Daniel's TV Blog

Yay for LOST on Tueday! Last week was a great episode. Much better than the disappointing second episode. I think I didn't like that episode because it was all about Kate and Jack and those are my least favorite characters. Last week was about Locke and Smokey-Locke. We learned a big deal about why these people are important. The numbers showed up again but no real reason on the power behind them. I have a new theory now on why Sun crashed with Flight 316 instead of flashing to the past like Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid. I think it is because she wasn't the Kwan written on the wall. If Jin had been on the flight, I think he would have flashed to the past. I think that makes sense. Except Kate isn't a candidate so who knows. Either way I hope Hurley is the final candidate.

I'm having a problem with something else said last week. Illana said that Smokey-Locke was stuck in the guise of John Locke. If that were true, why did Smokey-Locke appear as Alex to Ben last season? That was when we were first clued in that new Locke might be Smokey with the great Clark Kent-Superman disappearance of Locke in that scene. "I'll go get some rope"..."What'd I miss?" But I don't think he has been appearing as Jack's dad. Wasn't he in Jacob's cabin with Claire in the 4th season? The cabin is inside the ash line. But he could be him too. I want more of Claire.

Here is what we learned:

• Jack, James, Hurley, Locke, Sayid & Jin (maybe Sun) are candidates to take over for Jacob
• Kate is not a candidate
• Illana, Sun, Ben, and Frank are heading to the Temple
• James is choosing to follow Locke-Smokey
• Richard doesn't know anything about the candidate search. This means none of the others knew until Dogen split open Huley's guitar-ankh.
  

New Questions:

• Who is the blond child Locke-Smokey sees?
• Why can James see him but not Richard?
• Who are the other names on the wall?
• Is "Kwan" Sun or Jin?
• Who or what is Jacob protecting the island from?

In the alternate universe:

• Locke and Helen are engaged
• Locke and his Dad are still speaking (Helen suggested he would be at the wedding)
• Locke and Ben are colleagues
• Rose works for Hurley
• How did Locke end up in the wheel chair?
• How did Ben get off the island?

Labels: LOST

LOST is back and I'm super excited. I wasn't exactly sure where they were going with this season after the bomb explosion. I figured they would time flash back to the future. But with spoilers about the 815 survivors landing in LAX, I didn't know who it was going to play out. I had a dream over the summer that the 815 people would land at LAX with all the memories of the previous 4 years. However, then they would have no need to return to the island. The two divergent timelines was unexpected. While the on island story is the most interesting, I'm still interested in seeing where this story goes over the course of the season. Having two timelines is a very advanced SciFi concept, especially for such a mainstream network show.

I'm also noticing a lot of similarities between LOST and Supernatural. In Supernatural, demons and angels need to possess humans to have a physical presence. In non-corporeal form, demons are represented by black smoke. Angels are blinding light. Demons can't cross lines or circles of salt, similar to the ash. But smokey can pick up things and made short work of Ilana's team. Jacob may be more like the angels and can possess bodies too, which is what I think happened with Sayid.

So anyway, here's what we learned:

• Fake Locke is the man is black and the smoke monster.
• The ring of ash seen in past episodes keeps the smoke monster out.
• The others have a magic crap colored hot tub which can heal people. Although before Jacob died it wasn't filled with poo.

Questions from the island:

• Where did Jacob's body go? It wasn't in the fire in the first scene.
• What was on the note inside Hurley's ankh?
• Why was Richard in chains?
• What did the Others want to talk to Jack about and why in private?
• What really happened with Sayid?
• Who is the new Kung Fu Other leader? How does he rank against Ben?
• If they shit pool can heal a gun shot, why couldn't it heal Ben's cancer?
  

Questions from the alternative universe:

• Why did the island sink?
• Why did Jack have blood on his collar?
• Did Jack and Desmond meet in LA? If so why didn't Jack recognize him like he did at the Swam station? Was Desmond really on the flight?
• If the island sank in 1977, then Hurley's friend would never have picked up the transmission with the numbers. So how did Hurley win the lottery? Why did Hurley go to Australia then? Hurley seems to be the only one of the survivors who has a different back story before flight 815.
• Why didn't Shannon return with Boone?
• Why was Jack's father's coffin not loaded on the flight 815?
• Why was Locke's bag of knives not on the flight?
• If the plane wasn't going to crash, why was Claire on the flight? Did the psychic tell her to in the altered timeline.
• And the big question: if the island sank 27 years ago, then the entire course of the world would be quite different. Widmore Industries wouldn't exist. The resources pouring into the Darma Initiative would have gone elsewhere. The Darma people evacuated would have pursued lives and wouldn't have been killed in the Purge. Others recruited (like Juliet) would never have left the mainland. In other words, the entire course of history would have changed and it would have been highly unlikely that any of the the survivors would have been on the new flight 815. So how did they get on it?

Labels: LOST

On the ABC website you can watch a fake documentary show about The Dharma Initiatize. It's very well done to look like it was made in the early 80's. No spoilers, just fun.

Watch it here.

LOST starts tomorrow!!!

Labels: LOST

Here's some fun stuff to get you through the week:

Labels: LOST

I'm trying to get back into my blogging mode, starting with the last episode of LOST. I watched "The Variable" again last night. It has lots of answers, lots of action, and of course lots of more questions. Also I have some new theories about how time travel works on the island. I think that The Others who have some sort of communion with the island are not allowed to change time. In fact they are caretakers of time. This is evidenced with Eloise's interaction with Desmond in the 90's. Also she and Widmore sent there son to the island to be killed. Or if he is not dead yet, then at least shot and hurt badly. However non-others can alter the course of history, as long as it isn't involving an Other. Daniel met with Desmond and he didn't remember it when he first met Daniel. That's because Daniel hadn't done it yet. However it gets tricky because it should have propagated during their respective timelines. Daniel altered the past within a day of Ben turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel. So Desmond should have had the memory arrive in his brain during the week he and the Oceanic Six were on The Searcher, not three years later while he is living on the sailboat. Maybe Daniel realized this somehow and that's why he changed his mind about changing the past. Alternatively, Daniel may have realized that the past can't be changed and he needs to be a part of it. He told everyone what they needed to head in order to get them to do the things they had to do. He did mention that he was getting Chang to do what he needed to do and that's why he spilled the beans about him and Miles. And Jack and Kate have their role to play. The only way to motivate Jack is by making him think he can restructure his last three years. Only he would have motivation to do so. Everyone else kinda has a better like because of the crash. Except for the dead people. And if Daniel really thinks he can change the past, why would he talk to young Charlotte when he promised himself he never would?

So here's what we learned:

• Widmore did fake the 815 discovery
• Ellie from 1954 and Eloise are the same person
• Widmore is Daniel's father
• Daniel has been working at Dharma headquarters in Ann Arbor
• Desmond is going to make a full recovery

And the new questions:

• Why didn't Daniel know Widmore was his father?
• Why did Daniel walk into the Other's Camp with a gun instead of just surrendering?
• Why exactly did Daniel decide one could change the past?
• How does Daniel think Eloise can help get the Oceanic Six back to the future?
• How did he when Chang was going to arrive at The Orchid?
• When did Eloise leave the island?
• Was Daniel born on the island?
• Why is Radzinsky so incredibly paranoid? I think he on Tina.
• Why does he have his own personal henchmen when James is head of security?

Episode 15 is tonight with the 2 hour season finale next week. Also, the title of this entry is not only a quote from Jack, it's kinda my life right now.

Labels: LOST

New LOST tonight. But I'll be watching it tomorrow morning on my laptop. Last week I did send a nasty letters to both DISH and Fisher Communications. I blamed each of them. They both suck. I need to see if I can get out of my DISH contract and switch to DirectTV.

Anyway, last week's episode kick ass. Kicked Jack's ass to be specific. While Jack was descending into a shame spiral of Oxycontin and facial hair back in L.A., James was developing real leadership skills. It's good to see Jack kicked down a notch and forced to cleaned toilets for a while. Speaking of characters I don't like anymore, if Kate breaks up James and Juliet I will find the Lamppost, go to the island and throw her off a cliff. Jack seemed irredeemable at the end of the third season and now he's coming around. It is going to be a long road for me to like Kate again. The other big new development was Christian's reappearance. This was the first time he actually directly interacted with someone for the first time. He handed the photo to Sun. In the past he only appeared and talked to people. My theory is Christian had some previous experience on the island. When 815 crashed he was resurrected the same way Locke was. He's been working directly for Jacob since the crash. That's just what I'm thinking.

What we learned:

• Frank did land the plane on the runway James and Kate were forced to labor on in Season 3.
• Frank left with Sun
• Ben was injured by Sun, not in the crash.
• Sun left before Locke woke up
• The baby is Ethan.
• Young Ben met prisoner Sayid.

New Questions:

• Why didn't the Others repurpose the Processing Center after the purge?
• Did the reason the Others kidnapped Jack, James, Kate, and Hugo at the end of season 2 was because they knew they were Dharma?
• Why didn't Sun go into the past? What circumstances did she not replicate when she was on Flight 316?
• Where did Daniel go?
• When did Ethan go to the live with the Others?
• If Radzinsky was so concerned about revealing plans for The Swan, why did he let Sayid into the Flame?
• If the Swan is one of the last stations built, why is it called station 3 of 6 in the orientation film?
• And there are more than 6 stations anyway. What's that all about?
• What is Sun's journey ahead of her? Is she going back or bringing them forward.

Labels: LOST

We are halfway through the season already. A lot of people were talking about how LOST has returned to it's flashback/flashforward format in episode 4.08. I disagree that this was a return to that format. It sure looked like it but the big questions would have to be: which was the current time and which was the flashback/flashforward? I don't think there is an answer to that. The events in 1974 were concurrent with the experiences of the time travelling group and the events of 1977 were concurrent with the Oceanic Six group. Neither was a flashback nor a flashforward. I think of this episode as a "bridge" episode to bring the timelimes together. The start of the season reset the timeline of the Oceanic Six group to 2008 and there were some minor teaser flashbacks to 2005 (or possibly later for Desmond). So this had a unique format and not a flashback afterall. Here's how this season's formats played out.

5.01 - Unrelated flashback to open the season: Daniel in Dharma land.
5.02-5.04 - Teaser flashbacks to 2005: just a quick scene to open the episode.
5.05 - No flashback, gasp! Is this the only one?
5.06-5.07 - Wraparound flashforwards: the episode opened and closed with flashforwards to the near future back on the island.
5.08 - Bridge episode: neither timeframe was a flashback or flashforward, although it really seemed like one.

Yay, new episode tonight with more Dharma intrigue. Yay and Yay!

Labels: LOST

We are half way through the current season of LOST and a surprising amount has happened already. In episode 7 we had an entire episode off the island (except for the revisit of the wheel turning) that was followed by a an episode entirely on the island. I think we got to see Locke turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel in three different episodes. Locke's episode had a surprising amount of answers. The opening sequence with resurrected Locke was considered for the opening sequence of the season. That might have been a good choice. Although Jack, Kate, and Hurley in the water would have been a cool season opener too. But the Dharma opening with Daniel was definitely the best choice as this looks to be the biggest Dharma season yet. The second season opened with Desmond in the Swan and that season was all about the hatch. The third season was all about the others and that opened with Juliet in Otherville. The fourth opened with Hurley back in L.A. and that season was all about getting home. At first I thought this season was about getting back to the island but that's only half the story. It also about The Dharma Initiative.

Here's what we learned from The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham:

• Flight 316 crashed on Hydra island
• Ben and Locke ended up in the island in the present along with the rest of the 316ers.
• Ceasar the Lost Whisperer is keeping secrets from the others. I think the island makes people act that way.
• Widmore doesn't seem to be part of Dharma
• Widmore knows where the Oceanic Six are at all times.
• Abaddon works for Widmore.
• The reason Abaddon was with Locke back before the island was because Widmore knew about Locke from the 50's.
• Ben killed Locke

And the new questions:

• Why did Ben kill Abaddon?
• Why did Abaddon allow himself to be seen by Hurley? Was he trying to mess it up for Locke?
• Does Widmore really want the Oceanic Six to return?
  
• How many people survived the 316 crash?
• Where did the Captain Frank go?
• What women did he go with?
• Where they the ones who fired on the time travelers?
• but the biggest question: how did Locke return to life?

Then onto the Sawyer episode, whom I will call James forever more. Only James could pull of the con he did. He got lucky. What if Horace asked him for more detail about the Black Rock? James only really knows that it's on the island but a real salvage person would know where it left from and what year. I doubt James knew that. But in my opinion, three years is long enough to get over someone. Especially if the previous person they knew for only 108 days. We learned a lot and Jin learned English.

• The final time jump was during the Dharma years
• The penultimate jump was really long ago and the four toed statue was still standing
  
• James, Juliet, Miles, Daniel, and Jin integrated into the Dharma Initiative
• The Dharma people are quite frightened of James
• There is a truce between The Others and Dharma. James was very important in keeping the peace.
• James and Juliet are now a hot item.
  

And the new questions:

• Why did the Others attack Amy and Paul?
• What are the terms of the Truce?
  
• Was the little girl Charlotte?
• What is the significance of the ankh necklace?
• What are Miles and Daniel doing for Dharma?
• Who is Amy's baby? Is it someone important? Someone we know?
• How was Amy able to conceive and have a baby?
  
• Where did Jin make the phone call from?
• What happened to Rose and Bernard? If they ended up in 1974 did they join Dharma too?

No new episode this week but next week is an episode called Namaste so we get lots more Dharma before the Oceanic Six and time travelers catch up with the 316ers.

Labels: LOST

LOST is getting so complex (and awesome!) this season I need to define the terms I use to describe groups and time frames. I don't have a place list, I just felt that saying who and when in the title was missing something.

When:
Ancient Times - The period long ago when the Temple, the ruins, the foot sculpture and probably the well Locke went down were built. Nothing is known yet of these time.
Pre-Dharma - The time on the island before the Dharma Initiative. We saw Richard Alpert and young Widmore in this time frame in the fourth episode. The Others were the dominate force on the island.
Dharma years - Sometime in the 70s through sometime in the 80s or 90s when the Dharma Initiative was the dominate presence on the island. They built up the hatch and other stations but where whipped out in "The Purge"
After the Purge - The time when the Others where once again the dominant force. They appropriated the Dharma facilities and had a network off the island. Things where fine until...
The 108 Days of Flight 815 - Or just the 108 days. This is the time frame of the first four seasons from the time flight 815 crashed to the disappearance of the island by Ben's turning of the Frozen Donkey Wheel.
After the Disappearance - This is the time between the island disappearing and the arrival of Flight 316. We don't know what happened during this time yet.
After Flight 316 - The current time frame Ben and Locke as well as the other Flight 316 survivors are living in. I'm assuming this time is concurrent with the mainland at the time of the crash so 2008.

The groups have now splintered in ways the some of the old terms are no longer applicable. Here are all the groups as I call them.
The Losties (retired term) - The name for the original survivors of the middle section of Flight 815 during the 108 days.
The Tailies (retired) - The tail section survivors. Of them Bernard is the only one still living, maybe. We haven't seen him in a while.
The Freighter People (retired) - The people originally sent by Widmore in the freighter.
The Oceanic Six - The five Losties and Aaron who made it off the island. I will use this term to refer to Jack, Kate, Hurly, Sayid, and Sun as they integrate into the island during the Dharma years.
The Time Travelers - Daniel, Juliet, Sawyer, Jin, Miles, Charlotte (deceased), Locke (exited), Rose, Bernard, and anyone else left alive from the original Losties. This is the group that bounced around in time and presumably ended up in Dharma time when Locke turned the wheel again.
Dharma Initiative - Original members of the Dharma team. We are uncertain who is still alive after the purge.
The Others with Ben - The others who were led by Ben on and off the island. After leaving he still seems to have a large network of people and resources at his disposal.
The Others with Widmore - It seems clear that Widmore is not Dharma and he was once part of the same group as Ben and Richard. This could be a mislead. Anyway he has his own network of people (Abadon, now deceased) and resources working toward the island's cause. Ben and Widmore are likely a power struggle within the same organization who will be in the war with Dharma over the destiny of the island.
The 316ers - The newest group on the scene. The survivors of Flight 316 which landed mostly intact on the Hydra island. Frank, Ben, Locke (now resurrected), and new-comers Caesar the Lost Whisperer, Ilena, and any other survivors.

I'll probably need new terms in the coming weeks again. Who knows what will happen in the Dharma years.

Labels: LOST

I have to say I was very surprised to have the Oceanic Six back on the island in only the sixth episode of the season. I thought the entire season was going to be about them getting back. Of course it still is going to be that. This move just allowed them to return the their normal formula of character flashbacks instead of the real-time shows we've had this season. Also for an episode which was expecting to answer many questions there were more new big questions created than any episode since the second season finale. Don't expect many answers tonight. This one is all about what Locke did between leaving the island and ending up in the coffin. It should be enlightening but no new island questions of scenes are expected. My favorite part was the opening with a close-up of Jack's eye which is exactly how the pilot opened so many years ago. Here are the new questions:

How did they get from the plane to the island?
Why are Kate, Jack, and Hurley seperated from Sayid, Sun, and Ben?
Ben said he couldn't return to the island. Will he be able to?
Did anyone else from the plane come with them? Frank?
Why did they need to recreate the circumstances of the original flight?
What happened to Aaron?
What changed Kate's mind?
How was she able to leave the country since her terms of murder trial prevented her from leaving California?
Why is Sayid in handcuffs?
Who is taking him?
Why would he be going to Guam?
What made Hurley change his mind?
Why is he bringing the guitar?
What will happen to the other people on the plane?
What will happen to Locke?
Why did he kill himself?
What happened to Ben that left him beat up and covered in blood?
What happened to Desmond?
Why didn't Aaron have to be on the plane?
Why didn't Walt have to be on the plane?
How did they end up in Dharma time?
Did all of them end up in Dharma time or are they spread out through time?
How long have the time travelers been in Dharma time?
How did the time travelers integrate into the Dharma Initiative?
If Widmore knows the location of Ms. Hawking, does he know about The Lamp Post?
Why hasn't he used it to find the island?
Why Dharma leave the Lamp Post?
Why haven't they returned to it?

That's a lot of questions. I guess the final question is where am I going to watch LOST tonight? I still don't have ABC.

Labels: LOST

Here's my hybrid of LOST with the Gilly sketch from SNL.
Kate: Someone's trying to take my baby! Is it you Jack?
Jack: No, I'm too busy writing an essay on why we need to get back to the island.
Kate: Is it you Hurley?
Hurley: I'm in jail. So once again, not possible.
Kate: Is it you Ben? Beeeeeennnnnn?
Ben: Sorry.

OK new episode tonight. Last week we got to see the Temple for the first time, and Smokey seems to be guarding it. He did a nice job of de-limbing one of the hot Frenchmen. Jin un-death has been reveal to everyone, both on and off the island. I'm happy to see Jin back with the other survivors. After Jin's quick adventure with the French, the survivors head out for an even bigger adventurer and Locke's destiny with the Frozen Donkey Wheel. Back to the future where Jack and Ben loose Kate and Sayid but gain Sun and Desmond. And no surprise, Desmond quests for Daniel's mom leads him to the women he met during his first adventure in time traveling who told him he needed to leave Penny. All right, let's get started with what we learned:

• Ben knows Jin is alive.Smokey killed some of the French, but crazy Danielle killed the others.
• Jack is still kind of a dick.
• Charlotte knows more about Carthage than Hannibal.
• Charlotte was part of the Dharma Initiative.
• The Frozen Donkey Wheel has been traveling with the survivors, otherwise they would have travelled to a time when it wasn't off it's axis and stayed there.
• Similarly the ghost of Christian Sheppard is travelling with them.
• Charlotte is dead, but remembers meeting Daniel as a child.

And new questions:

• Why was Robert trying to kill Danielle?
• Why does he think the Smoke Monster is a security system?
• What did Ben do to keep the Oceanic Six safe?
• What other time periods did they travel through?
• How did Charlotte know to look for the well?
• How did Locke know where it was?
• Is the well in the future or the past?
• Has anyone seen Desmond since they left the yacht?
• Why didn't Jin get a nose bleed?
• Where will Locke be sent?
• Why didn't Locke tell Sun about Jin?

Labels: LOST

The third episode this season skips over the Oceanic Six gathering in Los Angeles for the very special adventures of Desmond and Penny. This had to be the Desmond episode so the appearance of young Charles Widmore would coincide with a big Widmore episode. Most of Desmond's story was reminder filler story so we could remember what Daniel was doing at Oxford and how it was similar to the plight of the survivors. But the big story is of course about Widmore. We was part of the Others back in the 50's. This predates the Dharma Initiative. He clearly knows a lot about the island since he funded Daniel's research on time travel. It also appears the Others didn't have any possessions. Their camp, clothing, and guns are all taken from the US Army. In modern times they live in captured Dharma housing. Who are these people? Clearly Richard has been there forever but what about the other Others? This mystery is deepening. But the nosebleeds are taking a turn for the worse and Charlotte passed out in the cliffhanger ending.

Here's what we learned:

• Widmore was an Other!
• Richard was at Locke's birth because Locke told him about it
• Richard's always been on the island
• Penny hasn't seen Widmore since returning from the island
  
• Desmond and Penny are heading to L.A.
• Desmond and Penny's son is named Charlie. He was born in the opening flashback.

And more new questions:

• How did Juliet know that Richard was always on the island?
• Who does Daniel think Ellie looks like? My guess: his mother.
• How did the US Army find the island?
• If everything the Others have is taken from other people, how are they going to fill the bomb with lead and concrete?
• How did Widmore get to the island?
• Where are Bernard, Rose, and any other beach survivors?

Labels: LOST

Another good episode of LOST last night. But I'm still backlogged from my trip. Episode 2 was called The Lie and obviously was about the lie that Oceanic Six told for the last four years with a flashback where they first discussed it. Hurley episodes are always fun. The sequence where Hurley tells his mother the true story of the island was a great moment. Everyone but the Oceanic survivors call Hurley "Hugo", his real name. The Oceanic Six continued their gathering. Sun came to L.A. and contacted Kate. Sayid was brought to Jack. But Ben's offer to Hurley about not having to lie any more wasn't good enough and now Hurley is out of reach. But the biggest mystery is what is going on in the basement of the Church. It looks like there is Dharma computers and manuals and the women doing the calculation was no other than the strange women who told Desmond he couldn't change the past back in the 90's, Ms. Hawking. Here are the other new questions:

• What is Ms. Hawking's relationship to The Others? She seems to be working with Ben.
• What is Ms. Hawking's relationship to The Dharma Inititive? She was using their equipement off the island.
• What is the "Event Window"?
• What happens in 70 hours?
• What is Sun's business in L.A.?
• Who is Jill at the Butcher shop?
• Who are the Gabriel and Jeffrey?

Labels: LOST

The season premier of LOST did something no show has done in the history of everything. They started up just where the final two seasons ended. On the island we see the results of the island move at the end of season 4. In L.A., Jack continues his journey back to the island which he started at the end of season 3. The flashback scene (or flashforward scene?) was with Daniel Faraday at the construction of the Orchid Station. On the island Locke has some non-linear conversations with the Others and the beach survivors freak out at their new situation. Off the island, the Oceanic Six deal with the situations which will bring them all together and back to the island. It was a great episode but we didn't learn much new. Here are the new questions:

• Is the island moving through time or is it fixed and the survivors moving through time?
• Why are both Locke and Juliet moving through time? Shouldn't Juliet be with the rest of the Others? If Locke is truly the leader of the Others, why isn't he with the rest of the Others? It seems that either one of them shouldn't be unstuck.
• Is Daniel working on the Orchid station in his future or past?
• Did Desmond not remember meeting Daniel because it didn't happen the first time? Otherwise why did he suddenly remember it then?
• Did the problems on the island really happen because Jack (and the Oceanic Six) left like Ben said? If this is true, why did Richard let them go?
• Why does Sun want to kill Ben?
• Who hired the lawyers to question the parentage of Aaron?
• Why does Desmond need to find Daniel's mother? What can she do to help?
  

Labels: LOST

LOST is back baby! Season five started up with two episodes two weeks ago. I was out of two for this and the following third episode last week. LOST has a great way of ending each season with what I call a "Game Changer" season finale. Season 4 ended with the island moving and the Oceanic Six getting home. Now season five is no longer about trying to get off the island or escaping from the Others. It is about getting back to the island and surviving the time shifts. I love the new season.

I love the new format. This season they've dropped the regular flashbacks and now just shift between the two groups of survivors. But they didn't get rid of the flashbacks all together. At the start of each episode they have a single flashback scene. In the first we see a Dharma flashback to the frozen donkey wheel, then Hurley's flashback of the Lie planning on Penny's boat, and then Desmond's flashback of the birth of his son Charlie.

The love the gathering that is taking place off the island. As the last season ended Ben and Sayid had come to L.A. where Jack, Kate, and Hurley already lived. Then Sun arrived and met up with Kate. Now Desmond and Penny are now on their way seeking Daniel's mother. So all the major players will be in the same place as early as episode 5.04.

I love the explanations and revelations already given so far. Locke told Richard when he would be born and Widmore was on the island in the 50's. The complete story is starting to come into focus.

I love the adventure of the survivors through time. It's kind of the excitement from the first season where suddenly they have no idea where they are anymore. In a sense they are LOST again.

Labels: LOST

This season saw lots of newly dead. Some where sad, some were celebrated, some were shocking, and some were unnecessary.

Danielle Rouseau. She was crazy but she was also Deleen. I was happy everything she showed up. Sadly she was killed by the mercenary team. I’ll miss her. She probably won’t be back in a flashback.
Karl. We never really got to know what his deal was. How did he get to the island? Were his parents there? Why was Ben brainwashing him in Room 23? He’s dead now so we will probably never know.
Alex. “Where is Alex?”, the first words spoken by that crazy French women was the first evidence that there were Others on the island. Over the years we met Alex and know her full story. I was completely shocked when Keamy executed her in front of Ben. This set Ben off on him quest to find and kill Penny. I hope he never succeeds.
Captain Gault. He wasn’t in many episodes but he was the hottest guest star this season. Though some would disagree and say it was:
Keamy. The mercenary character who goal it is to kill everyone isn’t likely to survive the season. He did survive the smoke monster and getting shot by Richard before getting killed in the Orchid. I was wondering if he left radio contact would the bomb explode or did his device send a signal once he was dead. If they were deep underground, how did the signal get broadcast?
Michael. While he needed to die to atone for the killing of Ana Lucia and Libby, I would have liked to see him and Walt be reunited. Although with the presence of Jack’s Dad, perhaps he is joining the ranks of the Undead. Walt and Michael may yet be reunited if he returns to the Island.
Jin. This I found this death to be unnecessary. I hate it when characters are killed for no reason. It is my hope that he survived the explosion and made it back to the island radius to be moved with it. This seems unlikely since the helicopter flew from the wreck to the island and missed the movement. However that could have been because they were in midair. Jin still could have survived, but probably not. Maybe he could be undead too. I just hope that whatever Sun is doing is super important and something she wouldn’t have done had Jin survived.
Claire. Is she dead? She was hanging out with the Undead Christian so she might be. But non-dead characters can see Christian so perhaps the Island is just protecting her from the Battle with the Freighter. Either way, she is currently Lost.
Daniel. He was on the zodiac when the island moved. Was he close enough? Most likely since the helicopter raft never encountered them during their time before Penny’s boat showed up.
Locke. He’s dead in the future. His official death is suicide. Was he killed or did he really kill himself? Why does he have to go back to the island with the Oceanic Six? Will the island bring him back to life?
The Rest of the Freighter People. The Doctor, Minkowsi, the chick with the chain, and all the mercenaries. Widmore is going to go recruiting.

Labels: LOST

Since I was neglectful about the usual individual episode postings I like to do, I'm going to do a series of Season 4 wrap-up post. This one is mostly about the LOST timeline but also a bit about the finale.

I was very satisfied with the way LOST ended this year, more so than any previous season. This is the way shows should end the season. In all the past seasons of LOST, the next season began at almost the exact moment from the season finale. This is how most cliffhangers work. It’s useful but it’s not my favorite way of doing things. This season LOST had what I call a Buffy Ending, and it was great. A Buffy Ending is when the season ends and the large season arc gets resolved in the finale. In Buffy this meant the destruction of the “Big Bad” of the season. This is usually coupled with some additional smaller cliffhanger for us to ponder over the summer, like Buffy running away, or Buffy dying, or (surprise!) Buffy has a sister. The fourth season of LOST essentially wrapped up the large story arc set down in the pilot, “will the get off the island?”, left some mysteries unresolved, and completely set up for season five’s main arc: getting back to the island.

This goes along with the biggest shift in the show that results from this episode: breaking with the timeline. From the beginning there has been one narrative coupled with flashbacks and flash-forwards. But the main timeline from the Pilot to “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 3” played out day by day for 108 days. BTW, 108 was the number of minutes between pushing the button at The Swan and it’s the sum of Hurley’s lotto numbers. So as excited as I am to find out how they get back to the island and how/why/if Locke really died, I’m interested to see where they will start the timeline for season five. I think they will start from or shortly after the coffin meeting. Flashbacks and possibly flash-forwards will branch off from this timeline. We will uncover what happened on the island and what else the Oceanic Six have done from arriving on the beach in Indonesia to the coffin meeting. It’s going to be a very exciting season, too bad we have to wait until January.

Labels: LOST

The producers gave us a new flashback format: the flashback-flashforward combo. They are very tricky. There were several clues I picked up on but didn't make the conclusion. Jin had a crazy old cell phone. Also he had his old bad and violent attitude he gave up after the crash. But he's dead now. With Sun flashforwad we have a bit more clues to the rescue timeline. Sun is now over two months pregnant so her birth is going to be in summer of 2005. This means the Oceanic 6 will be rescued in the first half of 2005. Here's what else we learned:

• It is indeed Widmore's boat
• The captain is hot
• The captain thinks Ben's people are responsible for fake 815
• Sun has three weeks until she starts to get sick
• Jin's gravestone is dated 9-22-04, the date of the 815 crash

And new questions:

• What are Frank and the Goa'uld planning?
• Why does Sun think something's wrong?
• Who was banging on the pipes?
• Why isn't Juliet there for the birth?
• When and how did Jin die? I think it must have been in order to save Sun
• Who shot themselves in Sayid and Desmond's new room?
• Why is Michael now Kevin Johnson?
• Why is Hurley happy no one else came?

Labels: LOST

I've been very neglectful in my LOST posts. I like to watch it at least twice before making my entry. I think the sixth episode was the best of season four so far. But I think Juliet is probably my favorite character so any Juliet episode is going to be great. Great story, great flashback, and great surprise ending. We got to see a new Dharma station, we got to see Jack kiss Juliet, we got an awesome chick fight, and we got to see Ben loose it. Great episode. Anyway, here's what we learned.

• Juliet doesn't like being the center of attention
• Tom has daddy issues
• Goodwin was married to Harper the therapist
• Pregnant women die because of an immune system problem
• Harper knew that Ben had a thing for Juliet
• The sub was stocked with non Dharma products
• The freighter people were sent by Widmore
• Widmore killed one of Ben's people
• Charlotte knows Ben gassed the Dharma people
• Ben brought Juliet to the island and kept her there because she is "his".
• Juliet likes Jack and Ben knows it
• Ben is now living free in Otherville

And the new questions:

• Who does Juliet remind Ben of?
• How did Ben get a message to Harper to deliver to Juliet?
• How did Ben know where Daniel and Charlotte were heading?
• How could Daniel and Charlotte know about The Tempest? Unless they know about Dharma Inititive.
• Was Harper really there at all?
• Who lived in Juliet's house before Ben gave it to Juliet?
• How did Goodwin get the chemical burn? Why did he lie about it?
• If Kate was suspicious why did she turn he on Charlotte?
• Why did Ben ask if the rabbit had a number on it? Spoiler alert
• Which Red Sox game did Ben tape over?
• Who took the video of Widmore in the alley
• What else is in the Widmore file Ben gave to Locke?
• As everyone in Otherville seemed to know that Ben was in love with Juliet, why did they try to prosecute her before he woke up from surgery?
• Why is Hurley so lucky with the horseshoes?

Labels: LOST

There's not much about Kate's off island life we don't know by know. Of course the details of the rescue and integration of the Oceanic 6 is still a ways a way from being shown. We now know all her crimes, her arrest, and now her trial. Jack has had less chance to be a dick lately. Although Locke seems to be going over the deep end. Terry O'Quinn said on The View that Locke is very dangerous now that he has "found religion". Isn't that always true. Jack retold the crash and rescue lie that the Oceanic Six somehow agreed to on the stand to help Kate. It is not clear if this happened before or after he visiting Hurley in Santa Rosa.

Here's what we know:

• Jack perjured himself for Kate. If the truth ever comes how, he can go to jail.
• Ben has one week to get Miles his cash.
• Locke has gone off the deep end.
• Kate isn't pregnant...or is she?
• Kate is pretending to be Aaron's mother.
• Jack still loves Kate.

And the new questions:

• What does Locke expect from Ben?
• Why is Kate being charged in a California court for Federal and other state charges?
• Who are the other two "survivors" that didn't make it that Jack talked about?
• Why was the Xanadu video tape queued up to the best part? Who takes out the tape in the middle of the best part?
• Why does Locke not want Ben and Miles to talk to each other?
• Who does Miles work for?
• Why does Miles want 3.2 million?
• How does Miles plan to deal with Charlotte?
• What is the memory exercise Charlotte and Daniel are doing?
• Why can he only remember two cards?
• Why does the DA want Kate to stay in California? Is she working for one of the island groups?
• Why does Jack not want to see Aaron?
• What happened to Claire?
• How did the Oceanic 6 integrate Aaron into their rescue lie?

Labels: LOST