who is the kid? The child was born in 1977, so that is a clue. Well, scanning the message boards, I’ve seen suggestions of Ben (no way, too old), Ethan (maybe, but I doubt it), and Jacob (give me a friggin break). I’ve got my own theory: Hurley. Hurley was born in 1977. He has reddish-brown curly hair, like Horace and Amy. He doesn’t resemble the parents who raised him. And he seems to have a deep connection to the island (the numbers, seeing dead people). So, I am on the record: baby = Hurley.

The bad news is that we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode. However, I am going to take next week to write a couple of “extra” blog entries. Right now I am thinking one will be a discussion of the overarching theme of “Good and Evil” and the other will be a set of predictions for some of the big mysteries of the show. I know it isn’t the same a new episode, but hopefully it will fill the void. If you've made it to the end of this seemingly endless blog entry you are either a super Lost fan or have no life (not mutually exclusive categories).